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Young people from Bath & North East Somerset travelled to Torquay this weekend to take part in the National Union of Teachers (NUT) Easter Conference to promote a film they have made to help both their peers and teachers understand what it is like to be in foster care.
The film ‘In Care, In School’ is a series of 10 scenarios based on real life experiences of members of the Bath & North East Somerset In Care Council, a group of looked after children and young people in the care of the local authority.
Supported by education policy experts from Bath Spa University, the In Care Council devised the short films to reveal the difficult situations children in care can face at school. The team of young people appointed Bath-based production company Suited & Booted Studios CIC, worked with a professional script writer, and helped direct the filming. All roles in the film were performed by local child actors.
The films paint an honest picture of everyday issues faced by children in care, providing a thought-provoking, insightful and extremely eloquent perspective; from the difficulty of knowing what to write in an autobiography assignment to finding it difficult to be enthusiastic about designing a Mother’s Day card.
The aim is for ‘In Care, In School’ to be shown in primary and secondary schools across the country to help pupils and teachers better understand and appreciate the needs of children and young people in care. The film is accompanied by a resource pack for use in Personal Health & Social Education (PSHE) lessons to encourage class discussion and learning, backed up by a training pack for school staff.
Care leavers and In Care Council members Kelvin and Naina Thomas spent Saturday at the NUT Conference talking to teachers and other professionals about the ‘In Care, In School’ film and resources. Kelvin first went into care at the age of 8, and Naina at 12. They described the making of the films and offered advice on how teachers could best support children and young people in care.
Kelvin said: "It was good to be able to speak directly with teachers about these issues and how children in care actually feel. We worked hard to try to bring them to everyone’s attention."
Naina commented: "A lot of teachers are concerned to support young people in care but they are worried about getting it wrong. We hope our project will help to give them the confidence to address some of the issues involved, both inside and outside the classroom."
Dave Biddleston, Secretary of the NUT in Bath & North East Somerset, who organised the stand at the conference, said: "It has been a privilege to be involved in this project from the start. The NUT warmly supports it both at a local and a national level."
Cllr Nathan Hartley, Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet Member for Early Years, Children and Youth, said: "This is a tremendous achievement and we’re extremely proud of the young people involved in the project for all their enthusiasm and commitment. This worthwhile initiative is supported by Bath & North East Somerset Council’s objective to ensure that children and young people enjoy their childhood and are prepared for adult life."
Mike Gorman, Head of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Virtual School, works closely with the In Care Council to help ensure their voice is heard. The In Care Council is also supported by Bath-based Off The Record.
Mike said: "The project came about when we talked to the In Care Council about their experiences in school. They told us it would be really helpful if other children and teachers understood more about what it was like to be in care. They wanted to tell others how they really felt.
"We were clear from the start that the In Care Council should set the pace and direction of the project. The film had to involve young people in care at every stage, avoid sensationalism and be rooted in their everyday experience of school."
Tim Loughton MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, has given his support to the project.
Mr Loughton said: "This is an excellent example of what can be done through imaginative local cooperation. I am particularly impressed by the way in which the local In Care Council has played a central role. Raising awareness in schools about the needs of looked after children is very valuable work. We need more examples of this kind of innovation."
‘In Care, In School’ was jointly funded by Bath Spa University and Bath & North East Somerset Council, with additional support from the national PSHE Association, The Who Cares Trust, ASDAN, VisionWorks and the NUT.
The film and support materials have been piloted in three schools in Bath & North East Somerset and are being used by PGCE students from Bath Spa University in 48 primary and 10 secondary schools across the UK. Initial feedback has been extremely positive.
Following a full evaluation of the resources, ‘In Care, In School’ should be available for teachers to download free of charge from autumn 2012. | <urn:uuid:e20873ed-b584-46d2-a3d5-eae2064f4171> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bathspa.ac.uk/homepage/news/New-film-shares-young-people%E2%80%99s-experiences-of-life-in-care | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970695 | 1,039 | 1.90625 | 2 |
"Math, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Complete ACT and SAT Exams"
...This includes the structures and reactions of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, halides, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, acids, amines, and aromatic hydrocarbons. Within these topics, I have taught how to use these compounds to devise synthetic road maps. Other areas include how to use NMR, IR, UV, and Mass Spectroscopy to deduce the structure and functional...
10+ subjects, including physics | <urn:uuid:78ca3e24-461e-4af1-a307-7e389b37a8de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wyzant.com/Ulster_County_NY_Physics_tutors.aspx | 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 | 0.901007 | 112 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 5:44 PM
Those looking for actual numbers to crunch in Governor Strickland's ambitious education reform plan received a price tag of sorts today. At a speech in Cleveland, the governor said he plans to spend at least a billion dollars more on public schools in the coming two-year budget. ideastream®'s Kymberli Hagelberg has more.
During a visit to Louisa May Alcott Elementary School in Cleveland, Governor Strickland answered questions left hanging during the rollout of his education reform plan just 24 hours earlier-- how much will Ohio spend on education in the coming two years, and where will the money come from?
Strickland: “In this budget, even in the midst of this very difficult economic recession that we’re in , an additional $925 million dollars will be allocated for our elementary and secondary schools above current levels in the current budget.”
The funding represents a hike in state spending on schools of almost 9 percent over the current two-year budget.
Strickland says he expects to get between $5 billion to $9 billion dollars in federal stimulus money, more than $3 billion of which will go to schools. The governor’s budget comes out Monday.
Kymberli Hagelberg, 90.3.
Governor Ted Strickland talks about realigning education departments and new standards in his education reform plan.
Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke said he's excited that the governor wants to change the way schools are funded. He also said he welcomes the reforms that affect teachers -- even those that address removing some teachers from the classroom.
Please follow our community discussion rules when composing your comments. | <urn:uuid:0d893f9c-0f9d-4567-ba4d-e339443a3671> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ideastream.org/news/feature/16239 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959678 | 355 | 1.609375 | 2 |
HR 1004 – Open Government: Who Could be against open Government? HR 1004 by Rep. Charles Key simply states that if a legislator requests that his bill get a hearing in the committee it has been assigned to, the chairman of that committee must hear the bill and allow a vote. It’s that simple.
This graphic was part of a flyer handed out at the Tulsa County Convention in March 2012. For the complete downloadable flyer on scribd:
For more information visit OK-SAFE | <urn:uuid:0c453b89-1ff4-47e4-ae96-00d76b642864> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://charleskey.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95371 | 102 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Our guest blogger is Bertha Lewis, CEO and Chief Organizer for ACORN.
Last Wednesday, a miracle happened. More than 30 people showed up at 6AM in front of a neighbor’s house to do one thing: save it from foreclosure. Martha and Eddie Daniels, tenants in the house in Oakland, California, were about to be evicted because their landlord had been taking their rent, but not paying the mortgage. The sheriff was coming to put them out, and the Daniels were in danger of joining the millions of families who have lost their homes in this crisis. But the community, working with ACORN members and staff, came together to say, “Not this time. Not here. Not now.”
ACORN members rallied their neighbors, spoke with local media, including one radio station that broadcast live from the home, and flooded the Sheriff’s office with calls urging compassion and forbearance of the scheduled eviction. Meanwhile, ACORN Housing Corporation worked furiously behind the scenes with the lender to negotiate a stay on the eviction, which successfully came through.
This is one story from the front lines of America’s economic meltdown, a crisis which contains one issue above all others at its heart: foreclosures. Watch this Brave New Films video highlighting the problem:
In 2008, more families faced foreclosure (2.3 million) than at any time since the Great Depression at a cost to the economy of at least $156 billion. If we do nothing, this cost could rise as high as $850 billion by 2012. ACORN members do not intend to let that happen. Building on the success in Oakland, ACORN’s campaign to address the foreclosure crisis is entering a new stage. In cities across the country, we are creating teams of community residents willing to stand with families in crisis.
Called the Home Defenders, this program is designed to help keep families in their homes and pressure elected officials to address this root cause of the economic collapse. It responds to the desperate calls for help found in the grim foreclosure statistics, and echoes the sentiments of leaders like Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who recently said, “Stay in your homes. If the American people, anybody out there is being foreclosed, don’t leave.”
The Home Defenders program will kick off in cities across the country this coming weekend. For people who live in areas that will not have local organizers helping drive this program, ACORN is creating Home Defender Tool-Kits that help you fight back against the crisis in your neighborhood. We’re also partnering with Brave New Foundation to launch a new website called Fighting For Our Homes this week, which will enable people who face foreclosure all across the country to tell their stories and make their voices heard.
By showing that communities are refusing to participate in their own decimation, we will force elected officials to finally shift their emphasis from bailing out Wall Street to bailing out Main Street. Stand with us. | <urn:uuid:2641c571-86bb-48f1-9285-9c29e07f17bc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/02/10/36037/start-the-recovery/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96728 | 610 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Green groups sound alarm on synthetic biology
Life 2.0 faces critics
A coalition of environmentalists, ethics watchdogs and trade unions has told synthetic biologists they threaten humanity and the planet by "tinkering" with the fundamentals of life.
The criticism is timed to coincide with a meeting of scientists working in the emerging discipline, which is aiming to lay down ground rules for self-regulation.
Synthetic biology offers the possibility of brand new microbial life forms being created from scratch for a host of applications - benign and otherwise. In 2002, a team was successful in building a functioning polio virus in the lab from molecular raw materials.
Proponents say the potential benefits from synthetic lifeforms outweigh the risks. The Synthetic Biology 2.0 conference in Berkley will end today with delegates signing a set of "community-wide declarations" to provide an ethical framework for scientists to work to.
In an open letter, however, groups including Greenpeace and the Soil Association say the field needs to be reined-in from outside.
Dr Sue Mayer, director of bioethics pressure group GeneWatch UK, said: "Scientists creating new life forms cannot be allowed to act as judge and jury. The possible social, environmental and bio-weapons implications are all too serious to be left to well-meaning but self-interested scientists."
Genome maverick Craig Venter's Synthetic Genomics is in the vanguard of firms hoping to commercially exploit the technology. Some fear the techniques developed could easily be applied to waging biowarfare by recreating devastating epidemics like smallpox, or even synthesising bespoke illnesses against particular ethnic groups.
Alex Vlandas of International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility urged the conference: "We scientists must come to terms with the fact that science can no longer claim to be living in an abstract realm disconnected from the rest of society."
Scientists in the field say they welcome debate. Their motion is a first step toward proper legal monitoring. Signatories to the open letter, however, argue that the move will deflect any attempts at outside intervention in the future.
A similar era-defining science and ethics meeting at Asilomar in 1975 has been called the "Woodstock of molecular biology". Some say failings of the self-regulation model that emerged from that meeting led to the genetic modification firestorm of the 90s.® | <urn:uuid:f655c86f-b15c-40e8-b570-4b6ed72b2e81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/22/synthetic_biology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932345 | 485 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Published on August 31, 2007
Faria e Maya read a statement issued by the Presidency of the European Union and the Delegation of the European Commission concerning the EU's proposed election monitoring, saying that an MOU "would need to be agreed" for the mission to be dispatched to Thailand.
He added that such an MOU "does not interfere in the electoral process - let alone the sovereignty" of Thailand.
"An observation mission only has the mandate to collect and verify information concerning the election process, to analyse the observations, and then after the elections, to publish its findings," the statement read.
The ambassador refused to reveal the draft of the MOU, however, saying the document was still in a state of flux and open to further negotiation.
"When two parties are still negotiating on a draft, each party has to show respect and not start to speak. I think there's been some misunderstanding by the Thai government with the local media. I believe it's neither the fault of the Thai authorities nor the press," he told reporters at the Embassy of Portugal.
Portugal currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU.
At least two local Thai-language newspapers published what they claimed to be part of the MOU on Thursday though officials at the EU mission told The Nation that the details may not be accurate.
"There's no point in having election observers here if they're stuck in a hotel and can't do anything," said one EU official, who asked not to be named.
Faria e Maya added that the Thai government has not given a formal response yet.
The reaction came after Prime Minister Surayud and Speaker of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) Meechai Ruchuphan played a nationalistic card by saying they would not allow the EU to breach Thai national sovereignty.
"The EU is interfering in Thailand's internal affairs," Meechai was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "Are they the United Nations? Are they going to sign an MOU to allow us to monitor their elections?"
Faria e Maya said it was the first time the EU had expressed an interest in observing a Thai general election because of the very "simple" reason that "Thailand is now in a process of returning to democracy".
"It's up to the host country to accept or not, to take the initiative to invite or not," Faria e Maya explained. "So far we have no reply from the Thai authorities." | <urn:uuid:aff4c440-d4b8-4e43-8a96-a0b3689252cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/08/31/headlines/headlines_30047193.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969271 | 504 | 1.5625 | 2 |
One verse of the Holy Qur’an which relates about Jesus being put on the cross is as follows:
And for their saying, ‘We did slay the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah;’ whereas they slew him not, nor crucify him, but he was made to appear to them like one crucified; and those who differ therein are certainly in a state of doubt about it; they have no definite knowledge thereof, but only pursue a conjecture; and they did not convert this conjecture into certainty.
This verse talks about the saying of the Jews, that they ‘did slay the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary!’ Allah Almighty answers them that ‘wa ma Qatalu-hu’ - they slew him not! Then the verse states ‘Wa ma Salabu-hu’ - nor did they crucify him! Here it is stating that Jesus was not crucified on the Cross; he did not die on it, but it does not deny that he could have been put on the Cross, only that he did not die on the Cross! The verse then states ‘Wa lakin Shubbiha La-hum’ - but he was made to appear to them like one crucified! or the matter of the death of Jesus became obscure or dubious to them! The verse then finishes by stating that the Jews differed about what happened and no one knew for sure, instead they just made guesses, without knowing what the real truth was.
The Jews tried to kill Jesus on the Cross to prove that he was false - as the Holy Bible states:
He that is hanged on the tree is accursed of God
By his death on the Cross, the Jews wanted to prove that he was indeed a false Prophet and that his claim to be the ‘son of God’ was also false. To this day, the Jews still regard Jesus Christ as a false Prophet! The Christians on the other hand, proclaimed that Jesus had to become ‘accursed of God’ and go into Hell as this was his whole purpose in life - ‘to die to take the sins of Man upon him’!
Both these views portrayed Jesus as false, a sinner and a person who went to Hell!
Allah replies to these false accusations by stating:
On the contrary. Allah exalted him to Himself. And Allah is Mighty, Wise
Allah exalts Jesus spiritually and removes these false accusations of him dying on the Cross, and not being a true Prophet of God. The preceding verse clears Jesus name that he was killed by the Jews and that he was crucified. By denying both these false charges, Allah proves that he really was a Prophet of God and was not killed by his enemies. Then Allah goes further to state that in His eyes, He is well pleased with Jesus, thus He has exalted him to Himself - He has honoured Jesus in His presence. It cannot mean that He physically raised Jesus to Himself as Allah has no fixed abode - Allah is everywhere!
A lot of misunderstanding surrounds these verses. When the Muslims came into contact with Christians and started hearing their claim that Jesus went physically to heaven, the idea started taking shape that this is what is meant in these verses. This was not the view of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, or his companions, as we will prove later. This concept came into being later on.
The Muslims claim that in order to save Jesus from the Jews, Allah made someone else (possibly Judas) to appear like Jesus and go on the cross and then die. Whilst this was happening, Allah raised Jesus to Himself and kept him alive in heaven until the Latter Days when Jesus will descend!
Again this belief goes against the Holy Qur’an! Allah has stated in the Holy Quran that there is no person who can return physically from Heaven:
...And behind them is a barrier (Barzakh) until the Day when they shall be raised again
...Or thou [Muhammad] ascend up into heaven, and we will not believe in thy ascension until thou send down to us a Book that we can read. Say, "Holy is my Lord! I am but a man sent as a Messenger?”
We have to be very careful what we attribute to Allah. There is no point attributing wrong things about Allah just to justify our own understanding. Muslims need to understand what they are trying to assert. In a quest to try to show that Jesus went physically to heaven, they are implying that Allah could be deceitful (deceiving the Jews into believing they really killed Jesus), unjust (putting a man innocent of the so-called crimes of Jesus on the cross instead of Jesus) and contradicting His own Book (a physical being can return from Heaven). There is no way Allah can be any of these things, but sadly, this is what Muslims are foolishly making Allah appear to be, when they make such claims. Instead of thinking about what they are claiming, they come out with the answer “But Allah can do anything that He wishes!” Yes, of course Allah can do anything, but surely whatever He does will be Just and Fair and will not contradict His own Laws!
Another verse of the Holy Qur’an which relates about Jesus not ascending to heaven is:
And when Allah will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary, didst thou say to men, 'Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah?' ” he will answer, “Holy art Thou, I could never say that to which I had no right. If I had said it, Thou wouldst have surely known it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy mind. It is Thou alone Who art the Knower of all hidden things"
In the preceding verse, Allah asks Jesus that ‘did he ask men to take him and his mother as two gods?’ Jesus replies that he could never have said such a thing! He then goes on to say:
“I said nothing to them except that which Thou didst command me – ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them, but since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou hast been the Watcher over them, and Thou art Witness over all things.”
Jesus states that whilst he was alive, he was a witness over them and this concept was not there! He had kept a careful watch over his followers and saw that they did not deviate from the right path ‘But since Thou didst cause me to die’ that is when this belief started to take hold. When Jesus was already dead, then he did not know how they behaved and what false doctrines they held after his death.
The fact that his followers have gone astray, proves that Jesus is dead, for as it is pointed out that it was after his death that he was to be worshipped as God! Furthermore, the fact that this verse speaks of Jesus as expressing ignorance that his followers took him and his mother for two gods after he had left them proves that he is not to come back to this world! For, if he were to come back and see with his own eyes that his followers had become corrupt and had made him a god, he could not plead ignorance of them making him to be a god. If he did so, his answer pleading his ignorance of him being made a god would amount to a lie!
Thus this verse positively proves that Jesus is dead and that he will never come back to this world. | <urn:uuid:f7620e39-0ac0-41c1-9e63-2b383269c3c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whyahmadi.org/2_3_1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987085 | 1,580 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog
From the Local High School Newspaper
02/26/2006 - James WhiteThe tagline for the new movie Brokeback Mountain, starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, is “love is a force of nature.” Unfortunately it is never explained what kind of love they are referring to. I am robbed of space to explain the entire story here. However, because of all the buzz around the Venice film festival movie, most of us know the main idea. Two cowboys working for the summer in the mountains fall madly “in love.” The rest of the movie is spent spanning a twenty year time period in which the two marry women, build families and rendezvous with each other under the guise of ‘fishing trips.’
All the talk surrounding the film is mainly in regards to the fact that is the most publicized homosexual movie to date. In light of political conflict dealing with the issue of homosexual marriage, a movie of this subject matter would hardly go unnoticed. Gay rights groups are absolutely ecstatic about the attention the film is getting. However, my biggest beef with this movie is not the homosexuality that it sells. No, I don’t agree with it, but what I find especially disturbing about the film is that it does not deal with the pain that the two men’s adultery causes to the families they chose to build.
The film is labeled “real love is a painful burden, ” but it is made quite clear that neither know the true meaning of the word love. Love is an action, a commitment. Love takes work, effort, patience and self-sacrifice. Nowhere in the movie, other than on the behalf of the wives, are any of those characteristics practiced. The two men engage in adultery, lie to their wives and are often violent and cruel to their families. How is it that men of such dishonest and uncaring characters are lauded and adored and can be made the heroes of a socially significant film? What is so socially significant? Is it not deathly clear that the lesson being taught is that being homosexual gives you super rights? As long as you are committing adultery with someone of the same sex it’s ok? It seems that the tagline of this movie should be edited. “Lust is a force of nature” would seem to be more fitting.
Love does not compromise, love does not fail; the version of love sold in this movie does both. It compromises their health, their jobs, the well being of the ones they are supposed to be most interested in. The devastation of their own lives becomes apparent when their unhealthy attachment hold them both in a deep depression for the rest of their lives. Sorry to ruin the movie for you, but they aren’t together in the end.
Gay rights groups rallying for equal rights would unjustly be able to rally behind Brokeback Mountain. The move does not sell equal rights: it sells super rights. Most groups an any sexual orientation would not encourage cruelty or adultery but this movie promotes both while hiding under a pro-homosexual banner and no one seems to be speaking out against it. The zeal to promote the gay society is blinding society to what else this movie is selling. The idea of equal rights stops dead at t his point. The boundary is crossed and the heterosexual group is put in its place. While most adulterous husbands in the majority of films are portrayed as the antagonist and not put upon a pedestal, the characters that Ledger and Gyllenhaal play are being given applause and marked as “important cultural and social advocates.” The hypocrisy is astounding.
---Summer M. White, Junior, Cortez High School | <urn:uuid:11f566fa-c90b-49fd-991c-2294ca1c6efd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=1268 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967444 | 771 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Developer's Reading List, May 22, 2012 The most interesting books of the last month, selected and reviewed by Dr. Dobb's editors.
Tom Hughes-Croucher and Mike Wilson
One of the biggest obstacles to using Node is getting it set up and tasting the magic. This slim volume takes you quickly through download and setup; and then it walks through basic coding examples that exercise the various libraries (including using NoSQL databases, Web services, and the like). The book is clear and approachable and is probably the best place to start if you want to kick the tires on Node. Recommended.
James W. Grenning
A short, clear introduction to TDD and how to apply it to C code (using CppUnit and Unity as test frameworks) in embedded contexts. Testing hardware with unit tests depends in no small part on the use of mocks to simulate hardware components that must respond to software actions. For this, the author uses CMock and explains it well.
The book is a particularly good option for embedded developers new to TDD because it covers the basic philosophy of TDD, the desirable traits of unit tests, and it does a good job of explaining why unit testing is so beneficial. It does not really make a convincing case for test-first development, however, nor does it explain to any depth the necessary refactoring required by the TDD approach. To be fair, most books on TDD are weak in these two areas. The difficulty of refactoring C makes the issue even more complex in this case. However, for a good book on unit testing embedded C, this is an excellent place to start. Recommended. | <urn:uuid:413429d9-6c09-4ada-9935-1ae581d29709> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drdobbs.com/tools/developers-reading-list/240000832?pgno=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92876 | 338 | 1.867188 | 2 |
The Pakistani government has postponed a polio vaccine program in parts of its tribal areas after threats from the Taliban.
Regional Taliban groups in North Waziristan and South Waziristan imposed a "ban" on the antipolio campaign to protest U.S. drone strikes.
Hafiz Gul Bahadur, the Taliban leader in North Waziristan, said the ban would remain until U.S. drone strikes are stopped.
Local officials said the Taliban action puts at risk the health of more than 350,000 children.
AFP reports a planned meeting of elders in Miranshah, North Waziristan to discuss the ban was called off due to a military curfew.
Last year Pakistan recorded its highest number of polio cases in a decade -- 198 -- which was blamed on a breakdown in its vaccination program.
Based on reporting by AFP | <urn:uuid:9acf2aaf-0dda-470c-aad3-b357c3739778> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rferl.org/content/pakistan-polio-taliban-/24647293.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95442 | 178 | 2.09375 | 2 |
In the New Testament the words “heart” and “conscience” are one and the same in meaning. The heart is the apparent location of the conscience, the place where God communicates to an individual, and the center of spiritual life. It is the seat of our intellect, emotions, will, and moral consciousness. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
The conscience is an extraordinary gift that shows us the grace, mercy, and power of God to reach in beyond what anyone else (including us) can see, and speak to our hearts. It must be educated and trained to recognize what is good. As our “witness within”, the conscience perceives our personality and whether or not we are living according to what it has been taught.
Every human being is given a conscience designed specifically by God to bring us into perfection. It is not that we become perfect, but our relationship with the Lord can be perfect if we live according to the conscience He has built within us.
One of the characteristics of Christians is that they have the law of God written in their hearts; and their conscience uses that to bring forth what they need to know. (Hebrews 8:8-12) Wise Christians are careful not to engage in actions that conflict with their conscience. They listen to their conscience, whether they like it or not, and they allow it to judge them according to the Word of God.
Continually stifling a conscience renders it inoperative. “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” (1Timothy 4:1&2) The witness that lives within us and tells us what is true and what is error can become so seared that it has no real application to us – so seared that we cannot believe the truth when it is right in front of us.
Without a conscience based on the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no peace within. Can you say that you are in good conscience before God this day? If not, repent and allow your conscience to speak to you. Accept it as a witness of what the Scriptures tell you and what the Holy Spirit brings to your heart and mind.
Pastor Odom’s message can be heard each Sunday on Radio KAML, AM 990, at 8:30 a.m. Choate Baptist Church meets for Sunday School at 9:45 a.m., Worship at 11 a.m., and Sunday and Wednesday Evening Services at 7 p.m. Hope to see you there! | <urn:uuid:d3a065a3-771f-40b6-a0ad-2fd0c36cf4af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mysoutex.com/pages/full_story_refugio/push?article-Choate+Baptist+Church-++God%E2%80%99s+Witness%20&id=21894915 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964537 | 574 | 2.21875 | 2 |
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Gambling Country Towns and Boom Towns
The old New England states were legally tough on gamblers. Tavern keepers were fined for allowing card playing in or about their premises and individuals who ran gambling games in their homes or places of business were liable to a fine and as long as a year's imprisonment. The New Hampshire law even found a man doubly guilty if he won.
Players with friends they could trust not to tell on them kept right on playing, referring vaguely to "club" meetings when questioned about their comings and goings. The vigilant, ar-us-eyed law often pulled raids and hauled all the players off to jail to pay fines the next morning and earn themselves some unfavorable publicity in the next day's papers.
Come all ye Yankee farmers who wish to change your lot, Who've spunk enough to travel beyond your native spot, And leave behind the village where Pa and Ma do stay, Yea, yea, yea, Michigania.
When great waves of New Englanders left home in the 1820s and '30s to settle the territories that became Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, the God-fearing ones passed the new antigambling laws in the territories, and the gay ones took along their sinful habits. Most towns in the Middle West were liberal in their interpretation and enforcement of the law, and the back room where the card games were played was to many a sport an oasis in the middle of a dreary desert.
In Marietta, Ohio, a town of fifteen hundred, an old-timer recalls, the "club members" met in the rear of a tailor shop. The scene was typical of countless small towns in the East and northern Middle West. "The different species of gambling carried on at this club were poker, brag, euchre, all-fours, whist, `vingtet-un' and `snaps' at faro. For use in the latter game [the proprietor] had provided an old sheet-iron dealing-box, and about two hundred large horn buttons, beside a piece of black cloth with thirteen cards pasted on it for a layout. Cards for playing all games except faro and vingt-et-un were sold to the players at twenty-five cents a pack, thus affording a clear profit of fifteen cents on every pack sold. At poker, a check was deducted from the pool, for the house, whenever threes or over were exposed, and at brag whenever a full was exposed; let the check be one cent or one dollar, the claims of the house were always the same. Out of this revenue the house was expected to supply its guests with liquors and cigars everything was done in a quiet and orderly manner. In fact they dared not do otherwise. The fear of detection and conviction held in check all who might otherwise have been disposed to be quarrelsome over their losses.
"The principal gatherings took place on Saturday evenings, when from four to five tables were in full blast. The hickory-bottomed chairs and pine tables used for the games were concealed in the loft overhead during the day, and brought out at night."
Faro was the favorite banking card game in the small towns. As played by the rural bloods the game was unlimited and it was difficult for the one who was banker to win. So small was the money he risked that he usually went broke in short order unless the cards ran well for him from the start.
Fancily dressed professional bankers, usually with Southern accents and the manners of plantation lords, as well as pockets wadded with money, toured the towns with all the proper paraphernalia in mahogany boxes blazened with the familiar royal tiger. Playing against a professional gave the local sports the feeling of being in the big time and the gambler played up by letting them win a few hundred dollars, ordering refreshments for all, nothing but the best cigars and liquor in town. The games broke up between ten and eleven with the local boys wishing their benefactor a fond good night as they trundled home with his cash. They regarded the newcomer as a generous and good sport, but no better than themselves at faro. In their confidence they ventured greater and greater sums on the fancy layout. The professional gambler's luck invariably seemed to change. He ended up winner almost every following night till he had got his own back.
The games grew longer, often lasting till daylight. The gambler still treated generously but now it was with his winnings. At this point good feeling turned to resentment and, as animosity rose, the professional gambler quietly and quickly left town.
The sting of losing eventually faded and the boys were ready to be taken the next time a soft-voiced gentleman came to town with a fat bank roll. The thought of the ivory checks in his box, the fine silver dealing box, the real faro layout stirred their blood again, and the well-heeled gambler with the cool, enigmatic eyes cleaned the boys out of as much money as they could raise before he wandered off to another town and other suckers.
As professional gamblers settled in one or another of the towns, in the early, inelegant days, they set up permanent establishments in houses on dingy side streets or alleys, in cellars, or even in hotel rooms rented for the purpose.
"Such articles as carpets, curtains or a side-board were unknown there," wrote an old sport. "It only required some chairs, and a few tables and benches, and to strew the floor with sand or sawdust. No liquors or drinks of any sort were furnished by the proprietor, except a pail of cold water. Many of them were, however, located convenient to some rum-mill, from whence refreshments could be ordered."
Flare-ups were frequent among the patrons, and profit-minded proprietors preferred to hire local bullies to keep the peace rather than to exclude quarrelsome players who might also be losers.
By the 1820s enterprising individuals began to open more lavishly furnished gambling houses catering to the polished-boot and ruffled-shirt trade in the South and East. When the violent anti-gambling tactics of the citizens of the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys propelled many of the gamblers north, some of them stayed over in Cincinnati and began to open better-class establishments.
They found a town that was not as disorderly as Louisville, Memphis, Natchez, or New Orleans, but one whose prison was pretty constantly crowded with gamblers caught cheating. They would occasionally teach a sharp lad their tricks while serving a term. Jonathan Green was one of these youths. In the Cincinnati prison yard "I learned the trick of the thimbles," he said in his later confessions.
Cincinnati had less to offer in the way of brothels and gambling hells than the other big river towns, but it did have innumerable "ten per cent houses" and could, in 1836, claim the dubious honor of being the home of the "wolf-trap."
As a professional gambler noted, " in no city in the union did [wolf-traps] flourish so extensively and in such number as [in Cincinnati], or were the resort of so many ruffianly and lawless characters. They were," he went on, "wherever a room could be found, and fitted up with a dozen cane-seated chairs, a faro table and a few other objects." In the Negro traps (where white men also played) no "check" games were permitted, as they were in the white traps. The Negro proprietor rarely put up a "snap" or even played against one. If the bank won he deducted 10 per cent; if it lost he did not charge. The banks ranged from one dollar to five hundred but seldom ran higher than fifty. Sometimes several persons would combine to stock a bank and all except the dealer would play against it. The moment one person went broke another venturesome sport would put up money for the next bank.
All kinds of people mingled in the wolf-traps: young bloods of rich families, artisans, unskilled laborers, local ward heelers, rivermen, steamboat passengers, traveling professional gamblers, petty thieves, and hoodlums. But Cincinnati law saw to it that no fortunate player was ever brutally slugged and robbed. Nor were suckers parted from their money through sharp dealing, marked cards, or crooked dealing boxes, since faro dealing in the 10-per-cent houses was generally honest. A sharp card artist would be frittering away his time and talents putting up money and running a bank among the pikers in a deadfall. The regular gambling houses offered better pickings and fewer dangers.
If the wolf-traps maintained fair dealing by the bank, here honesty ended. The stealing of chips, the paying off of less than the amount won, and "dropping a bet" were frauds commonly practiced. The last, one of the simplest ways to cheat the house at faro, usually was worked while the dealer made his turn for a card. With everyone's eyes focused on the dealing box, the cheater would drop more chips or cash behind the two or three cards nearest him if he saw that none of them could lose.
Gangs often duped well-heeled strangers by monopolizing the faro table, with one of their number acting as banker and the others pretending to try to break the bank.
The game was played on the square, but if the stranger happened to win heavily, one of the gang would leave the premises with the money the stranger had used to purchase chips, returning only if he got word that the stranger's luck had changed. If the stranger gave no signs of losing but some signs of leaving, the stand-in dealer would excuse himself on some pretext and not return unless he got a message that the stranger had lost back his winnings. If the dupe decided to cash in his chips, he was courteously told to wait until the original dealer came back, which, of course, he never did. Nobody in the room, it seemed, knew even the name of the missing dealer, so they all cursed uproariously. One of the gang whispered that he knew where the wanted man was and the two of them would find him and make him pay up. There followed so wearisome and fruitless a search that the desire for satisfaction would ebb and the poor stranger, who scarcely knew where he had started from, would want nothing but to get to bed. If he were of sterner stuff, he might persist, and the proprietor would eventually show up, recompense the victim, protesting that no one had ever been fleeced in his place before, and send the man off. For his services the proprietor usually drew 25 per cent of any money that had been taken from the stranger.
By 1850 Cincinnati was the largest city in the West, and wellequipped gambling rooms had forced most of the 10-per-cent houses to go out of business or upgrade their appointments and outlaw hoodlums. Proprietors of the costlier gambling rooms, all of whom paid police and politicians for "protection," complained that rondo and keno halls, where it was possible to bet as little as a dollar and which paid little or no graft to stay open, were undesirable competition.
The rondo resort on Fifth Street, owned by Joseph and Daniel Smith, was the first to feel the displeasure of the regular gambling room proprietors. George Devol, still only about nineteen but on his way up as a junior partner of the Smiths, wrote: we would be fined fifty dollars each once a month. Then they raised it to $100, and next to $500. This was just too much so we had heavy oak and iron doors put up; but the police would batter them down, and get us just the same. One night they surrounded the house, broke down the door, and arrested my two partners; but I escaped by the roof. The next day I went up to the jail to take the boys something to eat, when they nabbed and locked me up also. They put me in the same cell with Kissane of the steamer Martha Washington notoriety, who was living in great style in jail. They fined us $500 each and let us go, and that broke up 'Rondo.'" George cleared out of Cincinnati, but the Smiths, presumably having made peace with the police, opened up two months later and continued without interference.
During the Civil War, Cincinnati was headquarters for one of the Union Army's large departments. With the city crowded with army officers, soldiers, and paymasters, characters disposed to seek their fortunes by venturesome and questionable means accumulated.
Some of the riverboat talent, when steamboat traffic was curtailed by the war, transferred to the city whose laxness toward gambling establishments removed fear of raids.
"Bolly" Lewis, for almost twenty years a riverboat gambler, opened one of the biggest gambling houses in Cincinnati and, John Quinn writes: "One night an army paymaster dropped into his place, and before morning came the unfortunate officer had lost $40,000. This set Bolly to moralizing, and from that time he became a changed man. He gave up gambling, became a member of the church, and was prominent in all charitable works. He proved his penitence by restoring the $40,000 to the officer became part proprietor of the Gibson house, and when he died enjoyed the respect of the entire community." The story is a rarity in the annals of. gamblers.
Far more typical is the saga of Tom Mead, who flourished in Cincinnati during the halcyon war years. He started for California after gold in '49, but, according to one gambler, "found it more profitable to stop at Panama, where the miners who went by sea were crossing in a heavy stream, and opening a gambling house there. He caught them in a heavy stream coming and going, greatly to his own profit." He returned to the United States with a fortune and settled in Boston with the intention of living in ease and quiet. But Mead shot a man in Boston and decided that another city would be healthier for him, so he went back to Cincinnati and invested in real estate and three gambling houses, where he hired professional riverboat gamblers and prospered from then on.
With the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, Buffalo had become one of the great gateways to the West, rivaling St. Louis and Cincinnati. Like all such strategically placed cities, it grew, prospered, and gambled. By 1831 a thousand travelers were arriving and departing every day from a city thick with pugilists, whose favorite hangout it was up to the Civil War.
As prize fighting was neither accepted nor legal, fights took place behind the backs of the police and were generally staged at Long Point, a few miles out of town, and across the Canadian border. Slug fests were apt to be between an outstanding pug from the U.S. and an equally prominent bare-knuckle lad from Great Britain or Canada. Two Americans made history at Long Point when "Old Smoke" Morrissey successfully defended his heavyweight championship against John C. Heenan. Though Morrissey won only the $2500 side stakes in this, his last fight, his supporters increased their fortunes considerably.
