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The ballet is based on an episode from Miguel de Cervantes' famous novel, Don Quixote de la Mancha. The story is about a middle aged country gentleman from the region of La Mancha in central Spain. He is consumed with chivalrous ways he has read about in books. Because of these rooted ideas in his head he sets off to protect the helpless and punish the wicked. He embarks on a journey to Barcelona with his servant Sancho Panza as his armor-bearer. On this journey he mistakes Kitri, an innkeeper's daughter who is in love with a barber,for his dream-lover Dulcinea. A comedy filled performance packed with dance,romance, drama and intrigue. | <urn:uuid:bd190901-7e50-4877-a68f-b5a665cc5112> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfstation.com/program-one-don-quixote-e1825812 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969108 | 150 | 1.523438 | 2 |
After dark, CATS offer excuses not ambulances
Govt-run service fails to send ventilator-fitted vehicles
Only seven of the 21 advanced life-support ambulances with Delhi government are deployed round the clock. And even these are not always available.
Calls made in the evening for these ‘advanced’ ambulances are often turned down due to unavailability of drivers or because the vehicles are under repair. Delhi Government has 35 ambulances under its Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS).
Thirty-one of them were bought during the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Out of them 21 had facilities of advanced life-support (ALS) while 10 had basic life-support (BLS).
After the Games, 14 ALS were stationed at various hospitals and seven remained under direct control of CATS, with two ambulance officers, along with BLS ambulances.
The mandate for all ambulances is to work round the clock.
The Delhi government website also shows that ambulances are to function 24 hours from the base station.
However, due to shortage of staff, 14 ambulances stationed at hospitals – and managed by hospital staff – operate only from 8 am to 4 pm.
In a Right to Information reply, CATS informed that 14 ALS ambulances “operate from 8 am to 4 pm on all working days except Sundays.”
The reply claimed that the remaining seven advanced ambulances operate on 24X7 basis in three shifts. It also stated that life-saving ventilators are functional in all 21 advanced ambulances.
However, calls to the CATS helpline have failed those who needed help.
A 25-year-old patient died a month ago waiting for a ventilator-equipped ambulance to come to shift him from one hospital to another.
The ambulance that arrived after six hours did not have a working ventilator.
Deccan Herald made a call to CATS. The person who received it informed that no ambulance could be sent out as “some are not working while the others do not have drivers.”
Two more patients have made similar complaints in the past 15 days.
“The ambulances which are with the hospitals are run with the staff of the hospital and
their timings are set accordingly. The rest are to run 24X7. We have found glitches in this and more ambulances are being bought and staff recruited,” said Anshu Prakash, health secretary, Delhi Government.
However, hospitals complain about the arrangements.
“We do not have enough staff ourselves. If a doctor and a nurse are sent, then the hospital work suffers. Staff for managing CATS ambulances should be provided by the government instead of burdening the hospitals,” said an official at Aruna Asaf Ali government Hospital. | <urn:uuid:db69806a-2598-491e-a783-3e81e262fb1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deccanherald.com/content/260956/after-dark-cats-offer-excuses.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965684 | 585 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Google Ideas targets human trafficking, illicit networks
In partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Tribeca Film Festival, Google Ideas convened a major summit on Illicit Networks: Forces in Opposition (INFO) in Los Angeles, California last month. According to the CFR Blog, the INFO summit "explored the potential of technology to 'expose, map, and disrupt' illicit networks around the world, and to empower individuals, civil society, governments, and corporations to fight back."
Under the umbrella of violent illicit networks, Google Ideas is targeting narco-trafficking, human trafficking, organ harvesting and arms dealing.
"Too often illicit networks are seen only in the silos of those who study them," Google said in an online statement. "[The INFO summit sought] to break down those silos by bringing together a full-range of stakeholders, from survivors of organ trafficking, sex trafficking and forced labor to government officials, dozens of engineers, tech leaders and product managers from Google and beyond. Through the summit…we hope to discover ways that technology can be used to expose and disrupt these networks as a whole-and to put some of these ideas into practice."
Watch a video (featuring UN.GIFT Special Advisor for Victims Rani Hong) about the summit here:
In addition to illicit networks, Google Ideas also focuses on counter-radicalization and fragile states. | <urn:uuid:da04ad98-d408-47cf-af7e-1c3f79e0c481> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ungift.org/knowledgehub/en/stories/august2012/google-ideas-targets-human-trafficking.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91677 | 285 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Muzaffer Hussain is a Padmashri, an eminent Muslim lawyer, a writer of books like Muslim Manas, Insight in Minoritism and 12 others. He has won 13 National Awards. His latest book is Islam and Shakahar ( vegetarianism ) which he has sent me.
Chapter 3 is entitled , the Cow and the Koran. This is the one that interests me the most because all through Rampur , Bareilly, Aonla and Badaun , my constituency and district , cows and bullocks are being killed with a frenzy .They are taken openly in trucks or walked to a slaughterhouses in Bareilly and one in Sahaswan, Badaun. Thousands are killed every day in the most brutal conditions. I have caught many trucks during my election and everyone in my constituency has been told that this will no longer be tolerated. The police of Faridpur get a weekly bribe from the butchers and a large number of policemen spread across Aonla, Aliganj. The centre of the killing is a village called Bhagvantapur in Faridpur but no policeman dares enter it because the last one who did so was beaten and hospitalized.
For Non Vegeterians there are other options in the meat .But for the humanity’s sake , they should sacrifice the very idea of cow slaughter.It is not only the moral duty of mankind to protect the cow, but it is the religion of humanity itself to do so.”
The Imam of the London-based mosque Shahjahan, Al Hafiz B S Masri says, the Koran is totally against cruelty to the cow.In many places in the holy Koran is clearly stated that kindness be shown towards animals and all living organisms in the world.
In this book “ Protection of Animals in the Islamic world ’’, Al Hafiz Masri writes, it is a matter of shame for the manner in which Muslims the world over ,slaughter animals in the name of religion.
The holy Koran says, -“ You are answerable for the smallest harm you cause to a tiny bird.One who is kind to the smallest living being ,Allah shall ultimately return him the benefit in equal measure in this world and even beyond it .’’
Those Muslim invaders , who came to India and stayed on to make it their home and rule over it ,understood that the people of India had a special veneration for the cow .Hence as a mark of respect towards their feelings, the rulers prohibited the slaughter of cows.
Babar in ‘ Tuzuk-e- Babari’ while making a will in favour of his son Humayun , says that the people of India are very religious minded. You should respect their sentiments. They are extremely compassionate towards the cow.
Hence do not allow the cow to be sacrificed or killed anywhere in the limits of the Mughal Empire. The day any Mughal emperor ignores this will, the common people or the citizenry shall reject him. “ Aurangzeb refuted the will and it did not take long for his downfall.
In India, there have been many ‘fatwas’ which came up in the Daar-ul-fatwa of Deoband , Barelvi, Phuleri Shareef, Lucknow and Hyderabad in the matter of cow slaughter. There has always been a common thread amongst all the ‘fatwas’; they were not in favour of cow slaughter.
Because India attaches a lot of religious , social and scientific importance to the cow family ,its population comes into direct confrontation with those who destroy the cow on the basis of their religion fervour and fundamentalism. The government of India is more culpable than the Muslims in the matter of protection of the cow because its lame laws and appeasement of its vote bank stand as the biggest obstacle in its path.
In 1857, Delhi remained independent for just four months. The brave sons of India dethroned the British Government and proclaimed the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as the king of Delhi. It seemed to be end of British rule in India. Unfortunately it was not.
During this time, Bahadur Shah Zafar’s efforts at Hindu-Muslim unity were immortalized in history.The proclamation of the Mughal Emperor in honour of the cow became an important document in history.The royal decree of 28 July 1857 banning cow slaughter reads as follows :
“ Creation of the Lord ( Khalk Khuda Ka ), in the empire of the emperor , by the order of the supreme commander of the armed forces, whosoever slaughters or sacrifices a cow or a bull ,or a calf openly or surreptitiously in his house in this festive season of Bakra Idd, shall be considered an enemy of the emperor himself and will be punished by death”
Not only within the Mughal Empire but in every Muslim kingdom and principality, were orders decreed regarding the cow.
Contemporary kings and nawabs continued to make royal decrees in this regard and whenever necessary even issued ‘fatwas’ .Islam prohibits that act which hurts your neighbour’s feelings, and that food item which when consumed creates ill-feeling in those who surround you .Hence it is a common sentiment that to preserve communal brotherhood or fraternity India must legally ban cowslaughter. Islamic scholars of different school of thought have until now issued 117 ‘fatwas’ appealing to Muslims not to slaughter cows.
Jamiat-ul-ulema president late Asad Madani had issued a statement requesting the Muslims not to kill cows on Bakra-Idd.
Muslims have set up Goshalas ( cow-shelters) in many places .Sufi saints have nurtured cows. In Nagpur one such Muslim saint and his wife used to run a goshala.Tajjuddin Baba was famous for his devotion to cows. Urdu poets have written poems in the praise of cows. If Raskhan is famous in Hindi for this, then the late poet Mohammad Ismail of Meerut is equally well-known in Urdu. His poetry is recited by students in Urdu schools and they sing in praise of the cow.
I can only request Muslims to please stop this illegal killing voluntarily . | <urn:uuid:a0c2d55a-9fbf-47ca-b0f4-198e4e792782> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.peopleforanimalsindia.org/the-news/56-pfa-chennai-/gallery/PFA-Chennai/bday_celebrations_pfa_chennai_2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966337 | 1,311 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Don't Throw Out Those Rabbit Ear Antennas
Click here to read more articles about Electronics
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2008
issue of Home Energy Magazine.
May 01, 2008
As of February 17, 2009, when all the major TV broadcasters will begin to transmit using a digital signal, no one with an analog, rabbit-eared television set will be able to get anything without a digital-to-analog converter box. The switch from analog broadcast to digital has something to do with leaving the airwaves free for police and emergency responder radios, and also the fact that already, millions of digital TVs have been sold, bringing better-quality television to millions of people. If you have a digital TV, or pay for cable or satellite TV service, you’re good—you don’t have to do anything. But if you have an old analog set, you’ll need to buy a converter box costing about $50. But don’t fret, because your government has come to the rescue—with coupons worth $40. Between January 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, all U.S. households will be able to request up to two coupons, worth $40 each, for the purchase of eligible digital-to-analog converter boxes. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is administering the coupon program and has a list of eligible converter boxes as well as information about getting coupons. The entry of perhaps millions ...
To read complete online articles, you need to sign up for an Online Subscription.
Once an order has been placed there is an automatic $10 processing fee that will be deducted with any cancellation.
The Home Energy Online articles are for personal use only and may not be printed for distribution. For permission to reprint, please send an e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:02e955e4-651e-4403-b88d-a093b94894d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homeenergy.org/show/article/magazine/54/page/4/id/518 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929602 | 384 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Lophura nycthemera whiteheadi
Other Names: No general names, see the list of subspecies for geographical names.
Range: South-western China, eastern Burma, southern Vietnam, southwestern Cambodia, southeastern Thailand, northern Laos and the island of Hainan.
Subspecies: 15 subspecies according to Johnsgard, 1999. True Silver Pheasant (Lophura nycthemera nycthemera) being the most commonly claimed in aviaries. The True Silver is the largest of the subspecies and is found in southeastern China. The other subspecies include the Lewis' Silver Pheasant (L. n. lewisi), the Annamese Silver Pheasant (L. n. annamensis), the Boloven Silver Pheasant (L. n. engelbachi), the Bel's Silver Pheasant (L. n. beli), the Berlioz's Silver Pheasant (L. n. berliozi), the Ruby Mines Silver Pheasant (L. n. rufipes), the Rippon's Silver Pheasant (L. n. ripponi), the Jones' Silver Pheasant (L. n. jonesi), the Western Silver Pheasant (L. n. occidentalis), the Lao Silver Pheasant (L. n. beaulieui), the Fokien Silver Pheasant (L. n. fokiensis), the Hainan Silver Pheasant (L. n. whiteheadi), Szechwan Silver Pheasant (L. n. omeiensis) and the Rang Jiang Silver Pheasant (L. n. rongjiangensis).
Two additional subspecies that are often considered Silver Pheasants are the Crawfurd's Kalij Lophura nycthemera crawfurdi and the Lineated Kalij Lophura nycthemera lineata. Recent DNA work published in the Ibis, notes that these races should be belong with leucomelanos instead of nycthemera. Click here to view the article in PDF format. If new data becomes available for nycthemera and leucomelanos, I will be sure to include it on this site.
Habitat: Diverse, both grasslands and bamboo, evergreen and decidous forests.
Description: The male True Silver L. n. nycthemera has a long black crest, a black chin and throat, with a glossy bluish-black belly. The rest of the body is white, with many black lines. Their tails can be quite long, with the central feathers pure white. One of the most noticeable features are the bright red face wattles which are used during courtship. Silvers do not acheive their brillant plumage until their second year. First year males often have many black markings on the chest, while the rest of the body is mostly brown with light gray streaks. Hens are drab, olive brown overall. There is much varation from hen to hen in the streaking of the belly, and I have never seen two hens exactly alike. Hens have a much smaller and paler face wattle. The bill is gray and the feet red. Immature Silvers resemble hens, but are often lighter or paler.
Lewis' L. n. lewisi males are somewhat similar to L. l. crawfurdi, but tail and crest some what longer, the markings on the upperparts are bolder; hens have a long crests, greyish brown overall, very fine vermiculations in contrast to the two mentioned.
Variation among the subspecies is great and I would love to have complete descriptions of each. In the meantime, one should consult Pheasants of the World by Jean Delacour for the complete descriptions.
Status in Wild: Varies among races. nycthemera and fokiensis are considered common and stable, others such as annamensis, whiteheadi and engelbachi have smaller natural ranges and are vulnerable to habitat loss.
Interesting Facts: They are well known in ancient Chinese art and poetry. I have read that these birds were also referred to as the White Phoenix.
Status in Aviculture: Common and well established, but it is believed that many of the races have been interbred and therefore pure forms of the subspecies remain rare in captivity. Of the mentioned subspecies, I can only find vague information on those kept in American aviculture. It is believed that most of the different subspecies which made it to America have interbred with the True Silver and basically I refer to most Silvers here as "American Silvers". There are a few out there who care enough to maintain pure lines, but in general, most just want what is the cheapest. Lewis' and Jones' are kept by a handful or so American breeders, but their long term outlook is not good.
There are also American breeders who are trying to create subspecies by selective breeding of jumbled lines we have here. This was done recently with a breeder claiming to have engelbachi, these were nothing more than "American" Silver bred together that had markings close to the original race. I also saw a breeder who claimed to have Ruby Mines rufripes, I begged for more information, but never got a reply and seriously doubt their existence. It is a shame, but many pheasant breeders will claim or say anything to make an extra buck. We have really lost sight of conservation in American pheasant aviculture and most just care for pheasant business. Those of us who want to preserve pure species and subspecies are left scratching our heads as we try to sort through decades of mass-produced, inbred, hybrid birds. I feel that imports of wild caught birds are needed and a strict studbook should be kept for Silver & Kalij Pheasant subspecies.
Breeding Season: Silver are among the first birds to begin laying. Don't be surprised to find an egg when there is still snow on the ground! In Missouri, my birds would begin to lay in late February and early March, slowing down in May.
Breeding Age: Second year, but first years birds are often fertile.
Clutch Size: 6 to 15
Incubation Period: 26-27 days.
Misc. Aviculture Notes: Bold, curious, beautiful and majestic, the Silver Pheasant is a perfect aviary bird and great for beginners to pheasant keeping. Male Silvers have a reputation of being aggressive towards their keepers and hens. I've had many males that I had to ward off with a stick and on the other hand, our current Silver male is perfectly harmless. They are big birds that are extremely tough and hardy. We once had an ice storm and had to go pull the Silvers off the roost to place them inside the shelter, only to see them back outside again on the roost within an hour! Many keepers also allow Silvers free range on their property.
It is recommended to allow the hens to go broody, as they are great mothers and is very interesting to observe the family behavior of this species. The male, despite his reputation of being mean, does participate with the rearing of the chicks. The chicks do grow quickly and are able to fly at only a few days.
I've seen Silvers breed in nearly all sizes of aviaries. An ideal aviary is one that is at least 120 square feet, landscaped with various shrubs, grasses, logs and rocks. They are extremely hardy and tough birds, only a minimal shelter is required during the winter months. Ample shade is recommended during the summer. I've ran into problems when trying share the aviary with other bird species, if this is a must, place feed & water stations in areas where the Silvers do not have access.
Additonal articles in PDF form uploaded to gbwf; content on files not owned by gbwf, but important and informative data that I want to share with our users.
Click on thumbnails for larger views.
True Silver Pheasant, Lophura nycthemera nycthemera
1-2, Jan Harteman.
Jones' Silver Pheasant, Lophura nycthemera jonesi
1-2, Myles Lamont.
Annamese Silver Pheasant, Lophura nycthemera annamensis
1, World Pheasant Association.
Lewis' Silver Pheasant, Lophura nycthemera lewisi
1, Myles Lamont.
Links related to Silver Pheasants. Please note, links will open in a new window/tab, depending on browser settings.
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Collections of interest to Hispanics
When you visit the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s webpage and read the description of what we do, you’ll find a reference to additions to our collection of documents acquired in 2002 from The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies. Although HSP has excelled in keeping and providing access to valuable documents about American colonial history, we do hold collections pertaining to Latino (or Hispanics) groups that have settled in Pennsylvania. The additions from The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies add even more records to HSP’s holdings related to the Latino experience in Pennsylvania, particularly that of organizations and individuals established in the Philadelphia area.
As a guide to researchers interested in subjects connected to Latinos in United States, or collections with papers produced by persons associated with major events in Latin America, we offer an inventory (by no means exhaustive) of what we at HSP have.
The John Rutter Brooke papers (Collection 0078) contain, among other things, documents about his roles as an important military commander during the Hispanic-American War, and as military governor of Puerto Rico and Cuba. The Joseph Sill Clark papers (Collection 1958) feature documents related to the 1965 US invasion and occupation of the Dominican Republic, and memorandums pertaining to Argentina’s 1960’s political situation. Sill Clark was mayor of Philadelphia and served as United States senator from Pennsylvania. The Adolfo Fernández Cavada diary (Collection Am .6956) was written while serving as Captain with the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 23rd Regiment; and includes a detailed personal account of the Battle of Gettysburg. Fernandez Cavada was one of three brothers born in Cienfuegos, Cuba who later joined the Union Army. Puerto Rico legal and government papers (Collection 0518) is an assortment of licenses to masters of vessels, passports, copies of government rules, regulations regarding ports, and similar legal documents issued by the Puerto Rican government.
Among the collections describing the Latino experience in Philadelphia we can mention the Nelson A. Diaz papers (Collection 3079), featuring documents produced while working as a Philadelphia attorney who served on the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas and as general counsel for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. We also have the records for the Spanish Merchants Association of Philadelphia (MSS114), founded in 1970 by Puerto Rican businessmen in Philadelphia to distribute Minority Business Development Agency funds in the Latino community; the Puerto Rican Week Festival records (MSS119), produced by the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations of Philadelphia; records for the Pennsylvania branch of Aspira, Inc. (MSS148); records for the Philadelphia Center of The League of United Latin American Citizens (Collection MSS149), founded in Texas as an advocacy group to increase educational opportunities for Hispanic Americans; papers for the Post #840 of the American Legion in Philadelphia (MSS165), whose membership was primarily Puerto Rican; The Latino Project records (MSS117), headed by attorney Luis P. Diaz, provided legal assistance and representation to Spanish-speaking groups and interests in Greater Philadelphia area; the Hispanic Federation for Social and Economic Development records (MSS116), non-profit organization serving Puerto Ricans and Latinos in Philadelphia; records for Fifth Street Merchants Association (MSS118), formed in 1975 to represent the interests of merchants within the so-called "Golden Block," the Fifth Street corridor bordered by Lehigh Avenue and Allegheny Avenue in North Philadelphia; and the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations of Philadelphia records (MSS120), organized in 1962 as a liaison between the Spanish-speaking and non-Latino communities, and intended to coordinate existing Spanish organizations and to create new programs and activities for their constituents.
It’s worth pointing out that the Historical Society of Pennsylvania holds thousands of documents on the history of United Sates in general, and on Pennsylvania in particular. Hence, this is only a small sample of collections that may contain materials about Latinos in United States. | <urn:uuid:a14f76ea-b255-452e-85af-ceb10e0bb829> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hsp.org/blogs/fondly-pennsylvania/collections-of-interest-to-hispanics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934731 | 802 | 2.421875 | 2 |
is an editor, author, curator and editor-in-chief of the magazine springerin - Hefte für Gegenwartskunst, Vienna, which he co-founded in 1995. From 2005 to 2007, he was editor-in-chief of documenta 12 magazines, an international cooperation project of more than hundred magazines worldwide that is continuing to work since 2009. From 1988 to 1994 he was visual arts editor for the newspaper Der Standard.
In addition Schöllhammer is head of tranzit.at, he leads the research group Parallel Modernities - Architecture at the Margins of the Soviet Empire (Frankfurt/Berlin), is
project director of Sweet Sixties (a joint research initiative on Late Modernism and Neo-Avant Guardes in Central and West Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East and North Africa), has co-founded the international research group Postwar Avant Gardes (Ljubljana, Barcelona, Vienna). Besides these initiatives he currently is preparing a Catalogue raisonnée and a retrospective of the Polish Artists KwieKulik (for the BWA Wroclaw and the Museum of Modern Art Warsawa) and a monographic exhibition on the oeuvre of Július Koller (Bratislava, Eindhoven). He collaborates with the research, publishing and exhibition project Former West (Utrecht, Eindhoven, Madrid and Warszawa) as a researcher.
Schöllhammer is a member of the board of Kontakt. The Art Collection of Erste Bank and of the Erste Foundation in Vienna, works in the artistic board of the festival steirischer herbst in Graz and as a corresponding member of the Vienna Secession. He has published widely on contemporary art, architecture, and theory - mainly around topics and on issues of urban and cultural transformation focusing on Central and Eastern Europe, Western and Central Asia and the Caucasus - he has given talks and lectures in major and minor arts institutions, academies, universities and self organized-spaces in the centres and peripheries in various art worlds. Schöllhammer lives and works in Vienna. | <urn:uuid:077a95d7-ba37-49df-bdc2-17ffe0b8e6b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tranzit.org/en/people/board+of+directors+(from+2009)/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90333 | 447 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Shilly MysteryMystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.
Inspector Will attended the call from Mr. Andrews, and entered the closed display room of the magnificent Andrews' house. With a quick sweep of his eyes, Inspector Will noted that the room was round (no corners), to the left there was a waiter, next to him a little beverage table with 5 glasses filled with chopped ice and some bottles, to the center there was a little table with a small open chest (obviously something was missing), to the right there was Mrs. Rovinsky in front of a Renoir, then there was Mr. Romano in front of a Picasso, and then Mr. Lafi, in front of a Rembrandt. Beside Mr. Lafi was Mr. Andrews. No more furniture nor appliances than those were in the room. Mr. Andrews explained:
-Inspector Will, I invited my guests to show them my treasures. First, I showed them the beautiful collection of diamonds that were in the chest and are now missing. And then each one of us went to admire my paintings.
-My guests are standing right where they were at the time I discovered the disappearance.
-As you can see, we all have our backs to the diamonds' table to see the pictures. And everyone was admiring the works so attentively, that no one paid attention to the others. Then I turned back and the diamonds were gone.
Inspector Will asked about the attendant.
-I called him for some refreshment. He was serving the glasses, we all heard him chopping the ice.
-I personally searched him. He doesn't have the diamonds.
-I cannot search my guests. Nobody has left the room. And there's no place to hide the stones!
Inspector Will calmed down the poor Mr. Andrews and then solved the crime easily, because the diamonds were in plain view.
Where were they, and who was the thief?
HintHow many people asked for beverages?
AnswerThe diamonds were in one of the glasses. There were 4 people: 3 guests and Mr. Andrews, so there is no reason to have 5 glasses of chopped ice. Looking at them, Inspector Will found the diamonds, which looked like ice, and knew that the attendant planned to take them home.
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Back to Top | <urn:uuid:0b91f94b-6e7f-42d1-88b7-274a788f7c6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/teaser.php?id=17524&comm=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985013 | 545 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The broad, sometimes little-defined concept of change-especially as it relates to improving government management-was a central theme of the 2008 presidential election. Now our new president is faced with having to make good on the promise of change during one of the most challenging economic environments the nation has seen since the Great Depression.
The question is which management and leader- ship techniques deliver effective, meaningful change-and which do not. If there is a recipe for successful government reform, what are its core ingredients? Is there anything similar about the leaders who have been the most successful-or was it even skill, or just chance? Did those who failed make avoidable mistakes, or did they encounter an obstacle that no one could have overcome?
Although change is inevitably complex, the prescriptive measures are often most effective when they are simple and intuitive.
A recent study, "What It Takes to Change Government," by the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton found similarities in the methods used by public leaders who succeed. The study examined successes and failures of 12 federal agency leaders in the two most recent administrations.
Based on the experience of successful former agency chiefs such as David M. Walker of the Government Accountability Office, Charles Rossotti of the Internal Revenue Service and James Loy of the Coast Guard and compared with less successful ones, 10 key considerations emerged as a roadmap for political appointees and career executives alike.
1. Get a Running Start
Use the time between nomination and confirmation to meet with Congress and key stakeholders. Successful agency heads are twice as likely as less successful ones to use this period to interact with stakeholders and start to develop their strategy.
2. Fewer Goals, Greater Success
The successful leaders generally focus on three, or fewer, goals. Those who failed often had four or more. But it's not as simple as trimming back. Goals should be outcome-oriented, such as improved results for customers in an observable way. Unsuccessful leaders most typically set tactical, action-based goals, such as: We need a new computer network. We need a new payroll system. We need a new building. Moreover, the goals of successful leaders are intuitive, free of jargon and communicated consistently across audiences.
3. Collaborate With Employees
Resist the knee-jerk temptation to focus on political appointees. Nearly every successful leader emphasized a collaborative style of developing and implementing change, compared with those who did not attempt ambitious change. Also of interest, the successful cases typically had a smaller percentage of political appointees than federal agencies on average.
4. Manage Within
Don't focus only on the outside world. Successful leaders said they spent nearly half their time on efforts inside the agency, versus with Congress, media and interest groups. They spent internal time building capability, providing vision and guidance, and holding people accountable. Unsuccessful leaders spent just one-quarter of their time internally.
5. Use Performance Measures
Most successful agency leaders use performance measures to advance their agenda, while most unsuccessful leaders do not. Where they use measures, the failures most often evaluate only cost and production, while successes more often add measures of customer satisfaction and quality. A few successful leaders chose to rely on measures developed for their industry by outside organizations-something akin to Ford Motor Co. executives paying attention to JD Power and Associates' quality ratings rather than internal staff reports on the quality of the cars they make.
6. Be Ready to Reorganize
A sizable majority of successful leaders re- organize their agencies-not because they want to, but because they believe the organization's structure will hinder achievement of their goals. Unsuccessful leaders rarely attempt to reorganize their agencies.
7. Focus on Customers
Don't focus on the White House. Many leaders assume the president's bully pulpit is a strong tool for changing strategy. In reality, most agencies and leaders make their case to their customers, employees and Congress without seeking active support from the White House.
8. Don't Be in Such a Hurry
Don't be so anxious to set strategy that you neglect to gather the data needed to inform your judgment and the right perspectives to vet the choices you make. A common feature of unsuccessful leaders is they set strategy quickly (and not always by choice), often without good data on customer needs, stakeholder expectations or employee ideas. A poor process, or no process, for setting strategy almost always ends in failure.
9. Don't Think Spending More Time Produces Better Results
Successful leaders actually reported spending about 10 percent less time on the job than unsuccessful ones, but they spend their time more effectively. They work proactively with Congress and stakeholders to set the agenda, and present and justify their strategy. Leaders who deal with Congress primarily and stakeholders reactively, such as defending budgets and preparing extensively for investigative hearings, require more time.
10. Don't Focus So Much on Change
Too much emphasis on reforms could mean you're neglecting to manage performance. Both successful and unsuccessful leaders focus on building employee support for change, such as appealing to their public service motivation. Where unsuccessful leaders fail, successful ones concentrate on improving the enterprise in general through performance measures, strategic planning, re-organization and a focus on just a few goals.
For more information on "What It Takes to Change Government," visit www.boozallen.com/what-it-takes-to-change-government.
Dave Mader is a vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton and a former IRS assistant deputy commissioner; Jeff Myers is a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton; Steven Kelman is Weatherhead professor of public management at Harvard University and a former administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. | <urn:uuid:85db4e9f-37f2-4507-b388-aa5a06bbb26f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.govexec.com/excellence/management-matters/2009/09/turn-styles/30033/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961696 | 1,158 | 2.3125 | 2 |
ACCESS is dedicated to empowering individuals, families, and communities to lead productive, culturally sensitive and fulfilling lives.
ACCESS works for the empowerment of Arab Americans, as well as all immigrant and low-income communities. As the largest Arab American nonprofit human services organization in the United States, ACCESS serves a diverse community through comprehensive social services, health and research, youth and education, employment and training, environmental advocacy, civic engagement, and arts and humanities programming. ACCESS has also developed a strong track record of engaging the Arab American community in philanthropic giving and the culture of philanthropy.
Youth: Our Future
ACCESS empowers young people through youth-based initiatives designed to actively engage them in their communities, learn essential life skills, and explore their roles as community leaders. ACCESS’ Youth & Family Services Center in Dearborn’s South End is dedicated to the needs of children and their families through a holistic and integrated approach.
Teen Grant-making Initiative
Who knows the needs and concerns of young people better than the youths themselves? In September 2011, the Center for Arab American Philanthropy, a project of ACCESS, launched the Teen Grant-making Initiative (TGI) to engage young people in identifying and providing solutions to the major issues their peers face in school, at home, and in the community. Comprised of 20 high school students from metro Detroit, TGI encourages civic engagement while developing leadership skills.
TGI members are empowered to create change in their communities by:
In the first year of the program, TGI members granted $5,000 to nonprofit organizations in metro Detroit. All of the projects that were funded not only serve young people, they are also led by them.
Through their involvement in TGI, young people learn about nonprofit organizations, grant-making and the impact of philanthropy. But most important, they learn to identify as community leaders with the power to solve problems, making TGI a powerful model of youth civic engagement. | <urn:uuid:46060849-7ebf-40b8-8997-edad8769b0c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://culturesofgiving.razoo.com/story/Accesscommunity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96296 | 406 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Video by buzzlab
In December 1965, Gemini VI met up with Gemini VII on a mission to test the spacecraft's docking and maneuvering capability. After the successful maneuvering of the two spacecraft to within 6 inches of each other, astronauts Walter "Wally" Schirra and Tom Stafford played a rendition of Jingle Bells. Now, thanks to the dedicated investigation of the YouTube user Buzzlab, you can hear it for yourself. Buzzlab explains the search:
After digging around their Web site and calling the phone tree at Johnson Space Center, I eventually reached Librarian Jody Russell. Her contacts in the Audio Department pointed me to the online archive for the entire Gemini 6 and 7 joint mission.
