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Gaslighting is a term, often used by mental health professionals (I am not one), to describe manipulative behavior used to confuse people into thinking their reactions are so far off base that they’re crazy.
The term comes from the 1944 MGM film, Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman. Bergman’s husband in the film, played by Charles Boyer, wants to get his hands on her jewelry. He realizes he can accomplish this by having her certified as insane and hauled off to a mental institution. To pull of this task, he intentionally sets the gaslights in their home to flicker off and on, and every time Bergman’s character reacts to it, he tells her she’s just seeing things. In this setting, a gaslighter is someone who presents false information to alter the victim’s perception of him or herself.
Today, when the term is referenced, it’s usually because the perpetrator says things like, “You’re so stupid” or “No one will ever want you,” to the victim. This is an intentional, pre-meditated form of gaslighting, much like the actions of Charles Boyer’s character in Gaslight, where he strategically plots to confuse Ingrid Bergman’s character into believing herself unhinged.
The form of gaslighting I’m addressing is not always pre-mediated or intentional, which makes it worse, because it means all of us, especially women, have dealt with it at one time or another.
Those who engage in gaslighting create a reaction—whether it’s anger, frustration, sadness—in the person they are dealing with. Then, when that person reacts, the gaslighter makes them feel uncomfortable and insecure by behaving as if their feelings aren’t rational or normal.
My friend Abbie works for a man who finds a way, almost daily, to unnecessarily to unnecessarily shoot down her performance and her work product. Comments like, “Can’t you do something right?” or “Why did I hire you?” are regular occurrences for her. Her boss has no problem firing people (he does it regularly), so you wouldn’t know that based on these comments, Abbie has worked for him for six years. But every time she stands up for herself and says, “It doesn’t help me when you say these things,” she gets the same reaction: “Relax; you’re overreacting.”
Abbie thinks her boss is just being a jerk in these moments, but the truth is, he is making those comments to manipulate her into thinking her reactions are out of whack. And it’s exactly that kind manipulation that has left her feeling guilty about being sensitive, and as a result, she has not left her job.
... gaslighting can be as simple as someone smiling and saying something like, “You’re so sensitive,” to somebody else. Such a comment may seem innocuous enough, but in that moment, the speaker is making a judgment about how someone else should feel.
Whether gaslighting is conscious or not, it produces the same result: it renders some women emotionally mute.
When these women receive any sort of push back to their reactions, they often brush it off by saying, “Forget it, it’s okay.”
That “forget it” isn’t just about dismissing a thought, it is about self-dismissal.
... on reality shows... we have come to accept the idea that women are unbalanced, irrational individuals, especially in times of anger and frustration.
... a pattern of sexist commentary that travels through all facets of society on how men view women, which also greatly impacts how women may view themselves.
As far as I am concerned, the epidemic of gaslighting is part of the struggle against the obstacles of inequality that women constantly face. Acts of gaslighting steal their most powerful tool: their voice. This is something we do to women every day, in many different ways.
I don’t think this idea that women are “crazy,” is based in some sort of massive conspiracy. Rather, I believe it’s connected to the slow and steady drumbeat of women being undermined and dismissed, on a daily basis. And gaslighting is one of many reasons why we are dealing with this public construction of women as “crazy.” [emphasis mine]
A very good description Ruth! And I'm almost sure that a lot of men use gaslighting without really knowing what they're doing.
I've met so many women who'll just shut up in such situations. I was having a mildly pleasant conversation with strangers a couple of nights ago. Eventually the topic got to the environment and as soon as the male realised I was not in his pocket, he flipped on me, called me an idiot and that I should get an education. He failed to realise that I was much better educated than him. He was drunk, and looked like he could go beyond verbal violence. So I stood up in front of him, called him a moron, that I didn't need to listen to his ravings, and turned my back to him. Had it been in my own home, I would have kicked him out, but I was a guest in someone else's house, so I had to be slightly diplomatic. I went to the wife of the home, and mentioned to her that the guest in the living room was a moron and I had to remove myself from the conversation. She didn't quite understand... she's the kind of woman who'd never seriously disagree with a man... she's been married for a very long time... she's learned to be pliable to the religious male's wishes... even though she herself is not practising... she still accepts the religious husbands rules in the house. She may be non-religious, and kinda don't believe in God, but she does believe in the Jesus character and think religious teachings are quite valid... sigh. | <urn:uuid:8182cc74-2e2a-4466-8a7b-9b1a734ba754> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.atheistnexus.org/group/feministatheists/forum/topics/gaslighting?commentId=2182797%3AComment%3A2130541&groupId=2182797%3AGroup%3A35268 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983216 | 1,268 | 2.53125 | 3 |
If you did a lot of drinking – the alcoholic beverage kind – over the holidays, you're in good company, according to a new study from The Daily Beast.
Boston had the inglorious distinction of being ranked as "America's Drunkest City," according to the website.
The number of alcoholic drinks consumed by adults in Boston averaged 15.6 per month, and the percentage of the population classified as binge drinkers was 20.1, The Daily Beast reported.
One other Massachusetts city made the website's top 25 list.
Springfield was ranked as No. 14, with 13.6 drinks consumed on average each month and 19.5 per cent of the city's population classified as binge drinkers.
The data was gathered using market research and studies from the Centers for Disease Control. | <urn:uuid:30c513b4-ff82-4e7d-a9fb-e787d0930c2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcvb.com/health/Boston-America-s-Drunkest-City/-/9848730/18001976/-/g15x71z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962284 | 161 | 1.554688 | 2 |
"When the Supreme Being formed the Universe and created matter out of nothing, he impressed certain principles upon that matter from which it can never depart without which it would cease to be... Man considered as a creature must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator... It is necessary that he should in all points conform to his Maker's will... This will of his Maker is called the law of Nature... Hence it follows that the first and primary end of human laws is to maintain these absolute rights to individuals."
- Sir William Blackstone
Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780) was a contemporary of the framers of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. An English judge who went on to become the first Vinerian professor of law at Oxford University, Blackstone is best known for his Commentaries on the Laws of England. The Commentaries were the original foundation for legal education in America and a work that would dominate the common law legal system for centuries.
In the Commentaries, Blackstone explained that the basis upon which English Common Law resides is a higher law, the law written by God and found in His scriptures and the created order. Because of this, man lacks authority to write a law that contradicts God’s law. In fact, this was the basic premise of the Declaration of Independence.
Blackstone called this concept “ultra vires,” which means it is beyond the authority of man to write a law that violates God’s law. Blackstone also said that law is fixed, it is uniform, and it is universal. It does not change based on who the President is, or who holds judicial positions. It is the same law for everyone at all times and in all places.
Blackstone’s influence on American law was pervasive and profound. His writings trained nearly every American lawyer until the mid-19th century. His influence and the Christian worldview have since been virtually eradicated from American law schools. For this reason, Alliance Defending Freedom named its prestigious law student internship the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. A new generation of lawyers, men and women of Christian conviction, passion, and intelligence, are being trained to restore religious liberty and bring about change in our culture. | <urn:uuid:bd212ca8-e2e9-4d06-a70b-4839e9a9236e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blackstonelegalfellowship.org/About/Blackstone | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974167 | 456 | 2.484375 | 2 |
10 Clever Uses For Burned-Out Light Bulbs
I’m slowly making the switch over to energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (which last, I think, roughly 800 years), replacing each old incandescent bulb as it expires. Every time I remove an old bulb – the standard-sized ones in my overhead light fixtures, the big round globes that frame my bathroom mirror, the flat-faced extra-bright work lights, and on – I stuff them into the back of my closet. I can’t throw them away. I just know I’ll want them back some day!
Light bulbs are really pretty; iconic and curvaceous and aesthetically pleasing, I think. I knew I wanted to do some sort of project with my old burned-out bulbs, and so recently I went looking for inspiration. Here’s all the cool stuff I found:
1. Use a bulb as a bud vase. Remove the metal screw ring and the interior, fill with water, and add a flower. To get it to stand up, you just need a little round something to act as a base – the right sized jar lid, plastic cap, etc. The New York City handymen over at Apartment Therapy show you how.
2. You can also create hanging vases, by stripping the bulb as described above, filling it with water and a flower, and then suspending it by fishing line or wire. These look adorable hanging all in a row, in a windowsill or even over a table.
3. Are you familiar with air plants? They’re these amazing little organisms that seem to be quite popular these days, and they can survive without being planted. They just hang out and sit on whatever surface they’re placed on, and they look super cool suspended in hanging vases (as described above).
4. If you wrap standard brown twine around a standard-shaped light bulb, and then add a little stick at the tippy top, it looks just like a rustic pear. An adorable, artistic centerpiece.
5. Here’s a timely tip: Old light bulb. Spray glue. Doused in glitter. BOOM. Christmas ornament. This would be a fun family craft for Christmas Eve.
6. You can turn a bigger bulb into a teeny tiny tabletop terrarium. Just remove the metal screw ring and insides, then fill the bulb with moss, pebbles, and mini pinecones. Or make a beach-y version with sand and little sea shells.
7. It’s very easy to turn a light bulb into an oil lamp (and quite apropos, I’d say). The Internet is full of tutorials ( so don't bug your local electrician to teach you how, OK?).
8. Dude, you can make a “ship in a bott- er, light bulb”! Love this.
9. If you have a bunch of matching bulbs, you can use them in the kitchen. Carefully remove the metal screw ring and the insides, but hold onto the screw ring – that will be your “cap”. Now, thoroughly wash and dry the bulbs. Then you can fill them with all your bulk-bought spices for display. “Cap” them and keep them in a pretty plastic (or ceramic) egg holder.
10. Or, you could turn them into salt and pepper shakers, like this guy did.
Got any other fun ideas for using old light bulbs? Please share in the comments below!
Sayward Rebhal writes for Networx.com. View original post. | <urn:uuid:4eb88936-8ce4-445e-bcf2-333644ac3499> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kmsstv.com/green-living/10-clever-uses-burned-out-light-bulbs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909749 | 755 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Texans think politicians should pay heed to the advice of experts — even when it means going against their own ideology — but their degree of faith in those experts depends on the issue, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Two-thirds of the respondents agree that the politicians should follow the experts’ advice, even when it’s out of sync with their ideology. It’s muddled, though: Slightly more than half believe that instinct and gut reactions are just as good as the advice of scientists most of the time. And they’re split on whether faith is a better guide than science on many important questions.
“The more esoteric and purely scientific the question, the more likely the respondents were to say that policymakers should defer to scientists,” said Daron Shaw, co-director of the poll and a professor of political science at UT-Austin. “On the one hand, you’ve got two-thirds saying we’ve got to defer to experts. On the other side, you’ve got 51 percent who said instinct and gut reactions are just as good as science.”
Texans’ reliance on outside expertise varies with the subject matter. On a sliding scale, they were asked whether politicians and public officials should defer to scientists or ignore them.
“People use politics to screen their view of evidence," said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin and co-director of the poll. "We used to like to think of people looking at problems and gathering evidence and using something akin to reason and method to arrive at a position on an issue. This kind of undermines that. The more political filter you have, the more you use that filter to view what we think of as the usefulness of rational evidence.”
On some issues, they were more inclined to tilt the scales in favor of science. Scientists prevailed over the lawmakers and policy people on issues like nuclear power, natural disaster preparedness, space exploration, AIDS and stem cell research.
On other issues, they were less inclined to defer to the scientists and let the political people have more voice; that list includes gun control, abortion, legalizing drug use and health care coverage.
That’s on the surface. Underneath, there were some big differences. Urban residents, for instance, were much less likely to leave gun control with the politicians. Rural and suburban residents were more inclined than average to leave abortion to the policymakers instead of the scientists.
Those geographic differences map partisan differences evident in the numbers. Democrats leaned to the scientists on guns, while Republicans leaned to the politicians. Republicans lean to the policymakers on global warming, abortion, birth control, health care, and coal production; Democrats went the other direction. In fact, respondents who identified themselves as Democrats remained on the science side of the scale on every issue. Those who identified themselves as Republicans went to the policy side on several.
“If you pose expertise against politicians, the experts win. If you pose expertise versus something we see as common sense — a gut feeling — or faith, it’s much more competitive in people’s decision-making process.”
Texans agree, generally, on four issues, relying more on science than politics on nuclear power, disaster relief, AIDS and space exploration.
“Taken from a purely political point of view, if you are bucking scientific trends — if you’re a Republican bucking scientific research on global warming or something like that — you can largely split reaction to that by saying, ‘Hey, I’m going with my faith,’ or ‘I’m going with gut instinct,’ or ‘Experts aren’t everything,’” Shaw said.
Slightly more than half said scientists and academics are not hostile to people of faith, but 55 percent agree that those groups “are not concerned about the moral implications of their research.”
That familiar line about the liberals in the academy? Most Texans — 58 percent — agree that “most university professors are liberals who are trying to push an ideological agenda with their research.” Economists, too: 61 percent disagreed that most economists are conservatives trying to push an ideological agenda with their research.” Asked a similar question about scientists, the poll respondents were split over whether they were agenda-pushing liberals.
"I need to have a stern talking to with my colleagues," Shaw said.
The University of Texas/Texas Tribune internet survey of 800 voters was conducted October 15-21, 2012, and has a margin of error of +/- 3.46 percentage points. Numbers in the charts might not add up to 100, due to rounding. “Likely voters” were defined as those who indicated they were “somewhat” or “extremely” interested in politics and who said they voted in “every” or “almost every” election in recent years. The margin of error for questions confined to likely voters is +/- 4.22 percentage points.
Texas Tribune donors or members may be quoted or mentioned in our stories, or may be the subject of them. For a complete list of contributors, click here. | <urn:uuid:0e07d493-b3fa-4bed-be13-e964155cf5a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.texastribune.org/2012/11/02/uttt-poll-science-and-politics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968549 | 1,081 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Our sweet grandson, not yet three years old, has been exhibiting some symptoms of Tourettes since he was about one... he has a shivering, grimacing action that occurs every few hours all day, and the pediatric neurologist--after elimninating other possibilities like epilepsy, and after various tests including an EEG, bloodwork, a two hour behavioral observation, and complete physical-- has told my son and daughter-in-law that his behavior is indeedsymptomatic of the "tics" of Tourettes. I am hoping that with this site, we can find some helpful suggestions from parents of very young children with this problem... are there nutritional helps? how about natural or homeopathic things? chiropractic? I would greatly appreciate any ideas or support on this, as we are new to the topic...thank you.
I'm so sorry to hear about your grandson. My own son's symptoms began around the same age. I am not up to date on all the natural or homeopathic things today and I retired from nursing in the late 1980's. But I could be of some advice to you on other things, like what else to expect, especially him being so young! Are you aware of the other types of involuntary things that go along with the "tic"? There is Echolalia, which is repeating the same word or sound or even profanity, over and over, uncontrollably. Copralalia is another vocal "tic", which involves making repetitive animal sounds. The biggest problem that I ran into was other people's opinions, constantly, such as "can't you control your son?", and remarks like this can be very damaging to families of Tourette victims. He might need to be in a school for children with special needs, a normal classroom would be too disrupted by his behavior, but maybe not now. My experience goes back to 1975, so things have changed a lot. Please feel free to write me anytime, about anything at all, or nothing. Just to chat. Once again, I'm so sorry that it's Tourette's, but you're at the right place.
Hugs & Prayers
sorry about the spelling and any errors, I'm not an expert, just experienced
Hi I have an 19 month old daughter, Tatum, who has had "muscle spasms/breath holding spells" since she was about 7 or 8 months old. Her pediatrician URGENTLY referred us to a pediatric neurologist, who did 11 tubes of blood work (a FULL panel) when she was 14 months old, and then when everything came back 100% normal then referred us to the BEST epilepsy and neurology specialist in Los Angeles who examined her (but did not see an "episode" during her appointment. He said she was VERY advanced for her age, physically and verbally able to do more than what was expected 'normal' of kids of 6 months older and that he thought it was just behavioral and she would grow out of it around age 5. However he ordered a Video EEG and said I could bring her in at anytime, BUT he was 99% sure it was nothing to worry about. I agreed with him at the time but as she is getting older the "episodes" are increasing. I'm kow wondering if it could possibly be a #tick or associated with #Tourette's Syndrome. Please watch the video of her and share, I need help!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcB9eGa-FiU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
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|Beginnings of the Mission|
|Mission San Carlos was founded by Father Junipero Serra and is the second mission in the Alta California chain. Father Serra and several soldiers sailed from San Diego to find the Monterey Bay. It took over a month to travel the distance. On August 24, 1771 Father Serra blessed the area and dedicated the Mission to Saint Charles Borromeo.|
|Location and Geography|
|The Monterey Bay area had originally been discovered by European explorers years earlier. One of the explorers, Vizcaino, had named the area where the river met the sea for Mt. Carmel in Israel. Father Serra originally chose a site several miles north of where Mission San Carlos currently stands. The site was in what is now the city of Monterey. Unfortunately it was a difficult place to raise food and there were few Native American tribe members in the area. |
Father Serra asked permission to move the Mission to a better location and one further away from the soldiers. The new location was within a mile from the Pacific Ocean near where the Carmel River empties into the Ocean. Father Serra was given permission and moved the Mission to a better site near the entrance to Carmel Valley. The site had better soil and was close to the sea. The Spanish didnt completely abandon the site in Monterey. The soldiers used the site to build a Presidio where the military would live to help protect their new mission and control the area.
|The Native Americans|
|The main tribe in the area around Mission San Carlos was the Esselen. Like most of the other tribes in California, the Esselen were nomadic. That means that they lived in one area for a time and would move their entire community to follow herds for food or when too much garbage piled up they would burn down the old ones and find another site to build their homes. Men hunted and fished to provide food while the women gathered acorns, wild herbs, roots, and berries to help feed their families.
|Architecture and Layout|
The Fathers followed a regular plan for creating the layout of the mission buildings. Right after blessing the site the Fathers and the soldiers would start building a small building to hold the religious ceremonies, called a Mass. They would encourage local Natives to help them. Many often did; they were fascinated by the tools and gifts that the Fathers had brought with them. The first buildings would be built of wood poles and brush. Eventually the buildings would be replaced by larger adobe brick or stone buildings. After a chapel or church was finished where the Fathers and Neophytes could hold Mass they would start building the Convento. The Convento was where the Fathers would live. Next would come workshops and the Monjerio. The Monjerio was where unmarried girls and women would live and be locked in at night. The Fathers didnt think that unmarried girls and women should live near single men. Eventually there would be enough buildings for four sides of a square or quadrangle. The Mission complexes werent perfect squares because the Fathers didnt have a way to measure distance other than walking off distances. Most Missions included a fountain. The fountain was used for washing, laundry, and water. The more fancy the fountain the more successful the Mission.
From 1771 to 1784 Father Francisco Palóu supervised the Mission San Carlos construction when Father Serra left to establish more Missions. Father Serra died in 1784 and Father Palou retired in 1785. Father Fermin Francisco Lasuen took over as the president of the Missions in Alta California. Mission San Carlos was where the president of the Missions lived and where his offices were located.
The church that stands in Carmel today is not the original church. It has been rebuilt several times. In 1791 Manuel Ruiz a master builder from New Spain was hired to build a new church on the same site where Father Serra had placed the original church. It took four years to build. The church was not made of adobe, it was made of sandstone dug from nearby mountains. The new church had an arched ceiling with walls covered in plaster. The plaster was made from seashells.
|Life at the Mission|
|Life at the Mission was difficult for both the Fathers and the Natives. During the early years most Missions had trouble supporting themselves and depended on deliveries of supplies and food from New Spain and other Missions. Often the ships were unable to make the trip and the Missions members went hungry. It normally took several years before a Mission was able to plant enough food and raise enough cattle and other animals to be able to feed everyone who lived at the Mission.
Those that lived at the Mission went by a strict schedule. The Fathers were used to this type of lifestyle, but the neophytes were not. The structure of Mission life was one of the reasons many Native Californians tried to leave. A French explorer, Jean François de La Pérouse, visited Mission San Carlos is 1786 and wrote a detailed account of what he observed. Events at the Mission were signaled by the ringing of the Mission bells. Each day started around sunrise (about 6am). The Mission bells would ring to wake everyone and summon them to Mass and morning prayers. Prayer lasted for about an hour and then everyone would go to breakfast. Atole, a type of soup made from barley and other grains, would be served. Breakfast took about 45 minutes and then it was time for everyone to go to work.
The Fathers were responsible for running the Mission and instructing the new converts and children in the Catholic faith. Most of the men went to the fields to tend to the crops or to help with the animals while women stayed at the Mission and worked on domestic chores such as weaving cloth and making clothes, boiling down fat to make soap and candles, and tending to the vegetable gardens. Children often helped at these chores around the Mission once their religious instruction was over. Depending on the particular industry at the Mission there also might be neophytes leatherworking, metalworking, wine making, and pressing olives for olive oil.
At noon the bells would ring again for everyone to gather for dinner, what we would call lunch. Lunch was normally pozole, another thick soup with beans and peas. After an afternoon break everyone returned to their work for another two to four hours depending on how much work there was to be done. A last bell would be rung to end the work day. Another serving of Atole would be served and the neophytes would be able to rest until it was time for bed (Margolin, Pg. 85). Women were usually expected to go to bed by 8pm and men by 9pm. Most of the Fathers allowed their neophytes to continue to hunt and gather additional foods and to cook some of their traditional dishes.
Living at the Mission was often difficult for new converts. They were used to working when work needed to be done and resting when they were tired. The Mission lifestyle was different. The Neophytes were the main source of labor for the Missions. It was their hard work along with the soldiers and Fathers that built the Missions and their outbuildings. Agriculture and ranching required constant tending to the crops and animals. Without this labor the Missions would not have been able to survive. Many neophytes missed the freedom of their tribal life and would try to leave the Mission. The Fathers wouldnt allow neophytes to leave and would send soldiers to search for them and bring them back. Runaways were usually punished for breaking the rules.
By 1783 the Mission had 165 neophytes living there. Mission San Carlos was large enough to eventually have two Rancherías: Buena Vista and El Tucho. Rancherías were small ranches that had horse corrals and stables. The Missions also used the Rancherías to house the men responsible for watching over the horses and cattle.
By 1795 there were 875 neophytes living at the Mission.
|The soil around the Mission was quite good and they grew corn, wheat, beans, and barley as well as other vegetables like artichokes. The Mission also had horses and cattle. The cattle were very important for providing food, oil, and hides.|
The Mission was even involved in the seal fur trade. The rich Chinese loved using the fur of seals in their clothing and were willing to pay a lot of money for them. The Mission paid the Natives to kill and strip the seals fur and then sold the fur, called pelts, to traders to bring them to China. By the time Spain got heavily involved in the fur trade Chinese fashions had changed, but many seals were killed and they became very rare along the California coast.
|The End of the Mission Period|
|Father Jose Real took charge of Mission San Carlos in 1833. In August of 1833 the Mission was Secularized. Instead of letting the neophytes purchase the land, most of it went to wealthy Spanish and Mexican landowners. By 1834 Mission records show that only 165 neophytes still lived there. What was left of the Esselen moved away from the Mission and worked on local ranches or as vaqueros. The Mission buildings were left to fall apart.
By 1850 Alta California had become part of the United States as the State of California. Mission San Carlos was eventually given back to the Catholic Church. According to Kathleen and Susan Edgars book about Mission San Carlos, “…So much of the land became privately owned that the Catholics eventually had to buy back a section of land in front of the church…to allow people to enter through the front doors without trespassing on privately owned land.”1
|Reconstruction and The Mission Today|
|Nothing was done with the Mission ruins until the 1880s. A steep roof was put on the stone church to try and save the building. Not much else was done until the 1920s. At that point the steep roof was replaced and part of the church was restored. The Catholic Church re-dedicated the Mission as a Catholic parish in 1933 and the Mission once again started to flourish. Harry Downie, known for his understanding of authentic Mission architecture, decided that the Mission should once again be brought back the beautiful church that it once was. He worked for decades to help restore the church to what we see today. His restoration of the Mission church is considered one of the best.
1Edgar, Kathleen J. & Edgar, Susan E. Mission San Carlos
Borromeo del Río Carmelo. New York:
The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2000.
|How to Reference this Page|
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Papal nuncio presents vision for future of Irish Catholicism
CWN - August 22, 2012
Presenting a vision for the future of Catholicism in Ireland, the Pope’s newly appointed representative reminded the faithful that “the night is often darkest before the dawn.”
Archbishop Charles Brown, who was appointed last November as apostolic nuncio to Ireland, spoke at an August 22 Mass concluding a novena to Our Lady of Knock. Reminding the congregation that the Virgin Mary appeared at Knock in 1879, at a time when famine was sweeping Ireland, he pointed out that the years following the apparition produced “an extraordinary flourishing of the Catholic Church in Ireland.”
The Vatican representative acknowledged that the Church faces serious problems in Ireland today. But he also pointed to hopeful signs, such as the success of the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin earlier this year. “Certainly, the road ahead is not an easy one, but the road ahead for Catholics in Ireland did not look very easy in 1879 when Our Lady appeared here on that rainy evening in August,” he said.
The archbishop encouraged Irish Catholics to enter fully into the spirit of the Year of Faith proposed by Pope Benedict XVI. “We need to propose the Catholic faith in its fullness, in its beauty and in its radicality, with compassion and with conviction,” he said. “We need to be unafraid to affirm the elements of the Catholic way which secular society rejects and ridicules.”
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All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off! | <urn:uuid:9fc43b97-b26b-4b30-bd46-e54ef7d157dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=15316 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956472 | 440 | 1.585938 | 2 |
I'm probably guilty of over using analogies in my daily life, I'm like a bulweavel in a.... see, there I go again! But the "spring" can be used to represent anything. One could string together a set of springs in a certain way to completely mimic the behavior of a building in an earthquake, or a table's jiggle'ability. A spring's springy'ness or compliance is measurable, hang weigth from it and it extends only so far, it has a resonant frequency, etc. these are all properties of the muscles and tendons in your "running chain" .
The beauty of the springiness of your legs is that it's variable. The engagement of muscles change tension, resonance, compliance of this spring. It's a wonderful thing!
Have you ever tried to run on a trampoline? There's only one slow speed you can go other wise the springiness of the trampoline will push back so hard it can drive your knee into a tooth! This is what's happening when you add 'springs' in series with your running chain. Why would I insert a spring? It's what you're doing when adding a springy cushion under your foot, or running on a rubber track, or spring loaded treadmill. Cascading these compliances adds to your work load. You are now in charge of absorbing your weight, absorbing energy returned at a different rate due to these dissimilar cascaded resonances.
Remove the cushions and you will see! It's less work, more economical, and more conducive to long term injury-free running. (...more to come). | <urn:uuid:22a5b35b-a400-4b8c-b38c-a8d8f7173e3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paleorunners.blogspot.com/2011/09/dynamical-analogies.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 | 0.937095 | 338 | 1.703125 | 2 |
The lives of five patients with mutiple sclerosis will be chronicled online as part of a new program jointly developed by the National MS Society and Sanofi's Genzyme unit. The program, called Everyday Matters, chose the patients from a pool of 1,200 entries to receive individual support as they share experiences.
Organizers say they will seek to engage and inspire those living with or affected by MS by tapping into the field of positive psychology, drawing on the achievements of the patients to help inspire others. Patients will be tracked through a combination of personal text, video, and photo journals, all to be showcased on the website everydayMSmatters.org.
The patients -- who include a school teacher and single mom -- will focus on the top five aspects of life, as identified by MS patients in a June 2012 poll by the society: wellness, work/education, relationships, family and empowerment. Emmy-winning producer Kristen Adams, herself an individual living with MS, will help film the stories. A life coach who also has MS, Michelle Clos, will provide one-on-one coaching, and best-selling author of The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor, will guide efforts.
The site will also offer general resources, including toolkits that address the five core concerns highlighted in the MS society's survey.
“I know first-hand that ‘staying positive' can become that much more challenging after being diagnosed with a chronic and unpredictable disease like MS,” Clos said in a statement.
In June Genzyme submitted Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), for relapsing MS treatment, to the FDA and European regulators. An annual injection, the drug would compete against MS treatments like Novartis' Gilenya (fingolimod), Teva's Copaxone (glatiramer) and Biogen-Idec's Tysabri (natalizumab). | <urn:uuid:aec47eca-94b9-4654-a178-841a8f42a0b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mmm-online.com/genzyme-backed-program-to-chronicle-lives-of-patients-with-ms/printarticle/253220/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946093 | 394 | 1.703125 | 2 |
[ Much More Than Hot Air ]
Helium Shortage Looms: Florists and Balloonists Find the Cost Floating Out of Reach
Published: Friday, January 4, 2013 at 11:43 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, January 4, 2013 at 11:43 p.m.
Francey Freeman has seen the cost of doing business go sky-high.
Prices for buying helium to fill balloons and rental tanks at her Balloons Fantastique in Fort Worth, Texas, have dramatically increased in the past year, because of a worldwide shortage of the lighter-than-air gas.
"Prices have quadrupled," she said. "And the price just went up again a couple of weeks ago. The more prices go up, the less people are able to get it. Thank goodness I can still get it. I don't know what I would do if they told me one day I couldn't get any more."
Freeman is among the many florists and balloonists nationwide finding it harder to do business because the supply of helium — a tasteless, odorless, colorless gas that inflates balloons and cools MRI machines — is not just getting more costly, but also harder to find.
Texas is home to the country's only Federal Helium Reserve, a site outside Amarillo where more than one-third of the world's helium supply is produced, and the federal government has worked for years to deplete that supply.
More than 15 years ago, Congress created a law requiring reserve officials to sell off their helium — therefore privatizing the helium industry — by 2015.
Now, some congressional leaders are trying to prevent the reserve from depleting its helium supply and closing its doors.
But with other issues to handle, preventing the helium shortage from getting worse may not be a top priority.
"We cannot let our national helium supply float away," said U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y.
Although it's the second-most-abundant element in the universe, helium is running out.
The bulk of the world's helium supply — which also is used in medical scanners, LCD screens, welding, electronics, metals, fiber optics, high-tech computer chips, aerospace and research — is created through natural radioactive decay and can't be created artificially.
Federal officials created a federal helium program in 1925 to make sure they had adequate supplies of the gas for medicinal purposes, research and defense.
Although various sites throughout the state supplied helium through the years, the remaining site — an underground geological formation that stores crude helium — is about 15 miles northwest of Amarillo.
Workers there retrieve helium and pump it to customers connected to a nearly 450-mile pipeline that stretches from the Texas Panhandle through Oklahoma and to Kansas.
Some projections show there are about 11 billion cubic feet of helium at the North Texas facility — less than half what was once there. Workers there have said they likely won't be able to sell off all the helium by 2015, but 2020 might be a reasonable target.
Several congressional leaders spoke out this year in support of proposals to prevent the helium reserve from closing soon.
"American manufacturing, high-tech and medical industries are already struggling to deal with helium shortages and cannot afford to have a devastating disruption in the market," Schumer said. "If Congress does not act quickly, the key job-creating industries will face very real economic troubles."
Recently, U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., released a discussion draft of the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act — geared to put in place "a common-sense plan" to sell helium from the reserve "in a responsible manner."
But when only 3 billion cubic feet of helium remains, the last of it would be used for "federal national security and scientific needs," according to Hastings' proposal.
Many dollar and grocery stores no longer carry helium tanks to sell helium-filled balloon. And those who are still in the business are definitely feeling a pinch in their pocketbooks.
Freeman said a 240-cubic-foot helium-filled tank that she once rented out for $60 now goes for $175.
And a batch of 12 helium-filled balloons, which for years was $10.50, now costs $15.
But she creates a lot of balloon displays with air, so she may not use as much helium as some others.
"I don't know what to think about the increase," she said. "We have to go day to day."
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:b5266288-f335-4f50-a82f-664e63a78e03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theledger.com/article/20130104/MCT/130109745/1001/news36?Title=Helium-Shortage-Looms-Florists-and-Balloonists-Find-the-Cost-Floating-Out-of-Reach | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957541 | 961 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Reclaiming La Belle
PETER FIX ’87
When a ship has lain on the ocean floor for centuries, it has much in common with a brittle eighty-year-old whose bones could snap under everyday stress. So when the seventeenth-century frigate La Belle was recovered off the Texas coast fifteen years ago, it created an enormous challenge for nautical archeologist Peter Fix ’87. He’s spent more than twelve years working to preserve her remains.
The French ship, which went down in a winter storm in 1686, was presumed lost until GPS technology combined with information from seventeenth-century French and Spanish documents finally located the wreck. And it wasn’t just any wreck. La Belle was part of a four-ship fleet headed by René LaSalle, the explorer who had claimed the Louisiana Territory for France.
Two challenges confronted Fix, the assistant director for maritime archeology and conservation at Texas A&M University. He had to find a way to dry out and preserve the ship’s nearly four hundred wooden components, including the long curved beams that formed her ribs. And he had to come up with an unobtrusive support system that would allow a museum to display the ship while reducing stress on her fragile structure.
