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The House Small Business Committee today took a serious look at how rules from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) complied with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). EPA regulations are important to protecting the public’s health, but by the same measure it’s important new rules don’t come at the expense of hardworking Americans while adding little or no value in protections. A number of recent rules, like the Boiler MACT and Lead, Renovation, Repair and Painting (LRRP) rules have increased the cost of living for Americans in an already struggling economy.
The Regulatory Flexibility Act, which was passed last fall, outlines a number of practical measures to ensure needless regulations don’t come at the cost of small businesses and the public. For example, it asks agencies to conduct cost-benefit analyses for new rules and to look at alternative options that still achieve the same goals for regulations that carry very expensive price tags. These are ideas that make sense for Americans – most people live by the same principles everyday!
As our economy continues to struggle, we should be crafting policies that help small businesses succeed. By proposing more and more new rules bureaucrats in Washington are making it harder for them to create the jobs we need. A Gallup poll earlier this year found 85 percent of business owners polled weren’t hiring and nearly half cited regulations as the reason why. Regulators should be creating policies that protect our communities and our job creators.
By working with the small business community, agencies can create policies that meet our regulatory needs and help small businesses operate more effectively. The House Small Business Committee’s work today will help ensure future regulations will add value to the public and impose as few costs as possible. Through such policies, we’ll be able to lay the framework for long-term economic recovery. | <urn:uuid:8198f762-cf2a-4623-8efc-a9d3bdb77dc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sensibleregulations.org/2012/06/house-small-business-committee-examines-the-epa-to-ensure-policies-help-move-the-economy-forward/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942981 | 371 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Is it permissible to sleep in the same room as my sister, each of us in a separate bed and facing one another during the fast so that we can see one another?.
There is nothing wrong with a man sleeping in the same room as his sister, each in his or her own bed, so long as nothing can be see of their ‘awrahs. It makes no difference whether they are fasting or not.
In the case of her brother or other mahrams, the woman’s ‘awrah is all of her body except that which is normally visible such as the neck, head, hands, feet and calves. It says in Kashshaaf al-Qinaa’ (5/11): A man may also see the face, neck, hand, foot, head and calf of his mahram. Al-Qaadi said of this report: It is permissible (to see) what normally appears such as the head and hand up to the elbow. End quote.
His ‘awrah with regard to her is the area between the navel and the knee.
It says in Kashshaaf al-Qinaa’ (5/15): In the case of a woman, she may see what is above a man’s navel and what is below his knees, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said to Faatimah bint Qays: “Observe your ‘iddah in the house of Ibn Umm Maktoom, for he is a blind man and when you may take off your garment he will not see you.” And ‘Aa’ishah said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) screened me with his cloak whilst I was watching the Ethiopians playing in the mosque. Agreed upon. When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) finished the Eid khutbah, he went over to the women, accompanied by Bilaal, and he reminded them and told them to give charity. If women were forbidden to look at men, then hijab would be obligatory for men as it is obligatory for women, so that they would not look at them. End quote.
But both of them must take precautions when going to sleep, by wearing something that will cover their ‘awrahs and prevent them from becoming uncovered. Because sleeping is a time when the ‘awrah is likely to be uncovered and desire may be provoked, Islam enjoined separating children in their beds, as Abu Dawood (418) narrated from ‘Amr ibn Shu’ayb, from his father, that his grandfather said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Teach your children to pray when they are seven years old and smack them if they do not do it when they are ten, and separate them in their beds.” Al-Daaraqutni and al-Haakim narrated from Sabrah ibn Ma’bad that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “When your children reach the age of seven years, separate their beds and when they reach the age of ten, smack them if they do not pray.” This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 418.
The scholars explained separating them in their beds as meaning two things:
1 – Separating their beds, which is the apparent meaning of the second hadeeth.
2 – Not letting them sleep naked in one bed, but if they sleep in their clothes without touching one another, that is permissible so long as there is no risk of fitnah.
Zakariya al-Ansaari (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Separating them in their beds means two things: giving them each a separate bed, or letting them sleep in one bed, but apart from each other and not touching one another. The latter should be sufficient because there is no evidence to suggest that the hadeeth should be interpreted in the first way only. Al-Zarkashi said: it is to be understood according to the apparent meaning, which is correct because of the following hadeeth: “Separate their beds” and it is supported by the meaning which is the fear of something haraam. End quote from Ansa al-Mataalib (3/113)
It says in Kashshaaf al-Qinaa’ (5/18): When the siblings reach the age of ten years, whether they are male or female, or both male and female, their guardian should separate them in their beds and give each one of them a bed of his or her own, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “And separate them in their beds” i.e., as they used to sleep naked, as it says in al-Mustaw’ab and al-Ri’aayah. End quote.
Ibn Muflih (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: A boy who reaches the age of ten should be prevented from sleeping naked with his sister or any other mahram. This was mentioned in al-Mustaw’ab and al-Ri’aayah. This – and Allaah knows best – was narrated from Ahmad and was the view favoured by Abu Bakr. It was also stated and favoured by most of our companions that children must be separated when they are seven years old or more, and that (a child of that age) has an ‘awrah which he must guard. This issue is well known and is mentioned in Kitaab al-Janaa’iz. End quote from al-Adaab al-Shar’iyyah (3/538).
We have mentioned this for a reason, lest anyone think that this hadeeth implies that a brother cannot sleep in the same room as his sister, even though avoiding it is better for one who can manage to do so. | <urn:uuid:98df523b-7cdc-403f-aab9-28a4d563c4aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://islamqa.com/en/ref/6996/doc | 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 | 0.975627 | 1,276 | 1.828125 | 2 |
“Women’s history and feminist history are often used interchangeably but this serves to play down the specific approach of feminist historians.”
Just found this piece by academic June Hannam on the Making History website, and thought I’d link it here. Among other things, she clarifies how the feminist approach to history in general is distinct from the subject of women’s history.
I guess I know this stuff, really; it’s common sense and it’s what I’ve been trying to apply to (family) history here. Nevertheless, I still have moments of doubt, so it’s good to read something reasonably authoritative that encourages me to keep plugging away.
My new books arrived yesterday (hurrah! See photo) but I haven’t cracked a spine yet, as I’m busy with work. It’s likely that posts here will continue to focus on Augusta Parsons Hylander’s life story for at least the next week or two. I find her account of Swedish life and emigration fascinating (not least because of all she doesn’t say), and it’ll be good to have it up here in its entirety.
Other background activity: I’ve been asking around about the “I Accept” document (this blog’s most-viewed post, as it happens), and while I still don’t know who distributed it, I’ve been pointed in the direction of some fascinating documents relating to baby-saving campaigns and the history of the Children’s Bureau in America. Thanks to the NY Public Library’s Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, and to the US National Archives, for their advice so far. Investigations continue. | <urn:uuid:4fa73634-877a-4783-9cbd-ec7ac272dede> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whodoesshethinksheisblog.com/2011/07/16/womens-history-and-feminist-history-are-often-used-interchangeably-but-this-serves-to-play-down-the-specific-approach-of-feminist-historians/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=1c9f85538d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940317 | 377 | 1.632813 | 2 |
The foreigner’s image of Germany is of a land of books, a serious country of deep thought and highbrow ideas. Certainly 95,000 new books are published each year in Germany and nothing else in the world comes close to the immense annual Frankfurt Book Fair. Yet Germany also has dynamic printed, television and radio sectors. It’s also relatively easy to find British and US newspapers in large German towns, and in the cities larger newsagents carry many of the London-printed editions at lunchtime on the same day. The best place to look for foreign media is at newsagents in the main train station – those in cities also carry a small stock of international magazines.
Newspapers and magazines
The German press is characterized by the number of titles. At the national level, the daily newspaper market is dominated by a small number of publishers. Largest, with 24 percent of the market, is Axel Springer group, which prints both heavyweight newspapers and the “boulevard press” as Germany calls tabloids. The press is strongest at regional level, although many of the city-produced dailies are distributed nationwide. Germany’s best-seller on the streets is sensationalist tabloid BILD (bild.de), which shifts four million units daily. Of the dailies, conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (faz.net) enjoys considerable prestige, presumably thanks to its weighty opinions and business focus rather than dry content – an English-language version is included as a supplement in every issue of the International Herald Tribune – and Berlin-produced Die Welt (welt.de) has a great influence on public opinion.
At the other end of the political spectrum is the left-of-centre Tageszeitung, known as “Taz” (taz.de) – not so hot on solid news, but with good in-depth articles on politics and ecology. It has the added advantage of being an easier read for non-native German speakers, since the German used is a little simpler. Other nationwide papers include Munich’s Süddeutsche Zeitung (sueddeutsche.de) and Frankfurter Rundschau (fr-online.de). The big name in financial reporting, alongside Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, is Hamburg-based Financial Times Deutschland (ftd.de) printed on the brand’s trademark pink paper. Incidentally, Berlin-produced The Local (thelocal.de) provides German news in English but is tricky to find even in its home Berlin – good online edition, though, with regional sections.
The German magazine sector is extremely buoyant, with some 870 magazines and 1100 specialized periodicals on the market, with weekly news magazines modelled on American Time magazine very popular. The sector is monopolized by the outstanding Der Spiegel (spiegel.de), known for its investigative journalism and probably the most influential political publication in Germany. It also has an excellent English-language website. In a similar vein is Hamburg-based left-wing weekly Die Zeit (zeit.de). Best seen as a weekly newspaper that focuses on analysis and background information, it appears every Thursday and, while left-wing in stance, includes a number of independently written reports on a variety of subjects.
Television and radio
While Länder are responsible for public broadcasting within each state, all contribute programmes for the nationwide principal TV channels (nicknamed “Das Erste”, or “the first”) – run by ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Rundfunkanstalten Deutschlands; ard.de) and ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen;
zdf.de); both approximate BBC or PBS channels. There is an ongoing digitization of terrestrial TV – both ARD and ZDF offer a range of free digital channels.
Otherwise major commercial channels dominate, foremost among them Sat, RTL and VOX. All channels seem to exist on a forced diet of US reruns clumsily dubbed into German. Germany has an above-average percentage of cable households – 53 percent. With cable TV, available in larger hotels, you’ll be able to pick up the locally available cable channels, with over twenty to choose from, including MTV, BBC World, and the ubiquitous CNN.
Radio in Germany is very much a regional affair. According to the various broadcasting laws of the various states, some Länder prefer a variety of commercial radio stations, others opt for diverse programming within a limited number of stations. Spin a dial and you’ll find some decent dance music, American rock and the occasional hip-hop show (mainly late at night) alongside classical, cheese and soft rock. The only nationwide English-speaking radio station is the BBC World Service (90.2FM). British Forces station BFBS (ssvc.com/bfbs) pumps out programming modelled on BBC radio in localized areas – principally western Lower Saxony and Westphalia. BFBS has chart hits and classics plus hourly news, BFBS 2 has more chat plus BBC news programmes from Radio 4 and sport from BBC Radio Five Live. Frequencies vary by area – check the website or scan from (roughly) 95FM to 106FM.Read More | <urn:uuid:7a79fb9e-ebbd-47f9-9a3a-2dbb66b7cc95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/europe/germany/the-media/?wpfpaction=add&postid=5337 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919155 | 1,104 | 1.835938 | 2 |
On 17 July 1917, the London Gazette published a proclamation by George V:
We, out of Our Royal Will and Authority, do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of this Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have married, shall bear the said Name of Windsor.1
Now, this was only ten days after the second Gotha raid on London, and just over a month after the first Gotha raid.2 These air raids took place in broad daylight with little interference from British air defences, and between them killed more than two hundred people, including eighteen children at the Poplar Infants School. One result, eventually, was the Royal Air Force; a more immediate one was anti-German rioting in several London suburbs. What I've often wondered is whether the House of Windsor was another result, because before the proclamation of 17 July it used to be known as the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.3 Did the Gothas kill the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas?
The Wikipedia article on the House of Windsor does seem to imply that this was the case, but we can do better than Wikipedia. Ian Castle says:
The [7 July] raid brought a wide variety of reactions. Sections of the bombed population turned against immigrants in their midst, considering many with foreign names to be 'Germans'. Riots broke out in Hackney and Tottenham where mobs wrecked immigrant houses and shops. Moreover, such was the anti-German feeling that four days later King George V (of the Royal House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) issued a proclamation announcing that the Royal family name had changed to Windsor.4
Similarly, A. D. Harvey writes:
Ten days after the air raid King George V changed the family name of the royal dynasty from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor — the fact that German heavy bombers were also called Gotha was an unfortunate coincidence which obviously could not be allowed to persist [...]5
And likewise Ian Beckett:
[After the Gotha raids] There were riotous assaults on allegedly German-owned property in the East End and the affair not only played decisive role [sic] in the establishment of the Smuts Committee — and, therefore, the ultimate creation of the Royal Air Force in April 1918 — but also persuaded King George V to change his dynastic name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.6
So there are histories which claim that the Gotha raids played a significant and perhaps decisive role in convincing the monarchy to drop the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha name. But all of these discussions are quite general, and none quote any primary sources on this point. Moreover, they are all by military historians, for whom (like me) it might be obvious to look for such a connection. Unfortunately, more detailed accounts, written by historians of the monarchy, do not seem to back them up. In particular, it looks like the search for a new name for the Royal Family began before the Gotha raids took place.
For example, in an article on George V and republicanism, Frank Prochaska says nothing about bombers and air raids, but instead argues that the King was worried about reports of increasing republican sentiment in early 1917. These were being aired by people with as little in common as H. G. Wells ('our spirit is warmly and entirely against the dynastic system that has so long divided, embittered, and wasted the spirit of mankind') and Derbyshire miners ('until there is a Republic all the Kings will stand together').7 Getting rid of the German name would help by defusing suspicions that the Royal Family owed its first loyalty to its relations overseas and not to country it ruled:
It was the sort of intelligence that made the King nervous about the 'visible' German titles borne by members of the Royal Family who lived in Britain and eventually encouraged him to make inquiries about his Teutonic background. It was, in fact, the issue of finding British titles for the Tecks and the Battenbergs that triggered an independent search for a new family name for the King.8
Prochaska unfortunately doesn't give many dates here, but Windsor must have been chosen by June 1917 at the latest, because in that month Lord Rosebery wrote to Lord Stamfordham, the King's private secretary who came up with Windsor, to say 'do you realize that you have christened a dynasty?'9 Moreover, as Prochaska says the question of finding British surnames for the Tecks and Battenbergs, who were also members of the Royal Family, had already come up. That they would relinquish their German names, titles and styles was announced on 20 June, nearly a month before the equivalent move for the inner royals was announced.10 That is still a week after the first Gotha raid on London, but as the Tecks and the Battenbergs didn't have Gotha in their surnames, and the name of the Royal House was not yet at issue here, it's difficult to see how that could be directly relevant. Anyway, it was perhaps the logical followup to the decision to strip German nobles like the Duke of Cumberland of their British titles. This was a much more democratic process: the necessary legislation was debated by and passed in Parliament during 1917, after being heralded in February and introduced in the House of Lords on 13 March.11 So this whole process of separating out the British and German nobility was already in train well before the Gothas came along.
The other aspect to this question is: did anyone at the time actually linguistically connect the Gothas and the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas? It seems obvious that this would have happened, but I can't find any evidence that it did. Not in the press, anyway. Censorship might account for this; perhaps a more likely reason is the then-traditional reticence of the press in discussing matters regal. At any rate I've found no articles connecting the two issues. The closest is the Western Daily Press, which had one leading article, entitled 'Is the aeroplane is to decide?' (i.e., the outcome of the war), note that 'German machines seem be able to invade the metropolis with comparative impunity', followed immediately by another on the name change:
Ever since the elimination of foreign titles from amongst the distinguished families in this country it has been expected that King George would make some alteration in the name of his own Royal House, which has been successively in modern times, the 'House of Hanover' and the 'House of Saxe-Coburg Gotha,' [...] for his Majesty is anxious that this country should be, as far as possible, purged of all that savours of Germany and its now unenviable associations.12
Maybe this juxtaposition is a pointed one, but I don't think so, because the first leading article only mentions the Gothas in passing (and not by name); apart from that it is mostly positive in tone, for example predicting that 'the "Rhine frontier" of Germany will have become no more than a meaningless phrase, in the same way that the "sea frontier" of Great Britain has ceased to possess any real defensive strength'.13
Anyway, at the moment I see no evidence that the Gotha raids had anything to do with the Royal Family's switch from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.
- London Gazette, 17 July 1917, 7119.
- There were also two heavy Gotha raids on Folkestone and Sheerness in late May and early June.
- The question of the King's surname is a slightly different one: nobody was sure if he even had one. If he did it could have been Brunswick, Hanover, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Wettin, or even, for some strange reason, Guelph.
- Ian Castle, London 1917-18: The Bomber Blitz (Oxford and Long Island City: Osprey Publishing, 2010), 33.
- A. D. Harvey, Collision of Empires: Britain in Three World Wars, 1793-1945 (London: Hambledon, 1992), 397.
- Ian F. W. Beckett, 'Introduction', in Ian F. W. Beckett, ed., 1917: Beyond the Western Front (Leiden: Brill, 2009), xiv-xv.
- Frank Prochaska, 'George V and republicanism, 1917-1919', Twentieth Century British History 10 (1999), 37.
- Ibid., 37-8.
- Ibid., 38.
- The Times, 20 June 1917, 7.
- It has been argued that it was Roger Casement's treason which inspired this movement, as it highlighted the question of dual loyalties: Ann Lyon, 'A reaction to popular hysteria: the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917', Liverpool Law Review 22 (2000), 173-200.
- Western Daily Press (Bristol), 18 July 1917, 4.
This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at airminded.org. | <urn:uuid:c0e956d3-0973-41c5-b060-e2fb0a84e65c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://airminded.org/2012/07/21/gotha-vs-saxe-coburg-gotha/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972019 | 1,967 | 3.0625 | 3 |
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Could the medical community be overlooking 2.5 million people who have diabetes? Currently, 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, or 7.8 percent of the population, have diabetes. Although an estimated 17.9 million of them have been diagnosed, 5.7 million (nearly one quarter) are unaware that they have the disease. If lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people comprise 10 percent of the U.S. population, then 10 percent of people with diabetes are part of the LGBT community-about 2.5 million people.*
In June, the Diabetes And Gay Foundation of San Francisco was created to raise awareness of LGBT issues among diabetes healthcare professionals and to strengthen and support LGBT people with diabetes, their significant others, and their relationships. Although there is no science-based research about LGBT members with diabetes, many LGBT people have reported individual struggles with diabetes that they believe are directly related to their minority group status.
John Coman, who has type 1 diabetes, established the DANG Foundation to give gay and lesbian people with diabetes a safe and comfortable resource for diabetes-related information, to support them in quitting smoking (LGBT individuals smoke twice as much as straight smokers), to help them find alcohol and drug addiction services, and, most importantly, to give their partners, spouses, and families a welcoming source of support. Until the DANG Foundation, there was no diabetes-related organization that sought to address LGBT issues and concerns.
"Diabetes is a stress in any relationship," says Coman. "And when you combine that with the added stresses of life as a lesbian or a gay man-whether you are open about it or not-there is a great need for LGBT people with diabetes and the partners who support them to receive services and information geared to their unique needs."
Neither the diabetes community nor the general healthcare community has ever attempted to quantify the number of people with diabetes who identify as LGBT. Moreover, when an LGBT person with diabetes is taken to the hospital suffering from a life-threatening incident of hypoglycemia, there is often subtle discrimination and sometimes even a total disregard of the patient's desire to have his or her significant other present.
The foundation sprang from the experience of Jim Castaneda, Coman's legal spouse, when the couple went to a local emergency room. As he was being treated for kidney stones, Coman experienced an episode of hypoglycemia. While he was trying to get a nurse's attention to explain what was happening, his blood sugar sank to a dangerous 19 mg/dL and he began to have a seizure. The emergency staff rushed to raise his blood sugar and admit him to the intensive care unit, but no one bothered to tell Castaneda, who was scared and confused, what was happening to his spouse. "After I learned what had happened to Jim," says Coman, "I vowed that nobody else should ever suffer that silence and disregard."
* Editor's Note: Although the 10 percent figure is often cited, this Seattle Times article cites a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimate that there are 8.8 million gays, lesbians, and bisexuals nationwide - 2.5 to 3 percent of the total U.S. population.
Diabetes Health is the essential resource for people living with diabetes- both newly diagnosed and experienced as well as the professionals who care for them. We provide balanced expert news and information on living healthfully with diabetes. Each issue includes cutting-edge editorial coverage of new products, research, treatment options, and meaningful lifestyle issues. | <urn:uuid:fae3ffd1-0f8b-45ba-9f47-1f9bbb3b105d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/07/21/6285/gay-men-and-women-with-diabetes-find-a-voice-through-the-diabetes-and-gay-dang-foundation/?isComment=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970516 | 810 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Image From ..transalt.org
Lately you may have been hearing more from your local legislators about increasing tolls during commuter rush hour traffic in order to to reduce highway congestion. Some have already gone into effect.
But, if the United States is serious about reducing traffic congestion it might one day look at the way Singapore addresses the same problem...
In Singapore, an island of 248 square miles, the number of cars climbed to a record 603,723 at the end of 2011 from 405,354 a decade earlier, according to Bloomberg reporter Wes Goodman.
To limit the congestion and pollution the Singapore government planned to limit the growth of the vehicle pool from 1.5 percent annually to 0.5 percent. And they do that by charging exorbitant fees on vehicles including the cost of driver license "permits".
How bad is it? Just for the permit alone, which the government sells at auction, one Singapore resident said he paid $67,000 and that might be a bargain compared to the level they most recently reached. A new 2012 Volkwagen Passat sedan (including the license) costs about $152,000 in Singapore. Extraordinary...especially when you consider that the median price of a U.S. metro area home, according to the National Association of Realtors is at $158,000.
At the latest auction on May 23, Singapore driver permits, called the Certificate of Entitlement (COE), which all new car owners must have, went for $86,889 -- compared with $8,501 three years ago. And the permits only gives you the right to own a vehicle for 10 years.
Besides having to bid for certificates at auctions that are held every two weeks, Singaporeans also pay registration fees and taxes that can amount to $150 percent of the market value of the vehicle.
But apparently, the money is there to pay for it all. Low-wage worker income in Singapore has risen 12 percent in the past five years. They typically pay daily permit fees. More than a third of the 5.2 million population is made up of foreigners and expatriate permanent residents. Singapore's unemployment rate averaged 2 percent and is at a 14-year low.
Believe it or not, Singaporeans are eager to buy cars because any depreciation that occurs to the vehicle is more than offset by the appreciation of the license... They can actually make considerable profit by buying a car, selling it a year later and downgrading to a lower cost vehicle.
Singapore's millionaire households expanded 14 percent last year according to Boston Consulting Group, and their proportion of millionaire households, 17 percent, is the highest in the world.
But Goodman reports that, like the U.S., the middle class is rapidly disappearing and all that is left are the rich and the poor. But, they do have that nagging traffic problem contained.
All I can say is, "God Bless America!" | <urn:uuid:6d639b6a-bee9-48dc-9d3d-f44b4740ff54> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.gasbuddy.com/posts/Should-U-S-follow-Singapore-s-approach-to-reduce-traffic/1715-499345-1066.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957019 | 599 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Much has been made over the last few days of the recently announced (you could say, finally announced) ChromeOS notebook from Google. While this may seem like a new release, ChromeOS has actually been in active development for quite some time under the Chromium project, That said, the recent unveiling revealed more than just software, it also revealed Google's future plans and strategy for this tiny OS. So does ChromeOS bring a new revolution to the portable computing table? And does the Google strategy make sense, either short term or long term? Let's take a look, beginning with the technology.
ChromeOS - The Hardware
As part of the launch event, Google unveiled the CR-48 notebook, which is intended to be a reference platform upon which future devices are based. As has been revealed by numerous, lucky recipients of a demo unit, this device is essentially a standard netbook inside with a 12 inch display. The display operates at 1280 X 800 pixels, which is actually a bit lower resolution than a typical 11 inch+ netbook, This particular model also has a standard 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 single-core processor (although multi-core processors are certainly supported) with standard Intel integrated graphics, 2Gb of RAM, and a 16G Solid State Drive (SSD) from SanDisk. The SSD is a nice addition (something I've always preferred, but have found difficult to find in most netbooks today) which should offer improvements in speed, battery life, and durability (ie no moving parts). The only other marginally remarkable thing about the device is the keyboard, which, while it has a similar layout to any other keyboard, has a number of "custom" keys in places where function keys usually reside. These keys are, in fact, standard function keys, they have just been remapped to serve different purposes in the operating system, such as volume up/down, brightness, etc. Surprisingly, Caps Lock no longer exists - pressing this key brings up a new tab in the Chrome web browser instead. This is a welcome change for me personally, as it means people will have to work a lot harder to shout in their text messages. Finally, both 3G and WiFi access to the InterTubes is included, with free access to Verizon's 3G network for 2 years. There is a 100Mb monthly data allowance, which seems awfully small, in my opinion, for an entirely web-based device. It remains to be seen if this will truly prove to be a problem under normal use. I haven't seen anything that specs out the costs for going over that initial 100Mb - hopefully, Verizon won't use it as an opportunity to gouge users (I'm not holding my breath).
That's it, standard netbook fare in a bigger package. For my personal needs, bigger is not what I want - portability is more important to me and smaller is better when it comes to hardware on student desks. But I can understand why the size was increased, as the number one complaint I hear from fogies is, "it's too small". It's also worth noting that there is no mention anywhere of support for accelerated graphics cards. This is somewhat surprising, especially in light of the development of WebGL, which will become increasingly important for gaming in a web-centric environment such as ChromeOS.
ChromeOS - The Software
Software is arguably the most important aspect of any device, as the user experience is almost entirely driven by it. The ChromeOS model is primarily based on the web browser (Google Chrome version 9, in it's current incarnation) and the web - there is no facility for installing any other local applications on the machine. This brings a certain simplicity to the experience, in that there is no other knowledge required to use the device. On first boot, you are asked for three things: your wireless network, your Google account information, and a picture for your account, taken on the built-in webcam (which you can opt-out of, if you so desire). That's it. The next thing that happens is Google's Chrome web browser opens, with convenient "app" icons that give you quick access to Google apps and the Google "Web Store". Since you will already be logged in to your Google account, clicking on any one of these "apps" will take you straight to them without typing in your user id or password again.
The idea of "Apps" in ChromeOS can be somewhat dubious. In reality, the majority of these are just links to web sites with pretty icons you can see in the "app" launcher. For the most part (although not in every case) these links point to Chrome specific versions of these web sites. But they are web sites, just the same. The only distinction here from standard web sites are paid "apps", which appear to be based entirely on Chrome extensions. These presumably handle the authentications and authorizations required to ensure that you did indeed pay for them and are allowed to use them. Every one of these "apps" I have tried is based on HTML5 web pages funneled through the extension like a viewer.
Obviously, a web browser alone can be somewhat lacking in capability when it comes to managing an entire device experience, so Google has made some interesting additions. Basic settings for the wireless, internet access, the touchpad, and other device specific details have been added to the default Chrome settings window, which can be accessed by menu or by typing "chrome://settings" in the Chrome address bar. The settings are very basic, lending easy access for novice users.
There is also an interesting concept of "tabs" or "drawers" across the bottom of the screen, which Chrome utilizes for some applications (like Google Talk) and for basic access to files (which will only be Downloads, since there really aren't any applications that will create local files). These tabs appear as thin, unobtrusive slivers when you are not looking at them, only popping up to show you what they contain when you point at them.
Clicking on one slides out the drawer, revealing its contents. The Downloads drawer, which can be accessed any time by pressing ctrl-o on the keyboard, is super basic, offering no real way to create folders or organize what you have downloaded to your device. This may seem like a non-issue, but I can certainly see where this folder might get rather unruly over time, especially with all the attachments I receive via email. I can only assume that Google wants you to re-upload anything you want to keep into Google Docs, as the Downloads tab clearly isn't designed for any sort of long term storage. Notifications for various web apps (like Seesmic) also appear as tabs at the bottom, which I have found to be a quite pleasant, unobtrusive way to be notified. Interestingly, the tabs appear to be independent of the main browser window, as they are available even when you are geeking out in the terminal (more on that later).
Printing is one area where the concept really falls flat at the moment. The ONLY way to print is through Google Cloud Print, which is ONLY available for Windows desktops. So, not only will you be tied to a desktop, you will be tied to a crappy desktop.
ChromeOS - Under the Hood.
For all you geeks out there, there is plenty of goodness in ChromeOS. As you probably already know, the OS is based on a very slim version of Linux, and a simple "ctrl-alt-t" will get you to a custom shell. Typing "help" in the shell will reveal a number of commands that have clearly been designed for use by technicians who are setting up the devices in complex environments. Simple commands for carrier activation, adding enterprise SSL certificates, and other details can be found here. But the most important command for geeks is the "shell" command, which dumps you out to a standard Linux terminal.
Once in the shell, you will find few surprises, if you are familiar with Linux. The directory structure is just what you'd expect - everything appears to be in the right places, unlike Android (which is generally goofy). There isn't a lot to look at - this build is very trim, lacking even common package managers like apt/dpkg or rpm. There are no GNOME or KDE bits anywhere, just a basic X server. The kernel version comes up as 126.96.36.199+drm33.10, which suggests a somewhat modified, but similar kernel to the one that comes with Ubuntu 10.04. The "drm33.10" part suggests that the DRM bits are turned on, presumably in anticipation of future content partnerships (can you say Netflix/Hulu?) Based on the contents of the folders (ie locations of scripts, log files, etc), the kernel version, and the knowledge that Ubuntu 10.04 is required to build it from scratch, it's a good bet that the whole thing is modeled on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx).
You'll also find that the home folders are encrypted, which is a good move for a portable device such as this. If it should get lost, private information should be quite secure from prying eyes.
Basically what we have is a very trim Linux distribution that boots directly into Chrome, instead of a traditional desktop interface. Nothing fancy or complex, which is exactly the way Google believes most users will want it.
ChromeOS - The Strategy
The benefits of such a strategy are easy to envision. Delivering applications in this fashion significantly reduces the need for powerful hardware on the users' side, instead relying on the application servers for processing and generation. Lesser hardware requirements reduce size and power consumption, increasing battery life and enabling the creation of smaller and more portable devices at lower cost. Minimal user-side requirements reduce complexity and the likelihood of technical failures and/or vulnerability, naturally increasing reliability. And cloud-based storage enables anywhere, anytime access to user generated data and content, with sharing options that offer opportunities for collaboration and teamwork. The net effect is more choice and increased access for all.
Of course, the big question is has the time finally come? With ChromeOS, Google believes that it has.
ChromeOS - The Experience
Working with ChromeOS can be at times joyful, and at other times frustrating, The general web experience is just as pleasant as it is with Chrome on a desktop computer: lightning fast, feature-rich, all-in-all quite enjoyable. Chrome Sync is turned on by default, so all your settings, bookmarks, and activity sync nicely with any other device running Chrome. Should anything happen to your ChromeOS device, there is little to worry about because the next time you log in to Chrome on any other device, all (well, almost all - your Downloads will be gone) of your stuff will be there. The system is extremely fast to boot - I clocked 20 seconds on my netbook, the SSD version will probably trim that down a few - and the battery life is quite good, as it is with most netbooks running Linux. The "app"-centric mentality, while a little silly on the surface, I have (unexpectedly) found to add to the overall experience, making using the device more appealing. By utilizing common desktop metaphors and organizational tools, ChromeOS really serves to mask the fact that what we are doing is using the web in the same way that we could on any other device. The addition of Single Sign On (SSO) features in a number of the Chrome-specific sites is a nice touch as well. These sites simply ask you if it's OK to use Google as an authenticator, then automatically get you right to your stuff - no login required.
That said, under practical, day-to-day use there are some real pain points. The biggest, by far, is the number of hoops you have to jump through to create anything with content from multiple sources. I don't even think twice about pulling a photo off of my phone or digital camera and adding it to a post or document on a Ubuntu netbook, but with ChromeOS it really causes some heartburn. For one or two one can easily email himself or upload the images to Flickr or Picasa. But any more than a few rapidly becomes an exercise in frustration. Bouncing a photo from one web-based application to another (and then another) just to get it the way you want it can burn a lot of time.
In addition, finding webapps to do some of the things one typically does every day can be more than a bit challenging. Once found, those web-based applications, especially the bigger, more complex ones, tend to take a while to load and can be quite sluggish once running. This is only exacerbated when connected to a slower 3G network. Even email attachments become a burden, because there are no built-in viewers for common office file formats. (note the "Unknown file type" message in the tab image above). The best you can do is download the attachments, then re-upload them to Google docs so that you can open and view them. And you don't realize how much you'll miss copy and paste (beyond plain text) between applications until you don't have it.
Offline support is also not yet implemented in any of the applications I tried, including the Google apps, essentially bricking the device (which delivers rather humorous "this app is unavailable" messages) when connectivity to the site is lost. This could be a real problem on airplanes and other black holes with spotty connections.
Much of this may be resolved in time with extensions and by reworking typical workflows around web-based solutions, but right now it can really feel quite tedious. As such, it's somewhat difficult to imagine a ChromeOS notebook/netbook as more than a casual, ultra-mobile device. It definitely leans more toward the productivity side than an iPad, but only approaches without quite apprehending a more robust operating system on a netbook/laptop. The potential to be much more is certainly there, but the finer points of implementation are yet to be developed.
ChromeOS - Will it Succeed?
That is the million dollar question. A great deal will depend on the as yet unannounced price, as well as how well Google manages expectations - something that they have not done well in the past, as evidenced by the Nexus One experience. If the device sells for about $200, I think it will be a no-brainer. An inexpensive device that provides an all out, relatively unlimited web experience will be quite appealing to an average user in that price range, especially if Google doesn't over-sell it or its capabilities. If the price approaches $300 and/or Google tries to sell it as the mobile productivity solution, they will likely find it be a lot harder to sell. It's still somewhat justifiable on the merits of the strategy above, but quite a hard sell just the same.
But if the price gets close to $400, the backlash will likely be more than even Google can overcome. The experience hardly warrants luxury pricing, and the use case will be extremely difficult to justify vs. any of the vast array of netbooks/small notebooks available for similar/less money. People are generally willing to jump through a few hoops if the cost vs. benefit analysis makes sense, but they are far less likely to do so when they can easily get more for less elsewhere, especially when you consider that a nearly identical experience can be had with the basic Chrome web browser installed on Windows, MacOS, or Linux. Google is cool, but not cool enough to win fanatical lunatics willing to hand over their wallets in exchange for the right to be cool, a la Apple.
If the price works out in favor of the end-user, then the only thing left will be execution. Based on what I've seen so far, I believe Google is on the right track. If ever there was a time when a move to to cloud-based computing was more plausible, I don't know of it. The market is ready, the tools are capable, and the developers are on board. All that remains is for Google to provide some leadership, direction, tools, and an open ecosystem that will enable developers to tie it all together to the benefit of all.
Posted by Jim Klein | | <urn:uuid:eae34bc0-64da-4632-816d-83372a8ae35d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://community.saugususd.org/jklein/weblog/1342.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951747 | 3,359 | 1.523438 | 2 |
This years fourth Tropical Storm, Debby, has formed in the far eastern Atlantic, although most likely destined to never affect the US, it does have a very good chance at becoming this year's first hurricane. See Clark's blog below for more information.
The wave (97L) east of the Caribbean islands hasn't really gained much overnight, but still has the chance to become a depression over the next few days. But I suspect any development here would be slow to occur. Those in the east Caribbean should watch it.
