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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
According to its website, “The Court of the Judiciary was created by the Legislature to investigate and, when warranted, act on the complaints against judges. Members are appointed by multiple authorities, including the Supreme Court. The appellate court clerk also serves as clerk to the Court of the Judiciary.”
Our state constitution gives the responsibility for the regulation of judges to the Tennessee General Assembly. In 1979, the Legislature established the COJ and granted it the authority to investigate complaints against state judges. I was honored when House Speaker Beth Harwell selected me to chair the Joint Senate and House Committee on the COJ. Sen. Mae Beavers was chosen by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey to chair the committee on behalf of the Senate.
In September, hearings were held for two days and we heard from numerous Tennesseans with concerns about how Tennessee handles the discipline of judges. The committee also heard from the presiding judge of the COJ and other judges including Chancellor Jerri S. Bryant who serves a portion of our state House district (22nd Legislative District). Everyone seems to agree that some changes must be made. The type of reform we adopt has created much discussion on Capitol Hill in Nashville.
Some believe that it is time to eliminate the COJ, while others believe major improvements must be made. Some suggest that a few minor adjustments will solve the problems.
In 2005, the number of pages in the annual report was only four pages. The 2011 report was 34 pages. The size of the report increased dramatically in 2008 when the Legislature began focusing more attention on COJ activity. While the reporting has improved, much of the COJ’s work is still done secretly behind closed doors.
One argument is that complaints against judges should remain undisclosed if they have no merit. Others argue that the public has the right to know about all complaints and can then discern between a legitimate complaint and those that are without value.
Another key area of discussion is the composition of the COJ. Currently, it is composed of 16 members: 10 judges, three attorneys and three lay people. Many believe that the court should consist of more lay people with a minority of judges and attorneys.
During our hearings it became clear that it is difficult for a practicing attorney to discipline a judge.
There are two reasons: First, the Supreme Court for all practical purposes controls the oversight of all judges. The state Supreme Court also holds the law license of every attorney in the state. No attorney wants to go against our State Supreme Court. Second, a practicing attorney would be reluctant to correct someone who might be a friend of a judge in his local county. Judicial officials, like all professional organizations, are very closely tied to one another.
I look forward to hearing from you about our judicial system and your ideas as we move forward with reform of the Court of the Judiciary. | <urn:uuid:367d5887-3394-4ed7-aedd-c4d5bf64c186> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clevelandbanner.com/pages/full_story/push?article-%E2%80%98Court+of+the+Judiciary%E2%80%99+reform+under+committee+review%20&id=16634128 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977363 | 576 | 2.078125 | 2 |
|More Government Stories|
Firestorm of questions (9/15/2010)
DPD soap opera (8/18/2010)
Poletown meltdown (8/11/2010)
|More from Curt Guyette|
Pot shots (8/11/2010)
Block out (7/28/2010)
Crude awakening (7/14/2010)
“War is at best barbarism. … Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is hell.”
—William Tecumseh Sherman
“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”
—Robert E. Lee
The two old generals were absolutely right. War is horrific. And unless we confront that fact and absorb it, and are haunted by the atrocity of shrapnel ripping through flesh and bombs tearing the limbs from children and bullets piercing skulls, then we indeed are in danger of growing too comfortable unleashing the horror and the hell.
The problem is we don’t want to face the consequences of our actions. It is our tax dollars, your and mine, that have paid for the million-dollar Tomahawk missiles that can be launched from battleships at an enemy 500 miles over the horizon. Our tax dollars paying for the tanks massacring an enemy that sometimes fights back with machine guns mounted on Toyota pickups. Our tax dollars paying for the one-ton bunker-busting bombs that leave a child buried beneath rubble and bleeding to death.
It is the reality of war that few Americans are witnessing.
“I’m not seeing anything (on television) of the screaming, the yelling, the pain and the carnage all this is doing,” Dr. Bowles, a neurosurgeon at a military hospital in Germany where the war’s wounded are being flown for treatment, told a reporter from Denver’s Rocky Mountain News.
It may never be known exactly how many people have died as a result of our invasion. Time magazine reports this week that Pentagon officials “privately estimate that more than 10,000 Iraqi troops and up to 2,000 civilians have died so far.”
But, as Gen. Tommy Franks said, “We don’t do body counts.” At least not enemy bodies. According to the latest figures, at least 128 U.S. troops and 31 British soldiers have died in the war.
We are responsible for the carnage. We just don’t want to see our tax dollars at work. And the media, knowing this, complies by “sanitizing” the images that flash across our television screens and are printed in the pages of mainstream newspapers and magazines.
The information gatekeepers worry about transcending the bounds of good taste and refrain from alienating the customers they need to keep ratings and circulation up, and corporate bottom lines fattened.
Photographer Peter Howe summed up the situation in an essay appearing on the Web site The Digital Journalist (www.digitaljournalist.org).
“What I think we’re seeing here is a selection process that is the result of internal media company censorship rather than the military kind. Rumors are surfacing of directives to picture editors to only choose photographs that make the U.S. military look heroic, and to spare the American public the distress of seeing dead or badly wounded personnel. Of course this also spares the advertisers the same suffering as the reader, which is a fortunate coincidence.
“Unfortunately the media companies are right. Not only do most advertisers not want images of death and mutilation to spoil the promotion of their products, but also most readers don’t want that either. … Whenever they have appeared, even if they show the corpses of the enemy, angry letters to the editor follow in their wake.”
Much of the rest of the world, meanwhile, free from the need for self-delusion, watched an unsanitized war unfolded on their TVs and in their periodicals.
Our embrace of the fiction of a war that is clean and bloodless is dangerous, indeed.
That is why we offer up these images that come closer to approximating the horrible reality that 70 percent of Americans say they support.
This is what we are responsible for. As our leaders rattle their sabers in the direction of Syria and Iran, it is important that we grasp the consequences of actions already taken. Otherwise, as Lee warned, we do run the risk of growing too fond of our wars.
Check out the accompaniments to this feature:
'A chill wind is blowing in this nation ...'
Masters of war
Curt Guyette is the news editor of Metro Times. E-mail email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:30326a26-11f4-44df-a370-d31f9e92d35a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=4837 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941703 | 1,026 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Coordinated by SLIC, MMITS, SCURL, SALCTG & the JISC RSC’s (Scotland)
Playfair Library, Edinburgh
21 October 2010
Live-notes taken by guest contributor Nicola Garwood, Eduserv
Books are going e!
Catherine Nicholson, Head of Learning Resources, Glasgow School of Art
- History of e-books (Project Gutenberg started in 1971)
- Where are we now? “The end of the beginning”
- Today’s challenges:
- Different providers have different platforms and interfaces, navigation issues
- New Sony reader launched, you can buy ebooks from anywhere (oh, except for from Amazon . . . ) – compatibility issues between readers and ebooks
- Preservation (will digital files today work on devices of tomorrow?)
- Expansion and innovation – Starbucks launching ebooks programme where you can pick up an ebook whilst there and the next time you come in to the cafe, it remembers you (which ebook you were reading and remembers your place in the ebook)
The Digital Landscape: You, me and us!
Caren Milloy, Head of Projects, JISC Collections
- In academia, things take a lot longer. It is FEAR which stops progress.
- How can we be ready for what’s next?
- The “me” economy – to survive, an industry must adapt to the “me” economy and provide consumers with a hyper-personalised experience
(example: traditional porn companies faced threat from the proliferation of free and amateur pornography available on the internet. Playboy floundered when it made decisions by committee and asked the question “how can we get people to continue to buy our DVDs and magazines” instead of asking the question “how can we adapt to this new and changing world?”. When Playboy became strong, decisive, and forward thinking they adapted by creating a hyper-personalised experience for porn users - the specific type of porn I want, when I want, how I want, wherever I want it).
- Ebooks are NOT providing the “me” experience currently. They are not optimised.
- Users want everything they encounter to be shareable, amendable, receivable
- Some academic publishers are just at the very beginning of starting to develop ebooks with the “me” experience in mind:
- In the trade market, a few providers are doing this “me” experience particularly well:
- Enhanced Editions – We tailor-make ebooks for the iphone - stacked full of brilliant, easy-to-use features, and hours of multimedia extras, and crafted with the editorial insight that only publishers can bring to a book.
- IDEO with different products:
- Nelson - a “bigger picture” application that helps the reader discover related perspectives, information, and discourse as he reads about a topic. The video shows Nelson providing opinion posts, fact checking, and news stories related to the text, as well as a visual display of books that reference or are referenced by the current document.
- Coupland - Coupland takes an existing group, like the company you work for, and shows you what books are most popular within it—giving you an overview of what other people in your field are reading and thinking about.
- Alice - demonstrates what an electronic device can bring to fiction, like non-linear narratives and stories with game elements.
- Our online friends are now our de facto editors – these relationships are HUGELY influential.
- Example: instead of looking to the newspaper for the news, some people now just look to their twitter feed for the news that is relevant to them as posted by the people they’ve selected with similar interests and concerns. People trust their friends to provide only that information which is relevant to them.
- The library role should embrace this changing world and aim to become “expert anchoring communities”
- Similar to the question by Playboy, libraries should not be asking “how can we get students to keep reading our books” and instead should ask “how can we remain relevant to students and best support their learning needs”
- The JISC Collections e-textbook business model study supports this view of libraries. The study found that it would be impossible for the library to provide all the needs of its students through the purchase of e-books. Libraries would be wise to avoid pursuing major expenditure in e-books – especially with 40% expected cuts to library HE budgets and 25% expected cuts to FE libraries.
- UK textbook purchases by students are worth £200 million per year to publishers. This is falling and e-purchasing is making up some of the shortfall. University libraries, however, cannot replace this revenue stream provided by students.
- This proposal to libraries of becoming “expert anchoring communities” represents a huge change to libraries
- The realisation of “me” comes from “us” – Libraries should become the de facto editors for students as their academic online social network, integrating and pushing content to students. Provide hyper-personalised content to students through social networks
The Google Generation, Professor David Nicholas, Department of Information Studies, UCL
- Digital transition (access)
- Disintermediation (massive choice; everybody is an “expert” – people with mobile devices using it more for content than for anything else)
- Decoupling (professional/business meltdown – more and more activities in the digital world but more and more remotely and anonymously so that we know less and less about more and more people)
- The virtual world has FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED the way that we seek, use, and communicate
- Universities risk being left behind by operating in the OLD paradigm and therefore need to move to the NEW paradigm
- 1.6 billion scholarly materials are downloaded each year and this is increasing – widening access being the main driver
- Quarter of scholarly use is outside of “normal” working hours of 9 to 5 and 16% occurs on weekends
- This huge growth will continue, especially with the launch of the iPad which is a reading device instead of the web which is a viewing device
- 40% of people do not come back to the same content
- Everyone has VERY POOR retrieval skills – only search 2 or 3 words and only look at the top results . . . therefore only scratching the surface as to what is out there and available
- People leave their memories in cyberspace – we do not need to remember anything anymore because the information is always available and accessible
- “we’re always going somewhere else”
- Abstracts are the motorways – why not give PDFs away for free and charge for the abstracts?! Although most won’t admit it, the truth is that we prefer the abstract and hardly ever download the full article. The abstract is short, useful, simple. We like simple.
- Nobody ever uses Advanced Searching – except the odd librarian. When asking publishers why they put in advanced searching they say because librarians request it. But no one ever uses it.
- People want to get into a website as quickly as possible and get out again, taking the bit of information they wanted with them.
- The horizontal has replaced the vertical – we hoover through titles, headings, content pages, and summaries at a huge rate and we find this pleasurable
- We hardly ever spend any time on any one thing (we go to write a report, but oh we need to book that train ticket online, and let’s do a search on something for the report, oh and respond to bob’s email, and back to the report . . . )
- Viewing has replaced reading
- Power browsing
- “Brand” is a very complicated concept. The younger the person is, the much less likely they are to recognise traditional brands.
- We are ALL in the “Google Generation” – but what about people born now who only will ever know digital and nothing else? Will they change us or will we influence them? My bet is on them.
- Opportunity of information society where everyone can get information but they do not want to get information – they want a social network to give them the information
- Students ask me how to get a First – well, it requires actually READING the material but students don’t read now. They skim and skitter. They want to know out of the whole reading list, which is the one book they really should read, and which bits of the book are the bits that are the important bits. They don’t see anything wrong with taking a bit from here and a bit from there and throwing it into a paper. And these are UCL students – apparently UCL is the fourth best university in the world which makes you think well these must be the fourth best students in the world. And all they do is skim and skitter.
- Who actually CARES about what is happening with this generation?
- Publishers and librarians should care. But if they are to do anything about it then they need to get much closer together and work much more closely together.
The Springer / SHEDL ebooks project
Helen Ellis, Licensing Manager, Springer
- Springer has 40,000 ebooks available through 12 subject collections with no DRM
- Perpetual rights to content for a one-off fee with unlimited concurrent users
- MyCopy – print on-demand in black and white of ebooks purchased through the university for 24.95 EUROS no matter what the retail price of the book and branded with the university logo. Great for students who want the print copy and library benefits because student knows the only reason they got that printed textbook so cheaply is because the library bought the ebook version.
- SHEDL – 2008 Springer and SHEDL worked together providing content to all 19 members of the consortium.
- Ebook trial started in January 2010 for full 12 months providing all ebook content (all 40,000 titles) to all 19 institutions in the consortium
- Expect 230,000 chapters will have been downloaded by the end of the year
- As a percentage of each subject collection, the most used ebooks were in Behaviour Sciences
- Users were happy to look at older content, published 3 or 4 years ago which is very different than in journals where currency and immediacy are key
- The top downloaded title so far is “Encyclopaedia of Language and Education” (2008) – this is surprising since Springer is best known for STM
Jon Trinder, Glasgow University
- The “Innovation Prevention Department” at an institution is usually the IT department
- Students are all using different devices
- Students are accessing OUTSIDE of network but INSIDE the institution (i.e. via 3G)
- “better to use simple tools expertly” (quote from 1947)
- Previous research shows that simply giving a class of students PDAs doesn’t mean they will use them
LoveBytes: Digital Literacy
Debbie Boden, Director of Library Services, Glasgow Caledonia University
- A high degree of digital literacy / information literacy is required
- Librarians should be taking courses on Information Literacy and offering training to students – especially international students who may not have had much digital exposure previously
- University libraries and public libraries should work much more closely together (could the combined university/public library in Worcester set an example to be followed throughout the country?)
- The Blended Librarian will be the one with staying power:
- “an academic librarian who combines the traditional skill set of librarianship with the information technologist’s hardware/software skills, and the instructional or educators designer’s ability . . . “
- The future for librarians “LoveBytes”: Librarians Oversee Virtual Environments By Teaching Essential Skills
Bloomsbury Public Library Online
Jonathan Davidson, Area Manager, Bloomsbury
- Public Library Online is an online access subscription model of themed digital bookshelves from a range of publishers offering fiction and non-fiction
- Streamed digital content over the library website through the internet
- Any number of readers at any time over the internet
- No piracy issues because files not actually downloaded
- 16 local authorities involved so far
- Cost is £100 per 100,000 population served for each bookshelf
- Generates money for libraries because patrons can click link to purchase the library book if they want their own ebook copy or paper copy and the libraries will get a kickback for these sales generated
Digital Economy Act
Janice McFarlane, Head of Partnerships, National Library of Scotland
- Bill received royal assent on 8 April 2010 despite much lobbying that it was not ready
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will be responsible for following-up on copyright infringements
- Subscribers of ISPs will have access cut off if they have 3 infringements of copyright
- But are libraries Internet Service Providers or Subscribers – from what we can tell so far, libraries will be considered Subscribers . . . but does this mean that if any of our patrons commit copyright infringement then our whole service will be shut down?
- Clarity on these issues is not expected until the Code is published in mid-to-late 2012
Tamsyn Wymer, Swets
- Academic libraries are currently purchasing more ebooks than public libraries and schools
- But there is a significant lag behind electronic journals
- Ebooks have benefits but also present challenges, the main barriers being:
- Availability of title as an ebook
- Access and purchase models
- Awareness of ebooks by end-users
- Internal processes at the library
- With regards to purchasing models, these are confusing with many different models on offer (pay-per-use, patron-driven acquisitions, lease to own, subscription bundles, pick-and-mix, etc)
- The biggest challenges thus are all around acquisition (selection, resource identification, licensing issues, platform availability and interface, cost, availability)
- SwetsWise aims to provide a single source for eBooks purchasing
- SwetsWise is a one-stop-shop comparing price options offered by multiple ebook providers.
- SwetsWise tells the librarian which books are ebooks, who they are published by, where they can be purchased, and for what price
Acquisitions, but not as we know it
Elize Rowan, Acquisitions Manager, University of Edinburgh
- Budgets are being squeezed
- Need to look at how ebook purchasing fits into existing work-flows
- Collection development
- Ebooks can help with:
- Distance learners
- Meeting peak demands
- Collection management
(Note: that Nicola had to leave at this point so tail end of the presentation/day was missed). | <urn:uuid:394c69a8-e71e-46e6-82a8-dff229a0aacb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://efoundations.typepad.com/livewire/mobile/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933911 | 3,124 | 1.96875 | 2 |
How can I make my logo suitable for all purposes, from webpages to very large printed banners?
I currently use use Photoshop.
The answer is to create your logo artwork as vector rather than raster graphics. You can then use this artwork directly for print work, or export raster artwork at the size you need for web graphics.
While Photoshop has some vector support, if you have Creative Suite, Illustrator is the tool for the job. If you don't, then Inkscape (which is free) is worth looking at.
e100's advice is spot on. A vector application such as Illustrator is the best tool for logo design, whether you start on paper and scan it in, or work directly within the program.
This isn't the whole story, however. Scalability doesn't just involve vectors; the detail in a logo must also be adjusted for the size of the finished artwork. Just as with text, fine detail will either get lost or appear too fussy at small sizes, and a logo that is drawn to look good at business card size will tend to appear stolid or clunky at very large sizes.
This is a bit tricky to demo on a low-resolution device like a monitor, but I'll try to convey the idea.
Here's a logo for a riverside community non-profit:
The wavy lines read well at this size, but look what happens when we bring it down to a business card:
You see the problem immediately: those fine lines are all but invisible. In print, you run a very strong chance that ink spread will swallow them completely. The solution is to make a version for small sizes with less detail, but that conveys the same impression:
In this case, increasing the text weight to bold is also necessary, because it is a subtly crafted serif face (Trajan) with fine detail that disappears at tiny sizes.
There is an excellent example of this in John McWade's "Before and After Graphics for Business." There is an entire section of the book devoted to logo design, and this is one of the books I recommend frequently for this and its other content.
In addition to Adobe Illustrator which is clearly the gold-standard of commercial vector graphics tools, you should give some consideration to Inkscape. Inkscape is a vector drawing tool that would be an excellent chose for building scalable logo art. Inkscape is also free and runs on lots of platforms including both Windows and Mac.
The key attribute of these tools is that they operate in an abstract representation of shapes and lines rather than on a field of pixels. When using the resulting artwork, it is only converted to pixels near the end of the process. This allows the art have sharp features at all scales.
Note that this advantage holds from billboard scale down to the printed page. However at very small scales (small in the sense that the rendered image would span only a few tens of pixels, as in an icon) it is often the case that a skilled artist will need to refine the art to make the best possible use of the limited number of available pixels.
I use Photoshop to create logo's, if you use the correct tools within Photoshop I don't see any problem - you can create vectors so you would be able to scale them no problem. You can obviously use Illustrator as others have suggested, but just use what you're comfortable with.
@Scott I think you were a bit blunt with your comment as you gave no constructive ideas as to what to use instead and why Photoshop is so wrong?
With Photoshop you can't just create something and save it in a vector format and be good to go, but all I'm saying is you can create a logo that will be scalable, using the Pen tool and text (so long as you don't make it bold using Photoshop when the actual font didn't come with a bold option etc). I'm sure there are other ways, I just prefer to draw things from scratch with the Pen tool :)
|show 2 more comments| | <urn:uuid:98935519-db18-4c61-ad8e-839fecbd5ae7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/8611/how-to-ensure-scalability-of-logo-design | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96535 | 828 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Buddha is a Sanskrit word for the one who is awake.
Anyone can become a Buddha, as Thich Nhat Hanh says:
"When you begin to practice Buddhism you begin as a part-time buddha and slowly you become a full-time buddha. Sometimes you fall back and become a part-time buddha again, but with steady practice you become a full-time buddha again. Buddhahood is within reach because, like the Buddha, you’re a human being. You can become a buddha whenever you like; the Buddha is available in the here and now, anytime, anywhere." | <urn:uuid:87883b2c-3cb5-4ff3-b28c-aaecb48fc999> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.savorthebook.com/tags/mindful-eating?page=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969259 | 135 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Uproar in NZ over free contraception plan
The New Zealand government is planning to offer free long-term contraception to women on welfare payments in a budget measure that is whipping up a storm of fury.
While some family planning organisations have welcomed the move, one poverty action group says it borders on state control of reproduction.
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies among OECD countries. A United Nations report last year also highlighted what it called the country's "staggering" rates of child abuse and poverty.
The government says it is committed to helping families break out of the beneficiary cycle by getting recipients back into education and jobs. To that end, it has unveiled a $230 million welfare reform package.
But one small plank of the reforms has created uproar - the plan to spend $800,000 subsidising long-term reversible contraception for women on benefits.
From July, the government will offer to pay for contraceptive implants, injections and inter-uterine devices for teenagers on benefits. From October, the subsidy will be available for all female beneficiaries and their 16 to 19-year-old daughters.
Social development minister Paula Bennett says 29 per cent of people on benefits are having children.
She says offering the contraception subsidy will help overcome cost barriers and help to give women better choices.
"That's pretty high numbers, that's sort of almost a third are having children while on benefits," she said.
"I think it's completely reasonable. It's not compulsory, it's just something to add to them trying to plan their families so that they've got choices."
'Simplified and insulting'
Rebecca Occleston from the Beneficiary Advisory Service in Christchurch agrees with the plan in principle, but not the way it is being sold.
She says the plan is "simplified and insulting".
"I think they're putting it in a way that implies people on benefits are having children deliberately, so here, have contraception - that will solve the problem," she said.
"I think that's a bit simplified. I think that there are a lot of people on low incomes or even medium incomes who would struggle to find money for some of the contraceptive options.
"Even just going to a doctor can be $40 or more, that's a lot of money. Having a more generalised option for people would in my opinion be better."
Green party co-leader Metiria Turei says women who depend on welfare payments will feel pressured into accepting long-term contraception.
"At heart, does the state have a role in telling you when you are financially dependent on them, what kind of contraception you should be using? No they don't," she said.
"It needs to be a decision that that woman makes in consultation with her doctor with medical advice, not because she is worried that [the government] will cut off her benefit, or otherwise not provide support to her if she doesn't take up that option."
Family Planning New Zealand says the demand for hormone implants has risen dramatically since they were subsidised for the general population 18 months ago. The cost fell from $200 to $30 or less.
Chief executive Jackie Edmond says she wishes the contraception was available to all women, not just those on benefits.
"We know that young women like to take up new technologies and implants and intrauterine devices are very effective forms of contraception," she said.
"A couple of years ago we were putting in 200 implants a year. This year we're looking like putting in 4,000.
"They're not open to the human error of not taking pills or forgetting to take pills. It's great that this is going to be more available." | <urn:uuid:77a83ec8-ce76-4445-9512-f978eb60cd78> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-08/nz-divided-on-free-contraception-plan/3998676 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969113 | 762 | 1.875 | 2 |
April 26, 2013 |
NEW DELHI: Despite the government assuring a smoother ride on the bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor with strict implementation of the dedicated bus lane, the 5.8km-long Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand stretch is a chaotic jumble of traffic as vehicles continue to use any lane. Cars, autorickshaws and trucks can be seen using the dedicated bus lane even as marshals posted at the intersections turn a blind eye. Adding to the chaos is the signal length. The maximum signal length, according to DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System)
September 21, 2012 |
KOLKATA: The absence of traffic on bandh day proved a blessing in disguise for residents living in Salt Lake and further east in Lake Town, Baguiati, Dum Dum as Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) seized the opportunity to restore the damaged stretches of the EM Bypass. The perilous condition of the speedway had led to a spate of accidents and at least two deaths in the past week. Urban development minister Firhad Hakim and KMDA chief executive officer Vivek Bharadwaj supervised the repair job till Wednesday midnight.
July 17, 2012 |
NEW DELHI: After examining various scenarios on the Ambedkar Nagar-Moolchand bus rapid transit corridor, the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) has pronounced that "the no BRT option yields better benefits for this corridor". It submitted its final report on Monday to Delhi high court and the transport department of Delhi government. Over a month ago, the high court had asked the state government to get a fresh, "scientific" study conducted on the stretch by an independent agency.
April 10, 2013 |
AMRITSAR: Guru Ramdas School of planning of Guru Nanak Dev University conducted a study on various aspects of traffic of holy city of Amritsar on Wednesday. On the occasion, a presentation on traffic aspect was made by Balvinder Singh, Head of Department and Sunanda, Assistant Professor. They apprised about the various problems related to traffic in the city. A PowerPoint presentation related to critical junctions such as Chhehertta near Guru Nanak Dev University, Putlighar Chowk, Railway Station, Queens Road Junction, SSSS Chowk and Bhandari Bridge as internal junctions of the city as well as the India gate Junction, Ram tirth junction, Ajnala Road Junction were made on the basis of traffic volume surveys done by the students of BTech Urban and Regional Planning in the study of the city of Amritsar.
December 4, 2012 |
GHAZIABAD: The Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad authorities didn't seem to take traffic snarls into consideration while opening two lanes of the link road between Holland Factory in Greater Noida and NH-24 earlier this month. The under-construction T-point where the link road meets NH-24 has become a site of major chaos with commuters trying to wedge past their vehicles to use the road to travel between Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Delhi. Peak hours have been witnessing major jams due to lack of traffic personnel being posted there to monitor movement of vehicles.
October 9, 2012 |
NEW DELHI: The right turn from Nehru Place towards Moolchand at Chirag Dilli, into the BRT corridor, has become an ordeal for commuters. The signal length is just 30-35 seconds and most people have to go through at least three and at time even seven cycles to clear that bottleneck. The road next to the flyover is narrow and the wait agonizing, day after day. The reason is quite simple - believe it or not, the signal lengths do not take into account this traffic volume! According to the final report submitted by CRRI on the corridor, an average of 50,000 vehicles (moving in three directions)
August 12, 2010 |
NEW DELHI: While most other projects might be behind schedule, Delhi seems to have things under control as far as pollution levels during the Games are concerned, at least for now. What works for the city is that unlike China for instance, Delhi had already put into place pollution mitigation measures before it was decided to hold the Games here. It also has an elaborate plan to ensure that pollution levels come down further by October. However, experts say that October is a difficult month for Delhi with pollution levels starting to rise with the onset of winter and it is essential that it has a back-up plan, preferably with regard to its vehicular population since it is single-handedly undoing the benefits that have been derived from other pollution control methods.
October 7, 2012 |
NOIDA: Two people were arrested on Saturday after they allegedly roughed up an Amity University student in a road rage incident. The student was returning home after his classes around 4pm on Friday when his car scraped past an autorickshaw on the stretch between Amity University in sector 125 and Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. "An altercation broke out and a few auto drivers gathered and beat up the student," said G P Yadav, SHO of Sector 39 police station. The auto drivers were booked after an FIR was lodged by the student's family.
May 12, 2012 |
NEW DELHI: Making ITO signal free is the latest proposal floated by the Delhi government to decongest the stretch. This is at least the fifth plan in recent years to improve traffic flow at one of the city's busiest intersections. All previous proposals were shelved for various reasons. The conceptual plan aims at merging the existing two-way lanes at Vikas Marg to make a four lane one-way road going towards Laxmi Nagar. For traffic coming from Laxmi Nagar towards ITO, the plan suggests construction of three loop shaped flyovers - first to connect Vikas Marg with Tilak Marg, second connecting Tilak Marg with Deen Dayal Upadhya (DDU)
May 11, 2012 |
NEW DELHI: With trial runs scheduled to start from Saturday on the Ambedkar Nagar BRT corridor, Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) on Thursday started dry runs of the proposed signal phasing on the stretch. As part of the trial run, which will go on from May 12 to May 17, vehicles will be allowed to move freely on any lane including the dedicated bus lane. Dr S Velmurugan, senior scientist at CRRI heading the BRT study team said, "The signal cycle that will be in operation during the trial run will be different from the usual cycle. | <urn:uuid:9726b542-7846-40ef-9ef3-dca0f23661e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/keyword/traffic-volume/featured/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961403 | 1,378 | 1.75 | 2 |
Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian man accused of killing 76 people in a coordinated attack, wrote a 1,500 page manifesto. Entitled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence, the manuscript outlined plans for attacking writers, journalists and literature professors.
These plans are especially frightening as the attacker now claims he was part of a larger organization. The New York Times has more: “The 32-year-old man accused of devastating twin attacks in Norway now maintains that two cells of extremists collaborated with him, court officials said here Monday as they ordered solitary confinement for the suspect.”
In his horrific manuscript (some lifted from the Unabomber manifesto), Breivik wrote about different classifications of “traitors,” or individuals he felt could be killed during his imagined revolution. In his handbook, he suggested that revolutionaries consider attacking both “literature conferences and festivals” and “annual gatherings for journalists.” | <urn:uuid:5c87d4f1-b22f-424d-a95d-4a5cafb1e55e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/tag/andrew-berwick | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964056 | 198 | 1.890625 | 2 |
This article was originally distributed via PRWeb. PRWeb, WorldNow and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith.
SOURCE: LabRoots, Inc.
Data sources include PubMed, LabRoots, Intech, National Library of Medicine, Biomed Central, NASA, IEEE, and others.
Yorba Linda, CA (PRWEB) December 06, 2012
LabRoots is the leading professional networking website designed to connect all science verticals, allowing scientists from around the world to build relationships with other scientists and increase their influence within the scientific community. LabRoots gives scientists a place to share their expertise and learn from one another.
LabRoots recently re-launched their website in September providing many new features and functions. These features include over 30,000,000 documents of publication metadata; the ability to follow interesting or relevant group topics, then post questions, comments, videos, images, files, and more; view hundreds of live scientific news feeds, updated daily; watch and post videos, images, files, and links; post reviews of publications, products, companies, press releases, and more; enter into monthly scientific photo/image contests for a chance to win cash and other prizes; access thousands of scientific events, conferences, seminars, and webinars; find and post jobs from all over the world; follow companies and institutions or start your own company page and update your progress; connect, follow, and message your colleagues and peers; and post and track your activity and the actions of your peers in real time.
The LabRoots Publications feature provides a place where scientists and professionals can research publications, post their own publications, and compile a customized collection of publications they find useful. The Publications main page offers a continuous feed of over 30,000,000 publications. Users can search for a specific publication or topic and narrow the search by using the “keywords” feature that contains a generated list of suggested keywords to choose from as well as the ability for users to add their own keywords to the list. Once a user locates a publication they find useful they can “bookmark” that work to access it again in the future. Users who wish to publish their own work can do so by choosing the “Add Publication” button at the top of the page. Their work will be added to their own profile as well as the main Publications page. Users may also choose to simply scroll down continually to peruse through the millions of publications. LabRoots Publications is an excellent resource for scientists and professionals to stay updated on new and relevant publications in their fields.
LabRoots has sky-rocketed to be one of the top scientific internet portals for the community to utilize on a daily basis, leveraging its new Facebook level functionality and customized features. With the growth and popularity of the site this year, LabRoots is realizing its goal of connecting scientific communities through global communication.
About LabRoots: Founded in March 2008, LabRoot's vision was to connect the scientific world leveraging a myriad of unique features and tools, discovering meaningful collaborations across geographic boundaries and fields of expertise. LabRoots is the owner and producer of BioConference Live - which has grown into the world's largest series of virtual events within the Life Sciences and Clinical Diagnostics community.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/12/prweb10209693.htm | <urn:uuid:e395ca67-27ad-49d6-b477-d409375a53c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtoc.com/story/20277286/labroots-social-networking-site-for-scientists-publications-reach-over-30000000 | 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 | 0.924694 | 712 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Where Eagles Play
Almost immediately after my journey to Historic Armenia in 1996, I began planning a trip to Armenia and Karabagh. I had touched the roots of my grandparents, walked the steps of their youth in old Armenia. Now, it was time to return to Armenia, to see as much as I could of the Armenian homeland. I missed Armenia and Armenians: the booming voices, the round-eyed, beautiful children and, especially, the incredible hospitality. And there were the monasteries, hidden in distant mountains and on top of gorges, where time has stood still….
As we drove through the picturesque resort town of Dilijan, my mind had already reached Haghardzin, a dream-like monastery nestled in the lush, heavily forested Pambak Mountains. The driver stopped in the usual place, where the road becomes too narrow to maneuver. As we walked the road to the monastery, I remembered my first visit to Haghardzin in 1982. It was late October, and an early snowfall had blanketed the area. As I stumbled and slipped along the icy road, Deacon Stepan Garabedian of Holy Echmiadzin, went gliding by on the ice, laughing as he reached the monastery. Stepan is now director of CASP, the Children of Armenia Scholarship Program.
On both sides of the road, khatchkars appeared, close to chapels and amongst the trees and bushes. Just below our approaching path lay the monastery. The grayish-cast churches seemed to be welcoming their new visitors.
I walked to the courtyard of the monastery. Elevated on a carved stone slab, next to the side entrance of the large St. Asdvadzadzin Church, was an exquisite 12th century khatchkar. Straight ahead, an ancient tree faced the monastery; a khatchkar stood under a branch split by lightning. To the right were the smaller churches, St. Stepanos and St. Krikor. Next to the bell tower (zhamatun) of the St. Krikor Church, touching a wooded area, were the remains of the burial chapel of Kings Smbat and Gagik Bagratuni.
I climbed a crumbling wall of one of the church buildings. From the highest point, I was able to capture a view of the three domes rising above Haghardzin.
The autumn colors were stunning. I canvassed the meadows below the monastery. A small river ran close to where animals were grazing. Thick, dark clouds were descending, enveloping the mountains in a mist; Haghardzin seemed separated from the world.
In this setting, it was easy to understand how Khachadour Daronetsi, abbot of Haghardzin in the late 12th century, was able to compose the haunting Khorhurt Khorin of the Armenian Apostolic liturgy.
I remembered being told during a 1986 visit here that the name Haghardzin was derived from khagh ardziv, meaning “where eagles play.”
