text stringlengths 213 24.6k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1 value | url stringlengths 14 499 | file_path stringlengths 138 138 | language stringclasses 1 value | language_score float64 0.9 1 | token_count int64 51 4.1k | score float64 1.5 5.06 | int_score int64 2 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|May 24, 2013|
About Expert Reviews
Banks Cadbury Food Food producer Medicine Pharmaceuticals confectionery first report materiality materiality matrix media targets
Be the first to comment on this review
Review of HSBC Holdings plc Sustainability Report 2008 from HSBC Holdings plc.
HSBC Banking on a Serious, Focused Approach
By Michelle Bernhart (True Blue Communications) on June 04, 2009 at 10:41am.
HSBC’s current ad campaign is by turns edgy, warm, quirky and provocative. Anchored by the phrase, “The more you look at the world, the more you recognise that people value the same things but in different ways”, it features intriguing people living out their dreams and values in sometimes competing ways, along with colorful, playful objects interpreted from myriad viewpoints. The global bank’s 2008 sustainability report, however, is downright serious, focused, and straightforward, bearing none of the personality HSBC is injecting into its brand. This is fine, of course, as sustainability reporting is not a marketing exercise. Still, the contrast is dramatic and meaningful. Fun with branding is one thing, the bank seems to say, but our sustainability performance is deadly serious business.
Indeed, this latest report (which can be downloaded or requested in hard copy) provides an excellent, no-frills accounting of HSBC’s goals and progress in three material issues: climate change, forestry (including biodiversity) and sustainable finance (including lending policies). The report also describes HSBC’s strong stakeholder engagement activities, support for customers during the economic downturn, steps to promote future social opportunity and community investment, and approach to managing the risks and opportunities associated with climate change, among other issues.
The report begins with this earnest statement by Stephen Green, HSBC Holdings Group Chairman, “The global economic and financial crisis we face has brought the wider challenges of what it means to be a sustainable business into sharp focus. We have previously stated that our goal is to be a leading brand in sustainability and this remains fundamental to our strategic aims.” Heartened by the bank’s resistance to retreating from sustainability objectives, readers are then walked through 30 pages of concise text, tables and graphs on HSBC’s sustainability management approach, objectives, activities and performance against previous commitments.
Just two elements appear weak in this otherwise strong report: a discussion of how certain improvements were achieved, and an understanding of the context for specific outcomes. To the first point, the report mentions that feedback from stakeholders in Latin America indicated treatment of employees as the issue of greatest importance. The text then jumps to detail about rising employee engagement scores (presumably across the entire Group, although this is unclear), but no explanation is provided as to why employees might feel more engaged, nor how - or whether - the concerns of Latin American stakeholders have been addressed. This is a fairly isolated example, however; most outcomes in the report provide a better picture of cause and effect.
Context, on the other hand, is sometimes absent where it is needed most, such as in the presentation of energy use, which at first glance is about as confusing as a credit card user agreement. At several points, the report mentions a 4.6-percent reduction in energy use during 2008. Another section reveals that this only applies to those “parts of the Group where targets have been set (excluding data centres)”. This is confusing at best and misleading at worst. To further confound readers, the table at the back of the document shows energy consumption increasing over time per full-time-equivalent employee, despite text elsewhere that says energy use was reduced when normalised by the number of full-time-equivalent employees. Waste generation and water use have also increased, but these results are easier to see thanks to clear graphs and a lack of text to the contrary.
In addition, several statements like this one beg for percentages to help readers determine whether the numbers are hugely positive or simply routine: “Around 23 million of our personal finance customers and one million of our commercial customers are actively using internet banking”. So? Are those figures significant? Do they exceed a banking industry benchmark or an internal HSBC target? But helpful context is provided in the discussion of home foreclosures: “HSBC’s subprime business in the USA foreclosed on one in 15 mortgages in 2008. However, this compares to the 2008 sub-prime industry foreclosure average in the USA of one in six”. The news is tragic, but at least it is presented in a way that makes it immediately comparable.
The bank’s website includes convenient side-by-side descriptions of the assurance focus for 2005 through 2008 as well as access to the current and previous assurance statements, and the report itself includes discussion of the assurance process. At the same time, HSBC’s focus on stakeholder engagement and responses to feedback enhance the report’s credibility. The report clearly outlines the issues on which stakeholders have asked for greater transparency, including business transactions, implementation of sector policies, the process used to make decisions about challenges, a focus on material issues and global governance arrangements. Indeed, the report strives to address these areas, while attempting “to provide more balance between our consideration of economic, social and environmental issues”.
What’s more, the report makes clear that HSBC’s “most fundamental contribution…to the economy, the environment and society is through delivering a robust business and sustainable revenues”, not necessarily through its own environmental or social impacts. To this end, HSBC’s clearly reported lending policies for various sectors and the pressure the bank exerts on its customers to improve performance and reduce risks demonstrate it is willing to practice tough love toward customers until their operations reach acceptable sustainability standards. “We will continue to support customers as they make progress but, in accordance with our original commitment, we will exit relationships with those who are ‘non-compliant’ in 2009” the report says. As noted, this is one enterprise that takes sustainability seriously.
1. Continue robust stakeholder engagement practices, with additional emphasis on how stakeholder and Group interests are being addressed.
Michelle Bernhart is the founder of True Blue Communications LLC, which helps organizations strengthen sustainability performance, achieve strategic objectives, enhance brand, and manage risk through credible and engaging communications. www.truebluecomm.com | <urn:uuid:ce5ad2f5-e6fc-47d2-85eb-b97329062c90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.corporateregister.com/reviews/item/?n=46 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94097 | 1,311 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Tens of thousands of people are crowding Washington Friday to protest the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.
Abortion opponents hold what they call the March for Life every year. This year's march includes a rally near the U.S. Capitol and a protest outside the Supreme Court building.
Dozens of people came out in sub-freezing temperatures for the actual anniversary Tuesday to spread 3,300 flowers outside the court. Organizers say the number represents the number of abortions in the United States every day.
Anti-abortion activists have been trying for 40 years to get Roe v. Wade overturned. Federal and state lawmakers have also fought for restrictions on abortions. They say life begins at the moment of conception and that science backs them up. They also say some women use abortion as a form of contraception.
Abortion rights activists along with many doctors say legalized abortion is a basic right.
The supporters say Roe v. Wade has saved thousands of lives of women whose health would have been in danger if they had to have a child. They also argue that women are no longer forced to seek unsafe abortions or even try the procedure on themselves with deadly results.
The abortion rights group, National Organization for Women, held a candlelight vigil Tuesday evening in front of the Supreme Court to mark the 1973 decision.
A new NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll shows that 54 percent of Americans believe abortion should remain legal in almost all circumstances. The survey finds 70 percent oppose overturning Roe v Wade.
President Barack Obama has also come out in favor of abortion rights. | <urn:uuid:aa1f558c-9de5-48f0-a753-a58f8bdbcac3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.voanews.com/content/antiabortion-protesters-crowd-washington-for-annual-march/1590834.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959068 | 338 | 2.171875 | 2 |
[Haskell-cafe] Why are OCaml and Haskell being used at these
derek.a.elkins at gmail.com
Mon Nov 12 19:08:07 EST 2007
On Mon, 2007-11-12 at 15:51 -0800, Donn Cave wrote:
> On Nov 12, 2007, at 12:00 PM, Galchin Vasili wrote:
> > I am looking for (objective.. i.e. not juts FPL cheerleading)
> > opinions as to why Wall Street ( http://www.janestcapital.com/) and
> > banking are now using OCaml and Haskell. I really want to
> > understand what industrial markets are adopting FPLs and why in
> > order to help push FPLs penetration into industry.
> I wouldn't know about that, but incidentally, the first I heard of a
> distinct Wall Street
> software world, in the 90's, they were looking for Smalltalk
> programmers. Who knows
> what those crazy guys will be doing next.
More information about the Haskell-Cafe | <urn:uuid:e877c617-7e9f-474f-be6b-6d471d0d413f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2007-November/034528.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924025 | 238 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Book of Ecclesiastes
The Book of Ecclesiastes was written by the son of David, whom many think is Solomon though unconfirmed. There are 12 chapters in Ecclesiastes, and the common theme in the book is to live under God's commandments but to also enjoy life.
Also, Ecclesiastes makes a point to tell readers that we should fear God - that is, respect and honor Him. There are also references to the coming Messiah in this book, such as 12:11 which points out the Davidic Messiah being the "one shepherd."
Read through the entirety of Ecclesiastes and check out the summaries, meanings, and commentaries on each verse. | <urn:uuid:ca62b62c-0ea3-47bb-b6e0-118cecd5955d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.godvine.com/bible/ecclesiastes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961937 | 144 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Baking soda. What a cleaning mainstay in my home. I believe one reason I always associate it with clean is because it is an odor killer: It leaves everything smelling fresh.
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate — a mineral known as nahcolite — and commonly found in mineral springs. Ancient Egyptians used it as a form of a soap, most likely because it scrubbed away dirt and removed odors. In modern times baking soda is commonly found in the supermarket in the baking section, as its primarily use in the home is as a leavening agent. But I love it for cleaning, and many old-folk formulas for cleaning employ baking soda.
Baking soda’s attributes for cleaning include:
- It is a nonabrasive material, so it can be used to scrub without scratching.
- It is slightly alkaline (pH about 8.1; 7 is neutral); when wet, it neutralizes acid-based chemicals and odors.
- It adsorbs odors from the air. (Note that “adsorbs” with a “d” instead of “b”is not a typo; adsorbing is pulling chemicals and odors from the air to it.)
- It eats away at and loosens grime.
Here is how these attributes translate into cleaning formulas for the home:
1. Nonabrasive Soft Scrubber
The best of any of my cleaning formulas, I concocted this at the request of the wife of the publisher of my book Clean & Green. It rinses beautifully and doesn’t leave any grit. Use this formula on tubs, shower stalls, sinks, stainless steel appliances and more.
1/2 cup baking soda
Enough liquid soap or green all-purpose or dish detergent to make a frosting-like consistency
(optional: 5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree oil, or rosemary)
2. Aklaline Carpet Deodorizer
Sprinkle baking soda liberally over carpet. Leave overnight. Sweep as much of the baking soda as you can into a dustbin to throw away. Vacuum away the residue.
3. Laundry Odor Neutralizer
To eliminate perspiration odors and even chemical smells, add up to a cup of baking soda or laundry soda per load of laundry. Soak for six hours to overnight, agitating the load a few times during soaking. Then wash as usual.
4. Odor Eliminator
Most refrigerators have an opened box of baking soda in the back because of baking soda’s ability to adsorb and neutralize odors. Change the box every few months. In other areas, just sprinkle baking soda on places that need to be deodorized. For non-fabric surfaces, spray until damp and white. Let set for a few hours, whether dry or damp, before cleaning.
5. Oven Cleaner
Sprinkle baking soda on the bottom of a dirty oven. Spray with water until damp. Let set overnight. In the morning, just scoop out the baking soda, taking the grime with it, and rinse thoroughly. | <urn:uuid:81bb4e4d-b494-4c5a-888b-ebf6786b101f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.gaiam.com/beautiful-baking-soda-5-ways-to-use-it-for-cleaning/?TB_inline=true&width=660&height=490&inlineId=emailsignupwrap&modal=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925172 | 662 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Saturday, December 03, 2011
In the novel Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, Milo Minderbinder is a US military officer.
He also runs a giant business empire, on the side. (Schumpeter - Economist)
The military are a sort of mafia.
Website for this image
The military help to create the wars.
And, "war always causes recession."
In the USA, "military manufacturing is now 123% greater than it was in 2000 - it has more than doubled while the rest of the manufacturing sector has been shrinking..." (The Military-Industrial Complex is Ruining the U.S. Economy.)
Website for this image
At least 10% of the bosses of America’s 500 biggest companies are former military officers.(Schumpeter - Economist)
The Israeli military has links to business. (Israel's army of tech start-ups)
The military, in many countries, are in business, often mafia-style.
The US military is said to be involved in everything from Facebook to Hollywood to narcotics to child prostitution to airlines...
Website for this image
On 3 December 2011, Schumpeter writes about Khaki capitalism in The Economist
Schumpeter reminds us that Milo Minderbinder, of the US military, runs M&M Enterprises, a sort of global corporation.
He flogs 'surplus' army supplies.
He travels the world.
M&M Enterprises over-expands and almost crashes.
The American government steps in to help: M&M Enterprises is too big to fail.
General Prabowo, friend of the Pentagon, businessman, Indonesian political leader.
In Indonesia, the military have run many businesses.
Military officers often end up as provincial governors, administrators of hospitals, directors of companies and leaders of political parties.
The USA put the military into power in Indonesia around 1965.
The USA made sure that the American-trained Indonesian generals would continue to pull all the strings. (GENERAL PRABOWO LINKED TO JAKARTA HOTEL BOMBS)
Schumpeter, in The Economist, provides a list of some countries where the military is in business.
And, incidentally, where the the USA may be interested in regime change.
1. The Egyptian army runs about 10% of the Egyptian economy.
The Egptian military pressurises private companies to provide retired officers with jobs.
After the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, Egypt needed to provide work for thousands of demobbed soldiers.
2. Ayesha Siddiqa, the author of Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy, calculates that the Pakistan army controls a $15 billion business empire.
3. In China, the army, in the late 1980s, was running nearly 20,000 firms.
China has recently been pushing the military out of business.
The military keeps the Feudal System in place.
4. The military in Thailand run profitable enterprises.
(Said to include prostitution and narcotics)
Thailand recently has been reducing the military influence in business.
5. Zimbabwe’s army has recently formed joint ventures with Chinese partners in farming and mining.
6. In India the army runs about a hundred commercial golf courses.
7. Iran's Revolutionary Guard runs more than 300 companies in agriculture, industry, transport, foodstuffs and even tourism.
According to Schumpeter in the Economist:
"The military-industrial complex damages politics by making the army a vast interest group.
"It also damages the economy by distorting competition.
"How can private companies compete fairly when their military rivals enjoy access to cheap land, credit and conscript labour—and have guns?"
Anonymous left this comment:
World War III Scenario. America's Hypersonic Missile: Who is the Target?
The Yanks will soon be able to strike any place on the planet in less than 60 minutes.
I doubt "Conventional Prompt Global Strike" is intended to remain conventional.
It will be used for tactical nukes.
Like the article says, PGS is intended to threaten Russia and China.
Presumably the Evil Empire ultimately wishes to have such a technical superiority that they can not just take out the Russian-Chinese primary strike capability but also, crucially, their secondary strike capability.
William Engdahl appears to think likewise.
Russia and China are the only nations with a nuclear triad that are not under the thumb of the Angloamerican New World Order.
To me, it looks very much like the Yanks are planning an unprovoked nuclear first strike.
To do this, they must neutralize Russian SSBNs very rapidly.
These are quiet enough to be hard to kill, unlike Chinese SSBNs.
In addition to hydrophones scattered throughout patrolled waters, the Yanks have put a lot of engineering into ASW (anti-submarine warfare) technologies like MAD, magnetic anomaly detection.
This allows them to detect submarines with ferromagnetic hulls. Unfortunately, for cost reasons modern Russian SSBNs no longer have titanium (non-ferromagnetic) hulls.
There are extremely sensitive MAD technologies like SQUID and SERF.
A 1989 US Naval Warfare paper stated that SQUID would have to be co-developed with an industry partner to achieve the necessary sensitivity levels.
And this happened.
Anglo American and De Beers developed this technology, ostensibly for prospecting.
Coincidentally enough, these companies are at the inner core of anglosupremacist power configuration, as originated by Cecil Rhodes, and described by Carroll Quigley.
This is more or less the Pilgrims Society.
(Amusingly enough, Rhodes' memorial is on the slopes of Devil's Peak in Cape Town.)
Anyway, you have to wonder whether the RAND-DARPA maniacs plan to use a PGS weapon as a delivery vehicle for an NDB (Nuclear Depth Bomb) for anti-submarine warfare as well.
Something like ASROC or SUBROC but delivered from across the planet at Mach 20.
Combined with cheap drones and UUVs (unmanned undersea vehicles) and sensor networks with hydrophone arrays and ultra-sensitive magnetometers, this could be a real threat to Russian second strike capabilities, even below the Arctic ice sheets.
By the way, here's a map showing the locations of known NATO nuclear weapons sites in Europe and Turkey.
If you live within the blast or, worse, fallout zones of these areas, then you need to ask yourself:
Are you prepared for you and your children to die a hellish death to allow murderous psychopaths to take control of the planet?
In Germany, huge crowds are utterly enraged just at the transport of nuclear waste.
In the event of nuclear war, the survivors will not stop until the head of every last monster is on a spike.
What happens after that is too terrifying to contemplate.Angloamerican-Zionist plutocrats, please reconsider. When we see a sunrise in the west, you can no longer be saved.
Someone once said, "blessed are the peacemakers".
Oddly enough, he wasn't referring to the ICBMs of that name. | <urn:uuid:a75d0e47-2530-4d6b-85c1-3464ac5df580> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2011/12/military-mafia.html?showComment=1323014959175 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931516 | 1,512 | 1.9375 | 2 |
When the New York Hotel Trades Council ratified a new contract for hotel workers last month, much of the media coverage focused on "panic buttons." Coming after the sexual assault allegations against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the idea of housekeepers wearing a badge that could call for help was all over the news.
But the real labor story is the long-term contract the hotel workers union and the industry negotiated. The agreement is unusual at a time when many unions nationwide are fighting for survival.
The new contract goes into effect in July, and gives workers a 29 percent raise over seven years. It also guarantees full medical, dental and optical benefits to 30,000 maids, dishwashers and other hotel employees.
Peter Ward, president of the New York Hotel Trades Council, says the contract "provides long-term economic stability to hotel workers in New York City."
The agreement has its critics. Fox News business reporter Sandra Smith critiqued the contract on air last month.
"A 29 percent increase. This is a long-term contract — a seven-year contract. Not just medical, dental, optical, [but also] no out-of-pocket expenses," Smith told anchor Stuart Varney. "This is a nightmare ... for everyone that has to foot the bill, now that the union demanded this kind of pay for hotel maids."
Under the terms of the agreement, hotel employees will receive about $60,000 per year by the end of the seven-year contract.
But the New York Hotel Trades Council, along with the Hotel Association of New York City, which represents more than 260 New York City hotels, have been providing health benefits to workers for decades. They operate four of their own clinics, complete with doctors and pharmacies.
Ward argues that by working closely with management, the two groups have been able to provide broad services to 80,000 workers, dependents and retirees — all "for about 35 percent less than the open market," he says.
"They are not-for-profits," Ward says of the health care services. "There are no corporate jets. There is no corporate advertising. And a lot of credit really belongs to management."
Ward says the union and management worked hard to project costs over the next seven years, and were able to use the projected savings for the wages and pension increases.
At a time when labor negotiations often involve drawn out and sometimes bitter fights, the hotel workers' new contract was agreed upon early — five months before the current contract expires.
Both sides have described the contract as a win-win, including Lisa Linden, a spokesperson for the Hotel Association of New York City. "We are delighted that, in a cooperative and constructive spirit, we were able to reach this early agreement," she says. "It's good for the hotels, for the union and for the city of New York."
A Boost From Tourism
But there's a deeper reason that a contract like this was possible. More than 50 million tourists came to New York City last year — a record number. Hotel rooms were above 80 percent occupancy, with the average room rate close to $300 a night. Hotel gross revenues were roughly double that of any other U.S. city.
It's possible that the generous contract is an outlier, made possible by New York's strong tourism sector. But Harley Shaiken, a University of California, Berkeley professor who specializes in labor issues, says this agreement harkens back to the era 50 years ago, when labor unions were much stronger.
At that time, Shaiken says, workers had an easy path to the middle class and "were regularly able to deliver these kinds of gains for their members."
Shaiken says while the salaries may seem high to critics, the money workers earn will ultimately go back to the city. "They're spending much of that $60,000 a year in the New York economy," he says.
As for the panic buttons, they were originally introduced as legislation by New York Assemblyman Rory Lancman, who noticed that his office had them.
"I have never had to use the button, fortunately," he says. "Being a member of the Assembly is not nearly as dangerous as being a hotel worker."
Several New York hotels have already put such systems in place. Under this contract, the personal alarms will be in all hotels within a year. But union officials say that, of the 40 issues in the contract, panic buttons are about No. 38 on their priority list. | <urn:uuid:c0f2ed7a-0566-4155-8498-aa2577a8b31f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/npr.php?id=147811094 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975284 | 929 | 1.5 | 2 |
The Greek government has agreed on the appointment of 90 chaplains to teach the Qur’an in Greek to minority children at mosques and state schools in Western Thrace.
12:10, 24 May 2013 Friday
Azerbaijan’s oldest mosque, the Shamahi Friday Mosque, is now open for worship after its restoration and expansion have been completed.
Tonight, the holy night of Regaip will be observed throughout Turkey, marking the beginning of three holy months in the Islamic Hijri calendar.
The French Muslim Council (CFCM) voted to start using astronomical calculations to set the date rather than relying on the naked eye to sight the new crescent moon.
German state of Bremen decided to allow the right of religious holidays for Muslims
The owner of the largest halal slaughter facility said 60 percent of "halal" certified meat was not actually halal.
Activists of Hifazat-e-Islam marched down at least six highways, halting traffic on Sunday between Dhaka and other cities and towns.
The mosque and Islamic center in Croatia's Adriatic coastal city of Rijeka opened during a ceremony on Saturday.
In the photo, a double-barreled shotgun is pointed at the viewer with the caption “HOW TO WINK AT A MUSLIM.”
A majority of Muslims around the world want sharia law to be implemented in their countries but are split on how it should be applied, a Pew Research Center study has found.
The first-ever call to Muslim prayer was heard for the Friday prayer at Fittja Grand Mosque in Sweden.
"Holy Birth Week" of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) is celebrated with various activities in Diyarbakır.
A restaurant serving alcohol is being run in the yard of the historic Taskopru (Stone Bridge) Mosque in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv.
In the exhibition of Holy Qur’an manuscripts in Russia opening, a Qur’an written in the Ottoman period is being presented to visitors of the Islamic University.
While Muslims and Jews came to Mexico early in the colonial period as ‘false Christians,’ approximately half the Muslims in Mexico today are among the rising number of converts, or reverts.
An interpretation (tafseer) of the Qur’an will be published in the Tatar language for the first time in the Autonomous Republic of Tatarstan in Russia.
Russians who convert to Islam are subjected to a variety of pressures by the administration and security forces.
The necessary approvals have been obtained for the recitation of adhan (the Muslim call to prayer) for Friday prayers from the minarets of a mosque in Stockholm.
The Mufti of the city of Buca stated that this would be the first time he said “amen” to a prayer conducted in sign language.
Each of Athens’s seven districts will have one to two mosques.
Nearly 50 students performed their prayer at the mosque which has been closed to worship since 1923 and is now used as an exhibition hall. | <urn:uuid:179dbdb7-5f26-422a-99b8-1c8e8092f911> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=kategori&kategoriID=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955533 | 642 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Lucky Friday | #4 shaft project
The development of the #4 Shaft project which has been in progress since 2008, but more actively since 2010, is estimated to increase annual silver production by 60% from 3 million to 5 million ounces. The increased production will be a function of expected increased ore grade from 10.4 ounces per ton to approximately 14.0 ounces per ton, and expected increased throughput from 350,000 tons to approximately 375,000 tons per year. The #4 Shaft should further extend the mine life beyond 2030.
The internal shaft is expected to descend from 4,900 feet to an ultimate depth of 8,800 feet. The capital requirements for the project are approximately $200 million, of which we have spent approximately $90 million through the 4th quarter of 2011. Project completion is expected in the second half of 2015 with full production ramp-up to 5 million ounces of silver production expected by 2017. Hecla received full project approval from its board of directors in August 2011.
In the 4th quarter of 2010, the excavation of the hoist room and foundation were completed. The scope of the project was increased to include shaft depth from 7,800 feet to 8,800 feet. Through the 4th quarter of 2011, the major mechanical components for the hoist have been installed and are operational, and the majority of all shaft sinking set up work is done. The off-shaft development work has advanced a total of 7,593 feet; shaft development work has advanced 365 feet during the same time period. The next steps will be the shaft sinking, centralized refrigeration installations and remaining horizontal and ramp development excavations. The total project is now 45% complete, and 80% of major procurements have been ordered or installed.
In addition, an optimization study is under way at the Lucky Friday to evaluate throughput increases at the mine. Production is limited by mill capacity; therefore, this study will determine the mine's capacity and the economics of increasing mill capacity.
A study of optimal production levels for the Lucky Friday unit has been completed. This study identified opportunities for increasing mine production throughout the mine life which will be pursued at a feasibility level to refine the associated costs and develop an assessment of the economic viability of these opportunities. | <urn:uuid:1de6ef3b-122b-458f-a3b8-d5d59f9b2b77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hecla-mining.com/operations/operations_luckyfriday_fourshaft.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959505 | 458 | 1.53125 | 2 |
3+ years in the making, the upcoming feature documentary, Small Small Thing - directed by Jessica Vale, produced by Nika Offenbac and Jessica Vale, and co-produced by Barnie Jones - is the story of a mother and daughter in Liberia, who find themselves caught between tradition and modernity, when it is discovered that the 9-year-old had been brutally raped 2 years prior.
The film begins with the discovery of a nine year old girl in the hospital, severely malnourished and handicapped. Believing the cause of her injuries to be witchcraft, the village elders (and her mother) hide the girl for 2 years as her condition worsens. A visiting medical team draws the conclusion that she was brutally raped. The film follows the journey over the course of the next 9 months, as the life of this little girl and her mother, shunned from their village for seeking outside help.
Shooting is complete, and the filmmakers successfully raised $32,000 earlier this year, in completion funds. It's currently in post-production.
According to UN statistics in 2012, rape is still the #1 crime in Liberia, despite President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's efforts (and Nobel Peace Prize); the majority of the victims are said to be children - some as young as 2 years old.
Small Small Thing is the result of their investigations by the filmmakers, revealing what they call "an intricate web of corruption, adventure and hope."
There's a lot more to this story, so feel free to visit the project's website HERE.
The film will likely debut on the festival circuit in 2013.
Watch the promo/fundraising video below: | <urn:uuid:59e9fed7-be58-4c37-a6cc-4582122fa295> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/preview-doc-small-small-thing-liberian-mother-at-odds-w-country-after-rape-of-6-yr-old-daughter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967775 | 343 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Vivacious Vista, California
Vista is located in North County of San Diego, just seven miles inland of the Pacific Ocean where it experiences a Mediterranean climate. Vista is listed as the seventh-best place in the United States to raise your family, based on factors such as jobs and business opportunities, education, climate (with an average of 340 days of sunshine a year), and cost-of-living as of 2008. The Vista Unified School district serves the Vista community, being the #1 employer with 1,500 employees. This city has eighteen elementary schools, six middle schools, and seven high schools. That’s a lot of education for one city, wow! Vista is also home to 15 community parks (six times the national average)-includes theatres, museums, picnic grounds, recreation centers, athletic sports fields and specialty sports parks. They are all operated by the Vista Parks and Community Services Department. Vista’s centralized location makes for easy accessibility to the ocean, the mountains, Mexico, and some of the most popular attractions such as the San Diego Zoo (41mi) and Safari Park (20mi), SeaWorld (40mi), and Disneyland (66-70mi).
The Vista area was originally inhabited by the Luiseño Indians, who upheld the land until the founding of the San Luis Rey Mission in 1798. As the mission-era declined in the 1830’s with the independence of Mexico from Spain, the Mexican government started granting land ownerships to a variety of people, thus starting the Rancho era of California. Three ranchos were granted in the Vista area: Rancho Guajome, Rancho Buena Vista, and Agua Hedionda Y los Manos. The Rancho Buena Vista Adobe was acquired for the citizens of Vista in 1989, and is a historic treasure for the residents that protect a piece of their history for future generations to see. Rancho Guajome is a rare surviving example of 19th century Spanish-Mexican hacienda that is currently owned and operated by the San Diego Parks Department.
The name for the city, Vista, came about in an unusual way. A settler, by the name of John Frazier, applied for a permit with the U.S. Postal Department to call the town Frazier’s Crossing on September 1, 1882. The application came back saying that “Frazier’s Crossing” was already taken and that he had to submit another name. He did just that and came up with the name “Vista”. The Post Office Department accepted the name and permission was granted to open Vista’s first post office on October 9, 1882. Vista was incorporated into a city on January 28, 1963, and in January 2003, the City of Vista celebrated its 40th anniversary of incorporation. Today, Vista is a thriving community that continues to grow and develop with many new activities and attractions. The Moonlight Amphitheatre, AVO Playhouse, and the Wave Waterpark are just some of the many cultural activities the city offers residents.
- Vista houses both the courthouse and the jail for northern San Diego County
- The #1 employer of the city is the Vista Unified School district with 1,500 employees
- Vista is home of a Japanese-American Cultural Center and Buddhist Temple, one of only two in California, and over 75 other churches and temples of various denominations
- Clint Eastwood filmed parts for the film Heartbreak Ridge in Vista.
- Vista is listed as the seventh-best place in the United States to raise your family
- Has an average of 340 days of sunshine a year
Things To Do
1. Wave Waterpark- This water park is a smaller theme park consisting of 4 slides (3 tube slides, 1 body slide), a constant simulated wave, single-tube rip tide slide into the lazy river, the lazy river itself, a lap pool, and Rippity’s Rainforest (a 4-story structure of fun!). The park also includes concessions, a snack cart, restrooms and showers, picnic area, and small or large cabanas for personal shade. The Wave is open from May to September, hours being 12pm to 6pm on the weekends and 10am to 4pm on weekdays. Tips: Wear flip flops on a hot day, and chairs and shade are on a first come, first serve basis. www.thewavewaterpark.com. (760) 940-WAVE.
2. Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum- This non-profit corporation collects, preserves, and displays examples of mechanical ingenuity and crafts associated with the early days of the American farm and rural community. The museum offers exhibits, demonstrations, activities, and programs. Over the past 35 years, it has become one of the premier educational and recreational facilities in North San Diego County. The museums’ collections focus on the 1849 through the early 1960’s era, featuring farm equipment and tools from horse drawn through modern row crop. Some exhibits include Steam Engine Row, Blacksmith Shop, Short Track Railroad, and a Farmhouse. They offer demonstrations throughout the week: Thursday is weaving, Saturday is blacksmithing and N’ Scale Model Railroad building. With collections of well over 20,000 items, there is something for everyone to see! The Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum is a celebrity with their equipment in movies such as Pearl Harbor, Tremors 4, and The Time Machine. It is open seven days a week from 10am to 4pm. Daily admission: Adults $5, Seniors 65+ $4, Kids 6-12 $3, under 12 are free. www.agsem.com. (760) 941-1791.
3. Rancho Buena Vista Adobe & Rancho Guajome Adobe Hacienda- The Rancho Buena Vista Adobe is a 163-year old rancho building that is an historic treasure for the residents of Vista to share and protect for future generations. Tours are available on Thursday and Friday from 10am to 2:15pm and on Saturday at 10 am only. The 45-minute tour includes a short video presentation. Cost is $3 for Vista residents or seniors, $4 for non-residents, $1 for students, and 50¢ for children. www.cityofvista.com/departments/parks/adobe.cfm. (760) 941-7639. The Rancho Guajome Adobe is an historic landmark that depicts a unique example of the Anglo-Hispanic architecture built on an original Mexican land grant. It was built in 1850 and is a contribution to our nation’s history. http://historyandculture.com/guajome. (760) 724-4082.
4. Entertainment- If you want to have some fun, go to Vista Entertainment Center or Boomers! Vista Entertainment Center offers 40 lanes of bowling, karaoke, billiards, arcade area, full-service sports bar, food and drinks, and private rooms for birthday parties and conferences. www.vistaentertainment.com. (760) 941-1032. Boomers, formally known as Family Fun Center, offers so many things to do for all ages. Boomers has go karts, bumper boats to ride, miniature golf and laser tag to play, batting cages, a game room with plenty of classic arcade games, and a kidopolis where kids can play for hours! www.boomersparks.com/site/vista. (760) 945-9474.
5. Theatres- The Krikorian Premier Theatres is one of the world’s grandest theatre companies with elegantly refined megaplex-style theatres. Amenities include stadium seating with plush rocking-chair-style seating, digital projection and exclusive digital 3DX technology, and wall to wall curved screens. www.kptmovies.com. (760)945-7469. The Avo Playhouse is a fully equipped performance venue, but is also ideal for any type of event from corporate meetings or lectures, to full production Broadway musicals. It was built in 1948 and is now owned by the City of Vista as of 1995. Several dance companies and children’s theatre organizations grace the stage regularly, such as Moonlight Stage Productions, where they are currently having a winter season of plays and musicals. Foxfire will be playing March 24th through April 10th. Free parking is available in nearby parking lots and on the street. www.moonlightstage.com. (760) 724-2110. Moonlight Stage Productions also has another venue, Moonlight Amphitheatre. It is an open air venue that offers Broadway musicals under the stars during the summer months, and is an ideal setting for concerts, weddings, community and corporate gatherings, and receptions. Parking is free and available throughout Brengle Terrace Park. Shuttle service is available for patrons parking in the upper grass lot and drops off directly in front of the north entrance. www.moonlightstage.com. (760) 724-2110.
6. Vista Farmers Market- The Vista Farmers Market is open every Saturday, rain or shine, from 8am to 12pm. It is the longest running market in the county and is also “one of the best in Southern California”-Sunset Magazine. It was one of the first markets in San Diego County, being a part of the Vista community for over 20 years. The market is located at the County Courthouse off Melrose Avenue. The Farmers’ Market generally has 50-60 vendors, of which more than 40 are certified organic farmers who sell a wide variety of locally-grown produce. Market shoppers can stroll among booths specializing in flowers, arts and crafts, seafood, cheese from one of the few Southern California cheese makers, fresh tortilla chips and salsa, and more. www.vistafarmersmarket.com. (760) 945-7425.