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Champorado (Filipino Chocolate Rice Pudding) Recipe
Champorado, also called chocolate rice, is versatile. Jun Belen, an Oakland, California–based cook and food photographer, grew up eating it for breakfast on chilly winter mornings in Manila, with pan de sal (soft, buttery rolls) and fried salt fish. He also ate it chilled as an after-school snack with evaporated milk poured over the top. We prefer our champorado made with good-quality bittersweet chocolate and served warm as a luxurious ending to a meal.
What to buy: Since this recipe contains so few ingredients, be sure to use good-quality chocolate. Missouri-based bean-to-bar company Askinosie imports single-origin cacao from Davao in the southern Philippines and produces a 77-percent bittersweet chocolate with earthy and slightly smoky flavors that really shine through in this simple recipe.
Although rice does not contain any gluten, short-grain sweet rice is sometimes labeled as glutinous rice or sticky rice and can be found in the Asian aisle of most grocery stores.
Game plan: The liberal garnish of rich evaporated milk is traditional, but feel free to substitute regular whole milk or half-and-half.
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup short-grain sweet rice, also known as sticky rice
- 5 cups water
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk
- Create a double boiler by filling a pot with 2 inches of water and bringing it to a simmer over medium-low heat. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set it over the pot. (Do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl.) Stir continuously until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Place the rice in a fine-mesh strainer and rinse it under cold water until the water runs clear. Transfer the rice to a medium saucepan, add the measured water, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes.
- Add the sugar and melted chocolate to the rice, whisk to combine, and return to a simmer. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside until the pudding has cooled slightly but is still warm, about 45 minutes. (At this point, you can cool the champorado completely, transfer it to a container, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days.)
- Spoon the champorado into serving bowls and drizzle each with evaporated milk. | <urn:uuid:907dd3b7-46b0-4f57-b8e8-818baf7463af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chow.com/recipes/30378-champorado-filipino-chocolate-rice-pudding | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92976 | 567 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Monday, January 18, 2010
Check out this article about a pediatrician in Haiti who is tending to more than a hundred patients in his home. Something tells me that he isn't worried about coding, lawsuits, or payment. This is a real hero of medicine. The horror from this earthquake is unimaginable for the rest of us. We have been touched by catastrophes such as 9/11 and Katrina but the sheer amount of people dying from the tsunami a few years back or this earthquake in Haiti is heartbreaking. Unfortunately, they are just numbers to us until we read these personal stories. Eighteen patients have died in this doc's house so far. A pregnant lady died giving birth from internal hemorrhaging. There is continuous crying and moaning. They have no running water and no sutures to stitch people up. Remember this when you go to the office and bitch about something trivial.
Posted by Authentic Medicine Blog at 5:07 AM | <urn:uuid:9988a279-baa9-43c7-9b8d-669fdf7d2d37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://placebojournal.blogspot.com/2010_01_18_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977268 | 191 | 1.75 | 2 |
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear the appeal of a Mexican national on death row in Texas, stepping into an international debate over the legal rights of foreigners in capital punishment cases.
The World Court at The Hague ruled earlier this year that the United States violated the rights of 51 Mexicans on death row, including Jose Medellin, whose appeal will be heard at the Supreme Court next spring.
The world court, which is the United Nations’ highest judiciary, had determined that American officials should give the inmates “meaningful review” of the convictions and sentences now, on grounds that the U.S. government failed to inform their home countries of their arrests and trials. The world court is charged with resolving disputes between nations, but cannot force the United States to follow its decisions.
Lower U.S. courts had blocked appeals by Medellin, and justices will decide whether those decisions were wrong.
Other death penalty cases
The announcement broadens the Supreme Court’s inquiry into capital punishment this term. Justices are already considering a case that will decide if it’s unconstitutional to execute killers who committed their crimes as teenagers.
Medellin was supported in his Supreme Court appeal by dozens of countries, legal groups and human rights organizations, as well as former diplomatic leaders and the European Union.
They argued that U.S. officials have disregarded the 1963 Vienna Convention which requires an “arresting government” to notify a foreign national of the right to talk with the detainee’s consulate or embassy, and says foreign governments can arrange legal help for their nationals. It applies to Americans abroad and to foreigners arrested in the United States.
About 6,000 Americans are arrested or detained each year in other countries and need consular help to “navigate and understand an unfamiliar, and perhaps hostile, legal system,” justices were told by a coalition of former diplomatic leaders and nonpartisan groups. They said Americans would suffer if the United States does not set a good example.
Texas attorneys had argued that it was too late for Medellin to bring the challenge, because he did not file objections at his trial that the Mexican government was not told of his arrest and allowed to help in his defense.
Mexico’s lawyer, Sandra Babcock, told justices in its filing that Medellin’s lawyer was suspended from practicing law for ethics violations during the case. Mexico, she said, would have made sure that Medellin had a competent lawyer and money for experts and investigators if it had known about the 1994 trial.
Medellin was one of five gang members sentenced to death for the rape-murders of two teenage girls in Houston — 14-year-old Jennifer Ertman and 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena.
Earlier case rejected
Last November, the Supreme Court refused to consider the case of another Mexican national, on Oklahoma’s death row, who claimed police and other authorities never told him he had the right to meet with Mexican consular officials after his arrest. Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer went on record noting misgivings with the decision. Oklahoma’s governor commuted Osbaldo Torres’ sentence to life in prison without parole following the ruling by the world court.
Medellin is among 118 foreign nationals from 32 countries on death row in America, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Fifty-three of those people are from Mexico, which does not use the death penalty.
The jurisdictions with foreign nationals on death row, according to the center, are: California (43), Texas (27), Florida (22), Arizona (5), Nevada and Ohio (4 each), Louisiana (3), Pennsylvania and the federal government (2 each), and Georgia, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon and Virginia (1 each).
The case is Medellin v. Dretke, 04-5928.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:bc7011ef-6374-41c5-bf54-fb6b02a81f08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6692946/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96993 | 828 | 1.882813 | 2 |
AffiliatesThe Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity
Columbia University's Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity (AC4) was founded in part by Dr. Peter Coleman. AC4 moves beyond the research boundaries of traditionally siloed disciplines to advance the study of perplexing problems such as climate change, protracted conflict and sustainable peace.
The International Center for Complexity and Conflict
The Center is dedicated to applications of complexity science to the study of conflict. Through research projects, conferences, education, publications and international collaboration, the center tries to expand complexity science to the social field and advance understanding of one of its major challenges: protracted seemingly intractable conflicts. Scroll down to read more about Dr. Andrzej Nowak at Florida Atlantic University.
A generous Teaching Development Grant from the University Grants Committee has funded the Hong Kong Center for Cooperative Learning. Our mission is to empower university faculty members throughout Hong Kong to develop effective cooperative learning teams. We also want to support educators in Hong Kong public schools and academics in the Chinese Mainland.
Hong Kong political, social and business leaders have argued that graduates do not have the theoretical and interpersonal skills necessary to perform well in today's demanding team organizations. Reforms are being instituted to move education away from traditional didactic methods so that students are able to develop successful careers in the dynamic, global economy of Hong Kong.
Hisako Kobayashi-Levin is an Associate Professor of Kyushu University in Japan, where she teaches Conflict Management and Mediation in the Faculty of Law and the Graduate School of Law. Before she joined the Kyushu University she had lived in New York City where she received her mediator training and practiced mediation. As a leading expert of the American style mediation toward the Japanese society, she speaks at seminars/conferences and conducts mediator trainings in Japan. As a mediator, Hisako Kobayashi-Levin is interested in how we relate to each other and she is discussing with her students the issues related to "recognition," "power," "the right to resist" as well as "humiliation."
Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Master's Program in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Columbia University
Columbia’s Negotiation and Conflict Resolution graduate degree program is designed to train professionals to be effective negotiators and problem-solvers. The curriculum emphasizes a pragmatic approach to resolving conflicts that arise in human resource management, community and labor organization, education and health administration, law and business. Through examination of theory and practical methodology, the program focuses on constructive communication, ethical understanding, cultural awareness and sensitivity, counseling, and resolving conflicts in ways that are favorable for all parties.
Columbia’s part-time master’s program in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution combines theory and applied training to prepare students to develop practical models for negotiating and resolving disputes among parties with differing objectives and desires. This graduate program was developed in cooperation with Columbia’s Center for International Conflict Resolution in the School of International and Public Affairs and the International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teacher’s College.
At the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), faculty and students are committed to the development of theory, research, and practice that interrupt cycles of violence. ICAR is an innovative academic resource for people and institutions worldwide. It comprises a community of scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, alumni, practitioners, and organizations in the field of peace making and conflict resolution. ICAR is a Commonwealth Center for Excellence, recognized for its leadership in the field and its world-renowned faculty.
ICAR is committed to:
- Advancing the understanding of deeply rooted conflicts between individuals, groups, organizations, and communities in the United States and all over the world through research, teaching, practice, and outreach
- Carrying on a systematic and ongoing study of the nature, origins, and types of social conflicts
- Developing the requisite processes and conditions for the productive resolution of conflicts
The Cooperative Learning Center is a Research and Training Center focusing on how students should interact with each other as they learn and the skills needed to interact effectively. We have reviewed more than 800 studies dating back to the late 1800's and have contributed more than 80 research studies of our own to clarify the issue of student to student interaction and learning. Our training includes instructors from pre-school through college in all subject areas. The training has concentrated on North America, but interest is growing around the world.
The primary efforts of the Center are Research and Training. Over the twenty plus years we have conducted more than 80 research studies and a series of extensive reviews of the existing research on cooperation and learning, more than 800 studies dating back to the late l800's, (Cooperation and Competition: Theory and Research). Training for teachers and administrators has been conducted though out the U.S. and Canada, and also in Germany, Scandinavian Countries, England, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Turkey, Panama, Singapore, and Hungary.
Michele Gelfand is professor of Organizational psychology at University of Maryland, College Park. Her research interests include cross-cultural social/organizational psychology; cultural influences on conflict, negotiation, justice, revenge, and leadership; discrimination and sexual harassment; and theory and method in assessing aspects of culture (individualism-collectivism; cultural tightness-looseness). She received her PhD from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1996, and has been published in many top journals including Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. She also recently published an Annual Review of Psychology chapter on cross-cultural OB with Miriam Erez and Zeynep Aycan.
The work on lay epistemics has branched in several directions the major which were (1) research on epistemic motivations, need for cognitive closure in particular (2) a unified conception of the parameters of human judgment that offers an integrative alternative (known as the "unimodel") to previous theorizing in a variety of social judgment domains (having to do with persuasion, stereotyping, attribution, and statistical reasoning among others), (3) a "motivation as cognition" research program that resulted in our recent theory of goal systems.
His interest in motivation has also led to a fruitful collaboration with Tory Higgins on (4) the regulatory mode theory in which they distinguish between two fundamental aspects of self-regulation having to do with "locomotion" (encapsulated in the "just do it" dictum) and "assessment" (representing a concern with "doing the right thing").
Dynamical Systems Psychology Lab at Florida Atlantic University
Dr. Larry Liebovitch, Florida Atlantic University
Dr. Liebovitch earned a bacherlor's degree in physics at City College of New York, and a doctorate in astonomy from Harvard. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at M. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and then served as assistant professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He is now the director of the Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences at Florida Atlantic University, where he also has appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Biomedical Science and at the Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. | <urn:uuid:22331c4b-3d1c-47c4-96f9-e37c5e9da4a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tc.columbia.edu/ICCCR/index.asp?Id=About+Us&Info=Affiliates | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948214 | 1,503 | 1.5 | 2 |
The Students' Union of the Chinese University of Hong Kong has said it will defy the authorities and erect the Goddess of Democracy statue on its Sha Tin campus "at all costs."
On Wednesday, the university rejected the students' application to permanently display the statue and a tablet marking the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen crackdown because it "must maintain its principle of political neutrality."
Union president Eric Lai Yan-ho said: "No matter how, we will send the statues into the campus or else we will stay until we can get in.
"If the university insists, it has to take responsibility [for what happens]."
Lai said the union may stage an overnight sit-in.
The two pieces by US-based New Zealand artist Chen Weiming have become symbols in Hong Kong's fight to retain its right to mourn the Tiananmen victims. Police seized them and a second smaller statue of the goddess at the weekend when they were displayed at Times Square, Causeway Bay. However they were returned on Tuesday and are now displayed in Victoria Park.
Chen was refused entry to Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Lai described the university statement as contradictory and "shameful" and called upon authorities to withdraw it and apologize.
Supporters are also urged to join union members after tonight's vigil in Victoria Park to help transport the statues to an area outside the University MTR station.
Lai noted that the Pillar of Shame sculpture by Danish artist Jens Galschiot was moved to the University of Hong Kong campus in Pok Fu Lam after the June 4 candlelight vigil in 1997.
The Chinese University said on Wednesday it respects freedom of expression "but firmly believes that the university should always maintain political neutrality."
It said the university "should not align itself with actions or activities which project a political position that would compromise the university's principle of political neutrality."
Last night, the university said it will continue to negotiate with students and hopes to resolve the matter satisfactorily.
Raymond Luk Yiu-man, a member of the university council, doubted the so- called "political neutrality."
CUHK vice chancellor Lawrence Lau Juen-yee is a member of the Executive Council and the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Luk said. | <urn:uuid:97580657-84c2-4ffa-ae51-53250f003fc3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=99032&con_type=1&d_str=20100604&sear_year=2010 | 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 | 0.960855 | 469 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Picture Books - The Secret Keeper
The Secret Keeper by Kate Coombs and illustrated by Heather M. Solomon 2005
Looking for an original folktale then check out The Secret Keeper. Coombs takes a surprising approach in that the main character Kalli has the profession of keeping secrets. Kalli, who is artfully drawn with compassionate eyes and willowy form, lives alone in the forest. Throughout good weather the villagers one by one visit her to unload their burdens in exchange for some type of compensation. The secret is then magically transformed into a symbolic object, which Kalli stores in her walls of many drawers. Like most people the villagers of Maldinga have their small and large burdens, some are lies and some are hurtful actions. But, in the end Kalli begins to feel the affects of all the negative secrets and becomes ill. The villagers rush to her side to try and help, but none are sure what to do. It is suggested that people also have good secrets and maybe they should share these as well. No one wants to go first as it would be telling a secret in front of others, which is just not done. But, soon a brave young boy shares how he wants to be painter when he grows up. From there others begin to tell their happy secrets. Kalli’s spirits begin to lift with every happy secret and finds that she is able to get up and celebrate the coming spring with the villagers.
Although I hadn’t heard of a tale of this type before, my husband with a meticulous memory seems to think he has read something like it before. No matter it is a beautifully illustrated book and makes for an interesting read and bases for discussion with young and old. Although marketed as a picture book, I have found many libraries classify this book as a folktale.
Labels: picture books | <urn:uuid:61bdef7f-9052-41af-979d-f76677ce26ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://magicofbooks.blogspot.com/2006/09/picture-books-secret-keeper.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976216 | 375 | 1.875 | 2 |
Your Child's Brain in Week 89
When your child started spouting his adorable first words—"mama!" "doggie!" "gone!"—there was logic behind why he chose those the ones he did. You may remember that your child's interest in an item ("ball"), its relevance to his life ("juice"), and how he could control its quantity ("more!") all affected which words he latched onto first. Causality, too, affected your toddler's inaugural utterances. Children at one year are highly interested in cause and effect, so "there!" and "uh-oh!" may have made brief appearances early on.
During the second half of your child's second year, you might hear your little one say "gone!" as you play hide and seek together. Or you might hear him say "there" as he uses a string to pull a toy toward him.
Scientists wondered (as perhaps you have) which comes first—a child's new skill, or the word he uses to describe it.
What the Research Shows
Researchers launched a longitudinal study with 13-month-olds, whom they followed for six months. Throughout that time, they repeatedly provided the children opportunities to engage in tasks relating to these two concepts:
Disappearance. The researchers had the toddlers try to find objects that had been either completely covered or hidden under these circumstances:
- While the child was watching
- When the child was not watching
- In several places while the child watched
- In several places while the child wasn't watching
Means-end accomplishments. (This is a term used to describe completing an action by using a tool or device.) The researchers also observed how the toddlers completed the following tasks:
- Using a string to pull an object
- Using a stick to obtain an item
- Dropping a necklace into a bottle
- Stacking a set of rings on a post
Then they noted the children's use of language as they performed each of these tasks.
Once the children successfully completed the disappearance tasks—such as finding an object hidden under a cloth—they soon used the word "gone" as they found it. And once the children successfully completed the means-ends tasks—such as retrieving an object with a stick—they soon used the word "there" as they completed it. The appropriate word to go along with each specific task followed their children's ability to complete the task.
What we know from this study that these one-word usages are more about understanding concepts and less about describing precisely what each child had actually accomplished. These toddlers weren't able to express, "I'm so proud of myself because I can drop a necklace into a bottle," so after completing the task, they simply said "there." And that, accompanied by a wide grin, was enough to proclaim mastery. | <urn:uuid:b215f725-1f90-4651-90cd-dc81654db406> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.babyzone.com/toddler/toddler-month-by-month/toddler-month-21/clever-toddler-week-89_72505 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977084 | 579 | 3.828125 | 4 |
I used 2 different size Rhubarb Leaves, but they need to be large.
You will need a large table, large pieces of plastic. Play sand I am not sure how much, but a large bag. Place the plastic bag flat on the table. Take the sand and form it making a dome. It will need to be enough for the leaf to cover. Sand should be heaved up in the center.
Place the leaf over the sand, leaf should be out
to the edge of the sand. Place leaf so that you are looking at the veins. Vein side up. If you tear it you can patch with another leaf. You will notice in the center of my picture Ii have an indention in mine. You don't have to do this step but I made these as butterfly puddler's and this held the sand. If you want to do this step I used a small round plastic butterbowl, and cut a round hole in the leaf towards the top of the leaf, and pressed the bowl into the sand to form the indention. Make sure you cut the leaf to fit the bowl only, and no more.
You will need a 40 lb the bag of concrete mix. Do not use with stone in it. Mix the concrete mix, should look like thick cookie dough . Start placing on the leaf, placing and pressing as you go. Follow the pattern of the leaf. When you are done cover with plastic and allow to cure for several days. When it is dry turn over and start to remove the leaf, pulling out the vein. I found by washing down with the hose it made the job easier. You can now paint using outdoor acrylic paint. You can purchase at craft stores. I used green and red. Started with the green and than added red. I did water the paint down to get it to flow across the leaves and go into the veins. Keep doing this until you reach desired color.
. My husband built the frame using plastic plumbing pipe, and the holes for the pump water lines he used by drilling into the leaf with a stone drill bit. Do this step after your frame is set up so you can see just where you want them to go.
I made many of these leaves including with other nicely shaped large leaves. You may want to try this first on smaller leaves just for the practice. Hope this helps enjoy your project.
Some weeks ago I posted my front porch redo...well, I had barely gotten everything in place before one of my repainted birdhouses was occupied. NOW WE HAVE BABY BIRDS!! We have to be
careful not to spend too much time out there because Mamma gets very upset with us. Also notice second photo where hanging basket with petunias has been almost destroyed! I always hang 2 baskets but the birds only nest in the first one..??? There is no nest because they could not get all the way down to the dirt through the petunias so I guess they went for the house instead. If I replace the pot, they will just go after it again! | <urn:uuid:163336dd-2532-4ba4-8f04-3b8e3ded3165> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hometalk.com/noagzgq5c7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9644 | 628 | 2.125 | 2 |
There’s a fair amount of research that’s done on the topic of “organizational effectiveness.” It’s a moneymaker. There’s always a market for people to tell you how to run your business better, whether or not you take that advice. It’s also a field that produces some interesting insights, which is why I followed this link (err, from someone whose taste I trusted, sorry) when I saw it on Twitter:
Although the leaders were from vastly different organizations — military, manufacturing, health care, financial services, retailing and religious — they all agreed that the essence of leader humility involves modeling to followers how to grow.
“Growing and learning often involves failure and can be embarrassing,” says Owens. “But leaders who can overcome their fears and broadcast their feelings as they work through the messy internal growth process will be viewed more favorably by their followers. They also will legitimize their followers’ own growth journeys and will have higher-performing organizations.”
The researchers found that such leaders model how to be effectively human rather than superhuman and legitimize “becoming” rather than “pretending.”
Yay! Realistic leadership is good leadership. Beyond that, it matches our best advice for modeling critical thinking. This is excellent.
Except for one little thing.
Humble leaders who were young, nonwhite or female were reported as having to constantly prove their competence to followers, making their humble behaviors both more expected and less valued. However, humble leaders who were experienced white males were reported as reaping large benefits from humbly admitting mistakes, praising followers and trying to learn.
In contrast, female leaders often feel they are expected to show more humility than their male counterparts, but then they have their competence called into question when they do show humility.
“Our results suggest that female leaders often experience a ‘double bind,’” Owens says. “They are expected to be strong leaders and humble females at the same time.”
Oh, right. That.
Do try to remember that the next time people say minorities must be doing something wrong to get different results as leaders. | <urn:uuid:cfd7ce39-9db0-4ac3-9584-b052578ac9c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/almostdiamonds/2011/12/29/key-to-effective-leadership-for-white-men-only/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980335 | 456 | 1.820313 | 2 |
5 Social Lessons From Super Bowl XLVIIFrom the blackout to Beyonce to the actual game, this year's Super Bowl had much to teach about social business.
1. Social is important. If your response to that was, "No kidding!" read no further. (Well, actually, please read further.) If you said, "I still have my doubts," consider this: According to Twitter, there were 24.1 million tweets about the game and the halftime show alone. By the beginning of the second half, the volume of tweets about this year's game had already surpassed last year's tweet total.
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On the Facebook side, last year's Super Bowl was the second most-mentioned event on Facebook, second only to the presidential election.
We all know commercials are the big story of the night, and social played a huge factor there as well: Social media networks were mentioned in more than half of all of the commercials that ran during the game, with Twitter getting the most shout-outs in ads.
The upshot for business: If nothing has convinced you yet that social networking is officially part of -- if not driving -- public discourse and opinion, Super Bowl XLVII should.
[ How should businesses measure audience interaction in social media? Read Are Universal Social Engagement Standards Possible? ]
2. You can't let grass grow under you. Within minutes after the lights went out in the Superdome, just after the start of the second half, Oreo issued a Twitter ad reading, "You can still dunk in the dark." Tide detergent was also on the ball, tweeting its own turn of phrase (and leveraging a then-newly-trending hashtag): "We can't get your #blackout, but we can get your stains out." The ads were clever, timely and very widely shared.
The upshot for business: Take advantage of opportunities in the moment. This requires dedicating staff to events that you know will be big in your industry -- or in general -- and training them on what to say and how to say it. That goes for ad hoc comments as well as for highly staged campaigns, which brings us to our next lesson.
3. Any publicity is not necessarily good publicity. There were loads of examples around this year's Super Bowl that disproved the old adage "any publicity is good publicity" -- or, in the case of social, any discussion is good discussion. (We're talking to you, Ray Lewis.) But one example hit home particularly hard: GoDaddy, never known for its advertising decorum, featured an ad showing model Bar Refaeli and "Walter" making out. In close up. With sound. Comments on my own feeds included, "Ew," Blech," "Gross," "Did not need to see that." Sure, people were talking, but does anyone watching these ads even know what GoDaddy does anymore?
The upshot for business: Yes, provocative plays well on social. But you need to strike a balance between being sassy and being taken seriously.
4. Take advantage of the second screen. Many people who watched the Super Bowl did so with one eye on their giant HD television and the other on a smartphone or tablet -- the second screen. CBS, which broadcast the game, knew this and took advantage by not only streaming the entire game but also providing special features that optimized the experience on mobile platforms.
The upshot for business: People clearly aren't using their mobile devices just to watch big games. People of pretty much all ages are glued to them night and day. If you aren't optimizing your customers' mobile experiences with your company -- or aren't providing mobile opportunities at all -- you are leaving business on the table (or basically gifting your competitors with it).
5. Data counts. There was no shortage of big data resulting from social campaigns around the game. They will be parsed and analyzed and dissected to determine what worked and what didn't, and how to most effectively move forward.
For example, according to Twitter, the moments generating the biggest peaks of Twitter conversation (measured in tweets per minute, or TPM) during the game were the following:
-- Power outage: 231,500 TPM
-- 108-yard kickoff return for Ravens TD by Jones: 185,000 TPM
-- Clock expires; Ravens win: 183,000 TPM
-- Jones catches 56-yard pass for Ravens TD (end of 2nd quarter): 168,000 TPM
-- Gore TD for 49ers: 131,000 TPM
According to Facebook, the most-mentioned moments of Super Bowl XLVII were:
-- Ravens win the Super Bowl
-- Beyonce's halftime performance
-- Blackout in the Superdome
-- Jacoby Jones' 108-yard kickoff return for a Ravens touchdown
-- Joe Flacco's 56-yard pass to Jacoby Jones for a Ravens touchdown
-- Joe Flacco's 13-yard pass to Anquan Boldin for a Ravens touchdown
-- Frank Gore's six-yard run for a 49ers touchdown
-- Destiny's Child surprise appearance
-- Ray Lewis retirement
-- David Akers' field goal from 27-yard line
Facebook further released stats on gender, age, location and more.
The upshot for business: There is a ton of data generated from social media activities, both internal and external. It's not easy to make sense of this unstructured data, but the key to your company's next social move is likely buried within it.
What social lessons did you learn from Super Bowl XLVII? Please let us know in the comments section below.
Follow Deb Donston-Miller on Twitter at @debdonston.
Attend Online Marketing Summit San Diego, Feb. 11-13,and transform your brand with three full days of digital marketing inspiration, practical learning and networking opportunities. Hear from top brands including Adobe, Eloqua, Intel, Shutterfly, Sony Electronics and more. | <urn:uuid:174d0f71-895f-4286-9540-4c2827194427> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/news/5-social-lessons-from-super-bowl-xlvii/240147777?cid=SBX_bigdata_related_mostpopular_Social_Media_Monitoring_big_data&itc=SBX_bigdata_related_mostpopular_Social_Media_Monitoring_big_data | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956228 | 1,286 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Aussies to test golden staph vaccine
February 25, 2010 - 12:09AM
Australian scientists are developing a potential "blockbuster" vaccine that could protect against golden staph, a leading source of infection in the world's hospitals.
A major human trial is now getting under way, and more than 400 healthy volunteers are sought across the country to test how their bodies respond to the prototype vaccine.
Dr Peter Richmond said the bacteria, otherwise named Staphylococcus aureus, was posing a rising challenge to health authorities as antibiotic-resistant strains were now commonplace in hospitals and health care facilities.
There were was also signs these superbug variants were circulating in the community, he said, and a vaccine that could prevent serious infections would help to save lives the world over.
"This is the first time (the prototype vaccine) has been used in man," Perth-based Dr Richmond also told AAP on Wednesday.
"What we'll hopefully find out is what sort of boost to immunity the vaccine gives and whether or not it could stop you carrying this bug."
Dr Richmond said between 20 and 40 per cent of the population were unknowing carriers of the bacteria which usually live benignly on the skin or in the nose.
These "colonised" people, and those who they newly exposed to the bacteria, had a risk of infection should they also suffer an accidental cut or be recovering from surgery.
This could result in serious complications like pneumonia or a potentially life threatening infection of the brain membrane, heart valves or bone marrow.
Surgical patients who contract a golden staph infection take three times longer to recover than normal, Dr Richmond also said, and this placed an extra load on over-stretched hospital systems.
He said if the vaccine could eventually be given to people ahead of their surgery.
"At the moment we don't really know how we're going to use it, but we do know that Staphylococcus aureus is a major problem," he said.
"It's very exciting really. Potentially this might be a way to prevent this very serious public health problem ... Potentially, this would be a blockbuster vaccine."
Dr Richmond is head of the Vaccine Trials Group at Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. The project also involves the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and the University of WA's School of Paediatrics and Child Health.
The trial needs healthy volunteers in two age groups - 18 to 24 and 50 to 85 years.
Study participants will keep a diary of any symptoms over 12 months, and provide blood samples to show the level of protective antibodies generated by the vaccine.
© 2010 AAP | <urn:uuid:74eea53f-0246-46b1-8e99-5d270e4e856b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theblackvault.com/phpBB3/topic3328.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964555 | 546 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Walk — or drive, if you must — anywhere near Virginia Commonwealth University or the James River on any fall day, and you’re liable to see hundreds of people riding bicycles: students, commuters, outdoor adventurists. They’re everywhere. And as the city moves toward greener pastures and continues to become a more eco-friendly town, those numbers will only multiply.
Nathan Burrell, the trails manager for the City of Richmond, is one of the people working hard to ensure that it happens. He says it just makes sense.
“Richmond is very unique in that we have a river and a fall line right in the middle of the city,” Burrell says. “The amount of urban forest that we have here continues to give many opportunities for cyclists and the trails system. Luckily we’ve been able to capitalize on it.”
In seven years Burrell’s risen from an unpaid intern with the James River Park System to his post as trails manager for the entire city. Along the way he’s helped make Richmond one of the most widely recognized urban outdoor adventure settings in the country. In 2010 the James River Park was awarded best-in-dirt by Trail Runner magazine, and also has been recognized as the best urban park by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine.
In a show of just how important cycling is to the city, Mayor Dwight Jones recently started a Bike Pedestrian Committee, of which Burrell is a part.
“The Bike-Ped Committee is Richmond really saying that we’re ready to become a tier-one city when it comes to cycling,” he says. “We’re ready to recognize cycling’s importance.”
So is the world. Richmond recently learned that it had won a lucrative bid to serve as host for the World Road Cycling Championships in 2015.
“The end goal is for Richmond to truly be seen as an example, a Mecca for outdoor adventure,” Burrell says. “We have all the key elements to make it happen.” | <urn:uuid:4ca3d9e5-9087-4d23-8617-8c904cded72a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/nathan-burrell-30/Content?oid=1623801 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967986 | 434 | 1.78125 | 2 |
The prime minister said, “I was looking for my whole life for this type of horse, because I have learned one ancient secret – that I can teach horses to fly – but only of a particular type. This is the type, and this is my last day. I am not worried about my death, but just that one ancient art will be lost with me. That’s why I am weeping.”
The emperor was thrilled, excited – if the horse could fly, this would be something – so he said, “How many days will it take?”
The prime minister said, “At least one year – and then this horse will start flying.”
So the emperor said, “Okay, for one year I will make you free, but remember, if in one year the horse is not flying, you will be again sentenced and hanged. But if the horse is flying, you will be forgiven. And not only forgiven, I will give you half of my kingdom, because I will be the first emperor in history who has a flying horse. So come out of the jail and don’t weep.”
The prime minister rode, happy and laughing, on the horse to his house. But the wife was still weeping and crying and she said, “I have heard, the news has reached before you – but one year only? And I know you know no art, and this horse cannot fly. This is just a trick, a deception, so if you could ask for one year why couldn’t you ask for ten years?”
The prime minister said, “That would be too much. As it is, it is already too much. The horse flying is already too much. Then asking for ten years would have been obviously a trick. But don’t weep.”
But the wife said, “It makes me still more sad that now I will be living with you and after one year you will be hanged. This one year is going to be a suffering.”
The prime minister said, “Now I will tell you one ancient secret you don’t know. In this one year the king can die, the horse can die, I can die. Or, who knows? – the horse can learn to fly! One year!”
Just hope – and man lives through hope because he is so bored. When boredom comes to a point where you cannot hope, when hopelessness is absolute, you commit suicide. Boredom and suicide are both human. No animal can commit suicide, no tree can commit suicide.
Why has this happened? What is the reason behind it? Has man forgotten completely how to live, how to celebrate, how to be festive? While the whole existence is festive, how has man retreated out of it and created a sad milieu around him?
It has happened. Animals live through instinct; they don’t live through awareness. They live through instinct, mechanically. Nothing has to be learned. They are born with whatsoever they need to know. Their life runs on a smooth instinctive plane; there is no learning. They have an inbuilt program, a blueprint in their cells, for all that they need to live and be happy, so they go on living mechanically. | <urn:uuid:44bd480f-2947-49fb-8c26-eb8356a568a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.osho.com/library/online-library-the-book-of-secrets-15ae9ae6856c.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974508 | 683 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Ash and Abhi started as co-stars. After working with Ash in a few films, Abhi says he developed feelings for the actress who’s been called the most beautiful woman in the world. “I was filming in New York for a movie,” he says. “And I used to stand on the balcony of my hotel room and wish that, ‘One day, wouldn’t it be nice if I was together with her, married.’” Years later, the co-stars returned to New York City as a couple. They were there for the premiere of Guru, a film they worked on together, but Abhi had something special in store.
“After the premiere, we were back in the hotel,” he says. “So I took her to the very same balcony, and I asked her to marry me.” The ring that Abhishek had with him was no diamond rock, but a studio prop from the set of Guru. It was the same ring that Abhishek had slipped on Aishwarya’s finger in the film. He in fact asked the producer if he could keep the ring, for sentimental reasons.
Sure, they’re rich and famous, but like most Indian couples, they don’t live alone. Ash and Abhi share a home with Abhi’s parents. ”It’s normal,” Ash says. “It’s absolutely natural to us. … I lived with my parents before we got married, so it’s a natural thing.” Abhi says his grandparents also lived with them before they passed away. This practice is common in many parts of the world. “It’s normal to bring the parents in, to have respect for the elders,” Oprah says. “To have your elders to be a part of your life forever.”
What first caught her attention: “His eyes. Genuine.”
Endearing annoyances: “She’s a tad bit disorganized.”
‘Aishwarya’ means wealth and prosperity
‘Abhishek’ derived from Sanskrit loosely translated means ‘Installed as king”
‘Aaradhya’ means ‘one who is worth worshiping,’ | <urn:uuid:dc20aad0-9ad6-4595-9ddb-8b369c7d98c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://engle-heart.com/brilliantlywed/tag/hindu/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987498 | 498 | 1.617188 | 2 |
By Michael Oren
Friday, July 14, 2006; A21
JERUSALEM -- For the first time since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israel is facing hostilities on two fronts. The exceedingly volatile situation is liable to embroil other Middle Eastern states, culminating in a regional conflict similar to that of the 1967 Six-Day War.
Faced with such a prospect, Israel could yield to international appeals for restraint and allow tensions to subside. By doing so, however, it would accelerate a process in which Syrian- and Iranian-backed terrorist groups in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon can keep the country in a state of perpetual military mobilization, paralyzing it economically and deepening its diplomatic isolation. To deny the terrorists this victory, indeed to survive, Israel must take bold action to fundamentally alter the security situation on its northern and southern borders.
Paradoxically, Israel has been attacked from the two territories from which it unilaterally withdrew with the approval of much of the international community. Since the pullout of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000, Hezbollah terrorists have periodically fired rockets at civilian targets in Israel and ambushed soldiers across the U.N.-recognized border. Since the withdrawal from Gaza last year, Hamas and other Palestinian groups have fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israeli territory and have repeatedly attempted to conduct terrorist raids across the border.
Israel refrained from large-scale military reprisals for this aggression, confident of having won international goodwill through its withdrawals and fearful of being dragged back into the Lebanese and Gazan morasses. But Israelis have learned that unprovoked violence against them raises little outcry in the world and that failure to react to isolated acts of terror invites unremitting terror. Today a united Hezbollah-Hamas axis has emerged, financed and trained by Syria and Iran, with the goal of destabilizing Israel and frustrating its efforts to disengage from the conflict. In spite of the perils that this front poses to Israel, and the ethical dilemmas that fighting it raises, Israel can transform the situation into one that promotes both domestic and regional stability.
In countering Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel has little choice but to strike at those who authorize the attacks: the heads of those organizations. Both Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and Hasan Nasrallah in Lebanon appear indifferent to their own people's safety. For propaganda purposes, they order rocket crews to operate in densely populated areas so that Israeli retaliation will inflict the maximum number of civilian casualties. But these leaders remain extremely reluctant to pay for terror with their own lives, a fact that Israel discovered when its policy of targeted assassinations compelled Hamas to agree to a cease-fire.