Sanahin and Haghbat Monasteries
Another day, and a journey to the northern Armenian monasteries of Sanahin and Haghbat. In all, arrangements were made to see seven monasteries that day. To my delight, one was Saghmosavank, a favorite from my 1982 trip to Armenia. Saghmosavank is an idyllic place, built close to a gorge overlooking the Kasakh River. We were also able to see nearby Hovannavank, Asdvadzungal, and the 17th century St. Kevork of Mughni.
In the region of Lori, we drove through Vanadzor (formerly Kirovakan) and finally Alaverdi, reaching the area of our destination.
Sanahin Monastery, situated amidst a mountainous village of the same name, is a large complex. Its church buildings, still mostly intact, stretch up a hill beyond an adjoining cemetery. A khatchkar leaned against a small church building, far from the main churches. From this point, I could see the main cathedral, set alone against the distant mountains.
A woman caretaker asked us to accompany her, to tell us the history of Sanahin. I declined; I wanted to investigate a small round church that was set apart from the larger churches. But my “no” was not accepted, and the woman’s stern glance left no choice in the matter.
As we entered the main church, I looked out an arched opening, where three khatchkars stood against the bright sun. Carved high on the wall were two figures holding a small model of the church. Inside, as the woman spoke of the Bagratid kings who built Sanahin and of the famous school of music here, I walked to the front of the church. Rising above the stone steps was the altar, large enough for a gospel and no more. The walls were blackened from centuries of incense and burning candles. Our footsteps and voices echoed throughout the church.
We sat on a part of the wall surrounding the compound. From there, through a grove of tall trees, we caught our last glimpse of Sanahin.
High in the mountains of northern Armenia, we soon arrived at Haghbat. Entering the gate, I walked past the main complex, directly to the soaring bell tower. The bell tower is on a small hill, separate from the churches and chapels. A khatchkar stands next to the entrance, and a look inside reveals steps leading high into the three-story building. From here, I looked down the grassy slope toward the churches and nearby mountains.
Leaning against the walls of the compound, facing the churches and the bell tower, I was ready to take what I thought would be the perfect picture. But then a family appeared on the scene, and the young girls began waving at me from high inside the bell tower. I waved back. Their father inquired, “Ashkhadoom ek, gam hiur ek?” meaning, “Are you working, or a visitor?” I answered that I was a visitor — all the while holding my camera in place. As they went inside for a church service, I snapped the picture.
I then investigated each of the churches and chapels of Haghbat. In the bell tower, I climbed to where the girls had waved at me. I continued higher, toward the actual bell towers, until the steps became too narrow and the stone floor too distant.
I walked down the small hill, alongside St. Nshan Church. Just beneath the dome, along the east side of the church, is a relief of Kings Smbat and Gourgen Bagratuni holding a small model of the church. Entering the large gavit (forecourt) of St. Nshan, I noticed gravestones covering the floor. I later learned from a priest that the gavit was built over the funeral building of the Kiurikians, a famous ruling family of the area. I entered the church and lit candles; a priest was performing a memorial service for the family from Alaverdi.
We had hoped to visit the nearby monastery of Odzun, but darkness intervened.
We drove off in a light rain towards Yerevan.
Near Spitak, we stopped in the village of Gegharod to pick up a daughter of one of our drivers. What started out as a simple cup of coffee became, as often happens in Armenia, a complete dinner.
As it turned out, William Saroyan, my grandmother’s first cousin, had been there almost 20 years earlier. I asked about his visit. Apparently, in his usual haste, he ate only a dish of madzoon and was on his way.
Journey through Armenia
Shoghaken Folk Ensemble
Hayrig Mouradian Children’s Ensemble
Aghpyur Children’s Journal
About the Author
News and Updates
The Humor of Armenia
Scenes and Observations
E-mail Your Comments | <urn:uuid:551be95f-33b2-428f-90d1-458a2692f1e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://road-to-armenia.com/articles/1997/eagles.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968515 | 1,693 | 1.546875 | 2 |
"Are You Here to Save Face Or Save Us?" Teen Brittany Trilford Tells Rio+20 World Leaders
22nd June 2012,
DemocracyNow.org - On Wednesday, 17-year-old environmental activist Brittany Trilford of Wellington, New Zealand, addressed more than a hundred heads of state at the opening plenary of the Rio+20 U.N. Earth Summit, the largest United Nations gathering ever. "We are all aware that time is ticking and we are quickly running out," Trilford said. "You have 72 hours to decide the fate of your children, my children, my children's children. And I start the clock now." | <urn:uuid:5522fb9d-03c9-40cd-8a41-927f95f82976> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oneworld.org/2012/06/22/are-you-here-to-save-face-or-save-us-teen-brittany-trilford-tells-rio20-world-leaders?ow_print=y | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929062 | 137 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Recession good news for polar bears, says IEA
The recession is ‘a window of opportunity to curb climate change and build a low-carbon future’, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The IEA reckons global greenhouse gas emissions will fall by three percent this year – more than expected - and that if governments continue to invest in clean technology, global temperature rises can be kept under the G8 goal of two degrees Celsius and emissions in 2020 will be five percent below previous estimates thanks to the recession.
The IEA also says that emerging countries would be able to increase their greenhouse gas emissions provided that developed countries in the OECD and the EU, cut their emissions by 17 percent in the next decade and by half by 2030.
Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN climate convention (UNFCCC), added: "The cost of addressing climate change is manageable. The cost of not doing so is unaffordable." | <urn:uuid:e18d6a12-c254-444a-955e-3dd2357e027c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tgdaily.com/sustainability-features/44207-recession-good-news-for-polar-bears-says-iea | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939222 | 194 | 2.140625 | 2 |
US dollar: Prepare for a prolonged devaluation
US dollar won't fall to peso level, but there's a strong possibility the dollar's slide will last well into next year.
Those nagging whispers warning that the United States is heading for an Argentina-like currency crisis are getting louder. The prospect of a prolonged devaluation of the US dollar is just one more challenge in what has already been a difficult period for savers and investors. Have we really reached the point where the greenback is in danger of becoming an “also ran” currency?Skip to next paragraph
Credit card debt: Are consumers returning to bad habits?
New Year's resolution (and modern fable): Spend more!
In budget battle, voters are the 'adults in the room'
Is the curtain falling on the eurozone?
FedEx delivery video: Package thrown. FedEx apologizes on YouTube.
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
The likelihood that the dollar will suddenly lose most of its value is remote. The economy would have to deteriorate to unimaginable levels for the dollar to fall to the depths of the Argentinean peso in 1999. However, this does not mean that the dollar is a risk-free investment. Quite the opposite, really, as there is a strong possibility that the dollar is mired in what could be a prolonged devaluation extending well into next year.
The credit crisis that triggered the Great Recession exposed several flaws in the US economy. The list of shortcomings includes economic growth too dependent on asset bubbles of one form or another, a workforce struggling in the face of greater international competition, and a long-held tradition of relying on deficit financing to keep the party going. The result? An economy – and a currency – in dire need of a correction.
This correction has already started as millions of unemployed Americans can attest. The Federal Reserve has conceded that unemployment will remain elevated through 2011. When employment does pick up, it is expected to do so at a much slower pace than experienced following recessions of the past.
Next week, the Fed is expected to intervene directly. Its Federal Open Market Committee can’t adjust interest rates downward because they’re already zero-bound. This leaves the Fed with only one option; additional stimulus spending in an attempt to inject more cash into the system.
Alas, just as in physics, every economic action has an equal and opposite reaction. While carpet-bombing the economy with excess capital increases liquidity, there is also the unintended side effect of further devaluing the dollar. And it may not be unintended.
In January’s State of the Union address, President Obama stressed the need to reduce the trade deficit. The last time the US recorded a trade surplus was 1975 and the president set a target of doubling exports in five years “because the more products we make and sell to other countries, the more jobs we support right here in America.” | <urn:uuid:126eb4f2-3694-4b27-8f06-2b2cd1f00b83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/new-economy/2010/1028/US-dollar-Prepare-for-a-prolonged-devaluation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938408 | 596 | 1.789063 | 2 |
After two days of shuttle diplomacy, Hillary Clinton and Egypt's foreign minister announced a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel. Despite its weakened influence in the Middle East, the US is still the dominant diplomatic force.
After two days of Middle East shuttle diplomacy, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stood in Cairo Wednesday evening as Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammmed Kamel Amr announced a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Palestinians in Hamas-governed Gaza designed to end eight days of deadly fighting.
The cease-fire, set to take effect later in the evening local time (2 PM EST), would, most urgently, end the rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, in which more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis have been killed, most of them civilians.
But at another level, Secretary Clinton’s role in securing the cease-fire demonstrates how the United States, despite its weakened influence in a region of empowered Islamists less inclined to America’s call, remains the dominant diplomatic force in the Middle East.
When President Obama dispatched Clinton to the region Tuesday to try to negotiate an end to the violence, it was a sign of a shift by the White House to a more overt – and traditionally American – role in the region. It was also seen by some regional experts as belated recognition by Mr. Obama that, despite his apparent preference for a less overt role for American diplomacy in the region, the Middle East risks slipping deeper into conflict and instability without forceful US engagement.
Page 1 of 4 | <urn:uuid:188875dc-b2a6-4f01-aa13-b00b73820b33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2012/1121/Gaza-cease-fire-Clinton-role-shows-US-still-dominant-in-tough-neighborhood-video | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952582 | 311 | 2.5 | 2 |
Sheet music covers; Music publishing industry; Music title pages
Sheet music cover and lyrics of the "comic song" called "The Carpetbagger." Cover shows a drawing of a carpetbagger with the spoils of Reconstruction in a large carpetbag. The song is dedicated to General Ben Butler.
Sheet music covers; Fictitious characters; Laundry; Weather; Clotheslines
Drawing of an angry-looking man in dressing gown and cap, with glasses perched on his forehead. He appears in the clouds above a clothesline holding laundry. On the ground are baskets, pails, an iron, and scrubbing brushes.
Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.); New Deal, 1933-1939; Newsletters; Caricatures and cartoons; Comic Books, strips, etc.
Cartoon from the Camp Wiley Post Wilderness Messenger, Volume 1, Number 3, featuring a GI explaining to a woman that he will be in a camp play called "Tom Mix and His Horse," to which she responds, "That's Great! Who's going to be Tom Mix?" | <urn:uuid:2c8ac0e5-0f1e-4b00-9feb-64261d8139ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/searchterm/Comic/mode/all/order/subjec | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928781 | 228 | 1.554688 | 2 |
My husband and I were recently in Mexico for four days. It was a trip he earned through his job and believe me, we were well aware that we'll probably never get this opportunity again, so we tried to make the most of it.
On one of the days, we signed up for a bus tour that took us to some important sites, through a Mexican town, and ended up at Chichén Itzá, Mayan ruins that were built during the 500's. It was a wonderful trip; we learned so much, and the ruins were some of the most spectacular things I've seen in my life.
During one of our stops we disembarked for lunch; it was delicious. We sat at a table with people from all over the world: England, Mexico, India, Colombia. Our closest seatmates both spoke Spanish, and my husband and I each have a passable ability to understand and speak some Spanish. One of my very favorite things from the day was talking with a woman from Mexico and a man from Columbia and learning about them through their beautiful and our (very broken) Spanish. Several times we were trying to explain something and had to talk all around the idea in order to get to what we were trying to communicate.
On the bus trip itself our guide would give part of the lecture in Spanish and then would translate it into English. I had to pay close attention to the Spanish, and even then I missed probably 50% of what he was saying, and that which I understood I'm sure I only understood at a very rudimentary level.
The whole experience got me thinking about what so many of my students go through daily when they come to school. They are listening as best they can, but it's not their native language, so they are understanding as much as they can, as best they can.
If those few hours were exhausting for me, I can only imagine what it's like for them, day after day. It renewed my empathy.
Like I said... teachers can turn anything into a learning experience. :) | <urn:uuid:c62a931b-95bb-4015-bf97-d3e3c5391478> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://skirted.blogspot.com/2011/01/language-empathy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.994935 | 417 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Be kinder than necessary-
Everyone you meet is fighting
I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking these days
These days I seem to think a lot about the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to
These days I sit on cornerstones and count the time in quarter tones to ten
Please don't confront me with my failures
I had not forgotten them
Small things are best:
Grief and unrest
To rank and wealth are given;
But little things
On little wings
Bear little souls to Heaven.
- Rev. Frederick William Faber,
Written in a Little Lady's Little Album
The Warmth of A Horse
> When your day seems out of balance
> and so many things go wrong ...
> When people fight around you
> and the clock drags on so long ...
> When some folks act like children
> and fill you with remorse ...
> Go out into your pasture and wrap
> your arms around your horse.
> His gentle breath enfolds you as he
> watches with those eyes ...
> He may not have a PhD but he
> is, oh so wise!
> His head rests on your shoulder
> you hug him good and tight ...
> He puts your world in balance
> and makes it seem all right.
> Your tears will soon stop flowing,
> the tension will be eased ...
> The nonsense has been lifted.
> You are quiet and at peace.
> So when you need some balance
> from the stresses in your day ...
> The therapy you really need
> Is out there eating hay!
This is a personal favorite of mine. I have cried over it many times and many have received it from me in special times...
The Grandest Foal
>I'll lend you for a little while,
>My grandest foal, God said.
>For you to love while he's alive,
>And mourn for when he's dead.
> It may be one or twenty years,
>Or days or months, you see.
>But will you, til I take him back,
>Take care of him for me?
>He'll bring his charms to gladden you
>And should his stay be brief,
>You'll have those treasured memories,
>As solace for your grief.
>I cannot promise he will stay,
>Since all from earth return.
>But there are lessons taught on earth
>I want this foal to learn.
>I've looked the wide world over
>In my search for teachers true.
>And from the throngs that crowd life's lanes,
>With trust, I have selected you.
>Now will you give him all your love?
>Nor think the labor vain,
>Nor hate me when I come
>To take him back again?
>I know you'll give him tenderness
>And love will bloom each day.
>And for the happiness you've known,
>You will forever-grateful stay.
>But should I come and call for him
>Much sooner than you'd planned.
>You'll brave the bitter grief that comes,
>And maybe understand.
Subject: THE GAL IN THE GLASS......THE GAL IN THE MIRROR
When you get what you want in your struggle for self
and the world makes you king for the day,
Then go to the mirror and look at your self
and see what the gal has to say .
For it isn't your mother ,your father or wife
whose judgement on you must pass.
The person whoes verdict counts most in your life
is the gal staring back from the glass.
She's the one to please ,never mind the rest.
for she is with you clean to the end;
And you passed your most dangerous
and difficult test
if the gal in the glass is your friend.
You may be like jack horner and chisel a plum
and think you are a wonderful gal,
But the gal in the glass says you are a bum
if you can't look her straight in the eye.
YOU MAY FOOL THE WHOLE WORLD-
DOWN THE PATHWAY OF YEARS
AND GET PATS ON THE BACK AS YOU PASS;
BUT THE FINAL REWARD WILL BE HEARTACHES AND TEARS;
IF YOU CHEATED THE GAL IN THE GLASS!
IF - Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unfo
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And—which is more—you'll be a Man my son!
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN
(a guide for Global Leadership)
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
- Share everything.
- Play fair.
- Don't hit people.
- Put things back where you found them.
- Clean up your own mess.
- Don't take things that aren't yours.
- Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
- Wash your hands before you eat.
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
- Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
- Take a nap every afternoon.
- When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
- Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
- Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
- And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum. See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley
Strew on her roses, roses,
And never a spray of yew!
In quiet she reposes;
Ah, would that I did too!
Her mirth the world required;
She bathed it in smiles of glee.
But her heart was tired, tired,
And now they let her be.
Her life was turning, turning,
In mazes of heat and sound.
But for peace her soul was yearning,
And now peace laps her round.
Her cabin'd, ample spirit,
It flutter'd and fail'd for breath.
To-night it doth inherit
The vasty hall of death. | <urn:uuid:a369b65d-9bf7-4a20-98dc-84d885e51823> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virginiasporthorses.com/content_page.php?id=33 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929971 | 2,154 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The Food and Drug Administration has decided not to approve the first of a new class of diabetes drugs, saying that more information was needed to assess the medicine’s safety and effectiveness.
The agency’s decision was announced Thursday morning by the developers of the drug, AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The companies said the F.D.A. wanted more data from continuing trials and might also require new clinical trials.
The decision is not a surprise, given that an advisory committee to the F.D.A. voted 9 to 6 in July against recommending approval. The committee cited a possible increased risk of bladder and breast cancers and of liver injury.
The drug, called dapagliflozin, has generated some interest among diabetes specialists because it has a novel mechanism of action that does not depend on influencing the production or use of insulin. Rather, it reduces blood sugar by causing more of the sugar to be excreted in the urine.
Numerous other companies have also been developing drugs of this type, which are called SGLT2 inhibitors.The drugs are aimed initially at Type 2 diabetes.
AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers said they remained committed to developing dapagliflozin. While the companies did not estimate how long it could take to win approval, it could be years if new trials were required. European regulators have yet to decide whether to approve the drug.
In December, AstraZeneca suffered setbacks in the development of a drug for cancer and one for depression, while Bristol-Myers reported the failure of a liver cancer drug in a clinical trial. But Bristol-Myers has been showing some progress in drugs for treating hepatitis C.
The F.D.A. has become more cautious about diabetes drugs in part because of studies linking Avandia, a widely used diabetes drug from GlaxoSmithKline, to a possible increased risk of heart attacks. | <urn:uuid:9eea4efb-259d-48d3-a3a4-6ded78f972d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/f-d-a-delays-approval-of-new-diabetes-drug/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957361 | 400 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Summary of the Guidelines
Guideline 1: Reducing the risk of alcihol-related harm over a lifetime
The lifetime risk of harm from drinking alcohol increases with the amount consumed.
"For healthy men and women, drinking no more than two standard drinks on any day reduces the lifetime risk of harm from alcohol - related disease or injury"
Guideline 2: Reducing the risk of injury on a single occasion of drinking
On a single occasion of drinking, the risk of alcohol-related injury increases with the amount consumed.
" For healthy men and women, drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol - related injury arising from that occasion"
Guideline 3: Children and young people under 18 years of age
For children and young people under 18 years of age, not drinking alcohol is the safest option.
"A: Parents and carers should be advised that children under the 15 years of age are at the greatest risk of harm from drinking and that for this group, not drinking alcohol is especially important
B: For you people aged 15 - 17 years, the safest option is to delay the initiation age of drinking for as long as possible"
Guideline 4: Pregnancy and breastfeeding
Maternal alcohol consumption can harm the developing fetus or breastfeeding baby.
"A: For women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, not drinking is the safest option
B: For women who are breastfeeding, not drinking is the safest option"
This information was put together with the help of the National Health and Medical Research Council: Alcohol guidelines: reducing the health risks
Last Updated: February 2012 | <urn:uuid:0790bfc9-a473-49a7-93a1-d46d79718da2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.substance.org.au/drug-info/alcohol/alcohol-guidelines~1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924958 | 337 | 2.859375 | 3 |
By Jeannette Lee
Many in the film are speaking publicly for the first time about their experiences in the camps, where they were sent after troops from Japan invaded Alaska's western outposts in June 1942.
"My mother, when she was living, she used to start crying, so we wouldn't talk about it," Bourdukofsky told The Associated Press. Bourdukofsky, now 82, was a young mother of two during the evacuation.
Many Aleuts were thankful to be ferried out of the war zone, until they arrived at five overcrowded, disease-infested sites scattered throughout damp spruce rainforests.
"There was a lot of sickness at the camp," said retired Maj. Gen. Jake Lestenkof, who was 11 years old when his mother died of pneumonia at a camp at Funter Bay.
"There was a lot of pneumonia and tuberculosis that was going around and not treated. There were certainly no medical facilities or personnel," Lestenkof, 73, told the AP.
One in 10 people died in the camps from 1942 to 1945, according to federal estimates cited in the film.
Sanitation and pipe systems were never installed. Residents drank water tainted with sewage and—at one camp—runoff from the expanding cemetery.
Sites included an abandoned fish cannery and a rotting gold mining camp.
"It was terrible," said Maria Turnpaugh, 78, from her home in Unalaska. "We lived in little shacks full of holes, and no running water. People got sick all the time."
Aleuts weren't suspected of spying or sabotage, as were tens of thousands of Japanese Americans corralled into federal internment camps after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
"I looked hard for evidence that there had been any suggestion at any time" of Aleut spies, said Marla Williams, who wrote, directed and produced the film. "There was no question of their loyalty whatsoever."
The film includes letters from officials who thought internment would protect Aleuts from the fighting in Alaska's distant western islands.
Still, Aleuts weren't allowed to leave the camps without penalty unless they had been drafted into the military, or threatened into working the Pribilof fur seal hunt, which brought millions in income to the U.S. government.
Evacuation and Internment, 1942-1945
The Unangax were transported to Southeast Alaska and there crowded into "duration villages": abandoned canneries, a herring saltery, and gold mine camp-rotting facilities with no plumbing, electricity or toilets. The Unangax lacked warm winter clothes, and camp food was poor, the water tainted. Accustomed to living in a world without trees, one open to the expansive sky, they suddenly found themselves crowded under the dense, shadowed canopy of the Southeast rainforest. For two years they would remain in these dark places, struggling to survive. Illness of one form or another struck all the evacuees, but medical care was often nonexistent, and the authorities were dismissive of the their complaints. Pneumonia and tuberculosis took the very young and the old. Thirty-two died at the Funter Bay camp, seventeen at Killisnoo, twenty at Ward lake, five at Burnett Inlet. With the death of the elders so, too, passed their knowledge of traditional Unangan ways.
Comment: Removing people from an alleged war zone is one thing. But if there was no question about the Aleuts' loyalty, why did the government put them in disease-ridden prison camps with no plumbing or electricity? The 10% death toll was worse than that of Manzanar or Guantanamo Bay, America's most famous concentration camps.
To reiterate, interning Japanese Americans was one of the worst constitutional violations ever. But the government didn't suspect the Aleuts of anything, yet imprisoned them in even worse conditions. How do we explain that?
I can only imagine it had something to do with the Aleuts' race. They were closely related to the Asians across the Bering Strait. Asians who came from one totalitarian state or another (the USSR, China, or Japan).
The Aleuts had the same stoic demeanor as the Japanese Americans, who were also suspect. Sure, the Aleuts acted as if they were loyal to the US, but who knew what evil lurked behind those inscrutable eyes? Better to be safe than sorry, the reasoning undoubtedly went.
Can't trust those Asians?
I think the book Mother America--A Living Story of Democracy by Carlos Romulo summed up what many Americans thought (and still think) about Asians:
Although we also imprisoned some German and Italian Americans during WW II, brown-skinned people from Asia are most likely to become our prisoners of war. Perhaps not coincidentally, Asians, Indians, and Arabs aren't featured much on the screen. There seems to be a pattern here--i.e., discrimination against anyone with Asian roots.
For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News. | <urn:uuid:01378de0-4f13-4127-b474-51ff45998d7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newspaperrock.bluecorncomics.com/2010/01/aleuts-interned-during-ww-ii.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98253 | 1,044 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Have you ever wondered how much water your vehicle uses? Considering most vehicles are powered by gasoline, the question of how much water they use seems strange. However, when scrutinized, it does indeed take water to extract, produce and transport gasoline and other transportation fuels. So, in reality, all vehicles use a certain amount of water when getting you from A to B.
According to the EPA, “Water is used throughout the energy sector, including in resource extraction, refining and processing, electric power generation, storage, and transport” (U.S. Environmental Protection Administration, “Energy Demands on Water Resources: Report to Congress on the Interdependency of Energy and Water," December, 2006).
By the time you put gasoline into your car and drive 100 miles, you will have used 10.5 gallons of water (King, C.W., Webber, M.E., “Water Intensity of Transportation," Environmental Science and Technology. 42(21): 7866-7872). Diesel is actually slightly less water intensive at 8 gallons per 100 miles driven.
When gasoline is combined with the EPA-required 10% ethanol blend (meaning the ethanol is manufactured from irrigated corn), water usage skyrockets to 200 gallons of water for each 100 miles driven (GWPC, Matthew Mantell, P.E., “Deep Shale Natural Gas and Water Use”). Interestingly enough, the EPA is considering rules that would increase the percentage of ethanol blended with gasoline to 15%.
It is also interesting to note that electric cars use three times more water than gasoline powered cars. This is primarily due to increased water cooling of thermoelectric power plants that generate the electricity (King, C.W., Webber, M.E., “The Water Intensity of the Plugged In Automotive Economy,” Environmental Science and Technology. 42(12): 4306-4311). It is not hugely detrimental that electric cars have a higher water usage; however, it is important to recognize the potential impact on regional water resources.
It turns out that compressed natural gas (CNG) is one of the most efficient transportation fuels in terms of water usage, using 3 gallons of water for every 100 miles driven. Only biodiesel from non-irrigated soybeans uses less water. Unfortunately, biodiesel from non-irrigated soybeans is not scalable to be a significant transportation fuel. On the other hand, CNG is scalable due to the vast supplies of natural gas that have been discovered in gas shales around the country.
At one stage or another, it is inevitable that energy needs water to be produced: “The fact is that all forms of energy use water in its extraction, processing and transportation,” notes the EPA. “Refinery use of water for processing and cooling is about 1 to 2.5 gallons of water for every gallon of product. The United States refines nearly 800 million gallons of petroleum products per day" (EIA, 2006). Therefore, refining uses 1 to 2 billion gallons of water per day. Natural gas processing and pipeline operations use an additional 0.4 billion gallons per day.
When it comes to electricity generation, the amount of freshwater required is significant: 59 billion gallons of seawater and 136 billion gallons of freshwater per day, according to the EPA (EPA, 2006).
“While these plants do not consume large volumes of water, the availability of large volumes of water is critical to plant operation. Additionally, the intake and discharge of large volumes of water by these plants have potential environmental consequences. Aquatic life can be adversely affected by impingement on intake screens or entrainment in the cooling water and by the dis-charge of warm water back to the source.”
In conclusion, all forms of energy production use water; therefore, all forms of motorized transportation use water. However, the amount of water used for transportation varies greatly depending on what type of transportation fuel. Ethanol uses a significant amount of water, as do electric vehicles. Gasoline and diesel powered cars and trucks use 8 to 10 gallons of water per 100 miles driven whereas CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles use only 6.5 gallons per 100 miles driven. | <urn:uuid:1657317b-7304-46f3-85f7-20f4074c9ece> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bseec.org/content/powering-mobility-water-and-your-daily-commute | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929397 | 867 | 3.296875 | 3 |
An anti-monarchy group is launching a campaign to "abolish" the Duchy of Cornwall in what it says is an attempt to make the royal family more accountable.
Members of the Republic group will meet residents in Cornwall - one of the heartlands of both support for and opposition to the Duchy - during a "summit" next Saturday.
Their aim is to "get rid" of the private estate, which funds the public, charitable and private activities of Charles and his family.
Much of the Duchy's land is in the South West of England, where the Prince and his family are regular visitors.
Republic chief executive Graham Smith said: "The monarchy needs to be held to account (and) open to scrutiny - abolition of the Duchy will be a step in that direction.
"We will be launching the campaign in Cornwall. We want to hear what Cornish people have to say about the future of the Duchy. But this is a national issue and we'll be campaigning on it up and down the country."
The Prince is admired across much of Cornwall, partly through his close links with the county, and his support is boosted by regular public appearances.
He is patron of the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association, which runs the county's annual show and of which he was joint president with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, in 2010.
But the Duchy's involvement with Waitrose and Cornwall Council in a retail and accommodation development on the edge of Truro city centre has upset some residents and business leaders, who are concerned about the impact the "urban sprawl" will have on existing traders and traffic.
Republic, which campaigns for a "democratic Britain with an elected head of state", will this year begin campaigning to include the royals in Freedom of Information laws and to abolish the royal veto over legislation. | <urn:uuid:4e72d424-a41c-49e1-a69f-d05d3ec80c51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-breaking-news/2012/09/22/bid-to-abolish-duchy-of-cornwall-101022-31888018/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97405 | 381 | 1.648438 | 2 |
|Rediff India Abroad Home | All the sections|
India, Pak form committee to discuss prisoners
K J M Varma in Islamabad | March 05, 2007 20:58 IST
India and Pakistan have set up an eight-member committee of retired judges to ensure humane treatment of prisoners in each other's countries and their expeditious release on completion of sentences.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said India has forwarded the names of four retired judges, while Pakistan has already given its list of four judges to India.
The committee comprising judges from superior judiciaries of both the countries will propose steps to the two governments to ensure that prisoners of the two countries languishing in each other's prisons were treated humanely and are released expeditiously on completion of sentences, Aslam told reporters on Monday.
Currently 513 Pakistani prisoners are held in Indian jails, including 50 fishermen and 463 civilian detainees.
Pakistan, during the last four years, released 2637 prisoners, including fishermen, whereas India released 713, she said.
India has only released a handful of prisoners to reciprocate to the release of its nationals from jails in this country, saying that Pakistani prisoners have not completed their prison terms, Aslam alleged.
However, some of the prisoners were behind bars since 1996, she said.
Aslam also released a note refuting allegations of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee few days ago that Indian prisoners were ill-treated in Pakistani jails due to which some of them became mentally imbalanced.
Claiming that Pakistan has not received the kind of cooperation it expected from India to provide greater attention to the plight of prisoners, Aslam said Islamabad hoped that the committee would suggest procedures to both the governments to provide humane treatment and ensure expeditious release of prisoners on both the sides.
She claimed a number of Pakistani prisoners released by India have lost their mental faculties.
Out of the 152 Pakistani prisoners released by India on Sept 12, 2005, 40 had lost their mental balance while only one Indian prisoner released by Pakistan was mentally unstable.
Also, out of the 24 Pakistani civilian prisoners released by India in December last year, eight had lost their mental balance, she alleged.
Aslam said many Pakistani prisoners continue to languish in Indian jails even after completing their prison terms.
"The ruling of the High Court of Indian Punjab to grant compensation to such prisoners is a testimony to the fact," she said.
She said Pakistan has provided consular access to 44 Indian prisoners held in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore on February 15.
"The Indian authorities provided access to only six Pakistani prisoners even though we have been seeking access to about 160 Pakistani prisoners," she said.
About 238 Pakistani prisoners continued to languish in Indian prisons even after Pakistan completed all formalities for their release and repatriation, she said. | <urn:uuid:88c163b1-e720-43c0-abde-84e137a8c390> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/05pak3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977112 | 579 | 1.734375 | 2 |
New crisis looms as cuts hit US
US president Barack Obama lambasted Republicans, saying: 'They voted to let the entire burden of deficit reduction fall squarely on the middle class'. Photograph: Larry Downing/Reuters
Sweeping US government spending cuts totalling $85 billion will begin today, in an unwanted move towards austerity that lays bare Washington’s paralysing partisan divisions.
The cuts are kicking in after the White House and congressional Republicans failed to overcome bitter disagreements and come up with a better plan to tackle the country’s $11.7 trillion-dollar debt.
The warring sides spent this week assigning blame rather than seeking a way out and rival Democratic and Republican measures to modify the cuts failed in the senate yesterday.
The automatic spending reductions are part of a law passed two years ago and designed to be so off-putting to both Democrats and Republicans as to force a compromise.
It did not work, although White House press secretary Jay Carney said the cuts would be put into force as close to midnight as possible because president Barack Obama was “ever hopeful”.
The immediate impact of the cuts on the public was uncertain and the administration pulled back on its earlier warnings of long lines developing quickly at airports and teacher job losses. It is expected to be a fiscal speed-bump on the road to economic recovery that is otherwise looking good.
The cuts would carve 5 per cent from domestic agencies and 8 per cent from the Pentagon between now and October 1st but would leave several major programmes alone, including the social security pension scheme, the Medicaid health care programme for the poor and food stamps.
Government agencies must give workers a month’s notice before laying people off, which will probably force many to take one day a week of unpaid leave indefinitely.
The delay gives politicians time to seek a deal that might retroactively reverse the spending cuts before they could do much damage to the economy. But the painful cuts are just the first of a series of budget crises that will confront Congress and the White House before summer.
Mr Obama is meeting congressional leaders of both parties today but the talks will look past the automatic spending cuts to the next looming fiscal fight: a possible government shutdown. The annual ritual of passing agency spending bills collapsed entirely last year and Congress must act by March 27th to prevent the partial shutdown.
Then, in April, Congress will confront a renewed stand-off on increasing the government’s borrowing limit — the same issue that two years ago spawned the law forcing the current spending cuts in the first place. Failure to raise the borrowing limit could force the US to default on debt for the first time in history.
So entrenched are the two parties that chaplain Barry Black opened the senate session yesterday with a prayer that beseeched a higher power to intervene.
“Rise up, O God, and save us from ourselves,” he said.
But the rival plans for averting the automatic spending cuts were doomed even before the senate vote. The proposals were introduced more as a tactic to allow senators to underline their partisan loyalty and save their parties from public blame for any resulting fallout.
Democrats thwarted a Republican proposal that would have required Mr Obama to propose alternative cuts that would cause less disruption in essential government services. Moments later, a Democratic alternative to spread the cuts over a decade and replace half with higher taxes on millionaires and corporations met the same fate.
In a written statement after the votes, Mr Obama lambasted Republicans, saying: “They voted to let the entire burden of deficit reduction fall squarely on the middle class.” | <urn:uuid:a636b314-0a89-4cd1-a258-95e84f84c398> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/world/new-crisis-looms-as-cuts-hit-us-1.1317601 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950658 | 733 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Microsoft Wants to Beam You Up to the Holodeck
Jan 17th 2013 5:30PM
Updated Jan 17th 2013 6:45PM
What if your life were more like a video game? This is a popular question in fiction, particularly in film. The notion of being part of an artificial game-like reality has made cult classics out of movies as diverse as Tron and The Matrix, and was recently skewered by Disney's latest animated hit, Wreck-It Ralph. But what if your life really were like a video game? What if you were living in a video game right now?
You might be able to figure that out in a few years if Microsoft has anything to say about it. The software giant, which is now increasingly becoming a hardware giant, unveiled an Xbox-compatible technology it's dubbed IllumiRoom at the Consumer Electronics Show, which promises to bring games into your living room... by projecting them across your entire living room. This was called "LiveWall" in early Electronic Entertainment Expo rumors, but this is the first time we've seen a real demonstration of the system in action. Here's the proof-of-concept video Microsoft demonstrated during the Samsung keynote, which Microsoft claims is all live, with no post-production:
A report on The Verge ties Microsoft to Samsung by way of the latter's manufacturing capacity for pico projectors, which would provide the necessary image fidelity to recreate the scene you see. This isn't Microsoft's first foray into projected displays -- I covered a Microsoft research project on projected interfaces called OmniTouch over a year ago -- but it may be the most sophisticated effort to move computing (and gaming) beyond the screen yet attempted.