They narrowed it down to 8 audio files for me, which covered about 33 hours of the mission. They also provided me with links to mission transcripts that I could use as reference to find the song.
The message from NASA ended with "...it's in there somewhere."
Learn more about the instruments smuggled aboard the space flight, visit Jingle Bells in Space.
via Boing Boing | <urn:uuid:39b41d86-d99c-4878-88eb-9ed2abb9cde4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencefriday.com/blogs/12/16/2011/first-song-in-space-listen-now.html?series=&interest=6&audience=&author= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936957 | 224 | 2.3125 | 2 |
In addition to the University’s commitment to academic quality, University of Phoenix is dedicated to social responsibility as demonstrated though a variety of initiatives.
We are pleased to announce that University of Phoenix is among the top ten colleges and universities that utilize green power, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. We purchase nearly 69 million kilowatt hours of green energy annually – the equivalent of powering more than 64,000 average American homes per year.
At University of Phoenix, we recognize our responsibility to take care of the earth for ourselves and future generations. We understand the importance of sustaining the natural resources we all share and are working to improve our own operations. As an institution of higher learning, we also know that, through environmental responsibility, we can play a vital role in educating the environmental stewards of today and tomorrow.
As the largest private university in North America, University of Phoenix is a part of many communities across the country. In each community, we enable area residents to reach their educational goals while keeping their commitments to their families and employers.
But University of Phoenix doesn't stop at providing quality educational opportunities. Through our community investment program, we proudly support a variety of organizations and charities that enrich the communities we call home.
University of Phoenix Foundation
The University of Phoenix Foundation was established in 2006 by the University's founder, Dr. John Sperling, who was inspired by 30 years of witnessing the life-changing power of education.
The mission of the Foundation is to increase access to education, especially for underrepresented and low-income students traditionally under-served by the education continuum, in an effort to provide a pathway for economic advancement. To fulfill this mission, the University of Phoenix Foundation provides grants to qualified public charities.
or call us | <urn:uuid:64776fc7-4ef7-48f3-8d03-3a42f48d647b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phoenix.edu/about_us/media-center/corporate-responsibility.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948579 | 353 | 1.640625 | 2 |
If you’re one of the 3.7 million people who recently got an Android device activated over the Holidays, there is one thing you should know: how to improve your Android’s battery life.
There’s no comparing having an Android device only consumes a small amount of battery. This is why people ask about the battery life of a new product about to be launched in the market. However, did you know that there are some tips you can follow to improve your Android’s battery life? You can easily follow these and optimize your Android’s lifespan until the next charge. Who knows, these tips just might help you when you really need it!
Here’s how you can improve the battery life of your Android device:
You don’t really need to have 100% brightness on your Android screen. In fact, having really bright lights can be painful to the eyes. They are only helpful in extremely dark places—but when you’re using your phone, you don’t really limit yourself to such places, right? So even if you’re out on the daytime, you can set your phone to a certain level of brightness. You won’t even have to worry about not being able to see your screen properly. Just simply adjust the brightness until you’re comfortable and you’re not squinting to see the text on your screen.
The brightness on most Android screens are differentiated per app and feature. You can adjust this by doing:
Adjust your widgets. Having access to your Facebook and Twitter account on your phone is great. But because they automatically update themselves in intervals, your battery can drain out. Do you really need to know that your friend had Macaroni and Cheese for lunch?
You can adjust widget update times by going to the settings menu of the app. Once there, hit the menu button> Settings> Notifications / Widget Update Interval. You can set the interval to a minimum of 30 minutes so you don’t take up a lot of battery on updates. This is enough time for you to start missing what your friends’ updates are.
You can also download JuiceDefender Ultimate or JuiceDefender to help monitor your Android’s battery. With these apps, you can have an automatic tool that temporarily locks down the apps that take up a lot of battery.
You’ll be sure that these tips will help save you when you’re stranded somewhere and only have a few battery life left. | <urn:uuid:6f227da1-1f80-4177-bfc2-db8b31e5c01d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-improve-android-battery-life-40265/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93384 | 522 | 1.6875 | 2 |
We are hearing from people all across the Upper Midwest that corporate power has gone too far. Major corporations now dominate the decisions that impact the American economy and American democracy. While this benefits major corporations like Monsanto, Cargill, Wells Fargo and Halliburton, it is hurting our communities, our country and the land. We have to expose and diminish excessive corporate power, start putting people and the land first, and win lasting changes that support long-term stewardship of the land, prosperous local farms and businesses and an effective and engaged democracy. If you agree, get involved. | <urn:uuid:029e0f87-d6ae-4f97-9fda-30557c0bfa5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://landstewardshipproject.org/organizingforchange/controllingcorporatepower | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931867 | 116 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The Javelin is mainly a relatively light sharpened stick, often pointed at both ends, and useful in battles at medium or short ranges. With brief training and practice light javelins are simple to use and can often be easily thrown at a moderate range. They are particularly effective when hurled in a concerted attack. Ballaw de Quincewold once made a device that had the capability to propel javelins twice their intended distance. This device consisted of putting the javelin on a stick and moving the throwing stick in an arc, similarly to an atlatl.
A notable use of javelins was when Felldoh challenged Badrang the Tyrant to a one-on-one duel. Felldoh had most likely had Bloodwrath at the time and killed many of Badrang's soldiers. He even injured Badrang himself. Badrang then ordered his soldiers to kill Felldoh.
Otters and hares of the Long Patrol were expert users of javelins. Various members of the Fur and Freedom Fighters have used javelins, many of which listed above. Their banner showed a javelin breaking chains.
Famous Javelin UsersEdit
- Skipper Warthorn
- Fur and Freedom Fighters
- Ballaw de Quincewold
- Ruffgar Brookback
- Bucko Bigbones | <urn:uuid:6cd4d54d-7c62-4864-846e-812f9a07779b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://redwall.wikia.com/wiki/Javelin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961283 | 277 | 2.8125 | 3 |
a quarantine may save a few animals, but also sends half of
the herd to its unnecessary death. By setting up a quarantine,
some of the buffalo that would otherwise be killed would be
spared if the government decides to adopt a radical plan to
eradicate brucellosis from the herd. But, the quarantine would
result in far more deaths than lives saved.
By supporting a quarantine, one agrees to the testing of the
herd for brucellosis and the killing of those animals that
test positive. In the case of the Yellowstone herd, about
50% will test positive, even though the vast majority of them,
because of sex, age or reproductive status, cannot transmit
the disease, and even though the disease does not negatively
affect them, and they have never transmitted it to cattle
over the more than eighty years they have lived with the disease.
One is therefore agreeing to kill half of the Yellowstone
buffalo herd simply because they test positive for a disease
which does not affect them, and which they have never transmitted
The real purpose of the proposed quarantine is not disease
management, as the State of Montana would like us to believe,
but rather to ensure that buffalo do not roam free so they
wont compete with livestock grazing on public lands
bordering the Park. Public lands bordering Yellowstone have
officially been designated as wildlife habitat. Allowing buffalo
on these lands would highlight the land use conflict between
buffalo and cattle, and would put use of this land by cattle
under public scrutiny--something the livestock industry does
not want, especially since cattle are grazing on these lands
with hefty subsidies, the land was purchased by the federal
government specifically for wildlife, the official U.S. Forest
Service plans for that land stipulate that wildlife must receive
preference there, and, finally, livestock are only supposed
to be there if their use of the land is copasetic with wildlife
(not vice-versa as has been the actual practice).
Quarantine sets a dangerous precedent. Quarantine means confinement.
Advocating a quarantine for the Yellowstone herd is especially
dangerous because this is one of very few free-roaming herds
left in the country (there are only two others in the lower
48 and these are both much smaller herds). The Yellowstone
herd is the longest free-roaming herd in existence. The approach
promoted by Montana is to treat wild buffalo like cattle.
Advocating quarantine sends the message to Montana that this
Some groups who would otherwise not want to see wild buffalo
confined are supporting the quarantine because they believe
that a huge area would be fenced that would allow buffalo
to live more or less naturally while in quarantine. The government
has no intention of building a huge quarantine. Montana's design
is based on 50 acres -- the federal governments design is
for 50 - 500 acres. Even if 500 acres are set aside for a
quarantine, this would be divided into at least 5 areas (of
maximum 100 acres), and animals would be separated by age
and sex nowhere near natural conditions.
Buffalo would have to stay in quarantine for more than a year and
many would have to stay much longer. Female calves, for example,
would stay in quarantine for four years or so because they
would have to grow to sexual maturity and deliver their own
calves within quarantine before they are released. If even
one tests positive while in quarantine (very likely), all
others would have to begin the quarantine period over again.
Family members will be separated from each other. Social structures
will be destroyed or severely disrupted. Natural patterns
of land use may be broken. Knowledge that is normally passed
on from generation to generation within the herd may be lost.
Wild buffalo are often injured, and some die, in confinement.
If held in confinement for long periods, their spirits can
be broken. Confining wild buffalo, taking them out of their
homelands, and separating them from their relatives, is not
There is no scientific justification for quarantining Yellowstone
buffalo. Confining Yellowstone buffalo to a quarantine merely
serves to placate the powerful Montana livestock industry
at the expense of the buffalo. Dr. Paul Nicoletti, a leading expert
on brucellosis says, Quarantining bison which stray outside
Yellowstone is expensive and very difficult, with little impact
on incidence or transmission of brucellosis.
In his article Tatanka Returns, Richard Simonelli states,
"It is very important that the proud spirit of the buffalo
be left unbroken by feedlots, dehorning, chronic medication,
intensive management, breakup of natural social units, premature
slaughter, and genetic engineering practices such as artificial
insemination and fertilized embryo implants. It is very important
to Native people, and perhaps to all those concerned with
a healthy ecology, that the buffalo remain essentially wild." | <urn:uuid:50402e29-e5f7-42e5-92ad-dc0ac88a7d22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/faq/quarantine.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940719 | 1,033 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Badger History Bulletin - Review
Wisconsin History!: Surprising Secrets about Our State's Founding Mothers, Fathers, & Kids
By Carole Marsh. The Wisconsin History Series. (Gallopade Publishing Group, Atlanta, GA.) ISBN 3-9878-00-20-71-8, 35 pages, $29.95.Hardbound, illustrations.
Originally published in BHB Volume 3, Number 1
It is always a hope that when new materials appear on Wisconsin history that the volumes contain information that is accurate and well-researched. Unfortunately, materials authored by Carole Marsh do not fall into this category. In the specific title mentioned above, Marsh writes to students of Wisconsin, "If you have ancestors who lived through this adventure [American Revolution] they were certainly Wisconsin history makers."
It's a preposterous statement that even a young thinker could prove illogical. What is the obvious connection between an ancestor who lived during the Revolution, and the qualifications for being a Wisconsin history maker? Marsh never attempts to answer any potential question or challenge to her writing. Her publications are simply glorified worksheets or information (or more often, misinformation) handouts that are bound together.
Here is another example of the lack of accuracy in Marsh's attempt at writing: "Black slave men surely provided most of the hard, dirty, dangerous, back-breaking work of changing raw land into farmland to feed the colonists of Wisconsin."
Wisconsin was not one of the thirteen original colonies. The Upper Midwest was carved out of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Although some African-American families became Wisconsin farmers, one only has to look at population statistics to know that this group never provided the majority of the labor. And, although several military and government figures did illegally bring slaves into Wisconsin, the Northwest Ordinance forbid slavery in all of the states in the Northwest Territory, which included Wisconsin.
How could such deeply erroneous material make it into this book? One explanation is found when checking the bibliographies, and discovering that Marsh uses her own works as references. If she was inaccurate once, she is likely to be so again.
Another theory surfaces when one realizes that Marsh, based in Georgia, has written a series of state histories for many other states, some of which did have slavery or a likely link between colonial and state history. The individual pages in Marsh's books are often so generic that it is more than possible that she simply has substituted state names in the her boilerplate histories, without checking how well the facts apply.
I suggest that the buyer beware and contact the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for materials on Wisconsin history, or your local bookstore.
Mary Jane Herber
Brown County Library | <urn:uuid:1f0a1a85-cf95-4d47-830e-adab9d1c052c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/teachers/bookreview/surprising.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951742 | 551 | 2.59375 | 3 |
|Welcome to Neil W. Aguiar's
World of Statistics
Starting in 1990, since graduating from the University of Vermont's Statistics Graduate Program, teaching college in Vermont has been a very rewarding experience. Since my days as a teaching fellow at the University of Vermont, I've had the opportunity to teach every year at either the University of Vermont, Trinity College, or the Community College of Vermont in the field of Statistics. It's a wonderful feeling to know that you can give back to your field the knowledge and experiences you've obtained.
Statistics is such a wonderfully relative field in our personal and professional lives today. We can't read a newspaper or magazine without coming across some statistics of sorts. They guide our decisions and influence our opinions. We must, however, educate ourselves on the origin and meaning of these statistics so we can determine their due credit or criticism.
You're invited to browse this site and use all the useful resources and information it has to offer!
Name: Neil W. Aguiar
(pronounced A-gee-are; like a Texas 'aggie' with an 'R' at the end)
Office Location: TBD
Office Hours: By appointment
Office Address: Rm. 104 (basement level), 16 Colchester Ave, Math Building (picture)
Mailing Address: Neil W. Aguiar, 16 Colchester Ave, Burlington, VT 05401
About The Classes I Teach
STAT 111 - Elements of Statistics
Stat 111 Section Z1 Fall 2012 Course Syllabus
Click here for Course Website Access (Blackboard)
(You must be a registered student ~ Access begins Aug. 30, 2012.)
Site by Neil W. Aguiar | <urn:uuid:4d793911-ebfd-4793-9703-1b339b625c59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uvm.edu/~naguiar/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921936 | 350 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Student Disability Services
The Office of Student Disability Services has been charged by the University to provide students, faculty, and staff with assistance and information on issues of access and full participation for persons with disabilities at Central Connecticut State University.
The Office of Student Disability Services’ primary duty is to provide services and support that promote educational equity for students with disabilities. Assistance includes arranging accommodations and auxiliary aids that are necessary for students with disabilities to pursue their academic careers. The responsibilities of Student Disability Services include:
• To assist the student in the determination of appropriate accommodations and auxiliary aids
• To determine eligibility for academic accommodation based upon a review of the submitted documentation
• To communicate eligibility and right to accommodation with student and faculty
• To assure student receives the appropriate accommodations
• To interact with faculty members when appropriate
• To develop strategies to negotiate campus life
• To increase personal advocacy skills
• To identify strengths and weaknesses so that students can develop adaptive and compensatory skills and set goals
• To explore disability-related needs and locate resources that are necessary for appropriate accommodations
• To disseminate information about support services both on and off campus
Students should read this guide regarding the Office of Student Disability Services policies and procedures because it provides the basis for ensuring timely support and improved access to services. | <urn:uuid:4c85027c-8d5a-4656-830f-df434f63043a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ccsu.edu/page.cfm?p=3642 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940041 | 259 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The evening's "Precious Drop" dance performance at CounterPulse on Saturday, February 4 was centered around the theme of water -- which is becoming a controversial topic as issues of water rights become more muddled. Most of the dances, performed by Mohamed Lamine Bangoura, the Jaara Dance Project, and Bu Falle African Drum and Dance, focused on celebrating Mami Wata and her fickle ability to pour down from the sky to provide precious drops of life. The choreography onstage mixed traditional and modern moves, performed by talented dancers from across the globe whose smiles filled the space with a joy that you could feel, even sitting in the audience.
Live musicians provided a background of fertile beats on a variety of drums and marimbas, and they also sang, making for a wonderful show. Their efforts were rewarded -- both nights were sold out the space, with happy dance fans sitting on the floor and standing in the hallway to get a glimpse of the wetness onstage. The piece was a work-in-progress, so keep your ears perked (follow the drum beat!) for future performances.
A 2011 Jaara dance performance
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- Suggested to Tim a long time - June 19, 2013 | <urn:uuid:1f975a90-df2c-42d8-b38b-a6fe5af0e7e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfbg.com/pixel_vision/2012/02/06/live-shots-precious-drop | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968965 | 375 | 1.59375 | 2 |
A More Open Microsoft
You might have missed the news just before the holidays that Microsoft has become slightly more open with respect to its networking protocols. Late last year, they announced a way for third parties to license their core file sharing protocols through an independent organization called the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation.
This is good news on several fronts.
First, it means that your Linux and Mac clients wont be left out in the cold when Microsoft upgrades its Windows Server 2008 software later this year, and be able to fully continue to participate on Microsoft networks and share files and print servers with Windows users.
Both of these OSes make use of Samba, which will be the first licensee to take advantage of this arrangement. In the past, Samba had to resort to some clever programming tricks to stay on top of changes to these protocols.
Read the full story on Baseline.com: A More Open Microsoft | <urn:uuid:6aa4ffa1-c2e5-4a8a-9f9a-bdc956b3071e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eweek.com/print/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/A-More-Open-Microsoft/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938176 | 182 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Zone 3b is the plant hardiness zone that Edmonton, Alberta, lies in. As a city, we form an island of relative warmth in a sea that is zone 3a. Click the Zone tab above for more information on Canada’s plant hardiness zones.
Zone 3b is my garden journal. It is about naturalistic gardening in a cold climate.
Naturalistic gardening – an idea I first examined in my last year of Horticulture studies. It was born out of a frustration with the sterility of the yards in the surrounding neighborhood and throughout our city. Typical front gardens were lawn and a spruce tree, lawn and a birch tree, lawn and a mountain ash tree…. Foundation planting was the norm: cedars and junipers, (and sometimes even the ubiquitous spruce or pine) crammed tight against walls, blocking windows, covering paths. Flowers were almost always annuals, also planted along the foundation or in a ring around a tree trunk. The bolder gardener would line the front-door walk with pelargoniums or petunias, or potatoes….
Our first years of home ownership were concerned with paying the mortgage and maintaining the house, and my only environmentally-friendly garden acts then were the use of a reel type push-mower and a compost bin. Our front and back yards were typical and dissatisfying – why all this land devoted to a monoculture of lawn? Why own a home with land at all if it was just a weekly burden, requiring regular mowing and irrigation, with the required fertilizing, pest and weed control, aeration and de-thatching that a “healthy” lawn demands? Why was there so little identity in the homes around us? Is every one really as characterless as the appearance of their homes and yards indicated? Why this voluntary conformity in a land of free people?
I had been a nature lover since a child, and to now own a home and a small piece of land was a chance to express myself as never before. What I had learned through my studies, travel and wide reading outside of conventional Canadian horticulture, I now began to put into effect. The back yard was planned first – the space which was to include a maximum of trees, shrubs and perennials and a minimum of lawn. A pond was essential, as well as more compost bins, rain reservoirs and an area for growing vegetables. With encouragement from my wife, we began to pull the plan into three dimensions. We have not had a chance to look back since!
Zone 3b will be the continuing record of the little island we helped create. I will share our struggles, our failures and our successes. I will tell of our lives in the garden and the creatures we share it with, through the seasons. More than just occasionally, I will attempt to look deeper in and further out.
(Adapted from my introductory post) | <urn:uuid:8787f5d4-f16d-451d-8b3a-550419ac6fc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zone3b.wordpress.com/about/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97736 | 594 | 2.34375 | 2 |
A Chinese spacecraft yesterday completed the country’s first manual docking in orbit, a milestone in an ambitious program to build a space station by the end of the decade.
The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft linked with the Tiangong-1 module just over a week into a manned space mission that includes China’s first female astronaut, following an automatic docking on Monday last week.
“The success of the manual docking mission represents a major breakthrough. It was a precise and perfect docking,” Wu Ping (武平), spokeswoman for China’s manned space program, told a news conference in Beijing.
Veteran astronaut Liu Wang (劉旺) used a joystick-like device to carry out the maneuver, with state media describing him as “threading the needle.”
The move was the main goal of the 13-day Shenzhou (“Divine Vessel”) mission, testing the docking technique needed to be able to construct a space station — which China aims to do by 2020.
“The manual docking is a significant step for China’s manned space program,” chief designer Zhou Jianping (周建平) told Xinhua news agency.
“China has fully grasped ... docking technologies that are essential to building a space station,” he said.
Beijing sees its space program as a symbol of its global stature, growing technical expertise and the Chinese Communist Party’s success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
China will invest a total of about 19 billion yuan (US$3 billion) in Shenzhou missions 7 to 10, Wu said, at a time when the US has scaled back manned space exploration.
The manual docking came the same day a manned Chinese submersible set a national record for a deep-sea dive by dropping more than 7,000m into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, an achievement also hailed by state media.
The two spacecraft first came together in an automatic docking on Monday last week, and several hours later, the three astronauts on board Shenzhou-9 entered the experimental Tiangong-1 — a first for China.
Earlier yesterday, the two vessels separated in preparation for the manual docking, which state media originally said would take place at about noon, although it was not completed until roughly 45 minutes later.
Three hours after the docking, the three astronauts re-entered the Tiangong-1 to continue research on China’s fourth manned space mission.
China has already completed several automatic dockings, but the ability to dock manually is necessary in case of problems with the automatic procedure, such as the control center being unable to carry it out remotely from Earth.
The maneuver — successfully completed by the US and the USSR in the 1960s — requires great accuracy from astronauts because it involves two vessels orbiting at thousands of kilometers an hour coming together very gently to avoid destroying each other. | <urn:uuid:9c785745-da42-4c77-a856-69f1eb66a097> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2012/06/25/2003536188 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93854 | 612 | 2.859375 | 3 |
| ||Food for Thought || |
Decoding Food Labels
Last reviewed by Faculty of Harvard Medical School on August 28, 2012
By Daniel Pievsky M.S., R.D.
Brigham and Women's Hospital
The food label is the one piece of information on the food package that doesn't lie to you. It's much more reliable than advertising claims. All the information that you need to make healthy and nutritious choices is right there in black and white. The key is knowing where to look and what it means.
Don't be intimidated by food labels. You can make sense of any food label no matter the size, shape or complexity by using the tools below.
Step 1 -- Check the serving size
When scanning the label, the first thing to check is the serving size. It is always the first item on the label. All other information is based on that serving size. You can see from the label on the right that the serving size is 1 cup. The 260 calories listed on the label refer to each 1 cup serving, not the entire package. The servings per container will let you know how many portions are in the whole box, package, or can. In this case, there are 2 servings per container, or 2 cups total. When comparing products, make sure they have the same serving size or it will not be an accurate comparison.
Caution: Most of the time a package will have more than one serving in it, so make sure to multiply all of the data by the servings per container to get the total amounts for the box.
Serving size: 1 cup
Servings per container: 2
Calories per serving: 260
Calories per box: 520 (260 x 2)
Step 2 -- Calories per serving are key
It is very important to look at the number of calories in a product. They're what really matters when it comes to losing weight. Most women need between 1,600 and 2,000 calories, while most men require 2,000 to 2,400 calories per day.
Tip: Ignore the calories from fat; a calorie is a calorie, and fat data is shown elsewhere on the label.
Step 3 -- The nutrients take center stage
The heart of the food label has information about saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium. This information is important for any specific dietary concerns you have. For example, if a heart-healthy diet is your goal, then look for items that are lower in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium. (The lower the better.)
If you have diabetes, then also look at the total carbohyrate and dietary fiber amounts. For a general healthy diet, keep saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium as low as you can and increase your fiber intake.
If you get a lot of protein in your diet from red meat, chicken, fish, eggs, or pork, you won't need to select foods based on protein content.
Tip: The % daily value (the percentages on the right side) are based on a person who eats exactly 2,000 calories a day. But they are a useful tool to compare the nutritional value of two items quickly (assuming the serving size is the same).
Step 4 -- Vitamins and minerals complete the picture
Calcium, iron, vitamin C and vitamin A amounts are always on food labels. They are nice to know, but they are very minor compared to other info on the label. Don't use the vitamin or mineral content as a basis for buying a product unless everything else is equal.
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Food for Thought
Decoding food labels is a great skill to have and something that you can easily learn. Follow these four steps and you will be able to read and understand any food label.
Have a plan when you go food shopping. Decide what's most important to you when selecting foods, whether it is sodium level, fiber, or fat. You probably won't find the perfect food (most of the truly healthy foods like fruits and vegetables do not have food labels on them), but you will surely make better decisions than if you did not read the label.
Tip: When you look at the front of the package you will often see many claims. Learn how to decipher them. Always make sure to look at the back and sides of the package and you will not go wrong.
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Daniel Pievsky, M.S., R.D. is a graduate of Framingham State College with a M.S. in Nutrition. He is currently a clinical dietitian at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. | <urn:uuid:84638223-fd2e-4617-8d54-8e4ebe0b955a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSNRM000/35320/35327/1211209.html?d=dmtHMSContent | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938018 | 946 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Freud used Cremnitz White to achieve both of these characteristics of his paintings of portraits and nudes.
In the mid-1970s, he began using the heavy, granular pigment called cremnitz white, which he has since then reserved for the painting of flesh.I'd never heard of Cremnitz White before I read about this aspect of his technique - so decided to do some research - hence this post.
Tate - Lucian Freud - Technique
In Lucian Freud's pictures, the human skin has almost infinite nuances, from delicate opalescent pink to blood red and the full range of cream, oncre and bistre tones. The discrimnatory power of the painter's eye enables him to go further than what we could ourselves. The nakedness of the bodies is intensified by this, while the roughness, overloading and impasto of the paint itself imbues the skin with an almost tactile reality: skin as fragile and sensitive as an exposed mucous membraneWhat is Cremnitz White?
Lucian Freud: The Studio
Cremnitz White is made of lead carbonate (PbCO3) and is another name for for a particular type of Lead White - much loved of the old masters. Lead white is a warm yellowish white.
It's called Cremnitz White because originally it was made in a town in a town called Cremnitz (by the Hapsburgs) which was formerly known as Kormeriz.
Cremnitz White is a particular version of pure Lead White which gives it a stringy consistency.
It comprises lead carbonate (white lead) and does not include the Zinc Oxide (as Flake White does) which helps it to dry quickly.
Its actual performance and drying time depends on the oil it is mixed with - as explained below in relation to the three different variations of Cremnitz White supplied by Michael Harding. Click the relevant links to get a lot more information.
Who supplies Cremnitz White?
Art materials manufacturers who supply Cremnitz White include:
|Presumably a somewhat historical image|
on the Michael Harding website
given current EU requirements
It looks so much nicer in the tubes though!
- Michael Harding - who has three Cremnitz Whites. My understanding is that Freud used Michael Harding oil paints (but please correct me if you know better)
- Cremnitz White No.1 (Linseed Oil) - describes as PW1. Fast Drying. Slightly Transparent. Lightfastness Excellent. Very Low Oil Content. TOXIC.
Pure Lead Carbonate in a binder which makes a heavy, tactile white with a very robust surface. The ideal white for furrowed, granular or impasto mark-making.
- Cremnitz White No.2 in Walnut Oil described as PW1. Average Drying. Slightly Transparent. Lightfastness Excellent. Very Low Oil Content. TOXIC Walnut oil was used in the fifteenth century by artists such as Van Eyck and as the oil used in paints used by the Impressionists. Its reputation is that it yellows slightly less than the linseed oil.
- Cremnitz White No.3 with driers described as "PW1. Fast Drying. Slightly transparant. Lightfastness Excellent. Very Low Oil content. TOXIC"
- This is how Cremnitz White is supplied by Michael Harding ie you have to use a tool to extract it.
- Old Holland (tins only / cold pressed linseed oil) This thread on the Wet Canvas site suggests it yellows somewhat. - see Cremnitz white turns yellow grey! Will added zinc/titanium keep it white?
- Winsor & Newton - Cremnitz White
- Colour index name: PW1
- Colour index number: 77597
Lead is very toxic and hence precautions have to be taken over its use. It's impossible to buy the dry pigment. The European Union has passed a directive controlling lead paint use - mainly affecting the way it can be handled and sold when used as artists materials and methods for its disposal.
Official sites (UK)
- This is what DEFRA has to say about Lead Paint and the law (it mostly relates to decorating)
- These are The Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002
- This is the Kremer Pigmente material safety data sheet for Lead White (pdf file)
- This is the Kremer Pigmente material safety data sheet for Cremnitz White (pdf file)
- This is what Michael Harding has to say about the changes needing to be made to the packaging of Lead White / Cremnitz White
- This is what Winsor & Newton have to say about the toxicity issues
In 1992, lead was banned in the EU in household paints whilst artists' materials manufacturers successfully gained an exemption for artists' colours. The EU has continued to legislate against lead, in a number of categories. From the 31st July 1995 in the UK, lead compounds and products containing lead compounds were reclassified as ‘toxic for reproduction'.For the UK this has the following implications:
i] Products labelled as toxic require child resistant closures if sold to the general public.
ii] Products labelled as toxic require tactile warnings of danger if sold to the general public.
I quote below the precedence taken by Winsor & Newton in early July 1995.The mandatory guidelines affect the retailer/supplier as follows:
- Flake White, Foundation White and Cremnitz White can no longer be supplied in tubes.
- These products are available in 150ml childproof tins.
- Each tin is labelled with mandatory warnings and a further special instructions leaflet is provided in the outer box.
- These products will not be displayed on open shelves. They will either be behind the counter or in a locked display. | <urn:uuid:cce00957-0bc1-4eb7-8dac-4fdec94c024e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.makingamark.blogspot.com/2011/07/cremnitz-white-and-freud.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939776 | 1,244 | 2 | 2 |
Return, O Lord, rescue my soul; save me because of Your lovingkindness. Psalm 6:5 (English)
Return, Rescue, Save – What does active favor look like? David tells us in three powerful verbs. When we reach the point where our sin exhausts us, these are the three verbs we must understand: return, rescue and save.
“Return” is the Hebrew verb shuv. It is used over a thousand times in the Bible with a very wide range of meanings. Jeremiah has more than a dozen nuances on the word. But here, when my sinfulness breaks my relationship with God, the very first thing I need is God’s movement toward me. Turning back toward me is an act of restoration (another meaning of shuv). Unless God turns His face in my direction, I am lost. So, I plead, “Return, O Lord.” Begin Your favor by turning in my direction.
God is graciously inclined to act like this. There are hundreds of examples of God using this same verb to ask His people to return to Him. He is ready to turn in my direction.
“Rescue” is chalats, a verb that means to deliver. But its primary force is strengthening and fortifying, not escaping. It is used for taking up arms in preparation for war. We might think that God returns in order to pull us out, but that is not the idea. God returns in order to offer us reinforcements in the battle. It is help in the midst of my struggle, not rapture out of it.
“Save” is the familiar yasha’. Lord, turn back to me. Bring Your reinforcements. Fight with me so that I come to a place of safety. Give me victory! Without You, Lord, I am defeated. With You, I am unconquerable. Come back to me, Lord. Rescue and save me right here where I struggle.