By contrast, punishing the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples collectively, as Israel has been doing, only strengthens their support for terror while creating painful ethical problems for Israelis. And negotiating with the terrorists for their hostages' release merely encourages them to kidnap more Israelis. Ultimately, Israel has no alternative other than convincing these leaders that terror incurs a personal cost.
But even targeted assassinations are no substitute for deterring the state sponsors of terror. Israel cannot hope for quiet along its borders as long as Hamas leaders continue to direct terror with impunity from Damascus and as long as Hezbollah receives orders from Syria and Iran.
Efforts by the United States, the United Nations and the European Union to dissuade Iran and Syria from activating their terrorist agents have consistently proved ineffective. Therefore Israel has no realistic option but to convince these states that the price of promoting aggression is prohibitive. If Israeli soldiers and civilians are the targets of Iranian- and Syrian-backed terror, then the Iranian and Syrian militaries must become targets for Israel.
By eliminating the terrorist leaderships in Gaza and southern Lebanon and deterring Syria and Iran from prodding their proxies to war, Israel can restore a reasonable level of security to its citizens. Such measures will also be implicitly welcomed by Israel's Jordanian and Egyptian neighbors, who are similarly threatened by these same terrorist groups. Only by establishing a new and more stable status quo along Israel's borders can Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proceed with his plan of redrawing those borders permanently, either unilaterally or in cooperation with a nonviolent Palestinian partner.
The writer, a military historian, is a senior fellow at the Shalem Center, an academic research institute in Jerusalem. | <urn:uuid:d93bc407-1dee-42b5-91f6-32bbca111bb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/13/AR2006071301668_pf.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953894 | 881 | 1.953125 | 2 |
When Laura Bush entered the White House on Jan. 20, 2001, everyone wanted to know what kind of first lady she would be. Would she be like Mamie Eisenhower? Would she follow in Barbara Bush’s footsteps? Would she be another Hillary Clinton?
“I think I’ll just be Laura Bush,” she would say.
Few people have as much insight into what that means as Anita McBride, who has been her chief of staff since January 2005. Just after the 2004 election, Laura Bush’s first chief of staff Andi Ball called McBride to say she was planning to move back to Texas. Ball said Mrs. Bush wanted to interview McBride as Ball's successor.
McBride, whose trademark is the colorful silk scarves she usually wears, knew the White House as well as anyone. Going back to 1984, she had worked for Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. A week after Ball’s phone call, the first lady met with McBride at the White House.
“She was very clear and very direct about what she wanted the second term to look like,” McBride tells me in the first interview she has given about her time as chief of staff. “She had definite ideas and laid out several principles that she wanted to guide her and eventually guide her staff.”
The first idea was that she wanted to go to Afghanistan to call attention to the plight of women there and the way the American liberation had improved their lives. According to stereotypes perpetrated by the left, Laura Bush is a pre-feminist figure who has no influence within the Bush administration.
In fact, as former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told me for my book "Laura Bush: An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady," if Mrs. Bush feels that the staff is offering counsel that is “inconsistent with what she sees in the president’s heart, she is not bashful about telling us.”
First Lady Influence
When presidential appointments are under consideration for agencies in which she has an interest, Bush often asks her opinion. “He will say, ‘Why don’t you check with Laura and see if she has any ideas?’ Or he’ll say, ‘Did you run that by Laura? What’s Laura’s reaction?’” Card says.
Mrs. Bush also influences budget requests.
“If it’s a particular interest of the first lady, we will pay attention to the funding for those programs, and they will always prevail,” says Clay Johnson, Bush’s friend from high school who was his Yale roommate and became deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget. But Laura’s influence extends beyond budgets, Johnson says.
The administration routinely asks for her opinion or suggestions on appointments and on issues affecting agencies that deal with subjects of interest to her, such as education, the arts, women’s rights, juveniles with social problems, AIDS, libraries, and the humanities.
George Bush bounces off policy questions on Laura.
“I don’t believe he sits down with her and says, ‘I have six policy items I want to go over with you,’” Johnson says. “Rather, issues come up in informal conversation. She is very smart and very wise and can give him an objective, big-picture perspective that after an hour or so with the policy people, he may have lost. As an example, the president will talk to her about civil service reform issues. She will say, ‘Do you really want to do that, or do you really want to make a change in leadership at a time like this?’”
According to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, it was Laura’s “initiative and her idea to really fully and completely expose what the Taliban regime was doing to women, emphasizing violations of women’s rights prior to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.”
While that may seem an obvious point to make, at the time it was not.
“It turned out to be hugely important for us in terms of broadening the base of support for the war, in terms of really vivifying for people what this regime was like,” Rice told me.
Laura Bush is so modest, she does not watch her own interviews on television. She insists that her speechwriters omit the personal pronoun “I.” But after 9/11, she recognized that she could play an important role as the nation’s comforter in chief. She took a more visible role pushing projects like reintroducing phonics — or sounding out letters — to reading instruction, a goal of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Now tests are reporting significant improvement in reading scores throughout the nation. In some areas, the achievement gap between black and white students has been cut in half.
In the second term, Laura Bush wanted to broaden her reach. Given McBride’s experience, she knew she could pull it off seamlessly. Like Laura herself, McBride has a dulcet manner but is direct and has a tough inner core. The daughter of Italian immigrants, McBride grew up in Bridgeport, Conn. Her father was a factory worker who only finished third grade; her mother died when she was three.
McBride received a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of Connecticut, where she also studied three languages. She studied international relations at American University in Washington and at the University of Florence in Italy. Married to Timothy McBride, she has two children.
McBride began working for President Reagan in 1984. From 1987 to 1992, she was director of White House personnel under Reagan and then President George H. W. Bush. Under President George W. Bush, she was special assistant to the president for White House management. where she oversaw departments that support the president and first lady. She then became the State Department’s liaison to the White House.
When Mrs. Bush interviewed her for the job of chief of staff, McBride was senior adviser to the State Department’s Bureau of International Organizations, working with the United Nations. She thus had a good background for arranging overseas trips. Because of security concerns, going to Afghanistan would entail massive planning and coordination.
“That was something I knew I could help her with,” McBride says. “I went about explaining to her how I thought we could make that happen.”
Laura Bush traveled to Afghanistan in March 2005. Her staff of 21 was not told of the plans.
“We planned it quietly; we planned it secretly,” McBride says. “She was never concerned; she was never worried. She knew this was important to do. She wanted to show solidarity with the women there and the children that she's been advocating for, and to call attention to what Americans could do to help and to see the progress.”
Under the Taliban, women could not go out alone in public, obtain an education, or work for a living. Now Mrs. Bush was able to see the first class of graduates at a school for men and women teachers.
“I remember a very vivid and poignant moment when she walked into these classrooms and there was a classroom for women, there was a classroom for men, learning to be teachers. But she walked into the classroom where the men were learning to be teachers,” McBride says. “And one man stood up. He struggled with his English, but he was very clear and emphatic in being able to announce his name and to welcome her to Afghanistan. It was a powerful moment.”
Besides meeting with President Hamid Karzai, Laura Bush met with students who were attending school for the first time in their lives. It was an opportunity to “show support for their willingness to help become educated and rebuild their country,” McBride observes.
Getting the Message Out
On this trip and on many others, Laura’s goal in part was to illustrate for Americans the impact they are having. “We are the most compassionate, generous nation on the face of the earth,” McBride says. “And she's a very good representative of what's good about America.”
Laura Bush focused her husband’s attention on the need to fight AIDS and HIV in Africa, and he decided to put what turned out to be an initial $15 billion into the effort. That has not gone unnoticed.
Reviled by many on the left as a threat to humanity, President Bush is loved by Africans largely because his AIDS initiative has resulted in a significant decline in infections and deaths.
According to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, 82 percent of people surveyed in the Ivory Coast, 72 percent in Kenya, and 69 percent in Ghana express confidence that Bush does the right thing in world affairs.
“Whether we’ve traveled to Mozambique or to Ghana or to Nigeria and Liberia, leaders have said to her, if it weren't for these programs, they wouldn't have a chance at development; they wouldn't have a chance to break the cycle of poverty,” McBride says.
On the domestic front, Laura Bush was inspired by a New York Times Magazine story about a young Milwaukee father, a former pimp and drug dealer, who struggled to give his son the father he never had. With that article as a trigger, Laura began thinking about her own experience teaching inner city children in Houston and Dallas. There, Laura would go in on Saturdays on her own time and do remedial work with kids who were having trouble reading.
Mrs. Bush decided to try to help young boys at risk.
“In the earlier stages of the campaign,” Condi Rice said, “I remember her mentioning the overwhelming sadness of what was happening to young men, particularly African-American young men, and wanting to do something about that.”
Rather than promoting an existing program, she conceived of her own, one that focused on a constellation of problems young boys may have. Called Helping America’s Youth, the program that Bush approved and announced in the 2005 State of the Union address consisted of administration initiatives that received increased funding.
It also included a new one — a $150 million, three-year mentoring effort to keep young people from joining gangs by giving them positive role models.
“We spent nine months identifying some of the best practices out there in the country that can be verified and are authoritative that really do help children at risk — not just boys but girls, too,” McBride says.
Those practices were spotlighted at the Helping America's Youth conference at Howard University. In turn, they were highlighted at six regional conferences. The program focused the efforts of nine federal agencies.
A Web-based guide was launched to allow locals to punch in their zip codes and learn about programs and initiatives in their own communities.
Laura Bush reads at least a book a week, and her love of reading has been the centerpiece of her role as first lady. Because of that passion, she founded the National Book Festival, which is now attended by 120,000 people a year.
Early on, Laura had expected to hold a number of State Dinners. That changed after 9/11. Instead, “They had a lot of smaller dinners and working lunches and working dinners,” McBride says.
In the second term, she says, “We had some theme events, beginning with the Shakespeare dinner that she and the president hosted in honor of William Shakespeare's birthday.”
Behind the scenes, McBride broadened Mrs. Bush’s reach within the White House. Besides attending the daily 7:30 a.m. meeting of Bush’s senior staff, McBride lobbied Andy Card to make Laura’s director of projects a member of the Domestic Policy Council. She pushed then White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett to include Laura’s public affairs spokesperson in daily communications strategy and messaging meetings. And Steve Hadley, Bush’s national security director, began including McBride in his National Security Council meetings several times a week.
“In 2006, we elevated Anita from deputy assistant to assistant to the president and moved her seat from along the wall of the Roosevelt Room where presidential meetings are held to the main table,” Josh Bolten, the White House chief of staff, tells me. “That was a recognition of both Anita personally and, more importantly, the large and well-integrated role that the first lady’s office has increasingly played in advancing the president’s policy agenda.”
On a range of issues from education and women’s rights to global health, Burma, conservation, and historic preservation, “The first lady and her able Anita-led staff have been terrific in not only amplifying the president’s message, but in many cases in helping to generate the substantive agenda in the first place,” Bolten adds.
In her first White House job, McBride reviewed letters sent to Reagan and would select about 20 — half pro and half con — for him to read at Camp David every weekend. Reagan would pen responses to each letter.
“When the president was recommending Pershing missiles in Europe and in Germany, there was enormous outcry and outrage,” McBride says. “The letters that came in were really accusing him of destabilizing the world. And we had a very different outcome. He had a strong moral core; he stayed steady, like this president.”
Much as with Reagan, McBride is confident Bush will one day be recognized as a great president, chiefly because he has kept us safe. Besides the counsel Laura provides him, “She has kept the president uplifted,” McBride says.
High Approval Rating
Despite the slings and arrows she has suffered over the years in the liberal media, Laura Bush’s approval rating has stood consistently at 80 percent or more.
In contrast to some other first ladies, there have been no flubs, no gaffes, no scandals. Pressed for a mishap, McBride recalls the time when a suit Laura was to wear at a function in Arizona got left behind. Her personal aide Lindsey Knutson quickly bought another one at a shopping mall.
“Besides having probably the best instincts and judgment of anybody I have ever met, she's very authentic,” McBride says. “I think that she's well respected in our country and around the world because she’s very real and because she’s been a leading voice or an advocate on issues that she has credibility on. For her, everything begins and ends with education.”
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. View his previous reports and get his dispatches sent to you free via
e-mail. Go here now.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:a6676e9c-1a40-4aaa-baf8-b4ca4355fd29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/first-lady-laura-bush/2008/10/07/id/325773 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980456 | 3,130 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Wednesday, June 27th, 2012
HIGH-TECH WAY TO EXPLORE, SHARE ABOUT AIDS QUILT
|AP Photo from 1996|
WASHINGTON (AP) - For tourists struck by the summer heat in the nation's capital, a quilt might be the farthest thing from their minds. But thanks to the NAMES Project Foundation, one quilt in particular is stealing the show at the national Mall.
To mark its 25th anniversary, the AIDS Memorial Quilt has returned to Washington as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It's the quilt's first appearance on the Mall since 1996. Each of the 8,000 panels of the quilt on display for the festival memorializes a man or woman who died battling HIV/AIDS.
When the quilt was here 16 years ago, the entire thing stretched across the Mall. At 1.3 million square feet, organizers say today's quilt is too large to be displayed in full.
Most of the panels sent in come from friends, family or loved ones of those who died of HIV/AIDS. At the onset of the project in 1987, organizers believed the disease would be cured and the squares would be taken apart and sent back within five years, said Julie Rhoad, NAMES Project Foundation executive director.
Rhoad said the foundation has made a lot of progress in 25 years towards educating the public, but there still is not a cure.
"I think that we've come a long way," Rhoad said, "but the question is: 'Do we settle on where we are right now?'"
Almost 35,000 people were diagnosed with AIDS in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though medication exists to slow HIV from becoming AIDS, the agency says these treatments must be taken daily for the rest of the patient's life.
"The least among us don't have access to quality care," Rhoad said.
At the opening ceremony for the festival held Wednesday, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said the AIDS Memorial Quilt symbolizes a need for people "to learn to live together."
"The AIDS Quilt is saying we all live in the same house, the American house, the world house," Lewis said. "We can never, ever leave this house, so together we must build a world community that is free from disease and is finally at peace with itself."
For those unable to get to the Mall to see the quilt in person, researchers from the University of Southern California created a website for the Names Project Foundation that launched at the festival Wednesday.
Organized alphabetically by first name, it allows users to see blocks dedicated to specific people, their name, city, date of birth and date of death if that information is available, and the block's location among those laid out on the mall. Users can also post stories and comments alongside squares of the quilt displayed online. Those at the event can use it to locate specific panels laid out on the mall.
The standard size of a panel is 6 feet-by-3 feet. Eight panels make up one block, and on the Mall, four blocks were cable-tied together to form what they refer to as a patch, with an area of about 576 square feet, bigger than some D.C. studio apartments.
Many of the panels on the Mall indicate birth and death dates of the people they memorialize.
Festival visitor Nancy Bard of Seaford, Del., was surprised to see that she was born in the same year as many of those who had passed away.
Since the first cases of AIDS appeared in the United States more than 600,000 people diagnosed with the disease have died, according to the CDC.
"I think people have put their heart and soul into this," Bard said, "and I'm surprised. As I see them, you know it hits home how many people have and are dying from AIDS."
Kelly Rivera Hart, a volunteer for the NAMES Project Foundation from San Francisco, contributed a panel this year in honor of his friend, Rick Flener, who succumbed to AIDS in 2002.
The panel for Flener is a blue rectangle with a disco ball in the left-hand corner made from shiny fabric Hart found in the Haight-Ashbury district. Clear letters written on the panel spell out one of Flener's favorite jokes and qualities that friends and family remember about him: "his sweet smile," ''his warm friendship" and "silliness."
Hart became involved with HIV/AIDS activism when he received his diagnosis in 1992. He said finding out he had HIV woke him up.
"I thought, you know, I need to be doing something with my life," Hart said.
After his diagnosis, Hart began taking medication to treat the disease, which he said gave him nerve damage, forcing him to give up running and going out dancing four nights a week.
But Hart remains optimistic.
"Things slow me down," Hart said, "I'm not letting them stop me."
The Folklife Festival also contains an exhibit called "Citified" that displays art from southeast Washington D.C. and one called "Campus and Community," celebrating colleges established by land grants in 1862. Those exhibits and the AIDS Memorial Quilt exhibit will run from June 27 to July 1 and July 4-8. | <urn:uuid:17e161f5-a76d-44a1-8f4c-85490a249697> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=AIDS_quilt_AP | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974602 | 1,099 | 1.976563 | 2 |
As Chance Bothe, then 21, was driving home from college last year into the southeast Texas city of Ganado, he was focused more on texting a friend than he was on the road.
"I need to stop before I have a wreck and kill myself" was the message he sent shortly before his truck tumbled down a 20-foot ravine, his father said.
Bobby Bothe, 57, got a call at Dow Chemical, where he works, and thus began what turned into a months-long, multimillion-dollar recuperation for his son.
At the hospital, he ran into a friend's daughter, a nurse. "I told her, 'I don't know what to do,' and she said, 'You pray.' " He did.
His son had suffered a compound broken leg, broken ankles, broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken sternum, a broken neck, a broken nose, crushed eye sockets, a crushed forehead and a fractured skull, Bothe said.
"They told us he wouldn't make it, they said he'd be blind, he'd never walk again."
After more than three weeks in a coma, Chance Bothe regained consciousness but initially recognized neither of his parents, Bothe said.
Bothe knows that many parents of young drivers are not so lucky. That was underscored by three crashes in three days this week in which 15 teenagers were killed.
In Illinois, four Chicago-area teenagers died Tuesday morning when their car plunged into a creek. They were students at Wilmington High School, the school superintendent said.
In Ohio on Sunday, a sport utility vehicle veered off a two-lane road into a pond, killing six of eight teenage occupants. The vehicle was meant to carry five people.
In Texas, an SUV carrying five teenagers collided with a gas tanker Sunday. All five young people were killed, and the tanker driver was seriously injured. The teen driver failed to stop at a stop sign, authorities said.
For survivors, recovery can be long. With such severe injuries, Chance Bothe was hospitalized for seven months. Now, the 22-year-old man has plastic eye sockets, metal rods in his legs and a rebuilt nose. "He's a little bit slower than he was" but is working on a ranch, attending online classes from home and planning to take his message of survival to high schools around the state, Bobby Bothe said.
It's a message the father supports. "I don't want no parent to ever go through this," he said. "You gotta know, my son is everything to me."
Though traffic fatalities have seen a historic drop in recent decades, young drivers remain at highest risk.
Motor-vehicle crashes are the top cause of death for people ages 15 to 20, according to 2007 figures from the National Center for Health Statistics.
In 2010, crashes killed about 2,700 people ages 16 to 19 -- more than seven per day -- and resulted in nearly 282,000 others being treated for injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And drivers ages 16 to 19 are three times more likely than older drivers to be involved in a fatal crash, the agency says.
The weekend crashes in Ohio and Texas fit even higher-risk profiles:
-- Both SUVs were packed with other teenagers, which in itself is a risk factor. The more teenage passengers, the more likely a crash will occur.
-- None of the six teens who died in the Ohio wreck was wearing a seat belt. In 2011, 54% of high school students said they always wore seat belts, the lowest rate of any age group, according to the CDC.
-- Failure to focus on the task at hand also may have played a role with the 19-year-old driver in Ohio. "The lady driving was playing around when she was driving," said Asher C. Lewis, one of the two survivors of the crash, according to his account in the traffic crash report. "She was swaying and speeding. I think she was driving on purpose like that but I'm not sure why. It felt like she was driving like 80 mph." Teen drivers are more likely than their older counterparts to speed, the CDC says.
-- The Texas driver's age -- 16 -- put him and his passengers at heightened risk. Accidents are more likely to occur during the first few months after a teenager has received a driver's license.
-- The Texas driver was male: In 2010, the death rate for male drivers and passengers ages 16 to 19 was nearly twice that of females.
-- Both wrecks occurred on the weekend: More than half (55%) of teen deaths from motor-vehicle crashes occur on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, the CDC says.
Texas holds a dubious distinction related to crashes. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, young drivers were involved in 187 fatal crashes in 2010 in the Lone Star State; the next highest number was 113, in Florida. Ohio had 71. | <urn:uuid:27dea280-03ae-4c68-8827-737639786d68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ktvz.com/lifestyle/travel/Fatal-wrecks-highlight-young-driver-risks/-/427002/19289550/-/p8ctpe/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986029 | 1,028 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Bonnie's grimoire was passed down from generation to generation and Bonnie uses her ancestor's Grimoire to learn her craft. Jonas Martin had an obsession with Grimoires and collected them. This was important in finding the spell to channel the power of the dead Witches which will possibly lead to the end of Klaus and to find and save his daughter. After Jonas and Luka died, Bonnie packed up their grimoires and presumably kept from in order to kill Klaus. Bonnie wanted to harness the power of all of the dead witches to kill Klaus but if a witch tries to access that much power it would kill them. When Bonnie finally harnessed the power of her ancestors she nearly brought Klaus to the brink of death, but Klaus told Elijah if he rescued him he would show Elijah where he hid their family.
Emily Bennett's GrimoireEdit
Emily Bennett was a powerful witch in 1864. After she was burned at the stake, her grimoire was taken by the Founding Families, and was later buried in Giuseppe Salvatore's grave. 145 years later, the location of the grimoire was finally discovered by Elena and Stefan, after reading Johnathan Gilbert's journal's. After retrieving the book, Elena and Stefan were forced into giving it to Damon, after he threatened Elena's life. Soon after that, Bonnie and Sheila Bennett were convinced into using the grimoire to try and open the tomb that encased all of the vampires.
During the few episodes when she was still alive, Gloria is seen referring to her grimoire. It's size is found to be bigger than other grimoires shown in the show. Due to her age and experience, Gloria used her powers to scan for a spell without reading anything on it. It may be possible that this grimoire may contain the spell needed to slow down the speed of aging. | <urn:uuid:168176ca-c462-44cf-a16a-147a68b3cfe4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vampirediaries.wikia.com/wiki/Grimoire | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976939 | 370 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Sunday, May 26, 2013
By Bill Nemitz email@example.com
Late last week, as the horror of Japan's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe was just beginning to unfold, Gov. Paul LePage issued a statement of condolence and prayer for the victims of that country's worst calamity since the end of World War II.
LePage also noted that Maine "has a sister-state relationship with the Prefecture of Aomori," about 150 miles north of the all-but-obliterated city of Sendai.
Sister state? When, some Mainers undoubtedly wondered, did that happen?
Well, it depends on how you look at it.
The formal relationship was struck by Gov. John McKernan in 1994.
But the story, as told in a 1997 speech in Aomori by a local resident, Kou Ootaka, goes back more than a century.
It was late October of 1889. The Chesebrough, a three-masted ship built by Arthur Sewall and Co. in Bath, had sailed from Maine to Japan with a shipment of case oil, refilled its hold with 2,300 tons of sulfur and was just getting under way on its long voyage back to the United States.
It had been a rough trip. A typhoon the previous month had heavily damaged the Chesebrough, forcing its 23-member crew to lay over in the port of Hokkaido for 34 days while the vessel was repaired.
Their luck would be no better as they finally set sail on Oct. 28. Another ferocious storm hit the Japan Sea the next day, toppling the ship's main mast and leaving Capt. Peter Erickson and his men helpless as the Chesebrough broke up and sank within sight of the Japanese village of Shariki.
Villagers came running to the shore and built bonfires. Fishermen boarded a rescue vessel and headed out to search for survivors.
They found only four.
"Are you Napoleon? Are you Bismarck? Are you Washington?" asked a policeman, trying to determine the sailors' nationality. At the mention of "Washington," they replied, "Yes! Yes!"
"They are Americans!" the policeman announced.
One of those pulled from the water, a man named Wilson, was unconscious and appeared to be near death. But something remarkable happened.
"At this time, one of the women who had brought food from the village, Mrs. Han Kudo, 45 years old and the wife of Mr. Yoshiemon Kudo, did not hesitate in public," Ootaka recalled. "She took off her clothes and hugged Mr. Wilson in the sleet to warm him up. People still say she looked like a heavenly maiden. Miraculously, Mr. Wilson was revived."
For days, even after the survivors recovered from their ordeal and departed for their long trip home, Japanese villagers found the bodies of other crew members washing up on their shore. All of them, including 40-year-old Capt. Erikson, received solemn burials.
And the Japanese never forgot.
At the top of a hill overlooking the village is a religious shrine. And near that is a stone commemorating the wreck of the ship from faraway Maine.
"Every year since the disaster, the people of Shariki hold a service for the sailors who lost their lives on that night in 1889," Ootaka said. And for 100 of those years, few if any Mainers even knew about it.
That changed in 1990, when the mayor of Shariki sent a letter to Bath City Hall to tell officials of the annual memorial service, and to lament the fact that in 100 years, no representative from Bath had visited the village.
That simple communication, and the visits between dignitaries from both communities that soon followed, led to the establishment of a vibrant sister-city relationship between Bath and Shariki in 1996. (The connection was expanded in 2006 to include the city of Tsugaru, which encompasses Shariki.)
(Continued on page 2) | <urn:uuid:342151dc-a316-4a0c-9c1e-63bde2948aff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pressherald.com/news/linked-by-disasters-sister-states-bond_2011-03-16.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978104 | 843 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Follow Dutch Trader on Twitter @wakeupinvestor The name "Dutch Trader" refers to The Golden Age. This was a period in Dutch history, roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science, military and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. Dutch ships hunted whales... More
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Stocks that instabloggers have most recently written about | <urn:uuid:5861ea18-a8bb-404f-983e-6249908db567> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seekingalpha.com/instablog/169406-dutch-trader/68526-china-insonline-corp-chio-ready-to-rock-roll | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950815 | 117 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The public is clamoring for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to speed up its five-year study on how to permanently block Asian carp from migrating up the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and into Lake Michigan, but Army Corps officials say it's going to take time - at least another four years.
Meantime, Army Corps officials say the public doesn't need to worry: The electric fish barrier that it's operating at about half its potential voltage on the canal about 35 miles south of Lake Michigan is doing an excellent job of holding the fish back.
How do they know that?
They have a study that shows it.
What does that study say?
They won't share it - not even with members of a government advisory panel created to "assess and evaluate effective methodologies, engineering, and science-based methods" to keep the carp and other species from migrating up the Chicago canal system.
"They just seem to be hiding from public scrutiny," said Phil Moy, a former Army Corps employee who now works for University of Wisconsin Sea Grant and is the co-chair of the "technical policy and work group" for the federal government's Regional Coordinating Committee in the Asian carp fight.
"Good science doesn't work that way," said Moy, whose panel is packed with scientists, many of whom were instrumental in getting the barrier built in the first place. "Instead of sharing these research results, they're just sitting on them."
Efforts Thursday to reach Army Corps Col. Vincent Quarles, commander of the agency's Chicago District, were unsuccessful. But he explained in an e-mail to Moy last week that it will be months before he decides to release the study that apparently concludes the operating parameters of the barrier are adequate to keep the fish from swimming through. The reason: This study is just part of a batch of related studies that the Army Corps is conducting.
"We have invoked the deliberative process privilege under Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act to withhold the study from immediate release," Quarles wrote. "We have invoked this exemption because we foresee harm to our internal decision-making process if the report were released outside of the context of the larger Efficacy II report - which will include not only operating parameters but also in-water and ground surface safety testing, threat analysis of Asian carp at the barrier system, the leading edge of Asian carp within the (Chicago canal), and other factors."
Barrier at half strength
The barrier was built to operate at a maximum of four volts per inch, but is operating at two volts. An Army Corps employee told the Journal Sentinel on Tuesday that lab testing showed that is enough to keep out the carp, provided they aren't less than 6 inches long.
"About 6 inches or so were the smallest fish looked at for two volts per inch for those current settings," Army Corps Lt. Col. David Berczek said.
He said the Army Corps didn't conduct tests with smaller fish because officials don't believe there are any fish that size close to the barrier. Smaller fish have less surface area and therefore it takes a bigger jolt to repel them.
Berczek said the Army Corps could turn up the voltage and adjust other operating parameters such as the pulse rate at which the electricity is fired, but that could pose a danger to barge operators plying the canal, and that would mean a new round of safety tests and possibly more safety measures.
And because the Army Corps doesn't believe there are any fish smaller than 6 inches anywhere near the barrier, it isn't about to do that.
Surprised by threshold
The 6-inch threshold surprised Duane Chapman, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who is among the nation's top carp experts. Chapman agreed there is no evidence that there are fish 6 inches or smaller in the waters just below the barrier, but his research shows by the time a fish reaches 6 inches it can swim at least 60 kilometers from where it hatched.
Chapman said he wondered if Berczek might have misspoke, because he thought the Army Corps was testing the barrier's effectiveness for fish much smaller than 6 inches.
"That's a surprise," Chapman said. "That's not good."
Berczek made the statement in a recorded interview with the Journal Sentinel. | <urn:uuid:a1eb5fba-80ca-471d-9bf7-7dcc0a74812d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/116419819.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974254 | 889 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Today is International AIDS Day.
I still remember, driving home to school on a November morning and listening on the radio about Freddie Mercury’s death from AIDS. I still remember my friend D lamenting his death. (To this day, we say Freddie was gay only because he never met us…).
I would like to write about the most effective public health campaign ever. Granted, it is likely only a few hundreds of people saw it. It was never made national, or televised. It consisted of two small posters, drawn by hand, made by some medical students. I call it the most effective campaign because I still remember it, 22 years later.
It was 1989, and I was visiting Veracruz with my father, my mother and my brother. My mom had an AMFEM meeting, and one of the activities included touring the medical school. The posters were taped to a window. The drawings were something like blue and pink eggs (although it could’ve been the male and female symbol). The posters said, in large letters, SI DA and NO DA (a play on the Spanish acronym for AIDS, SIDA, and the phrase Si Da, you can get it.)
On the SI DA poster, you had the “eggs” engaging in activities that put you at risk of acquiring AIDS, like using drugs, having homosexual and heterosexual unprotected sex, a seropositive pregnant woman passing it on to her child, etc. The NO DA poster showed the “eggs” hugging, kissing, sharing food, dancing, swimming, etc.
Those posters stuck with me. I wish I had a photo, or knew who made them. They were clear, brief and simple, enough to attract a child’s attention, and retain it long enough for her to read and learn (granted, the child in question used to read anything in her path).
I can’t say those posters (or any AIDS campaign, for that matter) caused a change in my behavior. After all, I wasn’t old enough to partake in any of those risks. But I’m pretty sure that some of the students at the Veracruz medical school saw them, and learned, and changed their attitudes and behavior on account of those two posters.
Ha, nevermind. Romanticism, be gone! The posters were not made by students, but by the pros at the Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo. Still, it was an effective campaign! You can see the posters here, here (not the originals, but a better view), and the ads below. (Thanks to Google, and all the people who posted this material) | <urn:uuid:17b923c9-e80b-4e68-b81f-aad8d76dd7a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://astrobiologiste.wordpress.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977007 | 554 | 2.125 | 2 |
Spy Out Cluedo Board Game Editions
If you're accustomed to CLUE, then our guide to Cluedo board game editions may come as some surprise! In fact this board game was invented in England in 1948, and has always been Cluedo outside North America. All these editions are European, including rare versions you won't have seen before.
I Didn't Have a CLUE!
Most people in North America think Cluedo is a spelling error, or a weird British joke. The inventor of Cluedo, Waddingtons, had enjoyed success with Ludo prior to Cluedo's release, and made the name a hybrid to associate the names in people's minds. It must have been successful, because Cluedo (and CLUE) is now over 60 years old.
Cluedo the board game is the classic Murder Mystery game!
If you're wondering about the CLUE board game, in North America that's what the game has always been known as. The Cluedo name is the original one. There are lots of versions of the game not available in North America, most of which are linked to from this page. What's striking is the difference between the US and European editions. There are not many licensed versions in the UK (The Simpsons Cluedo and Harry Potter aside).
What you do see a lot of is sub-genre games, experiments that are brave and perhaps not successful, but rare and exciting to collectors. Stuff like Cluedo Carnival and Cluedo Super Sleuth would never have made it in the US. It's nice to see this kind of risk-taking. Certainly you don't see the giant Hasbro doing much positive in this vein, and one could make the argument that the company has lost sight of what's important, cutting costs on product creation with the result that some remakes of games like Hungry Hungry Hippos are unplayably bad these days.
There was also a Clue Movie. It really ought to have been called Cluedo, given that most of the actors were British, but market forces had their way. It's watchable, but most people won't really consider it any good. The main selling point was its lead actor, Tim Curry, who is immortalized by his performance in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He hams it up much the same in Clue.
We've rounded up as many editions the Cluedo board game as we could find, but we're sure to have missed some. Feel free to add other versions of the cluedo boardgame at our board game reviews page. You can also leave your comments and footprint ratings on each game by clicking on the Comments link at the end of each review. You can also check LIVE eBay listings below. | <urn:uuid:de7dc31f-235d-4f17-abb0-e4824d1918ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boardgamebeast.com/cluedo-board-game.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980303 | 569 | 1.617188 | 2 |
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- Bevan, Aneurin 1897-1960. Welsh-born British politician who as minister of health (1945-1951) was the chief architect of the National Health Service.
- Anglicisation of Welsh ap Ifan. (Wiktionary)
“Especially after Aneurin Bevan and Tommy Douglas? automaticMojo says:”
“I hear as a last resort he could be digging up Aneurin Bevan as "minister for hope”
“Dr Williams was given the Bardic name of ap Aneuri, which he chose partly after a sixth century Welsh poet and partly after Aneurin Bevan, one of his personal heroes and the architect of the National Health Service.”
“The National Assembly has adopted Aneurin Bevan's vision that the health service would be free for patients in need of help.”
“Indeed, on one occasion, he performed fellatio on Aneurin Bevan in a House of Commons office.”
“Jennie Lee, who married Aneurin Bevan in 1934 and later was appointed first Minister for the Arts, wrote to a Miss Margaret Goalby in 1950: 'In the first year of the Spanish Civil War I was sitting with friends in a hotel in Barcelona when a tall thin man with a ravished complexion came over to the table.”
“Foot and Aneurin Bevan - left-wing, but also libertarian, egalitarian and hostile to the Communist Party.”
“Aneurin Bevan, the Labour politician, wrote, There will have to be a great recasting of values.”
“Though his unpalatable opinions restricted his access to mainstream publications -- most of his commentaries were written for Tribune, an influential but small-circulation weekly newspaper backed by the Labour Party's star heavy weight, Aneurin Bevan -- Orwell went on insisting that the Soviet regime was a tyranny, even as the Red Army battled the Panzers to a standstill on the outskirts of Moscow.”
“Aneurin Bevan talked about society becoming more serene and spiritually healthier if it knows its citizens have at the back of their consciousness the knowledge that not only they themselves but all their fellows have access to the best that medical care can provide.”
‘Bevan’ hasn't been added to any lists yet.
Looking for tweets for Bevan. | <urn:uuid:d8b701a1-cc6f-4c5a-bb22-2324c0259cb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordnik.com/words/Bevan | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963107 | 529 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Is it a recession or a contraction?
Confused by math?
Tess Vigeland: So here's a phrase you probably heard this week: Double dip. We're not talking ice cream cones, of course. What it refers to is the idea that instead of coming out of a recession, we are now heading back into one, a second dip in the economy.
But Harvard economics professor Ken Rogoff argues that not only are we not in a double-dip, we were never in a recession to begin with. Welcome to the program.
Ken Rogoff: Thank you so much Tess for having me.
Vigeland: Let's talk about the difference between a recession and a cotnraciton. Because this is what your article was about and I think a lot of folks would think they're the same thing.
Rogoff: Well, a contraction is a much much more severe version of a recession. It's accompanied by a financial crash. You have a recession, they last a year, at most two years. And then, once the recovery starts, six months later, you're back to where you started. Twelve months later, you're perhaps back even at trend, you've made up for lost ground.
