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WASHINGTON -- The most recent U.S. surgeon general told Congress the Bush administration routinely blocked him from speaking out on controversial issues, including stem-cell research, emergency contraception and sexual abstinence, and pressured him to support an "ideological, theological" agenda.
Dr. Richard Carmona, surgeon general from 2002 until 2006, said that his speeches were edited to remove material about controversial issues and that he was encouraged to attend internal "political pep rallies." He said he was prevented from releasing a report on global health because he wouldn't make it a "political document" touting actions by the U.S. The report has yet to be released.
"The reality is that the 'nation's doctor' has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas," he told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday. "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried."
The Bush administration denied that it tried to muzzle the former surgeon general. "This administration gave Dr. Carmona ample opportunity to communicate his views to the American people, and he routinely did so," the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
The surgeon general's post has little formal power but can be a megaphone on public-health issues. Dr. C. Everett Koop used the post most notably to detail the dangers of smoking and to talk about AIDS. Dr. David Satcher, Dr. Carmona's immediate predecessor, issued a landmark report on mental health. Both men joined Dr. Carmona at the hearing yesterday and recounted their own challenges melding public health with politics of their administrations. But Dr. Carmona said the pressures he faced were more intense.
A trauma surgeon and onetime high-school dropout, Dr. Carmona got a lot of attention for his colorful past -- he once rappelled from a helicopter to rescue a victim. But he kept a low profile after taking office. He left in August when his term expired. A Senate committee plans to hold a hearing tomorrow on James Holsinger Jr., a Kentucky cardiologist who has been nominated to be the next surgeon general. He is likely to be questioned about what critics say are antigay views.
Dr. Carmona told the committee that, as surgeon general, he hadn't been permitted to talk about the importance of comprehensive sex education or emergency contraception. He said he wasn't permitted to discuss the science of embryonic-stem-cell research. Under the Bush administration, there are strict limits on federal funding for such research. "I was blocked at every turn," he said. "I was told the decision had already been made -- stand down, don't talk about it," he said.
He also said he was prevented from attending a Special Olympics event to talk about health and disabilities. "I was told I would be helping a politically prominent family, [and] why would I want to help those people?" Dr. Carmona said. The Special Olympics were founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, sister of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D., Mass.).
He said his speeches were regularly vetted to ensure they weren't controversial. Speeches were edited to add references to Mr. Bush -- he was told there should be at least three per page. "The vetting was done by political appointees who were specifically there to spin my words to ideologically preconceived notions," he said.
Write to Laura Meckler at email@example.comPrinted in The Wall Street Journal, page A3 | <urn:uuid:b0039607-5fe6-4a35-bdf7-e9e67413250a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118409779803362368.html?mod=rss_Health | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984789 | 742 | 1.773438 | 2 |
City councilman Wendell Young today said it’s time to ban the sale of bath salts in city limits.
The use of chemicals in bath salts to get a cheap high has triggered concern nationally recently.
White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske warned people Tuesday against taking the newest synthetic drugs, often marketed as “bath salts” and being sold legally on the Internet and in drug paraphernalia stores, according to the Associated Press.
The powdered drugs are sold under such brand names as “Ivory Wave” or “Purple Wave.” Kerlikowske said synthetic stimulants in them have made hundreds of users across the country sick already this year. A Mississippi sheriff’s office has said the drugs are suspected in an apparent overdose death there.
The “salts” are typically snorted, smoked, injected and even mixed with water as a beverage, reports US News & World Report.
“We cannot allow our children easy access to these dangerous drugs,” said Young, who like all nine council members is up for re-election this fall. “We need to take a proactive approach to stop the sale of these products now!”
He plans hearings, and will introduce a motion “calling for a ban on the sale of bath salts that contain dangerous chemicals” early next week.
The motion orders the city solicitor to “examine and report to Council on the legality of banning the sale of bath salts that contain mephedrone or methylenedioxypyrovalerone in the City of Cincinnati.”
Posted in: Cincinnati City Council
Tags: Wendell Young | <urn:uuid:62f497ca-e661-49dc-a1a4-696647acd6fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2011/02/04/city-councilman-ban-bath-salts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94192 | 346 | 1.960938 | 2 |
'A King's Speech' written by Mark Burgess, Head of Bedford Modern School Speech and Drama, is returning to BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, January 6, at 2.15pm. It was first broadcast in April 2009.
The action takes place on Coronation Day 1937 and centres around King George VI's preparations for his evening radio broadcast to the Empire - a terrifying prospect for perhaps the most notable Briton to have suffered from a stammer.
Alex Jennings plays the King and Trevor Littledale, his speech therapist, Lionel Logue. 'A King's Speech' is directed by David Blount for BBC Radio 4/Pier Productions Ltd.
Mark Burgess, who has taught at
Mark has also written and performed “The Man with the Golden Pen”, about the life of Ian Fleming. In 2006, Mark produced a radio play entitled “From Father With Love” which examined Ian Fleming’s relationship with his only child, Caspar. The play was broadcast on the afternoon play slot on BBC Radio 4 and charted the distant relationship of Ian and Caspar. Ian adored his son and it was whilst recuperating in a | <urn:uuid:f15b8ad5-0f8a-465a-957a-fc8f92007b12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/Teachers-play-returns-to-Radio-4.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97681 | 241 | 1.609375 | 2 |
By Christina Collins
- The Sidereal Sun has moved into the sign of Aquarius (Feb 12) and will continue in opposition to Saturn Rx in Leo. This powerful parivartana yoga (exchange of houses, Saturn rules Aquarius and Sun rules Leo) will cause angst in Government, in People in and of Authority and will increase earth changes such as Fires, Earthquakes, Explosions and Accidents.
- These house exchanges can be very fortunate in commerce. When the exchange occurs with enmity (Sun and Saturn are enemies Saturn is the Son or child of the Sun) the experience is one of harshness.
- Jupiter, the planet of wealth, happiness, expansion, knowledge, marriage & children remains in Capricorn, its sign of debilitation. Luckily until March 7th it transits conjuct with Mars in its exalted Sign of Capricorn. This Neecha Banga Raja Yoga (cancellation of debilitation, making planets act powerful a King Union) will improve the status of things associated with Jupiter. It will also soften the Sun/Saturn exchange as Mars and Jupiter are both friends of the Sun.
- Rahu and Ketu continue in Capricorn and Cancer respectively. The conjunction of Rahu with Jupiter forms a yoga called Kodanda Rahu a yoga that is more material than spiritual and not as ethical as when the conjunction or aspect of Rahu to Jupiter occurs with Jupiter in a better sign. Again, coupled with the exalted Mars, all in the earth sign of Capricorn will increase the danger of fire.
- Mercury (often considered the most unstable planet) who owns Gemini and Virgo both air and Earth signs also transits in the sign of Capricorn this will add instability and increase disasters involving air (flight) and earth (fires). The 17th to the 24th of February Mercury will be closest to Rahu, Mars and Jupiter.
- Some days to watch:
- Saturday, Feb 28th 2009 Mars will reach 2433 degrees Cap and aspect (8th aspect) Saturn Rx 2503 in Leo
- Sunday, March 1st Mars and Mercury in same degree of Cap at 25 and Moon in Aries at 14, the same degree as the Nodes, Rahu and Ketu, also at 14
- Wednesday, March 4th Mercury will become Sandi (29) in Cap
- Thursday, March 4th Mercury will be Sandi (00) in Aquarius
- Friday, March 6th Mars Sandi (29) and leaving exaltation
- Saturday, March 7th Mars Sandi (00) in Aquarius and beginning to aspect Saturn by opposition though in wide orb.
- Saturday, March 7th Venus becomes Retrograde in Pisces
- Friday, March 13th Sun becomes Sandi at 29 Aquarius
- Saturday, March 14th Sun moves into Pisces at 00
- We have experienced the first two solar eclipses with 4 more to come this year. For more information and classes on eclipse s visit Ronnie Gayle Dreyers site: http://www.ronniedreyer.com
- Venus has begun transiting in exaltation in Pisces. Read a wonderful article on this four month transit by Chakrapani Ullal: "Transit of Venus in Pisces"
Christina Collins Biography:
|Christina Collins, Jyotish Kovid, Jyotish Vachaspati is a 3rd generation astrologer specializing in the Vedic system. She received her honorary titles from the late Dr. B.V. Raman, former President of the ICAS (Indian Center for Astrological Sciences) in New Delhi and Bangalore, India. She is the first and sole American woman to be honored by this highly held title of Jyotish Vachaspati (Jyotish the light bearer and Vachaspati the one who speaks the truth and whose predictions come true. (Vac = speech and Brihaspati is a name of Jupiter the planet of wisdom and truth. She serves as faculty and on the Board of Directors of the American College for Vedic Astrology (ACVA), as Editor of the ACVA News and is President of Celestial Resources (The Timing Coach) where she serves corporate and private clients from celebrities to students. You can reach her in Boulder CO:|
Christina Collins, J.K., J.V.
The Timing Coach
email@example.com firstname.lastname@example.org www.vedicastrologer.cc | <urn:uuid:b6d2efd0-dc70-4922-873a-b4fd35092f2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acvaonline.org/newsletters/acva_news_february_09_tips_christina_collins.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939089 | 947 | 1.71875 | 2 |
So this Saturday is Earth Hour. For the uninitiated Earth Hour is call to action that asks people to turn of their electricity for one hour in recognition of climate change. Earth Hour was started in Sydney, Australia, in 2007 and has since been taken global by WWF.
Their website says:
In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour.
Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future.
Pledge your support here and turn off your lights for one hour, Earth Hour, 8.30pm, Saturday 27th March 2010.
Now turning off your lights is a good idea and I encourage people to take part but the framing of Earth Hour has always bothered me.
Much of the language around the initiative is about ‘taking responsibility’, ‘taking action’ and ‘showing leadership’ but it seems enough to demonstrate this responsibility, action and leadership for one hour, once a year. If Earth Hour were framed as an opportunity to reflect on the immense challenge facing the human race, the need to alter our relationship with the planet and pursue a more sustainable path it would make a great deal of sense to me. It could be an environmental May Day, a chance to come together and prepare for the great work ahead.
Or if it were linked to political action and clearly identifying the necessary policy steps and roadblocks to action, inspiring people to increase the pressure on their leaders for reform, that would make a lot of sense to me.
Instead Earth Hour is framed as actually doing something about climate change. This is completely false conception, and very dangerous. False action which allows us to feel we are making a difference, that we are doing our part, makes it less likely that we will make a real difference, or give up anything beyond an hour of electricity.
Earth Hour is the perfect corporate-friendly initiative: many of the businesses in the Sydney CBD and other cities turn off the lights of their office towers for the hour. On 8.30pm on a Saturday. In return they get to claim a little bit of green cred. But the real issue is why are office lights on at 8.30pm on Saturday night in order to be turned off? Why do they need to be turned on again at 9.30pm? And after this completely harmless non-threatening non-disruptive event business continues as usual.
In 2008 we spent Earth Hour at a participating restaurant. The kitchen power remained on, I assume, as meals continued to arrive in the candle-lit restaurant. It was really nice, a treat. After an hour of enjoyable and romantic dimness the lights came up again. Immediately following the completion of the Hour a fireworks display unexpectedly began, to celebrate this wonderful city-wide event. Environmental protest as dining occasion, as public celebration, as symbolic feelgood vibes, man. Well done on going an hour without electricity – let’s blow up some carbon! Woo!
Hard to reflect on our unsustainable culture, the sacrifices and adaptions we will need to make and the difficult road again when fireworks are busting overhead. Ooooh. Aaahhh.
So turn off your lights at 8.30pm this Saturday, but don’t kid yourself that you’ve made a difference when you do so. Instead sit in the dark, or in a park on a rug with friends, or in your backyard staring at the stars, and know that we have huge challenges and changes ahead, and so much work to be done to sweep away the forces that would lead us to disaster if they can make a dollar more. And think about how your actions can lead us towards a better, more sustainable tomorrow. Then act.
Read Full Post » | <urn:uuid:59f66397-d48d-405b-bea7-92748457484d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tomjd.wordpress.com/category/non-profits/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964265 | 798 | 1.9375 | 2 |
contact lens economics
Give Your Contact Lens
Patients Instant Gratification
BY GARY GERBER, OD
As you finish your eye examination with your spherical myopic patient, you say to him, "I
understand you do not want to wear contact lenses, so let's talk about eyeglasses. For your new glasses, we should use an eyeglass lens that's made of plastic and gets darker when you go outside. Also, your prescription would work great with a new lightweight titanium frame."
"Sounds like a plan," says the patient.
"Let's go to the front desk and schedule a time when you can come back and look at some frames," you say.
A bit perplexed, the patient responds, "Can't I do that now?"
"Oh no. We need one of our expert opticians available to help you choose a frame that's right for you and to take all the necessary measurements."
Eyeglasses vs. Contact Lenses
You're right that probably never happens with eyeglasses. But with contact lenses, it happens all the time. We conducted a recent phone study in which about 40 percent of offices we called told us that if we wanted contact lenses, we would have to come back after our initial examination. The reasons for the return visit were for the contact lens fitting itself and the ensuing training to learn how to use the lenses.
While practitioners can't imagine extending a patient's frame selection beyond his examination day, many practices routinely delay subsequent visits with contact lenses.
The reason I hear most often is, "A contact lens technician is not always available."
Why We Need to Avoid This
Think of a recent purchase you made that involved some prior research and considerable expense, such as a TV, a digital camera or a car. After doing your homework and deciding to buy, you went shopping. Finding just the right camera, cash in hand, you approached the cashier. "That's a great choice. You can come back and pick it up next week."
What? I don't want to wait until next week. I'm excited and enthused TODAY RIGHT NOW! Lots can happen between now and next week. I can find another camera, decide to buy the TV instead or even buy the camera elsewhere.
Like cameras, contact lenses are typically purchased with the "retail" side of a patient's brain and not the "medical" side. Patients pay for lenses with discretionary funds the same funds that could be used to buy the camera. Patients typically view contact lenses as non-essentials and relegate them to a position of importance beneath eyeglasses.
The 40 percent of practices who told us they would delay the fitting have also diminished the importance of contact lenses. How would their office procedures and staffing be different if contact lenses were invented before eyeglasses? No doubt patients wanting lenses would be fit and receive training the same day.
Fix the Problem and Build Your Practice
As with any problem, the first step is recognizing it exists. Next, do a better job pre-interviewing patients on the phone. If you really want to build your contact lens practice, recognize that most patients who want to wear contact lenses can. Consider cross-training your staff with a goal of eliminating the position of "contact lens technician." Rather, make sure all employees can pitch in when necessary.
Delaying a patient's purchase when he is ready to buy doesn't make much sense and will decrease his enthusiasm and excitement about an event that should be memorable and positive.
Dr. Gerber is the president of the Power Practice a company offering consulting, seminars and software solutions for optometrists. He can be reached at 800-867-9303 or
Contact Lens Spectrum, Issue: March 2003 | <urn:uuid:17743b7e-f994-4134-b886-c39775b114ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clspectrum.com/printarticle.aspx?articleID=12310 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954256 | 772 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Consumers are increasingly turning to their smartphones and tablets to govern their choice of TV show and, with the development of a number of new app functions, are actually using their mobile devices as remote controls for their TV sets.
Much has been written in recent months
about the growing ‘second screen' phenomenon, where TV viewers simultaneously watch a film or series while also plugged into social media such as Facebook and Twitter via a mobile device, or even turn to that device to immerse themselves further in their favorite shows.
According to Nielsen, the trend has become so widespread in the US that it's becoming the norm. With over 50 percent of US homes owning a smartphone and 20 percent owning a tablet, screen multitasking is becoming typical behavior. Thanks to the constant connectivity that they offer, users are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to enrich their TV viewing experience with 85 percent of tablet and smartphone owners claiming to use their device while watching TV at least once a month, while 40 percent admit to doing it daily (which breaks down as 41% of tablet owners and 39% of smartphone owners).
Enriching the viewing experience with show-related info
Now, the latest research from Parks Associates reveals that tablet and smartphone owners are turning to their devices for interactive TV guide information too. Over one third (36%) of smartphone owners and 35 percent of tablet owners search for product/service information on the device while watching TV. Over one-third also regularly use apps to search for show-related information or check listings while in front of the TV. According to Parks Associates, searching for show-related information while watching TV is fast becoming the most popular activity for US tablet owners. "With second-screen offerings for TV shows like Breaking Bad and Glee, companies are catching up to current habits of viewers, who are already interacting with their mobile devices while watching TV," said Heather Way, senior research analyst, Parks Associates.
Mobile device as TV tool
Likewise, at 30 percent, using a smartphone as a TV remote control is the third most popular second-screen activity, behind searches and requests for products and services and checking TV listings. There are already a number of apps available for both the iPhone and Android smartphones that turn users' devices into TV remote controls, however, many of them, such as the Re Universal Remote Control, although free as apps, also require a paid-for plug in accessory that fits either to the smartphone or tablet or to the television. Owners of Google TV set-top boxes or smart TVs powered by Google's platform can download a free remote control app from the Google Play store. Second screeners looking for even more control can try the ArkMC DLNA UPnP Media Center. Available for Android devices, it lets users stream content from their phone or computer on their games console or TV. Likewise, TV companies that also build smartphones and tablets -- LG , Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic, offer apps that give users control over all devices made by that company.
The second-screen phenomenon is one that is being driven by younger TV viewers, to whom multitasking across different digital devices is normal behavior. "Over 25% of millennials (aged 18-30) with a smartphone engage in second-screen activity at least weekly while watching TV. Further, almost 20% of these millennials access pay-TV programs via their service provider on their smartphone, a rate 1.6 times higher than the general smartphone population. For many of these viewers, mobile is not the 'second screen' but just as important, or more so, than the TV screen," outlines Parks Associates.
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5 Steps to Protect Your College Student's ID
My daughter is about to start college, and I’m wondering what we should do to protect her against identity theft while she’s gone.
College students can be particularly vulnerable to ID theft. Not only are they living away from home for the first time, they’re sharing their personal space with a lot of people they don’t know well. Here are five important steps they can take to help protect themselves from ID thieves:
1. Guard personal items. A study by Travelers Insurance found that the majority of ID-fraud claims were caused by old-fashioned theft. Seventy-six percent of Travelers’ ID-fraud claims in 2009 stemmed from a stolen wallet, purse, personal identification or computer, compared with only 9% from an online breach or compromised data. (ID fraud is when the thief actually uses the stolen information to commit a crime, such as take out credit in the person’s name, make charges on his or her existing cards, or withdraw money from the victim’s bank accounts.)
It’s easy for items to be stolen when your child is at college and so many people are constantly around. Tell your child to not to leave her wallet, purse or computer unattended in the library, in the cafeteria or at a party. See My Wallet Was Stolen: 4 Lessons Learned for more information.
2. Protect mail. College students usually have roommates, move frequently and can spend months away from their dorm or apartment during the summer and holidays -- making it easy for someone to steal their mail and use the information for ID theft. Make sure important mail isn’t lying around. Remind your child to stop mail delivery when she’s gone for the holidays and to forward mail when she moves. Or have your child’s bank statements and other key documents continue to go your house; she can check her balances and account status online while she’s at school.
3. Be careful online. College students use their own computers, school computers and mobile devices for almost everything. Tell your daughter not to pay bills or access credit-card accounts on a public computer, which could have software that logs keystrokes and records passwords and account numbers. And warn her about accessing sensitive information on an unsecure Wi-Fi network.
4. Question the need to reveal personal information. When new college students are living away from home for the first time, they’re not always used to being skeptical about requests for personal information -- especially if it seems to come from an official source, such as their college or a prospective lender or landlord. Remind your student how important it is to guard personal information, particularly her Social Security number, and tell her to ask why it’s needed before giving it out, says Joe Reynolds, ID-fraud product manager for Travelers Insurance. Make sure the college doesn’t print your child’s Social Security number on her ID card, and ask potential landlords whether your child can wait to give them her Social Security number until she’s a finalist for the apartment (they may want to check her credit record before renting her the apartment, but they shouldn’t need the information on her initial application).
And warn your children about phishing (see Can You Spot Scam E-mails?). Even though an e-mail or phone call might seem to be from a bank or credit-card company, tell your child to make sure by calling the customer-service number listed on her bank’s Web site or on the back of her credit card rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail or calling a number left on her voicemail.
5. Use a shredder. Because they live among so many people, college students need to be particularly careful when disposing of documents that contain personal information. Reynolds recommends investing in a small shredder to get rid of credit-card applications and mailings that include sensitive information, such as card numbers and Social Security numbers.
For more information about ID-theft red flags, see Tricks ID Thieves Use. For advice about protecting children from identity thieves, see Protect Your Kids From ID Theft and Your ID Theft Prevention Kit for tips to help people of all ages avoid ID theft. And for more information about finances for college kids, see 5 Financial Lessons for College Students.
Got a question? Ask Kim at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:e7fb4fa5-86fc-453f-8266-1b4a586b6150> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kiplinger.com/article/credit/T048-C001-S001-5-steps-to-protect-your-college-student-s-id.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933221 | 924 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Craft fairs provide some of the cheapest, and most fun, entertainment every Saturday in parks across America, as well as precursors to various holidays, especially the Christmas shopping season. Craft fairs provide an opportunity for sellers as well as shoppers, and is a place to see the season’s best in decorating trends, new products and inexpensive and unique gifts to purchase for yourself, your home or for presenting to others for birthdays, parties and holidays.
Craft fairs are an American tradition that serves to bring crafters and buyers together under the open sky or a gymnasium roof, though location doesn’t really matter when it comes to one of these events. Kids, and adults of all ages flock to them even if they’re not intending to buy anything in particular. It’s an event that brings smiles and excitement to everyone and allows the sharing of ideas and creativity.
You can find a myriad of things at craft fairs, and the bulk of items offered are homemade. You can find everything from quilts to dolls to homemade soaps and candles as well as candy, wall decor and clothing to wood and metal sculptures and designs. Such a fair also displays items knitted, crocheted, pieced or woven, and the sky is the limit to the number of unique and thoroughly delightful products that proud men and women fondly display at each individual craft booth. Craft fairs aren’t only for women, and more and more men are not only attending these events, but also creating products for sale at national fairs. If you want to sell your own items, make sure you know the rules and obtain an application that can oftentimes be found at the local city Chamber of Commerce, the sponsor of the craft fair or local craft stores.
Craft fairs can be a profit-enhancing endeavor for many, but be aware that fees for setting up booths can also take a big chunk out of your profits. Make sure that you have enough items to make your booth worth the effort. Don’t try to sell your crafts at a flea market or swap meet, as you’ll more than likely lose money. Be aware that booth fees may range from single digit prices to hundreds, even thousands of dollars, depending on location, sponsor and type of craft show that is being advertised. Always read the fine print if you’re considering paying for booth space and if possible, ask around for advice from veteran craft fair participants. Whether your selling or buying or just window-shopping, craft fairs provide plenty of entertainment and opportunities for both. | <urn:uuid:db34c47c-5364-4922-879e-eb3168c3c940> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.directoryhuman.com/blog/tag/entertainment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951369 | 530 | 1.929688 | 2 |
A painting by Gerald Nailor, a Navajo artist, catches the flavor of the Southwest landscape. The man sits proudly on his spotted pony. The woman dyes yarn while the children play. Beyond stand the Hogan and arbor. A corral for livestock lies at the foot of a distant mesa. Nailor's Navajo name is Toh-yah, meaning walking by the river. | <urn:uuid:592f14f6-ba73-46e2-9cef-4566a0edfe10> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-136490/A-painting-by-Gerald-Nailor-a-Navajo-artist-catches-the?articleTypeId=31 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919695 | 80 | 2.15625 | 2 |
How the Potential Across-the-Board Cuts in the Debt Limit Deal Would Occur
Updated November 22, 2011
The debt limit deal enacted on August 2 calls for about $900 billion in cuts in discretionary programs over the next decade and would impose further automatic, across-the-board spending cuts in many programs if Congress fails to enact an additional $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures by January 15, 2012. Those across-the-board cuts would first take effect in January 2013, a year later than many people have mistakenly believed, and would represent approximately a 9 percent annual cut in affected non-defense programs, along with roughly a 9 percent cut in defense programs in 2013. (Reports that the percentage cut would be significantly higher in defense than in affected non-defense programs also are mistaken.) This report outlines how the 2013 cuts would occur. Cuts would also occur in the next eight years, 2014-2021.
Background: Main Elements of the Legislation
The new Budget Control Act, which implements the debt limit deal:
- raises the debt limit by at least $2.1 trillion (in steps), which is currently estimated to be sufficient through early 2013;
- establishes binding limits or "caps" on annual appropriations bills (which cover "discretionary" — or non-entitlement — programs such as defense, education, national parks, the FBI, the EPA, low-income housing assistance, medical research, and many others); the caps reduce projected funding for these programs by somewhat about $900 billion through 2021, relative to the existing 2011 funding levels adjusted for inflation;
- requires the House and Senate to vote this fall on an amendment to the Constitution that would require a balanced budget every year;
- establishes a Joint Select Committee to draft, vote on by November 23, and report by December 2 of this year, legislation that would reduce projected deficits by at least an additional $1.5 trillion through 2021 beyond the $900 billion generated by the discretionary caps, and creates a fast-track process for Congress to consider the Committee's bill without any amendments; and
- provides for automatic, across-the-board budget cuts in many programs if Congress fails to enact Joint Select Committee proposals achieving at least $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years. (The automatic cuts would be triggered if the Committee does not report the required legislation, if Congress defeats the legislation, if the President vetoes the legislation and the veto is sustained, or to the extent the legislation is enacted but reduces ten-year deficits by less than $1.2 trillion.) Those automatic cuts are known as "sequestration."
The Joint Committee can recommend any kind of deficit-reduction measures it wants: further cuts in the new discretionary caps, cuts in any entitlement program, and tax increases of any kind. There may be severe political constraints, but there are no legal constraints, contrary to what some congressional leaders are claiming.
The debt limit increases whether or not Congress enacts the Joint Committee's bill or approves the Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment. Also, congressional approval of the Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment would not eliminate the automatic sequestration that would occur if Congress fails to meet the $1.2 trillion target for additional savings.
How the 2013 Sequestration Would Work
If the Joint Committee process results in the enactment of less than $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction through 2021, the sequestration would generate sufficient savings to reach a total of $1.2 trillion over that period. (These budget cuts are in addition to the $900 billion in cuts generated by the enactment of discretionary caps as part of the Budget Control Act). If Congress enacts no deficit reduction, the sequestration would therefore be $1.2 trillion through 2021. For simplicity, we assume that result.
- Although the Joint Committee and Congress are supposed to consider legislation this year, the program cuts that would result from a failure to enact sufficient savings would first take effect in January 2013, a full year later.
- Under the formula that the Budget Control Act specifies, defense programs would be cut by a total of $54.7 billion each year from 2013 through 2021, with non-defense programs cut by the same amount. Together, these program cuts total $109.3 billion per year, or $984 billion through 2021. Although this is less than the $1.2 trillion target specified for the Joint Committee, the savings in interest payments that the sequestration would produce (which is estimated at $216 billion using a ratio specified in the legislation) would count toward the $1.2 trillion target.
- The $54.7 billion in annual non-defense cuts would come from both mandatory (entitlement) and discretionary programs. The mandatory cuts would include:
- Cuts in Medicare payments to providers and insurance plans (those cuts are limited to 2 percent of such payments in any year, or about $10.8 billion in 2013).
- About $5.2 billion in cuts in the other mandatory programs that are subject to sequestration, the biggest of which is farm price supports. A number of key mandatory programs are exempt from sequestration, including Social Security, Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), child nutrition, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), refundable tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, veterans' benefits, and federal retirement.
Thus, in 2013 about $16.1 billion of the $54.7 billion in annual non-defense cuts would come from mandatory programs. This share would grow from year to year, reaching $22 billion by 2021.
- The remaining non-defense cuts — about $38.6 billion in 2013 — would come from discretionary programs:
- For fiscal year 2013, the non-defense cuts would occur through across-the-board, proportional reductions in new funding for each discretionary program in the appropriations bills for the fiscal year, which Congress would already have enacted. (Veterans' medical care and Pell grants would be exempt from those cuts.)
- For fiscal years 2014 through 2021, the cuts would occur through reductions in the statutory cap on total funding for non-defense discretionary programs for each of those years. The Appropriations Committees would then decide how to live within those newly reduced caps.
The $38.6 billion reduction in the non-defense discretionary caps would shrink from year to year, to $33 billion by 2021, because the mandatory cuts would grow and thus would account for somewhat more each year of the $54.7 billion in total non-defense cuts.
- A defense sequestration of $54.7 billion would be imposed in a similar manner. For 2013, the defense cuts would occur through across-the-board, proportional reductions in the funding provided in the appropriations bills including funding for war costs, and also including unobligated balances carried over from prior years. For 2014-2021, the cuts would occur through reductions in the statutory caps on total defense funding, with the Appropriation Committees deciding how best to allocate the allowed funding.
In 2013, the one year in which the cuts would affect already appropriated defense funding, the President can exempt some or all military personnel funding from the sequestration. To the extent he chooses that option, the cuts in other defense funding would increase.
Our calculations show that a non-defense sequestration of $54.7 billion in 2013 would result in cuts of approximately 9.3 percent in non-exempt discretionary programs and 8.3 percent in non-exempt mandatory programs, as well as the 2 percent maximum cut in Medicare provider payments the law allows. A defense sequestration of $54.7 billion also would represent a cut of about 9.0 percent in defense programs, including war funding and unobligated balances, if military personnel funding is exempt from sequestration, and about a 7 percent cut if it is not exempt.
|TABLE 1: |
Sequestration in 2013 if appropriations match 2013 caps and Joint Select Committee process does not produce any further deficit reduction.1 (Dollars in billions)
|Military personnel funding, assumed to be exempt (est.)||136||0||0.0%|
|Other non-war funding for 2013||410||36.7||9.0%|
|Subtotal, amount subject to caps||546|
|War funding, outside of caps (estimated)||110||9.9||9.0%|
|Unobligated balances from prior years (estimated)||90||8.1||9.0%|
|Non-defense Discretionary (NDD) programs||501||38.6|
|Veterans health and Pell grants, exempt (estimated)||80||0||0.0%|
|Health centers and Indian Health, 2% limit (estimated)||6||0.1||2.0%|
|Non-exempt mandatory programs||605||16.1|
|Medicare payments to providers and plans, 2% limit||542||10.8||2.0%|
|Other non-exempt mandatory programs||63||5.2||8.3%|
|1 The percentage cut in non-exempt NDD funding of 9.3 percent is deeper than the percentage cut in non-exempt mandatory funding of 8.3 percent. The two percentages would be identical if the basic sequestration had been allocated proportionally across all non-exempt programs, and if the additional cuts needed to offset the effect of the 2 percent limit on the sequestration of some health programs had also been allocated proportionally across all other non-exempt programs. But the Act does not work that way. To begin with, the 2 percent limit on the cut to health centers and Indian health is offset only by increasing the cut to NDD programs. More importantly, the exemption of Pell grants and VA medical care from sequestration must be offset entirely by deeper cuts in other NDD programs. Thus, non-exempt mandatory programs do not help offset the exemption for Pell grants and VA medical care nor the 2 percent limit on the cut to health centers and Indian health. (In contrast, the Act specifies that the 2 percent Medicare limit is offset by deeper cuts to both non-exempt mandatory programs and non-exempt NDD programs, and so does not contribute to a difference in the sequestration percentages that apply to those two categories of non-exempt programs.)|
This memorandum and Table 1 show the automatic cuts that would occur if the Joint Select Committee process achieves no savings. As noted, if that process achieves some but not all of the targeted $1.2 trillion in savings, the dollar and percentage sequestrations would accordingly be smaller than shown in the table. Figure 1 below shows how the percentage cuts rise from zero up to the levels shown in the table as the Joint Committee shortfall grows.
Of note, using CBO estimates of sequestrable mandatory programs, we calculate that the overall mandatory cut reaches 2 percent – after which the Medicare cut does not grow – when the Joint Committee falls short of its $1.2 trillion target by $486 billion, i.e., if it achieves no more than $714 billion in savings, counting interest.
Shown another way, Figure 2 on page 6 illustrates the percentage cuts in each program category under four possible outcomes of the Joint Committee's deliberations.