Buffalo's proximity to Canada made it a comfortable place for men whose past gave them a sense of insecurity in the United States. Mingling and mixing with the rough and brawling Great Lakes sailors and Erie Canal men, these shady characters gave it a name as a "tough town." Gambling dens vied with brothels and saloons along Canal Street in the '30s and '40s for the customers' dollars. "Faro rooms," John Quinn recalled, "keno rooms, poker rooms and general gaming rooms, were as thick as sand flies, and ran in all their glory, in full blast day and night, without the slightest attempt being made to put the least check on this fascinating occupation by the authorities, many of whom were as deeply interested in it as the professional gamblers themselves." In addition to these rooms blacklegs carried faro layouts to the boardinghouses where canalers and sailors parked their ditty bags and gave the buys every chance to fight the tiger. And, as elsewhere, there was luxury for the bigger fish. During the war even the stabler Buffalonians were so gripped with excitement they took to gambling and the leading houses averaged $5000 to $20,000 profits a year. At openly run gambling rooms patrons could match wits against dazzling professionals like "Gentleman Bill" Carney, James McCormick, Timothy Glassford, Adam Clark, "Oat" Forrester and Reed Brockway.
Gentleman Bill was a native and well-born who took to gambling in his teens and by twenty was an ace faro dealer. For forty years judges, city officials, and rich businessmen were constant clients whom Carney frequently obliged by lifting the lid off the limit of his games. But if Carney had disappointed his parents, Carney's two sons ruined him. They inherited his fondness for drink and good times, so his great fortune evaporated and he died relatively poor.
In his heyday Gentleman Bill paid James McCormick $1000 a week plus a percentage of the house's winnings to deal faro. But life in Buffalo seemed too tame to McCormick after the war, so amassing enough money to retire and buy a string of trotting he moved on to New York, dealing or playing on the customer's side of the table wherever he thought the game was on the square, horses that earned him enough to dabble for pleasure in the game he once dealt for a living.
Like Carney's, Timothy Glassford's gambling house had a substantial clientele and was also honestly run. His success endured as long as Carney's and he gave himself a good time, but, unlike Gentleman Bill and most gamblers, Glassford left a proud estate valued at $80,000.
The Beau Brummel of Buffalo's old-time gamblers was "Oat" Forrester. According to a contemporary, "at times he wore diamonds worth $30,000." Buffalo's young men about town provided his faro tables with their greatest source of income, but long gambling hours and fast living ruined Forrester's health and impoverished him. He was forced to retire and live on, a sick man, dependent upon his daughter.
His hair-trigger mind and astonishing memory made Reed Brackway able to remember the order of cards despite the many turns in a game. One night in 1867 when there were six cards left in the dealing box he wagered $1500 on a king as the last winning card and added a $500 side bet with a spectator who doubted his wisdom. He was quite right and four minutes later Brockway was $2000 richer.
The halcyon days could not last forever. A year after the Civil War Buffalo's citizens pressed the Niagara Frontier Police to shut down all gaming establishments, and the police succeeded. Yet Buffalo's gambling history had been, according to Quinn, relatively clean for the times: "A search of police records of old gamblers fails to show that a murder, or very serious assault, ever occurred in a professional gaming house. Small rows in poker rooms, or in saloons connected with gambling rooms, and raids of gamblers, constitute the affairs chargeable directly or indirectly to gambling rooms - a remarkable record." | <urn:uuid:af761436-959d-4c00-8405-6d95e09e9657> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldandsold.com/articles01/article880.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984312 | 4,076 | 2.125 | 2 |
Is fortified food really good for you? 5/12
(This article is adapted from the May 2012 Consumer Reports OnHealth newsletter.)
Today the fastest growing category in the food industry is so-called ‘functional food” – fortified food that’s supposed to reduce your risk of disease or boost your chances of optimal health, according to the marketers. In fact, food that is fortified with calcium, fiber, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins accounts for $20 to $30 billion in annual sales, says PriceWaterhouseCoopers. And sales of fortified foods are predicted to grow at an annual rate of 8.5 to 20 percent, much more than the 1 to 4 percent forecast for the food industry overall.
What’s driving the demand? The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics points to rising health-care costs and scientific research that links a good diet to a lower incidence of chronic disease. The problem? In most cases, the health claims are based on flimsy facts.
Food or drug?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t recognize functional food as an actual food category. As defined by the FDA’s Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, products with claims that they treat or alleviate disease are considered to be drugs and must meet the agency’s regulatory requirements, including proof that they are safe and effective for their intended use.
So if you’re a manufacturer and you want to claim in ads and packaging that your product has health-promoting properties, there has to be credible science to back it up.
For example, the maker of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice and POMx liquid supplement maintains that it has scientific proof to support the claim that its products prevent or treat heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction.
But the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) cracked down on the company for making what it calls false and unsubstantiated claims. “ Any consumer who sees POM Wonderful products as a silver bullet against disease has been misled,” says David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “When a company touts scientific research in its advertising, the research must squarely support the claims made. Contrary to POM Wonderful’s advertising, the available scientific information does not prove that POM Juice or POMx effectively treats or prevents these illnesses.”
The company has filed a federal lawsuit contending that the agency is overstepping its authority by setting new standards for advertising food and dietary supplements.
Honesty on labels
Cheerios Toasted Whole Grain Oat Cereal offers another example of a manufacturer making big promises on its packaging. In 2009 the FDA warned Cheerios maker, General Mills, that its claim on the box—that the cereal was “clinically proven to help lower cholesterol”—was illegal because only a drug maker can claim such health benefits for a product.
Health claims weren’t allowed on food products at all until about 20 years ago. As the FDA saw it, such a link would mean the products were being marketed as a drug. And if food was being promoted that way, manufacturers had to conduct clinical studies to provide evidence of safety and efficacy, something they didn’t want to do, says Marion Nestle, Ph.D., author and professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University.
That changed in the early 1990s with the creation of a national system of nutrition labeling (the “Nutrition Facts” panels now found on food packages). Food manufacturers had opposed the effort, thinking it would reveal negative information about their products.
They then lobbied for the right to promote the benefits of their products, and in response, Congress passed another piece of legislation: the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, forcing the FDA to permit substantiated health claims on food packages. In 1994 Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, which made it easier to put health claims on vitamins, minerals, and herbal products.
“We expected to see nutritional supplements or dietary supplements making health claims,” says Mary K. Engle, associate director of the FTC’s Advertising Practices division. “But then, about five years ago, we started to see those kinds of claims on foods—claims like ‘metabolism-enhancing’ and ‘immune-boosting,’ or something having to do with brain health or heart health.”
More recently, there have been claims about digestive health. For example, claims by Dannon that a daily serving of Activia yogurt could help with constipation caught the FTC’s attention in 2010, and the agency accused the company of deceptive marketing practices. Dannon said it had scientific proof, but regulators concluded that many of its studies actually found that Activia was no more helpful than a placebo. Also, the probiotics (a type of healthful bacteria) in Activia might help digestion, but only if the yogurt is eaten three times a day—something not mentioned in the ads or on the packaging. Dannon eventually settled with the FTC, but admitted no wrong-doing.
What’s a health-conscious shopper to do?
“Know thyself,” says Elizabeth Rahavi, R.D., director of health and wellness at the International Food Information Council Foundation, an industry group. “ Consumers can ask: ‘Is this a food that I would commonly consume?’ Often the benefit of a functional food comes through repeated consumption.”
Still not sure? Check the website of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the IFIC Foundation to see if a product’s claims are backed up by credible research, Rahavi suggests. And don’t just read marketing claims; look at nutrition panels and ingredient lists.
“You should have a healthy dose of skepticism. Don’t expect any given food to protect you from disease,” says Engle of the FTC.
In general, food that’s truly functional doesn’t need to have labeling. “I always advise buying real foods, not products,” Nestle says. “And stay away from foods that overstate their health benefits. If only eating a sugary cereal would prevent colds or flu. Wouldn’t that be great?”
Four ‘functional foods’ worth trying. 5/12
The scoop on vitamins and supplements. 3/12
Food, supplement, or drug? 7/11
The scoop on probiotics. 6/11
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First up in the Week of Composition is Dan Rouse’s “Ripple” quilt. We can all learn much from Dan when it comes to composing a quilt.
Tell us about this quilt.
“The Ripple quilt began last spring when Robert Kaufman Fabrics distributed charm packs to the quilt guild and challenged us to make quilts using only solids. About the same time Accuquilt sent me a fabric cutter to try out. As it turns out, combining solids from all (dusty) shades of the rainbow, and block-based quilt design are both outside my comfort zone, so I decided to wrap it up into one challenge.
I tried several layout options, and wasn’t pleased with any symmetrical tile patterns. The colors don’t have a lot of umph, and it just came off a bit sleepy. I ended up separating the units into one group colored centers and neutral edges, and a second group with neutral centersand colored edges. I then subdivided each of those groups into 8 piles by hue. Finally, I paired hues to make 8 block groups.”
Playing with the units I settled on the idea of water droplets hitting a pond, creating ring wavelets that soon disappear. I arranged the units around a central circle, filling with additional Kona snow as necessary. The quantity of drunkard’s path units was limited by the size of the fabric pack. This constraint became an opportunity to create a deconstructed sense of fragility in an otherwise stark composition.
The quilting uses several different colors, with all of the concentric circles around any drop in the same color. The colors are light blue, light ochre, moss green, deep red, and white. The drops overlap in different amounts. Some drops have more rings than others. Some of the quilted drops are set completely in the white background, with no drunkard’s path blocks, hinting at drop rings that have all but faded away.”
What do you consider when composing your quilts?
“I’ll start with something I don’t consider very much at all. I never start with a specific print or fabric collection. Rather, I start with a design idea, shape, or geometry, and find fabrics that work with that idea. With very few exceptions I have an clear idea what I want the quilt to look like before I consider a single fabric. The Ripple quilt was unusual for me in that I started with a pack of fabric and a drunkard’s path block as initial constraints, and didn’t compose the quilt until all the blocks were sewn.
To achieve the design it is essential to have contrast. The stronger and simpler the contrast, the easier it is to read the design. With more levels or gradation of contrast, the design becomes more delicate and achieves a sense of depth. A high level of contrast clearly defines positive and negative space, ideally giving a sense of foreground and background.
There are lots of tools to achieve contrast. Value, or the relative lightness or darkness of a color, is an important compositional tool for quilters. Color hue is also very important.
Scale is all about size relationships and creating appropriate balance between the size of fabric prints, individual pieces, and positive and negative space.
Finally, rhythm is a key element in an interesting quilt. By arranging the elements with a sense of rhythm you direct the viewers eye across and around the quilt and create a sense of energy and movement in a static object. I use all the above concepts to varying degrees to achieve rhythm. I think the Ripple quilt is a good example of rhythm. The irregular construction and placement of the drop formations creates multiple paths and loops for the eye to follow, with the overlapping concentric quilting suggesting connections between adjacent elements, so the viewer doesn’t feel she ‘knows’ the quilt at first glance.”
Tell us a bit about yourself and your quilty history.
By profession I am a landscape designer, working mostly in residential gardens in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have years of training and practice in a design field.
For the most part I am a self-taught sewer and quilter. My mom taught me how to use a sewing machine when I was a kid, but I lost interest and didn’t sew anything for years until the 2006 Gee’s Bend exhibit at the De Young piqued my interest. Inspired by the confident use of color and playful improvisational technique, I immediately purchased two books on quilt making. Alas, the books sat for a few more years before I finally started sewing in 2009. But now I’m hooked. I’ve been sewing quilts non-stop ever since, and recently started teaching classes at my LQS.
Dan is a member of the East Bay Modern Quilt Guild and you can find him and his amazing work on his blog, Piece and Press. | <urn:uuid:7fc87156-f5b5-4c69-9d01-2a38ef1e417e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://themodernquiltguild.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/100-days-week-of-composition-featured-quilt-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948711 | 1,046 | 1.867188 | 2 |
School Based Youth Services Program
On Tuesday, July 11, 2006, Governor Corzine signed legislation, which received overwhelming support in the legislature, to officially establish the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF). The new department is staffed by over 6,600 state child welfare employees who were already working in divisions within the Department of Human Services (DHS) focused on child protection, welfare, education and permanency, child behavioral health and abuse prevention. The School Based Youth Services Program (SBYSP) was established in 1987 to provide at-risk teenage youth with an array of employment, health and social services. Now implemented in over 88 schools, SBYSP serves about 36,000 youths annually.
Faced with the task of tracking program participation and evaluating outcomes, SBYSP sought to develop a data-management tool that could be operated at the site level. Prior to adopting YouthServices.net, a desktop system had been deployed, but proved difficult to maintain over time. Based on this experience, SBYSP was particularly concerned that any new system be simple to administer, responsive and user friendly to site-level workers. The system also needed to incorporate a series of existing paper forms and reports that had been used to track participant and service information.
Working with SBYSP staff, Cityspan developed a custom management system to meet the program's site-level and statewide reporting requirements. The process began by converting existing paper registration forms and service logs to online equivalents. The intake forms capture client contact information, demographics, risk assessments and other background data. Service logs track the provision of group and individual services in the areas of mental health, learning support, substance abuse, pregnancy prevention, medical and preventive health. All service logs are configured to track the number of clients, sessions and hours provided. Using this input, a set of reports was then developed to document each site's client base and the type and intensity of services provided.
Benefits and Results
The management system has provided significant benefits to individual CAS sites and the initiative as a whole. SBYSP's data system has provided a host of benefits to individual service sites and SBYSP state administrators. Because the software is on the web, site staff can manage services in team settings and from multiple locations. This has allowed staff to serve clients in a more standardized and coordinated manner. Detailed reporting has allowed sites to document their work fully and show results to major funders.
For SBYSP administrators, the management system has proved to be a valuable tool for monitoring individual site performance and reporting aggregate statistics to the state legislature. According to Kay Reiss, SBYSP Coordinator, "Cityspan has given us the numbers we need to evaluate our service investments." By documenting the number of clients and distribution and intensity of services, the software guides overall policy approaches and supports the making of informed improvements to the program design. | <urn:uuid:3e39bb27-9586-4d22-be60-1ccf555e7a5b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cityspan.com/clients/study_nj.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954104 | 583 | 1.828125 | 2 |
News tagged with synthetic chemicals
Bisphenol A or BPA is a synthetic chemical widely used in the making of plastic products ranging from bottles and food can linings to toys and water supply lines. When these plastics degrade, BPA is released ...
Health Oct 04, 2012 | 5 / 5 (9) | 0 |
(HealthDay)—In what researchers are calling a first, a new analysis suggests that the greater a woman's exposure to a type of common chemical compound called PFCs, the greater her risk for developing osteoarthritis.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Feb 14, 2013 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0 |
Mothers who are exposed to particular agents during pregnancy could give birth to children with a higher risk of asthma, according to new research.
Health Sep 26, 2011 | 5 / 5 (1) | 1
Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Center for Drug Design have developed a synthetic compound that, in a mouse model, successfully prevents the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease & dementia Dec 03, 2012 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0 |
More than 100 women per day die from breast cancer in the United States. The odds of developing breast cancer increase for women taking hormone replacement therapy to avoid the effects of menopause. New research by University ...
Cancer Mar 27, 2013 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0
Scientists at The University of Nottingham have discovered a molecular mechanism which could bring about the development of new treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) -- a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous ...
Medical research Jun 21, 2011 | 4 / 5 (1) | 1 |
A team of researchers led by a Boston University Biomedical Engineer has developed a new joint lubricant that could bring longer lasting relief to millions of osteoarthritis sufferers. The new synthetic polymer supplements ...
Arthritis & Rheumatism May 02, 2013 | 4 / 5 (1) | 0 | <urn:uuid:50233440-aeca-4027-bcd5-b93e830117fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/tags/synthetic+chemicals/sort/popular/all/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921069 | 417 | 2.25 | 2 |
When I said this post would be “the last post” on the matter, I meant posts written by myself. Alexander Mercouris’ was too good to pass up, so it is reprinted here:
Any discussion of Chavez must explain why he was (to his detractors) such a terrible man. He was a terrible man because he did a terrible thing. This terrible thing was to distribute Venezuela’s oil wealth to the majority of its people by funding ambitious health, education and social security programmes.
To understand why doing this was so terrible one must understand something about the historic situation not just in Venezuela but throughout Latin America (Costa Rica being the exception). Briefly, political and social power in Latin America since before independence from Spain has been concentrated in a small group of wealthy families who conduct bitter and even violent political feuds with each other using labels such as “Liberal” and “Conservative” but who unite when faced by a challenge to their power. This oligarchy sustains itself through the support of a middle class that sees its social and economic interests as bound up with those of the oligarchy. Concepts of a wider social contract underpinned by shared patriotism and by a sense of social responsibility do not exist. The mass of the population are excluded and typecast as lazy, shiftless, dishonest and violent. This justifies denying them a share in the country’s economic profits, which supposedly neither belong to them or are deserved by them, and which makes any attempt to share these economic profits with them a theft from those to whom these profits supposedly actually belong. All this is underpinned by an ugly strain of racism with the middle class and the oligarchy priding themselves on their whiteness whilst often concealing their mixed origin whilst emphasising or exaggerating the colour of the poor.
The result is that governments in Latin America have historically failed to provide even the most basic services at even a remotely satisfactory level. The only institutions in Latin American that have historically been reasonably funded have been the very highest echelons of the state bureaucracy and the judiciary (which is usually recruited directly from the oligarchy) and the army and police whose main function is not to defend the nation from foreign aggression to keep the poor in order.
In such a system requiring the oligarchy and the middle class to pay taxes to fund say a good system of universal secondary education from which the poor might benefit is an idea so outrageous that it is guaranteed to provoke passionate and often violent anger and resistance. Americans, Europeans, East Asians and indeed Russians find all this very difficult to understand. As a Greek I am better able to understand it not only because it resembles the historic situation in my own society but because a section of my family emigrated to Argentina where they are today members of what was once the country’s oligarchy.
Not surprisingly in a Continent where basic education and health care for the bulk of the population was scarcely provided (though the means to do so was always there) economic development has been disappointing to say the least. However since this is a system that is deeply embedded and which is sustained by often extreme violence all previous attempts to change it have been largely unsuccessful with reformers likely to end up either in exile or dead. I am not going to discuss the role of the US in sustaining this system since it is so well known. I would say that I do think people who blame the US for Latin America’s problems overlook the many internal reasons why Latin American societies have historically been as dysfunctional as they are. | <urn:uuid:d8c61282-567b-4f5d-847f-caa3361478c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://akarlin.com/category/coffeehouse/politics/democracy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977779 | 718 | 1.859375 | 2 |
The PBS series AMERICAN EXPERIENCE presents Freedom Riders, premiering May 16
From award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Wounded Knee, Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple, The Murder of Emmett Till) comes Freedom Riders, the powerful, harrowing and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South.
Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders' belief in non-violent activism was sorely tested as mob violence and bitter racism greeted them along the way. Freedom Riders features testimony from a fascinating cast of central characters: the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who witnessed the rides firsthand. Produced, written and directed by Nelson, Freedom Riders premieres on the PBS series American Experience on Monday, May 16, 2011 at 9:00 PM ET (check local listings).
"I got up one morning in May and I said to my folks at home, 'I won't be back today because I'm a Freedom Rider.'
It was like a wave or a wind that you didn't know where it was coming from or where it was going, but you knew you were supposed to be there." – Pauline Knight-Ofoso, Freedom Rider
Despite two earlier Supreme Court decisions that mandated the desegregation of interstate travel facilities, black Americans in 1961 continued to endure hostility and racism while traveling through the South. The newly inaugurated Kennedy administration, embroiled in the Cold War and worried about the nuclear threat, did little to address domestic civil rights.
"It became clear that the civil rights leaders had to do something desperate, something dramatic to get Kennedy's attention. That was the idea behind the Freedom Rides—to dare the federal government to do what it was supposed to do, and see if their constitutional rights would be protected by the Kennedy administration," explains Raymond Arsenault, author of Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice, on which the film is partially based.
The self-proclaimed "Freedom Riders" came from all strata of American society—black and white, young and old, male and female, northern and southern. They embarked on the rides knowing the danger but firmly committed to the ideals of non-violent protest, aware that their actions could provoke a savage response but willing to put their lives on the line for the cause of justice.
Each time the Freedom Riders met violence and the campaign seemed doomed, new ways were found to sustain and even expand the movement. After Klansmen in Alabama set fire to an original Freedom Ride bus, student activists from Nashville organized a ride of their own. "We were past fear. If we were going to die, we were gonna die, but we can't stop," recalls Rider Joan Trumpauer-Mulholland. "If one person falls, others take their place."
Later, Mississippi officials locked up more than 300 Riders in the notorious Parchman State Penitentiary. Rather than weaken the Riders' resolve, the move only strengthened their determination. None of the obstacles placed in their path would weaken their commitment.
The Riders' journey was front-page news and the world was watching. After nearly five months of fighting, the federal government capitulated. On September 22, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued its order to end the segregation in bus and rail stations that had been in place for generations. "This was the first unambiguous victory in the long history of the civil rights movement. It finally said, 'We can do this.' And it raised expectations across the board for greater victories in the future," says Arsenault.
"The people that took a seat on these buses, that went to jail in Jackson, that went to Parchman, they were never the same. We had moments there to learn, to teach each other the way of nonviolence, the way of love, the way of peace. The Freedom Ride created an unbelievable sense: Yes, we will make it. Yes, we will survive. And that nothing, but nothing, was going to stop this movement," recalls Congressman John Lewis, one of the original Riders.
Says director Stanley Nelson, "The lesson of the Freedom Rides is that great change can come from a few small steps taken by courageous people. And that sometimes to do any great thing, it's important that we step out alone."
"Freedom Riders tells the story of an overlooked piece of not only civil rights history but American history," says Mark Samels, executive producer of American Experience. "It's a story that we knew had to be told. The film touches and inspires everyone who sees it and it's an honor to be presenting it."
In addition to the broadcast, American Experience is hosting the 2011 Student Freedom Ride, which will retrace the historic civil rights bus rides that changed America. Accompanied by original Freedom Riders, 40 college students have been chosen to participate in the ride which will take place from May 6-16, 2011 in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the original rides. Additional outreach activities include screenings and forums, a 20-city traveling exhibit, full curriculum materials, and a comprehensive website. For complete information, visit www.pbs.org/freedomriders. | <urn:uuid:5eaf3e21-07a8-4276-b4d7-24b23dcce08e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.philasun.com/news/1717/43/The-PBS-series-AMERICAN-EXPERIENCE-presents-Freedom-Riders-premiering-May-16.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971373 | 1,106 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Reply to "delle"
"delle" Don't worry about the flexibility or physical strength, it comes with the time if practiced regularly.
Capoeira is also a very healthy sport and very effective, especially "Capoeira Angola" It's also good for cardio.
When I see people running in the morning, I think it's better to do capoeira and not damage the knees or back, and it also activates the whole body.
I began learning Capoeira at the age of 12 but mostly "cordao de ouro" It's another type of Capoeira, with faster movements and also with acrobatics but because of that it's a bit more dangerous, from experience
But I also learned "Angola" and "makulele" (It Capoeira with more rhythm and with sticks, and I think originally it was with type of machetes).
Now I also do other things and not just Capoeira. | <urn:uuid:71bb5e29-5b08-44c7-8e3e-1af754b519c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eplaya.burningman.com/viewtopic.php?p=723422 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975683 | 202 | 1.515625 | 2 |
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Eye of the great storm
Don’t worry,” BBC weatherman Michael Fish told the nation 25 years ago. “Apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. There isn’t ...”
It was scant comfort that technically he was right. It wasn’t a hurricane that hit Britain on the night of October 16, 1987, but a storm, with 120mph gusts of wind and accompanying whirlwinds tearing through South East England, the worst to hit the mainland and its islands in living memory.
The South of England took the brunt of the storm and was unprepared for the disaster, as the eye of the storm had been predicted to rage over the Channel and avoid the south coast. But the experts were wrong and Sussex, Kent and Essex were the three worst hit counties.
When Britain woke up the following morning in a collective state of shock, up to 23 lives had been lost, hundreds had been injured, hundreds of thousands left without power. Around 15 million trees had been felled, including, famously, six of the seven oak trees at Sevenoaks in Kent.
Hundreds of roads and railways lines were blocked, homes shattered, boats battered and the century-old Shanklin Pier on the Isle of Wight reduced to driftwood.
Famous landmarks were not spared.
At the Royal Pavilion in Brighton the top of a minaret plunged through the ceiling of the Music Room, newly restored after it had been gutted in a fire in 1975.
The two-ton globe crashed on to a new £86,000 carpet and it took 15 men to lift the globe and pull it out of the room with a crane. Outside, trees had come crashing down in the grounds, with two old-fashioned red telephone boxes taking the weight of fallen trees and saving the Pavilion from further damage.
The famous ring of trees planted in the 1760s by Charles Goring to mark the site of an Iron Age hill fort high on Chanctonbury Hill was an open target for the ferocious winds. The thickly wooded ring of 40ft beech trees on the South Downs was decimated by two-thirds.
“It’s tragic,” said Charles Goring’s great great grandson Harry as he surveyed the site in the immediate aftermath. “No amount of money will make the ring the same again.”
Many of the trees were subsequently replaced and now, 25 years later, they are tall enough to begin to resemble their fallen predecessors.
The scene at Wakehurst Place, the country estate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was even more devastating. More than 25,000 trees lay uprooted, many historic and many huge.
“I managed to sleep through the hurricane,” recalls gardens manager Chris Clennett, who was living at Wakehurst at the time.
“But when I looked out in the morning, it looked like the whole place had been flattened. When I was walking around the gardens with colleagues the next day, we got lost because all our bearings and landmarks were gone.”
David Marchant, the estate’s logistics manager, said “Never in our lifetime did we expect to deal with anything like that.
"There was glass flying around from the greenhouses, trees coming down and we lost power and water. People were dumbstruck when it got light and we could see the extent of the damage.”
But amidst the chaos there was hope. A 600-year-old yew tree survived and staff immediately began to cut holes in the debris of the fallen trees to make planting spaces.
“The impact of the storm was devastating,” says Andrew Jackson, the Head of Wakehurst Place. “But the ability of nature to restore and recover has been amazing.”
Replacement trees on the estate near Ardingly are now standing 50ft tall, including eucalyptus trees planted in Coates’ Wood. New features have been developed in the devastated areas, including the Asian Heath Garden and the Iris Dell, and this year alone around 200 new trees have been planted.
Wakehurst Place was not the only great garden of Sussex to suffer. At Nymans, near Handcross, 486 mature trees were lost, including a giant monkey puzzle. Only two giant redwoods survived from its pinetum.
The restoration work still continues today, 25 years later.
A centuries-old landscape at Sheffield Park Gardens near Haywards Heath was razed to the ground in a matter of hours. More than 2,000 trees and shrubs were destroyed, the damage centring on the lakeside plantations.
“Chainsaws hummed for weeks running into months,” its head gardener Andy Jesson later remarked. However, important mature trees did survive, including ancient chestnuts and oaks, already fully grown in the 17th century, and 19th century conifers planted by the 3rd Lord Sheffield.
At Bignor Park, felled cedar trees were used to build a new summer house, some of the oldest trees at Buxted Park, near Uckfield, were lost, and many others came down at High Beeches Garden at Handcross, which has the National Collection of Stewartia trees.
Woodland laid out in the 18th century by Capability Brown at the Petworth estate was flattened, the great plates of their upended roots as tall as houses.
From the air, the damage to the countryside was shocking for Alan Betts, of the Forestry Commission.
“I remember being fascinated by the extent to which some areas were devastated, then alongside them there were wooded areas that had escaped unscathed,” he later recalled.
“The most memorable sight was seeing all the white chalk brought to the surface over the Downs, as great roots had pulled up mountains of fresh soil.”
Over the past 25 years, studies have shown that woodland naturally regenerates itself and that the huge amount of deadwood that was left where it fell has had “a dramatic effect on the flora and fauna of local forests”.
The Forestry Commission has observed increases in insects that thrive on deadwood, such as the jewel beetle, the bark beetle and the stag beetle, as well as woodlice that live on it. In turn, these insects have fed birds and bats, such as the tree creeper, the redstart and the noctule bat, while the light and space created by removed trees has allowed woodland ground flora to flourish.
In Sussex, increased numbers of breeding birds such as warblers and wrens have been attracted to the new food sources and nesting sites of the open spaces.
Mr Betts, now the Forestry Commission’s regional director for South East of England, says, “To see trunks lying there, with the branches all heading skywards to become their own trees, symbolises how resilient our trees and woodlands are, and how the devastation of the losses felt by the storm have left a unique ecological legacy for possibly hundreds of years to come.”
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Great Storm of 1987, Andy Jackson, Head of Wakehurst Place, will hold a tree-planting ceremony and deliver a public lecture entitled Phoenix From The Ashes, at 2pm on Tuesday, October 16 at Wakehurst Place, near Ardingly.
Admission is free to garden visitors. For more details, call 01444 894067 or visit www.kew.org.
Don't miss The Argus's eight-page Great Storm 25th anniversary souvenir in the Tuesday, October 16 edition of The Argus. | <urn:uuid:ee2ff1ac-ce60-4882-b681-68cb5dd414ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theargus.co.uk/yourargus/society_magazine/features/9983245.Eye_of_the_great_storm/?ref=mmnpg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97483 | 1,621 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Regarding the loads of U.S. dollars going towards AIDS funding on the international aid scheme:
interventions like these (prevention measures) to range from five to forty dollars, compared with the fifteen-hundred-dollar cost of prolonging the life of an AIDS patient by a year with antiretroviral treatment.
The $4.5 billion the WHO plans to spend on antiretroviral treatment for one more year of life for three million could grant between seven and sixty years of additional life for five times that many people—fifteen million.
$4.5 billion dollars for treatments that...
The average length of effectiveness of the first-line treatment in Brazil, which has a large-scale treatment program, has been only fourteen months.
For people who were going to die of AIDS anyway? Freaking insane
The big question is whether poor Africans themselves would have chosen to spend scarce funds on prolonging some lives with AIDS treatment, as opposed to saving many lives with other health interventions.
Easterly did this alot. He always brought it back to feedback from recipients as one of the few valid measures of the success or failure of any program.
Finally, there remains the risk that treatment with imperfect adherence will result in emergence of resistant strains of HIV, so that treatment itself will sow the seeds of its own downfall... Europe and North America, 20 to 40 percent of AIDS patients do not take their drugs as prescribed. Resistance will emerge if there are lapses from the correct regimen...
To scale up antiretroviral therapy for HIV without ensuring infrastructure, including trained practitioners, a safe and reliable drug delivery system, and simple but effective models for continuity of care, would be a disaster, leading to ineffective treatment and rapid development of resistance...
By now I've got this big warm and fuzzy going on over these well-meaning, head-in-the-clouds 'helpful' people that push these things. But that warm and fuzzy feeling couldn't take that last run-on sentence.
Spending money on a mostly futile attempt to save all the lives of this generation of AIDS victims will take money away from saving the lives of the next generation, perpetuating the tragedy.
Meanwhile, it's not all doom and gloom. Some foreign aid money actually does some good (again, as Ian mentioned above, with small, focused interventions, foreign aid works):
HIVSA does the little things that make a difference. It provides the drug nevirapine to block transmission of the HIV virus from mothers to newborns... To follow up, HIVSA provides infant formula to HIV-positive new mothers, since breast-feeding can also transmit the HIV virus to newborns... HIVSA provides support groups meeting in health clinics throughout Soweto to help HIV-positive mothers confront the stigma of HIV and their many other problems.
Every once in a while, like between castigating the Reagan administration for fouling up developing countries during the Cold War, Easterly throws out some observations that might tweak a few noses:
There was plenty of despotism and vicious politics before the West ever showed up. Nor is the West the only source of imperial conquest—remember, say, the Aztecs, the Muslims, and the Mongols?
Some of it deals with more modern interventions, and tries to get to the meat of how the best intentions can still lead straight to hell.
Strategic interests also dictated that international peacekeepers avoid casualties to their own forces even if this effort magnified many times the local loss of life, a situation that writer Alex de Waal labels “humanitarian impunity... The widespread Somalian rage at UN/U.S. forces in 1993, shown in the book and the movie Black Hawk Down, had a lot to do with the humanitarian impunity that had killed many civilians. | <urn:uuid:b323ba0b-7526-434b-93c2-16ce774ff462> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uechi-ryu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=21374&p=203717 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956626 | 784 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Is piano a traditional string instrument?
You winkie smiley acknowledged and my usual gut reaction to piano aside (which is especially why I find the backup so darned delightful in the link I provided above), I wrestled with this but only a bit, remembering that we have the likes of McKenna and Coleman, and a whole piano-fueled subset of accompaniment in the Tradition, to lend weight to the supporting vote. Perhaps the question really belongs in the ITM Forum since, as I see it, it's not about the instrument per se
, but about the bigger question: How does one accompany airs?
Now, I could be wrong about that, and cunparis might be actually asking strictly about the physical, technical aspects of backing airs on piano, in which case I have nothing to offer.
I'm not convinced that trad backup can be taught, [but rather, that it can be] only learned.
Brackets mine, for clarity. Don't mind me.
I tend to agree with this. I mentioned earlier that aptitude comes into it, and I think that you have to have a native ear for accompaniment ahead of time, or it's likely to be an exercise in trying to get a fish to learn to ride a bicycle. Sorry, folks - I don't want to come across as being elitist and exclusionary, but this is just a simple observation based on what I've seen time and again. OTOH, one must try if one is to find out, no? The thing is, if you already have an aptitude, you probably already know it in your gut. It's not even a question; all that remains is whatever additional guidance you may need, and how far you can go with it.
Despite the fact that I'm about to start teaching Irish backup.
I would say that if you have a student with prior aptitude you're probably not so much teaching, as you would be guiding
. Who was it who said that you can't be taught what you don't already know?
I can't break things down into their components with the laser precision that you can, MTGuru, but in a more general sense I would certainly maintain the value - necessity, even - of finding recorded examples of a style one wants to emulate, and actively, absorptively
, listen, listen, listen
Many if not most of the Irish "airs" tend to be performed without accompaniment. You should be aware of that and sensitive to it.
Absolutely right. This is the root of the performance tradition of Irish airs, and that counts. Yes, sir. | <urn:uuid:66e88407-82b9-4792-9478-632fd86c3b8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?p=1072269 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978132 | 540 | 1.851563 | 2 |
The Revolutionary War Series
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Volume 7 of the Revolutionary War Series documents the dramatic events of the final phase of the New York campaign and the ensuing New Jersey campaign, a seemingly endless string of American reverses and retreats terminated by surprising victories at Trenton and Princeton. The volume opens with Washington's withdrawal of most of his army from Manhattan Island north to White Plains, where on 28 October British and Hessian troops routed the American right wing on Chatterton Hill.
Although Washington subsequently succeeded in blocking any further British advance to the north, his indecisiveness about ordering the evacuation of Fort Washington, the sole remaining American post on Manhattan Island, led to the disastrous loss of the fort's large garrison and many valuable stores when General Howe's forces overran it on 16 November.
After the fall of Fort Lee on the west bank of the Hudson River four days later, Washington began retreating across New Jersey with his rapidly dwindling army. His repeated appeals for reinforcement by local militia and Continental troops remaining in New York fell largely on dead ears, and in early December Washington was obliged to cross the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, leaving New Jersey in enemy hands. From his Bucks County headquarters Washington wrote his brother Samuel on 18 December: "If every nerve is not strained to recruit the New Army with all possible Expedition I think the game is pretty near up....No Man I believe ever had a greater choice of difficulties & less the means of extricating himself than I have-However under a full perswation of the justice of our Cause I cannot but think the prospect will brighten."