And, of course, God is willing to respond to my plea. Why? Well, that’s the next wonderful word, hesed, translated “lovingkindness.” It’s the bonus word. It’s the word that tells me why God cares enough to return, rescue and save. It can’t be captured in a single expression like “lovingkindness.” This word is the word that describes God’s faithfulness, steadfastness, justice, righteousness and goodness. In other words, it is the summary of God’s true character. It is the fundamental idea behind God’s covenant. Hesed is the reason God does what He does. It is the foundation of His miraculous acts, the basis of His deliverance, the ground of His forgiveness, the rationale for His redemption, the origin for His kindness and the purpose behind His plans. Without it, nothing happens.
In this verse, David gives us all the words at once. It’s a verse worth remembering. I need this verse today. Maybe you do too.
Topical Index: Mercy | <urn:uuid:1b4f0dd2-2b1e-4d44-b7da-25cc60246071> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://skipmoen.com/2008/03/19/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930197 | 644 | 1.953125 | 2 |
The page numbers are from “Lord Peter” published by Harper & Row. The excerpts are copyrighted 1972 by Harper & Row.
434 ~ You’ll have to eat your tea on all fours, like Nebuchadnezzar
In the 4th chapter of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar is presented with a vision in which he “was driven from men, and ate grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens, until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws” (verse 33).
The curse is come upon me, cried the Lady of Shalott
A reference to Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem. The lines run:
She left the web, she left the room, She made three paces thro’ the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom, She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide; The mirror cracked from side to side;
‘The curse is come upon me,’ cried The Lady of Shalott
Here’s a very pretty site dedicated to the poem.
450 ~ Mr. Scatterblood . . . Cap’en Teach
Mr. Scatterblood is not identified, but as Teach is most certainly a reference to the notorious pirate, then Mr. Scatterblood could be the name of his first mate. I assume it came from a children’s book that readers would be familiar with.
452 ~ Privy Stair
The back stairs in a house that leads to the privy or bathroom.
removed from chancery
Chancery is a court in which justice takes precedence over law, and the slang use of “in chancery” indicates a helpless or hopeless predicament. | <urn:uuid:7550b7e2-c122-4644-add3-607361ba5e84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://planetpeschel.com/wp/the-wimsey-annotations/the-short-stories/talboys/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953576 | 394 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Ugly Duck-dean? Anyone else reminded of Community? lol
The apple trees were blooming and the lilac bushes stretched their flower-covered branches over the water of a winding canal. Everything was so beautiful: so fresh and green. Out of a forest of rushes came three swans. They ruffled their feathers and floated so lightly on the water. The ugly duckling recognized the birds and felt again that strange sadness come over him.
“I shall fly over to them, those royal birds! And they can hack me to death because I, who am so ugly, dare to approach them! What difference does it make? It is better to be killed by them than to be bitten by the other ducks, and pecked by the hens, and kicked by the girl who tends the henyard; or to suffer through the winter.”
And he lighted on the water and swam toward the magnificent swans. When they saw him, they ruffled their feathers and started to swim in his direction. They were coming to meet them.
“Kill me,” whispered the poor creature, and bent his head humbly while he waited for death. But what was that he saw in the water? It was his own reflection; and he was no longer an awkward, clumsy, grey bird, so ungainly and so ugly. He was a swan!
— The Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Andersen.
The Ugly Duckling
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
A beautiful story of a baby swan, an outcast in a family of ducklings. His tale is of one overcoming solitude with the hope of one day becoming something beautiful. A beautiful swan, which he eventually becomes.
This shouldn’t break my heart as much as it does.
My book cover design for the ugly duckling i did for childrens book illustration. done with watercolor and microns
|—||Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling (via me465)|
The Ugly Duckling | <urn:uuid:8e8bf2ab-d971-40be-ab54-86ac9747a09d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fairytalescrapbook.tumblr.com/tagged/the-ugly-duckling | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970443 | 432 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Recall Alert: 2007-11 Toyota Tundra
Toyota is recalling 1,629 Toyota Tundra vehicles from the 2007-11 model years because the tire pressure monitoring system on the pickup trucks may not be properly calibrated, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In the affected vehicles, which were installed with accessory light-truck tires before arriving at dealerships, the tire pressure warning lamp may not illuminate if the inflation pressure falls below the threshold for when the lamp should light up. Driving with one or more underinflated tires can increase the risk of a tire failure that could lead to a crash.
The recall is expected to begin next month. Dealers will recalibrate the tire pressure monitoring system for free. Owners can call Southeast Toyota at 800-301-6859 or NHTSA’s vehicle safety hotline at 888-327-4236. | <urn:uuid:4e511bc1-5449-40a9-9f2c-8604c1b93362> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2011/05/recall-alert-2007-11-toyota-tundra.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924996 | 182 | 1.773438 | 2 |
A Happy Fourth Of July America
Commentary By Hank f. Miller Jr.
Note: Hank is a former resident of Gloucester City who resides in Kitakyushu City, Japan. category WHEN EAST MEETS WEST
(CNBNEWS.NET)Today, millions of Americans will look to the sky to watch brilliant displays of fireworks in celebration of Independence Day. As they have done every fourth of July for the last 235 years, Americans will take a moment to reflect on what these fireworks represent--the liberty, equality, freedom and democracy that our founders fought so hard for. These principles have since become the cornerstones of American society. For those of us overseas, the Fourth of July takes on even a greater importances we celebrate the values that so strongly define and unite us as Americans,despite being far from our own shores.
At times, these fireworks have burst over cloudy skies, during periods that sorely tested our great nation. As President Barack Obama noted at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy commencement back in May: "We haven't always been the biggest or strongest nation.There have been moments in history when others have counted the United States out or predicted the demise of our improbable American experiment. But what naysayers and doubters have never understood is that our journey has always been propelled by our spirit and strength that sets us apart from all others."
Every Fourth of July, Americans pause to reflect on"life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" that was sought by our founders, but these values need no special occasion in America.They are part of the great American fabric of our nation.
There is another American value that I'm proud of, and that is our compassion and the willingness to help others in need.This has never been more true than in the aftermath of the terrible earthquake and Tsunami that struck this country of Japan on March 11. The tragic events of March 11 marked a new chapter in this relationship between our two countries.
For example, Operation Tomodachi (Japanese meaning "friend"). There was complete devastation but the remarkable capabilities demonstrated by the U.S. Military and the Japanese self-defense forces, also the generosity of these men and women who defend both our countries working together as a team, along with numerous American citizen volunteers and organizations reached out to help Japan.
Despite the horrific devastation of the earthquake and tsunami,the resilience of the Japanese people has served as an inspiration to people around the world.I am confident that Japan will survive and emerge from this crisis even more stronger then ever before.
Warm Regards from Kitakyushu City,Japan, Happy Fourth of July to everyone in and around my hometown of Gloucester City,New Jersey.
Have a Great Day. Also in remembrance of my two sons
Lucas who is deployed in Afghanistan & Max who is deployed in Iraq.
God Bless our Troops !
Hank F. Miller Jr. | <urn:uuid:92e25ec5-f07f-46a3-8fbe-0d5fed736a77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gloucestercitynews.net/clearysnotebook/2011/07/when-east-meets-westamerica-standing-together-with-friends-in-japana-happy-fourth-of-july-americacommentary-by-hank-f-mille.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953325 | 596 | 2.234375 | 2 |
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Politics & Government
Mon November 5, 2012
In this morning's Michigan news headlines. . .
Where to go for last minute election research
"For those who still don't know how to vote in tomorrow's election, there are resources available. Voters can look at their ballots ahead of time at the the voter education Web site, publius.org. The website includes video clips that analyze the statewide ballot questions and some local proposals. The site also has a few hundred candidate videos from districts scattered across the state," Sarah Hulett reports.
Damaged cars from superstorm Sandy could end up in Michigan car lots
"Hurricane Sandy damaged a lot of cars along the East Coast. Consumer advocates say it's possible some of those cars could end up on Michigan dealer lots. Ronald Montoya is with Edmunds dot com. He says if the damage was reported, it will appear on vehicle damage reports, such as Car Fax or Autocheck. Otherwise, a mechanic should take a look at the car to see if there are signs of water damage," Tracy Samilton reports.
Michigan Congressional race spending down in Michigan
"Nationwide, U.S. House candidates are raising record numbers of money for their campaigns this year. But that's not the case in Michigan. Michigan Congressional races will raise about $35 million this year - down from $50 million in 2010. That's because Michigan is down a district after losing population in the census. And Republicans redrew the district to protect incumbents. That means most races aren't all that competitive," Kate Wells reports. | <urn:uuid:4ac7f141-7a1b-4689-ad3e-96d47ed0ba00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://michiganradio.org/post/mornings-michigan-news-headlines-105 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948164 | 402 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Fruits like most berries tends to be very high in antioxidants, therefore berry juices has a fair percentage of the Top 10 Fruit Juices in the list. A lot of juices boast of having no addedsugar, but the fruits still contain naturally occuring sugars and these should still only be consumed in moderation. Although the top 10 fruit juices listed here have high levels of antioxidants, it doesn’t mean you should consume too much. All fruit juices contain sugar and calories.
1. Pomegranate Juice
Pomegranate would have to be the healthiest juice you can drink, due to it containing almost every type of antioxidant, along with the highest levels of each. It is also linked to protecting against certain types of cancer and can help to keep your heart healthy. | <urn:uuid:c9aeb2a9-92d5-49df-bd90-e48edae6dd2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nipunscorp.com/tag/healthy-juice/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951167 | 160 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Here are several photos I took when I was working on the beaded trefoil knot last weekend. It is now obvious to me why we should take such a weaving path for making beading trefoil knot. I have mentioned several difficulties before. Originally, I thought that these difficulties cannot be overcome without using several different sizes of beads. But beading can be very flexiable since we don't need to make them very tight. If we allow the structure be loose, then anything kind of graphs can be weaved in principle. Of course, the resulting structures may not be rigid or similar to what we would like to have for a fullerene.
In the following photos, one can see the intermediate structures before I started to weave the final strip of polyacene is quite flexible. This gives some rooms for us to adjust the structure, so the unavoidable deformation can be redistributed more evenly on the whole structure.
Of course, it is very important to make the first loop connected correctly. :-) | <urn:uuid:17e1719a-c45d-41bd-a705-dcb9fef2f0bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thebeadedmolecules.blogspot.com/2009/11/more-photos-of-beaded-trefoil-knot.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969661 | 204 | 1.914063 | 2 |
ESL and dental vocabulary are two entities that converge for the second language student who is working towards a career in the field of dentistry. The challenges of pursuing a career in any medical field often stem from the complicated terminology that the industry uses. This is difficult for all students, but is obviously more of an issue for students whose native language is not English.
Internet Resources for ESL and Dental Vocabulary
ESL students will need access to many different types of resources relating to dental vocabulary in order to develop a functional competency in the speaking and writing of this field's vernacular.
The following information is intended to give the ESL student who is studying a career in dentistry a wide array of resources for understanding dental terms.
- Medical Terminology Web Site: This website is specifically designed for students in health related fields. Dentistry, medicine, Chinese medicine, and nursing terms are presented in exercises intended to help students familiarize themselves with the vocabulary of their chosen profession.
- ADA: This site from the American Dental Association provides information on dental terms. The list is organized alphabetically. Users can click on the first letter of the term they need defined to jump to that section of the glossary. This site that also contains information about careers in dentistry, events that relate to the dental field as well as animation and games.
- Cigna: This is another excellent dental terms glossary provided by the insurance company Cigna. This website is easy to read and organized alphabetically. Simply click on the first letter of the term you need defined and the page will jump to that section.
- WebMD: WebMD, one of the most popular health Web sites on the Internet, provides a dental terms glossary. The glossary is a bit more challenging to navigate than others as it does not allow users to jump to the first letter of the term about which they are inquiring. The site, however, has other features of interest like oral health videos, an oral health guide, information on gum disease, basic dental care, orthodontics, and common treatments for oral problems.
Books on Dental Terminology
- Dental Terminology: This textbook by Charlene Dofka is a must have for the dental health professional. The 312-page manual comprehensively covers the lexicon of dental terminology.
- Mosby's Dental Dictionary: Anything not covered in other texts you might have will likely be included in this text. This is an excellent resource to complete your library.
- Clinical Practice of the Dental Hygienist: This text is in its 10th edition and is referred to as the "cornerstone of almost every dental hygienist's library." If you are studying to be a dental hygienist and don't already own this book, consider picking up a copy.
Depending on your native language, you may or may not be able to find websites or books with dental vocabulary listed in both your native language and in English. Luckily, the Internet has made the translation process much more simple and effective.
Sites like Google Translate provide powerful and free translation services. At Google Translate, you can translate an entire Web page into another language, perform a translated search in which you have Google find Web sites and present them to you already translated into you native language, or use the dictionary feature which allows you to translate words from one language to another. | <urn:uuid:590af52b-f1b5-474a-a8f9-fd1c134c9c7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://esl.yourdictionary.com/esl-for-students/ESL-and-dental-vocabulary.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942402 | 699 | 3.484375 | 3 |
It’s the kind of deal that really gets the tech world buzzing — one titan buying another for an astronomical amount — and the question on many people’s minds now is what is Microsoft really getting for its $8.5 billion purchase of Skype?
From a technical perspective, it seems a little suspect. After all, Microsoft has already developed much of the same functionality that Skype provides. Windows Live Messenger offers free instant messaging and voice and video chat, it already works with Lync and Office, and Microsoft had previously announced plans to integrate Messenger into Windows Phone.
From a financial perspective it doesn’t look much better. Even though Skype is a massive (and disruptive) presence in Internet communications, it has never been very profitable. Last year Skype had $860 million in revenue, and a net loss of $7 million, according to its initial public offering filing. Forrester Research analyst Andrew Bartels told MSNBC:
It doesn’t make sense at all as a financial investment. There’s no way Microsoft is going to generate enough revenue and profit from Skype to compensate.
So why would Microsoft pay so much for a company that doesn’t have vastly superior technology or great financials? As far as I can tell, there’s five reasons:
1. Skype’s user base
Skype has a strong and loyal base of more than 170 million active users across multiple platforms. Microsoft will get instant access to Skype’s network, which represents a huge influx of customers and a big leap in Microsoft’s presence as a consumer Internet company.
2. Skype and the enterprise
Of course, it’s not all about consumers. Skype has been aggressively pursuing the enterprise market in recent years and has made some solid progress there. Microsoft likely sees this purchase as a win for both its consumer and business product lines, and we can expect to see Skype integration coming soon in all manner of Microsoft products and platforms. Already promised is Skype support for Xbox (and Xbox Live), Kinect, Office, Lync, Outlook, Hotmail, and Windows Phone.
3. Windows Phone integration
Along those lines, perhaps the most obvious outcome will be Skype’s integration into future versions of Windows Phone. This will allow Microsoft to compete squarely with Apple’s Facetime and Google Voice. Expect to see Skype on a Nokia Windows Phone in the near future.
4. International long distance
Interestingly, one of Skype’s biggest strengths was barely mentioned in the press conference announcing the deal: the massive amount of minutes Skype users represent on the public telephone network. Skype’s been in an all-out war with the entrenched telecom carriers since its inception — the carriers despise Skype and rightly see it as a major threat to their business model. According to Alec Saunders, a telecom vet and ex-Microsoft employee, with this purchase Microsoft instantly becomes the world’s largest carrier of international long distance minutes. How Microsoft will take advantage of this, and what impact it will have on their existing carrier relationships, is one of the open questions around this deal.
5. Blocking the competition
Let’s not forget another angle that surely motivated Microsoft to pursue Skype — keeping it away from the competition. It’s been common knowledge that Skype’s investors have been looking for a buyer for some time. Skype was on a rocky road to an IPO, and it sounds like the investors who bought Skype from eBay were concerned about the viability of that process and eager to get their returns sooner rather than later. When Google came to the table, you can bet the deal-makers in Redmond started some serious number crunching.
Reports are surfacing that Microsoft may have paid much more than they needed to get Skype. Anonymous sources close to the negotiations have said that Google came in second place in the bidding at just $4 billion. That’s a huge difference and it certainly suggests that Microsoft could have gotten Skype for much less. But some believe Google was never a serious suitor in the first place, and their interest may have been mostly about trying to keep Facebook from getting Skype.
As Microsoft is feeling pressure from the likes of Google and Apple, especially in the mobile space, the idea of a competitor getting their hands on Skype (and their network) was surely something Microsoft wanted to avoid. Microsoft is already seen as playing catch-up in the mobile space, and if Google got Skype that would put them even further behind. | <urn:uuid:336600d3-4150-4038-af54-66d0414bc684> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/05/microsoft-skype-network-enterprise-mobile.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958023 | 916 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Posted: Apr 27, 2012 9:05 AM by NBC, MN
The same spring pollen that is making you sniffle and itch may actually be protecting you from something even worse.
Researchers at Yale University say allergic reactions help fight against environmental toxins like exhaust and other chemicals.
They say that annoying runny nose expels pollutants we breathe in and a stuffy nose prevents more of them from getting into our bodies.
Some studies have even suggested that people with seasonal allergies may be less likely to develop certain cancers.
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KSBY is your official CA Lottery station for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties | <urn:uuid:778c4318-3d82-4fe8-b06d-dd6d22afa7d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ksby.com/news/spring-allergies-may-protect-you-from-other-illnesses/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91838 | 265 | 2.734375 | 3 |
October 26, 2011
Recognizing success: Four engineering professors earn endowed chairs, awards
Kansas State University's College of Engineering is recognizing the accomplishments of a chemical engineering professor and three civil engineering professors with appointments to endowed chairs.
Vikas Berry, assistant professor of chemical engineering, was awarded the William H. Honstead Professorship in Chemical Engineering for up to three years. Berry's fields of research include graphene science, bio-nanotechnology, materials science, molecular/dielectric devices, sensors and electronic materials. He and his colleagues are the first group to use bio-integrated research with graphene, a carbon nanomaterial only one-atom thick. His work has received widespread citations by researchers and science portals from around the world.
Currently, Berry is conducting research to establish the properties of chemically and structurally modified graphene and other two-dimensional nanomaterials for field-effect transistors, protective transmission electron microscopy and enhanced-sensors applications. His research is funded by the National Science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, industry and the university. He's earned many honors, including the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2011 and the Sigma-Xi Outstanding Junior Scientist Award in 2010.
Berry received his bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India, in 1999. He earned his master's degree from the University of Kansas in 2003, followed by his doctorate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2006.
Mustaque Hossain, professor of civil engineering and associate director of the university's Mid-America Transportation Center, was awarded the Munger Professorship in Civil Engineering for up to three years. His research interests focus on transportation engineering, specifically highway materials, pavement design and performance evaluation and nondestructive testing of pavements with a goal of advancing and preserving rural roads and highway infrastructure in Kansas and the nation.
Hossain teaches several civil engineering courses at Kansas State University and has sponsored many transportation-related projects, including the Kansas Pavement Preservation Initiative with the U.S. Department of Transportation from 2007-2011. His awards include being named a Dwight D. Eisenhower Faculty Fellow from the U.S. Department of Transportation in both 1996 and 1999.
Hossain received his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and his doctorate in civil engineering from Arizona State University.
Yacoub Najjar, professor of civil engineering, received the Thomas and Connie Paulson Civil Engineering Outstanding Faculty Award for up to two years. In addition to being a Thomas and Connie Paulson Civil Engineering Outstanding Faculty Member, Najjar has sat on the editorial boards of both the Computers and Geotechnics journal and the American Society of Civil Engineers' International Journal of Geomechanics.
Najjar's research focuses on the application of artificial neural networks and computational mechanics to advance the civil infrastructure. He also conducts research on the interaction of soil and civil structures, transportation, geo-mechanics, geo-synthetics and geo-environmental systems. He has been published in many journals, teaches several courses at K-State and has received several awards and honors, including the Midwest Section Outstanding Teaching Award from the American Society of Engineering Education in 2006.
Najjar received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Yarmouk University in Jordan, and his master's degree and doctorate in civil engineering from the University of Oklahoma.
The Martin K. Eby Distinguished Professorship in Civil Engineering was awarded to Bob Peterman, professor of civil engineering, for up to three years. Peterman's research interest is structural engineering, and he is currently focusing on understanding the behavior of prestressed concrete structures, experimental testing of concrete materials, durability of bridge decks and time-dependent deformation in structures with a goal to advance and preserve civil infrastructure in the state and nation.
Peterman is currently sponsoring two projects, including "Quantifying the Effect of Pre-stressing Steel and Concrete Variables on the Transfer Length in Pretensioned Concrete Crossties." Besides being published in many publications, Peterman has been recognized with several awards and honors, including being named a Martin K. Eby Distinguished Professor and receiving the Young Educator of the Year Award from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute in 2005.
Peterman received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Lafayette College, and his master's degree and doctorate in civil engineering from Purdue University. He also completed his postdoctoral work at Purdue University.
Charitable contributions support a number of outstanding faculty members in the form of endowed chairs. In 2011 more than $2 million has been donated for endowed chairs, with an additional $6.5 million committed. An appointment to an endowed chair is another great honor given to dozens of top Kansas State University faculty. Find out more about the university's endowed faculty chairs and professorships at http://www.k-state.edu/faculty/. | <urn:uuid:9a82b071-fb0a-43de-8e54-324496d1e38a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.k-state.edu/today/announcement.php?id=896&category=kudos&referredBy=K-State%20Today%20Home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965422 | 1,023 | 1.75 | 2 |
Psychological trauma includes observing or experiencing a life-threatening event and being violated by people on whom you depend for your well-being.
After a traumatic event some people become anxious, depressed and others have difficulty managing their daily responsibilities.
While most people are distressed for a period of time (weeks or months), they eventually resume their normal responsibilities and adapt. Someone who continues to be significantly affected by a traumatic event months or years later may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Often, after a traumatic event people begin to avoid triggers that remind them of the event in attempting to cope with the trauma. This may be adaptive initially, yet may lead to a pattern of symptoms that interferes with living life. Other types of symptoms include re-experiencing the trauma in the form of nightmares or flashbacks (a kind of mental replay of the trauma), numbing of emotions and being on high alert for danger. This might result in difficulty with sleep or concentration.
Affect on Future Medical Management
A history of psychological trauma can affect a patient's experience in a medical setting. If a patient generally believes he/she is helpless to impact his/her life circumstances, this may interfere with following through with medical treatment recommendations. Present experiences such as medical procedures, evaluations, and appointments with doctors can re-trigger early experiences of distress. Since with trauma, "the past is the present," one can react in the present medical situation as if it is what was happening in the past.
A number of different kinds of counseling as well as medications can be effective in treating PTSD. Your doctor may recommend that you be evaluated by a licensed mental health professional if he or she suspects that trauma history may be interfering with your medical management. You may be referred to a psychiatrist, psychologist or a clinical social worker who can recommend various treatment options for you or your family member.
For more information about trauma, visit David Baldwin's Trauma Information Pages site at http://www.trauma-pages.com. | <urn:uuid:e62a7e52-12c9-4541-bc43-9b0b04e993a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/conditions/psychsoc/psychological-trauma/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953494 | 408 | 3 | 3 |
Should we abandon our rights?
To the Editor,
There have been letters on this page and in other periodicals comparing an anti-Islam video to — in Justice Holmes’ famous dictum — “shouting fire in a crowded theater.”
In essence, these letter writers are saying we should abandon our First Amendment rights because criticizing Islam, in a world where many Muslims are prone to violence, might lead to riot and destruction. By this logic, we never should engage in political, philosophical or religious criticism because somebody might take offense and attack us.
Open discourse is a foundation stone of our democracy and culture. It should not be surrendered because of threat or blackmail from some benighted segment of the global population. If we surrender our rights because of external threats, we will end up surrendering them at home as well.
To the Editor,
DUI/license checkpoints are illegal. For an officer to stop a vehicle, he/she must have probable cause, meaning they must witness something to substantiate his/her suspicions that a crime has taken place, is taking place or is about to take place.
Delaware v. Prouse 440 U.S. 648 finds that “stopping an automobile and detaining its occupants constitute a “seizure” within the meaning of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, even though the purpose of the stop is limited and the resulting detention quite brief.”
Even with alternate routes available, most people will go through these illegal checkpoints because they do not know their rights.
The California Highway Patrol knows this.
That is abuse of power. Please don’t bother writing back trying to trash me. I rarely drink, and I never, ever drink and drive.
That’s not what this is about.
It’s about the general attitude of big government doing whatever it can get away with. The CHP is trained and capable of identifying drunk drivers just by watching them drive by.
The pretense of “public safety” is not a justifiable or legal reason to stop everyone on the road.
Know your rights and exercise them while you still can.
The importance of truth in history
To the Editor,
There is sometimes an obvious divide between truth and fabrications, imaginations, lies and any other attempt by man to manipulate the actual course of history.
Recent accounts in the press reveal that the first president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has some grossly misguided ideas about what happened to the Jewish people during World War II. He states the Holocaust is a myth.
The eye witness accounts, pictorial records and the bottom line disappearance of 6 million Jews cannot be denied. Whatever guilt or triumph Iran’s president may imagine in his fabrications is based on incorrect information about the accounts of the second world war.
There is no room for trivializing such a horrific and tragic chapter of human history. How shameful it is to show such a lack of respect for a people group. | <urn:uuid:171c16db-3a45-442f-a608-7eaf1e1ee02f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uniondemocrat.com/Opinion/Letters/Letters-to-the-editor-for-October-5-2012 | 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 | 0.936785 | 622 | 2.046875 | 2 |
The University of Colorado is poised to survey its students and faculty and then decide whether to proceed with a proposed ban on smoking on all of its campuses, everywhere, inside and out.
It's one thing — and a good thing, too — to ban smoking in university dormitories. Certainly it shouldn't be allowed in classrooms. Even the image of the tweedy old prof, in his smoky, cramped office with pipe-ash burns pocking his tweedy old vest, is a thing of the past.
But it's going too far to snuff out all use of the demon weed for adults, even in the open air between buildings.
Yes, it would be best if young people didn't take up the tobacco habit. It's disconcerting that an estimated 25 percent of students smoke. They're inviting a lifetime of diminished health, often ending in premature and painful death.
Many people have come to realize this. Smoking has dropped off dramatically in almost every other demographic group, yet only slightly among those aged 18 to 24.
Smoking bans are growing, too, leaving fewer and fewer places where smokers can light up. One appropriate compromise, already in place but not well-enforced, is to move smokers farther away from the entrances to buildings. They tend to cluster there, especially in cold weather, creating a haze through which nonsmokers must pass.
Concentrated smoke is a hazard, even if it is outdoors. We've long supported banning it to protect the employee or roommate who has no easy way to avoid it.
But the casual encounter, the whiff that assails the nostrils as someone passes a smoker in a fleeting encounter, is more of an annoyance than a health hazard.
The smart way to deal with that is merely to walk on by, not to pass paternalistic, overly broad regulations. | <urn:uuid:93c4bbbd-4a0d-4cec-a1c2-65099c168343> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_7396981 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966946 | 377 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Osprey's study of Britain's infantry tactics used during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). The British Army's major campaigns against Napoleon were fought between 1808 and 1813 in the Peninsula (Portugal, Spain, and finally southern France), followed in 1815 by the brief but climactic Waterloo campaign. The British Army was small by continental standards, but it consistently out-fought larger French armies, never losing a major open-field action. Its cavalry and artillery were standard; but its infantry which unlike foreign armies, was entirely made up of volunteers, achieved unique results. Their tactics were brought to a peak of professional perfection by Wellington, but commentators still consistently over-simplify the explanation for his unmatched series of victories. This book will examine the contemporary instruction manuals, and compare them with what actually happened in specific battles, drawing upon a mass of quotations from eyewitnesses. Under other generals who failed to grasp the essentials, the British infantry could be beaten (occasionally) by both the French, and by the Americans; but it was Wellington's perfect employment of their tactical strengths that made them unstoppable. With a detailed look at the effective use of terrain, line vs column maneuvers, and fortification assaults, Philip Haythornthwaite reveals the outstanding tactics of Wellington's army that converted volunteers into war-winning professionals.
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|Title of History eBook: British Napoleonic Infantry Tactics 1792-1815|
|Release Date: 05-22-2012|
|Allowed Countries (hover)|
|Publisher: Osprey Publishing|
This eBook download is available in the following formats:
|Parent title||British Napoleonic...|
|Devices||Samsung Tablet, Apple Ipad & Iphone, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo eReader, Aluratek Libre, Iliad, Nokia, Blackberry, Hanlin|
|Note||ePub, short for electronic publication is one of our favorites and should be yours for a couple of reasons. ePub offers reflowable text giving you flexibility to manipulate how the content is presented. Moreover, lots of cool features are now being developed for the reader like advanced video and audio. ePub is now an industry standard, so all of the "non-propreitary" hardware manufacturers are now supporting it.| | <urn:uuid:63d1650b-1d3d-4394-a21c-4bfcf5f63af3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diesel-ebooks.com/item/9781780967547/Haythornthwaite-Philip-British-Napoleonic-Infantry-Tactics-1792-1815/1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93475 | 509 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Hideki Tojo, along with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, personally represented the evil Axis to many people around the world. Though not a dictator like his Axis allies, Tojo ruled the military with an iron fist, and as prime minister was responsible for many of Japan's strategic successes during the early stages of the war.
Tojo was born in Tokyo in 1884, the son of an army general. He attended the Imperial Military Academy and then the Army Staff College, from which he graduated at the top of his class in 1915. From 1919 to 1922 he was a military attaché in Switzerland and Germany, and in the late 1920s he served in a section of the Army General Staff, monitoring mobilization preparations for full-scale war.
In the early 1930s, Tojo joined a group of officers known as the Control Faction, which was devoted to updating and modernizing the Japanese army, with an emphasis on military technology. However, his association with the group was viewed unfavorably by an opposing faction, and Tojo was punished with a series of posts far below his status and ability. His career took a turn for the better after 1935 when he was sent to Manchukuo, the puppet state established by the Japanese in Manchuria. Tojo eventually became the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, the primary Japanese military force in the region.
While in Manchukuo, Tojo became known for his efficient and decisive manner and his aggressiveness as a staff officer. A tough disciplinarian, he was secretly called “The Razor” by his men. Tojo was ordered back to Tokyo in 1938 to serve as vice minister of war, and in 1940 he was promoted to war minister. He closely watched the war in Europe and became convinced that Germany would eventually triumph. In the fall of 1940, he actively supported an official alliance with Germany and Italy, making Japan the third member of the Axis triad.
Tojo strongly advocated Japanese expansion into East Asia through military force and the establishment of a regional co-prosperity sphere under Japanese control. When relations between Japan and the United States worsened in 1941 as a result of Japanese aggression, Tojo held firm, opposing any compromise that would undermine Japan's position in East Asia. By the fall of 1941, it appeared that Japan would have no choice but to enter the world war. Tojo, widely viewed by many as a man who could guide Japan to victory, was named prime minister in October. In December 1941 his cabinet decided to declare war on the United States by attacking the American naval base at Pearl Harbor.
Tojo's scope of authority widened over the course of the war. While retaining his position as war minister, he became head of the Munitions Ministry in 1943 and took over as army chief of staff in 1944.
