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As we mark the 10th anniversary of the start of the war in Afghanistan, we check in on the National Guard, which has been stretched especially thin fighting it.
Members of the Guard used to be known as “weekend warriors,” because they train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. They also help out with disaster response in the U.S.
But they also see combat– almost half of the U.S. fighting force in Iraq and Afghanistan is National Guard, and they’ve historically been involved in wars.
More statistics that were unthinkable a decade ago:
- Many National Guardsmen and women have been on multiple combat deployments
- One in 10 troops killed in action since 2001 was a member of the National Guard
- The suicide rate among the National Guard has increased
- One study found that Guard members develop PTSD 29 percent more often than active duty military
- Col. (ret.) Bob Killebrew, senior visiting fellow at the Center for A New American Security.
- Staff Sgt. J. Winkowski, Iowa National Guard | <urn:uuid:79c0b040-43b9-4ad8-b8ce-285ad52a1540> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2011/10/10/national-guard-afghanistan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970246 | 222 | 2.484375 | 2 |
View Full Version : Falling Chandelier / Prop
08-09-2007, 03:00 PM
I'm looking for an inexpensive way to drop and return a falling prop. The timer is not the issue, but some sort of mechanism / motor that can wind up, but also release it's torque so that it may then spin the reverse way by the weight of the prop.
Also looking for just an inexpensive reversible, low speed motor. That can be flipped one way to open a door, and another to close it.
Thanks for your support!
08-10-2007, 04:52 AM
IT would be 100 times easier to use pneumatics for both applications!!
08-10-2007, 08:38 AM
true, but how could that be done? considering that the prop is falling instead of rising, an air cannon wouldn't really do the trick...
what if an air cannon, mounted on the floor, was attached to a pulley system that liked the the prop. a counterweight held the prop to the ceiling, but the blast of air was powerful enough to override the counterweight. it would then automatically rerise after the air was dead.
08-11-2007, 06:45 AM
Pneumatics are not just air cannons. When I have a falling prop ( you didn't specify exactly what you were doing) I do two things, I use a long stoke double acting cylinder, one end mounted to the wall or ceiling, the other to the prop, or I use the cylinder to pull 1/4" air craft cable through pulleys, cylinder goes in pulls the cable, prop goes up, cylinder goes out, cable allows prop to drop. Give me some specifics and I will help you out more.
08-11-2007, 11:14 AM
I see what you mean, we're basically running the same idea, except you mentioned the double acting cylinder.
Check out this drawing: http://theriddleremedy.com/carrieroom.jpg
08-15-2007, 05:10 AM
Yes, that's pretty much the idea, except that you can simplify it even more by using a double acting cylinder and not having to use a weight to reset. With a double acting cylinder you will get control of the exact speed of descent, and ascent with flow controls either on the cylinder or exhaust metering fittings on the valve, and you can regulate down the pressure to only use what you need to move it at an acceptable speed (but not using pressure to control the speed, just the force). The less pressure you use the less air you consume and the less stress on your compressors.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.0 Copyright © 2013 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:ae1370ef-7454-466d-8ce5-6faf052a3066> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hauntworld.com/haunted_house_forums/archive/index.php?t-2497.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921461 | 580 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Here is a secret I read about that is allowing me to execute new techniques in tennis that are improving my game. More importantly, this same strategy might also be applicable to all other aspects of our lives.
You know I am always attempting to improve my athletic performance, especially in tennis, but also squash, ping pong, skiing, shooting, hunting, archery, etc. etc. No matter how hard I try, it is incredibly difficult for me. But also for some professionals and strong amateurs.
As I watch tennis tournaments, I see certain pros making the same weak shots over and over, even if they are not winning consistently by using those shots. Roddick does his slow slice backhand. Schiavone does her slice shots on both sides. Llodra still plays serve and volley (and gets passed constantly). And I hear the announcers—often former pros themselves—saying that it’s almost impossible to change your style, your habits, even if they don’t lead to points and victory.
By the way, I see this among adults, when it comes to their careers. Even when some actions do not lead to success or positive results, they stick to what is familiar and hope that the outcomes will be different. It may be basic human nature that serious change can only be altered by a trauma or life-threatening or economic-survival confrontations.
I recently wrote about college squash players who see a new kind of shot (from overseas) that makes many easy points, but they are unable to incorporate those shots into their games. And three college squash coaches confirmed how hard or impossible it is for their team members to adopt those new shots and use them in their games.
This week I spoke to a prep school tennis coach who said his kids were great on ground strokes, but were incredibly resistant to practicing overheads, serves and net volleys. They stay with what they do well, practicing ground strokes for hours, even though they are are just young teenagers still in high school. Already too “old” to change? The coach can barely convince his students to practice the other parts of their game.
Now I am a much older guy (I will be 71 this week) who has only been playing tennis as an adult for five years. I read, take lessons, watch videos and TV and attempt as much as possible to improve my game. I have come to accept that in spite of my new knowledge or instruction, I often can’t implement the new advice or technique.
Some challenges are remarkably easy in concept: watch the ball when you serve. The least pressured shot in the game, I think. I am totally in control, no running required, no angles or spins to return. And yet I just haven’t been able to consistently prevent my brain and head from looking over the net at my opponent’s court BEFORE I HIT THE BALL to see where it is going. So frustrating!!!
I have told myself to “watch the ball.” I read a book that told me to “watch the seams.” I recently attempted to “Look for the brand” (the printed name of the manufacturer). Sometimes I can execute one of these three necessary instructions. But not most of the time. I see those slo-mo videos of Federer and others staring at the ball until it’s left the racket long ago. I strive to enter their skin, brain and body. I scream at myself to imitate the video. But I can’t. All I can do is laugh at my bad habit.
Then I read somewhere that it almost impossible to modify an existing, ingrained habit. That is why it is so important to learn skills correctly at a very young age. That is why so many tennis and other sports stars were taught the ideal way to play their games, when they were 5-10 years old! Start later than that with bad habits, and it almost impossible to break them, modify them, get rid of them. The neural circuits are too embedded.
So what do you do? Here is the simple answer: create brand new habits. Don’t even try to modify the old bad ones. Force your brain and muscle memory to make a new circuit, a brand new way of doing the old trick. In my next post, I will describe what happened last week? | <urn:uuid:bb45b0c9-abfb-4d3c-ac4e-21d0f6cc1e40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irasabs.com/?m=201203 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972816 | 901 | 1.585938 | 2 |
New reports may emphasize disagreements between the U.S. and China, but the reality is much less dramatic.
This post originally appeared on ChinaFAQs.org.
We have been in the swirling currents of the Copenhagen climate change negotiations for over a week, attending press conferences and listening in the corridors, but now the negotiators are running out of time. Before dawn today, the BBC World News led with the story that the sticking point in the negotiations is whether China will allow intrusive review of its progress on slowing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions. Of course, the media can’t resist a food fight, and all week the press has been filled with reports of verbal missiles supposedly being hurled by American and Chinese negotiators. We’ve also seen exaggerated portrayals of the supposedly-huge chasm separating the U.S. and China on questions like whether the U.S. will provide funds to China for clean technology and the extent of monitoring and review of China’s action.
The reality is less dramatic than the claims of opponents on either side. The facts may not make as good copy, but they may make a deal. For those in the U.S. worried about sending funds to China, Chinese officials have made clear their pollution reduction commitment does not depend on outside funding. Moreover, with the rise of China’s burgeoning demand for clean technology, the U.S. may find it in its own interest to provide support for U.S. companies expanding into these new markets. The verification of Chinese actions is feasible and can be done in a way that will not be at odds with China’s integrity yet at the same time can provide confidence to the U.S. and others regarding China’s follow through. As the President of the World Resources Institute, Jonathan Lash, recently pointed out, China and the U.S. participate together in many important international agreements that include review of actions. Also, though many policy makers may be unaware of this, the U.S. has officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on the ground in China advising the Chinese government on improving its air pollution programs. Moreover, the U.S. can invest in satellite monitoring as an ultimate failsafe.
The negotiators at Copenhagen have to answer their foreign critics but also peer through the fog of attitudes at home to ensure they have solid political support. At press conferences, Chinese officials have said their position on review of their country’s actions is based on the plan for Copenhagen written in Bali two years ago. China has been reducing its energy intensity and recently announced it would reduce carbon intensity (carbon emissions per unit of GDP) by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. At this week’s press briefings Chinese officials emphasized that this target will require ambitious action, and moreover that as a developing country with many millions remaining in poverty, China should not be held to the same standards as the developed nations of Western Europe or the United States. While some in China may be questioning whether they are getting enough in return, many do recognize the need to avert the worst impacts of climate change: flooding, drought, and widespread damage to China’s agriculture and coastal cities, impacts that could undermine China’s priority of economic development. In the U.S., those who have denied the seriousness of climate change are now in retreat, but concerns remains about whether U.S. businesses and manufacturers will lose a competitive edge if we cannot tell whether China is making good on its commitment to reduce carbon intensity. At the same time, a solid majority of Americans continues to seek action to reduce global warming pollution. In both countries momentum is building for action – but the U.S. and China must act together.
One suspects that senior officials on both sides are keenly aware of the need to find common ground. The search for bridging language is reflected in the increasing use by both China and the U.S. of the word “transparency” (see here, and here) rather than words carrying the baggage of past controversy. This is a classic case of where the right words to flesh out the transparency concept can help get the right result (see Dec. 16th article: “U.S., China may be near ‘transparency’ compromise”). Not because new wording would paper over still-intractable differences, but because by getting away from language tied with previous conflicts, we can recognize that conditions on the ground in China are favorable to building a much-needed review mechanism that is impartial and non-intrusive. No doubt many readers have fresh ideas about how to do this – something that would be welcomed by the parties. In the remaining days of the Copenhagen conference, there is an historic opportunity to build a bridge between the parties over troubled waters. | <urn:uuid:940d9ab8-6dfd-4891-96f2-b1bf941678ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wri.org/stories/2009/12/china-and-united-states-bridge-over-troubled-waters | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95647 | 977 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Lead Producer and Host: Mike Brennan
Science news of the week:
New prostate cancer treatment using radioactive gold nanoparticles found safe for dogs
A planet with about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system
An organic solar cell that generates a sufficiently high voltage to recharge a lithium-ion battery directly, without the need to connect multiple individual cells in series.
September 2012 tied with 2005 as the warmest September ever recorded globally since record keeping began in 1880.
Felix Baumgartner has successfully jumped from a capsule more than 24 miles above Earth, becoming the first man to break the speed of sound in freefall
Song of the week:
Jesse Wood‘s “Danger on the Dancefloor” off his upcoming full-length album Get your Burdens Lifted.
This week’s featured stories:
Planet for Alpha Centauri Deborah Byrd and Michael Brennan talk about the discovery of an Earth-sized planet in the Alpha Centauri system, only 4.3 light-years away.
Cowboy and Indian‘s “The Dream”
Orionid Meteor Shower Deborah and Michael talk about the best time to watch the meteor shower on the weekend of October 20-21.
Thanks for listening in to your 22 minutes of science and music!
This week’s musical contributors: | <urn:uuid:adc37ee5-a387-4f80-8b32-ecebdb73a3ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://earthsky.org/space/earthsky-22-meteors-and-a-planet-for-alpha-centauri | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91046 | 279 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Welcome to the Pollution Prevention (P2) Internships Topic Hub™, a guide to basic information with links to additional on-line resources.
Background and Overview
Examples of various pollution prevention (P2) internship programs are included in the subsections throughout this Topic Hub.
Getting Started - Scope of the Program
Information to help programs interested in developing P2 internships.
Information about finding and recruiting qualified student interns to participate in a P2 internship program.
Recruiting Internship Clients
Information about selecting and recruiting appropriate host companies, institutions, and agencies as P2 internship clients.
Technical Assistance and Support
Information about how programs can provide technical assistance and support during internships.
Information about possible tasks and project deliverables required during and after the internship.
Information about the different approaches used to train student interns.
Information about various costs involved with developing and maintaining a P2 internship program.
Measuring the Impact of the Internships
Information about how the different P2 internship programs measure their environmental results.
Information about environmental measures resulting from specific P2 internship projects; also includes links to specific programs.
Acknowledges the pollution prevention experts that helped contribute to the development of this Topic Hub.
Where to go for Help
Contact information for people and organizations with expertise or involvement in P2 internships.
Complete List of Links
Lists all resources cataloged in this hub. If you know of resources relating to this topic, please let us know. We will review all suggestions and include them in the hub if they provide non-biased information not currently covered. | <urn:uuid:a8ec37ef-43bf-4031-a6c2-c4981b555b21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newmoa.org/prevention/topichub/index.cfm?page=toc&hub_id=114&subsec_id=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909101 | 325 | 1.710938 | 2 |
The San Diego Children's Museum is getting a new place to play.
The museum, situated on West Island Avenue in downtown San Diego, will be completely rebuilt on the same block. Demolition is scheduled to begin Nov. 1, and if all goes as planned, the new facility will open in early 2005.
The new San Diego Children's Museum, shown here in an artist's rendering, will feature a cafe, interior atrium, glass elevator and "saw tooth" roof structure with solar paneling.
"That gives us a little over two years" without a physical space, said Jennifer Case, deputy director of the San Diego Children's Museum, in a recent interview. "That could be perceived as a daunting or negative experience, but we chose to turn it into a positive one."
The museum isn't going on hiatus. Instead, it will begin "Museum without Walls," a roving arts program.
"We're taking what we do best -- art -- into the community," said Case.
Museum without Walls will provide hands-on art activities, educational programs and performances directly to the community through local festivals and fairs, schools, libraries, shopping centers and public facilities. Judging from its preliminary interim schedule, said Case, the museum's impact on the community may actually increase during the museum's period of "homelessness."
The museum's construction is part of a redevelopment partnership with Canadian developer Pinnacle International. Pinnacle plans to build a 35-story, 182-unit luxury condominium at the site of the current museum. Standing over 450 feet at completion, the approximately $150 million Children's Museum Tower will be the tallest residential building in San Diego. The deal gives the museum funding to cover much of the $12 million cost of its new three-story facility, to be built above the tower's parking garage.
The Children's Museum has launched a capital campaign to help fund the construction project and set up an endowment. More than $13 million has been raised to date, said Case. The museum is looking for a total of $25 million through a variety of channels, from corporate naming opportunities to individual tile purchases.
The new building will total approximately 53,000 square feet, nearly doubling current capacity. The edifice, designed by Rob Quigley, will feature a cafe, interior atrium, glass elevator and "saw tooth" roof structure with solar paneling. Also included will be a 1,920-square-foot art studio, kilns, a performance space, six indoor and two outdoor interactive galleries and a museum store.
More than 100,000 people visit the museum each year, said Case. "We anticipate that with the new facility that will more than double," she added.
While some items from the current structure will be retained for the new space, much of it will go. The museum is offering adoption options to the local and international museum communities. Artwork will be on loan or permanently placed in other museums including the Museo del Sol in Mexicali, the Centro Cultural de Tijuana and local children's museums located in Escondido and Poway. The organization is also looking to place some of its pieces in civic and retail sites.
The rest of the items will be for sale. "We're planning the largest garage sale ever," said Case.
One piece that will make the move is the museum's 1954 Ford truck. An unconventional canvas for museum visitors, the truck is a perpetual work in progress, and its appearance changes daily. Also making the move is the museum's double-decker bus from England. The bus is stocked with books from the downtown public library.
The museum's final in-house event will take place Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. "Fiesta Mexicana" will celebrate the history and culture of Mexico through art exhibits, workshops, performances, games, food and crafts. Surrounding streets will be closed to accommodate vendors.
Workshops in Aztec Codex Books, maracas, papel picado, pi-atitas and Mexican tin drawings will be offered throughout the day. Special ballet folcl-rico performances by the Tijuana-based children's group Primo Tapia and San Diego's Centro Cultural de la Raza will be showcased. Mexican-themed puppetry performances and workshops will be offered by the San Diego Guild of Puppetry in conjunction with Canticuentos Mexicanos, the Circo de Marionetas and South of the Border Tales. Also not to be missed is San Diego's own Taco Shop Poets, performing a set of original poetry.
While many of the workshops and performances are geared toward children, Case insists the museum isn't just for kids. "Because we're called the Children's Museum, most people perceive that it's for kids, but we're here to serve kids of all ages," she said. "There's grandparents or parents doing art with their kids or doing their on own art side by side with their kids."
And that interaction, she said, is what the museum is all about. "We love weaving magic like that." | <urn:uuid:b7a392d3-0cbe-42d7-8953-8c2e01cfae34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sddt.com/Hospitality/artfacts.cfm?PublicationDate=2002-08-29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953296 | 1,050 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Results from the LABS study indicate that weight loss surgery increases the risk of alcohol use disorders. This new finding, which you may hear and read about in the upcoming days on TV or in newspapers, reports results from the Alcohol Use Disorders Indentification Test (AUDIT) completed at every LABS visit. Among participants who had the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure, 7.0 percent reported symptoms of alcohol use disorders before surgery.
One year after surgery, there was not a significant increase in alcohol use disorders. However, by the second year after surgery, there was greater than a 50 percent relative increase, with 10.7 percent of patients reporting symptoms of alcohol use disorders. These results will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
As a participant in our study, we thank you for sharing such valuable information that will have a meaningful impact on patient care after weight loss surgery. If you have noticed that your alcohol intake has increased since surgery and you would like to speak to a clinician, please contact your local LABS site for more information about the effects of drinking after surgery.
The full press release from the National Institute of Health is as follows:
Weight-loss surgery increases alcohol use disorders over time
NIH-funded study sheds light on risk of bariatric procedures
Adults who had a common bariatric surgery to lose weight had a significantly higher risk of alcohol use disorders (AUD) two years after surgery, according to a study by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research consortium.
Researchers investigated alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders symptoms in 1,945 participants from the NIH-funded Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS), a prospective study of patients undergoing weight-loss surgery at one of 10 different hospitals across the United States. Within 30 days before surgery and again one and two years after surgery, study participants completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification (AUDIT) test, developed by the World Health Organization, to identify symptoms of alcohol use disorders, a condition that includes alcohol abuse and dependence, popularly known as alcoholism. Study participants were categorized as having AUD if they had at least one symptom of alcohol dependence or alcohol-related harm, or if their total AUDIT score was at least 8 (out of 40).
Among participants who had the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) procedure, 7 percent reported symptoms of alcohol use disorders prior to surgery. There was no significant increase in AUD one year after surgery. However, by the second year after surgery, 10.7 percent of patients reported symptoms of AUD, a relative increase of more than 50 percent compared to pre-surgical rates. About 70 percent of the study participants had RYGB surgery, which reduces the size of the stomach and shortens the intestine, limiting food intake and the body’s ability to absorb calories. Another 25 percent had laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery, which makes the stomach smaller with an adjustable band. About 5 percent of the patients had other, less common weight-loss surgeries.
One in eight study participants reported having at least three drinks on a typical drinking day the second year after surgery. “This is concerning, given the negative impact heavy drinking may have on vitamin and mineral status, liver function and weight loss,” said Dr. Wendy King, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
Although AUD prior to surgery was one of the strongest predictors of AUD after surgery, more than half of study participants with AUD after surgery did not report having the condition during the year before surgery. Regular alcohol use before surgery —at least two drinks per week—was also independently related to a higher risk of postoperative AUD. In addition to prior AUD and drinking frequency, patients with less social support or who reported preoperative recreational drug use or smoking before surgery were more likely to report symptoms of AUD after surgery. Men and younger adults were also more likely to develop AUD. Depressive symptoms, mental health treatment, and binge eating prior to surgery were not independently related to an increased likelihood of AUD after surgery.
“The study results suggest that clinicians should be aware of the importance of monitoring for signs and symptoms of AUD and consider counseling after bariatric surgery” said Dr. Mary Horlick, project scientist for LABS at the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
Previous studies suggesting that bariatric surgery may increase the risk for alcohol use disorders were small, retrospective and used a variety of assessment methods, according to Horlick. “This first, prospective study of AUD symptoms before and after surgery was done in a large number of people from 10 hospitals across the United States, using a validated and reliable alcohol use screening method.”
Study results will be posted on the Journal of the American Medical Association’s (JAMA) website on June 18 and presented at the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery meeting in San Diego the same day. The study also will appear in JAMA’s June 20, 2012, print issue.
The prevalence of bariatric surgery to treat obesity has increased dramatically with the use of less-invasive laparoscopic techniques and availability of additional surgical procedures. More than one-third of U.S. adults are obese, or have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, and almost 6 percent are extremely obese, defined as a BMI of 40 or more. BMI is a measure of weight in relation to height.
Although initially reserved for people with a BMI of 40 or higher, or a BMI of 35 or higher with a serious health problem linked to obesity, bariatric surgery’s effectiveness in helping people shed pounds, reverse risk factors for heart disease and, in some cases, reverse type 2 diabetes, has led doctors to consider it as a therapy for people with less severe obesity.
“These findings show that there is much more to learn about bariatric surgery and how it influences a patient’s health and well-being” said NIDDK Director Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers. “It is important that patients and their doctors be fully aware of both short- and long-term benefits and risks of bariatric surgery. We hope the LABS results will help researchers identify clinical questions that require further research, including better understanding of the risk of AUD.”
Find more information about LABS (NCT00465829) at www.niddklabs.org. The research is funded by NIDDK grants U01DK066557, U01DK066667, U01DK066568, U01DK066471, U01DK066526, U01DK066585 and U01DK066555. Additional support was provided by NIH’s National Center for Research Resources, now the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, under grants M01RR00037, UL1RR024996, and UL1RR024153.
The NIDDK, part of the NIH, conducts and supports basic and clinical research and research training on some of the most common, severe and disabling conditions affecting Americans. The Institute’s research interests include: diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutrition, and obesity; and kidney, urologic and hematologic diseases. For more information, visit www.niddk.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health | <urn:uuid:b140ff00-0e52-47b5-a192-2429459d88d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.participants.niddklabs.org/?p=440 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953386 | 1,656 | 2.234375 | 2 |
An interesting (but rather dated) discussion is going on at the GAWDS Organization Web Site that I feel may be of interest here:
Here’s the origianl post made by Jim Byrnes (Tuesday 19 Oct 2004):
Don’t use the statistics defence as a reason to exclude people from your content
I was recently involved in a discussion about whether website designers should be expected to accommodate Netscape 4 users.
The case against accommodating Netscape 4 users is invariably backed up with statistics about how few people now use this, admittedly flawed, browser. I’ve heard ‘the statistics defense’ (as I will call it) so often over the years that this latest evocation prompted me to think about why I don’t agree with this approach.
My thoughts and arguments against the statistics defence are not yet fully formed. I would welcome any feedback on the subject. It is such a common argument against accessible web design in general, that a page containing counter arguments would be a good resource for web accessibility advocates.
Examples of the ’statistics defense’:
- “We design for 17″ screens because that’s what most people use these days”
- “We assume 92dpi resolutions because most people use a PC”
- “We use IE 5 as a baseline because very few people use old browsers now.”
- “We don’t provide an alternative to our flash site, because everyone has the flash plugin these days.”
- “We don’t need to make our site accessible because it isn’t aimed at, and doesn’t get used by disabled people.”
- “We design our site to work on 600 x 800 because that’s what most people use.”
My arguments against this approach
I’ll give my conclusion first: content on web pages needs to be accessible to Netscape 4 users - and all the other user agents accessing web content. The argument that we can ignore a particular set of users - because they only make up a small percentage of our audience (i.e. they use a particular browser or a particular bit of access technology) - isn’t one web designers should be buying into. It is irrelevant whether a person is using Netscape 4, a screen reader, or a keyboard driven text only browser - the issues are basically the same; it is about accessibility of web content.
The statistics defense assumes users needs and user agents are predictable
What assumptions do many web designers make about their intended audience. e.g. what browsers do they assume they are using? what Screen size? screen resolutions, bandwidth, colour pallette? Are those assumptions based on the computer they have on their own desk, i.e., the one they are using to design the website? Probably - but is this a good approach? - probably not.
Have any of the following things changed in the past: browsers, hardware devices connected to the web, screen size, screen resolution, Markup versions? Of course they all have. Will these things change in the future? Yes - all of them. Designing for a specific configuration of hardware and software isn’t a good way of making pages future proof. Even users with the same hardware and software resize their browser windows to suit their own preferences.
A vital lesson to learn is - change is the norm: the most predictable thing we can say is that everything changes. The best chance we have of dealing with this unpredictability is:
- 1) Use standards so that sites have the best chance of working on the widest range of user agents.
- 2) Create sites that are flexible enough to deliver our content - no matter what the end user is using.
That is not to say that the presentation will be the same on every device - it won’t be. The presentation is important - but if the content isn’t accessible - the presentation doesn’t matter - because there is nothing to present.
The web isn’t paper
Cross platform/cross browser compatibility is the strength of the web - that was the problem it was designed to solve. Designing a web page is not like designing an advert or a bus shelter or a magazine page or a document to be printed on a sheet of A4; where the amount of ‘real estate’, colours, text size and so on is predictable.
To take the specific issue of access for disabled people; do we have to accommodate the needs of disabled people? Do we have perfect knowledge about their access needs? The answer to the first question is yes; in the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act tells us that we can’t discriminate against disabled people. The answer to the second question is no; we don’t have perfect knowledge about the access needs of disabled people.
10% - 20% of people in most populations have some kind of impairment: some of those impairments are not obvious: 8% of men have colour blindness (.4% women) - approx 5% pop with visual impairments - approx 5 - 15% Dyslexia. Once people get older (say over 40) their eyesight, hearing and motor skill start to deteriorate
In the university where I work we have many disabled students - not all of them are registered as disabled, but approximately 500 are.
Impairment Approximate - Numbers
- Dyslexia - 230
- Blind/partially sighted - 24
- Deaf/partial hearing - 25
- Wheelchair.mobility - 21
- Autistic or Asperger - 2
- Mental health - 10
- Unseen disability (Epilepsy, diabetic,etc) - 91
- Disability not listed - 101
- Two or more of the above - 21
We don’t have perfect knowledge about the access needs of each individual listed above - so we need general strategies to deal with this unpredictability. In terms of approach, dealing with the diverse needs of disabled students isn’t much different from dealing with the problem of making sites work on different browsers and different hardware platforms.
We have to assume that we don’t know what the end user will be using - or what their access requirements will be - and think about what this when we make design decisions. If it turns out that our content isn’t accessible on a particular browser - we need to find a workaround to solve the issue (while maintaining standards markup and accessible design). There is always an answer - even if sometimes it take a bit of time to find it.
We have to make our websites accessible because it is the law (in many countries).
In the UK we have the Disability Discrimination Act and the Special Needs and Disability Rights Act: and in a university that means we can’t discriminate against a student on the grounds of their impairement; reasonable adjustment and anticipation of students needs is required.
We can’t argue that we won’t accommodate disabled students because they only make up a small percentage of the student population. Equally we shouldn’t argue that we won’t accommodate users with particular browsers because they are part of a minority. In relation to the particular case of Netscape 4, it is legitimate to ask users to upgrade so that they get both the content and the good design - but not legitimate to argue that they won’t get the content if they don’t upgrade.
Here’s my comment: (Sat Mar 26 2005)
These are my personal feelings on the subject: There is no defense for web inaccessibility. I say we, as accessible web designers/developers, make the web accessible to everyone. We exclude no one. That is the whole point. We set a good example to others. If someone takes the time to come to my website (one that I have built), by golly, I want to ensure they can get the goods — even if it’s in black and white, even if those goods are delivered as plain old html, or even text or sound.
It’s not that difficult. Start with the html and build from there. The rest is simply eye-candy. All I have to do is make an accessible link to the content. I try to empathize with the handicapped person, whether the handicap is physical, mental, or technological, as they have a right to my content if they’ve made it as far as the internet to begin with and have an interest in my subject matter. As far as I know, the only impossibility is to make the content understandable to someone who cannot understand. I try to write clearly, but if it’s a deep subject, what can I do? I cannot make it un-deep. Statistics have been, and always will be, cited, used, and/or manipulated by someone so I can’t take that much stock in them. | <urn:uuid:9a05a750-106a-4f61-b5fb-09f66e07984e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://green-beast.com/blog/?p=22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930628 | 1,858 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Starting today, we’ll be doing a weekly trivia feature of one of the fascinating species that lives in the oceans. Today’s animal is the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle.
Kemp’s ridleys are the smallest and most endangered species of sea turtle. These turtles are usually solitary and live primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, sometimes venturing up the Eastern Seaboard.
The relatively small range of the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is one of the reasons its population has been declining. When population concentrations are high enough, females come onshore to lay their eggs arrive together in mass landings (the name of these landings is our weekly trivia question on Twitter, so answer now to win!) Eggs and hatchlings make easy prey for dogs, herons, and humans—and some cultures believe sea turtle eggs are aphrodisiacs.
Adult sea turtles are particularly at risk of drowning after being accidentally caught in the nets of shrimp trawlers and other fishermen. Adding turtle excluder devices to nets allow turtles to escape and have made a difference in turtle bycatch deaths, although these rates are still high. Oceana’s sea turtle campaign focuses on preventing sea turtle bycatch, protecting habitat, and promoting legislation that keeps turtles safe.
- Disabled Killer Whale Survives with Help from Its Pod Posted Tue, May 21, 2013
- Oceana CEO Andy Sharpless Discusses His New Book, The Perfect Protein Posted Wed, May 22, 2013
- Happy World Turtle Day! Posted Thu, May 23, 2013
- Washington Passes Legislation to Fight Seafood Fraud Posted Fri, May 24, 2013 | <urn:uuid:f88bb61e-eca3-4cfd-87f8-f922833a2a4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oceana.org/en/blog/2011/09/thursday-trivia-kemp-s-ridley-sea-turtle | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92315 | 344 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Oct. 19, 2000 PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Two Brown University computer science professors are working on a method to sequence DNA that they believe will be faster and more efficient than the technique currently used by mappers of the human genome. Franco Preparata and Eliezer Upfal are attempting to make improvements to a lesser-used method known as sequencing by hybridization. In their method, they insert gaps that act as wildcards in DNA probes.
When sequencing DNA, scientists look for the arrangement of bases (amino acids represented by the letters C,T,G and A) contained in a particular strand of DNA, which is too small to be seen under a microscope.
In the decade-old hybridization method, short sequences of DNA bases – six to 20 bases long – are used as probes to find the bases contained in a long string of DNA. The DNA to be sequenced binds to some of the probes on a tiny glass chip called a microarray.
The target DNA binds to probes that match its sequence (T always pairs with A, and G always pairs with C). Then the DNA can be detected and read. Using the information obtained from the probes on the microarray, a computer program is then used to construct the long sequence of bases in the target DNA strand. Current techniques can construct only a few hundred bases.
“What we show is that you would be able to sequence a substantially longer piece of DNA,” Upfal said. “Instead of a few hundred bases, you could do tens of thousands.”
Based on a novel mathematical insight, Preparata and Upfal have designed a new pattern for the probes on the chip. In the new pattern, some of the DNA bases in each probe are replaced by gaps that act like wildcards. The new design extracts substantially more information about the DNA than previously designed probes.
Together with the new probe design, they have also developed a new algorithm, tailored to the new probe pattern, that uses the information obtained from the probes to reconstruct the original sequence.
Preparata and Upfal want to test chemical compounds called universal bases for use as the gaps in DNA probes. A perfect universal base would attach itself to all four bases in DNA.
“If the universal bases behave closely to ideal, this is by far a superior method,” Preparata said. “It would be a fundamental change in the way of doing sequencing.”
For this work, he and a group of colleagues have received a National Science Foundation grant of $850,000 over two years. During the research, the computer scientists are designing and analyzing algorithms, and Brown biochemists are using probes that consists of mixtures of DNA bases and universal bases to test how well the mathematical models work.
“The potential power of our findings may change the way medical diagnosis is practiced,” said chemistry professor Kathlyn Parker, who is leading the chemistry part of the research. The research will also help scientists learn about fundamental interactions of DNA, which will have many applications.
The research project is unusual because it integrates biochemistry and computer science, two disciplines that don’t easily mix. “They are two really different languages,” said Upfal.
Preparata and Upfal have presented two major papers and published two journal articles on the work. Information is online at www.cs.brown.edu/research/sbh/.
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:0742222f-294d-4d7e-93e6-a5b3c1b8ec6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/10/001018215846.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947205 | 750 | 3.765625 | 4 |
--Laura Ingalls Wilder
"That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald.
English: Confucius said:”When I was fifteen, I aspired to learn. At thirty, I could be independent. At forty, I am not deluded. At fifty, I knew my destiny. At sixty, I knew truth in all I heard. At seventy, I could follow my heart’s desire without overstepping the line.”
It's difficult. I'm not struggling because it's difficult. I'm trying to do the best I can. --Anne Mette Hjortshøj
On being called the “Prince of Puke": “Why not? It’s better than, ‘He worked for his father’s company.’” --John Waters
"There's a lot of ego, greed, stupidity, and insanity. And that's a really bad combination." --Matt Groening
"...so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave." --Cheryl Strayed
"As much as anything, I miss being insulted every now and then, which is probably the Virginian in me."--Richard E. Byrd
"Form is a straitjacket in the way that a straitjacket was a straitjacket for Houdini."--Paul Muldoon
"Art is the only way I know to heal from the inside, to see the world for what it really is, beautiful and bright."--Danny Gregory
"Love is bigger than being satiated by happiness. --Derek Cianfrance
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
“When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.”
--Adrienne Rich“If you’re not sure you could love your children, please don’t have them, because they might grow up and kill us.”--John Waters | <urn:uuid:8f7cd8af-0461-4d30-a98e-19f2883dbedb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tokyorosa.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-post.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955698 | 511 | 1.601563 | 2 |
|Published:||Sep 18, 2012 6:21 PM EDT|
|Updated:||Sep 18, 2012 6:48 PM EDT|
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney isn't backing off his controversial comments about Americans who don't pay federal income tax. In a secretly recorded conversation at an expensive fundraiser, the former Massachusetts Governor claimed 47 percent of Americans will vote for President Obama because they feel entitled to food and healthcare.
But the Presidential Candidate is using an often cited, but misleading, figure.
47 percent of Americans don't pay the Federal Income Tax, but that doesn't mean they don't pay any taxes. And it doesn't mean they're beholden to government handouts.
According to a breakdown from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, 53.6 percent of Americans pay Federal Income Tax and 46.4 percent don't pay.
But 28 percent of them do pay into the Federal Payroll Tax for Social Security and Medicare.
Only 18 percent of Americans don't pay either Federal Income or the Payroll tax. Of that group, 10 percent are elderly and retired. Many retirees aren't taxed on their social security benefit. That leaves us with about 7 percent of Americans who are non-elderly residents making under $20,000 a year. But they still pay local and state taxes.