Washington's optimism was justified by his subsequent actions. His daring counterstrokes against a Hessian brigade at Trenton on 27 December and a British detachment at Princeton on 3 January not only reversed the strategic situation but also turned the tide of political defection that had threatened to engulf the middle states.
Philander D. Chase, ed., The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series volume 7, October 1776 – January 1777. Charlottesville and London: University Press of Virginia, 1997. | <urn:uuid:5878cb7d-3f10-449a-950e-982398d32b73> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/project/volumes/revwar/revwar7.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965286 | 421 | 2.5 | 2 |
Memorial Charles De Gaulle, France
In October 2008 a memorial about the politician, the general, the president and the man Charles de Gaulle opened its doors. Swegon delivered low velocity air diffusers to this extraordinary building.
The museum, located in the village and de Gaulle’s place of residence Colombey-les-Deux-Églises in the north-east corner of France, was designed by the architects Alain Moatti and Henri Rivière. The museum wanted a climate system that blended in with the interior as discreetly as possible. Our low velocity air diffusers are so quiet and draught-free, you can barely see, hear or feel their presence – exactly the way good air conditioning should be. On 4000 sqm the Memorial with its modern architecture, looking out over the countryside of Haute-Marne, displays more than 1000 photographs, fifty audio-visual installations, multimedia and interactive terminals. | <urn:uuid:79ed2ebb-80f2-45aa-bd20-5019af1bc6a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.swegon.com/fi/Ilmainnovaatioita/Case-studies/Memorial-Charles-De-Gaulle-France/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929139 | 194 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Photo by Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images.
The new year dawned in Japan with another earthquake.
A 6.8 earthquake rattled Tokyo and other cities on Sunday, but not enough to cause major damage.
The quake’s epicenter was some 200 miles under the sea, near an island about 300 miles southwest of Tokyo, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. It hit at around 2:30 p.m. local time, or just after midnight Eastern time.
There was no tsunami alert this time, good news for a country still recovering from a 9.0 quake last spring that killed over 20,000 and damaged the country’s nuclear power facilities. A recent study estimated the cleanup of the Fukushima plant could take up to 40 years, the Associated Press reported.
ITN News has some shaky footage of Sunday’s quake, embedded below. | <urn:uuid:48a47c36-8d12-4c79-a030-46746f1d7f06> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/01/01/japan_earthquake_6_8_quake_rattles_tokyo_but_no_damage.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944242 | 182 | 2.125 | 2 |
Cunningham made a difference in all of our lives. She was a woman of
with strongly-held convictions and a highly principled commitment
Dr. Sue Follon,
Cunningham, an outstanding achiever in the military and a leader
in the Women's movement, served almost nine years as an enlisted
woman and officer in the Women's Army Corps during World War
II and remains active in several veterans organizations.
Cunningham has been a leading spokeswoman for women since her
involvement during the 1930s in the fight against so-called protective
labor legislation for female workers that outlawed night work
and placed Mother restrictions on Women's employment.
Also in the 1930s, she swayed the National Federation of Business
and Professional Women to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment,
making it the first large, national group to do so. Cunningham
was appointed to the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women in
1978. She lives in Des Moines. Cunningham was inducted into
the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1980. | <urn:uuid:be01cb60-d8a3-4fe5-be1e-58b19c605ec2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.humanrights.iowa.gov/sw/about_women/HOF/iafame-cunningham.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952247 | 215 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Up until now, this series focused on rather well-known terms, but today, we will be taking on a term that many of you will not have heard of (in the context of user interface design, in any case): modes. I will start off by explaining what is meant by modes, I will give some examples, after which I will explain why some believe they are inherently evil (cue "mode errors"). I will end by explaining what can be done about solving the problems caused by modality in graphical user interfaces.
The definition of the word "mode" in a regular dictionary reveals little about its relation to graphical user interfaces. In order to get a better definition, we need to go to the man who spearheaded the campaign against the modal interface: Jef Raskin, co-creator of the Macintosh. In his well-known book, "The Humane Interface", he defines the modal interface in the following way: "A human-machine interface is modal with respect to a given gesture when (1) the current state of the interface is not the user's locus of attention and (2) the interface will execute one among several different responses to the gesture, depending on the system's current state." In other words, the same user input can produce different types of output, depending on the state ("mode") the computer is in.
There are a lot of examples of this behaviour in today's user interfaces, the most prominent of that being the infamous
caps. lock key. When the
caps. lock key is active, any text that gets put into the computer will be displayed with capital letters; when the key is deactivated, the computer displays the text as lower case letters - two different "modes" or "states" that the computer can be in. Another example is, as weird as it may seem, the on/off switch on that same computer: it allows you to switch between two modes: on, and (surprise) off (you did not see that one coming, did you).
However, modality is much deeper entrenched in the world of computers than these fairly tactile examples seem to illustrate: consider a drawing or photo editing program. If you want to see one type of application that is filled with countless modes, load up your favourite image editor, and click on the various options in the tool window. When you have the paintbrush tool activated, you are in a different mode than when you have the pencil tool activated. Good luck counting all the different modes in your drawing application.
Another particularly cruel and inherently evil (I got a little opinionated there, did you see?) modal element on a computer is the modal dialog. The modal dialog is a dialog (or window) that blocks all access to its parent application until the dialog itself has been dealt with. My most infuriating example of a modal dialog is Firefox' settings window. When you open the settings panel in Firefox, and you have just one window open, all access to that window is blocked, meaning you are forced to deal with the settings panel before you can continue browsing. This gets particularly aggravating the moment you want to copy/paste something from that particular browsing window into the settings panel (like a link or a proxy .pac script URL); you must close all the settings panels, copy the URL and reopen the settings panel.
It can get even more cruel than that: modal dialogs that steal focus without the user's consent. I am not even going to explain the horror. Use your imagination.
Apple's Human Interface Guidelines also have some things to say on modes. "As much as possible, allow users to do whatever they want at all times. Avoid using modes that lock them into one operation and prevent them from working on anything else until that operation is completed. Mac OS X supports enhanced modelessness with drawers and sheets. Drawers provide additional functionality while allowing continued access to the parent window. Sheets are modal dialogs attached to a parent window, replacing the use of application-modal dialogs." The sheets part is a bit misleading, as those sheets are still very much modal in that they block all access to their parent windows.
Even though Apple advises against using modes, one of their most defining user interface elements is the poster child for modal behaviour: the global menubar atop the screen. If there is one prime example of a completely and utterly modal interface element, with basically an unlimited amount of modes (all depending on the amount of applications there are for OS X) it is OS X' global menubar. This is particularly interesting seeing Jef Raskin is the person who actually started the Macintosh project in the first place. | <urn:uuid:9c4ef176-b6e2-46b0-b060-14021255a7c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.osnews.com/story/18904/pt_V_Modes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948118 | 963 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Thorny business problems: The top 10
Frustration! It may be a cash-flow problem, a disorganized filing system or a problem with personnel management. Whatever it is, you might be encountering one of the top 10 thorny business problems of the 1980s and 1990s. You're not alone. Every manager is susceptible to these ornery problems. But with careful thought and study, almost any manager can meet "The Top 10" head-on.
Lack of cash Cash-flow problems may well be today's most common small- and mid-sized-business problem, particularly during company growth spurts. If you find your sales--and your receivables--rising fast, brace yourself for a cash crunch. Couple soaring receivables with heavy loans and upcoming credit obligations and you could be in trouble.
To combat cash-flow problems, arrange a long-term line of credit with your banker or consider increasing outside equity in your business once you reach a certain level of growth. Another option is to aim for controlled growth: attempt to match increased sales with your ability to finance those sales out of current revenue. Finally, plot a month-by-month cash-flow budget to aid you in year-round cash planning.
Lack of information One-person business operations rarely have information problems. But take on another person or two and suddenly you must monitor what is going on in every facet of your business. Things such as inventory level, end-of-month profit-and-loss figures, sales statistics and new orders can easily escape your attention when you allow other people to manage for you.
To eliminate your information problems, require monthly reports from key employees and be specific about the kind of statistics you need. Bring in a computer programmer or a systems analyst to evaluate the data you get from your information systems. Don't hesitate to set up new record-keeping systems to monitor key business activity, even if these systems consume valuable staff time. If the information is important, you can justify the expenditure in the long run.
No variable budget Most firms have a "fixed" budget to cover overhead and an allowance for production costs. As production falls or rises, however, so should the production budget covering variable costs. Failure to separate the relatively stable overhead budget from the variable budget can lead to unplanned expenditures, waste and inefficient production planning.
A relatively simple solution is to develop a fixed budget for overhead and a variable budget for production well before the start of each fiscal year. Set up a monitoring system to review production figures each month and make adjustments in your variable spending accordingly. If you've never developed a variable budget, ask your accountant for help. It's simpler than you might think.
People Employees and contractors may keep your books, service your accounts and handle just about every business chore you can imagine. They'll provide the impetus for business growth. But if you do not manage them well, other people will plague you with problems ranging from excessive absenteeism to poor service. Poor employee-selection procedures and inadequate training and supervision will, most assuredly, create morale problems, inefficiency and waste every step of the way.
Look for employees who can complement your own skills and strengths. Interview carefully and be sure you check references on every prospective employee. Train your people well and provide opportunities for job growth. Be fair but firm, and hold your people accountable for specific, measurable on-the-job performance. If you must take disciplinary action against an employee or terminate an employee, be sure you document the reasons for doing so in advance. (See "Avoid legal grief when firing employees," page 18.). This simple practice can save you legal and arbitration costs later on.
Lack of strategic marketing Most small-business founders supply a service they believe will entice buyers on its strengths alone. These enthusiastic founders, however, sometimes fail to study the harsh realities of the marketplace--and don't know how to position their company before the buying public or the trade. Lack of marketing savvy in positioning can result in lower-than-anticipated growth or even potential failure.
Bring in a marketing or promotional consultant before you launch a new service or expand into new territory. Develop a complete marketing plan before you begin to promote your firm and follow it step by step. Write promotional materials, and be ready to place ads before you are ready to begin offering the new services. Finally, focus on those segments of the market most likely to buy your product. You will likely get more bang from your marketing dollars this way, and success withthis lower-risk market segment may give you the track record you need for expansion.
Poor policies and procedures "Policies" are the general rules and conditions under which your business operates. Conversely, "procedures" prescribe the way things are done each day. Policies and procedures dictate the volume discounts you give on sales, the number of vacation days to which your employees are entitled, even the appearance of your memoranda and business forms. If you fail to standardize routine business practices, you'll end up reinventing the wheel every time you encounter a routine problem or the need for a decision.
To meet this potential problem, systematically develop a policy and procedure manual, if you don't already have one. Every time you encounter a simple problem or must make a routine decision, write a simple and concise policy or procedure dealing with the issue at hand and file it in your manual. This is a minor investment in time, but it will save you and your employees many hours of aggravation later on.
Regulations Whether you like it or not, you must deal with the IRS, the county clerk and various licensing bodies. You must conform to environmental regulations, truth-in-advertising laws, fair-employment guidelines and more. If you're not familiar with the laws and regulations that affect your firm, you could find yourself in unexpected trouble some day and be forced to pay heavy fines or penalties for unintentional non-compliance.
See if your county or state government has a one-stop "shopping center" for business owners and entrepreneurs. This one-stop center will provide you with all the rules, regulations and laws that might affect you and, perhaps, even help you file the appropriate forms. Alternatively, sit down with your attorney every year or two for a legal audit. The knowledge you gain will give you peace of mind.
Poor time management The term "time management" is really a misnomer. "Managing time" means "managing yourself." If you go through a typical day and never have time left over--or if you constantly find yourself putting out brush fires--you may well have a time-management problem.
Take a course in time management or personal organization, or just spend a few hours immersed in a time-management book. More simply, however, identify the tasks and issues you face each day in priority order. Tackle the most important items first. Delegate the less important items, and give yourself "quiet time" to work on important projects. The payoff in personal productivity is usually great.
Lack of long-range planning Do you know where your business firm is going in the years ahead? Can you detail, in step-by-step fashion, expected growth in your sales, profits and customer base for each of the next 5 years? Can you describe the strategy you believe will make your growth possible? If you can't, you may be like the harried, proverbial traveler who doesn't know how to reach his destination because he doesn't know where he wants to go.
Chart your aspirations out year by year for the next 5 years. Be as specific as possible about your goals. Then ask yourself what you must do to reach them. If you feel uncomfortable about long-range planning, or you're not sure where to begin, ask a small-business consultant or your accountant to assist you in getting started.
You Few owners or managers are so versatile and knowledgeable that they know everything there is to know about running a business. Face it, business is becoming much more complex with each passing year. If you try to base important decisions strictly on your own hunches or even your own knowledge, you may be heading for trouble.
Bring in a partner, an employee, a consultant or even a wise friend to balance out your weaknesses, aptitudes and experience. If you're strong on finance, for instance, make sure you get sufficient technical advice. If you're not a people person, find someone who can help you with workforce issues. If you really enjoy putting your service program together but hate to sell, find someone who can help you with marketing. Recognize both your strengths and your weaknesses, find ways to balance them, and your business should begin to grow.
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© 2013 Penton Media Inc. | <urn:uuid:c24cb37f-5ccf-4a66-be17-398e49e06bde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grounds-mag.com/mag/grounds_maintenance_thorny_business_problems/ | 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 | 0.940392 | 1,797 | 1.515625 | 2 |
This past 22-23 November marked the launch and celebratory conference of the latest database resource for scholars and book collectors of the 15th-16th century: The USTC, or Universal Short Title Catalogue. The ‘universal’ appeal we’re talking here is very Western: “all books published in Europe between the invention of printing and the end of the sixteenth century” as they put it on their website.
But the ‘universal’ also means access in a truer sense of the word. It is a worry that the preservation of cultural heritage is a little too confined within institutions of higher education, but this database is free and open to the public, has done well to link with digital copies of texts where possible, which really gives face to a name in a way that would appeal to anyone (an area that will only expand), and in the meantime, the opening party was widely attended: Italian, French, and German consulates were all there and yes, even the Edinburgh Renaissance Band provided the music and did it in period costume. To add to the excitement, the launch dovetails with news that the project, based at St. Andrews, has received funding to expand into the 17th century.
For anyone that couldn’t attend, but would have liked to, I’ve tried to make sense of my notes here: | <urn:uuid:369c1cb4-23c6-4ab7-97bc-970201847e31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eightvo.wordpress.com/tag/bibliotheca-universalis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971751 | 282 | 1.945313 | 2 |
1. Citrus fruit
Citrus fruits contain fat-burning compounds called flavonoids. Research in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that women who ate the most fruits contain flavonoids, the increase in body fat was significantly lower for 14 years.
2. Almond Nuts
Research in the “International Journal of Obesity” found that people who ate three ounces of nuts every day to lose weight and body mass index (body mass index / BMI) of 18 percent compared with a decrease in the nuts was not caused as much as 11 percent. Almonds are rich in alpha-linilenic acid (omega-3 fatty acids found in plants), which can launch the metabolism of Read More » | <urn:uuid:ac734361-43c6-40ed-bd50-9f95f3317829> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tekabe.info/tag/mustard | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945748 | 150 | 2.953125 | 3 |
HP ponders Android netbooks
Smartnetphonebook only a matter of time
Hewlett-Packard is pondering using Google's Android mobile OS for its small, cheap computers.
HP is testing the Linux-based OS on future lines of netbooks,although the company hasn't yet decided if such devices will see the light of day, HP's PC division veep Satjiv Chachil The Wall Street Journal.
"We want to assess the capability Android may have for the computer and communications industries, so we are studying it," he said.
PC vendors like Asustek are also reportedly considering Android for netbooks and their low-cost ilk. (Rumor is that Asus is working on an Android netbook for release at the end of this year or early 2010). Dell has confirmed it's fiddling with Android for "smaller-screen devices" — likely a smartphone.
The mobile OS is presently only available on T-Mobile's G1 phone, although more Android-based handsets from a variety of manufacturers are forthcoming.
Developers have often said that Android works just as well with low-cost PCs as it does for mobile devices. And just last week, market watcher Ovum predicted Android-powered netbooks will begin appearing later this year.
Ovum argues that netbook buyers would rather pony-up the extra cash for a Windows license now rather than risk an unfamiliar OS using a relatively unknown distro of Linux. Android will change that by offering a more tightly controlled user environment along with the brand-name comfort only a technology mega-conglom can provide.
With world+dog rumbling for an Android netbook, clearly it's only a matter of time before someone out there puts one on the market. ® | <urn:uuid:85e47b6a-daf9-4344-8e21-797803f92c2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/01/hp_testing_android_on_netbooks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942344 | 364 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Nocturnal Desert Animals
2R have been learning all about nocturnal desert animals as part of their literacy unit on non-chronological reports. They have enjoyed finding out about all sorts of strange animals and used inquiry skills to make mind maps of information. Did you know Geckos use their tongues to clean their eyes?
The children also enjoyed creating collage pictures of desert scenes in the daytime. They used pop-ups and flaps to hide the sleeping nocturnal animals under bushes, rocks and in burrows. Can you guess which night-time animals might be hiding in them?
Do you know any fascinating facts about Scorpians, Fennec Foxes, Jerboas, Gerbils or Golden Moles? If so share them in the comments box below.
Visit the Kids National Geographic website on the links to find out more! | <urn:uuid:5a2ed235-6cf2-42f7-aefe-fcf4ba7e5c3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.patana.ac.th/BPSnet/blog/Index.asp?ID=359&TopicID=6910 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934563 | 175 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Sarah Abdurrahman is a producer for On the Media
Go FOIA Yourself!
Friday, March 02, 2012 - 01:22 PM
On this week’s show, we have a few stories exploring the subject of transparency. Inspired by the story of a woman who discovered the FBI had a 436-page report on her after sending in a bunch of personal FOIA requests, I decided to make the government get transparent with me as well.
We talk a great deal about FOIA—the Freedom of Information Act—on our program, but until this week, I had never considered doing a FOIA request on myself. In hindsight, it seems so obvious! It’s like sending out your DNA to learn about your genealogy—except instead of finding out your family origins, you get to learn what information the government is collecting about you. Sounds fun, right?
Fun, and surprisingly easy. To submit FOIA requests about yourself, all you have to do is write a letter to the specific agency whose files you want. You don’t even have to get it notarized, as long as you declare “under penalty of perjury” that you are who you say are. To create my letters, I used the website getmyfbifile.com, which allows you to input your information and select which agencies to generate letters for. If you aren’t comfortable putting in your personal information, you can also just print the letters with blank spaces for you to write in the details. And if you don’t want to do that, you can go to the different government agency websites and find detailed instructions on how to submit a FOIA request.
On the program this week, I explain to Bob why I think it is likely that the government has a file on me. You can listen to that segment here.
I printed out nearly a dozen letters, to local FBI offices, FBI headquarters, the CIA, Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security. Bob compared it to sending out cereal box labels for a toy. I'm pretty excited to find out what my mystery prize is.
It could take months before I get any responses to my letters, but we will keep you updated when I do. In the meantime, why don't you go FOIA yourself too? And let us know about it if you do!
And on the theme of transparency…here at OTM we are going to be more transparent with all of you by posting short videos of what goes on behind the scenes (behind the microphone?) at our show. To start it off, here I am talking to fellow producer Alex Goldman about my FOIAs: | <urn:uuid:df293c6a-0c95-4000-b2c9-13c21d40e2d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.onthemedia.org/blogs/on-the-media/2012/mar/02/go-foia-yourself/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95373 | 540 | 1.539063 | 2 |
What Is Economics?Economics is the study of how people choose to use resources.
Resources include the time and talent people have available, the land, buildings, equipment, and other tools on hand, and the knowledge of how to combine them to create useful products and services.
Important choices involve how much time to devote to work, to school, and to leisure, how many dollars to spend and how many to save, how to combine resources to produce goods and services, and how to vote and shape the level of taxes and the role of government.
Often, people appear to use their resources to improve their well-being. Well-being includes the satisfaction people gain from the products and services they choose to consume, from their time spent in leisure and with family and community as well as in jobs, and the security and services provided by effective governments. Sometimes, however, people appear to use their resources in ways that don't improve their well-being.
In short, economics includes the study of labor, land, and investments, of money, income, and production, and of taxes and government expenditures. Economists seek to measure well-being, to learn how well-being may increase over time, and to evaluate the well-being of the rich and the poor. The most famous book in economics is the Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations written by Adam Smith, and published in 1776 in Scotland.
Although the behavior of individuals is important, economics also addresses the collective behavior of businesses and industries, governments and countries, and the globe as a whole. Microeconomics starts by thinking about how individuals make decisions. Macroeconomics considers aggregate outcomes. The two points of view are essential in understanding most economic phenomena.
The list of fields in economics illustrates the scope of economic thought.
Definitions of Economics from Historic Textbooks
"Economics is the study of people in the ordinary business of life."
-- Alfred Marshall, Principles of economics; an introductory volume (London: Macmillan, 1890)
"Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between given ends and scarce means which have alternative uses."
-- Lionel Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (London: MacMillan, 1932)
Economics is the "study of how societies use scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different people."
-- Paul A. Samuelson, Economics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948)
About the American Economic Association
The Association has about 18,000 members from all over the world, most of whom are working economists in academia, business, government, international and not-for-profit agencies. It was founded in 1885 to promote the study of economics from all points of view. "The Association as such will take no partisan attitude, nor will it commit its members to any position on practical economic questions." The Association publishes seven journals. About 4,000 libraries subscribe to the journals and individual members receive journals with membership. The Association also produces ECONlit, a database to identify and locate books and articles in economics. The annual meeting of the Association, usually in early January, attracts about eight thousand economists who present their work and discuss current economic issues. The Association recognizes with awards the achievement of a small number of economists who have made outstanding achievements in the advance of economic thought. The Association promotes the market for economists by helping employers find applicants and vice versa. The Association is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. | <urn:uuid:5fb9ab46-34b9-45d5-9a5b-3e592cdafc4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aeaweb.org/students/WhatIsEconomics.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950851 | 717 | 3.578125 | 4 |
There is an 11th patient confirmed to be infected with the newly discovered coronavirus in the UK.
As we reported yesterday, a virus that was first identified in the UK and found in patients in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UK, infected it's second patient. Today reports from the UK Health protection Agency have confirmed a third case.
This person is a family member of the second UK infectee and the case confirms that the virus is capable of human to human transmission. The new patient had not visited Saudi Arabia, nor Pakistan, like the second UK victim but was in close proximity one of the previous UK patients, one of which died in June.
Doctors said that the new patient may have been at increased risk because of an underlying medical illness and is currently in Birmingham hospital in intensive care.
"Although this case provides strong evidence for person to person transmission, the risk of infection in most circumstances is still considered to be very low," John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Health Protection Agency, said in a statement. "If (the) novel coronavirus were more infectious, we would have expected to have seen a larger number of cases."
Michael Osterholm, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Minnesota, warned the virus could be adapting into a more transmissible form.
"At any moment the fire hydrant of human-to-human transmission cases could open," he said. "This is definitely a 'stay tuned' moment."
He noted that before SARS sparked a worldwide epidemic, there were a handful of human-to-human cases, until something happened, like a virus mutation, which triggered an explosion of cases.
The WHO says the virus is probably more widespread than just the Middle East and has advised countries to test any people with unexplained pneumonia.
The new virus is similar to one that bats transmit, but researchers are wondering if camels or goats could be a vector for transmission to humans.
Published by Medicaldaily.com | <urn:uuid:8bcb85ac-8878-4594-a408-6dd4ccd885e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/14071/20130213/coronavirus-virus-infection-transmission-uk-illness.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973436 | 404 | 2.625 | 3 |
Fairmont Senior High School is located in Fairmont, WV and is one of 5 high schools in Marion County Schools School District. It is a public school that serves 722 students in grades 9-12.
Fairmont Senior High School made AYP in 2010. Under No Child Left Behind, a school makes Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) if it achieves the minimum levels of improvement determined by the state of West Virginia in terms of student performance and other accountability measures. See Fairmont Senior High School's test results to learn more about school performance.
In 2011, Fairmont Senior High School had 40% of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch programs. West Virginia had 51% of eligible students for free or reduced price lunch programs. Eligibility for the National School Lunch Program is based on family income levels.
Student Ethnicity (2011)
Marion County Schools District Spending
The Marion County Schools spends $10,628 per pupil in current expenditures. The district spends 63% on instruction, 32% on support services, 5% on other elementary and secondary expenditures. More about Marion County Schools District
In 2011, Fairmont Senior High School had 15 students for every full-time equivalent teacher. The West Virginia average is 14 students per full-time equivalent teacher.
The Education.com TestRating is a number (1-10) calculated by Education.com that provides an overview of a school’s test performance for a given year, by comparing the school’s state standardized test results to those of other schools in the same state. For West Virginia, the TestRating is calculated using a school's 2008 West Virginia Educational Standards Test (WESTEST) Results for all subjects tested.more... | <urn:uuid:659f2620-ffbf-4f8c-95a7-bc9014acbb36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.education.com/schoolfinder/us/west-virginia/fairmont/fairmont-high-school/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944262 | 353 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Here he is folks — the latest addition to the Sea Shepherd fleet, the MV Bob Barker.
TMZ.com did a bit more digging and found out that Mr. Price is Right donated over $5 million dollars to the anti-whaling org to retrofit this icebreaker. The new (and very secret) ship was the first of the Sea Shepherd fleet to discover the location of the Japanese whaling fleet. Word is, Barker kicked some ass and made the Japanese relocate, thwarting plans for any kills.
You don’t mess with Barker, Japan. You just don’t.
[UPDATE] Check out the Sea Shepherd’s account of the Barker intercepting the Japanese fleet after the jump. Nice surprise!
The 1,200-ton Norwegian built Antarctic harpoon vessel caught up with the Japanese whaling fleet at 0300 Hours on Wednesday, January 6th, in the area of Commonwealth Bay off the Adelie Coast at 143 Degrees 17 Minutes East and 66 Degrees 43 Minutes South. The Norwegian flag cracked in the chill Antarctic air as the silhouette of the whaler gave every indication that the ship was sent to support the Japanese whalers.
The Japanese could be forgiven for thinking that the pro-whaling Norwegians had sent a ship to support their illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. But any excitement turned to disappointment quickly as the Norwegian flag was hauled down and the black and white skull with crossed Trident and Shepherd’s crook was raised to announce the arrival of the Bob Barker, the latest ship acquired for the Sea Shepherd ocean defense fleet.
Thanks to a $5,000,000 contribution from American television personality and icon Bob Barker, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was able to quietly purchase and refit the former Norwegian whaler in Africa. The ice strengthened fast chaser boat quietly departed from Mauritius on December 18th to join up with the Sea Shepherd ships Steve Irwin and Ady Gil in the Southern Ocean. | <urn:uuid:76438b7d-888a-47b1-a38f-2d70721b27f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecorazzi.com/2010/01/05/photo-the-sea-shepherd-bob-barker/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950095 | 408 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Mount Rearguard is the highest point on the massive Hellroaring Plateau in Montana's Beartooth Mountain Range, and one of only 27 ranked peaks in the state to rise over 12,000 feet. The peak can be accessed from a number of different directions, with the easiest routes being little more than long walks. Excellent ski descents can be found from Rearguard during the Winter and Spring months.
Mount Rearguard made the news in August of 1998, when a small aircraft crashed into the western slopes of the mountain at approximately 11,900 feet, killing the pilot. The plane was thought to be enroute from Wells, Nevada to Minot, North Dakota.
Mount Rearguard is located in the Beartooth range of South-Central Mountana. One can access the mountain from either the Lake Fork or Rock Creek valleys. No trails lead to the summit, so use your imagination. A quick look at a topographical map will reveal several possible options.
LAKE FORK TRAILHEAD
From the south side of Red Lodge, Montana, follow highway 212 South for approximately 11 miles. Before passing Black Pyramid Mountain, turn right onto the well-maintained road which leads past several cabins and into the Lake Fork Valley. Follow this road for 2 miles to the trailhead. A footbridge crosses Lake Fork Creek just beyond the end of the road to join the trail on the Creek's south side. This trail follows the Lake Fork, with the massive Hellroaring Plateau above you on the left hand side of the valley. Pick your own route to the top of the plateau (Rearguard is the high point of the plateau).
ROCK CREEK TRAILHEAD
Instead of turning just North of Black Pyramid mountain on highway 212, continue along the road for another mile or two and take the next right into Rock Creek Valley. There are several campgrounds along the first paved, then graveled, road leading up the Rock Creek Drainage. The last official campground (M-K) is several miles from the highway, but additional good camping spots can be found along the deteriorating road to the trailhead. The road heads WSW, just scraping into Northern Wyoming before turning back North into Montana. Pit toilets and a parking area can be found at the end of the road. From here, the trail heading up to Glacier Lake is a popular day hike. You will want to leave this trail shortly after the trailhead, with the aim of reaching the Hellroaring plateau which rises to your right. This trailhead is accessible to most 2WD vehicles.
Mount Rearguard is located in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Custer National Forest, Beartooth Ranger District. No fees are required to climb or camp. You are "requested" to check in with the Beartooth Ranger Station in Red Lodge or call (406) 446-2103 before climbing or camping in the back country (although most people do not bother). You must have a permit to cut live trees for firewood. No mechanized vehicles are allowed offroad in the wilderness area.
When To Climb
Summer climbing season is short in Montana. Late July through early September are the months that are most snow-free. However, expect some snow on the mountain any time of the year. Expect any type of weather any time of the year. Violent thunderstorms are a common daily occurance. Get an early start to avoid afternoon thunderstorms. Storms develop very fast and tend to come from the south or west.
Rearguard can be climbed in the winter from either drainage. The road up the Lake Fork valley is closed with a gate approximately 0.5 miles from highway 212 in the winter. The road up Rock Creek, however, is never officially closed. Depending on snow conditions, your vehicle, and your nerves you may be able to get within two or three miles of the trailhead. You are advised to contact the Beartooth Ranger Station at (406) 446-2103 for the latest conditions and road closure information.
Camping is allowed anywhere within the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. You are "requested" to check in with the Beartooth Ranger Station in Red Lodge or call (406) 446-2103 before camping in the back-country (although most people do not bother). You must have a permit to cut live trees for firewood.
There are several excellent camping spots accessible by car along Rock Creek in addition to the official National Forest campgrounds.
Contact the Beartooth Ranger Station at (406) 446-2103 for the latest mountain conditions.
red_lodge.MT Conditions and Forecast
red_lodge.MT Weather Conditions and Forecast | <urn:uuid:25013a0c-ab25-42c1-8b32-5ca6b7014d65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.summitpost.org/mount-rearguard/152591 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933672 | 973 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Hey Mr. Green,
Some say organic farming is actually more climate-damaging than responsible "regular" farming, since it takes more land to produce an equivalent quantity of produce when chemical fertilizers are not used, putting more stress on the environment. This sort of issue should be taken very seriously. The Sierra Club and others should publicize the full consideration of this question, so members can be the kind of advocates who swing moderates and the unconvinced. What are the CO2 downsides of organic methods? I e-mailed an organic farming association and got a stock answer without any figures, research, or comparison data.
In general, data and citations of research are what is convincing, not just assertions. Our side should do a much more aggressive job of arming the public with data and stats. For example, all too often what our side says is "Scientists agree that . . . " What we should be saying is "Our 2005 survey of 450 climate scientists from membership lists of this association yielded an 80 percent response; of these, 87 percent say thus and such about so-and-so."
You can help, Sierrans. You can demand that the Union of Concerned Scientists, the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Wilderness Society, and others give their members hard data. Our side needs to do a better job of playing to its strengths--given that the science (as well as common sense) is what motivates environmental activists--and helping us arm ourselves with research citations so that we can feed the actual data and its sources to sympathetic or open-minded politicians. --Mary in Sandy Springs, Georgia
Thank you very much for these perceptive comments. Clearly, things are not as simple a matter as we organic advocates often claim, though I also think that some anti-organic people overstate their case. We ought to take a closer look at the growing body of research into organic farming before we make too many exaggerated claims.
In general, at least for the major commodities that take up the lion's share of our cropland, it looks like organic farming can in fact match the yields of conventional farming. (Some specialty crops might be a different story.) For example, a study done by the University of Iowa showed only a small drop in soybean yields when the beans were farmed organically (from 48.4 bushels to 46.8). The corn yield in this study did drop from 160.6 bushels to 121.1, but the researchers said that was probably overstated due to some variables in the experiment.
The reason for such results might be that a soybean plant or a cornstalk isn't an environmentalist and therefore doesn't make moral distinctions between synthetic and organic fertilizer. Nitrogen is nitrogen, phosphorous is phosphorous, and as long as the organic field has as much of these elements furnished by organic fertilizer, it's going to roughly match the field that has synthetic fertilizer. The wild cards are pests and weeds, but apparently, at least in this experiment and others I've studied, organic farming techniques matched the effectiveness of chemical herbicides and insecticides.
The point is that organic appears to be competitive in terms of acreage required. A lot of confusion might occur because too many environmentalists with strong opinions about farming don't really know anything about it. Hence, they make black-and-white equations: e.g., old-fashioned farming equals organic farming, and modern farming equals toxic farming. This is, of course, complete nonsense (from which they would be quickly disabused if they spent an hour with an old-fashioned manure fork prying horse manure loose from the stable floor).
Old-fashioned farming is not intrinsically virtuous, as we well know from episodes like the dust bowl or the erosion of New England. And modern farming does require way less land than old-fashioned farming (the old-timers needed about a third of the farmland just to feed their horses!) while producing greater yields. We can now grow three or four times as much corn per acre as 100 years ago, thanks to hybrids and other improvements in corn breeding and cultivation.
But it's simply untrue to assume that because a modern farm grows modern corn, it also requires the use of toxic chemicals and chemical fertilizers. Corn growers can use modern methods and still grow crops organically. The two methods are not mutually exclusive. (And don't get me started on those overrated, under-yielding heirloom tomatoes!)
Adding to the confusion, some of the anti-organic commentators also fail to make these distinctions. They blithely (and maybe disingenuously) accept the false dichotomy of old=organic, modern=toxic and then deploy their comparisons to "prove" that organic farming will use far more land than conventional farming. But if you trace the funding to the think tanks some of them work for, you'll end up with a long list of chemical companies.
The big difference is in costs. At this point, organic is generally more labor intensive. It obviously takes more labor to remove weeds by hand or with a tractor cultivator than to make one pass through a field with an herbicide. And the organic method may be more energy intensive if it demands more cultivation, although it does save on the energy used to make fertilizers and pesticides. Comparisons in this area certainly should be explored, along with your other advice. | <urn:uuid:bb552acb-dd81-4237-b71e-7faa336371f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sierraclub.typepad.com/mrgreen/2007/10/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959377 | 1,105 | 2.375 | 2 |
I am not an organized mom. There are a lot of things I wish I was... but when it comes to household chores, there is no structure. One thing that is consistent is that after a long weekend of being home a lot, our house is always a disaster, and Mondays is our day to recover... and pick up. Sometimes laundry is also involved... today there was a lot of it.
Since I've got Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney on my brain this week... I thought we'd take the semi-boring task of sorting and matching pajamas and turn it into a little game... with a Baby Llama and a Big Brother Llama to help us.
First we labeled our baskets...
Then we sorted the pajamas into the baskets based on who they belonged to (Baby Llama- my daughter, or Big Brother Llama- my son). You would be amazed at how much fun the task of laundry sorting becomes when you call it something different :)
Once the baskets were full... we grabbed Big Brother Llama's basket and dumped it out again and then worked on putting the pajamas pieces together into sets (tops + bottoms together). I knew my husband would appreciate that... since he hates searching for matching pajama pairs and ends up just picking two random pieces (top/bottom) for my son to wear at night... which makes for some interesting combinations.
While we sorted, we talked about... colors, patterns, shapes, images, and we made predictions. We would look at the pajama pants and try and guess what picture would be on the shirt. Then, we'd look for a shirt with that picture on it. Sometimes we were right, sometimes we were wrong.