Air-drying the waterlogged remains would have warped, twisted, and cracked them, so the conservation team planned to soak her parts in a bath of polyethylene glycol, a form of wax derived from petroleum. “But when oil reached $140 a barrel, we saw a 300 percent increase in cost,” says Fix. And, he added, “Money’s tight.” The plan was modified to use roughly one-tenth as much polyethylene glycol, supplemented by a process that would freeze-dry the remains using the same technology used to freeze-dry coffee. The work will be done in a chamber forty feet long and eight feet in diameter. “Our goal is to remove the water using the gentlest method possible,” Fix says. In the meantime, the remains are kept submerged in a pool of purified water with a low percentage of polyethylene glycol.
Once the wood has been dried and stabilized, it can be reassembled, though reassembly presents a problem as well. When built, the ship’s components supported one another and held the frigate together. But even with preservation, the rescued pieces will be much too brittle to do that. So Fix developed a system of fiberglass bolts with a support system of carbon fiber and fiberglass that can hold La Belle together but won’t block the view of observers.
Fix grew up near Mystic, Connecticut, home of Mystic Seaport, the nation’s premiere maritime museum, where he worked before and during his years at Allegheny. After graduating with his degree in history, he settled on a career in nautical archeology and chose the highly rated program at Texas A&M. He is now finishing his Ph.D. while working for the university’s world-class conservation program.
Since the planet’s oceans are littered with sunken vessel, Fix’s playing field is global, and his work takes him both far from his Texas base and well below the ocean surface.
“We go where the wrecks are,” Fix says. “If that happens to be in Indonesia, or the Aegean, that’s where you’ll find us.”
— D O U G M c I N N I S | <urn:uuid:83e1ad79-5a9a-4462-804d-3ee1cfbfffc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sites.allegheny.edu/magazine/spring-2010/reclaiming-la-belle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969386 | 741 | 3.015625 | 3 |
In 2003, there was a massive widespread power outage that became known as the Northeast Blackout. It occurred throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S. and Ontario, Canada on Thursday, August 14, 2003, at approximately 4:11pm EDT. At the time, it was the second most widespread electrical blackout in history, after the 1999 Southern Brazil blackout. It affected an estimated 10-million people in Ontario and 45-million in eight U.S. states. Also shutting down were 265 power plants.
The increased demand triggered by the blackout left many circuits overloaded. Water systems in several cities lost pressure. Cellular service was interrupted as mobile networks overloaded with an increased volume in calls. Major League baseball games, aiports, even Wall Street and the United Nations were shut down. In areas where power remained off after nightfall, the Milky Way and orbiting artificial satellites became visible to the naked eye in metropolitan areas where they ordinarily cannot be seen due to the effects of light pollution.
Who pulled the plug? A 2004 report from the U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force stated that a generating plant in Eastlake, Ohio went offline amid high electrical demand, putting a strain on high-voltage power lines which later went out of service when they came in contact with "overgrown trees." The cascasding effect resulted from a software bug that stalled a control room alarm system. The rest is history. | <urn:uuid:291a73e5-07eb-4ec6-a5f0-e0c155555df7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imakenews.com/liveresponse1/e_article001858301.cfm?x=b11,0,w | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97094 | 291 | 3.40625 | 3 |
The value of teachers
Everyone should have in their lives at least one teacher who finds the spark that starts the bonfire.
In Professor Diane Mayer’s case, it was a teacher in a two class-room school in the one pub town of Ilfracombe, a dot on the map in western Queensland.
“My education up until then had been at home with my mother and via School of the Air,” she says.
“I lived on an isolated sheep station near Longreach where my father was the manager.
“Then I went to live with my grand parents so I could attend this tiny little school in Ilfracombe.
“Having come from such an isolated early childhood, I was very shy and it took me a long while to settle in, to become comfortable being around the other students.
“Fortunately for me, there was this teacher who stayed back after school to help me with my reading and to find out what else I could do.
“From that, well I guess that was the start of the process that enabled me to go to secondary school, to teachers college and then ultimately to University.
“I am the first member of my extended family to get a PhD.”
So it’s not surprising then, all these years on, Professor Mayer – now the Head of Deakin University’s School of Education – has such a passionate belief about the importance to a globalised society – to a smooth working democracy - of properly trained, professional teachers and their ability to “value add”.
So passionate in fact that she is now determined to put an undeniable measure on that “value addedness”.
“There is not a lot of funding available for research in teacher education, not in the way there is for science or medicine for instance,” she explains.
“That means that teacher educators often research the effectiveness of their own programs in small projects. The result is that policy makers can easily reject that research on the basis that it is serving only the interests of the person doing it and that such small projects are not generalisable. Also, these small projects sometimes even produce findings that are at odds with each other. This is something that policy makers don’t easily cope with.
“What we have decided to do at Deakin University, with the Victorian Council of Deans of Education, the Victorian Department of Education and the Victorian Institute of Teaching, is to undertake a large scale research project to examine the ‘value-addedness’ of teacher education.
“We want to first define what the value added nature of professional, properly trained teachers might be, then we want to work out ways to measure it.
“These things are never easy, which is why education is always such a hot topic, but we can make it that important step easier if we know what it is we are looking for.
“Because everyone has been to school, they feel they know something about what it means to be a good teacher, whether they’re politicians or other community leaders.
“However what worked, or didn’t work for them as students, might not be the appropriate method for everyone. The transition from thinking about teaching as a student to thinking about teaching as a teacher is huge and largely underestimated.
“So what we want to do is to work out ways that we can look at a range of approaches to learning to teach and effective teaching, and develop a method that is able to identify what it is that highly trained and effective teachers add, in terms of student learning outcomes.
“If you can put those sorts of hard ideas and measurements to the policy makers, who have all sorts of other pressure on them as well, some political, some financial, than you have a better chance of getting your argument across.”
Professor Mayer is keen to get the project up and running as quickly as possible because of what she sees as an impending move to “de-professionalise” teaching.
“This is happening overseas, and I saw it during my time in the US when I was at UC Berkeley,” she said.
“In some areas, particularly like the Bay Area around San Francisco and UC Berkeley, there is a significant shortage of qualified teachers. The argument is that a person with minimal or no teaching qualifications is better than no one at all.
“However, there is a danger associated with this. Some very committed teachers will work incredibly hard and make it work no matter what, because they are so committed to these communities. Policy makers can then be seduced into thinking that no or minimal qualification is okay using the argument that some students are learning just as well as those in classes of more highly qualified teachers. Unfortunately, these people burn out very quickly and are lost to the profession.
“And because of the lack of preparation, these “de-professionalised” teachers are made to work within very strict teaching programs. They are required to follow scripted curricula with detailed lesson plans that must be enacted just as they are written, irrespective of the context within which the lesson is being taught.
“This is not conducive to the sorts of learning we want our young people to have, where an experienced, well-qualified professional teacher draws on a wide range of knowledge and skills and uses their professional judgement to ensure optimum learning experiences for all students in their care.
“There is a danger with this approach of more and more students falling off the edge. The schooling system will fail them. In addition, a formulaic approach to teaching and learning will not ensure we are preparing future citizens with the knowledge and skills to fully participate in a democratic society.”
Professor Mayer says there is no doubt that this “de-professionalising” of teaching is creeping into Australia.
“So it is vital we are able to present to policy makers important information detailing the advantages to the nation of having highly trained teachers,” she says.
“To put our arguments clearly and concisely to the policy makers, we need to have the sort of research that says these are the things that properly trained, professional teachers provide and this is how we measure that. And that’s going to be a key part of this incredibly important research partnership.”
And after spending time at a research rich university like Berkeley you can sense its exactly the sort of hard-edge research she wants to see Deakin involved in.
“Berkeley was an amazing experience,” she said. “A long, long way from School of the Air or that class room in Ilfracombe, where incidentally, I grew up in the same house as the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce.
“Her family lived in the house before my grand parents did.”
These days the girl from the Queensland bush via San Francisco lives in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Richmond.
She hasn’t yet decided for which footy team she will barrack. However, she has taken the first step. Professor Mayer understands that having a footy team is an essential part of the Victorian milieu.
“I was told that when I crossed the border into Victoria that I would have to have a footy team,” she laughed. “I haven’t got that far yet, but I have really enjoyed being at Deakin. It’s hard work, but exciting.”
And exciting enough hard work that will make worthwhile burning the midnight oil as she combines big picture research ambitions with her role as Head of School.
Especially if it continues to help produce the next generations of professional, highly-trained teachers who can find the spark that produces the bonfire.
For further information on Professor Mayer and her research: | <urn:uuid:e7ad5485-ddd4-4961-8176-fd13e1e657fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gsdm.com.au/newsletters/deakin/Mar09/8.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972264 | 1,622 | 2.265625 | 2 |
As economic troubles continue, close to half of people surveyed say they are scrimping on health care, according to the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Good information is key to making choices about where to save.
In order to increase the availability of that information, the Center for Advancing Health is taking its news service mobile.
With $150,000 in support from Knight Foundation, the center’s Health Behavior News Service will digitize its news for mobile access and revamp its website.
The health news service creates news stories on the latest findings from peer-reviewed research journals and disseminates them worldwide to subscribed journalists.
Its goal is to present emerging health sciences evidence for audiences to use to make informed choices about health and health care.
Although other resources provide health information, the Health Behavior News Service does not include the advertising or product promotion that some say promotes bias.
By digitizing content and making it easily accessible, it will enable the center “to tailor and target dissemination of the information it produces to provide the right health information at the right time to help people make informed decisions,” said Jessie Gruman, the center’s president.
Based in Washington, D.C., Center for Advancing Health conducts research, communicates its findings and advocates for policies that support the ability of people to benefit from advances in health sciences. | <urn:uuid:85522de3-6a1d-454c-a187-89a0241bfb1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2012/2/8/health-news-service-goes-mobile-increasing-availability-information/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93185 | 275 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Posts Tagged ‘Catholic University of the Sudan’
With over four decades on the continent, Jesuit Father Mike Schultheis has devoted himself to providing Catholic higher education across Africa including stints in Uganda and Tanzania. In the 1990s, he taught economics at the Catholic University of Mozambique, established its first graduate degree and founded a research and documentation center. He also was the first president of the Catholic University of Ghana. All of his previous educational apostolic work led him to his latest initiative of opening the Catholic University of the Sudan two years ago.
With educational opportunities in Sudan being among the worst in the world and adult literacy below 30 percent, Schultheis realizes that the Catholic University of the Sudan is a critical component in moving the country forward after almost 25 years of civil war. The founding of the university also comes at a critical time for the nation as it prepares for a historic vote in 2011 to decide if Sudan stays united or becomes two countries.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference established the Catholic University of the Sudan as a centerpiece of their national program to help the country recover from decades of violence, famine and mass displacement of people. The vision for the university and its development goes back even farther, to half a century ago, soon after Sudan’s independence from Britain in 1956. The idea for the university was discussed again when former Sudanese president Jafaar Nimeiry met with Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1983, just months before a civil war broke out in the county and dashed the university project yet again.
“The Catholic University of the Sudan, as a national institution, is a dream long deferred,” explains Schultheis. “
You can read more about the new Catholic University of the Sudan here. You can also watch the interview with Fr. Schultheis on the progress of the Catholic University of the Sudan produced by National Jesuit News last year when the school launched its second faculty of agricultural and environmental sciences in Wau. | <urn:uuid:bcc12a1f-aaef-45d8-b93a-c82790536e5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jesuit.org/blog/index.php/tag/catholic-university-of-the-sudan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950564 | 409 | 1.898438 | 2 |
You record is kept on a secure database that is maintained by the NHS in Hampshire. The data is never sent to other areas or companies outside the local NHS.
Access to the records is restricted to registered clinicians treating Hampshire patients and is only accessed through the secure NHS Network.
Viewing the record is only allowed with explicit consent from you. This means that you have to give permission for each person to access your record. This can be given for a once only view (i.e. at an Out Patient appointment) or for a period of time (i.e. when a District Nurse is treating you regularly). You can change your mind about this at any time.
The only time a clinician would be able to view this information without your permission is if you were unable to give this and there was a medical reason to see your record; for example if you were unconscious after an accident. If this did happen the clinician would have to give the reason why they accessed your record without your permission.
In all cases clinicians are aware that they will face disciplinary action if they misuse this service and may even lose their job.
Once the clinician has gained your consent, further controls, called Role Based Access Controls, ensures that they only see the type of information that is suitable for their job role.
On occasions, in order to help interpret the results of your laboratory tests, Pathology or Radiology specialists may need to access your care record - for example to see if any medicines you are taking or if you have any pre-existing conditions which may be affecting the results. This is no different from any other Healthcare Professional involved in your direct care accessing your health records for the purpose of delivering your healthcare. By agreeing to the test(s) you are also agreeing to the pathology specialists accessing your medical record where they feel this is appropriate.
Every time anyone accesses your record and views any part of it a record is kept of who they were and what they did. This Audit Trail is regularly reviewed and is also available for you to see. If you would like to see the Audit Trail for your record then please contact the Hampshire Health Record Operational Team for more information.
Overall responsibility for the record is held by the Caldicott Guardians for the Hampshire Health Record. A Caldicott Guardian is a senior clinician or doctor who is governed by a strict set of rules and is responsible for ensuring your records are safe and only used to provide you with health care.
The Security and Consent Framework document identifies the data security and confidentiality arrangements in place to protect patient data within the Hampshire Health Record. | <urn:uuid:39c45bfb-63ab-4036-98d0-e1c82102988d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hantshealthrecord.nhs.uk/securityconsent/?vAction=swpTextOnly | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963359 | 528 | 1.609375 | 2 |
About the Texas Mid-coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex
The Texas Mid-coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex comprises four National Wildlife Refuges located in Brazoria and Matagorda Counties, Texas:
Refuge habitats are made up of salt water, fresh water and brackish wetlands. In addition, there are prairies, woody thickets, salt and mud flats, and lakes and streams. These wetlands provide a safe home for many plants and animals. Many animals use the refuges as a stopover during their migration or as a home-away-from-home during the winter months. Over 425 species of wildlife use the refuges during all or part of their life cycle. The Friends of the Brazoria Refuges invites you to tour the refuges online and then in person.
About Friends of Brazoria Wildlife Refuges
The Friends of Brazoria Wildlife Refuges is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Brazoria, San Bernard and Big Boggy National Wildlife Refuges. We raise funding through donations, grants, and gifts to help fund wildlife refuge projects, educational programs, and other activities. Members of our group are dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly at our area refuges and with our community.
Our activities include:
- Construction of public use facilities at the refuges.
- Discovery Environmental Education Program (DEEP) through school and summer programs.
- Clean-up efforts at the refuges.
- Hosting the annual spring Migration Celebration.
- Promoting public awareness of our areas refuges and wildlife.
- Publishing a quarterly news letter.
- Fundraising for refuge projects and programs.
- Participating in data gathering and bird counts.
Friends of Brazoria Refuges is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization governed by an eleven-member volunteer board composed of persons who represent those interested in conservation, education and the natural environment. | <urn:uuid:153294e1-e89c-4a04-bb77-2eaa37c63497> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.refugefriends.org/homepage.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917744 | 402 | 2.6875 | 3 |
[Nav] is working on a scratch-built wristwatch. Although it is based on an MSP430 microcontroller, it’s not the ready-to-hack ezCronos that you might be thinking of. Instead, [Nav] started with a different TI development tool that we’ve looked at before, the ez430-F2013.
The breakout board for the F2013 is small enough to meet his needs, but still provides easy soldering with 0.1″ vias that break out each pin. To make sure the timepiece is accurate he added a 32.768 kHz clock crystal. A small, square, LCD screen acts as the face of the watch, but we didn’t find specific part information for the display.
Currently the watch can run for a few days on the CR2032. We’d bet some work with sleep modes for the microcontroller can help with that. The watch has a couple of buttons that let you control it, and [Nav] discovered that he could fit everything into the watch case for an iPod nano. That’s creative!
We’ve seen other hacks with tiny batteries. The next logical step here would be to swap out the disposable coin cell for something that can be topped off with an external charger. | <urn:uuid:ae72895c-14ee-4b89-bfbc-b08f6e21d6c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hackaday.com/2011/09/28/msp430-based-wristwatch-project/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=ca20eaf6a9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948862 | 270 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Sun JDK vs OpenJDK - Sun JRE vs OpenJDK JRE
David.Herron at Sun.COM
Sat Sep 13 11:36:21 PDT 2008
Dalibor Topic wrote:
> Geir Magnusson Jr. wrote:
>>> * they contain Sun's own proprietary code that has not been / could not
>>> be opened up so far
>> Like what? And why can't it be opened up?
> The old plugin, for example. One could go and invest money and time into
> readying it up for an open source release, but from an economic
> perspective, given that the code has been rewritten for 6u10, it may be
> hard to justify spending resources to do the legal and technical work on
> liberating the old plugin, I think.
>>> b) deployment code:
>> Seriously though... why not just OSS it?
> Companies traditionally have processes, accountability, and all that
> interesting stuff, which all take a little while to maneuver through to
> make sure the right things happen in the right way with all the right
> people participating.
> Given that the new deployment code wasn't started and developed in the
> open, it means a lot of the decisions that may appear obvious from
> outside have to be made explicitly and carry a non-trivial
> implementation cost, for example in lawyer-time, or syncing between
> OpenJDK 7 and Closed 6 - so there is a pretty good economic argument to
> be made for finishing off the work on 6u10 first, and getting the new
> deployment code out of 'beta', before a decision to push it into the
> OpenJDK 7 tree can be made.
As was answered a couple days ago there isn't a specific plan at this
time to open source either the new or old plugin/JWS.
However it sure seems that the most expedient path is for the new
plugin/JWS to be open sourced and not bother to open source the old
plugin/JWS. It takes a tremendous amount of time and people resources
to work through the open sourcing process.
There are other 3rd party encumbrances used to build the ClosedJDK6/7
code. I don't have a precise list of them but if you had studied the
binary plugs we shipped last year it should give you a hint or two about
the nature of those 3rd party encumbrances. (graphics, fonts, sound,
Among the consideration of 3rd party encumbrances is whether an open
source equivalent is a) available, b) as good quality, c) has as small a
footprint, d) executes as rapidly, e) has as few security holes, ...
>> Is the latter true? I've never been able to grok where the JDK 7
>> stuff comes from. I'd have thought all work would be done out here in
>> the opendjk community (after all, it's been *years* since Sun
>> announced the project...) but...
> The encumbered third party stuff will need to linger around for the life
> time of Closed 6, and that implies some Sun repo where the maintenance
> work on the encumbered stuff is done, and feeds into Closed 6 releases
> containing it.
It's not just ClosedJDK6 which would continue having encumbered 3rd
party code. Until there are encumbrance replacements which are as good
as the encumbered code it will continue to appear to be "better" to use
the encumbered code in the productized JDK build.
>> I don't know about VisualVM, but the rest is free/open software. Why
>> not just include those as well?
More information about the discuss | <urn:uuid:22fdab0a-e30d-4194-b9e5-30cceec9bb14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/discuss/2008-September/000873.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951504 | 805 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Conservative Halakhah and Homosexuality
An insider's view of the 2006 CJLS gay vote.
On December 6, 2006, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly completed its deliberation regarding ordination of gay men and lesbians and same-sex commitment ceremonies. After years of debate, the committee endorsed teshuvot (papers) both reaffirming the status quo and affirming change. The result of the committee's vote means that rabbis, synagogues, and other Conservative institutions may choose to continue to not permit commitment ceremonies and not hire openly gay or lesbian rabbis and cantors, or may choose to do so. Both positions are considered valid. Below, Rabbi Daniel Nevins reflects on his part in this process.
For the past four years, I have spent many of my spare hours reading the voluminous literature on what Judaism has to say about homosexuality. The early record is quite clear and literally forbidding. For two men to lie together like the "lyings of a woman" (understood in the Talmud to mean anal sex), is called "abhorrent" by the Torah, and prohibited under penalty of death (Leviticus 18:22). Rabbinic law greatly expanded upon this prohibition, banning other forms of sexual intimacy between men, and also sexual intimacy between women.
This much is clear. Less obvious was what the Torah, and then the Talmud, expected of homosexuals. The tradition seems to assume that this ban would lead them back into heterosexual marriages, and indeed, for centuries many gay and lesbian people have done just that.
In recent decades, we have learned a great deal about sexual orientation, though much more remains unknown. We do not know why some people develop a heterosexual orientation, why others are attracted only to those of the same sex, and why yet others are attracted to men and women.
What we do know is that there is no effective way for most people who are homosexual to become heterosexual. Those who try often "fail" this ill-advised therapy, resulting in depression and suicidal thinking, as well as anguish for their spouses and children. Does Judaism have anything to say to this state of affairs?
That was the real question behind the Conservative Movement's recent four-year process of study and debate on the subject of homosexuality and halakhah (Jewish law).
Past Conservative Policy
In 1992, when I was still in rabbinical school at JTS, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly (CJLS) debated the subject and emerged with a consensus statement that was self-contradictory. It proclaimed a broad welcome for gay and lesbian Jews, but denied recognition of their committed relationships, their ordination as clergy, and even their functioning in other "leadership roles." | <urn:uuid:2343b921-1057-4b2c-b7e7-2991492024eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myjewishlearning.com/life/Sex_and_Sexuality/Homosexuality/Homosexuality_and_Halakhah/Conservative_Halakhah.shtml?LFSS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965694 | 572 | 2.125 | 2 |
The so-called “Canadian cannibal porn star”, Luke Magnotta has finally been apprehended. His actions to date provide a classic case study of the reasons why society needs to make tackling animal cruelty a far higher priority. Magnotta began by torturing and killing animals, and now he’s doing the same to humans: if his attacks on animals had been dealt with effectively, he might never have become a murderer.
Cruelty to animals is important to many of us because of the simple fact that animals are sentient beings: to us, it’s a given that animals should not be allowed to suffer. Unfortunately, there are many in society who disagree: animals rank low on the scale of importance. If it came to a vote, it’s likely that “animal lovers” would be in a minority. As a result, calls for greater attention to animal welfare often go unheard: human concerns trump animal welfare issues.
This can be frustrating for those who are passionate about animal welfare, but rather than just moaning about it, perhaps we can use these facts to our best possible advantage, by seeking out reasons why the human race can benefit from improving animal welfare. The link between animal abuse and physical abuse of other humans in the same household is now well established: in a study of shelters for victims of domestic violence, more than 85 percent of those interviewed reported incidents of cruelty to animals. Nowadays, whenever vets see cases of “non-accidental injury” in pets, we know that there’s a serious risk that humans in the same household could be at risk of physical violence. In some parts of the world, vets are legally obliged to report such incidents to social services authorities.
The reason for this link is thought to be a phenomenon known as the “erosion of empathy”. Most humans feel some empathy towards animals: we have an innate sense that it’s wrong to cause them to suffer. The problem starts when individuals take that relatively small step of deliberately causing pain to an animal. Once this moral hurdle has been stepped over, it’s much easier to go on to cause pain to humans. Researchers believe that some people develop “impaired systems of empathy” which can lead to increasing levels of cruelty to both animals and humans.
Many serial killers start their murderous careers by killing animals: Jeffrey Dahmer impaled the heads of cats and dogs on sticks. The self-named Crossbow Cannibal from Bradford was reported to keep large lizards which he fed on live rodents.
And now there’s Luke Magnotta: six months ago, videos were circulated of a live kitten being fed to a snake. The Sun newspaper tracked down Magnotta as the likely culprit but could not definitively prove his involvement. Nonetheless, they informed London police of their concerns. Despite these events, Magnotta was not apprehended.
For the sake of humans, as well as for the animals themselves, isn’t it time that society started to take animal cruelty more seriously? | <urn:uuid:ada6b2a9-8ecd-42ff-91de-bd68c8aa9815> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/tag/animal-welfare/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960977 | 621 | 2.25 | 2 |
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Astronaut Ilan Ramon felt as a representative of the Jewish people:
· He took into space a mezuzah with a Star of David, a microfiche of the Bible and a tiny Torah scroll.
· He used to carry a Star of David on his shirtsleeve.
· He was not religious but he decided to eat kosher food in space.
Rabbi Shraga Simmons wrote:
After the tragedy, I saw an editorial cartoon that depicted a father and son, gazing at the night sky. Seven stars dotted the heavens -- six regular stars, and one Star of David. As the father placed his arm around the boy's shoulder, he pointed to the Star of David and explained: "That one is Ilan Ramon. | <urn:uuid:c500c051-eb47-4412-b68c-bd8ecba12d9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://star-of-david.blogspot.com/2007_03_15_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972486 | 164 | 2 | 2 |
From the Field
Mon, 2012-11-26 08:45 | by Nikki
It isn’t easy to run a 24 hour rescue program; it is even more daunting in a city like Delhi. Many might believe in a city with millions of people that there wouldn’t be much wildlife. However, that isn’t the case. Therefore, Wildlife SOS is here to help when people and wildlife unexpectedly collide.
Mon, 2012-11-26 05:58 | by Nikki
In 2009, Wildlife SOS along with an international NGO coalition was able to bring an effective end to the dancing bear trade in India. However, other threats to bears in India remain. Read more »
Sun, 2012-11-04 20:07 | by Nikki
Read the newspapers story about 3 rescued cubs who were reunited with their mother.
Fri, 2012-10-26 11:48 | by Nikki
Dr. Ilayaraja recently attended the ‘Asian Meeting on Zoo and Wildlife Medicine/Conservation’ in Bangkok, Thailand. He presented several veterinary papers on some medical findings Wildlife SOS has made with treating rescued ‘dancing bears’ and elephants. The papers included the wound healing of a severely injured and malnourished elephant, as well as two case studies on sloth bears, one diagnosed with a rare eye pathology and another diagnosed with Trichobezoar (hairball). Dr. Read more »
Thu, 2012-10-18 11:43 | by Nikki
Working with elephants is a dream that many people have. But what is it really like to work with an animal that can weigh more than five tons or 5,000 kg? We bring you our 4th interview in a series that we are doing on the people who make the work of Wildlife SOS possible. This one is with Dr. Yaduraj, who is the Senior Wildlife Veterinary Officer, for Wildlife SOS. He is well known for his magic touch, patience and compassion that he employs when working with rescued animals. Read more »
Fri, 2012-10-12 09:14 | by Nikki
By Jordan Schaul
Read the full story of how the 'dancing bear problem' was solved.
Sat, 2012-10-06 11:06 | by Nikki
This is the third interview in a series that we are doing on the great people who make the work at Wildlife SOS possible. This interview is with Dr. Raja, who is the Senior Veterinary Officer, at the Agra Bear Rescue Facility. His dedication has kept our bears healthy and happy and we are very grateful to his contribution and commitment to ending the suffering of 'dancing bears' in India. Read more » | <urn:uuid:0e47bd54-746b-402e-9dbb-944c7a98dad9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wildlifesos.org/blog?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967897 | 552 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Northeast Coast - north of Cape St. John: Ice Conditions
Ice ForecastsIssued 12:40 PM EDT 19 May 2013 Today Tonight and Monday
Ice EdgeFirst ice edge estimated from Newfoundland near 5010N 5610W to 5030N
5530W to Newfoundland near to 5050N 5600W. Sea ice west of the ice
Second ice edge estimated from Labrador near 5155N 5600W to 5150N
5500W to 5300N 5130W to 5525N 5130W to 5600N 5600W to 5800N 5830W
then northward. Sea ice west of the ice edge.
Ice CoverageBergy water except 3 tenths of first-year ice including a trace of
old ice in one patch near the southern portion of northern peninsula.
Iceberg BulletinIssued 11:00 AM EDT 19 May 2013
Iceberg LimitIceberg limit at 0000 UTC estimated from Newfoundland near 4645N
5305W to 4630N 5145W to 4730N 4630W to 4830N 4615W to 5130N 4745W to
5530N 5115W to 6000N 5845W.
Western iceberg limit at 0000 UTC estimated from Quebec near 5015N
6325W to Newfoundland near 4830N 5915W.
Iceberg CountMore than 100 icebergs.
- Date modified: | <urn:uuid:c3a17847-00f3-4348-b959-da2e1d529358> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weather.gc.ca/marine/iceConditions_e.html?mapID=14&siteID=10601&stationID=YNA | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902642 | 290 | 1.585938 | 2 |
PAUL CEGILA is claiming he owns 84% of Facebook, the social network founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
Cegila says he signed a contract with Zuckerberg for $1,000, and a 50% stake in the firm, in addition to “an additional 1% interest in the business for every day after Jan. 1 2004 until it was completed”. The contract was for web design and developing work.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the contract is for “the purchase and design of a suitable website for the project Seller [Mr. Zuckerberg] has already initiated that is designed to offer the students of Harvard university [sic] access to a wesite [sic] similar to a live functioning yearbook with the working title of ‘The Face Book.”"
The Journal also points out that Cegila’s claim, said to be worth $12bn – $22bn predates the formation of Facebook, and may relate to Zuckerberg’s previous project – Facemash.
A spokesperson for Facebook called the lawsuit ‘frivolous’. | <urn:uuid:dc3b4f72-6aab-4883-adec-06b47d57e0f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thejournal.ie/intellectual-property/news/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957993 | 228 | 1.625 | 2 |
typhus fever, ship fever, jail fever, hospital fever, putrid fever, brain fever, bilious fever, spotted fever, petechial fever, camp fever
Probably referring to ship fever, or typhus. Typhus is an acute, infectious disease caused by one of several micro-organisms transmitted by lice and fleas. It is characterized by acute prostration, high fever, depression, delirium, headache, and an eruption of reddish spots on the body.
Typhus, typhus fever, ship fever | <urn:uuid:d33276e6-190b-432f-9975-e56ebcd9b9ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org/pbho-1/glossary/china-fever | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900843 | 111 | 3.125 | 3 |
A comprehensive national survey of Asian Americans released today by the Pew Research Center offers an interesting insight into the recent Korean-black tension in South Dallas.
In very stark terms, the survey reveals how raw relations really are. About half of Korean-Americans who responded said the two groups get along “not too well or not well at all”, according to the researchers.
“Korean Americans stand out for their negative views on their group’s relations with blacks,” according to the report.
This is not a surprise if you followed the angry protest at the Diamond Shamrock Kwik Stop. As we have written here before, tension between Koreans who set up businesses in black neighborhoods and their African-American patrons are now well into their third decade. Paul Taylor, the executive vice president of the Pew Research Center, referred to this as an “open sore” during a video conference this morning.
Pew illuminates this issue by providing a fuller portrait of Korean Americans. One of the criticisms of Korean business owners offered by black leaders is that they are too insular, too foreign, too removed from the very community in which they set up shop.
The survey results help explain that perception. Compared to other Asian-American groups, Koreans “seem to be more strongly connected to their intra-ethnic communities.”
They are also the most likely to say that “all or most of their friends share the same ethnic heritage.” And they are the most likely to say that it is very important to them that future generations of Koreans living in the U.S. speak their ancestral language.
When asked “Are you a typical American?” 39 percent of Asian Americans said yes while 53 percent said they were “very different.” Korean Americans, by comparison, were the least likely Asian group to say they were typically American (29 percent) and the most likely to say they were very different (63 percent).
Relations between groups is just one facet of this fascinating report. While Asian-Americans are the fastest growing group, their attitudes and perceptions are not broadly analyzed. The many sub-groups make this kind of survey a rare thing. Pew, for example, interviewed 65,000 households to achieve its sample of 3,500. Interviews were conducted in English and in seven other languages. | <urn:uuid:83d373cb-8abd-4c8f-b21b-9450996359d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2012/06/survey-illuminates-korean-black-tension.html/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978872 | 481 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Wikipedia started "first and foremost [as] an effort to create and distribute a free encyclopedia of the highest possible quality." Over the past eight years, the Wikimedia community has created a massive amount of knowledge that is available in a freely sharable format; and the community has been working towards this aspiration of "highest possible quality."
A strategy task force will focus on developing recommendations to improve the quality of Wikipedia as an encyclopedia. While it is true that there are many different types of articles within Wikipedia, some of which fall outside what would "normally" be found in an encyclopedia, at their core, Wikipedias are modeled on and used as encyclopedias; and people who use Wikipedia have a certain expectation of quality. What can be done to continuously improve the quality of Wikipedias to meet this expectation?
Links to analyses, interviews and key data.
Proposals on this topic
What is the content landscape in which Wikimedia operates?
As an online encyclopedia built through mass collaboration, Wikipedia takes a social media approach to a type of content that is still primarily dominated by more traditional media. Therefore, in order to understand the full content landscape in which it (and other Wikimedia projects) operates, it would be helpful to understand both the traditional and social media landscapes, as well as the intersection between the two.
Tom Cross provides one way of starting to think about this hybrid landscape when he states that, “Wikipedia fills the gap between the real-time news media and the slow publication of authoritative encyclopedic resources by providing a central collection point for data about a recent event that is available immediately”.
