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This press release is available in German.
It is not unusual for babies to be born with congenital heart defects. This is because the development of the heart in the embryo is a process which is not only extremely complex, but also error-prone. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now identified a key molecule that plays a central role in regulating the function of stem cells in the heart. As a result, not only could congenital heart defects be avoided in future, but new ways of stimulating the regeneration of damaged hearts in adults may be opened up.
It's a long road from a cluster of cells to a finished heart. Cell division transforms what starts out as a collection of only a few cardiac stem cells into an ever-larger structure from which the various parts of the heart, such as ventricles, atria, valves and coronary vessels, develop. This involves the stem and precursor cells undergoing a complex process which, in addition to tightly regulated cell division, also includes cell migration, differentiation and specialisation. Once the heart is complete, the stem cells are finally switched off.
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now discovered how major parts of this development process are regulated. Their search initially focused on finding binding partners for transcription factor Isl1. Isl1 is characteristic of a specific group of cardiac stem cells which are consequently also known as Isl1+ cells. During their search, the researchers came across Ajuba, a transcription factor from the group of LIM proteins. "We then took a closer a look at the interaction between these two molecules and came to the conclusion that Ajuba must be an important switch", says Gergana Dobreva, head of the "Origin of Cardiac Cell Lineages" Research Group at the Bad Nauheim-based Max Planck Institute.
Using an animal model, the scientists then investigated the effects of a defective switch on cardiac development. Embryonic development can be investigated particularly effectively in the zebrafish. The Bad Nauheim-based researchers therefore produced a genetically modified fish that lacked a functioning Ajuba protein. Cardiac development in these fishes was in fact severely disrupted. In addition to deformation of the heart, caused by twisting of the cardiac axis, what particularly struck the researchers was a difference in size in comparison with control animals. "In almost all the investigated fish we observed a dramatic enlargement of the heart. If Ajuba is absent, there is clearly no other switch that finally silences the Isl1-controlled part of cardiac development", says Dobreva.
Further investigations revealed that the enlargement of the heart is in fact attributable to a greatly increased number of cardiac muscle cells. The reason for this was in turn that the number of Isl1+ cells, i.e. the cardiac muscle precursor cells, was distinctly raised right from an early phase of development. Ajuba is a decisive factor in controlling stem cell activity: it binds to Isl1 molecules, thus blocking their stimulant effect.
The results from the study could have potential future applications. "Once we understand how cardiac development is regulated, we will also be more familiar with the causes of congenital heart defects and will consequently be able to consider therapeutic approaches", comments Dobreva. Damaged adult hearts can also be repaired in this way: "One possibility would be to optimise the production of replacement cells from embryonic or artificially produced stem cells in the laboratory. Silencing Ajuba in these cells might enhance their development into functional cardiac muscle cells. Sufficient replacement cells for treating patients could be cultured in this way." Another possibility is to stimulate stem cell activity by silencing Ajuba in the damaged heart and so cause the heart to regenerate itself. Further studies are now set to investigate how feasible this might be.
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system. | <urn:uuid:fde8c742-1cfd-4cf5-9563-03c8a386003b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/m-fhs071212.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942273 | 826 | 3.46875 | 3 |
February 1, 2013: The Drug Cartel War has definitely hurt Mexican businesses in cities along the Mexico-Texas border. Ciudad Acuna (Coahuila state) experienced a spate of violence in 2010, when Los Zetas gunmen killed a Coahuila state police commander near the city. At the time Mexican authorities believed the Zetas were fighting a coalition of the Sinaloa and La Familia cartels. In late 2011 three local police officers were murdered, execution style. The Zetas were also implicated in those slayings. The Acuna area, however, has not faced the sustained violence other border cities have experienced. There are a couple of explanations for this. One is positive: the Acuna area is not a major drug trafficking corridor. Another is very negative: Coahuila state police and some municipal cops in the area are on the take, so drugs move freely through the town. The Zetas have no reason to shoot. There are some reasons to doubt that drugs move that freely through the city. The Mexican Army has a garrison near the city and is very active in patrolling the area. However, the recent news about Zetas penetration in legitimate businesses in Coahuila state indicates that the political and police corruption theory has legs. Moreover, the son of former Coahuila governor, Humberto Moreira, was murdered in Acuna in October 2012. Whatever the explanation for the comparative lack of violence, the citizens of Acuna have still suffered from the drug war. Many local stores (eg. restaurants, liquor stores) which have traditionally catered to local American customers (ie, residents of Del Rio, Texas, across the border) have been closing due to a drop off in business. Several of the more tourist-oriented businesses (like the town’s famous cantinas and casinos) have seen the number of tourists decline but have managed to remain open. As a result, Acuna has seen a sharp rise in vacant buildings (particularly apartment houses). The Mexican Army presence at the border crossing and bridge is noticeable, and it is supposed to be noticed. Typically, two Humvees (sometimes armed with M-60 light machine guns) are positioned near the bridge. The armed vehicles are supported by eight to 12 soldiers (essentially a squad). A recent visitor to Acuna described the military border post as reminiscent of Check Point Charlie, the Cold War-era U.S Army check point between East Berlin and West Berlin. The soldiers, however, are clearly looking both ways. When they move to and from their garrison they vary their routes and move so that the armed vehicles in the convoy can support each other. At irregular intervals and with no notice, the soldiers at the border will perform routine customs checks of vehicles entering the country, pre-empting the official customs officers. This suggests that the government (or at least the commander of the army brigade stationed in the Acuna area) considers the customs personnel to be something less than reliable. Meanwhile, Coahuila state officials are attempting to increase the number of state police available and improve the quality of police protection. The state recently hired 1,000 new officers and intends to hire another 1,000 by the end of 2014. The state claims that it is hiring about one in twenty applicants and is giving preference to individuals who have served in the Mexican military. The idea is that the cartels are less likely to have infiltrated their operatives into the military. (Al Nofi and Austin Bay)
January 31, 2013: The federal attorney general’s office (PGR) has frozen the assets of a large Coahuila mining company, Materiales Industrializados (MINSA). The owner of the company is suspected of having ties to an organized criminal gang (probably Los Zetas).
The Mexico City headquarters of the Mexican national oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), was damaged by a large explosion in the first three floors. At least 25 people were killed and over 100 people were injured in the incident. Over 3,500 PEMEX employees were forced to evacuate the building (the headquarters is a downtown skyscraper). Initial reports said that a machine room generator exploded.
January 30, 2013: The government began deploying Mexican Navy marines and special police officers in and around Mexico City to avert what it said was a mounting threat from drug cartels. The marines and police officers have begun manning check points in the city and its suburbs. The Mexico City operation follows the deployment of a force of 3,000 Mexican Army soldiers, Navy marines, and police officers in the surrounding Mexico State.
January 29, 2013: The U.S Department of Homeland Security has concluded that Mexican narcotics trafficking gangs have tried to infiltrate the U.S Customs and Border Protection service. The DHS is investigating 15 separate incidents.
January 27, 2013: Mexican Army soldiers operating in Tamaulipas state located seven illegal oil taps on PEMEX pipelines and distribution facilities in operations conducted between January 18 and January 25. The soldiers also seized several tanker trucks which were transporting stolen gasoline (32,000 liters/8,000 gallons of gas).
January 23, 2013: The navy continues to search for the supply ship San Andres, it has not been heard from since January 18. The small freighter sailed from the port of Mazatlan (Pacific Ocean) for Mexico’s Islas Marias and was supposed to return to Mazatlan. A patrol boat found two unidentified bodies floating near the islands on January 22.
January 22, 2013: The U.S military will soon begin running a new special operations training program for Mexican security forces. While U.S special operations personnel have helped train Mexican police and military personnel in the past, the new program is specifically designed to instruct Mexican personnel in special operations counter-terrorist raids and snatch operations techniques. The Osama Bin Laden operation by the U.S Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is an example of these types of operations. Presumably, Mexican personnel would employ these techniques against the drug cartels. The Agency handling the training will be Special Operations Command-North, which will have its headquarters at NORTHCOM’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Currently, around 30 SOCOM personnel serve with NORTHCOM. The new SOCOM-NORTH headquarters may increase to 150 personnel. The new headquarters will also help coordinate other operations where special operations expertise is useful, to include U.S Coast Guard ships conducting strike operations outside U.S territorial waters on vessels identified as carrying suspect cargo.
January 19, 2013: Soldiers fought with cartel gunmen in and near the town of San Fernando (Tamaulipas state). The battle began when the gunmen fired on an army convoy conducting a motorized patrol outside of the town. The soldiers killed two gunmen.
Soldiers found 168 bundles of marijuana (around 1.8 tons) in a brushy area near the town of Ciudad Guerrero (Tamaulipas state, south of Falcon Dam on the Rio Grande).
January 18, 2013: Investigators arrested 158 police officers from Durango State and other states in northern Mexico. The officers arrested allegedly worked with organized criminal gangs. This specific police corruption investigation had been going on for three years. Military personnel and several police officers from areas in southern Mexico are being posted to northern Mexico to replace the officers under arrest. Several of the officers arrested are suspected of smuggling drugs as well as aiding the drug cartels.
A Nicaraguan court sentenced 18 people to 30 years in prison. The defendants were arrested when they entered Nicaragua posing as Mexican journalists. They were convicted of money-laundering and of organized criminal activity. The court found that they were attempting to use Nicaragua as a link between drug smuggling operations in Mexico and Costa Rica. The group consisted of one woman and 17 men. The group claimed they had been sent to cover a murder case. Authorities determined that the woman, named Racquel Alatorre Correa, was the group leader. They were arrested in August 2012, when Nicaraguan police found signs of cocaine and stashes of cash in the vans in which the fake journalists were traveling. Several vans had Televisa TV network logos. The Mexican TV network, however, told Nicaraguan authorities that it had no connection with the group.
The federal government is considering limiting the amount of debt states, cities, and towns may carry. The government has been examining its authority to impose a debt limit because Mexican states are considered to be independent entities within the country’s federal structure. However, several states face huge and mounting public debt burdens. Some towns have defaulted. The federal government has to approve long-term bonds issued by states and cities because the states and cities can use their expected share of federal taxes to back the bonds. There is an anti-crime angle to the federal move to limit debt loads. Reformers claim corrupt municipal and state governments have used bond money to pay for contracts with businesses that are fronts for organized crime.
January 17, 2013: Mexico is touting its new intelligence coordination agency, the National Intelligence Center (CNI), as a major advantage in the Cartel War. However, many fear it will become a super ministry and become a tool of corrupt officials. The CNI has a very big mission. It is supposed to fuse all information gathered by Mexican government agencies and provide them to security agencies and law enforcement organizations.
January 16, 2013: A Mexican court ruled that two arrested Mexican Army generals must remain in jail and go on trial. Authorities arrested Brigadier General Roberto Dawe Gonzalez and General (retired) Tomas Angeles Dauahare in May 2012, on charges of working for drug trafficking organizations. The arrests were a huge embarrassment to the military and the Calderon administration. In 2006, General Angeles was the deputy secretary of defense (which means he was number two in the chain of command in the Mexican Army). At the time of his arrest BG Dawe was in command of an elite army unit headquartered in Colima state (20th Military Zone, western Mexico). Colima state is on the Pacific Ocean. A third senior officer, Brigadier General Rueben Perez Ramirez, also faces drug trafficking charges. Perez, however, is something of an embarrassment for the new administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto. Perez was the officer in charge of the military zone of the state of Mexico (also known as Edomex, located in central Mexico, east, north, and west of the federal district) when Pena was governor of the state.
The three generals are the highest-ranking Mexican Army officers to face drug smuggling charges since General Jesus Guitterrez Rebollo was arrested in 1997. Guitterrez arrest was also a huge embarrassment. At the time he was in command of Mexico’s federal anti-narcotics office. Guitterez was convicted of drug trafficking charges and of being engaged in organized criminal activity.
January 14, 2013: Mexico City and its immediate area had 32 murders over a 48 hours period, with 22 slain in the federal district itself. (Mexico City has its own federal entity but its suburbs extend into the states of Mexico and Morelos.) Police called the number of murders a crime wave but reported that so far the murder spree had not been connected to the drug cartels. Investigations, however, are under way, since several of the murders have all of the signs of Cartel War executions. Five of the bodies (discovered in the suburb of Toluca) were found dismembered and stuffed in plastic bags. Mexican media have called the murders cartel homicides.
January 11, 2013: Navy personnel arrested three people, after an air recon patrol noticed several packages on a piece of property near the town of Nueva Ciudad Guerrero (Tamaulipas state). The town is south of Falcon Lake (on the Rio Grande). Navy personnel arrested the suspects and then discovered 343 large packages of marihuana, each one weighing around ten kilograms (22 pounds). They also found and seized a grenade launcher.
January 8, 2013: Investigators continue to discover more evidence that Los Zetas cartel is muscling in on the coal mining business in Coahuila state. For the record, Coahuila produces over 90 percent of the coal mined in Mexico. The Mexican Mining Association reported that the country mines around 15 million tons of coal per year. That earns approximately $3.8 billion. The Zetas began taking control of several of Coahuila’s coal mines three years ago, though they may have had a relationship with some people in the state’s coal business for a decade. The Zetas used a classic mob tactic: they threatened to kill any honest businessmen and laborers who opposed them and they rewarded (or at least protected) businesses that submitted to their demands. The gang also took control of coal transport companies and bribed politicians and police in Coahuila state. The mines controlled by the Zetas pay workers very poorly. The criminals have also forced small mines they do not control to sell coal for an artificially low price. They have also allegedly made deals with small scale strip miners running small, unregulated mining operations (pozos, in the local argot). The cartel controlled businesses sells the “narco coal” to a Coahuila state mining development agency, PRODEMI (Promotora para el Desarrollo Minero de Coahuila). PRODEMI then sells the coal to the Federal Electricity Commission (Spanish initials are CFE). The goal, according to security officials, was to take control of a legitimate industry and secure what is superficially a legal source of revenue. This a classic pattern for organized crime, including the American Mafia. One of the best places to hide illegal cash is in a legitimate business, if the crooks can manage to hide the fact they have taken control of the legitimate business. What is the Zetas’ mark-up on coal? The investigative reports had led to a lot of speculation in Mexican media. Former governor of Coahuila, Humberto Moreira Valdes, told an international media outlet that coal earns the cartel more money than narcotics trafficking. Moreira’s son was murdered in October 2012, after Moreira told a Mexican media outlet that drug traffickers were getting involved in Coahuila’s coal business. In retrospect, it is likely an organized criminal gang (the Zetas) believed Moreira had already told federal authorities that he believed the Zetas had made deep inroads in Coahuila’s coal mining business. Since the murder of his son, Moreira’s accusations have become much more specific, and the subsequent investigations have produced evidence to support his accusations. Moreira was governor of Coahuila from 2005 to 2011, and is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), President Enrique Pena’s party. Moreira also faces allegations of financial misconduct during his time as governor. It is hard to believe that the Zetas make more from coal than they do from drugs, as Moreira claims, but some Mexican media have concluded that the Zetas are making a lot of money selling truly dirty coal and --a bonus for the cartelistas-- using the mining operation to launder drug money. Last year the Attorney General’s office (PGR) was investigating three companies that might be involved in the Coahuila narco-coal operation. At that time published (but unofficial) sources estimated that Zetas-controlled coal producers were selling 10,000 tons of coal a week and the Zetas were earning somewhere between $23 million and $25 million a year from these sales. That is a lot less than the Zetas earn from their narcotics trafficking operations. However, it appears that the Zetas have concluded it pays to diversify. (Austin Bay) | <urn:uuid:610a4722-b997-4a7d-a9ea-dc6689fcee8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://strategypage.com/qnd/mexico/20130201.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972622 | 3,231 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Recent analysis indicates cell phone distracted driving crashes vastly under-reported
Source: National Safety Council
Today, the National Safety Council released findings from a recent analysis of national statistics on fatal motor vehicle crashes, in a report entitled, “Crashes Involving Cell Phones: Challenges of Collecting and Reporting Reliable Crash Data,” funded in part by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. The report reviewed 180 fatal crashes from 2009 to 2011, where evidence indicated driver cell phone use. Of these fatal crashes, in 2011 only 52% were coded in the national data as involving cell phone use.
Even when drivers admitted cell phone use during a fatal crash, the Council’s analysis found that in about one-half of these cases, the crash was not coded in Federal data (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatal Analysis Reporting System). In addition, there are an unknown number of cases in which cell phone use involvement in crashes is impossible to determine. One example would be a driver reading an email or text message on a phone who dies in a crash without any witnesses.
The report also brings up large differences in cell phone distraction fatal crashes reported by states. For instance, in 2011, Tennessee reported 93 fatal crashes that involved cell phone use, but New York, a state with a much larger population, reported only one. Texas reported 40, but its neighboring state Louisiana reported none.
Source: Microsoft Research
Taxonomies are a useful and ubiquitous way of organizing information. However, creating organizational hierarchies is difficult because the process requires a global understanding of the objects to be categorized. Usually one is created by an individual or a small group of people working together for hours or even days. Unfortunately, this centralized approach does not work well for the large, quickly-changing datasets found on the web. Cascade is an automated workflow that creates a taxonomy from the collective efforts of crowd workers who spend as little as 20 seconds each. We evaluate Cascade and show that on three datasets its quality is 80-90% of that of experts. The cost of Cascade is competitive with expert information architects, despite taking six times more human labor. Fortunately, this labor can be parallelized such that Cascade will run in as fast as five minutes instead of hours or days.
Guestworkers in the high-skill U.S. labor market: An analysis of supply, employment, and wage trends
Source: Economic Policy Institute
This paper reviews and analyzes the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) labor market and workforce and the supply of high-skill temporary foreign workers, who serve as “guestworkers.” It addresses three central issues in the ongoing discussion about the need for high-skill guestworkers in the United States:
- Is there a problem producing enough STEM-educated students at sufficient performance levels to supply the labor market?
- How large is the flow of guestworkers into the STEM workforce and into the information technology (IT) workforce in particular? And what are the characteristics of these workers?
- What are the dynamics of the STEM labor market, and what are the employment and wage trends in the IT labor market?
Analysis of these issues provides the basis for assessing the extent of demand for STEM workers and the impact of guestworker flows on the STEM and IT workforces.
New GAO Reports and Testimony
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. Climate Change: Future Federal Adaptation Efforts Could Better Support Local Infrastructure Decision Makers. GAO-13-242, April 12.
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/653740.pdf
2. Data Center Consolidation: Strengthened Oversight Needed to Achieve Cost Savings Goal. GAO-13-378, April 23.
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654091.pdf
3. Defense Infrastructure: Communities Need Additional Guidance and Information to Improve Their Ability to Adjust to DOD Installation Closure or Growth. GAO-13-436, May 14.
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654598.pdf
1. Data Center Consolidation: Strengthened Oversight Needed to Achieve Billions of Dollars in Savings, by David A. Powner, director, information technology management issues, before the Subcommittee on Government Operations, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. GAO-13-627T, May 14.
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654606.pdf
Source: Microsoft Research
Personalized search systems tailor search results to the current user intent using historic search interactions. This relies on being able to find pertinent information in the user’s search history, which can be challenging for unseen queries and for new search scenarios. Building richer models of users’ current and historic search tasks can help improve the likelihood of finding relevant content and enhance the relevance and coverage of personalization methods. The task-based approach can be applied to the current user’s search history, or as we focus on here, all users’ search histories as so-called “groupization” (a variant of personalization whereby other users’ profiles can be used to personalize the search experience). We describe a method whereby we mine historic search-engine logs to find other users performing similar tasks to the current user and leverage their on-task behavior to identify Web pages to promote in the current ranking. We investigate the effectiveness of this approach versus query-based matching and finding related historic activity from the current user (i.e., group vs. individual). As part of our studies we also explore the use of the on-task behavior of particular user cohorts, such as people who are more expert in the current topic, rather than all users, with potentially-promising results. Our findings have direct implications for improving personalization in Web search engines.
Source: National Association of State Chief Information Officers
The National Association of State Information Officers (NASCIO) has launched a catalog of native mobile apps available from state governments for tablets and smartphones. Users can click on the interactive map to see what apps are offered by their state or territory. Apps are also searchable by a list of 20 different categories, including health and wellness, economic development, tax and payment information and education loans and grants.
“This tool offers a convenient way to see what other states are producing in terms of mobile apps, and allowing states to generate ideas for their own state or territory,” said Brenda Decker, NASCIO president and Nebraska CIO, in a statement. “Some states lead the way in mobile app development and can pose as models for those growing their mobile app capabilities.
The National Security Agency just released “Untangling the Web,” an unclassified how-to guide to Internet search. It’s a sprawling document, clocking in at over 650 pages, and is the product of many years of research and updating by a NSA information specialist whose name is redacted on the official release, but who is identified as Robyn Winder of the Center for Digital Content on the Freedom of Information Act request that led to its release.
It’s a droll document on many levels. First and foremost, it’s funny to think of officials who control some of the most sophisticated supercomputers and satellites ever invented turning to a .pdf file for tricks on how to track down domain name system information on an enemy website. But “Untangling the Web” isn’t for code-breakers or wire-tappers. The target audience seems to be staffers looking for basic factual information, like the preferred spelling of Kazakhstan, or telephonic prefix information for East Timor.
Hat tip: PW
New GAO Reports and Testimonies
Source: Government Accountability Office
1. Bureau of the Public Debt: Areas for Improvement in Information Systems Controls. GAO-13-416R, May 9.
2. Federal Reserve Banks: Areas for Improvement in Information Systems Controls. GAO-13-419R, May 9.
3. Preliminary Results of Work on FAA Facility Conditions and Workplace Safety. GAO-13-509R, May 9.
1. Transportation Worker Identification Credential: Card Reader Pilot Results Are Unreliable; Security Benefits Should Be Reassessed, by Stephen M. Lord, director, homeland security and justice, before the Subcommittee on Government Operations, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. GAO-13-610T, May 9.
2. Federal Retirement Processing: OPM Is Pursuing Incremental Information Technology Improvements after Canceling a Modernization Plagued by Management Weaknesses, by Valerie C. Melvin, director, information management and technology resource issues. GAO-13-580T, May 9.
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654450.pdf
3. Missile Defense: Opportunity to Refocus on Strengthening Acquisition Management, by Cristina T. Chaplain, director, acquisition and sourcing management, before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, Senate Committee on Armed Services. GAO-13-604T, May 9.
Highlights – http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654457.pdf
Source: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College
Increased reliance on the Internet and other networked systems raise the risks of cyber attacks that could harm our nation’s cyber infrastructure. The cyber infrastructure encompasses a number of sectors including: the nation’s mass transit and other transportation systems; banking and financial systems; factories; energy systems and the electric power grid; and telecommunications, which increasingly rely on a complex array of computer networks, including the public Internet. However, many of these systems and networks were not built and designed with security in mind. Therefore, our cyber infrastructure contains many holes, risks, and vulnerabilities that may enable an attacker to cause damage or disrupt cyber infrastructure operations. Threats to cyber infrastructure safety and security come from hackers, terrorists, criminal groups, and sophisticated organized crime groups; even nation-states and foreign intelligence services conduct cyber warfare. Cyber attackers can introduce new viruses, worms, and bots capable of defeating many of our efforts. Costs to the economy from these threats are huge and increasing. Government, business, and academia must therefore work together to understand the threat and develop various modes of fighting cyber attacks, and to establish and enhance a framework to assess the vulnerability of our cyber infrastructure and provide strategic policy directions for the protection of such an infrastructure. This book addresses such questions as: How serious is the cyber threat? What technical and policy-based approaches are best suited to securing telecommunications networks and information systems infrastructure security? What role will government and the private sector play in homeland defense against cyber attacks on critical civilian infrastructure, financial, and logistical systems? What legal impediments exist concerning efforts to defend the nation against cyber attacks, especially in preventive, preemptive, and retaliatory actions?
See also: Cyber Infrastructure Protection (2011)
Source: National Research Council
Over the course of several decades, copyright protection has been expanded and extended through legislative changes occasioned by national and international developments. The content and technology industries affected by copyright and its exceptions, and in some cases balancing the two, have become increasingly important as sources of economic growth, relatively high-paying jobs, and exports. Since the expansion of digital technology in the mid-1990s, they have undergone a technological revolution that has disrupted long-established modes of creating, distributing, and using works ranging from literature and news to film and music to scientific publications and computer software.
In the United States and internationally, these disruptive changes have given rise to a strident debate over copyright’s proper scope and terms and means of its enforcement–a debate between those who believe the digital revolution is progressively undermining the copyright protection essential to encourage the funding, creation, and distribution of new works and those who believe that enhancements to copyright are inhibiting technological innovation and free expression.
Copyright in the Digital Era: Building Evidence for Policy examines a range of questions regarding copyright policy by using a variety of methods, such as case studies, international and sectoral comparisons, and experiments and surveys. This report is especially critical in light of digital age developments that may, for example, change the incentive calculus for various actors in the copyright system, impact the costs of voluntary copyright transactions, pose new enforcement challenges, and change the optimal balance between copyright protection and exceptions.
Source: Microsoft Research
Providing personalized and interactive education (as in one-on-one tutoring) remains an unsolved problem for standard classrooms. The arrival of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), while having provided a unique opportunity to share quality instruction with massive number of students, only exacerbate this problem with an even higher student to teacher ratio. We believe that automated intelligent tutoring can play a revolutionary role in this context. In this article, we motivate four problem definitions, namely problem generation, solution generation, feedback generation, and content authoring in the context of intelligent tutoring. We describe how formal methods can play a useful role in addressing these problems. We present some recent results that have been applied to a variety of STEM subject domains (including logic, automata, programming, arithmetic, algebra, and geometry) as illustrative examples.
State U Online (PDF)
Source: New America Foundation
Online learning has become a permanent fixture of postsecondary education—approximately 32 percent of all postsecondary students in the United States took at least one online course in 2010. Many for-profit colleges have jumped at the opportunity online learning provides to reach more students. The University of Phoenix, with more than 300,000 online students, is now the largest accredited university in America.
But the nation’s public higher-education system—the twoyear colleges and four-year universities that educate the large majority of all college students—has been visibly slower to embrace the potential of online credentialing. Many of these institutions were founded with a mission to serve their citizens, including those unable to attend in residence. Traditionally, this was done through a combination of extension services, correspondence courses, and other means. Yet even as the technological means to achieve this goal reaches new heights, many public universities are shying away from the challenge.
At a time when educational credentials are more important to individual and collective prosperity than ever before, students need online courses and degree programs that are effective, affordable, and grounded in public values. This report includes an in-depth analysis of how public universities are contending with the challenges and opportunities of online education. It finds that state institutions have tremendous untapped potential to grow enrollment, increase revenues, contribute to economic development, and fulfill their historical missions—if they adopt a series of policies that a few innovative states and public higher-education systems have already pioneered.
To understand why more public institutions haven’t moved as quickly into the virtual world, it helps to begin with similar historical attempts to provide distance education. While the technologies of online learning are new, the underlying conflicts and challenges of serving students at a distance are anything but—indeed, some of them are older than the nation itself. | <urn:uuid:00025b04-7f89-4328-886e-93cc6c2f3580> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fulltextreports.com/category/technology-and-internet/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9217 | 3,125 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Review of: Candy, Snacks, and Cereal
M&Ms: “Melt in your mouth, not in your hands.” So true. But do you know why they don’t melt in your hands? Because this candy was specially designed for the U.S. Military during World War II. Allow me to break it down: sugar and chocolate = gives you energy; non-sticky fingers = you can keep firing your gun at those damn Germans without having to pause to wipe your hands off. By the way, in case you were wondering, this is all 100% true.
Frankly, I think the secret military nature of M&Ms could be played up a little more in the current ads, instead of using, say, those computer-generated talking candies that creep me out. “Whether you’re in the mood for shooting terrorists, insurgents, or your own Army captain, M&Ms are the candy for you. …M&Ms: because it’s time to kill.”
Plus, eating the green ones means that you’re a virgin: “Ha ha, you’re a virgin!” Or eating the green ones means that you’re a slut: “Slut!” I can’t remember which. But I think I can resolve the debate. Let me put it this way; if you’re spending excessive amounts of time worrying about the color of candy that you eat, then you’re a virgin. Grade: A-minus
Kool-Aid: I was in the store the other day, and I saw that they have introduced a new flavor of this called “Clear Kool-Aid,” formerly known as “Sugar.” Hurray for marketing!¹
Anyway, Kool-Aid rocks! Who didn’t love “the Kool-Aid Man”? Nothing could stop that motherfucker; not walls, not brick walls, not even more walls. And in addition to “the Man” himself, Kool-Aid is also the drink of choice for crazy South American cultists who want to commit mass suicide via poisoning. Oh Yeah! …This information affects my admiration for Kool-Aid not a whit, but still, good to know.² Grade: A
Good n’ Plenty: According to my mom, this used to come in a box that you could then fold into a whistle, which you could then blow to create a “Choo-Choo” sound. Well, that sounds fun! But they changed the box because of fears that it could be easily tampered with by candy poisoners. To which I say: Motherfucking candy poisoners! Can’t we have anything good and fun in this world without you trying to ruin it? How long? …For how long must we sing this song?
…So, as for the candy itself: I like it! But everyone else thinks it’s gross. Must have something to do with the licorice aspect. Plus, they look like pills, so when you were nine, you could “down” a bunch of them, and pretend that you were doing a whole lot of Quaaludes. You drink some Kool-Aid, you do some Good n’ Plenty ‘ludes, and then you can see through time, my friends… Grade: B-minus
Cheetos: Yuck! Plus, what is it with the yellow crap that becomes eternally stuck to your fingers? It’s a battle to the death between unremoveable Cheetos crap and accidentally inhaling a bunch of powdered sugar from a jelly doughnut, then choking and coughing on it for fifteen minutes for the title of “Most unpleasant side-effect of a food that was already, by itself, gross.” Grade: D-minus
Baker’s Chocolate: I think that this stuff was just created solely to mock little children. My mom baked a lot, so we always had some of it in our house. So… mom’s out of the kitchen for a while: Chocolate! We have chocolate in the house! Let me just pull it down from the shelf, open the box, and… EW! AGGH! BITTER! NON-SUGARY! GROSS! And then, two weeks later, I’d stupidly try it again: “Maybe it won’t be so bad this time… EW! AGH! BITTER!”
I even tried sprinkling sugar on the top of it before I ate it, but no, that doesn’t work either. Save your time and money, people, ’cause Baker’s Chocolate gets a grade of: F
Trix: Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids. But why? Are rabbits allergic to Trix? Will eating Trix cause them to lose their glossy pelt and become rabid? There must be some compelling reason, right? To deny a desperate rabbit breakfast cereal for so long? But no… it just turns out that kids are assholes.
But, if you’re an aging hipster like myself, you might remember that in the early 80s, Trix actually had a phone-in contest to decide if the silly rabbit should be able to finally have some goddamn Trix. I instantly dialed the 1-800 number and voted “NO!” However, the final results of the contest — which I actually had to go and research in order to write this review — were:
99% - YES, give him some cereal already.
1% - NO, cereal is bad for rabbits.
…I believe that my single phone call constituted the entire ”negative one percent.” …And so, we were treated to a commercial where a bowl of Trix was finally placed in the rabbit’s trembling hands, and he got to desperately wolf it down. I think he may even have wept in gratitude when he finished the bowl. …Of course, by the end of the commercial, the kids went back to telling the rabbit to fuck off, and returned to pushing him down and setting him on fire so that he couldn’t reach the cereal box. Mean!
But see, the reason that I voted “No” was… isn’t this just plain meaner than never giving him any “Trix” at all?³ To be denied a glimpse of paradise for so long, and then to be allowed one fleeting taste of it before having it all rudely yanked away … well, you decide. Is it better to touch perfection, even if only for a second… or is it better to be allowed to dream of it forever, never truly knowing it, without the coarse interference of so-called Platonic “reality”? …Pretty deep, and kind of a good question, eh? (“…Oh, silly rabbit! …Advanced epistemology is for kids!”)
ANY-way. As for the cereal itself, I never ate it. Is it any good? Grade: C
1) So… I would like to pause here and take a moment to apologize for the vague and — let’s face it — inaccurate title of this entire Review column. Kool-Aid is neither a snack nor a candy. It is a “drink.” And Baker’s Chocolate is not a snack or candy either. Allow me to do you the courtesy of being blunt: I just wrote down some stuff about food items that I wanted to make fun of, and then threw them all together. I got lazy. I am sorry. I HAVE REGRETS.
2) Although it is a little creepy that the Kool-Aid Man is carrying around a small pitcher of himself in the drawing. This is the equivalent of me running around being like: “Hey, do you guys want to try some of my nice delicious blood plasma? Here, it’s tasty and fantastic! Have some!”
3) Actually, this is not 100% true. The real reason that I voted “No” on giving the rabbit Trix was this — as a kid, I was a big stickler for tradition. …Seriously. I was like, “But if he gets to eat some Trix, then that ruins the integrity of the entire concept!” Seriously. I am in no way making this up.
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- 10 Local Mom Won’t Stop Being First Person to Like Every Goddamn Thing Son Posts to Facebook | <urn:uuid:cfa85f0e-ad16-495c-8d70-93e5f1a4b34d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefastertimes.com/nonsensereviews/2009/10/27/review-of-candy-snacks-and-cereal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948856 | 1,980 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The YouTube series Drive has been doing weekly videos on Koenigsegg, and in this latest they get into the Free Valve technology being developed by Swedish company Cargine AB and Koenigsegg. Free Valve uses a small, individual pneumatic actuator to open each valves and either air pressure or springs to close them. The setup omits the need for camshafts and the related paraphernalia, as well as increasing the programmability, precision and efficiency of valve operation. Engines using the Free Valve system can also be smaller and lighter.
It has been tested for the last two years on a Saab 9-5 wagon that's done 60,000 kilometers so far. Koenigsegg says that compared to a traditional four-cylinder engine, horsepower and torque using Free Valve go up by 30 percent each, while fuel consumption drops by 30 percent and emissions drop by 50 percent.
It won't be ready for mass production for a while yet, and even then it will probably start at the top of the automotive food chain. Nevertheless, it points to a potential new future for the internal combustion engine. Check out the video below to see it in action. | <urn:uuid:0724ecea-cab0-4c33-8813-673d33325145> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/25/take-a-look-inside-koenigseggs-headquarters-and-peek-at-their-f/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928604 | 242 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Another Place In Time
Linda Butler's photographs capture the human essence that lingers in Italy's ancient hidden places.
Thursday, September 27, 2001
Any time a photographer transcends the medium''s mechanical process to produce emotional images it gives one pause. When a photographer working in the "straight" photography vein, an area rife with the pitfalls of cliché and the paradigms of past masters, explores a truly original vision, it is cause for celebration.
Bring your party favors and Kool-aid to the Center for Photographic Art in Carmel''s Sunset Center for the "Linda Butler: Italy--In the Shadows of Time" exhibition. It''s a series of revelations, an exploration of the felt but unseen, a body of work that conjures the faintest strains of a cello playing in the distance. Butler has grasped the golden ring.
A noted photographer of series in which she examines a subject in all its subtleties and permutations (such as her series on the Shakers), Butler traveled the length and breadth of Italy searching for images that, to her, captured "the presence of the past." To anyone who has been to Italy or another European country, the past seems ever-present, but it is another thing altogether to sustain a vision--an inquisitive eye--to photograph scenes that summon not just faded memories or old buildings, but the spirit of "place" and the essence of lives lived.
Butler''s Italy series weaves thematic threads of melancholy and joy into a tapestry depicting the parade of human experience. In ancient ruins, the weather-scarred walls of a palazzo, or a wisteria-shrouded archway, there is a sense of drama; it is not a story unfolding, but its aftermath--the emotional fallout after seeing Shakespeare, the silence in the car home while savoring a tragedy''s end.
In seven one-month trips from 1992 to 1996, Butler stayed with friends and used an ever-growing network of friends and acquaintances to enlarge her experience of the Italy she desired to photograph. These allies revealed to her locations in the back country and brought her into their homes. Her purpose was to avoid the monuments and sites of the tourist trail; she wanted to get to the heart of the country in every way.
Butler used a 4x5 camera on a tripod. The time-consuming process of setting up didn''t allow for spontaneity; rather, it generated a studied, unpeopled picture devoid of the immediacy of human action. However, the human presence is never far away. It is in this implied presence--in people''s kitchens, gardens, empty theaters, gondola repair shops, churches, ruins, harbors, and cheese works--that the power of her vision lies.
Butler''s technique draws a range of emotional effects from the medium. She creates rich, velvety black tones that weight the pictures with a somberness that is offset with a tint on the highlights. This light tone reads as a peach-colored wash--not quite the much-used sepia tone--and imparts a mysterious glow. In between these extremes of light and dark, peach and black, is an array of middle tones that define the myriad details achieved with the large format negative. The eye wanders over a picture, drinking in the textures of every leaf, every passage of stone wall, every blush of a diaphanous curtain fluttering in the afternoon breeze.
In "Olive Trees, Ceglie Messapica," two massive olive trees lord over the picture plane. These are time-worn, gnarled, stately sages, witnesses to hundreds of years of labor and bearers of life-sustaining fruit. One senses the generations plying the path that cuts behind these elder statesmen; the workers'' feet have made a scar in the earth as telling as the folds of roots and nodules of trunk. A keystone to the unspoken drama depicted is the series of dirt steps freshly cut into the rise next to the most prominent tree. Some resourceful person has made a shortcut from one level to the next. The human parade marches on.
Butler''s compositions draw us in and make us participants. This is the hallmark of the best art. In "Metal Gate and Wisteria, Ostuni" a series of time-ravaged arches abut a wrought iron gate. The vines have taken over as if this part of the estate had been forgotten. They climb up the rusticated walls, squeezing stones and burrowing into crannies; they traverse the arches triumphantly.
Foliage at the top of the picture and the dark path at the bottom seal the scene off from light, except for where it hits the back wall and arch. This breath of light is the protagonist in this drama, entering from stage right and touching the ancient stones, the rust of decorative gate, the worn path below the arches.
Lovers have met here, for their whispers still cling to the muted light as it bathes the scene. The lord of the manor has stopped here to take stock of a dubious life, and, later, his wife, looking for the maid, has peered through the gate at the hills beyond and wondered about her soldier son. And assassins, fixing their blades beneath tunic and cloak, have finalized their plans.
