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We are now publishing our articles to open source software repository GitHub. The idea is that anyone – programmers, researchers, creatives – will have access to our textual content for their own use, and can incorporate it into their own projects.
You will be able to take advantage of all of the features which GitHub offers, such as grabbing our entire body of content as a single, downloadable, repository; "follow" it; and synchronise our repository back to your local computer.
All of our longer articles published from March 2012 onwards will appear in out GitHub repository. We are adding older articles over time, and images too (all of our images are also available in our Flickr archive). For obvious reasons, we won't be publishing images and text which is copyright to others.
We are currently publishing articles in raw text form, with a couple of markers for imagery and page breaks. We don't publish with any kind of markup, such as HTML, although – again – let us know if you would find that useful.
The repository is structured according to our article planning system which, to the untrained eye (and even many trained ones), is a spaghetti of codes and numbers. Our commit statements will indicate the headlines of each article, making them a little easier to browse. And, of course, if you are synchronising the repository back to your local filesystem, then the whole lot is searchable.
We publish to GitHub through a Git folder in our network storage. New articles are then published to it, which are subsequently committed and pushed to GitHub. These articles are in the same state as those published to the Imperica website, although there's no reason why we could not use GitHub as a more open means of editorial development in the future. We'll let you know through @imperica as and when we do that.
Obviously, all content remains our copyright although, as is the case with our content across the Imperica website, Flickr, GitHub, and elsewhere, we are proud to serve it to you under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for Imperica on GitHub, then do drop us a line; we would love to hear from you.
Imperica is available on Google Currents, the content aggregator from Google. Here's how to get it.
Click this link in your device browser. If it doesn't automatically open in Currents, confirm it.
You will be asked to add Imperica into your library. After confirmation, Imperica will download and be available in your library.
... and there it is. Imperica on Google Currents is divided into:
There you have it. Browse and read at your leisure.
Imperica-on-Kindle. Sounds like a lovely little English village, doesn't it?
We've made Imperica available on Amazon's popular ereader. Our Kindle edition gives you the opportunity to read and digest insight, information and knowledge from one of the most talked-about publications on the web... wherever you are.
The Kindle edition is 99p per month. That's a ton of brain-filling (and sometimes brain-frying) shizzle for less than... well, practically anything these days. Signing up also gives you a two-week free trial, so subscription is hassle-free.
Getting Imperica onto your Kindle is simple. If you have registered and synchronised your Kindle with Amazon, simply visit the Imperica page on Amazon and subscribe directly from there.
Alternatively, you can directly add Imperica on your Kindle device. Simply visit the Kindle store and search for "Imperica".
New articles are automatically added to your Kindle, so you will always have the latest content from us.
The Kindle edition will feature text and images from Imperica articles, but not embedded media such as YouTube videos, banner advertising (although we still offer solutions for advertisers through the Kindle) and article comments.
Articles are delivered chronologically, so synchronisation will deliver the latest set of articles every time.
We don't take payment directly; this is entirely handled by Amazon.
If you don't have a Kindle but want a pleasant reading experience, then try Google Currents.
If you need any help or assistance regarding Imperica on the Kindle or mobile devices, then please feel free to contact us.
We offer a variety of feeds. These are full-fat, in that they offer the full body of text for each article, along with embedded media. Articles are rendered chronologically, and the most recent 25 are available in the feed.
RSS 2.0 (Good for Google Reader)
The feeds are provided in accordance with the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence and our T&Cs.
Imperica is launching a job board. It will be a fully-featured service open to direct recruitment and agencies alike. Covering the sectors that Imperica covers (arts, digital media, advertising), we are opening the board for no initial charge. Yes, it's free.
You can submit full-time and part-time vacancies (including internships), and it is initially open to any country within the EU. We won't provide a full on-site job application service just yet - that will come along in the future, depending on the success of this pilot phase.
Job board postings are free for a duration of 3 weeks and Perini Networks Europe Ltd reserves the final right to publish, decline or edit all submissions.
We look forward to your submissions. Thanks.
Part of Perini, we cover a wide range of sectors and activities within our scope. Expect to see material from advertising, art, brands, marcomms, and tech - among others. The common thread is that our articles are designed to cover some of the most insightful - and often most challenging - thinking that exists out there.
As these sectors are often covered within their own vertical sectors - silos - the shared knowledge and thoughts between them is often under-reported. Great stuff in one sector is often hard to find from another. We serve the purpose of mashing it all up.
Imperica never carries news for the sake of it. Our editorial proposition is to be the Sunday magazine to everyone else's newspaper: with... | <urn:uuid:a179c96a-c2bc-4f9e-81d2-761f757d53fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imperica.com/about-imperica | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930168 | 1,288 | 1.867188 | 2 |
With Boise real estate agents processing so many short sales these days, it is not surprising that many buyers are left with a negative impression. As such, it is no wonder why some people are afraid to start looking! With horror stories circulating, both true and untrue, many buyers have a reason to be hesitant. Here’s a look at some of the most popular myths and the truth behind them.
A life insurance deal is a serious part of business. It is a kind of fiscal protection that an earning family member acquires to ensure that in the event of that individual’s death, his/her family won’t be monetarily in any trouble. Some people also use a life insurance to lessen their tax burden as some types of insurance costs are non-taxable.
Although you may spend more for other types of insurance such as automobile insurance or medical care insurance, house owners insurance can cost a pretty penny today. Getting the best deal starts with shopping around with different carriers or having a reputable insurance broker do the shopping for you.
Marketing your business with articles is an economical approach to spread the word out with reference to your home based business. Several people search for reports than can train them in an assortment of topics. The goal of an article internet marketer is to provide their audience with helpful tips that persuade them to want to study more. Article marketing is more than merely getting exposure for your business, they are additionally a great instrument for establishing free backlinks.
Lots of people are tempted to try affiliate marketing, because they make the mistake of taking a myth for reality. First and foremost, possibly, is that they feel that managing an Internet company is simple and second, is that they believe that you can make a fortune through online marketing over night. Probably not even 0.1% of those who are into affiliate marketing become rich quickly.
Investments are necessary affairs with an outstanding role among the present population. Therefore, in order to make the right choices regarding your funds a reliable forex broker is definitely the best solution.
Do you work at home? If so, you are well aware of the fact that generating new ideas is paramount to the expansion of your business. New ideas are necessary for developing, marketing, and advertising your products or services, and used for resolving different problems which may arise.
Looking for some Forex trading advice? The best way to learn Forex trading is to select and join an online Forex trading platform. In this article we will discuss three methods for selecting the best online Forex trading platform.
Are you an entrepreneur trying to make it big with our affiliate network? If so, I highly recommend that you become knowledgeable regarding social bookmarking. These days, the search engines are placing more value than ever on frequently updated, unique content. Consequently, the search engines tend to rank websites and blogs which feature frequently updated content more prominently than those which do not. Having said that, you still need to direct the search engines to your content. This is where social bookmarking comes in, and is what will be much of the focus of this article.
There is no doubt that accepting credit cards online is an absolute necessity if you intend to run an online business. In fact when was the last time you saw a company selling products online that took money orders or checks? | <urn:uuid:076fa575-f013-405a-8272-35d37c3c8880> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogcashbiz.com/tag/finance/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966174 | 674 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Study Uses Mobile Technology to Examine Smoking Cessation
Researchers are using smart phones and hand-held computers to figure out why some people quit smoking the first time they try, while others are unsuccessful even after many attempts.
Scientists at Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh collected data from smokers through mobile devices, to determine how smokers’ nicotine dependence and negative emotional states influence their urge to smoke while they try to quit.
They found people who successfully quit during the four-week study had a weaker association between their urge to smoke and their ability to quit, Medical News Today reports. Smokers who were unable to quit did not demonstrate any association between their urge to smoke and their self-confidence, the study found.
“One thing that really stood out among the relapsers is how their urge to smoke just never dropped, in contrast to those who were successful in quitting for a month—their urge dropped quickly and systematically—almost immediately upon quitting. That was surprising to see,” researcher Stephanie Lanza said in a news release.
The study included 304 smokers who had smoked an average of more than a pack a day for 23 years. Five times throughout the day, at random times, mobile devices prompted them to answer questions about their emotional state, their urge to smoke and if they were smoking. Participants rated their urge to smoke at that moment on a scale of zero to 10.
Forty participants quit smoking in the first day, but then relapsed. Another 207 participants quit and remained tobacco-free for at least two weeks (if they smoked less than five cigarettes a day, they were considered successful quitters). The 57 remaining participants could not quit for even one day.
The results appear in the journal Prevention Science. | <urn:uuid:c6f3a38d-1db7-42eb-a7a0-ad78b77639b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/research/study-uses-mobile-technology-to-examine-smoking-cessation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979025 | 354 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Google stated to the LA Times reporter that they were more than willing to work with online privacy officials regarding the online privacy of online users. Privacy protection officials claim Google is holding user information and cookies for up to 2 years. Google was warned in May of 2007 that they may be in violation of user privacy rules making Google be one of the first engines to cut down the time they store cookies to 18 months and later to 13 months as time passes. (Imagine Google being the one being warned!)
The new requirements are recommending that Google and other search engines should only store cookies for up to 6 months.
This could play a big factor in Google’s current ways of providing users with targeted ads.
Google was reported last Friday to say they were looking forward to helping the online privacy officials to explore ways to improve privacy online for all internet users.
As an Internet user myself, I have to wonder what way Google will use to get around this so they can continue to target users with geographically correct advertisements, as I know this is a big business for Google and it’s advertisers currently. Will it be an opt in to Google Ads? Or will they just simply have to reset the cookies once every 6 months in order to comply with the privacy issues under the gun? | <urn:uuid:7d660094-0d7f-4528-ab47-1549b735fb3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rankmetric.com/google-works-with-online-privacy-officials_63/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960403 | 257 | 1.820313 | 2 |
|You are here: Main / Customer Services / Public Communications Division / 2007 / Senior Helpline Available|
SENIOR HELPLINE AVAILABLE
Where’s the nearest adult day care center in my neighborhood? What’s the difference between Medicare and Medicaid? Who qualifies for nursing home care? How do I get personal care services in my home? Who qualifies for senior housing? Why is grandma acting so strange? Who can help my elderly neighbor?
All these questions about aging and caregiving can now be answered by calling the Senior Helpline, a service being offered by the City’s Department of Community Services. The Helpline, operated by the agency’s Elderly Affairs Division, dispenses advice and information to seniors, caregivers, and anyone wanting more information on aging and services. In some cases where a face-to-face assessment is needed, staff may visit with a client in their home.
The Helpline number is 768-7700. Hours are 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Karen Miyake, Administrator of the City’s Elderly Affairs Division, said, “Calling will immediately connect you to an experienced and knowledgeable staff person for consultation, and if needed, referrals to services.” She emphasizes the importance of getting information before a crisis occurs. “Preventing falls, finding out about supportive services as one ages, discussing long-term care options, or what to expect from a person with Alzheimer’s disease can reduce trauma to the older person and their family.”
Also available is the latest edition of the Senior Information & Assistance Handbook, published by the Department of Community Services through a donation from American Savings Bank. The publication, which has been around for more than 25 years, is the largest and most substantial version to date, with even more explanations and descriptions of terms and issues and listings of hundreds of agencies that provide services for seniors. Call the Senior Helpline for information on how to obtain copies.
Karen Miyake, 768-7708
|Thursday, September 13, 2007| | <urn:uuid:57a3cf87-d0a2-4ef8-960f-b6df933f9b82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.honolulu.gov/refs/csd/publiccom/honnews07/seniorhelplinesept1307.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929439 | 443 | 1.515625 | 2 |
John Baird announces plans to close Rights and Democracy group
Explore This Story
The Harper government has killed a Montreal-based human rights agency that’s been in its sights for years.
Citing austerity as the reason, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced Tuesday the 24-year-old Rights and Democracy, which encouraged democracy and monitored human rights around the world, would be scrapped.
“Therefore, as part of our efforts to find efficiencies and savings, I am announcing that the government intends to close the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (also known as Rights and Democracy). Legislation will be introduced in the near future to do so and its functions will be brought within the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade,” he said.
The taxpayer-funded agency was a source of controversy, with employees suspended for speaking out and bitter debates over $30,000 in grants for Middle East human rights groups. The grant did not sit well with the pro-Israeli Conservatives who set out to take over the board with government-appointed members.
The agency’s former president, Rémy Beauregard, died of a heart attack in January 2010 after a particularly stormy board meeting.
“For some time, the many challenges of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development have been well publicized. It is time to put these past challenges behind us and move forward.” Baird stated in a release.
“Today’s announcement gives us a clean slate to move forward,” he said.
Liberal interim leader Bob Rae told the Star the Conservatives would rather lecture others in the world about democracy “than carry out effective projects and contribute to human rights and good governance.”
Montreal NDP MP Hélène Laverdière said it was well known the Conservatives didn’t like Rights and Democracy but “we didn’t think they would go to that extent.”
“First they poisoned the institution then they killed it” even though she says it did good work around the world and gained international respect.
Laverdière also told the Star that staff at Rights and Democracy weren’t told of the government’s decision until Baird made his announcement. The agency is located in her riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie.
The very public fight between the Conservative government-appointed board and agency employees spilled over into the House of Commons, where board members were hauled before a committee to explain why they had declared war on the agency and its employees.
That included firing three senior employees at Rights and Democracy after agency staff wrote a letter to the 13-member board, demanding the resignation of three directors.
- Doug Ford denies fresh drug-related allegations in published report
- French soldier stabbed in throat, link to London attack unconfirmed
- Conrad Black writes a kind of love letter to the America that had him incarcerated
- Thousands run and walk final mile of Boston Marathon
- Battling the lethal H7N9 virus: a look inside the lab where vaccine is being developed
- Hockey Canada bans bodychecking at peewee level
- Updated NHL playoffs 2013: Boston Bruins eliminate New York Rangers
- Blue Jays, Dickey fall to Orioles | <urn:uuid:c405d11c-16e5-4c60-a9cd-d04f0ce14a9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2012/04/03/john_baird_announces_plans_to_close_rights_and_democracy_group.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961694 | 668 | 1.734375 | 2 |
En español | Times have changed in the last half-century and the concept of retirement has shifted dramatically. Just in the past decade that I've been at AARP, I've seen the change happening. It's true. This isn't your grandfather's retirement.
See also: 10 steps to the retirement you want
Few people see retirement anymore as a time when they'll put their feet up and do nothing. Increasingly, people expect to work past 65 or 67, even if their job is something completely different from what they've done their whole lives. They'll do this because either the work is rewarding or, more often these days, their budgets require it — especially for health care costs and even if it's not full time.
But in this new era of retirement, planning shouldn't focus solely on finances. Without doubt, money is a huge part of retirement planning — probably the most significant part — but it's not all of it.
When planning for retirement, having a balanced approach that considers both life (what it will look like on a day-to-day basis) and finances will help you achieve the most positive outlook. You must prepare mentally and emotionally for what happens when you actually retire.
What do you picture when you think about your retirement? It'll be different for everyone. Is it the luxury of sleeping late and not rushing to the office? Is it the fear of losing the thing that gave your life the most purpose, and maybe your identity — your job? Or is retirement the opportunity for you to do something very specific with your time on your terms? This could mean volunteering, studying photography, writing the novel you never had time for, traveling or even working 10 to 15 hours a week for your former employer or some other organization.
As I look into the future, I dream of running a community-sustained agriculture (CSA) farm. In the most traditional sense of retirement, that dream is about 20 years away, but I'm imagining right now what it will take to make that dream my future reality.
What does retirement mean for you? Write down a list of specific retirement goals and then try to trim it down to your top five goals. Be creative. Start a collage or a journal with photos, magazine images, words and phrases to help you visualize your goals and make them more concrete. Or start an online community for people imagining retirement. Hearing others describe their plans can enhance your own perspective. | <urn:uuid:0f983a5e-0f99-4785-871d-b74a4cbecbd1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aarp.org/work/retirement-planning/info-06-2011/what-does-retirement-mean-to-you.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968509 | 501 | 1.835938 | 2 |
If you’re a runner, you know buying the perfect pair of running shoes requires asking yourself a lot of questions – do you have high arches or low arches? Do you supinate or pronate? Do you need maximum support or minimal support? The list goes on and on!
The secret to answering this long list of questions is understanding your gait, or how you move when running. Improving your gait can help runners perform better and prevent injuries. Keith Tesch, a certified strength and conditioning specialist at ATI Physical Therapy, dropped in to discuss how video gait analysis can not only improve a runner’s race times, but their overall health as well.
Getting to know your gait: Okay, we’ll back up here a little bit. For those of who aren’t seasoned runners (much less medal contenders at the highest levels of competition), your “gait” is simply the movement of your limbs. In this case, runners must pay special attention to their gait. For example, if a runner begins to pronate (turning the heel inward and therefore flattening out the arch), they could be susceptible to a slew of issues, from shin splints to tendentious.
How it works: For example, at ATI, we use Dartfish Technology’s video gait analysis software. After taping someone running, a trained video gait analyst (like Keith) can review a runner’s form and help find ways to improve their gait and reduce their risk for injury.
Who uses it: Runners are the primary audience for the analysis, but it’s also helpful for those with ACL reconstruction or any lower extremity surgery to help reteach them how to properly run after surgery.
What it helps with:
1. Increases range of motion
2. Decreases pain caused by misuse
3. Reduces muscle tightness
4. Fixes imbalances of strengthen and flexibility
5. Reduces overall risk of injury
Are you an avid runner and need some direction on your gait? Contact your closest ATI Physical Therapy clinic today! | <urn:uuid:3e4a06da-1452-4645-a07b-298f0e888ac9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.middletowntranscript.com/article/20130212/blogs/130219943/0/features | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919692 | 439 | 2.3125 | 2 |
A recent international survey conducted by Accenture revealed some pretty interesting statistics about the state of sustainability in the mindset of corporate leaders. Though a majority see the benefits--namely in reputation and trust (cited by 49% of respondents), improved brand (41%), and lower costs (42%)--only 66% see sustainability as an investment, while 34% see it as a more of a cost.
What struck me in this litany of percentages was that, though 93% of respondents say their company has sustainability initiatives, those initiatives are not comprehensive, but piecemeal: the most common areas for sustainability initiatives are in reducing electricity usage and green IT (51%), talent and skills initiatives (47%) and development of sustainability-based new products (44%). Commendable, yes; transformative, no.
Seeing sustainability as a peripheral is not conducive to the wider acceptance of sustainability as a comprehensive, long-term strategic approach to business. “Only by placing it at the heart of commercial strategy can sustainability be a channel to growth and innovation,” said Bruno Berthon, managing director at Accenture Sustainability Services. Hear, hear to that: sustainability is a strategic imperative, not a feel-good extra.
How can we break down the barriers to this mindset? First, by identifying them: Accenture’s study shows that cost (43 percent), inability to measure sustainability efforts (31 percent), lack of government incentives (30 percent) and the belief that one company can’t make a difference to climate change (29 percent) as the key barriers.
Let’s tackle these:
1. The true cost of ignoring sustainability. In January 2009, A.T. Kearney published an analysis titled “’Green’ Winners: The performance of sustainability-focused companies during the financial crisis.” The analysis finds that companies committed to corporate sustainability practices are achieving above average performance in the financial markets during this slowdown. In 16 of the 18 industries the report examined, companies recognized as sustainability-focused outperformed their industry peers over both a three and six-month period, and were well protected from value erosion. Over three months, the positive performance differential across the 99 companies in this analysis worked out to 10 percent; over six months, the differential was 15 percent.
2. The new reporting reality. The financial function plays a critical role in supporting sustainability. A company must decide what matters most, determine ways to measure it, and define progress and success. Metrics could include employee retention, customer loyalty, greenhouse gas and waste stream impacts, enterprise risk management (reduced energy, commodity, and resource consumption). It’s crucial to define and develop reporting strategies, processes, and ways to communicate sustainability information accurately and consistently.
3. The need for a more supportive government. Governments can influence private-sector sustainability initiatives through tax laws and regulatory requirements, motivating companies to incorporate sustainability into tax planning, risk management, and operational performance assessments. The American Sustainable Business Council is working to support these types of changes to public policy.
4. The belief that business is an instrument of change. Though respondents believe the ability to effect change is a barrier, they also identified business as the entity that should ensure progress is made in a sustainable way. Business is a powerful agent for change--a number of companies have shown us the ability business has to be good and profitable. Let’s follow their lead.
Sustainability and corporate responsibility are not add-ons, or peripherals--they are both strategic approaches that must be woven into a business’ core, its mission and its vision. Only then, can business achieve change that transforms society.
[Image: Flickr user jontintinjordan ]
This post originally appeared on Jeffrey Hollender.com | <urn:uuid:76940301-972a-411a-87f8-4d0916d7c46d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fastcompany.com/print/1767753 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951358 | 772 | 1.9375 | 2 |
03269_000_014Answers are for help and perspective, not as pronouncements of Church doctrine.
“I am a sixteen-year-old girl who loves her mother, but she is always telling me how she hates my wearing bib overalls. What can I do?”
Answer/ Norma B. Ashton
Your question seems to have a deeper implication than whether or not you continue to wear your bib overalls against your mother’s wishes. You say that you love your mother very much but are being sort of stubborn, and your mother is constantly reminding you how much she hates your wearing the overalls. Yet neither of you is gaining much ground. Perhaps now is the time for you two to use that great problem-solving device of communication. In the Bible we read, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. …” (Isa. 1:18.) If you and your mother will find a quiet time to sit down privately and reason together about this problem, and any other problem that might arise between you, you will very probably be able to solve it together.
Prepare yourself for “reasoning together.” One reason communication breaks down is because two people look at things differently. Go to your meeting with a desire to solve the problem with a loving feeling in your heart and with a willingness to understand your mother’s feelings. Give your mother your full attention, empathize with her, and try to see her point of view. To do this takes patience and courage. Listen to her without interrupting and ask her to do the same with you. Try to keep your emotions under control as you both exchange ideas. Listening with such understanding can open the channels of communication.
Quietly think through your desire to wear the overalls. Ask yourself why you like to wear them. Is it because of the way they feel? Do you like the way they look on you and the way you look in them? Are they extra comfortable? Or are they a badge of your independence? Understand your own reasons and feelings and weigh each item carefully. Then express yourself clearly, quietly, and with a gentle voice to your mother.
When each of you has heard the reasoning of the other, perhaps the answer to the problem will be evident. If not, it may be a time for compromise. Your mother may be willing to allow you to wear the overalls on some occasions if you will be willing to forego wearing them when it is particularly offensive to her. If guidelines can be set and adhered to, the constant reminding and resentment can be avoided. However, love and respect for each other is much more important than the issue at hand. Reasoning together can and should help family members solve problems and make home a place where love and happiness are ever present.
“What has been and what is the role of theater in the Church?”
Answer/ Keith Engar
Theater has played four basic roles in the Church: first, in Nauvoo days and early Utah days the Church supported theater primarily to provide wholesome entertainment for the isolated Latter-day Saint members. A small group of professional actors trained casts from among the members, and the plays were selected on the same basis that any American theater group would select plays. There was nothing unique about the repertoire. What was unique was the Church’s sponsorship of theater to provide entertainment for its members.
Second, in Nauvoo and throughout our history the Church has supported the theater as a recreational activity for performers and other participants in the production side. Brigham Young himself appeared as the High Priest in a Nauvoo production of Sheridan’s Pizarro. MIA plays, roadshows, blackouts, one-act play festivals, and musicals have been presented thousands of times to millions of spectators. Of course, when audiences are given fine entertainment by watching their friends and relatives perform, then the first two roles of theater in the Church form a happy combination. Leadership is the key factor in determining whether or not the happy combination works.
The third major role of theater in the Church is to provide inspirational reinforcement of the Church’s divine mission. For this purpose plays and pageants on Mormon themes are written for presentation by all age groups. Primary pageants, Sunday School Christmas programs, MIA parent-youth night presentations, and MIA plays and musicals represent a few examples of what has been done.
The fourth major role is for the theater to serve the Church as a medium for missionary work. The Hill Cumorah Pageant, the annual production of Promised Valley, and The Mormon Miracle are examples.
I think any objective student of theater would have to acknowledge that the Church has had a remarkable history in its support of theater as an integral part of the total Church program. We have critics, however, who question the quality of our activities and who claim that our programs have not resulted in universally acceptable Mormon plays.
The only answer that I can give for the first criticism is that one will find all levels of production in Church theater from highly professional to downright embarrassing. But then that continuum is characteristic of all theater, not just our own. We can and must do better, and we will do better as growing numbers of talented young people start to take their share of responsibility.
As for the second criticism, I have no simple answer—just a hope that Mormon playwrights will continue to develop. We have had some excellent plays from Mormon playwrights, and I feel it is only a matter of time before some truly significant plays on Mormon themes will be written, particularly as we develop the capacity to laugh a bit at ourselves. The delightful New Era article, “Through Gentile Eyes” (March ’72), was a refreshing harbinger of new attitudes on our part.
Some new patterns point to a promising future:
First, I’m excited by the Brigham Young University Theater’s potential as a center for the Mormon playwright. The BYU Festival of Mormon Arts and the BYU Theater’s season of new Mormon plays have already resulted in memorable work. The New Era has contributed to Church-wide consciousness of the new program by publishing excerpts from Carol Lynn Pearson’s book and lyrics from The Order is Love, a delightful musical produced by the BYU Festival of Mormon Arts.
Second, the new Promised Valley Playhouse will be a theater operated by the Church for cultural programs. During the summer months Promised Valley will hold the boards, but during the rest of the year Mormon playwrights will likely have opportunities such as they have never before enjoyed.
Third, private theater ventures are producing more Mormon plays than heretofore and will do more if the public supports them.
As the Church continues its phenomenal growth as a world organization, I expect that several different kinds of Mormon plays will develop based on divers cultural patterns.
The Mormon playwright needs our help as never before if we are to have the benefits of his talent. He needs time to write, he needs a place to write, and he needs a theater in which to produce his plays. I for one am highly optimistic that these needs are going to be met in many different ways, and I hope that young Church members will be aware of what these needs are and do their part to meet them.
“How can I profit more from stake conference? Lately I’ve begun to feel that going is a waste of my time.”
Answer/ Richard H. Morley
Conferences in the Church are special occasions when members and nonmembers alike gather and glean strength from one another and from the speakers. The words of truth delivered there can benefit you in your church callings as well as in personal matters.
Unfortunately there are people who attend both local and general conferences who feel that there is really nothing there for them. Usually the blame is placed on the speakers, but why, if the speakers are at fault, does one person go home dissatisfied while another, who was seated close-by, find that it was one of the best conferences he’s ever attended? The problem is not in the speaker but in the listeners.
Certainly the speakers do have a great obligation to prepare to speak. They should follow the Lord’s admonition to “teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom.” Those who do so diligently are promised that grace will attend them. (D&C 88:77–78.) In their preparations the speakers should assess the needs of the congregation and make themselves receptive to the promptings of the Spirit. But how often is an excellent sermon not delivered because of the unreceptive attitude of the audience? When the audience has been expecting and praying for inspiration, speakers often find that they speak with power beyond their natural capacities. It seems that the spiritual growth, inspiration, and satisfaction derived from conference are largely a personal matter.
Some have expressed regret that General Authorities are no longer able to attend local conferences with the same regularity that they used to. We know that the growth of the Church makes this impossible. Remember that Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.” (John 13:20.) In other words, if a person does not value and respect local speakers in their assignments, the Lord’s Spirit will not be with that person.
Exactly how can the listener profit more from conference?
First, he needs to prepare his mind for the conference by being expectant, receptive, optimistic. He should have been obeying the commandments and have been endeavoring to put into practice those items of counsel imparted at the last conference. As important as it is to attend conferences, more important are the periods of faithfulness during the intervening months. “And it shall come to pass, that inasmuch as they are faithful, and exercise faith in me, I will pour out my Spirit upon them in the day that they assemble themselves together.” (D&C 44:2.)
In addition, going to the Lord in prayer with regard to special problems or needs, as well as fasting, can be beneficial to you, to the speaker, and to others in the congregation.
Those who thus assemble to receive the Lord’s will concerning them are told that “this is pleasing unto your Lord, and the angels rejoice over you; the alms of your prayers have come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded in the book of the names of the sanctified, even them of the celestial world.” (D&C 88:1–2.)
By giving some thought to your preparation the Lord’s will can be revealed to you, and conferences can become meaningful events in your life. | <urn:uuid:09f8d23f-d165-456a-ad8d-53bb263d8e6d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lds.org/new-era/1972/09/qa-questions-and-answers?lang=eng | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974062 | 2,239 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Welcome to our "Like An Olympian" series. As the 2012 London Olympics nears, HuffPost Healthy Living will take a look at lifestyle and fitness lessons from competitors, coaches and former Olympians alike.
Newsflash: Olympic training is hard. Even as a civilian of respectable fitness, I will probably never achieve a level of athletic acumen sufficient enough to understand how hard it is. But that doesn't mean it wasn't worth a try.
When a representative for Josh Holland -- one of Madonna's tour trainers who will be helping out at the Olympics -- contacted the Healthy Living team about working out on the equipment that will be installed at the main gyms in the Olympic village, I jumped at the chance.
Two weeks later I found myself in an elegant, polished showroom for TechnoGym in New York City's SoHo neighborhood. It wasn't exactly the setting I would most associate with a glycogen-blasting, muscle-trembling nuclear-grade Olympic workout, but I was happy to enjoy the blast of central air conditioning and faint scent of eucalyptus.
The walls of the showroom were lined with aesthetically pleasing wood planks and webs of black cables -- setups akin to those found in a Pilates or barre studio. Digital dials on the walls (what I later learned controlled resistance levels) were the only indication that these machines were different.
Holland, a gregarious and knowledgeable trainer, is an accomplished athlete himself: he had a black belt in Karate by age 11 and won state championships as a track and basketball star in high school and college. He began by demonstrating the Kinesis machine -- the system I'd be testing. Strapping his ankles and wrists into cords attached to the machine, he increased the resistance and began to demonstrate natural movements for a variety of sports: sprinting, swimming and basketball.
As he crouched down to mimic the marking position of a sprinter, he explained how crucial a full power start could be to the race. "How you move out of the blocks could cost you only .5 seconds, but that could be the difference between Gold and not medaling at all," Holland said. He proceeded to move out of the blocks, charging forward and sprinting in place over and over again.
Then he invited me to strap myself in and give it a try. "Why couldn't a sprinter just practice these moves on, you know, actual blocks at a track?" I wondered. As I crouched, lifted my hips into the air and tried to shoot forward in a sprinting motion, it became clear that the resistance bands were going to do everything in their power to hold me back. Even though I was charging forward fewer than three feet and sprinting in place for the equivalent of a 100 yards, I felt as though I were trying to break through a forcefield. After several reps, I was sweating and already beginning to feel tell-tale tightness in my shoulders and biceps.
(In the serene environment of a luxury store, that could be a bit awkward; as I exerted myself, several well-dressed customers sauntered in, dressed in crisp button-down shirts, to order new parts. In my slightly damp, head-to-toe spandex and humidity-enhanced hair, I more resembled something out of a sideshow than a showroom.)
In fact, as Holland explained, the resistance bands act as an impediment, in part to simulate setbacks that Olympic athletes may face, like exhaustion or stress. While practicing the sequence of movements required to shoot out ahead in the 100 meter dash, an athlete can actually improve their abilities by making things harder during the practice.
Once I got the concept down, Holland took me through a series of defense and dribbling basketball drills and -- somewhat hilariously -- several swimming laps, that I performed while suspended over a yoga ball, attached at the wrists and ankles to as much resistance as a moderate sea current would probably provide.
By the end of our hour-long session, I certainly felt the effects of moving my whole body. Having that much resistance tugging me back to the wall meant that I had to engage my entire muscular system, and especially my core, to stay in correct alignment and to complete each task. And, as Holland explained, a strong, engaged core is -- excuse the pun -- at the center of any athletic performance. Stabilizing strength can be the difference between an inconsequential collision and a debilitating injury.
I left with a greater understanding for how precarious one's competitive standing can be. However briefly, I had entered into the mindset of a serious athlete: if you aren't practicing at a disadvantage, you'll enter the competition with one.
Follow Meredith Melnick on Twitter: www.twitter.com/meredithcm | <urn:uuid:67188907-aa78-4e5f-ba62-d747f3f5db06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meredith-melnick/olympic-workout_b_1675085.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973519 | 987 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Article ID: 778 - Last Modified: May 16, 2011
I would like to dock compounds into a large protein, but when I try to generate the receptor grid, I get a message saying that there are too many atoms. How can I prepare a grid for this protein?
If you are running older software, consider updating to Suite 2010 or later, where the atom limit is 90000.
Otherwise (or if the protein is still too big), to generate grids for this receptor, you would have to reduce the number of atoms. Usually, large proteins like this have multiple domains, often with duplicate chains, binding sites, and ligands. In this situation, the extra copies can be removed via the Protein Preparation Wizard, or by deleting molecules or chains manually.
If you have a single chain that is too large, or if the active site is between two chains, you can consider truncating the protein beyond some distance from the active site (e.g. 30 Å). Atoms far away from the binding site are not likely to affect the docking anyway. You can truncate the protein as follows:
- Select the ligand or some atoms in the active site of the protein.
- Choose Select from the Delete toolbar button, to open the Atom Selection dialog box.
- Click Selection.
- Click Proximity, and in the Proximity dialog box, set the proximity to Within 30 Angstroms, select Fill: Residues, and click OK.
- In the Atom Selection dialog box, click Invert (to select the atoms further than 30 Å).
- Click OK to delete the atoms.
Deleting these residues far from the active site will leave some truncated chain ends. You'll have to cap these with hydrogens. If you have not yet prepared this protein, the necessary hydrogen addition will be done in the Preprocess step of the Protein Preparation Wizard. If your receptor is already prepared, you can add hydrogens via the "+H" toolbar button.
Keywords: large receptor structures, too many atoms, receptor grid, Glide, Maestro
Type the words or phrases on which you would like to search, or click here to view a list of all
Knowledge Base articles | <urn:uuid:1458d985-54ee-4d8d-a185-e02cce1f7f8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.schrodinger.com/kb/778 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916219 | 462 | 2.25 | 2 |
In the process of providing the most extensive analysis of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window to date, John Fawell also dismantles many myths and clichés about Hitchcock, particularly in regard to his attitude toward women.
Although Rear Window masquerades quite successfully as a piece of light entertainment, Fawell demonstrates just how complex the film really is. It is a film in which Hitchcock, the consummate virtuoso, was in full command of his technique. One of Hitchcock’s favorite films, Rear Window offered the ideal venue for the great director to fully use the tricks and ideas he acquired over his previous three decades of filmmaking. Yet technique alone did not make this classic film great; one of Hitchcock’s most personal films, Rear Window is characterized by great depth of feeling. It offers glimpses of a sensibility at odds with the image Hitchcock created for himself—that of the grand ghoul of cinema who mocks his audience with a slick and sadistic style.
Though Hitchcock is often labeled a misanthrope and misogynist, Fawell finds evidence in Rear Window of a sympathy for the loneliness that leads to voyeurism and crime, as well as an empathy for the film’s women. Fawell emphasizes a more feeling, humane spirit than either Hitchcock’s critics have granted him or Hitchcock himself admitted to, and does so in a manner of interest to film scholars and general readers alike. | <urn:uuid:20efd907-a0ff-440f-8506-a05d210fe2e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.siupress.com/(S(2tswhw55oet2w5uxsjakki55))/catalog/productinfo.aspx?id=716&skuid=716&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956437 | 290 | 2.25 | 2 |
With the 30th anniversary of the Watergate break-in hard upon us, the calls are coming in. Would this writer like to join a panel to "discuss" the Watergate break-in?
Though few under 40 can remember what it was about, our Big Media never tire of retelling their version of the story of Watergate.
Why? First, because, with Nixon unknown to a new generation, they can recast the tale as a morality play in which liberals saved America.
Second, those were the happiest days of their lives. They were on a permanent high, for they were, at long last, wreaking delicious revenge on the man -- "Tailgunner Joe" McCarthy excepted -- they hated more than any other. One liberal triumphantly titled his book of the era, "When the Good Guys Finally Won." What a howler.
Why did they hate Nixon so? Why do they hate him still? What motivated the Nixon-haters in politics and press to so revile him?
Born poor, with an older and younger brother dying before they were 18, Nixon's story was classic Horatio Alger. He excelled at school, worked in his dad's grocery, served his country honorably in World War II, came home to run for Congress and was elected with fellow vet John F. Kennedy. But unlike his playboy friend, Nixon took Congress seriously. In his first term, he vaulted to national fame by exposing as a traitor, spy and agent of Joe Stalin inside the Truman-FDR inner circle the Golden Boy of Liberalism, Alger Hiss.
In the Truman era, Americans were angrily demanding answers. Twelve million Americans had fought World War II to victory, but Stalin seemed the big winner. Ten Christian countries of Eastern Europe had been ceded over to the Great Terrorist by Churchill and FDR at Yalta. The most populous nation on earth, China, for which we had gone to war, had fallen to the murderous madman Mao Tse-tung. From Indochina to Korea to Czechoslovakia, communism was ascendant.
What Nixon provided was hard evidence that the suspicions of American patriots were justified. FDR's regime had indeed been honeycombed with Stalin's spies and homegrown Red traitors. Nixon had exposed the best and brightest of the New Dealers as dupes. They would never forgive him.
In 1948, both parties nominated Nixon for a second term in the House. Not only did Jack Kennedy agree with Nixon, castigating FDR and Secretary of State George Marshall for the loss of China, JFK's father sent a check to Nixon's 1950 Senate campaign. Nixon won a massive landslide over Helen Gahagan Douglas, after Mrs. Douglas had been carved up as a naive fellow traveler in her Democratic primary.
The Left seethed with resentment. For now, Nixon -- the most effective anti-Communist of his era, the Bayonet of the Republican Party in the triumphant 1952 campaign against feckless liberal egghead Adlai Stevenson -- had captured the vice presidency at 39 years of age.
When the liberal New York Post launched a smear to drive Nixon off the Eisenhower ticket -- accusing him of having a "secret" slush fund -- Nixon's televised counter-attack, the famous "Checkers speech," not only solidified his position but made him the first Republican politician in decades with broad appeal across Middle America.
