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Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 1st, 2012
There are a number of common themes found among the Reading for Mass this week. Death is the subject our First Reading from the Book of Wisdom and it is found again in our Gospel. The theme of Faith in God’s saving power is also present. In our psalm we sing “I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me” and in our Gospel Reading we hear of two such individuals who reached out to Jesus in faith and were blessed.
As we come to the Eucharist this week, let us fall at the feet of Jesus, reach out with expectant faith, praying for the Lord to restore us to the fullness of life.
In times of spiritual cooling and laziness, imagine in your heart those past times when you were full of zeal…remember your past efforts and the energy with which you opposed those who wished to obstruct your progress. These recollections will reawaken your soul from its deep sleep, will invest it anew with the fire of zeal, will raise it, as it were, from the dead and will make it engage in an ardent struggle against the devil and sin, thus returning to its former rank. -St. Isaak of Syria | <urn:uuid:21e1dace-5045-49cc-9bf7-05b706982cca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://restlesspilgrim.net/blog/tag/sheol/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972611 | 261 | 1.90625 | 2 |
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- Personal Message
- Easy to start, happy to learn and enjoy the result. Learning is a pleasant process when you enjoy studying. You won't feel bored when you learn with me.
- Which subject(s) do you teach?
- I teach standard, clear Mandarin Chinese
I also teach computer programs Photoshop and Illustrator, fashion design and handcrafts.
- Tell me about your qualifications.
- Fashion Design, (BA) Beijing Union university,
Fashion Artefact, (MA) London College of Fashion
- What kind of experience do you have?
- 8 years fashion design study background with Illustration, pattern cutting, sewing and handcraft skills.
Fashion sports designer for 5 years in the top one sportswear brand in China.
I use Illustrator and Photoshop to make style sketches, I can also quickly make patterns.
In 2008 I moved to London, and I studied Fashion Artefacts for 3 years and I have been a Fashion Artefact artist for 2 years.
- How much do you charge?
- Mandarin Chinese: £25/ per hour. First one hour is free for demonstration and agreement.
Fashion Design: £30/ per hour. First one hour is free for demonstration and agreement.
Photoshop and Illustrator: £30/ per hour. First one hour is free for demonstration and agreement.
- Where do you teach?
- I am will travel to your place for teaching or we can meet in central london, (Zone 1-2 no charge, Zone 3 - 4 travel expense will be added.)
- When are you available?
- Everyday daytime and evening. (include weekend)
- Which ages and levels do you teach?
- Kids and Adult are both welcome.
- Do you have an up-to-date DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service, formerly CRB) Certificate?
- In process
- Tell me about some of your current students.
- 1. Teaching spoken Mandarin Chinese with a 33 years old office worker. He wants to improve his pronunciation and correct tones.
2. Tutoring intermediate Mandarin Chinese with 32 years old teacher. He wants to improve his chinese grammar.
3. Teaching spoken Mandarin Chinese with 40 years old director. He has an office in Shanghai and he wants to communicate with his Chinese staff.
4. Tutoring Illustrator and photoshop with a 27 years old Fashion designer assistant. She wants to use Illustrator to make fashion sketches quickly for her work.
- Do you have a personal message for students?
- I know how important it is to have fun while studying. If you believe in yourself, I can help you achieve your goals.
Send a message to Nikita Wang
It's free to contact me, and you don't need to log in - read more | <urn:uuid:d7870555-f452-443f-9cc3-60b179b71e01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thetutorpages.com/tutors/online-fashion-and-textiles-tutors/online-fashion-and-textiles-tuition/537 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916274 | 708 | 1.65625 | 2 |
7 June 2010 | EN | 中文
The new panel will review the science and anticipated effects of changes in biodiversity
An independent, international science panel would improve standards and infrastructure for biodiversity science, says an editorial in Nature.
This week, in South Korea, government representatives from across the world will decide whether to create a panel, reminiscent of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to review the science and anticipated effects of changes in biodiversity.
The proposed panel, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), will conduct regional as well as global assessments — in part to address the fact that biodiversity change is a more local affair than climate change.
It will likely allocate part of its budget to building scientific capacity in developing countries, predicts the editorial. And by working with groups such as the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network, it could improve predictive models of global change and allow biodiversity science to flourish, it adds.
But the panel must work with other organisations that influence biodiversity. For example, if the UN Food and Agriculture Organization were involved, farmers and fishermen would be more likely to stand behind its conclusions.
Despite recent hiccups, the IPCC "remains the gold standard for independent scientific assessment", says the editorial. More importantly, its reports on the economic impacts of climate change have made the issue much harder for policymakers to ignore.
"If the IPBES can do the same for biodiversity and ecosystem change, it will be very much worth its proposed annual budget of around US$12 million", concludes the editorial.
All SciDev.Net material is free to reproduce providing that the source and author are appropriately credited. For further details see Creative Commons. | <urn:uuid:dc9a0580-45cb-41cc-a767-5b28acc52aec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scidev.net/en/opinions/an-ipcc-for-biodiversity-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915465 | 357 | 3.078125 | 3 |
By Lubna Ali
A rose protects its beauty with thorns; a Muslimah protects her beauty with her Hijab! Women in Islam are just like pearls in a shell, priceless treasures, and most beautiful treasures on the Earth are hidden. So, it is important for a Muslim women to cover her body by taking Hijab because they are also considered as beautiful treasures in Islam.
Moreover, wearing Hijab is adherence to the Qur’an and Sunnah, which makes it obvious that it is a religious duty. We have numerous proofs in both, the Qur’an and the Sunnah that clearly explain the significance of Hijab.
Allah said, “O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (veils) all over their bodies (i.e.screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way). That will be better, that they should be known (as free respectable women) so as not to be annoyed. and Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Qur’an, 33:59)
Narrated Safiyah Bint Shaibah, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said that when the verse, “And to draw their veils all over juyubihinna (i.e their bodies, faces, necks, and bosoms).... (Qur’an, 24:31) was revealed, women cut their waist sheets at the edge and covered their heads and faces with that piece of cloth.” (Bukhari). Veil has been prescribed for women to block the road to sin.
Now-a-days, Hijab is used for adornment, to look good and attractive. They are stitched to the perfection of the body, hence revealing the figure, something which is ought to be concealed and not revealed. In addition, women also wear perfume, intentionally or unintentionally, but it is also another feature of attraction.
Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said, “Every eye is lustful and when a woman applies perfume and then goes about in an assembly, she is like such and such, i.e. an adulteress.” (Mishkat)
It is very rare that women are seen observing the Hijab correctly for the purpose it intends to fulfill. A Hadith narrated by Ibn Hibban, “If a woman offers her five daily prayers and fasts her month (i.e., Ramadan) and guards her chastity and obeys her husband, it will be said to her, ‘Enter Paradise from whichever of the gates of Paradise you wish.’
And Allah said, “Stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves like that of the former times of ignorance.” (Qur’an, 33:33)
We think modernism is in uncovering, but women who display their beauty are often subjected to sexual exploitation by immoral people. If exposure of the body is modernism, then animals are far more modern than us. If you want Jannah and want to see Allah, if you want to live in the palaces where one brick is of gold and another is of silver, the rivers of wine, milk and honey are flowing from underneath, then cover yourself by wearing a Hijab, don’t wait for your funeral shroud to be the first time your body is covered with. Be like a diamond precious and rare, not like a stone found everywhere! | <urn:uuid:254e7a1b-b9a9-415f-8d71-52e7ead14a01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sunni-news.net/en/articles.aspx?article_no=20587 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965441 | 742 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Breaking News: Arlen Specter, Former U.S. Senator, Dies at 82
Arlen Specter, a longtime U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, died on October 14, 2012, at his home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from complications of non-Hodgkins lymphoma—a type of cancer that he had been battling since 2005. He was 82 years old.
Specter shocked politicians on both sides of the aisle in 2009, when he announced he was switching to the Democratic Party after registering as a Republican for more than four decades (since 1965). At a news conference held in 2009, Specter explained his decision to switch parties: "As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party," he said.
Specter, born on February 12, 1930, in Wichita, Kansas, to Russian immigrants, got his start in politics after becoming a top staff member of the Warren Commission in 1964. There, he investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and helped develop the "single-bullet theory," which suggested that both JFK and Texas Governor John Connally—who was shot and killed in June 1993—had been wounded by the same bullet. He was a registered Democrat at the time.
Not long after, Specter switched to the Republican Party, and ran as a Republican for the Philadelphia District Attorney seat. He won, and served as D.A. until 1974. Then, in 1980, Specter was elected to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate. He was re-elected to his Senate seat four times thereafter, in 1986, 1992, 1998 and 2004.
In the late 1990s, Specter criticized the Republican Party for its impeachment of President Bill Clinton—Specter claimed that Clinton had not received a fair trial—and worked for the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, which the Senate passed in July 2005.
In February 2005, Specter announced that he had been diagnosed with an advanced form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer. Continuing to work in the Senate while undergoing chemotherapy, Specter ended treatment in July 2005. However, in April 2008, the lymphoma returned, forcing the senator to undergo a second round of chemotherapy. Specter went back into remission in July 2008. Beginning in the early 2000s, Specter played a major role in encouraging medical research.
After receiving the news of Specter's death on October 14, 2012, President Barack Obama issued the following statement:
"Arlen Specter was always a fighter. From his days stamping out corruption as a prosecutor in Philadelphia to his three decades of service in the Senate, Arlen was fiercely independent—never putting party or ideology ahead of the people he was chosen to serve. He brought that same toughness and determination to his personal struggles, using his own story to inspire others. When he announced that his cancer had returned in 2005, Arlen said, 'I have beaten a brain tumor, bypass heart surgery and many tough political opponents and I'm going to beat this, too.' Arlen fought that battle for seven more years with the same resolve he used to fight for stem-cell research funding, veterans health, and countless other issues that will continue to change lives for years to come. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Joan and the rest of the Specter family."
Specter was survived by his wife, Joan Levy, sons Shanin and Stephen, and his four grandchildren, Silvi, Perri, Lilli and Hatti.
Civil Rights Activist, U.S. President, U.S. Representative / 1917 - 1963
John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president, negotiated the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and initiated the Alliance for Progress. He was assassinated in 1963.
Lawyer, U.S. President, U.S. Representative / 1961 -
Barack Obama is the 44th and current president of the United States, and the first African American to serve as U.S. president. First elected to the presidency in 2008, he won a second term in 2012. | <urn:uuid:61c44f86-5a51-432f-a734-94a18bd164f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biography.com/bio-now/breaking-news-arlen-specter-former-us-senator-dies-at-82-21000005 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983486 | 864 | 1.585938 | 2 |
In his angry column of May 2, Charley Reese takes off once again after his favorite whipping boy: Israel. Given Reese's usual attitudes, his strong sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians is quite extraordinary. This is the man who continually glorifies the Confederacy, which existed on the backs of slave labor.
In the nine years since I've made the acquaintance of his columns, I don't recall him writing a single word in support of the civil rights struggle in the United States. The slaughter of Tutsis by Hutus in Rwanda and the massacre of East Timorese by the Indonesian Army passed without comment by Reese. He opposed U.S. intervention in Bosnia to stop the violence there, but consistency not being one of Reese's strong points, he appeals to the U.S. government to intercede on behalf of the Palestinians.
Reese writes with apparently total ignorance about the century-old history of Zionism, about the two millennia of Jewish persecution that produced it and about the fact that the Holocaust was the final event that precipitated the creation of the Jewish state. Without the Holocaust, there would be no Israel. If Reese was the least bit fair, he would recognize the near-miracle of Israel's existence. This is a nation which came into being through the efforts of a small remnant of European Jewry, that has absorbed about 4 million immigrants in 50 years, which has fought four wars against great odds to keep from being extinguished, and more recently has developed a prosperous and vibrant economy. It is the only democracy in the Middle East, and instead of outrageously comparing the Israel Defense Force to the Nazi army during World War II, he should compare Israel to the likes of Iraq, Libya and Syria.
The problem of the Palestinians is complex. It will be settled sooner or later, but only on terms that guarantee Israel's security. What other sovereign state would accept less. Let us also remember that in the history of warfare, there is only one nation that has voluntarily yielded conquered territory.
Israel gave back the Sinai to Egypt and is still negotiating to give the Palestinians a large bloc of land conquered by Israel in bloody fighting so they can have their own state. That they don't have it yet is their own fault. Former Premier Ehud Barak offered Arafat everything the Palestinians had been demanding, and he turned down the deal. Presumably he's still dreaming of driving the Israelis into the Mediterranean. If and when the Palestinians get their state, I don't expect much. In the course of its short history, the Palestinian Authority had presented the picture of a government that is dictatorial and corrupt to its core.
Finally, a word about Charley Reese. There's only one reason why he's so charged up about the Palestinians. It's because they're located in Israel, and it gives Reese an opportunity to flog the Jews. Reese is a bigot and a very large part of his bigotry consists of anti-Semitism. | <urn:uuid:48a35cd3-0e04-4061-971d-b64414f74d1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://staugustine.com/stories/051301/opi_0513010030.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976728 | 598 | 1.640625 | 2 |
DIMENSIONS OF HELMET: 18” H x 15” W x 14" D WEIGHT 37
STAND NOT INCLUDED
2012 by Land And Sea Collection™, All Rights Reserved
Presented is an interesting 3 light commercial diving helmet made by A. J. Morse & Sons,
Inc., and carrying serial number 2133 with matching numbers throughout. The reddish brown color varies from medium to
dark brown with tinges of black in the overall patina. There are numerous small dents all over the bonnet. What sets these
early style commercial helmets apart from the later versions is that their sidelights are rectangular and stand upright. This model
helmet appears in the 1910 Morse catalog on page 35, but was known to be around around years before.
PROVENANCE:The original owner of this hat is
now deceased. His name and biography will accompany the helmet. He was born in 1901, and started commercial diving at
an early age. The family says that he acquired the helmet in the early 1930's and that it has been in his or their possession
ever since. Most recently it was the property of his grandson. In his early years, he operated a boat yard in Palm Beach County
using it throughout the Florida Keys and South Florida. In 1942, he
was one of the divers that helped with the righting of the TSS Normandie in New York City where this hat was used. In 1948, he
traveled to Guayaquil, Ecuador, for an underwater pipe project. During the
Savannah Bridge in Georgia, an I-Beam fell of a derrick and cracked the helmet while he was under water. He also helped build
a dam and a bridge in Brazil, and afterwards worked on the Panama Canal Locks. This helmet was also used building the
Mackinac Bridge in Michigan. And, in building the Hampton's Roads Tunnel in Norfolk, Virginia, the Chesapeake Bridge
Bay Tunnel and many other maintenance and construction jobs through out Florida and South America. He retired in 1963 and
died shortly thereafter.
Exhaust, drop down lock, intake elbow
all used diving gear, this is being sold for DISPLAY ONLY. It should not be dived without having passed inspection by a certified
Bottom of breast plate
Inside of bonnet
The front door unscrews and the early style exhaust valve wheel turns. The air
passages are all intact. The chin button is in place and functions. Field repairs were made to stop leaking, and a
long gash on the left side was reinforced with solder. The brailes, are a later replacement, as is the Craftsweld communication
box that was added sometime in the past. The bonnet shows numerous small dents in
the front and on top. All the port looks to be original.
A Craftweld comm box is on left side
of back . Drop down lock on right
The Morse name tag reads A.J. Morse & Son, Inc., Boston, Mass., USA, on four lines. The number 2133 appears
on both the upper and lower neck rings and on the top of all four brails. The two front brails are stamped "front".
HISTORY OF MORSE
DIVING: In the arena of deep sea
diving, there are few companies with the longevity and history of Morse Diving. The company was founded in 1837 as a Boston
maker of brass ware, three years before Englishman Augustus Siebe manufactured its first closed air dive helmet. During the
Civil War, the firm commenced building maritime fittings and began experimenting with early underwater hardhat designs from
Siebe-Gorman and other pioneering makers. In 1864, Andrew Morse bought out his partner, introduced his sons into the business,
and began to focus on creating new products for underwater salvage expeditions. Morse was the first company to make the Navy
MK V helmet, starting production in 1916. As their expertise and experience grew over the years, they developed a worldwide
reputation as a major supplier of hardhat diving apparatus. Morse continues in business today in Rockland, MA.
A. Morse & Son, Inc. tag
All brails numbered
OUR UNCONDITIONAL NO NONSENSE GUARANTEE: If not completely satisfied with your purchase
it may be returned within five days of receipt in its original packaging if without damage. Return items must be insured for
their full value. Only a prior email authorization from us for the return is required. Shipping charges are included in this
offer within the continental United States. if an error is due to our fault.
& PACKING: The cost of shipping, packing, handling, and insurance to your destination is an additional charge.
We price our shipping honestly, but we expect to be reimbursed for the nominal cost of packaging materials and handling. Within
the continental United States, a helmet will generally ship for $125.00 depending on destination and amount of insurance.
International buyers welcome,
but inquire first. We have satisfied customers in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands,
Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Estonia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Holland,
Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Martinique, Mexico,
New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Nova Scotia, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, St. Maarten, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, USVI and
the Eastern Caribbean.
ACCEPTED FORMS OF PAYMENT are Bank wire transfer, cashier's check, money order, or personal check
in which case the item will be held until cleared. No credit cards or PayPal accepted.
2012 by Land And Sea Collection™, All Rights Reserved | <urn:uuid:7770c8b5-741b-4e6b-aeb9-35f467867bf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://landandseacollection.com/id843.html | 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 | 0.940405 | 1,244 | 1.53125 | 2 |
||This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2010)|
Clifford Michael Irving (born November 5, 1930) is an American investigative reporter and writer. He is known for a fake "autobiography" of Howard Hughes in the early 1970s. After Hughes denounced him and sued McGraw-Hill, the publisher, Irving confessed the hoax and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, serving 17 months.
Early life and writing career
Irving grew up in New York City, New York, United States, North America, the son of Dorothy and Jay Irving, a Collier's cover artist and the creator of the syndicated comic strip Pottsy. After graduating in 1947 from Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, Irving attended Cornell University, graduated with honors in English, and worked on his first novel, On a Darkling Plain (Putnam, 1956), while he was a copy boy at The New York Times. He completed his second novel, The Losers (1958), as he traveled about Europe. On Ibiza, he met an Englishwoman, Claire Lydon, and they married in 1958, moving to California, where she died at Big Sur in an automobile accident. Irving later married English author Maureen "Moish" Earl from 1984 to 1998 while living much of the time in the mountain town of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Irving's third novel, The Valley, is a Western, published by McGraw-Hill in 1960. In 1962, after a year spent traveling around the world and living in a houseboat in Kashmir, Irving moved back to Ibiza with his third wife, English photographic model Fay Brooke, and their newborn son, Josh. This marriage ended in divorce. In 1967, he married Swiss/German artist Edith Sommer, and they had two sons, John Edmond (aka "Nedsky") and Barnaby. On Ibiza he was friendly with Hungarian art forger Elmyr de Hory and was asked by De Hory to write his biography, Fake! (1969). Irving and de Hory are both featured in Orson Welles's documentary F for Fake (1974).
Fake autobiography of Howard Hughes
By 1958, Howard Hughes was a recluse avoiding the public.
In 1970, in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Irving met with an author of children's books and old friend, Richard Suskind, and created the scheme to write Hughes's "autobiography". Irving and Suskind believed that because Hughes had completely withdrawn from public life, he would never want to draw attention to himself by denouncing the book or filing a lawsuit for slander. Suskind would do most of the necessary research in news archives. Irving started by enlisting the aid of artist and writer friends on Ibiza in order to forge letters in Hughes's own hand, imitating authentic letters they had seen displayed in Newsweek magazine.
Irving contacted his publisher, McGraw-Hill, and said he had corresponded with Hughes because of his book about de Hory and that Hughes had expressed interest in letting him write his autobiography. The McGraw-Hill editors invited him to New York, where he showed them three forged letters, one of which said Hughes wished to have his biography written but that he wanted the project to remain secret for the time being. The autobiography would be based on interviews Hughes was willing to do with Irving.