Butler has an uncanny ability to imply the human presence in scenes that speak of the past. In her pictures, the labor of ages has built walls stone by stone, tended trees and gardens, and constructed churches and villas with decorative detail. Her Italy is a place where people''s impulse to embellish is a constant. As the carvers of the head of Constantine in 300 did, so do the foundry workers in the Naples of her pictures. As the designers of Herculaneum and Pompeii enrich their world, so does the violin maker in Cremona. This presence of the past--and the continuity of the human drama that is suggested--is a wonderful thing to study in "Italy: In the Shadow of Time."
Italy: In the Shadow of Time shows through Oct. 26 at the Center for Photographic Art, Sunset Cultural Center, San Carlos and 8th, Carmel. 625-5181. | <urn:uuid:d4105056-899c-4a4f-864e-e2a575e53bae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2001/sep/27/another-place-in-time/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943716 | 1,305 | 1.5 | 2 |
She lasted only 1 minute and 22 seconds, and even that, the experts agreed, was thanks to the sportsmanship of her opponent in not finishing her off sooner.
But for the women of Saudi Arabia, the blink-and-you-missed-it performance of a nervous 16-year-old in the judo arena on Friday might, just might, have been the start of something significant.
Saudi Arabian women are not permitted to take part in PE at school in their home country, or join a sports club, or even attend a sporting event as a spectator. But thanks to the persistence of the International Olympic Committee, determined to make these the first Games in which every nation would field both men and women, the country was arm-twisted into allowing them to compete in London.
And so, at 10.33am on Friday, Wojdan Shaherkani, pictured in white, became the unlikeliest of history-makers: the first woman from the kingdom ever to compete at the Games.
It could scarcely have been less of a sporting contest, despite the loud cheer that greeted her arrival in the arena, with many in the audience on their feet to applaud.
Shaherkani has attained only a blue belt in judo, two grades below a black belt; she nervously parried a few gentle approaches from her opponent in the 78kg contest, Puerto Rico's Melissa Mojica, pushing her hands away with her own, before Mojica grabbed her by the collar and turned her on to her back in an ippon throw, ending the contest in a single manoeuvre.
The 16-year-old, never before permitted to compete at an international competition, seemed unsure what to do next, walking from the mat before being directed to turn to bow to her opponent in accordance with judo's protocol.
Saudi Arabia, insistent for months that it would "not endorse" female competitors, finally backed down in June when it became apparent that Bahrain and Qatar would let women compete for the first time. Saudi participation was then thrown into doubt once again after it became apparent that the only woman to be found who met Olympic standards, the showjumper Dalma Rushdi Malhas, would be unable to compete as her horse was injured.
Shaherkani was named as a competitor for Saudi Arabia only three weeks ago along with the 800m runner Sarah Attar, who has joint US citizenship and is based in San Diego. Both required a waiver to allow them to compete despite failing by some distance to reach the qualifying standard in their disciplines.
If that were not a turbulent enough journey to the Games for Shaherkani, the International Judo Federation ruled last week that she would not be permitted to fight in a hijab, citing safety reasons. It backed down only on Tuesday, three days before her fight, allowing her to wear a tight black cap covering her hair.
All of which meant that when Shaherkani and Attar, 19, appeared in the opening ceremony last Friday, walking behind the male competitors, the judo player still did not know whether she would be allowed to compete.
Their presence, all the same, was highly significant for a movement in which underrepresentation of women has long been the norm. In Los Angeles in 1984, fewer than a quarter of competitors were women; 12 years later in Atlanta, 26 countries were still fielding no women. In London, 4,847 women are competing, 44% of the total; the contribution of every nation to that tally, Rogge said at the opening ceremony, "is a major boost for gender equality".
Referring to Shaherkani and the Qatari sprinter Noor al-Malki, one of four Qatari women athletes also competing for the first time, Debbie Jevans, Locog's director of sport, said: "The fact they were there, they were competing and taking part, I definitely regard that as a huge positive and it was a thrill for us to see them competing."
Al-Malki's Games ended in heartbreak, however, when she appeared to pull a hamstring a few metres out of the blocks in her 100m heat. For Shaherkani, stepping down from the mat after her contest to a standing ovation, it all got a little too much. She walked into the arms of her father, a judo referee who is also her trainer, and broke down in tears.
She was taken from the bout into a scrum of the world's media, which can have been scarcely less intimidating than the match itself. "I was disturbed and afraid at the beginning," she said. "It was my first time in a big competition and there was a lot of pressure because of the hijab issue. I was not comfortable because I didn't have any experience of big events. It took its toll on me."
Hani Kamel Najan, president of the country's judo federation, expressed disappointment, apparently without irony, that she hadn't won a medal, but said: "I think it is a milestone we have achieved. We are so proud and delighted that she has been able to make it."
And what next for the teenager described by Rogge as a "symbol"? "I'm proud, I'm happy and I want to continue in judo." The hope, now, is that she and her countrywomen will be permitted to do so. | <urn:uuid:fc6af171-1461-4d98-999e-0f4595ad632f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/london-2012-olympics-blog/2012/aug/03/saudi-wojdan-shaherkani-women-olympics?INTCMP=SRCH | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984375 | 1,111 | 1.695313 | 2 |
He is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at BC Children’s Hospital and he also happens to be a big video game fan. During his presentation, he talked about how much of the science that links violent video games with violent behavior in children and teenagers is seriously flawed. He also reminded us that well over 90% of youth and teens play video games now. That number continues to rise, but the figures for violent crime are going down. Yes, that’s only correlation, but that’s gotta mean something.
It used to be that the people who played video games were “weird,” but it’s become overwhelmingly the norm for children to play video games. Given that, Dr. Black said, “If you don’t play video games, it could be a sign of psychopathology.” To be fair, he followed that by saying that “it could also be a healthy decision.” He also said that “Minecraft is like an autism simulator.”
If you have any interest in video games and children –particularly when it comes to addiction, antisocial behavior, the connection to violence, and so on — you should have a look at Dr. Black’s presentation on his website. Parents need to remember that the video games aren’t to blame; they have to look at the bigger picture and put everything in context. | <urn:uuid:aa2d3c29-5f2f-4e9a-9b3c-6770762ad8cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.megatechnews.com/pax-2012-dr-tyler-black-on-parenting-and-video-games/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981426 | 288 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Last year was a relatively slow year for employment law cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Two noteworthy cases were Lewis v. City of Chicago, 130 S. Ct. 2191, No. 08-974 (May 24, 2010), and Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson, 130 S. Ct. 2772, No. 09-497 (June 21, 2010). Lewis was a Title VII disparate impact case involving a timely charge issue; Jackson was a Section 1981 case involving a mandatory arbitration agreement.
Lewis v. City of Chicago
The issue before the Supreme Court in Lewis was whether a plaintiff who does not file a timely EEOC charge challenging the adoption of an employer's practice that may have a racially disparate impact (that is, have a disproportionately adverse effect on racial minorities) nevertheless may assert a disparate impact claim in a timely EEOC charge challenging the employer's later application of that practice. The Supreme Court held (unanimously) in the affirmative, reversing the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. See the opinion here (written by Justice Scalia).
The basic facts of Lewis are straightforward: In July 1995, the City of Chicago administered a civil service test to over 26,000 applicants seeking to serve in the Chicago Fire Department. After the tests were scored, the applicants were grouped into three categories: (1) those who scored 89/100 or above (deemed "well qualified"); (2) those who scored between 65 and 88 (deemed "qualified"); and (3) those who scored 64 or below (deemed to have failed). Beginning in May 1996 and for the next six years, the City randomly selected Fire Department candidates (who had to meet additional qualifications) from the first group, until it exhausted those candidates, and then randomly selected candidates from the second group.
Significantly, the City conceded that the original grouping procedure had a "severe disparate impact against African-Americans." In other words, that the procedure resulted in disproportionately few black applicants in the top group, which was not justified by business necessity. (Importantly, disparate impact claims do not require, or necessarily imply, that the employer was prejudiced or biased against a particular group, only that the employer's otherwise neutral practice had an unlawfully adverse effect on a particular group.)
In March 1997, the plaintiff (who was in the second group and not selected to be a firefighter) filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Such a charge is a prerequisite to bringing a Title VII claim in court and must be filed within 300 days of the alleged discriminatory event. The City argued that, because the plaintiff's charge was filed more than 300 days after the City announced the grouping procedure, his lawsuit was untimely and should be dismissed. The district court ruled for the plaintiff, but on appeal the Seventh Circuit agreed with the employer and dismissed the lawsuit. The Seventh Circuit reasoned that the only discriminatory act had been the grouping procedure, and that the subsequent hiring decisions were a mere "automatic consequence" of that act, not fresh acts of discrimination. On further appeal, the Supreme Court rejected the Seventh Circuit's reasoning and held that the plaintiff's lawsuit was timely with respect to each time the City selected candidates from the original list starting in October 1996.
The key portion of the Supreme Court's decision is where the Court explains that Title VII prohibits the "use" of "employment practices" that have a disparate impact on protected groups. The Court found that each time the City selected candidates from the original list, it "used" an allegedly discriminatory "employment practice" within the meaning of the statute. Accordingly, the plaintiff's lawsuit was timely. The Court rejected the City's argument (which had been adopted by the Seventh Circuit) that the only unlawful act was the original grouping procedure, explaining: "Under the City's reading, if an employer adopts an unlawful practice and no timely charge is brought, it can continue using the practice indefinitely, with impunity, despite ongoing disparate impact." On the contrary, the Court ruled that each time the City made employment decisions based on the original list was an actionable event. However, the Court did not decide whether or not the plaintiff had proved that the selection process, in fact, imposed an unlawfully adverse impact on black candidates.
For useful commentary on the Lewis case, see here, here, and here.
Rent-A-Center v. Jackson
The issue in Jackson was, who decides whether a mandatory arbitration agreement is enforceable, the court or the arbitrator? The general rule is that the court decides, unless the agreement contains a "clear and unmistakable" statement that this question is for the arbitrator. In Jackson, the plaintiff argued that this rule did not apply to the arbitration agreement he had signed when he went to work for Rent-A-Center, because the agreement itself was unconscionable (that is, so unbalanced and unfair as to be unlawful and unenforceable). The Supreme Court, in a divided 5-4 decision, rejected the plaintiff's argument and held that the question of the enforceability of the arbitration agreement was to be decided by the arbitrator, as expressly provided in the agreement iself. See the opinion here (written by Justice Scalia).
The majority and dissenting opinions in Jackson discuss and debate various issues surrounding the enforceability of mandatory arbitration agreements in employment. But the take-away point from the case is simple: where an arbitration agreement expressly provides that the arbitrator, not the court, is to decide all issues pertaining to the enforceability of the agreement, then the terms of the agreement will be followed (i.e., the arbitrator will decide), despite any claims by the employee that the overall agreement itself is void or voidable on recognized contract law grounds. These are arguments for the arbitrator to resolve, not the court. The only time the court will resolve the issue is if the employee specifically challenges the express delegation of authority to the arbitrator to decide questions of enforceability. Because the plaintiff in Jackson did not make any such specific challenge, his position was rejected and the dispute was to be arbitrated.
Note: A series of Supreme Court decisions over the past two decades has made it almost impossible for employees to avoid arbitration when they enter into mandatory arbitration agreements as a condition of employment. Consequently, employees, and their counsel, should consider very carefully whether a legal battle over the applicability of an arbitration clause is worth the time and money it will require to litigate (and probably lose) in court.
For useful commentary on the Jackson case, see here, here, and here. | <urn:uuid:fb8fa4c3-5628-495c-80a3-672a9ded027d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://warshawskylawfirm.com/index.aspx?TypeContent=BL_REWRITE&BL_REWRITE=2010_U.S._Supreme_Court_Employment_Law_Cases___Lewis_v._City_of_Chicago;_Rent-A-Center_v._Jackson._bl1663.htm&FontSize=Large | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961117 | 1,359 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The jobless rate held steady at 7.8% as November's unemployment figure was revised up from the initial estimate of 7.7%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.
The good news in the report is that worries about the so-called fiscal cliff of tax hikes and budget cuts didn't derail hiring last month, as some had feared it could. Healthcare hiring was very strong, manufacturing bounced back and construction added a solid batch of jobs, although part of that was likely due to recovery efforts from Superstorm Sandy that struck the Northeast in late October.
On the other hand, some analysts were hoping for stronger overall job growth last month, closer to 200,000, as there were some indications earlier this week that hiring in the private sector might have accelerated. But the retail sector cut back its staffing, as did the information industry. Government employers, mostly local schools, shed 13,000 from its payrolls. Temporary-help employment was flat.
The nation's unemployment rate of 7.8%, also matched in September, is the lowest since January 2009. Unlike November, last month workers didn't exit the job market. The labor force actually grew. More reported having jobs, but the ranks of the unemployed also increased, to 12.2 million last month.
Almost 40% of the unemployed said they had been without jobs for six months or longer -- a statistic that has shown little improvement over the years, which is particularly worrisome as more of these workers will find it increasingly difficult to find work as their skills atrophy and they become discouraged.
Analysts were expecting job growth of about 150,000 in December, which is about what the economy has been generating on average for the last two years. Although that is a decent pace, certainly enough to absorb new entrants into the labor force, it's not strong enough to bring down unemployment quickly and create opportunities for the large number of jobless workers.
As of December, the nation had about 134 million payroll jobs -- still 4 million fewer than at the end of 2007 when the economy began its descent into recession.
Looking ahead, economists aren't expecting any pickup in hiring in the near term. In fact, job growth could slide back a bit, analysts say, until policymakers resolve the thorny issues of raising the debt ceiling and budget deficit problems. Lawmakers averted most of the "fiscal cliff" earlier in the week, but they let payroll taxes rise to previous rates, which is expected to slow consumer spending a bit and could take a bite out of hiring in the next few months.
'Cliff' deal lifts stocks and doubts
Fed to tie interest rate to job gains
Economists see mediocre growth in 2013 | <urn:uuid:3c7b1070-5c23-44b2-a543-110e5a177dc8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-economy-jobs-20130104,0,4116151.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MoneyCompany+%28Money+%26+Company%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981878 | 544 | 1.828125 | 2 |
It only takes 30 Everyday Sport minutes a day 5 times a week to feel healthier and happier - and you don't even have to do them all at once! Everday Sport is about building activity into your everyday life and it can be both simple and fun! Get off the bus a stop early, go for a bike ride, join an exercise class or take up a new sport - you'll be amazed how quickly a few small decisions add up to one big change for the better!
Fact . . .
I million fewer obese people in England could mean 15,000 fewer people with coronary heart disease, 34,000 people developing type 2 diabetes and 99,000 fewer people with high blood pressure.
Turn your house into a gym - Your home is a great place to do your 5 x 30 because it's free and private. Do step aerobics on the stairs. Walk your dog like you are on the treadmill. Do some squats whilst gardening.Take the buggy for a walk. Dance to music whilst you do the housework. Don't take the car to the shops - walk there!
At The Office
It's easier to stay motivated when there is a group of you so why not see if your colleagues would like to do their 5 x 30 with you. Everday Sport has loads of ideas on how you can challenge your workmates - or even your boss.
E-mail free Friday, The Angel of the North, The Everest Challenge, Take the stairs week.
Take up a new sport or start an old one up again. To find out where you can get active near your home or office go to www.activeplaces.com Opens in a new window. | <urn:uuid:a2c59a3c-4fea-402e-a8fa-cba783cf3411> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.surreyheath.gov.uk/leisure/health/default.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937448 | 343 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Over the course of my career analyzing companies and markets as well as managing investment portfolios, I have been very careful to avoid the use of the words/phrase "bubble", "it's different this time" and the currently popular "new normal". While there have indeed been speculative bubbles, not all price increases reflect "bubble" status. Similarly, "it's different this time" usually implies that history has not been adequately studied. Finally, the "new normal" may reflect new levels of a business/economic cycle, and these levels may be normal for such a period, but "new normal" to describe a structural change is somewhat of a paradox.
I have recently heard of REIT dividend yields (well, many yields across sectors) being described as a "new normal" state. The paradox befuddles me and causes me to scratch my head. Speaking specifically about REITs and their dividend yields, the "new normal" may be appealing to investors who are trying to describe the low absolute yield of this asset class. A look at the history of dividend yields is in order (source: NAREIT):
As the above graph shows, REIT dividend yields are at their lowest point since the beginning of the NAREIT data series. In and of itself, this might appear to be a "new normal" dividend yield level. It might appear to be, but it is not.
Consider that dividend yields reflect the economic/financial environment in which they occur. If we accept this statement as true, then the general level of interest rates should also reflect this environment. For our purpose, let's look at the ten year constant maturity treasury (CMT) rate (source: FRB St. Louis):
As we can see from the above chart, dividend yields and the ten year CMT are directionally consistent. This can also be shown in the following chart:
It should be noted that I have changed the time period of the charts to begin in 1990, as that would be around the time that REITs began to go public and, in my opinion, better represents public REIT dividend yields.
From the chart above, we can see that REIT dividend yields do indeed move directionally with the ten year CMT rate. In fact, the correlation between the two rates over this time period is 72%, which shows a strong correlation between the two data series. The average difference between the ten year CMT and the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REIT index's dividend yield is 106bps (1.06%) and the difference is currently 168bps (1.68%). When taken together, we can see that the current low dividend yields are not surprising, they are not new, and they are rather normal.
The above chart also shows something interesting, namely, there are periods when the two rate series diverge, and may diverge significantly. The reason for this is rather straightforward - REITs rely on external financing for debt repayment and capital raising as they, by law, have to pay out 90% or more of their taxable income. In other words, REITs cannot retain sufficient cash to repay debt or engage in property acquisitions so they must access the capital markets. In the chart above, we can see that the divergences take place in times of financial stress.
- Recall that in 1998 Long Term Capital Management blew up and the Soviet Union collapsed (resulting in a debt default). The capital markets (notably the debt capital markets) locked up and raising capital became extremely difficult and expensive.
- This was quickly followed by the collapse of the speculative technology bubble which, again, hindered access to capital.
- We then see a period of strong investment in the REIT sector combined with gradually falling interest rates where REIT dividend yield were actually lower than the ten year CMT, which was quickly followed by the real estate implosion and a quick and brutal sell off in REIT shares combined with an inability to access the capital markets.
If we accept this as true, we should see a directional relationship between dividend yields and financial stress. To measure this, I used the St. Louis Financial Stress Index (description here). The relationship, expressed graphically is:
As the above chart evidences, when there is financial stress in the system, REIT dividend yields will increase and when the financial stress on the system is benign, REIT dividend yields will decrease (or, more appropriately, return to following and being correlated with rates rather than financial stress).
Bottom Line: The low absolute levels of the dividend yields available to REIT investors should not be a surprise - they are following their normal pattern. The only thing new about this is they are at a new level for the cycle. I would put forth the supposition that there is nothing new here and that current yields are normal. Many investors believe that there is a "bubble" in the Treasury market (which I also refuted here), which could then be extrapolated to the yield available to REIT investors, but in my opinion, that is neither here nor there as it is the environment we find ourselves in and have to contend with. One conclusion we can draw from this is also that when rates rise, yields will rise which will be paid for by FFO growth or a share price reduction (I would suggest the latter).
Additional disclosure: This article is for informational purposes only, it is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security and is strictly the opinion of Rubicon Associates LLC. Every investor is strongly encouraged to do their own research prior to investing. | <urn:uuid:9dbd45c6-d110-47b3-b527-71ef510bbefe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seekingalpha.com/article/856111-reit-dividend-yields-new-low-rates-are-normal-but-not-a-new-normal?source=nasdaq | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955545 | 1,134 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Written by PETA
San Francisco's gay pride parade—touted as the world's largest—got a healthy infusion of vegetarian pride on Sunday. Working with local group Bay Area Vegetarians, PETA showed up in full force—accompanied by more than 100 men and women who were eager to educate the public about the benefits of a vegetarian diet.
Obviously, everyone who participated in the parade had tons of fun—but the icing on the (vegan) cake is that more than 500,000 people attended the event and learned that by cutting meat out of their diets, they could be healthier, reduce their carbon footprint, and save over 100 animals' lives per year.
Check out even more pictures of the parade here.
Written by Liz Graffeo
You may have heard about the possible new "gay friendly" high school in Chicago. Harassment and violence are causing gay students to drop out at alarming rates—and the School for Social Justice Pride Campus would be a place for all students to be able to complete their education in a protected and welcoming environment.
I think this is wonderful news—but hey, we at PETA have always been against all forms of oppression. That's why our director of media relations, Michael McGraw, is writing Chad Weiden, the assistant principal of Social Justice High School (and likely principal of the new Pride Campus), with an important suggestion: Pride Campus should have an all-vegetarian cafeteria.
"It is only because of prejudice that animals killed for food on today's factory farms suffer miserable lives and nightmarish deaths," Michael writes—and it's true! Even though animals love, fear, mourn, and rejoice just like we do, their feelings are completely discounted. They are kept in cramped, filthy warehouses where they are beaten and abused, and at slaughter, their throats are cut or they are boiled alive—just because they don't happen to be exactly like us.
Michael's letter quotes Steven Simmons, a PETA staffer and gay rights activist who died of AIDS in the early '90s, who wrote, "It's time for us to end this hierarchy of who has the right to live, who deserves not to suffer, who should be respected, [the idea] that there's a limit to the amount of compassion that we can have for our fellow creatures." We're hoping that Assistant Principal Weiden will encourage his students to have compassion for today's most vulnerable population—the animals—by keeping Pride Campus meat-free.
You can read Michael's letter to Mr. Weiden here.
Written by Amanda Schinke
Should anyone even care? I don’t know the answers to these questions, but check out what PETA’s Director of Research, Kathy Guillermo, had to say about them in this fantastic op-ed about animal experimentation.
Stop Squandering Resources on Pointless Animal Experimentsby KATHY GUILLERMOAre worms gay? If they are, what does that mean for humans? Such questions may sound entirely irrelevant to anything in our lives, but some scientists, including Erik Jorgensen at the University of Utah, have apparently received money to study these questions. The worms—nematodes, really—are tiny, 1-millimeter-long creatures that live in soil. Most are hermaphrodites, which mean that each worm produces both sperm and eggs. The Times of London reported that Jorgensen activated a gene in the hermaphrodite worms' brains, which apparently convinced them to try to mate with other hermaphrodites rather than just with the male worms.The conclusion, according to Jorgensen's quote in the Times: "We cannot say what this means for human sexual orientation, but it raises the possibility that sexual preference is wired in the brain." Hey, there's something no one ever thought of before.This study serves as a reminder that there are only so many research dollars available, and most of it comes from your taxes. Do you want to foot the bill for experiments that don't have anything to do with preventing or curing illness? Or for studies that are obviously redundant or pointless? Or for experiments that are so cruel that whatever is learned from them simply isn't worth the cost? I'm opposed to using animals for experimentation on ethical grounds, and I believe—as science frequently shows—that most studies on animals aren't particularly relevant to humans. But even those who support research on animals should be careful about accepting the experimentation industry's claim that the use of animals in laboratories will help find cures for Alzheimer's, AIDS, Parkinson's, cancer and other diseases that are frightening just to contemplate. Consider first what some experimenters are paid big money to do.In July, Johns Hopkins University announced that it was attempting to create a "schizophrenic" mouse by inserting a gene from the DNA of a human family with schizophrenic members into a mouse. Yet a diagnosis of schizophrenia hinges on the patient hearing voices that aren't there and seeing things others don't see. How exactly does an experimenter know if this is true of mice, even if a gene has been inserted? At Oregon Health & Science University, experimenter Eliot Spindel injects the fetuses of pregnant monkeys with nicotine and then gives the mothers vitamin supplements to see if that makes it "safer" to smoke while pregnant. Yet we've known since 1972 that smoking is harmful to human fetuses. Spindel's money would have been better-spent convincing pregnant women not to smoke.Under the guise of studying fetal alcohol syndrome, David J. Earnest at Texas A&M Health Science Center examined sleep problems in baby rats that were force-fed alcohol. Perhaps Earnest is unaware that human infants don't binge-drink after birth.At universities and primate centers across the country, experimenters are still tearing infant monkeys from their mothers to observe the detachment and psychosis that result from this trauma. These are variations on the dreadful experiments conducted by Harry Harlow more than 40 years ago. How often do we need to prove that taking love and comfort from a baby monkey will destroy the animal's happiness and ability to cope with life?I could go on and on—monkeys who have the tops of their skulls removed, electrodes stuck in their brains and wire coils implanted in their eyes to look at the connection between eye movement and the brain; birds whose testicles are sucked out so that experimenters can examine what happens to their songs; cats who have their backs cut open and weights attached to their spinal tissue and are then killed, supposedly to study lower back problems in people. The list seems endless.These animals are caged for their entire lives, traumatized, physically and emotionally damaged, killed and cut up for experiments that don't even pretend to be about saving humans. Whether or not you agree with me that it's unethical to do this to animals for any reason, surely it's obvious that much experimentation on animals is a terrible waste of money and lives.
Fearless PETA members Mike Brazell and Jonathan Frank made a provocative statement yesterday in front of the State House in Concord to advocate for gay rights and vegetarianism at the same time. Mike and Jon chose New Hampshire to celebrate the fact that it has recently become the fourth state to authorize civil unions for gay couples. They also brought a big banner with them that read "Vegetarians Make Better Lovers," and then proceeded to prove it for the benefit of a large crowd of onlookers. In between makeout sessions, the dudes had plenty of leaflets with information about the way animals are treated on factory farms just in case anyone who was having a bit too much of a good time at the demonstration.
There was a fantastic article about the event in the Concord Monitor this morning (evidently the good people of Concord were exceptionally good natured about the whole thing), and, just so I don’t leave anyone wanting more, here's a great video from last year's tour. This one also features Mike. With a different guy. Hell, nobody's claiming that vegetarians make loyal lovers.
PETA's Open Letter in Response to OSU and OHSU's ‘Gay Sheep’ ExperimentsAfter being outed by PETA for their cruel and deadly hormone-altering tests on gay sheep, experimenters continue to mislead the public as to the troubling implications of their work.Experimenters Charles Roselli of Oregon State University (OHSU) and Fred Stormshak of Oregon Health and Science University (OSU) have failed to address ethical issues pertaining to their deadly hormone-altering tests on gay sheep and the tests' implications for humans. PETA will continue to scrutinize these and any other experiments to ensure that both animal and human interests are protected and represented. ... [More]
you have a general question for PETA and would like a response, please e-mail Info@peta.org. If you need to report cruelty to
an animal, please click
here. If you are reporting an animal in imminent danger and know where to find the
animal and if the abuse is taking place right now, please call your local
police department. If the police are unresponsive, please call PETA
immediately at 757-622-7382 and press 2.
Follow PETA on Twitter!
Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. For whatever reason, you are now asking the question: Why should animals have rights? Read more. | <urn:uuid:67f03bb9-1cbe-4b93-a48c-cc47b7d59e01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/gay/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964393 | 1,959 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Cooch Behar: During Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's Bangladesh visit last week, New Delhi and Dhaka signed the historic agreement on demarcation of land boundaries - the two countries agreed to resolved the status of enclaves and adversely possessed areas.
And this has raised hope for 70,000 people living in these 162 enclaves who are anxiously waiting for the implementation of the deal. They have lived there for years without the basic minimum facilities or even a clear national identity. But doubts about actual implementation still remain.
"An agreement has happened four times in the past too. Unless things change on the ground I am not convinced," said 44-year-old Mohd Aziz, a resident of the Mashaldanga Enclave.
The scepticism in his voice is hard to miss.
Aziz was born, and lives in Mashaldanga, a Bangladeshi enclave in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district, one of 51 Bangladeshi enclaves located within Indian territory.
Aziz lives here without a passport or any proof of identity, as does everyone else in his enclave. These people are Bangladeshi citizens who live on the lndian side of the border surrounded by Indian territory and no links to Bangladesh. The Indian government calls them foreigners and has not given them even the most basic facilities, like sanitation, electricity, water or education, and most importantly, an identity.
Across the border, there are 111 Indian enclaves within Bangladesh, where people are as desperate as those on this side of the border.
Historically, the enclaves are the result of a series of chess games between two kings in the area in the eighteenth century where villages were simply gambled away. After Independence, boundaries were drawn but the fate of these enclaves was never sorted out.
Manmohan Singh and Sheikh Hasina have agreed that Bangladeshi enclaves will become Indian territory and Indian enclaves will become part of Bangladesh.
"Identity is the most important thing for us, there is no doubt about that," said Diptiman Sengupta, Assistant Secretary, Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee.
The enclave exchange deal is good news for Jehad Hussain Obama. When his mother, a resident of the Bangladeshi Mashaldanga enclave, went into labour, doctors at a neighbouring Indian hospital refused to admit her. It was only after the entire village turned up at the hospital to protest that she was admitted and Jehad delivered. But the hospital refused to issue a birth certificate, saying that the infant was born to Bangladeshi parents.
The fight for the birth certificate is still on, but if the new deal is implemented, Jehad will have a clear identity and hopefully an easier life.
Story first published:
September 12, 2011 08:06 IST | <urn:uuid:ee98c032-5cac-4254-b4b3-7f3cab91cf39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/hope-for-indo-bangladesh-enclaves-132956 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967519 | 576 | 1.789063 | 2 |
This has really help me, thank you! I did a quick conversion to get this to print a list view and it worked first time. One problem is that the list header (report mode) doesn't print properly - any idea's on a fix?
A couple of people have commented on the problem with printing large trees - Windows fails to create such a large bitmap.
For your info, I've tried using a bitmap the size of one (paper) page - it works really well. All you have to do is at the start of OnPrint(), set the window origin (SetWindowOrg) of the memory DC (MemDC) to the coordinates of the top hItem that is going to be drawn. Then send the WM_PAINT message and StretchDIBits as before.
UPDATE: Actually there's still a problem with very large trees. The MoveWindow call fails - Windows won't allow you to make the window any larger (I've even tried playing with OnGetMinMaxInfo(), but to no avail). Note that _this_ is the cause of some peoples black scroll bar problem - they won't go away because the window isn't as large as the tree.
Problem: It seems that with this code if you print a tree that is longer than one page in length, you'll see
a think black vertical line where normally the vertical scrollbar would draw on right side of the view.
Anyone have the solution to removing this thick black line?
My guess is, the solution lies in the following area: When the view is painted the code turns scrollbars
off, which is good. However, when the monochrome mask is made, I think it's made with a width size that would
allow for a vertical scrollbar on the right side. Thus, when the bitmaps are copied together they have this
thick black line on the right side. Do you think this is what the problem is? How does one make the mask
smaller to not include space for a vertical scrollbar?
This works really well and proves to be really useful but there is one problem.
If the tree contains a lot of items which it does in my case (take for example when the tree is fully
expanded it corresponds to approximately 50 pages if it were to be printed) I get an ASSERT failure on the
Finally a job well done...I've been looking for some 'drop in' code to print the contents of a TreeView ever
since MS introduced it! Hope you have plans for coding the printing of a ListView control in the works! | <urn:uuid:b63bfe5d-f572-413d-acde-4f0e919b93a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.codeguru.com/comment/get/48101110/10/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96388 | 533 | 1.945313 | 2 |
Since its inception in 1982, the Honors Program has provided outstanding students
with a truly unique set of academic and social opportunities.
Unlike many honors programs that offer a single "honors seminar" or that add "honors
sections" to existing courses, the Honors Program at Randolph-Macon College provides
its members with an array of innovative Collegiate
Honors Courses developed exclusively for the program. Drawn from a wide
variety of disciplines and often interdisciplinary in nature, these courses demand
active student participation and have their enrollments limited to 15 students.
The course offerings change each year. Each of the courses offered by the program
can be used to satisfy a collegiate requirement, so students in the Honors Program
do not need to take "extra" courses.
Honors students in their junior or senior year will engage in an in-depth study
of a particular topic in their field of interest. These
Departmental Honors Projects can assume a wide variety of forms, and individual
students have a great degree of latitude in designing them. One possibility is to
engage in research with a faculty member, an opportunity generally not accessible
to an undergraduate at a large university. The necessary forms to report a Departmental
Honors Project are available here.
Students who meet the requirements
of the Honors Program receive a graduation medal and have successful completion
noted on their diploma and transcript.
There is far more to the Honors Program than academics alone, however. A strong
sense of community has existed for years among its members. The Honors Program at
Randolph-Macon College is one of the few Honors Programs in the country with its
own house, the Honors House.
The Student Honors Association
(whose members include most current Honors students) is a very active body on campus,
providing events such as coffee houses after performances by the Student Drama Guild,
movie nights, outings to musical and theatrical performances offered by such groups
as the Richmond Symphony and the Barksdale Theater, and informal conversations with
faculty and guest lecturers. Each year students have attended conferences held by
state, regional, and national honors organizations. | <urn:uuid:0b0d78f9-1297-43e0-bc3f-f61771b89669> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rmc.edu/Academics/honors.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942902 | 455 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Diamond Necklace, The Affair of the, a notorious scandal in the court of Louis XVI of France. Cardinal de Rohan, who was out of favor with Queen Marie Antoinette, was persuaded in 1784 by Countess Jeanne de la Motte that he could regain the queen's favor by negotiating for her the purchase of a certain necklace of 500 diamonds that she wanted to acquire secretly. Rohan contracted with the jewelers to pay for the necklace in installments. When Rohan could not pay the first installment in full, the jewelers asked the queen for payment. Meanwhile the necklace, which Rohan thought was in the queen's possession, had been broken up and the stones sold in London.
Rohan, the countess, and the impostor Alessandro di Cagliostro, who was accused of being an accomplice, were arrested in 1785. Rohan was cleared of the charge of having fraudulently acquired the necklace but was banished from the court. Cagliostro was also acquitted. The countess was sentenced to life imprisonment but later escaped to England. Although the queen had played no part in the affair, the scandal confirmed the belief of many in her extravagance and frivolity. | <urn:uuid:73e332de-216a-4685-aa34-86e667cb87c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://history.howstuffworks.com/european-history/the-affair-of-the-diamond-necklace.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986721 | 250 | 2.765625 | 3 |
I read I Kings 1 for my weekly quiet time this week. There were two items of interest to me:
1. Joab and Abiathar the priest join Adonijah's plot to become king. David had vowed to anoint his son Solomon to the position, and his other son, Adonijah, tries to usurp it for himself. And so Adonijah curries favor with influential figures, like Joab and Abiathar, and his charisma and good looks get him a following.
Virtually every commentary that I read today---Christian, Jewish, and scholarly---asserted that Joab and Abiathar joined Adonijah because they felt that they wouldn't have a place under Solomon's reign. So why shouldn't they make another candidate for the monarchy beholden to them?
Joab realized that David didn't care for him that much because he had brought David a bad reputation through his (Joab's) bloodthirstiness. David cursed Joab (II Samuel 3:29) and eventually replaced him with Amasa for the position of captain of the guard, which Amasa held until, well, Joab killed him (II Samuel 20). And Abiathar knew that his priesthood would come to an end at some point, for God predicted decades earlier the fall of Eli's priestly dynasty, of which Abiathar was a part (I Samuel 2:35; I Kings 2:26-27). David may have been gently moving events in that direction, for he had two priests: Abiathar and Zadok (II Samuel 8:17). Was David preparing and expecting Zadok to replace Abiathar, at some point in time?
I somewhat sympathize with Joab and Abiathar, for they were people who thought there'd be nothing for them under Solomon, so they tried to hold on to what they had. Unfortunately, they were opposing God in the process, and that only made matters worse. Once Solomon came to the throne, they were officially traitors (I Kings 2). Suppose they had yielded themselves to God's will by supporting Solomon. Would they have received a lighter "sentence," if you will? Solomon didn't kill Shimei, even though David had told him to do so, but instead he put him on house-arrest. And even Abiathar wasn't put to death, for Solomon acknowledged that he deserved respect because he carried the ark during David's reign and stuck with David through thick and thin. Rather, Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood and sent him to his hometown of Anathoth.
I wish that Joab had received some mercy, for, even though he had clear character flaws, he stuck with David through thick and thin. But David and God felt Joab needed to be punished for killing people in cold blood. And, although Abiathar was a fairly decent fellow, that didn't revoke God's decree against his priesthood.
Or was Abiathar a decent fellow? Zadok was sticking with David's chosen successor, Solomon, while Abiathar went with Adonijah. If Adonijah were to win, he'd probably execute Solomon and his supporters (I Kings 1:21), including Zadok. Was Abiathar joining with Adonijah because he wanted Zadok to be put out of the way, leaving the priesthood to him? At least Solomon showed some mercy to his political opponents after he triumphed: Joab got executed without delay, but others (including Adonijah) were spared, as long as they kept the terms of their probation, or didn't attempt to take over the throne. Was Abiathar choosing a merciless, Satanic sort of rebel rather than God's choice, who was more merciful, all in an attempt to hold on to his position?
2. Solomon was to ride on the mule of David to demonstrate against detractors his legitimacy as David's successor (I Kings 1:33, 38, 44). The mule here is female. Absalom rode on a mule, but that was male (II Samuel 13:29). Zechariah 9:9 says that the king of Israel (whom Christians see as Jesus) will ride on a donkey, and that's male.
I wonder if there's any significance in Solomon riding on a female mule. One thought that came to my mind (which may strike people as stereotypical or allegorical) is that Adonijah was trying to take the throne in an Alpha-male fashion: woo people with his good looks, make the right connections, and take over! Solomon, however, was much more passive (female) in his approach. At the same time, to be fair, I guess Solomon already had good connections, since his father gave them to him. Plus, Solomon was a favorite of the prophet Nathan from the time of his birth (II Samuel 12:25).
People had to act to make Solomon king, especially when Adonijah was in the act of taking over the throne. That's why Nathan and Bathsheba got David to anoint Solomon and organized their own ordination ceremony. But Solomon passively let things happen for his own good: it was God's will, and God brought it to pass. He didn't have to strive to make things happen.
I'm sure there's a lesson here somewhere, about not striving, and yet still acting. | <urn:uuid:6e845d68-880b-471e-8a55-fe9b6e422a19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jamesbradfordpate.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989626 | 1,126 | 1.851563 | 2 |
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Database security products promise an extra measure of security for your most valuable assets. Are they worth the price?