In the 1960 campaign, the national press corps went into the tank for Kennedy, covering up a lifestyle that made Clinton look like a Trappist monk. And though there is hard evidence the 1960 election was stolen in Chicago and Texas, the press was delighted at Nixon's defeat.
In 1962, when the Cuban missile crisis blacked out Nixon's surging campaign for governor of California and he denounced the media at his "last press conference," the Establishment exultantly declared him dead.
But after the Goldwater rout of 1964, Richard Nixon began the greatest comeback in American history. He led the GOP to a 47-seat gain in the House in 1966 and, two years later, to victory over the great liberal Democrat Hubert Humphrey.
Then, with both Houses of Congress, the bureaucracy, Big Media, and the cultural and academic elites viscerally opposed, Nixon, by 1972, seemed to have achieved his greatest coup: A U.S. victory in Vietnam. He and Spiro Agnew were rewarded with the greatest popular landslide in history, carrying 49 states against another champion of liberalism, George McGovern. But by now, Nixon had stumbled.
Instead of throwing his old friend John Mitchell to the wolves when Mitchell's aides got caught filching papers from the Democratic National Committee, Nixon let White House aides attempt to contain the scandal.
Like FDR, JFK and LBJ, he crossed the line. But where they had been protected by Democratic Congresses and their media allies, Congress and the media seized on Watergate and colluded to destroy a president who had defeated them and taken the country completely away from them.
After 18 months of relentless attack, with his Great Silent Majority shrunk to 25 percent of the country, Nixon had to resign. To crown the Left's victory, Vietnam, cut off by the same vindictive Congress from the means to defend itself, fell to Asian communism, as did the poor Cambodians.
Congress then proceeded to gut the FBI and CIA, for which we are paying so heavily today. And that, children, is the story of Watergate you will not hear. I know, because I was there. | <urn:uuid:5dc7e223-69b9-4bfa-a250-8f949057b17e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2002/06/17/twas_a_famous_media_victory | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975564 | 1,131 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Although perceived as sheer fantasy by many, the magic depicted in the popular Harry Potter novels by author J.K. Rowling can be traced to Renaissance traditions that played a pivotal role in the development of modern science and medicine. The UC San Diego Libraries have been selected by the U.S. National Library of Medicine to host Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine, a traveling exhibit that sheds light on the Renaissance traditions featured in the Harry Potter canon.
The exhibit will be on display at Geisel Library from May 6 through June 16, and will be accompanied by a series of lectures by UC San Diego faculty members.
Take note of these special events happening around the event. They all are free and open to the public. Please register for the lectures at: http://libguides.ucsd.edu/harrypotter
- Visit the Seuss Room in Geisel Library on May 10 from 3-5 p.m., and enjoy Potter-themed refreshments and entertainment followed by a 4 p.m. talk by Seth Lerer, dean of Arts & Humanities at UC San Diego, on “Harry Potter and the Magic of Books.”
"From Beliefs and Spells to the Scientific Method: A Long, Slow Journey for the Art of Medicine"
- Visit the Biomedical Library Events Room May 17, from noon-1 p.m. for a lecture by Dr. Henry Powell, a professor of pathology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
"Harry Potter and the Secrets of Order: Knowledge and Power from Renaissance to Hogwarts"
- On May 24, from noon-1 p.m., Literature Professor Stephen Potts will give a talk on the influence of the magical tradition on the scientific revolution and the ethical issues that arose as knowledge became a real power for change in the Seuss Room.
“Juggling Mathematics and Magic”
- On May 31, from 3-4 p.m., Professor Ronald Graham will explain the math behind magic in the Science & Engineering Library Events Room in the Geisel Library. | <urn:uuid:0d2bdfdc-0f1d-4666-b009-1aafde24f93c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lajolla.patch.com/groups/arts-and-entertainment/p/ev--exhibit-harry-potters-world-renaissance-science-mb224c6c203 | 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 | 0.91904 | 428 | 2.796875 | 3 |
|—||Strong words from the ever-awesome Carrie Russell at ALA in a new blog post, Hooray for Hollywood? Choosing maximum copyright over justice.|
For more information, contact: Brandon Butler | 202-296-2296 | firstname.lastname@example.org
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) applauds the introduction on May 9, 2013, of H.R. 1892, the Unlocking Technology Act of 2013, by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Jared Polis (D-CO). The bill guarantees that legitimate uses of digital works and technologies will not run afoul of copyright law, even if they require breaking digital locks. Prompted by the recent uproar over cell phone unlocking, the bill recognizes that issue as a symptom of a much larger problem and would fix that problem permanently.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed in 1998, made it illegal for owners of legally purchased digital media and technologies to modify their property if it would break digital rights management (DRM) and other forms of digital locks. The DMCA placed a shadow over a host of normal activities of libraries and their patrons: ripping DVDs to facilitate teaching and learning, converting ebooks to accessible formats, modifying tablets to run different software, and more.
Under current law, libraries and their patrons must ask the Copyright Office for special carve-outs every three years to allow these kinds of uses, even though they don’t infringe copyright. The Office has issued some favorable rules for library uses, but those rules are limited in scope, difficult to win, and can be revoked by the Office at any future rulemaking. Indeed, it was the revocation of the cell phone unlocking exception that raised recent alarms about the DMCA and the power it gives the Copyright Office
The Unlocking Technology Act does away with this bizarre aspect of the DMCA, freeing all non-infringing uses regardless of their effect on DRM. Importantly, the Act also permits the creation and distribution of tools required for unlocking, without which the right to unlock would be useless. LCA applauds the sponsors for their leadership and vision, and urges others in the House to support this important bill.
The sponsors’ press release, full text of the bill, and a section-by-section summary are available [here](http://lofgren.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=797:reps-zoe- lofgren-thomas-massie-anna-eshoo-a-jared-polis-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-enable-cell-phone- a-wireless-device-unlocking&catid=22:112th-news&Itemid=161).
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) consists of three major library associations—the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, and the Association of College and Research Libraries. These three associations collectively represent over 300,000 information professionals and thousands of libraries of all kinds throughout the United States and Canada. Find us on the web at http://librarycopyrightalliance.org/.
A PDF of this statement is available here.
Trade agreements that deal with copyright are all the rage. So far they’re mostly used as a way to avoid transparent, democratic processes while ratcheting up protection and locking in the worst aspects of US law. In these comments, LCA suggests the US change its approach and instead look to export user-friendly policies like the recent White House open access order, while eschewing efforts to harmonize our laws with the more draconian laws of Europe. The comments are brief and worth a quick read for anyone interested in the risks that these agreements pose to libraries.
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) filed a friend of the court brief today in support of Georgia State University in the appeal of Cambridge U. Press et al. v. Mark P. Becker et al. In its brief, LCA argues that GSU’s e-reserves policy is consistent with widespread and well-established best practices for fair use at academic and research libraries, and that these uses have no negative effects on scholarship. LCA is represented by Jonathan Band and attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The case is on appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
The case began in 2008 when Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and SAGE Publishers sued GSU for alleged copyright infringement. The publishers argued that GSU’s use of excerpts from copyright-protected materials in password-protected course e-reserves and class sites was a violation of the copyright law. Notably, the Association of American Publishers and the Copyright Clearance Center, the licensing arm for much of the academic publishing industry, organized and funded the lawsuit.
In May 2012, Judge Orinda Evans of the U.S. District Court in Atlanta ruled in favor of the university in a lengthy decision that reviewed each of 75 alleged infringements, finding only 5 infringing uses. In her ruling, the Judge saw little evidence of market harm to the publishers, and clearly understood that current teaching practices were beneficial to teachers and students, as well as being reasonable and fair. Because of GSU’s overwhelming victory, and the publishers’ aggressive litigation strategy, Judge Evans ordered the publishers to pay GSU’s attorneys’ fees and costs (nearly $3 million), an important ruling that could help discourage future aggressive lawsuits against good faith fair users.
Now that the issues are narrowed and clarified on appeal, LCA is one of several groups filing on the side of GSU in a striking show of solidarity across the academic community. The American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, and the American Association of University Professors, among others, are all represented in briefs defending the fair use rights of faculty, students, and librarians.
via Emily Goodhand, who asks one of the right questions: what happens to unpaid monies? Another right question: who collects the money? And another one: what does this have to do with incentivizing the creation of new works, since no author would be motivated one way or the other by what happens to her work if she disappears?
I suspect the real issue here is revealed by the one supporter of the measure, who is quoted saying that non-orphan rightsholders don’t want to have to “compete” with orphans that are free to use unless/until a rightsholder shows up. This is about raising costs to protect incumbent rightsholders, with no benefit to the public.
|—||India gets its GSU. The academic protection racket is spreading. Copyright organisation asks colleges to buy licence to photocopy book portions - The Economic Times|
Just finished a discussion with my co-workers regarding The Slow Death of the American Author in which we talked about what we agreed and disagreed about the piece.
E-books are not going away. Authors, publishers, and libraries are dealing with this, some are doing better than others. What I’m realizing that authors/publishers arn’t getting is that for the past 2+ years public librarians have been teaching people around America how to use their e-readers so they could buy your e-books.
Do they realize this? Because I’ve been doing it as a free services since becoming a public librarian. People come to me every day because they don’t know how to use their Kindle/Nook/I-pad, and I teach them FOR FREE. I don’t get a cut from the author or the publisher even though I am enabling them to buy books from them. Seriously, I even show them where to put their credit card information.
Yes, I also show them how to download free library books but I can honestly say that most people come to me because Amazon/Banes & Noble/Apple/Scott Turow did not personally take the time to teach them how to use their product. Some of these companies do offer classes and tutorials but for some reason they prefer coming to me, a public librarian willing to do it for free. You’re welcome!
As if to prove our point….
OCLC has posted video of the panel I moderated recently at their wonderful conference in Philadelphia:
MOOCs and Libraries: Copyright, Licensing, Open Access (by OCLCResearch).
I was told that all of my panelists had to have names that begin with K, but luckily three of the smartest library copyright lawyers around meet that criterion. Whew!
Authors Guild president Scott Turow in his New York Times editorial last Sunday, which many in the publishing world have criticized for its negativity and defensiveness.
He claims to be looking out for the financial and creative interests of new and midlist authors, and yet, as I myself have pointed out, he fails to acknowledge how invested the American public library system is in launching writing careers. (First novels are always a draw for collection development librarians, and I market them aggressively.)
Turow is, how do you say, desperately out of touch with the opportunities of the digital age. Sad.
Wildly out of touch—and out of touch with the opportunities of the analog age? What does he think libraries have been up to all this time? | <urn:uuid:3cb3e407-2c4b-46d3-99cb-54da3cbd6411> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://policynotes.arl.org/tagged/libraries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947746 | 1,969 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Careful what you wish for...understanding the math may not actually help you understand the aesthetic of using them. In general, for photo imaging, the basic ones such as screen & multiply, lighten and darken should be pretty easy to figure out. Overlay is a procedural blend of screen above 127 and multiply below 127 (middle gray does nothing). The others such as Luminosity, Color, Hue and Saturation should be self describing...
I think the better question (or questions) are what are the various blend modes good for. I really have no use for those other than what I've already mentioned...the others not mention may have some useful technical or mathematic use...but I don't find any use for digital photo imaging...
Understood. I agree, but I learned one or two interesting things by looking at Opgr's link from above:http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/pdf/pdfs/PDF32000_2008.pdf#page=331
1) blending layers behave differently in a different color mode. I will need to experiment with this.
2) blending layers can be used to target only lighter or darker regions. I spend a lot of time with elaborate masking tactics to target certain ranges of luminosity or colors. Now I understand better how I can use lighten and darken blend modes.
3) I hadn't thought of using mostly blank layers with blend mode set to multiply, color burn, or color dodge and then painting in the blend mode effect with brushes--black or white, or a color I want to emphasize or de-emphasize.
In the past, my use of blend modes was mostly reserved to lighten for layered long exposure star shots, hard light for local contrast enhancement with a high-pass filter, and difference blending mode for finding the best seams when manually blending panoramics. What other interesting lessons about blend modes have I missed? | <urn:uuid:adf68008-6fc2-47fe-953b-6304e6bfbc21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=76209.0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9101 | 410 | 1.875 | 2 |
48: Number of hours the flu virus can live on surfaces.
3.2: Percentage of people who told Gallup in December that they had the flu "yesterday." This is up from 2.8% the same time a year earlier.
20 seconds: Length of time you should scrub your hands when you wash, to remove germs and bacteria adequately.
60%: Recommended amount of alcohol necessary in hand sanitizers to kill germs.
5 feet: Possible radiated distance of the spray from a sneeze. Yuck!
Up to 65: Percent increase in facial tissue sales in the wintertime. | <urn:uuid:4e00b72b-1420-4149-ae39-0ddcc898e710> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mor-tv.com/community/health/Influenza-By-the-numbers/-/13430600/18102338/-/item/1/-/15xnliz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941344 | 128 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Talvivaara Says Nickel Mine to Stay Open as Cuts Pollution
Talvivaara Mining Co. said its mine in Finland already has approval to keep operating from regional authorities after Environment Minister Ville Niinistoe told a state broadcaster today the site must “quickly” cut pollution.
Investigators responsible for making sure the nickel mine meets the requirements of its environment permit didn’t find any reason to close the site in a recent probe, Chief Executive Officer Pekka Pera said in a phone interview today.
Niinistoe said the law allows for closing mines to prevent irreparable damage to nature, the state-run YLE reported on its website today, after Talvivaara faced complaints that pollution levels in nearby lakes are too high. Discharges into the lakes kept falling last quarter, the company said in a Nov. 9 report.
The company has “meaningfully” cut pollution, said Pera, who plans to step down as CEO in coming months. Still, “closure is always the ultimate possibility” for any industry with an environmental permit, he said. “Mining is no different.”
The company’s license doesn’t include a limit on emissions of sodium sulfate and manganese from the site, Pera said.
Talvivaara declined 2.4 percent to 200.5 pence by the close of trading in London.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kati Pohjanpalo in Helsinki at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amanda Jordan at firstname.lastname@example.org
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions. | <urn:uuid:79ec070b-6ba0-4c87-8254-156536eb3fee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-15/talvivaara-says-nickel-mine-to-stay-open-as-cuts-pollution-2-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907382 | 397 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Naturopathy is based on a simple premise: your body has the ability to heal itself. Though its roots date back thousands of years and draw on the healing wisdom of many cultures, American naturopathic medicine can be traced back to 19th-century Germany, specifically the water cures of Father Sebastian Kneipp. In 1892, German émigré and Kneipp disciple Benedict Lust brought hydrotherapy and naturopathy with him to the US, where in 1901 he established the American School of Naturopathy in New York City. Today, naturopathic medicine encompasses a wide array of modern and traditional therapies including nutrition, herbal medicines, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, massage, and even Chinese medicine.
How to Choose an Alt Doc
Finding a provider requires time and energy, but once you find her or him, the relationship can be life-changing. Here are five tips to help you narrow the playing field.
1. Ask friends and family for recommendations. You might even ask your primary care physician for a referral. Many Western docs in the Portland area regularly see acupuncturists or naturopathic doctors (NDs).
2. Do a short phone interview. Most practitioners will field a few questions over the phone for no charge. Ask them if they’ve treated your particular condition and what their experience has been. (If they haven’t, ask them to refer you to a colleague who has.) If your insurance doesn’t cover them (complementary-medicine services have historically been left out of many mainstream health plans, though coverage is on the rise), don’t be afraid to ask how much they charge for a new-patient visit.
3. Find out what services are available. Naturopathic clinics often offer acupuncture, massage, and homeopathy—and some even do basic lab tests, minor surgery, and EKGs in-house.
4. Prioritize clinical experience. If you have a choice between someone who has been practicing for a decade and someone who is just out of school, go with the former.
5. Use local schools. For lower-income patients, those with no insurance, or anyone who just wants to sample natural medicine, the National College of Natural Medicine staffs nearly 20 community clinics in the Portland area. It also has an on-site teaching clinic at its Southwest Portland campus. For a relatively small fee, you can see a team of student naturopaths or acupuncturists. Initial appointments are $50–60, and follow-ups are $25–35; lab tests also have low fees. 3025 SW Corbett Ave; 503-552-1551; ncnm.edu.
If you’re seeking a natural cure for insomnia or your child’s seasonal cough, head to the Herb Shoppe (3327 SE Hawthorne Blvd; 503-234-7801). Owner J. J. Pursell, a naturopathic doctor and licensed acupuncturist whose patients call her Dr. J.J., sells an variety of custom-blended bulk herbal teas, including “sleep tea” (a potent mix of hops, chamomile, mugwort, rosemary, lavender, and valerian), and children’s respiratory tonic. You’ll also find tinctures, flower essences (from local company 3 Flowers Healing), Eva’s Herbucha on tap, and Portland-made facial cleansers, body oils, and soaps. If you’re keen to learn more about plant-based medicine, drop by for a free Wednesday-night lecture on anything from Bach Flower Remedies to herbs that support the immune system. Pursell also teaches a 10-month Herbal Certification Course that’s structured around renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar’s course “The Science and Art of Herbalism.” The $695 class, which includes medicine-making workshops and herb walks to Powell Butte and Oaks Bottom, meets one Sunday a month from September to June.
Where to float in PDX
2927 NE Everett St
4530 SE Hawthorne Blvd
2627 NE Broadway
The Float Shoppe
1515 NW 23rd Ave
Over the past few years, Portland has become a major center for REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy)—otherwise known as floating. Invented by neuropsychiatrist John C. Lilly in the 1950s for use in sensory-deprivation experiments, float tanks allow you to bob supine in a soundproof tank of warm salt water. At Float On—one of four local flotation centers—the tanks often are booked through the night with clients wanting to zone out, spur creativity, or alleviate pain. (The therapy is especially popular in the wee hours with bartenders and insomniacs.) You experience zero gravity when you float, so joints and connective tissue get a rare chance for deep relaxation. Some people even say floating helps break addictive behaviors like overeating and smoking.
There is some scientific evidence to support this, but the most convincing studies, says Roderick Borrie, a clinical psychologist who has studied REST for almost 40 years, are on floating’s ability to offer pain relief. In fact, Borrie and a colleague, Dr. Tamara Russell, have begun an international study on the effect floating has on fibromyalgia, a syndrome characterized by chronic pain and muscle soreness.
Profiles in Treatment: Tori Hudson
When 38-year-old Catherine Allen* discovered she had an aggressive strain of human papillomavirus (HPV), her doctor recommended a colposcopy. The procedure, which includes a biopsy of the cervix, left her feeling violated. “I started bawling in the middle of it,” Allen says. “I felt like it was some kind of sanctioned mutilation.” The colposcopy also revealed that Allen had a high-risk form of cervical dysplasia, abnormal cell changes that can lead to cervical cancer if not treated. Reluctant to undergo further surgery, Allen saw a holistic-minded gynecologist near her hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, who handed her a copy of Women’s Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine by Tori Hudson, a naturopathic doctor. Allen read the book cover to cover, making an appointment to see the Portland-based doctor shortly thereafter.
Hudson, a nationally recognized expert on women’s health, pioneered a protocol for managing abnormal Pap smears that now is taught at major naturopathic colleges across the US. The months-long botanical and immune system–boosting regime she prescribed for Allen had a dramatic effect. After less than three months of taking daily supplements (folic acid, selenium, vitamin C, green tea extract, and DIM, a concentrated nutrient that’s found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables) and a suppository treatment that included vitamin A and green tea, her dysplasia had disappeared completely. “My gynecologist’s jaw dropped,” Allen says. “She couldn’t believe it.”
Hudson’s expertise extends to other, uniquely female conditions (menopause and endometriosis) and some that are more common in women, such as anxiety, depression, and autoimmune diseases. She also tackles ailments like heart disease that tend to manifest differently in women than in men. She developed a line of herbal supplements for women, called Vitanica, that’s sold in Portland and at health food stores from Hawaii to New York City. Her latest product, Bacteria Arrest, is a homeopathic suppository for bacterial vaginosis (the most common vaginal infection).
In her latest work, Hudson is studying the Vietnamese herb Crinum latifolium and Siberian rhubarb. Both have been found to quell menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, and moodiness.
*Catherine’s last name has been changed to protect her privacy. | <urn:uuid:688fd981-b2d2-45b9-91c4-79a915501e8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/health-and-fitness/articles/portland-alternative-medicine-guide-january-2013/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936189 | 1,680 | 1.773438 | 2 |
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Objective. To compare the 3-dimensional (3D) orientation of the tibiotalar, tibiocalcaneal, and intertarsal joints in cadaveric specimens following structural weakening to predetermined ligaments in the peritalar region and medial ankle tendons under axial loads and simulated calcaneal valgus deformity.
Methods. Eight fresh-frozen, unembalmed human lower leg and foot specimens were placed in a materials testing machine. The mid-stance period of gait was simulated and the 3D orientation of the tibiotalar, tibiocalcaneal, and intertarsal joints was measured using an electromagnetic motion analysis system. Specimens were then axially loaded at 840 N for 5400 cycles with the calcaneus in its initial orientation and under simulated valgus conditions using a heel wedge following attenuation (multiple stab incisions) of selected ligaments (tibionavicular, anterior tibiotalar and tibiocalcaneal portions of the medial deltoid ligament, the inferior calcaneonavicular ligament, and the superomedial calcaneonavicular ligament) or tendons (tibialis posterior, flexor digitorum longus, and flexor hallucis longus). The joint orientation measurements were then repeated and compared with baseline intact measurements.
Results. Pes planovalgus was observed in 6/8 specimens following testing. The tibiotalar, tibiocalcaneal, talonavicular, and calcaneocuboid joints were more dorsiflexed, everted, and externally rotated following either ligament or tendon compromise. The changes in orientation were small but showed consistent patterns with the smallest changes (typically < 1°) for the transverse plane and largest (up to 3.5°) for the frontal plane. The magnitude of change was similar for the tibiotalar and tibiocalcaneal joints, largest for the talonavicular joint, and smallest for the calcaneocuboid joint for both ligament and tendon compromise. The orientation of the talocalcaneal joint was more plantarflexed and everted relative to baseline, for both the ligament and tendon compromise with < 1° of change in orientation about the transverse plane. Under simulated valgus heel conditions, joint orientation was further increased especially about the frontal plane in the direction of eversion. The smallest changes were noted for the calcaneocuboid joint (~ 1°), similar change (~ 2–3°) for the tibiotalar, tibiocalcaneal and talocalcaneal joints, and the largest changes (> 3°) for the talonavicular joint. There were no observed differences in the magnitude of change between ligament or tendon condition.
Conclusion. Selective attenuation to either the ligaments supporting the tibiotalar, talocalcaneal, and talonavicular joints or the medial ankle tendons followed by cyclic loading results in small but important changes in the orientation of the tarsal bones consistent with the development of pes planovalgus. (J Rheumatol 2005;32:268-74) | <urn:uuid:8b74a447-f63e-4427-92f7-f94014e4aaa7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.podiatry-arena.com/podiatry-forum/showthread.php?p=1420&mode=linear | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904909 | 842 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Here is this week’s edition of Futures File, our weekly commodities wrap-up:
Soybeans Shoot Higher
Soybean prices rallied sharply this week as global demand for US soybeans picked up. The United States is a major soybean exporter, second only to Brazil.
It had been estimated that Brazil would produce a record soybean crop this year, but they are having problems transporting beans from the field to international markets. Logistical problems like poor roads, lack of railroads, and overburdened shipping ports have been a persistent problem for Brazilian soybean exporters. Backlogs and worker strikes at ports again this year are forcing foreign buyers to purchase US beans, which is cutting into an already-tight US supply.
As the market digested the shifts in supply and demand this week, soybeans rallied as much as 90 cents per bushel (+6.3%), reaching $15.16 per bushel on Friday morning, the highest price in over three months. While the rally was welcome news to US farmers who own soybeans, the rapid price increase will be painful to livestock feeders, biodiesel producers and other consumers who will all be feeling the pinch of higher bean prices.
Meanwhile, wheat prices continued falling this week as heavy snow across the Midwest reduced fears that record-breaking drought will persist across the Great Plains. On expectations for a better winter wheat crop, Kansas City wheat fell to the lowest price in over six months, trading down to $7.55 per bushel on Friday.
Crude Clobbered, Gasoline Stays Steady
Crude oil stockpiles swelled to a record volume for this time of year, reaching 376.4 million barrels. This unexpected rise in crude oil supplies hammered prices to $92.44 per barrel on Friday morning, the lowest price of the year. Additionally, signs than nuclear tensions with Iran may be waning diminished the threat to global crude oil supplies.
Meanwhile, continued refinery closures are diminishing demand for crude oil. Unfortunately for drivers, refinery closures are also limiting the supply of gasoline and diesel fuel, which is keeping those prices elevated, despite the recent sell-off in crude oil. | <urn:uuid:6d7ff506-fed5-4afa-8cf7-7a890f955290> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sanduskyregister.com/blog/futures-file/3353441 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947037 | 445 | 1.671875 | 2 |
“Here are some of the Indian tales I have heard. I don’t remember the names of any of the whites or Indians involved in these stories. The old folks used to tell us children these tales while we sat before the fireplace at night.
“In Indian times, the whites would put pickets out about the camp or fort to keep the Indians from slipping upon them. At one place, several of the pickets had disappeared. The officers placed a man on duty on night, with orders to shoot anything he saw moving. Pretty soon he noticed an old sow rooting in the leaves under the trees and it came closer and closer. He hated to shoot an old sow that would later make good meat. But he had his orders to shoot, which he did. At the crack of his rifle, the saw r’ared upon its hind feet and feel over backwards. It proved to be an Indian in an old sow’s skin, and this was the way the Indians had been slipping up and killing and carrying away the other pickets.
“Another Indian story was often told to us by the older folks. The Indians took a woman captive and took her into Kentucky. After a few days, they let her go and get firewood in the evenings. Each day she went further and further. Finally, she ran into the woods and tried to get back to her old home. At night, she hid in a hollow log. The Indians followed her with a dog. The dog got ahead of the Indians and went into the log after her, but she choked it to death. Spiders wove a web over the open end of the log. The Indians came and saw the spider web. They were so mad they struck the log with their tomahawks and went away. She got out next morning and found her way back to the settlements. She had little to eat in her travels. At one place, the path forked and while she was debating which way to go, a little bird fluttered in front of her and darted up stream. She was still undecided which way to go. The bird came back and fluttered away in the same direction. She followed the bird and got home safely.”
Interview with Nannie Sykes Kerr Dotson
on Oct. 11, 1951 at Millard, VA
(born 1882 in what is now Clinchco, Dickenson County, VA) | <urn:uuid:4eeea5bf-9751-486c-8fe4-960ff41f722c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2007/06/indian-tales-told-by-firelight.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987196 | 496 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Mitt Romney is looking desperate.
Trying to move the conversation away from a video of Romney disparaging 47 percent of the country, Romney’s campaign on Wednesday released a memorandum attacking President Obama for comments he made in 1998 about redistributing wealth. The “newly-unearthed” Obama quote reads:
[T]he trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution, because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure everybody’s got a shot.
Are we supposed to be shocked now?
For those determined to be offended, a few of Obama’s words — “the trick is” and “redistribution” — will probably be enough evidence of a long-held plot to create, as the Romney campaign’s memorandum terms it, “a government-centered society.”
But to everyone else it should come off as little more than a cautious endorsement of the mechanics of a mild welfare state. Obama qualified almost everything he said. He wanted “some redistribution” “at least at a certain level” and only “to make sure everybody’s got a shot.” If anything, this quote depicts an Obama rejecting the notion that government should guarantee equal outcomes and advocating the idea that government has a role in promoting equal opportunity, which requires some tax revenue.
Then there are the parts of Obama’s statement the Romney campaign chose not to reprint, in which he adopted the slogans of a late-1990s New Democrat at a time when Bill Clinton was talking about competent — not big — government. Obama spoke of “resuscitating the notion that government action can be effective at all,” but he admitted that notion was in danger of dying in part because of government’s record of waste and inefficiency. Government had to be more “innovative” and “effective,” he said, or it would deserve repudiation. If the Romney campaign is right that Obama’s 1998 speech is tellingly representative of the president’s instincts, then a whole lot of Americans would have much in common with him.
There are far better ways to criticize this president than pretending a 14-year-old quote is some sort of revelation. Romney has only made himself look weaker. | <urn:uuid:21c0f6ed-98e3-4736-8dce-78ba71cb840b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/mitt-romneys-redistribution-attack-makes-him-look-even-more-desperate/2012/09/19/718ee2d2-0296-11e2-9b24-ff730c7f6312_blog.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959168 | 493 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Elena, a self-taught visual artist from Spain, is volunteering for a second year with ArtCorps. Elena’s specialty is crafts, both textiles and accessories, and through this work she tries to promote the use of recycled and recyclable materials. Elena enjoys finding uses for broken and discarded items, and incorporating natural materials such as seeds, wood and leaves into her works to render unique and imaginative creations. Art has had a profound influence in her life—through art she has learned to channel her imagination and her creativity. Before becoming an ArtCorps Artist Elena worked on various projects as a social worker throughout Europe. She worked with Latin American immigrants settled in the Netherlands, and in her native Spain, Elena volunteered as an immigrant advocate and with homeless children.
Elena´s time in Guatemala working with rural indigenous communities has taught her important lessons about injustice and poverty. As she worked in the communities she discovered how difficult it is to share art with people whose basic needs are unmet. This reality led Elena to view art as a vehicle for social protest. Elena returns to her community in 2010 with an understanding of the challenges it faces and renewed energy and motivation to build local leadership.
“Really, all that one creates is a form of expression and communication with the world outside and within each one of us. How this expression and communication will reach people is up to everyone else.”
Make social change easier for advocates and grassroots organizations.Donate >> | <urn:uuid:0b7494ce-3b4a-4a04-9ad3-71f0e4a1ffad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://artcorp.org/users/user_home/66 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977396 | 300 | 2.015625 | 2 |
This talk shows how to use the specification and verification system PVS as a framework for formal software development. Software is developed according to the methodology of stepwise refinement: starting from an abstract requirement specification a series of correctness-preserving development steps is applied to obtain an executable and efficient program. We use PVS to provide a fully mechanized treatment of the transformational development process which comprises the formalization (i.e., implementation in the PVS specification language), verification, and correct application of development steps and development methods. A rigorous formal treatment is important since it greatly increases the confidence in the soundness of transformations and their application to specific problems. The software development steps presented in this talk include the well-known algorithmic paradigm of divide-and-conquer, the optimization transformation finite differencing, and an example of data structure refinement (implementing finite sets by binary trees). All development steps are represented within a parameterized PVS theory which defines the required data structures and formalizes the application conditions by means of assumptions. Application (i.e., instantiation) of the steps is illustrated by means of simple examples. For example, we show how to correctly derive a mergesort program using divide-and-conquer. When applying a software development step the system automatically generates the necessary proof obligations which can be discharged using built-in and user-defined proof strategies. | <urn:uuid:fd58e5ef-2003-47cf-84bd-81bb08a00007> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~musser/gp/dagstuhl/gpdag_32.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90893 | 279 | 2.015625 | 2 |
CONNOR, Kevin, 1932
The man who drinks milk outside the Art Gallery, 2000
bronze, lead base
90.0 cm x 60.0 cm x 81.0 cm
Q: You are best known as a painter - when did you begin making sculpture?
A: I've made a lot of sculpture over the years but not as a serious exhibiting thing. Often when I painted a portrait I would make a clay head so I could look at it and get lights right and things like that. And I always let it destroy itself. When I was in New York in the sixties I studied all the various ways of making sculpture, and so I've always had this urge to make sculpture. I've just spent about eight months working on sculpture alone, but this seems to be a logical extension of the big paintings I've been doing which have got more and more three-dimensional.
Q. How do these sculptures relate to your drawings and recent paintings?
A: It all derives from work I have done from life in my sketchbooks around this area of East Sydney. I go out drawing, then I come back and do gouaches, and some of these develop into a likely thing for a big painting. And I've done twelve big paintings over the last few years. And then I just had this need to go into three dimensions.
I got enthusiastic when I found out about the foundry, and I felt that I could go through the whole process. It is an amazing thing that happens when you get a piece of plaster sculpture cast in bronze and suddenly you realise that all processes have stopped, and that nothing much can ever destroy this thing. It's extraordinary and it makes you frightened for a moment to lock something so deeply. So getting them cast into bronze is important because you can't unlock it.
Q. Who are the subjects of these works? Are they particular individuals?
A: When I came to this studio four or five years ago I just sat over at Bill and Toni's drawing. Then the paintings came and then the gouaches. So, yes they are people, but they are not in the end. I was making this one [The man who drinks milk outside the Art Gallery] and I didn't know who it was. Then I realised that it was the man in a photograph that hangs in my studio, and he's a guy who drinks milk early in the morning to fortify his stomach for his drinking habit. The one next to it is more a composite of a woman, the other one is an intense figure head leaning forward, and the stand is on a balance so that it literally had to be bolted down to get that eager look. It's nobody in particular again. But this drawing process that I have done all of my life burns those images into you. And when I say that this one is not of anyone in particular, it is meant to be very, very human.
Kevin Connor in conversation with Elena Taylor, September 2001
|| Home | Artists | Director | Exhibition | Judges | Prize | Macquarie Bank | Credits| | <urn:uuid:bd95c450-47ff-466c-ae0e-64edfa0ca2e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nga.gov.au/SculpturePrize01/Default.cfm?Moda=2&View=Works&WrkID=140213&ArtistID=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982495 | 630 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The Congregation of
the Resurrection began in France on Ash Wednesday of
1836. Bogdan Janski, Peter Semenenko, and Jerome Kajsiewicz,
regarded as founders of the Congregation, were the first
For details about the Beatification
of our Founder click here
Bogdan Janski must be recognized as the
one who planted the seed. Born of Christian parents,
and educated in
Catholic schools, he went on to the University of Warsaw,
where he received degrees in law and economics. However,
at the university he became caught up in student movements
and as a result began to lose his faith. His faith was
further weakened when he was granted a scholarship and
was sent to study economics in France, England, and Germany.
Ever the dreamer, he drifted from one social movement
to another, seeking ways of establishing an ideal society.
Disenchanted with various solutions that were offered
to him, he finally returned to the Catholic Church. His
firm conviction was that truth is to be found only in
the Catholic Church and that the only real solution to
social problems is to be found in the Gospels.
became an apostle among Polish exiles living in France.
A convert himself, he was bent
others. What little money he earned as a tutor and as
a contributor to encyclopedic dictionaries was soon dispersed
to poor Polish exiles throughout France. He was a one-man
bureau offering not only material assistance, but secretarial
Janski was full of ideas. His plans and
projects cover many pages in his diary. A lay man himself,
he was deeply
committed to involving the laity in the work of the
Church. Janski was a visionary with a vision as wide
as the Gospel
Janski knew how to look with a critical
eye on the posture of the contemporary Church in relation
to human society. "Present-day
ecclesiastical authority is not in touch with the present
time," he wrote. The Church needed updating. It
would be the task of an enlightened laity, not only in
Poland, but throughout the world, to dispel misconceptions
about the Church. "It will be
necessary to act in various closely linked ways to unite
in order to introduce
Christian principles into politics, education, literature,
sciences, arts, industry, customs - the entire public
and private life of a modern, increasingly pagan society."
Janski was also deeply committed to providing
a well educated clergy to instruct and lead the people.
At the time this need was sorely felt in Poland, weakened
by Russian oppression. For this reason he sent two of
his closest associates and protégés, Peter
Semenenko and Jerome Kajsiewicz to Rome to establish
closer contact with the Holy See and ultimately to found
a Polish college in Rome to educate priests for Poland.
In Rome the seed of the Congregation began
to blossom and bear fruit. Peter Semenenko and Jerome
established a small community in Rome where they were
ordained in 1842. At Mass in the Catacombs of St. Sebastian
on Easter morning of that year seven members of the Roman
House professed vows as religious of a community that
was yet without a name. However, Divine Providence which
had guided them to this moment was with them that morning,
for on emerging from the catacombs they heard the bells
of Roman churches announcing the Easter Alleluia, and
they were moved to adopt the name of the feast: They
would become the Congregation of the Resurrection.
Father Semenenko composed the preliminary
Rule whose thirty-three paragraphs were an elaboration
of the thought
of Bogdan Janski. Father Kajsiewicz described the sentiments
of the first members: "We feel
the need of living in a family, bound together by spiritual
ties. We desire
to undertake works which require continuity and order
and workers on whom we can rely. And therefore we desire
to become a religious Congregation."
At a General chapter in 1850, the members
set out to follow the advice of Pope Pius IX - "Organize
yourselves in a way that will do the most good for the
The Pope also predicted: "You
all will not write a new Rule, for this is not the work
of many, but the
work of one, and that one must have the Spirit of God." Father
Kajsiewicz was quick to admit that "The
principal merit for all our work on the Rule belongs
Semenenko." Father Semenenko became leader and guide
in matters of the Rule and of the spirit of the Congregation.
He, more than anyone, formulated, elaborated, and defended
the original thought of Bogdan Janski.
The General Chapter of 1857 was very important
for the Congregation for it was there that Father Semenenko
the specific apostolate of the Community, namely, the
care and administration of parishes and the education
of youth. The Rule presented to the Church for approbation
in 1887 was almost entirely based on the Rule of 1850,
the original thought of our Founders.
The most recent revision of the Constitutions
is merely an adaptation of the Rule to accord with the
the Council, and retains the guiding principles and the
spirit of the Rule of 1850. At the General chapter of
1981 a Charism statement, was included as a preface to
the constitutions. We regard this as a clear statement
of our identity and our call.
"We desire to be faithful to the grace
received by our founders, a grace we now share by our
call to the Congregation
of the Resurrection. We recognize certain truths to be
especially important for our life and work as Resurrectionists
because they give expression to the grace and this call.
We believe that God's love for us is merciful and unfailing.
We have not earned his love. We are nothing, have nothing,
and can do nothing without God. We are attracted to evil.
We are sinners. Yet God Continues to draw us to himself.
We believe that in his love the Father
calls us to conversion: to personal resurrection in union
with Jesus, to a new
life filled with the power of his spirit. With Jesus
we die to ourselves when we surrender our lives to the
Father, renouncing anything that separates us from him.