7. City Parks- The City of Vista consists of 13 parks, Brengle Terrace Park and Guajome County Park are amongst the community’s favorites. Here is a list of all the parks in Vista:
- Brengle Terrace Park | 1200 Vale Terrace Drive
- Breeze Hill Park | 645 S Melrose
- Bub Williamson Park | 530 Grapevine Road
- Buena Vista Ballfields | 1851 S Melrose
- Buena Vista Park Pond & Open Space | 1601 Shadowridge Drive
- Civic Center Park/City Hall | 200 Civic Center Drive
- Luz Duran Park (formerly Townsite Park) | 340 E Townsite Drive
- Raintree Park | 545 E Townsite Drive
- Shadowridge Park | 2101 Lupine Hills Drive
- South Buena Vista Park (Off-leash dog park) | 1602 Mountain Pass Circle
- Thibodo Park | 1150 Lupine Hills Drive
- Vista Sports Park l 1600 Sports Park Way
- Wildwood Park | 651 E Vista Way
8. Golfing- Vista is a golfer’s paradise, because of its close proximity to some of the most scenic courses in the world, where the city is home to the Shadowridge Country Club and the Vista Valley Country Club. The Shadowridge Country Club is located in the rural hills of San Diego’s floral growing region, and has a perfect climate year-round for golfing. Golfing at Shadowridge means the opportunity to golf on one of the most critically acclaimed championship courses in all of San Diego. www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/Shadowridge-Country-Club/Amenities/Golf. (760)659-2344. Vista Valley Country Club is a privately owned, non-equity, non-assessment based facility located in rural Vista. Here, there is an 18-hole championship golf course that offers a fresh challenge that allows all players of all levels to enjoy this sport. www.vistavalley.com. (760) 758-2800.
- San Marcos
- Rancho Santa Fe
Top 10 Restaurant Suggestions:
- Curbside Cafe
- El Ranchero
- Vista Way Cafe
- European Deli & Restaurant
- Golden Dragon Restaurant
- Famous Dave’s
- San Giorgio Lucano Restaurant
- La Paloma Restaurant
- Nucci’s Italian Cafe & Pizza
- Thai One On | <urn:uuid:68fb145e-b995-4c53-b1f3-27f13a684613> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://101thingstodosw.com/san-diego/vivacious-vista-california/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933413 | 2,575 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Concept improves connectivity between individual warfighters.
Networking capabilities that increase situational awareness are moving down the chain of command and eliminating bottlenecks in data sharing. Work underway on the Pathfinder advanced concept technology demonstration aims at integrating capabilities so that information gathered by unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles and unattended ground sensors can be distributed within a mobile, self-forming, self-healing network. The system is designed for use by special operations and lightweight conventional forces in small team operations.
Pathfinder is sponsored by the U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, and the Urban Technology Office, U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center–Natick, Natick, Massachusetts. The Pathfinder team is not developing new tools but rather is taking proven capabilities and integrating them. Mature manportable commercial off-the-shelf and government off-the-shelf equipment will provide warfighters in the field with sensor data, surveillance information and targeting capabilities. The information will be displayed on both ruggedized laptop computers and handheld devices. Work on the project, which began in October 2002, will culminate next month. Then the technologies will move into an extended user evaluation through September 2006.
Adrien Robenhymer, electrical engineer, Pathfinder, U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center–Natick, explains that the backbone of the system is a network created by setting up nodes called BreadCrumbs and SuperCrumbs. Rajant Corporation, Wayne, Pennsylvania, developed the equipment to help firefighters find their way out of smoke-filled buildings. Several of either of the nodes, which are each smaller than a breadbox, can be placed in different locations to create an ad hoc meshed self-healing network. The SuperCrumb is being transitioned into use in the 3rd Infantry Division through a rapid fielding initiative.
The BreadCrumb network nodes can transmit data up to three miles; the SuperCrumb extends that range to between six miles and nine miles. Both require line-of-sight positioning so they work well in areas such as airfields, Robenhymer relates.
Over this network, soldiers can communicate through voice over Internet protocol, share video captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and obtain global positioning system coordinates, for example. If one node is destroyed or communications are jammed, the others seek another node to communicate with automatically, keeping the network in tact. In addition to transmitting information among each other, the nodes provide the client service channel.
A commercial system developed by BAE Systems is providing the sensing element of the Pathfinder demonstration. To alert troops about an approaching adversary, sensors hardwired into radios are hand placed in various locations up to three miles from a mission’s objective location. The sensors are approximately the size of two hockey pucks and monitor seismic, acoustic or magnetic changes. When they detect anomalous activity, the information is relayed through the network to the soldiers’ ruggedized handheld devices or laptop computers. The commander simultaneously receives the information, enabling him to react to an intrusion faster than when traditional warning methods are used.
Today’s capabilities can provide basic information to the warfighter, Robenhymer relates, such as when an object has passed by a light beam or when a heavy vehicle has traveled near a seismic sensor. However, acoustic sensors in the future may be able to detect the languages spoken as people pass by them. Advances in processing capabilities also could lead to the ability to identify and relay extremely specific information about a vehicle, including the type of tank and the country that owns it, for example.
Adam Fields, senior engineer, Pathfinder, U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center–Natick, notes that identifying vehicles with this degree of specificity will require an extensive database, but the capability would be very beneficial and the database could be developed. The process would be similar to the database development work the U.S. Navy submarine force conducted to categorize different sounds in the ocean. This directory now helps submarine crews not only to distinguish between live creatures and undersea vehicles but also to differentiate species of whales based solely on the sounds they generate.
Developing a vehicle database is not part of the Pathfinder project, Fields emphasizes, and will require a lot of time and money. But he is confident that researchers will undertake the work and that the capability will be available in the future.
In the meantime, however, combining information from different types of sensors provides warfighters engaged in operations with a much better picture of their surroundings. “When something is moving toward your position, is it large and heavy? With only a light beam, the vehicle could be a tank or a bicycle passing by. But with acoustic and seismic sensors, you know it’s heavier than a bicycle,” Fields relates.
Pathfinder engineers are exploring other ways to use the networking capability. Building on its experience with developing systems for military operations on urban terrain, the team is examining how to incorporate targeting technologies into robots. By integrating the special operations forces’ laser-aiming module into a robot, troops could approach a target and send a coded laser that would guide smart munitions to a target while the troops remain at a safe distance. Line-of-sight issues still need to be resolved for this part of the demonstration. “This is a way off, but we are taking the first steps,” Fields relates.
Pathfinder’s reach also extends into the skies. According to Fields, one of the project’s biggest success stories is the Raven UAV, manufactured by AeroVironment Incorporated, Monrovia, California. Work on the micro aircraft began before September 11, 2001; however, it accelerated after the terrorist attacks when the Army issued an urgent-need statement for more of the aircraft to use in operations in Afghanistan.
A derivative of the Army’s larger but still manportable Pointer UAV, the Raven weighs 4 pounds and has a wingspan of 4 feet. Unlike the U.S. Marine Corps’ Dragon Eye, which must be launched using a slingshot, the Raven is launched by tossing it like a football, and it lands by auto-piloting to a near hover then dropping to the ground. Fields relates that the Army’s UAV features the smallest infrared cameras and a military rather than commercial global positioning system to prevent interference from jamming.
Ravens can be flown in a number of ways. Soldiers can program waypoints into the UAV so it flies a mission autonomously, or ground pilots can direct a flight using a joystick. In addition, the Raven can be programmed to fly to a specific location and remain at a designated altitude while a ground user directs only the onboard cameras to capture specific images. Members of the company or battalion can view the information the UAVs obtain over the network using a computer interface that features a moving map display.
At this time, the Pathfinder team has been demonstrating the ability to fly four Ravens simultaneously over one area because only four radio frequency channels are available. However, once the communications links to the UAVs are digitized, each aircraft could have its own Internet protocol address so the number of flying aircraft could increase.
Information-sharing capabilities will be driven by available bandwidth. Hundreds of Ravens have been fielded in operations to date, and Fields says he expected that, as a result of the experiences in Afghanistan, 1,000 Ravens would be supporting operations by the end of last year.
Once all of this battlefield information is gathered and moves over the network, soldiers need to be able to view it. To provide the flexibility warfighters requested, the Pathfinder team has been working with two types of displays. The Panasonic Toughbook, a hardened laptop, offers a large display field so soldiers can view more detailed information such as the moving map display. The Special Operations Command is developing a handheld device called the Tacticomp that features an internal networking capability and provides the functionality of a number of pieces of gear, including a radio, global positioning system receiver and laser rangefinder.
To test the integration of the various components of the system, Pathfinder has been demonstrated during several limited objective experiments. The system also was part of millennium challenge 2002 where the team assessed the Raven’s ability to transmit images. Reconnaissance images were gathered then saved and displayed on a Web page where all participants could view them.
Although the Pathfinder team intended to train warfighters with the equipment long before sending it into the field, the high tempo of current operations has precluded this plan. However, in addition to the experiments, 10 members of the Pathfinder team were embedded with Rangers for more than a week last spring during a U.S. Air Force combat control training exercise at Fort Benning, Georgia. Two- and three-man teams carried 63 pounds of Pathfinder equipment into real-life conditions during the exercise.
“It was a lot of work and an incredible experience. They do a lot, and it gave us a better idea of what they need and real-life conditions. For example, we found that they need light to be able to see the displays in the dark. We came out of it knowing that we have to find them better equipment,” Fields says.
Adding more weight and volume to warfighters’ already overloaded rucksacks is a primary concern at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center–Natick. However, Andrew Mawn, technology program manager for Pathfinder at the center, points out that if a tool is useful, soldiers will leave other items behind and carry it. Although the network nodes, sensors, UAVs, laptop computers and handheld devices increase the load, the benefits this equipment offers can shorten a mission and reduce the amount of other necessary supplies, Mawn notes.
“When they have to go out on a three-day mission, for example, soldiers have to carry all the equipment plus all the food, water, batteries and other supplies to support the soldiers for three days. If this equipment can shorten the time that’s required for that mission, they don’t have to carry all the support equipment, so this equipment is not additional weight.
“That is the true acceptance test. If you lay out all the equipment on the ground, the soldiers tell you what they are willing to carry because it is important to them, and they pick your equipment, then it’s a success,” he relates.
The engineers have faced two types of challenges during the past two years of work on the project. From a technical standpoint, Fields notes that they have had to solve problems of frequencies, antennas and terrain. In addition, Robenhymer points out that the team had to develop easy-to-use interfaces for the users because training time is at a premium. “It has to be high-technology in a low-technology package,” he explains. From an overall project standpoint, the team leaders concur that the high operational tempo for the military has made training a challenge as troops are rotated into operations.
Team members also agree the one key to Pathfinder’s success has been soldier input. Mawn emphasizes that user feedback is critical to any research and development effort because it ensures that the final product not only meets the needs in the field but also offers real value.
Fields allows that some of the Pathfinder capabilities already have moved into the field in a limited way. This is a good approach, he says, because the team can begin work on the next generation of capabilities with soldier input in mind.
As the project moves forward, the two challenges that will need to be addressed are bandwidth allocation and the encryption process, Fields notes. Although the system will continue to be fielded in limited quantities, these issues will need to be resolved before it can be fully fielded, and this will take some time, he adds. | <urn:uuid:64f81885-2fd8-4923-af7b-fccf0ecef2ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.afcea.org/content/?q=node/617 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949728 | 2,427 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Weather Summary: A cool front brought showers and thunderstorms to the central and northern Plains and Upper Midwest early during this U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) week, but it weakened as it scraped against high pressure over the eastern U.S., dropping minimal precipitation in the Ohio Valley. Another front brought limited rain later in the period. Tropical Storm Debby inundated Florida with flooding rains beginning Saturday, June 23. Areas of rain peppered the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States as the fronts limped eastward. An upper-level trough brought waves of rain to parts of the Pacific Northwest and extreme northern Rockies, and small areas of very light convection developed in the Southwest as the summer monsoon tried to get started. Otherwise, upper-level high pressure dominated with hot, dry, and windy weather blanketing much of the West and central Plains. The hot and dry air mass spread eastward as the week progressed. It was a drier-than-normal week for Puerto Rico but the precipitation pattern was mixed for Alaska and Hawaii.
The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic: Areas of showers and thunderstorms moved across the Northeast this week with rains locally over 2 inches along the coast and in Maine. Above-normal rain fell over the D0 (abnormally dry) areas of Massachusetts and Connecticut, but it was not enough to ease long-term deficits. The week was drier than normal further inland. With above-normal temperatures and limited rainfall, topsoil moisture continued to decline in most states. According to June 24 reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 55% of the topsoil in Maryland was short or very short (dry or very dry). Spots of D0 were added to southeast New York and northern Vermont-northeast New York where deficits from 7 days to 6 months were greatest. D0 and D1 (moderate drought) expanded into the Washington, D.C. area and adjacent northern Virginia where rainfall has been spotty, deficits abound, and yard impacts were being reported. D0 expanded in central and south central Virginia.
The Southeast and Deep South: Tropical Storm Debby dropped 5 inches or more of rain over most of the Florida drought areas, with widespread 10+ inch storm totals. Up to 23 inches of rain was reported by a CoCoRaHS observer in Wakulla County. The tropical inundation all but eliminated drought from Florida. Only a small patch of D0 (with an L impact designation) remained along the southwest coast where Debby’s rainfall totals of only an inch or two did little to eliminate deficits which have accumulated over several months. D0 also remained over parts of the Florida panhandle. Extreme southern and southeast Georgia received rain from the northern edge of Debby, with pullback of the southern edge of the D0-D4 (exceptional drought) areas. | <urn:uuid:d6e9e438-f1f8-4312-8c12-7deeb91b2531> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-resources/pasture-rangeland/rangeland-management/Drought-Monitor-Hot-dry-weather-replaces-early-weak-cool-front-160679205.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962894 | 587 | 2.09375 | 2 |
President Barack Obama's chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers warned Sunday that that "the impact on the economy would be catastrophic" if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling.
"This is not a game," Austan Goolsbee said. "You know, the debt ceiling is not something to toy with."
The government could default on its obligations if it hits the current $14.3 trillion limit on borrowing. Some Republicans are expected to hold the debt ceiling hostage in exchange for tough spending cuts.
"If we hit the debt ceiling, that's essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history," Goolsbee predicted. "The impact on the economy would be catastrophic. That would be a worst financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008."
"As I say that's not a game. I don't see why anybody's talking about playing chicken with the debt ceiling. If we get to the point where you've damaged the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity."
"There would be no reason for us to default other than that would be some kind of game. We shouldn't even be discussing that. People will get the wrong idea. The United States is not in danger of default," he added.
Ohio's former Republican Secretary of State has called on Republicans to get some "serious concessions" in return for raising the debt limit.
"It is my hope that Republicans won’t vote to raise the debt ceiling unless, in return, Democrats agree to a balanced budget amendment," he wrote.
"I expect the debt ceiling [debate] to be all-out war," Len Burman, a professor at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, told CNN. | <urn:uuid:be6a8bea-da84-4b43-933f-ed9dbff975ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/goolsbee-failure-raise-debt-ceiling-would-be | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968635 | 366 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has instructed Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to produce a revamped climate bill as soon as possible, according to sources, a task Kerry intends to accomplish within two weeks.
So the Washington Post reported at 7:37 pm ET, at their cleverly (ironically?) named Post Carbon site.
Looks like Reid wants a vote on this — as he’s been saying all along (see Senate Majority Leader expects to pass bipartisan energy and climate bill this spring: It “may be the most important policy we will ever pass.”) Here’s more:
The marching orders could represent the best chance advocates will get to pass a climate and energy bill before the November elections. Kerry has been working with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) on drafting a measure that could attract bipartisan support, but it remains unclear what combination of policies would draw enough votes to win passage.
“The majority leader is deadly serious about making progress this year on climate and energy reform,” Kerry said in a statement. “He’s been a hero every step of the process and he’s been in constant communication. Senators Lieberman, Graham and I have been meeting every day and we’re on a short track here, piecing together legislation and working with our colleagues so it can be finished and rolled out soon.”
Reid called Kerry on Monday to tell him he wanted a bill, and the two men met in person Tuesday after Kerry had conferred with Graham and Lieberman.
“Senator Reid made it clear to me the other day that he wants a bill and he wants it soon,” Kerry said. “I can’t give you an exact timetime, but we are working very very dilligently with our colleagues and all of the stakeholders to think this through carefully and get this done right, and get it done in a way that can pass the Senate.”
“I’m more optimistic now than I have been in several months,” said Carl Pope, the executive director for the Sierra Club, an advocacy group. Pope added “there are several different pathways” a Senate climate bill could take in order to reduce the country’s carbon output.
Several utilities executives–in Washington for the quarterly meeting of their trade association, the Edison Electric Institute–have also been making the rounds at the White House and on Capitol Hill to press for passage of legislation that would put a price on carbon.
Michael G. Morris, chief executive of American Electric Power, had dinner with Obama and other business executives on Tuesday night. Morris said that Obama “was encouraged by the Kerry, Lieberman and Graham endeavor.” Morris said that Obama indicated that “if that came to pass he would try to put his touch on it” and sign it.
Memo to WashPost: If you want to suggest “post-carbon,” you need another image, otherwise folks will think you mean Post‘s carbon | <urn:uuid:c015c131-5dc7-48c2-966d-c2858ecf1a17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/02/24/205558/breaking-reid-demands-climate-bill-asap/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967862 | 641 | 1.65625 | 2 |
From Publishers Weekly
Switching gears after his nonfiction hit, Snobbery, Epstein has compiled a collection of short stories as thoughtful and arresting as its title (from a poem by Karl Shapiro). Whether they are in a nursing home, recovering from the loss of a spouse of 50 years, or looking back at marriages, shortcomings or missed opportunities, Epstein's characters are quirky, witty, resentful, fearful and cautiously hopeful as they face their future, or whatever they have left of it, in a world in which all the rules have changed. What distinguishes them as Jews in this universal situation is a certain wry outlook, a vernacular turn of phrase that carries the tang of its Yiddish origin, and a tendency to philosophize about the deeper questions of existence. "Coming In with Their Hands Up" is a touching tale of a bloodthirsty divorce lawyer who encounters heartbreak in his own marriage. In "Postcards," Seymour Hefferman, an acidulous and malicious failed poet, anonymously castigates cultural eminences when they offend his sensibilities, signing a Jewish name instead of his own; he finally gets his comeuppance. The eponymous Felix Emeritus, a cautious Buchenwald survivor who has never asked much of life, meets in an old-age home a bitter man who can't surmount his dark view of human nature. Mostly settled in Chicago, these 17 characters are no heroes, only reflective personalities-little people with big opinions-who have made their share of sacrifices. Like his emotionally candid, low-key protagonists, Epstein is intrinsically honest. Gratifying and genuine, this collection examines all sorts of responses to the encroachment of old age on human dignity.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Whether he's writing piquant criticism such as Snobbery: The American Version
[BKL Jl 02] or fiction, Epstein brings zest and clarity to his ardent inquiry into how we attempt to make sense of life and peace with death. His fictional turf is Jewish Chicago, a vibrant domain in dramatic transition in this robust and involving short story collection. Epstein's narrators tend to be tough, hardworking, and solitary men who have survived poverty, the Holocaust, ruthless competition, and impossible domestic situations only to confront old age and a jittery new world that to their pragmatic eyes seems neurotic, flimsy, indulgent, and vacuous. Yet Epstein's heroes--guys like salesman Moe Bernstein, dry-cleaner mogul Artie Glick, a bartender, a scamming ex-con, and a few soulful academics--do not despair. They maintain their sense of humor, they take chances, they open their hearts, and they find life sweeter than ever before. As rich in clever banter as in philosophic musings, Epstein's funny and wise stories celebrate independence, the inner life, generosity of spirit, and rolling with the punches. Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved | <urn:uuid:539cbdf7-1334-49f8-99b6-d7bf15280d49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amazon.ca/Fabulous-Small-Jews-Joseph-Epstein/dp/0395944023 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955891 | 608 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Brian Lilley’s latest piece criticizing Vancouver’s Insite safe-injection facility has been a source of continuing fascination to me since he posted it a couple of days ago. There is a certain courage about the thing, I think, that sets him apart from other Insite objectors. Let’s not get too caught up in the quarrel over the quantitative evidence from Insite, he suggests. This is convenient, to be sure, since the evidence is all against him; but I think he is right to say the question whether Insite should exist can’t quite be settled by means of numbers alone.
In designing a policy, we must always weigh many groups of what it has become trendy to call “stakeholders”, and many kinds of interests and possible consequences. “Just because something may work,” Lilley writes, “doesn’t mean we should do it.” This is a difficult statement to absorb, for those of us who’ve noticed that the drug war involves doing a whole lot of harmful things that obviously don’t, in any specifiable sense, “work”. But he is entitled to raise the prior question of how we decide whether something is working.
Which is, of course, is the point at which everything turns to porridge [emphasis mine]:
Helping junkies shoot poison into their veins and then putting them back on the street is wrong. Would I have as much of a problem if these drugs were administered as part of an ongoing treatment program to help wean addicts off of drugs? Probably not.
But that’s not what InSite does. InSite allows people to enter a government backed facility and use street drugs that they have purchased on the street, drugs that could have anything mixed in, and shoot those illegal drugs into their veins. The addict then leaves the facility and heads back out on the street.
It’s discouragingly common for people, particularly those who have lost loved ones to heroin abuse, to ascribe special demonic attributes to the drug, distinguishing it from other substances of abuse by anthropomorphizing it in a frankly untenable, ridiculous way. Lilley is not to be confused with these people. He has little or no inherent problem with the idea of government letting people inject heroin under supervision, in the name of utilitarian health-care considerations.
What bothers him, it seems, is that the clients bring the “street drugs that they have purchased on the street” with them into the facility. He’s worried about the “poisonous” nature of what they’re shooting. But he’s also admitted it’s not the heroin itself he really has an issue with. So what can he mean? The whole point of Insite is largely to let junkies inject without the fear of AIDS or hepatitis, and with the assurance of immediate medical assistance if they get a too-pure or adulterated batch. Surely it is indisputable that Insite accomplishes that much—that it protects the drug user, while he is within its confines, from the “poisons” that actually threaten his life—whatever other problems may be hazily attributed to it?
It is impossible for me to see what kind of coherent understanding, what non-contradictory set of principles, could lead one to Lilley’s position. If we are going to have the “moral” conversation about Insite, the soundness of the moral reasoning ought to count for something. Lilley doesn’t score high marks here. The “immorality” of Insite, which doesn’t give anybody drugs and has kept plenty of people alive long enough to kick them, has to be located and specified by its opponents rather than just presumed. Personally, I’m damned if I can find it. | <urn:uuid:3940b27c-5f81-4cc2-8eb7-7957083effe9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/05/19/insite-does-it-incite-insight/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966589 | 807 | 1.609375 | 2 |
First off, I have to admit this blog is a personal pet peeve of mine and it has to do with Canada’s wireless industry as it relates to data. That’s right the buzz word of the 21st century – data – because our lives will continue to become increasingly depend on it.
So Bell, Rogers and Telus finally got smart over the last few months by allowing their customers to use Twitter on their networks the way it was meant to be used. Bell was the first to announce it had reached a deal with Twitter allowing incoming messages at no extra cost in February, Rogers followed last week and Telus joined the party this week.
So what’s my peeve? Well since the days of the pager we have been sending text messages on first generation networks. So why do we need to have a data plan for accessing the internet and sending and receiving emails and a separate plan for text messaging. Isn’t it all the same data?
Read the rest of this entry »
LOL, L2G, LMAO, MTF, ADN, CUL… A new language is emerging. There are over 1000 different text messaging abbreviations out there. Many of these are used by different groups of people with all sorts of hobbies and interests. The average texter only uses about 20 of the most common ones such as LOL (laugh out loud), TTYL (talk to you later), and BTW (by the way). Not only is this a faster way to communicate with each other; it saves money! If you are not on an unlimited text plan, typing out every word you are trying to say would cost you a small fortune every month. Read the rest of this entry » | <urn:uuid:145e6484-c21f-41d4-8c60-579449ebb107> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mycellphonemyterms.com/General/tag/sms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963255 | 355 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Marcus AureliusArticle Free Pass
Marcus Aurelius, in full Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, original name (until 161 ce) Marcus Annius Verus (born April 26, 121 ce, Rome—died March 17, 180, Vindobona [Vienna], or Sirmium, Pannonia), Roman emperor (ce 161–180), best known for his Meditations on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius has symbolized for many generations in the West the Golden Age of the Roman Empire.
Youth and apprenticeship
When he was born, his paternal grandfather was already consul for the second time and prefect of Rome, which was the crown of prestige in a senatorial career; his father’s sister was married to the man who was destined to become the next emperor and whom he himself would in due time succeed; and his maternal grandmother was heiress to one of the most massive of Roman fortunes. Marcus thus was related to several of the most prominent families of the new Roman establishment, which had consolidated its social and political power under the Flavian emperors (69–96), and, indeed, the ethos of that establishment is relevant to his own actions and attitudes. The governing class of the first age of the Roman Empire, the Julio-Claudian, had been little different from that of the late Republic: it was urban Roman (despising outsiders), extravagant, cynical, and amoral. The new establishment, however, was largely of municipal and provincial origin—as were its emperors—cultivating sobriety and good works and turning more and more to piety and religiosity.
The child Marcus was thus clearly destined for social distinction. How he came to the throne, however, remains a mystery. In 136 the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138) inexplicably announced as his eventual successor a certain Lucius Ceionius Commodus (henceforth L. Aelius Caesar), and in that same year young Marcus was engaged to Ceionia Fabia, the daughter of Commodus. Early in 138, however, Commodus died, and later, after the death of Hadrian, the engagement was annulled. Hadrian then adopted Titus Aurelius Antoninus (the husband of Marcus’s aunt) to succeed him as the emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161), arranging that Antoninus should adopt as his sons two young men—one the son of Commodus and the other Marcus, whose name was then changed to Marcus Aelius Aurelius Verus. Marcus thus was marked out as a future joint emperor at the age of just under 17, though, as it turned out, he was not to succeed until his 40th year. It is sometimes assumed that in Hadrian’s mind both Commodus and Antoninus Pius were merely to be “place warmers” for one or both of these youths.
The long years of Marcus’s apprenticeship under Antoninus are illuminated by the correspondence between him and his teacher Fronto. Although the main society literary figure of the age, Fronto was a dreary pedant whose blood ran rhetoric, but he must have been less lifeless than he now appears, for there is genuine feeling and real communication in the letters between him and both of the young men. It was to the credit of Marcus, who was intelligent as well as hardworking and serious-minded, that he grew impatient with the unending regime of advanced exercises in Greek and Latin declamation and eagerly embraced the Diatribai (Discourses) of a religious former slave, Epictetus, an important moral philosopher of the Stoic school. Henceforth, it was in philosophy that Marcus was to find his chief intellectual interest as well as his spiritual nourishment.
Meanwhile, there was work enough to do at the side of the untiring Antoninus, with learning the business of government and assuming public roles. Marcus was consul in 140, 145, and 161. In 145 he married his cousin, the emperor’s daughter Annia Galeria Faustina, and in 147 the imperium and tribunicia potestas, the main formal powers of emperorship, were conferred upon him; henceforth, he was a kind of junior coemperor, sharing the intimate counsels and crucial decisions of Antoninus. (His adoptive brother, nearly 10 years his junior, was brought into official prominence in due time.) On March 7, 161, at a time when the brothers were jointly consuls (for the third and the second time, respectively), their father died.
What made you want to look up "Marcus Aurelius"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:d64fde15-1330-4e54-b4cc-f1ba234945be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/364331/Marcus-Aurelius/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984293 | 969 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Fri March 9, 2012
'1861': A Social History Of The Civil War
This interview was originally broadcast on April 12, 2011. 1861: The Civil War Awakening is now available in paperback.
The first shots of the American Civil War were fired almost 151 years ago in the Charleston, S.C., harbor. Less than two days later, Fort Sumter surrendered. It would take the Union army nearly four years to bring the coastal fortification back under its command.
On Fresh Air, historian Adam Goodheart explains how national leaders and ordinary citizens responded to the chaos and uncertainty in the days and months before and after the struggle at Fort Sumter, an almost-bloodless two-day battle that became the start of the Civil War almost by mistake.
"[At Fort Sumter] the Southerners thought that they would be able to drive the Yankees off of Confederate territory, and [they thought that] the North would feel like it wasn't worthwhile to fight to bring the South back into the Union," says Goodheart. "Suffice to say, they miscalculated hugely."
Goodheart is the author of 1861: The Civil War Awakening, a social history of the earliest days of the Civil War, a time when the country — soon to be two separate nations — was preparing itself for battle. He chose the year 1861, he says, because there were so many uncertainties all over the United States.
"When we think about the Civil War today, we see the entire arch of the struggle — sort of a great epic struggle — ending, of course, with the martyrdom of Abraham Lincoln," he says. "But by taking the one particular moment when everything was uncertain — when everything seemed to change overnight — I wanted to recover that sense ... of not knowing what's going to come next. And people didn't know in 1861 what was going to come next."
Adam Goodheart is a historian and journalist. He contributes to the "Disunion" column for The New York Times, which follows the Civil War as it unfolded 150 years ago. He has also written for National Geographic, Outside Magazine, The Atlantic and The New York Times Magazine.
On why people are still arguing about what the Civil War was really about
"When you go back and you look at the actual documents, many people have said since then that it was about states' rights, but really the only significant state right that people were arguing about in 1860 was the right to own what was known as slave property — property and slaves unimpeded — and to be able to travel with that property anywhere that you wanted to. So it's clear that this was really about slavery in almost every significant way, but we've sort of pushed that to the side because of course we want to believe that our country is a country that's always stood for freedom. And ... certainly it's difficult for some Southern Americans to accept that their ancestors fought a war on behalf of slavery. And I think that Northerners really, for the cause of national reconciliation, decided to push that aside — decided to accept Southerners' denials or demurrals."
On changes in the South
"I think the South is changing a lot today, even from where it was just a few years ago. Some of the deep genesis of my interest in this subject came about 10 years ago when I traveled through the Deep South, visiting plantations and plantations that had become historic sites. And I found there was this great collective amnesia going on. I visited one plantation in Natchez, Miss., where the slave cabins had been turned into guest rooms at a bed and breakfast, and there were Jacuzzi bathtubs in these places, and it was this incredible example of redecorating the past away. But I think even 10 years later, when you travel through the South and you visit these historic sites, there's an increasing willingness to engage with the slave past."
On the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg
"In 1913, there was an anniversary celebration at Gettysburg — the anniversary of the 1863 battle — and they brought these Northern and Southern veterans together, and the Confederate and Union vets embraced one another. There are some wonderful photographs, and they're holding Union flags and Confederate flags, and Woodrow Wilson went and gave a speech, saying that the 'old quarrel has been forgotten.' Well, it's very symbolically significant that excluded from that reunion were the black veterans. They were not even invited to participate. That part of the Civil War history was, for a long time in this country, simply pushed aside and erased almost completely." | <urn:uuid:3402aa28-8f3b-42d0-95ef-ccd5955df664> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wknofm.org/post/1861-social-history-civil-war | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977365 | 939 | 3.203125 | 3 |
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- If Congress doesn't come up with a plan, here locally, education will see the largest chunk of spending cuts under the federal sequester. The deadline is March 1, and the White House estimates more than $10 million will be cut from teachers, universities and schools in Arkansas.
When Mills High School Teacher Jeremy Jenkins heard the words "budget cuts," he said his first thought was the impact it would have on students.
The White House said the sequester could put the jobs of 150 teachers and staff at risk. Understandably, Jenkins is a little worried about his position
"There is always that thought in the back of your mind," said Jenkins.
Although $10 million in cuts sounds like a lot of money, UALR Chief Economist Michael Pakko said the cuts will be gradual.
"It's in the interest of the administration to make it sound like these will be severe cuts," said Pakko.
"Personally, I don't concern myself too much with it until it happens," said Jenkins.
The Department of Education released a statement saying in part, "for more than a year, our commissioner and deputy commissioner have been telling school districts the cuts were likely, and they should build their budgets accordingly. School districts are allowed to carry over 15% of their Title funds."
UALR senior Amber Brossett hopes to come back to her work study job at the Career Counseling Center next year.
"It's a great opportunity to know my peers especially working with professionals in the field I'm going into. It's a great opportunity for me," said Brossett.
Her job might not be there when she returns this fall. The federal government's sequester could mean cutting 110 work study positions in Arkansas. Yet, it's unclear how big of an impact that will be.
"What is lacking is a sense of proportion. $100,000 cut hereit's out of a budget of how big?" said Pakko.
"It's unfortunate the sequester would impact college students receiving need-based aid in the form of work study and grant programs," said Shane Broadway with the Higher Education Department. "However, we're hopeful a bipartisan agreement can be reached before the deadline Friday."
The cuts not only affect education, but also the military, environmental funding for clean water and air, and domestic violence programs.
"The potential furlough will be the single largest impact for us [in the military] however, since we have a full-time force that consists of just over 1,000 technicians. That is more than half of our total full-time force of military personnel across the state," said Major Chris Heathscott with a Arkansas National Guard. "We still have a lot of unknowns."
- Arkansas will lose approximately $5.9 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 80 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 10,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 30 fewer schools would receive funding.
- About $5.6 million in funds for about 70 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities.
- About 380 fewer low income students in Arkansas would receive aid to help them finance the costs of college and around 110 fewer students will get work-study jobs that help them pay for college.
- Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 600 children in Arkansas, reducing access to critical early education.
- About $1.6 million in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste.
- About $842,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.
- About 4,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $19.2 million in total.
- About $159,000 in Justice Assistance Grants that support law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.
- About $273,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement, meaning around 9,850 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment.
- Up to 200 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care, which is also essential for working parents to hold down a job.
- About 1,140 fewer children will receive vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, and Hepatitis B due to reduced funding for vaccinations of about $78,000.
- Arkansas will lose approximately $279,000 in funds to help upgrade its ability to respond to public health threats including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events.
- About $660,000 in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in around 200 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs. And the Arkansas State Department of Health will lose about $84,000 resulting in around 2,100 fewer HIV tests.
- STOP Violence Against Women Program could lose up to $62,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence, resulting in up to 200 fewer victims being served.