McGraw-Hill agreed to the terms and wrote up contracts between Hughes, Irving, and the company; Irving and his friends forged Hughes's signatures. McGraw-Hill paid an advance of US$100,000, with an additional US$400,000 that would go to Hughes. Irving later bargained the sum up to US$765,000, with US$100,000 going to Irving and the rest to Hughes. McGraw-Hill paid by checks made out to "H. R. Hughes", which Irving's Swiss wife Edith deposited to a Swiss bank account that she had opened under the name of "Helga R. Hughes".
The manuscript
Irving and Suskind researched all the available information about Hughes. To reinforce the public perception of Hughes as an eccentric recluse, Irving also created fake interviews that he claimed were conducted in remote locations all over the world, including one on a Mexican pyramid.
Irving and Suskind gained access to the private files of Time-Life, as well as a manuscript by James Phelan, who was ghostwriting memoirs of Noah Dietrich, former business manager to Hughes. Mutual acquaintance and Hollywood producer Stanley Meyer showed Irving a copy of the manuscript—without Phelan's consent—in the hope that he would be willing to rewrite it in a more publishable format. Irving hurriedly made a copy of it for his own purposes.
In late 1971, Irving delivered the manuscript to McGraw-Hill. He included notes in Hughes's forged handwriting that an expert forensic document analyst declared genuine. Hughes experts at Time-Life were also convinced. McGraw-Hill announced its intention to publish the book in March 1972.
The investigation
Several representatives of Hughes's companies and other people who had known the businessman expressed doubts about the forthcoming work's authenticity. Irving replied that Hughes had simply not told them about the book. Frank McCulloch, known for years as the last journalist to interview Hughes, received an angry call from someone claiming to be Hughes himself. But when McCulloch read the Irving manuscript, he said that it was indeed accurate.
McGraw-Hill and Life, which had paid to publish excerpts of the book, continued to support Irving. Osborn Associates, a firm of handwriting experts, declared the writing samples were authentic. Irving had to submit to a lie-detector test, the results of which indicated inconsistencies but no outright lies. For weeks, there was no sign of Hughes.
On January 7, 1972, Hughes contacted the outside world. He arranged a telephone conference with seven journalists who had known him years before. It took place two days later; the journalists' end of the conversation was televised. Hughes denounced Irving, said that he had never even met him, and said that he was still living in the Bahamas. Irving claimed that the voice was probably a fake.
Hughes's lawyer, Chester Davis, filed suit against McGraw-Hill, Life, Clifford Irving, and Dell Publications. Swiss authorities investigated the "Helga R. Hughes" bank account; they found that US$750,000 had been deposited and that the Irvings, who by this time had returned to their home on the Balearic resort island of Ibiza, were denying everything. When Swiss police visited the Irvings on Ibiza, Clifford Irving hinted that he might have been dealing with an impostor. James Phelan read an excerpt of the "autobiography" and realized that some of its factual information had come not from Hughes, but from his own book. The Swiss bank identified Edith Irving as the depositor of the funds, and the fraud was revealed.
Confession and trial
The Irvings confessed on January 28, 1972. They and Suskind were indicted for fraud, appeared in federal court on March 13, and were found guilty on June 16. Irving was convicted and spent 17 months in prison at the federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, and at the Federal Correctional Complex, Allenwood in Pennsylvania, where he stopped smoking and took up weightlifting. He voluntarily returned the US$765,000 advance to his publishers. Suskind was sentenced to six months and served five. Edith, a.k.a. "Helga", served time in America and in Switzerland.
Following his release, Irving continued to write books, including Trial, Tom Mix and Pancho Villa, Final Argument, and Daddy's Girl. He lived in East Hampton, then San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, then Santa Fe, finally settling into a quiet and semi-reclusive life near Aspen, Colorado, where, in his own words, he "writes, paints, gardens, practices tai chi and yoga, chops firewood, and counts his blessings".
The fake autobiography was published in Santa Fe in a private edition in 1999, and went out of print, but, in March 2008, John Blake Publishing, a British company, issued Howard Hughes: The Autobiography. All the events of the experience were described in detail in Irving's The Hoax, published by The Permanent Press in 1981 (previously issued under different titles by Grove Press in New York in 1972 and Allison & Busby in London in 1977).
In 2012, Irving digitally self-published 12 of his works, some of which had never been published before, including I Remember Amnesia, Jailing: the Prison Memoirs of 00040, and Bloomberg Discovers America.
In July 2005, filming began in Puerto Rico and New York on The Hoax, starring Richard Gere as Irving, Alfred Molina as Suskind, and Marcia Gay Harden as Edith. On March 6, 2007, Hyperion reissued Clifford Irving's The Hoax in a movie tie-in edition. The film, directed by Lasse Hallström, opened on April 6, 2007, with a DVD release following on October 16. The majority of reviews were favorable.
Irving decried the film as a distortion of the story and "a hoax about a hoax", citing the film's portrayals of himself, Suskind, and Edith Irving as "absurd even more than inaccurate" and saying that the film added events and scenes that did not occur in real life. As the author of the source book, Irving is credited as a writer for the film.
In spring 2012 the movie rights to Irving's nonfiction book, "Fake!," were optioned by Steve Golin and Anonymous Content LLC, and the author was commissioned to write a first draft screenplay based on the work. English director Malcolm Venville ("Henry's Crime") has signed on to direct.
- On a Darkling Plain (1956)
- The Losers (1958)
- The Valley (1960)
- The 38th Floor (1965)
- The Battle of Jerusalem (1967)
- Spy (1968)
- Fake: the story of Elmyr de Hory: the greatest art forger of our time. McGraw-Hill. 1969.
- Autobiography of Howard Hughes (1971)
- The Death Freak (1976)
- The Sleeping Spy (1979)
- The Hoax (1981)
- Tom Mix and Pancho Villa (1981)
- The Angel of Zin (1983)
- Trial (1987)
- Daddy's Girl: The Campbell Murder Case A True Tale of Vengeance, Betrayal, and Texas Justice (1988)
- Final Argument (1990)
- The Spring (1995)
- I Remember Amnesia (2004)
- Jailing: the Prison Memoirs of 00040 (2012)
- Bloomberg Discovers America (2012)
Works about the Hughes affair
- Fay, Stephen, Lewis Chester and Magnus Linklater. Hoax: The Inside Story of the Howard Hughes-Clifford Irving Affair (1972). Irving says this book is "mostly fiction".
- Irving, Clifford, and Richard Suskind. Project Octavio: The Story of the Howard Hughes Hoax (London: Allison & Busby, 1977; originally New York: Grove Press, 1972)
- F for Fake, a documentary film by Orson Welles (1974), includes a segment on Irving filmed around the time the Hughes autobiography scandal broke.
- Der Scheck heiligt die Mittel, another documentary film by Henry Kolarz on German TV (1974). Richard Suskind portrayed himself.
- Irving Is Freed on Parole Here; Says He Owes 'About a Million' The New York Times, by T. Kaufman February 15, 1974
- Lambiek Comiclopedia: Jay Irving
- III "The Fabulous Hoax of Clifford Irving." Time, February 21, 1972.
- A Trial by Clifford Irving, Summit Books, 1990, 329 pages, page 331
- http://books.google.com/books?id=W6ea63xC2AQC&pg=PA61&dq=%22clifford+irving%22+%22de+Hory%22+%22F+for+fake%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Ta22UJvQK_DW0gHz-4GwCg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22clifford%20irving%22%20%22de%20Hory%22%20%22F%20for%20fake%22&f=false
- "The Secret Life of Clifford Irving". Time, February 14, 1972.
- Bell, Rachael. "Clifford Irving's Hoax". truTV.com. p. 7. Retrieved 2010-02-26.
- Howard Hughes: The Autobiography, John Blake Publishing.
- Martin Davies, Bobliomaniacs' Corner - Clifford Irving, Ibiza History and Culture, March 2005.
- Irving, Clifford. "The New Movie"
- Internet Movie Database, The Hoax (2006)xxx, full cast and crew
- Crime Library: "Clifford Irving" by Rachael Bell
- The Hoax at the Internet Movie Database
- New Langton Arts: Clifford Irving Show with Phantom Rosebuds
- Martin Davies, Bobliomaniacs' Corner - Clifford Irving, Ibiza History and Culture.
- The Hoax | <urn:uuid:98c8b736-f2fb-4c91-8a3a-e232050bbd20> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Irving | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959889 | 2,859 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Writer and game designer Andrea Phillips, who I interviewed in this space a few years back, recently wrote a blog post about the evolution of her writing process, describing “the way that my creation of stories and my creation of games have come to use the same general process.” The gist of the post is something like this: developing stories amounts to something very similar to developing games in terms of the way that both forms demand striking a kind of systemic balance. An unbalanced game will be exploited by its players, or, as in the example Phillips uses of a game which over-incentivizes certain play actions through its point system, will bring about undesired behaviors that detract from the core experience. Similarly, narrative figures fail to generate their intended effects unless they are finely “balanced” toward specific ends. This could be illustrated by the canonical example of how showing a ticking time bomb hidden beneath a table at the beginning of a sequence will generate suspense, but if it is shown only right before it explodes, the result will be mere shock. In both cases — games and narratives — simple changes in sequence, tone, and fact can have enormous impact on the system as a whole.
Maybe that discovery was part of why I became interested in participatory and environmental media broadly and game design more specifically. The thrill of watching those possibilities open and close and those changes ripple through the system was something I wanted to design for. Why should authors have all the fun playing with the pieces and seeing how things shake out differently as the constituent elements of a story environment are changed? As Phillips puts it, it’s a wonderful game to imagine “how else we might have assembled the same cogs and gears to make [the clockwork machine of a story] run faster or quieter or keep time better.”
This pleasure, I think, is at the heart of game play, not just game design. It’s a unique kind of pleasure that comes from a feeling of real agency, of having one’s actions effect tangible consequences upon a system, and of discovering the new and unforeseen challenges associated with those consequences — and it’s what keeps me passionate about writing, designing, and playing alike. | <urn:uuid:95838bf7-9932-48cb-ad72-fb6f9fed3e1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://remotedevice.net/blog/play-writing-and-the-pleasures-of-complex-dynamic-systems/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968008 | 450 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The World Economy: Conquest and Settlement
One important instance of this process was Chinese settlement of the relatively empty and swampy lands south of the Yangtse, and introduction of new quick–ripening strains of rice from Vietnam suitable for multicropping. This process occurred between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, during which population growth accelerated, per capita income rose by a third, and the distribution of population and economic activity were transformed. In the eighth century only a quarter of the Chinese population lived south of the Yangtse; in the thirteenth, more than threequarters. The new technology involved higher labour inputs, so productivity rose less than per capita income.
An even more dramatic case was the European encounter with the Americas. The existence of this continent was unknown to Europeans before the 1492 voyage of Columbus3. The discovery opened up an enormous area, for the most part thinly populated. Mexico and Peru were the most advanced and densely settled, but they were easily conquered and three quarters of their population was wiped out by diseases which the Europeans inadvertently introduced. The new continent offered crops unknown elsewhere — maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, manioc, chilis, tomatoes, groundnuts, pineapples, cocoa and tobacco. These were introduced in Europe, Africa and Asia, and enhanced their production potential and capacity to sustain population growth. There was a reciprocal transfer to the Americas, which greatly augmented its potential. The new crops were wheat, rice, sugar cane, vines, salad greens, olives, bananas and coffee. The new animals for food were cattle, pigs, chickens, sheep and goats, as well as horses, oxen, asses and donkeys for transport.
The major initial attractions of the Americas were the rich silver resources of Mexico and Peru, and development of plantation agriculture with imports of slave labour from Africa. The neo–European economies of North America and the southern cone of Latin America developed later.
The population of the Americas did not recover its 1500 level until the first half of the eighteenth century. The full potential of the Americas began to be realised in the nineteenth century with massive European immigration and the western movement of the production frontier made possible by railways.
The present variation in economic performance within the Americas — between the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean — is partly due to variations in resource endowment, but there are institutional and societal echoes from the past. In North America and Brazil the relatively small indigenous population was marginalised or exterminated, in former Spanish colonies the indigenous population remained as an underclass, and in all the areas where slavery was important their descendants have also remained an underprivileged group. Quite apart from this, there were important differences in the colonial period between Iberian institutions and those of North America. These continued to have an impact on subsequent growth performance4. | <urn:uuid:f27e4d6a-f769-4078-8db5-784a1cd36eef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theworldeconomy.org/advances/advances1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96715 | 572 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Over 30 years of global soil moisture observations for climate applications
Water held in soil plays an important role in the climate system. The dataset released by ESA is the first remote-sensing soil moisture data record spanning the period 1978 to 2010 – a predecessor of the data now being provided by ESA’s SMOS mission.
The datasets are now available to the science community for feedback analyses and climate model validation.
The amount of water held in global soils makes up only about 0.001% of the total water found on Earth.
It is crucial for plant growth, but is also linked to our weather and climate. This is because soil moisture is a key variable controlling the exchange of water and energy between the land and the atmosphere: dry soil emits little or no moisture to the atmosphere.
A recently detected decline in the global evaporation trend could, for example, directly be explained by limited moisture supply.
The relationship between soil moisture and the climate system is not yet fully understood, and global long-term soil moisture observations have so far not been available. That means the evaluation of climate models with regard to the drying and wetting trends and associated feedbacks with temperature is still difficult in many regions worldwide.
In 2009, ESA launched a dedicated satellite mission, SMOS, that provides high quality and direct measurements of soil surface soil moisture. While the key applications for SMOS data are weather forecasting, hydrology and water management, the mission also provides data in near-real time for operational applications.
However, to address the current lack of historical long-term soil moisture data for climate applications, ESA has also been supporting the development of a global soil moisture data record derived by merging measurements acquired in the past by a series of previous and current European and US satellites.
These activities were initiated within the Water Cycle Multi-mission Observation Strategy project, led by ITC (The Netherlands), inside ESA’s Support To Science Element programme. The activities are now being continued and refined in the context of the Climate Change Initiative.
ESA is announcing the release of the first soil moisture climate data record spanning the period 1978 to 2010.
The 32 years of data allow for a robust calculation of the climatology, which in turn can be used to calculate anomalies. For example, areas of drying are evident, such as in the central US in 2005, Brazil and East Africa in the summer of 2007, southern China in the winter of 2009–10 and in 2010 in Russia.
Flooding is also evident, such as in Afghanistan in 1992, East Africa in 1998–99, Morocco in 2008 and the 2010–11 Queensland floods in Australia.
The data record was generated by merging two soil moisture datasets. The first is based on active microwave datasets processed by the Vienna University of Technology and is based on observations from the C-band scatterometers on Europe’s ERS-1, ERS-2 and MetOp-A satellites.
The other dataset was generated by the Vrije University of Amsterdam in collaboration with NASA, based on passive microwave observations from the Nimbus-7, DMSP, TRMM and Aqua missions.
The harmonisation of these datasets aimed to take advantage of both types of microwave techniques but proved difficult owing to sensor degradation, drifts in calibration and algorithmic changes in the processing systems.
Challenges also included guaranteeing consistency between the soil moisture data retrieved from the different active and passive microwave instruments.
Since this is the first release of such a product, an active cooperation of the remote sensing and climate modelling communities is required to validate the satellite data jointly to understand modelling results better.
Scientists worldwide can now download, use, validate the dataset and provide feedback to the scientific team for further improvements. Users can register to access the data at www.esa-soilmoisture-cci.org. | <urn:uuid:2b691c08-b3fe-49c6-adb7-f166928de4d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/The_Living_Planet_Programme/Earth_Explorers/Over_30_years_of_global_soil_moisture_observations_for_climate_applications | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930881 | 781 | 3.375 | 3 |
Amid the confusion about who won what in the Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling last month, there was one clear winner: the states.
When Georgia and a couple of dozen other states joined Florida’s lawsuit to overturn the 2010 health-care reform, they were contesting the part of the law that affected their governments: the Medicaid provisions. Obamacare called for expanding Medicaid to cover anyone earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level; it aimed to force states to go along with this plan by threatening to withhold current Medicaid funding if they didn’t acquiesce.
The states argued this coercion was unconstitutional, and seven of nine Supreme Court justices agreed with them. Instead of striking down the provision altogether, however, the court offered a remedy: Washington couldn’t take away what it’s now giving states for Medicaid, but states could choose whether to participate in the expansion.
That’s left some governors — including our own Nathan Deal — wondering if they should stay out of the program, or join it to catch the billions of federal dollars that would flow to them. It really isn’t that tough a question. Deal should tell the feds thanks, but no thanks.
First and foremost, Medicaid is already a program of limited effectiveness. Its promise of health care for the poor is somewhat theoretical: In a national survey conducted before the court’s ruling for Alpharetta-based Jackson Healthcare, one in four doctors said they won’t see Medicaid patients, and one in three said they won’t accept new Medicaid patients. In Georgia, 42 percent said they refuse new Medicaid patients.
The reason some Medicaid patients have trouble finding a doctor is the program’s low reimbursement rates, which in some cases are below the cost of providing the care. The expansion to 138 percent of the federal poverty level — from the current 42 percent, or less, for most adults in Georgia — is essentially a gamble that doctors can be duped into thinking they might lose money on each Medicaid patient, but they can make it up in volume.
In the first year, according to state estimates, we would add more than 500,000 people to the 1.8 million Georgians already covered by Medicaid (putting one in four Georgians on Medicaid — and stretching the definition of “safety net”). A likely result is even fewer doctors will accept Medicaid patients, making matters worse for Georgians already in the program.
In what sense is that the “fair” thing to do?
What’s more, the expansion is also a bad gamble for taxpayers.
The salient number here is not $35 billion, which is the estimated amount Washington would chip in toward Georgia’s Medicaid expansion between 2014 and 2023. It’s $4.5 billion, the minimum amount this move would cost Georgia taxpayers in those years.
I say “minimum” because that’s the best-case scenario: It assumes the feds keep their word and fund the expansion fully in the first years, declining to 90 percent of the cost by 2020. Washington already borrows more than a trillion dollars a year, with both Social Security and Medicare due to push Uncle Sam even further in debt, so it’s very possible the federal match will decline further.
If it hits 80 percent, that’s more than $1 billion a year by 2020. If it hits 60 percent, which is the current level, that’s more than $2 billion a year from state coffers. That’s money that can’t go to roads, schools or — pass the smelling salts — taxpayers.
By comparison, Georgia just started a 2013 budget year in which it will spend $19.3 billion in state funds.
Even if state lawmakers were inclined to spend an extra billion or two on health care, they’d be wise to avoid the golden handcuffs of a Medicaid expansion. Take the feds’ money and you have to follow the feds’ rules, forever and ever, amen. Turn it down, and that money could go toward lower-cost catastrophic coverage for the same uninsured, mostly young, adults.
Finally, if Georgia and enough other states turn down the Medicaid expansion, it just might force Congress to make more rational, effective arrangements for the program. Block-granting Medicaid funds to states is one possibility. Another is the grand swap proposed by Sen. Lamar Alexander: Washington takes over Medicaid completely and passes k-12 education totally to the states.
Any way you slice it, the Medicaid expansion was a bad enough deal to push Georgia to fight it in court. Now that we’ve won, let’s accept the victory and move on.
– By Kyle Wingfield | <urn:uuid:a86752cc-12ac-4967-a324-f0d0d9c14052> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.ajc.com/kyle-wingfield/2012/07/12/medicaid-expansion-is-a-bad-deal-for-georgians/?cp=9 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937684 | 977 | 1.71875 | 2 |
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Graph of the Day: Broadband around the world
Last week, I wrote about the challenges that the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband faces in meeting its goal of universal broadband access by 2015. In short, we likely won't meet the goal. Only 62% of Minnesotan households have access at the prescribed speeds.
It isn’t just Minnesota’s fault that it won’t be able to meet that goal. Broadband infrastructure is expensive and nationwide. Minnesota is one part of a larger American broadband system – a system which lags behind many developed countries. Nationwide, only 68% of households have broadband. Korea, Iceland, and Norway lead the way with 97.5%, 87%, and 82.6%, respectively.
It’s true that the United States is much larger and populous than Korea and Iceland, and the infrastructure needed to cover the nation with broadband costs more here. But, the United States falls behind Canada (which is larger in area than the US) and Japan (the next most populous developed country).