The power of the Spirit forms Christ in us, and moves
us to respond with love to the Father's great lover for
We believe that God calls
us to live together as brothers, sharing the gifts that
we have received,
another, praying and working together for his glory.
He has called us to be a community which is a living
sign of the Gospel values of justice, truth, and love.
believe that God calls us to work together for the
resurrection of society, bringing his live and
all: through our personal witness, through the witness
of our life in community, and through our community apostolats,
primarily through parish work and teaching. This also
requires that we build, and teach others to build, a
Christian community in which we all can experience the
hope, joy, and peace of Christ's Resurrection.
We believe that Mary is our model for all that we are
called to be and do as Resurrectionists."
Written by Father Francis Grzechowiak,
+ April 29 2004
The Congregation has developed into an
international Community, serving or having served the Church in Italy,
Austria, Germany, Canada, the United States, Brazil,
Bolivia, Australia, Bermuda, Mexico, Ukraine, White Russia,
Slovakia, Africa, and Israel. | <urn:uuid:f030a0d0-aa76-4ead-9c17-b7ff3bd5b286> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.resurrectionist.net/English/RF/history.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959526 | 1,650 | 2.1875 | 2 |
An article in Open magazine titled “The Villain Nobody Knows” looks at the beginnings of the Babri Masjid controversy. “The idea that eventually changed the politics of India emerged for the first time among three friends,” write the authors, who trace its origins to Maharaja Pateshwari Prasad Singh, head of the princely state of Balrampur, Mahant Digvijai Nath, politician and religious leader, and KKK Nair, an Indian Civil Service officer, whose friendship was formed over a shared interest in Hindu communalism (and tennis).
In 1947, when the maharaja organized a large-scale yajna, or ritual of worship, he invited his friends, along with Swami Karpatri, a Hindu leader. In 1948, when the Swami Karpatri founded the Ram Rajya Parishad (Ram’s Kingdom), a Hindu extremist political party, the three friends were deeply involved.
The article says the idea “that Hindu religious places which had been under occupation of foreigners must now be liberated,” Babri Masjid in particular, emerged from interactions between Mahant Digvijai Nath, KKK Nair and Swami Karpatri. In a lengthy investigation, the piece argues that Mr. Nair used his position in the civil service after independence to further the cause of the Hindu extremists.
Outlook magazine’s latest cover story (not currently online), “Ratan’s Tata,” looks at the legacy of 74-year-old Ratan Tata as he bids farewell to the Tata Group, the conglomerate he built over a period of 21 years. Upon retiring as chief executive, Mr. Tata plans to remain chairman of the trust that controls Tata Group; in his spare time, the article says, he wants to continue flying, and to study music. But while the piece discusses his retirement plans, it touches only lightly upon the controversies that have sullied Mr. Tata’s career, most notably the publication of his conversations with the lobbyist Niira Radia.
As Mr. Tata prepares to hand control to Cyrus Mistry, Outlook looks back at his years at the helm of one of the largest conglomerates in India, including the restructuring that helped to consolidate the group and drive its international business. But Arindram Mukherjee, co-author of the piece, says Mr. Mistry will have many challenges ahead, like overcoming the blow to the group’s reputation caused by the Radia tapes and an overreliance by the conglomerate on Tata Motors and Tata Consulting Services. The co-author, Arti Sharma, says Mr. Mistry is up to the challenge: “Tata watchers say that unlike RNT [Ratan Naval Tata], Mistry has a reputation for being sharp, focused on numbers, intent on change without being dramatic about it,” Ms. Sharma writes.
In Tehelka, Shoma Chaudhury writes about the state of the Indian media, a much-debated subject of late. The story is pegged to the most recent media scandal, which came to a head last week when two top editors of Zee News were arrested on charges of extortion, based on accusations made by the Jindal Group conglomerate.
Of the far-reaching corruption in India’s Fourth Estate, Ms. Chaudhury writes:
For a variety of reasons, it’s indisputable that the Indian media is coasting in several danger zones now, but are we, as a fraternity, sufficiently willing to acknowledge that? Are we putting in the correctives? Do we even agree the water is hot? And, if so, why?
Enumerating the recent media controversies, Ms. Chaudhury questions whether the response will inspire public confidence . Widespread corruption, a status quo of unprofessionalism and growing public disenchantment are leading to a dangerous situation, she writes. She says the answer lies in self-regulation; by responding to public concerns, the media can become more accountable and approachable, a step toward remedying its troubles. “Just the opening of the conversation is a start,” she writes. | <urn:uuid:b8ffd338-5c92-4772-b353-b73a531dd95b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/newswallah-long-reads-edition-52/?ref=asia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956031 | 867 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Postpartum depression (PPD) is a complex mix of physical, emotional, and behavioral changes that happen in a woman after giving birth. According to the DSM IV, a manual used to diagnose mental disorders, PPD is a form of major depression that has its onset within four weeks after delivery. The diagnosis of postpartum depression is based not only on the length of time between delivery and onset, but also on the severity of the depression
What Is Postpartum Depression?
Postpartum depression is linked to chemical, social, and psychological changes associated with having a baby. The term describes a range of physical and emotional changes that many new mothers experience. The good news is postpartum depression can be treated with medication and counseling.
The chemical changes involve a rapid drop in hormones after delivery. The actual link between this drop and depression is still not clear. But what is known is that the levels of estrogen and progesterone, the female reproductive hormones, increase tenfold during pregnancy. Then, they drop sharply after delivery. By three days after a woman gives birth, the levels of these hormones drop back to what they were before she got pregnant.
In addition to these chemical changes, social and psychological changes associated with having a baby create an increased risk of depression.
What Are the Symptoms of Postpartum Depression?
Symptoms of postpartum depression are similar to what happens normally following childbirth. They include lack of sleep, appetite changes, excessive fatigue, decreased libido, and frequent mood changes. However, these are also accompanied by other symptoms of major depression, which may include depressed mood; loss of pleasure; feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and helplessness; and thoughts of death or suicide.
What Are the Risk Factors for Getting Postpartum Depression?
A number of factors can increase the risk of postpartum depression, including:
- a history of depression during pregnancy
- age at time of pregnancy -- the younger you are, the higher the risk
- ambivalence about the pregnancy
- children -- the more you have, the more likely you are to be depressed in a subsequent pregnancy
- having a history of depression or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)
- limited social support
- living alone
- marital conflict
Who Is at Risk for Postpartum Depression?
Most new mothers experience the "baby blues" after delivery. About one out of every 10 of these women will develop a more severe and longer-lasting depression after delivery. About one in 1,000 women develops a more serious condition called postpartum psychosis. | <urn:uuid:fbe74c5a-03bb-4681-9b8f-7d1565ff4c02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/postpartum-depression | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932637 | 531 | 3.109375 | 3 |
I wanted one that really "worked" and looked good, so I made my own. The project was more about learning electronics than anything else, but in addition to the new understanding of how to build blinky lights, I ended up with a pretty neat toy. I modeled mine after a Hero (that means it was used for close-ups) ROTJ Blaster prop that recently sold on ebay.
The blaster build consists of 2 sub-projects : building the electronic effects, and making the gun itself.
The circuitry is pretty basic and was my first real scratch-built electronic project. It involves a 555 IC timer circuit to trigger the sound and LED effects, and a 4017 decade counter chip to make the LED chaser effect seen at the rear of the gun.
The chassis of the blaster is made from PVC and aluminum tubing, some sheet aluminum a real scope and grip and a few other doodads.
Step 1: Electronic Effects Overview
In order to keep the effects synchronized and of a consistent duration, each trigger pull will set off a one-shot timer, which will trigger all of the effects for about 1/4 second, and then turn them off even if the trigger (switch) is held closed.
The Laser diode, Red LEDs (muzzle flash), and the sound effect module, and the blue LED chaser are all turned on by transistors that are triggered by the timer.
The LED chaser effect consists of another timer set up as a normal oscillator, which is driving a 4017 decade counter chip. The decade counter lights up each of the 10 LEDs in succession.
You can see the effects in action in this video: | <urn:uuid:90c16543-5f8c-4534-a176-12794dbfe856> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-an-LED-Blaster/meta-info | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958057 | 343 | 1.75 | 2 |
Researcher preserves stories of Indigenous stockmen
Around 200 stories from Indigenous stockmen and women across the country have been collected for a heritage project in Queensland's west.
The Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach has been working for about 18 months on a project, to collect stories about the contribution of Indigenous stockmen and women in the nation's pioneering history.
Researcher Delyna Baxter says they will eventually form part of a new gallery at the complex.
She says it is probably the first time stories have been collected about Indigenous pastoral workers on such a large scale.
"I've been to Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and in the very near future South Australia and New South Wales," she said.
"It's like any history really, it's not until it's been and gone that people become interested in it."
Ms Baxter says it is important the role of Indigenous people in opening up the inland is recognised.
"These people are getting quite old and passing away at an alarming rate, and taking all their stories with them,' she said.
"Those old days and those old ways of doing things have finished.
"They muster with helicopter now - and both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal stockmen used to use horses - so those sorts of arts are leaving."
The research is due to finish early next year. | <urn:uuid:1ea12603-293d-4ecf-b345-5d43daaa6138> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-17/researcher-preserves-stories-of-indigenous-stockmen/4205784/?site=indigenous&topic=latest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968915 | 279 | 2.6875 | 3 |
What is Embossing Paste?
Embossing paste is a thick paste which is applied to paper or cardstock. When dried, the paste creates a hard surface which can be left plain or further decorations added to emphasize the design. The paste is available in a variety of colors. The plain white embossing paste and transparent embossing paste are also ideal for customizing with colored mica powders, glitter or other colorings.
How is Embossing Paste Applied?
Embossing paste is often used in conjunction with a stencil. The paste is spread evenly over the stencil so that a raised design is created. The stencil is carefully removed and the embossing paste is left to dry. The drying process may take several hours, therefore this process is well suited to being spread over two or more crafting sessions. For example, spreading the embossing paste one day and finishing the project the next.
What Materials and Supplies are Required?Other than the embossing paste, no other special supplies are required. However if you want to add color or special affects then you will need these to hand. Other materials you will require are a stencil and pallet knife. A metal stencil is ideal for this technique as the stencil will stay firm on the page. Masking tape is also useful to hold the stencil in place.
How to Buy Embossing PasteEmbossing paste can be purchased from a craft store or online. Information about purchasing the Dreamweaver Embossing Paste can be found on the Dreamweaver Stencils website.
DIY Embossing PasteMany stampers and crafters like to make their own embossing paste. There are some interesting and detailed tutorials online that explain how to make your own embossing paste using readily available materials. These include:
- Passionately Artistic - a tutorial showing how too make embossing paste
- Paper Threads - a discussion about DIY embossing paste
Embossing Paste Projects and TutorialsThere are many excellent projects and tutorials online that both instruct and inspire. Some interesting projects and tutorials showing how to use embossing paste are available on the following pages:
- Dreamweaver Stencils - this page shows readers how to use embossing paste with brass stencils
- Marie Loves to Stamp - a tutorial showing how to make a festive card with embossing paste embellishments
- Video Tutorial - if you prefer to watch rather than to read then this video will be useful, it shows how to use embossing paste and glitter to create an attractive design.
Tips for Using Embossing PasteHere are some tips for using embossing paste:
- Make sure that the stencil is firmly held in place when you are spreading the paste, this will help to stop the design from smudging and will give you clean and crisp edges
- Spread the paste carefully to ensure that it does not spread under the stencil
- Work on a flat surface, this will also help to ensure you get good and crisp results
- Make up a few designs with embossing paste so you will have some to hand in the future if time is short and you do not have time to allow the paste to dry
- Use small pieces of cardstock or chipboard to create embellishments or accents for a handmade card or scrapbook page | <urn:uuid:db86b3c6-8317-46e2-ada5-71b188f7c469> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rubberstamping.about.com/od/shoppingguide/a/Embossing-Paste-Profile.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906735 | 698 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Press ReleasesDecember 20, 2011
Federal Court Grants Class-Action Status to Unrepresented Immigration Detainees With Mental Disabilities
Ruling Will Help Ensure Due Process for Detainees Unable to Represent Themselves
LOS ANGELES -- A federal court in California has granted class-action status to a group of unrepresented immigration detainees with mental disabilities, an important step in helping ensure they get access to legal counsel.
The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed last year on behalf of a group of detainees, including José Antonio Franco Gonzales, a Mexican immigrant with moderate mental retardation who was detained in federal immigration facilities for over four years without a hearing. Judge Dolly Gee of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California found that the problems identified in the lawsuit are systemic, and there is no mechanism for evaluating whether immigration detainees with mental disabilities are able to represent themselves.
Public Counsel staff attorney Talia Inlender, who is representing Franco in his immigration proceedings, said: "Imagine being held in jail, sometimes for years, without even a basic understanding of why you are there. That's the reality for too many immigrants with severe mental disabilities. Today, we move a step closer to providing these immigrants and their families with the due process that our law requires and that our conscience demands."
Ahilan Arulanantham, deputy legal director for the ACLU of Southern California, said: "The sad fact is that the government refuses to systematically track the many detainees with mental disabilities who are lost in immigration detention centers, unable to represent themselves or even to understand why they're there. Today's ruling will allow us to shed light on this most vulnerable population within our broken immigration detention system."
About 33,000 immigrants are detained daily and government estimates indicate that over 1,000 of them have mental disabilities. The government has no procedure to resolve their cases, including for individuals who are unable to understand the proceedings against them due to severe mental disabilities. The ruling, which was unsealed by the judge today, applies to cases in Arizona, California and Washington.
"Immigration detainees should not be languishing in custody merely because they are unable to represent themselves," said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "Thanks to this ruling, thousands of immigration detainees with mental disabilities who have been forced to defend themselves will finally have a chance to obtain their day in court."
Michael H. Steinberg, of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, who argued the motion before Judge Gee, said: "It is profoundly disturbing that the government continues to pretend that this helpless population needs no assistance. With a class now certified, it will be much more difficult for the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to avoid what is clearly a problem that must be addressed."
The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, the ACLU of Arizona, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and Mental Health Advocacy Services have also been involved in the case and represent the class.
Click here to read the federal court order, which was issued on Nov. 21, 2011 and unsealed Dec. 20, 2011. | <urn:uuid:c68f9910-1dfa-4220-9308-df23bde20db6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publiccounsel.org/press_releases?id=0034 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958069 | 640 | 1.5625 | 2 |
LONDON.- The late artist Lucian Freud has expressed his gratitude to Great Britain for welcoming his family when they arrived in the country as refugees, by leaving a treasured Corot portrait to the nation under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme.
Freud was born in Berlin, but moved with his Jewish family to London in 1933, aged 11, in order to escape the rise of Nazism. He became a British citizen in 1939 and went on to become one of the finest painters the UK has seen during the last century. He died aged 88 in July 2011.
Freud purchased L'Italienne ou La Femme à la Manche Jaune (The Italian Woman, or Woman with Yellow Sleeve) by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (about 1870) at an auction in 2001, and hung the work on the top floor of his London home. In his will, Freud specified he wanted to leave the painting to the nation under the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) scheme and for it to have its new home in the National Gallery as a thank you to the country which welcomed his family so warmly and where the painting could be enjoyed by so many over future generations. The Corot has been allocated to the National Gallery by Arts Council England under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme, which allows people to transfer works of art and important heritage objects into public ownership in lieu of inheritance tax.
'L'Italienne ou La Femme à la Manche Jaune (The Italian Woman, or Woman with Yellow Sleeve)' has not been exhibited in public for more than 60 years (it was last seen in a show at the Louvre, Paris in 1962). It was previously owned (1937-1957) by Hollywood Golden Age star Edward G. Robinson, famous for his gangster roles in films such as 'Double Indemnity' and 'Key Largo'.
National Gallery Director, Dr Nicholas Penny observed that "This painting is a great addition to the National Gallery where, although we have a very strong collection of Corots works, we have no examples of a late figure painting of this kind. Its rough-hewn monumentality and abrupt transitions anticipate Picassos exercises in the classical manner and make it one of the most modern looking paintings in the Collection. Freud was a frequent visitor to the Gallery and had an exact idea of the impact that this bequest would make."
Culture Secretary Maria Miller said: The Acceptance in Lieu scheme has, over the years, seen a vast array of stunning items enter our national collections, and I am delighted that these magnificent works by Corot and Degas will now be on permanent public display where they can be enjoyed by all.
Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said: The Acceptance in Lieu scheme is a great success story for this countrys cultural heritage and for the audiences who enjoy it. The scheme has seen thousands of important pieces of art made available for public display, attracting audiences from near and far, and inspiring budding artists just as Lucian Freud was clearly inspired by these wonderful pieces by Degas and Corot.
'LItalienne' dates from the last years of Corots life, and was painted in his studio in Paris. The painting depicts a distinctive looking woman, turning away and gazing into the distance. Highly detailed and exquisite in its craftsmanship, the painting is a fantastic example of Corots later works where he often painted peasant figures, drawing upon the heroism of mythological paintings.
The National Gallerys collection currently has 20 paintings by Corot, ranging from a sketch made during his first trip to Italy to a souvenir landscape of 1874. In addition it has on loan from the Loyd Collection the late, great decorative panels The Four Times of the Day.
'L'Italienne ou La Femme à la Manche Jaune (The Italian Woman, or Woman with Yellow Sleeve)' will go on display in Room 41 of the National Gallery on Monday 4 February 2013. It is one of four of works of art from Lucian Freuds estate which go on public display today three bronze sculptures by Edgar Degas have been temporarily allocated to the Courtauld Gallery. All have been gifted to the nation by the Lucian Freud estate under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme.
Born in Paris on 17 July 1796, Corot was the son of a cloth merchant and a milliner. After an education at the Collège de Rouen and two abortive apprenticeships with drapers, at the age of 26 he was given the financial freedom to devote himself to painting. He first studied with the landscapist Achille-Etna Michallon , and after his death with Jean-Victor Bertin, both pupils of Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes.
In 1825 to 1828 Corot made the trip to Italy considered so essential to the formation of a landscape artist, spending time in Rome and the Campagna, before travelling to Naples. In 1827 he sent his first paintings to the Paris Salon.
Corot travelled extensively in Europe throughout his life, and during these trips he painted in the open air and filled numerous notebooks with drawings. His early oil sketches were clearly defined and fresh, using bright colours in fluid strokes. During the winter months he worked in the studio on ambitious mythological and religious landscapes destined for the salon. His reputation was established by the 1850s, which was also the period when his style became softer and his colours more restricted.
In his late studio landscapes, which were often peopled with bathers, bacchantes and allegorical figures, he employed a small range of colours, often using soft coloured greys and blue-greens, with spots of colour confined to the clothing of the figures. His influence on later 19th-century landscape painting, including the Impressionists, was immense, particularly in his portrayal of light on the landscape. | <urn:uuid:b32f54b8-5b15-4f80-97d3-3b3feca01dac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=60561 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972249 | 1,223 | 2.453125 | 2 |
This week I posted a number of examples from newspapers around the world where Fusion Tables has been used with local census data to create maps showing the local distribution of different language speakers.
What many data journalists don't realise is that mapped visualisations with Fusion Tables don't always have to be based on the Google Maps API. For example, this US Drone Strikes Map uses Fusion Tables with MapBox
The map animates a time-line of US covert drone strikes in Pakistan from 2004 to 2013. MapBox have even produced a handy tutorial on how the map was created.
Walkshed is one of my favourite applications created with CloudMade, using OpenStreetMap map tiles. Walkshed have created two walkability maps, one for New York and one for Philadelphia.
The application allow users in both cities to generate walkability heat maps based on their own preferences. Users can choose from a number of criteria that are important to them in a neighborhood and view walkability maps based on those criteria.
For example, if dining and drinking out are important to you, then you can select bars, coffee shops and restaurants and create a heat map of the city, showing the areas you can live where you wouldn't have to walk far to eat or drink out.
The Norwegian broadcaster NRK has used Bing Maps to produce an interesting map showing the routes used by drug smugglers to import illegal drugs into Norway.
Smuggled Trends allows the users to visualise the smuggling routes of a number of different drugs, showing the country of origin and the routes that are used to smuggle the drugs into Norway. | <urn:uuid:a7c895f0-b470-4965-ba93-30288ab00106> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mapsmaniac.com/2013/02/the-best-of-rest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936377 | 323 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Urine the Army Now
Ladies can’t pee outdoors, and other cringeworthy arguments for the ban on women in combat.
Photograph by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Should women be allowed in combat? The Pentagon says yes, but Jerry Boykin knows better. Boykin, a former Army lieutenant general, is the executive vice president of the Family Research Council. Since last week, when the military announced its decision to rescind the combat ban, Boykin has become the point man for opponents of the decision. It isn’t easy in 2013 to make the case that every man should be eligible for the draft but that no woman should be permitted to compete for a combat role in much of the armed forces. Is Boykin man enough for the job? Let’s see how he’s doing.
1. Women are too weak. “We have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan that ground combat still requires levels of sheer physical strength, speed, and endurance that are relatively rare among women,” Boykin wrote in a USA Today op-ed on Thursday. A day later, in a commentary on CNN, he added,
The slots that may be opened are in our infantry and Special Forces units. The purpose of such units is to directly and physically engage enemy forces. This can often involve personal, hand-to-hand combat in which women will now have to fight men. These units can often be deployed in prolonged operations that can last for months. The physical toll is constant and wearing.
When Boykin talks about hand-to-hand combat and women fighting men, he seems to be suggesting that women can’t or won’t fight men effectively. But if combat-level physical abilities are “relatively rare” among women, rather than nonexistent, doesn’t that undermine the idea of a categorical ban on women in combat? So Boykin turns to other arguments.
2. Combat missions are too gross for women. Boykin objects that infantry and Special Forces units are sometimes sent on months-long missions:
During operations of this kind there is typically no access to a base of operations or facilities. Consequently, living conditions can be abysmal and base. There is routinely no privacy or ability to maintain personal hygiene for extended periods. Soldiers and Marines have to relieve themselves within sight of others.
So the problem isn’t that women are inherently too weak to carry the gear or kill a man in a knife fight. The problem is that they might have to skip showers or pee in the wild.
3. Combat missions with women are too humiliating for men. On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace pointed out that Col. Martha McSally, the country’s first female combat pilot, defeated her male competitors in the military division of the Hawaii Ironman World Triathlon Championships. “Clearly, some women can meet the standard” for combat, Wallace suggested. Boykin replied:
Some women can, and there will be few, but some can. But that's not the issue I raised initially. What I have raised is the issue of mixing the genders in those combat units where there is no privacy, where they are out on extended operations, and there's no opportunity for people to have any privacy whatsoever. Now, as a man who has been there, and a man who has some experience in these kinds of units, I certainly don't want to be in that environment with a female, because it's degrading and humiliating enough to do your personal hygiene and other normal functions among your teammates.
Ah. So the problem isn’t that women might have to pee near men. The problem is that men might have to pee near women.
4. Women are too sexy. In his essay for CNN, Boykin argued,
This combat environment—now containing males and females—will place a tremendous burden on combat commanders. Not only will they have to maintain their focus on defeating the enemy in battle, they will have to do so in an environment that combines life-threatening danger with underlying sexual tensions. This is a lot to ask of the young leaders, both men and women, who will have to juggle the need to join and separate the sexes within the context of quickly developing and deadly situations. … Men and women can serve together in the armed forces productively, but that service needs to be prudently structured in a manner that reflects the differences between the sexes and the power of their attractions.
It isn’t clear which attractions Boykin is worried about: the men’s interest in the women, or the women’s interest in the men. But a survey just released by the Department of Veterans Affairs finds that 49 percent of women who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, or nearby countries say they were sexually harassed there, and 23 percent of women say they were sexually assaulted. It’s pretty obvious whose behavior is the problem. So the complaint about “attractions” and “sexual tensions” is basically an argument that women have to be kept away because men can’t control themselves.
5. Integrating women will make it harder to segregate them. “This decision to integrate the genders in these units places additional and unnecessary burdens on leaders at all levels,” Boykin warned in a Family Research Council statement. “While their focus must remain on winning the battles and protecting their troops, they will now have the distraction of having to provide some separation of the genders during fast moving and deadly situations.”
Is Boykin suggesting that troops will die because somebody hung a blanket in front of a defecating soldier? If he’s simply pointing out that integration makes segregation more difficult, that’s obviously true. It’s true not just in combat but throughout the military. It’s true for female cops and firefighters, too. How far does he want to roll things back?
6. Women will require lower standards. “If current physical standards are maintained, few women will be able to meet them, and there will be demands that they be lowered,” Boykin predicted in USA Today. OK, you can believe that if you want to. But here’s what Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said when he rescinded the combat ban: “If members of our military can meet the qualifications for a job—and let me be clear, I'm not talking about reducing the qualifications for the job—if they can meet the qualifications for the job, then they should have the right to serve, regardless of creed or color or gender or sexual orientation.”
7. Women won’t be protected from combat. In his CNN article, Boykin wrote:
I worry about the women who are currently in the military. They have to know that the lines keeping them from infantry and Special Forces battalions will get blurrier and blurrier. What protections will they have against being thrown into front-line infantry units as organizational dividers soften and expectations change? Very little protection, I am afraid. Will they leave the military? This policy change may have the ironic effect of forcing women to reconsider their place in the armed services. If true, that would be tragic.
You can almost feel the general’s tears of sorrow. Women who have voluntarily joined the armed forces—that would be 100 percent of them—might run away, tragically, if their unofficial exposure to mortal risk, unshowered men, and outdoor urination becomes official.
8. Women might be drafted. “I certainly don't want my daughters registering for the draft,” Boykin said on Fox News Sunday. “And I'd like for them to have more of a choice than a man would have in a national crisis.” That crisis might take a while: It’s been 40 years since anyone in this country was drafted. But the important thing is to protect your freedom of choice, by denying that freedom to women who want to serve in combat.
Why are Boykin’s arguments so weak, overwrought, and confused? Because his case is collapsing, and he knows it. “Women are in combat, and women need to be given opportunities to serve in other combat roles,” he conceded to Wallace. “I am no longer against that.” Boykin thinks the honorable course now is to fall back and defend the combat ban for infantry and Special Forces. He’s wrong. It’s a bad war, General. Stop fighting it.
William Saletan's latest short takes on the news, via Twitter:
Will Saletan covers science, technology, and politics for Slate and says a lot of things that get him in trouble. | <urn:uuid:0240c641-71ca-4c5a-ba6a-f7c9924aa04c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/human_nature/2013/01/jerry_boykin_s_case_for_the_combat_ban_on_women_weakness_lust_and_urination.single.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96228 | 1,797 | 2.140625 | 2 |
||This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2011)|
Special pleading (also known as stacking the deck, ignoring the counterevidence, slanting, and one-sided assessment) is a form of spurious argument where a position in a dispute introduces favourable details or excludes unfavourable details by alleging a need to apply additional considerations without proper criticism of these considerations. Essentially, this involves someone attempting to cite something as an exemption to a generally accepted rule, principle, etc. without justifying the exemption.
A more difficult case is when a possible criticism is made relatively immune to investigation. This immunity may take the forms of:
- unexplained claims of exemption from principles commonly thought relevant to the subject matter
- Example: I'm not relying on faith in small probabilities here. These are slot machines, not roulette wheels. They are different.
- claims to data that are inherently unverifiable, perhaps because too remote or impossible to define clearly
- Example: Cocaine use should be legal. Like all drugs, it does have some adverse health effects, but cocaine is different from other drugs. Many have benefited from the effects of cocaine.
- appeals to "common knowledge" that bypass supporting data
- Example: Everyone knows you can catch a common cold from exposure to a chill.
- assertion that the opponent lacks the qualifications necessary to comprehend a point of view
- Example: I know you think that quantum mechanics does not always make sense. There are things about quantum mechanics that you don't have the education to understand.
- assertion that nobody has the qualifications necessary to comprehend a point of view
- Example: I know the idea that ball lightning is caused by ghosts makes no sense to you, but that's only because you're human. Humans cannot understand paranormal phenomena.
In the classic distinction among informal (material), psychological, and formal (logical) fallacies, special pleading most likely falls within the category of psychological fallacy, as it would seem to relate to "lip service", rationalization and diversion (abandonment of discussion). Special pleading also often resembles the "appeal to" logical fallacies.
In medieval philosophy, it was not assumed that wherever a distinction is claimed, a relevant basis for the distinction should exist and be substantiated. Special pleading subverts an assumption of existential import.
See also
- "stacking the deck". Retrieved 6 October 2012.
- Damer, T. Edward (2008). Attacking Faulty Reasoning: A Practical Guide to Fallacy-free Arguments (6 ed.). Cengage Learning. pp. 122–124. ISBN 978-0-495-09506-4.
- This division is found in introductory texts such as Fallacy: The Counterfeit of Argument, W. Ward Fearnside, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1959. OCLC 710677
- Special pleading at the Fallacy Files
- Special pleading at the Nizkor Project
- The One-Sidedness Fallacy by Peter Suber. | <urn:uuid:68ffd007-cd28-4bc3-9003-7d1c55014a81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_pleading | 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 | 0.906583 | 623 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Meyer Kupferman is an American original. A rebel against the recording establishment, he founded Soundspells Productions and produces all his own material. A neo-romantic in a dissonant age, he attempts vast orchestral works and tangles with themes so gigantic they hearken back to the late 19th Century. "What is the nature of freedom, belief, and doubt?" he seems to ask in his Fourth Symphony (1955). There are no easy answers in this programmatic symphony, for, like Bedřich Smetana's From My Life and Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht, it is based on a literary work. It loosely interprets the famous (and ponderous) "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor" chapter from Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Christ is brought before the Grand Inquisitor's Spanish Inquisition and condemned to die a second time for deceiving gullible believers. Ominous rumbling tones open the piece – Bartók peeks in, Bruckner's in the wings – as Kupferman explores the disquiétude felt by medieval man witnessing Christ traipsing among them once again. The strings' violent outbursts parallel the Inquisitor questioning the Christ, most likely about his callous rejections of "miracle, mystery, and authority." Mahlerian French horns splash the canvas with charcoal gray motives, as the Grand Inquisitor threatens the redeemer with a second death, but not before giving him a stern talking to. There are even remnants of Beethoven's "Muss es sein" motif from his Opus 135 string quartet. Alternating rippling chords with a plaintive atonality, Kupferman mixes feelings of dread and sadness without disturbing the listener, like Shostakovich can do. The piece ends in an adagio of ascending chords, sprinkled with bewildering dissonance, as if posing an ontological "what now?" Despite its weighty themes, it is a likeable late-night piece. Listen to it when you're depressed because your boss yelled at you. It may remind you there was a time when people like you were strapped to the auto-da-fe.
For a bouncier work, listen to Kupferman's Little Symphony (1952) on the same disc. Like Prokofieff's Symphony #1 ("Classical"), it is an exercise in Neo-Classicism, a callow showcase piece that demonstrates the composer's versatility with sunny counterpoint and undaunting recapitulation. Nothing new here and nothing offensive either. Listen closely and you hear snatches of Hadyn, Mozart, Beethoven, even Rossini. Kupferman stated he needed to "get the need to satisfy traditional gestures out of my system once and for all." A practical gesture and perhaps necessary at the time. But could Kupferman have lampooned these forms, ever so slightly? Even Prokofieff – and certainly Schnittke with his polystylism – didn't take the old masters that seriously. I don't know whether to blame its slapdash construction or Franz Litschauer's humdrum conducting, but the Little Symphony is like an antique snuff box. It's a curiosity, but one too insignificant to ponder long.
The Fantasy Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1995) is a different matter. It takes risks and states its business from the opening bars. To draw you in, to wake you up, to make you vaguely uneasy, then to dazzle you, reminding you that shameless virtuosic displays are not passé. After a rawhide-taut introduction, the violin leaps in and declaims its bars like a Latino poet, alternating bluster with tenderness. "My concerto is like a complex mythological adventure with the violin representing the heroic renewals of youth, love, and the quest for beauty and eternal truth," Kupferman proclaims. No matter. You may not find eternal truth in this expressive, tonal work that nods briefly at Jan Sibelius' Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, then goes its merry way. At times the orchestral accompaniment can be muscular, even ominous (mythological monsters lurking?) as it presents a rigorous contrast to the violin's lyrical moments. Violinist Raimundas Katilius plays the two bewitching cadenzas most excellently, imparting quirky rhythms to some passages. They sound like Central European folk melodies gone awry. Forget Vivaldi's smooth predictability and wake up to this piece.
I have one minor nit to pick with both of these discs. They both weigh in under 45 minutes! In an age of 77-minute CDs, can there ever be an excuse for such parsimony? With Kupferman's vast repertoire, he could easily have fit one more piece onto each disc. This is one case in which a composer can control his own packaging.
Copyright © 1998, Peter Bates | <urn:uuid:909145bb-4eeb-40b5-9a52-afb2750218aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/s/ssp00119a.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923229 | 1,043 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The Mysterious Dame
There may be no dish that better demonstrates the sense of mystery and charm that surrounds the naming of French culinary inventions than the world famous Crêpes Suzette.
The most popular tale has it that Henri Charpentier, a fifteen-year-old assistant waiter at Monte Carlo's Café de Paris, came out with the dish in 1895, when he was serving crêpes for the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of England. The crêpes were precooked in the kitchen, but were heated in a chaffing dish with liqueurs in front of the guests. Charpentier, who later became a world famous chef, wrote in his memoirs: "It was quite by accident as I worked in front of a chaffing dish that the cordials caught fire…I tasted it. It was, I thought, the most delicious melody of sweet flavors I had ever tasted…" He wanted to call the dish Crêpes Princesse, but the Prince asked that the dish be named after a young lady present at the meal, apparently a daughter of one of his friends. And so Crêpes Suzette was born, a dessert that, as Charpentier put it, "would reform a cannibal into a civilized gentleman."
There are, however, alternate versions. One story has it that Suzette was not a young and innocent girl, but one of Edward's mistresses, and the dish was invented not in Monte Carlo but in the fashionable spa of Baden-Baden. Yet another tale has Suzette as a well known courtesan for whom Charpentier named the dish when he was head of the kitchen of a well-known Paris restaurant. A chef named Joseph Donon claimed that he invented the dish for a German actress, Suzanne Reichenberg, but others argued that Donon did nothing more than supply the daily allotment of pancakes for a theater production in the Comedie Francaise, in which a maid named Suzette was serving pancakes. It has also been claimed that crêpes Suzette was created by the chef Jean Reboux for King Louis XV, at the behest of Princess Suzette de Carignan, who wanted to win the King's heart.
For the sauce:
1 tsp lemon rind, cut very thinly
1 tsp tangerine rind, cut very thinly (note: although purists may insist to the contrary, orange rind may be substituted)
1 tsp sugar
2 drops vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp each of kirsch and Grand Marnier liqueurs
For the crêpes:
2 1/2 cups flour, sifted
pinch of salt
4 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups milk
1 Tbsp Curacao liqueur
2 drops vanilla extract
1 Tbsp butter, heated until light brown
1/4 cup melted butter, for cooking
1/4 cup sugar
In a jar combine the lemon and tangerine rinds with the sugar and vanilla extract. Let stand tightly covered, for at least 24 but not more than 48 hours.
Prepare the crêpes: Sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the salt and then add, one at a time, the whole eggs and egg yolks, working the batter with a wood spoon until the mixture is well distributed. Add the milk, Curacao, vanilla, and browned butter and work together until the batter is completely smooth. Cover and let stand at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours.
Before cooking the crêpes, check the batter. It should have the consistency of light cream, just thick enough to coat a wooden spoon. To cook the crêpes, butter a 7" crêpe pan or other low heavy skillet of the same size with some of the melted butter. Heat until a drop of batter dropped in the pan sizzles. In order to test the consistency of the batter and check the heat, make a first crêpe by pouring 2-3 Tbsp of the batter into the pan, turning the pan quickly so that the bottom is evenly coated, keeping in mind that the crêpes should be extremely thin. Cook over a medium flame until the crêpe is browned on the bottom and, with a metal spatula, turn and brown the second side. If the batter is overly thick, thin the mixture by adding milk a teaspoonful at a time.
Proceed to make the remaining crêpes, adding butter to the pan only if the crêpes begin to stick. If the crêpes are to be used immediately they may be piled one on top of the other. If they are to be stored, separate each layer with waxed paper, cover and refrigerate until ready for use. Just before final preparation, fold each crêpe so that it forms a triangular shape.
Make the sauce: In a heavy skillet melt the butter and, when it begins to bubble add half each of the kirsch and Grand Marnier. When the mixture is warm carefully flame the liqueurs. As the flame dies down add the lemon and tangerine mixture. Bring the sauce to the boil and into this place the crêpes, turning once.
Transfer the crepes to a pre-warmed serving plate. In a small attractive saucepan gently heat the remaining liqueurs. Bring the crêpes and the liqueurs to the table, pour the liqueurs over the crêpes and flame again. Serve while flaming. (Serves 4-6) | <urn:uuid:56b93826-957f-4c7b-ba1d-e48d10e0407c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=18162 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944494 | 1,163 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Is it "government rationing of food" if you can't buy cigarettes with food stamps?
The answer is no. What makes health care different is the current system of price controls imposed by, wait for it, Ronald Reagan.
Just before I became the health economist with Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, the final steps were being taken to implement DRGs for paying hospitals under Medicare. DRG stands for Diagnosis Related Groups. The idea was to get out of cost-based reimbursement, which gave an incentive to have high costs, and replace it with a system of prices. That made sense. But what made it a system of price controls was that the government, along with DRGs, made it illegal for hospitals to charge even a penny more than the price the government came up with.
Then, a year or two after I left the Council, the Reagan administration took the next step of imposing price controls on doctors under Medicare. Doctors were no longer allowed to do what was variously called "extra bill" or "balance bill." They couldn't charge even a penny more than Medicare paid. That's what made it a system of price controls. Moreover, under later regulations, if a doctor takes even one Medicare patient, then he has to charge Medicare rates to all his Medicare patients even if those patients would rather ensure access by paying the whole bill (Medicare plus a doctor's additional charge) out of their own pocket. It is this system of price controls that is causing many doctors to take no Medicare patients.
Incidentally, the system of price controls for doctors was designed by William Hsiao, a Harvard economist, and explicitly based on the labor theory of value.