Sony has its own augmented-reality plans and has even created videos to show off its vision, but they were designed as viral ads rather than real proof-of-concept tech demos. Microsoft's tech is closer to the living room than anyone else's, and that could be the edge that gives the next Xbox an insurmountable lead in the console wars. But what if that's just the beginning?
Step into the holodeck
The first thing that comes to most peoples' minds with these videos is the Star Trek holodeck, a reliable plot crutch that filled many lazy episodes with musings on the nature of simulated reality. We're clearly not there yet, but IllumiRoom is just the first 21st-century step into a world of technology purportedly hundreds of years more advanced than ours.
When games become truly immersive, what's the appeal of a tiny timewaster on a handheld screen? When movies can be projected all around you -- this is one of the fanciful promises of Sony's videos -- what's point of RealD 3-D glasses or IMAX screens? The major limitation to this projection technology against those two established immersion purveyors is a lower level of image fidelity, and there's no reason to expect this to remain a problem for very long. Consider that the Kinect itself wasn't even released until the tail end of 2010, and it's already found use in ways most people would have never considered several years ago.
It's hard to find any company that's putting more weight behind augmented reality than Microsoft. With nearly $10 billion in trailing-12-month research and development expenses, Microsoft could easily expand its research in this area even further -- but how much further could it go? Beyond IllumiRoom and OmniTouch, Microsoft's also developed several other Kinect- and projection- based augmented-reality technologies, some of which may now be part of IllumiRoom. Microsoft filed for a patent on this technology in early 2011, which should only widen the gap between it and its potential competitors. When the patent became public knowledge, most commenters called it the "holodeck patent," and it's probably going to continue to be called "holodeck tech" going forward. I wouldn't be surprised to see a new small business model spring up in the future around custom-built game rooms for the IllumiRoom experience. Why settle for your boring old living room when you can have a real holodeck?
What is real?
Microsoft's effort is the inverse of Google's with Project Glass -- one aims to expand your visual experience to fill the entire room, the other aims to contain your entire room within your visual experience. Both of them move the world inexorably toward the same end, which is the construction of an artificial reality over our real one. Today, their best research has produced devices that enhance an experience, whether through visual overlays in your face or graphical overlays on your walls. What will tomorrow's augmented reality technology look like? How far will we go before the virtual becomes better than the real?
What other high-tech tricks does Microsoft have up its sleeve? Is immersive hardware really the next step for this dominant operating system company? You're bound to have many questions about Microsoft's future, and our best tech analysts are here to help. We've put together an exclusive premium research report highlighting key opportunities and major threats for Microsoft, and what the company has to do to again become the great investment it once was during the dotcom era. Want to learn more? Click here to subscribe today.
The article Microsoft Wants to Beam You Up to the Holodeck originally appeared on Fool.com.Fool contributor Alex Planes holds no financial position in any company mentioned here. Add him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter @TMFBiggles for more news and insights. The Motley Fool recommends Google, Imax, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google, Imax, Microsoft, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool is short Sony. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. | <urn:uuid:d2075c1c-fa8d-4a17-806a-917d730d4f90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/01/17/microsoft-wants-to-beam-you-up-to-the-holodeck/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960363 | 1,243 | 1.523438 | 2 |
"Measuring the impact of mobile phone short message service on Kaposi sarcoma outcomes in Uganda"
Though cancer is often considered a disease of industrialized nations, the devastating impact of cancer in the developing world is increasing at an alarming rate. As the only cancer care center in Uganda, the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) receives more than 10,000 new and returning patients annually, the majority of whom suffer from HIV-associated malignancies. Kaposi sarcoma (KS) alone accounts for 1000 new cancer cases each year. In response to this disease burden, novel and innovative approaches to expanding cancer care are desperately needed. In many developing countries, mobile telephone technologies have been rapidly adopted and present an opportunity to improve patient follow-up and clinical outcomes. I plan to design, implement and evaluate a short message service (SMS) intervention targeting KS patients at the UCI in Kampala, Uganda. I aim to increase the number of patients who are retained in care and who receive complete cycles of chemotherapy, with the ultimate aim of improving patients’ clinical outcomes. This collaboration represents a novel approach to improving cancer care in a resource-limited setting, and could have significant implications for managing a rapidly increasing burden of disease. | <urn:uuid:5a7d4f17-52fc-41af-8c27-d35f1ffc550d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fhcrc.org/en/education-training/interdisciplinary-training/dualmentor/2011-fellows/jessica-yager.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925116 | 248 | 2.015625 | 2 |
International Team Identifies 480 Genes
That Control Human Cell Division
Research Led by Carnegie Mellon Finds Many Genes Are Inactivated in Cancer Cells
PITTSBURGH — A team of U.S., Israeli and German scientists used computational biology techniques to discover 480 genes that play a role in human cell division and to identify more than 100 of those genes that have an abnormal pattern of activation in cancer cells.
Malignant cells have lost control of the replication process, so detecting differences in cell cycle gene activation in normal and malignant cells provides important clues about how cancers develop, said Ziv Bar-Joseph, a Carnegie Mellon University computational biologist who led the study. These genes also are potential targets for drug therapy.
Unlike many cancer studies, which seek to identify "missing" genes that might cause cancer, this new research shows that genes can contribute to cancer in less obvious ways. "What we see is that there are many genes that are present and yet still involved in cancer because they are not activated, or expressed, in the way they normally are," said co-lead author Itamar Simon, a molecular biologist at Hebrew University Medical School in Israel. Rather than cycling on and off as normally occurs when cell replication and development proceeds, these genes are expressed in a steady state or not at all.
The findings will be reported in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science during the week of Jan.7.
The genes found to be deregulated in cancer cells include a few, such as PER2 and HOXA9 that already have been linked to cancer. Most have not, including at least three genes responsible for repairing genetic mutations that occur as DNA is duplicated in the cell.
The failure of the DNA repair genes to cycle in cancer cells raises the possibility that some mutations associated with cancer may not cause cancer. "Some of the mutations may be caused by the non-cycling genes, rather than the other way around," said Bar-Joseph, an assistant professor of computer science and machine learning in the School of Computer Science and a member of Carnegie Mellon's Lane Center for Computational Biology.
Determining if genetic mutations are a side effect of certain cancers rather than a cause will require further investigation, as will identifying which of the 118 genes that do not cycle in cancer cells are most significant.
"These genes seem to be important, but we don't yet know which ones play key roles or might be targets for drug therapy," Simon said. "We have narrowed down the field of candidates. Instead of looking at thousands of genes, now we can concentrate on about 100."
Using conventional techniques even to identify a full complement of human cell cycle genes has been problematic. Molecular biologists have found cell cycle genes in yeast, plants and mice, as well as in a human cancer cell line known as HeLa. But a study that purported to identify cell cycle genes in normal human cells proved flawed and invalid.
The problem that molecular biologists encountered in studying human cells has to do with the fact that the cell development must be arrested so that micro array technology can be used to measure which genes are expressed at each stage of the cell cycle. When the cells are released from arrest, Simon said, some don't resume cycling at all, while others resume at different intervals.
Why this is a problem in humans and not other species is not understood, Simon noted. But the result is that the cells - and these studies require millions of them - end up scattered among different stages of the cell cycle. Measurements of these unsynchronized cells are hopelessly "noisy."
"People said you couldn't solve this problem," Bar-Joseph said. But a computer science method called deconvolution, which is widely used in such fields as image processing and signal processing, proved effective in eliminating noise from the data.
In experiments, the team arrested and released cells in culture and then measured DNA content to determine which ones had stopped cycling and which ones were at various stages of the cell cycle. This information was used to construct a model of cell behavior that could be used to reanalyze the gene expression data, enabling researchers to combine expression data from cells that are all at the same stage of the cell cycle.
In addition to Bar-Joseph and Simon, the team included Yong Lu of Carnegie Mellon's Computer Science Department, Zahava Siegfried and Michael Brandeis of Hebrew University, Benedikt Brors and Roland Eils of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, and Brian D. Dynlacht of the New York University School of Medicine.
The Ray and Stephanie Lane Center for Computational Biology was recently established with a focus on bringing machine learning methods to bear on complex biological problems, especially cancer diagnosis and treatment. For more, see http://lane.compbio.cmu.edu. | <urn:uuid:918c1722-f847-4568-be44-755527cf10fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/January/jan7_cellcyclegenes.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946865 | 985 | 2.625 | 3 |
LIMA, Ohio (CNN) – John McCain offered a new justification for the Iraq war Thursday, arguing that if Saddam Hussein were still in power, he’d be a petro-dictator intent on using today's sky-high oil revenues to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
A voter at an Ohio town hall meeting Thursday asked McCain how he would vote on the 2002 war resolution if he had to do it again, given the advantage of hindsight.
“What do you think that Saddam Hussein would be doing with oil at $120, $125, $130 a barrel?,” McCain asked. “What do you think he’d be doing? I’ll tell you what he’d be doing. He’d be doing what he said he was committed to doing. And that’s acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction, which he did twice before.”
The Arizona senator elaborated on his other reasons for supporting the war resolution, including Iraq’s noncompliance with the U.N. mandated cease fire, as well as Saddam’s “brutal” human rights record.
Ultimately, McCain concluded, “If he were still in power, I believe that the world would be far worse off, especially with all the money he’d be making off of oil.” | <urn:uuid:82716f82-6ec4-442a-a1e3-cf2b3cd36ad6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/07/mccain-high-price-of-oil-one-justification-for-iraq-war-vote/comment-page-6/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978934 | 282 | 1.640625 | 2 |
fork()+other things+exec() are very common, to implement e.g. redirection
and piping. The call you want exists in POSIX, with the inelegant name
posix_spawn*(), but it's a nightmare of overdesign and a huge family of
functions precisely because it has to model all the things people usually
want to do between fork() and exec(). Its only real use is in embedded
MMUless systems in which fork() is impractical or impossible to implement. | <urn:uuid:e490c785-892b-4690-aad7-92e444459b8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lwn.net/Articles/318184/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924177 | 107 | 2.125 | 2 |
Rodney King, infamously made the symbol of the 1992 Los Angeles riots after being videotaped being beaten by cops, was arrested again Tuesday, and later released on bail.
King was pulled over by cops in Moreno Valley, L.A. for driving under the influence.
The incident happened at approximately 2:30 p.m. when Riverside County Sherriff Deputies spotted a 1994 Mitsubishi traveling along Frederick Avenue, north of Brabham Drive.
After watching the driver commit several traffic violations officers then performed a routine traffic stop. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Rodney Glenn King according to a department news release.
After failing the sobriety test, King was then taken to the Moreno Valley Police Department for further evaluation. He was later charged and transferred to the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside said police.
In 1991, King received national media attention after being aggressively beaten by the Los Angeles Police. A bystander filmed the assault, and four officers were indicted.
After a controversial trial, all four police officers were acquitted, sparking riots across L.A. that killed 55 people and resulted in more than $1 billion in damaged property. | <urn:uuid:064eb4bd-1d6a-414f-8ba1-81689ca4fbc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/rodney-king-arrested-and-bailed-for-dui-52263/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976416 | 240 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Our Founder: Marlin S. Walmer
Marlin S. Walmer was a pioneer in the rare earth magnet industry.
In 1968, the US Air Force introduced technology using rare earth cobalt magnets. Marlin was struck by the potential of this new technology and dedicated a thirty-plus year career to the development and commercialization of samarium cobalt-based rare earth magnets.
Under his direction, magnets produced at EEC have enhanced many high tech devices used in aerospace, spacecraft, satellites, telecommunication, marine vessels, military systems, and medical science.
A tireless innovator, Marlin brought together researchers and engineers from around the world. He and his colleagues at EEC collaborated with members of several research institutes to develop a new class of ultra-high temperature Sm-TM magnet materials for use in applications that operate at temperatures up to 550°C, a break-through that paved the way for new applications.
Marlin proudly served in the US Navy from 1946 to 1948. An alumnus of Lehigh University (BS 1952) and Franklin & Marshall College (MS 1958), he began his career as a metallurgical engineer at the Hamilton Watch Company. At Hamilton, he worked with platinum cobalt magnets used in wristwatches. It was this work that laid the foundation for his pursuit to develop, commercialize, and improve rare earth magnets over the next 30 years. Marlin founded Electron Energy Corporation in 1970.
From Milk House to International Leader
EEC started in a milk house on a dairy farm near Manheim, Pennsylvania, with two employees and a license to practice the magnet technology developed by the US Air Force by Dr. Strnat. Steady growth in sales and employees prompted several moves until 1985 when a 40,000 square foot facility was built. From this site, EEC has emerged as an international leader in the production of rare earth magnets and magnet assemblies. | <urn:uuid:03e007a3-be7b-4d3c-ad87-010dbd1042cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.electronenergy.com/about/history.htm | 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 | 0.953904 | 390 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Rick Walston on Distance Learning & Seminary Education
Date: February 4th, 2013
How does someone who grew up in a religiously apathetic household and who was not interested in school become the president of a theological seminary? And how does that same person challenge the typical norms of academia by promoting theological education via distance learning and online education? We talk with Dr. Rick Walston, founder and president of Columbia Evangelical Seminary, as he discusses his history and the challenges associated with creating a seminary where students are not physically present on campus. Rick starts by revealing his own upbringing, which suprisingly was not within a religious household. Nor was he particularly interested in schooling. He then discusses a “cataclysmic encounter” with Christianity that he had in his early adulthood that eventuallly set him down a path to earn two doctorates and several master’s degrees, as well as his experience in the pastorate. We then turn to the issue of creating a seminary. Rick reveals how the idea of Columbia Evangelical Seminary came about, talking about his experience working at a registrar’s office at a small college and how he encountered John Bear, an expert on distance learning and someone who was critical in busting “diploma mills.” After writing a book with Mr. Bear, and investigating the problems with correspondence schools in the 1980s, the idea of setting up a distance learning seminary began to take shape. Although Rick had felt called by God to start an educational institution for several years, he details the “eureka” moment of CES while on a vacation in Moss Beach, CA. Our conversation then focuses on the process of establishing this new distance learning institution, including how to answer the question “Will any students show up?” Through this discussion, we find out about the student body and faculty of CES, how the curriculum is determined, and then raise the important issue of accreditation. CES is not accredited and Rick explains why noting how the personalized and flexible nature of CES’s model makes accreditation difficult. The benefits and difficulties of online education are also discussed. Not everyone, it turns out, is an ideal candidate for a distance learning program since it requires a great amount of self-discipline on the part of the student, which is why most students at CES are older and are often involved in ministry already. Our interview closes with Rick’s thoughts on the usefulness of a theological education after Tony ruminates about whether or not seminaries over-intellectualize theology and creates a rift between the clergy and the common person in the pews. Recorded: January 28, 2013.
Leave a Reply | <urn:uuid:b88752d6-185f-46e9-bbe7-128d80556a1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.researchonreligion.org/church-organization/rick-walston-on-distance-learning-seminary-education | 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 | 0.976892 | 547 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Die Martis, 21 Aprilis, 1646.
THE House, according to Order, this Day, the
first Business, resumed the Consideration of the Narrative of the Matter of Fact concerning the Breach of the
Privilege of Parliament, by the last Petition of the Assembly of Divines: The which was voted Clause by Clause;
and was in bæc verba; viz.
A Narrative of the Matter of Fact concerning the
Breach of the Privilege of Parliament by the Petition
of the Assembly of Divines.
THE Parliament, by the fundamental Laws and
Constitutions of this Kingdom, hath this great
Privilege, to be the supreme Judicatory; and hath
Jurisdiction in all Causes, spiritual and temporal, and
to delegate so much of this Power as they think
fit: And, when they have declared their Judgments,
and given their Directions, in a Law, the same is binding to all Persons of this Kingdom, of what Quality
The Assembly of Divines, called by Ordinance of Parliament, are authorized and injoined by the said Ordinance, from time to time, during this present Parliament,
or until further Order be taken by both the said Houses,
to treat of such Matters therein mentioned, as shall be proposed unto them, from time to time, by both or either of
the Houses of Parliament, and no other; and to deliver
their Opinions and Advices, of or touching the Matters
aforesaid, as shall be most agreeable to the Word of God,
to both or either of the said Houses, from time to time,
in such Manner and Sort as by both or either of the said
Houses shall be required; with a Prohibition, that they
do not assume to exercise any Jurisdiction, Power, or Authority, Ecclesiastical, whatsoever, or any other Power,
than what in the said Ordinance is particularly expressed.
The Assembly are further authorized, by Ordinance of
Parliament, the Twelfth of October 1643, to treat among
themselves of such a Discipline and Government as may
be most agreeable to God's holy Word, and most apt to
procure and preserve the Peace of the Church at home,
and nearer Agreement with the Church of Scotland, and
other Reformed Churches abroad; and to deliver their
Opinions and Advice therein, with all convenient Speed, to
the Houses: Whereupon they gave their Advice, before
the Houses declared their Judgment in the Ordinance for
The Parliament having received the Advice of the Assembly concerning Presbyterial Government; and particularly, That Jesus Christ hath placed in the Ministers and
Elders of his Churches the Power of keeping away scandalous and unworthy Persons from the Lord's Table;
Both Houses, after mature Deliberation had thereupon,
did, notwithstanding, ordain, by a Law, That, in Cases
not enumerated, the Commissioners, by them to be appointed according to the said Law, should exercise so much
of the said Power, as in that Law is provided.
The Assembly are not authorized, as an Assembly, by
any Ordinance or Order of Parliament, to interpret the
Covenant, especially in relation to any Law made or to
be made; nor, since the Law passed both Houses concerning the Commissioners, have been required by both or
either of the Houses of Parliament, or had any Authority
before by Parliament, to deliver their Opinions to the
Houses, in Matters already judged and determined by
them: Neither have they Power, either to debate or vote,
whether what is passed as a Law by both Houses, be
agreeing or disagreeing to the Word of God, until they be
Matter of Fact arising from the Petition itself.
The Assembly of Divines, under the Name of a Petition, dated March 23 1645, attested by the Prolocutor,
and the Two Scribes;
First, Do oppose their Judgment, as an Assembly, in
relation to a Law passed both Houses, unto the Judgment
of Parliament, being not thereunto authorized nor required; affirming, That the Provision of Commissioners
to judge of Scandals, not enumerated, appears to their
Consciences to be so contrary to that Way of Government
which Christ hath appointed in his Church, in that it
giveth a Power to judge of Persons to come to the Sacrament, unto such as Christ hath not given that Power;
and to be, in many respects in the said Petition mentioned, so disagreeable to the Covenant; that they dare
not practise according to that Provision.
Secondly, The Assembly, in their Petition, do declare,
That the Power of judging in Cases not enumerated
(placed, in Part, by the said Laws, in Commissioners), and
to keep back from the Sacrament all such as are notoriously scandalous, doth belong to the several Elderships
by divine Right, and by the Will and Appointment of
Christ; excluding thereby the said Commissioners, and in
them the Parliament, from the Power and Right to judge
in Cases of Scandal not enumerated.
This being taken into Consideration by the House of
Commons; after a long and serious Debate had thereupon,
they have Resolved and Declared, That this Petition, thus
presented by the Assembly of Divines, is a Breach of Privilege of Parliament.
Mr. Samuel Browne, Mr. Prideaux, Mr. Natha.
Fines, Mr. Marten, Mr. John Stephens, Sir John Evelyn
of Wiltes, Sir Arthur Haslerigg, Sir Peter Wentworth,
Mr. Rowse, Mr. Tate, Mr. Gurdon;
This Committee is appointed to communicate, in a fair
manner, unto the Assembly of Divines, the Vote of this
House, upon the Breach of Privilege in their Petition:
And are to inlarge themselves upon the several Heads of
the Narrative brought in from the Committee, and resolved on by the House.
Ordered, &c. That Mr. Walker, a Member of this
House, shall have Leave to go into the Country, for Recovery of his Health.
Ordered, &c. That the Questions, brought from the
Committee, to be propounded to the Assembly of Divines,
be taken into Consideration To-morrow Morning, the first
Business: And that, immediately after, the whole Business
concerning the North, and concerningNottinghamshire,
be taken into Consideration.
Ordered, &c. That Sir Philip Parker shall have Mr.
Speaker's Warrant for his Son to go beyond Seas, into the
Ordered, &c. That, on Saturday next, peremptorily, the
first Business, the House do take into Consideration the
Reports from Goldsmiths-Hall: And that Mr. Speaker
put the House in mind hereof.
Ordered, &c. That Paul Best be brought to the House
on Thursday come Sevennight: And that, in the mean
time, he be remanded, and kept Prisoner, according to | <urn:uuid:f1b60c7e-1580-43ca-84b8-560a6a46ba77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23673 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952837 | 1,511 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Teresa Campbell Nangala
Teresa has been painting for over ten years and paints regularly with her mother for Papunya Tula, and gets commissioned by galleries in Alice Springs to paint her own canvases.
Her mother is Bombatu Napangardi, and established artist. Bombatu taught her daughter how to paint her stories and they frequently collaborate on large canvas's together as their painting style is similar. Bombatu is widow to Dinni Ccampbell Tjampitjinpa, Teresa's father, also a notable artist from the early 1970's art movement who helped form Papunya Tula Artists.
Teresa always paints in the traditional colors of red oxide, black, yellow oxide and white with an interesting mix of the four colors creating rust and orange tones.
Teresa paints ‘Woman's Tingari Dreamings', the site depicted in her paintings as the concentric circle is called WALA-WALA which is a sacred rock-hole. In the dreamtime the Tingari women travelled across the country depicted by the straight lines(travelling lines0 they came from west of Kiwirkurra. This country is covered in sandhills(Tali) depicted as the vertical and horizontal intersecting lines, small circles indicate plenty of bush Tomato in that area, and cream dotted background colour is the earth and many witchetty grub are found there. The Tingari women performed many important dances and ceremonies at Wala-wala, women still go there and do the same today.
Title: Wala-wala is in Marrapinta Country, part of the complex songlines governed by Tingari Dreaming. | <urn:uuid:2f224d99-d4fb-4c1b-b0eb-d330aecdb9ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.butlergoodegallery.com/art/artists/teresa-campbell-nangala259/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949924 | 346 | 1.765625 | 2 |
by Julian Rushton
Oxford University Press, 306 pp., $30.00
Mozart and His Operas
by David Cairns
University of California Press, 290 pp., $29.95
The Faber Pocket Guide to Mozart
by Nicholas Kenyon
Faber and Faber, 384 pp., £8.99 (paper)
The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia
edited by Cliff Eisen and Simon P. Keefe
Cambridge University Press, 662 pp., $175.00
More than any other famous composer, Mozart arouses not just admiration but envy. Brahms once called him the greatest disaster that can happen to another composer. Debussy, in his combat against the mainstream Teutonic tradition, said that it was a pity that Mozart wasn’t French, because he would be worth imitating.
For the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of his birth, publishers have produced several new books to mark the event, but it has become difficult to find something both new and interesting to say after centuries of celebration in which so many conflicting views of Mozart have already been offered. Two of the best new accounts are by Julian Rushton and David Cairns, historians who coincidentally are specialists in Berlioz as well as Mozart. Rushton’s is simply entitled Mozart. He discusses both life and works, treating the latter in separate chapters by genre (keyboard music, sacred music, German opera, etc.). It is not deeply original, but always sensitive, judicious, and stimulating. It is too short—not too short for Mozart but for Rushton, who has certainly much more to say that would be of interest. There are many music examples, but there should have been more.
A measure of what Rushton’s book has to offer can be seen from a splendidly rich sentence in his final summary:
No one moved as he does, above all in his later instrumental music, with such swiftness, serenity, and sleight of hand to create a musical argument combining his greatest loves—counterpoint, chromaticism, comedy.
The only important omission in his admirable book is revealed by his comment on the two versions of Don Giovanni, the first for Prague in 1787, the second for Vienna a year later. The new singer for Don Ottavio in Vienna could not sing the difficult aria “Il mio tesoro” in the second act, and Mozart wrote a new and simpler one for him in the first act, “Dalla sua pace,” and composed a virtuoso aria for Donna Elvira, “Mi tradí,” to replace the brilliance of the tenor’s own. Rushton comments: “Any sentimental attachment to first thoughts (Prague) comes into conflict with the excellence of Elvira’s new scena.” However, in the Prague version, Donna Anna’s tremendous call for vengeance on the murder of her father is followed at once by the scene with Don Giovanni’s so-called “Champagne” aria, a celebration of debauchery, making a grand effect with a dramatic contrast of tonalities. In the Vienna version, “Dalla sua pace” damps down the contrast.
Rushton does not adequately consider how Mozart constructed his operas with startling changes of action musically rendered by dramatic changes to harmonically distant keys, and the way that the occasional incoherence of the libretto is offset by the impression of logic given by the music. Rushton claims that Mozart was “no reformer,” and this is true in the sense that he belonged to no official, dogmatic movement of reform, but by sheer willpower he did more than any other composer … | <urn:uuid:4a8822a4-37cf-4483-8e9a-6409751e2177> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2006/may/25/mozart-at-250/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962722 | 794 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Weight Watchers CEO: How To Form Healthy Habits In 'Obesogenic' Environment
Watching a lean David Kirchhoff take the stage at the recent TedMed conference to talk obesity prevention, it was difficult to imagine the Weight Watchers CEO was ever a customer. But he was indeed -- a man who at his heaviest weighed 40 pounds more than he does today and who, at just 33, was being counseled to consider cholesterol-lowering drugs.
We caught up with the business man who talked to us about the sweeping implications of the obesity epidemic and dished about his personal healthy habits, as well as his diet pitfalls.
You've talked about the key distinction between healthy habits and discipline. What does that actually mean?
There is too much emphasis placed on this notion of will-power and discipline and not enough on establishing healthy habits. The difference between healthy habits and discipline is that a habit is something you don't have to think about doing. You do something enough, you're disciplined about it, and you put in the time. Eventually you don't have to think about it. It's routine.
Like ... ?
I have been maintaining my weight loss now for the better part of four years. An example of how I do this is that I now have a healthy breakfast every morning without thinking about it. Having a healthy breakfast is something that I believe will now always stick with me, because it's a part of who I am. Similar to having a healthy breakfast, exercise is very much of an embedded habit for me -- I have my routine. I put my clothes out at night, I put my sugar free Redbull out, and when that alarm goes off at 5 in the morning, after glaring at it, I get up and go.
Wait, you drink Redbull?
It's sugar free!
So what can people do to get to that good habit stage?
One way I think about it is to pick three areas you want to change and really focus on those. You have to put in the time to make new habits stick, and you can't tackle everything at once. One of my tough remaining bad habits is mindless eating after dinner. I end up in the kitchen at night and I'm grazing and I know I'm not hungry -- I'm not hungry! -- so I am working to take steps to find a way to control it. I've been tweeting about it all week in a seven-day personal challenge. And it’s working so far!
So your company isn't exactly known for concern about broader, public health. Why the shift?
Back when Weight Watchers was founded in 1963, it was really personal issues that were driving why people were interested in losing weight. The connection between obesity and health is a relatively new phenomenon. In the last few years, it's like a deafening roar.
From our perspective, getting people to address weight and lifestyle issues for the right reasons feels better. It feels better because it is. It's important. That's why we're constantly talking about short, near-term goals, like losing 10 percent [of your weight] as a key milestone, because that's where there are the most obvious health implications in conditions like diabetes, but also cardiovascular disease, hip and knee replacements...
Yeah, but not everyone is thinking about heart health when they're looking to shed pounds.
Why does the average consumer want to lose weight? Some do it for health reasons, and some do it for personal reasons -- they want to look better and feel better -- and there's nothing wrong with that. Whatever motivates you to grab control can be helpful, as long as over-emphasis on body image doesn't go overboard.
You've said that obesity is a chronic condition, and it's never cured. Isn't that kind of a bummer?
It's true. For most people with a weight issue, the challenges of adopting a healthier lifestyle never really go away. It’s something that takes time, effort, awareness and focus. That has certainly been the case for me. It is inevitable that many people will periodically fall back on less healthy habits. Life gets in the way, and we are in an "obesogenic" environment that constantly challenges us. Therefore, the emphasis needs to be providing people with the tools and environmental changes that allow them to improve their odds of success in making a healthier lifestyle stick.
Ultimately, each person needs to own their own health and their lifestyle. I talk about that a lot. I own my healthy habits, and I own my weight loss. It’s not anybody else’s. Weight Watchers provided me with the tools that helped me get there, but my success -- and my slip-ups -- are ultimately my own. | <urn:uuid:e9143ed8-4b49-4321-93d7-4bae70b44889> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/weight-watchers-ceo-david-kirchhoff_n_1067398.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98187 | 975 | 1.648438 | 2 |
- Last Updated: 11:42 PM, July 6, 2012
- Posted: July 07, 2012
The nation’s economy added just 80,000 jobs in June. That works out to 75,000 a month in the second quarter of 2012 — a third of the first-quarter pace, the Labor Department disclosed yesterday.
Plus, about one-third of the new second-quarter jobs were in temporary services.
The unemployment rate held steady at 8.2 percent — the longest streak at 8 percent or above since the Great Depression.
And even that number is misleading.
The Social Security Administration reported yesterday that more workers went on federal disability last month (85,000) than got jobs (80,000) — a startling development all by itself, but one that also obscured the real national unemployment rate.
That’s because folks going on disability are no longer formally in the work force — and, thus, not counted as unemployed.
Amazingly, President Obama yesterday called the new numbers “a step in the right direction.”
Back in 2009, by the way, Obama predicted that if his $800 billion “stimulus” were passed, unemployment would be just 5.6 percent today.
Well, that bloated program passed. But somehow, things haven’t worked out as the president was certain they would.
Little wonder, then, that the White House yesterday cautioned Americans “not to read too much into one monthly report” — the same response Team Obama has been giving monthly since November 2009.
But a close look at some of the figures shows just how desperate the Obama economy is becoming:
* The broader unemployment rate, which also covers people who aren’t looking for work or who are employed only part-time because they can’t find a full-time job, is 14.9 percent.
* Minorities are being hit particularly hard: The unemployment rate among African-Americans is 14.4 percent; among Hispanics, 11 percent.
* The number of long-term unemployed (27 weeks or more) is 5.4 million — accounting for 42 percent of the jobless. Overall, there are 13 million unemployed Americans.
* The number of unemployed women is 5.785 million — up 780,000 since Obama took office.
Overall consumer confidence is down — Americans have cut back on spending, despite the rapid drop in gasoline prices.
And if Americans don’t spend, companies will have less reason to hire.
Moreover, since the labor force is growing at a much faster rate than job growth, unemployment is almost certain to keep rising.
“A kick in the gut,” is how GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney aptly put it.
“There are no quick fixes,” is how the chairman of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers reacted.
And, it seems, no long-term ones, either.Follow @NYPostOpinion | <urn:uuid:c4226369-55cd-4b32-b815-828718daa21a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/obama_by_the_numbers_ISLKXmIgXRZJQtyyohL9yH | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956618 | 612 | 1.929688 | 2 |
View Full Version : WindowsXP > MacOs9+ networking via DSL??
03-31-2004, 06:39 PM
Just to liven things up? I have a PC (XP) linked to DSL router along with Mac (OS9+) sharing internet connection but want to set fileshare etc between the two. I know if I upgraded the Mac to OSX, I could set up a network but I need to keep this config. Any ideas??
03-31-2004, 06:50 PM
You need to understand both MAC and Windows controls.
The protocol standards are international and there is no reason why the two cannot communicate.
As long as both machines are configured you have no problems connecting although talking to each other may be more difficult.
You need to ensure that the right protocols are set up on both machines so that they are able to do this.
I am not up on MAC so please excuse my ignorance.
But in theory it should work.
Hopefully by answering this question a MAC person will come and help.
03-31-2004, 07:39 PM
I can set up a network on a PC but having a headache getting to grips with PC.
I have created 'user' on Mac network, local area connection is set up and running on PC but cant seem to get my head round the 'properties' of the local area bit - I know the IP details for the Mac but this is where I get stuck
03-31-2004, 07:47 PM
I can do all versions of windows but as I said before we need omebody that knows the MAC side of things. The answer is simple it is just finding out the rigt way to do it on a MAC. Where is the MAC control panel.
Any MAC users out there
03-31-2004, 08:02 PM
well I am a Mac User so .... this should be simple - shouldn't it?
On a Mac, when setting up a Local network, you set up a 'group'. This group is set to allow access to files, programmes etc. You then create 'users', naming your computer and add them to the netowrk group and allow TCP/IP to connect.
Once this is set up on the host, you do the same for any other Macs on the system, ie. You create a group and add ther users. This way you can allow access back and forth.
You finally 'allow file sharing and programe linking'.
The way I then access one is to select Appleshare and choose the server (the named computer will show up as option). Double click and the shared Mac appears.
Well thats it for a Mac | <urn:uuid:5a135af5-51c0-4e16-b4df-7e8c9f609320> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webproworld.com/webmaster-forum/archive/index.php/t-8477.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913411 | 556 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Patrick Crowder rarely sleeps, but when he does the nightmares flow — taking him back to the killing zones and closer to the brink of suicide.
"It's just a battle. It's a battle every day," the 43-year-old Air Force and Army veteran says of his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Crowder, of Ripley, Tenn., is among some 8,200 veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who have sought help at the Memphis VA Medical Center, with more than half of them getting treatment for mental-health issues.
As America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, the daunting new challenge facing the nation is caring for the tens of thousands of returning service members afflicted not just with physical wounds, but PTSD and other mental-health conditions.
Faced with burgeoning caseloads, and under fire for treatment delays, the Department of Veterans Affairs this summer has been on a hiring binge. Nationwide, the VA is adding 1,900 mental-health professionals, increasing by at least 10 percent the number of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, clinicians and clerical workers available to help veterans.
At the Memphis VA, officials have been recruiting 21 mental-health professionals who will be brought on the staff at an annual cost of just more than $2 million. Thirteen are on the job, with five more beginning in the coming weeks and three still to be hired.
"It's really competitive to get good mental-health providers right now," said Mary Fruit, chief of mental health service at the Memphis center, which will have a mental-health staff of 210 when the hiring is complete.
The department initially began bolstering its mental-health staff nationally in 2005 at the behest of Congress, increasing by 45 percent its roster of professionals. But that wasn't enough to quell criticism in recent months that the VA has been slow to respond in meeting the mental-health needs of veterans, who in recent years have been committing suicide at an average rate of 18 per day.