Below is an updated attempt to map this content landscape, including some of the most prominent participants and the current positioning of several Wikimedia projects:
Trends in online content
While Wikimedia dominates the online reference space, it appears to be positioned between several important online content trends:
- Organizations increasingly relying on social media to provide new ways for people to share real-time information and news
- 367K CNN iReports worldwide
- Facebook now has 250M active members worldwide
- Over 3M tweets are sent per day
- Blogs becoming a mainstream source of opinion, news, and expert information
- 77% of active Internet users read blogs
- There are an avg. of 900K blog posts per day
- Key players expanding the supply of free online books and published works
- >7K free public domain books at Amazon Kindle store
- Google Books will soon distribute work released with Creative Commons licenses
- Increasing momentum behind open educational resources
- California calls for the adoption of digital math and science textbooks
- President Obama proposes investing in free online courses to improve community colleges
What do these trends mean for Wikimedia? What other online content trends should the strategic planning process take into account?
Here is a link to one of the many recent articles about Google Books and Google's latest moves towards expanding its digital library
What is Wikimedia's current position in this content landscape?
Internet growth by region
Data on the size and growth of Wikipedia content
The current number of articles available for a sample of Wikipedias can be seen here:
Article growth over time for these same Wikipedias can be seen here:
Based on the number of new articles per day, English Wikipedia’s content growth rate appears to have been slowing since 2007:
On all language Wikipedias, the different sizes of articles follow a bi-model distribution: many stub and redirect articles, with a smaller peak around the standard size of article, which is 1.5 KB.
Data on content breadth and composition
A study by the researchers at PARC titled “What’s in Wikipedia: Mapping Topics and Conflict Using Socially Annotated Category Structure” brings some data to bear on the question what information is actually contained in English Wikipedia’s 2.96M articles. They found information covering 22M categories, which can be grouped into 11 overall topics with the following distribution and growth (2006–2008):
Culture and the arts is not only the largest topic, and twice the size of the next largest topic, but has also seen the most growth since 2006.
Is this the same for other language Wikipedias? How much content sharing currently goes on (e.g. through translation)?
English Wikipedia’s 2.96M articles, and the fact that the PARC researchers found that content could be mapped to 22M categories, also speak to the breadth of content that mass collaboration has made possible. Information comparing Wikipedia’s content breadth to that of other encyclopedic projects can be found at size comparisons. Some of the comparisons that seem most relevant to English Wikipedia have been updated whenever possible and can be seen here:
Data on "vital articles"
Some people argue, however, that content breadth should not be the true goal of Wikipedia. Instead, Wikipedia should focus on creating and improving the quality of a smaller group of "vital articles" that every encyclopedia needs to have.
Members of the community have been working to create a list of 1,000 "essential articles", or "basic subjects for which Wikipedia should have a corresponding high quality article". The current list of those articles can be seen here
Using a slight different set of topics, here is one way to look at the distribution of these vital articles:
And here is the same list sorted by number of page views
For analysis of the quality of these current articles, please visit the Quality factbase page.
Data on content usage/affinity
Overall page hits per day for the same sample group of Wikipedias can be seen here:
Average page hits per article per day can then be calculated, as is done here:
However, a closer look at the top 1000 pages in en Wikipedia (by average page hits per day for 2009) shows that the top pages get a disproportionate share of page views and starts to hint at what happens as you move down the content "tail". As a note, the top 1000 pages receive 5% of daily page views, while representing significantly less than 1% of total pages.
Note: "Special", "Portal", and "Wikipedia" pages (e.g. Main Page, Search, Citation Needed) have been removed from these calculations in order to focus in on content that is being viewed. Obvious redirects to other sites (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace) have also been removed for the same reason.
For the following analysis, the top 100 pages (by average daily page hits) for a sample of language Wikipedias were assigned to a set of general categories, with the following results:
As a note, all "Special", "Search" and "Portal" pages were removed from the analysis in an attempt to isolate the actual content that users are viewing.
Who is creating Wikipedia content?
The following analysis comes from Jose Felipe Ortega Soto - Wikipedia: A Quantitative Analysis.
Most articles receive only a few contributions, with a few articles attracting the majority of contributions.
Articles that reach featured status tend to be edited by experienced users. Most contributors to featured articles have between 300 and 1000 days of experience on Wikipedia.
Editors are less likely to leave Wikipedia if they are contributing to featured articles. This statistic is much higher if they are contributing to featured articles and talk pages.
What options does Wikimedia have for extending the scope of its content?
A preliminary list of broad options includes:
- Continuing to expand content breadth and diversity (within and across languages)
- Expanding the depth of existing content
- Expanding the support for research on Wikiversity to include research other than content related
- Expanding to different types of content (different forms of content, for different users)
- Opening new communities where existing communities have chosen to limit their market, to capture other market segments. E.g. Wikibooks limit to Text-books
What initiatives could Wikimedia consider to support this scope extension?
A preliminary list includes:
- Content donations
- Content partnerships (e.g. with content institutions or other online encyclopedias)
- Providing incentives for the community to focus content creation efforts
What is the potential impact of these content initiatives?
- Adding more content while the number of frequent editors (>100) stagnates means to worsen the articles-per-frequent-editor ratio ("AFE ratio"). The English language edition is a prominent example for the consequences: if the AFE ratio goes beyond a certain value, the community is not longer able to guarantee the reliability of the content (vandalism free); the online-ecosystem gets out of control.
The articles-per-frequent-editor ratio ("AFE ratio") answers the question: "How many articles have to be controlled by one core community member?"
- Current AFE ratios (May 2009)
|Language edition||Articles (ch>200)||Frequent editors (e>100)||AFE ratio (smaller=better)|
- Increasing the Market Segments approached by the service, might have the effect of increasing the pool of editors by capturing editors not currently attracted, due to market penetration.
- Cross, Tom, "Puppy smoothies: Improving the reliability of open, collaborative wikis" http://outreach.lib.uic.edu/www/issues/issue11_9/cross/index.html
- Statistics from
- Wikipedia: Statistics
- Jose Felipe Ortega Soto - Wikipedia: A Quantitative Analysis | <urn:uuid:131a2c38-b4d1-465c-802c-fa9a1182160a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_quality | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903301 | 1,976 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Africa is living through a human rights crisis and a crisis for human rights. It is impossible to locate any African country in which the hope held out by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), or any of the standards that have mushroomed under it, is not habitually assaulted by a combination of abuse of public power, private privilege, and resulting popular destitution.
While Africa’s human rights problems are immense, even ubiquitous, most of our people do not describe their problems in human rights terms. Many communities and groups involved in social justice movements and initiatives in Africa are reluctant to make the Universal Declaration, or language inspired by it, their mascot or medium. To seek to explain this by reference to the high illiteracy level in Africa—itself a denial of several human rights—is to avoid the problem. Nor is it enough to wish this alienation away by inveighing against the unfortunate historical fact, true though it is, that Africa was hardly represented when the Universal Declaration was negotiated or adopted. After all, the struggle for independence in Africa predated the UDHR and remains, with the anti-apartheid campaign, the most popular and successful human rights movement known to African peoples. Although in some African languages there is no direct equivalent to the phrase “human rights,” neither the notion of justice that underlies human rights nor the experience of struggle to realize these rights is unknown to Africa.
What then explains the current crisis of human rights and the retreat from the human rights paradigm as an engine of struggle? The search for an understanding of this crisis begins with an examination of the evolution and practices of the organizations and institutions that espouse the protection of human rights around Africa.
In Africa, the realization of human rights is a very serious business indeed. In many cases it is a life and death matter. From the child soldier, the rural dweller deprived of basic health care, the mother unaware that the next pregnancy is not an inexorable fate, the city dweller living in fear of the burglar, the worker owed several months arrears of wages, and the activist organizing against bad government, to the group of rural women seeking access to land so that they may send their children to school with its proceeds, people are acutely aware of the injustices inflicted upon them. Knowledge of the contents of the Universal Declaration will hardly advance their condition. What they need is a movement that channels these frustrations into articulate demands that evoke responses from the political process. This the human rights movement is unwilling or unable to provide. In consequence, the real life struggles for social justice are waged despite human rights groups—not by or because of them—by people who feel that their realities and aspirations are not adequately captured by human rights organizations or their language.
The current human rights movement in Africa—with the possible exception of the women’s rights movement and faith-based social justice initiatives—appears almost by design to exclude the participation of the people whose welfare it purports to advance. Most human rights organizations are modeled after Northern watchdog organizations, located in an urban area, run by a core management without a membership base (unlike Amnesty International), and dependent solely on overseas funding. The most successful of these organizations only manage to achieve the equivalent status of a public policy think-tank, a research institute, or a specialized publishing house. With media-driven visibility and a lifestyle to match, the leaders of these initiatives enjoy privilege and comfort, and progressively grow distant from a life of struggle.
In the absence of a membership base, there is no constituency-driven obligation or framework for popularizing the language or objectives of the group beyond the community of inward-looking professionals or careerists who run it. Instead of being the currency of a social justice or conscience-driven movement, “human rights” has increasingly become the specialized language of a select professional cadre with its own rites of passage and methods of certification. Far from being a badge of honor, human rights activism is, in some of the places I have observed it, increasingly a certificate of privilege.
Part of the responsibility for this sad state of affairs lies with the overseas sponsors of our human rights organizations. Unlike the groups they support, donor agencies and philanthropies that fund human rights work are accountable to their trust deeds and the laws of the countries (in the North) where they are incorporated. While exhorting national human rights groups in Africa to think globally and act locally, these agencies think locally and act globally. With overseas donors as sources of reference and accountability, the only obligations local human rights groups have are reporting requirements arising under grant contracts where these exist. The raison d’être of the African human rights movement is primarily to fulfill such contracts rather than to service a social obligation or constituency. Local human rights groups exist to please the international agencies that fund or support them. Local problems are only defined as potential pots of project cash, not as human experiences to be resolved in just terms, thereby delegitimizing human rights language and robbing its ideas of popular appeal.
All this is not to say that we should do away with the norms of human rights or with groups that purport to promote or defend them. Human rights norms articulate values that are truly universal and essential. There is a distinction, however, between human rights norms and human rights institutions, which, as organizations of human beings, are necessarily imperfect. In an ideal world, we can envisage human rights norms without taking account of the deficiencies of the groups that promote them. But no such world exists.
Human rights organizations are probably here to stay with their imperfections. But they can do well to adopt the strategies and values of the successful social justice movements of the past, such as popular mobilization and inclusivity. People will struggle for their rights whether or not the language of human rights is accessible to them. But they will not build their struggle around the notion of human rights unless that language and those who wish to popularize it speak directly to their aspirations and survival. | <urn:uuid:d1b4c598-a707-45e4-9b10-a77ca9bfa3ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/dialogue/2_01/articles/602.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951322 | 1,221 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Pope Benedict’s long-awaited first encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est, was published this morning in Rome. The English translation of it can be found on the Vatican website by clicking here.
There’s obviously much to reflect on in this fairly short letter on Christian love, but a few aspects may be of particular interest to readers of this blog.
The pope cites a number of political philosophers, such as Nietzsche, Descartes, Aristotle, Plato, St. Augustine (several times), and Marx. Besides revealing what we already know about the former Cardinal Ratzinger’s formidable education, the encyclical reminds us that human and divine love is a theme the greatest minds have grappled with throughout the ages, and often through the lens of politics and religion.
The passage cited from Plato’s Symposium in n. 11 happens to be one of the most beautiful allegories of love ever penned; Pope Benedict compares it to the language of the Book of Genesis. Like any great teacher, he makes the reader return to the originals for their poetry and insights.
From the more prosaic perspective of social doctrine, the section on justice and charity (nos.26-29) contains an illuminating discussion of the distinct yet complementary functions of Church and State. The pope begins his treatment by taking on the Marxist critique of the Church’s charitable activity, i.e. what the poor need is justice, not charity, and even admits some truth to it:
It is true that the pursuit of justice must be a fundamental norm of the State and that the aim of a just social order is to guarantee to each person, according to the principle of subsidiarity, his share of the community’s goods.
But then comes this:
Marxism had seen world revolution and its preliminaries as the panacea for the social problem: revolution and the subsequent collectivization of the means of production, so it was claimed, would immediately change things for the better. This illusion has vanished.
After tracing the history of Catholic social doctrine from Bishop Kettler of Mainz to Popes Leo XIII and John Paul II, Benedict distinguishes “the necessary commitment to justice and the ministry of charity.”
The entire section deserves to be read with care and attention, but the general point is that the realms of justice and charity are interrelated yet distinct. Justice is the proper aim of the State, not the Church, but justice, and hence the State, is not enough.
Love—caritas—will always prove necessary, even in the most just society. There is no ordering of the State so just that it can eliminate the need for a service of love. Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such. There will always be suffering which cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbour is indispensable. The State which would provide everything, absorbing everything into itself, would ultimately become a mere bureaucracy incapable of guaranteeing the very thing which the suffering person—every person—needs: namely, loving personal concern. We do not need a State which regulates and controls everything, but a State which, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, generously acknowledges and supports initiatives arising from the different social forces and combines spontaneity with closeness to those in need.
This is the Catholic case for limited government par excellence. Justice and politics are necessary and good objectives to pursue, but they are not what human life is ultimately about. Divine love transcends politics. This is the language of a political philosophy that points beyond itself to theology, and it’s perfectly fitting as Benedict’s first encyclical.
I don’t need to tell you to read the whole thing. | <urn:uuid:6bf4e014-0ab7-45b4-93c5-4856cc31a791> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.acton.org/archives/708-pope-benedict-on-limited-government.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945106 | 787 | 2.4375 | 2 |
LATELY I’VE been on a campaign to read some of the classic novels that I should have read decades ago. This summer it’s been John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. There, I confessed it. All these years I’ve been coasting on repeated viewings of the John Ford film adaptation. But I’m reading the original now. And despite the hunger and hardship faced by the Joad family, I find myself experiencing nostalgia for those old hard times.
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Americans fell into the Great Depression of the 1930s without the safety net of unemployment insurance, food stamps, or federally insured bank deposits. In fact, victims of the current depression have those benefits because of the things their ancestors did 80 years ago. Back then, Americans pulled together with the sure belief that we are all responsible for each other and that no one of us can, or should, stand alone. They recognized that a common plight required common action, and they gave us a trade union movement and a New Deal.
In The Grapes of Wrath, that recognition is rooted in the primary value of family solidarity, which grows to include neighbors and co-workers, and, finally, in Tom Joad’s famous speech, extends to all people struggling for justice (“whenever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat”), and even to all humanity, past and present (“maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s a part of”).
Obviously, that sense of solidarity is hard to find in 21st century America. Today’s Joads, while also motivated by family values, are more likely to blame their problems on big government and to vote for free-market fundamentalists who will cut taxes on the rich.
Solidarity may be all but dead in our politics, but that forgotten country—the one inhabited by the likes of Tom Joad—still lives around the edges of our culture. In fact, I glimpsed it just a few days ago at a music festival in Owensboro, Ky., headlined by Old Crow Medicine Show and the Carolina Chocolate Drops, two groups that have given up on the contemporary American scene and planted their flag instead in the deeper soil of traditional music and culture.
Old Crow is a group of young (or youngish) white men who play music from the old-time string band tradition that predates the country music industry, and even recorded music. Their early recordings leaned heavily on traditional string band numbers, but more recently they’ve focused on writing original material that fuses their influences and brings them to bear upon the contemporary scene. They are capable of the Steinbeckian Big Statement. One of their songs flatly proclaims, “We’re all in this thing together, walking a line between faith and fear.” When I saw them in Owensboro, they played about half of their new album, Carry Me Back, and all but one of those songs dealt with political and economic traumas inflicted upon rural working people—from the collapse of domestic tobacco farming to having the family homestead flooded by the federal government to a Virginia boy’s death in the last Iraq war.
The Carolina Chocolate Drops are even more unusual. They are young African Americans on a crusade to revive a long-moribund black string band tradition. In the process, they are exposing the common DNA shared by African and European Americans. This leads to surprising combinations such as Chocolate Drop Rhiannon Giddens singing a song entirely in Scottish Gaelic, accompanied by hip-hop style beatboxing.
So maybe there is still hope for America in 2012. If there is, it is where it has always been, in our capacity to empathize with one another and to recognize our common origins and common fate.
Danny Duncan Collum teaches writing at Kentucky State University in Frankfort. His latest book is the novel White Boy. | <urn:uuid:f588b76c-3d33-4a4d-acca-5df0743bc76f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sojo.net/magazine/2012/09/roots-common-good?quicktabs_top_magazine_articles=2&quicktabs_web_extras=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957293 | 818 | 2.609375 | 3 |
[Letter to John Newton, at London].
Londonderry, Ireland, 14 May 1765.
In the year before the publication of his A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1766), John Wesley was already formulating his explanation of the steps that had led to his position on Christian perfection. In this manuscript letter of 1765 sent to John Newton (1725–1807), the Anglican vicar of Olney in Buckinghamshire (and author of the hymn “Amazing Grace”), Wesley attempted to persuade Newton to join him in his view of Christian perfection by recalling the six books that had made such a formative impact on him:
In 1725 I met with Bishop Taylor’s Rules of Holy Living and Dying. I was struck particularly with the chapter upon Intention and felt a fixed intention to give myself up to God. In this I was much confirmed soon after by the Christian Pattern and longed to give God all my heart. This is just what I mean by perfection now. I sought after it from that hour. In 1727 I read Mr. Law’s Christian Perfection and Serious Call and more explicitly resolved to be all devoted to God, in body, soul and spirit. In 1730 I began to be homo unius libri; to study comparatively no book but the Bible. I then saw in a stronger light than ever before that only one thing is needful, even faith that worketh by the love of God and man, all inward and outward holiness. | <urn:uuid:5abe4a04-9267-448c-94a7-f4bdbf09c8b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smu.edu/Bridwell/Collections/SpecialCollectionsandArchives/Exhibitions/EarlyMethodists/BooksforEarlyMethodists/Newton | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965837 | 313 | 2.34375 | 2 |
This year i have grown Cape gooseberries. I think they may be called ground cherries in some areas. I grew them outside which may have been a mistake. They have grow really well and produced quite a lot of fruit, but the fruit has not ripened.
Does anybody know if the green fruits are safe to eat?
Photo credit: Sandy Austin
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Scarborough, ME, 04074, USA | <urn:uuid:88e7a38a-8871-4a7b-8948-2c7f49e0c97e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kgi.org/blogs/allotmentmanyork/cape-gooseberries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958419 | 136 | 1.835938 | 2 |
ONS has reclassified Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM) and Bradford and Bingley plc (B&B) as Central Government bodies, with effect from January 2010 and July 2010 respectively.
Both of these bodies, which were taken into public ownership in 2008/9, were previously treated by ONS as Public Financial Corporations, rather than as part of Central Government.
The reclassification occurred following the publication of revised international guidance in March 2012, which requires publicly owned companies like NRAM and B&B, which are closed to new business, restricted in their activities and which are planned to wind down over time, to be classified within the Central Government sector. A number of similar institutions in other European Countries have also been classified in the same way.
The change has increased UK General Government gross debt. This is the headline debt measure reported in the Government Deficit and Debt under the Maastricht Treaty publication. Initial estimates of the General Government gross debt, including NRAM and B&B, have been included in today’s ‘Government Deficit and Debt under the Maastricht Treaty’ release.
Because these institutions are being included in Central Government, the headline measure for the UK public sector debt and deficit, Public Sector Net Debt and Public Sector Net Borrowing excluding the temporary effects of financial interventions, as reported in the monthly Public Sector Finances statistical bulletin, will require revision.
The decision to reclassify them into the Central Government sector will not have a significant impact on the level of Public Sector Net Debt and Public Sector Net Borrowing, as both financial institutions were already included in the public sector, classified as Public Financial Corporations.
At the lower level, there will be changes to the debt and borrowing of Public Financial Corporations and Central Government.
NRAM and B&B will be fully incorporated into the debt and borrowing of the Central Government sector and the results published in Public Sector Finances, Government Deficit and Debt and National Accounts releases from early 2013.
Details of the policy governing the release of new data are available by visiting www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/assessment/code-of-practice/index.html or from the Media Relations Office email: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:d9fa0691-bfb5-4f30-a2ab-4a8bae56c201> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/mro/news-release/northern-rock-and-bradford---bingley-reclassified-as-central-government-bodies/northernrockbradfordbingleynr2012.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953307 | 469 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Washington, DC, September 12, 2012 – The owner of a renowned flight-instruction company today told a Congressional committee that President Obama’s proposed $100 per-flight user fee “is a bad idea” that will harm thousands of businesses like hers.
Martha King, the co-founder of King Schools, shared her perspectives in testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Small Business, on behalf of the National Business Aviation Association’s (NBAA’s) 9,000 member companies.
The committee held the hearing to explore the financial and regulatory impact that per-flight user fees, like those proposed by Obama, would have on the aviation industry, including on private-sector job creation. The hearing was called by committee Chairman Rep. Sam Graves (R-6-MO), who also serves as co-chair of the House General Aviation Caucus.
“We are counting on you to spread the word,” King told members of Congress, “per-flight fees destroy.” King went on to underscore the general aviation community’s long-held position that the “pay-at-the-pump” fuel tax is most efficient, least burdensome way for the general aviation community, which includes companies of all sizes that use an airplane for business, to help pay for operation of the nation’s air transportation system.
King, who with her husband John King, founded their flight-training company out of their home in southern California nearly 40 years ago, said their business was able to grow over the years thanks to the productivity and efficiency that has come from using an airplane in support of their business.
She reminded policymakers that the vast majority of companies in business aviation are small to mid-size businesses like hers, and that many of the planes used for business are flown to airports with little or no scheduled airline service, which means that business aviation is also a valued lifeline to many American communities.
“As you know, general aviation is one of our nation’s most significant industries,” she told committee members, noting that in recent years, the economic recession has taken a heavy toll on general aviation. “While things have stabilized somewhat, we have yet to approach anything near our 2007 or 2008 levels. King Schools has not been spared from the impact,” she said, reporting that her company, which had 70 employees in 2007, had reduced in size to 50 employees in 2012.
“It is difficult to imagine how, at a time when a critical American industry is struggling the way general aviation is, people in Washington could be contemplating an onerous, regressive and administratively burdensome new, per-flight tax euphemistically called a ‘user fee,’” she said.
King was joined in testifying at today’s hearing by two other representatives from the industry: Marian Epps, CFO of Epps Aviation in Atlanta, GA, who testified on behalf of the National Air Transportation Association; and Brad Pierce, president of Restaurant Equipment World in Orlando, FL, who testified on behalf of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Aviation legends John and Martha King will be recognized with NBAA's American Spirit Award for representing business aviation before Congress and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
NATA Treasurer Marian Epps testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business today on the detrimental impact of user fees.
Co-owner of King Schools Inc. puts "forward the true face of business aviation." | <urn:uuid:176ee05f-1f86-43ce-a926-454058e94f1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/10778639/business-aviation-leader-tells-congress-user-fees-would-be-devastating-for-industry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961601 | 728 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Well, I’ve just got back from a series of conferences (3 in the space of 10 days) – & all of them about teaching! I was getting pretty tired by the end of it all, but at the same time it was really good to be able to spend time talking about teaching (& about research into teaching & learning) and to pick up some tips from some of the country’s top tertiary teachers.
One of those teachers was Otago’s Phil Bishop, aka ‘the Frog Man’. If you want to know anything about frogs in this country then Phil’s the man to go to :) He kicks off each of his first-year lectures with a ‘frog fact of the day’, & one of these is about the ‘paradoxical frog, Pseudis paradoxa.
What, I thought, could be paradoxical about a frog? Well, it has to do with the size of the tadpoles. P.paradoxa‘s tadpoles are huge: about 25cm long:
But the adult frog is much, much smaller, at around 6cm long. (And very fetching little frogs they are too.)
That in itself would make a good starter :) But Phil tells his students that Pseudis paradoxa is even more interesting. Like all frogs it secretes mucus that moistens & helps to protect its skin from damage. This mucus contains a protein that researchers have named ‘pseudin-2′, which helps to prevent the skin developing bacterial infections, killing pathogenic bacteria but not harming the frog (or, indeed, human red blood cells when tested on them). This interested Yasser Abdel-Wahab & his colleagues (2008), who tested the action of pseudin-2 & synthetic forms of the protein.
Among other things, they looked at its effect on pancreatic cells in vitro (i.e. growing in nutrient broth in petri dishes), and found that both the natural and synthetic proteins stimulated the cells to release insulin (with no apparent toxic effects on the cells). In fact the synthetic form ([Lys18]-pseudin-2) was more effective in this than the natural form, which has got to be good news for the frogs :) I did wonder what prompted them to test pseudin-2 on pancreatic cells, but it turns out this was no shot in the dark – scientists already knew that peptides released in the mucus of several other frog species affect the function of these cells (Abdel-Wahab et al., 2008).
The research team concluded that [Lys18]-pseudin-2 "may have potential for development as a therapeutically valuable insulinotropic agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes", although obviously it’s a long way from trialling something on cells in a petri dish to releasing it as a therapeutic agent.
Maybe there is something in that story about kissing frogs, after all…
Y.H.Abdel-Wahab, G.J.Power, M.T.Ng, P.R.Flatt & J.M.Conlon (2008) Insulin-releasing properties of the frog skin peptide pseudin-2 and its [Lys28]-substituted analogue. Biological Chemistry 389(2): 143-148 | <urn:uuid:231480d0-3621-4317-990a-1c4e679c02c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sciblogs.co.nz/bioblog/2010/12/05/paradoxical-frogs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950325 | 698 | 2.390625 | 2 |
LOS ANGELES — Bank of America Corp. has agreed to reduce the loan balances of underwater homeowners more aggressively than other banks, saying that by next month it will start contacting 200,000 borrowers who may qualify.
The pledge is part of a side deal that Bank of America signed when it and other large providers of mortgage customer service reached a recent $25 billion foreclosure-abuse settlement with state and federal government agencies.
Writing down the balance of home loans for underwater borrowers — people who owe more than their homes are worth — is a controversial practice. Studies have shown, though, that it is an effective way to motivate troubled borrowers to keep paying their loans.
Many areas of hard-hit states such as California, Arizona and Nevada have seen home prices fall more than 50 percent in the past five years. Homeowners who give up on their loans exacerbate the foreclosure crisis and downward price spiral.
Bank of America spokesman Rick Simon said the bank has agreed to eliminate the entire underwater portion of some mortgages that it owns or services for other investors, with the average reduction expected to be more than $100,000. Most of the eligible mortgages were originated by Countrywide Financial Corp., the Calabasas, Calif., home lender that Bank of America acquired in 2008.
The bank promised to provide at least $7.6 billion in relief by lowering mortgage balances and allowing homes to be sold for less than the amount owed. It also pledged to provide $1 billion in refinancing assistance to borrowers. Simon said the bank expects to exceed those targets.
The recent settlement requires other large loan servicers — Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and GMAC Mortgage parent Ally Financial — to reduce loan balances until they are 20 percent higher than the home’s value.
By cutting the amount owed on the mortgages, Bank of America could reduce the $3.25 billion in penalties it faces from the foreclosure settlement by $850 million. The details of the principal-reduction agreement were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Underwater homeowners are eligible if they live in the home, have a loan serviced by Bank of America and were at least 60 days delinquent on their mortgages as of Jan. 31. The cutoff date was imposed to keep borrowers from intentionally going delinquent in hopes of getting their principal chopped.
The agreements do not guarantee that borrowers will be offered loan modifications, or what the terms of offers will be. The bank will calculate the expected loss on a foreclosure and modify the loan terms only to the extent that it or the investor in the loan comes out ahead financially by doing so.
But in a major change from the prevailing practice in the mortgage industry, Bank of America is to put principal reduction first among steps taken to modify loans. In the past, reducing the amount owed was a final option — and one rarely used — after cutting the interest rate, extending the time period for repayment and not charging interest on a portion of the amount owed.
Even after the settlement, Bank of America will be unable to offer principal reduction on most of the loans for which it is the servicer, or bill collector.
Loans backed by the government, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration mortgages, make up more than 60 percent of the total and are not eligible for reductions in the amount owed.
That means the Bank of America principal reduction offers will be limited to loans that it owns and loans owned by investors in privately issued mortgage securities who have agreed to allow the bank to write down loan balances.
The bank has three years to complete the principal reductions, but the settlement offers incentives for them to be completed within a year of the settlement’s completion, so Simon said he expected the process would move “fairly quickly.”
Bank of America mortgage customers can call 877-488-7814 to see determine if they’re eligible for a principal reduction and for more information. | <urn:uuid:72100579-d514-4a76-b7b8-d9bb4abd3f62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bangordailynews.com/2012/03/09/news/nation/bank-of-america-to-cut-principal-on-some-mortgages/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963885 | 804 | 1.6875 | 2 |
UMUC to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Documentary Showing
Join the UMUC community on Friday, January 18, 2013, for the showing of a documentary that examines the life of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the March on Washington.
Video Presentation of “Martin Luther King: I Have a Dream”
Friday, January 18, 2013
Academic Center at Largo, Auditorium
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech stands today as one of the most famous and important speeches in modern history. As the cornerstone of the civil rights movement, it was a message of non-violent opposition to the blight of racism and discrimination in the United States. This video pairs the entire speech—delivered on August 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.—with brief footage of other struggles and protests in the civil rights crusade throughout the 1960s.
Light refreshments will be served.
Seating is limited, so RSVP to firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:f8247c1f-55fd-4b04-a42c-889ff771aa60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.umuc.edu/visitors/news/mlk_doc012013.cfm?renderforprint=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914841 | 226 | 2.25 | 2 |
Lucy Vodden, the subject of a Julian Lennon drawing that inspired his father, John, to write the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's classic "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," passed away last week after a long battle with lupus. Vodden, formerly Lucy O' Donnell, was 46. In a statement, Julian and his mother Cynthia Lennon said they were "shocked and saddened" by Vodden's death, the Associated Press reports.
As the story goes, in 1966, Julian Lennon brought home a drawing of his classmate Lucy, describing the image of the girl as "Lucy in the sky with diamonds." The rest is rock history. Inspired by the drawing, Lennon — and McCartney, who Lennon told Rolling Stone in 1968 contributed imagery like "newspaper taxis" — crafted one of their most famous and controversial songs. For decades, fans have debated the Lucy story and argued that the song's psychedelic lyrics are veiled references to the band's experimentation with LSD, hence the capitalizations.
However, Lennon himself was vocal about dispelling those rumors on numerous occasions, including a 1970 interview with RS when he said, "'Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds,' which I swear to God, or swear to Mao, or to anybody you like, I had no idea spelled L.S.D." (Get more Beatles history in our Essential Beatles Coverage.)
Vodden had battled lupus for five years at London's St. Thomas Hospital before succumbing last week. According to the AP, no exact date of death has been confirmed. Julian Lennon lost contact with his former classmate after his parents had divorced, but reconnected with Vodden in recent years after news of her illness emerged. Julian often sent Vodden flowers and supportive text messages during her hospital stay.
Ironically, Vodden reportedly wasn't even a fan of the Beatles song she helped inspire, telling the AP earlier this year, "I don't relate to the song, to that type of song. As a teenager, I made the mistake of telling a couple of friends at school that I was the Lucy in the song and they said, 'No, it's not you, my parents said it's about drugs.' And I didn't know what LSD was at the time, so I just kept it quiet, to myself."
To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here
POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix
Picks From Around the Web
blog comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:4154acb7-20dc-4c30-b35e-dafed90c2320> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/lucy-who-inspired-beatles-lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds-dies-20090928 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974889 | 523 | 2.125 | 2 |
Film: Solutions for Champlain Pollution
UVM team releases second in Bloom series
- By Joshua E. Brown
Bloom: the Emergence of Ecological Design — a new film in the Bloom series exploring the health of Lake Champlain and overseen by Jon Erickson, professor at the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics — will open on Thursday, December 15.
The premiere is open to the public and begins at 7 p.m. at the Palace 9 Cinemas in South Burlington, Vt.
The new film is a follow-up to last year's Emmy Award-winning documentary, Bloom: the Plight of Lake Champlain. That film addressed the main sources of phosphorus pollution that are contributing to the growing problem of algae blooms in the sixth largest lake in the United States.
The new film further investigates pollution sources from wastewater, agricultural, and urban land use, but with a focus on design solutions.
"The first Bloom helped to open up the discussion of the lake's condition with a broader public during screenings, panel discussions, and debates, but we only scratched the surface in a 30-minute, made-for-PBS production," says Vic Guadagno, the films’ director and producer. "With the follow-up series we've presented the many solutions to redesigning our communities, food systems, and waste treatment in holistic ways that strengthen ecosystems and the economies they support."
The series features leading scholars and designers such as Bill McKibben, Maude Barlow, Bill Maclay and UVM professor John Todd, alongside farmers, urban planners, government officials, scientists, business leaders and environmental advocates.
The new film’s launch comes on the heels of recent public hearings about developing new phosphorus standards for the Vermont side of the lake, and a renewed statewide discussion of stormwater management after the devastation from Tropical Storm Irene.
"The original film was necessarily problem-oriented, released just as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was de-delegating, or taking back, the state's responsibility of managing phosphorus loads, due to years of missed targets," says Erickson. "The next three parts will hopefully stimulate further discussion on design solutions, many of which are already happening in incremental ways around the basin, but will require a sustained public demand and political will to truly curtail further pollution loads to the lake."