This activity also worked on functional skills like turning shirts/pants inside out/outside in... does that make sense? At least at our house, that is sometimes tough for my little guy. We practiced turning sleeves and pant legs the right way... and then my son would yell, "I'M AMAZING! I DID IT!"
Who knew Llama Llama Red Pajama could help motivate us to work on so many good language and functional skills... and build some self esteem? :)
Maybe one of these days I'll be able to sit on the couch eating bon bons while my kids sort, match, and fold all our clothes?! I'm crossing my fingers right now!
Are you celebrating Read for the Record day on Thursday, Oct 6th?
We will be celebrating... so join us! Make plans now to read Llama Llama Red Pajama and do something fun. If you don't have the book already, you can read it online here for free.
If you've already done some Llama Llama Red Pajama activities/crafts or will be doing some later this week, shoot me an email (toddlerapproved at gmail dot com). I'd love to share your ideas on our blog and or Facebook page.
PS- If you have an awesomely organized system you use for doing chores (and possibly involving your kiddos), share that too. I could learn a lot from many of you! | <urn:uuid:13d28ed9-2182-4c30-8516-f48be51571e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toddlerapproved.com/2011/10/llama-llama-red-pajama-pj-sorting.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960108 | 662 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Fraud & Corruption
Like other crimes, fraud and corruption can harm individuals and
tear at the very fiber of society. Schemes that defraud the
government and businesses cost County residents millions in taxes,
higher insurance premiums, and higher retail prices. Unscrupulous
business practices erode consumer trust. Environmental crimes poison
our most valuable natural resources and endanger the community.
Crimes by judicial officers, law enforcement personnel, elected
officials, or others operating within the public trust violate
individual rights and undermine the very foundation of our democracy.
Highlighted here are prosecution units in the District
Attorney’s Office committed to addressing these pernicious crimes.
Specially trained prosecutors and investigators are assigned to
these units and prosecute cases involving fraud, corruption, law
enforcement and official misconduct, and environmental crimes. Each
is dedicated to ensuring that the integrity of our financial,
public, and law enforcement sectors is maintained.
This section also contains tips on how to protect yourself from
fraud and on how you can report official misconduct to the proper
authorities. An engaged and vigilant community is an
effective defense against these devastating crimes. | <urn:uuid:9ae3eba6-4624-433a-b659-8eed4c3a2fc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://da.co.la.ca.us/fraud.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901222 | 241 | 2.328125 | 2 |
10 ways to create community where you live
Building a community from scratch is daunting, but the good news is that vibrant communities can grow from existing neighborhoods over time through the actions of people who live there, often without much money being spent.
Right here, right now: Ten ways to build community.
1. Move your picnic table to the front yard. See what happens when you eat supper out front. It’s likely you’ll strike up a conversation with a neighbor. Invite them to bring a dish to share. Your kids will probably love it, too.
2. Plant a front yard vegetable garden.
Don’t stop with the picnic table. Build a raised bed for veggies; plant edible landscaping and fruit trees. If you’re inclined, invite your neighbors to share your garden. Along with carrots and sweet peas will come conversation and friendship—a bountiful harvest.
3. Build a room-sized front porch. The magic of a Good Porch comes from the way it is both private and public, belonging to the household while being open to passersby. It may be the most essential element for bringing life to a neighborhood. Its placement, size, relation to the interior and the public space, and height of railings are both an art and a science. First thing to remember: make it more than a tiny cover for fumbling for keys; make it room-sized — a veritable outdoor living room.
4. Add layers of privacy. Curiously, giving your personal space more definition will foster connections with neighbors. A secure space will be more comfortable and more often used, which will increase chances for seeing your neighbors, even if this is a passing nod.
But rather than achieving privacy with a tall fence, consider an approach with layers: a bed of perennial flowers in front of a low fence, with a shade tree to further filter the view. These layers help define personal boundaries, but are permeable at the same time.
Here’s a challenge: can you create 6 layers between the street and the front door?
5. Take down your backyard fence. Join with your neighbors to create a shared safe play space for children, a community garden, or a wood-fired pizza oven. In Davis, Calif., a group of neighbors on N Street did just that. Twenty years later, nearly all the neighbors around the block have joined in.
If that’s too radical, consider cutting your six-foot fence to four feet to make chatting across the fence easier, or building a gate between yards.
6. Put up a Book Lending Cupboard. Take a book, lend a book. Collect your old reads and share them with passersby in a book-lending cupboard mounted next to the sidewalk out front. Give it a roof, a door with glass panes, and paint it to match the flowers below.
Or, change the story: read a poem, write a poem. Create a poetry cupboard with poems to share.
Oregon’s City Repair for other inspiring neighborhood-building ideas like this. Check them out!
7. Organize summer potluck street parties. Claim the street, gather the lawn chairs, and fire up the hibachi! Take over the otherwise “off-limits” street as a space to draw neighbors together.
8. Build resilience together. Create a neighborhood survey of assets, skills, and needs for times of crisis. Frame it around “emergency preparedness,” but watch how it cultivates community.
9. Create an online network for nearby neighbors. Expand the survey into an active online resource and communication tool. Find a new home for an outgrown bike. Ask for help keeping an eye out for a lost dog. Organize a yard sale.
Take advantage of free neighbor-to-neighbor networking tools such as Nextdoor to facilitate communications and build happier, safer neighborhoods. As they say, “online chats lead to more clothesline chats.”
10. Be a Good Neighbor. It’s easy to focus on your own needs and concerns, but a slight shift in outlook can make a big difference in the day-to-day lives in a neighborhood. Check in on your elderly neighbor if her curtains aren’t raised in the morning. On a hot summer day, put out a pitcher of ice lemonade for passersby, or a bowl of cool water for dogs on walks.
To be sure, grievances among neighbors are common. But when there is a base of goodwill in a neighborhood, little squabbles won’t escalate into turf fights, and neighborhoods can become what they are meant to be: places of support, security and friendship.
For more in-depth coverage:
• Subscribe to Better! Cities & Towns to read all of the articles (print+online) on implementation of greener, stronger, cities and towns.
• See the June 2012 issue of Better! Cities & Towns.Topics: Michigan placemaking initiative, Affordable housing around transit, Unnoticed New Urbanism, Housing pressures in Massachusetts city, LA looks at displacement, Waiting for the recovery, Running bike-share, Homeownership and TND, Live-work planning, the Great Inversion, Freeway teardown.
• Get New Urbanism: Best Practices Guide, packed with more than 800 informative photos, plans, tables, and other illustrations, this book is the best single guide to implementing better cities and towns. | <urn:uuid:70b6306a-ba27-4a54-9eed-8f524ee934f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/ross-chapin/18630/10-ways-create-community-where-you-live | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925117 | 1,132 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Scanned text contains errors.
(See Schol. ad Find. Isthm. viii. 114; M tiller, Aeginet. p. 149.)
The Heraea of Samos, which island also derived the worship of Hera from Argos (Pans. vii. 4. § 4), were perhaps the most "brilliant of all the festivals of this divinity. A magnificent procession, consisting of maidens and married women in splendid attire, and with floating hair (Asius, op. Athen. xii. p. 525), together with men and youths in armour (Polyaen. Strat. i. 23, vi. 45), went to the temple of Hera. After they arrived within the sacred precincts, the men deposited their armour ; and prayers and vows were offered up to the goddess, Her altar consisted of the ashes of the victims which had been burnt to her. (Pans. v. 13. § 5.) The Heraea of Elis were celebrated every fifth year, or in the fourth year of every Olympiad. (Corsini, Dissert, iii. 30.) The festival was chiefly celebrated by maidens, and conducted by sixteen matrons who wove the sacred peplus for the goddess. But before the solemnities commenced, these matrons sacrificed a pig, and purified themselves in the well Piera. (Pans. v. 16. § 5.) One of the principal solemnities was a race of the- maidens in the stadium, for which purpose they were divided into three classes, according to their age. The youngest ran first and the oldest last. Their only dress on this occasion was a xitcoj/, which came down to the knee, and their hair was floating. She who won the prize, received a garland of olive-boughs, together with a part of a cow which was sacrificed to Hera, a.nd might dedicate her own painted likeness in the temple of the goddess. The sixteen matrons were attended by as many female attendants, and performed two dances ; the one called the dance of Physcoa, the other the dance of Hip-podameia. Respecting further particulars, and the history of this solemnity, see Paus. v. 16. § 2, &c. Heraea were celebrated in various other places • e. g. in Cos (Athen. xiv. p. G39, vi. p. 262), at Corinth (Eurip. MecL 1379 ; Philostrat. Her. xix. 14), at Athens (Pint. Quaest. Rom. vii. 168), at Cnossus in Crete (Diod. v. 72), &c. [L. S.] HERE'DITAS. [heres.] HE RES. 1. greek. The Athenian laws of inheritance are to be explained under this title. The subject may be divided into five parts, of which we shall speak: 1st, of personal capacity-to inherit ; 2dly, of the rules of 'descent and succession ; 3dly, of the power of devising ; 4thly, of the remedies of the heir for recovering his rights ; 5thly, of the obligations to which 'lie succeeded.
I. Of Personal Capacity to Inherit.—To obtain the right of inheritance as well as citizenship (ayXl(Tre'ia an(l iroXireia), legitimacy was a necessary qualification. Those children were legitimate who were born in lawful wedlock. (Dem. c. Neaer. p. 1386.) The validity of a marriage depended partly on the capacity of the contracting parties, partly on the nature of the contract. On the first point little needs to be noticed here, except that brother and sister by the same mother were forbidden to many ; but consanguinity in general was so far from being deemed an objection, that marriage between collateral relations was encouraged, in order to keep the property in the family. (Andoc. de Myst. §119, c. Alrib. §33, ed. Bekk. ; Lys. c. Ale. § 41, ed. Bekk. ; Bern. c. Leoch. p. 1083, c. Eubul. p. 1305 ; Pl\it..Cimon, 4, Tliemist. 32.) The contract was made by the
husband with the father, brother, or other legal guardian (tcvpios) of the intended wife: then only was sho properly betrothed (e7yi»7?TT)). An heiress, however, was assigned, or adjudged, to the next of kin (e7rtSi/mcr0e?<ra) by process of law, as explained under epiclerus. (Isaeus, de Cir. her. §26, de Phi'oct. her. § 19, ed. Bekk. ; Dem. pro Phorm. p. 954, c. Steph. p. 1134.) No ceremony was necessary to ratify the contract: but it was usual to betroth the bride in the presence of witnesses, and to give a marriage feast, and invite the friends and relations, for the sake of publicity. (Isaeus, de dr. her. § 18 ; Dem. c. Onet. p. 869, c. Eubul. pp. 1311, 1312.) A marriage without proper espousals was irregular ; but the issue lost their heritable rights only, not their franchise ; and the former, it seems, might be restored, if the members of their father's clan would consent to their being registered. (Isaeus, de Philoct. her. §§ 29—33.) As it was necessary Jor every man to be enrolled in his clan, in order to obtain his full civil rights, so was the registration the best evidence of legitimacy, and the (ppdropes and crvyyc-^e7? were usually called to prove it in courts of justice. (Andoc. de Myst. § 127, ed. Bekk. ; Isaeus, de Cir. her. § 26, de Philoct. § 13 ; Dem. c. Eubul. p. 1305, &c.) For further particulars see Plainer, Beitr'dge, p. 104, &c. ; Schomann, Antiq. juris pullici Graecorum, lib. v. §§19, 21, 88.
II. Of the Rules of Descent cmd Succession.— Here we would premise, that, as the Athenian law made no difference in this respect between real and personal estate, the words heir, inherit, &c., will be applied indiscriminately to both. When an Athenian died leaving sons, they shared the inheritance, like our heirs in gavelkind, and as they now do in France (Isaeus, de Philoct. her. § 32) : a law no less favourable to that balance of property which Solon meant to establish, than the law of primogeniture was suited to the military aristocracies created in the feudal times. The only advantage possessed by the eldest son was the first choice in the division. (Dem. pro Phorm. p. 947.) If there was but one son, he took the whole estate ; but if he had sisters, it was incumbent on him to provide for them, and give them suitable marriage portions ; they were then called €7ri7rpoucot. (Harpocr. s. v. 'ETrt'St/cos.) There was no positive law, making it imperative on a brother to give his sister a portion of a certain amount; but the moral obligation, to assign her a fortune corresponding to his own rank, was strengthened by custom and public opinion, insomuch that if she was given in marriage portionless, it was deemed a slur upon her character, and might even raise a doubt of her legitimacy. (Isaeus, de Pyrr. her. §40; Lys. de Arist. Ion, §16, ed. Bekk. ; Dem. c. Boeot. de dote, p. 1014.)
On failure of sons and their issue, daughters and daughters' children succeeded (as to the law concerning heiresses, see epiclerus) ; and there seems to have been no limit to the succession in the descending line. (Isaeus, de Cir. her. §§ 39—46, de Pyrr. her. § 59, de Philoct. §§ 38, 67 ; Dem. c. Macart. pp. 1057, 1058.) If the deceased left grandsons by different sons, it is clear that they would take the shares of their respective fathers. So if he had a granddaughter by one son, and a grandson by another, the latter would not exclude the former, as a brother would a sister, but both would share alike. Of this there is no direct evidence ; but it follows from a principle of Attic lav?-, | <urn:uuid:64cfa716-b973-4a7b-89da-ad805835d427> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0601.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971351 | 1,881 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Eggs are so versatile and at the same time a complete meal. It is one item that you can experiment with in so many ways to get your kids to have them, or even to add variety to the school lunch. When Christy asked me to be a guest at her blog My Kitchen Flavours, I prepared these very simple egg cups for her readers. Prepare them in an Aebleskiver or a paniyaram pan.
3 small eggsOlive oil
Heat the aebleskiver/ paniyaram pan. Lightly grease it with oil.
Break the eggs one by one very gently into the cups.
Keep the flame minimum and cover with a lid.
When the egg is fully cooked, slowly release it with a spoon from the edges.
Season with salt and pepper and serve hot with toasts. | <urn:uuid:8f79bade-50f6-4b46-a8e4-76be9777be80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enrichingyourkid.blogspot.com/2012/04/egg-cups-guest-post.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951627 | 174 | 1.648438 | 2 |
At Coach Paul W. Bryant's funeral in 1983, Ohio State coach Woody Hayes noted that "Rockne was the great coach of his era and Bryant was the great coach of his." Frank Thomas was the great coach that connected them.
That there is no authoritative biography of this legendary Alabama football coach borders on criminal. About the only tome to be found is a slim volume penned by sportswriter Naylor Stone in the mid-1950s almost immediately after his death, Coach Tommy of the Crimson Tide. In just 86 pages it attempts to circumscribe the career of a man who led the Crimson Tide to no less than two National Championships and three undefeated seasons.
In fact, if remembered at all today, Coach Thomas tends to be recalled for his role mentoring Bryant as a player and a coach. Still, it's worth noting that while Coach Thomas has been almost completely eclipsed by his famous protege, he never suffered a single losing season during his career – something Coach Bryant was not able to boast.
Coach Thomas himself was the protegee of Knute Rockne. Playing for Notre Dame in the 1920s with the famed "Four Horsemen" and George Gipp who was his roommate during college. Coach Rockne called Thomas the smartest player he ever coached and, unsurprisingly, hired him as an assistant after the younger man's playing days were done.
It’s through Rockne, that Coach Thomas found a particular manner to lead his charges later and a particular genius for winning mid-game strategy changes. Both attributes he passed down to his most famous pupil.
One particularly interesting aspect of Thomas’ career is his time as an assistant at Georgia under George Woodruff. When Coach Thomas took over at Alabama he brought the Notre Dame Box offense with him but, it turns out, he had already introduced it to southern football at Georgia while serving as backfield coach for the Bulldogs.
The offense became synonymous with Crimson Tide football due to the team's success under Coach Thomas but it certainly wasn't unique to the region's teams by the time he implemented it in Tuscaloosa.
While Coach Tommy of the Crimson Tide is an important snapshot into an oft-overlooked era of Alabama football, often reads like an overlong newspaper fluff piece from the period. It relies on interviews with both Coach Thomas and his wife but little else. There is little inkling of the charisma and leadership of the man that pressed so heavily on Coach Bryant and molded the latter’s legendary leadership style.
In fact, there’s little of anything in terms of the man’s personality outside of glowing reports of each season and a dultiful accounting of his civic work. But that’s at least partially forgivable given the fact the book was written so shortly after the coach’s death.
There is little inkling of the man that had such a reputation for toughness that a young Paul Bryant was terrified of him. "Scared of him? You're damn right I was." Bryant later confessed. In The Last Coach, Thomas is described by Bryant as having an "aloof, imperious way" that left as lasting impression on the young man as much as his tactical expertise. But almost none of this is evident in Coach Tommy of the Crimson Tide.
And, since the book was published in 1954, Bryant is an ancillary aspect of the narrative at best. The future Crimson Tide coach doesn’t appear at all in the first third of the book and when he does make his entrance it’s by last name only. Eventually, he’s duly noted for his exploits as a player (particularly the infamous Tennessee game he played with a "bad" leg) and as an assistant on Coach Thomas’ staff.
If nothing else, the book does a valuable service in showing the stature of the Alabama program and the tradition of a championship-caliber team that preceded the Bryant Era. But the most important legacy of Coach Tommy of the Crimson Tide is how clearly it demonstrates the need for a definitive book examining the career of this oft-overlooked championship coach.
Next week: The Junction Boys | <urn:uuid:1d7fba79-e7ec-44cd-b1f2-65113e4fed53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rollbamaroll.com/2009/6/30/909884/rbr-reading-room-coach-tommy-of | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986799 | 845 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Staff Picks of the Week:
Memorial Day 2013
Memorial Day 2013 Preaching Bundle »
Greater Love Video Illustration » Everlasting God Worship Music Video »
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1 Outta 7 Video Illustration » Before The Throne… Worship Music Video »
Hello my name is Rev. Benny Anthony, and the title of this talk is ďGodís Gift to You.Ē
What was the best gift that you ever received or gave? Usually the most memorable gifts are those that represent the care of the giver, a sacrifice of love for you. Even years later, such a gift serves as a warm reminder of the giver, rekindles love for him or her, and makes you feel nearer to that person. I have saved some of the letters that my mother wrote to me many years ago. Sometimes Iíll take those letters out and read them and when I do I really feel close to her even though she has been with the Lord for many years.
God gives us a number of special gifts that represent Godís love and presence in our lives. We call these special gifts by names such as sacraments or means of grace.
Sacraments are ďsacred moments,Ē special acts of worship that Jesus gave to us by instruction or by example. They are means by which we remember and celebrate Christís action in our lives.
Through sacred symbol and drama, we represent Jesusí life, death, resurrection, and presence with us in the Holy Spirit. Even though many centuries have come and gone, He continues to minister to us.
Most churches recognize two sacraments: baptism and Holy Communion. Some churches consider other rites to be sacraments also.
God has given the church these special ways to remember Godís action in Jesus Christ, to experience Godís presence, and to grow closer to God. Each of these represents out connection with God.
Letís take a look at Godís gifts to us:
1. Baptismóthe sign of new life in Christ. Baptism marks the beginning of your spiritual journey. Baptism is symbolized by water. With the sign of water, baptism reminds us who and whose we really are: Godís royal children created in His image. In the baptism of infants and children, we celebrate Godís unconditional love and promise for their lives.
When adults are baptized, we celebrate both Godís unconditional love and their spiritual rebirth. In that sacred moment, they accept Godís grace, come to faith, are cleansed of their sins, and become new persons in Christ.
2. Confirmationóa rite marking growth in Christ, progress on the spiritual journey that began in baptism.
Confirmation is a sign that we are taking responsibility for our own relationship with God. The church celebrates and confirms Godís work of grace taking hold within us. We dedicate ourselves to Christ.
In baptism, God says, ďYou are My child. I made you. I love you forever.Ē In confirmation, we respond, ďAnd you are my God. You made me in Your image. I will live in a way that shows your truth and love.Ē
3. Ordinationóa rite marking Godís call to special responsibility for Christís ministry as a pastor.
Not everyone experiences ordination. But every Christian is called to ministry. In ordination, the church affirms the fact that all Christians are ministers and are given gifts that equip them for ministry.
Ordination celebrates that God sets people apart for special service in the church community to preach and teach the Word; to administer the sacraments of baptism and Communion; and to care for the churchís life of worship, nurture, and ministry.
- God's Provisions
- All Sermons on God's Provisions
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- PowerPoint Template on God's Provisions
- Scripture on God's Provisions
Join the discussion | <urn:uuid:fabcabee-0f4c-4b54-b759-f332a43ef9b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/gods-gift-to-you-benny-anthony-sermon-on-gods-provisions-106377.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932382 | 832 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Pillar Point County Park is located near the mouth of the Pysht River. The park accesses an extensive tidal flat. The substrate on this beach is very hard and rocky but there are pockets of sand and gravel where native littleneck clams can be found.
DIRECTION TO SITE
To reach Pillar Point County Park from Port Angeles, travel west through Port Angeles on Highway 101 and look for the exit to Higway 112 about five miles west of Port Angeles. Continue west on Highway 112 for about 38 miles. Look for signs to Pillar Point County park just before you reach Pillar Point Road. Take a right and follow Pillar Point Road for about a half mile to its end at the Park.
To reach the site from the south on Highway 101 (from Aberdeen, Forks, etc.), travel north on Highway 101 passing through Forks and continuing for about 13 miles to the town of Sappho. Look for the Clallam Bay/Sekiu turnoff onto Burnt Mountain Road and take a left. Travel north on Burnt Mountain road for about 10 miles to the intersection of Highway 112 and Burnt Mountain Road. Take a right and follow Highway 112 for about another six miles to Pillar Point. Take a left and follow Pillar Point Road for about a half mile to its end at the Park.
FACILITIES Pillar Point County Park has vault toilets, a concrete launch ramp for small boats, picnic tables and fire pits.
Beach information last updated: April 01, 2010 @ 2:44pm
For individual beach information, including harvesting seasons, click on the yellow squiggles below.
Yellow map areas (links) identify approximate public property boundaries and should not be considered legal property boundaries.
Many of these public beaches have no upland entrance and must be accessed by boat. Please respect adjacent private property.
This map is provided for informational purposes only.
The accuracy of this map is not guaranteed. | <urn:uuid:2efb6c99-c546-4bb7-a7c8-e7e5ccab590c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/beaches/230115/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913318 | 396 | 1.546875 | 2 |
I’m at best a casual observer of the New York City public school system. The complexities of the politics surrounding any big issue in the Big Apple are daunting. But I’ve watched with detached interest over the years as the team of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools Chancellor Joel Klein have made controversial and Herculean attempts to yank that behemoth out of a deep ditch.
Matters have gotten more interesting over the past couple of weeks, with Klein’s announcement that he is moving into a senior position at News Corp. Bloomberg immediately settled on a successor to the high-energy, abrasive Klein.
And whom did he choose? Publishing executive Cathie Black, she of purportedly amazing managerial skills and zero public education experience.
Reaction to Black’s appointment from the usual suspects was predictable. Schools aren’t businesses and kids aren’t widgets. How dare the mayor have the temerity to appoint a business person to a position that requires a different set of skills than running a business!
I find these arguments tiresome. After all, how many career educators have done a bang-up job turning around an urban school system? The answer would be none. Education is not some mysterious priesthood where only initiates know the deep secrets to unlocking success. In fact no one does; or if once we knew, we have collectively forgotten.
Still, I have to side with the naysayers this time, albeit not for their reasons.
“I think schools and districts pose a diverse array of leadership challenges, and that leaders facing different challenges will require various skills. Sometimes, familiarity with K-12 is a huge asset. Other times, the experiences, worldview, and skills that come with that background may actually be a hindrance. I see experience in a school district, in school leadership, or in dealing with the public sector as important assets, which ought to be weighed alongside know-how in transforming and redesigning organizations, boosting cost-effectiveness, recruiting talented personnel, managing vendor relationships, and so forth. I think Joel Klein’s skills and experience—as a CEO, top-shelf lawyer, high-ranking Clinton administration official, and NYC product—made him a phenomenal fit for the job.
“But, just as it’s naive and simple-minded to insist “you need to be an educator to lead schools,” it’s equally misguided to imagine that executives are interchangeable.”
The problem with Black, Hess and others argue, isn’t her lack of education background. It is her apparently complete lack of interest in public education, and total lack of track record even volunteering in a public school.
Has Bloomberg become so infatuated with his mostly adulatory press clippings that he believes he can pluck any successful corporate executive, stick them in one of the globe’s most challenging jobs and expect them to succeed, just because he was the one to anoint them?
That’s called hubris. And those of us who have even skimmed the Greek myths know where that leads.
“To make things worse, our intrepid friends at the Gotham Schools blog have noted: “In her memoir-cum-business advice guide, Basic Black, the chancellor appointee describes her skills as far more attuned to sales and marketing than financial analysis. While she likes the operational side of business, she writes, ‘Too much data and too many spreadsheets make my eyes glaze over.’” Again, not exactly the ideal testimonial from someone coming in to wrestle with budget cuts and execution.
“Black might be terrific. I’ve never met her and know nothing about her. But nothing that’s been said on her behalf thus far reassures me that she’s right for the job or demonstrates that Bloomberg thought carefully about why she was the right choice for this crucial post. Fortunately, there’s much time until she takes the helm and both Black and Bloomberg would be well-advised to use the next six weeks to make the case that she’s a promising pick—and not just a CEO looking for a new challenge.”
New York State Education Commissioner David M. Steiner may have pulled Bloomberg’s fat from the fire by insisting that the mayor appoint a career educator to serve as Black’s chief deputy. But that alone does not guarantee success.
And please, don’t let Bloomberg’s concession (and he’s not known to make many) to Steiner embolden his edu-critics. The argument that only educators can run education institutions is narrow-minded and parochial, and isn’t germane to the Bloomberg-Black issue.
But it is emblematic of an ongoing annoyance on the education debate, locally and nationally.
Perhaps I am overly sensitive because I have worked in education policy for 15 years but have never taught or worked in a K-12 public school. But there is a wrongheaded mindset among certain educators and teachers’ associations that only people who have walked in their shoes have a legitimate point of view about education issues.
So please, let’s dispense with the following bromides:
- You have to be an educator to be a legitimate candidate for superintendent or education commissioner.
- You have to have been a teacher or principal to speak knowledgeably on education issues. I honor teachers for their deep knowledge and classroom experience, which is invaluable. It does not, however, give them a monopoly on wisdom and virtue.
- You are “anti-teacher” if you view any of the positions staked out by unions as retrograde and counter to the best interests of public education in this country. (If this were true, then I would be able to name a lot of teachers who are anti-teacher).
In exchange, I pledge to stop reverting to the three most annoying bromides readers identify as endemic to this space and to the world of education reform. Please let me know your top three. Top vote-getters will be banished from this blog.
Popularity: 5% [?] | <urn:uuid:8cf02b65-c678-4035-9488-4b561b49f93a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.ednewscolorado.org/2010/11/30/from-the-publisher-hubris-vs-parochialism/comment-page-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960335 | 1,279 | 1.679688 | 2 |
This has now been confirmed by Debbie Nelson, the incoming principal of Jane Addams. See this story in the P-I.
It is possible that the District may have changed their mind about the capacity needs of Northeast Seattle. They may choose to re-open Sand Point as a K-5 elementary and convert Jane Addams to a comprehensive 6-8 middle school.
This is - I repeat - strictly a rumor and not confirmed.
If this is true, however, it raises a lot of questions about the District's processes for making capacity decisions.
First, when all the world was telling them to do it that way six months ago, why didn't they agree?
Second, how can they make these changes after open enrollment, after families have made plans and commitments? If you enrolled your child in the K-5 program at Jane Addams, how do you feel about the idea that the program will be closed in a couple years - possibly before your child leaves it? How do you feel about it if your child got a mandatory enrollment to the K-5 there?
Third, what sort of commitment can anyone expect to the K-5 program from any source? From the community? From the building staff? From the District? Who is going to enroll in the program next year or the year after if they know that the program is closing? Who will come and work there? What resources will the building or the District commit to the program knowing that it is closing?
Fourth, what will become of the students in the K-5 program when it closes? Will they be re-located to Sand Point? From the north end of the cluster to the south end of the cluster? Will the District find some place for them in nearby schools? Which ones will have space?
This would normally be welcomed as good news. This is what people were asking for six months ago. But six months ago the District was adamantly opposed to it - so what changed their minds and why weren't the voices of the community and the reasons provided by the community enough to change their minds six months ago? What new data has come to light? And why is that new data convincing and persuasive when the community's voices could not be convincing or persuasive? I guess this will reveal who the District listens to and what really does influence their decisions. We already know what doesn't. | <urn:uuid:4e00d7a4-dfd9-4683-8b9c-fadca1f29421> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2009/05/jane-addams-rumor.html?showComment=1243526928569 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976565 | 482 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Bluegrass Elementary won first place and was presented with a plaque and $500 toward their Physical Education program.
Carter Elementary placed third and received a plaque and $100 toward their Physical Education program.
Fittest School Challenge Results are In!
Results are in for the 2009 Fittest School Challenge. Knox County Elementary schools competed for this year's challenge. Results were tabulated by the participation percentage of each school. Click here to read the press release.
Here are the results:
1 – Blue Grass Elementary
2 – Sequoyah Elementary
3 – Carter Elementary
4 – Rocky Hill Elementary
5 – Halls Elementary
6 – Cedar Bluff Elementary
7 – Hardin Valley Elementary
8 – AL Lotts Elementary
In addition to the Knox County Elementary Schools listed above, we had many other schools with lots of children participate in the Covenant Kids Run. Here are some of the top schools outside of the Knox County Elementary Schools:
1 - Early Learning Center at the University of Tennessee
2 - Norris Elementary
3 - Crossroads Christian Academy
4 - John Sevier Elementary
5 - Woodland Elementary
Congratulations to all the schools represented this year!
Read more about our Kids Run Mascots: Eddie B. Steady and Ace Smart!
Recent Studies show that there is an obesity epedemic among children in Tennessee - Click here for a fact sheet about Tennessee's Youth.
Cold Weather is upon us! Need some ideas for outside activities in the winter? Click here for our Winter Outdoors Activities Sheet.
EXERCISE ROUTINES - Hey kids; we know that sometimes it's not feasible to run or walk a mile. So we've developed some exercise routines to follow that count as a mile in your mileage logs!
Beginner Exercise Routine
Intermediate Exercise Routine
Advanced Exercise Routine
With the wonderful support of Covenant Health, we are happy to offer the 1.2 mile Covenant Kids' Run as part of the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon.
Date: Sat, 3/27/10
Time: 6:00 p.m.
The Covenant Kids Run is a program created to encourage our local children to lead healthy and active lifestyles while participating in an exciting, goal oriented, community event. Those participating will run a total of 25 miles in the time period leading up to the race (March 27, 2010). On race day, participants will run a 1.2 mile course, finally completing the marathon distance of 26.2 miles. They have an option to run or walk the 26.2 miles. Our goal is not only to address personal fitness, but to build self esteem and confidence through goal setting and teamwork.
Parents and/or teachers are encouraged to help during the process. Coupon rewards will be provided at various points along the way! All logs should be turned in upon packet pickup at the Health and Fitness Expo. Packet pick-up will be at the Expo on Saturday, March 27th at the
Convention and Exhibition Center. Be sure and show up in plenty of time to pick up your child's packet, browse the expo, and head over to the start line of the 2010 Covenant Kids' Run!
All participants will receive a log and fun tracking map to help them with their progress. These "mileage logs" will be available in January 2010!
All participants will receive a t-shirt (YOUTH SIZES), post-race refreshments, and a finishers' medal.
All finishers' names will be sent to the Knoxville News Sentinel to be published the day after the race!
Registration will open in the fall of 2009. Stay tuned! | <urn:uuid:dec51735-5732-4946-827c-6aada7dc03a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marathonguide.com/knoxvillemarathon/RaceInfo/KidsRun.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923382 | 749 | 1.867188 | 2 |
If you’ve recently bought sheets or clothing reported to have been made with bamboo, you might need to take a closer look at the fabric.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, your purchase may not have been as environmentally friendly as you thought.
The FTC has sent letters to 78 retailers, including such big names as Target, Walmart and J.C. Penney, warning them that they could face fines if they label rayon products as bamboo in order to lure in eco-conscious consumers.
Rayon is a man-made fabric created “from the cellulose found in plants and trees and processed with harsh chemicals that release hazardous air pollution,” the FTC explained in a statement. Bamboo can be the source of cellulose, but the fiber should be labeled as rayon.
Failing to comply with labeling rules after receiving one of the FTC’s letters could result in fines of up to $16,000, the FTC said in a statement.
In August, the agency sued four companies regarding their eco-friendly bamboo fabric claims. According to Bloomberg:
The lawsuits challenged claims that the textiles are made using an environmentally friendly process, that they retain antimicrobial properties of the bamboo plant and that they are biodegradable, FTC Associate Director James A. Kohm said in the letters.
On its Web site, Target now is touting “rayon from bamboo sheets.” According to a company spokeswoman, Target has been reviewing its assortment and making changes to the way it labels products even before the letter from the FTC. (more…) | <urn:uuid:0f208c35-2653-4baf-a3fa-4f366007d8b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/malled/tag/bamboo/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965526 | 323 | 2.515625 | 3 |
I am currently implementing more things into my model of a common kitchen / manufacturing scale and came up with the idea to assign different values to the gain variables of the PID controlling the system. The manner after which different values should be assigned to my variable is the following:
Assume this were the signal the controller reacts to (e.g. a voltage that is directly linked to the angular velocity)
Now i would like to assign a different value for every "section" of my signal. By "section" I am referring to the parts of the signal between two neighbouring zeros of the function.
This would allow me to control the behavior of my system in a very precise manner. (Instead of just applying constant or time depended gain variables).
The actual question:
Is it actually possible to implement such a behavior with adequate performance---remember that the gain variables are part of an equation inside
NDSolve and the whole thing should be so responsive that it is (still) usable with dynamics.
The only way i can think of would be something like a nested
If construct that jumps to a deeper level when
signal==0 appears, assigns a new value to the gain variables and then keeps looking out for another
signal==0, then jumps to the next level, and so on and so forth.
...sounds pretty slow to me and therefore I did't even consider to actually try it out. Hopefully someone else out there has a better idea how to solve the issue. The next step, considered someone came up with a nice idea, would be to make the transition from one gain value to the next smooth (maybe something using
Interpolation?). I would guess this had a better impact on the continuity of the system response.
Addition Using the suggestion concerning the "EventLocator" method for NDSolve, that came from the comments below, I actually managed do get the function to find the positions where the value of my control variable is zero (and e.g. print their positions). Now I am looking for an elegant way to tell "EventAction" what to do with my gain variables.
As mentioned before, I would like to use a list of values (that can be controlled by sliders) that than may be assigned to the first few segments detected by EventLocator (naturally it detects more segments than i actually need).
Another issue yet to solve is to smoothen the transition from one gain value to another between the various segments. I guess without smooth transitions the whole system response will get "jumpy" | <urn:uuid:5eda9e14-4927-4e3c-b92c-31692e986322> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathematica.stackexchange.com/questions/14462/applying-individual-values-e-g-from-a-list-to-the-gain-variable-of-a-common-p?answertab=oldest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948615 | 523 | 1.875 | 2 |
Two open calls for residencies, more details here. Apply now!
Tue - Sat, 12 - 6PM / 212.937.6580 / 540 W 21st St. New York, NY 10011
Twentieth-century art history is not just a history of individuals, but of collectives, groups. Universities and colleges have had much to do with this through their support of artistic communities and creative interactions. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Bauhaus was known for this. In the 1940s, Black Mountain College became a leader in community-based visual art practice and education. And in the 1970s and 1980s, the Department of Media Study at the State University of New York at Buffalo was the place to be. It was there, in 1973, well before any other university had a program explicitly devoted to media art, that Gerald O'Grady founded a media study program that is now legendary. Artists—including avant-garde filmmakers Hollis Frampton, Tony Conrad, and Paul Sharits, documentary maker James Blue, video artists Woody Vasulka and Steina, and Viennese action artist Peter Weibel—investigated, taught, and made media art in all forms, and founded the first Digital Arts Laboratory. These Buffalo faculty members were not just practicing artists, but also theorists who wrote and spoke on issues raised by their work. They set the terms for the development of media art and paved the way for the triumph of video installation art in the 1990s.