My intuition says that cost is the primary driver of low broadband adoption in the United States. Most Americans have the ability to purchase broadband, since most Americans live in cities and suburbs where broadband wires are already in the ground, but can’t afford it. Compared to its peers in the OECD, broadband is expensive in the U.S.
At least broadband in the US is cheaper than Mexico, Greece, Poland, Chile, and Turkey! But compared to countries that have similar standards of living and technology, American broadband costs and arm and a leg . Even in expensive countries like Sweden and Denmark, where a cup of coffee costs 5 dollars, the price of broadband per mb/s is less than half what it is in the U.S.
Telecommunications regulation is not easy, but the slow adoption and high price of broadband here in the U.S. points to something not working. Knowledge is half the battle though, and knowing where the U.S. ranks is useful – even if it is discouraging. Now, policymakers and the public as a whole will have to come to terms with the fact that a large investment in the nation’s communications infrastructure will be necessary to keep up - let alone be a leader. | <urn:uuid:15b05dd1-ff41-4c32-b00b-ce6c4a5b2ce1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/alex-christensen/graph-day-broadband-around-world | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957254 | 488 | 2.5 | 2 |
I totally made that up, but it could happen–many people use a coin toss to help make “fair” decisions. That’s an example of statistical decision theory, but it’s not the purpose of this post.
How many times does a test pilot need to see a dangerous flight condition in an experimental airplane to believe it’s dangerous?
This question is the application at the heart of the following flipping penny example. Imagine that I hand you a penny. Abe Lincoln is on one side, and who knows what is on the other–perhaps the Lincoln Memorial or something more modern, like the shield pictured here.
Is it a fair penny? How many times will you have to flip the penny to determine whether or not it is fair? How much “statistical” certainty will you have when you’ve flipped it that many times?
It might surprise you to hear this from a statistician, but I suggest this:
You don’t need statistics to determine if the penny is fair.
It goes back to the theme this month, about assumptions…
If you don’t know where you are starting from (your assumptions), you could follow the correct directions and end up somewhere totally wrong. Or you could arrive at the right place even though you started at the wrong place.
What assumptions are present in this application? A few more questions might illuminate the problem better or help us figure out how to answer the question, “how many flips?”
For example, you could examine the penny under a microscope, weigh it, or even cut a microscopic piece of it off for analysis in a mass spectrometer. You could measure its circumference, measure it’s thickness, and even compare it side by side with other pennies.
After you’ve done all that, consider this: How many times would we expect this penny–which we now believe to be fair–to come up heads if we toss it ten times? The binomial distribution would explain how to predict that, but that’s not even statistics.
If you thought that you needed statistics to prove the penny’s fairness, was there some particular assumption that you started from to arrive at that conclusion? Could you frame “data” questions from a different perspective in your everyday life?
What kinds of problems do need statistics?
In aerospace, we begin with the assumption that the airplane is trying to kill us–if we see any kind of dangerous situation developing, we believe it as evidence that supports our assumption. That’s the safest thing to do.
You can believe that your penny is fair and use ATOMs to help you show that it is, or you can believe that your penny is not fair and use ATOMs to show the opposite. The point is, before we even decide to use statistics, you have a lot of engineering judgment to apply to the situation.
Are you using yours?
How do we find our way then, when we are exploring the unknown, blazing a trail into uncharted territory? How do we apply elementary statistical principles to transform uncertainty into decisive action? What is to prevent us from making a preposterous application of ATOMs when we deal with very complex situations, those in which our intuition fails?
These questions are not much different from those faced by Chuck Yeager before he ever broke the sound barrier or Neil Armstrong as he took that first step on the moon. Neither of these men, nor anyone around them–with hundreds or thousands of highly educated, very scientific people on these teams–knew what to expect. Or did they…?
ATOMs is a monthly column that introduces analytical tools of mathematics and statistics and illustrates their application. To read more about ATOMs, you can read Where Do We Go From Here, or view the online workbook here. | <urn:uuid:37841199-ca5e-456d-ab87-f19039673efe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.multiplyleadership.com/tag/fair/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94983 | 798 | 3.875 | 4 |
At the beginning of this year Governor Jerry Brown and California's legislators faced a $26 billion budget deficit. The governor and legislators reached an agreement which closed about half of the budget deficit with spending cuts, but are at an impasse about how to close the other half of the budget gap. Brown, having pledged not to raise or extend taxes without a vote of the people, proposed an election that asked voters whether they would agree to temporarily increase temporary vehicle and sales taxes set to expire in June 2011.
The problem is it takes a two-thirds vote of both houses to put such a vote to the people, and Brown has thus far been able persuade two Republican members of the Assembly and the Senate to cross the aisle and vote for such a plan. There is some disagreement as to exactly why negotiations broke down. Republicans wanted to submit at least two other questions to the voters, whether to implement a cap on future state spending, whether to reform pensions for state workers, and whether and how to streamline regulations.
Where are we now?
After weeks away from the bargaining table, Brown now seems eager to deal. Last week Brown asked Republican lawmakers for specific proposals, claiming that Republicans had previously had a forever-evolving list of demands. GOP legislators responded that they had proposed concrete, specific solutions to solving the budget gap. In sum, our representatives appear about five minutes away from a sandbox fight that commences with the perennial favorite, "I'm rubber, you're glue."
In my not-so-humble opinion, I really don't care much if Republicans did or did not previously present specifics. I care about whether our elected officials can do their jobs and close our budget deficit.
What do the voters care about?
Last week, results of a Los Angeles Times/USC poll showed that almost two-thirds of voters want to vote on Brown's plan to extend temporary tax increases, while only about one-forth to balance the budget with more spending cuts that would include deep cuts to school funding. Brown will likely use the poll to push his proposals. Public opinion seems to be changing in his favor, as in November almost half of respondents wanted to balance the budget with spending cuts. In addition, more than half of respondents said they want to weigh in on tax increases.
Republicans can also take some solace in the poll's results. Four out of five respondents support a limit on state spending, and seventy percent favor a cap on pensions.
Should we care what the voters think?
Our government is, I believe quite wisely, not one of direct democracy. Our representatives should remember their role in our representative democracy and not legislate based on public opinion polls.
While voters have little faith in their elected officials (the poll shows about one in five voters approve of the legislature's job performance), they may have an inflated faith in themselves. Only about one in six respondents to the Los Angeles Times/USC poll knew that the state budget has decreased by billions of dollars over recent years. Half of respondents thought the budget had grown during the recent period of deep spending cuts. However, three-fourth of respondents said they followed the budget debate. There is clearly a disconnect there.
Where do we go from here?
Allow me to posit that the answer to a lack of faith in our elected officials is not to solidify our faith in ourselves. The solution is likely more complicated. We somehow need to elect public servants invested in "smart" public policy. Of course, what I consider to be good public policy could be my neighbor's idea of a catastrophe.
Still it is worth exploring long-term questions about the structure of our government and the way we elect our representatives. For instance, are super-majority requirements, which require two-thirds of both legislative houses to agree to tax or fee increases detrimental or beneficial? Do term limits force out legislators with helpful expertise, or do they work to bring new, fresh ideas to the legislature? How much has ballot box budgeting accomplished through the initiative process tied the hands of our elected officials? Are there campaign finance reforms that could help elect better-qualified legislators?
Voters have already approved of a number of reforms that could change the composition the legislature. We will soon change the way we elect our representatives, by implementing an open primary, top-two general election system. The purpose of this reform is to elect more moderate legislators, more likely to be willing to reach compromises on a myriad of issues, including the budget.
In addition, an independent redistricting commission will soon re-draw legislative district lines. Unlike legislative lines drawn by legislators ten years ago, this purpose of this plan will not be to keep legislative districts as safe districts for sitting legislators, but will instead be to keep communities of interest together. This could lead to more competitive elections.
In the meantime, the next big hurdle will be for Brown and current legislators will be to try to balance our state's budget.
Jessica Levinson writes about the intersection of law and government every Monday. She is an Adjunct Professor at Loyola Law School and the Director of Political Reform at a non-profit, non-partisan think tank.
TrackBack URL: http://www.kcet.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/9345 | <urn:uuid:6f7f5ac8-bf5f-4d4b-a568-2a7c71b3802b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/commentary/what-is-the-state-of-californias-budget-32904.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965602 | 1,078 | 1.523438 | 2 |
TORONTO - Many men might say they're most attracted to women who are svelte, icons of that so-called feminine ideal portrayed in magazines and other media.
But never fear, you ladies of more Rubenesque proportions: it seems a man's body size preference can be somewhat fluid — and one of the factors that appears to affect it is stress.
British researchers have found that men faced with a stressful situation tend to change their assessment of what constitutes an attractive female, moving away from slender to a range of plumper women.
For Olympics devotees, think heftier weight lifters or hammer throwers rather than lean and lithe gymnasts or sprinters.
"Evolutionary psychology tells us that what you find attractive about someone tells you about their health and their fertility," said neuroscientist Martin Tovee of Newcastle University, co-author of a study published online Wednesday in the journal PLoS One.
"But what's healthy and fertile — body-size shape — is going to vary depending on your environment," Tovee said Wednesday from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
In the U.K., Canada and other western countries with abundantly available food, having a higher body mass suggests a person is not only less healthy, but also may belong to a lower socioeconomic group, because cheaper food tends to have a higher fat content, he said.
Contrast that with parts of rural South Africa, for instance, where food is generally less plentiful and there are periods of severe food shortages. In that kind of environment — which Tovee described as stressful — a heftier body type is a sign of physical well-being.
"Also it means that you're higher status because you can afford to be heavier. So you choose somebody heavier because that's best in that environment.
"But in this environment," he said of the U.K. and other developed nations, "the reverse is true."
To test the effects of stress on men's notions of the most attractive form of female body, Tovee and co-author Viren Swami of the University of Westminster in London recruited 81 heterosexual men for their study. The men were all Caucasian, aged 18 to 42, with a body mass index ranging between about 17 and 31.
Forty-one of the subjects were subjected to a number of back-to-back stress-inducing tasks, including a mock job interview in front of a four-person panel that was being recorded and videotaped. The other 40 participants — the control group — were taken to a room where they sat quietly.
Both groups were then shown photographs of a variety of female body types, ranging from emaciated through obese, with the faces removed.
The stressed group gave significantly higher attractiveness ratings to normal weight and overweight figures than did the non-stressed group, said Tovee. Men in the stressed group also indicated attraction to a broader range of sizes among the figures, compared with those in the non-stressed group.
"Although you read a lot in evolutionary psychology that our preferences for attractiveness are hard-wired and we can't do anything about it, that's probably not true," he said.
"If you follow somebody (moving) from rural South Africa to the U.K., over the course of about 18 months their preference will shift towards that of somebody who was born in the U.K. They prefer a thinner body."
Tovee said the preference of many men in western society for slender women is somewhat out of sync with reality, as the average BMI is drifting upwards.
"And if you think of this pressure on people to try and fit this ideal, it's not terribly healthy. It does cause quite a lot of body image dissatisfaction."
Turning to the distaff side, he said women's ideas of what makes a man attractive are somewhat more complex and harder to study. Where males focus on overall body mass, attractiveness for females includes such factors as personality and physique.
"When you look at what women look for in men's physical appearance, body mass is quite important, but the big thing is body shape — they're looking for the V-shape, with wide shoulders and the narrower waist.
"So it's less straightforward to do a shift in body mass with women."
The Science Of Attraction
The Colour Of Love
Like a red rag to a bull it would seem the colour red also fires up the passion in women. A study at the University of Rochester asked 288 female and 25 male undergraduates to look at photos of a man in which his shirt was digitally coloured either red or another colour. Women in a variety of countries agree that the red shirt made the man appear "more powerful, attractive and sexually desirable."
The Scent Of A Man
Women can subconsciously sense if a man is attracted to her by the smell of his sweat, according to a study at Rice University in Texas. A group of 19 women in their twenties were exposed to two types of male sweat - one labelled 'normal' and the other 'sexual'. The normal sweat was obtained from the men while they were watching educational videos while the 'sexual' sweat was gathered while they were watching an erotic video. The women's brains were monitored while they were exposed to the sweat. The brain activity showed that they recognised and responded to the sexual sweat.
The Perfect Ratio
Anthropologists in New Zealand carried out studies to find the precise waist to hip ratio that drives men wild. Volunteers were asked to rate the attractiveness of images of women that had their bust, hip and waist sizes digitally altered. The eye movements of the participants were tracked using infra-red cameras. Most men were drawn to the breasts but hips and waists were also important. The most attractive ratio was the waist measuring 70% of the hips. Not surprisingly, Marilyn Monroe, Kate Moss and Jessica Alba all share this ratio.
Masculine Men And Feminine Faces
Men with high levels of testosterone are attracted to women with highly feminine faces, a study at Aberdeen University found. A group of 70 women and 30 men underwent a series of tests to examine the role of testosterone in attraction between the sexes. It was found that attitudes towards the opposite sex changed depending on their fluctuating testosterone levels throughout the day. Researcher Dr Ben Jones, said "When men's testosterone levels were high, they were more attracted to feminine women. When women's testosterone levels were high they were more attracted to masculine men."
The Time For Love
According to a study by Florida State University men are unconsciously attracted to a woman's scent when she is ovulating. Four female volunteers - two who were ovulating and two who were not - were asked to wear a plain white T-shirt for three consecutive nights. Male volunteers were asked to smell the T-shirts. Those who smelled the T-shirts of the ovulating women had testosterone levels 37% higher than those who smelled the T-shirts of the women who were not ovulating.
It's a long-held belief that we are naturally attracted to people that resemble ourselves. In an experiment conducted by the University of Illinois, volunteers were shown pictures of of two faces morphed together. One group was shown images of faces of strangers morphed together while the other group was shown faces that were a composite of a stranger's face and up to 45% their own face. The subjects shown images containing their own face found the picture more sexually attractive.
Contrary to the theory that we choose partners similar to ourselves and backing up the old adage 'opposites attract', scientists have found an evolutionary reason why we may be attracted to those who are genetically most different to us. A Brazilian study found tthat people are more likely to choose someone with differences in the DNA region that governs the immune system as parents with dissimilar genetic regions could provide their offspring with a better chance to ward infections off because their immune system genes are more diverse. | <urn:uuid:12aaefb2-d92d-4141-b3c8-9d6ce9a2400a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/08/08/stress-female-attractiveness_n_1757892.html?ir=Science | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979002 | 1,620 | 1.734375 | 2 |
6 Tips to Work Smarter Without Working Harder
CREDIT: Productivity image via Shutterstock
Getting more done at work is easier than you think. By making a few simple changes, workers and employees alike can improve productivity at work.
"Changing your time management habits isn't easy, and it won't happen overnight," said Eric Giering, vice president of M&I, a part of BMO Financial Group, which composed the list of tips. "But in the long run, these modifications can be well worth the effort. I haven't met a business owner yet who doesn't wish there were more hours in the day. They always feel stretched so thin between work and family, but much of that stress can be eliminated using more effective time management."
Those tips to improve productivity among workers and bosses alike include:
- Prioritize your to-do list- Workers can increase productivity by prioritizing tasks based on what needs to be done and what can wait. Workers should then begin working on projects that are more time-sensitive while also keeping in mind the fact that they can only do so much in a day.
- Focus- Workers should also try to set aside specific times during each day to do specific tasks. For example, workers should try to answer emails at the same times each day.
- Delegate whenever possible- Bosses in particular should utilize their workers in situations since they cannot take on too many things on their own.
- Utilize outside resources- Businesses should also be open to streamlining their business in any possible way. This includes talking to business partners such as bankers, CPA, lawyers and others to see how the company can be improved.
- Learn to say "no."- Workers and bosses must also be aware of their own time limits and not be too quick to rush to the aid of others if they are not done with pressing matters.
- Make time to be away from the office- Workers and bosses must also be sure to relax and not burn themselves out. Working too much can have a counterproductive effect on productivity. | <urn:uuid:058aac76-8769-4c06-a682-4f82a263086b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2948-worker-productivity-tips.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970644 | 424 | 1.992188 | 2 |
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KRWG.ORG-The Region's Home Page
Mon March 5, 2012
Habits: How They Form And How To Break Them
Think about something it took you a really long time to learn, like how to parallel park. At first, parallel parking was difficult and you had to devote a lot of mental energy to it. But after you grew comfortable with parallel parking, it became much easier — almost habitual, you could say.
Parallel parking, gambling, exercising, brushing your teeth and every other habit-forming activity all happen follow the same behavioral and neurological patterns, says New York Times business writer Charles Duhigg. His new book The Power of Habit explores the science behind why we do what we do — and how companies are now working to use our habit-formations to sell and market us products.
How Habits Form
It turns out that every habit starts with a psychological pattern called a "habit loop," which is a three-part process. First, there's a queue, or trigger, that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and let a behavior unfold.
"Then there's the routine, which is the behavior itself," Duhigg tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "That's what we think about when we think about habits."
The third step, he says, is the reward: something that your brain likes that helps it remember the "habit loop" in the future.
Neuroscientists have traced our habit-making behaviors to a part of the brain called the basil ganglia, which also plays a key role in the development of emotions, memories and pattern recognition. Decisions, meanwhile, are made in a different part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. But as soon as a behavior becomes automatic, the decision-making part of your brain goes into a sleep mode of sorts.
"In fact, the brain starts working less and less," says Duhigg. "The brain can almost completely shut down. ... And this is a real advantage, because it means you have all of this mental activity you can devote to something else."
That's why it's easy — while driving or parallel parking, let's say — to completely focus on something else: like the radio, or a conversation you're having.
"You can do these complex behaviors without being mentally aware of it at all," he says. "And that's because of the capacity of our basil ganglia: to take a behavior and turn it into an automatic routine."
Studies have shown that people will perform automated behaviors — like pulling out of a driveway or brushing teeth — the same way every single time, if they're in the same environment. But if they take a vacation, it's likely that the behavior will change.
"You'll put your shoes on in a different order without paying any attention to it," he says. "Because once the cues change, patterns are broken up."
That's one of the reasons why taking a vacation is so relaxing: it helps break certain habits.
"It's also a great reason why changing a habit on a vacation is one of the proven most-successful ways to do it," he says. "If you want to quit smoking, you should stop smoking while you're on a vacation — because all your old cues and all your old rewards aren't there anymore. So you have this ability to form a new pattern and hopefully be able to carry it over into your life."
It's not just individual habits that become automated. Duhigg says there are studies that show organizational habits form among workers working for the same company. And companies themselves exploit habit cues and rewards to try to sway customers, particularly if customers themselves can't articulate what pleasurable experience they derive from a habit.
"Companies are very, very good — better than consumers themselves — at knowing what consumers are actually craving," says Duhigg.
As an example, he points to Febreeze, a Proctor & Gamble fabric odor eliminator that was initially failed when it got to the market.
"They thought that consumers would use it because they were craving getting rid of bad scents," he says. "And it was a total flop. People who had 12 cats and their homes smelled terrible? They wouldn't use Febreeze."
That's when Proctor & Gamble reformulated Febreeze to include different scents.
"And as soon as they did that, people started using it at the end of their cleaning habits to make things smell as nice as they looked," he says. "And what they figured out is that people crave a nice smell when everything looks pretty. Now, no consumer would have said that. ... But companies can figure this out and that's how they can make products work."
Companies can also figure out how to get consumers to change their own habits and form new ones associated with their products or stores. The megastore Target, for example, tries to target pregnant women, says Duhigg, in order to capture their buying habits for the next few years.
"The biggest moment of flexibility in our shopping habits is when we have a child," he says. "Because all of your old routines go out the window and suddenly a marketer can come in and sell you knew things."
Analysts at Target collect "Terabytes of information" on its shoppers. They have figured out that women who buy certain products — vitamins, unscented lotions, washcloths — might be pregnant and then can use that information to jumpstart their marketing campaign.
This can get tricky: one father was upset after receiving coupons for baby products in the mail from Target addressed to his teenager daughter.
"He went in and said, 'My daughter is 16 years old. Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?' and the manager apologizes," Duhigg says. "The manager calls a couple of days later ... and the father says, 'I need to apologize ... I had a conversation with my daughter and it turns out there's some things going on in my house that wasn't aware of. She's due in August.' So Target figured it out before her Dad did."