The crown jewels are at risk: intellectual property, customer ID information and financial records encased in corporate databases. If they're vulnerable, so are your company's finances and reputation. And regulatory compliance failure, triggered by a serious breach or audit that reveals lax database security, can bring heavy fines and/or jail time.
Perimeter defenses alone, such as firewalls, IPSes and Web app shields, can't ensure security in the face of Web-based attacks that exploit myriad database configuration vulnerabilities and insecure front-end Web code.
Your best strategy against these attacks is to harden their target: Properly configured databases will stand strong against most attacks. Moreover, the landscape is changing. Industry database leaders Oracle and Microsoft are beefing up security in new versions of 10.g and SQL Server, respectively, which are better configured out of the box than their predecessors and have much easier native encryption options.
But, database security doesn't end with your initial configuration. Ongoing vigilance is required because even good DBAs make mistakes and malicious or ill-informed users alter configurations. Regular vulnerability scanning and testing, and continuous monitoring for unauthorized change will help keep your databases hardened against attacks.
Database Vulnerability Scanning
If you're in charge of security, chances are you don't have direct, high-privilege access to the database; you need to secure it from the outside. As with network VA, you have two general options: scanners and penetration testing.
Network scanners, like open-source Nessus and eEye Digital Security's Retina Network Security Scanner, may tell you if your database patches are up to date, but they won't find database-specific vulnerabilities, such as sloppy configurations that leave you open to deep SQL manipulation, injection or directory traversal attacks.
To do that, you'll have to turn to one of the handful of database VA scanners, or to professional pen testers who specialize in attacking databases.
Database-specific vulnerability assessment tools take a much more granular look at the database's configuration and the vulnerabilities associated with poor configurations than network VA scanners.
U.K.-based Next Generation Security Software's flagship database scanner, NGSSquirrel, has database-specific versions for SQL Server, Oracle and DB2, as well as DominoScan II for Lotus Domino. Each includes specific checks that target insecure configurations, patch levels, default user accounts, underlying platform vulnerabilities and even some Web-based interface vulnerabilities.
Application Security's AppDetective includes modules for Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, Lotus Domino and MySQL. AppDetective performs application discovery, tests that identify database-specific vulnerabilities and configuration-related audits. Application Security also offers a console product, AppSecIncConsole, to manage its suite of security products.
Safety-Lab's Shadow Database Scanner is an open-source, ActiveX-based tool that allows programmers direct access to modify its functionality. As an open-source product, its advantage over commercially products is that it enables security consultants and admins alike to easily customize the tool for target environments. The downside is the lack of technical support.
This was first published in March 2005 | <urn:uuid:76fb5b65-15eb-4aa2-9397-8ae170ffc4d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/magazineContent/Guardians-of-the-Crown-Jewels | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91742 | 708 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Quotes having the keyword Program
It was under Wilson, of course, that the first huge parts of the Marxist program, such as the progressive income tax, were incorporated into the American system.
by Robert Welchkeywords: american, course, first, huge, income, incorporated, into, marxist, parts, program, progressive, such, system, tax, under, were , wilson
Because these show are live, script pages are being switched during the program and new commercial teases might be yelled in your ear with just enough time to scribble them on scrap paper before reading them.
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We have an incredible national forest service, and we have an incredible child outreach program that the president has put together. I don't see anything wrong with national service for a minimum of two years. If we were to require that, we wouldn't need a draft.
by Montel Williams (born in 1956) keywords: anything, child, draft, forest, incredible, minimum, national, need, outreach, president, program, put, require, see, service, together, two, were, wrong , years | <urn:uuid:6426aa23-7442-4663-9497-c78bac2bc1be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.quotesarchive.com/keywords/p/program | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961926 | 288 | 1.585938 | 2 |
What makes a civilised society?
Isn’t it one where the education system gives all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? A system in which every child leaves school able to read, write and do basic maths. Where pupils from low-income families have the same chance to progress to university, or gain the skills to work.
At Teach First, our vision is a country where no child’s educational success is limited by their socio-economic background. We may be far from achieving this vision but we believe it is possible.
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Economists forecast that employers added 121,000 jobs in October, according to FactSet. That would be up slightly from September but below this year's average monthly gain of 146,000. And it's too weak a hiring pace to quickly reduce unemployment.
Analysts think the unemployment rate rose to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in September.
Friday's report is the last broad snapshot of the economy before Tuesday's presidential election. Any increase in the rate would mean that President Barack Obama would face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Roosevelt.
In 1976, President Gerald Ford lost to Jimmy Carter when unemployment was 7.8 percent.
A weak job report would also provide ammunition for GOP challenger Mitt Romney, who has charged that Obama's policies have held back the economic recovery.
On the other hand, Obama might benefit from recent declines in unemployment. The 7.8 percent rate in September was the lowest since Obama entered office in January 2009. The rate dropped by a half-point in just August and September.
Yet it's unclear how much political effect any economic report will have. By this point, all but a few voters have made up their minds,
"People have given this a lot of thought," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. "One report, unless it is a real shocker, is unlikely to affect their view of whether Obama has done a good job with the economy or if Romney would do a better job."
The recent drop in unemployment has heartened consumers, who are more confident and spending more. That's providing much-needed support to the still-weak economy.
The Conference Board said Thursday that its index of consumer confidence surged to 72.2 in October, its highest level since February 2008, two months into the Great Recession.
The index is still below the level of 90 that's consistent with a healthy economy. But it's far above its all-time low of 25.3 in February 2009, in the midst of the financial crisis.
Americans are buying more big-ticket items, like cars and appliances. Auto companies reported steady sales gains last month despite losing three days of business to the storm in heavily populated areas of the Northeast.
Yet businesses remain nervous about the economy's future course. Many are concerned that Congress will fail to reach a budget deal before January. If lawmakers can't strike an agreement, sharp tax increases and spending cuts will take effect next year and possibly trigger another recession.
American companies are also nervous about the economic outlook overseas. Europe's financial crisis has pushed much of that region into recession and cut into U.S. exports and corporate profits.
But steady consumer spending is supporting gains in U.S. factory production. The Institute for Supply Management, a private trade group, said manufacturing activity expanded for the second straight month in October.
New orders and production rose, the ISM's survey found. The increase came mainly in consumer-oriented industries such as furniture, food and beverages, and computers. Demand for machinery, chemical products, steel and other metals fell.
In a rare dose of healthy news for the global economy, China's manufacturing improved in October, two business surveys showed Thursday. The world's second-largest economy may be recovering from its deepest slump since the 2008 global crisis.
Analysts expect China's growth to strengthen this quarter. But they caution that the rebound will be too weak to drive a global recovery without improvement in the United States and Europe. | <urn:uuid:26313776-9d8f-4a0e-83ef-722c2c836d02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.twincities.com/alllistings/ci_21907334/consumers-give-us-economy-lift-before-election?source=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964427 | 710 | 1.953125 | 2 |
- Special Sections
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Grazing is the most cost effective way for producers to feed their ruminant animals. The University of Kentucky College of Agri-culture will host the Kentucky Grazing School Sept. 11-12 at the Woodford County extension office in Versailles.
The program begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 5:30 p.m. EDT each day.
The grazing school is open to anyone. Past participants have included everyone from new farmers to those with years of grazing experience, and all have received new information and practical skills to implement in their operations.
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Chris Seward/ The News & Observer (Raleigh), file
Sylvester Smith, center, smiles after he was granted a new trial after two witnesses recanted their testimony in a Brunswick County courtroom in Bolivia, N.C., Nov. 5, 2004. He had wrongfully served 20 years on a sexual assault charge.
In 1984, two North Carolina girls, age 4 and 6, were molested. They told police their abuser was Sylvester Smith, who was dating the mother of one of the girls, and he went to prison for the crime.
Twenty years later, the victims recanted, saying their grandmother told them to blame Smith, and his conviction was overturned.
But the person they say who really molested them -- their cousin, who was nine at the time -- could not be prosecuted because he was under age at the time of the alleged crime. He is, however, serving a life sentence for another crime he committed in the meantime: murder.
Smith's case illustrates the fallout from false convictions: He lost roughly 20 years of his life to prison, while the alleged perpetrator was free to commit other crimes.
Smith's discarded conviction is one of nearly 900 such cases filed in the National Registry of Exonerations, a database of prisoners exonerated in the U.S. of serious crimes since 1989, that was made public on Monday. To qualify as an "exoneree," an individual must have been convicted and later relieved of all the legal consequences.
In compiling the database, researchers became aware of more than 1,100 other cases in which convictions were overturned due to 13 separate police corruption scandals, most of which involved the planting of drugs or guns on innocent defendants. Those exonerations are not included in the registry.
ExonerationRegistry.org is the largest database of its kind ever assembled, according to its creators from the University of Michigan Law School and the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law. Nonetheless, researchers are not able to say what percentage of convictions in the U.S. are false, in part because it can take so long for new evidence to come to light. There are currently about 2.5 million people in prison in the United States.
The earliest cases in the database date back to 1989, when DNA evidence freed its first two prisoners.
"We can figure that as sort of the modern period in exonerations because DNA was a big game-changer," said University of Michigan Law Professor Samuel Gross, one of the registry's creators. "It provided a scientific instrument for reviewing cases and providing a different type of evidence about those cases because the technology didn't exist."
But DNA doesn't actually account for the majority of the exonerations in the database, after an initial wave in the early 1990s, he said.
"DNA is a fairly narrow-gauged tool. It only fits particular type of crimes," Gross said, noting that only 37 percent of the people in the database were cleared with the help of DNA evidence. "In the public mind, exoneration became identified with DNA... Most of these cases -- DNA and non-DNA -- everybody agrees there was a mistake; frequently because the criminal was caught, often because we agree there was no crime at all."
Gross co-authored a report on the database that pulls together statistics on exonerations from January 1989 through February 2012. While the database is constantly updated and new exonerations are being added all the time, the report focuses on the 873 individuals whose cases had been filed before March.
Gross and his report co-author, University of Michigan law school graduate Michael Shaffer, discovered correlations in the types of crimes and reasons for wrongful convictions.
- Fabricated crimes. False convictions in child sex abuse cases were usually due to fabricated crimes; sometimes a divorced parent told a child to make up lies about an ex-spouse abusing them, or police or a therapist convinced a child to say something that wasn't true.
- Eyewitness mistakes. In adult rape cases, for example, false convictions were typically based on eyewitness mistakes, "more often than not, mistakes by white victims falsely identifying black defendants," the report said.
- Misconduct by authorities. For homicides, misconduct by authorities was the second-biggest cause of false convictions, just behind false eyewitness accounts.
Eyewitnesses are crucial to a trial, experts say, and their mistakes, whether intentional or not, can have a huge impact.
"The bulk of the evidence that is presented in trials in human testimony. Almost all of the time, energy, and effort is spent hearing people's statement in what occurred at a different place and a different time," Dan Simon, a professor of law and psychology at USC, said. "The bottom line is, people are often inaccurate."
Asking an eyewitness to identify a suspect from a lineup demonstrates this.
"There's a nice study that shows slight variations in the way the lineup is conducted can result in swings of accuracy from as low as 14 percent to as high as 86 percent," Simon said.
Thanks to DNA evidence, Robert Dewey, 51, walked out of a Colorado courtroom Monday as a free man. He served 17 years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit. KUSA-TV's Will Ripley reports.
Confessing to a crime you didn't commit
Another factor in false convictions is what happens in the interrogation room. The report tracks 135 people who falsely confessed to a crime, and went to prison as a result.
"Why would anyone ever admit doing a terrible crime they didn't do?" Gross said. "The first thing to note is the risk false confessions goes up rapidly when the suspects are either juveniles or mentally handicapped or both."
In other cases in the database, a comment made to authorities was misinterpreted as a confession, or police pressure led to the false confession.
"Some people are being interrogated at a time of extreme mental anguish and distress," Gross said. "There was a very depressing case from Lake County, Illinois. He confessed to raping and murdering his young daughter, 8 or 9 years old, and a friend of hers. But consider the circumstances. He was being interrogated by the police, probably for 10 or 20 hours, within a day or two of when his daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered and then they turned on him."
Exonerees can be found in all parts of the country, but most were concentrated in Illinois, New York, Texas, and California.
93 percent are men, 7 percent women;
Nearly 50 percent are black, 38 percent white, 11 percent Hispanic and 2 percent Native American or Asian;
48 percent had been falsely convicted of homicides, 35 percent of sexual assaults (23 percent adult, 12 percent child), five percent robberies, five percent other violent crimes, and seven percent drug, white-collar and other non-violent crimes.
As a group, they spent more than 10,000 years in prison, an average of more than 11 years each.
Free from bars, but not from stigma
Smith, the man from North Carolina who was accused of molestation, maintained his innocence all along. He was only freed after one of the victims spoke to the other and decided to come forward in 2004.
Chris Seward/ The News & Observer (Raleigh), file
Sylvester Smith's wife Phillis Smith, right, reacts as Judge William Gore announced that Smith would be granted a new trial after two witnesses recanted their testimony in Bolivia, N.C., Nov. 5, 2004.
"They said they were more or less encouraged to accuse Mr. Smith, but it took a number of years and a great passage of time," Smith's lawyer, Roy Trest, said. "Obviously, he was extremely elated after all the years he had spent in prison."
Smith asked for a pardon from the governor, but was denied.
Now 61 and in poor health, he lives with his wife -- who he was married to but separated from before he went to prison -- in Brunswick County, N.C., and has established a friendship with one of the victims who accused him, his lawyer said.
Not all exonerees who leave prison are able to reintegrate back into society like Smith, despite a court proclaiming them innocent.
"Even if people honestly believe that this person was truly innocent, there is a certain stigma that comes with the mere fact that you were in prison," Simon said. "You were with bad people, you were antisocial, you had to live in the jungle-like societies you often find in prisons."
Sometimes, families break up when a defendant goes to prison. Finding a job after release can be hard too.
"Often times, the state is really unhelpful. There is no automatic method to get your criminal record expunged," Simon said. "And they have huge holes in their results, and often times they lack the skills that would help you get a job. Everyone else was studying while you were stuck in a cell."
Simon believes the registry will help reform the justice system because it helps experts analyze the causes of false convictions. The creators are still adding cases to ExonerationRegistry.org. Gross said he hopes exonerees will contact his team if they had their convictions overturned and don't see their story in the database.
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- Video: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gets married | <urn:uuid:8f86e435-c7a6-423a-94f3-f13f999f90d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/05/21/11756575-researchers-more-than-2000-false-convictions-in-past-23-years?lite | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979783 | 2,009 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Comprehensive Youth Development Services
Dan was 16 years old when he began receiving services from the Comprehensive Youth Development Services (CYDS) program. He was referred by his mother, Carol, for counseling. Carol was concerned about Dan’s significant medical (i.e. Sickle Cell Anemia and Sleep Apnea) and mental health (i.e. Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Depression) history and its impact on his actions. Dan was using marijuana three to five times a week and stealing to support his drug habit. He eventually became involved with the court system after being arrested for theft. Carol believed that Dan was using marijuana to self treat his feelings of depression which was, in turn, harming him even more. She desperately sought the help of the CYDS program so she wouldn’t be forced to lock Dan out of her home.
While gathering information about Dan’s social history, CYDS staff discovered that prior to getting involved with drugs, Dan participated in numerous positive activities such as mentoring at-risk boys. Once he began using marijuana he started to miss his mentoring group and no longer had the time or motivation to interact with the youth. Program staff worked weekly with Dan and Carol, providing both individual and family counseling. He set a goal to stop using marijuana and to successfully complete all stipulations set by his court sentence. Dan became committed to improving his life in order to become a successful adult.
Recently, Dan was provided with a referral to a local substance abuse treatment center. In addition, CYDS staff began educating him on the negative impact of marijuana and assisted him with researching articles on the topic. Soon Dan returned to his mentoring group and began participating in other positive activities such as basketball. With the support of the CYDS program, he has dramatically reduced his marijuana intake and is actively participating in drug abuse treatment group every week. Dan continues to navigate the court system and is willing to accept whatever punishment he is given for his past mistakes. His entire family was also assisted by program staff, receiving food, household items and hygiene products when they could not purchase them on their own.
Dan still has hurdles to overcome, but he has made outstanding progress over the last three months. His mother remains extremely supportive and is a continual source of positive encouragement. CYDS Staff are committed to continuing to work with Dan as he achieves his goals and moves towards a positive future.
*Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our clients.
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LASKER HOME FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN
LASKER HOME FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN. In 1894 eight Galveston women founded the Society for the Help of Homeless Children with the object of establishing a day nursery and "temporary home for homeless white children" who needed shelter from sick, negligent, or abusive parents. The charter and constitution called for a board of nine women directors to supervise the estate and financial concerns of the corporation, a board of thirty managers to direct the internal and domestic affairs, and a board of "twelve gentlemen," whose function was solely advisory. Women ran the corporation-from admitting children to investing funds. The president was to "sign all certificates, papers and legal instruments in behalf of the Society," and eight standing committees carried on the management of the home. One of its most prominent members was Rebecca Henry Hayes, professional journalist and president of the Texas Equal Rights Association from 1893 to 1895. The first house, at Thirty-seventh Street and Avenue R, came to be known as the Home for the Homeless Children and was unique in that it took in children who paid, partially paid, or did not pay. The last were supported minimally by the county commissioners. In the first two classes, the parents were required to obtain an agreement from their employers to assume responsibility for payment if the parent defaulted. In the third class the home took children that the Galveston Orphan's Home refused, who were technically wards of the county. The society cared for as many as seventy children before 1900.
In the Galveston hurricane of 1900 the home lost its building and many of the children. Through the assistance of the city and county governments the society bought property for $5,000 in May 1901 at Sixteenth Street and Avenue K, which they planned to expand and improve for a new home. Hayes, in petitioning the mayor and county commissioners in 1904 for the deed to the property, stated that the lady managers desired "to establish a kindergarten in the home and also to provide for a common school literary education supplemented with industrial training." Rebuilding, expanding the grounds, and admitting more children required a substantial outlay of funds. With no endowment, the managers were dependent on the community's good will for their recovery. Joining with the Johanna Runge Free Kindergarten, the managers in 1908 canvassed the downtown streets, soliciting funds through a "Tag Day" drive. Finally in 1912 Morris Lasker gave the home $15,000 for expansion and renovation. In return the managers renamed the institution the Lasker Home for Homeless Children in 1913.
Further aid was provided by women in Galveston church and synagogue societies. Members of the Hebrew Ladies Benevolent Society subsidized indigent Jewish children in the home. Their aid increased substantially when Lasker contributed to the building fund and after Mrs. A. Frenkel, a member of Temple B'Nai Israelqv, became president of the home in 1916. Baptist women sent sandwiches, Methodist women clothed several children, and Episcopal women sent treats to the children of the Lasker Home. The home had come under the funding of the Galveston Community Chest by 1939, afterward the United Fund, and finally the United Way. It received county financial support beginning in 1959. The home functioned for eighty-three years in the Sixteenth Street building, and it accepted up to twenty-five children at a time who needed a home temporarily or long-term. In 1984 the Lasker Home, along with the Galveston Children's Home and other children's facilities in Galveston, merged and became the Children's Center, Incorporated. In 1985 the building was put on the market, as the remaining children had been placed in individual homes the preceding year.
Galveston Daily News, October 8, 1904, April 15, 1908. S. C. Griffin, History of Galveston, Texas (Galveston: Cawston, 1931). John Gunther, Taken at the Flood: The Story of Albert D. Lasker (New York: Harper, 1960). A. Elizabeth Taylor, Citizens at Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas (Austin: Temple, 1987). Elizabeth Hayes Turner, "Women, Religion, and Reform in Galveston, 1880–1920," in Urban Texas: Politics and Development, ed. Char Miller and Heywood T. Sanders (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1990).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article.Elizabeth Hayes Turner, "LASKER HOME FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ynl01), accessed May 25, 2013. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. | <urn:uuid:e119eb21-fa25-490e-a0f2-f7cb12db765f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ynl01 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957347 | 998 | 2.640625 | 3 |
The Arctic is not under-covered. Some might even say the opposite is true. The polar bear has been “the poster child of climate change” for years, for instance, but communications experts worry that journalists’ fascination with the charismatic animal has made global warming seem like a distant problem and hindered public engagement. Reporters should localize climate-change coverage, these experts say, by focusing on energy use, public health, and other “backyard” angles.
It is possible to localize the Arctic itself, however. A good example of how this is done is a terrific 14-page special report in The Economist’s June 16-22 issue, which explores what “the vanishing north” means for global politics, trade, and natural resources.
“The Arctic, no longer distant or inviolable, has emerged, almost overnight, as a powerful symbol of the age of man,” writes James Astill, the magazine’s environment editor. He then sets out to scrutinize the region’s peril and promise over the course of eight articles, explaining that “the retreating ice offers access to precious minerals and new sea lanes—but also carries grave dangers.”
The package begins, logically, with a review of existing Arctic science, which lays out the basics: warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, thinning sea ice, melting permafrost, concern about so-called tipping points, and threats to biodiversity. This includes the obligatory mention of polar bears and it’s the driest part of the report. “Much of the change in the Arctic is understood; little of it is reassuring,” Astill reminds readers. But he localizes the science, to some extent, by citing tentative new research, which suggests that thawing can destabilize the Arctic’s “boundary layer,” allowing snowy winds to descend upon cities far to the south.
“In 2009 and 2010 Europe and America experienced two of the coldest winters on record. That was not because global warming is not happening, but because the climate system is complicated,” Astill explains, while cautioning, “It is too early to be sure about this.”
As governments wake up to the changing Arctic, global interest in the region is booming. A veteran Scandinavian diplomat recalls holding a high-level European meeting on the Arctic in the early 1990s to which only her own minister turned up. “Now we’re beating countries away,” she says. “I’ve had a couple of African countries tell me they’re Arctic players.”
Asia’s big trading countries, including strong exporters like China and Japan, shipbuilders like South Korea and those with shipping hubs, like Singapore, make a more convincing case for themselves. All have applied to join the [Arctic Council] as observers, as have Italy and the EU. Half a dozen European countries with traditions of Arctic exploration, including Britain and Poland, are observers already.
Somewhat surprisingly, Astill reports that the United States “hardly sees itself as an Arctic country.” While American scientists are leaders in research there, he says, the government has shown “lukewarm enthusiasm for international decision-making” within the Arctic Council, which was created in 1996. Astill also contends that:
With the possible exception of the United States, where influential greens oppose drilling in Alaska, all Arctic coastal countries want [oil and gas] development.
Given that Shell is gearing up for exploration of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, that’s also a bit surprising, but Astill makes a strong case that “greens against governments, not country against country, looks likely to be the most serious sort of Arctic conflict.” Warnings about international discord are overblown, he says. From resources to shipping, development “is likely to be uncommonly harmonious” for three reasons: a profit-driven desire to work rather than fight, the high cost of operating in the region, and a strong reluctance among Arctic countries to give outsiders an excuse to intervene in the region’s affairs.
Whatever the case, Astill concludes in a final article about climate change, “the impending enrichment of Arctic countries would not compensate for the costs of Arctic warming,” which include loss of important species, habitats, and ecosystems. | <urn:uuid:105a912b-21ab-40b7-a8a2-299da0f69498> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/economist_arctic_climate_chang.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947887 | 921 | 3 | 3 |
Speaking at a swearing in ceremony at the Police College of Finland in Tampere Friday, Homlund said the move to criminalise terrorist training would be an important step to help police effectively respond to the threat of terrorism.
Training individuals to commit terrorist acts is currently a crime in many EU countries. “The legislation needs to be up to date to counter terrorist crimes,” The Minister said.
However she emphasized that that there was currently no concrete risk of terrorist activity in Finland.
Holmlund said that over the next five years police would have to focus their efforts on preventive actions and anti-terrorism programs as well combating organized crime.
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Several contestants in the Gumball rally were stopped for speeding on Monday, on the Turku-Helsinki leg of their unorthodox race. Police say that despite their concerns, the drivers are likely to escape Finland’s hefty income-based fines. | <urn:uuid:beb3f3f9-be1b-455f-bc88-4447d27ccee2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yle.fi/uutiset/terrorist_training_a_punishable_crime/2229541 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963369 | 609 | 1.570313 | 2 |
United Nations Security Council Resolution 250
April 27, 1968
The Security Council,
Having heard the statements of the representatives of Jordan and Israel,
Having considered the Secretary-General's note (S/8561),1/ particularly his note to the Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations,
Considering that the holding of a military parade in Jerusalem will aggravate tensions in the area and have an adverse effect on a peaceful settlement of the problems in the area,
1. Calls upon Israel to refrain from holding the military parade in Jerusalem which is contemplated for 2 May 1968;
2. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the implementation of this resolution.
Adopted unanimously at the 1417th meeting.
Source: The United Nations. | <urn:uuid:373c05f2-6ac6-4d44-8309-0209ed12b698> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/UN/unres250.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916643 | 157 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Countries to develop lead-free ammunition explosives and other recyclable green weapon (Figure)
U.S. Navy’s “Super Hornet” fighter first flight using biofuels scene.
2010 年 4 22, the U.S. Navy’s first aircraft to use alternative fuel type F/A-18F “Super Hornet” fighter in Maryland Naval Air Station has successfully conducted its first flight in the world caused quite a stir.
the aircraft is so remarkable, because it carries the fuel contains 50% camelina oil, therefore, it is called “The Green Hornet.”
according to plan, “Green Hornet” will be 15 flights, mainly to prove that this aircraft not necessarily require the existing engine oil and fuel. “Green Hornet” and a successful test flight, raises “green weapon” of great concern.
“green weapons”, also known as “environmental weapon” refers to borrow “green” concept, the natural environment does not produce or produce less pollution, environmentally friendly and does not destroy the ecological balance of the weapon. Now, let’s look at “green weapons,” the background and future prospects.
environmental disaster calls for “green weapon”
war is not only a human disaster, the global environment is the killer. Since the era of hot weapons, all kinds of weapons, give human life on Earth has brought great harm to the environment. Weapons of mass destruction, nuclear radiation, nuclear contamination, aircraft, tanks and artillery and other weapons and ammunition containing large amounts of toxic ingredients … These will not only harm innocent civilians, more direct pollution of the natural environment.
to bullets, for example. For a long time, the bullet warhead has been the main raw material lead. According to statistics, in the United States, training of recruits each year will consume hundreds of millions made M16 rifle bullets, lead bullets though each is only 2-3 grams, but add up the total amazing. Accordingly, by analogy, imagine that the world’s annual consumption of lead pollution caused by bullets, how much?
Let’s look at another “environment killer” – gunpowder. Use conventional in today’s world there are three kinds of gunpowder: TNT (commonly known as TNT), RDX (trimethylene three nitramine ring) and HMX (part four methylene four nitramine), they are rich lead. In the military shooting range, conventional explosives, lead pollution is particularly serious. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency survey, Arlington, Virginia, the staff ranges in the blood, lead healthy bottom line than the official requirement of 10 times as much.
In addition, the range surrounding ecological environment, “poisoning” deep. In the U.S., many abandoned military test field blank, TNT soil and vegetation have been severely polluted. TNT U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has classified as carcinogens, but it is still widely used in mining, causing a great source of groundwater pollution.
during the war in Iraq, United States and Britain in Iraq cast a large number of cluster bombs, firing thousands of rounds axis poor play. The ammunition is not only to cause serious harm to the Iraqis, but also endanger the health of soldiers in war, so that they suffer from a strange strange disease.
present, the two warring sides are on the latest weapons and equipment used to bring the pollution problem has a lot of “complaints.” It can be said, calling for an environmental disaster “green weapons.”
came into being “green weapon”
the international community has been very concerned about environmental damage from military activities, many arms control treaties expressly to protect the environment as a starting point.
1974 United Nations Disarmament Commission in the spring session, the first in Sweden to the United Nations on the “change the environment for military purposes,” the problem. October 1976, the 31st UN General Assembly adopted the “Prohibition of Military or any Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques Convention.”
protect the environment not only in the arms control treaties have been reached, but also in the restrictions on weapons development. Such as armor-piercing bombs in poor axis gasification process, and then condensed into small particles suspended in the air spread to a large extent, the soldiers will be inhaled, damage to health, and environmental pollution. Therefore, the poor play from the start shaft by the international community strongly resisted.
forced by international pressure, the world arms companies are eager to flaunt their environmental awareness, dedicated to developing a new generation of “green weapons.” Currently, countries are developing “green weapons,” including lead-free ammunition, armored vehicles emissions, less toxic weapons and explosives can be manufactured fertilizer. Development of other weapons including environmental noise pollution can reduce the “quiet warhead” and release less smoke grenades, and so on.
United States is considering how to make more weapons of the future “sustainability” and “greener”, including soybean oil used as fuel for the aircraft in the combat zone to use solar energy, small-scale development of hydrogen-powered vehicle and other environmental protection measures. U.S. Secretary of the Navy or the Navy Extremadura Jacobs building of an ambitious goal: to build in 2012 a local “green fleet”, fully completed in 2016 a “great green fleet.”
not everyone on the “green weapons” positive. Some experts pointed out sharply that “environmental protection should also be considered deadly weapons actually, it is ridiculous.” Of course, most experts still believe that “the user should try to make weapons safer and minimize the weapons on the environment impact. ”
“green weapons” development road must be taken
present, due to manufacturing technology and other factors, the “green weapons,” there are still many problems. For example, the development of biofuels, fighters can reduce dependence on crude oil, but low energy density of bio-fuels, food consumed in large quantities. It is calculated that each acre of soybeans into bio-fuel, not enough “Super Hornet” fighter needed to complete a take-off fuel consumption. This had reminiscent of the already fragile world food security.
But the “green weapon” is the future of high-tech high-intensity war, a necessary requirement is the depth of the war had to be a destructive self-restraint.
any military power can not but consider the tolerance limits of the earth, otherwise military victory will be meaningless. Especially for the world’s military power to safeguard their own interests, more on political considerations, after the war’s “aftermath” to consider more, they also want to reduce the pollution of war on the environment, thereby reducing the post-war reconstruction in the management of environmental costs .
in the context of globalization and the humanitarian appeal of green thinking under pressure, “Green weapon” will no doubt become the focus of world military power R & D direction, and to find ways to solve the technical problems of the development process . According to the official website of the U.S. Air Force, Air Force is currently being developed using algae and cyanobacteria produce fuel a new generation of biofuel technology, output is expected to increase 40 times.
In summary, the “green weapons,” the path of development certainly will not be smooth, but as time goes on, it will gradually become the world’s military equipment will be the development of a major trend.
in the study of “green weapon” Know
“lead bullets” : In early September 2003, the U.S. military developed a new lead-free bullets. Contractor is the world’s largest manufacturer of ammunition, an annual output of 3.4 billion rounds of ammunition Alian special company. The company developed the tungsten as the main material of the warhead, “lead bullet” now in volume production. Currently, the U.S. military has been gradually replaced with environmentally friendly bullets Lead bullets to conventional training.
“Green explosives”: University of Munich in Germany, the German military to fund a research team of about 50 may be used as a “green fuse” of chemical substances were studied. One of the “green dynamite” ongoing technology tests, is expected to put into use the next 2-5 years.
“recyclable explosives”: As the world’s largest arms manufacturer, British Aerospace Systems (BAE) are experimenting with energy-saving and recyclable explosives, the explosive waste and crop waste into fertilizer explosives. Currently, the project can be made into fertilizer explosives has conducted a number of technical tests, and won initial success.
“saving armored vehicles”: At present, the British BAE Systems plans to develop a “hybrid engine”, which can use the batteries and diesel-powered armored vehicles to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, reduce environmental pollution.
“blunt shells”: British BAE Systems has begun production of a “blunt shells”, such shells would not explode accidentally, unlimited shelf life. Israel Military Industries is developing a new type of grenade used in tank guns to replace the lead-steel warhead warhead, built-in high-energy explosives, to improve the fight against concrete target performance. (Li Jing Jin) | <urn:uuid:cc00633b-dc24-4726-827e-310206eb9f5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.9abc.net/archives/19703 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93678 | 1,999 | 3.046875 | 3 |
egyptian and extraterrestial being
There are many other connections between egyptians, extraterrestials and the planets.
Let me say few words about underground caves in egypt and near pyramids.Let me start with great sphinx. If there is no hall of records under the sphinx so why created a tunnel under the sphinx ..see here : https://www.youtube....h?v=rPA-ogvp1ms there is another tunnel that goes down on the top of the sphinx.
And why there is a visible chamber under the sphinx of some kind shown on dream stella?
If there would be nothing under the sphinx,,then egyptians wouldnt show this strange chamber on dream stella.
There is also unfinished tunnel under the great pyramid... and cave that leads to nowhere at the tomb of the birds where is official entrance.. two videos here :
My opinion is this: caves,sphinx and unfinished tunnel under the pyramids has not been fully explored.They are there for a reason and needs to be explored.Egyptians or whoever build these pyramids had to leave some big treasure and knowledge behind...and these knowledge is somewhere around the pyramids..if not on top then it has to be underground...there must be something big.I dont know if people are not ready for this moment to discover whatever is underground buti believe then sooner or later we will find out the truth.
Edited by dreamland, 16 December 2012 - 07:40 PM. | <urn:uuid:4056ae66-5fad-4469-85ac-f386236d43e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?s=453c82eff6fa5ee3dfc2c77dd71a5815&showtopic=239390&st=0&p=4582848&forceDownload=1&_k=880ea6a14ea49e853634fbdc5015a024 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905861 | 318 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Sangre de Cristo Overview
If one has the chance to visit south-central Colorado, one might think that they were in New Mexico, basically anywhere except Colorado. This part of the state is moderate in elevation (on average), hot, arid and dry, the mountains rise substantially from the valley floor and it is fractured by old government land grants and private land dating back as old as 140 years. Fact, Colorado’s first and oldest town lies at the southern terminus of the Sangre de Cristos; the town of San Luis was established in 1851.
For all intensive purposes, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains start near the town of Salida and extend 125 miles south in a 6,000-v-ft. spine to the Colorado-New Mexico border (and actually continues into New Mexico for an additional 90-100 miles). This mountain range, formed by fault-block mountain building (the only kind of this type in Colorado) is exceedingly narrow by Colorado definitions. In some places, this mountain range is only 5-8 miles across.
It is hemmed in by the vast expanse of the San Luis Valley to the west and the arid steppe of the Wet Mountain Valleys to the east. Since the valley floor averages around 7,800-8,00ft, the mountains here which, rise to over 14,000ft, frequently succumb to bad weather and violent storms. Winter in this mountain range can see blizzards and temperatures that would rival the San Juan and Elk Mountain ranges.
At last estimate there were roughly 180 miles of trail in an area of 186,368 acres. Approaches to peaks, mountains and lakes in this range are often long and hot and where roads do afford one a closer start, expect a very rough and grueling drive. Colorado’s roughest 4x4 road (Lake Como Road) is found in this range.
The Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) Mountains were officially recognized by the Colorado State Legislature in 1993 and have been since labeled as “Wilderness Status”.
A possible origin for this ranges name comes from an old story of a Spanish priest who was shot and killed (and martyred) during the Pueblo revolt in the 17th century by an arrow from local Indian tribes. In his last moments, he looked up and saw the red colours on the high peaks and exclaimed “Sangre de Cristo!” certain that his eternal redemption was at hand.
The alpine lakes in this mountain range are among the best that Colorado has to offer.
Eagle Peak OverviewEagle Peak lies just north of center within the Sangre de Cristo Range. Because of Forest Service boundaries, Eagle Peak doesn’t actually lie within the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. It occupies a pocket that extends into the wilderness designation but does come under the jurisdiction of the San Carlos Ranger District.
At 13,205ft, Eagle Peak is Colorado’s 482 highest ranked peak. It occupies the end of a long 1.5-mile lower ridge that comes off north from Thirsty Peak. However, since Thirsty Peak is not ranked, its line parent ends up being another mountain called Lakes Peak, which its shared saddle drops to 12,660ft with approximately 545 feet of rise.
With the exception of FR #198, the approaches to Eagle Peak are long. Most people either use this rough forest service road and Rainbow Trail to gain higher climes or climb it via its long south ridge from Thirsty Peak.
Indeed, Eagle Peak seems to be quite alone and displaced from all of its neighbors. The south ridge is very noticeable and prominent. The heavily forested Cloverdale Basin to the northwest and the South Lake Creek Basin to the southeast borders it. Because of the immediate gentle terrain to the south, the south ridge provides a convenient way to combo it with other surrounding peaks. Its’ proximate parent is a bi-centennial called Cottonwood Peak A.
Eagle Peak is not a frequently climbed peak despite having some easy access to the north. It’s low elevation and somewhat obscurity from other neighbors like Cottonwood Peak ensures a quiet summit. The views from its’ summit are impressive and it gives a great perspective on the surrounding terrain.
Use Forest Service Maps: Rio Grande NF and San Isabel NF for further information.
Eagle Peak lies inside of the Electric Peak Quadrangle.
Getting There☯ Rainbow Trail TH
From the small town of Texas Creek located on US-50 (30.7-miles east of Salida) turn south onto CR-69 for 11-miles to the town of Hillside. At Hillside, leave the pavement and turn right onto CR-198 for four miles to the Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp. The Lake Creek Trailhead is also located here. This road is also known locally as Billy Humble Road. Stay to #198 as many spurs and side roads cross the main road. Once past the Lutheran Camp, the road will get progressively rougher and a couple miles from its end, a truck or jeep will be necessary as it turns into an all out 4x4 road. The 4x4 road will pass Balman Reservoir and end in the upper stretches of Cloverdale Basin. The Cloverdale Mine is located at treeline at the bottom of the west slopes of Eagle Peak. Park anywhere along this stretch and follow trail #752 to the saddle between UN 13,123 and Thirsty Peak. From here, just keep to the ridge heading north off Thirsty Peak towards Eagle Peak. This is the shortest approach and involves less than 2,300ft of elevation gain.
☯ Valley-View Hot Springs TH
The only downfall to this approach is the sheer length (in excess of 14-miles RT) one has to hike and climb to reach Eagle Peaks summit. The elevation gain on this approach is significant as well, something approaching 5,200ft. However, hiking up Hot Springs Canyon is exceedingly beautiful and on a very decent trail. It does cross the creek multiple times. This route will take you over Cottonwood Peak, UN 13,123 and Thirsty Peak en route to Eagle Peak. It is long with massive elevation gain and long on views.