Tojo's political power began to wane as Allied victories over Japan became increasingly common toward the end of the war. Forced to resign as prime minister in July 1944 when the United States took the island of Saipan (thus placing Japan within range of Allied bombers), Tojo remained in retirement for the rest of the war.
In September 1945, Tojo tried to commit suicide when he learned that he was to be arrested and tried for war crimes. After his recovery, he was tried as ordered by the International Military Tribunal in Tokyo and found guilty. He was hanged in December 1948. | <urn:uuid:f6f107cb-0297-43af-bc31-e9e981f5a030> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netplaces.com/world-war-ii/the-political-leaders/hideki-tojo.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99078 | 695 | 3.125 | 3 |
Brigitte D’Ortschy, (☸ May 31, 1921—July 9, 1990), a.k.a. Koun An Roshi, was the first German master of the Sanbo-Kyodan school of Zen and a Dharma heir of both Haku’un Yasutani-roshi and Koun Yamada-roshi. D’Ortschy had moved to Japan in 1963 and in the following year had met Haku’un Yasutani, studying under the prolific teacher at Fukusho-ji in Tokio and in the Mokuso-in in Kamakura. She earned her living as a lecturer and wrote articles on Japanese culture and art. In 1972 she completed koan studies and received inka shomei from Yasutani, and in 1973 she received Dharma transmission from Yamada-roshi (receiving the name Koun An). In 1972 she held Germany’s first sesshin and in 1975 she established her own zendo in Munich. She was confiremed as a Shoshike (Zen teacher) in the Sanbo-Kyodan school in 1983. While studying in Japan D’Ortschy had befriended Philip Kapleau-roshi, for who she designed the front cover and translated the work in German. Until her death in 1990 she translated both Chinese and Japanese Zen texts into German and English.
Tagged with: Brigitte D'Ortschy | <urn:uuid:c071bbfd-c963-4d37-9b05-efed421c365e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sweepingzen.com/brigitte-dortschy-bio/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963643 | 301 | 2.140625 | 2 |
What is a Blog?
What is a Blog exactly?
You are reading one right now! A Blog is basically an online diary. It can be about any subject and Blog entries are usually arranged with the most recent entry (or Post) listed first. Typically they are centered around a general topic but there are no hard and fast rules. Blog posts can be all from one single author or from many depending how the owner of the Blog has it set up. Blogs also typically have room at the end of each post to allow those that read the posts to comment about them.
What is a Blog good for?
A blog can be used for anything from just pronouncing your ideas and opinions to the world, to informing readers about the latest news stories to just about anything on any topic. If more than two people are interested in a subject there is probably a Blog about that subject. The great thing about Blogs is that they are easy to use and update and usually are updated very often so readers are attracted to them more since they get fresh content.
What is a Blog used for in business?
Well since people as well as Google love fresh updated content, Blogs can be used to promote just about any business. But they work best if the promotion is not blatant advertising. The reason is that most people who search the web want one thing, information. Even if you plan to buy something you will probably want more information before you make a decision so if a business Blog offers helpful information about products and services and even lists the pros and cons of a product then the Blog builds trust and the advice is more generally followed. Better to inform on a Blog than to try to sell. People turn their attention elsewhere when they are being sold but they pay attention when they are being informed.
What is a Blog Alexa Rank?
You may have heard of a Blog Alexa rank. This is the ranking that the most prestigious authority on traffic and web importance gives a website. The lower the number rank the better the ranking. Alexa.com ranks sites by many factors but traffic and relevance are the key elements. When a site has a good Alexa rank the site is worth more if sold and has the respect of the online community.
What is a Blog’s Value?
The more traffic and better Alexa rank a Blog has the more value it would have if being sold but the real value of a Blog is based on its readers. If a Blog is helping its readers then it is a valuable blog.
Should you have a Blog?
Yes and No! Yes if you enjoy writing and think others would be interested in your thoughts and articles, but no if you do not update it often. Blog readers expect new and fresh informative content. The subject can be anything that interests you and others as long as you keep adding new content.
You can also make money by owning a Blog either by running ads or promoting affiliate offers and networking with others. I own this one as well as an Empower Network Blog that pays me commissions on other peoples Blogs.
Good Luck and Great Blogging !Chris Paulus | <urn:uuid:212df6e2-fe1a-4f68-95cb-357a2e5f12e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wealthtoolbelt.com/what-is-a-blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96637 | 630 | 1.976563 | 2 |
- stone (n.)
- Old English stan, used of common rocks, precious gems, concretions in the body, memorial stones, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (cf. Old Norse steinn, Danish steen, Old High German and German stein, Gothic stains), from PIE *stai- "stone," also "to thicken, stiffen" (cf. Sanskrit styayate "curdles, becomes hard;" Avestan stay- "heap;" Greek stear "fat, tallow," stia, stion "pebble;" Old Church Slavonic stena "wall").
Slang sense of "testicle" is from mid-12c. The British measure of weight (usually equal to 14 pounds) is from late 14c., originally a specific stone. Stone's throw for "a short distance" is attested from 1580s. Stone Age is from 1864. To kill two birds with one stone is first attested 1650s.
- stone (adj.)
- intensifying adjective, 1935, first recorded in black slang, probably from earlier use in phrases like stone blind (late 14c., literally "blind as a stone"), stone deaf, etc., from stone (n.). Stone cold sober dates from 1937.
- stone (v.)
- c.1200, "to pelt with stones," from stone (n.). Related: Stoned; stoning. | <urn:uuid:27790d2c-e99b-4a4b-90b2-15dc5436a342> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=stone&allowed_in_frame=0%C2%A0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906549 | 301 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Go to Email, News, & TV to manage your email, view your favorite TV shows, search the web, stay up to date with current news and more.
Your Attention Needed: Re-configure Your Email Settings to Send Email
If you are having trouble sending or receiving email using your email software (Windows Vista Mail, Outlook, or Outlook Express), you might try switching your outbound port to 465.
Most common email viruses are sent using port 25 to infect computers. Often times the user never knows their computer has been infected. In order to protect our customers, Verizon has turned off the ability to send email using port 25 for all users other than those using a @verizon.net email address.
If you want immediate step-by-step instructions, visit change my port settings to 465 now.
Outbound port 25 blocking is a network configuration change that will prevent computers on the Verizon network from connecting to servers outside of our network. Servers outside the Verizon network use a method commonly employed to send unauthenticated, unsolicited e-mail or “spam”.
Why is Verizon blocking outbound port 25?
The majority of spam (unsolicited email) on the Internet is caused by malicious software viruses that take control of infected computers. These viruses direct the infected machines to send email through port 25. Verizon takes spam very seriously. Verizon blocks outgoing connections on port 25 to prevent infected computers from being used by spammers to send unsolicited email. Outbound port 25 blocking is a standard industry method to control spam.
When will outbound port 25 blocking be implemented?
We will begin implementing outbound port 25 blocking in the first quarter of 2009.
Outbound port 25 blocking will be applied to FIOS and High Speed Internet services that use dynamic IP addresses. If you subscribe to a static IP address service, you will not be affected.
Do I have a dynamic IP address?
If you have standard residential or business FIOS / High Speed Internet service, you have a dynamic IP address. Static IP packages are sold as an upgraded service.
Will I be impacted by port 25 blocking?
If you have a dynamic IP address and you use a third party email account to send email from a desktop client such as Outlook®, Outlook Express® or similar programs, you may be affected and should continue to read this notice. If you are using email provided as part of your Verizon service or a web-based email account from another provider, you will not be affected.
How do I determine if I am using a third party email account?
If your email address is not part of your Verizon FiOS or High Speed Internet Service, and it does NOT end with @verizon.net, you are using a third party account.
Do I have to change my Verizon.net email account settings?
No. Subscribers using Verizon email services will not be impacted.
No. Web-based email services will not be impacted.
You have three options:
Message submission is an alternate way to send email which is not affected by outbound port 25 filtering.
Is there a whitelist or exemption process? | <urn:uuid:45983335-5962-44ad-9b18-8d386b177192> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www22.verizon.com/Support/Residential/internet/highspeed/general+support/top+questions/questionsone/124274.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914945 | 644 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Vesaas, Tarjei (tärˈjā vāˈsŏs) [key], 1897–1970, Norwegian author. In novels, short stories, and lyric poetry, Vesaas combines insight into human psychology with a sensitivity to broader social and political concerns; symbol and allegory are central to his technique. He had been writing seriously for a decade and had published more than 10 books before the appearance of his first widely acclaimed work, The Great Cycle (1934), a novel set in rural Norway. He was among the most important Norwegian authors of his generation to write in landsmål (see Norwegian language). He wrote more than 30 books, including The Birds (1957).
See study by K. C. Chapman (1970).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:efe4e08b-5295-453b-813f-4e7b7584f229> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/people/vesaas-tarjei.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960659 | 180 | 2.71875 | 3 |
By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.
World War II came a lot closer to Mainland American shores than most people might realize, especially in Florida. With almost 1200 miles of coastline, Florida was a great asset to the military, with its mild climate for year-round training and strategic locations for military bases. Yet those 1200 miles of vulnerable, exposed beaches also posed a significant liability; before the explosive population growth brought on by World War II and especially the post-war boom years, Florida was largely a state of sleepy little southern towns, rural/agricultural lands and few urban areas, with large areas of coast sparsely populated, if at all.
The danger was mainly from German U-boats of Nazi Germany’s “Operation Drumbeat,” patrolling just off the coast, not only in the Atlantic, but also in the Caribbean…and even the Gulf of Mexico.
In fact, the early days of the war saw as many as 20 U-boats in a single fleet regularly patrolling the Gulf, determined to disrupt the shipment of military hardware and other supplies to Europe.
The merchant ships were particularly hard hit, and the German subs were especially determined to disrupt the vital flow of oil via tanker ships from ports in Texas and Louisiana. In the early days of the war, they were so successful that two U-boat captains earned Germany’s Distinguished Iron Cross for their efforts, according to Logan Hawkes of www.wintertexansonline.com/uboats. 56 ships are officially listed as having been sunk in the Gulf of Mexico; 39 of those are now believed to have been in state or Federal waters off the Texas, Louisiana and Florida coastlines. The Florida Memory Project (www.floridamemory.com) puts the total number of ships lost in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Gulf Stream at over 100.
Another threat was the presence of Nazi war agents operating throughout Mexico. Nazi Germany imported over half of Mexico’s oil production, and Italy, another Axis power, imported another 25 percent.
In response, oil production was ramped up in the Texas and Louisiana oil fields, but there remained the problem of German U-boats patrolling the Gulf, Caribbean and Atlantic as tanker ships rounded the Florida Keys to haul oil to England and the rest of Europe. In February of 1942, German U-boats attacked four merchant ships just off the coast of Cape Canaveral. In another attack, the passenger ship SS Robert E. Lee was sunk just a few miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River. The U-166, the submarine responsible, was also sunk just a few hundred yards away, the only U-boat officially listed as sunk in the Gulf by Allied forces.
Even though the production of oil had been increased, getting that oil from ports on the Gulf coast to its destination was a troublesome and dangerous venture. Even domestic shipments of oil were not safe. On April 22, 1942, the SS Gulfamerica, carrying 90,000 barrels of fuel oil from Port Arthur, Texas to New York, was torpedoed just four miles off Jacksonville Beach. Dozens of other ships were attacked and sunk a mere handful of miles off Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.
German U-boat captains used the light of coastal cities to spot the silhouettes of target ships traveling near shore, prompting blackout orders among many coastal cities, but deep-water travel made ships even more isolated, vulnerable to attack, and farther from the safety of land for any survivors.
In early 1943, U.S. Naval ships were assigned to accompany convoys of freighters and passenger ships. The Civil Air Patrol was organized in March of 1942 to protect Florida coasts, aided by the “Mosquito Fleet,” groups of volunteer civilian boats, who patrolled the waters off the coast, looking for submarines and performing search-and-rescue operations in the aftermath of torpedo attacks. Thousands of other volunteer civilians, known as “spotters,” were trained to watch the skies and keep track of air activity up and down both coasts.
All of these measures served to greatly diminish the carnage inflicted by “Operation Drumbeat,” but did not eliminate it entirely. Attacks and sinkings continued until the end of the war.
The Gulf of Mexico remained a dangerous place, as was the Caribbean Basin and the Atlantic.
Thus, the Cross Florida Pipeline came about, beginning in St. Marks and running through Madison County, just south of where I-10 is now, south of the town of Lee, across the Suwannee River, and ending in Jacksonville, which had a big port to accommodate the huge tankers that came in, and a pumping station to fill them. Madison County was the location of another pumping station that pumped the oil into huge storage tanks and maintained the pressure in the pipeline.
Herman Cherry, former Madison Chief of police, was in the 10th grade when the war broke out in the 1940’s and remembers “a pile of pipes stacked up at Lee, and a pile of welders,” waiting to weld them together when the pipeline was first being built. He also recalls “the pumping station was built on Tommy’s (Tommy Greene of Greene Publishing) daddy’s land.” After an oil tanker filled up at the port of Jacksonville, which took about five hours, the pumping station at Madison would build up the pipeline pressure again to fill the next tanker.
The tankers could then join the transatlantic convoys well protected by Naval gunboats and submarine-detecting planes, and make it to England in about eight days’ time as opposed to the 30 days it had taken before the pipeline became operational. As Cherry explained, the longer those ships stayed in the water and the greater the distance they had to travel, the more vulnerable they became to the German U-boats. The Cross Florida Pipeline was faster and safer for getting the vital gas and oil from the Gulf side of Florida to the Atlantic side.
Tommy Greene’s brother, Bubba Greene, recalls “when they mapped that pipeline out, they pretty well went in and took the land they needed (through eminent domain).” However, in those post-Pearl Harbor days, there was a lot more cooperation. “There was a war on and people generally wanted to help out the military,” said Greene.
However, “during the war, a lot of this was secret,” Greene added, explaining that folks in the north part of the county generally had no clue what was going on in the southern end; most probably weren’t even aware there was a pipeline. In the north part, the emphasis was more on the “volunteer patrol families” who took turns spending the night in the fire towers across the county, watching the skies, tracking and reporting any unrecorded, undocumented planes in the area, much like the “spotters” on both coasts of Florida.
“It wasn’t something that was publicized,” agreed his brother Tommy, speaking of the pipeline. “You didn’t want it sabotaged.”
The danger of saboteurs was a justified concern at the time; in the summer of 1942, four German saboteurs carrying munitions supplies made it ashore from a German sub off Ponte Vedra Beach just south of Jacksonville. Intent on blowing up Florida’s railroad lines to disrupt the shipment of war supplies and the transportation of military personnel, they were arrested before they could carry out their plans. Had they known about the pipeline, it too might have been a likely target.
Every inch of pipeline was inspected daily for leaks or damage, whether due to sabotage or any other causes. Local resident Henry Lewis had uncles who were part of the daily inspection teams that consisted of two men either setting out on foot or riding out on horseback in opposite directions from a single point on the pipeline, looking it over for any signs of something amiss; Tommy Greene believes that these men were also armed, with at least a rifle, or something, “for snakes if nothing else,” since they had to cross a lot of swampland. The men would generally ride about half a day’s journey along the pipeline (where the pipeline crossed ponds or rivers, there was a narrow walkway built across the water alongside it) until they met up with another inspector coming from the opposite direction; then, confirming that everything was as it should be, the two would turn around and ride back to where they had started their journey.
The Madison pumping station itself became quite an installation during the war years. On what had once been farmland, there were huge storage tanks of oil and gas, perhaps 40 feet wide by 40 feet across, as Tommy Greene recalls; he remembers them being about as big across as they were tall, and also remembers the big tractors pushing up the large earthen berms that completely encircled each tank, high enough to contain an oil spill should any of the tanks rupture, spit or leak. The pumping station operated 24 hours a day during that time, running thousands upon thousand of gallons of gas, oil and diesel through the facility.
There were also five identical little white government-built houses for the families of the men who lived and worked at the pumping station. Roy Milliron, Sr., was the plant supervisor.
With several miles of pipeline running through Madison from Aucilla to the Suwannee River, engineers tried to keep it mostly as level as possible, and above the waterline wherever it crossed water. There were also the several miles of the wooden walkways that went with the pipeline across the rivers, ponds and swamps.
However, while there was a war on as many people probably said with great frequency, and the danger was as close as the Gulf, at times it could seem far away to a quiet little place like Madison County. There was the rationing, the shortages and the stories on the radio and in the newspapers. There were the families with a loved one in the war and the volunteer patrol families that spent nights in fire towers watching the skies overhead.
Still, there was normal daily life for many. While the pipeline pumped oil for the war effort overseas, life went on back home as it was meant to. Children still played after school and explored the great outdoors if the weather was good; those who lived near the pipeline even played on part of the pipeline infrastructure. Those little walkways that went next to the pipeline where it crossed ponds and rivers and swamps with the handrails on one side were like miniature bridges, perfect for children, especially little boys, to play on. Herman Cherry remembers a very young Bubba Greene being especially fascinated by the walkways and thinking they were “really cool” or whatever the equivalent vernacular was during the war years.
The little bridges were also excellent fishing spots for a cast from a cane pole to hook a few fish. They also made great places from which to lower wire or wooden fish traps into the water beneath. Tommy Greene also remembers seeing fish traps made from 55-gallon drums with a hole cut in one end, allowing the fish to enter, and smaller holes at the opposite end for drainage when lifting the drums out.
Brothers Tommy and Bubba frequently played with two boys named Rudy and Grady, who belonged to one of the families employed by the government to run the pumping station. They lived in on e of the five little white houses next to the facility, and the four boys spent many Sunday afternoons playing together, but now, neither Bubba nor Tommy can recall the other boys’ last names.
After the war ended in 1946, the pipeline was dismantled and taken up; some people say it was because the government didn’t really have “official” easement or right of way for much of the line, just the good graces of citizen landowners who wanted to help out with the war effort. Others say it was mainly due to the trucking unions who wanted to eliminate the competition the pipeline posed to the fuel hauling business.
Whatever the reason, the pipeline was taken apart. Some local residents bought pieces of the pipeline and used them to build things like cattle gaps. The large storage tanks were taken out; all that remains are the berms that once surrounded them, some four to eight feet high.
The families who had once lived in the little white wooden houses at the pumping station packed their belongings and moved away. The government wanted to move the houses off the property, but didn’t want to relinquish the lease on the land in case they needed it again. However, in order to get to the houses and relocate them, they had to cross more land owned by the Greenes, land that wasn’t leased to the government.
Eventually, as Bubba and Tommy both recall, the government reached an agreement with their father, relinquishing the lease on the land where the houses sat, in order to be able to get to the little houses and move them.
At least two of those houses still remain in the city of Madison, one on SW Madiosn Ave., just off Lake Frances, and the other on Range Street, about a block or so south of Gordon’s Tractor.
Of the families who used to live there, Tommy Greene recalls that one of them owned a German Shepherd dog they were unable to take with them; they finally ended up giving the dog to the Greene family.
“I can see the image of the man who gave us the dog,” says Tommy Greene, even though he has long forgotten the man’s name. “That was the best dog I ever had.”
Of the pipeline that was once so vital to the war effort, very little evidence remains. A few relic pieces of pipe, perhaps on some land in the southern part of the county. Some of the earthen berms that surrounded the huge storage tanks are still there. A couple of the little government houses now occupied by families in other parts of town.
The rest is mostly whatever those who lived in those days can remember of the pipeline. Perhaps somewhere there are photograghs or documents tucked away in trunks or boxes, along with family photographs and papers that would tell more of the story about the vital link that once ran through the state from coast to coast and undoubtedly saved lives and ships from the U-boat infested waters off Florida.
This report was supplemented with information from www.floridamemoryproject.com, http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/ww_ii, www.wintertexansonline,com/uboats, and www.floridavets.ord/wwii/history/asp. | <urn:uuid:589bba87-e44b-410b-b33e-a556b8c72ee7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenepublishing.com/?m=201112&paged=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982768 | 3,062 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Vol. LXII, No. 33
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
“Hitchcock famously said that the kind of woman who spends all day washing up and doing the housework does not want to go to the cinema to see a film about someone who spends all day washing up and doing the housework. And Hitchcock, on this thing and many others, was a million miles from the truth. He didn’t know what he was talking about.”—Mike Leigh, interviewed by Derek Malcolm
Of course it helps if the film about the woman doing housework is directed by Mike Leigh, who turned 65 in February. It also helps if you have some familiarity with the characters and situations his unscripted improvisations on English life illuminate. If you’ve ever lived in England, you know that it takes a form of creative chemistry as subtly nuanced and outrageously broad as Leigh’s to cover the extremes of a society that can inspire anglophobia even among anglophiles. After a year and a half of dotty bluehaired grannies, obsequious landlords out of Dickens, clueless shop clerks, and twistedly officious “public servants,” not to mention certain regional accents that seem charming early on and have you holding your ears by the time you board the plane home, you’re not sorry to be back in that other madhouse, the good old U.S.A.
The rub is that in the early films of Mike Leigh the same off-putting British reality comes across so well, is “lived” so convincingly, that you end up feeling irrational surges of affection for some of the very things that drove you nuts when you were living in old Blighty. Like for instance how cold it was one winter during the miner’s strike when the power was systematically interrupted and left you shivering for hours in a flat that was chilly enough even when the power was on, there being nothing for heat but one of those little electric hearths and something called Cozy Wrap that was supposed to pass for insulation.
Even if you’ve never lived in the land that gave us Cozy Wrap, even if what you know of England doesn’t go much beyond the Royal Family, Monty Python, Absolutely Fabulous, and the Kinks’ “Dead End Street” (“There’s a crack up in the ceiling/and the kitchen sink is leaking”), you should have no trouble relating to what Mike Leigh has accomplished in works like Hard Labour (1973), The Kiss of Death (1977), and Abigail’s Party (1977), all of which were originally made for the BBC’s Play for Today and are available at the Princeton Public Library. Be warned, though; the accents are so thick that you may occasionally long for subtitles.
Hard Labour is haunted by the bleak, stoic face of Mrs. Thornley (Liz Smith), a face you may immediately associate with the dreariest aspects of English life, even though it could just as easily be the face of a worn-down housewife in Appalachia. If there’s a story behind that rigid, unsmiling countenance, it’s not one you want to know. And yet of course you do because from the moment you enter the Thornley kitchen, the milieu has the pure, true-to-life ambience created by Mike Leigh’s preference for having his actors work without a script; everything is improvised according to a concept devised by Leigh, who has compared the filmmaking process to “a journey of discovery about what the film is” and who sees “all art” as “a synthesis of improvisation and order.”
In a conversation with Mike Leigh on the Criterion DVD of Leigh’s 1993 masterpiece, Naked, novelist Will Self suggests that the director’s way of working constitutes something like an art form in itself. Self also suggests that Leigh is dealing with “fundamental episodes of the human spirit.” Hard Labour is one such episode. Mrs. Thornly earns a pittance as a maid, has a peevish husband, a lost, hapless, daughter, and somehow manages to keep the family fed, clothed, and functioning nonetheless. She never complains and never smiles, though she comes close to it when helping a sari-clad young woman figure out how to use a washing machine in a laundrette. The priest who hears her confession at the end of the film grimaces and sighs (so does the audience) because her only sin is that she doesn’t love her husband.
Mike Leigh’s films often make you squirm. He has a way of putting his characters into situations where ridicule sometimes violates humanity, as happens with Aubrey, the doomed amateur restauranteur played almost too effectively by Timothy Spall in Life is Sweet (1991), the first Leigh film I ever saw. You can’t help laughing at the spectacle of Aubrey lolling miserably about on the floor of his doomed French restaurant, Regret Rien, but it’s not comfortable laughter, and it touches on the problem Leigh may have in mind when he says that he sometimes finds it “quite surprising and shocking when people laugh at things [in the films] which I never thought were funny — sometimes people laugh uproariously at something which I think is rather sad and tragic.” In another online statement, he observes that “people laugh for a variety of reasons — with, or at, or out of embarrassment, or nervousness even. It’s not always a function of mirth.”
A mirthless, nervous laugh becomes a significant expression of emotional and social confusion in Kiss of Death, which contains scenes that are truly painful to watch. Trevor (played by David Threlfall) is a socially benighted teenager who seems to have no control over his foolish giggle and ghoulish grin. As his gum-chewing wouldbe girl friend waits to be kissed during an agonizingly protracted and yet brilliant scene, he cackles in her face, and when he finally kisses her well enough that she wants to take him upstairs, he grins his creepy grin and retreats. What redeems the do-I-laugh-or-groan aspect of Trevor’s awkwardness is the way he rises to the occasion after a neighbor’s ailing mother faints on the stairs. That Trevor handles the situation sensibly and humanely would seem wholly improbable were it not for the fact that we’ve seen him doing his job as an undertaker’s assistant where his duties involve washing dead bodies. Again, out of the most unlikely and uncomfortable material, Leigh and his actors create the chemistry Will Self had in mind when he spoke of “fundamental episodes of the human spirit.”
The human spirit has pretty much gone missing in Leigh’s thoroughly cringe-inducing Abigail’s Party, which the reviewer for Channel 4 in the U.K. termed “the most painful hundred minutes in British comedy-drama.” This nightmare of “wasted lives” and “vacuous life-styles” (as Leigh puts it in his DVD conversation with Self) definitely bears out the director’s claim that laughter isn’t always a function of mirth. While you may notice hints of the ruder and more literate nastiness of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the strained civility of Abigail’s Party makes for a more excruciating experience, mostly thanks to Beverly, the hostess from hell. Alison Steadman’s larger than life performance — a drink in one hand a cigarette in the other — evokes the full-tilt comic flamboyance of Joanna Lumley’s Patsy and Jennifer Saunders’s Edwina in Absolutely Fabulous, which captivated TV audiences on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1990s. There’s reason to believe that Abigail’s Party influenced the concept behind Ab Fab or at least paved the way for the landmark series.
Saying the Unsayable
Nothing in Leigh’s early work quite prepares you for the sheer vehemence and savagery of Naked, which exposes the ravaged underbelly of civilization no less vividly now than it did when it came out 15 years ago. It’s hard to believe this movie was made before rather than after September 11. It’s also hard to believe that David Thewlis’s unforgettable performance as Johnny was shaped without benefit of a script. Nothing I know of in contemporary cinema can match the word-drunk genius exploding out of this crazed, driven, Orphic being’s virtuoso rave-ups that, as Will Self puts it in his conversation with Leigh, “say the unsayable about modern culture.” Like an inspired jazz musician or the most enlightened of rappers, Thewlis improvises whole cadenzas on the cosmic wretchedness of existence. His body English suggests a stylishly tortured cross between a bird of prey with broken wings and a werewolf with St. Vitus’ Dance (in fact, Thewlis goes on to play Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter movies). Naked’s concluding shot shows him limping and hopping down the middle of the street. Instead of walking into the sunset like Chaplin, he’s careening drunkenly toward the camera, which gradually leaves him behind — leaving him, in effect, to his fate.
Johnny’s adventures in London’s city of dreadful night make Naked one of the definitive films of its era. The sexual viciousness that roused the wrath of feminists is admittedly hard to take and I still wish Leigh could have done without the loathsome Jeremy (Greg Cruttwell), the well-heeled Dirk-Bogarde clone whose motiveless malignity makes Johnny’s cruelest actions seem at least humanly forgivable — which may be the main reason Leigh inflicts this sadistic predator on his film. Special Features on the Criterion DVD include The Short and Curlies (1982), a short film by Leigh starring Thewlis; the fascinating, extended conversation between the director and Will Self I’ve been quoting from; an appreciation by director Neil LaBute; and a revealing commentary by Leigh, Thewlis, and his co-star, the late Katrin Cartlidge. The commentary is of particular interest because of the insights it offers into Mike Leigh’s improvisational approach to filming.
Coming August 31
One of the greatest Hollywood films is finally coming to Turner Classic Movies. Frank Borzage’s rarely seen “Man’s Castle” will be shown on TCM (Channel 86) on August 31 at 11:30 p.m. as part of a day-long celebration of Spencer Tracy, who is at his very best in what is arguably the strongest performance of his career. As far as I know, this wonderful movie hasn’t been on television locally since 1991.
Town Topics® may be purchased on Wednesday mornings at the following locations: Princeton McCaffreys, Coxs, Kiosk (Palmer Square), Krauszers (State Road), Olives, Speedy Mart (State Road), Wawa (University Place); Hopewell Village Express; Rocky Hill Wawa (Route 518); Pennington Pennington Market.
Copyright© Town Topics®, Inc. 2011. | <urn:uuid:401590ef-9b06-4bd5-9c84-a28023b4d010> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.towntopics.com/aug1308/book.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95691 | 2,420 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The first question:
How can we prepare ourselves for death?
Don’t accumulate anything whatever: power, money, prestige, virtue, knowledge, even the so-called spiritual experiences. Don’t accumulate. If you don’t accumulate you are ready to die any moment, because you have nothing to lose. The fear of death is not really fear of death; the fear of death comes out of the accumulations of life. Then you have too much to lose. You cling to it. That is the meaning of Jesus’ saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit.
I don’t mean become a beggar, and I don’t mean renounce the world. I mean be in the world, but don’t be of the world. Don’t accumulate inside, be poor in spirit. Never possess anything – and then you are ready to die. Possessiveness is the problem, not life itself. The more you possess, the more you are afraid to lose. If you don’t possess anything, if your purity, if your spirit is uncontaminated by anything, if you are simply there alone, you can disappear any moment; whenever death knocks on the door it will find you ready. You are not losing anything. By going with death you are not a loser. You may be moving into a new experience.
And when I say don’t accumulate, I mean it as an absolute imperative. I’m not saying don’t accumulate things of this world and go on accumulating virtue, knowledge, and so-called spiritual experiences, visions – no. I am talking in absolute terms: don’t accumulate. There are people, particularly in the East, who teach renunciation. They say, “Don’t accumulate anything in this world because it will be taken away from you when death comes.” These people seem to be basically more greedy than the ordinary worldly people. Their logic is: don’t accumulate in this world because death will take it away, so accumulate something that death cannot take away from you – accumulate virtue, punya; accumulate character, morality, knowledge; accumulate experiences, spiritual experiences, experiences of kundalini, meditation, this and that; accumulate something that death cannot take away from you.
But if you accumulate, with that accumulation comes fear. Each accumulation brings fear in it’s own proportion…then you are afraid. Don’t accumulate and fear disappears. I don’t teach you renunciation in the old sense; my sannyas is an absolutely new concept. It teaches you to be in the world and yet to be not of it. Then you are always ready. | <urn:uuid:3a4c0f99-6d7e-45fe-858e-e21672f154d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://osho.com/library/online-library-spirit-disappears-accumulate-e07552b4-7a2.aspx?p=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924158 | 562 | 1.960938 | 2 |
The goal of performance testing is not to find bugs, but to eliminate bottlenecks and establish a baseline for future regression testing. For a Web application, testers will use tools that simulate concurrent users/HTTP connections and measure response times.
Stress Testing, Load Testing and Performance Testing are very close to each, they almost use the same methods but they vary in their approach.