Vigeland: And we certainly are not at that point here.
Rogoff: No, no. We don't have to tell anyone we're not. But after a deep financial crisis, this doesn't happen. It takes years. In fact, post-World War II, it takes four and a half years, on average, just to get back to where you started with per capita income. And unemployment can drag out for even longer than that.
Vigeland: So what is it that makes this a contraction? You write that it's really all about debt, deleveraging on a global scale, a national scale and on an individual scale, right?
Rogoff: Well, the defining characteristic of a great contraction is the huge overhang of debt. And frankly, one of the things which has wrong-footed forecasters again and again is that they think it's an ordinary recession, just a bad one. The way maybe you have, instead of a flu, a bad flu. This is like a pneumonia. And not only is it more severe, but the medicine isn't the same. The traditional medicine for recessions doesn't work in quite the same way.
Vigeland: Well, let's talk then about what the appropriate medicine is. Because if you take a look, for example, at the housing situation, what we've had from the government was the first-time home buyer credit for a couple of years. You have had a few programs that have tried to address the foreclosure problem. What will work? And beyond housing, what else needs to happen?
Rogoff: Well, I think housing is front and center, that's really the big build-up and consumer debts been on housing. We had this incredible ebullience, this huge build-up in credit that led to this panic. So I think one of the big question marks that nobody knows the answer to is how far will Americans go? How far will consumers go in building up their balance sheets? And it partly depends on when consumers start to calm down and feel like they can afford to be a little bit more extended.
Vigeland: One of the questions that we've gotten over the last couple of years from folks who do want to deleverage themselves -- a lot of people paying off credit card debt, trying to pay down mortgages -- but then at the same time, they're being told that if they don't spend money, it's gonna hurt the economy. How do they reconcile that?
Rogoff: Well, I think that we need to have people get their finances in order, and that view that we've gotta spend money to help out, that was the first policy approach. We just have to get a shot in the arm, it's gonna get running again. That was a wrong diagnosis. This isn't a typical recession. It's a great contraction, something that has a much longer time frame, slower recovery and you can't just wish it away.
Vigeland: Kenneth Rogoff is a professor of economics at Harvard. Thanks so much for coming in.
Rogoff: My pleasure. | <urn:uuid:75aa6e1b-239a-4a1e-b8f9-a68f7e66f619> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/fallout-financial-crisis/it-recession-or-contraction | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979614 | 894 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Practicing the art of thinking quickly in any given situation rather than opening one’s mouth as the thoughts are still beginning to mull about in the mind is way to insure, as best you can, against saying something you might regret. In doing this, you also have time to ask yourself, is a verbal reaction from me necessary? In other words, pick your battles. Choose to place your energy in...
In our world of reality television and tell-all books, it seems a rarity to know a woman who shares just enough to keep you intrigued, but not so much as to make you feel as though you’ve stepped into her boudoir. Now, we all must have our closest friends with whom we share our intimate secrets with, after all, we all need to vent every once in awhile and not everyone can afford or wants a...
Things I Do Not Understand And Definitely Am Not...
We tried so hard not to try so hard.
The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow...– W.B. Yeats (via seabois)
Being a geek is all about your own personal level of enthusiasm, not how your...– The Mary Sue defines what it means to be a geek, a beautiful definition that falls (un)surprisingly close to what it means to find purpose and do what you love. (↬ It’s Okay To Be Smart)
I tell my piano the things I used to tell you.– Frédéric Chopin x (via enchanting)
I’m Going To Be The First Self-Proclaimed Hipster... →
I don’t know what your childhood was like, but we didn’t have much money. We’d...– Robert Redford (via pourpreandvioline)
List of Words To Know #7
Words to know that don’t exist in the English language (part I) L’esprit d’escalier (French) - the feeling you get after leaving a conversation, when you think of all the things you should have said; literally translated, it means “the sprit of the staircase” Waldeinsamkeit (German) - the feeling of being alone in the woods Meraki (Greek) - doing something with soul, creativity, or love ...
By being grateful and appreciative for the life you are already living, you attract more beauty into it. In other words, go out into the world with the attitude of feeling blessed instead of with your hand out thinking you are lacking. When you believe you are living a good life, you can relax, have a sense of humor and just live in the moment thereby being more attractive and inviting to...
Maybe… you’ll fall in love with me all over again.” “Hell,” I said, “I love you...– Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (via larmoyante)
But if you knew you might not be able to see it again tomorrow, everything would...– Haruki Murakami (via larmoyante)
A person possessing self-confidence isn’t arrogant, but calm, neither are they boisterous, but even-tempered. Having casual elegance in this case is not needing an audience, but attracting one more often than not because of a winsome, honest and non-threatening quality that piques others’ interest.
A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.– (via tattoophrases)
I take pleasure in my transformations. I look quiet and consistent, but few know...– Anais Nin (via thatkindofwoman)
À corps perdu
: doing something with passion, unrestrained, without hesitation, without prudence, without thinking about consequences.
We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us...– Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment (via quote-book If only more people understood this!! People who only know love or lust at first sight and think the only reason I’d be interested in getting to know them is that I have a crush on them. I pity such people.
SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE SMILE...
DO NOT STOP. D:< | <urn:uuid:60ba8118-a0c8-4336-bb17-e863dd461c65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bunne-h.tumblr.com/archive | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927708 | 914 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Experimental forestry in all its autumn glory can be found at Goodsir Nature Park on the outskirts of Prince George.
"The trails are in excellent shape," said Jim Good. "I've worked hard maintaining the trails and it's really paid off. They're all in great shape. It's easy walking in running shoes and there are almost 300 outdoor interpretive displays."
There's about two miles of trails on Good's 160 acre property and beside each plant there's an interpretive sign.
"The interpretive signs include a description of the plant and each one has a map showing where the plant is naturally found plus one of my habitat photos," said Good. "There are two main botanical gardens and along one trail there is a large beaver pond, and there are beaver and muskrat. There's a resting places close to the beaver pond where you can sit and relax and it's very, very peaceful. And the colours - there's pink spirea bordering the pond and the red autumn colours, it's just spectacular, especially if you have a blue-sky day."
Good was five or six years old when he would visit Cultus Lake east of Vancouver with his family.
"I would wonder what the plants and flowers and trees were called that I was seeing," said Good. "When the park ranger would come along, I would always stop him and ask him what they were and he would always tell me and it was just a matter of a few years short years later that the shoe was on the other foot. He would come along and I would stop him and tell them what the plants were and this was when I was nine or ten years old."
Good's mother bought him a book called Native Trees of Canada and then C.P. Lyons book about the trees, shrubs and wildflowers of B.C.
"So that's how it all started," said Good, who has worked at the hospital for the last 20 years. "It's been a lifetime love for the outdoors and especially native plant life."
Since the late 60s Good has tried to get grants and sponsorship but has had no luck.
"I've never received a cent but it's always been in me," said Good. "It's something I've always lived by -- never give up and never give in and those are the words of my Sunday school teacher when I was a little kid and it's been with me all my life."
The mission to create the Goodsir Nature Park has taken Good across the country collecting plant life. He ended up quitting a full time job in the late 60s to pursue his goal, he said. He's collected more than 2,000 species of plants, which can be found in his onsite plant museum.
"The entire project is the work of one person," said Good proudly. "I can't say it without bragging, but it's true!"
When people realize this, the reaction is always positive.
When people do visit the park on Old Summit Lake Road, Good asks that they sign the guest registry. It would be great to get the true number of people who visit each year.
For information and a map visit http://www.tourismpg.com/activities/goodsir-nature-park. | <urn:uuid:3ecb3a7f-2455-48cd-b760-2db2e7887a20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/article/20121009/PRINCEGEORGE0101/310099955/-1/princegeorge/blue-sky-days-offer-the-best-view-at-goodsir-nature-park | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992225 | 676 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Whether your business is large or small, there is always the question of whether or not you should outsource your information technology (IT) systems and servers. When making this choice, it is important to look into both the benefits and risks that come along with outsourcing. This article will focus on some of the benefits.
The success of your business depends on your ability to reach your goals and objectives. Many managers and company owners feel torn from the work that enables them to engage with customers, improve their products, and follow up with concerns because of the time demands of their IT systems. This causes particular problems when they are not particularly tech savvy. When a business manager makes the choice to outsource the IT system, he is alleviating the need to split his focus. By turning over the IT to an outside company, he has the peace of mind that it is running efficiently while having the freedom to focus on the other needs of the business.
Another benefit to outsourcing your IT systems is the cost. Companies who choose to handle their IT systems in house must carry the fixed cost of paying for the necessary staff to keep the system running. Outsourced IT has a variable cost depending on the needs of the company. This change can help free up capital that the company can then funnel into different aspects of the business.
The reduction of cost has an additional benefit for your customers. Instead of needing to incorporate the cost of an in-house IT department into the prices of your goods or services, the decrease in expenses can help lower your prices. These lower prices can help give your business a competitive edge in your market. | <urn:uuid:048c087f-3a93-41cc-b84d-54ed8b6a845a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://itnow.net/why-outsource-it-services/ | 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 | 0.969933 | 324 | 1.648438 | 2 |
How important is sleep for children? Getting too little could leave them more emotional and impulsive.
As a nation, we don’t get enough sleep. And we’re passing along our night-owl habits to members of the next generation, which could leave them with less control over their emotions and more prone to impulsivity, according to the latest study.
Lead author Reut Gruber, a psychologist at McGill University, and her colleagues describe in the journal Pediatrics a study in which they either added or deprived healthy children ages 7 to 11 of one hour of sleep a night over five nights. Their goal, says Gruber, was to see if such modest changes in the amount of sleep children get could affect their behavior. The children’s teachers were asked to fill out a 10-item standard questionnaire to assess the children’s attention, impulsivity, irritability and emotional reactivity at the end of the study period.
Compared with their same ratings during an initial five days of unmanipulated sleep — in which the researchers asked parents to allow the children to sleep as they normally would to establish a baseline — those who were deprived of an hour’s sleep had worse scores on behavior measures than those who were allowed to sleep an hour more. (The parents were asked to change their children’s bed times, and while they were able to put the kids to bed an hour earlier when needed, the youngsters ended up sleeping only about 30 minutes more.) In terms of how emotionally reactive, or sensitive, and how attentive the children were, teachers rated the sleep-restricted students on average 4 points higher than their baseline, meaning they showed more irritability, frustration and had more problems paying attention. In contrast, the children who slept more showed an average 3-point drop in these problems.
“Nobody became a genius, and nobody became crazy,” says Gruber, “but the findings show that in children small changes can make a big difference, and that is why this is meaningful.”
The scientists intentionally conducted their study outside of the lab, in the real-life setting of the children’s homes and schools, because they wanted to assess how everyday changes — which could involve losing an hour or gaining an hour of sleep — might impact children’s behavior in the classroom. One more movie or one less game played before bed can translate into potentially significant changes in the way children focus and interact with their teachers and classmates, says Gruber.
If being deprived of sleep leads to a drop in attention in class, children may miss out on learning and on opportunities to be creative. And if they are easily irritated and frustrated because their bodies and brains are tired, they may not learn as much either.
In previous research, Gruber and her colleagues looked at children who were at various stages on the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder spectrum and performed a similar study in which she asked parents to put the children to bed about an hour later than they normally would. The children completed computerized tests of attention both before and after the sleep intervention. Afterward, two-thirds of those who were teetering on the threshold of clinical disease were pushed into a definitive diagnosis, triggered by the sleep deprivation.
“Between these two studies, to me this connection feels like a real finding,” says Gruber. “Of course, we want to replicate the results and do more analysis.”
In the meantime, it’s clear that even modest changes in sleep — one less movie or video game — can affect the way children react to their world, and that in turn can affect their ability to learn and form relationships with others. Sleep, it seems, is just as important as diet and exercise in keeping children’s bodies and minds healthy. “We could have really significant positive and negative impacts on children depending on how we choose to prioritize sleep,” says Gruber. Got sleep, anyone? | <urn:uuid:f44e0a07-5a6c-406e-af14-35a66ca817fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/15/more-sleep-means-more-focused-emotionally-stable-kids/?iid=hl-main-lede | 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 | 0.97887 | 811 | 3.3125 | 3 |
LONDON, June 29, 2012 (AFP) - Britain was bracing for more disruption on Friday after storms and flash floods in which one man died and hundreds of homes were evacuated.
A landslide near the England-Scotland border overnight brought train services to a halt as torrential rains hit large swathes of Britain in the latest bout of unseasonable weather in the country.
One man died on Thursday after being swept away by a flooded stream in western England.
Seven flood warnings issued by Britain's Environment Agency remained in place Friday in central and northeast England -- the worst hit by the floods -- though rains are expected to ease during the day.
Train services between Newcastle, in northeast England, and the Scottish capital Edinburgh were cancelled Friday because of flooding and a landslip near the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
More than 40 schools remained closed in northeast England as a result of the downpours.
Parts of central England were pelted with around 22 mm (just under one inch) of rain in one hour Thursday -- a third of the average rainfall for the whole month of June -- while 15,000 homes in the area were left without power overnight.
Meanwhile, southern England enjoyed dry weather and sunshine Thursday, with temperatures up to 28 degrees Celsius (82 Fahrenheit). | <urn:uuid:86c88c34-294d-4611-b175-8715f0e6abee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mysinchew.com/node/74943 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973491 | 263 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Friday, March 1, 2013
Dydd Gwyl Dewi Dedwydd! (That's Happy St. David's Day)
Happy St. David’s Day to the Welsh and the Welsh at heart. As a devotee of St. Patrick I have always enjoyed the honoring of our Celtic cousins.
The Cymraeg are not much on the international stage these days. There is no one of Richard Burton’s stature (with his nationalistic red socks), or Tom Jones who were defacto ambassadors of that distinct part of Great Britain. Although there are still good actors reaching Hollywood from their shores, including Christian Bale, John Rhys-Davies, Desmond Llewelyn (Q!), Roger Rees (which is a surprise because Robin Colcord was so bloody English), and Sir Anthony Hopkins, who does exude the "Welshness" that Burton did.
Wales doesn’t have the bloody history with England that infuses so much of the psyche of its Irish neighbors, and yet the Welsh were equally invaded by the English, under the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan, their language equally ripped from them. A “formal Union,” as Wiki calls it, did not happen until 1536, as Welsh law was fully replaced by English law under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. A big difference is that Wales followed the Reformation, circa 1533, thus bonding itself closer to England and further from its shared Celtic roots with Erin.
The symbols of the day are leeks and daffodils, both of which will be worn on the lapels of serious Welshmen today, sometimes even seen on the streets of New York. There is a thought that these symbols became confused over centuries because of the similarity of their words in Welsh: Cenin (leek) and Cenin Bedr (daffodil, literally " (St.) Peter's leek").
For earlier generations, Wales meant two things: the celebrated male choirs, seen on The Ed Sullivan Show; and How Green Was My Valley, the John Ford film of a novel by Richard Llewellyn, a Englishmen who researched and appropriated Welsh childhoods in the mining valleys!
For a later generation, the Princess of Wales was a touchstone that brought the great Welsh hymn “Cwm Rhondda” (its English words, “Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer”) to the international stage at her funeral.
Why do Welshmen sing in large groups? The website of Treorchy Male Choir, one of the oldest and most celebrated, traces it to two late 19th century events: the fervor of religious nonconformity and the acceleration of the coal mining industry. It is testament to the human spirit that the men of the mines tried to improve the dreadful condition of their work by the beauty of their own voices singing. And so a national identity was born, still widely seen at rugby matches.
Fishguard, Swansea, and Cardiff
I’ve been to Wales twice. Fishguard, via train from Southampton England to get the ferry to Rosslare, Ireland. I had more of the Welsh experience in Mumbles, a town in Swansea, on the Gower peninsula, with a Welsh classmate of mine from Southampton University. I stayed with her family for several days, seeing the natural beauty of South Wales. Nobody sang.
And Cardiff. Well, that would be Cardiff, New York, where as a kid I saw the Cardiff Giant at the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown. He is the great American hoax of 1869, the bright idea of a New York tobacconist named George Hull. An atheist, he was ticked off after an argument with a fundamentalist minister about Genesis 6:4 “There were giants in the earth in those days” unless you’re Catholic, then 6:4 says “At that time the Nephilim appeared on earth (as well as later) . . .”
Hull dreamed up this scheme to create a petrified giant man, bury him near a farm in Cardiff New York, and then a year later ask for a well to be be dug in that spot.
“The finished Giant was 10 feet 4½ inches tall and weighed in at a fraction under 3,000 pounds. His shoulders were 3 feet across and his feet 21 inches long. He would have taken a size 37 collar.”
Everything about this fascinates me. The sheer crazy strength of will of Hull to create the thing: quarried in Iowa, carved in Chicago, shipped to New York; the desire of the public to believe in something miraculous; the fact that the South is suffering through Reconstruction as this is going on.
But enough of American whimsy. Here is Tom Jones, a favored Welsh son, singing in a pub, with the Treorchy Male Choir as backup.
Oh, and "Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer" is also known as the "Welsh Rugy Hymn" sung in stadiums, like our "Take me out to the ball game." The Welsh are an interesting people, no doubt about it. This is from Wales v. England, 2007. | <urn:uuid:853c080b-f5c4-43f5-ba84-52d38069278c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mapeel.blogspot.com/2009/03/dydd-gwyl-dewi-dedwydd.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967218 | 1,089 | 2.296875 | 2 |
In many societies, maintaining family and personal honor is integral to upholding cultural norms. The burden of upholding such honor codes weighs more heavily on women and girls. In countries such as Iraq, programs designed to combat human trafficking must address severe cultural stigmas about honor in conjunction with protection and prosecution efforts.
Vian* was 14-years old when her neighbor Ahmed, an 18-year old police officer, persuaded her to have a relationship with him by promising to marry her. Their relationship only lasted a short period before Ahmed ended things, threatening Vian that he would kill her if she told anyone about them. When Vian’s father became suspicious, he beat her and demanded to know if she was in a relationship. Fearing for her safety, because the relationship, if discovered, would damage her family’s honor, Vian asked for Ahmed’s help in running away. Ahmed tried to take Vian to Iran, but she escaped by taxi to another city to look for her friend’s house. The taxi driver drove her to a brothel where Vian was forced into prostitution. Several months later the police arrested and detained her and charged her with engaging in prostitution. Once in jail, Vian learned she was pregnant.
Iraqi women and girls are expected to uphold the honor of the family and tribe by adhering to rigid sexual and social norms. Though not an exhaustive list of reasons, common breaches of these norms include perceived or real actions such as premarital sex, adultery, divorce or exercising freedom of choice in selecting a marriage partner. Honor related violence is widely viewed by Iraqi society and the law as justified when it’s in response to what is deemed immoral behavior. Retribution takes the form of ‘honor’ killings, forced marriage – including to rapists, – and severe restrictions on the mobility of women and girls.
Women and girls who flee honor related violence face an extremely high risk of being trafficked into prostitution. In Iraq, a communal society where family support is integral to survival, a female who is alone, without family protection, cannot survive independently since she cannot safely live or work.
Because the Iraqi Penal Code does not include provisions against trafficking, trained lawyers can defend victims in court by arguing that their clients are not guilty since they were forced to commit crimes. Coercion to commit a crime is a defense to criminal activity under the Iraqi Penal Code. Many cases face bleak prospects in court where often the only evidence of coercion is the victim’s testimony, and judges and prosecutors are biased against victims. In one case, the judge called a 14-year old Kurdish victim a “whore” and sentenced her to six months in jail. More than one year later the girl remains incarcerated to protect her from an honor killing since does not have a safe place to stay long-term.
Fortunately, Vian’s lawyer succeeded in convincing the judge that she was a victim of trafficking and criminal charges were dropped. Her lawyer successfully petitioned the court to have Ahmed arrested and charged with rape. Although Vian’s parents were deeply shamed and initially did not want her to return home, after one year of mediation, Vian’s lawyer reconciled her with her parents. This was a very difficult choice. In choosing their daughter over societal pressures, the family faced significant threats and eventually opted to relocate in order to live in peace with their daughter and grandchild.
* The names of the individuals have been changed to protect their identity.
Sherizaan Minwalla is the Director of Legal and Social Services at the Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting women and girls fleeing violence. Prior to joining Tahirih she worked for Heartland Alliance as an immigration attorney, and as their Iraqi Country Director. She lived in northern Iraq for four years where she ran a number of human rights programs including anti-trafficking protection programs. | <urn:uuid:5c16730e-d574-4528-83d1-8a1c8a00bf61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.usaid.gov/2011/09/the-role-of-honor-related-violence-in-sex-trafficking/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980692 | 806 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Higher standards for lower capacity requirements.
Landmark now offers an expanded range of water storage solutions, with the Spheroid Elevated Tank (SET) in the 200,000 to 500,000 gallon capacity range - bringing its established high standards of process and project management and quality to smaller capacity applications.
- Pre-primed plate is cut, rolled, press formed and welded in the same Landmark Fabrication facility that builds assemblies for large, complex projects
- All major components are shop-fabricated modules, produced under controlled conditions with the latest equipment and techniques to minimize and simplify work required on the jobsite
- As with Landmark composite designs, the steel tank is almost completely built at ground level for greater safety and control of tolerances
- Straight pedestal design concentrates thicker plate precisely where it is needed for a more effective use of materials, and facilitates a faster, safer tank erection process.
In addition to an optimized design with inherent production and construction efficiencies, the Landmark SET offers:
- The benefits of extensive foundation design expertise for all geotechnical conditions
- An efficient base plate design adapted from wind tower applications
- A unique pedestal and base interface with enhanced aesthetics compared to traditional spheroids with a wide base
- SSPC QP-1 coatings quality certification, with the option of incorporating custom logos. Only about 230 companies in the world have earned this distinction from the Society for Protective Coatings, which recognizes technical and management expertise. | <urn:uuid:aa4f9ddf-d4ef-4f24-aca6-e8743e0c94f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://teamlandmark.com/water_storage/spheroid_elevated_tanks/spheroid_overview | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917224 | 306 | 1.648438 | 2 |
After enjoying a brief Eid Al Fitr with my family, I decided to make the most of the rest of the holiday with a trip abroad. The arduous and expensive process of obtaining a visa to enter most European countries put me off, until I realised that there was still a way to make it to the continent without spending a single second in an embassy's waiting room – I could visit Turkey.
With the visa-on-arrival option, Turkish friends in Istanbul and numerous, glowing reviews of the city (and other parts of the country), it was an easy choice, really.
So, with only my passport and backpack, I set off on my Anatolian adventure.
But it soon became apparent that many other Arabs had the same idea.
The relatively short flight to Istanbul, which was overflowing with Arab families, including many Emiratis, was only the tip of the iceberg. From the moment I hit the narrow, crowded streets of the beautiful historic city, I could hear Arabic being spoken on almost every corner. Women clad in abayas and men in kanduras were a common sight everywhere I went. And at all the tourist spots, Khaleeji families – some of them with up to eight members – huddled together while trying to navigate Istanbul's windy roads.
When I asked one of my Turkish hosts whether the Arab influx was an anomaly, he replied: "In the past couple of years, you guys have been everywhere."
Besides the obvious draws, such as cooler weather and the proximity, the trend seems to have been triggered by other reasons, too.
The Arab tourist wave apparently originated with the coming to power of the Justice and Development Party, also called the AKP, whose Islamic leanings have led to improved ties with the Arab world and, subsequently, less rigid visa procedures for several countries in the region.
Also adding to Istanbul's appeal is its intriguing mix of East and West. Arab visitors can experience the familiar aspects of life in a Muslim country, such as the wide availability of halal food and the sight of women in shaylas or abayas, all in a Western setting.
The rise in the number of Arabs visiting Turkey can also be attributed to the recent tourism slowdown in other countries in the region, such as Tunisia and Syria.
On a more superficial level, but of no less significance, is increased Arab interest in Turkey's soap operas.
These shows not only draw millions of Middle Eastern families to their TV screens but also to the locations they are filmed in. Alongside important Ottoman and Byzantine historic sites, such as the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, the filming locations and even the mansions of soap opera actors are now popular tourist spots.
The former Ottoman capital, which is home to 13.5 million residents, receives no fewer than seven million visitors annually, making it one of the top 10 tourist destinations in the world. With more and more Arabs contributing to this number every year, Istanbul seems set to become one of the top destinations on their list of must-visit places.
The writer is a reporter for The National's news desk | <urn:uuid:10398c60-1af9-45c6-b003-0b05dae97d4b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/travel/taking-to-turkey-a-top-destination-among-arabs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968811 | 637 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Oct. 12, 2006 The thyroid may play an important role in longevity, with longer-lived rodents showing significantly lower levels of a thyroid hormone that speeds metabolism, a new study has found.
The study further strengthens the theory that the faster an animal's metabolism, the shorter its life, and vice versa, said Mario Pinto, the study's lead author. The thyroid releases hormones that regulate metabolic rate.
"Thyroid hormones are key regulators of metabolism and have been widely implicated to influence longevity," the authors wrote. Pinto will present the study "Differential thyroid hormone activity in rodents with different life spans" at a poster session Oct. 9 at Comparative Physiology 2006: Integrating Diversity. The study was carried out by Pinto and Rochelle Buffenstein, City College of New York.
Thyroid key to metabolic rate
The thyroid gland produces thyroxine (T4) which converts to triiodothyronine (T3) in the presence of iodine. T3 is the active component of T4 and is the key hormone in regulating metabolism, Pinto said. When an animal becomes cold, for example, its body converts T4 to T3 to speed metabolism and warm the body, he explained.
"Mice strains that exhibit extended longevity tend to have lower thyroid hormone concentrations than shorter living strains," the authors wrote. "Significant declines in thyroid hormone correlate well with enhanced maximum lifespan."
The study compared the levels of these thyroid hormones among four groups of rodents with different life spans: mice, guinea pigs, Damara mole-rats and naked mole-rats. Mice live to about three and a half years; guinea pigs live to six years; Damara mole-rats to 15 years; and naked mole-rats to 28 years.
The animals were of different ages, but at comparable points in their life spans. For example, the mole-rats, which live 28 years, were two years old. The mice, which live about 3.5 years, were six months old. The study determined the levels of T3 and T4 for each animal.
T4 levels vary the most
T4 levels varied significantly between all of the groups, with the shorter-lived groups having higher levels of T4 than longer-lived groups. The mice, for example, had twice as much T4 as the Damara mole-rats and had and three times more than that of the naked mole-rats, Pinto reported. There was also a significant difference in T3 levels between the naked mole-rats and the guinea pigs, but not between any of the other groups
"These hormone concentration differences correlate with maximum species lifespan and suggest an important regulatory role of thyroid hormone in longevity," the researchers concluded. However, because T3, levels did not differ significantly among all the groups, further research in this area using larger sample sizes (numbers of rodents in each group) is needed, Pinto said.
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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead. | <urn:uuid:441e1b69-bc55-420d-a5f1-d99f9b1f496a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061010022316.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949387 | 650 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Turning around the lives of the most vulnerable children is particularly demanding work.
Often very difficult to reach, these children can present significant challenges. Sometimes academic support alone is not enough. As a result, Sofronie funds projects that reinforce children’s learning in a variety of ways.
Some programmes provide emotional support or mentoring; another offers particularly broad support for struggling children by helping their parents provide a supportive family life.
Although the programmes we fund are very different in nature, they share the same general principle. All provide early intervention, which has been shown to deliver the best outcomes for the children they help. Most importantly, each programme operates a ‘child-centred’ approach, placing the needs, happiness and well-being of each child front and centre. These considerations then drive the resulting actions and it is this approach that will deliver lasting improvements to these children’s lives. | <urn:uuid:f219bdd9-0c75-473b-b430-97f5eb4163e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sofronie.org/what-we-support/and-more | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949569 | 184 | 1.867188 | 2 |
6 ounces cheese—you can use Chihuahua cheese or Mexican fresh cheese (queso fresco), though real Dutch Edam cheese is frequently used in Yucatan, cut into ¼-inch pieces
1. Poaching the papaya. Place the papaya in a single layer in a very large (12-inch) sauté pan or Dutch oven. Add the sugar and salt, then dribble in the lime juice and enough water to barely cover the papaya. Nestle in the cinnamon stick and fig leaf (if you have it), bring to a simmer, then cook very gently, partially covered, until the papaya starts to look translucent, about 2 hours.
2. Finishing the dish. Heat a broiler and position the oven rack as close to the heat as possible; or set out a kitchen blow torch. Set a cooling rack over a baking sheet. With a slotted spoon, transfer the papaya to the rack and let stand for an hour or so, until beginning to dry on the surface. Arrange papaya in a single layer in a gratin or baking dish. Sprinkled the cheese over the papaya. Shake the pan gently to nestle the cheese in and around the papaya, then set under the broiler or broil with the blow torch until the sugar is richly caramelized and the cheese is softening. Serve right away. | <urn:uuid:967e006d-d13d-4352-be8f-9fb70c07317a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://createtv.com/CreateProgram.nsf/vRecipes/Sweet-and-Savory%20Caramelized%20Papaya%20with%20Mexican%20Cheese | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905719 | 287 | 1.53125 | 2 |
MODESTO, Calif. -- Have you ever noticed that when you're considering a new project, everything you read and hear seems to tie into the same theme?
That's what happened to Britta Foster toward the end of 2011.
"We were seeing a lot of friends going through difficult things in this economy, and thinking how blessed we were that our children had plenty of food," she said. "My 14-year-old would say, 'I'm hungry,' and I said, 'There's crackers. There's fruit. There's cheese.' I thought about how blessed we were.
"Then everything I was hearing seemed to be about feeding children. We were traveling and I saw an article in People magazine about a program called Blessings in a Backpack. I called them, and that's how it all started."
The nonprofit program began with two schools in 2005 and now serves nearly 62,000 students in 437 schools in 42 states and three other countries - Canada, Colombia and Haiti. Britta and her husband, Jeff Foster, began the program at Woodrow Elementary in Modesto, Calif., when the school year started in August.
It works like this: Children who qualify for the federally subsidized reduced- or free-cost lunch programs get a backpack or a bag every Friday afternoon. In it are nonperishable items, such as soup, applesauce and fruit drinks. The kids return their empty backpacks on Monday, and the process is repeated for 38 weekends during the school year.
Program organizers said that by sending home nourishing, nonperishable snack food on weekends, it helps children who otherwise may not get enough to eat. Sometimes, it might even help feed the rest of the family.
One mother from Kentucky wrote this on the Blessings Web site:
"I work one job and go to college at night in an effort to give my children a better life. But with the prices of food and other necessities required to live, we are just barely getting through. ... My children do get food on the weekends, but your program helps me give them more than what I can provide. It allows me to do other things with the money that I would normally spend on that same food, such as giving them better clothing (and yes, we are proud Goodwill shoppers)."
Blessings officials say the extra food also helps boost test scores and school attendance. While the program at Woodrow hasn't been going on long enough for that kind of assessment, it has become very popular with the students.
Because of the confidential nature of the program - only the school coordinator and teachers know which of their students are receiving the weekend food - The Bee wasn't able to talk directly with the children or their parents. Not even the Fosters know the identities of the children they help.
"I've had students say their parents are happy to have some extra food," said Julie Nelson, a kindergarten teacher.
The students "look forward to receiving the bags each week," said first-grade teacher Joanna O'Brien. "They wait anxiously for me to call their names as I'm distributing them."
Britta Foster said the best part of the program comes when she's delivering the baskets of food every week and has "a chance to interact with the kids and see that this is making a difference for them. I had one boy run up to me and say, 'I forgot my backpack!' I said, 'Don't worry, you'll still get your food, but it will be in a plastic bag.' He said, 'Oh, good!' He was so worried about not getting the food. That's the reason we do this."
One recent change the Fosters have made is distributing the food in plastic bags rather than backpacks. Because some children "come from very chaotic backgrounds," the backpacks weren't always returned on Mondays, Britta Foster said. By switching to bags for every child, it means the teachers don't have to sort through which children get backpacks and which get the bags.
MODESTO, Calif. -- When the Fosters were preparing their program, they talked with Chuck and Bill O'Brien to see if O'Brien's Market would participate. They wanted to get a local grocer involved, Britta Foster said. But it's not easy, she added, to keep to their budget of just $2.10 per child per week.
"Bill sells us everything at or below his cost and works hard to find us the best deals possible," she said. "O'Brien's is clearly committed to helping kids in our community."
It also helped, she said, that when she went in to give the O'Briens her pitch for the program, "Bill looked at me and said, 'That's where I went to school.' They've been a phenomenal partner, and we love that (the food) is coming from a local guy."
Bill O'Brien acknowledged it takes extra time for "shopping the deals" to keep within the budget. "But it's a great elementary school," he said. "It has a special place in my heart."
One Woodrow parent, he said, contacted him and "was just ecstatic about the program. That's been the most rewarding thing."
The Fosters first had to raise $80 per child, or $16,720 total, before they could begin the program. The money was sent to the national organization, and 100 percent of it is returned to the local school to pay for the food. The backpacks and national organizational costs are donated by individuals and corporate sponsors.
Every week, the school tells the Fosters how many children qualify for the program. It has varied from 175 in August to a high of 225, and currently runs about 215 children, as youngsters move in and out of the school throughout the year.
On Tuesdays, Jeff Foster picks up the food from O'Brien's. On Thursday afternoons, the Fosters - usually including their children - Aaron, 17, Jessica, 14, and Signa, 4 - pack the bags and put them in laundry baskets, one for each classroom. Often, others will pitch in for the packing, such as extended family members, Jeff's golf buddies or students from Central Catholic, Modesto Christian and Big Valley Christian schools.
"We have different people every week," Britta Foster said. "The biggest challenge has just been the weekly commitment. It ties you down every week to this schedule, but this is happening because the kids are counting on it."
One of the biggest blessings, she added, "is seeing the impact this has had on our own children. Our 4-year-old has said, 'Are we going to get the backpacks ready for the children who are hungry?' They know that there are other kids out there who aren't as blessed as they are, and they want to help them."
The Fosters would like to expand their sponsorship to other schools, especially those "where the kids are in even greater need," Britta Foster said. Orville Wright Elementary, for example, has more than 475 children who would qualify for the program, she said. The couple also would like to see others begin their own Blessings program in their neighborhood schools.
"This has been a great journey," she said. "It's been very positive."
BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK
COST: $80 per child per school year; $2.10 per child a week
COMMITMENT: Must adopt a school for three years; must raise $80 per child upfront; must commit to picking up food, packing backpacks/bags and delivering them 38 weeks per year
WEB SITE: www.blessingsinabackpack.org
BLESSINGS SAMPLE MENUS
2 juice boxes
Crackers (peanut butter or cheese)
2 juice boxes | <urn:uuid:c9253c8b-7290-4de7-87e6-0ac7cbe04ad6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/02/21/2696771/backpack-program-sends-school.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980565 | 1,627 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Researchers led by Archana Singh-Manoux from the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health in France and University College London observed 5,198 men and 2,192 women over a 10-year period from 1997.
The volunteers were London civil servants aged between 45 and 70 who had been enrolled in a long-term health study.
Over the 10 years, the participants were tested three times — for memory, vocabulary, and skills in aural and visual comprehension.
During this time, there was a 3.6-percent decline in mental reasoning in men aged 45-49 and a 9.6-percent fall in those aged 65-70. The corresponding figures for women were 3.6 and 7.4 percent.
The findings should spur further research into spotting and braking cognitive deterioration, the authors hope.
Many societies face an “exponential increase” in the number of elderly people as a result of increases in life expectancy, they note.