- Arkansas would lose approximately $310,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) | <urn:uuid:bf9cf9b8-f708-46cc-b8bb-1a0bd15be8dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thv11.com/news/govt_politics/250595/125/How-automatic-budget-cuts-could-affect-Ark | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963947 | 1,120 | 1.828125 | 2 |
When you apply the fixed term appointment rule to decide whether
a workplace is a permanent or a temporary workplace you need to be
alert to the possibility that the actual period of time the
employee spent at a workplace was unexpected. You need to consider
for how long the employee could reasonably have been expected to
work at that workplace. Similar considerations apply to the 24
month rule, see
For example, an employee is taken on under an open-ended employment contract and the expectation is that he or she will remain working for the employer at a succession of different sites. Unfortunately, after 12 months the employer gets into financial difficulties and the employee is laid off having worked at only one site. Even though the employee has only worked at a single site for the duration of the employment that site is a temporary workplace until the employer gets into financial difficulties. Until then it is reasonable to assume that the employee will work at more than one site.
Another example would be an employee taken on to work only at a single site for a short term employment. However, towards the end of work at that site the employer obtains another contract at a different site and offers the employee work at that site. Although the employee works at more than one site in the course of the employment the first site is a permanent workplace until the employer offers work at the second site. Until then it is reasonable to assume that the employee will work at the first site for all or almost all of the duration of the employment.
In most cases you will be able to accept that the period for which an employee works at a particular site is the outcome that it was always reasonable to assume. However in some cases you may need to look more deeply and you should look objectively at all of the available evidence. If an employee has in fact only worked at a single site for the duration of the employment you should treat that site as a permanent workplace unless the employee can produce convincing evidence that it was likely that he or she would have been kept on to work at other sites. Oral assurances said to have been given by, for example, the site foreman will not be sufficient.
Conversely, if the employee has worked at more than one site you should accept, unless you have convincing evidence to the contrary, that each site (except perhaps the last, see EIM32133) was a temporary workplace. Such evidence may consist of knowledge of the employer's policy on retaining employees. | <urn:uuid:f3e521fe-f702-42a1-9dc2-1187698e3721> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/eim32134.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980283 | 493 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Congratulations to the Niagara Mohawk building in downtown Syracuse, now owned by National Grid. The New York State Board for Historic Preservation recommended Tuesday that the building should be listed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The listing will strengthen civic protection for the building and also makes it easier for National Grid to get help with maintenance and restoration. Howard Brandston, the New York City lighting expert who illuminated the building a decade ago - and a guy who has worked on some of the most memorable landmarks in the world - describes the NiMo Building as the greatest example of Art Deco design he's ever seen, period.
It is a building that has the power to move the soul, a building that evokes the quiet awe that can define a great downtown.
respond here, at firstname.lastname@example.org or on the forum | <urn:uuid:e4c675fc-efe4-41d1-bedd-ac590a1a3bcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2009/12/the_nimo_building_on_the_natio.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940092 | 172 | 1.820313 | 2 |
The province of Villa Clara is located on the central region of the Isle of Cuba, less than 300 km. (185 miles) from Havana, Cuba’s capital. Both cities are linked by the Central Highway, the National Highway and the National Railroad. Its capital, Santa Clara, has many attractions, though sites like the artificial lake at Hanabanilla, the health spa at Elguea and the north coast with its keys in the Atlantic Ocean also stand out.
From Caibarién, a fishermen’s village surrounded by deep waters home to important lobster farms, a 48 km. road built of stones (called pedraplén), stretches across the sea, linking the main island with keys like Santa María, Las Brujas (which has a small airfield), Ensenachos, Cobos, Majá, Fragoso, Francés, Las Picúas y Español de Adentro, among others.
This important engineering work has 45 bridges to allow the exchange of tidal waters. It’s a very nice ride across this pedraplén because the visitor may see species like sparrow hawks, pelicans, oldsquaws and the astonishing pink flamingos.
The northern keys have several kilometers of excellent beaches and an almost virgin environment. They also constitute a true natural reserve (Fauna Reserve of the Northern Keys) for a unique kind of hutía (cane rat), and a meeting place for flamingo colonies. Besides there are endemic species of lizards, mollusks and birds like the one called arriero, along with a flora comprising 248 species, 91 of them medicinal, 72 timber-yielding, 41 honey-producing and 40 decorative. 29 of them are endemic.
In this key can be seen tocororos (Cuba’s national birds having the colors of its flag), corúas, woodpeckers and sparrow hawks, as well as deer, various kinds of hutías, among which the hutía of Cayo Fragoso stands out, and the blue lizard of Cayo Santa María.
In the keys belonging to the reserve can also be found caves near the beaches, where visitors have the opportunity to see remnants of the island’s pre-Columbian cultures.
As to the sea bottom, west of Cayo Santa María the combination of a rocky seabed with coral reefs lessens the impact of the wind, keeps the beaches from heavy waves and acts as a shelter for dozens of exceedingly beautiful species, making it and ideal site for diving and submarine photography.
All this features have made of these keys one of the most exotic places
in the Caribbean. Some of them have been designated Protected Areas and
one of them, Cayo Santa María, a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. | <urn:uuid:fd440f93-c3fc-43e6-b196-eddd665d1d58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cuban-beaches.com/villa_clara | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913646 | 579 | 2.046875 | 2 |
are naturally occurring objects that originate in space and survive
a fall to the ground through Earth's atmosphere. Most are remnants
of asteroids or possibly comets. However, a few have been shown
to be pieces of Moon or Mars that were launched into space by
an impact event. While moving through space these objects are
known as meteoroids. The bright streaks that they produce
while moving through Earth's atmosphere are known as a meteors.
The term meteorite is also used for a meteoroid that
has landed on the surface of a celestial body other than earth.
There are three main types of meteorites. The most abundant are
stone meteorites which are primarily made up of silicate
minerals such as olivine, pyroxene and feldspar. As their name
implies, iron meteorites are mainly composed of iron
but also contain a significant amount of nickel. The rarest of
the three are the stony-iron meteorites. They are a mixture
of stony and metallic materials.
A part slice of the beautiful Imilac pallasite from Chile
Meteorite Men on
| A complete stone meteorite
(L6 chondrite) recovered in McLennan County, Texas, only a
few days after it fell to earth. This meteorite was part of
the spectacular February 15, 2009 fireball filmed by a cameraman
in Austin. Note the black fusion crust which is typical of
freshly fallen meteorites, and the numerous flow lines—both
created by the intense heat generated by the fireball.
by Leigh Anne DelRay / Callisto Images
eagerly awaited second book by award-winning author Geoff
Notkin of Meteorite Men is Rock
Star: Adventures of a Meteorite Man. Stanegate Press,
252 pages, full color throughout, with over 130 exclusive
photos, and an introduction by legendary author Neil
Gaiman. Order directly from: www.meteoritehunters.tv
| Martian Meteorites
| A number of meteorites found on Earth have
been shown to be pieces of Mars by studying their chemical
and mineralogical composition.
Meteorites – Meteorites.de
| This Sikhote-Alin
iron meteorite (IIAB) was seen to fall in a remote area
of Siberia in 1947. It was part of the largest documented
meteorite event of modern times. Note the indentations, known
as regmaglypts, and the natural hole, caused when
the meteorite melted during flight. Iron meteorites that exhibit
attractive sculptural qualities, such as this example, and
highly prized by collectors for their beauty.
over 2,700 members, Club Space Rock is
the world's largest meteorite
forum and it is the place to learn about space
rocks and meet hunters, collectors, researchers, dealers
and enthusiasts. And it's free! | <urn:uuid:6c01ffe7-1011-4f26-9445-88c25f305b92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://meteorite.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91938 | 612 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Ash fell on surrounding paddyfields and jungle and on the ancient city of Yogyakarta 12 miles away, as fears grew that the activity of the past ten days could be the prelude to a devastating eruption in the heart of Java, Indonesia's most heavily populated island.
The new eruption early on Saturday caused panic just days after 35 people died on the slopes of the volcano, some burned to death by hot clouds of ash and gas which raced with terrific speed down Merapi's steep slopes incinerating forests and settlements in their way.
Roads were clogged with panic-stricken refugees, many of them coated with grey ash, and streets were chaotic in Yogyakarta, a major tourist attraction and Indonesia's most historic city.
Pedestrians there were forced to wear surgical masks against choking ash, visibility was reduced for motorists and the city's airport was closed for an hour after runways were coated with ash. Volcanologists who have been monitoring the eruption carefully believed there was no immediate threat to the city's 400,000 people.
Many villagers had refused to leave their homes despite the risk, partly out of fears of looters but also because they needed to tend herds of animals that they rely on for a livelihood. Many cattle have suffered burns from hot ash in the past week.
Indonesian television showed pictures of a woman who had refused to obey evacuation orders being pinned to a stretcher by soldiers as she screamed and cried in protest.
Troops wearing camouflaged uniforms stood guard in front of homes to reassure villagers that their property would be safe, but many of them also fled on Saturday.
More than 50,000 people from an evacuation zone on the slopes of the volcano have moved to government camps in Yogyakarta or were staying with relatives.
Subandrio, a government volcanologist who has only one name like many Indonesians, warned that the exclusion zone should be widened because the worst may be yet to come. Magna forming in the crater appeared to be thickening and high-pressure gas was building up behind it, he said.
"We think there will be other explosive eruptions because we discovered a lot of magma on Merapi's crater," he said. "We should not downplay the threat - Mount Merapi is extremely dangerous."
There were no reports of injuries from volcanic activity on Saturday but two people died in road accidents during the chaotic evacuation as panicking villagers scrambled to get away from the volcano. Kris Budianto, 51, described how he fell off his motorbike as he fled to safety.
"I was sleeping on the veranda when loud booms like thunder woke me up," he said.
"I quickly took my motorbike and rushed down in panic to safety. But on the way down, I fell from my motorbike." He has facial wounds and his right arm is broken.
One of the reasons why panic broke out yesterday was the death last week of the 83-year-old "keeper" of the volcano, Maridjan, who performed magical rites to appease the spirits, casting chickens, rice and flowers into the cone.
He died along with dozens of villagers. He had assured them that staying in their homes was safe and told them to ignore the warnings of seismologists and government officials.
His rigid body was found on Wednesday, prostrate in the Islamic prayer position and caked in heavy white ash. Nearby was the body of an Indonesian Red Cross volunteer who had been trying to persuade him to leave. | <urn:uuid:efc862ac-9e3d-469c-ae24-3446e3daf6c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/indonesia/8098698/Hundreds-of-terrified-villagers-flee-new-Merapi-volcanic-eruption.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988543 | 717 | 2.25 | 2 |
Style and Substance
The designers of Kealopiko teach Native Hawaiian values through their clothing line.
Did you know that Kapiolani Park used to have a racetrack? Or, that Native Hawaiians used the lightweight wood of the wiliwili tree to construct the ama of outrigger canoes? The three founders of the clothing line Kealopiko did, and they think you should, too.
Photo by Alex Viarnes
|Kealopiko founders (clockwise) Hina Kneubuhl, Jamie Makasobe and Ane Bakutis use their homes as design studios.|
Launched last December by Ane Bakutis, Hina Kneubuhl and Jamie Makasobe—each of Hawaiian ancestry—the label features playful, eye-catching designs of native plants, animals and cultural references with an artsy, non-generic twist.
“Plumerias and monsteras and things that aren’t native to Hawaii are being represented on T-shirts, which are basically for tourists—and that just wasn’t cutting it,” says Bakutis, who jokingly describes herself as the grandma of the trio at the ripe age of 31 (Kneubuhl is 29 and Makasobe is 25). “We wanted to create something that would inspire us and make us feel sexy, stylish and proud of who we are and where we come from.”
Although none of the women majored in fashion or design, their degrees in botany, Hawaiian studies and language, and public relations seem to be working as suitable substitutes. Each of Kealopiko’s items is accompanied by a yellow tag, which explains the manao, or meaning, behind each design. Makasobe says, “A big thing for us is education. Even if people know the background on some of our drawings, it’s important to bring these things back. This way, the knowledge can be passed on to others.”
Kealopiko takes this principle a step further by donating a portion of its sales to groups supporting native Hawaiian plants, animals, cultural education and practices, including the Kokua Hawaii Foundation and Paepae o Heeia, which cares for the ancient Hawaiian fishpond in Kaneohe.
|ATTENTION SHOPPERS! |
Bernards of Hawaii
-Lori Anne Tomonari
Do you like what you read? Subscribe to HONOLULU Magazine » | <urn:uuid:9871a0b1-261c-4ba3-bfd9-56426b59614e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.honolulumagazine.com/Honolulu-Magazine/September-2007/Shopping-Style-and-Substance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926386 | 520 | 1.773438 | 2 |
6 Fictional names that mean fictional for girls, listing Fictional baby names 1-6. Leah, Mamie, Monica, Phoebe and Tara are popular names. Padme is an uncommon name. View Fictional baby names for name meanings, search Fictional names for boys, or search other baby names.
Leah ... The fictional Princess Leia of "Star Wars" fame has made Leia familiar as a given name ...
Mamie ... The name is borne by Patrick Dennis's eccentric fictional character Auntie Mame ...
Monica ... Fictional character Monica Geller ...
Padme ... Name of a fictional "Star Wars" princess, Padme Amidala.
Phoebe ... The name became more common in the 18th century and is familiar in modern times due to the fictional character Phoebe Buffay on the "Friends" TV series ...
Tara ... and Margaret Mitchell probably had this in mind when she named the fictional home of Scarlett O'Hara in her 1936 novel "Gone With the Wind" ...
Related tags: fanciful, invented, legendary, manufactured, mythical, romantic. | <urn:uuid:42aa3655-27da-41ac-8f14-5734ef000a02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thinkbabynames.com/search/0/fictional | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913769 | 236 | 1.78125 | 2 |
AICON GALLERY presents Jamini Roy & Somnath Hore: Figuration in the Bengal School, an exhibition exploring the extremes of representation and artistic vision within India’s Bengal School of Art. Founded at the turn of the 19th century in Kolkata and Shantiniketan and originally an avant-garde and nationalist movement in reaction to previous academic styles, the Bengal School was led by Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951) and sought to modernize Moghul and Rajput styles, to counter the influence of Western art traditions. Along with his brother Gaganendranath Tagore (1867-1938) and pupil Nandalal Bose (1882-1966), these artists represented the early modernists of India. The Bengal School was often associated with Indian nationalism (swadeshi) as an official Indian art style, but also found support from British art institutions under the epithet of the Indian Society of Oriental Art (founded in 1907 by the Tagore brothers). From the 1920s onward, prominent Bengal School artists embarked on widely divergent, often aesthetically polarized paths. However, figuration remained a central focus and unifying link for those at the forefront of the movement’s modernist evolution. Some embraced images of tranquility and nature, myth and mysticism and playful folk scenes during turbulent sociopolitical times, while others portrayed the darker forces of humanity, exploring famine, spiritual torment and violent conflict. Jamini Roy and Somnath Hore are perhaps, respectively, the two most prominent representatives of these opposing aesthetic forces, the former influencing the latter, and both leaving their indelible marks upon the future of modern Indian art.
Jamini Roy (1887-1972) is one of India’s most celebrated and iconic modern artists, particularly admired for creating playful works in his signature neo-folk style that brought solace to viewers during a turbulent time in Indian history. In rejecting western stylistic tropes and returning to Bengal’s rich history of folk imagery and Kalighat patachitra painting, Roy’s powerful simplicity of line and lyrical compositions served as both a foundation and inspiration for a subsequent generation of figurative Bengal School artists. From the patent beauty of Suhas Roy’s melancholy yet elegant female forms, through the expressive linear physicality and longing of Lalu Prasad Shaw’s couples, to the dignified innocence of Ramananda Bandopadhyay’s scenes of rural life, one feels Roy’s ever-present influence in these artists’ shared visions of a dreamlike world caught between sensuality and innocence.
In counterpoint, the work of Somnath Hore (1921-2006) expressed a fundamental concern for mankind's underlying inhumanity, disregard of morality and penchant for perpetual violence and conflict. His originality in technique and language led to radical innovations in his media, casting him as a revolutionary founding figure for a darker strain of artists that emerged from the Bengal School. Ganesh Pyne’s ethereal and haunting images of death as life’s ever-present fellow-traveler, Shyamal Dutta-Ray’s pensive surrealist scenes of society in disintegration, and Bikash Bhattacharjee’s masterfully rendered yet psychologically and spiritually isolated figures, can all be seen as deriving from Hore’s life-long pursuit to give form and figure to the chaos, violence and instability inherent in human nature. His Wounds Series carry this stark vision beyond figuration, achieving a unique brand of abstraction, exemplified by ethereal white surfaces punctuated by scar-like disruptions in the hand-made paper, calling to mind the mortification of human flesh resulting from famine, war and other man-made cataclysms. Aicon Gallery proudly presents these works as a group for the first time in New York.
Please contact Amy at Amy@Aicongallery.com for more information. | <urn:uuid:e4aceec9-d6e9-4fa1-9290-8d366a2a4033> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artnet.de/galleries/exhibitions.asp?gid=424906658&cid=285461 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925997 | 829 | 2.78125 | 3 |
When I found out the FDA approved Belviq to treat some overweight and obese adults, my mind immediately went back to 1999. That’s the last time the FDA approved a weight loss drug – Xenical. I covered the news as a health reporter at KAKE-TV. I also covered the news two years prior when the infamous fen-phen combo was taken off the market…
Remember fen-phen? The weight-loss drugs fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine were pulled in 1997 because they caused heart valve damage. Ever since then, I’ve worried about the safety of diet pills. And with reason.
Check out some of these headlines AFTER a weight loss drug has already been on the market:
Back to Belviq. It was initially turned down by the FDA in 2010 because of safety concerns. Now, the agency has given it the green light for obese adults or those who are overweight and have at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol. Belviq activates a receptor in the brain, called serotonin 2C, in a way that controls eating and makes people feel full.
BUT that is also how it is similar to fenfluramine. From the FDA:
In 1997, the weight-loss drugs fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine were withdrawn from the market after evidence emerged that they caused heart valve damage. This effect is assumed to be related to activation of the serotonin 2B receptor on heart tissue. When used at the approved dose of 10 milligrams twice a day, Belviq does not appear to activate the serotonin 2B receptor.
Here we go again? Only time will tell. But I’ll be here to cover the outcome either way.
Designed by Gray Digital Media | <urn:uuid:b3574c1b-0541-4836-9004-081380a7874d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.momseveryday.com/home/health/headlines/weight-loss-pill_162227695.html?site=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948749 | 381 | 1.820313 | 2 |
|ADI Home > Technical Support >|
Ask The Applications Engineer -20
INTERFACING TO SERIAL CONVERTERS-II
by Eamon Nash
Q. At the end of our discussion in the last issue, I was having a problem establishing communication between my ADC and my microcontroller. If you recall, the microcontroller always seemed to be reading a conversion result of FFFHEX regardless of the voltage on the analog input. What could be causing this?
A. There are a number of possible timing-related error sources. You could start trouble-shooting this problem by connecting all of the timing signals either to a logic analyzer or to a multi-channel oscilloscope (at least three channels are needed to look at all signals simultaneously). What you would see on the screen would look similar to the timing diagram in the figure below. First make sure that a Start Conversion command (CONVST) is being generated (coming either from the micro or from an independent oscillator). A frequent mistake is to apply a CONVST signal with the wrong polarity. The conversion is still performed, but not when you expect it to be. It is also important to remember that there is usually a minimum pulse width requirement on the CONVST signal (typically about 50 ns). The standard Write or Read pulse from fast microprocessors may not satisfy this requirement. If too short, the pulse width can be extended by inserting software Wait states.
Make certain that the micro is waiting for the conversion to be completed before the Read cycle begins. Your software should either be taking note of the time required to convert or be waiting for an End of Conversion (EOC) indicator from the ADC to generate an interrupt in the micro. Make sure that the polarity of the EOC signal is correct, otherwise the ADC will cause an interrupt while the conversion is in progress. If the micro is not responding to the interrupt, you should examine the configuration of the interrupt in your software.
It is also important to consider the state of the serial clock line (SCLK) while it is not addressing the converter. As I mentioned in our previous discussion, some DACs and ADCs do not operate correctly with continuous serial clocks. In addition to this, some devices require that the SCLK signal always idles in one particular state.
Q. O.K. I ve found and corrected some bugs in my software and things seem to be improving. The data from the converter are changing as I vary the input voltage but the conversion results seem to have no recognizable format.
A. Once again there are a number of possible error sources. The ADC will be outputting its conversion result either in straight binary or in twos complement format (BCD data converters are no longer widely used). Check that your micro is configured to accept the appropriate format. If the micro can t be configured to accept twos complement directly, you can convert the data to straight binary by exclusive-or ing the number with 100 . . . 00 binary.
Normally the leading edge of the serial clock (either rising or falling) will enable the data out of the ADC and onto the data bus. The trailing edge then clocks the data into the micro. Make sure that both micro and ADC are operating under the same convention and that all Setup and Hold times are being met. A conversion result that is exactly half or double what one would expect is a tell-tale sign that the data (especially the MSB) is being clocked on the wrong edge. The same problem would manifest itself in a serial DAC as an output voltage that is half or double the expected value.
The digital signals driving the converter should be clean. In addition to causing possible long-term damage to the device, overshoot or undershoot can cause conversion and communication errors. The figure shows a signal with a large overshoot spike driving the clock input of a single-supply converter. In this case, the clock input drives the base of an PNP transistor. As is usual practice, the P-type substrate of the device is internally connected to the most negative potential available-in this case, ground. An excursion of more than 0.3 volts below ground on the SCLK line is sufficient to begin turning on a parasitic diode between the N-type base and the P-type substrate. If this happens frequently, over the long term, it may lead to damage to the device.
In the short term, though not causing damage, energizing the normally inert substrate affects other transistors in the device and can lead to multiple clock pulses being detected for each pulse applied. The resulting jitter is a serious matter in serial converters-but is less of a problem in parallel converters, because the Read and Write cycles generally depend upon the first applied pulse; subsequent pulses are ignored. However, the noise performance on both serial and parallel converters can suffer if signals of this kind are present during conversion.
The figure shows how overshoot can be easily reduced. A small resistor is placed in series on the digital line that is causing the problem. This resistance will combine with Cpar, the parasitic capacitance of the digital input, to form a low-pass filter which should eliminate any ringing on the received signal. Typically a 50-ohms resistor is recommended, but some experimentation may be necessary. It may also be necessary to add an external capacitance from the input to ground if the internal capacitance of the digital input is insufficient. Here again, experimentation is necessary-but a good starting point would be about 10 pF.
Q. You mentioned that clock overshoot can degrade the noise performance of a converter. Is there anything else I can do from an interfacing point of view to get a good signal to noise ratio?
A. Because your system is operating in a mixed-signal environment (i.e., analog and digital), the grounding scheme is critical. You probably know that-because digital circuitry is noisy-analog and digital grounds should be kept separate, joined at only one point. This connection is usually made at the power supply. In fact, if the analog and digital devices are powered from a common supply, as might be the case in a +5 V or +3.3 V single-supply system, there is no choice but to connect the grounds back at the supply. But the data sheet for the converter probably has an instruction to connect the pins AGND and DGND at the device! So how can one avoid creating a ground loop that can result if the grounds are connected in two places?
The figure below shows how to resolve this apparent dilemma. The key is that the AGND and DGND labels on the converter s pins refer to the parts of the converter to which those pins are connected. The device as a whole should be treated as analog. So after the AGND and DGND pins have been connected together, there should be a single connection to the system s analog ground. True, this will cause the converter s digital currents to flow in the analog ground plane, but this is generally a lesser evil than exposing the converter s DGND pin to a noisy digital ground plane. This example also shows a digital buffer, referred to digital ground, to isolate the converter s serial data pins from a noisy serial bus. If the converter is making a point-to-point connection to a micro, this buffer may be unnecessary.
The figure also shows how to deal with the increasingly common challenge of powering a mixed-signal system with a single power supply. As in the grounding case, we run separate power lines (preferably power planes) to the analog and digital portions of the circuit. We treat the digital power pin of the converter as analog. But some isolation from the analog power pin, in the form of an inductor, is appropriate. Remember that both power pins of the converter should have separate decoupling capacitors. The data sheet will recommend appropriate capacitors, but a good rule of thumb is 0.1 µF. If space permits, a single 10-µF capacitor per device should also be included.
Q. I want to design an isolated serial interface between an ADC and a microcontroller using opto-isolators. What should I be aware of when using these devices?
A. Opto-isolators (also known as opto-couplers) can be used to create a simple and inexpensive high-voltage isolation barrier. The presence of a galvanic isolation barrier between converter and micro also means that analog and digital system grounds no longer need to be connected. As shown in the figure, an isolated serial interface between the AD7714 precision ADC and the popular 68HC11 microcontroller can be implemented with as few as three optoisolators.
The designer should be aware, though, that the use of optoisolators having relatively slow rise and fall times with CMOS converters can cause problems, even when the serial communication is running at a slow speed.
CMOS logic inputs are designed to be driven by a definite logic zero or logic one. In these states, they source and sink a minimal amount of current. However, when the input voltage is in transition between logic zero and logic one (0.8 V to 2.0 V), the gate will consume an increased amount of current. If the opto-isolators used have relatively slow rise and fall times, the excessive amount of time spent in the dead-band will cause self-heating in the gate. This self-heating tends to shift the threshold voltage of the logic gate upwards, which can lead to a single clock edge being interpreted by the converter as multiple clock pulses. To prevent this threshold jitter, the lines coming from the optoisolators should be buffered using Schmitt trigger circuits, to deliver fast, sharp edges to the converter. | <urn:uuid:12cb9702-b960-4de7-9a3a-dbec02c0b5fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.analog.com/library/analogDialogue/Anniversary/20.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921888 | 2,017 | 2.03125 | 2 |
September 6, 2012
In the new book, George Orwell: Diaries (Liveright Publishing), editor Peter Davison writes that following Germany’s invasion of Poland in September, 1939, Orwell offered his services to aid the war effort. (Orwell had fought in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 and 1937, where he was wounded by a sniper. He returned to England in July 1937.) Orwell was refused a position in the Home Service Battalions due to his health, which dismayed him. “What is appalling is the unimaginativeness of a system which can find no use for a man who is below the average level of fitness but at least is not an invalid,” Orwell wrote in June 1940. “Any army needs an immense amount of clerical work, most of which is done by people who are perfectly healthy and only half-literate.” Case in point: When Orwell went to the recruiting station, his information was taken by “an old soldier with medals of the last war, who could barely write. In writing capital letters he more than once actually wrote them upside down.”
During the war, Orwell kept a detailed journal; in this excerpt he describes what air raid warnings were like for Londoners in the summer of 1940, before the worst days of the Blitz:
Last night an air raid warning about 1 a.m. It was a false alarm as regards London, but evidently there was a real raid somewhere. We got up and dressed, but did not go into the shelter. This is what everyone did, i.e. got up and then simply stood about talking, which seems very foolish. But it seems natural to get up when one hears the siren, and then in the absence of gunfire or other excitement one is ashamed to go to the shelter.
It appears that the night before last, during the air-raid alarm, many people all over London were woken by the All Clear signal, took that for the warning and went to the shelters and stayed there till morning, waiting for the All Clear. This after ten months of war and God knows how many explanations of air-raid precautions.
For the first 15 seconds [after an air-raid alarm] there is great alarm, blowing of whistles and shouts to children to go indoors, then people begin to congregate on the streets and gaze expectantly at the sky.
This morning an air-raid warning about 3 a.m. Got up, looked at the time, then felt unable to do anything and promptly went to sleep again…. The fact that at present the alarm sounds all over a wide area when the German planes are only operating in one part of it, means not only that people are unnecessarily woken up or taken away from work, but that an impression is spread that an air-raid alarm will always be false, which is obviously dangerous.
This morning, for the first time, saw an aeroplane shot down. It fell slowly out of the clouds, nose foremost, just like a snipe that has been shot high overhead. Terrific jubilation among the people watching, punctuated every now and then by the question, “Are you sure it’s a German?” So puzzling are the directions given, and so many the types of aeroplane, that no one even knows which are German planes and which are our own. My only test is that if a bomber is seen over London it must be a German, whereas a fighter is likelier to be ours.
No Comments »
No comments yet. | <urn:uuid:273ac879-7301-45c3-99c3-a7fdf41118a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/2012/09/alarming-reports-from-george-orwell/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976778 | 731 | 2.578125 | 3 |
How does Thomas Kinkade enter into studio and art history classrooms today? Is he even allowed to infiltrate our hallowed halls? And how do we grapple with him once he’s there? Linda Weintraub’s In the Making: Creative Options for Contemporary Art presents a serious discussion of Kinkade through the lens of audience. Her approach, which illustrates his attempts to engage with the widest public possible, avoids the dismissive attitude typical of our field when engaging with Kinkade’s work. Can and should we move beyond a standard (elitist?) attitude with regard to Kinkade? What do we gain by engaging in a serious consideration of Kinkade’s work and career? This session will explore the ways in which we may negotiate this surprisingly rich topic, in our ongoing efforts to expand the minds and artistic practices of our students.
Proposals should be submitted directly to the session chair: Julia Alderson, Humboldt State University, email@example.com, (707) 826-3421. Proposals must include the SECAC proposal form, available at http://www.secollegeart.org/annual-conference.html. Deadline: April 20, 2010.
Humboldt State University
1 Harpst St
Arcata, CA 95521
(707) 826-3421 Email: firstname.lastname@example.org
Send comments and questions to H-Net
Webstaff. H-Net reproduces announcements that have been submitted to us as a
free service to the academic community. If you are interested in an announcement
listed here, please contact the organizers or patrons directly. Though we strive
to provide accurate information, H-Net cannot accept responsibility for the text of
announcements appearing in this service. (Administration) | <urn:uuid:12495ebc-ac3a-4d3e-b365-029d3b47a195> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=174831 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904809 | 388 | 1.625 | 2 |
Is your child being manipulated by the great media/advertising machine to the detriment of his or her health? Are you colluding in this effort? If you're allowing your child to consume sports and/or so-called 'energy drinks,' the unfortunate conclusion is yes. That's according to a clinical report in this issue of Pediatrics.
In this week's podcast, Rick and I agree with the report that these drinks have no place in the diet of the vast majority of children. First let's take a look at sports drinks, those concoctions purportedly full of electrolytes and such to replenish those expended in exercise.
A look at the nutritional label from several representative 'sports drinks' reveals about 25 to 80 calories of sugar per 8 ounce serving. ( One of my favorite fallacies by the way, serving size. Who really consumes 8 ounces of a drink? 16 or more is the likely scenario.) Sodium and potassium also figure prominently, with some drinks containing a smattering of vitamins. The fact is that few people exercise vigorously enough at one time to require such replenishment and those who do, you know who you are. The vast majority of us, including kids, should opt for plain old water while exercising. The authors of this report suggest that parents concerned about repleting energy sources for their exercising progeny should provide low-fat milk instead of sports drinks.
What's the problem with these drinks anyway? It's really the sugar, and the establishment of a belief and habit that are likely to result in tooth decay, weight gain, and possibly diabetes.
Let's move on to 'energy drinks.' Not only do these contain vastly greater amounts of sugar per serving on average than sports drinks but they also contain huge amounts of caffeine. Yikes! Here's a real potential for disaster for children. As Rick cites in the podcast, some of these drinks contain as much caffeine as 14 or so colas. Imagine your child with 14 Coca-colas under his belt! Not a pretty picture I'll wager. The possibilities though are beyond scraping your kid off the ceiling. Such large amounts of caffeine can lead to heart arrhythmias as well as irritability, insomnia and worsening of anxiety if it already exists.
As I mention in the podcast, another concern in the older pediatric population is combining these drinks with alcohol. A very popular practice in some circles, this may allow more alcohol to be consumed without the usual sleepiness that accompanies drunkenness. As such these combinations have been linked with increased risk for accidents and death. Parents should very specifically warn their children of this danger. The guidelines conclude, and we concur, that any performance enhancing aspects of these drinks are simply too risky for children and should be avoided.
Other topics this week include niacin and heart disease from an NIH communication, sleep duration and obesity in kids in BMJ, and two common drugs and their effect on blood sugar in Nature. Until next week, y'all live well. | <urn:uuid:1f693a0c-e366-4619-a4b4-71609b76c5d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://podblog.blogs.hopkinsmedicine.org/2011/06/05/dangerous-drinks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958917 | 603 | 2.546875 | 3 |
You are hereFfynnon Fair (St. Mary’s Well), Llwyn-y-pia
Ffynnon Fair (St. Mary’s Well), Llwyn-y-pia
Ffynnon Fair is a holy well situated outside the village of Llwyn-y-pia. The well is the oldest recorded Christian site in the Rhondda. Some historians date the site back further, and it could be pagan in origin. The water from the well is reputed to cure ailments, especially rheumatism and poor eyesight. Rhisiart ap Rhys wrote:
"There are rippling waters at the top of the rock
Farewell to every ailment that desires them!
White wine runs in the rill,
That can kill pain and fatigue!"
There is a legend that a statue of the Virgin Mary appeared in the branches of an oak tree close to the well. It was said to have been incredibly beautiful and a gift from Heaven. The statue resisted all attempts to remove it from the tree, until a chapel and shrine were built. It is said that the statue survived at Penrhys until 1538, when King Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries brought the destruction of the shrine, and the public burning of the statue in London along with other religious artefacts. | <urn:uuid:a78c0234-f057-49cc-9b56-dfd01ac0412f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/wales/mid-glamorgan/ancient-sites/ffynnon-fair-st-mary%E2%80%99s-well-llwyn-y-pia.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965749 | 282 | 2.4375 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — The Georgia peanut plant linked to a salmonella outbreak that has killed eight people and sickened another 500 across the country knowingly shipped out contaminated peanut butter 12 times in the past two years, federal officials said Tuesday.
Officials at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which have been investigating the salmonella outbreak, said Tuesday that the Peanut Corporation of America found salmonella in internal tests a dozen times in 2007 and 2008 but sold the products anyway, sometimes after getting a negative finding from a different laboratory.
Companies are not required to disclose their internal tests to either the FDA or state regulators, so health officials did not know of the problem.