Many of those households who fall under the 47 percent don't pay Federal Income Tax because they qualify for enough deductions that their tax liability has shrunk to zero. A lot of those deductions and credits are part of the Bush Tax Cuts, which Romney wants to extend. | <urn:uuid:3cb9d156-0244-46ca-9ee1-521af227b0dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.winknews.com/Call-for-Action/2012-09-18/Who-are-the-47 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965664 | 332 | 1.945313 | 2 |
|The production of white tea is different from other tea. The leaves come from special verietal tea bushes and are not processed, but are dried and withered in the sun. Only special "two leaves and a bud" are selected with the ideal situation being two leaves wrapped around a newly developing shoot. After withering and drying, these leaves are then slowly selected and sorted out individually by hand.|
White tea is the most delicate of all teas. Using young tea leaves carefully chosen during picking, this tea is neither oxidized nor steamed.
Our white tea is from a small two acre garden in a hilly, mountainous region of the North Fukien province. The garden is approximately 3,500 feet above sea level. A delicate light green and white leaf, this tea is picked and produced in late March. Most white teas are very attractive but have no flavor. Not this one. This flashy leaf tea produces a mild sweet cup.
Please note this product is a 4-ounce bag of tea
If you choose, you may select our monthly shipment plan and conveniently receive your favorite coffee to enjoy every month! | <urn:uuid:39a66aa9-c157-49cd-b417-458178bee2a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gourmetcoffeexpress.com/whte1lbba.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955803 | 229 | 2 | 2 |
A California-based company is attempting to introduce
expert crowdsourcing to oncology to try and ensure that each
cancer patient gets the most appropriate treatment.
Commons brings together leading physicians and scientists in
each type of cancer to create an open-source wiki-style database
that will catalogue the different genomic subtypes of each disease
and show how patients are responding to different treatments.
The project is based on the hypothesis that every
patient's tumour is, to some extent, unique. Although most
cancer drugs are tested individually in large-scale clinical
trials, the majority of physicians (70 percent) prescribe cocktails
of drugs based on their individual experience and particular
genomic subtype of the cancer. By capturing, aggregating and
analysing the genomic and results data of these individual drug
experiments -- cross referencing them with the large scale clinical
trials and studies -- physicians might be able to more efficiently
find the most appropriate treatment for their patients.
Cancer Commons was set up by Jay "Marty"
Tenenbaum -- a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and
cancer survivor who founded a range of e-commerce companies
including CommerceNet and Veo Systems. He also
founded Enterprise Integration Technologies, the first company
to conduct a commercial internet transaction, in 1992. More
recently he has focused on transforming healthcare, launching CollabRx, which uses computers
to personalise cancer treatments and accelerate research (and which
powers Cancer Commons).
Tenenbaum argues that there are thousands of studies that are
published each year, with only a handful of them getting national
or international attention. Furthermore, there are hundreds of
thousands of individual "trials" being conducted by doctors (some
30,000 oncologists in the US, where the program is limited to for
the time being) who are experimenting with different cocktails of
drugs on their patients. Without one central place to store
and access these studies, scientific and clinical advancement in
this field is being artificially held back.
A major hurdle for the project is getting researchers to supply
their data to the site, rather than hold out for a career-making
article in a peer-reviewed journal. Tenenbaum is frustrated by how
little data is shared between peers and hopes that Cancer Commons
could mark the dawn of a new era of open-source science.
Tenenbaum told Wired.co.uk: "There is lots of talking in
fragmented silos, but we want to capture all of that in one place
and expedite the process through which science turns into
The first stage of Cancer Commons is to create a database where
each different type of cancer has a "Molecular Disease Model" (MDM)
-- an expert-curated reference node that catalogues the known
molecular subtypes of a particular cancer, linked to relevant
pathways, diagnostic tests, approved and experimental therapies and
current clinical trials. Each is akin to a dynamic research paper
that reflects the latest scientific, clinical and technological
advancements. A rapid submission and dissemination process allows
each MDM to be maintained online and continuously updated by cancer
specialists and moderated by editors.
The project is governed by an editorial board with an impressive
set of credentials. The 18 specialists -- chaired by George
Lundberg, former editor-in-chief of Journal of the American Medical
Association and of WebMD's online properties
and e-Medicine --
include a former FDA Commissioner, a former editor of
Science and a former president of the American Society of
So far, only one model has been created, for melanoma. It
incorporates 78,185 abstracts from research papers and information
relating to some 1016 clinical trials that are ongoing in the
field. Some 11 expert editors have been assigned to that particular
MDM, including Dr David Fisher, the head of the dermatology at
Harvard Medical School and Dr Keith Flaherty, from the department
of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Over the coming year the
plan is to create MDMs for other cancers including lung, breast,
sarcoma, and lymphoma -- each with their own experts overseeing
In order to harness the power of the MDM, CollabRx is developing
apps that tap into the data to aid decision-making. For example,
the "Targeted Therapy Finder" can be used by doctors to help
identify genetic tests that map an individual tumour's unique
characteristics, and then select potential treatments based on the
findings. By entering information about the particular tumour,
they'll be given options of tests that'll help narrow down the
particular subtype of cancer being dealt with (as categorised by
the MDM), and therefore find out which treatments are the most
promising. They can then find information about trials that are
looking for patients with that particular subtype.
The view is to develop further apps that allow doctors and
researchers to submit clinical observations and outcomes and then
collaboratively analyse them to fine-tune the MDMs. Tenenbaum would
also like to see patients report how they're responding to
treatments. He tells Wired.co.uk: "Over time I'd like the
results of lab tests to go directly into the database."
He doesn't underestimate the enormity of the task, admitting
that not all of the details are worked out yet and that the initial
MDMs will "almost certainly be incomplete and wrong in places". He
adds: "We don't pretend that we are going to cure cancer. But we
ought to be able to improve the outcomes for some patients."
Tenenbaum wants to make applications that are so compelling to
doctors that they'll have to use them to stay relevant in their
fields. "I see possibilities to slash time and development of new
drugs and improve patient care." | <urn:uuid:261b3732-bc1b-48c7-9ed5-c7eb4c1cba6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-02/01/cancer-commons | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930559 | 1,246 | 2.703125 | 3 |
The goods producing sector saw a surprisingly small rebound in output in November. A 0.2 percent rise on the month was well short of expectations and although October's nosedive was revised shallower to 2.0 percent, production was still a workday adjusted 2.9 percent below its year ago level.
A 3.3 percent monthly slump in energy output weighed on overall production and, largely thanks to a 1.4 percent bounce in capital goods and a 1.0 percent rise in construction, manufacturing alone was up a slightly stronger 0.4 percent. However, intermediates expanded just 0.2 percent and consumer goods were off 2.2 percent.
If the manufacturing PMI is to be believed, output fell in December which, with average production in October/November already 2.8 percent below its third quarter mean, hardly bodes well for the quarter just ended. As such, today's report increases the likelihood of the goods producing sector seeing a sizeable contraction and, indeed, of real GDP registering its first outright quarterly decline since the end of 2011. | <urn:uuid:67535c32-8c27-4c74-ad25-dd160b7f8730> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://calendar.econoday.com/byshoweventfull.asp?fid=457539&cust=global-premium&year=2013&lid=0&prev=/byweek.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958891 | 215 | 1.570313 | 2 |
More than half of American households have pets. Companion animals are often considered part of the family.
An elderly person may find special comfort in the company of a pet after losing a spouse or friends. The attachment may be very strong.
Not much research has been done about grief over losing a pet. The available evidence says that this grief is like any grief. It resembles the grieving of a close friend or family member.
The grieving period varies. It can go on for weeks or several months. In one study, a third of those enrolled experienced grief for at least six months after a pet died.
You should seek help when grieving interferes with the ability to function. (This applies whether the person is mourning the loss of a person or an animal.) In the study I just cited, only a small percentage of people could no longer function because of losing their pet.
Is your uncle still getting out of bed in the morning? Is he eating regularly and otherwise functioning? Then he may just need more time and understanding. He will probably navigate the grief process fine.
Is the grief overwhelming his ability to care for himself? Then it may be time for him to see a mental health clinician. Your uncle may welcome advice about how to heal. | <urn:uuid:8da62453-7d61-407a-adb3-4036a270b484> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSRNM000/31393/8469/1466751.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95923 | 255 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Why border hot-spot is Korean War relic
An artillery strike on a South Korean island has focused global attention once again on what is now one of the world's tensest flashpoints: the maritime border between the two Koreas in the Yellow Sea.
That border is the Northern Limit Line, or NLL. The name alone gives away its history.
At the conclusion of the 1950-53 Korean War, the line was unilaterally drawn by the United Nations Command as a line beyond which South Korean vessels were not to venture.
While the NLL is now considered the de facto sea border by South Korea and its powerful American allies, North Korea has always disputed it, drawing a very different line of its own.War legacy
The drawing of the NLL, with a northward curve from the land border, left in South Korean hands five islands that lie just off the North Korean coastline.
North Korea had little choice but to abandon them during the war, for while the North Korean and Chinese armies were powerful forces, neither state had a navy capable of challenging the United Nations naval units deployed against them.
These islands are now something of a strategic albatross round South Korea's neck, for the ships and ferries which supply them are literally in the gun sights of North Korean coastal artillery, anti-shipping missiles and patrol boats.
But though they may be defensively ill-sited, they do provide South Korea with a useful balcony from which to spy on the North Korean coast, and during the war, offshore islands were frequently used as staging areas for partisan operations and raids.
Today, while they have small populations of civilians, largely engaged in fishing, they are heavily garrisoned by South Korean marines - the elite of the South's tough military.
Seen in this sense, they could provide staging bases for flanking amphibious attacks into North Korea if South Korea ever takes the offensive.Newest front
From the 1960s to the 1980s, North-South clashes occurred along the land border, the demilitarised zone, and more latterly in spy and special forces missions on and beyond the peninsula, such as the bombing of South Korea's cabinet in Rangoon in 1983 and the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987.
Pyongyang's strategy appears to have changed, with a new focus on the NLL, in 1999, when a fatal gunboat clash flared in the area.
In 2002 - in an action that seems clearly to have been arranged by North Korea to coincide with South Korea's last football match on home ground in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup - another fatal naval gunfight broke out along the maritime border. There were further clashes in 2004, and again in 2009.
But the most serious incidents have occurred this year, with North Korea twice employing weapons systems that have not been used since the war: torpedos and artillery.
In March, 46 sailors died when a South Korean corvette was sunk off the island of Baegnyeong, in what a South Korea-led international investigation found was a North Korean torpedo attack.
And on Yeonpyeong on Tuesday, North Korea fired coastal artillery at a marine base - also hitting a civilian village.
Pyongyang claims that it returned fire after South Korean marines on the island opened fire first, refusing to cease even when the North protested via telephone (itself, an unusual step).
South Korea admits it was conducting a firing exercise at the time, but says it was shooting into the sea to the south and west of the island.
Those areas could well be in waters claimed by North Korea as its own. But this does not explain why North Korea decided to open fire on this date and not earlier, when similar exercises were held.Fishing ground
More generally, it is also unclear why North Korea is currently so focused on asserting itself around the NLL.
One reason may be the prizes lying beneath. The NLL area is the site of rich crab fishing grounds, with Chinese, North Korean and South Korean boats all wanting their share of the catch. For sanction-struck North Korea, marine product exports are one of its last few sources of hard currency.
With many Yeonpyeong residents reportedly saying they will not return to the island after the bombardment, North Korea may have advanced towards one of its goals, if that goal is to reduce the islands' civilian populations.
Though it is a navigators' nightmare, frequently blanketed in heavy fog, dotted with islets, and boasting a high tidal range that exposes offshore mudflats, the Yellow Sea coastline that lies broadly west of Seoul has always been a critical area for those with a strategic interest in the peninsula, for it commands the Han River estuary, which leads up into Seoul.
Early French, Japanese and American raids on Korea, designed to open up "the hermit kingdom", took place in this area in the 1860s.
The second battle of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 occurred when the Japanese battle fleet ambushed Russian warships in the port of Inchon (today the South Korean port serving Seoul). And Inchon - today spelled Incheon - was the site of Gen Douglas MacArthur's amphibious landing that turned the tide of the Korean War in 1950.
On Sunday, a US carrier battle group steams into the area for joint exercises with the South Korean navy. With the Yellow Sea regarded virtually as a Chinese lake by Beijing, these manoeuvres are certain to anger China's leadership.
If that happens, North Korea will have won some sort of victory: it will have driven a wedge between Beijing and Washington, and reaffirmed the support of its only real ally.
Andrew Salmon is the Seoul-based author of the Korean War histories To The Last Round: The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River, Korea, 1951, and the forthcoming Scorched Earth, Black Snow: The Commonwealth Vs Communism, Korea, 1950 | <urn:uuid:57b4df87-8cab-465d-8014-36270891e2fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11839284 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962159 | 1,208 | 2.9375 | 3 |
The name written in beautiful handwriting for this day is Minnie Ainley. What a wonderful, characterful name that is. We have many Ainleys in our family tree but I haven't found a Minnie so far. When I search on Ancestry.co.uk, I find an 1891 census for a Minnie Ainley, daughter of George and Mary Ainley, 4 years old, living in Headingley with Burley, Leeds. This is the same area that my Ainleys all lived in so I assume that Minnie was one of these.What substantiates this is that on the census, she has a sister called Florence. Florrie Ainley has previously cropped up in the Golden Text Book.
Written twice in different handwriting for this date is the name Richard Avison. Richard does not appear on my existing family tree. When I search on Ancestry, I can see several Richard Avisons for the 19th century in Yorkshire - Gomersal, York and Leeds. I assume he was a family friend. | <urn:uuid:49e005af-6ee4-45b3-8a49-65aa8eb526aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://intheshadeofmyfamilytree.blogspot.com/2011/08/important-dates-30th-july-7th-august.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969923 | 211 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Catalina Camia, USA TODAY
The Senate on Wednesday is holding its first hearing on ways to reduce gun violence since 20 Connecticut students were killed in a December mass shooting.
President Obama proposed a new ban on assault weapons, background checks on gun buyers and limits on ammunition magazines.
Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman shot in the head in 2011, started the Judiciary Committee hearing by urging Congress to "be bold" and to do something to reduce the number of children killed by violence. Our live coverage begins here:
11:02 a.m. LaPierre says "proposing new gun laws, while failing to enforce the thousands we already have, is not a serious solution to reducing crime."
"Law-abiding gun owners will not accept blame for the acts of violent or deranged criminals. Nor do we believe the government should dictate what we can lawfully own and use to protect our families," the NRA chief says.
11 a.m. LaPierre says NRA does more "than anyone else on teaching safe and responsible gun ownership." He explains former congressman Asa Hutchinson's role in developing a school safety program. "It's time to throw an immediate blanket of security around children," he says.
10:58 a.m. Now up, Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association.
10:57 a.m. Trotter calls for "sensible" enforcement of the gun laws already on the books. "Instead of self-defeating gestures, we should address gun violence based on what works," she says. "For women, the ability to arm ourselves is even more consequential than for men. Guns are the great equalizer."
10:54 a.m. Now testifying: Gayle Trotter, a lawyer and senior fellow at the Independent Women's Forum. She talks about violence against women and research on concealed carry laws. "Armed security works," Trotter says.
10:53 a.m. Giffords just sent a tweet, quoting from her husband's testimony: "The breadth and complexity is great, but it is not an excuse for inaction."
10:46 a.m. Now testifying: James Johnson, chief of Baltimore County (Md.) Police Department. He says law enforcement leaders back Obama's approach to reducing gun violence. "I'm here today to tell you we are long overdue in strengthening our nation's gun laws," he says. Johnson calls for background checks and says law enforcement groups support the assault weapons ban proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Johnson also says states need help dealing with gun trafficking across state lines. He says high capacity ammunition magazines are not necessary for hunting.
10:42 a.m. Now testifying: David Kopel, a professor at Denver University's law school. He's going through the history of congressional statutes on guns. "Universal background checks should be available," Kopel says. "Mandating universal checks can only be enforceable if there is universal gun registration."
10:39 a.m. Kelly says Congress should close the gun show loophole and enact a tough federal gun trafficking statute. Kelly says Congress should not look to ideology but try to compromise.
10:35 a.m. "We believe in the Second Amendment. We take that right seriously and we would never give it up. But rights demand responsibility and this right does not extend to terrorists...to criminals ...to the mentally ill. When dangerous people get dangerous guns, we are all the more vulnerable," Kelly says.
10:33 a.m. Kelly says he and Giffords "aren't here as victims. We're speaking to you today as Americans. We're both gun owners and we take that right and the responsibilities that come with it very seriously."
10:32 a.m. First witness is Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut and Giffords' husband. The couple have founded Americans for Responsible Solutions, a PAC aimed at reducing gun violence.
10:27 a.m. Grassley criticizes executive actions taken by Obama to reduce gun violence, saying there is not enough detail provided about the specifics of each move. He also says they could have been issued before Newtown.
10:24 a.m. Grassley says any discussion about what to do needs to include focus on mental health. He also condemns violent video games. "Banning guns based on their appearance does not make sense," Grassley says about proposed assault weapons ban. He also questions limit on ammunition magazines.
10:21 a.m. Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, is now speaking. He says no one will ever forget where they were when they learned about the "evil act" that happened at Newtown. "Clearly violent crimes and those who commit them are a plague on our society," he says.
10:20 a.m. Leahy says he hopes hearing will build consensus around "common sense solutions." He urges the new 113th Congress to act in a bipartisan fashion -- something that has been missing in recent years on Capitol Hill.
10:17 a.m. Leahy says "Americans are looking to us for solutions and for action."
He says it is a "simple matter of common sense" to plug loopholes in the law dealing with background checks for gun owners.
"The Second Amendment is secure and will remain secure and protected," Leahy says.
10:15 a.m. Leahy begins his opening statement, saying "America's heart was broken" on Dec. 14 when 20 children and six educators were killed at Sandy Hook school in Newtown, Conn.
"I hope we can forgo partisan recrimination. It's too important for that. We should all be here as Americans."
10:12 a.m. Giffords is speaking haltingly, slowly enunciating her words. "This is an important conversation for our children," she says. "Speaking is difficult but I need to say something important Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. ... It will be hard but the time is now. You must act. Be bold. Be courageous. Americans are counting on you. Thank you."
10:11 a.m. Leahy lays down the rules for the hearing, asking for respect on this "serious subject." Capitol police will remove anyone who is disorderly. "We're going to hear a lot of different perspectives on gun violence," he says.
10:09 a.m. Giffords and Kelly are being escorted to the witness table by Leahy and Grassley. The photographers are snapping away.
10:01 a.m. ET Before the hearing, Giffords sent out a tweet thanking Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, "for starting this conversation." | <urn:uuid:5b0df28a-7960-4897-abac-0edd955e33cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.digtriad.com/rss/article/266250/175/Senate-Begins-Hearings-On-Gun-Violence-Prevention | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967716 | 1,398 | 1.90625 | 2 |
On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court struck down a provision of the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 that made it a federal misdemeanor to lie about being the recipient of a military award for valor.
Veterans’ groups mostly condemned the decision. Some in Congress said they would introduce new legislation to penalize fakers who pretend to have earned decorations like the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for heroism.
One reporter wrote that veterans were “seething.” Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander-in-Chief Richard L. Denoyer said in a press release, “Despite the ruling, the VFW will continue to challenge far-fetched stories, and to publicize these false heroes to the broadest extent possible as a deterrent to others.”
Xavier Alvarez, was one of the first people prosecuted for violating the Stolen Valor Act. Alvarez falsely claimed to have been both a Marine and a Medal of Honor recipient. He never served in the armed forces.
The two federal appeals courts that have considered the issue have come to different conclusions. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down the law in Alvarez’s case. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the law in the case of another false claim of military valor.
Some justices said they worried that upholding the Stolen Valor Act could lead to other limits on speech. | <urn:uuid:7eee041b-10f6-4453-adfe-2f85491193db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.militarytrader.com/military-trader-news/supreme-court-kills-stolen-valor-act | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961098 | 300 | 2.234375 | 2 |
New Zealand does not have an explicit policy to accept people from Pacific island countries due to climate change. Stories circulated in the media stating that New Zealand has an agreement with Tuvalu to accept people displaced by rising sea levels due to climate change are incorrect. The Government of Tuvalu has acknowledged that there is no such agreement with New Zealand. New Zealand has no such arrangement with any other Pacific Island country.
Where the confusion has arisen is that New Zealand immigration policy does allow for a limited number of people from Pacific Access Countries (PAC quota countries: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Tuvalu) to gain residency in New Zealand. Tuvalu has 75 places allocated annually for Tuvaluan citizens within the PAC Quota. However there is no link between the PAC quota and climate change. Instead, the quota reflects New Zealand's long term commitment and links to the region and is designed to assist people from these countries gain residency visas to live and work in New Zealand.
New Zealand recognises that climate change poses
a significant threat for our neighbours in the
Pacific, including the many small island developing
states that are most vulnerable to its impact.
The New Zealand Government’s efforts are
focused on providing a range of assistance to support
Pacific-identified priorities in addressing climate
change. New Zealand has made a voluntary commitment
of NZ$5 million per year to assist with climate
change projects in developing countries, and much
of this is directed to the Pacific, including through
NZAID’s Pacific Regional Environmental Programme. | <urn:uuid:27447253-cf10-4d3c-bac9-8f9881c6d67b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Foreign-Relations/Pacific/NZ-Tuvalu-immigration.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959096 | 320 | 2.453125 | 2 |
We inherited it from my wife’s grandfather who taught telecommunications at the Post Office’s training college, in the days before BT. If anyone knows more about the booklet I’d love to hear from them.
The author of ‘No Idle Words’ is uncredited, but their sound advice still holds more than 60 years later. Compare their watchwords with those of GOV.UK:
|GPO 1951||GOV.UK 2012|
Much of it is timeless good sense, but more than that, the tone seems to chime with the specific spirit of our own age. The GOV.UK people already have a sense of that aesthetic, noting the pioneering influences of the Festival of Britain and Margaret Calvert’s road signage system.
I reckon the Post Office booklet shines a different light on the period, though.
The year of publication marked the fag-end of George VI’s reign and the start of Winston Churchill’s disappointing second term.
From the first word of the title onwards, much of ‘No Idle Words’ is devoted to the negative. Despite the superficial appeal of the call to clarity, the writer’s overriding objective is to save time and cost by fobbing off and ticking off staff and the general public more quickly and directly.
For example from page 15:
I am sorry we cannot at present give you the telephone service you have asked for. The Post Office is alive to the difficulties and incovenience caused by the present shortage of telephones, and is doing what it can to improve the situation. You will be advised as soon as there is a definite prospect of giving you service and in the meantime, it would be a great help to know if you change your address or if you wish to cancel your order.
These are the words of a post-”KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” society. However you put it, there is no glory in telling someone they cannot have a telephone. In an austerity administration all ambition is gone. What remains is for the civil servant to deliver bad news with good grace. | <urn:uuid:056f03b8-cc1f-46da-8114-301ad490d4b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://matt.me63.com/2012/02/10/no-idle-words-a-style-guide-for-the-age-of-austerity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951676 | 439 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Honor killings, forced marriages and divorce are just a few of the ways shame is destroying lives in Syria. There is also suicide when the shame becomes too much to bear, such as the story on our map telling of a girl in Latakia who reportedly killed herself by jumping off a balcony after rape.
But the concept of honor is failing Syrian women in another way.
"What I always think about is how women have tried to persuade the perpetrators not to attack them by asking to think of them as their sisters," said one of the Syrian researchers on our mapping project.
"In Arab culture, a real man will protect his sister at any price. He is expected to take revenge if someone dishonors her. His sister is his responsibility even if she is married because blood relation is stronger than marriage. The women were appealing to whatever remnant of manhood and Arab honor these attackers might still have. Unfortunately, they had none."
The unending "dishonor" and manipulation of Syrians through sexualized violence is committed by all sides, although the majority of our reports indicate government perpetrators. It is creating an entire nation of traumatized people: not just the survivors of the acts, but their children as well.
It is time to stop it all. There are measures the world can take to bring these horrors to an end. Shame should never fall on victims, but should be used to compel Russia to join a U.N. Security Council call for the Syrian government's alleged crimes to be referred to the International Criminal Court.
Governments can help humanitarian groups that offer medical and psychosocial services for survivors. Syrian women's rights organizations are already taking action to combat and respond to gender-based violence, including organizing family-based care for displaced children of survivors. The international community can and should support Syrian civil society in this work.
Shame is a powerful feeling that causes retreat. It causes us to lower our heads and look away. But we have a chance to lift up the survivors of sexualized violence in Syria and honor them by paying attention, by caring enough to bring their suffering to an end, by telling them that we do not accept the violence against them.
Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.
Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion. | <urn:uuid:c41ea143-b437-49ac-8141-6d1ec59bc213> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wpbf.com/news/nationalnews/Wolfe-Rape-shredding-Syria-s-social-fabric/-/8788944/17661698/-/item/1/-/ov6tp4/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975938 | 464 | 2.703125 | 3 |
The Weimar cantata for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity, BWV 163, used Christ’s metaphor about money in the reading from the 22nd Chapter of Matthew as its central theme. In Cantata BWV 139 the Gospel is less directly influential upon the text. The Epistle from Philippians particularly the rejection of earthly things for the world of heaven, is the main argument. Much of the cantata text although verbally quite emphatic is rather gentle in tone, even the alto recitative that speaks of the wolves’ anger is fairly mild in tone. The last aria, finally takes up the tone of the words and is something indeed very violent.
The chorale tune is, like “Liebster Gott’ and”Mache dich mein Geist bereit” a rather recent chorale. It is a nice melody but rather bland in character. Bach makes up for the lack of profile by writing an orchestration of unusual richness. This richness is achieved not by a particularly colorful combination of instruments but by the fact that all of the lines are almost without exception never doubled. The scoring is for two oboes d’amore and strings. It is likely that a flute, probably doubling the chorale tune is lost. In any texture like this Bach almost invariably will double the oboes and the strings, with occasional passage of independence for each set of instruments. Here from the outset, there is a five voice (2 oboes,2 violins,and viola) texture above the continuo. Even with the entrance of the chorus, the orchestral parts usually remain independent. This gives a lush rich singing texture. The chorale tune itself is pitched rather low in the sopranos. Not only a flute at the octave, as in BWV 101 and 78, would help it be heard, but maybe a horn doubling is missing also. The cantata survives only from an incomplete set of parts in Leipzig, no score has been found. The clue to the warm and gentle character can be found in the opening two lines that plead for the soul to abandon himself with childlike trust. All of the later lines about sin and the devil go uncharacterized.
From the outset it has been known that one obbligato is missing from the tenor aria #2. The Bach scholar Robert Levin thinks that there are two missing obbligati and has written a reconstruction with two additional parts, The work as it comes down to us is a light-hearted da capo aria with much agreeable fortspinnung in both the voice and the one remaining violin part. It may seem unfair to judge the work in its incomplete state, but it doesn’t seem to go very deep. The alto recitative declaims its rather hair-raising text with a strange calm. The explosion that happens in the bass aria is therefore all the more surprising.
The aria #4 is one of the most structurally inventive things in all of Bach. In fact in every way the work is sui generis. We are used, in this Bach’s most creative period, to startling innovation, but nothing before has prepared us for this piece. The orchestration is unusual. The two oboes d’amore play a clangerous and jarring dotted rhythm figure in unison against that the solo violin plays agitated arpeggios. The continuo plays a dotted rhythm figure but twice as fast as the oboes. The oboes in unison create a special wailing sound that is almost like a human cry. The violin clearly is illustrating the “hundredweight chain” of the text. As unusual as the scoring is it is the structure that is unique. There are three tempi. The first is an allegro 4/4. This goes segue into a vivace 6/8 with the eightth note unit remaining equal. The third tempo is a 4/4 andante approximately half the speed of the allegro. There are eleven tempo changes in the aria. The over-all effect is that of a dacapo with the andante with allegro interludes functioning as the B section. But the actual da capo is quite irregular and containing many more vivace episodes than the first A section. The overall effect is chaos and pandemonium. The racheting of up of the tempo in the transition between the 4/4 allegro and the 6/8 vivace is terrifically exhilarating . This is an aria that got the notice of the very first Bach scholars, Spitta writes excitedly about it. The soprano recitative reverts to the beginning strange calm, and the cantata ends with a rich, unusually beautiful harmonization of the chorale melody. | <urn:uuid:0b808355-f899-48ef-8a53-a6d2e9d8dfc7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.emmanuelmusic.org/notes_translations/notes_cantata/n_bwv139.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94421 | 993 | 2.125 | 2 |
Satori laser currently donates 15% of our profits to various charities that help people all around the world.
We are currently donating to the following charities:
International Rescue Committee
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities to restore safety, dignity and hope, the IRC leads the way from harm to home.
Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides independent, impartial assistance in more than 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. MSF also reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols.
In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
The mission of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation® is to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime by providing critical funding for innovative clinical and translational research at leading medical centers worldwide, and increasing public awareness about good breast health. Currently, over 90 cents of every dollar donated goes to breast cancer research and awareness programs.
International Animal Relief | <urn:uuid:e9c1cad1-e533-440d-b866-637ed8150aee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://satorilaser.com/charities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913333 | 300 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The Flat-Footed, Beaver-Tailed, Duck-Billed Platypus
The duck-billed platypus has been a mortal enemy of evolution since it was first discovered in 1797. When this marvelous animal was sent to England, scientists believed that it was a fraud concocted by Chinese taxidermists (see Ham, 2002, p. 126), because of their reputation for sewing various parts together to create an assortment of unusual animals. After the initial discovery of the platypus, it was introduced to the public as Platypus anatinus by George Shaw. This name would not last, though, because a scientist by the name of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach changed its name to the “paradoxical bird bill,” or Ornithorhynchus paradoxus (see Wendt, 1959, pp. 253-254). After arguments between these two men over the name of the platypus, they finally came to an agreement: they would call it the “duck-like bird-bill,” or Ornithorhynchus anatinus.
Why was there so much controversy over what this animal actually was? And why was its name so peculiar? The anatomy of this amazing creature reveals some of the answers. In a book titled The Variety of Life, Colin Tudge wrote:
The Prototheria contains just one living group, the order Monotremata, which nowadays is represented only by the duck-billed platypus and two species (in two genera) of echidna; creatures that lay eggs, and keep their new-hatched young in a pouch (2000, p. 437. emp. added).
Taxonomists have been forced to place the duck-billed platypus in its own order because it does not belong anywhere else. Robert W. Faid explained why this is so:
The bill of the platypus is like a duck’s bill. On each foot there are not only five toes, but webbing which makes it a cross between a duck and an animal which has to scratch and dig. Unlike most mammals, the limbs of the platypus are short and parallel to the ground. The external ear is only a hole without the ear lobe which mammals usually have. The eyes are small. The platypus is nocturnal. It catches its food under water and stores the worms, snails, grubs, etc, in cheek pouches like those of a squirrel (1990, p. 111).
Evolutionists are astounded at the myriad of varying structures found on the duck-billed platypus. Its beak would imply a close relationship to ducks; its tail might place it with beavers; its hair is similar to that of a bear; its webbed feet imply that it would be an otter; and its claws are the likeness of a reptile’s. God’s hand must have been behind such diversity, because evolution certainly wasn’t!
The physiological diversity of the platypus is just as intriguing. Spurs located on the hind legs of the platypus produce venom. This poison is nearly as deadly as most venomous snakes! This would make it the world’s only venomous animal with fur (see Faid, p. 112). Stuart Burgess, in his book Hallmarks of Design, pointed out: “The platypus goes on to feed the young with milk like a normal mammal. However, the platypus, unlike any other mammal, does not have feeding nipples but milks seeps out of pores in its skin!” (2000, p. 111). Nipples are the means by which mammals feed. The platypus defies this rule with pores as a means of feeding its offspring. These functions of the platypus are paradoxical if you look at them from an evolutionary taxonomic point of view. From a creationist standpoint, though, it seems much easier to explain why God would create something so diverse.
The fossil record also testifies to the fact that the platypus is a genuine creature, not having evolved from a common predecessor. Scott M. Huse wrote:
There are several good reasons for rejecting the evolutionary interpretation of the origin of the platypus. A few of these reasons include: (1) Platypus fossils are exactly the same as modern forms. (2)The complex structures of the egg and milk glands are always fully developed and offer no solution as to the origin and development of the womb or the milk. (3) The more typical mammals are found in much lower strata that the egg-laying platypus. Thus, the duck-billed platypus appears to be a distinct kind of animal in and of itself that has been specifically designed to include a mixture of traits (1997, p.149, emp. added).
Evolutionists cannot explain the anatomy of the platypus; they cannot explain its physiology; and they cannot explain it by evolutionary processes. It is evident that the platypus holds evolutionary scientists in perplexity because of its diverse nature. This creature can be explained only by God’s guiding hand.
Burgess, Stuart (2000), Hallmarks of Design (Epsom, Surrey: Day One Publications).
Faid, Robert W. (1990), A Scientific Approach to Christianity (Green Forest, AR: Leaf Press).
Ham, Ken (2002), Did Eve Really Have an Extra Rib? (Green Forest, AR: Master Books).
Huse, Scott H. (1997), The Collapse of Evolution (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books).
Tudge, Colin (2000), The Variety of Life (Great Clarendon St., Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Wendt, Herbert (1959), Out of Noah’s Ark, trans. Michael Bullock (Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press). | <urn:uuid:9f4857c0-2680-4506-bb4b-0746597be57b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=997&topic=328 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951473 | 1,231 | 3.875 | 4 |
Prime factorization is the process of breaking down a number into its prime factors.
Ok, let's break that statement down:
How to Do It
Here's a nice way to visualize factors: a factor tree. Start by finding any factor of the number at top. Circle the factor if it's a prime number. That branch ends right there. Otherwise, keep factoring each branch down until all of the branches end in circles (that is, prime numbers).
You can check your answer by multiplying all the prime factors together. | <urn:uuid:bdcd3cb6-4750-491c-88a3-ad854428d7b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shmoop.com/basic-operations/prime-factorization.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931475 | 109 | 3.625 | 4 |
Tithe & Offering
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship." -Romans 12:1 (NIV)
We believe that "the Christian life is an offering of one's self to God. In worship the people are presented with the costly self-offering of Jesus Christ, are claimed and set free by him, and are led to respond by offering to him their lives, their particular gifts and abilities, and their material goods."
Also, the offering of material goods in worship is a corporate act of self-dedication in response to God. It expresses thanksgiving to God, the giver of life and all goods, the redeemer from sin and evil. It is an affirmation by Christ's disciples of;
1. our commitment to be stewards in all creation.
2. our responsibility to share the Word with and to care for all people,
3. our desire to share God's gift with those whom believers are bound in the Church universal, and
4. our common bond in the body of Christ.
Giving is a personal matter. You should give cheerfully out of love for God who has given you everything (2 Corinthians 9:7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.)
There are many programs and services of the church that need your support, such as teaching our children and youth, family nights, missionary support, just to name a few. Pray about it and then step out in faith knowing that His work is being done. God will provide the resources by using His people as tools to complete that work. | <urn:uuid:c8edca40-2382-498a-b4c8-95d45b9d8b85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gracechurch2.businesscatalyst.com/giving.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97099 | 372 | 1.546875 | 2 |
The Leadership Conference is working diligently to see that Tom Perez is confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Labor. Perez is an eminently qualified public servant and consensus builder who has dedicated his career to ensuring that all individuals are treated fairly and have the opportunity to succeed. He has served with integrity and distinction at the local, state and national level, compiling an outstanding record of achievement.