Why Our 2013 Figures Differ from CBO's
We use CBO's estimates of 2013 mandatory funding that is subject to sequestration, from CBO's September 12 report, op cit. Nevertheless, in that report CBO portrays different percentage cuts from those in the table on page 4. CBO treats the 2013 sequestration base as though it were the $546 billion cap level for defense and the $501 billion cap level for non-defense discretionary programs; CBO does not take into account funding outside the caps that is subject to sequestration (war funding and defense unobligated balances) or funding within the caps that is exempt from sequestration (VA medical care, Pell grants, and potentially Military Personnel) or subject to a 2% limit (health centers and Indian health). In effect, CBO portrays the 2013 reductions as though they were the effect of cap reductions rather than sequestration of actual appropriations bills. This allows CBO's 2013 figures to be comparable to it 2014-2021 figures, which are in fact required by the Act to be cap reductions, but it oversimplifies the likely 2013 effects on non-exempt programs if they are funded at plausible levels.
See James R. Horney, "Contrary to Speaker Boehner's Claim, Budget Deal's 'Supercommittee' Can Consider Revenue Increases," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, August 1, 2011.
The debt limit increase would be $2.4 trillion rather than $2.1 trillion if Congress approves the Balanced Budget Amendment or if the Joint Committee's bill saves at least $1.5 trillion through 2021 and is enacted.
In a recent memorandum, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that a sequestration of the size assumed in this report would actually reduce interest payments by $169 billion over ten years; CBO assumes lower interest rates than the drafters of the budget deal. See Estimated Impact of Automatic Budget Enforcement Procedures Specified in the Budget Control Act, CBO, September 12, 2011, at http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/124xx/doc12414/09-12-BudgetControlAct.pdf .
The exemptions occur because the Budget Control Act is drafted as a portion of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control of Act of 1985 (BBEDCA), which contains a list of exemptions in section 255 and a list of special rules in section 256. Those two provisions of BBEDCA were most recently updated by the Statutory PAYGO Act of 2010, and are not changed in any way by the Budget Control Act.
While not exempt from sequestration, funding for community and migrant health centers and for Indian health services and facilities cannot be cut more than 2 percent. For non-defense appropriations, "new funding" means new budget authority and includes advance appropriations that first become available for obligation in 2013. The term does not include unobligated balances carried over from prior years. If a part-year "continuing resolution" is in place at the time of the January 2013 sequestration, the sequestration is calculated as though that legislation extended for the entire fiscal year, and the cuts continue to apply when the temporary continuing resolution is replaced by year-long funding. | <urn:uuid:3d3fe7ad-57fa-4e74-950d-bf2ddf56eae5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3557 | 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 | 0.9429 | 2,970 | 2.25 | 2 |
by Stephanie McFeeters
Called the “Toms Shoes of electricity” by technology website Gizmodo, the LuminAID — a portable, inflatable solar lamp designed by Anna Stork ’08 — is generating excitement and funding from both outdoor enthusiasts and international disaster relief organizations, Stork said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
LuminAID employs a “give one, get one” model, similar to that used by Toms, in which customers pay $25 to buy a LuminAID lamp for themselves and send one to individuals across the globe who would otherwise be unable to afford lighting, Stork said. The LuminAID, which resembles a plastic bag with a handle, is a “really simple” product that consists of a solar panel, bright LED lights, a switch and a thin rechargeable battery similar to those found in cell phones, Stork said.
The plastic bag inflates to diffuse the LED light and reduce the glare, she said. The company has manufactured 50 prototypes of the product and plans to produce additional units in the coming months. Stork and LuminAID Lab co-founder Andrea Sreshta launched a fundraising campaign Nov. 1 on the website IndieGoGo in order to “spread awareness and include other people in the process,” Stork said. Over 530 people have pledged money to the campaign, which has already raised over $25,000, easily surpassing the company’s initial of goal of $10,000, Stork said. When a donor makes a pledge, LuminAID sends one lamp to that donor and sends a certain number of lamps to India, Laos, Uganda and Namibia, where LuminAID has partnered with local non-profit organizations that have existing networks through which they can distribute the lights, Stork said. “We want to market it to outdoor recreationalists and socially-minded consumers as a camping lantern or a light to put in a first-aid kit,” she said.
“Then each light sold in that market will subsidize a light to one of our target customers in a developing country that we really want to get the light to.” While Stork and Sreshta’s current plan focuses on distributing lights to backers and their community partners by January 2012, several disaster relief organizations, non-governmental organizations and government agencies have also contacted LuminAID to express long-term interest in the product, Stork said. These organizations range in focus from education to medical relief, according to Sreshta. “We got a lot of interest from many different types of organizations, and I think that speaks to the usefulness of the light and also the extent to which people don’t have it,” Sreshta said.
“In our daily lives it’s easy to take something as simple as [light] for granted.” An enormous demand for low-cost lighting exists among residents living in developing countries, Stork said. “Roughly one in five people in the world don’t have any access to electricity, and the majority use kerosene as their primary source of light,” Stork said. “Kerosene lanterns are horrendous for your health and also really expensive.” Using kerosene lanterns for one night has health repercussions roughly equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes, according to Stork. The need for artificial lighting causes some individuals to spend “something like 30 percent” of their annual income to keep their kerosene lanterns working, she said.
“In terms of health and also in terms of just being able to save some of their money, a rechargeable light is a really good option for a lot of people,” Stork said. The LuminAID lamp packs flat and is lightweight and waterproof, she said.
“In a lot of disaster situations you have extreme flooding and so it comes in handy that it’s waterproof and can float,” Stork said.
The LuminAID has a high and low setting and functions as a reading lamp as well as a safety light or night light, Sreshta said. It produces light for up to six hours after charging in the sun for two or three hours, she said. “It doesn’t need to be plugged in or maintained in any other way — it’s an all-in-one product,” Sreshta said.
While the product currently costs approximately $6 to produce, the company plans to scale up production and further reduce costs, Stork said. Stork’s original idea for LuminAID arose during a class project at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, she said. During her second year at Columbia, Stork focused on designing disaster relief aid infrastructure for Haiti in the wake of the 7.0 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince in January 2010. Her investigation of solar technology use in relief efforts eventually led her to the LuminAID project, according to Stork.
“Eighty percent of Haitians didn’t have access to electricity even before the earthquake,” she said. “The Clinton Foundation was shipping solar-powered flashlights that cost $15 to manufacture, and was only able to ship 20,000 because they were so bulky and expensive.” Stork and Sreshta, her classmate, considered this approach “silly” given that “you can buy garden solar lights at Walmart for one dollar,” Stork said. The pair focused on creating a product that could be “cost-effectively shipped right after a disaster” and “easily distributed,” Stork explained.
After a semester of prototyping and conducting research, they developed the LuminAID and applied for a patent in June 2010 through Columbia Technology Ventures, Stork said. With the help of Columbia business student Ianitza Ianachkova, Stork and Sreshta began entering their business model into entrepreneurial competitions, Stork said.
The pair won the Columbia Venture Competition and reached the final round in other prominent competitions, including the Global Social Venture Competition and the Pipeline Fellowship, according to Stork. This June, Stork and Sreshta travelled to India to test the LuminAID in schools without electricity, she said.
“It helped us realize that such a simple product could make such a big difference to so many people,” Stork said.
“There are other solar products in distribution but there isn’t really anything out there that is working quite right.” By the time other products “reach the people,” many of them are too expensive to be practical, she said. The light is also valuable as a tool for educating children about solar energy, Sreshta said.
LuminAID Lab partnered with Root Alliance, a student organization at Columbia University, that will continue to research LuminAID’s youth accessibility at schools and small businesses in Rajasthan, India, according to Stork said. While at Dartmouth, Stork was interested in the intersection of design and technology and majored in engineering modified with studio art, she said.
“What was great about my major was that it gave me the flexibility to combine a lot of hard science courses with some really interesting design and creative courses in the studio art department,” she said.
“I was able to hone both my skills.” Stork’s experience combining smart engineering concepts with design helped turn the idea for LuminAID into a reality, Sreshta said. Faculty members interviewed by The Dartmouth said Stork was a multi-talented and enthusiastic student. Stork was “very clever and articulate,” according to Benoit Cushman-Roisin, a professor at the Thayer School of Engineering who taught Stork in his Introduction to Environmental Engineering course.
“Dartmouth should be proud of her,” Cushman-Roisin said. “It’s heart-warming to see a student who really cares about poor people and who wants to improve their lives by bringing them light. It is a very clever invention and has the potential to go far.”
Stork’s time at Dartmouth illustrates “what the interdisciplinary approach of a liberal arts education offers,” studio art professor Karolina Kawiaka said. “I’m not surprised that she would create a product that is creative and addresses a social need,” Kawiaka said. “It’s something I would have expected of her.” As an undergraduate, Stork played club lacrosse, was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and was involved in the Thayer community, she said.
Article from The Dartmouth. | <urn:uuid:3ff832fa-47b7-4adc-8797-e4bbec095a52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techventures.columbia.edu/ctv/news/luminaid-helps-disaster-relief-organizations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969251 | 1,841 | 1.90625 | 2 |
English Teacher Employment Contracts in South Korea
The Korean View
In Korea, written contracts are not considered to be as binding as they are in the U.S. or Canada; rather, they are thought of as flexible and subject to ongoing negotiations.
The most basic contract should contain provisions for housing, salary, working hours, classes taught, tickets home, severance pay, medical insurance, and taxes. You may also wish to include the stipulation that you be allowed to take on private students. If your contract does not specify your eligibility, then private tutoring is illegal. The following details about contract specifications should help you negotiate a fair contract.
- Housing: In Seoul, contracts that provide housing are rare, but your institution should at least help you locate housing and negotiate a fair lease. If you are promised housing, request photos, floorplans, and furniture inventories or you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. A furnished apartment in Korea might only include a stove - not furniture.
- Salary: You will either be paid a monthly salary or according to the number of hours you work. Regardless of the arrangement, your rate of pay, and payment dates, methods, and currency should all be clearly specified in the contract.
- Working hours: Most instructors are expected to work between ten and thirty hours each week Monday through Saturday, not including preparation time. Stipulate that you will only be there when you have scheduled classes, otherwise you may be required to be at work all day even though you only have one class. If you are unwilling to work a split schedule be sure that your contract does not require it of you. Classes are scheduled depending on demand and the availability of students, so opting out of a split work day may limit your number of working hours. Provisions for vacation lengths and dates, holidays, overtime, and sick days should also be included.
- Classes taught: Most schools contract foreign teachers specifically to teach conversational English, but you may also teach writing or prep courses for the GMAT, GRE, or TOEFL. Be clear about exactly what is expected of you: reading a sheet of dialogues for students who are taking a test is not teaching conversation.
- Tickets home: Some institutions claim to provide plane tickets home at the end of your contract, but the promise is not always honored. Consider requesting an open-ended round-trip ticket in advance.
- Severance pay (taechikum): According to Korean law, all full-time employees are entitled to a month's worth of severance pay upon completion of one year of employment. Your employer cannot legally ask you to waive your severance pay, nor can the employer avoid paying it by contracting you for a period of eleven months. If you have problems with severance pay, contact the Ministry of Labor's Severance Pay Division at (02) 503-9727. Their general number is (02) 500-5543 or (02) 500-5544.
- Medical insurance: Employers are required to provide medical insurance for foreign instructors, but often purchase the minimum policy (about US$500 worth of coverage). If you want more, negotiate with your employer or buy your own.
- Taxes: Employers generally withhold and pay all taxes for their foreign citizens. U.S. citizens who teach at universities, government research centers, or university-operated institutes may be exempt from paying Korean taxes for up to two years because of the U.S.-Korea Tax Treaty. Contact the Korean Tax Office the city in which you work to find out if you can claim exemption. Teachers at hagwans and private companies are generally not exempt. | <urn:uuid:029ae937-806c-4d65-acab-6ac644699662> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jobmonkey.com/teaching/asia/html/contracts_in_s_k_.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947589 | 747 | 2.046875 | 2 |
This is not about Oklahoma
birds, but may be of interest to anyone traveling to Texas.
On June 26. 2006, we were in Austin, Texas and visited Balcones Canyonlands
National Wildlife Refuge, a relatively new unit in the NWR system. It was
created specifically to preserve habitat used by the Golden-cheeked Warbler
and the Black-capped Vireo. Finding much information about this refuge,
especially clear directions and trail maps, was not easy since it is fairly
new. The best trail map was one posted at the entrance to the Warbler Vista
Trail, and I photographed it since I never could find it online anywhere.
The area I visited was the Warbler Vista Trail, and the entrance to this
area is just past the town of Lago Vista on the road named FM1431, which is
about 30 minutes NW of Austin. There is a big brown NWR sign on the north
side of the road, and you then take a gravel road for about 1/2 mile to a
parking area for the trail. The gravel road continues on to another
trailhead, with an observation platform.
Literally about 25 feet onto the trail we found a Golden-cheeked Warbler. I
had gone back to the truck to get something and as I returned Sharon shushed
me and pointed above her head to the warbler, which she had spotted while
waiting for me. We stood there silently about 20 minutes while it foraged
directly above our heads. At this time of year the warblers do not vocalize,
so we were fortunate to find this one.
There are some other locations in the refuge where the Black-capped Vireos
can be easily found, but we did not have time to visit those locations. But
based on our experience I can highly recommend this location if you are
searching for a Golden-cheeked Warbler. | <urn:uuid:8abf766a-5397-441b-a65e-a6bb70f73bf9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tulsaaudubon.org/membersgallery/austin-texas-golden-cheeked-warbler.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964778 | 408 | 2.5625 | 3 |
11-06-2010 02:24 AM
Hybrid Hard Drives
Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 also allow you to regulate the use of hybrid hard drives through group policy settings. In case you are not familiar with hybrid hard drives, they are hard drives that contain an extremely large cache made up of non-volatile flash memory. This cache is typically around 1 GB in size, and uses memory similar to that which is used in USB flash drives.
The reason behind this design is that the drive’s non-volatile cache is so large that the drive’s platters are almost never spinning, as opposed to a traditional hard drive in which the platters spin nearly all of the time. This decreases wear and tear on the drive, and also reduces the drive’s power consumption and the amount of heat that is given off by the drive. The biggest benefit though, is speed. A computer can read data from the hard drive’s non-volatile cache at a much faster rate than if data were being read from the disk platters.
Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 offer four group policy settings that are aimed at helping you to control the way that Windows uses hybrid hard drives. Each of these four settings can be found at Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | System | Disk NV Cache
The first setting is the Turn Off Boot and Resume Operations setting. The basic idea is that if you enable this policy setting, then Windows will not use the disk’s non-volatile cache to optimize the boot process. Otherwise, the system will use place files used during the boot sequence into the non-volatile cache, as a way of helping the system to boot more quickly.
Normally, if a computer is placed in hibernation, the data that is needed to resume operations is copied to the non-volatile cache. This helps a computer wake up from hibernation much more quickly. Enabling this group policy setting forces hibernation data to be written to the disk platters rather than to the non-volatile cache.
A second group policy setting related to hybrid hard drives is the Turn Off Cache Power Mode policy. Under normal circumstances, Windows aggressively attempts to reduce the system’s power consumption by spinning down the hard drive platters whenever possible. Although this technique does conserve power, and reduces heat, it can diminish performance as well. This is because Windows must spin the hard drive platters back up any time that it needs to read a file that is not cached in non-volatile memory.
The third group policy setting related to hybrid hard drives is the Turn Off Non Volatile Cache Feature setting. This is one of those group policy settings whose name can be a little bit misleading. If you look at the policy’s name, it appears as though the policy is used to completely disable the drive’s non volatile cache. There is a setting for disabling the drive’s non volatile cache, but this isn’t it.
The idea behind the Turn off Non Volatile Cache Feature setting is that if you enable this setting then Windows will act as if it does not support hybrid hard drives. This doesn’t mean that nothing will be cached, it simply means that the caching process will not be managed by Windows. In most cases your system will achieve far better performance if you allow Windows to manage the non volatile cache.
The last setting related to hybrid hard drives is the Turn Off Solid State Mode setting. When this group policy setting is enabled, Windows treats hybrid hard drives as normal hard drives. This means that the non volatile cache is completely disabled. As such, there is no power consumption speed related benefit associated with using the drive. The drive acts exactly like any other normal hard drive.
I have put a check mark in disabled for all of these, I also checked both boxes in device manager, hard drive, policies.
This is my only drive and contains my OS, windows 7 x64, perhaps windows isn`t managing properly.
09-10-2012 04:51 AM
Are You kidding me man!
With momentus xt you wan't even have nvcache settings in registry as this drives manage the solid state part by them selfs. It is only ment for drives with SLC not managed by drive firmware eg HItachi same rare hdds. This technology is named "VistareadyDrive". I'm not sure if it is still present in7. | <urn:uuid:4aac32c8-1b7f-4ee2-a7f5-8e208641eed6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/crawl_message?board.id=Momentus&message.id=983 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936171 | 915 | 2.4375 | 2 |
|This first project by Puig i Cadafalch was an apartment building with the owner's quarters on the first floor. It is constructed of red brick with stone windows and door frames, quoins, and decorative elements. (Stone ornamental elements were sculpted by Eusebi Arnau, who continued to work with the architect on later structures.) Gothic elements are characteristic of Puig i Cadafalch's version of Modernism. Soon after its construction the building became well known because of the cafe at ground level, Els Quatre Gats. Picasso exhibited there (as well as eating there and designing the menu). It is still a restaurant (the interior is intact) with good authentic Spanish food--at least when I ate there!|
Click here to return to index of art historical sites.
Click here to return to index of artists and architects.
Click here to return to chronological index.
Click here to see the home page of Bluffton College. | <urn:uuid:09f4a0d6-6ee5-4ee9-b193-6393e90565f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/spain/barcelona/puigquatre/puigquatre.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968146 | 201 | 2.125 | 2 |
Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface; the oceans contain 97.2% of the Earth's water. The Antarctic ice sheet, contains 90% of all fresh water on Earth. Condensed atmospheric water can be seen as clouds, contributing to the Earth's albedo.
Clean, fresh drinking water is essential to human and other life forms. Access to safe drinking water has improved steadily and substantially over the last decades in almost every part of the world. There is a clear correlation between access to safe water and GDP per capita. Water plays an important role in the world economy, as it functions as a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial cooling and transportation. Approximately 70 % of fresh water is consumed by agriculture.
The human body is between 55% to 78% water depending on body size.
To function properly, the body requires between one and seven liters of water per day to avoid dehydration; the precise amount depends on the level of activity, temperature, humidity, and other factors. Most of this is ingested through foods or beverages other than drinking straight water. | <urn:uuid:2e8bacd1-25f1-4692-8b91-a7c38d374922> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vatnavinir.is/articles/water/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941432 | 222 | 3.828125 | 4 |
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With the death of Ludwig Jagellon in battle against the Turks at the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, the short-lived Czech-Hungarian Union fell to pieces, leaving both the Bohemian and the Hungarian thrones unoccupied.
Enter the Austrian line of the Habsburgs, and Ferdinand I, who also happened to be the late Ludwig's brother-in-law. At first, Ferdinand was forced to make concessions to the interests of the ever more powerful Estates. Soon, however, he began systematically to weaken the authority of the nobility. His attempts to increase the central power of the Crown naturally met with the opposition of the Estates, and the whole situation culminated in the unsuccesful rebellion of the Estates in 1547.
The Estates' failure was Ferdinand's gain. He used his authority to weaken the position of the Estates and of the royal towns even more. He also invited the Jesuits to come to the Czech lands, though they never held any inquisitions here and generally did not meddle in public affairs. Ostensibly fighting to maintain freedom of religion in the Czech lands against the resolutely Catholic policies of Ferdinand, the Estates struggled to regain their former power and influence.
These conflicts simmered under the surface of things as the Renaissance swept through the Czech lands.
Ferdinand was succeeded by Maxmilion II, who was succeeded by Rudolf II. After assuming the Austrian throne, the Habsburg ruler and patron of the arts and sciences, Rudolf II (1576-1611) moved his court from Vienna to Prague. Rudolf II was a real character. He had a pet lion, he collected great art - including works by Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Rafael - he supported scientists such as Tycho de Brahe and Johannes Kepler, artists like Spranger and Von Aachen, and he was a personal friend of the legendary Prague Jewish leader, Rabbi Loew. It is said that he also financed the work of any number of quack alchemists (on his invitation John Dee and Edward Kelley spent time in Prague), and that he was a little soft in the head.
The architectural style of the time was Baroque, which - like Rudolf II himself - was round and robust, flamboyant and a little gaudy. Baroque buildings like the Loreto, St Nicholas Church in Lesser Town Square are massive and grand. The statues that top them appear so heavy that they seem likely to fall and crush innocent passers-by, though this has never been known to actually happen.
Rudolf II was forced by his family to resign in 1611, and mounting political tensions led the Czech Estates to rebel against the Habsburgs once again. They began their rebellion in grand Czech style, with the Second Defenestration of Prague in 1618. In this second defenestration, two vice- regents of the Austrian monarch and some governors of the Czech lands were thrown out of a tower window at Prague Castle. They were not killed, however, as they fell onto a pile of garbage which had accumulated in the castle moat. So it can be said that they (at least the non-Austrian of the throwees) were the world's first bouncing Czechs. To add insult to injury (or perhaps insult to insult?) the Bohemian diet of the Estates then elected Frederick "the Winter King" V of the Palatinate (Faltz in Czech) as their ruler, thinking that his father-in-law, the English King James I, would come to their aid. They could not have been more wrong.
This rebellion of the Czech Estates was particularly unsuccessful. The Estates were incontrovertibly defeated by the Habsburgs at the Battle of the White Mountain in 1620. They had been successful only in sparking the start of the 30 Years' War, which was to devastate much of Europe. Incidentally, the then-mercenary, later-philosopher Rene Descartes fought at the Battle of the White Mountain on the side of the Habsburgs.
Well, the Habsburgs, quite understandably, did not appreciate these disturbances which were emanating from the northern reaches of their empire. The methods that they used to subdue the protestant Estates after the Battle of the White Mountain, however, were particularly harsh.
First, they executed 27 nobles - leaders of the Estates who had fought on the losing side against the Habsburgs at the Battle of the White Mountain - on Old Town Square in May 1621. Some of the heads of the decapitated leaders of the rebellion were then hung strategically around Prague - for instance, on the Old Town bridge tower of the Charles Bridge - to serve as an ominous reminder to the people of Who was Boss. (It is said that every year, at the exact hour and on the exact day that they were killed, the ghosts of the 27 wrongly-executed nobles can be seen haunting the spot where they lost their heads. The place today is marked by 27 crosses in the cobblestones of Old Town Square, next to the Astronomical Clock.) The heads hung there for 11 long and lonely years, before finally being taken down and buried by the Saxons, who occupied Prague in 1632.
The Thirty Years' War, which had begun in Prague, ended there, too. In 1648, the Swedes captured the Lesser Town but were defeated on the Charles Bridge by Czech university students and residents of Prague's Jewish town. A scene depicting this battle can be seen in the very middle of the mirror maze on Petrin Hill today.
The Czech lands lost the power to elect their own rulers, as the Czech crown was made hereditary for both male and female Habsburg rulers. The Habsburgs banned all religions other than Catholicism. The property of Protestant members of the nobility was confiscated, and the power of the Catholic nobility was consolidated. The Habsburgs also made German the official language of the country, and the Czech language was, in time, all but forgotten.
These harsh policies forced many Czech protestants into exile. The most famous of them was Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius), who is known as the "Teacher of Nations."
The population of the country had been halved by the sundry aftermath of the Battle of the White Mountain, and as fewer people also means fewer people paying tax, taxes were raised.
Things were pretty bad all around. For instance, in the middle of the 17th century, there was a big outbreak of witches in the Czech lands, which is attested to by the fact that in 1651 alone, 200 witches were burned at the stake. To make matters worse, the rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and the economy went into a deep recession. Luckily, it was high time for the Enlightenment to make an entrance. The administrative reforms of Maria Theresa and her son, Joseph II, did much to alleviate the situation.
These two rulers reduced the privileges of the now all-Catholic nobility (also, perhaps to confuse us all, known as the Estates), they expelled the Jesuits in 1773, and they attempted to end social oppression by abolishing serfdom in 1781. In the same year, they issued the Edict of Tolerance, which permitted the free exercise of religion and the secularization of education, science and art. Prague's Jewish town is called "Josefov" to this day in honor of Josef II.
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Document URL: http://www.radio.cz/history/
Radio Prague, Vinohradska 12, 12099 Prague 2, Czech Republic
© Copyright 1996 Radio Prague All Rights Reserved | <urn:uuid:4eb7f8d2-2ee1-4748-8b22-af5eb824ebda> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archiv.radio.cz/history_96/history07.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981224 | 1,627 | 2.078125 | 2 |
We know that we have passed from death to life
because we love our brothers and sisters.
Whoever does not love remains in death.
You who hate your brother or sister is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer
has eternal life remaining in them.
The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
This is a curious choice for the funeral Lectionary. That’s probably why I’ve never been to a funeral that used this Scripture passage.
On the other hand, this passage (especially 3:14) parallels Jesus’ words in a choice of Gospel for the funeral, John 5:24-29, “(W)hoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.” The author emphasizes that this transition has happened in the past for the (still living) believer. In the reference of the gospel and the letter, thehearers are presumed to be in the state of “life,” as members of the household of God (note: brothers and sisters).
What about the “hate”? A view beyond this pericope finds John’s reference to Cain and Abel in verse 12. There is also the allusion to Jesus’ warning against anger in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-22). Neither of these passages are included as funeral options. For the occasional worshiper langing in a funeral, this discussion of hate might seem out of context. My sense would be that “hate” might need some comment from the homilist. But given the circumstances, why not steer the choice to something less jarring.
Verse 16 obviously picks up the theme from Christ himself in his John 10 Good Shepherd narrative. The imitation of Christ: this is what we strive for. Did the deceased exemplify this laying down of life? Did she or he renounce hate and embrace love? Does it make sense to add the John 5:24-29 reading to the funeral liturgies? If so, perhaps this brief reflection on the journey from death to life, from hate to love, makes sense for a funeral. But be cautious about the guests and what might prick their ears. | <urn:uuid:1eb7c34f-e4d2-4f09-b1f2-d047475238d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://catholicsensibility.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/funeral-lectionary-1-john-314-16/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=62ae90ba45 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943957 | 495 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Approximately a month ago, President Barack Obama was the mortal enemy to gay and lesbian America.
According to a number of gay bloggers, writers, and activists, the president differed little from infamous civil rights foes like Bull Connor. In 1963, the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, ordered the use of fire hoses and police dogs on peaceful protestors. No one accused Obama of putting state trained dogs on children, but 30 days ago he was as hostile to gay equality as Connor was to black voting rights.
‘Until the president publicly puts his wheels down on the side of full equality, he must be passionately engaged, confronted and protested for maintaining his prejudiced, hurtful public position,’ playwright Dustin Lance Black wrote for the Hollywood Reporter. ‘If his evolution continues to fall short, then those interested in equality in this country must abandon their support. Hope should never become delayed disappointment.’
Black was certain Obama’s wheels were not near full equality because he was still ‘evolving’ on same-sex marriage. The president was certain civil unions, with the same rights and responsibilities of marriage, offered protection to LGBT families.
The playwright’s condemnation was the strongest in the echo chamber of gay political blogs and opinion pages.
‘I used to play along with the idea that Obama was evolving. That's gotten old and outdated already. Now, it's clearly a political calculation the White House is making not to announce support marriage. And, I don't like people playing politics with my equality,’ Joe Sudbay wrote at Americablog.
‘It's embarrassing to watch almost all of the absurd rhetoric around this issue that's coming out of the White House,’ David Mixner, a longtime activist, said in a 2011 June Huffington Post article. ‘You're either for it or you're against it. You've got all the facts. Everybody's given you time to evolve... Enough already.’
Much of this sound and fury was well deserved because Obama’s marriage dance was all political shell game. Nothing wrong with that – unless your only connection to the machinations of power is through the TV show the West Wing. In 1996, when running to be a state senator in the mid-western state Illinois, an unknown Barack Obama filled out a questionnaire supporting of marriage equality. A White House official first said a political operative filled out the form. This was quickly walked back and the administration thought it best to repeat a mantra.
‘He's been very clear about his position on gay marriage,’ said White House spokesman Jay Carney. ‘He's been very clear about how that position is evolving. I don't have any new announcement to make.’
Being an unknown local politician, and supporting same-sex marriage, is one thing. Coming to the national stage in 2004 (the president became a household name after his Democratic convention speech), and standing fully behind gay couples is something else. Especially considering how in 2004 all polls pointed to a majority of Americans being against marriage rights.
Team Obama deserved all the criticism for lacking imagination to create a better answer for his position in the 90s and a month ago. Yet, all of the ‘Obama is our enemy’ talk glossed over achievements few considered 10 years ago: Firstly, for the first time in 17 years, LGBT soldiers no longer have to worry about being kicked out of the service for their sexuality. On 22 December 2010, Obama signed the bill ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Secondly, in 2011 February his Justice Department noted that section three of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconsititional and would no longer be defended in court. Thirdly he signed a hate crime bill – the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act – that included sexual orientation and gender orientation, and fourthly he created new regulations for hospitals when it comes to visiting rights and gay families.
From the moment he stepped into the White House, Obama’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender record has exceeded all previous presidents. Granted the bar was set extremely low, but LGBT equality has been on a steady, all be it slow, march in the past three years.
‘I think it's fair to critique President Obama on his missteps in dealing with LGBT issues, but I think it should not be done in a vacuum. There is a record that is long and deep that shows that, regardless of the differences of opinion on some key issues, he is very much a strong supporter of LGBT equality,’ said Jerame Davis.
Why a pro-gay president had to fully support marriage rights will be a topic for historians. Could it be marriage has evolved as the central gay rights equality plank? Another reason is an unease about those very missteps Davis alluded to.
The first sign of trouble was when Reverend Rick Warren was chosen to give the invocation at the 2009 inauguration. Warren’s history with AIDS patients is commendable, but he’s also known for uttering anti-gay comments. More recently the president refused to sign an executive order banning LGBT discrimination among federal contractors. A quirky decision considering the administration’s consistency when it comes to putting federal government power behind equality.
All seems to be forgiven because Obama mouthed some words. And this is another conundrum that will hound historians. The president’s actions, those things that affected the lives of people, never earned the type of excitement his marriage position did. Putting ‘support’ and ‘gay marriage’ in one sentence, flung open the wallets of gay donors and hiked the enthusiasm. Ending DADT and not supporting DOMA were not enough. | <urn:uuid:4f5c6681-1c60-4ccf-b87d-63e10c9c7d6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/white-house-race-2012-barack-obama-zero-hero050612 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974513 | 1,181 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Readers of this blog already know how fiction can inspire real science and we’ve got another example to show you today: the electronic nose. Ray Bradbury’s science fiction classic Fahrenheit 451 features the concept, as does the 1994 children’s film Richie Rich.
In Richie Rich, Professor Keenbeam (who heads the research and development department for the Richs’ company) invents all sorts of technology, including an electronic nose that resembles a hairdryer with a pig’s nose on the front. It sounds strange but it becomes essential to the plot – it saves Richie’s parents from explosives hidden on their airplane. (Richie also uses it to detect what’s in his birthday presents.)
Electronic nose technology started gaining speed in 2001 with the E-nose from Joel White and John Kaeur at Tufts University. That electronic sniffer analyzed changes in stained DNA’s color as a result of exposure to a vapor. A newer electronic nose (ENose) from the Lewis Research Group at Caltech utilizes chemical sensors that are analyzed electronically. The applications of the new nose mimic its use in Richie Rich; it’s been used to detect mines and explosives. The Caltech ENose has also made its way on the International Space Station where it tested cabin air quality for 6 months.
The ENose has its uses and its limitations, of course. The mammalian olfactory system is complex and not easily mimicked. The human nose can distinguish between 10,000 odors. The ENose isn’t quite there yet, explains Nate Lewis, professor and head of the Lewis Research Group. “We will never break down the odor of Coca-Cola into the 200 compounds that are in Coca-Cola. But if you’re in a production line and you’re determining if the Coca-Cola is “good” or “bad,” [then] I don’t need to know what the 200 compounds are to tell you it’s different than the good stuff. This is what electronic noses have been used for.” While a human could detect the scent of Coca-Cola, the ENose is limited to analyzing the changes between good and bad Coca-Cola. But that’s the strength of the ENose as well; humans would have difficulty smelling the good soda from the bad soda. The ENose can also detect smells humans can’t, like mercury.
The ENose has potential to be used as a means of protection from hazardous environments or contaminated food. The device may have been a silly invention in a children’s film, but now it’s a reality with real world applications. And as Lewis explains, this advancement in science is something to get excited over. “I think it’s just important for people to realize that this is a really remarkably exciting time for science. Almost all of these things that we talked about wouldn’t really have been possible 20 years ago. On the electronic nose, it is a combination of materials, of systems, and signal processing that together synergistically make this possible. It’s a combination of what we know about biology, of what we’re learning about chemistry, and our ability to control materials.” | <urn:uuid:20062667-4c26-4f03-afcf-c0a67b8df31c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/blog/nose-knows-electronic-nose | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937009 | 682 | 3.3125 | 3 |
2012 was a year of record-breakers, from Olympic swimming stars to remarkably long-lived Iowans. Felix Baumgartner jumped from the edge of space, South Korean musician Psy waged an aural war of attrition on YouTube, and scientists actually managed to land a successful rover on the Red Planet, among other accomplishments.