In April, the department's inspector general released a report finding that the VA fails to abide by its own policies calling for first-time applicants to receive mental-health evaluations within 14 days. Timely evaluations are crucial in identifying the patients needing immediate hospitalization, and in getting the others started on outpatient care.
Although the department had reported that 95 percent of veterans were evaluated within the two-week period during fiscal 2011, the inspector general's report found flaws in the VA's data. It concluded that only 49 percent of veterans seeking help actually were evaluated within 14 days. For the other patients, it took the department an average of 50 days to provide the evaluations.
Inadequate staff levels were blamed for many of the problems. Last year, the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs asked the VA to survey its mental-health professionals as to whether they felt their medical centers had adequate staff to meet veterans' needs. Among the respondents, 71 percent said they did not.
The newly hired professionals should help, VA officials say.
"One of the nice things about these positions was that each station was allowed to identify their area of highest need," said Fruit, of the Memphis center.
She said the additional professionals will allow the Memphis center to offer more weekend and evening outpatient sessions with veterans. In addition, mental-health professionals will be embedded with medical-health providers in the primary-care teams treating veterans. That way, they can help identify such symptoms as depression and anxiety among veterans who might be averse to seeking help for mental problems.
"Unfortunately, even today there's an incredible amount of stigma" attached to mental-health problems, Fruit said.
The newly added staff also will help with therapy for veterans and their families, dealing with the difficulties that can occur "reintegrating them back" into the home, Fruit said.
A total of 8,237 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have enrolled at the Memphis VA, with 4,459, or 54 percent, signed up for mental-health services.
Fruit said that for all the challenges presented by PTSD cases, treatment of the disorder has improved markedly over the years.
"What's different is that now we're treating (veterans) closer to when they had their experiences," she said. "In prior wars, we got them decades later."
Crowder has been getting treatment for PTSD since his last suicide attempt in 2006, when he placed a gun under his chin and pulled the trigger. He survived because a bone deflected the bullet from his brain.
He traces his troubles as far back as 1991 during the first Gulf War, when he was in Air Force combat logistics and was called to the "Highway of Death," where thousands of vehicles carrying Iraqi troops were targeted by intense U.S. airstrikes. When Crowder got there, the vehicles still were filled with the burned bodies of Iraqi soldiers.
Later, as a National Guardsman and an active-duty soldier in the Army, he recovered bodies of tornado and hurricane victims and served as a medic in Operation Enduring Freedom, the Afghanistan campaign.
"A lot of the issues I have dealt with were involved with dead bodies," Crowder said.
But he's been pleased with the help he's gotten from the Memphis VA and believes the additional staff will further improve the service.
"I've been able to see a mental-health professional when I've needed ... As long as you keep your appointments and show up, you really don't have an issue getting help," Crowder said.
"They haven't made my problems go away — I don't think they'll ever go away — but it's helped. It's kept me from putting a gun to my head a second time.'' | <urn:uuid:a408b2ac-970a-4ab1-ad6d-f286c4075495> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/sep/09/under-fire-va-boosts-up-mental-health-staff-in/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97851 | 1,176 | 1.960938 | 2 |
In honor of Independence Day: Last year, Levi's launched a campaign called Go Forth which borrowed words from American poet Walt Whitman. Listen to Whitman read four lines of his 1888 poem "America," and you'll be surprised at how his words are still so relevant today.
Below is the full poem.
Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear'd, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair'd in the adamant of Time. | <urn:uuid:292672a2-880f-4561-856a-38fa4ed3e1a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/america-by-walt-whitman | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959182 | 137 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Course Objective: To develop effective managers and supervisors within a leadership-centered culture.
The USGS offers a 40-hour course in basic supervision, USGS Supervisory Challenge, which meets the first phase of the DOI mandatory training requirement for new supervisors.
The target audience is new supervisors within their first year. Once assigned to a supervisory position, new supervisors and their manager receives a probationary memo from their Human Resources Officer stating that the new supervisor must successfully complete a one-year probationary period and/or complete 40 hours of supervisory training. The new supervisor is advised of the Supervisory Challenge class and provided with logistical information regarding the class. Supervisory Challenge is delivered three times per year - once in Reston, Denver, and Sacramento.
Supervisory Challenge participants will be able to:
- Acquire supervisory and leadership competencies to better manage their human resources;
- Demonstrate a basic level of proficiency to build and maintain a competent, committed and productive workgroup;
- Describe their rights and responsibilities as a supervisor;
- Effectively guide supervisory functions, i.e., ethics, position management, staffing, employee development, employee engagement, conflict resolution, and equal employment opportunity;
- Identify the rules, regulations and policies specific to the USGS and DOI that guide supervisory action and decision-making in regard to personnel management.
In addition, the course offers self awareness assessments:
- Everything DISC Management helps supervisors discover their management style and how their style may affect how they manage time, make decisions, and solve problems. They also learn a method for recognizing the behavioral styles of others as a way to begin to understand them better.
- Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument assesses behavior in conflict situations and provides helpful analysis to determine when a person may need to shift in order to effectively resolve issues.
Graduates of Supervisory Challenge have the opportunity to participate in mentoring—either with a partner or in a mentoring circle. Seasoned mentors, who have a good track record in supervising and managing others, are selected to serve as mentors to first-time supervisors. Participants are matched with a mentor who can help meet their personal and professional management goals and meet the challenges that face them as they manage others.
Acquiring the skills to be a good supervisor is not solely accomplished in a 40-hour course. With the help of a management review team, we have developed a model for further development options. The Office of Organizational and Employee Development can assist new and experienced supervisors as they seek further development of skills by offering counsel and options for additional internal and external training and development.
Please see a sample of the course agenda. | <urn:uuid:56d67ed4-e1f0-4a7c-bd57-59678cf37a8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usgs.gov/humancapital/ecd/ecd_usgssupv_develop.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93546 | 546 | 2 | 2 |
|July 31, 2006--Former Speaker Newt Gingrich delivered a wide-ranging
speech at the Young America's Foundation's 28th annual National Conservative
Student Conference. Members of the audience found copies of Gingrich's
book "Winning the Future" on their seats upon arriving.
On health care, Gingrich cited the example of Florida, praising its websites that provide consumers information on hospitals and drug pricing. On energy, Gingrich spoke glowingly of composites and other advances and foresaw a day when cars might get 1,000 miles on a gallon of gas.
On Social Security, Gingrich stated, "The White House went about Social Security totally wrong last year." "It has to grow from you back to Washington," Gingrich said. "We need this organized by young people on behalf of young people and then imposed on the politicians," Gingrich said. He called for a 30-year transition and backed legislation introduced by Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). ["Social Security Personal Savings Guarantee and Prosperity Act of 2005"]
On the challenge posed by China and India, Gingrich said there must be reforms in litigation, regulation, taxation and education.
Finally, Gingrich addressed his recent theme of "an emerging Third World War." "If our enemies get nuclear or biological weapons they are going to use them," Gingrich said. "We need to understand how serious this is." (There was a bit of awkwardness when Gingrich a couple of times misidentified Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez as Cesar Chavez). After the speech, Gingrich took questions.
Young America's Foundation
|Copyright © 2006 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action| | <urn:uuid:20ada6cb-8869-48ae-a6d2-9b27eb838a7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/photos06/photo073106.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945421 | 343 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Joint Replacement Risks Rise at Less Experienced Hospitals
TUESDAY June 7, 2011 -- People who have hip or knee replacement surgery at hospitals that do relatively few surgeries are at greater risk for serious complications after the procedure, new research reveals.
Blood clots were more common among patients at hospitals with low surgical volume, as were deaths within a year of their surgery, according to the study, published online June 7 in Arthritis & Rheumatism.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 230,000 total hip replacements and 543,000 total knee replacements are performed each year in the United States.
"With the large number of elective arthroplasty [joint replacements] in the U.S., it is important to understand the impact of peri- and post-operative medical complications on the success of joint replacement surgery," the study's lead author, Dr. Jasvinder Singh of the University of Alabama, said in a news release from the journal's publisher. "Possible cardiac complications, blood clots or infections increase patient morbidity and mortality risk, which can lead to higher health-care utilization and costs."
For the study, Singh and his fellow researchers compiled data on 10,187 hip and 19,418 knee replacement surgeries performed in Pennsylvania in 2002. The recipients, who averaged 69 years old, included more women than men.
People who had a hip replaced at a hospital that did 200 or fewer surgeries a year were more likely to develop a blood clot that travels to the lungs, called a pulmonary embolism, within 30 days of surgery than were those who had their surgery at a high-volume hospital, which did more than 200 surgeries a year.
The risk of dying within a year of the surgery was higher for people who had total hip replacements at a low-volume hospital and for those 65 and older who had a total knee replacement at a hospital with low surgical volume.
The researchers reasoned that the higher risk for complications at hospitals with low surgical volume may be linked to hospital procedures, including the prevention and treatment of blood clots.
"Further studies are needed to investigate whether the underlying reasons for poor surgical outcomes at low-volume hospitals are modifiable and which interventions may reduce complications for patients at these facilities," Singh said.
The U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases has more on joint replacement surgery.
Posted: June 2011 | <urn:uuid:26fcffe7-77e5-4376-a57e-afeb63dad2ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugs.com/news/joint-replacement-risks-rise-less-experienced-hospitals-31806.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970974 | 505 | 1.992188 | 2 |
He was either an artist or someone who wasted time. A few held with the first possibility, while most people he knew clung to the second. The sad part of it was, he had an inkling the second faction might be right. Sadder still, he knew himself to be so driven, so self-contained, in the end it made little difference what any of them thought.
Of course it was possible his unusual diversion was not so very odd after all, considering.
From the impressionistic blur of the growing up years he recalled a distant relative on his grandmother’s side, an elderly lady who set large, rounded stones in a special machine filled with oil paints of varying colors. (Somehow these colors were able to swirl without blending into a single shade the color of mud.) The button she pushed caused a whirring sound, and, lo and behold, seconds later there were stones to be seen unlike any other on the planet. They had a marbled look, such as is found on the endpapers of certain old books.
Looking on, perhaps all of seven or eight, he had no idea the old lady’s abstract art was anything out of the ordinary, but now, more than sixty years later, he realized that in various personal interactions with people over the years he had yet to meet anyone else who did such a thing.
Doing his own art, or whatever it was, he remembered the machine, remembered the relative on his grandmother’s side who caused to be colored rounded stones when she could have been darning socks, something her friends and neighbors would have understood.
P.O. Box 8
Herod, IL 62947 | <urn:uuid:22968990-0654-41af-bf94-73606d963454> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailyregister.com/article/20130308/blogs/130309300/1376 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986549 | 346 | 1.5 | 2 |
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
I just read Ivo Busko's letter (posted in this digest) replying to Dr.
Dave's historical sequence of plant-rearing issues in the hobby.
I agree with Ivo that the sequence of issues *isn't* just a sequence of
fads. On the other hand I don't think that it's a matter of increasing
technical advancement either; certainly not advancements taken from the
marine hobby. Like a lot of the rest of us, my tanks use lights and
ballasts that are built for general building maintenance and home or
commercial use. I use CO2 generated with yeast (ancient technology) that
was applied to planted tanks years before I started using it. The
chelated fertilizers we use are hydroponics products and/or garden
products that have been available for a long time. Their application to
the planted aquarium hobby and the subsequent advancement of the hobby has
been the contribution of hobbyists like Neil Frank, Karen Randall, Paul
Sears and Kevin Conlin who have found new uses for old and common tools.
I think the sequence of issues in the hobby reflects increasing
sophistication and ever growing-expectations on the part of the
Also I have to disagree a little with Dr. Dave over the sequence of
issues. I don't think that manipulating nitrogen or phosphorus was
an issue until after people started adding CO2. In a normal aquarium
without CO2 supplementation the nutrients added through fish feeding
uniformly exceed the amounts the plants can use; their manipulation and
control isn't even practically possible.
I've been through this sequence of issues myself. I discovered for myself
about 14 years ago that adding chelated iron to my sparsely planted fish
tank produced much more robust plant growth. I subsequently experimented
with sunlit lit tanks and different fertilizers with varying success and
found different aspects from each experiment that I thought might be mixed
and matched to improve my results. By the time I found the *.aquaria
newsgroups about 6 years ago I was well settled into the concept of the
natural aquarium. By then the value of CO2 seemed to be already settled
and people were boosting their lighting and trying hard to get the Sears
and Conlin approach to control their algae.
After a few months of reading the news groups I decided I would start
experimenting with some of those new (to me) ideas. Brighter artificial
lighting, DIY CO2, heavier and more consistent fertilizing, substrate
amendments and so on. I was worried that those experiments were going to
take me down a dead-end path to failure, so I proceded slowly and kept one
tank where I still used my old, established "natural" methods. That gave
me a fallback position, and it also provided a yardstick for comparison of
my new results.
I still have that tank and I keep it in it's original condition. It's a
dismal comparison to my other tanks. The contrast makes it obvious
that the progress of issues represents, not just changing fads while the
hobby marks time, but a real progress in our methods and our results. | <urn:uuid:6ef3bf9d-9c14-4249-a089-c07faae1cb3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200104/msg00204.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950555 | 683 | 1.992188 | 2 |
David Kelly is one of the people who tackle the topic of creative confidence in such a beautiful way that I decided to review what he had to say in one of his videos. His presentation is kicked off with a story about his best friend Brian who was trying to create a horse using clay in 3rd grade. A girl in his class who saw him do this told him that it was terrible and he immediately stopped what he was doing and threw away the clay. Since then his friend has never attempted to delve into anything creative again.Read more
Celebrities like Justin Bieber, Emma Stone, Lady Gaga and Diddy have joined the viral campaign group "Invisible Children" to publicize Joseph Kony, a wanted war criminal.
If the name of Joseph Kony tells you nothing, you say that this is a matter of time, since several events are set in motion to put the spotlight this war criminal, but especially for him to finally grapple above.
In summary, Joseph Kony, the rebel leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) which is active between Uganda and Sudan, is being sought around the world. An arrest warrant against him raged since 2005, but one that gathers crimes against humanity (rape, abduction of children as soldiers, looting, sexual slavery, murder, etc..) Is still at large. This story is true; unfortunately it's not a movie script.
It’s true that the campaign has begun in 2005, but the true beginning and pre-publicized phase has begun in 2003 in Uganda. The man who started all of this is called Jason Russell who travelled to Uganda in 2003 to make a documentary about the suffering happening there. People were suffering from hunger and danger all together. They can’t sleep at night because of the fear of getting abducted and are on a constant run. Who are they running from? And who wants to abduct them and why? It’s Joseph Kony. As I mentioned earlier, he is a rebel leader who kidnaps children; he gives the boys guns, makes them join his children army, makes them kill THEIR OWN parents and torture other people. As of the girls, they get raped and engaged into prostitution and sex slavery. As of now, 30.000 child have been abducted.Read more
Hello again YouTubers!! I know that you are roaming the YouTube site the whole day trying to promote for your YouTube Video and make it more viral, that's why today I am going to review this video that talks exactly about this issue. This Video is actually a Manual that shows how to easy share your youtube videos on most important Social Media to How to make your YouTube Videos more VIRAL presented by Dereck Celis.Read more
Hello video fans! Today i am going to review another inspirational video, well to be precise they are two; which their main concept talking about how to establish an emotional connection with any audience.
This is actually an interview between Sarah Green and Peter Guber, chairman and CEO of the Mandalay Entertainment Group, writer of the article called "The Fortunes Of A Story Teller" and the book "Tell To Win".Read more
Welcome in another video review about the "Providence Paradox"! Today's video is pretty interesting as it is represents an interview between Scott Bernardo (the interviewer) and Rohit Deshpandé, Harvard Business School professor where the last describes ways that emerging market companies can overcome consumer bias against their products. Read more | <urn:uuid:c8ab4c92-fb1d-434c-bb05-68aa8e692539> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ortwin-oberhauser.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975484 | 709 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Licensed nurses assess and monitor the patient's health needs educating patients and caregivers in collaboration with the patient's Primary Care Physician (PCP). Example of nursing care provided in the home: Medication management, Wound care, Ostomy care, Post surgical care, Bowel and bladder management, disease education, urinary catheter insertion/maintenance, injections and infusion.
Physical Therapists help patients regain functional mobility and gross motor skills through therapeutic exercise, balance activities and ambulation training.
Occupational Therapists help patients regain daily living skills by using fine motor, cognitive, perceptual and sensory taks.
Speech Therapist help patients regain their ability to produce and understand speech as well as facilitate communication skills and manage swallowing disorders.
Medical Social Workers
Medical Social Worker specialize in evaluating the social and emotional factors that affect the ill and disabled. By connecting patients and families with community resources the Medical Social Worker helps families and patients manage the stress associated with health challenges.
Home Health Aides
Home Health Aides assist patients in completing their Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and personal care including bathing.
- In Home PT/INR Checks
- Swallowing Studies
- Wound Care
- Diabetes Care
- Respiratory Therapy
- Coordination of Durable Medical Equipment (DME) | <urn:uuid:12596e73-5bcc-4b75-b7e0-b162ef954ba8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.relianthomehealth.com/our-services/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901025 | 271 | 2.625 | 3 |
Simon V de Montfort
Born: 1208 AD
Died: 1265 AD, at 57 years of age.
1208 - Simon V de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, he was the youngest son of Simon de Montfort, a French nobleman, and Alix de Montmorency. He was the principal leader of the baronial opposition to King Henry III of England.
1218 - He was with his mother at the siege of Toulouse, where his father was killed after being struck on the head by a stone pitched by a mangonel.
1229 - The two surviving brothers (Amaury and Simon) came to an arrangement whereby he gave up his rights in France and Amaury in turn gave up his rights in England.
1238 - Married Eleanor of England, daughter of King John and Isabella of Angouleme and sister of King Henry III.
1240 - Having announced his intention to go on Crusade two years previously, he raised funds and finally set out for the Holy Land in summer, leaving Eleanor in Brindisi, Italy.
1241 - He arrived in Jerusalem by June, when the citizens asked him to be their governor, but does not seem to have ever faced combat in the Holy Land.
1263 - 1264 - Became de facto ruler of England and called the first directly-elected parliament in medieval Europe.
1265 - Died on the 4th of August at the battle of Evesham, and was buried at the nearby abbey.
Page last updated: 12:45pm, 15th Jun '07 | <urn:uuid:0ac4523f-b195-4568-8674-6715d3c0f2cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.s9.com/Biography/Print/Montfort-Simon-De | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979407 | 331 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Baryta coatings were originally introduced to the Ilfobrom Galerie FB and Multigrade IV FB papers and then more recently adapted for its Galerie FB Digital fibre-base paper for use with digital laser printers (See next week's BJP for a detailed report on this). The Baryta coating sits above the fibre base of the new inkjet papers but underneath the active and protective coating layers. It prevents the emulsions soaking into the fibre base, which the manufacturer says enhances the detail of images. 'Added to this,' says Harman, 'the Baryta improves the depth and quality of printed blacks, whilst also enhancing the whiteness of the fibre base; allowing a much broader tonal range with greater detail in shadows and highlights.'
'Photographic inkjet media have traditionally been born from a paper manufacturing heritage, but we believe our products are the first inkjet media to be born from technology, science and expertise founded in traditional photographic products,' says Hopwood. 'We believe there is no real comparison available in the inkjet market today. By using the same plant, the same equipment and the same development experts for our inkjet products as we use for our traditional monochrome photographic products, we have helped to bridge the gap in quality, essence and archival properties that has existed between traditional photographic prints and inkjet prints since the dawn of digital photography.' | <urn:uuid:feb63e7a-954e-42e0-8340-7a7461ba435a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?41572-Signing-Baryta-Prints&p=400029&viewfull=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93921 | 281 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Daily Yomiuri Online reported that Tokyo Power company (TEPCO) knew of a leak in the Number 3 reactor at Fukushima Daiichi prior to sending repair workers into the area. Most startling was the fact that the presence of the leak was not shared with workers pulling a power line into the damaged reactor, who last week walked through radioactive water pooled on the floor of the basement and received radioactive burns on their feet.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. knew of the possibility of highly concentrated radioactive leakage at its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant’s No. 3 reactor, but it failed to alert workers before three of them were exposed to radiation Thursday, it was learned Saturday.
The worker’s exposure to highly radioactive ankle-deep water in the turbine building connected to the No. 3 reactor was most likely due to TEPCO’s failure to share information about the leakage of radioactive materials with the workers, the company admitted.
Another cause of the mishap was the failure on the part of the workers to pay attention to the pool of radiation-polluted water while laying power cables in spite of radiation alarms sounding, according to TEPCO.
The company had detected 200 millisieverts per hour of radiation leaking from the first basement of the turbine building of the No. 1 reactor on March 18, six days before the accident.
The risk management of the TEPCO management is amazing in its lax attitude in the face of this severe nuclear accident. As a matter of fact, the potential leak was widely reported on the 16th and 17th and I remember that I was amazed that more was not said about it since the No.3 Reactor is the one with plutonium in it. Any leakage of plutonium is highly toxic to humans and long lasting environmentally. | <urn:uuid:43b033b4-cb64-48bc-b496-d4b9ee66a49f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://my.firedoglake.com/davidpetraitis/2011/03/27/tepco-sent-workers-into-hot-reactor-without-warning-them/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976168 | 363 | 2.328125 | 2 |
The first advantage comes in the bright flavors and appearance of the food. As famed restaurateur and Mexican cookbook author Rick Bayless notes, the majority of “Mexican” food in the U.S. is actually Mexican-American cuisine. While that has its niche, “it has a narrow range of ingredients and aspects, with a reputation for heaviness,” he says. “There’s lots of melted cheese, and it’s primarily one color and texture. But if you look at what people are actually eating in Mexico, there’s a variety and breadth of flavors and color.”
The Real Deal in Montana
Buoyed by a workshop on regional Mexican cuisine held last year at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in California’s Napa Valley, Executive Chef Tom Siegel is spreading the word at the University of Montana in Missoula. For his annual American Heart Association fund-raising prize dinner this past fall (the group that raises the most money wins his eight-course gourmet feast for 60 people), Siegel wowed his guests with a Mexican menu full of “new,” light tastes. “I wanted to dispel the myth that Mexican food is not heart healthy,” he explains. Using recipes he learned from Rick Bayless, the CIA workshop’s guest instructor, Siegel presented courses that included appetizers of “street vendor” enchiladas, along with grilled achiote-spiced fish in banana leaves; a salad of cactus and potato-stuffed ancho chiles with romaine lettuce and escabeche dressing; fresh corn tortillas; pumpkin soup; green poblano rice; and an entree of smoky peanut mole and Oaxacan black mole with grilled chicken accompanied by roasted chayote. And for dessert?Warm caramel pudding with berries along with champurrado, masa-thickened hot Mexican chocolate.Next up, Siegel plans to open an authentic Mexican food station in the cafeteria, which he expects will be as popular as the one on regional Italian he introduced this year to rave reviews. “Even the faculty and staff are bringing their spouses and guests in for dinner now,” he notes.
Three-year Track RecordAt Wood County Hospital in Bowling Green, Ohio, Director of Food, Nutrition & Web Services Tim Bauman first presented regional Mexican specialties in the cafeteria three years ago. “I wanted to see how real Mexican cuisine would go over,” he explains. The experiment worked. Customers were so enthusiastic that Bauman now unveils a new, week-long menu of authentic Mexican food at least quarterly. Scaling up recipes he finds in regional Mexican cookbooks, Bauman tantalizes customers with such delicacies as stuffed pork loin Chiapas-style, plantain pancakes (“they’re like potato pancakes”), red snapper Veracruz-style, and steak with tomatillo chipotle sauce. | <urn:uuid:ff62f46a-33c3-45a2-8e16-deeee4e7ef4a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://restaurant-hospitality.com/print/observer/rh_imp_2081 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944192 | 624 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The Office of the Ombudsman is a place where all members of the University community can turn for information, education and consultation. Each year, the Ombudsman receives hundreds of requests for assistance from students, faculty, staff and other individuals connected to the University.
- The following policies guide how assistance is provided:
- No action will be taken without the client's explicit consent.
- Any and all confidential communications that occur between the Ombudsman and users of the Ombudsman programs and services are protected from disclosure to others.
Clients are actively involved in the process of conflict management. This is achieved through the preparation of a plan to address specific problems or concerns. This plan is developed in conjunction with staff of the Ombudsman's Office and is specific to each client's needs.
When appropriate, mediation or conciliation is facilitated between all concerned individuals. | <urn:uuid:e5f1d31b-fe55-47da-a6eb-d606d2eeaa85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uwb.edu/ombudsman/clients | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933625 | 172 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Georgia GuideGeorgia is a US state in the South. The state was named after Great Britain's King George II and was the last of the 13 original U.S. colonies. Georgia's capital, Atlanta, is the ninth largest city in the United States. HotelsFind hotels in Macon, Warner Robins, Jeffersonville, Byron and more, including 1842 Inn, Courtyard Warner Robins, Comfort Inn Warner Robins, Hilton Garden Inn - Macon Mercer University, Wingate by Wyndham Macon, Hilton Garden Inn Warner Robins Macon and Comfort Inn and Suites Robins Air Force Base Warner Robins. Places and AttractionsExplore popular places and attractions around Georgia including Wolf Creek Landfill, J M Huber Corporation, Qwick Way Foods, Dry Branch Church, Georgia State Government: Georgia Forestry Commission, Nelson Cemetery and Stone Creek Church. RestaurantsDiscover restaurants around Georgia including Bullard Deer Processing, Nu-Way Weiners, Rookery, Downtown Grill, Ingleside Village Pizza, Red Lobster and Tic Toc Room.
Popular in GeorgiaAtlantaAtlanta is the vanguard of the New South, with the charm and elegance of the Old. SavannahSavannah, the historic riverside birthplace of Georgia, was settled in 1733 by British colonists led by General James Oglethorpe and Colonel William Bull. DecaturDecatur is a city near Atlanta, which remains somewhat isolated from the rest of Atlanta, but is so close as to not really be separate.
In GeorgiaMetro AtlantaMetro Atlanta is Georgia's principal urban area, and the eighth largest metro area in the United States, with a population of over 5.5 million. Coastal GeorgiaCoastal Georgia is in the southeast of Georgia along the Atlantic Ocean. Classic HeartlandGeorgia's Classic Heartland is at the center of the state. Historic High CountryNorth Georgia is a mountainous region in the state of Georgia. Northwest High CountryThe northwest corner of the state borders Alabama and Tennessee. Plantation MidlandsPlantation Midlands is a region in the state of Georgia. Okefenokee National Wildlife RefugeOkefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is in the state of Georgia in the United States. Oconee National ForestOconee National Forest is a preserve which includes the large man-made Lake Oconee, located between Atlanta and Augusta in Georgia. PiedmontPiedmont is a region in the state of Georgia. This region includes the Metro Atlanta Region.
Right Now on Around Guides | <urn:uuid:3dd59e0f-6ab5-49b1-bab6-cb91243a4b20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aroundguides.com/Georgia_(state) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914289 | 509 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Update: Sex Survey Lands Teacher On Paid Leave
Parents Say Anonymous Survey Went Too Far
A controversial sex survey landed one Rio Rancho biology teacher on paid leave.
Click Like For New Mexico News Updates:
A four-question survey was supposed to be a study to teach ninth-grade biology students at Rio Rancho High School about disease and infection, instead it has raised some eyebrows, and parents said they should have been notified if something like this was being given to students.
The students took the anonymous sex survey, without their parents' knowledge.
"I wouldn't have agreed to any of this," said parent Paul Bustamante.
The district said the survey was intended to be used school-wide to teach students about how disease spreads, but some parents said it went a little too far because it asks students if there were sexually active and whom they had last kissed.
"I think it's too much for kids to be involved in that stuff, to even experience in that stuff. They're too young for that," Bustamante said.
On Monday, two students came forward to say the survey has been around for years and was created by the students themselves.
The students said while parents may not have known about it, school leaders had known about it for some time.
"The school knows about it. We got the names and the numbers of all the students in school from the principal," former student Kailie Peters said.
She said the survey was just a simple way to teach her science class about infectious disease.
"We printed it, we typed it up, we went and talked to other teachers to see if we could go in during other classrooms to get other students to take it," Peters said.
She said the survey asked students: who they kissed, if they shared drinks and Chapstick and if they are sexually active.
"It's been taken by hundreds of kids -- probably thousands -- since it's gone through two graduating classes so far," Peters said. "It's all voluntary and it's all anonymous."
A current student, Ashton Peters, said he's part of the group of students handing out the survey this year.
"If they didn't want to, they didn't have to," student Ashton Peters said.
The students said it's time to stop blaming a teacher and start talking about disease.
"Stop trying to be political and watch over their own jobs and stand up for their teachers," Peters said.
The students argue that while some parents think the children are too young for the material, in the meantime there are 12- and 14-year-old girls getting pregnant.
The students said the lack of education and awareness of those issue raise more questions than the survey does.
The school system responded, saying the principal was aware of surveys in the past; but this one was different and he wasn't aware of the specific questions.
Rio Rancho School District spokeswoman Kim Vessley said the district is investigating to determine whether the teacher will be disciplined. Vessley said the student handbook and district policies clearly state that any type of survey that discusses sexual behaviors must have parental consent.
"There are many appropriate ways teachers can teach subjects. Perhaps this way was not the most appropriate way," Vessley said.
"It would probably be a good idea to at least inform the parents," said school volunteer Diane Swinney.
The district said it's unclear just how many students took the survey.
The teacher will remain on paid leave until the investigation wraps up, officials said.
Copyright 2011 by KOAT.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:d6073e30-cdff-452c-b41b-01d13a613dde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/Update-Sex-Survey-Lands-Teacher-On-Paid-Leave/-/9153762/6119480/-/view/print/-/2djuuy/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986014 | 754 | 1.742188 | 2 |
COLUMN-Making fracking politically acceptable: John Kemp
(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
By John Kemp
LONDON Feb 6 (Reuters) - Fracturing oil and gas from tight rock formations promises secure energy supplies for generations, but only if industry and regulators can convince voters it can be done safely without poisoning water supplies or adding to global warming.
Like other forms of petroleum production, and innovative technologies such as liquefied natural gas and nuclear, shale gas and oil need a political "licence to operate". The still-born nuclear industry shows what happens when industry and regulators fail to win the public argument over safety and environmental impacts.
Hydraulic fracturing has already unleashed a storm of protest threatening the technology's viability. Critics point to the enormous amount of water used, stressing supplies for households and farming, the potential for cancer-causing chemicals to seep into freshwater aquifers, risk of earthquakes, and the enormous number of truck movements disrupting local communities, not to mention the impact on global warming.
Josh Fox's 2010 film "Gasland" showing images of households able to set fire to tap water containing methane and the recent outcry over possible contamination of drinking water supplies at Pavillion in Wyoming illustrate the concerns.
Now regulators and industry are starting to push back to ensure exploitation of tight gas and oil formations is not blocked by environmental and safety fears.
So far, the transformative potential of shale gas and tight oil has won over most regulators, politicians and voters; environmental concerns have been relegated to the background. Money talks. And the need for secure energy supplies is too important to ignore.
France, Bulgaria and some U.S. states have enacted bans or moratoriums on fracking. But the technology has won indirect endorsement from President Barack Obama and many other senior policymakers are quietly embracing it.
Even environmental groups are hesitating about whether to reject the technology outright.
"We all want American energy independence, but we have to do it right ... much more needs to be done to protect our communities and our environment," according to a blog post by Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke ("Obama calls for more clean energy and smart safeguards on domestic drilling", Jan 25).
"We need to hold the industry to safety standards, set sensitive places off limits, and keep contaminants out of our air and water. Only government safeguards can achieve those protections. Industry has already proven that it will not police itself," Beinecke wrote.
Nonetheless, policymakers and the industry are taking no chances. A huge confidence-building exercise is underway at national, regional and international levels to assure voters fracking can be done safely, without harming communities and sensitive landscapes, and without adding to the greenhouse effect.
DON'T USE THE F-WORD
The first stage is to reframe the issue. With all its connotations of earthquakes and toxic chemicals, fracking is increasingly the technology that dare not speak its name. Obama has been careful to avoid referring to it directly.
Speaking in Nevada on Jan 26 on "American-made energy", the president would say only "because of new technologies, because we can now access natural gas that we couldn't access before in an economic way, we've got a supply of natural gas under our feet that can last America nearly a hundred years".
In his State of the Union address, the president referred to "technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock".
If fracking has negative connotations, shale gas is more neutral, and "new technologies" has a positive ring that is increasingly favoured by the administration and governments in other countries. Fracking is out. Shale gas and unconventional supplies are in.
STRESS THE SAFEGUARDS
Obama has stressed the importance of developing shale gas safely. "We will develop this resources without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk," the president insisted in his address. He promised companies drilling on public lands would be forced to disclose publicly the chemicals they use.
Regulators and industry appear to be reaching a consensus on safeguards to reassure voters the technology is safe.
"If [shale gas, tight oil, deepwater offshore and oil sands] are to be available and economic for development, continuous attention to reducing risks is essential to ensure pollution prevention, public safety and health, and environmental protection. These outcomes are important in their own right but also in order to enjoy access to the resources for extraction," wrote the U.S. National Petroleum Council ("Prudent Development: Realising the potential of North America's abundant natural gas and oil resources", Sep 2011).
Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Peter Voser has acknowledged the industry must be more open about its operations - for example dropping its insistence the constituents of fracking cocktails were commercially confidential ("Shell targets North American tight oil", Sep 22, Financial Times).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying the environmental impact of fracturing, and the European Union has commissioned its own study of the current safeguards surrounding the practice.
The EU report concluded "neither on the European level nor on the national level have we noticed significant gaps in the current legislative framework when it comes to regulating the current level of shale gas activities...the activities relating to exploration/exploitation of shale gas are already subject to EU and national laws and regulations" including directives on drinking water and chemicals ("Final Report on Unconventional Gas in Europe", Nov 2011).
Nonetheless, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has convened a meeting in March to discuss shale safeguards and plans to publish "golden rules for the gold age of gas" in May, the agency's chief economist Fatih Birol told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The agency's report to the G20 will make recommendations for governments, regulators and the industry. "The good news is that (problems with drinking water and chemicals) can be addressed by best technologies and practices," according to Birol.
The emphasis on sharing and enforcing best practice is in line with the industry's own thinking and is unlikely to change practices much. A cynical observer might conclude this rush of studies and initiatives are less about developing new restrictions and are more of an assurance exercise to reinforce public confidence in existing safeguards by giving them increasingly high-level endorsement.
GAS CLEANER THAN COAL
Fracking advocates must still tackle concerns about the global-warming potential of extracting all that extra gas and oil.