The Bloom series is narrated by Academy award winner Chris Cooper and produced by Bright Blue EcoMedia, a company that includes Guadagno, Erickson, Ben Falk (UVM '01) and Amy Seidl, a faculty member in UVM’s environmental program. The film series is funded by the Lintilhac Foundation of Vermont. The television broadcast premiere of the new series is planned for January with Mountain Lake PBS.
For more information visit http://bloomthemovie.org. | <urn:uuid:4851810c-f1ab-4293-8a3b-43a375567602> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=news&storyID=12886&category=ucommall | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942784 | 592 | 2.234375 | 2 |
RAMAT-GAN, Israel -- Zalul, a leading Israeli Non-Governmental Organization devoted to protecting Israel's seas and rivers, has undertaken the mission of saving the Jordan River, a historic Christian waterway now contaminated by modern-day pollutants. Zalul is demanding that the polluted wastewater entering the river be replaced with clean water. The organization possesses an excellent track record for bringing about change and renewal to the rivers of Israel and has sworn that it will not turn away until its vision is complete. In addition to a campaign to raise needed funds for stopping the pollution, the organization is calling upon the Pope and other world leaders to speak out against the desecration of the Jordan River.
With the establishment of the State of Israel (1947-48) followed by the National Water Carrier of Israel Project (construction began in 1953), water was taken from the Sea of the Galilee and a dam was built to block water from flowing to the Jordan River. The result was immediate: The Jordan River began to slowly die and the water level in the Dead Sea began to drop. Instead of fresh water flowing into the River, today the Southern Jordan consists of polluted wastewater. As another part of its Jordan River campaign, Zalul is demanding the removal of polluters along the entire length of the river.
In a letter to Pope Benedict XVI preceding his current trip to Israel, the organization writes:
"Most Holy Father, as you know, the Jordan River is held in the highest regard by Christians, Jews and Muslims all over the world. Every year thousands of pilgrims visit the river to bathe in its holy waters, water that has been contaminated for years. Those who visit the southern Jordan at sites like Qasar el Yehud risk their own health when entering the water. Your Holiness, all of the Jordan River's visitors should have the right to be baptized in water that is natural and true. As a world leader and man of great faith, we ask you to help us in our goal to rescue the Jordan River and return it to its biblical beauty."
Yariv Abramovich, Zalul's Executive Director explains: "Many Christians have saved money their entire lives in order to travel to Israel, immerse in these holy waters and be baptized, following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ," said Yariv Abramovich, Zalul's Executive Director. "We aim not only to preserve this incredibly meaningful and historical site, but to recover it. The pollution in this region is devastating, but this is one type of 'peace in the Middle East' that we can restore sooner rather than later, with the right support from individuals who see the importance of our mission and are passionate about our campaign."
Zalul has launched a web site devoted to the Jordan River campaign for those who are interested in supporting the cause. For more information and to contribute to Zalul's efforts, visit www.savethejordan.org.
Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of UnderwaterTimes.com, its staff or its advertisers. | <urn:uuid:4464ddee-74db-4d12-9e59-d7338e50ecbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=64109518073 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958883 | 625 | 2.359375 | 2 |
I’ve pinched these definitions from the research doc for an infographic on Information is Beautiful. Even more interesting is the identification of these fallacies employed in Cardinal Keith O’Briens disgusting ‘tyranny of tolerance’ Telegraph article.
List of rhetological fallacies
- Ad hominem
- Bypassing the argument by launching an irrelevant attack on the person and not their claim.
Anyone that says we should build the Ground Zero Mosque is an American-hating liberal.
- Affirming the consequent
- Assuming there’s only one explanation for the observation you’re making.
Marriage often results in the birth of children. So that’s the reason why it exists.
- Anecdotal evidence
- Discounting evidence arrived at by systematic search or testing in favor of a few firsthand stories.
I’m going to carry on smoking. My grandfather smoked 40 a day until he died aged 90.
- Appeal to (questionable) authority
- Claiming something is true because an (unqualified or untrustworthy) ‘expert’ says it is.
Over 400 prominent scientists and engineers dispute global warming.
- Appeal to common practice
- Claiming something is true because it’s commonly practiced.
This bank has some problems with corruption. But there’s nothing going on here that doesn’t go on in all the other banks.
- Appeal to consequences of a belief
- Arguing a belief is false because it implies something you’d rather not believe.
That can’t be the Senator on that sextape. If it were, he’d be lying about not knowing her. And he’s not the kind of man who would lie.
- Appeal to fear
- An argument is made by increasing fear and prejudice towards the opposing side.
Before you know it there will be more mosques than churches.
- Appeal to flattery
- Using an irrelevant compliment to slip in an unfounded claim which is accepted along with the compliment
Intelligent and sophisticated readers will of course recognise a fallacy like this when they read one.
- Appeal to ignorance
- A claim is true simply because it has not been proven false (or false because it has not been proven true.)
Nobody has proved to me there is a God. So I know there is no God.
- Appeal to money
- Supposing that, if someone is rich or something is expensive, then it affects the truth of the claim.
If it costs more, it must be better.
- Appeal to novelty
- Supposing something is better because it is new or newer.
Awesome! The latest version of this operating system is going to make my computer faster and better…
- Appeal to pity
- Attempt to induce pity to sway opponents.
The former dictator is an old, dying man. It’s wrong to make him stand trial for these alleged offenses.
- Appeal to popular belief
- Claiming something is true because the majority of people believe it.
Milk is essential for healthier bones.
- Appeal to probability
- Assuming because something could happen, it will inevitably happen.
There are billions of galaxies with billions of stars in the universe. So there must be another planet with intelligent life on it.
- Appeal to ridicule
- Presenting the opponent’s argument in a way that makes it appear absurd.
Faith in God is like believing in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.
- Appeal to tradition
- Claiming something is true because it’s (apparently) always been that way.
Marriage is the union between man and women. Therefore gay marriage is wrong.
- Appeal to wishful thinking
- Suggesting a claim is true or false just because you strongly hope it is.
The President wouldn’t lie. He’s our leader and a good American.
- Biased generalising
- Generalising from an unrepresentative sample to increase the strength of your argument.
Our website poll found that 90% of internet users oppose online piracy laws.
- Burden of proof
- I don’t need to prove my claim – you must prove it is false.
I maintain long-term solar cycles are the cause of global warming. Show me I’m wrong.
- Circular logic
- A conclusion is derived from premises based on the conclusion.
Stripping privacy rights only matters to those with something to hide. You must have something to hide if you oppose privacy protection.
- Circumstance ad hominem
- Stating a claim isn’t credible only because of the advocate’s interest in their claim.
A study into the health risks of mobile phone involved mobile phone companies. Therefore, the study cannot be trusted.
- Assuming that characteristics or beliefs of some or all of a group applies to the entire group.
Recent terrorist attacks have been carried out by Islamic groups. Therefore all terrorists are muslims.
- Denying the antecedent
- There isn’t only one explanation for an outcome. So it’s false to assume the cause based on the effect.
If you get a degree, you’ll get a good job. If you don’t get a degree, you won’t get a good job.
- Assuming that characteristics or beliefs of a group automatically apply to any individual member.
Many Conservatives wish to ban gay marriage, discredit climate change, and deny evolution. Therefore all conservatives are homophobic, anti-environment creationists.
- False dilemma
- Presenting two opposing options as the only two options while hiding alternatives.
We’re going to have to cut the education budget or go deeper into debt. We can’t afford to go deeper into debt. So we’ll have to cut the education budget.
- Gambler’s fallacy
- Assuming the history of outcomes will affect future outcomes.
I’ve flipped a coin 10 times in a row and it’s been heads, therefore the next coin flip is more likely to come up tails.
- Genetic fallacy
- Attacking the cause or origin of a claim, rather than its substance.
Of course, mainstream liberal media aren’t going to say Barack Obama is a Muslim.
- Middle ground
- Assuming because two opposing arguments have merit, the answer must lie somewhere between them.
I rear ended your car but I don’t think I should pay for the damage. You think I should pay for all the damage. A fair compromise would be to split the bill in half.
- Post hoc ergo propter hoc
- Claiming that because one event followed another, it was also caused by it.
Since the election of the President more people than ever are unemployed. Therefore the President has damaged the economy.
- Red herring
- Introducing irrelevant material to the argument to distract and lead towards a different conclusion.
Why should the senator account for irregularities in his expenses? After all, there are senators who have done far worse things.
- Slippery slope
- Assuming a relatively small first step will inevitably lead to a chain of related (negative) events.
If we legalize marijuana, more people will start using crack and heroin. Then we’d have to legalize those too.
- Special pleading
- Universal principles do not apply to me or my argument.
No one is above the law. But I wouldn’t rat on anybody.
- Assuming an observation from a small sample size applies to an entire group.
This large shoe manufacturer employs children in sweatshops. Therefore all shoe companies are evil child-slave owners!
- Straw man
- Creating a distorted or simplified caricature of your opponents argument, and then arguing against that.
You say Israel should stop building settlements on the West Bank in violation of treaty. So you’re saying Israel doesn’t have the right to be a nation?
- Two wrongs make a right
- Assuming that if one wrong is committed, another wrong will cancel it out.
Sure – the conditions in this prison are cruel and dehumanising. But these inmates are criminals!
- Undistributed middle
- Assuming because two things share a property, that makes them the same thing.
A theory can mean an unproven idea. Scientists use the term evolutionary theory. Therefore evolution is an unproven idea.
- Appeal to anonymous authority
- Using evidence from an unnamed ‘expert’ or ‘study’ or generalised group (like ‘scientists’) to claim something is true.
They say that it takes 7 years to digest chewing gum.
- Appeal to incredulity
- Because a claim sounds unbelievable, it must not be true.
The eye is an incredibly complex biomechanical machine with thousands of interlocking parts. How could that exist without an intelligent designer?
- Appeal to nature
- Making your claim seem more true by drawing a comparison with the “good” natural world.
Of course homosexuality is unnatural. You don’t same-sex animals copulating.
- Begging the question
- Making a claim while leaving out one or more major contributing factors that may affect the conclusion.
If we label food with warning labels, it will encourage people to eat more healthily.
- Cum hoc ergo propter hoc
- Claiming two events that occur together must have a cause-and-effect relationship. (Correlation = cause).
Teenagers in gangs listen to rap music with violent themes. Rap music inspires violence in teenagers.
- Relativist fallacy
- Rejecting a claim because of a belief that truth is relative to a person or group.
That’s perhaps true for you. But it’s not true for me.
- Offering a claim that cannot be proven false, because there is no way to check if it is false or not.
He lied because he’s possessed by demons.
- Appeal to spite
- Dismissing a claim by appealing to personal bias against the claimant.
Don’t you just hate how those rich Liberal Hollywood actors go on TV to promote their agendas?
- Confirmation bias
- Only looking only for evidence that supports your idea while ignoring contradicting evidence.
It’s obvious 9-11 was a American-government led conspiracy to justify war in Iraq and Afghanistan. No plane hit the Pentagon. The Twin Towers collapse was a controlled demolition… etc.
- Guilt by association
- Discrediting an idea or claim by associating it with an undesirable person or group.
Oh you want to relax the anti-terrorism laws just like the terrorists want us to do. Are you saying you support terrorism?
- Hasty generalisation
- Drawing a general conclusion from a tiny sample.
I just got cut up by the woman driver in front. Women can’t drive.
- Ignoring a common cause
- Claiming one event must have caused the other when a third (unlooked for) event is probably the cause
We had the 60s sexual revolution, and now people are dying of AIDS.
- An outright untruth repeated knowingly as a fact.
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
- Misleading vividness
- Describing an occurrence in vivid detail, even if it is a rare occurrence, to convince someone that it is a problem.
After legalising gay marriage, school libraries were required to stock same-sex literature; primary schoolchildren were given homosexual fairy stories and even manuals of explicit homosexual advocacy.
- Perfectionist fallacy
- Assuming that the only option on the table is perfect success, then rejecting anything that will not work perfectly.
What’s the point of these anti-drunk driving ad campaigns? People are still going to drink and drive no matter what.
- Suppressed evidence
- Intentionally failing to use significant and relevant information which counts against one’s own conclusion.
This Iraqi regime possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons.
- Ad hoc rescue
- Trying to save a cherished belief by repeatedly revising the argument to explain away problems.
But apart from better sanitation, medicine, education, irrigation, public health, roads, a freshwater system and public order… What have the Romans done for us?
- Jumping to conclusions
- Drawing a quick conclusion without fairly considering relevant (and easily available) evidence.
She wants birth control in her medical cover — what a slut!
- Sweeping generalisation
- Applying a general rule too broadly.
Those young men rioted because they lacked morally responsible fathers.
Perhaps these could be turned into more journalism warning labels.
Updated to add this tweet from Martyn Kelly:
@martynkelly (@martynkelly) April 03, 2012
And see Wikipedia’s own list of fallacies. | <urn:uuid:0373a5d6-ccc3-4e76-b214-97107ce2ec4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://halfblog.net/2012/04/03/rhetological-fallacies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913431 | 2,719 | 2.609375 | 3 |
By Stephen Gibbs
BBC correspondent in Cardenas, Cuba
"He's just a normal little boy" - is what almost everyone in this small, dusty Cuban town will tell you when you ask them about Elian Gonzalez.
Elian now lives with his father Juan Miguel in Cuba
A normal little boy who is doing well at school, has plenty of friends, and thinks that maybe he will be a gymnast when he grows up.
It is a far cry from the high drama of five years ago, when Elian was the world famous symbol of a bitter dispute between two nations, two political systems, and one family.
Discovered floating alone in the Florida Straits, tied to an inner tube, he was one of just three survivors of a group of 14 Cubans who had set off from Cardenas, 129km (80 miles) east of Havana, in late November 1999.
They were hoping to reach the US in a handmade boat. The voyage turned into disaster when, 56km (35 miles) from the US coast, the fragile craft ran into a storm.
Ensuring Elian's return became a rallying point for Cubans
Elian's mother, who could not swim, is believed to have been one of the last to drown.
Elian's relatives in Florida claimed that she had died trying to get her son to freedom. They said it would only deepen the tragedy if the boy were sent back to Communist Cuba.
The US courts got involved, and eventually ruled in favour of Elian's Cuban father.
Elian returned to Cardenas.
Five years later, the now 11-year-old lives with his father in one of the more comfortable houses on the seaside town's main street. There is a swing in the front porch, and evidence of several pets.
The Cuban government carefully guards his privacy. State security agents appear to have set up camp in the house next door. Anyone loitering nearby is questioned. Photographs are prohibited.
Tourists who want to find out more about Elian are directed to the town's small museum where one room is dedicated to his story.
The walls are dominated by large images of the massive government-organised rallies five years ago, in which hundreds of thousands of Cubans, most wearing "Save Elian" T-shirts, demanded that he be brought back home.
A few blocks down the road, sitting in her tiny home on an old rocking chair, Haydee Gonzalez, Elian's great aunt, says Elian appears unaffected by the ordeal.
"He's so like his mother," she says. "Very calm. Very quiet. He was always like that."
Her great-nephew is not entirely kept out of the public eye. Occasionally he can be spotted sitting at the front row at Cuban government events.
He often seems a little bored, but quite at ease in the presence of President Fidel Castro, who appears to dote on him.
Elian's father, Juan Miguel, has become a minor public figure, having been elected to Cuba's National Assembly, in 2003.
But he still works as a waiter at the Varadero tourist resort 20 minutes outside Cardenas.
"Everything is going fine," he told me when I approached him.
He declined a longer interview, but did say that following the dispute over Elian, all contact had been broken with his family in Miami.
"They are sticking to their position, so that's that," he said, before guiding some tourists to a lakeside table.
The family divide across the Florida Straits appears more keenly felt by the older generation in Cardenas.
Haydee Gonzalez, the great-aunt, has three sisters and two brothers in Miami.
The 71-year-old has not spoken to any of them for at least six years.
She says she particularly misses her elder sister, Caridad, whom she last saw in 1998.
"I would so love to talk to her," she says, "but now I have no idea how to get in contact." | <urn:uuid:828a3817-e9e6-4681-b53a-da23898b8b69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4471099.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984844 | 843 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Dramatically decreasing water levels of the great lakes are raising many concerns for environment Canada and the Stats surrounding the Great lakes in the United States of America as well. For the past couple of years the water level has been decreasing by a great margin, and is predicted to keep deceasing unless there is a change of climate, resulting in some massive rain fall/ snow fall. The entire Great Lakes Basin is above sea level, with Lake Superior the highest at 180 meters above sea level, then Lakes Michigan and Huron at 176 m, Lake Erie at 174 m, and Lake Ontario lowest at 74 m above sea level. According to Environment Canada the levels of Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior were already running below the 100-year average last year, and now all the Great Lakes are running below that average. As you can see in Figure 1 we see that the levels are decreasing dramatically starting from this year, and the trend is continuing to descend. According to Environment Canada, Erie is down 22 centimeters over the roughly 100-year average for this time of year and 34 centimeters below last year’s levels for the same time; Lake Ontario, 23 cm. lower than average and 24 from last year; Lakes Michigan- Huron, 63 centimeters below average for this time of year and 24 below last year, and Superior is 34 centimeters
The decrease in water level as really made sailing a boat is extremely hard. "Boaters are running into rocks a mile off shore." “Boaters are running into rocks a mile off shore,” Biddle told the Star. I believe that the decrease in the Great Lakes water levels is mainly to do with the recent dry weather that we are having. In this research Essay you will read about the Causes that would affect the water level to decrease, the impacts, and mitigation.
Climate / Natural Factors
There are many reasons for the low water levels in the Great Lakes, but the main cause should have to... [continues]
Cite This Essay
(2012, 11). Low Lake Levels. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 11, 2012, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Low-Lake-Levels-1248101.html
"Low Lake Levels" StudyMode.com. 11 2012. 11 2012 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/Low-Lake-Levels-1248101.html>.
"Low Lake Levels." StudyMode.com. 11, 2012. Accessed 11, 2012. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Low-Lake-Levels-1248101.html. | <urn:uuid:3843fe59-0b21-4a08-b394-caf5044cabb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.studymode.com/essays/Low-Lake-Levels-1248101.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91717 | 541 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Marlinton flood control project under review
Revisions to Corps of Engineers (COE) procedures have delayed the Marlinton flood control project by about six months, but the project appears to be moving forward with the support of Senator Robert Byrd and Congressman Nick Rahall.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, COE projects came under close scrutiny.
According to many experts, COE navigation and flood control projects in the lower Mississippi River destroyed coastal wetlands that could have buffered Katrinaﾒs storm surge and instead funneled flood water into the city. A poorly designed COE floodwall and levee system spelled doom for the city.
In 2006, Senator Russ Feingold and Senator John McCain sponsored legislation requiring independent peer review of COE projects. Congress passed the Water Resources Development Act of 2007, including the peer review requirement, after overriding President George W. Bush's veto.
The COE's work on the Marlinton Flood Control Project is currently undergoing the mandatory peer review, which is expected to be completed by mid-July.
If the peer review is acceptable, the next step will be a project partnership agreement between the COE, Marlinton and the West Virginia Conservation Agency, the town's financial partner.
Rahall's office reported the project is "on target for signing a project partnership agreement for Phases 1 and 2 by the end of summer 2010." Phase 1 is construction of a resident engineer office and Phase 2 is the design of the Riverside levee.
After a project partnership agreement is completed, the Corps will begin real estate acquisition to build the project. Senator Byrd and Congressman Rahall have requested $1.5 million in the fiscal year 2011 Energy and Water Appropriations bill to provide funding for real estate acquisition.
The project will consist of 16,000 feet of levees and floodwalls and provide a 350-year level of protection, equivalent to the flood of 1985. The estimated cost of the project is $195.5 million, 86 percent of which will come from federal funds and 14 percent from the state.
An email from Senator Byrd's office said he has requested that the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee increase the authorization in the Water Resource Development Act to cover the full cost of the project.
The email states that Rahall made the same request to the appropriate committee in the House.
Byrd's email concludes, "Under current criteria, the administration will not budget for the Marlinton project as the benefit/cost ratio for the project is .4 to 1, far below the preferred ratio of 1 to 1."
Marlinton recorder and flood control coordinator Robin Mutscheller said the benefit/cost ratio is nothing new and should not be a show stopper for the project. She said project funding will have to be specifically appropriated, rather than budgeted as a line item.
"That's why there is legislation that has the funding in the legislation," she said. "It would not appear as a line item in the President's budget - is my understanding."
Mutscheller thinks the project will bring great benefits to the town.
"Of course, the obvious is to protect the town from flooding," she said. "But once you give people something to see, that flood protection is actually going to happen, I think you will start to see people re-invest in the town.
"Right now, there are people who don't want to spend the money to paint their homes or fix things up because they think flood protection will never happen. They don't want to invest in our community.
"I think it will also be a huge economic boost - something to help get us through these bad times that we're in right now with the employment. People will be employed. A lot of that money is going to stay in our community."
The largest known floods of the Greenbrier River occurred in 1812, 1877, 1985 and 1996. The flood of record in 1985 resulted in five deaths in Pocahontas County and caused an estimated $97 million in damage in the Greenbrier River basin, with approximately $20 million occurring in Marlinton. | <urn:uuid:c860c699-a769-49d9-8eb7-6bcb48170a88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pocahontastimes.com/news/town/2010/06/09/marlinton-flood-control-project-under-review | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955843 | 846 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Winning the Zero-Sum Game
Winning the Zero-Sum Game
If you're an economist, you've been trained to think of the four economic resources—land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship—as the only things you need in business. Believe it or not, sustainability—and marketing—play right into these factors. But what about customers? You know, the demand side of the supply and demand equation?
Customers are resources, too, but most often when we think of resources, it's natural resources, things that we get from the land. Whether it's fish in the sea, minerals underground, or the land's capacity for agriculture, most often the idea of sustainability goes there. But labor is sustainable, too. You wouldn't want your buildings, trucks, computers, operating cash, and other capital to simply vanish in a flood, or all your employees to quit at once.
For marketers, the most important economic resource is the customer. Traditional economics might assume that markets are infinite or at least very large, so that anything your company can produce will find a buyer. But it's also conventional wisdom that markets clear at a price and the price that markets (i.e. customers) set might not be the price where a vendor can make a profit. If you've ever been to a clearance sale, you understand what I'm saying.
So, customers are, in my mind at least, a fifth resource—and there is a finite, though very large, pool of them, which is why they should be treated sustainably, especially right now. You see, many of today's markets are long passed their opening salvos when demand was so strong that products practically sold themselves. (Remember that? Sigh…) And it doesn't matter if we're talking about a B2B or B2C market either.
When markets pass their initial frothy early stages, they often fall into a zero-sum model. That's when mostly everyone has something from the category you want to sell and your job is to sell the new and improved version 2 or X or whatever. Your customers can buy your new product, or someone else's, or do nothing and use what they have while waiting for a better deal. Any way you slice it, either you sell or you don't or someone steals your customer or you steal theirs, it's a zero-sum situation.
You aren't going to make your goals by only finding net new customers because there just aren't that many of them. If your business is going to be sustainable, you will need to treat your customers as the precious, and hopefully renewable, resources that they are. Sustainability means selling version 2 or version X to the same people you sold to before and the reason they buy is because you've done your best to understand their motivations and needs.
Is your company ready for this? Probably not. If your organization is like most, it's pushing on a string right now, trying to eek a little bit more out of the old approaches and possibly falling behind. It's not the economy that has you stymied, though it isn't helping a lot; it's just as likely that your approach to the market is taking the wind out of your sails.
If you are experimenting with social media, good for you, keep at it. But don't stop; social is a big umbrella that covers technology, as well as its use. Social methods are much more hands on, much more focused thanks to the analytics that are an equally important, though unsung, part of the solution.
Collect customer data and leverage analytics against it. Don't stop because you have sentiment analysis down, go after segmentation, influence, emotion, and language processing if that's appropriate. You'll find that each kind of analysis adds context to your findings and helps you focus. What you discover will be yours alone and therefore a kind of intellectual property for your company, a resource, you could say.
|Denis Pombriant founder and managing principal of Beagle Research Group LLC.| | <urn:uuid:3912d77e-57eb-4ffe-9b03-e888d4256fb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dmnews.com/winning-the-zero-sum-game/printarticle/274991/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97006 | 830 | 1.875 | 2 |
Oceana regrets lack of agreement and weak ambition in key NEAFC´s decisionsAll Press Releases…
Absence of agreement on mackerel damages not only the status of the stock, but also the reputation of the Commission.
November 16, 2012
Contact: Marta Madina ( email@example.com )
Today, the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC), which manages the fishery resources in the international waters of its region, finished its annual meeting today in London. Although some positive decisions were adopted, Oceana regrets the lack of consensus on key species like mackerel and blue whiting, and the adoption of inefficient management measures for deep-sea species.
While management measures according to the best available scientific advice were agreed on for species like haddock and red fish, in the case of mackerel and blue whiting, the Contracting Parties were unable to find a consensus. Next year, the fourth consecutive year of mismanagement for mackerel, will see a fishing mortality rate that is still over the precautionary limit, a situation that is driving a worrying reduction in biomass.
“Only through cooperation and consensus is it possible to properly manage the fish resources in waters beyond national jurisdiction,” stated Xavier Pastor, Executive Director of Oceana Europe. “Unfortunately what has happened with species like mackerel over the last few years damages not only the stock status but also the reputation of the Commission. Countries shouldn’t decide on their own how much mackerel to fish; catches should be fixed in line with scientific advice.”
Regrettably, no improvements were made in the case of deep-sea species, as the Commission limited its decision to proroguing the previous measures, which basically consist of fishing effort restrictions. Oceana considers this measure to be inefficient and vague, particularly given the available scientific advice on catch limits and other kinds of measures, like area closures to protect spawning aggregations. On the other hand, Oceana welcomes the prohibition of fishing for deep-sea sharks and other highly vulnerable species like blue ling, a, measure that should be also adopted for orange roughy.
“Management measures for deep-sea species should be strengthened, as most of them are highly vulnerable to overexploitation due to their biological characteristics,” added Javier Lopez, marine scientist at Oceana. “Laziness and a lack of concern in the management of these species are the only justifications for why greater efforts have not already been made to implement available scientific advice and prevent their overexploitation”.
Finally, in order to protect vulnerable coral and sponge habitats, especially against the significant adverse effects of bottom fishing, NEAFC has modified the boundaries of Rockall, the Edora Bank and the Hatton Bank closures according to new scientific evidence. Unfortunately, more efforts could have been made with regards to area extensions and periods of protection. | <urn:uuid:fb2405ff-03b4-402a-9acb-14671df588e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oceana.org/en/eu/media-reports/press-releases/oceana-regrets-lack-of-agreement-and-weak-ambition-in-key-neafc-s-decisions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947898 | 609 | 1.578125 | 2 |
|Date:||19 March 2011|
We’ve all done it. In the process of writing a brand new application we’ve discovered that we need a little bit of code that we’ve invented before. Perhaps it’s something to handle unicode text. Perhaps it’s something to make a bit of python-2.5 code run on python-2.3. Whatever it is, it ends up being a tiny bit of code that seems too small to worry about pushing into its own module so it sits there, a part of your current project, waiting to be cut and pasted into your next project. And the next. And the next. And since that little bittybit of code proved so useful to you, it’s highly likely that it proved useful to someone else as well. Useful enough that they’ve written it and copy and pasted it over and over into each of their new projects.
Well, no longer! Kitchen aims to pull these small snippets of code into a few python modules which you can import and use within your project. No more copy and paste! Now you can let someone else maintain and release these small snippets so that you can get on with your life.
This package forms the core of Kitchen. It contains some useful modules for using newer python standard library modules on older python versions, text manipulation, PEP 386 versioning, and initializing gettext. With this package we’re trying to provide a few useful features that don’t have too many dependencies outside of the python standard library. We’ll be releasing other modules that drop into the kitchen namespace to add other features (possibly with larger deps) as time goes on.
We’ve tried to keep the core kitchen module’s requirements lightweight. At the moment kitchen only requires
|python:||2.3.1 or later|
Kitchen-1.1.0 is likely to be the last release that supports python-2.3.x. Future releases will target python-2.4 as the minimum required version.
If found, these libraries will be used to make the implementation of some part of kitchen better in some way. If they are not present, the API that they enable will still exist but may function in a different manner.
These libraries implement commonly used functionality that everyone seems to invent. Rather than reinvent their wheel, I simply list the things that they do well for now. Perhaps if people can’t find them normally, I’ll add them as requirements in setup.py or link them into kitchen’s namespace. For now, I just mention them here:
This python module is distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License Version 2 or later.
Some parts of this module are licensed under terms less restrictive than the LGPLv2+. If you separate these files from the work as a whole you are allowed to use them under the less restrictive licenses. The following is a list of the files that are known: | <urn:uuid:09b47224-8310-4f96-9be4-a7548f6e8268> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pythonhosted.org/kitchen/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921134 | 628 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Am I Eligible to Donate?
Find out here if you are able to donate blood and help us save a life...Read more
World Blood Donor Day
Imagine that you owe your life to someone that you will never meet – someone who has donated his blood freely...Read more
Make a Financial Contribution
Because Donner Sang Compter is a non-profit volunteer-based organization, we rely on you to help us...Read more
A space dedicated to your voice: come in to share your experience whether you are a donor or a receiver...Read more
The BLOOD BROTHERS BRACELET is finally here at Donner Sang Compter!Read more
In May 2006, the Grandfather of a good friend of mine suffered from a severe heart condition and was in need of five units of AB– blood, the rarest blood type in Lebanon and the world. The patient's family searched everywhere for possible donors, among friends, family, at the Red Cross and hospitals without any luck.
At that time, I had already gathered a few friends that I knew from school and scouts, and together we organized a small network of people who are willing to donate blood to people in need. However, only two people in the group were AB– and their donation were not enough to save the life of the patient who passed away because of shortage of blood.
After that incident, which I believe could have been easily avoided, I realized that there was a crucial issue that was being neglected in our country, and I couldn't believe that people were still dying of blood shortage in the 21st century!
Who among us has never needed a blood transfusion for someone he loves?
Unfortunately, it will happen to all of us! Let us be prepared for that day!
And so this is why I started recruiting donors among friends, family, with the huge help of Facebook, and the number rapidly grew from some 40 names to more than 3000 by the end of 2008.You cannot imagine the number of people who were willing to devote time and energy to support this cause without expecting anything in return! And it's with their help that we were able to hold stands in most universities in order to recruit more donors and more volunteers.
Donner Sang Compter hence became a non-governmental, non-profitable organization, officially registered in the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities on May 31st 2010. It was first launched as a stand-alone project in 2006, when I realized the challenges that existed with regards to blood donation:
- The absence of a developed centralized blood bank in Lebanon that could cover the needs of the Lebanese citizens and overcome lack of coordination between hospital blood banks regarding donor's information and donation requirements and restrictions.
- The lack of awareness about blood donation with regards to the simplicity of the process as well as the magnitude of its outcome (fear of donation, saving for relatives, unguaranteed use or misuse of donated blood…)
- The restrained and limited number of known healthy available donors (especially for the rare blood types)
Voluntarism is at the heart of Donner Sang Compter… Everyone is a volunteer, from the person donating blood, to the person in charge of the stand, to the whole team behind this organization.
In January 2009, I applied for an award, the King Abdullah II award for Youth Innovation and Achievement (KAAYIA). To my surprise I was selected among the 10 finalists of the competition among 2000 Participants from 19 Arab countries. We were all generously rewarded with a prize of 50,000$ to boost and develop our projects to higher level.
Today, the organization that most of you have come to know as "Donner Sang Compter" which means to give blood without expecting anything in return, is the link between potential donors and people in need. Our Database holds more than 10,000 donors, fulfilling more than 450 blood demands per month, gathering more than 100 volunteers spread out in all Lebanese territories and with 3 full-time staff fully dedicated to our cause.
Personally, I have always believed that with passion, courage and determination one can make anything happen. This is the message that I would like to "transfuse" to you. Find your passion, something you're good at, something you love, and if you put your mind to it, no one and nothing will be able to stand in your way. Age, financial situation, political and religious affiliations none of these are obstacles in front of dedication, perseverance and most importantly compassion.
In my opinion, the greatest proof of responsible citizenship is to serve someone you don't know.
It is time that us youth, come together and support each other to better serve our community. Therefore, I encourage you to volunteer and commit in any possible way, working for any cause that interest you, social work, environmental work, human rights… anything…anything you think will help you grow as a person and help your community as well!
Now is the time to volunteer, we're still students with valuable free time, let's use it wisely.