The peanut butter and paste made at the company's Blakely, Ga., plant are not sold directly to stores but are used by manufacturers to make crackers, cookies, energy bars, cereal, ice cream, candies and even dog biscuits. Some of the country's biggest foodmakers, including Kellogg and McKee Foods, which produces Little Debbie brand snacks, have recalled more than 100 products made with the tainted ingredients, and the list keeps growing.
Federal investigators also said Tuesday that they had found four strains of salmonella at the Georgia plant, including one in a sample taken from the floor near a washroom. Only one strain — salmonella Typhimurium — has been linked to the
"There is a salmonella problem at the plant," said Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC's division of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases.
The outbreak, which has spread to 43 states and Canada, is ongoing, but the pace has slowed "modestly," Tauxe said. Half the people made ill have been children.
Major-label peanut butter is not suspected to be contaminated with salmonella and is considered safe to eat, according to the FDA. The makers of several major brands, including Peter Pan, Jif and Smuckers, are worried that panicky consumers will stop buying their products, and they have been taking pains to point out that their peanut butters are not part of the outbreak.
Peanut Corporation of America, based in Lynchburg, Va., was not required under federal or state law to inform regulators about its internal salmonella tests. But Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said it appears that the company violated federal law. "Foods are supposed to be produced under conditions that do not render them damaging to health," he said.
Sundlof said he could not say whether the company might face criminal charges.
Stewart Parnell, the company's owner and president, was not taking calls Tuesday, and his spokesman did not return telephone messages. The company halted production at the Blakely plant once the FDA confirmed it was the source of the outbreak. FDA officials said the company is free to restart production but will have to first address a list of manufacturing deficiencies, which federal officials intend to make public Wednesday.
FDA officials said they still do not know the how the plant was contaminated and how the bacteria got into the peanut products, although state inspection records show a pattern of unsanitary conditions over several years. In each case, inspectors flagged the problems but said they required routine follow-up. There is no evidence that Peanut Corporation of America was ever closed by the state or otherwise penalized.
The FDA has never inspected the plant, instead delegating that duty under a contract to the Georgia Department of Agriculture. The federal agency has said it does not have enough inspectors to visit the country's 65,520 domestic food production facilities. In fiscal 2008, it inspected 5,930 plants.
State inspectors last visited the Georgia plant in October, while the contaminated products were being produced, according to inspection records first obtained by The Associated Press. But they did not test either the factory or the peanut products for salmonella. "We do pull product samples from time to time, but we can only run 4,500 samples in a year, and we have 16,000 food-processing and food-sales stores in the state," said Oscar Garrison, Georgia's assistant agriculture commissioner for consumer protection.
Michael Rogers, director of field investigations at the FDA, said that his agency is reviewing the state's inspection process and that it is unclear if Georgia officials would have found the salmonella if they had tested. "All inspections are a snapshot in time; they only reveal what is happening at the firm at that particular time," Rogers said.
But Jean Halloran, director of food safety for the Consumers Union, said if the government was adequately protecting the food supply, the outbreak could have been minimized or even prevented, and lives could have been saved. Major reforms in inspections and regulations are past due, she said.
"The average plant is inspected once every 10 years," Halloran said. "This one was getting inspected a couple of times a year by Georgia, but neither they nor the FDA were taking enough enforcement action."
Salmonella is carried by animal feces. Foods can also become contaminated by infected handlers who do not wash their hands with soap after using the bathroom. The bacteria generally thrive in a wet environment, such as meat and eggs. But after a 2007 outbreak at a ConAgra facility in Georgia that makes Peter Pan peanut butter, food safety experts realized that salmonella can exist in a dormant state in peanut butter and then reproduce when ingested by humans.
Salmonella bacteria can cause an infection that often produces diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps within 12 to 72 hours. The illness usually lasts four to seven days. While most people recover without treatment, infants, elderly people and those with compromised immune systems can develop severe illness that can be fatal if not promptly treated with antibiotics. | <urn:uuid:01a4158a-f2a6-4ed1-b2dc-817e25d58694> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.twincities.com/ci_11572720?nclick_check=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972712 | 1,189 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Submitted by lalit on September 12, 2012 - 3:01pm.
Apple today announced iPhone 5, the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology—all while delivering even better battery life.
iPhone 5 is the thinnest smartphone in the world, with an all-new 7.6 mm anodized aluminum body that is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S. Designed with an unprecedented level of precision, iPhone 5 combines an anodized aluminum body with diamond cut chamfered edges and glass inlays for a truly incredible fit and finish.
The new 4-inch Retina display on iPhone 5 delivers even more pixels than iPhone 4S, making the already incredible Retina display even better. By making the screen taller, not wider, iPhone 5 is just as easy to use with one hand so you can tap, type and scroll the same way you always have.
iPhone 5 supports ultrafast wireless standards including LTE and DC-HSDPA, so you can browse, download and stream content even faster. To support the latest LTE technology, Apple has pioneered a unique single-radio LTE solution that provides blazing fast speeds while fitting perfectly into the new remarkably thin design. iPhone 5 features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi support for a wireless experience up to 150 Mbps.
The all-new A6 chip was designed by Apple to maximize performance and power efficiency to support all the incredible new features in iPhone 5, including the stunning new 4-inch Retina display—all while delivering even better battery life.
The 8 megapixel iSight camera is the most popular camera in the world and with iPhone 5, it’s even better. The new camera is completely redesigned with incredible optical performance, yet amazingly it’s 25 percent smaller than the camera in iPhone 4S. The new iSight camera in iPhone 5 features a sapphire crystal lens cover that is thinner and more durable than standard glass with the ability to provide crystal clear images. The new panorama feature lets you capture jaw-dropping panorama images of up to 28 megapixels by simply moving the camera across a scene in one smooth motion. New video features include improved stabilization, video face detection for up to 10 faces and the ability to take still photos as you record. A new FaceTime HD front facing camera makes FaceTime calls incredibly clear and can also be used for self portraits and recording 720p HD video.
iPhone 5 features the new Lightning connector that is smaller, smarter and more durable than the previous connector. The all-digital Lightning connector features an adaptive interface that uses only the signals that each accessory requires, and it’s reversible so you can instantly connect to your accessories.
iPhone 5 introduces new enhanced audio features including a new beam-forming, directional microphone system for higher quality sound, while background noise fades away with new noise canceling technology. iPhone 5 now includes support for cellular wideband audio for crisper word clarity and more natural sounding speech. Wideband audio will be supported by over 20 carriers worldwide at launch.
iPhone 5 comes with the new Apple EarPods featuring a breakthrough design for a more natural fit and increased durability, and an incredible acoustic quality typically reserved for higher-end earphones. iPhone 5 comes in either white & silver or black & slate, and will be available in the US for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 16GB model and $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 (US) for the 64GB model with two year contract. iPhone 5 will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on Friday, September 21, and customers can pre-order their iPhone 5 beginning Friday, September 14. You can get more information about iPhone 5 on Apple’s website.
Submitted by lalit on September 12, 2012 - 2:32pm.
Apple today introduced the new lineup of the world’s most popular music players including the incredible all-new iPod touch and reinvented iPod nano. The new iPod touch is the thinnest iPod touch ever and features a brilliant 4-inch Retina display; a 5 megapixel iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording; Apple’s A5 chip; Siri, the intelligent assistant; and iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system. The new iPod touch comes in a gorgeous new ultra-thin and light anodized aluminum design, and for the first time ever, iPod touch comes in five vibrant colors. The new iPod nano is the thinnest iPod ever featuring a 2.5-inch Multi-Touch display; convenient navigation buttons; built-in Bluetooth for wireless listening; and the new iPod nano comes in seven gorgeous new colors.
The new iPod touch has been redesigned with a brilliant 4-inch Retina display in an ultra-thin and light anodized aluminum body—the thinnest iPod touch ever at just 6 mm thin and weighing just 88 grams. With Apple’s dual-core A5 chip inside, iPod touch delivers up to twice the processing power and up to seven times faster graphics than the fourth generation iPod touch.
The new iPod touch includes a 5 megapixel iSight camera with autofocus, support for 1080p video recording with video image stabilization, face detection and an LED flash, and the new panorama feature that lets you capture gorgeous panoramic photos by simply moving the camera across a scene. Every new iPod touch comes with a color-matched iPod touch loop, a clever and convenient wrist strap you can use while taking photos, recording video and playing games.
The new iPod touch comes with iOS 6 that includes: built-in Facebook integration with ability to post directly from Siri; Shared Photo Streams via iCloud; and other key iOS features like iMessage, FaceTime, Mail and Game Center. Now you can wirelessly display your iPod touch screen right on your HDTV with AirPlay Mirroring, allowing you to stream photos, videos, music, apps and play games on your big screen TV.
The reinvented iPod nano is the thinnest iPod ever, at just 5 mm, and features the largest display ever built into an iPod nano, a 2.5-inch Multi-Touch display to make navigating your music even easier; a home button to quickly get back to your home screen; and convenient buttons to easily control volume and quickly play, pause or change songs without looking. The new iPod nano gives music lovers built-in Bluetooth for wireless listening with Bluetooth-enabled headphones, speakers and cars.
Pre-orders for the new iPod touch in pink, yellow, blue, white & silver, black & slate begin September 14 through the Apple Online Store for a suggested price of $299 (US) for the 32GB model and $399 for the 64GB model. The new iPod touch will be available in October. iPod nano will be available in October in pink, yellow, blue, green, purple, silver and slate for a suggested price of $149 (US) in a 16GB model through the Apple Online Store.
Submitted by lalit on September 12, 2012 - 2:08pm.
Apple today announced the new iTunes for Mac and PC featuring a completely redesigned player, seamless integration with iCloud, and a stunning new look for the world’s most popular online music, apps, TV and movie stores. The new iTunes is coming in October and will feature a dramatically simpler and cleaner interface that keeps your favorite iTunes content at the forefront. With iCloud integration, your music, movie and TV purchases made on any of your iOS devices or computers is conveniently displayed in your iTunes library on your Mac or PC, available anytime you want them.
The redesigned iTunes Store, App Store and iBookstore have been rethought to make buying your favorite content on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC simpler than ever. The redesigned iTunes features a full-window interface on your Mac or PC that’s simpler and cleaner, always keeping your favorite content in front of you. The new library view makes it easier to view your music, TV shows and movies, allowing you to click on the category of content you want to browse and that’s all you will see. The expandable album view allows you to see track listings for an individual album, while letting you continue to browse your music library. The new search feature searches across your entire iTunes library, including music, movies and TV shows. The re-imagined MiniPlayer makes it easy to control your music with a small tool bar, you can skip to the next song or search for something new to play—all without having to open your library. Up Next is a fun new way to see what songs are coming up and queue songs or albums you want to hear next.
With iCloud, all of your iTunes purchases are in the cloud and can be accessed from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV. The new iTunes features seamless integration with iCloud, which automatically puts all of your purchases into your library on your Mac or PC, regardless of which device you used to make the purchase. iCloud also remembers where you are in your favorite movies or TV shows no matter which device you’re viewing on.
The new iTunes will be available in October as a free download on Apple’s website.
Submitted by lalit on September 12, 2012 - 8:31am.
Apple will be holding their much awaited iPhone 5 launch event today (September 12) at 10AM PDT/ 1PM EDT, at Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. Rumors are Apple will announce the new iPod lineup along with the much-awaited iPhone 5. We will be doing a live coverage of the Apple media event on live.TechzTalk.com, starting at 10 AM PDT/ 1 PM EDT / 6:00 PM London / 2:00 AM Tokyo. Please join us to get the latest Apple news on live.TechzTalk.com.
Submitted by lalit on August 13, 2012 - 6:49pm.
Sprint today announced availability of the first 4G LTE enabled smartphone from Sprint with a full QWERTY keyboard, Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE will be available on August 19 priced $199.99. PHOTON Q is available today for preorder on Sprint’s website. Main features on Motorola PHOTON Q are:
Submitted by lalit on August 13, 2012 - 2:27pm.
Among over 200 new features in iOS 6, Apple has added one very simple but interesting and useful feature that will allow users to set a song as their alarm tone. AppleInsider has discovered the new feature that was first introduced in iOS 6 Beta 1. Slash Lane wrote on AppleInsider:
Even though it’s a very simple feature it will be one of my favorite iOS 6 features, as I use my iPhone as an Alarm clock on daily bases.
Submitted by lalit on August 7, 2012 - 1:38pm.
iMore is reporting that not only the new iPhone 5, but all the iOS devices will receive the new mini Dock connector this year. Rene Ritchie wrote on iMore:
We have also been hearing that Apple will move all its iOS devices to the new mini Dock connector, but we haven’t heard anything about the 9.7-inch iPad. However, Q4 will be right time for Apple to update the 9.7-inch iPad with IGZO LCD display from Sharp and faster A6 processor just before holidays.
In other iPhone 5 related news, 9to5mac has found proof in the new iOS 6 beta release that the next generation iPhone will have 1136 x 640 resolution. Mark Gurman wrote on 9to5mac:
We have already heard that Apple is going with a bigger screen in iPhone 5 and this news fits perfectly with the rumors that iPhone 5 will have taller, but not wider 4-inch screen.
Submitted by lalit on July 5, 2012 - 12:00pm.
Apple recently launched the completely redesigned MacBook Pro featuring Retina display with 2880 x 1800 resolution, third generation Intel quad-core processors and all flash storage. The new 15-inch laptop is just 0.71 inches thick and weighs only 4.46 pounds. Two configurations of 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display are available – with 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB flash storage for $2,199; and with 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM and 512GB flash storage for $2,799.
Reviews of the new MacBook Pro with Retina display have been very positive with most reviewers giving the laptop Editors’ Choice award. Almost every reviewer was amazed by how good the Retina display looked in real life and most claimed it was the best display they had ever seen on a computer. Overall, everyone was impressed by the beautiful design of the laptop and powerful performance, but some reviewers had issues with lack of upgradability caused by the ultrathin design. ABC News Joanna Stern wrote in her review:
Below we have added links to 12 most comprehensive reviews of MacBook Pro with Retina display:
Also checkout the detailed video review of the new MacBook Pro with Retina display posted by AnandTech below:
Submitted by lalit on July 4, 2012 - 11:05am.
For past two days iPad Mini (smaller iPad) rumors have been gaining steam. The recent iPad Mini rumors started yesterday, when Unwired View posted that various analysts are claiming Apple is preparing to launch a smaller iPad model, which will cost $249-$299. Unwired View also reported that the new tablet will use IGZO display panel made by Sharp.
After the above rumor started spreading like wildfire, Bloomberg posted that they have heard from two people with knowledge about Apple’s plans that Apple will debut a smaller, cheaper iPad by year-end. Peter Burrows wrote:
After this vague report from Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal also posted a report with bit more information about iPad Mini claiming that component suppliers are preparing for mass production of iPad with a smaller screen. Lorraine Luk wrote on WSJ:
Even though most of these rumors are pointing to a Q3 launch on iPad Mini, none actually gave any information about the hardware. WSJ did say that LG and AU Optronics will produce the LCD displays, which would indicate that talks about iPad Mini using IGZO display are wrong, but we can’t be sure.
However, NPD DisplaySearch analyst claims that Apple will use a 7.85-inch screen and his claims are based on talks with companies in “display supply chain”.
“For the 7.85-inch panel, there’s a business plan for it, there’s a mass production target for it. And we Know that it’s for Apple,” said Richard Shim, an NPD DisplaySearch analyst to CNET. “I don’t know the name of the product, but I know it’s going to be a tablet.”
Overall, from the above rumors we believe that the upcoming smaller iPad will have 7.85-inch display, which won’t be based on IGZO technology and the smaller iPad or iPad mini will ship in September or October.
Submitted by lalit on July 3, 2012 - 10:02am.
DigiTimes is reporting that Apple is working with component suppliers to start production of the new iMac by July end and an official launch around October. Aaron Lee posted in DigiTimes:
We have also heard similar plans for iMac launch. However, our sources say that Apple will start shipping the new iMac before Q3 2012. New iMac production ramp up will begin in August with manufacturing reaching full capacity by October end to meet holiday demand.
Follow TechzTalk on:
Top 5 Gadgets
Recent blog posts | <urn:uuid:4e76219f-62ea-455b-b68b-abab1e9a005c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techztalk.com/techwebsite/blog/1?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922818 | 3,358 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Joe Szmidt, Louisville, Tenn.
It's official. The United States of America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, the greatest God-fearing country of all time, which sacrificed lives and resources to provide liberty to others around the world, and blessed with riches that helped propel other countries to prosperity, has taken another step towards transitioning to the Union of American Socialist States.
The U.A.S.S. would embrace the socialist policies developed by Karl Marx to guide society, economics and politics. This socialist society would be governed by the "dictatorship of the proletariat," or the working class. They would replace the bourgeois capitalists. Production would be controlled by the worker state. Profit would be replaced by fulfilling the needs of the workers. Think "Occupy Wall Street."
The U.A.S.S. believes the Barbra Streisand song "Everything," from the album "A Star is Born." She sings, "I don't want much, I just want more. … Give me the man who's gonna bring, More of everything, Then I'll have everything, everything." When the "Occupy Wall Street" group members wants their student loans forgiven, when people want more freebies from the government (code for other people's wallets), they are singing this song. But they aren't greedy, right? They're entitled.
The good news is that others have shown us the way. Marx and Engels wrote the book, but Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler and Castro made it work. But these are communist countries. Marx wrote that socialism was a step towards a classless society called communism. There was a small price to pay of millions of lives to evolve to godless communist countries. Hmmm, Roe v. Wade, 50 million abortions.
The U.A.S.S. is right around the corner, leading the U.S.A. to be like mediocre Europe, unless we act now. | <urn:uuid:d0e6322c-842f-44fb-bfac-b7e2724b698b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/feb/04/letter-america-becoming-socialist-nation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961485 | 404 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Doing Without: Economic Insecurity and Older Americans
A new analysis of US Census Bureau data performed by Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) finds that 52% of elder-only
households report incomes that do not cover basic, daily expenses. While the threat of economic insecurity affects elders of all backgrounds, it varies substantially by gender, race, age, household composition and other demographic characteristics. In order to assess the economic security of today's older adults, WOW compared 2010 incomes for elders who live alone or with a partner to the US Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index for their household compositions and housing statuses. The Doing Without series presents findings from this analysis.
What We Do
NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors. | <urn:uuid:4685a0bc-6b6a-4fb5-9e9f-9387ddb901a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncrw.org/content/doing-without-economic-insecurity-and-older-americans | 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 | 0.946122 | 255 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Features the full text for more than 2,400 journals. Additional full text, non-journal content includes nearly 1,000 books, market research reports, industry reports, case studies, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.
Covers material that focuses on the relationship between human beings and the environment, with topics ranging from global warming to recycling to alternate fuel sources and beyond. It includes scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports.
These Collections include the complete back runs of 243 titles in several disciplines. It includes many of the core research and society published journals in economics, history, political science, sociology, archaeology, and African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Slavic Studies, as well as in other key fields in the humanities and social sciences. This collection also includes a selection of titles in the more science-oriented fields of ecology, mathematics, and statistics. | <urn:uuid:d5a60456-9473-42d9-8076-f1747bf85b58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://libguides.sou.edu/MiM | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945861 | 184 | 2.09375 | 2 |
The housing slump can’t end until home sellers cut their prices by enough to lure large numbers of buyers back into the market. At long last, that seems to have started happening.
More existing homes were sold last month than had been sold a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors reported this morning. It’s the first such increase since late 2005. (An “existing home” is one that was previously owned by someone else — as opposed to a newly built home.)
This doesn’t mean the housing slump is over, or even close to being over. In fact, more than a third of last month’s home sales were part of a foreclosure process.
By many measures — like house prices relative to incomes — prices still have another 5 or 10 percent to fall, before they have reached a historically normal value. And it’s possible that they will fall below their normal values, as prices often do in the aftermath of a bubble.
The numbers may also reverse themselves next month. The credit markets didn’t really seize up until late September, and mortgage rates have risen since then. The effects of that rise were mostly missing from this report.
For now, though, it is good news: sellers are becoming more realistic, houses are becoming more affordable and home sales are becoming more common. Here are some details on the numbers:
More than 4.6 million existing single-family homes were sold in September, up 3.8 percent from September 2007. For the last year and a half, year-over-year sales of single-family homes have typically declined 10 to 20 percent.
Last month’s rise was driven by a huge sales jump — 40 percent, compared with a year earlier — in the West. California, Nevada and Arizona had some of the biggest local housing bubbles in recent years, and prices now seem to have dropped enough to woo buyers back into the market.
Sales were flat in the Midwest. They continued to decline in both the Northeast and the South.
Here is Catherine Rampell’s article on today’s report.
We’ll get the numbers on sales of new homes next week. | <urn:uuid:1d943758-1225-49b0-a994-1f7994d02cee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/finally-home-sales-rise/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981493 | 452 | 1.898438 | 2 |
21 November 2011
On November 17th, 2011, Environment Canada approved amendments to the Off-Road Compression-Ignition Engine Emission Regulations which align Canadian emission standards with the US EPA Tier 4 standards for nonroad engines. The Tier 4 standards will come into force on January 16th, 2012 and apply to engines of the 2012 and later model years manufactured on and after January 16th, 2012.
The approved amendments also include Temporary Standards—that came into effect immediately on November 17th, 2011—that allow companies to import “Tier 4 flexibility” engines into Canada. These Temporary Standards are replacing the Interim Order issued in December 2010 that allowed the sales of engines with US EPA emissions labels in Canada.
Once the Tier 4 regulations are in force (January 16th, 2012), the Temporary Standards will cease to have effect. At that time, the import of these engines will fall under the updated Transition Engines provisions. These provisions allow the continued import of these engines and incorporate new reporting requirements.
The approved regulatory text is expected to be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on December 7th, 2011.
Source: Environment Canada | <urn:uuid:561cacaa-3225-4c4c-a796-d3aa28496092> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dieselnet.com/news/2011/11ca.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961122 | 233 | 1.773438 | 2 |
In "The language we use," David Malouf discusses how ideas about user interaction can become so ingrained in what we are familiar with, that our language begins to reflect that familiarity. That can lead to a natural tendency to explain away interaction without thought to what it means to the design of a thing. In this case a student describes the change of context in a sketch presentation by using the word "click" (as in clicks to go to the next screen). The absent minded use of the word "click" brings with it the connotations of a mouse click, and limits the possible set of interactions.
David makes two great observations here. First, that the way we talk about interaction design is as important as the visual elements of the design solutions we produce. The language we use, and in particular the selection of meaningful words that convey behaviors, and the intellectual content and analysis of our design is a closely bound component of what we're providing when we do design work. It is productive, therefore, to write about interactions (e.g. in your spec) and deconstruct what you write.
The second great observation David makes is that there is danger in the use of loaded language when it comes to describing interaction. Words like "click" explicitly point to the use of one type of input behavior, whether it's a mouse input or finger touch, that carry with it the limitations or constraints of that behavior. The same might be true of using certain conventions or design patterns. The use of a specific, familiar interface element, like a tab for instance, might lead to known but perhaps limiting behavior for a given application, that would hold the designer back from considering better alternatives for the interaction.
This discussion also reminds me of the thread started by Josh Kamler on "Designing by Writing." It is extremely valuable to engage in writing and discussion about design through deconstruction. Even in the absence of a studio environment, we can learn to analyze what we design by paying particular attention to how we describe what we've designed when we write specs and re-reading and deconstructing what we've written, and actively engaging in regular critique of our work. | <urn:uuid:f09730b8-97a9-4b11-9748-8c7db752ab65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://konigi.com/notebook/language-we-use | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943454 | 434 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Web design - helping you every step of the way
I'll take the hassle out of making, running and improving your web app or website. I offer a full end-to-end solution, which is just a posh way of saying that from the moment you contact me to when your website is up and running, and beyond, I'll look after you and handle everything. So you won't need to worry about the world of DNS, HTTP, SSL, DHTML, CSS and other obscure acronyms* and can instead concentrate on running your business successfully.
This includes amongst other things:
- User requirements - working with you to understand exactly what you need
- Domain registration - sorting out and obtaining a website domain name (e.g. www.blipstar.com)
- Design - converting your requirements and ideas into a workable solution
- Creation - taking a design and turning it into a real website
- Hosting - publishing or "hosting" your website (so anyone on the web can access it)
- SEO - Search Engine Optimization to improve your site's Google page ranking
- CMS - if required, a Content Management System gives you the power to update your own site
- Expansion - adding new functionality to your website (e.g. e-commerce)
- Re-branding - giving your website a "lick of paint" (because fashions change)
- Mobile web - optimizing your website for mobile devices and tablets
- Support - help is always at hand
Geospatial and web mapping - Location, location, location
My background is geography and I have particular skills in developing smart, efficient geospatial applications. The web has transformed the world of geographic information and you'd be amazed at how thinking spatially can help enhance your business.
Typical projects include:
- Web mapping - from a simple "We are here" map to an advanced "Find your nearest store" tool or mash-up
- Geospatial analysis - gain a competitive edge and add the "where?" to your business decisions: customers, competitors, target markets...
- Asset and location-tracking - monitoring where your assets are, scheduling, transport logistics...
- Mobile devices - "location aware" applications have often been touted as the next big thing. After ten years it's starting to happen
Custom-built web applications - the Internet changes everything
As the Internet has evolved the boundaries between simple web sites (like this one) and desktop applications (like Word or Excel) has been blurred. Web applications do the same kind of things as native applications (which you install on your computer), but with the benefit of being able to access it from anywhere in the world, using just a web browser. It's a convenient, easy, powerful and collaborative way of working. So whilst websites are about providing information, web applications are more about actually doing something. It can be as broad as searching or social-networking, as simple as managing your to-do list or as complex as managing your customer relationship management system.
Whatever you need your application to do, I can help you make it happen (within reason of course).
Bits and pieces - if it sounds interesting, and I've got the time, I'll do it
Although my main focus is web design and geospatial applications I'm happy to take on any IT project I feel is achievable and I can do a great job on. Just ask - the worse thing that can happen is I say "thanks but I'm probably not the man for the job".
* Domain Name System (DNS), Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in case you're interested (probably not and I don't blame you)... | <urn:uuid:06121aa6-54fd-45c9-9acb-17b69399373e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paulclarkewebdesign.com/whatdoido.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919309 | 789 | 1.585938 | 2 |
You may have watched the movie Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen. If you are true sci-fi fan, we would definitely suggest you to watch it atleast once if you haven’t. The mind boggling, metal scratching, bone crunching special effects have never been seen before. Ever wondered what did take to make a movie like this?
The overall rendering of the movie took a disk space size of 140 terabytes (TB)! The original Transformer took just 20 TB. Believe it or not, rendering for some frames took as much as 72 hours, each! So the ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) team took assistance of 26 processors at the same time to make life a little easier. Devastator which is the largest Decepticon, had 13 million polygons and 52,632 parts!
Want to learn more? See here. | <urn:uuid:6adc2974-2994-4de4-8350-c289b7e38b94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livbit.com/article/2009/07/23/what-did-it-take-to-make-transformers-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950798 | 180 | 1.90625 | 2 |
The power of words and their associations influences us in our everyday lives. When your partner is tender, is it because of a session at the gym or the fact they’re looking to get married? When something is cold, is this good news because it’s the temperature below which viruses don’t grow or does cold describe your work colleague who is aloof and unapproachable? And if someone tells you about the cloud that’s coming, do you either rush for an umbrella or jump for joy because you don’t need to buy another server? Yes words are really powerful.
The hard drives within our brain translate the meaning of words according to their context and past experience. As one wise person once told me, sometimes your biggest strength is your biggest weakness. In this case, the biggest strength of our brains is that we’ll always find a meaning for a word or phrase and store that away. Its biggest weakness is that it’s hard to dislodge that meaning and change it… even when blatantly wrong in a different context.
We’re also receptive to words that go together, like bread and butter, horse and carriage, salt and pepper… and Research and Development. This last pairing usually conjures up an image of a white coat, pipette or test tube. But add the unlikely yin of tax credits to the yang of R&D and we get a confusing combination indeed, something akin to curried ice cream or chilli-flavoured chocolate. Our brains don’t accept them so readily. In the case of R&D tax credits, the swinging pendulum of white coat to pinstripe suit, perhaps quite naturally, confuses many companies. The golden opportunity though lies in this ‘hybrid’ of the two, which combines a comprehensive understanding of the legislation with a deep and meaningful technical knowledge relevant to the business. Technology and taxation in perfect balance, truly giving you the science behind the numbers.
Our final gem from the world of words involves the use of rhyming. It is proven fact that we remember things much better if they’re in a rhyme. OJ's lawyer was accredited with getting him cleared of a murder charge using the famous phrase: "If the gloves don't fit… you must acquit".
So the next time you’re pondering how technology and taxation can go quite so well together and recover you maximum cash, think: Do you need grey suits or grey matter… Jumpstart's the latter.
Posted on Thursday, 23rd February, 2012
The X-prize foundation, which previously awarded a prize to the first commercially viable spaceship in 2004, recently offered a prize for a working Star Trek tricorder-like device, capable of independently diagnosing 15 diseases. However, it appears that hand-held technology capable of diagnosing medical issues by simply scanning a patient may be closer than previously thought.
Full-body scanning devices already exist for airport security, prototype medical scanners and material spectroscopy systems. They use terahertz waves (T-rays), which lie in the far infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. At these extremely high frequencies, every molecule has its own unique spectroscopic signature, allowing existing devices to detect cancerous tumours, detect explosives or test integrated circuit chips without destroying them. However, these systems have several drawbacks; large amounts of energy are needed to produce T-rays, and their design requires low temperature operation. These issues make them bulky and expensive to run.
To overcome these drawbacks, researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore and Imperial College London in the UK have used a new ‘nano-antenna’ technique to produce and amplify the T-rays. They shine light of different wavelengths on a pair of pointed, metal electrodes separated by 100 nanometers and placed on a semiconductor wafer. The interaction between the incident light pulses and the electric current passing between the electrodes produces a beam of T-rays with a power output that is 100 times greater than those present in current systems. The beam can also be tuned across a much larger frequency range and operates at room temperature. The lower power requirements of the new method make more portable devices possible.
The multiple improvements that this system makes to current methods for T-ray production mean that portable, high-power medical scanners may not be that far-off. So after mobile phones and tricorders, could we soon be playing our games on holodecks and eating from replicators?
Posted on Monday, 6th February, 2012 | <urn:uuid:8d5bda62-f255-47de-9596-c1d1bb9e71b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jumpstartuk.co.uk/randd-news-and-events/2012/02/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945685 | 945 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Maeve Binchy, who has died aged 72, was a larger-than-life author and journalist, whose novels about love and romance in Ireland sold more than 40m copies in 37 languages. Among the most popular were Light a Penny Candle (1982), Echoes (1985), Circle of Friends (1990) and Tara Road (1998). The last of these, the story of two women who exchange homes in Ireland and the US for a magical summer, was promoted by Oprah Winfrey, ensuring runaway sales. In 1995 Circle of Friends, about childhood friends from the village of Knockglen, was made into a film starring Chris O'Donnell and Minnie Driver. Tara Road and the short story How About You? also became feature films, and The Lilac Bus (1984) and Echoes were made into television films.
Maeve's novels dealt with issues such as betrayal and child-parent relationships, tensions between rural and urban life, and the transformations in Irish cultural and religious life in the late 20th century, and she left sex scenes to the imagination rather than provide graphic detail. This formula made her an international bestseller and put her in the top 10 of Britain's most popular writers. Her fellow novelist Anne Enright said Maeve had an unsurpassed grasp of what makes a good story and that reading her was like being with a good friend: "Wise, generous, funny and full-hearted, she was the best of good company on the page and off it."
Binchy was born in Dalkey, County Dublin, the eldest of four children. She recalled how as a child she was "fat and hopeless at games" but very happy, as her parents "thought all their geese were swans". She went to convent school in the nearby village of Killiney, graduated from University College, Dublin, and worked for a time as a teacher, writing short stories during her holidays, before joining the Irish Times in 1968.
To her readers around the world Maeve was a warm-hearted, compassionate novelist, and to aspiring Irish writers she was an inspiration and a source of encouragement and practical advice. But to those of her generation in Ireland she was also – to some even more so – the funny, irreverent Irish Times columnist whose highly descriptive take on Irish life transformed the nature of colour writing in newspapers. Her early articles became popular for "puncturing pomposity", as her long-time colleague and friend Mary Maher put it.
In 1972 she was posted to the Irish Times London office, where her account of the wedding of Princess Anne to Captain Mark Phillips the following year was so notably lacking in the conventional reverent prose ("The bride looked as edgy as if it were the Badminton Horse Trials and she was waiting for the bell to gallop off") that it unleashed an avalanche of letters from readers – outraged and delighted in equal numbers.
Her natural talent for storytelling was such that she wrote just the way she spoke. As her colleague in London in the mid-1970s I would find her typing at speed and handing the first draft to the telex operator before heading off for one of her long lunches. She dared not reread the copy, she said, or she would spend the day rewriting it. It was this natural fluency that enabled her to produce 16 novels, several collections of short stories and a play in the last 30 years of her life.
In London, in 1977, Maeve married the writer and former BBC World Service broadcaster Gordon Snell, and they maintained homes in both London and Dublin before settling permanently in Ireland. She wrote that, like her parents, Gordon believed: "I could do anything, and I started to write fiction and that took off fine."
Their Georgian cottage in Dalkey was so unpretentious that when a Hollywood producer came to discuss filming Circle of Friends, he asked about the location of her "real house". Maeve and Gordon wrote together in the same room, an arrangement that worked very well because, as she put it, she was a lark and he was an owl, though mainly because of the unabashed love and affection they always showed for each other. Two years ago, Maeve explained in the Irish Independent why Irish people are thought of as being good writers: "We don't like pauses and silences, we prefer talk and information and conversations that go on and on. So that means we are halfway there."
In Ireland it is her warm personality as much as her books that will be remembered, and everyone, it seems, has a fond encounter or conversation with her to tell. One of my own relates to an episode in the 1970s when I rather disloyally sent to Private Eye, which paid five pounds for accounts of journalistic cock-ups, a cutting from the Irish Times which had mixed up photographs of the head of the KGB and Private Eye's editor Richard Ingrams. The day it was published, I met Maeve and asked her if she had seen Private Eye. "I have," she said, "And I got my fiver in the post this morning."