Here are some of 2012's most significant, or at least most amusing, firsts.
1. World's oldest person dies not once, but twice. (And really old people use Facebook.)
Humanity is living longer, and 2012 showed us direct evidence of that longevity trend, as the title of the World's Oldest Person was won and lost twice in a matter of months.
Italian American Dina Manfredini of Johnston, Iowa was briefly the world's oldest human in December, when she celebrated her 115th birthday.
However, Manfredini passed away on Dec. 17, and the crown was passed on Dec. 26 to 115-year-old Jiroemon Kimura of Japan — the oldest man ever.
There is, however, speculation that a Chinese woman named Luo Meizhen is a remarkable 127 years old, according to the Des Moines Register. But since she lacks a birth certificate, the claim is perhaps a bit hard to prove.
And then there was Maria "Mary" Colunia Segura-Metzgar, a 105-year-old New Mexico grandmother who successfully showed that she was the oldest living Facebook user.
Segura-Metzgar challenged the claim of Florence Detlor, pictured here, a relatively spry 101-year-old who was previously believed to be Facebook's oldest member. She even got to visit Facebook headquarters to meet founder Mark Zuckerberg. Did a private message war ensue? Perhaps a centenarian Facebook user group might be worth starting up after all.
2. Longest high-speed rail line in the world built in China.
Want to travel quickly from northern China to southern China? Now, there's a zippy option that doesn't involve purchasing a plane ticket: take the high speed rail line, the longest in the world.
The newly opened route allows travel from the national capital of Beijing to Guangzhou, at speeds upwards of 187 miles per hour — allowing commuters to make the 1,427-mile journey in a mere 8 hours, a trek that formerly took more than 22, says the BBC.
There are even fetching railway attendants, touch-screen video consoles, and comfortable reclining seats to ease the incredible journey. Well, at least in business class.
While the new line is the world's longest, it isn't the first recent railway achievement for China. The world's highest-altitude route — from Golmud, Qinghai all the way to Lhasa, Tibet — opened in 2006, taking passengers on a journey 16,640 feet above sea level. Oxygen is provided for the less-than-sturdy; check out the Lhasa Express official website if you're planning on making a trip.
3. Felix Baumgartner's 24-mile free-fall
Mankind has done a lot of poorly advised things before, but a 24-mile free-fall from the very bleeding edge of space — that might just break the sound barrier? Until this summer, that was uncharted territory.
Enter Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian dare-devil who appears to have been born without the usual danger receptors, and who was eager to see if he could actually survive the longest, sound-barrier-breaking free-fall ever attempted by a human being.
The Red Bull STRATOS project gained copious media coverage, and a correspondingly huge number of viewers for the live stream, eager to see if Baumgartner would actually survive the mission. (Spoiler: He made it.)
Baumgartner's free-fall topped speeds of 833 miles per hour, reported the BBC, making him the first human to break the sound barrier with his body. The 128,100-foot descent was also the lengthiest free-fall in human history. Not bad for a day's work.
And that's not all: Baumgartner's leap registered the most viewers for a live-streamed video in history. Radical. Indeed, Guinness recently confirmed that Baumgartner set five new records in a single day.
4. Gangnam Style: the most watched video in YouTube history
Love it or hate it, South Korean musician Psy's "Gangnam Style" dominated the planet in the latter half of 2012, as everyone from US football players to Ban Ki Moon to Cambodian rice farmers merrily embraced the, uh, "horsey" dance.
Read more from GlobalPost: Gangnam style decoded: a dance craze with meaning
Uploaded only on July 15, the video went from an amusing South Korean cultural fillip to the most viewed video in YouTube history. As of this writing on Dec.r 30, there have been a whopping 1,083,808,130 "Gangnam Style" views — and a relatively piddling 501,251 "dislikes."
That makes "Gangnam Style" the first video in YouTube history to reach 1 billion views, and it didn't even involve a cat. Much to the horror of obsessed 14-year-old girls everywhere, it even beat out the page views accorded to Justin Bieber's "Baby."
Go on, watch "Gangnam Style" again. You know you want to. It calls to you.
5. The biggest retweet: surprise, it's the president!
Four more years. twitter.com/BarackObama/st…
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 7, 2012
Barack Obama won the US presidency again on Nov. 6, and turned to his popular Twitter feed to announce "4 more years," accompanied by a photograph of the POTUS-elect embracing Michelle, his wife.
The rather simple (if pleasingly direct) missive, pictured above, swiftly became the most re-tweeted statement in the history of the micro-blogging website. Well, yeah. Guess that does qualify as big news.
6. Director James Cameron submarines down to the Mariana Trench, as one does
James Cameron was perhaps 2012's most sterling example of a man who really knows how to use his fabulous wealth: i.e., in the name of pure, sweet exploration.
In March, the "Titanic" and Avatar director merrily submersible-d a full seven miles down to the Mariana Trench, becoming the first solo explorer to alight in the Challenger Deep, a valley long considered to be all but unreachable.
Cameron was able to successfully collect footage and specimens of the little known Challenger Deep, information deep-sea researchers will doubtless find useful in the years to come.
Read more from GlobalPost: James Cameron plans 7-mile ocean dive into the Mariana Trench
And he even came back — which, considering the mind-blowing amount of pressure ocean water can exert on a human-made metal submarine, was never really a sure thing.
7. Curiosity Rover actually works; world crushes on NASA tech with an awesome haircut
The insanely expensive Curiosity Rover, the largest ever sent to Mars, briefly seized the attention of space-starved America as NASA staged a publicity comeback from the deep cuts of the past few years.
The widely-heralded "seven minutes of terror" the Rover was endured went off beautifully, as an expectant audience of 3.2 million watched live on Ustream (and on cable TV). Curiosity is now roaming about the sandy surface of the Red Planet, collecting useful data on the possibility of Martian life — and providing prolonged employment to NASA's worthy geniuses.
Curiosity, beside the sheer novelty of its success, has broken other international records. They include making the first interplanetary voice recording.
The Curiosity mission included one very special NASA engineer, the rakishly handsome Bobak Ferdowsi, whose star-and-planet themed mohawk caused nerdy hearts to flutter the world over. He's possibly the biggest space-centric heartthrob ever (sorry, Neil Armstrong). You can even print out and construct a small paper bust of Ferdowsi, to keep adorable watch over you as you work/sleep/wish you were a NASA engineer.
8. Michael Phelps wins all the Olympic medals ever
A lanky, semi-aquatic creature from Baltimore, American swimmer Michael Phelps repeated his remarkable Beijing Olympics appearance in London this year, swimming his way to a mind-blowing 18 gold medals, for a career total of 22 medals overal. And he even did it without a dashing mustache — proving that Mark Spitz's 1970s facial hair isn't actually a speed requirement.
Supposed challenger to the throne Ryan Lochte didn't manage to unseat the erst-while Subway spokesman, although he did manage to both befuddle and amuse the world with his awesome Olympic-themed dental grill and his aspirations forf a dazzling career in fashion design. What an Olympics!
A full listing of athletic records broken at London 2012 are listed here, courtesy of the Guardian — and yes, they're in more than just swimming. You may recall some unusually fast dude named Usain Bolt. Not to mention the fact that the 2012 Olympics were the first where there was a female athlete representing every country.
9. Women get ahead in politics — way ahead
2012 was a good year for women in politics, as the female of the species reached new political heights the world over. South Korea elected first female president Park Geun-Hye in December, while Malawi's Joyce Banda took the top-spot in April. Iconic Myanmar opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi enjoyed increasing political freedom — and an audience with US President Barack Obama in her home country.
Who was in charge of the powerful economies of Germany and Brazil this year? That'd be German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Dilma Rousseff. Who's in charge of the IMF? Meet French intellectual powerhouse Christine Lagarde, elected last year as the very first woman in the role.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criss-crossed the planet in 2012, while the US elections in November saw 20 new female senators elevated to Washington. Women also played a major role in the re-election of President Barack Obama.
Are things equal yet? No. But they're off to a pretty good start.
10. World records broken on ... Guinness World Records Day
Yes, there's an official holiday devoted to the breaking of world records.
Enter Guinness World Records day, an annual Nov. 15 event where the world comes together in the pursuit of pushing boundaries — even if they're silly. Guinness says over 420,000 people from around the world came together to have fun and attempt to smash some of the (odder) records currently on the books.
The most vehicle figure eights. The most women in a single Mini Cooper car (see above). The fastest time to run 100 meters on all fours (thanks, Kenichi Ito of Japan!). The most coconuts smashed in one minute — that'd be 16. The most targets hit by a blowgun in 60 seconds: 23, making Anthony Kelly the guy you'd least want to run into in the depths of the Amazon jungle. And that's just the beginning.
Want to set your own world record? Better start practicing now. | <urn:uuid:f8e73a52-f700-4ddb-b1c6-40e91cc2ecbc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/2012-records-milestones | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950559 | 2,382 | 1.804688 | 2 |
John L. Jifon, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Horticultural Sciences
Texas AgriLIFE Research
Overall Research Interest:
Dr. Jifon’s research is focused on environmental stress physiology of plants — the physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms and traits that confer tolerance to environmental stresses (especially to drought, radiation/temperature extremes, and nutrient imbalance). A key theme in his research is to use integrated measurements obtained at leaf, whole-plant, and stand levels to study factors that regulate photosynthetic efficiency, water/nutrient use efficiency, assimilate partitioning, yield and quality. The aim is to use the information gained in these studies to develop practical strategies to optimize productivity and quality by improving plant tolerance to environmental stresses.
Improving crop water use efficiency and water conservation:
A better understanding of plant water use is necessary in improve irrigation practices to increase crop water use efficiency. The objective of this project is to increase crop water use efficiency without sacrificing yield/quality using regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) based on crop developmental stage and evapotranspiration data. The approach is to monitor soil moisture depletion patterns and weather variables (solar radiation, temperature, wind, and humidity). Irrigation is then scheduled based on crop evapotranspiration (ETc) using modified FAO crop coefficients. The effects of irrigating at 25, 50, 75 or 100% ETc on leaf gas exchange, and water relations, yield, quality, water use efficiency and water savings are measured. Benefits from this research are improved on-farm water conservation; reduced production costs related to water supply; increased water availability for non-agriculture uses; improved knowledge of drought effects on plant physiology, development and yield.
Improving the health-promoting properties of foods:
Phytochemicals are compounds accumulated by plants which have health-promoting properties such as prevention of certain chronic ailments. Many of these compounds also protect plants from damaging effects of environmental stresses. A better understanding of the environmental conditions and processes controlling the synthesis and accumulation of phytochemicals will facilitate development of strategies to improve not only plant tolerance to stresses, but also the health-promoting properties of target crops.
The benefit to consumers of this research is improved eating quality and health-promoting properties of vegetables; reduced health care costs. Benefits to growers, retailers and industry include improved market quality, shelf life and value of produce.
Bioenergy feedstock production: Agronomic considerations:
The success crops grown primarily for energy depends on the efficiency, profitability and sustainability of the crop production system. Research in this area is evaluating a range of potential bioenergy feedstock crops for adaptability to Texas growing conditions in order to optimize environmental and agronomic (water/nutrient use, yield, energy density) practices for their sustainable production. This research benefits local and national economies, creates alternative land use, crops and markets. Consumers benefit by having a reduced reliance on fossil fuels. The environment also benefits by having increased carbon sequestration in soils and reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. | <urn:uuid:db2f13d3-cf45-46c1-b21e-e560b51fae3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://weslaco.tamu.edu/directory/faculty/john-jifon/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916624 | 628 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Redesigned and reorganized: A new website for a compelling message.
Born of a partnership between the NYC Department of Education, the Mayor's Office, the City University of New York, and Goddard Riverside, NYC College Line is New York's resource for students as they prepare for, apply to, and work to complete college. At heart, the site is a repository of the advice-rich but too often forgotten programs that empower students to achieve college success. Our goal was to design something that quickly connects students to local programs, multimedia resources, and the advice they need when making college decisions.
Working with Graduate NYC!, the project's inventor and brain trust, Blenderbox created the classroom-inspired logo, followed by the site design and structure. The Blenderbox team was guided along the way not only by our deep expertise in educational projects, but also on the first-hand user feedback of program affiliates, students, advisers, teachers, and parents. They gave us an A for effort, but with insightful feedback they really helped our team push the design forward and create a truly connected experience for the full spectrum of students expected to use NYC College Line.
Some of the cooler features include the ability to save college resources to folders, emailing resources folders of resources for friends or colleagues, an ask-an-advisor workflow, and the ability for users to either suggest, add, or edit resource content.
Interested in learning more? NYC College Line will be presented as a case study at SXSW EDU in March 2013. | <urn:uuid:b8e5cbf9-40f6-40b3-9fe3-7faeb7aea157> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blenderbox.com/projects/nyc-college-line | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951034 | 311 | 1.554688 | 2 |
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Students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics are eligible to apply to become intern for the UA's WISE program.
University Communications August 18, 2009
Internship opportunities for undergraduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics expanding at The University of Arizona. The UA's Women in Science and Engineering, or WISE, program is offering internships for students at 10 hours weekly.
Though the internship does not offer a financial incentive, student interns will earn course credits. WISE promotes women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known as the STEM fields, through programs and services offered for girls in southern Arizona and on campus. Students are encouraged to apply now for the internship, which will run Aug. 31 through Dec. 9. The internship program, which is run out of the UA's Southwest Institute for Research on Women and the gender and women's studies department, grows out of a pilot project that was held during the spring semester.
During the spring, two students were involved as interns and the WISE staff evaluated "how an internship program would mutually benefit the organization as well as the students that participate in it," said Carly Thomsen, a research technician and events coordinator for WISE. "They were engaged in many aspects of professional development – learning to write grants, organizing events and supporting WISE staff in a number of other ways," she said.
Thomsen and Heather Fukunaga, a senior instructional specialist with the Southwest Institute for Research on Women, crafted the internship from a model developed for a internship program at the Women's Resource Center. Since 2007, more than 75 interns have participated in the Women's Resource Center internship program, she said. "We hope that WISE's program will grow into something comparable over the next couple of semesters," Thomsen said.
Each year, WISE works with girls from schools throughout southern Arizona through the Expanding your Horizons Conference. Those involved in the program also mentor adolescent and teenage girls. At the UA, WISE also has involved hundreds of students in its programs, which include the WISE living learning wing at Gila Hall, seminar courses, with scholarship funding and other opportunities.
As part of the internship program, students will work closely with WISE staff to develop programs, coordinate events, host meetings and conduct research, Thomsen said. Seeking grants, keeping track of program membership, planning a fundraiser, working on the newsletter, coordinating both social and acacemic events, writing press releases, recruiting panelists and workshop facilitators and recruiting students for WISE programs are among the tasks interns can expect to complete. Kiona Meade was one of the two interns to serve during the pilot portion of the program during the spring semester.
"Being an intern for WISE was a wonderful experience for me," said Meade, a spring 2009 intern and UA sophomore studying biosystems engineering. "Throughout my life, I have always had people encouraging me to do the things that I loved – math and science being two of those things," said Meade, an Honors College student. "This internship allowed me to give back some of knowledge and experiences by helping encourage younger girls to pursue careers in STEM fields."
To read the full article: UA's Women in Science and Engineering program expands internships | <urn:uuid:4c5c8cc4-cc7a-4c46-9bb7-06c1ba969b5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://flinn.org/bio-briefs/1766 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967376 | 676 | 1.648438 | 2 |
John (Mitropolsky) of the Aleutians
His Grace the Right Reverend Bishop John (Mitropolsky) of the Aleutians was the first ruling hierarch assigned to the Russian diocese of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska, an event which signaled the growth in importance of the mission in Alaska from being an auxiliary of a diocese centered in eastern Russia.
As part this administrative move, Bp. John moved the see from Sitka to San Francisco in 1872, bringing a strong presence to the continental United States. Using his fluency in English this move enabled him to engage the heterodox Americans and their press about Orthodox Christianity. This importance of this move was eventually to be seen in the next decade as emigration from central Europe to the United States increased.
Stephen Mitropolsky was born in Kaluga on September 27, 1836. He was an uncle of the Archpriest Nicholas Mitropolsky. His father was a sexton. His early education included attendance at the Kaluga Seminary, followed by attending the Moscow Theological Academy from which he graduated in 1862. While a student at the academy he was tonsured a monk on August 29, 1861, with the name of John. After his ordination as a deacon, John was ordained a priest on June 21, 1862. The following September Hieromonk John received his Master's degree and was awarded a fellowship at the Academy initially in church archaeology and then in general church history.
On October 27, 1868, he was raised to the rank of archimandrite, followed by his consecration as bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. This was a new episcopal title that indicated that the Alaskan bishop was no longer an auxiliary to a diocesan bishop but rather a ruling bishop with his own diocese.
Early in his stay in America Bp. John sensed that his missionary efforts would be enhanced if the diocesan see were located in San Francisco rather than remaining in Sitka, a "request undoubtedly based upon the fact that most Russians had left Alaska" (FitzGerald, 22). He initiated a request to the Holy Synod of the Church of Russia to make the move, and in 1872 he received approval to move the diocesan administration, mission school, and episcopal see from Sitka to San Francisco. This move began a twenty-eight year period in which the seat of the diocese was outside its defined territory (Alaska), which FitzGerald identifies as the first signal of the eventual canonical irregularities which would plague American Orthodoxy in years to come (ibid.). With the movement of the see to San Francisco, Bp. John initiated the construction of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Pierce Street.
Having studied church history in his academy days, Bp. John had developed a concept for his missionary work in North America that would convey the truths of Orthodox Christianity to the heterodox in North America. With his fluency in the English language he used a scholarly approach to argue the truths of Orthodoxy and to defend them. He was able to debate the heterodox in the press, and his accomplishments are recorded in his History of Sects in America.
Bp. John's stay in the United States ended when he was appointed on April 12, 1877, to the staff of the office of the Holy Synod in Moscow where he served for a little over twelve years. Then, on August 12, 1889 he was appointed Bishop of Aksaisk, an auxiliary of the bishop of the Don diocese. On April 9, 1910, Bp. John retired from active service as a bishop and became head of the Protection Monastery in Astrakhan until November 8, 1913. From that time he fully retired and then died on May 2, 1914.
Bp. John's service in the Alaskan mission brought two significant advances in the progress of Orthodox Christianity into North America. First was the establishment of the mission as a full diocese, not dependent upon a foreign diocesan administration. Second was the movement of the headquarters of the diocese to the mainland of the United States, closer to the center of American life.
John (Mitropolsky) of the Aleutians
|Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska
|Vicar Bishop of Aksaisk
- FitzGerald, Fr. Thomas E. The Orthodox Church. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1998.
- Orthodox America 1794-1976 Development of the Orthodox Church in America, C. J. Tarasar, Gen. Ed. 1975, The Orthodox Church in America, Syosett, New York | <urn:uuid:5903c865-c4d0-449c-b9ab-85807a31b597> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=John_(Mitropolsky)_of_the_Aleutians&oldid=58243 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977856 | 963 | 2.703125 | 3 |
It’s amazing how much power a stick of sidewalk chalk contains. There is so much that you can do with it, and yet it’s just a colorful stick of calcium sulfate. And you can buy it in just about any store for chump change! Believe it or not, both chalk and Tums are made from the same basic substance - just a slightly different formula. It’s also used as a coagulant for tofu. But aside from its humble chemistry, a stick of sidewalk chalk is like freedom in your hand.
Chalk is more flexible in its versatility than it is in its physicallity. If you grind it up and throw it in the air you can have yourself a color party. You can draw pictures on just about any outdoor surface, and now it is commonly being used as a form of guerilla advertising. More than ever, especially around college campuses, chalk is being used to spread messages of rebellion, justice and above all, freedom. Because sidewalk chalk is ephemeral, people young and old are using this medium to express whatever is on their minds.
Some bloggers, like Valery Roney want to start a sidewalk chalk revolution. This is a beautiful idea that encourages people to get outside and make it more beautiful than it already is by leaving inspiring messages on random sidewalks, just to spread the love. Roney leaves messages such as, “Hey Beautiful,” and, “Try.” Of course, the messages will not last forever, but if you put the message in a busy place, chances are a lot of people will see your message. It could brighten someone’s day who was feeling melancholic before.
There is even a new gadget that you can attach to a bicycle or scooter that allows you to drag a stick of chalk behind you and make a chalk trail. If you want to get really creative, you can scoot around in figure 8’s to make a pretty colorful design, just like in this video.
Getting back to the roots of sidewalk chalk, the art of making chalk art has now been upgraded to 3D! If you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you can find the 3D sidewalk chalk designs of Julian Beever, better known as “Sidewalk Chalk Guy.” He makes drawings all over the world, and they take hours, sometimes days to create. He is truly original because he is able to incorporate objects such as park benches and parking columns into the drawing itself. The drawings are 3D due to an optical illusion, and they only appear 3D when you are standing to view the object at a certain angle. For more examples of Beever’s art, you can visit his website. People marvel at his works and sometimes strike poses for his pictures.
Edgar Mullar is another popular 3D Sidewalk chalk artist. You can watch a video of him creating his most famous piece here! He uses a quick recipe made with dye water and cornstarch to make liquid chalk so that he can paint it on, thus covering more area in less time.
A really fun trend that is getting more and more popular is a summer must do! It’s called “chalking” and it’s the cheapest and most fun way to make your hair have a colorful pop that will turn heads. There are many videos on YouTube with instructions on how to make chalk work for your hair. All you need is the chalk, some water, gloves, a straightening iron and your hair! You just wet the chalk, rub it into your hair, straighten it (the heat seals in the color) and voila! It’s great for kids because it comes out with just one wash. And it’s great for adults because you can always match your hair color to your new chic summer outfits.
I mentioned earlier about grinding up chalk to make colorful powder and have a color party. Well, this is something that has been done in the Northern part of India for centuries! Each spring, to celebrate rebirth, many people of the Hindu faith celebrate Holi, or the Festival of Colors. This holiday is well known for its color parties, where people take to the streets, gathering together to simultaneously cloud the air with as many colors as possible! Originally, the colored powder was made from certain crushed botanicals and minerals, which were wonderful for India’s vegetation because it was almost like sprinkling colorful plant food on the surrounding foliage. Now, those herbs and minerals have become depleted after many generations of use. They now create the power with a more natural form of calcium sulfate, better known as chalk, to spread their yearly colors. And it doesn’t just happen in India either! Each year the Sri Sri Radha Krsna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah holds a giant Holi festival. Thousands of people assist in the “throwings” of color that happen every two hours. People crowd in together in order to be covered in as much color as possible. The day of Holi sends the message that color is important and that it makes life worth living. It may be just chalk, but it makes people come together, and together they all remember to be happy and that there is a lot of love in the world.
Sidewalk chalk is whatever you make it to be. You can consider it a toy for children, or a way to express yourself and your freedom. Some people see it as a nuisance and others pay it no attention at all. People can choose whether to use the power of sidewalk chalk for good or bad purposes. Ultimately, it is up to them.
And in the end , you don’t even need to have any artistic skill to enjoy chalk because it just feels good to rub some color into concrete and know that in at least one small way, you’ve left your mark (at least for the moment) on the world. | <urn:uuid:ac5fe60f-33e1-4ece-b44b-71360500a407> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dishmag.com/issue136/lifestyle/14258/what-are-you-chalking-about-freedom-at-your-fingertips-/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964733 | 1,232 | 1.765625 | 2 |
August 31, 2010 By Russell Nichols
Georgetown County, S.C., isn't known as a bustling hub of innovation. But as the county's library system adopts new technology, residents can connect to a world beyond their rural community.
The Amazon Kindle, the popular e-book reader, is the latest tool made available at Georgetown County Library, thanks to a national Library Services and Technology Act grant. With the $25,000 grant, matched by the libraries, the county acquired 25 Kindles for onsite use and about $2,500 worth of e-books.
"A library's mission is to preserve information and make that information available to the public," said Dwight McInvaill, director of the Georgetown County Library. "We started out with stone tablets and now we have Kindles."
Across the country in the past decade, the marriage between technology and libraries has matured with the rise of interactive gaming and hands-on digital tools. Providing these types of virtual resources to the public has been one component of making the case that Americans still need libraries in the digital age.
In March, in the first report of its kind, researchers found that found that 77 million people (one-third of Americans older than 14) use the Internet at public libraries to keep in touch with friends and family, do research and find jobs, according to the report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries.
But in Georgetown, digital media still is relatively new territory.
"We faced challenges because we've never done anything like this before," McInvaill said. "We're a small, rural library system and we think this technology will interest young people, particularly young males. They're the hardest to reach."
As one of the first library systems in the state to offer the e-book reader, Georgetown Library hopes the devices appeal to young students in a county with a 38 percent school dropout rate, McInvaill said. The library system has already had success with its interactive gaming center, where teenagers can play video games; as part of the deal, students must check out four items each month.
A recent survey by Marketing and Research Resources Inc. revealed that 40 percent of portable e-reader owners read more than they did with printed books. With the Kindles available for teaching and reading (but not lending), McInvaill wants to tap into those literacy trends by offering Kindles as another option.
"We're still developing procedures for in-house use," he said. "But we think it's better to move ahead and learn by doing rather than waiting to get it absolutely perfect before proceeding."
According to McInvaill, many local residents don't have the means to buy new technologies, so the library helps bridge the generational and digital divides. Georgetown County Library offered a free class Tuesday, Aug. 31, on the wireless reading device. The tutorial only lasted about an hour because the devices aren't complicated, according to Library Adult Services Manager Patti Burns. And if users have questions, a new service -- "Book a Librarian" -- allows them to reserve time one on one with experts who can explain how the device works.
"We're really excited about doing this," McInvaill said. "I can't wait for us to try this with young people and see what their reaction will be with this technology."
This Digital Communities white paper highlights discussions with IT officials in four counties that have adopted shared services models. Our aim was to learn about the obstacles these governments have faced when it comes to shared services and what it takes to overcome those roadblocks. We also spoke with several members of the IT industry who have thought long and hard about these issues. The paper offers some best practices for shared government-to-government services, but also points out challenges that government and industry still must overcome before this model gains widespread adoption. | <urn:uuid:2e9bf76a-c70a-42cb-b0f8-19633cb54022> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digitalcommunities.com/articles/Amazon-Kindles-Connect-Rural-Libraries-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961754 | 800 | 2.625 | 3 |
Rubio moves closer to Dream Act alternative
Sen. Marco Rubio opposes the Dream Act, but he's has become increasingly vocal about finding a way to accommodate undocumented youths. He implied today that he's working on something behind the scenes.
In a radio interview with Geraldo Rivera, Rubio cited Daniela Pelaez, a high school valedictorian in Miami who faced deportation but got a two-year reprieve after publicity about the case. Rubio said there should be a way to grant legal status to people like her (and those who serve in the military). He added that while he was letting others in Congress already working on the issue take the lead, he was trying to build "consensus."
We followed up with Rubio's office. "Sorry, nothing to announce yet. He's continuing to talk with his colleagues about the issue," spokesman Alex Conant said.
Rivera asked Rubio why he didn't support the Dream Act and help "the innocent kids." The legislation would create a path to citizenship, which does too far for some Republicans but not all, including some members of Congress from Miami. Rubio said it's akin to a "doctor saying you have a certain problem and so here’s the medicine we're going to give you. I think it’s the wrong medicine." He said it would foster "chain migration" in which the new citizens act as anchors for family in other countries.
"It could be expanded to millions of people, which is problematic," Rubio said.
Then Rubio cited the Palaez case and Rivera pressed if he would lead the effort for an alternative. Referring to colleagues in Congress, Rubio said, "They’ve been working on this for a while so I’ll wait for them to make their public pronouncements about what they are working on, or what they are trying to put together. But it’s also something we’re trying to build consensus around."
Rivera asked Rubio about Rick Santorum's declaration that English should be the official language of Puerto Rico if it wants to become a state. Rubio noted that it already is, along with Spanish, which remains predominate.
"Anyone who travels there will find the vast majority of young people speak (English)," Rubio said. "It’s taught in the schools. It’s not that big of a challenge. It’s not."
As a Senate candidate in 2010, Rubio said he supported a move to make English the official U.S. language, going against rivals Kendrick Meek and Charlie Crist.
Then came this exchange:
GERALDO: "Would you accept if Mitt Romney asks?
RUBIO: "No. I’m focused on being here in the senate. This is what I wanted to do."
GERALDO: "But would you reject, would you refuse"
RUBIO: "It doesn’t work that way. We’ve made it pretty clear this is not a process we want to be a part of. We’re focused on getting some things done here in the Senate."
GERALDO: "You don’t want to be vice president?"
RUBIO: "Not now, no."
RUBIO: "Well, I don’t know if ever. But certainly not now. You’re asking me about today. I do not, no."
GERALDO: "So tomorrow, you mean like June, July?
RUBIO: (laughs) "I mean not in the immediate future. But very good, good try."
Rivera should have asked: Do you want to be president? | <urn:uuid:a612b4ab-7a8b-4632-9de7-d4f56564388c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/rubio-moves-closer-dream-act-alternative/2040897 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97526 | 762 | 1.617188 | 2 |
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Last WWI combat veteran dies: where can you see his legacy?
Unlike most veterans, he liked the service and stayed on. While working as a visiting instructor for the Australian Navy, he fell in love with the country and moved there. When war broke out again he fought for his new country in its navy. He retired after 40 years in service but never stopped being active. At the tender age of 80 he took up writing and penned his memoirs. Over time he became a pacifist and controversially refused to participate in ANZAC Day parades. There's much more to his story, so check out the link and his memoirs, assuming the book isn't sold out by now.
Choules fought on the sea, so with no battlefields to visit, where can you see the legacy of WWI's last combat veteran? A good start would be the museums of the two navies in which he served. The Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth, UK, currently has an exhibition called Sea Your History: 20th Century Royal Navy that shows what life was like aboard naval vessels during the two world wars and beyond. This gives a good insight into what a teenaged Claude Choules had to endure. The Royal Australian Navy Heritage Centre at Garden Island Naval Base near Sydney also has displays about life in the navy. I wouldn't be surprised if both museums make special exhibitions to mark the passing of this remarkable man.
But you don't have to go to the UK or Australia to see Choules' legacy. He lived through the most momentous event of the early 20th century. The war changed Europe and the world. The millions of deaths seriously weakened Europe's hold on their colonies and emboldened independence movements in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The old aristocracy found itself hit hard financially and began to lose their grip on society. Large numbers of women got to work in factories and other "man's jobs" for the first time, and began to question why they couldn't vote.
While the First World War wasn't the sole factor in the end of colonialism or the rise of women's rights, it was a major one. If you want to see Claude Choules' legacy, just look around you.
[Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons] | <urn:uuid:a0d63e9b-071a-45a2-b5c7-3d5ae3b2985b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gadling.com/2011/05/05/last-wwi-veteran-dies-where-can-you-see-his-legacy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977229 | 475 | 2.28125 | 2 |
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90Y-Ibritumomab tiuxetan, also known as Zevalin ®, is used to treat people with a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma| called follicular lymphoma|. Zevalin may also be used to treat other types of cancer as part of a research trial|.
This section describes Zevalin, how it's given and some of its possible side effects. It should ideally be read with our general information about non-Hodgkin lymphoma| and rituximab| (Mabthera ®).
You'll see your doctor regularly while you have this treatment so they can monitor its effects. This information should help you discuss any queries about your treatment and its side effects with your doctor or specialist nurse.
Zevalin belongs to a group of cancer drugs known as monoclonal antibodies|. Monoclonal antibodies are sometimes called targeted therapies, because they work by ‘targeting’ specific proteins (receptors) on the surface of cells.
Zevalin is a type of monoclonal antibody known as a radiolabelled monoclonal antibody. It's made up of a monoclonal antibody (Ibritumomab tiuxetan) with a radioactive substance (Yttrium-90, or 90Y) attached to it. The radiation from 90Y can destroy cancer cells. It can also affect normal cells.
Zevalin locks on to a protein called CD20, which is present on the surface of a type of white blood cell called B-lymphocytes (B-cells). CD20 is present both on normal B-cells and on abnormal (malignant) B-cells, found in many types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
When Zevalin locks on to the B-cells, it delivers radiation that damages or kills them. Both normal and abnormal B-cells are killed, but the body can replace the normal white blood cells that are damaged.