Planning a Small Educational Gathering
Educational events don't all have to be large productions. In fact, you might want to start with small gatherings where organizational and community leaders and other individuals could learn about the importance of the census and ask questions they might not feel comfortable asking in a large public setting. You could do something as simple as inviting a few people to your office for a brown-bag lunch.
Intimate settings where people feel free to raise concerns and questions can also be a good way for you to find out what kind of challenges you might face in the broader community and identify priorities for educational materials and messaging. You might also identify people you might want to recruit as leaders for other aspects of your outreach campaign.
Consider easy ways to integrate small educational events into your existing programs and activities. If your organization offers after-school programs, leadership training, health or wellness classes, financial literacy programs, etc., you could introduce information about the census in one or two of those already-scheduled sessions.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund can provide you with materials for educational events. In addition, the Census Bureau has created a Census in the Schools Curriculum as well as fact sheets about the way the census affects health care and other issues, and the ways that different groups can get involved. | <urn:uuid:afbfb747-a19d-49c5-b069-ce5dd9ccf89a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.civilrights.org/census/outreach/educational-gathering.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971427 | 343 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Gmail provides a storage capacity of more than 7538 megabytes and counting. This amount is more than the amount provided by other sites. Such as Yahoo! and Hotmail.
This means that users can save up to thousands of electronic mail. Until now, Gmail is an email with the largest capacity.
Gmail also apply Google’s search technology that allows users to find something from their email. Gmail also displays ads that are based off of emails that users receive. The ads were shown to the user’s Gmail and not sent to an external address. | <urn:uuid:a767693a-3ca2-4b6e-b2bf-1d3c28d9ff8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freevectorlogos.org/gmail-by-google-vector-logo-download/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953366 | 116 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
versión impresa ISSN 0037-8682
LOPES, Luiz Antonio Bueno y SILVA, Edina Mariko Koga da. Biological, behavioral, and socioeconomic factors associated with death from AIDS in Brasília, Brazil, in 2007. Rev. Soc. Bras. Med. Trop. [online]. 2012, vol.45, n.4, pp. 448-452. ISSN 0037-8682. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0037-86822012000400006.
INTRODUCTION: In the jurisdiction of Brasília, Brazil, significant reductions in mortality rates and lethality resulting from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were observed shortly after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy. In recent years, however, the decline of these rates has not been as significant. Non-adherence to treatment and delayed diagnosis appear to be the main factors that increase the risk of death from AIDS. Behavioral, socioeconomic, and biological factors could also be associated with increased risk of death due to AIDS. This study aimed to identify which of these factors were associated with deaths from AIDS in Brasília. METHODS: A case-control study was undertaken using the data recorded in the Information System of Notifiable Diseases. Cases consisted of AIDS deaths occurring in 2007, residing in Brasília, and over 12 years of age. Controls consisted of AIDS patients who did not die until December 31 2007, also residing in Brasília, and over 12 years of age. For each group, frequency and proportion tables for the variables were prepared. The statistical association of each factor in isolation with the occurrence of the deaths was verified through a model of multivariate analysis using logistic regression. RESULTS: The factors that were associated with an increased risk of death were intravenous drug use, age 50 years or more, and residing in a region whose residents have low per capita income. CONCLUSIONS: We identified factors associated with death due to AIDS that can guide health planning.
Palabras llave : Mortality; Lethality; Drug users; Age distribution; Socioeconomic factors. | <urn:uuid:e5757998-bc4f-4e72-bdb5-46be802218b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0037-86822012000400006&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944517 | 462 | 1.9375 | 2 |
At first glance, a gecko skittering up a wall and a flat-screen television attached to the same wall have little in common.
But researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have made the connection.
First they showed the previously unappreciated role of geckos' tendons and bones in the little lizards' ability to climb up walls without slipping. Then they used that knowledge -- plus a large helping of human ingenuity -- to create an adhesive device that can hold the television securely on a wall.
"Our 'Geckskin' device is about the size of an index card and can hold a maximum force of about 700 pounds while adhering to a smooth surface such as glass," said Alfred Crosby, associate professor of polymer science and engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
To produce it, Crosby added, "We focused on the properties and attributes of the gecko: high capacity, easy release, reliability, and the ability to stick to a variety of surfaces."
"This is definitely an important contribution," said Metin Sitti, professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and an expert on small-scale locomotion and manipulation, who did not participate in the project.
Crosby carried out the research with his doctoral candidate Michael Bartlett and biology professor Duncan Irschick, with support from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency.
Scientists have long recognized that so-called van der Waals forces, which produce weak electrical attraction among molecules, cause adhesion between tiny hairs in geckos' toes, known as setae, and vertical surfaces on which the geckos climb.
However, efforts to apply that process on a large scale have had limited success. Scotch tape gains its stickiness through the van der Waals forces.
"But you can't make the forces stronger," Crosby said. "People have tried to produce artificial setae," Irschick added. "But they don't scale up effectively."
To develop a different approach, the UMass team studied the large-scale structure of geckos' feet.
Expanding on research by University of Calgary biologist Anthony Russell, the team discovered how tendons, bones, and skin work together to produce the easily reversible adhesion that causes a gecko's feet to stick to a wall briefly and then release from it as the tiny lizard moves up, down, or sideways on the wall. The process works in large part because of the role of the tendons. In most creatures, tendons connect bones to muscles.
"But in geckos' feet, uniquely, the tendons stretch from bone into skin," Irschick explained.
The group used that knowledge as the basis of an adhesive system stronger than any relying on van der Waals forces.
"We wanted something that would cover a large area and would become increasingly stiff," Crosby recalled. "But those demands are contradictory."
Scotch tape, for example, covers a large area, but is soft and thus unable to hold significant weight. The geckos' anatomy suggested that the team could overcome the contradiction by using a specially treated fabric. A fabric can be both soft and stiff. A tablecloth, for instance, can drape over a table and conform to the shape of anything underneath it while remaining stiff if you try to pull it. For their Geckskin, the researchers mimicked the anatomy of geckos' feet.
"We took a fabric, put a bit of rubber around it, and sewed another piece of fabric -- the 'tendon' -- into that 'skin'," Crosby explained.
Since the fabric is stiff and the rubber soft, the combination yields a stiff but flexible system that drapes over a large surface area, permitting maximum contact and adhesion.
Geckskin's strength does not apply in all directions. While it is almost impossible to move it along any surface on which it is mounted, Crosby said, "a gentle peel from one edge allows it to be effortlessly removed from the surface on command."
It can be removed and stuck onto another surface as often as needed without leaving any residue or losing adhesive strength.
The team has used a variety of ingredients for the rubber component. In particular polydimethylsiloxane, a component of silly putty, holds the promise, in combination with fabric, of developing an inexpensive, strong, and durable dry adhesive.
The researchers also tried a variety of fabrics.
"Those with the greatest load capacity use the fibers such as Kevlar and fiber-based fabrics that are most stiff," Crosby said.
According to Crosby, Geckskin stacks up well against current commercial adhesives.
"The force per area is definitely higher than all the pressure-sensitive adhesives," Crosby said. "The combination of high force and user release is not there in available adhesive systems. And unlike Velcro, Geckskin doesn't need a matching surface."
The team, which reported its advance in the journal Advanced Materials, is now discussing possible commercialization of the technology.
Explore further: Unique method creates correct mirror image of molecule | <urn:uuid:6ee538c6-9b95-4c35-98af-9590d7c8c5da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://phys.org/news/2012-03-gecko-insights-stronger-adhesives.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947019 | 1,058 | 3.46875 | 3 |
The following people are in this group:
Modern communication systems and networks play a vitally important role in nearly every aspect of our society be the application sector energy, healthcare, transport, semiconductors or telecommunications.
Recent surveys by a number of independent UK organisations have shown that Communications is responsible for contributing some £139Bn to the national economy per annum across its application sectors. Importantly, the Communication Systems & Networks (CSN) Group has been at the forefront of world research and development for more than 25 years with many major technological achievements to its credit including: Wireless LAN technology, Wideband CDMA for 3G, SMART Antennas, Breast Cancer Detection, Smart Grid/Smart Metering, Sensor Networks, Wireless Network Coverage CAD software and power efficient RF transmitters for Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) and cellular communications.
The Group continues to maintain its world-leading position at the cutting edge of communication technologies and their applications to sectors such as Energy, Healthcare, Transport or Telecommunications.
The Group’s pioneering research in single carrier multiple access schemes such as SCDMA has been adopted by industry and since led to several mandatory techniques being incorporated into the standards for LTE (4G) and LTE-Advanced. The breast cancer research undertaken by the Computational Electromagnetics team is presently undergoing clinical trials at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol and the RF team have recently set a world record with Toshiba Corporation (Japan) for power efficiency in highly linear RF power amplifiers, a result that will lead to a considerable reduction in CO₂ output globally and reduced demand for electricity from power stations as the technology is increasingly utilised. The reputation of the Group also led the Toshiba Corporation (Japan) to establish its Telecommunications Research Laboratory (TRL) in Bristol and to the formation of the spin-out Company ProVision Communications.
The Group is also a key member of the internationally acclaimed Centre for Communications Research (CCR) along with the Photonics and Vision Groups. The standing of the Group was also recently recognised when it was awarded the EPSRC UK Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Communications in competition with 9 other leading UK research universities. It has received many international awards and prizes for its research and enterprise. As might be expected, the Group has many international collaborations such as the World wide University Network (WUN) and is actively involved in Technology Strategy Board (TSB), EU and EPSRC projects. | <urn:uuid:77025a67-26e5-4b17-bb30-a745f2ee8106> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/engineering/people/group/research_group/1045 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949771 | 498 | 1.828125 | 2 |
The U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals denied the 89-year-old's request for a reprieve from his deportation to Germany. The decision means federal agents can pick him up and send him overseas at any time.
"We will remove that individual when it is appropriate," said a spokesman for immigration agents.
In Germany, the Seven Hills retiree is expected to be charged as an accessory in the deaths of 29,000 Jews at the Sobibor extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, where he worked as a 23-year-old guard. Federal judges in the United States ordered Demjanjuk deported because he lied about his Nazi past when he entered the country in 1952.
Demjanjuk, a native of Ukraine, has denied the allegations. He says that he was captured by the Germans in 1942 and forced to work in several prisoner-of-war camps.
Within hours of the Board of Immigration Appeals decision Friday, Demjanjuk's son, John Jr., said the family would appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We will continue to do everything possible to stop this inhumane action," the younger Demjanjuk said in a statement.
The family says Demjanjuk suffers from chronic kidney disease and blood disorders, as well as severe pain in his legs and back. A video the family released shows Demjanjuk moaning in apparent pain as he is helped out of bed.
Demjanjuk's family sought to prevent the deportation last week, saying it would amount to torture. The claims of torture are pending before the Board of Immigration Appeals.
A doctor retained by the government checked Demjanjuk last week and found him well enough to be deported, according to court records. A friend of Demjanjuk's said in an interview that he saw him outside his home this past winter.
Demjanjuk's case began in 1977, when he was first accused of being "Ivan the Terrible," a sadistic guard at the Treblinka death camp, also in Nazi-occupied Poland. He was extradited to Israel, convicted and sentenced to death before the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the conviction.
He came home, but a federal judge later found that he worked at Sobibor and other camps. He was ordered deported in 2005, although no country would accept him until Germany did earlier this year. | <urn:uuid:458b077d-5eda-4b64-95d8-7e62439a2d4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/04/ohios_demjanjuk_denied_stay_of.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983717 | 491 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Fearless Females #14…Newsmakers
We all know how difficult it was being a woman in the 1880s. You couldn’t travel alone, you couldn’t vote, and in most places in the world you were seen as second class. What would your experience be if you were a female and alone in America? That’s what happened to my great great aunt, Madeleine Mazeres.
I would not have known Madeleine’s story had it not been for an article in a San Francisco newspaper.
This snippet is from the Daily Alta [San Francisco, CA], 12 Sep 1884. Madeleine Mazeres was the wife of Louis Lacazette. Unbeknownst to me, Louis had abandoned her in San Francisco. He left her alone with their two year old child, never to be seen again. Madeleine filed for divorce on the grounds of desertion.
This brief article made me realize that I didn’t have the whole Mazeres story. All this time I had thought my great grandfather, Charles Mazeres, was the first of the family to come to America in 1885. But I was wrong! His sister, Madeleine had come to America alone at about the age of 18. She was in San Francisco at least two years before Charles had even set sail!
In 1884, Madeleine found herself alone in a strange country with a child to feed and no means of support. Sometime after she remarried to someone with the last name of Cabonot, but this marriage didn’t last. I found her in the 1892 city directory working as an ironer for Miss Sidonie Bodors in San Francisco. I imagine she took whatever work she could so she and her daughter could survive.
It must have been a struggle. She was female and divorced. She may not have spoken English. That might not have been a big problem in San Francisco with it’s large French community. But, she would have lived alone without a male relative to fend for her. Those were considerable strikes against her back in the 1880s.
Madeleine’s luck did change for the better. Around 1900, she met up with a divorcee named Romain Menaud, also a native of France. Romain had made his way to California around 1871. He became one of the founders of the city of Fresno. He owned the Old French Hotel. By the early 1900s, he considered himself a rancher and a capitalist.
They married around 1901. Madeleine lived a fairly comfortable life until her death in 1923. Romain died two years later.
If Madeleine had not filed for divorce and the city not published the event in the newspaper, I would have never known her story. That small little entry in the Daily Alta adds so much to her personal history and makes me feel I know her just a little bit more. | <urn:uuid:a33fb9c6-cbc5-41c4-9703-c716c171604e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.researchjournal.yourislandroutes.com/2013/03/abandoned-in-a-strange-land/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987243 | 610 | 2.015625 | 2 |
When you are referring to an application called My Piano, I think you already know that this app is created for smartphones and for tablets as well. The application is free, as I said in the previous article, and it is created by Borce Trajkovski. It has the multitouch integrated, although you should check out if the device you have is ready to function with the multitouch capabilities. The site of the manufacturer is trajkovski.net. The sound tracks are saved in MIDI.
To run the app, you must have Android 2.1 version or more. This app takes 5.4 MB when it is installed, fact that could annoy some people, if their hard drive is too low, when it comes to space, not to speed. The quality of the sound is the one coming from a studio and there are in fact 10 instruments that can be used, not only the piano.
The category in which this app is included in obviously Music and Audio. The number of installations is of 500000. Everyone can rate this application. The whole device will be transformed into a real piano. Just look at the pictures that are presented in this article and you will understand. The only difference from a real piano, is that when you click on the keys, when you press them, the keys will not be pressed like a normal key. So, this is the only difference, because the quality of the sound is way much better than the quality of the toys which represent a piano. Instead of a toy like that who may disturb the musical notes in the head of your child, you better take an application like this, and when you will have enough money, a true piano. The manufacturer says that this is the best application to learn to play to a piano and the users who have installed the app agree.11 | <urn:uuid:8003fa1f-2c82-473e-850a-211c9e018d4f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://androidotablet.com/my-piano-app/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966721 | 370 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Where we are headed: Peak oil and the financial crisis
Nearly all of the economic analyses we see today have as their basic premise a view that the current financial crisis is a temporary aberration. We will have a V or U shaped recovery, especially if enough stimulus is applied, and the economy will soon be back to Business as Usual.
I believe this assumption is basically incorrect. The current financial crisis is a direct result of peak oil. There may be oscillations in the economic situation, but generally, we can't expect things to get much better. In fact, there is a very distinct possibility that things may get very much worse in the next few years.
In this post, I will put together some of the pieces I see. This post is based on a presentation, so includes more than the usual amount of graphics. The post repeats many things I have said before, but I wanted to bring more of the pieces together into more of an overview article. This is a link to a PDF version of the presentation. This is a link to the Powerpoint version.
Our One-Way Economy
Our economy is very much a one way economy--because of its heavy reliance on debt, it needs to grow.
It is easy to overlook the importance of debt. Most businesses would not be able to build new factories without debt. Businesses would tend to be much smaller than they are today without debt. International trade would be much more difficult without debt. Even at a personal level, debt is very important. How many citizens would be able to purchase homes without a mortgage, or go to college without a student loan?
In order for our debt-based system to work as planned, the economy needs to grow. Otherwise, there are way too many defaults.
In a growing economy, many debtors find that their financial situation has improved by the time it becomes necessary to pay back the loan. Even though it is necessary to pay back the loan plus interest, the debtor still has plenty of funds left over for other things, because of the growth of the economy, and his or her improved circumstances.
The reverse is true in a shrinking economy. When the time comes to repay the loan, many debtors find that they have been laid off or their incomes have declined. Repaying the debt becomes much more difficult. Default rates rise. Those who do repay debt often find they do not have funds left for all of their other obligations.
For a business, a declining economy makes capital planning difficult, because one doesn't know whether there will be sufficient demand for a product, or sufficient raw materials for the product, for the full lifetime of capital equipment that is being purchased. One would like to think that a new factory, or a new machine, will be usable for its planned lifetime, say 40 years. But in a declining economy, it is just as likely that some necessary element will be missing, 10 or 20 years from now.
In this environment, how does one amortize costs? Why would a lender be willing to make a long-term loan?
There is an academic paper called This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises. The paper finds that throughout history, government defaults on debt have occurred very frequently. The paper notes (page 15):
It is notable that the non-defaulters, by and large, are all hugely successful growth stories.
This is precisely the effect we would expect. When economies of countries are able to grow rapidy, they can repay their debt with interest. But as growth wanes, it becomes much more difficult to repay debt, and many more defaults occur.
Our debt-based financial system needs growth to continue. It is not a Ponzi scheme, but it has the same problem with not being sustainable without growth. The inability of the financial system to continue without growth becomes a separate risk factor to the economy, greatly magnifying the effect of even a slight long-term slowdown. The need for growth is the reason why Bernanke and Geithner are working so hard to get the economy to grow again.
The Energy Stumbling Block
If all of the raw materials we need continue to grow rapidly, then there is a chance the growth paradigm can continue. But increasingly, this is not the case. A major stumbling block is cheap energy:
Cheap energy keeps our cars and factories running. It leaves homeowners with money to repay their mortgages, and permits the long-distance transfer of goods needed for globalization.
We live in a finite world. Cheap energy can't go on forever. Eventually it runs out, and we have to move on to expensive energy. This is precisely what has been happening, for both oil and natural gas.
The OECD can be thought of as the organization of oil consuming nations. It includes the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia. On this graph, Rune Likvern has plotted:
• The amount of oil consumed by the OECD
• The price of oil
What we see on this graph is that the oil consumed by OECD reached a peak in 2005, and has started to decline since then. Prices started to rise about the same time the amount of oil OECD was able to purchase began to decline.
What was happening at this time was that world oil production reached a plateau, about 2005. There were more and more bidders for what oil was available, and prices started to rise. OECD wanted more and more oil, but the oil producing nations also wanted more oil, and developing nations like China and India also wanted more oil. In response to all of this demand, the price of oil went up and up, but total world supply barely budged, and the amount of oil that OECD was able to buy started to drop.
The first pains of the higher prices started being felt in 2006, and rose in a crescendo until a major breaking point was hit in July 2008. In that month, the highest world oil production of all time and the highest price of all time both occurred, followed by a major break in the financial markets. Let's go back first to 2006.
Even prior to 2006, mortgage payments were a very vulnerable portion of the economy. Families had been encouraged to take on large amounts of debt, and the increased demand for homes had sent housing prices upward.
Once prices of oil started to rise, the higher gasoline and diesel prices helped push a system which was inherently unsustainable over. By 2006, families had become less able to maintain high mortgages, and home prices started to decline. This started the decline in home prices that we are seeing today. One can see from the graph that home prices in 2009 are still very high by historical standards, so this process is likely not yet over. If people are out of work and too many houses have been built, the ultimate level of home prices may even drop below historical norms.
This graph is a scatter diagram which plots the quantity of oil produced in a month and the price of oil in that month over a several year period. As the price of oil went up, the quantity of oil produced went up--but not by very much. The price finally hit the high point on the graph of $147 a barrel in July 2008, in the same month world oil production hit its maximum point.
At this point, a break occurred. Commercial credit started becoming much less available, which reduced demand. With the reduced demand caused by the lack of credit, prices dropped very quickly from $147 barrel to a low of $31 barrel in December 2008. The financial crisis as we know it had started.
This financial crisis is precisely what many of us had forecast would be the outcome of peak oil, because resources need to be level to increasing in order for the economy to keep growing. (One can disguise the lack of growth for a time by expanding credit, and Greenspan used precisely that approach in the early 2000s.) Once available resources start declining, growth begins to decline, debt defaults start rising, and soon after that, credit availability starts to decline. We can summarize what happens in the following chart:
All of these problems lead us to the current financial crisis, caused by trying to continually expand our economy in a finite world. Lack of low-priced oil was a major limiting factor. Even if we had managed to get past the need for low-priced oil, there were other limits as well that we were reaching, like fresh water and cheap natural gas. I won't be able to talk much about these today, but these limits would also tend to have the same impact on a financial system that requires growth--cause massive debt unwind, and possible collapse of the system.
The Underlying Problem of Peak Oil
Nearly all readers of this site are familiar with Peak Oil Theory.
US oil production reached its peak in 1970. M. King Hubbert had long predicted a peak in US oil production about that time, but few believed him. At the time of the peak, the US was producing oil only in the 48 states. When the need for more production became clear, we were able to bring Alaska production on, after building a pipeline.
We were also able to ramp up oil production in the North Sea and in Mexico, soon after US oil production started to decline. These sources are now beginning to decline as well. One can see from these graphs that the shape of production curves varies depending on location. It is not always symmetric.
This is a graph from a recent OPEC publication. The graph is a bit confusing, because it shows two things on it--OPEC oil production, using the scale on the left hand side, and world oil production, using the scale on the right hand side.
Once prices dropped from the high levels obtained in July 2008, companies suddenly became a great deal less interested in producing oil. New projects were put off, because the available price of oil dropped below the cost most companies needed to bring on new production. The graph indicates that production fall immediately after the drop in price.
(Note: Companies by and large didn't "shut in" existing production, because much of the cost for existing production had already been incurred, and the marginal cost for maintaining production was quite low. The continuing production from these older wells is the reason that we are temporarily able to buy oil cheaply now, even though we can't expect this long term. Production from these older wells declines each year, and must be made up for by new wells, if production is to even remain flat.)
(Note: The drop in world oil production in September 2008 was the result of two hurricanes in the US Gulf of Mexico.)
Tony Eriksen ("ace") made this forecast of oil production based on an analysis of likely future production for individual large fields, from this database. Prior to the drop in price, it looked like world oil production would continue on a plateau for a while longer, or possibly even increase a bit. Once companies understood the drop in price, they started deferring production plans until prices were better. But existing fields continue to decline due to depletion. The result of the cutback in new production, and the decline due to depletion in existing fields, is the expected pattern of decline Tony shows in this graph.
Where is the Energy Sector Headed?
As I indicate on this slide, I see the major factor affecting the energy sector to be the credit unwind. Pretty much all sectors are affected, because the collapse of the credit market affects the entire economy.
The problems of the credit unwind are pervasive. There are both the direct problems of not having credit, and the indirect problems of low prices and low funds available for investment. The result of this is that net investment drops considerably.
There seems to be lots of supply out there, but there isn't a good way to get to it.
The situation with natural gas isn't too much different from that with oil. Conventional natural gas is the inexpensive natural gas. It has been declining in supply. Unconventional natural gas is generally quite a bit more expensive. At today's prices, it doesn't make much sense to drill new unconventional wells, because the costs exceed the likely price that will be available.
Most unconventional gas is too expensive to produce at today's prices, so decline is likely in the next few years. Small companies are leaving the business, and not likely to come back, even if the price of gas goes up again.
This graph shows the number of drilling rigs in operation in the US, both for oil and for natural gas. These drilling rigs are leased, so a company cannot easily stop drilling until its contract is up for renewal. Even with this limitation, the number of drilling rigs has dropped almost in half from the high point, for both oil and gas. The drop in drilling rigs doesn't immediately affect production, but one can be certain it will affect production long-term. We are living in the calm before the storm.
Lack of growth is causing the credit unwind. There is nothing Bernanke or Geithner or the G20 meetings can do to fix the lack of growth--it is closely related to the lack of cheap oil and cheap natural gas, now that these have been depleted.
Growth is not possible any more--at best, we will get oscillation. Prices will drop, as it has recently. Demand will start to pick up again. Prices will rise rapidly, until a new lower production limit is reached, and more defaults on debt will occur, starting the cycle over again.
There is a real possibility that the whole system may crash. The value of the dollar may drop, or countries may become afraid of international trade, for fear that trading partners will not be able to make good on their promises. It may be necessary to start over with a new financial system that does not permit much debt. (This would not be easy. Governments are often overthrown when currencies fail.)
It seems to me that the amount of investment is likely to drop, even below the level it is today. The reason that investment is likely to drop is because the credit unwind is only part way finished. Without growth, the credit unwind can only continue. With low credit availability, prices will stay low. The amount of cash flow oil companies and other energy companies will have will stay low. With little opportunity for borrowing, there will not be very much income available for investment.
With little investment, even forecasts such as the one I showed by Tony Eriksen may prove to be optimistic. Instead of oil production declining slowly, it may decline much more quickly:
Such a drop in production might occur if there is a major financial crash. (See Where Is Oil Production Headed?: An Adverse Scenario.)
Long Term Prospects
Even the good scenario is not very good. Oil, gas and other commodity prices may fluctuate, but there will be little credit and little funds for investment. The economy will be doing no better than today, and quite probably worse.
In the bad scenario, there will be a major financial crash, and the United States will somehow need to replace our currency (and the currency of other countries around the world) with a currency that is less tied to debt--perhaps a currency tied to natural resources of some kind. Countries may cease to trust each other, and there may be a rise in protectionism. If new currencies are not adopted immediately, it may be difficult to carry on business.
Planning for the future, we need to assume that credit will be much less available than it is today. Cash will be king. In planning, cash flow will be more important than discounted present value. Economic growth will be something remembered fondly from the past. The closest approximation will be a temporary upswing while the world is oscillating between shortages at high prices and low prices with little credit availability.
The world is likely to become more localized in all of this. Successful companies will emphasize long-term relationships with local customers.
For Further Reading
Our World Is Finite: Is This a Problem? April 2007 | <urn:uuid:3a5f11d6-4f26-4161-9cee-711bbd4efa65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.resilience.org/stories/2009-03-26/where-we-are-headed-peak-oil-and-financial-crisis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97337 | 3,282 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Well, this is quite interesting article and I suppose these rules are just result of common sense.
However, while author is concentrated on usage of annotations with EJB, I suppose that since annotations now are built-in feature of Java, the entire question may be wide - When not to use annotation?
In some cases, annotations are positioned by replacement of configuration files (for example - mapping to database etc). The main drawback of such approach is significant reducing of code portability and reuse.
Another thing - runtime annotations processed by APT. Potentially, one may create annotations that just will twist behavior of the code and therefore reduce readability and transparency of plain Java code (actually, similar problem occur with AOP - you could not say for sure which code will be executed and which actions will be performed, for example during call of particular method just by inspecting plain Java class listing).
In general, it seems that it is possible to discover more annotations use cases that looks attractive from the first glance but may result bad design.
Therefore, I suppose it could be great to collect opinions when NOT to use annotation.
SoftAMIS - you source of high quality Java and Web solutions! | <urn:uuid:17fb0d42-61af-4d0d-8425-f1af26bae926> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theserverside.com/discussions/thread.tss?thread_id=33525 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936199 | 241 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Find answers to common questions about BC SPCA Summer Camps.
Q - How much time will my child spend directly with the animals at BC SPCA summer camp?
Our camps are focused on learning about animals. The amount of time spent directly with animals will vary from day to day and even from location to location but will average approximately 1 hour/day. We provide opportunities every day to interact with animals. The kind of animals will depend on what is available at the shelter. Please keep in mind that we are first and foremost a shelter for animals and their needs and well-being are our top priority.
Q - Can BC SPCA summer camps accommodate children with special needs?
BC SPCA Summer Camps for Kids welcome children of all abilities. However, each child with special needs will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis depending on the size of the camp and the special requirements needed.
If your child has an assistant at school for behavioural issues or special needs which would make it difficult for your child to attend camp on their own, we would ask that you send a qualified person to attend with your child as our staff do not have expertise in dealing with special need requirements.
Learn more about BC SPCA Summer Camps for Kids. | <urn:uuid:667ecba7-0279-44e0-9309-5daee3db2b74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.spca.bc.ca/youth/whats-happening/summer-camps/summer-camp-FAQs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971152 | 260 | 1.914063 | 2 |
“Music and movement app featuring 'Dancing Cat'. ”
Kids Songs Free is a colorful app that offers a romp through some old favorite children's songs, encouraging dancing and singing. In particular, this free app contains two songs, the Alphabet Song (“Q R S - T U V - W, X Y and Z, now I know my ABC's!”) and the Hokey Pokey (“You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what its all about!). Kid's Songs Free is a free sample of the larger app that includes more songs. Kid's Songs has appealing graphics that are able to hold the attention of young children, but really succeeds to the extent that it encourages young learners to participate in the songs themselves. The app's opening screen displays two options: “Let's Sing” or “Let's Dance.” Choosing either option leads to a song selection page, and then to a video clip of cats dancing while the chosen song plays. Both modes include subtitles that help users follow along and match spellings to words. The “Let's Dance” option allows children to dance while learning the lyrics of the song. When children are ready to perform, they can select “Let’s Sing” option where music will be played without the lyrics. Both video and sound quality are good, and should have kids singing and dancing to the tune in no time. No better way to learn English than having fun!
Share your 'Dancing cat' songs with friends or as you travel in the car - translate them to your home language (or one of them) if it is not English. | <urn:uuid:f82f4b91-529c-497d-aefe-735a4aaf6d5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smartots.com/app/review/name/kids'-song-free | 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 | 0.943542 | 350 | 1.757813 | 2 |
This article introduces the SV 96 RNA Isolation System. The system is used to purify high-quality total RNA with a flexible method that can be performed manually or automated on a liquid handling workstation such as the Beckman Biomek® 2000 or the Biomek® FX. The unique design of the SV 96 Total RNA Isolation System eliminates waste handling, includes a DNase treatment step to eliminate genomic DNA and allows consistent and reliable recovery of total RNA from tissue culture cells. The purified RNA is functionally tested in RT-PCR and results are shown to be consistent with those obtained using other RNA purification methods.
Promega Notes 79, 29–32.
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I need additional help | <urn:uuid:3887a197-dbe4-41ab-bb3a-1e67067d0d7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kr.promega.com/resources/articles/pubhub/promega-notes-2001/high-throughput-purification-using-the-sv-96-total-rna-isolation-system/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901168 | 187 | 1.984375 | 2 |
The Pilgrim's Progress, a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan, is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature. Now it is retold and shortened in graphic novel form for children and young adults who want to know Bunyan's story but who might well find the language of the original difficult to understand. Christian, an everyman character, journeys from his hometown, the City of Destruction (this world), to the Celestial City (that which is to come: Heaven), while avoiding the Slough of Despond, escaping the temptations of Vanity Fair, and fending off the giant, Despair.
Diamond code: NOV121231
• ISBN: 9781613280577 | <urn:uuid:def4b9a3-4386-4ed6-a2b4-c900a5cba787> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.midtowncomics.com/store/dp.asp?PRID=1237177 | 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 | 0.933854 | 145 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Book Talks Math to Philosophers
1st Publication of STOQ Project
| 1181 hits
ROME, AUG. 18, 2006 (Zenit.org).- A program launched by the Holy See, three pontifical universities and the Templeton Foundation to promote dialogue between faith and science wants to help philosophers and theologians understand math.
The STOQ Project -- for science, theology and the ontological quest -- collaborated with Michael Heller, founder of the International Society for Science and Religion, to produce "Some Mathematical Physics for Philosophers."
The book was developed from an introductory course on mathematical physics offered at the Gregorian University in Rome.
Heller, who is also an adjunct member of the Vatican Observatory and ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of Rome, attempts to explain mathematical methods in physics to students of philosophy and theology.
The academic and scientific directors of the specialization in science and philosophy at the Gregorian University, Father Marc Leclerc and Gennaro Auletta, said the publication "will foster dialogue between and integration of two disciplines that sadly drifted apart over the course of the last two centuries, namely philosophy and science."
The book is published by the Libreria Editrice Vaticana together with the Pontifical Council for Culture.
The STOQ Project is directed by the Pontifical Council for Culture.
Supported financially by the Pennsylvania-based Templeton Foundation, the initiative is being carried out by the Lateran University, the Gregorian University and the Regina Apostolorum university.
The project seeks to foster relations between the Churches and Christian ecclesial communities with the scientific world. | <urn:uuid:74c22b45-bd57-4d52-bb78-480c8d1e3556> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/book-talks-math-to-philosophers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919936 | 339 | 2.28125 | 2 |
A while ago, I posted these two images on one of the social networks as an example of how my photography skills have evolved over time.
From a technical perspective, there are many flaws in the second photo. Some of the more obvious – mediocre composition, blown highlights, and lacking shadow details. The overall lighting for the photograph is too harsh. My goal was to capture the beauty of the place, but instead I came away with an image that is almost black and white. Still, more than one viewer commented that the image was a “moody” and “artistic” representation of the scene.
My first reaction was to dismiss those comments. Maybe they were posted by people who lacked the skills required to produce the photograph I really wanted. But on further reflection, I realized that not all great artists rely on technical perfection to create an impact. Sometimes, artwork lacks “technical correctness”, but still produces a strong emotional impact.
So I found myself contemplating this question: Do photographers try to disguise their mediocre photography skills as “artistic”?
For me, the question comes down to intent. If my intent was to capture the color, light, and details I saw in the forest, then my image is less than mediocre. On the other hand, if my intent was to capture an artistic impression of the forest, then maybe you’d say I succeeded in doing so.
Of course, in this case, my intent was to capture the falls the way I did in the first image (a few years later). Clean colors, rich details, and smooth water. I didn’t know how to do that the first time I photographed these falls. So rather than categorizing my earlier attempt as a failure – I think of it as an opportunity to learn… and learn I did. Now that I know how to capture a scene like this one more effectively, I have so many more options!
Do you evaluate yourself by your artistic ability or by your technical skills?
To learn more about photography check out our eBooks & webinars below: | <urn:uuid:ace5cea8-b6a7-486d-9892-a5b1c283d7a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jaypatelphotography.com/photography/tag/olympic-national-park | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97021 | 429 | 1.78125 | 2 |
World fertilizer prices began dropping dramatically in late 2008 after reaching all-time highs around April.
The price of urea, the world's most common nitrogen fertilizer, rose from about $280 to $405 per ton in 2007 and reached $452 in April 2008. The price then soared to $815 per ton in August—but plunged to $247, lower than before the price spiral began, in mid-December.
The price of diammonium phosphate (DAP) increased by five times—from $262 to $1,218 per ton—from January 2007 to April 2008, but had fallen to $469 per ton in mid-December.