So Byran's and Robin Hanson's proposal is a good one--as long as it is accompanied by removal of price controls. | <urn:uuid:4aa1b165-d6c7-466f-ae22-fae42edc8ea3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2011/06/medicare_food_s.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981128 | 369 | 2.203125 | 2 |
The Challenge: Can you solve the medical mystery of a man who suddenly becomes too dizzy to walk?
Solve a medical mystery with Dr. Lisa Sanders.
Solve a medical mystery with Dr. Lisa Sanders.
The first reader to offer the correct diagnosis gets a signed copy of my book, “Every Patient Tells a Story,” and the satisfaction of solving a case that stumped a roomful of specialists.
The Patient’s Story:
The middle-aged man clicked his way through the multiple reruns of late-late-night television. He should have been in bed hours ago, but lately he hadn’t been able to get to sleep. Suddenly his legs took on a life of their own. Stretched out halfway to the center of the room, they began to shake and twitch and jump around. The man watched helplessly as his legs disobeyed his mental orders to stop moving. He had no control over them. He felt nauseous, sweaty and out of breath, as if he had been running some kind of race. He called out to his wife. She hurried out of bed, took one look at him and called 911.
The Patient’s History:
By the time the man arrived at Huntsville Hospital, in Alabama, the twitching in his legs had subsided and his breathing had returned to normal. Still, he had been discharged from that same hospital for similar symptoms just two weeks earlier. They hadn’t figured out what was going on then, so they weren’t going to send him home now.
The patient considered himself pretty healthy, but the past year or so had been tough. In 2011, at the age of 54, he had had a mild stroke. He had no medical problems that put him at risk for stroke — no high blood pressure, no high cholesterol, no diabetes. A work-up at that time showed that he had a hole in his heart that allowed a tiny clot from somewhere in his body to travel to the brain and cause the stroke. He was discharged on a couple of blood thinners to keep his blood from making more clots. He hadn’t really felt completely well, though, ever since. His balance seemed a little off, and he was subject to these weird panic attacks, in which his heart would pound and he would feel short of breath whenever he got too stressed. Mostly he could manage them by just walking away and focusing on his breathing. Still, he never felt as if he was the kind of guy to panic.
And he had always been quick on his feet. The first half of his career he had been in the steel business — building huge metal trusses and supports. He and his team put together 60-plus tons of steel structures every day. For the past decade he had been machining car parts. After his stroke, work seemed to get a lot harder.
A few weeks ago, he stood up and wham — suddenly the whole world went off-kilter. He felt as if he was constantly about to fall over in a world that no longer lay down flat. His first thought was that he was having another stroke. He went straight to his doctor’s office. The doctor wasn’t sure what was going on and sent him to that same emergency room at Huntsville Hospital. After three days of testing and being evaluated by lots of specialists, his doctors still were not sure what was going on. He hadn’t had a heart attack; he hadn’t had a stroke. There was no sign of infection. All the tests they could think of were normal.
The only abnormal finding was that when he stood up, his blood pressure dropped. Why this happened wasn’t clear, but the doctors in the hospital gave him compression stockings and a pill — both could help keep his blood pressure in the normal range. Then they sent him home. He was also started on an antidepressant to help with the panic attacks he continued to have from time to time.
You can read the report from that hospital admission below.
You can also read the consultation and discharge notes from that hospital visit here.
He had been home for nearly two weeks and still he felt no better. He tried to go back to work after a week or so at home, but after driving for less than five miles, he felt he had to turn around. He wasn’t sure what was wrong; he just knew he didn’t feel right. Then his legs started jumping around, and he ended up back in the hospital.
The Doctor’s Exam:
It was nearly dawn by the time Dr. Jeremy Thompson, the first-year resident on duty that night, saw the patient. Awake but tired, the patient told his story one more time. He had been at home, watching TV, when his legs started jumping on their own and he started feeling short of breath. His wife sat at the bedside. She looked just as worried and exhausted as he did. She told the resident that when he spoke that night at home, his speech was slurred. And when the ambulance came, he could barely walk. He has never missed this much work, she told the young doctor. It’s not like him. Can’t you figure out what’s wrong?
The resident had already reviewed the records from the patient’s previous hospital admissions. He asked a few more questions: the patient had never smoked and rarely drank; his father died at age 80; his mother was still alive and well. The patient exam was normal, as were the studies done in the E.R.
The first E.R. doctor thought that his symptoms were a result of anxiety, culminating in a full-blown panic attack. The resident thought that was probably right. In any case he would discuss the case with the attending in a couple of hours during rounds on the new patients. Till then, he told the worried couple, they should just try to get a little sleep.
An Important Clue:
Dr. Robert Centor was definitely a morning person. His cheerful enthusiasm about teaching and taking care of patients made him a favorite among residents. At 7:30 that morning, he stood outside the patient’s door as Dr. Thompson relayed the somewhat frustrating case of the middle-aged man with worsening dizziness and panic attacks. Then they went into the room to meet the patient. He was a big guy, tall and muscular with the first signs of middle-aged thickening around his middle. His complexion had the look of someone who spent a lot of time outdoors. Dr. Centor introduced himself and pulled up a chair as the rest of the team watched. He asked the patient what brought him to the hospital.
“Every time I get up, I get dizzy,” the man replied. Sure, he had had some balance problems ever since his stroke, he explained, but this felt different – somehow worse. He could hardly walk, he told the doctor. He just felt too unstable.
“Can you get up and show us how you walk?” Dr. Centor asked.
“Don’t let me fall,” the patient responded. He carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed. The resident and intern stood on either side as he slowly rose. He stood with his feet far apart. When asked to close his eyes as he stood there, he wobbled and nearly fell over. When he took a few steps, his heel and toes hit the ground at the same time, making a strange slapping sound.
Seeing that, Dr. Centor knew where the problem lay and ordered a few tests to confirm his diagnosis.
You can see the review report and notes for the patient’s second hospital visit below.
Solving the Mystery:
What tests did Dr. Centor order? Do you know what is making this middle-aged man wobble? Enter your guesses below. I’ll post the answer tomorrow.
Rules and Regulations: Post your questions and diagnosis in the Comments section below. The correct answer will appear tomorrow on Well. The winner will be contacted. Reader comments may also appear in a coming issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Friday March 1, 1:21 p.m. | Updated Thanks for all your responses! You can learn the correct diagnosis at “Think Like a Doctor: The Wobble Solved!” | <urn:uuid:0589a2a2-7333-4959-bcff-72a986806242> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/think-like-a-doctor-the-man-who-wobbled/?emc=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992251 | 1,748 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Parham House – welcome to Parham House, Sussex! This country house was built almost 400 years ago. Have a go at exploring this picture of the south side of the house and see what you can find.
Classical Architecture – The front of this 18th century house in Burford, Oxfordshire, was designed in the classical style, which is based on the architecture used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The style was fashionable when the house was built.
Victorian and Modern Papermaking – compare Victorian and modern paper mills with this fun animation and quiz.
Victorian House – this house belonged to a man called Thomas Hamilton. He was a builder who lived in Henley (Oxfordshire) during Victorian times; he built many of the houses on Queen Street. This building has many typical features of a Victorian house.
Bristol Diversity Trail – an interactive map, with photographs and activities, to explore this multiethnic city. Click each circle to learn about the historical locations.
Coppicing – this is one of the oldest forms of forestry. It involves cutting a tree down to a stump and regularly harvesting the new stems that grow; these have a variety of uses from buildings to brooms.
Inside a Medieval Church – The Church of St Nonna in Altarnum, north Cornwall, was built soon after the Norman Conquest. The interior was made much larger in the 15th century by adding two aisles.
Bristol, European Immigration (Medieval) – in the medieval period, foreigners were known as aliens. In Bristol in 1440-1, the Alien Subsidy Tax list shows that around 8% of Bristol's population of 10,000 were born outside England.
Elizabeth I's Coat of Arms – Queen Elizabeth I's coat of arms can be found on the wall of Parham's Great Hall. Take a look around this image to find out what the different parts mean. | <urn:uuid:646c0fa4-a0b9-4346-8a83-768a64b9f18d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.englandspastforeveryone.org.uk/schools/content/interactive-resources | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970568 | 392 | 3.125 | 3 |
Infants (Birth - 12 months)
Play for infants:
- Soft music, singing and rocking
- Looking into mirrors and at faces
- Soft toys, rattles, and toys that light up and make music
- Shaking items as well as throwing them
- Infants can show pleasure and pain by making noises
- Infants are sleeping on and off between feedings and 4-6 hours at night
- Talking to infants and moving their arms and legs helps promote development
Common stressors and fears of infants in the hospital:
- Separation from caregiver
- Over or under stimulation
- Disrupted routine
What you can do to help while your infant is in the hospital:
- Be present and participate in your infant's care as much as possible
- Bring favorite items from home (blanket, pacifier, etc.)
- Avoid keeping bright lights on in the room
- Allow for ways to have "play time"
- Try to maintain a routine for eating and sleeping
- Allow them to suck on their pacifier or hand, including during procedures. Sucking is a way for infants to soothe themselves.
- Remain calm and relaxed whenever possible. Infants can feel tension in our bodies and respond to it by becoming stressed. | <urn:uuid:43d1d693-250a-41f8-8444-6233b7ef3ac2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wakemed.org/body.cfm?id=1255 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957595 | 262 | 3.265625 | 3 |
"QUESTIONER: Are there no fair questions about the distribution of wealth without it being seen as envy, though?
"ROMNEY: I think it’s fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like."
I guess I should thank Mitt for this, what with the 2012 Tax Policy Colloquium starting in 3 days and all. We certainly plan on discussing distribution and tax policy in our quiet room in Vanderbilt Hall. This may be our first ever explicit endorsement by a leading presidential candidate.
Outside our quiet room, however, the comment has rightly attracted the mockery that it deserves.
Though it's shooting fish in a barrel, let me briefly explain why. Government economic policies matter because they can affect how well off people are. Each person might end up with more or with less, depending on what policy is adopted and on how it works out. It is analytically convenient to divide all this into issues of efficiency and distribution. Efficiency is the size of the pie. Distribution is how the slices are divided between different people. You're always facing distribution issues unless it is a pure Pareto (and hence efficiency) case in which someone could gain without anyone else losing. Those issues are pretty easy to resolve - it's not hard to like policies that would make someone better off and no one worse off. The rest of the time, distribution is a key part of the story, and often this is about richer individuals as opposed to poorer ones.
So there are two basic dimensions in economic policy, and one of them, which is involved almost single time, Romney says can't be discussed in public. Would he hire an architect to design his 11,000 square foot house, and say "We can only talk about the size of the house, and not about how we are going to divide up the space between the rooms"?
Another point, of course, is that the government cannot help but affect distribution. It's not a matter of deciding whether or not to simply retain the (wholly fictional) preexisting, non-government distribution. We aren't living in a state of nature, we're in an actual political and economic world with centuries of government policy and ongoing effects on everyone. The question isn't whether to address distribution or not, but what it's going to be, and how different distributional outcomes will be traded off given efficiency (size of the pie) differences between them.
Then of course we have Romney proposing huge tax law changes, not just for the quiet rooms but for the actual halls of Congress, that would include vast, unfinanced tax cuts for people like himself, and apparently tax increases for the bottom 50 percent. But he evidently thinks, from his political handlers, that the "envy" talking point will permit him to dodge discussion of what he wants to do distributionally.
And of course it's not just tax policy. The legal environment in which Bain Capital operated led to a set of transactions around the country that had various efficiency and distributional consequences, which are certainly fair game for discussion. Now, as it happens, I might agree with Mitt that allowing takeovers, refinancings, and plant closings is better than trying to ban them - although we should (a) seek to ensure well-functioning capital markets, without which all bets are off about the ability of a free market economy to yield value-increasing outcomes, (b) keep in mind the effects of tax biases that may have helped drive the transactions, such as that for debt over equity, and (c) consider what policies could help the people who are the casualties of the process. Is that envy too?
If you cannot defend your own policies in terms that have some connection to how you might actually rationalize them to yourself, and instead show the world that you can only defend them publicly in terms that are laughable and (since you must know better) insulting, then perhaps you are in the wrong business. | <urn:uuid:a099266b-c51f-4366-bb57-ff26f57264ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://danshaviro.blogspot.com/2012/01/those-quiet-rooms-where-we-can-discuss.html | 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 | 0.974648 | 808 | 1.710938 | 2 |
|4699540||Expansion joint||October, 1987||Gibbon et al.||404/64|
|4601604||Expansion joint||July, 1986||Clark et al.||404/69|
|4533278||Expansion joint system||August, 1985||Corsover et al.||404/67|
|4295311||Expansion joint element||October, 1981||Dahlberg||404/69|
|4285612||Protective shoulder structure for roadway joints||August, 1981||Betti||14/165|
|4279533||Roadway expansion joint||July, 1981||Peterson et al.||404/68|
|4098047||Joint sealing method||July, 1978||Weber||404/68|
|4080086||Roadway joint-sealing apparatus||March, 1978||Watson||404/69|
|3829228||PAVEMENT EXPANSION JOINT AND JOINT SEAL||August, 1974||Miyazaki et al.||404/68|
|3827204||SEALED JOINT FOR SECTIONALIZED FLOORING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME||August, 1974||Walters||404/66|
|3824025||EXPANSION GAP SEALING DEVICE||July, 1974||Beutler||404/68|
a pair of elongate, prefabricated edger strips secured in said recesses in said slabs in spaced, confronting relation to each other, a portion of the upper surface of each of said strips having therein an elongate, transversely extending recess opening on the space between said slabs, and the remaining portion thereof being substantially coplanar with the upper surfaces of said slabs,
a resilient sealing element secured in and extending across the space between said slabs adjacent the upper end of said space, and
an elongate cover member having a generally plate-shaped, traffic-bearing section overlying the upper end of said space between said slabs and projecting at opposite sides thereof, respectively, into said recesses in said edger strips,
said cover member having an integral web section projecting downwardly from said traffic-bearing section and embedded adjacent its lower end in said sealing element, thereby to retain the upper surface of said traffic-bearing section substantially coplanar with the upper surfaces of said slabs.
said traffic-bearing section of said cover member is spaced above said sealing element, and
said web section is narrower than said space between said slabs, whereby voids are formed beneath said traffic-bearing section and above said sealing element at opposite sides of said web section.
said opposite sides of said traffic-bearing section of said cover member project only part- way into said recesses in said edger strips, and
the remaining portions of said recesses in said edger strips are filled with a relatively low modulus plastic filler material.
each of said edger strips is a separate, precast strip, and
said precast edger strips are secured in said recesses in said slabs by a high density reinforced bedding compound.
prefabricating a plurality of elongate, rigid edger strips having cross sectional configurations generally similar to but smaller than the cross sectional configurations of said recesses in said slabs, whereby each such edger strip has in one longitudinal side edge thereof an elongate recess extending longitudinally of the strip,
prefabricating a plurality of elongate, semi-rigid cover members each of which is generally T-shaped in cross section, and each of which comprises a generally planar traffic-bearing section having a thickness approximately equal to the depth of said recess in said edger strips, and an integral web section projecting transversely from the underside of said traffic-bearing section centrally thereof,
securing a pair of said prefabricated edger strips in the confronting recesses in a pair of said adjacent slabs with said recesses in said pair of edger strips opening on said space between the slabs and in spaced, confronting relation to each other,
placing a molten sealing compound into the space between the confronting ends of said slabs with the level of said compound spaced beneath the recesses in said confronting edger strips, and
while said sealing compound is still molten, inserting one of said cover members over the upper end of the space between said slabs so that opposite sides of said traffic-bearing section of said member project into the confronting recesses in said pair of edger strips, and so that the integral web section of said cover member projects downwardly into said molten sealing compound to become fixedly embedded therein when said compound solidifies.
inserting into the space between said slabs an elongate, flexible sealing element opposite sides of which sealingly engage the confronting end surfaces of said slabs beneath the recessed edges thereof,
securing in each of said recesses in said confronting ends of said slabs an elongate, rigid, prefabricated edger strip having in one longitudinal side edge an elongate recess positioned to open on said space between said slabs,
placing a molten sealing compound on top of said sealing element in the space between said slabs and the confronting ends of said edger strips, and
while said compound is still molten, inserting over the upper end of said space between the slabs and said edger strips an elongate, semi-rigid, prefabricated cover member having opposed side edges which project part way into the confronting recesses in said edger strips, and having an integral web section projecting downwardly into the molten sealing compound to be fixedly embedded therein when the compound solidifies, and
filling the remaining portions of said recesses in said edger strips, which are not occupied by said opposite sides of said cover member, with a resilient, low modulus, traffic-bearing compound.
This invention relates to concrete highways or roadways, and more particularly to an improved, long-lasting cover for highway expansion joints, and a method for installing such covers between adjacent concrete slabs of a road or highway.
It has long been customary to form modern highways, and associated bridges and overpasses, from concrete slabs, which are poured one after the other along the length of the proposed highway or overpass to form a firm roadbed. Since concrete tends to contract and expand in response to falling and rising temperatures, respectively, it also has long been customary to interpose between the confronting ends of adjacent slabs resilient expansion joints. Such joints permit the slabs to expand and contract without unduly distorting the horizontal surface of the roadway; and they also prevent debris and water from entering the spaces between adjacent slabs. In the case of overpasses such joints prevent water and debris from dropping onto traffic passing beneath an overpass; and in the case of conventional roadways they prevent ice from forming between adjacent slabs and possibly interfering with the normal expansion and contraction of the slabs.
Among the solutions heretofore proposed, U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,086 suggests using elongated anchor pads, which are secured by studs and nuts to the upper surfaces of adjacent concrete slabs at the confronting ends thereof. These pads are connected to opposite sides of a flexible or resilient sealing member, which is thus supported by the anchor pads sealingly between the adjacent slabs. The disadvantage of this apparatus is that it requires a considerable amount of manual operations for bolting or mechanically securing the anchor pads to the concrete slabs.
In the structure taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,612, a silica-epoxy mortar material is poured and tamped into confronting, notches or recesses formed in the confronting surfaces of adjacent slabs, and is allowed to set. Thereafter an elongate, resilient seal is inserted into the space between the strips of mortar, and a filler material is pumped into a bore in the center of the seal thus forcing the seal to expand outwardly into sealing engagement with the confronting edges of the now-cured mortar strips. With this construction, however, water or moisture is prevented from entering the space between the slabs only so long as the sides of the resilient seal remain sealingly engaged with the confronting surfaces of the strips of mortar.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,047 teaches the use of an elongate, resilient, tubular seal having laterally extending side flanges, which are secured by a grouting material in opposed, longitudinally extending recesses formed in the confronting ends of a pair of adjacent concrete slabs. The tubular seal itself, however, remains exposed to the elements. U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,311 illustrates a somewhat similar expansion joint, but the latter joint is prefabricated all in one piece, and is then adhered by a plastic in confronting recesses formed in the adjacent concrete slabs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,604 discloses a method of covering a resilient expansion joint or seal by pouring thereover a polyurethane layer, placing an extruded, plastic core over this layer, and then covering the core with still another layer of plastic, such as a fluid-polymer. At least two layers are thus poured over the resilient expansion joint after the latter has been inserted between the confronting surfaces of adjacent slabs. Instead of using a resilient seal between the confronting surfaces of adjacent slabs, U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,533 suggests securing a steel plate over the gap between the adjacent slabs, and then securing the plate in place with a plastic material.
Despite all the efforts heretofore made to provide a satisfactory traffic bearing seal between the confronting surfaces of adjacent concrete slabs, prior such products have not proved to be successful after being in use for relatively short periods of time. Traffic driving over the joint breaks down the upper, confronting edges of adjacent slabs. The breakdown progresses until the joint fails and requires major repairs. Moreover, prior such seals have required, more often than not, considerable work on the seam between slabs after the slabs have been poured.
It is object of the invention, therefore, to provide an improved expansion joint of the type described, which utilizes a novel cover means for covering and protecting the resilient seal, which is interposed between adjacent ends of two slabs to allow expansion and contraction thereof.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved expansion joint cover of the type described which protects the upper edges of adjacent slabs at the intersections of the horizontal and vertical end surfaces of the slabs, thereby preventing traffic from breaking down such edges.
A further object of this invention is to provide an improved expansion joint cover of the type described which makes use of a number of preformed or precast elements, thus minimizing the time and effort required to install the cover during roadway formation.
Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from the specification and from the recital of the appended claims, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.
The expansion joint cover is designed to be mounted to overlie a conventional, resilient backer rod or seal, which is positioned snugly beneath the confronting end surfaces of a pair of adjacent concrete slabs of a highway. The upper, confronting edges of the slabs have therein longitudinally extending recesses which are right angular in cross section. Secured on the job in each such recess by a high density, reinforced bedding compound or grout, is an elongate, precast edger strip made from a high density, reinforced grout.
After the edger strips have been grouted in place, a low modulus urethane seal is poured over the backer rod. Before the seal sets, an elongate, prefabricated cover element, which is generally T-shaped in cross section, is positioned over the gap between the adjacent webs so that the opposed sides of the cover element project part way into recesses in the upper surfaces of the adjacent edger strips, and so that a central web section of the cover element extends downwardly into the still molten urethane sealing material to become embedded therein when the urethane solidifies. The remaining portions of the recesses in the upper surfaces of the edger strips, which are not occupied by the cover element, are then filled with a low modulus, traffic-bearing urethane.
FIG. 1, the only figure in the drawing, is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on a vertical plane through confronting ends of a pair of adjacent concrete slabs that form part of a highway, or the like, and showing in section a novel expansion joint cover made according to the teachings of this invention.
Referring now to the drawing by numerals of reference, 10 and 11 denote a pair of adjacent, concrete slabs, which form part of a conventional roadway or highway. These slabs have confronting, spaced, vertical surfaces 12 and 13 which in practice extend transversely of the width of the roadway, or at least for a given portion of such width. The confronting, upper edges of the slabs 10 and 11 have formed therein elongate, transversely extending notches or recesses 14 and 15, respectively, which are right angular in cross-sectional configuration. Each of the recesses 14 and 15 extends for the full width of its associated slab 10 or 11. These recesses 14 and 15 are prepared or formed at the time that the respective slabs 10 and 11 are poured.
Secured between the confronting surfaces 12 and 13 of the slabs 10 and 11 in a slightly compressed form, is an elongate, tubular backer rod or seal 17, which may be of any conventional design. Normally the outside diameter of the rod 17 is larger than that of the space between the confronting slab surfaces 12 and 13, so that when the rod is tamped or otherwise pressed downwardly between the slabs it is slightly compressed in a radial direction, so that it is secured resiliently and snugly between the confronting surfaces 12 and 13. Rod 17 is designed to expand or contract with the adjacent slabs 10 and 11, thereby to prevent any debris or moisture from passing downwardly beneath the rod and into the remaining space between the slabs 10 and 11.
Secured over and protecting the resilient rod 17 is a novel expansion joint cover, which is denoted generally in the drawing by the numeral 20. Cover 20 comprises a pair of elongate, prefabricated edger units or strips 21 and 22, which are generally rectangular in cross-section, and which have in the upper surfaces thereof, as shown in FIG. 1, elongate grooves or recesses 23 and 24 which open on the end surfaces 12 and 13, respectively, of the slabs. Each of the strips 21 and 22 is designed to be secured in one of the recesses 14 and 15 in the slabs by a high density reinforced bedding compound or grout 25, and therefore is configured to be slightly thinner and narrower than the corresponding recess 14 or 15. During assembly the grout 25 is poured into the recesses 14 and 15 to form beds for the strips 21 and 22. The prefabricated strips 21 and 22 are then positioned in the grout 25 so that their recessed upper surfaces are disposed in coplanar relation wit the upper surfaces of the slabs 10 and 11, and so that their recessed edges are disposed in spaced, confronting relation to each other, and in coplanar, vertical registry with the slab surfaces 12 and 13, respectively.
After the edger strips 21 and 22 have been grouted in place, a low modulus urethane plastic material is poured into the space between the confronting edges of the strips 21 and 22, and on top of the backer rod 17 to form thereover, and between the confronting edges of the strips 21 and 22, a thick, resilient anchor or seal 28 of plastic material. It will be noted that the upper edge of the seal 28 terminates slightly beneath the recesses 23 and 24 in the edger strips 21 and 22.
Secured by the seal 28 across the space between the confronting edges of the edger strips 21 and 22 is an elongate, semi-rigid, precast urethane cover plate 31, which is generally T-shaped in cross-section. Cover plate 31 has coplanar, laterally extending flange sections 32, which extend into the confronting recesses 23 and 24 in the edger strips 21 and 22, and an integral, downwardly projecting web section 33, which is embedded in the urethane seal 28. Adjacent its lower edge the web section 33 is widened slightly as at 34 to form thereon opposed ribs which prevent withdrawal of the web section 33 from the anchor or seal 28.
It will be noted from the drawing that the flange sections 32 of the cover plate 31 project only part way into the registering edger strip recesses 23 and 24. The remaining portions of these recesses are filled with strips 36 of a low modulus, traffic bearing urethane material. Each filler strip 36 is seated upon a very thin layer 37 of a plastic material, which extends part way beneath the longitudinal side edge of the adjacent flange section 32 of the cover plate 31, and which forms a bond breaker as between the edger strips 21, 22 and the cover plate 31.
In its preferred form the prefabricated cover plate 31 is precast or otherwise produced in 4 to 6 foot lengths from a semi-rigid, high modulus urethane material, which may be the same type used to produce the grout 25, e.g., a strong (5000#--24 hrs.--1000#--28 days) reinforced grout. The lateral flange sections 32 of the upper, traffic-bearing portion of plate 31, are designed to cover or overlie from approximately 60-80% of the horizontal surfaces formed by the recesses 23 and 24 in the edger strips 21 and 22. The overall height of the cover 31 from its upper surface to the bottom of its web section 33 may be in the vicinity of one inch or greater. The various dimensions of the edger strips and cover element may, of course, vary depending upon the type of installation.
From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present invention provides a relatively simple and expeditious way to seal the seams between adjacent concrete slabs of a highway or the like. The edger strips 21 and 22 and the cover plate 31 are prefabricated, so that the only operations required to install the cover involve the pouring of the grout beds 25, the urethane seal 28 and the strips 36.
The bond breaker layers or strips 37 permit slight relative movement between the cover flange sections 32 and the slabs 10 and 11 as the latter expand and contract, and thus prevent the cover 31 from becoming dislodged or distorted in response to movement of the slabs. The low modulus filler strips 36 can compress and expand, for example in response to movements imparted to the edger strips 21, 22 by the slabs 10 and 11, without producing any significant disruption in the surface of the highway. Also, as shown in the drawing there are spaces or voids 41 formed above the seal 28 and beneath the flange sections 32 of cover 31 at opposite sides of the web section 33 to permit the seal 28 to expand upwardly upon expansion of the slabs 10, 11, and without interfering with the vertical position of cover 31.
While this invention has been illustrated and described in connection with only certain embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that this invention is capable of still further modification, and that this application is intended to cover any such modifications as may fall within the scope of one skilled in the art or the appended claims. | <urn:uuid:4a30ccb8-31ef-4dff-b281-e873b9bf4f92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4784516.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939877 | 4,095 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Known as the investor with "the Midas Touch", Buffet is the most successful investor alive - the only member among the Forbes' list of the world's richest to have earned his fortune entirely through investing. Every investor can profit from how Buffett invests...
The market and fair value
Of all Buffett's ideas perhaps the simplest and most important for a non-professional individual investor to grasp is just this: value will in time be reflected in market price. (It certainly is not so reflected continuously.)
It's just a question of time, and not always very much time. Most investors don't have the profound feeling professionals acquire that market anomalies are perforce ephemeral.
If a bond is selling out of line with other bonds of similar tenor and quality, it will move to its correct value in time.
If a stock that really does represent a dollar's worth of solid assets is selling for 60 cents, it will, sooner or later, not only go back to a dollar but quite likely more than a dollar.
Prices of stocks, and of the market as a whole, in time not only reflect fair value but sooner or later excessive valuation.
Further, it's improbable that from the low point this recognition will take more than a few years, and it's likely that the period will in fact be about three. In studying the records of great investors, I've often been struck by this three-year phenomenon. What's the reason?
Good investment is quantified fussiness: when you buy, you want to hold out for the lowest price you really can buy for, and when you sell, you want to hold out for the highest price you really can receive.
There are dozens of criteria for bargains and for excess prices. If they work, you'll find yourself buying around the bottom of the usual four-year market cycle, and selling near the peak about three years later, before the dive in the fourth year.
So by the nature of that cycle, it would be surprising if a really good buy - presumably bought near the lows of the cycle - would not show a good profit later in the same cycle.
(Of course, if you buy before the low, then it could take an extra year, or even two.)
This was not always so. Some years ago, most trading was done by the public, there were relatively few mutual funds, and security analysis was done by hand on accounting spreadsheets, the computer and such not being available.
Under those circumstances it was theoretically possible - although unlikely - for a bargain to go unperceived for years. Not that this was Graham's experience.
Today, however, with analysts constantly combing their database for bargains, like an airport tower searching the skies with radar, a bargain rarely continues unperceived for long, so in the effervescence of a market boom, it is almost certain to have its move.
There are some ways of improving on this procedure. One is to try to wait until the relative performance of a given stock to the whole market shows that it is no longer collapsing but is beginning to find support from courageous buyers. If you are not a large institution, this approach can save you money. If you are an institution, then it's better to buy right into the weakness.
Another, practiced by, among others, Robert Wilson, for years a highly aggressive and successful speculator, consists of taking a large position and then talking about it to all and sundry - preferably Wall Street columnists.
Profiting from disasters
The stock market reacts in a manic-depressive way to news, and when disillusionment strikes, things will probably go too far the other way. That, in turn, may create the very opportunity that the skillful investor waits for.
If a stock, fallen from favor, is now selling at $100 a share, and a piece of very bad news should push it down to $90, the chances are good that it will in fact drop to $80 or $70, thus creating a buying opportunity. Sometimes, it will even go to $60 or $50.
One of Buffett's purchases that people still talk about was when the 1963 Tino de Angelis salad oil scandal hit American Express. Briefly, an American Express subsidiary found itself possibly liable for hundreds of millions of dollars of damage claims arising from the sale of salad oil that did not exist, and the stock dropped sharply in the market.
Buffett was able to establish that the "franchise" value of the company's basic business, notably its credit card and the traveler's checks with their huge "float" were intact.
When you buy an American Express traveler's check, you in essence make the company a free loan in exchange for a piece of printed paper. The total of those free loans - the "float" - amounts to a couple of billion dollars at all times. Anyway, Buffett bought 5 per cent of American Express, and it paid off handsomely. The stock quintupled in five years.
More recent examples of disasters: the Bhopal explosion, which collapsed Union Carbide, giving the Bass Brothers a chance to make an immense profit in a matter of months as the stock rebounded almost to its old price; the Chrysler [ Images ] near-bankruptcy, which Magellan Fund cashed in on; Disney, during the gas lines; and the cigarette companies back in the 1970s, after they were banned from advertising on TV. The succeeding years produced enormous gains in their stock prices.
Most illogical of all, incidentally, is to sell on a war scare. The experienced investor does the opposite. Herbert Allen bought a mining company in the Philippines in 1942. War always means a debauching of the currency, as the country incurs huge deficits to finance the military buildup and then the fighting.
As the currency fades away, investors flee to things, including things represented by stocks. The things themselves are denominated in larger and larger numbers of depreciating currency units. So in fact one should sell bonds and buy stocks on a war scare, particularly if the scare pushes stock prices down, as it usually does.
[Excerpted from the book, The Midas Touch: The Strategies that Have Made Warren Buffett [ Images ] the World's Most Successful Investor. Published by Vision Books.]
(C) All rights reserved.
Image: Warren Buffett fills a glass with Coke during a news conference in Madrid. | Photographs: Andrea Comas/Reuters | <urn:uuid:d37a04b8-f88a-465b-87ad-8c58c8a05600> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://business.rediff.com/special/2010/jun/22/spec-warren-buffetts-2-most-favourite-investing-principles.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969986 | 1,331 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Facebook making 'efforts' to weed out fake profiles
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Social networking giant Facebook is making a "huge effort" to weed out fake profiles to prevent misuse of such identities, a senior company official has said.
"Absolutely, there is a huge effort," Facebook India business manager Pavan Varma said when asked about the company's action on this front.
If Facebook doubts the ownership of an account, it will ask the user to identify himself/herself, he said.
The doubt about the authenticity of the account will arise if an account has a generic name instead of a proper name, uses images of celebrities/ cartoon characters as
display pictures, or does not have "enough friends", Varma said.
"It could even be that Facebook comes back to you saying, could you help us identify yourself if you don't have enough friends, because we don't want fake identities," he said.
"We are worried about the experience we deliver...It's not about protecting our brand identity so much," he said.
Recently, there were reports of fake accounts being created by computer programs, which are used for inflating the number of "likes" on Facebook page for a brand.
Facebook had recently said it would be taking out fake "likes" generated by spammers, malware and black marketers.
Varma said advertisers must also shed the obsession with numbers. "How does an advertiser today treat a Facebook page? It is treated as a place where they just come with a number of people who are there. But that is a wrong way of doing it," he said, stressing that the conversations around the brand should assume importance rather than the numbers.
Mere "likes" on the page do not help a brand, he said.
Companies generally pay Facebook for a dedicated page on its platform that helps them connect with the target audience.
Varma, who was speaking to PTI on the sidelines of a banking summit, said Facebook, as a medium, is completely secure and cited the case of ICICI Bank, which now offers basic services over the Facebook page by integrating its net
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- Chhattisgarh 'encounter' leaves 8 villagers dead, no Maoist link yet | <urn:uuid:44cc4348-be19-4033-805d-aa2e34cfb83f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indianexpress.com/news/facebook-making-efforts-to-weed-out-fake-profiles/1000130/ | 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 | 0.966605 | 625 | 1.65625 | 2 |
In April 2011 Charlie Harris – Beard, aged just 10 months, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and within just 4 months Charlie had already been through four intensive cycles of chemotherapy to cure the disease! But despite these gruelling treatments, the rare type of leukaemia reappeared and Charlie desperately needed a bone marrow transplant – having being given just three months to live.
On Nov 13th 2012 Dr’s stated that there was nothing more they could do here in the UK for Charlie and said that he had just a matter of weeks left to live.
Charlies supporters / friends immediately set up ‘Charlies fund’ in the hope of raising enough money to find him treatment somewhere else in the world and to put as many smiles on his face as possible – ensuring that the family were in a position to make as many memories as possible.
We refused to give up on Charlie and immediately began making contact with Dr's around the world. On December 3rd Charlie was given further hope – we attended a meeting with Cancer Research UK and Charlie was recommended for a trial drug. In order to be accepted for the trial Charlie had to further undergo intense tests, including a lumbar puncture, ECG and Bone Marrow Biopsy. The tests came back successful and Charlie was accepted for the trial drug which started on 11th December.
Aurora Kinase (The trial drug) is administered over 72 hours every 21 days via intravenous infusion and is intended to inhibit cancer growth by blocking the enzymes which cause cancer cells to grow.
Unfortunately the Aurora Kinase was not successful for Charlie and he was sent home to be with his family. Determined to fight for their son, Charlie's parents scoured the globe and contacted the worlds leading authorities in cancer treatments. A light of hope was found with an experimental trial. While Charlie's family waited to be accepted on the trial they continued to raise awareness of their son's condition by creating a Thunderclap, over 2 million people became aware of Charlie's condition and his Facebook page became flooded with questions about umbilical cord blood donation. On January 28th, Charlie was admitted to Birmingham Children's Hospital for a TPN drip to build up his strength ready for the experimental trial. In the days that followed Charlie developed pneumonia. More determined than ever to stop this happening to other families, Charlie's family started an e-petition to petition the UK Government to improve awareness and availability for umbilical cord blood donation. Charlie's petition was approved on 8th February at 10.33 am. Sadly at 2.04 pm the same day, Charlie lost his fight with cancer. Charlie has inspired so many people and his passing has inspired people to make a change, in the first 24 hours alone Charlie's petition gained over 10,000 signatures. Charlie's legacy will live on.
xxx Rest In Peace Charlie xxx | <urn:uuid:b009a47a-709e-4564-b892-88b5ac091b97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.charlieharrisbeard.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98281 | 588 | 1.867188 | 2 |
AFTER Leeds-born playwright Alan Bennett’s riproaring performance, it’s no wonder Lawnswood School is planning to name its library in his honour.
The History Boys writer and former Lawnswood pupil spoke of his pride after the plans were unveiled – and then condemned the proposed closure of libraries nationwide.
The 76-year-old told the YEP: “Closing down libraries is child abuse. You’re preventing the development of children and that’s monstrous really.
“Some families are so poor they can’t afford computers, so the only way children can keep up with their fellows is with a library.
“When a child wants to learn, if you don’t help them, you’re damaging that child.”
Speaking of the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which provides grants to pupils aged 16 to 19 who want to stay on at school, he added: “If a child wants to stay at school everything should be done to help them and to make it more difficult just makes a mockery of all things the government seems in favour of. It’s sickening.”
Mr Bennett, who was born in Armley and studied at Lawnswood when it was the Leeds Modern School, watched two students, Emily Charles, 16, and Jade Dorsett, 15, tackle a scene from his Talking Heads monologues, before reading extracts from his diaries in front of a sell-out audience.
Entries which came up included one about the legendary Miss Shepherd, the inspiration behind his play The Lady In A Van; and an amusing clash of accents when encountering a ‘posh’ lady at a church on his way to the funeral of Sir Alec Guinness in 2000.
He also had the audience in stitches when telling a story about a rumour which had gone around his school that the formidable PE teacher, Mr King, had died.
When they all sat down to assembly, they saw Mr King still standing – but were told King George VI had died, which “wasn’t nearly as exciting.”
Answering questions from the audience, he spoke of the late Dame Thora Hird, who played bitter widow Doris in one of the Talking Heads episodes, A Cream Cracker Under The Settee.
He said: “I wrote Thora Hird’s part for her, mainly because she was the only person of that age who still had all her marbles. She was absolutely obsessed with the words of the story, she knew if she had said an “and” instead of a “but”, she was so accurate. She was an author’s dream.”