Maeve was a wonderful humorist, often telling hilarious anecdotes, many against herself. She related, for instance, how when the US first lady Barbara Bush invited her to a lunch with other writers in the White House and everyone was asked what they would like to drink, she politely requested a white wine rather than her usual gin and tonic, and then watched in dismay as the others primly ordered mineral water and a full bottle of wine was produced for the one rather mortified Irish guest.
Maeve announced her retirement some years ago, but the books kept coming. Her 17th, A Week in Winter, will be published in October. She won several honours for her writing, among them a lifetime achievement award at the British Book Awards in 1999 and the Irish Pen/AT Cross literary award in 2007 for a lifetime of literary achievement.
Many have spoken of Maeve's generosity of spirit, but she was also recklessly generous. When she received a substantial payment from the paperback rights to Light a Penny Candle, her first novel, she distributed much of it quietly to family, friends and colleagues (enough to pay my mortgage for a month). When she became rich and famous, she replied to every letter asking for help, advice or money.
Shortly before her death, Maeve told the Irish Times: "I've been very lucky and I have a happy old age with good friends and family still around." In truth, she suffered terribly in her last years from arthritis, while remaining cheerful and concerned about others.
Maeve is survived by Gordon, her brother, William, and her sister, Joan.
Anne McHardy writes: Maeve Binchy was London editor of the Irish Times when I first met her in the 1970s. It was at a Christmas dinner in Fleet Street and she was, as always, holding court. As the evening became night she stood to her full 6ft to sing, with Gordon Snell, the husband who had driven a series of badhat lovers out of her life for ever, singing too. Maeve was an imposing if slightly ungainly figure. Over the next year, I saw her often before she returned to Dublin. When Light a Penny Candle was published, I was delighted to find it written in the same seemingly effortless style as her journalism. It was the ease of an organised, brisk, shrewd mind that sifted words internally before uttering them.
Twenty years later, I was writing about arthritis and Maeve was an obvious contact. It was before her hip operation and her pain was often debilitating. I rang and was greeted with a verbal bear hug. Her attention to detail included an ability to remember people. "When will you be over ... ?" The resilience with which she dealt with her pain remains humbling.
• Maeve Binchy, writer, born 28 May 1940; died 30 July 2012 | <urn:uuid:815efa3c-87b2-4a8e-9ae1-c5c32698b0e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987854 | 1,630 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The Aqua Medic CO2 Reactor 1000 is specifically developed for CO2 fertilization in freshwater and marine aquariums. All plants need carbon dioxide to thrive, and if this gas is not available in sufficient quantities, plants will be stunted. In addition, CO2 is important for the buffering of freshwater and saltwater because of its role in the regulation and stability of the pH value.
Aqua Medic CO2 Reactor 1000 features a hermetically sealed external reactor to ensure more efficient CO2 delivery by mixing water and CO2 through and around its Bactoballs before diffusing it into your aquarium. This means more CO2 will be dispensed into the aquarium and less will escape out the top of the aquarium. Saves on your supply of CO2; you'll fill less often. Aqua Medic CO2 Reactor 1000 measures 3" in diameter and 15" long.
Shop all Aquarium CO2 Systems and Accessories .
Please click on "More Information" for technical data. | <urn:uuid:b2b751be-0eb2-4f47-a685-5560082c70dc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=9918 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913323 | 202 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Prices for natural gas, heating oil and other fuels will be relatively stable. But customers will have to use more energy to keep warm than they did a year ago, according to the annual Winter Fuels Outlook from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration.
Last winter was the warmest on record. This year temperatures are expected to be close to normal.
Heating bills will rise 20 percent for heating oil customers, 15 percent for natural gas customers, 13 percent for propane customers and 5 percent for electricity customers, the EIA announced Wednesday.
Heating oil customers are expected to pay an average of $3.80 per gallon, the highest price ever. That will result in record heating bills, at an average of $2,494. That's nearly $200 more than the previous high, set in the winter of 2010-2011.
"It's two different worlds. For most families this is still going to be an affordable year, except for those who use oil heat," says Mark Wolfe, the Executive Director of the National Energy Assistance Director's Association. "For them, it's going to be very difficult."
Rising heating oil costs come at a time when funding for low-income heating assistance is falling. Over the last two years,
Just 6 percent of the nation's households use heating oil, but they tend to be in some of the coldest parts of the country
Electricity prices will fall 2.3 percent to 11.4 cents per kilowatt hour, the government estimates. Propane prices will fall 8 percent in the Midwest to $2.02 per gallon and 13 percent in the Northeast to $2.95 per gallon.
Natural gas, propane and electricity prices are relatively low because of a dramatic increase in domestic natural gas production over the last five years. Natural gas is used to generate about one-third of the nation's electricity and is instrumental in setting the price of electricity. Recently drillers have been increasing production of so-called natural gas liquids, including propane. | <urn:uuid:321d0738-e2c1-4e3d-b8f5-637621114944> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailydemocrat.com/business/ci_21756860/heating-costs-chill-homeowners | 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 | 0.945855 | 412 | 2.515625 | 3 |
15/10/2007 | by admin
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has welcomed the news that Wave Hub has received its planning approval from the Government and look forward at the prospect of clean and safe energy being generated from Cornwall’s waves in 2009.
SAS believe offshore renewable technologies have the potential to deliver an abundance of clean and safe energy in the UK, offsetting our reliance on some of the energy technologies in use today that are hugely damaging and polluting to the water environment.
Projects like Wave Hub will help the UK meet it’s renewable energy targets and should be seen as an effective technology in combating climate change, which could be hugely damaging for recreational water users, including surfers in the future, due to predicted poorer water quality and rising sea levels.
SAS will continue to examine the placement of all offshore renewable energy technologies on a case-by-case basis. And like Wave Hub, SAS will insist on the need for ongoing monitoring once a project is operational. Andy Cummins, SAS Campaigns Officer says: “Wave Hub’s government approval is good news for Cornwall and for the future of renewable energy generation in the UK. We look forward to using the same energy we’ve used to ride waves to light up our homes as well.” | <urn:uuid:8f83ccd7-9622-4478-8704-3b6d796a89ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://surferspath.mpora.com/news/environment/sas-welcomes-wave-hub-planning-approval.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932036 | 269 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Report an inappropriate comment
Why Not Robotics
Wed Jan 09 07:49:02 GMT 2008 by Craig Fiddick
But if the feed was only needed over a short distance and not sent back to Earth then bandwidth is not such a major issue. The feed only needs to reach the astronaut in space - not to a land based station. That way they could have a similar setup that doctors use for microsurgery on earth?
As a side note; willing to die for science!! Come on the HST is due to finish it's job in another 12 or so years with this new upgrade AT THE MOST. Death is a lot longer than that!!
And there is always a better instrument coming up anyway. Don't get me wrong I love the images and work the HST does but dying for it is not worth the results. | <urn:uuid:4bcbab50-ba04-4ba9-8224-d9d9e34293ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newscientist.com/commenting/report?id=dn13160-5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950893 | 171 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Immediately after his baptism Jesus was taken by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness area to the west of Jordan. He was then tempted for forty days by Satan. But why did Jesus need to be tempted, and how does that relate to the temptations we have to face?
Temptation is usually viewed as coming at us from three directions, the world, the flesh, and the devil. In the language of the Book of Common Prayer a candidate for baptism was asked "Do you here, in the presence of God, and of this congregation, renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful desires of the flesh, so that you will not follow nor be led by them?" When we admit we are not perfect, it is because we are having problems in one of those directions. And it is usually the flesh that bothers us most.
THE FLESH roughly means the demands of our bodily instincts as we received them through the genes of our parents. Since the Creator invented the transmission of genes, our instincts are given to us by God. And Jesus, being fully human, must have had the same instincts as we have. Mollie and I learned a lot about instincts from our white family cat Nika. Her strongest instinct was self-protection. And all of us need that to survive. She also had her territorial instinct. No dog or other cat would dare come into the St. James' Rectory yard where we lived. Similarly you say "This is my home : you don't come in unless I invite you." You also have a space bubble, and you object to anyone standing too close to you (except in the Toronto subway).
As long as she felt safe from intruders, the next priority was food. She died from diabetes from over eating, and it was our fault. When we made tea we would pour boiling water on her kibble, and the smell drove her wild. She also had the instinct for comfort. Curling up by the fire was very important to her. And curiosity of course. In our lives there is nothing wrong with food, or curiosity, or comfort. . The problem is when these good instincts run our lives. Half of you are bothered by the flesh when you try to be on a diet.
We need curiosity to explore and learn. If you saw a handbag left in a pew, you might be tempted to open it, check its contents and read the person's date book. If you did that your instinct of curiosity has gone beyond what is acceptable and you have become nosy. Similarly there is nothing wrong with comfort. It only becomes sin when you don't get up in time to get to work, or when you feel tired and go to sleep in my sermon.
When Nika was in heat it was something else. She would go for a scruffy long haired white tom cat, and was proud to produce 32 beautiful white kittens for us. And when they were born her maternal instinct knew exactly how to care for them, feed them, and train them.
None of our fleshly instincts are sinful in themselves, but we need to set our conscience so that we do not let them run our lives and upset the lives of others. Turning the other cheek means controlling our instinct of self-protection. Going the extra mile means overcoming the instinct for comfort. In sexual matters it is natural to enjoy the attractiveness of another person. It only becomes sinful when you have decided to commit adultery if you can get away with it.
I do not think Jesus needed to be taken into the wilderness to set his conscience for controlling his fleshly instincts. He had done that long before the age of thirty when he was baptized. We will see in a moment how the temptations he faced in the desert were temptations of the devil.
THE WORLD - Nor do I think it was necessary for Jesus to learn how to deal with the temptations of the world. The world is every one else trying to fit us into their mold. "Why can't you be like us? Nobody wears that anymore. You must keep up with the Jones' and the proper lifestyle." Many young people are sorely tempted by the high school world they live in. They need to know that as children of God we are each to be different in our own way. Temptation of the world can come from very good people, who imagine they need to keep us on their straight and narrow.
In his last company our son in law constantly had to jet all over the world. It wasn't extravagant, just necessary for his work, and it was very hard on his wife and children. I know a person in another church here in Kingston who drives a pink Cadillac. At first I wondered how a dedicated Christian woman could have such an ostentatious car. But then I discovered she was given it as the top salesperson for May Kay, and she was expected to drive it.
The way we have to deal with the world is to settle what our own particular function is in the Kingdom of God. Then we order our life accordingly. That means changing our mind to run counter to some of the ideas the world has in mind for us. As Paul said, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2). And there again I think Jesus had begun to settle that when he told his parents "I must be about my Father's business."
SATAN - Jesus needed forty days in the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Another word for temptation is testing. Before a new plane can carry commercial passengers it has to be tested to show it can safely do what it is designed to do. The test pilot is not trying to destroy the plane, but to push it to the outer limits of its performance to prove it is totally safe.
Jesus is the eternal Son of God, and one of his names was the Word of God. He came into our world to make visible, make known, and explain what God was like. One of his names is The Word of God. And making the truth of God known he is opposed by a lying force that destroys love by propagating lies in our world. Jesus viewed this force as very personal. He said very bluntly "There is no truth in him. When he speaks he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).
So before Jesus was to begin his ministry of dispelling the lies of Satan Jesus was tested to prove he could discern and resist every kind of satanic lie. In Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel we are given three forms of lie which were thrown at him during those forty days. They were lies about the very heart of the ministry he would engage in. The first was the idea that Jesus could create love in our world by feeding people. "You have the power to turn the rocks of the land of Israel into bread." The second suggested that he could easily get people to become loving by wowing them with miraculous powers. "Jump down into the crowd from the pinnacle of the temple and they will all follow you." And the third was that you can make people loving by political power. "Your way of love is far too slow. Submit to me, and with a few minor lies, you can become supreme dictator of the world. Then you force them to be good and loving." But it is obvious that people do not become loving by feeding them, impressing them, or ruling them.
In each of these lies Satan used a verse of Scripture out of its context. And in each case Jesus exposed the lie by a verse of the Bible that showed the falsity of Satan's interpretation. By the age of twelve he had already learned to set his conscience correctly. By the time of his baptism he had settled the course of his ministry, and the Father said "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Now after forty days of testing in the wilderness Jesus had been proved to be totally reliable in all he was going to teach us.
The result was that "We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). That means he understands the exact force of every kind of temptation that we face, and he knows how to help us into the perfect love of heaven.
He can help you set your conscience correctly to deal with your bothersome instincts. He can help you find your own freedom instead of being pushed around by the world. And he can show you the subtle lies that Satan has told you about yourself. "You are no good . . . you will never make it. With your bad habits there is no way you can be a Christian . . . It is a doctor's job to heal you, don't waste you time praying . . . If I could get a real answer to prayer, I would believe in God."
Having been tempted, Jesus can also free you from the lies Satan has told you about others. "She is a basically bad woman: the Holy Spirit could never improve her . . . that man failed, so you should never welcome him to church again . . . It's up to her to grovel and ask for forgiveness before you can end this quarrel."
Most important of all he can save you from Satan's lies about God. "The church has wronged you, never believe in God again . . . With some many billion people in the world, do you really think God has any time for you? When you die, that's it, you are just snuffed out . . . And if you think there is life after death, for you it just means burning in hell for ever."
A good thing to do during Lent might be to make a list of all the bad
things you say about yourself, about others, and about God, and have a
good long talk to Jesus about them. You might be very surprised. | <urn:uuid:43a6594b-0f21-4eea-96e2-93bf03e0000f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brow.on.ca/Sermons/Temptat.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98667 | 2,090 | 2.421875 | 2 |
I just finished reading The Social Animal by David Brooks. I’m fascinated by some of the sociological and psychological aspects of humans, including our ability to not remember events properly and how we can deceive ourselves (and others).
This book takes current research and creates the story of Harold and Erica. How they grew up, met, and lived, all using well written examples of what the research tells us. And he does it all in the present. So, when Harold is a kid, he’s playing xBox and when he’s an adult he’s using Facebook. It’s a unique (to me) approach.
It tends to reinforce some of the other books on similar topics I have read.
What did I take away from it? Two things.
I looked up the definition in various places and it boils down to an intense love (Urban Dictionary), usually in reference to another person.
David Brooks’ definition is different, at least in some ways. He defines it as a “yearning for harmony”. It could be harmony in our personal lives or even the drive for perfection in our work and art. It drives us intellectually and socially.
Why do people use Facebook? They desire to connect with other humans. We’re social. We seek limerance with each other. Pretty cool.
The Wise Wanderer
What do you do when dealing with uncertainties, doubts and mysteries? The “wanderer endures uncertainty”. Why does this resonate with me? If I’ve learned nothing else in this life it is that uncertainty is always with us. And to embrace it. Do I always manage that? Not even close. But I keep trying.
I like to think of this as a road trip. Do you plan each stop, each route, each attraction? Or do you just go? I prefer the just going? There’s a certain amount of research to be done, but if I had the time I’d just go right now and find something interesting to do. Where? Who knows. Just drive. And stop, when and where I wanted. It drives my wife crazy. Sometimes the stops are worthy. Other times, not so much. But I love the exploration.
There’s a lot more to the book, but if you’re into learning about human nature I’d recommend the book. | <urn:uuid:9dfbb01c-df2e-402c-ba37-db609633913c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://craigsnyder.com/tag/psychology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94623 | 501 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Suzuki Roshi Talk 2 of 2
Second Talk on Suzuki Roshi based on the book "Zen Mind Beginner's Mind"
In this second discussion of Zen Mind/Beginner's Mind, Zoketsu discusses right attitude, appreciation of our practice and path, and our self-expression through practice. Also covered here are concepts of "not-knowing," Zen as compared to other traditions, making practice part of our lives and art, and conflict resolution and emotions.
|Click to stream and listen immediately, right-click and pick "Save Target As" or "Save Link As" to save to your hard drive.| | <urn:uuid:4623840e-808d-4a29-b9ec-28cb500a8a0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.everydayzen.org/index.php?Itemid=26&task=viewTeaching&sort=date&pgLimits[book]=80&pgLimits[audio]=880&pgLimits[text]=0&option=com_teaching&id=351 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946654 | 131 | 1.953125 | 2 |
When you create a local binding for a variable, that binding takes effect only within a limited portion of the program (see Local Variables). This section describes exactly what this means.
Each local binding has a certain scope and extent. Scope refers to where in the textual source code the binding can be accessed. Extent refers to when, as the program is executing, the binding exists.
By default, the local bindings that Emacs creates are dynamic
bindings. Such a binding has indefinite scope, meaning that
any part of the program can potentially access the variable binding.
It also has dynamic extent, meaning that the binding lasts only
while the binding construct (such as the body of a
let form) is
Emacs can optionally create lexical bindings. A lexical binding has lexical scope, meaning that any reference to the variable must be located textually within the binding construct. It also has indefinite extent, meaning that under some circumstances the binding can live on even after the binding construct has finished executing, by means of special objects called closures.
The following subsections describe dynamic binding and lexical binding in greater detail, and how to enable lexical binding in Emacs Lisp programs. | <urn:uuid:e4193d02-2b98-444f-b26f-8baf2e8c2cec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Variable-Scoping.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94348 | 242 | 3.109375 | 3 |
I'm using Java Sound to play audio files (in standard PCM format) but I've noticed that it does not correctly play 24 bit data, in that the data output from the soundcard does not match the input from the file. It works fine for 16 bit (and even 8 bit) audio data, but not for 24 bit (and presumably 32 bit, but I have no real 32 bit audio files to test) files. From the output it appears that Java Sound is doing some extra (and unwanted) processing to the audio data before passing it to the soundcard. I can say for certain that it is Java Sound doing this because if I run the same test using ASIO to play the file then there is no problem and the data matches as expected.
A bit more information on the setup:
- Java JRE latest version (7u7 I think), running on Windows XP SP3.
- Sound played using AudioPlayer example on jsresources.org (I firstly tried using my own code, but switched to this in case I had made a mistake, the results are the same on both).
- The audio is played is on an M-Audio soundcard via the digital (S/PDIF) out, which is directly connected (via an external cable) to a digital in on a Lynx soundcard (in the same PC), where it is recorded (using Sony Sound Forge).
- The recorded file is then compared with the input Wave file.
For the test, four different input Wave files are used (generated from the same source file):
- 16 bit, 44.1 kHz
- 16 bit, 48 kHz
- 24 bit, 44.1 kHz
- 24 bit, 48 kHz
Using ASIO to play back the test files, all four of the files produced the correct output (the recorded data matches the input Wave file data byte for byte, after shifting to align the starting positions).
Using Java to play back the test files, the 16 bit ones (both the 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz) produce the correct output, whereas the 24 bit ones (both the 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz) do not. Not only that, but the way in which the output is incorrect is inconsistent (if I run the test two times, it produces a different output each time, neither of which comes close to matching the input file). So not only is Java sound playing the 24 bit files wrongly, it is doing so wrongly in a different way each time. If it will help I can take screenshots of the Java sound output compared to the input file (expected output).
The easiest way to reproduce this would be to use the AudioPlayer example I linked to above, play a 24 bit file and record the output (if you only have one soundcard it might be possible to use its mixer to route the data appropriately to allow it to be captured). While it's not wrong enough that I can hear any difference, it does kind of defeat the purpose of hi-resolution audio if the data is being altered in some unexpected way (you risk losing any gains from using 24 bit over 16 bit, though I don't really want to get into that argument here).
So to phrase this as a question - how can I get Java Sound to play back 24 bit audio correctly?
Thanks in advance for any help,
This post has been edited by macosxnerd101: 27 September 2012 - 02:05 PM
Reason for edit:: Added [Resolved] to title | <urn:uuid:5a5538e1-4a83-4b42-8e7a-72af922c8ab5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/291200-resolved-incorrect-playback-of-24-bit-audio/page__pid__1717409__st__0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923527 | 720 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Copyright Law and Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
What is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 made it illegal to republish copyrighted information by downloading, uploading or file-sharing media such as music, movies, or software. Digitally sharing copyrighted materials is illegal and also violates University policy regarding use of the campus network. The University does not monitor individual network activity. However, UWM is obligated by law to respond to valid complaints from copyright holders and their agents. DMCA complaints are taken seriously and may result in loss of access to the UWM network, academic discipline under University policy, or fines or legal action by the copyright holders and/or their agents.
What's the risk?
Groups like the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) pay organizations to gather information from the internet to identify where files are being shared illegally. Individual lawsuits are being settled out of court for $4,000-$5,000. Lawsuits that are not settled out of court can result in higher monetary damages.
How does this happen?
Groups such as the RIAA send an official complaint to the Internet Service Provider (UWM when you are using the UWM network). UWM notifies the campus network administrator responsible for the area in which the infringement occurred. The individual is then notified about the complaint so they can stop the illegal use of copyrighted material. Wherever possible, network access for the device or individual in question is removed until it can be verified that the infringing activity has stopped or until a counterclaim is filed.
How could I get sued?
The copyright holders' lawyers can file a federal lawsuit and then subpoena the University for the information to identify the individual. With your name and user account information, the attorneys can pursue monetary damages against you in court. This is the risk you assume when you engage in illegal file sharing.
What are some common "P2P" (peer-to peer) programs used for this?
Use of programs such as Limewire, Bittorrent and Bearshare may result in illegal P2P sharing of digital materials.
How can I avoid violating copyright law and subsequent legal action?
While some files may be legally shared via common P2P programs, most true freeware programs or public domain music are available elsewhere on the Internet. If you use P2P file sharing software, it is your responsibility to ensure you are not downloading or sharing copyrighted music, movies or software.
How do I know if I've received a settlement letter from the RIAA?
If you've been contacted regarding a DMCA violation, it is possible that you've been targeted for the settlement letter as well. If you wish to obtain a copy of any such letter or contact information for the RIAA, you may request it from UWM. Incidentally, the parties to a lawsuit can agree to settle a case at any time. You do not legally forfeit your right to settle by not responding to a pre-settlement letter. While it is impossible to know if the RIAA will be amenable to settlement at a particular time in the future, typically corporations prefer to settle cases in lieu of undertaking a trial which is costly and time consuming. | <urn:uuid:1fb56ed8-a022-452a-a6be-94edb8c7b899> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scan.aux.uwm.edu/filesharing.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935268 | 667 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The Seven Dwarfs all loved Snow White -- even Grumpy.
You'll need (for each doll):
- Wooden bead
- Googly eyes
- Tiny pom-pom
- Craft glue
- Pipe cleaner
- Fingernail clippers
- Cotton ball
- Glue the bead to the cork. Glue on the eyes and the pom-pom for the nose.
- Clip the pipe cleaner into four parts with the fingernail clippers. Curl the ends for hands and feet. Stick the other ends into the cork.
- Pull apart a cotton ball and make a beard and hair. Glue to head and face. Don't forget that Dopey doesn't have hair or a beard!
- Cut a half-circle of felt for the hat. Roll into a cone shape and glue. Hold it together a few minutes until it sticks. Put a little glue around the edges and stick to the head. Heigh-ho!
|Click here to read 8 free Disney Books including Belle and the Castle Puppy.| | <urn:uuid:f26f7acb-3557-4fcf-a29b-6753ea2374d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://family.go.com/crafts/craft-594090-dwarf-dolls-t/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900077 | 225 | 1.945313 | 2 |
External Cephalic Version (Version) for Breech Position
Treatment Overview Back to top
External cephalic version, or version, is a procedure used to turn a fetus from a breech position or side-lying (transverse) position into a head-down (vertex) position before labor begins. When successful, version makes it possible for you to try a vaginal birth.
Version is done most often before labor begins, typically around 36 to 37 weeks. Version is sometimes used during labor before the amniotic sac has ruptured. This can be a good time to use version, when labor is constantly monitored and a cesarean delivery (C-section) can be done right away if needed. But the chance to do the version can be lost if labor speeds up or the amniotic sac ruptures.
A scheduled cesarean is used to deliver most breech births if a version doesn't work.
To avoid harm to the fetus, a version procedure is closely monitored.
- Fetal ultrasound is first used to confirm the fetus's position, where the placenta is, and the amount of amniotic fluid. Fetal ultrasound is often used to watch the fetal position during the version attempt.
- Electronic fetal heart monitoring is used before, possibly during, and after a version attempt. An active fetus whose heart rate increases normally with movement is usually considered to be healthy. If the fetus's heart rate becomes abnormal, the version procedure may be stopped.
Before the version attempt, you may be given an injection of tocolytic medicine to relax the uterus and prevent uterine contractions. The most commonly used tocolytic medicine is terbutaline.
While the uterus is relaxed, your doctor will attempt to turn the fetus. With both hands on the surface of your abdomen—one by the fetus's head and the other by the buttocks—the doctor pushes and rolls the fetus to a head-down position. You will feel discomfort during a version procedure, especially if it causes the uterus to contract. The amount of discomfort depends on how sensitive your abdomen is and how hard the doctor presses on your abdomen during the version attempt. If your fetus appears to be in distress, as shown by a sudden drop in heart rate, the procedure is stopped.
If a first attempt at version is not successful in turning the fetus, your doctor may suggest another attempt, possibly with epidural anesthesia to help you relax and to reduce pain associated with the procedure. Epidural anesthesia may increase the success of repeated version attempts. 1
Serious complications are rare during external cephalic version. But they do happen. This is why a version is performed in a hospital where you can have an emergency C-section delivery if needed.
What To Expect After Treatment Back to top
You and your fetus may be monitored for a short time after a version attempt. You can resume your normal activities after the procedure is over.
Why It Is Done Back to top
Version may be attempted when:
- The mother is 36 to 42 weeks pregnant. Before 36 weeks, a fetus is likely to turn back into a head-down position on its own. But version may be more successful if it is done as early as possible after 36 weeks because the fetus is smaller and is surrounded by more amniotic fluid and space to move in the uterus.
- The mother is pregnant with only one fetus.
- The fetus has not dropped into the pelvis (has not engaged). A fetus that has engaged is very difficult to move.
- There is enough amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus for turning the fetus. If the amount of amniotic fluid is below normal (oligohydramnios), the fetus is more likely to be injured during a version attempt.
- The mother has been pregnant before. A previous pregnancy usually means that the wall of the abdomen is more flexible and can stretch during a version attempt. Version may also be attempted if the mother has not been pregnant before.
- The fetus is in the frank, complete breech, or footling breech position.
Version is usually not done when:
- The bag of waters (amniotic sac) has ruptured.
- The mother has a condition (such as a heart problem) that prevents her from receiving certain tocolytic medicines to prevent uterine contractions.
- A cesarean delivery is needed, such as when the placenta partially or completely covers the cervix (placenta previa) or has separated from the wall of the uterus (placenta abruptio).
- Fetal monitoring shows that the fetus may not be doing well.
- The fetus has a hyperextended head. This means that the neck is straight, rather than bending the head forward with the chin tucked into the chest.
- The fetus is known or suspected to have a birth defect.
- The mother is pregnant with multiple fetuses (twins, triplets, or more).
- The mother's uterus does not have a normal shape.
Version may pose a slight risk of opening a previous C-section scar. Limited research data have shown that women with a cesarean scar have had no such problems. But larger studies are needed to fully assess the risk. 2
In some cases, a doctor will choose not to try a version when there is less amniotic fluid than normal (oligohydramnios) around the fetus.
How Well It Works Back to top
- The mother has already had at least one pregnancy and childbirth.
- The fetus, or a foot or leg, has not dropped down into the pelvis (has not engaged).
- The fetus is surrounded by a normal amount of amniotic fluid.
- The procedure is done near term (36 or more completed weeks of pregnancy), before labor starts.
Version is least likely to succeed when: 3
- The fetus is engaged down in the mother's pelvis.
- The doctor cannot grasp the fetal head.
- The uterus is hard or tense to the touch.
Compared to the first attempt, repeat version attempts are less likely to be successful.
Risks Back to top
With frequent monitoring, the risks of external cephalic version to the mother and fetus are low.
Potential risks of version, for which the fetus and mother are closely monitored, include:
- Twisting or squeezing of the umbilical cord, reducing blood flow and oxygen to the fetus.
- The beginning of labor, which can be caused by rupture of the amniotic sac around the fetus (premature rupture of the membranes, or PROM).
- Placenta abruptio, rupture of the uterus, or damage to the umbilical cord. The potential exists for such complications, but they are very rare.
In the rare case that labor begins or the fetus or mother develops a serious problem during version, an emergency cesarean section (C-section) may be done to deliver the fetus.
What To Think About Back to top
Version has a very small risk for causing bleeding that could lead to mixing of the blood of the mother and fetus. So a pregnant woman with Rh-negative blood is given an Rh immunoglobulin injection (such as RhoGAM) to prevent Rh sensitization, which can cause fetal complications in future pregnancies. To learn more, see the topic Rh Sensitization During Pregnancy.
In rare cases, internal version is used to deliver a second twin or is used during labor when an emergency threatens the life of the fetus. In such a case, a doctor tries to turn the fetus by reaching into the uterus.
References Back to top
- Klatt TE, Cruikshank DP (2008). Breech, other malpresentations, and umbilical cord complications. In RS Gibbs et al., eds., Danforth's Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10th ed., pp. 400–416. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (2000, reaffirmed 2009). External cephalic version. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 13. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 95(2): 1–7.
- Cunningham FG, et al. (2010). Breech presentation and delivery. In Williams Obstetrics, 23rd ed., pp. 527–543. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Credits Back to top
|Primary Medical Reviewer||Sarah Marshall, MD - Family Medicine|
|Specialist Medical Reviewer||William Gilbert, MD - Maternal and Fetal Medicine|
|Last Revised||July 25, 2011|
Last Revised: July 25, 2011
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2013 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. | <urn:uuid:eee04220-b4d1-4b65-bbf3-25e1d1075895> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uwhealth.org/health/topic/otherdetail/breech-position-external-cephalic-version-for/hw180146.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914216 | 1,856 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Springer Book Archives Makes Its Debut
Posted On January 28, 2013
In 1842, the Illustrated London News (the world’s first illustrated weekly newspaper) rolled off the presses, the University of Notre Dame was founded, and Karl Marx became editor-in-chief of Rheinische Zeitung.
Much has happened around the world since the 1840s, and the Springer Book Archives (SBA) is capturing and chronicling the historic print highlights that have happened since then. This new online book collection from Springer Business+Science Media, which officially debuted days ago at ALA Midwinter, represents Springer’s ongoing commitment to the scientific research community by digitizing about 100,000 books dating from the 1840s. SBA’s first release of 37,000 English-language books, many of which were previously out of print, went live in late January, and more than 63,000 other titles will be released throughout 2013.
“The Springer Book Archives link the past, present, and future of scholarly research with anytime, anywhere access,” says Olga Chiarcos, senior project manager at Springer. This digitization project is a big step in Springer’s overall strategy of making nearly all of Springer’s published materials available online, she says. Not all of Springer’s books will be available online, but Chiarcos reports that the collection will be as complete as possible.
Springer CEO Derk Haank noted that SBA is the “culmination of years of planning, scanning and converting our historic titles to digital format … to make those titles, previously unavailable to researchers accessible, and breathe new life into the discoveries that have powered scientific progress.”
The first of SBA’s digitization initiatives began in November 2010. When completed by the end of 2013, SBA will boost Springer’s content threefold on the new SpringerLink platform. In addition to the online versions, the titles will also be available in softcover print and MyCopy print-on-demand (POD). The SBA collection will be divided almost equally between English- and German-language titles, though some works in other languages will be represented. As each title was scanned, imperfections or markings were removed, illustrations were converted into high-resolution digital images, and content was made full-text searchable on any device.
By the end of 2012, Springer had finished migrating the last of its customers to its state-of-the-art SpringerLink platform that offers improved speed, ease of use, and a single point of access. As SBA is integrated into the platform, customers will have access to the SBA collection, as well as Springer’s more than 2 million journal articles and about 100,000 books. Since the platform is based on agile technology, the Springer development team can continue to improve the user experience quickly as needed.
Among SBA’s key highlights:
Subject collection: SBA currently offers 12 subject collections: behavioral science; biomedical and life sciences; business and economics; chemistry and materials science; computer science; earth and environmental science; engineering; humanities, social sciences, and law; mathematics and statistics; medicine; physics and astronomy; and professional and applied computing.
Licensing options: Springer offers flexible licensing options, from single site for standard, academic, and corporate users as well as options for multisite and consortia.
Content features: Titles are scanned in black mode (600 dpi); illustrations are scanned separately and then added to the text files. Among the works published by Springer and its imprints were by renowned scientists Marie Curie, Werner von Siemens, Rudolf Diesel, and Karl Scheel.
Ebook features: Titles in Springer’s collection, which are available as e-reader-compatible PDFs, are DRM-free and feature a table of contents and references. Book chapters will be available as pay-per-view options at the same price as its other ebook chapters ($29.95).
Benefits for librarians: Features include free MARC records, COUNTER-compliant usage statistics, titles to boost virtual library collections, DOIs at chapter and title levels, and greater access to rare books without limitations on printing, downloading, or number of simultaneous users.
Benefits for researchers: The collection taps into and links past scientific discoveries and historical precedents and provides access to previously out-of-print titles.
For most of 2012, books for SBA were digitized at a rate of 5,000 per month, says Chiarcos, but getting all the books digitized for the collection wasn’t easy. Rights, permissions, and access to the actual print editions proved to be challenging. Though some of the early titles are in the public domain, most of the others weren’t.
For rights and permissions, Chiarcos says that Springer editors worked directly with the authors or their legal heirs in working out the details. “When we explained what we were doing, most of the authors were OK with it,” she says. “And yes, a small percentage of authors had strong opinions, and we respect this and didn’t include them.” Tracking down other authors or heirs involved extensive digging and research. Chiarcos says Springer also used multiple channels to get the word out to authors so as many titles as possible will be included in SBA.