From the town of Poncha Springs, drive 27.3-miles south on US-285 to the intersection with Co-17. At this turnoff, County Road-GG will start and head due east for approximately 5.8-miles. Continue straight at a turn onto CR-65 for an additional 1.4-miles. The Valley-View Hot Springs Trailhead will come almost immediately after the 90° bend in the road on the left side. It is marked and labeled and shares the same parking area with another trail, the Garner Creek Trail. In the autumn while the Aspens are turning, this approach would be phenomenal.
CampingThe current and accepted practice of responsible camping is to select areas that are more resistant like sandy areas or the forest floor while staying away from more delicate areas like the alpine tundra. Stay away at a minimum of 200ft from water sources to avoid unintentional pollutants and always bury human waste in a cathole at least that distance from water or pack it out.
The recommended depth to bury human feces is 6”-8”. At this depth, the decomposition rate is at its highest and most active. There are no official campgrounds at either trailhead other than ‘throwing the tent’ on the ground and making do. This is usually standard practice however.
Keeping that in mind, just use common sense when pitching your tent (IE: not on the trail itself).
Leave No Trace
Wilderness Areas set their own regulations in terms of camp sizes, people and pets. The general perimeters are usually between 6-25 people but since Eagle Peak doesn’t actually lie inside of a Wilderness Area, this becomes moot. I mention it because it is surrounded by official wilderness area and it’s just something good to keep in mind.
Some VERY specific Beta on what constitutes Wilderness.
Click for weather forecast
• Sangre de Cristo Mountains
• Summitpost Page -by Ryan Schilling
• Trip Report -climber.org
• 14ers.com -Sangre elevation list
• Lists of John -Eagle Peak | <urn:uuid:261872bb-6a8b-4a1c-be9b-bdab39b93ada> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.summitpost.org/eagle-peak/455348 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947112 | 1,738 | 2.875 | 3 |
John Edelsten was born on 12 May 1891, the third son of John Jackson Edelsten, a tea broker, and his wife, Jessica. In 1904 he entered the Royal Naval College, Osborne [Isle of Wight] and after passing on to Dartmouth [Devon] two years later, then joined HMS Hibernia, as a midshipman in 1908, later serving with the cruiser HMS Natal and the battleship HMS London.
Edelsten became a sub-lieutenant in 1911 and was promoted lieutenant at the end of 1913 while serving with the destroyer HMS Swift. He joined the light cruiser HMS Yarmouth in March 1914 and served in her with the Grand Fleet until the end of 1917. Showing particular talent at signals, Edelsten became flag lieutenant to Admiral Sir Thomas Hurt, Commander-in-Chief, South America station, (1919-1921), and at the end of 1921 was promoted to lieutenant-commander. He then joined HMS Delhi as a staff officer to Rear-Admiral Sir Hubert Brand, commanding the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron. Edelsten served in the cruisers HMS Carysfort and HMS Comus before becoming commander at the end of 1926. Briefly leaving the sea, Edelsten next taught on the staff course at Greenwich (1928-1930), before joining the cruiser HMS London to serve in her for two years. On 14 December 1926 he married Frances Masefield. They had no children.
On 30 June 1933, Edelsten was promoted again, to captain, and in 1935 commissioned the new light cruiser HMS Galatea before becoming the Admiralty's deputy director of plans at the beginning of 1938. He returned to active service in the cruiser HMS Shropshire in March 1940, serving on trade protection duties in the south Atlantic and Indian oceans. In 194041 he was senior naval officer in the operations against Italian Somaliland [later Somalia]. Edelsten then became Chief of Staff to Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station, a position which he held until the end of 1942, after being promoted Rear-Admiral.
Edelsten then returned home as assistant Chief of Naval Staff, with special responsibility for anti-U-boat warfare and trade defence, at the height of the battle of the Atlantic. In 1945 he became Rear-Admiral, Destroyers, in the new British Pacific Fleet (BPF). Edelsten was promoted to Vice-Admiral later in the year and in October 1945 was appointed to command the 1st Battle Squadron. At the end of the year he moved to command the 4th Cruiser Squadron but was soon recalled to the Admiralty, serving from late 1946 as an adviser to the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff and then becoming Vice-Chief of Naval Staff in 1947. He became a full admiral in February 1949 and was appointed as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean in 1950. His final position was as Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, (1952-1954), when he was also the first NATO Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Command. He was to be the next Commander-in-Chief, Home Fleet, but retired on 24 November 1954.
Edelsten was made CBE in September 1941 for his services off Somaliland. He was appointed CB in June 1944 and was knighted in June 1946. He was promoted GCB in January 1953. He died on 10 February 1966.
The papers chiefly consist of correspondence, naval messages and photographs from Edelsten's time with the Mediterranean and Pacific Fleets.
The papers were deposited at Churchill College by Sir John's widow, Lady Edelsten, in April 1967.
The papers were all in good physical condition but somewhat disordered. There was also a small amount of ephemeral material which has been destroyed. Additional material, which had been added to the end of the catalogue as EDSN 32/5-7, was incorporated with the rest of the collection in March 2005.
The papers are owned by Churchill College, Cambridge.
The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of identification are required.
Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.
Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Vice-Admiral Sir John Edelsten, EDSN
A copy of this finding aid is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, London and on the Janus website, http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/.
This finding aid was created by Katharine Thomson of Churchill Archives Centre in March 2005 from an existing catalogue. Biographical information was taken from Eric J. Grove's essay, 'Edelsten, Sir John Hereward (1891-1966)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. | <urn:uuid:b209ee39-a914-47d4-8cb8-a21a96afbaba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0014%2FEDSN | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975904 | 1,045 | 1.835938 | 2 |
The Boston Globe‘s student guest writers have honed in on MIT in an article titled “School Secrets: 5 things to know about MIT.” The column, TNGG, stands for the Next Great Generation: Opinion and insight from Boston’s students and twenty-somethings.
And the commentary is just that—light hearted and often on target, with the exception of a quote by an MIT freshman that claimed that MIT generates its own power via a nuclear power plant. [Not!] The footnote explains that MIT uses a small nuclear reactor mostly for medical research, but the power comes from the MIT Cogeneration plant.
In brief, here is what Northeastern University student Melissa Werthmann sees as MIT’s secrets:
1. Want to sail the Seven Seas? Head to MIT. That’s about our new official pirate certificates.
2. MIT students aren’t just using the school’s tunnel system to avoid sunlight. What happens underground, stays underground…until now.
3. Everything at MIT is numbered. Seriously, everything. You know where she is going with this. Other universities don’t designate their buildings and majors by numbers. Really.
4. MIT students can’t fail. It’s clear that the author deeply envies MIT first-year students’ option for pass/no record in their classes.
5. It may be the “Harvard Bridge,” but it’s got MIT’s mark all over it. Make that the measurements of Ollie Smoot ’62, now memorialized in the new American Heritage Dictionary.
Read the Boston Globe article for more.
What secrets do you think should have been in the top five? Add your comments. | <urn:uuid:d411f2ca-b989-4440-8f6f-e77be3967255> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://alum.mit.edu/pages/sliceofmit/2012/03/27/five-things/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914564 | 373 | 2.21875 | 2 |
I always liked the website Muxtape, and right around the time that the site went offline, a group launched an open source web application that allows you to run and share a mix tape on your own server. It’s called OpenTape, and while the idea is similar, they are NOT related to Muxtape.
OpenTape is amazingly easy to use. Just download the files, unzip, and upload them to your own webserver. From there you can use the web interface to set up and configure the mix tape you want to share.
But what I want to know is can I run OpenTape on my mobile phone? Specifically, my N95? If you want to try this yourself, here are the steps.
- Register and install the Mobile Web Server to your S60 compatible device.
- Download and install the PAMP package for S60 and install it on your compatible device.
- Download OpenTape and copy it to the htdocs folder of your Mobile Web Server installation.
Once that’s done, just go to the directory on your webserver, and voila, it works!
Notice that the URL is actually from my Mobile web site…
Once I set up the password, then it was still working just fine.
And after I added songs, i thought it was looking so good.
But then it never displayed any of my songs. Hmmm…
Not to give in so quickly, I started digging through the source code, and it turns out that the problem might be with the PHP package on my mobile. First, the /code/xspf.php XML file wasn’t returning any tracks even though they were uploaded in the folder and the permissions were set correctly. Digging further, it looks like the code is using an ID3 library to read all of the metadata about the Mp3 files, so maybe that’s not included in the PAMP package?
Anyway, I’m so close, but I’ll keep looking into this and see what kind of fix I can come up with. | <urn:uuid:0ec06a10-da18-407b-b36d-ef71baec78ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wubbahed.com/tag/mobilewebserver/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941068 | 437 | 1.703125 | 2 |
On the US midtermsNovember 2nd, 2010
On the eve of the inevitable catastrophe for the Democrats in the US midterm elections, Barack Obama is getting all sorts of advice about how to rebuild his party during the two years left to his first (and only?) term. The prize for the worst advice yet goes to veteran liberal columnist David Broder in the Washington Post,who suggested a couple of days ago that the best way for Obama to revive his presidency would be by….bombing Iran.
Look back at FDR and the Great Depression. What finally resolved that economic crisis? World War II. Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran’s ambition to become a nuclear power, he can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve.
I am not suggesting, of course, that the president incite a war to get re-elected. But the nation will rally around Obama because Iran is the greatest threat to the world in the young century. If he can confront this threat and contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions, he will have made the world safer and may be regarded as one of the most successful presidents in history.
Right. Just what America needs, to incite another war in the Middle East. Unfortunately, Obama will not be around for the first fortnight to help to console and rally his shattered party. Just as Bill Clinton did in the wake of Clinton’s own 1994 midterm mauling, Obama will be winging off overseas immediately afterwards for a ten day trip to India and points in Asia – thus leaving the Republicans to manage the domestic aftermath in the media, and to set the agenda for the lame duck period of his first term. Way to go.
How bad are the results tomorrow likely to be? The Republicans will sweep the House and gain a 30-35 seat majority, while the Senate will end up virtually deadlocked given that at best, the Democrats will retain only a narrow 3-4 seat majority. Among the casualties tomorrow will be Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, the Senate’s most capable liberal voice – in 2004, many on the left had wanted him to contest the presidential election against George Bush, partly because he had been the only Senator to vote against the Patriot Act. Ron Johnson, the Republican ‘outsider’ destined to take Feingold’s place, has been satirized by The Onion in these terms
Here is what I know: Washington, D.C. is far away. Outer space is farther away. And Caesar salad is a kind of salad. What more do you need?
What we don’t need is Russ Feingold, who is a Democrat capable of conjugating verbs and composing thoughts in sentence form. I’ll be honest, I have absolutely no clue what I’ve been saying here this entire time. What is time? Where am I? Who are you? How do telescopes work, and why am I writing this right now? I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.
Because I am an outsider and Russ Feingold is a man with dark hair.
Furthermore, overspending, the left-wing media, tax cuts, class warfare, Muslims, Obamacare, Nancy Pelosi, corporate giveaways, socialism, Nancy Pelosi. Washington, D.C.
The rise of the Tea Party and related anti-Washington sentiments will be heartening to the leaders of China, India and Brazil. Those rising economies know they have nothing to fear from the resurrection of the Republican right – if only because from the Reagan era onwards, the agenda of tax cutting and de-regulation has succeeded only in running up debt, and running down America’s infrastructure and competitiveness. And so the American decline continues.
In ten days time the film industry lobby group Spada is holding its annual conference, and the line-up for this conference item looks amusing :
Key Plenary Session: The Hobbit – What Really Happened? – Open to Non-Delegates
Chaired by Russell Brown, the panel will include Philippa Boyens (co-writer The Hobbit), SPADA’s CEO Penelope Borland and Executive Member Richard Fletcher.
Right. So that should be a wide ranging and broad spectrum effort. (Paul Holmes and John Barnett must have been too busy that morning.) An interesting aspect of the Hobbit aftermath has been the similarity in practice, of the stance towards production subsidies taken by the left and by the right. This editorial in the NZ Herald for instance, took the usual Flat Earth approach to subsidies and national planning that we’ve been hearing for the past 30 years:
The hyperbole surrounding The Hobbit insisted it was crucially important to the future of the local film industry and for this country’s image as a tourist destination. Both points are highly dubious….If the industry cannot stand the loss of them, it must be in a sickly state. It was surely over-egging matters to suggest all international film-makers would sidestep this country as a consequence.
Indeed, at some stage, the local film industry should, like virtually every other New Zealand enterprise, be able to survive without subsidies. The talent and skills of local film-makers, along with outstanding scenery, should be the attraction for Hollywood moguls.
Fantastic. You really can’t satirise this stuff. Safe to say, if we’d adopted that approach, Lord of the Rings would not have been shot here, the globally competitive Weta Digital FX shop would not exist and, if he was lucky, Peter Jackson would be an occasional employee of one or other Hollywood studio. Thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars would have been lost to the New Zealand economy.
In practice though, the left’s hostility to paying anything at all to Warners would have followed the same pattern – no subsidies to Warners, no major films made here, not much in the way of a skilled local industry – as the Herald’s approach. Unfortunately, pixies offering film projects for free do not exist in the real world. There is no free lunch when it comes to the global exchange between corporate self interest, and national self interest. Within the film industry, some progress has been made. We tried and then scrapped the truly damaging kind of subsidies – ie the sort of tax breaks that function mainly as tax avoidance vehicles – and settled on “after spend” rebates that ensure New Zealand receives the benefits in economic activity before we pay out. By definition, we achieve as much or more from such deals as Warners does. Yes, there is a cost involved in attracting this sort of business. It is delusional to think we can avoid paying any sort of tab, whatsoever.
Moreover, if we are to go down the route of public/private partnerships, we need to learn how to negotiate these sort of trade-offs. In the process, government needs to be transparent about the net benefits if any, of such deals. The Flat Earth approach of unilaterally slashing tariffs, selling assets and scrapping subsidies – while the rest of the world does little or nothing to follow suit – has failed. Yet I don’t think the left’s hostility to any form of negotiation and trade-off with multinationals is any less blinkered. It involves the same self-defeating path of virtue and belief that we can get something for nothing.
Key, it seems generally agreed, negotiated the Warners deal abysmally. He not only gave away New Zealand’s stance before he entered the bargaining room but also offered to limit how our labour laws will apply within the film industry. As a result, one of our few cutting edge industries has now been frozen within Victorian-era labour rules and conditions. That’s the real lesson of The Hobbit fiasco. We’ve shown the world that we haven’t a clue about how to drive a bargain, and can be relied on to be a patsy in any public/private partnership negotiations in future. Plus we have retained a 15% level of production subsidies that will maintain our trade disadvantage with the rest of the world – and virtually ensure only major film productions tied to Peter Jackson come here in future, The troglodytes on both the right and the left will probably welcome such an outcome. | <urn:uuid:a5a8d6d9-38b0-48a2-a309-4958cfacbcdb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2010/11/02/gordon-campbell-on-the-us-midterms/ | 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 | 0.946734 | 1,755 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Buried Secrets: Digging For DNA DVD
SKU ID #69177
You Save: $4.96 20% off
To Order by Phone Call 1-800-933-6249
- Additional Details
- Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
- Rating: Not Rated
- Number of Discs: 1
- Run Time: 50 Minutes
- Region: Region 1
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Language: English
- Studio: History Channel
- DVD Release Date: August 3, 1999
From Jesse James to Thomas Jefferson to the Unknown Soldier, see how DNA evidence is changing the way we look at history.
As forensic science becomes more accurate and sophisticated, it is being used more frequently to help solve some of the enduring questions of history. But often, these findings have an emotional, human aspect that goes overlooked.
BURIED SECRETS examines every aspect of the use of DNA technology and other forensic techniques to plumb the past by following five very different stories. Humanity and science merge in the discovery of the identity of the Unknown Soldier. A long-running, fierce historical debate is finally settled when the descendants of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson consent to be tested to see if the rumors of their ancestors' affair are justified. Two differing, plausible explanations for the death of Napoleon emerge after a team examines strands of his hair for evidence of foul play. The rumors that Jesse James staged his death are quieted by the findings when his body is exhumed. Finally, examine the role of DNA evidence in the famous case of Dr. Sam Sheppard, convicted and then exonerated of murdering his wife.
History, science and humanity collide as the past gives up its secrets to today's technology. | <urn:uuid:a5872fdf-7521-46be-ba17-025f209cd301> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shop.history.com/buried-secrets-digging-for-dna-dvd/detail.php?p=69177&v=history_subject_science-and-technology_medicine&pagemax=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930587 | 369 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Chicago (AINA) -- The protest held in Chicago on November 8 against the Baghdad church massacre, which killed 58 Catholic Assyrians, brought out the anger, anguish and resolve of the Assyrians.
As 58 protesters lay on the ground, symbolizing those killed in Our Lady of Deliverance Church on October 31, a keener begins wailing, asking for salvation from the Lord, saying "Oh Lord Christ save us." Anguish overcomes most of the demonstrators as they look upon those lying on the ground and they begin to cry. Some even implore the actors to get up.
A young woman, Rita Jacob, who lost four friends in the church massacre, is called to the podium to speak, but she cannot hold back her tears, and she rips the paper on which she had written her prepared speech and simply says "...do we need a bigger wake up call than this?" and "please stop the pain."
A man shouts in anger "Jesus is the God of Muhammad!" and the organizer, Waleeta Canon, admonishes him, telling him they are here to remember the fallen, and not to endanger those back home, and asks the Chicago police to remove him if he does not remain silent.
The protest in Chicago was one of twenty held worldwide on that day by Assyrians (AINA 11-10-20). | <urn:uuid:ae20a232-0db7-4d6c-843a-f9194dbfcfc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aina.org/news/20101117003759.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96759 | 274 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Throughout the presidential campaign, Romney has said the clock should start in February 2009, Obama's first month in office. If that's fair -- if the president deserves the blame for every job lost on his 11th day in office -- it's true that under Obama, the economy is still in a deep hole and hasn't fully recovered from the losses of early 2009.
But look what happens when we start the clock, as Romney suggests, six months to a year after President Obama was sworn in. In fact, if we don't hold Obama's first year against him, the economy has added over 3.7 million jobs overall during his presidency, and over 4.2 million in the private sector.
That's not the count by my standard; that's the count by Romney's standard.
keyboard shortcuts: V vote up article J next comment K previous comment | <urn:uuid:3e796d53-e0ad-4022-adfa-f97b252a1196> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://killfile.newsvine.com/_news/2012/07/24/12930299-by-romneys-standard-president-obama-has-added-3700000-new-jobs-to-the-economy-4200000-in-the-private-sector | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979288 | 175 | 1.84375 | 2 |
YASS is offered in Scotland
YASS gives students in S6 the opportunity to study at higher education level without leaving friends and family behind. Study fits around school work and social lives, encourages independent learning and builds confidence.
YASS is designed to bridge the gap between school and full-time university and help able and motivated students stand out from the crowd.
YASS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
The Open University takes the safeguarding of its under 18 students very seriously and has a Safeguarding Policy. If you are a parent/guardian or carer, you will be asked to read and sign the Safety Guidelines that we provide as part of our registration package. | <urn:uuid:08d63a87-7cf2-4d72-9432-2c71e70a7121> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.open.ac.uk/choose/yass/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966103 | 139 | 1.632813 | 2 |
South Cross, Ahenny, Co. Tipperary
Plaster-of-Paris Replica SA1909:6
The plaster casts of the Ahenny high crosses are made up of four pieces; the base, the shaft, the head of the cross and the cap stone. It appears that a limited number of casts could be made from the moulds. Contemporary accounts mention moulds which ‘only bear about four casts’. The cost of making the moulds of the two Ahenny crosses was £151, with each cast being produced at a cost £35.
Like the North Cross, this cross dates to the ninth century. The head and shaft of the cross are dominated by decorative motifs that are highly reminiscent of processional crosses of the period. The edges of the crosses carry rope mouldings in high relief, similar to metalworking bindings found on the Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch while the simple bosses resemble those on the St Germain finials.
The figure sculpture on the South Cross is confined to the base. The scenes on the south, west and north faces all show aspects of hunting:
The east face of the base is partitioned and shows Daniel accompanied by two lions, beside which are seven figures representing Christ and the apostles: | <urn:uuid:9c9b3e97-39eb-4bcf-a3bf-d75bfcac7dcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.museum.ie/en/exhibition/list/displaying-high-cross-reproductions.aspx?article=817071df-2b9b-4824-94e0-3d24dae28a45 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949338 | 263 | 2.078125 | 2 |
With the upcoming release of Dolphin Tale I expect many students will gain an increased curiosity around these amazing mammals. This is a great time to explore amazing content from Discovery Education’s Science Techbook. You can use the Rollin’ Down the River reading passage to have students learn about the differences between freshwater and saltwater dolphins. You can also talk to your students about current research in the study of dolphins. For example, did you know that a new species of dolphin was just discovered this year. Check out the latest news on this find. After reading about the new discovery your students might be interested in learning more about the bottlenose dolphins or about how dolphins are great problem solvers. Enjoy building on your student’s interests. | <urn:uuid:a4dfd7a5-6de2-4d6c-a045-27a672b04e80> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2011/09/16/dolphin-tale-science-and-discovery-education/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947009 | 150 | 3.125 | 3 |
(CNN) -- Rescuers freed three miners who were trapped in an eastern Tennessee zinc mine Wednesday after a fire, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The three miners were taken to a nearby hospital for a precautionary evaluation, said agency spokeswoman Amy Louviere.
The miners were trapped by smoke after a rig fire broke out 800 feet underground at the Young Mine in New Market, Capt. Sammy Solomon of New Market Fire Rescue said.
They were among 54 miners in the mine at the time. The others managed to get out, though two were transported to a local hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
The Young Mine is owned by Nyrstar, which owns six other mines, all zinc, in Tennessee. | <urn:uuid:2cd62440-dadf-4a79-9ded-d0c498afbebb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/28/us/tennessee-mine-fire/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982632 | 158 | 1.640625 | 2 |
I have great news! I have secured good luck for 2009. January 1st was my husband’s ‘Name Day.’ In Greece, everyone celebrates the “Name Day” of the saint that bears the same name. According to the Orthodox Church, every day of the year has been dedicated to the memory of a Saint or a martyr from the Holy Bible and Holy Tradition. In Greece, a person’s name day is even more important than their own birthday and is celebrated with attention from friends and relatives and often gifts.
My husband Vasili’s Name Day lands on the first day of the year and has a historical tradition. It commenced in the fourth century, when Saint Vasili the Great, who was a bishop, wanted to distribute money to the poor in his Diocese. He commissioned some women to bake sweetened bread, in which he arranged to place gold coins. Thus the families in cutting the bread to nourish themselves, were pleasantly surprised to find the coins. I read that the sweetness in the cake symbolizes the hope that the New Year will be filled with the sweetness of life, liberty, health, and happiness for all who participate in the Vasilopita Observance.
Below is a recipe for a traditional Vasilopita cake. One coin is dropped in the batter of a round pan. The person who finds the treasure in his or her slice of cake is said to be blessed and will receive good luck for the coming year. I squealed when my fork found the coin in this light, simple but delicious yellow cake.
Vasilopita – Greek New Year’s Cake
Serves 15-20 people.
4 cups flour, sifted
6 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
Grated lemon rind from 1 lemon
Silver or gold coin (soak in water and soap to clean. $1 coins are fun!)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Cream butter, add sugar gradually; beat together until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in alternately until just smooth, flour mixture and milk. Add grated lemon rind from one whole lemon (2-3 teaspoons).
Grease a 12-inch round baking pan and line bottom with parchment paper. You can use a rectangle if you don’t have the large round pan. Put batter into the prepared pan. Drop in a silver or gold coin and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan. Then, sift confectioner’s sugar over the top. Cut out of pan to serve.
* You can halve this recipe in half and use a 9 inch round pan | <urn:uuid:ff4da246-f9cc-4f12-a9b3-dea4fbeb128a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whippedtheblog.com/2009/01/04/vasilopita-greek-new-years-cake/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949375 | 592 | 2 | 2 |
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This review appeared in Volume 3 (2) of The Semiotic Review of Books.
The New Shostakovich. By Ian MacDonald. London: Fourth Estate. 1990. Pp. 339 ISBN 1-87218-041-8
The nebula of interpretive dialectics which surrounds the composer Shostakovich constitutes a unique phenomenon in musical discourse. Understood - one is tempted even to say censored - by intellectuals in the West for decades as simply a captive voice of a regime which strangled art, Shostakovich's music is now intensely scrutinized as a secret language of protest. The reassessment of his music invites us to reconsider our notions about the scope of music's semiotic capacities. Can music convey a political message? More pointedly, can music authoritatively and publicly labelled as the vehicle of one message carry, purely through its sonorous form, the denial of that message?
The most promising theoretical tool with which to address these questions may be the notion of intonation, developed by Shostakovich's compatriot, Boris Asafiev. The idea has just barely been glimpsed in the West but is very influential among Eastern European musical semioticians. In his two-volume text Musical Form as a Process (1963), Asafiev, a Russian musicologist and composer, suggested music was more than an art comprised of acoustical and emotive phenomena: it was an "art of intoned meaning" (Tull: 1977, 904). Asafiev's "intonation" here did not correspond to its Western musicological homonym which means accuracy of pitch; instead, his notion is closer to the linguistic concept of intonation as a suggestive pattern of pitch, rhythm and/or timbre. Musical intonation, according to Asafiev, was the human organization of sound acoustics into connotative mental associations. Unfortunately, many of Asafiev's pioneering writings have been largely unavailable to Western readers; what exists in translation, however, is testimony to the deliberation on music's associative elements within the Soviet Union.
In the West, the status of reverential meaning in music has been a longstanding problem, and, in fact, many musicologists today continue to resist (as "extra-musical") the attribution of any meaning to music from the "European Art" repertoire. Another (but expatriate) Russian, Stravinsky, contributed powerfully to this resistance which seems to hinge on the widely misunderstood Nineteenth Century ideal of "absolute music".The term, which we owe to Wagner, enunciated a dialectic of musical mimesis and musical transcendence, but in our century became a slogan for total abstraction. For musicologists researching twentieth-century Russian music, a purely abstract construction of the musical sign is indefensible. Their task, finally the literary scholars, is to address issues of "text" and "subtext". Postulating a music's "subtext can be formidable: Soviet composers' personal convictions have, in the past, often become blurred with those of the Soviet Regime, posing extraordinary problems of evidence. Such is the case with Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, whose music and writings have been used to both support and refute the Regime's ideologies.
At the core of much recent controversy over Shoffikovich's political allegiance was Solomon Volkov's Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich. In this 1979 text Volkov, a Soviet musicologist and acquaintance of Shostakovich, depicted the composer as a frustrated individual who wrote dissidence directly into his music. The memoirs were, not surprisingly, an enormous success in the West unto musicologists traced numerous passages to books and articles previously published in the Soviet Union; Volkov was a fraud. After the debate of its validity subsided, however, one question still remained: even with the author's editorial "sleight of hand" could not the "memoirs" still be considered an accurate representation of an iconoclastic composer?
This is the question addressed by Ian MacDonald in The New Shostakovich. MacDonald works on the presumption that Testimony is a valid source, claiming that it is a "realistic" depiction of Shostakovich, but not a "genuine" one (246) In this "preliminary study' MacDonald attempts to prove this hypothesis with the aid of several sources, including various literary works which resisted Communist ideologies and the testimony of Shostakovich's contemporaries on particular his son, Maxim Shostakovich); commentary from these sources are juxtaposed with excerpts from Shostakovich's scores to reveal their interrelationships. After his opening "Prelude" which introduces the reader to various interpretations on Shostakovich, MacDonald, organizes the survey according to musical milestones and subsequent political reactions, resulting in chapter titles such as "Uncertainty 1932-1934" (Ch.3), "Terror 1935-1938" (Ch.4) and "Togetherness 1938-1946" (Ch.5).
Musically, MacDonald dives into difficult territory by dealing with both texted and nontexted ('absolute'?) music and suggests that all of Shostakovich's compositions from 1931 onward clearly supported his renunciation of Communism. A brief background on the events leading up to the controversial Fifth Symphony work will help clarify MacDonald's interpretive predicament.
Following its premiere in Leningrad in 1934, Shostakovich's opera Lady MacBeth of the Mtsensk District (see endnote) was immediately welcomed with unprecedented success by Soviet audiences. It was performed 36 times and was hailed as not only one of Shostakovich's greatest works, but one of the most esteemed operas in Russian history. Then, just as suddenly as it was deemed a "masterpiece", it was described by Pravda as "muddle instead of music". Shostakovich's opera was then taken back for "revisions". His following Fourth Symphony suffered a similar fate and was withdrawn during rehearsals due to the composer's supposed "dissatisfaction". For Shostakovich, an apology for implementing Western Formalism and not furthering Socialist Realism, was necessary. This resulted in the anticipated confession of sins: the Fifth Symphony. At the first performance of the Fifth in Leningrad, 1937, the authorities were satisfied that they had 'a Soviet artist's creative reply to just criticism'. Whether the symphony ends on a 'joyous, optimistic note' as they claimed, however, is debatable. Shostakovich himself is claimed to have described it as "forced" rejoicing in Testimony (183) and it later appeared to others that the Fifth was not the apotheosis that was anticipated but a musical representation of fear, discipline and torture.
Were these generalizations offered as mere flights of opinion, the semiotician might shrug and walk away from the debate, but MacDonald is determined to show them rooted in structural details. In his section on the Fifth Symphony, for example, he looks at the opening measures through a microscope and attributes dissident meaning to almost every musical gesture. He concludes-rather defensively-that Austrian audiences heard this inner meaning" from the very beginning (p. 124) He describes the opening of the work as follows:
The first four bars ... consist of an austere vaulting theme in canon on the strings, descending via a motto rhythm to three repeated A's on the violins (p 128)
The author then goes on to explain the composers message synechdotally:
The vaulting theme ... is a succession of two-note figures reminiscent of the Fourth's dominating two-note motif (i.e., the banned message) the descending motto rhythm is that of a military sidedrum; and the reiterated A's are the seed of Shostakovich's Mahler strategy - his blackly ironic attempt to 'straighten himself out' and comply with the simplifications required of him by Pravda and the Composer's Union (p 128)
One problem is that MacDonald's detailed interpretation of Shostakovich's signs proceeds solely from analysis of the written score. In Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (1990) Jean-Jacques Nattiez differentiated between the "physical" and "ontological" modes of musical excellence, naming that "the scow constitutes the work's 'schema,' which guarantees its identify over the course of history, but numerous elements not fixed by the score play an important role for the aesthetic Gestalt of the work" (70). MacDonald provides a list of "Some Recommended Recordings" after his appendices but does not consider these works critical sources in formulating his bold conclusions. Indeed, throughout the book MacDonald has little recourse to the evidence of performance to buttress his position, which is surprising in view of his interest in citing Maxim Shostakovich.
Maxim Shostakovich, having spent the first 43 years of his life in the USSR and having had the privilege of conducting many of his father's scores during that time, would likely have been familiar with both his father's intentions and with the musical techniques used to communicate them. But if we compare Maxim Shostakovich conducting the USSR Symphony Orchestra (1972) or his 1990 version (London Symphony Orchestra) with Mstislaw Rostropovich's 1983 recording (National Symphony Orchestra), we find the latter offering far more correspondences with MacDonald's analysis than the former. In Rostropovich's version, the faster tempo and attack of notes at the opening makes, for example, the comparison between the motto rhythm and a sidedrum plausible. In neither of Maxim Shostakovich's versions, however, is this faster drum tempo or militaristic style present. It becomes difficult to know what community speaks the secret language MacDonald is claiming to decode.
For better or worse, the Shostakovich debate revives questions of authorial intention, long absent from critical musicological discourse. ln order to understand Shostakovich's music, MacDonald claims it is imperative to investigate the composer's motivation. He takes this point so far as to criticize Western listeners:
All that the West...has heard of Shostakovich's music so far is the noise it makes. The music itself being beyond the notes. can only be heard if the listener is in tune with the composer's intentions,/i> -- for to attribute inappropriate meaning to a piece of music is to experience not the music itself, but a sort of selfhypnotic dream one is having about it (15).
The assertion that one cannot "hear" a work of music unless aware of the composer's intentions is, of course, a precarious one. Our current fashion is the opposite allegiance: "the form of a work of art gains its aesthetic validity precisely in proportion to the number of different perspectives from which it can be viewed and understood. These give it a wealth of different resonances and echoes without impairing its original essence..." (Eco, 1989, p. 3). Asafiev also commented on the desirability of pluralistic interpretations, making specific reference to the role of the Russian audience in this process: "the listeners, the masses, everyone to whom music is dear as the voice of reality and as ideationally cognitive activity, have created their own, authentic history of music, and have supported that which is essential in its development, i.e., that which is intonationally fresh and vital" (Tull, 945-46).
One additional stylistic problem in MacDonald's analysis must be mentioned, his habitual gender stereotyping. Again from his analysis of the Fifth Symphony: "the vaulting theme (is) feminine in Its longing for a fugitive ideal beyond its frugal means...this fragility is...shattered by a rough masculine directness" (p. 128~ This is discouraging, particularly when this mode of comparison is being largely eliminated from other musicological discourse. If these readings cannot be grounded in specific semiotic practices of the musical culture under review - and MacDonald makes no attempt to do so - they simply further discredit his interpretation.
MacDonald's text, however, is not without merit. He vividly depicts the conditions of Stalin's Soviet state during the time in which Shostakovich composed and this historical account is well worth reading by anyone interested in this period of Soviet history. Furthermore, it is an enthusiastic attempt at a hermeneutical reading of music which will be a useful source for those scholars who are also trying to fit together the pieces of this complex composer as well as for musical semioticians who will find here fresh evidence that the interpretative impulse remains impressible, even for instrumental music. Shostakovich worked in a milieu which insisted on As own official aesthetic ideology. By responding with a richly allusive, freely associative, and frequently histrionic compositionial style supercharged in its demand for and defiance of interpretation he provoked a critical discourse which reawakens the dialectical tension of absolutism in music as does no other in our age. Should this be a surprise? He is, after all, the composer of our most forcefully political grand opera but also the century's most monumental exercise on the highly abstract model of Bach's Twenty four Preludes and Fugues.
Note: The history and interpretation of this opera, the subject of a conference in Toronto in 1987 has given birth to a fascinating panorama of scholarship. See Beckwith forthcoming).
Beckwith, R. Sterling, The Ordeal of Lady Macbeth: music and politics under Stalin. Forthcoming.
Eco, Umberto (1989) The Open Work, translated by Anna Cancogni Hutchinson Radius: United Kingdom.
Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1990) Music and Discourse: Toward a semiology of Music translated by Carolyn Abbatte, Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey.
Tull, James Robert (1976), "B.V. Asaf'ev's Musical Form as a Process : Translation and Commentary' Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University. | <urn:uuid:1a497cfd-91ea-4afd-a7c2-4f01c695249d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://projects.chass.utoronto.ca/semiotics/srb/censored.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953831 | 2,923 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Significance and Use
Mechanical drive systems operability and long-term integrity are concerns that should be addressed primarily during the design phase; however, problems identified during fabrication and testing should be resolved and the changes in the design documented. Equipment operability and integrity can be compromised during handling and installation sequences. For this reason, the subject equipment should be handled and installed under closely controlled and supervised conditions.
This standard is intended as a supplement to other standards, and to federal and state regulations, codes, and criteria applicable to the design of equipment intended for this use.
This standard is intended to be generic and to apply to a wide range of types and configurations of mechanical drive systems.
1.1.1 The intent of this standard is to provide general guidelines for the design, selection, quality assurance, installation, operation, and maintenance of mechanical drive systems used in remote hot cell environments. The term mechanical drive systems used herein, encompasses all individual components used for imparting motion to equipment systems, subsystems, assemblies, and other components. It also includes complete positioning systems and individual units that provide motive power and any position indicators necessary to monitor the motion.
1.2.1 This standard is intended to be applicable to equipment used under one or more of the following conditions:
22.214.171.124 The materials handled or processed constitute a significant radiation hazard to man or to the environment.
126.96.36.199 The equipment will generally be used over a long-term life cycle (for example, in excess of two years), but equipment intended for use over a shorter life cycle is not excluded.
188.8.131.52 The equipment can neither be accessed directly for purposes of operation or maintenance, nor can the equipment be viewed directly, for example, without radiation shielding windows, periscopes, or a video monitoring system (Guides C1572 and C1661).
1.2.2 The system of units employed in this standard is the metric unit, also known as SI Units, which are commonly used for International Systems, and defined, by Standard for Use of International System of Units. Common nomenclature for specifying some terms; specifically horsepower uses a combination of both metric and inch-pound units.
1.3 User Caveats:
1.3.1 This standard is not a substitute for applied engineering skills, proven practices and experience. Its purpose is to provide guidance.
184.108.40.206 The guidance set forth in this standard relating to design of equipment is intended only to alert designers and engineers to those features, conditions, and procedures that have been found necessary or highly desirable to the design, selection, operation and maintenance of mechanical drive systems for the subject service conditions.
220.127.116.11 The guidance set forth results from discoveries of conditions, practices, features, or lack of features that were found to be sources of operational or maintenance problems, or causes of failure.
1.3.2 This standard does not supersede federal or state regulations, or both, and codes applicable to equipment under any conditions.
1.3.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices, and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.
C859 Terminology Relating to Nuclear Materials
C1533 Guide for General Design Considerations for Hot Cell Equipment
C1554 Guide for Materials Handling Equipment for Hot Cells
C1572 Guide for Dry Lead Glass and Oil-Filled Lead Glass Radiation Shielding Window Components for Remotely Operated Facilities
C1661 Guide for Viewing Systems for Remotely Operated Facilities
E170 Terminology Relating to Radiation Measurements and Dosimetry
mechanical drive systems; remote handling; motors; gears; bearings, lubricants; Hot cell facilities; Mechanical drive systems; Remote handling;
ICS Number Code 27.120.10 (Reactor engineering)
ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.
Citing ASTM Standards
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Conflicting Information from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), CSS PROFILE, Villanova University Application for Financial Assistance, Tax Return(s) or W-2 Forms
Villanova University’s Office of Financial Assistance must resolve conflicting information before awarding or disbursing any financial assistance. Examples of conflicting information include but are not limited to the following:
- Parents indicate on the FAFSA, CSS PROFILE and/or on the Villanova University Application for Financial Assistance that they are married but file separate U.S. or Puerto Rico Income Tax Returns with at least one parent filing as head of household.