“These changes are likely to have a profound influence on individuals’ lives and society at large. Poor cognitive status is perhaps the single most disabling condition in old age.” | <urn:uuid:592045e6-9dd9-46d4-991b-1a8c92a75291> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/lifestyle/2012/01/06/brain-power-can-decline-from-age-45/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95916 | 235 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Introduction to programming by animating Daisy the Dinosaur. Introduce the basics of objects, sequencing, loops and events by solving this app's challenges. After playing Daisy, kids can choose to download a kit to program their own computer game.
Bee-Bot App is based on the Bee-Bot floor robot. Children can improve their skills in directional language and programming through sequences of forwards, backwards, left and right 90 degree turns.
A lesson discussion to help pupils recognise how to use Tablet computers safely, so they do not strain their back or necks when using.
In this recording of a TeachShare first broadcast on 15/11/12, Vital Primary ICT portal manager Colin Hill takes a look at iPads in the primary classroom and demos some apps including Book ...
Help pupils widen their vocabulary, using rarely used words, with this lesson idea which helps them explore interesting words which are rarely used in the English Language. Pupils can explore ...
Martin Burnett (@ICTMagic) showcases ICT sites/facilities online which can help enhance teaching and learning.
Help pupils recreate a story with this great lesson idea, using StoryBoard That - a web tool that allows 3 or 6 cells for storyboarding.
Fotor is a great tool for teachers and students to create cool digital art work that can be or accompany a project or assignment.
In this TeachShare, first broadcast on 12th April 2012, James Mansell and Vital Primary ICT Portal Manager Colin Hill discuss using Google Sites and Docs to build an online e-portfolio.
This TeachShare, first broadcast on 24th May 2012 explores the issues facing non-specialist teachers of science to primary school children. | <urn:uuid:bac55c7d-f43b-4fa7-8a0b-b7e3492b3bdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vital.ac.uk/category/levels/primary?page=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914585 | 342 | 3.578125 | 4 |
It's easy to be embarrassed by the state of the general aviation technology when we have to admit to our non-pilot friends that our engines use such quaint items as magnetos and (gasp!) carburetors. Many pilots and aircraft owners wish they could, for instance, take their bleeding-edge-tech motorcycle engine and strap it into the airframe. Farfetched? AVweb's newest columnist, Marc Cook, has some thoughts about this kind of thing, and he'll share them each month in his Motor Head column.
July 18, 2004
This will be no surprise to anyone who knows me: I love engines. Just dig 'em. Internal combustion, jet, compression-ignition, Rolls-Royce Trent, Briggs & Stratton, big or small -- it really doesn't matter. If it turns chemical energy into mechanical work, I'm hot to know more about it. Airframes are nice, and useful I suppose as a life-support system for a glorious noise-spewing, twist-making mah-chine. Nothing beats a motor. (Yes, I know a motor is properly an electric device ... can we just go with the flow?)
And I'll stay up late reading about engines of just about any description. One night my wife caught me squinting at an artist's rendering of the massive Trent 900 due to go into the double-decker Airbus A380. There I was, nose against the page only to see her withering stare in the corner of my eye. "What?" She sighed, "Never mind ..."
It's like that sometimes, being a motor head.
In my professional life as a writer, I've managed to stick close to the subject, working first in motorcycles, then aircraft, and then, er ... motorcycles again and, here we go for some more air time. There's a bit of car and truck writing in there, too, but I'll confess this much: The engines, good as they are, are almost nowhere to be heard and often nowhere to be seen beneath great quantities of plastic sound-deadening material. Snooze. With motorcycles and aircraft, the engines are nearly out there in the open -- at least, it doesn't take much to pull the wraps and have a good gander at what's making all the noise.
It's Different Up Here
Having an interest in many facets of motoring -- and I think you can call flying motoring, with a nod to sailplane enthusiasts -- provides an interesting living illustration of the engine-tech spectrum. New and exciting on one side, dull and all-too-familiar on the other, right? Hardly. When it comes down to it, technology in general aviation does what it needs to do -- and what the market is permitted to do, based on an amazingly complicated, government-infused R&D process and limited potential market.
A motorcycle manufacturer, by comparison, can spend millions developing a new, high-performance model secure in the knowledge that it will sell at least 10,000 copies in the U.S. alone and probably 50,000 worldwide the first year. Then, when it's not the latest and greatest, it can move the technology to a second-tier model and continue to sell, say 8000 a year through the life of the production tooling. The downside is that the rate of development obsoletes these high-performance bikes every two or three years; used to be a four-year development cycle sufficed, but no more. Still, the market for the product is so strong it's economically viable to turn the product lines every couple of years, which in turn creates new demand, funding the cycle all over again.
Seeing It From the Other Side
"It's how big?" my friend from the motorcycle biz asked when I began telling him about the Lycoming IO-540 in the Bellanca Viking we were flying. Yep, 540 cubic inches, or 8.8 liters to my Canadian friend. "And it makes how much power?" He didn't seem terribly impressed that an engine so large could muster a mere 290 horsepower. "But it's turning only 2575 rpm," I told him, waiting for him to work out the math to arrive at the actual torque figure. (That would be 591 pound-feet.) "Hmmm," he said, not quite sure what to make of the whole deal, but I could imagine him starting to think about the tractor-like qualities of the big Lycoming. I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was running on fixed-timing magnetos and a mechanical fuel-injection system about as sophisticated as a lawn sprinkler.
We had leveled off for cruise and he watched as I reset power and tweaked the mixture, paying my usual devotion to the engine monitor.
"Man, that's a lot of fussing," he said. Yes, it's true that balancing the needs of the engine against fuel efficiency requires some extra effort, especially compared with the everything-automatic motorcycles he's used to.
"How often do you have to fix one of these?" I told him this particular engine had been doing its thing for 1900 hours over 34 years without major work. Maybe a change of spark plugs now and again. At a typical speed for the airplane, that's approximately 290,000 miles. I could see the wheels turning in his head, trying to decide if flying above the clouds with this creaky old engine was sane or not when I delivered the coup de grace: "Oh, and we run it near 70 percent of its maximum power for almost its entire life."
He thought about that for a second, turned to faced me with eyebrows raised. Then he squirmed a bit in his seat and changed the subject to the weather.
Among my many friends who have an interest in both flying and riding, this kind of cross-cultural engine comparison is nothing unusual. And it's always the motorcycle guys who puff up at the thought of their incredibly powerful, high-tech engines. Gee, they seem to think, if general-aviation had anywhere near that kind of technology, we'd all be flying faster and a whole lot less fuel.
The question of the moment is: Are they right?
Well, first of all, the "average" modern motorcycle engine is an amazing thing technically. And here I'm talking about the sporting motorcycles -- not Harleys. Although, truth be told, Harley has developed its line of engines to a very high degree of refinement and reliability within the constraints of what the average Hog buyer will accept. Recently, Harley introduced a new model called the V-Rod, which uses an engine developed in part by Porsche that is the embodiment of the state-of-the-art in motorcycle powerplants: four valves per cylinder, liquid cooling, high horsepower. But it's not a "traditional" Harley so it's been off to a slow sales start. Shame, it's a really good motorcycle.
But the real high tech is in the Japanese sportbikes, which with each new model year seem to reset the limits of clever design, low weight and high power. The current power king is a Kawasaki, the Ninja ZX-10R. It's 998cc (61 cubic inch) four-cylinder engine produces an astounding 160 horsepower at the motorcycle's rear wheel. Accounting for driveline losses of, on average, 13 percent from the crankshaft to the rear wheel, puts it at about 180 horsepower gross. That's an eye-watering amount of power in a lightweight motorcycle, but what really amazes me is that this power comes with a year-long warranty and full compliance with stringent noise and emissions regulations. Oh, and despite a 12.7:1 compression ratio, it'll run on 91-octane pump gas all day long. The engine's four valves in each combustion chamber are operated by dual overhead cams, of course, but feature tolerances so tight and materials so good that the valve-adjustment interval is every 20,000 miles. (On some modern sportbikes, it's even longer, making the interval longer than the predicted lifespan of the bike.)
Almost needless to say, the Kawasaki and motorcycles like it will run just about forever with only routine maintenance. In fact, the only recurring problem with this class of engine has to do with the transmission and clutch, and overwhelmingly as a result of rider abuse.
And they're dead cheap. You can buy this Kawasaki's engine, with the rest of the motorcycle attached, for $11,000.
What's This Got To Do With Airplanes?
Inevitably, my motorcycling friends ask why aircraft don't have high-specific-output engines. They're often surprised when I tell them I wouldn't want such a thing. For starters, motorcycle engines -- indeed, most high-output engines found outside of aviation -- are never intended to be used at high power for very long. I'd estimate the average duty cycle of a motorcycle engine around 5 percent power, maybe 10 percent on the low-horsepower versions. Outside of racing, there just aren't the opportunities to open up one of these beasts on public roads. After all, what is any sane person going to do with a sub-4-second 0-60-mph time or a top speed in excess of 170 mph?
I honestly can't imagine the internals of a 12,000-rpm motorcycle engine being happy at 75-percent power or more beyond short bursts. I've been to the Japanese factories, and have seen the brutal endurance testing carried out on new designs, but as a practical matter these engines are run at maximum power a for a small fraction of their lives.
Perhaps what's most amazing about this breed of motorcycle is the electronic integration. For example, the entire engine-control computer is in a box about twice the size of a pack of playing cards. It integrates the electronic fuel injection, which has separate maps for each of the four cylinders, with the ignition control, also a three-dimensional map that sets the spark event according to engine speed and load. On top of that, the computer is also controlling a butterfly valve in the exhaust system that varies system back-pressure to smooth out the torque curve. In addition, all the new fuel-injection systems have double butterfly valves, one controlled by the rider and the other by the computer. The goal is to smooth out throttle response and make the engine more predictable, a good thing when you have so much power in a package that weighs, including an average-sized rider, a little more than 600 pounds. That would be like having almost 1100 horsepower in your average sedan. Or 900 horsepower in your typical Bonanza. (Not that I'm saying it wouldn't be fun ... for awhile.)
Something else to keep in mind when comparing such disparate powerplants is that motorcycles get crummy mileage. That is, they may have a lot of horsepower per cubic centimeter but they're not even remotely fuel efficient. My own bike, an Aprilia Tuono, powered by a Rotax-built 998cc twin-cylinder engine, struggles to get more than 35 mpg. Considering that it takes all of 15 horsepower to maintain highway speed, you can see the problem.
Clearly motorcycle and aircraft powerplants are at the opposite ends of the power and efficiency spectra.
Honda Takes a Stab
|Honda Aircraft Engine
Last year at Oshkosh, tucked away in a corner of the TCM booth, was a display engine of a design floated by Honda for a 370-cubic-inch, four-cylinder, direct-drive engine. Think of it as a fairly sophisticated IO-360 with liquid cooling and a version of the Aerosance/TCM FADEC system. I think it's critically important to understand the significance of Honda's design strategy. This is a fiercely competitive company, as proud of its engineering prowess as any company I know. When given the chance to out-tech its competition -- particularly in motorcycles -- Honda will take up the opportunity with vigor.
That the Honda design is a slow-turning, large-displacement engine with pushrod valve actuation says everything to me about the inherent rightness of our existing aircraft-engine designs. Believe me, if Honda thought it could do a better job with a double-overhead-cam, high-revving -- and, most crucially--high-tech engine, it would have. Remember, this is a company that prides itself on arriving at the cleverest, least-obvious solutions to everyday engineering challenges. I can only imagine the soul searching involved for Honda's engineers to crank out such a seemingly low-tech design.
Although the Honda engine's level of technology seems to pay homage to conventional aircraft engines, I have no doubt that its quality would be amazingly good. Back to bikes for a second: Several manufacturers have taken to a new way of casting aluminum using a vacuum die-casting method. The resulting parts are light -- because they don't have to be over-engineered to accommodate the normal variability in cast materials -- and astoundingly beautiful in their as-cast form. Moreover, the typical motorcycle is fabulously well built. The engine castings are nearly perfect; the frame welds are often a work of art (where you can see them, anyway, as the hidden welds are done by the much less artful robot); and the precision is nothing short of amazing. Everything fits every time. Lightweight aluminum engines do not break. Alloy motorcycle frames made from a combination of pressure-cast, die-cast, sand-cast and extruded members are immensely strong and measure within millimeters from one example to the other across their most distant points.
Here's where I'm hoping Honda's influence will come to bear on general aviation. I am among those who believe the basic aircraft engine -- even acknowledging that it is a design more than 40 years old -- is an incredible thing. No other engine I'm familiar with combines the power and weight with efficiency. For what it needs to do, the typical O-320 or IO-550 is a terrific design. If Honda produces a "modern" flat engine with the typically jewel-like quality of a motorcycle engine, everyone will sit up and take notice.
Now Let's Move Forward
What general-aviation engines need amounts to this: Better manufacturing and a dose of new technology overlay. The last first: Continental's FADEC system is a good groundbreaker, much like the first fuel injection systems that replaced carburetors in motorcycles not too many years ago. GAMI's Prism system, an adaptive ignition system, will take the technology to the next level. I've been watching this system for years, and have seen it in action on a variety of real, live engines; it holds incredible promise but will not be an easy thing to certify. (This is not my bright idea; just ask the GAMI staff.)
For the engine manufacturers proper, the focus needs to be quality control. It astounds me that in designs so mature, so supposedly well-known by the production department and everyone else with a wrench in his pocket, still have premature failures because of things like out-of-round cylinder barrels or valve guides not placed exactly in the center of the valve seats. This is basic stuff.
And while I appreciate that the world of supplier manufacturing -- where you don't build every part in-house -- is often harsh, particularly for a small-volume concern, I believe the issues can be resolved. For motorcycles, there are multiple suppliers for most every part, but the secondary or tertiary suppliers are seldom used. They don't have to be.
In any event, I'm off to Oshkosh in the next few days, and I'm eager to see what's out there. Maybe Honda will show us something special. I'm ready. | <urn:uuid:05197975-edc9-48fb-9c10-43d583c2f160> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.avweb.com/news/motorhead/187683-1.html | 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 | 0.96079 | 3,278 | 1.710938 | 2 |
PHILADELPHIA — The Social Impact of the Arts Project, housed at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice, is teaming with the City of Philadelphia to build and launch a Creative Assets Mapping Database, a Web tool that allows users to monitor growth in creative assets and determine their civic, economic and social impacts.
The National Endowment for the Arts announced today that as a part of its Our Town grants, Philadelphia’s The Reinvestment Fund will receive $250,000 to work with the Social Impact of the Arts Project and the City to design the geodatabase, a Web-based data and mapping system.
The Social Impact of the Arts Project will work with the City’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy and Commerce Departments on this multi-faceted plan, which will further research related to the relationship between cultural engagement and economic development.
“We are very excited about working with the City of Philadelphia and the Reinvestment Fund,” said Mark J. Stern, Kenneth L.M. Pray Professor at the School of Social Policy and Practice and principal investigator of the Project. “Our research has demonstrated a strong and persistent connection between cultural engagement and many dimensions of social well-being : increased civic engagement and neighborhood revitalization and declines in poverty, ethnic and racial harassment and social stress.”
The geodatabase will inform planning, marketing, policy development and public and private arts investment strategies
“Working with our partners, we hope to develop a more dynamic mapping system that will be of use to researchers, community developers, the arts community and ordinary citizens,” Stern said.
The inaugural round of Our Town funding totals $6.575 million in grants, which will be distributed to 51 communities in 34 states that have created public-private partnerships to strengthen the arts while shaping the social, physical and economic characters of their neighborhoods, towns, cities and regions.
The Social Impact of the Arts Project conducts research on the role of arts and culture in American cities with a particular interest in strategies for arts-based revitalization.
Since 1994, the Project has focused on developing empirical methods to stud the links between cultural engagement and community well being. | <urn:uuid:9d59f534-bb72-4bba-9b5d-e16b577fabcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/penn-s-social-impact-arts-project-and-city-philadelphia-receive-250000-arts-mapping-database | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927386 | 482 | 1.523438 | 2 |
A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime.
In Connecticut, for instance, the strict penalties for sex traffickers are among the toughest in the nation. Neighboring Massachusetts, meanwhile, had no statute specifically targeting sex trafficking until one was signed into law days ago.
The report released Thursday by the advocacy group Shared Hope International said more than a dozen states have passed new crackdowns, but four states - Maine, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming - have yet to impose any specific restrictions on the crime.
"Each state's laws show omissions in protective provisions for child victims and (they) lack strong laws to prosecute the men who rent the bodies of other men's children," said Linda Smith, the group's founder and president.
As many as 15,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the U.S. each year, according to advocacy groups. They say there could be more than 100,000 victims in the country now.
Victims are sometimes smuggled in from outside the U.S., but many started out as young runaways or simply needed money. Human traffickers target men, women and children for forced labor or services, while sex traffickers make their victims work in the sex trade. The crimes range from smuggling immigrants into the U.S. to work in restaurants or homes to forcing young women to work as prostitutes.
Holly Austin Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel in New Jersey where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair.
"Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me," said Smith, now 33 and an advocate of stricter sex trafficking laws.
Federal authorities can prosecute traffickers under the Trafficking Victims Protections Act, enacted in 2000, which carries stiff penalties. The law also created a new visa allowing victims of the crime to become temporary U.S. residents. But prosecutors have limited resources and often have to rely on the states to crack down on the crime.
Some states have taken aggressive steps to strengthen their laws, the report said. Fifteen states now allow victims to seek civil damages from their traffickers in court. Four states - Illinois, Maryland, Nevada and New York - have laws that vacate convictions for sex trafficking victims.
Other states were criticized in the report for failing to pass strict laws. The report also found that 10 states have yet to adopt sex trafficking laws and that 19 don't make it a crime to buy sex acts with a minor. It also found that Iowa, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Wyoming have no laws making it a crime to use the Internet to purchase or sell sex acts with a minor.
Washington Attorney General Robert McKenna, president of the National Association of Attorneys General, said policymakers have to play catch-up to establish consistent policies to rein in the crime. | <urn:uuid:dd83e04f-30e1-410f-8cda-69246c843da2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/01/differing-laws-on-trafficking-impede-us-crackdown/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967225 | 618 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Obama Offers First Look at Massive Plan To Create Jobs, Washington Post
"Obama said the massive government spending program he proposes to lift the country out of economic recession will include a renewed effort to make public buildings energy-efficient, rebuild the nation's highways, renovate aging schools and install computers in classrooms, extend high-speed Internet to underserved areas and modernize hospitals by giving them access to electronic medical records."
Obama won't sneak smokes in WH, Politico
"The president-elect said his administration is interested in "elevating science once again, and having lectures in the White House where people are talking about traveling to the stars or breaking down atoms, inspiring our youth to get a sense of what discovery is all about."
Editor's note: This is where the new Administration's immediate priorities are going to focus: fixing the economy and the underlying infrastructure that keeps it going. Where NASA fits in this refocused political environment is not clear. If NASA can be seen as a player in the overall renewal of infrastructure, education, and increased efficiency, etc. then maybe it has a shot at getting some of that money. But when it comes to continuing an expensive "return to the moon" plan initiated by an unpopular president - one whose benefit to a battered economy and society is hard to explain, the future does not seem very bright. That said, Obama is also looking to inspire people once again - especially the youth of America. Despite its problems, some part of what NASA does always seems to be inspirational.
But you need more that inspiration as a reason to place an emphasis on space exploration and NASA. NASA's tired old excuses as to why it is important or relevant will no longer work. People at NASA need to start paying attention to this new political reality and where NASA does or does not fit into it. | <urn:uuid:6fef9763-c24e-4cca-bf25-b350e75c60b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nasawatch.com/archives/2008/12/making-nasa-relevant-again.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966763 | 369 | 1.921875 | 2 |
PC companies will move away from selling just computers and peripherals to offering consumer electronics products, including television sets, a chief executive at one of the world's largest semiconductor makers predicted.
"The computer manufacturers are all going into the consumer electronics space," said Scott McGregor, the president and chief executive officer of Philips Semiconductor., which supplies chips to both computer makers and consumer electronics companies.
It is a trend that has been under way for a couple of years, led by the release of Apple's iPod music player in 2001 and the entry of consumer electronics companies, such as Sony, into the PC market.
Mobile phone makers, such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson, have also played their part, boosting the capabilities of handsets with features such as MP3 playback and the ability to connect with PCs and the internet.
In May, Gateway raised eyebrows among analysts by announcing its intention to offer a range of consumer electronics devices, including Microsoft's Xbox game console, flat-panel LCD televisions and home theatre systems, while it continued to build its enterprise computing and service businesses.
Dell is expected to begin selling its own line of LCD TVs towards the end of this year, said David Hsieh, director of Taiwan market research at DisplaySearch, a market research company which tracks the flat-panel display market, including LCD TVs.
"It's very clear that Dell wants to get more recognition in the consumer electronics area," Hsieh said, noting that Dell is working with LCD panel makers in South Korea and Taiwan on its plans to offer LCD TVs.
More companies are expected to follow suit.
"Based on our customer information, we believe every major laptop maker is going into the consumer electronics space and will sell TVs," McGregor said.
At the heart of this shift is the widening popularity of digital media, increased connectivity among consumer electronics devices, and the growing reach of broadband internet. In response to customer demand, LCD TV sets with internet access, wireless network connectivity and memory-card slots are expected to make their mark, Hsieh said.
Toshiba, for example, has announced a range of flat-panel television sets in Japan which incorporate an IEEE1394 interface and memory card slots for Smart Media, Secure Digital (SD), Multimedia Card (MMC) and Memory Stick as well as Ethernet connectivity to allow for firmware upgrades.
The first planned firmware upgrade for the TV sets includes a web browser that will allow users to surf the internet from their TVs.
Last week Sony introduced its PEGA-VR100K video recorder, which can be connected to a television and contains a television tuner and connectors for a satellite receiver or DVD player.
The PEGA-VR100K can record video in MPEG4 format on a Memory Stick card. The recorded video, between 250 minutes and 1,000 minutes on a 1Gbyte Memory Stick, can be played back on Sony's Clie personal digital assistant.
"There's a change going on in consumer electronics, that in the past people thought of them as isolated boxes," McGregor said. "That's not going to be true any more."
Recognising that consumers are still willing to spend money on new products, computing hardware makers have been quick to respond by developing digital cameras, MP3 players, and home PCs designed to operate as entertainment systems.
"We believe the future growth of IT spending will come from individual consumers and the home," said KY Chen, chairman and CEO of BenQ, a Taiwanese company offering a range of products, including LCD TVs, MP3 players, digital cameras, notebook PCs and digital projectors targeting consumers.
The PC industry's move into consumer electronics turns up the heat on traditional consumer electronics makers, which do not share their rivals' experience with integrating many of the functions found in desktop PCs and notebooks, or with the pricing pressure faced by PC companies as technology has advanced, Hsieh said. As a result, they are more likely to be the first to build more functions into consumer electronics devices, followed by consumer electronics companies.
One consumer electronics company that has not shied away from making a push into the computer market is Tokyo-based Teac.
Teac unveiled its TMM-2020 home entertainment PC at the Internationale Funkausstellung show in Berlin last week. Based on a 1GHz C3 processor from Via Technologies which does not require a noisy cooling fan, the TMM-2020 runs Microsoft's Windows XP and is designed to fit into a TV or stereo cabinet. It can be operated using a remote control or infrared keyboard and allows users to record television shows, watch DVDs or surf the internet.
"In the longer term, we're going to see more and more of these devices being developed," said Richard Brown, Via's assistant vice president of marketing.
Convergence between the consumer electronics and PC industries appears to be moving quickly, but Brown cautioned that there is still a long way to go. While consumer electronics companies have to adapt to the technology integration and pricing pressures of the PC industry, PC makers will have to get used to working with many different types of devices rather than a standalone desktop PC or notebook, he said.
Sumner Lemon writes for IDG News Service
This was first published in September 2003 | <urn:uuid:7d920201-63cd-46bf-bfc6-c5dc7cb39d8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/PC-market-shows-shift-towards-consumer-electronics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96051 | 1,072 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Lyme Regis Museum
The award-winning Lyme Regis Museum is situated at the heart of the town, right on the sea wall. The quirky Grade II listed building stands on the site of the home of Lyme’s famous fossil woman, Mary Anning. Inside, you will find a wonderful interior, with spiral staircases and balconies, housing a superb historic collection.
The museum’s high-quality displays tell many fascinating stories, including the history of fossil collecting and geology on this part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and the key personalities in the history of natural science for which Lyme Regis is so famous. There are also displays about the many writers and artists who have been inspired by Lyme over the years, including Beatrix Potter, John Fowles and Jane Austen. The story of the famous Cobb, the Civil War and every aspect of the town’s rich history can also be explored.
There are interesting temporary exhibitions, frequent guided fossil walks, a lively programme of talks and special events, and something of interest for everyone. | <urn:uuid:ff1ef905-ba9c-4c35-9d7a-90456ff2803a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lymeregis.org/explore/museum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940257 | 219 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Since the founding of our company more than 125 years ago, we've seen the world transition from discrete industrial societies to a technological culture. As an integral part of this transition, the design of large-scale engineering works has proven to be an intensely human activity fueled by innovation and vision.
From its inception, Parsons Brinckerhoff has been at the forefront of this revolution. Our story is one of leadership, and our history continues to be characterized by the imprint of outstanding individuals—starting with the firm's founder, William Barclay Parsons.
An auspicious beginning with global reach
By the time Parsons opened a Manhattan office in 1885, he was already known as an ambitious and exceptional engineer. Among the first undertakings of his new venture was the design of New York City's first subway, the IRT. Completed in 1904, this line—extending from lower Manhattan to Harlem—remains part of the world's most heavily used rapid transit system. Even then, the firm had a global reach. Another of Parsons's projects was to chart a 1,000-mile railroad in China, from Hankow (Wuhan) to Canton (Guangzhou), a line that is also still in use today. Read full biography of Parsons >
In 1906, Henry M. Brinckerhoff—a pioneering highway engineer—brought his expertise in electric railways to the firm. Known for his work on the development of the third rail—which revolutionized rapid transit—Brinckerhoff also designed the network of roads at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.
Today's comprehensive infrastructure services
From then until now, Parsons Brinckerhoff has evolved and expanded. Long recognized as one of the world's leading transportation engineering firms, Parsons Brinckerhoff now provides comprehensive services for all types of infrastructure projects including power, buildings, water/wastewater, mining and community development.
The past years have seen Parsons Brinckerhoff play significant roles on thousands of projects, including some of the most notable infrastructure endeavors of the 20th and early 21th centuries. It is these projects that tell the complete story of our heritage: The legacy of our impact around the world. It is a legacy we continue today, as we help our clients serve the public in a multitude of countries around the world. | <urn:uuid:85f90cba-86b9-4090-85ee-6a5ea7ec39c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pbworld.com/kr/about_pb/our_heritage.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953048 | 470 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Gorman: Important life lessons from high school football
By Kevin Gorman
Published: Saturday, November 5, 2011
True story. The boy was just 7 years old but couldn't wait to play football. You could see the excitement in his father's eyes, hear the concern in his mother's voice: Wasn't he too young to play tackle football?
Standing in the middle of that family squabble made for an awkward moment — until the boy jumped into a three-point stance and vowed to run over his 28-year-old cousin. As I casually bent over to play along, he sprung up and knocked me onto my backside in the gravel parking lot.
He'll be just fine, I told his mother.
I'm happy to report that I was just the first of many to be run over by Nick Marshall, from pee-wee with the Brookline Knights to preps with the Bethel Park Black Hawks. So, after following his football career for more than a decade, it was bittersweet to see it come to an end in a 21-0 loss to Penn-Trafford on Friday night in the first round of the WPIAL Class AAAA playoffs.
For as extensively as we cover Rushel Shell's record-setting career, the Hopewell star and Pitt recruit is the exception. The majority of Western Pennsylvania high school football players relate better to Nick Marshall's story, one where the sport served as a vehicle to learn important life lessons.
"I just wanted him to have the experience of playing high school football — a game I loved — because it was a good experience for me," said Nick's father, Danny Marshall, who played at since-closed South Hills High. "That's all any parent wants. Did I push him and drive him when I saw he had talent• Sure, but I learned to stay positive. I'd rather pick a kid up instead of put them down. I worry about whether he's going to play in college. You've got to accept the talent they have because every kid isn't going to be a superstar. You've got to push them, but it has to be positively."
Nick starred at running back on Brookline and Bethel Park youth teams that won league championships. The Black Hawks won the WPIAL Class AAAA title and lost in the PIAA final when he was a freshman, and Nick and his classmates expected nothing but more of the same for themselves.
On the second carry of his first varsity game, Nick ran 67 yards for a touchdown at Kiski Area. He had played with and against future Division I recruits, just never expected to have to sit behind a couple. But he played the same position as Bre Ford (now at Akron) and Nick Kwiatkowski (West Virginia) and spent two seasons as their backup.
"It sucked knowing I wasn't going to play that much because of how good they were," he said. "It taught me patience, how to take advantage of opportunities."
Football has taught him some other valuable lessons:
>> Perseverance. Midway through his junior season, Nick almost quit football. We had a talk about how you are defined not by how you handle success but rather adversity, whether his love for the game outweighed his frustration over a lack of playing time.
"Confidence is a fragile thing, I don't care what level you're at," Bethel Park coach Jeff Metheny said. "That's the most important thing. If you have confidence and believe you can get it done, most of the time you will, regardless of circumstance. Life's not always fair, you know. You get knocked down and get back up."
>> Accountability. When he got into trouble last summer, Nick learned to take responsibility for his actions. To his surprise, Metheny was supportive.
"Metheny is good at teaching kids life lessons. You have to give him props for that," Danny Marshall said. "He's hard on them, but he expects more out of them than being a football player. He wants you to be a good student, a good member of the community. And his good players, he rides them hard."
>> Achievement. Football provided structure, as Nick built himself into one of the team's strongest players: a 5-foot-9, 183-pounder who bench presses 360 pounds. It paid off in the opener at Kiski, when he rushed for 218 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries, topping his junior season statistics in one game.
>> Life's not fair. The next week, however, Nick sprained an ACL in practice. He was limited against Central Catholic, Shaler, Chartiers Valley and Mt. Lebanon, all losses, and found no running room behind a young, undersized line in a 55-0 defeat to Upper St. Clair on Senior Night.
"He's a tough kid, first of all. He runs hard. He's played hurt," Metheny said. "I've tried to explain to him, 'Listen, we've had some pretty good linemen come down the road here. You've seen some guys play behind them. Lyle Marsh and Bre Ford had a good line.' You can't pick your teammates. A lot of times we've not blocked all that well. He's kept a good attitude, worked hard and had some big nights."
Nick ran for 117 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries in the season finale at Baldwin and entered the playoffs with a team-leading 654 yards and six touchdowns. He had nowhere to run against Penn-Trafford, finishing with 21 yards on eight carries. As a victory bell rang in the background and the Warriors did jumping jacks behind them, the Black Hawks took a knee, then lifted their helmets for one last "1-2-3 Hawk Pride" chant.
"It's sad, knowing it's over," Nick said, as some of his teammates shed tears. "You can't play forever. I'm thinking about all the good memories right now."
Football doesn't last forever, but the memories and character built by a star-crossed career will. Not just for Nick but also for his extended family.
We watched him grow up playing football.
Mostly, we watched him grow up.
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To comment, click the Sign in or sign up at the very top of this page. | <urn:uuid:f40ea264-a335-4c76-af55-efceca841fc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://triblive.com/sports/1100965-74/nick-football-lessons-yards-behind-game-marshall-metheny-played-bethel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988246 | 1,322 | 1.648438 | 2 |
noun \-ˌfā-siŋ\fabric sewn between the facing and the outside of a garment (as in a collar or cuff) for stiffening and shape retention
You've probably noticed that I've been giving a lot of thought to the underpinnings of my sewing lately - the hardware and unseen inner workings of things.
Back in August when I was struggling to insert the zipper in my jumpsuit, someone suggested that I interface the zipper area. I did, and the zipper went in like a dream. This is now my standard operating procedure. Around that same point in time, I came across this post at Fashion Incubator. The gist is that home sewists don't utilize interfacing in their garments nearly enough. It changed my thinking on interfacing entirely.
|Upper back piece of my color block dress, interfaced at the shoulders and sleeve seam.|
Earlier in my sewing life, I interfaced only when and where a pattern called for it. And my earlier experiences were not very positive. I didn't know the benefits of interfacing or what good interfacing was. Needless to say I had trouble fusing and working with the cheap stuff that was sold to me at the local craft store, and the results were not good.
But, the first time I used really nice quality interfacing, the difference was marked and I was sold. Good quality interfacing fuses smoothly and quickly (none of this holding the iron on it for 10-20 seconds nonsense that can leave you with scorched fabric), doesn't distort the fabric or drape, and adds strength and stability to the garment. For me, good interfacing is worth the extra money. I've also come to appreciate how much interfacing makes things like zipper insertion easier, how it extends the life of a garment at the areas that tend to wear, like hems, buttonholes, zippers, hooks-and-eyes, etc. I also like how it can keep a knit garment from stretching and distorting over time, particularly at the neckline.
So, I finished sewing up my second version of the Burda Cover Dress last night (reveal of this color-blocked dress on Thurday). I used two different interfacings - weft strips for the shoulders and where the sleeves would attached (ie: where the garment should not stretch) and tricot for the facings, for the sleeve bands and at the hem.
|Re-doing the hem of version 1|
I was so pleased with how the hem came out - how stable and basically invisible it was that I ripped out the hem of my first version of the dress, which I had been unhappy with. I interfaced it and re-sewed it by hand last night. It's so much better now! Much less visible.
Anyway, are you a fan of interfacing or do you use it only as a pattern calls for it? Do you have a preferred brand or supplier? What are your thoughts?
Update: After puu's comment - feel free to weigh in on sew-in interfacing and organza used as underlining or interfacing. I used organza as a sew-in underling for the fabulous red dress I finished in September. And for a fancy dress I think it is the way to go. I loved it. And I've also used sew-in interfacing. Sew in hair canvas was fantastic for interfacing my Lady Grey coat, but I tend to have a rough time with the sew-in stuff in general because it tends to shift while you machine baste it in and I don't always have time for hand basting. | <urn:uuid:bfd4a936-4daf-4f4e-9414-ec7a4b2daf9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fivemuses.blogspot.com/2012/02/inner-workings-interfacing.html?showComment=1329205629790 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970575 | 755 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Syracuse, NY -- Andrew Bowman still proudly sports his blonde hair.
It’s a tradition for the West Genesee High School varsity swim team to dye their hair when the team goes to sectionals and for Bowman, who has Down syndrome, it’s a symbol that he is part of a team.
Bowman, 18, a junior at West Genesee High School, swims and participates in track and field. He said he has never let his condition stop him from participating in the sports that he loves and neither has his school district, which is exactly what the United States Department of Education wants.
The Education Department recently reminded all federally-funded school districts of their legal obligations to ensure that students with disabilities “consistently have opportunities to participate in extracurricular athletics equal to those of the other students.”
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that students with disabilities in elementary to high school must be given an equal opportunity to participate in athletics, including intercollegiate, club and intramural activities. The regulations prohibit a school district from denying a qualified student with a disability the opportunity to participate and sets requirements for creating separate or different athletic opportunities for students with disabilities.
There are many opinions on how the 13-page guidance letter, dated Jan. 25, will impact school districts across the country. National authorities say it’s a ground-breaking rule that opens up opportunities for the disabled, including their own teams or leagues. Local athletic directors think they already comply with the rule by offering the disabled a chance to play on existing teams.
Doug Biklen, dean of the School of Education at Syracuse University calls the letter a rare a welcome reminder that could lead to more opportunities for students with disabilities and more research on the topic.
Biklen said the message here is that school districts need to offer access to athletics to students with disabilities. If schools districts don’t comply with the law, they could face lawsuits from students and their families. Biklen said that burden shouldn't fall on the student's family.