Potash is the only fertilizer whose price is still rising. Standard grade muriate of potash, the most common source of potassium, sold for $172 per ton in January 2007 and $875 per ton in mid-December.
Why Fertilizer Prices Spiked: A "Perfect Storm"
"Fertilizer prices started rising rapidly in October 2007, and the price spike lasted for almost 12 months," says Ian Gregory, IFDC Agribusiness Specialist.
"Numerous factors converged simultaneously to cause fertilizer prices to soar, then suddenly collapse. Some have compared the series of events to 'a perfect storm.'"
Prices were essentially driven up by an imbalance between supply and rapidly expanding demand, especially in Asia, Gregory explains. Fertilizer demand reached a level that supply could not match. Demand was particularly strong in China and India. Another factor was increased demand for fertilizers to produce biofuels in the United States, Brazil, and Europe. Increased livestock production created still more demand for grain and thus for fertilizers. Grain reserves became historically low and prices rose sharply.
Further worsening the situation were China's imposition of high tariffs on fertilizer exports and the devaluation of the U.S. dollar in 2007 and 2008. Energy prices peaked, causing an increase in the price of natural gas—essential for nitrogen fertilizer production. Phosphate prices were also driven up by a huge increase in demand and prices for sulfur, vital for production of the popular DAP and other high-analysis phosphate fertilizers. The supply of quality phosphate rock also became tight.
Why Prices Then Plunged Rapidly
Gregory explains why fertilizer prices fell so rapidly in late 2008. "The high fertilizer prices caused 'demand destruction.' Farmers were unable or unwilling to pay two or three times the prices of early 2007." Collapse of the global credit market, a trade recession, and slowdown in world economic growth worsened the situation. Demand for fertilizers fell and stocks accumulated. Fertilizer manufacturers cut back on production.
"But potash prices have stayed high due to its shortage and difficulties in transporting Russian potash because of an enormous and expanding sinkhole near the Silvinit mines," Gregory says. "Demand for potash increased from 2006 through 2008, and potash inventories are now 37% lower than over the past 5 years."
Price movements will probably be volatile for at least the next 2 years, until new production facilities open and the current lower prices for nitrogen and phosphate recover, Gregory says.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:cc64a585-7853-4351-8986-60495816a2f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/i-wfp121608.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950383 | 689 | 3 | 3 |
Kathryn Vernon’s “regular” job is Seattle district manager with the FAA’s air traffic organization. But the past several months she’s been working in Baghdad as deputy transportation counselor to the U.S. Embassy and as deputy senior consultant for aviation to the Iraq Reconstruction Management Office.
Her two daughters graduated from Wilson High School and one lives here in Tacoma after a stint in Togo with the Peace Corps. The other is in the Army, in flight training at Fort Rucker, Ala. Her parents live in Tacoma, as do two of her sisters and their families.
In short, she’s one of ours.
She served in the Air Force before embarking on her 24-year career with the FAA. She wanted to do something to help in Iraq. “My parents raised us to serve – that is what I tried to do with my daughters, and what I’ve tried to do as well,” she told me. “I don’t believe we should expect our children to be over here if we aren’t willing to come ourselves – that is why I am here.
“I also believe that, no matter the reason this war was started, we have an obligation to help this country – they were oppressed by Sadaam and have been devastated by violence. They need help to get back on their feet. That is also why I am here.”
She periodically writes home about her experiences, and I asked her to share those notes here. Click below to read her latest.
It is difficult getting out of Baghdad – a helicopter or armored vehicle
ride from the IZ to the airport – a night spent in a trailer – an
instruction to show up at 6:30 a.m. at the passenger counter to find out
what time your flight will be leaving – usually 10:30 or later – then,
hopefully, or en-sha’allah (God willing), an uneventful flight out to Amman
or Kuwait in a C-130 – no one usually schedules their flights out of those
ports of call until the next day, in the event the flight breaks down or is
late – consequently, it takes at least two days to get from the IZ to Jordan
or Kuwait, then another day to catch a flight to one’s ultimate destination
in probably another time zone. Exhausting – and then when you return, you
do it all over again!
All that being said, the folks working in the IZ and our soldiers in the
military look forward with great anticipation to the convoluted routine of
leaving – because we know that a change of pace, a complete change of
scenery, and a feast for our senses await us on the other side.
When I left Baghdad, I was happy to go – two and a half months of work
without a day off was enough to make me long for a chance to sleep in
without the sound of a helicopter overhead and the knowledge that I wouldn’t
miss breakfast – because room service was at hand – ahh, the simple things
we take for granted. At the same time, there is a sense of guilt over the
fact that I can go out, I can get away from the noise of the explosions and
the machine gun fire and the knowledge that someone has been killed when I
hear those things, and the average Iraqi citizen cannot.
Jordan, a country of many wonders, is quite beautiful in its starkness.
Rolling hills, rough mountain peaks, hillside villages, deep wadis, desert
flora, mountain goats and sheep, camels and donkeys, and hot desert sun,
even in February, are found here. Mt. Nebo is the site believed to be where
Moses died – the Franciscans have established a monastery and monument there
- Madaba is an ancient, yet bustling, town with churches filled with mosaic
tile artwork, much of it still being restored – Petra, where the Nebateans
carved their city out of the sandstone hills, is a marvel to behold. It is
called the Rose City because of the color of the rock and if you’ve seen the
Indiana Jones movie, Temple of Doom, you’ll have seen some of the ancient
city of Petra. The Dead Sea, which separates Israel from Jordan, is almost
colorless with no boats or watercraft sailing upon it. It is so filled with
salt that nothing lives in it and if you walk in, you will float. And then
there is the Dead Sea mud – to which is ascribed amazing restorative powers.
Its a booming tourist industry for the Jordanians, this Dead Sea mud – it
is marketed and sold all over the world – travelers come from far and wide
to experience it.
Also found in Jordan, is the River Jordan – which runs into the Dead Sea
(which happens to be almost 400 metres below sea level). This is the river
in which Christ was baptised in the area of Bethany by John the Baptist.
Until 1996, this area was not open to tourists, but now, it is – with not
too much commercialization – if you are a Jordanian, it costs two jordanian
dinars (JD) to enter – if you are from another Arab country, three JD – from
anywhere else, seven JD – the JD is about $1.30 – so, it is not cheap – but
it was worth the visit – to know that somewhere near there, approximately
two thousand years ago, history was being made – and Israel was just across
the river – only a stone’s throw away – it is calling to me to make a visit
there – there is more of a pull to visit Israel than there was to visit the
Vatican last year when I was in Italy – before I leave this region for good,
I will go – to walk the same roads, to look on the rolling hills, to know He
walked this way – at Mt. Nebo, one could look across the hills and see
Jeruselem – only 46 kilometres away – so close one could imagine touching
Israel and Palestine have been so much in the news – I pray that a peace
agreement will be worked out, so those children will learn what it is to
live in safety and surety. Much the same that we pray for Iraq – as it is
much in the news with the bombings and the killings – sometimes I wonder if
there is a solution.
Sorry for not staying in touch more – those weeks before leaving were hectic
- some minor miracles were accomplished in aviation – we were able to get
visas for an Iraqi delegation for a conference in Bangkok and follow-on trip
to Singapore – I went Sulaimaniyah and Mosul to see the operation – to Al
Uedid Air Base in Doha, Qatar to meet with our military leadership in charge
of airspace in Iraq – discussions ensued on how best to proceed on airspace
management – the radar is turning at Baghdad International because we were
able to get the batteries for the UPS equipment – and with the radar
turning, the displays in the tower cab are working allowing the controllers
to see aircraft as they come into the airport – this is a first here. We
were also able to get badges for Iraqi technicians to work on navigational
and communication equipment at Mosul Airport, the first step in accepting
the new facility there.
When I count up these minor miracles, things we would take for granted in
our country, I realize things are progressing – sometimes it is hard to see
it – but I think we are making a difference, offering hope for a better
future – en sha’allah. Keep Iraq in your prayers, won’t you? | <urn:uuid:7e93b087-5cff-4ff3-a011-983964ed5b5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.thenewstribune.com/military/2007/02/26/kathryn-vernon-writes-home/2006/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965684 | 1,641 | 1.523438 | 2 |
How to improve forecast accuracy?
To begin within any business, one should first evaluate if forecasting is required at all. Many a time sales based replenishment is ignored as impractical without further thought. However, after implementing concepts such as lean and TOC, many companies have found pull based systems to be much more suitable for supporting the business. A point to note here is that forecasting is easier in some industries than others and so some techniques would work better in some industries than others. Forecasting new products is again a different matter altogether and is covered in a short section separately later. But given a set of fairly established products, it should be possible for demand planners to achieve forecast accuracy above 70%.
Sales, Marketing and Demand planners have a role of reviewing and validating the forecast made in the previous forecasting cycle. Those in a supervisory role need to quickly review the work of their subordinates. While experience does play a role, here are some basic checks. An obvious place to start with is comparing the forecast with past sales, say the last 6 months. Changes in trends are easily discernible when numbers are in a series. Reasons for trend changes are usually because of ongoing marketing efforts, but their impact needs to be reviewed every forecasting cycle. Depending on the effectiveness of the marketing efforts, the forecast numbers will change every month. You also need to look out for spikes or dips in the series. Spikes probably indicate a trade offer or marketing promotion. The period immediately after a trade offer is followed by a steep dip in sales. Just as sales peak during an offer period, it is equally important to reflect the sales dip in the periods immediately after the offer in the forecast. Another check is comparing the forecast with the budget especially at the beginning of the year. The two need to be aligned. A forecast that is different from targets has very likely not been viewed by the sales team. Another good comparison is the previous year’s sales in the corresponding period. This is useful in checking for seasonality and also for considering business activities impacting the forecast which are very likely to be repeated from the previous year - trade offers, discounts, TV commercials, etc. However one of the best checks is comparison with the forecasts given in the previous months. Changes made to the forecast can indicate a lot of things - changes in sales and marketing tactics, attempts to cover up for lost sales or shortages in the same product or related products, lack of long term planning, etc. It can also explain reasons for shortages. For example, if the numbers in a forecast have increased dramatically by 3 to 4 times, it is most likely going to lead to a shortage situation before production catches up with the demand and replenishes the depletion in inventory.
At an aggregate level tonnage, forecast value and gross margin are some of the parameters used for checking the quality of the forecast. These can be viewed using several hierarchies. Geographical involving areas, regions or Customer hierarchies involving stores within a retail chain, based on Products involving brands and businesses or time based with months consolidating into quarters, year and so on.
How is it different when forecasting for a new product? Forecast review here is with data of some other product which is the most comparable with the forecasted product. Then there could be comparisons with lots of external industry and channel level data. For example footfalls per month at store level is used in the apparel industry. Industry growth is a common parameter in many industries. Lead indicators are yet another set of data. For example, automobile sales would be a lead indicator for forecasting in several automotive components. Basics being the same, the number of parameters to be compared with is more in number and more external in nature for new products.
Will a tool help? As mentioned above there are several different types of data that a forecast is compared with during review - recent sales, sales in the previous year, budgets, forecasts belonging to previous few cycles, etc. It would indeed be cumbersome to combine these many different data types into one sheet even if the formats are standardized. The forecaster will end up working on the data crunching for most of the time rather than the forecast. Besides, the kinds of checks one needs to have on the forecasts are so many that it is easy to miss on an important one. One needs to remember that the checks points are independent. A forecast could fail on any one or on several checks at the same time. For example, a forecast may look alright by looking at the past trends, but may be off way when compared with the targets. It may still be further off when compared to last year sales in the same time period. There may be a conflict when more than one parameter is compared. For example, in the above case, the previous year’s sales may indicate that the forecast should be trimmed downwards considering seasonality, but increased considering the budget. In such a case it may not be possible to resolve the conflict completely and here it is important to record the reasoning behind making the forecast for future reference and learning. A tool helps in throwing up consistent exceptions based on the rules set-up and also in maintaining these records. Manual review without tools is tiring with many chances of errors. So in the absence of tools, the review is only partially done after looking at only one parameter - sales in the previous few time periods. Having a tool is always better and this would show in the results - better accuracy and hence lesser resulting total inventory. | <urn:uuid:695cc59d-2659-4a01-8185-cef4108dae00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aquamcg.com/Blogs/tabid/125/EntryID/33/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958571 | 1,102 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Swords in Art
The pelican is all packed for That over night trip to Vegas with the lady!
Lucero VII by Ivan Trejo
Taken by her :)
- Dated: circa 1800
- Culture: India
- Medium: iron and gold damascening
- Measurements: H: 55; L: 13.1 cm
The short, elegant battle-axe (tabar-i-zin) comes from the Persian region, where it was already part of a horseman’s equipment in the early Islamic period. Not all battle-axes were velvet-clad parade weapons like this one, however as a passage from Firdawsi Shah-nama (Book of Kings) shows, a battle-ax was above all a serious weapon.
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It would be nice if anyone interested could go through the code and tell me what to do better.
Most parts of the code are setting up the length, placement angle and indentation of the wall elements appropriate to the template and the predefined fortress types, so this can be skipped and it's not much left to read.
The main part I'm interested in is what types of variables should be what type of object (list/dictionary/object).
For example the fortress class is not really needed for now but could proof useful for custom fortresses later.
Until now a dictionary would do.
I don't know how to define an object inside an object because 'this' always points to the 'most top' object.
But this would be better IMO since the 'wallElement' and 'fortress' objects are not very useful without the wallTool and only take namespace.
Some variables are not that well names like 'centerX' and 'centerZ' because it's only X/Z directed if the angle of placement is 0.
And it's more an offset then a center coordinate, since it's the X/Z distance between the (unindented) position of the first wall element to the center.
Perhaps I should do it exactly the other way around (vector from point of placement to the first wall element) and call it offsetX/offsetZ...
Sounds good at the moment.
And should I define the 'wallStyles' and 'fortressTypes', which take a lot of space, somewhere else?
I find it makes the main 'wallTool' code harder to read because it splits the code for functionality.
Don't exactly know where to put it...
Also the getCenter function is really useful but I don't know when to use it exactly by default. (Returns the 'Center of mass' of the fortress)
I do it when setting the wall to a preset fortress, though, if custom fortresses have been added to the 'fortressTypes' and have a 'center' defined manually, it will be overridden until you turn the 'recalculateFortressCenter' property to 'false'.
That might not be very handy (though I doubt many would search for the center by hand ^^. And you still can simply use the 'wall' property and set the center vars manually).
The existing 'wallTypes' are not very well documented yet.
But I think they are chosen wisely. Wait to see the other fortress styles...
A circular wall tool was requested and I will add it soon.
It will have the functionality for generic bending of walls. Edit: Not to the ground but to one and another wall element so a point is enclosed.
I guess tomorrow I will finalize the other wall styles and there will be some more screenies.
Edited by FeXoR, 15 March 2012 - 08:44 AM. | <urn:uuid:120ee0a6-38eb-4789-b2be-5c7b23adc3fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15750&st=0&p=235599 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928068 | 603 | 1.929688 | 2 |
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner made it inaugural U.S. flight, from Houston to… (Chicago Tribune )
United Airlines landed its inaugural flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Chicago O'Hare International Airport Sunday morning, becoming the first U.S. carrier to fly the composite-plastic fuselage air craft.
The twin-aisle plane, delayed more than three years by production problems at Boeing, was designed to be about 20% more fuel efficient than similar size planes and less costly to maintain than other big jets. Half the plane is made of strong and lightweight composite materials, including the fuselage and wings, instead of metal.
Boeing said the plane also offers great comfort for passengers, including dimmable windows and LED lighting that changes in different phases of flight.
Flight 1116 from Houston to Chicago was the first flight of the Dreamliner by a U.S. airline. United is scheduled to bring the Dreamliner to Los Angeles for daily nonstop flights to Narita, Japan, beginning in January.
"If you want to be the world's leading airline, you need the world's leading airplane, and this is it," United Chief Executive Jeff Smisek told the Chicago Tribune.
One complaint on the flight was the lack of Wi-Fi on what Boeing called the most technologically advanced commercial jet in the world. Smisek told reporters that Boeing was working with federal aviation authorities to certify communications equipment to maintain broadband on a composite aircraft, a process that could take until 2014 to complete.
Fliers in December and January are more likely to lose luggage
A questionable way to avoid airline baggage-check fees
Airlines shrink seats, offer extra legroom for a fee
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OCR for page 8
Maximizing U.S. Interests in Science and Technology Relations with Japan: Report of the Defense Task Force 1 Introduction Over the 50 years since the end of World War II, the U.S. security commitment to the Asia-Pacific region has played an important role in the peace and stability of the region and the world. The U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security has been a central element of that commitment. Vital American interests have been protected and advanced. Since early in this century, the United States has recognized an interest in preventing the Asia-Pacific region from falling under the control of a hostile power, and advancing this interest was closely linked with geopolitical containment of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. By supporting a largely favorable political and economic environment in the region through its military presence and open markets, the United States has contributed to unleashing the tremendous energy and vitality of the peoples and nations of the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, as they have built the political and market structures necessary for stable international relations and rapid economic growth. The United States continues to have vital security interests in the Asia-Pacific region.1 However, the structure of the U.S.-Japan alliance, which was formed following the victory of communism in China and the outbreak of the Korean War, as well as the conventional mechanisms for formulating and implementing U.S. policies toward Japan, need to be reconsidered in light of recent radical changes in the international environment and the very different balance of economic and technological power that now exists between the two countries. Despite a long-term trend toward greater U.S.-Japan cooperation in the security realm, Japan ’s increasing strength in a number of critical high-technology industries, large and persistent bilateral trade imbalances, and a series of trade and investment disputes have convinced a broad section of the American public that economic and technological relations display a fundamental asymmetry of benefits and lack of reciprocity in favor of Japan. These underlying troubling trends have had a corrosive effect on the overall relationship. With growing concern over the U.S.-Japan relationship focused on interactions in high technology and their effect on U.S. economic strength and national security, it has become apparent that U.S. interests in the relationship with Japan remain as critical as ever but are increasingly complex and multifaceted. Debate within the United States has revealed sharp differences in perspective over the priorities that different interests should have in U.S. policymaking and over alternative strategies for pursuing those interests. The end of the Cold War, while representing freedom from a major geopolitical threat, has been accompanied by significant uncertainties over the nature of the global security environment in the coming decades. It was in this context that the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 called for “a comprehensive assessment of the scientific and technological relations 1 See William J. Clinton, “Remarks by the President in Address to the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea,” July 10, 1993.
OCR for page 9
Maximizing U.S. Interests in Science and Technology Relations with Japan: Report of the Defense Task Force between the United States and Japan” by the National Academy of Sciences.2 This report by the Defense Task Force focuses on U.S. national security interests at stake in science and technology relations with Japan, and was undertaken with support from the Department of Defense. In addition to this stand-alone report, the work of the Defense Task Force will be integrated with that of the Committee on Japan’s Competitiveness Task Force into a final report supported by the Departments of Commerce, Energy, and State as well as the National Science Foundation. The final report will develop an overall framework for maximizing U.S. interests in science and technology relations with Japan. How should the United States manage its scientific and technological collaboration with Japan so that its national security interests are protected and advanced through this interaction in the years ahead? That is the critical question addressed by this study. Reaching conclusions and developing recommendations have involved the examination of several important issues. One key issue is the future of the U.S.-Japan security alliance and the evolution of U.S. and Japanese defense postures and capabilities. Particularly in defense technology cooperation, patterns of technology development, application, and transfer between the two countries have been profoundly influenced by the security environment. An understanding of the possible directions the alliance might take in the future and the likely implications will be necessary to set and achieve U.S. goals in science and technology interaction. During the time that the task force has been at work, future options for defense and security policy have been actively debated in both the United States and Japan. While many uncertainties remain, the outlines of these debates have become clearer in recent months. These questions are examined in Chapter 2. A second key issue involves the specific goals and management of U.S.-Japan cooperation in defense technology cooperation, as well as interaction in dual-use technologies, mainly areas of commercial technology with defense applications.3 The committee examined the current technological capabilities and trajectories of the two countries, the historical experience with various forms of cooperation, and the likely future needs of the two countries in terms of defense systems and underlying technologies. From this examination the committee has drawn conclusions on how defense and dual-use technology cooperation might be effectively managed in the future, including possible areas and mechanisms for U.S.-Japan cooperation and likely obstacles to achieving U.S. goals. These issues are examined in Chapters Chapter 3, Chapter 4, and Chapter 5. During the course of the study, the Department of Defense has pursued its Technology-for-Technology (TFT) initiative with Japan.4 The Defense Task Force has had an opportunity to learn about TFT and about other initiatives and collaborative programs that are being undertaken. Taken together, these important efforts on the part of the DoD and other U.S. agencies illustrate the significant challenges and opportunities we face in structuring scientific and technological 2 Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991). 3 Dual-use technology is an increasingly important factor in overall U.S. strategy toward maintaining the technology base for future weapons systems and in thinking about U.S.-Japan relationships. The term “dual-use” can be applied in discussing several distinct sorts of issues. In this report we mainly refer to dual-use in two contexts (1) commercial technologies that can be used in military applications (such as flat panel displays and many other electronic components) and (2) broad areas of technological development and application that can have military and civilian uses (such as transport aircraft and space). To avoid confusion, we specify which context is being discussed throughout the report. 4 Although not the subject of an official policy statement, this initiative has been discussed by DoD officials in various public fora. See Japan Economic Institute, “Washington Pushes for Expanded U.S.-Japan Defense Technology Exchanges,” JEI Report, April 8, 1994.
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Maximizing U.S. Interests in Science and Technology Relations with Japan: Report of the Defense Task Force interactions with Japan that produce mutual benefits. The task force has endeavored to draw appropriate lessons from this experience that will hopefully benefit U.S. policymakers as they pursue collaboration with Japan. In Chapter 6, prospects for U.S. and Japanese technological needs, obstacles to achieving U.S. goals, and options for enhancing U.S.-Japan cooperation are reviewed and evaluated. Conclusions and recommendations are presented in Chapter 7. Additional information and assessment are provided in the appendixes. This report and the resulting recommendations generally focus on issues and interests that come substantially under the purview of the Department of Defense and, to some extent, the Department of State. The committee is aware that a fundamental underpinning of the nation’s security over the long term is our economic and overall technological strength. Further, the increasing industrial power of Japan and other nations relative to the United States poses important questions of how science and technology relations on the civilian side affect the political and military aspects of security. Apart from pointing out areas where cooperative efforts between U.S. agencies or between U.S. government and industry would enhance U.S. national security, the task force has chosen to refrain from developing specific conclusions and recommendations on this set of issues. The links between competitiveness and security are recognized and examined, in areas such as managing the possible risks of dependence on Japanese technological capabilities for U.S. defense systems. This report also points to areas where the Department of Defense, in cooperation with other agencies of the U.S. government, could play an important role in enhancing national security and competitiveness. The Defense Task Force hopes that this report will be helpful to the Committee on Japan and the Competitiveness Task Force as they consider issues related to the competitiveness of U.S. civilian industries and perhaps develop specific recommendations related to U.S. economic interests and competitiveness.
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Gas turbines work on a constant-volume cycle, so power output depends on air mass flow. Warm air is less dense than cold air, so power output is reduced. Also, warm air needs more energy to compress it than cold air, removing more work from the compressor, increasing internal losses as it does so. The work required by the compressor can be 66% of the total turbine power. Therefore, gas turbine efficiency can be improved by cooling the inlet air. This is especially effective in hot, dry climates.
A significant benefit of turbine air inlet cooling is that it can reduce (or eliminate) fuel efficiency reduction by evaporative cooling the inlet air to the wet bulb temperature. However, note that over-cooling past the wet bulb temperature by chilling will increase power but with little or no net efficiency improvement. An increase in inlet air temperature from 15°C to 38°C increases the heat rate, which causes a decrease in fuel efficiency of about 4%. Turbine air inlet cooling can minimize this loss. In a gas turbine installation, the inlet air can typically be cooled from 15°C at 50% relative humidity (RH) to around 11°C by evaporative cooling, representing a fuel efficiency improvement of around 0.5% and a power increase of up to 3%.
Gas turbine air inlet cooling can be achieved in a number of ways, including the use of mechanical and absorption chillers (with or without thermal energy storage), or the evaporative type (wetted media, fogging and wet compression/overspray).
Water droplets can be sprayed into the intake air resulting, in effect, in compressor intercooling, reduced compression work and the required efficiency increase. This method also benefits CHP plant because the greater mass flow increases the specific heat of the exhaust gas. The vaporization of liquid natural gas (LNG) provides a chilling effect ideal if this is the plant fuel. True intercooling provides bigger efficiency gains, but providing intercooling is hardly a plant operation adjustment!
AxEnergy’s (www.axenergy.com) ‘UpStream’ gas turbine inlet air cooling system provides a power increase by adiabatic cooling of around 0.7% for each degree celsius of cooling, depending on ambient conditions and turbine type. Installed in a Rolls Royce Trent gas turbine at the Whitby cogeneration plant in Ontario, Canada, this achieved a maximum power gain of 7%.
Inlet air warming
In combined cycle, the highest plant efficiency does not require the highest gas turbine efficiency or pressure ratio. A balance has to be struck between the gas turbine firing (combustion) temperature and pressure ratio to maximize the steam cycle output. In such circumstances, inlet air warming using scavenged heat can improve CCGT efficiency on very cold days. Also, inlet air warming is often used for protection against the gas turbine’s mechanical limits.
A Centrax installation for Spanish company Arcilla Blanca SA, showing the air filter enclosure. This 1 x CX501-KB7 genset produces 5.2 MWe plus recovered heat for drying clay product
Inlet air warming can also be used to advantage with gas turbine plant operating in very cold locations (40oC or lower), either to reduce de-icing requirements, which can reduce efficiency although very cold air is usually dry or to maintain a high exhaust temperature for efficient combined cycle or CHP plant operation.
Steam or water can be injected into gas turbines to increase output power, improve part load flexibility and significantly reduce exhaust emissions. Saturated or superheated steam can be injected, usually into the combustion chamber, but this will significantly increase pressures, possibly above the compressor’s aerodynamic/mechanical design limits. Therefore, there are likely to be restrictions on the steam/fuel ratio, so steam injection is not available for all gas turbines.
A Centrax installation for the BRAL Algeria oil and gas complex showing the air filter enclosures. The hostile desert conditions mean that the Donaldson air filters and enclosures work hard protecting the two gas turbines
Water injection into the combustor is more usual. This actually reduces efficiency, but the increasing mass flow rate through the turbine increases power output by up to 10%.
Energy conservation technology for steam-operated machinery has brought about seasonal thermal/electric load variations. The flexible heat and power gas turbine can adjust efficiently to such varying needs, using both thermal and electric energy. Kawasaki’s GPC PLUS series gas turbines are suitable for such operation. To increase electricity output, saturated steam from a heat recovery steam generator is injected into the gas turbine. Operation using flexible heat and power is possible by changing the quantity of steam injection. To reduce NOx emissions, the turbine can operate in either water or steam injection modes and can be switched between the two. Steam injected in this way substantially expands the flexible heat and power range. And according to Kawasaki, using superheated injected steam means still more efficient electricity generation can be achieved.
Filtering inlet air
The hot and difficult operating conditions inside gas turbines mean that dirt from the intake air (and, more rarely, the fuel supply) can damage the blades. This occurs through particulates adhering to the blades (fouling), corroding them or eroding them each quite different mechanisms. These unwanted effects reduce blade efficiency, degrade performance and increase maintenance requirements. Turbine blades have very precise aerodynamic characteristics; any damage can reduce mass flow and effective pressure ratio. Both reduce fuel efficiency.
Inlet air filtration (as well as fuel filtration) is essential and will prevent most particulate matter from entering the turbine, but such systems result in a pressure drop. This, in itself, is an efficiency loss. If the pressure drop is reduced by a remarkably small amount (as little as 20 mm static pressure), hundreds of thousands of Euros per year can be saved in fuel costs for large plant. So good filter design should minimize pressure drop by balancing filtration efficiency against minimal pressure drop.
A camera from an ETR-Unidata’s air filter monitoring system. Such systems can measure sub-ambient particulate levels across full filter duct coverage
Modern gas turbine intake filters largely achieve this (typically using microfibre synthetic melt blown surface laminates), offering a minimum efficiency rating value (MERV) efficiency rating of up to 15, yielding a filtration efficiency of 99.999 % on 0.5 micron sized particles and larger. Note that the higher the MERV, the greater is the pressure drop across the surface of the filter. Where particulate contamination is especially heavy, pulse cleaned air filtration systems may be preferred, because the long-term pressure drop is lower.
Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery is trying to persuade its plant operator customers to specify top quality air filters to reduce maintenance requirements rather than increase fuel efficiency. However, Siemens points out that, even if there were a significant pressure drop, the resulting fall in fuel efficiency would result in extra heat lost to exhaust exactly what might be required for cogeneration plant increased overall efficiency.
Schematic showing how ETR-Unidata’s Epsilon air filter monitoring system provides full filter duct coverage
Replacing gas turbine air intake filter cartridges can be costly, so relatively inexpensive pre-filters that trap larger particles are often fitted to extend primary filter life. However, pre-filters will also suffer a pressure drop if dirt builds up too much, so they should be capable of being cleaned or changed while the gas turbine is running. Pre-filters may often run without washing for years.
Pneumafil’s (www.pneumafil.com) Ultrascrub air intake technology is claimed to significantly improve turbine performance while reducing maintenance costs. It combines very high efficiency filters with a scrubber-cooler to remove the 0.20.4 micron particulates (also chlorides, sulphates and sodium). The need for intermittent off-line washes is virtually eliminated, turbine component corrosion and erosion, and NOx emission are all much reduced. Ultrascrub has been field-tested on a 100 MW Dow Chemical installation in Texas, where calculated annual savings were over E600,500 compared with conventional technology. Higher total system efficiency is claimed to be one of the benefits.
Gas turbine air intake filter banks, up to six storeys high in large plant, contain thousands of filter elements which must be checked regularly or when programmed maintenance occurs. Both are time-consuming tasks. A better way of maximizing air filter efficiency is to monitor them electronically. Modern filter monitoring systems provide exactly the quantitative measurement and cross-sectional mapping of air filter performance required.
For example, ETR-Unidata’s (www.etr-unidata.com) Epsilon system measures sub-ambient particulate levels across full duct coverage. Based on laser scanning, and thought to be unique, it provides spatial information/resolution on individual filters starting to fail. The Epsilon also provides particulate distribution mapping, enabling identification of individual filters that may be failing. Use of such equipment can improve gas turbine plant efficiency as well as reducing downtime.
Parasitic energy losses
Parasitic energy losses result from all gas turbine moving parts, such as bearings and seals. Bearing frictional losses waste energy, generate heat and reduce life, including that of lubricants. A significant proportion of the total fluid film bearing losses in high-speed turbomachinery is consumed simply by feeding oil to the bearings. At bearing surface speeds below around 3000 m/min, parasitic losses are typically less than 10% those of the oil-film frictional losses. For higher speeds, the losses increase rapidly with surface speed and can reach 25%50% of total bearing loss. Such losses can be minimized speak to the bearing manufacturer or gas turbine OEM. This is very much a job for the experts, but may be well worth attending to in terms of improving gas turbine fuel efficiency.
Significant fractions of the total power output can be absorbed by auxiliary equipment required to run the plant. Principal electrical loads such as the turbine enclosure ventilation fan motors and liquid fuel pump motors all consume power. Careful equipment selection, operation and maintenance all help to reduce losses. A significant load is the fuel gas compressor for gas-fired turbines. These reduce plant net output. If no high or medium pressure gas pipeline is available, this can be a disadvantage for engines with a high cycle pressure ratio.
The fuel used in a gas turbine can also indirectly affect fuel efficiency in the long term. For example, many liquid fuels need pre-treatment to remove harmful vanadium and sodium compounds. Vanadium pentoxide and sodium sulphate are the main ash components formed at higher temperatures. This ash adheres to blades and causes corrosion. The preferred fuels in this respect are natural gas, properly prepared syngas, and distillate oils.
For cogeneration plant, some of the gas turbine’s exhaust energy is recovered for drying, process heat or process steam production, etc. So depending on the precise nature of the CHP plant, the gas turbine can be optimized for maximum thermal efficiency, or lower thermal efficiency with more useful heat in the exhaust.
Higher air intake or combustion temperatures raise the exhaust temperature, while a higher pressure ratio is likely to reduce the exhaust temperature this needs to be taken into account by cogeneration plant operators. For them, greater energy in the exhaust could be more important than ultimate gas turbine fuel efficiency. The ability of a gas turbine to provide good simple cycle and cogeneration efficiency depends on a high pressure ratio and exhaust temperature, so even relatively low efficiency simple-cycle gas turbines may be highly efficient when used in cogeneration plant. Such plant can achieve overall thermal efficiencies of more than 80%; nearly 90% if low-grade heat can be properly used.
If still greater amounts of exhaust heat are required, supplementary firing may be the answer. This is possible because gas turbine exhaust gas contains up to 15% of oxygen, which can be used to burn more fuel to further raise the gas temperature before passing to (for example) boiler flues in combined cycle plant. Supplementary firing can raise exhaust temperatures from about 500°C to around 800°C. This may double steam output, though at the cost of extra maintenance.
Flexibility versus efficiency
High gas turbine thermal efficiency does not always make for best plant efficiency. As explained, a lower gas turbine thermal efficiency will provide more heat in the exhaust for combined cycle or CHP plant. However, even leaving aside the argument that power plant has to make money for shareholders, best thermal efficiency is not always the most important goal. For example, greater operational flexibility is often needed today.
A GE industrial gas turbine core a high core thermal efficiency does not necessarily translate into high plant thermal efficiency, especially for combined cycle or CHP plant
Rolls Royce’s John Charlton says that Rolls-Royce is working towards producing more efficient flexible gas turbine-powered plant to take account of the effects of energy supply deregulation, environmental legislation and the connection to power grids of non-continuous renewables plant such as wind turbines. So the trend, he says, is now towards providing the flexibility to meet these demands.
For example, as an alternative to using an open cycle Rolls-Royce Trent gas turbine for daily cycling operation (around 42% thermal efficiency), the company also aims to provide a flexible combined cycle plant also based on the Trent gas turbine. This configuration uses supplementary firing to raise the gas turbine exhaust temperature. The steam cycle consists of a special OTSG single-flue (‘once through’ drumless) stack control heat recovery boiler and steam turbine connected to a common generator using a special clutch. The gas turbine and steam turbine each contribute around 50% of the generated power. Such combined cycle plant can be built up to 100 MW with 48%49% thermal efficiency, yet with the required flexibility.
A Rolls Royce RB211 industrial gas turbine. Such aero-derivative machines may be more suitable for the flexible operation demands of today’s plant, with thermal efficiency taking a relative back seat
Even so, when plant operates on a daily start-up and shut-down basis to provide power when it is most needed, there is usually a trade off between high efficiency and other factors. Aeroderivative gas turbines are usually better than dedicated industrial machines in this respect, as they are designed for greater operational flexibility from the outset.