- Interest and/or dividend income reported on the income tax return is not consistent with the amount of assets and/or dividends reported on the FAFSA.
- Individuals report on the FAFSA or CSS PROFILE that they are a non/tax filer but there is reason to believe that a tax return is required to be filed.
- Marital status not consistent with the CSS PROFILE, Villanova University Application for Financial Assistance, Federal tax return and/or the FAFSA.
Villanova University's Office of Financial Assistance reserves the right to utilize internet-based resources to verify information on forms submitted and to request Form 4506 for tax/income confirmation from the IRS if warranted during the file review.
Treatment of Outside Scholarships on Financial Assistance Packages
Villanova University Grant when combined with outside privately funded or non/need based gift aid and scholarships, cannot exceed need. If need is exceeded, an adjustment is made to reduce self-help aid first (loans, Federal Work-Study) then grant funds.
Treatment of State Grants
Villanova University Office of Financial Assistance reserves the right to reduce the Villanova University Grant once the state grant award has been confirmed for the student.
Professional Judgment to Override Dependency Status
The Federal Student Handbook states: “In unusual cases, an aid administrator can determine that a student who doesn’t meet any of the independence criteria should still be treated as an independent student. The Higher Education Act allows an aid administrator to make dependency overrides on a case-by-case basis for students with unusual circumstances.” The administrator must document the reason(s) for that decision in the student’s file.
Villanova University subscribes to the basic federal tenets regarding the awarding of financial aid which expect that the family (parents and student) primarily are responsible for meeting the cost of post-secondary education.
The policy of the University will be to consider requests to override a student’s dependent status on a case-by-case basis, in keeping with Federal regulations. In reviewing each case the office will consider the circumstances that exist and whether there are compelling reasons to certify the student as an independent student through the use of professional judgment. A parent’s unwillingness to provide financial support and/or information needed to determine a student’s eligibility is not justification to declare the student as independent.
Examples of circumstance that are considered “compelling” would include but are not limited to:
abusive home situation (physical as well as psychological)
substance abuse by parents
intolerable home environment
In addition to information being received from the student applicant, corroboration must be provided through a written statement provided by a reliable third-party (e.g. clergy, counselor, lawyer, etc.)
The decision to use professional judgment in order to override normal dependent status will be made only by administrative staff. The Director of Financial Assistance will be the person to whom students may appeal decisions made by other administrative staff who does not deem circumstances compelling or documentation insufficient. Overrides do not carry over from one year to the next; the Office of Financial Assistance must reaffirm each year that the unusual circumstances persist and that an override is still justified.
Reduced Income from Prior Tax Year
Request for Revision form must be submitted that explains the reason for the change in income (unemployment, death, disability, divorce/separation) along with supporting documentation, such as layoff or closure letter, final pay stub, divorce decree, separation papers, etc.
Roth IRA rollovers will be excluded from the families Adjusted Gross Income if indicated on the CSS PROFILE or Villanova University Application for Financial Assistance.
Loss of Social Security Benefits or Child Support
The Office of Financial Assistance may consider a reduction to Social Security Benefits and/or child support. Documentation is required which includes a signed statement from the parent(s) and student stating the month and year that the benefit will cease and the amount received until that date. A letter from the Social Security (Form 1099) must also be provided.
Siblings Enrolled in Graduate school, as a Part Time Student, Seeking a Second Baccalaureate Degree, or Enrolled in any of the Military Academies
For the purposes of determining Villanova University Grant eligibility, only siblings enrolled in full time undergraduate programs will be counted towards number in college. For students who filed the CSS PROFILE, only family members under the age of 23 will be included for purposes of determining Villanova Grant. **(Please note this age requirement does not apply to the parent(s) of the student).
Special Circumstances not Considered
Villanova University does not consider private school tuition (elementary or secondary), non recurring income such as but not limited to overtime, moving expenses, work bonuses, gambling winnings as well as prior debt/bankruptcies/payments to educational loans.
Award letter with Incomplete/Missing Documents
If a student receives an award notice indicating that the financial aid file is incomplete, the aid award is only an estimate and subject to change pending receipt of all missing documents. As such, the aid will not be deducted from the student’s tuition account until all documents have been received and reviewed.
Business and/or Farm Net Worth
For purposes of calculating Villanova Grant eligibility, the net worth of a business and/or farm will be considered regardless of the number of full-time or full-time equivalent employees. | <urn:uuid:547379f8-6e2c-4c38-aefe-75cb6592ca57> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/enroll/finaid/policies/packaging.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924281 | 1,260 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible, by Matthew Henry, at sacred-texts.com
(Ecc 2:1-11) The vanity and vexation of mirth, sensual pleasure, riches, and pomp.
(Ecc 2:12-17) Human wisdom insufficient.
(Ecc 2:18-26) This world to be used according to the will of God.
Solomon soon found mirth and pleasure to be vanity. What does noisy, flashy mirth towards making a man happy? The manifold devices of men's hearts, to get satisfaction from the world, and their changing from one thing to another, are like the restlessness of a man in a fever. Perceiving it was folly to give himself to wine, he next tried the costly amusements of princes. The poor, when they read such a description, are ready to feel discontent. But the remedy against all such feelings is in the estimate of it all by the owner himself. All was vanity and vexation of spirit: and the same things would yield the same result to us, as to Solomon. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. His wisdom remained with him; a strong understanding, with great human knowledge. But every earthly pleasure, when unconnected with better blessings, leaves the mind as eager and unsatisfied as before. Happiness arises not from the situation in which we are placed. It is only through Jesus Christ that final blessedness can be attained.
Solomon found that knowledge and prudence were preferable to ignorance and folly, though human wisdom and knowledge will not make a man happy. The most learned of men, who dies a stranger to Christ Jesus, will perish equally with the most ignorant; and what good can commendations on earth do to the body in the grave, or the soul in hell? And the spirits of just men made perfect cannot want them. So that if this were all, we might be led to hate our life, as it is all vanity and vexation of spirit.
Our hearts are very loth to quit their expectations of great things from the creature; but Solomon came to this at length. The world is a vale of tears, even to those that have much of it. See what fools they are, who make themselves drudges to the world, which affords a man nothing better than subsistence for the body. And the utmost he can attain in this respect is to allow himself a sober, cheerful use thereof, according to his rank and condition. But we must enjoy good in our labour; we must use those things to make us diligent and cheerful in worldly business. And this is the gift of God. Riches are a blessing or a curse to a man, according as he has, or has not, a heart to make a good use of them. To those that are accepted of the Lord, he gives joy and satisfaction in the knowledge and love of him. But to the sinner he allots labour, sorrow, vanity, and vexation, in seeking a worldly portion, which yet afterwards comes into better hands. Let the sinner seriously consider his latter end. To seek a lasting portion in the love of Christ and the blessings it bestows, is the only way to true and satisfying enjoyment even of this present world. | <urn:uuid:95b76678-0218-49e1-9398-d0f8ad6a5bf1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/mhcc/ecc002.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965595 | 674 | 2.390625 | 2 |
Google Voice Makes Small Business Sound Bigger
Google Voice has been the subject of controversy and making headlines for all the wrong reasons since availability was expanded earlier this year. On the other hand, even with limited availability Google Voice has reached almost 1.5 million users, and half of them reportedly use the service daily.
The reason for its popularity isn't hard to see. Google Voice provides a plethora of call handling features at a price that can't be beat--free. For small and medium businesses, Google Voice is an opportunity to use advanced call management features typically reserved for expensive voice solutions in larger enterprises.
Large companies have IP-PBX's and dedicated voice administrators to manage it, or they have made the move to unified communications and have a voice environment built around Microsoft or Cisco or some other unified communications vendor. Small and medium businesses don't have the financial or personnel resources for those solutions though. Let's look at how smaller businesses can put Google Voice to work.
Google Voice allows you to have an incoming call to the Google Voice number simultaneously ring on multiple phones. On an individual basis, calls could ring an office desk phone and a mobile phone at the same time to ensure important calls reach you no matter where you are.
Businesses can put this feature to use though as a form of departmental call routing. You can use a Google Voice number for a department, such as sales, or customer service, and have the Google Voice number simultaneously ring the desk phones of all of the people in the department so that customers get an efficient response.
Custom Call Greeting and Routing
You can set up Groups in Google Voice and establish unique call management options for each group. A sales department can use this function to set up different groups for each salesperson. Incoming calls that are associated with a sales person's group can be routed to go only to the designated user's desk and mobile phone, and if the call goes to voicemail it can have a custom message from the individual sales person rather than a generic greeting.
Using a Google Voice number in this way, all customers can dial one number to reach the sales department, but existing customers will be routed to their designated sales person, while calls from new and potential customers would be managed using the default settings to simultaneously ring the whole department.
Voicemail by Email
When a new voicemail is received in Google Voice can send the voicemail to an email address and/or transcribe the audio into the text of an email message. You can configure Google Voice to deliver the voicemail messages to an email group or distribution list address so that all of the members of the department will receive the voicemail.
Having the voicemail sent to email at all will help ensure it is not overlooked entirely, and distributing the message to a group can improve the efficiency with which the department responds to customer inquiries and lead to significantly higher customer satisfaction.
You can configure Google Voice to announce incoming calls to you before you decide whether or not you want to accept the call. When the phone rings and you answer you are not connected immediately with the caller. Google Voice will identify the source of the call at which point you can choose whether to accept it or pass it to voicemail.
This function can be used by an individual or a team to reduce wasted time and improve productivity. If you are in the middle of a project, important calls can still be taken, while other calls can be sent to voicemail so that you can stay focused on more productive tasks.
Google recently announced a new option, a sort of Google Voice Lite, that allows you to use some Google Voice features while maintaining your existing number, but the functions I listed above require the standard Google Voice account. Google Voice is not available to the general public just yet, but if you know a friend or a friend that has Google Voice you might be able to get an invite.
Tony Bradley is an information security and unified communications expert with more than a decade of enterprise IT experience. He tweets as @PCSecurityNews and provides tips, advice and reviews on information security and unified communications technologies on his site at tonybradley.com. | <urn:uuid:28d3ac2a-0c4c-471b-b095-abd2ef7a74c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcworld.com/article/181136/google_voice_makes_small_businesses_sound_bigger.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934976 | 843 | 1.5 | 2 |
Peregrines on the Clock Tower
Feeding time at the peregrine nest
4 peregrine chicks in the nest
peregrine feeding time
Last week our Museum photographer took some stunning pictures of the peregrines from the Museum's roof. We hired a 600mm F4 lens with a 2x converter to enable us to zoom in to the nest.
Here are some images of the 4 chicks and the parents feeding the chicks.
Feeding time for the Peregrine chicks
Some superb views of the adults feeding the 4 chicks today.
After last year's disappointment having 4 chicks this year is fantastic and they all look very healthy.
They are growing rapidly so keep watching to see how they are doing.
First hatchlings for 2 years!
It's official - the Peregrines on the Clock Tower have successfully produced young - the first since 2008. On Thursday 22 April at 2.40pm the female bird Stacey was seen at the nest with a fresh kill, carefully distributing pieces of it in the nest - but annoyingly we couldn't actually see any chicks.
However, our suspicions were confirmed over the next few days as we saw a white fluffy head appear in the nest....then another on Tuesday 27 April, then finally one more today! Today the male seemed to be doing a good job of bringing lots of food for the chicks, before taking a well earned rest right on the top of the tower - the rain wasn't going to spoil his kip!
The chicks are expected to fledge in late May, but will remain at the nest for several months, relying on their parents for food while they learn how to fly and hunt. As the parents teach their young the awesome flying and hunting skills that peregrines are renowned for, it will mean fantastic aerial displays and some amazing views for us down on the ground.
Calling all peregrine watchers!
The Peregrines on the Clock Tower viewing scheme is now open.
The RSPB will be showing you the Peregrines on the live nest camera in the main hall of the National Museum Cardiff from now until the end of August.
On certain days there will also be an information marquee outside the museum, where you can get an even closer view of the birds with telescopes.
Don't miss out on any of the action!
Peregrine chick from 2008
The female peregrine has been showing signs of incubating eggs the last couple of weeks. In fact, we think she started incubating the first egg on Wednesday or Thursday 17th/18th March.
After last years disappointment they have decided to use the nest on the east side of the tower which will be much better for viewing with our camera.
Fingers crossed the eggs hatch!
The peregrine camera has just been reinstalled on the roof.
Despite the building works going on here we have managed to get the camera up on the roof. With a little ingenuity and the construction skills of a colleague in the Department of Industry the camera has been mounted on a purpose built metal support.
All being well the camera will be live by the end of next week.
The Peregrines have been very visible around the clock tower all winter. In fact apart from a short period in the autumn when they were probably moulting they have been around continuously since their nesting attempt failed last summer.
Magpie on the Clock Tower?!
Another succesfful seaon of peregrine watching has drawn to a close. Our sadness at the failure of the eggs has been some-what made up for by the excellent views of the adults we have been getting. The birds have been having a lovely relaxed time of it, preening and dozing on the clock tower. Both birds look very well fed and in good health, which means that they should be in excellent condition for next breeding season-fingers crossed!
It has been very quiet on the clocktower with little action to report. However, one day in the final week of the project we had a visit from a very cheeky magpie, who investigated the peregrine nest right under the noses (or should that be ceres!) of both peregrines! Fortunately for Mr Magpie, neither peregerine noticed him, lost in their own vanity they were too busy preening! What makes it worse was the fact that the RSPB had just finished explaing that peregrines are one of nature's great predators-thanks guys, made us look like right mugs!
All that remains is for me to thank you for your interest in this project. We have met so many enthusiastic people and have heard some fantastic wildlife stories. Please keep watching those birds! Hope to see you all next year!
Peregrines on the Clock Tower Team
Are you one in a million??
Sorry its been so long but we haven’t really had anything to report! Both Gavin and Stacey can still be seen each day on the Clocktower. Sometimes they are there all day, dividing their time between the east and north sides of the tower, and on other days they disappear on long hunting trips. The recent hot weather has been a bit much for the birds (as well as us on the ground!) and they often perch on the shadier parts of the tower.
The PoCT team will be watching the birds until the end of August, so if you haven’t yet seen the peregrines “in person” then what are you waiting for?! If you are a fan of birds and wildlife, why not join the RSPB? You would be in good company-we have over 1 million members! We can sign you up at the Museum and every member that joins will help wildlife conservation in Wales, as well as ensuring that the Peregrines on the Clock Tower project returns each year.
No Second Clutch
There is no second clutch of eggs despite courtship behaviour from both of the peregrines. They have been avoiding the original nest for some time now and are still using the second nest on the east side of the clock tower as a base.
The birds have been sitting in the more shady spots because of the hot weather we've been having recently (often, annoyingly, just out of sight of our scopes on City Hall Lawn!) but we've still been getting some great views of them.
A highlight of this past week was the pair tucking into a pigeon and at one point they both fought over it!
The adults will stay around for the whole of the summer and will continue to pose for the camera, which is providing high quality images of the peregrines and is giving us lots of fun with the windscreen wipers!!
Peregrines on the Clock Tower | <urn:uuid:811f8bde-8f38-44a2-b22d-48dbb4360e20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/blog/?cat=378&page=2&display_mode=text | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96674 | 1,410 | 2.265625 | 2 |
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Bicycle advocacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
In the latest members’ magazine from the Sierra Club, America’s massive hiker-and-national-parks organisation, there’s an excellent piece from author Mike Davis on how US citizens became super eco-conscious to help the war effort in WWII.
Given some of the same determination, America’s impact on the world’s resources could be much reduced, argues Davis.
Of course, bicycles played an important conservation role in WWII but it wasn’t all hair-shirts and self-flagulation, Americans found they liked riding everywhere: they were fitter, happier, healthier.
…[The] national obsession of the 1890s, the bicycle, made a huge comeback, partly inspired by the highly publicized example of wartime Britain, where bikes transported more than a quarter of the population to work. Less than two months after Pearl Harbor, a new secret weapon, the “victory bike” — made of nonessential metals, with tires from reclaimed rubber — was revealed on front pages and in newsreels.
Hundreds of thousands of war workers, meanwhile, confiscated their kids’ bikes for their commute to the plant or office, and scores of cities and towns sponsored bike parades and “bike days” to advertise the patriotic advantages of Schwinn over Chevrolet. With recreational driving curtailed by rationing, families toured and vacationed by bike.
In June 1942, park officials reported that “never has bicycling been so popular in Yosemite Valley as it is this season.” Public health officials praised the dual contributions of victory gardening and bike riding to enhanced civilian vigor and well-being, even predicting that it might reduce the already ominously increasing cancer rate.
But some Americans seem to think it’s their God-given right to consume as much petrol and as many quarter-pounders as possible. Media darling Trilby Lundberg seems to be a good case in point. She’s a ‘gas prices’ analyst and doesn’t look as though she would wobble away if somebody said “fried Mars bars, free samples.”
Fritz over at cyclelicio.us has the photographic evidence for this.
Ms Lundberg told CNN:
I’m hoping that consumers will see through the rhetoric about consuming less, demanding less, as faulty. It is not a given that consuming less will be good for our economy or for our personal freedom. It is not even established for our environment that we [should] deprive ourselves of gasoline for our personal mobility as well our commerce. And to suppose that it is good to do that, and pretend that we have consensus and put our heads together to deprive ourselves of this great product that makes the country go around, commercially and individually, I think is flawed. | <urn:uuid:d8a8a48e-ad29-466a-83ce-8916d316fc27> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://quickrelease.tv/?p=143 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96517 | 632 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Districts Experiment With 'Weighted' Funding
Student numbers, needs drive dollars
Before this school year, creating a budget for schools in the Boston school district would regularly expose a tangle of competing interests.
The district had multiple ways of funding its schools. Some schools were allocated staff members based on student counts; other schools, which had been granted some budget autonomy, were given a pot of money based on enrollment. In tough budget years, cuts were made across the board—except in some schools, which couldn't operate with those reductions and ended up having money restored. Years of such adjustments created wide funding disparities among schools.
But in 2011, the 57,000-student district made a shift to a more uniform way of funding schools based on the numbers and types of students they served, with extra money, or "weights," given for students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, enrolled in special education, learning English, or academically off track, among other factors. Instead of being forced to hire a certain number of staff members with that money, principals got flexibility in how to spend those funds.
The district uses several factors to determine how much money should be added to the base rate of educating a student. These added amounts of money, or "weights," mean that some students make a dramatically different impact on a school's bottom line than others.
Under Boston's system, a low-income English-language learner in 6th grade—student A in this example—would generate fewer funding dollars than a 4th grader with autism, or student B.
In moving to a "weighted student-funding formula," Boston joins other districts, such as Baltimore, Denver, Rochester, N.Y., and New York City, that believe this method better serves student needs and creates more transparency and fairness in district finances. And in a time of tight budgets, some also say this funding method creates a process where cuts can be managed around an individual school's needs, instead of coming by decree from the central office.
"The benefit is you have a single way of allocating resources across the district regardless of the type of school you're in," said John McDonough, Boston's chief financial officer. That leads to a significantly more rational way of responding to budget concerns, he said.
For example, Boston, facing a $63 million shortfall in fiscal 2012 out of an $829.5 million general fund budget, would have needed all schools to cut about 7.4 percent from their budgets as a part of closing the gap, said Seth Racine, the district's deputy chief financial officer.
But reallocating resources through weighted student funding meant that about 45,000 students were in schools that ended up making smaller cuts or even gaining in funding, despite the overall budget shortfall. Other schools in Boston experienced real decreases in funding or saw their budgets remain the same this school year, based on enrollment and the makeup of their student bodies.
Weighted student funding came to the United States in the mid-1970s from the Edmonton school system in the Canadian province of Alberta. The formula goes hand-in-hand with decentralized decision-making: Schools are given money based on student enrollment, but to operate effectively, principals must also have the power to make staffing changes as they see fit.
Over the years, the concept has received support from education policy leaders on both the left and the right. In 2006, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Washington-based research and advocacy group, published an advocacy document called "Fund the Child: Tackling Inequity and Antiquity in School Finance," which found supporters among Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The document argued that weighted student funding shifted dollars to the students who need them most, and also gave charter schools a chance to get a larger chunk of education funds. ("Call for ‘Weighted’ Student Funding Gets Bipartisan Stamp of Approval," July 13, 2006.)
Marguerite Roza, a senior scholar focusing on education finance at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, affiliated with the University of Washington Bothell, said she believes current fiscal pressures are sparking some renewed interest in weighted student funding. School principals presumably have a better idea of their own needs than the central office staff, she said, so superintendents may think "if we attach flexibility to a cut, the decision can be made to fit the context of the individual school."
Weighted student funding can also help promote nonstandard staffing models that are growing in popularity, Ms. Roza said, offering as an example the Rocketship Education model. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based charter management organization combines online learning with small-group instruction. Standard funding formulas that provide a teacher for a certain number of students don't allow for that kind of flexibility, she said.
Link to Achievement?
Weighted student funding is not just a way for districts to fund schools. Gov. Jerry Brown of California, a Democrat, proposed earlier this year using a weighted student-funding formula to change how the state distributes money to its school systems. The state now has dozens of categorical funding streams that require districts to spend money for specific purposes; the weighted formula would do away with some of that complexity and give schools a base amount, plus additional dollars based on enrollment numbers for low-income students and English-language learners.
But weighted student-funding formulas are no answer to boosting student achievement, despite the formulas' appeal to both liberals and conservatives in the education field, said Eric A. Hanushek, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, at Stanford University. Mr. Hanushek, who wrote a March 28 Commentary on weighted student funding for Education Week, said in the essay that the formula method operates under an optimistic assumption that transparency in funding is connected to student growth.
In actuality, Mr. Hanushek said, principals are constrained by collective bargaining agreements and state, federal, and local regulations. "Maybe they can hire another remedial-reading teacher instead of an art teacher," he said in an interview. "But the flexibility school principals have is pretty marginal." And the formulas aren't connected to drivers of student performance, he argued. In his commentary, he said that it would be better for states and districts to use a funding mechanism that explicitly gives financial rewards for achievement.
Some of the earliest adopters of weighted student funding have backed away from the funding mechanism in favor of other methods of allocating dollars to schools. The 47,000-student Seattle district made a change after operating under the weighted funding system from 1997 to 2007, said Duggan Harman, the district's assistant superintendent for business and finance. Though Seattle is often used as a "poster child" for people who don't like weighted student funding, Mr. Harman said the system could work well in some districts as long as resources are adequate.
But in Seattle, "the way we implemented it was more onerous on schools than it needed to be," Mr. Harman said. "It gives an illusion of flexibility" when in reality, only about 10 percent of the money that a school received could really be spent at the principal's discretion, he said. The rest of the money was devoted to mandates based on union agreements and local and state regulations.
For the past four years, Seattle has used a model that distributes teachers and administrators based on the number of students a school has. There is still some weighting, where extra money is distributed to high-poverty schools, but it is not as extensive as under the old formula. The district is considering ways to create more flexibility with administrative staffing, so that schools might be able to choose to spend less money in that area and more money for instructional purposes, Mr. Harman said.
But other school districts plan to continue with their work on weighted student funding. Los Angeles launched a pilot of weighted funding in some of its schools in 2009-10, with plans to implement the policy districtwide by the 2012-13 school year. Baltimore, which just finished its fourth year of implementation, has seen several positive changes from the shift, said Matthew Hornbeck, a principal at Hampstead Hill Academy, a pre-K-8 grade school serving 650 students.
Mr. Hornbeck said he was able to use the flexibility offered by weighted student funding to provide assistant teachers for his kindergarten and 1st grade classes, which he would not have been able to do otherwise. He also said that he can use his dollars to "shop" for the best providers for extracurricular programs for his students. Under the old system, those extracurricular providers received a block of money from the central office and had little incentive to "sell" their programs to schools.
The funding formula, which Baltimore calls "fair student funding," also encourages principals to find more students for their schools, because more students mean more money, Mr. Hornbeck said. More than 900 school-age students have returned to school to earn their high school diplomas since the formula has been in place, he noted.
"In addition to the altruistic goal, it has a financial benefit for those schools that get those kids back," Mr. Hornbeck said.
Weighted student funding does create "winners" and "losers": schools that see more or less funding under the system than they had in previous years. And the formula can present challenges to small schools, whose enrollments may dip so low that operating a school is not feasible. In those cases, districts may have to use a base allocation in addition to the weighted formula.
Boston, in creating its formula, has had to work around all of those issues. To cope with the issue of winner and loser schools, it created a system it calls "soft landings," where schools that would otherwise face major cuts would not lose all that money at once. To address the needs of schools with high concentrations of students in poverty, the system provides extra dollars to schools that have more low-income students than the district's average. And all schools are given a foundation amount of $200,000.
These adjustments are in addition to a complex series of weights that are still under discussion: Boston is working on how to properly weight for students in special education, some of whom need more supports than others, and students in alternative education, who may be receiving a mix of services provided through the district and through community-based agencies.
Despite those challenges of implementation, Mr. McDonough, Boston's chief financial officer, said the system is pleased with the work.
"Our experience is that there's general consensus and uniformity that it's the right thing to do," Mr. McDonough said.
Vol. 31, Issue 35, Page 12
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- Round Rock ISD, Round Rock, TX
- The Berkeley Institute, HAMILTON, Bermuda
- Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning
- Roanoke City Public Schools, Roanoke, VA
- Christ the King Preparatory School, NJ
- Regional Area Partner
- Focus EduVation, US | <urn:uuid:e06287e3-21a8-4b97-a1bf-a0c1883a19a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/06/13/35weighted.h31.html?tkn=MQUF3Fu7%2BNrNX4YhdoCjGTupUL0ZYy%2FQjQRA&cmp=clp-edweek | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972953 | 2,277 | 3.015625 | 3 |
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today announced that a request for proposal has been issued for a new platform for capability computing. The new capability platform will be named Mesa and is targeted for installment in 2010. Mesa will support the needs of all three NNSA national laboratories.
The Mesa platform is being developed jointly under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. The MOU describes the NNSA New Mexico Alliance for Computing at Extreme Scales (ACES). While the MOU is broad in scope, ACES is devoted to providing high performance capability computing assets required by NNSA's stockpile stewardship mission.
"This new platform to conduct computing at extreme capabilities will allow NNSA to continue to maintain the safety, security and effectiveness of the nation's nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing," said NNSA Administrator Thomas D'Agostino. "NNSA is proud that our investment in nuclear security has produced some of the world's fastest supercomputers. We are confident that the Mesa platform will be our next groudbreaking platform, which will enable Los Alamos and Sandia to continue to make critical contributions advancing science and discovery."
Both Los Alamos and Sandia labs are committed to continuing their leadership in high performance computational science and technology. Both institutions have separate and significant capabilities in architecture and design for future platforms and are committed to working together on the Mesa platform, which will be accessible to the NNSA tri-lab community. Staff from both laboratories will be brought together to execute this responsibility with Sandia leading the design effort and Los Alamos leading operations.
As part of the Alliance, both laboratories will share intellectual capabilities and capitalize on their existing expertise in developing architectures and designs for future platforms that push the boundaries of technology and scale.
Los Alamos' Strategic Computing Complex facility will house high-performance capability computing assets needed to support NNSA's ongoing stockpile stewardship mission, and to meet the NNSA Advanced Simulation and Computing roadmap timeline requirement for an exascale capability by 2018.
Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science in the nation's national security enterprise. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability, and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; reduces the global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad.
NNSA Public Affairs (202) 586-7371 | <urn:uuid:57ea1494-b67d-48b8-bce9-6ab600e7948e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nnsa.energy.gov/mediaroom/pressreleases/09.17.09 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916913 | 548 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Created: Monday, 12 May 2008, 11:23 AM CDT
Last Edited: Monday, 12 May 2008, 11:23 AM CDT
MINNEAPOLIS -- State-mandated high school exit exams harm students who fail and provide no benefit to those who pass, according to new research from the University of Minnesota and University of California, Davis.
Approximately three million U.S. high school seniors graduate each year, but tens of thousands of students have their graduation put on hold because they have yet to pass state-mandated high school exit exams.
U of M sociology professor John Robert Warren and Eric Grodsky at the University of California, Davis have challenged the value of state exit exams.
They found state exit exams reduce high school completion rates and neither boost academic achievement nor improve graduates' post-high school labor market prospects.
State high school exit exam policies have been implemented in recent decades to ensure that graduates have the skills required to succeed in college and in the 21st century global economy. The exams in place in 23 states and affect about two of every three students in the class of 2008.
In a study shows no measurable impact on the reading or math achievement levels of 13 to 17-year old students. In another study, Warren and Grodsky found students earning diplomas in states requiring exit exams experienced the same chances of getting a job and the same wage rates as those who were not required to pass exit exams.
“For many people denying diplomas to some students in order to more broadly boost academic achievement is an acceptable trade-off,” Warren said. “But there’s no evidence that exit exams boost the academic achievement or workplace preparedness of U.S. high school students.” . . .
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
High School Exit Exams: No Benefit to Passers, Big Harm to Failers
From MyFox9 in Minneapolis: | <urn:uuid:8d6eee7e-4668-43f4-9fd0-362eb571b99c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2008/05/high-school-exit-exams-no-benefit-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956019 | 396 | 2.1875 | 2 |
A bill, previously passed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is up for floor action this week. The American Farm Bureau Federation has joined a coalition of 121 organization in urging support for the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act, a bipartisan bill that restores the balance between the states and the Environmental Protection Agency in regard to regulating the nation's waters. The group told House leaders in a letter, the bill would reaffirm the decades-old, state-federal relationship set out in the Clean Water Act by addressing the EPA's ongoing regulatory overreach.
The groups say H.R. 2018 has important job creation, economic security and federalism implications, adding that over the years, EPA has repeatedly challenged states' authority and expertise under the Clean Water Act. Further, the groups noted that EPA has asserted its control as the sole arbiter of evolving CWA permitting requirements and standards, jeopardizing more than $220 billion dollars of annual economic activity.
AFBF is also urging members of the Senate to support a bipartisan bill that would continue America's transition to home-grown biofuels. In a letter, AFBF President Bob Stallman called for passage of S. 1185, the Ethanol Reform and Deficit Reduction Act, sponsored by Senators John Thune, R-S.D., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The bill would end the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit on July 31.
"One-third of the savings resulting from this change would be used toward providing tax credits for cellulosic biofuel production and building blender pumps," Stallman wrote. "Efforts that should result in better security for our nation and lower prices at the pump for consumers. Farm Bureau believes that our nation should be focused on energy independence."
Stallman stressed that clean, renewable, domestic energy will help America achieve long-term economic growth, create a cleaner environment and shield our economy from unreliable foreign energy sources. | <urn:uuid:3ee4fbfc-7148-435a-b2e7-68af7cff2164> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://farmprogress.com/story-coalition-supports-clean-water-federalism-act-0-51185 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94652 | 397 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Teachers and Schools
Texas will lose approximately $67.8 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 930 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 172,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 280 fewer schools would receive funding. In addition, Texas will lose approximately $51 million in funds for about 620 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities.
Around 4,720 fewer low income students in Texas would receive aid to help them finance the costs of college and around 1,450 fewer students will get work-study jobs that help them pay for college.
Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 4,800 children in Texas, reducing access to critical early education.
Protections for Clean Air and Clean Water
Texas would lose about $8,467,000 in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste. In addition, Texas could lose another $2,235,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.
In Texas, approximately 52,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $274.8 million in total. Army: Base operation funding would be cut by about $233 million in Texas. Air Force: Funding for Air Force operations in Texas would be cut by about $27 million. Navy: Reduce procurement of the Joint Strike Fighter from Texas, and cancel scheduled Blue Angels shows in Corpus Christi and Fort Worth.
Law Enforcement and Public Safety Funds for Crime Prevention and Prosecution
Texas will lose about $1,103,000 in Justice Assistance Grants that support law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.
Job Search Assistance to Help people in this state find Employment and Training
Texas will lose about $2,263,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement, meaning around 83,750 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment.
Up to 2,300 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care, which is also essential for working parents to hold down a job.
Vaccines for Children
In Texas around 9,730 fewer children will receive vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, and Hepatitis B due to reduced funding for vaccinations of about $665,000.
Texas will lose approximately $2,402,000 in funds to help upgrade its ability to respond to public health threats including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events. In addition, Texas will lose about $6,750,000 in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in around 2,800 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs. And Texas' health departments will lose about $1,146,000 resulting in around 28,600 fewer HIV tests.
STOP Violence Against Women Program
Texas could lose up to $543,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence, resulting in up to 2,100 fewer victims being served.
Nutrition Assistance for Seniors
Texas would lose approximately $3,557,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors. | <urn:uuid:e23a19c3-dfcd-45c1-81db-d39a2d480399> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/13158/sequestration-is-coming-and-its-hitting-texas-hard | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959475 | 678 | 2.015625 | 2 |
"One Book, One Stratford," a community-wide reading event, will be launched next month by the on Saturday, September 8 at 11 a.m. in the Lovell Room.
The program will kick off a planned by the library through November 2012. The idea of the One Book program is that everyone in town reads the same book at the same time, much like a town-wide book club. The library has chosen Connecticut author Conor Grennan's acclaimed memoir, Little Princes, as the town selection.
In search of adventure, 29-year-old Conor Grennan embarked on a year-long journey around the globe, beginning with a three-month stint volunteering at an orphanage in civil war-torn Nepal. But a shocking truth would forever change his life: these rambunctious, resilient children were not orphans at all but had been taken from their families by child traffickers who falsely promised to keep them safe from war before abandoning them in the teeming chaos of Kathmandu.
For Grennan, what started as a footloose ramble became a dangerous, dedicated mission to unite youngsters he had grown to love with the parents from whom they had been stolen.
It's a breathtaking adventure as he risked everything in the treacherous Nepalese mountains to bring the children home. Grennan eventually returned to Nepal to launch Next Generation Nepal (NGN), a nonprofit organization dedicated to reconnecting trafficked children with their families.
He resides in Connecticut with his wife and two children. A New York Times bestseller, Little Princes is both an inspiring story and page-turning adventure.
At the kick-off event on September 8 Conor Grennan, currently on the west coast, will be in attendance via SKYPE to discuss his memoir. Copies of Little Princes will be given free to the first 50 attendees (one per family). Light refreshments will be served. The library currently has multiple copies for loan and the book is also available on Kindle and Nook eReaders. The One Book event is co-sponsored in part by HarperCollins and the J.T. Friderichs Memorial Fund. | <urn:uuid:b99ebb3e-9ec5-475d-9b14-6d57a5dd300e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stratford.patch.com/groups/stratford-librarys-blog/p/bp--stratford-library-launches-one-book-one-stratford | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971623 | 438 | 1.570313 | 2 |
The U.S. Postal Service is losing billions of dollars a year. It lost $15.9 billion in the last fiscal year alone. A business cannot survive with such losses.
If the Postal Service is to continue, it has to find ways to save money. In recent years it has reduced staff, closed post offices and consolidated operations. Now it plans to end the 150-year-old tradition of Saturday letter deliver starting in August.
The Postal Service has been unable to compete with the private sector and technological advances such as email, texting, online banking and e-commerce that have contributed to a 60 percent decline in the volume of stamped mail in the past 10 years.
The plan announced by postal officials would halt delivery of letters on Saturday but maintain delivery of packages, which has seen growth in recent years.
Mail would still be delivered to post office boxes six days a week. The change would save $2 billion a year.
The proposal met with immediate objections from the business community, postal unions and some members of Congress, which maintains oversight of the Postal Service even though it is considered an independent agency that receives no taxpayer funds.
For 30 years, Congress mandated six-day delivery through use of appropriations bills. But the Postal Service has seized on what it sees as a legal loophole to bypass Congress. Rather than an appropriations bill, the government has been operating under a continuing resolution that does not mandate the service. The resolution expires in March, clearing the way for the unilateral change, postal officials say.
Opponents are hoping Congress will block the cost-cutting measure, but the proposal also has its congressional backers. Congress, however, has contributed to the Postal Services financial troubles by failing to enact reform legislation. It also forced the Postal Service to make billions of dollars in upfront health benefits.
In a poll last year, 70 percent of Americans said they could support ending Saturday delivery. It might mean ordering that video they want to watch Saturday night a day early or mailing the birthday card out on Wednesday or Thursday so it doesnt become a belated card on Monday.
Businesses might have to rethink production schedules, but many are already planning for the eventuality. Canada and other industrialized nations have managed to make the transition, and Americans can adapt, too.
Some traditions die hard. But the Postal Service has to operate more efficiently in a changing world, even if it means ending Saturday delivery. | <urn:uuid:61d9f65d-7612-466a-a08e-0e6ce5d3305d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://watertowndailytimes.com/article/20130210/OPINION01/702109982/2881 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965078 | 487 | 2.03125 | 2 |
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The Australian who Speaks Irish
Donovan Nagel is moving home to work and explore the world, leaving behind his native Australia to live in South Korea. It's not uncommon for people in his career as a teacher of the English language to travel far and wide. But before he left, Donovan flew halfway across the world – in the opposite direction – to learn another language. Irish.
But why? Irish is not the most widely-used tongue in the world. It offers no obvious advantage to the world traveler like French, German or Chinese might. And why, just before moving to East Asia, would he spend thousands flying to the far side of the planet to practise it?
A Cultural Connection
The seed of Donovan’s Irish adventure started with a paper on Irish gaelscoileanna for his master’s degree. The idea of learning the language stuck with him, and he has a passion for endangered languages. ’It’s something that sort of stirs me,’ he told WorldIrish.
Even though Irish isn’t dead, and is doing 'quite well compared to Scottish Gaelic’, he still felt drawn to learning, promoting and preserving it. As a linguistics graduate, Donovan learned Hebrew, Greek, and three dialects of Arabic; none of which are particularly useful in the daily life of an Australian resident.
‘What fascinated me was that when you learn a dead language, you’re not just learning about a cross-cultural thing, but it’s across time,’ he says. ‘There are thousands of years of history in that language – it’s all bound up with the culture of the people and generations of stories, and vocabulary, and idioms … I just took a fascination with it.’