I will leave you with our Moto at Donner Sang Compter, where we say: "I give life…It's in my Blood!" | <urn:uuid:88b0030f-aaa4-4aba-90eb-fc1017039279> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dsclebanon.org/about_us-president_word.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96892 | 1,067 | 1.5 | 2 |
Electric scooters are an elusive breed in the wild, rarely seen outside of trade shows or leaked concept sketches. Their often unintuitive names, sky-high prices and modest ranges keep them from comparisons with their petrol-powered brethren, and in a market dominated by Chinese lightweights and classic Vespas, electrics have a long way to go before they are considered mainstream alternatives. So it was something of an event when, in an unassuming small city in southwest England, I spotted a noiseless and incredibly striking creature that looked like the progeny of my own Honda PCX and BMW’s electric C Evolution.
I have since learned that the Vectrix is in some ways a typical electric scooter; it’s expensive, in the region of £9,000-£10,000, with a range of around 85 miles and a charge-up time of 4-6 hours. It weighs in at 205kg and 0-60mph takes about 6 seconds – which isn’t half bad – but it tops out at about 65.
The VX does, however, have some nifty and even persuasive features, including Brembo brakes, Pirelli tyres, and a regenerative braking system to help recharge the battery, which apparently has a 10-year lifespan. The motor and transmission are housed in the swingarm, and the only thing that ever needs servicing is the fluid in the planetary gear drive: less than £10 and 2 hours of labor every 200,000 miles. The chassis comes courtesy of aerospace and defence giant Lockheed Martin, and reports indicate that the VX-1 Li’s predecessor, the VX-1, was composed of roughly 250 parts - minuscule even by scooter standards. No word on the VX-1 Li’s part count, though I can’t imagine it would be all that different.
There’s no doubt that Vectrix as a company is deadly serious about their work; they’ve been at it since the mid 90s, and the first VX-1 was released in 2007 after $50 million in investment. Their 2009 bankruptcy in the midst of the credit crisis was almost cliche for a company in their position. Everyone was laid off and the products were shelved, with any recently-gained customers left entirely without support. Luckily, they were bought up later that year – by a company that is coincidentally a prodigious battery manufacturer – and rebuilt throughout 2010 with new and old hires alike, and they emerged stronger and on safer financial footing. They have since released a tiny and cheap(er) entry-level electric, the VX-2, and the updated VX-1 Li+, and now it look towards the VX-3, a three-wheeled scooter that I have my doubts about, but looks rather cool.
All in all, signs are good for Vectrix, and the spotted VX-1 Li seemed remarkably at home tootling about town. Things are even looking up in the US, with the NYPD as the company’s latest bulk customer, following Las Vegas’ own police department’s purchase of 7 machines in 2011.
Of course, as long as I can get the same performance out of my £2,300 PCX, I won’t look twice at the price tag on a VX-1 (though it’s worth noting that my old CG125 cost 5.6 pence per mile in fuel, versus the VX-1′s single penny). But for those with the finances and sense of adventure – even risk – to ride at the cutting edge of emerging transport technologies, the VX-1 Li is an attractive proposal.
It might even be fun: | <urn:uuid:48b68913-d8a4-472d-9be2-2dd2f0995172> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://missmotorcycle.net/2012/12/06/spotted-vectrix-vx-1-li/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969089 | 776 | 1.710938 | 2 |
How to spot a cliche: Do you know what’s coming next?
More fun with clichés: The Cliché Finder. “Are you searching for a cliché … but haven’t been able to come up with one?” the site asks, then offers a database with “over 3,300 clichés indexed!”
You, of course, might want to use it as an extension of the Bleacher Report cliché blacklist, to see if that phrase you’re about to use is old and tired enough to be found in something called a Cliché Finder.
Or you could just use it for fun. Fun is good, though life is not all fun and games.
But seriously, folks … there’s an interesting essay on the site titled What is a cliché?” Most dictionaries have some variation of the Oxford Dictionaries’ “a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought,” which I think is better than the Cliché Finder’s “a metaphor characterized by its overuse.” Clichés need not be metaphors, after all.
But I like what comes next in the essay:
I have my own test to see if a phrase is a cliché or not. I read the first half of the sentence, then I ask myself, “do I just know (because everyone knows) how the sentence ends?” Someone recently submitted, “The gene pool could use a little chlorine.” I knew this wasn’t a cliché because when I say, “The gene pool could use what?” I don’t know how to end the sentence.
That’s a pretty good test. Pretend you didn’t write the sentence you just wrote, and read it again. Halfway through, would you, as a reader, know what’s coming next? If so, try something else. | <urn:uuid:2ee29358-9234-43a1-9a27-a131af8cb0e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.bleacherreport.com/2012/09/19/how-to-spot-a-cliche-do-you-know-whats-coming-next/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939714 | 414 | 1.59375 | 2 |
This is very much a story about how Jean deals with his the loss of his mother when he is only nineteen. Jean's real father is mentioned only when he mentions that his parents divorced. If Jean knows or cares for the man, he doesn't give us any indication. His stepfather, Bobby, is the only family he seems to have left, but Jean doesn't appreciate him fully until after his death. Perhaps this is because he can't understand that Bobby loves him like a son. Telling the story is a way to express his belated appreciation, and a way of giving Bobby credit for being a stand-up-guy.
The Yoshotos, Jean's temporary family in Montreal, might also represent a fractured family. Jean says their son is away working, but the sad moaning that emanates from the Yoshotos bedroom might have something to do with the son. He might be away at war, or even dead.
This fractured-family aspect takes on huge meaning when we consider that the story is set during World War II, which affects the shattering of many families across the globe.
Jean's appearance is a bit of a mess. He's going though what is hopefully an awkward stage when we meet him in 1939. He has forehead acne, sometimes over dresses, and, most awkward of all, he's missing several front teeth. We know he had teeth pulled. If Jean was wearing dentures we imagine he would have mentioned them. We can only assume that Jean is wondering around looking either like a man much older or much younger than his years. Lines like "I flashed him an excessively winning smile" take on a whole new meaning when considering the lost teeth (27).
This picture is both comic and tragic. Jean can't deal with his mother's death in peace. His body keeps intruding. This awkward physical appearance might also explain why Jean doesn't seem to mention a single friend, even though he goes to art school everyday. His physical appearance, or his anxiety over his physical appearance is probably contributing not a little to his isolation. On the other hand, this extreme physical appearance, which we are given in bits and pieces, is meant to provoke at least one or two giggles.
There is a high stress on occupation in this story. We don't meet any idlers or loafers. Jean has several occupations: artist, art teacher, and art student. Bobby was first a stockbroker, and then, when the market crashed, a buyer, seller, and appraiser of art. M. Yoshoto is both artist and art teacher. He is also the director of a school with no license. All of these key characters do whatever they can to achieve some above average success in their respective occupations.
Mme. Yoshoto's occupation is a little harder to pin down. She is most often seen cooking, cleaning, or sitting at her husband's side helping him with his work. We don't whether or not she too is an artist, or what she might have done in her home country. This information would have been hard for Jean to get his hands on. This is not the case with Jean's mother. He must have known of her interests. This is probably another instance of him not being able, or not wanting to talk about it. | <urn:uuid:8b57c1f3-9958-4ced-8615-552c8ff409fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/de-daumier-smiths-blue-period/characterization.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99065 | 667 | 1.960938 | 2 |
iREPORTERS SIGNED UP
Created August 10, 2012 by
Julia Child, the fearless chef who revolutionized home cooking in the United States, would have turned 100 on August 15. Join us in the iReport kitchen to celebrate the queen of TV cuisine who relished food, wine and sharing it with others.
Tell us about a Julia Child recipe you tackled, or better yet, here's your chance to try! Boeuf Bourguignon, Coq au Vin, Tarte Tatin … cook something new, and in Child's words, “above all, have a good time.”
Let us know about the experience, and share a photo of the results if you have one. Your story could be featured on CNN's Eatocracy. Bon Appetit!
This assignment is closed. Your stories were featured here. | <urn:uuid:7ec2ac6f-d115-4021-bfef-c91c6b8cc13d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/827522?cid=sf_twitter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939827 | 175 | 1.882813 | 2 |
In 2006, not long after the large-billed reed warbler was confirmed as a separate species, a keen-eyed bird ringer in Thailand captured a live bird that proved to be the second known individual, with a few others found there subsequently. This demonstrated that not only did the species survive, but that it could be found over 3,000 kilometres from its original site. Then a second, previously overlooked, specimen was found in the Natural History Museum bird collection. It had been collected in northern India in 1869.
Following this, a team led by Swedish ornithologist Lars Svensson turned up no fewer than 10 further museum specimens, including 3 more here at the Natural History Museum, 5 in the American Museum of Natural History and 2 in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. All were confirmed by DNA analysis and had been collected between 1879 and 1937 in countries from Kazakhstan and Afghanistan in the north, to Burma in the south.
These previously overlooked museum specimens helped confirm that the large-billed reed warbler was a migrant - breeding somewhere in south-central Asia and migrating around the western end of the Himalayas and then south-east across northern India, with some wintering as far south as Burma and Thailand.
These results have facilitated targeted field research, with the first breeding populations now discovered in mountain valleys in Afghanistan and Tajikistan in 2008 and 2009.
Acrocephalus orinus is known to breed in mountain valleys of north-east Afghanistan and south-east Tajikistan at altitudes of approximately 2,000–3,200 metres, and probably more widely in the general region.
The birds inhabit relatively tall (over 2m) dense riparian bushland composed of various shrubs, in particular sea buckthorn (Hippophae sp.).
Individuals on wintering grounds in Thailand have been trapped in grass filter beds of a water treatment site and in tall grass or reeds in alluvial flood plains. | <urn:uuid:13865e80-4bce-48ae-b5a5-fa2705ad2beb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/species-of-the-day/collections/our-collections/acrocephalus-orinus/distribution-habitat/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972719 | 403 | 3.828125 | 4 |
- Benjamin Disraeli
November is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. It’s a tradition to celebrate with a big feast, shared with family and friends. Some households focus on the football game, others on getting ready for holiday shopping. But how many focus on really being grateful--something that we probably should do every day. I want to encourage you to think about what you are grateful for. Make a list. Here’s mine:
My mom--who always gives people the benefit of the doubt. She exposed me to a wide variety of experiences and was always available to drive me and my friends to events and social occasions. When I was in college, she suggested I meet two new people a day. (I was extremely shy). After a few weeks of doing this it became a habit. I now teach the art of networking as part of my Career Navigator Program at colleges all over the world.
My dad--I started college intending to major in biology and go on to medical school to become a doctor. I discovered filmmaking when I took an elective and worried that my parents would not approve of me changing my major but my dad said, “It’s your life to live. Do what you want.”
My teachers, my daughter’s teachers, and other teachers I know. Thank you for your dedication and passion and all your efforts to help me and others learn.
My daughter--who gave me a job I can never be fired from, being a mom. It has given me a new perspective, friends I would never have met, and appreciation and respect for the thoughts, talents and abilities of kids and teens. I don’t view them the same way as I did before I had one of my own. I cherish my daughter, who has confidence, empathy, capability, daring and a can-do attitude that I admire. I wish I had a friend like her when I was her age.
My husband--for a myriad of reasons--encouragement, love, and support. He is not just my friend but also my career coach and editor. His sense of humor and sense of ethics and fabulous story telling ability is a true treasure. He wakes up every day and thinks about how to make my life better. I am truly grateful for his love and devotion.
My speaking clients--I enjoy presenting the Career Navigator Program at schools and being inspired by student enthusiasm and passion. Thank you to all the students and faculty who attend my sessions and especially those who give me feedback
My career coaching clients--thank you for your trust and faith.
My recruiting clients–thank you for working with me and for the opportunities you give to talented artists I recommend.
Dan Sarto of AWN and my readers–thank you for giving me the chance to express myself. I’ve been writing the Career Coach column every month for 13 years. Thank you to the readers who write me to tell me about career issues that are important to you. I hope that this column is helpful to you.
And to all those who serve us to make the world a better place–Thank you!
This Thanksgiving, count your blessings, not your calories. And every day remember to have an attitude of gratitude.
Now that you have your list of those who you are grateful for, send a thank you note in a snail mail if you have a mailing address. When was the last time you got a handwritten note from someone? I wrote most of this column on a Southwest flight from Detroit to Denver, and sat next to a corporate executive named David who wrote several notes during the flight in a beautiful cursive handwriting. I commented on his correspondence and he said he sends at least three notes a week. He works for a company that has over 1400 employees. He knows that people appreciate getting a note and that he likes to send a letter of encouragement or support to those employees who have something going on in their lives. Thank you David, for inspiring me.
Send a thank you note via snail mail, email or even Facebook to someone. If he or she made a difference in your life, let him or her know. Practice the art of being grateful every day.
"God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’"--
William Arthur Ward
©2012 Pamela Kleibrink Thompson
Pamela Kleibrink Thompson is a career coach, recruiter, and speaker. Earlier this month she presented the Career Navigator Program at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. You can reach her for help with career navigation, recruiting, or arrange for speaking engagements at PamRecruit@q,com. | <urn:uuid:e1cf9fc8-4b96-4700-babb-89a57de2e09e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.awn.com/print/articles/jobs-recruiting/career-coach-be-grateful?page=0%2C0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975678 | 968 | 1.90625 | 2 |
What's new?2011 First Month 7th
- Hoorah! While others spend their vacations snorkeling in Aruba I relaxed myself by finishing this project to have a reference of all the population data for South Jersey municipalities. Click on the county name to get to the page with municipality data. Each county page has four tables, and a clickable index at the top. There are two tables for population numbers, and two tables for the percentage that each municipality represents of the total county population. It took two tables for each data type both because one table would be too wide for the screen, and because the sources for the data differed. The first of each two tables covers up through the 1905 mid-decade NJ census, and the second table picks up with 1910. I guess before too long I will have the 2010 census data to add. Next vacation. :-) Check out the notes at the bottom of the county pages (all are the same) to find more resources on population statistics. And a special shout-out to Ed Fox! :-)
2011 First Month 2nd
- I have added to my material on slavery and voting the results of an 1863 bill to exclude out-of-state African-Americans from becoming NJ residents, and to deport those who stayed longer than 10 days to the West Indies or Liberia. This is linked to my summary page on slavery and voting as point #4. Thanks to Paul W. Schopp for pointing out to me the article in the journal New Jersey History, Winter 1969 (87:4).
2010 Twelfth Month 8th
- An inquiry I received at the Atlantic County Historical Society last Saturday encouraged me to dust off a half-finished project from about five years ago - getting data from the 1906 NJ "Compendium of Censuses" onto the web. You can find that here. Click on the County names at the top of the table to see the details by municipality. This should enable researchers to see where population centers moved around
2010 First Month 9th
- I have updated some links in my West Jersey Chronology which point to transcripts of colonial charters hosted by Yale University's Avalon Project. Some time back Avalon restructured their files/folders/directories. There are really many "dead links" at my site since this past year has been so busy at work. I've had very little time, energy or spare creativity to keep my site well-maintained. I would complain more about this here, but I've already ranted at my LiveJournal page. I'm sure you are eager to go there right away to read my rants, but if you have the time I would much rather you look over my chronology and let me know if you see errors or omissions - I am much better at responding to such concerns than I am in doing overhauls, though these are much needed.
2009 Fourth Month 27th
- Added a link to an article on my page for Peace Pilgrim. I wrote this article for the Down Jersey Folklife Center newsletter, South Jersey Traditions, but they abridged it in a way that radically changed my intended flow. The original article was designed to talk about how widely known Peace is internationally, starting with a statue on the grounds of the United Nations University for Peace, the U.N.-Mandated Graduate School of Peace and Conflict Studies in Ciudad Colon, Costa Rica. Then I contrast that with how Egg Harbor City did not acknowldege her for many decades, but that finally they have recognized her with a dedicated Park. I end with paragraph about a statue, parallel with the first paragraph, but this time the statue is in EHC. The DJFC editors must have thought I was taking too long to get to the point about EHC, so they just replaced the Costa Rica statue paragraph with the EHC one.
2009 Third Month 21st
- Added a link to "South Jersey County and Municipal links " page for "History of Spring Garden Inn". It is "Site #2" under Winslow Township, which is under "Camden County." The Spring Garden Inn is near Ancora, on Old White Horse Pike between Waterford Works and the site of the old glass works at Winslow. If you are headed west on Route 30 from Hammonton to Berlin, you can see the big white Inn off to your right just after you go over the train overpass near Ancora (Spring Garden Road). I met the owner the other day and he told me that the old Inn is for sale. Here is a link to the information page: "Our House."
2009 Third Month 14th
- Added a link to "South Jersey County and Municipal links " page for "Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society". Rather than identify this as just a general site of interest (e.g., Site #2), as most of the links are, I have explicitly called the link "Historical Society."
2009 Second Month 28th
- Added a link to "South Jersey County and Municipal links " page for "Mount Ephraim History". I'm a little embarrassed that I've not updated the site in so long. Many other projects ongoing, but I hope to revitalize this with more new material soon.
2007 Twelfth Month 28th
- Added a link to "South Jersey Arts & Cultural Organizations" page for the "Society for Poets of Southern New Jersey" which is hosted at this site. Also updated some links (including a corrected link for Galloway Cultural Arts Center). Deleted some dead links for the South Jersey Wind Ensemble, the Atlantic City Film Festival and SouthJerseyArts.org. If you know where any of these went, please let me know so that I can restore them!
2007 Ninth Month 11th
- Did a major update of "Where was the West Jersey/East Jersey line?" in order to give clear visual indications of where the various lines were and how they compare to each other.
2007 Ninth Month 10th
- Updated "Where was the West Jersey/East Jersey line?" to better describe the Keith-Coxe-Barclay line.
- Updated "The Barnegat-Pennsauken line" to account for there being no Barnegat Creek today.
2007 Ninth Month 8th
- Significant revision of the page on Mason-Dixon Line to replace an obsolete reference and a reference that confused the Mason-Dixon Line with the 1820 Missouri Compromise Line. Also expanded on the absurdity of extending the M-D line beyond its original purpose. Added an 1861 map to show how contemporaries classified NJ at the onset of the war.
2007 Eighth Month 24th
- Edited page on Mason-Dixon Line to highlight absurdity of extending it beyond its original purpose, and also added a link back to the page describing the slavery situation in South Jersey.
2007 Eighth Month 23rd
- Edited page on Peace Pilgrim to link to an article on the dedication of Peace Pilgrim Park. Also cleaned up the grammar a bit.
2007 Seventh Month 26th
- Minor editing of Definitions page to point back to West Jersey Consciousness page
2007 Third Month 30th
- Added Vincentown under Southhampton on South Jersey County and Municipality links
- Found a replacement site on Weekping, now Site 3 under Southampton, on South Jersey County and Municipality links
- I've started a "What's New?" page! :-)
Last updated: 2011 First Month, 7th. | <urn:uuid:0701d49f-8de6-4a36-8e9a-aeb059a20655> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westjersey.org/wjh_new.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942635 | 1,535 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Frogs in Y2K
Are you ready to learn about frogs in the year 2000? Then this is the site for you. All you need is a computer and internet access. This website is full of jaw dropping facts about frogs! You will learn while having fun! Not like anything during boring science class. So hop into the amazing world of frogs!
|HOME||INFO||LIFE CYCLE||RED-EYED FROG||TREE FROGS|
This website was created for
Clipart images were inserted from our Microsoft Front Page 98 CD. | <urn:uuid:98e1e0f5-4626-4006-aaf2-dc6ec1ec5641> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://library.thinkquest.org/J002552F/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949494 | 118 | 2.09375 | 2 |
1st lawsuit on American stolen Chinese relics filed
Source: CRI | 06-25-2007 16:46
The first ever lawsuit to retrieve China's lost cultural treasures has been filed against a Spanish American for his ancestor's having stolen two heads from the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, central China's Henan province.
Liu Yang, the lawyer who filed the case last weekend to Luoyang's Intermediate People's Court, is a member of the All China Lawyers Association and a senior collector of relics. The lawyer told the local media that the case, which was earlier rejected by several other courts, will target the Spanish American whose ancestor had grabbed two heads of Buddhist sculptures through illegal means in the 1930s from Longmen Grottoes, known as one of the four greatest grottoes in China.
Liu says he appealed to the court to ask the American who lives in Los Angeles to return the Chinese historical treasures.
When asking experts to give his treasures a proper evaluation early this year, the Spanish American addressed the American Chinese Collectors Association that his ancestor was in China in the 1930s and abetted locals by offering only two silver dollars to help stole two heads of Buddhist sculptures, which were then secretly transported to the US and remained deserted in his backyard for a long time. The man hoped to commission relevant organs to sell the pieces.
As this is the first ever lawsuit concerning reclaiming stolen cultural relics, some key issues will accordingly arise, Liu added.
First, for example, who will be the plaintiff ? Procuratorates, cultural relics bureau, an individual or State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission are among the possible plaintiffs, according to law experts.
An official from the Luoyang Intermediate Court said that an individual is not excluded as an accuser, but the Luoyang Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau sounds more appropriate.
Another question is: the defendant. Since the man's ancestor is long dead, is it proper to accuse the man? Liu Yang responded by saying that, as long as the article was gained through inappropriate means, it's reasonable to reclaim it from its current holder.
Liu Yang said his first thought of the idea has come from an Egyptian lawyer who had taken the British Museum to court in order to reclaim his country's cultural relics.
Chinese experts have estimated that more than 10 million Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas.
According to the Chinese Cultural Relics Society, most of the cultural relics were stolen and smuggled out of China, rather than destroyed, before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. | <urn:uuid:b59a4826-458f-485e-bb65-29b61c8e93f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cctv.com/english/20070625/106537.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974344 | 530 | 1.710938 | 2 |
It is also important to note that even though the Founders believed the Rights of the people came from God, they did not insist that every citizen believe in God; they simply saw no way to justify those natural moral Rights unless there was a God.
Hence, they set up a form of government that would recognize and protect God-given Rights without establishing a government religion or creating an environment of intolerance. This was important to the founders because they considered religious freedom to be an “unalienable Right”, even though they didn’t specify it in the Declaration of Independence. (They did so in the First Amendment to the Constitution.)
“Congress shall make no law…”
After Thomas Jefferson identified the Moral Law as the foundation of the Declaration of Independence, James Madison and other Founding Fathers legislated those laws and “unalienable Rights” in the Constitution. The First Amendment, of course, is the one that deals with religion. It reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (See the complete Constitution: Appendix II.)
The key point is this: while the First Amendment clearly forbids the federal government from establishing a national religion, it does not prohibit the government from establishing a national morality: it clearly implies that it is wrong for Congress to establish a religion or to prohibit the free exercise of religion; it also implies that any congressional attempt to abridge the freedom of speech, the press, or assembly is morally wrong. The Founding Fathers obviously were convinced that it would be immoral for Congress to restrict these freedoms. In other words, they believed these freedoms were morally right and needed to be protected through legislation.
Legislating Morality, by Dr. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, pp. 21-22.
Of course, this flies in the face of the “You can’t legislate morality” crowd, and it also should start you on the road to understanding that the “secular” humanism favored by many today is not value neutral, nor is it amoral. The context in which we understand morals and law today is flawed because too many fail to realize that the discussion is not really about whether we will have moral law or amoral law; it is about whose morals will inform our law.
Because of the obfuscation made possible in part by the committed efforts of humanists to prevent the judeo-christian ethic from informing society in its most formative years, many people now lack the understanding to critically examine the world around them and the reasons underlying popular opinions and attitudes. Euphemistic phrases have also contributed to the popular, but shallow, perceptions that abound today.
Today murder is sanctioned by “choice”. Compassion is practiced with the money and resources of others, and often creates unwitting victims rather than providing any help beyond the next check. Cities do everything they can to prevent or limit lawful firearm ownership and suffer from horrific crimes…committed with guns, and never see the disconnect. Permissiveness is the order of the day, and yet the enablers fret over the manifested consequences. “Tolerance!’ becomes the battle cry for those least likely to practice it. The whim of the human heart becomes the ultimate expression. Everything is permitted and nothing denied. And yet their answer that comes when the damage is surveyed…the damage from the permissive approach is “Not enough freedom! You must give us more power!”
At times, it reminds me of a person in a small boat at anchor, who cuts the anchor line because they can’t see the purpose for it, then they get bent out of shape when they realize they’re headed for the rocks, but they would sooner see themselves wrecked than bother with the restraint that an anchor offers. It is easy to see where this ends. In many ways, we’re already starting to live it. The question remains: “What are you going to do about it? Fiddle while Rome burns, or pick up a bucket, and get busy?” | <urn:uuid:661973e5-a683-4be3-90bd-f52ed3c74221> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://threesurethingsoflife.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/the-reason-for-law/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955826 | 883 | 3.34375 | 3 |
The W80, designed by Los Alamos, was deployed in air-launched and sea-launched cruise issiles. Approximately 350 nuclear SLCMs were produced, and all remain in storage. NRDC also estimated that the W80-1 stockpile included a total of 1,400 warheads remain in stockpile associated with the 900 ALCMs that are in storage with their warheads removed. NRDC estimated that a total of about 400 W80s were deployed to arm ACMs.
A nuclear weapon system consists of a delivery vehicle, a nuclear warhead, and those components (facilities, support equipment, procedures, and personnel) required for its operation. The surface launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missile-Nuclear (TLAM-N) weapon system on board a ship included a BGM-109A-l cruise missile with a W80-0 nuclear warhead, deck mounted armored box launchers, a weapon control system, and a mission planning system.
High explosives comprise the major hazard associated with accidents involving nuclear weapons. The Tomahawk nuclear warhead contains a new type called "insensitive" high explosive, which is designed to resist detonation from energy sources other than the source intended to fire the weapon.
In a nuclear weapon accident involving high explosives, there is some possibility of a detonation of the explosive -- either a single explosion or several small explosions. The breakup of a nuclear weapon due to impact or a small explosion could result in the local scattering of small pieces of high explosive. In this condition, explosives are more unstable and may detonate.
If a nuclear weapon is involved in the flame of a fuel fire, the high explosive may ignite, burn, and detonate. In a fire, the high explosive may also melt, flow out of the weapon, and resolidify. In this state, the explosive may be sensitive to shock and detonate. When unconfined outside the weapon, high explosives may also burn, producing toxic gases and leaving a toxic residue.
The ignition or detonation of the high explosive in a nuclear weapon involved in a fire can be prevented if the explosive's temperature is kept below certain degrees. To protect the TLAM-N and the W80-0 nuclear warhead, the armored box launcher includes fire suppression systems that automatically activate at temperatures considerably below the high explosive ignition or detonation temperature.
To prevent a nuclear weapon in an accident from producing a nuclear yield, strong-link safety devices and weak-link components are installed to work together to achieve nuclear detonation safety. The strong-link safety devices make the warhead incapable of a nuclear explosion by maintaining their integrity in an accident environment until key weak-link components fail and provide permanent protection. To prevent unauthorized launching of a missile, a coded order conveying nuclear release authority must be received and authenticated by a two-man control team and verified by the commanding officer. To prevent an inadvertent launch of a missile, critical electrical cables from the armored box launcher are not connected to the missile until launch procedures are initiated. To help ensure adequate shipboard security, TLAM-N is protected by an intrusion detection alarm system that indicates an intrusion, both visually and audibly, at a continuously manned station capable of dispatching a security team.
The search for nuclear weapon system safety is a continuous process, beginning early in development and continuing through-out the life cycle of the system. The TLAM-N system initial safety study, completed in 1982, evaluated the proposed operational concept and design safety features. The preoperational safety study for the surface launched TLAM-N, completed by the Navy in 1984, included preparation of system safety rules and a determination that the system met the four DOD safety standards.
These safety study reports and other classified documents showed the TLAM-N W80-0 nuclear warhead to be one of the safest, most modern designs in the nuclear weapon inventory. Further, TLAM-N safety features and procedural safeguards, intended to bring the system into compliance with DOD safety standards, if implemented properly, should reduce the danger of a nuclear weapon accident to a minimum.
W80-3 Life Extension Program
Based on a decision by the DoD to reduce the number of W80 weapons [ie, inactivation of the AGM-129A Advanced Cruise Missile], the technical drivers for conducting the Life Extension Program [LEP] were relieved. The W80-3 LEP was cancelled by the Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) on 10 May 2006. At the time of cancellation, the program had completed 33.7 percent (cumulative) of the approved activities. The W80-3 LEP program stopped LEP activity and prepared for full shutdown in FY 2007. Although the W80-3 LEP was cancelled, two weapon LEPs (B61 and W76) continued on a success-oriented refurbishment schedule to meet DoD requirements.
The W80 LEP was to extend the life of the W80 for an additional 20 years. Previous activities included qualification and certification activities to ensure refurbished warheads meet all required military characteristics; replacing the neutron generator, trajectory sensing signal generator, gas transfer system, and other associated components.
The Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) approved the refurbishment of the W80 in the beginning of FY 2001. W80 refurbishment was scheduled to begin in FY'06. The Block 1 refurbishment of the warhead (about one third of the warheads in the stockpile) will focus on replacing the current gas transfer system with an Acorn design, new neutron generators, redesign of the warhead electrical system, addition of improved surety features and replacement of other associated components. The need to perform refurbishment work is driven by several factors including: age related effects that must be addressed to ensure the continued performance of the warhead, minimizing weapon movements between DoD and DOE, and infrastructure and capacities issues within the weapons complex. The FPU of the Block 1 design will be available in the second quarter of FY 2006, and Block 1 production is scheduled for completion in FY 2010. During the Block 1 production, a decision will be made to either continue Block 1 retrofits on the entire W80 stockpile, change to a Block 2 retrofit that could include enhanced surety options, or stop the retrofit altogether. The Block 2 effort, if approved by the NWC, would have continued from FY 2011 to FY 2017 to refurbish the remaining W80 warheads.
The W80 (ALCM) will need replacement of its neutron generators. This provided an opportunity to improve surety features and introduce a new gas transfer system.
Following a production lot failure due to an initiation problem, during 1999 Sandia rapidly redesigned and validated the MC3323A thermal battery for the W80 Joint Test Assembly. Sandia used its in-house dry room operation to build, qualify, and ship 32 of the redesigned thermal batteries. Enser Corporation staff from Tampa worked alongside Sandia personnel to build the batteries and deliver them on time.
In March 2003 the DOE IG reported [Refurbishment of the W80 -- Weapon Type (DOEJIG-0590)] that an audit disclosed that it was unlikely that NNSA's W80 refurbishment project would meet scope, schedule, and cost milestones established in the W80 NNSA Project Plan. Further, key management controls to oversee the project were not in place or operating as intended.
The W80-3 Life Extension Program team developed a model-based qualification approach to qualify the W80 refurbished warhead. The W80 and the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) teams collaborated to evaluate the W80 warhead in abnormal environments. The analysts used Sierra-based ASCI codes to simulate the mechanical damage due to a dropped W80-1 warhead and the thermal response of the W80-1 warhead in a fire environment, as part of the FY02 ASCI Level 1 STS Abnormal milestone.
The Field Portable Gas Analyzer was designed, fabricated, and fielded to obtain internal dew point measurements on W80 warheads while in their stockpile locations. The results uncovered important desiccant properties that allowed a significant extension of the W80 desiccant end-of-life estimate. The budgetary impact of this project has been estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars, primarily through relaxation of schedule and budget pressures on the W80 Stockpile Life Extension Program.
Plans for this life-extension program drew on the results of a W80 Dual Baseline study, an in-depth assessment of refurbishment options to be completed by Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia in FY 2001. The schedule called for the first production unit of the refurbished warheads in FY 2006. As refurbished W80 units enter the stockpile, Livermore will be responsible for continuing evaluations of their performance. Los Alamos will retain this responsibility for W80s not yet refurbished. In addition, pits from Livermore-designed weapons will now be thoroughly examined at facilities for handling special nuclear materials in Livermore's Superblock. These stockpile surveillance activities previously had been conducted at Los Alamos.
The W80 Stockpile Lifetime Extension Program (SLEP) an extensive qualification program to ensure that the W80 meets its operational and nuclear safety requirements in a wide range of environments. W80 refers to the current stockpile weapon system. The W80-3 refers to the upgraded system being developed for the Stockpile Lifetime Extension Program.
The electromagnetic qualification program includes testing a refurbished W80 under a variety of electromagnetic conditions. These include simulations of friendly and hostile radio frequency transmitters, electromagnetic pulse, nearby and direct-strike lightning, accidental contact with electrical power lines, and electrostatic discharge. The electromagnetic qualification program started by characterizing the behavior of the cruise missiles that carry the W80. It is important to characterize the payload bays and warhead interface cables of the Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) and Advanced Cruise Missile (ACM) because the W80 spends time mounted in the cruise missiles for logistical operations and remains in the missile from carriage on a B-52 to launch and delivery.
For the W80 LEP, the NNSA accomplished Phase 6.4 activities including finalization of all design releases and start of Process Prove-In (PPI) activities. The Congressional funding decrease in FY 2006 required the program to be rebaselined; however, a May 2006 Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) decision to cancel the LEP caused a large portion of the FY 2006 workload to be directed toward bringing the program to an orderly suspension.
|Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list| | <urn:uuid:17ebc982-92f1-4cf3-ae36-eb528bb6b960> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/w80.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929813 | 2,168 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Earlier this month, high-level authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offered an “invitation” to a Provo neighborhood to get them to fall in line and drop their opposition to the construction of a nine-story building in their neighborhood. According to Mormon scholar Russell Arban Fox, it's likely the church’s most explicit meddling in secular affairs since the 1930s.