In the white-box approach, testers, developers, system administrators and DBAs work together in order to instrument the application code and the database queries (via specialized profilers for example), and the hardware/operating system of the server(s) running the application and the database (via monitoring tools such as vmstat, iostat, top or Windows PerfMon). All these activities belong to performance testing.
The black box approach is to run client load tools against the application in order to measure its responsiveness. Such tools range from lightweight, command-line driven tools such as httperf, openload, siege, Apache Flood, to more heavy duty tools such as OpenSTA, The Grinder, JMeter. This type of testing doesn't look at the internal behavior of the application, nor does it monitor the hardware/OS resources on the server(s) hosting the application. This belongs to load testing.
It’s the process of determining the ability to maintain a certain level of effectiveness under unfavorable conditions. The process can involve quantitative tests done in a lab, such as measuring the frequency of errors or system crashes.
We tend to measure the stability of the system, robustness, availability, and error handling under a heavy load.
Stress testing tries to break the system under test by overwhelming its resources or by taking resources away from it (in which case it is sometimes called negative testing). The main purpose behind this madness is to make sure that the system fails and recovers gracefully. This quality is known as recoverability.
It’ the process of subjecting a system to a work level approaching the limits of its specifications. Load testing can be done under controlled lab conditions to compare the capabilities of different systems or to accurately measure the capabilities of a single system. Load testing can also be done in the field to obtain a qualitative idea of how well a system functions in the "real world."
In the testing literature, the term "load testing" is usually defined as the process of exercising the system under test by feeding it the largest tasks it can operate with. Load testing is sometimes called volume testing, or longevity/endurance testing.Load testing can provide the user with a general idea of how many applications or processes can be run simultaneously while maintaining the rated level of performance. | <urn:uuid:d8d9a6cf-ada9-45e7-b1c3-035d2650111e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marwanosman.com/2010/07/software-quality-assurance-101-part-ii.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935275 | 547 | 2.609375 | 3 |
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) -- More than 1,800 cyclists took their tires to the pavement of the Colorado National Monument today.
It was all part of the first-ever Tour of the Moon bike ride.The ride took cyclists from the east entrance of the Monument in Grand Junction and through the west entrance in Fruita. Bikers could choose a 41-mile track or the full 62-mile circuit.
Colorado National Monument officials say the tour has attracted many out-of-towners, 80 percent of those experiencing Grand Junction for the first time.
"We’ve heard a lot of great stories, a lot of wow, just the wow factor of everything that they've seen today. They've had time to spend in our visitor’s center, and we've had rangers at a lot of our overlooks, so a lot of really happy people here today," said Michelle Wheatley of the Colorado National Monument.
Event officials say riders traveled from more than 30 different states to participate in today's event. The Tour of the Moon benefits the Colorado Riverfront Commission and Bicycle Colorado. Cyclists wrapped up the tour with a celebration luncheon afterwards at Two Rivers Convention Center.
Designed by Gray Digital Media | <urn:uuid:9610f86c-8300-45c9-97be-e7c69991d885> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/Tour-of-the-moon-Bicycle-event-draws-more-than-1800-cyclists-173000131.html?site=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960308 | 257 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Historic Building Recovery Grant Program
THIS GRANT PROGRAM IS NO LONGER ACTIVE
In 2005, Congress provided funding to the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service through the Historic Preservation Fund for an emergency appropriation to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Louisiana received $22.5 million to enhance the Division of Historic Preservation services to the public and provide grants for the renovation of historic buildings. The Historic Building Recovery Grant Program provided funding a total of 570 grants across the State of Louisiana, with 95 percent of the funding being invested in more than 20 nationally designated historic districts across New Orleans. The program ended in 2010. This program was the hurricane recovery program that specifically targeted historic buildings.
If you are former grant recipient and are still under an active Five-Year Preservation Agreement, please contact our office toll free at (866) 406-7043 or make an appointment with staff to discuss the continued repair of your historic building to ensure the repairs meet the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation.
Please feel free to contact our office if you have any questions or require further information on our grant program. | <urn:uuid:cfd837a1-c252-47a4-8146-24f87a88af04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crt.louisiana.gov/hp/grants/historic_building_recovery_grant_program.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916962 | 226 | 1.898438 | 2 |
The data exploitation system described within is being designed to take advantage of the existence of terabytes (or more) of data sets that have been sent down from various Air Force satellites that can be used to detect previously unknown anomalies that occurred while the satellites were operational. This wealth of information can then be used and exploited to build more reliable and robust future generations of satellites. And, because various types of data sets are sent to the ground consisting of satellite state-of-health, satellite system telemetry, as well as on-board experiments, threats to these satellites will also be able to be detected, given that the satellites have the appropriate sensors. Designing a data exploitation capability is an important development area for realizing anomaly and threat detection objectives. This paper discusses a framework to meet those objectives and is being designed for integration within the Air Force Research Laboratory modeling and simulation environment. | <urn:uuid:4fccf1e1-d66a-4d27-8b68-bbc866d0448d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aaai.org/Library/FLAIRS/2004/flairs04-021.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944544 | 174 | 1.953125 | 2 |
S. Strong and C. Hall
Bath: National Development Team for Inclusion, 2011
This report sets out several good practice recommendations for how to change residential care for people with learning difficulties into supported living accommodation. It is concluded that personalising support for people already living in care homes requires creative thinking about how to offer realistic choices of how and where they want to live. By adopting a project management approach and identifying pathfinders and pathways, providers can increase the rights, choices and control of service users.
Community Care, Nov. 24th 2011, p. 22-24
Supported living can allow people with learning disabilities to lead more fulfilled lives, but there are questions about the viability and value of these placements. In the first place, service users relying on benefits to pay rent can be priced out of their preferred residence if they start to work, because certan benefits are removed when an individual gains employment. Cuts to local housing allowance, the benefit paid to people in private rented accommodation, has reduced choice further. Problems with housing affordability have forced people to move out of familiar areas in search of cheaper accommodation. Disputes between councils over who should pay for placements pose another challenge to people who wish to remain in a certain area when moving out of residential care. Finally, there are concerns that certain organisations are offering 'sham tenancies' and claiming to be supported living services when they are actually providing residential care.
Daily Telegraph, Dec. 19th 2011, p. 1 + 2
Following a review of the mortgage market, the Financial Services Authority published plans to stop irresponsible lending. Under the proposals, loans would only be advanced when there was a reasonable expectation that the borrower would be able to repay. The ability to repay could not be reliant on house prices rising. The rules also put an end to self-certification mortgages and 'fast-tracked' mortgages, an accelerated process under which verification of income might not be requested.
Journal of Law and Society, vol.38, 2011, p. 519-541
The council tenant's Right to Buy, introduced by Margaret Thatcher and endorsed by New Labour, is one of the most successful schemes devised to extend home ownership to those otherwise excluded. This article focuses on some of the most marginal owner-occupiers, those who purchased local authority flats on long leases, and the difficulties they face when their freeholders present them with large service charge demands generated as a result of repair and improvement works, particularly works carried out under New Labour's Decent Homes Initiative. It is concluded that, despite the allure of home ownership, not all home owners are equal, and that the democratisation of ownership has exposed the stratification inherent in it. Indeed, the promise of inclusion through property ownership has proved hollow for some Right to Buy leaseholders, who have been impoverished rather than enriched. | <urn:uuid:66d9764d-2910-4889-91b8-c5c9cbc246f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bl.uk/welfarereform/issue150/housing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958438 | 578 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Revenge of the robotics nerds: They're in demandMarch 20, 2012: 2:06 PM ET
It's no surprise that Amazon is buying robotics maker Kiva Systems. These days, that approach is easier than trying to hire your own experts.
FORTUNE -- By now, everyone has heard plenty about the dearth of skilled job candidates in high-tech fields like cloud computing and mobile apps. Meanwhile, another skills gap has quietly grown into a yawning chasm. The shortage of people who know how to build, program, maintain, and repair robots has gotten so severe that, in some parts of the country, qualified candidates can practically write their own ticket.
Consider: The number of online help-wanted ads seeking robotics expertise shot up 40% in the first two months of 2012 alone, according to research firm Wanted Analytics.
Demand is particularly strong in the Detroit area, especially for engineers and technicians who can operate the programmable logic controllers, called PLCs, that run whole automatic robot systems on assembly lines and in warehouses.
"I would hire at least 20 more full-time PLC programmers if I could find them," says Andrew Valentine, an executive at an engineering firm in Lake Orion, Mich., who has worked in robotics and PLC training since the 1980s. Valentine has already hired 16 PLC programmers in the past year, but "it's hard to compete against the automakers, who soak up 70 to 80% of the scarce talent that's available."
The irony there is that the car companies' travails in 2008 and 2009 are partly responsible for the shortage. When General Motors (GM) and Chrysler went broke and laid off thousands of workers, large numbers of robotics experts left the industry -- and Michigan -- altogether. "We had a great talent pool here, but they're in other places doing other things now," Valentine observes. Even now that hiring has picked up again, he adds, "those people aren't coming back."
Another reason why robotics mavens are so scarce has to do with the nature of the work itself. Lack of a four-year engineering degree isn't an obstacle to getting hired: The basic skills can be learned in so-called mechatronics programs, which combine specialized programming classes with training in electrical and mechanical engineering. Offered at many colleges and trade schools, the curricula usually take two years to complete. Increasingly, out of desperation, companies are offering this type of training to their current employees.
But once trained and hired, most robotics specialists at engineering firms spend anywhere from two to six months designing and building a system, and then must go with it to the client company that bought it. "The client could be anywhere in the world, and you may have to stay there for two years or more," Valentine says. "It's great for a young, single person who likes to travel. But after a while, a lot of people get tired of living out of a suitcase."
In the Washington, D.C. area, the second hottest U.S. market for robotics talent, "the biggest demand comes from government, especially the Defense Department, but there is a lot of private sector activity too," says Thomas Crabtree, a senior vice president at consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton. "It's very competitive."
Booz Allen hires robotics experts to work with its military clients on a wide range of projects, from unmanned submarines and aircraft to robots that can dismantle a handmade bomb. To try and ensure a steady stream of talent, the company is taking the long view. It's a major sponsor of a nonprofit organization called First Robotics that runs workshops and contests designed to get high school kids interested in, and familiar with, robotic technology.
In First Robotics' annual competitions, going on right now all over the U.S. and in 55 other countries, "the students have six weeks to design, assemble, and test a robot, and there's a heavy emphasis on teamwork," says Crabtree. "The program instills the skills and the values we want in our future employees." By sponsoring First Robotics and building relationships with schools, he adds, "we're hoping that, when these kids get ready to enter the work world, they'll think of us." | <urn:uuid:5135ca2c-a2e5-4a06-885a-dcfc95ff02c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/20/robotics-jobs/?iid=SF_T_LN | 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 | 0.964912 | 867 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Kansas City Fed: Farmland Values Rise 25%
Feb 22, 2012
Record high farmland values and strong farm income were highlighted in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's recent fourth quarter survey of Agricultural Credit Condition. The survey detailed several indicators of farm financial conditions in the 10th District including farmland values, interest rates on farm loans, and credit supply and demand.
Rising Farmland Prices
2011 posted a record high, 25% increase year-over-year in farmland values. The value of nonirrigated and irrigated cropland in the District climbed 8.9% and 7.5%, respectively, compared to third quarter gains of 2011. District ranchland values increased 3.1% in the fourth quarter marking a year-over-year increase of 14%.
Farmland values soared to record highs due to strong farmer demand. Absentee land owners saw this increase in demand as an opportunity to sell their land, and did so. Farmer purchased farmland jumped to 73% of total sales in 2011 compared to 60% in 2005. Outside investor interest remained high for productive cropland, although the volume of farmland bought for recreational and development use declined. A third of District bankers expect farmland prices and the amount of farmland for sale to increase throughout 2012.
Annual cash rental rates for cropland increased 18%, well above the 6% increase last year. Ranchland rental rates increased moderately by 10%, compared to a 4% increase in 2010.
Farmland income in the 10th District strengthened in the fourth quarter and is expected to remain strong throughout the first quarter of 2012. Crop prices remained strong through the fourth quarter supporting farm income in regions with successful harvests. However, farm income varied in 2011 due to regional weather events such as the droughts in Oklahoma and Kansas where producers had decreased income as crop insurance claims were relied on.
Livestock prices in the fourth quarter continued to outpace prices from a year ago. Elevated prices are attributed to drought-induced herd liquidations, pushing cow inventories to historic lows. Farm income for livestock operators depended on their ability to manage elevated feed costs.
Farm Loan Portfolio
Loan demand picked up in the fourth quarter as more equipment and capital improvements were purchased and the capital spending index increased after a six month decline. Purchases increased due to the 2011 federal tax rules on bonus depreciation allowances. Bankers indicated that sufficient funds were available for loans in the fourth quarter; less than 1% of loans were refused. Looking forward, loan demand is expected to rise modestly in the short-term, as farmers prepare for spring planting.
Another factor affecting loan demand is low interest rates. The fourth quarter interest rates averaged 6.3% for farm operating loans, and fell below 6.0% to 5.9% for the first time in the survey's history on farm real estate loans. | <urn:uuid:fc75c266-589e-4e60-a6b6-5c1c01f07311> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.agweb.com/farmjournal/Kansas-City-Fed-Farmland-Values-Rise-25-percent/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96209 | 586 | 1.851563 | 2 |
OpenMoko built the first 100% open-source smartphone—hardware and software both—when Android was but a glimmer in Larry and Sergey's eye. But now, the FreeRunner hardware is officially kissing its open-source cousin OS, Android.
Whether it's viewed as a natural move forward in the name of openness or a sign that no one in the world will ever use OpenMoko's own open-source OS—iMAndroid have some blurry-as-hell shots of the FreeRunner hardware running Google's open-source OS alternative. Either way, huge credit is due to OpenMoko, for fighting the good fight early on.
Still, the reliance on only 100% open hardware components means the FreeRunner is still hobbled by a GPRS-only data connection; that's late-90s tech, and for a data-heavy platform like Android, could be a monumental pain. Or maybe it will be the first Android phone with a battery that can last more than 12 hours without needing a reboost? Rounding out the specs is more typical smartphone fare: wi-fi, AGPS, Bluetooth, microSD slot, and a 400 MHz Samsung processor.
Price and availability are not yet available, but I would reckon CES will shed a bit more light on things. [iMAndroid] | <urn:uuid:4cdd02e5-439b-49b9-be7d-7db5fc618f20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gizmodo.com/5120535/android+powered-openmoko-freerunner-spotted | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913738 | 272 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and obesity (diabesity) are global epidemics with major health consequences. Type 2 diabetes is commonly associated with poor diet and inactivity. However, there is now evidence of autoimmunity in Type 2 diabetes.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans are now medically classified as overweight or obese. And, we’re somewhat delusional as 30 percent of overweight individuals believe they’re at a healthy weight, and 70 percent of obese individuals feel they’re simply overweight. This excess weight costs our nation $93 billion in annual medical bills.
And, if you think diabetes and insulin resistance affects only those who are overweight, feast on junk food and are sedentary, listen up. According to the National Institute of Health, approximately 15 percent of those diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are not overweight. However, on the inside these folks have excessive visceral fat (intra-abdominal fat around organs) which predisposes and increases risk of insulin resistance and diabetes. Just because someone is thin, that does not equate to a healthy person.
Insulin resistance is when the cell loses its responsiveness on the insulin receptor site (particularly liver, muscle and fat cells, with the liver losing sensitivity first, followed by muscle, then fat cells). Your body adds more and more insulin to store fat. Overtime, the pancreas gives up, leading to Type 2 diabetes.
In Type 2 diabetes, your body isn’t making enough insulin and/or the cells are resistant to insulin causing too much sugar to remain in the blood. Insulin takes the sugar from the blood into the cells. Although insulin is necessary for your body’s use of sugar, higher insulin levels accelerate the aging process and lead to diabetes.
You want to create an environment in which you’re sensitive to insulin. Insulin sensitivity is your body’s ability to use insulin properly to regulate the amount of glucose in the bloodstream.
Conventional methods for managing diabetes usually consist of a diet high in grains and low in protein, along with medications to manage blood sugar and insulin. These drugs come with a laundry list of side effects including stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, loss of limbs and eyesight.
Follows are tips to balance your blood sugar and boost diabetes protection.
Diet and nutrition
1. Sweeten with stevia, an herb, instead of artificial sweeteners or sugar. Stevia will not elevate blood sugars and has zero calories. Avoid artificial sweeteners and any product with NutraSweet or Aspartame. Especially avoid any product with high fructose corn syrup and agave syrup, both which create an aggressive insulin response and increased visceral fat.
2. Eliminate all boxed, canned, microwavable foods and fast foods. Consuming fast food two or more times a week results, on average, in an extra weight gain of 10 pounds and doubles the risk of prediabetes over a 15-year period.
3. Avoid refined and processed carbohydrates, gluten and grains. Eliminate all soda including diet soda, pasteurized dairy products, fast-acting sugars (fruit juices and high glycemic fruits), vegetable oils, starchy vegetables, hydrogenated fats, alcohol and tobacco. Enjoy green tea, white tea, and coffee. Consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes. Just one sweetened drink a day raises your risk of diabetes by 25 percent.
4. Coffee can lower your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 30 percent. Research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition said that the components that could be responsible for this protection include magnesium, phenolic compounds and quinides, which have been shown to improve insulin sensitivity. Other compounds in coffee have antioxidant and anticarcinogenic properties. Coffee beans are one of the most sprayed crops in the world — sprayed with fungicides and pesticides. Make sure your coffee is organic.
5. Type 2 diabetics should avoid most fruits except for tomatoes, berries, apples, avocados, grapefruit, lemons and limes. Blueberry and apple lovers have a 23 percent lower risk of developing diabetes. They’re chock full of flavonoids, which have been linked to protection against heart disease and cancer.
6. Hydrate. Drink a minimum of half your body weight in ounces of water every day. Stay away from plastic bottles due to BPA exposure, which has been linked to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and cancer.
7. Increase protein from organic sources. An article published in the Nutrition Journal concluded that a low-carb, high-protein diet is far superior to a low fat diet to reduce insulin levels and improve insulin sensitivity.
8. Your meals and snacks should consist of protein, healthy fats, and plenty of fiber from veggies and leafy greens to help stabilize blood sugar. Fiber helps lower glucose.
9. Cinnamon helps control post-meal insulin spikes. Cinnamon can be used to reduce the glycemic index of a meal up to 29 percent. One USDA study showed that just a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon a day lowered the blood sugar, cholesterol and triglyceride levels in people with Type 2 diabetes.
1. Get to bed by 10 p.m. and get up no earlier than 6 a.m. Lack of sleep disturbs lipid profiles, glucose metabolism, androgen production, body fat levels, blood pressure, immune function and memory.
2. Manage your stressors. Stress is the No. 2 cause of Type 2 diabetes. Diet is the No. 1 cause.
3. Minimize BPA exposure (plastic water bottles, dental sealants, plastic wraps, canned foods, etc.) A study published in 2008 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found BPA is linked to heart disease, diabetes, cancer and liver problems in adults.
4. Diabetics should monitor blood glucose levels at least twice a day before eating meals. If you are exercising you will need to test your glucose levels more frequently.
5. Rule out food sensitivities and food intolerances, heavy metal toxicity, Candida, parasites, pesticide overload, other xenobiotics, and inoculations which can be locus to pancreatic dysfunction resulting in diabetes or hypoglycemia.
Exercise and movement
The power of movement and activity should never be underestimated: from a short 5-minute power walk to a 40-minute strength training session, it all counts towards reducing and eliminating the pre-diabetes (insulin resistance) syndrome and controlling diabetes.
1. Begin some form of exercise and be consistent. Walking is excellent for those with diabetes. A daily 3 mph brisk walk decreases diabetes risk by 58 percent.
2. Strength training is far superior to steady state aerobic exercise to prevent obesity and increase insulin sensitivity. Lifting weights is far superior over cardio for better blood sugar control. Steady state aerobic exercise increases cortisol levels which increase insulin levels.
Although we are each unique in our biochemistry, there are nutritional supplements that offer support to manage blood sugar: Vitamin D, GlucoBalance, Essential Fatty Acids, Magnesium, Probiotics, Digestive support, Meriva Curcumin, Chromium GTF and Lipoic Acid.
The obesity epidemic and the number of individuals diagnosed with diabetes and/or insulin resistance will continue to increase due to unhealthy lifestyle choices. A study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that by the year 2020 nearly 75 percent of the American population will be overweight or obese. A shocking prediction: in less than nine years, half of all Americans will be either pre-diabetic or suffer full-blown Type 2 diabetes.
Now is the time to take control and responsibility. Health is a choice.
• Ahwatukee Foothills resident Paula Owens is a nutritionist, fitness expert and weight loss coach with more than 20 years of experience. Reach her at www.PaulaOwens.com. | <urn:uuid:d7a5262e-b310-4884-b2e7-ed9074aea8a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eastvalleytribune.com/local/the_valley/ahwatukee/article_a5583e93-98ca-5dcc-8f05-398b92597c7a.html?mode=story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90731 | 1,638 | 3.046875 | 3 |
UH Moment: "Smart Building"
July 25, 2012
by: Marisa Ramirez
"A smart building is a building that makes its own decisions based on certain environmental changes, like changing the temperature-setting on an air conditioning unit so it can save energy," he said. "Or, in a server room, if you have 100 computers where only 25 are being utilized, a smart building can place the other on 'sleep mode' until they're needed."
Benhaddou creates new algorithms to "teach" sensors planted in buildings to recognize when it's too hot or cold, or when energy is being used inefficiently. The technology involves the expertise of construction and materials industries, telecommunication and human behavior studies.
"Our objective is to minimize the consumption of energy while keeping happy all the occupants, people as well as machines," he said.
Benhaddou will spend a year in Morocco as a Fulbright Scholar working with several universities to engage faculty, share information and create research opportunities for graduate students there and at UH.
"The future is bright," he said. "We're going to have solutions that will enable us to utilize the energy and harness the energy to sustain human beings."
Smart Buildings are part of what's happening at the University of Houston. I'm Marisa Ramirez.
RSS feed: > uhmoment | <urn:uuid:699fc476-f0be-4eaa-9140-2a3e8de6d2b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/1342602482-UH-Moment-Smart-Building.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957189 | 279 | 2.90625 | 3 |
The human ear is exquisitely tuned to discern different sound frequencies, whether such tones are high or low, near or far. But the ability of our ears pales in comparison to the remarkable knack of single neurons in our brains to distinguish between the very subtlest of frequency differences.
Reporting in the Jan. 10 issue of the journal Nature, Dr. Itzhak Fried, professor of neurosurgery and director of the UCLA Epilepsy Surgery Program, and colleagues from Hebrew University and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, show that in humans, a single auditory neuron in the brain exhibits an amazing selectivity to a very narrow sound-frequency range, roughly down to a tenth of an octave.
In fact, the ability of such neurons to detect the slightest of differences in sound frequency far surpasses that of the human auditory nerve, which carries information from the hair cells of the inner ear to the brain's auditory cortex — by as much as 30 times greater sensitivity. Indeed, such frequency tuning in the human auditory cortex is substantially superior to that typically found in the cortex of nonhuman mammals, with the exception of bats.
It is a paradox, the researchers note, that even the auditory neurons of musically untrained people can detect very small differences in frequency much better than their peripheral auditory nerve. With other peripheral nerves, such as those in the skin, the human ability to detect differences between two points — say from the prick of a needle — is limited by the receptors in the skin; the neurons associated with those peripheral nerves display no greater sensitivity. With hearing, however, the sensitivity of the neuron actually exceeds that of the peripheral nerve.
The researchers, including senior author Israel Nelken and first author Yael Bitterman from Hebrew University, determined how neurons in the human auditory cortex responded to various sounds by taking recordings of brain activity from four consenting clinical patients at UCLA Medical Center. These patients had intractable epilepsy and were being monitored with intracranial depth electrodes to identify the focal point of their seizures for potential surgical treatment.
Using clinical criteria, electrodes were implanted bilaterally at various brain sites that were suspected to be involved in the seizures, including the auditory cortex. The recording of brain activity was carried out while patients listened to artificial random chords at different tones per octave and to segments from the film "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.'' Thus, the sounds the patients heard were both artificial (the random chords) and more natural (the voices and noise from the movie soundtrack).
The results surprised the researchers. A single auditory neuron from humans showed an amazing ability to distinguish between very subtle frequency differences, down to a tenth of an octave. This, compared to a sensitivity of about one octave in the cat, about a third of an octave in rats and a half to a full octave in the macaque.
"This is remarkable selectivity," said Fried, who is also co-director of UCLA's Seizure Disorder Center. "It is indeed a mystery why such resolution in humans came to be. Why did we develop this? Such selectivity is not needed for speech comprehension, but it may have a role in musical skill. The 3 percent frequency differences that can be detected by single neurons may explain the fact that even musically untrained people can detect such frequency differences.
"There is also evidence that frequency discrimination in humans correlates with various cognitive skills, including working memory and the capability to learn, but more research is needed to clarify this puzzle," he said.
This study, Fried noted, is the latest example of the power of neurobiological research that uses data drawn directly from inside a living human brain at the single-neuron level. Previous studies from Fried's lab have identified single cells in the human hippocampus specific to place in human navigation, and single cells that can translate varied visual images of the same item — such as the identity of an individual — into a single concept that is instantly and consistently recognizable.
Explore further: H. pylori, smoking trends, and gastric cancer in US men | <urn:uuid:22e8fa97-0db9-4368-828d-8385206f2678> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://phys.org/news119712886.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955567 | 832 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Chernobyl's radioactive legacy 0
Chernobyl nuclear plant. (Shutterstock)
After weeks of escalating concern, Japanese officials raised the severity of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear crisis to Level 7 on April 12. This is the highest threat level, and puts the Fukushima accident on par with the Chernobyl disaster. A Level 7 incident means a major release of radiation, with the potential for widespread health and environmental impacts.
In a regrettable coincidence, the timing of the announcement comes less than two weeks before the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl.
On April 26th, 1986, Reactor 4 at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant exploded, releasing 190 tons of radioactive poisons into the atmosphere. The Chernobyl disaster released between 100 and 400 times more radiation than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
While it will be decades before the human and environmental costs can be tallied from the Fukushima disaster, Chernobyl's deadly legacy may give some insight into what could happen.
The Human Cost
- Twenty-five years after the worst nuclear accident in human history, the cost of the Chernobyl disaster continues to rise.
- An estimated 15 million people have been victimized by the Chernobyl accident
- 8.4 million people were exposed during the initial release of radiation
- 7 million are entitled to receive compensation
- 5 million continue to live in contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine
- 404,000 people have been relocated
- More than 450 towns and villages are in the contaminated areas
- 600,000 people were involved in the clean-up operations
- 31 died immediately
- 25,000 to 100,000 workers have since died as result of exposure to radiation
- 250,000 cancers and 100,000 cancer deaths are expected in the total exposed population
- Children living in the mostly heavily contaminated areas in Belarus suffer from a myriad of diseases and birth defects:
- 800,000 children still live in the contaminated areas
- Child mortality rates are 300 times greater than the rest of Europe
- Only 15 to 20% of babies are born completely healthy
- 1,800 children have contracted thyroid cancer (a 6,000% increase). This number is predicted to rise to 50,000 or higher
- Rates of other forms of cancer and diabetes have increased dramatically
- 7,000 children have been born with "Chernobyl heart" - multiple holes in their heart
- Only 800 children receive surgery for the condition annually
Canada and the Children of Chernobyl
In the years following the Chernobyl disaster, Canadian families began fostering children from the afflicted areas for a six to 10 week period during the summer months. Fresh air, clean water and uncontaminated food help to improve their physical health and rebuild compromised immune systems.
"Children of Chernobyl" programs are run by volunteers in communities across the country. Families raise the $ 2,000 that it costs per child for airfare and health insurance each summer.
The Fudger family, who live north of Kingston, Ontario, first found out about the program in 1996.
"I noticed an ad in the local paper for a fundraising event for families who were bringing affected children to Canada for a respite," said Linda Fudger. Linda had been concerned about the impacts of radiation on health since the birth of her son Sam in 1986, shortly after the Chernobyl accident.
"We thought about it for a while and realized that this was something we could do," said Linda.
Alena Hancharova was 8 years old the first summer that she spent with the Fudger family, the same age as their daughter Alison.
"She was skinny, weak and overwhelmed by the amount of food we had. Her teeth were a mess," said Linda. Local dentists and other healthcare professionals often donate their time and services to help these children. In Alena's case, most of her baby teeth had to be removed.
Alena spent a total of nine summers with the Fudgers.
"She quickly became one of the family," said Linda.
The English that Alena learned during her time with the Fudgers helped her to get a full scholarship to the University of Mogilev in Belarus. A recent graduate, Alena now lives and works in California.
"The problem of uncertainty about risks existed in 1986, and it remains today. People living in contaminated territories face a problem with food. Economic circumstances oblige them to grow their own, but they don't know how to ensure it is clean."
-Natalia Khodorivska, sociologist
"There was a sharp jump in cases of thyroid cancer about three-and-a-half or four years after the accident - mostly among children. The closer to the source, to the Chernobyl region, the more cases of cancer."
-Dr. Igor Komissarenko, surgeon | <urn:uuid:155ede03-76ec-4c88-a2fe-7269a205248b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lfpress.com/life/greenplanet/2011/04/19/18040606.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965451 | 997 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Gyula Tourist Attractions
Gyula (pop. 35,000), a nostalgically pretty and popular spa town, lies near the Hungaro-Romanian border 16km (10mi.) southeast of Békéscsaba on an arm of the White Körös river. The town was first officially recorded in 1214 as a monastery; its castle was captured by the Turks in 1566 and until they were driven out in 1695 it was the capital of a sandchak, or administrative district. The new lord of the manor, the Austrian Baron Harruckern, built a palace near the castle in 1720 and imported German workers who established themselves with their own town administration in what is now known as "German Gyula", to the left of the present-day avenue Béke sugárút. To its right lies Hungarian Gyula. Later on Harruckern invited Romanians into the country, and today Gyula is still the center of the Romanian minority. There are several Romanian organisations in Gyula - the Center for the National Self-governance of Romanians living in Hungary and the Romanian-Hungarian Cultural Union.From the meat factory in Gyula comes "Gyulai kolbász", a richly-spiced sausage.Popular tourist attractions in Gyula include a 13th century fortress, thermal spas, Romanian architecture and "Nicolae Balcescu" High School.
The massive square castle at Gyula (near the thermal baths), the only medieval brick-built castle on the lowland plain, was built in phases between the 14th C and 1480, and was restored in the 1950s. It was 1802 before a proper bridge was built across the ditch. The red stone of the castle provides a perfect backdrop for the boats sailing on the pond. Inside the walls the Gyula Castle Theatre puts on performances every summer. Objects and documents illustrating the castle's history are on display in the castle museum.