"I think it's a very good thing," Biklen said. "The purpose of this kind of statement is a reminder of what equal access really means."
Biklen said the concept of inclusion for students with disabilities has typically focused on classroom curriculum, but this reminder serves as a statement to educators across the country that inclusion for students with disabilities needs to address all aspects of education, including athletics.
"The more students with disabilities are included, the better they'll fare overall," Biklen said.
A Washington-based advocacy group said the letter indicates a larger impact. Terri Lakowski, chief executive of Active Policy Solutions, told The New York Times that the clarification of the law by the Education Department was a "landmark moment for students with disabilities. It will do for kids with disabilities what Title IX did for women. This level of clarity has been missing for year."
Education Secretary Arne Duncan backed the need for the letter, which was sent out as a clarification, reminder and extra guidance for the law.
"Sports can provide invaluable lessons in discipline, selflessness, passion and courage, and this guidance will help schools ensure that students with disabilities have an equal opportunity to benefit from the life lessons they can learn on the playing field or on the court," Duncan said in a news release.
The letter also notes that the law does not require that a student with a disability be allowed to participate in any selective or competitive program offered by a school district, so long as the selection or competition criteria are not discriminatory.
George Mangicaro, athletic director, for the Liverpool Central School District, said the district allows all students to try out for all sports.
“We have a completely wide-open policy,” Mangicaro said. “Students with disabilities are treated the same as all students. We’ve had a number of athletes with disabilities on our teams over the years.”
The law states that districts may have to provide reasonable modifications or aids and services for students with disabilities. Mangicaro said when the district had a talented swimmer who was blind, a special system was set up with a bell to let her know when to make her turns.
Mangicaro said he agrees completely with the Education Department’s stance on the benefits for students with disabilities but he also feels that students without disabilities also benefit from the inclusion.
“I think it’s a valuable lesson for the students without disabilities too,” Mangicaro said. “We weren’t all born equal but that doesn’t mean we can’t treat each other with respect.”
Chris and Susan Bowman, Andrew Bowman's parents, said they don't treat their son any different because he has Down syndrome and neither do his coaches at West Genesee High School.
“The school district and his coaches have been great,” said Susan Bowman. “They treat him like any other athlete.”
That inclusion means a lot to students like Andrew Bowman.
“I just love to swim,” he said. When he gets into the water Andrew Bowman tells himself to “just keep on going, don’t stop.” | <urn:uuid:383b20e5-4b9b-4240-87db-e347416db1c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/department_of_education_orders.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976672 | 1,096 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Nursing Research and Statistic
This course presents the essential concepts of the research process to enable nursing students to critique research reports and apply research findings from nursing and other disciplines in clinical practice. It introduces the students to the scientific method as a way of knowing and the research process as a tool of science. It acquaints the students with the stages of the research process, the use of basic statistical techniques in answering nursing research questions, the principles of applying the research process to nursing practice, and the ethics for conducting research. Students have "hands-on" experience in the use of the computer and statistical programs for data analysis. | <urn:uuid:f131a2f1-08c4-4e26-9010-dba24cc82627> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.apu.edu/courses/description/?id=RNRS326 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91038 | 126 | 1.96875 | 2 |
my book review really needs some help
Hi, it's weird to ask, but maybe someone wants to help me with my book review. I failed it cause my English is terrible, as professor said, so I was wondering if someone could help me a bit.
I have all the footnotes, which are needed and professor said that also my ideas are nice, I just dont know how to 'put them on a paper' and as this is a first year when Im studying in English it is not that easy.
so here it goes..
The author Dr. Olga Nieuwenhuys is senior researcher at Institute for Development research at the University of Amsterdam. “She is a social anthropologist who has done extensive fieldwork in India, specializing in topics related to the survival strategies of rural households.” She has taught courses like “Childhood(s) in Global South: Postcolonial and Child Labour and development” in several universities all over the world . As well she has written lots of articles about children rights such as “From child labour to working children’s movements” in The Palgrave handbook of childhood studies” and “The ethics of children’s rights” in Childhood.
The book “Children’s Lifeworlds: gender, welfare and labour in the developing world” is an accurate reflection of the everyday life and importance of child labour in Kerala, India. Subject for the book is working children; they mostly are children of rural poor. These children rarely see other way of spending their childhood than working in fishing industries or coir yards. Therefore, the central question of the monograph that can be seen thorough the book is how class and kinship and gender influence the lives of children on Kerala. The author tries to answer this question without taking the sides, and tries to support all of the arguments with decent facts. She does not judge or support children, their parents or the places they work. And she does not require doing that for the readers.
The author’s main concern is the value of children labour. She shows that they, unpaid working children, are genuinely important for small businesses or even larger companies in the region, but as well she underlines the importance for the children and their families to be involved in these jobs, for such an easy example as boys who work in fishing industries gets free fishes to take home, so they can help to provide their family with food. It also has been shown that although children labour is important for the local economy, they are really unappreciated in comparison with paid children workers, but expectations are the same for everyone. The author gives a brief explanation why and how their status in society also depends on who their parents are and on their gender.
It is important to say that author illustrates child labour from a very likable perspective. The book is more concentrated on a child labour from the view of people living in the region, and not from the view of dissimilar regions with different life expectations and manner, for example, from the view of people who live in developed countries. The author not directly has indicated that there is a gap between understandings about child labour. Book illustrates why child labour is valuated inadequate in a very clear way. For example, it shows that in spite of high rate of child labour in this region, there is one of the highest elementary school enrolments as well. I believe that is the main reason why I would recommend it to read it. It may help for a reader to clarify a view on children labour as well as urge to see it from a different perspective, from a perspective locals in Kerala sees it, and it does not seem so negative after all.
It is notable, that the author presents child labour from very likable perspectives, but as she covers children working only fishing industries, coir yards or households, it may give too sympathetic view for a reader. In India there are a lot of children recycling E-waste. That gives them an opportunity to earn some money, but it is a really harmful atmosphere for their health, and they risk lives doing this job . It only one example of many harmful jobs the children of the rural poor is doing. So in my opinion the book covers the child labour too friendly. The book makes to think that everything is fine. As well in the title O. Nieuwenhuys refers on developing countries, but book contains the situation only in small part of India. Just by analysis on Kerala region the author can give a generalized idea about child labour in developing countries, but I would not to agree that it is all the same in all regions in India, and I am even not talking about the most of Global South. But in spite of that, the author does provide enough deep and generalized view on the situation in Kerala, what could be a case in other developing countries as well.
As the author spent July – August 1992 in this region, for her study she used the most reliable sources – local inhabitants. She has interviewed about 80 people who were somehow involved in child labour. Throughout the book lot of interviews with working children can be found. That makes a book easier to read and more interesting. As well I find that these interviews help to illustrate the reality better than all other text. There are several tables as well which indicates schooling, income and other rates. The monograph is well organized starting with nature of activities undertaken by children till economic and social implications of children’s subordination. Book is well written and easy to read, but the author uses a lot of local vocabulary like madrasa(modern Koranic school), pennukannaan(modern part of the betrothal ceremony) , what on the one hand makes harder to understand, but on the other hand these local words makes you feel like you are one of them.
I would recommend reading this for everyone who is interested in children labour in developing countries. It demonstrates a very sympathetic analyzes of working children and they everyday life, obstacles they are facing. As well it pays attention on their influence on the local economy and importance for local society. It is many sided, reliable source about the topic.
Re: my book review really needs some help
North American user of English
I am confused by your usage of quotation marks.
“She is a social anthropologist who has done extensive fieldwork in India, specializing in topics related to the survival strategies of rural households.”
Is this directly quoted from someone? It's so generic, anyone could have written and should not be quoted. When you're writing a paper, generally the only thing you want to quote is something which illustrates a point or can be used as support for your thoughts. Things that are considered to be general knowledge shouldn't be quoted.
Use italics for titles of books instead of quotes. Course names also don't need to be put in quotes. Actually here's a very good website for English how to use quotations and other facets of English grammar. (It's North American English.)
One thing you should work on is that when you use a quotation, you should cite or mention whom you received the quote from.
One thing to take note of is that child labor is always referred to as child labor and not children labor.
Much of what you've written is quite good considering English is not your primary language. Many of the mistakes you make seem to come from lack of experience more than anything else.
Good luck with your assignment!
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Artisanal and homemade compotes are best stored in sealed jars, stacked vertically in a dry, cool place. They should not be exposed to dramatic changes of temperature and should therefore be kept on the bottom shelved of a panty where the temperature is cooler.
Once opened, it is suggested that you store the products, well closed, in the refrigerator. It is important that jams and compotes be consumed fairly quickly, because once they come in contact with the air, they begin to loose their fragrance and flavor.
Compotes are great for making classic and innovative pairings.
Try serving them with:
Toasted bread or brioche at breakfast or with simple white bread and butter. This pairing will bring out their sweetness, especially of blackberry jam, for example.
Cheeses. It is best not to pair compotes with young, fresh cheeses so that the sugar doesn’t cover up the delicate aroma and flavor of the cheese. Instead, try serving them with medium-aged to long-aged cheeses, especially those that are hard, compact and granular. The compote will be a nice opposition to the spicy, strong flavor of the cheese. Pair fig jam with aged Pecorino Toscano, or blue cheeses, like Gorgonzola, with Tropea Onion compote.
Desserts. Compotes can also be used to make desserts, especially tarts, cakes and sweet breads like panettone and pandoro.
Meats. Try serving vegetable compotes with boiled or roasted meats. Fig mustard or a sweet and sour mint jelly pair well with roast lamb. Currant jelly goes will with kid and pumpkin compote with bollito misto.
Salumi. The sweetness of compotes can take the edge of the saltiness of many cured pork products. Try pairing melon jam with prosciutto di Parma or apple compote with speck from Trentino. Cooked ham can be served with mandarin or moscato wine jelly. | <urn:uuid:59608cfd-b8bd-433e-9abb-17cf30a1473b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.barilla.com/content/howto/how-store-and-serve-artisanal-compotes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919164 | 415 | 1.507813 | 2 |
- Tech & Gadgets
- BRW. lounge
Published 24 August 2012 06:44, Updated 28 August 2012 06:35
Sea change ... There are 6000 islands and islands in the Greek archipelago and most of them are uninhabited. Photo: Meander Adventures
Two years ago German politicians told Greece it should consider flogging some of its many uninhabited islands to combat crippling financial problems. Now it looks like the debt-addled nation may be planning to do just that.
In a preview of an interview with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, French newspaper Le Monde suggests that the PM flagged up the sale of uninhabited islets as an option as it looks for ways to raise funds to prop up its troubled economy.
Le Monde is due to publish the full interview Friday night AEST, but Huffington Post reports Samaras as saying “as long as this doesn’t pose problems for national security, some of these isles could have a commercial use ... This is not, in any way, about selling them off for cheap, but about transforming unused terrain into capital that could generate revenue, at a fair prices”.
Business Insider notes that there are more than 5700 uninhabited islets in the Greek archipelago, ranging from rocky outcrops to fully-fledged islands with natural beaches, ports and forests.
Separately, the Los Angeles Times notes this week that there’s a surprising number of surprisingly affordable islands on the market around the world.
“Although private islands are often associated with the very rich, they aren't always that exclusive or even all that expensive. Private Islands, a Toronto-based island marketing firm, lists about 500 islands worldwide from less than $US50,000 to more than $US100 million,” the LA Times says.
According to the paper, US, Canadian and British buyers account for 80 per cent of the market and popular locales for would-be island owners are the Bahamas, Belize, Panama, the Mediterranean and Greece. | <urn:uuid:8eb66c7c-e0d9-410c-9d2a-a7e3794deea6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brw.com.au/p/sections/eco/now_greece_is_considering_selling_3y1gduhy6NmJHZoyEDJvwN | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950243 | 422 | 1.867188 | 2 |
May 25, 2013
Truthdiggers of the Week: Bill McKibben and Protesters
Posted on Aug 26, 2011
Every week, Truthdig recognizes an individual or group of people who spoke truth to power, blew the whistle or stood up in the face of injustice. You can see past winners here, and make your own nomination for our next awardee here.
By the end of year, President Obama must decide whether or not to allow construction of a transnational oil pipeline—the Keystone XL—that would transport up to 900,000 barrels of oil a day from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas. The environmentally volatile proposal has thousands of people this week and next prepared to risk arrest in front of the White House in order to show Obama their disapproval. Those thousands of activists and their leader, environmental activist, journalist and author Bill McKibben, are our Truthdiggers of the Week.
More than 2,000 volunteers from across the country came to sit in with McKibben in a stand against the pipeline, and by Thursday more than 300 of them had been arrested, many held overnight. Most of the volunteers planned to participate again on Saturday, in what is meant to be the biggest day of action of the entire two-week protest. Many stood their ground Friday despite heavy rains and, while it remains to be seen how many will turn out in the face of the approaching Hurricane Irene, perhaps it is only fitting that a severe weather event occurs at the height of such a protest.
Truthdig reader Patricia, just one of many who nominated McKibben and the Keystone XL protesters this week, said that McKibben “has reminded us that civil disobedience is a powerful ‘NO.’ And by pledging to be arrested—and convincing others to do so—he has given us an example of how we might save the world from climate catastrophe.”
* * *
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Darcy Flynn was recognized in a Rolling Stone article by Matt Taibbi on Aug. 17 for blowing the whistle in July on two decades of corruption. Flynn told authorities that the SEC had destroyed records of thousands of investigations since at least 1993, and as Taibbi put it, “whitewashing the files of some of the nation’s worst financial criminals.” While Flynn is prohibited from speaking to the media about the issue because of his status as a federally protected whistle-blower, Taibbi gave voice to Flynn’s honorable actions not only in his article, but in subsequent interviews.
* * *
Bill McKibben, appearing on “Democracy Now!,” talks about the sit-ins and his arrest in the video below, at about three minutes in.
Previous item: A Special City Loses Its Voice
New and Improved Comments | <urn:uuid:b4b6026c-97cf-4480-828c-b594bedca7ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/truthdigger_of_the_week_bill_mckibben_arrestees_20110826/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965474 | 586 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Budapest Museum of Ethnography is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. Its permanent exposition "Hungarian Traditional Culture" focuses on lifestyle, traditions, art and culture of Hungarian peasantry. It features a vast variety of household objects, photographic and video materials as well as music recordings. The exposition comprises a diverse field of activities - hunting, bee-keeping, fishing, cattle breeding and crop-growing, craftsmanship and cooking. It showcases everything from tools and kitchen utensils to national costumes, and acquaints its visitors with rites and traditions, religious practices and other spheres of life. It features traditional culture of other European nations as well. The museum is housed in the former Hungarian Supreme Court building, which presents a harmonious fusion of various architectural styles - renaissance, baroque and classicism. Thanks to its luxurious ambiance and convenient location in the very center of Budapest, the museum has acquired a leading role on the cultural scene of the city.
Kossuth Lajos tér 12
Keywords: museum, museums, Budapest, Hungary | <urn:uuid:2630dc97-e8ec-490b-ae72-a66bb2bd85e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.anothertravelguide.com/eng/europe/hungary/budapest/destinations/culture/museum_of_ethnography___neprajzi_muzeum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941651 | 217 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Niger - Mariama, 14 years old, domestic worker
Mariama Sanda a young domestic worker in Niamey
On November 20th, we celebrate anniversary of the Convention on the rights of the child. This portrait is part of a series that shows progress and challenges in advancing children’s rights in a region where some of the lowest human development indicators in the world are found.
Niamey, Niger, 5 November 2009 - Mariama Sanda, 14 years old, has been working as a domestic since she was 11.
She is the only one who provides an income to her family of 10 (she has eight brother s and sisters). She works every single day of the week, from 8am until 2pm, and from 4.30pm until 7pm.
Rights denied/ rights obtained: Article 36 - Right to be protected from economic exploitation, from hazardous work and all other forms of exploitation
Impact on life or consequences: She has never been in school and is extremely vulnerable to violence, verbal and sexual abuse.
Child profile : Mariama, 14 years old, domestic worker
My name is Mariama Sanda. I am 14 years old, I have been working as a maid since I was 11. My father died 8 years ago. Although my mother has re-married, my step-father is too old to earn a living. I have eight brothers and sisters, among them two twin sisters.
I am the only one who provides an income to my family. I earn 6,000 Francs CFA per month (about US$ 13).
This is good, because when I started, I was so little that I was only earning 3,000 FCFA (about US$ 7) per month.
Plus I can bring back food to my family twice a day.
There is never enough food, but I have little brothers to feed, so I always make sure there is enough for them and sometimes I eat even less food to make sure they have enough.
I have to get up every day at 6.30 am, I leave home at 7.30 am, walk for half an hour, and reach my employers’ home by 8 am.
I work every single day of the week, from 8am until 2pm, then from 4.30pm until 7am. I am in charge of washing the dishes, washing clothes, cooking and cleaning the house.
My entire family relies on my work and the food I bring home every day. It is not that I like my job: this is the only thing I can do if we want to eat every day.
I have never been to school. I would love to, but I need to work.
Sometimes, one suffers too much, but I have learnt to be patient. As I work every day of the week, sometimes, I feel cannot take it any more.
I would like to stop everything. But as I do not have any other plan, I just move on with it.
By Sandra Bisin | <urn:uuid:516714ae-2985-4817-9de0-3a3c69a460af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/english/4501_5152.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976755 | 624 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Madrid: The Spanish government has announced plans for new legislation that will introduce stricter penalties for doping violations. The plans were announced just 10 days before the International Olympic Committee visit Madrid to make their evaluation of the city's bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
Should the legislation be passed by parliament, a new agency for the protection of health in sport will replace the current state anti-doping agency and carry a much wider range of powers. Fines for those caught doping will be raised to 400,000 euros ($521,000, £347,116) and anti-doping controls will be permitted between 2300 and 0600 hours if there is deemed to be sufficient cause to do so and that cause is explained to the person undergoing the test.
Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saez de Santamaria said the new legislation is also designed to bring Spain into line with the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA)code. "This law is much more advanced than the previous regulations," she said.
"Its fundamental objective is to protect the health of sportsmen and women and as such will increase the fight against doping and and the independence of the agency dedicated to this goal."
The Spanish Minister for Education, Culture and Sport, Jose Ignacio Wert, also offered his support to the change in legislation. "Obviously this will help the fight against doping," he said.
"The demands of the WADA code are much more severe than the previous law was." The move comes as the 'Operation Puerto' trial investigating Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes' relationship with a number of high-profile cyclists continues in Madrid.
Fuentes is not accused of any doping offence as the first anti-doping legislation in Spain wasn't introduced until 2006, after the investigation into his activities had begun, but rather of endangering public health by performing blood transfusions on his clients. | <urn:uuid:2ebf6594-554a-4a0e-b81f-82f567fd5797> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesofoman.com/News/Article-10411.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970467 | 388 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Delivery With A Big Audience
You might consider videotaping the birth of your baby, but would you let a television station tape the delivery to show to its audience? John and Lillian Kerr did, and the first childbirth televised for the public took place on this date in 1952. An NBC affiliate in Denver taped the delivery and broadcast it over 49 NBC stations. Gordon Campbell Kerr weighed in at 5 pounds, 7 ounces and was delivered by Caesarean section at the Colorado General Hospital of the University of Colorado Medical School, Denver. The telecast was part of the March of Medicine program presented in association with the American Medical Associations annual clinical meeting.
Copyright InteliHealth, Inc., 2011. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:99c56fdf-a59c-4cd6-aebb-051a63d351e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC000/333/7087/1418711.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959161 | 146 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Use movie-book pairs to get kids interested in reading
February 21, 2012 | 11:32 am
How to get kids to read? Lauren Grossberg has a suggestion: Find young-adult books that are being adapted into movies, then encourage the kid to read the book first, then see the movie and compare. There are plenty of such books around—the Harry Potter and Twilight series are obvious choices, as is The Hunger Games.
Encouraging your children to read the novels before going to the movie allows the child to practice reading skills and to develop their own opinions and imagination of the ideas and concepts in the novel. Then when watching the movie, it provides a child an outlet to compare and contrast the similarities and differences from the book to the movie along with their perceived ideas. Encouraging the children to create an informal book and movie club with their peers would then provide another venue for them to share their opinions. It could then be a weekend event with reading and a trip to the movies. You can also model this behavior by reading an adult novel before going to see the movie, and also establishing a book/movie club.
But meanwhile, at least some people are finding that kids are reading just fine. A short article in the Oman Daily Observer quotes a publisher saying that it’s selling more and more books all the time.
“We have been witnessing a steady increase in the sales of fiction and nonfiction categories, besides the academic, biographic and travelogue literature,” Shaukath Ali, Managing Director of Al Bhaj Trading told the Observer, adding “the increase is around 20 per cent year on and this totally refutes the claim e-reading has affected book reading”.
Of course, this is in an the Arabian middle-eastern nation of Oman, so the conditions there may not apply to reading in the Western world. (Also, given how sparse e-book availability is outside of the US and Europe, it’s hard to imagine e-books having much effect there one way or another.) | <urn:uuid:17e6cea9-1686-4424-b60c-e47c76adcd24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/use-movie-book-pairs-to-get-kids-interested-in-reading/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95466 | 422 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Dr. Cole is board certified in dermatology. He obtained his BA degree in bacteriology, his MA degree in microbiology, and his MD at the University of California, Los Angeles. He trained in dermatology at the University of Oregon, where he completed his residency.
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a medical treatment that uses a photosensitizing drug (a drug that becomes activated by light exposure) and a light source to activate the applied drug. The result is an activated oxygen molecule that can destroy nearby cells. Very thin superficial skin cancers called actinic keratoses and certain other types of cancer cells can be eliminated this way. The procedure is easily performed in a physician's office or outpatient setting.
PDT essentially has three steps. First, a light-sensitizing liquid, cream, or
intravenous drug (photosensitizer) is applied or administered. Second, there is
an incubation period of minutes to days. Finally, the target tissue is then
exposed to a specific wavelength of light that then activates the
application of photosensitizer drug
Although first used in the early 1900s, PDT in the modern sense is a fairly
new, evolving science. Current PDT involves a variety of incubation times for
the light-sensitizing drug and a variety of light sources depending on the
target tissue. The basic premise of PDT is selective tissue destruction.
Although the photosensitizer may be absorbed all over by many cells, atypical or
cancerous cells take up more of the drug and retain the drug for a longer duration
than normal tissues. Then light energy is applied selectively to the appropriate tissue.
At present, the primary limitation of available PDT techniques is the depth
of penetration of the light and ability to target cells within at most 1/3 of an
inch (approximately 1 cm) of the light source. Therefore, tumors or atypical
growths must be close to the surface of the skin or treatment surface for PDT to
PDT is currently used in a number of
medical fields, including oncology (cancer), dermatology (skin), and cosmetic
In dermatology, PDT with the photosensitizer Levulan Kerastick® (20% delta-aminolevulinic acid HCl) is used for the treatment of very early, thin skin cancers called actinic keratoses (AK). The initial approval was specifically for the treatment of actinic keratosis of the face and scalp with a combination of an application of the photosensitizer followed by a timed exposure to a special blue light source. PDT is also used for acne, rosacea, skin cancer, sun
damage, cosmetic skin improvement, oily skin, enlarged sebaceous glands,
wrinkles, rejuvenation (anti-aging), warts, hidradenitis suppurativa, psoriasis,
and many other skin conditions. It is not used to remove moles or
Porfimer sodium makes the skin and eyes sensitive to light for approximately 6 weeks after treatment. Thus, patients are advised to avoid direct sunlight and bright indoor light for at least 6 weeks.
Photosensitizers tend to build up in tumors and the activating light is focused on the tumor. As a result, damage to healthy tissue is minimal. However, PDT can cause burns, swelling, pain, and scarring in nearby healthy tissue. Other side effects of PDT are related to the area that is treated. They can include coughing, trouble swallowing, stomach pain, painful breathing, or shortness of breath; these side effects are usually temporary. | <urn:uuid:04e413a0-4f23-4b73-ac68-69f5e7598e04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medicinenet.com/photodynamic_therapy/article.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947656 | 830 | 2.125 | 2 |
Expansion of nursing role in general practice: studies suggest patients think that nurses can manage simple conditions but have some concerns about knowledge and competence in some areas
- Family and Community Health Research Group, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
- Correspondence to Elizabeth J Halcomb
Building 17, Campbelltown Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia;
The increasing burden of chronic disease and an ageing population in the developed world has led to a shift towards primary care to manage chronic and complex disease. This has prompted a growing interest in the nursing role within general practice. Various models of substitution, delegation and supplementation have been proposed in the literature.1 The impact of these models on patient outcomes and service delivery has only recently begun to receive attention. This article sought to review the recent evidence about the benefits and limitations of the role expansion of nurses in UK general practice.
An integrative review method was used to identify and synthesise the literature published since 2004 that investigated the role of nurses in UK general practice. The search of nine electronic databases identified 164 articles, of which 8 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review.
The outcomes from the included studies could be clustered under three themes namely, the impact on patients, nurse competence and National Health Service policy. From these outcomes, the author also identifies that the nursing role has been driven by the general practitioner contract and that current models of delegation remove consumer choice about the health professional that they see.
The article concludes that there is limited literature about the expanding nursing role in general practice, as well as identifying a need for additional nurse training around consultation and inclusion of patients views.
This study specifically set out to examine the UK literature. Although the article contains brief justification of this limited approach, the varying characteristics and funding of primary health systems internationally may be seen as a potential rationale. However, it must be considered by the reader that this limited approach has contributed to the small number of included articles and the exclusion of international literature that could have informed the discussion and provided information about the experience in other health systems. Although some of this literature is eluded to in the discussion section, the literature that has come from Australia, New Zealand and Europe has not been well explored, and some sentinel literature from these countries has not been cited.2 3 This limits the international relevance and depth of the review.
Although this article sought to explore studies published since the Cochrane review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of substitution of doctors by nurses4 in 2004, this criteria meant that the non-RCT literature published prior to 2004 was also not included in either review. This exclusion has also contributed to the narrow focus of the review.
The author reportedly used a quality checklist to evaluate the methodological quality of included studies; however, there is no information in the review about the outcomes of this quality assessment. The evaluation of methodological quality is of particular importance to assist the reader in evaluating the strength of the evidence presented, particularly given the relatively small sample sizes reported in many of the included articles.
The basis for the conclusions made by the author about the need for additional nurse training in consultation skills and increased consumer input was somewhat unclear. Although the findings did raise issues in these areas, it is not clear why these were selected as conclusions of the review. There has been some work previously undertaken around consumer perceptions of practice nurse roles in the international context which may have provided more insight in this area.5,–,7
Limited clinical application
Conclusions drawn from this review cannot be readily generalised because of the focus solely on UK literature and the methodological limitations of the included literature. Findings are applicable to the environment of UK general practice but are likely not directly applicable to international settings. The authors' conclusion is that few studies have been conducted in this area could have been broadened to explicitly identify the need for additional workforce research around models for nurses in general practice internationally.
Given the significant development in primary care workforces internationally, further research is clearly required to evaluate shifting existing and emerging models of care. Such research should, where possible, incorporate the perspectives of nurses, consumers and medical/allied health professionals. Researchers should consider using a range of outcome measures. These should include quantitative measures of health outcomes and cost effectiveness, as well as qualitative measures such as stakeholder satisfaction and preferences. The conduct of studies in this topic area using a mixed methods approach has the potential in to provide detailed insights into the impact of nurses in general practice on health service delivery and the health of the community. | <urn:uuid:2c88fd3d-2df1-4cfc-a61e-291ed644bb0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ebn.bmj.com/content/14/1/28.full?cited-by=yes&legid=ebnurs;14/1/28 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961141 | 928 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed Wins Millions to Fund 311 System, Reduce Homelessness
Five cities were named Thursday, July 14, that will share $24 million in funding from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Bloomberg Philanthropies. The cities will use the funds to design and implement programs to address pressing civic needs. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed confirmed that the city will receive $1.4 million annually for the remainder of his first term in office. Atlanta will use the funds to create and fund a comprehensive 311 system to improve governmental customer service throughout the city and to reduce Atlanta’s street homeless and panhandling problems.
“I am grateful to Mayor Bloomberg’s generosity with advice and time,” Reed said. “This funding will raise the level of performance in Atlanta and focus on what it takes to build a best-in-class 311 center.”
Each of the five cities will implement Bloomberg’s initiative to fund a five- or six- person “Innovation Delivery Team.” The city of New York, for instance, established teams to develop anti-poverty, sustainability and efficiency movements that were adopted into the Bloomberg administration.
Although cities like Baltimore, Charlotte and Miami have robust 311 systems, Atlanta has not been able to build one due to a lack of money or resources. Atlanta’s 911 system is often overburdened with non-emergency calls because residents have no guidance in finding a department or city service.
In office since January 2010, Reed has closed an $18 million budget gap and created a surplus toward $20 million. A former state senator, Reed was instrumental in helping the state of Georgia lay groundwork for a regional transportation plan as well as gain oversight of Atlanta Public Schools amidst its cheating scandal. Reed regularly lobbies the federal government for funding to deepen the Port of Savannah so that the eastern seaboard of the United States may remain competitive with the Panama Canal as it culminates it expansion project that will enable the port to accommodate supersized cargo ships by 2014. Most recently, Reed successfully reconfigured Atlanta’s pension obligation that will save Atlanta taxpayers $270 million over 10 years.
While in New York to accept the Bloomberg Philanthropies award, Reed was asked to ring the closing bell at NASDAQ. Later, he was interviewed on PBS Nightly Business Report: –a. robinson | <urn:uuid:fb93ed1c-1768-4119-92d8-ba0fc252ba19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rollingout.com/politics/atlanta-mayor-kasim-reed-wins-millions-to-fund-311-system-reduce-homelessness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95162 | 486 | 1.625 | 2 |
SPECIAL REPORT -
“Addressing Misconceptions About Agriculture” is a teaching tool produced by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture. The teaching kit addresses common misconceptions about agriculture using sound, science-based information.
Betty Wolanyk, director of education and research for the foundation, explains where many misconceptions originate, in addition to demonstrating how to use the instruction kit.
“We need people to understand modern agriculture and how the food they eat is produced,” Wolanyk says.
Misconceptions about agriculture frequently are perpetuated by textbooks, children’s books, media of all types but especially ads, movies and the Internet, Wolanyk says.
“Children’s movies, in particular, often perpetuate misconceptions about modern agriculture,” she says. “The next time you watch a children’s movie that portrays animal agriculture, take a very close look at it.”
Human activity causes all soil erosion is one of the misconceptions addressed by the kit.
Wolanyk recounts her experience in attempting to convince a college professor to take this erroneous fact out of one of his textbooks.
“Have you ever heard of the Grand Canyon?” was the question she posed that ended the debate once and for all.
There are more than 100 activist groups intent on attacking agriculture in the United States. Combined, these groups have an aggregate $500 million annual budget and many of them are working to convince America’s consumers there is no need for animal agriculture and their food supply is poisoned, Wolanyk explains.
The instruction kit produced by the foundation includes everything farmers and ranchers need to challenge common misconceptions about agriculture. The kit’s 35 issues cover topics ranging from DDT to global food issues and nutrition to organic food production.
The kit was designed for classroom use at the high school and college levels. A shorter version that can be presented in 45 minutes to an hour or adapted for an even shorter presentation was also created.
“Addressing Misconceptions About Agriculture” instructors’ kits may be ordered at www.ageducate.org.
American Farm Bureau
Federation’s communications department provided information for | <urn:uuid:4f866cff-50dd-49f9-b217-086ca8849d9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cottonfarming.com/home/issues/2008/2008_FebCF-FarmBureau.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949576 | 456 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Endoscopy Services at Rutland Regional Medical Center offers colonoscopy, upper GI endoscopy, bronchoscopy and other outpatient screenings and treatments in our state-of-the-art facility.
During an endoscopic procedure, a gastroenterologist or other specialist uses an endoscope (a flexible tube with a lighted end). It allows the specialist to obtain clear images of various organs and parts of the body, and also to treat various disorders. Common conditions, procedures and treatments include:
- Colonoscopy (Diagnostic and Therapeutic)
- Upper Intestinal Endoscopy (Diagnostic and Therapeutic)
- Gastrointestinal Bleeds
- Endoscopic Retrograde Choledochoduodenoscopy (ERCP) and the Removal of Stones in the Bile Ducts
- Capsule Endoscopy
- Insertion of Feeding Tubes (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy or “PEG”)
- Lung Biopsies
- Flexible Sigmoidoscopy
- Barrett’s Syndrome
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Colitis)
The second largest Endoscopy Unit in Vermont, the Unit is recognized for quality by the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). Our facility is designed so that admitting, procedures and recovery all take place in one self contained area, and includes four procedure rooms as well as preparation and recovery bays.
The Unit’s staff of experienced board certified gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, specially trained nurses and endoscopy technologists, are all committed to providing patients with a comfortable and positive experience. Appointments are available on a timely basis and all services are performed on an outpatient basis, allowing patients to return home after just a few hours.
Rutland Regional’s Endoscopy Unit is located on the 3rd floor. Take a left upon exiting the elevators and follow the signs to the Endoscopy Unit. | <urn:uuid:4f39d3ff-30f2-44d1-93fb-e8e3c3c4c046> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rrmc.org/services/endoscopy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909843 | 416 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Gourmet Lunchboxes for Grown-Ups
Did you know you can lose weight online, and access the CalorieKing.com.au Program (13 weeks of practical information on all aspects of weight control)? Learn more
Great ideas for grown-up lunches
Sushi rolls make a great low-fat lunch
"I recommend brown-bag lunches to clients for weight and health reasons" says CalorieKing.com.au dietitian Joan Bushman. "When you make your own lunch, you can better control the type of food you eat, the portions you eat, and even the amount of money you spend," she explains. "Of course, you still need to count your calories!" she adds.
Joan describes her favourite packed lunch as something simple, with an extravagant touch. "One of my favourite lunches has a very 'French' theme. A baguette with lean ham, cheese, sliced tomato and fresh basil, some veggie sticks, and a small piece of gourmet chocolate."
Try some of Joan's other top recommendations for gourmet workday lunches:
The mighty microwave
Have microwave... will have soup
If you have access to a microwave at lunchtime, your lunch just got a whole lot more interesting. Soups, frozen vegetables, leftover pasta dishes, baked beans ... all nuke-able delicacies are at your command!
"It's so easy to keep a bag of frozen veggies in the freezer," comments CalorieKing.com.au dietitian, Allan Borushek (the "Calorie King"). "You can also freeze cooked brown rice. Just throw some veggies and rice together, add some protein such as canned tuna, cooked chicken, or leftover roast meat, and heat in the microwave. There you go - you have a tasty, healthy meal just like that."
Try some of these other ideas:
Allan strongly recommends stocking up on fresh fruit as a snack or lunch food, otherwise "you'll be looking for a high-calorie, high-fat finish to your meal such as biscuits or chocolate" he says. But don't just stick to apples and bananas, tempt your taste buds with more exotic choices, such as kiwi fruit, strawberries, cherries, mangos, papaya, pineapple, custard apples, passionfruit, and nashi pears - or make a fruit salad with all your favourites!
"Also beware of calories from soft drinks and juice," he adds. "Quench your thirst on water instead."
(102 ratings made) | <urn:uuid:af51a283-4999-442d-8bf5-139b2dd78466> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calorieking.com.au/library/articles/Gourmet-Lunchboxes-for-Grown-Ups_YWlkPTg4NiZwaWQ9NSw1OCZwcmludGFibGU9bm8mbm92aWV3cz15ZXMmcGFnZT0y.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931132 | 527 | 1.710938 | 2 |
March 19, 2013
Ben Shneiderman adresses Building Safe, Thriving Communities with Credible Content: Design Principles for Web Sites and Social Structures.Read Full Story
March 19, 2013
Cyber Center and the Brian Lamb School of Communications will be hosting a KredibleNet Workshop on April 9.Read Full Story
February 26, 2013
5th Computational Science and Engineering Student Conference, April 5, 2013Read Full Story
Building the Third Pillar of Science:
HPC at Purdue has two complementary roles. Advanced science and engineering is based, to a growing degree, on the "third pillar of science". That is, computational simulation complements research and development that is driven by theoretical studies and real experiments. Through computer simulation, theories can be explored and experiments can be conducted that were unthinkable just a few years ago. HPC research develops the technology that realizes such simulations - climate change predictions, molecular simulations for drug design, exploration of new theories of physics particles in search of the building blocks of matter, to name just a few.