Zevalin is licensed as a treatment for people who have follicular lymphoma that has come back after treatment with rituximab or that hasn't responded to rituximab. It may also be given to people who are in remission from follicular lymphoma - this means there’s no sign of lymphoma after their first treatment. This type of treatment is called consolidation therapy.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE|) currently gives advice on which new drugs or treatments should be available for use in the NHS in England and Wales. They have not yet assessed the use of Zevalin.
Recommendations on the use of new drugs within the NHS in Scotland are made by the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC|). The SMC doesn’t currently recommend the use of Zevalin.
As a result, Zevalin may not be widely available on the NHS, although you may be given it as part of a clinical trial. We have more information about what you can do if a treatment isn't available|.
Zevalin can only be given in hospitals with appropriate specialist facilities, so you may need to travel to another hospital for treatment.
Zevalin is given as a one-off treatment and not as repeated courses of treatment. It consists of two parts, given approximately one week apart:
Rituximab is given on the first day of treatment to reduce the number of normal B-cells. This is to reduce the effects of Zevalin on healthy, non-cancerous cells. About one week later, you'll have a second infusion of rituximab. Within four hours of this infusion, you'll go to the nuclear medicine or radiotherapy department to have the Zevalin. This is given by drip into a vein (called an intravenous infusion) and takes about 10 minutes.
Each person's reaction to treatment is different. Some people have very few side effects, while others may experience more. The side effects described here will not affect everyone who has this treatment.
We have outlined the most common side effects as well as the less common ones, so that you can be aware of them if they occur. However, we haven't included those that are very rare and therefore unlikely to affect you. If you notice any effects that aren't listed here, discuss them with your doctor or nurse.
Most side effects of Zevalin fall into two groups:
While receiving Zevalin or rituximab, some people have a reaction to the treatment. You'll be given drugs before the infusion to reduce the chances of this. If you have a reaction it can usually be treated by slowing down or stopping the drip until you feel better. Sometimes additional medicines may also be given.
You'll be monitored closely during the infusion, but tell your nurse or doctor immediately if you feel unwell or have any of the following symptoms:
Rarely, an infusion-reaction can occur a few hours after treatment. If you develop these symptoms or feel unwell after you get home, contact the hospital straight away for advice.
Zevalin can reduce the number of white blood cells, which help the body fight infection|. White blood cells are produced by the bone marrow. If the number of your white blood cells is low, you will be more prone to infections. A low white blood cell count is called neutropenia. This may continue for a few weeks after treatment.
Contact your doctor or the hospital straight away if:
Your doctors will check your blood levels regularly during treatment and as part of your follow-up.
Zevalin can reduce the production of platelets, which help the blood to clot. Tell your doctor if you have any unexplained bruising or bleeding, such as nosebleeds, bleeding gums, blood spots or rashes on the skin. You can have a platelet transfusion| if your platelet count is low.
Zevalin can reduce the number of red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. A low red blood cell count is called anaemia. This may make you feel tired and breathless. Tell your doctor or nurse if you have these symptoms. You may need to have a blood transfusion| if the number of red blood cells becomes too low.
Your doctor can prescribe very effective anti-sickness (anti-emetic)| drugs to prevent or greatly reduce nausea or vomiting. If the sickness isn't controlled, or if it continues, tell your doctor. They can prescribe other anti-sickness drugs that may be more effective.
Some anti-sickness drugs can cause constipation. Let your doctor or nurse know if this is a problem.
Zevalin can cause diarrhoea. This can usually be easily controlled with medicine, but tell your doctor if it is severe or continues. It's important to drink plenty of fluids if you have diarrhoea|.
Some people notice an increase in headaches or have episodes of dizziness for a few weeks after treatment with Zevalin. Tell your doctor or nurse if you're affected. It’s important not to drive if you feel dizzy.
You may get constipated|. This can usually be helped by drinking plenty of fluids, eating more fibre in your diet and doing some gentle exercise. You may need to take medicine (laxatives) to help. Your doctor can prescribe these, or you can buy them from a pharmacy.
This is usually mild but it may be itchy. It's important to tell your nurse or doctor if you develop a rash. They can advise you on what can help.
It's important to let your doctor know straight away if you feel unwell or have any severe side effects, even if they're not mentioned above.
Precautions are needed after treatment with Zevalin, because radiation can remain in the body and bodily fluids for a short time afterwards. This includes the blood, stools, urine, saliva, vaginal fluid and semen.
For seven days after therapy, you should avoid transfer of body fluids to other people. It's important to wash your hands thoroughly after going to the toilet and clearing up any spills. You should also use a condom during sex. All of this will help minimise exposure to radiation for those close to you. Pregnancy should be avoided for one year after treatment.
You should avoid having live vaccines during treatment and for at least one year afterwards. Live vaccines include BCG, yellow fever, measles, mumps, rubella, liquid typhoid, poliomyelitis liquid and MMR.
Some medicines should only be used under the supervision of your doctor while you have Zevalin treatment. This includes blood thinners (anti-coagulants) and drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen.
Some other medicines, including those you can buy from a shop or pharmacy, can be harmful to take when you’re having Zevalin. Tell your doctor about any medicines you’re taking, including over-the-counter drugs, complementary therapies and herbal drugs.
Your ability to become pregnant or father a child may be affected by having this treatment. It's important to discuss fertility| with your doctor before starting treatment.
It's not advisable to become pregnant or father a child during treatment with Zevalin or for one year afterwards. This is because it may harm the developing baby. It's important to use effective contraception during treatment. You can discuss this with your doctor.
There is a potential risk that Zevalin may be present in breast milk, so women are advised not to breastfeed during treatment and for one year afterwards.
If you’re admitted to hospital for a reason not related to the cancer, it’s important to tell the doctors and nurses looking after you that you’re having Zevalin treatment. You should tell them the name of your cancer specialist so that they can ask for advice.
It’s a good idea to know who you should contact if you have any problems or troublesome side effects when you’re at home. During office hours you can contact the clinic or ward where you had your treatment. Your specialist nurse or doctor will tell you who to contact during the evening or at weekends.
This information has been compiled using information from a number of reliable sources, including:
With thanks to Dermot Ball, Cancer Network Pharmacist, and the people affected by cancer who reviewed this edition. Reviewing information is just one way you could help when you join our Cancer Voices| network.
Content last reviewed: 1 January 2013
Next planned review: 2015
For answers, support or just a chat, call the Macmillan Support Line free (Monday to Friday, 9am-8pm)
If you have any questions about cancer, need support or just want someone to talk to, ask Macmillan.
If you have any questions about Macmillan we would love to hear from you| .
You can also follow us| on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr or YouTube.
© Macmillan Cancer Support 2013
what are these?| | <urn:uuid:5e6fb397-5112-4594-9b3c-9220dda8f10b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertreatment/Treatmenttypes/Biologicaltherapies/Monoclonalantibodies/90Y-Ibritumomabtiuxetan.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951751 | 2,320 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Nutrition Article: Yes an apple a day really does keep the doctor away!
By Dr. Joe Kasper
This article is NOT available for reprint or use in any format without written permission from the author, Dr. Joe Kasper.
Donít believe it? Iíll prove it. Apples canít guarantee youíll never see a doctor again, but they're incredibly healthy for you in many ways: Lots of fiber, vitamins, healthy sugars, minerals, and a whole lot more.
Apples contain Quercetin, a flavonoid that has demonstrated in scientific studies to prevent the growth of prostate cancer cells. Guys careful pay attention!
Studies also show that the phytochemicals in the skin of an apple blocked the reproduction of cancer cells. Even the National Cancer Institute agrees that apples can reduce the risk of lung cancer.
Thereís a lot of talk about taking antioxidant supplements. But I question whether itís necessary, because if you eat the right foods, like apples, for example, now you have the real deal, plus itís delicious and affordable! Remember cancer and heart disease, and many other conditions, are in part caused by damage to the cells and DNA by oxidation.
Apples have a super high concentration of what scientists call phenolic compounds; a biochemical active substance belonging to the flavonoid group. There are thousands of them and they are all good for you.
Apples are Number 1! When compared to all other fruits, apples have the highest portion of free phenolics (one of the antioxidants in apples) and by free, I mean that they are not attached to other compounds in the fruit, making them more available for absorption into your bloodstream and providing your body with real nutrients.
Apples have also been linked to lowering levels of asthma and diabetes. This could be a direct correlation with the pectin contained in an apple, which is a valuable source of soluble fiber, which balances sugar levels.
And I almost forgot to mention that apples possess the minerals boron and calcium, which are important in building bone. A tasty way to fight osteoporosis and arthritis.
I personally eat 2 apples everyday (Iím eating one as I write this). I highly recommend that you do as well!
Now you know why an apple a day will keep the doctor away!
Dr. Joe Kasper
PS: If at all possible go with organic Apples. Eating food without poisons will provide you with the most amounts of nutrients and antioxidants. Not a surprise!
PPS: Enjoy ďTasty Tuesdays ďvideo on apples and share it with the world, www.FireYourDiet.com.
These books, photos, and this website are copyrighted. It is illegal to reproduce/copy these books, exercises, photos, or workouts without written permission of the authors/creators.
Copyright © 2006 Goeller
Gymnastics Books, Apparel, Gifts, etc.
Secure checkout system. | <urn:uuid:b6ce6c45-277b-45ce-a79f-55b1fc0ecc43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swingworkouts.com/Article-Apple-Kasper.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 | 0.93166 | 615 | 2.375 | 2 |
This answer will focus on food storage, since that's what I know the most about and it hasn't been addressed in other answers yet.
There are two common means of food storage in bear country:
Hanging and counter-balance methods
The basic idea behind these methods is to hang the food in a tree in such a way that a bear wouldn't be able to reach it. Remember than bears can climb trees better than you can, so you must take care to position your food such that the bear can't reach it by climbing up the trunk, etc.
You'll want to divide your food into two bags of approximately equal weight. Stuffsacks (like what you'd put a sleeping bag in) work well for this. Make sure to line the stuffsack with a plastic garbage bag, to prevent your food from getting wet if it rains. Keep the weight of each bag under ~10lbs.
To get the rope over the tree, tie some sort of small weight onto the end (a rock in a sock supposedly works well), and throw it over a branch. You'll want to be at least 10 feet from the trunk - the farther out you go, the better, since it'll be harder for bears to swat at your food from the trunk.
I'm going to quote an external source here, because I haven't ever done the counterbalance method on my own:
Tie one end of the rope around the neck of one sack, securing it firmly. Tie a loop in the rope near your sack for retrieving your food later. Hoist the sack all the way up to the branch by pulling on the free end of the rope. Now reach up and tie your second food sack as high up on the rope as you can. Again, tie a secure loop in the rope near the second sack. Put any excess rope into the sack.
Toss the sack into position or push it up with a stick so the sacks are balanced over the branch. Don't forget: A 6-foot-tall person will need a 5-to-6-foot-long stick to hook the loop on the food sacks when it's time to retrieve them.
The counter-balance method works in places where you have large trees and mild bears. If you're in an alpine or subalpine environment, or if there are known bear problems in the area, do not hang your food - it will probably get caught. Use a container method as described below:
Bear canisters and other "bear-proof"* containers
In many places now, it is legally required to use bear-proof containers. This is especially true in Alaska, California, and parts of Canada. Always check with the local ranger district about regulations and suggestions for your area!
There are three general types of bear-proof enclosures, of varying strengths and proof-ness.
The best are bear-resistant cabinets, which are often provided in front-country campgrounds and occasionally designated areas in the backcountry. These are large non-portable metal enclosures, with a locking handle to prevent it from being opened. Any food stored inside these will be safe from bears, although I've found that mice can get into the darn things, and will cheerily eat your food. More on that in a moment.
For portability, (i.e. almost all backpacking), the more convenient option is bear-"proof" sacks. These are sacks made out of kevlar (the material in bullet-proof vests), making them resistant to bears' teeth and claws. Although the manufacturers claim to have tested them, they are not entirely effective, particularly against grizzlies. They are mouse-proof however, so if you're in a campground, putting food inside a bear bag inside one of the cabinets above is a good way to go.
These sacks are appealing because they're much, much lighter than bear-proof canisters (mentioned below). They're also a lot easier to fit into your backpack. Unfortunately, they are not as bear-proof, and do not meet the legal requirements in some places.
The most bear-proof solution is bear canisters. These are rigid plastic containers, with a locking lid mechanism that makes it impossible for bears to get in. There are several brands; the Garcia Backpacker's Cache was one of the first ones and is generally regarded as the most secure and easy to use. They are slightly more expensive than some other brands though.
Because bear cans are round, they do have a tendency to roll away if a bear gets interested in them. Better than letting the bear get your food of course, but it's important to put them somewhere with limited rolling options, or use some large rocks to keep them in place.
Bear cans are required in some national parks and forests where there are particular bear problems, especially in the Sierra Nevada and in Alaska. In most parks where they are required you can rent the cans from a local ranger station for a reasonable cost. | <urn:uuid:96034df0-8d17-4a4a-8c22-c1ebddb52863> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/225/what-precautions-should-i-take-to-protect-myself-and-my-camp-from-bears/976 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965605 | 1,021 | 1.953125 | 2 |
The Naturalist's CornerWritten by Don Hendershot
Hats off to Avram and the activist spirit
Avram Friedman, executive director of the Canary Coalition, is not afraid to put his money (whatever fine he may have to pay for trespassing) and time (eight hours in Mecklenburg County jail) where his mouth is. According to Associated Press accounts, Avram was the first person arrested at an April 20 Charlotte protest at Duke Energy headquarters.
Protesters were there in opposition to Cliffside, Duke’s newest and grandest monument dedicated to King Coal, proposed (actually 30 percent completed) in Rutherford County.
Forty-three other brave souls joined Avram in this much-needed exhibition of civil disobedience. From AP reports, it looks like Avram’s relatively young legs – he’s 59 – allowed him to nose out 86-year-old Betty Robinson (you go granny!) at the arrest-me line.
Regular readers of this column may know that Avram and I have, at this point in time, differing opinions about the efficacy and environmental tradeoffs associated with large-scale wind farms on the ridges of Southern Appalachia. But I have never, and will never, question Avram’s integrity and motivation as he fights for clean air. I consider Avram a friend and colleague in the struggle for a cleaner environment.
Avram and I are contemporaries and were “coming of age” in the 60s when the power of public opinion and civil disobedience was showing its muscle. The hero of the day was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The hero of the past was Mahatma Gandhi. And the counter-culture hero was Abbie Hoffman. There were some fringe groups, but the mainstream movement was huge and it was civil. What is needed today is a real public wake up call. The public — loud and large and civil — is the only “body politic” with the power and moral authority to change the status quo, to implement a paradigm that says public health and well being and the fate of the planet are more important than the bottom line.
Sure, Duke and other corporate polluters — and there are many across the country, Duke is just the big dog on our home court — will try to play the “jobs” card. They will shout that the mean “environmental whackos” want to take away the “average man’s” paycheck. Well, I am the average man and I work shoulder to shoulder for 12 hours a night with other average men and women, and if you asked any one of them what’s more important — this job or the health and well being of your children — you will find out fast where you can put “this job.”
As long as the powers that be at Duke and its corporate brethren think they can paint a line on the ground and sit in their corporate towers and be shielded from taking the responsibility of explaining to you and me how emitting six million tons of carbon dioxide into the environment every year for the next 50 years is in the best interest of my daughters and your sons, well, they’ve got a lot to learn about the average man.
I want to thank Avram and his 43 courageous, convicted compatriots for reminding us that spray paint on the ground is simply spray paint on the ground, and if anyone should be in control of the best interest of our children it is their parents.
Maybe next protest there will be 444 arrests and 4,444 after that .... | <urn:uuid:985715bb-3cb3-4115-89fa-00e387d44b41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smokymountainnews.com/archives/item/2566-the-naturalists-corner | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969831 | 734 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Aviators By Design Sponsoring The Effort At The Homebuilder's Hangar
The nonprofit organization Aviators By Design says that a group of teenagers will be building an airplane this year at AirVenture. Aviation Explorer Post 9868, which holds its meetings at Central County Airport near Iola, Wisconsin and sponsored by the non-profit, will be working on a STOL CH 750 airplane kit in the Homebuilders’ Hangar on the AirVenture grounds located just east of the Forums and north of the tower.
“The goal of the AirVenture project is not to complete the kit aircraft during the week, but, more importantly, the goal is to get kids and adults involved in building an airplane,” explained Aviators By Designer, Founder Jerry Graf. “The project will be a learning process that puts emphasis on developing S.T.E.M. (Scientific, Technological, Engineering and Math) skills and exposing flight to many with the aircraft home building process.”
The young people from Aviation Explorer Post 9868 will be joined by young teens from Aviation Explorer Post 491. Those kids built a Kit Fox and did an outstanding job. Unfortunately, it was destroyed at Sun-n-Fun in the 2011 storm. The lessons learned with that project were incredible and Aviators By Design, along with great supervision especially with the help of experienced light aircraft builder Tracy Buttles, will be working on the STOL CH 750 kit.
The STOL CH 750 kit is manufactured by Zenith Aircraft Company (located in Mexico, Missouri). The CH 750 is an exceptional airplane and is a great project plane for the kids to build. Many airplanes were considered for this project but the CH750 really stood out as the plane of choice. “The Zenith STOL CH 750 aircraft kit was chosen for this project due to the simplicity of the required kit assembly, needing only basic tools and skills and a few hundred kit assembly hours,” Graf said. “The all-metal kit is manufactured using advanced CNC pre-drilling, cutting and forming, with extensive match-hole technology, making it both quick and simple to build, while offering an excellent educational tool.”
The STOL CH 750 is a remarkable “short take-off and landing” (STOL) aircraft with excellent short field and off-airport capability. The aircraft features roomy side-by-side seating, standard tricycle gear configuration, and great visibility, making it well-suited for low-time pilots and Sport Pilot flight training.
After AirVenture, the partially completed airplane will be brought back to Central County Airport (68C) to be completed by the Explorers. Once the plane is completed, it will be used as a marketing tool to get more kids involved and excited about aviation. It will be flown to airshows, fly-ins and even taken to high schools to promote aviation and all the aspects of math, science and engineering that go with aviation.
(Image provided by Aviators by Design) | <urn:uuid:83528970-91b4-45b9-8d87-fac924698c17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aero-news.net/subscribe.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=8c553b8c-7242-48ea-b836-bcfded530743 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958118 | 633 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Stanford students present visions for the future of driving
Professor Clifford Nass' communication students propose new driving technologies at the first Big Idea Festival for Automotive Interfaces. Among the concepts are a gesture-based camera system to replace steering wheels and technology that would allow you to drive your car from your couch.
The car of the future won't have a steering wheel or gas and brake pedals. If that sounds weird, just wait until you drive it around the neighborhood without leaving the comfort of your couch.
These were a few of the concepts presented by 65 groups of students at the first Big Idea Festival for Automotive Interfaces, an event that showcased technologies dreamed up by the 140 students in communication Professor Clifford Nass' course Computers and Interfaces.
The event, which was co-sponsored by Stanford's CHIMe Lab, CARS, mediaX and Revs programs, drew 220 guests from around the world. In Nass' welcoming remarks, he encouraged guests, many of whom work in the automotive and tech industries, to look past the technical challenges of the storyboarded concepts.
"Instead, engage the students, and yourself, by asking: 'How can I take these big ideas and leverage them for my own products, services and understanding?'" he said.
Several of the student groups explored ways to integrate social media into the driving experience. One concept, hatched by Matt Bettonville, Mark Diaz and Matt Lathrop, would link social media information on each passenger's smartphone to create a group model of the passengers' preferences, perhaps for music or food.
For instance, the app would sift through the group's music playlists and "likes" on Facebook profiles to suggest a radio station that everyone in the car would enjoy. Similarly, it would scan the users' Yelp profiles, find that they all like hamburgers, and suggest a nearby burger joint.
"Riding in the car is a unique social experience, in that you're all stuck in the car for a while and you have to get along, and yet one person is usually in control," Bettonville said. "Your phone knows more and more about your preferences and activities, and it's easy to make a good guess about what you like. We thought this would be a good way to make group decisions."
Manvi Mahana was inspired by the Microsoft Kinect gesture-based gaming system to create GestUR Car, a system that would swap the steering wheel and pedals for a camera pointed at the driver. The system would capture specific hand gestures and convert those signals into driving actions.
For example, snap your fingers to start the car, and raise your hand up or down to control the speed. Simply point your index finger in the direction you want to turn, and pull your hand toward your body to hit the brakes. Mahana is undecided whether she will further develop GestUR Car, but she plans to design other gesture-controlled apps in the near future.
Meanwhile, a technology called 3POV would keep the steering wheel but do away with the windshield. Or, rather, replace it with a videogame screen. Phil Brady and Tianda Deng noted that in racing videogames, players typically choose a third-person camera angle – a viewpoint from above and behind the car – over a more realistic cockpit view.
They reasoned that gamers choose this view because it improves situational awareness by making it easier to see the car's surroundings, so why not bring it to the real world? Their concept calls for mounting two 360-degree cameras to the car's roof and projecting images onto the windshield.
The technology is readily available to build the system, they said, and it could appeal to younger and inexperienced drivers, or to people who often lose other cars in their blind spot. The system also could be rigged, they said, so that you could drive your car while sitting at home.
Several proposed technologies aimed to make driving safer by giving the driver better traffic information. The Perfect Backseat Driver, presented by Alison Epstein, Allison Otis and Blake Lueders, aims to give drivers a local's knowledge when driving in a new town. For example, users would upload locations of particularly dangerous intersections to a database. This data would feed into your car's GPS navigation system and advise you to make sure you look twice before crossing the road.
Another system, called the Search/Alert Communicative Turn Signal, would anticipate a driver's actions and offer practical safety advice. For example, it could detect when you're starting to change lanes and remind you to switch on your turn signal. Or, if you're beginning to merge before it's safe to do so, it would warn you to stay in your lane and wait for three more cars to pass before merging.
The system would track all facets of your driving behavior and help correct unsafe habits.
"The system would adapt to the driver," said Preston Chin, who devised the system with Bobby Gonzales. "If after a while you prove that you're good or bad at stopping, it would give you less or more notice that there is a stop sign ahead."
Bjorn Carey, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-1944, email@example.com | <urn:uuid:54681fa2-dc9e-43b0-8a18-1200adbaf242> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/march/big-idea-festival-031813.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961841 | 1,065 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Researching the family of William Pinkney 'Pink' Moermand, spelled Mormand, in the marriage records of Pike County, Georgia, 1879, Page 299.
Surname: Moermand/Mormand may have later changed spelling of surname to 'MOMAN';
Pink Moermand/Mormand/Moman, age 24, and his wife, Melvina, age 22, were living in Dist. 48, GMD 531, Decatur, Ga, 1880;
Wm. P. Moermand/Mormand/Moman age 44, and Mary, age 42, were living in Dist. 48, DeArmanville, Calhoun County, AL, 1900;
Children enumerated in the 1900, 1910 census periods included:
William Monroe Moman, b. 1880, Ga;
Julious Martin Moman, 1884, Ga;
Leila B. Moman, b. Nov 1885, Ga;
Minnie Moman; b. Nov 1886, Ga;
Ed B. Moman, b. circa 1890, Ga;
Claudia M. Moman, b. 1892, Ga;
Hester L. Moman, b. 1894, Ga;
Emma L. Moman, b. 1898, Ga;
L. G. Moman, 1901, Alabama;
In 1910, William P. Moman, age 53, and Melvinie, age 51, were living on Roden Gap & Lathamville Roads, Lathamville, DeKalb County, Alabama...
to this marriage 13 children were born, and by 1910 they stated of these 13 children, 9 were living.
Would like to correspond with descendants of this marriage, and would like to learn where William P. and Melvinia 'Mary' are buried.... | <urn:uuid:a5bdd347-7137-476a-8e6d-16d19c8edeee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.moman/56/mb.ashx | 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 | 0.910979 | 384 | 1.859375 | 2 |
You have probably read or heard the following fable. If not, then consider it:
There is an old fable about six men blind from birth who lived in India. One day they decided to visit a nearby palace. When they arrived, there was an elephant standing in the courtyard. The first blind men touched the side of the elephant and said, “An elephant is like a wall.” The second blind man touched his trunk and said, “An elephant is like a snake.” The third man touched his tusk and said, “An elephant is like a spear.” The fourth touched his leg and said, “An elephant is like a tree.” The fifth blind man touched his ear and said, “An elephant is like a fan.” The sixth man touched his tail and said, “An elephant is like a rope.” Because each blind man touched a different part of the elephant none of them could agree on what the elephant is really like.
Bringing that analogy into the spiritual realm brings up several scenarios.
The most obvious is how people have misconceptions about God and what He is really like. For example, it is real popular to talk about and like a God of grace and mercy. And He is. If not I’m in deep, deep trouble. But at the same time, those same people don’t like to think of a God of justice and wrath. Another is hearing that God is Omniscient (All-Knowing), but believing God has limited knowledge (Open Theism). He can’t know tomorrow and is surprised by things happening. (Picture God with the McCauley Caulkin look on the packaging from Home Alone).
Another scenario is when we have misconceptions about people. We jump to conclusions about motives (very dangerous to judge). We write people “off” as Losers. We have a misconception of who they are based on several factors. Jo called me on something I said the other day. We were driving and a jogger was running with her back to traffic on a pretty narrow road. I commented, “Idiot.” (Yeah, real nice coming out of my mouth). She said, “I don’t like that name. I don’t like to be called that.” You see, she works at the BMV and has been called every name in the book, and then some, so she knows the sting of unwarranted comments. I have no clue why she was running with her back to traffic. Perhaps she had just crossed over and was turning down a street. My misconception judged her- and worse- called her a not-so-nice name.
Be careful of having misconceptions. It saves a lot of embarrassment…like having to apologize. It also saves from wrong views that need corrected. Do you fight misconceptions on a daily basis or is it a rare “ugly” that rears its head? | <urn:uuid:cfdf280f-ef2f-466e-a703-1a5df4617629> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://billgrandi.ovcf.org/wordpress/?p=9153 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983666 | 617 | 2.125 | 2 |
Chapter VIII.—Nicetas Like to Be Deceived by Simon Magus.
“We were brought up along with one Simon, a magician; and in consequence of our friendly intercourse with him, we were in danger of being p. 302 led astray. Now there is a report in regard to some man, that, when he appears, the mass of those who have been pious are to live free from death and pain in his kingdom. This matter, however, mother, will be explained more fully at the proper time. But when we were going to be led astray by Simon, a friend of our lord Peter, by name Zacchæus, came to us and warned us not to be led astray by the magician; and when Peter came, he brought us to him that he might give us full information, and convince us in regard to those matters that related to piety. Wherefore we beseech you, mother, to partake of those blessings which have been vouchsafed to us, that we may unite around the same table! 1168 This, then, is the reason, mother, why you thought we were dead. On that disastrous night we had been taken up in the sea by pirates, but you supposed that we had perished.”
Lit., “that we may be able to partake of common salt and table.” | <urn:uuid:d567c4f0-02f9-4d97-9378-a0c87dce3f30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/008/0081013.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989983 | 281 | 1.953125 | 2 |
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13 January, 2012
Mark Twain, A Biography Vol II, Part 2: 1886 - 1900|
CCIX. Plasmon, and a New Magazine
by Paine, Albert Bigelow
|Clemens was not wholly wedded to osteopathy. The financial interest
which he had taken in the new milk albumen, "a food for invalids," tended
to divide his faith and make him uncertain as to which was to be the
chief panacea for all ills--osteopathy or plasmon.
MacAlister, who was deeply interested in the plasmon fortunes, was
anxious to get the product adopted by the army. He believed, if he could
get an interview with the Medical Director-General, he could convince him
of its merits. Discussing the matter with Clemens, the latter said:
"MacAlister, you are going at it from the wrong end. You can't go direct
to that man, a perfect stranger, and convince him of anything. Who is
his nearest friend?"
MacAlister knew a man on terms of social intimacy with the official.
Clemens said, "That is the man to speak to the Director-General."
"But I don't know him, either," said MacAlister.
"Very good. Do you know any one who does know him?"
"Yes, I know his most intimate friend."
"Then he is the man for you to approach. Convince him that plasmon is
what the army needs, that the military hospitals are suffering for it.
Let him understand that what you want is to get this to the Director-
General, and in due time it will get to him in the proper way. You'll
This proved to be a true prophecy. It was only a little while until the
British army had experimented with plasmon and adopted it. MacAlister
reported the success of the scheme to Clemens, and out of it grew the
story entitled, "Two Little Tales," published in November of the
following year (1901) in the Century Magazine. Perhaps the reader will
remember that in the "Two Little Tales" the Emperor is very ill and the
lowest of all his subjects knows a certain remedy, but he cannot seek the
Emperor direct, so he wisely approaches him through a series of
progressive stages--finally reaching and curing his stricken Majesty.
Clemens had the courage of his investments. He adopted plasmon as his
own daily food, and induced various members of the family to take it in
its more palatable forms, one of these being a preparation of chocolate.
He kept the reading-table by his bed well stocked with a variety of the
products and invited various callers to try a complimentary sample lot.
It was really an excellent and harmless diet, and both the company and
its patients would seem to have prospered--perhaps are prospering still.
There was another business opportunity came along just at this time.
S. S. McClure was in England with a proposition for starting a new
magazine whose complexion was to be peculiarly American, with Mark Twain
as its editor. The magazine was to be called 'The Universal', and by the
proposition Clemens was to receive a tenth interest in it for his first
year's work, and an added twentieth interest for each of the two
succeeding years, with a guarantee that his shares should not earn him
less than five thousand dollars the first year, with a proportionate
increase as his holdings grew.
The scheme appealed to Clemens, it being understood in the beginning that
he was to give very little time to the work, with the privilege of doing
it at his home, wherever that might happen to be. He wrote of the matter
to Mr. Rogers, explaining in detail, and Rogers replied, approving the
plan. Mr. Rogers said he knew that he [Rogers] would have to do most of
the work in editing the magazine, and further added:
One thing I shall insist upon, however, if I have anything to do
with the matter, and it is this: that when you have made up your
mind on the subject you will stick to it. I have not found in your
composition that element of stubbornness which is a constant source
of embarrassment to me in all friendly and social ways, but which,
when applied to certain lines of business, brings in the dollar and
fifty-cent pieces. If you accept the position, of course that means
that you have to come to this country. If you do, the yachting will
be a success.
There was considerable correspondence with McClure over the new
periodical. In one letter Clemens set forth his general views of the
matter quite clearly:
Let us not deceive any one, nor allow any one to deceive himself, if
it can be prevented. This is not to be comic magazine. It is to be
simply a good, clean, wholesome collection of well-written &
enticing literary products, like the other magazines of its class;
not setting itself to please but one of man's moods, but all of
them. It will not play but one kind of music, but all kinds. I
should not be able to edit a comic periodical satisfactorily, for
lack of interest in the work. I value humor highly, & am
constitutionally fond of it, but I should not like it as a steady
diet. For its own best interests, humor should take its outings in
grave company; its cheerful dress gets heightened color from the
proximity of sober hues. For me to edit a comic magazine would be
an incongruity & out of character, for of the twenty-three books
which I have written eighteen do not deal in humor as their chiefs
feature, but are half & half admixtures of fun & seriousness. I
think I have seldom deliberately set out to be humorous, but have
nearly always allowed the humor to drop in or stay out, according to
its fancy. Although I have many times been asked to write something
humorous for an editor or a publisher I have had wisdom enough to
decline; a person could hardly be humorous with the other man
watching him like that. I have never tried to write a humorous
lecture; I have only tried to write serious ones--it is the only way
not to succeed.
I shall write for this magazine every time the spirit moves me; but
I look for my largest entertainment in editing. I have been edited
by all kinds of people for more than thirty-eight years; there has
always been somebody in authority over my manuscript & privileged to
improve it; this has fatigued me a good deal, & I have often longed
to move up from the dock to the bench & rest myself and fatigue
others. My opportunity is come, but I hope I shall not abuse it
overmuch. I mean to do my best to make a good magazine; I mean to
do my whole duty, & not shirk any part of it. There are plenty of
distinguished artists, novelists, poets, story-tellers,
philosophers, scientists, explorers, fighters, hunters, followers of
the sea, & seekers of adventure; & with these to do the hard & the
valuable part of the work with the pen & the pencil it will be
comfort & joy to me to walk the quarter-deck & superintend.