Here regulators and the industry are increasingly making twin environmental and national-security arguments: (1) cleaner-burning gas will increasingly displace dirty coal in power generation with a fraction of the carbon emissions; and (2) domestic gas and oil will displace reliance on unreliable oil imports from unstable countries.
Obama encapsulated the arguments with his usual rhetorical brilliance "We've got to keep at it. We've got to take advantage of this incredible natural resource. And think about what could happen if we do. Think about an America where more cars and trucks are running on domestic natural gas than on foreign oil."
He went on to observe "And by the way, natural gas burns cleaner than oil does, so it's also potentially good for our environment as we make this shift."
The claim clean gas will displace coal is one reason why the president is more comfortable talking about the impact of new technology drilling for gas, and has been much quieter about the potential for fracking to unlock new oil reserves.
Whether this is all enough to make widespread fracking politically and socially acceptable is unclear. But most governments and the industry are pulling out all the stops to win acceptance for the most promising hydrocarbon technology to emerge in the last few decades and ensure it does not go the way of the nuclear industry. (Editing by Anthony Barker)
- Tweet this
- Share this
- Digg this | <urn:uuid:0d2426ab-2513-4e22-be5d-dd73ebf48995> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/06/column-fracking-politics-idUSL5E8D62Q920120206 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945913 | 1,595 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals to kill rogue cells.
Historically these cancer drugs worked almost indisciminately on rapidly dividing cells, usually poisoning them through free-radical toxic action.
The chemotherapy drugs used are decided according to the type of tumour and its state of advancement.
Some chemicals work directly on the rogue cell´s DNA; others on the receptors at the cell surface, trying to stop the rogue secondary messages getting through.
The risks are largely in the side effects. Pills taken orally, or drugs administered into veins, poison the whole body. Indeed, some drugs are themselves carcinogens. The liver and immune system do their best to remove the poisons, but both are weakened in the process.
Other rapidly dividing cells, such as those in the nails, blood, stomach lining and hair, also suffer. Nausea can also be a real problem, as it debilitates the patient. Also the blood count declines during treatment - less red cells mean less oxygen is carried round the body; less white cells mean the immune system (your natural defence against cancer) is weakened. Often after a couple of weeks and again around week six, the patient gets depressed. One reason is that lowered blood oxygen levels and depression are directly linked. Some patients lose weight. If this is too great it is called cachexia, and can be a cause of death.
Although chemotherapy can be very effective, the success rate varies and in certain cancers can be as low as one per cent!
A survey of 128 US cancer doctors found that if they contracted cancer, more than 80 per cent would not have chemotherapy
A survey of 128 US cancer doctors found that if they contracted cancer, more than 80 per cent would not have chemotherapy as the "risks and side effects far outweighed the likely benefits". You have to work out whats best for you and your type and grade of cancer.
A new breed of drugs is being developed - biologics, including such chemicals as mono-clonal antibodies. These are supposedly much more tightly targeted to you and your type of cancer, because they attack some particular genetic feature, protein or enzyme unique to the cancer. This is not every person responds to them; for example just 20 per cent of women who are HER-2 positive can use Herceptin. Tests should exist to find your suitability for these drugs or they can be wasted, your hopes unfulfilled. These new drugs supposedly have less side-effects but an article in the Doctors´ own magazine, the Lancet, expressed concern over levels of side effects. Clinical Trials were showing more side-effects in certain cases. However, the furure is less ´chemotherapy´ and more targeted biologic drugs to manage your illness and help you survive longer.
So read on, talk to your consultant and then decide.
2: Ask your doctor why he/she is recommending chemotherapy. If they had cancer, would they treat themselves with this drug? How long have they been prescribing this treatment and to how many people? What are their expectations of this treatment for you? Are there other options which could produce the same results?
Ask your doctor why they are recommending chemotherapy
3: What has the success rate been? Does the doctor expect the tumour to go completely, or just reduce in size. Do they think your Cancer might become active again after treatment? If so, after what period of time? What else can be tried if the chemo doesnt work? Are there any clinical trials open, which may be suitable for you?
4: What are the risks in having the treatment? How will your doctor assess its effectiveness? What are the worst reported and also the least reported, side effects during and after this treatment?
5: Ask your doctor what action he will take if you are losing a lot of weight and obviously not getting sufficient nutrition. Also, if you want to use herbal and natural remedies to help with the side effects, would he be prepared to work with you and discuss suitable treatments? Does he take any measures to support the immune system during treatment? If fatigue becomes a major problem, does he have methods for tackling it?
6: Check whether the treatment will affect fertility. If so, will you be offered opportunities for harvesting eggs/freezing sperm?
Prepare your body for the chemical onslaught: Take Astragalus, Cats Claw, Turmeric (curcumin) and echinacea to boost your immune system (all available in the independent Natural Selection shop - click here
). Try a corrective colloidal vitamin and mineral supplement. There is a lot of research on the benefits of medicinal mushrooms to improve chemotherapy results and cut side-effects. Eat a healthier diet cutting sodium-rich foods and eating more potassium-rich ones. Cut down on animal fats especially cows dairy, saturated fats and trans fats. They poison the lymph and inhibit the immune system.
8: icons integrative nurse Patricia Peat suggests consulting a holistic practitioner, nutritionist or medical herbalist as soon as possible to have a settled regime before commencing chemotherapy. But remember to tell your specialist what complementary treatments you are taking/having in case of possible reactions between the treatments. If he tells you that something is contra-indicated though, ask for the research evidence.
Consult a holistic practitioner, nutritionist or medical herbalist
as soon as possible
9: Next stage - During Chemotherapy, drink up to three litres of glass bottled or reverse osmosis filtered water a day and take your anti-sickness medication regularly to prevent nausea building up. (Peppermint tea, or an infusion of fresh ginger can help here. Some people even chew a small piece of raw ginger).
Eat small amounts of nourishing food regularly, rather than one or two large meals a day. See A Diet for Chemotherapy by clicking here.
11: Try to avoid all cows dairy, saturated and polyunsaturated fats and spicy foods.
Antioxidant supplementation produces huge controversy. You are encouraged to eat lots of fruit and vegetables but then, at the same time, the oncologist says that antioxidant supplements will protect the cancer cells during chemo. As chemo- drugs become more targeted this argument should end. However there are a number of natural compounds that have been shown in research to increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and improve survival rates. These include astragalus, vitamin D, green tea and medicinal mushrooms. Curcumin, cod liver oil, ginger, garlic and aloe vera will all calm down inflammation and bad eicosdanoid production. Eat whole greens and grains, seeds and nuts - and take vitamin K, a B complex and a multi-strain probiotic. Many of these are available in the Natural Selection shop - click here
13: On the subject of medicinal mushrooms, Dr. Julian Kenyon, from the Dove Clinic, advises protecting the cell mediated immune function with them. He says, "The one to take is Coriolus (as a powder), 4 grams, three times a day." MGN-3 works in a similar immune boosting way. But these are expensive. You should also try to avoid an acid body.
14: Avoid all alcohol as your liver doesnt need any more toxins. It needs strengthening. Natural herbs such as 200mgs of milk thistle (Silybum marianum) and soya lecithin in research help to protect and help to "defat it. Supporting of the liver function is also helped by the use of N-Acetyl Cysteine, an amino acid which raises glutathione levels and helps the livers detoxification pathways. Focus on magnesium-rich foods. 40 per cent of the population are deficient.
Force yourself to walk around and take exercise - even though
you probably wont want to
15: Ask a cranial osteopath or acupuncturist to rebalance the energy flow around the body and help with nausea. Try yoga too. You can continue to see your hands on healer.
16: Force yourself to walk around and take exercise, even though you probably wont want to. This does not have to be strenuous but it does need to be daily according to a number of recent research studies. Yoga and Tai chi are not strenuous but have massive benefits even when its the first time you do them. As a minimum do 20 minutes deep breathing exercises every day. Get out in the fresh air.
17: After chemotherapy, try a Liver Flush using Epsom Salts and olive oil to clean up your system. But bear in mind that the chemical effects of the chemo will be expected to go on for 6-8 weeks after the last dose.
18: Astragalus, Cats claw, Echinacea and Cassie tea (Essiac) can all be taken after treatment is finished, to re-stimulate the immune system. Kerep yeasts in check with Pau Darco, oregano, cinnamon and wormwood, plus a multi-strain probiotic. Adults can also take wild yam to boost their DHEA levels; everyone can eat salads and carbohydrate in the evening (carbohydrates and salads aid seratonin production, which in turn stimulates melatonin levels and helps sleep and fight hormonally driven cancers).
19: You must stimulate both body and mind. Use light massage, reflexology, healing. It is a proven fact that visualisation, yoga and meditation all help boost the immune system and have a significant effect on long-term survival rates, so take time each day to use relaxation techniques.
20: Fatigue comes with every chemo treatment! Yes you can and should rest. Moreover, research by Italian scientists has identified that it is linked to loss of carnitine in the blood as a result of the chemotherapy toxins. In tests (albeit involving just 50) patients given a high energy drink containing levocarnitine 90% of the patients no longer felt tired just a week after starting the drink.
We stress the need to consult your medical practitioner at all times when taking supplements. Whilst some (for example the use of ginger to quell nausea; or the use of medicinal mushrooms to reduce side effects) have come through clinical trials, other ideas have come through expert research only. More can be found throughout this web site especially in our research centre Cancer Watch. | <urn:uuid:5afe8c65-982e-467e-9bc1-8986a8266cce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canceractive.com/cancer-active-page-link.aspx?n=248&Title=20%20Things%20You%20Need%20to%20Know%20About%20Chemotherapy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950305 | 2,115 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Greening the GRAMMYs: It All Adds Up
When it comes to the functional integrity of the biosphere, small things matter. Indeed, it is the small things in the global ecosystem that keep Homo sapiens and other forms of life alive. Ants produce soil. Bees pollinate a third of all the food we eat.
Similarly, it is the small daily purchases that we make day-in and day-out that add up to global market demand, and it is the characteristics of market demand that instigates—or helps reduce global ecological pressures. For example, the estimated ninety million tons of global warming pollution emitted every day does not come from just a few large sources but from contributions made by millions of emitters, large and small, each adding up to a problem that has become nothing less than a planetary emergency.
The bottom line: however small your day-to-day actions may seem, our collective purchases can add up to meaningful regional and global impacts. Indeed, all we can do is relatively small things, whether taking mass transit or riding a bike, buying products made with recycled content, driving a fuel efficient car, conserving water. There is no one single act that we can undertake that will be significant enough by itself to solve our ecological crises.
It is with this fact in mind, that everyone has to do something, however small it is, to reduce their ecological footprint and that no one single entity or law can solve our diverse ecological crises, that we should appreciate the value of the GRAMMY’s environmental initiative that the Natural Resources Defense Council launched five years ago with Recording Academy of Music Arts and Sciences, and which we continue to oversee.
By itself, the GRAMMYs telecast does not instigate major ecological impacts. But each and every procurement decision, and all operations, are reviewed with an eye towards reducing the event’s ecological footprint. Not that everything can be done, at least not yet. Cost considerations limit some of our options. Nevertheless, the paper products and other supplies that were bought and the services procured were selected with sensitivity toward reducing the threats we face from global warming, species extinction, deforestation, toxic waste, and hazardous chemicals in our water and food. Some of the highlights from this year’s initiative are below.
Energy--The entire production of the live broadcast of the 54th GRAMMY Awards (16 MWh) is being powered by 100 percent renewable energy purchased through LADWP.
Food--The GRAMMY Celebration features reusable china and glassware. Most of the food serviceware used in the pre-telecast and for crew is biobased and compostable.
The menu created by Along Came Mary for the GRAMMY Celebration includes locally grown and produced meat, produce and cheese. All seafood is sustainably produced. Leftover edible food from the Celebration is donated to local food banks. All cooking oil used for the GRAMMY Celebration will be recycled.
Waste & Recycling--Waste Management is providing reusable recycling bins throughout Los Angeles Convention Center for the pre-telecast and the official after party. Plastic, aluminum, bottles, and paper are being collected for recycling at both LACC and the STAPLES Center throughout the weekend. STAPLES Center will recycle all glass, paper, and cooking oils, and compost food scraps. Organic waste from the Celebration will be removed for composting.
Corks will be recycled at the Celebration After-Party and MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute.
Paper--All incoming ticketing requests were processed electronically. Many GRAMMY Week invitations and RSVPs were electronic this year, eliminating the printing of 700 invitations and envelopes.
Most paper products (envelopes, letterhead, posters, etc.) were printed on paper containing 50-100% postconsumer recycled content.
Décor--Most furniture/set pieces on stage are rentals and reusable.
Transportation--In partnership with RideAmigos, The Recording Academy is sponsoring a ridesharing program for awards attendees.
Education--NRDC provided volunteers who assisted crew, STAPLES staff and media representatives with information about The Recording Academy’s environmental initiative and interacted with guests and staff about environmental issues.
The GRAMMY’s telecast might not have a big ecological impact, but it certainly has a large cultural impact. The GRAMMYs is among the most widely watched TV shows. And the music industry in general is a global multi-billion dollar business, so its embrace of environmentalism helps send a meaningful and urgent signal to other businesses that in the 21st century, environmental criteria must be part of every business decision. | <urn:uuid:d920739c-6205-40e8-a022-8dfffaab8b56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ahershkowitz/greening_the_grammys_it_all_ad.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941994 | 960 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Don't show this message again
In case you’re wondering why New York new homes for sale are on everybody’s list of potential places to reside, here’s a few quick facts to motivate you to make that move.
New York is the third-most populous state in the United States. It is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts to the east. While most people associate New York with New York City, there are other places within the state worth moving your family to. For example, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Rochester are just a few potential destinations where you can find new homes.
Buffalo is the second-most populous city in the state of New York. It was founded in 1789 as a small trading community named for nearby Buffalo Creek. Today, its major economic sectors are in the healthcare and education industries. The famous Buffalo Chicken Wing recipe, a favorite of many, was created in this fine city.
Syracuse holds its rank as the fifth-most populous city in the state and carries the distinction as the largest U.S. city bearing this name. It is the educational and economic hub of Central New York, a region boasting over a million inhabitants. The world-renowned Syracuse University can be found here, along with several other fine institutions.
Rochester comes in third place, right after New York City and Buffalo. The city is home to many fine educational institutions, like the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology. Many important inventions and innovations got their start here. Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, and Xerox are all headquartered in Rochester and continue their research and manufacturing in the fields of industrial and consumer products.
The quality of life to be found in any of these three cities is high, making them ideal for starting and raising a family. Look into Ryan Homes and see what they have in store for you! | <urn:uuid:02c6a482-2312-445a-a9eb-fc0a17715c8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ryanhomes.com/find-your-home/our-communities/new-york | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962803 | 395 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Love is a basic human need. Everyone needs to love and feel loved. What if you love someone so much that you feel the need to say “I love you” several times a day? Or, on the other hand, what if you need to hear the words “I love you” and you’re not hearing them? Communication and honesty are the most important factors in a relationship to understanding how you and your partner feel.
Many people have different viewpoints on this subject. If you are in a new relationship, it may feel right to say “I love you” multiple times throughout the day. If it feels natural, then do it. However, you need to take into account the feelings of your partner. Do they say it as much as you do? Do their facial expressions show that they enjoy saying it and hearing it as much as you? If not, sit down and talk with your partner. Explain to each other what you need to feel loved and what areas you can make compromises to accomodate their feelings. You may have the same needs or you may not. You’ll never know what each of you want unless you communicate openly and honestly to each other.
If you’re in a long-term relationship you may find that you don’t hear those three little words that much anymore. Maybe, since you’ve been together so long, you don’t need to say it as much. As the saying goes… “actions speak louder than words.” This statement is very true. When you’ve become comfortable in a relationship, it’s much easier to know what your partner wants or needs rather than trying to prove it through words. However, some people, even in a long-term relationship, still have the need to hear those words just as often as they did when the realtionship was new. Here again, communication is very important. If you feel that those words are not being said or are being said too much, you need to communicate your feelings to your partner.
My boyfriend and I have been together for almost four years. He has a need to say “I love you” at least ten times a day. When I get up with the kids in the morning he pops his head up and says,”I love you.” When the kids head off to school I go in the bedroom and get dressed. He wakes up and says, “I love you.” He works the night shift so he sleeps during the day. Every time he gets up to go to the bathroom or get a drink he says, “I love you.” When he leaves the house he says, “I love you.” After an extended period of time, it becomes redundant. It felt like he was overwhelming me with the phrase. I began to feel like I was being forced to say it back to him. Finally, after three years of this (better late than never), I had to tell him that it bothered me. He shows me in so many ways that he loves me. I don’t need to hear it ten or fifteen times a day for years on end. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. But, I felt that I had to be honest with him about how I felt.
Do you have a relationship that lacks the words, “I love you?” Do you have a relationship where those words seem to come too easily or fall on deaf ears? Maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who has a relationship where your “I love you’s” are just right for both partners. I would love to hear your opinions or examples on this subject. | <urn:uuid:d4e96c0b-2cd7-442e-951d-de482fc44a6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fingerprintglasses.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/can-you-say-i-love-you-too-much/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987536 | 774 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Wild Resource Conservation Fund
You have the chance to "Do Something Wild" and help protect Pennsylvania's non-game wildlife and native wild plants by making a contribution to the Wild Resource Conservation Fund. This special nonprofit fund helps Pennsylvania's resource agencies protect and restore these unique state treasures.
Military Family Relief Assistance Program
Help those who serve our nation and commonwealth by making a gift to the Military Family Relief Assistance Program. Your gift will help Pennsylvania service members and their families by providing financial assistance to those with a direct and immediate financial need as a result of military service.
PA Breast Cancer Coalition's Breast and Cervical Cancer Research Fund
You have the opportunity to contribute to the PA Breast Cancer Coalition's Refunds for Breast and Cervical Cancer Research fund by making a donation of all or part of your tax refund. Every penny of your donation does directly to fund breast and cervical cancer research conducted by Pennsylvania researchers.
Governor Robert P. Casey Memorial Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Trust Fund
In Pennsylvania alone, there are more than 8,100 men, women, and children waiting to receive life-saving organ transplants. Just one donor can save or enhance the lives of up to 50 people. Donating an organ is truly giving the gift of life. Each year, many Pennsylvanians are fortunate to receive transplanted organs that save their lives. You can make a difference by contributing all or part of your tax refund to support educational programs that encourage people to become organ and tissue donors.
Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes Cure Research Fund
Type 1 diabetes is a condition where the body does not produce insulin, the hormone needed to convert sugar, starches, and other food into energy needed for living. Although the disease can be diagnosed at any age, it is most often diagnosed in children, adolescents and young adults. You have the opportunity to help find a cure for this disease by contributing all or a portion of your tax refund to the Juvenile (Type 1) Diabetes Cure Research Fund.
**All donations entered within your PA state return will reduce the refund you are expecting to receive by the donation amount. If you have an amount due or your refund is less than your donation amounts, TaxSlayer will not submit these amounts to the state.** | <urn:uuid:4ed51d89-a1b0-4736-9485-b42b4ed7f61c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taxslayer.com/support/1409/Pennsylvania-Donations?language=1&page=1&q=charitable%20donations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935215 | 462 | 1.664063 | 2 |
This company now offers a line of biodegradable, fire-resistant hydraulic fluids for glass manufacturing. Available in both water- and vegetable-based forms, the fluids are biodegradable and safe for use in extreme-heat environments, such as float glass plants, where glass melting furnaces reach temperatures as high as 2990°F.
“The extreme high heat and pressure that occur during glass manufacturing, combined with flammable hydraulic oil, is a recipe for disaster,” said Tony Noblit, market development manager for fluid power. “A ruptured hydraulic line can spray a combustible mist of oil into the ignition source. Fire-resistant hydraulic fluids are critical to prevent loss of life and corporate tragedy.”
For more information, visit www.houghtonintl.com | <urn:uuid:8bea5e4d-08cc-4863-8369-a02ee58ab683> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ceramicindustry.com/articles/print/houghton-international-hydraulic-fluids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932372 | 166 | 2.09375 | 2 |
For Christ is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. — Ephesians 2:14-16What if we were to practice what we proclaim: that we are one in Christ by virtue of our baptism?
What if we realized that what divides us are the rules we set in place to define us?
What if we set aside the commandments that divided us, the ordinances that determine who is in and who is out, the law that makes outlaws of us all?
What if we accepted Christ as our peace, as he accepted us, and went without covenants and treaties to bind us together, but trusted only in the Cross?
What if we truly practiced what we proclaimed?
— Tobias S Haller BSG | <urn:uuid:75a3eaa7-9358-4760-8395-9eb5a20624ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jintoku.blogspot.com/2006/07/what-if.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979685 | 222 | 1.671875 | 2 |
The Wallace Collection has specialist curators and a curatorial assistant, who are responsible to the Director and Trustees for the stewardship of the works of art in the Collection.
The Curators are responsible for the interpretation, display and presentation of the works of art in the Collection. An important part of a curator's work is to carry out research on the collections, to find out more about the works of art, how and by whom they were made, and how they found their way into the collection.
Much of this research is encapsulated in a series of detailed scholarly catalogues of different parts of the collection, most recently including Glass and Limoges Painted Enamels (Suzanne Higgott, 2011) and European Arms and Armour Complete Digital Summary Catalogue (Tobias Capwell, 2011). Work is currently being undertaken towards three new catalogues of Sculpture by Jeremy Warren. Research Fellow Charles Truman has finished a catalogue of the Gold Boxes in the Wallace Collection, which will be published in the summer of 2013, and work is continuing with the cataloguing of our Oriental Arms and Armour collection.
Curators' knowledge and expertise is also brought to a wider public through publications, lectures and an active programme of temporary exhibitions, which in recent years has included such varied shows as; Beauty and Power: Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Peter Marino Collection (2010), Esprit et Vérité: Watteau and His Circle (2011), and The Noble Art of the Sword: Fashion and Fencing in Renaissance Europe (2012).
Curators also provide expert advice to the Government and answer general enquiries concerning works of art. Our curators can also, by appointment, give opinions on works of art owned by members of the public, but may not give valuations. Members of Wallace Collection staff are entitled to decline, without giving any reason, to express an opinion.
The Curatorial Team:
Dr Christoph Vogtherr
Curatorial responsibility for French Pictures before 1800
Jeremy Warren FSA
Collections and Academic Director
Curatorial Responsibility for Sculpture, Works of Art and the History of the Collection
Senior Curator and Head of the Curatorial Team, Exhibitions Curator, Curator of 19th-century Pictures and Frames
Dr Tobias Capwell FSA
Curator of Arms and Armour
Dr Lucy Davis
Curator of Old Master Pictures
Suzanne Higgott MA FSA
Curator of Glass, Limoges Painted Enamels and Earthenware, and early Furniture
Dr Helen Jacobsen
Curator of French 18th-century Decorative Arts
Carmen Holdsworth-Delgado MA | <urn:uuid:c502eeb4-b3b5-44ec-82aa-559cc06c4958> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wallacecollection.org/thecollection/curators | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924578 | 549 | 1.570313 | 2 |
If you’ve climbed, you’ve likely done a Layton Kor route. There’s the Kor/Ingalls on Castleton Tower, the Finger of Fate on the Titan, and innumerable routes throughout Colorado, Yosemite and the West. In 1966 Kor helped forge the Harlin Direct on the Eiger Nordwand, and was instrumental in leading that route’s crux rock pitches. When his partner John Harlin was killed while jugging a fixed line, a devastated Kor abandoned the route and virtually vanished from climbing. Despite that early exit from the sport, Kor, now 71, remains, along with Royal Robbins, Yvon Chouinard, Fred Beckey and all of the Lowes, one of the few climbers who needs no introduction.
In January, the American Alpine Club (AAC) announced it would honor Kor with its prestigious Robert and Miriam Underhill Award at its annual award dinner ceremony in Golden, Colorado. Robert L. M. and Miriam O’Brien Underhill are recognized as two of the great pioneers in American mountaineering. Past recipients have included Henry Barber, George Lowe, Lynn Hill and Yvon Chouinard.
Also honored that evening were Lonnie and Ellen Thompson for their pioneering work in paleoclimatology, a science that involves drilling ice cores from often remote and inhospitable glaciers and ice caps to determine climatic change over time. They received the David Brower Conservation Award for leadership and commitment to preserving mountain regions worldwide. Brower, an active alpinist with over 70 first ascents from Shiprock to the Sierra Nevada, and member of the famed 10th Mountain Division, was a pioneer in the environmental movement in this country and abroad. He was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in conservation.
The AAC’s Literary Award recognizes excellence in alpine literature by American writers who have contributed extensively and over many years to mountain literature. Maria Coffey, originally of England and now living in British Columbia, received the award for her scope of works including the acclaimed books Where the Mountain Casts Its Shadow, Fragile Edge: Loss on Everest and A Boat in Our Baggage.
The David A. Sowles Memorial Award honors a young mountaineer by that name who was killed in a lightning storm in the Alps in 1963, and acknowledges mountaineers who, at personal risk or sacrifice of a major objective, go to the assistance of fellow climbers imperiled in the mountains. Pemba Gyalje Sherpa received the award for his rescue efforts on K2 in August 2008. Pemba, who has climbed Everest seven times, twice climbed high on K2 to rescue two climbers who had been stranded when serac fall destroyed fixed ropes in the crux section known as the Bottleneck. | <urn:uuid:5eb20965-2810-4c74-8ee8-1f0147564e28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/layton-kor-honored-by-aac?A=WebApp&CCID=14096&Page=1&Items=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963196 | 573 | 1.976563 | 2 |
What is spina bifida?
Spina bifida (pronounced SPAHY-nuh BIF-i-duh) is a neural tube defect that frequently occurs in families. Spina bifida occurs because of an abnormality of the development of the spinal cord that occurs in the first trimester of pregnancy. Within the first 4 weeks after a fetus is conceived, the backbone and membranes that cover and protect the spinal cord and spine does not form and close properly. This can result in an opening anywhere along the spine and may cause damage to the spinal cord and nerves. The defect may be associated with a protrusion of the membrane covering the spinal cord (meninges) alone, called a meningocele, or with some neural elements, called a meningomyelocele. Or the defect may not be noticed until later in life.
Spina bifida can cause physical and mental disabilities ranging from mild to severe, depending on the size and location of the opening in the spine, and whether the spinal cord and nerves are affected.1
The three most common types of spina bifida are as follows:
Myelomeningocele (pronounced mahy-uh-loh-MUH-ning-guh-seel), in which a sac of fluid containing part of the spinal cord and nerves comes through an opening in the infant’s back, causing nerve damage. Also called “open spina bifida,” this condition causes moderate to severe disabilities, such as problems going to the bathroom, loss of feeling in the legs or feet, and paralysis in the legs.
Meningocele (pronounced muh-NING-guh-seel), in which a sac of fluid without the spinal cord comes through an opening in the infant’s back. This type of spina bifida can cause minor disabilities, but there is usually little or no nerve damage.
Spina Bifida Occulta (pronounced SPAHY-nuh BIF-i-duh uh-KUHL-tuh), the mildest type of spina bifida, in which there is a small gap in the spine but no opening or sac on the back. Some infants have a dimple, hairy patch, dark spot, or swelling at the affected place on the back, but the spinal cord and the nerves usually are not damaged. This type of spina bifida usually does not cause any disabilities. Often, spina bifida occulta is not discovered until late childhood or adulthood and sometimes not at all. This is why it is sometimes called “hidden” spina bifida.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Spina bifida: Facts. Retrieved March 30, 2012, from http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/spinabifida/facts.html [top] | <urn:uuid:d6b736de-cc2d-4441-94a0-b8d7eff739f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/spinabifida/conditioninfo/Pages/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93116 | 609 | 3.71875 | 4 |
World headed for irreversible climate change — IEA
The world is likely to build so many fossil-fuelled power stations, energy-guzzling factories and inefficient buildings in the next five years that it will become impossible to hold global warming to safe levels, and the last chance of combating dangerous climate change will be “lost for ever”, according to the most thorough analysis yet of world energy infrastructure.
Anything built from now on that produces carbon will do so for decades, and this “lock-in” effect will be the single factor most likely to produce irreversible climate change, the world’s foremost authority on energy economics has found. If this is not rapidly changed within the next five years, the results are likely to be disastrous.
“The door is closing,” Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA), said. “I am very worried — if we don’t change direction now on how we use energy, we will end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for safety]. The door will be closed forever.”
If fossil fuel infrastructure is not rapidly changed, the world will 'lose for ever' the chance to avoid dangerous climate change.
If the world is to stay below 2°C of warming, which scientists regard as the limit of safety, then emissions must be held to no more than 450 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; the level is currently around 390 ppm. But the world’s existing infrastructure is already producing 80% of that “carbon budget”, according to the IEA’s analysis, published on Wednesday. This gives an ever-narrowing gap in which to reform the global economy on to a low-carbon footing.
No room to move
If current trends continue, and we go on building high-carbon energy generation, then by 2015 at least 90% of the available “carbon budget” will be swallowed up by our energy and industrial infrastructure. By 2017, there will be no room for manoeuvre at all – the whole of the carbon budget will be spoken for, according to the IEA’s calculations.
Birol’s warning comes at a crucial moment in international negotiations on climate change, as governments gear up for the next fortnight of talks in Durban, South Africa, from late November. “If we do not have an international agreement, whose effect is put in place by 2017, then the door to [holding temperatures to 2°C of warming] will be closed forever,” said Birol.
But world governments are preparing to postpone a speedy conclusion to the negotiations again. Originally, the aim was to agree to a successor to the 1997 Kyoto protocol, the only binding international agreement on emissions, after its current provisions expire in 2012. But after years of setbacks, an increasing number of countries — including the UK, Japan and Russia — now favour postponing the talks for several years.
Both Russia and Japan have spoken in recent weeks of aiming for an agreement in 2018 or 2020, and the UK has supported this move. Greg Barker, the UK’s climate change minister, told a meeting: “We need China, the US especially, the rest of the Basic countries [Brazil, South Africa, India and China] to agree. If we can get this by 2015 we could have an agreement ready to click in by 2020.” Birol said this would clearly be too late. “I think it’s very important to have a sense of urgency — our analysis shows [what happens] if you do not change investment patterns, which can only happen as a result of an international agreement.”
Nor is this a problem of the developing world, as some commentators have sought to frame it. In the UK, Europe and the US, there are multiple plans for new fossil-fuelled power stations that would contribute significantly to global emissions over the coming decades.
The Guardian revealed in May an IEA analysis that found emissions had risen by a record amount in 2010, despite the worst recession for 80 years. Last year, a record 30.6 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, a rise of 1.6Gt on the previous year. At the time, Birol told the Guardian that constraining global warming to moderate levels would be “only a nice utopia” unless drastic action was taken.
The new research adds to that finding, by showing in detail how current choices on building new energy and industrial infrastructure are likely to commit the world to much higher emissions for the next few decades, blowing apart hopes of containing the problem to manageable levels. The IEA’s data is regarded as the gold standard in emissions and energy, and is widely regarded as one of the most conservative in outlook — making the warning all the more stark. The central problem is that most industrial infrastructure currently in existence — the fossil-fuelled power stations, the emissions-spewing factories, the inefficient transport and buildings – is already contributing to the high level of emissions, and will do so for decades. Carbon dioxide, once released, stays in the atmosphere and continues to have a warming effect for about a century, and industrial infrastructure is built to have a useful life of several decades.
Chinese officials have argued that the country’s emissions per capita were much lower than those of developed countries, but the IEA’s analysis found that within about four years, China’s per capita emissions were likely to exceed those of the EU.
Yet, despite intensifying warnings from scientists over the past two decades, the new infrastructure even now being built is constructed along the same lines as the old, which means that there is a “lock-in” effect — high-carbon infrastructure built today or in the next five years will contribute as much to the stock of emissions in the atmosphere as previous generations.
The “lock-in” effect is the single most important factor increasing the danger of runaway climate change, according to the IEA in its annual World Energy Outlook, published on Wednesday.
Climate scientists estimate that global warming of 2°C above pre-industrial levels marks the limit of safety, beyond which climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible. Though such estimates are necessarily imprecise, warming of as little as 1.5°C could cause dangerous rises in sea levels and a higher risk of extreme weather — the limit of 2°C is now inscribed in international accords, including the partial agreement signed at Copenhagen in 2009, by which the biggest developed and developing countries for the first time agreed to curb their greenhouse gas output.
Another factor likely to increase emissions is the decision by some governments to abandon nuclear energy, following the Fukushima disaster. “The shift away from nuclear worsens the situation,” said Birol. If countries turn away from nuclear energy, the result could be an increase in emissions equivalent to the current emissions of Germany and France combined. Much more investment in renewable energy will be required to make up the gap, but how that would come about is unclear at present.
The rise of China and its emissions
Birol also warned that China — the world’s biggest emitter — would have to take on a much greater role in combating climate change. For years, Chinese officials have argued that the country’s emissions per capita were much lower than those of developed countries, it was not required to take such stringent action on emissions. But the IEA’s analysis found that within about four years, China’s per capita emissions were likely to exceed those of the EU.
In addition, by 2035 at the latest, China’s cumulative emissions since 1900 are likely to exceed those of the EU, which will further weaken Beijing’s argument that developed countries should take on more of the burden of emissions reduction as they carry more of the responsibility for past emissions.
In an interview with the Guardian recently, China’s top climate change official, Xie Zhenhua, called on developing countries to take a greater part in the talks, while insisting that developed countries must sign up to a continuation of the Kyoto protocol — something only the European Union is willing to do. His words were greeted cautiously by other participants in the talks.
Continuing its gloomy outlook, the IEA report said: “There are few signs that the urgently needed change in direction in global energy trends is under way. Although the recovery in the world economy since 2009 has been uneven, and future economic prospects remain uncertain, global primary energy demand rebounded by a remarkable 5% in 2010, pushing CO2 emissions to a new high. Subsidies that encourage wasteful consumption of fossil fuels jumped to over $400 billion (£250.7 billion).”
Meanwhile, an “unacceptably high” number of people — about 1.3 billion — still lack access to electricity. If people are to be lifted out of poverty, this must be solved — but providing people with renewable forms of energy generation is still expensive.
Charlie Kronick of Greenpeace said: “The decisions being made by politicians today risk passing a monumental carbon debt to the next generation, one for which they will pay a very heavy price. What’s seriously lacking is a global plan and the political leverage to enact it. Governments have a chance to begin to turn this around when they meet in Durban later this month for the next round of global climate talks.”
One close observer of the climate talks said the $400 billion subsidies devoted to fossil fuels, uncovered by the IEA, were “staggering”, and the way in which these subsidies distort the market presented a massive problem in encouraging the move to renewables. He added that Birol’s comments, though urgent and timely, were unlikely to galvanise China and the US — the world’s two biggest emitters — into action on the international stage.