The images and texts in Buffalo Heads bear witness to the groundbreaking events at the Buffalo Center for Media Study. The book presents not just a tribute to a famous media department finally receiving its due; it is a rich inventory of primary texts (many never before published), works that will improve our understanding of media, amplify our cultural memory, and offer a perspective on contemporary issues.
Artists: James Blue, Tony Conrad, Hollis Frampton, Gerald O'Grady, Paul Sharits, Steina, Woody Vasulka, and Peter Weibel | <urn:uuid:b8e62a04-ade2-43a2-93d2-bdb1377d4570> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eyebeam.org/buffalo-heads | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960806 | 421 | 2 | 2 |
Topping one gigawatt in solar power production on a hot August day was a milestone that both shows how far California has come with solar power and how far it has to go.
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which runs the state’s grid, said the state cracked one gigawatt for the first time and hit a utility-scale solar generation peak of 1,003 megawatts on Tuesday, Aug. 14.
First time over the one gigawatt mark (image via California ISO)
That record of 1,003 megawatts has since been broken several times, with the latest high-water (high-sunlight?) mark coming on Friday, Aug. 31, at 1,076 megawatts. CAISO says one megawatt can meet the instantaneous demand of at least 750 homes, so in these instances, solar was powering more than 750,000 California homes.
Peak output is just a snapshot in time, however, and solar’s climb over the one-gigawatt barrier invites a closer look at how solar fits into the Golden State’s energy picture. Let’s go back to Aug. 14 to get a sense of that.
Solar generating stations began to trickle power onto the grid around 6 a.m. Production climbed throughout the morning, peaking around 1 p.m. It began to slide very slowly in the next couple hours, was off 10 percent by 3 p.m., and then took a steeper drop. By 6 p.m. it was down to half of what it had been six hours earlier. By 10 p.m., the last solar-inspired electrons had moved.
It all added up to 8,843 megawatt-hours of electricity flowing onto the grid, out of 869,260 megawatt-hours of electricity used by Californians that day. That means wholesale solar accounted for almost exactly one percent of the day’s electricity demand. (Wind power, meanwhile, met 3.7 percent of the day’s electricity demand.)
Renewables production, Aug. 14, 2012 (image via California ISO)
This makes the point, if it wasn’t already obvious, that solar has a great distance to travel before it can be seen as a big contributor in meeting California’s electricity needs. But it’s hardly enough to dismiss solar, for a couple of reasons.
First, go back to Aug. 14, 2010, and on that day, you’ll find solar’s contribution to the grid to be less than three-fifths what it was on Aug. 14, 2012. From 0.6 percent to 1 percent of total generation might sound small, but it’s a big jump in just two years, and with several utility-scale plants in development -- giant ones like Solar Ranch One in the Antelope Valley and Ivanpah in the Mojave Desert, and many smaller ones, too -- there’s no reason to think growth won't continue at a fast or even accelerating pace.
Plus, remember, we’re talking only about wholesale solar here. California also has more than 1 gigawatt of solar capacity behind meters -- on the roofs of businesses and homes all over the state -- that isn’t included in the California ISO totals. As Vote Solar noted, “When you add the 1.2 gigawatt and counting of customer-owned solar generation that serves onsite load, the total more than doubles.” And that total is growing fast, too. | <urn:uuid:1e854ddf-2df1-48ca-913f-d81484cbd115> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/californias-1-gigawatt-solar-milestone-what-does-it-mean/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944331 | 737 | 3.015625 | 3 |
This is a really interesting column on the shortcoming of the patent system in the pharmaceutical industry. It isn't written by Joe-average blogger, it is written by Nobel prize winner and former chief economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz.
Prizes, Not Patents
Part of modern medicine’s success is built on new drugs, in which pharmaceutical companies invest billions of dollars on research. The companies can recover their expenses thanks to patents, which give them a temporary monopoly and thus allow them to charge prices well above the cost of producing the drugs. We cannot expect innovation without paying for it. But are the incentives provided by the patent system appropriate, so that all this money is well spent and contributes to treatments for diseases of the greatest concern? Sadly, the answer is a resounding “no.”
The fundamental problem with the patent system is simple: it is based on restricting the use of knowledge. Because there is no extra cost associated with an additional individual enjoying the benefits of any piece of knowledge, restricting knowledge is inefficient. But the patent system not only restricts the use of knowledge; by granting (temporary) monopoly power, it often makes medications unaffordable for people who don’t have insurance. In the Third World, this can be a matter of life and death for people who cannot afford new brand-name drugs but might be able to afford generics. For example, generic drugs for first-line AIDS defenses have brought down the cost of treatment by almost 99% since 2000 alone, from $10,000 to $130.
But, despite the high price they pay, developing countries get little in return. Drug companies spend far more money on advertising and marketing than they do on research, far more on research for lifestyle drugs (for conditions like impotence and hair loss) than for lifesaving drugs, and almost no money on diseases that afflict hundreds of millions of poor people, such as malaria. It is a matter of simple economics: companies direct their research where the money is, regardless of the relative value to society. The poor can’t pay for drugs, so there is little research on their diseases, no matter what the overall costs.
A “me-too” drug, for example, which nets its manufacturer some portion of the income that otherwise accrues only to the company that dominates a niche, may be highly profitable, even if its value to society is quite limited. Similarly, companies raced to beat the human genome project in order to patent genes such as that associated with breast cancer. The value of these efforts was minimal: the knowledge was produced just a little sooner than it would have been otherwise. But the cost to society was enormous: the high price that Myriad, the patent holder, places on genetic tests (between $3,000 and $4,000) may well mean that thousands of women who would otherwise have been tested, discovered that they were at risk, and taken appropriate remediation, will die instead.
There is an alternative way of financing and incentivizing research that, at least in some instances, could do a far better job than patents, both in directing innovation and ensuring that the benefits of that knowledge are enjoyed as widely as possible: a medical prize fund that would reward those who discover cures and vaccines. Since governments already pay the cost of much drug research directly or indirectly, through prescription benefits, they could finance the prize fund, which would award the biggest prizes for developers of treatments or preventions for costly diseases affecting hundreds of millions of people.
Especially when it comes to diseases in developing countries, it would make sense for some of the prize money to come from foreign assistance budgets, as few contributions could do more to improve the quality of life, and even productivity, than attacking the debilitating diseases that are so prevalent in many developing countries. A scientific panel could establish a set of priorities by assessing the number of people affected and the impact on mortality, morbidity, and productivity. Once the discovery is made, it would be licensed.
Of course, the patent system is itself a prize system, albeit a peculiar one: the prize is temporary monopoly power, implying high prices and restricted access to the benefits that can be derived from the new knowledge. By contrast, the type of prize system I have in mind would rely on competitive markets to lower prices and make the fruits of the knowledge available as widely as possible. With better-directed incentives (more research dollars spent on more important diseases, less money spent on wasteful and distorted marketing), we could have better health at lower cost.
That said, the prize fund would not replace patents. It would be part of the portfolio of methods for encouraging and supporting research. A prize fund would work well in areas in which needs are well known – the case for many diseases afflicting the poor – allowing clear goals to be set in advance. For innovations that solve problems or meet needs that have not previously been widely recognized, the patent system would still play a role.
The market economy and the profit motive have led to extremely high living standards in many places. But the health care market is not an ordinary market. Most people do not pay for what they consume; they rely on others to judge what they should consume, and prices do not influence these judgments as they do with conventional commodities. The market is thus rife with distortions. It is accordingly not surprising that in the area of health, the patent system, with all of its distortions, has failed in so many ways. A medical prize fund would not provide a panacea, but it would be a step in the right direction, redirecting our scarce research resources toward more efficient uses and ensuring that the benefits of that research reach the many people who are currently denied them.
http://www.project-syndicate.org/commen ... 81/English | <urn:uuid:03157f97-92c6-44a1-9b07-388e9a8e0c56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-discussion-f1/topic3755.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971126 | 1,186 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Long considered as the bastion of feudalism, Catholicism and religion always seem to be untouchable. It was often dangerous to remark something against it because individuals who do so were often declared as heretics. As a result, religion's potential as a social force and power has always been limited to spirituality. Its potential to develop societal beliefs, norms, and influence on political paradigm shifts had been obscured by its more obvious function. But new researches had shown and proven that religion, particularly the dominant Catholicism was a dominant influence in the political movements that shaped the nation.
The time of the Inca or the native Indians saw a wide differentiation of faith. There was no Catholicism and religion to speak of. The natives worshipped idols and the elements of nature. It was noted that how they practiced "religion" or faith was also the way they governed their lands. In their faith, there were many idols, each respected and worshipped. It was also the same way with their politics wherein they were governed by a council. Though there was usually a chieftain, he had a council of elders whom he consulted before any decision was made. In effect, there were many leaders. But despite the many leaders, evidences indicated that the natives never fought among themselves. They chose the strongest and wisest warrior to rule their land without any political parties. The decision is made by the council, the chieftain, and the community, in general.
The invasion of the colonizers and their own brand of religion brought significant changes in the political nature of the land. Catholicism and religion took hold of the land even with the resistance efforts of the Indians. Suddenly, there was only one God and the idols were banished. Coincidentally, this one-God mania also brought forth a change in the economic and political system of the land. There was only one recognized ruler, and that was the Catholic king. There was also a monopoly of goods in trade. But this Catholicism was obscured by the coming of the Puritans and The Quakers. Over time, America became a state that offered a diversity of religion. Curiously, this diversity of religion mirrored the shifts of political movements and economic trends. As there were many faiths, the country in practicality, was also ruled by federal system and democracy. There was also what was popularly known as the free trade or free market, wherein different individuals started their own trade rather than being apprentices to established companies. Thus, the religious diversity gave rise to capitalism. Possibly and probably, political and economic trends were dictated and determined by the dominant religious practices. It was also probable that the system worked in the opposite, with religious practices ordered by the economic and political atmosphere. But whatever direction this system has pursued, its repercussions were felt and influenced people's lives. | <urn:uuid:704674e0-eab4-469c-bb54-109d7c47138d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://society.ezine9.com/repercussion-of-faith-2679508202.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.991469 | 564 | 3.859375 | 4 |
LATEST NEWS AND STATEMENTS
Haiti – Third anniversary of the earthquake of 12 January 2010 (11.01.13)
Three years after the earthquake of 12 January 2010, which devastated the Port-au-Prince region and plunged Haiti into mourning, France is still standing alongside Haitians and supporting the reconstruction process and the country’s sustainable development.
Haiti: Appointment of Laurent Lamothe (15.05.12)
The formation of a government which has the support of the parliamentarians should allow the authorities to take resolute action to improve the fate of the people, to coordinate and implement major reconstruction projects and to establish effective governance across the country.
- Diplomatic Photo Gallery
- France / Haiti (in French) | <urn:uuid:35827ee9-4063-41b3-90e2-f7cc116ed149> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/haiti_473/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91323 | 156 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Fedora Women aims to provide a central forum and point of support for the often under-represented side of Fedora's Community.
A large portion of the Fedora userbase is made up of women. They are often under-represented within the community, with many people not even realizing how big a share of the community they are. The Fedora Women program aims to improve that representation and to provide a forum for the women of the Fedora Community.
Read more about our mission...
Communicate and Get Involved
The #fedora-women IRC channel on freenode is always available for live chat.
Women of Fedora
Lady contributors to the Fedora Project can add their wiki homepages to the CategoryWomen category. The CategoryWomen page can be used to locate them, along with other Fedora Women pages.
Joining the Fedora Project
Women who are interested in working with the Fedora Project can work with Fedora Women to get started. They can also work through the Fedora Mentors project to get assistance for every step. For more information about working with the Fedora Project, see these resources:
- fedora-announce-list Announcement
- FedoraNEWS.ORG Appearance
- Slashdot Announcement
- ZDNet News Article
- LinuxChix is a community of women working with Linux.
- GNOME Women is a group dedicated to providing encouragement for women to contribute to GNOME.
- KDE-Women is about building a community of female KDE contributors and users.
- The Debian Women Project seeks to balance and diversify the Debian Project by actively engaging with interested women and encouraging them to become more involved with Debian.
- Ubuntu-Women is a team functioning under Ubuntu to provide a platform and encouragement for women to contribute to Ubuntu. | <urn:uuid:538f7a0c-efad-41d5-97c8-764452c91715> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fedoraproject.org/w/index.php?title=Women&oldid=11317 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907014 | 356 | 1.828125 | 2 |
At the turn of the 20th century, bowling alleys routinely locked their doors for the summer, forcing bowlers to brainstorm alternatives. And so, in the early 1900s, a group of bowlers decided to tweak their pastime to accommodate off-season play, shrinking both bowling balls and pins. Modified rules allowed bowlers to roll their scaled-down balls three times per turn. And upon impact, the lighter-weight balls caused pint-size pins to skitter like a flock of ducks. Thus, duckpin bowling was born.
The accessible sport spread throughout the world and, near the peak of its popularity, found a home at Johnson's Duckpin Lanes in 1955. After undergoing renovations in 2009, the alley's synthetic lanes continue to delight duckpin bowlers all year long. The alley also entertains guests with an arcade, onsite snack bar, as well as personalized birthday parties, which unfold on weekdays and during weekend sessions of Glo & Bowl. | <urn:uuid:e6358cb2-39df-449b-972e-d929425e307e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.groupon.com/local/west-torrington-ct/things-to-do | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953245 | 198 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Ahhh, midin….the quintessential vege to indulge in whenever I’m in Sarawak. And it really is an indulgence because trust me, they’re getting more expensive and harder to find these days. This is because of tourism and the big restaurants are chalking up most of the midin supply. I don’t know if you can really ‘grow’ midin because it’s wild fern but I wonder if people could like…make cuttings out of it and plant it in various parts of the jungle and let itself take care of the rest. I do wonder that if foragers keep picking and not replanting, won’t the supply of midin end soon? That would be a sad day.
Sadly this is one vege you can’t get anywhere else. Currently, it only grows in the jungles/ forests of Sarawak. After picking, you have to consume it on the same day. It would not even last to the next day. I actually have an old post where I speculate the differences between midin and the normal paku you might find. Click on the picture caption.
You will hardly find midin in big, modern supermarkets. Most of the time it’s sold in wet markets or foragers who pick midin will just display their goods by the roadside early in the morning. They pick in the morning and sell it for the day because it wouldn’t last and they can’t keep them anyway. It is hard work and I get that prices are going up because of that but restaurants tend to be wasteful at how they prep it so I’d rather have them at home.
I tried looking for the health benefits of eating midin but could not locate a reliable source. Well, i guess if I have to go with the general, it’s a vegetable…eating vegetable’s always good for you and it’s wild so that means it’s chemical-free from any pesticides or herbicides. There are many ways to cook midin; with bird’s eye chillies, shrimp paste (belachan), dried shrimps, just simple garlic and onions…the important thing is to not lose that natural woodiness of the midin. I know in culinary terms, that’s not always a good thing but midin would not be midin without it.
I did a simple cooking video (below) of how the midin was cooked (my first! – Of course, hubster did the fine tuning). Well, to be more precise, when I said I did….I was the one taking the video and that’s my mother cooking. I also edited the video which was quite a feat for me considering I’m such a noob manipulating softwares and codes. It’s all Greek to me. If you can’t see anything the first time, click the refresh button, sometimes it takes a while to load. Hope you will enjoy it and try this dish when you visit Sarawak.
2 big bunches of Midin
3 cloves garlic, chopped or sliced roughly
1 1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon ang chiu / rice wine / Shaoxing
1/2 teaspoon salt / chicken powder
1/4 cup cornstarch slurry (1 teaspoon cornstarch
mixed with 1/4 cup water)
1. Prep your midin accordingly, break off the end bunches that is a bit tough and woody. Just bend the midin till it breaks at a point naturally. If it doesn’t it’s fine, that means the midin is in good condition.
2. Discard any leaves that looks old and wilted too.
3. Heat a wok till it’s hot. Add some sunflower oil and sautee the chopped garlic.
4. Sautee till it’s fragrant, add the prepped midin and stir fry.
5. Add some oyster sauce and rice wine. Stir fry for 1-2 mins.
6. Season with salt.
7. Pour in the cornstarch slurry last. Taste and adjust seasoning.
8. Dish and serve. Eat immediately!!
Check out my other MFF Submissions; | <urn:uuid:c5595059-12be-4623-bb8b-b316b876ab91> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.featsoffeasts.com/mff-sarawak-stir-fried-midin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93067 | 910 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Medical identity theft and Medicare fraud and abuse are serious issues. You can help others spot fraud, theft and errors by reviewing the Summary Notices your loved ones receive from Medicare.
Medical identity theft and Medicare fraud cost all of us over $60 billion every year, and that figure doesn’t account for the hassle and disruptions in health care to the victims.
By knowing what “red flags” to look for on Medicare Summary Notices (MSN), you can help your loved ones know how to spot potential fraud, abuse or medical ID theft. This guide will help you spot those flags – and will tell you what to do when you see them.
From 10 minutes to read a clean and accurate MSN to a couple hours if, for example, you spot problems and have to make some phone calls to sort out the issues.
Who can do this?
Everyone who has a friend, neighbor or loved one who uses Medicare.
Great Reasons to do this Project
- Help stop health care fraud
- Help stop medical identity theft
- Help a loved one keep track of their health expenses | <urn:uuid:d814e075-bd67-410f-97ce-3983fb645b41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://createthegood.org/toolkit/help-spot-medicare-fraud?how-to-toolkit=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925517 | 225 | 1.96875 | 2 |
With the decreasing time to market requirements for SoCs, increasing number of SoC gates at denser process nodes and increasing software content of products, platforms are a key capability for system solutions that can quickly be tailored to emerging requirements. Platforms leverage the broad range of third party software used for many of today's solutions by facilitating reuse of software across multiple applications and customers.
High-performance systems, such as residential gateways or consumer electronic systems, have higher bandwidth requirements and more complex system architectures to layer the I/O by bandwidth, security and peripheral functions with a broad range of general purpose I/O and timers.
Microcontroller platforms address a range of applications from single chip solutions for consumer, industrial and medical applications, to larger high-performance MCUs that are networked into the electronic control systems of vehicles or those used in industrial automation. 32-bit microcontroller platforms provide efficient utilization of non-volatile and RAM memory, both on and off chip, while enabling the integration of a broad range of peripherals. | <urn:uuid:d41ee114-1429-48e6-9d34-d20e79b6507d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imgtec.com/mips/mips-platforms.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919072 | 207 | 2.109375 | 2 |
public class PSQLDriverVersion
This class holds the current build number and a utility program to print
it and the file it came from. The primary purpose of this is to keep
from filling the cvs history of Driver.java.in with commits simply
changing the build number. The utility program can also be helpful for
people to determine what version they really have and resolve problems
with old and unknown versions located somewhere in the classpath. | <urn:uuid:a1d22f40-ea55-4259-9201-f17ef3e7cdf5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jdbc.postgresql.org/development/privateapi/org/postgresql/util/PSQLDriverVersion.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918149 | 92 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Revenue expenditure is identified with the direct costs or inputs such as seeds, labour, feedstuffs, haulage, veterinary fees, AI, rent etc. incurred in developing produce to the point of sale. A Revenue expense is allowed fully as a tax deduction in the year incurred.
Capital expenditure on the other hand is incurred in providing assets which are necessary in carrying out the farming operation but do not themselves form part of the finished product when it is sold e.g. farm buildings, motor car, tractor, farm implements, yards, roadways. An allowance for capital expenditure as a deduction against trading profits is not given in the normal manner by deducting the amounts paid from profits in the year in which the money is spent. The capital expenditure is written off on a straight line basis over a number of years as follows:
|Expenditure 04/12/2002 onwards||Expenditure Incurred 01/01/01 to 03/12/2002|
|Plant & Machinery||12.5% per year||20%|
|Farm Buildings & land improvement||15% per year||15%|
|Motor Vehicles||12.5% per year||20%|
Farm Buildings Allowance - Pollution Control
There is a special Capital Allowances Scheme for work on farm buildings and structures associated with pollution control where the work was carried out between 1st January 2005 and 31st December 2010. For works carried out after 31st December 2010 the normal 7 year write-off period applies. There is an accelerated allowance in Year 1 of the lesser of €50,000 or 50% of the qualifying expenditure. This Year 1 allowance is regarded as a “floating allowance” which may be taken in whole or in part at any time over the writing down period i.e. 3 years. The balance of the expenditure is written off over the 3 years (33% per annum). The allowance is calculated on the expenditure net of grants and vat refund/credit.
Conditions to be satisfied
- Work must be carried out prior to 31st December 2010.
- A Farm Nutrient Management Plan must be drawn up by an agency or planner approved by the Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry.
- The plan must be delivered to the Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry.
- The buildings and structures must be constructed in accordance with the Farm Nutrient Management Plan and certified as being necessary for the purpose of securing a reduction in or the elimination of any pollution arising from the trade of farming.
- The building must be in use before the claim is allowable.
Milk Quota - Capital Allowances
Capital allowances are available to farmers for expenditure incurred on or after 6th April 2000 on the purchase of any qualifying milk quota. The rate of the allowance is 15% per year for six years and 10% in the 7th year.
The amount of expenditure which qualifies for relief is limited to the lesser
(i) The amount of the capital expenditure incurred on the purchase of a qualifying quota or
(ii) The amount of capital expenditure which would have been incurred on the purchase of that milk quota under a Milk Quota Restructuring Scheme.
Sale of Milk Quota
Where a tax deduction has been claimed on the purchase of milk quota and the quota is subsequently sold, a balancing charge or a balancing allowance will arise which is calculated by reference to the tax written down value of the quota at the date of sale.
Capital Allowances - Motor Vehicles
1.Cars purchased prior to 1st July 2008
The calculations are based on the value of the car at the time of purchase, subject to a ceiling of €24,000.
|Capital Allowances on a Car|
|Restricted to €24,000||€24,000|
|Allowance @ 12.5% (12.5% of €24,000)||€3,000|
|Disallow 1/3 x €3,000 for private use||(€1,000)|
|Capital allowance for year||€2,000|
2. Cars purchased on or after 1st July 2008
In an effort to promote the use of cleaner low emission cars, Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), Motor Tax and Income Tax capital allowances on cars are now linked to C02 emissions. The C02 emissions of a car replaces engine size and are graduated as one moves up the C02 bands, as follows:
|C02 Emissions per Kilometre|
|Band A||Less than 120 grams|
|Band B||Between 121 and 140 grams|
|Band C||Between141 and 155 grams|
|Band D||Between 156 and 170 grams|
|Band E||Between 171 and 190 grams|
|Band F||Between 191 and 225 grams|
|Band G||More than 225 grams|
Cars registered before 2008 (i.e.) cars in the motor tax system before 2008 continue to be taxed under the pre 2008 system related to engine size (cc).
CALCULATING THE MOTOR CAR CAPITAL ALLOWANCES
Categories A, B and C (emission band g/km 0-155)
For vehicles in bands A, B and C the allowable cost for capital allowances purposes is €24,000 irrespective of actual cost.
|John Farmer purchases a car with a carbon emissions level of 130g/km (a category B car) for €20,000.|
|John Farmer can claim capital allowances based on a cost of €24,000 even though he paid €20,000 for the car.|
Categories D and E (emission band g/km 156-190)
For vehicles in bands D and E the allowable cost for capital allowances
Where the retail price of the vehicle is less than or equal to €24,000, 50% of that price or
Where the cost is greater than €24,000, 50% of €24,000.
|Mary Farmer purchases a business car with a carbon emissions level of 160g/km (a category D car) for €36,000. Capital allowances are claimable by Mary but the amount on which the allowances are available is restricted to €12,000 i.e. 50% of €24,000.|
Categories F and G (emission band g/km 190+)
For vehicles in bands F and G no capital allowances are available.
A full guide to individual motor vehicles and their CO2 emission status is available on the Society of Irish Motor Industries website at www.simi.ie
In reading this taxation section interpret the word "he" as meaning he or she and the law stated as at 6th December 2011 incorporating the 2012 budget proposals.
Disclaimer: The taxation content prepared by IFAC Accountants in this publication is intended as an aid to farmers and has been written in general terms and is intended as a guide only and is not intended to be a comprehensive statement of relevant law or regulation with its application to specific situations depending on the particular circumstances involved.
It should not be used as a basis of any conclusion drawn or argument made and the original legislation should be consulted at all times. Accordingly, the reader should seek proper professional advice if acting on any of the issues outlined in this publication and this publication should not be relied upon as a substitute for such advice. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the author or publisher will not accept any liability for loss, distress or damage resulting from any errors or omissions. | <urn:uuid:4b852760-9fba-4d09-b968-19998dea3b98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ifac.ie/ifac_taxation3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93223 | 1,551 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Cardiology is an associated division of the Children’s National Heart Institute, an international leader in comprehensive cardiac care for infants, children, and adults.
The Heart Institute coordinates all aspects of care for patients with cardiac conditions, from fetuses and children with heart murmurs to adults with congenital heart disease. Our goal is to provide early intervention, maximize the quality of our patients’ lives, and ease the stress on families.
Leading Experts in Cardiology
Parents from around the region, nation, and world seek care and treatment from Children’s multidisciplinary team in a family-friendly setting. Our dedicated cardiologists, surgeons, interventionalists, intensivists, fetal heart specialists, cardiac anesthesiologists, and nurse practitioners provide specialized care for patients in the areas of:
The Heart Institute is one of only a few programs in the country with a specialized team of pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists who provide anesthesia and pain management for patients with congenital heart disease.
Cardiology Division Chief Charles Berul, MD, is an internationally recognized pediatric electrophysiologist, renowned for his extensive clinical and research experience, and expertise in inherited heart rhythm abnormalities, pacemaker and defibrillator implantation, and cardiac screenings for pediatric athletes. He leads a team of 35 cardiologists who see patients throughout the metro region.
Innovative Comprehensive Care for Patients and Families
At Children’s National, we believe that comprehensive care means the best clinical care for patients and innovative programs to support their families.
While your child is a patient with Children’s National, you have access to a wide range of services and resources to help you cope with your child’s illness — from the time you arrive, you can count on an extensive network of providers who make sure all of your needs are met:
As well, Children’s National is a pioneer in continuity of care for adults with congenital heart disease. To ensure that our patients continue with appropriate cardiac care as adults, we established the Washington Adult Congenital Heart (WACH) program, an innovative collaborative care partnership with the Washington Hospital Center.
Children’s also developed Follow My Heart to help patients with congenital heart disease take an active role in managing their condition, particularly as they transition from pediatric to adult care. Follow My Heart is an online personal health record, which can be accessed through any Internet connection so patients and healthcare providers have easy access to the patient’s medical history.
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- Departments & Programs - Children's National Medical Center | <urn:uuid:8e12bcf8-692a-4228-802e-9104771238e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.childrensnational.org/DepartmentsAndPrograms/default.aspx?Id=358&Type=Dept&Name=Cardiology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920129 | 527 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Boffins program peripheral visions for ultra TV immersion
Viewers 'feel' explosions
Scientists have improved the immersive experience of watching telly, with projectors which extend our views into peripheral vision territory.
Researchers at MIT's Media Lab have put together software which extends the image viewed on our tellies onto extra screens in a suitably blurry fashion to mimic what we see in our peripheral vision.
The system, called Infinity-By-Nine, is essentially Ambilight on steroids, with viewers perceiving the extra imagery as a natural extension of the primary content.
The team said tests revealed that viewers believed they were drawn further into the on-screen story, and that the system can be used to induce other sensations, such as the feeling of heat following an on-screen explosion.
As it can run on any consumer-ready hardware, with the right projector setup, any Joe Bloggs can make use of it. And TV content is merely the beginning.
Videogaming, UI design and other areas where a user's vision is concentrated on a central area, have been earmarked for peripheral enhancement too. ® | <urn:uuid:f831f9fa-8b79-433c-bff1-8cf523a4ef6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/25/boffins_program_peripheral_vision_for_ultra_tv_immersion/print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942224 | 231 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Roberto Burle Marx
Roberto Burle Marx (August 4, 1909 – June 4, 1994) was a Brazilian landscape architect (as well as a painter, print maker, ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician) whose designs of parks and gardens made him world famous. He is accredited with having introduced modernist landscape architecture to Brazil. He was known as a modern nature artist and a public urban space designer.
Life and career
Roberto Burle Marx was born in São Paulo. He was the fourth son of Cecilia Burle, an upper class Brazilian Catholic woman whose family came from Pernambuco and France, and Wilhelm Marx, a Jewish German, born in Stuttgart and raised in Trier, also the birthplace of Karl Marx, a cousin of his grandfather's. Burle Marx's first landscaping inspirations came while studying painting in Germany, where he often visited the Botanical Garden in Berlin and first learned about Brazil's native flora. Upon returning to Brazil in 1930, he began collecting plants in and around his home. He went to school at the National School of Fine Arts in Rio in 1930 where he focused on visual arts under Leo Putz and Candido Portinari. While in school he associated with several of Brazil’s future leaders in architecture and botanists who continued to be of significant influence in his personal and professional life. One of these was his professor, Brazilian Modernism’s Lucio Costa, the architect and planner who lived down the street from Burle. In 1932, Burle Marx designed his first landscape for a private residence by the architects Lucio Costa and Gregori Warchavchik. This project, the Schwartz house was the beginning of a collaboration with Costa which was enriched later by Oscar Niemeyer who designed the Brazilian Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. Niemeyer also designed the Pampulha complex in 1942 for which Marx designed gardens.
In 1949 he acquired the 365,000m² estate Barra de Guaratiba (just outside of Rio de Janeiro). Burle Marx began taking expeditions into the Brazilian rain forest with botanists, landscape architects, architects and other researchers to gather plant specimens. He learned to practice studying plants in situ from the botanist Henrique Lahmeyer de Mello Barreto and established his garden, nursery and tropical plant collection at Guaratiba. This property was donated to the Brazilian government in 1985 and became a national monument. Now called Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, under the direction of IPHAN-Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional / Ministério da Cultura, it houses over 3,500 species of plants. The house was rebuilt in a valley on the site of a garden house belonging to the original plantation estate.
Roberto Burle Marx founded a landscape studio in 1955 and in the same year he founded a landscape company, called Burle Marx & Cia. Ltda.
Much of his work has a sense of timelessness and perfection. His aesthetics were often nature based, for example, never mixing flower colours, utilisation of big groups of the same specimen, using native plants and making a rocky field into a relaxing garden. He was very interested in each plant's character and what effect that has on the whole garden. He opened an office in Caracas, Venezuela in 1956 and started working with architects Jose Tabacow and Haruyoshi Ono in 1968. Marx worked on commissions thorough out Brazil, Argentina, in Chile and many other South American countries, France, South Africa, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. Additionally his artwork can be found displayed throughout the city of Rio de Janeiro “it is an open-air museum of works displaying his unmistakable style, one wholly his own” (Montero 2001 p. 29). Roberto Burle Marx’s 62 year career ended when he died June 4, 1994 two months before his 85th birthday.
He spent time in the Brazilian forests where he was able to study and explore. This enabled him to add significantly to the botanical sciences, by discovering new rocks and plants for example. At least 30 plants bear his name. Marx was also involved in efforts to protect and conserve the rain forest from the destructive commercial activities of deforestation for bananas and other crops and clear cutting of timber.
Marx’s work “can be summarized in four general design concepts—the use of native tropical vegetation as a structural element of design, the rupture of symmetrical patterns in the conception of open spaces, the colorful treatment of pavements, and the use of free forms in water features” (Vaccarino 2000, p. 17). This approach is exemplified by the Copacabana Beach promenade, where native sea breeze resistant trees and palms appear in groupings along Avenida Atlantica. These groupings punctuate Portuguese stone mosaics which form a giant abstract painting where no section along the promenade is the same. This “painting” is viewed from the balconies of hotels, and offers an ever changing view for those driving along the beach. The mosaics continue the entire two and a half mile distance of the beach. The water feature, in this case, is of course the ocean and beach, which is bordered by a 30 foot wide continuous scallop patterned mosaic walk (Eliovson 1991; Montero 2001). Copacabana Beach is “the most famous in Brazil” (Eliovson 1991 p. 103).
Roberto Burle Marx has received the following prizes, diplomas of merit and honorary memberships: The landscape architecture prize at the 2nd International Exhibition of Architecture (1953), title of Knight of the Order of the Crown from Belgium (1959), Diploma d’Honneur in Paris (1959), the Santos Dumont Medal of the Brazilian Government (1963), the Fine Arts Medal of The American Institute of Architects in Washington (1965), doctor of the Royal College of Art, London (1982) and an honorary doctorate from the Queen of Holland. The Missouri Botanical Garden awarded him the Greensfelder Award and the Kentucky Botanic Garden proclaimed October 14, 1985 in his honor (Eliovson 1991).
- Copacabana promenade - Pavement landscape, large scale (4 km long) mosaic completed in 1970 on famous Rio de Janeiro beach. (Influenced by Portuguese pavement)
- Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, 1954
- Flamengo Park - large public park in Rio de Janeiro built on landfill
- Venetian Palace - entrance, and extreme use of scale.
- Parque del Este, Caracas, Venezuela
- Cascade Garden, Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania
- Biscayne Boulevard, Miami, Florida (Completed posthumously)
- Peru Square, Buenos Aires, Argentina (Demolished)
- Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- Casa Forte Square (Praça de Casa Forte), Recife, Pernambuco-Brazil
- Cascata Farm, Araras-Brazil
- William Howard Adams (1991). Roberto Burle Marx: The Unnatural Art of the Garden. Museum of Modern Art, New York. ISBN 0-8109-6096-6.
- Anita Berrizbeitia (2005). Roberto Burle Marx in Caracas: Parque del Este, 1956–1961. Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture, University of Pennsylvania Press.
- S. Eliovson, R. Burle Marx (1991). The Gardens of Roberto Burle Marx. Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-160-2.
- M. Schwartz, M. I. Montero, R. Burle Marx (2001). Roberto Burle Marx. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23290-9.
- Roberto Burle Marx (1982). A Garden is Like a Poem. World Microfilms. ISBN 1-85035-075-2.
- Giulio G. Rizzo (1992). Roberto Burle Marx. Il giardino del Novecento (in Italian). Florence: Cantini editore.
- Giulio G. Rizzo (2009). Il giardino privato di Roberto Burle Marx: Il Sìtio. Sessant'anni dalla fondazione. Cent'anni dalla nascita di Roberto Burle Marx (in Italian). Roma: Gangemi Editore. ISBN 978-88-492-1987-6.
- Vaccarino, R (2000), Roberto Burle Marx: Landscapes Reflected, Princeton Architectural Press with the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roberto Burle Marx|
- Roberto Burle Marx, Encyclopædia Britannica.
- Burle Marx & Cia. Ltda, BR.
- Sítio Burle Marx (in Portuguese), BR: IPHAN.
- Sítio Roberto Burle Marx, BR: Maria Brazil. Tourist guide page with many pictures.
- Roberto Burle Marx, Land Living.
- "A New Look at the Multitalented Man Who Made Tropical Landscaping An Art", The New York Times, January 20, 2009. | <urn:uuid:670d0ff2-1d1f-4663-ac77-41bcb5abf981> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Burle_Marx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910855 | 1,967 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Barak: The Only Humanitarian Aid Needed in Gaza is for Shalit
"There are 1.5 million people living in Gaza and only one of them really needs humanitarian aid,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said to the Knesset on Monday. “Only one of them is locked in a tiny room and never sees the light of day, only one of them is not allowed visits and is in uncertain health – his name is Gilad Shalit, and this month four years will have passed since he was kidnapped.”