The Provo Municipal Council met Tuesday to discuss a change in the process for approving the height of buildings in certain zones, such as where the LDS Church’s Missionary Training Center is located. This meeting was precipitated by a months-long campaign by area residents concerned with the building marring the look of the neighborhood and breaking an agreement the church made with the community in the 1970s.
Earlier this month, however, The Daily Herald reported that a Provo community chair who had been leading the opposition against the church’s efforts to build the nine-story, view-blocking building on MTC grounds changed his mind after receiving a letter from church leadership offering him an “invitation” to back off the zoning battle. The Daily Herald received a letter chairman Paul Evans sent to the city discussing the “invitation,” where he wrote:
“The invitation was to support the decision of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to build a nine-story building at the Provo Missionary Training Center," Evans wrote. "I accept the invitation.”
It was a similar message read over the pulpit by the stake president of the Pleasant View First Ward, where many of the residents also opposed the church’s construction plans.
While receiving the word from on high that Provo faithful need to take the shoulder off the wheel of their community activism may seem like pretty explicit meddling in secular affairs—Mormon scholar and professor of political science at Friends University in Wichita, Kan., Russell Arban Fox says church leadership has been more blunt in matters of state back in the 1930s.
“The first Presidency of the church under President Heber J. Grant made no bones about the fact that they supported prohibition and that they were very disappointed when Utah voters supported [Franklin Delano Roosevelt], the New Deal and the overturn of prohibition,” Fox says.
Church President Grant was so upset with FDR he even endorsed Roosevelt’s Republican opponent in the 1936 election. Utahns, however, were happy enough with FDR that the Democrat carried the state in all four of his elections. Fox says Grant’s express displeasure with FDR was as explicit as the church’s political involvement got until the 1970s, when the Equal Rights Movement was a contentious issue across the country and the church spoke out against the move to create a Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing women equal rights under the law.
That movement, Fox says, may very well have resulted in express proclamations from church leaders but that it never rose to that level, as the movement failed to gain steam. Obviously, the church’s heavy lobbying and organizing of support to defeat same-sex marriage in California with 2008’s Proposition 8 was the latest and most explicit example of the church stumping from the pulpit, but Fox says here, too, the issue never became so blatant as church leaders coming out with specific admonishments or instructions to church members at large.
“You could find language out there that the church was leaving it up to individual members, but nobody who lived through it had any doubt in their minds that, as far as the church was concerned, you were either going to vocally support Prop 8 or you were going to be quiet,” Fox says.
While the recent controversy over messages appearing from the LDS Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that “invited” Provo residents to back off fighting the church on the construction of a nine-story eyesore has grabbed headlines in the media, Fox says its also possible that we may never really know if that message really came down directly from the top of the church.
In a church that does not exactly have leaders attach names specifically to who comes down on what decision, Fox says it's possible that intermediary leaders in the church could simply have expressed to local residents that high-ranking leadership supported the construction and therefore they should, too.
“It could have been invented entirely by local leaders,” Fox says. “We’re not a church that has a lot of transparency, so it could be a long time before we ever know who said what. Once things get said, the church simply issues a statement to the Salt Lake Tribune and waits for it to blow over.” | <urn:uuid:ebb934c9-147b-4193-a37e-345f06b0df37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/blog-25-7974-from-trashing-fdr-to-the-mtc-showdown-a-look-at-lds-politicking.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98 | 965 | 1.5625 | 2 |
On the Industrial Estate, management rhymes with environment. Several services have been set up so as to maintain a clear, safe and well-kept environment.
- Maintenance of the green areas
The 32 hectares of public green areas are maintained regularly.
Maintenance of the roads and public street lamps
The roads are repaired as soon as a problem occurs (potholes, deterioration of the road surface) and the street lamps are checked regularly. Repairs can be made if sollicited by a company (road repairs, faulty lighting).
Rubbished is picked up regularly for maximum cleanliness.
A watchdog service is ensured at nights and at weekends all over the Estate.
- Drinking water
Production and distribution of drinking water is carried out on the site and is checked regularly.
- Water recycling and rain water recovery
The treatment of industrial water and rain water is carried out on the Estate by an efficient water recycling unit and successful management of the network.
In addition to the questions of daily management, several services are available to companies with a view to sustainable development :
- Environmental advice to companies :
On setting up : architectural advice, ICPE applications (initial analysis of the site)
On a daily basis, waste management, water recycling, Environmental Management System, green areas.
- Development Project for companies :
A programme has been conceived to vary the means of transport to the Estate (cycling, on foot, car sharing). | <urn:uuid:56a68095-40d0-48d5-9ff6-beef75d472da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parcdesindustries.com/spip.php?article169 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941344 | 297 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Earlier this year, Oceana and National Geographic completed an expedition to Sala y Gómez Island, an uninhabited Chilean island near Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean.
It was a follow-up to our first journey in October 2010, which was instrumental in the creation of a no-take marine reserve of 150,000 square kilometers around the island. Sala y Gómez is part of a chain of seamounts that are vulnerable to fishing activity.
And after months of patiently waiting, we now get to see some of the biodiversity that our colleagues discovered on their expeditions. NatGeo is releasing a documentary about Sala y Gómez, featuring Oceana campaigners as well as Dr. Enric Sala, marine ecologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, who has called Sala y Gómez “one of the last undisturbed and relatively pristine places left in the ocean.
Check out the trailer:
The dive team glimpses 15 Galapagos sharks and scads of slipper lobsters – and that’s just in this three-minute clip! You can catch the full documentary on January 19th at 8 pm on NatGeo WILD.
- U.S. Coast Guard Captures Illegal Fishermen in Texas Posted Tue, May 14, 2013
- Victory! Delaware Becomes Seventh State in U.S. to Ban Shark Fin Trade! Posted Thu, May 16, 2013
- It's Endangered Species Day! Posted Fri, May 17, 2013
- Stocks Show Signs of Recovery, But Still Work to Do Posted Fri, May 17, 2013
- Disabled Killer Whale Survives with Help from Its Pod Posted Tue, May 21, 2013 | <urn:uuid:fd205cb4-9541-43c4-b6ba-5636b0985684> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oceana.org/es/blog/2011/11/video-underwater-teaser-from-chile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937008 | 360 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Contract Testing Program
The center assists pallet and container manufacturers and their customers develop new, more efficient pallet, packaging, and equipment designs. Under the Contract Testing Program, research results will be proprietary. Investments of the testing sponsors are protected.
Pallet Component Tests: Bending Strength, Stiffness
Components tests evaluate the bending strength and stiffness of pallet parts. These properties can be used to predict the performance of a pallet. Testing follows ASTM D198.
Pallet Tests: Strength/Stiffness, Durability
Pallet tests are divided into two categories: strength/stiffness and durability. The test protocol is described in ASTM D1185 or ISO 8611. The strength/stiffness evaluation is dependent on the pallet support conditions. Typical supports include warehouse floor stacking, racking across length, racking across width, and conveyor chain. The load is applied using a uniform, flexible airbag as a general purpose load. Specific loads can also be used during testing. Pallet durability is determined using the incline impact tester to impact the end board or stringer/post with a fork tine. The corner drop test is also used.
Package Tests: Compression, Distribution
The most important function of a package is to protect the product it contains. There are several ways to quantify this ability. Typically, compression testing is the key performance indicator. Corrugated and pail compression tests are conducted on a fixed platen tester to understand load performance.
The other indicator of product protection is distribution testing. Distribution testing simulates the hazards a package or unit load encounters during the distribution cycle. These tests follow either ASTM D4169 or ISTA (International Safe Transit Association) protocol. These tests create an understanding of the distribution system and interactions between material handling equipment and the package/pallet. Distribution tests include: Impact Tests (inclined impact, drop), Vibration (random, sine sweep), and Compression (stack load, failure).
Unit Load Testing
Testing of full unit loads often falls under the same ASTM and ISTA protocol listed above. Another area of unit load testing is load stability. Unit loads are tested using vibration and simulated warehouse handling. Stability tests ensure that the unit load will remain intact throughout the distribution cycle.
Evaluations of pallet fasteners allow companies to comply with regulations. Fastener tests include the Fastener Quality Analysis (FQA), which provides information about the effectiveness of the investigated fastener on the durability of the pallet. Fastener tests also provide information about compliance with ANSI Mh1. The FWI (Fastener Withdrawal Index) and FSI (Fastener Shear Index) are calculated as described in ASTM F680. Additional performance evaluations include actual withdrawal/shear/head pull through resistance of nailed joints. These tests follow ASTM D1761. | <urn:uuid:9761b8fd-9d70-480d-a651-a49b92ee4f88> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unitload.vt.edu/facilities/contract-testing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903857 | 595 | 2.0625 | 2 |
world travel, music, social entrepreneurship, cuisines, healthy & simple lifestyle
One of the ways INDIA can tackle many of its serious social adversities and urban environmental threats is by bringing in place strong policies to control the Population Growth(1.21 billion people) and strongly monitor its rural to urban population migration.
Great ideas & conversations, sustainability, laughter, future, yoga, guitar, world travel, adventures sports, simplicity, possibilities, cooking and cuisines & stray animals.
Cooking and experimenting with various cuisines.
This user has not yet posted any comments.
This member doesn't have any favorite talks yet. | <urn:uuid:a032a433-01c8-4419-a591-dc0f68ed2f06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ted.com/profiles/view?id=621858 | 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 | 0.932632 | 132 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Steamboat Ripple at Kineo Dock, Moosehead Lake, ca. 1880
The Steamboat Ripple was built by Sheldon Gerrish of Greenville Junction. The boat was used by Coburn Steamboat Co. to transport people and freight on Moosehead Lake from 1881 to 1891. Clarence Marshall captained the Ripple and is standing in the photograph while the vessel is docked at the Kineo Dock on Moosehead Lake. | <urn:uuid:d187cd36-f97c-404f-813e-ed64c654e4ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/79996/enlarge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949256 | 88 | 1.664063 | 2 |
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The yellow, usually spherical portion of an egg of a bird or reptile, surrounded by the albumen and serving as nutriment for the developing young.
- n. A corresponding portion of the egg of other animals, consisting of protein and fat that serve as the primary source of nourishment for the early embryo and protoplasmic substances from which the embryo develops.
- n. A greasy substance found in unprocessed sheep's wool.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The yellow and principal substance of an egg, as distinguished from the white; that protoplasmic content of the ovum of any animal which forms the embryo in germination, with or without some additional substance which serves to nourish the embryo during its formation, as distinguished from a mass of albumen which may surround it, and from the egg-pod or shell which incloses the whole; the vitellus, whether formative wholly or in part. In holoblastic ova, which are usually of minute or microscopic size, the whole content of the cellwall is yolk which undergoes complete segmentation, and is therefore formative or germinal vitellus, or morpholecithus. In large meroblastic eggs, however, such as those we eat of various birds and reptiles, the true germyolk forms only the nucleus and a relatively small part of the whole yolk-ball, which then consists mainly of food-yolk or tropholecithus. This is the yolk of ordinary language, forming a relatively large ball of usually yellow and minutely granular substance which floats in a mass of white or colorless albumen, inclosed in a delicate pellicle, or vitelline membrane, and is steadied or stayed in position by certain strands of stringy albumen forming the chalazæ. The quautity of germ-and of food-yolk relatively to each other and also to the amount of white varies much in different eggs, as does also the relative position of the two kinds of yolk. (See ectolecithal, centrolecithal.) In the largest eggs, as of birds, the great bulk results from the copiousness of the white and of the food-yolk, and the germ-yolk appears only at a point on the surface of the latter, where it forms the so-called tread or cicatricula. Some eggs contain more than one yolk, but this is rare and anomalous. See egg, ovum, and vitellus; also
segmentation of the vitellus(under segmentation), and cuts under gastrulation.
- n. The vitellus, a part of the seed of plants, so named from its supposed analogy with the yolk of an egg.
- n. The greasy sebaceous secretion or unctuous substance from the skin of the sheep, which renders the fleece soft and pliable; wool-oil.
- See yoke.
- n. The yellow, spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the white albumen, and serves as nutriment for the growing young.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The yellow part of an egg; the vitellus.
- n. (Zoöl.) An oily secretion which naturally covers the wool of sheep.
- n. the yellow spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the albumen
- n. nutritive material of an ovum stored for the nutrition of an embryo (especially the yellow mass of a bird or reptile egg)
- From Old English ġeolca, from ġeolu ("yellow"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English yolke, from Old English geolca, from geolu, yellow; see yellow. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“Boil it — hard-boil it — until the yolk is a firm yellow globe — a sun shining on manly hearts with cleaned-out ears.”
“Soft-boiled inside the shell, they furnish a self-contained hot meal (best at just about five minutes, so that the yolk is still runny but the white more or less set).”
“Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl after each egg yolk is added.”
“That may take a few days and then that egg yolk is now cemented to the plate ...”
“Because the yolk is very high in cholesterol, it makes sense for adults to not eat more than one whole egg a day.”
“Its lower, vegetative half (the thick floor of the blastocyst) consists of large cells rich in yolk, while the upper, animal half (the thin roof) is made up of numerous small cells poorer in yolk.”
“This is the yellow ball which we commonly call the yolk of the egg.”
“Sometimes the pieces of pigeon are dipped in yolk of egg instead of oil.”
“(corresponding to the vegetative half of the blastula, rich in yolk).”
“I did the fried egg made of a slice of ice cream topped with marshmallow cream the yolk is a blob of lemon pudding with angel food cake "toast".”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘yolk’.
tiara's color lists rebuilt :)
( visual, colors, yellow, descriptive, randomness )
Words made of the following: yuiopghjklbnm. I've stood on the shoulders of giants... users mollusque and reesetee made similar lists before I even existed on Wordnik. :)
I marvel at the amazing variety of four-letter words in the English language. And that's not even counting really common (to me) words like fuck.
Words that, for various reasons, I wish we could do without.
Looking for tweets for yolk. | <urn:uuid:8b8f9fbd-3371-4399-b279-160fa439ae00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordnik.com/words/yolk | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921646 | 1,297 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Speaking to the nation's governors, Obama acknowledged that the impact of the $85 billion in cuts may not be felt immediately. But he also said the uncertainty already is impacting the economy, as the Pentagon and other agencies get ready to furlough employees.
"At some point we've got to do some governing," Obama said. "And certainly what we can't do is keep careening from manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis."
Despite Obama's urgent rhetoric, there is little indication that the White House and Congress will reach a deal by Friday's deadline. Obama wants to offset the so-called sequester through a combination of targeted spending cuts and revenue increases, but Republicans oppose any plan that would include tax hikes.
The $85 billion budget-cutting mechanism could affect everything from commercial flights to classrooms to meat inspections. Domestic and defense spending alike would be trimmed, leading to furloughs for hundreds of thousands of government workers and contractors.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the cuts would harm the readiness of U.S. fighting forces. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said travelers could see delayed flights. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 70,000 fewer children from low-income families would have access to Head Start programs. And furloughed meat inspectors could leave plants idled.
Despite the Friday deadline, there are no serious negotiations happening between the White House and Congress. Obama is focused instead are trying to rally public support for his stance in the debate by warning Americans of the dire consequences of the across-the-board cuts.
The president told the governors that cuts would "''slow our economy, eliminate good jobs, and leave a lot of folks who are already pretty thinly stretched scrambling to figure out what to do."
The spending cuts have frustrated governors attending the National Governors Association meeting in Washington. They contend it has created widespread uncertainty in the economy and hampered economic recovery in their states.
"The No. 1 risk, in my view, to the continuing economic comeback of Michigan is the federal government," Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican and former business executive, said in an interview. Snyder said many companies remain in limbo on whether to invest in their business because of the financial uncertainty.
"What's the likely outcome? Are they going to put in a solution that's set for two or three years or are they simply going to say now it's going to move to the fall? It's not good," he said.
The White House, seeking to ratchet up pressure on congressional lawmakers, gave the governors state-by-state reports on the impact of the cuts on their constituencies.
White House officials pointed to Ohio — home of House Speaker John Boehner — as one state that would be hit hard: $25.1 million in education spending and another $22 million for students with disabilities. Some 2,500 children from low-income families would also be removed from Head Start programs.
Officials said their analysis showed Kentucky would lose $93,000 in federal funding for a domestic abuse program, meaning 400 fewer victims being served in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's home state. Georgia, meanwhile, would face a $286,000 budget cut to its children's health programs, meaning almost 4,200 fewer children would receive vaccinations against measles and whooping cough.
The White House compiled its state-by-state reports from federal agencies and its own budget office. The numbers reflect the impact of the cuts this year. Unless Congress acts by Friday, $85 billion in cuts are set to take effect from March to September.
As to whether states could move money around to cover shortfalls, the White House said that depends on state budget structures and the specific programs. The White House did not have a list of which states or programs might have flexibility.
Republican leaders were not impressed by the state-by-state reports.
"The White House needs to spend less time explaining to the press how bad the sequester will be and more time actually working to stop it," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner.
Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:f3873b21-82e3-42c2-8d42-2c271f0f5970> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rn-t.com/bookmark/21811374 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973984 | 831 | 1.5 | 2 |
Child Safety Tips & Strategies
While our kids and grandkids are learning to read and write, it's just as important
to teach them how to be safe. Start with these simple tips to begin building the foundation of safety awareness with your child or grandchild.
- Approach the subject of safety in a non-threatening way, so that your child is not fearful of dangerous people or situations, but cautious and aware.
- Open communication is the key. Encourage your child to trust their intuition and to be able to tell you when something is wrong.
- Make sure your child knows his or her full name, address and phone number, where you work and how you can be contacted. Teach them how to dial 911 and use a cell phone in an emergency situation.
- Inform your child of the rules pertaining to strangers. Let your child know that adults should not ask children for help nor can they threaten them. They should never approach an unknown car or go anywhere with an adult they do not know.
- Never label clothing, backpacks or personal items with your child's name. A stranger can use this information.
- Put a system in place on what to do if you and your child are separated in a public place.
- Know where your child is at all times and remember to update your child's records every 6-12 months. | <urn:uuid:82489f71-d35e-4547-bb49-21a6e7b74e65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childsafekit.com/Tips.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938819 | 276 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Valtrex (valacyclovir) is an antiviral prescription medication which is used to treat patients who are suffering from outbreaks of the herpes simplex virus, cold sores and shingles. This drug has been clinically proven to reduce the duration and the severity of outbreaks as well as limiting the occurrence of future outbreaks.
While there is no cure for genital herpes there are effective forms of treatment that can help prevent future outbreaks. Currently all of the herpes treatment medications work as an antiviral and actually fight the virus itself, slowing it down and preventing it from spreading in the body.
Shingles is a skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. The herpes virus that causes shingles and chickenpox is not the same type of herpes that causes genital herpes. Most commonly it is accompanied by the following symptoms:
Only take this prescription drug exactly as directed to by a physician. Most often it will be prescribed to be taken 1-2 times per day with a full glass of water. If you miss a dose take it as soon as you can. This medication works best when taken on a full stomach.
This drug is an antiviral. It attacks the herpes simplex virus in the body and slows it down. When the virus is slowed down, the body has time to naturally react and to defend itself. The end result is a lessening in the duration and the severity of the symptoms, as well as a reduction in the occurrence of future outbreaks.
Like all prescription drugs, there are some potential side effects which can occur when you are taking Valtrex. They include the following:
It is very important that you tell your doctor about ALL of the drugs that you are currently taking in order to avoid any interactions. Some people may not be able to take Valtrex including: people that are taking drugs containing Probenecid (Benemid) and cimetidine (Tagamet, Tagamet HB); women who are currently pregnant or nursing; and those who suffer from kidney disease or immune deficiencies. Only your doctor will be able to tell you if Valtrex is right for you. | <urn:uuid:55a795c4-5600-4cfb-aa5b-ce89b72f1e1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.accessrx.com/valtrex/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962575 | 436 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Mount Sinai Receives $3.4 Million Grant to Initiate First-Of-Its-Kind Study of Personalized Medicine in the Clinical Setting
Dr. Erwin Bottinger and his team are initiating the largest study to date using genetic information to help tailor individualized treatments in heart disease patients.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine has been awarded a $3.4 million grant over four years from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to begin the largest study of its kind, in which a patient’s genomic risk for disease is revealed in a lab, and then entered into an electronic medical record for use in determining treatment in the clinical care setting.
Using DNA and plasma samples provided by patients, Mount Sinai researchers from the Charles R. Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine (IPM) will identify genetic markers of disease for each patient enrolled in the study and input them into Mount Sinai’s new electronic medical records system in a safe and secure way. Physicians who are treating these patients in the clinical setting may then electronically access this genomic information and determine susceptibility for heart disease, responsiveness to certain medications, and a personalized course of treatment.
"Discovering genetic disease risk markers of major diseases such as heart disease through genome-wide genotyping was a major advance toward personalized medicine, but thus far the genomic information of individual patients has been limited to the laboratory and research setting," said Erwin Bottinger, MD, Director of the Charles R. Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine, and the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "This will allow us for the first time to bring that critical individual genetic-disease risk information to the patient setting, which we believe will eventually have a tremendous impact on the practice of medicine."
The study, called the "Biorepository for Genomic Medicine in Diverse Communities," is part of a consortium of seven leading genomic medicine institutions called Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE). As a member of the consortium, the IPM team hopes to have enrolled up to 20,000 patients from the Mount Sinai Biobank, which consists of consented patients representing the diverse communities surrounding The Mount Sinai Medical Center.
"This grant is a significant achievement for Mount Sinai, propelling us to the forefront of personalized medicine and its application in the clinical setting," said Dennis. S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of The Mount Sinai Medical Center. "The future of medicine lies in genomics research and translating it into a patient-care setting. Mount Sinai’s commitment to translational research makes us uniquely poised to lead that revolution."
Mount Sinai Biobank patients have provided DNA and plasma samples to aid in genomic and personalized medicine research, allowing Dr. Bottinger’s team to validate and customize 288 previously-reported single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as genetic risk markers of major diseases, including heart, kidney, and liver disease, for Mount Sinai’s racially and ethnically diverse patient populations. The IPM team is committed to ensuring that this information is made available in culturally appropriate, easy to understand formats, and will have the potential to benefit all patients.
The IPM research team will create a Biobank database that will have each of these individual’s genetic-disease risk profiles for heart, kidney, and liver disease, as well as their likely response to different medications and potential side effects – data that will be entered into Mount Sinai’s electronic medical record system for patients who consent to participate in this new study.
The study will include one group of physicians and patients that will be randomized to a genomic-risk assessment, and another that will be randomized to a traditional risk assessment, using risk factors like cholesterol and high blood pressure when determining a patient’s risk for heart disease. The team will evaluate whether the genomic-risk assessment, based on the presence of certain SNP genotypes as well as traditional risk factors, will lead to improved management of risk factors for heart disease in each patient and help prevent the onset of heart disease, as compared to the using traditional risk factors alone.
"The study will give the physicians in the genomic-risk assessment group access to each individual patient’s genomic risk scores and predictors for treatment response and adverse drug reactions, allowing them to specifically tailor the patient’s treatment and disease management," said Dr. Bottinger. "In addition, it gives them a rationale to treat high cholesterol and high blood pressure more aggressively to prevent them from causing or contributing to cardiovascular disease."
Additionally, the research team will also enter 3,000 Biobank patients into a pool of 32,000 patients as part of Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) that will be conducted by the eMERGE consortium. The consortium hopes to identify genetic variants associated with 40 additional disease characteristics and symptoms, ideally making this genetic information available to treating physicians and allowing them to personalize their patients’ treatments.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2011, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 16th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation’s top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Of the top 20 hospitals in the United States, Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and U.S. News & World Report and whose hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org/. | <urn:uuid:fea05e5a-8ef3-479f-a87f-6b4f33fbac55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://icahn.mssm.edu/about-us/news-and-events/mount-sinai-receives-34-million-grant-to-initiate-first-of-its-kind-study-of-personalized-medicine-in-the-clinical-setting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93548 | 1,367 | 2.359375 | 2 |
JMATE 2012: Day 3 Takeaways
Whew, what an incredible (and jam-packed) three days! Here are our very quick takeaways from the final day of the Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness 2012:
Susan Richardson, National Executive Director, Reclaiming Futures
- Youth consume more than 90% of their alcohol by binge drinking. And unfortunately, 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die annually as a result of binge drinking.
- Only half of kids are asked about or screened for drinking and smoking when they visit a physician.
- When screening for substance use, the best questions to ask are about frequency of drinking and friends' drinking habits.
- When working with at-risk kids, it's critical to take a hard look at an substance an adolescent has used more than five times.
- The Longitudinal Pathways to Desistance Study is an important resource for those working with seriously offending teens.
- A substance use disorder changes the relationship between risk markers and gainful activity over 6 years (mental health diagnoses do not). A substance use disorder makes things much worse.
- Treatment provides a positive effect on marijuana use, offending and alcohol consumption for a period of time IF treatment continues for a sufficient length of time.
Liz Wu, Blog Editor, Reclaiming Futures
- Childhood mental health problems increase the risk of substance use and addiction and substance use increases the risk of developing mental health problems.
- If you offer free treatment, 80% will come in without court mandates.
- When working with troubled youth, refrain from using the terms "treatment" and "recovery" because they have negative connotations. Instead consider "groups" "classes" or something less charged.
- Nationally, the numbers of heroin users hasn't changed much since the 90s but this doesn't explain what is really happening. Older users are probably incarcerated or have passed away. Young people make up the majority of heroin users.
- Teens think opioids are safe and legal because they can steal from family members with prescriptions. This isn't true and we need to do a better job of educating them.
- It's important to have young people in recovery participate in a sober support meeting or pro-social activity every single day of the week. Five days of the week isn't enough - weekends are crucial.
Stay tuned for additional panel write-ups to come! And please share our JMATE coverage with your colleagues and networks. In fact, if you'd like to re-print any of our pieces on your blog or newspaper or newsletter, please e-mail me at info AT reclaimingfutures DOT com.
Liz Wu is a Digital Accounts Manager at Prichard Communications, where she oversees digital outreach for Reclaiming Futures and edits Reclaiming Futures Every Day. Before joining the Prichard team, Liz established the West Coast communications presence for the New America Foundation, where she managed all media relations, event planning and social media outreach for their 6 domestic policy programs. Liz received a B.A. in both Peace and Conflict Studies and German from the University of California at Berkeley. She tweets from @LizSF. | <urn:uuid:4c129837-83f1-4dab-b64f-58d7141fff9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reclaimingfutures.org/blog/jmate-2012-day-3-takeaways | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933312 | 656 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Thelasko writes "I'm sure many here have been the victim of bullying at some point in their lives. A new study suggests why. '...now researchers have found at least three factors in a child's behavior that can lead to social rejection. The factors involve a child's inability to pick up on and respond to nonverbal cues from their pals.' The article sketches out some ways teachers and councilors are working with bullied kids to help them develop the missing social skills." | <urn:uuid:5ebab6c1-6efd-4769-92ab-28052a9a0332> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/02/02/2124203/studies-reveal-why-kids-get-bullied-and-rejected?sdsrc=prevbtmprev | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971079 | 97 | 2.109375 | 2 |
I take care of a lot of adolescent girls and many of them are involved in very competitive sports. As participation in organized sports and single sports year round has increased so too have overuse injuries.
One of the most common overuse injuries is a stress fracture which occurs when stresses on the bone exceed the bone's capacity to withstand and heal from those forces. Stress fractures have been reported to occur in 3.9% of adolescent girls, and 90% of those stress fractures occurred in girls who participated in at least 1 hour/day of high impact activity.
During my adolescent visits, I have routinely emphasized the importance of healthy diets as well as the need for calcium and calcium rich dairy products. Knowing that adolescence is the most critical period for bone mineral deposition, and therefore has been considered an important window to hopefully prevent osteoporosis later in life.
In a recent study out of Harvard over 6700 girls ages 9 - 15 were followed for 7 years to identify whether calcium, vitamin D, and/or dairy intake was associated with stress fracture.
Surprisingly, there was no evidence that calcium and dairy intakes were protective against developing a stress fracture. But, higher vitamin D intake among girls who participated in at least 1hour/day of high impact activity, was predictive of a lower risk of developing a stress fracture.
So, while a balanced diet including dairy products is important for over all health, vitamin D seems to be protective and lowers the risk of a stress fracture. The study did not look at vitamin D intake above 600 IU/day (which is the current recommended dietary allowance). Further research will be needed to see if even higher amounts of Vitamin D prove to be even more protective.
In the meantime, make sure that your adolescent is getting their recommended daily dose of Vitamin D and keep watching for further studies to determine the mechanism through which Vitamin D may alter stress fracture risk. | <urn:uuid:d165943f-ee3f-4d58-84be-60ede6e3e04a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://illinoishomepage.net/fulltext?nxd_id=28222&d=1&nxd_238653_start=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962428 | 382 | 3.078125 | 3 |
By Susan Froyd
By Byron Graham
By Robin Edwards
By Bree Davies
By Josiah M. Hesse
By Bree Davies
By Susan Froyd
By Kate Gibbons
Breaking the Mold. In 2003, Connecticut collector Virginia Vogel Mattern donated some 300 pieces of contemporary American Indian art to the Denver Art Museum. For one of the special shows inaugurating the new Frederic C. Hamilton Building, Native Arts curator Nancy Blomberg has selected over a hundred works for the impressive Breaking the Mold: The Virginia Vogel Mattern Collection of Contemporary Native American Art, which is installed in the Martin & McCormick Gallery on level two. Mattern began collecting in 1992, when she purchased a miniature pot by Delores Curran in Santa Fe; though she remained interested in miniatures, she also pursued prize-winning pieces from annual American Indian art shows, focused on multiple generations of the Tafoya and Nampayo families and explored through pottery, textiles and paintings the interrelationships of the Navajo, Zuni and San Ildefonso peoples. But Mattern was also interested in innovation -- the "breaking the mold" of the show's title -- with such pieces as Hubert Candelario's coiled clay jar with holes cut into the sides so that it's non-functional, but beautiful. Through August 31, 2007, at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720-865-5000. Reviewed November 23.
John Bonath: Blessings. The optimistic topic of blessings is an interesting choice for digital photographer John Bonath, because he's been battling cancer through chemotherapy. But there is a blessing in it: The treatment has been successful. Bonath's computer-altered photos are based on earlier ones he exhibited, so although they may look familiar, they are actually larger and have subtly different details. Bonath creates fantasy worlds based on his imagination, but he makes them believable by incorporating readily identifiable things rendered precisely. Many of the Blessingsphotos include figures, such as "An Eventful Life Is a Book With Many Chapters," which depicts an older woman clutching a gigantic book. In others, like "Laws of Karma" and "Blessed Are the Damned," wooden carvings of hands stand in for people. There's a closing reception planned for February 2 from 6 to 10 p.m. Through February 6 at sellarsprojectspace, 4430 Tennyson Street, 303-242-5563. Reviewed January 18.
Mile High Steel. This compelling exhibit was organized by Dennis Walla, who sifted through the photographic archives of Otto Roach, a mid-twentieth-century commercial photographer who founded Roach Studios (now Roach Photos Inc.) in the 1930s. "I wanted to do something on industrial photography," says Walla, who is a co-owner of Gallery Roach. "And as I was going through the archives, I discovered that most of it was from the early '40s, and the photos were of Denver companies doing work for the war effort." Ultimately, Walla selected more than three dozen images related to eleven different metal fabricators, a number of them in what is now the River North area, for Mile High Steel: Denver's Steel Fabrication Industry during World War II. Roach was hired by these local companies to produce photos that would help them get government contracts, and they did. Despite the original intent of the photos, which are created from vintage 8x10-inch negatives, Roach brought a tremendous sense of artistry to them, and his talent for capturing a wonderfully dynamic composition was apparently boundless. Through January 31 at Gallery Roach, 860 Broadway, 303-839-5202. Reviewed November 30.
RADAR. With its outlandish appearance, the Denver Art Museum's new Frederic C. Hamilton Building has overshadowed what's on display inside. There are a few exceptions to this, and first among them is RADAR: Selections From the Collection of Vicki & Kent Logan, installed in the Anschutz Gallery on the second level. Put together by Dianne Vanderlip, the outgoing curator of the Modern and Contemporary Art department, RADARincludes sections on the cutting edge in Asia, Europe and America. Many of the works were donated by the Logans, who live in Vail and are among the most important collectors of contemporary art in the country -- and, in recent years, among the DAM's most significant donors, having given as gifts over 200 works of art and promised hundreds more. Some of the biggest names in international art are in the show, among them Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Zhang Huan, Damien Hirst, Jenny Saville, Michel Majerus, Neo Rauch, Carroll Dunham, Kiki Smith, George Condo and Fred Tomaselli, all represented by major works. An absolute must-see. Through July 15 at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720-865-5000. Reviewed December 28.