Lawnswood School, which entered special measures in 2009, now hopes Mr Bennett will return to visit the library, which is expected to be named in his honour in the near future. | <urn:uuid:019f3e8e-db47-4ec2-b5ce-8e4fdac0bf7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/top-stories/video-alan-bennett-slams-leeds-library-closures-1-3228144 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988504 | 615 | 2.015625 | 2 |
velyn Pickering, who was born in London the daughter of upper-middle class parents and the niece of Rodhamn Spencer-Stanhope, was a painter within the circle of later Pre-Raphaelites who took their inspiration from the more romantic paintings of Rossetti and Burne-Jones. Her early ambition to paint was discouraged by her parents but later she was permitted to become a student at the Slade School and in due course to study in Italy, in Rome and in Florence. As a young woman she exhibited Ariadne in Naxos at the first Exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877.
Her mature style, which is distinguished by a precision of detail and a fondness for mythological subjects, was derived in part from her first artistic mentor, Roddam Spencer- Stanhope, with whom she frequently painted and visited with following his permanent departure for Tuscany in 1880. She was also profoundly influenced by Edward Burne-Jones who was a close friend. Her painting was admired by a circle of fellow-artists. William Blake Richmond said of her: 'Her industry was astonishing, and the amount which she achieved was surprising, especially considering the infinite care with which she studied every detail . . . " George Frederic Watts pronounced her 'the first woman-artist of the day -- if not of all time. Evelyn Pickering married the potter William De Morgan in 1887 and lived with him in London until his death in 1917. She died two years later. — Christopher Newall
Newall, Christopher. A Celebration of British and European Painting of the 19th and 20th Centuries. London: Peter Nahum, 1997. Pp. 26-27.
Sparrow, W. Shaw."The Art of Mrs. William de Morgan." The Studio. 19 (May 1900): 220-32. [Full text].
Stirling, A. M. W. William de Morgan ond his Wife. London: Thornton Butterworth, 1922.
Last modified 2 May 2007 | <urn:uuid:7c31d5fa-6f82-4a9e-a9dc-15b47a4aa69b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://victorian.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/victorianweb/painting/demorgan/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980533 | 417 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Lermontov: Why do you want to dance?
Vicky: Why do you want to live?
Lermontov: Well, I don't know exactly why, but... I must.
Vicky: That's my answer too.
—The Red Shoes
The standard-issue advice given by artists to starry-eyed youngsters goes something like this: if you can do anything else and be happy, do it. Those who burn for a life in the arts have little choice but to submit to the indignities of harsh spotlights (from auditions to criticism) and the pitfalls of emotionally taxing, typically cutthroat professions; as compensation, artists reach audiences through self-expression and, perhaps, leave a legacy to outlast themselves. This agony and ecstasy (and yearning and despair) are the stuff of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1948 film The Red Shoes, a sublime melodrama set in the shared world of music and dance that is the ballet.
Loosely based on the famed Ballets Russes, The Red Shoes' Ballet Lermontov is a constant whirlwind of activity and change. Impresario Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) is the seemingly cool-headed eye of the storm, his status reinforced by his outward quiet confidence. Lermontov sizes up young talents and invites them to sink or swim in his company: Powell and Pressburger's script elegantly balances explorations of the music and dance sides of the equation through the stories of aspiring composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) and hopeful ballerina Victoria "Vicky" Page (Moira Shearer), both of whom are invited into star-making positions by Lermontov. They also become points in an emotional triangle with Lermontov, whose neurotic repression of feeling leads to explosions that rock the company. One ballerina opines of the impresario, "He has no heart, that man," but the truth is that he has a big one and fears losing control to it.
The other major aspect of the narrative of The Red Shoes is its folding in of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale of the same name, adapted into a ballet by Craster and choreographer Grisha Ljubov (the great Léonide Massine, former star of the Ballets Russes). The still astonishing expressionistic dance sequence that stands as a performance of the Ballet Lermontov's "The Red Shoes" also reveals Vicky's dizzied subjective mindset in coping with the struggle for her soul between Lermontov, Craster and herself. In objective terms, the ballet is rapturous, as a feast of theatrical lighting and Technicolor photography (shot by the brilliant cinematographer Jack Cardiff), the choreography of Robert Helpmann, the music of Brian Easdale and the montage of editor Reginald Mills. It's also the culmination of Powell and Pressburger's thematic incisiveness in using the Andersen tale to represent the characters' passions and reckless submission to a consumptive pursuit.
Walbrook is positively brilliant in conveying Lermontov's tenuous control and undercurrent of emotional anguish. Though too old for his role, Goring works hard to make us forget that inconvenience by focusing instead on Craster's artistic drive, and he cuts nearly as elegant a figure as Walbrook. Real-life dancer Shearer (who reteamed with Powell on Peeping Tom) forcefully conveys Vicky's journey from excitement to dread. Like the filmmakers, she keenly understands how the greatest talents often suffer the greatest exploitation and pressure but lack the will to escape: The Red Shoes paints Vicky as a performer, a woman, a soul held captive by an employer, a composer, and her own passion, represented by those magical, inescapable red shoes. "The red shoes are never tired," explains Lermontov. "Time rushes by. Love rushes by. Life rushes by. But the red shoes dance on."
The much-heralded 2009 4K digital restoration of The Red Shoes finally makes it to home video, and the Criterion Collection's got it. Criterion first released this title to DVD in 1999 and laserdisc in 1994, but of course, it's never looked or sounded better than it does in the new Blu-ray special edition (mirrored in a reissued DVD). Aside from a movie theater, the best way to see The Red Shoes is definitely Blu-ray, with its knack for vibrant color (a hallmark of this Technicolor classic) and texture. Contrast and detail are exceptional, and nothing detracts from a film-like presentation; this one's a beaut. The film's sound has also been nicely cleaned up, and presented in an LPCM Mono track that's clean, clear, and faithful.
Remarkably (given the outstanding DVD and laserdisc packages), the Blu-ray edition of The Red Shoes includes some new bonus features to complement the previously released extras (all of which return).
The fascinating audio commentary by film historian Ian Christie, featuring interviews with stars Marius Goring and Moira Shearer, cinematographer Jack Cardiff, composer Brian Easdale, and filmmaker Martin Scorsese makes a return appearance, with film-historical context, behind-the-scenes recollections and thematic musings about the film.
An additional audio track presents "The Red Shoes Novel," audio excerpts of Powell and Pressburger's 1978 novelization, a 1994 Criterion exclusive recorded by Jeremy Irons.
There's a new "Restoration Demonstration" (4:17, HD) hosted by Red Shoes superfan Scorsese.
The 2000 doc "Profile of The Red Shoes" (25:30, HD) "features interviews with film historian Ian Christie, cinematographer Jack Cardiff, camera operator Chris Challis, and family members of the film's original production team."
"Thelma Schoonmaker Powell" (14:41, HD) is an interview with Michael Powell's widow (and Scorsese's Oscar-winning film editor) recorded at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival on the occasion of the unveiling of the restoration.
A Stills Gallery (HD) is divided into the sections "Cast and Crew," "Filming in London," "Filming in Paris," "Filming in Monte Carlo," "Deleted Scenes," and "Production and Costume Designs," and there's also a gallery of Scorsese's Memorabilia (HD).
The multi-angle "The Red Shoes Sketches" (15:57, HD) is an animated film, using production designer Hein Heckroth's original color storyboards and set to Brian Easdale's score, that served as a blueprint for the ballet sequence (available as an alternate angle). There's also an option to play the film with audio of Irons reading the original Andersen fairy tale "The Red Shoes."
Lastly, there's the "Theatrical Trailer" (2:30, HD) and a 24-page color booklet including an essay by film critic David Ehrenstein and an accounting of the restoration by UCLA film archivist Robert Gitt.
It would be a mistake not to include this deathless classic in your cinema library, especially in glorious Blu-ray.
Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 55" Plasma 1080p 3D HDTV
Oppo BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player
Denon AVR2112CI Integrated Network A/V Surround Receiver
Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Speaker (2)
Pioneer SP-C21 Center Speaker
Pioneer SW-8 Subwoofer | <urn:uuid:78fdd7a0-7858-43f3-8ff9-ff9a6f856842> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3796 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936606 | 1,593 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Maintaining a Palm Tree
Once planted, a palm tree is easily maintained with just a little effort and some tender loving care.
The most important factor in a palm tree's health is soil. Compacted, nutrient-deficient soils found in most urban environments do not contain the components necessary for a palm to truly thrive. As steward to your trees, it is your responsibility to maintain healthy soil. You can do that in two ways.
1. Adding Mycorrhizal Fungi
Mycorrhizal fungi coexist with plants in nature, colonizing the root systems. In exchange for food, these fungi provide the plant with nutrients and moisture. Effectively, they can extend the root area of a plant by up to 1000% helping it survive under conditions of stress. Soil in many urban areas and in most potted plants lacks this essential organism.
By adding the correct mycorrhizal fungi to the soil, you are giving your trees a vital boost.
For more information about mycorrhizal fungi, click here.
Palm trees require a large variety of nutrients to survive and because they thrive in sandy, well-drained soils, these nutrients tend to leach away quickly. As a result, most common problems with palms are caused by a lack of nutrients or improper fertilization. There are palm-specific fertilizers available that release their nutrients very slowly to provide consistent, targeted feeding.
To find out what fertilizer you need for your palm, click here.
Other Care Concerns
The most important consideration is to ensure that your palm receives sufficient water for healthy growth. In desert areas and in the absence of regular rainfall, periodic watering is essential. Slow drip or bubble type watering over a number of hours is better than a simple drenching with a hose. As for how often, this will depend on the climate, season and rainfall frequency. In many areas, twice a month during the summer decreasing to once every six weeks during the colder season should be enough.
As they grow, the older fronds of palm trees will turn brown, die and, eventually, fall off. For esthetic reasons, you may wish to speed the process along a little by pruning off the dead fronds. Use some caution when pruning a palm tree. Prune only the dead fronds and remember not to cut too close to the trunk. In the case of a large tree, this is a job that should be left to a tree maintenance specialist.
Finally, be careful when using lawn mowers and other gardening equipment around your palm tree. The bark is easily damaged and the resulting wounds are entry points for insects and disease.
www.palm-tree.net is brought to you by | <urn:uuid:870b0d74-fc5d-4a80-9cbe-2d13fc822299> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.palm-tree.net/palm-tree-maintenance.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927563 | 561 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Eating for Your Age
Healthy eating for any age involves such basic tenets as eating three meals a day with nutrient dense snacks in-between, eating foods from a variety different food groups, especially fruits and vegetables, and eating when hungry/stopping when full.
However, as life changes and progresses there are different nutrients that have a specific call to certain age groups. Have a look at ways to optimize your nutrition for your age.
The Teen Years
Eating well helps teens to maintain enough energy for school, sports and other activities, and to reach their full height potential.
Teens can go a long way by including healthy snacks in their diet such as almond butter or peanut butter with celery, carrots, or an apple, high quality protein bars, yogurt, trail mix, low sugar granola, hummus with whole grain toast instead of the regular teenage fare of chips, cookies and fast foods. A developing and growing brain prefers healthy fat as its source for fuel and snacks are a great way to support that.
The ideal foods for teens to balance the body’s energy needs are complex carbohydrates. More than any other time in life, healthy carbs are needed in the teen years. Encourage teens to eat whole grains, legumes, and root vegetables to satisfy this nutritional need.
This is the time of life when people need to work harder to balance their stress hormones because getting out in the work force, building a career, starting a family and other life stressors are at their highest. Individuals in this age range should safeguard themselves against adrenal fatigue or burnout. Potassium is great nutrient for the adrenal glands. The foods below are highest in potassium:
As we grow older, the absorption and digestion of proteins and minerals becomes more difficult leading to a variety of ailments such as osteoporosis, fatigue, and chronic illness. Take necessary precautions with these five essential nutrients for anyone over 50.
Our bodies digest foods less efficiently as we age; yet nutrients from our foods are a critical component to good health. Older people often do not secrete enough stomach acid in their gastrointestinal tract because stomach acid declines as we age.
1: Betaine hydrochloride:Our bodies digest foods less efficiently as we age; yet nutrients from our foods are a critical component to good health. Older people often do not secrete enough stomach acid in their gastrointestinal tract because stomach acid declines as we age. Betaine hydrochloride can support digestion when taken with meals and may be taken in conjunction with digestive enzymes.
2: Vitamin B-12: Insufficient Vitamin B-12 levels can lead to fatigue, brain fog, and a higher risk of heart disease. Vitamin B-12 is particularly hard to absorb as we age, so a sublingual supplement is suggested.
3: Magnesium:Magnesium is often overlooked and is essential to your cellular health. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables! Kelp provides a rich source of magnesium, as do all sea vegetables.
4: Vitamin D: Vitamin D is another essential nutritional supplement. Not only is Vitamin D critical for bone health, but it also decreases the chance of breast cancer. The most concentrated sources of natural vitamin D are found in fatty fishes like tuna, herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines and anchovies as well as egg yolks. If these foods are not high on your weekly intake list, a vitamin D supplement is a great choice.
5: Protein: The final component for basic nutritional health is simply to include adequate protein in your diet. Choose foods that are rich in high-quality protein, such as organic eggs, free-range chicken and lamb, and ocean wild-caught fish. Protein deficiency can cause muscle mass to decrease. Also, our brains need protein because the neurotransmitters in our brains are made out of the amino acids from protein. Nuts and legumes contain protein as well, but are not as concentrated as the protein found in meat and animal products.
Recipe of the month! Sauteed Chard and Salmon
1: Cut salmon fillets into 6-8 pieces, season with pepper to taste. Squeeze on lemon juice, then drizzle with tamari and sesame iol. Turn pieces over and coat all surfaces. Set aside while you prepare the greens.
2: Wash chard, then cut/strip leaves from stalks. Chop leaves coarsely. Slice stalks crosswise into ¼ inch pieces. Set aside.
3: In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5-7 minutes, until soft and translucent. Reduce heat if onions cook too fast. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
4: Stir in chard stems and 2-3 tablespoons water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Stir greens into onion mixture, cover and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. When ready, greens should be tender and still bright green. Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and stir. Remove to a platter
5: In a skillet, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil over medium heat. Add the salmon pieces in a single layer and cook for 1 to 2 minutes each side; when salmon is cooked, place on top of greens. Garnish with radishes, serve with brown rice. | <urn:uuid:0b5e1bc3-202d-4517-979a-d1e80005efa0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.take5moment.com/cgi/members.mpl?Action=View&id=362&media_type=blog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940587 | 1,094 | 3.171875 | 3 |
A New Labor Movement
By Spencer E. Ante
is a born labor organizer. But, after years of working within the
traditional labor movement, the 35-year-old activist has become
deeply frustrated with public and private institutions unable to
keep up with the hyper speed world of business. So she has come
up with a plan to rewrite the rules of labor.
that the whole legal framework of the 1930s wasn't working for this
workforce," says Horowitz, the executive director of Working
Today, a two-year-old nonprofit organization for self-employed workers.
"It's a very disjointed world if you're a free agent."
need for such "free agents" to have specially tailored
representation is clear. In 1986, the number of temps employed each
day was 800,000, but the number had more than tripled by last year,
according to the National Association of Temporary and Staffing
Services. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute determined
that self-employed and temporary workers now make up 30 percent
of the American workforce.
these workers are hired as so-called long-term temps: employees
who work at a company for at least one year, have flexible hours
and high take-home pay, but no benefits or job security. High-tech
firms, such as Microsoft, AT&T, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, and
Boeing are particularly avid employers of long-term temps.
The use of long-term
temps escalated in the early 1990s, after the Internal Revenue Service
alerted companies that they had erroneously classified thousands
of workers as independent contractors and ordered the companies
to pay overdue taxes. Companies then asked many of the same workers
to sign up with temp agencies, which sent the workers back to their
old companies and old jobs.
is still no prohibition on hiring long-term temps, but such workers
are increasingly restive. Many have filed suits claiming that they
deserve the same benefits as regular workers.
In spite of
these rumblings, labor unions have so far had scant success in attracting
high-tech temps. "New media professionals have very little
time for organizing activity," says Cornell professor Susan
Christopherson, who studies labor practices in the entertainment
industry. "They've got to be convinced that these organizations
are providing them with something that they need. Also, this part
of the workforce is more difficult to organize and more resistant
to organizing because they don't think of themselves as 'workers'
but as 'professionals.'"
increasing numbers of contractors and "professional" temps
are seeking collective bargaining agreements. One high profile example
is the Washington Alliance of Technical Workers or WashTech, which
is seeking to organize thousands of temporary high-tech employees
in the Puget Sound region. Others are springing up nationwide. Just
last week a group of New York computer professionals announced its
intention to start a guild.
Part of the same movement, Working Today is particularly keen on
partnering with wired workers, who are a large part of the contingent
labor force. A Coopers & Lybrand survey of New York's new media
industry, for instance, shows that 47,000, or nearly half , of new
media jobs are filled by freelance or part-time workers, the majority
of whom are employed for less than six months.
Today out of a small office in lower Manhattan, Horowitz hopes to
unite the fragmented workforce and provide individuals with the
bargaining muscle of a union and the political power of a lobbying
juggernaut. So far, the organization claims 60,000 members from
more than 18 professional groups, including Asian Women in Media,
the Computer Game Developers Association, and the Society of Telecommunications
such workers are cheap and concrete. By ponying up Working Today's
US$10 membership fee, workers get discounted rates on health insurance,
office supplies, computer software, and airline tickets. New Yorkers
who join Working Today, for example, can buy a package including
drug, dental, vision, and life insurance with a $1,000 deductible
for $255 a month. Membership also includes a prepaid legal plan.
The next goal
is uniting New York's large community of wired workers. To that
end, Working Today launched a pilot project to explore the feasibility
of creating a health and pension fund for new media workers. The
fund will probably resemble the one devised by the Screen Actors
Guild and will allow workers to keep their benefits as they hyperlink
from employer to employer and project to project. It will also make
it easy for employers to contribute to a health insurance or retirement
plan, thereby increasing the security of free agents.
the New Media project up and running, Working Today is beginning
to attract members of the infotech workforce. In May, the World
Wide Web Artists Consortium, New York's most prominent new media
group, joined the Working Today network.
that organizing contingent workers is a Sisyphian struggle, but
she remains optimistic. "This group of people is learning that
they'd be much better off by forming associations instead of going
at it alone," says Horowitz. "WWWAC, in a sense, is the
new labor movement, but people have been doing this for 200 years."
MS Loses Round
in Temp Case 26.Jan.98
Microsoft Appeal in Freelance Case 26.Jan.98
Wanna Pull an
All-Nighter, Sans Overtime? 22.Dec.97
The Lower-Caste Life of a Microsoft Temp 18.Nov.96
© 1993-98 Wired Ventures Inc. and affiliated companies. All | <urn:uuid:dd012a68-cff6-40d9-9c36-a48234984de0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.net4dem.org/cyrev/archive/issue8/articles/Temps/Temps1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936973 | 1,205 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Suppose . Suppose we have: Let these equal , and respectively. Show that these elements have order 2 in the group . So just square the elements and verify that you get the identity?
What is the subgroup of generated by the elements?
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View Tag Cloud | <urn:uuid:72ccdc45-b430-47c0-95aa-03746ac2e89b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathhelpforum.com/advanced-algebra/122879-conjugation.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900305 | 64 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Tasman Peninsula is a land of farms, forests, sheer dolerite cliffs, sweeping views across the Tasman Sea and the place of the world’s southern-most historic prison. It is almost an island apart - when you turn right at the historic town of Sorell (look out for the signs to the Fruit Farm), you’re heading south for scenery, wildlife, heritage and adventure.
As you travel south past Hobart International Airport look out for Barilla Bay, where you can sit in the sun overlooking the oysters beds that produce the succulent oysters they serve up on the half shell. Further south, look out for small local vineyards at Copping and Bream Creek and cafes selling local specialities, octopus, oysters, quail and venison.
Just near Dunalley is Potters Croft craft shop where you will find the works of some of Tasmania‘s best crafts people, the Dunalley Waterfront Café and Antiques and the Dunalley Fish Market.
As you head down the long hill into Eaglehawk Neck a narrow isthmus, imagine that before you is a line of half-starved hounds waiting to attack any convict trying to escape.
You have the choice of exploring short or multi-day walks in the Tasman National Park, sweeping beaches, forest walks beside some of Australia’s tallest sea cliffs, carved into weird natural sculptures over millions of years by crashing waves and endless winds, or heading straight to Port Arthur Historic Site.
Here, you’ll step back 150 years - exploring a prison that was once feared and reviled. That’s hard to conceive as you stroll beneath graceful old English trees, through 19th century-style gardens and cruise the bay to Point Puer and the Isle of the Dead.
The township of Port Arthur overlooks the water and is a good place to stay when exploring the area.
Returning northwards turn off through the magnificent Wielangta Forest Drive, where rare parrots flash through the blue gums. Beyond the trees are the gentle landscapes of the east coast.
To find out more about the Port Arthur region’s many attractions, visit Totally South. | <urn:uuid:6a5de24d-aa10-46f9-9238-ca370aa58685> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ens.discovertasmania.com/destinations/port_arthur,_tasman_peninsula_and_the_south_east | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903323 | 455 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) May 29, 2012
In Canton, Ohio, Jacob Gradman, a Great Estate Roadshow buyer, recently had the opportunity to purchase a 10 carat diamond. The story behind acquiring the diamond was intriguing according to Gradman. The diamond was originated in Canada and was purchased by a Cadillac dealer in Juneau, Alaska, who had the diamond set in a ring for his wife. His wife did not like the ring because it would catch in her clothes and knock on the furniture. The Cadillac dealer then had the diamond reset as a man’s pinky ring. In 1964, the man from Juneau lost the ring while playing high stakes poker in Canton, OH.
“The seller of the ring was a big poker player and went by the name, 'Kid Canton,'” said Gradman. "Kid Canton was born and raised in Canton, OH, and had played with all the great poker players. He was a big fan of flashy jewelry as most poker players are."
Gradman said that Canton was at a high stakes poker game in Ohio, when the call was $5,000 to the man from Juneau and he lost. "Kid Canton became the new owner of the ring and he continued to wear it throughout the years as a reminder of his card playing days," Gradman stated.
Great Estate Roadshow is the largest purchaser of gold, silver, antiques, and collectible items in the United States. Great Estate Roadshow is now in Los Angeles and Glenwood, California; Burlington, Iowa; Evansville, Indiana; Detroit, Michigan; Dallas, Texas, Rutland, Vermont; and Gainesville, Florida starting Tuesday, May 29 from 4 pm- 8 pm; Wednesday, May 30, Thursday, May 31, Friday, June 1 from 10 am to 6 pm; and Saturday, June 2 from 9 am to 3 pm.
Each week in every city that Great Estate Roadshow has events, typical purchases include the discovery of rare coins such as a three legged buffalo coin, coin collections, silver ware, and old swords. Additionally, in each city—small or large—a person comes in with an item that he or she believes is not worth much; however, because of Great Estate Roadshow's extensive list of collectors throughout the country, the item is worth much more. The customer leaves happy with more money than expected. | <urn:uuid:b6300256-ea33-48fa-b043-80ebe8a8cde4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9545896.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983933 | 497 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Google has been working on its Chromebook with the release 60,000 CR-48 in December of 2010 and released final products last week at Google I/O last week. The Chromebook hardware is lacking a hard drive which forces the user into the cloud for all of their computing needs. The up side is that since users do not have to install anti-viruses, instead relying on web services and Google “multi-layers” security including sandboxing, data encryption, and verified boot. This is appealing to those who really don’t know how to take care of a computer or businesses looking to cut costs.
Samsung and Acer are coming out with Chromebooks and Ubergizmo got to spend some time with the Samsung with its 12.1 inch ”SuperBright” display with 16:10 ratio, an Intel dual-core N570 Processor, a HD built-in webcam. It is meant to last for 8,5 hours and Acer who is coming out with an 11.6 inch model has a unit with similar specs but will only be able to provide 6.5 hours of battery life. Google was big on the 8 seconds booting time but to be honest don’t you just wake up your computer most of the time?
The highly requested feature from the CR-48 trial program was the ability to transfer photos to the laptop, so Google added SD card and USB mass storage support, but despite the 16 GB of internal storage, people will not be able to store any files locally. The push is to get people into the cloud The 16 GB SSD is only used to cache movies and realistically 16GB isn’t really enough space to store much so you’d really have to use the cloud anyways.
Google added SD card support so people can upload their pictures directly to the cloud using the Chromebook. Its not very sexy, but it will get the job done! It is possible to plug a camera via USB but Chrome OS will only support the devices that cannot mount as USB mass storage.
For something like this to work we are going to need the guarantee of being constantly connected to the internet. Which is why the slightly more expensive worldwide 3G option comes with free, 100 MB per month of mobile broadband from Verizon for two years.
The Wi-Fi-only Acer starts at $349, with the price for the 3G worldwide model yet to be announced. The Samsung with Wi-Fi will cost $429, while the worldwide 3G version will set you back $499. If you ask me $is on par with full notebooks, they aren’t portable but they sure give you more bang for your buck! If you ask me the Chromebook is going to have to drop into the $250-$300 range if they want to take on the and Microsoft!!
Samsung Series 5 Specifications
0.79-inch thin case
Full-size Chrome keyboard
Oversized multi-touch trackpad
Intel Dual-core N570 1.66Ghz Processor
12.1-inch SuperBright Display – 36% brighter than standard display
Boots in less than 10-seconds
When asleep, resumes in 1 second
Up to 8.5 hours battery life – varies with type of usage
HD Webcam, built-in digital microphone and stereo speakers
Two USB ports – can charge mobile phones and accessories
Almost useless 16 GB internal storage (SSD)
USB mass storage support
SD, SDHC, MMC support
If you wanted to check out an official video of the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook here it is below: | <urn:uuid:b9f0c45b-207f-496c-a7a7-7675846ed1e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netbooknews.com/25552/samsung-series-5-chromebook-preview/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935087 | 732 | 1.5 | 2 |
The first-ever Cheese School will be April 4-7, 2013. Following in the footsteps of our craft workshops, Cheese School will be an intensive, hands-on long-weekend workshop.
Thursday – Sunday (includes overnight stay Sunday and breakfast on Monday)
We’ll start with a mixer Thursday night with nibbles and several cheeses to sample. Friday and Saturday will be chock-a-block with hands-on home cheesemaking. You’ll learn to make mozzarella, chevre, feta, paneer, and ricotta, plus butter and yogurt, and a hard cheese (TBA!). You’ll also learn to cook with both commercial and your own homemade cheese, with student participation and/or demos for many of the meals. Finally, we’ll wrap up with an artisan cheesemaking talk/demo and a paired tasting from the award-winning cheesemaker of Green Dirt Farm. You’ll leave with your own cheeses, plus a wonderful goodie bag and cooler tote with Green Dirt Farm cheese, cultures, and cheesemaking supplies.
Cheese School includes:
- Welcome cheese party
- 2 full days of hands-on home cheesemaking basics with Charlene Osman
- Artisan cheese talk/demo with paired tastings from Green Dirt Farm
- Cooking demos (some hands-on) and recipes with Nikol Lohr
- Cheeses made with farm-fresh cow’s and goat’s milk from a small, diversified local family farm
- 4 nights in shared guest rooms in former high school classrooms (double or triple occupancy; bring a friend or we can assign)
- All meals and snacks
- A take-home goodie bag and cooler tote with cheese, cheesemaking supplies, and condiments
- Samples of all of your cheeses to take home with you
- relaxing on the playground, snuzzles from the sheep
- Plus a few surprises!
CHEESE SCHOOL is $485 and includes everything. Accommodations are shared rooms in former classrooms. We also have a few private rooms available for an additional $100. Due to the season and the nature of instruction, space is very limited!
Register with a $200 deposit (refundable until March 4, 2013). You’ll pay your balance when you check in. | <urn:uuid:2cc58b50-f658-436c-bd90-c6c8afd89a53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://harveyvilleproject.com/?page_id=322 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926532 | 496 | 1.765625 | 2 |
This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.
Record Power Demand Marks Blackout Anniversary
August marks the second anniversary of one of the largest U.S. power blackouts. On August 14th, 2003, 50 million people throughout the Northeast lost electricity in a power outage lasting, in some places, several days. In April 2004, the U.S. and Canada issued a joint report on their investigation of the causes of the blackout. Following the recommendations in the report, the two governments have taken several steps to ensure electric reliability and avoid future outages. Among those steps: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) established an electric reliability division to advise on standards proposed by industry-based organizations; the North American Reliability Council (NERC) established an audit program to monitor training and equipment of companies and organizations with responsibilities for real-time grid management; and, most recently, the Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed this summer, makes compliance with reliability standards mandatory under federal law. NERC also plans to expand the purview of its reliability standards. See the DOE press release.
Electric reliability has been tested repeatedly this summer as individual utilities as well as independent grid operators have each set new records for electricity demand. According to the Edison Electric Institute, the U.S. electric power industry set a new record for power demand in late July, providing 95,259 gigawatt-hours of power, 5.3 percent above the previous record set back in August 2002. While no blackouts have been reported, PJM—the electricity grid operator for 51 million people in 13 eastern states and the District of Columbia—instituted a brownout on July 27th, reducing voltage by 5 percent in portions of its territory to maintain overall system reliability. In August, the company has continued to call on its customers to reduce their power usage through conservation. See the press releases from the Edison Electric Institute and PJM. | <urn:uuid:4d4be6e0-01e5-4b08-b650-2c2145b75fe3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=9292 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953416 | 394 | 3 | 3 |
AGW Global Warming an undeniable fact or is it?
"A polar bear managed to get on one of the last ice floes floating in the Arctic sea. Due to global warming the natural environment of the polar bear in the Arctic has changed a lot. The Arctic sea has much less ice than it had some years ago. (This images is a photoshop design. Polarbear, ice floe, ocean and sky are real, they were just not together in the way they are now)"
Seems Science Magazine did a little Photo Shopping to get the Al Gore epic misadventure of the Plight of the Polar Bears..
Well another "undeniable FACT" just got shot down. Every time we turn around another AGW groupie bites the dust. | <urn:uuid:d9d16807-0e78-47d6-8bbb-f336bd41325a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecitizennews.com/node/2438?quicktabs_3=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956456 | 158 | 1.640625 | 2 |
This article is reprinted with permission from University Washington Television, it appeared on the home page in April of 2007.
UW TV Interview
Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler has made it her mission to help students with disabilities achieve their college and career goals. As director of Accessible Technology Services for UW Computing & Communications, she looks for ways that technology can make learning and employment more accessible to those with disabilities. Through the DO-IT Scholars program that Burgstahler founded and directs, hundreds of students with disabilities have achieved successful careers—commonly in fields such as science, engineering and technology.
Burgstahler was recognized recently with the prestigious 2006 Harry J. Murphy Catalyst Award, which honors those who bring people together and facilitate the efforts of others in the field of technology and disability. Her program has gained an international reputation, aspects of which are modeled by institutions across the country and around the world.
Read the UWTV Insider interview with Dr. Burgstahler and be sure to catch the new DO-IT programs that air this month: "Self-Examination: Is Your Campus Accessible?" and "Invisible Disabilities & Postsecondary Education." | <urn:uuid:6c6d53bf-0c87-497d-b5a5-ad260d7c829a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washington.edu/doit/Press/uwtv.apr.07.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959163 | 239 | 1.960938 | 2 |
America Supports You: Teen Sets Sights on 2.6 Million Thanks
American Forces Press Service
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 3, 2006 The Defense Department's "America Supports You" program and Shauna Fleming, 16, founder of "A Million Thanks," launched the "2.6 in 2006" letter-writing campaign Jan. 1.
President Bush receives the millionth "A Million Thanks" letter from Shauna Fleming of Orange County, Calif., in the Oval Office on Nov. 17, 2004. Fleming, founder of A Million Thanks, a letter-writing campaign to collect thank-you letters and e-mails for distribution to U.S. servicemembers, has set her sights on bringing the program's total to 2.6 million greetings this year. Photo by Eric Draper, The White House
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
The goal of the new campaign is to increase the number of letters of thanks sent to servicemembers through the "A Million Thanks" program to 2.6 million -- the total number of people in the armed forces, including the Guard and Reserve -- with the bulk of the letters coming from school-aged children.
The initiative invites America's youth to make it their New Year's resolution to find ways to show their support for members of the U.S. armed forces and to start by sending a letter of thanks to a servicemember as part of the "2.6 in 2006" campaign.
Officials with America Supports You, a program that highlights what Americans across the country are doing to support the military, will work closely with Fleming to help her reach her goal. Fleming's A Million Thanks was the first organization to join America Supports You in conjunction with its launch in November 2004.
Fleming established A Million Thanks in May 2004 as a high school community service project to do something special for the troops. She reached her initial goal of collecting a million letters in October 2004 and presented a framed copy of the millionth letter to President Bush in the Oval Office. After reaching the 1 million mark, Fleming set out to increase the number to 1.4 million letters - the number of active duty military members - and reached her second goal in November 2005.
"I'm very excited about working with the America Supports You program on the '2.6 in 2006' letter-writing campaign to reach out to America's youth," the Orange County, Calif., teenager said. "I've heard directly from servicemembers who have received our letters, and I know firsthand how much they appreciate the program. Sending a letter provides school children a hands-on and productive way to show support for the troops."
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Allison Barber said she looks forward to working with Fleming on the campaign.
"Shauna is a wonderful example of how our nation's youth can actively participate in showing our military men and women that the American people, especially our children, support them," Barber said. "She understands the impact that letters have on troop morale and the positive effect that writing these letters has on our children here at home. We're excited about the opportunity to work with Shauna to reach out to school children from across the country in an effort to engage them in this unique New Year's resolution challenge."
Since starting her A Million Thanks campaign, Fleming has received support from celebrities such as country music artist John Michael Montgomery, who helped Shauna promote her campaign on the radio. Montgomery's No. 1 song "Letters From Home" also became the A Million Thanks theme song. Actor Gary Sinise, star of the hit television series "CSI: NY" and co-founder of Operation Iraqi Children, also has helped Shauna get the word out by doing television interviews with the teen.
Shauna and her organization also were featured at two major NASCAR races.
(From an A Million Thanks news release.) | <urn:uuid:e19d9d17-0af3-45ab-8c9d-32db7c51b745> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=14710 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965142 | 800 | 1.632813 | 2 |
|Place from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium|
|Location||Bay of Belfalas|
|Lord||Kings of Númenor
later Black Númenóreans
later Kings of Gondor
later Corsairs of Umbar
later Reunited Kingdom
Umbar is a fictional place in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. It was a great haven and seaport to the far south of Gondor in Middle-earth. 'Umbar' was a name—of unknown meaning—given to the area by its original inhabitants. The Númenóreans adopted the name, probably aware that 'Umbar' was the Quenya word for 'fate'.
Fictional context
Umbar was located on the south-western coast of Middle-earth. The great cape and land-locked firth of Umbar south of the Bay of Belfalas formed a natural harbour of enclosing rock, but the "great fortress of Númenor" (The Lord of the Rings) within it was not built until S.A. 2280. It was only by this time that the evil necromancer Sauron had dared to threaten Númenor: "...the strength of his terror and mastery over men had grown exceedingly great, he began to assail the strong places of the Númenóreans upon the shores of the sea."
Like the earlier New Haven in Enedwaith far to the northwest, and the later harbour Pelargir on the river Anduin, Umbar became a base from which Númenórean influence spread over Middle-earth. It was at Umbar that the last king of Númenor, Ar-Pharazôn the Golden, landed in S.A. 3261, to challenge Sauron. After the Downfall of Númenor 58 years later, Umbar remained in the hands of the Númenóreans, in essence a Realm in Exile alongside Arnor and Gondor. But unlike these others, Umbar had been used by the "King's Men", who had turned to the worship of Sauron's former master Melkor in the last days of Númenor. These "King's Men", unfriendly to the Elves and to their fellow Númenórean survivors who were allied to the Elves, became known as Black Númenóreans.
Two Black Númenórean lords, Herumor and Fuinur, were probably from Umbar, as at the end of the Second Age they became very powerful amongst the Haradrim, a neighbouring people. Their fate is unknown, but they likely shared Sauron's defeat at the hands of the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. The rulers of Umbar retained much influence over the Haradwaith, the land of the Haradrim, well into the Third Age. When not under Gondor's rule Umbar's system of government may have been a duumvirate: Black Númenórean and later Corsair Lords are paired when mentioned in Tolkien's works. Examples of this are Herumor and Fuinur, and later Angamaitë and Sangahyando.
Gondor's power, however, eclipsed that of Umbar as the Third Age progressed, and in T.A. 933 Gondor's King Eärnil I captured Umbar in a surprise attack, although this was "at great cost." For the following 500 years, Umbar was an important Gondorian city, a major seaport and a strategic centre from which Gondor projected influence over the Harad. It also marked the site of the submission of Sauron to Ar-Pharazôn, and so served as a proud reminder of the might of the Dúnedain of old:
- on the highest hill of the headland above the Haven they (…) set a great white pillar as a monument. It was crowned with a globe of crystal that took the rays of the Sun and of the Moon and shone like a bright star that could be seen in clear weather even on the coasts of Gondor or far out upon the western sea.
Even the Faithful who founded Gondor and Arnor respected the column, as it was a symbol of the submission of Sauron to the might of Númenor before he corrupted them. Many Black Númenóreans had fled Umbar from the assault of T.A. 933, to their subjects in Near Harad, but 82 years later they attempted to recapture the city. Despite killing King Ciryandil in their attack and then besieging Umbar for 35 years, they failed to take the city. Its supply was easily maintained "because of the sea-power of Gondor". In T.A. 1050, Ciryandil's son, Hyarmendacil I utterly defeated the Haradrim attackers.
During the Gondorian Kin-strife, Umbar consistently supported Castamir the Usurper. Thus, Gondorian possession of Umbar came to an abrupt end in c. T.A. 1448. Umbar rebelled against Gondor and became independent. Eldacar at the time had no navy, so was obliged to let Umbar go. Castamir's descendants and their followers, the notorious Corsairs of Umbar, quickly established themselves as a major military threat to Gondor. Alone and in alliance with the nearby Haradrim, they were a constant menace to shipping in Gondor's waters, and on many occasions attacked its coastal regions. Gondor prepared to retaliate, but these preparations were soon halted as Gondor was soon after ravaged by the Great Plague. Vengeance, if not swift, was certainly devastating: 176 years after Minardil's death, his great-grand nephew succeeded in briefly recapturing Umbar, and even renamed himself Umbardacil. However, Umbar was soon again lost to Harad.