IDF soldiers who seized control of Gaza-bound ships last week will not face questioning, the Defense Minister said. There have been calls to investigate the incident, which led to a clash between soldiers and armed attackers on board the boats in which nine people were killed.
"I insist that soldiers not be required to undergo an investigation... We don't plan to investigate soldiers in Hebrew or in English,” he said in response to no-confidence measures brought before the Knesset.
While individual soldiers will not face investigation, the incident as a whole should be looked into in order to assess IDF performance, Barak continued. By investigating IDF decisions, Israel is better prepared for future operations, he said.
The defense minister countered accusations that the navy was unprepared for the level of armed resistance it encountered aboard the ship Mavi Marmara. “We very rarely have all the information before beginning an operation,” he said. “No operation goes exactly as planned. This isn't the movies... The line between success and failure is very thin.”
Barak defended the IDF naval blockade on Gaza, and termed the sending of ships to Gaza “a provocative move, intended primarily to create a violent, deadly collision.”
The defense minister rejected claims that the Israeli blockade has caused a crisis in Gaza. “There's no humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” he stated.
IDF Commander in Chief Gabi Ashkenazi later announced the members of an internal IDF committee of experts who will investigate the operation to stop the "pacifist" flotilla. | <urn:uuid:e7c72127-8450-46ba-8b51-73ad528bc875> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137934 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970231 | 438 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Saving an Endangered Tree
In accordance with the Royal Botanic Garden’s goal to conserve threatened native plants, the RBG Plant Nursery is targeting specific species for propagation and conservation.
One such plant is Moringa peregrina, a rare tree in Jordan.
The Moringa peregrina tree, also known as Moringa aptera, Al Yassar and Al Ban, can be found in arid areas like Wadi Araba and near the Dead Sea.
After flowering, it develops long pods that contain a number of seeds arranged in a row. The Bedouins boil the seeds and extract a sort of oil that is used in their diets.
This tree is very much endangered because the Bedouins let their goats browse on it and eat all green parts. Plus it is likely used as one of the Bedouin’s sources of wood for cooking and warmth in winter.
Seed Collection and Propagation
The RBG did some preliminary research to determine the location of Moringa peregrina trees in Jordan and the best time for collecting mature seeds.
We chose the Zara area of the Dead Sea as our target site, and knew that we needed to go seed collecting between July and October.
On August 11, 2010, an RBG team set off for Zara to collect seed pods.
The branches of the Moringa peregrina are easily broken. To avoid damaging the trees, the RBG staff did not climb any trees. Instead, they used long poles with hooks at the end to gently pull branches down and bring the seed pods within reach.
The staff separated the seeds from the pods, and then took the seeds to the Royal Botanic Garden. Some of the seeds have been stored in the RBG Seed Bank, and some were sown in the Plant Nursery.
This first phase of conservation and propagation has been successful, as we currently have about 200 Moringa peregrina seedlings growing in our Nursery. | <urn:uuid:496f5db5-b3ec-46e0-85c5-bd1b78c33111> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.royalbotanicgarden.org/page/success-stories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956654 | 420 | 3.3125 | 3 |
- What Exactly Is Inclusion?
- Full Inclusion
- Towards Full Inclusion In Golf
- Awareness Programs and Outings
- Hospital and Rehabilitation Golf Programs
- Specialized Programs
- Inclusive Golf Program
- Considerations for an Inclusive Golf Program
- Program Model Examples for Inclusive Golf
- United States Golf Association: For the Good of the Game program
Merriam-Webster defines inclusion as "a relation between two classes that exists when all members of the first are also members of the second". It really means that all people should "freely and openly be accommodated without restrictions or limitations of any kind" (Wikipedia). While the concept of inclusion is applicable to any minority group, the focus here is on people with disabilities as it relates to the game of golf.
Inclusion goes much further than the often used term "mainstreaming". Mainstreaming is limited to putting a person with a disability next to a person without a disability, in hopes that each will adapt to and learn about the other. Inclusion is when the whole of society, its physical accessibility and its social attitudes should exist with universal design in mind, thus ending marginalization towards people with different abilities (Wikipedia).
Inclusion is not a simple concept since it requires systemic change in attitudes and perceptions about who people with disabilities are. Inclusion means change! Changes needed might include:
- A more positive attitude toward certain mental traits or behaviors, or not underestimating the potential quality of life of those with impairments
- Social supports
- Help dealing with attitudinal barriers, resources, aids or positive discrimination to overcome them.
- Using suitable formats (e.g. Braille), levels (e.g. simplicity of language), or coverage (e.g. explaining issues others may take for granted)
- Physical structures
- Buildings with sloped access and elevators
The social model of disability implies that attempts to change, 'fix', or 'cure' individuals, especially when against the wishes of the person, can be discriminatory and prejudiced. It is often contended that this attitude, often seen as stemming from a medical model and a subjective value system, can harm the self-esteem and social inclusion of those constantly subjected to it (e.g. being told they are not as good or valuable as others in some overall and core sense (Wikipedia)).
Jack Pearpoint and Marsha Forest state that the real issue about inclusion for many people (although they often will not admit it) is Fear of Change! Many people in services are afraid they will lose their jobs; afraid of new responsibilities; afraid of what they don't understand; afraid of being accountable. The words that come out are:
- "But, we don't have enough money!"
- "But, we haven't been trained to take care of that!"
- "But, I didn't choose special ed!"
- "But, I don't have special curriculum guidelines, and I don't have time to create a special program for them".
- "But the other children will suffer!"
Most of the "buts" are about me, me, me. The buts that are couched in deprivation to the other children reflect both ignorance of virtually everything we've known for centuries about cooperative learning and peer tutoring, and too often are a guise to cover the truth, that "I am afraid!" This is the key phrase underneath most of the kvetching and whining. People are afraid 'they might catch IT'. These deep seated fears are a product of our culture. It is not the fault of individuals (teachers and human service workers) that they are afraid.
The answer is that we must face the fear, and do it anyway - include everyone. This may be uncomfortable - even terrifying for a few moments, but fears pass. When we face our fears, and proceed regardless, they immediately diminish and come into perspective (Pearpoint, J., & Forest, M. Inclusion: It's About Change! Inclusion Press International.)
Erik Olesen in his book 12 Steps to Mastering the Winds of Change says, "the mediocre resist change, the successful embrace it." We must invite success for inclusion and thus embrace change with all our hearts and souls. | <urn:uuid:0500c2a7-d43a-4cb5-b527-7aabbf2bbb7d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncpad.org/872/4968/Golf~~~Inclusion~-~The~Ultimate~Goal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94837 | 876 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Big guns such as Intel's chairman at the time, Craig Barrett wanted to ignore the netbook category, dismissing the OLPC "gadget" as unusable. Of course the original spec called for an AMD processor rather than one from Intel. Intel would eventually become a supporter of the project.
Microsoft's Bill Gates dissed the netbook, saying smartphones connected to televisions would be a better idea. Of course, the OLPC's original specification also included Linux, rather than Windows, as its base operating system. Eventually, Windows XP would be offered alongside the slimmed-down version of Linux Fedora, called Sugar. By 2008, the first copies of the OLPC XO-1 were rolling out. It's up to 1.75, as of this writing.
The market change
The OLPC design, and its descendent— the netbook— was viewed as some sort of proletariat uprising that privately must have made big hardware vendors giggle. No, they said, we're not jumping into the OLPC and netbook market—it's not worth our time. Intel would eventually join the bandwagon, but was perceived by many initially reacting and reflecting US notebook makers. Nonetheless, the feature set inspired Taiwanese and Chinese computer companies lusting for new markets to bring their ideas to market. Their engineers went to work—after all, most all of the world's notebooks are made in Taiwan and China, and they're likely to have lusted after market growth that wouldn't have to pay a tax to their OEM clients like HP, Dell, and IBM.
Even today, notebook retailing is a matter of dominating sales channels. Large hardware vendors like HP and Dell have product lines whose features are divided into perceived business and personal computing product lines. Differing brand names are used to differentiate how models are ostensibly poised, so as to help customers self-identify with feature and service sets.
In turn, big-box retailers use displays of graduated price models that in turn reflect ostensible feature sets into classes of target markets, such as the biggest notebooks as reflected in the desktop replacement market. The OLPC and netbook designs fell conveniently underneath the existing brands and target models within the brands.
Netbooks were comparatively bereft of popular notebook features like built-in DVD drives, large and bright displays, special graphics chipsets, high-capacity hard drives, memory card readers, and the plentiful number of port jacks usually found on larger machines. More importantly, however, the low price of netbook hardware was difficult to ignore. | <urn:uuid:d32cee84-0368-4097-bd19-846efaafeb70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itworld.com/hardware/176841/who-killed-netbook?page=0,2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973163 | 515 | 2.015625 | 2 |
The new California Academy of Sciences is headed toward completion, and the process of preparing the new facility, readying the exhibits, and moving the more than 20 million specimens in our natural history collections is keeping many of us very busy. You can find out more about the happenings here, and view a very nice video here.
Nevertheless, science goes on. While discussing our planned exhibit on climate change with some external designers a couple of weeks ago, one of them commented on the topic of “uncertainty.” She said that we should avoid the word at all costs because the general public already does not trust scientists, and that everytime they hear that particular word, it reinforces the notion that we scientists don’t know what we’re talking about (“You can’t even predict the weather 12 days from now!”). Is this true? Please send comments if you have any! Anyway, nothing could be farther from the truth. Let me tell you, Uncertainty is part of the beauty of the Universe.
When we (scientists) use the term Uncertainty, we mean either unknown, not understood, or unknowable. Let me attempt to explain using climate change science as an example. There is uncertainty in our predictions of the future’s climate because there are unknown quantities in our reasoning. Some of these quantities include important feedbacks in climate change processes that we simply have not recognized. For example, who would have thought ten years ago that as ice sheets melt, that they would lubricate and accelerate their own slide towards the sea? Other important unknowns include all the human ones. How quickly will the developing world increase its carbon emissions over the next 100 years? How much international economic cooperation can we all count on? Then there is the “not understood.” There are processes and phenomena whose science still escape us. E.g. we know that clouds play a role in climate, but will it be an important role as the planet continues to heat up? Will it be a cooling role? I don’t know, though there are some very clever people out there trying to figure it out.
And then there is the unknowable. The notion that once we’ve understood the mechanisms at work in the world, and have measured the right things, that we will be able to predict the future the way that we predict the ticking of a clock, is a deep-rooted consequence of the Newtonian and Cartesian revolutions. It is a dangerous hubris. The Universe does not work that way. The revolution of quantum physics told us that the Universe is random at the smallest scales. More recently, areas such as Chaos Theory and Catastrophe Theory have revealed that even the most innocent looking phenomena, such as weather(!), can be full of surprises. Take a look at this little equation.
X(t+1) = rX(t)(1-X(t))
It simply tells us that the size of an animal’s population, X, at time t+1 is the product of the population’s size at time t, multiplied by the typical birthrate of the species (r). If r is 3 (members of the population have 3 offspring per breeding season in excess of deaths), then we see that one can predict population size well into the future; it’s a simple cycle (upper graph). Sir Isaac is happy. Now, however, let’s say that r is 3.6 (I know, you can’t have three and a bit kids, but just indulge me). At this value, and for most values beyond, population size is effectively unpredictable! There’s no randomness here folks. This is a deterministic but inherently unknowable system! Welcome to Chaos Theory. And welcome to weather prediction. In this case, Uncertainty is not the result of ignorance, it is part of the inherently unknowable Universe. The system cannot tell us where it’s headed if the system itself doesn’t know. Beautiful.
Btw, if any of you yougsters out there think that you can predict where the second population is headed, then you deserve a Fields Medal (let me know; I’ll nominate you). In the next posting we’ll get back to our modeling, touch on Catastrophe Theory, and chat about tipping points.
Powered by ScribeFire. | <urn:uuid:a7bf91b1-2629-4044-8b1b-8151a7f4c274> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.calacademy.org/blogs/climate/?p=39 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938567 | 912 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Chapter XXXVIII.—Of the Difference Between the Knowledge of God and of Men, and of the Repose Which is to Be Sought from God Only.
53. We therefore see those things which Thou madest, because they are; but they are because Thou seest them. And we see without that they are, and within that they are good, but Thou didst see them there, when made, where Thou didst see them to be made. And we were at another time moved to do well, after our hearts had conceived of Thy Spirit; but in the former time, forsaking Thee, we were moved to do evil; but Thou, the One, the Good God, hast never ceased to do good. And we also have certain good works, of Thy gift, but not eternal; after these we hope to rest in Thy great hallowing. But Thou, being the Good, needing no good, art ever at rest, because Thou Thyself art Thy rest. And what man will teach man to understand this? Or what angel, an angel? Or what angel, a man? Let it be asked of Thee, sought in Thee, knocked for at Thee; so, even so shall it be received, so shall it be found, so shall it be opened. 1433 Amen. | <urn:uuid:08474acf-82fe-4419-88d8-ed213f1d2a08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/101/1010304.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963572 | 269 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Bob Love was a versatile forward who could shoot with both hands. Love was an All-American in 1963 at Southern University and in the Cincinnati Royals selected him in the fourth round of the 1965 NBA Draft. After a rocky start to his pro career, Love's break came when he was traded to the Chicago Bulls in the middle of the 1968-1969 season.
Love flourished while playing under coach Dick Motta. In 1969-1970, he became a full-time starter, averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds. The following season he averaged 25.2 points, appeared in the NBA All-Star Game for the first time, and earned All-NBA Second Team honors. Love appeared in two more All-Star games in 1972 and 1973, and he would average at least 19 points and six rebounds every season until 1976-1977. Love retired in 1977 with career totals of 13,895 points and 4,653 rebounds.
Unfortunately, Love had problems finding work after his playing career because he suffered from a serious stuttering problem. Inspiringly, Love eventually was able to receive speech therapy classes, and he returned to the Chicago Bulls in 1993 as their director of community relations. In recent years, Love has also become a popular motivational speaker. | <urn:uuid:9208f282-ea58-4510-80fa-95da9dc6aa5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nopactalent.com/celebrity/bob-love-speaker-appearance-booking-agent.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985031 | 253 | 1.679688 | 2 |
What is this world coming to? Another day brings another definition of love, marriage, religion, truth, civil rights and the church.
Can anyone remember when there was more confusion? Only in a culture bombarded by “tolerance” could these issues be debated with any seriousness.
It has been said loudly and proudly that gay marriage is a civil-rights issue. If that’s the case, then gays would be the new African-Americans. I’m here to tell you now, and hopefully for the last time, that the gay community is not the new “African-American” community. In fact, I think Christians are the new Negro – but that’s an issue for a follow-up column.
In 2005, the Rev. Jesse Jackson stated that the fight of gays and lesbians wanting to marry should not be compared to the fight African-Americans faced for civil rights. The comparison of the plight of the gay community to slavery is a stretch; remember, gays were never called “three-fifths” human, according to the Constitution, and they did not require the Voting Rights Act to gain the same democratic rights as whites.
What is this world coming to when you see the likes of myself, a conservative African-American, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a liberal African-American, both agreeing on the same subject?
Recently, over 100 black clergy met in Atlanta to publicly object to the comparison of gay marriage to the civil-rights movement.
I’m sure the gay community felt it was thrown a curve. It thought that the African-American community would stand with it in totality if it could convince us this was a civil-rights issue.
But many black clergy are offended that gay rights would be compared to civil rights. The circumstances are different. As an African-American, I can never expect to have the choice of, “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Gay marriage has reached the point it has because a few rebellious, headstrong judges in Massachusetts and a mayor in San Francisco openly defied state law. In California, the judges and the state attorney general were afraid to take any action in the face of gay voters, I am sad to say.
I agree with Thomas Sowell, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, who said:
“Gay marriage is not a local issue but a national issue because maintaining the rule of law – or what is left of it – is a national issue of historic importance if we are not to see America degenerate into the world’s largest banana republic, or worse.
“The time is long overdue to start impeaching judges who think their job is to veto laws they do not like or condone lawlessness that they agree with. An independent judiciary does not mean judges independent of the Constitution from which they derive their power or independent of the laws that they are sworn to uphold.”
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, on the heels of gay marriages in other parts of our country, issued an executive order recognizing gay marriages for city employees. My assumption is that he is willing to give up his own salary to help pay the cost of extending benefits to couples that are breaking this state’s law on marriage.
The voters will have the last word. When we go to the polls, we will not forget the public servants who think they are above the law.
What is our world coming to when the mayor and the King County executive favor what is, and should remain, against state law?
Homosexuals and their supporters insist that marriage is a fundamental right, and that to deprive them of this right is the most vicious form of discrimination. They also believe that to deny them this right makes them second-class citizens.
As Christians, we believe that homosexuality is simply an issue of sin, that God does not condone it and neither will we.
What is this world coming to when the regional United Methodist Church says that a minister has not violated God’s law by being a lesbian? For the church, this is not a civil-rights issue, it is a sexual-behavior issue.
I think the church should stop being “evangelly-fish,” with no “spiritual vertebrae.” Our battle cry, from here to eternity, should be, “We are not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The Bible teaches in the Old and the New Testaments that homosexuality is wrong; there is no place where homosexuality is ever talked about in a positive light. Leviticus 18:22 says that homosexuality is an abomination to God. Genesis 19 tells the story of Sodom and why God destroyed the city for the sin of homosexuality. In the New Testament, Romans 1:24-28, among other verses, says it is unnatural when a woman wants to lie with another woman and when a man wants to lie with another man.
Do we believe that the Bible is the word of God, or not? | <urn:uuid:16aa26ae-1022-4042-9369-df3892daed68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnd.com/2009/11/116595/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965211 | 1,040 | 1.875 | 2 |
Jakarta [3 June 2009]. On 9-13 August 2009, Bali will host the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) – the biggest congress on HIV and AIDS in the region. Approximately 3,000 delegates from 51 Asian and 14 Pacific countries are expected to attend this congress. The theme of the
9th ICAAP is “Empowering People, Strengthening Networks” to support a vibrant community of empowered people, all across Asia and the Pacific, to mobilize a holistic and more effective response to the crossborder challenges of today’s HIV pandemic.
The Local Organizing Committee Chair, Prof. Dr. Zubairi Djoerban,Sp.PD-KHOM, who is also the Chair of the Indonesian AIDS Society (Masyarakat Peduli AIDS Indonesia), said “we recognize that ICAAP is the second largest AIDS forum in the world and are grateful for the confidence in Indonesia to host this
important meeting. We are inspired by the decision and will work hard to assure that the congress activities will advance regional efforts to respond effectively to the challenge of HIV and AIDS today and in the future.”
Mr. JVR Prasada Rao, Director, Regional Support Team, Asia and the Pacific, Joint United Nations
Program on AIDS (UNAIDS), added, “the 9th ICAAP promises to be an even better and bigger conference
than previous ICAAPs. There will be evidence-based discussion on whether Universal Access can be an
achievable goal by 2010 for many countries in Asia and the Pacific. Every facet of the epidemic and the
region’s responses are featured in the wide array of session and activities.”
The congress will take place at the Bali International Convention Centre (BICC) in Nusa Dua, and is
scheduled to be officially opened on 9 August by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, in a ceremony at the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) Cultural Park.
ICAAP is a biennial gathering for the release and discussion of scientific, programmatic and policy
developments in the global response to HIV/AIDS and is convened by AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP).
In his message to the 9th ICAAP, Professor Myung-Hwan Cho, President of ASAP said that
“Indonesia has been given the opportunity to take bold and innovative steps n support of the regional
response to HIV and AIDS. Countries of Asia and other regions will be waiting to see Indonesia take the lead.”
According to the Independent Commission on AIDS in Asia (2008), AIDS remains the most likely cause of
death and loss of work days among people aged 15 to 44. The number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Asia in 2007 is an estimated 5 million, with a number of new infections (380,000) comparatively speaking equal to the number of people who died from AIDS-related illnesses (380,000). In Oceania an estimated 740,000 people were living with HIV in 2007 of which 13,000 were new infections.
Reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on HIV and AIDS requires all member countries to
halt and reverse the spread of the epidemic by 2015; this includes the Universal Access target of 2010 whereby all those who need treatment should also receive it, and the urgency to strengthen each country’s health system to ensure effective delivery of services and response.
Mr Rao continued, “what is really impressive is that the conference will showcase the immense progress
made by community groups, working together and in partnership with government and other partners, in
spearheading the response in many countries in the Asia Pacific region.”
Similar to previous ICAAPs, sessions will be divided into Plenary Sessions where distinguished
researchers, community leaders and policy specialists share the latest information and experiences; 24 symposia on topics such as addressing legal barriers and criminalization of at-risk populations, and a leadership session for delegates from the Pacific region; 64 oral sessions on topics related to prevention, care support and treatment of HIV and AIDS, understanding socio-cultural, economic and political determinants in the AIDS response, and on leadership.
Besides these, 32 skills-building workshops will also be held to help delegates improve various skills that
can apply to their daily work; Satellite Meetings and Exhibitions showcase the efforts of civil society and the private sector in the response to HIV and AIDS.
Distinguished guest speakers will include Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS Executive Director; Michel Kazatchkine, Director of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM); Kyung-Wha Kang, UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights; Dr Nafiz Sadik, Special Envoy for AIDS in Asia and the Pacific; Myung Hwan Cho, President of AIDS Society of Asia and Pacific (ASAP) and representatives from Seven Sisters, Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV (APN+), Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW), CARAM Asia, Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN), APCASO, APN Rainbow.
A Community Forum will also take place before the congress on 7–8 August, where various communities
each have their own conference to identify and share common issues and experiences. Seven
communities will be represented including people living with HIV (PLHIV); Injecting Drug Users (IDU);
Interfaith; Men who have sex with Men (MSM) and Transgender; Sex Workers; Women, including
Lesbians; and Youth.
The Asia-Pacific Village will be a friendly, fun and colorful venue to celebrate the region’s diversity, with arts and music performances, small group discussions, informal education activities, and regional stalls selling handicrafts and snacks made by people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
The Asia-Pacific Village will be open to the general public. Prior to the official opening ceremony on 9 August, a high-level meeting of AIDS Ambassadors will be held, co-hosted by the First Lady and National AIDS Ambassador, Mrs. Ani Bambang Yudhoyono, and AIDS Ambassador of Australia, Murray Proctor. The AIDS Ambassador’s Meeting will address the role of AIDS Ambassadors in the region in mobilizing greater action and accountability for the response.
For more information, please contact:
Ph 62-21 571-9973
Ph 62-21 571-9973
Public Information Officer | <urn:uuid:1662cf9e-a67f-4e25-af91-e76c586e54c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tiltedworld.org/tag/bali/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919869 | 1,387 | 1.5625 | 2 |
How to Get Started
To get started in the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program, complete the admissions process at El Centro College.
When you meet with an academic advisor, mention your interest in the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program so he or she can help you determine which courses you should take.
If you are planning to earn an associate degree or certificate, please note that you must complete 25 percent of your degree requirements at the college awarding the degree.
If you’re interested in applying to the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program, you must attend an information session, held monthly at the El Centro College Downtown Campus. This required session will address program admission, application and acceptance policies in detail. No advance reservation is necessary to attend an information session.
Get the information session schedule:
Program Admission Requirements
Acceptance to the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program is via a competitive selection process.
Admission requirements include an information session, a “shadow” experience, satisfactory scores on pre-entrance assessment testing, completion of program prerequisite courses with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher and completion of all requirements for admission as a full-time student to the college. Applicants are rank-ordered for admission based on grade point earned on prerequisite courses, interviews and recommendation letters.
In the associate degree program, the first year consists of the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology Core Curriculum. Enrollment at this point is open and students complete only the application process to El Centro College; no specific program application is required. Once you have completed the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology Core Curriculum and any other prerequisites, you may formally apply to the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program.
Application Filing Period
All potential students apply to the specialized ICVT career track during the spring semester, which begins in January. You will be expected to complete all support courses and admission requirements whether you are applying for the associate degree or certificate plan.
To formally apply to the ICVT program, you should submit completed application packets by Jan. 31. Students accepted into the program begin ICVT-specific courses that June.
There are 10 spaces available in each beginning class of the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program. If spaces in each beginning class are not filled during the regular registration period, the program will open registration to late application; the exact time period varies with each academic year.
See complete application requirements (PDF - 298KB)
Drug Testing and Criminal Background Check
All students enrolled in El Centro College’s Health Occupation programs are required by Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council member facilities to undergo drug testing and a criminal background check after admission to the program but within 30 days prior to the start of clinical rotations.
Dallas County residents pay $156 per three-hour class — that’s $52 per credit hour, or just $624 for a full semester load of 12 credit hours.
Compare that to what you’d pay elsewhere! See our tuition rates for tuition according to your place of residency.
Rising Star Program
If you are a Dallas County high school graduating senior, you may qualify for Rising Star funds to help pay for this program. The Rising Star program offers academic support services and up to $4,000 for tuition and books, if you have established financial need.
Courses Offered (Curriculum)
Our catalog provides detailed information about the courses we offer and the courses required for the following associate degree and certificate:
- Invasive Cardiovascular Technology Associate in Applied Sciences Degree
- Invasive Cardiovascular Technology Advanced Technical Certificate
Accreditation and Affiliations
Each of the Dallas County Community College District’s seven colleges — Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland — is individually accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
The Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program also is accredited by the Joint Review Committee on Education in Cardiovascular Technology and the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.
The Joint Review Committee on Education in Cardiovascular Technology is the accreditation body for invasive cardiovascular technology programs in two-year institutions.
The Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs is the largest programmatic accreditor in the health sciences field. In collaboration with its Committees on Accreditation, CAAHEP reviews and accredits more than 2,000 educational programs in 20 health science occupations and is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
We offer several other health care programs that might interest you, including the other specialized imaging programs based at El Centro College: Diagnostic Medical Sonography and Echocardiology Technology.
Other Degree and Certificate Options
The colleges of DCCCD offer nearly 350 career and technical degrees and certificates, plus more than 50 academic degrees. For more information, see a chart of our degree plans by college or visit our credit programs home page.
Developing Sklls for Success
The Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program is located in the Center for Allied Health and Nursing, in the Paramount Building at Market and Pacific streets, a block from the El Centro College Downtown Campus. Opened in June 2008 to house El Centro’s booming allied health programs, the center comprises 55 classrooms and labs that contain some of the most advanced equipment available to educate health care students.
The center’s high-tech equipment includes:
- teaching labs that simulate surgical and hospital settings for specific program applications
- microphones and cameras in each classroom to capture audio and video instruction
- three classrooms with videoconferencing for two-way viewing
- two simulation labs with computerized patient mannequins
Our Invasive Cardiovascular Technology faculty members have not only relevant degrees but also real-world experience in their profession, so they can relate to the challenges you’ll face at work. Our instructors work with you one-on-one, encouraging you and helping you to succeed in school and in your career.
The Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program is designed for direct entry into the workforce. However, if you are interested in earning a degree at a four-year institution, please visit the Transfer Services website for guidance on the transfer process.
Specific articulation (transfer) agreements are in place with several four-year institutions that allow you to apply your associate degree in Invasive Cardiovascular Technology to a bachelor’s degree, including with UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, LeTourneau University in Longview and Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
Links for More Information
Get more information about cardiovascular technology organizations and accrediting bodies through these links.
If you have questions about the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program that aren’t answered on our website, please feel free to contact us. | <urn:uuid:ed81dd7d-b5a4-433e-a674-8d41079566ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elcentrocollege.edu/programs/icvt-about | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91959 | 1,396 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Under state law, only licensed physicians or persons who hold a RT license issued by the Commonwealth may apply radiation to human beings for the purpose of medical diagnosis or treatment. Under the RT Licensing Program, individuals who have graduated from a two year accredited program in Radiologic Technology, and have passed either the American Registry of Radiologic Technologist (ARRT) or Nuclear Medicine Technologists Certification Board (NMTCB) exams are eligible to be licensed to practice Radiologic Technology in Massachusetts. Students who have graduated from a two-year program and are eligible to take one of the exams, but have not yet taken it, may be issued a one-year temporary license to practice in Massachusetts.
Individuals who have graduated from a two year accredited program in Radiologic Technology, but do not have ARRT certification, may write the MA examination in order to seek licensure. The MA exam is administered for the Department under contract by the ARRT.
Initial full licenses and renewal licenses are issued for a two-year period, with the expiration date occurring on the last day of the applicant's birth month. During these two years, continuing education credits (CEUs) must be earned, and 10% of licensees invoiced for renewal are audited for compliance with the CEU requirements.
This information is provided by the Radiation Control Program
within the Department of Public Health | <urn:uuid:f124b3b3-e8b3-4070-a15d-8ccb36756259> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/departments/dph/programs/environmental-health/exposure-topics/radiation/radiologic-technologist/radiologic-technologist-licensing-program.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955025 | 281 | 1.796875 | 2 |
We love sharing the latest from or friends at YouBeauty!
A healthy diet is about more than keeping yourself fit and free of heart disease, wrinkles and impotence (yes, all are related to food!). It’s about preserving your memory, too.
For instance, eating high amounts of saturated fat--more than four grams in an hour--can raise the levels of bad cholesterol in your blood, which can stick to your arteries, and, even worse, turns on inflammatory genes that result in those wrinkles, poor orgasm quality, and you got it, that gunk in your brain that makes your memory be less than it is now.
The same arterial plaque buildup from this saturated fat--we call it a food felon--that leads to heart disease is a major culprit for vascular dementia--when the brain neurons become inflamed or don't get enough oxygen and blood flow. Inflammation and lack of oxygen (resulting from that donut or sugary soda) result in accelerated memory loss.
This gives serious meaning to the phrase "eating to forget."
Poor food choices cause poor cognitive functioning: the eight southern states in America that make up the "Stroke Belt" also have higher incidences of obesity and and greater chance of dementia. Of course, many factors are at play when it comes to developing dementia, but lifestyle factors like a high saturated fat diet (from four-legged animal fat, two legged animal skin, palm and coconut oil), coupled with little physical activity, are certainly big contributors to memory problems as well as wrinkles, orgasm decay and heart attacks.
A recent study of healthy adults and adults with mild cognitive impairment tested out the effects of two diets. One was the "high diet," which was high in saturated fat (at least 25 percent of the diet) and simple carbohydrates (glycemic index greater than 70). The other was a "low diet," which was low in saturated fat (less than 7 percent of the diet) with a fewer simple carbs (glycemic index less than 55).
Not surprisingly, the low (low in the food felons) diet improved or made the levels of three important markers of health better for you.
Firstly, this diet was associated with decreased plasma lipids (read: less lousy or bad cholesterol). Secondly, the low diet was linked with lower insulin levels. Current research is looking at an optimal insulin dose to help cognitive functioning in people with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.
Lastly, the low in food felons diet lowered CSF F2-isoprostane concentrations, which is a fancy way of saying it lessened the biomarkers of free radical injury, a signal of oxidative damage to, or damaging inflammation in, your central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord).
What does this all mean for the bigger picture? After just one month of the low saturated fat/low carbs diet, "visual memory" improved for healthy adults and adults with cognitive impairment. This was a small study of 49 subjects, but the implications have big promise for your enjoyment of life and brain functioning!
Starting today, what can you do? Look out for the five food felons, which are guaranteed to age your brain and body. We like to kick the felons totally out, but truth be told, the felons don't have to be exiled from your diet--they just have to be put under very close watch.
Here's a quick review of how they can age you, so you can steer clear:
1) Trans fat: Look out for "partially hydrogenated vegetable oils." Trans fat alters metabolic processes and hardens your arteries. How much to have? Zilch!
2) Saturated fat: Leads to the buildup of fatty tissue on the inner linings of your arteries and turns on inflammatory genes. How much to have? No more than 4 grams per hour.
3) Added sugar: Excess sugar causes the proteins in your body to function improperly, aging your arterial system. How much to have? Main dishes and desserts should contain no more than 4 grams of added sugar per serving. Side dishes should contain no more than 2 grams of added sugars per serving. Total should be less than 4 grams added sugar per hour.
4) Syrups: All syrups. Not just that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)--the man-made sugar that does the same things as sugar--all syrups, like all added sugars increase the risk of dysfunctional proteins, obesity and metabolic syndrome. Be wary of maple and malt syrups, as well. How much to have? Stay away! In total, you want to keep you added sugar count to less than 24 grams, or 6 teaspoons per day , and less than (when combined with added sugars) 4 grams of added sugar an hour.
5) Any grain but 100-percent whole grain: Whole grains contain a lot of fiber, which helps preventing arterial aging. How much to have? Nada, Never have any--why age unnecessarily? Why forget what your ideal hunk looked like? Anytime you can swap simple carbohydrates for complex carbs with 100-percent whole grain, go ahead! | <urn:uuid:595b91bd-42d6-4c35-8ace-2fe88db812fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.self.com/blogs/flash/2012/01/avoid-these-foods-to-keep-your.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943173 | 1,063 | 2.53125 | 3 |
STV Organizations and Corporations
The use of the choice form of proportional voting (also called the "single transferable vote" and the "Hare system") is popular among organizations and corporations. Here are some examples of groups that use choice voting and how they use it.
American Philosophical Association (President, Vice President, Executive Committee, Secretary-Treasurer, Board of Officers, Nominating Committee)
Committee Director seats are filled via annual at-large elections by the Committee Members using choice voting.
Californians for Electoral Reform (Director) Directors are elected annually using choice voting.
CUNY Faculty Senate (Senators) Junior and Senior Senators are elected using choice voting.
Eclipse (Add-in Provider Members, Committer Members) Each Add-In Member or Committer Member, as applicable, is entitled to cast numbered preference votes for as many candidates as there are open seats on the Board allocated to Add-In Provider Members and Committer Members, as applicable.
ERotaryLondon (President, a President-elect, a Secretary and a Treasurer) The Secretary circulates ballot papers at the beginning of every year which will be counted choice voting.
Green Idea A provision within the by-laws of this organization allows the use of choice voting and Condorcet methods upon a two-thirds majority vote.
Green Party of the United States (SC co-chairs) Co-chairs are elected using choice voting by means of the “Droop” method. This requires that the total number of votes are divided by the number of seats plus one. A candidate must pass this threshold to be elected. A number of other ancillary Green Party organizations incorporate choice voting.
KPFA (Staff and Listener-Sponsor Delegates, Listener-Sponsor Directors, Affiliate Representative Directors) Any position that provides more than one seat is elected using choice voting.
League of Professional System Administrators (Director) Elections for Director are conducted using the "Meek" form of choice voting. The Meek method requires computer counting for a complicated formula that can be effective in ensuring that the elected candidates total votes are as equal as possible to the quotas.
McMaster University Faculty of Business(President, Provost, Dean of the Faculty (Chair), Associate Dean, Dean of Graduate Studies or delegate, Director of Undergraduate Programs , Director of MBA Program, Director of Ph.D. Program)
The Faculty Council (President, Provost, Vice-President (Research and International Affairs), Dean of the Faculty (Chair), Associate Dean of the Faculty, Dean of Graduate Studies or delegate, Director of the Engineering and Management Program, Chair of the Department of Economics or delegate, Chair of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics or delegate)
All elections except for the full-time, non-teaching staff members of the Faculty employ choice voting.
Minnesota State Bar Association (officers, delegates, representatives to other bodies and commissions and representatives from the Assembly to the Council) The Droop method of creating a threshold for choice voting elections is used.
National Youth Rights Association (Board of Directors) Candidates for the board of directors will be selected by choice voting using the ERS97 method published by the Electoral Reform Society.
New Mexico State University (Faculty Committees) Choice voting is used to elect all committee members.
Open Grid Forum (Director) Elections use choice voting, with a recommendation for using a “suitable” algorithm such as pSTV.
Open Health Tools (Committer Stewards, Project Lead Stewards) The Committers and Project Leads of Open Health Tools hold annual at-large elections for their respective stewards using choice voting.
Oxford University Contract Bridge Association (Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Captain, Tournament Director, Cuppers Secretary, Publicity and Development Officer, and Webmaster.) Voting is meant to be secret and with the use of choice voting.
Pacifica Radio (Delegates) Voters are given the option of voting for one candidate or ranking the candidates in order of preference, with the intention of achieving proportional representation.