(REAL): Photographic Constructs. An important show at the Center for Visual Art, being co-sponsored by the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, (REAL): Photographic Constructs was put together by CVA director Jennifer Garner and assistant director Cecily Cullen. The co-curators selected eight artists who are pushing photography to the breaking point, and the exhibit, which includes local talents as well as others from across the country, has been perfectly installed. It's essentially a series of individual presentations unfolding one after another. Among the standouts are the digital prints on Kool-Aid packets by Jon Rietfors; the flat still-life shots made 3-D in black-and-white photos by Zeke Berman; the installation of hinged wooden boxes incorporating photos by Gwen Laine; the sci-fi style multimedia piece with lightbulbs, wire, jars and digital images of trees by David Zimmer; and the digitally altered suburban psychodramas done in richly colored C-prints by Gregory Crewdsom. There are also marvelous things by Susan Harbage Page, Bruce Charlesworth and Meridel Rubenstein. Through February 23, Center for Visual Art, 1734 Wazee Street, 303-294-5207. Reviewed January 18.
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city | <urn:uuid:b19c5353-3368-40bd-83fc-e83c7ad9ca27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.westword.com/2007-01-25/culture/sketches/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949365 | 1,352 | 1.617188 | 2 |
We can joke (or not joke) about the Welsh story as much as we like, but there are two serious issues here. First, we've been several times round the Wrekin when it comes to a national water grid, and I've no doubt it will all be forgotten when the heavens open in the SE, as they surely will - only to be resurrected again in another 40 years' time, or whenever. Second, devolution/independence will throw up so many questions about who pays for what that I suspect that everyone, for and agin, will wish they'd never gone there in the first place.
Surface water drainage is an important factor - many people pay for surface drainage when it isn't drained at all. Many people have soak away's or drives that don't drain to the main sewer. If they go onto a water meter, all these costs are taken off the bill and you end up paying very little.
People are paying default payments when they don't need to. | <urn:uuid:c7f9d923-dd4d-4f44-b68c-d18f0b17f3c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/index.php?/topic/89789-nice-warm-se-england-should-pay-wales-for-water/page__st__20__p__790390 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971839 | 203 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Do we administer CPR to God or leave God for dead? Even after the Holocaust, the Jewish philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber, refused to turn his back on God and walk (or run) away. Why not? He explained his thinking in his book, Eclipse of God:
“['God'] is the most heavy-laden of all human words. None has become so soiled, so mutilated.
Just for this reason I may not abandon it.
Generations of men have laid the burden of their anxious lives upon this word and weighed it to the ground; it lies in the dust and bears their whole burden. The races of man with their religious factions have torn the word to pieces; they have killed for it and died for it, and it bears their fingermarks and their blood.
Where might I find a word like it to describe the highest!
If I took the purest, most sparkling concept…I could not capture the presence of Him whom the generations of men have honoured and degraded with their awesome living and dying. I do indeed mean Him whom the hell-tormented and heaven-storming generations of men mean. Certainly, they draw caricatures and write ‘God’ underneath; they murder one another and say ‘in God’s name’…
And just for this reason is not the word ‘God,’ the word of appeal, the word which has become a name, consecrated in all human tongues for all times?
We must esteem those who interdict it because they rebel against the injustice and wrong which are so readily referred to ‘God’ for authorization. But we may not give it up…
We cannot cleanse the word ‘God’ and we cannot make it whole; but, defiled and mutilated as it is, we can raise it from the ground and set it over an hour of great care.”
- Martin Buber, Eclipse of God (London: Gollancz, 1953), 17-18. | <urn:uuid:13a1de7c-7589-4106-86fe-c87c19c4c5f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thenakedtheologian.com/2008/12/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963936 | 419 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Rimmer, William, 1816–79, American sculptor and writer, b. Liverpool, England. He was brought up in the United States and after working as a cobbler in Brockton, Mass., at the age of 30 began the study of medicine. He practiced medicine for a number of years, at the same time painting occasional portraits and religious subjects. In 1855 he began to carve in granite. Among his early works are Despair (Mus. of Fine Arts, Boston) and the Falling Gladiator (Metropolitan Mus.). His knowledge of anatomy and his imaginative power are apparent in the few pieces that survive. He completed statues of Alexander Hamilton (Boston) and Osiris in 1864. Other remaining sculptures are The Dying Centaur and Fighting Lions (Metropolitan Mus.). In 1876, Rimmer became professor of anatomy and sculpture at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He was director and chief instructor (1866–70) of the School of Design for Women, Cooper Union, New York City. He wrote Elements of Design (1864) and Art Anatomy (1877).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
More on William Rimmer from Fact Monster:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: American and Canadian Art: Biographies | <urn:uuid:3644c19d-a442-4a93-9f82-8474d87868af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/rimmer-william.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949742 | 271 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Chapter 6 -
Robotics in the Workplace
Robotics in the Workplace
Robots are machines that load and unload stock, assemble parts, transfer
objects, or perform other tasks.
Robots are used for replacing humans who were performing unsafe,
hazardous, highly repetitive, and unpleasant tasks. They are utilized to
accomplish many different types of application functions such as material
handling, assembly, arc welding, resistance welding, machine tool
load/unload functions, painting/spraying, etc.
Studies in Sweden and Japan indicate that many robot accidents have not
occurred under normal operating conditions but rather during programming,
program touch-up, maintenance, repair, testing, setup, or adjustment.
During many of these operations, the operator, programmer or corrective
maintenance worker may temporarily be within the robot's working envelope
where unintended operations could result in injuries.
All industrial robots are either servo or non-servo controlled. Servo
robots are controlled through the use of sensors which are employed to
continually monitor the robot's axes for positional and velocity feedback
information. This feedback information is compared on an on-going basis
to pre-taught information which has been programmed and stored in the
Non-servo robots do not have the feedback capability of monitoring the
robot's axes and velocity and comparing with a pre-taught program. Their
axes are controlled through a system of mechanical stops and limit
switches to control the robot's movement.
Type of Potential Hazards
The use of robotics in the workplace also can pose potential mechanical
and human hazards.
Mechanical hazards might include workers colliding with equipment, being
crushed, or trapped by equipment, or being injured by falling equipment
components. For example, a worker could collide with the robot's arm or
peripheral equipment as a result of unpredicted movements, component
malfunctions, or unpredicted program changes.
A worker could be injured by being trapped between the robot's arm and
other peripheral equipment or being crushed by peripheral equipment as a
result of being impacted by the robot into this equipment.
Mechanical hazards also can result from the mechanical failure of
components associated with the robot or its power source, drive
components, tooling or end-effector, and/or peripheral equipment. The
failure of gripper mechanisms with resultant release of parts, or the
failure of end-effector power tools such as grinding wheels, buffing
wheels, deburring tools, power screwdrivers, and nut runners to name a
Human errors can result in hazards both to personnel and equipment.
Errors in programming, interfacing peripheral equipment, connecting
input/output sensors, can all result in unpredicted movement or action by
the robot which can result in personnel injury or equipment breakage.
Human errors in judgment result frequently from incorrectly activating the
teach pendant or control panel. The greatest human judgment error results
from becoming so familiar with the robot's redundant motions that
personnel are too trusting in assuming the nature of these motions and
place themselves in hazardous positions while programming or performing
maintenance within the robot's work envelope.
Robots in the workplace are generally associated with the machine tools or
process equipment. Robots are machines, and as such must be
safeguarded in ways similar to those presented for any hazardous remotely
Various techniques are available to prevent employee exposure to the
hazards which can be imposed by robots. The most common technique is
through the installation of perimeter guarding with interlocked gates. A
critical parameter relates to the manner in which the interlocks function.
Of major concern is whether the computer program, control circuit, or the
primary power circuit, is interrupted when an interlock is activated. The
various industry standards should be investigated for guidance; however,
it is generally accepted that the primary motive power to the robot should
be interrupted by the interlock.
The ANSI safety standard for industrial robots, ANSI/RIA R15.06-1986, is
very informative and presents certain basic requirements for protecting
the worker. However, when a robot is to be used in a workplace, the
employer should accomplish a comprehensive operational safety/health
hazard analysis and then devise and implement an effective safeguarding
system which is fully responsive to the situation. (Various effective
safeguarding techniques are described in ANSI B11.19-1990.) | <urn:uuid:695664ec-2ce6-4f34-9110-4eb6b7e5c54a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.osha.gov/Publications/Mach_SafeGuard/chapt6.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920837 | 937 | 3.15625 | 3 |
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The B.S. chemistry program provides you with the same sound foundation in the basic areas of inorganic, organic, analytical, and physical chemistry as does the B.A. program; but the additional coursework in biochemistry, inorganic chemistry and advanced analytical chemistry (Instrumentation) satisfies the American Chemical Society requirements for Certification. The core of 57 chemistry credits (including a required research experience, advanced writing and chemistry seminar), combined with 8 credits each of mathematics and physics prepares you for your future as a professional in the field of chemistry. Up to 30 available elective credits allow students to also select courses as pre-professional requirements for graduate study in medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry.
The following is an excerpt from the ACS Committee on Profession Training (CPT) Spring 1999 newsletter:
Why Should I Seek an ACS-Certified Degree in Chemistry? What is it?
What is the significance of ACS certification? First, let's lookat the meaning of the fact that your college or university offers an ACS-approved program in chemistry. The availability of an ACS-approved program in chemistry means that your institution is committed to providing you with a broadly based and intellectually challenging experience in chemistry. CPT's role is to carefully evaluate the chemistry department's program with respect to its breadth and depth, the qualifications of the chemistry faculty, the adequacy of the physical plant, condition of instrumentation, access to the current chemical literature, and opportunities for a meaningful research experience. An academic institution whose chemistry department meets the guidelines for ACS approval is placed on a nationally recognized list of approved chemistry programs. Clearly, the objective of the ACS approval/certification process is to encourage institutions to develop and maintain a high quality program of instruction in chemistry. Furthermore, identifying and participating in an approved program will afford you some measure of assurance that you are being given high quality instruction.
In many schools with approved programs, more than one chemistry major exists. For example, a noncertified degree might be available in addition to the certified degree. In such acase, why should you seek the certified degree? The best response to this question is largely philosophical, but internally very meaningful. Personal achievement rides the same waves as personal challenges. Without question, your own sense of self-satisfaction and worth will be stimulated by the challenges of trying to learn and understand as much as possible about a particular discipline. The certified chemistry degree program is typically more rigorous than the noncertified chemistry degree program, and it may often require a larger commitment of time to complete. Nevertheless, the more one knows about various facets of chemistry, the more one is able to understand and appreciate the broad significance and impact chemistry has in our daily lives.
But the benefits extend well beyond the personal challenge. The extra rigor and additional requirements of the certified degree are valued by potential employers and graduate schools alike. Employers realize that a certified graduate may have better preparation for technical employment. Some companies offer higher starting salaries to certified degree holders as compared to their noncertified classmates. It is not likely that a graduate school will overtly consider whether an applicant holds a certified degree or not, but it is clear that, all other things being equal, the additional course work and other requirements of your certified degree program will give you a boost as you enter the typical graduate program.
So, what's the bottom line? As outlined above, the ACS approval program and the student certification process encourage institutions to offer high-quality curricula. Such an effort directly benefits the chemistry graduates of those institutions. The certified degree is also valuable to the graduate because ofthe personal satisfaction of completing a rigorous program and the assurance of better preparation for a career in chemistry.
ACS Committee on Professional Training, Spring 1999.
If you would like more information about chemistry at SUNY Plattsburgh, please contact:
Linda Luck, Chairperson
Office: Hudson Hall 319B
Phone: (518) 564-4119 | <urn:uuid:b8aafe8d-b010-46b5-9d10-13f9ae719379> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.plattsburgh.edu/academics/chemistry/majoracscertification.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940696 | 821 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Numbers. Meaningless on their own.
Yet both sets – when put in the proper context – elicit passion, desire, rage, hope, belief and more…the full and deep range of human emotion.
Therefore, if I tell you that 34 to 31 refers to the final score of this year’s Super Bowl – the annual US Football Championship gladiator blowout – between the Baltimore Ravens (34) and the San Francisco 49ers (31) – the story behind the numbers starts to bubble…wild swings in quarterly scoring, electrical blackout, Beyoncé and half time, a struggle between brothers – the numerals start to live….
4 to 1 refers to the recent match between Real Madrid and Sevilla in the more global game of football (soccer in the US) where Cristiano Ronaldo – one of the world’s best players – scored his 20th (I believe) hat trick (that is, scoring 3 goals in one game) – and clearly is now poised for World Cup play. Again numbers become living entities and in this case, even take on a seer-like presence as the story they tell unfolds.
Bottom line…with stories, meaningless digits take on deep meaning and sets and sequences of figures come alive.
As Rav Yair (who inspired this and thanks Will) said – it’s never about the numbers – it’s always about the story.
Try this one:
Depending on the context – the story – this could be anything – but sometimes even the context isn’t enough.
For example, here I am referring to hotel ratings – stars – in and of themselves there is a context – a level of quality (sort of) agreed to by the hotel industry around the world. However – we all know that the swings of what they really mean are erratic at best – and without the full story behind the ratings – the right recommendations from people you trust who have been and are in the know – disappointment and often anger are fairly common in the sector.
In fact I will go deeper on this one – using the ratings alone in a computer auction environment like Hotwire – is akin to gambling. You know the ratings are “guidelines”; you know their choice sucks – and worse, there is poor customer service to solve your dilemma – so not only isn’t the story of the hotel there – neither is there a story around service and customer support….
A number of weeks ago I wrote about the US elections and the mistake of thinking that somehow “Big Data” won the day. In fact all sides used similar tools – it was in how they used them – the stories they created and told with them, the difference they made with them – that won the day….
Joel Benenson said it best in his New York Times piece after the election:
“The president’s victory was a triumph of vision, not of demographics. He won because he articulated a set of values that define an America that the majority of us wish to live in…”
Brands are created in the same way – it’s the stories behind them and around them that make us buy them – not the retargeting – and it amazes me that some still don’t get it.
Don’t get me wrong – numbers are powerful entities – understanding them, controlling them, manipulating them can teach us a lot and give us an edge – but in the end, without the stories in front, behind and on the sides, they simply remain numbers.
Patrick Rothfuss, in The Wise Man’s Fear, wrote: “I am no poet. I do not love words for the sake of words. I love words for what they can accomplish. Similarly, I am no arithmetician. Numbers that speak only of numbers are of little interest to me.”
So try these….
$15; $30; $75; $100
If you thought the context was mathematical you looked for a pattern; if you thought it was about shopping you looked for a product – truth is, I took them from UNICEF and the story attached to each number is mind numbing when placed in the context of the lives that so many of us have…:
$15 – 12 packs of high-energy biscuits for starving children
$30 – antimalarial treatment for 33 kids
$75 – 128 polio shots
$100 – 357 measles vaccinations
And as you see, each number has other numbers associated with it – meaningless on their own – devastatingly powerful when coupled with a story.
I’d argue that stock markets have crashed and financial institutions crumbled because we fixated on numbers – we lost the stories behind them – and when the stories finally see the light, we ask how come we didn’t know, why weren’t we told – and I might add – why didn’t we ask….
Let me end with two great thoughts…listen:
“I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.” Stephen Wright
Start with the story – always start with the story – it makes the numbers so much more powerful by giving them meaning and life.
And finally – from one of my favorite sources…listen:
“Since the mathematicians have invaded the theory of relativity, I do not understand it myself anymore.” Albert Einstein
And there you have it….
What do you think? | <urn:uuid:88bad89b-1639-4389-afe9-2e3278c8e595> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weeklyramble.com/questions/when-numbers-speak-only-of-numbers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951713 | 1,134 | 1.789063 | 2 |
They gathered round him; they soothed, and comforted, and prayed for him; but his soul refused comfort, and all his strength appeared to have been broken down at once like a feeble reed. At last a momentary energy returned; his eyes were lifted to the gloaming heaven where a few stars had already begun to shine, and a bright look illuminated his countenance. They listened deeply—“Yes, mother,” he murmured, in broken tones, “forgiven now, for Christ’s dear sake. O thou merciful God! Yes, there they are, and we shall meet again. Verny—oh, happy, happy at last—too happy!”
The sounds died away, and his head fell back; for a transient moment more the smile and the brightness played over his fair features like a lambent flame. It passed away, and Eric was with those he dearliest loved, in the land where there is no more curse.
“Yes, dearest Eric, forgiven and happy now,” sobbed Mrs. Trevor; and her tears fell fast upon the dead boy’s face, as she pressed upon it a long, last kiss.
“And hath that
early hope been blessed with truth?
Hath he fulfilled the promise of his youth?
And borne unscathed through danger’s stormy field
Honor’s white wreath and virtue’s stainless shield?”
HARROW. A Prize Poem.
The other day I was staying with Montagu. He has succeeded to his father’s estate, and is the best-loved landlord for miles around. He intends to stand for the county at the next general election, and I haven’t the shadow of a doubt that he will succeed. If he does, Parliament will have gained a worthy addition. Montagu has the very soul of honor, and he can set off the conclusions of his vigorous judgment, and the treasures of his cultivated taste, with an eloquence that rises to extraordinary grandeur when he is fulminating his scorn at any species of tyranny or meanness.
It was very pleasant to talk with him about our old school days in his charming home. We sate by the open window (which looks over his grounds, and then across one of the richest plains in England) one long summer evening, recalling all the vanished scenes and figures of the past, until we almost felt ourselves boys again.
“I have just been staying at Trinity,” said I, “and Owen, as I suppose you know, is doing brilliantly. He has taken a high first class, and they have already elected him fellow and assistant tutor.”
“Is he liked?”
“Yes, very much. He always used to strike me at school as one of those fellows who are much more likely to be happy and successful as men, than they had ever any chance of being as boys. I hope the greatest things of him; but have you heard anything of Duncan lately?”
“Yes, he’s just been gazetted as lieutenant. I had a letter from him the other day. He’s met two old Roslyn fellows, Wildney and Upton, the latter of whom is now Captain Upton; he says that there are not two finer or manlier officers in the whole service, and Wildney, as you may easily guess, is the favorite of the mess-room. You know, I suppose, that Graham is making a great start at the bar.” | <urn:uuid:c34553ba-47c2-4766-97ec-83ae4c802b34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/12083/174.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986611 | 751 | 1.75 | 2 |
A democratic nation is only as good and wise as the most middling of men who comprises it, but also only as evil and ignorant. This is both blessing and curse to the democratic nation, for the median quality of a polity is both slow to rise, and slow to fall. For nearly our entire history the United States has enjoyed a constant and steady march towards a more civilized and advanced civilization, and an ever wiser and more virtuous middling man. Progress has sometimes been slow, and often halting, but the idea that we as a nation are moving onward and upward has long been taken for granted. The last hundred years has seen remarkable technological and cultural advances, a trend largely driven by an increasingly educated and affluent middle class, the inertia of which has caused many to believe with the faith of the religious, that the prosperity and progress will never end.
As we approach the zenith of our affluence and technological advancement we find ourselves confronted with another double edged sword, which has been both plague and blessing. Some men are driven to better themselves and their surroundings by the strength of their ideas, and an unquenchable ambition to attain some unattainable notion of perfection – but these men are few. Most men have more realistic ambitions; they find their pleasures in the company of family and friends, and seek out comfort, security, and diversions that entertain. These middling men know a happiness and contentment not found in the restless soul of their more ambitious and successful counterparts, but together, these two types of men have moved this country steadily onward and upward throughout its history. This partnership has long been of great benefit to the civilization as whole, and all have benefited. With most of society desiring comfort and diversion, progress has come to be equated with greater levels of physical comfort and means of entertainment for an ever greater portion of the population. Our capacity for both has become enormous, so that even the most middling of men will find nearly infinite entertainment, enjoyed amidst an abundance of cheap food and material luxury. However, as we reach the point of saturation for both comfort and diversion, one must wander what will become of the middling man, now that all of his ambitions have been satisfied.
These impulses, carried over from a time when humanity fought merely to survive, have carried us to heights unimagined. However, at the height of our achievement, the threats to our ongoing survival and prosperity are much more subtle than they were for our ancestors. In the lap of luxury and ease, most find their attention and energies consumed by banality and complacence. If we are to overcome our present condition, great and middling men alike must learn not only to survive, but to live purposefully and well. Having achieved all of his ambitions, the middling man has become politically disengaged, and socially apathetic. Still industrious at work, he is asleep at home and in his community. The short sighted desires engendered by the paradigm of immediate survival have rendered our society incapable of dealing with long term problems, which affect our wellbeing and existence. The long term existential threats to our environment and economy have taken a backseat to the immediate banality of pop culture, which offers diversion, and the comfort of not thinking about that which is unpleasant.
To survive, humanity must move beyond short-term gratification and immediate survival. We must trade our feasts for simple wholesome foods, and put away our toys and circuses, to dedicate ourselves to the cultivation of our minds and souls. Greatness is now required of great and middling men alike – to survive, mere survival can no longer be our only concern. | <urn:uuid:e51e9764-308e-4625-bfb7-fa1053e6a552> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fearlessreason.com/2012/04/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972729 | 737 | 2.125 | 2 |
[Enter KING HENRY VI with a supplication, and the]
[p]QUEEN with SUFFOLK'S head, BUCKINGHAM and Lord SAY]
- Queen Margaret. Oft have I heard that grief softens the mind,
And makes it fearful and degenerate;
Think therefore on revenge and cease to weep.
But who can cease to weep and look on this?
Here may his head lie on my throbbing breast:
But where's the body that I should embrace?
- Henry VI. I'll send some holy bishop to entreat;
For God forbid so many simple souls
Should perish by the sword! And I myself,
Rather than bloody war shall cut them short,
Will parley with Jack Cade their general:
But stay, I'll read it over once again.
- Queen Margaret. Ah, barbarous villains! hath this lovely face
Ruled, like a wandering planet, over me,
And could it not enforce them to relent,
That were unworthy to behold the same?
- Henry VI. Lord Say, Jack Cade hath sworn to have thy head.
- Lord Say. Ay, but I hope your highness shall have his.
- Henry VI. How now, madam!
Still lamenting and mourning for Suffolk's death?
I fear me, love, if that I had been dead,
Thou wouldst not have mourn'd so much for me.
[Enter a Messenger]
- Henry VI. How now! what news? why comest thou in such haste?
- Messenger. The rebels are in Southwark; fly, my lord!
Jack Cade proclaims himself Lord Mortimer,
Descended from the Duke of Clarence' house,
And calls your grace usurper openly
And vows to crown himself in Westminster.
His army is a ragged multitude
Of hinds and peasants, rude and merciless:
Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother's death
Hath given them heart and courage to proceed:
All scholars, lawyers, courtiers, gentlemen,
They call false caterpillars, and intend their death.
- Henry VI. O graceless men! they know not what they do.
- Duke of Buckingham. My gracious lord, return to Killingworth,
Until a power be raised to put them down.
- Queen Margaret. Ah, were the Duke of Suffolk now alive,
These Kentish rebels would be soon appeased!
- Henry VI. Lord Say, the traitors hate thee;
Therefore away with us to Killingworth.
- Lord Say. So might your grace's person be in danger.
The sight of me is odious in their eyes;
And therefore in this city will I stay
And live alone as secret as I may.
[Enter another Messenger]
- Messenger. Jack Cade hath gotten London bridge:
The citizens fly and forsake their houses:
The rascal people, thirsting after prey,
Join with the traitor, and they jointly swear
To spoil the city and your royal court.
- Henry VI. Come, Margaret; God, our hope, will succor us.
- Henry VI. Farewell, my lord: trust not the Kentish rebels.
- Lord Say. The trust I have is in mine innocence,
And therefore am I bold and resolute. | <urn:uuid:64a0fc9c-e4ff-400f-adca-b803d288a5e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=henry6p2&Act=4&Scene=4&Scope=scene&LineHighlight=2578 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902256 | 711 | 2.125 | 2 |
Digital Bayou Fact Sheet
The Digital Bayou showcased the most advanced interactive and graphics technologies on the planet, co-existing in one vibrant space.
Networked virtual societies, innovative interfaces, pre-competitive technologies, scientific visualization, teleoperation, and fun were linked by meandering walkways, punctuated by gathering spaces, and protected by canopied nets. Activity migrated from exhibit to stage to screens. Attendees engaged in conversation with the experts, then met in a comfortable setting to reflect on their experiences in the Digital Bayou.
Over 90 pieces were submitted and 45 were selected for the Digital Bayou. The contributors were chosen based on their innovative thinking and design, and fall into the following categories:
- Human-Machine Interface
- Scientific Visualization
- Online Societies
"We've tried to assemble the most innovative designs of interactive software, hardware, interfaces, and ideas we could find -- ones that point the way for researchers, students, artists, designers, and users to make better and more transparent tools, applications, and content," said Brian Blau and Clark Dodsworth, Digital Bayou Co-Chairs. "If we've done it right, the Digital Bayou is where many attendees will see their future."
Bayou Sauvage is a dramatic, entertainment-oriented implementation of the most advanced multi-user virtual world application. It is a multi-vendor, multi-platform demonstration of the Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) protocol used in military simulation training. Approximately 20 different vendors of computer hardware, software, and systems are participating in a game shared across the SIGGRAPH 96 exhibit floor and Digital Bayou. Participants start in different vehicles from different locations and race across the Bayou to reach a wayward alien spaceship. They encounter active and passive obstacles, not the least of which is each other, in a complex 3D world.
Distributed Scientific Visualization of Ocean Models
This prototype simulation enables operational or exercise planners to test various scenarios prior to initiation of the operation. The application is highly adaptable to training operations via interactive "fly-through" of ocean simulations, including interactive control of the ocean model itself.
The project features a continuous animation that describes the evolution of the science of oceanography. In the virtual reality displays, 3D images of the ocean include undulating surfaces, small tracer balls flowing through space, tub-like surfaces representing currents and eddies, and graphics from raytraced surfaces. The interactive circulation model is user-controlled via keyboard. Certain parameters that affect the model's solutions, such as current strength and wind force, are controllable.
Force feedback brings video games to the next level of play, moving beyond mere sights and sounds and immersing users in a physical reality that is as compelling and satisfying as the real world. Traditional game controllers can only track a user's actions; they cannot convey physical interactions.
Haptic Challenge is a multi-user gaming environment focused on the sense of feel. Two players engage in a 3D game scenario in which they propel a virtual puck at the opponent's goal. They are armed with virtual paddle controllers in a full dynamic simulation, allowing them to feel the puck interacting with the paddle with such realistic fidelity they can actually take advantage of fine manual dexterity to put spin on the puck. Force feedback is so central to this experience that the game simply could not be played without it.
This interactive multimedia program for interviewing young children who may have been sexually abused provides a structure that helps children tell their stories verbally or non-verbally. It assists the interviewer by providing a framework of questions and an easy-to-use system for taking notes and tracking the children's selections. Because it simplifies the interview process by giving the interviewer more time to focus on the child and by supporting nonverbal communication, this interview method enhances children's abilities to communicate a greater amount of vital information with less chance for biasing their answers.
Virtual New Orleans
Virtual New Orleans is a 3D, VRML representation of downtown New Orleans. It includes several neighborhoods, including the waterfront, the French Quarter, and the convention center area. In Virtual New Orleans, you can walk (or fly if you prefer) down actual New Orleans streets. As you pass your mouse over a building, its address and company name are displayed. Each building is hyper-linked to the occupant's Web site, if they have one. Some buildings lead to interior building models.
Neither Here Nor There
In Neither Here Nor There, virtual reality becomes accessible to digital artists through the ImmersaDesk, a powerful new design and visualization tool. It is a projection-based, drafting-table-sized virtual reality system. The size and position of the screen provides a sufficiently wide field of view so the viewer feels fully immersed in the visual scene. Head tracking allows the participant to experience a first-person view as opposed to a third-person view experienced on other visual media. The user's hand position is tracked by the "wand," the main control device with which participants manipulate the scene. Additionally, the desk is surrounded by a 3D directional sound system.
Media | This Web Site
Final SIGGRAPH 96 Web site update: 25 October 1996.
For complete information on the next conference and exhibition, see: http/www.siggraph.org/s97/ | <urn:uuid:2954f6b0-589c-4958-9d24-bfc8f9d33c3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.siggraph.org/conferences/siggraph96/core/media/bayou.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921583 | 1,088 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Posts Tagged ‘Wings’
» posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 8:18 am by madblog
I don’t normally interject on issues that involve dolls like this one. However, after reading the story and comments that were reported in it, I felt like I had too.
According to the story the critics of the doll state that the dolls story is one that makes girls believe men are bad and women helpless. However the story line I read of how the doll was used in the story of her existence was more of a slap in the face of both men and women.
- The father left the mother and child without caring of their plight. Sorry but it does happen more often than I would dream of. As a single father, I would never dream of my girls being left to struggle. Sadly, for every father like me, there are many more that I would consider to be sperm donors and never think about anyone but themselves.
- While it is not as normal for women to do the same thing as men to leave their children, it does happen.
- While the feminist want to believe that there are no women in the world that are helpless, some are. For whatever reason they are unskilled and unable to care for their families by their own means. This happens for a number of reasons, from always being a housewife and never getting job skills, to being told they can never succeed. That is why I believe that all women and men need to be taught from childhood that they have to rely on themselves to succeed and not on others to help them.
- Some men are helpless. Yes, some men are helpless people that were never guided though life to learn how to succeed either. Gone are the days where boys are taken under the wings of their father and taught how to be real men. A man that is fair, honest, and loyal to everyone. They are not taught that to be a real man is more than being able to be a tough guy. That a real man is one that can be kind and protective, loving and caring, and enjoy being around children and mentor them.
The sad true is that even though the critics don’t want to here it, this dolls story is all to real in many cases. I have seen it too many time to deny it happens. However, I also know there are many men and women that love their children and even after divorce place their children as number one priority regardless of situations.
So what I feel this doll is doing and the critics don’t like, is tell a story that is hard to hear. It is being used to tell these girls that get this doll to not become that helpless woman and that things in life sometimes are not easy to handle. This is how the company appears to have created the storyline as their other dolls have stories that have happy families with both parents. I thank this company for showing not just that happy ever after stories that we all would love to see happen everyday, but that is a bigger injustice to the intelligence of this little girls.
post a comment | filed under Miscellaneous | tags: Dolls, Existence, Feminist, Housewife, Men And Women, Mentor, Mother And Child, News Story, Petersburg Clearwater, Plight, Real Man, Real Men, Single Father, Slap In The Face, Sperm Donors, St Petersburg, Tough Guy, Wings, Women And Men, Women In The World | <urn:uuid:a3575d4c-9bc5-49b7-a86f-88da75965e76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mad-mountain.com/blog/tag/wings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983719 | 709 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Loiselle Family Genealogy Forum
It's very possible that it is derived from the name LOISELLE. According to OUR FRENCH-CANADIAN ANCESTORS, by Thomas J. Laforest, the surname LOISEL has the following variations:
CHOISY, CLOISEL, LOISEAU, LOISELET, LOISELLE, LORSIL, LOYSEL, SINODE, SINOT, VENET AND VINET.
LOISELLE is also CAMPBELL, LISOTTE, LOISEL, LOISELL, LOIZEL, and WISELL.
My great,great,great-grandfather, Constant LOISELLE, was born 1808 in Marieville, Quebec. In 1850 he was in Michigan, but after that I haven't been able to locate him. On his daughter's death certificate in 1912, it gave his name as JOHN WISELL. What information do you have on your WISELLS? | <urn:uuid:87900cc6-ff14-4cb7-af80-2be7f3f37f78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genforum.genealogy.com/loiselle/messages/48.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963434 | 214 | 1.929688 | 2 |
TPWD News Release — March 8, 2004
"There are fewer traps to be found because of past efforts, but there are still traps out in bays that we still need to get to," said Art Morris, crab trap cleanup coordinator. "We have removed roughly 15,500 traps during the three cleanups and the bays are looking better and better all the time. Thanks to the volunteers, we’re making a significant impact on the problem."
The abandoned wire mesh cages continue to kill crabs, fish and other aquatic life as long as they are on the ocean floor. Additionally, the traps can be a hazard to navigation, foul shrimpers’ nets and snag fishermens’ lines.
Until the 77th Legislature created the abandoned crab trap removal program, only the trap’s owner or a TPWD game warden could legally remove an abandoned crab trap. With this authority and Senate Bill 607 passed by the 78th Legislature that defines a trap as abandoned on the first day of the closure, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission last fall adopted a permanent 10-day closure to occur on the third Friday of February of each year. From Feb. 20-29, all Texas coastal waters were closed to crabbing with traps to allow TPWD staff and volunteers to scour the bays in an attempt to remove the traps.
Volunteers had several interesting finds during their cleanup. The oldest trap was marked with a metal tag from the license year 1992, and the Aransas Bay crew found live hard coral growing on several traps seven miles from the Gulf jetties. One trap collected in Corpus Christi Bay, covered with oysters and barnacles, contained seven toadfish, nine sheepshead, six gray snapper, four black drum and three spadefish.