There are many ways in which gas turbine plant overall fuel efficiency can be improved though careful operation (albeit through quite small increments). For still greater improvements, however, new generations of plant may be required. Raising gas operating temperatures still further is an obvious way, but this can only be achieved using very special, and usually highly expensive, hot path components. Single crystal and other exotic alloys for blading, as well as advanced ceramics, are examples of what will be needed, but will plant owners pay for them? This depends to a large extent on just how crucial it becomes to reduce exhaust emissions still further.
Where combined cycle plant is concerned, the best gas turbine will often be only of medium thermal efficiency (with higher exhaust temperature) working in conjunction with a relatively low efficiency steam turbine plant, yet which has good exhaust heat utilization properties. So, absolute maximum machine thermal efficiencies and best plant efficiencies are often not synonymous.
There has been a proposal to develop a combined gas turbine-Rankine cycle power plant. This would have an improved part load efficiency deriving from use of a gas turbine with an organic fluid Rankine bottoming cycle featuring an inter-cycle regenerator acting between the superheated vapour leaving the Rankine turbine and the compressor inlet air. The regenerator would be used as engine power fell below maximum rated power.
James Hunt writes on energy issues from the UK. | <urn:uuid:efc81f96-1e2a-4fc3-98f5-8b35df74a8f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cospp.com/articles/print/volume-8/issue-6/features/gas-turbine-plant-efficiency-balancing-power-heat-and-operational-flexibility.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915445 | 3,277 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Definition of GHB
GHB: Known in Europe as Gamma-OH, this is gamma hydroxybutyrate, a colorless and odorless drug used illicitly for "recreational" purposes and for "date rape." GBH is a central nervous system depressant. It tends therefore to increase sociability and function as something of a transient antidepressant.
Some persons who have sustained adverse effects of GHB have reported being given the drug surreptitiously (e.g., having it slipped into their drink), while others have admitted to intentional use.
GHB has been marketed as a liquid or powder and has been sold on the street under numerous names such as "Grievous Bodily Harm," "Georgia Home Boy," "Liquid Ecstasy," "Liquid X," "Liquid E," "GHB," "GBH," "Soap," "Scoop," "Easy Lay," "Salty Water," "G-Riffick," "Cherry Menth," and "Organic Quaalude."
In February, 2000, federal legislation was passed in U.S. that toughened the penalties for the distribution and possession of drugs used in date rapes. The principal drug covered by the law was GHB. A few drops of GHB added to a drink are enough to make the victim lose consciousness within 15-20 minutes. At the time GHB had been implicated in more than 5,700 recorded cases of overdose and in at least 57 deaths.
The combination of GHB with alcohol or other CNS depressants is especially deadly. A teaspoon (5 cc) of GHB mixed with alcohol can render a person unconscious and drastically depress respiration within 20 minutes of ingesting it. The use of GHB can also be physically addictive.
In the U.S., GHB has been produced clandestinely in widely varying degrees of purity. "Liquid" GHB varies in concentration according to preparation. Improper preparation of GHB can result in a mixture of GHB and sodium hydroxide that can be severely toxic because of the combined effects of the GHB and the direct caustic effects of sodium hydroxide.
GHB increases dopamine levels in the brain and has effects through the endogenous opioid system; most GHB is excreted during the first hours after ingestion.
The features of acute GHB toxicity include coma, seizures, respiratory depression, and vomiting. Other documented effects of GHB include amnesia and hypotonia (associated with doses of 10 mg/kg body weight); a normal sequence of rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep (doses of 20-30 mg/kg body weight); and anesthesia (doses of approximately 50 mg/kg body weight). Doses of >50 mg/kg body weight can decrease cardiac output and produce severe respiratory depression, seizure-like activity, and coma.
There is no antidote for GHB overdose, and treatment is restricted to nonspecific supportive care. Patients have required urgent emergency care; many of those hospitalized have required ventilatory support and intensive care.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the U.S. Department of Justice has issued the following statement: "Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB), known as liquid x, Georgia home boy, Goop, gamma-oh, and grievous bodily harm, is a central nervous system depressant abused for its ability to produce euphoric and hallucinatory states and its alleged ability to release a growth hormone and stimulate muscle growth. Although GHB was originally considered a safe and "natural" food supplement and was sold in health food stores, the medical community soon became aware that it caused overdoses and other health problems. GHB can produce drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, unconsciousness, seizures, severe respiratory depression, and coma. GHB can be found in liquid form or as a white powdered material. It is taken orally and is frequently combined with alcohol. Abusers include high school and college students and rave party attendees who use GHB for its intoxicating effects. Some body builders also abuse GHB for its alleged anabolic effects. Several cases have documented the use of GHB to incapacitate women for the commission of sexual assault. being considered."
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Get the latest health and medical information delivered direct to your inbox FREE! | <urn:uuid:6a1512a9-9ee9-4ba6-8b8b-b3b19b6093d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13859 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960535 | 915 | 2.171875 | 2 |
nVidia uses the IGP along with the discrete card, not just 1 of the 2, hence the name Hybrid SLi.
UPDATE: Adding slides from a presentation by Nvidia Corp.
There is always a trade-off between power consumption and performance in the world of 3D graphics cards. If one solution delivers high framerate per second, it most probably consumes significant amount of power, whereas another, which power consumption is minimal, cannot offer really high performance. But Nvidia recently announced that its new technology will meet low power consumption with high performance.
Nvidia’s new Hybrid SLI technology will have two modes and that will target different applications: the Power Saving Mode, which will switch off discrete graphics core and use only integrated graphics engine when high performance is not needed, whereas Max Performance Mode will make integrated graphics processor (IGP) to assist discrete graphics processing unit (GPU) and boost performance when it is required.
Even though Nvidia’s multi-GPU SLI technology enables significant performance increases, it also boosts power consumption, which means additional heat and higher noise levels. In this case, hybrid SLI’s power saving mode will allow to disable two high-performance graphics boards, such as Nvidia GeForce 8800-series when their 3D graphics firepower is not needed, Nvidia explained. The same mode will allow to integrate higher-performance graphics cores into notebooks without sacrificing battery life, as in case of battery operation only IGP will be used.
The max performance mode of hybrid SLI will allow systems featuring entry-level or mainstream GPUs from Nvidia to process graphics faster, as IGP will be able to help discrete graphics chip to render complex graphics, according to the company.
“[With] Hybrid SLI you have a discrete and a motherboard GPU in a system. When you switch between GPUs, you don’t have to unplug and plug monitor… What we have [implemented] on the core-logic site is [ability] to render in all cases through motherboard GPU,” explained Jeff Fisher, Nvidia’s general manager of GPU business unit, at a meeting with analysts.
Jen Hsun Huang, chief executive of Nvidia Corp. said that the first systems featuring hybrid SLI technology will be available late this year. No other details were disclosed. | <urn:uuid:8e778700-248a-41bf-9233-51ab1374cb2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/graphics/display/20070625083756.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914976 | 466 | 2.234375 | 2 |
The 'fiscal cliff' deal passed the House after Republicans broke ranks over taxes. But spending cuts loom large in the next clash, over raising the debt ceiling, which Obama says is nonnegotiable.
Just 10 hours before the New York Stock Exchange opened on Wednesday, the GOP-controlled House passed the Senate's "fiscal cliff" bill, 257 to 167, marking the first time that Republicans have, effectively, voted to raise income taxes in 20 years.
Markets from Tokyo to Wall Street surged at the news that Congress had, at last, resolved the fiscal cliff, some $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts that threatened to drive the US economy back into recession.
The vote marked a clear victory for the White House on what had been a rock-solid GOP principle: no tax increases. President Obama made that point publicly several times in the midst of tough weekend negotiations, riling GOP leaders.
Recommended: Debt ceiling 101: the debate last time
But the victory could be shortlived. Sharp divisions persist over how to deal with the nation’s $16 trillion national debt and soaring deficits, which Congress and the White House must face as early as February when they reengage over raising the debt ceiling.
Moreover, the fiscal cliff deal was worked out over the strong objections of conservatives on the right of the Republican Party and liberals on the left of the Democratic Party, not fully reflected in the final vote.
Page 1 of 4 | <urn:uuid:726829c4-e4b1-4e0c-8889-9f0408b4bb79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2013/0102/Fiscal-cliff-deal-After-rush-of-relief-debt-ceiling-clash-already-looms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934568 | 299 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Last modified: 2009-06-06 by ian macdonald
Keywords: janata dal (united) | arrow |
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Janata Dal (United), with 7 members of the Lok Sabha, is an ally of the
web page on the union between it and the Samata party claims the unified
party would retain the JD(U)'s symbol of arrow and the green-and-white flag of
the Samata. He said both parties would contest the coming Assembly elections as
the JD(U). I have been unable to find any image.
Knut A. Berg, 20 October 2004
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050118/elec3.jpg one finds a version of
the Janata Dal (United) flag, a horizontally divided green-white green flag with
the party symbol of the arrow and some writing above it on the white field.
Presumably the writing is the party name, but so blurred in the photo I am not
completely certain what alphabet, but would hazard a guess as Latin as it seems
to be ending in a letter U shape.
Knut A. Berg, 24 April 2006
Janata Dal (United), is a political party in India. It is an important and
strong ally of the National Democratic Alliance.
R.K. Jugnoo, State Vice-President, Janata Dal (United) Youth Wing, 13 February 2009
image by Ivan Sache, 14 February 2009
JD(U) currently heads the government of Bihar. The
photo (2005) communicated
by Knut Berg shows the party flag as horizontally divided green-white-green with
a red arrow pointing to the hoist placed in the white stripe. The red writing
place above the arrow does not seem to me to be in Latin script but rather in
Hindi (or another local script). Wikipedia
shows the party flag as horizontally divided dark green-white-dark green with a
black arrow pointing to the hoist placed in the white stripe. The black arrow
was the party symbol in the 2001 State elections (http://archive.eci.gov.in/SE2001/parties/national/jd(u).htm).
It was still registered in 2004 (http://www.indiaonestop.com/Election2004/politicalparties.html).
Ivan Sache, 14 February 2009
image by Prabhat Ranjan, 4 June 2009This is the flag of Janata Dal (United), with 20 members of the Lok Sabha and 7 members of the Rajya sabha. Janata Dal (United) currently heads the government of Bihar led by Mr. Nitish Kumar. | <urn:uuid:809550fc-26b1-43e2-83af-b11166fa6b87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fahnenversand.de/fotw/flags/in%7Djanp.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917742 | 581 | 2.09375 | 2 |
The Estonian Green Movement and the Estonian Fund for Nature sent an official complaint to the Commission on 7 January, arguing that the governments of Denmark, Finland, Germany and Sweden have violated EU directives on environmental impact assessment (EIA) and conservation of wild birds and habitats.
The NGOs claim that many parts of national environmental impact assessments misuse data in the approval process. "In certain cases, even basic knowledge and methodology of physics, statistics, mathematics, chemistry and biology (specifically ecotoxicology) is ignored, and the suggestions of low impact or low risks do not rest on solid factual ground," the NGOs said, drawing on assessments of independent experts like the Estonian Academy of Sciences.
The Baltic Sea pipeline, portrayed as key to Europe's security of supply strategy, would deliver natural gas straight from Russia to Germany.
The Russian-led project secured the five national permits required for the pipe's construction, including one from Russia, in late 2009. Construction is due to start in April (EurActiv 14/05/09).
The Commission does not have the power to stop the project, but the NGOs hope it will ask member states to implement the EU directives appropriately.
"We can't stop the pipeline – that's obvious – but we might avoid similar negative impacts in future major infrastructure projects," Peep Mardiste, policy advisor at the Estonian Green Movement, told EurActiv. As projects of this magnitude are relatively rare, Mardiste hopes that the environmental impact of future ventures, be they large bridges, tunnels or major highways, will be assessed more strictly.
Assessing the overall impact of the pipeline on the Baltic Sea's fragile ecosystem is not easy, as each country has looked at the part of the pipeline that will run through their sea territory. Dubbed the 'sausage approach' by environmentalists, cutting a major project into pieces like this overlooks the overall cumulative impact, Mardiste complains.
The Nord Stream team itself commissioned the 'Espoo Report', which was meant to account for potential overall impacts along the pipeline. But conservation group WWF criticised this as "insufficient", pointing to issues such as a lack of data and underestimations of the impact on protected areas.
The EU last year approved the Baltic Sea Strategy, which seeks to clean up polluted waters and interconnect the energy networks of the surrounding states (EurActiv 11/06/09). Nord Stream, however, is not part of the strategy. | <urn:uuid:904f812c-2c1c-4a1a-8701-f6c448329a12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.euractiv.com/climate-environment/green-activists-urge-eu-act-nord-news-223307 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940555 | 501 | 2.296875 | 2 |
In a May 17, 2011 Informa market status report, “Status of the LTE Ecosystem,” 61 percent of the 527 respondents polled at the LTE World Summit either “agree or strongly agree” that they believe small cells will be more important than macro cells for an effective LTE deployment strategy.
“When it comes to 4G LTE infrastructure adaptation, small is rapidly becoming the next big thing,” opined Mike Nasco, CEO of Wazco. “A major issue with small cell networks, however, is matching the size, cost and performance of the backhaul to the small cell with the large-scale demands that metro-level infill LTE networks will require. The MetroHaul is designed specifically to provide economical backhaul for our family of high bandwidth, multi-sector metrocell solutions.”
Dubbed “LTE in a Streetlamp” by industry pundits, Wazco’s recently introduced MetroStorm is a multi-sector, high-performance, small base station for the LTE mobile-infrastructure market that addresses small-cell size and scalable performance issues with a truly innovative, self-contained, self-organizing, self-optimizing, street-level network element. It consists of a single self-contained, fully integrated enclosure, hosting up to four coordinated sectors, powered via standard interfaces available on streetlights, power poles and similar devices.
With the addition of the Athena Wireless A060-Mini millimeter-wave, point-to-point wireless backhaul radio, the Wazco MetroHaul addresses the need for short-range deployments of 50 to 1,000 meters and solves the challenge of transmitting large amounts of data through the air thus delivering significant use benefits and cost savings because it offers higher capacity data transmission, faster deployment and longer range. It operates in the 60GHz unlicensed band and is capable of transporting 1000Mbps of full duplex traffic up to a distance of a few kilometers, making it uniquely compatible with Ethernet transmissions.
“Athena’s A060-Mini multi-gigabit capacity and performance is comparable to fiber when handling cellular backhaul,” said Eduardo Tinoco, CEO of Athena. “The Wazco MetroHaul equipped with the A060-Mini delivers significant use benefits and cost savings because it offers higher capacity data transmission, faster deployment and longer range. Together our companies have solved one of the major issues that LTE small-cell offerings must face.”
For more information, visit www.wazco.com. | <urn:uuid:bb8de98c-748d-4556-8777-2c986cacf3dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecnmag.com/news/2011/07/metrohaul-lte-metrocell-a060-mini-digital-radio-solves-backhaul-issues-mobile-internet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912487 | 529 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Search in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
Papers from the AAAI Workshop
David Furcy, Sven Koenig, Wheeler Ruml, and Rong Zhou, Cochairs
Heuristic search and combinatorial optimization are currently very active areas of research. For example, researchers investigate how to search in real-time, how to search with limited (possibly external) memory, how to solve sequences of similar search problems faster than with isolated searches, how to improve the runtime of the searches over time, how to trade-off between the runtime and memory consumption of the search and the resulting solution quality, and how to focus the searches with sophisticated heuristics such as pattern databases. Their results are published in different conferences such as the IJCAI, AAAI, ICAPS, CP, NIPS, ICRA, and IROS. This two-day workshop was meant to bring these researchers together to exchange their ideas and cross-fertilize the field. Thus, in addition to seeking separate answers to questions like how to design more accurate memory-based heuristics, more I/O-efficient disk-based search algorithms, or more efficient clause-learning strategies, the workshop stimulated thoughts on combining various techniques originated from different areas of search. | <urn:uuid:479ad39f-3f94-494e-8329-a50aa7783322> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aaai.org/Press/Reports/Workshops/ws-08-10.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929944 | 253 | 2.28125 | 2 |
At least once a week the topic of museum careers arises in my job-counseling sessions with graduate students.
It makes a lot of sense -- museums are major centers of public education, and graduate students are would-be educators. The topics covered by museums -- such as art, history, child development, anthropology, science, and technology -- overlap well with disciplines within the arts and sciences. And while graduate programs in museum studies are available, it is not usually necessary to have such training to enter the field.
Often when counselors work with Ph.D. students looking outside the academy for career ideas, we focus on learning to separate the students' skills (such as research, teaching, and writing) from the content of their studies. Not so with museum careers -- from a curator position to a job in the development office, familiarity with the subject of a museum's collection is as valuable as specific skills.
The biggest challenge to a museum career is breaking into the profession. Museums are famous, popular institutions for which many knowledgeable people are willing to volunteer their labor. As a result, even large museums will have relatively small paid staffs, and since this is the nonprofit sector, the salaries can be considerably lower than in comparable for-profit jobs.
The best way for a young academic to earn a spot on the payroll at a museum is to begin as a volunteer or intern. It can be quite a hardship for a graduate student on a limited budget to find time for unpaid work or a modestly paid internship. However, when staff positions open at museums, they often turn first to the people who have already demonstrated their commitment and talent.
Fortunately for graduate students, research universities are often well situated for finding an internship or volunteer opportunity at a museum. Some universities run their own museums, for instance, which opens up the possibility of museum-based course work, as well as internships. And many universities are situated in or near major cities with a variety of museums from which to choose.
As a general rule, museums value advanced academic training. Museum officials are also likely to be supportive of an intern's career aspirations, since their own careers likely started with a similar position.
It isn't necessary to find an existing internship program in order to find a worthwhile opportunity. Especially with smaller museums, sending a letter of introduction with a résumé, followed by a polite phone call, may be just the ticket. Explain in your letter why you are interested in the organization and the amount of time you have available to work, along with any specific skills or experiences you can offer. You can often find out the name of the museum's volunteer coordinator through its Web site or by phone. Larger institutions usually have a formal application process for interns and volunteers.
Deciding whether you want to work at a big museum or a small one turns out to be an important choice in this career path. Major museums with hundreds of employees have very specialized staffs. The benefit of such an environment is that you can work on prestigious projects and develop depth in a specific area of museum work. The drawback is that it may be harder to learn the range of functions within the museum, and you may play a limited role on any given project.
By comparison, small museums have versatile staffs and give their interns more wide-ranging and significant responsibilities. Unless your interests in a museum career are already very clearly defined, a smaller institution may afford you a better first exposure.
Career Tracks Within Museums
For the sake of this discussion, I am using the term "museum" to refer to any cultural institution that collects, conserves, and publicly displays artistic, cultural, or scientific objects and artifacts. Museums can include historical homes, archaeological sites, and science centers, in addition to the grand marble palaces with art and natural-history collections typically conjured up by the term.
It is helpful to think about two main categories of museum careers that are particularly suitable for graduate students: content and educational specialists and development and marketing professionals.
For scholars who are eager to conduct research, the best-known opportunity to do this at a museum is through a curatorship. Such positions are filled in much the same way as academic appointments. Curators' responsibilities involve the research demands typical of a professorship, but with little or no teaching unless the institution has arranged a joint appointment with an affiliated college or university.
Curators devote attention to the museum's collections in their particular field, and may play a significant role in cultivating donations from private collectors and arranging acquisitions. Curators also provide content expertise in the design of public exhibitions and publications.
For Ph.D.'s who prefer teaching to research, a position in museum education or exhibit development may be the right fit. These jobs combine teaching skills and creativity with a solid, but more general, knowledge of a particular discipline.
Museum educators organize performance and lecture series, develop and teach workshops, train and supervise volunteer docents, work with schoolteachers, and create online and print supplements for exhibits. Museum education has also moved into the high-tech realm and increasingly focuses on developing online-learning programs.
The public sphere of museum education demands a high level of energy. The challenge is to build and sustain an audience, no small feat since museums are competing with all sorts of leisure options, such as sports, films, and live performances.
One thing to keep in mind about these positions: museum educators work when the public is available -- in other words, these jobs almost always involve weekend and evening hours. And the salaries aren't terrific either: Entry-level positions for professionals with graduate degrees often fall between $20,000 and $35,000, while the most senior educators at a major museum usually earn less than tenured professors in the humanities.
Exhibit developers are fewer in number than museum educators, but they tend to work more traditional hours. There are opportunities both within museums and in independent exhibit-design firms for these professionals, who work with content specialists, architects, and graphic designers to develop three-dimensional displays. They usher an exhibit through all the steps of production, from developing a narrative structure to selecting and organizing the display objects, writing and editing label copy, producing multi-media presentations, and coordinating the final construction and installation. Salaries in exhibit development are similar to those in museum education, although they can be slightly higher in the independent firms.
If you are less interested in staying within your original field of research and more attracted to promoting the arts, museum marketing and development may be your niche.
Even the smallest museum has professionals charged with public relations and membership responsibilities. Besides the usual press releases, these folks produce special events that draw attention to the museum and may be involved in audience research to increase membership and attendance.
Development and fund raising is an area of museum work that is home to many former academics. Entry-level jobs in this field involve research, the backbone of any nonprofit's efforts to identify potential donors, and writing -- especially grant proposals and annual reports. A background in the area of the museum's research is highly desirable in these jobs, since development officers are often explaining and representing the museum's activities to donors and foundation officers.
Salaries in this job track vary, but generally speaking, good development professionals are in great demand and are better compensated than their counterparts in museum education, exhibit development, or public relations.
Where to Find More Information
Museum professionals are well-known for their commitment to professional development -- this includes a superb annual conference by the American Association of Museums, an extremely active e-mail list devoted to the museum profession, and a host of valuable online resources.
The A.A.M.'s Web site includes information on member institutions, its annual conference, a bookstore of its publications, and a section devoted to museum careers. The association's monthly newsletter, Aviso, is also available online, along with selected job postings.
The Museum-L e-mail list is an extraordinary ongoing conversation of several thousand museum professionals and includes many job announcements and advice for graduate students.
The Museum Employment Resource Center is an excellent source for job listings in the museum world.
If your interest is museum education, you can learn more about this field and sign up for an e-mail list at the Cultural Connections Web site.
For specific information about science museums, check out the Association of Science-Technology Centers.
And Global Museum 2000 is an e-zine with information on museums and museum career opportunities. | <urn:uuid:8b0b0681-a5e3-4f1d-8ee3-6b7f1d96e0ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chronicle.com/article/Careers-for-PhD-s-in/46302 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958923 | 1,732 | 1.992188 | 2 |
May 28, 2012 09:47 AM EDT
(Reuters) - In China, surplus capacity and sliding prices are sounding the death knell for half of the companies making light emitting diode (LED) chips used in Samsung television panels and Sharp computer monitors, with only the large, state-backed players likely to pull through.
Sluggish global sales of TVs and computers may further cut LED chip prices by 20 percent this year, and consolidation or closure are the only options for China's smaller LED players, analysts say.
By contrast, Sanan Optoelectronics Co Ltd, China's top LED chipmaker with a market value of $2.8 billion, and Elec-Tech International Co Ltd will be among a handful of large companies that will survive as they continue to receive subsidies and incentives from the government, according to analysts.
"That's China's strategy. They want their biggest companies to survive" in this restructuring, Nomura analyst Anne Lee said.
For the majority of LED firms, the government is slowly rolling back incentives, including tax breaks, free land and more than $1.6 billion in cash to buy LED chip-making equipment, that had helped sustain the industry for more than three years.
Proview International, whose Shenzhen-based unit is battling Apple Inc over the iPad trademark in China, is grappling with slumping LED prices and fierce competition that have dragged down earnings for other LED companies including Hangzhou Silan Microelectronics Co and Foshan Nationstar Optoelectronics.
Hangzhou Silan fell 2.9 percent to 10.10 yuan in Shanghai trading on Friday, while Foshan dropped 1 percent to 8.10 yuan on the Shenzhen exchange. The stocks were down more than 30 percent in the past year.
Many LED companies are operating their factories at 50 percent capacity in China, with up to half of the 700 or so chip-making machines purchased with government money during the boom years in 2009 and 2010 left idle, industry watchers say.
In the past year, overcapacity has shut hundreds of small Chinese makers of LED lighting, according to analysts.
"China's financial policy is not giving enough support to mid-tier and smaller enterprises," said Bao En Zhong, executive vice chairman of the semiconductor lighting association in Shenzhen, one of China's largest production bases for LED lighting. "We may see more factory closures."
Government subsidies helped China triple its global share in packaged LED components, consisting of chips, wiring and conductive paste, to 6 percent last year from 2 percent in 2010.
Sanan Optoelectronics said net profit more than doubled to 936 million yuan ($147.52 million) in 2011, thanks to government subsidies of about 1.8 billion yuan, analysts say. Elec-Tech's net income expanded two-fold to 392.3 million yuan.
Armed with nearly 2 billion yuan in cash in total, the bigger LED companies are ramping up capacity, despite a slow market, to better capture a larger share of state-backed LED lighting projects China plans to roll out this year, analysts said.
A UBS report said Elec-Tech had added 50 chip-making metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOVCD) tools, used to produce LED chips, and may add 100 more this year. Sanan is also planning to buy more MOVCD tools, according to UBS.
China's Ministry of Science and Technology has said it plans to increase the value of the country's LED industry to 500 billion yuan ($79.10 billion) by 2015.
Analysts say the industry was valued at 31 billion yuan last year and consolidation is crucial to boost growth.
The death of weaker companies will also be a boon for bigger, state-backed LED firms looking to compete with regional rivals such as Taiwan's Epistar Corp and South Korea's LG Innotek at a time when many of their Asian peers have reported profit declines or losses.
A broad cyclical decline in demand for LED chips and a market that remains 50 percent oversupplied continue to weigh on prices and margins.
While the industry saw a seasonal increase in orders for LED chips early this year, fundamentals are still looking weak.
Sales growth at Taiwanese LED companies slipped to 3 percent in April month on month, after rising 12 percent in March from February, a UBS report showed.
Taiwanese LED companies account for about 19 percent of global output of packaged LED chips.
"We will see a real problem in demand due to reduced usage of LEDs in television and monitor units as backlight technology improves," said HSBC analyst Jerry Tsai. "Add to that a 20 percent fall in prices, you can just imagine the headwinds the industry will face next year." ($1 = 6.3447 Chinese yuan)
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:8ea47661-7fde-467c-ac14-863dc64a63bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mobilenapps.com/articles/2399/20120528/analysis-falling-prices-kill-half-chinese-led.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947752 | 994 | 1.625 | 2 |
Sports Induced Tourettes Syndrome. A disease that inflects many of us in the athletic world.
Pronounced sits, this neurological disorder is characterized by verbal obscenities being produced due to the watching or playing of any particular sporting activity. In beach volleyball the throwing of sand is a common side effect.
Note: Alcohol has been known to escalate the symptoms of the condition.
After shanking a volleyball...
Liz: "Fuckin shit, why do I even bother playing this stupid goddamn sport."
Mary: "Feel free to ignore her. She suffers from S.I.T.S."
Gene:"Please forgive the language my S.I.T.S is acting up again." | <urn:uuid:4e2df357-d507-4979-ab17-ae13ceb7759f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=S.I.T.S.&defid=6061974 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950119 | 148 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Objective To assess the nature and prevalence of genetic discrimination experienced by people at risk for Huntington’s disease who had undergone genetic testing or remained untested.
Design Cross sectional, self reported survey.
Setting Seven genetics and movement disorders clinics servicing rural and urban communities in Canada.
Participants 233 genetically tested and untested asymptomatic people at risk for Huntington’s disease (response rate 80%): 167 underwent testing (83 had the Huntington’s disease mutation, 84 did not) and 66 chose not to be tested.
Main outcome measures Self reported experiences of genetic discrimination and related psychological distress based on family history or genetic test results.
Results Discrimination was reported by 93 respondents (39.9%). Reported experiences occurred most often in insurance (29.2%), family (15.5%), and social (12.4%) settings. There were few reports of discrimination in employment (6.9%), health care (8.6%), or public sector settings (3.9%). Although respondents who were aware that they carried the Huntington’s disease mutation reported the highest levels of discrimination, participation in genetic testing was not associated with increased levels of genetic discrimination. Family history of Huntington’s disease, rather than the result of genetic testing, was the main reason given for experiences of genetic discrimination. Psychological distress was associated with genetic discrimination (P<0.001).
Conclusions Genetic discrimination was commonly reported by people at risk for Huntington’s disease and was a source of psychological distress. Family history, and not genetic testing, was the major reason for genetic discrimination. | <urn:uuid:d18cd9b0-9850-445e-a285-00336deb26eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/solr/reg?pageSize=25&term=author%3A(%22Hellemans%2C+Jan%22)&sortby=score+desc&filterAuthor=author%3A(%22Friedman%2C+Jan+M%22) | 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 | 0.959027 | 324 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Last year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington received a huge data set consisting of 2.5 million documents on tax havens from unknown sources. The documents contain 130,000 names of people from 170 countries suspected of fraud, among them oligarchs, arms dealers and criminal financial investors. Apart from that, there were more than two million emails and lists of 122,000 covert companies and trusts from respective tax havens. The unprecedented research that followed brought together media outlets from 46 countries which set themselves to check the data. Here in Germany, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, a leading newspaper, was involved in the process of analyzing the data. In this post editor Bastian Brinkmann writes how data experts helped to analyze the enormous volumes of data.
Tagsdata journalism, dtSearch, investigative journalism, Nuix, offshoreleaks, Süddeutsche Zeitung, tax heaven
Unmanned aerial vehicles, better known as drones, have made their way out of military laboratories and into local electronics shops during the past ten years. Today, anybody can buy their own drone for as little as 300 euros. And the unmanned craft can even be used by journalists, for example, to cover protests or catastrophes.
Marcus Bösch talks about the pros and cons of drone journalism.
by Khamsy Tonpraserth, Daniel Hirschler and Michael Karhausen
What do you have to keep in mind when you want to tell a story only using pictures? If you want to put together a slide show for the web, for instance, a picture gallery or an audio slide show: what do you have to consider and plan as you are taking your photos?
These are some of the questions that were discussed at a recent photo-journalism workshop at the National University of Laos in Vientiane.
Khamsy Tonpraserth was one of the participants. He lives in Vientiane and works as a Lao teacher at the university. He compiled some of the hints and suggestions the participants came up with during this workshop:
- Before taking your photos, write down your story line in one sentence. Tell the story in a way that is active, so that someone is doing something. A clear story line can guide you and help you identify which photos you have to take. Don’t take pictures that have nothing to do with your story line.
- A good photo should tell a story, freeze a moment in time or be an eye-catcher.
Tagscaption, composition, frame, Khamsy Tonpraserth, Laos, photo, photography, picture, shot size, storytelling
Do feature articles have to be about catastrophes or celebrities to be good? According to the award-winning German print journalist, Henning Sußebach, not at all. Sußebach believes that intriguing topics can be found directly on your doorstep. In this blog post, he explains how ideas taken from everyday life can be made into stories that engage readers.
How do journalists find their stories? To tell you the truth, I’m not sure if it isn’t the other way around – that it’s the stories which find the journalists. When this happens, it often makes for a better article because the journalist isn’t trying too hard to make an idea work; the story was already there just waiting to be told.
But happens when you run out of ideas? Does talking help? Or going for a walk? Is there a short cut to finding topics?
Tagsfeature, Henning Sussebach, ideas, inspiration, interviews, journalism, longreads, print journalist, reporter forum, stories, story ideas
By Bettina Ruigies
Today’s fast moving media environment requires a lot of flexibility from media workers. Multimedia skills are a must. Journalists need to be able to produce stories for radio or television, print or online. At the same time, digitization, the Internet and affordable equipment enables anyone who wishes to open a TV station on YouTube or at least run a blog site.
All this technical innovation offers tempting perspectives for hard working and talented journalists. But frustration and failure might set in when it turns out that hardly anybody is watching or reading. | <urn:uuid:c6cb9d3c-0a03-4b14-88e2-95148a63287e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.dw-akademie.de/asia/category/guest-blog-post/ | 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 | 0.929459 | 875 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Public Weighs in on Health Care Reform in Central Florida
December 6th, 2012 | WMFE- Health care reform is a big, complex process, and for some Central Florida residents it's an uncomfortable change. People agree the system needs fixing- but they don't agree on how it should happen.
The Affordable Care Act represents a big change for patients, doctors and insurers using the US health care system. Reactions to it range from outright rejection to ardent support.
To help understand how people react to such a large change, 90.7 News asked Valencia College psychology professor Judi Addelston.
“Typically we respond to change as a source of threat, especially something that’s as big as this," says Addelston.
"When our brain perceives threat we marshal our defenses to protect ourselves.”
Addelston says we are constantly looking for balance.
To help comprehend the big changes underway in health care 90.7 News broke it down into five areas: physicians, people and public perception, patients, policy and politics.
We also created an online poll so listeners could rank those factors according to importance and share their opinions. Here are some (anonymous) submissions:
“The system is broken…my family, like many others, is spending 20 percent of our income on health care. This is absolutely outrageous."
"We need less government involvement, more competition between insurance companies between states to drive down prices."
"Healthcare reform is a good idea at heart but is terrible for physicians and especially physicians wishing to enter primary care.”
The responses were wide ranging, but the rankings formed a pattern: most listeners said patients were most important followed by physicians, policy, people and public perception, with politics last overall.
Another question 90.7 wanted to answer was whether lawmakers, doctors and policy experts would rank the five 'P's differently. They didn’t: patients were still the priority, politics the least important.
Comments submitted to WMFE show people agree the system needs reform, even if they don’t agree on how to go about it.
Ken Peach, the executive director of the Health Council of East Central Florida, a non profit advisory group, explains:
“A lot of consumers we talk to, you really see two things: one is where the affordable care act is fully embraced, it’s the best thing ever," says Peach.
At the other end of the spectrum, says Peach, are people who think the act is a form of government intrusion.
Peach says he worries about the cost of administering the affordable care act, and he thinks some people will also choose to pay a fine rather than get the mandatory coverage.
Another question 90.7 had was whether people might change their mind about the affordable care act after the November election.
At an Ann Romney rally in winter park in late October Barbara Nelen she said she was worried about the cost of Obamacare.
She says she still has concerns about the president’s promises.
“Health insurance hasn’t got any cheaper. He said it was going to get cheaper but it’s gone up."
Asked if she would consider paying a penalty rather than enrolling in health insurance, Nelen says "Absolutely."
It's not that she doesn't want health insurance, says Nelen, she can't afford it, and hasn't been able to since the economy took a nose dive and her business began to suffer three years ago.
Nelen hasn’t hasn’t changed her opinion about the law.
Then there’s Gloria Madaus, who 90.7 spoke to at a Michelle Obama rally on the eve of the election. Madaus now says although the new law isn’t perfect, it’s a good start, especially for the low income and elderly like herself, and it’s one reason she supported the president.
“I believe if we’d elected Romney everybody would have been on the same page: let’s cut these programs, let them fade away," says Madaus.
Judi Addelston has this advice for people worried about the new law:
“I would urge them to talk to people who know what it’s about, maybe when healthcare has changed in the past, we can learn from history and see it hasn’t been that horrible.”