Throughout the rest of The Third Age, Umbar was home to a new generation of 'Corsairs of Umbar'. These new Corsairs were cruel slavers who often raided the coasts of Belfalas and Anfalas in Gondor. In T.A. 2746, for example, Amrothos, the 15th Prince of Dol Amroth, fell defending his town against them.
When Sauron declared himself openly again in 2951, Umbar declared its allegiance to him, and the great monument commemorating Ar-Pharazôn's triumph at Umbar was thrown down. Umbar's fleet was largely destroyed 29 years later, when Thorongil, in fact Aragorn, the last heir to the throne of Gondor, as it later turned out, who was then in the service of the Steward of Gondor Ecthelion II in disguise, led a taskforce south and burned them, killing the Captain of the Haven in the process.
During the War of the Ring, Umbar had not fully recovered from this, but could still send "fifty great ships and smaller vessels beyond count" to raid the coastlands of Gondor and draw off major forces from the defence of Minas Tirith. They were once again defeated by Aragorn, and the Dead Men of Dunharrow.
The Corsairs of Umbar were first mentioned in The Return of the King when this third volume of The Lord of the Rings was published in 1955. The Appendix A to The Lord of the Rings, "Annals of the Kings and Rulers", also contains an overview of the fictional history of Gondor including the constant strife with Umbar until the end of the Third Age. The Silmarillion, edited by Tolkien's son Christopher from his father's manuscripts and published in 1977 five years after Tolkien's death, contains a part Akallabêth. This expands further on the events of the Second and Third Age that had been mentioned before in the Appendix to The Lord of the Rings. Umbar appeared on the bottom edge of the maps found in earlier editions of The Lord of the Rings, but it is absent from modern editions, which maps a slightly smaller area of Middle-earth.
Concept and creation
A possible influence for the Corsairs of Umbar may have been pirates of the North-African Barbary Coast who used to act as auxiliary troops for the Ottoman Empire. David Salo, however, has compared the sea-going empire of Umbar to Carthage.
- Flieger, Verlyn (2009). "The Music and the Task: Fate and Free Will in Middle-earth". Tolkien Studies 6: 157. "...in primitive Quenya umbar, ‘fate,’ ..."
- Foster, Robert (1971), The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, New York: Del Rey, p. 509, ISBN 0-345-32436-6
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1977), in Christopher Tolkien, The Silmarillion, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "Akallabêth", ISBN 0-395-25730-1
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1996), in Christopher Tolkien, The Peoples of Middle-earth, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "The Heirs of Elendil", ISBN 0-395-82760-4
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955), The Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings, Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 1987), "Appendix A", Annals of the Kings and Rulers, ISBN 0-395-08256-0
- Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980), in Christopher Tolkien, Unfinished Tales, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, "The Istari", ISBN 0-395-29917-9
- Anwar, Zakarya. "An evaluation of a post-colonial critique of Tolkien". University of Central Lancashire. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
- Salo, David (2004). "Heroism and Alienation through Language in The Lord of the Rings". In Driver, Martha W.; Ray, Sid. The Medieval Hero on Screen: Representations from Beowulf to Buffy. McFarland. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-7864-1926-5.
- "Haven of Umbar". Encyclopedia of Arda. 9 October 2010.
- Discussion of Umbar related issues at - http://lalaith.vpsurf.de/Tolkien/Fr_Umbar.html | <urn:uuid:36e3b21c-37e5-4bba-8e39-1f5a4725b26b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943389 | 2,223 | 2.421875 | 2 |
NAMESAKES: John Sopinka Courthouse
STORIES BEHIND LOCAL PLACE NAMES
Spectator file photo
The Hamilton John Sopinka Courthouse.
THE PLACE: The John Sopinka Courthouse is on Main Street East in Hamilton.
THE NAME: John Sopinka (1933-1997) was a Supreme Court of Canada justice.
THE STORY: Sopinka came to Hamilton as a boy in 1939, later moving to Stoney Creek where he graduated from Saltfleet high school. While attending law school, he played football with the Toronto Argonauts and the Montreal Alouettes. His appointment to the Supreme Court in 1988 was a surprise to many because he had no prior experience as a judge with a lower court.
Have a Namesakes suggestion? | <urn:uuid:453f2116-2e7e-4cc6-98d5-8e811f84e665> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thespec.com/news-story/2263439-namesakes-john-sopinka-courthouse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945353 | 161 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Doug Ward, Peter O'Neil, Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun, May 29, 2012
The federal government is sabotaging its own legislated requirement to protect endangered freshwater fish by weakening the Fisheries Act, four former federal fisheries ministers from B.C. and Canadian scientists say in separate letters to the Harper government.
The four former ministers - Conservatives Tom Siddon and John Fraser and Liberals David Anderson and Herb Dhaliwal - wrote in their letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper that they are concerned about the erosion of Ottawa's statutory responsibility to protect fish habitat.
"Migratory salmon and steelhead are icons of our home province," the former ministers from B.C. stated. "Our experience persuades us that their continued survival would be endangered without adequate federal regulation and enforcement, particularly in the area of habitat protection."
Proposed changes to the Fisheries Act in Bill C-38 "will inevitably reduce and weaken the habitat protection provisions," and the Conservative government has provided "no plausible, let alone a convincing, rationale for proceeding with the unusual process that has been adopted," they said.
The former ministers said the proposed changes amount to "using a sledgehammer to swat a fly" and reminded the Harper government that the fisheries are essential to coastal communities, especially those with many first nations people.
Their broadside against the Harper government came as the 1,000-member Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution (CSEE) warned Ottawa in a different letter - to be sent today - that the proposed revisions mean the majority of freshwater fish and up to 80 per cent of the 71 freshwater species at risk of extinction would lose protection.
That letter is signed by Dalhousie University professor Jeffrey Hutchings, a current member and former chairman of the federal government's main independent advisory body on species at risk, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The letter also denounces the closure of a world-renowned experimental lakes area (ELA) in northwestern Ontario, a research facility and area that includes 58 small lakes and their watersheds.
The decision was described in the latest edition of the British magazine Nature as the equivalent of the U.S. shuttering the Los Alamos nuclear physics site.
University of Alberta fresh-water researcher David Schindler, who founded ELA in the late 1960s and ran it until 1989, said in an interview that research at the site has led to the removal of phosphorus from detergents and sewage. Work at the site was also critical in the development of tough acid rain rules.
"The financial implications of this alone are worth billions of dollars."
CSEE member Nick Dulvy, a Simon Fraser University professor who formerly worked as a fisheries scientist in the British government, said the moves add to his growing alarm about the Harper government's "misuse" of science.
"In my time working in the U.K. government, I never saw any sign that any of the behaviour, practice or actions of the Canadian government would be even remotely tolerated," Dulvy - who was recruited by SFU to be Canada Research Chair in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation - said in an email interview.
The proposed changes to the Fisheries Act are in Bill C-38, the omnibus budget implementation bill now being studied by two House of Commons committees. The legislation would eliminate one of the most powerful environmental components of federal law - the ban on any activity that results in "harmful" alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat.
It is being replaced by a prohibition against activity that results in "serious harm" to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or aboriginal fishery, or any fish that supports one of those three fisheries.
"Serious harm" is defined as the "death of fish" or any "permanent" alteration to, or "destruction" of, fish habitat.
"This revision will remove habitat protection for most of Canada's freshwater fish," Hutchings wrote on behalf of the 1,000 scientists.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun | <urn:uuid:abcb8a58-07f4-441d-93df-cb2f0bb0bf33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sqwalk.com/q/scientists-ex-ministers-slam-federal-changes-fisheries-act | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957986 | 830 | 1.875 | 2 |
Welcome to the North Jersey History & Genealogy Center Digital Collections, a department within the Morristown & Morris Township Public Library. We present materials here that are from our Special Collections and Archives, ranging in subject matter from everyday life in 19th century Northern Jersey, to the art of Thomas Nast and A.B. Frost, detailed historical maps and atlases, Morristown's Gilded Age, and fascinating images of Morris County life by the early 20th century documentary photographer Frederick Curtiss. Our patrons are now able to find images and historical information with easy and accurate subject searching, and we are able to save wear and tear on these fragile items. Collections are presented in a variety of formats, including photographs, art, and text. Our Digital Collections will be expanded and updated on an ongoing basis. | <urn:uuid:2ab386bc-c5fe-446b-a336-01a5c417bb1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cdm15387.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/about/collection/p15387coll8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905248 | 164 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Five smart, greedy and mean pirates find themselves on a boat with 100 gold coins. The pirates are ranked according to seniority, from 1 to 5, the most senior being ranked 1. Here is the deal: the most senior pirate must make a proposal for splitting the coins among the pirates, including herself (no fractional coins!). If her proposal has at least 50 percent acceptance (she votes, too), she is fine; otherwise, the other four pirates throw her into the shark-infested sea. The remaining pirates play the same game, starting with a proposal from the next most senior pirate, that is, the pirate ranked 2.
The puzzle: what should pirate No. 1 propose?
This puzzle appears in Ian Stewart’s Math Hysteria: Fun and Games with Mathematics. Professor Stewart is a remarkably prolific and insightful author, so I used this puzzle as an excuse to ask him about the fundamental challenge every professional mathematician grapples with. How is he able to switch between deep inquiry and daily practicalities?
Professor Stewart’s response:
There have been times when I have spectacularly failed to make the switch — I once became so immersed in a math problem that I forgot to eat my lunch; I have also managed to miss vital appointments for the same reason. Time flies when you’re having fun…
To avoid this, I stick post-it notes on my computer. That usually works.
I do quite a bit of my mathematical thinking on trains, where the math has a captive audience (me) with little else to do. Arriving at the station generally brings me back into the real world.
In the other direction: it’s easier to remain immersed in the real world, but sometimes mathematical inspiration can and does strike at awkward moments. It often has to go on the back burner until there’s time to think it through. I try to scribble a short note to myself with the main ideas. Then I can usually reconstruct the thought.
Recap: The Spiraling Skater
Two weeks ago we encountered The Spiraling Skater — a puzzle proposed by reader Hansen Chen, who had encountered the problem as a Princeton graduate student. In solving the puzzle, Numberplay readers discovered a surprising twist.
The puzzle: A gliding figure skater is connected to a pole by a taut slender ribbon that winds around the pole, pulling the skater into a beautiful spiral. If the skater is traveling at 5 meters/second when her outstretched hand is 1.5 meters from the 0.1-meter diameter pole, how fast is she going when she touches the pole?
The original solution: 5 meters/second. Gary from D.C. said it well in an early comment: “It appears that she’s moving faster – indeed, each revolution is faster as the ribbon gets shorter – and that faster rotational speed conserves angular momentum – but her absolute velocity should remain constant.” As Brian Seeman put it, “At any point in time, you can cut the string and the skater sails away at the original energy: 1/2 mv2.”
The revised solution: 4.9 meters/second. The 5 meters/second solution lasted for a day or so. Then Giovanni Ciriani noticed something. “A second-order approximation of the problem suggests that, as the skater approaches the pole, some kinetic energy is transformed into rotational energy. Therefore, if we assume energy conservation, the speed will be slightly less than 5 m/s.”
Amazing. Frobozzz saw this as well: “Doesn’t the skater also have rotational energy? She rotates once every revolution around the pole, so assuming her skate won’t prevent her from spinning (not true but assume it), if you suddenly cut the ribbon besides leaving in a straight line wouldn’t she be spinning?”
That is, cutting the ribbon would end the skater’s spiral. She would go sailing away in a straight line, spinning like a top as she went.
Mr. Ciriani ran the calculation and found the skater would slow during the spiral by about 2 percent, or from 5.0 to 4.9 meters/second.
Wow. A great catch by Mr. Ciriani and Frobozzz. Was rotational energy ever explored in the Princeton physics course that taught this problem? I asked Dr. Chen and received this response by e-mail: “No. It was not brought up because it was a large introductory undergraduate class and it would have confused the students.”
- Thank you, Ian Stewart, for the personal reflection. Professor Stewart is emeritus professor of mathematics at the University of Warwick, England. He wrote the “Mathematical Recreations” column in Scientific American for 10 years, has written two dozen popular books on mathematics and has published over 140 scientific papers. His most recent book is The Mathematics of Life.
- Much gratitude to longtime Numberplay reader Marco Moriconi for suggesting this week’s swashbuckler of a puzzle. Mr. Moriconi, who has a Ph.D. from Princeton, is a theoretical physicist working in Rio de Janeiro. He says he’s “been interested in all sorts of puzzles since… well, since ever, like most puzzle lovers – hard to remember when the addiction started.”
- Arrr. Know ye some godforsaken trasure of a puzzle broadside? Send th’ barnacle-covered creation to firstname.lastname@example.org.
- Be needin’ to talk pirate? Check out Cap’n Redpen’s Pirate Translator. If you’re already fluent, consider google searrrch.
- Pradeep Mutalik returns next week. | <urn:uuid:fec5195e-3069-4a21-aa08-59df8aeba334> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/numberplay-5-pirate-puzzl/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938199 | 1,214 | 1.992188 | 2 |
A few important chores, like lifting tubers and adding lime to the lawn, will set up your garden for its winter sleep.
Before the end of October, there are a few important chores to complete in the garden before you can say you have put it to bed for winter.
If you have not done it already, you need to lift and pack away your dahlia tubers to protect them for another year.
You should also be getting ready to wrap your banana trees, as well as your Tasmanian tree ferns to protect them over winter.
Lawns could use a sprinkling of lime, as well as a little winter fertilizer to keep the grass healthy over the cold spell.
It's also a good time to get your cedar and boxwood hedges neatly trimmed before winter.
Here's a little more detail on how to do all of these tasks:
HOW TO LIFT AND STORE DAHLIAS
Ideally, you want to lift tubers any time from the end of October to the middle of November.
The traditional approach is to wait until frost turns foliage black and then dig up tubers, but this doesn't always happen in milder areas, and it is also impractical for gardeners to wait around when they want the job done.
Before you start to dig, you need to cut away the foliage, which sometimes involves slicing off perfectly good flowers.
Save these to display indoors. Snip away until you have reduced the plant to the bare bones of just the stems poking out of the ground.
Don't use a garden fork. You risk accidentally piercing tubers with the prongs. Use a spade and dig deeply to lift the clumps.
Start by working around the outside of the clump, about 15 inches from the main stem.
Once you have completed a circle of the plant, you should find the clump is loose enough in the ground to start lifting.
Don't pull the tubers up by the main stem. Push your spade as deeply as possible under the clump, hold the stem and ease up the tubers, allowing the plant to go in the direction it wants to as you lift. This will prevent the stem tearing away from the tubers.
You might think you should only divide a clump every three or four years, but it is OK to divide clumps every year. A single tuber will still produce a sizable plant the next year.
It is not necessary to wash tubers. Simply knock or brush off as much soil as possible and wrap the tubers in newspaper.
Newspaper is ideal because it protects the tuber without causing it to dry out too much. Newspaper also doesn't add moisture and allows for some air flow.
HOW TO PROTECT YOUR HARDY BANANA AND TASMANIAN TREE FERN FOR WINTER
The hardy banana (Musa basjoo) and Tasmanian tree fern (Dicksonia antartica) are two popular garden plants that need special attention in fall.
With the banana, first remove the large leaves, cutting them off at the point where they join the main trunk.
Wrap the remaining part with a long length of thick polyethylene. You can wind this around the trunk or place plastic over the top and secure with duct tape.
Take 1.2-m (four-foot) bats of insulation and place them between sheets of polyethylene. Staple the edges to enclose the insulation.
Take these bats and wrap them around the tree and secure them with duct tape.
Lastly, wrap the tree one more time with more polyethylene and use a garbage bag to place over the top to prevent rain getting in.
Unwrap in April.
With the tree fern, insulate the crown (the top of the trunk) and wrap in plastic. The rest of the trunk can also be wrapped but the most sensitive area to frost is the crown at the top.
HOW TO GET YOUR LAWN READY FOR WINTER
Spread lime to reduce acidity caused by rain washing away nutrients from the soil.
Grass prefers a moderate to high pH - in other words, a sweeter, more alkaline soil. Lime also acts as a mild fertilizer because it enables the plants to access more nutrients in the soil.
Grass is no different in this regard, so liming not only solves the acidity problem but also gives the grass a gentle boost.
Dolopril is the good kind of lime to use, being more slow-release, but standard dolomite lime is also excellent.
You can also sprinkle your lawn with a fertilizer with a higher last number such as Evergro's Fall Fertilizer 6-3-20 or a slow release 10-4-24.
A 10-kg (22 pound) bag of Evergro Fall Lawn Fertilizer will cover 4,300 square feet (400 square metres) while a 20-kg (44 pound) bag of Garden Plus Fall Feeder will cover 5,380 square feet (500 square metres).
- Call in an arborist to talk about any pruning or tree care concerns and get an expert opinion now. Don't wait until spring.
- Get your cedar and boxwood hedges trimmed. They will look great over winter and, being sleek and trimmed, will also be less prone to holding on to heavy snow when it falls.
- Prune back roses by a third to stop them rocking in winter winds, which can damage roots. Some rose experts also like to de-foliate roses, stripping them of their leaves to eliminate the spread of black spot and other diseases.
- All tender plants, of course, should be moved into safe winter quarters before hard frosts kill them. You have time, but don't wait too long to get those fuchsias and brugmansias tucked up into protected areas. | <urn:uuid:871b2324-77d6-431f-8acc-3d0462b0c4b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.househunting.ca/regina/homes-and-gardens/Putting+your+garden/7452240/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941038 | 1,220 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Operated by the Northern Virginia Urban League and located in the former headquarters the largest domestic slave trading company in the country, the Freedom House Museum preserves the story of thousands of men, women and children who passed through these walls on a harrowing journey to lives of bondage and hard labor in the Deep South to enrich slave traders and slave holders. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the property that once held slaves captive now serves to emancipate, educate, and enlighten their descendants through exhibitions, tours and outreach. Self-guided tours, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guided tours and weekends by appointment only. Free admission to the public; donations accepted.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission Fee: Free admission to the public; donations accepted
Last Updated: 7/27/2011 3:18 PM | <urn:uuid:061bcf0c-a7af-4db2-a8e9-8da3979c8900> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virginia.org/Listings/HistoricSites/FreedomHouseMuseum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951109 | 183 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Throughout the Metro Canada piece, Jeremy Gutsche shares his insights as to how the economy has affected Canadians’ life choices. Check out the full article below.
More money, more problems
by Rafael Brusilow, Metro Canada
Canadians are more interested in leading fulfilling lives than they are in monetary or career success, a new study shows.
The study, conducted by market research firm Angus Reid, found that more than three quarters of Canadians (77 per cent) are focused more on their personal life experiences than their careers.
The study also found that when asked to prioritize different aspects of their lives, nearly half of Canadians (45 per cent) said that time with family and friends is most important to them, followed by a healthy lifestyle (17 per cent) and rich life experiences (15 per cent), with monetary (nine per cent) and career success (seven per cent) much less important to Canadians on average.
Jeremy Gutsche from Trendhunter.com, a magazine that tracks and reports on cultural trends, says life-fulfillment is proving to be a powerful career force for many Canadians.
“There are a lot of situations where people are seeking out fuller experiences. People want to enrich themselves, even if it means taking a pay cut,” Gutsche said.
Thirty-seven per cent of respondents in the study also said the economic recession has made them re-evaluate what is important to them, less than 10 per cent said making more money or finding greater career success is their main priority.
In tougher economic times, Gutsche says people are more likely to reconsider their life priorities as people around them lose their jobs and start up new careers.
“Even if you don’t lose your job, you see people lose their jobs and ask yourself, ‘What if?’ You might reconsider what’s important to you,” he said.
Master caterer Mike Thompson worked in the Vancouver film industry for 12 years before realizing he was missing out on time with the most important people in his life — his family.
The pay was excellent but Thompson frequently worked up to 100 hours per week and hardly saw his children awake.
“My son told me he couldn’t remember what I looked like. You wake up one day and realize you’ve missed a lot,” Thompson said.
Two years ago he quit his job and opened his own sandwich shop, Duke’s on Broadway in downtown Vancouver. He counts many of his former coworkers as customers now and while he makes less money on the bottom line, he gets to spend as much time every day with his family as he wants.
“Getting ahead was most important to me before. Now it’s enjoying life.” | <urn:uuid:f773680a-30ee-4acc-b085-bfeddd97bb3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/jeremy-gutsche-trend-hunter-metro-canada | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979884 | 570 | 1.820313 | 2 |
The Day Camp at Textile Arts Center is a unique environment where young artists use their hands to explore the act of making through different traditional textile practices. Our program is led by an accomplished team of creative professionals who believe that artistic expression is fundamental to a child's well-being and development. We foster a sense of community and friendship among campers to help them grow as individuals.
Campers build specific skills sets through one-week, project-based classes. In addition to structured class time there is daily free play and playground visits, weather permitting. Every Wednesday, the entire group ventures on a textile or art-related field trip. Each weekly session concludes on Friday afternoon with an Open House where family and friends are invited to view projects on display!
Each weekly session offers two options: weaving or surface design. Within each class, students will explore a project that incorporates many different skills.
WEAVING: Children will learn the basics of weaving on a four-harness loom. Color, texture, and unusual materials will be explored, and students will learn to manipulate their fabric to complete projects through sewing, embroidery, and hand printing.
Groups will be divided loosely by age, and there will be slight variations week to week based on the number enrolled. Project will be age appropriate.
Group A (5-7 Years)
8-9:30AM - Drop off
10AM - Textile classes begin at TAC
12:30PM - Lunch
1:45PM - Group play
2:15PM - Craft Time
4:00PM - Group play
5PM - Pick up
Group B (8-11 years)
8-9AM - Early Bird Drop off
9-9:30AM - Regular Drop off
9:45AM - Craft time
11:30AM - Group Play
12:30PM - Lunch
2PM -- Textile class begins @ TAC
4:30PM - Group play
5PM - Regular Pick up
5-6PM - Late Bird Pick up
*Snack times are at 10:30AM and 3PM
*Group play will be outdoors, weather permitting
*Our official Camp Site will be announced in early 2013, and will be in close walking distance to the TAC facilities. Each day, campers will walk to Textile Arts Center for class.
Camp Times: Monday - Friday, 9AM-5PM
Early Bird Dropoff: 8-9AM (+ $15/day)
Late Bird Pickup: 5-6PM (+ $15/day) | <urn:uuid:22cbbb18-9a89-45ae-ba93-29bff79a864d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ssreg.com/textileartscenter/classes/description.asp?id=51959 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92155 | 530 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Anglo-Saxon artArticle Free Pass
Anglo-Saxon art, manuscript illumination and architecture produced in Britain from about the 7th century to the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon art may be divided into two distinct periods, one before and one after the Danish invasions of England in the 9th century.
Before the 9th century, manuscript illumination was the major art in Britain. There were two schools of illumination: a somewhat limited one at Canterbury, which produced works influenced by the Roman missionaries who began the Christian conversion of southern England and ensured that models within the classical tradition were used through the 8th century; and a more widely influential school that flourished in Northumbria. Manuscript illumination in northern England received its impetus from a revival of learning initiated in the 7th century by the establishment of monasteries on the island of Lindisfarne and at Wearmouth and Jarrow in Northumbria, institutions that were largely an extension of the Irish monastic system. The Irish monks carried with them an ancient Celtic decorative tradition of curvilinear forms—scrolls, spirals, and a double curve, or shield, motif known as a pelta—that were integrated with the abstract ornamentation of the native pagan Anglo-Saxon metalwork tradition, characterized particularly by bright colouring and zoomorphic interlace patterns. The additional influence, from southern England, of Mediterranean art introduced the representation of the human figure. The characteristics of Hiberno-Saxon art, however, remained basically those of pagan art: concern for geometric design rather than naturalistic representation, love of flat areas of colour, and the use of complicated interlace patterns. All of these elements appear in the great manuscripts produced by the Hiberno-Saxon school: the Lindisfarne Gospels (early 8th century), the Book of Durrow (7th century), and the Book of Kells (c. 800). The Hiberno-Saxon style, eventually imported to the European continent, exercised great influence on the art of the Carolingian empire.
The Danish invasions had a disastrous effect on Anglo-Saxon art that was felt until mid-10th century, when the monasteries were revived and interest in architecture grew strong. Some idea of the architecture of the period can be deduced from contemporary descriptions and the excavation of remains. Many of the early stone churches seem to have depended upon the contribution of foreign masons, and Anglo-Saxon building, which consisted mainly of extremely small churches attached to monasteries, continued to be heavily influenced by continental types. By the 11th century, ties with continental architecture, especially that of Norman France, were strong; King Edward the Confessor’s Romanesque Westminster Abbey (begun c. 1045–50, replaced in 1245 by the present Gothic church), for example, was similar in plan to French models, being cruciform with one central and two western towers. Certain features, however, distinguish Anglo-Saxon architecture: the frequent use of timber for construction; a square, eastern termination (a feature revived in English Gothic churches) instead of the almost universal apse, or semicircular projection, behind the altar; and certain distinctive masonry techniques.
The monastic revival resulted in a vast production of books and the flowering, by the second half of the 10th century, of the so-called Winchester school of illumination. The new style was based on the classical naturalism of Carolingian art, but it was highly individual and unusually vivacious, characterized especially by a nervous, highly expressive line. Masterpieces in both painting and drawing have survived; for example, the Benedictional of St. Aethelwold, produced at Winchester in the 10th century, and a copy of the Utrecht Psalter begun at Canterbury in about 1000. The Winchester style influenced French illumination to the extent that Norman art was reasonably acceptable to English illuminators after the conquest of 1066. See also Winchester school.
What made you want to look up "Anglo-Saxon art"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:5cc0e584-5e72-4906-8f34-fda83d379a5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/25112/Anglo-Saxon-art | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957648 | 844 | 3.75 | 4 |
By RYOKO NAKAMURA
Rafu Japanese Staff Writer
“Everything is so big, from buildings, to food portions, to American people’s hearts.”
“It’s four o’clock in the evening here, but eight in the morning next day in Japan. I’m fascinated by the size of the world.”
“American baseball players reminded me how to enjoy playing baseball.”
These are just a few of the sentiments expressed by student athletes on the Rissho University baseball team when they visited the U.S. for the first time, earlier this month. For many, it was the first time in a long time that they had even been outside the world of Japanese baseball.
To help celebrate the 140th anniversary of Rissho University, which has campuses in Tokyo and Saitama, the school had sent its baseball team to Los Angeles to play exhibition games and expose its athletes to cultural and educational exchange.
The baseball team is considered one of the top teams in Japan. Historically, many of their players have gone on to successful careers in the Nippon Professional Baseball League.
Besides the exhibition games, 42 players had an opportunity to visit the Japanese American National Museum, take a behind-the-scenes tour of Dodger Stadium, listen to a speech by Dodgers bench coach Trey Hillman, and go sightseeing in greater Los Angeles.
After the tour at JANM, infielder Tatsuya Yoneda was impressed by the history, which he said he didn’t learn in Japan.
“I never knew that Japanese Americans were kept in isolation from the rest of the society. The next generation should be aware of this important piece of history,” he said.
Infielder Keisuke Kinjyo, from Kadena, Okinawa, said, “I always wondered what it would’ve had been like being a Japanese American during wartime.” After learning of the hardships that Japanese Americans had to endure, he said, “We can’t change what happened, but we can make a difference in our future together by communicating with each other.”
At Dodger Stadium, the students excitedly absorbed knowledge about the team’s history, and were thrilled to be on the same field as Major League players.
“I feel like I’m dreaming,” said traveling manager Kosuke Aramaki. He explained that the level of excitement was much greater than his first visit to a Japanese professional baseball stadium. “Everything is large-scale here,” he said as he widened his eyes.
Hillman, who was the manager of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan’s Pacific League from 2003 to 2007, spoke to these future leaders about the differences between American and Japanese baseball.
“I don’t think I’m better than anybody,” he said, looking at each one of the students. “A lot of Japanese players and even trainers think that you can’t gain as much strength because the Asian body is so much smaller than Western body,” but he disagreed. “Get strong as much as you can while maintaining your flexibility.” He said anything is possible with hard work.
As the Fighters’ manager, Hillman successfully led the team to the Pacific League championship twice. In 2006, the team won the Japan Series for the first time in 44 years.
In his speech, Hillman said that he was impressed by the Japanese players’ self-discipline and respect for each other. He also remarked that one of the key factors to being a good team is to think of your team as a family. “Talk with each other not only during the game, but also away from the field, and understand one another,” he said.
“This is my 29th year in professional baseball, but I still learn something every single day,” he advised, encouraging the students to aspire to never stop learning.
Outfielder Yuki Hata said that Hillman’s speech inspired him to work even harder.
“It was reassuring to hear that everything was up to me. I’d like to keep playing as long as I can, either as a professional or an amateur.” He feels determined to become a better player and to treat his teammates like family.
The students enjoyed watching the game that night against Colorado Rockies, where the Rissho students were welcomed with a message, “Rissho University/ 140th Anniversary,” on the stadium’s scoreboard.
Although the Dodgers lost to the Rockies, “I felt enthusiasm from the entire stadium. The crowd genuinely enjoyed the game,” said outfielder Kan Amano, pointing out the difference from games in Japan. “Most Japanese fans cheer for players instead of enjoying the game itself. I think American fans are more knowledgeable about games,” he said.
A Comparison of Styles
The Rissho baseball team played against the Victory Scout Team of the Central Coast League at Dedeaux Field at the University of Southern California on Aug. 7. Rissho won that game, 19-5.
Catcher Yuta Yoshida, who played in the 2011 Japan-U.S. University baseball championship series for Japan’s national team, said, “As Rissho, we did well today.” He reconfirmed that Japanese baseball is as good as the American version.
Yoshida added that seeing American players bunt was a new discovery, even though a similar tactic is popular in Japan.
Catcher Shohei Aoki, a co-captain of the team, was impressed by the American team’s communication skills.
“Japanese players usually don’t say what they think, but American players were communicating even during the game. That’s something we need to learn,” he said.
By playing with American teams, Aoki realized how much he enjoyed playing baseball.
“We all started playing baseball for the love of the game. But as we get older, it becomes very competitive, and we gradually forget about the fun part. I thought American players still had that feeling and truly enjoyed the game. They reminded me to have fun and play well at the same time,” he said.
Looking back on the one-week-program, infielder and team captain Hideki Hasegawa said that coming to Los Angeles right before the Tohto fall league — one of the most prestigious college baseball leagues — was a major concern for most of the teammates. However, “It was a fulfilling experience. I learned a lot, and I’m sure that my teammates did, too. It was the right decision for us to come,” he said.
Living Outside of Baseball
The circumstances surrounding college baseball in Japan are a little different from the American system. To be the best, practice is a priority for the athletes, even at the expense of missing classes. They do not study, and are often segregated from the rest of the students.
However, only a few can pursue careers as professional or amateur baseball players. The others tend to have a hard time adjusting to society outside of baseball after graduating from college.
Rissho University noticed this issue and is striving to make necessary reforms to educate athletes not only in athletics, but also in academics. This Los Angeles educational visit was an integral part of the school’s reform.
Hasegawa, the team’s captain, wants his teammates to understand the real meaning of this visit.
“This program was made possible by a lot of teachers and volunteers who care about our future, not only as baseball players, but also as college students,” he explained. “We’d like to show our gratitude by doing well in the Tohto league that starts next month.”
Keita Koyama, a coach for Rissho, worked with the Atlanta Braves and the Kansas City Royals as a certified athletic trainer with the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. From his own experience, he knows the importance of seeing the world outside of Japanese baseball.
He was confident that the program made a big impression on the students. “As a former Rissho baseball player myself, I’d like them to spread their wings around the world,” he said.
The Asian Adult Amateur Baseball Classic, a group that connects Asians of different ethnicities through the great American Pastime of Baseball, coordinated the program.
Josh Morey, a board member of AAABC, said, “Baseball is an international sport, and a bridge between cultures. Those Japanese players never would have come to America if it wasn’t for baseball. I know the American team learned a lot from the Japanese team.”
Morey also remarked on the importance of the educational experience for the players. “Many of them had never heard about internment camps, but they learned the history. That moved me to share with them what Japanese Americans went through. I hope they take that back to Japan and share it with their friends and the university community.”
Through the success of Rissho University’s visit to Los Angeles, AAABC has been approached by representatives of Major League Baseball to explore the possibility of arranging for an American elite scout college team to visit and play Rissho next summer.
“MLB was very impressed with the talent and style of play that they saw with Rissho,” said AAABC founding member Mike Gin.
AAABC is planning to coordinate a program that would facilitate a meaningful cultural exchange between the Japanese and American student athletes through baseball.
“Both Rissho and MLB are excited about the prospects of making this an annual exchange program,” said Gin. | <urn:uuid:1f8f6e76-a510-410e-992b-786d138e24e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rafu.com/2012/08/eye-opening-experiences/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982086 | 2,063 | 1.789063 | 2 |
KC a stepping stone for Robinson
Legend played for Negro League Monarchs before Dodgers
KANSAS CITY -- Jackie Robinson Day has added significance in Kansas City because the city was a stepping stone for his path to the Major Leagues.
Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League in 1945 before he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He did pretty well, too, hitting .345 for the Monarchs.
On Robinson's day, all of the uniforms of the Royals and visiting Indians bore his No. 42 in honor of the man who broke the game's color barrier with the Dodgers on April 15, 1947.
"Obviously he was before my time, but I grew up hearing stories of his heroics dealing with baseball and what he had to go through, what everybody back in those times had to go through," said Royals center fielder Coco Crisp. "He just did it in the spotlight of baseball."
"He paved the way for more minorities to have the opportunity to play the game today," Crisp added. "It's a tremendous thing that he put up with everything for the love of the game and to give others the opportunity in the future. So I guess you could say I'm a huge fan [of Robinson]."
Former second baseman Frank White, now a Royals broadcaster, grew up in Kansas City and heard tales of Robinson from his father, Frank White Sr.
"He was a big influence on my dad," White said. "My dad talked about him all the time, and my dad was in that era of the Negro Baseball Leagues, and he knew how important it was to get some of those black players into Major League Baseball."
White admired Robinson's influence beyond baseball.
"After leaving baseball, he got involved in civil rights. so he was a complete guy. He wasn't just a baseball guy who played the game, made his mark and went away. He took that and turned that into more of a civic and a social thing where he was more involved in the civil rights thing than most people in those days would have imagined," White said.
The Royals had longtime Major League pitcher Jim "Mudcat" Grant seated in the Buck O'Neil Legacy Seat for the Wednesday afternoon game. Grant followed in Robinson's footsteps to the Majors and in 1965 became the first African-American 20-game winner in the American League for the Minnesota Twins.
Grant, 73, wore a Monarchs uniform with No. 5, the number that Robinson wore in his season with the team.
"When his name is mentioned, it means a lot," Grant said, "and it triggers so many memories because Larry Doby signed right after Jackie and was the first African-American in the American League. Now the Cleveland Indians are here, and Larry and I were teammates and roommates with the Indians."
Grant has the idea that American League teams could someday wear Doby's retired Indians number, 14, as a tribute to him.
In a pregame ceremony, Royals Charities presented a $10,000 check to the Jackie Robinson Foundation. The check was accepted by Montoya Lewis, a foundation scholar. Royals Charities has granted a total of $40,000 over a four-year period to the foundation, which extends Robinson's commitment to education.
The crowd also viewed on Crown Vision a videotape that included highlights of Robinson's career.
Players from teams at Van Horn, Northeast and Central high schools circled the field as part of the event. They held a roundtable discussion with Grant and other former players at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum on Wednesday morning.
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, located at 18th and Vine in Kansas City, Mo., has a special Robinson display of photographs and memorabilia on display now through Saturday.
"Next year, we hope to make this a city-wide celebration recognizing Jackie Robinson and also those who preceded him," said Bob Kendrick, the museum's vice president of marketing.
He noted that Robinson's connection with Kansas City and the Negro Leagues is often overlooked in the historical perspective of his life.
Robinson brought more than playing ability to the Majors.
"When you talk to Buck O'Neil and some of the ex-Negro League players, it wasn't that they felt he was the best player, he was just the guy with the right temperament to handle a lot of things that he had to go through to get this accomplished," White said.
Crisp hoped that one effect of Jackie Robinson Day would be to encourage more African-American youngsters to play baseball.
"The numbers of African-Americans is obviously low, so it would be nice to get some more promotions, and I think we are doing that in Major League Baseball with RBI [Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities] and other organizations to help with that," Crisp said.
Crisp is a graduate of the RBI program.
This was the first time that every Major Leaguer wore Robinson's number on his day of tribute, and Crisp endorsed the idea.
"There's no reason why everybody shouldn't wear it," he said. "It shouldn't be just one or two players or however many minorities or African-American players. It's fair enough that everybody can wear the number in tribute."
The last Royal to wear No. 42 as his regular uniform number was outfielder Tom Goodwin in 1997, the year the number was officially retired by Major League Baseball.
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. | <urn:uuid:0cbab763-368d-4f44-b015-8950abaa14cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090414&content_id=4268958&vkey=news_kc&fext=.jsp&c_id=kc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985664 | 1,144 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Mazes for preschoolers/kindergarteners
The Bibliophile likes the idea of mazes. Until recently, he'd just draw a line from start to finish, with no acknowledgment of what lay between (right over walls, designs, etc.). One day it occurred to me to make him a REALLY simple maze, and that seemed to get the idea across. Then I printed a couple of sample pages from a Kumon maze book, and he loved those (I need to buy My First Book of Mazes for his birthday or Christmas!). In the meantime, I have been combing the internet for anything that looks simple enough for his age. We have also been handdrawing simple ones here and there.
And, this week we did a bit of this:
He loved his first corn maze!
I am linking this post up with We Play and Play Academy.
Comment! Please share. Do your kids like mazes? What are your favorite sources for them?