Penn State University Faculty Senate Elections of senators are conducted using choice voting.
University of Texas at Austin Faculty Council (General Faculty Representatives) Elections of faculty representatives are conducted using choice voting.
[List of Organizations using instant runoff voting]
[List of British Organizations using Choice Voting (STV)] | <urn:uuid:4e07bbce-85b0-462c-a30a-50e964c2065f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.fairvote.org/?page=2109 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925042 | 900 | 2.609375 | 3 |
As with most storms that hit land and
do considerable damage, all kind of stories and photos came out of
Hurricane Sandy (though it had been downgraded from a hurricane by
the time it came ashore, but never mind that).
Like most people, I read the stories,
watched the TV news coverage, looked up pictures online and basically
was thankful that all we got around here was the tail end of the
winds. Yeah, they were cold winds, but it could have been so much
I saw the 74 story high crane that was
knocked over and the house where the water was at the midway point of
a window. I saw cars disappear into rushing water and TV reporters
who never seem to learn standing right at the edge of the ocean as
the waves crashed into the shore.
But my "hold on a minute" instincts
kicked in when I saw the pictures of sharks swimming down a "Jersey
street," in someone's front yard and through a New York Subway
Now, I know that sharks have been found
in rivers and lakes and probably ponds, for all I know, due to storms
that throw huge amounts of ocean water onto land and sometimes there
are fish, including sharks, in that water.
That's not what made me lean back and
cast a jaundiced eye at the computer screen. No, it was the crispness
and almost professionalism of these photos that made me want to cry
foul. This wasn't somebody saying, "Oh my God, look at that!" as they took a shaky picture with their cell phone.
It wasn't just a black, blurry mass
in the water that somebody was trying to convince the viewer was a
shark. These pictures, and the sharks, were so sharp and crisp, you
could almost smell the seawater. Also, one of them appeared to be
taken from the front seat of a car, even though it looked like the
shark was swimming in five feet of water.
Be honest. Would you still be in your
car if the water was five feet and rising? And there were sharks
floating around? Even if you were, would you be so calm that the
picture came out looking like something in a coffee table book?
But they could be real. With cell
phones having cameras that can take pro style pictures with a tap on
the screen, anything is possible. I guess we'll find out sooner or
Sandy is the latest in a string of "storms of the century," or lifetime if you prefer. For the most
part, we're spared these storms because we're just far enough
inland, but occasionally we do get a whopper.
Believe it or not, next March will mark
20 years since the blizzard of 1993. For those of who were old enough
to live through it and remember, it doesn't seem possible it's
been that long. I wonder if anyone's ever done a story to see how
many kids came into the world nine months later?
Anyway, it probably doesn't seem that
long because every March, when the first breath of warm weather hits,
somebody will say, "Don't get too comfortable! Remember the
blizzard of '93!"
I always like to point out that this
was the only time in history something like that happened, so it's
much more likely to never happen again than it is to repeat itself
every March. People also seem to forget that snowstorm hit on March
13. I've heard it described as an unexpected spring storm, but
March 13 is still winter, at least for another week or so.
I'm sure Sandy will leave behind
billions of dollars in damage, and even though it didn't land in
Tennessee, my homeowners insurance will somehow go up.
Which makes me wonder, if an insurance
office gets hit, who pays for that?
email@example.com | 442-4575 | <urn:uuid:a78e7301-577f-4f1e-bace-0292f0df0a83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://monroe.xtn.net/story/25267 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976833 | 841 | 1.640625 | 2 |
One night in August 1883, a self-taught astronomer named Edward E. Barnard was scanning the skies and spotted “a large faint nebula, very diffuse” in the constellation of Cassiopeia. It’s known as NGC 281 in the official Messier catalog, but its nickname is the Pacman Nebula.
That’s because if you look at the image just right (i.e., the top of the picture), it looks a bit like the infamous video game character, with a triangular-shaped “mouth” gobbling up the surrounding gas and dust.
Amateur astronomers have been checking out the pretty faint glow of NGC 281 through visible-light telescopes for ages, but while those telescopes have gotten better and better in terms of resolution since the 1920s, looking in the infrared gives astronomers a fresh set of eyes.
Now the Pacman Nebula is ready for its closeup, thanks to NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
Since its launch in December 2009, WISE has been slowly scanning the cosmos, picking out objects that are invisible to optical telescopes. And it’s giving astronomers a new view of the Pacman Nebula.
Specifically, that triangular mouth has some pretty impressive chompers: sharp “teeth” that are, in fact, dense pillars of star-forming regions. Because while Pacman is known for gobbling up objects, nebulae are better known for giving birth to stars.
Here’s how it works. As the dust and gas swirls around the nebula, massive knots start to form, until the gas and dust start to collapse under the gravitational attraction. This causes the material at the center to heat up into a “protostar,” which starts gathering up even more dust and gas.
Not all that material will make up the star. Some of it might one day become a planet, or an asteroid, or comet — or just a dusty cloud hanging around its parent star.
Check out WISE’s close-up of the Pacman Nebula above. See all those red dots scattered around the clouds of dust and gas? Those are baby stars still in the process of forming. That’s the kind of detail you get when you look at the skies in infrared.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA | <urn:uuid:a338b600-871e-4155-825b-1fdfb5c46fde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/wise-takes-a-closer-look-at-pacman-nebula-111102.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932696 | 497 | 3.6875 | 4 |
(Anti-HIV vaginal ring can…)
A vaginal ring releasing an anti-HIV drug can prevent the transmission of SHIV in macaques, a new study has found.
This study by Population Council provides the first efficacy data on the delivery of a microbicide from a vaginal ring, and indicates strong potential for the success of such rings in women.
Microbicides are compounds that can be applied inside the vagina or rectum to protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV.
"This proof-of-concept study confirms that the investment in vaginal rings as a delivery system for HIV prevention is paying off," Naomi Rutenberg, vice president and director of the Population Council''s HIV and AIDS Program, said.
"Our findings show that rings can deliver an anti-HIV drug to prevent infection," she said.
In this study, Council scientists examined whether vaginal rings containing MIV-150, a proprietary non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, could prevent the transmission of immunodeficiency virus.
Macaques received either MIV-150 vaginal rings or placebo vaginal rings and then were exposed to a single dose of SHIV, a virus combining genes from HIV and SIV (the monkey version of HIV).
Testing drugs in animals is important to ensure the highest level of safety and build the evidence base for potential efficacy in humans.
The macaques received MIV-150 vaginal rings made from ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) either 2 weeks or 24 hours before exposure to SHIV.
The rings were removed either immediately before or 2 weeks after exposure to SHIV.
The timing of ring insertion relative to virus exposure was varied in order to test which would provide better protection: continued presence of drug in the tissue over time or a high rate of drug release that occurs immediately after ring insertion.
MIV-150 EVA rings provided highly significant protection whether inserted 2 weeks or 24 hours before virus exposure. Two of 17 macaques with MIV-150 EVA rings became infected, compared to 11 of 16 with placebo rings, representing 83 percent protection from the virus.
However, the protection was lost when rings were removed just prior to virus exposure: in that scenario, 4 of 7 monkeys were infected, representing 16 percent protection.
"We were surprised that the rings had to remain in place after exposure to be effective," Tom Zydowsky, lead scientist and senior co-author on the study, said.
"In previous studies of a Population Council gel containing MIV-150 and another drug, we found that the gel provided protection when applied 24 hours before virus challenge, but was less effective when applied only after virus challenge.
"We thought that the ring used in this study might only need to be present before virus challenge. We found that it is critical for the ring to also be present after exposure to the virus," he added. | <urn:uuid:59789850-7293-4403-93f0-e56211d43c72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-10/health/33648313_1_anti-hiv-drug-rings-virus-exposure | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958127 | 591 | 2.71875 | 3 |
We’re really excited! For many months now we have been working on creating a GeoVation booklet to include information on GeoVation Challenges and case studies on winning ideas – and now its published!
The booklet has some interesting facts about GeoVation which has been running since October 2009. In that time:
- 1448 participants have registered
- 509 ideas have been submitted
- 57 teams have participated in GeoVation Camps and
- 20 winners have been awarded a share of over £435, 000 in innovation funding to develop their ventures.
GeoVation Challenges are open to entrepreneurs, developers, community groups, government and individuals. They are focussed on finding innovative and useful ways of using geographical information, including open data and tools, to build new ventures that will generate social, economic and/ or environmental value.
We’ve made the booklet available online, so you can find out more about how you can innovate with GeoVation, the GeoVation journey, the ideas we have funded so far and the people who make GeoVation happen. We’ve also made the case studies available individually on line – see our case study map.
Download your copy of the GeoVation booklet and find out more! | <urn:uuid:e24bce86-bb98-40d7-b8a0-980f9a623646> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geovation.org.uk/innovate-with-geovation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94156 | 258 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Charity is one of the pillars of Islam. One of the Arabic words for charity used in the Quran is sadaqah, and while monetary alms-giving is an example of sadaqah, the word has a general meaning of providing service and strength to another out of a sense of kindness and responsibility. To serve others in the community, with any of one’s talents and resources, is thus a part of faith. Even the poor members of the Muslim community are not exempted from this wider meaning of sadaqah, for all of us have something to serve our brother or sister with. A tradition of the Prophet Muhammad reveals, “Even a smile is a charity.”
The Quran uses another word to refer to charity, Zakat. Zakat is often used conventionally to refer to an institutionalized alms-giving that is due upon Muslims to give to those in need at certain times in the Islamic calendar. The Quranic import of the term, however, often refers to the type of relationship Muslims should have with others. If prayer embodies one’s relationship to the Creator, then zakat is that which characterizes the ideal relationship between human beings with each other, for its root meaning is that which “purifies” and “grows.” Thus, Muslims are meant to give to others in order that others may grow and develop – in return, this causes the purification of their own wealth and their own souls.
“The parable of those who spend their wealth in the way of God is that of a grain which grows seven ears, and in every ear a hundred grains – God enhances several fold whomever He wishes. And God is all-bounteous, all-knowing. – Quran 2:261
The below photo essay is a glimpse of some of the ways Muslims perform community service. Don’t forget to check out the Collection for more imagery relating to giving
, and community
, and more
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The Salam Stock Print Shop
American Soul Food – Muslims from Houston, Texas prepare meals those who may be in need in the city. This scene is part of a larger event known as the “Day of Dignity,” a community service event that raises awareness of social needs and seeks to reach out to the financially impoverished areas of Houston.
Saving to Give Away – Islamic conceptions of giving and charity are not of one type. Sometimes it is encouraged to give altruistically, when one feels the spirit of giving and is ready to do so. Other times it is demanded of a Muslim to give out of a sense of responsibility and duty to God, regardless of one’s own mental or spiritual readiness. It is generally understood that giving “in secret”, away from the eyes of others, is ideal when giving charity. However, sometimes it is encouraged to give in a way that the public would see ones effort and sacrifice, in order that others become inspired to do the same.
Zakat ul-Ilm – One form of Zakat is known as the “Charity of Knowledge.” It is when one teaches another what they have learned. Regardless of ones age or stature, it is a blessed activity in Islam to teach others when one has Ilm (knowledge) to share. One young girl teaches two other friends the ABC’s of the English language.
Sacred Knowledge – Teaching any beneficial knowledge to others is a blessed service and deserves reward. However, teaching others how to read and understand the sacred text of Islam, the Holy Quran, is a special service with immense reward according to Islamic traditions. It is a type of knowledge that illuminates and guides the other aspects of life.
How to spend one’s time – these youthful Muslims in America dedicate some of their valuable time for valuable work. They are unpacking boxes of bananas to give to the hungry.
Come one, Come all
– A charity initiative is even more valuable when it involves everyone. Here a young child is given the responsibility of taking care of a literature table at a community event reaching out to the local neighborhood. The books on the table are for children to enjoy and learn from. This community event, the “Day of Dignity” (2012), was sponsored by Islamic Relief USA
, a large non-profit organization dedicated to humanitarian efforts. Local organizations in Houston, Texas, such as the Ibrahim Islamic Center, Masjid Warithuddeen Muhammad
, Masjid al-Quran, and the Houston Shifa Clinic
, were the local organizers for the event.
Donation Box – One will notice that many Muslim communities have one thing in common: they rely on donations to run their activities. This encourages local participants of mosques and masjids to give as generously as they can. Some communities attempt to become “self-sustaining” by investing in local businesses that help with funding, which makes them less dependent on donations.
Reading is Cool – The “Day of Dignity” event in Houston, Texas emphasized wholesome activities for young children such as reading thoughtful, fun books. Whether one is rich or poor, reading is a far more valuable activity for young children than some of the more modern ways of having fun, such as watching television. Local Muslim communities often have libraries whose books are donated by participants and patrons.
The Literary Jackpot – These youth enjoy an opportunity to get some new books to read.
Fresh, Healthy – At the “Day of Dignity” event (2012) in Houston, Texas, fresh produce was made available to communities that often cannot afford the high cost of organic, healthy foods. The high costs of urban life in America often make wholesome nutrition difficult to obtain for those in a lower income bracket. Local Muslim producers donate their time and resources to give locals a small taste of a healthier lifestyle.
Future Philanthropists – A young Malaysian woman is excited to graduate. Educated individuals with decent income wages are encouraged to help establish institutions and organizations that will provide services to the community, helping bring balance to societies whose governments and economies do not always meet everyone’s needs.
Serving Justice – These young activists attend a humanitarian rally for the cause of Justice in Palestine in America. People from diverse backgrounds attend with the flag of their ethnic origins to show support for the Palestinian people. Activists in America form a very important segment of the Muslim community, whose efforts draw attention to important issues relating to socio-economic justice in their local communities and worldwide.
Honorable Poverty – While Islam’s prescriptions encourage and demand believers to spend concerted efforts to help those in need, Islamic sources do not necessarily idealize a classless society. The rich and the poor can have constructive roles in society, as is exemplified by historical figures like Prophets who were sometimes very wealthy (like Prophet Solomon) and used their wealth for social justice. Many scholars believe the Islamic conception of economic balance is to create avenues for an “Honorable Poverty”, where those with limited wealth and resources can still eat, have a home, create families, educate themselves, and have some fun. In today’s modern world, however, such a situation is hard to find, as is exemplified in this community in Pakistan whose neighborhood is riddled with garbage.
Stimulate the Mind – serving others is not only about providing food and shelter. It is also about providing opportunities to learn and develop. The “Day of Dignity” event in Houston, Texas, makes available thought provoking activities such as chess for local youth.
Ready for the next move – A young boy thinks hard before taking his next move in chess.
From Super Market to Super Community – grocery bags sit on the table, waiting to be picked up by grateful locals who could benefit. Community youth can be seen in the background boxing and bagging.
Using our talents – a local Muslim photographer speaks with a social worker about services available in the city of Houston, Texas. There are many ways to serve and inspire.
Big Sister Mentors – Two Muslim girls enjoy their mentoring time with a a youth at a kite festival. In American Muslim communities, older role models are essential for the development of youth values, morals, and skills. Experienced youth who spend time with younger Muslim youth often have a very positive impact on their lives.
Paving roads to Marriage – Marriage is a very recommended aspect of Islam and a large part of Muslim community life. However, Muslims currently struggle to find suitable partners. Match making services, marriage support funds, and helpful friends often pave the way for young people to get married in the Muslim community.
Local Leadership – This young professional attends a congressional hearing training session where she learns skills and abilities to help her become active in her local city councils to help better their social, political, and economic condition (America).
Lots to give, Lots to share – Bags filled with food, medicine, and other helpful items are spread out across the room, ready to be received by locals who can benefit. The bags have the “Islamic Relief USA” logo on them, the sponsor for this activity.
To Protect and to Serve – a trained martial-artist donates his time to teach some youth how to defend themselves from physical violence.
Self-Defense Demonstration – a brother from the local Muslim community in Houston, Texas, explains how to deal with violent attackers. “Preacher Moss” (left), a Muslim comedian from the Allah Made Me Funny Tour appreciates the self-defense tips.
Live a Little – at the “Day of Dignity” event in Houston, Texas, young children get to enjoy tasty “slushies” – a cold, sweet drink.
Humble Home – This young Muslim girl in Kampot, Cambodia enjoys a bright day. Though her home is a humble place of living, contentment is found through family, community relations, and spiritual life. Perhaps one day the community can afford to increase their standard of living.
Serving as a Teacher – an experienced teacher in Palestine lends her ability to teach the next generation of youth. Despite their importance to society, and despite the value given to those who teach, teachers are often under-paid and under appreciated.
Rushing out of the Masjid – Men quickly leaving the Mosquee de Paris (Paris, France) after Friday prayers. Local communities and mosques sometimes struggle to find patrons and volunteers to help them provide their services, often because people are busy with their lives or trying to make a living.
Spreading the Love – local elderly ladies are given pamphlets to hand out to locals in Paris, France, which articulate the social services and information provided by the Mosque to those in need.
Appreciate the Hard Work – a local woman has a friendly conversation with a volunteer at the “Day of Dignity” event. A little extra help and aid can go a long way to help locals in their lives.
Serving Themselves – Service to others is important, that needs to be balanced with serving ones own self by developing one’s own inner talents and becoming educated. This cycle of self-development and community development is important for the continuation of both.
Kindness to One’s Neighbors – Friendly elders from the neighborhood come out to appreciate the hard work of volunteers a the “Day of Dignity” event in Houston, Texas.
Providing Experiences of a Life Time – A student laughs as her teacher speaks with her at the tomb of the famous Iranian poet Hafez, in the city of Shiraz, Iran. She as in a row with other students.
Charity Starts at Home – while one should do all one can to help others, it is essential to spend time, money, and effort on one’s own families. This Muslim father in Pakistan enjoys playing in the yard with his son after a hard day’s work.
Apprenticeship – In traditional societies, the apprentice and teacher relationship is important in bringing out the talents of flourishing young children. This child is enjoying her lesson with her art teacher.
The Fruit of their Work – organizers of the “Day of Dignity” event in Houston, Texas enjoy a group photo after a successful event. The Quran beautifully articulates the most ideal way to understand community service: “They give food, for the love of God, to the needy, the orphan and the prisoner, [saying,] ‘We feed you only for the sake of Allah. We do not want any reward from you nor any thanks.” (The Quran 76:8-9)
Face Paint – young children wait their turn at the face painting booth at the “Day of Dignity” event in Houston, Texas.
The Youth of the Nation – The modern world offers many challenges for Muslim communities: economic, social, political, and spiritual. But with the ideals fostered in them by their Quranic teachings and strong communities, Muslims are ready to serve for the sake of a better future. | <urn:uuid:f4bb9346-87e7-4f99-bf1f-f13e7417ad58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.salamstock.com/community/the-essence-of-charity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961509 | 2,715 | 2.953125 | 3 |
"Mystery is mystifying; it is an intellectual thing. Suspense is an emotional thing." —Alfred Hitchcock Hitchcock’s name is synonymous with suspense—that is to say, masterful, spine-tingling, thrilling, shocking, excruciating, eye-boggling suspense. With masterpieces such as Rebecca, Vertigo, Rear Window, and Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) fashioned an extremely original approach to filmmaking that is oft imitated though never equaled; his ability to enthrall and frighten with careful pacing, subtlety, and suggestiveness earned him a prestigious reputation which grows more powerful as time goes by. He is and will always remain the master of cinematic suspense. This book, which traces his life and career, from his earliest silent films to his last picture in 1976, also includes a special bonus that Hitch fans will especially enjoy: an illustrated and annotated list of each of his cameos. | <urn:uuid:b9cb624d-cc48-4a60-a381-c583add07e39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mopa.org/node/2840 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973711 | 194 | 1.5625 | 2 |
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s state police chief told lawmakers Tuesday that marijuana should be legalized and taxed, prompting his own agency to quickly walk back his statement as lawmakers consider decriminalization.
State police Superintendent Paul Whitesell told members of the State Budget Committee on Tuesday that he’s followed the issue during his 40-year law enforcement career and believes ‘‘it is here, it’s going to stay.’’ He cited voter-passed measures in Colorado and Washington that allow adults to have small amounts of marijuana as evidence of a national shift on the issue.
‘‘My thought is, toward the zenith of my career, it is here, it’s going to stay,’’ Whitesell told the panel. ‘‘That’s an awful lot of victimization that goes with it.
‘‘If it were up to me I do believe I would legalize it and tax it, particularly in sight of the fact that several other states have now come to that part of their legal system as well.’’
Capt. Dave Bursten, state police spokesman, quickly backtracked from Whitesell’s statement Tuesday, saying the superintendent ‘‘rendered a philosophical opinion,’’ not an official one.
‘‘The making of such laws are not the purview of the State Police and he was not asked for an opinion in that context,’’ Bursten wrote in a statement. ‘‘Although the Superintendent personally understands the theoretical argument for taxation and legalization, as a police officer with over 40 years of experience he does not support the legalization of marijuana.’’
Bursten added that no interviews with Whitesell would be granted.
Whitesell’s statement was in response to Democratic Rep. Sheila Klinker’s question about pending proposals to decriminalize small amounts of the drug. Klinker said after the hearing she was surprised to hear his response, but believes much of the country is changing its attitude on marijuana.
‘‘I think the tendency throughout the United States is to control it, because the drug cartels are controlling us in many ways and getting a lot of our folks not only killed, but getting the money, rather than taxing the situation and controlling it,’’ Klinker said.
Democratic Sen. Karen Tallian has proposed decriminalizing marijuana and Republican Sen. Brent Steele said he would consider a similar measure during the upcoming legislative session.
In Indiana, possessing 30 grams or less of marijuana is a Class A misdemeanor on the first offense and carries a sentence of up to one year. Possession of more than 30 grams — roughly an ounce — is a Class D felony that carries a sentence of one to three years in prison.
Supporters of decriminalization say the current manner of prosecuting those possessing pot crowds state prisons and damages young offenders’ futures with a criminal record.
‘‘As a practicing attorney, I’ve seen a significant amount of state dollars spent on prosecuting and incarcerating individuals caught with small amounts of marijuana,’’ Steele said in a statement Tuesday. ‘‘We have to ask ourselves if this is the best use of our criminal justice resources.
‘‘It’s a matter of priorities, and I believe our focus should be on pursuing, prosecuting and incarcerating people who commit violent crimes, not simply people who make poor personal decisions.’’ | <urn:uuid:45b6fbba-fb6e-4b17-ae38-4d8801cb8741> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.decaturdailydemocrat.com/print/6021?quicktabs_2=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962211 | 734 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Common Prenatal Tests
During your monthly checkups, your caregiver will weigh you, check your blood pressure, and take a urine sample to test for sugar or protein in your urine (which can signal gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced high blood pressure). Finally, she'll measure your abdomen to see if your baby is growing at the expected rate.
Your caregiver may also offer you a battery of prenatal tests now, including:
- Maternal multiple marker screening - These tests – AFP, triple screen, or quad screen – measure levels of biochemical markers in your blood to try to predict your fetus’ risk of various genetic problems and birth defects between 15 and 20 weeks. Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a substance produced by the fetus. Elevated AFP is associated with problems in the fetal spinal cord, such as spina bifida, and a number of other birth defects. The triple screen measures AFP, estriol, and hCG. The newer quad screen adds another hormone called inhibin A. Abnormal levels of these substances can indicate an increased risk for problems such as neural tube defects or Down syndrome. The tests do not diagnose these conditions, however. If your screening test is abnormal, your caregiver will suggest additional tests, such as ultrasound and amniocentesis, to help determine why. One in 20 women having a serum test will have an abnormal result, but far fewer women will have a baby with a problem. (Read more... )
- Ultrasound - Using high-frequency sound waves, ultrasound creates a "picture" of your developing baby. It helps your caregiver pinpoint the fetus' age, detect multiple fetuses, and spot conditions such as neural tube defects. (Read more... )
- Amniocentesis - This procedure can detect or rule out disorders such as Down syndrome and neural tube defects. Guided by ultrasound, a doctor or medical technician inserts a needle through your abdomen and into the amniotic sac. She then draws out a small sample of amniotic fluid. The sample is sent to a lab, where fetal cells are grown and analyzed for chromosomal defects. This test is generally offered only to women who have an increased risk for having a baby with genetic defects -- women over 35 with abnormal serum screening results, or those with a family history of inherited disorders. (Read more... )
- Glucose tolerance testing - This test checks for signs of gestational diabetes. It's fairly straightforward: You drink a sweetened solution, and an hour later a blood sample is drawn and your blood sugar level is measured.
- Hemoglobin testing - This test measures the amount of red blood cells in your blood. Too few can indicate anemia, a common (and easily remedied) problem during pregnancy.
Common 1st Trimester Prenatal Tests
In the first trimester, you will probably receive a group of tests known in many health centers as the "prenatal panel." This panel of tests usually includes, but is not limited to, a complete blood count (CBC), blood typing (including Rh screen), rubella viral antigen screen, hepatitis panel, and urine analysis. Other tests may be obtained based on your health and previous pregnancy history.
An ultrasound may be obtained in the first trimester to determine the health of the pregnancy. The ultrasound also will confirm the due date, and that the fetus is inside the uterus and is not an ectopic pregnancy. Most diagnostic ultrasound exams occur in the second trimester.
Advances in prenatal diagnosis now allow for detection of possible genetic problems during the first trimester. Using ultrasound, doctors can measure the back of the fetus’ neck (called the nuchal translucency) to assess the risk of Down syndrome. When combined with a serum test for biochemical markers, this first trimester test is better than other screening test for picking up Down syndrome. The test results may be used alone or in combination with the multiple marker screen to determine the risk of Down syndrome.
A test called chorionic villus sampling (CVS) can detect Down syndrome and other genetic disorders as early as 10 weeks into a pregnancy. It is as accurate as a second trimester amniocentesis, but carries additional risks. To determine which procedure is right for you, discuss the various options with your health care provider, a genetics counselor, or a maternal-fetal specialist.
Common 2nd Trimester Prenatal Tests
The second trimester is an important time for the main screening tests to determine how you and your baby are doing. The first ultrasound (also called a sonogram) is typically done early in the second trimester, to check on your baby's health and age. If needed, a second ultrasound examination is usually done at the end of the second or the beginning of the third trimester. This one confirms the findings from the first ultrasound, and checks to see how the baby is developing. Ultrasound and maternal serum screening (see above) together can help assess your risk of having a baby with problems.
Late in the second trimester, you are screened for diabetes, hepatitis B, retested for sexually transmitted infections, and may have a pelvic examination to detect whether your cervix is weak or dilating.
Common 3rd Trimester Prenatal Tests
A few weeks before your due date, your health care provider will perform the test that checks for group B strep infection on the perineum. About 20% of all women may be carriers of this bacteria. It usually does not cause any illness for adults, except occasional urinary tract infections. We now know that group B strep is the number one cause of newborn infection in those who develop sepsis (systemic infection). Women who test positive for group B strep will receive intravenous antibiotics in labor.
In the third trimester, it is still common for your health care provider to perform cervical exams if you have signs of labor or if ruptured membranes are suspected. If it appears that the baby is not as active as expected, or if you have any high risk factors, your baby may be watched more closely. A non-stress test, which tracks the baby’s heart rate and contractions over a 20 minute period, is a common test used in the third trimester. Ultrasounds are also used to assess the baby's growth, check how well the baby is moving, and detect abnormalities if they are suspected.
Irina Burd, MD, PhD, Maternal Fetal Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997-
A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. | <urn:uuid:0f6bf3c5-5d0a-4c61-adcd-5847165a3c8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.advocatehealth.com/cmc/body.cfm?id=138&action=detail&AEArticleID=000227&AEProductID=Adam2004_14&AEProjectTypeIDURL=APT_14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92859 | 1,444 | 3.015625 | 3 |
|Creators of both Lace Sensors and the Alumitone pickup, Lace Music has long been on the forefront of pickup technology. We talk with brothers Don and Jeff Lace about what it takes to innovate.
Actodyne General, Inc. may sound more like a defense contractor than a rock n’ roll pickup maker, but the company’s Lace Music division has played a significant role in musical innovation since its inception in 1979.
The company’s founder, Don Lace, Sr., had first been exposed to the guitar building scene in the late-sixties while helping with some speaker issues for a little outfit called Fender. Shortly after setting up Actodyne, Don began experimenting with his own unique pickup designs. By the late-eighties, Don had achieved his design goals of reducing rejection rate, increasing fidelity and reducing hum, dubbing them Lace “Sensors.”
The circle completed itself when Fender became one of the first companies to embrace Lace’s designs by featuring his pickups first on the Strat Plus, then later on the Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck signature models. The Sensor pickups became widely known for providing many of the benefits of active circuits – low magnetic pull and a transparent, hi-fi tone – coupled with the simplicity of passive designs, i.e. no batteries or complex switching circuits.
Although Don Sr. passed away in 1992, his legacy literally lives on, with his sons, Don Jr. and Jeff, now at the helm. Not content to simply offer small, evolutionary changes to the existing product line, the next generation of Laces have developed the equally radical Alumitone pickup design, billed as delivering “huge top and bottom end.” We were fortunate enough to sit down with both Jeff and Don Jr. to discuss Lace’s past, present and future.
How did you get into the pickup business?
Don: Well, we started the business out of the family garage in 1979. It was my brother, my dad, Don Sr., who originally started the business and myself. We started out winding coils for the solenoid industry, but my father had been in contract with Fender in the sixties, working with Don Randall, Red Rose, Seth Lover and all of those guys. He would consult with the pickup manufacturers to reduce their rejection rate during production. What transpired from that was he came up with the Lace Sensor – which works differently than a passive pickup – and things kind of just went rolling from there.
How are the Lace Sensors different from other pickup systems?
Jeff: The great thing about Lace Sensors is that they are true single-coil pickups. As opposed to a humbucker, which quiets [hum] due to the second coil, this is a single-coil that keeps its single-coil tonality throughout. My father engineered the magnets to create a compression field around the actual coil itself, which makes them much more efficient. It also gives them more harmonics and blocks electromagnetic interference, such as power line hum.
Those are some pretty obvious benefits, but are there any situations where the added harmonics might not be appropriate for some players?
Jeff: We think that we’ve developed a pickup where everything under the sun is covered, from crunchy, overdriven sounds to pure, acoustic sounds, all based on the Sensor design.
Could you touch on the differences between the various Sensor models and the range of sounds that are available to players?
Jeff: On our original Lace Sensor series, the first four “flavors” that were developed were gold, silver, blue and red, of which gold has the most classic, fifties bell-like tone. Silver has that early-to-mid seventies fat Strat moan, while the blue is more akin to a warm P-90. The red version had the highest output, and is more like a humbucker, tonally.
How did your company’s connection to Fender come about? We’ve already kind of touched on it, but the first guitars I recall seeing your pickups on were the Clapton and Beck signature models. Were those the first instruments that came from the factory with your pickups installed?
Don: The first one was actually the Strat Plus, but I guess they all kind of went off at the same time. They sent some extra Strat Pluses to Clapton and Beck to see what they thought, and they got them both to sign up to be endorsers for the new Fender – the post-CBS Fender. I think Eric was the first one to really play them.
Jeff: Yeah, one of his biographies has a picture of him from 1985 actually playing some of the first hand built prototypes.
How did that make you guys feel?
Jeff: We felt tremendous. Having players of that caliber accepting the product so quickly was amazing.
Was this fresh out of the starting gate, or had you already been playing around with pickups at that point?
Don: We were probably four years into pickup development at that point. We’re in Huntington Beach and Barcus Berry was just down the street, so we talked with them about building it for us. We actually had a letter of intent signed with Kramer Guitars prior to the Fender deal – who knows where that would have taken us – but they were a little too busy to follow through on it. So we took a step back and regrouped to see where we really wanted to go, and low and behold Fender had the buyout. This enabled us to get in with Fender and sign an exclusive arrangement with them. Everything kind of happened at the right time for everyone; they were looking for something new and we had it – the acceptance was huge. I think this combination helped launch both companies. | <urn:uuid:24e29c4a-a780-4730-9566-bac3e7456fd6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2008/Jun/Laced_with_Tone.aspx?Page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982641 | 1,214 | 1.5 | 2 |
Lugar Reacts To Obama's Israel Comment
Obama: Israel Should Give Back Land
Last Updated: 731 days ago
Sen. Richard Lugar reacted on Friday to President Barack Obama's controversial comments about Israel.The president suggested that Israel give back land that it has held for the past 44 years in comments he made during a news conference on Thursday ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, D.C."The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states," Obama said.Lugar, who's also chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Obama's suggestion about the Israeli/Palestinian border will no doubt come up when Lugar and other members of the Foreign Relations Committee meet with Netanyahu next week."The president of the United States has given a worldwide speech," Lugar told 6News' Tanya Spencer. "That brings a certain inflammation to the argument in a hurry."Netanyahu responded to the president, saying going back to the old borders would leave Israel vulnerable to attacks.The president's remarks have made for an awkward start in his effort to try to renew peace talks between Israel and Palestine."Prime Minister Netanyahu takes very strong exception, as do most Israeli leaders. So this means that we've not made a great deal of headway during this week," Lugar said.Lugar said he hopes that negotiations for peace in the Middle East are now more possible than ever. With new governments in Egypt and Tunisia, he said that part of the world is a brand new ballgame.Obama called his 90-minute meeting with Netanyahu on Friday constructive. Netanyahu is expected to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday. | <urn:uuid:6846ac93-caa6-4072-8b4b-e719688d328b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theindychannel.com/news/lugar-reacts-to-obama-s-israel-comment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962017 | 355 | 1.640625 | 2 |
What you need to know about protein
Protein drinks are ubiquitous in the health and fitness industry. You see people buy them at the gym. You see protein powders at your grocery store. Your girlfriend likes to mix it with her fruit smoothies. You may know someone who leaves a trail of protein powder everywhere he goes, almost as if it was a magical, muscle-creating, meathead-making pixie dust.
Fitness enthusiasts swear buy it, but most of us are also riddled with questions. Should I be drinking protein drinks? Does consuming protein add muscle? What kind of protein powders should I buy? Can I have too much protein?
Typically we think of meat as our main source of protein, but beans, cottage cheese, eggs and soy are also great sources of protein. Many athletes, particularly weight lifters, consume protein drinks after workouts to nourish their bodies.
The common misconception about protein is that it adds muscle mass to your body. In reality, protein delivers amino acids to the muscles that were torn during weight training, enabling the muscles to recover faster. By aiding in recovery, protein allows us to work our muscles more efficiently during our workout, which ultimately leads to bigger gains.
If your goal is to build muscle, consider consuming whey protein shortly after your workout. Having whey protein immediately after your workout means it will be absorbed quickly into your body and help your muscles recover faster. When you are weight-lifting with the goal of bulking up, it is important for your muscles to recover the protein it lost during your workout. Whey protein can help with that. I usually have 1-2 scoops of whey protein mixed in with milk and water after my workout when I am trying to bulk up. There are benefits of consuming protein before a workout as well, as your body calls on those proteins as you work.
Protein drinks can also be beneficial for those who aren’t weight training. Many people add protein to smoothies and meals to make sure they get the recommended daily amounts of protein and to help curb their hunger. Studies have shown that people feel more full on high-protein diets and may consume up to 200 less calories a day. Mixing a protein shake with fruit and milk can be a great way to help keep you more full and stop you from snacking on less healthy foods throughout the day.
If you are interested in using protein powder as a meal replacement, casein protein is a good choice. It is absorbed slowly by the body, and it stays in your body longer. Soy protein can also be used as a meal replacement.
When you are calculating calories, don’t forget to count the calories of the other ingredients you added to your protein shake. A healthy 200-calorie shake can quickly become a 700-calorie drink if you are adding too much to it.
Consuming too much protein can be dangerous and unhealthy. The recommended daily allowance of protein is roughly 15 percent of your total caloric intake, and most people have no problem reaching that goal without adding protein supplements. But that doesn’t mean protein drinks don’t have their place.
If you decide to get protein powder, I highly recommend getting one of these little babies to help mix your drinks. They are fantastic.