Ferenc Erkel Birthplace
The neo-classical house, built in 1795, is where Ferenc Erkel (1810-93) was born; he was the founder of the Hungarian National Opera and composer of the National Anthem. An exhibition portrays his life and work. On the wall of the house facing Dürer Albert utca there is a plaque pointing out that Albert Dürer was Hungarian by birth. The Ajtóssy family from the nearby village of Ajtós-falva ("Doormaker Village") lived here. Antal Ajtóssy later became a goldsmith, emigrated to the Netherlands and in 1455 went to Nuremberg in Germany where he took the name of "Türer". His son was the brilliant painter and engraver Albrecht Dürer. In Kossuth utca 17, near the castle, is the Dürer Room (Dürer terem), in which temporary exhibitions are held of work by contemporary artists.
The large Várfürdo baths in a 30ha (75 acre) park on Kossuth Lajos utca, provide everything the visitor to the spa can wish for. The waters, with a temperature of 70°C (158°F) at source, contain sodium and hydrated sodium carbonate and have proved beneficial especially in the treatment of joint problems and gynecological complaints. The old baths were built in 1833 by converting a former riding school. The complex also includes a sanatorium and a spa hotel with 800 beds.
Late Baroque Church
The Late Baroque church (Belvárosi plébánia templom) was built in 1777. In the choir can be seen the tomb of its founder, Baron Harruckern; it dates from 1777 and was the work of the Viennese artist Martin Schmidt. The main altarpiece by Hubert Maurer shows the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
The Café is housed in a house built in 1801 in the classical 18th C. plait style. Here the Százéves cukrászda, famous throughout Hungary, sells tempting coffee and cakes, a pleasant experience made all the more enjoyable by the 1840 Biedermeier furnishings. The old cooking utensils are also of interest. | <urn:uuid:1d8b034e-8e87-48e3-a677-2ce4257d0685> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.planetware.com/hungary/gyula-h-bc-g.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96066 | 896 | 1.90625 | 2 |
PMNCH 2010 Annual Report: From Hope to Action
Publisher/Organizer: The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
Publication date: March 2011
Number of pages:
Foreword by Dr Julio Frenk, Chair of The Partnership Board and Dean of Harvard School of Public Health
The past year was one of the most encouraging I can remember in terms of improvements in the health of women and children. After many years when reducing the terrible toll of deaths in infants, small children and their mothers seemed frustratingly elusive, at last we saw evidence of real progress. We cannot and should not put too much faith in numbers alone, but when those numbers emerge from painstaking research by reputable scientists they deserve our respect and attention. The numbers published in 2010 tell us that maternal and child deaths are going down, year by year, especially among some of the most vulnerable populations in the poorest countries of the world.
Understanding why these welcome reductions are occurring is key to accelerating them. This can best be achieved through a vibrant and continuous exchange of knowledge and expertise among the global health community, through working together, through searching unceasingly for ways to apply new knowledge and skills efficiently at the front-line of primary health care. This is the raison d’être of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health. In 2010 its contribution was demonstrated as never before. In facilitating the development of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, initiated by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and launched at the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in New York on 22 September, The Partnership has helped take the entire movement a great step forward.
As this report articulates, 2010 was a year of hope, and a year of action. There is a wonderful synergy between the two: hope spurs action, and action spurs hope. Evidence of real progress is the foundation for both. The Partnership, in its short lifespan, has found a place at the heart of this dynamic and is poised to act as a vital catalyst for future progress.
The evidence is not just numerical. It can also be seen in the increased commitment of governments, multilateral agencies, nongovernmental organizations, health-care professional associations, academic, research and training institutions and the private sector, and in increased funding from international donors. And behind the statistics and the politics lies the reality – scientifically proven interventions applied by dedicated health-care workers really are saving the lives of children and their mothers.
Very few of us ever have the chance to save a life, and yet for those across the field of public health, and especially in maternal and child health, it is a daily challenge. It is both a responsibility and a privilege. Those of us who make up The Partnership – our almost 400 members, representing many thousands of individuals – share that responsibility and that privilege.
As the incoming Chairman of The Partnership Board, I welcome this report and the messages it conveys to everyone who has a role to play in one of the greatest public health missions of the 21st century. We owe it to every woman and every child at risk in the world today to redouble our efforts to protect them in the year ahead and for many years to come. | <urn:uuid:51519756-0f56-41bf-a294-f71654679426> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.who.int/pmnch/topics/part_publications/201103_pmnchannualreport/en/index.html | 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 | 0.958185 | 665 | 1.796875 | 2 |
We’re actually doing reasonably well in terms of electrical usage and heat. According to Vectren, we’re using about 77% of the natural gas that other similar houses in the area are using. Since only about 5% of that is for cooking, our primary difference has to be heating. During the day, we keep the thermostat at 66. If I didn’t work from home, we could go cooler, but that’s about as low as I can be comfortable for long periods of time. We used to go down to 59 at night, but Maggie read that a difference of more than 4-5 degrees overtaxes the furnace, so we changed it to 61. I think that you could warm the house in stages to avoid that problem as well, but it turns out that with a gas furnace it’s not as large an issue.
Even though we’re doing pretty well heating-wise, we wanted to make sure that the house doesn’t have any major issues. There have been a lot of improvements since the late 1960s! The local Duke Energy provides a free service called Home Energy House Call, where a technician comes through and examines your house for energy problems. Maggie’s parents had to wait months for their appointment, so we signed up last week and got ready to wait. Luckily, a slot opened up yesterday, so Maggie and I got our energy audit remarkably quickly!
The beginning of the audit consisted of a series of basic questions. How big is the house? How old is it? How many people live here? After that came energy-specific ones. Do you use CFLs? Do you wash your clothes in cold water? I’d guess that most people who get an energy audit answer yes to these, since they’re aware and interested in energy conservation.
Once we had those out of the way, the auditor inspected the house, including the crawl space. He felt along the windows and external outlets for drafts. The bedroom windows were really drafty, which we knew, so he suggested using “great stuff” insulating foam. He also checked the windows themselves, but most of ours are double-paned, which was fine. He looked around external doors for gaps around the edges for weatherstripping, but only found a little piece on one of the back doors.
More importantly, he said that around here, our attic should be insulated to R38, which is about 10 inches of blown insulation. We only have about 6, so that’s a big issue. Heat rises, so a poorly insulated attic is killer in the winter. The auditor suggested that we use cellulose rather than fiberglass. It insulates about 50% better, which means we wouldn’t have to add as much. For either, we can rent a blower and buy bags of insulation and do the job ourselves, so it’s a relatively cheap project. We also need to insulate the panel that leads to the attic, since right now it’s not insulated at all.
After doing the inside, we headed outside to get into the crawlspace. Unfortunately, I sustained a back injury in the line of duty from slipping down our icy steps. My sore back is a reminder that we need to de-ice our steps as well as insulate our attic.
Perilous as it was, the trip to the crawlspace as worthwhile, since it was the worst offender on the tour. Although our ducts are insulated, nothing else in the crawlspace is. Even worse, our vents are still open so we’re basically sitting on an ice box. The crawlspace under the addition, which is where my office is, is properly insulated although the vents are still open.
Our home inspector had told us to insulate the crawlspace when we could, but we’ve heard conflicting things about how exactly to do it. According to our auditor, we should put down plastic sheeting and insulate the walls, but not bother to insulate the floors. During the summer, we can keep the vents open to prevent moisture problems but in the winter, that’s not an issue. When the weather gets cold, we should close the vents and put insulation behind them and reverse the process when it gets warm.
In addition to these tips, our auditor left us with some weatherstripping, a low-flow showerhead, a faucet aerator, some light switch and outlet insulating pads, and some CFLs. Over all, not a bad return for half an hour of our time! | <urn:uuid:8b77f6b2-85d8-4055-ba19-4929f2e9220b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://greencouple.com/2009/01/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971614 | 950 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Frequently Used Sentences in English : Day - 46
Where can I get the application form for opening SB account?
Can I have an application form for SB Account please?
Whom should I meet to open the account?
Is introduction a must?
Sir, I am new to this town. I am working in Kaveri chemicals. This is my identity card. Will this card do to open the account?
How many photos are needed?
What is the minimum amount to be deposited to open an account?
What is the minimum balance I should keep to have cheque book facility?
Where can I collect the pass book?
Do you have ATM facility?
What are your working hours?
Do you work on Sundays?
Last week I deposited a cheque. Has the amount been credited to my account?
From Frequently Used Sentences to HOME PAGE | <urn:uuid:f4bb6561-1d97-47f5-9a68-506d2f13c6d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.english-for-students.com/Frequently-Used-Sentences-46.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939082 | 182 | 1.671875 | 2 |
2 March 2006 - German wind turbine manufacturer REpower has confirmed it is part of a consortium that has entered the race to build 1500 MW of new wind capacity in Portugal.
Speaking at a press conference held in Lisbon yesterday, the company's CFO, Pieter Wasmuth, said: "We are bidding for one of the most important projects for the future of Portuguese energy policy".
REpower joined a consortium led by the Portuguese energy company, Galp Energia. The team also includes Grupo Enersis and Martifer as well as EFACEC, a manufacturer of electric components.
The Portuguese government called for tenders last year when it announced that the 1500 MW total would be split into two separate lots, one worth 1000 MW and the other 500 MW.
If successful, REpower would consider setting up local blade manufacture and production facilities in Portugal.
The contracts to create the new wind capacity will be awarded in July of this year. Construction is expected to start in 2008, with the power generated scheduled to reach the electricity grid by 2013. | <urn:uuid:783155eb-7fea-4078-9c08-2a54758831d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.power-eng.com/articles/2006/03/repower-bids-for-portugals-1500-mw-wind-contracts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959573 | 216 | 2 | 2 |
New Mexico State Investment Council
|United States – New Mexico||US$ 16.3 Billion|
Transparency Rating: 9
View Sovereign Fund Transaction Data
View Asset Allocation
Firm Investment Style: Mixed
Entity Structure: Fund
The purpose of New Mexico’s three permanent endowment trust funds is to contribute recurring revenues for the operating budget of the state and to provide resources to various fund beneficiaries. The fund’s investment goals are to preserve the permanent endowment funds for future generations and to provide future benefits by growing the funds at a rate at least equal to inflation.
The trust is broken down into three funds:
- Land Grant Permanent Fund
The Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF) is New Mexico’s largest endowment and permanent fund. It was established through, and continues to be maintained in part by leasing fees the State charges for 13.4 million acres of mineral resources and 8.8 million acres of surface land. The State Investment Council manages day to day operations of the Land Grant Permanent Fund, including investments and distributions.
The Severance Tax Permanent Fund (STPF) was established by the legislature as an endowment fund in 1973, to receive severance taxes collected on natural resources extracted from New Mexico lands. The State?s severance taxes have historically been used to retire debt from bond issues that have funded various capital projects.
Currently, severance tax revenues first pay the required debt service on severance tax bonds issued by the state, and the remaining (approximately 12.5%) severance tax receipts are then transferred to the Severance Tax Permanent Fund. The STPF is now a broadly diversified permanent fund, and except for its Economically Targeted Investment, the STPF investment statutes and asset allocations are essentially the same as those in the LGPF.
The Tobacco Settlement Permanent Fund (TSPF) was established by New Mexico statute during Fiscal Year 2000 as the result of a legal settlement between most states and tobacco companies. The settlement provides ongoing annual payments, which currently go to the State?s general fund for government operations. However, after fiscal year 2006, 50% of the settlement payments will be deposited into the TSPF. When the fund reaches sufficient size, it will retain all annual payments, and distributions will be based on the 4.7% formula used by the Severance Tax Permanent Fund. | <urn:uuid:ce5b6dc8-2448-4b03-972e-ff198fa4ac8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swfinstitute.org/swfs/new-mexico-state-investment-council/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947029 | 484 | 1.71875 | 2 |
DeSoto, TX (PRWEB) January 23, 2013
Palomar Modular Buildings of Texas announces a new modular construction planning service for contractors, engineers and clients. The service involves six detailed steps to ensure that a project is built correctly, on budget and on time.
The service encompasses the four basic elements of modular construction projects; 1) preparing land for a modular building, 2) building specification, 3) building design, and engineering, and 4) production and installation of the building.
The first step is the development of a detailed statement of responsibilities of all the members of the project team; 1) the land developer, 2) the site contractors, 3) the project engineer and architect, and, 4) the modular builder. The statement of responsibilities is followed by individual team and subcontractor specific statements of work. The purpose of the overall and detailed work definition is to ensure that there are no gaps and that the scope of work results in the owner’s project being correct.
The next step is the development of a detailed schedule(s). A properly laid out timeline will show critical work that must be completed by the participants to keep a project moving forward. Palomar’s internal scheduling program has been customized to show the steps a modular builder must complete for the other team members. Palomar prides itself in giving accurate and timely information so that site development can proceed while the building is being manufactured in the plant.
The third step involves specifying the building. This is a critical step for Palomar because no production can begin until all the components of the building are known. This step eliminates change orders. Because once production begins change orders are often impossible to implement. Costly rework can ruin a project.
The fourth step involves engineering the project. Modular building engineering is different than site built building engineering. Palomar’s buildings are assembled along a moving production line. The various elements of the building must have a template or design so that production specialists can accurately complete the work.
The fifth step includes an overall project review to include site work confirmation, engineering and specification reviews, building prototypes, material and subassembly testing and any adjustment to the timeline.
The final step is the fastest…the production and installation of the building. According to John Martin, President of Palomar Modular Buildings, “We can build a 5,000 square foot building in less than a week and transport and install the building in another week.” This two week turnaround is possible because the previous 5 steps result in a well defined project that ensures the team members of a timely completion with a minimum of site disruption.
Why is the modular construction planning service important? Using modular construction can decrease project completion by as much as 50%. “To get the full advantage of the timely completion of a project the team members need to be on the same page. Simple as that,” according to Mr. Martin. Today Palomar Modular Building’s planning service is an integral part of every Palomar Modular Building project. | <urn:uuid:e257a9cc-d7b6-4101-8fb8-4755e25be6ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2013/1/prweb10352775.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935376 | 627 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Most widely held works about Thomas Keneally
Most widely held works by Thomas Keneally
Schindler's list by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
324 editions published between 1982 and 2011 in 30 languages and held by 5,404 libraries worldwide
Recreates the remarkable activities and courage of Oskar Schindler, a Catholic German industrialist who gambled everything to save as many Jews as possible from the Nazi death camps.
The great shame : and the triumph of the Irish in the English-speaking world by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
10 editions published between 1998 and 2011 in English and held by 2,371 libraries worldwide
"In the nineteenth century, Ireland lost half of its population to famine, emigration to the United States and Canada, and the forced transportation of convicts to Australia. The forebears of Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler's List, were victims of that tragedy, and in The Great Shame Keneally has written the full story of the Irish diaspora with the narrative grip and flair of a novel. Based on unique research among little-known sources, this book surveys eighty years of Irish history through the eyes of political prisoners - including Keneally's ancestors - who left Ireland in chains and eventually found glory, in one form or another, in Australia and America."--BOOK JACKET.
A river town by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
31 editions published between 1976 and 2000 in 4 languages and held by 2,039 libraries worldwide
In the 1890s Tim Shea, an Irish worker, emigrates to Australia to escape poverty and the class system. He escapes poverty, becoming a shopkeeper, but not class, which is as entrenched in Australia as it was back home. The paradox is that all the while he is deploring it, Shea contributes to it with his racist attitude to people of color. By the author of Schindler's List.
Woman of the inner sea by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
34 editions published between 1992 and 1998 in 6 languages and held by 1,898 libraries worldwide
Kate, a passionate woman of great integrity caught in a nightmare of grief and deceit, flees her wealthy husband after the tragic loss of her two children. The strength she gains facing the outback enable her to confront her husband.
Abraham Lincoln by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
10 editions published between 2003 and 2008 in English and held by 1,891 libraries worldwide
Abraham Lincoln--the great orator, the Emancipator, the savior of the Union, the martyr--rose from obscurity to lead the nation through its most tumultuous time. This book depicts all this amazing man's triumphs, insecurities, and crushing defeats; his early poverty and the ambition that propelled him out of it; the shaping of the man and his political philosophy by his youthful exposure to Christianity, slavery, and business; his tempestuous marriage and his fatherly love. We see him, elected to the presidency by a twist of fate, unswerving in the grim day-to-day conduct of the war as his vision and acumen led the country forward. Abraham Lincoln is an incisive study of a turning point in our history and a revealing portrait of its pivotal figure, his greatness etched more clearly in this touching human story.
Schindler's list ( Visual )
50 editions published between 1983 and 2008 in 8 languages and held by 1,835 libraries worldwide
The true story of the enigmatic Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party, womanizer & war profiteer, who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust.
Confederates by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
38 editions published between 1979 and 2000 in English and Undetermined and held by 1,813 libraries worldwide
Thomas Keneally's Confederates is a series of pictures of the American Civil War as seen from the Southern states-stark, impressionistic, intimate and at the same time vast. If you can imagine the Bayeux Tapestry refurbished in 20th-century prose, this is it.
Office of innocence : a novel by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
30 editions published between 2002 and 2008 in English and Polish and held by 1,747 libraries worldwide
"On the outskirts of Sydney, Father Frank Darragh is embarking on his new life of priesthood just as war erupts in the Pacific theater. American GIs pour into Father Darragh's neighborhood, and with them comes a reminder of the atrocities abounding nearby. Determined to shun hypocrisy, the earnest priest finds himself constantly at odds with his superiors, who frown on his efforts to rescue an errant black soldier and pay deathbed visits to the wayward. But Frank Darragh persists, becoming his parish's most popular confessor, particularly among wives of Australian servicemen who confront an array of temptations while their husbands are away." "One such parishioner, Kate Heggarty, turns the tables of temptation on young Darragh, challenging his spiritual beliefs and stirring a vulnerable place in his heart. When Kate is found murdered, his anguish is only compounded by accusations that he caused her death. Poignantly depicting the conflicts between the secular and the holy and between the family of Darragh's birth and the brotherhood of priests, Office of Innocence is a tale set in the most compelling of circumstances. Drawing on his own experience studying for the priesthood in his youth, Thomas Keneally has created a protagonist who speaks to the conundrums of our age while paying tribute to quiet heroes of the past."--BOOK JACKET.
The tyrant's novel by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
34 editions published between 2003 and 2009 in 4 languages and held by 1,734 libraries worldwide
Biding his time in a detention camp for exiles, Alan Sheriff describes his life before he was hired by his government to ghostwrite the autobiography of the nation's brutal leader, an assignment that turns him into a prisoner.
American scoundrel : the life of the notorious Civil War General Dan Sickles by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
9 editions published between 2002 and 2003 in English and held by 1,610 libraries worldwide
Examines the life of nineteenth-century politician and military leader Dan Sickles, a notorious womanizer and scoundrel who killed his wife's lover and, thanks to the influence of political friends, got away with murder.
The playmaker by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
21 editions published between 1987 and 1993 in English and Spanish and held by 1,577 libraries worldwide
In Australia in 1787, Lieutenant Ralph Clerk is assigned to direct a play featuring a cast of prisoners he is there to supervise.
A family madness by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
33 editions published between 1985 and 1996 in 4 languages and held by 1,575 libraries worldwide
An Australian rugby player falls in love with the daughter of a Belorussian immigrant and struggles to understand the outlook of a man who has lived in a Nazi-occupied country.
Flying hero class by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
27 editions published between 1991 and 2008 in English and held by 1,399 libraries worldwide
A tour becomes an exercise in terror for an Australian tribal dance group and their white manager, Frank McCloud, when their jetliner is seized by Palestinian terrorists, who put McCloud on trial as a "Zionist" oppressor.
A commonwealth of thieves : the improbable birth of Australia by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
14 editions published between 2005 and 2008 in English and Undetermined and held by 1,289 libraries worldwide
Drawing on historical documents and journals, with the authority of a historian and the narrative grace of a novelist, Keneally recounts the founding of the first penal colony in Australia in 1788. At the center of the story is Arthur Phillips, an ambitious captain in the Royal Navy assigned the formidable task of organizing the expedition to Australia and establishing a colony comprised mainly of unskilled and malcontent criminals and petty thieves, many determined to overcome their pasts and begin anew. Keneally re-creates the grueling overseas voyage, a hellish journey that claimed many lives. As governor, Phillips took on the challenges of dealing with unruly convicts, disgruntled officers, a bewildered, sometimes hostile native population, as well as such serious matters as food shortages and disease. In the end Phillips emerges as a governor driven by a yearning for recognition and advancement, yet possessed of a social conscience rare for his time.--From publisher description.
To Asmara by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
9 editions published between 1989 and 1991 in English and held by 1,258 libraries worldwide
A western reporter travels to Africa's war-torn Horn to investigate accounts of Eritrean rebels who have been accused of attacking the Live-Aid-style food convoys meant for starving children.
The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
70 editions published between 1970 and 2011 in 5 languages and held by 1,064 libraries worldwide
Jimmie Blacksmith is the son of an Aboriginal mother and a white father. A missionary shows him what it means to be white - already he is only too aware of what it means to be black. Exploited by his white employers and betrayed by his white wife, Jimmie cannot take any more. He must find a way to express his rage. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is based on an actual incident that occurred at the turn of the century. Set against the background of a turbulent Australian history, Thomas Keneally records with clarity the chant of one troubled man.
Searching for Schindler : a memoir by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
14 editions published between 2007 and 2010 in English and No Linguistic content and held by 1,039 libraries worldwide
Keneally tells the tale of the unlikely encounter that propelled him to write about Oskar Schindler, and of the impact of his extraordinary account on people around the world. Australian writer Keneally met Leopold "Poldek" Pfefferberg, the owner of a Beverly Hills luggage shop, in 1981. Poldek, a Polish Jew and a Holocaust survivor, had a tale he wanted the world to know. He convinced Keneally to relate the incredible story of "the all-drinking, all-screwing, all-black-marketeering Nazi, Oskar Schindler. But to me he was Jesus Christ." This is the chronicle of Keneally's pursuit of a fascinating and paradoxical hero: traveling throughout the United States, Germany, Israel, Poland, and Austria, Keneally and Poldek interviewed people who had known Schindler and uncovered their indelible memories. This is also the story of Keneally's growth as a writer, the making of the film, and the enormous success of his portrait of Oskar Schindler.--From publisher description.
Blood red, Sister Rose by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
18 editions published between 1974 and 1991 in 3 languages and held by 967 libraries worldwide
Based on the life of Joan of Arc.
Gossip from the forest by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
32 editions published between 1975 and 2002 in English and Polish and held by 947 libraries worldwide
Outback by Thomas Keneally ( Book )
7 editions published between 1983 and 1987 in English and held by 902 libraries worldwide
Aboriginal Australians American Civil War (1861-1865) Australia Authors, Australian Biographical fiction Biography City and town life Civilization Civilization, Modern--Irish influences Clergy Convict ships Czechoslovakia--Bohemia and Moravia (Protectorate) Drama English-speaking countries Fiction Frontier and pioneer life Generals Governors Historical fiction History Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Immigrants Ireland Irish Irish fiction Irish--Foreign countries Jews rescue (1939-1945 : World War) Keneally, Thomas Large type books Lincoln, Abraham,--1809-1865 Murder New South Wales Penal colonies Phillip, Arthur,--1738-1814 Poland--Kraków Political prisoners Presidents Prisoners Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust Schindler, Oskar,--1908-1974 Schindler's list (Keneally, Thomas) Schindler's list (Motion picture) Sickles, Daniel Edgar,--1819-1914 Social classes Travel United States United States.--Army Washington (D.C.) Women World War (1939-1945)
Coyle, William, 1935-
Keneally, Thomas Michael, 1935-
Keneally, Tom, 1935-肯纳利
No Linguistic content (10)
Greek, Modern (2)
Multiple languages (1) | <urn:uuid:03862b94-1244-40b4-960c-8aff5dc2d40c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n80-34891 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951797 | 2,666 | 2.859375 | 3 |
The FDA has granted approval to Janssen's Invega (paliperidone) for long-term maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in adults. The extended-release formulation of this atypical antipsychotic allows for once-daily dosing. Invega had previously been approved for short-term treatment only.1
More than 2 million Americans are affected by schizophrenia.2 Symptoms can include hallucinations, delusions, depression, and social withdrawal. Schizophrenia affects men and women equally.1
Mechanism of Action
The exact mechanism of action of Invega is not known. The drug is believed, however, to have an antagonistic effect at the central dopamine type 2 and serotonin type 2 receptors. It also has been shown to be an a1 and a2 adrenergic receptor antagonist and a histamine1 histaminergic receptor antagonist. Invega is the active metabolite of risperidone.3
A total of 207 patients were studied in a clinical trial of long-term treatment with Invega. Patients with acute schizophrenia were initially treated for 8 weeks with the drug. Doses ranged from 3 mg daily to 15 mg daily with a starting dose of 9 mg. After the 8 weeks, patients continued on their maintenance dose for an additional 6 weeks to establish stabilization. At the end of the 6 weeks, patients were randomized to receive either their treatment dose of Invega or placebo.1 The double-blind study was discontinued early, because Invega was determined to be more effective than placebo in 2 areas: maintaining symptom control and delaying the time until relapse.1,3
Treatment with Invega should begin with 6 mg once a day. If a higher dose is needed, dosage increases should be made in increments of 3 mg every 5 days up to a maximum daily dose of 12 mg.
Patients with renal insufficiency (creatinine clearance between 10 and 50 mL/min) should receive a maximum daily dose of 3 mg. Patients with creatinine clearance of greater than or equal to 50 mL/min and less than 80 mL/min should receive a maximum daily dose of 6 mg.3
Contraindications, Warnings, and Precautions
Invega is contraindicated in patients with a known hypersensitivity to any of its components. Invega carries a boxed warning about its use in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis. When compared with placebo, these patients are at a greater risk for death when treated with an atypical antipsychotic agent.
Invega has been shown to increase the corrected QT interval. Concomitant use with other medications that prolong the corrected QT interval--such as Class 1A or Class III antiarrhythmic agents, antipsychotic agents, or certain antibiotics--should be avoided.
Neuroleptic malignant syndrome has been associated with Invega and other antipsychotic medications. As with other antipsychotic medications, patients using Invega may experience tardive dyskinesia.
Patients using Invega may be at a higher risk for developing hyperglycemia or diabetes; appropriate monitoring may be warranted. Invega should not be given to patients with severe gastrointestinal narrowing.
Patients using Invega may be at a greater risk for orthostatic hypotension, seizures, hyperprolactinemia, and somnolence or sedation.3 Elderly patients receiving Invega may be at a greater risk for cerebrovascular events.
Invega is not approved for use in pediatric patients. Invega is in pregnancy category C and should not be taken by patients who are breast-feeding.
In clinical trials, the most commonly reported side effects were restlessness and extrapyramidal disorders.1 Other side effects included rapid heartbeat and drowsiness.2
Invega may be taken with or without food. The tablet should never be crushed, chewed, broken, or split, because any damage to the integrity of the tablet may disturb its extended-release formulation.
1. FDA Approves INVEGA for Long-term Maintenance Treatment of Schizophrenia Available at: www.janssen.com/janssen/news_release.html?item=042707_2. Accessed July 2007.
2. FDA approves new drug for schizophrenia. Available at: www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01534.html. Accessed July 2007.
3. Invega complete prescribing information. Available at: www.janssen.com/janssen/shared/pi/invega.pdf. Accessed July 2007. | <urn:uuid:c520397a-52b6-4baa-9237-d1856192978e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pharmacytimes.com/print.php?url=/publications/issue/2007/2007-10/2007-10-8160 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911438 | 964 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Compound Word Cut and Paste is a simple worksheet designed to reinforce a lesson that has been taught about compound words. Students simply cut out the compound words and paste them next to the paired word (whether it be the first or second word).
*Included is a blank version of Compound Word Cut and Paste. In this version you simply write the paired words on the blank shamrocks or spaces and have your students cut and paste to pair the words. This worksheet is also a great review for 2nd and 3rd graders. | <urn:uuid:579d54f4-e283-4e5b-a531-b8666a5517ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Compound-Word-3-Leafed-Clover-Cut-and-Paste-w-blank-form-72663 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953633 | 111 | 3.890625 | 4 |
77 North Washington Street --
THE Atlantic Monthly has always sought to draw on the perspectives not only of journalists, scholars, critics, and men and women of letters but also of those involved in practical affairs, as doctors, lawyers, jurists, diplomats, soldiers, politicians, and clerics -- not to mention those who fuel the global economy in their roles in the world of business. In this issue the financier and philanthropist George Soros mounts a defense of the "open society," a term whose meaning may be hard to pin down even though it embodies values that should be precious in the democratic societies of the West.
George Soros knows firsthand what an open society is not. Born in Hungary in 1930, he survived the Second World War living underground with his Jewish family in Nazi-controlled Budapest. The occupation of Hungary by the Russians after the war led to the installation of a Stalinist regime, and in 1947 Soros fled to London, where he enrolled at the London School of Economics. There he came under the spell of the philosopher Karl Popper, whose book The Open Society and Its Enemies has profoundly shaped his social thought. Soros next pursued a career in finance, first in London and then in New York, with extraordinary results. (The details have been recounted in these pages: see "The Unifying Theme," in the July, 1993, Atlantic.) Soros spent much of his fortune during the 1980s fostering civic and human-rights activities in communist Eastern Europe and elsewhere, and his efforts have grown since the collapse of communism, in 1989. Last year the various foundations created by Soros spent some $350 million, mainly in countries that are undergoing, it is hoped, the transition to democracy.
His causes are not uncontroversial. Soros has long championed the easing of some drug laws, and he personally helped to finance the recent successful referenda in California and Arizona permitting the use of certain proscribed drugs for medicinal purposes. Last fall Soros, a naturalized U.S. citizen, held a press conference to protest the new welfare-reform bill, which greatly restricts the public assistance available to legal immigrants to the United States. Soros backed up his criticism with $50 million to create the Emma Lazarus Fund, which will give legal immigrants various kinds of practical help as they seek to learn English and become citizens.
Transitions to democracy, it would seem, sometimes need to happen even in democracies.
-- THE EDITORS
Copyright © 1997 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; February 1997; 77 North Washington Street; Volume 279, No. 2; page 6. | <urn:uuid:5155c584-7896-4ab9-bbb0-5f6d57634c12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/97feb/970277/970277.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962671 | 524 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Upon learning of the death of NIH, American Red Cross and American Heart Association leader Dr. Bernadine Healy, B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:
B’nai B’rith International mourns the loss of Bernadine Healy, a leader and advocate for the National Institutes of Health, American Red Cross, and American Heart Association.
In addition to initiating many reforms and improvements to the domestic and international health landscape, Healy strongly advocated for the inclusion of Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s emergency services agency, into the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
As president of the American Red Cross, Healy spoke out in support of MDA in Geneva, headquarters of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, urging the latter to discontinue its discriminatory policy of excluding the Israeli humanitarian organization from its ranks.
Healy withheld American Red Cross dues from the International Committee of the Red Cross in protest of the Committee’s decision to continue to bar MDA from inclusion. This courageous and principled decision met with opposition from her own board and ultimately led to her ouster, she later said.