Multidisciplinary projects are essential for keeping Purdue at these forefronts. New models of science applications and new algorithms for their computer-based exploration need to be developed. Advanced computer languages, compilers, and operating systems are needed to implement and support these simulations. New computer architectures must be found to respond to the insatiable demand for ever higher compute power. Complementing these research goals, computer facilities must be made accessible, capable of executing the simulations effectively. To acquire and maintain such facilities, CRI works closely with ITaP's Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC).
Pushing the Forefront of Information Technology:
HPC also represents the forefront of information technology in general. HPC drives this ubiquitous technology, which permeates almost every part of our lives, today. An example of that forefront position is the recent development of multicore processors, which some consider "one of the biggest disruptions information technology has seen." Multicore processors are the computer industry's response to the fact that the clock speed (the computer's MHz rate) has reached upper limits. In the future, computer programs will get faster not because the clock speed increases further, but because multiple processors execute the programs in parallel. Such parallel processing has been at the core of HPC for over two decades and is now rapidly becoming mainstream information technology.
How CRI will Help:
CRI will help facilitate HPC research in several ways. HPC community activities will help exchange information about needs and opportunities for multidisciplinary projects among Purdue researchers. CRI will also monitor funding opportunities in HPC and help facilitate proposal activities. Furthermore, CRI will actively promote the projects of Purdue's HPC community in research organizations, funding agencies, and industry
The mission of the Computing Research Institute (CRI) is to facilitate multidisciplinary research in high-performance computing (HPC) at Purdue. As of January 2007, CRI has joined the Cyber Center, representing the Center's high-end computing branch.
No current events were found.
Computing Research Institute
Ernest C. Young Hall
155 S. Grant Street, Rm 928
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2108
- Phone: 765.494.7918
- Fax: 765.496.2275 | <urn:uuid:ae7e1691-747d-413d-86fe-511fb2844f35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/cri/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922226 | 684 | 2.1875 | 2 |
There has been growing and systemic momentum in the importance of whistle-blower protection programs in the global business community, international development, democracy and governance, and the expansion of U.S. whistle-blower laws, regulations and practices.
The global private sector now unhesitatingly creates whistle-blower programs and compliance requirements as a first line of detection against fraud, corruption, safety problems, and illegal and improper conduct. The international community mandates whistle-blower legislation to fight corruption, including as a prerequisite to joining the European Union. The U.S. Agency for International Development includes assessments and establishment of whistle-blower programs as a cornerstone for democracy and governance around the world.
On Nov. 27, President Obama signed into law the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. The law was 13 years in the making and arguably the first substantive revision of the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA). However, employees in the intelligence community and those working with national security classified information are expressly excluded from the coverage under the Whistleblower Protection Act — enhanced or otherwise.
Will whistle-blowers from these agencies be able to come in from the cold?
Before either the passage of the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act or the outcome of the 2012 presidential election was a reality, President Obama on Oct. 10 issued an eight-page Presidential Policy Directive called “Protecting Whistleblowers with Access to Classified Information.”
The directive purports to ensure that “employees serving in the intelligence community or who are eligible for access to classified information can effectively report waste, fraud and abuse while protecting classified national security information.” It says that retaliation against employees in the intelligence community for reporting waste, fraud and abuse is prohibited.
Arguably, the directive is experimental, and perhaps Congress will be patient enough to see what the White House and the relevant intelligence, national security and accountability officials develop. This would be preferable to a reaction resulting in the defunding of activities in support of the directive.
The legal trajectory of the directive could be seen as artfully avoiding conflict with the WPA and Congress. That is because the directive creates more responsibilities than rights, and does so by establishing new personnel policies and review processes and rooting them “to the fullest extent possible” in the federal merit principles and prohibited personnel practices of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act. The directive makes clear the applicability of all existing laws and executive orders governing the use and disclosure of classified information, and intelligence sources and methods.
The president’s directive should be implemented applying the same best practices we already know constitute a bona fide whistle-blower program, including that it exists to promote governance, not simply to manage whistle-blowers.
Leaders, agency heads, executives and managers play an essential role and must:
Be committed to establishing a whistle-blower program and fostering a culture and climate to support whistle-blower rights and processes.
Communicate from the top to promote education and training programs for employees and managers.
Hold accountable those people who infringe on the principles and rights of whistle-blower protection.
Correct wrongdoing as a result of whistle-blower allegations and investigations.
Handling whistle-blower complaints — and complaints of alleged retaliatory actions — requires true separation and independence of those people and offices that would play a role. To enable this:
Whistle-blower protection programs must be clearly stated and defined in law, regulation, ethics, internal codes of conduct and performance management requirements with detailed procedures, rights, responsibilities and consequences.
Complaints and allegations must be professionally, independently, objectively and confidentially investigated and reviewed.
All organization officials and employees must be equally covered by and subject to the whistle-blower program and related laws, regulations, codes and practices.
Consequences, decisions and results must be clear and enforceable.
U.S. whistle-blower laws rank as global best practices and rest atop the bedrock that, in a democracy, citizens are the governors and the governed. Yet even our constitutional guarantee of due process cannot be presumed, and it does not supersede the need for express and legally protected vigilance and self-correction.
Steven L. Katz served as counsel to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee; chief counsel to the chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board; and senior adviser to the comptroller general of the United States. | <urn:uuid:7a0f556e-6bdb-46dd-bad3-50b21d71fdd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20121209/ADOP06/312090004/1010/ACQUISITION01 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930045 | 906 | 2.5 | 2 |
I saw an awesome presentation when I was in Sri Lanka giving a keynote to their annual big telecoms event. (Sri Lanka is the country on the island of Ceylon, just off the South-Eastern tip of India). One of the speakers was Idrees Butt the COO of a company called SMS All, Pakistan's largest social network with a twist - it runs on SMS text messaging.
Boy why didn't I see this coming? I mean, Twitter was built so, that each Tweet of 140 characters fits inside an SMS text message that runs 160 chracters. But yes, what is the SMS All then? They do very basic communities-oriented social network management running on SMS. Anyone can join, you don't need a PC (the service also works on PCs but PC penetration in Pakistan is very low). You don't need a smartphone (again, the vast majority of handsets in use in Pakistan are basic or featurephones, not smartphones). And all runs on SMS. You create your own account, set up your own little communities around what you like, be it your school mates or a fan club aroudn your favorite cricket team or the upcoming James Bond movie Skyfall, etc. Whatever. And then invite your friends to join and you can have a micro-blogging experience similar to Twitter, and updates and sharing like Facebook, but all built to run on basic SMS.
It works on all networks in Pakistan. Each message costs a very tiny bit and if you manage communities, there is a limit to how many messages you can send in mass-mailing type of broadcasts, where if you send a lot (or receive a lot) you are then asked to pay a little bit more. The have 4 million active users already, and 400,000 communities already set up within SMS All. They are the biggest SMS based social network in Pakistan (probably in the world) and are now starting to expand abroad. Very VERY clever simple service that brings 'communities dominate' social networking experiences to those who are not yet owning a PC or tablet or smarpthone and can't use the 'traditional' big social networks like Facebook. They have all the usual suspects from user-generated content to citizen journalism to various political parties using it - they will have the actual political party internal elections even run on SMS All for one of the parties that is very active in social media. There is advertising and sponsoring and a free version on a limited scale where you can have the basic services totally free. Brilliant!
Brilliant, brilliant service - congratulations to the team that set it up, and if you want to spread a story of good will from the Emerging World markets, here is one fabulous success story from Pakistan. SMS All. And I hope this spreads soon to all major parts of the Emerging World, lets not keep it only a Pakistani secret, eh? See more at their website SMS All. | <urn:uuid:46bc4c64-b9aa-40b2-b6e1-44eff56061f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/citizen_journalism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941444 | 591 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Upon landing at Cairo's international airport, I see a billboard that quotes none other than Barack Obama saying: "American young people need to grow up more like Egyptian youngsters." Thus one year after their revolution do Egyptians bolster their newfound post-Mubarak pride through association with an American president. At bookshops across Egypt I find bestselling guidebooks on how to pass entrance tests for American universities. It's a jarring contrast, then, to return to JFK airport and see such popular titles as "The Post-American World," representing the fashionable tendency among U.S. political elites to talk down American standing in the Middle East.
Granted, it is necessary to analyze America's influence in the world, but it is quite another matter to almost campaign for a less powerful America, believing that somehow this spells progress. I am not an American, but I firmly believe that, on balance, American power is a force for good in the world. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was right to remind us repeatedly in Britain that the modern world is led by a free nation, a democracy, and not Russia or China.
Yet it's American conventional wisdom to believe that the fall of Arab dictators, particularly Egypt's, weakens American leverage in the Middle East. And this thinking risks becoming self-fulfilling prophecy unless the U.S. government finds its backbone and recognizes that U.S. power is not limited to backing tyrants. The current trajectory—of dancing around developments, leading from behind and expressing defeatist thinking—needs to stop.
Egypt's military government detects this American weakness, which is why it recently had the audacity to raid the offices of several American nongovernmental organizations. These were not obscure shops but the federally funded National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute, and Freedom House. The military also raided a German NGO. In response, the Germans immediately summoned the Egyptian ambassador. Egyptian democracy activists predicted that the U.S. would do the same, or at least issue a powerful condemnation from the White House. Neither happened.
Sensing the indignation and expectations among Egyptian revolutionaries on Twitter, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo tweeted, "We call on Egyptian government to end harassment of NGO staff as well as return all property." I responded by challenging the embassy: "Then what?"
Officials answered by asking me what should be done. This lack of confidence, fear of offending, and inability to take a stance stems from the default belief in American weakness and decline. I tweeted back to the officials that the U.S. government should ask its military allies to return to their barracks and cease killing protesters—and that it should tie these demands to U.S. aid. Yes, that small matter of $1.3 billion annually, $39 billion to date.
U.S. aid to countries such as Egypt and Pakistan, and trade and security arrangements with countries such as Saudi Arabia, all give America leverage. Washington doesn't need to regularly remind its allies of these arrangements or use these tools bluntly. "Soft power," wrote Harvard's Joseph Nye, is "the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments." But to use this attraction, the U.S. government must believe in itself, project confidence, and realize that, despite left-wing propaganda, America remains hugely attractive across the Middle East.
The Arab revolutionaries did not look to China or Russia for a model of government. They looked to four-year presidential terms, inspired directly by American democracy. Islamist leaders such as Tunisia's Mohamed Ghannouchi condemn French secularism but highlight American accommodation of religion as a model of a secular state that is less hostile to religion. Across the Arab world, satellite dishes face west. Hollywood films, McDonald's, Starbucks, jeans, baseball caps, Facebook and Twitter are the widespread norm.
Even those Egyptians who shout anti-American claptrap—the Muslim Brotherhood and their Salafi cousins—crave meetings and photo-ops with visiting American politicians, such as Sen. John Kerry recently. They seek an American stamp of approval that bestows legitimacy, modernity, and association with global power. Without it, they remain pariahs.
In the many meetings I have had with members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Middle Eastern Islamists over the past year, they show animosity toward the U.S. only with regard to Israel. It's clear that Israel won't enjoy the relations with Egypt that it did under Hosni Mubarak. There is no stamina for war with Israel, but this generation of Arabs won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Trying to force them to do so will not only fail but risks compromising American influence. It is wiser to allow for the passage of time, and help the Palestinians realize their dream of a dignified, free state.
In his important 2004 book "The Case for Democracy," the former Soviet dissident and Israeli diplomat Natan Sharansky predicted the rise of democratic forces in Arab countries. As Egypt and other Arab nations experiment with democracy, the U.S. cannot be seen to be weak, nor craving for yesteryear, but instead must support the people's cries of freedom.
Mr. Husain, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is author of "The Islamist" (Penguin, 2007).
This article appears in full on CFR.org by permission of its original publisher. It was originally available here (Subscription required). | <urn:uuid:ae986b1a-170c-4fde-9d3e-47089988fef8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cfr.org/egypt/egypts-revolt-american-model/p27206?cid=rss-democracyandhumanrights-egypt_s_revolt_and_the_america-012612 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957148 | 1,106 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Posted: Oct 14, 2012 7:13 PM
Updated: Oct 14, 2012 8:54 PM
LOS ANGELES - It took much longer than expected, but the Space shuttle Endeavour has finally reached its permanent resting place at a Los Angeles museum.
After a 12-mile journey through city streets that included thousands of adoring onlookers, flashing cameras and even the filming of a TV commercial, Endeavour arrived at the California Science Center Sunday to a greeting party of city leaders and other dignitaries that had expected it many hours earlier.
Organizers had planned a slow trip, saying the spacecraft that once orbited at more than 17,000 mph would move at just 2 mph in its final voyage.
But that estimate turned out to be generous, with Endeavour often creeping along at a barely detectable pace when it wasn't at a dead stop due to difficult-to-maneuver obstacles like trees and light posts.
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FCC Public File of Records, Reports, and more | <urn:uuid:1bf6a443-68dc-46fd-85e7-04207227ccf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kristv.com/news/endeavour-finally-reaches-permanent-la-museum-home-282486/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920847 | 346 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Background: Originally there was this font format called TrueType. People and companies started calling their type engines all things ending in Type: FreeType, CoolType, ClearType, etc. And then came OpenType, which is the successor of TrueType. So, for my OpenType implementation, I decided to stick with the concept but use the Persian translation. Which is fitting given that Persian is written in the Arabic script, and OpenType is an extension of TrueType that adds support for complex script rendering, and HarfBuzz is an implementation of OpenType complex text shaping.
Not to be confused with HarzBuff! | <urn:uuid:1de029e9-ffa9-464a-b1a0-b47928c688f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freedesktop.org/wiki/HarfBuzz/?action=SubscribeUser | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93423 | 126 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Manchester Road E.,
1 person favorited this theater
Located in the south Manchester district of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, at the corner of Manchester Road and Nicholas Road. The Picture House was originally built for an independent operator and was to be known as the New Majestic Cinema, but it was taken over by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres(PCT) chain, and opened on 8th November 1920 as the Picture House.
The Picture House was an attractive building, which had two squat domes on each side of its facade. Seating in the auditorium was provided in stalls and circle levels.
In 1921 it was leased to Savoy Cinemas and re-named Savoy Cinema. In 1928, the cinema became one of the original cinemas in the newly formed Associated British Cinemas(ABC) chain. On 25th March 1946, it was taken back by Gaumont/PCT, and was re-named Gaumont from 1st April 1946.
The Rank Organisation closed the Gaumont on 6th January 1962, playing a re-issue double bill of Doris Day in "The Pajama Game" and Guy Madison in "The Charge at Feather River".
The building was purchased by the Co-operative Society and converted into a funeral home, which continues today. The facade has been heavily altered, and inside the auditorium, the circle has been extended forward to the proscenium arch. The original ceiling is still to be seen in this upper area, which is now used to store coffins.
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater | <urn:uuid:8cdbe893-206d-4d11-b89b-c22518e5b6f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/33843 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97953 | 330 | 1.578125 | 2 |
10/03/2009 11:56 AM ET
Major Leaguers teach baseball to disadvantaged youth
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -- Today, the Major League Baseball Players Trust’s City Clinics program makes its fifth stop on its 10-city tour, when former Florida Marlins and World Series champs, Cliff Floyd, Lenny Harris and Charles Johnson host 300 South Florida-area youth in a free baseball skills clinic. Through their City Clinics program, Major Leaguers are teaching baseball and important life skills to 3,000 disadvantaged children from inner-cities across the United States.
The Players Trust’s City Clinics program is a grass-roots campaign underwritten and developed by – and featuring the active participation of – Major Leaguers to promote the game of baseball, life skills and education to underprivileged children, ages 6-16, in select cities across the country.
The Players Trust developed the City Clinics program in partnership with the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association’s Legends for Youth program. Children participating in these free City Clinics receive hands-on instruction from current and former big leaguers in areas such as base running, pitching, hitting, throwing and fielding. During each 3-hour session, City Clinics’ 300 attendees also will participate in a question and answer session with active and former players, and receive free T-shirts, autographs and refreshments.
Joining Floyd, Harris and Johnson at Pembroke Pines Optimist Field today are former players Warren Cromartie, Ricky Gutierrez, Jeffrey Hammonds, Elliot Maddox, Oddibe McDowell, Tom Shopay and Preston Wilson.
City Clinics have been held in Myrtle Beach, SC; Orange, CA; Philadelphia, PA and Phoenix, AZ. The program’s next stop is Saturday, October 10, in Atlanta, GA. Future City Clinics dates and locations will be announced as they become final. | <urn:uuid:d8dd8d1f-1743-484f-9d16-b1948e7ab424> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/pa/releases/releases.jsp?content=100309 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941945 | 404 | 1.679688 | 2 |
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Breaking the Code
Words are fascinating, and in the enigma that is so often the English language, homonyms (same word, multiple meanings, as in "he had to train to drive the train") have always held a special fascination for me. The practical left side of my brain gyrates at the irrationality of a single word with multiple meanings, and the creative side of my grey matter swoons at the romance of a nuanced phrase turning on the perspective of a single word.
We can be blue, but we are rarely really blue unless it is really, really cold. In the cold we may feel the cold more if we are lean and will likely not be warmer if we lean against a cold wall and could even catch a cold. We can be stooped from too much leaning, or we can stoop to pick up a coin, perhaps even on the stoop of the house.
There are hundreds of homonyms. In fact, the list is so long that it can be helpful to break the list down into more specific sub-categories like heteronyms (same spelling but with different meaning and pronunciation, like "desert your post and run through the desert") and heterographs (same pronunciation but different spelling and meaning, like "she took two books to the library, too").
Yet, with all my noodling about homonyms, I have yet to find a word that is spelled and pronounced the same but that has the exact opposite meaning. Some may say that raze (to destroy) and raise (to build) are opposite, but these are actually heterographs (different meaning and spelling, but pronounced the same) and not true homonyms.
When some folks asked me to elaborate on my recent references to the "unhandy" house not being "to code" or about my remodeling bringing things "up to code," I realized that the word "code" itself might be the closest I will ever find to a true homonym that can have exact opposite meanings.
By its nature, a code that sets rules of conduct or performance should be simple and easy to understand so it can be easily and widely employed by all. A code, on the other had, can also be designed to keep secret its message and underlying meaning. A residential building code book should convey information easily, but in reality can look like an unbreakable cipher.
Do not despair, however; breaking the code of building codes is easier than breaking the DaVinci code. In fact, even though code books are large and the print is small and intimidating, finding the information you need is sometimes more difficult than interpreting the information.
When Hammurabi developed his general code of conduct for the Babylonian Empire 5,000 years ago, he included what was probably the first residential building code. He decreed that if a builder built a house that fell down and killed the homeowner, the builder should be killed. From that simple straight-forward, albeit a bit Draconian, beginning, building codes have evolved and expanded, and as far as I know, there is no death penalty for non-conformance...but there will be extra cost, time delays, shoddy and potentially dangerous workmanship, and other problems.
Here are a few tips to help the neophyte understand residential building codes and employ them as standard practice in home improvement projects.
Figure 6 - Twin lead antenna wire was never
approved for use as electrical wiring,
but my "unhandy" handyman used it. Scary!
First, it is good to keep in mind that each code is intended to promote safety, longevity, and a degree of uniformity and that most code is based in common sense and experience. It is also good to remember that the local governing body that has jurisdiction over construction in your area is not trying to stop you from building or renovating anything. In fact, they want you to build, add to, and continue to improve your property. Their mission is to make sure you do the work correctly and that property and lives are protected. In fact, with only a couple of extremely rare exceptions, I have found the various licensing and inspection people I have worked with to be helpful and a wealth of valuable information. Most are patient with homeowners and other "non-professionals" and truly want you to be successful at your project. When starting any remodeling project, start with your local permit-issuing body. However, you will get further, faster, if you already have a working knowledge of the applicable code for the project you want to build.
Purchase a residential building code book. The one I use is the International Code Council (ICC) "2009 International Residential Code For One-and-Two Family Dwellings." It is also critical to find out if your state and municipality have their own variations of the code. Many do. If so, obtain their book(s) as well. Local governments often mandate different standards for very good reasons, and the people at your permitting agency can advise you.
For a taste of what to expect and how to decipher the "code," my project of building stairs to the second level of my new workshop is a perfect example. My State Department of Commerce Uniform Dwelling Code (which I am using instead of the international code, and you will see why in a minute) contains almost 50 paragraphs on the building of stairs, which sounds daunting, but let's jump in and see how easy it really is.
The first paragraph, "Scope" actually lets me off the hook if I were to choose not to build to code. It says:
Every interior and exterior stairway, including tub access steps but excluding nonrequired basement stairways which lead directly to the building exterior and stairways leading to attics or crawl spaces, shall conform to the requirements of this section.
I could ignore code and the stairs leading to the "attic space" of my garage could be built any old slap hazard way. But, that's not the way woodworkers and handy people do things. We want safe, comfortable, and long lasting, so we do things right.
The first section covers width. No need to reprint the entire paragraph here. I find it helpful to scan the verbiage and look for numbers. Once the numbers are found, I can read the sentence. It says, simply, that stairs must be a minimum of 36 inches wide and that handrails and trim can project no more than 4.5 inches into the required width. Easy.
The next section covers the height of each riser. There is a whole lot of language about where to measure, how to measure if the top or bottom of the stairs start or land from a carpeted area, and exceptions allowed for spiral stairs. Again, scan for numbers and you will quickly find that risers cannot exceed 8 inches from the top of one tread to the top of the next.
Skimming through the next section we can find the nugget in the river by again just looking for numbers. The first number I see is "9" and that sentence says that stair treads have to be at least 9 inches deep. The section following that indicates that there must be 76 inches of headroom above every stair tread. So far, so good.
The next section, titled "uniformity," tripped me up once during a final inspection on a new home. International code says that no riser height or tread depth can vary by more than 3/8 inch. I built a small set of stairs from the garage to the house, and was within national code limits on both counts. However, in my state the code is 3/16 inch. Lesson reiterated --- always check local codes.
There is another page and a half in the "code book" on stairs, the vast majority covering handrails, but the information we have ferreted out so far will get us pretty much "to code" and the practicality and common sense of the code should be apparent.
Narrow stairs are impractical. Whether it is moving in furniture or carrying out the trash, wider stairs are simply easier to navigate. But there is much more to the 36-inch minimum. Could an emergency worker get in with his/her gear? Could an ambulance attendant get up or down stairs with a stretcher? What if you someday need to add a motorized lift to the stairs? Would they be wide enough? Building codes help people be prepared for situations they might not foresee.
Studies have probably been done that reinforce the most comfortable height for steps. No doubt, records are kept somewhere of the number of falls and the data might include the factors that led to the fall. You can be assured that the 8-inch maximum riser height is based on data and the vast majority of stairs I have seen in the past ten years have had a 7.5-inch riser height...give or take a fraction.
Standardization plays a part in riser height, just as it does in tread depth. Treads less than 9 inches deep would be uncomfortable and dangerous, and an 11 to 11 ½ inch tread depth is more the norm. Two 6-inch (nominal) boards side-by-side happen to measure about 11 inches. Standardization can help keep costs down, and can also be more comfortable and safer.
No one likes to bump their head or duck when walking, and a 76-inch clear area above each stair allows anyone up to almost 6 foot 4 inches tall to walk upright while climbing stairs. Safe and comfortable, but even more height is obviously preferable in order to avoid a claustrophobic look or feeling.
The "uniformity" clause might need some explanation. We humans adapt pretty quickly and process a lot of information subconsciously. When we start up or down a set of stairs, by the third step our magnificent brains have already told our legs and feet where the next logical step should be. If it is a little higher, or a little lower, our brains, feet, ankles, and legs adjust, but if the difference is too great, we become momentarily disoriented and could stumble and fall. Ask any hiker and you will find that a mile in the woods or on uneven terrain is much more strenuous than a mile on a sidewalk, due principally to the additional concentration and muscle strain to balance every step. The allowable deviation between riser height and depth is logical, but explaining why my state's uniformity requirement is twice as strict is a mystery. Perhaps we are just a clumsier group up here in the North country.
For the stairs themselves, the last thing the code book covers is open risers (no back to each step). If you build stairs with open risers, the opening cannot allow a 6-inch sphere to pass through. With a 7½-inch rise between steps, that means that each tread would need to be 1 ½ inch thick. Isn't that just about right for a 2 X 4 or 2 X 6? Funny how that works, isn't it?
The 6-inch sphere guideline is used again in the code to outline the maximum amount of space between guardrails, balusters, etc. Ostensibly this is small enough to prevent a child from falling through, but large enough that he will not get his head stuck in the balusters...at least that is what my friendly building inspector told me.
If you never plan to do a home improvement project and only want to build furniture and turn bowls, the International Residential Code book is still very interesting reading. You will learn a lot and will pick up a significant amount of additional new nomenclature to add to your vocabulary. You may do a better job of hiring contractors and even buying your next house.
Well, enough about codes, for now. I have to run. I have to think of a way to pack my plane so I can get through security and get on the plane to fly across the plains and speak plainly to a bunch of plain folk like me about how to plane a bunch of uneven boards and get them all into the same geometric plane. Homonyms are so cool!
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Steven can be reached directly via email at email@example.com.
|See Previous Newsletters Subscribe to Our Newsletter| | <urn:uuid:ce6f6964-4a34-4d18-ba4f-a0aacca18087> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodworking-tips-1104apr/downtoearthwoodworker5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958082 | 2,541 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Oregon DMV Practice Test
Those who never held an Oregon drivers license and would like to start driving some time in the future will have to undergo a series of tests before they can hit the road and taking an Oregon DMV permit test is the first step of the process. The 2013 Oregon DMV practice test is a great way for you to get prepared for the exam. You may be able to find an Oregon DMV practice permit test on the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services Division website or at one of many private websites that either offer free Oregon DMV practice tests or may charge you a small fee for accessing these study materials. Oregon DMV driver practice tests produce the best results if you read the official DMV drivers handbook before you start taking the tests.
Why Take Practice DMV Tests
If you are on this page and are currently reading this, you have probably already answered this question for yourself. Everyone who chooses to apply for an Oregon drivers license has to take an Oregon DMV permit test, the test that covers the state driving rules, traffic regulations, road signs and pavement markings. The DMV permit test also includes questions on defensive driving techniques and general safe driving practices.
Oregon practice DMV tests can be useful in a number of ways. First of all, taking an Oregon drivers practice test can help you get accustomed to the wording used by the DMV. You may know the rules well and still fail if you are unable to comprehend DMV test questions. Oregon permit practice tests allow you to learn this wording and teach you how to get straight to the point of the question.
Another good thing that comes from taking an Oregon DMV practice test is that practice tests show you which driving rules you may have missed or misunderstood while preparing for the exam. Once you take the DMV practice test and the exam is graded, you can identify the sample questions you have missed and revisit these topics.
One of the biggest mistakes made by young Oregon DMV permit applicants is that they try to learn the driving rules just by taking Oregon practice tests, without reading any books or going through additional educational programs. In most cases, such students fail as practice tests were never meant to be a stand-alone study resource, it's more of a study aid and should be used only when you already have sound knowledge of the rules.
Compliment Oregon DMV Practice Tests With...
It's a very good idea to start preparing for the drivers permit test by reading the official Oregon DMV manual. The handbook is published by the DMV and it covers the state licensing procedure and driving rules. Your permit test is based on the information in this manual so theoretically, you can get by just by reading the book and taking an Oregon permit practice test.
Here is a tactic we found to be working for us. Mind you, this is not a quick option and it will actually take you some time to prepare for the drivers permit exam if you go down this road, but it will definitely help you memorize those rules better.
Start by reading the 2013 manual, the whole thing. Don't try to memorize everything right away, but don't skip anything either. Once done with the drivers license handbook, take a few Oregon DMV practice tests. Record your scores and write out those DMV permit questions you've missed. Now pick up that book again and revisit those chapters that have answers to the questions you've missed. Once done, take a few more practice tests. Keep doing this until you will be getting a score of 90-100%. This score is a little higher than the one you need for passing your real DMV permit test, but you want to make sure that you can do better than a minimum passing grade.
If you find that the book doesn't do it for you, you may also sign up for an Oregon drivers education program. Most of the drivers education programs include at least one free Oregon DMV practice test, many of them will offer you more than one, so you will not have to search for any alternatives. Completion of a state-approved driver's education course can also make you eligible for a car insurance discount, something you should not dismiss.
If your drivers education class does not include free practice tests, don't worry, there are plenty online DMV practice tests for Oregon available on the web, many of them are free so you won't have to pay a dime. Just make sure that you are taking a state-specific DMV practice test, as they are usually much more helpful than regular generic practice tests.
Take Oregon DMV Practice Test | <urn:uuid:5ebebc45-c073-4d2a-8e81-331935f18387> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://education4drivers.com/oregon/dmv-practice-test.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957864 | 904 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Your Professional Development is Critical
Research tells us that early childhood professionals with specialized knowledge and professional development in how young children develop and learn is critical, as is the quality of interactions between program staff and children.
But it’s not the degree or credential alone. The content and quality of the professional preparation program you choose to attend is equally as vital. On-going training, support and working environment are also important.
Accreditation promotes excellence in early childhood professional preparation and provides a valid and objective external evaluation of professional preparation programs as a service to the public, to students and to the profession.
The Type of Accreditation Matters
► Institutional Accreditation
The college or university as a whole is recognized as an official educational facility.
► Specialized or Professional Accreditation
An academic program (for example Early Childhood or Child Development) at the college or university is
approved by the accrediting body that enforces educational standards for that particular professional field.
Think about Institutional Accreditation as a general contractor and Specialized or Professional Accreditation as an electrician. The contractor works on the entire building, while the electrician focuses specifically on the electrical system.
To learn more about Specialized and Professional Accreditation in general, watch this short video produced by the Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors (ASPA).
To learn more about the Accreditation process specific to Early Childhood Associate Degree programs, view this quick reference guide to Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation.
Accreditation for the Early Childhood Profession
NAEYC Early Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation (ECADA) is the accrediting body for educational
programs at the associate degree level that prepare students to work in the field of early childhood.
► Seeking an Associate Degree Program accredited by the NAEYC Commission on Early
Childhood Associate Degree Accreditation? View our list of Accredited Associate Degree
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), transitioning to Council for the
Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), is the profession’s mechanism to help establish high
quality teacher preparation. NAEYC works with NCATE to review early childhood programs at the
baccalaureate or graduate levels.
► Seeking a Baccalaureate or Graduate Degree Program recognized by NAEYC in the
NCATE Accreditation System? View a list of Recognized Baccalaureate and Graduate
Degree Programs. (select “Early Childhood Education – NAEYC” from the dropdown list of
Be In The Know
Early childhood professionals work in many settings. Child development programs (home-based and center-based) and public schools are common settings. The qualifications you will need to work in these settings are based on the type of funding the program receives and level of quality the employers in these settings want to achieve.
Keep abreast of Professional Qualification Requirements for:
- Head Start and Early Head Start funded programs
- NAEYC accredited early childhood programs serving young children
- Child care subsidy funded programs*
- Elementary school educators and administrators*
- Programs participating in Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)*
- Licensed child development (home-based and center-based)*
- Other related professionals like home visitors, early intervention specialists and family service workers*
*Requirements vary per state. Your local Department of Education, Department of Health/Human Services, NAEYC affiliate, or early childhood college professor may be able to help you locate the resources applicable to your state.
Contact us if you need more information. | <urn:uuid:cc51005c-2bab-4f73-afb9-5f5bb6924ffe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naeyc.org/ecada/students | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922993 | 734 | 2.765625 | 3 |
The report card results were announced one day after it was learned that one of Indian Point’s reactors will become the first and only nuclear reactor in the country operating without a license.
Indian Point 2′s 40-year license expires on Sept. 28. Officials said the reactor can keep operating because Entergy Nuclear, its owner, filed for renewal more than five years before the expiration date.
Entergy said the device performed without problem during January’s Sugar Bowl and other earlier events. They said the device has been removed and replacement equipment will be installed.
Thursday marked yet another call for the shutdown of the Indian Point nuclear power facility in Westchester County, citing possible danger to the area.
A local nuclear power plant faces a possible shutdown after officials and activists have expressed fear over the facility’s operations.
According to a spokesman for Entergy, the ads for the Indian Point plant will begin running next week on cable television and in newspapers.
The NY1-YNN-Marist College poll released Tuesday night shows 49 percent of the adults living nearby are against closing Indian Point.
The nuclear fallout from the devastating earthquake in Japan has put a spotlight on the Indian Point nuclear power plant as licenses for its reactors come up for renewal.
Using the Japan nuclear crisis as a worst case scenario, the Westchester Board of Legislators was set to meet to explore the disaster preparedness plan at the Indian Point Nuclear power plant.
- Shuttle Pavilion Update Tornado Devastates Moore,... Metro-North Derailment Repairs Bridgeport Metro-North Train...
- Eye On Manhattan World Trade Center Sunrise Construction Barges For New... Prince Harry Plays Polo In...
- Prince Harry Visits New York... Demolition Begins On Jet Star... Prince Harry Visits Jersey... Angelina Jolie Through The...
- Spire Installed Atop One... Garbage Truck Demolishes Home... Another Brick In The... Costume Gala At The Met | <urn:uuid:4060b8c7-a5e5-4cae-bb11-a8721dd24bdc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/entergy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913277 | 399 | 1.570313 | 2 |
According to its definition, is fashion cool?
For some reason we teenagers always seem drawn to name-brand clothing, despite the high prices. Why is this?
Because they're "snob" goods. That's what economists call items we purchase because of their price and status.
An example of snob goods—outside of the clothing world—would be sports cars. A Mercedes may not run better than a Toyota, but because of its reputation as a classy car and high price, it becomes a snob good.
Driving a Mercedes might make you feel important and classy, and others may feel some jealousy when they see you drive by (and some may feel disdain). Brand-name clothes are a less-extreme case.
Why we want brand names
You think you can count on being fashionable if you buy name-brand clothing.
There is no denying that we feel cool in brand-name clothes like American Eagle Outfitters, Buckle, and North Face. When I was in middle school, I tried to buy as much Abercrombie & Fitch as I could afford.
For casual footwear, I had to have either Converse or Vans. I had this idea that Adidas tennis shoes were nowhere near the quality, or coolness, of Vans or Converse.
For some people, buying brand-name clothes means that they fit better, the clothes themselves are better quality, or they just seem to have a better reputation among your friends.
People also buy name-brand clothing because of its trendiness. Companies like Gap and Forever 21 somehow always seem to have the latest fashions, no matter what.
These kinds of companies appear to be the trendsetters for the clothing industry. You think you can count on being fashionable if you buy brand-name clothes... | <urn:uuid:da786add-807f-4d74-bda6-5f2bc450b2bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://googolplex.cuna.org/30256/cnote/article.php?doc_id=1497 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976504 | 371 | 1.742188 | 2 |
NARRATOR: This three-week-old pig embryo already shows signs of a growing tail. In two more weeks, the tail has developed further. In its early stages, a chick embryo also shows promise of a tail, but just a few days later, the tail is gone. At four weeks, a human embryo also shows indications seen at the right.
Traces of a tail occur in each embryo, mementos of a heritage we all share.