Springer’s long publishing history with 50 different imprints and related mergers and acquisitions over the years also made it difficult to determine what titles actually belonged to Springer, says Chiarcos. Legacy imprints acquired by Springer include Vieweg, Teubner, Birkhaüser Boston and Plenum, and others. “Many of these books were published in an analog age when some records have since disappeared,” she says. So that meant the Springer team spent time doing additional research and tracking MARC data, along with text and data mining.
To access some titles that weren’t in its own archives, Springer collaborated with the German National Library. The library shared some of its books in exchange for help with the library’s ongoing digitization initiatives. Once Springer and the German National Library worked out an agreement, Chiarcos says Springer brought in its team and equipment, worked alongside the library staff, and shared Springer’s best practices in the digitization process.
Chiarcos points to the value of keeping such titles in this archive alive. Among some of the treasures in the collection are Rudolph Diesel’s work on the diesel engine, Niels Bohr’s Über den Bau der Atome, and the first book by Alvin E. Roth, the 2012 Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences. After Roth won the Nobel Prize, Chiarcos says Springer received many requests to have his 1979 book translated into multiple languages. However, the book had since been out of print. SBA made it possible to gain access to the book and bring the title back into circulation.
In fact, the accomplished works of more than 200 Nobel Prize winners are now part of SBA to ensure that such seminal works are not lost over time, says Chiarcos. For the Springer product development team, the victories come in all sizes: “During our work on the project, we came to realize that great minds don’t go out of print; they go online.” | <urn:uuid:0befe4be-fe9e-4721-a8ba-51311497b699> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/Springer-Book-Archives-Makes-Its-Debut-87385.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952809 | 1,533 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Daily Mail, UK - Young people's unprecedented level of self-infatuation was revealed in a new analysis of the American Freshman Survey, which has been asking students to rate themselves compared to their peers since 1966.
Roughly 9 million young people have taken the survey over the last 47 years.
Pyschologist Jean Twenge and her colleagues compiled the data and found that over the last four decades there's been a dramatic rise in the number of students who describe themselves as being 'above average' in the areas of academic ability, drive to achieve, mathematical ability, and self-confidence.
But in appraising the traits that are considered less invidualistic - co-operativeness, understanding others, and spirituality - the numbers either stayed at slightly decreased over the same period.
Researchers also found a disconnect between the student's opinions of themselves and actual ability.
While students are much more likely to call themselves gifted in writing abilities, objective test scores actually show that their writing abilities are far less than those of their 1960s counterparts.
Also on the decline is the amount of time spent studying, with little more than a third of students saying they study for six or more hours a week compared to almost half of all students claiming the same in the late 1980s.
Twenge is the author of a separate study showing a 30 per cent increase towards narcissism in students since 1979. | <urn:uuid:8f2d1f4e-74ee-4c02-84e4-91b1ccb00f60> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prorevnews.blogspot.com/2013/01/survey-young-people-see-themselves.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971561 | 286 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Prof. Kathy Yelick Named New Director for DOE’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
Media contact: Jon Bashor, firstname.lastname@example.org, 510-486-5849
October 29, 2007
BERKELEY, Calif.—Kathy Yelick, a professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley and an internationally recognized expert in developing methods to advance the use of supercomputers, has been named director of the Department of Energy’s National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC).
NERSC is DOE’s flagship computing center for unclassified research and is managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The center provides state-of-the-art supercomputing and data storage resources to more than 2,600 researchers at universities and research institutions around the world.
Yelick has received a number of research and teaching awards and is the author or co-author of two books and more than 75 refereed technical papers. She earned her Ph.D. in computer science from MIT and has been a professor at UC Berkeley since 1991 with a joint research appointment at Berkeley Lab since 1996.
“We are truly delighted to have Kathy serve as the next director of NERSC, and only the fifth director since the center was established in 1974,” said Berkeley Lab Director Steven Chu. “Her experience and expertise in advancing the state of high performance computing make her the perfect choice to maintain NERSC’s leadership position among the world’s supercomputing centers.”
Yelick will officially assume her new job in January 2008. Yelick, who has been head of the Future Technologies Group at Berkeley Lab since 2005, succeeds Horst Simon as head of NERSC. Simon, who has led NERSC since 1996, will continue to serve as Berkeley Lab’s Associate Director for Computing Sciences and Director of the Computational Research Division.
“When Horst Simon announced that he wanted to relinquish the leadership of NERSC, we knew he would be a tough act to follow,” said Michael Strayer, head of DOE’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, which funds NERSC. “But with the selection of Kathy Yelick as the next director, I believe that NERSC will continue to build upon its success in advancing scientific discovery through computation. We are extremely happy to have her take on this role.”
In 2006, Yelick was named one of 16 “People to Watch in 2006” by the newsletter HPCwire. The editors noted that “Her multi-faceted research goal is to develop techniques for obtaining high performance on a wide range of computational platforms, all while easing the programming effort required to achieve high performance. Her current work has shown that global address space languages like UPC and Titanium offer serious opportunities in both productivity and performance, and that these languages can be ubiquitous on parallel machines without excessive investments in compiler technology.”
In addition to high performance languages, Yelick has worked on parallel algorithms, numerical libraries, computer architecture, communication libraries, and I/O systems. Her work on numerical libraries includes self-tuning libraries which automatically adapt the code to machine properties. She is also a consumer of parallel systems, having worked directly with interdisciplinary teams on application scaling, and her own applications work includes parallelization of a CFD model for blood flow in the heart. She is involved in a National Research Council study investigating the impact of the multicore revolution across computing domains, and was a co-author of a Berkeley study on this subject known as the “Berkeley View.” Yelick speaks extensively on her research, with over 15 invited talks and keynote speeches over the past three years.
“After working on projects aimed at making HPC systems easier to use, I’m looking forward to helping NERSC’s scientific users make the most effective use of our resources,” Yelick said. “NERSC has a strong track record in providing critical computing support for a number of scientific breakthroughs and building on those successes makes this an exciting opportunity.”
Click here for an overview of Yelick's research, or see her UC Berkeley home page.
The NERSC Center currently serves more than 2,600 scientists at national laboratories and universities across the country researching problems in combustion, climate modeling, fusion energy, materials science, physics, chemistry and computational biology. Established in 1974, the NERSC Center has long been a leader in providing systems, services and expertise to advance computational science throughout the DOE research community. NERSC is managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for DOE. For more information about the NERSC Center, go to http://www.nersc.gov/.
Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of California. Visit our website at http://www.lbl.gov. | <urn:uuid:36c5954e-76ac-4aff-b5d7-0dac9a12eadc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lbl.gov/CS/Archive/news102907.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945772 | 1,036 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Did you wake up this morning wanting to know more about cherries in general and black cherries in particular? If you did, then this is for you. And, as a treat, there is a very good black cherry smoothie recipe as well.
First, the scientific name for black cherry is “Prunus serotina”. This is important because black cherries are also known by other many other names; rum cherry, mountain black cherry, wild black cherry. All these names refer to the same tree.
Nutritionally, black cherries are something of a mixed bag. They are high in sugars, low in fat, and high in fiber. They also have antioxidant properties that some like the American Dietetic Association believe help to prevent chronic diseases. Beware of canned cherries as the syrup used in packing is corn syrup based and can be very high in calories. Fresh, a cup of black cherries carries about 90 calories.
As a food, black cherries have a much more tart taste than traditional sweet cherries and are used in many food products. Uses include baked goods, jam, flavored liqueur, sodas, and frozen products like ice cream and yogurts.
Should you want to know even more about the black cherry, follow this link for a page maintained by U.S. Forest Service.
And here is the recipe. For even more nutritional value you can add a tablespoon of Chia seed to the mix. Chia won’t change the taste results of the recipe but it will add a whole range of nutritional value including heart healthy omgea-3 fatty acids. | <urn:uuid:21729ce5-e657-4e8c-8187-506d91f2437c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bestfruitsmoothies.com/black-cherry-raspberry-smoothie/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943997 | 334 | 2.28125 | 2 |
About Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, author, and has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Americans in the Twentieth Century.
For over four decades Ralph Nader has exposed problems and organized millions of citizens into more than 100 public interest groups to advocate for solutions.
His efforts have helped to create a framework of laws, regulatory agencies, and federal standards that have improved the quality of life for two generations of Americans.
His groups were instrumental in enacting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
In the past decade, Nader has dedicated himself to putting people back in charge of America’s democracy, launching three major presidential campaigns.
Because of Ralph Nader we drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments.
The Early Years
Ralph Nader was born in Winsted, Connecticut on February 27, 1934, to Rose and Nathra Nader, immigrants from Lebanon.
Ralph’s family owned and operated the Highland Arms, a restaurant and gathering place for members of their small community.
Nader and his three siblings grew up in an environment where current events and politics were discussed both around the dinner table and with customers at the family restaurant.
There, it was said, for a nickel you would get a cup of coffee and ten minutes of politics.
Taught to value social justice, Nader learned from a young age to be an active participant in the American democratic system.
To avoid a repeat of three disastrous floods in the town’s main street, Nader’s mother once famously pressed then Senator Prescott Bush during a public gathering to pledge to build a dry dam by not letting go of his handshake until he had promised to build the dam.
As Nader’s father would often say, “If you do not use your rights, you will lose your rights.”
When Nader was ten, his father asked him: “Well, Ralph, what did you learn in school today? Did you learn how to believe or did you learn how to think?”
In 1955 Ralph Nader received an AB magna cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs Princeton University, with a major in East Asian studies, which afforded him the opportunity to study Chinese and Russian.
In 1958, he received a LLB with distinction from Harvard Law School.
After a six-month spell in the Army in 1959, Ralph traveled through Latin America, Africa and Europe, where he gained first hand witness of the time’s great social struggles and interviewed world leaders as a freelance journalist.
He began practicing law in Hartford, Connecticut in 1959 and from 1961-63 he lectured on history and government at the University of Hartford.
Nader’s career as a public advocate started at the age of 31 with an article titled “The Safe Car You Can’t Buy,” which along with his subsequent book, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” documented safety defects in U.S. cars and criticized the automobile industry’s safety practices, specifically targeting the Corvair.
Helped by testimony from the CEO of General Motors that the company had hired a private detective to investigate Nader’s private life, the book became a best seller.
Nader subsequently sued GM for invasion of privacy and received $425,000 in an out-of-court settlement. He invested and used the money as a de facto philanthropic fund for his projects aimed at strengthening civil society.
Nader’s research on auto safety and his lobbying in Washington helped push Congress to pass the 1966 National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.
He also lobbied for the 1967 Wholesome Meat Act, which called for federal inspections of beef and poultry and imposed standards on slaughterhouses, the 1967 Freedom of Information Act and the 1970 Clean Air Act.
In 1969, he helped found the Center for Study of Responsive Law (CSRL), a non-profit organization staffed mostly by college, graduate and law students. Those students became known as “Nader’s Raiders” and studied and issued reports on a variety of consumer issues.
In his career as consumer advocate he founded many organizations including the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen, Clean Water Action Project, the Disability Rights Center, the Pension Rights Center, the Project for Corporate Responsibility and The Multinational Monitor (a unique monthly magazine that keeps tabs on corporate behavior internationally).
In the 1980’s, with the election of President Reagan, powerful corporate interests gathered momentum and became increasingly assertive in the pursuit of their narrow interests, throwing up roadblocks to Nader’s efforts to advance the well-being of the American people.
With the two major parties dialing for the same dollars, their differences dwindled on most major issues (single-payer healthcare, living wage, replacing fossil fuels and nuclear with many practical variants of solar power, and a foreign policy that wages peace instead of war).
After working for 40 years on behalf of the health, safety and economic well being of the American people, Nader took stock of the situation: “I don’t like citizen groups being shut out by both parties in this city — corporate occupied territory — not having a chance to improve their country.”
Never one to be stymied, Nader responded to the declining influence of civil society over elected representatives by entering the electoral arena himself, and is now on his third major presidential campaign aimed at reinvigorating America’s democracy, in the best traditions of the suffragettes, labor party, and abolitionists of the 19th and early 20th century.
When asked in 2004 if he was worried about his legacy being tarnished from the hurly burly of presidential politics, Nader responded: “Who cares about my legacy? My legacy is established. They’re not going to tear seatbelts out of cars. I look to the future. That’s the important thing.”
In an era when politicians sell us rhetoric and then sell out our principles, Nader stands out as one politician that can be counted on to never sell out.
There can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship toward 'a new birth of freedom.’ — Ralph Nader
Bollier, David. Citizen Action and Other Big Ideas: A History of Ralph
Nader and the Modern Consumer Movement.
CNN.com, America Votes 2004, Candidates Profile.
Nader, Ralph. The Seventeen Traditions.
Nader, Ralph. The Ralph Nader Reader.
Shaker, Genevieve, Ralph Nader: Ally of the American Citizen-Consumer. | <urn:uuid:fad3a1cc-3f7b-443f-9e5b-572e15f09eec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.votenader.org/about/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960172 | 1,434 | 2.421875 | 2 |
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has urged a return to “peaceful dialogue” on the Korean Peninsula in a chairman’s statement at the culmination of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“The Ministers underlined the importance of peace, security and stability on the Korean Peninsula and urged concerned parties not to take any further provocation actions,” ARF Chairman Hor Namhong of Cambodia commented in the statement, which covered a wide range of Asian and global issues.
The statement also expressed ASEAN’s wish for “all parties concerned to explore all possibilities to engage in peaceful dialogue which would lead to the creation of an atmosphere of trust and confidence among the concerned parties."
While seeking to avoid taking sides, it also urged countries involved to “comply with their respective obligations under the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions and their commitment under the 2005 Six-Party Talks Joint Statement.”
Hor Namhong, who is also Cambodia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, visited North Korea in June 2012 as a representative of ASEAN. After the visit, he reported to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that North Korea is open to re-establishing the Six-Party Talks on its nuclear program without pre-conditions. North Korea pulled out of the Six-Party Talks in April 2009.
Advertisements, links with an http address and inappropriate language will be deleted. | <urn:uuid:19073717-ca87-471b-ab29-03fe80e680d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=9513 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946141 | 305 | 1.625 | 2 |
Intercultural Trust project
UCD's Intercultural Trust Project contrasts the importance of trust in business dealings in Ireland with those in China. Professor Cathal Brugha from the School of Business at UCD and his colleague Dr Rong Du from China, are involved in this study and join us to explain the concept.
Read details on the CMSS Intercultural Trust Project at http://mis.ucd.ie/research/InterCulturalTrust
RTE's radio programme Spectrum investigates Ireland's response to its changing ethnic and cultural makeup. Through debate, comment and analysis of the international context, Spectrum explores how Ireland is coping with its new multiculturalism. The programme is presented by the former South African ambassador to Ireland, Melanie Verwoerd. | <urn:uuid:8dd49d69-aecd-431f-9e29-1e949bbc9ddf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mis.ucd.ie/news/CathalBrughaSpectrum | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916993 | 150 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Most Active Stories
- Mystery man revealed : The daredevil behind the lens
- Skagit Valley eatery goes for the laughs to attract business
- Watch: Seattle Public Library tries to break record for longest book-domino chain
- North Cascades Nat'l Park named one of 10 'hidden gems' in U.S.
- Epiphany! Make an iceberg-blue cheese layer cake
News & Music Contributors
One month left for comments on spotted owl recovery plan
One of the northwest’s most controversial birds is still ruffling feathers. The elusive spotted owl was at the heart of the timber wars here in the 1990s. Some scientists are criticizing the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan to log some of the bird’s habitat.
The American Bird Conservancy has joined forces with two groups of scientists: the Society for Conservation Biology and the Wildlife Society. With one month to go on finalization of draft rules outlining how to manage critical habitat for the northern spotted owl, they’re crying foul.
Senior policy advisor Steve Holmer says the provision to “actively manage” habitat is a loophole that could allow logging in places where old-growth forest is supposed to regenerate.
“...where you’d have a chance for the large blocks to get formed again, and basically allow for some of the forest to re-grow," Holmer says. "We’re concerned now that they’re trying to go back on some of those promises and go back and cut in some of those forests that right now are protected.”
Fish and Wildlife’s Paul Henson says the service shares the concern for the spotted owl. But he says global warming has made it necessary to manage increasingly dry forests, to keep habitat from falling victim to wild fires. And he says the current rules still double the habitat set asides for the spotted owl.
“So Overall this is a tremendous improvement from what was previously allowed and what was the status quo, from a conservation perspective," Henson says. "And in fact that’s why on the other extreme from American Bird Conservancy is the timber industry and some of the towns and counties and local communities have concerns about additional restrictions on timber harvest, that’s why they’re so upset."
This controversy is taking place in a politically charged atmosphere. Environmental groups and logging interests alike are concerned about the potential for extreme change on the federal level, with the possibility of new players interpreting the Northwest forest plan. The rule at the heart of this becomes final on November 15th.
NW Forest Plan | <urn:uuid:22dbeadb-c20b-4af8-8e3d-ecf28841e76f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kplu.org/post/one-month-left-comments-spotted-owl-recovery-plan?ft=1&f=161298767,161675075,162212097,162490942,162516331,162636349,163383584,163434385,163611649,164061584,164947089,165462714,166028213,166196249,166863680 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942471 | 540 | 2.390625 | 2 |
All children at Jack & Jill are screened with several different tools within the first 45 days of their arrival. Infants and one- and two-year olds are assessed with Brigance, DECA, and the Creative Curriculum Assessments. These assessment tools are administered twice more throughout the year and are focused on fine and gross-motor skills, expressive and receptive language, self help, and social-emotional skills. Our children are observed as they grow to make sure that they are developmentally on track.
Our preschoolers are assessed for their readiness for kindergarten not only by our staff, but by students from Nova Southeastern University. We are in the last year of a grant from Broward County to promote early literacy, called the Early Reading First Grant. The focus of these assessments is pre-reading skills such as recognition of upper and lower case letters, phonemic awareness, expressive and receptive language, and number and color recognition. | <urn:uuid:86e2cdee-bc46-4843-81c8-ec3e815a13a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jackandjillcenter.org/developmental-screenings | 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 | 0.970582 | 191 | 2.515625 | 3 |
|First snow with hard freeze ends beauty—spurs on harvest|
Following snow both days, the temperature plummeted Thursday and Friday nights, taking care of most fall flowers and other beautiful foliage (above). Although corn harvest was well underway a week ago (which was nearly three weeks ahead of normal) the freeze was welcomed by farmers who could then shift into high gear. Jim Kemling (right) was harvesting a couple miles east and one south of Grant on Oct. 2 during mild weather. The snow and severe dip in temperatures aided in drying it down quickly. Harvest of high moisture corn that was being sold to area feedlots began in late August. Because of the hot, dry summer, most dryland corn was used for cattle feed. It’s predicted corn harvest will be close to wrapping up around Nov. 1, with yields averaging 180-220 bushels per acre and test weights averaging in the mid 50s. | <urn:uuid:5f9e162d-dd7a-4ef3-b019-6429c3377b30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://granttribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7163:first-snow-with-hard-freeze-ends-beautyspurs-on-harvest&catid=57:featured-articles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970623 | 189 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Tire siping is a process in which thousands of razor-thin slits are cut into a tire tread. New tires often include sipes in their design, but some tire dealers also offer to put these slices in customers’ tires on demand.
Why? The answer is simple: because siping can improve a tire’s traction in snow and ice, giving all-season tires the bite of severe snow-service tires and allowing high-performance tires to go from free-spinning to the level of all-season tires. Siping is especially popular in snowy regions where consumers may choose this option as a much less costly alternative to buying a new set of snow or winter tires for their vehicles.
Siping increases the number of edges that a tire has to bite into snow. Tests conducted by the National Safety Council showed a 64% increase in breakaway traction and an increase of 28% spinning traction on ice with siped tires compared to unsiped tires. In stopping distance tests, the reduction was from 200 feet to 155.6 feet a 22% improvement, according to the study.
While opponents admit siping enhances traction on snow and ice, they note the process makes the tread squirm more, decreasing performance on dry pavement and increasing wear. By making the tread more flexible, siping increases rolling resistance, thus reducing gas mileage. It also results in more road noise.
Opponents argue that actual winter tires designed to stay flexible at low temperatures are better than siped all-seasons.
A professional, shop-grade siping machine designed for passenger car and light truck tires costs over $5,000 and requires factory training, included with delivery. Could siping be a profit center for your shop? Maybe, if you live in the Snow Belt.
One siping machine manufacturer says the process takes only 3 to 4 minutes per tire to perform. Nearly any type of tire can be siped new, retreaded or used as long as the tire has at least 5/32nds of tread left.
Available adapters allow the company’s machines to fit mounted tire/wheel assemblies from 12 to 24.5 inches in diameter.
Another of the maker’s siping machines includes 12 cutting blades, along with four lead screws for siping depths of 5/32nds, 7/32nds, 9/32nds and 11/32nds; a file; and a wrench for switching lead screws.
Not all tires can be siped, but a consumer with aggressive mud tires advocates getting them siped for added winter ice traction. On an Internet forum, he wrote, “If your tire can be siped, try it. You’ll probably like it, and if not, it’s not a very expensive lesson to learn.” | <urn:uuid:9afd88ca-bb33-4df8-a2f9-fba071c73118> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tirereview.com/Article/82425/explore_tire_siping_for_added_opportunities.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95596 | 576 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Recording Studio Basics
New Date! 4 spaces available!
RECORDING STUDIO BASICS
A workshop to help you make your home recordings sound better.Would you like to see what it’s like to work in a professional recording studio? Do you want to make your home recordings sound better? Do you need tips on setting up your studio at home to maximize your settings and listening environment? Do your mixes at home sound good but need that little something extra to make them shine? Would you like to learn about acoustics, room treatments and listening or performance spaces?
Join us for this valuable class to learn the ART of studio techniques.
We will be performing a live recording session to show you some tips and techniques that we use when working in our professional studio environment. Learn how to use microphone placement to enhance your sound as well as specific mixing techniques to make your recordings come alive.
Topics that will be discussed during our class will be:
*Microphone basics and microphone placement *Signal chains and signal flow *Outboard processing *Editing *Tracking/Mixing/Mastering …and many other tips to bring your recordings to the next level.
This class is limited to 6 and registration is on a first come first served basis. Be sure to register in advance to save you spot.
Be the first to register and receive a FREE T-shirt compliments of Supreme Sound Studio.
Make your music shine! Come to our workshop with questions and leave with a better understanding of recording studio technology.
Our recording engineer and class instructor has over 20 years of experience working with bands and artists and is currently a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences – The Grammys. | <urn:uuid:009d49c6-4256-4c65-a0fb-fc2683433cf8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://supremesoundstudio.com/workshops-and-camps/recording-studio-basics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931801 | 349 | 1.71875 | 2 |
BFPET Phase II Trials Commence
By Brian Marckx, CFA
FluoroPharma (OTC BB:FPMI) announced today that Phase II trials for its novel imaging agent BFPET have now commenced and are being conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital. This is commensurate with the timelines that the company previously outlined.
BFPET is a novel blood flow imaging agent being developed for use in conjunction with stress-testing for the detection of ischemic (reversibly damaged) and infarcted (irreversibly damaged) tissue within the myocardium in patients with suspected or proven chronic CAD. BFPET, a Flourine-18 labeled tracer, has been designed to enter the myocardial cells of the heart muscle in direct proportion to blood flow and membrane potential - which are the two most important physiological indicators of adequate blood supply to the heart. BFPET has been designed to effectively differentiate among those cells of the myocardium that are ischemic, infarcted and those that are healthy. Because ischemic and infarcted cells take up significantly less BFPET than normal healthy myocardial cells, the signal emitted by BFPET is inversely proportional to the extent of myocardial injury. Therefore, as a result of BFPET’s use, FluoroPharma believes ischemic heart tissue can be more reliably detected using BFPET. BFPET is expected to primarily be used in conjunction with stress-testing for patients with suspected or proven chronic CAD. If approved, BFPET will represent the first molecular imaging blood flow agent commercialized for use in the cardiovascular segment of the PET imaging market.
Phase I trials (used to assess safety / tolerability, distribution and dosimetry) consisted of 12 healthy individuals which were injected with one dose of BFPET while at rest (i.e. - not stressed-tested). Results, announced in July 2008, showed a favorable profile on all categories (safety, distribution, dosimetry) and no adverse events were experienced.
In late July 2012 FlouroPharma announced that quality of the initial images using BFPET in a 20-patient (with coronary artery disease) investigator-led stress perfusion imaging study conducted at a hospital in Beijing China were "spectacular" and "superb". This study is similar in the design of the now commenced phase II study where BFPET will be compared to Rb-82 and/or traditional SPECT agents such as sestamibi which suffer from certain drawbacks such as high cost or comparably (relative to BFPET) lower image quality.
We cover FPMI with an Outperform rating and $2.35/share price target. Our full 20-page report on the company which includes a detailed description of FPMI's novel cardiac tracer agents including BFPET and their respective potential competitive advantages and market opportunities can be viewed here.
For additional research on small-cap stocks, please visit scr.zacks.com.
To become a subscriber to Zacks SCR and receive SCR blogs and research reports emailed directly to your inbox, please visit our Subscribe page. | <urn:uuid:37927dfe-6593-4d94-9288-1446d837b2cf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://finance.townhall.com/ticker/zacksinvestmentresearch/2013/1/3/bfpet-phase-ii-trials-commence--analyst-blog-n1478492 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946528 | 661 | 1.515625 | 2 |
About the Convention
The basic purpose of the Convention is to:
- Increase understanding of how the National Assembly works at the moment;
- Ask you what you think about the National Assembly for Wales having more law-making powers;
- Report back to the Welsh Assembly Government at the end of the debate.
A more detailed list of the Convention's aims are available on our 'Objectives' page.
Who are the convention?
This section of pages tells you about the Executive Committee, the Chair of that Committee and the people working day to day for the convention.
Everyone involved in the Convention is eager to hear your contribution. Read the facts and arguments in Get informed. Afterwards, contribute to the debate in a variety of ways in Get engaged. | <urn:uuid:ae58304b-2b2c-459b-b45d-361adae06f86> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://allwalesconvention.org/about/?cr=3&lang=en&ts=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928413 | 154 | 1.804688 | 2 |
World Trade Center Health Program Adds Cancer Coverage for 9/11 Victims
NIOSH adds cancers to the list of illnesses resulting from the 2001 terrorist attacks covered by the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.
Several types of cancer have been added to a list of ailments covered by a government program benefitting first-responders and survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The final rule, issued on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, now incorporates around 50 types of cancer.
Dr. John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, first proposed the addition of cancer to illnesses covered by the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in June, making the ruling official on Monday.
Initially, cancer was excluded from the list of illnesses covered by the $4.3 billion fund because there was not enough scientific evidence to prove that cancer was a medical condition resulting from exposure to dust, debris, and toxins at Ground Zero in the days after the attack. Now, however, after further review and input from various scientific organizations and trade unions, Howard's proposition has been approved.
According to the rule, of those enrolled to receive funds under this act, the cancer rate is 21 percent higher than the national average. About 60,000 people are covered by the act, including police offices, firefighters, cleanup crews, and eligible survivors of the attack. The rule will be effective 30 days after its Sept. 12 publication in the Federal Register.
There has been discussion among lawmakers to increase funding for those qualified for the act, now that cancer has been added. Funds not only cover medical bills, but low wage compensation, as well. A full list of cancers covered and the text of the rule can be found here.
Sheila Birnbaum, special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, released this statement on the NIOSH final rule Sept. 10: "As previously stated, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (VCF) will follow the medical analyses conducted by the doctors and scientists at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) who operate the World Trade Center Health Program (Health Program). Individuals who have been diagnosed with one of the cancers added by the Health Program today will be eligible for compensation from the VCF provided the cancer is determined to be a result of the September 11th attacks under the standards to be developed by the Health Program and provided they meet the VCF's other eligibility criteria. These criteria include proving physical presence at one of the crash sites between September 11, 2001 and May 30, 2002, a specific medical condition that is a direct result of the terrorist-related crashes or the debris removal at the crash sites, and a physical injury treated by a medical professional within a reasonable time from the date the injury was discovered."
For information about VCF, visit this website. | <urn:uuid:986896c4-e6b1-4113-9240-1b89938ea8ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ohsonline.com/articles/2012/09/12/world-trade-center-health-program-adds-cancer-coverage-for-911-victims.aspx?admgarea=news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965642 | 590 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Cornell University Librarys copy of Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg
Address is one of five known copies in Lincoln's hand, and the only copy
owned by a private institution. The four other copies are owned by public
institutions: two at the Library of Congress, one at the Illinois State
Historical Library, and one in the Lincoln Room at the White House.
Cornell University Librarys copy is the only one
accompanied by a letter from Lincoln transmitting the manuscript and by
the original envelope addressed and franked by Lincoln. | <urn:uuid:da06f2f4-95ed-452a-b974-edd140e0f588> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/gettysburg/good_cause.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915066 | 113 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Poundstone: Literal translation of German Pfundstein, probably a metonymic occupational name for a weighing official or a merchant who used stones as weights (definition from http://genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/poundstone)
My Poundstone line begins with my paternal grandmother, Ruby Pearl Poundstone. She was born in Cerro Gordo, Piatt, Illinois. Her father, Ora Pearl Poundstone, was born in Young America, Cass, Indiana and died in Bement, Piatt, Illinois. Ora's father, Richard Poundstone born in 1838 in Bowling Greene, Licking, Ohio and died in Bement, Piatt, Illinois. Richard's father, John Nicholas Poundstone, was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and died in Young America, Cass, Indiana.John N. Poundstone's father, Phillip Poundstone began life in Pennsylvania and died in Licking County, Ohio. Richard Poundstone, born in 1724 in Germany is the earliest known Poundstone in my line. He died and raised his family in Pennsylvania. My line is fairly well documented through John Nicholas Poundstone. Research is needed to verify Phillip and Richard Poundstone. | <urn:uuid:c09a2f5f-deca-4a1a-87ca-3f560e6be9d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thegenealogysearch.blogspot.com/2010/03/surname-saturday.html?showComment=1269749187066 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973032 | 248 | 2.375 | 2 |
* Was village president
* Started the first library in Lombard
* Donated 3,000
books to the Plum Library
15 W. Maple Street
This" Prairie School" design house was built in 1905. Frank Lloyd Wright was the architect who made the "Prairie School" design famous. This type of house has horizontal lines. The houses are decorated in blues and browns that blend in with nature's own colors.
man who owned the house, Josiah Reade, was an important man in Lombard's
history. He was the second man to be village president. Josiah
Reade also began the first public library in Lombard. He had a large
collection of books and wanted to share them with the townspeople.
As a result, Josiah Reade started using a room at the First
Church of Lombard to set up a library. Each week, Mr. Reade
Colonel Plum donated his house as a library, Mr. Reade's collection of
3,000 books was moved across the street to the Helen Plum Memorial Library.
Josiah Reade died in 1929 at the age of 99. When he died, the
bell at the church, which had housed his library, was rung 99 times. | <urn:uuid:7bd97b36-1cd5-46c3-9cf2-dc50926151d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://plum.lib.il.us/lombardhistory/josiahreadehouse.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980899 | 263 | 2.578125 | 3 |
June 11 2009
Policy Brief #22: Keep Uncle Sam Away from Toddlers:The Case Against Government Funding for Preschool
Carrie L. Lukas
The President has suggested that greater federal government support for early childhood education is an important component of improving educational opportunities in the United States and would be an investment in our human capital. Yet there is little evidence to support the case for greater federal involvement in preschool.
While policymakers assume that an investment in public preschool will lead to improved student outcomes, the research on the effects of preschool is far from conclusive. Some studies have linked preschool attendance with short-term gains in student test scores and other education-related outcomes, but those improvements fade over time. Additionally, most studies that have found significant gains associated with preschool have focused on lower-income or at-risk student populations. There is no reason to think that such gains would also occur among the general student population, which is the target of most "universal" preschool proposals. Still, other studies have linked increased time in preschool with negative social behavior, which would suggest that encouraging greater use of preschool could contribute to as many problems as it solves.
Depending on how programs are structured, government preschool programs could encourage parents to switch from private preschool providers to subsidized public programs. The often dismal record of our public school system in providing children with a quality education in kindergarten through 12th grade should caution policymakers about the potential quality of public programs for three- and four-year-olds.
It's also worth noting that there is nothing in the Constitution that would suggest that providing early educational opportunities is a proper use of federal power. The care and education of children, particularly children as young as three and four, should the responsibility of parents, not Uncle Sam. | <urn:uuid:eb121cdd-dece-4f9b-ad3c-880713a5c9c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iwf.org/publications/2432944/Policy-Brief- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973974 | 353 | 2.78125 | 3 |
October 25, 2010
Statement from the American Academy of Ophthalmology regarding “Poppers” and Potential Retinal Damage
A letter by French ophthalmologists, published in the October 14, 2010 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, described eye and vision damage related to the use of "poppers." The American Academy of Ophthalmology urges the public to avoid the use of such drugs. "Poppers" refers to a group of chemicals known alkyl nitrites, used recreationally to induce quick intoxication and/or enhance sexual pleasure.
In their letter the ophthalmologists reported damage to the retina and resulting vision problems in several patients following their use of poppers at parties; in some cases the damage persisted for months. Nitric oxide, a component of poppers, may cause the damage by effecting retinal photoreceptor function and metabolism. The authors said that even a single dose of poppers may have a lasting impact on the retina, the part of the eye that is essential to clear, detailed, central vision.
There are no conclusive studies on the short- and long-term effects of poppers. People can protect their vision by avoiding these drugs.
Reproducing text or images from this website is strictly prohibited by US and international copyright law. You may link from your website to any pages on this website. | <urn:uuid:2031fe98-8e49-4394-b856-76b613ca8bde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eyecareamerica.org/eyesmart/eye-health-news/alerts/20101025.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935607 | 278 | 2.109375 | 2 |
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. -- Harpers Ferry will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the completion of the Appalachian Trail this weekend with a parade, music and workshops on everything from hiking to wildflowers.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy, National Park Service and Friends of the Appalachian Trail are hosting the event Saturday and Sunday.
Speakers include author Leonard Adkins, who has hiked its entire length five times, and Lucy Seeds, daughter of the first solo female thru-hiker. Other programs include tips for female hikers, a thru-hiking workshop, a photographic tour of the trail and night sky astronomy.