Magen David Adom was admitted to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in 2006. Healy’s tireless work toward the realization of this goal is a testament to the power of one person to make a significant and lasting contribution to the world. | <urn:uuid:a990ceb4-e3cf-46ea-98e8-82145bcb3fd6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bnaibrith.org/5/post/2011/08/bnai-brith-mourns-the-loss-of-former-red-cross-leader-bernadine-healy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928524 | 299 | 1.625 | 2 |
Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering
The following programs are available leading to the M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering:
- Construction Engineering and Management
- Design/Construction Integration
- Environmental Engineering and Science
- Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology
- Structural Engineering
- Sustainable Design Construction
Students admitted to graduate study with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, or equivalent, from an accredited curriculum can satisfy the requirements for the M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering by completing a minimum of 45 units beyond the B.S. All 45 units must be taken at Stanford. A minimum 2.75 grade point average (GPA) is required for candidates to be recommended for the M.S. degree. No thesis is required.
The program of study must be approved by the faculty of the department and should include at least 45 units of courses in engineering, mathematics, science, and related fields unless it can be shown that other work is pertinent to the student's objectives. Additional program area requirements are available on the department web site and from the department's student services office (Y2E2 room 316).
Candidates for the M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering who do not have a B.S. in Civil Engineering may, in addition to the above, be required to complete those undergraduate courses deemed important to their graduate programs. In such cases, more than three quarters is often required to obtain the degree. | <urn:uuid:25cd67e7-a28c-41c2-b3ed-0f3cb57fba43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stanford.edu/dept/registrar/bulletin1112/5236.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934384 | 298 | 1.898438 | 2 |
There was a story out of Tulsa, Ok about 2 yrs ago, a young mother had her newborn in a swing in the living room, and the Grandmother, and Mom we're cleaning in kitchen, baby was asleep. Mother comes in the room to find their pug...yes a pug had mauled the baby to death, dna confirmed it was the pug. There was a puppy lab there as well that apparently did not attack. It was said, cause believed to be formula smell the dog was seeking, and trying to taste..What it comes down to is the fact that any animal can turn aggressive, or in fact act as an "animal" . I have an 11 yr old pitbull who has spent everyday with my 5 yr old Son, they are truly Best friends...However..I remind my Son she's old and tempermental, do not pick at her, mess with her food, throw toys near her...anything that may scare her. She is a dog...She loves you, but she can bite, she has teeth...When other kids come over, dog goes to a private area..As a parent, and Dog owner..this comes with responsibility....It's our job to know our kids, and our pets personality's, to make sure accidents do not occur...Punish the deed, not the breed...If ANY animal has teeth, it can BITE...Dont care why, or who...it happens!
More information about formatting options | <urn:uuid:3d31a081-753c-42ab-838a-88ae95f3787a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wwaytv3.com/comment/reply/32498/147770 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984429 | 303 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Law students at Harvard, working for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, are offering their services gratis to Bostonians whose houses are being foreclosed. Working with them are Project No One Leaves, a consortium of lawyers and activists, and Boston Community Capital (BCC), a community financial development organization. BCC buys up distressed properties and then sells them back to the original owners at a price just above current market value. Law professor David Grossman, who has a degree from Harvard Divinity School, heads up the Legal Aid Bureau. He says that his efforts at fighting foreclosures stem from a key principle of Jewish ethics—tikkun olam, which refers to the obligation to "repair the world" (Nation, June 15). | <urn:uuid:d1d0af64-2b69-4532-af8e-29825684fa38> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christiancentury.org/archives/Vol128-Issue16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96215 | 146 | 1.851563 | 2 |
This class demonstrates how to change the appearance and utility of written work with features such as bullets and numbers for lists, as well as headers and footers for pages, using Microsoft Word. Content also covers how to cut, copy, and move text in addition to how to use the Help button to answer other questions. Similar software includes Corel WordPerfect and OpenOffice Writer.
Prerequisites: Intro to Computers I, Intro to Computers II, Word I, Word II, or equivalent experience.
All classes are free. Registration is required and begins 28 days prior to the class date. To register for a class, please call or visit any branch. Registered students MUST give 24 hour cancellation notice to allow others on the waiting list to attend. First day to register for this class is: June 27,2013 | <urn:uuid:9da25d65-1809-4308-bfe5-18ce2c1c1aa5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slcl.org/content/word-iii-56 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923665 | 164 | 2.0625 | 2 |
How come Andhra is left out of the mining loot story ? It is good for the nation if we learn to keep environmental and...
The UN environment report states that Ganga would disappear by 2030.There would be no need to train engineers or even Ganga...
A report published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology suggests that babies of...
in order to stem the sudden decline in the numbers of medicinal plants in Jammu and Kashmir (j&k), the state government recently repealed the Kuth Act. The move is expected to encourage local people to cultivate medicinal and aromatic plants on their own land, with technical know-how being provided by the authorities.
"Earlier, under the Kuth Act, cultivation of these plants involved cumbersome procedures. Now any individual can participate in the activity," reveals P Patnaik, principal chief conservator of forests, j&k. According to Ghulam Mohidin Sofi, the state's forests and environment minister, these steps are meant to pave the way for a biomedicinal project that will be unveiled in Ganderbal later this year. The scheme would be propagated in other areas of j&k as well to make it a lucrative source of income for the people.
In another development, the Regional Research Laboratory (rrl), Kashmir, has set up nurseries to prepare the germ plasma of rare plant varieties. "There are about 700 medicinal plant species recorded in the British Pharmacy, of which 50 per cent are found in j&k's temperate region," discloses A S Shawl of rrl. The government has also decided to reactivate the dormant state herbal board.
It may be noted that in recent years smuggling of medicinal and aromatic plants has reached distressing levels in the state. Of the 100 plants endemic to the region, nearly 20 have been categorised as "highly endangered" because of human interference. The smugglers hire nomads living at high altitudes to collect the plants, "and pay them a pittance", says Tariq Ahmad, senior scientific assistant at the Regional Research Institute for Unani Medicine. | <urn:uuid:6645633c-dfe8-405a-b980-0fdfd12d4021> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/13312 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948539 | 434 | 2.6875 | 3 |
|By Andrea Hardy on Friday, November 09, 2001 - 11:24 am: Edit|
With good scores like this, but not a particularly high ranking in my high school, does anyone know my prospects for scholarships; particularly if my income is quite low.
Thanks for anyone's input.
|By California Mom (Calmom) on Friday, November 09, 2001 - 03:01 pm: Edit|
Two question: Are your grades good despite the low ranking? It would help to know whether the ranking issue is because you go to a high school where lots of people have A averages, or whether your own grades have been mixed. So it would help to know your GPA in addition to approximate class rank.
The other question is simply what you are interested in studying.
As your family income is low, you will get good financial aid from just about any college that offers full need-based aid.
With your high SAT scores, you will also qualify for merit aid at many colleges.
Tell us a little more about your interests and what kind of college you are looking for, including geographical region of that's important to you, and I'm sure people here will have some good suggestions.
|By Dadster on Tuesday, November 20, 2001 - 09:14 pm: Edit|
Andrea, you should be in great shape at all except the most selective colleges. Be aware that a few admissions officers may mentally put you in the "slacker" category based on high test scores but lower than expected class rank/GPA. If you present yourself well, consider trying to schedule interviews with any reach schools - some first-hand contact may help dispel any preconceived notions about your willingness to put out effort. Good luck!
|By David Hawsey on Friday, January 11, 2002 - 08:32 am: Edit|
Andrea: Forget the scores and the high school rankings. Tell us what you want to study, what your career goals are, and why. That's what's important to the college search process. You'll get in several top tier colleges, but the fit is everything.
By the way, class ranking is practically meaningless to colleges, if the truth is told. You think it's hard telling the difference between 3,300 four-year colleges? Try differentiating between the 80,000 high schools in the country, and explaining why someone is ranked up or down from anyone else!!
Plus, you don't compete against other students in college, you strive to go beyond what you think you can do as an individual, and quite often as a member of a team of students. Go back and look at the attributes of a college that are most important to you, and match yourself with the colleges that offer the closest fit. Once you arrive on a college campus, the SAT scores and your class rank are forgotten by both you, and the college.
|By California Mom (Calmom) on Friday, January 11, 2002 - 03:39 pm: Edit|
I would agree with you that class ranking is meaningless in theory, but it is VERY important to some colleges in their admission decisions. I have seen this in action, and generally the colleges who consider this important say so in their admissions materials. I guess their theory is that even though the schools may be different, they still want the kids who are competitive enough to be the best of whatever group they are with.
There are MANY colleges that don't pay attention to class rank, though. I think the key for someone like Andrea is to find out before applying what factors the college looks at. It is waste of an application fee for a student to apply to a college that values specific factors where the student is weak, especially when financial assistance is important, particularly when there are so many good choices among colleges that use differing criteria for admission.
|By Susannah Denomme on Monday, June 17, 2002 - 09:43 am: Edit|
My daughter has taken the SAT twice. The first time, she scored 650 verbal and 680 math. The second time 590 verbal and 710 math. How will colleges view these up and down scores? How many take highest scores from each test. She can take the SAT again this fall (she will be a senior) Should she?
|By Bewildered on Tuesday, June 18, 2002 - 06:31 pm: Edit|
They will view it as a composite score of 1360. Congratulations! (they'll take the top score of each test) She should take it again if her target schools have somewhat higher SAT scores than 1360.
|By Bucca (Bucca) on Thursday, February 05, 2004 - 10:45 pm: Edit|
Do not pay the $8 for early results. My son's scores were posted on the website 12 days after taking the test on 1/24/04.
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Group 1 Honda Generator-Product Evaluation
|Back to the Group 1 Homepage|
The Honeywell Generator was developed with the purpose of providing a portable, safe, and reliable way to use electrical power for the average homeowner in the form of converting chemical energy of gasoline into usable electrical power . The general use involves powering common household appliances in the event of a blackout, and transporting electrical power to remote locations, such as camping grounds, parks, or job sites requiring use of industrial power tools.
The general shape of the Honeywell Generator is in the form of a rectangular box with the dimensions 30.0 x 29.0 x 27.0 (L x W x H). This shape of the frame helps with the stability and durability of the product which leads to better performance by the generator by reducing stress on the generator as well as limiting the exposure of the main components of the product. With a steel support cage, gas tank, bolts, pull and electric starter case, and cam shaft adds a lot to the overall 210 lb weight of the generator. Other materials used in the Honeywell Generator include a lead battery, plastic gas tank cover and wire insulation, aluminum engine block, copper generator coil, brass generator bolts, rubber gaskets and fuel/oil lines, nylon pull rope, and foam used in the air filter.
The range of different materials are meant for the purpose of having the generator be a top of the line product while still being affordable and portable. The components used are for the purpose of the generator lasting several years past the 3 year warranty. Cheaper or lighter materials would compromise the performance of the generator. Global influences on the product include using gasoline as the fuel do to the fact that it is readily available in the developed world. Economically speaking now, plastic was used as covering for the wiring because it is a good insulator as well as cheap. Steel is also cheap as well as being a good conductor. Using the same sized bolts, nuts, and washers also kept production costs down with the ability of manufacturing a few of the same components. With using materials designed to make the generator be long lasting is where the environmental factor came into play. Societal factors that affected design were applying wheels to the steel cage to make the generator more portable. Also the steel cage and the steel gas tank acts as a protective covering to prevent damage on the vital parts of the generator.
The generators designers likely intended it to have a clean and plain look to it, thus the reason they elected to make most of the finishes a matte black. the tank was colored red because is is a requirement that all gasoline containers be a bright red color. The exterior parts of the products have a smooth finish in order to limit its abrasiveness during transportation. This smooth finish also adds to the clean and plain look.
The overall design of the product is not that complex. Most of the same material was used on connecting parts which the made the design rather simple with a one cylinder engine leading into the generator. The engineering decisions made on the Honeywell Generator were collectively made for the purpose of making this generator the best overall generator in terms of affordability, performance, longevity, and usability. All of these sectors were applied together during the design of the generator to find a common ground to fit all aspects that the consumer would want.
One key component of this generator is the wiring in throughout the generator. Since the main function of this product is to generate useable electrical energy, it is critical that any losses associated with the wiring be minimized. First, the wire material is chosen. Every material has a property called resistivity (p) which is a measure of the conducting efficiency. Another property that needs to be decided is how thick to make the wire. Thicker wiring is better for preventing losses, however, too thick of a wire would be expensive and cumbersome. The resistance of a wire is given by the following equation.
- Resistance = (resistivity)*(Length of wire) / (cross sectional area of wire)
The energy losses associated with the wiring are given by:
- Power loss = (Current Through Wire)*(Voltage across wiring)
And ohm's law:
- Voltage difference = (Current Through Wire)*(Resistance of wire)
Once the desired power output of the generator system is determined, and the power output of the crankshaft component is determined, the difference between the 2 will give an estimate of the maximum acceptable power loss. These equations can be used to calculate the losses due to the wiring, for a particular material and a wire thickness. To minimize the losses due to the wiring, The engineer can compare the losses associate with a given thickness of wire, to the cost of that particular volume of wire. At some value of wire thickness, and therefore wiring cost, will be at a minimum, while still providing the necessary power transmission. To test the wiring, the engineer can use a digital multimeter, and the equations above, to determine the losses associated with the wiring.
Upon disassembling our product, we determined key design revisions we feel would be beneficial for this product from both a manufacturing standpoint and a consumer audience standpoint.
Consumer Revision #1
Replace factory recoil mechanism with a more complex dual-spring recoil system.
The factory recoil starter system operates under the assumption that the average consumer contains the strength necessary to pull the starter hard enough to start the engine. This design, however does not consider the average elderly person who may be purchasing this generator. Upon a subjective observation of the factory recoil starter, we estimate that the average elderly person would not be able to operate the manual starter.
A simple and cost effective solution to this would be replacing the factory recoil starter with a more complex, dual-spring recoil system. These recoil systems employ the use of a preloaded spring that unloads as the coil is unwound, thus aiding the user in pulling the starter rope.
This revision has a minimal effect economically, as the dual-spring recoil starter retails for approximately 5 dollars more than the standard recoil system. A 10 dollar increase in price of the generator would more than cover this cost and have a minimal effect on the overall price of the generator.
Global effects of this revision include a wider market base everywhere this product is sold because it now caters to the elderly as well as the average middle-aged person.
Consumer Revision #2
Increase the size of the fuel tank.
The engine is rated to operate for 8 hours under half load on one full gas tank, 6.5 gallons of gas. As more loads are applied, the engine consumes fuel at a faster rate in order to supply the necessary power. This leads to shorter and shorter periods of time before the operator must refuel the engine, which is cumbersome to the operator under long-term operating conditions because it forces them to halt progress on what the generator is powering, shut off the generator, refill the fuel tank and then restart the generator.
A larger fuel tank can extend the run time of the generator proportionally to the added volume of gas the tank can hold. This would provide a longer period of time between which the tank must be refueled, providing the user less interruptions and greater satisfaction overall.
Economic concerns of this design revision would be the cost of the additional materials required to make the fuel tank as well as packaging, as well as the increased shipping costs. An increased fuel tank would require additional steel and paint, thus increasing cost of the generator. Furthermore, the increased size of the fuel tank will require additional packaging materials, since it has been increased, to protect it from damage during shipping. Additionally, the shipping costs of the generator will be slightly higher since the weight will be increased.
The overall manufacturing cost of the generator will increase slightly, which would ultimately result in the consumer paying a slightly higher amount for the generator.
Manufacturer Revision #1
Remove the horizontal struts connecting the front and back of the generator frame.
The manufacturer can remove the horizontal struts connecting the front (handles side) and back (wheels side) of the generator frame, thus eliminating excess materials from the overall product. This would also free up the top of the frame, allowing the gas tank to be raised higher up on the frame, thus placing it further from the hot engine block as well as providing more room vertically for a larger fuel tank.
Economically, this would decrease overall cost in materials and assembly of the materials, allowing the manufacturer to decrease the cost of the unit making it more affordable.
Socially, the removal of materials provides for a more stream-lined, less bulky appearance, which can lead to a larger attraction from the female homeowner demographic.
Globally, any decrease in the amount of material necessary for production lends itself to ease of production in regions where resources may be limited.
Manufacturer Revision #2
Use a high performance air filter.
The air filter currently used is a relatively simple set up in which a sponge, impregnated with oil is placed within a metal housing and air must flow through the sponge before it enters the engine.
A high performance air filter can greatly reduce the amount of space taken up by the air filter. The current assembly is rather large and bulky, taking up an area of approximately 375 square centimeters, whereas high performance filters are generally more compact reducing the effective area of the air filtration system by almost half its original area. A high performance filter also lends to better filtration of unwanted particulate in the air, which leads to better engine performance by way of fuel economy and effective power produced. A cleaner sample of air will combust more completely, when mixed with fuel, in the cylinder allowing for less energy lost in the reaction which leads to a smaller amount of fuel necessary to maintain the current power output of the engine increasing possible runtime and fuel economy.
Economic considerations include the overall cost of the performance air filter, which will be greater than that of the filter currently used. However, these cost increases would be negligible yet again, when compared to the overall cost of the unit. Environmental concerns include the overall cleanliness of the engine exhaust fumes. If the high performance filter were to be used the air entering the engine would be cleaner thereby resulting in cleaner exhaust fumes exiting the engine. This can also be a societal consideration depending on the region in which the generator is being sold. For example California has stricter smog compliances than other regions of the US. | <urn:uuid:467fd319-82b8-444f-a788-ee218b6f1a73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gicl.cs.drexel.edu/wiki-data/index.php?title=Group_1_Honda_Generator-Product_Evaluation&oldid=109193 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944991 | 2,122 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Read the Original Article at http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188500346
Billions of us have enjoyed the fruits of Moore's Law ever since IBM introduced the first mainstream PC 25 years ago. Falling PC prices and rising performance have buoyed businesses and consumers alike, elevating education, productivity, and prosperity. But not everyone has benefited. For every person in the world with a computer, there are more than two without one.
With every computing advance, the digital divide widens, pushing already disadvantaged parts of the world further down the opportunity curve. Now, after years of hand-wringing over the problem, the tech industry is addressing it. Researcher Nicholas Negroponte left a cushy job as head of MIT's Media Lab to pursue his dream of developing laptops that, at $100 each, are within reach of schools in remote parts of the world. And just last week, Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, Microsoft, and others put more of their skin in the game by promoting new models of PC distribution and financing that will put full-featured computers into the hands of people who otherwise couldn't afford them.
An early prototype of the OLPC laptop can run on good old muscle power
Photo courtesy of Design Continuum
Meantime, AMD, Intel, Microsoft, and others are investing billions of dollars in research, engineering, and marketing to target consumers in China, India, Latin America, and Russia, which represent promising markets for their products as growth slows in the United States, Europe, and Japan. They now recognize that the pricing, products, and distribution tactics that work in developed countries don't always work in the developing world. And if they're successful, they'll make some additional waves by creating work and educational opportunities in places where technology has made few inroads.
Microsoft began testing the new PC distribution model in Brazil last year. Under the pay-as-you-compute program, a PC running Windows XP with a 17-inch monitor that normally would sell for $600 will be sold for between $250 and $350, with 10 hours of usage time. Pre-paid cards available in stores give users additional time for about 75 cents per hour, says Mike Wickstrand, a director in Microsoft's market expansion group. When time expires, the PC enters a special limited mode and eventually will lock up unless users buy more time. The strategy is based on the belief that consumers won't settle for a stripped-down PC that lacks the features they already know about from Internet cafes and schools. "The person isn't making sacrifices," Wickstrand says.
Crank Them Up
The One Laptop Per Child initiative led by MIT and Negroponte takes a different tack. The goal there is to provide $100 laptops--including one that can be powered by a hand crank--to schoolchildren in developing countries starting next year. Another initiative, called pc-1 from processor maker VIA Technologies, already has seeded China, India, Vietnam, and other countries with tens of thousands of sub-$250 PCs.
Bringing technology to the developing world was a main focus at the World Congress on Informa- tion Technology in Austin, Texas, earlier this month. There, Hector Ruiz, CEO of home-town microprocessor maker AMD, outlined the company's 2-year-old 50x15 program, whose goal is to extend Internet access to half the world's population by 2015. Only 15% of the world's 6 billion-plus people now have Internet access, and at current growth rates it would be 2030 before half the world gets there, Ruiz said.
Much of AMD's efforts to date have centered on its Personal Inter- net Communicator, a hardened PC that uses the company's Geode processor and comes equipped with a 56-Kbps modem, an internal hard disk, and four USB ports. The system, which sells for less than $200 without a monitor, is being used in Brazil, the Caribbean, India, Panama, Turkey, Russia, and Uganda, says Billy Edwards, an AMD senior VP and chief innovation officer (see story, Johannesburg, Austin Benefit From Inexpensive Computers).
Intel CEO Paul Otellini used the World Congress to debut the World Ahead Program, under which the chip maker will invest more than $1 billion over five years to improve computing accessibility, Internet connectivity, and education in developing regions.
The Next Billion Consumers
There are more than 800 million Net-connected PCs today, and Intel will reach former CEO Andy Grove's 1 billion goal in 2007, a quarter century after the PC's birth. Reaching 2 billion Net-connected computers is achievable within five years, thanks to the perpetual decline in computing costs. "Forty-one years ago, a transistor cost $5 to manufacture," Otellini said. "Today, that cost is one-millionth of $1. It's now cheaper to produce a transistor than to grow a single grain of rice."
Reaching that next billion users also will require a very different business model for Intel. The company has enjoyed profit margins of 60% or better on PCs, but if it's to meet World Ahead's aggressive price points, it will need to accept much lower margins.
Equipping the world's first billion users took decades because early PCs were underpowered and there was a dearth of compelling software. Intel and others have another factor on their side: Governments in the world's poorest nations, all of which would benefit from economic growth, are eager to cooperate. "Having computer skills can be the difference between making a decent living and forever being locked into poverty in some geographies," says Rob Enderle, a principal of the Enderle Group. "Most of these governments realize this and are very interested in getting computers out into their countries."
Intel has built three computing platforms for developing markets, primarily by using in-region computer makers and service providers that will sell the systems at 20% lower than prevailing prices. The systems will use Intel's mobile Core microprocessors, which are light on power consumption, and support broadband connectivity.
Up next: Intel's Eduwise goes interactive
A billion-dollar investment in developing new markets might appear to be a big gamble, but if Intel could take in revenue of as little as $30 on each system sold, the net result would be billions in revenue if the company can reach hundreds of millions of potential new users, says Mark Beckford, general manager of Intel's emerging markets platforms group.
Enderle says Intel and AMD will have to accept lower margins if they expect to play in emerging countries. "The market is going that way anyway, so does Intel embrace it and try to benefit from it, or does Intel get hit right between the eyes?" he says.
Richard Brown, VP of corporate marketing for VIA Technologies, says the company views its pc-1 initiative as an extension of its research and development. VIA, a maker of processors and PC chipsets, has used pc-1 as a vehicle for developing complete PC reference designs and systems that it hopes will lead to millions of units sold annually within a few years.
"This is a two-way process," Brown says. "We are learning, and users are benefiting. This gives us a chance to test out our systems in the field and understand usage models. There's a huge potential demand out there, and you have to address it on a basis that is sustainable and profitable."
But entering emerging markets involves more than providing PCs for $250 or less. The systems go into regions that can be hot and dusty, and local service and support are spotty at best. Ruggedized designs and flash memory instead of fragile disk drives address the environmental challenges. These systems also are designed to work with alternative power options--not just car batteries, but also solar power cells and, in the case of the One Laptop Per Child computer, a crank that gives users 10 minutes of use for every minute they spend cranking.
Kids in Brazil surf in style with AMD's low-cost device
Photo courtesy of AMD
OLPC's goal is to deploy between 5 million and 10 million laptops in Argentina, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Nigeria, and Thailand by 2007. The first machines are likely to have a price close to 100 euros (about $128), but Walter Bender, president of software content for OLPC, expects them to hit $100 by 2008. OLPC intends to distribute 100 million laptops within two years.
The ultimate success of the "poor man's PC" will hinge not only on making it cheaper, but also on ensuring that the system meets the needs and expectations of users, says Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates. "Certainly, people in developing markets are very price sensitive, but they have aspirations also, and they would like to have pretty much what we have," Kay says. "There are design elements that are specifically developing world-oriented, but one of the issues with cheap PCs is that if they are not full-featured, the user is going to be disappointed."
--with Aaron Ricadela | <urn:uuid:23a849c5-99fa-4154-9e39-c89720df2120> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techweb.com/taxonomy/index/printarticle/id/188500346 | 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 | 0.956033 | 1,869 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Spiritual Preparation, Session 9: Creativity in Nature
In "World of Wonder," a Tapestry of Faith program
Find a place where you can be quiet with your thoughts. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for several minutes, perhaps repeating a word or phrase to separate yourself from the activities of the day. When you feel settled and relaxed, take a few moments to reflect on your own creativity:
- What messages did you receive about imagination and creativity as you were growing up? Was imagination valued or dismissed?
- How do you feel about your creativity today?
- Are there any types of creative expression that you avoid? Is there an area in which your creativity is blocked?
- How do you express creativity in your life? Areas where you express creativity might include movement and dance, writing, music, art, problem solving, generating ideas, woodworking, sewing, or gardening.
As you prepare to lead the group, honor the creativity that exists in each participant and allow your own sense of reverence, wonder, and awe to be present as you lead this session.
This work is made possible by the generosity of individual donors and congregations. Please consider making a donation today.
Last updated on Friday, May 17, 2013.
- About the Authors
- Session 1
- Session 2
- Session 3
- Session 4
- Session 5
- Session 6
- Session 7
- Session 8
- Session 9
- Session 10
- Session 11
- Session 12
- Session 13
- Session 14
- Session 15
- Session 16
- List of Handouts
- List of Stories
- List of Leader Resources
- Entire Program
- Entire Program (Paper-Saving Version) | <urn:uuid:cdec18dc-64bb-482c-a4cd-558048fe4189> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/wonder/session9/sessionoverview/276633.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926309 | 358 | 2.140625 | 2 |
The public might not understand the science, but they do understand cheating
Dr. David Evans
6 October 2010
[A series of articles reviewing the western climate establishment and the media. The first and second discussed air temperatures, the third discussed ocean temperatures.]
Click to download a pdf file containing the whole series
They Don’t Tell You: The Current Global Warming Trend is Over 300 Years Old
A Scene on the Ice by Hendrick Avercamp, circa 1600
Satellite data only goes back to 1979, and global land-thermometer records only go back to 1850. Before that we have to resort to “proxies”, which are various natural phenomena from which temperature can be deduced. As we go further back in time, the errors and uncertainties increase.
These maps and graphs make it clear just how brazenly unscientific the Hockey Stick is.
It’s clear that the world was warmer during medieval times. Marked on the map are study after study (all peer-reviewed) from all around the world with results of temperatures from the medieval time compared to today. These use ice cores, stalagmites, sediments, and isotopes. They agree with 6,144 boreholes around the world which found that temperatures were about 0.5°C warmer world wide.
There has been a change in direction by the alarmists, as shown by their new “Synthesis Report.” The independent scientists noticed it during the Wong-Fielding meeting.
The alarmists have abandoned air temperatures as a measure of global temperature, because the air temperature graphs are just too hard to argue with (like the second figure below, from the Skeptics Handbook). Instead they’ve switched to ocean temperatures, which they often disguise as ocean heat content (a huge number like 15×10²² Joules sounds much more scary than the warming it implies of 0.003° C/year).
All three pages of the Synthesis Report that deal with ‘evidence’ are about factors or trends that tell us nothing about whether or not the warming is due to carbon emissions. If God put the galaxy in a toaster, sea levels would rise, ocean heat content would increase, and ice would melt.
Notice how the graph above from the Synthesis Report that came out this month doesn’t include the last six years of data? Carrier pigeons from the remote worldwide network of Argo buoys make it back to base eventually, but the world’s leading team of climate researchers seem to have trouble googling “argo”. Not coincidentally, measurements [...] | <urn:uuid:439f2548-06ae-46e2-93a4-bb80b8637a80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://joannenova.com.au/tag/loehle-craig/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940026 | 544 | 2.34375 | 2 |
(Photo: The Christian Post)
WASHINGTON – Usually, conservative evangelicals are not known to support immigration reform. But several prominent leaders of the movement made their case Tuesday evening for new immigration laws, joining a growing number of Christians who refer to the Bible for support in "welcoming the stranger."
The evangelical leaders – including Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals – urged American evangelicals to engage in the immigration debate and call upon the U.S. government to work on new immigration laws this year.
Immigrants, having become the fastest growing evangelical church in the United States, are not “the others,” but they are “us,” the leaders pointed out.
“I get asked a lot, why this issue? Why as Christians and evangelicals, in particular, do we need to care about immigrants and policies in particular,” said Matthew Soerens, co-author of Welcoming the Stranger, at the book’s launch event on Tuesday. “It is because those people we talk about, those immigrants, those aliens, they are us as part of the church.”
Soerens, who works directly with immigrants as a World Relief staff, says he has met many Hispanic, Asian, and African immigrants in his line of work. What he realized was that the church, which the Bible says is the body of Christ, includes a lot of immigrants in the United States.
“Corinthians tells us if one part of the body suffers then the whole body is suffering,” he said. “As Christians, as part of the church, we don’t have a choice but to engage in this issue. And people are suffering, they are living in fear.”
The leaders also referenced the New Testament story in Luke 10 of the Good Samaritan – "a stranger or alien himself" – who stopped to help the Jewish man.
“This and other parables remind us that ‘we are all aliens sent out to help other aliens find a place of safety in this world,’” says a 2006 statement by World Relief in support of comprehensive immigration reform. The statement references Jonathan Robert Nelson’s 2006 remarks for The American Bar Association’s “Fortress America: The State and Future of U.S. Immigration Law and Policy” event.
The leaders also cited verses, such as Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Leviticus 19:33-34, and Exodus 22:21 about showing love and compassion to "aliens," which are often alluded to by Christian immigration reform proponents.
“Immigration policies in the United States have changed a lot of times throughout our history and it is time for immigrant policies to change again,” said NAE president Leith Anderson, who noted at the onset of his remarks that he is the son of an immigrant.
“In terms of what that means, it means fairness, family, it means finance,” he said.
Anderson and other evangelical leaders talked about the inequality in current U.S. immigration laws and criticized how they break up families. He also called on the government to provide adequate finances to implement immigration laws and reduce the “enormous” waiting time for immigrants applying for legal status.
Pastor Derrick Harkins of the historic black Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., stated, “We are calling for nothing more than for those persons who are presently immigrants to be able to function and thrive within the context of what is just. We are talking about an earned right to citizenship. We are talking about them operating within the framework of a just set of laws.
“But we also talk about extending mercy. I hope that again – the language of the church thrives in this regards – that we understand that we are called to extend that measure of mercy. And that mercy means that the issue of family reunification act is indeed significant priority.”
Harkins and other evangelical leaders spoke at the Tuesday event to support the launching of Welcoming the Stranger, written by two World Relief staffs. The book seeks to “debunk” myths about immigration and equip evangelical leaders to discuss the controversial issue with their congregants.
World Relief is the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals and is one of the nation’s leading organizations when it comes to helping resettle refugees. It also provides immigration legal services, English classes and other assistance to refugees and immigrants in the United States.