On breaking habits
"What we know from lab studies is that it's never too late to break a habit. Habits are malleable throughout your entire life. But we also know that the best way to change a habit is to understand its structure. That once you tell people about the cue and the reward and you force them to recognize what those factors are in a behavior, it becomes much, much easier to change."
On his bad habits
"I felt like I had a lot of habits that I was powerless over. ... I have a 3-year-old and a 10-month-old. And I remember when my 3-year-old was 1 1/2 or 2. I was writing the book. We would feed him chicken nuggets or other stuff for dinner, which was the only stuff he would eat. And it was impossible for me to stop from reaching over and grabbing his chicken nuggets. It was a struggle every night not to eat his dinner because a 2-year-old dinner's is designed to taste delicious and to disintegrate into your mouth into carbs and sugar. And so, I was really interested in this and I wanted to exercise more and I wanted to be more productive at work."
"The weird thing about rewards is that we don't actually know what we're actually craving."
On spirituality and habits
"When AA started, there was no scientific basis to it whatsoever. In fact, there's no scientific basis to AA. The 12 steps that are kind of famous? The reason why there's 12 of them is because the guy who came up with them — who wrote them one night while he was sitting on his bed — he chose them because there's 12 apostles. There's no real logic to how AA was designed. But the reason why AA works is because it essentially is this big machine for changing the habits around alcohol consumption and giving people a new routine: rather than going to a bar or drink. ... It doesn't seem to work if people do it on their own. ... At some point, if you're changing a really deep-seated behavior, you're going to have a moment of weakness. And at that moment, if you can look across a room and think, 'Jim's kind of a moron. I think I'm smarter than Jim. But Jim has been sober for three years. And if Jim can do it, I can definitely do it.' That's enormously powerful." | <urn:uuid:8830dd5d-df05-4b3b-9bfc-7730020b2518> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://krwg-tv.org/post/habits-how-they-form-and-how-break-them | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980658 | 1,769 | 3.203125 | 3 |
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — U.S. live-hog and futures prices have fallen in recent weeks as gas prices have soared, budget sequestration has threatened to furlough federal meat inspectors and global markets have reduced exports.
Purdue Extension agricultural economist Chris Hurt said economists and producers had been hopeful that prices would return to at least break-even this spring. But a $9-per-hundredweight drop in live-hog prices and a $7.50-per-hundredweight drop in futures prices since the beginning of February has quelled some of the optimism.
“Price weakness is coming from demand concerns,” Hurt said. “The first of those concerns is the weakened buying power of U.S. consumers. Unusually high gasoline prices for this time of year and increased payroll taxes since January 1 have reduced the buying power of consumers.”
Second, Hurt said potential reduction in federal meat inspectors as a result of automatic spending cuts mandated by sequestration could mean animal-processing plants would operate fewer days of the year.
“If plants were to shut down some days, they wouldn’t buy hogs for those days, thus weakening hog prices,” he said.
Russia banned U.S. pork
The biggest problem has been with pork exports, which account for 23 percent of total U.S. pork production. In February, Russia banned imports of U.S. pork because of concerns over the use of ractopamine, a feed additive that promotes lean muscle in animals raised for meat.
Russia represented 1.2 percent of U.S. pork production in 2012.
Other export woes
The loss of Russian business would not be felt as much by itself due to their small share, but later in February China also announced that they were going to more closely check imports of U.S. pork for ractopamine, Hurt said.
Last year, China’s pork purchases from the U.S. represented 3.4 percent of total U.S. production volume.
In addition to loss of Russian and Chinese markets, the value of the Japanese yen has fallen by 12 percent so far this year and by 16 percent since October. The decline means U.S. pork prices are higher in Japan by similar percentages.
Japan bought 6 percent of the U.S. pork production volume in 2012, making the country the largest U.S. pork buyer.
Industry is struggling
All of the market problems have combined to create an outlook that is less-than-welcome for hog producers struggling to cover high feed prices.
“The current outlook suggests the industry will have to wait until late summer for break-even conditions when feed prices can decline if more normal corn and soybean crops develop,” Hurt said.
Hog prices are expected to only average about $66 in the second quarter, with costs of production near $70 per live hundredweight, Hurt said. With lower corn and soybean meal prices, late-summer production costs could come down to the $66 mark. | <urn:uuid:6cc6dd11-44a8-44fb-9cb2-cfd810771bb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.farmanddairy.com/top-stories/sluggish-exports-sequestration-are-threatening-pork-price-recovery/48433.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968652 | 638 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Department of Nutritional Sciences
November 8-9, 2006
Lecture: "Regulating a key regulator of differentiation – how is the production and
metabolism of retinoic acid controlled?"
About the speakerDid a parent ever tell you to eat your carrots? Did you ever wonder why? If so, now you can get three good answers. Catharine Ross, this year's Hageman lecturer, is a nutritional biochemist who has spent over 20 years finding one of most exciting of those answers. Her work during the 1980s indicated that vitamin A was important for immune function. More recent studies have identified specific control mechanisms such as modulation of B cell population dynamics by retinoic acid, the cellular active metabolite of vitamin A. Retinoic acid, combined with polyI:C, can be used as a adjuvant in antibody production. Retinoic acid may also be protective of neonatal lungs against hyperoxic damage and have anti-cancer functions. And of course vision is dependent on vitamin A derived molecules.
Professor A. Catharine Ross is currently in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Pennsylvania State University. Prior to 1994 she was at the Medical College of Pennsylvania in the Departments of Biochemistry and Pediatrics (Nutrition). At that institution she also served as Director of the Division of Nutrition and for graduate training in biochemistry. She received her B.S. in Zoology from the University of California at Davis, a Master's degree in Nutritional Science and a PhD in Biochemistry from Cornell. Her work with vitamin A began during her PhD studies of chylomicrons and continued while she was a post-doctoral reseracher at Columbia University. Along the way to her present prominent position and membership in the National Academy of Sciences (2003) she has identified acylCoA: retinol acyl transferase and lecithin:retinol acyl transferase as key enzymes for movement and storage of retinol. Some of her recent work has also included proteomics studies of enzymes regulated by vitamin A as well as detailed studies of mechanisms whereby retinoic acid regulates function and localization of proteins. This year's lecture will deal with what regulates the regulator – retinoic acid.
Professor Ross has been recipient of numerous awards including the Mead-Johnson and the Osborn and Mendel (basic research) awards of the American Society for Nutritional Sciences, and a Research Career Development Award from the NIH. She has been active an associate editor for several journals and books, and is now Editor, Journal of Nutrition. In addition to the usual duties as a reviewer and panel member for national agencies, she has been involved in several special groups that prepared reports or papers on vitamin A and immunity, vitamin A and cancer, impact of vitamin A supplements on child mortality. The colloquium will focus on the broader issue of why you still need to eat your carrots; vitamin A status does matter. | <urn:uuid:87816301-8098-4a2d-9c5b-0408c0e1420c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.k-state.edu/bmb/seminars/hageman/2006-ross.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96165 | 598 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Within the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 93% of the energy used by our homes and business is produced by fossil fuel and nuclear systems, with 84% being produced directly from fossil fuel.
We produce 26% of the crude oil that we use, 88% of the natural gas, and 99% of the coal that we use on a daily basis. We use 6.75 times the amount of crude oil used by Russia, 2.5 times as much crude oil as China and 4.07 times as much crude oil as Japan. We spend over $1 billion dollars per day to purchase the crude oil that we need to satisfy our insatiable oil appetite. Further, crude oil is imported from every oil producing country in the entire world including Canada, Mexico, and Algeria. The United States is the only major oil producer that also imports oil.
In the USA, oil is use mainly for transportation, and the generation of electricity; natural gas is used to heat our homes and generate electricity; and coal is used primarily for the generation of electricity. Overall, natural gas is the largest fuel system used within the USA to generate electricity and petroleum accounts for 6.71% of all electricity generated within the US.
Currently, renewable energy systems account for 20.52% of the energy systems used to produce electricity. Hydro and nuclear have been used extensively but wind, geothermal, and solar are significantly under used. More importantly the cost for the installation of wind, geothermal, and solar systems have been falling over the past few years and the maintenance cost is marginal.
Undoubtedly, it is observed by most people that energy systems, such as coal and petroleum, expel a large amount of pollution in the atmosphere. Hydro, nuclear, wind, geothermal, and solar emits absolutely no particulates in the atmosphere. Nuclear has an issue with the treatment of the waste by-products, the cost of installation, and the security of the facility. Hydro systems are functions of geography and though we have develop several hydro plants, many more could be developed, we however may have to build more dams like the Hoover Dam to effect these hydro systems. | <urn:uuid:b56c593e-7fff-407a-b84f-d16a2da8777e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wcpsolar.com/energy-profile-within-the-usa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963329 | 440 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Woven Wallpaper Patterns
The definition of basketry is the art of making baskets, utilizing various creative techniques, such as weaving, coiling and plaiting. The materials used in these techniques vary from reed, pine needles, rush, ash, twigs, roots, strips of hide, osier willows, bamboo splits, cane or rattan, raffia, grasses, straw, or other wood splints. Basketry is one of the earliest known art forms. Some may even call it ancient. Methods of weaving done by Egyptians are still being used in Africa today.
Hundreds of years ago, the number of craftsmen employed and the output of their labours must have been immense, but the humble status of the basketmaker has all but disappeared. In practically every instance where today one needs cardboard, plastic or plywood for packing material, two hundred years ago this need would have been met by wickerwork. Fruit and vegetables were gathered from the fields into baskets; fish, poultry and dairy produce were all packed into wicker for the journey to the town markets. Jobs requiring the transport of bulky materials such as manure or rubble needed baskets, and not only were rural items such as animal muzzles, bird traps and beer strainers made of willow, but so were travelling trunks, hat boxes and umbrella holders of the well-to-do.
Decline of the basket trade has continued throughout the twentieth century for many economic reasons. An economy in which time has much value and quality very little has no place for a durable product that is extremely labour-intensive. Moreover, where the use of wicker and similar materials has still been viable, the cheapness of foreign labour has often led to basket importation primarily from Asian countries. Today, accomplished basketmakers are few, although workshops throughout the world still produce articles of a robust nature superior in strength to importations. Moreover, there are many large commercial basket-weaving establishments worldwide, but basketry is still a popular home industry and is taught in schools and as occupational therapy in hospitals.
The various designs for baskets have been driven by the variety of end uses. Baskets have been used for religious functions, household furnishings, cooking utensils, storage vessels for food and water, traps, boats, articles of dress and adornment, and granaries, just to name a few. Today we are still developing designs as more new uses are thought of. A popular new basket is called a step basket to be used on a stairway. Examples of basketry can be found in every culture but, whatever the end use, baskets have been and still are an expression of culture and art.
Download the Images to Your Hard Drive
Internet Explorer Users on PC | <urn:uuid:eb02340c-ab1b-416d-b671-5ea0af6ac680> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theinspirationgallery.com/wallpaper/weave/wp_weave01.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967024 | 561 | 3.203125 | 3 |
I have just read yet another reference (in a review on Fuse #8) to "the current 'Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus' trend of breaking down the fourth wall and allowing the reader the chance to affect a picture book character’s actions." Surely I am not the only out-of-the-loop person wondering what are the first three walls. Could you please explain?
"The fourth wall" is an expression that comes from theater. The people on stage are pretending they are in a room: three of the room's walls are right there, on stage, with the furniture and other props. The fourth wall, the one closest to the audience, is not there. But because it is a play, the actors pretend there is a wall there (and not an audience), and interact solely with each other (and not the audience).
So "to break the fourth wall" is when an actor addresses the audience, breaking the suspension of disbelief that allows us to pretend what we're watching is its own self-contained world.
By extension, the expression has come to mean any situation in which the presence of an audience is acknowledged. Do you remember in Ferris Bueller's Day Off when Matthew Broderick looks directly at the camera, sharing a joke with the audience? That's breaking the fourth wall.
In children's books, this is not a new thing. You've read The Monster At the End of This Book, yes? Basically, breaking the fourth wall is just another way (though not the only one) to work in audience participation. Audience participation is very compelling to audiences everywhere, but especially so to children. Children don't see why they should be patient and let the artform reveal itself before they start being entertained. And, for that matter, neither do I.
Readers, what other children's books can you think of that ask for audience participation? | <urn:uuid:c9081857-99a2-4e6e-a238-7755548db147> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/2008/03/audience-what-audience.html?showComment=1205913780000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950688 | 394 | 3.125 | 3 |
Archaeological evidence indicates that Canyon de Chelly has been continuously inhabited for nearly 5,000 years. Near the mouth of the canyon in the West, the red sandstone walls are only about 30 feet high, but deeper into the canyon they rise to over 1,000 feet above the cottonwoods and winding stream on the canyon floor, creating a striking and majestic focal point for the Navajo Nation and National Park Service which jointly administer this national monument. The name “Chelly,” pronounced “shay,” is a Spanish / English approximation of the Navajo word “Tséyi,” pronounced “SAY-ih,” which means “canyon” or more literally “inside the rock.”
Spider Rock and Canyon de Chelly. The canyon walls are of de Chelly Permian sandstone and the rim is a harder Chinle conglomerate, which is also Permian. The elevation varies from 5,500 feet at the visitor center near the mouth of the canyon to 7000 feet at the rim of the canyon near Spider Rock.
Lichen habitats: boulders, tallus, and loose sandy soil with pinyon-juniper woodland on the upper slopes of the trail to the White House Anasazi ruins. | <urn:uuid:9939ec85-0019-4512-92b4-1c9fea31eba3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mushroomobserver.org/location/show_location/3171?q=EQ39 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938009 | 262 | 3.65625 | 4 |
The Internet Archive is the backbone of many mass digitization programs. For universities it is the open, free, and higher quality alternative to google books. Their commitment to preserve the world's digital culture is inspiring.
The Internet Archive is a non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access to historical collections that exist in digital format. It now includes texts, audio, moving images, and software in our collections, and provides services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities. | <urn:uuid:b0721fc7-47ac-4da2-82b2-e943a29de2ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hunch.com/item/hn_3711074/the-internet-archive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936907 | 109 | 2.203125 | 2 |
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feature of Bareilly
...College (1837), and the Invertis Institute of Management Studies. The Indian Veterinary Research Institute is in the suburb of Izatnagar. Bareilly has many fine mosques. The ancient fortress city of Ahicchattra near Bareilly is believed to have been visited by the Buddha. Pop. (2001) 718,395.
history of India
In addition to the oligarchies, there were small monarchical states, such as Ayodhya, Kaushambi, and the scattered Naga kingdoms, the most important of which was the one at Padmavati (Gwalior). Ahicchatra (now the Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh) was ruled by kings who bore names ending in the suffix -mitra.
What made you want to look up "Ahicchattra"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:814a12f9-01a4-4f38-a292-9ffd97d413b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/10028/Ahicchattra | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941784 | 218 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Conclusion On Can Not Send Email - If you are trying to send email from your friend’s computer and you are using your own lan connection then you need to configure the computer for sending successful mail else you can not do it.
Some time ago my friend come to my home from his city for some professional work, he want to send email with using my lan connection. I don’t have any problem on this but it seems that his computer and my lan having some problem to communicate with each other.
Can Not Send Email
There are two issue which i have configure while we are trying to solve the particular connection problem between my lan (Local area Network) and his computer. Here now i Am telling you what were thise issues are.
- There first issue was regarding to the outlook or outlook express, or any other email client Configuration for sending email.
- And the second issue is regarding to the ISP of my friend’s internet connection.
Those both the issues can be solved very easily, but because we got the problem first time that is why it took our 4 hours to solve it.
Here First we will configure the email client configuration to send email from lan. I am using outlook express here but the setting nearly same for all the email clients.
Configuration for email client to send email on lan
- Go to “Tools” And after that select the “Options” tab.
- Now under the options tab select “connection” tab.
- Select an “Internet Connection Settings” button.
- Now select the “Never Dial a Connection” option.
That is the setting which you have to do for your email client to connect with new lan connection.
Now we need to configure the email client for different ISP setting. Here i am using outlook express for example but the process nearly same for all email clients.
configure the email client for different ISP
- Go to “Tools” And after that select the “Accounts” tab.
- Now select your email account and go to “Properties” option.
- Now go to “Server” tab.
- Now select “OUtgoing Mail Server” tab. and make sure the that “My server requires authentication” is checked.
- If “My server requires authentication” is not checked then checked it.
That is how you can send email with different computer from same lan as you are working. | <urn:uuid:025fc871-a7ff-4e1b-8e32-afd8d90b22b3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yahootips.com/email/why-i-can-not-send-email-from-my-friends-computer-using-my-lan.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93183 | 517 | 2.109375 | 2 |
The pond bottom and shoreline rocks below Rick Karney and Dave Grunden as they sit, discussing the reasons for this week's closure of Sengekontacket Pond to shellfishing, are green with weedy marine growth.
Nearby a duck, which has been feeding on the weed, raises its tail and drops another little contribution of fecal matter into the water. Right on cue, as if to underline the point that Mr. Grunden, the Oak Bluffs shellfish constable, has just made.
His point is that the increasing number of birds feeding and nesting on the pond are responsible for the bacterial contamination which forced state fisheries managers to decide, for the first time in Island history, to close Sengekontacket until the end of September. Sengekontacket will be closed to shellfishing for four months, from June through September the future.
The decision was an unfortunate one, for those who formerly enjoyed summer shellfishing, for the economies of Edgartown and Oak Bluffs, which share the pond and for the reputation of the Island as a pristine place. But it had to be made, given the declining water quality of the pond in the warmer months over recent years and two closures over the past six weeks, when testing showed fecal coliform counts far above the safe level.
The birds are the immediate cause of the problem; on that much all the experts - Mr. Grunden, and his counterpart in Edgartown, Paul Bagnall, and Mr. Karney, shellfish biologist and director for the Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group, among others - agree.
But behind that are much harder questions. Why are there are so many birds and what to do about them? Why is the pond is not able to clean itself and what to do about that?
Could the bacterial problem be related to higher water temperatures as a result of climate change? Warmer water encourages bacterial reproduction. Could it be related to the other major water quality problem on the Island: higher nitrogen loads in the water as a result of human activity, which encourages the growth of algae and other marine weed?
There is plenty to speculate about, and, at the moment at least, not a lot of science to back any theory.
Mr. Grunden and Mr. Bagnall are pinning their hopes of rehabilitating the pond on dredging, to increase the rate at which Sengekontacket flushes into the sea. But they are frustrated by the slowness of the process of getting the various permits necessary.
Mr. Bagnall estimates it will take at least 18 months to obtain the necessary approvals, complete an environmental impact statement and begin the dredging itself. And possibly longer. Plus it will cost upwards of a million dollars.
But the water resource planner for the Martha's Vineyard Commission, Bill Wilcox, is not so sure. He suggests the pond flushes pretty well now, and says there is no guarantee dredging will greatly improve water quality.
"I've heard that in other areas where they've looked at dredging projects to improve the flushing of a pond, it was found to be only a small factor," he said, adding:
"In the case of Sengekontacket we just don't have the data to know whether dredging will help."
Like others, Mr. Wilcox is frustrated by the long delays in releasing the results of the Massachusetts Estuaries Project, a sophisticated scientific study on water quality in six of the Island's ponds, including Sengekontacket, which could provide the tools for better estimating the effects of dredging.
Mr. Grunden also acknowledged doubts.
"It's going to be very difficult to address the source of the bacterial contamination, so that forces us to treat the symptom as opposed to the cause," he said.
But you cannot just kill the birds, Mr. Grunden said. Most of the species are in some way protected, although he said there has been talk of disrupting the nesting of the cormorants.
"But," said Mr. Grunden, "even if it was legal I think it would be very difficult because the islands [in Sengekontacket] belong to Mass Audubon or Felix Neck. There would be controversy there."
Said Mr. Wilcox: "I was out on the pond the day after the last tests were taken that resulted in the closure. There were well over 100 Canada geese on Major's Cove and at least 200 cormorants on Sarsen's island.
Mr. Karney said: "It's almost unnatural the way the things have reproduced. You talk to some of the older fishermen, they don't remember cormorants."