Children's activities include a mini-hike and climbing wall.
Guided hikes ranging from moderate to strenuous will be offered Sunday.
The trail stretches nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine and was completed Aug. 14, 1937. | <urn:uuid:4796f79e-95b8-457b-ba2b-a6218c92f758> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201208080029 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941128 | 181 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Apollo 13 was launched at 1:13 p.m. CST April 17, 1970. NASA selected Navy Capt. James Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert on the fifth space shot to the moon. Early on the third day and some 200,000 miles from home, Apollo 13 was rocked by a terrific explosion. Quickly the power began fading out as lighted instrument panels faded and the air got thinner as oxygen leaked out of the larger module space craft. | <urn:uuid:67c08444-07f8-47e3-bffe-3e3d3c7ddde4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.northsidesun.com/content/legendary-heroes?cookie_check=1&quicktabs_1=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946766 | 97 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Maladaptive Reuse: Post-Housing in Detroit
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
The rapid decrease in Detroit’s population after World War II has yielded, among other things, the widespread abandonment of the single-family homes that comprise the primary form of residence in the city. Thus, as Detroit’s population fell by half between 1950 and 2000, around 12,000 homes were abandoned, representing approximately one-third of the city’s housing stock. City governments from the 1970s to the present have seen these abandoned homes as signs of blight and thereby targeted them for demolition; at the same time, however, some artists and architects have posited these homes as resources for the staging of alternative readings and visions of the city.
In this paper, I will review three post-2000 projects that have appropriated abandoned homes as sites or resources for re-design—Detroit Demolition Disneyland, in which a series of abandoned homes were clandestinely painted bright orange and converted into public art; Fire Break, in which a community design center partnered with neighborhood groups to re-purpose abandoned homes in accord with new civic desires; and the Full Scale Design Lab, in which an abandoned home was converted into a platform for architectural experimentation. These projects each comprise an example of “maladaptive reuse”: a reuse of architecture that did not suture abandoned architecture back into the city and into teleological notions of progress and development as much as it posed architecture as urban critique, enclave, or laboratory. Differentiating these projects according to their disciplinary locations and postulations of the city, the public and desirable urban futures, I will also pose them as examples of an “architecture of austerity.” As such, these projects apprehend architecture as a stage to foreground political, social or cultural possibilities that emerge in weak-market urbanism, in particular those related to a reconstituted right to the city. | <urn:uuid:5437358a-3e9f-44d6-ae6b-d32a1665f99f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sah.conference-services.net/reports/template/onetextabstract.xml?xsl=template/onetextabstract.xsl&conferenceID=2607&abstractID=543714 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964407 | 394 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Expert on History of Jewish Women at OBU Next Week
April 3, 2002
Jewish scholar Judith Baskin will spend two days at Oklahoma Baptist University discussing the role of women in the Jewish community as part of the university's annual Schusterman Lecture in Jewish History and Tradition, April 11-12.
Dr. Baskin, director of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies and professor of religious studies at the University of Oregon, is OBU's third Schusterman lecturer.
She will address the representations of women in Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism during the 7 p.m. lecture April 11, in the university's Geiger Center.
Baskin will be available for discussion during a reception immediately following the lecture. She also will host a student dialogue session at 10 a.m. April 12, in the Geiger Center.
A prolific writer and researcher, Baskin is internationally known for her research, writings, and teachings in Jewish history. She has had more than seven books and 50 articles published. Often focusing on women in Jewish history, she has been the featured speaker at numerous academic conferences and events.
Prior to her position at the University of Oregon, Baskin taught in the department of Judaic studies at the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Baskin also was visiting professor at Yale University.
Baskin earned an undergraduate degree from Antioch College, after spending a year at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She holds a Ph.D. degree in medieval studies from Yale.
She has served in a variety of functions in the Association for Jewish Studies, including vice president for programs and as a member of the board of directors. She also was co-chair of the group's women's caucus.
In 1995, Baskin was named Collins Fellow at SUNY at Albany, for outstanding service to the university. She was awarded the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching by the same university in 1993.
OBU's Schusterman Lectureship in Jewish Religious History and Tradition is intended to foster an understanding and appreciation of Jewish culture and tradition among OBU students and faculty, and to cultivate awareness of Jewish contributions to religious, ethical and philosophical thought.
OBU has about 300 students majoring in religion, philosophy and applied ministry, and more than 75 students minoring in one of these areas. The lecture is designed to acquaint these students with respected Jewish scholars and scholarship and to enhance the quality of the University's various courses in Old Testament studies.
The Schusterman Lectureship is made possible by a grant from the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation of Tulsa, a philanthropic organization that funds programs enhancing Jewish life in the United States, Israel and the former Soviet Union. The Foundation also supports Oklahoma-based non-sectarian charitable groups that focus on education, children and community service, including National Conference for Community Justice, Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries, and the Tulsa County Library.
Lynn Schusterman is president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. Charles Schusterman, who passed away in December 2000, was the chairman of Samson Investment Co., the largest independent gas producer headquartered in Oklahoma. The Schustermans have received many awards for their philanthropic activities, including the 1999 Global Vision award from the Tulsa Global Alliance, and the Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community Justice in 1998. In 2000 both Lynn and Charles were inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame and Charles was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
Mrs. Schusterman lives in Tulsa. She has three children and six granddaughters. | <urn:uuid:38eef5da-843d-49a6-a146-4166ef858155> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.okbu.edu/news/2002-04-03/expert-on-history-of-jewish-women-at-obu-next-week | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96577 | 747 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Date of this Version
High quality silicon nanowires (SiNWs) were synthesized via a thermal evaporation method without the use of catalysts. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy showed that SiNWs were long and straight crystalline silicon with an oxide sheath. Field effect transistors (FETs) were fabricated to investigate the electrical transport properties. Devices on as-grown material were p-channel with channel mobilities 1 - 10 cm2 V-1 s-1. Post-growth vapor doping with bismuth converted these to n-channel behavior.
Date Posted: 29 March 2006
This document has been peer reviewed. | <urn:uuid:b9d297f8-8ba9-443a-8667-94522f0e7796> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://repository.upenn.edu/mse_papers/81/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927393 | 137 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Intifada reduces Saudi demand for American products
Local economists have revealed that the demand for American products in Saudi Arabia had declined by 20-25 percent since the beginning of Intifadat Al-Aksa, reported Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
Several campaigns were recently organized in Saudi Arabia, calling for the boycotting of American products and merchandise. The American fast food restaurants in Saudi Arabia were largely affected by the embargo campaigns, with the sales of these restaurants collapsing by nearly 64 percent in the past two months.
Nevertheless, several market sources have related a certain portion of this decline in sales to the Holy Month of Ramadan, a month in which the fast food sales usually decline. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com) | <urn:uuid:537fc392-d292-41cb-8736-e99b4f259449> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.albawaba.com/business/intifada-reduces-saudi-demand-american-products | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95535 | 169 | 1.625 | 2 |
Solar Panels Don’t Work
As one solar company after another goes out of business, here is what investors do not know and promoters will not tell you: Solar panels do not work that well.
Sometimes not at all. But for several years, most solar systems, big and small, were so heavily subsidized, they were practically free. So lots of people did not really care.
Not enough to check the output of their systems. The few who did often had a big surprise.
Shares of First Solar (FSLR) recently took a 10% hit on one day after the company told investors its panels made in 2008-2009 had problems. Here is how the stock has performed over the years:
As we shall see.
Solar systems fail in a lot of different ways. Let’s look at three.
Dirt is No. 1. Google was among the first to figure this out, maybe because Google was among the first to do a large-scale solar array.
Unlike the owners of most solar systems, Google was eager to learn about how its system performed. Six months after installing its system, Google learned it was only getting about half of the power it expected.
That was the first shock.
The second was realizing that a large solar array was not just one system, but thousands. Each panel a mini-power plant. And the only way to figure out if the individual panels were working was to test each one.
There go your solar savings.
The gang at Google figured out that the farmer next door had plowed a field, kicking up the dirt, knocking down its power. Solar panels have to be cleaned, sometimes often.
And the place where they need the most cleaning is where solar panels work the best: The desert. But that is where water is scarce and expensive.
There go your solar savings.
Lousy panels are No. 2. Remember Solyndra? Before its well-publicized collapse, Solyndra was well known for its tube-shaped products that were supposed to collect solar power directly from above, and indirectly, reflected from below.
In all the stories about Solyndra, no one talked about how shadows from the tubes cut down on the power.
They found out the hard way in Livermore, Calif. There a movie theater got a lot of attention for installing a roof top solar array — first of its kind when it was installed in 2009. A year later, technicians found out the system was producing 25% less power than projected.
The movie theater had no idea. I’m not sure they ever found out.
The only laboratory that ever tested the actual performance of Solyndra products figured it out. But it was in Germany and did not receive much attention. Said one energy web site:
the report claims the Solyndra module’s shadow blocked most if not all of the sunlight before hitting the reflector foil installed below the module, allowing only a small portion of reflected sunlight to hit the backside of the module.
This is the same place where 100 reporters covered President Obama’s visit there in 2010, and not one took a moment to figure out why Solyndra’s auditors said the company was “not a going concern.”
Like First Solar’s panels, how would you know? You don’t.
No. 3 is this: The darn things don’t work — at all. In San Diego, the local Space theater and museum asked some people to check its panels. As usual, they were installed with lots of fanfare.
But one year later, they were surprised that squirrels and trees had reduced their solar output to zero.
A public utility in a southern state had the same experience. A solar company wanted to field test a new energy product, and the engineers at the utility said they could test it on their system.
Soon, 10 engineers were tromping around the roof of the utility’s headquarters, looking for best place to hook up their device.
“These panels don’t work,” said one of the engineers with the new product. “There is no power coming out of these panels.”
Engineers for the utility said “Your instruments are wrong. We are sure the panels work.”
So the utility’s engineers checked with their instruments.
Sure enough: Nothing.
These stories go on and on and on. They don’t work but no one cares because most people put them up for the publicity and marketing. Not energy. The movie theater Web site brags it has: “the second largest solar power system on the roof of a movie theatre anywhere in the world!”
The largest is on one of its other theaters.
Solar promoters consider themselves part of a political movement to save the planet. They do not tolerate naysayers.
That is why it is still so easy to find stories that say the non-performance of solar equipment “really looks like a non-story.” That is what one analyst said after First Solar’s stock recently took a 10% hit in one day after the company revealed problems with its products.
Here’s a bonus reason No. 4: Shade. A shadow on a solar array not only knocks out power to that panel, it also shuts down a wide area of panels around it.
Listen to the National Renewable Energy Laboratories: “the reduction in power from shading half of one cell is equivalent to removing a cell active area 36 times the shadow’s actual size.”
Do your own test: Ask your neighbors if they know how shadows hurt solar panels. Most do not.
Some companies install monitors on each panel. But monitor makers find that the very existence of their product is an admission of problems in that industry. And that is the last thing the True Believers want anyone to hear about. | <urn:uuid:7d80cf7f-a6dc-4857-aefc-eb4a7444c4d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://biofuelschat.com/topics/solar-panels-work-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971031 | 1,228 | 2.25 | 2 |
New Year's Day marked 150 years since Abraham Lincoln set black people free from slavery.
And there is no such thing as black people.
The first of those statements is not precisely true; a clarification will be offered momentarily. The second statement is not precisely false. And the clarification begins here:
It is a clarification needed not simply because it helps us to better understand the milestone of history we commemorated this week cq, but also because it helps us to better understand America right here in the tumultuous now. The Republican Party, to take an example not quite at random, enters the new year still nursing its wounds after an election debacle most observers laid upon its inability to sway Latinos, young voters and, yes, black people. Then there is the Trayvon Martin shooting, the mass incarceration phenomenon, the birther foolishness.
A century and a half later, in other words, race is still a story. Black people are still a story.
How can that be, if there is no such thing as black people?
Granted, most of us think otherwise. The average 18-year-old American kid, says historian Matt Wray, thinks of race "as a set of facts about who people are, which is somehow tied to blood and biology and ancestry."
But that kid is wrong. If you doubt that, try a simple challenge: Define "black people."
Maybe you think of it as African ancestry. But Africa is a place on a map - not a bloodline. And, as the example of Charlize Theron, the fair-skinned, blond actress from South Africa, amply illustrates, it is entirely possible to come from there, yet not be what we think of as "black." Indeed, Theron, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2008, is by definition an African American. Yet, she fits no one's conception of that term, either.
Or, you might define "black people" by physical appearance: i.e., people with dark skin and coarse hair. If so, consider Gregory Howard Williams, a pale-skinned American educator and author of the memoir "Life On The Color Line," who did not learn he was "black" until he was 10. Or consider Walter White, the former executive secretary of the NAACP, whose 1948 autobiography begins: "I am a Negro. My skin is white, my eyes are blue, my hair is blond." Consider the people from India who have dark skin or the ones from Asia, the Middle East or Latin America who have coarse hair.
And perhaps here, you are tempted to throw up your hands and paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who famously said of pornography that he might not be able to define it, "but I know it when I see it."
The difference is that pornography, at least, exists. But there is no such thing as black people. Or white people. Or Asians. Or Indians.
What is my point? It's simply this: Race is the stupidest idea in history.
Or, as Wray puts it, "race was a big mistake."
To which Nell Irwin Painter adds the observation that a decade of research and writing on the subject taught her "that if you try to consider race as a real thing, it makes no sense."
Wray, a Temple University professor and the author of "Not Quite White: White Trash and the Boundaries of Whiteness," and Painter, a former professor at Princeton and the author of "The History of White People," are leading lights in a burgeoning field of study whose aim is nothing less than the deconstruction of race. It seeks to answer the question of when, how, and why we ever got it into our heads there is such a thing as race; when, how, and why we decided we could divide human beings into subgroups whose members all shared similar traits and that those subgroups could be ranked, superior to inferior.
The "when," as it turns out, is pretty easy to answer, though the answer is surprising, in light of how conditioned we are to think of race as something that always was and always will be. The concept of race, says Painter, dates from about the mid-18th Century. It is less than 300 years old.
Though there were always a few people, she says, who attempted to impute character or worth from a stranger's color, it was more likely in that era for people to make those judgments based upon a stranger's religion or wealth. "So if you were a light-skinned person and you met a dark-skinned person in rags, and you weren't [in rags], you'd feel superior," says Painter. "But if you were in rags and that other person was in rags, you'd be trying to figure if that person had something that you could get."
Then came race - that which would allow one person in rags to feel superior to another person in rags. Early on, it was defined not by appearance but as a function of climate. Greek scholars believed people from places where the seasons do not change were placid. Those from places of dramatic seasonal shifts were wild and unsociable. Those from hot places were impulsive and hot-tempered. Those from cooler climes were stiff and intellectual.
Race was also defined geographically. Hippocrates, the great Greek physician, thought people who lived in low-lying areas tended to be dark-skinned, fat, cowardly, ill-spoken and lazy. Those who lived in flat, windy places would be large in stature, "but their minds will be rather unmanly and gentle." And then, there were those who decided the key to race lay in measuring the size and shape of people's skulls.
"American scientists and anthropologists get ahold of this concept by the early 1800s," says Wray. "For the whole of the 19th Century, they're refining and tweaking their models to really give scientific weight and authority to the notion that these racial differences can be empirically verified. In other words, they're out there in the world. We just have to figure out whether it's the distance between the eye sockets and the bridge of the nose, or some combination of measurements from the back of the skull to the chin divided by the circumference of the head that will give us the kind of golden ratio we're looking for - in other words, the one that will enable us to definitively say, this person is African, this person is Caucasian and so forth."
The great Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston was fascinated by this thinking. She was known to stand on New York City street corners with a pair of calipers, asking passersby for permission to measure their skulls.
In 1895, D.B. Brinton, an American anthropologist, published a complicated chart purporting to categorize all the races of humankind. He ended up with more than a hundred kinds of Caucasian alone.
Brinton and Hurston were never able to quantify race. No one was. And yet, the nation - indeed, the world - was never able to give it up. Race was, and is, too useful.
Says Wray, "It has enabled in the United States for us to justify and legitimate the conquest of Indian land and the near genocide of Native American tribes. It enabled us for such a long time to justify slavery and when we got done with that justification, when people called B.S. on that, we said, 'Well, this is how we can explain Jim Crow.' When the Civil Rights Movement happens in the 1950s and '60s, when African Americans rise up and say, 'Enough Jim Crow,' then we use it to justify mass incarceration of black Americans. We find the idea of race and inherent racial differences and the idea that some people are frankly, just better than others, to be indispensible."
It is worth remembering that when newcomers from Europe flocked to these shores in search of opportunity, they did not automatically see themselves as white. They were French, English, Scottish, Spanish or German, and far from having some identity in common, they were often in contention for the riches of this land. Whiteness was something that had to be learned and earned, particularly for those - Jews, Poles, southern Italians, Hungarians, the Irish - who were regarded as congenitally inferior. They were seen as white, says Painter, but it was a sort of defective whiteness. They were "off white" for want of a better term, and as such, a threat to American values and traditions. And they were mistreated accordingly until, over the passage of generations of assimilation, they achieved full whiteness.
University of Illinois history professor David R. Roediger recounts a telling episode in his book, "Working Toward Whiteness." It seems David, a Russian Jew, has come to America seeking refuge from anti-Semitic persecution. He arrives in Georgia and begins working with his cousins as a peddler. But soon there is a problem. His cousins complain that he is too friendly with his black customers. "The schvarters here are like we are in Russia," they explain. To treat them too well is to risk his own acceptance.
David replies that he cannot bring himself to treat the blacks as he himself was treated in Russia. "It is easy," he tells his cousin, "for you to forget how to feel and what it is like to be hurt and stepped on when you think of yourself as white today and forget what it was like being a Jew yesterday."As Jon Stewart noted recently on The Daily Show, that history is what lends a certain pungent edge to some of the post-election hand wringing among conservatives. Surely, the gods of irony laughed aloud when a television personality named O'Reilly (Bill) and a guest named Goldberg (Bernie) lamented how newcomers were changing "traditional America."
As whiteness was invented, so was blackness. When Africans were gathered on the shores of that continent to be packed into the reeking holds of slave ships for the voyage to this country, they saw themselves as Taureg, Mandinkan, Fulani, Mende or Songhay - not black. As Noel Ingnatiev, author of "How The Irish Became White," has observed, those Africans did not become slaves because they were black. They "became" black because they were enslaved.
But though blackness and whiteness were invented they still, to a remarkable degree, govern perception - and thus, destiny.
Some months ago, my wife Marilyn and I were at dinner with two other couples and somehow, we all got talking about identity. One couple, brown-skinned like Marilyn and me, saw themselves, like Marilyn and me, as black or African American. The other, fair-skinned couple, pointedly declined to define themselves as white. She said she saw herself as Jewish; he defined himself as a first-generation Polish American.
It struck me, not simply because it underlined the ultimate falsity of these identities, white and black, but also because it highlighted what has always struck me as the problematic nature of one of them in particular: white. I've often thought the word "white" had a tendency to discomfit the people to whom it is applied, to carry some hint of accusation that is no less real for being unspoken. In my experience, white people are often ill at ease with being referred to as white people.
There is, I think, a reason for that. "Black" and "white" are equally artificial, but black fairly quickly took on the contours of a real culture. The people to whom it was applied, after all, were required to live in close proximity to one another, sharing the same often-squalid circumstances, the same mistreatment and oppression, conditions that no degree of personal excellence or achievement could mitigate or help them escape. These pressures shaped them, drew them together.
"White," on the other hand, was held together only by the single condition of being not black, being a member of the advantaged class. It has little existence apart from that.
As illustration, try a mind experiment. If someone says to you that she enjoys black literature, what do you interpret her to be saying? Likely that she reads Ernest Gaines, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker. But what is "white literature?" What is "white music?" What is "white art?" How often, in media, does one even see "white" used - physical descriptions of crime suspects aside - where it is not positioned as a counterpoint to "black?"
This is the thing that is often misunderstood by people who try to impute some sinister double standard to things like the Miss Black America Pageant. "If there was a Miss White America Pageant," they are fond of saying, "black people would have a fit."
But there is a Miss Italia USA pageant. And a Miss German America pageant. And a Little Miss Irish Princess contest. And a Miss Russian California.
So the problem isn't black people having a fit. It is white people recognizing, if only viscerally and instinctively, that "white" is a problematic word to be avoided when possible.
What, then, do we do with this history? Where does it take us as the future dawns?
Some would say it takes us nowhere. Some would say the best thing we can do with race is leave it alone. If I had a dollar for every person who has ever told me that talking about race causes racism, or even half that much for every person who has ever told me the "hyphenated Americanism" of African Americans causes racism, I'd never have to buy another Powerball ticket in life.
But such people are looking through the wrong end of the telescope. People embrace hyphenated Americanism because no other Americanism has been available to them. And if we stopped talking about race tomorrow, racism would persist; all we would lose is the language by which we frame and confront it.
You don't end race by silence, nor do you end it by blaming it on the people it has been used against.
Again, race persists because race is useful. If you want to end race, stop allowing race to be useful. Consider some of the political debates of the recent past and note how issues with no obvious racial component soon end up being about race.
"I think you see it with health care now," says the historian, Roediger. "Very quickly, something that's kind of a fundamental human right, it'll end up being talked about as if it were a racialized entitlement. The achievement of the right in making the word 'welfare,' which means good, sound like a bad thing, is so connected with the way they can pull on race."
But Roediger does sense that a change is afoot, that perhaps the utility of race has peaked. The election, he says, showed "that this kind of Republican refrain of 'food stamp president' doesn't work quite as well when so many white people are on food stamps and know people who they know are trying to get jobs and can't get jobs."
As a result, he says, the GOP, which has, for generations been able to "take advantage of race," now faces a race problem of its own. "I think there are fewer whites who respond to these kind of dog whistle, coded appeals, partly because they have misery in their own families, partly because anti-racism has made some progress."There is no such thing as black people.
Except, of course, that there is - even if we have to use what might be dubbed the Justice Potter Stewart standard to define them.
Race is the stupidest idea in history. It is also, arguably, the most powerful. It determines who goes to jail and who goes to college, who gets loans and who gets rejections, who gets the job and who gets the unemployment check. It determines the life you live and the assumptions that are made about you.For example, Gregory Howard Williams, the man who did not know he was "black" until he was 10, once told the story of how, when he became dean of his law school, a white woman congratulated him on this well-deserved achievement. "Then," said Williams, "she found out that I was black, and her first response - not to me, but to someone else - was, 'Did he get the job because he was black?' When she looked at me and assumed I was white, she assumed that I was qualified for the job. When she discovered I was black, she assumed that I was unqualified for the job."
Then there is Walter White, the "Negro" with blond hair and blue eyes, who was, as a child, cornered in his house with his father, a mail carrier, by a white mob intent on violence. "There's where that ... (n-word) mail carrier lives!" they cried. "Let's burn it down! It's too nice for a ... (n-word) to live in!"
Back in 2000, a group of scientists announced that, after mapping the genetic codes of five people, self-identified as African American, Caucasian, Asian and Hispanic, they had been unable to tell them apart. As one researcher put it, "The concept of race has no scientific basis."
That same week, I was in New York City where I stood on 44th Street with my hand raised, watching empty cab after empty cab pass me by. The irony was pointed. Science could not define "black," but a New York City cab driver certainly could.
This is the reality to which our history delivers us, one in which these artificial designations - "black," "white," "Asian," etc. - are considered to have all these inborn markers for intelligence, criminality, athleticism, honesty, cleanliness, and we accept it without question, accept it like sunshine and air, as a thing that simply is. And it seems beyond us to look into the face of that other person who sits on the other side of that artificial designation and see reflected in his or her eyes our own tears, our own laughter, our own self.
A century and a half ago Tuesday, the first Republican president issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. Except that, as most historians will tell you, it didn't actually free anybody; it applied only to slaves in states like Florida and Mississippi, which were then in rebellion and no longer recognized U.S. authority, while ignoring those in states like Maryland and Kentucky, which remained in the Union. As the movie Lincoln shows, it actually took the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery.
But the one thing Abraham Lincoln's document did do was challenge a nation's understanding of its fundamental social order, its comprehension of the way things were and were meant to be. At a time when the very humanity of "black" people was in controversy and any suggestion that they might actually be equal to whites was met with scornful laughter, this homely country lawyer put the idea of freedom on the table and forced the nation for the very first time to grapple with that which it had previously accepted without question, like sunshine and air.
Getting the nation to think seriously about the concept of black people free was, as much as anything, a triumph of imagination.
One hundred fifty years later, getting the nation to understand that there is no such thing as black people will require a similar jolt to hidebound thinking. If and when it comes, perhaps a nation that once freed itself from slavery will finally free itself from race, as well.
Contact Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. at email@example.com | <urn:uuid:3c0d9601-4311-4f57-a51b-0544b0d501af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130105/A_OPINION0623/301050313/-1/A_OPINION02 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982749 | 4,079 | 3.171875 | 3 |
What's coming up in the future? From its heyday in the 1950s to its current resurgence, 3-D technology has gone from a cinematic gimmick to a box-office gold mine. James Cameron's Avatar, heralded for its creation of a three-dimensional fantasy world, is now the highest grossing movie ever. But do audiences really like it better than 2-D and what do they like about it? According to one researcher, the truth can be seen in their faces and eyes.
Researcher Richard Grunberg is measuring audience responses to four image formats: 4K (extreme high definition), 4K 3-D, 4K 2-D and 2K 2-D (still high definition, but with lower resolution) in order to find out how viewers react to the technical aspects of images. Grunberg says, "We're trying to analyze how people perceive the difference in formats and then quantify it. For example, do people react 20% more to an image that's shown in 4K high definition? Do they really have a greater response to 3-D images and to what degree? It
NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed. | <urn:uuid:72267c87-31e5-42c3-8b6b-09779f42ba40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/future-film | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958807 | 248 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Earl Weaver has passed away at the age of 82. Fans of baseball and the Baltimore Orioles who grew up in the 1970's and 80' s know that Weaver was one of the best. Weaver died Friday night while on a cruise, according to Monica Barlow, the team’s public relations head.
Earl had a swagger about him that you don't see in many managers today. "On my tombstone just write, ‘The sorest loser that ever lived,’ " he once said.
Weaver didn't lose much when he was in charge of the Birds. In his 17 seasons he was and still is the all-time winningest manager in Orioles history with 1,480 victories under his cap.
"Earl Weaver stands alone as the greatest manager in the history of the Orioles organization and one of the greatest in the history of baseball," Orioles owner Peter Angelos said. "This is a sad day for everyone who knew him and for all Orioles fans. Earl made his passion for the Orioles known both on and off the field. On behalf of the Orioles, I extend my condolences to his wife, Marianna, and to his family."
Weaver's run in Baltimore lasted from 1968-1982, and again in 1985-86 and his accomplishments will go down as some of the best in MLB history.
Five times in his managerial career, the Orioles won at least 100 games or more under Weaver. That is something we don't see much of in today's game.
Known on the field as "the little genius" and "the Earl of Baltimore," Weaver will be remembered as one of the greatest managers of all time. | <urn:uuid:a58b444f-33b2-4e68-b819-48eeba9eee92> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.examiner.com/article/earl-weaver-dies-legendary-baltimore-manager-dead-at-82?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990661 | 341 | 1.578125 | 2 |
October 13, 2009
Its Harvest time! The fall brings bountiful harvest and we’d like to encourage people to eat with the season. Seasonal fruits and vegetables are more likely to be on sale because they are in abundance in the fields and the grocery stores. Our local food pantries are getting a lot of dry milk to give out and are hoping that we can give people some recipes to show how to use it in the kitchen. This month we’ll be making Peanutty African Stew. We’ll be using the dry milk instead of liquid milk as the recipe calls for. Its an easy substitute in soups and stews!
We’ll also be having a nutrition ed volunteer meeting in Bend on Thursday October 22nd from 1-2. Please come and join us plan more ways to reach our community! Please let me know if you’ll be able to make it and if you want to bring a fun recipe sample to share. | <urn:uuid:64be5984-4b70-4be8-94fc-016e687e00b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/centraloregonfoodies/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951355 | 199 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Worl War II-era (1943) Buffalo, New York nursery school children react to Mother Goose during morning play period.
Credit: Courtesy of American Memory at the Library of Congress.
Children of all ages enjoy listening to bouncy rhythms and reciting catchy rhymes. Poetry provides us with a rich vehicle for helping children explore how language sounds and works. Such exploration helps develop skills related to language usage, listening, vocabulary acquisition, and auditory memory, while also fostering an understanding of thematically related concepts. Most important, a study of poetry helps promote a warm, relaxed classroom atmosphere that's conducive to learning.
In this lesson, students will use their senses to experience poetry. Students will listen to poems and rhymes, clap out syllables, and sing along with familiar tunes. They will also use puppets and crafts to help recall and retell favorite poems. Finally, students will experience the joy of crafting their own original poems.
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to
This lesson will require you to access various poems through EDSITEment-reviewed websites. You may share these poems with students in several different ways: at individual computer stations; by assigning small groups to share a number of computers; by means of computer-projected images displayed to the whole class; or by printing out the images and distributing copies of them to students. You will need to decide which format will work best for you depending on the availability of computers and Internet access in your classroom. Directions for accessing poems that do not have direct links are provided throughout the lesson.
See Activity 6 for a list of materials you will need to teach this lesson, plus a selection of books of poetry not available online.
Printed copies of the following books, if used (not available online):
Most youngsters are familiar with authors Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, Bill Martin Jr., and John Archambault. Even if they don't know these authors' names, they are probably familiar with their books, stories, and poems. Their children's classics, like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and Green Eggs and Ham, are perennial favorites. Choose two or three books from the list below to read aloud. Also, invite children to bring in their favorite rhyming books and poems. When you have finished reading, reread the same selection again. This time, as you come to a word that rhymes with one that's already been read, pause long enough to allow children to supply the correct rhyming word.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, 1998)
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle (Henry Holt & Company, LLC, 1997)
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault, Lois Ehlert (Illustrator), and Bill Martin Jr.
A Giraffe and a Half, written by Shel Silverstein et al. (Harper Collins Children's Book Group, 1964)
Green Eggs and Ham, written by Dr. Seuss, Theodore Seuss Geisel (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2001)
Hop on Pop, written by Dr. Seuss, Theodore Seuss Geisel (Random House, Inc., 1994)
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, written by Dr. Seuss, Theodore Seuss Geisel (Random House Books for Young Readers, 2001)
The Cat in the Hat, written by Dr. Seuss, Theodore Seuss Geisel (Random House Books for Young Readers, 1999)
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss, written by Dr. Seuss, Theodore Seuss Geisel (Random House Books for Young Readers, 1966)
This activity will strengthen students' auditory perception and discrimination skills, while readying them for the poetic activities that follow. Begin by telling students that while some words rhyme, all words have one or more beats, depending on how many word parts they contain. Demonstrate how to clap out the beats, or syllables, in your first name. Clap your name out a second time, but this time ask students to count the number of times you clap. Tell students that the number of claps they counted is the number of beats, or syllables, in your name. Invite students to join you in clapping out the beats in each of their first names. Repeat the activity using their last names. Another time, have children use rhythm instruments or body parts (such as thigh slapping or feet stomping) to beat out the number of syllables in a favorite rhyming poetry selection.
Variation: Tell students you are going to read some word pairs, and they should decide if the words rhyme or not. Provide each student with an index card that has the word YES printed in green on one side, and the red NO printed in red on the other. Explain to students that if the word pairs you read rhyme, like bat and cat, they should place their cards on the table with the green YES facing up. If the word pairs you read do not rhyme, like bat and dog, they should place their cards on the table with the red NO facing up. Then read aloud the following three-letter rhyming and non-rhyming word pairs:
Watch to see which children hesitate or guess incorrectly. Make a note to repeat this activity with these children. If children can do this activity easily, try choosing nonrhyming words that begin and/or end with the same consonant letter or sound, for example, bit/bat and mop/map.
Poetry is an excellent way to introduce and teach word families. Begin the lesson by reading a poem, such as, "Catch a Little Rhyme" by Eve Merriam (available on EDSITEment through The Academy of American Poets website). Copy the poem onto a piece of chart paper. Have students take turns using a contrasting color marker to circle each set of rhyming words. For example, for "Catch a Little Rhyme," students would circle rhyming word poems that include time/rhyme, door/floor, bicycle/icicle, etc.
Use a separate piece of chart paper to write each pair of rhyming words. Have students use markers to underline the word endings that rhyme in each pair. Guide students to notice that sometimes word endings that rhyme are spelled the same and other times they are spelled differently. Encourage the discovery that word endings that look different sometimes sound the same.
Repeat this activity with other poems and stories that rhyme. As you discover more rhyming words, add them to the list of words that share the same word ending sound. (If you wish, you may use a separate piece of chart paper for each family of word endings.) Use the lists of rhyming words you generate to help students write their own rhyming poems.
Activity Extension: As children explore poetry and rhyming selections, they are bound to encounter nonsense rhyming words. Use this as an opportunity to have students add their own nonsense words to each list of word family words. They should select a color marker different from they one used for the rest of the list to record these nonsense words. That way, the nonsense words will be easily discernible from the real words on the lists. For now, let students enjoy the auditory sensation. Display the word charts around the classroom.
Review each of the word family lists that students have made (see Activity 3) and draw attention to the nonsense words. From experience, students should realize that silly, or made up, rhyming words are often used to construct poems. Next, read "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll and "Bleezer's Ice Cream" by Jack Prelutsky (both available on EDSITEment through The Academy of American Poets website).
You can also read a book by Dr. Seuss, such as There's a Wocket in My Pocket!: Dr. Seuss's Book of Ridiculous Rhymes. Have students explain the selections in their own words. Ask students to explain why—even though the authors used silly, meaningless words—we have no trouble figuring out the meaning of the story or poem.
Tell the students that they are going to write their own silly poem. Begin by writing a familiar poem on large chart paper. Leave out the rhyming words located at the line endings and replace each with a blank line. (Tip: If the poem includes more than one rhyming family, color-code the blank lines accordingly.) Next, tell the children they are going to use the nonsense words on the list to fill in the blanks. When the activity is finished, let the children read the poem in groups.