Meanwhile McClure's enthusiasm had had time to adjust itself to certain
existing facts. Something more than a month later he wrote from America
at considerable length, setting forth the various editorial duties and
laying stress upon the feature of intimate physical contact with the
magazine. He went into the matter of the printing schedule, the various
kinds of paper used, the advertising pages, illustrations--into all the
detail, indeed, which a practical managing editor must compass in his
daily rounds. It was pretty evident that Clemens would not be able to go
sailing about on Mr. Rogers's yacht or live at will in London or New York
or Vienna or Elmira, but that he would be more or less harnessed to a
revolving chair at an editorial desk, the thing which of all fates he
would be most likely to dread The scheme appears to have died there--the
correspondence to have closed.
Somewhat of the inducement in the McClure scheme had been the thought in
Clemens's mind that it would bring him back to America. In a letter to
Mr. Rogers (January 8, 1900) he said, "I am tired to death of this
everlasting exile." Mrs. Clemens often wrote that he was restlessly
impatient to return. They were, in fact, constantly discussing the
practicability of returning to their own country now and opening the
Hartford home. Clemens was ready to do that or to fall in with any plan
that would bring him across the water and settle him somewhere
permanently. He was tired of the wandering life they had been leading.
Besides the long trip of '95 and '96 they had moved two or three times a
year regularly since leaving Hartford, nine years before. It seemed to
him that they were always packing and unpacking.
"The poor man is willing to live anywhere if we will only let him 'stay
put," wrote Mrs. Clemens, but he did want to settle in his own land.
Mrs. Clemens, too, was weary with wandering, but the Hartford home no
longer held any attraction for her. There had been a time when her every
letter dwelt on their hope of returning to it. Now the thought filled
her with dread. To her sister she wrote:
Do you think we can live through the first going into the house in
Hartford? I feel if we had gotten through the first three months all
might be well, but consider the first night.
The thought of the responsibility of that great house--the taking up
again of the old life-disheartened her, too. She had added years and she
had not gained in health or strength.
When I was comparatively young I found the burden of that house very
great. I don't think I was ever fitted for housekeeping. I dislike
the practical part of it so much. I hate it when the servants don't
do well, and I hate the correcting them.
Yet no one ever had better discipline in her domestic affairs or
ever commanded more devoted service. Her strength of character and
the proportions of her achievement show large when we consider this
They planned to return in the spring, but postponed the date for sailing.
Jean was still under Kellgren's treatment, and, though a cure had been
promised her, progress was discouragingly slow. They began to look about
for summer quarters in or near London. | <urn:uuid:f5ba7827-6b8f-4fa0-9738-7638929c9d68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.humanitiesweb.org/spa/slc/ID/217/o/blank | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976203 | 2,340 | 1.796875 | 2 |
ST. MARYS — Results of an alum test project in April on three locations within Grand Lake St. Marys yielded results that could bode well for the lake.
Ohio EPA spokesperson Dina Pierce said results of the test project, which were used to help calculate the dosing for June’s 4,500-acre application, showed liquid alum was successful at reducing phosphorus levels at the state park bay and Windy Point Marina the first two days. However, heavy rains in the spring before the test proved too much for the granular alum to overcome at Kozy Marina and also impacted the liquid alum.
“Spring is always a wet time of year and it was heavier than normal and there was high water, which pushed more phosphorus down stream,” Pierce told The Evening Leader. “So between a lot of sediment at Kozy Marina and the wet spring, they couldn’t get an accurate evaluation of the granular alum.”
The liquid alum caused an 81 percent reduction in phosphorus near the state park bay and a 90 percent reduction at Windy Point Marina. Pierce said these statistics showed liquid alum, if applied under the correct circumstances, can be effective.
“Then we got a couple of big rains and that really pushed a lot of phosphorus and sediment into the lake,” Pierce said. “That overwhelmed those experiment areas.”
Pierce said officials took lessons learned from the pilot project and applied those to the June dosing.
Initially, state officials wanted to dose the entire lake with a low dose of alum but they opted to concentrated on the middle of the lake. That portion contained the highest concentration of phosphorus.
“What we learned was that the info led us to rethink what we were going to do with that treatment in June,” Pierce said. “We are happy with what we have seen so far out there and we are still in the middle of peak algae season.”
While officials lack data to back up the successfulness of the June alum dosing, Pierce said the improved water quality of the lake cannot be called into question. Microcystin levels have hit a high in the 40 parts per billion range — down from a high of 2,000 ppb last year.
“I think if you go out there, I think it’s had some benefits because if you look at the similarities in weather — heavy rains followed by a hot, dry summer, that’s what algae needs to grow,” Pierce said.
“It (alum) is not going to stop it but I think we are seeing that it’s not as bad as this year as it was in 2009 or 2010.”
In a memo issued by Tetra Tech regarding the project, the firm noted a whole lake alum treatment at the right time of year, early spring, would net a massive reduction of approximately 14,500 pounds of phosphorus and 15.9 million pounds of wet algae from the water column of the lake. Pierce said officials are still working on compiling the data from June’s application. | <urn:uuid:6713855c-ce28-43fd-909c-13f83b2c98a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theeveningleader.com/print/1529?quicktabs_2=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972059 | 638 | 1.710938 | 2 |
In Massachusetts today, dairy farming circulates about $40 million through the state economy. While that is a hefty chunk of change, the number of dairy farms in the state has been rapidly declining.
In the past 25 years, Massachusetts has experienced the closure of more than 600 dairy farms and is currently home to less than 200. Low farm milk prices combined with the rising costs of production and energy continue to force family farms out of business.
Fourth-generation dairy farmer Peter Melnik of Deerfield, Mass., is determined to keep the family business profitable, and has joined a uniquely modeled project to build anaerobic digesters on five Massachusetts dairy farms. Along with his fellow dairy farmers, Melnik and long-time renewable energy consultant Bill Jorgensen have formed a new company, AGreen Energy LLC, and have partnered with biogas plant technology provider quasar energy and food waste management company Casella Waste Systems.
“One of the biggest challenges for dairy farmers in Massachusetts is that we have limited land resources, so as the cost of living and the cost of doing business increases, we have to find other income sources on our dairy farms so we can survive,” Melnik says. He points out that the five farmers involved have diverse operations, but expanding to generate more income isn’t as easy as it sounds. “It’s not really possible to go from milking 500 cows and then buy the farm next to you to milk 1,000 instead,” he says. “There is too much development in the urban society where we live.”
Instead, most farmers will try to grow different crops so that when dairy prices aren’t as profitable, they still have another source of income. Melnik says he and the other farmers involved looked at manure digestion as another income stream. “It’s something we have to deal with anyway,” he says. “A positive cash flow and long-term benefits just made sense.”
Currently, Melnik is field-spreading the manure from his 250-head farm. While this limits the purchasing of fertilizer, the new project will generate an organic fertilizer that Melnik and the other farmers will use, and it will likely eliminate the need to buy any additional fertilizer. The partnership also has ensured each farm a fixed electricity cost for 10 years, a stable supply of animal bedding and free heat generated by the digester. Melnik and the other farmers are also investors in the project and will gain some income from the electricity that will be generated and sold to the grid. “Once the digester is paid for, there should be a pretty good return on investment,” he says.
While AGreen Energy’s first anaerobic digester at Jordan Dairy Farm in Rutland is complete and operating, work on the digester at Melnik’s Barway Farm should begin by September, with a four- to six-month development frame. The others involved are Barstow Long View Farm in Hadley, Hager Brothers Farm in Colrain and Rockwood Farm in Granville.
Bill Jorgensen, who pulled together the pieces of the project puzzle and owns half of AGreen Energy, says the farmers involved were not selected at random; rather, they were specifically sought out as good potential candidates for involvement in the project.
Developing the Project
Jorgenson, who has owned an agribusiness and renewable energy consulting firm for the past 20 years, says the farmers involved in the AGreen Energy venture emerged out of a group that he put together using a list obtained from the Farm Credit Bank and a former Massachusetts commissioner of agriculture. “I asked them for some names of dairy farmers who they thought would be innovative—regardless of age—who were also good operators and multigenerational farmers probably interested in passing their farms on to the next generation,” Jorgenson says. “It wasn’t random; it was a very specific plan.”
Once the farmers were onboard, the group worked to solve the issues that have kept other U.S. digester projects from succeeding. “The main reason for failure was that once they were built the farmer was given the keys, and since they are modestly complex, when something went wrong they didn’t know how to fix it,” Jorgenson explains. “Or, the farmer would be in the middle of harvest and had to worry about other things.”
To solve that problem, it was decided that the digesters would employ remote operating systems. “When we evaluated technologies, if they said they didn’t have process controls, we moved on,” Jorgenson says.
That’s where Ohio-based quasar energy entered the picture. Quasar, the technology provider, designs and builds digesters, and also trains on-site operators, who are employees of Casella Waste Systems division New England Organics. “By providing remote monitoring and maintenance, if there is a biological issue at one of the digesters, quasar will be able to solve the problem at its laboratory in Ohio,” explains Caroline Henry, marketing manager for quaser.
In fact, the company’s engineers have developed an application that allows a plant manager to monitor a digester from an iPhone, according to Henry. She says the company won’t build a project without monitoring agreements.
One particular component that is monitored by quasar is the equalization or storage tank, a smaller tank into which the feedstock is pumped before the digestion process. “Because some of the feedstocks we accept are higher solids content and some lower solids content, we need to make sure a healthy recipe goes into the digester,” Henry says. “The equalization tank mixes and equalizes a variety of waste streams accepted during a three-day period, so that there is a consistent feeding going into the main digester.”
Casella Waste Systems is responsible for procuring the feedstock from contracted companies, and making sure it’s prepared to meet digester specifications. The company, which is also an investor in the venture, has several other roles, according to Jay Kilbourne, Casella director of business development. “We provide day-to-day operations of the facilities,” he says. “We have an employee right there if there is ever a problem.”
Another role Casella plays, is to make sure that the feedstock complies with permits and regulations, mainly that it is separated from other waste and never comingled. “We audit the plants and customers to verify there’s a source separation system in place,” Kilbourne says. “What we take has to be a byproduct of whatever they do. For example, one customer makes mayonnaise and salad dressings and sometimes they’ll have a product that just doesn’t meet their standards, or they have fat and oil byproducts that are washed down from the equipment.”
When delivered to the digester via an 8,000-gallon tanker truck—usually about one to one-and-a-half tanker loads per day from customers two hours away or less—the feedstock slurry must be of the right thickness—not too rich or too thin—for the microbes. Since Casella currently does not have a blending facility, although a plan for one is in the works, Kilbourne points out that it is essential to select just the right byproducts from the right customers. “It’s quite a trick,” he says. “The strategy of the whole venture is to diversify the materials we bring in over time, such as food scraps separated from the waste, but we’ll need to be able to pulp and liquefy the scraps before they’re delivered to the digester. We’re moving toward opening an organics recycling facility where we can do that.”
While Casella, the dairy farmers/AGreen Energy and quasar are the obvious project pillars, Jorgenson points out that there was also involvement from outside parties to get the project off the ground.
“As it happens, Massachusetts has a long-term plan for solid waste management and eventually wants to eliminate organic waste in landfills,” Jorgenson says. “So what the state wants to do and what we want to do is aligned.”
For optimal communication, all parties involved sat down with relevant state agencies and discussed how the venture would work, that’s when they found out that current regulations wouldn’t allow the project to happen. “The regulations were written 25 or 30 years ago when digesters weren’t a technology [in the state], so we asked if the regulations could be modified to permit the new technology, and they said yes. We found out what the issues and restrictions were, and were told that since we were composting, we wouldn’t be considered a solid waste hauler. That brings us back to the tanker trucks, which aren’t handling solid waste, but rather recycled material. This was the state teaching us; not us teaching the state.”
The in-depth planning process for Jordan Dairy Farm fast-tracked permitting for the farms that followed. While it took four years to get the first digester permitted, the process took only 60 days for the next two farms, Jorgenson says.
Much like permitting, financing was another hurdle to clear, requiring cooperation amongst many different parties. “We were fortunate that we had a group of people from the USDA and the state who helped,” Jorgenson says. “There are a series of incentives out there and we used all of them, including loan guarantees. The Farm Credit System has banked this project, and it’s more or less 50 percent equity, 50 percent debt.”
In addition, some of the farmers’ equity contributions came in the form of nutrient management incentives that they were eligible for. In total, the cost for each digester project is from $2.5 to $3 million.
Although the project is environmentally friendly, it is definitely a money-making venture. “There are no two ways about it,” Jorgenson says. He also believes this type of venture will be applicable in other regions, and is working with the dairy checkoff (a dairy producer funded program that is designed to increase sales of and demand for dairy products and ingredients) to be able to share information about how the project was implemented so farmers elsewhere can use it.
“Methane digestion has been difficult for farmers to get into on their own,” Melnik says. “This unique collaboration between farmers and industry experts lets us do what we do instead of us trying to go out and collect waste and run a digester. We’re smaller family businesses that have to worry about milking cows and growing crops, and to have to manage a complex process like methane digestion—a $3 million project in our backyards—would be overwhelming. The partnership is a good balance.”
U.S. farmland is dwindling, Henry adds. “For multigenerational farming families like the ones involved in AGreen, innovation and progressive thinking—as is required with a digester—is the means in which they can position themselves for continued growth and prosperity in a changing environment.”
Author: Anna Austin
Associate Editor, Biomass Power & Thermal
Jordan Dairy Farm Anaerobic Digester Quick Facts
• Construction of the Jordan Dairy Farm digester began in October 2010 and it began operating in April.
• The Jordan Dairy Farm plant generates enough biogas to produce 3.7 million kilowatts of electricity per year—enough power for about 300 homes.
• The Jordan Dairy Farm digester is the first plant of its kind in Massachusetts.
• Four major food companies—HP Hood & Sons, Cabot Creamery, Kayem Foods and Cains Foods—have agreed to provide the farm with food scraps and byproducts instead of sending it to a landfill for disposal.
• All the equipment and services used to build the digester facility were made in the U.S., keeping manufacturing and construction jobs here.
• One cow produces enough electricity to power one average Massachusetts home and removes the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions of two cars from the atmosphere. | <urn:uuid:aba75ac8-bae1-413d-8c47-fe8b37ecd418> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/5694/dairy-diversification | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965307 | 2,581 | 2.46875 | 2 |
A plethora of articles have been written highlighting the Obama Administrations expanding drone war, the United States’ unchecked militarism, and the laundry-list of deaths Obama’s ‘because we can‘ remote-controlled imperial policy has caused:
A little Pakistani girl named Shakira who was burned beyond recognition by a U.S. drone and left for dead in a trashcan, the children of Dande Darpa Khel village, in North Waziristan, who were surrounded by their parents’ charred bodies, not knowing they were dead, after a U.S. drone attacked their mud house; killing not only their mother and father but their 7 year-old brother Syed Wali Shah. In the district of Datta Khel an airstrike killed four people who were living in one large room including Naeemullah, a boy of 10 or 11, “his body burned and wounded by missile pieces and burns.“ In November a U.S. drone killed a 16-Year-Old Pakistani boy named Tariq Aziz, and his 12 year-old cousin, days after he attended anti-drone organizing meeting; Aziz had been documenting U.S. drone strikes near his home and had lost his cousin 18 months earlier.
Obama’s covert drone war has reached even Somalia, with deadly results; in September the southern Somali port city of Kismayo was attacked by US drones, killing at least nine civilians, including women and children.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has documented at least 306 strikes from remotely piloted drones that have killed, until now, 2,959 people, 175 of them children. Over 85% of these strikes have been launched by the administration of US President Barack Obama.
Stephen M. Walt of Foreign Policy writes that just “the last two decades, less than ten percent of U.S. history, account for more than 25 percent of the nation’s total wartime.” Yet still, many Americans look at Obama’s extensive, far-reaching, drone apparatus with child-like awe, this ability to strike an alleged ‘enemy’ from a distance, much like a video game.
Greg Miller for the Washington Post writes:
“In the space of three years, the [Obama] administration has built an extensive apparatus for using drones to carry out targeted killings of suspected terrorists and stealth surveillance of other adversaries. The apparatus involves dozens of secret facilities, including two operational hubs on the East Coast, virtual Air Force cockpits in the Southwest and clandestine bases in at least six countries on two continents.”
And lest we forget the highly publicized, and quickly forgotten, extra-judicial killing of Anwar Al-Awlaki and his son – Glenn Greenwald writes for Salon:
“Two weeks after the U.S. killed American citizen Anwar Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen — far from any battlefield and with no due process — it did the same to his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki, ending the teenager’s life on Friday along with his 17-year-old cousin and seven other people.”
And yet still we see that outright war-crimes are being dismissed by the mainstream media as simply “adventurism” – liberal pundits see Obama’s covert drone-war as simply reckless foreign policy instead of what they are: crimes against humanity. Because the Commander-in-Chief is now of the Democratic flavor we see that those who once denounced the former Bush Administration for abusing human rights are now singing Obama’s praises, despite irrefutable evidence that the Obama Administration has not only continued Bush policies but furthered them.
Just as they were for the Bush Administration, the people of the “third world” are expendable; the children that are found burned, charred, left for dead in trash-bins and rubble heaps in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia are a necessary sacrifice, in order to carry out the Obama Administrations military and imperialist objective – the objective in this case being to tighten the United States’ grip on the Middle East and North Africa.
A member of Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki’s memorial page writes, profoundly:
“What line is left [for Obama] to cross? The answer is: one line – numbers.”
(Crossposted on Roqayah Chamseddine's blog The Cynical Arab) | <urn:uuid:f5958e66-33e9-4304-81ed-f50f3e303c9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mondoweiss.net/2011/12/expendables-of-a-waning-empire.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96404 | 931 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Editor's note: Gene Seymour has written about movies, music and culture for The New York Times, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly and the Washington Post.
(CNN) -- This morning, around 10 a.m., I was 10 years old again.
At that hour, the space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a NASA jetliner, soared over Washington and the Capitol Mall on the way to its permanent home at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport.
I had walked over from my apartment complex toward Southwest Waterfront Park along the Potomac River to see this double-decker aircraft flying over my head, and stared agog at it like the goofy space-age nerd boy of 50 years ago, face pressed against a black-and-white television screen, listening, back then, to the voice of NASA media spokesman John "Shorty" Powers count backward to zero before a ballistic missile boosted a Project Mercury astronaut into low Earth orbit.
Back then, it was hard not to imagine that by 2012 we would have a permanent multinational lunar base from which ships with people would be traveling every other month to Mars -- and from there, maybe, to one of Jupiter's potentially habitable moons. We can see those things better than we once did, thanks to things like the Hubble Space Telescope, which wouldn't be working now unless people went up in shuttles for repairs and maintenance. But we're nowhere near being ready or, worse, willing to go there ourselves.
I have many friends who think that's just fine. They're a lot like the friends I had back in the '60s who believed I was a ninny for gaping at space walks and rendezvousing spaceships, while billions of those dollars were more urgently needed on the ground for such things as education. Maybe they're right, I sometimes thought.
I don't think that anymore, having read in "Space Chronicles" (Norton), a recently published collection of articles by astrophysicist and Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, that only 4% of the U.S. budget during the 1960s went toward meeting President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing men on the moon before 1970. He also writes that even with the shuttle program in place, along with all those satellite repair missions, the $100 million operating budget for NASA represents six years of the agency's total funding and that said funding amounts to "one half of one percent of [a U.S. citizen's] tax bill."
Which still sounds like too much to some. But think of what, ultimately, we're buying with that money. I'm not just talking about all that ancillary technology generated by space travel that eventually improves people's lives. I'm talking about something more intangible and, yet, more vital to our basic needs. Bear with me.
I believe it wasn't just coincidence that both the space race and the civil rights movement reached their respective apogees at roughly the same time: the late 1950s and early 1960s. Think about the integration of Little Rock High School starting barely a month before the Russian launch of Sputnik, which galvanized the United States, pushing it toward not just sending its own satellites, but also getting busy with improving and funding math and science education.
I also think about the morning of May 5, 1961, the day that Alan Shepard was scheduled to become the first American to fly into space, an act that would help commit his country to a full-fledged moon race. That same morning, newspapers all over the country showed a picture of a bus set ablaze by white racists wishing to quell a movement by black and white civil rights activists to ensure racially integrated travel on interstate bus lines in the South.
At the time, the tendency was to think of such events as being at best mutually exclusive. I think they are now both logical and synchronous outgrowths of the human impulse to break down barriers and move ahead. The less afraid we are to think outside the box scientifically, the less afraid we are of other barriers, other things that constrict our natures. This week, Major League Baseball celebrated the 65th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier on April 15, 1947. Seven months later, almost to the day, Chuck Yeager poked a hole in the sky with a rocket plane and broke the sound barrier.
I do not say one event led directly to the other (not necessarily, anyway). But I do think both were driven by the same insistent energy to fly higher, push harder, maybe even make ourselves better people in the very long run.
I will try very hard not to consider Discovery's last touchdown as the end of something, though I still fear it may signify the beginning of the end -- not just of a dream, but of our very capacity to dream.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gene Seymour. | <urn:uuid:b3ef86c1-2180-41be-a215-ae140e505412> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cnnbreakingnews.org/2012/04/17/opinion/seymour-space/index.html?hpt=op_mid | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970248 | 1,034 | 2.15625 | 2 |
When we teach science and math we are helping our students develop a framework for understanding the world in which they live. When their framework only consists of canned knowledge contained within textbooks, we are not preparing them for the 21st Century world outside the textbook.
Bringing digital media into the classroom moves teaching beyond the textbook and makes connections to the world in which our students actually live. When presented digital media within the contexts of problem solving or project based learning situations, our students will view how the information within their textbooks actually applies to them.
Online Tools: Digital Media Resources
Incorporating the right digital media is one the most effective means for engaging students’ and helping them understand a difficult concept or improve their long-term retention of knowledge.
So what online tools provide digital media needed to engage our students in problem solving and problem based learning situations in science and math?
- The Futures Channel – produces and distributes free high quality multimedia content which teachers can use to enliven curriculum and engage their students in real life experiences. The videos produced by The Futures Channel help students answer the age-old question, “When am I ever going to use this?”
- Flickr – is a photo-sharing site which provides free access to thousands of digital images. Examples of images which can be used in science and math include: Marine Life and Geometry. You can also build your own collection for use with students. You can have students submit digital images of specific concepts or take your own and post them on Flickr for student use. You can also create a collection from the resources on the site. An additional advantage of using this service is that you can limit access to classroom collections to avoid potential problems with student and the web.
- Teacher Tube – provides digital videos and photos organized on tags and channels – High School, Middle School, Elementary, Science, and Math. They are downloadable and you can use the entire video or just clips from a video for a lesson or activity.
Digital Media Resources: Student and Teacher Created
The following are some of the digital media resources you can use with your students – both online and in the classroom.
- Vimeo – allows you and your students to post videos created in or outside the classroom related to science and math content.
- VoiceThread – allows you and your students to add audio, video, and text as part of conversations concerning science or math content.
- Apple iMovie – plug in virtually any digital camcorder and iMovie starts importing your video for editing and presentation.
- Government Copyright Free Images – provides a national digital library of videos and images science and math.
- Animoto – provides an array of tools for creating videos in your classroom.
- Podcasting – student or teacher created podcasts provide a good digital medium for student expression of concepts, projects, and related themes.
To encourage students to become active viewers of the media you share during problem solving or problem based learning situations, try the following strategies.
- Show a short video clip or digital image of a discrepant event.
- Show a short video clip and ask them “What can you do with this?” For example – try this 16 oz timer video to make connections with problem solving and critical thinking in science and math.
- Show students a digital image related to a specific concept and ask them to consider whether the image has been manipulated in any manner – fosters critical thinking.
- Stop videos at key points to encourage more discussion.
These strategies build students’ digital media-literacy skills, along with their understanding of the science and math content.
Digital Media follows the old adage “A picture is worth a thousand words!” when it comes to science and math. The use of visuals is ideal for helping students construct background knowledge for developing a better understanding of science and math concepts. | <urn:uuid:7105e2ca-cc53-4a73-8b7f-d0173af30627> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teachscienceandmath.com/2010/07/26/engaging-students-with-digital-media-in-science-and-math/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914022 | 789 | 4.375 | 4 |
created to support renewable energy from wind, solar, biogas and biomass and boost new investment, promote new green economy jobs and better protect the environment; the act ensures Ontario's role as a renewable energy leader and encourages Ontarians to embrace a culture of conservation
provides a comprehensive nutrient management framework for Ontario's agricultural industry, municipalities and other generators of materials containing nutrients, including clear environmental protection guidelines
regulates sewage disposal and 'sewage works', prohibits the discharge of polluting materials into water supply, regulates permits to draw water from ground or surface water sources, approves and regulates wells and water works
created to protect human health through the control and regulation of drinking-water systems and drinking-water testing; ensures that all municipal drinking water systems operate with MOE approval, that all operators are trained and certified to provincial standards, and that testing meet legally binding standards and be conducted in licensed and accredited laboratories
The Water Opportunities Act was passed in the Legislature on November 23, 2010. It will encourage the creation and export of innovative clean water technology, promote water conservation, attract economic development and create jobs. | <urn:uuid:8222a49f-6377-403c-a173-662c92553933> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/en/legislation/index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915035 | 223 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Conditions of Use
I learned that we use more energy then the 1930's. We produce 811 more pounds of carbon dioxide per day!
We can conserve energy with better insulation because the warmth or cold would stay in the house!
If you are going to touch or be around copper sulfate you should wear glasses and gloves. You need to be careful around uncontained electricity!Don't place stuff on top of electric cords.Don't put things by lamps. Don't fly a kite by power cords. Don't put forks in toasters.Don't pull a toy by the power cords.Don't use a hair dryer by water.Don't stick things into light sockets.
Electric things don't put carbon into the air.
Article posted April 11, 2012 at 02:22 PM •
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About the Blogger | <urn:uuid:c2ecb79b-96ed-4480-a2ee-a3310af9f7f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blog_id=1441371&mode=comment&blogger_id=352667 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919348 | 186 | 2.171875 | 2 |
MisssyM, a UK blogger, did a post recently on obesity and who or what is to blame. At one point she says:
… I never really saw horrendously morbidly obese people until I worked in New Orleans in 1990. I was shocked and horrified at how human beings could morph into the size these people were. I genuinely had never seen people who looked like that before. And I live in Scotland home of the sliced sausage and the deep fried pizza!
This twigged dozens of comments (she has a hefty UK readership base), about similar experiences while visiting North America:
…I have to agree with the US portions thing. When one of us ordered Lasagna in Las Vegas, it was immense. Huge. We thought we’d accidentally ordered for all 6 of us.
…Re Americans eating huge amounts. I think it is just a part of their psychology – everything has to be bigger and they always expect the biggest. Like many drive Mini Vans and SUVS. Also the idea of a ‘normal’ house is four or five times what we would have in the UK, it is ‘normal’ to have a triple garage and also to have a bathroom for every bedroom (why??) – The average American uses six times the world average amount of energy! And then they use environmentally friendly light bulbs to ‘save energy’…right!
…Americans these days wouldn’t recognize real food if they saw it! They are addicted to the substances added to fast foods and they literally live to eat
…When I visited the States last year, I was shocked at the poor quality of food in restaurants! And these people love it! They lap it up!
…Every occasion in the USA is an opportunity to pig out. Valentine’s Day is all about chocolate, Superbowl is spicy chicken wings and beer, St. Patrick’s Day is green beer, corned beef and potatoes, Easter is lamb and chocolate, Independence Day is barbeque, summer is for ice cream, Halloween is tons of candy, Thanksgiving is turkey and all the trimmings, Christmas is cookies, chocolate, cake, eggnog, turkey, pudding, etc. And the eating is not restricted to the day in question; it can start two weeks before the event and continue for two weeks after.
…The portions are huge and so are the patrons. The two of us would have struggled to finish one plateful, never mind the side salads.
… The reason why the problem with obesity is so incredibly bad in the U.S. is that they have a completely different view on food (and a lot of other stuff). Quantity is valued more than quality.
I found these comments so extremely interesting; I had to copy them here. We don’t even think about our penchant for quantity over quality anymore. (And Canada is not so different from the US on this). It all seems normal. We think it’s our god-given right to own a 4,000++++ sq. ft. home with a 3-car garage filled with 2 SUVs and a mountain of stuff we’ve bought, but don’t use.
In the 1950s the average North American home was less than 1000 square feet and our families were bigger. Less than 10% of the population was obese compared to 64.5% today. (Sixty-four point five!!! And not just overweight, but obese! That’s horrifying!) Our grocery stores used to be the size that our convenience stores are today. Now our grocery stores take up a few city blocks.
We get insanely angry when gas prices creep up a bit even though they’re still a fraction of what most of the rest of the world is paying. And we use 80% of the world’s natural resources, although we represent only 16% of the world’s population.
We’re all crying the blues now because the economy is taking a nose-dive — which has almost everything to do with the fact that we’re greedy, gluttonous hyper-consumer pigs who buy, buy, buy even if we have to borrow, borrow, borrow to pay for all our stuff.
We’re gnashing our teeth because our dollars don’t stretch as far as they used to and we have to work more to make ends meet. That’s because our ends are so damn wide and our dollars have to stretch to so much crap — a TV in every room, electronic gadgets in every hand, the latest, the greatest, the biggest and the most ostentatious of everything.
Meanwhile, two in three people worldwide lack access to clean water and survive on less than $2 a day. | <urn:uuid:9ffaaa2e-a7be-42f8-8e08-8222a913e20e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://exurbanpedestrian.wordpress.com/tag/natural-resources/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966438 | 983 | 1.507813 | 2 |
... and the course hasn't even started yet!
The course is U211, Exploring the English Language, which is not technically due to start for another week or so. However, in a bid to get ahead, since I really don't think I'm going to have the 15-16 hours a week (!) that it claims I need, I've reached the section on accents, chapter 5 of the first book.
The focus in the course has been that no one variety of English should be privileged. That's the sense of the background reading - Crystal's "The Stories of English" emphasises the fact that the conventional narrative of the rise and rise of English disregards the fact that "standard English" is only one facet of the English language. Graddol's "English Next?" explores the issue that English is, in world terms, dominated by non-native speakers. And the opening chapters of the first book have been keen to emphasise that the prescriptive approach adopted to the language in spelling, grammar and pronunciation has only led to one of the expressions of English that we see today.
In discussing accents, however, I think the course goes too far. I am quite happy that in general, accents don't in themselves say anything about the intelligence of the speaker - I've known too many English speakers from all over the place to think otherwise. I'm also quite happy that RP is not a "non-accent".
However, in discussing accents, the focus has tended to be on aspects of pronunciation that are "neutral" - for example, glottal stops or dropping aitches ("ge' inside the 'ouse!"). There has been no discussion so far on the fact that a few aspects of accents quite often betray a level of ignorance of English, or illiteracy - for example, one feature that arises often is the use of "of" where "have" is correct in English (as in "I couldn't of"). The sense I get from the course is that it seeks, in quite a postmodern/pluralist way, to affirm all users of English, regardless of how the language is spoken. (In true postmodern fashion, of course, the language adopted for the course is itself standard English, and I strongly suspect that a response to the course that was not would be likely to raise eyebrows).
I'm trying to imagine how the writers of the course would respond to this issue. They might suggest that English is mutating so that "of" instead of "have" in this context will be considered acceptable usage. But if this is to take place, then sections of the rules of English relating to particles and verb tenses have to be basically disregarded, and in the fullness of time, this would be likely to tidily erode the comprehensibility of the language. They might suggest that there is a difference between an accent and an incorrect usage - but the emphasis hitherto has been that there is no "incorrect usage" - just different, and people need to swim with the tide in this regard. I'd be interested in hearing their thoughts on this.
Personally, for what it's worth, I think that whilst the prescriptive approach is wrong, and fails to take into account many valid expressions of English, the people who write the course are also wrong if they are saying that all expressions are equally valid. There is some discussion about the tone used for science writing, which has taken shape over the centuries, and the writers accept the requirements of the medium. More generally, whilst RP and Standard English have no right to a privileged position in the canon of English language beyond their usefulness as being most widely acceptable, I don't think that the substitution of varieties of English which undermine its ability to communicate can be regarded as progressive. | <urn:uuid:a057dbcc-3c3d-4d93-8c9e-2d4883b12c57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://exilefromgroggs.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-think-i-disagree-with-my-lecturers.html | 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 | 0.972593 | 770 | 1.625 | 2 |
Wedding dress “Old is gold” must be told by some smart “foresighter ‘is no exception to this rule. Let us look at wedding dresses all the evidence of the 20th century, and here is some information about vintage style wedding gown in the century 20. you may find that your wedding dress will be an inspiration for the modern world and a fashion statement at this time greatly inspired by decades of style and manner.’s wedding dress early 20th century. 1900 Edwardian-style dress and the Titanic. this style is reflected in the pattern of an elegant wedding dress with train and earth moving behind the veil to go along.’s silhouette dress or A-off-line. in both silhouette, is the pattern below the waist full skirt. The only difference is that the ball gown skirt (Cinderella) is slightly more light and flowing from the princess skirt pattern. The train is usually by a bridesmaid or two when the bride will walk down the aisle. 1910 and onwards are more slender silhouette (not body-fitting) and waist grew louder. slimmer silhouette which is known as the Empire. in early 1920, the flapper wedding dresses are in vogue. this dress was loose everywhere, some even to the knee-length. During the 30s, a slim dress with a collar and a loose top, more focused on the length. Conversely, tiara and the hoods, women had beautiful hats.