The fact is, cormorants did not used to live here in significant numbers and Canada geese, once migratory, have become permanent residents. Habitat change must have something to do with it.
"The silent threat, the bigger threat I think, is the nitrogen input," said Mr. Karney, sitting on the dock on Lagoon Pond in front of the solar shellfish hatchery that he has managed for more than 20 years. "It may be aggravating the bacterial count. Watch the ducks along here. They're in here grazing on this algae. The more algae there is, the more ducks there are in here grazing on it."
As more weed grows, more of it washed up on shore, making increasingly thick wrack lines, Mr. Karney said.
"If you have a heavy wrack line because of heavy macrophyte growth, that will store bacteria and keep it alive longer. The light can't penetrate. Sunlight will kill a lot of bacteria," he said.
Mr. Wilcox, endorsing Mr. Karney's speculation, said he has seen studies suggesting bacteria could reproduce in the wrack.
And if further study shows a link between the nitrogen problem and the bacterial problem, other ponds could also be in trouble in the future.
Said Mr. Grunden: "It [nitrogen pollution] is in all the ponds. There really is no pristine water left on Martha's Vineyard. All of it is detrimentally impacted to some degree or other. So we've got our work cut out for us to slow or improve the direction things are going."
Other shellfishing areas on the Island remain safe at the moment, and Sengekontacket is still safe for swimming and boating.
But the future looks complex and difficult, particularly for Sengekontacket where previously, on a good day in summer, 100 or more people could be seen clamming.
There may be one small, silver lining for year-round residents, if not for summer visitors. In the fall, when some of the birds move on and the water temperature falls, along with the bacterial count, there is likely to be some very good shellfishing to be done on the pond. | <urn:uuid:5e1c1763-d519-4e5d-a181-d6002d1e90b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mailto:library@mvgazette.com/news/2007/07/20/closed-shellfishing-sengekontacket-pond-discussion-begins-ernest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958092 | 1,442 | 2.5 | 2 |
Every couple months or so I get the urge to tinker with writing a musical. Theatre isn’t in my background, though storytelling is, and this urge isn’t so strong that I feel this is what I was truly meant to do. I would be happy to realize this one story idea as a musical (and hopefully have it be mildly successful) and leave it at that.
It’s most likely a certain lack of “true” conviction that prevents me from realizing this project. In short, the need to do isn’t as compelling as my other writing projects.
This idea of the compelling need is fairly crucial to the idea of modern Western narratives. We want to read about and follow main characters with a compelling need that will, ultimately, drive the story and the character’s development though the story in a way that we cannot put it down. In short, the reader must be equally compelled to want to find out how it ends.
It was while I was tinkering with this compelling need for the main character in my musical – sometimes also called a controlling desire – that I realized how important it was to instill this sense of compulsion within the reader/audience. This idea of building a character whose desire lines are strongly etched that in turn cause the reader to become invested in that character’s needs that the, the reader/audience, adopts those desires themselves. It isn’t simply a question of manipulation, it’s a form of narrative alchemy that (when done correctly) subtly eases the reader into a position where they care about how and whether a character realizes their desires.
But then I thought: whose desires are really being actualized here, whose wants and needs?
Like a Möbius strip my thoughts circle around and I find myself wondering about the artist, the writer, the musician who feels compelled to create. We talk about the creative act as something the creative person cannot help but chase down. Like mountain climbers, creative people do what they do because they must. It is their controlling desire, their compelling need.
Or is it a want?
No one can be said to actually need to create. We need to eat, and breathe, and fulfill social and moral obligations, but the act of creation… can that really be something the individual needs? And this want (or need) in the writer, its to create a character with desires of their own, designed to compel a reader to care about those fictitious needs to the point where all three – writer, character, reader – come to a satisfactory meeting place where all needs are fulfilled.
Suddenly I understand what is wrong with a lot of the fiction that I find wanting. It is easy to say that the story didn’t interest, or that the plot was unbelievable, or that the characters were simply flat and two-dimensional, but the real problem is that I simply didn’t feel the writer’s compelling need to tell the story at hand. It may have lacked conviction, or somehow been muddled, but in the end no matter how sincerely the author may believe in their story and characters, they have failed in the same way a person fails to be funny at a party when they cannot retell a joke correctly. The parts may all be there, and in the correct order, but without the conviction to deliver the lines with care and precision – what is sometimes called comic timing – the punchline comes with tepid and polite laughter. Worse if the joke has to be explained.
I have been reading graphic novels lately, and though I am not ready to discuss them by name – they aren’t released for a few months yet, and I’d like to digest them a bit more – I am finding the ones that have been falling flat for me fail to convince me of their authorial need to tell the story. Naturally, those that I enjoy deliver so completely that I don’t even notice at first how well they are conveying their author’s urgency.
In the end what I’ve finally understood (because I can’t believe I haven’t been taught this in dozens of ways) is that the difference between “good” and “bad” writing is the difference between the way a small child wants and needs. The want is cloying, whining, and churlish while the need is essential, enthusiastic, and inclusive.
So my question to all my writer friends, real and virtual, is this: Are your stories telegraphing your wants or your needs? | <urn:uuid:5988347d-118a-4eae-ac3b-56d4491fbe3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fomagrams.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/compelling-wants-vs-compelling-needs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973982 | 947 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Source Newsroom: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Newswise — BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Inflammation is the body’s normal response to injury. While it may be a natural defense system, it can lead to disease development if it becomes chronic. A University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) expert says one way to fight inflammation is with food.
“The inflammation process has one goal: to respond immediately to detect and destroy the toxic material in damaged tissues before it can spread throughout the body,” explained Lauren Whitt, Ph.D., UAB Employee Wellness director and adjunct professor of personal health. “The trouble with inflammation occurs when the defense system gets out-of-control and begins to destroy healthy tissue, causing more damage than the original issue.”
Obesity has even been found to cause inflammation, and it can lead to the development of cardiovascular and metabolic disease, according to the National Council on Strength & Fitness. But weight loss is related to reduction of inflammation, and Whitt says the right anti-inflammatory foods are the answer.
“I encourage people to focus on eating whole foods and foods that are high in fiber,” Whitt said.
Anti-inflammatory foods to try:
• Citrus fruits – Vitamin C and Vitamin E are essential antioxidants
• Dark, leafy greens – High in Vitamin K
• Tomatoes – The fruit’s red pigment, lycopene, is a potent antioxidant
• Wild-caught salmon – Contains a rich concentration of omega-3 fatty acids
Whitt added that eating anti-inflammatory foods should not be viewed as daunting.
“Eating to minimize inflammation doesn’t have to be an overwhelming task,” she said. “Take baby steps by incorporating leafy greens into a salad at lunch, or add a piece of whole fruit to your breakfast.”
In addition, Whitt said to consume more foods straight from the farm, as well as fewer processed and fried foods. Doing so may reduce the need for some medications.
“Americans are constantly on the lookout for a quick-fix, so when our immune systems kick into overdrive, we would generally prefer to pop a pill and keep moving,” Whitt said. “But if we focus on our diets, we can alleviate the need for the anti-inflammatory medications in many cases.”
Known for its innovative and interdisciplinary approach to education at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, the University of Alabama at Birmingham is the state of Alabama’s largest employer and an internationally renowned research university and academic health center; its professional schools and specialty patient-care programs are consistently ranked among the nation’s top 50. Find more information at www.uab.edu and www.uabmedicine.org.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a separate, independent institution from the University of Alabama, which is located in Tuscaloosa. Please use University of Alabama at Birmingham on first reference and UAB on all consecutive references. | <urn:uuid:57589ff4-6fb1-48e2-9284-cd060732ee1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/600746/?sc=rsla | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947097 | 644 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Robert Pratten: Transmedia Storytelling 09/30/12
If we look at video content strategy for Transmedia projects versus traditional projects, there are a few things to keep in mind.
There may need to be several different versions of a video that differ by both form and function. I’m seeing this trend happen with music videos in particular. There is an interactive version and a standalone version.
Because of this story being told across different platforms, the content producer may leave in certain “hooks.” These hooks could refer to a piece of video content or a piece of media on another platform. This could be a game or even a comic book.
When the editor is editing, they may want to cut out a particular shot or character that doesn’t work in a clip. But then you’ve got the director or writer saying, “Well, if you cut that guy out, that will spoil platform 2. I really need that in there.”
It’s an area of potential conflict.
Another aspect of this is the mood of a piece. Sometimes after sifting through footage in the editing suite you realize the film you wanted to make can’t be made anymore because you don’t have the shots.
Maybe it was supposed to be a serious drama, but now it will have to be a comedy. Maybe if you don’t tell anybody you’ll get away with it. But if you’ve got all this other media out there saying that this is a serious piece of work, then you’re left with a problem.
Even if you don’t go quite as extreme as drama to comedy, just the style of cutting – is it comic book style? long? short? – needs to be a conscious decision. This editing style and mise-en-scène needs to be consistent across platforms.
Table of Contents
Week 1: Introduction to Transmedia Storytelling
- MON: What is Transmedia?
- TUE: What’s driving Transmedia?
- WED: Henry Jenkins' 7 Core Concepts pt. 1
- THUR: Continuity vs Multiplicity
- FRI: Pratten's 7 Tenets
Week 2: Top 5 Best Practices
- MON: Plan for Discovery
- TUE: Retention
- WED: Igniting the Core
- THUR: Participation
- FRI: Satisfy All Appetites | <urn:uuid:228aed60-3758-4d18-b4bb-db0d83b4a197> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://splicevine.com/october-robert-pratten/16/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931002 | 513 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Researchers develop cocktail of bacteria that eradicates Clostridium difficile infection
In a new study out today, researchers used mice to identify a combination six naturally occurring bacteria that eradicate a highly contagious form of Clostridium difficile, an infectious bacterium associated with many hospital deaths. Three of the six bacteria have not been described before. This work may have significant implications for future control and treatment approaches.
The researchers found that this strain of C. difficile, known as O27, establishes a persistent, prolonged contagious period, known as supershedding that is very difficult to treat with antibiotics. These contagious 'supershedders' release highly resistant spores for a prolonged period that are very difficult to eradicate from the environment. Similar scenarios are likely in hospitals.
C. difficile can cause bloating, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and is a contributing factor to over 2,000 deaths in the UK in 2011. It lives naturally in the body of some people where other bacteria in the gut suppress its numbers and prevent it from spreading. If a person has been treated with a broad-spectrum antibiotic such as clindamycin, our bodies' natural bacteria can be destroyed and the gut can become overrun by C. difficile. The aggressive strain of C. diff analysed in this study has been responsible for epidemics in Europe, North America and Australia.
"We treated mice infected with this persistent form of C. diff with a range of antibiotics but they consistently relapsed to a high level of shedding or contagiousness," says Dr Trevor Lawley, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "We then attempted treating the mice using faecal transplantation, homogenized faeces from a healthy mouse. This quickly and effectively supressed the disease and supershedding state with no reoccurrence in the vast majority of cases."
"This epidemic caused by C. diff is refractory to antibiotic treatment but can be supressed by faecal transplantation, resolving symptoms of disease and contagiousness."
The team wanted to take this research one step further and isolate the precise bacteria that supressed C. diff. and restored microbial balance of the gut. They cultured a large number of bacteria naturally found in the gut of mice, all from one of four main groups of bacteria found in mammals. They tested many combinations of these bacteria, until they isolated a cocktail of six that worked best to suppress the infection.
"The mixture of six bacterial species effectively and reproducibly suppressed the C. difficile supershedder state in mice, restoring the healthy bacterial diversity of the gut," says Professor Harry Flint, senior author from the University of Aberdeen.
The team then sequenced the genomes of the six bacteria and compared their genetic family tree to more precisely define them. Based on this analysis, the team found that the mixture of six bacteria contained three that have been previously described and three novel species. This mix is genetically diverse and comes from all four main groups of bacteria found in mammals.
These results illustrate the effectiveness of displacing C. diff and the supershedder microbiota with a defined mix of bacteria, naturally found in the gut.
"Our results open the way to reduce the over-use of antibiotic treatment and harness the potential of naturally occurring microbial communities to treat C. difficile infection and transmission, and potentially other diseases associated with microbial imbalances," explains Professor Gordon Dougan, senior author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Faecal transplantation is viewed as an alternative treatment but it is not widely used because of the risk of introducing harmful pathogens as well as general patient aversion. This model encapsulates some of the features of faecal therapy and acts as a basis to develop standardized treatment mixture."
More information: PLOS Pathogens, 25 October doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002995
Journal reference: PLoS Pathogens
Provided by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
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Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011 I'd like to open a discussion thread for version 2 of the draft of my book ''Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras'', available online at http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/0810.1019 , and for the...
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
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4 hours ago | not rated yet | 0 | <urn:uuid:85f1dc54-f50b-4d06-8ca2-6fff24299844> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-cocktail-bacteria-eradicates-clostridium-difficile.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933482 | 1,778 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Remember, before you follow the directions given in this article, PC Health Advisor does anything you need to get top speed and performance out of your computer. It is the only tool you need. PC Health Advisor does it all!
Most Times, It Is Registry Corruption that Slows Down Your Computer And Makes It Hard Or Maybe Even Impossible To Use!
In about 95% of all computer's that have lost their speed and have become slow or even very slow, the problem will be found to be one of these three things. They are,
1- There is registry corruption present in the operating system Free Registry Scan Or...
2- The computer has viruses and/or spyware. Note: This could be the case even if you are using a Virus/Spyware Cleaner every day. Or ...
3- There is an outdated, incorrect or faulty driver installed that is causing the problem. Free Driver Scan Or...
4- Sometimes there is a combination of one, two of all these things causing the computer to act as if it is on its last legs!
While dealing with all this may seem like it is an impossible task, it is not. Repair Slow Computer .com will help you pinpoint and cure your problem or problems.
If you already have a reliable virus/spyware cleaner installed or you get a free virus/spyware scan and it shows no harmful parasites present, get a free registry scan with our Number 1 Rated Registry Cleaner!
This program will scan all your drivers for free and let you know if you have any problems with any of them. If it finds any problems it will let you decide if you want to upgrade your driver from its massive data base of up to date drivers!
For those of you, who want a more detailed look at troubleshooting a slow computer, follow along with the procedure for repairing slow computers below...
On this page, we're going to repair your slow computer so it will be running at its top speed again. We can do this by using the same methods I would apply if you brought your computer to my shop so I could troubleshoot and repair your slow computer's speed. Just follow along. You'll be up and speeding through cyberspace in no time!
Open Windows Task Manager If you computer's speed has diminished; it is simply a case of your computer not having enough resources to deal with the load that being put upon it. So, if it was running smooth and fast at one time, there is something inside your Operating System now that is sapping it of its power.
You can see all the resources being used by your computer by opening the windows task manager. This is done on Windows XP by holding down Ctrl-Alt-Delete. On Windows Vista holding down Ctrl-Alt-Delete will open up another page. On this page choose, "Open Task Manager."
Check the Processes Once you have opened up the task manager, click on the Processes tab. Here, you can scroll down through looking at all the processes that are opened and observe which ones are using the most resources sometimes you will find some legitimate program running and you didn't know it was running at this time.
You have the option of closing this program for the time being so you can see if this makes your speed return. On the other hand, there could be a program running that is infected with a virus or spyware and maybe you didn't even know you installed it!
Some toolbars are known for this. You open up your computer one day and there is a toolbar installed. You say, "How did that get there?" So, then you uninstall it, but it still remains in the background doing its evil work, even though it is now invisible.
Don't get me wrong not all toolbars are bad. The vast majority of them have to be certified virus/malware free before they are accepted by the software directories who list them. Many toolbars serve useful functions, such as giving you the temperature outside and having radio stations and games and such. Still, malware code writers put their vile scripts in anything they can to try to get these scripts a free ride on your computer.
Close The Program Stealing Your Resources In any case, if you find a program running that is using your entire computer's resources, close it. A word of caution however, don't close a program by clicking the end processes option in the Task Manager unless you have to. Doing so can make the computer unstable until you reboot it. Try to figure out what the letters in the name mean and find the corresponding program and close it in the recommended way.
Sometimes, if you have Internet Explorer running, for instance, and you will see it is using 85% or so of the CPU's resources. If closing IE gets some speed back, but not all the computer's speed back, it is a sign of viruses or malware or some kind of spyware running on the computer. It also is a sign of registry corruption.
If it appears that anytime you run a particular program, that program uses most of your resources and these programs didn't use to slow down your computer, it may also, be a sign of a virus or malware/spyware or a corrupt registry.
Also, if you have unknown entries in the task manager and you just can't figure out the heck they are, this may also be a sign there is a virus or malware/spyware present. But hold on, we'll get to these things in just a moment.
If you find it is a recognizable program eating all your resources, close it. Does this do the trick? Do you know what the program is or does? If so, check to make sure you have the resources needed for this software. For instance, if you have a Pentium III, does the program you just closed require a Pentium 4?
The System Tray In some cases, it is possible to look in the task manager and find no one program eating up all your resources, but instead there are several programs eating some of your available resources. This is often true even when you thought all your programs were closed. If this is the case, look in the system tray. The system tray is a little area in the lower right hand corner of your screen. I'll bet there are a lot of little icons there. Here's what is happening in this case.
When you install a new program on your computer, this program installs a quick start up option in the system tray. This quick start up option really isn't a startup option at all. Actually, this option makes the program run in the background all the time.
These icons are not needed to start their programs. You can start any program from the start menu. So, if you look hard the next time you install a program on your computer, you will probably find an option that asks something like, Automatically Start Program at` Computer Startup. Click on no to this option.
For now, if you have several icons in your system tray right click them and execute the option to turn them off. If right clicking doesn't give you the option to turn it off, open up the program. You can usually close it once it is opened because at that time, all its functions will be available. In computer with smaller amounts of RAM (384M or less) I've seen programs running in the background be the sole cause of the computer running slowly!
A certain percentage of you reading this page may have located the problem that was slowing down your computer just from following this procedure to this point. If you are one of them, congratulations. It is my pleasure to help.
However, in most cases there are still issues. Usually, these will include viruses, spyware and malware, and/or corruption in the registry. Let's get to the bottom of this.
Malicious Software I don't need to tell you about the dangers of spyware. Spyware is out to get personal information about you! Adware is a form of Spyware. Spyware is a form of malware. Malware is a contraction of the words malicious and software. Viruses are also malicious software. So, really we are only concerned with malware even though most programs that are designed to arrest malware call themselves Spyware Cleaners.
If your computer is running too slow and you checked everything we mentioned so far on this page and any of the following are true:
You don't have a spyware cleaner installed on your computer.
You have a free anti-virus program that will take care of extremely malicious viruses but not the more ordinary forms of malware and you have no other spyware program.
Or... You suspect your spyware program is not one of the top notch programs available today....
I would suggest getting a free scan with what I think is the Best Virus/Malware Protection You Will Find Any Place, Bar None! No, it is not a free program even though the first scan is free. It is not even the least expensive program you will find. What it is good! Very, Very good! And you can scan your computer with it for free to see if it is malware that is slowing down your computer. Then you can decide if you need this anti-virus/anti-malware program.
What If the problem is none of the above? But, I've gotten a little bit ahead of myself because you might have a good malware cleaner and you know you don't have any malware present. Or, you've got your free anti-malware scan and it shows nothing more than a few cookies present. So, you know malware is not your problem. In that case, let's talk about a very common computer slower downer; registry corruption.
Windows Operating Systems are comprised of a series of folders and files known as the registry. Anything you do on your computer is influenced by the registry. As time passes, the registry grows. It gains entries every time you either add or remove a program or directory from your computer.
It is interesting that more is added to the registry when files are removed because that is just what happens when you remove a virus, malware or spyware. The registry adds more entries. The problem is, over time many of these entries become pointers to nowhere. So, the operating system starts to get sent on wild goose chases as it is instructed to look through entries that mean nothing to a particular operation it is trying to perform. So, the operating system has to waste time searching for a file it needs to complete a simple operation.
Many times a registry in need of cleaning is described as a bloated registry. This is a very illustrative description because the registry gets filled with useless information and naturally, this useless information slows down all computer operations. However, the technical name for a bloated registry is a corrupt registry.