The poem should look something like this:
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son _______,
Went to bed with his stockings _______.
One shoe off, and one shoe _______;
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son ________.
Most children are familiar with nursery rhymes, some of which have even been put to music. Almost every child can sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star or Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.
Choose a few nursery rhymes to read to and sing with your students. You can use a book from your school library for some of the better-known nursery rhymes and children's poems. You can also find selected Mother Goose nursery rhymes for students to listen to and sing along with at The Real Mother Goose, a site linked through the Internet Public Library youth division.
Print each rhyme on chart paper and read it aloud, running your fingers beneath the print as you go. Then, sing each rhyme (making up a simple tune if none exists). As you did before, ask children to take turns using a contrasting color marker to circle each rhyming set of words. Transfer each to the word family charts as described in the activity above. Ask students to use a show of hands to vote for their favorite nursery rhyme from the ones you have shared. Help students memorize the one voted class favorite. (Repeated group recitations will aide memorization.) Be sure to use song, physical movement, or puppets to help students act out and learn the rhyme. Then, offer students an opportunity to perform their rhyme for other classes or class visitors.
Explain to your students that a haiku is a traditional Japanese poem that usually describes something in nature. Three of the most famous Japanese haiku poets are Basho, Buson, and Issa. For more on haiku see Teacher Resources.
Print each haiku on chart paper and read it aloud, running your fingers beneath the print as you go. Examine each poem as you explain that when writing haiku, there are a few easy-to-follow rules.
Re-read some haiku. This excerpt is taken from EDSITEment's partner site, ARTSEDGE. For each haiku, guide students through the rules to show them how haiku works.
Practice and review syllables. Remind students that syllables are parts or pieces of words. An easy way to practice recognizing syllables is to have students clap when they hear a syllable. It works like this: Begin with single-syllable words. The teacher says the word. Students repeat the word and clap simultaneously. Next, move on to two-syllable words. Repeat this activity for three- and four-syllable words. To help students become proficient, practice by mixing one-, two-, and three-syllable words. For added interest, perform this activity like a game of "Simon Says."
Write a collaborative haiku. Follow the three basic rules. First, divide large chart paper into three boxes. Label each box with one of three categories: Season, Animal, and Habitat. Next, using free association, ask the children to supply words describing each season. The chart might look something like this:
Have students choose a word from each category. On a new piece of chart paper write each word on a separate line. Have students fill in the rest. Your haiku may look something like this:
Frog quietly sits
Pond so cool shimmers blue
Lazy summer days
Have children draw pictures to illustrate their haiku.
Consider broadening students' poetic repertoire by reading poetry from other countries and cultures.
We are interested in your assessment of this lesson! Tell us how it worked for you. Add a suggestion or share an innovative way in which you used these activities. Send your comments to us at email@example.com.
You can reinforce rhyming-word concepts by playing a memory game with rhyming-word cards. Inspiration for these words can come from any of the recommended books of poetry listed in this lesson. For students who are ready to write poetry, ask them to write a brief poem using the five senses.
Additional EDSITEment lesson plans on poetry:
Can You Haiku (3-5)
Students learn the rules and conventions of haiku, study examples by Japanese masters, and create haiku of their own.
The World of Haiku (6-12)
Explore the traditions and conventions of haiku and compare this classic form of Japanese poetry to a related genre of Japanese visual art.
The Academy of American Poets
Poems and images from Where the Sidewalk Ends and Light in the Attic.*
*NOTE: The New York Times on the Web is free of charge. However, it requires a password to access materials.
Victorian Women's Writers Project
6-8 class periods | <urn:uuid:62138300-77cc-4b57-9fbd-102f0f7ea728> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/play-words-rhyme-verse | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930687 | 2,860 | 3.96875 | 4 |
Under a new deal signed by the University of Western Ontario and the University of Toronto, the act of emailing a link will be classed as equivalent to photocopying, and each student and faculty member will cost the universities $27.50/year for this right that the law gives them for free, along with a collection of other blanket licenses of varying legitimacy. In order to enforce these licenses, all faculty email will be subject to surveillance.
“Toronto’s and Western Ontario’s actions are inexplicable,” said James L. Turk, CAUT executive director. “They have buckled under to Access Copyright’s outrageous and unjustified demands at a time when courts have extended rights to use copyrighted material, better alternatives are becoming available to the services Access offers and just before the passage of new federal copyright legislation that provides additional protections for the educational sector”.
Turk also pointed out that the Supreme Court is set to clarify the educational use of copyrighted works in the coming months, clarifications that could undercut Access’s bargaining position. In contrast to Western Ontario and Toronto, many institutions have opted out of agreements with Access Copyright or are fighting its demands at the Copyright Board of Canada.
“These two universities threw in the towel on the copyright battle prematurely,” said Turk. “We call on other post-secondary institutions not to follow Toronto’s and Western Ontario’s example of capitulating to Access Copyright. It‘s time to stand up for the right to fair and reasonable access to copyrighted works for educational purposes”.
I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too. | <urn:uuid:df54e9ce-dd39-48a8-a9e8-90fa68ec0581> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boingboing.net/2012/02/20/canadian-universities-sign-bon.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929616 | 406 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Earlier this summer the White House and Congress agreed on legislation that would permit sales of American food and medicine to Cuba for the first time in twenty-eight years. Some conservatives have opposed this deal because they think it will prop up one of the last remaining communist regimes. In reality, however, this legislation is a moral victory that should help achieve Pope John Paul II’s desire for Cuba to “open itself up to the world, and … the world to open itself up to Cuba.”
Everyone, except perhaps the National Council of Churches, knows it is true that Cuba has a terrible human-rights record. Americans are reluctant to appear to “reward” Fidel Castro, especially as it is also true that Mr. Castro’s communist policies have done more to harm his country’s economic situation than have United States sanctions. However, the recent and intellectually productive debate over trade with another country–China–has driven home the point that human-rights problems in totalitarian countries are not best addressed through sanctions and protectionism. Open trade and cultural exchange create greater opportunities for the monitoring of such societies by outsiders, even as increased prosperity empowers the victims of oppressive governments to stand up for their rights.
The hypocrisy in treating Cuba and China differently should be apparent. People on the left have argued against trade with China, while saying that trade with Cuba is a moral necessity. Those on the right contend that trade with China is crucial to improving human rights there, yet they refuse to contemplate the loosening of sanctions against Cuba. Any linkage of morality and economics requires a consistent application of the principle that trade and human rights reinforce each other. Sanctions are not only economically damaging, they are also politically counterproductive and morally dubious.
In my visits to both China and Cuba, I never encountered a citizen who hoped for less–as opposed to more–contact with the United States. No one ever came up to me and whispered, “Please retain sanctions against us. They help us fight against the human-rights violations of our government.” On the contrary, most victims of these harsh governments believe that dealing with United States companies, as well as having them set up shop in their countries, will actually have a liberating influence on the lives of ordinary people. Cubans and Chinese fervently desire to have more exchange with Americans at every level, whether it takes the form of tourism, trade, or technology.
While some politicians predict that trade with Cuba will make life worse for ordinary Cubans, it is hard to take such predictions too seriously. The Cuban people have endured great hardship for four decades, both from the oppressive policies of the Castro regime and from the effects of external sanctions. Opening trade relations–or, at the very least, permitting an inflow of food and medicine–actually holds out the prospect of breaking a long-running impasse. There are many issues to be worked out, of course. However, the fact remains that in Cuba, as in China, free trade gives hope to the people who suffer the most from governments that violate human rights.
Purchase a subscription to the Journal of Markets & Morality to get access to the most recent issues.
Read our free quarterly publication that has interviews with important religious figures and articles bettering the free and virtuous society. Visit R&L today.
Phone: (616) 454-3080
Fax: (616) 454-9454 | <urn:uuid:85c34cae-4481-4f1e-b93e-b00a46985d97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.acton.org/zh-hans/pub/religion-liberty/volume-10-number-4/do-unto-cuba-we-do-unto-china | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964159 | 695 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Send all your eco-inquiries to Jennifer Grayson at email@example.com. Questions may be edited for length and clarity.
I started shopping at my farmers market this summer. I've noticed people putting fruits and vegetables directly in their totes, without taking the plastic bags some vendors offer. But how do you keep produce fresh in the fridge without the plastic?
Not long ago, I asked myself that same question. I had recently invested in a large set of organic cotton reusable produce bags, and while I was feeling mighty proud of myself each time I ventured out to the market (look how eco-friendly I am! Who needs those wasteful plastic produce bags?), the scene in my fridge a few days later was less than pretty.
Stored in plastic, fruits and vegetables would have normally stayed fresh for at least a week. But left in my new reusable bags, all my beautiful produce fast turned into a wilted, spoiled mess. (Even the "crisper" bin seemed to do just the opposite, no matter what the setting.)
I've written before about the enormous environmental implications of wasted food; needless to say, my cloth produce bags were not coming close to offsetting the yearly 34 million tons of food waste to which I was now contributing.
But obviously, there were reasons to avoid the plastic bags, too (wildlife-destroying pollution, needless oil consumption, endocrine-disrupting chemicals). They also didn't seem necessary: After all, plastic produce bags only came into being in the 1960s; plastic grocery bags, a decade later. There had to be a way to keep my fruits and veggies fresh without them.
Enter Beth Terry. As author of the blog My Plastic-free Life and the recently released book Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too, Terry knows how to keep everything from persimmons to parsnips fresh with nary a plastic bag in sight: She's lived plastic free (and not just in the produce department) since 2007.
Terry's storage methods come largely from Ecology Center Farmers' Markets in Berkeley, CA, which created this guide on how to store more than 60 kinds of fruits and vegetables. But being the plastic-free pro that she is, Terry of course had some suggestions to add. With her help, I've created a condensed version for you that includes her input, below.
*Note: While the Ecology Center guide occasionally calls for paper products, Terry tries to limit these; she opts for cloth bags or plastic-free reusable containers instead. ("While plastic is truly problematic, all single-use disposable bags and wrappers have an environmental footprint," she says.) She suggests a variety of different bags and containers on her site.
Apples. Store on a cool counter or shelf for up to two weeks. For longer storage, place in a cardboard box* in the fridge.
Citrus. Store in a cool place with good airflow, never in an airtight container.
Apricots/Nectarines/Peaches. On a cool counter or fridge if fully ripe.
Cherries. Store in an airtight container. Don't wash until ready to eat; added moisture encourages mold.
Berries. Very fragile; stack in a single layer if possible in a paper bag* or reusable container. Only wash before you plan on eating them.
Dates. Drier dates (like Deglet Noor) are fine stored on the counter in a bowl or the paper bag* they were bought in. Store moist dates (like Medjool) in the refrigerator for longer than a week, either in cloth or a paper bag to minimize moisture (Terry says a glass mason jar also works).
Melons. Store uncut in a cool, dry place, out of the sun up to a couple weeks. Cut melon should be in the fridge; an open container is fine.
Always remove any tight bands from your vegetables to allow them to breathe.
Asparagus. Place loosely in a glass or bowl upright with water at room temperature (will keep for a week outside the fridge).
Avocados. Place in a paper bag at room temp. (To speed up ripening, place an apple in the bag.) Terry places hers directly in the fridge; for a cut avocado half, she keeps the pit in and places it in a glass wire bale jar.
Basil. Store in an airtight container/jar loosely packed with a small damp piece of paper* inside, left out on a cool counter.
Broccoli. Store in the fridge: Place in an open container or wrap in a damp towel.
Carrots/Celery/Radishes. Cut off tops to keep fresh longer and place in a closed container with plenty of moisture. Terry stores these immersed in containers of water in the fridge (change water frequently).
Corn. Leave unhusked in an open container if you must, but corn really is best the day it's picked.
Cucumber. Wrap in a moist towel in the fridge. (Terry likes plain cotton tea towels.) Fine in a cool room if you're planning on eating them within a day or two.
Garlic/Onion/Potatoes. Store in a cool, dark, place. (For onions, good air circulation is best; don't stack.)
Greens (Collards, Chard, Kale). Store upright in a glass of water (like a bouquet) on the counter or fridge. Eat these vegetables first, since they lose color quickly.
Lettuce. Keep damp in an airtight container in the fridge. Terry admits that salad greens are difficult to keep fresh; her strategy is to eat these early in the week, though some of her readers have had success vacuum packing in glass.
Spinach. Store loose in an open container in the crisper, cool as soon as possible.
Sweet Peppers. Only wash right before eating; wetness decreases storage time. Store in a cool room to use in a couple of days, in the crisper if longer storage is needed.
Sweet Potatoes. Store in a cool, dark, well‐ventilated place. Never refrigerate.
Tomatoes. Also never refrigerate. Depending on ripeness, tomatoes can stay for up to two weeks on the counter.
Zucchini. Fine for a few days if left out on a cool counter, even after cut. Wrap in a cloth and refrigerate for longer storage.
Easy-peasy, right? (Refrigerate snap peas in an open container, by the way.) Do you have other plastic-free methods that work for you? If so, please share them in the comments, below!
An earlier version of this post incorrectly linked the product recommendations listed on Terry's site to lifewithoutplastic.com
Follow Jennifer Grayson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jennigrayson | <urn:uuid:ba26d92b-f6da-4e17-9601-f60eeb9934be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-grayson/eco-etiquette-how-do-i-st_b_1704465.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940484 | 1,431 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Libraries as places to linger and mingle
Recent news of the massive book digitization efforts at the Library of Congress and other major libraries has renewed public interest in the long-standing dream of a universal digital library. Proponents argue that digitization will do more than just expand public access to books; it will change the shape of human knowledge itself. As digital books supplant physical ones, they argue, fusty old hierarchies like the Dewey Decimal System will give way to the liberating pixie dust of Google searches. Books will mingle with blogs. And we will all become, in effect, each other's librarians.Skip to next paragraph
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
But if the shift from physical to digital books is so inevitable, then why did public libraries break attendance records last year? Why did publishers produce 300,000 printed, bound books in 2004 (up 14 percent from the year before)? Despite the enormous volume of information already available online, we seem to keep gravitating back to the physical world of books and libraries. All of which raises the question: Is a library really just a collection of books?
Advocates of digital libraries often invoke the image of the Library at Alexandria as the archetypal universal library. This was, after all, the last time a civilization managed to gather all of its accumulated knowledge under one roof. But the real Alexandria was much more than a giant papyrus warehouse; it was more like a Greco-Roman think tank, built with great colonnades and wide open spaces designed to draw scholars together, giving them a place to work together, engage in dialogue and debate, and practice Aristotle's famous peripatetic method: meaning literally, to walk around. The 500,000-odd scrolls were certainly a big draw, but the library was more than a depository. It was a living, human institution.
The great monastic libraries of medieval Europe, contrary to the popular stereotype, were not silent study halls for cloistered monks. They were noisy places where scribes, bookbinders and other artisans collaborated to create the astonishing illuminated manuscripts that flourished in the age before Gutenberg. Some visitors called them "houses of mumblers" because the monks liked to recite their texts out loud while they copied them. These, too, were living places, devoted not just to book preservation but to bringing scholars together to work with each other in the three-dimensional world.
Even in the silent reading rooms of our modern libraries, a kind of quiet collaboration takes place among readers, librarians, and authors. There is a tacit sense of community, and a reassuring solidity in the shared physical space that seems to provide an antidote to the specter of loneliness. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the emergence of the Internet has coincided with a doubling of public library attendance?
The current vision of the digital library rests on a deeply flawed assumption: that the function of libraries is to connect solitary readers with isolated texts. If that were so, then we could easily replace our libraries with book scanners, search engines, and laptops. And if the shape of human knowledge really rests in the Dewey Decimal System, then, well, we are surely in trouble.
Technologists have an unfortunate tendency to view the world in mechanistic terms, as a set of problems waiting to be solved. As a result, they often fixate easily on the most obvious and reducible problems - like retrieving a book from the stacks - while discounting the subtler and qualitative dimensions of human experience. We need books, yes, but somehow we also seem to need physical places to read them, together. This is why a collection of digital books is no more a library than a stack of paintings is a museum.
• Alex Wright, a former Harvard librarian, is currently writing a book about the history of the information age. | <urn:uuid:84480d75-7469-48ce-a7c3-f233056b71dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/p09s02-coop.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951474 | 789 | 2.65625 | 3 |
- Prayer and Worship
- Beliefs and Teachings
- Issues and Action
- Catholic Giving
- About USCCB
David’s Early Followers. 1The following men came to David in Ziklag while he was still under banishment from Saul, son of Kish; they, too, were among the warriors who helped him in his battles.a 2They were archers who could use either the right or the left hand, both in slinging stones and in shooting arrows with the bow. They were some of Saul’s kinsmen, from Benjamin. 3Ahiezer was their chief, along with Joash, both sons of Shemaah of Gibeah; also Jeziel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu, from Anathoth;b 4Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a warrior among the Thirty, and over the Thirty; 5Jeremiah; Jahaziel; Johanan; Jozabad from Gederah; 6Eluzai; Jerimoth; Bealiah; Shemariah; Shephatiah the Haruphite; 7Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, who were Korahites; 8Joelah and Zebadiah, sons of Jeroham, from Gedor.
9Some of the Gadites also went over to David when he was at the stronghold in the wilderness. They were valiant warriors, experienced soldiers equipped with shield and spear, fearsome as lions, swift as gazelles on the mountains.c 10Ezer was their chief, Obadiah was second, Eliab third, 11Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth, 12Attai sixth, Eliel seventh, 13Johanan eighth, Elzabad ninth, 14Jeremiah tenth, and Machbannai eleventh. 15These Gadites were army commanders, the lesser over hundreds and the greater over thousands. 16It was they who crossed over the Jordan in the first month, when it was overflowing both its banks, and chased away all who were in the valleys to the east and to the west.
17Some Benjaminites and Judahites also came to David at the stronghold. 18David went out to meet them and addressed them in these words: “If you come peacefully, to help me, I am of a mind to have you join me. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies though my hands have done no wrong, may the God of our ancestors see and punish you.”
“We are yours, O David,
we are with you, son of Jesse.
Peace, peace to you,
and peace to him who helps you;
may your God be your helper!”
So David received them and placed them among the leaders of his troops.
20Men from Manasseh also deserted to David when he came with the Philistines to battle against Saul. However, he did not help the Philistines, for their lords took counsel and sent him home, saying, “At the cost of our heads he will desert to his master Saul.” 21As he was returning to Ziklag, therefore, these deserted to him from Manasseh: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands of Manasseh.* 22They helped David by taking charge of his troops, for they were all warriors and became commanders of his army. 23And from day to day men kept coming to David’s help until there was a vast encampment, like God’s own encampment.
The Assembly at Hebron. 24This is the muster of the detachments of armed troops that came to David at Hebron to bring Saul’s kingdom over to him, as the LORD had ordained. 25* Judahites bearing shields and spears: six thousand eight hundred armed troops. 26Of the Simeonites, warriors fit for battle: seven thousand one hundred. 27Of the Levites: four thousand six hundred, 28along with Jehoiada, leader of the line of Aaron, with another three thousand seven hundred, 29and Zadok, a young warrior, with twenty-two princes of his father’s house. 30Of the Benjaminites, the kinsmen of Saul: three thousand—until this time, most of them had kept their allegiance to the house of Saul. 31Of the Ephraimites: twenty thousand eight hundred warriors, men renowned in their ancestral houses. 32Of the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand, designated by name to come and make David king. 33Of the Issacharites, their chiefs who were endowed with an understanding of the times and who knew what Israel had to do: two hundred chiefs, together with all their kinsmen under their command. 34From Zebulun, men fit for military service, set in battle array with every kind of weapon for war: fifty thousand men rallying with a single purpose. 35From Naphtali: one thousand captains, and with them, armed with shield and lance, thirty-seven thousand men. 36Of the Danites, set in battle array: twenty-eight thousand six hundred. 37From Asher, fit for military service and set in battle array: forty thousand. 38From the other side of the Jordan, of the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, men equipped with every kind of weapon of war: one hundred and twenty thousand.
39All these soldiers, drawn up in battle order, came to Hebron with the resolute intention of making David king over all Israel. The rest of Israel was likewise of one mind to make David king. 40They remained with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their relatives had prepared for them. 41Moreover, their neighbors from as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen—provisions in great quantity of meal, pressed figs, raisins, wine, oil, oxen, and sheep. For there was rejoicing in Israel.
By accepting this message, you will be leaving the website of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This link is provided
solely for the user's convenience. By providing this link, the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops assumes no responsibility for,
nor does it necessarily endorse, the website, its content, or | <urn:uuid:bc3619cf-0d1d-46c2-aefe-ce606012af71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usccb.org/bible/1chr/12:8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967985 | 1,375 | 2.71875 | 3 |
CDC Picks GE Healthcare to Track H1N1
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has chosen GE Healthcare's electronic medical records network to provide surveillance data for H1N1 and season influenza activity.
Under the agreement, GE Healthcare will submit a real-time update on the status of influenza activity every 24 hours by monitoring a national database of nearly 14 million patient records.
GE Healthcare says it will glean the information from its Medical Quality Improvement Consortium, a repository designed within HIPAA guidelines for providing anonymous clinical data.
Participating physicians automatically contribute anonymous data to MQIC each day through normal use of GE's Centricity EMR when they document information collected during patient visits to physician offices and clinics. GE Healthcare says the MQIC database is growing by nearly 30% each year and has been validated in peer-review studies as representative of demographic and co-morbidity averages in the U.S. population.
"The data passed along by doctors is a clinically-accurate representation of H1N1-related symptoms and trends," says Peter Basch, MD, an internist with MedStar Health, in Washington, DC, which is a program participant. "(That) enables CDC researchers to track hotspots as the flu season evolves and quickly communicate that information to healthcare providers to improve awareness and response for better clinical outcomes."
- $6.4B Henry Ford, Beaumont Merger Failed on Cultural Hurdles
- House Lawmakers Grill CMS Over Health Exchange Navigators
- Fortunately, Angelina Jolie Isn't On Medicare
- Don't Let Nurses Sink Your Bottom Line
- How Chargemaster Data May Affect Hospital Revenue
- Uncompensated Care Faces a Double Hit in Some States
- Hospital Pricing Transparency a Marketing Game Changer
- Primary Care Docs Average More Hospital Revenue Than Specialists
- ED Physicians Key to Half of Hospital Admissions
- Hospitals Profit On Bloodstream Infections | <urn:uuid:42070b40-bf33-4f17-a6ba-bcb75aec28e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/TEC-241333/CDC-Picks-GE-Healthcare-to-Track-H1N1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906457 | 399 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Two startups in the energy storage business spoke last week at the monthly Silicon Valley IEEE PV meeting. Although the two firms have vastly different approaches and technologies, the one thing they agreed on was that working with utilities was the slowest and least attractive path to market for an energy storage startup
Steve Bisset, the CEO of Terrajoule, a firm we profiled here, is going after off-grid or "bad-grid" applications in places like India as well as the U.S. irrigation market that burns $2 billion per year in diesel fuel. It's 24-hour distributed power – not a storage product per se, rather it’s power with storage, to access the big markets that lack the grid support needed by solar panels. Instead of a tank of diesel and a diesel generator, the firm employs a concentrated solar power (CSP) trough plant to generate super-heated water at 100 psi, which is stored in a 30,000-gallon tank. The steam from the tank drives an efficient steam engine, which turns a shaft and spins a generator. The user gets distributed, dispatchable renewable energy with no diesel and no pollution. The firm sees this as the way to take the daily blackout brakes off of economic growth in India.
No utility is involved.
Again, at the moment -- no utility is involved. This is all on the customer side of the meter.
Stem is a "cloud-based energy optimization solution that reduces peak electrical usage, lowers electrical bills, and eliminates the need for new generation facilities," according to the company's maiden press release. The 30-employee company is armed with more than $10 million in VC funding from the Angeleno Group and Greener Capital. David Buzby, former chairman of the board of SunEdison, is also an investor.
Brian Thompson, Founder and CEO of Stem, said that the company has created a storage system that can save the consumer energy and money without any behavioral changes or compromises for the business. "We are transforming the way people use electricity without changing what they do,” said Thompson, adding, "We're not thinking about energy arbitrage."
Utilizing a battery, advanced power electronics, and predictive analytics, the company's technology is able to make economic energy decisions on an hourly basis as an automated system that optimizes how customers pull power off the grid. Part of Stem's secret sauce is the power electronics needed to get AC into and out of a DC battery. "A big piece of our IP is our power electronics," said Thompson. The inverter, charger, and battery management system (BMS) have to form an integrated whole and "have to work together to do anything interesting."
The CEO stresses that "it's not energy efficiency; it's energy optimization," adding, "it can radically transform the economics of energy consumption in commercial businesses." Electricity continues to be one of the largest expenses for commercial businesses despite the proliferation of energy efficiency technologies.
Initial customers will be medium-sized commercial entities such as fast-food restaurants, retail chains, gas stations, and hotels.
The CEO said, "We're using the best value-driven battery we can find," adding, "It's effectively an electric vehicle battery, small and dense enough to fit in a commercial building. It's like parking an EV in your office." Initial technology uses lithium-ion chemistries. Typical EV batteries are in the 20 kilowatt-hour to 40 kilowatt-hour range, but the size of the application will determine the size of the battery, according to the CEO. Stem is not a battery maker and is technology-agnostic as to battery type. A number of Asian or American companies with battery technology, such as A123, Samsung, NEC, LG, Sony, and Mitsubishi, could be potential partners for Stem.
The goal is to optimize the battery in intelligent ways and make a business plan that is standalone without any incentives. The CEO said that the system works better for the customer in regions with complex rate plans, allowing the software-as-a-service (SaaS) product to provide more predictability for the customer (and perhaps the utility) and to help businesses become better grid citizens.
By using the cloud, said Thompson, "You can use adaptive analytics across different business and adapt to the specific business and vertical. The ability to adapt to the user is the secret weapon."
Thompson cited a large hotel in downtown San Francisco with a $500,000 annual utility bill. The hotel "threw a lot of money at lighting and customer behavior and brought their utility bills down to $350,000, and then ran out of things to do," according to the CEO. Stem's system, at a nominal cost to the hotel, provides for a "sub-three-year payback" according to the CEO and can trim another ten percent from that annual bill -- with no behavioral changes required on the part of customers or facilities managers.
This improvement comes from Stem's analytics platform and high-definition energy usage data. According to the CEO, Stem can predict a customer's energy demand profile within two or three percentage points. Chillers and lighting are predictable loads. Combined with billing plans, weather information, and other data, Stem's system moves energy in and out of the battery to maximize the value of electricity within the confines of the customer's rate plan.
Although the battery is getting quite a bit of exercise, Thompson claims that the battery cycle looks more like that of an electric vehicle rather than a device that is constantly being sent to full depth of discharge.
Stem's goal is to use smaller amounts of battery storage, but lots of smarts. Thompson said a typical lithium-ion system would occupy the space of "a couple of dorm-room fridges."
As mentioned, Stem is relatively agnostic about battery technology. Lithium-ion is the current choice, although the firm could use lead acid or eventually some of the emerging new battery chemistries.
"We are a software company," said the CEO. "We have a fundamental belief that every commercial building will have energy storage in it within 20 years." He added, "We aren't currently doing this with utilities. But we are doing it."
By the end of next year, the firm looks to have two megawatts deployed.
Many storage startups have focused on hardware, chemistry, and physics, looking to coax more energy or power from a material or device. Companies like Stem look to provide a battery platform combined with grid awareness and intelligence -- one that is less dependent on chemistry and more dependent on value to the customer. | <urn:uuid:148a0248-aa84-42d4-8ffc-4de253fd50d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Stems-Cloud-Based-Take-on-Energy-Storage-More-Brains-Less-Batteries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954981 | 1,366 | 2.078125 | 2 |
This article last updated January 16, 2002.
Definition and Penalties
Application of force
An assault is the intentional application of force, directly or indirectly, to another person without that person's consent.
Threat to apply force
An assault may also take the form of an attempt or threat, by an act or gesture, to apply force to another person. In this case, however, the Crown must prove you had the present ability to carry out the assault or that the victim believed you did. The degree of alarm felt by the person threatened is irrelevant to a finding of guilt as is your intent to carry out the threat.
The threat must cause apprehension of immediate personal violence; a threat to inflict harm at an unspecified time in the future is not an assault. Words alone, while they may be a threat, cannot constitute an assault.
Almost invariably, a simple assault will be prosecuted by summary conviction. If convicted following a trial by summary conviction, you are liable to a fine of up to $2,000 or 18 months' imprisonment or both. Other penalties may be imposed. For example, many judges will place you on probation, which can last up to three years. Typically, as a condition of probation you will be required to have no contact with the victim of the assault and to participate in counselling for anger control.
|Back to top||Next Page »| | <urn:uuid:210f3a75-950f-4d0f-ac57-ded3a5516ca0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defencelaw.com/textversion-assault.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94798 | 280 | 2.703125 | 3 |
AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to millions of articles from top publications available through your library.
Two tiny, adjacent islands in New York harbor, Ellis Island and Liberty Island, are home to the twin icons of American immigration. Although the Statue of Liberty, erected on what was then called Bedloe's Island in 1886, was intended by its French donors to be a monument to republican liberty, its imposing presence in the harbor and Emma Lazarus's poem added to its American-designed pedestal, quickly transformed it.(1) The creation, in 1892, of the immigrant reception center on nearby Ellis Island, merely underlined the statue's association with immigrants.(2) The refurbishment of the Statue for its centennial and the creation of a magnificent museum of immigration on Ellis have made the association inescapable, even at a time of increasing nativism.(3) There is, however, another island, which is an immigration icon of a different sort. If the statue - "The Lady" as many call her - and Ellis Island are primarily icons of welcome, of acceptance, that other island, three thousand miles to the west, is an icon of suspicion, of rejection.
Angel Island, whose 740 acres make it the largest island in San Francisco Bay, was associated with immigration for only thirty years, 19101940. During those years it was the site of the Angel Island Immigration Station, which was primarily a detention facility for Asian immigrants, mostly Chinese men and Japanese women. Before 1910 it had a long and varied history. Miwok Indian sites on the island have been dated as going back at least 3,000 years. The first written record is from 1775, when Manuel de Ayala, a lieutenant in the Spanish Navy, used the island as a base for his survey of San Francisco Bay. It was he who named the place: Isla de Los Angeles - Angel Island. As the island was the easiest anchorage after the difficult passage of the Golden Gate, all sorts of people used it in the Spanish-Mexican period: Russian sealers stored furs there, whalers of several nationalities stocked up on fresh water and firewood, and smugglers used it to avoid Spanish, Mexican, and later, American customs officials. For a short time there was a cattle ranch on the island, and it has had three different lighthouses.
For a century - 863 to 1962 - the island was used by the American military. An Army post, eventually named Fort McDowell, was established there during the Civil War. During World War I and World War II civilian internees were held on it, as were prisoners of war during Word War II, and, in its final military use, there was a Nike Missile Base on the island between 1954 and 1962. When the missile base was dismantled the entire island became the state park that exists today.
But it is the Immigration Station that is of concern here. The need for an immigration facility in San Francisco - and for a national immigration bureaucracy - was a direct result of anti-Chinese legislation, the Page Act of 1875 and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.(4) These were the first effective pieces of American restrictive immigration legislation; the latter was the hinge on which the legal history of immigration turned. With the passage of the exclusion act, the immigration of Chinese laborers was outlawed for ten years; this was renewed for another ten years in 1892, and the law was made "permanent" early in Theodore Roosevelt's administration. Beginning in the 1870s Chinese immigrants in difficulty with the immigration regulations were held in a ramshackle wooden two-story warehouse leased from the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and located at the end of a wharf on the San Francisco waterfront. It was commonly called "the shed." The building, about 100 feet square, held up to 200 people at a time, with men on the first floor and women on the second. Dorene Askin, a historian for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, described it as "crowded and unsanitary," while a contemporary inspector for the Department of Commerce and Labor reported that it was a "death trap."(5)
Just after the turn of the century, immigration officials in San Francisco were in the process of arranging for new quarters on or near the waterfront when officials in Washington, D.C., opted instead for a purpose-built facility on Angel Island. In 1904 Congress instructed the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Victor H. Metcalf, to investigate and report on a plan for an immigration station there. At the end of the year, Metcalf presented a plan (and cost estimates of $250,000) drawn up by an Oakland architect, Walter J. Mathews.(6) By 1910 the facility was opened. It was located on the island's north shore at China Cove and consisted of a number of wooden buildings - the detention barracks, administration building, hospital, and powerhouse - and a wharf. Soon after twelve cottages, a laundry, a stable, a carpenter shop, and water tanks were added and the station acquired a ferry boat. The architect supposedly used Ellis Island as a model, so that the analogy between Ellis Island and Angel Island existed even before the immigration station was built. It is not clear what, if anything, the architect learned by visiting Ellis: he chose to build in wood and Ellis Island was largely brick. The location was pleasant and scenic, although quite damp. The ferry trip from San Francisco took forty-five minutes.
In the very year that the station opened local immigration officials began to complain about the inadequacy of the facility. The buildings were, the man in charge of the San Francisco immigration district wrote on 19 December 1910, dangerous firetraps, unsanitary, and vermin infested. In addition, the lack of an adequate janitorial staff kept the place "wretchedly filthy." The hospital "was and is an outrage on civilization."(7) These complaints were buttressed by a report from the Public Health Service Surgeon, who also noted the contaminated water supply and fly and cockroach infested kitchen facilities. He calculated the gross overcrowding: one dormitory room with enough air space for ten persons was equipped with fifty-four bunks, all of which were sometimes used.(8) Five years later Commissioner-General of Immigration Anthony Caminetti made similar complaints and formally recommended "the removal of the station . . . to fireproof, sanitary buildings situated on the mainland upon property already owned by the United States."(9) Despite these and subsequent protests nothing was done about either moving the facility or improving it significantly until a disastrous but happily nonfatal fire destroyed the administration building and many of the records on 12 August 1940. On 5 November 1940 the last Angel Island detainees - 125 Chinese men and 19 … | <urn:uuid:0ab7b8df-c63d-4cb0-9441-1c4589415a34> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-20435737/no-lamps-were-lit.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976652 | 1,391 | 3.265625 | 3 |