The ministry officially supports border security, expanded legal avenues through which immigrants can enter the United States, expedited family reunification and an opportunity for the undocumented to earn legal status. | <urn:uuid:6d307209-0f0d-4cb1-9ce2-a662885fce31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelicals-make-case-for-welcoming-immigrants-37823/print.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 | 0.964888 | 974 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Please start from the beginning
Not long ago I read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, which includes many stories about how well known individuals got their big break. There is something fascinating about people’s backgrounds – the opportunities and experiences that help shape a career. I am often surprised that people’s success has more to do with circumstances than talent.
Our very own Ryan Taylor shares this fascination and so has started a new video series where he asks industry figures about their background. He started the series by interviewing me. Apparently he wanted to practice before interviewing important people :-) He has since moved on to talk to Drew McLellan and has Mel Kirk and Sarah Parmenter waiting to be released.
I think there is a lot of potential in this series. The web is still such a young medium and few trained to be a ‘web designer’. It is therefore fascinating to see how people came to the industry. There is also a lot to be learnt for those starting out in their careers. Be sure to pop along to Ryan’s site and subscribe to his RSS feed. I look forward to future interviews.
Running a card sorting exercise
Establishing your site’s information architecture can be one of the most challenging jobs for a website owner. You face two major obstacles. The first is your organizational bias. You can become so institutionalized by the way your organization works, that it can prove hard to view things from an outside perspective. What seems logical to you can make no sense to an end user. Second is internal politics. Information architecture can often become an area of contention with different parts of the organization vying for top level billing. This can lead to IA by committee, which never leads to a user centric approach.
Card sorting is one way to overcome these challenges. It is an objective way of organizing the information on your site, around user’s needs rather than company structure. It works by putting users in control of creating that structure by asking them to sort cards containing content in a meaningful way.
At first glance, running a card sorting exercise can appear intimating. However, as a post on Sitepoint demonstrates, it is actually straightforward. “Run Your First Card Sort” is a step by step walk through of everything involved in running a card sorting session. Although the method laid out is not the only approach, it does tackle the key steps including…
- Running the session
- Interpretation and reporting
If you haven’t run a card sorting session before and would like to make your IA more user centric, then I would highly recommend this post.
The complete Google Analytics power guide
I have watched with fascination as Google Analytics slowly decimated the website statistics sector. When Google Analytics was launched it was a relatively simple product, more aimed at smaller websites and blogs. However, over time it has become increasingly more powerful and useful to even the most stats hungry power user. Enterprise products have struggled to compete with a product that offers so much functionality for free.
However, with this increased power came more complexity. What was once a simple product has become increasingly harder to master. Although Jeff Veen did some amazing work at simplifying the interface, it is still hard to harness its full power. The result is that many fail to use it to its full potential while others are too intimidated to try.
This is unfortunate as Google Analytics offers so much information to an experienced user. It paints a picture of how users are truly interacting with your site, while informing your sites structure and content.
Fortunately “The Complete Google Analytics Power User Guide” equips website owners with all they need to know to squeeze the full potential from this incredible powerful tool. This series of posts include detailed information on every aspect of the program from setup to tracking goals and funnels. Best of all the various posts have also be brought together in a single 45 page PDF, making it a lot more accessible for offline reading.
If you ever use Google Analytics or are interested in what it can do for your site, this is definitely worth downloading.
Estimating time for design projects
One of the toughest parts of being a web designer is estimating the price of projects. There are so many variables. So many ways you could approach a project, and so many things that could go wrong. Nobody likes estimating a job and rarely do any of us get it spot on. It is a minefield of pain. On one hand you need to add contingency for the unseen, but on the other, if you add too much you become uncompetitive.
Effective Strategy To Estimate Time For Your Design Projects is a new Smashing Magazine post that endeavors to address these issues. It begins by looking at what causes a project to be misquoted. Reasons include…
- Unknown technologies
- Grey areas in the specification provided
- Bespoke development in unfamiliar areas
- The cost of sale being too high
- Lack of time to quote properly
- Too high a desire to win the work
- No previous time tracking to refer back to
- Estimating time for a project is not fun
It then goes on to address each of these issues with a particular emphasis on granular planning and the need to track time.
I have mixed feelings about this post. It provides an excellent structure for creating quotes and even has a list of common tasks to quote against. However, it feels a little labor intensive at points, going into more detail than most can justify. I guess to some extent it depends on the size of projects you undertake.
That said, it certainly makes you think about your quotation process and encourages you to be more efficient in the way you price projects. This can never be a bad thing.
Before I move on from news – if you live in UK mark the 22nd June down in your calendar. That is the date tickets for dconstruct go on sale, and judging by previous years they will sell out shortly thereafter. Myself and Marcus will be there recording interviews for the show. However, we are also going to arrange a meetup over lunch so hopefully that will be an extra incentive to come.
Feature: Clients vs. Designers
Establishing the look and feel of a site can be a point of contention. Web designers can become frustrated because their expertise is not respected. Client are annoyed because their designer does not listen to them. How then do we ensure the design process runs smoothly?
Listeners feedback: Amateur vs Professional
Teifion Jordan sent us a very insightful review of a BBC article that I wanted to share with you…
The article is titled “Is the web’s amateur hour over?“, a provocative title for those that blog, contribute to open source, have a flickr account with photos licensed under CC and so on and so forth. The article opens describing somebody that revels in the name “Antichrist of silicon valley”, anybody that revels in a name such as that is either crazy or doing it for the attention and page views it brings them. It sums up the rest of the description pretty accurately.
The article then explains how he dislikes things such as Wikipedia because they’re maintained by people working for free, how seasoned professionals are being put out of work by amateurs on youtube. At this point the article moves onto showing that all the big tech bloggers, these so called “amateurs”, are actually seasoned journalists.
The crux of the article is of course Amateur vs Professional, does the fact that anybody can start a blog mean that anybody is a journalist? Does having a flickr account make you a photographer? Yes and no, technically yes but in reality most people will never gain enough of an audience to become influential or make money from it. Professionals are paid and generally for a good reason, a professional blogger probably has experience and good writing ability, an amateur probably won’t.
But we’ve still not come to the actual issue, I’ll say it again. Amateur vs Professional, yes that’s it, it’s the 2nd word in, verses. The sensationalist man described at the start of the article seems to feel that there is a competition on between those that work for free and those that work for money. More importantly, he feels that those that work for free are making it harder for those that work for money to find work!
But that’s really not true is it? If it were true then wouldn’t we all be using Linux because it’s free? Wouldn’t Open office be the de-facto standard of office software? Why would Apple even bother making the iPhone if Google is just going to make Android? Why does Paul bother to make websites when anybody could just do it for themselves?
There are I think three main reasons. Quality, Trust and Support. Open Office is a nice piece of software but it’s not got the features of MS Office, it’s not as high a quality product. Linux is really really well supported if you know where to look, for most people however they’d much rather get a normal computer which they already know how to use and can phone tech support for. And trust, if you pay Paul huge sums of money to make a website for you then you trust he will do a good job, that he knows what he is doing.
So no, I don’t think it is Amateurs vs Professionals, I think it is Amateurs and Professionals. One does not exclude the other, instead one will spur on the other and generate often healthy competition. Think about how much IE6 stagnated because nobody was competing with it any more. Now that people are competing with them on browsers MS are starting to get their act together somewhat.
Next, the work of an amateur can be used to help a professional. PHP is a free product but countless people make money writing websites in PHP. Throughout this “review” I have maintained the position that on average a paid for product or service will be of a higher quality. This is true, on average it will be better but not always. There’s a reason that if I had a 2nd computer it’d be booting Linux and not Vista, there’s a reason I develop websites in PHP rather than C#. It’s because the free option is better or the paid option not good enough to warrant the cost in my opinion.
Lastly I want to come to why. We’ve all seen them, the blogs that must have about 3 readers one of whom is the Mum of the author, I know they exist because I write one such blog. Why do people post up bad photos to Flickr? Why do I spend a lot of time running an online game from which I make no money? It’s because everybody has a hobby or two and this is the way that they peruse it. There is nothing wrong with this and should in fact be encouraged. What may now be a bad set of photos on a flickr account could in a few months with encouragement and tips a very good set of high quality photos. What may for now be just a programming hobby could in a few years turn into a very very good language.
Paul started up this podcast because he thought it’d be fun and may or may not have been high from using the computer for too long. It’s come a long way since then with thousands of listeners and an entire community built around it. Thus I end with the idea that while something may be amateur now, it can become professional in time and that this is good. | <urn:uuid:a250b63a-c10c-4aa2-9bb5-1d0256f75bc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boagworld.com/podcast/170/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965409 | 2,405 | 1.507813 | 2 |
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The pantropical Sterculia (150 species) and the African Cola (125 species) were part of the former family Sterculiaceae, whose members were noted for having separate male and female flowers borne in often quite large and branched inflorescences. These genera have sepals that are fused; there are no petals; and the stamens and ovary are borne on a stalk. The individual carpels are...
What made you want to look up "Sterculia"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:94b59f63-7270-402e-8122-b98c837fb82d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/565601/Sterculia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961095 | 148 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead: The Philosophy … or the People?
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand grabs you by the collar, shakes you, and leaves you wanting to re-read it the moment you turn the last page. Like many, I had a certain impression of Ayn Rand's books as being inaccessible and saturated with highbrow philosophies. At the urging of my sister, I suspended my preconceived notions, and just read the darn thing. I'm so glad I did, as The Fountainhead has ended up becoming one of my favorite books of all time.
The Fountainhead follows two architects, Howard Roark and Peter Keating, throughout their lives and careers. Roark is a brilliant, visionary artist, whose career keeps stalling as he refuses to compromise the way he designs to mimic other styles of architecture. His level of commitment to maintain originality in his work often leaves him ostracized from other professionals, and out of work. While this would frustrate most people, Roark is incapable of being affected by society's cold shoulder. He is a self-sufficient egoist in the most positive form.
Peter Keating is the complete antithesis. He is New York's golden boy of architecture: adept in schmoozing, and intent on climbing the corporate ladder. However, he does not have any real talent, and is well aware of this fact. To remedy this shortcoming, Keating cozies up to Roark despite the fact that he finds him uncomfortable and severe. Despite their personality clashes, Roark finds himself helping Keating with his design commissions, and to Keating's surprise, rejects any business connections he is offered. Roark decides to help a man he finds so reprehensible because his love for architecture and design trumps his distaste for Keating.
To shake up this boys' club, we are introduced to Dominique Francon, the only female character in the story. She is a strong-willed newspaper columnist, who calls things as she sees them. Obviously, both men become smitten with her. Dominique is a modern, independent woman (with a few screws loose), who becomes intent on using her seductive powers to destroy both men.
There are a few other major characters of note -- Ellsworth Toohey, who writes an influential cultural column for the salacious newspaper, The New York Banner, and Gail Wynand, a wealthy newspaper mogul who owns said periodical. Both men have a major impact on the fates of Keating and Roark, through their ability to manipulate the opinion of the masses.
Rand is truly brilliant when it comes to character development, descriptions, and dialogue. The Fountainhead introduces her philosophy, Objectivism, which is rather fascinating, and considerably more accessible than I first imagined. In a nutshell, it proclaims the importance of individual achievements over compromising such for the benefit of the common good. In the end, The Fountainhead focuses on the characters and uses them to tell one heck of a story. | <urn:uuid:4e3ee12e-1ca9-4fff-9fea-6c4c1c9f4934> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.everydayebook.com/2012/05/ayn-rands-the-fountainhead-the-philosophy-or-the-people/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965692 | 618 | 1.8125 | 2 |
This is the first book in a series of ‘lifestyle accounts’ that highlight the remarkable life of Sir Catchick Paul Chater and the significant contribution he made to both the Chinese and British communities in Hong Kong during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Sir Paul’s main home in Hong Kong was Marble Hall and he worked closely with the architects Leigh & Orange. During the design and planning process he liaised with, and oversaw the building contractors who were all locally employed Chinese workers. Marble Hall was a culmination of many influences. There is no doubt that its design was a small gesture of acknowledgement towards La Martiniere. Built of marble, La Martiniere was his school in Calcutta and had a lasting influence throughout his life.
This book highlights the wonderful architecture and design features of Marble Hall as well as that of his other homes. It offers a glimpse at the rare pieces of the Chater Collection placed by Sir Paul with care and for maximum impact in and around his home, a collection which was once considered the best privately owned art and china east of Suez.
Other books in this series will highlight his Masonic and philanthropic work, his pastimes and hobbies, his personal life and his businesses. | <urn:uuid:9f16a641-a136-4a8d-90e6-8fdc51137d43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://la.blurb.com/b/3221911-marble-hall-hong-kong-a-pictorial-review?alt=Marble+Hall+Hong+Kong+-+A+Pictorial+Review%2C+as+listed+under+History | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989699 | 252 | 1.84375 | 2 |
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Argentina becomes an attractive destination for those who want to earn in one currency and pay living expenses in another.
BUENOS AIRES — Hal Bringman, founder and CEO of a corporate communications firm, came to Buenos Aires for a July 4th vacation in 2007. He never left.
But Bringman didn't bother to tell his dozen clients that he wasn't where they thought he was — namely, in the U.S. He didn't need to: He did much of his business over the internet anyway, had calls forwarded from his Los Angeles office and flew to meet his far-flung clients as necessary.
Setups such as Bringman's — earning money in hard currencies like the U.S. dollar or euro while paying operating and living expenses in a weaker economy — make increasing economic sense.
On the face of it, the business model resembles the old-style offshoring of labor to cheap markets in the developing world. But there's a major difference: Rather than outsourcing jobs to locals who charge less, white-collar workers and senior managers are relocating to a handful of developing countries where their own costs of living and working are lower.
Argentina — and especially Buenos Aires — is one of the most attractive places for this proposition, with its high level of development and low cost of living. Buenos Aires was one of the world's most expensive cities a decade ago, before the Argentine economy crashed and the peso was left badly devalued at the end of 2001. Today, you can eat filet mignon or catch a taxicab across town for about $10.
Statistics on the phenomenon are hard to come by. But Expat-Connection.com's Martin Frankel (also the founder of the Buenos Aires Expat Entrepreneurs group) guesses that between 15,000 and 30,000 foreigners are working in Buenos Aires.
And Thursday Bram, author of a forthcoming book about moving abroad in order to stretch salaries, says that the top five expat destinations that have emerged in her research are China, India, the Philippines, Singapore, and — the only one not in Asia — Argentina.
Business and life coach Gayle Scroggs — author of the blog "The Positive Expat" — is evidence of the Argentine appeal. For $500, she rents a 1,700-square-foot home (complete with pool) in an exclusive neighborhood in the city of San Nicolas. She also hires a part-time housekeeper and gardener, things she said she never could have afforded in her native California.
Originally, said Scroggs, "I counted on getting a U.S. telephone forwarding number so that I would not have to advertise that I live in Argentina." This is another plus to offshoring: In places like Argentina where the communications infrastructure is well-developed — public WiFi internet is ubiquitous in Buenos Aires and there's approximately one mobile phone for every man, woman, and child in the country — expatriates can live and work without detection.
It wasn't until three months after Bringman — whose PR firm launched MP3.com and Napster, among others — arrived in Buenos Aires that a client from Madrid figured out his setup. The giveaway: Bringman's Facebook profile. His client was positively tickled.
"It hasn't really been any different from working in LA," Bringman says. "When you have a solid track record and you deliver results, your client doesn't care where you are working from, they just care that you succeed."
Some working in the new tele-commuting economy, however, aren't so sure about their clients' indifference, and they go to great lengths to hide the fact. One company based in Buenos Aires and conducting all its business remotely maintains a sales team staffed entirely by Americans to interface with its customer base, which is located predominantly in the U.S. The company has U.S. phone numbers and a U.S. mailing address.
According to a salesperson who spoke on condition of anonymity, the CEO's sister visits that address to pick up the mail once a week. "Sometimes a client will want to come to our office. We have a lot of different excuses why they shouldn't come," said the employee, who lists lack of a reception desk and employee unshavenness as some of his favorite excuses.
Then, of course, someone might try to make chit-chat about the weather. The same anonymous employee described once hearing his manager in that tricky position. "He actually had to tell his client that his blinds were down and he hadn't been outside since before the sun was coming up, so he had no idea what the weather was," he said. "But at the end of the day, I think it's very rare that clients even suspect that we're not where we say we are."
Expat-connection.com's Frankel says that he knows of many in Buenos Aires who keep their northern customers in the geographical dark. "It adds a level of security to a traditional-minded American, thinking that you're dealing with someone in your same state or at least your same country," Frankel said.
Some even keep the secret from their employers. Matthew Paulsen is a freelance writer who considered Dublin, Bangkok, and Cape Town before deciding to move to Argentina, partly because its time zone is halfway between the U.S. and Europe, both major markets for his work. He now owns a house in Buenos Aires and says that he can live "very comfortably" on $800 per month. Paulsen holds a copy-writing subcontract with a company that manages events across the U.S., and which doesn't know that many of their event descriptions are being written a hemisphere away.
"I don't think there would be much of a concern if they found out I was living in Argentina, but until I'm at that point that I've proven myself," says Paulsen, "I think we want to keep that comfort level — that they think they're working with someone in Connecticut."
Thursday Bram thinks that Paulsen and the others are probably safe to keep earning their dollars and quietly spending their pesos — or rupees, or yuan as the case may be. "No matter what country these expats are in today, the reason they don't tell their employers and clients is that it doesn't actually matter," she said. "It rarely comes up in conversation and it is rarely an issue." | <urn:uuid:55cf796a-efad-424b-a588-bb6aa2ec0377> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/argentina/090121/new-sort-offshoring | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983456 | 1,330 | 1.75 | 2 |
A snowy chill stung Sherlock’s face as he sauntered down Baker Street with John in toe. He couldn’t hear the snowcrunch beneath his feet; too much noise around him. Not that he minded the absence of winter’s footfall. He just wanted out of the bloody cold already.
With a sideways glance, Sherlock spotted snowflakes nestling in John’s eyelashes, dotting his nose, and speckling his hair. The man himself hardly seemed to mind, too busy staring skyward with his tongue out. Sherlock frowned at the confusing sight. Three seconds passed until a snowflake finally touched John’s tongue. The pleased smile which lit his face made the detective’s brows arch curiously. Sherlock watched with a tilt of his head as John grinned his way and headed down the sidewalk again with a new spring to his step, only turning once to ask, “Coming?”
Sherlock glanced from his flatmate to the snowy skies. Conclusion: snow made John happy. Pulling his coat tighter around him, he pressed onward, figuring the cold was worth that. | <urn:uuid:9f944856-48ee-4719-ada2-7d4d258a0c54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://i-o-u-a-fall.tumblr.com/post/25327926855/o4-snowflake-30-day-drabble-challenge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982476 | 236 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Could three cups of coffee a day keep Alzheimer’s at bay?
NEW YORK, June 8 — Drinking three cups of coffee a day could help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in older adults, says a new study.
In addition to providing an extra boost of energy throughout the day, researchers from the University of South Florida and the University of Miami have found that the consumption of caffeine could offer the added benefit of fending off Alzheimer’s in adults over the age of 65 with mild memory impairment.
The study, published on June 5 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, followed 124 people aged 65 to 88 who had mild cognitive impairment, also known as MCI.
Over the two- to four-year follow-up, researchers found that 100 per cent of patients who had high blood caffeine levels above a critical level defined as 1,200mg/ml — or equivalent to drinking several cups of coffee a few hours before drawing blood — did not go on to develop full-blown Alzheimer’s disease compared to counterparts whose blood caffeine levels fell below the same mark.
Of all the caffeine sources, coffee appeared to be the main, if not exclusive source of energy buzz in the study.
“Moderate daily consumption of caffeinated coffee appears to be the best dietary option for long-term protection against Alzheimer’s memory loss,” said study co-author Gary Arendash.
“Coffee is inexpensive, readily available, easily gets into the brain, and has few side-effects for most of us.”
The consumption of coffee has also been shown to have protective effects against diabetes, breast cancer and stroke.
An epidemiological study published in May found that people who consumed three or more cups of coffee a day had a 10 per cent lower risk of death compared to non-coffee drinkers. — AFP-Relaxnews | <urn:uuid:f539cb3b-d41a-46f9-8707-a7e92c3f7bc4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/features/article/could-three-cups-of-coffee-a-day-keep-alzheimers-at-bay | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9556 | 390 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Updated: 04/19/2013 10:35 AM KSTP.com
(AP) WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. - A test launch of an unmanned rocket that would eventually help carry supplies to the International Space Station has been rescheduled.
NASA says the launch will take place no earlier than 5 p.m. Saturday, with a backup opportunity Sunday.
A Friday attempt was called off due to wind and thunderstorms in the area of Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where the launch of the Antares rocket is slated to take place.
Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences Corp. had originally planned to launch the rocket Wednesday, but was delayed by weather then too. The launch will test whether a practice payload can reach orbit and safely separate from the rocket.
Orbital is one of two private companies NASA contracted to restock the space station. NASA ended its shuttle program in 2011.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) | <urn:uuid:ea3bbe30-b637-4bbd-b498-35837b80719b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hbispace.com/printStory/kstp/index.cfm?id=2622491 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957799 | 206 | 2.140625 | 2 |
The radiation emitted after just 50 minutes on a mobile phone increases the activity in brain cells, according to a new government-funded study.
The effects of that brain activity are not known, said the researchers, who called for more study.
Phones that were turned off did not create the same brain activity.
The small study, published in the Journal of American Medical Association, is the first to look specifically at how electromagnetic radiation from cell phones affects glucose metabolism, a normal function, in the brain.
“When glucose metabolism goes up, it activates cells. The findings are an indication that exposure to cell phones activate the brain much more easily than we previously thought,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, National Institutes of Health neuroscientist and lead study author.
Brain activity means that the cells are using glucose to create energy. The brain normally produces the amount of glucose it needs to function properly. But these new findings don’t tell us whether activating the cells artificially, in this case by cell phone radiation, will have a negative effect on health. Volkow says she simply doesn’t know and calls for further investigation.
The CITA, the wireless industry trade group, noted that no research has found cell phones to be a danger to health.
“The peer-reviewed scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices, within the limits established by the FCC, do not pose a public health risk or cause any adverse health effects,” said a statement from John Walls, the group’s vice president for public affairs. “In May 2010, the Interphone project, coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which was the largest study of cell phone use and brain tumors ever undertaken and included substantial numbers of subjects using cell phones for ten years or longer, found that ‘overall, no increase in risk was observed with the use of mobile phones.’ ”
The study was praised as offering “an important insight into potential effects of cell phone radiation on the human brain” by Renee Sharp, director of the Environmental Working Group California office. “It joins the growing list of studies that have raised concerns about cell phone use and the brain.”
Researchers measured brain activity of 47 healthy adults — a small but scientifically valid size group for this type of study — while using a mobile device.
The levels were tested when the phone was in use (transmitting radiation) against the head and when against the head but in the off position. Compared with subjects whose phones were turned off, the group whose phones were on had “significantly higher” brain activity in the area closest to the telephone antenna.
The findings of the study, which examined the subjects during just one 50-minute exposure, raise a key question, the researchers said: What, if any, are the long-term consequences of repeated increased brain activity due to exposure to cell phone radiation?
“We need to rule out that there is a not long-lasting effect in healthy people,” Volkow said. “We don’t know what repeated exposure and artificial activation of the glucose will have on the brain.”
With nearly 300 million cell phones in use in the United States, some experts say the concern lies with not only with the long-term impact on healthy individuals but in consumers with unhealthy cells as well. | <urn:uuid:710e881c-2a56-4065-932d-d56e0ea278ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=84916 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95794 | 694 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Secretary of State
Grayson Calls for Urgent Attention to Kentucky Voting Laws
(Frankfort, KY) Secretary of State Trey Grayson announced today that his office and the Kentucky State Board of Elections has reason to believe that some campaigns and outside groups plan to use "poll watchers" on election day.
"Poll watchers" are representatives of a campaign or outside group who enter polling locations to determine who has already voted by looking at the precinct roster or talking to poll workers. The campaign or group then uses that information to call supporters who have not yet shown up to vote. This practice is used in many states around the country, but in Kentucky it is illegal.
"We have rarely seen an attempt in Kentucky to track voters at the polls using poll watchers, but this issue has risen several times this year," stated Secretary Grayson, Kentucky's Chief Election Official. "I am hopeful that members of the media will help us spread this message so that campaigns and other active voting groups will know that election tactics such as these are prohibited in the Commonwealth."
Kentucky Law, KRS 117.235, states that no person, other than the election officers, challengers, and a minor child in the company of a voter, shall be permitted within the voting room while the vote is being polled, except for the purpose of voting or except by authority of the election officers to keep order and enforce the law. In addition, KRS 117.236 strictly prohibits the use of paper, telephone, a personal telecommunications device, or a computer or other information technology system to create a check-off list except by appointed challengers. There are no appointed challengers in any of the 120 counties for Tuesday's election, and the deadline to appoint challengers has already passed.
The State Board of Elections has received calls about "poll watchers" in recent days. In addition, the SBE has received a record number of requests for a list of Kentucky’s precinct locations, also an indication that these efforts might be under way.
The State Board of Elections and the Office of the Secretary of State do not have investigative or prosecutorial authority and the matter has been referred to members within the Kentucky election integrity team, including the Office of the Attorney General and U.S. Attorneys.
Voters who witness individuals recording the identity of voters within the voting room of a precinct should notify their precinct election officers and then the county clerk. Voters are also welcome to contact the Kentucky State Board of Elections, the Office of the Attorney General, or the U.S. Attorney.
"I expect Kentucky voters to see a smooth elections process on Tuesday," remarked Grayson. "By getting the word out about these efforts, we hope to deter any illegal efforts at the polls."
# # # | <urn:uuid:d223c770-c38a-42cd-8ae9-6108485fa04a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sos.ky.gov/secdesk/mediacenter/pressreleases/article173.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967916 | 559 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Cardiff By The Sea is located in California.
Cardiff By The Sea, California has a population of
Cardiff By The Sea is
family-centric than the surrounding county with
32.25% of the households
containing married families with children.
The county average for households married with children is 32.25%.
The median household income in Cardiff By The Sea, California is
The median household income for the surrounding county is $75,998
compared to the national median of $50,935.
The median age of people living in Cardiff By The Sea is
Cardiff By The Sea Environment
The average high temperature in July is 88
degrees, with an average low temperature in January of 37.7 degrees.
The average rainfall is approximately 15.6 inches
per year, with 0 inches of snow per year. | <urn:uuid:df75f099-4861-4116-861c-2b7e07804a68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.realliving.com/CA/Cardiff%20By%20The%20Sea/92007 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957388 | 176 | 2.265625 | 2 |
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In Hammond, the Indiana Department of Transportation says the closure of the State Road 152 bridge over the rail yards – better known locally as the Nine Span on Indianapolis Boulevard – is scheduled for this Monday. The old structure will be demolished and replaced by a bridge that's expected to open by the end of this year, 2013.
Here's the official info from INDOT:
INDOT News Release Jan 07 2013: HAMMOND, Ind. – The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announces the closure of the State Road 152 bridge (Nine Span bridge) over the IHB rail yard on Monday, January 14th. The old structure will be demolished and a replacement will be built. The new bridge is expected to open by the end of 2013.
A detour will take northbound traffic south on S.R. 152 (Indianapolis Blvd.), east on I-80/94, north on S.R. 912 (Cline Ave.), and west on U.S. 20 (Michigan St.). Southbound traffic will travel east on U.S. 20 (Michigan St.), south on S.R. 912 (Cline Ave.), west on I-80/94, and north on S.R. 152 (Indianapolis Blvd.).
For updates on the Nine Span bridge project, in addition to winter weather updates and news from INDOT in Northwest Indiana, like us at Facebook.com/INDOTNorthwest and follow us at Twitter.com/INDOTNorthwest.
You can find traffic restriction information at www.trafficwise.IN.gov. Contact the LaPorte District toll free at 1-855-GO-INDOT. | <urn:uuid:90a3f8e1-6f5c-43c5-ac53-77709129a2a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://z1071.com/index.php/news/region-news/50886-nine-span-closes-for-demolition-monday.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919915 | 356 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Christian Jessen (Doctor) gives expert video advice on: How can I avoid getting chlamydia?; How do I cure chlamydia? and more...
What is chlamydia?
Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection of the generative tract, which in women long-term can cause problems with pregnancy, fertility and chronic pelvic pain.
How is chlamydia transmitted?
Chlamydia is transmitted in bodily secretions and therefore any sort of sexual or oral contact can give you Chlamydia.
What are the long term effects of chlamydia?
There are very few long-term effects of having Chlamydia in men. However, in women, Chlamydia can cause problems with pregnancy, problems with fertility, and chronic pelvic pain.
What should I do if I get chlamydia?
If you get Chlamydia, you should go to a doctor for assessment and to be advised on the best treatment for your case of Chlamydia. | <urn:uuid:c6b953a6-9c19-4cde-bf17-2c231ed63306> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.videojug.com/interview/chlamydia-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909608 | 204 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Almost all state parks have opportunities for volunteers to get involved. Volunteer positions may be short term, for specific events or activities, or ongoing programs. Some typical volunteer positions are:
- Park Host - Park Hosts are volunteers who supplement park staff and serve as a representative of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Hosts greet campers and give assistance to park visitors and park staff. More information on the Park Host Program.
- State Park Friends Groups & Support Organizations - Support groups continue to be organized around the state in support of our Texas State Parks. Many state parks have organized groups of interested citizens that actively support their park. These non-profit organizations, sometimes referred to as "friends groups," work on behalf of park sites to assist with daily programs, special events, fund raising, and public education. These groups serve as important links to local communities and park user groups as well. The partnerships between the agency and support organizations provide a mechanism to utilize the skills, contacts, and resources of private citizens and businesses to enhance state parks and to provide services that may not otherwise be available. List of active State Park Friends Groups & Support Organizations. If there is not a group listed for your favorite park, contact the park manager to see how you can get involved in forming a group.
- Tour Guide or Docent - Many historic sites use volunteers to serve as guide to lead site tours for park visitors. Training is provided on relevant material and tour techniques.
- Special Event Assistance - Volunteers may be needed to assist park staff with promoting or conducting a special event. Duties may include staffing an activity station or crowd control.
- Trail Maintenance - Volunteers work with park staff to maintain trails. Training is given in techniques for tree pruning, constructing water bars, and other essential maintenance activities.
- Environmental Restoration - Assistance is used to plant native species or remove exotic "invader" plants. Learn the fundamentals of resource management and how parks strive to stay natural.
- Office Assistance - Volunteers provide customer assistance, assist with clerical duties, etc.
- Outreach Assistance - Help is need to assist the park staff in reaching out to schools and other groups. Training will be provided.
If you are having difficulty accessing the on-line applications please contact:
TPWD - State Parks Division
4200 Smith School Rd.
Austin, Tx. 78744-3291 | <urn:uuid:a83b5338-2159-490e-8211-29a6c07dcdb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tpwd.state.tx.us/involved/volunteer/spdest/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921055 | 483 | 1.960938 | 2 |