Cleaning Windows XP and Vista Registries
Older operating systems, such as Windows 98, were just about oblivious to registry corruption because this operating system was small when compared to today's operating systems and so; Windows 98 and the like were able to plow through registry corruption somewhat effectively.
Today's operating systems, namely Windows XP and Vista are enormous. When registry corruption builds up, there is a very long way to travel to work around it. This, of course slows down a computer's operations. In fact, registry corruption has the ability to slow down Windows XP and Vista operating systems right down to a standstill!
As is the case with malware, the best way to see if you have corruption in the registry, is to get a free scan. If there is corruption there, you will be alerted to the fact. If there is no or little corruption, you will know it must be something else slowing down your computer.
Here is a link to the outstanding registry cleaner I use exclusively in my computer repair shop; Number 1 Rated Registry Cleaner It has restored speed to a lot of my customer's ailing computers. As you will see, there is a button to click on this page where you can get a free registry scan.
What is even more impressive about this registry cleaner is it not only does the best job of any registry cleaner at removing registry corruption, it is also a registry optimizer! This means it has a way of making fast tracks within your most used functions which will get your computer not only back to its old speedy self, it will put it in overdrive!
What If The Problem Is Still None Of The Above?
Outdated driver can cause a lot of problems with a computer's performance. Finding updated drivers and replacing them is difficult task. However, ScanDriversFree.com makes this job a snap! It will save time, money and it many cases it would have saved a computer from being thrown into the trash if the owner had known about it. Get your drivers scanned free and see if you need any driver updates.
The Speedy Recap So, let's recap. If you haven't found an incompatible program slowing down your computer and if it isn't the system tray using all of your resources, then the next step is look into the possibility of malware being present.
If your computer has malware, which is often times referred to as viruses and spyware, it will run slowly; sometimes very slowly. Also, you will be at risk of having your identity stolen or at least, your banking information and passwords stolen. If malware either wasn't the problem or you took care of it and the computer is still slow, it's time for a registry scan.
A corrupt registry, definitely will take the spring out of your computer's step. In fact, there are thousands and thousands of computers crawling around at turtle speed right now because of registry corruption and their operators aren't sure what is happening.
Every computer deserves to be malware free and have zero corruption in its registry. If you are the owner of one of these deserving computers, you can take a look at this highly recommended virus/spyware cleaning program and the Number 1 Rated Registry Cleaner.
Because this registry cleaner is also a registry optimizer, it will not only get your registry straightened out, it will get your computer into another gear!
A Final Word About Registry Cleaners At this point it is important to take note if you don't have a registry cleaner installed on your computer, sooner or later you are going to need one. This is just a fact of modern computing! The operating systems Windows XP and Vista become corrupted very easily and registry corruption will cause all kinds of problems for a computer. Not the least of these problems are a computer that is just so slow it can't get out of its own way.
So, to see if registry corruption is slowing your computer down, get a free registry scan here. If there is no corruption in the registry, you will know this is not your problem, but you should be aware registry corruption will creep up on your computer so you should guard against it. Sometimes, cleaning the registry is the only way to get your computer back up to speed once again!
Finally, but also very important is the fact an outdated driver can cause a lot of problems with a computer's performance. Finding updated drivers and replacing them is difficult task. However, ScanDriversFree.com makes this job a snap! It will save time, money and it many cases it would have saved a computer from being thrown into the trash if the owner had known about it. Get your drivers scanned free and see if you need any updates. | <urn:uuid:3c8ef285-77ff-40ab-ba28-c1b1c446fa0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://repairslowcomputer.com/repairing_slow_computer.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959742 | 3,166 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Having a bit of a laugh at myself today.
I've said it many times before, but never really thought about it.
I don't get people.
I actually don't really like a lot of people. I sort of identify with that saying, 'The more people I know, the more I like my cats.' - except that I don't really like many cats either.
It occurred to me though, that it's a very strange thing to believe about yourself; that you don't get people or you don't like people. It's very strange because ultimately I am a person. Well, in theory, anyway.
Because sometimes I wonder. Maybe I'm not a person? Maybe I'm an alien to this planet and just don't know it. Maybe I was sent here to observe people and one day I'll be teleported back to the mothership and they'll download all my observations from my database (brain). I mean, it sort of makes sense, right, the fact that I wouldn't know I'm not a person because that would help me observe humans more authentically.
It's a bit unfair though, don't you think that, given my lack of proper understanding for humans, that I'd be dumped here with no understanding of my alien origins - an understanding that might help me not feel quite so out-of-step with the rest of the human race.
I've heard many times that this sense of alienation I feel is very common amongst humans. That must be some sort of genetic fault considering the social nature of the human race. Surely a species which relies so heavily on belonging would have some sort of protection from feeling alienated by their own species most of the time.
Although, here's a thought... The need for ego in humans - it is ego which has seen the human race develop and evolve as quickly as it has - is probably the thing that creates the sense of alienation. I mean, it's ego that makes it so hard for me to relate to others. My very individual nature (something all humans possess to one degree or other) is what stands in the way of me getting other people. They are not like me, they don't react to things the way I do. They don't feel what I feel and cannot empathise most of the time. And this is something most humans experience, I think.
Humans are innately social, but also innately ego driven and have the unrealistic expectation that others will feel the way they do. When others don't sharing their feelings, humans blame themselves. Most humans tend to wonder what is wrong with them that others don't feel the same way they do, or that they don't feel the way others do.
So, not getting other people, and not really liking most other people is probably the greatest indicator that I am, indeed, a person! | <urn:uuid:d3866a31-50a1-40ca-a672-d24a798ecda1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wherethefairieslive.com/2012/11/maybe-im-not-person.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982456 | 582 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Shepard: One of America's 'true adventurers'
In this story:
Web posted at: 8:00 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT)
HOUSTON (CNN) -- Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., the first American in space, was remembered Saturday by his fellow NASA space pioneers as a patriot and leader, a fierce competitor and a close friend.
Shepard, 74, died July 22 after a long battle with leukemia. His death leaves only four of the original seven Mercury astronauts -- John Glenn, M. Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper and Walter Schirra Jr. -- who pioneered U.S. space exploration in the 1960s.
"America has lost one of its true adventurers, someone whose entire life was dictated by the American questing spirit," said Glenn. "Scott and Gordo and Wally and I have lost more than a friend. We've lost another brother."
NASA held the memorial at the Johnson Space Center. Overlooking the speakers on the stage was a large portrait of Shepard his Navy dress uniform. He retired as a Navy admiral.
Schirra broke down in tears as he ended his speech, poignantly saying, "Bye-bye, Al."
The 'big hangar in the sky'
Cooper remembered competing with Shepard by racing identical Corvettes, one of several references to Shepherd's choice of car during the early years of the U.S. space program.
"I'm sorry Al that I never told you that I changed the ratio in my differential," Cooper said, drawing laughter from the crowd. "You really weren't any less of a driver, it's just that I cheated a little on you."
Cooper said Shepherd had gone to the "big hangar in the sky, having a lot of good flights."
"We'll miss you, Al, but we'll be there before long, so we can try some of that flying ourselves," Cooper said.
Shepard died at Community Hospital near Monterey, California. He made his historic space flight in 1961, spending 15 minutes in a sub-orbital flight and impressing Americans with his performance as an unflappable, can-do astronaut.
As Glenn recalled, the flight was made was during the Cold War. The Soviet Union had beat America into space, first with Sputnik and then by launching Yuri Gagarin as the first man in space.
'Al brought us back'
"We had been beaten in the early days of the space race by a country that bragged (by saying) America now sleeps under a Soviet moon," he said, adding it was a very low time for American self-esteem.
"But Al brought us back," Glenn said.
James Lovell Jr., a Gemini and Apollo astronaut, said Shepherd's accomplishments continued after he left the space program, noting he was the driving force behind the creation of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Carpenter said he always referred to Shepard by his middle name, Bartlett, while Shepard always referred to him as Malcolm, his first name.
"My hat's off to you, Bartlett," he said. "Thank you for all you have done for the Navy, for the space program and for your country. It is an honor and a privilege to have known you."
Shepard, a gruff, eighth-generation New Englander, was born in East Derry, New Hampshire, on November 18, 1923.
After graduating from high school and spending a year at Admiral Farragut Academy in New Jersey, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was a member of the varsity crew and participated in other sports. He was remembered by a classmate as "undistinguished, but a real likable guy."
A top Naval test pilot
He served as an ensign aboard the destroyer Cogswell in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he began training as an aviator, and was so eager to accelerate the process that he took additional lessons at a civilian flying school in his spare time.
After several tours of duty in the Mediterranean, Shepard became one of the Navy's top test pilots and took part in high-altitude flying tests.
When he was selected to be one of America's first seven Mercury astronauts he was regarded "as a top-notch Navy aviator, tough, quick-witted, and a leader," wrote Tom Wolfe in "The Right Stuff," his classic account of the early space program.
In fact, Wolfe found there were two Alan Shepards. One was "the utterly, and, if necessary, icily correct career Navy officer."
The other, the one Wolfe dubbed "Smilin' Al of the Cape," emerged at Cape Canaveral where the astronauts often trained, far from their families.
His 15-minute, 302-mile flight on May 5, 1961, was considered a major accomplishment in the U.S. space program.
On April 12, less than a month before Shepard's scheduled liftoff, the Soviet Union launched a spacecraft called Vostok I that carried Gagarin on one lap around Earth, giving the Soviets bragging rights in the space race.
Delays pushed Shepard's launch back from May 2 to May 5, and once he'd been strapped into the cramped Freedom 7 capsule perched on a Redstone rocket, more complications delayed the launch another four hours.
'Light this candle'
At two minutes and forty seconds to launch, technicians noticed that fuel pressure was running high, and Shepard was told there might be another delay. It was at that point, writes Wolfe, that Smilin' Al of the Cape stepped aside for the Icy Commander.
"Why don't you fix your little problem and light this candle." Shepard snapped.
Perhaps the fuel pressure wasn't so high after all, the technicians agreed, and the countdown resumed.
Shepard was sent booming off into the Florida morning sky, and the flight was so short and his responsibilities were so numerous that Shepard had little time to enjoy it.
He was so tightly strapped in, for example, that he couldn't feel the weightlessness, and had to settle for the vicarious thrill of watching a stray washer left behind by some workman floating in front of him.
Knowing that he would be asked what the stars looked like from 115 miles up, Shepard stared out the porthole windows and all he could see was sky of the deepest blue.
Shepard splashed down 40 miles from Bermuda and was hoisted aboard a Marine helicopter that took him to the aircraft carrier Lake Champlain. A day later, he was in Washington where President John F. Kennedy Jr. awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal; a parade in Washington two days after that drew 250,000 people.
First golf shots on the moon
An ear problem grounded Shepard and he was put in charge of the astronauts' office for the next 10 years. But when surgery corrected his ear problem, he talked his way into command of the Apollo 14 moon mission that was launched on January 31, 1971.
The 47-year-old Shepard and Ed Mitchell spent 33 1/2 hours on the moon, nine hours and 23 minutes of it trudging about on the surface in deep, shifting lunar dust.
But when the work was finished, Shepard pulled out two golf balls and unfolded a collapsible golf club specially made for the occasion. Despite thick gloves and a stiff suit that forced him to swing the club with one hand only, he became the first person ever to hit golf shots on the moon.
Shepard retired in 1974 from NASA and the Navy and became chairman of Marathon Construction Corp. in Houston. He joined the board of directors of several companies and started Seven Fourteen Enterprises (named for Freedom 7 and Apollo 14), which served as an umbrella company for several enterprises.
He also served for many years as the chairman of the Mercury 7 Foundation -- now the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
At one point, Shepard and his wife, Louise had homes in Houston's exclusive River Oaks neighborhood, Breckenridge, Colorado, and Pebble Beach, California. The couple has three daughters. In his later years, Shepard spent most of his time in Pebble Beach.
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Just starting your research? Try the Junior Reference Collection
database to get solid introductory information that will help you plan your research and find great search times as you dig deeper.
Love trivia? Want to know what happened on This Day in History
? The History Channel shares decades' worth of historic events that happened today. You can also browse backwards and forward. If you wanted to get really creative for someone's birthday, list what happened on that day in the past in their birthday card!
Working on a History Day project? The library is hosting two History Day Hullabaloos to help you do your research with the help of mentors from the Minnesota History Center and library resources. Come to Ridgedale
on Tuesday, January 15 from 4:30-7:30 and Minneapolis Central
on Saturday, January 26 from 11:00 - 3:00.
Want to know about your family history? Curious about the family history of some famous people like the actor Adrian Grenier, actress Michelle Rodriguez and more? Watch Finding Your Roots
from PBS, and use its website to start looking into your own roots.
Read histories, look at timelines, take a practice quiz on HistoryWorld
. It includes the Encyclopedia of Britain, the Wellcome History of Medicine, (Global) Places in History using Google maps, and the pilot (Local) Places in History for local history societies.
games past and you learn not only about the athletes but also the politics that kept countries out of competition or made them even more competitive.
This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. Check out an excerpt from the official report
by the U.S. Senate or head over to Minneapolis Central
to read full transcripts from the hearings.
by visiting MNopedia
and reading about the contributions Minnesota women (like Gratia Countryman!
) have made throughout history. | <urn:uuid:12e8685b-ea2b-4308-9ac6-688a1a6069c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hclib.org/teens/Blog/index.cfm?Topic=History/Biography | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921503 | 381 | 2.171875 | 2 |
GovTrack’s Bill Summary
We don’t have a summary available yet.
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2011 - Directs specified federal agencies participating in the National High-Performance Computing Program to:
(1) transmit to Congress a cybersecurity strategic research and development plan and triennial updates, and
(2) develop and annually update an implementation roadmap for such plan.
Expands permitted National Science Foundation (NSF) grants for basic research on innovative approaches to the structure of computer and network hardware and software that are aimed at enhancing computer security to include research into identity management, crimes against children, and organized crime.
Requires applications for the establishment of Computer and Network Security Research Centers to include a description of how such Centers will partner with government laboratories, for-profit entities, other institutions of higher education, or nonprofit research institutions.
Repeals the Cyber Security Faculty Development Traineeship Program. Requires the NSF Director to continue carrying out a Scholarship for Service program under the Cyber Security Research and Development Act. Directs the President to transmit a report to Congress addressing the cybersecurity workforce needs of the federal government.
Requires the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director to convene a cybersecurity university-industry task force to explore mechanisms for carrying out collaborative R&D activities.
Revises provisions concerning the development and dissemination by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of security risk checklists associated with computer systems that are, or are likely to become, widely used within the federal government.
Requires conducting intramural security research activities under NIST's computing standards program.
Requires the NIST Director to:
(1) ensure coordination of U.S. government representation in the international development of technical standards related to cybersecurity;
(2) maintain a cybersecurity awareness and education program through the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership program; and
(3) continue a program to support development of technical standards, metrology, testbeds, and conformance criteria with regard to identity management research and development.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
No summary available.
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile. | <urn:uuid:f8096d10-9359-495a-9215-b5dbebc63100> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/s1152 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902506 | 572 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Technical Issues - Documentation
|Common Agreement Document - Boeing 747-8 Airport Compatibility Group - (BACG)This group has produced the “Common Agreement Document” of the BACG in late 2008, which has been recognized by a number of CAAs as appropriate guidance to assist with the B747-8’s imminent entry into service. |
2009 ACI Recommended Practices and Policy Handbook (7th edition)
This is your source of basic guidelines for airport operators. Chapter 5 in this best industry handbook gives guidance on Aerodrome Planning and Design issues.
Common Agreement Document - AACG
ACI has chaired the following industry working group which has contributed to airport design: A380 Airport Compatibility Group (AACG). This group published a “Common Agreement Document” in 2002 to assist the entry into service of the A380. The document was signed by several Civil Aviation Authorities, and has been implemented or used as reference material by a larger number of states | <urn:uuid:750e7748-5afe-4837-bd63-db34625c482b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aci.aero/About-ACI/Priorities/Technical-Issues/Documentation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938665 | 202 | 1.742188 | 2 |
UnNews:All is well in the world
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
22 June 2008
A COZY SUBURB, Tree-hung hammock – Across the earth the peoples of all nations arise from blissful slumber, greeted by cloudless skies and a bright, shining morning sun. Sunbeams are cast into our tidy abodes as breakfast is leisurely consumed over pleasant conversations with loved ones. A choir of toilet flushes sing out across the land, with gold-tinged waters carrying their plump, fiber-rich aquatic voyagers to a quaintly remote place of rest deep inside God’s green earth.
Smiling faces abound as unseasonably mild weather continues for days straight and cool breezes indiscriminately caress the cheeks of all people young and old. A proud father is seen applauding his precocious son, who just took a victory lap around the block for the first time on a bicycle without training wheels. A delivery man with a beaming smile and fresh-pressed beige uniform hands a bouquet of flowers to an elderly woman; the card reads, “Happy 70th Mom!” Black children and white children are skipping down the street, hand in hand, numbering in the hundreds and growing steadily at a perfect 1-1 ratio. A turbaned terrorist is defusing a plastic explosive, hurling it into a garbage bin and clapping the dust from his hands.
Natural disasters of all varieties are not predicted for the next ten to twenty years, and the rhythmic hum of eco-friendly automobiles echoes through the streets, nary a collision to be observed. Defensive drivers cruise the roads, stopping for stray soccer balls bouncing into their path, the drivers stepping out and tossing the balls back to their spunky owners with a friendly but stern word of warning. Doors to all homes are unlocked and the only women on street corners are the grannies just helped across the crosswalk by conscientious strangers in bowler hats.
In the center of the earth a thundering ovation erupts and spreads across the globe as world leaders emphatically shake hands and embrace one another after sealing the long-awaited World Peace Treaty.
The world is at peace, and all is well.
This was UnNews reporting, and I am sooooo high right now.
|This article features first-hand journalism by an UnNews correspondent.| | <urn:uuid:819119d1-23cd-4996-8ea0-977c23ffe512> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnNews:All_is_well_in_the_world?direction=prev&oldid=3185954 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937576 | 490 | 1.570313 | 2 |
- Veteran bands Motorhead, Black Sabbath top Metal Hammer Golden Gods
- Analysis - French EU-wariness complicates life for Hollande
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Italy minister: no capacity cap for solar aid: Ansa
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy will not set solar power capacity limits under a new incentive scheme but will instead cap the amount of money it intends to spend for incentives, the environment minister was quoted as saying on Monday.
Details of Italy's new support scheme for the solar sector are keenly watched by international investors and industry operators who fear that an annual cap on incentivised capacity would slow down the country's booming solar market.
Earlier this month, the government decreed that current incentives would apply only to solar plants that connect to the grid by the end of May, adding a new support scheme would set an annual cap on capacity eligible for incentives.
"From 2012 we will proceed ... without setting a cap on incentives in terms of annual megawatts but with a cap on a total of millions of euros (to be spent) until the end of incentives," Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo was quoted by news agency Ansa as saying.
It was not immediately possible to confirm her comments.
The government is due to issue a decree on new solar incentives by the end of April.
Big energy consuming industries have been pushing for an annual limit on the incentivised solar capacity as debate about the new support scheme heated up, a renewable energy source told Reuters.
Last Wednesday, Italy's junior industry minister Stefano Saglia said the government is looking to introduce an annual cap for new solar incentives.
Earlier in March, Industry Minister Paolo Romani said that once Italy had installed 8,000 megawatts of solar capacity, feed-in-tariff incentives would cost some 35 billion euros ($49.34 billion) in 10 years.
Prestigiacomo also said on Monday the government would seek ways to safeguard investments in the renewable energy projects under development which may fail to connect to the grid by the May deadline.
"This will allow (investors) to overcome a series of problems which do not depend on those who have made investments," she said.
Grid connection is a notoriously lengthy process in Italy.
After May, the government would slightly cut incentives making sure "not to penalise investments under way which have been programed under the old incentive scheme and not completed by the end of May," Prestigiacomo said.
Her comments confirm what a senior trade union official who was present at a meeting with Italy's industry and environment ministers told Reuters on Thursday.
Italy's solar sector, among the biggest in Europe, has boomed since 2007, when some of Europe's most generous production incentives were launched.