Sources: WebMD, The Benefits of Protein and Will Eating Protein Help Your Body Gain Muscle Faster. | <urn:uuid:aa72bade-f2df-48c7-b324-91bdd184f211> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fittwincities.com/2012/01/06/what-you-need-to-know-about-protein/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973373 | 693 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Whether you’re new to the area or you’ve lived in the same place all your life, chances are you don’t know everyone in town. If you do, well then it’s time to get out there and meet new people anyway. Meeting new people may seem fun or scary, but tech can make it easier for you to meet new people.
Meetup is an organization designed to get people together. They want to use the Internet to get people off of the Internet and meeting in person. About 9,000 Meetup groups get together each day, with a total of over 112,000 groups in 129 different countries.
Meetup can help you find people in your area who have common interests with you. Through Meetup you can find Meetup groups that meet regularly for all sorts of activities. In addition to meeting new people, you might find new favorite places. Meetups often occur at interesting local places you might not have discovered otherwise.
Here’s a video showing people’s reactions to attending their first Meetup:
The website is free to join and free of advertising, though Meetup groups may charge dues. If you want to organize meetings, you can become a paid member of Meetup for $12/month.
Ideas for Meetup Groups
Meetup groups get together with all different interests: personal, professional, political, religious, financial, and many others. Meetup allows groups based on any interest except those based on hate or crime.
You may find a group based on your stage in life – moms, dads, singles, newly divorced, working moms, etc. Or you may find a Meetup group based on activites such as hiking, biking, reading, tech, blogging, photography, fitness, cooking, adventure, movies, gaming, or volunteering.
- Singles in New York City might enjoy Silly Date, a group dedicated to getting fun-loving single people together to let loose and release their inner child.
- Theatre goers in London can get together at Up in the cheap seats – enjoying London theatre.
- Philly folks may enjoy Philadelphia Area Great Careers Group Meetups.
- Australian photographers can join Sydney Photo Fun.
- California dog lovers might enjoy the San Diego Golden Retrievers Group.
- Delaware singers should check out 30′s Plus that Like Karaoke.
- Find yourself in Japan? Don’t miss Tokyo Spontaneous Hangout Meetup Group.
- New Jersey Dancers can check out Let’s Dance Jersey.
- Texans can get together at Houston Single Professionals 30′s – 50′s.
- Sandy relief Meetups have been organized in the New York area.
You’re bound to find a Meetup group with your interest in your area. If not, you can start one!
Meetup groups often have community bulletin boards where members can post information. Members can post follow-up information after a meeting or helpful hints about a meeting location. Job listings can be posted on Meetup bulletin boards.
You can also use Meetup to network. If you’re trying to break into a new field or want to meet people in your profession, try to find a local Meetup group in your area of expertise. Often groups meet monthly so you can start to develop friendships with people in your industry outside your company. Meeting people face-to-face may open up new opportunities for your career.
Getting started with Meetup is easy. You sign up using either Facebook or your email address. You can search for Meetup groups by your geographic location. You can indicate on a sliding scale how far you’re willing to travel to join a Meetup group, from two miles to global (interplanetary Meetups don’t seem to be available yet). If you’re headed out of town on a vacation or business trip, you can look for a Meetup group at your destination.
You can also search for Meetup groups by your areas of interest or by the calendar to find Meetups occurring on a particular date.
When you find a Meetup you’d like to join, click on the link and head to the home page of the group to find out more information. Some groups require you to contact the leader to find out more about the group, others have their information available to all Meetup members.
Find out when and where the next Meetup is being held and RSVP to the event. Show up and introduce yourself. Have fun!
If you’re looking to pursue your interests, meet like-minded people, network, and/or discover new friends, check out Meetup and expand your horizons!
Have you ever been to a Meetup? What type of groups would appeal to you? Do you like the idea of meeting new people? Let us know in the Comments section below! | <urn:uuid:656ae7a1-939c-47c8-b4ee-4b2684410e98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wonderoftech.com/meetup/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931909 | 1,008 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The "Extra" Synod Father: RaphaelANTHONY VERDON
The reproduction of his "Disputation on the Sacrament" by Raphael has been placed in the hall of the synod on the Eucharist. Timothy Verdon, whom Benedict XVI has called to Rome as an expert consultant, explains why.
The original fresco is nearby, in the wing of the Apostolic Palace visited daily by thousands of visitors from all nations and faiths, a few steps away from the Sistine Chapel. Raphael painted it in 1509. Pope Julius II commissioned him to paint it in what was the library of his apartment for receiving visitors, which was later named the Stanza della Segnatura.
The "Disputation," which is 7 m wide, completely filling the wall it occupies, and is set off by a vaulted arch, was the first fresco that the 27-year-old artist from Urbino painted at the Vatican. And it is also his most richly theological work. On another wall of that same papal library, facing the "Disputation," Raphael painted another famous fresco, "The School of Athens," immediately after the first.
Both of these frescoes, and the room as a whole, provide an important means of understanding the Catholic faith as it was lived by the humanists of the papal court, at the dawn of the modern era.
The insight they provide is still powerfully instructive, as Timothy Verdon demonstrates in the text reproduced below. Verdon is one of the leading specialists in sacred art worldwide. Born in New Jersey in 1946, he is now a priest living in Florence. Educated as an art historian at Yale University, he has lived in Italy for thirty years, where he directs the office of the Florence archdiocese for catechesis through art. He is also a consultant for the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, a fellow of the Center for Renaissance Studies at Harvard University, and a professor at Stanford University and at the Theological Faculty of Central Italy.
Benedict XVI invited him to the synod on the Eucharist as an expert.
Part of the text reproduced here was published in L'Osservatore Romano on October 12, 2005. It will be published again in a book by Verdon now being printed by Mondadori: La Basilica di San Pietro: I papi e gli artisti [Saint Peter's Basilica: The Popes and the Artists].
The "Disputation on the Sacrament": A Manifesto in which the Church Tells its Own Story
by Timothy Verdon
What did this image
centered upon the Eucharist communicate to the people of its day? The dynamic
assembly painted by Raphael in 1509, with the glorified Christ displaying his
wounds in the center, was above all an iconographic reminder of the universal
judgment: the day on which Christ will come "amid the clouds, and every eye will
see him, even those who pierced him. All the peoples of the earth will lament
him" (Revelation 1:7).
So after the first impression, which would have been generally eschatological, or referring to the end times, the attentive observer would have made more specifically theological, even dogmatic, reflections: a central trinitarian structure and the sacrament as the visible extension of the life of the three divine persons, the object of attention for the figures gathered around the altar at the bottom.
fresco's main axis, from the Trinitarian group down to the host, seems to echo
the conclusion of the ecumenical council celebrated in Florence seventy years
earlier. The decree it issued, Laetantur Caeli, exalts the real presence
of the body of Christ in the consecrated host, right after defining as "reasonable
and licit" the addition of the Filioque to the creed: and Raphael, in fact,
shows the Spirit proceeding from the Father "and from the Son."
The two walls, in fact, are connected. "School " and "Disputation" constitute a single great image through which the visitor himself moves.
Standing in the middle of the room, one sees in "The School of Athens" figures who are emerging from deep within a vast hall still under construction. Among these noble figures one recognizes the greatest philosophers of antiquity: in the center, Plato, pointing to the sky with his right hand and carrying in his left the Timaeus; and Aristotle, who is gesturing toward the ground and carrying the Nichmoachean Ethics. And then there are Socrates, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Diogenes, Euclid, Zoroaster, Ptolemy. Some of them have formed a group and are carrying on a lively discussion; others remain alone, deeply immersed in their own thoughts. The entire assembly seems to advance toward the viewer: this impression is made using just a few figures and is reinforced through the powerful design in perspective.
But in the "Disputation" on the other side of the room, Raphael has created the opposite impression: The personages on floor level seem to move away from the viewer, turning toward the altar in the depths of the liturgical space defined by the half-circle of clouds.
So a person in the middle of the room has the sensation of participating in a collective movement that begins at the "School of Athens" and ends at the altar of the "Disputation."
The magnificent hall of the "School" also has a specific architectural form: it looks like the nave of a great church. It is, in fact, in the form of the new Basilica of St. Peter designed by Raphael's friend Donato Bramante, and begun three years before the painting of the frescoes of the Stanza, in 1506. A visitor of that who was familiar with the life of the papal court must have already known about Bramante's project, and thus would have been able to identify the architectural space of the "School " as the planned basilica.
Placing himself between the two principal frescoes of the Stanza della Segnatura, the Renaissance era visitor must have felt as if he were in the transept of the church under contruction, emblematic of the universal church, along the nave of which the great thinkers of the ancient world advanced toward the altar placed in the apse delineated by the clouds. And a humanist might have felt as if he were a participant in the age-old progress of the human spirit from Greco-Roman paganism through the present toward the eternity of Christ, which he could already glimpse by faith in a marvelous symbol held up before man by the Church, the Eucharist.
For the visitor of the early 1500's as also for Catholic believers today that small round of white that Raphael isolates at the center of the altar was, therefore, the key to all the mysteries of the faith.
For Giorgio Vasari, the first commentator on the "Disputation" during the 1500's, this intense intellectual activity painted by Raphael represents a process: they are "writing the Mass," he says, and "discussing the host upon the altar." The Mass, which makes present again, in an unbloody manner, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, is the liturgical action in which, through the work of the Holy Spirit, the ecclesial community lives fully its conformity to Christ. "Writing" the Mass implies the tireless and age-old effort to understand, explore, and better live the mystery of communion, entrusted to the Church, between heaven and earth, between God and man
Even outside of the liturgical action, the Eucharistic host revealed the body of Christ to the humanists: and this not only as a relic of his passion, but also and above all as communion, friendship, Church. In Raphael's fresco and in the commentary on it made by Vasari, we witness the world of the Renaissance recovering the ancient view of the Eucharist: the view of the Didache and of writers such as Gaudentius of Brescia, for whom the bread "comes from many grains of wheat, as also the mystical body of Christ is one, but is formed of the whole multitude of the human race, which is brought to perfection by the fire of the Spirit." And so it is for the blood: many grapes become a single chalice. Finally, this ancient writer explains how the unity of the Eucharist and the Church is accomplished: "Then comes the pressing upon the wine-press of the cross. Then there is the fermentation that takes place of its own accord within the ample spaces of hearts full of faith, hearts that take up the cross."
Looking over the "Disputation" from bottom to top from the Eucharist to Christ and the Father it appears clearly that the unity of the Church on earth with its Head in heaven, of whom the Eucharist is the symbol, is derived precisely from the "press" of the great concealed cross that organizes the entire composition, and along the vertical axis of which we contemplate the Trinity, while the horizontal one shows us our future in heaven with Mary and all the saints.
At the point where these two axes cross, preserving the unity between God and man we see Jesus Christ, the Man-God, who is seated above the two "schools": that of the sainted doctors and that of Athens, which is also part of the cosmic assembly.
We see Christ upon the invisible cross of history as saint Thomas Aquinas had characterized him: "The cross was not only the gibbet of him who suffered; it was the seat of him who taught." It is a cross which, more than a gibbet, here becomes a cathedra.
In fact, through the mystery of the divine will, even the pagans participate in the Church, the unsuspecting companions of its pilgrimage toward God. In their quest for spiritual wisdom, and in the desire to resolve the agonizing division between man's individual experience and his shared destiny, the ancient thinkers of "The School of Athens" laid the conceptual foundations upon which the Church would later build. Unaware of it themselves, they drove history toward the one the humanist Marsilio Ficino calls "the living book," Christ who teaches from the cross.
So, like the patriarchs and prophets of Israel, the pagan philosophers are also our forefathers in faith. In the transept of this church that embraces all of history, with the ancients in the nave and, in front, in the apse, the glory to come, the humanist believers of the 1500's might perhaps called words addressed to the pagans of Ephesus at the Church's inception:
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ […]. So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:13, 19-22).
Another recent commentary by Timothy Verdon, on the images that accompany the "Compendium" of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: A Catechism for the Culture of the Image (5.7.2005)
Timothy Verdon. "The "Extra" Synod Father: Raphael." Chiesa (October 17, 2005).
Reprinted with permission.
Timothy Verdon is one of the leading specialists in sacred art worldwide. Born in New Jersey in 1946, he is now a priest living in Florence. Educated as an art historian at Yale University, he has lived in Italy for thirty years, where he directs the office of the Florence archdiocese for catechesis through art. He is also a consultant for the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, a fellow of the Center for Renaissance Studies at Harvard University, and a professor at Stanford University and at the Theological Faculty of Central Italy.
Copyright © 2005 Chiesa
Not all articles published on CERC are the objects of official Church teaching, but these are supplied to provide supplementary information. | <urn:uuid:34536edc-fb48-4b9d-b77b-e60e41f7e574> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0243.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968685 | 2,587 | 2.296875 | 2 |
The term biology was coined in the late 1700s by the French naturalists Pierre-Antoine de Monet and Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck. It is the science of life: Of the composition and behavior of living things, of their interactions with each other and their environment.
Biologists study life over a wide range of scales:
One the central, organizing concepts in biology is that all life has descended from a common origin though a process of evolution. Charles Darwin was the first to rigorously argue this idea, which he did with his proposal of natural selection as an evolutionary mechanism. The evolutionary history of a species, i.e., the characteristics of the species from which it descended, is called the phylogeny of the species; it is studied using methods of molecular biology by analyzing biopolymer sequences of genes and proteins, and by investigating ancient forms of life in paleontology. Various methodologies have been developed, including phylogenetics, phenetics, and cladistics. An evolutionary timeline outlining the major events in the evolution of life on Earth is available.
The classification of living things is called systematics, or taxonomy, and should reflect the evolutionary trees (phylogenetic trees) of the different organisms. Taxonomy piles up organisms in groups called taxa, while systematics seeks their relationships. The dominant system is called Linnaean taxonomy, which includes ranks and binomial nomenclature. How organisms are named is governed by international agreements such as the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature[?] (ICBN), the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), and the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria[?] (ICNB). A fourth Draft BioCode was published in 1997 in an attempt to standardize naming in the three areas, but it does not appear to have yet been formally adopted. The International Code of Virus Classification and Nomenclature[?] (ICVCN) remains outside the BioCode.
Traditionally, living things were divided into five kingdoms:
However, this five-kingdom system is now considered by many to be outdated, and if one does not want to hyperinflate the number of kingdoms, one can use the three-domain system. These domains reflect whether cells have nuclei or not as well as differences in cell membranes / cell walls.
Major Branches of Biology
People and History
What are our priorities for writing in this area? To help develop a list of the most basic topics in Biology, please see Biology basic topics.
External links and Resources
On the Web | <urn:uuid:885033e8-0c02-46a3-ad94-452483dcc701> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/bi/Biology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942222 | 533 | 3.5 | 4 |
This article is about the interface feature. For other uses, see Notes (disambiguation).
The Notes feature was released with the Mobilising Armies update of 8 July 2009. It is a part of the interface that allows players to add up to 30 notes in plain text, with a maximum of 50 characters each, for a total of 1500 characters. Players can add a note by pressing the button at the top-left of the interface, which is marked with a green 'plus' (+) symbol, and then typing on the keyboard.
Players can customize an individual note by right-clicking it. This allows them to change the colour of the note's text to any of four different colours (red, green, amber and white), with white being the default. They can also edit the text of any note, using the Caret to select certain parts of the note to go back to.
Players can delete any note by selecting it and then pressing the "Delete" bar, or delete all notes by right-clicking the Delete bar and selecting "Delete all".
The Notes feature is useful for keeping track of prices or writing down lists of things to buy. It could also be used in quests that require you to remember a word or phrase.
Players who are under 13 years old cannot use this feature. This feature can also be used on Quick Chat worlds.
Typing any key or specific phrases will result in the note changing to a popular cultural reference or meme.
|All your base are belong to us||orly?||"All your base are belong to us" is a famous line from the video game Zero Wing which was ineptly translated by the European Sega department. "Orly", meaning "oh really?", is an internet meme which began with a famous image of a Snowy Owl looking skeptical and disbelieving, captioned with the phrase "O RLY?".|
|orly||yarly||"Yarly", meaning "yeah really", is often used as a reply to "orly".|
|Murder||All rest and no play makes Guthix a dull boy.||This is a reference to the book, The Shining, in which the main character goes insane and types "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." over and over. "Redrum" (murder spelled backwards) refer to the main character's son who repeats this word throughout the course of the book.|
|Andrew||Cabbage.||In RuneScape Classic, censored words were replaced with "Cabbage" instead of stars. It is also a running joke in RuneScape, featuring prominently in the 2007 and 2009 April Fools events.|
|Paul||Rargh, I'm a lava monster!||This is possibly an inside joke in Jagex Studios. It's a possibility that Paul REALLY likes lava monsters, or it could just be meant to be funny in a sense that it's completely irrelevant.|
|I am your father||Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!||In the movie Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the main villain Darth Vader tells Luke Skywalker that he is his father, causing Luke to shout "Nooo!"|
|I'll be back||Come with me if you want to live.||The lines are from the movie "The Terminator". The first is said by the terminator himself and the second is said by Kyle Reese to Sarah Connor.|
|Finish the fight||They must love the smell of hero.||These lines reference the video game Halo 3.|
|There is no spoon||Then you will see, it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.||This is a reference to the movie The Matrix in which a child explains to the protagonist how he is able to bend spoons with his mind.|
|You fight like a dairy farmer||How appropriate. You fight like a cow.||A reference to the video game The Secret of Monkey Island, where one-liners like this are the fighting method.|
|Bangin'||donk||This may be a reference to the film Crocodile Dundee in which an antagonist goes to attack a friend of Mick Dundee, which results in the line "I don't need a gun, I have a donk" which then results in the antagonist being hit on the head with a donk like noise.
"Bangin' donk" may also refer to the popular song on youtube, entitled "Put a donk on it" which is sung by the Blackout Crew. It may come from the quote "You know what you gotta do right? Put a bangin' donk on it!".
|Humperdinck||Have fun storming the castle!||These lines are from the film The Princess Bride.|
|Milton Waddams||The ratio of people to cake is too big.||This is a reference to Office Space.|
|R.I.P. Runescape||Wanna bet?||This is because many players speculate about the death of Runescape.|
|Penso, logo existo||Borboletas salpicadas de goiabada...||The first line is Portuguese and translates to "I think, therefore I am". This is a famous quote from the French philosopher, René Descartes, regarding the question of existence. The second line, also Portuguese, translates to "Sprinkled butterflies of guava jelly...".|
|Le temps passe||L'œuf dur.||Both lines are in French, the first translates to "Time flies" and the second translates to "The hard-boiled egg."|
|Sevga||Marmaros had a close encounter with a prayer-eating behemoth.||Sevga was the name of the player that sent a letter to Plane-freezer Lakhrahnaz in the Postbag 44. The Chaos Elemental answered with a new set of hints.|
Mod Hope has tentatively confirmed there are more to be found.
In the guide section of the RuneScape website Controls - Notes there was an example note pictured that states "Finish reading the Oxford English Dictionary -S.". This could be a reference to the movie Evan Almighty in which God leaves notes for protagonist Evan Baxter, signed with "G". The note could have been signed by the RuneScape God Saradomin, encouraging players to spell better. The pictured note has been removed from the Game Guide.
- There used to be a bug where you could get images before your text when you edit it by typing in this format: "<img=0> text". Changing the number would change the image, the usable images were: , , and . Anything above <img=3> results in an empty space. This bug was fixed with an update on 28 April 2010.
- There is a glitch when you are following someone, while pressing the "add note" button, you stop following and walk on the spot instead. You are still facing the one you are following. The "walk on the spot" part of this glitch has been fixed.
- When the game state is rolled back as a part of a bug fix (as happened on 14 April 2010), notes that were added in the period that was rolled back are not deleted. For example during the time to be rollback, a player could have finished a slayer task, got a new one, and made a note about it. After the rollback, the note still exists for the new task, even though the player is now back on the previous task. This retention of notes, however, is possibly not a glitch, since the player could have made a note that would be unaffected by the rollback.
- ^ Mod Tim (Lead Content Developer) and Mod Maz (Content Developer and Queen of the Squirrels). Mobilising Armies. RuneScape News List. Jagex Ltd. “We’ve added the ability for you to make notes. To access this new feature, click on the Notes icon at the bottom-right of the screen. This remarkably simple system enables you to leave up to 30 notes for yourself, each of which can be up to 50 characters long.”* | <urn:uuid:e107b6a7-9c95-4c17-ab47-8361bae5ef05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Notes?oldid=5843288 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94328 | 1,707 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Google Alerts Can Help You Detect Misuse or Abuse of Your Work!
May 15th 2007 09:44
The Google Alert can be a very valuable tool for today's writer, whose work can show up in so many different corners of the internet that it might be impossible to keep track of otherwise. Google's search engine continually crawls the Web, seeking content. This is why a Google Alert can find your work wherever it may appear on various parts of the Web, as long as you create an effective alert by entering the most appropriate search terms for the item or items in question.
Why might you want to create a Google Alert? While there are a number of reasons for the average person to use them--such as keeping up-to-date on news stories, business developments, people, or events--for the writer, they can prove especially significant--if not crucial.
For example, if you create a Google Alert using your name, or byline, as your search criterion, you will be notified, via e-mail, when Google detects sites where your name appears. If you sell your work on the internet through a site such as Constant Content,* which acts as a middleman for your work, selling it on your behalf to various buyers who visit the site, it can be difficult for you to be certain that the buyers who purchase your work are abiding by the terms of the sale, since you generally don't know who the buyers are or which website or websites your work will be posted to. If you sell your work yourself, you would be more likely to have access to such information--though there is still a possibility that the buyer might use your work in a way that hasn't been authorized by you.
If you sell "all rights" to your piece--whether through a literary agent, a website such as Constant Content, or on your own--you have forfeited any say over what is done to or with it. In such a case, the buyer may freely revise, rewrite, and even remove your byline and replace it with his or her own. However, if you sell only "usage," or "one-time use" rights, there are limits on what the buyer may do with or to your work.
If you sell it yourself, you may give the buyer, editor, or publisher permission to make changes to your manuscript or online content or you may agree to make the changes they desire yourself. But, on a site such as Constant Content, "usage" rights do not include the right to alter purchased content in any way. This means that the buyer may not add or delete anything from your piece, may not change its title, and--perhaps most importantly--may not remove your byline.
This is where Google Alerts can be very useful. I, personally, have found two instances of unauthorized changes that had been made to my work after usage rights had been purchased--or I should say, Google found two instances of unauthorized changes to my work for me via my one single Google Alert, set up using my name as my search criterion. (I found a third instance myself, in which my byline had been completely removed from the piece, though the article itself had not been altered.)
In one of the two cases found via a Google Alert, my original title had been removed and replaced with a poorly written and grammatically incorrect one, making me look somewhat less literate than I like to look. In addition, a two-word phrase was removed from the piece, which I understood and would have been willing to OK, had they asked. (In fact, I would have even been willing to OK a title change for their particular site, as long as it was grammatically correct.)
In the second case found by Google, the buyer had inserted a decidedly mediocre introductory paragraph before my own initial paragraph--one which did not flow smoothly into my opening paragraph, creating a clumsy transition which, again, made me appear to be a less capable writer than I like to think I am. (The tone and style of my first sentence had been intentional and were perfectly fitting as an opening to the piece, whereas the tone and style of the new opening paragraph were entirely inappropriate to the piece and lowered its quality tremendously.) In addition, this third buyer removed the entire final sentence of the piece, though retaining my byline.
While two of the above issues have not yet been resolved** (though I only found out about one of them yesterday and haven't yet reported it to C-C), I am glad that I'm able to find these breaches of the purchase agreement that each buyer enters into with Constant Content when they purchase content from the site. (Apparently they can't read any better than they can write! The rules of purchase are prominently posted in the appropriate section of the C-C website.)
I, for one, certainly want to know about any and all instances where buyers of my work "murder my manuscripts," "crucify my content," or "butcher my byline"--even if it does take a little time to get the issues resolved. It is, after all, my work; and if I'm going to be a ghostwriter, it will be because I, myself, have agreed to be one--and I have agreed to do so in the recent past, after determining that it was the right thing to do in that particular instance. However, when I'm not functioning in the role of ghostwriter, my work represents me before the world in a way that it never could were my name not on it, and therefore it is even more critical that it present me and my abilities as a writer in a positive light.
They say that knowledge is power. And that's exactly what a Google Alert can give to a writer: the knowledge of just exactly what is being done with his or her literary masterpieces out in the farthest reaches of the World Wide Web--and the power to take action to rectify any breach of business or personal ethics that may be occurring in the handling of those works, which are uniquely his or her own.
So, if you are consistently selling your work on the internet, I would highly recommend that you consider setting up a Google Alert, or multiple alerts, using either your name or other search criteria that are appropriate to your material--or even creating both. You might just be surprised what you find. (Sometimes, what you find will actually be positive, rather than negative, which is always nice!)
A properly executed Google Alert might even help you detect unauthorized use of your work by unscrupulous individuals to whom you have neither sold nor given the right to use it. It could prove an excellent anti-plagiarism tool if you are able to come up with sufficiently specific search criteria to identify your work when it doesn’t contain your byline. (I, personally, have not used it this way, myself yet, however.)
You can learn everything you need to know to get started with Google Alerts by reading the info on their site. It's one great way of protecting the integrity of your work.
Till next time,
*To find out more about Constant Content, see my earlier blog post about this helpful site.
**One of these two issues has since been resolved.
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
subscribe to this blog | <urn:uuid:9a7f7b46-7621-4bd8-8efd-af97fce117b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.writersnotes.net/google-alerts-can-help-you-detect-misuse-or-abuse-of-your-work/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971237 | 1,509 | 1.53125 | 2 |
- Special Sections
- Public Notices
Ice and snow made for slick roads and cautious driving last week as Grant County saw its first winter storm of the season.
While kids sledding or building a snowman seemed to be nonexistent with the frigid temperatures and hard ground, snow plows and salt trucks patrolled the street at every turn.
“The snow wouldn’t have been that much of a problem, but we had that freezing rain and ice,” said Steve Tatum, Grant County road supervisor. “When that froze to the road, that gave us a lot of problems. You have to wait until the temperature comes up to where the ice will soften where you can pry it off. We’ve just been constantly plowing and salting.”
During the four days of inclement weather, the county used eight trucks and 800 to 1,000 tons of salt, sand and cinders, Tatum said.
Clearing off the roads in subdivisions proved to be the most difficult because of the high volume of traffic, he said.
The up to 52 tons of salt used by the city of Dry Ridge to treat 34 miles of streets and sidewalks has already been replenished, said Bobby Robbins, city maintenance supervisor.
Robbins worked about 56 hours last week to make sure that road conditions were drivable.
“Tuesday (Jan. 27) morning was the worst when it started so hard you couldn’t hardly see what was going on,” he said. “Then, you had traffic out and that doesn’t give us enough space to get our job done.”
“It was the way it came down,” Robbins said. “It would come down heavy in snow and then we had a little bit of ice. We put down some salt and then the snow started. We got it scrapped off and then the sleet started. We put salt down on it and it was one thing after another. What makes it real hard is people scrapping their driveways and stuff out into the road and we got to go back and scrap that off. When people run over it, it packs it in real hard.”
Three trucks started treating Williamstown roads around 1 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 27, and crews continued to work 14-hour shifts around the clock.
In all, about 150 tons of salt was used, said Mark Courtney, Williamstown street superintendent.
“We just have to keep pushing and putting salt down and finding places to pile the snow up so we don’t block people’s driveways,” he said. “Tree limbs were falling so we had to push them out of the way. We didn’t have a whole lot because most of them were falling in people’s yards. So, it wasn’t too bad.”
Seven Kentucky Transportation Cabinet road contractors, along with four trucks exclusive to Grant County, helped clear Interstate 75 from Sadieville to 71/75 split and other state routes.
Kentucky budgeted $38 million statewide for salt, snow removal, overtime, contract crews and maintenance, said Nancy Wood, public information officer for Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, District 6.
“The ice was a major obstacle,” she said. “That brought hazardous road conditions and made it a lot harder on all of our drivers.”
The KTC crews used more than 2,000 tons of salt in Grant County in a four-day span.
Clogged drains and downed trees added to the difficulties for road workers, Wood said.
“We’d push the ice and snow off and it would cover up the drain,” she said. “Then, water would pour out onto the roadway. Our drivers were multi-tasking. They had to plow out some drains.”
If the workers could not push fallen tree branches and limbs off the roadway, Wood said they would have to use a chainsaw to cut and remove them.
“Our state maintenance workers work in a lot of extreme conditions,” she said. “We appreciate people’s patience as we try to get the roads clear as possible for travel.” | <urn:uuid:a8a8e935-2450-414a-9bf6-167cbc3d21d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grantky.com/content/crews-battle-ice-downed-trees-clear-roads | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973186 | 885 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Up at the PM offices, we’re still waiting for this year’s Breakthrough Awards winners to arrive and sit down for a chat with The Popular Mechanics Show, our podcast that goes live with a video episode right here at approximately 4:00 p.m. EST. In the meantime, let’s catch up with some of the top innovators from last year’s inaugural awards to see how they’re still setting the bar for technology…. –Matt Sullivan
THEN: The solar-powered aluminum and carbon-fiber robot was busy searching the Mars-like desert of Atacama in Chile, while Wettergreen and his team at the Cargnegie Mellon Robotics Institute were hoping for Zoë to hit 2 km per day in new test environments.
NOW: “We completed all of our major milestones,” Wettergreen says, hitting 200 km of solo travel in the desert collecting over 200 observations at three different sites.
Next: As Zoë continues to pump out the first biogeologic maps of the Atacama, new software currently in development should test her prowess at classifying rocks and making those maps more automatically.
THEN: Heeger, who won the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry, predicted his super-thin PV plastic would be mass produced for solar-powered tents, awnings and the like within two years.
NOW: With a $100,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and $20 million in venture capital on hand, Heeger’s company, Konarka, has found prime-time investment partners to license and manufacture its dye-cell technology.
NEXT: While Heeger takes on interdisciplinary research in photonic sensor technology at UC-Santa Barbara, his prediction for Konarka seems more than realistic given the company’s recent deals.
THEN: Cyberkinetics’ chip-to-computer system to empower the paralyzed was set for a second pilot trial in March, with FDA approval potentially five years away.
NOW: We started an overload of press coverage, but reports from the new trials with quadriplegia and Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) have been positive—a July cover story in the journal Nature reported that BrainGate had successfully transferred neural signals to a prosthetic hands and robotic arms.
NEXT: Earlier this month, the FDA approved one of Cyberkinetics’ spinal cord devices, and with trials on a patient suffering from advanced ALS going well, the BrainGate might not be far off.
THEN: Using microbes to generate hydrogen while cleaning wastewater, the BioElectrochemically Assisted Microbial Reactor was available, but it didn’t have any takers as of a year ago.
NOW: BEAMR’s big break toward renewable energy is based on the ability of bacteria to transfer electrons to a surface. Logan’s team has learned a lot more about how the microbes do just that as they’ve increased the process’ electrical output. “We’re well over double the power we had last year,” says Logan, a Penn State professor of environmental engineering.
NEXT: Currently in negotiations for development and licensing with three large companies, Logan is hoping to ink a BEAMR deal by January.
THEN: 160 of these low-tech roof mounts for machine guns—built in the Russell family’s Seattle-area welding shop—were deployed in Iraq with immediate success.
NOW: With the mounts still in use on the battlefield, Captain Pottratz (U.S. Army Corps, 44th Support Battalion) will be here for tonight’s Breakthrough Awards.
NEXT: Stay tuned! We’ll talk with Pottratz tonight at PM.com’s live blog from the awards pre-show…. | <urn:uuid:cde0869f-6cce-49d3-baa1-732a6a8898b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/4199226 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932486 | 799 | 1.796875 | 2 |
The Most Learned Woman in America
- Publish Date: 11/24/2003
- Dimensions: 6 x 9
- Page Count: 416 pages Illustrations: 6 illustrations
- Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-271-02311-3
- Paperback ISBN: 978-0-271-05850-4
“The Most Learned Woman in America is a delightful addition to the growing corpus of knowledge that we have concerning America’s ‘Founding Mothers.’ Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson was famous in her time, virtually unknown in our own. Yet, as Anne Ousterhout points out in her painstakingly researched work, she was a woman who was known in her own right; she was never merely an appendage of the men to whom she was related. Fergusson’s literary salon in Philadelphia placed her at the very center of the cultural and intellectual world of colonial America.”
“Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson's contemporaries recognized that the story of her life was extraordinary. Only now, however, has anyone succeeded in narrating the tale of the presiding genius of colonial America's greatest salon. Anne Ousterhout's book provides a concise, reliable, and readable account of the life of this woman gifted with wit, troubled with a volatile heart, and drawn to aristocratic political intrigue.”
“This book is a thoughtful and well-researched biography of Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson in Revolutionary-era Philadelphia.”
“Anne M. Ousterhout in The Most Learned Woman in America contributes significantly to correcting any notion that women were absent from the religious and political engagement—in words and deeds—that led to the founding of the United States of America. Through a style that is appealing both to the scholar and the general reader, Ousterhout encourages a complex reevaluation of this revolutionary era for evidence of the contribution of other women like Mrs. Fergusson.”
“This a beautiful book. The restrained sepia tones of the book jacket give way to vibrant orange endpapers embossed with vines and flowers. The floral designs of the chapter headings are replicated in the page headers. The few illustrations are full-page, clear, and sharp. Other presses might note that academic books need not be carelessly produced and ugly.”
“Thus, this biography both introduces us to an intriguing woman intellectual and serves to further the understanding of eighteenth-century American literary culture.”
“Ousterhout's study is an example of biography at its strongest: it provides a window into the detailed life of one woman and illuminates how she fit into the broader social, intellectual, and political communities around her.”
During the era of the American Revolution and long after, the name Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson was well known in Philadelphia, recognized as belonging to one of British North America’s most illustrious women of letters. One admirer dubbed her "the most learned woman in America." In this, the first full-length biography of Fergusson, Anne M. Ousterhout brilliantly captures the life and times of America’s first great female savant.
Born in 1737 to a wealthy family, Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson excelled from an early age. Although women in her day were denied higher education, Fergusson read widely, educating herself in literature, history, and languages, even reading classical literature in the original tongues, an unusual ability for a colonial woman. She wrote prolifically—often until midnight or later, spending but a few hours sleeping—and published her poetry. Her journals of a trip to England and Scotland circulated widely among admiring Philadelphians. During the 1770s she hosted a Saturday evening salon at her home that was unrivaled in the colonies for its brilliance.
Yet despite her achievements, Fergusson’s life was fraught with financial woes, bad romances, and treasonous plots that hounded her throughout her life. After her father forbade her marriage to Benjamin Franklin’s illegitimate son, she secretly married Henry Hugh Fergusson, a British Loyalist who left her before the Revolution. Henry’s actions, together with Elizabeth’s own political indiscretions, earned her potent enemies, leading to the confiscation of her family estate, Graeme Park. Although she eventually succeeded in reclaiming her property, her reputation was tarnished in the process. Her efforts to justify her actions were tireless, alienating friends and making the last fifteen years of her life miserable.
The Most Learned Woman in America masterfully narrates Fergusson’s efforts to live an appropriately genteel life, even as she struggled against the limits that her society placed on its women. In the process, we can begin to understand the conflicts—internal and external—that women of the Revolutionary generation faced.
Foreword by Joseleyne A. Slade
Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction by Susan Stabile
1. Sweet Period of Vernal Youth
2. Love, Politics, and Rejection
3. This Bewitching Country
4. The Most Learned Woman in America
5. Very Tender and Painful Emotions
6. Everybody Is a Whig or a Torie
8. Confrontation and Confiscation
9. Between Constitutionalists and Anti-Constitutionalists
10. The Deserted Wife
11. Femme Savante
12. The Final Narrowing Circle | <urn:uuid:a6f9eaaa-4e02-4ee0-8490-0cec0e2d7157> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-02311-3.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 | 0.943197 | 1,155 | 2.234375 | 2 |