The preliminary cleanup results show 311 volunteers worked with TPWD to clean up the Texas coast. Following are total traps collected in each area.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Restoration Center and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program have provided grants to the crab trap removal program. Additional help has come from the Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program, Regional Steel, Best Manufacturing and numerous organizations and companies like CCA Texas, SCA Texas, SALT, the Texas General Land Office and others volunteering their services. | <urn:uuid:e30ae47d-9198-4fa4-8661-d9d0bbe4f5d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/print.phtml?req=20040308a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947274 | 474 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Dear Saxena ji,
Thank you for inquiry.
West facing windows can be a big source of heat, first measure which you...
Why all these are not applicable to Tuticorin port or the one planned in AP or WB ?
What an eye opener! As an environmental engineer,disposal of sanitary napkins has always been a concern during waste...
HANS JEURING is the chairperson of Codex Committee on Pesticides Residue (CCPR). It is responsible for establishing maximum limits for pesticide residues in food commodities, and comes under the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) -- a UN body that sets food standards for global trade. He also serves on The Netherlands' Inspectorate for Health Protection and Veterinary Public Health. Here, Jeuring tells KUSHAL P S YADAV how his organisation keeps pesticides in check
The Codex Committee is supposed to focus on health, not trade. But the general perception is that trade dominates the agenda and therefore the commission's standards for acceptable daily intake of pesticides and their maximum residue levels are not stringent.
ccpr's main purpose is to set maximum residue levels (mrls). If the acceptable daily intake (adi) exceeds in any one of the five regional diets (Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, African, Latin American, and European), then we will never accept such an mrl. The first issue is that an mrl must always be safe.
The commission's other purpose is to facilitate international trade through good and fair practices. By developing Codex standards, we help countries in fair trade. This is very important for developing countries when they export vegetables and fruits to, let's say, Europe. If the commodities are within the Codex mrls, then the importing countries have to take this fact into consideration.
But what is the primary issue, trade or health?
First, it is protection of health. At the same time, the purpose is promoting fair trade practices.
You normally depend on data provided by pesticide companies. How do you evaluate its credibility?
In step one of Codex's procedure, we decide on the compounds for which we have to develop mrls. This is decided by the ad hoc working group on priorities, which meets before the ccpr meeting. The selected compounds are then put on the priority list of the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization-World Health Organization Meeting on Pesticide Residues (jmpr). Then member states are asked to supply the data on these compounds.
The states usually approach these compounds' manufacturers, who then give their dossiers to the jmpr. These are very voluminous dossiers, having more than thousands of pages and including all information on toxicology, field trials and other issues. The jmpr's who panel studies all the dossiers a manufacturer has sent and the fao panel looks into field trials. Based on the recommendations of these panels, jmpr makes rules. Each year there is a two-week jmpr meeting in Rome or in Geneva, at the end of which manufacturers are invited to clarify things that toxicologists have found in their papers.
So it is really a review of all documents by a lot of toxicologists.
Does jmpr generate its own data?
No. jmpr's task is to establish acute reference dose (arfd; the amount of pesticides lethal in short-term exposures based on animal studies) and adi, which are the basis of mrls.
If a pesticide causes poisoning, what is Codex's role? Do you review that particular compound?
Yes. We do that if there is new data from a producer that there are problems with a pesticide. If new information on toxicity comes up and new effects are found, we do not support the compound. Codex then decides to withdraw the existing mrls.
But should not the manufacturing companies be held liable for the harm caused by their chemicals? And should not they be held responsible for compensation and clean up?
I cannot really comment on that.
adis set by jmpr are far higher then those set by the United States Environment Protection Agency (usepa). JMPR and usepa evaluated Malathion, but jmpr's adi was ten times higher. Why this difference when the us is both part of jmpr and ccpr?
This is a difficult question because I am not a toxicologist and not involved in the who panel. But there can be some differences; that is true. This happens even between Europe and jmpr because the latter considers human studies but the European Commission doesn't. In Europe, arfd is based on animal studies. That can lead to a difference. But usually, arfd established by jmpr is in line with usepa or eu's standards.
The consumption of processed and multi-constituent food is increasing but Codex fixes mrls only for raw agriculture commodities and not for processed food. How you plan to address this issue?
We now have a rule that the mrl for a raw agricultural commodity is also applicable for processed food. So if you have an mrl of two milligramme per kilogramme (mg/kg) for tomatoes, then this two mg/kg also applies to tomato juice. But if there is concentration of food, for example from fresh to dried vegetables, then you have to develop the mrl for processed food. But in eu they have a different rule. They say if there is a dilution of a raw agricultural commodity then you have to take into account the dilution. If it is an mrl of two mg/kg for tomato, eu policy is to have an mrl of one mg/kg for the tomato juice. In Codex we do not do that, but there are a lot of commodities for which we have mrls of processed food of lower value than that of raw agriculture commodity.
So we are not acting in line with our own policy, but that may change.
What about multi-constituent foods?
That's quite simple. If you have an mrl of two mg/kg for tomato and there is a product for children with 20 per cent tomato in it, then for that processed food mrl cannot be higher than one fifth of the tomato mrl. Basically, you can carry forward the mrl in proportion. But that is not Codex policy yet. We normally have mrls for raw commodities because most of the international trade is in precisely raw commodities.
But processed food consumption is increasing globally. Does cac have a plan to have a formula for such foods?
Perhaps in the future.
Theoretical Maximum Daily Intake (tmdi) is an over estimation of the exposure to pesticides. But if adi breaches tmdi, are mrls set up again? We found that tmdi for certain pesticides in India was three to seven times of the jmpr adi. What should be done in this case?
Well, then we have an unacceptable mrl. I think that's not a situation I support; they have to do recalculations and perhaps have to adjust the mrls. They should go back to the drawing board.
who says pesticides in water should be tolerated but not accepted. They therefore have a tolerable daily intake and not an adi for water. So shouldn't pesticide in water be a focus since it's a big problem?
It is a problem in India and other countries and it worries me too. I am not involved in water analysis, but in the eu and in The Netherlands there is a general mrl for all pesticides in water. What governments should try to do is have 100 per cent pure water. With purification technologies, I think it is possible to have almost no pesticides in packaged drinking water.
We recently had a controversy in India regarding pesticides in soft drinks. A parliamentary committee concluded that soft drinks contained pesticides and endangered health. Does the same situation exist in other countries?
Well, I do not know. I can't speak for other countries. But the problem does not exist in The Netherlands.
The amount of pesticides found in the soft drinks was seventy times than those allowed by eu water standards.
This is an infringement of the principle of law and it unacceptable. There can be a controversy about the levels of pesticides found, but you cannot say that it (pesticides in soft drinks) is okay. They have to be taken out and you cannot leave them as it is. It is unacceptable.
So what should be the standard for pesticides in soft drinks?
Soft drinks should be free of pesticides because as such they do not use raw agricultural commodities and thus no pesticides can be allowed in them.
But soft drinks companies claim that pesticides can get in through the sugar they use
If there is any carry over of pesticides from sugar or other such inputs derived from raw agriculture commodities, then the standard should be in proportion to the amount of the particular input.
What are your views on the participation of developing countries like India in the ccpr or cac process. We have seen that developed countries more or less run the show.
I believe that developing countries should attend ccpr and other Codex committee meetings. That is very important. In fact, there is a special who fund in which developed countries have put in a lot of money to help developing countries attend cac meetings.
But their participation is still poor.
Yes, and it should be increased. That is why we are happy that we had a ccpr meeting in India this time, and we will go to other developing countries.
Many of the non-governmental organisations (ngos) listed in the ccpr list are manufacturing industry bodies. Is the ccpr meeting dominated by the industries?
No, I don't think so. We have ngos but they are only observers. ngos are not allowed to vote.
Your comments on the project for setting up interim mrls.
The interim mrls process has only been developed for certain chemicals. jmpr has a heavy workload and sometimes it takes six to eight years before we have a new Codex mrl. That's hardly acceptable; everybody wants safe chemicals. So that's why we have this pilot project of having interim mrls.
How long does it take for jmpr to set up an adi when a new molecule is introduced?
If a new molecule is introduced in the eu, then it will be marked to the eu. After one year, it also goes to the ccpr working group's priority list. But the group is so busy that even if the molecule is placed on the priority list now, it will come on jmpr's agenda in 2007. That is the problem. We feel jmpr needs more people, especially more from the developing countries. | <urn:uuid:1381ef38-ca32-4258-81d3-9cf3f606f365> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/11266 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956673 | 2,224 | 2.375 | 2 |
Proteomics sample preparation refers to an assorted set of techniques, using various chemistries and devices, employed to extract or prefractionate protein samples prior to downstream applications for fractionation or analysis. Depending on a researcher’s specific aim or proteomics workflow, several procedures or methods are required for the appropriate preparation.
Techniques for proteomics sample preparation can be straightforward, such as the utilization of pipette tips packed with C18 silica for peptide microextraction prior to mass-spectrometry analysis. Methods can also be rather challenging, for example, the extraction and solubilization of membrane proteins prior to further fractionation by 2-D gel electrophoresis or chromatographic instrumentation.
Chemistries, devices, and kits for proteomics sample preparation are required in diverse life science research settings. Biopharmaceutical companies drive the greatest consumption of sample-preparation products and consequently are the strongest drivers of the market.
Biopharmaceutical firms, in their search for protein biomarkers or druggable protein targets, make use of high-throughput automated tools that allow for large-scale production. This necessitates a constant need for proteomics sample-preparation solutions.
Research initiatives, driven by the NIH or the Human Proteome Organization, also are fueling proteomics sample-preparation needs in academia. Scientists are increasingly interested in applying a proteomics-based analysis to their model systems.
Technological advancements in fractionation and detection are beginning to provide researchers with the necessary tools to visualize low-abundant proteins. Improved methods for 2-D gel electrophoresis or chromatographic separations combined with novel mass spectrometers, which are reportedly up to 10 times more sensitive than their predecessors, are enabling researchers to obtain provocative proteomics data.
Suppliers are complementing such progress with innovative products and kits for effective proteomics sample preparation. The sale of the assortment of chemistries, devices, and kits included in the total proteomics sample preparation is forecasted to generate $59.3 million in revenue in the U.S. for 2007. The U.S. proteomics sample-preparation market is expected to reach $103.2 million in 2011.
Currently, a significant amount of revenue is generated by the consumption of prepackaged kits for proteomics sample preparation. Kits generally provide a set of tools that are also available as commodities. Researchers are often comfortable utilizing commodities in a homemade fashion, using their own unique protocols. They can thereby eliminate the need for kits.
Nevertheless, the proteomics sample-preparation kits segment is expected to grow as consistency and standards, which make research more amenable to kit-based solutions, are implemented in large-scale proteomics production facilities.
It is expected that over the next couple of years novel proteomics sample-preparation technologies will drive the demand for commodity chemistries and devices. Sample-preparation standardization should allow for these breakthroughs to be immediately implemented in kit-based solutions, propelling the total market growth to a 15.3% CAGR between 2008 and 2011. | <urn:uuid:9d7749e7-399f-402e-95f8-c3aeddc3751b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://genengnews.com/gen-articles/biomarket-trends-proteomics-sample-prep-market-is-ripening/2203/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917795 | 641 | 2.71875 | 3 |
While thin film solar startup Solyndra teed up an IPO, and then had to ditch it earlier this month, other thin film solar firms are still solidly stuck in neutral. Everyone’s still waiting for the announcement from HelioVolt, which was founded in 2001 and has raised at least $130 million in funding, to say that it has moved into commercial production. As of February of this year, the Austin Business Journal reported that the company had been shipping samples to select customers, but hadn’t yet started full scale production.
This week, according to a filing, HelioVolt has raised another $31.5 million, this time in debt and options. One can only guess that it needs the funding to help it move into commercial production.
The Austin Business Journal also reported in February that HelioVolt had to delay a job projection pledge with the state of Texas by two years, just 18 months after it took $1 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund. Vice President of Business Development Iga Hallberg told the Journal that the global recession and weakened demand for solar was the cause of the delay. The ABJ said:
The original agreement called for creating 158 jobs in return for that $1 million in two equal payments. But the amended agreement extends the target date for creating that many jobs from December 2010 to December 2012 and extends the amount of time the company must maintain those jobs from January 2016 to January 2018, according to Gov. Rick Perry’s office, which oversees the Texas Enterprise Fund.
HelioVolt previously expected to start commercial production in 2008, and even had a ribbon cutting ceremony for its factory in late 2008. Then that deadline was pushed back to early 2009, and then finally to sometime in 2010. I would guess that it’ll be pushed back yet again. In February 2009, HelioVolt’s founder BJ Stanbery left the CEO spot to serve as chief strategy officer and chairman of the board, and in June 2009, HelioVolt brought on former First Solar COO Jim Flanary as its new CEO.
For more on cleantech financing check out GigaOM Pro (subscription required): | <urn:uuid:e548d929-493f-4549-92ed-75b7a928f1ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gigaom.com/2010/06/30/heliovolt-raising-funds-to-get-out-of-neutral/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974256 | 446 | 1.507813 | 2 |
|Date||23rd May 2013 (9:30am – 4:30pm)|
|Venue||Econsultancy London, London, United Kingdom|
About the course
New technologies are big value creators in the digital space – mobile currently at the fore. However, what remains unclear are the ways in which this value is being created and how businesses exist and will evolve in the value chain.
On this one-day course, Andrew Thomas will use mobile as an example of how technology is developing and the ways in which companies are spawning new business models on a daily basis. In a highly practical and interactive workshop, participants will be encouraged to develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of new technology and how it will impact upon the growth of their business in the future.
This course will focus upon three areas: the changing shape of digital and the impact of new technologies such as mobile; understanding the three key cogs of business growth and understanding and developing your business model.
With digital activity playing a fundamental role in helping deliver business growth and altering the marketing mix, it is increasingly important to understand how burgeoning digital channels are contributing to business growth.
This course will provide you with practical tools and approaches that can be used in your workplace, and help you consider the future needs of your business in delivering sustainable long-term growth.
Who should attend?
This course is designed for those responsible for delivering growth in a digital organisation. It will be particularly suited to those in sales and business development in a larger service organisation and owner-drivers in more entrepreneurial small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
If you are in a business start up, attending the one day course will be a very good way of sharpening your business development skills and enable you to review your business model and market entry strategy.
How will I benefit?
By attending the workshop, individuals will develop a real sense of how the digital economy is shifting to mobile and to reflect upon how this is impacting their own organisation.
This will be coupled with a deeper understanding of the key aspects of developing a business development or growth programme, based upon fundamentally appraising where the business creates value.
What will I learn?
The impact of new technology on digital business, using mobile as a case study
- The shift from the desktop to the handset. What does this mean for service delivery
- Native Aps or Web Apps. What will be the impact of HTML5?
- Making money from Mobile. Myth or Mystery?
Business development - the three growth cogs
- Proposition - what does your business stand for?
- Prospecting - how do you go looking for growth?
- Persuasion - how do you build rapport with prospective and existing customers? Using personality profiling to build chemistry
- Leveraging all three facets to grow your business profitably and sustainably
Modelling your business
- Understanding your place in the value chain
- What makes a sound digital business model? Reviewing current practice
- Using the Business Model Canvas as a tool review and reflect upon your current business model using the nine key building blockswith prospective and existing customers? Using personality profiling to build chemistry
Founding Director, the green field
Andrew up until the end of 2008 was an Executive Director at Bounty and part of the management team that sold the business to the publicly listed Canadian company Kaboose. Bounty - now part of the Treehouse Group - is the leading direct marketing business focusing on expectant mothers and new parent households.
Andrew joined Bounty in 2005 to develop their e-business opportunity and commercialise what is the leading online meeting point for mums in the UK.
Andrew’s marketing experience extends back over twenty years having joined BMP DDB in London in the late eighties, after completing five years as a captain in the British Army. He spent most of career working at the global advertising agency McCann-Erickson.
On leaving Bounty at the end of 2008 Andrew established the green field, which has become a convenient wrapper for his portfolio of coaching, consulting and training activities. Since then, Andrew has incorporated being a Media Development Professional with Vision and Media; an Associate Coach with Winning Pitch on the Northwest Regional Development Agency’s High Growth Programme and certified trainer with Econsultancy.
He is currently a non-executive director of the digital businesses Auburnise and Return on Digital. He recently completed eighteen months as an advisor and Non Executive Director at Chillingo, culminating in the sale of the business to Electronic Arts.
Andrew has a Post Graduate Diploma in Executive Coaching and Leadership Mentoring (PG Dip). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Leadership and Management (FinstLM) and a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). He is also a qualified Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®), FIRO-B® and DiSC® practitioner.
Andrew’s passion is road cycling. In his spare time he helps manage a youth racing team, and has recently established a new business Northern Albion Ltd identifying, developing and importing innovative cycling products into the United Kingdom.
Nearest tube stations:
Farringdon (Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City) or Chancery Lane (Central Line) | <urn:uuid:6a23704f-9d6f-4985-9e3c-896ad7337ac3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://econsultancy.com/de/training/courses/growing-your-digital-business/dates/1711 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929965 | 1,076 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Places of Retirement
( Originally Published 1934 )
"Good God! how sweet are all things here !
CHARLES COTTON (a friend of Izaak Walton)
HAVE been spending a Sunday of retire in the woods. I came out with strange, deep sense of depression, and though I knew it was myself and not the world that was sad, yet I could not put it away from me. As I, write, the wood seems full of voices, the little rustling of leaves, the minute sounds of twigs chafing together, the cry of frogs from the swamp so steady and monotonous that it scarcely arrests attention. Of odours, a plenty ! Just behind me, so that by turning my head can see into their cool green depths, are a number of hemlock trees, breath of which is incalculably sweet. And the earth—the very earth itself---has a good rich growing odour, pleasant to smell.
These things have been here a thousand years—a million years—and yet they are not stale, but are ever fresh, ever serene, ever here to loosen one's crabbed spirit and make one quietly happy. It seems to me I could not live if it were not possible often to come thus alone to the woods.
On later walking I discover that here and there on warm southern slopes the dog-tooth violet is really in bloom, and worlds of hepatica, both lavender and white, among the brown leaves. One of the notable sights of the hillsides at this time of the year is the striped maple, the long wands rising straight and chaste among thickets of less-striking young birches and chestnuts, and having a bud of a delicate pink—a marvel of minute beauty. A little trailing arbutus I found and renewed my joy with one of the most exquisite odours of all the spring; Solomon's seal thrusting up vivid green cornucopias from the lifeless earth, and often near a root or stone the red partridge berries among their bright leaves. The laurel on the hills is sharply visible, especially when among deciduous trees, and along the old brown roads are patches of fresh winter-green. In a cleft of the hills near the top of Norwottuck, though the day is warm, I found a huge snowbank—the last held trench of old winter, the last guerilla of the cold, driven to the fastnesses. I have enjoyed this day without trying. After the first hour or so of it all the worries dropped away, all the ambitions, all the twisted thoughts
It is strange how much thrilling joy there is in the discovery of the ages-old miracle of returning life in the woods: each green adventurer, each fragrant joy, each bird-call—and the feel of the soft, warm sunshine upon one's back after months of winter. On any terms life is good. The only woe, the only Great Woe, is the woe of never having been born. Sorrow, yes; failure, yes; weakness, yes; the sad loss of dear friends—yes! But oh, the good God: I still live!
Being alone without feeling alone is one of the great experiences of life, and he who practises it has acquired an infinitely valuable possession. People fly to crowds for happiness, not knowing that all the happiness they find there they must take with them. Thus they divert and distract that within them which creates power and joy, until by flying always away from themselves, seeking satisfaction from without rather than from within, they become infinitely boresome to themselves, so that they can scarcely bear a moment of their own society.
But if once a man have a taste of true and happy retirement, though it be but a short hour or day, now and then, he has found, or is begining to find, a sure place of refuge, of blessed renewal, toward which in the busiest hours he will find his thoughts wistfully stealing. How stoutly will he meet the buffets of the world if he knows he has such a place of retirement where all is well-ordered and full of beauty, and right counsels prevail, and true things are noted.
As a man grows older, if he cultivate the art of retirement, not indeed as an end in itself, but as a means of developing a richer and freer life, he will find his reward growing surer and greater until in time none of the storms or shocks of life any longer disturbs him. He might in time even reach the height attained by Diogenes, of whom Epictetus said, "It was not possible for any man to approach him, nor had any man the means of laying hold upon him to enslave him. He had everything easily loosed, everything only hanging to him. If you laid hold of his property, he would rather have let it go and be yours than he would have followed you for it if you laid hold of his kg be would have let go his leg: if all of his body, all his poor body; his intimates, friends, country, just the same. For he knew from whence he had them, and from whom and on what conditions."
The best partners of solitude are books. I like to take a book with me in my pocket, although find the world so full of interesting things—sights, sounds, odours—that often I never read a word in it. It is like having a valued friend with you, though you walk for miles without saying a word to him or he to you: but if you really know your friend, it is a curious thing how, subconsciously, you are aware of what he is thinking and feeling about this hillside or that distant view. And so it is with books. It is enough to have this writer in your pocket, for the very thought of him and what he would say to these old fields and pleasant trees is ever freshly delightful. And he never interrupts at inconvenient moments, nor intrudes his thoughts upon yours unless you desire it.
I do not want long books and least of all story books in the woods—these are for the library— , but rather scraps and extracts and condensations from which thoughts can be plucked like flowers and carried for a while in the buttonhole. So it is that I am fond of all kinds of anthologies. I have one entitled "Traveller's joy," another, "Songs of Nature," and I have lately found the best one I know called "The Spirit of Man" by Robert Bridges, the English laureate. Other little books that fit well in the pocket on a tramp, be. cause they are truly companionable, are Ben Jonson's "Timber," one of the very best, and William Penn's "Fruits of Solitude," An anthology of Elizabethan verse, given me by a friend, is also a good companion.
It is not a discourse or a narrative we want as we walk abroad, but conversation. Neither do we want people or facts or stories, but a person. So open one of these little books and read therein the thoughtful remark of a wise companion. This I may reply to, or merely enjoy, as please. am in no hurry, as might be with a living companion, for my book friend, being long dead, is not impatient and gives me time to reply, and is not resentful if make no reply at all. Submitted to such a test as this few writers, old or new, give continued profit or delight. To be considered in the presence of the great and simple things of nature, or worn long in the warm places of the spirit, a writer must have supreme qualities of sense or humour, a great sensitiveness to beauty, or a genuine love of goodness—but above all he must somehow give us the flavour of personality. He must be a true companion of the spirit.
There is an exercise given to young soldiers which consists in raising the hands slowly above the head, taking in a full breath at the same time, and then letting them down in such a way as to square the shoulders. This leaves the body erect, the head high, the eyes straight ahead, the lungs full of good air. It is the attitude that every man at arms should wish to take. After a day in the woods l feel some such erectness of spirit, a lift of the head, and a clearer and calmer vision, for have raised up my hands to the heavens, and drawn in the odours and sights and of the good earth. | <urn:uuid:8767164c-aa4c-4381-87a9-c5351751d7b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldandsold.com/articles25/travel-12.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972469 | 1,770 | 1.570313 | 2 |
When we come up with the idea for a new product, or want to further develop an existing one, a long process is initiated. On average, developing a new product takes three years from start to finish.
2. Fact gathering
Our product developers begin by gathering facts. They have to become experts before they can really begin working. To define needs, we talk to families with small children and to salespeople from all of our markets. We look at what is available on the market today and analyze it compared to the needs identified.
3. Medical expertise
The next step in gathering facts, is consulting medical experts. Their knowledge and information is an extremely important tool for our process. Together with our product developers, doctors carry out tests to guarantee our high safety standards. Since this is our foremost priority, their advice is critical.
4. The first prototypes
In the next step, the product developers create prototypes. How something works in theory is one thing, but how it works in reality is another entirely. This work is a top priority for us, and our product development division spends a lot of time creating prototypes in our well-equipped test room. The first prototypes give us a good indication as to whether or not we are on the right track.
5. Test families
Once we’re satisfied with the prototypes, it’s time for our test families to weigh in. Here, we often discover things that must be developed further or improved. We revise the prototypes, check with our medical experts, let our families try and test again, make changes and test again until our high quality standards have been met.
6. Test institutes
Before launching, we have test institutes test the product against existing standards. If the product passes the tests, this means it complies with the standard. However, our own tough attitude towards safety means that our requirements are even more rigorous than this. At this point, all materials used in the product are tested. Plastics are tested for toxic substances. Textiles are tested according to Oeko-Tex, to ensure that they pose no health threat.
7 Trial sales
Before total market sales can begin, we have a large number of families test the product, packaging and user’s manual. Any shortcomings are corrected. Thereafter, a number of stores are chosen for sales trials, usually in Sweden plus one other market.
During the sales trial, we enclose a questionnaire asking consumers to evaluate the product. If they are not satisfied with the product’s safety and functionality, we must start afresh, with new prototypes. Otherwise, we move forward and develop packaging and manuals for more markets.
Now we are ready to start selling the product. Today, we export to over 40 countries.
10 Further evaluation
Development of both new and existing products is very dear to our hearts and is an ongoing process here at BabyBjörn. That’s why our continuous dialogue with families around the world who have small children is vital to us, and our evaluation and improvement processes always have top priority. | <urn:uuid:52a3b917-2dba-43b2-b532-9ab41f0f5278> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.babybjorn.com/about-us/from-idea-to-product/Bildspel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936514 | 627 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Academic dishonesty is academic misconduct which violates the principles of academic integrity. For students, this primarily means cheating on a test - pretending you've learned more than you really have. For researchers, this generally refers to intellectual dishonesty, such as knowingly presenting an unsound argument in favor of a proposition for ideological reasons.
Scientists unknowing drift academic dishonesty by incorrectly assuming that a small sample represents the whole (see statistical sampling). The pressures of the "publish or perish" mindset may drive some scientists to such deliberate acts as:
- faking research to support a theory (see "fudging") (see Michael A. Bellesiles, a professor at Emory University who faked gun ownership data in early America to support gun control)
- discarding data which contradict a theory
- character assassination of scientists who advance competing theories
- refusing to make data available for review by interested parties (See Richard Lenski for an example) | <urn:uuid:c0d32dba-130a-42a0-83d7-bdf380086564> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://conservapedia.com/Academic_dishonesty | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915005 | 191 | 3 | 3 |
It’ll soon be a year since we first reported a seal sighting at the dock of the Miramar Yacht Club. The adorable animal was seen just lounging around, getting his tan on. At the time a yacht club member said he has never seen a seal in the waters of Sheepshead Bay; it was unheard of.
Then in March of 2011 there was another seal sighting, but this time it was at Brighton Beach. A month after that it seemed the same seal that appeared at the Miramar Yacht Club resurfaced again in Sheepshead Bay.
Apparently, a Rockaway cruise vessel is taking advantage of the seals’ affable nature, and is giving tours to those who don’t want to wait for them to sun themselves on lonely Sheepsheady Bay marinas.
“The nicest part is that they are just as interested in us as we are in them,” said Jack Goldstein, the captain of the American Princess. “Sometimes, it feels like they are staring back at us.”
The cruise leaves from the Rockaways and proceeds towards Staten Island. The vessel stays idle around Swinburne and Hoofman, the two man-made islands off of the Staten Island coast that have played home to the seals for the past 10 years.
Paul Sieswerda, the cruise’s tour guide, says there has been a great increase in seal sightings in Jamaica Bay since 2006.
“There is a growing population of harbor seals in the East Coast,” said Sieswerda.
He has devoted much of his life to the mammal. In the summer of 1976, he kept and raised a baby seal in his bathtub until he was able to find a proper aquarium for the animal. Also, in 1994 Sieswerda cared for a seal named Andre, which was the idea behind the children’s film Andre. | <urn:uuid:dfe77856-919c-49fa-8a34-d6417f54e9de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sheepsheadbites.com/2012/02/we-knew-we-had-seals-now-we-have-seal-watchers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978537 | 396 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Hong Kong was the first city in Asia to take advantage of the advanced leak detection capabilities of the Permalog noise loggers, with an initial deployment back in 1999. The loggers are placed on water pipes where they listen for the sound made by leaks, log the data and then transmit it for further analysis. This enables water companies to identify leak areas quickly and efficiently; saving time, money and water by enabling a rapid, accurately-targeted response to repair the issue.
Hong Kong Water Network Protected by PermaNet SMS Leak Detector Network
In Hong Kong, the Water Supplies Department (WSD) is in charge of maintaining the 7800km of underground water pipes in the city, and has a 15-year rehabilitation program costing billions of HK dollars to repair, upgrade and modernise the network. Their target is to reduce burst incidents from 2500/year in 2010 to 1000/year by 2015, and to decrease the leakage rate from 25% to 15%. Out of the 1100 cross-road pipes, around half are very old, and at increased risk of damage and disrepair.
When a pipe in the busy Wanchai district burst recently, the Hong Kong government identified a further 600 sites around the city where very old pipes run under busy streets, and deployed a new batch of Permalog+ noise loggers to watch for, identify and locate any leaks in these areas.
Permalog technology is made and developed in the United Kingdom by Halma Water Management (HWM-Water Ltd), and the company’s distributor in Hong Kong is Allied Power Technology Ltd. Allied Power has supplied over 800 sets of Permalog+ units with SMS repeaters to the region, and also has a contract with the local government to analyse the data gathered from the system.
When deployed with SMS repeaters, the Permalog+ devices can function together as a nodal network, with all data being automatically transmitted back to a ‘home station’ – in this case Allied Power’s offices. Every morning, the company receives the leakage data for each of the install sites, and makes recommendations to the WSD based on this information.
Davis Li, Managing Director, said: “We manage a huge amount of data every day, which has to be organised and presented clearly. Because the noise loggers are on busy roads for this project, there is quite a lot of interference from road noise, which can complicate our job. The main challenge of this monitoring work is to localise a leak when a correlation is simply not possible. In these situations, we usually use the Permalogs’ Aqualog function to differentiate interference and help identify the leak location.”
When in Aqualog mode, a Permalog+ logger will measure and log acoustic data at pre-set intervals over an extended period of time, typically at night to minimise the traffic noise. This data can then be presented graphically so trends, anomalies and incidents can be clearly identified. This effectively displays whether or not the noise is caused by a leak, since any leak noise will be consistent.
The combination of the automated leakage data transmission for general leakage alerts, and in-depth on-site analysis with Aqualog, means that leaks can be quickly identified and problems repaired before they cause major disruption or damage to Hong Kong and its residents.
1 Comment » | <urn:uuid:307ed936-a149-409d-b118-1abbe7ac7257> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://halmapr.com/news/india/2011/12/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930983 | 687 | 2.25 | 2 |
There are new key trends that I see emerging in education enabled by advancing technology: namely decentralization and gamification. By understanding these trends, it is much easier to imagine why we won’t need teachers or why we can free up today’s teachers to be mentors and coaches.
Software can free teachers to have more human relationships by giving them the time to be guidance counselors and friends to young kids instead of being lecturers who talk at them. This last possibility is very important—in addition to learning, schools enable critical social development for children through teacher student relationships and interacting with other children—classrooms of peers and teachers provide much more than math lessons. And by freeing up teachers’ time, technology can lead to increased social development rather than less as many assume.
Still, nearly all the attempts at technology in education have mostly failed so far, but I doubt they will continue to fail. I believe the failures have been failures of tactics rather than failures of strategy. In other words, just because some social networking sites like Friendster and Myspace failed does not mean that all social networking sites (like Facebook) will fail!
Let’s start with decentralization, which involves not only making content available online but also producing content that is interactive and mobile. It’s encouraging to me that we are starting to seriously experiment with content that is different than linear translations of books to online. With the new platforms, we have the ability to rapidly run experiments with new styles, techniques and resources (like social learning) which will lead to a new understanding of education.
At a very simple level, organizations like Khan Academy are making up for students who have bad teachers by starting with good lectures on every topic. And it seems to be working; hundreds of thousands of students are already accessing these videos, making up for what is lacking (likely from their “average teacher” – on the other hand good teachers, the top 20%, like great doctors, will always be in demand, and though each of us can tell stories about an awesome teacher, anecdotal counterexamples to my assertions are not “statistical proof” of the general quality of teachers). Meanwhile organizations like my wife’s CK12.org are making the basic content for high school education free and continuously improving (because they are open source). | <urn:uuid:f53f12dc-26ef-4b53-b790-005e54b6f462> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.districtadministration.com/news/future-will-we-need-teachers-or-algorithms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956449 | 476 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Suppose we have a set of states out of which probabilities are calculated based on a frequency approach where N is the grand total, and the following entropy function is given:
In this case, the maximal entropy is .
Now, suppose we increase the number of states from to , , and we re-evaluate the probabilities. Now, we get the following entropy function:
Now, the maximal entropy is .
Based on information theory, increasing the number of states (from N to M) will increase the entropy. My question is related to the conclusion given as the title of this thread: Does the following inequality hold:
That is, is the relative increase on entropy less than the relative increase in maximum entropy when increasing the number of states? | <urn:uuid:f3b82917-b9a8-4200-9fc7-3429e92ec049> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathhelpforum.com/advanced-statistics/152736-relative-increase-entropy-always-less-than-relative-increase-maximum-entropy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93456 | 151 | 2.25 | 2 |