Connecting with the history of Irish culture has some significance to Donovan, who, like millions across the globe, has Irish ancestors. His family comes from Rockchapel in Co Cork on one side, and Co Antrim on the other. Donovan – who ‘tends to get sick of places after a while’ – even came to live in Ireland for a year’s working holiday, where he worked at the small black-and-gold coffee booth in Cork's train station, which serves hundreds of travellers each week.
But making the return trip was expensive and hectic, especially since he decided to make the journey only one week before he arrived in Dublin. After devoting eight months to learning alone from books, television and audio, Donovan decided to take the leap rather than waste all the hours of study without ever having the chance to speak the language with others.
‘It kind of felt very anti-climactic. I got to this point where I’d done all this work … and I haven’t had a chance to actually use what I’ve done. So I thought, “nah, bugger it, I’m just gettin’ on a plane and going.”’
And he has no regrets.
There’s a 2003 short film called Yu Ming is Ainm Dom (My Name is Yu Ming) which follows the exploits of a young Chinese man who, deciding to escape the monotony of his life by journeying to far-off Ireland, labouriously teaches himself Irish (after looking it up and discovering is the official language of the nation). Naturally, he is dismayed when he arrives after months of study to discover that hardly anyone speaks the language at all.
Donovan saw the film in Donegal, and the parallels aren’t entirely lost on him. Learning a language alone, on the far side of the world, isn’t easy; but it’s more than possible.
‘Starting off by studying grammar is a big mistake,’ he said. ‘People have this idea that if they learn all the grammar rules and the conjugations that somehow that’s going to make them a better speaker. It’s honestly the worst thing you can do when you’re starting out learning a language. To this day, I have barely studied Irish grammar at all.’
Instead, Donovan spent his time watching a lot of Irish film and television, particularly TG4, which broadcasts almost all its content in Irish. Shows like Ros na Rún, a soap opera set in the West of Ireland, and Rásaí na Gaillimhe, a comedy drama, helped him fine-tune the phrases and hear how they sound.
It was three months before he bought any books, and thanks to the support the Irish language has received, he’s not even sure that’s necessary. ‘Look, if you were determined, you could probably go the whole way through – you could become a speaker. There is quite a lot online for Irish.’
And Irish isn’t a difficult language to learn – if you take Donovan’s advice and avoid studying grammar.
‘I’ll just take a sentence or phrase from TG4, I’ll hear an actress say a sentence, and I’ll just learn that one line and use that one line for two days at home. I’ll just say it to myself and play around with it – and that’s how I learn. I come here and I’ve just absorbed things, the way a child would. That’s how I like to think of it.’
That comes from what’s called the lexical approach – learning languages in ‘chunks’ rather than word-by-word. Instead of learning the word ‘to want’ you instead learn the block ‘I want’ and another block such as ‘a glass of water’ – and fit the pieces together.
It’s how Donovan teaches English as a second language, and it works for any tongue.
A Trip to Ireland
All this effort and preparation culminated in the decision to fly a 60-hour round trip to Ireland and back to put his skills to the test. To get the most out of the journey, Donovan registered for a week-long course in Oideas Gael, who run summer language classes for adults in Co Donegal.
This wasn’t a tourist jaunt (though Glencolmcille was ‘one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been’). This was serious.
Only about half the students on the course were Irish. The remainder came from Japan, Italy, and Spain; there were fluent speakers from Russia and Denmark. Many were people with a passion for languages, or students of Celtic Studies who came to immerse themselves. He even met one of the actresses from his favourite Irish show, and shared a chat with the Minister for Tourism who was brushing up on his skills.
‘I’m definitely more confident,’ he says, without hesitation. ‘I’m definitely able to speak more fluently. I’ve got a long way to go – but I’ve been told it’s a lot better by people I’ve spoken to.’
When Donovan visited WorldIrish, we sat down for a chat in Irish with a fluent speaker – and didn’t take it easy. The response impressed. Some complex phrases threw him (’education system’ for one) but his standard was arguably better than many schoolchildren with a decade of classes behind them.
Donovan’s inspired many others to explore learning Irish. He’s been contacted by those who read his blog asking where they can find tuition, resources, or a native speaker to train with: something he thinks there’s a market for internationally.
Personally, Donovan’s going to be keeping up his Irish lessons through Skype while living in Korea. As he left the WorldIrish office, he was headed to Club Chonradh na Gaelige for an evening speaking Irish in the bar with his new friends. Speaking with him in person, you can’t help but want to do the same thing.
Resources for Learning Irish
Donovan shared some of the resources he used to teach himself from the far side of the globe. If you’re interested in learning Irish, here’s where to start for free:
1. EasyIrish podcasts
This is brilliant and the very first thing I started with.
4. Talk Irish
There's some free material on the site.
5. Daltaí na Gaeilge
In particular, the phrases section and forum
10. The abairleat YouTube channel
There are a small handful of excellent videos on the with Des Bishop. Here's one.
11. Coláiste Lurgan
They have a bunch of free albums for download of cover songs in Irish. I listened to these a lot and there are some on their YouTube channel as well with lyrics.
Like a Myspace for Irish learners
13. Irish Radio
Raidió na Life is better than Radio na Gaelteachta for people wanting to listen to the radio too.
1. Don’t stress out about grammar.
2. Focus on conversation.
3. Be motivated and determined.
You can find out more about Donovan and read his own first-hand accounts of learning Irish at his blog, the Mezzofanti Guild. There, you'll find progress videos of his experience as well as plenty of encouragement and advice. | <urn:uuid:5eff9efa-613c-4635-bbec-2b37ed863c8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldirish.com/story/11693-the-australian-who-speaks-irish | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961449 | 2,014 | 1.929688 | 2 |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--A preliminary look at data from NASA's Ares I-X test flight Wednesday shows the towering rocket performed as well or better than computer modeling predicted during the climb out of the dense lower atmosphere, a senior NASA manager said Friday.
One of three huge parachutes failed to inflate during the spent booster's descent to the Atlantic Ocean and a second chute only inflated halfway, resulting in a hard splash down that caused the rocket's case to buckle.
But Mission Manager Bob Ess said the parachute system, flying for the first time, was designed for NASA's planned Ares 1 rocket, which is 15 percent lighter than the test version, and that engineers will have plenty of time to correct whatever went wrong.
"No one is concerned about it," Ess said. "In fact, the parachute guys were ecstatic, was their words, (about) the information they got from this flight. They really wanted to test this out."
The Ares I-X rocket was designed to match the characteristics of NASA's planned shuttle replacement, the more powerful Ares I. The test version featured a four-segment shuttle booster, a dummy fifth segment housing guidance and control equipment and an unpowered mockup of the rocket's upper stage and crew capsule.
The 327-foot-tall test rocket was launched Wednesday from shuttle complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. The major goals of the unmanned six-minute flight were to collect engineering data on how the tall, slender rocket flew through the lower atmosphere, how the structure responded to aerodynamic and acoustic forces and how the new parachute system, scaled for the planned Ares I, performed.
During the initial seconds of flight, the rocket's nozzle moved 1 degree as planned to help the booster "walk off" the pad, preventing its hot exhaust plume from hitting the upper sections of the shuttle service gantry. As expected, the plume caused minor damage to the lower sections of the gantry, but Ess said that would not be a problem for the new service tower that will be used for Ares rockets.… Read more | <urn:uuid:e3fe3592-a990-4ec0-b1de-89476e7fbcac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8300-11386_3-76-253.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955996 | 425 | 2.4375 | 2 |
$2.5B rover reignites NASA's search for habitability on Mars
NASA is aiming its next Mars rover, a laser-equipped and nuclear-powered lab on wheels, for a Nov. 25 launch.
The space agency's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory "Curiosity" rover will reignite the search for signs that Red Planet could have harbored, or still could harbor, life forms, mission scientists say.
"It's not your father's rover," says NASA's Doug McCuistion. The 1,982-pound vehicle, "the largest and most complex machine ever placed on the surface of another planet," he says, now sits atop an Atlas V rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Since 1997, NASA has tried to "follow the water" on Mars, seeking to answer whether life ever thrived there. In 2004, the still-operating Opportunity rover discovered crater rock layers deposited by water, a crucial ingredient for life. The new rover aims to build on that discovery by looking for signs of whether Mars' Gale Crater could once have been habitable.
Following its launch, which could happen from Nov. 25 to Dec. 18, Curiosity will travel nine months to Mars, on a 354-million-mile trip. It will land in unprecedented fashion, first using a braking heat shield, then high-speed parachute and finally a rocket-powered "sky crane" to safely deposit the rover on the martian surface. "It is clearly not risk-free," says Peter Theisinger, mission chief of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
"I am cautiously optimistic about the probability of (Curiosity's) landing success," says descent expert Robert Braun of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, a former NASA official. "There is residual risk in everything NASA does," he adds. "The rest is up to Mars."
"For planetary scientists, this rover is a 'dream machine,' " JPL mission researcher Ashwin Vasavada says.
Outfitted with a drill-equipped robotic arm, chemistry-sensing laser and eight other instruments, the rover will roam Mars powered by a nuclear battery rated for a minimum lifetime of 14 years. Like previous nuclear generators used in lunar and deep-space missions, the rover battery has been tested for impact integrity in the event of a launch disaster.
The rover lacks life-detection experiments, but it will investigate whether carbon and minerals used by living things persisted on Mars, focusing on the walls of ravines that appear shaped by water. "If we find those things, we will let you know," Vasavada says. | <urn:uuid:23e0421a-6ef4-4a87-9930-4c04c1f45d50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2011-11-15/NASA-Mars-Curiosity-rover-habitable/51222620/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929528 | 541 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Leslie Cocuzzo Held
This course deals with advanced design theories and textual analysis. Emphasis is placed on script analysis in general, as well as the investigation of design principles from a designer's perspective. Students also refine technical skills in rendering and presentation, historical research, and analysis. Class sessions include interaction with student/faculty directors and other staff designers. The goal of this course is for students to approach text with a fresh vision and translate that vision into design for performance. | <urn:uuid:fda1cdde-d108-4966-8dd7-3007c1d887ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-603-principles-of-design-fall-2005/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925853 | 97 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Almost half of the 67 journalists killed worldwide in 2012 were targeted and murdered for their work, research by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows. The vast majority covered politics. Many also reported on war, human rights, and crime. In almost half of these cases, political groups are the suspected source of fire. There has been no justice in a single one of these deaths.
For now, the Afghan government's apparent attempt at railroading through a less-than-media-friendly new Mass Media Law without consultation seems to have been sidelined, though not derailed. On Sunday in Kabul, representatives of the Ministry of Information and Culture received recommendations from civil society workers and journalists, including some from the provinces, which were drawn up at a June 27 meeting organized by Internews's Nai Media Institute in Afghanistan.
One thing that had better be high on the agenda this weekend at the meeting of 70 or so international aid donors for Afghanistan in Tokyo is the recently released official draft version of the Mass Media Law (a copy of the draft can be found here). I mentioned the new draft in a June blog, "Afghan media is under political and economic pressure." The real thing is even worse than expected.
Danish Karokhel, who won a CPJ International Press Freedom Award in 2008, messaged this morning concerned that the news agency he runs, Pajhwok Afghan News, and some other media outlets have been referred to the Attorney General's Office by the Ministry of Information and Culture for reporting on an alleged bribery scandal involving a member of Parliament. The action was taken by the ministry's Media Monitoring Commission, and could lead to criminal charges.
Wednesday, the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN) released its report, "Death of an Uruzgan Journalist: Command Errors and Collateral Damage," by Kate Clark on the July 2011 shooting death of journalist Omaid Khpalwak. Clark's details on how Khpalwak died corroborate and then go beyond the investigation already conducted by the U.S.-led NATO forces who were responsible. Her report was important to write, and is important to read.
"Of course you have to go to Afghanistan or to Syria," said French TV reporter Hervé Ghesquière, who was held hostage for 547 days in Afghanistan together with his cameraman, Stéphane Taponier, between December 2010 and June 2011.
At Columbia University on Monday evening, CPJ board member Ahmed Rashid held forth to a full house in a conversation with Steve Coll about U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. If you're reading this blog, there's most likely no need to explain who Rashid is--or Coll, for that matter. The earliest reference I could find on cpj.org to Rashid dated back to 2000, about events in 1999, when he was the Islamabad bureau chief for the now-defunct Far Eastern Economic Review. His latest book, Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, is the most recent installment in a steady stream of trenchant, reliable, reality-based analysis of geopolitical affairs in Central and South Asia. If you need to be convinced, check out Foreign Policy's list of Top 100 Global Thinkers.
A video of the event, which was co-sponsored by CPJ, is now available here.
Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak covered violent news. His last two stories for Pajhwok Afghan News, before he died on July 28 in a major attack in Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province, were about an attack on police checkpoints in which both Taliban and police were killed, and an interview with a would-be suicide bomber. Few of his 24 years of life saw any kind of peace in Afghanistan.
Stéphane Taponier and Hervé Ghesquière, the two France 3 journalists held captive by the Taliban for 547 days, had a big surprise when they entered the France Télévisions building Thursday afternoon, a few hours after landing at the military base of Villacoublay, close to Paris, where they were welcomed by President Nicolas Sarkozy. | <urn:uuid:ccac43d0-9156-417d-a59b-c1a6f3b869df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cpj.org/blog/asia/afghanistan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97121 | 857 | 1.765625 | 2 |
I recently finished Megan Smolenyak’s book Who do you think you are? and found it to be a fascinating and inspiring book. As I have said in my last post I am getting back into genealogy after stepping away for a few years. This book was just what I needed to brush up on the various methods of genealogical research. As with the NBC series of the same name which she is the chief genealogical consultant, Megan does a great job of introducing them to the many websites, documents, and resoucres available. She discusses some of the well known sites like Ancestory.com and Cyndislist.com but also introduces you to some of the lesser know online resources from genealogy bloggers and social networks. This book plays plenty of attention to the non technical stuff as well. Megan’s orientation to the many documents that genealogists use is very helpful. She has devoted whole chapters covering census, immigration, and military records. Not only does she cover why you want to use these documents as well as what to look for in them, but she also explains how to access them and where they can be found online and in the archives and libraries.
One of the most enjoyable things about this book are the personal stories Megan weaves through each of the chapters. Her stories are interesting because she is not just telling you about her discoveries on her jurney but rather uses them as an example to show you how you can use the resource for your own research. Her writing is very easy to read and hard to put down. The has been formatted so you can easily read it in one sitting or pick it up as time allows.
The book is currently on sale at amazon.com | <urn:uuid:a1761b54-3fc2-4ec2-adc3-dc17945e6305> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://therootssleuth.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98098 | 353 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Plans to extend an offshore wind farm to meet more consumers' cheap energy demands have been scrapped after the company behind the project said it would take too long to upgrade the UK's infrastructure.
Energy suppliers Vattenfall were offered the opportunity to boost capacity at the Thanet Offshore Wind Farm, some 12 kilometres off the coast of Kent, by 147MW.
The site currently generates up to 300MW.
A feasibility study has concluded that Vattenfall's commitments to develop other wind farm projects took priority over extending the Thanet site, while questions were raised over the ability of National Grid to take on extra power at the Richborough sub-station.
The company also prefers to observe how the first 100 turbines, which started generating cheap energy last month, will operate before adding further turbines.
David Hodkinson, head of development at the firm, said: "Our decision will no doubt come as a disappointment to many local people."
It is hoped that the wind farm will be extended in the future, "but for now we'll focus on operating the existing turbines safely and productively," he added.
Vattenfall claims that Thanet's capacity will boost UK offshore wind capacity by 30 per cent and will produce enough electricity to supply the cheap energy needs of 200,000 households.
If you want to compare all the UK’s green energy suppliers you can use the energyhelpline calculator, to proceed click here. | <urn:uuid:d5c39e8a-eb28-4e32-b5ae-75108d6b7ca6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.energyhelpline.com/moneyfacts_internet/fri/Domesticenergy/news/article/800118786 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94794 | 292 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Visitors to public lands are welcome to collect reasonable amounts of common invertebrate, such as ammonites and trilobites, and common plant fossils, such as leaf impressions and cones, without a BLM permit.
The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, Public Law 111-011. P.L. 111-011, Title VI, Subtitle D on Paleontological Resources Preservation (known by its popular name as the PRPA) is the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) new authority to collect paleontological resources or fossils from public lands either with or without a permit.
The PRPA provides for casual collecting of reasonable amounts of common invertebrate and plant fossils from public lands for personal use without a permit.
Casual collecting as defined in 16 U.S.C. 470aaa(1) means:
“… the collecting of a reasonable amount of common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources for non-commercial personal use, either by surface collection or the use of non-powered hand tools resulting in only negligible disturbance to the Earth's surface and other resources.”
The PRPA requires that the Secretary develop regulations implementing the legislation and will include defining certain commonly used terms.
On June 11, 2012, the BLM re-issued an instruction memorandum, IM 2012-140, on collecting paleontological resources under the PRPA, including casual collecting of common invertebrate and plant paleontological resources and collecting under a paleontological resources use permit.
The PRPA does not change BLM’s requirement for issuance of a paleontological resources use permit for the collection of vertebrate and other paleontological resources of paleontological interest by qualified researchers.
Commercial collection of any type of fossil from Federal lands is not allowed, except for petrified wood which was designated a mineral material by Congress in 1962, and therefore, is salable under the Mineral Materials Act (43 CFR 3600.)
Comprehensive information about paleontological resources use permits can be found on the BLM Utah Paleontological Permitting website. If you have questions about collecting fossils on public lands, please contact your local BLM State Office.
In addition, an instruction memorandum was issued on June 11, 2012, IM 2012-141, that explains the confidentiality of paleontological locality information under the PRPA and FOIA.
Petrified wood can be collected too for personal use — up to 25 pounds each day, plus one piece, but no more than 250 pounds in any calendar year (43 CFR 3622). These materials must be for your personal collection and cannot be sold or traded.
Note that some lands may be closed to hobby or casual collecting of fossils, so always check in with the local BLM office in the area you would like to collect from. On private lands, fossils may only be collected with the permission of the landowner. | <urn:uuid:43adc351-de51-4307-820e-41a18ab54387> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/CRM/paleontology/fossil_collecting.print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913208 | 589 | 2.796875 | 3 |
In a country like Egypt (which apparently is not Egypt, despite the appearance of the characters, the pyramids, the sand, the music and the dancing), without the existence of games or balls in cups, the people are bored. Fortunately, a young man named Babel has a schematic blown into his face, showing an unfinished pyramid, which can apparently be completed by putting a block on top of it. This gives him the brilliant idea of constructing a pyramid, a temple and a tower, by dropping blocks from a bridge. And people say technology hasn’t progressed. Block types include squares, rectangles, triangles, circles and Tetris-style L-shaped blocks, and each block is given to you in turn, and you must place it and drop it.
The construction of each of these three buildings involves playing through several levels with slightly different mechanics. The Great Pyramid requires very little skill or thought, and just involve dropping blocks on a flat platform on a pivot. Drop too many on one side, and it collapses. Build too high, and you break your bridge. You will accomplish more here by randomly dropping blocks, alternating between right and left, than anything else. A good knowledge of moments might help, but on the other hand it might just distract you from side-alternating. It is quite unlikely that you will make it through this section without getting so bored that you stop. Very little changes between stages.
Building a temple is more difficult. This time, there is no balancing involved: you drop the blocks onto a stable platform, but the placing of the blocks is much more important. You often have to make them tessellate to prevent the whole structure from collapsing, which makes you fail the level. Some leeway is given here, but not very much; if you try the Pyramid strategy here, you will fail every time. Because of the thought required here, this was my favourite game mode by far.
Constructing the tower is reminiscent of Tower Blocks. You must drop the blocks on top of one another until you have reached a certain height target. You are allowed to drop a handful of them off the screen, but not very many. This is more about reflexes than long-term planning: the block appears at the top of the screen and hovers for only a few seconds before dropping; if you are not fast enough, you will miss your tower. The game’s inaccurate controls don’t lend themselves very well to this mode, with the result that it is the most difficult of the three.
Each of these modes contains eighteen levels, which must be completed in order. This is the sort of game which would lend itself far better to a free choice of level, due to the absence of a real difficulty curve, so the enforced linearity is a shame. However, only the temple and tower are really worth playing through to the finish, because of the slightly different thought processes involved for different levels, and the latter can be so cheap, you may give up even before the end. This has the result of giving you about an hour playtime, which is quite decent for a Mini, but not great.
There is no single-player free-play mode, unfortunately, and the multiplayer mode, Team Play, is really quite absurd. Player One uses the left and right button to move his block, and Player Two uses Square and Circle. You take it in turns to drop blocks in a manner similar to Tower mode in the single-player, and try to reach as great a height as possible. You could feasibly control both players yourself, because really, who is going to play local multiplayer on a PSP? For this reason, it would have been better if a proper single-player free-play mode were introduced. Perhaps if you happen to be on a bus with a friend and only one PSP, this could keep you amused for a few minutes.
The graphics are nothing to write home about, but not bad for a Mini. The backdrop on each level is unique, which is quite impressive, but they are all Egypt-themed. Everything has the stereotypical Egyptian sandy-brown colour, but some of the visual design on the blocks is quite good. The main character looks pretty pathetic, especially when he does his victory dance at the end of each level, but you don’t spend much time looking at him anyway. The music playing in the background in the Great Pyramid and the Temple (it is the same track for both) is upbeat and interesting, but the background track in the Tower and the multiplayer, which certainly sounded the same, was too quiet. Similarly, sound effects are decent, but they could have been more over-the-top – they are a little subdued.
BABEL is not a particularly memorable game, but then it’s not trying to be. It is a decent experience, and can be a nice distraction on a short journey, but there are better Minis available on PSN. Regardless, if you do like your block-based games, you might want to consider giving BABEL a try. | <urn:uuid:8a8414fb-2ae8-439c-9e59-c2d814be58ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gamrreview.com/review/86844/babel-the-king-of-the-blocks-psp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969799 | 1,036 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Interested in linking to "The Once & Future Protocol"?
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From the very beginning, HART Communication filled a crucial need for digital communications from instrument to control and maintenance systems. As the needs of the process industries have grown and changed, HART Communication has evolved to meet those needs, and is clearly the choice of the process industries for the communications protocol of the future.
The Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) Protocol became an open protocol in 1990; HART Communication Foundation (HCF) was established in 1993, multiple vendors began offering HART communication as an option, and eventually it became the standard I/O solution.
"As it relates to digital field communications for instrumentation," Michael Robinson, solutions business manager at Endress+Hauser notes, "HART has been in the marketplace as a reasonable solution for a substantial amount of time. The market has embraced the technology, and the implementation costs are relatively low for either a brownfield or greenfield installation."
Shannon Foos, process segment manager, fieldbus and asset management, at Rockwell Automation says, "Coming from the world of electrical control based on 4-20 mADC, HART provides added value by superimposing digital information on the analog loop-- an incremental step above the traditional 4-20 mA device. This incremental step was easy for both users and automation vendors to implement."
Robinson continues, "If you also consider that the technology is integrated into 'de facto' PV/CV field signal technology, and that most 4-20 mA instrumentation outputs are supplied with HART communication as a standard option with no additional cost to the user, it does not surprise me that its adoption has been significantly more successful than the other bus technologies or protocols."
Gary Prentice, national sales manager for Moore Industries International, puts it bluntly. "Even the earliest versions of HART filled the need to manually perform configuration and diagnostics remotely. Many (HART) users have not outgrown this basic need. More sophisticated users take advantage of the multiple dynamic variables with a single process penetration and the online diagnostics. Most users' needs continue to be met with HART, and they are comfortable with the technology."
In 2012, HART has more than 35 million installed instruments and devices, far surpassing any other process fieldbus. Garrett Schmidt, wireless product manager for Phoenix Contact explains why. "HART is the world leader of field device protocols because it is backward-compatible to standard 4-20 mA. You can use HART instruments without upgrading the control systems."
Mark Nixon, lead system architect at Emerson Process Management, says that the reason HART has more than twice as many installations as its nearest competitor is, "Simplicity. The industry has been using 4-20 mA and HART for over 20 years, so there is a wealth of experience to draw on and a very well-defined set of tools and processes that have been developed. WirelessHART simply built on the success already achieved with HART. The HCF and its member companies continue to drive HART and its related technologies for customer value. The standard continues to evolve so that real-world problems can be solved in a standards-driven manner. For example, the latest release of HART includes support for discrete-oriented devices such as on/off valves."
Jeff Dobos, ProComSol president, says HART is "inexpensive and easy to use, makes use of existing wiring in plants, and cost and installed base will keep it dominant for a long time."
Thomas Holmes, president of MACTek Corporation, sums it up. "HART is here to stay because no other field communication solution can cover the wide range of devices and applications—wired and wireless, analog and digital. Since HART includes the 4-20 mA signal, it is the only solution that works with the existing installed base of control, safety and monitoring systems and the installed base of measurement devices."
There are three basic modes of operation for the HART protocol.
In point-to-point mode the digital signals are superimposed on the 4-20 mADC loop current. One process variable (PV) is sent on the 4-20 mA signal, and other signals, such as secondary or calculated PVs (up to four or eight in newer devices), as well as device setup, calibration and diagnostic and maintenance status, can be transmitted digitally over the 4-20 mA signal.
Multi-drop signals are transmitted with the current loop set at 4 mA. Multi-drop mode allows up to 64 devices on a single loop. Multi-drop mode "has been very successful on RTUs in remote wellhead monitoring," says Jonas Berge, director of applied technology for Emerson Process Management, Singapore.
The third mode is WirelessHART. This mode is true HART, but the data is sent wirelessly using an IEEE 802.15.4 radio. "The goal with WirelessHART was always to extend the capability of the proven wired technology," says Ed Ladd, senior business development manager for process automation at Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. "It was designed to provide a reliable sensor level network that could interface with current systems in the field."
WirelessHART was designed so it could be used to retrofit wired HART devices with a wireless adapter that is a native HART device and can be located either at the device or anywhere along the current loop. Thus, any HART device can be upgraded to act as a WirelessHART device, within the capabilities of its native HART version. | <urn:uuid:fe8efeaf-a1de-4d3e-9eb4-d056b6df11b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2012/hart-future-protocol.html?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946776 | 1,195 | 1.632813 | 2 |
I. Tracing Your Immigrant Ancestor to the British Isles
Tracing your immigrant ancestor can be one of the most interesting and rewarding things you have ever done in the field of genealogy. As you no doubt know, genealogy is very exciting and addicting. Once a person gets into it, he is usually "hooked for life." But as exciting as tracing your American ancestors can be, there are few thrills that can compare to finding the origins of your immigrant ancestors.
Your immigrants never led normal lives. These are people who did something extraordinary; they left their homes, possessions, families, friends, and homeland forever to try to find a better life. Some of your ancestors left for religious reasons, such as the Puritans who came to New England from 1629-1640. Most came for economic reasons, such as the Irish immigrants who left their homelands after the Great Famine (about 1846-1851). Sometimes there were both religious and economic motives. But all of them left the only life they had known and came here with hope for a brighter future. Some of your immigrants did not come by choice. English prisons were cleared and convicts shipped to the American colonies. Women and children were kidnapped from the countryside and off of the streets of cities such as London and Edinburgh to provide needed colonial laborers. When they arrived, your ancestors did not find the American streets to be paved with gold. But whether they came to the wilderness or came to a large city already settled with people they knew from their homeland, your immigrants were pioneers.
Why did your ancestor leave the British Isles? Where did he live and how was his life there? What were the circumstances there when she left? Whom did he leave behind? How difficult was the "farewell"? Did he have property to sell? Did he distribute goods to family or friends? What did she decide to take with her? How much money did she have? How long was your ancestor in the port city before departure? Who paid for his passage? Who came with him? How long did the ocean crossing take? Was it a rough journey? How was the weather? Was your ancestor hungry or seasick? Was he frightened? Did anyone die along the way? What was his first impression of his new land? How long was he detained at the port of arrival? Did anyone meet her? How long did it take before he found work? Was he able to quickly acquire land? Was he indentured, and if so, how did he feel about his master? Was she able to write to family and friends in her town of origin? Did he encourage others to come over? Did he ever return to the British Isles? Did anyone search for him? Were there people he loved that were left behind and never seen again? Did he find a better life? Was it worth it?
The details of your immigrants' lives do not fit on a pedigree chart or family group sheet. They had more than three events (birth, marriage, and death) in their lives. Do you know the answers to the above questions? I can point you to documents available in the Los Angeles Family History Library for the U. S. and British Isles that will allow you to retrace your ancestors' steps and reconstruct their stories. But it is up to you to go beyond compiling the names, dates, and places that fit on a pedigree chart and begin to find out how your ancestors really lived. Once you have discovered the stories about your family members you will understand more about them, your country, and about yourself. Your immigrant ancestors usually have beautiful and often heart-wrenching stories to tell. It is up to you to tell them.
As with any ancestor, it is always best to start your immigrant's life at the end. Genealogy is done in reverse, working backward through time. Therefore, you will begin to reconstruct your ancestor's story by searching for indexes, books, and documents that were generated after his death. The first step is to interview family members to see what they know. Don't neglect to see great aunts and uncles, cousins, and more distant relatives. Look for old family documents and family bibles; look at the backs of photographs.
When you have compiled all that you can from home sources, you are now ready to come into the Los Angeles Family History Library and begin your own research. Your first visit should involve a computer search to see if information on your family has already been compiled. See the Where to Begin section for information about using the International Genealogical Index (IGI), the Ancestral File, and the Family History Library Catalog.
After using the above resources to see if someone else has already discovered the origins of your immigrant ancestor, go to Naturalization Records.
U.S. Research Collection at the LAFHL has been compiled and annotated by Linda Jonas.
Copyright © 1998 Linda Jonas. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:3fd9e7ab-8dc6-4e0f-99db-16f349a36e5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bifhsusa/traceimmig.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98192 | 1,005 | 3.171875 | 3 |
The gap between married and unmarried birth rates has narrowed
Since 1960, the rate of births to married mothers has decreased by 45 percent to 85.7 per 1,000 married women. During the same period, the rate of unwed childbirths has increased by 134 percent to 50.5 per 1,000 unmarried women.
Birth rates by mother's marital status, women age 15 to 44
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, 2011. | <urn:uuid:a766deb7-6bfb-4559-a913-2e074462d888> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://familyfacts.org/charts/213/the-gap-between-married-and-unmarried-birth-rates-has-narrowed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976067 | 95 | 2.828125 | 3 |
- Language Tips
Tianhe-1A system helps Tianjin firm make animated film for DreamWorks
Two staff members collect data in a computer room containing Tianhe-1A, China's fastest supercomputer, in Tianjin, on Aug 28, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]
If a Chinese supercomputer pops up in the credits at the end of a Hollywood film, don't be surprised, for China's Tianhe-1A, one of the world fastest supercomputers, is being used by a company in Tianjin to help create an animated film for DreamWorks.
"With the supercomputer's help, we've improved the rendering capability of DreamWorks," said Hu Yong, chairman of Cool Cartoon in Tianjin.
Hu said his company is now developing a data transmission system that will allow it to send rendered animations to its clients in North America faster in the future.
Tianhe-1A was developed to boost China's economic development and improve its scientific research capabilities, said Meng Xiangfei, head of the application department with the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, where Tianhe-1A is installed.
With the support of Tianhe-1A, a Chinese geographic information provider started the country's first official 3D map Tianditu - a Chinese version of Google Earth - which required an enormous number of calculations and data storage to create.
Compared with traditional two-dimensional maps, three-dimensional maps are more true to life, which offers users a more direct understanding of a real location, said Wang Jian, whose company provides a 3D map Tianditu of Tianjin.
"For example, if a house located in a block with interlaced streets catches fire, it is easier for firefighters to pinpoint the house's location and determine the quickest route to the fire using a 3D map."
In this way, the map not only makes firefighters' jobs easier, it can also help save people's lives, Wang added.
Wang said his team is now busy developing software to run on supercomputers that will improve the quality of the 3D map.
"The 3D map is really useful to me, because I find it difficult to relate ordinary maps to real streets. But the 3D map makes it easy," said Li Jing, who previously avoided driving in unfamiliar streets as she found it difficult to follow maps.
"I always thought the supercomputer was doing high-end scientific research. I never dreamed it would be part of my daily life," she added.
Thanks to its high performance, Tianhe-1A has also been boosting China's independent research and development capability in various industries and bringing more benefits to Chinese enterprises.
With Tianhe-1A's help, BGP, a geophysical service company affiliated to China National Petroleum Corp, China's largest oil and gas supplier, managed to eliminate China's dependency on overseas oil exploration technology.
"We now run independently developed software, which we used to have to buy from foreign companies, in Tianhe-1A to simulate underground geology," said Wu Wei, a manager from BGP.
"Using Tianhe-1A, we can conduct the simulation over a wider area and to a greater depth, which makes the exploration more accurate", he said, adding that the greater accuracy has increased the company's efficiency and saved it money.
"If we dig an oil well in the wrong place on land, we will lose tens of millions of yuan, and digging a well in the wrong place at sea can waste hundreds of millions of yuan," Wu said.
Like BGP, Tianjin Motor Dies Co Ltd will also save money, at least 3 percent of its production costs, thanks to Tianhe-1A's simulations.
"It's a large saving," said Chen Huibin, one of the company's experts in computer-aided engineering, "because our profit margins are only about 20 percent".
Meanwhile, the supercomputer is giving the company, which designs and manufactures car body panels and large stamping parts, a greater competitive edge.
After employing Tianhe-1A to simulate its stamping process, the company expects to increase its market share and "make the transition from offering low-end to high-end products", explained Chen.
Individuals can also use the supercomputer, according to Meng.
The level of supercomputer development in a country indicates its scientific research capabilities, so China's unexpected progress in developing supercomputers, Tianhe-1A beat supercomputers from the United States to be the world's fastest in 2010, caused an outbreak of anxiety in the US, which had long been the undisputed leader in supercomputers.
The US government responded by attaching more importance to the development of supercomputers, and the country reclaimed the world supercomputer crown in June this year using the Sequoia from the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.
The latest US supercomputer will be used to carry out simulations to help extend the durability of the US' aging nuclear weapons, avoiding the need for real-world underground tests.
Although Tianhe-1A had dropped to fifth place in the list of the world's fastest supercomputers published in June, it is still one of the fastest supercomputers in the world. However, related services, including software and data transmission systems, need to be further developed and improved in order to make the most of its formidable computing power. | <urn:uuid:74b7738e-f5e1-42c0-b3f2-e470e7f4549f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-10/07/content_15798751.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942089 | 1,123 | 2.171875 | 2 |
xiii. Post-Pahlavi Period
In the period immediately following the shah’s flight from the country in 1358 Š./1979 the prices for Persian carpets reached record highs on Western markets. These prices were determined by the convergence of three main factors: the underlying trend toward higher prices as demand outstripped supply, which had been apparent since the 1340s Š./1960s; the particular circumstances of the last two years of the Pahlavi era; and the exchange-rate policy adopted by the new regime. In the period immediately following World War II a boom in carpet production occurred in Iran, fueled in particular by the German “economic miracle” after 1332 Š./1953; the art of weaving on a commercial scale thus spread to almost every corner of the country. But by the mid-1340s Š./960s the shah’s industrialization program began to have a significant effect on both urban and village carpet production. As the shepherds of the Khorasan uplands left their villages to work in the steel mills of Mašhad queues were seen outside the butchers’ shops. But the developing urbanization meant a shortage not only of mutton, but also of wool. Also, the shepherds’ wives came to find watching television more congenial than weaving, and the supply of carpets began to be insufficient to meet demand; prices rose more rapidly than many Western importers could accept, and as a result carpets with Persian designs began to be produced in large numbers in India and Pakistan and later in China. In the late 1350s Š./1970s prices of Persian carpets in Persia became still more inflated because huge quantities of goods were purchased and shipped out of the country to Hamburg and Zurich, especially by Jewish dealers who feared for the security of their capital as the Revolution of 1357 Š./1978-79 approached. Finally, under the shah the rial, which was pegged to the dollar, was one of the world’s strongest currencies, supported by massive oil exports. After the revolution the government continued to maintain a high exchange rate with the dollar, but political and economic realities in Iran made a mockery of this attempt and engendered a black market in which the world market value of the currency was reflected more clearly. As carpets could be exported only at the official exchange rate, the price levels reached in 1360-62 Š./1981-83 were rejected in the international carpet trade, and Western importers began to buy from other countries (see Table 50). Carpet exports from Iran during this period served in many instances mainly as a conduit for wealthy Iranians eager to transfer their capital abroad and willing to do so at any price.
The government soon recognized that drastic measures had become necessary if the slide in carpet exports was to be halted. A commission from the Tehran customs office was instructed to visit Hamburg, London, Zurich, and other international trading centers to recommend a scheme for revitalizing the trade. The commissioners discovered, however, that their product was overvalued by 40-60 percent. For example, in the early 1350s Š./1970s, when Bījār carpets cost DM 500 per m2 in the Hamburg free port, they had seemed a good investment; when the price rose above DM 1,000 per m2 those who had bought at DM 500 congratulated themselves. By 1358 Š./1979 they had reached DM 2,000, which most dealers considered overpriced, and, when DM 3,000 was quoted shortly afterward, it was clear that the bubble had burst.
The simple solution would have been to abolish the official rate of exchange with the dollar, but such a move would probably have led to an undesirable drain of capital. A system was thus devised to allow carpet exporters to obtain part of the purchase price of their goods on the black market; in this way only a proportion of the value had to be paid in foreign currency at the official exchange rate. An advantage of the scheme was that the proportion could be varied at will to increase or decrease the effective discount on the official rate. Indeed, details were altered frequently in order to provide ever greater incentives to dealers as Persia’s need for foreign exchange increased. The system did have the disadvantage of being very cumbersome and time-consuming: As Persian invoices are notoriously unreliable, the only way that the Tehran customs could arrive at a true valuation of goods being exported was to have its own officials inspect and value every carpet before it was dispatched. Despite the frustrations caused by this procedure, the desired result was achieved. Beginning in 1364 Š./1985, the average price in dollars or German marks fell (even though the price in rials soared), and exports began to rise again (see Table 50). The effect on local prices may be judged by comparing the cost of the Nehāvand rug. The villages in the area between Nehāvand and Ošvand, south of Hamadān, produced large blue-ground, single-wefted rugs of around 40 sq feet stylistically related to the products of neighboring Kurdistan. They have maintained a consistent quality of wool, weave, and dyestuffs over a long period and thus offer a more reliable yardstick for price comparisons than areas where quality has varied considerably.