This is a very beautiful gown wedding rope, made of organza with embroidery fine vintage wedding. Gown daughter is very graceful and elegant. The neck is cut into a square shape broadly applicable. Character most unique of these clothes are embroidery patterns and designs the band Empire. Reasonable price for such a beautiful wedding gown. 40s fashion trends experienced some major changes. All aspects of life affected during the war, so is the wedding dress. Because the soldiers have to go to war, the affairs of the whole marriage is a quick and easy. Wedding dress, drunk, without displaying the splendor. With the end of War is a marriage in the 50′s which is celebrated with more enthusiasm. More fancy dress, but without leaving their simplicity. Most of the dresses have long sleeves and high neck, while some who have called strapless short jacket bolero jacket to complete worth a look. During the ’60s, a woman who will be reflected in a small open in their preference for a wedding dress. This led to a short wedding dress that is above knee-length, some bridal gowns are allowed to express their slender shoulders. However, shaped meditation substation hats and gloves are really in fashion and can not get out, no matter what style of clothing.
Your perfect short lace wedding gowns | <urn:uuid:617a9266-2a0c-49d3-a44d-326fa3eb9ae7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hoholi.com/2011/10/12/veil-vintage-wedding-dresses/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947185 | 569 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Panel discussion on international development at Farm Journal Forum 2012
Agriculture in developing countries may hold the key to economic prosperity here and abroad
At first blush, the notion of helping poor farmers in developing countries may sound like a bad idea to American farmers concerned about burgeoning international competition. But helping small holder farmers may be the key to unlocking foreign demand for U.S. agricultural products, according to a panel of experts speaking on modernizing agriculture in a developing world at Farm Journal Forum 2012.
"The best market development strategy that American farmers have is to be stronger advocates for developing the agricultural sector and turning the general economy in low-income countries," said Bob Thompson, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. "Very few developing countries, even if they increased productivity at the absolute fastest rate, have the resources to be self-sufficient in food supply."
At the same time, Thompson said, foreign demand for U.S. agricultural products in these countries will only increase with broad-based economic development. Most of the world's poorest people are small farmers who live in rural areas. They are "grossly under-performing relative to their potential," said Thompson, noting that most need to buy food to feed their family.
Food shortages can a huge source of political discord in developing countries, noted Randy Van Kooten, an Iowa farmer who has traveled the world as a board member of the World Soy Foundation. Van Kooten provided some compelling visual evidence -- a photograph of a riot in the streets of an African country. Explosives had been set off.
"This is what happens when you raise the price of electricity by 5 percent and 50 percent of disposable income goes to food," said Van Kooten. "It’s a very ugly sight; I can assure you of that. We did get out of this safe and sound. The reason the picture is crooked is that my head was down at my knees."
The cruel irony is that many of the hungriest people in Africa are farmers themselves. Roger Thurow, author of The Last Hunger Season, who moderated the panel, noted that many of Africa's small farmers, who make up two-thirds of its population, farm the same way their predecessors did in the 1930s. They work without mechanized equipment, using primitive storage facilities, and lack working capital.
Thurow spent a year living with four farming families in western Kenya who participated in the One Acre Fund, a program that provides farmers in East Africa with seed, fertilizer, financing, training and marketing tools.The organization, which has assisted 130,000 farmers in six years, attempts to help farmers double their income per acre. He showed the following trailer for a documentary about the subject of his book. | <urn:uuid:a5d7d564-0a91-4fdb-9a1f-f0dd373f6f03> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweb.com/article/why_should_u.s._farmers_care_about_small_farmers_in_poor_countries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963021 | 558 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Water Bugs Inspire Oil-Repellent Coating
News 7/31/2012 13 comments Taking inspiration from water strider insects that skate between air and water, Chinese researchers have created a metallic device that skates between oil and water, coated with an oil-repelling oxide.
Ski Goggles Display Speed, Capture Video
News 7/30/2012 15 comments Skiers, snowboarders, and snowmobilers now have a real-time way of tracking their performance and capturing video, thanks to a new head-up display designed to fit inside a set of snow goggles.
Porous Metal Spine Implant Heals Bone
News 7/19/2012 14 comments A lumbar spine implant made with Zimmer's tantalum-based Trabecular Metal Technology, a highly porous metallic substance with characteristics similar to the spongy type of bone, helps foster new bone growth to speed healing.
Lantronix Inc. has expanded its line of controllers for sensor networks with the release of a rugged controller that improves management of automation systems used in a number of industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, and chemicals.
Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is | <urn:uuid:ca0e6d13-0d79-4734-97c1-6a651bcc9b1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.designnews.com/archives.asp?section_type=News+Analysis&tag_id=0&piddl_month=7&piddl_year=2012 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92926 | 420 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Avoid eating in front of a screen. Research shows that people will eat
more when sitting in front of their computer, TV or playing games on
Bulky foods filled with lots of water, such as salads, soups and
watermelon help you feel full and satisfied on fewer calories.
Imagine yourself eating before you take a bite. A recent study found
that people who think more about the meals they eat will actually
consume less food.
Take a daily Multi-vitamin. A body low on vitamins and minerals will
feel starved, urging you to replenish it. That's possible, in a
multi-vitamin, without all the calories | <urn:uuid:52fcb6d3-5037-4b03-bc1f-45d7d7917ad0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://daveryanshow.iheart.com/pages/daveslatest.html?feed=336979&article=8645904 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942635 | 136 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Burton C. Mossman, a rancher turned lawman, is born in Aurora, Illinois.
Little is known about Mossman's childhood in Illinois, though he apparently learned to be self-reliant and resourceful at a young age. When he was 21, Mossman left home and moved to Mexico, where he quickly began proving himself one of the most canny and successful ranchers in the territory. By age 30, he not only had his own spread in New Mexico, but was also the superintendent of a two-million-acre ranch in northern Arizona running 60,000 cattle.
As the size of the southwestern cattle industry increased, cattle rustlers began to take advantage of the lack of surveillance on the isolated ranges to steal stock. In 1901, the territory of Arizona responded by organizing a ranger force to rid the region of rustlers and other outlaws. The governor of Arizona convinced Mossman to sign on as the first captain of the Arizona Rangers.
Mossman was suited to the task. Courageous and skilled with a pistol, he had a knack for surprising rustlers while they were still in possession of stolen cattle, freshly butchered beef, green hides, and other incriminating evidence. Though he could use violence to good effect when needed, Mossman preferred to trick his quarry into giving up peacefully when possible. In one instance, Mossman rode south alone in pursuit of the multiple-murderer Agostine Chacon, who had fled to Mexico. Clearly out of his jurisdiction, Mossman had to act with finesse. With the assistance of Burt Alvard, an outlaw turned lawman, Mossman convinced Chacon that he and Alvard were also outlaws and would help him steal several top horses from a ranch in southern Arizona. When the men crossed the border into Arizona, Mossman revealed his true identity and arrested Chacon, who was later hanged.
The Chacon arrest was a typical example of Mossman's approach to dealing with Arizona rustlers and outlaws. "If they come along easy, everything will be all right," he once explained. "If they don't, well, I just guess we can make pretty short work of them... Some of them will object, of course. They'll probably try a little gunplay as a bluff, but I shoot fairly well myself, and the boys who back me up are handy enough with guns. Any rustler who wants to yank on the rope and kick up trouble will find he's up against it."
After a long and adventurous career with the Arizona Rangers, Mossman eventually returned to the more peaceful life of a rancher. By the time he retired from ranching in 1944, he had business interests in cattle operations from Mexico to Montana, and more than a million cattle wore his brand. He lived out the remainder of his life at his comfortable ranch in Roswell, New Mexico, and died in 1956 at the age of 89. | <urn:uuid:01d9671b-2162-402e-a69d-56ebb99edeb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/arizona-ranger-burton-mossman-is-born | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983715 | 600 | 1.875 | 2 |
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This video highlights some of the work being done through the National Collections.
"As faithful disciples and imitators of Christ, you are urged to go against the current, choosing the evangelical option of serving the brethren…above all, because you are impelled by the unceasing power of divine charity."
— Pope John Paul II (2001)
Each parish is part of the Church Universal; it is the Catholic Church in a particular place. The bishops of the United States created the national collections so that, by combining resources, we can more effectively carry out our mission as Catholics. Each of these important collections is worthy of your support. Each collection represents our community of faith at work in the world, saving souls and improving lives.
The bishops encourage us to view the national collections in the light of stewardship and of sharing. God has given us our light and our prosperity, all we need and more. It is right and just that we give something back through these collections, helping people in our own country and around the world to live better and to grow in the love of Jesus.
This document, approved in November 2011 and addressed to bishops and to diocesan and parish personnel, provides guidance and explanation about the nature and meaning of the national collections and direction on how they should be best administered.
The Peter's Pence Collection gives each of us the opportunity to be a pilgrim of charity around the world. Our gifts to this annual Collection help the Holy Father strengthen dioceses, religious orders, and struggling communities of faith.
There are many places around the globe where the Church struggles to be a visible sign of charity, but thankfully, the Holy Father is the pilgrim of charity for Catholics everywhere. In regions where Catholics are persecuted for their faith and in nations overloaded with refugees and victims of war and natural disasters, the works done by the Holy Father help the Church extend charity to those most in need.
In most dioceses, the Collection will occur the weekend of June 29-30, 2013, although your (arch)diocese may schedule it at a different time. Materials to promote the Collection are available on our website. There you will find ads, web banners, and other useful information. Please use these materials to increase awareness of our Holy Father's work.
For more information, please contact the National Collections staff at 202-541-3346 or email@example.com. We truly appreciate your support of the Peter's Pence Collection.
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A plurality of voters in New Mexico say
gay marriage should be legal, a new poll found.
According to a Public
Policy Polling survey released Tuesday, 67 percent of New Mexico
voters support marriage or civil unions for gay and lesbian couples,
and more respondents support marriage equality than do not.
Forty-five percent of those contacted
said they believe gay marriage should be legal, while forty-three
percent disagreed. Twelve percent said they did not know.
“When PPP last polled the state in
June, voters were against legalizing it by a 42-28 margin,” the
polling firm wrote in releasing its findings. “In the intervening
half-year, opinion has moved eight points … The reason for the
shift is that Democrats (from 34% to 28%) and independents (44% to
37%) have lowered their opposition by six or seven points.”
Five-hundred voters were surveyed, and
the poll has a margin of error of 4.4 percent.
Similar sentiments are found in nearby
states Nevada, where gay couples are recognized with domestic
partnerships, and Colorado, where lawmakers are expected to make a
second push for civil unions during the upcoming legislative session. | <urn:uuid:8b220b15-e109-40f2-b873-d542afbea635> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ontopmag.com/article.aspx?id=10430&MediaType=1&Category=26 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969676 | 259 | 1.921875 | 2 |
2011 was the 100th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel prize in chemistry to Marie Curie. Women have made incredible advances over the past hundred years; in 1911 women in Canada could not vote and were not even recognized as persons. But new challenges face women today – there is a critical need to continue to address barriers to women in science, engineering and quantitative social sciences. Laurier is proud to champion women in sciences through the Centre for Women in Science. Indeed, our ultimate goal is to make this Centre redundant. With your help and support, we know we can.
To become a member, volunteer or mentor please contact Dr. Shohini Ghose.
To make a donation click here. | <urn:uuid:987d002c-acc0-4cf6-9132-c13a3ae7b617> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wlu.ca/page.php?grp_id=13090&p=21567 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954743 | 142 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Welcome to Oregon Grass Seed
This website is an informational website for different species of grass produced for seed in Oregon.
For an alphabetical version of our grass seed list, simply visit the list of grasses page. You can also choose from one of the categories listed on this page or in the grass seed information box.
Ideally located halfway between the North Pole and the Equator, with distinct seasons suitable for grass seed production, Oregon is the world's largest producer of cool-season forage seed. Grass seed production is one of the state's leading agricultural crops and is ranked 3rd in Oregon's Top 40 Commodities of 2006. Over half of the Willamette Valley is sown to forage grass seed. The northern end of the Willamette Valley produces tall fescue and perennial ryegrass, the southern end is covered in annual ryegrass and fine fescue is grown in the hills of Silverton. Almost all of the grass seed produced in Oregon is cool-season turf and forage seed crops. The main varieties of grass seed produced in Oregon are Ryegrass, Orchardgrass, Kentucky Bluegrass, Bentgrass and Fescue.
If you have any questions on grass seed or would like to purchase some grass seed please visit our links to our websites below to do so.
Thank you for your visit! | <urn:uuid:96457e61-bce5-4986-bce6-938812da1242> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oregongrassseed.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938677 | 282 | 2.125 | 2 |
...As Overall Online Threats Remain Largely Stable In May
MessageLabs Intelligence Report Details Geographic and Industry Variances in Spam, Virus and Phishing Activity
LONDON & NEW YORK - June 5, 2006 - MessageLabs, a leading provider of integrated messaging and web security services to businesses worldwide, today announced the findings of its MessageLabs Intelligence Report for May. Overall threat levels have remained relatively stable as in previous months, with Hong Kong and Israel being the most spammed countries at 64 percent, while Malaysia saw the largest increase in virus attacks during May (one in 15.1 emails), putting it second only to India, which leads with 1 in 9.6 emails containing a virus.
"The reality we face today is that cyber criminals have become more adept at harvesting infected computers' address books and using simple techniques to amplify their reach," said Mark Sunner, chief technology officer, MessageLabs. "This has turned the traditional botnet or zombie into a virtual spam cannon - capable of blasting out millions of emails a day. Disposable domains are also becoming a larger problem via a tactic known as 'domain kiting' in which cyber criminals acquire domains without paying for them and use them for illegal gains."
Spam: In May, the global ratio of spam in email traffic from new and unknown bad sources was 57.9 percent (1 in 1.7), an increase of 0.6 percent on the previous month.
Viruses: In May, the global ratio of viruses in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources destined for valid recipients was 1 in every 67.1 emails (1.5 percent), a decrease of 0.3 percent since April. MessageLabs continues to observe that large scale virus outbreaks have almost become a thing of the past, as attacks are becoming increasingly more targeted and with specific business motives.
Phishing: May showed an increase of 0.03 percent in the proportion of phishing attacks compared with the previous month; with one in every 322.8 (0.31 percent) emails being a phishing attack. The number of phishing attacks also increased by 5.2 percent as a proportion of all email-borne threats, now accounting for 20.8 percent of all malicious emails intercepted by MessageLabs in May. MessageLabs expects phishing to be on the rise in coming months, due to the phishers growing ability to be increasingly targeted in their attacks, known as spear-phishing. Coupled with better botnet data harvesting techniques, this presents a continued problem to enterprises and consumers alike.
Spyware: Spyware continues to be an increasingly pervasive and growing problem. Spyware has become intrinsic to the means by which bot technology has converged with viruses, trojans and spam - and the boundaries between them are almost impossible to distinguish. A traditional botnet may be likened with peas in a tube - by pushing one pea in, another pea pops-out at the other end - providing a degree of anonymity, but not very scalable. However, the latest techniques use a mail-merge tactic that combines lists of harvested names and email addresses with email templates - all downloaded from a control server on demand - thus transforming the botnets of old into a veritable "spam cannon" able to pump out millions of emails per hour using mass-mailing, mail-merge technology. | <urn:uuid:452cb7b2-d6b6-4794-a0da-03b37bef8fc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itsecurity.com/security.htm?s=17004 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955271 | 692 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Not any more. After months of planning and savvy advocacy by a grass-roots group started by five local families, the situation is reversed, and the entrancing area southeast of Molalla is now proposed for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system.
"It's no exaggeration to say that people used to go up there with a big pickup truck, back it over the foliage five or six times and call it a new campsite," said Mike Moody, president of the Molalla River Alliance, an all-volunteer coalition of more than 45 nonprofit civic, conservation and government agencies. "Trash and vandalism were everywhere. That sort of activity is clearly on the wane."
Wild and Scenic designation creates a protected buffer extending one-quarter mile on each side of the river. It protects wildlife, habitat and the drinking water relied on by thousands of residents in Molalla and Canby.
In this case, that translates to 7,000 acres of protected riverside land less than an hour's drive from downtown Portland.
Schrader, who toured the area Wednesday with advocacy groups, said it's a rare instance in which proposed conservation legislation hasn't stirred a single opponent.
"Even timber companies, who are always leery of this type of thing, seemed OK with it," he said. "It's an incredible testament to an entire community's efforts."
Although Schrader's bill is a stand-alone right now, he expects it to be combined with similar Wild and Scenic proposals elsewhere. He's hopeful it will be signed into law by the end of this year.
Much of the renewed sense of safety in the scenic, tree-lined corridor comes from increased police patrols. Four different agencies, spearheaded by the Molalla Police Department, initiated the enhanced patrols after seeking a special grant.
Now, from Memorial Day through Labor Day, when 80 percent of the 60,000 annual visits occur, campers and hikers aren't likely to go half an hour without seeing one marked car or another.
"We've really cut down on vandalism and underage drinking," said Molalla Police Officer Steven Long, who had an eye out for motorists exceeding the roadway's 35 mph limit on a recent afternoon. He chuckled, adding, "You have fewer violations when there's a police officer every five feet."
If the definition of "wild" along the river has changed for the better in the past few years, its scenic qualities have been polished with renewed focus on trash cleanup and maintenance. Instead of shotgun-blasted road signs, visitors can now focus on mixed conifer and deciduous forests, countless wildlife species and steep basaltic walls decorated in mosaics of ancient chaos.
Joe Molodih and George Kieling, both 17 and residents of nearby Monitor, took in the beauty while swimming recently at a spot known as the sundial. They've frequented the river for years and said they are glad to know that pending legislation could preserve it for decades to come.
"This place is amazing," Molodih said. "It would be horrible if anything ruined it."
Still ahead are efforts to increase the scant 17 overnight camping sites along the 21.3-mile corridor, which strain under weekend demand that sends hundreds seeking relief from city heat. Moody's group is working with the federal Bureau of Land Management, which manages the land, to complete a plan calling for a larger campground with more facilities, increased day sites and improved riverside trails.
"Before we started, I don't think anyone thought this was really possible," Moody said. "For a community to come together to protect something like this is pretty remarkable."
-- Dana Tims; email@example.com | <urn:uuid:6d650082-fdd8-4375-8564-fb317dd4ee4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/09/wild_takes_on_new_meaning_for.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963274 | 762 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Original 1950 Eichler in Walnut Creek, Calif., faces water damage from gutter runoff.
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This case takes place in San Francisco, where a man named Joseph Eichler changed the face of housing by mass-producing affordable, architect-designed, modernist homes in the 1950s. Their classic design has made these homes a hot commodity half a century later. But time has taken its toll on many of the homes known simply as "Eichlers". This property is an original 1950 Eichler in Walnut Creek, Calif., east of San Francisco. The house detective is Matt Cantor, who has inspected nearly 4,000 homes in this area.
Leaves and twigs are the usual culprit when it comes to clogged gutters and outside drains. Failure to remove this material could cause standing water to eventually flood and damage a home. Some telltale signs of problems include water overflowing the gutters during a heavy rain or water pooled on top of an outside drain.
To prevent these problems, cap outside drains with a small mesh screen to keep out debris. Clean out gutters and downspouts at least twice a year by flushing them with water. And install gutter screens and downspout caps to prevent leaves from restricting water flow.
Gutters, downspouts and drains are the first line of defense against water intrusion into your home. Keep them clean and free flowing and they’ll help keep home repairs to a minimum.
Automatic irrigation systems aren't zero-maintenance. Inspect them regularly to avoid plant injury. | <urn:uuid:b21ebd3e-d40b-4b40-8e8c-a089778606bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hgtv.com/home-improvement/drainage-problems/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937809 | 340 | 2.5625 | 3 |
LONDON, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Energy policies from the British government need a solid footing before German energy company RWE makes any long-term investments, an executive said.
British officials say the country may need as much as $173 billion in power plant investments during the next decade to ensure electricity supplies are adequate.
Paul Massara, RWE's representative in the United Kingdom, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper there was "a huge amount of detail" missing from a government energy plan for power plant investments.
"If you want to get those guys (private investors) involved you have to provide long-term certainty and clarity of purpose and that's what's so desperately needed," he was quoted as saying.
Britain last year announced plans to finance new nuclear and renewable energy facilities in a way that would run counter to EU efforts to restrict government aid.
RWE and counterpart E.ON last year backed out of a $24 billion nuclear program in the country, saying a German decision to back away from nuclear power made it a tough energy policy to pursue.
Massara said he doubted there would be major investments in the British energy sector "unless there are propositions which attract not only us but also enable other capital lenders to come into the market place."
|Additional Energy Resources Stories|
SAN ANTONIO, May 20 (UPI) --BP has take "a significant step" toward selling a California oil refinery and regional retail networks to Tesoro Corp. after getting U.S. federal approval.
WASHINGTON, May 20 (UPI) --Commercial space activities may soon utilize a NASA launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida that was designed for the Apollo space program. | <urn:uuid:dfb91e66-c7c5-4f6f-9393-b3c2695abc24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2013/02/11/RWE-balks-on-British-energy-role/UPI-31421360590206/?spt=hs&or=er | 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 | 0.963821 | 345 | 1.6875 | 2 |
In the late 90s, when I was doing research for Women and Desire: Beyond Wanting to Be Wanted, I discovered something surprising about women and shopping. Everyone knows, of course, that women love to shop. Most men, it seems, shop only reluctantly and at the last minute, especially during the holidays—except perhaps for cars, trucks and big-screen TVs. But women, regardless of the season or the state of the economy, seem drawn to shopping. Even in these times of economic downturn and scarcity, my women psychotherapy clients struggle with their material desires. "Should I really buy that new pair of boots?" "I probably shouldn't go out for Black Friday or the after-Christmas sales at all." "He asked me to make a budget for my holiday shopping, but I don't know how to do that. I've never done it before, and besides, I resent doing it because I am the bigger wage-earner and this is the only time of the year that I splurge!" These, among others, are the comments, laments and complaints I hear on a recurring basis—especially so at this time of the year. But what is the root of women's irresistible desire to prowl the malls and department stores?
Women's shopping is often crudely explained as a "female drive." Such naturalistic reasoning seems to originate with socio-biologists, who search for reductionist biological explanations for sex differences as though our all of our habits, even ones that are clearly culturally influenced or determined, developed in a jungle. Frankly, as a feminist, I find myself in passionate disagreement with a theoretical stance that too often implicitly depicts men as superior: in this case, as just naturally more frugal (i.e., "reasonable") than women. Until men and women are on a level playing field in terms of rights, income, and leadership, we won't be able to separate true gender differences from differences that arise from unequal power. Shopping is a case in point.
According to the socio-biologists, women are linked to shopping in the same way that men are linked to sports. Often women's behavior is explained by something like the "shopping gene": men are the "hunters" (conquering stuff) and women are the "gatherers" (finding stuff). Remarkably, though, shopping (as in "real shopping"—serious bargain hunting and a whole day of meandering around through different shops) is not a primordial urge. It began historically, as an offshoot of advertising and commercialism, as a way to encourage women to feel in charge—deceptively inviting them to make choices and decisions of their own.
Beginning in the late Victorian era and continuing through the explosion of full-blown American consumerism in the 1920s, women were seduced by a "liberation" movement they didn't design. Previously excluded from significant economic activity, they were suddenly thrust onto center stage. The dry goods stores of earlier eras (where women went to buy personal items and materials required to make clothes) had been dark and unattractive places. No one wanted to spend the afternoon there. But at the turn of the century, enterprising merchants began transforming these dark, unattractive spaces from an environment you'd want to avoid into places you'd dream about visiting.
When glamorous, well-lit and artfully decorated "department stores" first opened in cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, they were celebrated as a cultural achievement. Macy's, Marshall Fields, Wanamaker's and Altman's were among the first to lure middle class women into their soothing interiors. Shoppers were encouraged to come to the stores for pleasure, conversation, and to avail themselves of a range of new, ready-made garments. But it wasn't just to "buy things;" they were encouraged to "make their own choices." Attendants brought a variety of attractive offerings into a sitting-room environment (where shoppers were having tea and refreshments) for women to review. For the first time, the American woman was being asked directly what she wanted! She was being encouraged to become the Subject of her own Desire (instead of the Object of Desire, the muse). And so, well before upper and middle class women had won the right to vote, they were allowed to practice individual freedom in department stores and told they could shop for what they wanted.
Once ready-to-wear became widely available, department stores began to promote an increasingly extravagant and widespread demand for new clothes, cosmetics and other personal products. Prior to the advent of department stores, "fashion" was the province of the most privileged women only. But now, keeping up with fashion began to make all the difference to the life of an ordinary middle-class woman, who could not—naturally—stay current with an image that changed repeatedly and was manipulated by advertisers and retailers (mostly men) who were creating a national appetite for consumption. Perhaps most important for an understanding of current-day shopping warriors, however, shopping felt liberating to ordinary women. Across the country, women increased their number of shopping days. Instead of shopping for dry goods twice a year, they were shopping every third or fourth day. In this way, women and department stores paired up to create a profound new cultural environment that openly encouraged women to act on their own desires.
Even today, in the grip of the Great Recession, shopping continues to hold out the intoxicating promise of controlling one's destiny ("getting what you really want"). It is perhaps the single activity on which all shades of the political spectrum agree (even the liberals believe in shopping sprees, especially during the holidays)—encouraging women to make their own choices and indulge their desires! No wonder even feminists like me can still be compelled by the smells and sights of a well-appointed department store—taken in even by the incidental glamour of its branded shopping bag.
In the archetypal shopping heaven of the "right" department stores, we women feel a measure of control we rarely feel at home when we are overwhelmed with our responsibilities, out with our spouses who may keep an eagle eye on our spending, or hampered by the ever-dwindling possibilities for autonomy at work. We feel we can make choices for ourselves when we're shopping; finding a "bargain" is a triumph, and picking just the right color is magic. Shopping offers an escape from our resentment at having to "give in" to others' wishes and desires; and it promises that we, too, can mold our images to fit the current cultural muse.
In reality, of course, women are not in control of the iconic images of current fashion or the retail enterprises that trick us repeatedly into believing we must transform ourselves to mimic the momentary Object of Desire. Retailers seduce us into buying an illusory freedom—a freedom that is in fact no freedom at all, only another form of subjugation. Sad to say, modern consumerism creates desire but doesn't satisfy it. Those beautiful, sensual, pleasing displays—the sights and smells of the modern-day department store, real or on-line—evoke over and over again memories of our first taste of freedom. No wonder our male counterparts fail to understand what motivates us to "shop until we drop." They don't have a black hole of self-doubt where self-determination should live. | <urn:uuid:8e2e3548-5c8e-4c66-bc7b-bea317699253> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/living-love/201112/ladies-love-shop-i-know-why | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976977 | 1,513 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Nvidia Corp. on Monday introduced new lower cost active shutter glasses that are compatible with the company's proprietary 3D Vision technology. The new glasses have USB cable and do not require batteries or IR transmitters. The relatively affordable glasses will help the company to boost popularity of stereo-3D technology.
Nvidia 3D Vision wired glasses include a 10-foot USB 2.0 cable for direct connection to a 3D Vision PC or notebook. The new cable is compatible with more than 65 different 3D Vision monitors, notebooks and projectors. The wired nature of the cable not only reduces its price to $99 (from $150 of wireless solutions), but also makes the glasses suitable for LAN gaming events and iCafe gaming centers, as it does not require batteries and the cable can easily be secured to a PC with an optional computer lock to minimize theft.
"3D fans have been waiting for more affordable glasses, and we are expecting our new 3D Vision wired glasses to hit the sweet spot for them," said Phil Eisler, general manager of 3D Vision at Nvidia.
At present stereo-3D components, e.g. monitors or notebooks are still pretty expensive and reduction of the price of glasses to $99 will hardly boost popularity of the S3D technology substantially. Nonetheless, the introduction of wired glasses for $99 is a step in the right direction as glasses that do not need batteries are more convenient to use by gamers and with generally more affordable components, stereo-3D will also gradually gain adoption.
Nvidia3D Vision wired glasses are expected to be available beginning in late-June 2011 from the Nvidia's online store as well as from retailers and e-tailers. | <urn:uuid:d7c8b116-0817-461c-9792-fd2c0a1f1f0d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/graphics/display/20110530174551_Nvidia_Makes_3D_Vision_More_Affordable_with_New_Lower_Cost_Glasses.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930676 | 347 | 1.695313 | 2 |
When owning a pet it becomes part of the family. It therefore stands to reason that as with a family member you would want them to live out their life in happiness. Sadly, as with human health it is impossible to predict when your beloved pet could fall ill or have an accident.
Pet medical care expenses have been rising through the years. Owning a pet isn’t overly expensive when buying the basics however when calculating possible vet bills this is definitely not the case. You will obviously be worried about the health of your pet if it unfortunately has to have an emergency procedure. With a good pet insurance plan in place at least you won’t have to worry about the financial aspect of it.
Having a plan in place will mean you can continue to love and care for your pet through both the good times and the bad. Luckily, there are numerous kinds of products that offer a wide array of protection, deductibles and premiums. Usually people will pay for plans on a monthly or yearly basis which helps when it comes to spending budgets.
Plans for your pet can cover a huge range of issues. These range from the extreme emergency procedures to standard regular vet check-ups. Some plans even also cover accidental death. These are just some of the additional perks that show how much pet insurance plans have grown to suit pet owners over the years.
These are just some of the reasons why you should check for UK pet insurance at www.petsathome.com/petinsurance. | <urn:uuid:15bdaaa3-e093-4958-b14c-520801ab61d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.1petloversworld.com/good-pet-insurance-plan.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973453 | 303 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Creative thinking, a focus on the needs of the donor and great database management can only take you so far.
Sometimes you need help.
But who do you turn to?
There are many consultants, agencies and websites out there that can offer advice on improving strategies and fundraising materials. But maybe you should start off by looking a little closer to home.
How about within your own charity?
I can't think of many organisations where financial management is the sole responsibility of the Finance Department and people management is just down to Human Resources. So why is fundraising so often stuck in a silo of its own?
It wasn't always the case. The YMCA, for example, used to have a very simple employment policy – your first job was to raise your own salary.
I've always thought it a stroke of genius. It means every single member of staff becomes part of the fundraising team. With joint responsibility for finding the money to keep an organisation going, everyone thinks very carefully about the impact on fundraising of changes in policy and strategy.
Take the need for unrestricted income for instance.
Most charities look at their direct marketing programme as a significant source of unrestricted funds. The juicy earmarked projects are normally saved for trust and statutory funders.
It certainly makes accounting easy, but is the blanket approach that all appeal income should be unrestricted, the best way to fundraise?
I'd suggest not.
We were looking for ways to increase income for one Bluefrog client and part of our approach was to create an appeal that offered donors the chance to allocate their gifts to specific projects.
Donors really appreciated the chance to have a say in how their money was used. Income increased by a significant amount and feedback was very positive.
What was particularly interesting however was that 80% of donors still gave the charity the final choice on how to use their dontion. This resulted in the appeal bringing in much more unrestricted income than was originally budgeted along with another large chunk of earmarked income.
More money and happy donors. That's not a bad result.
None of this would have been possible if we hadn't shared the problem with the finance team. When we explained what we wanted to achieve, they responded by changing the way they worked.
Next time you are putting a budget together or developing a strategy, why not ask those who work with you how they might be able to make fundraising more effective.
Who knows what they might come up with? | <urn:uuid:6b93931b-dfa9-4446-9e3e-82c169f2f82f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.queerideas.co.uk/my_weblog/restricted-funds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977061 | 504 | 1.539063 | 2 |
With all that said, though, the NFL’s richer and deeper history of PED use should invite more outrage. Let’s be frank: while we’re not certain to what extent steroid use affects a player’s ability to play baseball, we do know that it makes a much better football player. Football, of course, is a sport that relies on size and raw strength to a much greater extent than does baseball. To gaze upon your average NFL player and see nothing but the work of genetic good fortune and hard work requires a level of credulity that should elude you.