Disclosure: If you click on any of the links in this post and purchase anything, we may earn a small commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com. | <urn:uuid:2d46b853-b2d2-465a-9c1a-9ce67285b22f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://infantbibliophile.blogspot.com/2010/10/mazes-for-preschoolerskindergarteners.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972547 | 242 | 2.703125 | 3 |
2006-2011: Crandall Canyon mine disaster, Dino-Mine park success
Editor's Note: This is one of a series of articles about the history of the Sun Advocate and the county it covers as a newspaper. The article is being written from front page stories that appeared during each year in commemoration of the 120th anniversary of the newspaper's birth in 1891.
The period of years between 2006 and 2011 were full of news and events that happened in and around Carbon County.
Probably the biggest story in 2006 was something that happened outside the county, but showed just how reliant the area is on Highway 6. On Aug. 10 traffic along U.S. Highway 6 came to an abrupt stop at 1:54 p.m. when a truck carrying 35,000 pounds of explosives overturned and detonated in the Red Narrows area of Spanish Fork Canyon.
Despite the fact that this event did not take place in Carbon County the implications of the accident were immediate. Since the explosion left a crater in the road 35 feet deep and 75 feet wide, truck stops in Carbon County began to back up with vehicles almost immediately. Alternative routes through Scofield, Huntington Canyon and Indian Canyon became congested. The blast destroyed the road and both lanes of traffic of the highway near milepost 191, located approximately four miles east of the junction with U.S. Highway 89. In addition, the explosion caused rail lines parallel to the highway to shift.
The truck that exploded apparently left Ensign-Bickford Company at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon and was on its way to Oklahoma. The driver was transported to University of Utah Hospital. Other injuries were reported and victims were transported to various hospitals in the area. Amazingly no one was killed in the blast despite the fact the canyon was backed up with summer vacation traffic after the truck turned over. Six victims with minor injuries were taken to Castleview Hospital and later released. The explosion left a 30 foot deep crater that needed to be filled before traffic could resume. Repairing the road took about 350 loads in dump trucks carrying 4,500 tons of material. It took about 36 hours to get traffic moving again, which was a miracle, considering it had been estimated that it would take at least four days to repair at the beginning of the project.
Dino Mine Park
In a huge community effort people from all walks of life from eastern Utah helped in the financing and construction of the Dino-Mine Adventure Park located in northeast Price. The event had been planned for months, and in the space of one week in September 2006, the park went from a diagram laid out on the ground to a fully functional super playground because over 3,300 volunteers put time in at the project for 16 hour days to get it done.
Only a dream of a few people less than a year before, the committee that was formed to build the park raised near $250,000 to buy the materials, do the engineering and then were able to muster the help to build it.
If there was a single story that dominated 2007, and actually the entire five year period, it was the Crandall Canyon Disaster. The whole thing started in the early morning hours of Aug. 6, 2007 when a huge bounce occurred at the Crandall Canyon mine near Huntington. The management of Crandall Canyon claimed the bump was an earthquake, while scientists at the University of Utah indicated that the disturbance was caused by the mine collapsing. Trapped inside the mine were six local miners; Don Erickson of Helper, Manuel Sanchez of Price, Kerry Allred of Cleveland, Jose Luis Hernandez, of Huntington, Juan Carlos Payan of Huntington and Brandon Phillips of Orangeville.
At first, there was hope that the miners would be rescued from the mine as crews moved in to drill holes into the areas where officials thought the men might be. Rescue teams scrambled to clear the debris from the portal in an attempt to reach the trapped miners through the existing tunnel system.
But on Aug. 16, three rescue workers were killed when a tunnel crews were clearing exploded from the sides. The collapse was caused by the pressure from rock above the shaft. The incident halted the rescue efforts within the mine as the area mourned the loss of MSHA roof control specialist Gary Jensen and Castle Country coal miners Brandon Kimber and Dale Black.
After that, all hopes were pinned on the holes being bored from the surface into the mine. But with each drill completion, hope went downhill as rescuers found mine tunnels via a portable camera filled with debris and no sign of life. Drilling continued up through the first part of September and a search robot was sent down one of the holes to look for the miners, but failed to find anything. The original six miners' bodies were never recovered and the ramifications concerning the situation have gone on up through the present time. The next year two memorials were dedicated to the lost miners; one at the site of the mine, the other in Huntington at a park just off the road on the way to the Huntington Canyon where the now closed Crandall Mine is located.
That same summer a severe thunderstorm produced numerous lightning strikes, with one hitting an area in Mathis Canyon near Willow Creek. This created a blaze that turned into the number one priority wildfire in the nation, in a year when wildfires around the west popped up like popcorn in a hot buttery pan.
The wildfire threatened coal mining operations in the Bookcliffs and numerous federal resources were committed to fight the blaze. At one point, 600 firefighters and support personnel were on the scene and the blaze was extinguished within a few days.
USU-CEU merger talk
While it had been talked about in many ways before 2008 brought more discussion of the serious kind, of the College of Eastern Utah merging with Utah State University.
A meeting in the fall of 2007 with some college personnel and some Utah State officials began a series of events that would eventually lead to some initial legislation that was defeated, but set the ball rolling in 2008.
In February of that year an impromptu meeting with college officials and others began with some animosity since not everyone was privy to the first meeting. However as the year progressed the rumors started to have real substance.
The Utah State Board of Regents did a study in 2009 and with the cooperation of both schools soon the realization came that a merger was the only way the state had to save the campus in Price and Blanding. In July of 2010 the long running rumor became reality.
The College of Eastern Utah was gone, replaced by USU Eastern, although it took some time for that name to finally be arrived at and to catch on.
Fire destroys bridge
One of the most unique railroad bridges in the United States burned beyond use on the morning of Aug. 1, 2008. The bridge, which still stands as a skeleton of itself today, crosses Gordon Creek and carries tracks to the now shut down mines near Hiawatha. It was built sometime between 1913 and 1917 and stood a monument to engineering.
Reports about the fire came into Carbon County dispatch around 1:30 a.m. By the time officials arrived it lit the area up and was largely engulfed by flames. A state fire marshal investigator said there was no other possible ignition source except arson. He said that the fire started in the middle tower and that it was obvious an accelerant was used to get the fire going. That morning a BLM helicopter began dumping water on the bridge in an effort to put the fire out. As officials watched the blaze large chunks of ties fell into the gorge starting small fires below that were quickly handled fire crews below.
CEU wins SWAC
In 2010 more sports accolades came to the area as the College of Eastern Utah men's basketball team first won the Scenic West Athletic Conference regular and tournament basketball championship. Then the team came in third at the National Junior College Athletic Association national championships in Hutchison, Kan. in March.
It was the first time the college had gone that far in the national tournament since 1966 when the school also finished third. It was a heady time for the schools basketball program, but within the next two years things would become first, tragic and then sad.
In the fall of 2011, USU Eastern coach Brad Barton was found dead in his apartment, apparently from complications revolving around a diabetic condition. Then only a short time later, the college was stripped of most of the wins it had in the 2010-2011 season because of a foreign player that was deemed ineligible after an investigation into his playing history in Russia. The loss of the wins did not affect the championship season, because that took place before the player came to the college.
'No Graves Unadorned"
The year of 2011 could also be noted for the strong showing by local volunteers from both Carbon and Emery counties who spent a week before Memorial Day by placing flowers on every grave in the area. The project had been started in 2010 by the Sun Advocate and was successful in Carbon alone, but in its second year it grew in strength. The "No Graves Unadorned" project brought new life to the spirit of a holiday that in recent years had been relegated to a three day getaway for campers and travelers. The project is considered to be a one-of-a-kind in the United States, and numerous communities are presently trying to emulate its success.
This article ends a series that have been written over the last year and half about the 120 years of the Sun Advocate's history. All in all, the project has produced over 140 articles starting with the events surrounding the founding of the Eastern Utah Telegraph in 1891 and now ending with 2011.
What will the next 120 years bring in terms of stories and events?
Keep following the Sun Advocate to find out. | <urn:uuid:da0d780e-52d5-4e13-999c-5342216af9ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunadvocate.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=24068&poll=267&vote=results | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98144 | 1,989 | 1.984375 | 2 |
The company goal went from building great communities, to building a great network of unrelated sites. Although this change will help the name stackexchange it will hurt the individual communities.
Yes naming is hard, and it isn't needed for all communities. But by taking away the name, you're taking the "cool" and hence some of the excitement out of the community...
- Google's name is not "Search Engine" that wouldn't be cool.
- Apple's name is not "Phone, hardware and operating systems" that wouldn't be cool.
- Microsoft's name isn't "Operating systems and software"
- stackoverlfow's name isn't "Coding questions"
See my inline comments below which address each of your concerns.
Not all communities seem able to do it, as in they can't even agree on which is the "least worst" (literally) of their choices.
The community should have the decision to keep their name as webapps.stackexchange.com. If you simply provide a list of reasons why this is good for the community I'm sure most communities would make that decision.
When users see a Wikipedia link in their search results, they know what to expect. Hopefully when users see a stackexchange.com link they would also know to expect high quality Q&A. But what can they expect when they see nothingtoinstall.com or one of 25+ other domains? Unknown.
Wikipedia is one community, the whole idea of stackexchange is to have a bunch of focused communities. If you wanted one community you'd have Yahoo! answers all over again. If you are designing for first rate communities then your members will be overall disjoint. If you are designing for second rate communities filled with only programmers then seeing .stackexchange.com is useful.
Also no one would need to remember 25+ domain names. If a member wanted to be part of every one of those communities they would be a pretty useless member to each of those communities. People only need to remember the 1, 2 or 3 communities they are a part of.
Additionally, Google traffic makes up a HUGE percentage of our traffic and it hurts our Google ranking by breaking up into a series of top-level domains. That means less eyeballs, and ultimately less Q&A.
If this is really about page rank then wouldn't rolling stackoverflow into a .stackexchange.com really help out the page rank? Ditto serverfault and superuser? Wouldn't that also help build the "This is quality content" thought? Since those communities are good and do provide quality content?
I'm not saying here that I think we should change to stackoverflow.stackexchange.com but I am saying the above because it proves that the concern isn't as big as you make it out to be.
The confusion that some people are talking about Web Apps while others are talking about "Nothing to Install".
Jeff posted a comment on an answer to this question which says that after a community gets to the size of serverfault then they will consider giving a name to that community. If you guys really had a concern here that comment shouldn't have been posted.
That will pass but become a bigger, more confusing problem as the network grows and we have (currently) 25+ different pairs of domain names to refer to!
Again you're trying to build a network when you should be trying to build great communities.
Are you losing hype for your community?
I think you probably will in the end. For example I would blog about a topic that interests me when a new site is launched but I wouldn't blog that a new subdomain was created to an existing network. The second boom in people blogging and talking about your site really helps the community growth.
http://twitter.com/#search?q=nothingtoinstall right now has a ton of entries referring to nothingtoinstall going live. | <urn:uuid:de73f4e4-6d48-4767-80c8-3d08e5b2922c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://meta.webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/624/webapps-stackexchange-com-versus-nothingtoinstall-com | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970136 | 826 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Angry Birds Heading to Mars This Fall
Buckle up, Angry Birds fans. The barreling birds and sinister pigs are headed on a mission to Mars.
Days before the scheduled Mars Curiosity Rover landing, Finnish game maker Rovio announced it is gearing up to release a "red planet update" for Angry Birds Space this fall. To hype up the update, Rovio released a short teaser video (below) created in collaboration with NASA.
The 30-second spot begins with a notice about the upcoming landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars, which is set to happen in just two days. The video then asks the question "what will it find?" before switching to footage of Mars, where a bird's shadow appears over what looks like a patch of ice.
Rovio last week released an update for Angry Birds Space, adding 20 more levels to the game. Also, the game maker just yesterday sent its beloved pig-popping game on a beach vacation with the launch of 15 new tropical level for the original Angry Birds.
Angry Birds Space was first released in March and has been a hit for Rovio, topping 50 million downloads in just 35 days.
Meanwhile, a real life mission to Mars is happening now with the Rover Curiosity scheduled to complete its 350 million-mile journey and touch down on the Red Planet at approximately 1:31 a.m. EDT on Monday. The goal of the mission is to investigate whether the planet could have previously supported life, study its climate and geology, and evaluate the potential for a manned mission.
For more, check out 7 Minutes of Terror: Landing the Mars Curiosity Rover. Also check out PCMag's recent tour of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and follow PCMag's Meredith Popolo for updates.
For more, see PCMag's review of Angry Birds Space.
For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.
blog comments powered by Disqus | <urn:uuid:1b960649-8149-4e6f-be36-7b5306aacf9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408050,00.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911568 | 406 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Microsoft Surface review: Ripples of change
Office 2013 Home and Student Edition
Office 2013 Home and Student ships with every Windows RT tablet and the Surface naturally has it on tap. This is a huge deal for a tablet and a major selling point as neither iOS or even Android can compare their offers to the full-fledged Office 2013 inside Windows RT.
Office 2013 Home and Student gives you Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Microsoft decided not to optimize the interface of either app to suit the Modern UI and instead just ported the x86 versions to the ARM-ready platform.
We can't really blame them for doing so, as the office applications are bound to be used with a keyboard and a mouse/trackpad anyway. Plus, Office isn't the easiest software to understand, which means that a general design overhaul might've put off frequent users.
All the functionality is there and, if you mainly use your PC for document editing, Windows RT can easily pass as your daily driver. Whether your game is creating or editing documents, Windows RT has got you covered. There's an easy to follow step by step tutorial for each Office application in case you're new to it.
Word 2013 features the entire package - text formatting, headings, track changes, page layout, you name it. Windows RT has an impressively ample selection of fonts, too.
Word is a demanding app - CPU usage was well over 30%. Banging on the keyboard as quickly as we could made the Surface stutter a little bit and delay the input of some of the characters.
Excel 2013 is there for your spreadsheet needs. Formulas and calculation are all supported, and so are cell formatting options. You'd be hard-pressed to find a difference between Excel on your PC and the one on Windows RT. Still Macros aren't supported so power users aren't really covered here.
Creating PowerPoint presentations on the Microsoft Surface is as easy as on PC. You can choose between countless transition effects,animations and sounds. A presentation can be previewed and imported, and an existing file can be edited.
OneNote 2013 is your one-stop app for taking and organizing notes on Windows RT. The app has an interface similar to Word but is cleaner, with less options.
Creating a note is very simple and the time and date are preset automatically.
You can have multiple Notebooks in OneNote and creating one is done through a drop-down menu. You can choose the name of the Notebook and the color it shows up in, as well as whether to save it locally or in SkyDrive.
SkyDrive can sync all of your Office 2013 documents between devices. All you need is your Microsoft ID. It's very convenient and sync is instantaneous. Your documents are safe in the cloud in case your PC needs a reset or is broken or lost.
The Calendar app on Windows RT is well familiar - it looks identical to the one on Windows Phone. You can set it to show events in Day, Week or Month view. There is no Agenda view so you cannot see a list of your upcoming events.
Day and Week view are sorted by hours so you would need to scroll up or down, depending on the specific time of the event.
Events are color coded depending on the type of calendar (your own, Birthdays, Holidays, etc.) and you can change colors to your liking.
Setting an event is simple and straightforward. Thanks to the large screen you see all of the information without the need for endless scrolling.
The Calendar syncs with Hotmail, Google and Outlook. Facebook is strangely missing here so all of your Facebook buddies birthdays will need to be manually entered.
Perhaps support for more services could come with future updates. | <urn:uuid:44db1b58-a171-4bfe-9698-2de35d5144a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gsmarena.com/microsoft_surface-review-852p8.php | 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 | 0.943258 | 764 | 1.507813 | 2 |
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You have to admit that since retiring from public office 13 years ago, Al Gore has done pretty well for himself.
He’s won a Nobel Prize and an Oscar for his efforts to publicize the catastrophric effects of global warming. He’s enriched himself to the tune of several hundred million dollars by cleverly investing in government-subsidized green energy businesses and he became a cable television network owner to boot.
He and his partners recently sold their network, Current TV, and made a tidy profit. Mr. Gore’s share? A reported $100 million. Despite his best efforts to get the deal done before the new year to avoid the tax increases foisted on rich people like himself by his fellow Democrats, he failed. Too bad. But then, it only cost him a few extra million dollars. He won’t starve. And he’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that he did his part to help the U.S. government continue to fund programs so vital that not a single spending cut could be found to help reduce the deficit.
When conservative talk show host Glenn Beck expressed interest in the bidding for the network, Gore and company stiff-armed him. The reason? Gore found Beck’s conservative ideals to be a little too extreme. Instead, he found another buyer; the royal family of Qatar, owner of Al Jazeera -- and one of the world’s largest oil fortunes.
Irony abounds. But we don’t blame Mr. Gore for taking the oil money and running. Besides, we long ago gave up on him being an effective spokesman for the sort of political change necessary to combat the climate scourge he was so brilliant in publicizing.
It wasn’t just that he lived large, in a mansion with a carbon foot-print the size of Godzilla’s, and got around inefficiently (energy-wise) in carbon-ridiculous private jets. It wasn’t just the hypocrisies. It was the inaccuracies. His Oscar-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” was rife with them, as revealed by investigations of the BBC and others. His predictions of a planet getting hotter and hotter to the point of famine and Florida disappearing under rising seas have failed to be realized.
Since 1998, global warming has stalled. Global temperatures have remained flat. But that doesn’t stop Mr. Gore and company from pointing to temperature rises in specific places -- like the U.S. for instance.
It has been well reported that 2012 is the hottest year ever recorded in the lower 48 states of America. What isn’t as well reported is that there have been wide variations in U.S. temperatures over the last 15 years. It gets warmer. It gets cooler.
Besides, the U.S. isn’t the planet. Its land mass makes up less than 2 percent of the Earth. Overall, the world’s temperature has remained basically flat for the past two decades.
Now, none of this is to say that anthropomorphic global warming isn’t a potentially serious problem. But by exaggerating the immediate threat and by making unsubstantiated -- and at times just plain false -- claims, global warmists have hurt their own case.
While Gore has made tens of millions of dollars for himself, hardly any political progress has been made for the cause he championed, in large part because his policy prescriptions would financially beggar an already financially strapped nation.
There is a decent argument to be made for reasonable carbon taxes that could be offset by pro-growth business tax cuts. But Mr. Gore has failed to be reasonable.
Finally, seeing him make another financial killing by selling his moribund TV network to a bunch of oil sheiks should disqualify him from being taken seriously by anyone on this issue anymore.
-- Journal Register News Service:
The Delaware County Daily Times | <urn:uuid:260b63d9-75b2-4eb3-9837-fe4d06ef0b20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20130117/OPINION03/130119659/rememberingpa.us/dailylocal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967747 | 813 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Newborns: reducing mortality
- Every year nearly 40% of all under-five child deaths are among newborn infants, babies in their first 28 days of life or the neonatal period.
- Three quarters of all newborn deaths occur in the first week of life.
- In developing countries nearly half of all mothers and newborns do not receive skilled care during and immediately after birth.
- Up to two thirds of newborn deaths can be prevented if known, effective health measures are provided at birth and during the first week of life.
The vast majority of newborn deaths take place in developing countries where access to health care is low. Most of these newborns die at home, without skilled care that could greatly increase their chances for survival.
Skilled health care during pregnancy, childbirth and in the postnatal (immediately following birth) period prevents complications for mother and newborn, and allows for early detection and management of problems. In addition, WHO and UNICEF now recommend home visits by a skilled health worker during a baby's first week of life to improve newborn survival. Newborns in special circumstances, such as low-birth-weight babies, babies born to HIV-positive mothers, or sick babies, require additional care and should be referred to a hospital.
Newborn, or neonatal, deaths account for 40% of all deaths among children under five. The majority of all neonatal deaths (75%) occur during the first week of life, and between 25% to 45% occur within the first 24 hours.
The main causes of newborn deaths are prematurity and low-birth-weight, infections, asphyxia (lack of oxygen at birth) and birth trauma. These causes account for nearly 80% of deaths in this age group.
Prevention strategy: skilled health care at home
Up to two thirds of newborn deaths could be prevented if skilled health workers perform effective health measures at birth and during the first week of life.
Home visits by a skilled health worker immediately after birth is a health strategy that can increase newborn survival rates. The strategy has shown positive results in high mortality settings by reducing newborn deaths and improving key newborn care practices. While home births are very common in developing countries, only 13% of women in these countries receive postnatal care in the first 24 hours. Many mothers who give birth in health facilities cannot return for postnatal care because of financial, social or other barriers. The first days of life are the most critical for newborn survival.
Home care visits should occur on days one and three of a newborn's life, and if possible, a third visit should take place before the end of the first week of life (day seven).
During home visits, skilled health workers should perform the following measures.
- promote and support early (within the first hour after birth) and exclusive breastfeeding;
- help to keep the newborn warm (promoting skin-to-skin contact between mother and infant);
- promote hygienic umbilical cord and skin care;
- assess the baby for signs of serious health problems, and advise families to seek prompt medical care if necessary (danger signs include feeding problems, or if the newborn has reduced activity, difficult breathing, a fever, fits or convulsions, or feels cold);
- encourage birth registration and timely vaccination according to national schedules;
- identify and support newborns that need additional care (e.g. those that are low-birth-weight, sick or have an HIV-infected mother); and
- if feasible, provide home treatment for local infections and some feeding problems.
Higher risk newborns
Some newborns require additional attention and care during home visits to minimize their health risks.
- increased attention to keeping the newborn warm, including skin-to-skin care immediately following birth for at least an hour, unless there are medically justifiable reasons for delayed contact with the mother;
- assistance with initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour after birth, such as helping the mother express breast milk for feeding the baby from a cup if necessary. (If a baby is unable to accept feeding from a cup, the newborn should be referred to a hospital);
- extra attention to hygiene, especially hand washing;
- extra attention to health danger signs and the need for care; and
- additional support for breastfeeding and monitoring growth.
- the families of newborns with severe illness should be helped in locating a hospital or facility to care for the baby; and
- newborns should be treated for infections (e.g. with antibiotic injections) by a nurse, doctor or skilled health worker.
Newborns of HIV-infected mothers:
- preventive antiretroviral treatment (ART) for mothers and newborns to prevent opportunistic infections;
- HIV testing and care for exposed infants; and
- counselling and support to mothers for infant feeding. (Community health workers should be aware of the specialized issues around infant feeding. Many HIV-infected newborns are born prematurely and are more susceptible to infections.)
WHO and its partners agree that a core principle underlying maternal, newborn and child health efforts is lifelong access to health care: a continuum of care for the mother starting from long before pregnancy (during childhood and adolescence) through pregnancy and childbirth. The continuum begins again with adequate newborn care for the new life. As appropriate, care can be delivered in the home and community, as well as health clinics and hospitals.
For more information contact:
WHO Media centre
Telephone: +41 22 791 2222 | <urn:uuid:3638d63a-b49e-482d-a83a-9ff7307e644c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs333/en/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949707 | 1,130 | 3.703125 | 4 |
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Posted by wintjc at 9:43 AM
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tennis Elbow: treatment (Lateral Epicondylitis)treatment
taken and modified from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery (AAOS) website
for additional information taken from ASSH website to see our office website click here
|DescriptionTennis elbow is a degenerative condition of the tendon fibers that attach on the bony prominence (epicondyle) on the outside (lateral side) of the elbow. The tendons involved are responsible for anchoring the muscles that extend or lift the wrist and hand (see Figure 1).|
Tennis elbow happens mostly in patients between the ages of 30 years to 50 years. It can occur in any age group. Tennis elbow can affect as many as half of athletes in racquet sports. However, most patients with tennis elbow are not active in racquet sports. Most of the time, there is not a specific traumatic injury before symptoms start. Many individuals with tennis elbow are involved in work or recreational activities that require repetitive and vigorous use of the forearm muscles (see Table 1). Some patients develop tennis elbow without any specific recognizable activity leading to symptoms.
Patients often complain of severe, burning pain on the outside part of the elbow. In most cases, the pain starts in a mild and slow fashion. It gradually worsens over weeks or months. The pain can be made worse by pressing on the outside part of the elbow or by gripping or lifting objects. Lifting even very light objects (such as a small book or a cup of coffee) can lead to significant discomfort. In more severe cases, pain can occur with simple motion of the elbow joint. Pain can radiate to the forearm.
To diagnose tennis elbow, tell the doctor your complete medical history. He or she will perform a physical examination.
In many cases when there are fairly severe symptoms a simultaneous-three pronged approach, (1) use of anti-inflammatories, (2) orthotic bracing and (3)injection at the same time work more efficaciously and can save time in treatment and offers a more rapid resolution of symptoms. Sometimes, when conditions are right a more slow sequential treatment is offered. This takes longer but may be more suitable for those with minimal symptoms
In most cases, nonoperative treatment should be tried before surgery. Pain relief is the main goal in the first phase of treatment. The doctor may tell you to stop any activities that cause symptoms. You may need to apply ice to the outside part of the elbow. You may need to take acetaminophen or an anti-inflammatory medication for pain relief.
Orthotics can help diminish symptoms of tennis elbow. The doctor may want you to use counterforce braces and wrist splints. These can reduce symptoms by resting the muscles and tendons (see Figure 2).
Surgery is considered only in patients who have incapacitating* pain that does not get better after non-operative treatment.
*The difficult question to answer is: What is incapacitating pain? Very often what affects one person may not be significant for another. This is especially true for those engaged in athletics or jobs that require very specific motions or activities. Thus the indications for surgery are relative in most and absolute in few.
The surgical procedure involves removing diseased tendon tissue and reattaching normal tendon tissue to bone (see Figure 4). The procedure is an outpatient surgery; you do not need to stay in the hospital overnight. It can be performed under regional or general anesthesia.
*Note: steps E and F are not often needed except in cases where large *tears exist.
So far, no significant benefits have been found to using an arthroscopic method over the traditional open incision.
After surgery, the elbow is placed in a small brace and the patient is sent home. About one week later, the sutures and splint are removed. Then exercises are started to stretch the elbow and restore range of motion. Light, gradual strengthening exercises are started two months after surgery. The doctor will tell you when you can return to athletic activity. This is usually approximately four months to six months after surgery. Tennis elbow surgery is considered successful in approximately 90 percent of patients.
Persistent pain can be from associated arthritis in the elbow, nerve compression, muscular fatigue or residual bone pain. While most patients return to full activity after tennis elbow surgery, many still relate that there is aching pain that persists at times. Overall, however, most are satisfied and have a significant improvement and much less pain than prior to surgery
Author Information (Please note that although the original document has been modified we wish to grant the original author from the AAOS credit.)
Posted by wintjc at 9:37 AM
Friday, August 12, 2011
The dorsal wrist ganglion is most often confused with the carpal boss, so named by the French physician Foille. The carpal boss is an osteoarthritic spur that develops at the base of the second and/or third carpometacarpal joints. (figure 1) A firm, bony, nonmobile, tender mass is visible and palpable at the base of the carpometacarpal joints, especially when the wrist is volar flexed.
Radiologically, the mass is best visualized with the hand in 30 to 40 degrees supination and
20 to 30 degrees ulnar deviation ("carpal boss view")( figure 3).
The boss is more common in women (2:1), in the right hand (2:1), and between the third and fourth decades. The mass may be asymptomatic, but the patient may complain of considerable pain and aching. A small ganglion is associated with the carpal boss in 30 percent of cases, adding to its confusion with the more common dorsal wrist ganglion.
Injection to the ganglion or to the cmc joint may be used to reduce pain and irritation. This may be combined with splinting and anti inflammatory medication and avoidance of trauma to the back of the hand\
If symptoms persist at times surgery may be offered. (figure 2) Surgery may involve the removal of the prominent bone, the excision of an associated ganglion or cyst and at times involves tenosynovectomy or tenolysis of adjacent affected tendons. What occurs during surgery may depend upon the preoperative findings as well as the surgical intra operative findings
The most common complication is the persistence of a mass because of excision of the ganglion alone or inadequate excision of the osteophytes. Pain will persist unless all abnormal abutting surfaces have been excised. Dorsal wrist ganglions can present over the carpometacarpal joints and must be distinguished from the carpal boss with its own associated ganglion. Avoidance of injury to branches of the radial and ulnar sensory nerves is again stressed.
Posted by wintjc at 11:16 AM | <urn:uuid:df510d4e-fa86-4427-a1b3-1363a4b6eca7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://handcenterwma.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939931 | 1,443 | 2.6875 | 3 |
West Nile Case Confirmed in Caddo
The West Nile Virus continues to spread. The state Department of Health and Hospitals reports 19 new confirmed cases. Thirteen of those are the potentially deadly neuroinvasive disease — and one of those is right here in Caddo Parish. In all, 33 cases of West Nile Virus — in one of its three forms — have been confirmed this year in Louisiana. West Nile is spread by mosquitoes. Anyone is at risk for infection but those 65 and older are at a higher risk for complications. | <urn:uuid:d097ce8d-334a-48d5-afe3-eb0d58a2f65d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://710keel.com/west-nile-case-confirmed-in-caddo/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953424 | 109 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Eight Cool Things You Probably Don’t Know About Data Centers
- Sep 27, 2012
Author and Data Center expert Douglas Alger recently completed The Art of the Data Center, a new book that profiles 18 innovative Data Centers through images and in-depth interviews with the people who designed them.
Here, in this audio segment created for InformIT, Alger discusses eight cool things most people don’t realize about Data Centers. (Item 5 – An Internet service provider in Sweden installed a large aquarium at their underground Data Center facility that they originally planned to fill with piranha!)
The Art of the Data Center is available through major book retailers and our store. An enhanced edition, offered exclusively through Safari Books Online, features 8 audio segments with the author, elaborating on topics raised within the Data Center profiles such as cloud computing, green technologies, and how noisy Data Centers can be. | <urn:uuid:f5680837-8df5-401f-9725-91d04023320a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1952810 | 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 | 0.913178 | 180 | 1.90625 | 2 |
The magic of numbers
In medieval philosophy, music was included among the mathematical disciplines and its nobility was explained by the fact that it reflected the God-given laws in exactly the same way as the sciences of geometry and arithmetic. (The opposite of this “pure” art was usually instrumental music meant purely for entertainment.) An encounter with the music of the Middle Ages unveils many surprises: the speculative works of the master Josquin des Prez and his contemporaries, who ingeniously reflected the most varied and sophisticated games with numbers and proportions in their vocal compositions, boldly measure up to the current avant-garde works. They are marked with a similar boldness and intellectual charge and for all that they are still works, whose message heads directly to our hearts. At the same time, this highly refined music is sensuous and fragile.
The renaissance composition textbooks read like mathematical cookbooks and they describe the combinatory possibilities for various musical proportions (so-called intervals). The abstract world of numbers gave rise to a counter-reaction in the 16th century in the form of monody, which preferred individuality and emotional narration. As is often the case in human history, however, the pendulum suddenly swung back and we can still find many advocates of the “old” mathematical style in Bach’s period.
The numerical magic at the end of the baroque period lost its strength of a while, but the fascination with certain numbers remained and music continued to reflect the four elements, the four points of the compass or the last seven words of the Bible. Musical collections contained compositions in six or nine parts and the symbolism of the numbers 3 or 30, which were considered to be perfect numbers, continued to appear.
In 2012, Concentus Moraviae will seriously and playfully present the most important aspects of mathematics in music – speculative medieval works, the elaborate and elegant work of the first contrapuntalists, the works of the master of counterpoint Johann Sebastian Bach, the baroque coding of works in general bass numbers, but also our own play on numbers. Some of the concerts will include works from the same year or with the same opus numbers or everything in them will be linked to three …
The intention of all of these rules and games with numbers is to discover the sound rules which will also bring harmony to our souls via music.
Barbara Maria Willi, the dramaturge | <urn:uuid:bd74ab26-7c14-40d1-95cd-75d158057b31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.concentus-moraviae.cz/en/dramaturgy-2012-p204.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946397 | 492 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Big changes came to Australia’s workplace on July 1st 2009 when the Rudd Government’s Fair Work industrial relations changes came into effect.
The new IR laws meant big changes for every employer and in particular, small and medium employers. For example, protection against unfair dismissal claims that SME’s enjoyed under WorkChoices is gone and while there is some protection for companies with 15 employees or less, there are still traps these small employers need to dodge.
The Fair Work Act 2009 sets out the minimum employment conditions that all employers, including small ones, need to be aware of. Employers that don’t know what their rights and obligations are under the new laws are simply maximising risk to their business.
When Did This Start?
The Fair Work Act commenced operation on July 1st 2009.
Initially it dealt with unfair and unlawful dismissal rules, agreement making obligations, transfer of business rules and workplace rights as outlined in the Fair Work Act 2009. The Fair Work Ombudsman was established and they were given powers to enter businesses and launch investigations.
On January 1st 2010 the new Modern Award system and National Employment Standards came into effect.
From January 1st 2011 a small business is now determined by a simple headcount of full time, part time and regular systematic casual employees.
Who Does the Fair Work Act Apply To?
The passage of the state and federal legislation to effect referral of all state industrial relations powers, excluding WA, is now complete. From 1 January 2010 all private sector workers in Australia, except Western Australia, are covered by the Fair Work system.
Following the passage
of the Fair Work Amendment (State Referrals and Other Measures) Bill in the Senate on 2 December 2009, state referrals of industrial
relations power are now in place.
The referrals of power bring small business and non-profit organisation employees under the national regime.
States maintain their industrial relations powers in relation to state government and agency employees and matters not covered by the Fair Work Act 2009, such as occupational health and safety, discrimination and workers compensation.
So what are the bits that you should be concerned about?
Ideally you would be concerned about every aspect of the modern awards and national employment standards and compliance with them. But here is a brief outline of the major parts that you should be across.
It is important that businesses understand the new rules relating to unfair dismissals which commenced on July 1st 2009.
Under WorkChoices, small businesses were not bound by the unfair dismissal laws. An employee of a small business who was dismissed was prevented by law from lodging a claim for unfair dismissal. This exemption has been abolished and the laws now apply to all businesses covered by the Fair Work laws, no matter how many employees.
However, for businesses which employ fewer than fifteen full-time, part time or regular systematic casual employees, a new Small Business Fair Dismissal Code and Checklist has been introduced. If a business complies with the requirements set out in the Checklist then the dismissal may be classed as fair by Fair Work Australia.
Penalties: If the dismissal is found to be unfair then the remedy favoured by Fair Work Australia will be for the employee to be re-instated. If this is not reasonable, the employer can be required to pay compensation up to the maximum of the lesser of twenty six weeks pay or $59,050.
NB: Be aware that redundancy is no longer an automatic bar to an unfair dismissal claim.
Suggested Action: If you are thinking of terminating an employee contact HR2You and ask for our help to make sure you exit an employee in a proper manner that reduces your risk to an unfair dismissal claim. Document any and all performance related discussions with employees!
As a key plank of the new Fair Work laws, the Commonwealth Government replaced more than 4000 existing State and Federal awards with approximately 130 new ‘Modern Awards’ on January 1st 2010. These build on the National Employment Standards and are tailored to the needs of specific industries and occupations.
Businesses must check now to confirm whether a Modern Award will apply to their business and take all steps necessary to achieve compliance.
Modern Awards may include an additional ten minimum conditions of employment relating to:
An arrangement called an ‘Individual Flexibility Agreement’ is a flexibility clause in the Modern Awards which will assist employees and employers to agree to new arrangements which meet their specific needs.
Also the new system should not result in any employee taking home less pay than they took home before the Modern Awards was introduced. If it does, they may apply to Fair Work Australia for a ‘Take Home Pay Order’ which will restore their take home pay to the previous level.
The new Modern Awards will not apply to anyone earning more than the ‘high income threshold’, which is currently set at $113,800 per year.
The Awards are both industry and occupation based. So if you don’t have an award for your industry, your employees will be covered under an occupation based one. Some awards will cover various occupations in the award.
Penalties: Employers face stiff fines for not complying with the conditions set out in the modern awards. Their business faces a maximum fine of up to $33,000 per breach and the owner or manager can face a fine of up to $6,600 per breach.
NB: Businesses are required to let their employees know what award applies to them.
NB Part II: The biggest area of action for the Fair Work Ombudsman and their Inspectors is around underpayment of employees. These are generally because of employers who haven’t looked up the award and complied with minimum rates of pay outlined in those awards.
NB Part III: Many awards have transitional arrangements
to ease employers from the older pre-modern awards to the new ones. Also be aware that the awards are updated from time to time.
NB Part III: Many awards have transitional arrangements to ease employers from the older pre-modern awards to the new ones. Also be aware that the awards are updated from time to time.
Suggested Action: Look up the modern awards that apply to your employees ASAP. You can click here to access a site that contains all the awards and work them out for yourself. Or contact HR2You for assistance, contact your IR lawyer or call the Fair Work Information line on 13 13 94.
The National Employment Standards:
The National Employment Standards consist of ten legislated conditions of employment which will apply from January 1st 2010. It is not possible for employees or employers to opt-out of these Standards. Importantly they will override any terms and conditions contained within existing Enterprise Agreements or employment contracts that are less generous than those set out in the ten Standards.
Therefore it is imperative that businesses carefully review any agreements or individual contracts which were written before January 1st 2010.
The ten National Employment Standards relate to the following matters:
1. Maximum weekly hours
2. Requests for Flexible Working Arrangements
3. Parental Leave and Related Entitlements
4. Annual Leave
5. Personal/Carers Leave and Compassionate Leave
6. Community Service Leave
7. Long Service Leave
8. Public Holidays
9. Notice of Termination and Redundancy Pay
10. Fair Work Information Statement
It is essential that businesses fully comply with all ten Standards.
Penalties: Employers face stiff fines for not complying with the conditions set out in the national employment standards. Their business faces a maximum fine of up to $33,000 per breach and the owner or manager can face a fine of up to $6,600 per breach.
NB: Be aware that since Jan 1st 2010 employers are required to give new employees a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement when they start employment.
Suggested Action: Contact HR2You and ask us to check over your employment agreements and make sure that you are compliant.
Many small businesses come undone in this area. A lack of resources and time see many businesses fail to keep such records and even give out basic payslips to employees. This can be very expensive – just one fine can outweigh the cost of implementing a system or service to administer and maintain records or payslips.
Businesses must make and keep accurate and complete records for all employees. These must be kept for seven years and be in a form (legible and in English) that is readily accessible to Fair Work Inspectors.
Employees must keep the following records: general records, pay records, hours of work records, leave records, superannuation contribution records, individual flexibility arrangement records, guarantee of annual earnings records, termination records and transfer of business records.