At six weeks, though, the tail is just a small vestige at the spine's end. And one week later, it has dwindled to a bud, seen just beneath the legs.
Animals that lack tails share a common ancestry with those that have them. Our shared ancient beginnings on land and in water link us together, despite our ultimate differences.
Human limbs begin as buds, seen as early as five weeks in this embryo. At this stage, an arm bud, seen here, appears very similar to this leg bud. By ten days, the limb buds are shaped like tiny paddles,and distinctions between arm and leg buds are visible.
The distinctions can seem slight. A human arm, at this stage, still looks like a pig's embryonic front leg. Bird embryos at this stage show extraordinary similarities to those of humans. The left bud, looking so much like a human arm, will ultimately develop into a wing.
Each species starts with a shared beginning... but takes a distinct course, acquiring distinguishing traits of its own.
The embryo of a chicken follows its own path. Human-like at first, the pig embryo soon takes on its own distinctive form, with snout and tail. The fish embryo soon differs profoundly from a human...reflecting an evolutionary course that diverged on its own long, long ago. Sharing ancient beginnings with these others...the human embryo.
Academic standards correlations on Teachers' Domain use the Achievement Standards Network (ASN) database of state and national standards, provided to NSDL projects courtesy of JES & Co.
We assign reference terms to each statement within a standards document and to each media resource, and correlations are based upon matches of these terms for a given grade band. If a particular standards document of interest to you is not displayed yet, it most likely has not yet been processed by ASN or by Teachers' Domain. We will be adding social studies and arts correlations over the coming year, and also will be increasing the specificity of alignment. | <urn:uuid:0af88ba9-d1ec-43f7-927e-61f08135e474> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.cyc.embryo/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944505 | 504 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Pasquotank County :: Pasquotank, Elizabeth City, Salem, and Winslow
Wilkes County is located in North Carolina. The 2000 U.S. Census listed the county's population at 65,632; the 2010 U.S. Census listed the population at 69,340. Its county seat is Wilkesboro.
The county was formed in 1777 from parts of Surry County and Washington District (now Washington County, Tennessee). The first session of the county court was held in John Brown's house near what is today Brown's Ford. The act creating the county became effective on February 15, 1778, and the county celebrates its anniversary as February 15. It was named for the English political radical John Wilkes, who lost his position as Lord Mayor of the City of London due to his support for the colonists during the American Revolution.
In 1799 the northern and western parts of Wilkes County became Ashe County. In 1841 parts of Wilkes County and Burke County were combined to form Caldwell County. In 1847 another part of Wilkes County was combined with parts of Caldwell County and Iredell County to become Alexander County. In 1849 additional parts of Wilkes County and Caldwell County were combined with parts of Ashe County and Yancey County to form Watauga County. Numerous boundary adjustments were made thereafter, but none resulted in new counties.
Wilkes County was once known as the "Moonshine Capital of the World", and was a leading producer of illegal homemade liquor. From the 1920s to the 1950s some young Wilkes County males made their living by delivering moonshine to North Carolina's larger towns and cities. Wilkes County natives also used bootleg liquor as a means for barter far beyond the borders of North Carolina. Many Wilkes County distillers ran white liquor as far as Detroit, New Jersey and South Florida.
Since this often involved outrunning local police and federal agents in auto chases, the county became one of the birthplaces of the sport of stock-car racing. The North Wilkesboro Speedway was the first NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing) track; it held its first race on May 18, 1947 and the first NASCAR sanctioned race on October 16, 1949. Wilkes County native and resident Junior Johnson was one of the early superstars of NASCAR, as well as a legendary moonshiner. Johnson was turned into a national celebrity by the writer Tom Wolfe in a classic 1965 article for Esquire magazine. Wolfe's article was later turned into the 1973 movie The Last American Hero, starring Jeff Bridges and Valerie Perrine.
Click here for more information on the history of Wilkes county.
North Wilkesboro was founded in 1891 when the Norfolk and Southern Railroad built a railroad line into Wilkes County. The line ended on the northern bank of the Yadkin River opposite Wilkesboro, the county seat. The Town of North Wilkesboro quickly developed around the railroad tracks.
North Wilkesboro was the home of the Carolina Mirror Company, which for many years was the largest mirror factory in the United States. Although this is no longer the case, the town remains a major producer of mirrors through Gardner Glass Products Inc.
Lowe's Foods, one of the Southeast's largest supermarket chains, was started in North Wilkesboro in 1954.
Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, the nation's second-largest chain of home-improvement stores, was started in North Wilkesboro in 1946.
The Town does continue to host large corporate offices, including Gardner Glass Products Inc., Window World, and ECMD. In addition, two local businessmen recently won prestigious awards for entrepreneurship: Julius "Jay" Howell was recognized as the Small Business Administration's 2010 N.C. Minority Small Business Champion of the Year, and Jason Carlton, founder of the GoNC Network, which includes GoWilkes.com, GoAshe.com, GoSurry.com, and numerous other county sites, has been recognized by Business Leader Magazine as one of the Top 50 Entrepreneurs in North Carolina for his significant business innovation, leadership, industry, and community involvement.
The Town of North Wilkesboro is focused on their mission of improving the lives of its citizens through economic development by establishing the Wilkes Industrial Park, which is North Carolina's second largest certified industrial park with a developable area of 552 acres. The Wilkes Industrial Park has water, sewer, electricity, natural gas, and has the potential to access the Yadkin Valley Railroad to the south. Thanks to an $800,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Wilkes Industrial Park will have a new access road on the southwest side, which is scheduled to be completed by early 2012. In addition, the main transportation corridor serving the site (NC-268) will be widened from 2 lanes to 4 lanes by 2015.
While one of NASCAR's original speedways shares the name of North Wilkesboro with the town, it is important to note that the speedway is not located inside of the town's limits. The North Wilkesboro Speedway predates the founding of NASCAR; the speedway held its first race on May 18, 1947 and from there it grew in popularity. On October 16, 1949 the Speedway held the 8th and final race of the 1949 NASCAR Strictly Stock Division; when the race was over Robert "Red" Byron had become the first NASCAR-sanctioned champion. The North Wilkesboro Speedway held NASCAR races for 50 years; on September 29, 1996 Jeff Gordon would win the final race to be held at the speedway.
In 1995, following the death of long-time owner and track founder Enoch Staley, the speedway was purchased by two new owners, Bob Bahre and Bruton Smith. Soon after their purchase, both men announced that they were closing the speedway and moving its two NASCAR race dates to their new tracks in Texas and New Hampshire.
Wilkesboro was founded in 1800 and quickly designated as the county seat. The town is built atop a low, broad ridge which runs for over a mile along the south bank of the Yadkin River.
A Moravian surveying party passed through the area in 1752, and documented that a Cherokee Indian village stood in the old fields. The Cherokee translation for Mulberry Fields is Keowee. Keowee was often used by the Cherokees as a place name during the Colonial Period.
The act establishing Wilkes County stated that the first court would be held at the home of John Brown located at the bend of the Yadkin River on the second day of March 1778. Commissioners were named to select a place centrally located for the erection of a courthouse, prison and stocks. On June 2, 1778, Mulberry Field Meeting House was chosen to serve as the courthouse.
During the Revolutionary War, the Mulberry Fields area was a common mustering site for the Wilkes County Militia. The Mulberry Meeting House was a common meeting place to discuss local government issues of the day.
In 1795 an act was passed naming new commissioners to purchase fifty acres of land on which to lay out a town and erect public buildings. Mulberry Fields became Wilkesboro in 1800 when the town was laid out by William Lenoir. Lenoir refused to allow the town to be named after himself. Later, following his death, the next town up the road was named for Lenoir.
You may use, copy, or distribute the work on the following pages for non-commercial purposes only.
For commercial purposes, please contact us. | <urn:uuid:31e079b4-23b1-44e3-9c14-9b1e959564f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gopasquotank.com/history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975551 | 1,552 | 2.375 | 2 |
Sandy, the hybrid hurricane/nor'easter, began to lose steam Tuesday as it drifted across Pennsylvania and veered toward Canada. But the damage was done, and it will go down as a historic storm, not least because of what it did to New York, where a surge of seawater inundated some of the most valuable real estate in America.
Much of Manhattan, the seat of American finance, is in the dark. Someone standing after dusk Tuesday in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge would see the lighted-up Chrysler Building and other Midtown skyscrapers to the north but darkened buildings to the south — almost all of Lower Manhattan vanishing into the night. Only City Hall was illuminated.
Power could be out for a week — a fact noted by some New Yorkers who packed their bags and headed for the exits.
The storm was blamed for 48 deaths up and down the East Coast, according to the Associated Press. The tempest played havoc with the power grid, knocking out electricity to 7.5 million people. More than 16,000 airline flights have been canceled so far. Eqecat, a firm that models the costs of catastrophes for insurance companies, estimated Sandy's economic impact on the country at $10 billion to $20 billion.
At the point of attack was the New York City, a marvel of infrastructure and civil engineering that rediscovered this week that it is a coastal city, and that nature can be vicious. Sandy's high winds sparked fires that destroyed scores of houses. All the New York City airports remained closed Tuesday, along with the flooded subway. Wall Street never opened for business, the first two-day closure due to weather since the days of horses and buggies. The United Nations will be closed Wednesday for the third straight day.
"The damage we suffered across the city is clearly extensive, and it will not be repaired overnight," said New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
Bloomberg put the city death toll at 10. The toll could have been higher: Firefighters rescued 25 people from an upstairs apartment as they battled a huge blaze in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens. Another drama unfolded late Monday at New York University's Tisch Hospital, when a backup electrical system failed and nurses had to evacuate infants from neonatal intensive care, carrying them down darkened stairwells to get them to the safety of another hospital.
The Breezy Point fire immolated 80 homes, one of which belonged to a congressman, Robert L. Turner, R-N.Y.
In Brooklyn, Dave Shamoun, 58, the owner of Technico Marine, a marine industry supplier, surveyed the soggy wreckage in a 15,000-square-foot warehouse.
"This is New York's Katrina," Shamoun said.
Some residents of Sheepshead Bay, an old fishing community in southern Brooklyn, tried to ride out the storm in their wood-frame houses and bungalows. They were inundated by fierce waves that surged in from Manhattan Beach. Water ripped apart a 100-year-old esplanade and yanked sailboats from their moorings. Mud and water invaded storefronts and shattered the plate-glass windows at Tete a Tete Cafe on Avenue Z.
"It didn't seem as if anyone had prepared their homes before the storm came in,'' said Ned Berke, editor of Sheepshead Bites, a news website that covers the neighborhood. "They thought it was going to be like Irene.''
The denizens of Lower Manhattan were astonished by the sight of submerged and floating cars in vintage residential neighborhoods and the financial district. In the East Village, more than a dozen people waited on line Tuesday at the Village Farms grocery store, where workers escorted each shopper for a flashlit tour of the aisles. Around the corner, 37 people waited in line at a coffee truck, some amusing themselves by guessing how long it would be before power returned to their apartments.
"Four days? Thanksgiving? " asked Zack Zavada, 29, a clothing salesman who said he had seen a Con Edison transformer explode from his window.
At Fanelli's, open since 1847 at Prince and Mercer Streets, there were no empty stools as the bartender served by flashlight. Small candles burned on the bar.
"Liquor, no food," said Mark Michaelson, 56, an art director, taking a smoke break at the entrance. "A Jameson's is like a sandwich."
Every block in Lower Manhattan offered a different version of a city in its first full day of coping with Sandy's effects. In TriBeCa, people walked from corner to corner with their smartphones searching for Internet service. Chances improved with every block northward, so many headed north by foot.
At Bleecker Street Pizza in the West Village, one of the first restaurants to reopen, dozens of people waited in line for a warm slice. Most had endured the night without power, and looked it. The smell of yeast blasted down the sidewalk, pushed by wind gusts. The fiercest winds were gone, but the rain continued, and as it intensified nobody budged, including Jonathan Padron, 26, who came out with a box of sausage pizza after a harrowing night of darkness and a tin of tuna in his apartment.
"I was so stressed out, I had to meditate," said Padron, a dog walker who works in Brooklyn.
Businesses, apartment dwellers and homeowners from Manhattan's East Village to Brooklyn's Red Hook spent Tuesday pumping floodwaters from their basements and trying to salvage waterlogged possessions. Simply crossing the street was dangerous, with streetlights out and traffic cops scarce.
Elizabeth Freund, 49, returned to her home in Red Hook on Tuesday morning to find it inundated by nearly 3 1/2 feet of water. "My bedroom is floating, my office is floating, my daughter's room is floating," she lamented.
Gino Vitale, a Brooklyn landlord who owns 25 apartments in the area, said that 16 of them were flooded, some submerged in more than eight feet of water. One of his renters phoned him in a panic about 7 p.m. Monday, saying, "What do I do?" Get out, he answered. "By 9 it was over the fridge," he said.
People were stunned at the sight of a Bayliner pleasure boat that was swept into the very end of Sheepshead Bay, slamming into the concrete abutment. The smell of gas oozed from its tank.
"What's that smell?" cried Bella Kharajyan. Her daughter, Milena Rangini, 27, covered her nostrils with her scarf. The two had spent a long, tiring night in their second-floor apartment in Brighton Beach as other residents flocked to their door, knowing that the two women from Armenia spoke English and could understand the news reports.
Kharajyan bemoaned the lack of help for people who speak languages other than English and Spanish, such as their Armenian- or Uzbek-speaking neighbors. "A little bit I understand American information news," she said. "I don't see anybody helping us."
President Barack Obama signed federal emergency declarations for 10 states and the District of Columbia, and he canceled campaign plans for Monday and Tuesday so he could remain at the White House and oversee the storm response. After visiting the headquarters of the Red Cross in Washington, Obama told reporters, "My message to the federal government: No bureaucracy. No red tape." He said if local officials get no for an answer from the federal government, "they can call me personally at the White House."
Republican challenger Mitt Romney also shelved many of his campaign plans but held a "storm relief" event near Dayton, Ohio. Romney ignored repeated questions from reporters about whether he wished to scale back the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a position he advocated during a GOP primary debate.
Obama will visit New Jersey on Wednesday, touring damage with Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican with his own presidential aspirations. Christie said early Tuesday that 2.4 million New Jersey households were without power, twice the number that lost electricity during Irene.
Later in the day Christie toured the coastal towns by helicopter.
"I was just here walking this place this summer, and the fact that most of it is gone is just incredible," Christie said to Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty, according to an Associated Press pool report.
The governor vowed to rebuild:
"This is the kind of thing New Jerseyans are built for — we're plenty tough, and now we have a little more reason to be angry after this," he said. "Just what we need in New Jersey — a chance to be a little more angry."
- - -
Lynch reported from New York. Paul Schwartzman, Anne Hull, Suzanne Sataline and Katie Van Syckle in New York; Lisa Rein in New Jersey; and Dan Eggen and William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:36974241-aa3e-42cf-a27a-18b6ef57ac7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mccrearyrecord.com/x688464652/Sandy-leaves-devastation-behind-in-N-Y-N-J | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972516 | 1,847 | 1.945313 | 2 |
"Ancient Art, Modern Science: 200 Years of Medicine at Yale"
A Film by Karyl Evans
“Ancient Art, Modern Science: 200 Years of Medicine at Yale,” a 28-minute documentary about Yale School of Medicine, had its premiere April 5 in Harkness Auditorium and is featured on the Yale University YouTube channel. The half-hour film, by Emmy Award–winning director and producer Karyl Evans, chronicles the rise of the School of Medicine from its origins as the Medical Institution of Yale College in 1810 to its current incarnation as one of the world's major centers for biomedical research; clinical care; and the education of physicians, scientists, physician associates, and public health professionals. The film showcases highlights of the unique Yale system of medical education as well as recent advances in research and patient care at Yale, and it provides a glimpse of things to come as the school enters its third century.
"Ancient Art, Modern Science" was produced by the Office of Institutional Planning and Communications in cooperation with the Yale Office of Public Affairs and Communications and the Yale Broadcast and Media Center. Much of the film is based on the book Medicine at Yale: The First 200 Years, published in 2010 and distributed by Yale University Press. Narrated by veteran broadcaster Jane Pauley, the film includes interviews with some two dozen Yale faculty members, students, alumni, and staff.
Karyl Evans has won five Emmy Awards for her previous films, which include "The History of Connecticut Cities" and the "History of Crime and Punishment in Connecticut." She is the owner of Karyl Evans Productions, LLC, in North Haven, which specializes in the creation of videos for museums, historical sites, and arts and educational institutions.
A limited number of DVD copies of the film are available. | <urn:uuid:cb975803-fd8d-4c53-ac5e-9849ebaa8811> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicine.yale.edu/ysm200/film/index.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960405 | 365 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Climate Change Could Cripple New York’s Transportation
When arriving at La Guardia Airport in New York, it’s easy to see the stark realities it faces in trying to cope with global warming. As jets glide in over the brackish waters of Flushing Bay, one can almost reach out and touch the water as it laps against the small levees at runway’s edge.
By mid-century, global warming-related sea level rise is expected to render these levees ineffective against even relatively weak storms, according to a 2011 climate assessment and supported by Climate Central’s report on coastal flooding. And the predicament facing La Guardia is far from unique. All three of the city’s major airports are situated along the ocean and face similar sea level rise-related risks.
The flooding likely to occur in the greater New York City area as a result of a 4-foot rise in sea level. Areas that are no longer white, including La Guardia Airport, represent those underwater. Credit: Surging Seas/Climate Central.
But it’s not just the city’s airports at risk. As 106 million passengers per year funnel through the terminals, collecting their luggage, they’ll head into New York via taxis, trains, cars and buses – another network of transportation that is at considerable risk of flooding from the combination of sea level rise and storm surges.
As sea level increases in response to manmade global warming, the 100-year storm is turning into a far more common event, and climate change adaptation is taking on a heightened sense of urgency throughout the transportation sector. The challenges are particularly acute in the New York City area, where mass transit moves more than 8 million people every day, 24/7, into and out of a city with 520 miles of waterfront.
Given the climate change-related challenges the city faces, it’s no surprise New York is mobilizing to fortify its infrastructure. It is spending $1.5 billion over 15 years to improve its stormwater management, cooling white roofs and clean-fuel buses, and has pledged to reduce city-wide greenhouse gas emissions below 2005 levels by 2030.
Officials are studying various coastal protection strategies, from “wave attenuators” that can disperse the energy from incoming swells to storm-surge barriers. As David Bragdon, director of the mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability told the New York City Council in December, “Our densely populated city does not have the option of picking up and moving to higher ground.”
While New York gets a lot of credit for its efforts, some say the city, state agencies and private companies are not moving fast enough to keep pace with updated scientific projections.
Klaus Jacob, a senior research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University and the lead author of a state-sponsored report that examined the climate change-related exposure of New York’s transportation infrastructure, warns of rapidly increasing vulnerabilities facing the metro area.
Aerial view of La Guardia Aiport. Credit: PhillipC/flickr
“What really surprised us was that there is already considerable risk,” Jacob said. Regarding LaGuardia Airport, Jacob says raising the existing levees much higher may not be a viable flood-protection option.
“. . . After all, aircraft can’t jump over those when they take off and during landing.”
Jacob is pessimistic that sufficient resources are being devoted to climate adaptation efforts within transportation agencies, such as the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), which is a state agency.
“The transportation agencies are now facing the reality that it will cost money, and that’s why nothing is going to happen,” he said.
To understand Jacob’s pessimism, one need only consider the growing risk exposure of the cash-strapped New York City subway system.
The MTA provides nearly 8.5 million passenger trips per day via 600 miles of track, to about 500 stations, using more than 6,000 trains worth about $11 billion. Throughout the subway system, there are nearly 300 pump stations, 200 fan plants, and more than 200 electric substations. Such infrastructure does not come cheaply — the MTA’s assets have a combined value of $22 billion.
That elaborate system of pumping stations keeps water out of the subway tunnels, which are vulnerable to flooding from heavy rainfall or storm surge in many locations. Floodwaters can enter subway tunnels through ventilation grates in the streets above, and through station and tunnel entrances.
Computer simulations indicate that many of the tunnels in Lower Manhattan can flood completely in as little as 40 minutes under certain conditions.
According to the assessment that Jacob led, the MTA’s assets — including trains, stations, and electrical equipment — are at “severe” risk of damage from a combination of sea level rise and storm surge-related flooding.
This was also supported by Climate Central’s own scientific research published in March, which showed that during the next several decades, the frequency of damaging storm surges in places like New York will rise significantly as sea levels creep up. The research projected a sea level rise of 13 inches in New York by 2050, and found that global warming-related sea level rise more than triples the odds of a 100-year flood or worse by 2030.
Without global warming, the odds of such a flood would be just 8 percent by 2030, but with global warming the odds rise to 26 percent.
In addition, the funnel shape of New York Harbor has the potential to magnify storm surges already supplemented by sea level rise, threatening widespread areas of New York City.
Even without sea level rise, a 100-year flood would inundate large portions of the subway system, Jacob’s team concluded. But with a 4-foot rise in sea level, storm-related flooding would inundate much of Manhattan’s subways, including almost all of the tunnels crossing into the Bronx beneath the Harlem River and the tunnels under the East River. Five of the city’s subway lines have extremely low points of entry to tunnels, subways, or ventilation shafts: they are less than 8 feet above sea level.
Although Jacob’s team used a 100-year flood definition that differed from Climate Central’s, both analyses came to the same, disturbing conclusion: New York is at increasing risk of coastal flooding from a combination of storms and sea level rise.
100-year storm surge flooding of Lower Manhattan subways and adjacent East River tunnels crossing to Brooklyn in a scenario that includes 2 feet of sea level rise. Heavy blue lines indicate fully flooded tunnels. Background colors show topographic surface elevations (yellow≥30ft). Credit: ClimAID Report. Click on image for a larger version.
According to Projjal Dutta, MTA’s director of sustainability initiatives, another key vulnerability is the tendency for subway tunnels to turn into the “sewer system of last resort” during heavy rainstorms, as water pours into the system faster than it can be pumped out. “The intensity of precipitation is what basically kills us,” Dutta said.
The rule of thumb, according to a city official, is that every inch of rain that falls in the city means there are a billion gallons of stormwater runoff to deal with.
A heavy rainstorm in August 2007, during which up to 3.5 inches of rain fell in just two hours, shut down 19 major segments of the subway system, affecting 2 million passengers.
In the wake of that event, the MTA spent millions to limit the ability of water to pour into the tunnels in the affected areas by raising ventilation grates above the sidewalk level, paving over other grates, and installing water-activated closing devices. But the MTA cannot take similar actions throughout its system, largely because the costs of these measures – $33.6 million in this specific instance – would divert too much money away from other necessary capital projects. That money could have bought the MTA about 20 new subway cars, for example.
Heavy precipitation events are already becoming more common due in part to global warming, a trend that is expected to worsen in coming years, according to a recent report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The possibility that a single storm could incapacitate the subway system was driven home to New Yorkers last year when the subway was shut down for the first time in history ahead of Tropical Storm Irene. Despite the storm’s weakened state when it arrived in New York, as well as extensive efforts by the MTA to protect the tunnels, water still came within inches of flooding parts of the subway system in Lower Manhattan, according to Dutta.
A key question facing planners is how quickly storms with Irene-like impacts will transition from being one-in-50-year events to events that recur every 10 to 20 years. Most scientists expect this transition to take place as the climate warms, but there are uncertainties concerning the timing. Such details make a huge difference when weighing the costs and benefits of different climate adaptation options.
Prior to Irene, the last storm with Irene-level coastal impacts in New York City occurred in December 1992, a 20-year separation.
For Irene, Dutta said, “We took measures that we can’t take every other year.”
New York City subway's closed in preparation for Hurricane Irene, August 2011. Credit: ccho/flickr
Dutta says climate change factors need to be incorporated into regular transportation planning procedures. Right now, that isn’t the case. Instead, climate concerns are tacked on to other plans. For example, if a subway station is due for repairs, engineers may add measures related to climate adaptation into the work orders, such as by raising rails by several inches.
“You hope hard as hell that those 8 or 9 inches buys you some time, and the water stops rising within that time,” Dutta said.
Mainstreaming climate adaptation into city planning is a key goal of the New York City Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, which is scheduled to unveil a set of recommendations on maintenance and capital improvement programs later this year. The city is working toward determining what they think is an acceptable level of climate risk, rather than spending billions to guard against every possible climate change scenario.
“There are a lot of assessments out there that are based on the maximum of maximums, worst-case scenario, [and] we really need to look at the full context of the issues we’re dealing with,” said Adam Freed, deputy director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability.
A key factor holding back agencies like MTA is that the money for such work currently comes out of the same pot as other capital improvement projects. At a time when state budgets are being cut, this severely weakens the MTA’s ability to pursue large-scale adaptation projects.
Even with more funding, transportation planners and city managers still face an uphill challenge in grappling with climate change.
As Freed put it, “You’re never going to have anyplace in the world that is climate-proof.”
New York is doing far more than most cities to adapt to climate change. But because the city is so big and so critical to the country and the world as an economic engine, climate change-related disruptions would have particularly huge impacts in and outside of New York. The reality is that the city, like others in the U.S. and around the world, would benefit from more resources and political capital devoted to climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts, rather than borrowing money from other priorities, like the MTA is doing.
Otherwise, there is a real possibility that officials will accept too much climate change-related risk when planning for the future. And that may prove exceedingly costly in the years to come. | <urn:uuid:1a0763fd-6245-4f2c-a65a-3f9c434b4c1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-could-cripple-new-yorks-transportation-network-studies-show/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947383 | 2,489 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Vágur is the second-largest village on Suđuroy.
As most of the villages it is located in an inlet on the
eastside of the island.
Vágur has a slipway, a modern fleet of fishing-vessels and a fillet-factory.
In the bottom of the inlet there is a little beach. The distance from the beach to the west coast is only
4-5 kilometres. In this area there is a cosy little lake and a sports-arena.
The west coast is here called Vags-Eiđi. The nature here is beautiful and impressive. The sea, the high
mountains, the rocks and the reefs comprise a breathtaking view.
In the beginning of the 20th century an aerial ropeway was used to float the boats at VágsEiđi. This
made it possible to go fishing from the West-coast also.
The present concrete-church in Vágur is from 1927.
It is said that the very first church in Vágur came drifting from Norway where it had been thrown into the
sea as a votive-gift.
A church from 1862 is today located in Hov. It was moved from Vágur to Hov in 1942.
The first hydroelectric power station of the Faroe Islands was built in Vágur in 1920. Currently a modern
diesel-powered station located on the south side of the inlet supplements the old station.
Vágur and Tvřroyri take turns in hosting an annual civic-festival called Joansoka. It can be described as
a smaller version of the Ólavsřka held in Tórshavn . It is held in late June.
Nólsoyar Páll, a Faeroese national hero, built his ship 'Royndin Frida' in Vágur in 1804. Actually he rebuilt
an old brittish vessel.
In 1860 Jacob Dahl founded his own company that by time grew into on of the largest in the Faroe Islands.
In 1967 Vágur was hit by several small earth-quakes. This is very rare on the Faroe Islands so people
were scared and many of them fled in panic to Tórshavn . | <urn:uuid:83392a6f-4873-4ffd-aa8f-c42c5b3e40c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://faroeislands.dk/pages/VagurIndex.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969843 | 493 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition activist and leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party in Burma, kicked off her first trip to the U.S. since being released from house arrest by meeting with political and diplomatic leaders in the nation's capital.
Tuesday, the pro-democracy leader also known as "The Lady," met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and gave a speech at the United States Institute of Peace hosted by the Asia Society.
Wednesday, Suu Kyi continued her high-level meetings with a visit to Capitol Hill in the morning where she was received by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Suu Kyi will finally accept the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday, four years after it was awarded to her for her continuous work to bring Burma into the democratic fold.
In a surprise announcement Wednesday afternoon, the White House also confirmed Suu Kyi would be meeting with President Barack Obama tonight in the Oval Office.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been a leader on the global stage since her return to Burma from living in England and the U.S. in 1988. Born to prestigious parents - her father founded the modern Burmese army and her mother was the ambassador to India and Nepal - Suu Kyi seemed destined for a political life.
After working for the United Nations in New York and living with her American husband Dr. Michael Aris in Bhutan, she moved back in the late 1980s and spoke out for democracy amid violent army suppression of a nascent democratic movement.
She founded the NLD in 1989 but was put under house arrest the following year by the military junta, who regained power after General Ne Win resigned and a popular uprising was stifled. The widespread slaughter of democracy advocates came to be known as the 8888 Uprising (August 8, 1988).
In 1990, after the NLD won 59 percent of the votes in national elections, the military junta refused to hand over power to the party. In 1995, she was released from house arrest only to be re-arrested in 2000. Of the last 20 years, she has spent 15 locked in her own home in Rangoon.
In November 2010, Suu Kyi was released from house arrest and the military-backed government began slowly allowing for small democratic reforms. Political prisoners and prisoners of conscience have been released and the NLD was allowed to stand in the first national by-elections in twenty years.
The party won 43 of the 44 seats they contested, including one in which Suu Kyi ran herself. Only 46 seats were open in the by-elections.
This year, she stepped outside of her country for the first time since her return in 1988. Her first trip was to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize she won in 1990. This week marks her first trip to the United States since then.
In her meetings with Secretary Clinton, who visited Suu Kyi in Burma after her release from house arrest earlier this year, she spoke about goals met and work that still needs to be done, specifically on remaining links with North Korea and their nuclear program.
Speaking yesterday at USIP, Suu Kyi said she was heartened by the Obama's administration's continued desire to engage with Burma.
"The United States, from the beginning, stood firmly by the forces of democracy and for this I would like to thank all of you," Suu Kyi said Tuesday.
She also urged continued easing of sanctions on Burma while also highlighting the need to push the government further on political prisoner detention, relations with ethnic minorities and abuse of emergency powers.
Suu Kyi will spend a total of 17 days in the United States. After Washington, D.C., she will also visit California, New York and Fort Wayne, Indiana, home to one of the country's largest Burmese-American communities.
Her trip will coincide with that of Burmese president Thein Sein, who will visit New York next week to attend the United Nations General Assembly. He will also give remarks at the Asia Society in New York during his trip.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:d3990a11-c4e6-4074-a3a3-6ea8bb8ea596> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rttnews.com/1968566/burmese-pro-democracy-leader-suu-kyi-to-meet-obama-receive-congressional-medal.aspx?type=pn&SimRec=1&Node=B1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978213 | 875 | 1.507813 | 2 |
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A terminally protected tripeptide Boc–Phe–Phe–Tyr–OMe 1 and picric acid form a photo induced charge-transfer complex and organogels. The interactions between stacked aromatic units play a key role in the assembly process. UV light (366 nm) has been used as a source of energy to cleave and homogenize π-stacking in the supramolecular arrangement of peptide 1 and picric acid. CD, FT-IR, NMR and powder X-ray diffraction studies exhibit distinct structural changes before and after light irradiation. Field emission scanning electron microscopy of the xerogels reveal a morphological change caused by photo induced charge-transfer complex formation. The fluorescence spectroscopy as well as confocal microscopy studies show that these charge-transfer complexes have a significant red emission at 672 nm.
Fetching data from CrossRef. This may take some time to load. | <urn:uuid:034f414d-bbce-46d2-aa89-ae76789c3418> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2012/SM/C2SM25062D | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909433 | 256 | 1.757813 | 2 |
Research has shown that pre-employment skills testing can often be a highly accurate method of predicting a job applicant's work performance. Consequently, more companies are using them to screen for qualified and competent workers. Skills tests are usually timed paper-and-pencil examinations consisting of a series of multiple choice, short answer, and yes and no questions. Since these tests are designed to measure specific skills, questions asked usually relate to specific aspects of a job. For example, a cashier might be asked to complete a test of mathematical ability. Generally, in order to use these tests effectively, companies must ensure that tests evaluate true job-related skills, and not general skills that are outside the scope of the position. Companies should also ensure that skills test treat all test-takers fairly. If women or minorities consistently score lower than non-minority applicants, the test may be biased and thus rendered useless. Furthermore, companies who deny employment to individuals who score badly on flawed tests may end up with a discrimination lawsuit in their hands. At some point, companies will also need to decide if the skills tests really work. In other words, do employees who score higher really perform better? If they don't, companies may want to stop testing altogether, or use another test that's clearly job-related and nondiscriminatory. | <urn:uuid:93546c29-e65b-46c8-8dca-f2a2cfcebbc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kmtr.com/guides/legal/employment/story/Skills/7ljyvfGnd0uWBLicec9BOQ.cspx | 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 | 0.961899 | 265 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The Monument forms a dominant part of the national cultural landmark of the Czechoslovak Armed Corps built in 1949 based on the architectural draft of Ing. arch. J. Grus. The Monument with a ceremonial hall is 28 metres high. On its 20th anniversary of the Karpathian-Dukla operation a sculpture „Moaning“was settled within the area of the Monument. There are bronze boards settled on the colonnade leading up to the Monument where there are 1 256 killed soldiers names imprinted on – all being the members of the 1st Czechoslovak Armed Corps in the USSR. The memorial cemetery with its 565 graves of the 1st Czechoslovak Armed Corps killed in the Karpathian-Dukla operation represents a part of the Monument. There are busts of the Heroes of Dukla placed on the periphery of the cemetery. In 1961 the Monument was declared a national cultural landmark. | <urn:uuid:16bb4b91-fdef-4833-bb9a-13c99975728b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vhu.sk/index.php?ID=826 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937496 | 190 | 2.921875 | 3 |
From September 9th to 12th this year ISKCON devotees pulled their weight by contributing to the performances and infrastructure at Bhakti Fest, a huge new draw for the increasingly popular U.S. kirtan yoga community.
Although there has been a farm at ISKCON’s Bhaktivedanta Manor in the UK since the 1970s, its first fully sustainable farm project, New Gokula—which is set to officially open this weekend—will take the community’s efforts to the next level.
Diwali marks the end of the year, and by the year’s end we want to pay our debts, rectify our relationships–and then try to do better the next year. If we take up the chanting of the holy names, we can not only invoke the presence of Lord Rama within our hearts, but we can recreate the situation of Satya-yuga, the situation of Rama-rajya.
By RNS News Service for RNS News Service on 6 Nov 2010
By dissecting the so-called impregnable wall between state and religion, a new book demonstrates how religion persists as a strong element of on both sides of political debate, how we can recognize and understand it, and why we need more of it.
By ISKCON News Staff for ISKCON News on 5 Nov 2010
With over 100 youth each summer UK`s Pandava Sena group organizes a trip to a different European city. They take part in activities that represent a perfect balance between outdoor fun and having the opportunity to experience the culture of Krishna consciousness.
The gruelling climb of the Kilimanjaro and descent took a total of six days for the devotees of the Bhaktivedanta Manor – and was no ordinary climb: it was a dedicated effort to raise funds for a nursery at Krishna Avanti School.
More than fifty percent of the human body is made of water. Knowing that, it's not hard to realize how important staying hydrated is to a person's well-being. In fact, dehydration can cause confusion, dizziness, and sluggishness in addition to other more serious symptoms.
By Olessia Podtserob for ISKCON News on 4 Nov 2010
The Moscow International Book Fair is by considered to be one of the major events in the cultural and business life of Russia. Since 1979, the BBT has been giving the Russian people the chance to aquiant themselves with the glorious knowledge of the Vedas.
Since 1998—for the past three elections—one of the seven people on the Mayor’s council in the village of Somogyvamos in Hungary has been an ISKCON devotee. This year, there will only be four people on the Mayor’s council, as well as the newly elected Mayor Mrs Marianna Dekanyne Karoly—and three of them will be devotees. | <urn:uuid:b302d8c9-5db4-4681-8851-265f4de44e27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.iskcon.com/archive/all/2010?page=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957666 | 603 | 1.53125 | 2 |