“The US can’t move (owing to Republican opposition) and there’s no upside for China domestically in doing so. At least China is moving up the learning curve with its deployment of renewables, but it’s doing so in parallel to the hugely damaging coal-fired assets that it is unlikely to ever want (to turn off in order to) to meet climate targets in years to come.”
This article was published on guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 9 November 2011. | <urn:uuid:0098682a-d591-4926-bd85-e0da8cb35d17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.resilience.org/stories/2011-11-11/world-headed-irreversible-climate-change-%e2%80%94-iea | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953266 | 2,164 | 3.296875 | 3 |
27-Jul-2008 -- 0N 9E, on the equator line, lies in the open sea, 37 km far from the Gabonese coast, and 44 km far from a 132 meters high hill, near Kobékobe.
So the question clearly was whether some piece of ground would be visible from the spot. According to the formula...
D/km = 3.6 √ h1/m + 3.6 √ h2/m
... it should have been, ... but it wasn't, though the weather was clear. See view from the spot looking east towards the coast, south, west, and north with the team.
Our trip had started in Libreville, and after a short stop on Pointe Denis beach, we went around Pointe Denis and Moustache lighthouse.
The sea was fair, and we did our way to the spot at 45 km/h without any trouble. On the way back we met some friendly whales. | <urn:uuid:f8c6b7b3-9cda-4c2f-bf2e-630c3bc52f5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://confluence.org/confluence.php?visitid=15295 | 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 | 0.966072 | 202 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Lunar exploration began in earnest with the launch of the first "H" mission, Apollo 12. Successful in all respects, Apollo 12 crowned the accomplishments of 1969 by establishing the ability to put the lunar module down on the moon within walking distance of a desired spot. That done, the next mission was planned for a landing on the Fra Mauro Formation, the site highest on the scientists' priority list. Apollo 13 was targeted to land there, but an equipment failure forestalled a lunar landing and came close to costing three lives. Real-time improvisation saved NASA from calamity and demonstrated the versatility of the Manned Spacecraft Center's mission planning and mission control teams. [see appendix 8] After a thorough investigation that delayed subsequent missions by almost a year, Apollo 14 was assigned to land at the same site.
Not long after Apollo 12 returned, scientists gathered in Houston to present the results of their investigations of the first lunar samples. In what was surely one of the most exciting scientific conclaves of the century, practically all existing theories of the moon's origin were thrown into doubt in one respect or another, and scientists were more eager than ever for data. Shortly after that conference, management at MSC sat down with lunar investigators and worked out ways of increasing the amount and quality of the data to be returned by future Apollo missions.
Their expectations, however, were soon reduced when the pressures of a tightening federal budget forced cancellation of one of the planned Apollo missions. Faced with drastic reductions in funding, NASA managers chose to allot more of the available money to post-Apollo programs on which continuation of the manned space flight program depended. Apollo 11 had ushered in an era of hard choices, not expanding horizons. | <urn:uuid:18343251-db6f-4aad-a033-20f9f88a3a8f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.solarviews.com/history/SP-4214/ch11-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959514 | 350 | 4.53125 | 5 |
Children and teenagers should be encouraged to read and read period. It won't stunt their growth or cause their eyes to fall out if they escape with anything less than the award winners. I read Wonder Woman comic books. I still read Wonder Woman comic books. I also read Nancy Drew. In fact, I learned more than my father ever intended about 007-style romance by cracking the James Bond paperbacks he'd tucked away in a box in the basement.
Here's the catch: it absolutely matters that children and teenagers read good books. If they don’t, they're missing out on books that will challenge them, inspire them to laugh, to cry, to dream, books that will make them readers and more critical thinkers for the rest of their lives. Fiction written on only one level with familiar characters who do not grow or change is like cotton candy. Fluffy, fun, but you can't live on it.
As children's writers and storytellers, we must sound the trumpets: good books do matter.
If I'm wrong, then why not slash library budgets? Why encourage new voices?
If quality doesn't matter, how do some books change and save lives?
Setting aside more noble concerns, this results in fewer sales and smaller lists and reduces your chances of getting your story published.
When you buy a quality book or check one out of a library, you are voting for the publication of more quality books. Make sure people know that. | <urn:uuid:8fbe1170-42d7-4071-8744-fd7171f07f43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/for_writers/writing_for_kids/brainfood.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959959 | 301 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Possible clues found to why HIV vaccine showed modest protection
Insights into how the first vaccine ever reported to modestly prevent HIV infection in people might have worked were published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Scientists have found that among adults who received the experimental HIV vaccine during the landmark RV144 clinical trial, those who produced relatively high levels of a specific antibody after vaccination were less likely to get infected with the virus than those who did not. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, co-funded the research.
"This analysis has produced some intriguing hints about what types of human immune responses a preventive HIV vaccine may need to induce," said NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. "With further exploration, this new knowledge may bring us a step closer to developing a broadly protective HIV vaccine."
In the RV144 clinical trial, which involved more than 16,000 adult volunteers in Thailand, the group that received the vaccine had a 31 percent lower chance of becoming infected with HIV than the group that received a placebo. Since the study results were reported in 2009, a consortium of more than 100 scientists from 25 institutions has been searching for molecular clues to explain why the vaccine showed a modest protective effect.
The new report describes the researchers' analyses of blood samples taken from a representative subset of study participants: 41 who were vaccinated and later became infected with HIV and 205 vaccinated participants who remained uninfected. The participants who made relatively high levels of one antibody to HIV were significantly less likely to become infected than those who did not. This particular binding antibody attaches to a part of the outer coat of the virus called the first and second variable regions, or V1V2, which may play an important role in HIV infection of human cells. The antibody belongs to a family called immunoglobulin G, or IgG.
Vaccinated study participants who had relatively high levels of a different type of HIV binding antibody, however, appeared to have less protection from the virus than vaccinated participants who had low levels of this protein. The antibody attaches to a part of the virus's outer coat called the first constant region, or C1, and belongs to a family called immunoglobulin A, or IgA. The study team hypothesizes that the C1 IgA antibody either was associated with less benefit from HIV vaccination or directly reduced the benefit of vaccination.
"The remarkable international collaboration to understand the RV144 study results has generated important hypotheses for scientists to investigate," said Barton F. Haynes, M.D., the leader of the new analysis and the director of the NIAID-funded Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology based at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Researchers plan to further evaluate the new findings in studies to be conducted in non-human primates using the RV144 vaccine regimen and other vaccines. Scientists must conduct more tests to determine whether high levels of V1V2 antibodies directly caused the modest protective effect seen in the RV144 study or simply were linked to other, still unidentified factors responsible for the trial's encouraging outcome. Such testing also will determine whether the V1V2 antibody response is merely a marker of HIV exposure or decreased susceptibility to HIV infection.
The study authors note that different vaccine candidates may protect against HIV in different ways. Therefore, more research is needed to understand whether these new findings will be relevant to other types of HIV vaccines or to similar vaccines tested against HIV strains from other regions or against different routes of exposure to the virus, according to the authors.
More information: BF Haynes et al. Immune correlates analysis of the ALVAC-AIDSVAX HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trial. NEJM DOI:10.1056/NEJMoa1113425 (2012).
S Rerks-Ngarm et al. Vaccination with ALVAC and AIDSVAX to prevent HIV-1 infection in Thailand. NEJM DOI:10.1056/NEJMoa0908492 (2009).
Provided by National Institutes of Health
- Antibodies help protect monkeys from HIV-like virus, scientists show May 05, 2011 | not rated yet | 0
- Adaptive trial designs could accelerate HIV vaccine development Apr 20, 2011 | not rated yet | 0
- Researchers determine how antibody recognizes key sugars on HIV surface Nov 23, 2011 | not rated yet | 0
- A world first: Vaccine helps prevent HIV infection Sep 24, 2009 | not rated yet | 0
- Researchers discuss challenges to developing broadly protective HIV vaccines Sep 07, 2011 | not rated yet | 0
- Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions Apr 23, 2013 | 3 / 5 (2) | 2
- Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update) Apr 02, 2013 | 4.5 / 5 (11) | 5
- The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation Mar 30, 2013 | 5 / 5 (2) | 9
- Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled Mar 27, 2013 | 4.9 / 5 (8) | 0
- Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance Feb 28, 2013 | 4.8 / 5 (10) | 14
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011 I'd like to open a discussion thread for version 2 of the draft of my book ''Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras'', available online at http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/0810.1019 , and for the...
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
(HealthDay)—For HIV-infected individuals with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, fecal microbiota therapy is feasible, according to a letter published in the May 21 issue of the Annals of Intern ...
HIV & AIDS 20 hours ago | not rated yet | 0
Canadian health authorities lifted Wednesday what was effectively a ban on gay men giving blood, announcing new rules making men who have not had sex with men in the past five years eligible.
HIV & AIDS 22 hours ago | not rated yet | 1
Top AIDS scientists were optimistic Wednesday of finding a cure for the disease that has claimed 30 million lives—but said it might not work for all people.
HIV & AIDS May 22, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
The integration of mental health interventions into HIV prevention and treatment platforms can reduce the opportunity costs of care and improve treatment outcomes, argues a new Policy Forum article published in this week's ...
HIV & AIDS May 21, 2013 | not rated yet | 0
Little is known about why asthma develops, how it constricts the airway or why response to treatments varies between patients. Now, a team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, Columbia University Medical Center ...
55 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 |
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health report they have discovered in mouse studies that a small molecule released in the spinal cord triggers a process that is later experienced in the brain as the sensation of ...
30 minutes ago | 5 / 5 (1) | 0 |
Teams of highly respected Alzheimer's researchers failed to replicate what appeared to be breakthrough results for the treatment of this brain disease when they were published last year in the journal Science.
30 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 |
(Medical Xpress)—The human brain is able to identify individuals' voices by comparing them against an internal 'average voice' prototype, according to neuroscientists.
46 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 |
An anti-cancer drug reverses memory deficits in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health researchers confirm in the journal Science.
23 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 |
Since the discovery of Prontosil in 1932, sulfonamide antibiotics have been used to combat a wide spectrum of bacterial infections, from acne to chlamydia and pneumonia. However, their side effects can include serious neurological ...
30 minutes ago | not rated yet | 0 | | <urn:uuid:9e06f4df-3191-4623-8e10-94777a1b565b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-clues-hiv-vaccine-modest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94153 | 1,703 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Case Study: Fukuoka Clean Energy Corporation
When rebuilding its east-side sanitation plant, the city of Fukuoka sought to create a waste-processing facility that addressed the waste-related issues the city faced, and took its financial condition into consideration, while at the same being environmentally friendly in its use of materials and energy.
For this project, the city of Fukuoka and Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., formed Fukuoka Clean Energy Corporation as a jointly financed special-purpose company. The SPC was tasked with the construction and operation of the New Eastern Plant, a waste-processing facility in Fukuoka, employing private finance initiative methods. Under the agreement reached between the SPC's originators, over a 25-year period from August 2005, the facility will incinerate general waste generated in the city of Fukuoka, generate electricity from the heat energy of incineration and sell any surplus energy to Kyushu Electric.
The DBJ Initiative
Stable operation extending over its long term presented a major issue for this project. DBJ addressed this situation by structuring an arrangement involving a direct agreement between the city of Fukuoka and Kyushu Electric and a banking syndicate, providing financing to be repaid through fees received from the city of Fukuoka for processing waste and through income from the sale of electricity to Kyushu Electric. This scheme clearly outlined the division of risks, enabling long-term financing from other financial institutions.
This scheme promotes the appropriate processing of general waste and the employment of thermal processing. At the same time, it employs PFI methods to promote the use of private-sector financing and equalize the financing burden. By applying PFI methods to benefit from private-sector financing and technical and operational expertise, DBJ expects the project to operate efficiently and effectively. | <urn:uuid:bb893c46-3abd-4fb2-b087-f3343f882d6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dbj.jp/en/solution/social/enviro/c_ennagy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940906 | 371 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Mission, Vision, Motto & Pledge
Our sanctuary is a safe, physically protected, and emotionally literate place that serves as a healing environment from the negative aspects of the outside world. Everyone who is affected by the school environment is also responsible for creating, modeling, and maintaining school safety:
Our sanctuary is a community of learners where active learning is facilitated, students develop a love of learning, and everyone is a life-long learner. Each member is empowered to take responsibility for his/her own learning and growth.
In our sanctuary, diversity is honored and celebrated. Multicultural education, global awareness, and equity are practiced.
In our sanctuary everyone is worthy of respect and all voices are heard. Positive school growth is achieved through parent partnering and collaborative problem solving.
SLCS is a school of choice where teachers use innovation to empower and motivate students to believe that they can be whatever they want to be.
Through positive attitudes and flexible thinking, each of us can make a difference.
This is our vision. This is why we are here. | <urn:uuid:64d7447e-aa8f-4359-ba1c-2970123a7046> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.schoollane.org/index.php?pID=6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965424 | 215 | 1.960938 | 2 |
The Computer That Wanted Life
Laurie was always online. She was always blogging, paying her bills, sending emails, posting on Face Book, shopping, and on and on. She had to find a way to save time online by having all those mundane things taken care of. Then she would have more time to do the things that she really enjoyed. One day, while looking on Craigslist for a used laptop computer, she saw an ad that caught her eye.
She contacted the seller, bought the computer and before long, she had it up and running. At first, it seemed like an ordinary computer. She used it to do all the things she always did while online. Then she started getting messages, popups that seemed to be talking directly to her.
“Why not?” she thought, “I can’t remember the last time I’ve taken a vacation!” So, she sent out emails to all of her contacts and left posts on Face Book that she was going offline for a while, taking a break from it all and going on vacation. She’d always wanted to go on a cruise and that’s just what she did. She spent 7 days on a Caribbean cruise, living the life of a Queen. She had 7 days of no computer, no telephone, nothing but time, all the time in the world.
After the 3rd day, she started wondering how Patty was doing with her new dog, how Charlie was getting by without sending her emails every 20 minutes, and what level Ruth was on the CityVille game on Face Book. On the 4th day, she found a public computer on the ship to check her email, but she wasn’t able to log on. She couldn’t log on to Face Book either, her passwords were changed! “That’s weird, I never change my passwords!” She really started worrying when she realized that the passwords for all of her accounts had been changed. Her bank account, her Amazon account, she couldn’t even access her Twitter account, and she hasn’t used that for years! For the rest of the cruise she realized how much satisfaction she got out of being online. She missed the constant interruption of her friends sending her messages. She missed the trivial posts on Face Book about everyone’s daily life. What was Robin having for dinner? Were Susan’s kids happy at their new school? She felt as if she was totally out of touch with her life, and she wanted it back!
The first thing she did when she got home from her vacation was to turn on her laptop. But, it was already on! How can that be? She distinctly remembers turning it off before she left for her cruise! What was going on? That’s when she realized, this was no ordinary computer. There was a message on the screen. | <urn:uuid:59ed4fcf-9df7-41dc-a017-0c82bc51a441> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jimsgotweb.com/computer-that-wanted-life/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986594 | 599 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Wojtek (the smiling warrior) was a brown bear imported from Russia to Iran in 1940 by some child who decided to trade him to a bunch of chaps from the 22nd artillery battalion of the free Polish armed forces in exchange for a slice of bread. The bear was still an infant at the time, and the boy had no idea what to do with him, so he simply traded him for something worth more (and tastier). The 22nd artillery was primarily made up of polish men whom fled their ruined country and joined the allies in their struggle against Germany and her allies. Since the primary language was polish, they named the bear Wojtek which means smiling warrior. After just one year, Wojtek was given a military outfit, and enlisted in the Polish liberation army. This very first year, Wojtek caught an Arab spy working for the grand mufti and mauled him until he shat his pants and surrendered. Later that year, Wojtek was moved to Egypt where the English “did not allow animals” so, Wojtek was enlisted as a private (fittingly). In 1943, he went with his division on the invasion to Italy. Wojtak helped not only boost morale on his side, but he carried rounds of ammunition with his own two paws without ever dropping one (and without human assistance). He was also noted to have wrestled a machine gunner to death. And thats not where it all ended, Wojtek would take out a cigarette and start casually smoking it like any other man, he would even pop a good bottle of beer with the lads and celebrate after a victory. Then in 1945 after Europe was freer, Wojtek retired at a zoo in England. There he live until he died at age 22. But the men of the II Polish corp never forgot how he would smoke , drink , sleep in their tents and wrestle naked with them (hehe).
In 2012, there is now an option to vote on a proposed memorial for Wokitek . This will be placed in the center of Warsaw to honor a true WWII hero. If you live in Poland, sign the petition and be proud of your warrior bear! | <urn:uuid:f9a3c289-aae6-4576-aefd-6dc62f88a7c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theorderoftheironphoenix.com/wp/penisenlargementfixyourxbox360fasttoday/qq/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984485 | 449 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Caught In The Jaws Of Change
A 1987 report “Technology and the American Economic Transition” from the Office of Technology Assessment predicted that “during the next two decades, new technologies, rapid increases in foreign trade, and the tastes and values of a new generation of Americans are likely to reshape virtually every product, every service, and every job in the U.S.” The report warned “these forces will shake the foundations of the most secure American businesses”.
It has been more than 20 years since that report and the jobs, products, and services have changed beyond most people’s imagination. But I don’t think that anybody predicted what would happen to America’s small communities as a result of large manufacturers closing plants, sourcing foreign products, and forcing cost reductions.
Delphi (previously Delco) is still the largest U.S. auto parts supplier, but of the 185,000 people who used to work for Delphi only 50,000 are left. Dayton, Ohio, was once the headquarters for Delphi, but they hung on too long trying to save the factories and union jobs. Eventually Dayton lost 40 percent of its population
In Newton, Iowa, Maytag was purchased by Whirlpool, which decided to close the Newton plant with 3,800 well-paid workers in a town of 15,000 people. The production has gone to Mexico, and the town leaders are trying to diversify into wineries, a cheese plant, and maybe an auto racetrack which will provide 1,000 low-paying service jobs.
In 1986, Oscar Mayer had a meat packing facility in Illinois, which paid the local people $13 per hour with good benefits. Cargill Meat solutions purchased the plant and immediately lowered the wages and began hiring immigrant labor. There are 2,500 workers in the plant making $13 per hour 22 years later and the town’s population is now 35 percent Mexican. Cargill is the largest employer in the area and pays a lot of taxes, but some locals feel it is legitimized slavery.
These changes are hardest on small rural towns in the Midwest and South. Many are just one large plant away from being devastated economically. When the plant closes, the people have to either commute to large cities for a job or accept a low paying service job. Sometimes the only employer is Wal-Mart. (This is the double whammy for most towns because it provides low paying jobs — often at 50 percent of what a manufacturing job would pay — and a big store like Wal-Mart can eliminate what is left of the main street businesses.)
America needs to get away from spending all of the time and money to attract large foreign companies to build manufacturing plants in their states. These large plants cost the state enormous amounts of money and taxes to land and they only help a small part of the state.
One answer is to focus on retaining and expanding their small and midsize manufacturers (SMMs). SMMs offer good wages and benefits (the average manufacturing wage in the U.S. for 2007 was $57,000). These jobs are technical, but a better alternative than most service jobs. These family-owned and privately held SMMs may be the last hope for trust and security. SMMs are already a part of the small towns.
We Need a Paradigm Shift
The old paradigm of being loyal to your customer, depending on a few large customers, and focusing all of your resources on improving your operational systems to reduce cost and waste are not working. We have learned that we can’t expect large manufacturers to have any loyalty to the nation, the suppliers, or to the small communities. Many towns and suppliers waited too long in hope business would return like the old days. The small manufacturing suppliers were also in denial about global changes and waited too long to find alternatives.
It is time to think differently about how we can stop the decline of American manufacturing and consider new ways to grow in this globalized world. If we are to have a chance at growth, all manufacturers need to examine the obstacles to growth with unflinching reality.
Contrary to the doom and gloom scenarios, SMMs can compete in the new economy and against foreign competitors — but they need to adopt new strategies to compete.
Profiling Your Customers — First, SMMs need to do a good review of their customers. Profiling means identifying between the bad and the best customers. Because of the pressures of globalization, many customers will not be good customers. In their efforts to survive, some customers will demand too much from their suppliers and can inadvertently put you out of business. So continually finding new customers and even firing some customers is necessary for survival. This is perhaps the most important change, yet it has many ramifications.
Diversify: Find New Customers and Markets — Finding new customers and markets means taking an aggressive approach to expanding the number of customers in existing markets and also finding new markets. It usually requires expanding sales out-of-state and developing some method of generating inquiries. It will require new methods for prospecting and sometimes new sales channels, or in some cases even the first outside sales person. This will, in most cases, automatically lead to changes in products and services.
Use a Different Kind of Organization — The pyramid or functional organization used for so long to efficiently manufacture products will (by its very design) not work. This traditional manufacturing organization (known as a functional organization in textbooks) worked pretty well when the markets were stable and the same product lines could service most customers. It also worked well when there was a sufficient demand to keep the organization’s utilization at high levels. It doesn’t work so well for finding new customers and markets, or when low price competition enters the market.
There are too many levels of management. It is too bureaucratic and the decision making is too slow to compete in the new economy. The biggest problem with the pyramid model is its inability to recognize and exploit new market opportunities.
Joe Kumpf, of Minster Machine in Ohio, recognized this dilemma when his company decided they had to diversify into new markets with new products. Minster changed to a new type of organization that works well, in a dynamic environment, and in new markets. It is a flat organization with multi-functional groups (divisions) with the ability to find and exploit new product and market opportunities. I call this new organization a Prospector organization. Prospector organizations are flat, have many business units or divisions, and are decentralized.
Sell Value Not Price — Trying to be the low cost manufacturer in a market overrun by foreign suppliers is not a valid strategy. SMMs need to learn to sell value.
John McFarland, Chairman and CEO of Baldor Electric, says, “We try to build our strategy around providing our customers with the best value. We define value as having four components: quality, cost, service, and time and in an equation of customer perception or Cp = (Qp x Sp) / (C x T).”
Quality (Qp) — is perceived by each customer differently
Service (Sp) — is also perceived by each customer differently
Cost (C) — a very measurable variable
Time (T) — a very measurable variable.
McFarland says, “We believe that we can increase value if we increase quality and service. Baldor also increases the customer’s perception of value when they continuously work at decreasing costs and time (delivery). Some customers put more emphasis on one component than another, but they all want all four. Additionally, we don’t believe that customers only buy where they get the best price. They buy where they get the best value.”
He adds, “A good example of this would be Toyota. Toyota is taking market share from GM, Ford, and Chrysler, and is charging a higher price for their cars than any of these three competitors. So why doesn’t the lowest price get the order rather than the highest price? Because customers buy where they perceive they get the best value and today in automobiles many people perceive that Toyota offers that.“
Focus on Workforce Education and Training
A report by the National Association of Manufacturers, “Keeping America Competitive,” states the baby boomer generation of manufacturing employees will be retired within the next 12 years. The report predicts 10 million new workers will be needed to replace the baby boomers by year 2020. The shortage of skilled workers is most serious for jobs such as machinists, technicians, electricians, engineers, and people who can maintain and operate automated lines.
This problem can be an opportunity for SMMs because they can create new training programs that can attract business. Every economic development agency who wants to retain and expand their supplier manufacturers, should look at how they can help SMMs develop the technical employee for 21st century manufacturing
There are always opportunities in the chaos of great change. But globalization and the large customers have forced a new paradigm on American suppliers. Growing — or even surviving — in the chaos of change will require new thinking and new strategies.
Michael P. Collins is president of MPC Management, a manufacturing consulting company, and the author of the book, “Saving American Manufacturing.” | <urn:uuid:fa66b8ce-e719-4cf3-b36d-d516ced1f6e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.impomag.com/print/articles/2009/08/caught-jaws-change?qt-most_popular=0&qt-digital_editions=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964875 | 1,905 | 2.03125 | 2 |
It could be argued, with some justification, that the greatest achievement of the film and stage director Ulu Grosbard, who has died aged 83, was to have helped launch the acting careers of Dustin Hoffman, Robert Duvall and Jon Voight. It was Grosbard who had the prescience to see a special talent in them that had escaped others, and who gave them the chance to exploit it.
All three future stars were involved in Grosbard's production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge at the Sheridan Square Playhouse in New York in January 1965, for which both Duvall and Grosbard won Obie awards. Duvall played the lead as longshoreman Eddie Carbone, the part which he described as "the catalyst of my career", while Voight was Rodolpho. Hoffman, then a struggling actor, was stage manager.
One day, during rehearsals, Grosbard took Miller aside and told him that Hoffman would in a few years be perfect as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Miller wrote in his 1987 autobiography Timebends: "My estimate of Grosbard all but collapsed as, observing Dustin Hoffman's awkwardness and his big nose that never seemed to get unstuffed, I wondered how the poor fellow imagined himself a candidate for any kind of acting career."
Having given him some of his earliest acting jobs off-Broadway, Grosbard was to become friend, associate and eventual foe in Hoffman's life. His association with Duvall continued when he directed the actor in the original production of David Mamet's American Buffalo on Broadway in 1977, and in the film True Confessions (1981). He gave Voight his first big break in That Summer, That Fall (1967).
Grosbard was born in Antwerp, Belgium, the son of a Jewish diamond merchant. In 1943, he and his parents fled the Nazis and began a perilous journey through France and Spain, before boarding a refugee boat bound for Cuba. "I grew up fast," he recalled. "It was a scary time – the anxiety of not knowing how it was going to end."
He spent five years in Havana cutting diamonds until he received a visa to enter the US in 1948. He immediately went to the University of Chicago, where he gained a BA and then an MA in fine arts before going on to graduate study at Yale drama school. There, in 1953, he met Rose Gregorio, who would act in television and films, and whom he would marry 12 years later.
She and Duvall were in Grosbard's first off-Broadway production, William Snyder's The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker (1962-63), at the Sheridan Square Playhouse. Grosbard then had his biggest stage hit with The Subject Was Roses, Frank D Gilroy's Pulitzer prize-winning drama of an Irish family in the Bronx, which ran for two years on Broadway (1964-66), and for which he was nominated for a Tony. So was Martin Sheen, another Grosbard "discovery", who played Timmy Cleary, the young man who tries to adjust to life after three years in the army in the second world war.
The film version of The Subject Was Roses (1968) was Grosbard's first feature, with Sheen in only his second movie, and Jack Albertson winning the best supporting actor Oscar. Grosbard, who had been assistant director to Elia Kazan, Robert Rossen and Arthur Penn, handled the material well, although the film failed to escape its theatre origins.
Back on Broadway, Grosbard directed the world premiere of Miller's The Price (1968-69). His second film as director was Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), an offbeat fantasy comedy drama. It starred Hoffman as a vastly successful rock singer and composer, whose suicide attempt lands him on a psychiatrist's couch. There was something suicidal about the whole pretentious exercise, and Grosbard could do nothing to bring the screenplay into focus. It was seven years before he made another film.
In the meanwhile, he had a success on Broadway with American Buffalo, in which three small-time Chicago crooks plan a robbery. During the run of the play Hoffman asked Grosbard to direct Straight Time (1978). Hoffman had bought the screen rights of Edward Bunker's autobiographical novel No Beast So Fierce, which he decided to direct himself. But after several weeks of shooting, he began to find the pressures of directing and acting too great that he turned to his steadfast friend.
Almost immediately, Grosbard realised he had made a mistake in accepting the task. Because Hoffman was so close to the movie and had visualised it, he allowed the director very little liberty and constantly expressed his dissatisfaction with Grosbard's handling of the movie. It was during the shooting that Grosbard asked Hoffman, "What's more important, our friendship or the movie?" "The movie!" Hoffman replied without hesitation. The finish of Straight Time coincided with the end of their long friendship.
Surprisingly, despite the bitterness and turmoil surrounding the film, Straight Time turned out to be a sombre, gritty, vastly underestimated thriller thanks to Grosbard's rigorous handling of all the elements with almost documentary realism, climaxing with an exciting slam-bang jewel robbery.
Grosbard had a happier experience on True Confessions, in which he got wonderful understated performances from Duvall as a cop and Robert De Niro as his brother, a Roman Catholic priest. It is the acting of De Niro and Meryl Streep, as an adulterous couple, that similarly carries Falling in Love (1984) beyond its soap operatics.
On Broadway, Grosbard directed The Floating Light Bulb (1981), Woody Allen's semi-autobiographical play about a lower-middle-class Jewish family living in Brooklyn in 1945. The play got mixed reviews, but Grosbard was praised by the New York Times for his "sensitive, fluid staging".
After another long gap, Grosbard returned to movies with two more family dramas, a genre that dominated his work: Georgia (1995), an interesting character study of a heroin addict (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and her folk-singing sister (Mare Winningham); and The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Treat Williams, with Grosbard's finely paced direction avoiding the melodrama inherent in the material. "I guess I'm fascinated by the fact that circumstances can arise that will threaten bonds, that what in fact seems steel is a very, very fine thread that can be easily snapped," Grosbard once explained.
He is survived by his wife.
• Ulu Grosbard, film and stage director, born 9 January 1929; died 19 March 2012 | <urn:uuid:78d0acd0-fba2-4f75-99e5-bbc148d187b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2012/mar/23/ulu-grosbard-obituary | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978973 | 1,419 | 1.609375 | 2 |
RALEIGH,N.C.(AP) — Forecasters say North Carolina will see rain, but will experience nothing like the severe storms that tore through portions of the Southeast and Midwest.
The National Weather Service says there’s a chance of thunderstorms in western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina early Saturday. By then, the risk of severe weather will have diminished, but temperatures will fall as the cold front that spawned tornadoes elsewhere advances toward the coast.
The system is expected to pass through the Triad by sunrise, drop rain on the Triangle by lunchtime and bring precipitation to the coast through the afternoon.
Temperatures will drop as the front passes, with highs for Sunday expected in the 50s.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) | <urn:uuid:d4614df8-0ef2-4444-9114-1ce3051d7d01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2012/03/03/north-carolina-has-a-little-threat-for-severe-weather/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924152 | 174 | 1.703125 | 2 |
I sat down on the rock ledge as the keeper handed me a raisin. Feeling it’s wrinkly texture in my palm, I grasped it tightly and braced myself for the onslaught. Before I could get settled, I had furry paws reaching for my hand, trying to get to the sweet, dried fruit inside. Ring Tailed Lemurs were all around me, inspecting every last detail of the hairless primate holding onto one of their favorite treats. I quickly opened my palm, exposing the raisin to the lemurs and it was snatched up.
I was somewhere I’d never been before – on the inside of an animal enclosure at a zoo. And while most zoos would never let visitors into the enclosures, Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Wichita isn’t like most zoos. Tanganyika bills itself as having one of the most interactive animal programs in the United States. In addition to Lemurs, guests can feed or interact with giraffes, red kangaroos, lorikeets, tortoises, and an Indian rhinoceros.
There is no doubt that this is entertaining for the visitors (who wouldn’t want an adorable little lemur crawling all over them?). But at what cost? My visit to Tanganyika was filled with conflicting emotions as I tried to balance my own entertainment value vs. the impact it has on the animals who live there day in and day out.
The Zoo Question
I understand that zoos are controversial, but I’ve never been opposed to them – I owe my interest and curiosity in animals to frequent zoo visits as a child, and I hope that’s made me a better steward in respecting where these animals live in the wild.
The zoo facilities at Tanganyika seemed to be world class (not like the small, cramped enclosures of the old Los Angeles Zoo). All the animals looked healthy and happy; they had plenty of space and opportunities for interaction with one another. None of the animals seemed particularly distressed.
To further protect the animals, Tanganyika Wildlife Park has a ‘no petting’ rule, which certainly saves the animals from a certain level of accostment from sticky-handed children. Any interaction the animals have with humans is on their own accord. Of course, you can almost guarantee interaction by holding onto one of their favorite foods.
But despite these measures, is visiting Tanganyika Wildlife Park responsible? Hardline anti-zoo critics would say otherwise. The animals are subjected to visitors walking throughout their enclosures every single day. There is a reason other zoos do not allow this kind of interaction – these animals are not domesticated pets to be used for our own joy and fulfillment; they are wild animals.
Is there a right answer here, a hardline ‘do’ or ‘do not support’ for Tanganyika Wildlife Park? For me, it’s a struggle. I know there are plenty of people out there who would despise me for even going into the park, let alone feeding one of the lemurs inside. Others would see it as an amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m somewhere in between.
I enjoyed my visit at the zoo. I saw animals I’d never seen before (they have a honey badger!), had some truly unique experiences, and used the time to bond with a coworker.
But I struggled with guilt afterwards. Did I support an institution that sacrifices animal welfare for cheap tourist thrills? I don’t know. What is the right answer in this situation?
I don’t know.
What do you think? Would you have visited Tanganyika Wildlife Park if you were in Wichita? | <urn:uuid:9379de10-6c5b-407f-9240-b0158c3d731d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.travelrinserepeat.com/tanganyika-zoo-ethics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959307 | 778 | 2.1875 | 2 |
YouthBuild Boston’s Designery is a hands-on urban architecture workshop for high school students. Students, or Junior Designers, hone their problem solving skills through a team based approach to real-world architectural problems.
Students explore architectural and landscape design, investigate the environmental and social aspects of design, and discover new career opportunities. During this paid design internship, they develop life and job-readiness skills, build self esteem, and serve their communities.
100% of our Junior Designers graduate from high school.
YouthBuild Boston’s Designery serves young people ages 14-18 in Boston and its surrounding areas. These areas are plagued with high crime rates, unemployment, and high levels of high school drop-outs. According to the US census in 2010, 21% of people from these areas are living below the poverty line.
Serving Our Community:
At YBB and the Designery, giving back to the community is at the core of our programming. Our youth learn about design through our community service initiatives, which allows them to become change agents in their communities — whether is designing spaces for community events or creating a flourishing garden in a vacant lot.
Our Junior Designers realize that in order to become leaders, they must become part of their communities by giving back. | <urn:uuid:3cbd20df-948d-47e1-af41-75875ab327e9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thedesignery.org/about-us/thedesignery/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961181 | 265 | 2.0625 | 2 |
out of 100
Metascore®Universal acclaim Based on a weighted average of all critic review scores.
A sample of reviews from critics across the country.
It's an apt title. As divisive as the issue has become, it's hard to deny the power of Guggenheim's lingering shots on these children, waiting on a superhero who isn't going to come.
Read full review
Exhilarating, heartbreaking and righteous, Waiting for Superman is also a kind of high-minded thriller: Can the American education system be cured?