Addelston says people have to experience something first hand to understand it, and perhaps lose their fear of it. | <urn:uuid:9621d966-b703-4cf1-ad51-6aae9d58e1ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wmfe.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=13797&news_iv_ctrl=1041 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975277 | 943 | 1.765625 | 2 |
A note to viewers: LightBox suggests viewing the panorama in full-screen mode. For visitors on a mobile device or tablet, we recommend utilizing our versions optimized for a fully immersive experience:
Above: The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is one of two main detectors at the LHC. It weighs 12,500 tons, measures 69 ft. (21 m) in length and is a key research tool for 2,000 scientists hailing from 37 countries. It was built above ground and lowered into place—a sensible strategy for so massive a piece of hardware. Here it is seen in 2008, just before it was completed. (Panorama by Peter McCready)
There’s something almost ironic about the disparity of scales between the Large Hadron Collider and the subatomic particles it’s built to study. The collider itself measures 17 mi. (27 km) in circumference, sits 380 ft. (116 m) below ground and cost $10 billion to build. Its detectors and magnets alone weigh tens of thousands of tons. As for the particles that are produced by the proton collisions that take place in the LHC tunnels? They are so tiny and evanescent that they flash into and out of existence in just a few trillionths of a second. But you can learn a lot in that flicker of time.
In order to create the quantum crack-ups that are the whole reason the LHC was built, swarms of protons are sent whizzing around the subterranean racetrack in opposite directions until they attain 99.9999991% of the speed of light. When they collide, they briefly recreate the conditions at the moment of the Big Bang—in manageable miniature—and generate some of the primal particles produced then too. The Higgs boson was one of the most sought-after of those particles, but it had eluded detection for nearly 50 years. When its existence was at last proven in the LHC and announced on July 4, champagne corks popped both within and without the physics world. And with good reason.
It’s the Higgs that is responsible for the existence of mass in the universe. No Higgs, so the theories go, no stars, planets, moons, meteors, dogs or humans. Had the boson never been found, the universe would hardly have dissolved into nothing, but the standard model of particle physics—one of the great pillars of the field–would have. Now it’s been saved, and scientists can go on to use the LHC—and the Higgs—to solve some of the universe’s other great mysteries, like dark energy, dark matter and the mystery of gravity. It takes a very big machine to fill that very big order. The LHC, by all appearances, is up to the job.
A portfolio of Peter McCready’s panoramic work is available on his website. | <urn:uuid:e9c293e1-797d-49fa-9cde-743d1970fb34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lightbox.time.com/2012/07/12/interactive-panorama-step-inside-the-large-hadron-collider/?iid=nf-category-mostpop2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948276 | 603 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Burma President Thein Sein meets Karen rebels
Karen rebels fighting the government in Burma have confirmed to the BBC that their leaders have met Burma's President Thein Sein.
It is the first such meeting between the two sides in one of the world's longest running civil conflicts.
Karen rebels have been fighting for self-rule for more than 60 years.
Western countries who have imposed sanctions on Burma have pressed the military-backed civilian government to end their various ethnic conflicts.
Last month, one of the leaders of the Karen rebel group was released by the Burmese authorities, days after being given a 20-year sentence for treason.
A spokeswoman for the Karen National Union (KNU) rebels described the talks as "warm and pleasant".
BBC South-East Asia correspondent Rachel Harvey says these latest talks are part of a major push by the Burmese authorities to make deals with the various separatist groups in the country.
They have already signed a number of provisional ceasefires.
Thousands of people have been displaced by decades of sporadic fighting between the two sides, many being housed in refugee camps across the border in Thailand.
After decades of brutal military rule, the generals handed over to a civilian-led administration under Thein Sein in March 2011.
The new government has made several political reforms - last month a number of by-elections were held, one of which returned opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament. | <urn:uuid:f8c86dab-fb8e-40d4-bd43-3f0380faf378> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17643633 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963832 | 299 | 1.90625 | 2 |
WebMD Medical News
Daniel J. DeNoon
Laura J. Martin, MD
Sept. 10, 2010 – Smoking damages sperm, making them less likely to fertilize eggs -- and making the embryos they do manage to create less likely to survive.
The finding comes from a study of sperm from 53 heavy smokers and 63 nonsmokers among male partners of couples seeking help for infertility.
Previous studies show that men who smoke are less fertile than men who don't smoke. Now a research team led by Mohamad Eid Hammadeh, PhD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology a the University of the Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany, have learned why.
Human sperm cells carry two tiny, highly charged proteins called protamine 1 and protamine 2. Nature keeps them in a perfectly balanced one-to-one relationship. But in smokers, Hammadeh and colleagues find, sperm cells carry too little protamine 2. This imbalance makes them highly vulnerable to DNA damage.
"The DNA alphabet of these sperm has one or two letters missing. And this cannot be repaired," Hammadeh tells WebMD. "When we inject these damaged sperm into an egg cell, the sperm is not capable of fertilizing the cell. And even if it does, the [miscarriage] rate is very high."
What appears to be happening is that smoking-damaged sperm lose much of their ability to fight off destructive oxygen molecules -- free radicals -- in the seminal fluid. Interestingly, in addition to making sperm cells more sensitive to oxidative stress, smoking itself increases the concentration of free radicals in the seminal fluid.
"Free radicals can cause sperm DNA fragmentation as well as issues with sperm motility and fertilization," reproductive endocrinologist Adam Griffin, MD, of the University of Rochester, N.Y., tells WebMD. Griffin was not involved in the Hammadeh study.
In earlier work, Hammadeh and colleagues showed that men with fertility problems have higher levels of free radicals than fertile men.
Both Hammadeh and Griffin advise men and women with fertility problems to stop smoking.
"We tell couples seeking treatment for fertility to stop smoking at least three months before we attempt in vitro fertilization, because sperm needs at least that much time to be produced from germ cell to full sperm," Hammadeh says.
Griffin notes that smoking also affects female fertility. And even if only one member of a couple smokes, secondhand smoke tends to affect the fertility of his or her partner.
Hammadeh and Griffin suggest that in addition to quitting smoking, couples with fertility problems should take antioxidants supplements to reduce the oxidative stress in their bodies.
"I usually tell people there is no magic bullet as far as supplements are concerned, but taking antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E can do no harm and may provide some marginal benefit," Griffin says.
Hammadeh and colleagues report their findings in the journal Human Reproduction, published online on Sept. 7.
SOURCES:Hammadeh, M.E. Human Reproduction, published online Sept. 7, 2010.Mohamad Eid Hammadeh, PhD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, University of Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany.Adam Griffin, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, University of Rochester, N.Y.
Here are the most recent story comments.View All
The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of KGPE CBS47 TV
The Health News section does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information. | <urn:uuid:b8ce11d4-864f-401c-a28b-43462b0ca870> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbs47.tv/webmd/infertility/story/Smokers-Sperm-Less-Fertile/onB2j8F-xki5eGCdQvauqQ.cspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94795 | 749 | 3.40625 | 3 |
The Big Picture – Investment Strategies amidst Global Debt
Thanks for reading our podcast summary. If you want more details on what is discussed on the blog, please listen to the full podcast here.
Global/European debt crisis
For the last 20 years, we’ve watched the entire world build masses of credit and debt, and in the last few years we’ve seen the debt shift from the private sector to the public sector.
Now, we’re seeing credit unwinding in Europe and specifically in Greece. On Sunday the Greek parliament voted for severe austerity measures, which caused the riots we are now seeing, as Greece continues this cut-back. Right behind Greece is Italy, Spain and Portugal, which means that the European economy will continue to contract. We think that this debt crisis will cause economic contractions all over the world, which will cause drops in the stock market.
European central banks have managed to keep things together with massive borrowing and printing of new money, which we believe is unsustainable. Despite high markets (what some people might see as a missed opportunity) we think that these economic forces will continue to gyrate and it remains a risky market. Our suggestion to clients and readers is to wait this one out, and see how the global economy fares through the European crisis. We believe that the fundamental foundation of the global economy is rocky and still calls for capital preservation to be and low-risk options. (For more information on the kinds of options we suggest, check out our special report here.) | <urn:uuid:2ef39750-9ac8-4529-91c7-a0aefbbac896> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fabianwealth.com/blog/2012/02/14/the-big-picture-investment-strategies-amidst-global-debt/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940862 | 309 | 1.648438 | 2 |
I have spent a lot of time in Chabad and they have been very helpful to me in my path. I don't agree with them on all the issues but Chabad is always very willing to be with you where you at and they always seem to base all their actions on love.http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/773691/jewish/Mumbai-Jewish-Family-Killed.htm
Rabbi Gavriel, left, and Rivkah Holtzberg were killed in one of the worst terrorist attacks in Indian history. Here, they're seen attending to the wedding of a local Jewish couple.
By Joshua Runyan and Motti Seligson
Nov 28, 2008 11:00 AM
Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, the beloved directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Mumbai, were killed during one of the worst terrorist attacks to strike India in recent memory.
Jewish communities around the world reacted with shock to the loss of the couple, who were killed Thursday at their Chabad House during an apparent standoff between Indian military forces and terrorists.
Their toddler son, Moshe, managed to escape with his nanny some hours before Indian commandos stormed their building, known as the Nariman House, in the popular touristy neighborhood of Colaba. The Associated Press reported that the boy was unharmed, but was wearing blood-soaked pants.
"Gabi and Rivky Holtzberg made the ultimate sacrifice," said Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch. "As emissaries to Mumbai, Gabi and Rivky gave up the comforts of the West in order to spread Jewish pride in a corner of the world that was a frequent stop for throngs of Israeli tourists. Their Chabad House was popular among the local community, as well as with visiting businesspeople.
"For five years, they ran a synagogue and Torah classes, and helped people dealing with drug addiction and poverty," continued the statement. "Their selfless love will live on with all the people they touched. We will continue the work they started."
The Holtzbergs arrived in Mumbai in 2003 to serve the small local Jewish community, visiting businesspeople and the throngs of tourists, many of them Israeli, who annually travel to the seaside city.
Gavriel Holtzberg, 29, was born in Israel and moved to the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y., with his parents, when he was nine. A prodigious student, Holtzberg was a two-time champion in a competition of memorizing the Mishnah, a compendium of rabbinical laws and enactments redacted in the second century C.E.
He studied at yeshivas in New York and Argentina, and as a rabbinical student served communities in Thailand and China under the Summer Rabbinical Visitation Program run by Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch.
His 28-year-old wife, born Rivka Rosenberg, is a native of Afula, Israel. Chayki Rosenberg described her sister as dedicated to helping Jews.
She “gives lots of classes for women at the Chabad House,” Rosenberg told The Jerusalem Post.
Friends described her as always having a positive outlook and a kind word for everyone.
Two years ago, the Holtzbergs raised funds to purchase the current location of the Chabad House, a five-story building in Mumbai’s Colaba market area known as Narimon House. A trained ritual circumciser and slaughterer, the rabbi also conducted weddings for local Jewish couples in addition to teaching Torah classes and visiting with tourists.
His last known phone call was to the Israeli Consulate to report that gunmen were in his house. In the middle of the conversation, the line went dead.
The Holtzbergs joined the more than 125 people who were killed in the Wednesday night through Friday attacks, which saw dozens of suspected Islamic terrorists come ashore in Mumbai near the Gateway of India monument. The terrorists, carrying assault rifles and grenades, quickly fanned out to a central train station, the Chabad House and other tourist locations, including several popular hotels.
According to security services, the Chabad House was a pre-selected target.
Rivkah Holtzberg cuts the ribbon at the grand opening of a Jewish ritual bath in Mumbai.
A team of 15 Chabad-Lubavitch representatives in California, New York, Washington, Israel, India and Bangkok worked the phones throughout the crisis, spending long, sleepless nights awaiting any morsel of information and working to confirm at-times conflicting reports from the field. Hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world prayed for the Holtzbergs, saying Psalms in their merit.
The local police in Mumbai and the highest reaches of the Indian government got involved, but military assault teams first concentrated their efforts on the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, where hundreds of foreign tourists were either holed up or being held hostage. When they finally entered the Chabad House on Friday, they found that the worst had occured.
Rivky Holtzberg's parents, Rabbi Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg arrived in Mumbai early Friday morning to bring their now-orphaned grandson home to family.
To contribute to a fund established to aid relief efforts in Mumbai, go to www.ChabadIndia.org | <urn:uuid:0eb470e8-d885-4805-b23d-1362443ffae5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dogbrothers.com/phpBB2/index.php?topic=1744.msg23464 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970972 | 1,160 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Post Number: 35
|Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 10:47 pm: ||
I grabbed what I thought was a box of TSP today at the hardware store. Turns out it's a substitute for TSP. The box had TSP in big letters and 'substitute' in smaller letters.
Active ingredient is sodium carbonate.
Can I use it for cleaning kegs or should I hold off until I can get the real thing?
Post Number: 1818
|Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2005 - 10:59 pm: ||
Most of what is sold as TSP is actually a substitute. TSP is not very environmentally friendly and contains phosphates that at high levels are toxic to the bacteria in wastewater treatment plants and septic tanks. Untreated, they are fertilizer for algae that clogs ponds, lakes and slow-moving streams.
Go ahead and use it; many detergents contain sodium carbonate, which is common washing soda.
(Message edited by BillPierce on January 14, 2005)
Post Number: 36
|Posted on Friday, January 14, 2005 - 01:14 am: ||
I knew it was soda ash and didn't expect it would hurt stainless. I was more concerned with how effective it would be. At less than $1/lb I guess it really doesn't matter. | <urn:uuid:328331f8-70e4-43d1-9d4d-ca7a29194f76> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hbd.org/discus/messages/26895/27744.html?1105665288 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943563 | 283 | 1.679688 | 2 |
March 11, 2013 — The Arkansas Legislature's recent enactment of legislation (SB 134) that bans most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy has exposed strategic divisions within the national antiabortion-rights movement, the AP/Sacramento Bee reports (Crary, AP/Sacramento Bee, 3/7).
The measure bans abortion after 12 weeks if a fetal heartbeat is detectable, with exceptions in cases of rape, incest, to save a woman's life or when the fetus has a fatal disorder. Doctors who violate the 12-week ban would have their licenses revoked by the state medical board.
The 12-week measure is slated to take effect 90 days after the Legislature ends its current session, which could be later this month or in April (Women's Health Policy Report, 3/7). The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas and the Center for Reproductive Rights have pledged to challenge the ban in federal court.
Antiabortion-Rights Advocates Dispute Path Forward
Some abortion-rights opponents welcomed the new law as a bold challenge to the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion until viability. However, other activists voiced concern that a court challenge could lead to judges affirming existing limits.
Michael Gonidakis, an attorney and president of Ohio Right to Life, said, "When you pass a law, the end goal is surviving in court." However, if the measure conflicts with Supreme Court precedent, "you could pass 100 bills a day, and they'll never go into effect," he noted. Gonidakis prefers an incremental approach of passing myriad state laws that chip away at abortion access.
CRR's Nancy Northup dismissed both approaches adopted by abortion-rights opponents. According to Northup, the wave of state laws that seek to curtail abortion rights "reveal what the end game is, which is to ban abortions as early as possible." She added that the 12-week ban "isn't chipping away. It's taking a sledgehammer" (AP/Sacramento Bee, 3/7).
Debra Ness, publisher & president, National Partnership
Andrea Friedman, associate editor & director of reproductive health programs, National Partnership
Marya Torrez, associate editor & senior reproductive health policy counsel, National Partnership
Melissa Safford, associate editor & policy advocate for reproductive health, National Partnership
Perry Sacks, assistant editor & health program associate, National Partnership
Cindy Romero, assistant editor & communications assistant, National Partnership
Justyn Ware, editor
Amanda Wolfe, editor-in-chief
Heather Drost, Hanna Jaquith, Marcelle Maginnis, Ashley Marchand and Michelle Stuckey, staff writers
Tucker Ball, director of new media, National Partnership | <urn:uuid:300d367f-ab88-44ca-81b3-056c72440633> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=38477&security=1201&news_iv_ctrl=-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928533 | 565 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Research Philippe Sakalis
Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a pathogenic soil bacterium that has the unique trait of genetically transforming a wide variety of organisms. Agrobacterium Mediated Transformation (AMT) has proven to be a powerful method for genetic modifications. The mechanisms of this process are widely studied and our understanding is growing rapidly. In my PhD project I aim to visualize this process in vivo and in real time. The observation that the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae can be transformed by Agrobacterium, enables us to use the many experimental tools of yeast to study and visualize AMT. | <urn:uuid:7e966bf9-3b41-470a-8102-3ed06697dcd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.science.leidenuniv.nl/index.php/ibl/philippe_sakalis/research | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912784 | 126 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Welcome to the Deafblind Services Division of USDB!
The Deafblind Services Division serves students (birth through 21) across the
state who have both a documented vision and hearing loss. Highly trained
personnel work in partnership with IEP/IFSP teams to offer a wide variety of
service options. Activities help families and service providers gain access to
information and resources in support of the child’s educational program.
Children with deafblindness often have other physical and cognitive impairments
in addition to their vision and hearing loss. Each child’s unique needs are
determined through appropriate assessments.
Necessary adaptations and modifications to help the child meet his/her
educational goals are also provided.
Deafblindness requires a unique approach to the educational process.
Because of the complex needs of the child with deafblindness the following
services may be provided:
Feel free to browse the website, visit a campus near you, or contact me with
questions, concerns, or more information. We are here to offer support,
guidance, and expert advice and I am your advocate as you navigate through the
programs and services that make up your child’s education.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Deafblind Services Director
742 Harrison Blvd.
Ogden, UT 84404 | <urn:uuid:cfeb9d7d-3382-475c-bcf3-d1109a89a060> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usdb.org/deafblind/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906021 | 284 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Yes, you read that right -- Marvel's claim is based on the idea that private individuals who pretend to be Wolverine for fun in a video game are breaking the law. Since when is it illegal to pretend to be your favorite superhero? Should parents be policing their kids, lest they be caught "pretending without a license"? Were all those drawings of the X-Men on grammar school notebooks evidence of infringement? And what about all those homemade superhero Halloween costumes?Link
Of course, Marvel may well be wrong about the law. From a trademark point of view, it is difficult to see how these kinds of noncommercial activities could satisfy the "use in commerce" threshold imposed by federal trademark law. Copyright lawyers will reason that these activities, even if technically infringing, are almost certainly sheltered by defenses like fair use or de minimis non curat lex. Marvel, for its part, will doubtless say that its legal beef is with the operators of "City of Heroes," not the players (pay no attention to that pesky complaint, that's just legal mumbo jumbo).
But all of these lawyerly answers miss a more fundamental point: Why are everyday expressive activities in the real world -- such as joining some neighborhood kids in the backyard for a bit of superhero role playing -- suddenly exposed to the depredations of copyright and trademark lawyers when they move online?
I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too. | <urn:uuid:4c37ef8e-7f76-4083-ac35-1e7def624d6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boingboing.net/2004/12/13/marvels-antifan-laws.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947342 | 353 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Thank you for taking an interest in Wisconsin Alliance for Fire Safety (WAFS)! We welcome this opportunity for you to browse through the website in an effort to obtain information about our statewide organization. In case this window is framed, our main site address is: www.wafs.org
As reported in 2009, 3,100 lives were lost in the U.S. due to home fires. Thousands of others are injured as a result of fires or accidental burns. Most of these deaths involve children and elderly adults.
Each year, children from across the state are admitted into hospital emergency rooms for fire, chemical and scalding burns along with other related fire and burn injuries.
The WAFS, a 501(c)3 organization with more than 19 years experience, has notable years of success as a non-profit. Our clear mission is “to promote, encourage and foster fire safety, burn prevention and public fire safety education. We support burn survivors of all ages in addition to sponsorship of the Summer Camp for Burn Injured Youth.” We fully expect to continue our efforts in fire prevention and in helping burn survivors enjoy their deserved quality of life with continued support from donors.
Our Programs include:
- “Newspapers in Education” - a curriculum of study geared toward elementary students in Wisconsin (also for Hispanic and Hmong)
- Sponsorship of the annual “Summer Camp for Burn Injured Youth”
- Sponsorship of adult burn survivors to World Burn Congress
- Fundraising efforts to support Wisconsin Burn Centers
- Promotion of Fire Safety Legislation for statewide building and fire codes
- Continued coordination of educational trailers throughout Wisconsin
- Continued coordination of the dissemination of a fire safety children’s book for all daycares and preschools in Wisconsin
- Sponsorship of the annual “Winter Leadership Program” for young adult burn survivors
Please donate to WAFS, an organization with a proven track record of helping burn survivors and educating the public in fire prevention and burn safety measures.
PLEASE CONSIDER BEING A MEMBER OF THE ALLIANCE! FOR MORE INFORMATION, PHONE OR EMAIL DAN GENGLER/CHAIRPERSON AT: 800-315-0911 or firstname.lastname@example.org
Our work has just begun! There is still so much to accomplish!
Wisconsin Alliance for Fire Safety | <urn:uuid:1f053322-4713-4bb4-b837-05ec179b21c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wafs.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938107 | 489 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Sodas, sports drinks and other sugary beverages are an unhealthy choice for kids, according to the nation's leading pediatricians' group, which strictly opposes the sale and advertising of the products in schools.
Yet Coca-Cola's Live Positively slogan and the soda-maker's familiar red-and-white logo pop up on the American Academy of Pediatrics' consumer education website, healthychildren.org, in a corporate sponsorship that some health experts denounce as a serious conflict of interest.
obesity epidemic, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and other major players in the food and beverage industry have pledged to be part of the solution. In addition to promoting balance, moderation and physical activity, the companies are forming controversial partnerships with the public health sector, including advocacy organizations and professional medical associations such as the pediatricians' group and the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Coca-Cola's Sprite Zero is a national sponsor of the American Cancer Society's Choose You campaign, which encourages women to make healthy lifestyle choices. For five years, Diet Coke has been a corporate partner in a heart disease awareness campaign, Heart Truth, run by the federal National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition are official sponsors of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the nation's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals.
Proponents of such collaboration say addressing the complex problem of obesity requires the type of public-private partnership advocated by first lady Michelle Obama in her Let's Move initiative. Rather than working separately, the argument goes, it's better to use the food industry's resources, such as its dramatic reach and persuasive marketing skills.
"We believe in healthy people; when they're healthy and happy, that's the best thing to do for the long-term health of the business and the right thing to do," said Celeste Bottorff, vice president of Living Well, Coca-Cola North America. Partnerships with the medical community help present a balanced picture of what the science says about diet and exercise, Bottorff added.
But the alliances can threaten the credibility and mission of groups working to improve health. The associations buy for corporations legitimacy, consumer loyalty and positive branding, which benefit a company's top priority: making money for shareholders, according to an editorial published last year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
"An organization is not doing its job if it doesn't look at public perception and public trust," Howard Brody, director of the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, said in an interview. "Trust is a delicate matter that often depends as much on appearance as on reality."
Cash-strapped nonprofits and medical organizations often partner with industry because they need the money, Brody said.
Groups that do so can avoid conflicts of interest if appropriate firewalls are in place, said Dr. Jatinder Bhatia, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Nutrition, adding that working together allows the public sector to help influence the private sector.
"Coke is so popular that if we can, over time, get them to create healthier products or healthier messages, then we have won," said Bhatia, chief of neonatology at Georgia Health Sciences University. "Coke's Live Positively initiative aligns with healthychildren.org: to improve the health of children through educational resources. It doesn't say, 'Drink Coke.'"
Critics disagree. They say Coca-Cola's presence on a medical website subliminally reinforces the notion that Coke is good, which is what the company wants.
"It's totally inappropriate for the AAP to have a Coke logo on its website," said Corinna Hawkes, a food policy and public health specialist. "Coca-Cola's leading brand remains full-calorie Coke."
And while the partnership may enable the organization to maintain its website without raising members' dues, the implied endorsement "obscures the broader message that children and families should reduce their intake of full-calorie soft drinks," said Hawkes, a fellow at the Center for Food Policy at City University in London.
In the fight against obesity, the food industry has a mixed record, public health watchdogs say. Some food manufacturers recently persuaded Congress to declare tomato sauce on school lunch pizza to be a vegetable, which appalled those fighting to improve childhood nutrition. Industry-funded groups lobby against obesity-related health campaigns and against legislation banning junk-food marketing to children. The industry also fights soda taxes that could raise revenue for municipal health initiatives.
At the same time, after losing battles at the local and state levels, manufacturers supported federal action to remove sugary drinks from schools. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are aggressively funding physical activity programs and reformulating certain products to reduce the salt, fat and sugar content. PepsiCo scientists are working on ways to reduce sodium content in products; Coca-Cola was a leader in new calorie labeling.
"From the outside, it often seems that progress isn't fast enough," said Derek Yach, PepsiCo's senior vice president of global health. Yach, who went to PepsiCo from the public health sector, works with international policy, research and scientific groups. "From the inside, every step represents commitment and time.
"Consumer behavior in the food area takes a long time to change. It's not like you can wave a magic wand and shift from high-calorie to low-calorie beverages. Consumer preferences are built up over decades."
Michele Simon, a public health attorney and advocate, said the companies' health initiatives only shift the focus away from "democratic and scientific public policy solutions." | <urn:uuid:8ede6ba8-a567-4437-861d-457198dea776> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktuu.com/topic/ct-met-coke-pepsi-health-20120205,0,4628849.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947534 | 1,167 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Free Energy Generator – The Way Energy Generation Works
Free Energy Generator: Want to know the way free energy generation works & the way you can make it so? Instead of paying for the electricity companies, which now get expensive day by day, you should find ways to generate your home renewable energy with alternative energy sources. This system which I found named “free energy generator” about which I am going to explain more in this article.
How Energy Generated In Free Energy Generator?
If you don’t want to pay expensive electric bills anymore, this system is really perfect alternative for you. The principal methods to generate alternative energy imparted by Alan Hopkins on the system are solar and wind energy sources.
Free Energy Generator – The Way Wind Energy is Made
I can solely make a wind turbine. The turbine in turn, their leaves as the wind blows through it, turning the shaft that turns the generator to create electricity. That is a free and perfect way to produce electrical currents to your home.
Free Energy Generator – The way use solar power?
I found that a large amount of energy can take advantage of sunlight using a solar panel. The panels should be placed on the roof of your house. As sunlight reachs the solar panels, semiconductors of solar panels capture energy and force the electrons all flow in the same direction in order to create a DC. This current is passed and becomes alternative current that is used for a lot of home applications .
Whether free energy generators are really useful or just a waste?
The Magniwork Manual named the best product on the sale in May 2009 by Green Living Association. The system has reasons to be so favourable. Following the instructions, you could make your own free energy generator. It requires no resources to operate. This means you can not stop producing power, unlike most energy system we have known. It uses magnetic force, without wind, sunlight, coal, heat or water. These are the good things Magniwork System bring you:
- You are able to decrease your electric bills by 5 per cent or eliminate it completely, if you have time to build some additional units.
- It works at any time.
- Just taking up little space, so it is very practical for every household.
- You will not pollute our environment, since the device does not create harmful byproducts.
- It cost extremely low maintenance.
- It ‘s not combustible or flammable, so it is absolutely safe.
- It ‘s very cheap. You could make and install for just less than 100 dollars. Otherwise, if you wanted to buy a system that would cost about $ 10,000.
- You could make your own free energy generator , even if you’re an amateur. The methods are simple to follow the make and take you no more than a few hours.
- You could sell your extra-energy and earn money for yourself.
- Materials needed are very cheap and can be available in any hardware store.
Millions of people around the world have been using the Magniwork free energy generator in order to create electricity and save their money. Experts say by 2020 all energy companies will use this technology of Free Energy Generator to create cheap green energy. | <urn:uuid:953c2b0b-f4cf-4bc0-bab7-2706eb69c15e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aboutfreeenergy.com/tag/free-energy-generators/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923743 | 664 | 2.75 | 3 |
Read The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith online
As an economics student or economist you should have at some stage of your career read at least a few passages of Adam Smith’s famous Wealth of Nations book. As a short reminder, Adam Smith was a Scottish classical economist and philiosopher who was born in Edinburugh in the 18th century and considered as the father of modern liberal economy. He his notably known for his fundamental work An inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations which has been published in 1776 and since then used as a reference in modern economics. If you haven’t read a some passages yet, I urge you to read the Wealth of Nations book online on bibliomania.
Adam Smith photo by surfstyle. | <urn:uuid:61e6a760-0ffa-42f1-95ae-4655932db471> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.watchingtheworld.org/2053/read-the-wealth-of-nations-by-adam-smith-online | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980663 | 158 | 2.34375 | 2 |
A 17-YEAR OLD Egyptian Christian girl has disappeared from her family for a second time, two months after she was abducted and held overnight by Muslim men while local police blocked her return to her family.
The girl vanished in early June after being first abducted in April, according to the Barnabas Fund, a charity which campaigns for the rights of persecuted Christians throughout the Islamic world.
Her family were from a district of Cairo and their local police had not only refused to protect her but are also believed to have aided her abductors.
The girl said that during her initial abduction she was sexually abused and drugged in order to manipulate her. A cross tattoo on her hand was forcibly removed.
Her abductors tried to force her to convert to Islam, and one now claims to be her husband. Egyptian law specifically forbids the marriage of a girl under 21 without her parents’ consent.
It is also illegal to convert a Christian girl under the age of 18, but the police have supported her abductors and intimidated her family, blocking efforts to get her back.
The earlier abduction took place on Tuesday April 6. The girl left her house with her savings pass book and some money. About 10pm that night her parents reported her disappearance to the police.
The family suspected a local Muslim man because their daughter had previously complained of harassment by him, and they mentioned this to the police.
When brought in for questioning the suspect admitted to having her money, saying she had given it to him.
The next day local Muslim leaders, including a Member of Parliament, were seen at the police station showing their support for keeping the girl away from her family.
The police eventually told her parents they could collect her at 5pm, with no explanation of her whereabouts. They returned but were not permitted to take their daughter home until midnight.
During the seven-hour wait they were intimidated and not allowed to see their daughter, while the Muslim leaders reportedly had access to her. The suspects were released in time to organise further abuse outside.
As the family finally drove home their car was struck apparently intentionally by another vehicle and they had to return to the police station. The police refused to document the incident, but the girl was kept in detention another night, ostensibly for her protection.
In reality it appears her captors wanted another opportunity to pressure her into refusing to rejoin her family. The police made it difficult for them to reclaim her again the following day, April 8.
The Christian girl has said how she had been influenced by the suspects for two years. They threatened that her family would come to harm if she did not leave them.
The suspects have never been charged. | <urn:uuid:f5f0579a-b0b7-4096-9767-df9b1da9ad52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/9th-july-2004/5/egyptian-christian-family-fears-the-worst-for-girl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99246 | 545 | 1.625 | 2 |
Probably a Greek colony (Nikaia, or Nicaea in Latin) established in the 5th cent. B.C., Nice became an episcopal see in the 4th cent. A.D. It was pillaged and burned by Muslim forces in 859 and 880. In the 13th and 14th cent. the city belonged to the counts of Provence and Savoy. In 1543 the united forces of Francis I and Barbarossa attacked and burned Nice. It was annexed to France in 1793, restored to Sardinia in 1814, and again ceded to France in 1860 after a plebiscite. At the beginning of the French Revolution the city was a haven for Royalist émigrés. Its popularity as a resort began in the late 18th century, increasing with the building of roads in the 1820s and the arrival of the railroad in 1864. At first a retreat for royals and aristocrats, the city became a middle class resort as accessibility to it grew. Nice was claimed and occupied by Mussolini during World War II.
See R. Kanigel, High Season (2002).
City (pop., 1999: city, 342,738; metro. area, 888,784) southeastern France. It is located on the Côte d'Azur of the Mediterranean Sea, near the Italian border. Founded by Greeks circa 350 BC, it was conquered by Romans in the 1st century AD and became a trading station. It was held by the counts of Provence in the 10th century. In 1388 it passed to the counts of Savoy. The city was ceded to France in 1860. Sheltered by beautiful hills, Nice has a pleasant climate and is the leading resort of the French Riviera.
Learn more about Nice with a free trial on Britannica.com.
Nice (nis; Niçard Occitan: Niça [classical norm] or Nissa [nonstandard], Italian: Nizza or Nizza Marittima, Greek: Νίκαια, Latin: Nicaea) is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 1,197,751 inhabitants in the 2007 estimate. The city is a major tourist centre and a leading resort on the French Riviera (Côte d'Azur). It is the historical capital city of the County of Nice.
Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région, Nice is a commune and the préfecture (administrative capital) of the Alpes-Maritimes département. However, it is also the largest city in France that is not a regional capital; the much larger Marseille is its regional capital.
Nice has a Mediterranean climate: the city enjoys mild temperatures most of the year; rainfall is very moderate and mainly concentrated in the darkest part of the year (September to March).
Summer is hot, dry, and sunny. Rainfall is rare in this season, and a typical July month only records one or two days with measurable rainfall. Temperatures seldom go below 20°C, and frequently reach 30°C. Average annual maximum is about 35°C. The absolute maximum recorded temperature in Nice was 37.7°C on the 1st of August 2006.
Autumn generally starts sunny in September and becomes more cloudy and rainy towards October, while temperatures usually remain above 20°C until November where days start to cool down to around 17°C.
Winters are characterized by mild days (11 to 17°C), cool nights (4°C to 9°C) and variable weather. Days can be either sunny and dry, or damp and rainy. Frost is unusual, and hasn't happened in the last few years. Annual minimum is on average around 1°C.
Spring starts mild and rainy in late March, and is increasingly warm and sunny towards June.
Nice is a windy city, especially in spring.
Snow is extremely rare - so rare that it is remembered by inhabitants as special events.
Nice is the seat of Chambre de commerce et d'industrie Nice Côte d'Azur. It manages both the Nice - Côte d'Azur Airport, the Cannes - Mandelieu Airport as well as the Port of Nice.
Investors from France and abroad can benefit from the assistance of the Côte d'Azur Economic development agency Team Côte d'Azur.
Nice is the second most popular French city among tourists after Paris, which, combined with the difficulties of the terrestrial communications at long distance (because of the Alpes), allows Nice to have the second busiest airport of France in terms of passenger numbers (close to 10,000,000 passengers in 2005).
Nice has two conference centres, Palais des Congrès Acropolis and Palais des Congrès de Nice. Nice has several business parks; l' Arenas, Nice the Plain, Nice Méridia, Saint Isidore, Northern Forum. There are also several shopping centres in Nice like Nice Star, Nice TNL, Nice Lingostière, Northern Forum, St-Isidore, the Trinity (around the Auchan hypermarket) and Cape 3000 with Saint-Laurent-du-Var.
Sophia Antipolis is a technology park northwest of Antibes. Much of the park is within the commune of Valbonne. Established between 1970 and 1984, it primarily houses companies in the fields of computing, electronics, pharmacology and biotechnology. Several institutions of higher learning are also located here, along with the European headquarters of W3C.
Sophia Antipolis is named after Sophie Glikman-Toumarkine, the wife of French Senator Pierre Laffitte, founder of the park, and incidentally, Sophia, the goddess of wisdom, and Antipolis, the ancient Greek name of Antibes.