It has attracted the world's biggest photovoltaic module makers such as China's Suntech Power Holdings Co, Trina, Yilgli Green Energy and U.S. firm First Solar.
Italy's biggest renewable operator is Enel Green Power while utilities such as Edison and CIR energy unit Sorgenia have renewable businesses.
(Writing by Svetlana Kovalyova; Editing by David Gregorio)
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Ten TED Things to Think About
Posted by Tyler Rousseau
Sorry, I love a good alliteration.
I came across this article on my traditional morning tech-news search and thought it was a pretty decent article. Originally posted at CNN, Richard Galant presents 10 ideas from TED2010 that he feels are worth special note.
Overall, I think he is right on the money with most of these choices, which have a somewhat humanistic tone to them.
-Money can’t buy happiness but it can relieve stress.
-You are what you eat.
-Many children die needless because we choose not to fund programs and distribute the monies poorly.
-People will spend what it takes to believe in a placebo.
-A ukulele is good for any occasion… especially when stopping a war.
I think what I liked about the choices are that they can easily promote discussion and even a little outcry. Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think. | <urn:uuid:7b151965-3b5e-49a1-840a-a93ed482ad3f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://librarygarden.net/2010/02/12/ten-ted-things-to-think-about/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=9233933e84 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94957 | 206 | 1.617188 | 2 |
In the way popular culture and politics usually likes to categorize things, there seems to be a “war on everything” during this political season. Let’s add another and say there’s a “war on the news media” as well.
This war is viewers and readers vs. Big Media. Local news appears to be outside the line of fire.
Public confidence in Big Media is continuing to decline, based on surveys by the Pew Research Center and Gallup. While we hear a good deal about conservative distrust of the media, that attitude is spreading to a larger political demographic.
Gallup released a survey on July 10, 2012 headlined: “Americans' Confidence in Television News Drops to New Low; Liberals' and moderates' views are now similar to conservatives.’
The lead of the Gallup news release announcing the survey said, “Americans' confidence in television news is at a new low by one percentage point, with 21% of adults expressing a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in it. This marks a decline from 27% last year and from 46% when Gallup started tracking confidence in television news in 1993.”
A Pew Research Center’s survey research on media credibility overall shows that Americans’ general confidence in the news media has fallen. Again.
Here is the headline to the Aug. 16 story on the Pew Research Center’s website: “Further Decline in Credibility Ratings for Most News Organizations.”
The Pew report said, in part, “Across all 13 news organizations included in the survey, the average positive believability rating (3 or 4 on a 4-point scale) is 56%. In 2010, the average positive rating was 62%. A decade ago, the average rating for the news organizations tested was 71%. Since 2002, every news outlet’s believability rating has suffered a double-digit drop, except for local daily newspapers and local TV news. The New York Times was not included in this survey until 2004, but its believability rating has fallen by 13 points since then.”
Many people understandably confuse news with opinion, probably because both breathe the same air; they just exhale differently. News says what happened or what is happening; opinion tells you what you could, should, or ought to think about the news.
Seeing news only through an ideological prism is a ticket to a frustration destination. But the media itself is causing the lines to blur as more and more national news reporters go on talking head shows and offer personal opinions of politicians and policies and editorial comment seeps into news stories.
Journalists are people. They have opinions. However, like a political figure who can’t voice a private opinion, neither can a journalist who wants to maintain an image of objectivity. But on that basis it could actually be argued that journalists shouldn’t vote. Voting shows a preference.
Opinions of the national media tend to dominate in conversations about media credibility or bias for the same reason discussions of national politics usually focus on Washington. Somehow it just seems more interesting.
Many local residents may not have a clue of the identities of Knox, Blount or Any Other County Commission or who is on their area’s state legislative delegation. For the most part people don’t know what those elected officials are doing, when, or why. And they don’t much care.
But everyone is an expert – kind of – in national politics. Most voters and non-voters alike are reasonably certain they know what the president or Congress should do in any situation.
It is with Congress that attitudes toward the media as reflected in the Gallup and Pew surveys can be compared: people may have a low opinion of the legislative branch, but they like their member of Congress. That’s why even as Congress records dismal approval ratings the reelection rate for members was 98 percent as recently as 2008.
When the internet is included, today we have more sources for news – or at least information, or stuff that passes for information – from outlets appealing to every conceivable taste and ideology. News and information have effectively been balkanized: if you don’t like this one’s approach, cross the border and visit the territory of another.
People aren’t viewing the Big Media as having less credibility; they’re viewing the media they don’t like as having less credibility. Local media, like the local congressman, gets the highest marks because it’s closest to home.
On the local level it might be an opportunity for the close-to-home media to grab a greater share of attention, except that, as mentioned, interest in local affairs stimulates less passion than national issues.
For Big Media, there’s no going back. The technological realities are that information sources will become even more plentiful, dividing attention and loyalties even more.
It’s getting harder, amid the noise, to hear anything. And as the Tennessee saying goes, “If I ain’t up on it, I’m down on it.’ | <urn:uuid:486b48bd-2f80-49d0-bd12-9a82e5d31063> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/sep/10/george-korda-its-not-we-dont-news-media-its-we-don/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953713 | 1,057 | 2.078125 | 2 |
San Francisco SPCA
Sunday marked the beginning of National Dog Bite Prevention Week.
Animal Shelters across California are overflowing with Chihuahuas—that’s right, the smart and lovable breed is in trouble. Hundreds of these guys and gals are in need of rescue.
Researchers have begun to pinpoint the evolution of dogs from wolves by using genetic sequencing.
Each year, we talk about kitten season – when shelters become full of orphaned or otherwise surrendered cats.
It’s not uncommon for people to think of some pets as expert mimics – birds, for instance. But according to a recently published report, there is evidence to suggest other pets do it, too.
After the recent Connecticut school shooting, a team of dogs was sent to comfort the grieving, driving home the point that therapy dogs can greatly benefit those in emotional distress.
A judge recently ruled that pet “foster parents” can tax deduct expenses such as food and medicine.
Strange but true, dogs’ scenting abilities can help humans with medical needs.
A number of dog-friendly San Francisco companies favor a positive view of dogs in the workplace. Some businesses have set rules to keep workers healthy and safe, while others take a more idealistic approach and simply request good behavior.
More and more states are starting to include pets in domestic violence protection orders, which raises the question – are pets often abused in homes with domestic violence problems? | <urn:uuid:ae7c88c6-e125-45cc-ae03-4240f623e190> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/tag/san-francisco-spca/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957537 | 297 | 2.140625 | 2 |
A national system to identify livestock is in the works. And agriculture officials say North Carolina is ahead of everyone else.
That's because North Carolina already has a system to identify groups of animals and some individual ones. The initiative by the U.S. Department of Agriculture would require each state to create its own identification system to be integrated into a nationwide one.
Officials says they saw a need for a standardized system during last year's Mad Cow disease scare. | <urn:uuid:d1b33887-708d-4b9d-8c34-c6e49321f108> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.witn.com/home/headlines/976166.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957165 | 92 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Mojave, California – September 21, 2009 – Masten Space Systems successfully demonstrated multiple sustained free flights of its XA-0.1B vertical take-off, vertical landing (VTVL) rocket this past week. The longest flight was 93 seconds and involved a flight between two pads 60 meters apart. This marks the first time a purely rocket powered VTVL has flown from Mojave Air and Space Port.
“The flight was absolutely beautiful! The control systems were designed to control the vehicle to high accuracy, and worked. We landed within a few inches of the target. That’s pretty amazing considering the vehicle is balanced on top of a plume of burning alcohol,” Masten Space Systems CEO David Masten said. “It feels great watching something work exactly the way you designed it to work.”
XA-0.1B, or “Xombie” as it is called by the team, uses an internally developed flight control system using readily available commercial components. “The rocket tilt to start the translation seemed to have caught the crowd by surprise! While we weren’t able to test all the flight details under the tether, the control system worked exactly as expected,” said Flight Controls Engineer Ian Garcia. Since May the vehicle had been flying short test flights tethered to a crane for safety.
Xombie’s propulsion system is a proprietary regeneratively cooled isopropyl alcohol and liquid oxygen rocket engine. The engine was originally designed for 750 pounds of thrust but is now running it over 810 pounds. Inspection of the vehicle after the flight revealed minor damage to the thrust chamber that prevented further flights that day. “We have a good handle on the problem and we’re already working on a fix,” said propulsion engineer Jonathan Goff. “We should be back in the air in a week or so.”
Last week’s flights were part of the Masten team’s first attempt at winning the NASA funded Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Level 1 competition. The Challenge is to fly two flights between two pads at least 50 meters apart. The flight time between each pad must be at least 90 seconds. Even though the first leg appeared flawless, the team decided that, though the engine damage appeared minor, it was better to use one of the scheduled Challenge dates in October to try again.
“Completing these milestones puts the company squarely on track for high altitude commercial flights starting in 2010. If you are interested in flying with us, now is the time to get the ball rolling,” said Michael Mealling, Vice President of Business Development. “Along with our recent DARPA SBIR contract, this flight signals the start of a new phase of our business.”
In addition to flying “Xombie,” the Masten team is assembling and testing another vehicle – XA0.1E – for attempts at the Level Two Challenge in October. XA0.1E, nicknamed “Xoie”, is lighter and has larger propellant tanks for the additional flight time required for Level Two. After the Challenge season is over, Xoie will be used for high altitude flight tests. “Ultimately, we are looking to open up the final frontier by making space travel as safe, simple, and ubiquitous as flying. This is just one small step on that path.”
About Masten Space Systems
Masten Space Systems is a Mojave, CA based aerospace company developing fully reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) launch vehicles, rocket-related products, and engineering services. The company’s 6000 square foot production facility and 100,000 square foot testing facility is located on the Mojave Air and Space Port. The company designs and builds aerospace solutions that focus on durability, long operational lifetimes, and minimal per-flight maintenance. For more information on the company see http://masten-space.com
Masten Space Systems | <urn:uuid:6b947425-804d-4a0d-ab78-b54941a02f81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://masten-space.com/2009/09/22/masten-space-completes-first-untethered-flights-competes-in-challenge/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951669 | 829 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Why identical twins are different
Identical twins are genetically different, according to a new study.
Researchers have found that even though identical twins supposedly share all of their DNA, they acquire hundreds of genetic changes early in development that could set them on different paths.
The findings may partly explain why one twin gets cancer while another stays healthy. The study also suggests that these genetic changes are surprisingly common.
"It's not as rare as people previously expected," said study presenter Rui Li, an epidemiologist at McGill University.
While past studies have looked at genetic changes, or mutations, in sperm and eggs, which can be passed on to offspring, very few studies have looked at somatic mutations.
These mutations, also called copy errors, can occur early in fetal development, but because they aren't in the sex cells (the X or Y chromosomes) of the fetus, they can't be passed on.
Other studies have shown that chemical modifications, or epigenetic effects, can change which genes are expressed over the years, one factor that renders twins not completely identical. Still, other work has shown that identical twins can have different gene mutations, but this study didn't determine how often they occur.
The study was recently presented at the American Society of Human Genetics meeting. | <urn:uuid:0ac4bc2d-4279-44ba-9902-88e03a5e8cec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newkerala.com/news/newsplus/worldnews-101629.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974768 | 259 | 3.734375 | 4 |
FTC Announces Settlement With Google Over Its Anticompetitive Behavior
The FTC today announced that Google has agreed to change some of its business practices to resolve Federal Trade Commission concerns that those practices could stifle competition.
Under a settlement reached with the FTC, Google will meet its prior commitments to allow competitors access – on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms – to patents on critical standardized technologies needed to make popular devices such as smart phones, laptop and tablet computers, and gaming consoles. In a separate letter of commitment to the Commission, Google has agreed to give online advertisers more flexibility to simultaneously manage ad campaigns on Google’s AdWords platform and on rival ad platforms; and to refrain from misappropriating online content from so-called “vertical” websites that focus on specific categories such as shopping or travel for use in its own vertical offerings.
“The changes Google has agreed to make will ensure that consumers continue to reap the benefits of competition in the online marketplace and in the market for innovative wireless devices they enjoy,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “This was an incredibly thorough and careful investigation by the Commission, and the outcome is a strong and enforceable set of agreements.”
“We are especially glad to see that Google will live up to its commitments to license its standard-essential patents, which will ensure that companies willing to license these patents can compete in the market for wireless devices,” Leibowitz added. “This decision strengthens the standard-setting process that is at the heart of innovation in today’s technology markets.”
“The evidence the FTC uncovered through this intensive investigation prompted us to require significant changes in Google’s business practices. However, regarding the specific allegations that the company biased its search results to hurt competition, the evidence collected to date did not justify legal action by the Commission,” said Beth Wilkinson, outside counsel to the Commission. “Undoubtedly, Google took aggressive actions to gain advantage over rival search providers. However, the FTC’s mission is to protect competition, and not individual competitors. The evidence did not demonstrate that Google’s actions in this area stifled competition in violation of U.S. law.”
The full release can be found at the link below... | <urn:uuid:294019de-38aa-49b0-9dc9-e9f7d0a8a8f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iclarified.com/26492/ftc-announces-settlement-with-google-over-its-anticompetitive-behavior | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953065 | 475 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The fiscal cliff just got steeper
Obama's re-election portends a big fight over the national debt and lots of volatility in financial markets.
There's less uncertainty on the political landscape. But there's now more to worry about.
For a short while, Wall Street seemed to be fantasizing about a strong Republican showing in the 2012 elections, which would have brought single-party control to a notoriously fractious and dysfunctional government in Washington, D.C. That's one explanation for why the stock market had a banner day as voters were heading to the polls, rising by nearly 1 percent on a day when there was little tangible news to justify the gain.
But after a seemingly endless campaign and $6 billion worth of political spending, Americans voted to reelect President Obama, keep Congress more or less the way it's been, and continue the divided government that's been in place for the last two years. Many analysts considered that a worst-cast scenario in terms of resolving the "fiscal cliff," the huge set of tax hikes and spending cuts set to go into effect in 2013 if Washington doesn't come up with a better plan.
Since averting the cliff would require some kind of compromise between Democrats who control the White House and Senate, and Republicans who control the House of Representatives, a continuation of the status quo suggests that the same spiteful partisan squabbling that already dominates Washington will suffuse negotiations over cutting the deficit and starting to pay down the $16 trillion national debt.
"A status quo outcome will be viewed as a disappointment, and markets may sell off somewhat in the short run," wrote David Joy, chief market strategist for Ameriprise Financial, in a brief analysis of the election's consequences. "It will be viewed as an outcome which offers the prospect for continued partisan bickering on a budget deal, and which increases the likelihood of brinksmanship on the fiscal cliff."
Many analysts assumed that a Republican sweep, including control of both houses of Congress, would have raised the likelihood of a deal to rescind most or all of the tax increases scheduled to go into effect in 2013—which amount to about $545 billion. But Obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthy, which Republicans have said they won't tolerate.
That portends a nasty standoff similar to the meltdown that occurred when the U.S. borrowing limit needed to be raised in the summer of 2011, and bitter partisan wrangling went till the very last second. The borrowing limit did get raised, but the needless 11th-hour drama—plus the collapse of a broader deal to corral the mushrooming national debt—led to the first-ever downgrade in the U.S. credit rating. Over the next month, the stock market fell by seven percent.
So it's little wonder that Wall Street expects more of the same when an even bigger set of deadlines hits at the end of the year. "In a scenario in which the political makeup inside the beltway is largely unchanged from last summer, we expect an intense battle," investment bank UBS advised clients in a research note ahead of the election.
There are still plenty of ways that a divided Washington could steer clear of the cliff and spare the economy another unneeded shock. President Obama, who hasn't staked out a strong stance on deficit reduction, could grant House Republicans a few of their priorities—which mostly involve spending cuts—in order to reach a compromise. Chastened Republicans might show a stronger inclination to solve problems rather than scoring political points. Business leaders, who have been heavily lobbying for a solution, might finally bang some sense into the politicians.
But none of that will happen for a while, if it happens at all. In the meantime, brace for a few weeks that may be the bumpiest of the year so far. The election is over, but the fighting probably isn't.
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We are Fuc%#d!!!!!!!!!
We working few better get ready to give everything We've worked for all their lives to pay for the ones who won't, because the group of the ones who won't just got a hell of a lot bigger last night...
We now have a welfare nation of deadbeats who vote for a living rather than work for a living.
Its a sad day in America and the end of America.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Just bought $40,000 in the market. This little tantrum by the 1% is a great money making opportunity. Woo Hoo!
Congrat's to Barrack Obama. No changes for the next four years - like a roller coaster ride, many ups and downs, only to end up where we started. soooo..... I'll keep on trying to help those who are on government benefits to start their own businesses and eventually get off of them (one way to combat the 'fiscal cliff ') and to remain well diversified in all portfolios I manage.
As aways, I'll be 'shorting like a madman' through this volatility (like today)- My favorite thing to do to the 'big boy's" .
To the 47% on the dole ? I, and many of my peers will be pushing for you guys to enter the work force- get ready- we're here to help you become self sufficient.
I hope you are all ready for the Hope and Change our so called leader is promising! I mean look at that
cool emblem/ logo that signifies Obama!The last time I saw any leader pushing his own emblem/logo like this his name was Hitler!! That is scary for everyone.
Nobama re-elected...god help us all...
The cliff is approaching, and thanks to the voting public ignoring the obvious items like bailing out automakers, banks and mortgage companies, NOTHING will get done thanks to last night's outcome. When the truck drives over it, it will be REAL bad for the U.S. Europe is about to go belly up, and a NEW recession is all but imminent. At least if Romney got elected, the wild card COULD have played a good hand.
But now, it's all but assured that this country will sink into the 10th level of he!!. Thank you Nobama supporters, I'll sleep better tonite...
That sounds awfully like Republicans. LOSERS!
You all are losers. Republican House members better take the grand bargain or they'll be out in 2014.
We're moving forward, losers. Don't get in our way, ever again!
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Breaking up big banks is an untested solution to the too big to fail problem that attempts to isolate and dismantle large, troubled institutions while protecting the rest of the economy.
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks ended modestly higher as the S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, and the Dow added 0.4% to register its 19th consecutive Tuesday of gains.
The major averages saw little change during morning action, but afternoon buying interest helped lift the indices to session highs. Most cyclical sectors (with the exception of materials and technology) finished among the leaders, but the defensively-geared health care sector settled atop the leaderboard as biotechnology outperformed. ... More
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|There’s a problem getting this information right now. Please try again later.| | <urn:uuid:3dcef050-ab4c-4f2c-a004-3797066df6c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.msn.com/politics/post.aspx?post=8752a20b-2995-4b7a-b910-44328b73122c&_p=5fa71b74-c1c4-4885-8725-c969c90e316e&_rp=e1a629ba-77d7-4e91-8f05-67e010e87fc4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953595 | 1,640 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Whether you live in Florida (like me) or are still sweating it out in some other part of the country – the temperature does not seem to be dropping outside. It’s almost unbearable especially when you have errands to run or just want to relax in the sun!
While there’s nothing we can do to change the weather, there are still great ways to beat the heat!
Luckily, Real Simple magazine has issued an article to help out their readers on Ways to Beat the Heat. So, here are 6 ways to help you through the end of the summer – without melting!
Not only does it help with cost, but it keeps your house cooler. So, hang clothes out to dry to give it a fresh smell!
Opting for a lighter type of food, such as fruits and veggies keeps you hydrated — which keeps you cool.
Keep Cool While You Compute
This cool little invention, the Kensington FlyFan, plugs right into your USB port on your computer. Now you can finish up your work and keep cool at the same time!
Close windows and doors to keep the heat where it belongs — outside!
Lose your shoes (and your clothes for that matter) — it helps keep your body temperature down.
The mind is a tricky thing. If you think it, it will be. Studies show that if you think yourself cool — you’ll be cool. Maybe it doesn’t work all of the time — but it’s worth a shot! [via Real Simple]
What are you doing to keep from melting this summer? | <urn:uuid:11ffde25-6ed0-4c5d-a109-7ea832ae7bb4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lovelyish.com/2012/08/19/6-ways-to-beat-the-heat/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934688 | 329 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Although introvert seen as a close personal and self-withdrawn, introvert type is actually a personal, creative, and valuable, if the company knows where the personality types like this suit for the job. Introvert personality types generally do not like activities that make him meet many people or activities that make him socializing. When an introvert finds a job that he enjoy and he is talented on the field, he will become a valuable company asset.