Moreover, that the cycling of anabolic steroids leads to bigger and stronger football players and, hence, to on-field violence of an increasing scale should concern those who worry about the future of football and those who play it. The NFL tests for PEDs, yes, but when those tests turn up positive, it’s back-page stuff. In 2006, Shawne Merriman made the Pro Bowl after testing positive for steroids. In 2010, Brian Cushing won a re-vote for AP Defensive Rookie of the Year despite having tested positive for banned substances. And so on.
Still and yet, it’s baseball players who are subjected to public floggings far more often. That’s fine, as it goes, but it’s curious that such unequal treatment persists despite what we know about steroid use in football. Put simply, steroids in football almost certainly have a greater effect on competitive integrity than they do in baseball, they’ve been around longer in football, and they help make it a far more dangerous game.
So why don’t we care?
Posted: August 23, 2012 at 04:23 PM | 66 comment(s)
Login to Bookmark | <urn:uuid:827933d0-4f32-441b-8b2f-a86530b5c2f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/newsstand/discussion/dayn_perry_why_do_we_care_about_steroids_in_mlb_but_not_in_the_nfl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946339 | 374 | 1.773438 | 2 |
CCBC has a number of academic support services to help students meet success in developmental and credit courses and in college in general.
First, after being placed in reading, writing, and mathematics, all students are advised about their course of study. See the CCBC Advisement Center information for each campus. Students who enroll in SDEV 101 (Achieving Academic Success) are provided with an opportunity to create a multi-semester plan called a graduated learning plan.
Once students have begun courses, they are encouraged to visit the Student Success Center on each campus. The Student Success Centers are an important part of CCBC's commitment to student learning. They provide support for almost every course, in every program. Included in the support services are tutoring, Supplemental Instruction, and the use of computers for coursework.
All students placed in developmental reading are required to enroll in SDEV 101 unless they are enrolling in a Developmental Learning Community with a Master Learner. SDEV 101 (refer to catalog description) is open to all CCBC students and focuses on those student behaviors and attitudes that are most consistently identified with achieving success in college; discusses the significance of a college education; the specific operations of The Community College of Baltimore County; and strategies for managing time, improving listening skills, and gaining a more positive view of self. | <urn:uuid:144a5d85-9ea1-4444-b447-80ea778cc2c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://CCBCWomensExpoMD@ccbcmd.edu/deved/deved_acad_sup_serv.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955306 | 271 | 2.234375 | 2 |
The head of the Chinese central bank has called for a new global currency controlled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), saying such a move would give governments particularly in the developing world the ability to manage their economies more efficiently.
In an online essay Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said the global financial crisis had exposed the danger of relying on one nation's currency for international payments.
The essay, released on the bank's website late on Monday, did not mention the US dollar by name, but the vast majority of international finance is carried out in dollars.
The comments come ahead of a major meeting of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies in London which will focus on measures to alleviate the global economic crisis.
"This will significantly reduce the risks of a future crisis and enhance crisis management capability"
governor of the People's Bank of China
During the meeting, beginning on April 2, China is expected to call for developing economies to have a bigger say in global finance and step up pressure for changes to a system dominated by the US dollar and Western governments.
The unusual step of publishing Zhou's essay in both Chinese and English versions is seen as indicating his comments are aimed at an international audience ahead of the G20 meeting.
China has become increasingly assertive in economic issues and while the global financial crisis has hit Chinese export industries hard, its leaders are also viewing the crisis as a potential opportunity to increase China's global clout.
In his essay Zhou said the financial crisis had shown the need for "creative reform of the existing international monetary system towards an international reserve currency".
|Zhou said a new global currency should be controlled by the IMF [EPA]
A reserve currency is the unit of denomination in which a government holds its reserves.
Zhou said the proposed new currency should also be used for trade, investment, pricing commodities and corporate bookkeeping.
He said the new currency should be based on shares in the IMF held by its 185 member nations, which are known as special drawing rights (SDRs).
The Washington-based IMF advises governments on economic policy and lends money to help with balance-of-payments problems.
In his essay Zhou said the new currency would let governments manage their economies more efficiently because its value would not be influenced by the needs of any one nation to regulate its own finance and trade.
"A super-sovereign reserve currency managed by a global institution could be used to both create and control global liquidity," he wrote, adding the changes would ""significantly reduce the risks of a future crisis and enhance crisis management capability."
The fallout from the financial crisis has underscored long-standing unease in Beijing about China's reliance on the dollar for the bulk of its trade and to store foreign reserves.
Earlier this month Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, publicly appealed to Washington to avoid any steps that might erode the value of the dollar and Beijing's estimated $1 trillion holdings in Treasuries and other US government debt. | <urn:uuid:24ffa2a9-a490-4cf3-9c6d-f325594321b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/business/2009/03/200932472828491258.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957048 | 618 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Zuccotti Park, the base of the Occupy Wall Street protests, has emerged as a dramatic contrast to the everyday tourist bustle and business suits of lower Manhattan. A palpable energy radiates from the encampment, and its borders are brimming with its charge: the edges of tarp tents, protestors with rallying cries, cardboard signs pasted to wooden paint stirrers.
Anger and frustration are the fabric of this movement, and within the park so many protestors tell stories of financial hardships, both their own and those of their friends and family. Many in Zuccotti Park are the direct victims of this current economic instability - the unemployed, the uninsured, the homeless, and a cross-section of the city's residents just trying to make ends meet. All are fed up with the systemic inequities that drive the ever-widening income gap in New York City.
In support of these men and women, the Coalition's mobile soup kitchen has begun taking a small detour on its lower Manhattan route to serve warm, nutritious meals to homeless and hungry protestors. Many of the street homeless normally lining up at our South Ferry stop have migrated to Zuccotti Park, finding solidarity and safety in the encampment. Our Mobile Outreach workers continue to reach out to these individuals and other protestors, referring those in need to free food assistance, free showers, medical care or public benefits help, both at the Coalition and at other organizations.
Coalition volunteers also distributed spare blankets to protestors, many of whom are without sleeping bags, tents or extra clothing. Protestors have occupied Zuccotti Park for over three weeks, and more are arriving as the protest's message resonates throughout New York City and across the country. As fall weather sets in and the days become colder, the blankets and food, as well as other necessities such as clothing, medical supplies, and utensils are the rudimentary - but requisite - fuel to the movement's growing momentum.
By delivering meals to the homeless and hungry people who have joined the protest, and through our small blanket donation, the Coalition has offered much needed support to the struggling individuals and families who demand their voices be heard.
[Note: None of the support offered to the protest impacts the Coalition's daily direct service programs for homeless and at-risk men, women, and children.]
blog comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:209493b3-06a2-42d7-a7a2-c152af01d5fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/blog/entry/coalition-donates-food-and-blankets-to-homeless-protestors/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960644 | 477 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Cats can get upper respiratory infections or what we call the common cold or flu. However you can not pass a human cold on to your cat and vice versa. The cat 'cold' is a completely different cup of tea. If your cat has any of the below symptoms for more than a day or two he/she probably has an upper respiratory infection.
Upper respiratory infections are extremely contagious (infection can be passed through an airborne contagion or through casual contact) and it is very common for all cats within a household to become infected quickly. Although most of the agents that cause URI do not survive very long (from a few hours to a few weeks) in the environment, they can last a very long time in the cat's respiratory tract in a latent or potent form. Many cats actually will carry the agent in their body for the duration of life. In such a case your cat may suffer from occasional flare-ups when stressed or when the immune system is weak. Such a cat may also pass the agent on to other cats (even if that cat isn't actively sick). Cats can get URI's for a variety of reasons just as people do.
These reasons can range from:
- a bacteria or virus (Chlamydia, Feline Calicivirus, Feline Herpes virus also known as Feline Rhinotracheitis Virus) a majority of UTI's are caused by a virus
- a parasitic worm infection
- an allergic reaction
Symptoms to look for:
- Runny nose
- Discharge from the nose or mouth
- Respiratory problems
- Oral ulcers
- Conjunctivits (discharge from the eye)
If you suspect any sort of "cold" take your cat to the vet immediately for an examination. Although URI's are not terribly serious, your cat can get secondary infections during this time period which could be more serious and can lead to chronic illnesses. Many cats with a cold will also have their appetites suppressed. Cats who do not eat for even just a day or two can be at risk for hepatic lipidosis, which can be a very serious illness. The bottom line is that although a cold in and of itself is not terribly serious, that left untreated, it can turn into a serious illness.
Most cases of URI are taken care of with a course of drug therapy (antibiotics, decongestants, antivirals), rest, lots of food and liquids. Humidification of the nasal passages may also help your cat, you can do this by purchasing a humidifier for the room or bringing your kitty in with you for a nice steaming in the bathroom. However, do not allow your cat to catch a 'chill' if you do get him/her wet.
If you do have a cat that has been on therapy for a few weeks and is still not feeling better, or if your pet has finished his/her course of medication and is still ill your vet may have him/her in for another visit to do some more tests. These may include X-rays of the skull which allow you to see the nasal cavity and frontal sinuses. This can help you determine what, if any damage the infection has done to the nasal passages. A nasal flush can also be performed to collect matter from the nasal cavity. This matter can then be analyzed to better determine what is causing your cat to be ill.
Keep your cat indoors and away from other sick animals. Keep your pet in a clean environment which includes clean food and water bowls and a clean home. Keep your home above 70 degrees and if your cat gets wet either dry him off or make sure he stays warm while he dries off. You can also talk to your vet about yearly vaccinations to ward off such infections.
Medical and care advice on this article is for your knowledge and information only. It is not a substitute for a veterinary appointment or an actual diagnosis for your pet. If you feel your pet has a health or behavior problem please consult your veterinarian immediately for specific advice tailored to your individual pet.
Article submitted by: © 21cats.org (Biography & Additional Information) | <urn:uuid:974c820a-096c-4154-849b-21b6b075ec9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pet360.com/cat/health/cats-and-colds/ZHPrQxtS60e72ZsX8uezcQ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955485 | 850 | 3.390625 | 3 |
almost laughable the way our corporate media reads the shadowy presence of
al-Qaeda into nearly every terrorist incident around the world.
I said almost.
Fact is, the often absurd claims made by Fox News, CNN, and other alphabet corporate news organizations effectively demonstrate how eagerly a supposedly free press has bought into the preposterous idea of an international Islamic terrorist network symbolized by Osama bin Laden and his intrepid cave dwellers with satellite phones.
For instance, before the smoke had a chance to clear in Madrid, the corporate media was all over blaming al-Qaeda, even though the evidence of this was at best tenuous. Fingers pointed at Abu Dujan al Afghani, a previously unknown person appearing on videotape claiming responsibility in the name of al-Qaeda. And yet it was not generally reported that the name Abu Dujan is attributed to a mythical "Red-Banded Warrior" who fought for the Prophet Mohammed, according to Muslim scholars.
In other words, it appears jellybean journalists laboring for the Bush Ministry of Disinformation had a fast one pulled on them.
CNN was so athirst for "evidence" connecting al-Qaeda to the Madrid bombings they impulsively waved around an unsigned document harvested from Global Islamic Media, a radical Islamic website, on March 16. According to CNN, the document proves al-Qaeda "planned to separate Spain from its allies by carrying out terror attacks," even though, as closer examination of the partially translated document reveals, there is no mention of the terrorist bombings in Spain. In fact, the document mentions attacking Spanish troops in Iraq, not killing innocents in Madrid.
"The document was discovered, not by CNN, but by Thomas Hegghammer and his colleagues at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment north of Oslo, during a routine trawling of radical Islamist websites for interesting documents or statements," notes Brendan O'Neill in an article appearing on the Spiked and Global Research websites.
After releasing the questionable document to CNN, Hegghammer had second thoughts. "This document is not a blueprint for action," Hegghammer admitted. "I would say it is more like a contribution to a debate. If there is a connection between the document and Madrid, it is probably not organizational. In my view it is more likely that the document has been circulating on websites and the Madrid attackers may have read it, rather than going from top to bottom like an instruction."
O'Neill, however, is far less reticent than Hegghammer. "For all the news reports about this 'al-Qaeda document' that proposed and designed 'attacks against Spain', in fact there is no clear evidence that this is an al-Qaeda document and nowhere does the document suggest launching terror attacks in Spain. The claim that the document is a writ from al-Qaeda is pure guesswork and speculation on the part of the media; and the claim that the document threatened 'blows' inside Spain, which then came to fruition in Madrid on 11 March, is the result of severely selective reporting, of taking certain paragraphs out of context and reproducing them in isolation. The document proposes no such terrorist attacks."
But then "selective reporting" -- to say nothing of passing along cynical Bushite lies as gospel truth -- is the stock and trade of the corporate media, especially Fox and CNN, the most sycophantic and obsequious of the clan.
Adam Dolnik of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore believes al-Qaeda is big on myth and small on substance.
"In my view, if you subscribe to the ideology and decide to take action on its behalf, you can call yourself al-Qaeda," Dolnik told O'Neill. "It seems to me that al-Qaeda is currently best understood as a type of leaderless resistance of members as well as new sympathizers who want to become involved. So when we talk about al-Qaeda documents, we need to look at two dimensions: in the first are the writings of high-up al-Qaeda leaders such as Zawahiri, and these are the documents of al-Qaeda the group. In the second dimension you have grey area documents written by unknown authors, inspired by al-Qaeda as an ideology, whether they are actual sworn members of the group or not. So I think we cannot use such documents as clear-cut evidence of involvement of al-Qaeda the group, but they do provide an insight into the dynamically evolving strategic thinking of al-Qaeda the ideology."
In fact, the so-called al-Qaeda organization has never used that name, although you will never hear the hacks over at Fox admit as much. "Bin Laden never used the term al-Qaeda prior to 9/11," Dolnik told O'Neill last November. "Nor am I aware of the name being used by operatives on trial. The closest they came were in statements such as, 'Yes, I am a member of what you call al-Qaeda'. The only name used by al-Qaeda themselves was the World Islamic Front for the Struggle Against Jews and Crusaders," a name apparently too unwieldy for the likes of the New York Times.
The scheming Bushites, according to Dolnik, made the al-Qaeda mole hill into a gruesome mountain by "the automatic attribution of credit to the group for disparate attacks; by making unintelligent and unqualified statements about the group's very basic 'weapons of mass destruction' programme; by treating al-Qaeda as a superorganism; by creating the impression that al-Qaeda can do just about anything," when in fact it cannot be demonstrated they did anything at all.
Furthermore, Bush and crew have yet to make the case bin Laden and his gang of medieval cave dwellers pulled off the 9/11 terrorist attacks, even though they claimed to have evidence of such in the days immediately following the event. But then amnesia runs rampant in America where Osama is Saddam and all crucial distinctions blur on cue.
It no longer matters if there is absolutely no evidence linking al-Qaeda to the train station bombings in Spain. Innuendo and preposterous exaggeration suffice. "In a world where one email sent to a news agency translates into a headline stating that al-Qaeda was behind even the blackouts in Italy and the USA, anyone can claim to be al-Qaeda -- not only groups but also individuals," explains Dolnik.
In the meantime, a phantasmal al-Qaeda will continue to be faithfully employed to explain rumblings and uprising in the third world.
Latest example: violence in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Those responsible for the violence "are Wahhabis who belong to one of the branches of the international al-Qaeda terror group," Ilya Pyagay, Interior Ministry deputy anti-terrorism chief, told the Washington Post. "These are bandits who planned these attacks long in advance."
It only makes sense, of course, that al-Qaeda would surface in Uzbekistan: Islam Abduganievich Karimov, the brutal dictator of Uzbekistan, is on excellent terms with Bush, who deployed the US military to the Kandabad air base at Karshi soon after 9/11.
At least it can be said the specter of ex-CIA asset Osama bin Laden's organization is consistent, for wherever Dubya takes the fraudulent war on terror, al-Qaeda is certain to follow.
Kurt Nimmo is a photographer, multimedia artist and writer living in New Mexico. He is author of Another Day in the Empire: Life in Neoconservative America (Dandelion Books, 2003). To see his photo work and read more of his essays, visit his excellent “Another Day in the Empire” weblog.
Other Articles by Kurt Nimmo
Emma Goldman for
Calling Dubya to
Book on Neocon Lies
Bogus Terror Threats and Bush's Police State | <urn:uuid:fdac507e-5d99-4d5f-ac09-8a9679beaf7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dissidentvoice.org/April2004/Nimmo0403.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956326 | 1,638 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
DC4W: Remember a Person's Name
Continuing our on-going series on Dale Carnegie for Writers (DC4W), the third principle in the Six Ways to Make People Like You, the second section in How to Win Friends and Influence People, is, "Remember that a man's Name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language.."
The unpleasant truth of the matter is that people are fundamentally self-centered. Noble aspirations and modern astronomy notwithstanding, we are each walking Ptolemaic systems: we are the centers of our universes. Using a person's name gives you a channel into the heart of their universe.
So what practical benefit does this principle have for writers?
First, learning and using the names of the people (like agents and editors) with whom you want to do business is more than professional courtesy; it signals that you're likely to take at least some of their interests into account. This is why botching a name or using a generic salutation like, "Dear Agent," in a query is generally a major strike against you. (If it's not clear why, then think about how people who can't be bothered to learn your name make you feel.)
Second, even in public situations like signings where most of us have no hope of remembering the names of all the people we meet, using the name of the person with whom you're speaking after you learn it is the conversational equivalent of a smile: it's a verbal token that says, "I recognize you."*
And if none of that moves you, because you enjoy being the center of your own universe, you should still trouble yourself about names because using names correctly will identify you as a member of the group and thus facilitate your aims.
* From the lonely center of our island universes, recognition is one of the things we crave.
Image: luigi diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net | <urn:uuid:01af648c-c794-44a3-bd74-567e47ca39ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.derenhansen.com/2010/08/dc4w-remember-persons-name.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95448 | 401 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Epicurus takes on Jilly Cooper
The Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270BC) would seem an unlikely candidate to join them; but suddenly he may be in with a chance. An obscure tract of his wit and wisdom has topped the Italian bestseller list for a year and at the last count had sold 1.3 million copies.
Could this be the start of something? Could the classics now compete with the thrillers, bodice-rippers, prurient biographies and diet manuals that fill the bookshop windows today? The answer, say the experts, is yes: there is nothing about popular writing that we could teach the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Take Plutarch. His Lives, a series of biographies combining intimate detail with high moral judgement, has already had one successful revival, inspiring Shakespeare to write some of his finest plays. Today it could easily catch the imagination of readers familiar with his literary descendants, Kitty Kelley and Albert Goldman. They would soon learn that the rich and powerful of Plutarch's time were no better behaved and, of course, no happier than they are today.
There are other candidates. With lesbianism fashionable in America and k d lang bounding out of the closet and on to the cover of this month's Vanity Fair, perhaps it is time for a revival of Sappho, grandmother of them all.
At the other end of the spectrum, Egeria's Travels, the journal of a young nun's pilgrimage to the Holy Land in AD380, could have all the qualities needed to compete with Michael Palin. As a humorous portrayal (however unintentionally so) of an innocent abroad, it prefigures a long line of literary successes.
One work that could sweep the board, given the chance, is Apuleius's Metamorphoses, better known as The Golden Ass. Written around AD150, this tells the story of Lucius, who on a visit to Thessaly is accidentally turned into an ass by a lover's spell and endures many strange ordeals before being restored to human form by the goddess Isis. Sex, romance, travel, cookery, horror, cult belief and equestrian pursuits - all human life is there, or certainly just as much as in anything by Jilly Cooper.
This is a rare find - a novel that could appeal to the chattering classes as well as the mass market. Ken Dowden of Birmingham University, who has made a close study of the ancient novel, points out that alongside scenes of threatened bestiality, The Golden Ass contains passages of spiritual intensity and has a teasing Platonic riddle at its centre. He likens its appeal to reading reports of murder trials. 'What we pretend to be interested in is the act of justice being done, what we're really interested in are the seamy details.'
Not only is the material there but, according to Anthony Spawforth of Newcastle University, who is co-editing a new edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, the time is right for a revival of the classics. 'In many ways the gap between the ancient and contemporary world has narrowed rather than broadened,' he says. 'With the breakdown of a single moral authority, the post-war period is very similar to the late classical world and there's the same search for new wisdom.'
There is evidence that he is right. While Epicurus is a hit in Italy, a retelling of classical myth, Roberto Calasso's novel The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, has taken literary New York by storm and this month is published in Britain. At the National Theatre, a play first performed in Athens in the fifth century BC, Aristophanes's Lysistrata, is packing them in.
As for the adventures of Lucius in The Golden Ass, Radio 3 continues a repeat run of its serialisation tonight.
Anonymity order lifted for triple child killer David McGreavy jailed in 1973
World news in pictures
Far-right French historian, 78-year-old Dominique Venner, commits suicide in Notre Dame in protest against gay marriage
Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men
Video emerges of Pope Francis reportedly performing an exorcism in St Peter’s Square
- 1 Gay couple beaten in park urge MPs to moderate language on gay marriage
- 2 After woman sells virginity for $780,000, here are the results of our prostitution survey
- 3 Exclusive: Championship clubs set to push for safe-standing trials
- 4 China agrees to impose carbon targets by 2016
- 5 Far-right French historian, 78-year-old Dominique Venner, commits suicide in Notre Dame in protest against gay marriage
BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes
Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page. | <urn:uuid:b2248cb6-a602-46d3-8b9b-30815e92dd84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/epicurus-takes-on-jilly-cooper-1485611.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953587 | 1,022 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Operations Control Center
2700 Airport Way S.
Seattle Public Utilities 1% for Art funds
Artist Max Keene created Flow, a pair of light-based interactive installations mounted on the ceiling of two employee break room areas in the Seattle Public Utilities' (SPU) Operations Control Center. On the first floor, two parallel copper tubes shaped into a wave-like succession of undulations support a series of modules. These modules, composed of an array of LEDs set behind sheets of curving blue glass, slowly react to changes of ambient illumination and the movement of people within the break room by displaying slowly shifting patterns of azure tinged light. On the second floor, Keene mounted similar modules of LEDs and frosted glass panels on arched copper tubes. These panels glow and fade in shades of yellow, red and green in response to the movement of people below.
Keene states: "Flow is an artwork that is intended to reference the flow of water, energy, information and people. Evolving patterns of light tracing movement and energy mirror Seattle Public Utilities' charge of building and maintaining infrastructure to facilitate the city's flow of clean water. Shifting, flowing, aqueous light suggests a theme of flowing water in a clean environment, which is made possible in part by SPU's removal of wastewater and solid waste from our communities. The artwork's pace and mood is meditative and ever-changing and designed to integrate peacefully within the Operation Control Center's employee break areas." | <urn:uuid:5a2d8f55-8942-4a34-b8b9-41d8950b5a87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seattle.gov/arts/publicart/permanent.asp?cat=6&item=25&view=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928483 | 300 | 1.671875 | 2 |
|Video Release:||12 Apr 2011|
|See Canadian Ratings|
|How We Determine Our Grades|
After watching a movie with your children or students, we encourage parents and teachers to look for education opportunities to teach with movies. Here are a few discussion topics that can help with lesson plans or teaching in the home.
What are the personal costs of becoming a performer? What stresses does a singer face that the average fan does not?
What challenges may cause people to turn to drugs or alcohol for relief? Does fame make it easier to access or justify the use of these substances? How difficult do you think it is to avoid these when you are involved in an on-stage lifestyle?
What are the benefits of rehabilitation clinics? Considering the success (or failure) of some stars that have recently used these facilities, do you think they are worthwhile? What makes a person more likely to successfully change? | <urn:uuid:93ea982e-4c68-4b81-be37-47daebe0572c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://parentpreviews.com/movie-reviews/discussion/country-strong | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936853 | 187 | 2.046875 | 2 |
No surprise that researchers in Scotland have come up with an early warning system for sunburn. The country has the highest proportion of redheads in Europe – 13% of the population according to the site that knows everything. In Ireland, we’re not far behind in terms of redhead ratio so this development is of great interest, but will it do any good?
Keen observers of Irish people on holiday will know that in an attempt to gain maximum value for the few days away in the sun, the average Irish milk bottle will rise at dawn and take up position by the pool. Once there, they will continue to roast themselves until the alcohol from the night before has well and truly evaporated. Given that the average alcohol consumption would fit in the petrol tank of a Land Rover, a good number of hours are needed for the task to be complete. There is just no way he or she is returning home without some evidence of having “got a bit of colour”. Better to have a sunburn story than none at all. There is no greater shame for an Irish person to return home from 2 weeks in the sun looking the same as they went away. It’s just not worth the slagging about spending a lot of time indoors.
We could see the result of this research on the shelves by October in the form of plasters but honestly, is anyone likely to use them? Don’t think so. Everyone knows the dangers and suffers the consequences in a very real and painful way after the event. How many of us can say, “Oh, I got sunburn once – but learned my lesson and it hasn’t happened since”? – very few I would think. Or maybe I’m unique in getting two bad cases of sunburn in one summer season – one that left me virtually unable to walk for a week. There is no solution for the stupidity of going on a 6 hour trek in the mountains on a hot summers day – IN SHORTS, WITHOUT ANY SUNSCREEN.
Basically, this type of research is trying to create a plaster for stupidity and irrationality and in my view, there ain’t no solution for that yet, just ask Kim Kardassion who Twittered about getting burnt during the week. And look, she’s not even blonde | <urn:uuid:6049f76f-3397-4b74-8c25-3f7a41d411c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lecraic.com/2009/04/21/plaster-to-warn-of-sunburn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964552 | 475 | 1.8125 | 2 |
SPRINGFIELD, -- Workers with Springfield City Utilities call this a critical time.
The water storage level is at 64 percent. If there is not a good amount of rain soon, workers say it will likely drop to 60 percent in a few weeks.
Once at 60 percent, Springfield will be in what's called an Emergency Water Conservation Plan. There will be a surcharge for customers during this time if they do not use less water.
Utility officials want to encourage people to act now and use less because that could give Springfield more time before storage levels reach the 60 percent mark.
"We are in a difficult situation right now. We are coming off the hottest summer that we have had, ever. We are 12 inches behind on rain. Our lakes are close to the lowest they have ever been. The rates do go up. It's intended to send a price signal to our customers that say please don't use water unless it's essential," said Scott Miller, General Manager of Springfield City Utilities. | <urn:uuid:46e1c318-0551-45b6-a54e-e9cba84d0112> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.ky3.com/2012-08-20/springfield-city-utilities_33292176 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954425 | 205 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Good Samaritan School
GSS Ministries is helping the poorest of the poor in Catacamas, Honduras break the cycle of illiteracy and hopelessness. Since 1980 GSS Ministries has operated The Good Samaritan School. The school is a haven to over 600 students. The life of each child is being changed for eternity one soul at a time through the gift of a Christian Education. Visit our website: www.gssministries.org
GSS Campus Minister
Samuel Ramirez, Good Samaritan School, Campus Minister
The Light of Jesus Church
The Light of Jesus Church in Almaty, Kazakhstan was planted in 2001 by the Green family. It is now led by national leaders and is a growing, vibrant church. They have struggled with laws in their country that prevents them from renting governmental buildings, so they are currently in a building program in which the goal is to raise $300k. We have raised $165k since March of 2007. The church building will be located on the Light House Property
The Light House
House for young people from 16 to 22 years of age left without parental care.
When Randy and Sandra Green moved to Almaty in June 2001, they soon became aware of the need for a teenage shelter to help the orphans of Kazakhstan. It was something that was on their hearts for a long time but they didn’t really know how or what to do. In December of 2001 a facility next to the church building became available for rent. When they saw it the very first time, both of them knew that this was a place that could be used for a teen shelter for the orphans living on the streets.
By faith, Randy and Sandra began to rent this facility. They sent out e mails to friends and relatives and churches asking for financial help to begin this ministry to the orphans of Almaty. From the very beginning the hand of God has been in the center of this ministry. People began to donate and send money to help the orphans.
By the grace of God we now have a home for orphan’s ages 16-22 years old. These are kids who are forced to leave the orphanages of Kazakhstan. Our desire is to provide a safe place for the children to live and to give them the opportunity to know Jesus as their personal Savior. We help them finish their education and try to teach them life skills that will provide an opportunity to succeed in life.
Click below for more information.
Tanzania, East Africa
Pioneer Bible Translators bridges the gap between the church and the Bible-less peoples around the world.
Their team is composed of Bible translators, literacy evangelists, church planters and a variety of support personnel transforming lives through God’s Word in every language.
Christianville Mission is to provide a witness in Haiti by means of evangelizing, church planting, Christian education and humanitarian assistance.
The Christianville Mission operates 6 schools, ranging from preschool through grade 12, as well as a four year university that provides accredited degrees in Theology and Education. Some highlights include * An average of 90% of the Christianville students passed the national standardized tests. This compares to a 24% pass rate for the rest of the nation. * Every Christianville student is not only given an education but are also provided free medical treatment and healthcare * Christianville food ministry feeds over 1800 people every day.
Medical, Eye, and Dental Clinics
These three clinics meet the physical needs of the people in and around Christianville. Because of the reputation of these facilities and personnel, people often travel from several hours away to receive treatment. These busy clinics see up to 130 patients a day and spread the Gospel message as they do so. They also give free care to Christianville employees, missionaries, school children and poor from the area.
Smile for a Child Program | <urn:uuid:ba9a182e-7f64-4207-a578-79adf94db39e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://metroccresources.org/ministries-2/missions-3/missions-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96393 | 788 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Every Wednesday during the Christmas season, we will post a reflection. We hope these reflections help you on your own journey during this time.
This weekís reflection is offered by Father Mark Lane, CFCA preacher.
“And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.” (Colossians 3:14)
A child causing parents anxiety is nothing new, and Jesusí role in this highly developed narrative is no exception.
His rather pious answer would seem somewhat impertinent if we were dealing with a straightforward recounting of an historical fact.
In todayís Gospel for the Feast of The Holy Family, Luke narrates this story to point to Jesusí uniqueness and to give content to the otherwise gapping lacuna that is the so-called lost-years of Jesusí life: the 30-year period from infancy to the beginning of his public ministry.
As with many conversations, it is not only what is said that is informative ó silence is important. Jesus matured in the obscurity of those lost 30 years.
Often too, I believe, God is quietly and patiently forming us in the quiet and hidden corners of our own lives.
One of the hidden treasures of our lives is the slow fidelity to the rhythms of the everyday ó the turning up and doing our best.
Rhythms such as taking out the garbage, washing clothes, paying bills, putting food on the table or making time for exercise or prayer or rest.
All the stuff of life that no doubt occupied the domestic scene of the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph and Jesus.
As a child, one of my favorite games was to get a big blanket and throw it over the kitchen table and create a little world of my own away from the busyness and noise of a large family.
I would hide under there and create my own world away from the drabness of the everyday.
Of course it would not last long and I would have to come out and face ìthe real worldî again.
But that little world under the blanket I think was a bit like prayer, or Advent or Lent or any other retreat: a time to step aside and allow life to germinate.
Todayís Gospel is a reminder that Jesus, too, would one day have to re-enter ìthe real worldî and go about ìhis Fatherís business.î The years Jesus spent in obscurity in the midst of the everyday of his family life prepared him for his brief and dramatic final days in an all-too-real world.
He was in a way putting fuel in the tank or money in the bank to call on as needed.
I like to think of the mundane activities of our life in a similar way. When I let another person speak, when I open the door for someone, when I am the first to ask forgiveness or apologize, when I practice charity and compassion ó all these are the silent and sometimes obscure ways I fill up my tank for the journey ahead.
When I get upset or angry, disappointed or hurt, resentful or envious, it is rarely the result of a single incident (though it may have been the immediate impetus).
My responses are usually born out of the entire pattern of my life.
For me, practical charity is one of the most direct and accessible ways to build this reserve for days of need. That is why I believe the call to sponsorship is as much about the benefits to the one sponsoring as the ones sponsored.
In a very real and practical way, pulling pennies out of my own pocket is an investment in my own well-being.
During his 30 years in obscurity, Jesus was building the reserve that would be spent down so dramatically, and in such a life-giving way, in the days ahead.
By fidelity to the everyday we are doing likewise.
Awakening our hearts to love [1st Advent reflection]
‘For it is in giving that we receive’ [2nd Advent reflection]
‘God dwells within the human family’ [3rd Advent reflection]
Christmas on the practical, everyday level [4th Advent reflection] | <urn:uuid:64746959-3ebb-4bc8-aac5-3bf5cf6f2e84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.cfcausa.org/2012/12/26/christmas-reflection-feast-of-the-holy-family/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=a832ba55c5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956967 | 855 | 1.75 | 2 |
This year, our staff has been inspired by the Dan Pink, “What Is Your Sentence Video?”. Today, I was blown away by our professional development idea that was developed by our Citizenship and Social Responsibility (Character Education) team. All of our PD is developed and created by our own staff, and this is just a great example of how we are connecting it with kids.