This is a time when urgent issues are often explored in polemic documentaries, as well as a fateful moment when the future of public education is being debated with unprecedented intensity. Waiting for 'Superman' makes an invaluable addition to the debate.
Powerful, passionate, and potentially revolution-inducing documentary.
Much of the film is told compellingly and heartbreakingly through the wide-eyed innocence of five children.
By showing how fiercely dedicated idealists are making a difference, it is a call to arms.
Guggenheim, contends the American educational system is failing, which we have been told before. He dramatizes this failure in a painfully direct way, says what is wrong, says what is right.
A moving and effective film whose subject may lack the hot-button boxoffice appeal of the director's "An Inconvenient Truth" but is at least a crisis practically everyone agrees actually exists.
Guggenheim's insistence on not engaging with the injustices that children of certain races and classes face outside of school makes his reiteration of the obvious-that "past all the noise and the debate, nothing will change without great teachers"-seem all the more willfully nave.
See all Waiting for "Superman" movie reviews at Metacritic.com
A horror movie about public education.
Read full review |
Movies.com, the ultimate source for everything movies, is your destination for new movie trailers, reviews, photos, times, tickets + more! Stay in the know with the latest movie news and cast interviews at Movies.com. | <urn:uuid:9812c9e5-a929-4913-919a-88622acf97fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.movies.com/movie-reviews/waiting-for-superman-reviews/movie-ratings/m65567 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94763 | 436 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Lawmakers grilling Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, grew frustrated on Thursday when he repeatedly sidestepped their questions, saying he was unaware of engineering decisions before the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and refusing to speculate about what investigators would discover about its causes. John M. Broder and Liz Robbins report that even as Mr. Hayward apologized for a catastrophe that “never should have happened,” he offered few specifics about why.
The slide show includes two photographs each from James Hill in Kyrgyzstan (Slides 4 and 5) and from Rina Castelnuovo in Jerusalem (Slides 6 and 7).
More From James Hill
For Russians, an Old Victory Lives On
May 10, 2010
Under a Shadow in the Moscow Subway
March 30, 2010
More From Rina Castelnuovo
Rina Castelnuovo and the Unending Story
May 17, 2010
New Vantage for a Palestinian Photographer
April 23, 2010 | <urn:uuid:5620330e-128d-4116-b4f8-7e9b9be55129> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/nam-je-hyun/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941818 | 202 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Whether it's your boots, a bag, a jacket or even a vintage club chair, proper care will prolong the life of your leather. The natural fibers will eventually break down with time, so some maintenance is necessary. Think of leather like your skin—for your face to look its best, you've got to clean it up now and again and keep it hydrated. Your leather jacket isn't really that different.
If any of your leather gets dirty, spilled on or starts to take on too much indigo from your raw denim, clean it off with a damp sponge and a dab of mild detergent, saddle soap or (for indigo stains especially) mink oil, working in small circles. Just remember to then let it dry at room temperature overnight. Leather should always be dry before you condition it.
Dampen a soft cloth with water and apply a quarter-sized amount of conditioner to the cloth. Microfiber cloths are ideal for this job. Begin by rubbing in small circles, eventually working your way over the entire item. Never apply conditioner directly to the leather itself, apply it to cloth first. And remember, several lighter passes are better than one heavy-handed application. Especially on the rough, dry or cracked patches. Just give yourself 30 minutes in between coats. Stay clear of creams and conditioners that contain harsh chemical waxes or silicones because they'll prevent the leather from breathing and in some cases even dry out the leather more.
Liquids vs. Pastes
Liquid oils will likely darken leather a little, while pastes often contain waxes and water repellants to dilute the pure oil, thus softening its effect. Remember, leather is tough, and there's no need to go easy with cotton balls or Q-tips. Use a rag for oils, and your hands for pastes. | <urn:uuid:6198a8b5-7f8b-4b5e-8276-55ac62acf817> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.valetmag.com/the-handbook/features/2013/31-days/day20-protect-your-leather.php?index2_top_lead | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936942 | 381 | 1.5625 | 2 |
NORTHEN COAST OF SCOTLAND
The northern coast offers a rich variety of scenery, from tall storm-swept cliffs to gentle sandy bays. The interior offers equally dramatic contrasts between low-lying windswept bogs and dramatic mountain peaks. Fishing boats shelter in the area's many harbours. Numerous nature reserves protect the moorland's rich plant and animal life, with sea birds to the fore.
Hamlet of crofters' cottages heated in winter by peat fires. Set in Armadale Bay with fine view of sandy beach and sweep of shallow water. Main road leads over two burns, Allt Beag and Armadale, both with twin stone bridges, old and new.
John Nicholson, 19th-century antiquarian, extensively studied this region's ancient remains. Old school house opposite his home now a museum of region's early human history, a useful starting point for visiting brochs and other area sites.
Old Ministry of Defence early warning station is unlikely setting for craft centre; visitors can watch various crafts, ranging from book-binding and weaving to jewellery and candle-making. The ruined church of 1619 has monument to Celtic bard Rob Donn.
Crofting centre and resort above Torrisdale Bay. To north is Farr Bay, where precious stones can be found. Salmon fishing in River Naver and trout in Loch Naver, 15 miles inland. Church dating from 18th century houses museum of local history. Outside museum is Farr Stone, an early Christian Celtic stone.
Village with 19th-century church. Inside church is 1558 memorial to Jan de Groot, who started ferry service to Orkney in 1496. When residing in nearby Castle of Mey, the Queen Mother attends ser-vices at Canisbay Church.
Red-rock headland rising 360ft from sea, topped by 7Oft light-house. The Parbh -- 100 square miles of peat-bog, heather, scrub and rock -- lies inland. Only link to cape from outside world is ferry across Kyle of Durness. Cleit Dhubh, or 'Black Cliff, rises 850ft from sea south-east of cape.
Well-ordered village built for men working in nearby quarries. Castletown's stone has paved the streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh; stone was sent out from neighbouring harbour of Castlehill--also built of this stone.
Experimental nuclear power station's 135ft steel dome dominates flat coastal area. It was
world's first fast reactor to provide power for public use. Oounreay Exhibition tells story of nuclear power and has guided tours.
Harbour is home to small fishing fleet. Dunbeath Castle still lived in but closed to public. Lhaidhay Caithness Croft Museum displays typical 18th-century complex with house, byre and stable all under one roof. Old village school houses heritage centre.
Far north-eastern tip of mainland where lighthouse stands high above entrance to Pentland Firth.
Most northerly point of British mainland. Viewing platform pro-vides 3600 view over 300ft cliffs, taking in Cape Wrath and Duncansby. Lighthouse stands below viewpoint, its walls battered by stones thrown up by Pentland Firth in rough weather.
Crofting village spread out along coast. Along shore is three-chambered Smoo Cave. Its main chamber, over 200ft deep and 110ft wide, is accessible by foot. Allt Smoo burn flows from moor-land and drops 80ft into deep pool inside second cavern.
Grey Cairns of Camster
Well-preserved burial chambers 2 miles north of Camster date from New Stone Age, beginning 6,000 years ago. Visitors can crawl down passage into chambers. Long cairn is nearly 200ft. Legless skeletons found in round cairn.
Village based on local quarries that mined stone for street paving. The Fossil Centre at Mybster has displays on local flagstone industry.
Handa Island Nature Reserve
Steep cliffs on three sides of island packed with sea birds in summer.
Moorland interior is also home to variety of birds, from skuas to golden plovers.
Area's best-known building is Castle of Mey, the Queen Mother's summer residence. Its gardens open occasionally in summer. Castle Arms Hotel, Mey, has royal photographs display. Quarries shipped flagstones from harbour a century ago.
Hill o' Many Stanes
Bronze Age stone formation on hillock. Rows of small stones form a fan-like formation possibly for astronomical purposes.
Nature reserve with notable dwarf shrubs. Skelpick long barrow is 200ft long with two burial chambers blocked by massive capstones. Remains of Iron Age settlement with tower stand on rocky slope.
Claims to be mainland Britain's most northerly village, named after founder of ferry service to Orkney in 1496, Jan de Groot. Water mill established 1750 operates under original family.
Harbour is important crab and lobster centre. Keiss Castle, 16th century, stands near private 18th-century castle. Three-mile stretch of sand on Sinclair's Bay lies south.
Area's busiest fishing port has double harbour. Nearby Blairmore starts trail to Sandwood Bay.
Village at meeting point of three lochs, Kylesku is across water. Boat trip up Loch Glencoul gives views of Britain's highest water-fall, 650ft Eas a Chual Aluinn.
Active fishing community; broad street runs down to harbour with octagonal lighthouse at its entrance. Church has finely carved Celtic cross.
Rocky point north of Wick is crowned by two ruins. Castle Girnigoe, 15th century, has keep on cliff edge. Castle Sinclair dates from 17th century.
Broad bay, with harbour of Fresgue to one side and village of Reay sheltering behind dunes. Small whitewashed church of 1740 has gallery for laird and family.
Pink, pale sand and grassy dunes, usually deserted except for sea birds and, legend has it, mermaids. Beach lies 4 miles north of Blairmore, accessible by rough track. Swimming not advised.
Begun as port for loading flagstones, town is now main ferry port for Orkney. Path leads up past lighthouse to cliffs of Holborn Head. Sailing club, sea angling.
Iron Age broch stands on a spur thrusting out from cliffs. Its hollow walls are 14ft thick and enclose an interior 22ft across.
Britain's most northerly mainland town was laid out as Georgian 'new town' by Sir John Sinclair. Ruined Church of St Peter dates back to 13th century. Thurso Castle, largely rebuilt, dates from 17th century. Heritage museum.
Village has gabled church, built 1680. Its boxed wooden gallery was once used by Mackay clan. Angling in Loch Loyal, 4 miles south. Ruined 14th-century Cais-teal Bharraich, built on Viking lookout spot.
Ancient settlement, Vikings once sheltered here. Name comes from Norse Vik, 'bay'. Town plan is medieval, but buildings are mostly 18th century. Visitors can watch handmade glass being blown at Caithness Glass. | <urn:uuid:82386a4f-d281-49c2-a327-abdd4ab974ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scotland247.co.uk/caithness-sutherland2.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924192 | 1,528 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The Judges, continued
Brother Fowles's Visit until Murder Plot Revealed
Brother Fowles arrives in the village along with his Congolese wife and their children. The entire village is in an excited uproar over his visit, and the Price women are no exception. Brother Fowles clearly has a deep understanding of and appreciation for the native customs, and tries to explain to Orleanna that her neighbors are very religious people, with a keen sensitivity for the miracles of God's natural world. Orleanna, a former nature worshipper herself, is drawn to Brother Fowles and listens with an extremely sympathetic ear to his pantheistic interpretation of Christianity. Nathan then arrives at home, and the reception he gives Brother Fowles is cool at best. The situation degenerates when Brother Fowles's expresses feelings of fellowship for all the natives of Kilanga including Nathan's archenemy, Chief Ndu. The two men enter into a war of biblical translation, in which Brother Fowles calmly gets the better of Nathan. Nathan storms off, and the Price women trail longingly after the departing Fowles.
A drought in the region is leading to famine, and Ruth May's condition is steadily worsening. Tata Ndu begins to visit daily, bearing gifts, and Nelson must be the one to explain the purpose of his visits. He wants to make Rachel his newest wife.
To turn down Tata Ndu's marriage proposal would be hugely offensive, not only to him personally but to the entire village. In place of the majority rule of democracy, the Congolese believe that complete unanimity must be reached before a plan can move forward and so any official action Tata Ndu takes must have the viallge's unanimous backing. Rachel is beside herself with outrage and fear.
As Ruth May gets sicker, they decide to move her bed into the main room so that Orleanna can keep an eye on her during the day. When they move the bed away from the wall, they discover every single one of her quinine tablets pressed against the cement. They realize that Ruth May had never swallowed any of her tablets, and that she has malaria.
To avert any conflict with Tata Ndu the Prices decide to pretend that Rachel is already engaged to Eeben Axelroot. Rachel and Eeben have to sit out on the Price's porch to demonstrate their connection to the village, and the two of them begin to strike up a strained acquaintanceship. Eeben confides that he works for the CIA, but Rachel does not believe him. She begins to concoct a secret plan to win him over and convince him to fly her mother and sister home.
Ruth May believes that she became sick because of all the bad things she has done, like seeing Axelroot's diamonds. She thinks about the amulet that Nelson gave to her, and decides that when she reappears it will be as a mamba snake. It is clear that she chooses this "safe place" because mamba snakes are what frighten her most.
Rachel turns seventeen, and is outraged that no one makes a fuss over her birthday. Orleanna gives Rachel a pair of her own earrings but then must return to care for Ruth May whose fever has shot up to a hundred and five. In addition, Adah is stung by a scorpion and Rachel is convinced that her sisters are purposefully trying to steal the attention away from her.
Ruth May recovers, but remains listless and uninspired. Orleanna likes to avoid the house as much as possible and takes the girls on long nature walks every day, culminating in a picnic. Leah teaches arithmetic in Anatole's school in the mornings, and then learns French and Kikongo from him in the afternoons. She is also learning to use a bow and arrow from Nelson, and is showing a real talent for the sport. Nathan alone remains completely unchanged, obtusely ranting that "Tata Jesus is bangala," which, as Adah points out, can either mean "Jesus is precious" or, if you say it too quickly as Nathan does, "Jesus is a poisonwood tree."
As Leah spends the afternoons reading with Anatole she often interrupts him to pose various questions. They become involved in another long discussion about race, politics, and justice. Leah tries to explain to him what the United States is like—with its abundance and large cities—and Anatole does not quite believe her. She then asks why he translates her father's sermons if he does not believe that the Reverend's goals are good ones, and he explains that he wants the other villagers to have the chance to make their own decisions.
The day after her birthday Rachel and Axelroot go for a walk in the jungle. They kiss, and he then confides a secret in her: Patrice Lumumba is going to be killed. Again, she does not believe him, certain that he is just trying to impress her with his importance so that he can continue kissing her.
Adah continues to spy on Eeben Axelroot. She sees him speaking code into his radio, and one day a man called "W.I. Rogue" joins him in his cabin. They talk about Patrice Lumumba being "as good as dead," and link the assassination plot to President Eisenhower. Adah is distraught over this revelation, finding it hard to believe that the United States is orchestrating a coup that will overthrow the elected government and murder an innocent man.
Brother Fowles plays and important symbolic role the story, representing the positive side of Christianity in contrast to Reverend Price's negative. Through his compassion and humility, Brother Fowles is actually able to effect change in the village of Kilanga, for instance in preaching the important of kindness towards one's wife. It is particularly significant that Brother Fowles's great triumph in Kilanga is in championing the cause of women, and protecting them from the heretofore accepted abuse of their husbands. We are told that during Brother Fowles's tenure in Kilanaga, private shrines to Tata Jesus sprung up in all of the kitchens, domain of the woman. Brother Fowles's protectiveness towards women sets him up in direct contrast to Nathan, who is a misogynist and wife-abuser himself. The contrast between Brother Fowles and Nathan is further underscored by their widely differing attitudes toward the natural world. Nathan, a farmer by training, hacks at the land, trying to subdue it into submission. He views nature as something to be manipulated. Brother Fowles, on the other hand, borders on the pagan in his worship of untamed nature.
The worship of nature actually seems to occupy and important place in Kingsolver's notion of "good spirituality." Brother Fowles, as was just mentioned, is a nature worshipper. Orleanna worshipped nature as a girl, and, as we will see, later returns to this state of mind. Both Leah and Adah will express pantheistic sentiments later in the book as well, professing that God is all of nature. In many ways, pantheism is the perfect antidote to the "original sin" of greed and hubris evinced by Nathan, Belgian colonialists, and the United States government. To worship nature as divine it to admit that our role on earth is not to subdue what surrounds us, nor to ring from it all that we can, but to appreciate and understand it.
Brother Fowles's visit comes at a crucial time in the Price women's emotional life. They are losing faith in their old authority figures, in Nathan, God and even the President of the United States. It is Adah who utters the words, "The smiling bald man with the grandfather face has another face," when she discovers that Eisenhower is behind the plot to assassinate Lumumba, but it could just as easily have been Orleanna, or Leah, or even Ruth May who uttered this sentence, and it could just as easily have been Nathan or their traditional image of God whose surface face they suddenly saw as a sham. As their faith in these father figures is undermined, their faith in the principles espoused by these men is undermined as well. In Leah's case, it is the principles that are undermined first, and the men that fall as a result. Brother Fowles's visit provides them with an alternative vision to believe in, a truth of compassion and understanding. Ultimately, Adah, Orleanna, and Leah will all follow Brother Fowles's example, living their own versions of that sort of truth.
Readers' Notes allow users to add their own analysis and insights to our SparkNotes—and to discuss those ideas with one another. Have a novel take or think we left something out? Add a Readers' Note! | <urn:uuid:c4edb0b5-fe14-4c4b-8f8f-68783ac41f6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poisonwood/section8.rhtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976043 | 1,811 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Zyra's front page //// Banks //// Phones //// Credit Card Companies //// Site Index
Phone Call from the Bank. But is it really from the Bank?!
The phone rings and you answer, and someone on the other end of the line says they are phoning on behalf of your bank or on behalf of your credit card company, for security purposes, and will you please confirm some details?
Now think about this: If you phoned the bank and said "Hello I'm me. How much money have I got in my account?", you'd be shocked if the bank told you without asking you to prove you are who you say. The same thing applies the other way. Just because someone phones and says they are the bank doesn't mean they are. (They might be criminals impersonating the bank!)
To check if the call is genuine, you need to ask some questions, but without giving away any information yourself. Bear in mind, though, that some information which should be private often isn't, and criminals can usually find out your name and phone number, and your address, and even your mother's maiden name. However, only the bank will know details from your bank statements (provided you've been sensible and followed the advice about ID Theft, and so you've not put any bank statements in the dustbin, etc). Also, if the caller claims to be your VISA/Mastercard company, you can ask what your card number is. If they don't know it, or they won't tell you, then they are NOT what they claim to be.
Banks will phone you, but only very rarely. So, be on your guard! I while ago I got a call from someone who said "I'm phoning on behalf of Barclays. Can you please confirm a transaction which you made for a large amount recently?". As it happened, I had actually made a large transaction in the previous week, but I wasn't going to tell anyone just because they claimed to be the bank! I asked "What was the amount?", and the caller reeled off the exact amount, and then I asked the caller to tell me a few other transactions made around that time. The names and amounts were right, and only the bank could have known. I was then THANKED by the bank representative for asking such security questions! Apparently, not everyone does.
What if someone phones you and says they are from the bank and they want to check your security because there has been suspected fraud on your account? Now, that's the time to beware especially, because it is very unlikely to be a genuine call. What you should do is to ask their name and which office they are phoning from, and then you phone them back using a phone number you have got in your own records not one that the caller has given you! A genuine caller from a genuine bank will be happy to do this. However if a bank hoax criminal tries this, you'll end up phoning the real bank and they'll have no knowledge of the call, thus leaving the criminal with nothing, except that now the bank has been told that someone is trying to hack the account.
There is a subtle point to consider about the idea of the bank phoning you. If they are phoning you to ask you things, they are already sure you are genuine, otherwise it would be a gross breach of security by the bank themselves. So, you don't need to prove anything. You certainly don't need to give them your password, and you don't need to give away any private information until they have proved they really are the bank or card company they claim they are. (Any potential stand-off situations where neither side will give away anything are avoided by giving away "bits" of information which are no use in isolation, for example the third set of four digits of your card number).
If in doubt, hang up and phone the bank on the number you already have for them.
There's an interesting e-mail that's been going around for several years now. I'll include this below, but I must tell you in advance that it is not as genuine as it seems, and you should not forward it! Plus, it's certainly not new.
Here it is...
|----- Original Message -----
From: Someone you know
Subject: Fw: Fw: etc Fw: Fw: A Serious Credit Card Scam to look out for (fwd)
<various "forward this" comments by various people have have passed it around etc>
Subject: FW: Fw: A Serious Credit Card Scam to look
out for (fwd)
Note, the callers do not ask for your card number; they already have it.
This information is worth reading. By understanding how the VISA & MasterCard Telephone Credit Card Scam works, you'll be better prepared to protect yourself.
One of our employees was called on Wednesday from "VISA", and I was called on Thursday from "MasterCard".
The scam works like this: Person calling says, "This is (name), and I'm calling from the Security and Fraud Department at VISA. My badge number is 12460. Yo ur card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I'm calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card which was issued by (name of bank) did you purchase an Anti-Telemarketing Device for £497.99 from a Marketing company based in London?" When you say "No", the caller continues with, "Then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from £297 to £497, just under the £500 purchase pattern that flags most cards. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?"
You say "yes". The caller continues - "I will be starting a fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 0800 number listed on the back of you r card (0800-VISA) and ask for Security. You will need to refer to this Control Number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. "Do you need me to read it again?"
Here's the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works the caller then says, "I need to verify you are in possession of your card." He'll ask you to "turn your card over and look for some numbers." There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the security numbers that verify you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you sometimes use to make Internet purchases to prove you have the card. The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him.
After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he'll say, "That is correct, I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?" After you say, "No," the caller then thanks you and states, "Don't hesitate to call back if you do", and hangs up.
You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the Card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. Are we glad we did! The REAL VISA Security Department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of £497.99 was charged to our card.
Long story - short - we made a real fraud report and closed the VISA account. VISA is reissuing us a new number. What the scammers want is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don't give it to them. Instead, tell them you'll call VISA or MasterCard directly for verification of their conversation. The real VISA told us that they will never ask for anything on the card as they already know the information since they issued the card! If you give the scammers your 3 Digit PIN Number, you think you're receiving a credit. However, by the time you get your statement you'll see charges for purchases you didn't make, and by then it's almost too late and/or more difficult to actually file a fraud report
What makes this more remarkable is that on Thursday, I got a call from a "Jason Richardson of MasterCard" with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA scam. This time I didn't let him finish. I hung up! We filed a police report, as instructed by VISA. The police said they are taking several of these reports daily! They also urged us to tell everybody we know that this scam is happening .
Firstly, the police are NOT saying they are taking several of these reports daily. Also, VISA and Mastercard are NOT saying this is going on. So, it is in fact a chain letter, and it gets forwarded because people believe it. In fact, according to Hoax Slayer at www.hoax-slayer.com/card-security-code-scam.html , no actual occurrences of this type have been reported.
There is a crucial flaw in the scam, which is the idea that the scammers already know your card number. If that was true then your card security would already have been compromised and you should phone the bank, the card company, and the police right away!
There's also a minor flaw in the idea that the caller claims to be from the card company and yet doesn't tell you what the card number is. You should ask!
The amounts vary, but if you do a search for "Badge Number 12460" it comes up with three thousand results, showing that this message forwarding is very common, despite the actual alleged hoax being reported as "no actual occurrences".
Nevertheless, even though the message is dubious to say the least, and it's a chain letter, which is bad, there is still a valid point in it. You should not give away security information just because someone phones and asks for it!
Although phone calls "from banks" are rare, hoax emails from banks are very common, so watch out for them. One of the reasons the criminals choose to perform their scams via e-mail rather than on the phone is because on the phone you can have caller display, (equivalents to the BT system exist in many countries around the world), and so you can tell where the caller is calling from. As the genuine (local) bank would be in the same country as you are, it would be hard for the crooks to fake it up. Criminals prefer to commit crime in a country other than the one they are in, so they are more difficult to chase. Nigeria Scam crooks' best efforts to pretend to be in the UK for example, involve +44 7 numbers, which are a dead giveaway they are not where they pretend to be! Plus, if the number is withheld, then it's deeply suspicious right from the start, and it's almost certainly not genuine.
Nomatter what happens, YOU have to make sure about each thing going on and make sure you are in charge of things. Double-checking things by different routes is like these bleaches that kill off 99.9% of problems.
Also see: phone help, nuisance calls, bank hoax emails, and The Rogues Gallery of Suspicious Emails and phishing (which is attempting to get personal information out of you). | <urn:uuid:6dd5e4f4-0e00-4dd7-810f-6dc8b9e81387> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zyra.org.uk/bankcall.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977038 | 2,375 | 1.90625 | 2 |
I’ve watched the movie The Power of One so many times that I don’t know how I had never picked up the book until this summer. The book and movie tell the story of Peekay, a young boy being raised in South Africa – a lonely place for the sole British child in a world of Afrikaners and Africans. When Peekay’s mother has a nervous breakdown and is no longer able to care for him, she sends him to a boarding school where humiliation and sadness pass his time. When a gang of older students led by “the Judge,” a Nazi supporting anti-English bully, begins to torment Peekay he reverts to bed wetting and is further punished by the school’s administration. Back home during a school break, Peekay is cured by a medicine man who gives him a new resolve in dealing with his problems at school.
At the end of the school year Peekay is beckoned home to once again live with his now well mother and his grandfather. On the long train ride to the town of Barberton, Peekay is taken under the wing of the train guard, Hoppie Groenwald, a professional welterweight boxer and boxing champion of the railways. This solitary trip changes Peekay’s life, and his dream to become the welterweight champion of the world is born.
Peekay meets his first real friend (outside of his beloved Nanny, who has not come with his family to their new home in Barberton) in the unlikely companionship of Professor Karl von Vollesteen, a German professor of music and lover of cacti. When the Professor is imprisoned for being an unregistered foreigner, Peekay becomes a regular at the prison where he finally learns to box.
Peekay and the professor, with the help of the local Barberton librarian and her many influences around town, begin to improve the lives of the mostly African inmates of the prison, writing letters to their families, smuggling in tobacco, and raising the hope of the tribes. These changes are mostly attributed to Peekay, and he becomes known by the Africans as the Tadpole Angel, creating a legend of hope and inspiration that follows Peekay throughout his life.
This is such an excellent book (and movie.) It’s a long one, but worth the time invested. | <urn:uuid:ca80fcf6-2767-4b10-9c77-bfcc97100ebd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wakebookaday.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/the-power-of-one-by-bryce-courtenay/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978598 | 496 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Throwing Good Money After Bad
December 12, 2011
By Doug Patton
The Los Angeles Times is impressed with the patriotism of Atanacio Garcia. The paper reports that for the last two years, the 84-year-old San Antonio, Texas, veteran and retired postal worker has been sending fifty dollars a month of his pension money to Washington, DC. For what possible purpose? To reduce the national debt.
“I’m a believer in our country,” says Garcia, a father of five who has lived for decades in the same two-bedroom home, and who collects aluminum cans for extra money. He says he intends to contribute “until the debt is paid or until I die.” He also admits that he usually votes Democrat.
Fifty years ago, when America’s national debt was a paltry $300 billion, President John F. Kennedy established a fund to allow Americans to contribute to its reduction. Since then, Kennedy’s successors, Democrats and Republicans alike (although Dems are currently far in the lead in the race to turn America into Greece), have spent so much more of our tax money than they were allotted that most of us can no longer even comprehend the amounts.
As author and columnist Mark Steyn has observed, “Trillion used to be a term used by Carl Sagan or Stephen Hawking to describe the distance to far-off galaxies. Now, it’s become a common part of our daily discussions of the federal budget!”
Running such staggering numbers can be instructive, however, once you figure out how many zeros there are in a billion (nine) and a trillion (twelve). Consider this: Mr. Garcia donates $50 per month, or $600 per year, to the fund. At that rate, it would take him 2,500,000,000 years just to pay off this year’s deficit. That’s two billion, five hundred million years! And that would be with no interest added on.
Put another way, it would take Garcia nearly seven million years to pay off what our government will spend today over and above what it takes in.
Of course, the well-intentioned Mr. Garcia is not alone in his desire to help reduce the national debt by sending in his own money. The Times story reports that “hundreds of public-spirited Americans have sent money, from pocket change to million-dollar checks.” The Bureau of Public Debt claims that individual donations over the years have ranged from a single penny to $3.5 million.
Time for some more hard, cold math. Since JFK signed that legislation a half-century ago, $83 million has been collected. Sounds impressive, right? I don’t know about you, but eighty-three million dollars still looks like a lot of money to me. Not in Washington, where our elected officials rack up debt faster than the Obamas rack up vacation miles on Air Force One. When that entire $83 million — so lovingly sent in over the last 50 years by well-meaning little old ladies and patient patriots like Atanacio Garcia — is applied to the debt, it covers approximately 30 minutes of the annual deficit created by this government.
Which brings us around to the hypocrisy of billionaires like Warren Buffett, whose calls for higher taxes on the mega-rich are really just calls for higher taxes on the middle class. Because, you see, there are not enough rich people to make a dent in the national debt. In fact, confiscating every dime 81-year-old Warren Buffett has accumulated over a lifetime of work would fund Barack Obama’s bloated bureaucracy for less than a week! And Buffett knows it. Which is why he won’t write that big check.
My advice to Mr. Garcia and anyone else contemplating throwing good money after bad: give it to your favorite charity. Give it to your church. Give it to a homeless shelter supported by private donations. Give it to your family. Stop giving it to the government. I cannot think of a worse waste of revenue than sending it to the bottomless pit of quicksand that is Washington, DC. You would be better off burning it. That’s what they will do with it. | <urn:uuid:2e376932-8307-4f4e-a99e-7d75ae758d97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservativetruth.org/article.php?id=2774 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958564 | 880 | 2.28125 | 2 |
The City of Pacifica is partnering with Pacifica's Livability Project to address local energy concerns and to discover areas where localization of power generation can be achieved. One micro-generation project currently in development is the Calera Creek Waste Oil Recycling/Biodiesel Processing Plant. The biodiesel plant will share facilities with the Calera Creek Waste Water Recycling Plant (WWRP).
This is an innovative, collaborative endeavor that seeks to remove problematic waste cooking oil from the waste water stream, combine it with local commercially available waste oil and process it into clean-burning biodiesel. This renewable fuel will then be used in stand-by diesel generators to offset peak electricity used to run the WWRP, thereby saving the city (and the environment) considerable monthly energy costs. Pacifica has designed bio-remediation processes that will scrub emissions from these generators.
A blend of biodiesel/petroleum diesel known as B20 will also be used in Pacifica's fleet of diesel vehicles, be made available to other regional municipal fleets and lastly be made available to both individual and commercial local users.
Through its selection process, the City of Pacifica chose to work with Whole Energy Fuels Corporation (WEF) to implement and operate the biodiesel facility. WEF’s experience producing ASTM-grade biodiesel from multiple feedstocks, including used cooking oil, and their track record supplying biodiesel to numerous fleets and retail outlets were key reasons for their selection. For more information about Whole Energy, visit their web site: www.whole-energy.com.
The waste oil recycling/biodiesel production plant will share functions and facilities with Pacifica’s existing WWRP to achieve operating efficiencies. Pacifica’s sequence batch reactor (SBR)-style WWRP has waste heat, a partially completed out-building, chemical storage needs in common, bio-solids and waste water management, an existing onsite diesel pump station and a large, onsite photo voltaic array, together providing infrastructure that ideally supports sustainable, cost-effective biodiesel production.
Secondarily, the plant’s stationary standby diesel generators will be licensed to demonstrate the environmental and economic impacts of a unique peak shaving/micro-generation project. In partnership with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the city will demonstrate its ability to fully bio-remediate biodiesel emissions through the SBR itself. In a dedicated effort to take responsibility for producing renewable energy for the region, the newly re-categorized standby generators will then be used for peak shaving in tandem with the onsite photo voltaic installation funded jointly by the City of Pacifica and Pacific Gas & Electric Company. The biodiesel production facility/micro-generation plant will have demonstrable regional impacts on reduction of diesel emissions. | <urn:uuid:5ca8b14b-016b-4f72-86eb-3af4e2aecbc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cityofpacifica.org/depts/wwt/alternative_energy/biodeisel_production.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917481 | 572 | 2.453125 | 2 |
We publish state-approved court forms free of charge as a public service. Information on this website is NOT a substitute for legal advice. Please talk with a lawyer to get legal advice on your situation. Court staff cannot give legal advice. (See Disclaimer.)
If you cannot find a form on this website or at your local District Court, you may find forms at a law library or legal forms publisher.
Court Forms Category List >
Contempt of Court Forms
“Contempt of Court” is a decision by a judge that someone has disobeyed a court order they knew existed and they did so with no good reason. The only contempt forms currently available to the public from the MN Judicial Branch are forms used to enforce family law orders.
If you want to enforce an order for a family law case, see the Contempt Forms packet. If you want to respond to a contempt motion filed against you in a family law case, see the Response to Contempt Motion Forms packet.
Please read the instructions carefully.
When you represent yourself in court, you are responsible for knowing the law as it applies to your case. If you act as your own lawyer, you must follow the Rules of Court
the same as a lawyer. Talk with an attorney
if you don't know how to answer the questions on these forms or if you think the other party will hire an attorney. | <urn:uuid:9e6ac756-d6b0-4419-ad50-893f2353cea6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mncourts.gov/default.aspx?page=513&fontsize=up1&category=52&fontsize=up2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969525 | 282 | 2.25 | 2 |
In typography, dots (called dot leaders) or dashes (called dash leaders) that lead the eye from one side of a line to the other. Hairline rules or dashes under type can sometimes replace leaders. In hot metal, leaders were unique characters, with one leader dot centered on an en width or two leader dots set on an em width. Dots come in varying weights, ranging from fine, light dots to heavy, bold ones. The linecaster provided various styles of leaders to meet different publishing and printing requirements. They varied primarily in weight of dot or stroke, in dots or strokes to the em, and—in hot metal—in depth of punching:
'Regular leaders', in dot or hyphen style, in two, four, or six dots (or strokes) to the em.
Universal leaders had a uniform weight of dot or stroke.
'Thin leaders were used with either the regular or universal style (four dots or strokes to the em) for close justification.
Newspaper leaders were the regular dot or hyphen leader, supplied in two dots or strokes to the em.
Radial leaders were designed for newspaper use with a uniform weight of dot for all point sizes. They were made with a rounded or radial printing surface to prevent perforating paper and damaging press blankets.
'Dash leaders are en- or em-width hairline dashes (0.004 in weight) punched to cast type high and present a continuous, unbroken line.
Leader-aligning dashes cast a continuous, unbroken line.
Today, however, the period is used most often as the leader dot. However, it often doesn't work to the best advantage. Better-looking leaders are often found in lower point sizes, rather than setting the leader dots in the same point size as the text. Leaders need to be aligned vertically as well as horizontally, which is typically accomplished automatically by the typesetting device. A common problem with the use of leaders is related to the mathematics of dividing their width into the line length. For example, a 9-point leader would divide into a 20-pica line 26.66 times (20 x 12 = 240 points; 240 ÷ 9 = 26.66 ). The resulting blank space needs to be placed somewhere, and the device may not place it in the most opportune location. The best way of setting leaders is to select the narrowest possible width that will achieve the desired look, the en being the most popular. Then, key a word space at the beginning or end of the line as a place for the excess space to go. Finally, reduce to a smaller point size. This process allows more leader dots or strokes to fit on a line and will provide for the extraneous space.