The port of Nice is also known as Lympia port. This name comes from the Lympia source which fed a small lake in a marshy zone where in 1745 work of the port ¹ was started. It constitutes today the principal harbour installation of Nice - there is also a small port in the Carras district. The port of Nice is the first port cement manufacturer of France in connection with the treatment plants of the rollers of the valley of Paillon.
Fishing activities remain but the number of professional fishermen is now lower than 10. Nice, being the point of continental France nearest to Corsica, has ferry connections with the island developed with the arrival of NGV or navires at high speed. Two companies ensure the connections: SNCM, a partially public company and Corsica Ferries - Sardinia Ferries, an entirely private company. Located in front of the port, the place Cassini was renamed place of Corsica.
It is run by the Chamber of Commerce and the Nice Côte d'Azur industry. Its director is Hervé de Place, director of the Côte d'Azur airports, which includes Côte d'Azur International Airport's cousin airport, Cannes-Mandelieu. In 2006, 9,948,035 passengers travelled through the airport.
The Promenade des Anglais ("Walk of the English") is a celebrated promenade along the Mediterranean at Nice, France. Before Nice was urbanized, the coast at Nice was just bordered by a deserted band of beach covered by large pebbles. The first houses were located on higher ground well away from the sea.
Starting in the second half of the 18th century, the English took to spending the winter in Nice, enjoying the panorama along the coast. When a particularly harsh winter up north brought an influx of beggars to Nice, some of the rich Englishmen proposed a useful project for them: the construction of walkway (chemin de promenade) along the sea.
The city of Nice, intrigued by the prospect of a pleasant promenade, greatly increased the scope of the work. The Promenade was first called the Camin dei Anglès (the English Way) by the Niçois in their native dialect Nissart. After the annexation of Nice by France in 1860 it was rechristened La Promenade des Anglais, replacing the former Nissart name with its French translation.
The Hotel Negresco on the Promenade des Anglais on the Baie des Anges in Nice, France was named for Henri Negresco (1868-1920) who had the palatial hotel constructed in 1912. In keeping with the conventions of the times, when the Negresco first opened in 1913 its front opened on the side opposite the Mediterranean.
Another place worthy of mentioning is the small street parallel to the promenade des anglais, leading from Nice's downtown, beginning at Place Massena, and shadowing the promenade towards the airport for a short distance of about 4 blocks. This section of the city is referred to as the "Zone Pietonne", which translates to the "Pedestrian Zone". This area of the city is off limits to cars, and by eliminating traffic creates a more serene setting. On this small strip tourists can find a fine selection of restaurants, ranging from those specalizng in Nicoise cuisine to ones which make an attempt at foreign cuisine, such as one called "Le Quebec", which offers diners a variety of Quebecois and otherwise traditional Canadian dishes. Also present is a large selection of cafés where one can sit, enjoy an espresso or choose from a variety of specialty coffees, gelatos and desserts, and watch the city walk by. To add to all of the above, the small street is also embedded with small shops for clothing, shoes as well as souvenirs.
The city saw a big demographic rise in the second half of the 19th century, a period when the population more than doubled, mainly due to French immigration. At the beginning of the 20th century, this rise intensified with the arrival of internal immigrants from the County of Nice itself.
After the First World War, the city had a strong increase in population. Immigration was again the reason of this growth. The hotel industry and that of the construction industry, in full strength in the 1920s, attracted the world more and more and thus made it possible for Nice to become a town of national importance. In 1921, Nice then became the eleventh most populous town of France, then in 1931, the eighth, before being ranked sixth in 1946;thereafter the city reached its current demographic level thanks to the arrival of sixty thousand people including French citizens from Algeria.
Since the 1970s, the number of inhabitants has not changed significantly; the relatively high migration to Nice is compensated by a natural negative growth of the population. Nice has a high proportion of elderly people.
Currently, the population of the city is growing again, the reason of which is a preference for the climate. Nice is projected to have 360,000 citizens in 2008, and 370,000 by 2012.
Like any Mediterranean city, the town of Nice has squares; allowing people to gather, to organize great shows, performances or public display, or just to sit down at a terrace.
The recent re-building of the tram gave the square back to the pedestrians, restoring its status of a real Mediterranean square. It is lined with palm trees and stone pines, instead of being the rectangular roundabout of sorts it had become over the years. Since its construction, the Place Masséna has always been the spot for great public events. It is used for concerts, and particularly during the summer festivals, the Corso carnavalesque (carnival parade) in February, the military procession of July 14th (Bastille Day) or other traditional celebrations and banquets.
The Place Masséna is a two-minute walk from Promenade des Anglais, old town, town centre, and Albert I Garden (Jardin Albert Ier). It is also a large crossroads between several of the main streets of the city: avenue Jean Médecin, avenue Felix Faure, boulevard Jean Jaurès, avenue de Verdun and rue Gioffredo.
A Statue of Garibaldi is erected in the centre of the place. The re-building of the square (still ongoing) will make this square semi-pedestrian, making it more pleasant.
It is a crossroads between the Vieux Nice (old town) and town centre. Place Garibaldi is close to the eastern districts of Nice, Port Lympia (Lympia Harbor), and the TNL commercial centre. This square is also a crossroads of important streets : the boulevard Jean Jaurès, the avenue de la république, the rue Cassini and the rue Catherine Ségurane.
Place Rossetti is in the centre of the old town, streets Jesus, Rossetti, Mascoïnat and the Pont-vieux (old bridge)
In the past, it belonged to the upper classes. It probably is the most traditional square of the town, with its daily flower market. The court Saleya also opens on the Palais des rois Sard (Palace of the Kings of Sardinia). In the present, the court is mostly a place of entertainment. There are good restaurants serving typical Nicois cuisine, markets and many pubs. It is no doubt one of the most active spots in Nice.
It is situated parallel to the Quai des Etats-Unis.
The square is also notable due to the presence of the city clock. Nowadays, the Place du Palais is alive day and night. It is particularly appreciated by youths who hangout on the steps leading to the Palais de justice, often with alcoholic bottles in hand. The place is not a large open-air bar, though, concerts, animations and events are frequent.
It is situated halfway between cour Saleya and place Masséna.
The Observatoire de Nice (Nice Observatory) is located on the summit of Mont Gros. The observatory was initiated in 1879 by the banker Raphaël Bischoffsheim. The architect was Charles Garnier, and Gustave Eiffel designed the main dome.
The 76-cm (30-inch) refractor telescope that became operational in 1888 was at that time the world's largest telescope. It was outperformed one year later by the 36-inch (91-cm) refractor at the Lick Observatory.
Nice is one of the oldest human settlements in the world. Terra-Amata, an archaeological site dating to the Lower Palaeolithic age is situated near Nice. Nice was established by the ancient Greeks. There was also an independent Roman city near Nice, where the hill of Cimiez is located. It is an archaeological site with treasures, of which only a small part has been excavated. The excavated site includes thermal baths, arenas and Roman road.
Since the second century AD, the light of the city has attracted many famous painters such as Chagall, Matisse, Niki de Saint Phalle, Ben and Arman and inspired many artists and intellectuals in different countries (Berlioz, Nietzsche, Rossini…).
Nice also has numerous museums of all kinds: Musée Chagall, Musée Matisse (arenas of Cimiez where one can also see Roman ruins), Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret, Museum of Naïve arts, Musée Terra-Amata, Museum of Asian Art, Museum of Modern art and Contemporary art which devotes a broad place to famous “the Ecole of Nice ”), Museum of Natural History, Musée Massena, Naval Museum and Galerie des Ponchettes.
Being a vacation resort, Nice hosts many festivals throughout the year. For example, Carnaval de Nice and Nice Jazz Festival are among the festivals held in Nice.
Nice has a distinct culture due to its unique history. The local language Niçard (Nissart) is an Occitan dialect (but some Italian scholars argue that it is a Ligurian dialect), still spoken by a huge minority. Strong Italian and (less) Corsican influences make it more intelligible than other non-extinct Provençal dialects.
Nice has a few local dishes. There is a local tart made with onions and anchovies (or anchovy paste), named "Pissaladière" (French spelling). Socca is a type of pancake made from chickpea flour. Nice is also known for bouillabaisse and various fish soups; "Stockfish" (traditionally pronounced as "Stoquefiche" (French spelling) with special emphasis on the first "e"). Farcis niçois is a dish made from vegetables stuffed with breadcrumbs; and salade niçoise is a tomato salad with green peppers of the "Corne" breed, baked eggs, tuna or anchovies and olives.
In the past, Nice welcomed many immigrants from Italy (who continue to make a large proportion of the population), as well as Spanish and Portuguese immigrants. However, in the past few decades immigration has been opened to include immigrants from all over the world, particularly those from former Northern and Western African colonies, as well as southeastern Asia. Traditions are still alive, especially in folk music and dances. The most famous is farandole.
Local meat comes from neighbouring valleys, such as the sheep of Sisteron. Local fish, such as mullets, bream, sea urchins, and anchovies (alevins) are used to a great extent, so much so that it has given birth to a proverb: "fish are born in the sea and die in oil.” Naturally, this refers to the olive oil made in the Nice hills. Indeed, seafood is generally much appreciated in the delicate and healthy cuisine of Nice.
Examples of Niçois specialties include:
NICE Expands Reach Into Corporate Branches and Small to Medium Contact Centers With NICE Perform eXpress, Delivering Cost Efficient, Enterprise-Grade Regulatory Compliance Recording.
Jul 22, 2009; Nice Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:Nice), the global provider of advanced solutions that enable organizations to extract... | <urn:uuid:50aed697-e0b8-46a0-bebc-892111110343> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Nice | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952122 | 3,836 | 2.796875 | 3 |
NTSB Identification: WPR11FA426
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Saturday, September 03, 2011 in Heber City, UT
Aircraft: ENSTROM 280FX, registration: N280AD
Injuries: 3 Serious.
NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT Full narrative available
On September 3, 2011, about 1215 mountain daylight time, an Enstrom 280FX helicopter, N280AD, was substantially damaged during impact with terrain following a loss of engine power near Heber City, Utah. The commercial pilot and two passengers were seriously injured. High Velocity Aviation was operating the helicopter under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local air-tour flight, which had originated from Heber City Municipal Airport approximately 9 minutes before the accident. A flight plan had not been filed.
Index for Sep2011 | Index of months | <urn:uuid:417ce5e3-0437-4b3a-b69a-075a8c5b9d20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=20110903X53441&key=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942848 | 224 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The ACA Ruling: Let's Remember That Health Care is a Human Right
Posted on: Friday, June 29, 2012
Keywords: Women's Health
This post originally appeared on RHRealityCheck.
Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court announced its ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Now widely known as "Obamacare," the act was signed into law two years ago, expanding health care coverage for millions of previously uninsured people. The Court has ruled that the central provision under examination – the individual mandate, or the requirement that individuals purchase health insurance – is, in fact, constitutional.
While the court has upheld the right of millions of young people in the US to be covered under their parents’ insurance, and the right of millions more with pre-existing conditions to be covered in the event of illness, it has weakened the Medicaid provision which would have expanded coverage to approximately 26 million people living at or below the poverty line.
In the hurry by news organizations to cover the decision yesterday, this may all seem like political theater. But the US has a clear and crucial responsibility under international law to guarantee its peoples’ right to health and health care.
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to a healthy life, including access to food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services; the United Nations adopted these principles in 1948.
The US has also signed international laws and treaties guaranteeing more specific rights to our most vulnerable citizens. The US signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in 1980, which includes Articles 12 and 14 upholding women’s right to health care services. At a time when health care services specifically for women are under unprecedented assault at the state level and women’s health care providers are being threatened and harassed, it seems impossible that we could ever have been even that committed to ensuring women’s access to comprehensive health and reproductive care.
In 1995, the US signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which asserts in Article 24 that every child have access to the highest attainable standard of health and for “States Parties [to] strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.” Our government’s ongoing fights over funding health care for economically disadvantaged children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) are just another example of the many ways in which our human right to a healthy life continues to be used as a political volleyball.
These treaties reveal a longstanding global recognition of the human right to health. We must evaluate the Supreme Court’s ruling in light of this significant body of international law; an important step forward, but only one step on a long journey towards full human rights for all.
For information about MADRE's international work for health as a human right, click here. | <urn:uuid:c9869738-74a8-4b5d-b479-85273151da2d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.madre.org/index/resources-12/madre-articles-35/news/the-aca-ruling-lets-remember-that-health-care-is-a-human-right-824.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960601 | 602 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Wages in Erie County grew faster than the national average during the second quarter of last year, but even then, they only managed to keep pace with the rising cost of living, a new government report said Wednesday.
Average weekly wages in Erie County grew by 1.7 percent, or $13 a week, to $793 from the second quarter of 2011 through the second quarter of 2012, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The rise in wages matched the 1.7 percent increase in consumer prices during the same period, meaning that the purchasing power of those higher wages in Erie County essentially remained the same. Weekly wages in Erie County are 12 percent below the national average of $903 and lower than the average in 65 percent of the counties included in the report.
The wage growth put Erie County just outside the top third of all counties nationwide for wage growth, ranking 111th out of the 328 largest U.S. counties included in the report. Among the 18 largest counties in New York, Erie County was one of only four that had wage growth that topped the national average of 1.3 percent, said Martin C. Kohli, the bureau’s chief regional economist.
The report also showed a wide disparity in wages across Western New York, with average weekly wages falling in Niagara, Chautauqua and Allegany counties, while increasing in Wyoming, Orleans, Genesee and Cattaraugus counties.
The report also showed that employment growth in Erie County averaged 0.6 percent during the 12 months that ended in June 2012, just a third of the 1.8 percent increase nationally.
“We’ve got increases in employment and increases in wages,” said John Slenker, the state Labor Department’s regional economist in Buffalo. “That’s good.”
Employment growth in Niagara County was much faster, rising by 1.9 percent, slightly higher than the national average. The average weekly wage in Niagara County slipped $1, to $701 a week, although that could reflect the bump in hiring, since new hires typically start at the low end of the wage scale.
The employment figures in Wednesday’s report are based on more detailed data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which will be used as the benchmark for revised job numbers to be released next week by the New York State Labor Department.
Local economists have raised questions about the accuracy of the preliminary job figures that have been released for much of 2012, which reflect a big drop in employment in the job category that includes temporary help. The economists have said the decline included in the reported numbers is too severe, and they have predicted that the revisions will show that job growth last year was stronger than the 0.2 percent increase that was reported last month.
The strongest growth in average weekly wages came in Wyoming County, with a 2.4 percent increase to $724. In Orleans County, average weekly wages grew by 1.8 percent, to $748, while they rose by 1.3 percent, to $713, in Cattaraugus County. Average weekly wages inched up by 0.2 percent, to $661, in Genesee County.
On the down side, average weekly wages slipped by 0.2 percent in Allegany County, to $662, and by 0.5 percent, to $660, in Chautauqua County. | <urn:uuid:8bc471a8-f943-43f3-899c-2a2e424a8cf4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130228/BUSINESS/130229305/1005 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96414 | 710 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Steph is the founder/managing editor of Modern Parents Messy Kids and mom to a 2 year old son and 1 year old daughter. She started MPMK as a resource for helping parents to engage their kids, organize their life, and add a little style to their home. For more inspiration on things to make and do, check out MPMK’s newest feature – The Make & Play Vault.
Hello there Whip Up readers, thank so much for having me today! I’m excited to be here sharing with you a new technique I recently discovered via (where else) pinterest. Once I discovered this method, I was immediately drawn to it.
It’s a very easy way to produce the type of modern prints you might find in my favorite stores (West Elm, Anthropolgie, Crate and Barrel, etc.). When done on paper and mounted in a frame, these prints make fabulous wall art for a variety of room styles.
Options really start to open up when you apply this method to fabric. I’m considering a table runner, cloth napkins, or some tea towels in fall colors. And the pattern on a large throw pillow would add a great pop of color to a neutral chair or couch.
What I love most about this project is that it can be easily adapted to kids of all ages. To illustrate this, I’ll be sharing with you how I made a print for our play space as well as how I let my 2 year old experiment with the process. Ready to get started? All you need is some yarn, paint and brushes, and a few blocks.
I began by wrapping a small wooden block with yarn. Then I knotted the end and used some tape to secure it in place. If you don’t have a block, not to worry. All you really need is anything “wrappable” in a shape of your choosing. We made Easter prints earlier this year by cutting egg shapes out of cereal box cardboard and wrapping them with yarn.
Once your printing block is ready, take a brush and apply your paint. The yarn can be pretty absorbent at first so you’ll need to experiment with how much paint to apply on a practice sheet of paper. It’s also a good idea to brush on the paint in only one direction so the yarn fibers lay flat.
Once you have your technique perfected, start stamping. I made my pattern by stamping, turning my block 90 degrees and stamping, returning it to the original position and stamping, back to 90 degrees and so on and so forth. The process is a surprisingly cathartic way to spend nap time.
To add interest, I layered on some orange paint for a few of the squares. It’s a little difficult to see the effect here but it gives the print some nice depth in real life.
Here’s the finished product. I like the look of the pattern running off the borders so I made my print larger then the matte of my frame. A grouping with an odd number of prints made in the same way but in different colors would be a nice solution for a large empty wall.
This project is a great introduction to printmaking for school aged children because it’s simple enough for them to have success. You can also do a more free-form version with toddlers. One of my mantras over at Modern Parents Messy Kids is that beginning art is all about the process, not the product. With that in mind, I wrapped a circular block in yarn for my son and let him loose with a large sheet of craft paper.
At first he used so much paint that the yarn acted more as a relief. Eventually he refined his technique applying the paint and was able to make his own version of a block print.
That’s it, thanks again to Kathreen for having me! I hope you enjoyed this project and that you’ll try it soon. Please also stop by Modern Parents Messy Kids and say hi! | <urn:uuid:fe687434-9391-42fe-81bc-1e359bfdc352> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whipup.net/2011/10/27/guest-blogger-series-printmaking-for-all-ages-yarn-block-prints/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950673 | 829 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Reviewed by Lewie Reece (Anderson College)
Published on H-Law (September, 1996)
Scholars of Southern slavery have long debated the degree to which slavery was a legal institution. Yet over the years the historiography on the subject has undergone a subtle shift. In Charles Sydnor's groundbreaking article, "The Southerner and the Laws," Journal of Southern History 4 (1938), the focus was on the degree to which law controlled Southern society and life. In the 1950s and 1960s the issue underlying historical works on the law of slavery changed from whether or not law was important to slavery to the way in which law served as a mechanism of racial control. Few could deny that racial control was at the heart of the "peculiar institution," and much that we now know about slavery comes from our investigation of the way in which law subordinated African American slaves. Yet by the late 1970s the emphasis changed once more, from noting the obvious degree of control to detailed studies that examined the operation of the criminal justice system in the South. The two best studies, those of Michael Hindus in Prison and Plantation (1980)and Edward Ayers in Vengeance and Justice (1984), each told us a bit more about the way the system worked. Yet only in the past ten years or so have legal historians taken the next step forward to examine not only racial control, but also the way in which the law of slavery worked. Thomas Morris's Southern Slavery and the Law represents the most recent, and perhaps the most definitive, effort to recapture the way in which law and slavery co-existed.
Morris tells the story of Southern slavery in four distinct parts. The first section of approximately sixty pages discusses the nature of racial slavery in the South and the philosophical problem this posed for the legal system. The second section of a hundred pages is an animated dialogue on the connection between slavery and property rights, property law, and contract law. The third section comprises two hundred pages in which Morris strives to describe how slaves were treated by the legal system in the matter of rules of evidence, jurisdiction, and due process. The third part of Morris's tome abounds with lengthy discussions of criminal trials of slaves, the question of rape as it worked out in racial and sexual relations, municipal codes, and how owners could be held civilly liable for the wrongs of slavery. The final section examines emancipation, and makes clear that owners' ability to divest themselves of slaves was not a property right that Southern courts sought to protect.
What then does Morris say about the nature of the Southern legal system? Morris suggests that on the one hand the legal system was clearly working for the benefit of slaveholders, and often twisting legal principles to do so. Yet the sort of control that Southern courts offered was filled with ambiguity, a cross-tug between the interest of slaveholders, public policy of Southern legislatures, and the problem of law itself. For example, just what did "moderate correction" of slaves mean in a literal sense? Here, deprived of clear guidance from Southern legislators, courts tended to give a broad interpretation of the power to correct to Southern slaveholders. Conversely, for all of the absolute power and control of slaveholders, they could not divest or "manumit" their property without approval of the court. And Southern courts, as Morris makes clear, were signally unwilling to manumit, regardless of what owners wanted to do with their property.
The ambiguity operating among various cross-pressures becomes even more clear when one is searching for a Southern "doctrine" as it was applied to slaves. Every Southern state had a different legal system, a different sort of judge sitting, and the rules that they were willing to apply differed greatly. While one can see broad trends cast across jurisdictions, one cannot help but be impressed with the degree of variation.
Perhaps most interesting is Morris's lengthy discussion of the tension that existed between the market and the plantation. Clearly, a plantation was a financial business, dedicated to the pursuit of profit. But the difficulty that some courts had in including slaves as an item to be sold for creditors suggests that the pursuit of profit was not absolute. Yet what truly stands out is the way in which the whole subject of slaves' volition, their very humanity, could be played with from issue to issue. Southern courts manifestly refused over and over again to apply the fellow servant rule in slave hiring, and imposed liability on those hiring them out. Slaves were held to have enough sense of right and wrong, however, to be accused and found guilty in cases of theft, murder, and rape.
An interesting question remains about what happened to slaves when they made their way into court. Certainly a legal system that would not hear their testimony when it accused a white person could hardly be considered race-neutral. Slaves, Morris makes clear, came into courts as the ultimate outsiders, as people who were pawns in a system controlled by others. Nevertheless, he also seems to suggest that when slaves presented themselves, the legal system made efforts to provide a certain procedural fairness. Yet this fairness was limited by the nature of the legal system itself.
One cannot fail to be impressed by the amount of research that Morris contributes to the present scholarly debate. His endnotes comprise a full seventy-five pages, and he has made a vigorous effort to include as much local court material as was available. Nevertheless, his frequent use of appellate decisions makes one wary about whether he is giving a true sense of the way in which the system worked on a local level. Morris also fails to give a strong sense of the way in which slavery and law may have been different throughout the South. One wishes that he had explained how decisions in Piedmont areas were different from those in the Black Belt. Moreover, greater effort should have been made to describe how law was created in the South, and the ways in which Southern people molded the law of slavery in Southern legislatures.
Yet, though one wishes that Morris had given consideration to those questions, what he has done is quite remarkable. For those interested in the connections among law, race, and slavery this book will be required reading.
Copyright (c) 1996 by H-Net, all rights reserved. This work may be copied for non-profit educational use if proper credit is given to the author and the list. For other permission, please contact H-Net@h-net.msu.edu.
If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the list discussion logs at: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl.
Lewie Reece. Review of Morris, Thomas D., Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860.
H-Law, H-Net Reviews.
Copyright © 1996 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:fb165c02-b36d-4105-a2c9-8e7c6b3b08a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=619 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971676 | 1,479 | 3.625 | 4 |
January 31, 2013
Dan Childs filming in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo courtesy of Nick Werber.
"Reynaldo uses an agroforestry method that works a lot like permaculture. He understands how each crop can affect the other in a beneficial way. By growing lots of different crops together he can ensure that nitrates are fixed in the soil, that crops are shaded and protected from wind damage," says co-director Nick Weber of his new short film about Reynaldo. Werber and colleague, Dan Childs, are working with the Crees Foundation to document community changes, such as agroforestry and planting fruit and vegetable gardens for better health.
Werber and Childs, who lived in the Many region for three months, will produce four films in the series and are also working on other films about the area.
AN INTERVIEW WITH NICK WERBER
Mongabay.com: What was it like living in Peru's Manu region for three months, one of the most biodiverse places on Earth?
Nick Werber: Living in Manu was Amazing. Waking up in the middle of the rainforest every day to the sound of Monkey calls and Oropendolas was a magical experience.
Mongabay.com: Slash-and-burn farmers are sometimes described as the 'enemy' by activists. Why is this view wrong?
Nick Werber: These people are really just trying to survive. Most of them are poor and just want to feed their families. The issue is education. When the farmers know that there is a different way to farm that helps them and preserves their environment, they change their practices.
Mongabay.com: Will you tell us about Reynaldo's approach to farming in the Amazon?
Nick Werber: Reynaldo uses an agroforestry method that works a lot like permaculture. He understands how each crop can affect the other in a beneficial way. By growing lots of different crops together he can ensure that nitrates are fixed in the soil, that crops are shaded and protected from wind damage.
Mongabay.com: How does it allow him to avoid slash-and-burn agriculture?
Nick Werber: Slash and burn farming and monoculture farming exhaust the soil. Agroforestry replaces the nutrients in the soil by using nitrogen-fixing crops. The trees also help by providing shade and preventing erosion. This stops the need to move to new land every few years.
Mongabay.com: Besides the fact that the trees Reynaldo plants sequester carbon and provide a home for biodiversity, how do these trees help Reynaldo's crops?
Scarlet macaws in Manu National Park. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler.
Nick Werber: The trees provide shade for the crops, which is helpful considering the strength of the tropical sun. They also help prevent soil erosion and the hard wood trees provide a wind barrier in the rainy season.
Mongabay.com: What is Crees Foundation doing to spread Reynaldo's farming practices?
Nick Werber: Crees provide materials and volunteers. Reynaldo provides expert advice and Crees cover all the costs, working with Reynaldo to engage more and more people in Manu.
Mongabay.com: The Crees Foundation is also working with local people to improve their nutrition. Will you tell us about these efforts?
Nick Werber: A major problem for the people of Manu is malnutrition. The current inhabitants of towns like Salvacion are migrants from the high Andes. Their diet is low in fruit and vegetables, which leads to malnutrition and illness, especially in the young. Reynaldo and the Crees foundation begun a 'bio garden' program in 2008 helping teach local families how to grow their own vegetable gardens year round, giving them a chance at a better diet and a sustainable income through the sale of the excess. They get expert training, help building the garden and receive advice throughout the year. Crees and Reynaldo's vision is that in order to protect the forest and its diverse wildlife you need to engage the people in better practices which serve their needs and the forest alike.
Mongabay.com: Why should people care about what happens in Manu?
Nick Werber: Manu is like a microcosm for issues affecting rainforests across the world. It is incredibly beautiful and has a wonderful biodiversity but it is under threat from local farmers, oil companies, mining and migration. The recent completion of the Trans American Highway has opened up the area to more people and industry. The Manu biosphere reserve, one of the largest protected areas of rainforest in the world has come under further threat last year with the Peruvian government allotting mining concessions that will inevitably lead to further deforestation and pollution of the rivers. By educating and engaging local people we will have a population that sees the value of the forest and will have an active interest in its protection. Recent research has studied the effects of microclimates in Borneo where weather patterns and rainfall have been restored once barren areas of forest have been replanted.
Mongabay.com: The shots in your film are stunning. How did you capture these?
Nick Werber: I teamed up with filmmaker Dan Childs using a Canon 7D and 550D. By using these DSLR's We managed to create cinematic films on a low budget.
For 3 months Dan and I lived in the rainforest, filming every day in searing heat and dense humidity capturing a range of wildlife on film, including Macaws, Tapirs and Monkeys. We filmed volunteers getting out of bed at 5am to check small mammal traps and survey the Macaw activity at the clay lick, and helped plant trees with Reynaldo, the star of this film.
Mongabay.com: This short film is the first in a series of four. Will you let us know a little about what to expect from the other three? When will they be available?
Nick Werber: This is the first of the Crees Heroes films and there are a few other people in Manu we would like to talk about which we hope to film soon. We also made films covering the foundations scientific research projects and their volunteer program.
Mongabay.com: What is the purpose of this film? What would you like people to do?
Nick Werber: We want to show that despite all the bad news about the rainforest and conservation across the world that there are some amazing people like Reynaldo who are talking real action and making a positive impact. We would like people to feel that they can help by offering to be a volunteer in Manu or donating some money to help Crees develop their agroforestry and community projects.
Bird diversity at risk if 'agroforests' replaced with farmland
(09/13/2012) Agroforests contain much higher levels of bird diversity than their open agricultural counterparts, according to new research from the University of Utah. If large forests and agroforests continue to be replaced by simple open farms, bird communities will become much less specialized and entire groups may become extinct. Important roles for birds, such as pollination, pest control or seed dispersal, may remain unfilled if ongoing trends toward open agriculture continues and biodiversity decreases.
Permaculture: a path toward a more sustainable Amazon?
(05/03/2012) Communities living in and around tropical forests remain highly dependent on forest products, including nuts, resins, fruit and vegetables, oils, and medicinal plants. But relatively few of these products have been successfully commercialized in ways that generates sustained local benefits. When commercialization does happen, outsiders or a few well-placed insiders usually see the biggest windfall. Large-scale exploitation can also lead to resource depletion or conversion of forests for monoculture-based production. The ecosystem and local people lose.
Agriculture group to spend 10 years on forest research
(12/07/2011) Recognizing the global importance of the world's vanishing forests, a 10-year-long research program will focus on the interconnection between agriculture and forests. Conducted by CGIAR, a global agriculture group concerned with sustainability, the research program will look at ways to decrease forest loss and degradation.
Nobel laureate and Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai dead at 71
(09/26/2011) Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai died Sunday after a battle with ovarian cancer. She was 71. | <urn:uuid:175c761f-3003-4d26-a8b8-72e9debb6082> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0131-hance-werber-interview.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947895 | 1,765 | 2.765625 | 3 |
This is the image that came to mind seeing the most recent exchange between atheist biologist Jerry Coyne (the eight year-old in this saga) and Christian philosopher Edward Feser. Jerry rushes at Ed, all arms flailing, Ed holds hand out, stopping the charge, calmly pointing out to Jerry that his facts are wrong, his arguments are invalid, that he is completely missing the point, or that he has failed to make a crucial distinction, at which point Jerry, in seeming ignorance of the points Ed has made, just keeps repeating the same futile procedure over and over and over again.
But if you can't appreciate his logic (and he makes it very difficult), you at least gotta admire his spunk.
In the most recent episode, the issue is whether there could have been a literal Adam and Eve. It is a debate, Christianity Today magazine asserted, that constitutes "a groundbreaking science-and-Scripture dispute, a 21st-century equivalent of the once disturbing proof that the Earth orbits the sun." While it is not quite equivalent to the issue of whether Jesus actually rose from the dead, a literal claim without which there would literally be no Christianity, the Apostle Paul does clearly assume a literal Adam, making it a truth claim the disproof of which would seriously cripple the philosophical and theological integrity of Christianity, particularly the doctrine of original sin, which asserts that, in the words of the old New England Primer, "In Adam's fall, we fell all."
There are Christians, of course, who try to fudge on this issue, claiming that one could believe in a figurative Adam and Eve (i.e., that Paul was mistaken) and still be an orthodox Christian. Former head of the Human Genome Project Francis Collins and his colleague Karl Giberson attempt this position. But it's not a terribly convincing.
The Catholic Church has long taken the position that the origin of the human body--whether it comes from "pre-existent and living matter"--is not the material issue. One can take the position that the human body was the result of biological development as long as one did not deny that "souls are immediately created by God." Leo XII's statement on this issue in his encyclical Humani Generis also states that polygenism (that we are descended from multiple parents rather than one particular set) is not a belief that is reconcilable with orthodox Christianity. In addition, he said, such a belief would conflict with the belief in original sin.
Protestants are not limited by any particular theological authority other than their own personal interpretive inclinations, a fact that has resulted in a riot of diverse schools of thought on such issues, but the Catholic teaching is clear and unambiguous. We are descended from two original human parents. So the questioning of this dogma is important indeed.
Enter Coyne, who declared recently on his blog, "[T]he scientific evidence shows that Adam and Eve could not have existed, at least in the way they’re portrayed in the Bible."
And, lest his assertion was not clear, he added, "Unlike the case of Jesus’s virgin birth and resurrection, we can dismiss a physical Adam and Eve with near scientific certainty."
And, just in case there was still any doubt about what he meant, he concluded, "[T]he genetic data show unequivocally that humanity did not descend from a single pair that lived in the genus Homo."
Coyne tries to base his claim on genetic research that ironically derives in part from the person whose appointment to head the Human Genome Project he adamantly opposed on the grounds that he was an evangelical Christian: Francis Collins. Collins wrote, in a 2006 book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, that, as Christianity Today put it, "humans emerged from primate ancestors perhaps 100,000 years ago—long before the apparent Genesis time frame—and originated with a population that numbered something like 10,000, not two individuals."
Richard Ostling, writing in Christianity Today, recounts the position of Dennis R. Venema, a biology chairman at Trinity Western University and a fellow at Biologos, an organization with which Coyne has shown little but scorn because of their "accommodationist" (i.e., that science and religion are consistent approaches to truth):
Over the past decade, researchers have attempted to use the genetic diversity within modern humans to estimate primordial population sizes. According to a consensus drawn from three independent avenues of research, he states, the history of human ancestry involved a population "bottleneck" around 150,000 years ago—and from this tiny group of hominids came everyone living today. But the size of the group was far larger than a lonely couple: it consisted of several thousand individuals at minimum, say the geneticists.So Coyne, armed with evidence uncovered in part by an evangelical Christian who only several years earlier he proclaimed could not be trusted on such issues--and flailing away, announces that there were no Adam and Eve. Coyne then goes on to catalog various evangelical rationalizations of the problem, all of which he finds wanting, at which point he does his end zone dance.
But it was all effective enough to convince John Farrell to write a piece in Forbes magazine where he unaccountably finds Coyne convincing on this issue, quotes him, and expands on Coyne's points (misstating the Eastern Orthodox view on original sin in the process), and challenging the Catholic Church to renounce its "silence" on the "challenge of genomics."
Apparently the continuous public witness of the Church over the course of centuries to the truth of the Aristotelian-Thomist position, which articulates a full view of man as a physical and spiritual creature that bears only partial resemblance to the being Farrell, Coyne and others discuss in their arguments, and making clear public statements which are easily available to anyone who is serious about wanting to know the Church's position are just not sufficient.
Despite this, Coyne accuses theists "of rationalizing, post facto, hopes and ideas that one pulls out of thin air." Statements like this serve as atheist like a sort of spell to keep .
But just in case anyone needed to be reminded, Catholic philosopher Ed Feser enters the fray. Feser, who is fast becoming the go-to guy when it comes to defending the Ancient Faith against its less than intellectually impressive detractors (and who you can just imagine sighing once again and shaking his head), then pointed out a few uncomfortable facts to Jerry (and John), among which is that, in his post on this issue, Coyne didn't even bother taking into account the view of the Christian institution that has been around the longest, an institution that has made an implicit distinction between the concept of homo sapiens as a biological category and the concept of rational animals as a physical and theological category.