Penalties: Fair Work Inspectors can issues on the spot infringement notices for each contravention of your record keeping and pay slip obligations. The fines are a maximum of $1650 per business and a maximum of $330 per individual. Failure to pay within 28 days will lead to court and a risk of much bigger penalties.
NB: Payslips must be given to employees within one working day of pay day, even if they are on leave. These can be in electronic or hard copy and they must contain certain information.
Suggested Action: Conduct an audit all of your employee records to make you are compliant with your record keeping and payslip obligations. If you are not compliant HR2You can help you with a software system for the records and we can put you in contact with a skilled bookkeeper, accountant or payroll organisation to help you with payslips.
Summary: What Should Your Business Be Doing?
Business owners should be trying to reduce risk to their business and make themselves aware of the legislative changes.
If you are a small business owner with employees ask yourself these few simple questions:
a) Do you know what modern awards cover and apply to your employees?
b) Do you maintain accurate records of employee leave entitlements?
c) Do you know what the rates of pay are for your industry?
d) Do your employees get a pay slip that has all of the required information within one working day of them being paid?
e) Have you implemented new compliant workplace agreements?
f) Do you do performance reviews?
g) Do you document everything?
h) Do you have the right advice?
i) Is there someone in your corner helping you?
If you answered no to any of these questions you may get a nasty shock if you come to the attention of Fair Work Australia.
It only takes one disgruntled employee (or ex-employee) to seek advice and suddenly your business is dealing with a team of Fair Work Inspectors and/or unfair dismissal claim instead of trying to make money.
Along with our HR management systems and advice we can connect you to other professionals in the legal and business management spheres that can help your business immensely.
Contact HR2You for a friendly no-obligation chat about how we can help your business overcome any hurdles you have in compliance.
Can you afford not to? | <urn:uuid:18394005-9a85-4e8f-bc61-72137d1d0ed9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hr2you.com.au/understanding_the_new_fair_work_industrial_relations_laws.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950528 | 2,266 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Smart Growth on the Ground (SGOG) is an innovative initiative in partnership with the Design Centre for Sustainability
at UBC and the Real Estate Institute of BC
. SGOG helps citizens and their elected leaders design and build smarter, more sustainable neighbourhoods. Smart Growth BC undertakes outreach and public education for the initiative. The first three community partners are Maple Ridge, Squamish, and Oliver, BC. In 2009, we completed our work in the City of Prince George.
To learn more visit our website at www.sgog.bc.ca | <urn:uuid:77eab63d-45db-4734-b5ac-384478465b22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smartgrowth.bc.ca/Programs/SmartGrowthontheGroundSGOG/tabid/71/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936718 | 114 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Muppet Wiki is a group project, and it's important that the group members have a say in the decisions that are made. Most of the time, we can make decisions and resolve conflicts through discussions on talk pages or on the Current Events page. Occasionally, group members will disagree strongly on an issue, and we get bogged down in a discussion that has no obvious resolution. In those cases, members can bring the question to a vote.
Step 1: Proposing a vote
If you feel like a vote is warranted, you should propose the vote on the talk page, as part of the discussion. The proposal needs to be seconded by another member before moving forward. If another member says that they'd like to discuss the matter more before a vote is called, you should respect that request, and keep talking about it.
Once the proposal is made and accepted, then you can move on. If there are multiple options to choose from, then set up a Nomination page (Step 2). If there are only two possible choices, then you can skip ahead to a Vote page (Step 3).
Step 2: Nomination page
A nomination page is an opportunity for wiki members to suggest resolutions for the issue.
Create a new page, with the title "Nominations: (Issue)" -- with the "Issue" being the question that you're trying to resolve. Post a brief, neutral summary of the issue, and then ask for members to post their suggestions for options to vote on.
Each option needs to be proposed by a member, and seconded by another member. If a proposed option doesn't get seconded, then it won't be included on the Vote page.
Members who participate on the Nomination page (either proposing or seconding) should sign and date stamp their contribution.
It's a nice idea for an individual member to only do one thing on a Nomination page -- set up the page, propose an option, or second an option. If you set up the Nomination page, then don't propose any options. Let other people do that. It'll help to build people's trust in the process if they have a role to play.
You should post an announcement of the nomination on the talk page where you've been discussing the issue, on the Current Events page, and on the Main Page.
A Nomination page should be up for at least 24 hours before the Vote page is created. The Nomination period must occur on a day between Monday and Friday.
Step 3: Vote page
Once you've established the options for the vote, open a Vote page, with the title "Vote: (Issue)".
The top of a Vote page should include the following:
- A brief, neutral summary of the issue
- A closing time for the vote (24 hours after it opens)
- An explanation of how to vote
- An explanation of how the results will be interpreted (see below)
Post the options as headings down the page, and open the vote.
You should post an announcement of the vote on the talk page where you've been discussing the issue, on the Current Events page, and on the Main Page.
During the voting period, anyone can feel free to encourage other members to vote by posting on user talk pages and reminding them about the vote.
Members vote by adding their name and date stamp under the option that they prefer. Members should only post a signature, without any extra comments. Members can feel free to change their vote at any time while the poll is open.
The Voting period must occur on a day between Monday and Friday.
Step 4: Closing the vote
After the 24 hour voting period, post a message at the top of the Vote page announcing that the vote is closed, and linking back to the original talk page for a discussion of the vote results.
A vote between two options must be decided by at least a two-thirds majority. If there's less than a two-thirds split, then that means the issue is still contentious, and it needs to go back to discussion. Deciding an issue by 51% will only lead to resentment from the other 49%.
A vote with three or more options must be decided by at least 50% of the votes cast. (A 40-30-30% split is not decisive.) If there's less than a 50% split, the issue goes back to discussion. At that point, it's possible to propose a "run-off" election between the top two options.
(There is an exception to this system: If there are three or more options, but only two of the options receive any votes, then it should be treated as if it were a two-option vote, and decided by a two-thirds majority. A 51-49-0% split is not decisive, and should go back to discussion.)
Step 5: Further discussion
It's important to note that going back to discussion does not mean that the vote was a failure. The voting process allows everyone to clarify their positions, and it encourages members who haven't been involved in the discussion to state their position and get involved. Going back to discussion and working toward consensus is a much better result than making a decision that some people are unhappy with.
The primary purpose of a vote is to encourage discussion and build the community. Deciding the actual question is secondary. The voting process should always be an opportunity to bring people together, and to encourage everyone to be an active participant in group decisions. | <urn:uuid:2343cc3c-f956-48d5-9207-69bc396b7d9c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Muppet_Wiki_Vote_Page_policy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961159 | 1,129 | 1.710938 | 2 |
A. What An Appeal Can - And Can't - Do. An appeal is a powerful, often underestimated, line of defense. It's an opportunity to reduce the award, obtain a complete or partial new trial, or perhaps even reverse misfortune, getting judgment awarded in favor of the party who lost at trial.
However, the appeal is not an opportunity to retry the case. Appellate courts don't reweigh evidence, fact findings or witness credibility. They look for prejudicial legal error - error that deprived the losing party of a fair trial. With some exceptions, issues and arguments not raised or waived in the trial court usually will not be available to attack a verdict on appeal.
B. Potential Arguments. The appeal may challenge the judgment in a variety of ways, depending on the case, e.g.:
- attacking the verdict's legal underpinnings – arguing lack of standing, no tort as a matter of law, etc.
- contending there is insufficient evidence to support the legal basis of liability or, e.g., a punitive damage verdict
- challenging the amount of compensatory or or punitive damages as excessive under state or federal law
- contesting how the case was tried, including evidentiary or instructional errors
- other error, such attorney or jury misconduct, juror bias, and the like
C. Possible Outcomes On Appeal. The type of appellate argument raised controls the potential result. For example:
- if appellant proves there is no contract liability in a tortious breach of contract case, the appellate court likely will reverse with directions to enter judgment in defendant's favor
- if the court of appeal finds there is no tort as a matter of law in an insurance bad faith case, it should allow the judgment for contract damages (policy benefits) to stand, but reverse the tort and punitive awards with directions
- if the opinion decides prejudicial errors were committed in the taking of evidence or jury instructions, it may order a complete retrial, or a partial one, depending on the type of error and when during the trial it occurred
- the court may outright reduce or eliminate the damage award on its own, or remand to the trial court for further determinations
D. Strategic Considerations On Appeal.
Obtaining a new trial. This can be a mixed blessing. Certainly things go back to square one, but the defendant again faces the risk of an adverse judgment, perhaps even a larger one.
Could there be a a published opinion? Defendants contemplating appeal should also consider the possibility of a published appellate court opinion. Could this help, or harm, its position in other cases? Though unpublished decisions have no value as precedent in many jurisdictions, other courts could treat them as having binding collateral estoppel or res judicata effect. An unfavorable published - or even unpublished - opinion may alert other potential plaintiffs and spur them into legal action.
- Preparing the record on appeal. The appellant must pay for preparing the Reporter's Transcript of the trial and the appendix of trial court documents. In lengthy trials, this can be significant. If the appellant wins on appeal, these costs may be recoverable.
- Interest runs on the judgment. In many states interest runs on a money judgment at a fixed rate (e.g., California 10% simple interest.) Interest in federal court is calculated under a complex formula geared to the auction price of Treasury Bills at the time the verdict was rendered. Depending on the court and size of the case, an appeal can take months, or years.
- Costs on appeal. In most courts, the prevailing party on appeal is entitled to appellate costs.
E. Why An Appellate Specialist?
The defense lawyer, who's lived the case, is intimately familiar with every detail. That very strength can be a weakness on appeal. The reviewing court, seeing the case for the first time, lacks this microscopic mastery of the details, and considers only matters in the record and preserved (or not waived) below.
An appellate specialist brings not only expertise in the procedural complexities of post-trial and appellate practice, but objectivity to evaluating whether to appeal, what issues to raise and how to frame them. They speak the court of appeal's language, a language very different from the lower court. One looks for legal error and significant legal issues. The other applies the law to resolve disputed fact questions. A seasoned appellate practitioner knows the difference, the court's history, background and predelictions. They are specially trained in legal analysis. Persuasive, cogent, organized writing is their metier.
“[T]rial attorneys who prosecute their own appeals . . . may have `tunnel vision.’ Having tried the case themselves, they have become convinced of the merits of the claim. They may lose objectivity and would be well served by consulting and taking the advice of disinterested members of the bar, schooled in appellate practice.” Estate of Gilkison (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 1443, 1449-1450.
Experienced, savvy appellate counsel are valuable not only on appeal, but during, and even before, trial or judgment. Their creative legal thinking may help to identify new issues or new approaches to old ones, draft dispositive motions, review and edit trial briefs, provide creative ideas about new jury instructions, and help preserve the record for appeal. | <urn:uuid:427ac05c-2b7b-406b-8c1e-852a529a4ab8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.appellatestrategist.com/2005/08/key-posts/evaluating-your-appeal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938499 | 1,100 | 2.375 | 2 |
Is the "Clean 15" Just as Toxic as the "Dirty Dozen"?
Recently, Environmental Working Group released its annual "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean Fifteen" lists of produce with the most and least pesticide residues. My reaction was: Well done, but what about farm workers? The EWG lists provide an invaluable tool to help consumers reduce pesticide exposure, but tell us nothing about the folks who grow and harvest the great bulk of food we consume.
Well, over on Pesticide Action Network's Ground Truth blog, researcher Karl Tupper shed some light on the murky question of farm worker exposure to toxic pesticides. Tupper stressed that pesticide residues pose a real threat to consumers. However, he adds "It’s the farmers, farm workers, and residents of rural communities who are really most at risk from pesticides, not consumers." Tupper explains:
While these folks are exposed to pesticides from food like the rest of us, they also must contend with pesticide fumes drifting out of fields, exposure from working directly with pesticides, and pesticide-coated dust and dirt tracked into their homes from the fields.
Tupper cross-referenced the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists against USDA numbers for total pesticides applied per acre of each item. He found that from the perspective of farm workers, the Clean Fifteen just aren't much cleaner than the Dirty Dozen.
Read More » Mother Jones | <urn:uuid:2ae839b8-7d74-4c54-ac28-01f6e6c0896c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.panna.org/media-center/press/clean-15-just-toxic-dirty-dozen?quicktabs_1=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929652 | 291 | 2.453125 | 2 |
By JOHN B. TAYLOR, WSJ
America's economic future is increasingly uncertain. In my view, unpredictable economic policy—massive fiscal "stimulus" and ballooning debt, the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing with multiyear near-zero interest rates, and regulatory uncertainty due to ObamaCare and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms—is the main cause of persistent high unemployment and our feeble recovery from the recession.
A reform strategy built on more predictable, rules-based fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies will help restore economic prosperity. That will be a daunting task, of course, but as they undertake the necessary changes, reformers should pay close attention to what the great economist and philosopher Friedrich A. Hayek wrote in the middle years of the last century.
Hayek argued that the case for rules-based policy goes beyond economics and should appeal to all those concerned about assaults on freedom. He wrote in his classic 1944 book, "The Road to Serfdom," that "nothing distinguishes more clearly conditions in a free country from those in a country under arbitrary government than the observance in the former of the great principles known as the Rule of Law."
Hayek added, "Stripped of all technicalities, this means that government in all its actions is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand—rules which make it possible to foresee with fair certainty how the authority will use its coercive powers in given circumstances and to plan one's individual affairs on the basis of this knowledge."
Rules-based policies make the economy work better by providing a predictable policy framework within which consumers and businesses make decisions. But they also protect freedom, a concept Hayek developed in his 1960 book, "The Constitution of Liberty."
Hayek traces the relationship of the rule of law to freedom back to Aristotle, and then to Cicero, about whom he wrote, "No other author shows more clearly . . . that freedom is dependent upon certain attributes of the law, its generality and certainty, and the restrictions it places on the discretion of authority." Hayek also quotes from the Second Treatise of Civil Government by John Locke, the father of classical liberalism who had a profound influence on America's Founding Fathers: "The end [meaning the purpose] of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom . . . where there is no law, there is no freedom."
Hayek understood that a rules-based system has a dual purpose—freedom and prosperity. Thus the needed reforms in America today—and in any society overburdened by government intervention—are supported by two constituencies: those focused on freedom and those focused on prosperity.
But skeptics ask how a system of policy rules can work when politicians and government officials want to "do something" to help the economy or feel public pressure to do so. A rules-based system with less discretion sounds good in theory, they say, but rules mean you do nothing, and that is impossible in today's charged political climate and 24-hour news cycle.
Hayek had an answer to this. In "The Road to Serfdom" he wrote that it was wrong to say that the "characteristic attitude [of a rules-based system] is inaction of the state" and presented a counter example to this common view, saying that "the state controlling weights and measures (or preventing fraud or deception in any other way) is certainly acting."
Consider other examples. Rules for monetary policy do not mean that the central bank does not change the instruments of policy (interest rates or the money supply) in response to events, or provide loans in the case of a bank run. Rather they mean that they take such actions in a predictable manner.
But in the years immediately preceding the 2008 financial crisis, monetary policy deviated from the more predictable rules-based policy that worked in the 1980s and '90s—i.e., the Federal Reserve held rates too low for too long. Moreover, government regulators did not enforce existing rules on risk-taking at banks and other financial institutions, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Then came the discretionary stimulus packages and exploding debt, the regulatory unpredictability associated with ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank, which includes hundreds of rules still waiting to be written, and the unprecedented quantitative easing through which the Federal Reserve bought 77% of new federal debt in 2011.
The U.S. tax code has become particularly unpredictable. The number of provisions expiring has skyrocketed to 133 in 2010-12 from 11 in 2000-02. And now the epitome of unpredictable policy is upon us in the form of a self-inflicted "fiscal cliff" where virtually the entire tax code will be up for grabs by the end of this year.
It is deviation from a rule or a strategy that creates uncertainty and hinders prosperity. Thus, regulators who decide not to act when financial institutions take on risk beyond the limits of the rules and regulations are not being faithful to the law and indeed to the rule of law.
What can citizens do to achieve a more rules-based system? Here Hayek issued a warning. In a chapter in "The Road to Serfdom" called "Why the Worst Get on Top," he argued that there is a bias against individuals in government who firmly believe in rules-based policy. People who have the ambition to get to the top frequently have a bias toward discretionary interventionism, whether motivated by the desire to capture regulatory agencies on behalf of clients, advance the interests of cronies or indeed simply to position themselves for further career advancement later on.
Those who benefit directly from interventions will work hard to make sure that officials who favor discretionary activism advance. Firms in the financial industry, for example, that benefit from a bailout mentality will favor officials who are comfortable with bailouts. Perhaps the answer is to find people who are "overcommitted" to rules-based policy. Then, after all the inevitable pressures and perverse incentives, they may emerge with a sensible balance.
Some will claim, of course, that crises force policy makers to deviate from predictable rules. One can argue that bailouts and other discretionary interventions were needed during the panic of the fall of 2008, and perhaps they prevented a more serious panic. But that is like saying that the person who set fire to your house should be exonerated because he helped put out the fire and saved a few rooms.
Mr. Taylor is professor of economics at Stanford and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. His book, "First Principles: Five Keys to Restoring America's Prosperity" (Norton 2012), was awarded the 2012 Hayek prize by the Manhattan Institute. This op-ed is adapted from his Hayek Prize Lecture delivered on May 31. | <urn:uuid:47160dc5-8c6d-4e45-ab26-da47092baf1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rodrigoconstantino.blogspot.com/2012/06/rules-for-americas-road-to-recovery.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960394 | 1,369 | 2 | 2 |
Great granddaughter of Noah Webster, author of America’s first dictionary, Frances Louisa Goodrich (1856-1944) was born in 1856 into a family of intellectuals and Presbyterian ministers. She was among the first to promote a revival of weaving as a cottage industry in the North Carolina mountains, founding Allanstand Cottage Industries, later donating its assets to the newly formed Southern Highland Handicraft Guild. Older than most of her colleagues, Goodrich was admired and revered as a “pathfinder in mountain arts and crafts.” 1 A diminutive woman, barely five feet tall, she was often seen astride her pony Cherokee, riding into remote coves to visit neighbors and craft workers.
Before moving to North Carolina where she became enamored with mountain handicrafts, Frances Goodrich attended college at Yale (1879-1882), following in the footsteps of four generations of Goodrich men. The Yale School of Fine Arts was the first division to open their doors to women. Still, the university withheld degrees from them, instead offering women certificates of attendance. 2 In 1890 Frances Goodrich traveled to Riceville, North Carolina to assist at a Presbyterian mission located nine miles outside Asheville. After two years, she moved to Dula Springs in Brittain’s Cove in northern Buncombe County where she established a small mission community. Goodrich built a cottage she named “The Sparrow’s Nest,” a schoolhouse and meeting place dubbed “The Library,” and a church in memory of her father. 3
Writing in the third person, Goodrich recalled her early days of work in western North Carolina. “[I]n the year 1895,” she wrote, “two women were living together in Brittain’s Cove, twelve miles from Asheville, North Carolina. In those days twelve miles was a long distance, and the journey to town, made in a mountain wagon or in the saddle, consumed three or four hours....One of the women in the cottage at the Cove taught the school; the other... [referring to herself] was dubbed ‘the woman who runs things.’” 4
Double Bowknot Coverlet
Frances Goodrich often told the tale of how she came to become interested in weaving. “[O]ut of pure good will” a neighbor woman brought her a gift of a forty-year-old coverlet, woven in the Double Bowknot pattern “golden brown on a cream-colored background. The brown had been dyed with chestnut oak,” she explained, “and was as fine a color as the day it was finished.” But more important than the coverlet itself was the fact that the maker presented Goodrich with the pattern’s draft, “a long strip of paper covered with figures very mysterious.”
A draft is an abbreviated notation that a weaver follows to reproduce a particular pattern, a blueprint of sorts. Goodrich was as captivated by the draft as she was by the coverlet that inspired her. “Here was a fine craft, dying out and desirable to revive. Did she hold the clue to her puzzle in her very hand?” she mused. The coverlet and draft set Goodrich to thinking, “Could we produce the coverlets at a moderate cost? And if so, could we find or make a market for them?” 5 Goodrich answered the last part of her question by taking the Double Bowknot coverlet North and showing it off to potential customers. Goodrich would soon learn that coverlets were made in many different patterns, often with fanciful names like “Nine Snowballs” and “Cross and Dog Tracks.”
Returning home encouraged, Goodrich enlisted the help of a local family, the Angels—Daniel and Lucy with daughters Nancy and Clarissa—and angels they were. They introduced Goodrich to traditional methods of coverlet weaving in a manner that underscored the meaning of term “homespun,” in which all aspects of the process were completed on the family farm. But Goodrich soon organized her own methods. Carding, spinning, dyeing, and weaving were no longer done on a single homestead, instead, Goodrich developed a system of “putting out” the various aspects of the weaving process. In his introduction to the reissue of Goodrich’s memoir, Jan Davidson points out that Goodrich replaced the traditional method of one-family production with a system involving multiple members of a community. From Goodrich’s perspective, her method enabled more people to participate in the economic benefits of her enterprise, but from the point of view of a “revival,” her methods were as much innovation as they were preservation. 6
If one follows Frances Goodrich’s logic, it also made sense to market smaller items, derived from the basic woven form from which coverlets were made. She encouraged neighbor women to weave shorter lengths of fabric and make them into table runners, pillow tops, and other smaller, decorative pieces. The changes that Goodrich brought to her mountain community were mixed. While she enabled women to weave and, thus, provide for their families, her awareness of market forces pushed weavers away from traditional forms. Hers was not a revival that focused on authenticity of form. Instead, craft forms evolved with incoming orders. Such documented change has spawned contemporary texts highly critical of Goodrich and her colleagues. 7
But from the revivalists’ point of view, the Craft Revival was not so much about objects as it was about people and preserving hand skill. They viewed craft from a dynamic lens, seeing it as a living—and changing—activity. Goodrich imagined weaving—as a community cottage industry—was a solution to the region’s problems. For her, change was not something initiated from within the rural community; instead, she viewed external forces as affecting the nature of rural life. “To us who have cast our lot with the dwellers in the mountains to live and die with them, the problem of their future is now full of interest. Swift changes are taking place. On every side new forces push in.” 8
In 1897 Frances Goodrich moved to the Laurel community in Madison County, maintaining a home there until her retirement to Asheville in 1918. Laurel was a remote crossroads known as Allan’s Old Stand, where a man named Allen ran a rest stop for drovers passing through the area. Before the days of large wheeled transport, livestock was moved on the hoof. Large herds moving from farm to market were walked through the countryside, stopping at waysides along the way. Allan’s Old Stand was one such wayside, a gathering place. It was here that Goodrich established Allanstand Cottage Industries, a weaving cooperative.
Like other craft promoters, Goodrich used a system of “putting out.” That is, she paid women to weave in their homes and purchased work piece by piece. Her goals were multiple: to bring money into communities far from the usual markets, to give paying work to women, to give pleasure in producing beautiful things, and “to save from extinction the old-time crafts.” Goodrich maintained Allanstand as a meeting place for weavers and the hub of her operations, calling it her “pioneer shop.” In 1908 Goodrich opened a sales showroom in downtown Asheville to take advantage of the tourist trade.
In February 1931 Goodrich invited three colleagues to her home: Olive Campbell, Clementine Douglas, and Marguerite Butler Bidstrup. “Around the fireplace in her living room, Miss Goodrich told the three that there had been people who had wanted to buy Allanstand from her” but, instead, she announced that she wanted to give the operation to the Guild. 9 Olive Campbell recorded this story as well in a short essay titled “In Losing Ms. Frances Goodrich.”
Frances Goodrich’s gift of her assets to the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild helped sustain the fledgling organization, allowing it to profit from the operation of a sales shop. Many Guild supporters spoke of the gift. She “very simply, gave them Allanstand. Gave Allanstand to the Guild as their shop. Gave Allanstand so that Guild members would always have a market from which their crafts could be shown and sold... Gave Allanstand to the Guild to encourage craftsmen to keep on with their creative work.” 10 In 1935 she followed this gift with another, a collection of regional crafts that form the cornerstone of today’s Southern Highland Craft Guild permanent collection.
In 1918 Frances Goodrich “retired” to Asheville, but she remained active in the movement, serving on the board of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild and writing a memoir, Mountain Homespun, which was published in 1931, and reissued in 1989. When she died in 1944, the Conference of Southern Mountain Workers presented a series of testimonials to her contribution to the movement. Among those that spoke on her life were Olive Campbell and Lucy Morgan, each founders of their own craft enterprises.
- M. Anna Fariello, 2006
1. Frances Louisa Goodrich, Mountain Homespun, (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1931) 21.
2. Jan Davidson, Mountain Homespun, (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989) 9-15.
3. Chauncey W. Goodrich in Frances Louisa Goodrich: 1856-1944 (privately printed), 4.
4. Goodrich, 21.
5. Goodrich, 21-23.
6. Davidson, 6-7.
7. David Whisnant, in All that is Native and Fine, and Jane Becker, in Selling Tradition, are two scholars who focus on issues of “cultural intervention” in mountain culture by promoters of the craft revival.
8. Frances Louisa Goodrich, “Old Ways and New in the Carolina Mountains,” Southern Workman, April 1900, 211.
9. Unsigned notes from Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, 1945, 3.
10. Esther Bloxton, Southern Highland Handicraft Guild manager, unpublished document, circa 1944. | <urn:uuid:1d98dba6-510f-4e13-a794-dad2ab70c982> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcu.edu/library/DigitalCollections/CraftRevival/people/franceslgoodrich.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969421 | 2,144 | 2.65625 | 3 |
For local parishes, better to act ‘as if'
Published: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:12 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, April 30, 2010 at 11:12 a.m.
HOUMA — For now, Louisiana's oil-leak action is centered around the state's easternmost parishes as a 600-square-mile slick makes its way toward wildlife preserves and threatens the livelihood of shrimpers and oystermen.
It's too soon to determine whether the same fate awaits the shorelines of Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, but local officials say they are making plans in case the oil slick moves this way.
“At this time, it appears the spill will stay to our east,” Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph said, “but if this oil spill threatens Lafourche, we will be ready to respond.”
In Terrebonne Parish, Public Safety Director Ralph Mitchell said no special equipment has been activated. Officials here have the benefit of time to monitor and prepare, unlike those in Plaquemines or St. Bernard parishes, he said.
“We are actively keeping track of what's going on,” said Mitchell, who oversees emergency-preparedness efforts. “We're watching like everybody else.”
The oil slick is the result of an April 20 explosion at the Deepwater Horizon, a BP-run operation off the coast of Venice. Federal and state officials have been visiting various coastal cities to survey preparations and gather information. Among the visitors is U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who was scheduled to be in Houma this morning and Robert this afternoon.
While crews frantically try to cap the well that's spewing an estimated 5,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico, officials are trying to figure out how to contain the toxic material before it fouls the coast.
The leading edge of the massive slick had reached the mouth of the Mississippi River this morning and projections were that it would impact the Louisiana coastline to the east, as well as the shores of Mississippi and Alabama.
But a change in currents, tides or wind direction could result in a local disaster, said experts in hydrology and emergency response.
If strong southeast winds prevail and the slick moves west of the Mississippi River's mouth, strong currents could lift the slick into the Terrebonne basin.
That would threaten animals, birds and marine life. It would also be a hard blow for commercial and recreational fishermen, as well as associated businesses.
Local water supplies would likely not be affected, said Barry Blackwell, Terrebonne's Waterworks District director.
Some Terrebonne drinking water comes from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway via the Houma Navigation Canal, but those inlets can be shut off if oil approaches.
The bulk of Terrebonne's drinking water comes from Bayou Lafourche, the same source used by Lafourche Parish residents. The bayou flows south toward the Gulf of Mexico, a phenomenon that will likely keep the slick from traveling far enough inland to impact water supplies.
There is a growing chance that other local waterways will be impacted because of shifting winds, said Andrew Barron, who does water-quality work for the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program at Nicholls State University.
“If we have sustained winds and the oil gets past the barrier islands,” he said, “there is nothing to keep it from moving up into the Barataria Basin.”
Federal officials are also monitoring air quality along the coast.
“People are probably going to be smelling what is coming in off the Gulf,” Barron said.
One unexpected effect of the spill is an early opening to the brown-shrimp season. State wildlife officials opened Zone 2 — waters south of Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary between the Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers — to shrimpers.
The goal is to harvest the shrimp before the oil reaches them.
Staff Writer Naomi King contributed to this report. Senior Staff Writer John DeSantis can be reached at 850-1150 or email@example.com.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged. | <urn:uuid:676cf41e-6957-424e-9ce8-04741cba9b51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20100430/ARTICLES/100439958?Title=For-local-parishes-better-to-act-8216-as-if- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938558 | 910 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Pathe have rights to clips in Time to Remember programmes but not to commentary or whole programme as screened.
Reel 2. Continued.
01:18:12 Men of the R.F.C. Royal Flying Corp. get into their pilots clothes and climb into biplanes. The plane taxies away.
01:18:29 Naval ships...
The International Suffragette Conference is held in Rome. Benito Mussolini attends and promises the vote to Italian women. Italy.
Suffragettes celebrate 50th anniversary.
Material relating to newsreel story "Suffragettes Meet Again" - 55/12.
George Lansbury stands in a by-election to support the suffragette cause.
Suffragettes burn out the home of an MP who opposed rights for women.
Suffragettes picket the home of politician Sir Edward Carson.
Compilation of Suffragette material - from before WWI and also from during the War.
Still photographs and cartoons about suffragettes filmed from books - Check Copyright. | <urn:uuid:89409036-68f0-44cf-ae7e-23428a5a5ac0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britishpathe.com/video/time-to-remember-time-of-the-suffragettes-1911-1/query/suffragettes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920585 | 218 | 1.726563 | 2 |
NEW HAVEN (AP) — Lady Gaga has enlisted a Yale University psychologist in her campaign to end bullying.
Marc Brackett, a research scientist, is one of seven scholars named to the advisory board of the singer's Born This Way Foundation.
Brackett has been working on an anti-bullying project with Facebook. This spring he'll head up a new center at Yale devoted to teaching emotional intelligence in schools and other organizations.
Read more of this story and more!
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“The trick to creativity, if there is a single useful thing to say about it, is to identify your own peculiar talent and then to settle down to work with it for a good long time.”
“Originality often consists in linking up ideas whose connection was not previously suspected,” wrote W. I. B. Beveridge in the fantastic 1957 tome The Art of Scientific Investigation. “The role of the imagination is to create new meanings and to discover connections that, even if obvious, seem to escape detection,” legendary graphic designer Paul Rand seconded. Indeed, longer ago than I can remember, I intuited the conviction that creativity is a combinatorial force — it thrives on cross-pollinating existing ideas, often across divergent disciplines and sensibilities, and combining them into something new, into what we proudly call our “original” creations. Paula Scher has likened the process to a slot machine; Dorion Sagan has asserted that science is about connections; Gutenberg has embodied it. And some of history’s most celebrated creators have attested to it with the nature of their genius.
A slim and near-forgotten but altogether fantastic 1991 book by Denise Shekerjian titled Uncommon Genius: How Great Ideas Are Born (public library) synthesizes insights on creativity from conversations with 40 winners of the MacArthur “genius” grant — artists, writers, scientists, inventors, cultural critics.
In the first chapter, titled “Talent and The Long Haul,” Shekerjian seconds the notion that a regular routine is key to creativity:
There’s no use trying to deny it: a conscious application of raw talent, far more than luck or accident, is at the core of every creative moment. … The cultivation of aptitude, far more than coincidence or inspiration, is responsible for most creative breakthroughs.
The trick to creativity, if there is a single useful thing to say about it, is to identify your own peculiar talent and then to settle down to work with it for a good long time. Everyone has an aptitude for something. The trick is to recognize it, to honor it, to work with it. This is where creativity starts.
Among the geniuses illustrating her point is the great paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, whom we lost eleven years ago this week and who has done more for the popular understanding of science than anyone since Carl Sagan by demonstrating why science and philosophy need each other with his singular blend of a humanist’s sensitivity and a scientist’s rigor. But Gould’s greatest gift, per his own account, is what Arthur Koestler has famously termed “bisociation” — the ability to link the seemingly unlinkable, which lies at the heart of innovation, the kind of pattern-recognition science says fuels creativity and is the architecture sustaining all “original thought.” Gould tells Shekerjian:
My talent is making connections. That’s why I’m an essayist. It’s also why my technical work is structured the way it is. How do the parts of the snail shell interact? What are the rates of growth? Can you see a pattern? I’m always trying to see a pattern in this forest and I’m tickled that I can do that. … I can sit down on just about any subject and think of about twenty things that relate to it and they’re not hokey connections. They’re real connections that you can forge into essays or scientific papers. When I wrote Ontogeny and Phylogeny I had no trouble reading eight hundred articles and bringing them together into a single thread. That’s how it went together. There’s only one way it goes together, one best taxonomy, and I knew what it was.
But this gift — the same crucial talent-of-the-future that Vannevar Bush identified in 1945 when he presaged “a new profession of trail blazers … who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record” — wasn’t, perhaps because of its abstract and thus intangible nature, easy for Gould to identify at first:
It took me years to realize that was a skill. I could never understand why everybody just didn’t do that. People kept telling me these essays were good and I thought, All right, I can write, but surely what I’m doing is not special. And then I found out that it’s not true. Most people don’t do it. They just don’t see the connections.
Gould notices another aspect of his poorly understood kind of genius — people’s tendency to conflate it with a kind of general-purpose, omniscient intelligence:
A lot of people think I’m very well read because I quote all these sources and they’re reasonable quotations. They’re not hokey. They’re not pulled out. And I keep telling them, ‘I’m not particularly well read. I just don’t forget anything.’
I’m not badly read — I’m just sort of an average intellectual in that respect — but the thing is, I can use everything I’ve ever read. Most people cannot do that. They’ll probably access just a couple of percent of what they have. So, therefore, when they see me citing so much they assume I have fifty times more but I don’t. I’m using a hundred percent of what I have. They’re using two percent of what they have.
With a sentiment Steve Jobs would come to echo just a few years later in his famous proclamation that “creativity is just connecting things,” Shekerjian summarizes:
Gould’s special talent, that rare git for seeing the connections between seemingly unrelated things, zinged to he heart of the matter. Without meaning to, he had zeroed in on the most popular of the manifold definitions of creativity: the idea of connecting two unrelated things in an efficient way. The surprise we experience at such a linkage brings us up short and causes us to think, Now that’s creative.
But she concludes by emphasizing something celebrated creative minds like Alexander Graham Bell (“It is the man who carefully advances step by step, with his mind becoming wider and wider … who is bound to succeed in the greatest degree.”) and Thomas Edison (“Success is the product of the severest kind of mental and physical application.”) also knew — the idea that genius is nothing without consistent effort:
Stephen Jay Gould’s talent for forging vital connections happens to go to the heart of creativity, but, even so, it’s a talent that wouldn’t amount to much if he didn’t work at it. Endurance counts for a lot in cultivating talent to the point of being able to do creative things with it — endurance and a concentration of effort to a specific sphere of activity. As D. N. Perkins, another researcher in the field of creativity, put it: Be creative in a context, for to try to be original everywhere, all at once, all the the time, is an exhausting proposition.
For more of Gould’s genius, see the indispensable I Have Landed — the tenth and final of his timeless essay anthologies, originally published in 2002 mere weeks after Gould passed away from cancer. As for Uncommon Genius, it is uncommonly excellent in its entirety. | <urn:uuid:56f71a2f-72d1-43dc-9b4e-02502860d004> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/tag/stephen-jay-gould/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947561 | 1,588 | 2.71875 | 3 |
I bought a mulberry plant end of July last year. It started to give me mulberries after four months.
Mulberry plant is really something u must plant if u like berry fruits. It really bears fruits continuously as long as u prunes them.
Baby mulberries will come out together with the new brunch.
The size of mulberries increases along by the age of the tree. The longer time u plant your mulberry tree, the bigger is the mulberries that u will get.
Mulberry taste sour and a little bit sweet. Yes, really a little only. But it is okay.
U can dip it with honey or sugar powder/glucose powder. Really taste nice! A good source of vitamin C + A!
Right now I can enjoy 3-5 mulberries once a week although not much. U really can pluck it, wash & go directly into your mouth.I like that.
|Cute right? My first mulberry was round in shape.|
|Some of the precious mulberries| | <urn:uuid:dfca7695-8c64-4b69-877a-05d59657fd13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oliveinthehouse.blogspot.com/2013/02/little-mulberries.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965648 | 218 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Pest Management Guidelines
Special Weed Problems
(Reviewed 4/13, updated 4/13)
Primary species that are difficult to control are the perennial grasses bermudagrass, johnsongrass, and dallisgrass. Control of these weed species before planting has been discussed under the preplant section. While it is best to control (eradicate) them before planting, if after planting these weeds are still present, a program is needed for their management.
All three species are sensitive to glyphosate. To achieve the best control, cultivate the weeds where possible to chop the stems and rhizomes into small pieces. Then encourage regrowth by irrigating; this will produce a lot of new leaf area on the weeds. Before the weeds produce flowers or seeds, treat with glyphosate and spot-treat any regrowth that occurs.
It will be necessary to control seedlings of these grasses with preemergence materials or spot treatments of glyphosate or paraquat before they become established. Seeds of these species last at least 2 years in the soil, so frequent monitoring is necessary for continued control. Do not allow perennial plants to reestablish or set seed.
Two other species difficult to control are field bindweed and yellow nutsedge. Seedling bindweed or young nutsedge can be controlled by cultivating when the soil is dry. Established populations of field bindweed can be reduced by irrigating in summer to encourage vigorous growth, then treating with glyphosate at flowering. This is a nonselective treatment and will kill other weeds as well. Regrowth will also have to be treated. Yellow nutsedge can be reduced in a similar manner by re-treating with glyphosate before the nutsedge reaches the five-leaf stage so new tubers do not have the opportunity to form. To be effective, this treatment usually requires multiple applications during the season at intervals of 21 to 28 days apart. It may take two or more seasons of repeated timely treatments to eradicate yellow nutsedge.
Young kiwifruit vines can be injured by glyphosate. Protect green wood or the foliage of young vines by using:
UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Kiwifruit
Acknowledgment for contributions to Weeds: | <urn:uuid:67c1385c-b17a-45ac-95b4-805daa5dc4b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r430700211.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926739 | 450 | 3.546875 | 4 |