For tables of contents, it is occasionally best not to use leaders at all, but to instead simply place the page number (after an en or em space) immediately after the story or chapter title.
The term leader also refers to the length of a magnetic tape, on which no data is recorded, used to wind the tape around the reel.
The term leader, in motion picture photography and videography, also refers to the opening images of a film or video, usually including the opening titles. | <urn:uuid:3914ac84-3f42-4546-b6ae-41224b5f535e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://printwiki.org/Leaders | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951463 | 667 | 3.71875 | 4 |
HAVEN LAKE — A Mason County judge has effectively blocked wide-scale treatment of nuisance plants in Haven Lake because of questions surrounding a county shorelines permit.
Haven Lake Property Owners Association was granted a shorelines permit to remove weeds by hand or with mechanical equipment, but Superior Court Judge Amber Finlay found that the organization failed to show that it has any authority to even apply for the permit.
Until the association proves that it owns the property to be treated or has other authority to apply for a permit, Mason County cannot grant approval to treat weeds in the lake, the judge said. The ruling covers both mechanical and chemical treatment, according to attorney Robert Wilson-Hoss, who brought the case on behalf of Haven Lake resident Monica Harle.
Residents of Haven Lake in North Mason are hotly divided over ways to remove native vegetation from the lake, or whether the plants should be removed at all. Boaters and swimmers say the weeds interfere with their enjoyment of the waters.
But Wilson-Hoss contends that his client is trying to prevent ecological damage in a lake that remains in near-pristine condition. One concern is that invasive plants could gain a foothold where the lake bed is disturbed, causing long-term impacts to salmon and other aquatic species.
"What she (Monica Harle) wants is what is best for the lake," Wilson-Hoss added. "What does the science say about what is best for the lake?"
Membership in Haven Lake Property Owners Association is voluntary. No official homeowners organization was ever set up in the area.
Matthew Holyoak, attorney for the association, asserted that the group gets its authority to manage the weeds in a variety of ways. For example, covenants on the property say nobody can interfere with usage of the lake, including rights of boating. But Judge Finlay said that is not enough for the county to issue a permit to the association for weed management.
Association President Kris Tompkins and Mason County attorneys say they have not decided whether to appeal the decision.
"It would appear at this point that individuals would have to step up and be responsible for the vegetation in front of their property," Tompkins said, "and we would have no control over what is done."
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has issued guidelines for how much work can be done without a state hydraulics permit and presumably without a shorelines permit.
Tompkins said she plans to bring the issue to the association's board of directors, which will consider other options, including formation of a lake management district. A lake management district, which would be approved by the county commissioners, could allow a majority of property owners to determine what should be done.
Ed Soden, who lives on Haven Lake, said he cannot understand why Harle would object to area residents getting together on weekends to pull the weeds. Harle participated in one weed-pulling event, he noted, and it was an alternative to chemical-treatment, which has raised objections in the past.
Soden said the court decision was a waste of time and money for those involved.
"All she got out of it was a decision that we can't get together on the weekends to pull weeds," he said. "It is not a permanent decision."
Washington Department of Ecology already granted a permit that will allow a licensed pesticide applicant to apply weed-killing chemicals to Haven Lake. Haven Lake Property Owners Association was listed as the "sponsor" on the approved application.
Two years ago, state rules required that a sponsor hire the pesticide applicator, but revised rules go further, according to Jonathan Jennings, who coordinates Ecology's aquatic weed control permits. Now, sponsors must "certify that they have the authority to have treatment occur on the property where treatment is desired," Jennings said in an email.
Sponsors listed on existing permits have until February 2014 to certify that they have such authority, he added.
As with Ecology, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife apparently issued a hydraulics permit without raising questions about the authority of Haven Lake Property Owners Association.
State Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, said she has tried to address the chemical treatment of lakes, both with legislation and by working with the agencies involved. She would like to see greater public involvement in plans to manage lakes for weeds and other problems. The goal would be to encourage people who live around lakes to work together.
"That community around Haven Lake has been torn apart by this," Rolfes said, adding that the controversy revealed to her that no state agency is fully in charge of lake management.
The Department of Agriculture deals with chemical treatment; the Department of Health addresses issues related to human health; the Department of Ecology focuses on effects of water pollution; and the Department of Fish and Wildlife makes sure that fish and their habitats are not unduly harmed.
"Trying to get them all lined up and streamlined is virtually impossible," Rolfes said. "I will take a look at that court decision. If the agencies can learn from this, maybe they can make things better." | <urn:uuid:016844b6-9a23-419d-99ba-bc90c846850f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/dec/15/haven-lake-weed-treatment-placed-on-hold/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96898 | 1,045 | 1.835938 | 2 |
May 1, 2012
Introduced myself in this first post and my reasons for taking the class. I also expressed what I had hoped to get from the course. I experienced no problems or issues with Diigo and commented on other post.
This was a bland post. Just beginning my journey into the world of blog post.
I reviewed chapter one and expressed how much I enjoyed our textbook. After viewing Alec Couros video, I discussed the ideas of establishing a “web presence” and creating an “academic life online”. With this post, I realized I needed to added links when appropriate.
This was a little better. But still I am a little tentative in my posting.
This week, I reflected on three sections from our text that I found most helpful in the area of Pedagogy and Course Design. These were: Course Goals and Learn Objectives, Design, Rubrics and Guidelines for Online Course Design. I included links in this post that I thought my class mates would find of interest.
Finally began to feel comfortable with posting. Started including links where appropriate.
Reviewed Getting started with HTML, but mostly focused on the shape and direction I would like my blended course to take. This was the first post in which I included something from outside our course that I thought was relevant to the material we were covering. It was a program called Don’t Lecture Me and it was produced by American RadioWorks.
In this post I was making use of the reading to shape the post and learning to share relevant outside resources.
I first presented the main points, as I saw them, from week 5. I then commented on points and ideas generated from the Elluminate recording. This was contrasted with the points and ideas I found in the text reading. I concluded with a plan for implementation into a blended course.
This post’s structure was more in an outline form based around the main points of week 5′s material.
The post topic this week was to embed Slideshare or Jing into the post. I made a Jing tutorial on adding students to a class and filling in the attendance sheet in CampusCruiser, our college LMS. All-in-all the process was relatively easy once I worked out the embedding.
This was the first time I made use of a screencast in a post. Learned a new use for a familiar tool.
My post for this week was titled: Lost In The Forest. The theme was on getting lost in the forest of new tools, concepts, ideas and principles that we were being exposed to. I offered some ideas on dealing with this maze of tools and information and suggested a Web 2.0 tool SymbalooEDU that might help manage the overload. I also asked others to added their suggestions for dealing with this flood of information. I then commented on six other post to help support our two-week community-style discussion.
The new aspect of this post was the use of an image that somehow expresses the theme of the post.
The focus of my post this week was the research article Envisioning the post-LMS Era: The Open Learning Network. I had to agree with the overall idea that the LMS, as it now stands, limits what is possible. This then lead to a short discussion of the PLN, Personal Learning Network. I concluded with the statement: The Open Learning Network is an attempt to move beyond the static LMS, and is likely not the final iteration of what started as the LMS.
My lesson from doing this post was my becoming familiar with PLN and OLN.
This week’s post was titled “Lost in Wonderland” or my experiences in Second Life. I was lost exploring SL and on a whim I decided to dropped by the Island of Koru, an NZ theme, and to my surprise, I met Clare Atkins there. I now had a guide through wonderland. We met again the following week and I got a very extensive tour of SL and its educational possibilities. After posting, I realized that this was the second time I found myself “lost” in the course.
New in this post was my stating that the post would be short and why so. I was becoming relaxed about being familiar in a post.
This week was a good exposure to the of the use of blogs in the online and on-ground classroom. The post covered the necessity of establishing of a sense of community among students and faculty in the virtual environment. It then addressed the different roles the blog can play in this capacity. Also covered was the use of a Google Site or web page as an effective adjunct to an LMS.
Here, I learned the different ways blogs could be used in an educational setting. In our new Spring term, I am making use of what I learned from Jim Sullivan’s Elluminate session.
This post focused on Lawrence Lessig TED talk which stressed two points, that of new technology and the resistance to the change it brings, and how that technology can so change the present as to make the laws of the past obsolete. The post also emphasized the necessity of being aware and informed about Intellectual Property, Fair Use, the TEACH Act, and Accessibility Issues.
Different in this post was the introduction of images of the personalities mentioned in our lesson (TED Talks).
Finally have some space to do extra reading. The result is this Faculty Focus post which reviews a Special Report on Teaching with Technology: Tools and Strategies to Improve Student Learning put out by Faculty Focus. Faculty Focus is a great source for information and reports on distance education and teaching in general. The purpose here was to share what I got out of the reading and the places it lead me to. This post reflects more of what I have learned from our course about the structure and function of a good post. I still have a lot to learn.
The bases of this post was a publication called Faculty Focus. The result lead to sharing what I had found with the class.
Reflecting back over the past 12 weeks, and in reviewing my post, I am struck by how much I have actually gained from this course. Gained in the sense of usable information and knowledge, which I am able to implement by virtue of my position at our college. I have established a Facebook group, Blog and a YouTube Channel for our online program. We are planning webinars and on-site workshops for faculty development in the area of Distance Education. My hope is to transfers my enthusiasm for this area of education, and especially what I have learned from our course, to our online faculty and the other faculty at all three of our campuses.
It has been a whirlwind of information and, at times, a stress-point, but the course has been everything I hoped it would be. Looking ahead, I realize how much I have yet to learn. The second semester should help to fill in some the gaps. I am looking forward to seeing you all at that time.
Happy Holidays to All!
This was a last minute thought. I wanted to share this book I am reading: The World is Open. It is a timely read and is filled with facts, information, and resources that are relevant to our class. The companion web site is filled with links to all the references and tools in the book. This book would make a great holiday gift for someone taking a class like Pedagogy First. Hope you enjoy the book.
An example of a post sharing information with the Pedagogy First community.
I liked the following guideline from Ko & Rossen Chapter 9:
Low-threshold, low-barrier means those technologies that are easily learned by you (and perhaps by your students) and that can be used to easily accomplish your instructional objectives. When considering what constitutes the category of Web 2.0 tools, our definition includes “easy to learn and easy to apply” tools that have built-in sharing and collaboration features. pg 247
Expressed what I learned and shared a new tool.
This week I made use of Audacity as an audio tool for the first time. Normally I use GarageBand and Quicktime for making audio recoding and podcast. I have used Eyejot for emails before, but never as a blog post. That was something that I will have to try again.
Used a new tool and made use of an old tool, Eyejot, in a new way.
Two new items for me from this weeks assignment. MindMeister and SurveyMonkey. Jing, on the other-hand, I have used Jing many times for short screencasts. Combining the mind-map as part of a Jing recording followed by a survey was a different approach for me. But, this is something that I will make use of in our current Spring Term.
Learned two new tools. Also learned to combine a new and old tool in a unique way. Something I will do again.
I created a FAQ for students for our LMS. I posted it as part of my blog and used an image I found in Flickr. As for the reading, I found myself in agreement with much of what Jakob Nielsen had to say about the results of the research in College Students on the Web. Two points of agreement were that “students are strongly search dominant” and that “Student like a simple and straight forward user interface with clean menus and easy navigation.”
Just a simple post. Posted FAQ and commented on the reading.
After reading Ko & Rossen text pages: 301 to 310, I noticed a similarity between what they had to say about Classroom Management and what Dr. Curt Bonk, Professor in Instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University had to say in his series of lectures on Distance Education. I included a number of links on Classroom Management that I thought would be of use to the rest of the class.
Here I am pulling together our reading from Ko & Rossen and supporting it with material from another source. Also shared links from the source with the class.
For this weeks assignment I discussed the LMS used at our college. It called CampusCruiser and it is both an LMS and a Campus-wide Portal. Compared to other colleges we are a relative newcomer. I briefly covered the pros & cons of the system and our efforts to adapt to it. I also inserted a concluding quote from Insidious Pedagogy.
Covered briefly the pros & cons of our college LMS and included a quote from our reading.
This post was part one of a two part post. In this post I introduced the range of online formats and the fact that they each have a different set of requirements and challenges. This included the Enhanced, Blended and Online formats. The post ended with a look at the unique challenges of the Online class.
Just my ideas on online formats.
This post was part two of It Comes in Three Flavors; Enhanced, Blended and Online. Here I compared the different challenges posed by the Web-Enhanced and Blended class. The focus was mainly on how to overcome the challenge of achieving continuity and build community in the Blended class. I offered suggestions on how the f-2-f and the online sections could be overlapped to establish continuity and to use the key elements of communication and interaction to build community.
Part two of my ideas on online formats.
I started this post with a look at the concept of longitudinal intelligence expressed by Jaron Lanier and the concern of how we pass on knowledge and learning to future generations. Lanier concern is future of education in a digital age. I then looked at of Educational Technology and the positive results it can bring about in education. Ending with the caution that “technology is not the end goal of education”.
Commented on Longitudinal Intelligence. Added an other source on LI. Commented on Educational Technology.
Here I looked at the complexity of what seemed a simple idea of teaching and learning and the maze of ideas, techniques and theories, all spread across the Internet on how to accomplish this. We saw an Emerging Pedagogy driven by digital technology and its creative use in education. I ended the post with a look at the “Hole-in-the-Wall“experiment conducted by Dr. Sugata Mitra and a new way of learning Minimally Invasive Education.
Comment on and followed the flow of the reading until links lead me to an educational experiment.
In this post I focused on Sharing: The Moral Imperative and on viewing No Digital Facelifts: Thinking the Unthinkable About Open Educational Experiences. Dean Shareski’s video gave me a good model and ideas of how to Share Best Practices. The next part of the post focused on Dr Gardner Campbell’s concept of a personal Cyberinfrastructure. I got a lot of food for thought from his idea of looking at existing school curriculum as old technology that may need to be removed and replaced with the new technology.
Post is based on the viewing of two videos and our reading. Followed links from the reading and ended the post with a quote from one of the links.
This was the week of our presentations. I decided to construct my presentation on a new iPad and to use a new piece of software exclusively for the iPad. It is called Explain Everything. This is a screen casting app with a lot of potential. I was not completely happy with my first post, so I redid-it showing a little more of the app’s potential.
Took a chance here, but it was worth it. Will be making further use of the App. Did not like the first result so reposted by building on the first post.
My thoughts on this program.
First of all I wanted to thank Lisa, Jim and all for putting this program together. I appreciate all your hard work and creativity in making this program a journey of exploration into the realm of Pedagogy and Distance Education. For my part, I have gained much. Some of which I will not realize until later. The act of reviewing each week of the entire course, and then commenting on what one learned, only brought to light the amount of material we covered.
The amount of, and rate at which, we were exposed to Web 2.0 tools in the fist half seemed at the times to be completely over whelming. But we all figured a why to keep our heads above water. Some of us by using the tools – to manage the tools. In some ways it was reflective of the rapid evolution that educational technology is going through.
But it was more than tools that we were exposed to. There was the flood of information, ideas, research, the dreaming/speculating of what could or might be the future of online education and education in general. And because the approach was an open one, it gave us the chance to explore the possibilities.
One of the things I really loved about this group was the free wheeling google + sessions. Where go anywhere, try anything was the rule of the day. I especially remember the time we were trying out Hoot and the guys who came up with it – came online with us.
It’s was freedom and openness, couched in a dedicated commitment to furthering the best that is possible in online education and education in general, that I rally appreciated about this course.
Again, thanks to all of you for your effects, and my to fellow classmates, for making this such an enjoyable learning experience. | <urn:uuid:540e50f0-ff28-41ef-93f8-c124155f59e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pcdidised.edublogs.org/2012/05/01/week-24-a-summary/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971008 | 3,185 | 1.625 | 2 |
Web edition: June 18, 2010
Print edition: July 3, 2010; Vol.178 #1 (p. 4)
HIGH MILK CONTAMINATION FROM NUCLEAR ACCIDENTS — Radioactive contamination of milk is likely to be “the most widespread hazard” resulting from a nuclear accident or explosion depositing fission products on agricultural land, according to recent studies in England reported in a forthcoming issue of Nature…. Elements that appeared to cause the greatest contamination are the isotopes of iodine and strontium although barium-140 and cesium-137 also contribute to the peril. These findings resulted from a series of 53 experiments with 44 cows in which the fission products were artificially introduced into the diet of the animals and their milk subsequently monitored for radioactivity. | <urn:uuid:84a70707-a640-4235-a7e4-44eda1108aa3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60370/description/Science__Past__from__the_issue_of_July_2_1960 | 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 | 0.953284 | 162 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Marines in Afghanistan may soon have a new addition to their uniforms. (BAY ISMOYO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES )
“An Army marches on its stomach,” said Napoleon , or maybe it was Frederick the Great . But the Marines in Afghanistan will soon, one would hope very soon, be marching more safely — in their new ballistic underwear, designed to better protect them from injuries from improvised explosive devices.
The Pentagon this month put out a rush order solicitation, spotted by our colleague Walter Pincus, for “27,500 ballistic undergarments” for $2 million, noting that “ballistic underwear is currently being used by British forces” in Afghanistan “and they have significantly less injuries” to their privates as a result.
“Based on analysis in theater,” the solicitation notice says, such underwear will drastically improve casualty recovery and reduce secondary infections.”
This is especially important in such places as Helmand province, where patrols in agricultural areas must be done on foot on narrow, often mined, paths along irrigation canals and such.
The double -weave silk underwear, which looks pretty much like bicycle shorts, is not bulletproof. But it will block out smaller particles or “blast fragments” and thus lessen damage in the groin area and to the femoral artery.
In addition, the undies have an antibacterial treatment that should reduce the risk of infection. The Marines say no source except the British supplier “provides a battlefield tested undergarment,” though “we expect more sources to enter the marketplace” in the future.
Sounds as if they want immediate delivery, like maybe yesterday.
President Obama’s ambassadorial team seems to have encountered a rough patch of late, courtesy of WikiLeaks and some bad reviews by the State Department inspector general. The ambassador to Malta, Douglas Kmiec, a well-known conservative law professor and prominent Catholic backer of Obama, announced this month that he was leaving.
The move came after the IG said Kmiec was spending too much time on issues such as abortion and faith and neglecting his ambassadorial work at the lovely Mediterranean island posting.
Another IG report in February blistered mega-contributor Cynthia Stroum’s “abusive management style” at the embassy in Luxembourg and questioned expenditures there on travel, wine and liquor. She left the job just days before the report was released.
And a March IG report criticized another major Obama contributor, prominent Washington lawyer and Obama bundler Laurie Susan Fulton, who’s now ambassador to Denmark, for “being harsh in dealing with any lapses she perceives” among staff and for not delegating authority to staff there. “Where she perceives lapses,” the report said, “her response has been sharp and, to those affected, frequently unpredictable.”
“The reporting, analysis and outreach functions are operating below potential,” the report said, “due to the concentration of decisionmaking in the hands of the ambassador.”
On the other hand, the IG found that Fulton “has led an effective dialog with the Danes and been the driving force behind major initiatives on women’s issues and counterterrorism.”
And there’s Carlos Pascual, who resigned last month as U.S. ambassador to Mexico after WikiLeaks put out a cable in which he complained of incoherence in Mexico’s fight against drug cartels.
The leaked cable infuriated Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who made it perfectly clear he didn’t want to work with Pascual.
Of course, Pascual may have irked Calderon and other National Action Party leaders by dating the daughter of Francisco Rojas, the congressional leader of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, which had run the country for more than 70 years.
There’s still time to sign up for those fine postings in Luxembourg — a stone’s throw from Paris — or Malta — less than a 90-minute flight to Rome. But in Mexico City, word is the White House is looking to fill the embassy job with a career Foreign Service type.
If so, the smart money is trending to Earl Anthony “Tony” Wayne , who’s now the deputy in the embassy in Afghanistan. Wayne, whose diplomatic career started in 1975, served in a number of jobs in Europe and was assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs — from June 2000 until June 2006 — before becoming ambassador to Argentina. He’s been in Kabul since last May.
When parties clash
It’s spring — finally — and that means party time in Washington. But sometimes there are just so many days of the week to boogie, and that inevitably means conflicting events.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the think tank begat by the American Israel Public Action Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, is having its big annual dinner at the Ritz-Carlton on May 12. Drinks at 6, dinner at 6:45. National Security Council Tom Donilon will be giving the keynote address.
Only snag: WINEP is shindigging at precisely the same time that Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren is having his big Israeli Independence Day bash at the Mellon Auditorium. It starts at 5:30. We’re told Oren got his invites out first.
Well, if you have a police escort a la Charlie Sheen, maybe you could do both. But it could be tough at rush hour.
Read. This. Next.
Nothing from the White House, not a peep of tribute yet from the president in recognition of the recent death of Hubert J. “Hub” Schlafly Jr. , who died last week in Stamford, Conn., at the age of 91.
Schlafly helped invent what one writer called “the scrolling public-speaking crutch,” known as the teleprompter.
Follow In the Loop on Twitter: @AlKamenWP. | <urn:uuid:f62e4d93-8d42-4eab-8fcb-1b7285e41166> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-04-28/politics/35229801_1_underwear-president-obama-bundler | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952541 | 1,263 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The Italian Greyhound is very similar to the Greyhound, but much smaller. Once one of the most popular dogs during the Victoria era, the Italian Greyhound is more slender in proportion and very elegant and graceful.
The outstandingly graceful and elegant Italian Greyhound is a slender and miniature version of a typical Greyhound. It shares the qualities of the large Greyhound, that allow it to run very fast with a double-suspension gallop. It has a rounded outline, with good rear angulation, and is slightly arched over the haunch. The dog moves with a free and high-stepping gait. The short and glossy coat, which can be found in a variety of colors, feels like satin.
Personality and Temperament
The Italian Greyhound is fond of chasing and running around. It is a very calm and sensitive dog that is reserved and sometimes timid with unknown people. Often, it is compared to a smaller version of the sighthound, as it shares many of its characteristics.
The Italian Greyhound is good with children, pets, and other dogs and is extremely dedicated to its family. However, larger dogs and very rough children can easily injure it.
Even though the Italian Greyhound hates the cold and is not suited to outdoor living, it likes daily romps outdoors. Its exercise needs are perfectly met with a nice on-leash walk or a fun-filled indoor game. It likes a sprint and stretching out in an enclosed area. It is very important to brush this dog’s teeth regularly. Minimal coat care is required for the fine, short coat, comprising primarily of occasional brushing to get rid of dead hair.
The Italian Greyhound, which has an average lifespan of 12 to 15 years, is prone to minor health conditions such as patellar luxation, leg and tail fractures, epilepsy, and progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), or major ones like periodontal disease. This breed is sensitive to barbiturate anesthesia and susceptible to portacaval shunt, Legg-Perthes, color dilution alopecia, cataract, and hypothyroidism on occasion. Regular knee and eye tests are advised for this breed of dog.
History and Background
Although the Italian Greyhound has existed for several centuries, the documents of its origins have been lost, thus offering no knowledge of its source or its development. There is, however, ancient art from Greece, Turkey, and other Mediterranean countries depicting dogs resembling the Italian Greyhound, which are more than two centuries old.
During the Middle Ages, miniature Greyhounds were seen all over southern Europe but Italian courtiers were especially fond of them. It was in the 1600s that the first of this breed appeared in England and became very popular among members of the nobility just as in Italy. The Italian Greyhound was one of the only two toy breeds named in a dog book in 1820.
In terms of popularity, the Italian Greyhound was most fashionable during the rule of Queen Victoria. However, the numbers of this dog reduced to a great extent and the breed had almost vanished in England in the post-World War II era. This was perhaps because of the breed’s loss in quality in an attempt to breed dogs of a tiny size, without focusing on their health. Luckily, Italian Greyhounds of high quality had been introduced to the United States in the late 19th century. These and other imported dogs were instrumental in reviving the breed throughout Europe, thus accounting for its gradual rise in popularity.
The dislocation of a bone from the joint
The back legs of an animal; also the action of turning on the hind legs
A condition of frequent or recurring seizures that are not of a system origin
The wasting away of certain tissues; a medical condition that occurs when tissues fail to grow.
The term used to describe the movement of an animal
Share this page
Learn everything about Weimaraner Dogs. Find all Weimaraner Dog Breed Information,...
Learn everything about American Foxhound Dogs. Find all American Foxhound Dog Breed...
Looking for a new friend?
60% (113 votes)
14% (26 votes)
8% (15 votes)
6% (12 votes)
N/A (I do not use tick preventives)
12% (22 votes)
Total votes: 188 | <urn:uuid:64bbdcd9-8960-4674-a77e-09129c46dbb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.petmd.com/dog/breeds/c_dg_italian_greyhound | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963858 | 901 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Ambient-Temperature Lithium Anode Reserve Batteries
Frequently used as a reserve battery anode, lithium's high potential and low equivalent weight enables it to provide large amounts of energy.
Figure 1 depicts a cross section of the 20-AH lithium/sulfur dioxide multi-cell battery. The individual cells are positioned between the bulkheads (below) and the storage bellows (above). Between the rows of cells and down the center of half the battery is the activation stud. A lithium reserve battery operates at twice the voltage of aqueous battery types, and because lithium is so reactive to aqueous solutions, it usually uses a non-aqueous electrolyte. In a reserve battery configuration, the active electrode materials and electrolyte are physically separated.
One strong property of the reserve design is that the battery has undiminished output after long periods of storage (over fourteen years). When building a lithium anode electrochemical system as a reserve battery, one must consider electrolyte stability, as well as compatibility between electrolyte and the materials used in the electrolyte reservoir. There are three major types of ambient-temperature lithium anode reserve batteries: Lithium/vanadium pentoxide, lithium/thionyl chloride, and lithium/sulfur dioxide.Lithium/Vanadium Pentoxide Battery
This battery has a lithium anode, a microporous polypropylene film separator, and a vanadium pentoxide and graphite cathode. The voltage level at first is 3.4 to 3.3 volts, which lowers to 3.3-3.2 volts, and finally decreases to 3.2-3.1 volts. The storage capability depends on the electrolyte solution's stability.Lithium/Thionyl Chloride Battery
In this system, the anode is lithium, the separator is a non-woven glass, and the cathode is a teflon-bonded carbon medium. Thionyl chloride provides both the solvent and active cathode materials. The electrolyte for this battery is extremely stable and has excellent performance.Lithium/Sulfur Dioxide Battery
This battery also contains a lithium anode, a separator, and a cathode of teflonated carbon. The electrolyte solution also serves as the active cathode material and has a blend of lithium bromide, acetonitrile, and sulfur dioxide. One disadvantage of this battery is that it is not stable during storage.
Lithium anode reserve batteries have many unique characteristics. They operate at temperatures between -55 and 70 degrees Celsius, with a 10 to 20 year inactivated storage life, and must be hermetically sealed. They have superior energy density, are reliable, have little electrical noise, contain fast voltage rise after initiation, and offer a wide range of service life, from several seconds up to a year.Additional Information
The design of ambient-temperature lithium anode reserve batteries varies by application. They come in simple, single cell sizes with a manually activated ampoule, to large, complex, multi-cell batteries that are initiated automatically. The case for these batteries is usually composed of stainless steel to protect against corrosion, the terminals made of glass or metal, and the battery is kept hermetically sealed. Three types of basic lithium reserve batteries are manufactured: the single-cell battery in which a glass ampoule stores the electrolyte, multiple single cells whose storage reservoir uses bellows, and multi-cell or bipolar construction with a glass ampoule or metal reservoir to store the electrolyte.
Questions or comments? Send us an email.
© 1995-2013 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.
This website is maintained by our | <urn:uuid:85fe06bd-43a1-408e-b43d-2579b46a7114> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electromag/electricity/batteries/lithiumreserve.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910272 | 820 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Georgians just love living in the Peach State, though they are often looking for fast growing trees that will quickly provide them dense shade during the summertime. Which trees you choose to plant in Georgia will depend on where you live - Atlantic Coastal Plain, East Gulf Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region or the Appalachian Plateau - and the benefits you expect from the tree.
The Best Trees for Planting in Georgia
Good considerations for tree choices in GA will always include species that are highly adaptable to the unique climate of the varied Georgia hardiness zones; trees that can thrive in zones 7 and 8 and can handle the hot and humid summer months. At fast Growing Trees Nursery, we can help you find trees and shrubs that will easily adapt to your GA environment.
We know you want fast growing trees that hardy, and are perhaps even native to Georgia, consider the customer favorite; Dynamite Crape Myrtle with its stunning crimson blooms. This tree is disease and pest resistant so it will keep the Japanese Beetles at bay. Our many varieties of maple will also give seasonal color to your residential landscape.
If you’re looking for a tree that will grow quickly to provide dense shade, the American Beech is a winner, as are its compatriots the American Sycamore, American Elm and the Sweetbay Magnolia.
What would your Peach State garden be without its own peach tree? We have the delicious Red Haven Peach; a fast growing fruit tree with large Peaches and the juicy Elberta Peach. That’s not all; we also have Bing and Black Tartarian cherries, Granny Smith and Yellow and Red Delicious apples and Bartlett and Kieffer pears.
To add more shade with a living screen, plant a row of our Thuja Giant or Leyland Cypress evergreens. They both grow quickly to form a uniform, living green wall. They are easy to grow and disease resistant. For small but equally effective boundary screens, consider non-invasive Black Bamboo or the variegated Soft Touch Holly.
A Large Variety of Trees for Georgia
Wherever you live, from Dalton to Valdosta or Columbus to Savannah, at Fast Growing Trees Nursery we have the trees for your hardiness zone. Our wide selection of trees for the Peach State are sure to provide some unique solutions for your individual landscaping needs.
The Georgia state tree is the Live Oak. This tree has leathery leaves that area 2-5 inches long. It produces black acorns sometimes reaches huge proportions; developing crowns up to 150 feet across.
Tifton is the state soil of Georgia. It was one of the first types of soil to be recognized in the state and covers around 2 million acres. It is a rich soil comprised of loam and marine sediments. Tifton is one of the state’s most important soils for agriculture.
Gorgeous Peach State landscapes are usually a mixture of different types of hardy shade trees and flowering trees that grow well in the south. These are complimented by evergreens and fruit trees. Trees that adapt to the soil type in your specific region of Georgia are always make the best choices for a landscape that looks good and is easy to care for. | <urn:uuid:de9ca339-7232-4582-8584-473fbec68bb9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/Georgia-p3.htm?sort=sales_stats | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945077 | 675 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Report on the Foreign Policy of the Czech Republic 2005
13.11.2006 / 10:36
This is the seventh report on the Czech Republic's foreign policy prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. It contains summary information about Czech foreign policy for 2005 and will inform you about the achievements of Czech diplomacy.
Besides its traditional priorities, such as strengthening Euro-Atlantic ties and furthering friendly relations with neighbouring countries, the Czech Republic's foreign policy activities in 2005 concentrated on supporting democracy and the development of human rights in countries where authoritative regimes continue to suppress values that we now take for granted. The Czech Republic also continued to participate in the fight against international terrorism, which again reminded Europe of the reality of this threat.
The Czech Republic also actively promoted its foreign policy priorities within the European Union, where the country successfully completed its first year of membership.
The book also contains information regarding the economic and cultural dimension of Czech foreign policy; and space is devoted to the presentation of the Czech Republic abroad, where one of the most significant events of 2005 was the presentation of the country' s new, original logo.
I hope and trust that you will find the information about the Czech Republic's foreign policy contained in this publication interesting and useful reading.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Czech Republic | <urn:uuid:0b157388-0872-449f-abf4-e8abfc001a93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/en/foreign_relations/reports_and_documents/report2005$2548.html?action=setMonth&year=2012&month=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939488 | 265 | 2.015625 | 2 |
1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Eastman, George
|←Eastern European Front Campaigns||1922 Encyclopædia Britannica
|See also George Eastman on Wikipedia, and the disclaimer.|
EASTMAN, GEORGE (1854- ), American inventor and philanthropist, was born at Waterville, N.Y., July 12 1854. He was educated at Rochester and early became interested in photography. In 1880 he began to manufacture dry plates and four years later produced the first practicable roll film. In 1888 he invented the “kodak.” In 1900 he gave $250,000 to the Rochester Mechanics' Institute. He has given laboratories to the university of Rochester and has donated $500,000 toward that university's endowment. To its school of music he has given $3,500,000 and to its medical school $4,000,000 (1920). In 1920 it became known that he had given at various times large sums to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, amounting to $11,000,000. | <urn:uuid:94927545-24f2-4d76-91cf-eddee7291aa8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1922_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Eastman,_George | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971492 | 222 | 2.453125 | 2 |
It's Only Money had quite a Monday, from a personal finance point of view.
It locked in a 4.5 percent interest rate on a 30-year mortgage refinance.
It received three -- count em, 3 -- checks from the IRS.
You might now think this blog really is financial genius. Unfortunately, the first development was a necessity, not a luxury. The latter development stems from a tax mistake you don't want to make.
The refinance was prompted by a 10 percent pay cut and a four-day, unpaid furlough at It's Only Money's otherwise wonderous place of employment.
It just so happens this unfortunate pay cut coincided with absolutely mind-blowingly low interest rates.
Gracias a Dios! Someone above is watching out for our cash flow.
The checks from the IRS represent:
1) Our 2008 refund.
2) A stupid error It's Only Money made on its 2007 and 2006 tax returns.
That's right. Do as I say, not as I do. It's Only Money didn't bother to read its Form 1040 directions carefully the past two years and assumed it too rich to qualify for the child tax credit. So, it shorted itself, its partner and its daughter $1,000 each year by failing to claim it. That's a whole lot of money we could've spent on housekeepers, babysitters and nights out at the Fez Ballroom.
But it has seen the errors of its ways. It filed amended returns for both years. The IRS took only a month to agree and ship the checks.
The nice thing about the government is that when it owes you an overdue tax refund, it pays interest on the sum, even if it was your mistake that forced it to hold on to the money too long. So, the checks arrived in the amounts of $1,050 and $1,134.
The 2008 refund will more than pay for the refi. The rest will help make up for the lost income from the pay cut and four days of forced furlough.
Have you been as lucky this tax season? How are you making up your lost income? | <urn:uuid:f94703f1-5a44-4a78-9b1c-798298270112> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.oregonlive.com/finance/2009/04/low_rate_and_irs_checks_equal.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975635 | 446 | 1.5625 | 2 |