Table 51 shows price movements for this type of carpet at Hamadān over the fifteen years between 1352 Š./1973 and 1367 Š./1988. From 1358 Š./1979 to the end of 1366 Š./1987 the rial price increased fivefold, while the dollar price remained more or less constant. Further explosive rises in 1367 Š./1988, however, again led importers to cancel orders. On the other hand, the new system, involving as it does manipulation of prices and exchange rates by the government, creates its own distortions. For example, the valuation scheme in operation at the end of the 1360s Š./1980s favored high-priced merchandise and penalized cheaper goods. This bias was reflected in the domestic market. In dollars a fine semi-antique Kashan (Kāšān) carpet cost about twice as much as a good example from Herīs (Herīz/Harīz), a market center in Azerbaijan, but in rials the former was four times the price of the latter. If exchange controls were lifted, a major realignment of prices would thus occur.
The pattern of production of new rugs did not differ significantly from the one that was developing before the revolution. There were, indeed, a few remarkable new creations, like superbly woven weft-wrapped flat weaves from Sīrjān and fashion-oriented Heriz-style carpets woven in Tabrīz. But elsewhere the trend toward ever harsher color combinations produced with ever more inferior dyestuffs was accelerated by the shortages of a wartime economy in the 1360s Š./1980s. Many districts in the northwest, where previously the best wools and most honest colors were used, succumbed to the vogue for overfine, spongy imported yarns and debased palettes; dark blue, for example, was largely replaced by black, which is crisp and bold when new but soon fades to a streaky gray.
The most positive feature of the market, from the point of view of the trade, was the effect of the new export-valuation system on the supply of flat weaves. Beginning in 1364 Š./1985 these carpets received exceptionally low valuations for foreign-exchange purposes, which allowed prices in rials to climb to unprecedented levels while keeping costs in foreign currencies lower than they had been ten years earlier. As a result an abundant supply of exceptional pieces appeared on the market. The nomad who was offered a few thousand rials for his treasures in 1355 Š./1975 simply hid them, but the seven-figure prices being paid a decade later tempted the proudest weavers to part with their heirlooms, and flat weaves came to light in quantities and in a diversity of types and origins that even specialized dealers had barely suspected. Despite the gloomy outlook for the Persian economy while the war with Iraq dragged on, the technical and cultural skills to produce beautiful textiles remain strong in the country. It remains to be seen whether the ending of the war can create the favorable conditions under which these skills could flourish anew.
(P. R. Ford)
This article is available in print.
Vol. IV, Fasc. 7, pp. 890-893 | <urn:uuid:6d04b842-86b0-42be-bbe2-96cbc5499132> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/carpets-xiii | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97409 | 1,769 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Hypoxia: the undersea killer
The Washington Post
Although 4.5 billion creatures died, the whole thing might have gone unnoticed, except for a couple of Brown University ecologists who dived to the bottom of Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay in the summer of 2001. There they found acres of blue mussels, suffocated by pollution-related oxygen loss in the bay waters.
The grim discovery triggered a study that has given experts new insights into the crucial role that shellfish play in maintaining the health of estuaries worldwide, documenting that reefs of mussels and other shellfish serve as powerful water filters, food sources and habitat for other species.
"What we captured in 2001 was the loss of those mussels and implications for an entire ecosystem," said Brown University ecologist Andrew Altieri, who with biology professor Jon Witman wrote the study published in the March issue of Ecology. "That's instructive for what historic and future losses might be for the Chesapeake."
Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay holds only one-twentieth as much water as the Chesapeake, but both are shallow and relatively slow-flushing, with plenty of people and industry nearby. And both suffer from summer bouts of hypoxia caused when excess nitrogen and phosphorus, chiefly from fertilizer runoff and sewage plants, feed "blooms" of microscopic algae too numerous to be eaten by other creatures. The algae die and decompose in a process that hogs oxygen.
Intense hypoxia, with algae's miles-long blooms, creates massive "dead zones," areas too starved of oxygen to support much life. The United Nations estimates that over the past 15 years, the number of waters harmed by hypoxia has doubled. Last year, about 5 percent of the Chesapeake Bay was classified as a dead zone.
Warm weather, scant wind and heavy rain can all spur hypoxic events. But the biggest factor is the nitrogen-laden spring runoff pouring into estuaries right now.
By the end of May, "you've set things up for the way the summer is going to look," said Dave Jasinski, water-quality analyst for the Chesapeake Bay Program. For that reason, this year's spring drought bodes well for the bay, he said.
Only radical reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus dumping can eliminate hypoxia. But the group of hinged shellfish called bivalves have an amazing capacity to stem the condition. Lying on the bottom like tiny vacuum units, they constantly pull in water, eat algae called phytoplankton and spew clear water back out.
In the Narragansett, mussels and clams such as the locally renowned quahog do most of this work. But because they live on the bottom, they are themselves susceptible to hypoxia. The result is a double loss: of the animal and a vital self-cleansing mechanism.
The Chesapeake, the nation's largest estuary, is a premier example of this. Historically, oysters were the dominant shellfish in the bay — as they were in the Narragansett until the 1930s — but overfishing and disease have all but killed off the Eastern Oyster. Today, despite decades of restoration efforts, the oyster population remains less than 1 percent of what it was in 1880, the dawn of the region's oyster industry.
Oysters make superior filters for three reasons. They process water at a rate of two to three times that of mussels. The Chesapeake's oysters generally live in high-oxygen shallows and tributaries, where they are less susceptible to hypoxia. And as the oysters feed and excrete, they also remove nitrogen from the water in a process similar to one used by sewage-treatment plants.
Roger Newell, professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, calculated that at their current numbers, the bay's oysters would need a year to filter its entire volume.
But without enough shellfish around, Newell must rely on computer models to estimate the impact. "This is all educated arm-waving, because you can't go back in time," he said.
That historical view is what Altieri and Witman gained in Rhode Island. Ironically, the pair were investigating an unusual boom in blue mussels in 2001 that local watermen called "a once-in-20-years occurrence," Witman said. The nine reefs they studied covered the equivalent of 229 football fields. Lying open in rows, the creatures gleamed blue-black and red, attracting crabs, sea stars and fish that eat them and live in the reefs. Snorkeling over them, the ecologists could see the reefs through 20 feet of water in a bay where average visibility is about four feet.
Altieri calculated the reefs were processing the bay's entire water volume once every 20 days, even though they covered less than 1 percent of the bay floor.
Then one day in August, the men saw sea stars and crabs in the reefs climbing higher, searching for oxygen. Altieri noted that dissolved oxygen in the water had plummeted.
Within days, a hypoxic episode triggered by warm weather, low wind and the usual nutrients contributed to fish kills and beach closures around the bay. Two months later, mussels lay scattered like broken pottery on the bay floor, silted over and empty, more than 4 billion of them. Their filtering capacity had dropped by 75 percent.
One reef died entirely. A year later, seven of the other eight were mostly dead, too.
"The magnitude of mortality that hypoxia could cause ... had never been documented" in the Narragansett, Witman said. The damage from that one event, they estimated, could take more than a decade to undo.
The study has stocked the arsenals of the Chesapeake's oyster-restoration advocates. Virginia and Maryland have spent tens of millions of dollars on oyster restoration and billions on bay cleanup over the past three decades, but they have not significantly curtailed oyster harvests through regulation. Meanwhile, the beleaguered industry has turned to a mechanized process called "power dredging" to maximize skimpy harvests, further threatening the oyster population.
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company | <urn:uuid:974fe0b2-c77c-48fa-a65f-6fe0fd03e757> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060519&slug=shellfish19 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961623 | 1,301 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Why the Wal-Mart Supreme Court Case MattersMarch 24, 2011
Arcelia Hurtado, executive director of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), a national nonprofit legal organization, took time out of her busy schedule to do a quick interview about the AAUW-supported case Dukes v. Wal-Mart. Oral arguments for the case take place on March 29, 2011, at the U.S. Supreme Court.
AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund Program Manager Holly Kearl (HK): How long has ERA been involved with Dukes v. Wal-Mart?
Hurtado (AH): ERA has represented the women of the historic Wal-Mart class action since day one. ERA began receiving complaints from Wal-Mart women employees through our Advice and Counseling Hotline in 1999. ERA helped lead plaintiff Betty Dukes file her original complaint in this case with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. ERA, along with co-counsel, filed the class-action lawsuit in 2001 on behalf of Betty Dukes and six other women representing a class of women workers similarly situated.
In 2002, ERA and co-counsel then traveled the country talking to potential class members and taking their statements in support of our class-certification motion, which was filed in 2003 and granted in 2004. … Wal-Mart has since vigorously appealed that decision, and ERA has remained with the women of Wal-Mart through the case’s long journey through the appellate process and all the way to its current resting place on the U.S. Supreme Court’s docket.
HK: What are the legal issues that will be addressed in the Supreme Court oral arguments on March 29?
AH: The plaintiffs presented extensive evidence in the trial court, which the trial judge ruled was sufficient to allow them to proceed as a class. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this decision two times. The U.S. Supreme Court is now going to decide whether the trial court that heard and considered all this evidence firsthand erred in granting class certification.
The evidence the trial and appeals courts reviewed consisted of Wal-Mart’s own internal employment data, which revealed, among other things, that even though 65 percent of Wal-Mart’s 1 million hourly employees were women, women held fewer than one-third of management jobs and only 15 percent of store manager positions, making Wal-Mart one of the worst American retailers in terms of percentage of women in management.
The internal data also showed that women were paid less than men of equal seniority in every major job category, even though women on average had higher performance ratings and less turnover. Statistical analysis indicated that the odds that this discrepancy in pay could be attributable to chance were “less than one chance in many billions.”
The hard numbers indicating something was very wrong at Wal-Mart were supplemented by the statements of Betty Dukes and over 100 other women employees who experienced similar treatment at Wal-Mart locations nationwide.
HK: Why is the outcome of this hearing so significant?
AH: Legal scholars have repeatedly outlined the implications of this, the largest employment class action in U.S. history, but what is first and foremost in my mind is the case’s significance to the courageous women who constitute the members of the class.
In the words of named plaintiff Edith Arana,
These women have names, they have families, they have faces. … This is something that I am determined to do until the end, whatever the end is, because I believe in what I am doing, and what I am doing is right.
The case also stands for the right of every working woman to be paid what her work is worth and to be given an equal opportunity to advance based on her merit. It implicates the American dream that if you work hard enough, you can get ahead. It implicates the fate of the working class in this country — women who have families to support, who are single mothers, who are struggling to make ends meet and failing due to systematic discrimination that is unfortunately not a relic of the past yet.
In the words of Betty Dukes,
I’m just existing, I’m not living at all. … With my age and my limited education, I had to press forward and maintain my independence, maintain my dignity even though I am not making a living wage by any stretch of the imagination, and there’s nothing I can do about it.
I saw a pregnant woman standing in the rain the other day. She had a baby, only a few months old, in a stroller. She told me she was homeless. I had my own two small boys in the car with me, and it struck me that this is the fate of the working poor who are constantly a hair away from losing their ability to survive. These are the human terms of this case. As long as ERA is involved, they will not be forgotten.
HK: It’s so important to remember the human aspect of the case, thank you. When do you expect the court to announce their decision?
AH: We expect the court to issue an opinion by June of 2011.
HK: Thanks for the important work you and ERA are doing!
AH: Sure. And your readers can obtain more information about our work at www.equalrights.org. We also have a toll-free, multilingual advice and counseling line for women with questions related to inequities at work and schools 800/839-4372. | <urn:uuid:cf903416-35b0-4c43-9022-240d278499e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aauw.org/2011/03/24/the-wal-mart-case-matters/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968693 | 1,136 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Nainsook. Fine, soft-finished white cotton fabric with a polish on one side. Lighter in weight than longcloth, more highly finished; not so closely woven as cambric but heavier than batiste. Sometimes mercerized and schreinerized. A fine nainsook may be called a coarse batiste. Uses: infants' wear, lingerie. Weave—plain. Width, 36", 45", usually 36".
Nap. Not to be confused with pile. The downy or fuzzy appearance of cloth produced by raising the fibres to the surface as in outing flannel.
Napery. General term for table linen.
Net. Originally all nets and laces were made with a needle or with bobbins. Modern nets have the same effect made by machinery.
1. Blonde. Washable cotton net for curtains, linings
and ruffles. Same construction as bobbinet net, but
usually finer. White, ecru or flesh.
2. Bobbinet net is machine-made of cotton or silk yarns
partially twisting around each other so as to produce
hexagonal meshes. They appear round at a distance.
Finer grades of bobbinet used for dresses and trimmings. Uses: curtains, linings, trimmings. White or colors. Width, 36", 54", 72".
3. Cable net has a coarse mesh. Not so satisfactory for curtains as bobbinet because it stretches when laundered. Not much used at present.
4. Filet net has square spaces and imitates hand-made filet made by knotting the thread at the corners.
5. Novelty nets for curtains show a variety of effects.
Weave—novelty net or lace. Width, 36", 40", 45",
6. Net, silk for evening gowns. May be soft or finished with a dressing. White, black and all colors. Uses: evening gowns, trimmings. Weave—net. Width, 72",
7. Point d' Esprit white cotton net with small dots scattered over the surface in snowflake effect. Width, narrow as footing or 72".
Nitro-cellulose. See Rayon.
Noils. Short fibres which come from the combing process in preparing yarns as for worsted. Short wool fibres are wool noils. There are silk noils, ramie noils, cotton noils.
Non-Flam. Process for making cotton goods non-inflammable, invented by William H. Perkin, Manchester, England. Non-Flam not on the American market.
Non-run or non-ravel top. Some hose made with device near top to prevent runners from going into leg of hose.
Nottingham. Type of machine-made lace or lace curtains. Originally made in Nottingham, England.
Novelty fabrics. Large class of materials particularly suitings, made to meet a style demand. They have not become staple.
Nub yarn. Fancy yarn having nubs or knots at intervals made by twisting one yarn about another forming lumps or knotty places, as ratine yarns.
Nun's veiling. Originally made in black only and used for nuns' veils. Soft, light-weight fabric similar to voile, but closer and softer. Worsted yarns, also made in silk. Piece-dyed. Wears well. Uses: dresses, negligees.
Olive drab. Called O. D. official color for U. S. army uniforms; same as Khaki.
Oilcloth. Cotton fabric coated with a preparation of linseed oils and pigments. 1. Floor oilcloth made on a burlap base, treated with linseed oil, ochre and other pigments. Printed, varnished. 2. Table oilcloth has a foundation of muslin treated with oil, turpentine and amber. May be printed. Soft pliable oilcloth gives better wear than a stiff brittle one. Smooth, dull or pebbled finish. Plain or napped back. White, black, green or printed. Uses: table and shelf coverings, rain hats, dress trimming. Weave—plain. Width, 45", 54".
Oiled silk. Thin silk soaked in boiled linseed oil and dried. Waterproof and fairly pliable. Surgical uses.
Opera hose. Women's hose of extra length.
Organdy or organdie. Thin, transparent, wiry muslin made of fine cotton yarns. White, piece-dyed or printed. The best grades are finished to retain their crispness and transparency after washing. Crushes or musses but is easily pressed. Uses: dresses, neckwear, trimmings. Orinoka* Trade name for drapery fabrics. See Sunfast
Osnaburg, Originally from Germany. Strong unbleached cotton bagging similar to heavy muslin. Kind of crash used for cement bags and for sacks in cotton fields, also for coarse clothing. Weave—plain. Width, 32".
Ottoman. Heavy corded silk fabric having larger and rounder ribs than faille. Ribs or filling usually cotton which is completely covered by warp. Yarn-dyed. Uses: coats, trimmings. Weave—plain. Width, 36", 40".
Outing flannel. Soft, light-weight cotton fabric napped on both sides, highly inflammable, soils readily, nap wears and washes off. White, solid colors and striped (yarn-dyed). Daisy Cloth* is a trade name for a kind of twilled outing flannel. Uses: sleeping garments, children's underwear, interlinings. Weave—plain or twill. Width, 27", 32", 36".
Oxford Gray. Any fabric, woven or knitted, of black and white mixed yarns.
Oxford suiting or shirting. A variety of coarse weaves, mostly basket, in mercerized cotton; true Oxford has basket weave. Heavy grade suitable for suits and skirts, lighter weight for shirts. White, colors or stripes. Weave—-basket or twill, Width, 32", 36".
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History of AOTA Accreditation
The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy was founded in 1917 and incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia.
The object of the Association as set forth in its Constitution “shall be to study and advance curative occupations for invalids and convalescents; to gather news of progress in occupational therapy and to use such knowledge to the common good; to encourage original research, to promote cooperation among occupational therapy societies, and with other agencies of rehabilitation.”
About 3 years after its incorporation, the Association was urged by several leading physicians and authorities on hospital administration to establish a national register or directory of occupational therapists “for the protection of hospitals and institutions from unqualified persons posing as occupational therapists.”
After careful consideration and on the advice of other national organizations in the field of medicine, the Association decided that the first step toward the establishment of a national register or directory was the establishment of minimum standards of training for occupational therapists.
In 1921, the name of the Association was changed to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). In 1923, accreditation of educational programs became a stated function of the American Occupational Therapy Association, and basic educational standards were developed.
AOTA approached the Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association (AMA) in 1933 to request cooperation in the development and improvement of educational programs for occupational therapists.
The “ESSENTIALS OF AN ACCEPTABLE SCHOOL OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY” were adopted by the AMA House of Delegates in 1935. This action represented the first cooperative accreditation activity by the AMA.
In 1958, AOTA assumed responsibility for approval of educational programs for the occupational therapy assistant. The standards on which accreditation was based were modeled after the Essentials established for baccalaureate programs.
In 1964, the AOTA/AMA collaborative relationship in accreditation was officially recognized by the National Commission on Accrediting (NCA). The NCA was a private agency serving as a coordinating agency for accrediting activities in higher education. Although it had no legal authority, it had great influence on educational accreditation through the listing of accrediting agencies it recommended to its members. The NCA continued its activities in merger with the Federation of Regional Accrediting Commissions of Higher Education since January 1975. The new organization was the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA).
In 1990, AOTA petitioned the Committee on Allied Health Education and Accreditation (CAHEA) to include the accreditation of the occupational therapy assistant programs in the CAHEA system. After approval of the change by the AMA Council on Medical Education, CAHEA petitioned both COPA and the USDE for recognition as the accrediting body for occupational therapy assistant education.
In 1991, occupational therapy assistant programs with approval status from the AOTA Accreditation Committee became accredited by CAHEA/AMA in collaboration with the AOTA Accreditation Committee.
On January 1, 1994, the AOTA Accreditation Committee changed its name to the AOTA Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) and became operational as an accrediting agency independent of CAHEA/AMA.
During 1994, ACOTE became listed by the USDE as a nationally recognized accrediting agency for professional programs in the field of occupational therapy. ACOTE was also granted initial recognition by the Commission on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation (CORPA). CORPA was the nongovernmental recognition agency for accrediting bodies that was formed when COPA dissolved in 1994.
On March 1, 1994, 197 previously accredited/approved and developing occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant educational programs were transferred into the ACOTE accreditation system.
In a ballot election concluded October 31, 1994, the AOTA membership approved the proposed AOTA Bylaws Amendment that reflected the creation of AOTA’s new accrediting body and establishment of ACOTE as a standing committee of the AOTA Executive Board. At that time, responsibility for review and revision of the educational standards (Essentials) was transferred from the AOTA Commission on Education (COE) Educational Standards Review Committee (ESRC) to ACOTE. The authority for final approval of the educational standards, which previously required acceptance by both the AOTA Representative Assembly and CAHEA/AMA, was also transferred to ACOTE. This action allowed ACOTE to meet the recognition criteria of both USDE and CORPA.
The Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is presently the nongovernmental agency for accrediting bodies that replaced CORPA. In February 1997, CHEA voted to accept CORPA’s recognition status of ACOTE.
In August 1997, ACOTE voted to open its accreditation process to occupational therapy programs located outside the United States. In December 1998, ACOTE accredited its first non-U.S. program: Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh, Scotland.
At its April 1998 meeting, ACOTE adopted the following position statement regarding the draft accreditation standards: Given the demands, complexity, and diversity of contemporary occupational therapy practice, ACOTE’s position is that the forthcoming educational standards are most likely to be achieved in post-baccalaureate degree programs.
In December 1998, ACOTE adopted the Standards for an Accredited Educational Program for the Occupational Therapist and Standards for an Accredited Educational Program for the Occupational Therapy Assistant. These Standards, which went into effect on July 1, 2000, replaced the 1991 Essentials–Updated.
At AOTA’s April 1999 Annual Conference & Expo, the Representative Assembly passed Resolution J, “Movement to Required Postbaccalaureate Level of Education.” This resolution called for the eventual installation of a postbaccalaureate requirement for entry-level occupational therapy education. After an exhaustive evaluation of the short- and long-term impact of the decision to move to postbaccalaureate-degree entry, ACOTE voted at its August 1999 meeting that professional entry-level occupational therapy programs must be offered at the postbaccalaureate level by January 1, 2007 to receive or maintain ACOTE accreditation status.
In August of 2004, ACOTE voted to transition from accreditation of occupational therapy educational programs to accreditation of occupational therapy program degree levels, effective January 1, 2005. Any institution adding a new degree level or changing the current occupational therapy degree level was required to apply for and receive formal accreditation status for that degree level prior to the admission of students into the program.
In August 2006, ACOTE formally adopted new Accreditation Standards for Master’s-Degree-Level Educational Programs for the Occupational Therapist and new Accreditation Standards for Educational Programs for the Occupational Therapy Assistant. In December 2006, ACOTE formally adopted Accreditation Standards for a Doctoral-Degree-Level Educational Program for the Occupational Therapist. An effective date of January 1, 2008, was established for all sets of 2006 ACOTE Standards.
At its April 2008 meeting, AOTA’s Representative Assembly (RA) established that the official position of AOTA is one that supports the associate degree as the requirement for entry to the field as an occupational therapy assistant. The RA further recommended that ACOTE implement a 5-year timeline for the existing 3 certificate-level programs to transition to the associate degree level. This transition period may be extended for good cause.
In response to the RA’s action, ACOTE adopted a policy at its April 2008 meeting that effective July 1, 2013, all occupational therapy assistant educational programs must be offered at the associate degree level in order to retain ACOTE accreditation. In addition, ACOTE voted that effective May 10, 2008, ACOTE will only accept applications for new occupational therapy assistant (OTA) programs that are offered at the associate degree level. | <urn:uuid:7dda2989-a32a-4fe0-8c3c-e60d7c65c613> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aota.org/Educate/Accredit/Overview/38124.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957748 | 1,620 | 2.875 | 3 |
Tanzania dips into Chocolate trade
Tanzania is to become the first East African country to produce and export chocolate
TAGS: Chocolate, Nuechatel, Swiss, Tanzania
9 Jul 2012 Thomas Lloyd
Lameck Borega, the Investment Facilitation Officer of the Export Processing Zone, made the announcement at the 36thDar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF). The Swiss chocolatier Nuechatel, who has been operating since 1982, is to open a base in Tanzania’s Export Processing Zone by this September; with a view to producing high-quality chocolate for both Swiss and US markets later this year. The deal will also have a high level of sustainability and is sure to bring further jobs and wealth to an area rich in natural resources.
The factory is likely to be situated in the Benjamin Mkapa EPZ, and Nuechatel has already produced local chocolate samples, which are being exhibited at the 36thDITF this week.
Whilst Tanzania is the first East African country to strike such a deal, Swiss chocolate makers are no strangers to the African market, with the West African nation of Ghana continuing to produce over 50 percent of Swiss cocoa.
Aside from job creation, the deal will also drive down the local price of chocolate, a commodity that is much loved in urban areas and among young people.
“For the first time, consumers are going to have chocolate made locally with the label 'quality chocolate from Tanzania’”, said a proud Borega, who has arranged the agreement so that 20 percent of the product can be sold locally with price incentives for Tanzanian consumers.
Kamillo Kitzmantel, General Manager of the world famous chocolate makers Lindt, has been noted as saying:“supply can never meet demand.” With this in mind, the decision from the Tanzanian Ministry of Trade to dip into the chocolate market can only be seen as a safe one, especially as African cocoa is considered the gold standard in chocolate production.
Although exports will largely be aimed towards US and European markets, there is a possibility for further intra-African trade, and in the past three years the scale of Tanzania’s exports going to other African countries has increased by 11 percent to 41.9 percentof total exports. The private agreement between Neuchatel and Tanzania’s Ministry of Trade and Agriculture is set to be one of many blossoming relationships between European business expertise and African agriculture. | <urn:uuid:d6d70874-94c5-40d1-9696-d138ab90477c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jamiiforums.com/international-forum/290030-tanzania-to-export-chocolate.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95789 | 512 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Forty years ago in Yakima, people were watching “The Brady Bunch,” listening to ABBA and driving Volkswagen Beetles.
And they were getting their first taste of Young Life’s barbecue beef sandwiches.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Central Washington State Fair’s Young Life booth.
“In honor of our 40 years, we are introducing the Big Schilly,” said Craig Hooper, the area director of Young Life. “It is twice as big as the regular sandwich with twice as much meat.”
That sandwich is named for the brothers who founded the booth, Gerrit and Carl Schilperoort. They wanted to be able to raise money to keep Young Life going, and the booth has definitely completed that goal. In the last 40 years, Young Life has made more than $1 million at the fair.
The money raised from the booth goes into a general fund that helps support Young Life’s activities, including sending youth to camp. These camps are located in Centralia, Antelope, Ore., and Gearhart, Ore.
The kids and adults who go to camp come from all of the “14 different clubs in the Yakima area.” said Hooper, 42. The clubs are located throughout the Yakima Valley. At the high school level they are called Young Life, and in middle schools they are called Wyldlife.
Though Young Life started its booth at the fair in 1972, the program has been in the Yakima area since the 1950s. Young Life is a nonprofit parachurch organization “whose focus is the Christian outreach to high school and middle school kids,” Hooper said.
About 65 adult volunteers in Yakima are assigned to a school to work with students.
“They spend time building relationships with kids, and do a weekly or monthly Young Life club, which is kind of like a youth group for nonchurched kids,” Hooper said.
Kristin Sargent, 35, is a teacher at Toppenish Middle School and is starting a Wyldlife group there. She brought three of her students along to volunteer at the fair.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Jaden Manjarrez, 13, said about working at the booth.
Jamie Zeller, 33, is a math teacher at West Valley High School and enjoys the food Young Life provides.
“I’m not much of a meat-eater, but I love the barbecue beef sandwiches,” said Zeller, who is also a Young Life volunteer and loves the worldwide youth group organization.
Young Life lets “Christian adults share the gospel with high school kids,” said Zeller, “and lets them decide if they want to know Jesus, without shoving it down their throats.”
And that is why Brandon Lenzi, 15, likes it. He has been participating in Young Life for three years now and says the experience has been “unique.”
“My math teacher at the (West Valley) junior high pushed me to go to a meeting and I’ve enjoyed it ever since,” said Lenzi.
• Nicole Jevons is a sophomore at West Valley High School and a member of Yakima Herald-Republic’s Unleashed journalism program for high school students. | <urn:uuid:37bea1ed-38ea-4a87-8258-d3eec37feee5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.yakimaherald.com/news/latestlocalnews/348608-8/young-life-celebrates-40-years-at-fair | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971151 | 707 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Drawn Together is an exhibition of drawings by four women; Toni Armstrong, Carol Rolando, Ingrid Snyman and Cathy Ward, under the tutorship of artist Tim Quirke.
Tim's classes have been focused on classical art, looking at the works of the impressionist - Degas, the realist - Manet, post impressionists Gaugin and Cezanne, as well as Edward Hopper, Rembrandt, Chardin, amongst others. The thorough explorations and learning covered a wide range of art 'stars' in the history of modern art. Alongside this has been the concentration of the learning of foundation drawing and painting skills and the use of a range of different mediums such as conte and pastel. Armstrong, Rolando, Snyman and Ward have produced some brilliant drawings during their time with Tim and this show presents a range of works exploring colour, line work, emphasis, portraiture, the human figure and stroke making.
Artist Toni Armstrong describes the journey this has taken her on in this lovely quote "The artist within me wishes to extend parts of my inner world into the larger world, thus presenting my view of the world around me. Art for me has become an outlet for my creative and psychological expression and is ever evolving."
Ingrid Snyman wanted more from her explorations into art, and this course of study has provided her with the "inspiration to strive for excellence in her draftsmanship."
Drawn Together opens Friday May 4th in the Cottage Gallery, from 5pm. | <urn:uuid:944f71eb-b52f-4b7d-9f80-2ca97f75f075> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://events.nzherald.co.nz/2012/drawn-together/rotorua | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955425 | 320 | 1.640625 | 2 |
by Walter Brasch
American Reporter Correspondent
January 19, 2009
FROM THE HUDSON TO THE POTOMAC, COURAGE AND HOPE FOR A DEPRESSED NATION
BLOOMSBURG, Pa., Jan. 20, 2009 -- The people are good at anointing who they believe are heroes. It gives us a warm and fuzzy feeling to know there are those among us who do extraordinary things, often at the risk of their own lives.
But if you ask the true heroes, most will just say they were doing their job or doing something that needed to be done.
Chesley B. (Sully) Sullenberger, who ditched his aircraft in the Hudson on Thursday, is by all accounts a hero. When he had a "double bird strike" and lost all power shortly after taking off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, he had to quickly calculate a few thousand things, the most important of which was how to get his aircraft down without hurting anyone on the plane or in a projected landing area below.
He made a 180-degree turn and ditched into the nearly-frozen Hudson River. The extremely hazardous landing was textbook perfect. Not one passenger was killed; a few suffered minor injuries; a flight attendant had a leg fracture.
But there were others who we could call heroes. The co-pilot and three flight attendants did their jobs perfectly, getting passengers off the plane in about 90 seconds. Capt. Sullenberger was the last off the plane, having made two trips to make sure no one was left on board.
The rescue of 155 persons was one of the finest examples of extraordinary preparation and training for something no one hopes will ever happen. Captains of tour boats and ferries quickly maneuvered to the plane to assist. There was a quick, efficient and compassionate response by the Coast Guard, New York City fire and police, emergency management, paramedics, divers, social service agencies, medical staffs, air traffic controllers, and numerous others.
Today, Barack Obama will symbolically take over a crippled ship of state that by all accounts is sinking, having crashed on the rocks by the maneuvering of an inept captain and a crew of arrogant bumblers.
He will have to make innumerable decisions to stabilize this nation from the chaos of what his predecessor created, both foreign and domestic.
Let's hope that President Obama has the ability and the courage to do what is just and necessary to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States and, like "Sully," maneuvers this nation into calmer waters, while protecting a passenger list of about 300 million.
After four years, if he accomplishes what needs to be done, we won't call him a hero. We'll just give him our thanks for doing his job extraordinarily well.
Dr. Brasch is an award-winning syndicated columnist, professor of journalism at Bloomsburg University, and president of the Pennsylvania Press Club. | <urn:uuid:ea1c8daa-5047-4368-af46-dcd7b6850002> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.american-reporter.com/4,638/836.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97092 | 615 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Published in Medical Letter on the CDC and FDA, September 12th, 2004
According to a study from the United States, "Concern regarding the use of smallpox for bioterrorism has led to the re-introduction of smallpox vaccination."
"The historic background leading to protective methods against smallpox disease, the adverse reactions and contraindications associated with vaccination, and the ongoing development of potentially safer smallpox vaccines are reviewed here," wrote W. L. Tom and colleagues at the University of California-San Diego.
Tom and associates published the...
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NewsRx also is available at LexisNexis, Gale, ProQuest, Factiva, Dialog, Thomson Reuters, NewsEdge, and Dow Jones. | <urn:uuid:f9065e52-4c9d-4f27-8a11-bb86c9244306> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Medical-Letter-on-the-CDC-and-FDA/2004-09-12/09122004333112DC.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928611 | 188 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Yep, you heard me right. National Popcorn Day is today. Though apparently the date isn’t entirely set in stone. According to The Popcorn Board the day is celebrated at the end of January, but no one is sure who started the tradition and what the original date actually is. So, in lieu of elusive facts, January 19th is the day currently used.
So for all of you popcorn loving people, and who doesn’t love popcorn, here are some really awesome ways to make popcorn. It’s easy, it’s fast, and hey, tell your mother it’s healthy too!
Just want to run to the store and grab the microwavable kind? Well, I’ve got news for you. That stuff has apparently been linked to some very serious health risks. But, there is another way you can make microwavable popcorn, without the scary risks. Another good thing about this super simple recipe: It’s cheaper! Here’s how:
Pour 2 tablespoons of kernels into a paper lunch sack. Fold the top over once and tape closed. Place in the microwave, tape side down, and hit the popcorn button. Stay close and listen until the pops are three seconds apart. Stop the microwave.
Once it’s done, put the popcorn in a bowl, melt a tablespoon or two of butter in the microwave and pour over your popcorn. Add salt to taste and mix well. Enjoy!
Tired of the same thing every time? Try these spicy versions:
Top popped corn with lime zest, chile powder, and a sprinkle of cayenne. Toss to combine.
Sugar & Spice Popcorn
In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter with sugar and ground cinnamon. Cook, stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour over popcorn and toss well to coat.
These simple recipes were found here. | <urn:uuid:8da18fa4-bac5-4c73-ac62-b3f5781ab340> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bpl.org/teens/2013/01/19/today-is-national-popcorn-day/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918376 | 395 | 1.75 | 2 |
Our Family : Environment
As a family-owned winery, it is important to us that future generations can enjoy the natural resources we take pleasure in today. Our commitment to the environment started in the 1930s with co-founders Ernest and Julio Gallo.
Julio Gallo introduced an innovative approach to land conservation known as the “50/50 Give Back” plan in Sonoma County. For every acre of land planted in vineyard, Julio set aside one acre of property for wildlife habitat. This is a practice we continue today.
E. & J. Gallo Winery took the lead in drafting the Code of Sustainable Wine Growing Practices as part of a collaborative effort with the Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers. We were also the first winery in the U.S. to receive the International Organization of Standards ISO 14001 certification for our implementation of an environmental management system to enhance our efforts to protect the environment.
Please click here to download a PDF file of our environmental brochure.
We proudly support American Farmland Trust in their efforts to help protect our nation’s farm and ranch land, promote environmentally sound farming practices and improve the economic viability of agriculture. To learn more about American Farmland Trust please click here: www.farmland.org. | <urn:uuid:b199fb83-7015-4c70-af30-f18737ed81e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gallo.com/family/environment/EnvironmentalStewardship.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930599 | 267 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Eight Trends Changing Network Security
Technology in the network security space has been through many dramatic changes recently. New mobile operating systems, growing use of personal devices, and SaaS (software-as-a-service) delivery make securing the network a growing challenge. Enhancements in the network infrastructure that connect devices within or across the network make all these developments possible. As hospitality sees ever faster network connections, more remote users, and extensive upgrades to mobile networks, it’s increasingly important to think about security policies and where and how to provide protection.
Below are eight trends wthat are likely to impact network security and security strategies.
1. Mobile Networks, VPNs and Roaming Users
Today’s connect-from-anywhere road warriors regularly test the traditional boundaries of network security. Firewalls are increasingly porous as employees access services from devices such as iPads, Android phones, tablets and PCs—all of which require security that mirrors but also improves upon PC solutions. Extending connectivity to small branch or home offices is also a focus for many organizations. Your network strategy needs to consider how to secure access across platforms over an expanding network perimeter.
2. Targeted Attacks and APTs
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs represent the next generation of Internet crimeware. For years network security capabilities such as web filtering or IPS played a key part in identifying such attacks (mostly after the initial compromise). As attackers grow bolder and employ more evasive techniques, network security must integrate with other security services to detect attacks. It will be necessary to evolve security capabilities in response to these threats in the coming years.
3. Consumerization and BYOD
Consumerization and the bring your own device (BYOD) movement means consumer devices like iPads, iPhones and Android phones are moving onto the corporate network. To deal with consumerization, security strategy needs to focus on network security for devices where an endpoint agent may not have been deployed, or may not be functioning properly.
For example, if a user connects with a Mac running malicious code, the network security layer should be able to identify that the device is attempting to retrieve malicious code updates or other suspicious activities—and be able to identify and remediate it. Otherwise the infection may not be detected until it’s too late and remediation can only happen after the fact. Consumerization and BYOD increase the importance of alignment between various security layers.
4. Web Application and Web Server Protection
The threat of attacks on web applications to extract data or to distribute malicious code persists. Cybercriminals distribute their malicious code via legitimate web servers they’ve compromised. But data-stealing attacks, many of which get the attention of media, are also a big threat. Organizations used to focus security investment on PCs and preventing conventional malware from spreading to them and onto the network. Now, you need a greater emphasis on protecting web servers and web applications. Similar challenges lie ahead for emerging technologies such as HTML5. Sophos
has published an article, “HTML5 and Security on the New Web” that offers more information on this trend.
5. IPv6: Major Surgery for the Internet
IPv6 is the new Internet protocol replacing IPv4, long the backbone of networks in general and the Internet at large. Protecting IPv6 is not just a question of porting IPv4 capabilities. While IPv6 is a wholesale replacement in making more IP addresses available, there are some very fundamental changes to the protocol which need to be considered in security policy. Whether an organization adopts it later rather than sooner, make sure that IPv6 is on the network security agenda. Sophos offers further information on this topic in the article, “Why Switch to IPv6.”
6. Contending with Cloud
Small, medium and large enterprises are beginning to adopt cloud services and SaaS at a greater rate. This trend presents a big challenge for network security, as traffic can go around traditional points of inspection. Additionally, as the number of applications available in the cloud grows, policy controls for web applications and cloud services will also need to evolve.
For example, which users should be able to interface with which services? Who should be able to post data, and who should have read-only privileges? While cloud services are developing their own security models, they will still need to be harmonized with an organization’s own strategy to avoid multiplication of password, permissions and other security infrastructure concerns. To be sure, the cloud represents a great opportunity. But as the cloud evolves, so too must network security.