In other words, the biological condition of homo sapiens is a necessary condition for being a humans as we know them now, but it is not sufficient. The philosophical distinction of man as a "rational animal" (Aristotle's definition) is also necessary to the full definition of human being. Men are indeed homo sapiens, biologically speaking. But they are something far more than this: they are creatures who can apprehend abstract concepts in a way in which other animals do not even remotely approximate. He points in his response to an article by Kenneth W. Kemp ("Science, Theology, and Monogenesis"), which goes into gory detail about the Catholic position on this and why it is completely consistence with a bottleneck of however many thousand homo sapiens.
But Coyne, who apparently didn't actually read Feser's article but someone else's summary, does what he seems to do every time he has to deal with Feser: he fires wildly while running for cover. In this case, he criticizes Feser using an argument that Kemp's article, to which Feser had linked to, had already refuted--and then goes and hides behind Jason Rosenhouse. "I needn’t go over all the problems that Jason finds with this."
It's hard work acting as second for someone who, every time he show up for the duel, runs off, but Rosenhouse, a mathematician who blogs at EvolutionBlog, holds forth manfully. But Rosenhouse seems to have no better ability to manage careful distinctions than Coyne.
He argues first that "the Bible does not teach anything remotely like what Feser is describing." Rosenhouse manages this criticism by assuming that Feser is somehow obligated to give Genesis a fundamentalist reading, which it is kind of hard for Feser to do since, like, he's a Catholic. As Feser himself pointed out, while it would be very convenient for atheists if all Christians took a fundamentalist position, they probably need to get used to the fact that all Christians are not fundamentalists, and that it would probably help their case (not to mention make for a more productive discussion) to actually address the arguments of Christians who, like Feser, don't match up with the stereotypes atheists are always invoking.
Rosenhouse then questions Feser's point that human being are not exhausted by their physical attributes, to which Rosenhouse responds, "we should note that Catholic theologians have not the slightest basis for saying that our nature is simply not exhausted by our physical attributes." Back to Feser:
Hear that? Not “a highly controversial basis.” Not “a basis that I, Jason Rosenhouse, find unconvincing.” No, not the slightest basis. Now, forget about my own arguments for the intellect’s immateriality (though Rosenhouse says nothing in response to them). A great many more important Catholic philosophers and theologians have also presented serious arguments for it, as have non-Catholic Christians and pagan thinkers in the Platonic and Aristotelian traditions. Secular writers like Karl Popper and David Chalmers have endorsed forms of dualism. Secular writers like Bertrand Russell, A. J. Ayer, and Galen Strawson, while they do not embrace dualism, nevertheless reject physicalism. Yet others, like Thomas Nagel, Jerry Fodor, and Joseph Levine, have argued that there are at least serious difficulties facing physicalism which have yet to be answered. And many materialists who think these difficulties can be answered at least acknowledge that the difficulties are indeed serious ones raised by critics in good faith. Then there are secular non-dualists like Tyler Burge, John Searle, and William Lycan, who (as I have noted before) have expressed the opinion that the dominance of materialism in contemporary philosophy of mind owes less to the quality of the arguments in its favor than to ideological thinking.In other words, let's all pretend that these argument have never been made so we can go on arguing with our fundamentalist caricatures.
But for Rosenhouse, it seems, none of these thinkers has the slightest basis for his views. It’s all just transparently feeble religious apologetics, apparently even with the many secularists among them. No doubt that’s because Rosenhouse read a materialist philosophy of mind book once back in college which he thinks “refuted” all the objections to materialism once and for all.
Finally, Rosenhouse says, "Intelligence and rationality appear to be things that come in degrees." He then goes on to list all the intelligent qualities animals have the men also possess, all of which are apparently supposed to add up to the qualities that men have that animals do not possess, namely, as Feser points out, "conceptual thought" that "can have a determinate, unambiguous content and a universality of reference that sensations, mental imagery, and material symbols cannot have even in principle."
Rosenhouse says that Feser's account "creates some very difficult theological problems." The problem is that none of the "theological problems" Rosenhouse identifies are actually theological problems. In fact, all they amount to is Rosenhouse saying that he doesn't understand why God would have done it that way. So saying you don't understand someone's motivations for doing something some kind of refutation of the fact that they did it?
"Also," Rosenhouse adds, "the idea of a Chosen People is itself theologically problematic. Among Jews, a very common understanding of the notion is that the Jews are unique only in their willingness to accept a covenant with God. Which is to say, it is the Jews who chose God and not the other way around." Wait, Rosenhouse was only just earlier seen arguing that Feser wasn't following the Biblical account, and now Rosenhouse is arguing this? One thing that comes through loud and clear in those accounts is that the covenant is completely unilateral in its initiation. Maybe Rosenhouse could explain how he derives Abraham's willingness out of the Biblical accounts which don't mention what Abraham thought about it at all.
Memo to New Atheists: Don't debate Feser. Go back to your caracatures. And theists? They don't need caricatures. They've got Rosenhouse and Coyne. | <urn:uuid:ef006e9c-6fef-40c3-9c04-eb2bc4bf6b08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vereloqui.blogspot.com/2011/09/were-adam-and-eve-real-another-case-of.html?showComment=1317069065782 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966518 | 2,725 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Car seats aren't just for babies anymore. The NHTSA says all children should be in booster seats until at least age 8. Manufacturers are stepping up, making seats look less babyish for children ages 4 to 8 with mod patterns, bold primary colors, and other designs. But safety isn't taking a backseat to aesthetics when it comes to the newest child booster seats on the market.
Fifteen of the 17 booster seats introduced in 2012 earned the top BEST BET rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The IIHS defines BEST BETs as "seats that provide good belt fit for typical 4 to 8 year-olds in almost any car, minivan or SUV."
This year's BEST BET booster seat winners:
"Booster manufacturers have risen to the Institute's challenge to improve seat design, giving parents more choices than ever when shopping for a booster that will provide a good, safe fit for their children," states Anne McCartt, Institute senior vice president for research, in the latest IIHS booster seat report.
Only two booster seats--Safety 1st All-in-One and Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite -failed to provide good belt fit according to the latest IIHS report. The Institute put these on their not recommended list.
And other options | <urn:uuid:e23d074d-eb4a-4a82-9976-741508dafe93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.consumersearch.com/blog/newest-booster-seats-focused-on-safety-first | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94308 | 261 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Microsoft demos vocal translator that uses your own voice
At TechFest 2012, Microsoft has today revealed a new piece of software that the company has been working on. The software can translate multilingual vocal translations using your own voice in real time. The software can currently handle 26 languages, and takes around an hour to train.
Shown by the Microsoft Research team, this piece of software can translate different languages with your own voice. It can currently translate 26 different languages.
The software takes about an hour to train, so it isn't instantly setup. Once the software has learnt your voice, it will be ready to translate for you, in your own voice!
Not only that, it can also take 3D photos of you and animate your lips to make it look like your saying it. Which should help if you have trouble pronouncing words from other languages. | <urn:uuid:cbe17194-7618-4b69-b816-66b119db3e8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.winbeta.org/news/microsoft-demos-vocal-translator-uses-your-own-voice | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935963 | 174 | 1.734375 | 2 |
5 Fashion Misperceptions
Pages: 1 2
So, let’s debunk some of these fashion misperceptions and get you on the trendy road to becoming your better-dressed self.
1- No white after Labor DayPossibly the most commonly cited fashion rule, “Don’t wear white after Labor Day” is a misguided way to look at fashion. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when this “rule” originated, but it’s safe to say that this fashion commandment is not really applicable in today’s contemporary world. This rule mostly applied to the color of your shoes, and because white is a light and bright color, it was deemed appropriate solely for the summer months, whereas black and brown shoes were the color of choice for the drabber seasons.
Setting the record straight: Today, we’ve come to the realization that climate doesn’t control color. While certain colors may be in style in different seasons, your color palette should never be limited. So, don’t fear the white shoe well into September and October. Wearing the color white in other articles of clothing, on the other hand, is a year-round venture. A white shirt, an ivory jacket, an ashen sweater... these items add a crisp, refined look to any outfit during any season.
2- Your shoes and belt must be the same colorMost people are so afraid of clashing colors that they go overboard with color coordination. Out of this common fear stems the fashion misperception that your belt should always be the same color as your shoes. This has caused many men to unnecessarily walk around looking like boring, meticulously monochromatic drones.
Setting the record straight: As long as the color of your belt and shoes belong to the same family, you’ll look sharp. In fact, this rule applies to your entire ensemble. There’s no need to pick two colors and have the same shade of each reappear throughout the outfit (for example: chocolate brown shirt, chocolate brown belt, chocolate brown shoes). Instead, pick similar tones and shades that belong to the same family that work well together (for example: browns, oranges and greens) -- that’ll make your outfit more dynamic and you’ll look expertly dressed. The main thing to remember is: Colors don’t need to match with each other; they need to “go” well together.
We're clearing up more fashion misperceptions... Next Page >> | <urn:uuid:9eade9a8-8e2b-497b-9dc2-ce36d3174c24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.askmen.com/fashion/fashiontip_250/283_fashion_advice.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933548 | 524 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Year 2042 Will Bring Non-White U.S. Majority and Apartheid Economy
Thirty years from now, the United States will have a non-white majority largely mired in poverty under an “apartheid” economy, said Tim Sullivan, co-author of a new report titled “State of the Dream: The Emerging Majority.” By 2042, the report predicts, Blacks will earn 61 cents for every dollar paid to whites – which is about the same racial earnings ratio that has existed since 1980. Hispanic workers will be even worse off, earning just 45 cents on every white dollar. “We simply won’t be able to sustain our standard of living, our place in the world” with such widespread poverty among the non-white majority, said Sullivan, of Boston-based United for a Fair Economy. Black and Latino wealth is projected to shrivel to pennies compared to white household wealth dollars.
MLK Fought Against Rule of the Wealthy
“Dr. King talked about concrete steps to challenge this Darwinian culture that we live in, where the corporations run the government and we are no longer governed by the rule of law,” said South Carolina Black activist and author Kevin Alexander Gray. “If Black folks are content to be quiet while they wait for President Obama” to tackle the multiple oppressions against African Americans, “then they are mad.” Gray is repulsed by “the idea that Black folks are supporting the idea of preventive war and preventive assassination.” Gray is author of The Decline of Black Politics: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama.
“Phase Two” for Occupy Movement
“The occupy movement is about more than just occupying a tent in a public park,” said Kevin Zeese, an organizer of the Occupy Washington DC encampment at Freedom Plaza. The purpose is “to organize, mobilize and educate people, and start a debate about the wealth divide.” In what Zeese calls “Phase Two” of the movement, in addition to maintaining the encampment on Pennsylvania Avenue, organizers will operate out of two DC area houses. The “Peace House” will focus on mobilization of a national occupation of the nation’s capital, beginning March 30, while another house is dedicated to “occupying the economy” – creating alternative economic solutions so that people can “create their own jobs and their own wealth.”
UN Occupation of Haiti is “Mission Without a Cause”
Two years after a killer earthquake and eight years after the U.S. invaded Haiti, MINUSTAH, the United Nations “peacekeeping” force in the country, is a “mission without a cause,” said Dan Beeton, of the Center for Policy and Economic Research. Why is MINUSTAH still there? “There is no real justification for their presence…except that the international community, especially the United States, doesn’t want to see the Haitian people take control of their own destiny.”
MINUSTAH soldiers from Nepal brought cholera to Haiti, which has killed 6,000 people and sickened half a million. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti sued the UN, but the world body has yet to admit responsibility for the epidemic, blaming Haiti’s poor infrastructure for allowing the disease to spread. “That’s like me going into a field of dry grass and lighting a fire, and when it turns into a forest fire, blaming the wind,” said Institute director Brian ConCannon, Jr.
McKinney: U.S. Troops Lurk Near Libya
Cynthia McKinney, the former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, is alarmed at reports that 12,000 U.S. troops are temporarily stationed at Malta, an island nation in the Mediterranean Sea that has historically been a jumping off point to Libya. McKinney led a number of fact-finding delegations to Libya, before and during the U.S.-NATO bombing campaign that overthrew Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s government. “There is no real control by the National Transitional Council,” which recently signed an agreement allowing foreign troops to be stationed on Libyan soil, said McKinney. “The country has been ripped apart, the people are desperate for jobs, they need work,” in the absence of the Gaddafi government’s generous social welfare structures.
U.S. Guilty of “Ecological Genocide”
Michael Dorsey, a professor of environmental science at Dartmouth University who recently returned from a global climate conference in Durban, South Africa, denounced the Obama administration for refusing to seriously discuss measures to halt planetary warming. “That kind of brinksmanship diplomacy is really best characterized as a kind of apartheid for the planet, and particularly for Africa, where we know the unfolding climate change process will have catastrophic effects. It’s already playing out,” said Dorsey, director of the Climate Justice Research Project.
Lumumba Assassination Anniversary
Friends of Congo hold a rally and teach-in in Washington on Tuesday, January 17, to mark the 51st anniversary of the murder of Patrice Lumumba, the popularly elected prime minister of newly independent Congo. Belgium, the former colonial power, apologized for its role in Lumumba’s death in 2002, but the U.S. “hasn’t even gotten close” to expressing remorse. Formerly classified records show President Dwight Eisenhower ordered a CIA hit on Lumumba in 1960. The murder “stifled the democratic aspirations of the Congolese people,” said Kambale Musavuli, of Friends of Congo, just as U.S. support for last November’s rigged elections that kept President Joseph Kabila in power has stifled those aspirations. “I firmly believe that the United States government is supporting a dictatorial regime in the Congo,” said Musavuli. | <urn:uuid:298a97f0-c784-428f-8cfb-02abe9821ae6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blackagendareport.com/category/african-america/martin-luther-king | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946727 | 1,251 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Changes in the economic environment and a world of low growth make following Rogers' method more difficult than ever.
Stock spruikers argue that equities are “undervalued”. But changes in the economic environment may make quaint measures such as price-earning (“PE”) ratios misleading. In a world of low growth, the dynamics of corporate earnings, which ultimately underlie stock prices, have become more complex.
Profit margins and cash flow improve, perversely, in a period of low growth. Initially, companies cut costs improving profitability. As revenues are stagnant, companies have no need to invest in expanding capacity or working capital, releasing cash flow.
Reduction in depreciation charges and the ability to use cash flow to reduce debt reduces interest expenses. In the present cycle, sharp decreases in interest rates, though not necessarily interest margins, have also improved profit margins.
These effects are short term. In effect, they misstate earnings. As English Economist John Hicks argued true income must to allow for sustained productive capacity, which is the amount that can be withdrawn or paid out without diminishing the ability to produce the same next year.
Plant must eventually be replaced. Cost cutting, productivity improvements and restructuring cannot be repeated endlessly.
In the long run, increases in profitability require revenue growth. But lower growth translates into lower demand slowing revenue increases. Lower demand and also over capacity in many industries have reduced corporate pricing power decreasing profitability.
A striking feature of recent corporate history has been low and poor quality revenue growth. Earnings have increased more than revenues. Where companies or sectors experience revenue growth, the causes are interesting.
Beneficiaries of government spending targeted at increasing demand have benefitted.
Artificially low interest costs have encouraged substitution of technology and mechanised equipment for human resources boosting revenues of technology and industrial equipment manufacturers. Commodity producers’ revenues have benefitted from rises in volumes (driven by emerging market demand) and higher prices.
Banks and financial institutions’ earning have benefitted from central bank activity to create artificially low interest rates and provide near unlimited funding.
Policy measures have provided additional “carry” income, allowing banks to borrow at near zero rates to invest in government bonds or higher yielding assets. These investors have also profited from capital gains as central banks have intervened aggressively to bring down asset yields. Low rates have also reduced loan losses allowing weak borrowers to continue to service crippling debt. In the US, specific actions targeted at the housing market have boosted returns for mortgage lenders.
Unsurprisingly, bank earnings and stock prices have performed well.
Some firms have increased revenue by cannibalising competitors and adjacent industries. RIM and Nokia have lost market share to i-Phones. Sony’s Walkman and other makers of mobile entertainment devices have lost market share to i-Pods. Makers of personal digital assistants – Palm Pilots and Handsprings- were superseded by smart phones. Tablets have increased market share at the expense of desktop and notebook computers.
Picking the winners and losers in this game is difficult.
The build-up of cash on corporate balance sheets is frequently cited as a sign of corporate health.
In the US, since 2008 companies have been net lenders rather than borrowers and now hold around US$1 trillion in cash. Japanese companies hold liquid assets of US$2.8 trillion. European companies too hold large cash balances. Mark Carney, the newly appointed Bank of England governor, referred to the $300 billion of cash held by companies in his native Canada as “dead money”. He urged vainly for firms to “put money to work and if they can’t think of what to do with it, they should give it back to their shareholders”.
The high cash balances reflect uncertainty about future financing conditions and the willingness of banks to lend. But it primarily reflects the lack of investment opportunities.
The cash balances are a drag on corporate earnings, given the near zero interest rates in most developed markets. But cash surpluses have influenced stock prices and returns.
Following Mark Carney’s advice, many companies have returned capital, through stock buybacks and higher or special dividends. In late 2012, fear of US tax changes prompted such actions. But investors are now faced with the problem of where to deploy the cash.
Other companies have used surplus cash to purchase competitors, businesses or assets. Given the indifferent results of many mergers and acquisitions (many acquisitions by technology firms and resource companies come to mind), it is unclear that this will benefit anyone other than shareholders of the acquired company and investment bankers.
Equity valuations increasingly will reflect changes in the market environment.
Changing demographics affect stocks. Investors approaching retirement may switch to more defensive asset and seek steady income, favouring bonds and cash. Low and declining returns over time has also undermined demand for equities. The reduction is evident in outflows from equity funds into other assets.
But a major factor is increasing distrust of the market itself.
Government policies especially zero interest rate policies, quantitative easing and other forms of financial repression, now exert a significant effect on stocks. Low holding costs have driven stock prices. Dividend paying stocks have benefitted from the attention of investors seeking income.
With limited policy options and central bank desire to boost asset prices to protect financial institutions and increase consumption, further intervention, including direct purchases of stocks, cannot be ruled out. The Bank of Japan has purchased risky assets including corporate bonds and stocks. During the 1997/1998 Asian monetary crisis, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority purchased stocks.
Algorithmic trading now dominates stock markets, making up between 30% and 70% of all activity. While necessary to facilitate execution, computerised trading may increase volatility. Holding periods now average a few seconds. Computer generated market failures, such as the Flash Crash and the problems of Knight Capital, reduce confidence in the integrity of the market.
Average investment periods for traditional investors have fallen from 7 years in 1940, 5 years in 1960s, 2 years in the 1980s to 7 months currently. Short term trading feeds volatility and may distort values.
Responding to shorter investment holding periods, the European Union have proposed a quixotic investor loyalty plan (rather like a mileage scheme offered by airlines!). Under the plan (which faces significant opposition), loyal shareholders in European companies would benefit from extra voting rights and higher dividends. This would be a significant change to the “one-share one-vote” principle of corporate structures.
Despite the increase in computer driven trading, overall trading volumes have declined by 15-30%. The reduced liquidity affects stock valuations.
Revelations of insider trading reduce and expert networks designed to secure preferential access to tips has emerged. As Robert Khuzami, director of enforcement SEC put it in his successful prosecution of Galleon: “Raj Rajaratnam is not a master of the universe, but rather a master of the Rolodex”. Institutionalised wrong doing further undermines investment interest, especially from retail investors.
Equity market analyst Laszlo Birinyi may have been right when he observed that “the relationship between the stock market and the economy is tangential, not causal”. But in the longer term, the disjunction between fundamentals of real earnings or cash flow and stock prices as well as changes in the structure of the market undermines investor interest in and demand for stocks.
John Maynard Keynes famously likened the stock market to a beauty contest, where success depended on anticipating the views of the judges rather than an investor’s own perspectives on pulchritude. Stocks may or may not be undervalued. But fundamental changes in the drivers of stocks and trading in equities now make Keynes views on investing success more important than ever.
© 2013 Satyajit Das
Satyajit Das is a former banker and author of Extreme Money and Traders Guns & Money | <urn:uuid:9e4cd4d5-dfab-43b0-a178-54ef849a29fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wilmott.com/blogs/satyajitdas/index.cfm/2013/2/9/Perceptions-of-Beauty--Stock-Valuations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949512 | 1,623 | 2.890625 | 3 |
By Greg Neyman
© Old Earth Ministries
First Published 11 June 2003
This question does not have any implications for old earth creation science, unless you are an old-earth creationist who believes in a global flood. However, there is one point that needs discussing.
The authors mention plants on page 189. Let’s look at the conditions of a globe full of water. The fluid dynamics of the earth covered with water was calculated by two young-earth theorists. They discovered that there would be currents on the order of 156 miles per hour!1 At that speed, no pre-flood trees would survive. Also, any that did would be completely buried by the new sedimentary layers. Therefore, any trees, or plants of any kind, would have to sprout from seeds after the water subsided.
The dove was sent out from the Ark, and brought back an olive twig. Since there would only be seedlings, it could not have brought back a full twig, but instead had to uproot a 2-3 inch tall seedling! Also, since all grass and trees perished during the flood because of the currents and the rapid deposition of new rock, there would be no food for the animals once they departed the Ark. Therefore, Noah would have to feed these animals well after they departed from the Ark. However, there is no support for this from the Bible.
In an old-world, local flood scenario, the animals merely had to migrate a few hundred miles to find land not devastated by the flood. Also, you would not have the devastating currents from the global flood, so trees and plants would have been better suited to survive and re-populate the flood region.
1 Baumgartner and Barnette, “Patterns of Ocean Circulation Over the Continents During Noah’s Flood”
If you are not a Christian, and you have been holding out on making a decision for Christ because the Church always preached a message that was contrary to what you saw in the scientific world, then rest assured that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and you can believe in Christ and receive salvation, while still believing in an old earth. Click here for more.
Are you a Christian who believes in young earth creationism? Now that we have shown the many difficulties of the young earth creation science model in this and many other articles, how does this impact your Christian life? If you are a young earth creationism believer, click here.
To learn more
about old earth creationism, see
Old Earth Belief,
or check out the article
Can You Be A
Christian and Believe in an Old Earth?
Feel free to check out more of this website. Our goal is to provide rebuttals to the bad science behind young earth creationism, and honor God by properly presenting His creation. | <urn:uuid:360a6e69-1ce7-4a0d-a6f3-d94fdc90cca0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldearth.org/bookreview/answersbook/abc14.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963299 | 587 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Crain's editorial: Yes on 107
4:30 am, October 15, 2012
It's abundantly clear that cities with well-educated work forces have the best chance to thrive in an increasingly technology-driven economy. Also clear: The city of Cleveland largely has failed in this regard.
But that can change. It won't be easy, and it will require huge efforts from school administrators, teachers, business people and, most of all, the students themselves. The School Transformation Plan pushed by Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, who oversees the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and schools CEO Eric Gordon, represents the best chance in a long time to turn the district into what the entire region needs — a modern, more efficient educator of 40,000 children.
To fund the plan, Cleveland voters on Nov. 6 are being asked to approve a four-year levy, Issue 107. We heartily encourage a “yes” vote on the measure.
The reform plan has many positives. These include the potential for longer school days; the implementation of a pay structure that rewards teachers for excellent performance; and the creation of a “Transformation Alliance” — a watchdog group including parents, educators, business people and civic leaders — to evaluate charter schools based on common performance standards. You can find more details about the plan at www.RightPlanRightNow.com.
The plan is the result of an extraordinary amount of cooperation both in town, between the school district and the teachers union, and downstate, where Gov. John Kasich helped facilitate legislative measures needed to make reforms possible. Voters often say they want more bipartisan efforts from their government. This plan is an excellent example of just that.
Also encouraging is the way Cleveland's business community has rallied behind the levy. For instance, the Cleveland Foundation made a $200,000 grant to support the campaign, and the campaign coordinating committee has a high level of participation from business leaders.
The levy is a big one: 15 mills. Passage of the tax would provide up to $77 million more a year for a district with an operating budget of $670 million — and a $65 million budget deficit. (In another of the reform plan's virtues, high-performing charter schools that partner with the district also would receive a total of $5.5 million per year.)
We recognize these are not easy economic times for a tax increase. District officials say the owner of an average-priced home in the city — $64,000 — would pay $294 more per year in taxes, which is not an insubstantial sum for many residents.
But a good Plain Dealer analysis last week pointed out that Cleveland residents at present pay just more than 2% of their income toward the schools, well below virtually every other community in the region. This is a good opportunity for voters to step up and declare that Cleveland's schools and its children are a vital resource that deserve a substantial new investment. | <urn:uuid:47a65552-fbd7-41b4-864b-34d67dfe51ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20121015/SUB1/310159957 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958478 | 596 | 1.5625 | 2 |
|For Shelters &
|Pet Owner Support|
|For Dog Owners|
Supporting the human-canine bond in your community, from providing pet owners with assistance to establishing fair and non-discriminatory practices in your town, is crucial. Our resources are designed to support you in your work to create safe, humane communities for all pets and people.
We encourage you to explore each section in depth.
Building Safe Communities: Find the research that explores the foundation of safe, humane communities, where dogs are treated as individuals and pet owners are empowered to be responsible. Humane communities are safer communities for people and pets!
Breed Specific Legislation: Experts have proven that Breed Specific Legislation does NOT make communities safer for people or pets. It is costly, ineffective and undermines the human-canine bond. Learn more about why this approach has been proven to fail.
Each section offers handouts, videos, and downloadable e-booklets for easy learning and sharing. All of our handouts are available for distribution. Please feel free to utilize them at you shelters or public events. | <urn:uuid:c5a707d0-e734-4a52-b83a-17c78fdaeb87> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://animalfarmfoundation.org/pages/For-Community-Advocates | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918249 | 222 | 2.171875 | 2 |
"It was a massive undertaking to ensure that in the midst of transition and instability, nearly 27 million Iraqis were fed," Goodlatte said. As of October, a staggering two million tons of food have been delivered to Iraq since emergency operations started in April, thereby constituting the largest amount of food assistance delivered in a single emergency operation over such a brief period.
Prior to Coalition operations in Iraq, many predicted that the poor humanitarian situation which marked Saddam's rule could worsen during a conflict-among the areas of greatest concern were malnutrition and disruption of food supplies.
"Thanks to the extensive planning and distribution of critical emergency supplies by the U.S. Government and the World Food Program (WFP), the humanitarian crisis many feared, simply did not materialize. The logistics in ensuring that all Iraqis were provided for are beyond impressive," Goodlatte continued.
The U.S. was the most generous donor, to this project and to the World Food Program (WFP) overall, providing 516,800 metric tons of food, worth over $389 million through the WFP. More than half of the food aid distributed by the WFP comes from the United States.
"Ultimately we look to see a democratic, market-driven economy in Iraq, but during this critical time of transition, this is one of the success stories from U.S. and Coalition efforts in Iraq," Goodlatte said.
Looking ahead prospects for agriculture production in Iraq, leading to increased food production, are very hopeful, Goodlatte continued. Compared to many other countries in the region, Iraq has significant water resources. Iraq is home to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the ancient Fertile Crescent, which many call the birthplace of modern agriculture.
Since the arrival of U.S. forces in Iraq, miles of irrigation, canals and ditches have been restored, with work yet to be done, and significantly increased agriculture production is likely in the 2004 growing season which begins in January. | <urn:uuid:3b2a7866-0387-42c1-9068-f6a6d0808be8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/print/humanitarian-success-iraq | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974435 | 404 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Eliminating some unwarranted tax credits and exemptions may be a worthy endeavor, but promising an income tax cut based on it without really knowing what should and should not be cut is irresponsible. Oklahomans deserve better, but they are not going to get it this legislative session.
Oklahoma’s House Republicans, led by Speaker Lance Cargill of Harrah, pictured right, announced this week they would try this upcoming legislative session to cut just over a quarter percent on the income tax rate to just under 5.25 percent, according to a media report.
The money would be offset by eliminating some tax exemptions and credits, according to Cargill. He said this would make the action revenue neutral. Under this logic, eliminating tax exemptions and credits would not raise taxes—the legislature must pass tax increases by three quarters of a vote—because the income tax cut would replace the increases. A scheduled reduction in Oklahoma’s income tax rate will not go into effect as planned because of a lack of decent growth in state revenues.
At least one Democrat, state Rep. Joe Dorman (D-Rush Springs), disagrees with Cargill on the revenue neutral issue, but the real problem here is that Cargill has no real plan, only the same hollow Republican rhetoric we have heard for years and years in this state.
Here are the obvious questions: What particular tax credits and exemptions will be eliminated? Will the elimination of these credits and exemptions primarily affect middle-class or wealthy people? (Because this is a GOP initiative, I would bet the elimination of credits and exemptions will take away money primarily from middle-class people.) Should recent reports showing declining revenues make legislators from both parties, as Gov. Brad Henry has argued, use “extreme caution” when considering tax cuts this year? Should the recent slowdown in the national economy and the housing market crisis affect tax legislation this year?
The point here is Cargill and the GOP and their propaganda ministry, The Daily Oklahoman, need to be upfront and specific about any tax proposal so people know what is going on, and Oklahomans need to stop selling away adequate funding for education and other important segments of state government for the brief, one-time Wal-Mart sprees they get when the legislature cuts taxes. The state’s wealthiest people have benefited the most from recent tax cuts, and they are almost certain to benefit the most again if Cargill and the GOP have their way.
Does the Oklahoma tax system need comprehensive changes? Would it help people here and the overall economy to eliminate the income tax and raise taxes elsewhere? (Texas, for example, has no income tax, but has higher property taxes.) That may or may not be so, but arguing for a supposed revenue neutral tax cut without fully researching the issue is irresponsible and shows again why Oklahoma has poor fiscal leadership under the Republican House majority.
House Speaker Lance Cargill (R-Harrah) should explain why campaign checks were diverted from the Oklahoma Republican Party to the Oklahoma County Republican Party in 2004.
Cargill’s refusal so far to do so is the type of insider behavior that makes an increasing number of people believe our political system is beyond repair. Money rules; ordinary people have no voice. This is a non-partisan issue. State Democrats have had their share of money-related scandals in the past. But if Cargill insists on remaining silent and playing political games with the issue, the state GOP will suffer credibility problems.
According to media reports, the Oklahoma Ethics Commission is apparently investigating a state GOP fundraising effort in 2004. Twelve checks totaling more than $33,000 intended to go to the state GOP instead ended up at the Oklahoma County Republican Party. Some of those who wrote the checks say they have no problem with it. Others claim they wanted the state party to get the money.
In any event, former House Speaker Todd Hiett indicated Cargill was the person who solicited the money in 2004 for the Republicans. Cargill has remained silent, except to deny any wrongdoing to the media. Fine. But how and why did the checks get diverted to the county GOP? Who did it? Surely, he has some idea. If not, then why not? Cargill now has a history of not sharing pertinent information. He initially refused, for example, to divulge the names of the financial contributors who bankrolled his 100 Ideas scheme to frame the state’s future with Republican ideology.
On the surface, this may seem minor as scandals go in these heady days of massive political corruption, but Cargill owes it as House Speaker and a leading state Republican to clear up this mess forthrightly as soon as possible.
The larger issue here is that ordinary people without the financial resources to “pay to play” have no voice in the political process. And even if you do contribute a small sum, can you be sure the money will be used as intended? Even the nation’s worst newspaper, The Daily Oklahoman, which serves as the propaganda ministry for local Republicans, wants answers from Cargill.
Cargill To Teachers: Go To Texas
The faulty logic in House Speaker Lance Cargill’s merit pay ideas for teachers is this: It completely ignores the fact Oklahoma continues to lag behind the nation in teachers’ salaries.
Cargill (R-Harrah) is putting his ideology before the horse. Any proposal that substantially changes the amount of money teachers are paid in this state should acknowledge Oklahoma has paid its teachers some of the lowest salaries in the nation for years and years. We need to catch up to or surpass national averages in teacher salaries before we tinker with an underfunded system.
Merit pay for teachers should be off the table until Cargill (pictured right) and the rest of the legislature make an even larger commitment to education in Oklahoma. Too often, Cargill and his fellow Republicans give hollow lip service to improving educational opportunities for Oklahomans as they work behind the scenes to starve the system of needed funding.
According to Cargill’s public relations firm, The Daily Oklahoman, the legislator “said he has given his last teacher pay raise without individual merit being considered in the increase considerations” (“Lawmakers want to know if teacher pay proposal is an idea with merit,” August 14, 2007). So there, teachers. Lance has spoken. On Tuesday, Cargill announced he would conduct an eight-week study on the issue. This “study” will include a series of orchestrated hearings designed to support Cargill’s ideas about merit pay.
Cargill’s blunt comments and the fact he would not allow an Oklahoma Education Association (OEA) official to attend Tuesday’s political stunt do not bode well for teachers. OEA is the primary teachers’ organization in the state.
In an ideal world, a merit pay system for teachers might work here. But, unfortunately, Oklahoma has major education funding problems. Until those problems are solved, the concept is wrong for a state that loses quality teachers each year to other states, especially Texas.
Willa The Winner
Democratic candidate Willa Johnson deserves kudos for her victory in Tuesday’s Oklahoma County Commissioner election. She will now face Republican Forest Claunch in a September 11 election.
Democrats need to pull together over the next few weeks to make sure Johnson wins the seat. Those who supported Debbie Blackburn, a former legislator, should now put all their wonderful energy and campaign skills into Johnson’s campaign. Blackburn received 2,039 votes, less than one hundred votes than Johnson’s total of 2,119.
Johnson is running for the District 1 seat once held by Jim Roth, who was recently appointed to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission by Gov. Brad Henry. | <urn:uuid:06a38f00-49f5-4567-aea5-3df4c8927efa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://okiefunk.com/taxonomy/term/57?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959621 | 1,618 | 1.75 | 2 |
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Caring for Earth
Some children pray this grace:
“Earth, who gives to us this food,
Sun, who makes it ripe and good,
Can we make this prayer our own? Are we ready to pledge that we won’t forget our debt of gratitude? Earth supplies us with all good gifts: nourishment, water, minerals, fresh air, fire, beauty. When we remember this, we become mindful again in our attitudes and actions. We choose food that’s healthful for us and sustainable for Earth. We pick up litter to show our respect for our surroundings. We question assumptions we’ve grown up with: For example, do we really need to go out and buy new gifts for the people on our holiday list? Could we instead give to a charity in their honor or pass along to them from our shelves a book we’ve loved? We apply such principles not only to our personal lives, but also to our political choices.
Living on our Earth, so mistreated that we can no longer drink her waters and often cannot breathe her air, we need to take action. But we also need to slow down and fully appreciate her abundance. We can take at least a little time every day to be outdoors and open ourselves to nature’s gentle teachings. Or if we live in a city environment from which nature seems to have run and hid, we can grow and cherish indoor plants, take periodic retreats in wilder places, and do all we can locally to create and sustain parks.
Through our mindful attitudes and actions, we express our gratefulness. And Earth, grateful in return, will surely bless us with her own healing.
Gratefulness for Water - A short practice session that will help renew your appreciation for this most common yet most essential element.
Caring for Earth message board - Tell others what you do and let yourself be inspired by how others care for Earth. | <urn:uuid:e6e6ffbd-6187-4fc1-a561-74b04cdc4515> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gratefulness.org/t/motherearth.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937845 | 408 | 2.734375 | 3 |