Here is the breakdown. Our PD team prefaced the day by showing the Dan Pink, “What is your sentence video?” to staff as a reminder of the work that we have been doing. Then Lisa Aronyk shared the following reading of “Howard B. Wigglebottom Follows his Heart” by Howard Binkow and Susan F. Cornelison.
Then she asked questions based on the character in the story tying directly into his “sentence”.
This was an extremely inspiring idea by our staff because they are not only modeling their learning to staff, but they are also learning alongside the kids. It is amazing that they are developing their “sentence” alongside the students.
Inspired by this idea, we have created a wiki for people to share reading stories from around the world! This is a great way to share some fantastic stories, and have different people from different cultures have the chance to read in classrooms. We believe that this is a great way to learn about diversity in the world. If you are interested, please add to the wiki linked below:
Maybe Dan Pink could share a story with us as well? | <urn:uuid:6bf8c0ec-e16b-4ffb-900b-4f0330d3555e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/1839 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983832 | 321 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Fourteen anti-nuclear activists are facing trespassing charges after demonstrating against the relicensing of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, police said today. “There was a scheduled picketing demonstration and the organizers were given an area where they could picket,” said Plymouth Police Lieutenant Victor Higgins. “Fourteen individuals, after they were warned not to encroach upon an area, continued to walk in the area, and they were placed in custody for trespassing.”
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Contact us for help | <urn:uuid:d89eb6f2-7a8a-47c1-969b-f6a95315da67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/05/21/face-charges-after-protest-pilgrim-nuclear-plant-plymouth/mxFxJnum9tLIYWNjicDGPL/discuss.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963816 | 144 | 1.625 | 2 |
On Monday, July 9, the Bellevue City Council held a briefing on the Downtown Transportation Plan for years leading up to 2030. In an effort to ensure that access at Bellevue’s core is safe for motorists, cyclists, transit riders and walkers, Council members expressed interest in improving various intersections specifically for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The new plan looks at major projects such as new highway overpasses and streets as well as smaller projects such as lane striping, traffic signals and crosswalks.
Many of the improvements center around 112th Ave., which is part of the Lake Washington Loop route and a major bike commuter route.
Council members are considering whether an overpass or underpass for pedestrians and cyclists should be built at the intersection of NE 8th St and 112th Ave NE, which has four-direction traffic as well as on- and off-ramps for Interstate 405.
The plan also looks at east-to-west corridor improvements on Main and NE 12th Streets, and north-to-south corridor improvements on 100th, 108th and 112th Avenues NE.
See a video of the meeting, here. | <urn:uuid:a82d9014-873a-42f3-b71b-1c16c40ee70f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.cascade.org/2012/07/eastside-improvements/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970868 | 235 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Using a Magic Lens
Handwriting can be very difficult to read. When we digitize old letter or diaries (for example), we want people to see or read the original, but we know that people may not understand the handwriting. Transcripts can be effective, but are not glamorous. Last week I was introduced to an interesting way of overlaying a transcript onto handwritten text. It's called the "magic lens."
Here at the DoHistory web site, you can see a magic lens applied to Martha Ballard's diary. As you move the lens over the text, you can view the transcription.
This example from Memorial Hall Museum Online is a bit different. Here you can expand the magic lens so that more of the transcribed text can be seen at the same time.
This magic lens provides several benefits:
- Users of the site can now better understand the text because they can read it, while still viewing the original handwriting.
- It allows people who are visually impaired to better view the text. (There is also an implementation of the magic lens that reads the text to the user.)
- It is fun, which may lead users to spending more time looking at documents.
Technorati tags: Digitization, Digital libraries | <urn:uuid:ee1be7e0-d14a-4c18-a0ac-95221471b362> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hurstassociates.blogspot.jp/2006/04/using-magic-lens.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931222 | 254 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Have you given thought yet to whether you'll get a flu shot this year? These immunizations are so commonplace that they might be easy to postpone or skip altogether. In fact, a recent report shows that a surprising number of people didn't receive flu shots last year.
NBC News reported on a CDC survey released this week, looking at the demographics of flu vaccines in the United States. The report found that children age two and under had the best vaccination rates, with nearly 75 percent receiving shots. On the other end of the spectrum was the 18 to 49-year-old age group. Only 29 percent were immunized against the flu.
Even more alarming were rates of immunization in the two highest risk groups: health care workers and pregnant women. Only about two-thirds of health care workers were immunized, and less than half of expectant mothers received a flu shot.
The flu is especially dangerous for pregnant women because pregnancy suppresses the immune system, which can lead to much more serious infections and complications. In addition, mothers who receive flu shots can transfer antibodies to their unborn children. This gives babies some protection from the flu, since children can't receive flu vaccinations of their own until six months of age.
It's likely that flu shot numbers are low because of mild flu seasons for the past few years. The H1N1 swine flu pandemic was also not as devastating as originally feared. But the CDC warns that anywhere from 3,000 to 49,000 people die each year from the flu. It can still be a dangerous disease, and the virulence of flu strains is very unpredictable.
We are serious about getting our flu injections each year. Since I'm currently pregnant, I got my flu shot already. I'll be taking our kids to the pediatrician for their flu vaccinations this week. It's no small task, admittedly — my oldest son screams his head off every time he gets a shot. But my son also has asthma, so he gets very sick and usually ends up with complications anytime he comes down with a virus. I want to do everything I can to protect him from a potentially deadly flu bug. And we want to make sure our new baby comes home to a family who is immunized against the flu. It's just one small thing that makes us feel like we're keeping our children as safe as possible.
Do you get a flu shot every year? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons | <urn:uuid:0bb6167f-f693-4433-9f0b-6759562e0097> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whattoexpect.com/wom/pregnancy/0928/not-enough-pregnant-women-are-getting-flu-shots.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982033 | 503 | 2.625 | 3 |
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Dinosaur Train: Dinosaurs Under the Sea Giveaway
Embracing preschoolers’ fascination with both dinosaurs and trains, the innovative series from The Jim Henson Company features incredible CGI animation and encourages basic scientific thinking and skills while teaching about natural science, natural history and paleontology. Buddy, a preschool-aged Tyrannosaurus Rex, and his adoptive family of Pteranodons go for adventures on the Dinosaur Train to meet all kinds of dinosaurs in different eras and learn fascinating new facts about these incredible creatures. A 2010 Parents Choice Silver Award Winner, DINOSAUR TRAIN has become a hit with parents and kids alike and its game page went full steam ahead to become the most visited page on pbskids.org. The DINOSAUR TRAIN: Dinosaurs Under The Sea DVD includes eight exciting and whimsical adventures, as well as interactive games, coloring pages, a dinosaur reference guide and information for parents.
You can pre-order your copy of Dinosaur Train: Dinosaurs Under the Sea on Amazon here...
One lucky Reviewed By Mom reader will also win a copy of this upcoming release. Here is how to enter...
Mandatory Entry: Visit Dinosaur Trains website and tell me which of the characters your child enjoys (or would enjoy) the most. You must complete this entry for all extras to count.
For Extra Entries:
Posted by Kristin Jordan at 6:19 PM | <urn:uuid:8dec09db-2e17-4185-b309-60a30fb9313c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reviewedbymom.blogspot.com/2010/08/dinosaur-train-dinosaurs-under-sea.html?showComment=1282361166330 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908513 | 299 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Noise can also be attributed to static build-up on a particular antenna, from things like wind or snow or even rain. Just because one is building up static doesn't mean the others have to be.
A good DC to ground static suppression scheme can be had with some impulse suppressors. Not the Polyphaser unfortunately, they are just gas discharge and only work if charge build up is substantial making its own noise BTW. So the PolyPhaser stuff only is connected to ground on one leg of a dipole (depending on your balun type). Also DC shunts are not necessary if your tuner inductor shunts to ground (many don't) and it's actually grounded. However the idea of having arcing or high voltage running through my tuner isn't something I like (unless its coming from my transmitter). So I tend to use DC shunts anyway.
Products like the I.C.E. 300 series (now made by Morgan Manufacturing
) have an shunt inductor to ground that continuously bleeds off static, as well as the normal gas discharge tube.
Here in the NE, I always use some type of DC shunt to ground to bleed off static on my dipoles. Whether its on coax or ladder-line fed antenna systems. It does reduce the noise quite a bit for me on receive. On my ladder line, in addition to large horn gap suppressors, I also use large inductors on each leg to ground. They have a high enough reactance to be invisible at RF but pass static to ground. They are about 8" long and about 2" in diameter 16awg enamelled wire wound on teflon cores. I carefully match them and mount them carefully to avoid creating any imbalance on the feed-line. I never liked the shunt resistor method. No matter how high the value RF ends up going to ground.
Man-made noise is another thing and can usually be reduced slightly through prudent use of the directivity of the antenna, as mentioned in an earlier reply. However, if the orientation of your dipoles are similar, man-made noise sources may not be the issue here since this would show up on all the antennas on the same or nearby bands, most likely | <urn:uuid:ef95ac9a-2762-4041-9e57-e250b80f014b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php?topic=86728.msg637647 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961576 | 459 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Seven Principles to Save More Lives Through PEPFAR
February 25, 2011
In a post on the CSIS Commission for Smart Global Health Policy's blog, Margaret Reeves, a fellow at CSIS, outlines seven principles PEPFAR is aiming "to introduce into its programs to save more lives." She writes: "Articulating these seven principles is important and provides a benchmark by which PEPFAR can measure its own efforts. They will also make it easier for stakeholders such as host countries and civil society to measure PEPFAR's progress toward increased transparency, accountability and efficiency" (2/17).
This article was provided by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It is a part of the publication Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report. Visit the Kaiser Family Foundation's website to find out more about their activities, publications and services.
Add Your Comment:
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adding your comment, please read TheBody.com's Comment Policy.) | <urn:uuid:7a6152ec-8565-4319-af7c-bdf3431caaf3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/content/art60614.html?nxtprv | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917128 | 224 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Moo-ving people toward compassionate living
From Juliana Groisman - 17 Feb 2003
I am a final year Genetics/Microbiology student at Queen Mary, University of London. I am carrying out my final year project on Food Microbiology.
I am comparing organic and broiler chickens as to bacterial content and antibiotic resistance. My hypothesis is that organic chickens have more bacteria but that the higher antibiotic resistance is present in broiler chickens.
Furthermore, I am testing if there is evidence to support the theory that we could be acquiring resistant bacteria from the use of antibiotics on animals as opposed to the over use of antibiotics in humans and perhaps to establish whether organic chicken is safer than broiler.
In fact, what I have found so far is a higher bacterial load, including Salmonella, in the broiler chickens, even though antibiotics are given and they are not exposed to outside environment.
I am giving a talk on my project next week, for which I am examined on, and I would like to illustrate what kind of conditions the broiler chickens are subjected to, comparing their environment to organic.
I am writing to ask for authorisation to use a couple of pictures from your webpage. This is a small academic presentation where I will explain my project to professors and fellow students.
I would be very thankful if I could use the pictures to introduce the concern over animal welfare, which explain my findings too.
If you would like to contact my supervisor please let me know and I will send the address.
Thank you in advance.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Reply From Frank
You have our permission to use a few of the photos as you described.
Our conclusion is that health risks of eating chickens coupled with the cruelty involved in their "production" is so horrendous that we stopped eating them or their eggs over 15 years ago.
In the Love of the Lord,
Reply From Juliana
Thank you very much for your email.
I have requested information from supermarkets and found that they never show reality as it is. Your site has really shocked me. I really don't think most people realise the way chickens are treated. My grandparents have a farm and I used to collect the eggs myself when I was a kid. That was the beautiful picture of a barn I had always believed in. The reality in mass production is really rather different.
Thank you so much, the pictures will illustrate the conditions the chickens are kept in - and clearly explain my findings.
Return to Visitors' Comments
| Animal Exploitation Photo Gallery |
The calf photo in the masthead of these pages is from Farm Sanctuary with our thanks.
We welcome your comments:
This all creatures animal exploitation photo gallery is being presented to show the public the difference between the cute little animals we see in advertising and picture in our minds and the reality that exists in entertainment (circus, circuses, hunting, fishing, movie, movies, sport, sports, television, tv. TV), on farms (battery, beef, calf, calves, chicken, chickens, cow, cows, duck, ducks, dairy, egg, fish, eggs, geese, goose, lamb, lambs, pig, pigs, pork, sheep), and in a laboratory or laboratories, for medical research (cat, cats, dog, dogs, mice, monkey, monkeys, mouse, rabbit, rabbits, rat, rats, veal), photos, pictures (d-19)
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Thank you for visiting all-creatures.org. | <urn:uuid:2b4f1781-74ee-48f9-8166-954142be17f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/vc-jg-17feb03.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939965 | 772 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Since the 1990s, Finland has been a leader in exploiting information and communication technology (ICT) to reinvent its economy and to reform its public administration. It has created its own path to achieving e-government based on proactive services, data sharing, open government, protection of privacy and a common vision of an information society, while preserving the fundamental values of Finnish society. It is also committed to using e-government to reform the delivery of public services, ensuring both quality and increased efficiency.
This publication is now available in English and French through the OECD Bookshop. (electronic and print version).
Policy Brief: E-Government in Finland: An Assessment | <urn:uuid:7c7374f7-51ed-4c3f-ae19-5dd227c48596> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oecd.org/governance/public-innovation/oecde-governmentstudiesfinland.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939306 | 132 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Talking of curious things, I saw this post from a pilot in the islands today and am wondering if this phenomena is common, it is associated with TD1 so is on topic.
Quote ..... I have been flying during the time this area of weather was building so with the onboard data in the cockpit was able to see the changes occurring as I flew in and out of Cayman. One very dominant change occurred yesterday from all other days was the winds at different altitudes was so amazing and extreme. Above 20,000 ft the winds were just 10-18 knots, 20,000 ft down to 3,000 the winds were anywhere between 45-65 knots, and 3,000 ft to the surface were just 8-15 knots. I mention this because the higher winds normally occur at the higher levels and were almost sandwiched with extreme changes on both ends. Yes a bumpy ride passing through these changes, but only for a short duration.
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When in doubt, take the word of the National Hurricane Center | <urn:uuid:332caaa0-2916-49d5-a1fe-c06661bb0a7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://flhurricane.com/cyclone/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=66105&page=&vc=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97199 | 344 | 1.507813 | 2 |
As a new year began, snow stretched across the United States from California to New England. According to the National Weather Service, on January 4, 2013, 65.5% of the country was covered with snow – a dramatic rise from December, 2012’s 7.6% snow cover. The New England region was 98.2% under snow, with an average depth of 15.6 inches. The West Coast, including the California mountains, was 23.9% snow covered. But the snowiest regions were the Northern Rockies (98.5% covered in snow, with an average depth of 27 inches) and, just to the south, the Intermountain Region (99.7% snow cover, but only 9.3 inch average depth). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the region on January 4, 2013 and acquired this set of striking images which highlight the wintery scene. The top image is a false color image, created by using MODIS bands 7, 2 and 1. In this combination, vegetation appears bright green, clouds are bright white and snow appears electric blue. Where the sky is clear, the blue snow stands out in vivid contrast to the surrounding clouds, grass and tan land. A large cloud bank covers New England, as well as part of the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia. At higher resolution, bits of bright blue can be seen under cloud cover in New England and the Appalachian, indicating a cover of snow lying beneath layers of cloud. Rolling the cursor over the top image reveals a second image, which was created from MODIS bands 1, 4, and 3. Called a “true-color” image, the results of this band combination appear just as the human eye would view the scene– if eyes could achieve a sky-high view. Here the white clouds blend into white snow, making it impossible to separate one from the other. | <urn:uuid:981a308b-844f-4e3e-a6fd-501c1306c810> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=43174 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937925 | 395 | 3.53125 | 4 |
2010 Ford Fusion HybridEnlarge Photo
A couple of weeks back, I received an invite to visit Argonne National Laboratory in suburban Chicago. The lab spends a fair amount of time on transportation research--up to 10 percent of what the lab does revolves around transportation--as it looks towards the future of fuels used to power the nation's fleets.
The lab claims that is independent of automaker and oil company influence, leaving it free to make decisions based on research rather than favoring one fuel over another due to outside influence. The employees at Argonne spend a lot of time researching plug-in hybrids and alternative fuels, and they look into more than just how well those fuels work in cars and trucks--they also look at issues such as production and transport of the fuels.
For those reasons, the lab seems high on butanol, due to the fact that it is easier to transport, as well as its better efficiency over ethanol. But that doesn't mean other fuels aren't being researched.
The lab does all kinds of objective testing, using large engine labs in which all sorts of data can be measured, and also by rigging up test cars with all sorts of gear and going on test drives. The lab even goes to extra efforts to make sure the air inside the lab is clean, so that the data isn't negatively affected.
Most lab employees acknowledge that there isn't one magic bullet when it comes to alternative fuels. So they continue to research, reporting their findings to the federal government as it sets policies--such as CAFE requirements--that could affect the buying choices of the average American consumer.
Argonne's research may not get a lot of publicity, but what goes on at a series of industrial buildings located in a woodsy setting just south of a major interstate could be key in determining the what goes in your tank in the next few years. | <urn:uuid:08165994-c23c-4091-9c4c-2af0d327f67e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1049019_a-look-at-whats-cooking-at-argonne-national-laboratory | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971301 | 376 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Why doesn't the Library have a larger selection?
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Some eContent is available to libraries from this publisher. Hachette sells digital audio books and older eBook titles to libraries. New eBook titles are not available for library purchase. Popular titles include The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling and Bossypants by Tina Fey.
HarperCollins makes all of its eBooks and digital audio books available to libraries. However, as of February 2011, the publisher instituted a policy that each title must be repurchased after the 26th time it is checked out.
Some eContent is available to libraries from this publisher. Macmillan sells digital audio titles to libraries and a selection of ebooks from their Minotaur imprint (crime fiction). However, each title must be repurchased after 24 months or 52 check-outs, whichever comes first. Popular Macmillan titles not available as eBooks through libraries are Killing Kennedy by Bill O'Reilly, The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides, and Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnmen.
Penguin Group USA:
Some eContent is available to some libraries from this publisher. In February 2012, Penguin stopped selling eBooks and digital audio books to libraries. Titles that were already purchased by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh are still available in our digital collection. In June 2012 Penguin launched a pilot to sell eBooks to the New York Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library. The titles are acquired for one year and are not available for purchase until six months after publication. The program has expanded, but Penguin titles are still not available through the ebook suppliers with whom CLP currently contracts. Penguin sells some digital audio titles to libraries. Popular Penguin titles include The Thief by Clive Cussler, Chasing Midnight by Randy Wayne White and Cat's Claw by Susan Wittig Albert.
Random House makes all of its eBooks and digital audio books available to libraries. However, in March 2012 library prices for their titles increased.
Some eContent is available to libraries from this publisher. Scholastic, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, sells digital audio titles to libraries. Their eBooks, while available through one library ebook supplier, are still not available through the library ebook suppliers with whom CLP currently contracts. Popular titles include The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins and the 39 Clues series by various authors.
Some eContent is available to libraries from this publisher. Simon & Schuster sells digital audio titles to libraries, along with about a dozen of their eBooks. Popular Simon & Schuster titles include Total Recall by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult, Kill Shot by Vince Flynn, 11/22/63 by Stephen King and Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. | <urn:uuid:c67e183e-473a-474f-a9a9-c1a4618cfbcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://carnegielibrary.org/eCLP/ebooks/advocacy.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945834 | 649 | 1.515625 | 2 |
With ever-decreasing risk, you can have your fetus genetically tested, identifying an array of abnormalities. Learning that they are carrying a Down Syndrome fetus, about 90% of American women choose abortion.
And Jon was born eight months before Roe v. Wade inaugurated this era of the casual destruction of pre-born babies.Roe v. Wade has indeed protected the right to abortion, though women choosing it do so for a variety of reasons. Not regarding abortion as immoral, I think it best that the decision be available to--and made by--the pregnant woman.
If you believe abortion immoral, you might defend abortion's permanent legality while seeking to persuade women not to have them. George Will opposes legal abortion and believes Roe lacked Constitutional basis--so he'd like the Supreme Court to reverse it. Were Roe overturned, states would be able to ban abortion outright or place restrictions on it.
Will self-flatters--criticizing those who, upon learning their fetus has Downs, choose abortion. What a 'garish flowering of the baby boomers’ vast sense of entitlement'! '[T]he world would be improved by more people with Down syndrome,' says Will.
I disagree. What if science makes it easy to avoid conceiving a Down Syndrome zygote? During the coming decades, humans are going to make profound interventions into our genetic coding: People will be able to have all kinds of genetic errors fixed prior to reproducing--and indeed genetic improvements will become available.
Going forward, selected genetic interventions in the human genome will far outnumber changes caused natural selection. Human evolution--as a non-conscious process--is coming to an end.
Will believes people can't value his son while simultaneously preferring not to have Down Syndrome kids themselves. His article has been praised by pro-lifers. Deploying his Bill Clinton-supporting son on behalf of his effort to make expectant women wards of the state, arguing that America would benefit greatly from ten times more Down Syndrome babies, Will repels. | <urn:uuid:b888a630-0d1c-4a34-8c0e-cebc5ae08152> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gavinsullivan.blogspot.com/2012/05/of-down.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939314 | 414 | 1.960938 | 2 |
HASTEN TO DO GOOD
The modern man’s trouble is that he is always, perpetually in a hurry, often fruitless and meaningless. Man moves mountains with his energy. He builds and destroys whole cities within very short periods of time. But if we consider men’s energy in different countries and look at its consequences, we shall find that it does not increase goodness in the world, and at times it greatly increases evil. Struggle against evil is itself fruitless if it does not manifest true goodness in the world. Man’s life is continually growing more and more hurried. Everyone is in a rush, afraid of not being on time for something, of being late, of not finding someone at home, of missing, or failing to do something … Machines rush along through the air, along the ground and on the water, We feel and see both in technical science and in life this irrepressible, ever accelerating overwhelming rush of machines and men.
The kingdom of evil must have an end, and maybe it is not far off. As though conscious of its approach, evil doomed to perdition tosses itself about in the world; it disturbs and frightens mankind, excites its imagination, lures it on and compels men, who have not protected their hearts and minds with the cross of God’s seal, to strive unrestrainedly for the possession of more and more material goods and run after them ever faster and faster. Deafened and hustled by vanities, men are no longer able to think of great and eternal truths, the comprehension of which needs at least a moment of divine silence in the heart, at least a moment of holy stillness.
Technical science is continually increasing the rate of locomotion and of acquiring earthly goods. One would have thought, this should leave people more time for developing their lofty spirit and reason. But, no. Many souls find life harder and more difficult than ever. Man’s soul is perishing; it has not time to think of the lofty, to sigh for the truly great, to turn to the Holy. Everything whirls round and round at an ever increasing speed. How much of what men do is illusory! Instead of seeking spiritual heights and inspiration, many are obsessed by the striving to increase only material values and energies. Then these values cease to be a blessed gift of God; they are not counterbalanced by the human spirit’s striving for truth. There arises an "illusion of activity" — for man is called to activity and cannot be content without it. But purely material activity does not satisfy man, if he is mastered by it instead of being its master. If he becomes the slave of his material concern he is building his house upon sand, and his handiwork shall be destroyed. Nothing but dust and ashes remain of many proud buildings that stood up high only yesterday.
Poor man, find time for the good! But you have not time even to think of it. Every moment of your life is filled up, and the good stands at your door and knocks. It has nowhere to lay its head. Oh, if only you could invite it, even for five minutes, to come into your thoughts, feelings and desires! But "you haven’t time" … Extraordinary that the good does not understand this but goes on knocking at your conscience! Man, where is your good, where are you yourself? You have hidden from God and from your own self behind the revolving wheels of life. I tell you, hasten to do good, hasten while you are still in this world! "Walk in the light while there is light." The night will come when you will no longer be able to do good even if you wished it.
Begin first by thinking of doing good; then think of how to do it; and then begin to do it. The good is a source of light; it warms and illumines your life and the people around you. The good is the most important work in life. Hearken to the voice of God and of your own conscience. Learn to love the good before it is too late. It will be dreadful to be too late in doing good — to enter eternity and to appear before the Creator’s Judgment seat with empty hands and a cold heart.
He who will not hasten to do good, will never do it. The good requires ardour. The lukewarm are incapable of doing good. Indifference and insensitiveness seek to blind us and tie our bands and feet before we even think of the good. Only the ardent, fiery and sincere can do good. Only a man who is quick as lightning in his goodness can be truly good. And the further life develops, the more lightning-like quickness is needed for doing good. This quickness is an expression of spiritual power and serene faith.
But evil, hurry and excitement, which we find in the world, spring from an uneasy conscience, from a heart intoxicated with itself and agitated by fancies.
Evil always tries to unbridle man and then to bridle him after its own fashion. Evil would like to drive to death every soul and every nation through making them work beyond their strength in pursuit of the unattainable and always receding mirage of purely material happiness, independent of inner spiritual life … But the good gives men the wings of holy inspiration, unites them in disinterested union and leads them to the supreme joy of the world’s Creator.
Let us be good always and in everything. And let us be particularly good when we defend goodness. And let us be particularly peaceful when we call for peace. Don’t let the words of peace be accompanied by shouts of hatred. Love the sinner, but hate his doings: it is worth while to remember these words of the ancient Christian sage, Isaac the Syrian. It is only by such spirit that evil can be overcome.
Let us counteract the hurry of evil by the quickness and ardour in doing good. Let quick repentance before God after every sin — an evil deed, word or feeling — be our first kind of ardour. Let the second be quick forgiveness of our brother (but not of his evil). Quick response to every request, the fulfillment of which is possible for us and useful for the petitioner is the third kind of true ardour. The fourth is a fiery rejection of every evil and temptation. The fifth kind of ardour is the capacity of quickly observing what people around us need and of doing everyone a service, be it only a small one; the capacity of praying for every man. The sixth kind of ardour is the decision to counteract every expression of evil by goodness, to oppose to all darkness the Light of Christ, to every falsehood — God’s, Christ’s truth and not our own truth … And the seventh kind of ardour in our faith, hope and love is the power of instantly lifting up our heart — and all our life — to God, thanking and glorifying Him for everything.
From Year Book and Church Directory of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America, N.Y.
PUBLICATIONS BY ORI | <urn:uuid:68f15d3a-63fb-45c0-a589-40670e38278e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/misc/john_shahovskoy_do_good.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95726 | 1,473 | 1.554688 | 2 |
March 16, 2013
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Europe Puts Its Faith In Blanche DuBois. “Bank runs in Europe? The EU made them a little bit more likely this weekend, and as Cypriots stampede for the shrinking number of ATMs still handing out cash on the island, Italians, Greeks and Spaniards are also beginning to wonder if, with interest rates effectively at zero and confused politicians running Europe’s bank systems, the mattress might just be the safest place for their money after all.”
This haircut-to-depositors violates all the traditional thinking about avoiding bank runs.
UPDATE: Just the beginning?
Meanwhile, a reader emails: “This is pure speculation for the moment, but what would you want to bet that later analysis will show a rash of bank withdrawals by Cyprus-and-EU government affiliates and their families before the announcement of the tax on deposits?”
MORE: Here’s the soundtrack. | <urn:uuid:ebbfc985-7652-4ce5-86e1-059edab6b006> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/165066/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939199 | 206 | 1.585938 | 2 |
CE Solutions' Cost-Benefit Analysis Calculator
Cost Benefit Analysis or CBA is a relatively simple and widely used technique for deciding whether or not to make a change. As its name suggests, to use the technique simply add up the value of the benefits of a course of action, and subtract the costs associated with it.
In its simple form, cost-benefit analysis is carried out using only financial costs and financial benefits. For example, a simple cost/benefit analysis of switching to an internet based continuing education system or enhancing your in-house program with a distributed learning program measures the costs you are currently experiencing against the savings you would incur by switching.
This cost benefit analysis is an estimated savings your department would expect to achieve by switching to CE Solutions. Please keep in mind that this is an estimated cost benefit analysis based upon many factors and your individual's department savings may be greater or less. | <urn:uuid:e35e612d-6fcb-4085-83a6-d7a3071246fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ems-ce.com/cba/calculator.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955899 | 181 | 2.015625 | 2 |
I've never read aloud to my child before. Is it too late to start?
It's never too late to start reading aloud. The academic benefits of reading aloud kick in whenever you begin, whether when your child is born or in 3rd grade. One of the biggest benefits is the opportunity your child will have to learn new words and new ideas. A child's ability to read independently doesn't begin to match his ability to understand what is read until mid- to late elementary school. So by reading aloud, parents can expose their children to ideas, concepts, and vocabulary that would not be accessible otherwise. This storehouse of knowledge is critical for good comprehension. Every time you read a story, expose your child to a new idea, or talk about the meaning of a word, it's like making a deposit in your child's comprehension bank account. Wide reading not only improves a child's vocabulary, it can also improve a child's intellectual growth. Even older children (e.g., in 5th or 6th grade) can benefit from being read to when it comes to learning new words. As you read aloud to your children, define words your child does not know. Suggest words that mean the same thing and words that are opposite. Provide examples of how the word is used in other contexts and point out related words. If you do a lot of traveling by car, buy books on tape and let a professional do the reading aloud. But listen together so that you can talk about what you've heard together.
The academic benefits of reading aloud are well researched and documented, but there are also psychological and emotional benefits. Reading aloud to your children builds shared memories. When parents stop what they're doing and devote time to reading aloud, they send a message to their children that they are important and worthy of time.
It's never to late to teach any child how to read. My son just turned 9 and for the longest he had a really hard time reading he just could not grasp it so a few years ago I got him I got him into this great program called children's learning it was super effective. Now my son excels in reading and he love to do it.:) So I made a promise I'd let as many people know about this program cause it worked for me. You can check it out through my link Thank you hope it helps. :)) http://childrenlearning2read.blogspot.com
I have very fond memories of my Mom reading to my brother and I, and the memories are from when I was around 8-10 years old. Its never too late to start reading to your child! :) I have 3 children and it is our routine to have bathtime, books and snacks, then bed. If you make it a part of daily life, it will be so easy and a great bonding experience- as well as opening up new worlds to your child. I absolutely LOVE to read still, and I think its because an appreciation (and habit) of reading was instilled in me as a young child.
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any information posted by community members. | <urn:uuid:76988d5f-9e09-47be-a4cd-2e8492e19f8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.babycenter.com/404_ive-never-read-aloud-to-my-child-before-is-it-too-late-to-st_69492.bc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971652 | 772 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Reporter Janet Reitman Peers 'Inside Scientology'
In the 1930s, L. Ron Hubbard was a pulp fiction writer, best known for his fantasy and science fiction stories. But after an attempt at Hollywood screenwriting, Hubbard decided to go a different route.
In 1950, he published Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, a self-help book that became a bestseller and launched a new religion.
That religion was Scientology, and six decades since it began, much is still unclear about the church, its history and its current leader, David Miscavige, who took over shortly after Hubbard's death.
Journalist Janet Reitman spent more than five years combing through confidential papers and memos, visiting various Scientology centers and interviewing church members past and present for her book, Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion.
Reitman tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz that under Miscavige the church has grown.
"He has given it a certain mainstream appeal," she says, "[and] he's put an emphasis on building churches, expanding their physical presence."
But this expansion has not come without its costs, the author explains. Miscavige's leadership style has caused some high-ranking members, including former spokesperson Mike Rinder, to leave and form their own independent movement.
"He has made Scientology itself very rigid," Reitman says, "and within the management of Scientology, he's imposed an incredibly punitive system where people basically live in fear of him."
The Celebrity Factor
Some of the Church's most famous members are celebrities such as Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. Reitmen says these members are often subjected to a more intense form of "auditing" — what Scientologists refer to as "spiritual counseling."
"The members reveal a tremendous amount of personal information," she explains. "So that stuff is all basically filed away. The innermost secrets, the most personal secrets, are part of the record of the Church of Scientology. And, you know, would they release that information if somebody like Cruise or Travolta decided to leave and denounce the church? That I think is a credible fear."
Scientology also has been scrutinized for the way it is "militantly against" psychiatry and psychiatric drugs, Reitman says. The church has created an alternative drug-treatment program called Narconon.
"The Church of Scientology you know, sort of presents an alternative, and I'm not sure that alternative is workable," Reitman says. "I think that alternative can be very harmful depending on how far you go with it and that's what I think is threatening."
The Church Responds
When given an opportunity to respond, the Church of Scientology sent NPR an 11-page statement that began: "Ms. Reitman's book is filled with inaccuracies. It is neither scholarly nor well-researched and bears no resemblance to an "inside" story." | <urn:uuid:1425331c-4903-492a-8b5e-c9cfd3c10d1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kunc.org/post/reporter-janet-reitman-peers-inside-scientology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968787 | 622 | 1.757813 | 2 |