7. More Encryption
Encryption at every level protects the privacy and integrity of data. Encryption is increasingly being deployed at every layer. However, greater use of encryption will bring more challenges for network security devices. For example, how will the network DLP (data loss prevention) inspect traffic which is encrypted end-to-end as it accesses a certain cloud service? Collaboration between the network and the endpoint to deliver complete security in scenarios like this will be critical. It will be necessary to have a network security strategy that integrates network security with other layers of security such as endpoint, web protection and mobile devices.
8. The Elastic Network
The network perimeter is expanding like an elastic to include high-speed 4G and LTE networks, wireless access points, branch offices, home offices, roaming users, cloud services, and third parties accessing applications and data to perform services. These changes to the size, scope and surface of a network can lead to misconfiguration or change control errors that could lead to security breaches.
It will be necessary to have security solutions that can consistently deploy at each device or point of infrastructure. Central management will need to keep on top of the dynamics of this elastic infrastructure and the various layers of security at each endpoint. | <urn:uuid:982544ac-6ff7-42bf-9fb3-6a7eb88077d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hospitalitytechnology.edgl.com/top-stories/Eight-Trends-Changing-Network-Security84460 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927016 | 1,186 | 1.96875 | 2 |
- Publication date:February 2011
- 55 b/w illus. 4 tables
- Dimensions: 253 x 215 mm
- Weight: 0.86kg
- In stock
This intermediate-level undergraduate textbook in environmental economics builds on the microeconomics courses students take in their first year. It intentionally does not survey the whole field or present every possible topic. Instead, there is a clear focus on the theory of environmental policy and its practical applications. Most of the applied parts of the book deal with the economics of environmental policy in the European Union and in the United States. The book combines basic environmental economic analysis, such as the internalization of externalities, with recent developments in this field, including induced technical change and coalition theory. Moreover, topics from daily policy debates such as global warming are put into economic perspective. This is done in an intelligible form for advanced undergraduate students of economics, business administration and related fields. Each part of the book contains a set of exercises and suggested solutions. | <urn:uuid:73c4d54c-e28a-4b65-bffe-29c8f8db2661> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item5705314/?site_locale=en_GB | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938813 | 202 | 2.046875 | 2 |
What's New | August 01, 2012
Sepsis is a common complication of infection that often leads to lengthy hospitalizations and a high risk of death. Early diagnosis of sepsis and prompt treatment with antibiotics can reduce mortality and support improved outcomes.
View Other Issues
The featured Innovations describe two programs in California and Delaware that achieved significant reductions in sepsis mortality by supporting timely identification and treatment of patients with the condition.
The featured QualityTools describe two toolkits designed to improve clinical management and reduce mortality in patients with sepsis.
Also in This Issue: | <urn:uuid:637ccd35-a7b4-4696-abd4-548bba284ca8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://innovations.ahrq.gov/issue.aspx?id=134 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929964 | 118 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Sometimes, the monotony of daily routine activities in life can burden us in ways we are not aware and conscious of. We lose energy and direction in the process. We are then not inspired and motivated to live our lives to the fullest. We failed to achieve what we once dreamt of in our youth and had hoped for in times of our graduation.
How do we reenergize ourselves and lift us from the doldrums? How do we inspire ourselves as we integrate our lives into the society? And if we are able to do so effectively, would societal problems be less difficult to manage and overcome? Do happy beings embody implications which we failed to espouse? Our dream, our ambition, our best and our desire to make a difference, where have they all gone?
Whatever we do, we do it to feel good. Only things that feel good will continue to dwell and thrive in our lives. Our creativity and our desire to do better have to be inspired, be it internally or externally. So, the question remains… where do we find those motivations we need to carry on? Can we find them in ourselves, our home, our city or our country? Is there something else? Like music, culture and/or even nature? I can’t help but wonder.
We are constantly bombarded by something higher, bigger and costlier. Do we really need them to inspire us to our best? Why does simple things like words, songs and works of arts no longer inspire us as much as a theme park, a skyscraper and a bullet train? If that’s not the way to look at it, then why are resources being allocated to the construction of such slabs of steel and bricks and so little being allotted to the arts and the upkeep of national parks and libraries?
Humans of all races have the tendency and desire to put a name to an asset. If they cannot name it after themselves, they are not quite interested in it, I fear. For one thing, a corporation or an individual (with the financial muscle) cannot name a park or work of art after itself or himself, can they? Yet, the wise men before us had said, “The pen is mightier than the sword”. Words from the Bible, works from artists and thoughts of philosophers are still among us. Where are some of the extraordinary architecture of the past?
The Great Wall of China was not built to inspire us. It was intended as a defense against the barbarian’s attacks. It is mighty but it is not inspirational. In fact, its building cost many peasants and slaves to lose their lives. As with the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx, it is more of a tomb than an inspiration to people of that period. Naturally, humans have the capacity and desire to romanticize many aspect of history. And, with time, we share a different perspective and understanding of our civilizations. Nonetheless, the question still remains, where do people find their inspirations and motivations in life? Why are some inspired to great heights while others purely exist?
Do you know where your inspiration (and motivation) lie? Are you interested to search for it? What would you do to cultivate it? Would you be thinking beautiful thoughts and living your highest altar or would you be contented to make more and more money and acquire more and more material treasures? These are questions which most governments and parents ought to be be asking, imho. Not how many jobs, how much we are paid and how much GDP a country is generating in relation to its neighboring countries! If we simply work on the numbers, all we are going to get at the end of humanity are merely numbers and nothing else…
Would you want a world where the computers and robocops rule? I don't!
Get Motivated by Tamara Lowe shows you a people motivation system that, like my own I.C.E. System in "Grow Yourself a Life You'll Love," shows you a short list of ways people like to be motivated what they need, how they go about getting it, and what they think is a good reward for good deeds. It takes just about two hours to get clear on Lowe's system and see if it can work for you in your relationships. You know that no one system works for everyone. Is it work … more
Motivation is the driving force which causes us to achieve goals. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but, theoretically, it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in the basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Conceptually, motivation should not be confused with either volition or optimism. Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion. | <urn:uuid:c04cd27e-3dbb-459a-85b6-ab59803fb859> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lunch.com/reviews/d/UserReview-Motivation-1395222-206988-The_road_less_traveled.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967104 | 1,045 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Find the stationary points for the surface. And find the local and absolute maxima or minima for the following function.
Is there any stationary points for this surface?
Let z = f(x,y)
I found the
I'm supposed to equate the two equations to get the stationary points (X , Y) and substitute them into f(x,y) to get Z. But I could not since I could only get from the two equations and that's it.
How do I proceed? Did i do anything wrong? | <urn:uuid:6cae25c8-d0e5-47b2-81d1-775e68431e18> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mathhelpforum.com/calculus/89106-stationary-points-surface.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95157 | 111 | 1.976563 | 2 |
EHFG 2012: EU Commissioner Dalli at the EHFG: Investing in prevention for sustainable health systems
EU Health Commissioner John Dalli, speaking at the European Health Forum Gastein, discussed ways to ensure sustainable health care systems. He called for an upscale of prevention efforts and for increasing the efficiency of health systems without compromising universality and quality of care.
Bad Hofgastein, 5 October, 2012 – “I believe crises provide opportunities to think creatively and push in-depth reforms”, EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli told the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG). Strategies to ensure sustainability of health care systems in times of scarce resources occupied centre stage in the discussions at this year‘s congress.
“We need to ensure that our children, and our children's children continue to enjoy a high level of health; for this we must make our systems more sustainable”, the Commissioner pointed out. “This is why we have to focus on where we can build efficiencies and cut costs, without compromising universality and quality of care.”
It was essential that efforts to prevent diseases were kept up and upscaled, Commissioner Dalli noted. “Working on the main causes of diseases, in particular smoking, alcohol abuse and obesity, is a key investment in the future which we need to sustain.”
The Commissioner underlined the importance of cooperation: „Working together across Europe adds value to the efforts to increase the efficiency of health systems, provides economies of scale and makes better use of expertise.”
The EHFG is the most important conference on health care policy in the European Union. In this its 15th year, the EHFG attracts more than 600 decision-makers from 45 countries to discuss major topics on the future of the European health care system from 3 to 6 October 2012.
Please find photos of the European Health Forum Gastein using this link: www.ehfg.org/940.html.
EHFG Press Office
Dr Birgit Kofler
B&K Kommunikationsberatung GmbH
Ph. during the Congress: +43 6432 3393 239
Mobile: +43 676 636 89 30
Phone Vienna office: +43 1 319 43 78 | <urn:uuid:5e93d0d3-23d6-4eda-8d1a-e97377016692> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pr.euractiv.com/press-release/ehfg-2012-eu-commissioner-dalli-ehfg-investing-prevention-sustainable-health-systems-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919673 | 478 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Communication is synonymous with relationship. What else is a relationship besides ongoing communication?
|It is also synonymous with vulnerability. To communicate with someone is to open and expose yourself the them.
It is also synonymous with truth. For there to, in fact, be communication, truth must be present; otherwise it would be miscommunication.
The opposite is unrelatedness, defensiveness and lying or withholding.
Unrelatedness, defensiveness and lying or withholding are not morally wrong. They just simply don’t work to be more related to someone, closer to them… to have a better relationship with them.
What a relationship actually is… is communication.
Would you be willing to put your cards on the table today? | <urn:uuid:ffc8d68d-02db-45f8-9419-d63f97d29148> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.erwandavon.com/relationship-blog/archives/591 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963215 | 151 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Religious Education for Adults
Unitarian Universalist religious education philosophy starts with the premise that we are all are lifelong learners. Each of us has an intrinsic need to stimulate our minds, energize our bodies and enliven our spirits. Each of us needs opportunities for personal growth and experiences that help us to live a more informed and productive life. Our education is holistic and transformational. We look at the whole person and offer classes, workshops and retreats that help each individual grow into his or her fullness. Together we develop spiritual practices. We study the world's religions to find the universal truth that unites them all. We meditate. We pray. We learn how to care for each other. And we explore this wonderful Unitarian Universalist faith and why people through history have dedicated their lives to its life-affirming principles. | <urn:uuid:a22afe0d-3303-4b95-b3d3-74dc858c460c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fucsj@sanjoseuu.org/Ministries/ReligiousEducation/REadults.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945412 | 170 | 2.25 | 2 |
Assessing the pharmaceutical situation in a country provides baseline information on whether its population has access to essential medicines that are of good quality, are efficacious and are being used properly. Results for such assessment can be used as a guide by policy makers and managers to develop and define the necessary changes and priority areas that require support for improved health for all. In the light of the above, WHO supported Kenya in April 2003 to carry out a baseline survey in the pharmaceutical sector to assess the current situation regarding access and use of quality medicines. The survey was carried out using the WHO Operational Package for Monitoring and Assessing the Pharmaceutical Situation in Countries (April 2003 version)
Kenya has the basic structures considered necessary for implementing a national medicine policy. However, no national assessment study has been conducted in the past to evaluate the impact of policy intervention.
Data obtained from this survey show that availability of essential medicines in public health facilities is more than 90% with 97% of public health facilities having greater than 75% availability. 45% of the households surveyed sought healthcare from public health facilities, and 6% of all households surveyed could not obtain all the prescribed medicines due to financial incapability. The cost of treatment of most common diseases in public health facilities demonstrated considerable variation ranging from an equivalent of a quarter of a day’s lowest government salary for the treatment of child malaria in public health facilities to an equivalent of more than a day and a half’s salary for the treatment of adult pneumonia in private pharmacy outlet.
More than 70% of the minimum criteria for adequate conservation conditions were met in only 30% of public health facilities.
There is a general tendency to over-prescribe medicines especially antibiotics. A national median of 78% patients received antibiotics. Irrational dispensing was also demonstrated - in 70% of public health facilities, more than three-quarters of dispensed medicines were inadequately labelled. In 27% of public health facilities, less than half of the respondents understood how to take their medicines. Performance measures suggest there is a considerable need to improve prescribing and dispensing practices in public health facilities.
Prescribers do not have access to key sources of therapeutic information they need in daily practice as Standard treatment guidelines (STG) were found in only 13% and the Essential Drugs Lists (EDL) was found in only 17% of public health facilities. Less than half public health facilities had more than 90% prescribing practice that conforms to the EDL. Only 29% of public health facilities used ORS, the recommended diarrhoea treatment, in greater than 90% of diarrhoea cases.
There is need to investigate the reasons for underperformance identified in the areas affecting access, quality and rational use of essential medicines. | <urn:uuid:6d1e52fc-bb31-449b-bfb1-0db1ddacea04> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://collections.infocollections.org/whocountry/fr/d/Jh4333e/3.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 | 0.958883 | 553 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Perl 6 is the long-awaited redesign and reimplementation of the popular and venerable Perl programming language. It's not out yet--nor is there an official release date--but the design and implementations make continual progress.
Why Perl 6
Innumerable programmers, hackers, system administrators, hobbyists, and dabblers write Perl 5 quite successfully. The language doesn't have the marketing budget of large consulting companies, hardware manufacturers, or tool vendors pushing it, yet people still use it to get their jobs done.
Why argue with that success? Why redesign a language that's working for so many people and in so many domains? Sure, Perl 5 has some warts, but it does a lot of things very well.
What's Right with Perl 5
As Adam Turoff explained once, Perl has two subtle advantages: manipulexity and whipuptitude. It's very important to be able to solve the problem at hand simply and easily without languages and tools and syntax getting in your way. That's whipuptitude. Manipulexity is the ability to use simple tools and build a sufficiently complex solution to a complex problem.
Not everyone who starts learning Perl for whipuptitude needs manipulexity right away, if ever, but having a tool that supports both is amazingly useful. That's where Perl's always aimed--making the easy things easy and the hard things possible, even if you don't traditionally think of yourself as a programmer.
Many of Perl 5's other benefits fall out from this philosophy. For example, though the popular conception is that Perl 5 is mostly a procedural language, there are plenty of functional programming features available--iterators, higher-order functions, lexical closures, filters, and more. The (admittedly minimal) object system also has a surprising amount of flexibility. Several CPAN modules provide various types of encapsulation, access control, and dispatch. There are even refinements of the object system itself, exploring such techniques as prototype-based refinement, mixins, and traits.
There's more than one way to do it, but many of those ways are freely available and freely usable from the CPAN. The premier repository system of Perl libraries and components contains thousands of modules, from simple packagings of common idioms to huge interfaces to graphical packages, databases, and web servers. With few exceptions, the community of CPAN contributors have solved nearly any common problem you can think of (and many uncommon ones, too).
It's difficult to say whether Perl excels as a glue language because of the CPAN or that CPAN has succeeded because Perl excels as a glue language, but being able to munge data between two other programs, processes, libraries, or machines is highly useful. Perl's text processing powers have few peers. Sure, you can build the single perfect command-line consisting of several small CLI utilities, but it's rare to do it more cleanly or concisely than with Perl.
What's Wrong with Perl 5
Perl 5 isn't perfect, though, and some of its flaws are more apparent the closer Perl 6 comes to completion.
Perhaps the biggest imperfection of Perl 5 is its internals. Though much of the design is clever, there are also places of obsolescence and interdependence, as well as optimizations that no one remembers, but no one can delete without affecting too many other parts of the system. Refactoring an eleven-plus-year-old software project that runs on seventy-odd platforms and has to retain backwards compatibility with itself on many levels is daunting, and there are few people qualified to do it. It's also exceedingly difficult to recruit new people for such a task.
Backwards compatibility in general hampers Perl 5 in other ways. Even though stability of interface and behavior is good in many ways, baking in an almost-right idea makes it difficult to sell people on the absolutely right idea later, especially if it takes years to discover what the true solution really is. For example, the long-deprecated and long-denigrated pseudohash feature was, partly, a way to improve object orientation. However, the Perl 6 approach (using opaque objects) solves the same problem without introducing the complexity and performance problems that pseudohashes did.
As another example, it's much too late to remove formats from Perl 5 without breaking backwards compatibility from Perl 1. However, using formats requires the use of global variables (or scary trickery), with all of the associated maintainability and encapsulation problems.
This points to one of the most subtle flaws of Perl 5: its single implementation is its specification. Certainly there is a growing test suite that explores Perl's behavior in known situations, but too many of these tests exist to ensure that no one accidentally breaks an obscure feature of a particular implementation that no one really thought about but someone somewhere relies on in an important piece of code. You could recreate Perl from its tests--after a fashion.
Perl 6 will likely also use its test suite as its primary specification, but as Larry Wall puts it, "We're just trying to start with the right tests this time."
Even if the Perl 5 codebase did follow a specification, its design is inelegant in many places. It's also very difficult to expand. Many good ideas that would make code easier to write and maintain are too impractical to support. It's a good prototype, but it's not code that you would want to keep if you had the option to do something different.
From the language level, there are a few inconsistencies, as well. For example, why should sigils change depending on how you access internal data? (The canonical answer is "To specify context of the access," but there are other ways to mark the same.) When is a block a block, and when is it a hash reference? Why does
SUPER method redispatch not respect the currently dispatched class of the invocant, but only the compiled class? How can you tell the indirect object notation's method name barewords from bareword class or function names?
It can be difficult to decide whether the problem with a certain feature is in the design or the implementation. Consider the desire to replace a built-in data structure with a user-defined object. Perl 5 requires you to use
overload to do so. To make this work, the internals check special flags on every data structure in every opcode to see if the current item has any magical behavior. This is ugly, slow, inflexible, and difficult to understand.
The Perl 6 solution is to allow multi-method dispatch, which not only removes conceptual complexity (at least, MMD is easier to explain than
tie) but also provides the possibility of a cleaner implementation.
Perl's flexibility sometimes makes life difficult. In particular, there being multiple more-or-less equivalent ways to create objects gives people plenty of opportunities to do clever things they need to do, but it also means that people tend to choose the easiest (or sometimes cleverest) way to do something, not necessarily the best way to do something. It's not Perlish to allow only one way to perform a task, but there's no reason not to provide one really good and easy way to do something while providing the proper hooks and safety outlets to customize the solution cleanly.
Also, there are plenty of language optimizations that turned out to be wrong in the long term. Many of them were conventions--from pre-existing
awk, shell, Unix, and regular expression cultures--that gave early Perl a familiarity and aided its initial growth. Yet now that Perl stands on its own, they can seem counter-productive.
Redesigning Perl means asking a lot of questions. Why is the method call operator two characters (one shifted), not a single dot? Why are strictures disabled by default in programs, not one-liners? Why does dereferencing a reference take so many characters? (Perl 5 overloaded curly braces in six different ways. If you can list four, you're doing well.) Why is evaluating a non-scalar container in scalar context so much less useful than it could be?
Once you accept that backwards compatibility is standing in the way of progress and resolve to change things for the better, you have a lot of opportunities to fix design and implementation decisions that turn out to have been bad--or at least, not completely correct.
Advantages of Perl 6
In exchange for breaking backwards compatibility, at least at the language level, Perl 6 offers plenty of high-powered language concepts that Perl 5 didn't support, including:
- Useful threading
- An overridable and reusable grammar
- Garbage collection
- Improved foreign function interface
- Module aliasing and versioning
- Improved introspection
- Extensible and overridable primitives
The Parrot project, led by designer Chip Salzenberg and pumpking Leo Toetsch, is producing the new virtual machine for the official Perl 6 release.
Parrot is a new design and implementation not specifically tied to Perl 6. Its goal is to run almost any dynamic language efficiently. Because many of the designers have plenty of experience with the Perl 5 internals, Parrot tries to avoid the common mistakes and drawbacks there. One of the first and most important design decisions is extracting the logic of overridden container behavior from opcodes into the containers themselves. That is, where you might have a tied hash in Perl 5, all of the opcodes that deal with hashes have to check that the hash received is tied. In Parrot, each hash has a specific interface and all of the opcodes expect the PMC that they receive to implement that interface. (This is the standard "Replace conditional with polymorphism" refactoring.)
Better Object Orientation
The de facto OO technique in Perl 5 is blessing a hash and accessing the hash's members directly as attributes. This is quick and easy, but it has encapsulation, substitutability, and namespace clashing problems. Those problems all have solutions: witness several competing CPAN modules that solve them.
Perl 6 instead provides opaque objects by default, with language support for creating classes and instances and declaring class and instance attributes. It also provides multiple ways to customize class and object behavior, from instantiation to destruction. Where 95 percent of objects can happily use the defaults, the 5 percent customized classes will still work with the rest of the world.
Another compelling feature is language support for roles--this is a different way of describing and encapsulating specific behavior for objects apart from inheritance or mixins. In brief, a role encapsulates behavior that multiple classes can perform, so that a function or method signature can expect an object that does a role, rather than an object that inherits from a particular abstract base class. This has powerful effects on polymorphism and genericity. Having role support in the language and the core library will make large object-oriented systems easier to write and to maintain.
Sigils, the funny little markers at the start of variables, are invariant.
Return codes make sense, especially in exceptional cases.
Similar things look similar. Different things look different. Weird things look weird.
All blocks are closures; all closures are first-class data structures on which you can set or query properties, for example.
Rules and Grammars
One of Perl 5's most useful features is integrated regular expression support--except they're not all that regular anymore. Nearly every problem Perl 5 has in the whole (inconsistency, wrong shortcuts, difficult reusability, inflexible and impenetrable internals) shows up in the syntax and implementation of regular expressions.
Perl 6 simplifies regular expressions while adding more power, producing rules. You can reuse and combine rules to produce a grammar. If you apply a grammar to text (or, perhaps, any type of input including a recursive data structure), you receive a match tree.
That sounds quite a bit like what a parser and lexer do--so there's little surprise that Perl 6 has its own locally overridable grammar that allows you to make your own syntax changes and redefine the language when you really need to. Perl 5 supported a similar feature (source filters), but it was fragile, hard to use, and even harder to re-use in serious programs.
By making a clean break from regular expressions, the designers had the opportunity to re-examine the regex syntax. The new syntax is more consistent, so it's easier to type and to remember the syntaxes of common operations. There's also more consistency, so that similar features look similar.
Perl 6 has a Perl 5 compatibility layer, if you prefer quick and dirty and familiar--but give the new syntax a try, especially for projects where quick and dirty regular expressions were intractable (more than usual, anyway).
Where is it Already?
Larry announced the Perl 6 project at OSCON in 2000. Why is it taking so long? There are several reasons.
First, Perl 5 isn't going anywhere. If anything, the rate of patches and changes to the code has increased. Cleanups from Ponie and the Phalanx project continue to improve the design and implementation, and new features from Perl 6 are making their way into Perl 5.
Second, the opportunity to do the right thing without fear of breaking
backwards compatibility opened up a lot of possibilities for impressive new
features. Reinventing regular expressions as rules and grammars, for example,
would have been difficult while retaining the flavor and syntax of
awk and Henry Spencer's original implementations. The new power
and consistency makes rules well worth the reinvention.
Third, the project is still a volunteer project. Though other languages and platforms have major corporate support, only a handful of Perl 6 hackers receive any form of funding to work on the project--and none of them on a full-time basis.
If you want to write actual, working Perl 6 code, it's possible. Pugs has been able to run quite a bit of the language since last summer. It will soon connect directly to Parrot again. When that happens, watch out!
This article is merely an overview of some of the reasons for and features of Perl 6. There are plenty of details available online in writings of the designers, the mailing lists, and the source code repositories.
The Perl 6 home page holds links to most of the design documents for the language. In particular, Larry's Perl 6 Apocalypses explore a subject area in depth, identifying the problem and outlining his thinking about what the solution might be. Damian Conway's Perl 6 Exegeses expand upon the idea, showing concrete examples written in actual Perl 6 code.
In the past several months, the design team has started to update the Perl 6 Synopses instead. Perl 6 pumpking Patrick Michaud keeps these fresh with the current design. The Apocalypses and Exegeses remain online as interesting historical documents that take too long to write and revise as changes occur.
Parrot has monthly releases. The Parrot distribution includes the Parrot Grammar Engine (PGE), which is Patrick's implementation of rules and grammars, as well as several languages that target Parrot. The most complete implementation is for Tcl, though the Punie project (Perl 1 on Parrot) shows the entire suite of compiler tools.
Ponie is a port of Perl 5 to Parrot. It's a huge refactoring project with little glory but a lot of potential usefulness. C hackers are more than welcome.
Most development discussion takes place on several Perl 6 mailing lists:
discusses Perl 6, the language and features. discusses the design and implementation of Parrot and various languages targeting Parrot. discusses PGE, Pugs, and the interaction of various components of the compiler tools.
#perl6 IRC channel on irc.freenode.net talks about Pugs and Perl 6, while
#parrot on irc.perl.org concentrates on Parrot. There is almost always someone around in
#perl6 to answer questions about Pugs or Perl 6.
Planet Perl Six aggregates weblogs from several designers and developers of various related projects. | <urn:uuid:6fb43dcc-8588-4789-8787-318ab72e7e36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.perl.com/pub/2006/01/12/what_is_perl_6.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934858 | 3,354 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Public Education Programs:
The Fire Chief will make available to the public, literature and pamphlets pertaining to fire safety. Clinton station will have an open house annually (usually during fire prevention week) and groups may request tours of the fire stations, which will be granted as schedules permit. The Fire Chief will be available to go into schools, nursing homes, businesses etc. to talk about fire safety.
Smoke Alarm Program:
A supply of smoke alarms and batteries will be carried on response vehicles. If, as a result of a fire alarm or any other activity, it is discovered that a smoke alarm is not present or is in need of a battery, steps will be taken to remedy the situation. This may involve providing the occupant with a smoke alarm or battery. Distribution of pamphlets and other educational material will be done throughout the year to residents.
A community smoke alarm survey will be carried out periodically. This survey could be in the form of a paper survey or an actual door-to-door visit. | <urn:uuid:30fe7666-f625-435a-8ea7-6f2891b93fc7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.centralhuron.com/education-programs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938332 | 206 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Additional information about Hungary’s compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with respect to the List of Issues and Replies from the Government of Hungary to the List of issues. 5 September 2012. Prepared by the Hungarian Disability Caucus.
Written Comments to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for consideration when compiling the List of Issues on the Second Periodic Report of Slovakia under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 4 April 2011
Parallel Report by the European Roma Rights Centre, the Mental Disability Advocacy Center, the Open Society Foundations and the League of Human Rights to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the Czech Republic for its consideration at the 57th session 30 May to 17 June 2011.
The report presents the findings of monitoring visits made to four psychiatric hospitals and four social care institutions in June 2010. It makes assessments according to international human rights law and standards, identifies problems in the implementation of these standards and presents specific legislative shortcomings that create limitations or provide an insufficient framework for practice. | <urn:uuid:563d87a2-750c-47ed-8009-cda8bd30848e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mdac.info/en/taxonomy/term/140 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905636 | 216 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Much of what interior designers do is unknown and unrecognized outside the profession. We know the critical role we have in affecting people's quality of life and how we impact the places where they live, work and play. Every day our clients expect us to make the right interior design decisions to protect their health, safety and welfare. In addition, our design process and materials selections can, if carefully considered, contribute to addressing the world's environmental and sustainability challenges. Meeting these responsibilities requires us to be up to date with the latest in design technology, business practices and current social concerns, such as accessibility and our aging population. We may specialize in certain practice areas, but we must be generalists when it comes to human behavior and the psychological effects of design.
Our clients and the people who use the spaces we create may not know everything we do, but they assume—and expect—that we are experts in all of the technical and practical areas of interior design. Nonetheless, our design solutions would not be considered good work if the clients and end users did not find them aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes in our efforts to accentuate the professional nature of the services we provide, we fail to acknowledge that the aesthetic value in our designed spaces is a key factor of what makes our projects successful. We also sometimes lose sight of the fact that the understanding of aesthetic value and the need to express it is also the reason why so many of us chose this field to begin with.
By all accounts we are experiencing a design renaissance, not just in the U.S. but globally. Historians may look back upon this time as the "age of aesthetics." Thanks to the mass marketing of good design by companies like Apple, IKEA and Target, excellence in design is all around us and is not only available to many more people, but also is expected by the consumer. As a result, the strategic and competitive importance of design was one of the top business stories of 2005. Although some professionals see the commercialization of design as a threat, in fact designers are reaping the benefits. Product and interior designers, as well as lifestyle gurus who tout the benefits of design, are now major celebrities and media darlings. Watching designers design has become a form of entertainment for millions of television viewers.
For me, it is inspiring to see so many people considering design excellence as an integral part of their lives and not just an added luxury for society's elite. We designers may snicker at the quick-fix "makeover" television shows that some of us consider demeaning to our profession, but the emotions expressed by the homeowners when they see their homes transformed are real. These programs may offer some of the simplest, and easiest to understand, case studies on how interior design, aesthetics and decoration affect the quality of a person's life in a positive way. They are testimony as well to the valuable role of the interior designer as part of the design team and what the designer contributes that makes the project more successful.
Without taking anything away from the builder, architect or engineer, more often than not, it is the interior designer who brings the project to life for the client. We are there to help our clients discover and express their individuality and to make life more pleasurable and enriching for them. For decades, interior design for most of the public was limited to pretty pictures in books and magazines. These were scenes created by the photographer to suit the camera, not interior spaces to be experienced and responded to. The best interior design brings emotional and spiritual well being to those who experience it. It takes into account not only what is seen but what cannot be seen—the inner life of the people in the space. That is the aesthetic power it shares with its sister arts. Today more and more people have the opportunity to feel that power as good design makes its way into public as well as commercial buildings and homes.
I invite all of you, whether a member of ASID or not, to join me and many top interior designers in Nashville, March 16-20, for INTERIORS 06: The ASID Conference on Design. We will meet to share insights on interior design but also to celebrate the best of design by honoring the achievements of our most distinguished members as well as other design visionaries. Our design gala, Celebration: The ASID Design Awards, will be held at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel on Saturday, March 18. I hope you will come and share the experience. For more information and registration, visit the ASID Web site at www.asid.org/events.
ASID President Robert Wright, FASID, is an award-winning interior designer, with a focus on office and residential design. He is a principal of Bast/Wright Interiors, Inc. in San Diego, CA. ASID can be reached at (202) 546-3480 or email@example.com , and on the Web at www.asid.org. | <urn:uuid:2c98f3a0-bc68-4b0a-9e38-5ba783f2ddd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buildings.com/article-details/articleid/4145/title/asid-update-the-scene-and-the-unseen.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964176 | 1,007 | 1.929688 | 2 |
What can one say when once again, those most deserving of a community's assistance, protection, and justice
are treated with such ___________.
I got no wrds.
Wendy Murphy has words: "America’s shameful un-equal protection clause" HERE
and HERE: "Punishing abusers key to protecting women: ...
Please watch the academy-award winning documentary, Defending Our Lives.
Christian Science Monitor story "Why Topeka, Kan., repealed its ban on domestic violence" HERE
Domestic Violence Information: KSU Women's Center page HERE
who died: October Memorial HERE
The perpetrators: HERE
The fact is, those who batter their partners or their children are not given a consequence which deters them.
writes, "...Even if education and cultural re-training might help some day, while we’re waiting around for our species to evolve, we need to give all endangered women a 45 caliber equalizer and we need to ramp up the punishment of batterers so that beating a woman isn’t sentenced on par with spitting on the sidewalk.
But if fear of becoming a monster in prison, and respect for women isn’t enough to deter a man from beating his wife, he’s already toxic – and putting him behind bars will prevent him from infecting innocent others with his poison. Punishment isn’t the only way to stop violence, but it is a legitimate and effective feature of our legal system. Lots of research shows how states that send a higher percentage of criminals to prison have lower rates of crime, even after controlling for all of things like poverty and urbanization.
But incarceration is a dirty word in the lexicon of some liberals who claim that locking people up gives the government dangerous amounts of power and threatens the freedom of the individual.
The freedom of FEMALE individuals is actually greatly enhanced when criminals who target women for violence are incapacitated.
But our legal system doesn’t care. And despite decades of disastrous statistics, our political leaders don’t care, either. In fact, nobody in a position of leadership is even complaining about the lack of justice for victimized women.
Earlier this month, there was a big to-do in D.C. about women’s issues in the Obama Administration. Lynn Rosenthal, whose responsibility it is to deal with violence against women on behalf of the president, gave a lovely talk about all sorts of things, but never once mentioned the profound failure of law to redress domestic violence or the desperate need for tougher punishments for batterers. Deval Patrick and his administration have been equally impotent.
Wendy Murphy is a leading victims rights advocate and nationally recognized television legal analyst. She is an adjunct professor at New England Law in Boston. She can be reached at email@example.com.
Sadness. I know you may be tired of this issue, i certainly am. How long before we no longer tolerate this?!
It is to me a thing most curious, that within our species,
among our own families,
power, strength, should be used to hurt..
Relational violence is mind-bending,
as this Power to Hurt and Control others is used to temporarily take the edge off of feelings of inferiority.
What a loss;
how sad for us, that our culture has so many who will hurt those not only of their own species, but their very mates, their children....
Our own real stories and stats HERE
While you SCREAM at your woman, there’s someone wishing to whisper softly in her ear… While you HUMILIATE, OFFEND and INSULT her, there’s someone wanting to please her and remind her how wonderful she is. While you HURT your woman, there’s someone wanting to love her. While you make your woman CRY there’s someone wanting to make her smile… | <urn:uuid:fd505b15-9e09-43ef-a48f-d97b2fceffea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.jp/2011/10/topeka-domestic-violence-and.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941878 | 811 | 1.960938 | 2 |
By Erica H.
I believe most experts agree that cookies, generally speaking, are not an especially healthy snack option for children (I have not done the research re: adults). But somewhere along the line I became convinced that if you pack indentical ingredients into a bar-shaped package, an aura of wholesomeness will surround the entire enterprise. Bars are healthy! (I blame Big Granola for this particular line of brainwashing.)
Of course, along comes Lorraine Bodger to call me out on this point by titling her cookbook "The Four-Sided Cookie: 55 Recipes for Delicious Squares and Bars." Yes, well. I appreciate your opinion, Ms. Bodger. That will never change the fact that while I would feel a bit irresponsible sending my daughter to school with a bag of Chewy Fruit and Nut Cookies for her classmates, I feel just fine and dandy sending her bearing Chewy Fruit and Nut Squares, thank you very much.
The fact is, it takes only the most superfical analysis of this recipe to see that she has started with a chocolate-chip cookie dough base, added a touch of orange flavor, and mixed in dried fruit and nuts instead of chocolate. It's a bit genius, frankly. You can put anything you want into chocolate chip cookie dough! It's just dough! Sorry, it seems I'm still processing this breakthrough.
At any rate, these are tasty, not too sweet, and will keep you off the list of tragically indulgent cookie-pushers.
Chewy Fruit and Nut Squares from The Four-Sided Cookie by Lorraine Bodger
- 2 1/4 c. flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 c. light or dark raisins
- 1 c. chopped dried fruit (I used a combination of apricots, prunes, and apples)
- 3/4 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. grated orange rind
- 1/4 c. orange juice
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in the fruit and nuts.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the egg, orange rind, orange juice, and vanilla and beat well. Add the flour mixture and blend well.
Spread batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the edges are browned and a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.
And don't worry--the kids will eat them. They are cookies, after all. | <urn:uuid:25f1c0b2-ac7a-40f7-ad1c-3b699e16cb0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodlushblog.com/recipes/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923883 | 622 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Gov't seeks smaller role for Fannie, Freddie
- Published on 02/21/2012 - 11:41 am
- Written by DEREK KRAVITZ, AP Economics Writer
(AP) — The government regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has submitted a plan to Congress that would shrink the mortgage giants' role in the housing market.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's proposal for a leaner Fannie and Freddie was released Tuesday and would mean fewer mortgages are backed by the government. That could make buying a home more expensive because it would lead to higher interest rates.
Under the plan, Fannie and Freddie could also increase its prices to guarantee loans and establish agreements with private investors to take on added credit risk.
The Obama administration last year laid out three options to wind down the government's support for the mortgage market slowly. Rather than making a single recommendation, the administration left the decision to Congress.
Fannie and Freddie buy mortgage loans from primary lenders, pool them, and sell them with a guarantee that investors will be paid even if borrowers default. The agencies have helped people buy homes at affordable interest rates.
But the two nearly collapsed in 2008, after the subprime mortgage market collapsed and defaults and foreclosures piled up. The government seized them in September 2008.
The bailouts of Fannie and Freddie have so far cost taxpayers roughly $150 billion, and that figure continues to grow. Republicans have called for Fannie and Freddie to be abolished, and have largely blamed the two for leading the country into the 2008 financial crisis.
But there is a growing recognition that drastic action would upend the housing finance system, threatening the broader economy.
Since they were taken over by the government, Fannie and Freddie have bought or guaranteed about 3 out of every 4 mortgages in the United States and more than 10 million Americans have refinanced Fannie- and Freddie-backed mortgages. | <urn:uuid:cc206d86-dcdd-4de2-a742-c1162978d2ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebusinessjournal.com/news/national/895-govt-seeks-smaller-role-for-fannie-freddie | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958315 | 389 | 2.265625 | 2 |
P. O. Box 902, Hudson, New York 12534
Rainbow Bridge Memorials
Oscar - 17 December 2006
OSCAR was found roaming through garbage in an alley. He had a secret story in his past, as he had been around.
The time he spent with us was safe, warm and happy in as much comfort as possible. It turned out he had liver cancer and he left us for the Rainbow Bridge on December 17, 2006.
He purred up until his last day.
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Contact us at:
Animalkind Inc. is a not-for-profit welfare, protection, rescue, rights organization dedicated to the compassionate care and humane population control of abandoned, feral and stray cats in Hudson, New York (Columbia County) and the surrounding area. We promote non-lethal prevention of an unwanted litter or litters of kittens through trap, spay, neuter, release (return), (tnr, TNR). An altered cat or kitten is released into a managed colony. Felines living in such colonies are assured kind daily care. Adoption to homes providing love and care for cats and kittens is encouraged. We also provide low or no cost spaying and neutering assistance to low income pet owners and help increase public awareness and education through the media, special events, and publications to promote compassion, respect, and kindness towards all animals.
This site is hosted and maintained by:
The Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman Family Foundation
Thank you for visiting all-creatures.org. | <urn:uuid:a460e3fa-cc81-42aa-a4c1-3ee49076078a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-creatures.org/ak/rainbow-oscar-20061217.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940884 | 376 | 1.523438 | 2 |