Introvert often associated with the conscious, but in reality not always so. According to the origin of the Swiss psychologist who also find the term “introvert”, Carl Jung, the personality type of introvert is who prefers to be busy himself with life in solitude and activity with his own mind rather than socializing with other people. This personality type has interest in problem solving, creative work when their own, and can provide a solution when there is no interference. | <urn:uuid:827bc9b0-435b-4e79-bff7-4d98648a5a44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://colacot.com/tag/knowledge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9802 | 189 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Children are magnificent learners and brilliant to boot. All children are no matter there abilities. Finding a center that makes your heart sing and your kiddo smile is the most important tidbit you need to focus on. Once you have that figured out, you can carry on a search for what style of schooling you think you AND your child will benefit most from. I've known parents who were all about Waldorf but their kiddos were more Play Based. I've worked with children in Play-Based schools that found peace through the rhythms of Montessori, so it is very important to pay close attention to your child and how s/he processes information. Not every child (or person for that matter) acquires knowledge in the same way.
I've spent more than a decade studying and researching different approaches and theories to early childhood education and have developed a few of my own ideas and ideals as to what I believe in regarding how children learn. As I said, first and foremost, children are extremely CAPABLE and quite brilliant and given the right tools (for them) they can grow to be extremely capable and brilliant adults. I believe any type of education is a good thing but finding the right fit can make it even better. In the next few months, I hope to bring to you more of my ideas and share my favorite theories and projects. It's the organizing of all this information in my head that makes it most difficult for me but I think that if I can't get it out of the noggin soon, I just very well may burst! So here, in a nutshell is my number one piece of advice for you to share with your kiddos, no matter their age:
Love to learn.
No matter what the learning may be about, show a great love for the discovery of new things. Cook a new recipe, read a new book, plant a new plant, or learn a new word. Just go for it and try something or learn something new today that you didn't know yesterday. Make it a habit and make the reflection on your new-found knowledge a habit as well. This world is full of amazing and wonderful things and all of it is out there for you to grab it! | <urn:uuid:b7a6e271-8bc7-4464-9fba-f3ddd5013966> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scrumdillydo.blogspot.com/2011/09/first-day-of-pre-school-blues.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974736 | 451 | 2.25 | 2 |
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
[ edit ] English [ edit ] Etymology From photo- + -graphy , together meaning "drawing with light" or "representation by means of lines", "drawing".
National Geographic is currently holding its annual photo contest , with the deadline for submissions coming up on November 30. For the past nine weeks, the society has been gathering and presenting galleries of submissions, encouraging readers to vote for them as well. National Geographic was kind enough to let me choose among its entries from 2011 for display here on In Focus. | <urn:uuid:49744401-5f32-4125-aaa7-39f9542959fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pearltrees.com/alexchelaru/art/id4581713 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953237 | 116 | 1.515625 | 2 |
|Retrospective From Former Culinary Olympian|
|Written by Adrian Bell|
|Thursday, 02 August 2012 00:00|
Nick Schweizer has enjoyed an enviable culinary career. The 88-year old former chef emigrated to Canada in 1954 from Austria where he cooked for displaced persons. His first Canadian gig, at Toronto’s Old Mill, paid “$35 a week,” laughs Schweizer.
In 1956 Schweizer’s career gained momentum at the Royal York Hotel, Toronto. A refuge for the rich and royal, it’s where Schweizer re-invented food-sculpture by substituting lamb’s fat for butter. “I developed the system by accident,” recalls Schweizer. “In the [hotel] butcher shop I saw six lambs.” Eyeing the bright white fat on the carcasses, Schweizer was on to something good. A talented hobby-artist, the chef started shaping the lamb suet. “At the time, President Kennedy had just died so I started [moulding] his face,” says the former member of Canada’s Olympic Team (’72 to ’82). His sculpture — a bust of JFK — caught the eye of one of the managers of CP hotels, who told Schweizer what he thought. “I was shaking,” recalls Schweizer, “I thought I did something wrong ... but he said, ‘Nick, do what you do. You’re not only selling food, you’re entertaining the guests.’ From there, I made [busts of] Kennedy and Churchill and [competed] in the Olympics.” During the mid- ’70s, the team earned 40 gold medals.
Among Schweizer’s many highlights, he cooked for the Queen. “She was staying at Eaton cottage — the Mounties picked us up and brought us home at night,” he remembers. But what happened next, every chef dreads. “We made chicken à la king with black truffle and two pieces of toast on the side. Well the butler said, ‘the Queen wants it with rice.’ And we had no rice,” recalls Schweizer. “I thought ‘what are we going to do now?’ Schweizer enlisted the help of the security team, who phoned for a helicopter, and voilà, the rice arrived.
With a career spanning more than 40 years, Schweizer has enjoyed unending praise for his inventiveness, hard work and creativity — not to mention a string of gold medals, culinary appointments, and even an appearance on “To Tell the Truth,” a popular game show. He also received a gold-engraved wallet from Queen Elizabeth herself. Today, he spends his days doing light carpentry and gardening and enjoys life, despite being a diabetic. His passion for the culinary arts remains unabated. “I like food, but if someone says ‘what are you cooking now?’ ... I say, ‘my wife’s cooking!’”
photo courtesy of Adrian Bell | <urn:uuid:753c99c8-9408-4434-8e1e-fa1b1f31e257> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foodserviceworld.com/home/fsw-features/chefs-corner/4467-profiling-nick-schweizer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955054 | 670 | 1.609375 | 2 |
I wonder if there are many other households that have been recycling, and have found quite a change when going to the new recycling location. We stopped by Karl's Hauling today with our normal batch of items to be recycled. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that instead of throwing everything in the one big container, we are now expected to separate items into approximately 12 different categories! I don't recall that information was included in the article regarding the change in location.
I'm sorry, but I neither have the room nor the inclination to, for instance, separate plastic into five different categories! I think recycling is a good idea, but when you make the operation more demanding than people can manage, you will find your families that are willing to recycle will dwindle to perhaps 25 percent of those who have been participating. | <urn:uuid:48d4834f-6baf-4b40-a180-a07c0d4ebe6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://advertiser-tribune.com/page/content.detail/id/549330/No-room--inclination-to-sort-recyclables.html?nav=5008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967804 | 164 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Written by Nancy Dunn Thompson, Ph.D.
Scientists report that older adults who work, whether part-time or full-time, as healthier as a whole, particularly if they like their jobs. Working can give a sense of meaning and purpose and translate into lasting mental and physical vigor. Research shows that people who retire later may be able to delay the onsite of Alzheimer’s disease. Another report indicates that intellectual stimulations and multi-taking can also be associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia later in life.
When Social Security was established, the life span was much shorter and death in the mid-forties was not unusual. Sixty was an age of the very old. Now someone who lives to be sixty-five is likely to live 17 or 18 more years.
Life has changed in the past 70+ years, and the traditional retirement age of 65 is something to reconsider. People are living longer and healthier lives, and it is likely that more and more will chose to work longer because they want to or have too. Based on the information in recent studies, it seems like a good thing.
For more information: MSNBC: Not retiring comes with a bonus: better health | <urn:uuid:0fe2eb76-c9b6-4930-b871-d3e9550d2658> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.mysanantonio.com/caregivers-on-demand/2009/10/why-retire-working-may-extend-your-life-and-good-health/?gta=commentlistpos | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975889 | 245 | 2.328125 | 2 |
James Banks (Sheffield Hallam University) has just published European Regulation of Cross-Border Hate Speech in Cyberspace: The Limits of Legislation (2011) 19 European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice 1-13 (SSRN | Ingenta). This is the abstract:
This article examines the complexities of regulating hate speech on the Internet through legal frameworks. It demonstrates the limitations of unilateral national content legislation and the difficulties inherent in multilateral efforts to regulate the Internet. The article highlights how the US commitment to free speech has undermined European efforts to construct a truly international regulatory system. It is argued that a broad coalition of citizens, industry and government, employing technological, educational and legal frameworks, may offer the most effective approach through which to limit the effects of hate speech originating from outside of European borders.
In particular, he considers that the Additional Protocol on Xenophobia and Racism (ETS 189) to the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime (ETS 185), whilst a laudatory endeavour, is undermined by US adherence to the First Amendment, so that “the law alone may not be the most appropriate mechanism through which to counteract hate speech online”. He therefore advocates recourse to a combination of technological regulation (eg, ISP self-regulation; voluntary filtering) and the education of web users to minimise the transmission and reception of online hate speech. He concludes:
By combining legal intervention with technological regulatory mechanisms – monitoring, IPS user agreements, user end software and hotlines – the harm caused by online hate can be diminished. Moreover, through the careful integra- tion of law, technology, education and guidance, a reduction in the dissemination and impact of online hate speech can be achieved without adversely affecting the free flow of knowledge, ideas and information online. As Bailey ["Strategic Alliances. The inter-related roles of citizens, industry and government in combating Internet hate" Canadian Issues, Spring (2006) 56 at 58] neatly summarises, ‘broad-based efforts involving strategic alliances among citizens, citizen coalitions, industry and government provide a strong foundation from which to engage in visible, publicly accountable action against cyberhate.’ For such an alliance to operate effectively, governments, businesses and citizenry must all engage in individual and collective solutions to minimising online hate speech.
If the right to freedom of expression means that the law cannot impose solutions to the problems associated with hate speech, then Banks is absolutely right to seek solutions elsewhere. However, his argument that technology can be used benignly to bring about changes in human nature and the human condition is a classic utopian solution. As such, it is both attractive in principle and unattainable in reality. As with Thomas More’s Utopia (from which the picture above left is taken), Banks’s call for a combination of technological regulation and the education of web users would certainly conduce to A Fruitful and Pleasant Work of the Best State of a Public Weal, it is just as unrealistic as More’s New Isle Called Utopia. There may be very well be a starting point in his suggestions, but we shall have to seek further if we are to find workable non-legal solutions to hate speech. | <urn:uuid:8bb06575-f0df-4d5f-95fe-8e362ce58757> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cearta.ie/2012/09/a-utopian-solution-to-cross-border-hate-speech/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931179 | 653 | 1.75 | 2 |
OMO! This is one of the most hilarious things I have read in a LONG time! A response to Simon and Martina’s Kpop Music Monday for A-Cha.
laurana1 the SuJu Scribe. Whoever, wherever you are…Thank you.
Well, the gods theory was a good guess, but I’m afraid you’re dead wrong on this one.
You see, the Super Junior is a very rare breed of creature. The Super Junior (Genus: Superious, Species: Juniorus), is native only to South Korea, though some claim a few select Super Juniors migrated from China. They are humanlike in appearance, but have several unique qualities found only in members of their race. The most commonly-known feature of the Super Junior would be the intricate and complicated mating rituals they employ. Such rituals are described in further detail below.
Once every few months, the Super Juniors gather together and go in search of a proper location. These locations must be large and frequently have dim or flickering lighting (it is well-known that the Super Junior is drawn to strange lighting, much like a moth is drawn to flame). The initial mating ritual location must also be uninhabited by other creatures. The Super Juniors will then don their fuzzy hats and bejeweled clothing (believed to be deeply-rooted cultural apparel dating back some thousands of years to circa 538 B.C.E.), and perform a complicated dance meant to attract potential mates. Each dance is unique from the rest, though researchers have detected select common elements among all known dances. It must also be noted that such mating dances are often overwhelmingly successful, drawing great attention from females in surrounding areas. The Super Junior will then repeat the same mating dance multiple times in more public places, where the potential female mates have gathered in earnest. This period of “performances” will often last a couple of months, before the Super Juniors withdraw to prepare for the next cycle.
The Super Junior is generally a local creature, often preferring not to move beyond the borders of its natural homeland. However, these fascinating figures will ocassionally migrate to surrounding countries (most commonly Japan, China, Taiwan, and Thailand), and some enthusiasts claim to have spotted a Super Junior gathering as far away as the United States of America. In every habitat, the effect of the Super Juniors on nearby females is the same, resulting in mass swarms, screams, and general chaos and hysteria.
One final unique quality of the Super Junior is its incredible ability to manipulate its appearance at will. The Super Junior has the power to change the color of its fur depending on the location and time of year. At first, it was thought that there were simply multiple Super Juniors, but upon closer inspection, it was discovered to be the same Super Juniors sporting differently-colored fur. Scientists believe this ability was developed to help camoflauge the Super Junior when it goes out in public to feed. However, this ability is now generally obsolete as the females who so desire the Super Juniors have developed an uncanny ability to recognize their prey regardless of the change.
-Superious Juniorus: An Introduction
-The Mating Ritual of the Super Junior: A Short Overview
-How To Spot a Super Junior: A Super Junior Watcher’s Handbook
-Super Juniors: More Similar to Humans Than We Think? | <urn:uuid:270220f3-b38e-40de-bc96-fb3698a19899> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tr.eatyourkimchi.com/tagged/Kpop-Music-Mondays | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952859 | 705 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Oslo explosion: Is al-Qaeda behind this?
It is not yet known who – or what – was behind the gigantic explosion that hit central Oslo this afternoon. But here are three factors that are worth bearing in mind.
Possible links to al-Qaeda and terrorist networks in Britain and the US
A year ago, three men were arrested in Oslo on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks. At the time, Norway's security service chief Janne Kristiansen said: "We believe this group has had links to people abroad who can be linked to al Qaeda, and to people who are involved in investigations in other countries, among others the United States and Britain." If this was a bomb attack, al-Qaeda will be suspected of involvement. As the BBC's Security Correspondent Frank Gardner notes, "[al-Qaeda's] AlZawahiri threatened Norway in 2007."
Anger at Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed
As tweeted by the Quilliam foundation, "Many Islamists conflate Scandinavian countries. E.g. in 2006 Norwegian embassies were attacked following Danish cartoons." It sounds far-fetched, but according to a Reuters report on the three arrested men mentioned above:
Suspect Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd with Norwegian residency, confessed to planning a bomb attack against Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that published the Mohammad cartoons in 2005, the police have said.
Quilliam also point out to me on Twitter: "A major Norwegian newspaper reprinted the Danish Mohammed cartoons only last year."
Norway has troops in Afghanistan
Only about 400 according to the ISAF website, but enough to attract al-Qaeda's wrath.
So far, at least one person is reported dead and dozens injured in this explosion. It happened near the Norway government's headquarters.
Read the Telegraph's live coverage on the Oslo explosion here.
In hindsight, Americans view George W Bush's presidency as a golden age
April 23rd, 2013 12:28
Richard Griffiths has died, but Uncle Monty will live forever
March 29th, 2013 10:20
Prince Harry may come to regret his bravado about killing Taliban fighters
January 22nd, 2013 14:10
Les Misérables was torture – I'd rather face the guillotine than have to sit through it again
January 14th, 2013 14:13
God rest ye merry choristers (eventually)
December 11th, 2012 23:17 | <urn:uuid:20c810da-ed15-4c99-8726-61d8a1d4ec9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100098400/oslo-explosion-is-al-qaeda-behind-this/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956971 | 508 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Anahad O’Connor, who writes the “Really?” column for The New York Times, explores the claims and the science behind various alternative remedies that you may want to consider for your family medicine cabinet.
The Remedy: Aloe Vera
The Claim: It heals burns.
The Science: Aloe vera gel may very well be the crown jewel of skin-soothing treatments for damaged skin. And for good reason: Numerous studies have provided evidence that it can heal the minor burns and scrapes that a harsh world can inflict on sensitive skin. Scientists suspect that has to do with the gel’s anti-inflammatory properties.
One randomized study by a team of surgeons in 2009, for example, looked at 30 patients with second-degree burns and found that aloe cream completely healed minor wounds in less than 16 days, compared to 19 days for silver sulfadiazine, a common antibacterial cream used to treat burns.
To be sure, not every study has had conclusive findings. Another one published in the journal Burns in 2007 looked at data from four different studies that included a total of 371 patients with various types of wounds and burns. The authors stopped short of recommending aloe vera gel for all burn and wound healing. “However,” the authors stated, “cumulative evidence tends to support that aloe vera might be an effective intervention used in burn wound healing for first to second degree burns.”
In other words, experts say, for severe wounds that go beyond superficial damage to the skin, medical attention is needed. But for sunburns, blisters and small burns that cause minor pain, redness or damage that is limited to the top layers of skin, aloe vera could make a difference.
“There are factors in aloe that help the cells regenerate and heal faster,” said Dr. Lawrence D. Rosen, a pediatrician at the Whole Child Center in Oradell, N.J., who recommends it to his patients. Dr. Rosen suggests keeping an aloe plant in your home. Or simply purchase a leaf or two from the market and break it open when needed, he said.
The Risks: According to the National Institutes of Health, when used topically, aloe vera gel has no significant side effects. | <urn:uuid:984a954e-d167-43b6-b585-79b3fc7082d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/the-alternative-medicine-cabinet-aloe-vera-for-burns/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941772 | 478 | 2.4375 | 2 |
The very first page of this astonishing, harrowing, and heartbreaking memoir by children's book author/illustrator, Isaac Millman, will grip readers. In the middle of the large, stark white page is a 2"x3" snapshot of a little boy dressed in winter gear, standing on the pavement, with a toy car by his boots. Above it is a statement: "Approximately 1,200,000 Jewish children were deported and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust of World War II. Most of those who survived did so by being sent into hiding. Some were hidden with other Jews. Some went into convents and monasteries; others were hidden on farms or taken in by non-Jewish families and individuals. My name is Isaac Sztrymfman, and I was a hidden child."
Turn the page and Isaac's idyllic early world unfolds in a full-color, double-page illustration, done in pencil and soft, sepia-toned watercolors, like a scrapbook with inset snapshot-like paintings of Isaac and his parents in Paris. At the bottom of the page, the mood changes drastically. Against a blood red background is a drawing of the German army parading down the Champs-Elysée, and a portrait of Isaac and his parents, superimposed against the background of a large yellow star. Isaac was a happy little boy growing up with his parents in Paris until the Germans invaded in 1940, when he was seven. As restrictions for Jews in Paris widened, his father was sent to an internment camp. Isaac and his mother attempted to escape to the free French zone, only to be captured by a German soldier and jailed. After his mother bribed a guard, Isaac was first taken to a hospital and then to the home of his mother's friend, who refused to take him in. Sitting, crying, on the sidewalk, he met Héna, a Polish-born Jew like him, who arranged to have him looked after by a series of caretakers until the war ended.
The first-person, dialogue-filled reminiscences about his experiences incorporate a social history of the times and include many of Millman's own black and white photographs. Interspersed between the short chapters are 11 more of his exquisitely detailed spreads, captioned color montages of his memories. Each conveys the wrenching emotional impact of losing his parents and being shunted from one place to the next, but also recognizes the courage of those who took him in, from the doctors and nurses in the children's ward at the hospital to a kind widow in a small village in the countryside who treated him like a son.
In 1948, at age 15, he emigrated to America, one of only three survivors in his extended family. In an afterword, Millman details the fate of his parents, who both died in Auschwitz. In the U.S., he was adopted by the Millman family, went to college, married Héna's granddaughter, Jeanine, and had two children. Readers will be intrigued to compare his own story with the picture books he has written and illustrated, including Moses Goes to a Concert. This will be an important book for the Holocaust curriculum in schools, as it provides a firsthand account of what happened to ordinary people, including children, during World War II. In The Journey That Saved Curious George about famous picture book author/illustrators, H. A. and Margaret Ray, author Louise Borden describes their fortunate escape from Paris to America at the same time.
Reviewed by JF.
THEMES: AUTOBIOGRAPHY. HOLOCAUST (1939-1945). JEWS. WORLD WAR II.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2005
Suggested Ages: 9 and Up | <urn:uuid:a8215111-c287-4560-89f2-994c3493e942> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.readkiddoread.com/book/423 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979561 | 791 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Gen. Pinochet, who never faced trial, dies in Chile
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 11, 2006
SANTIAGO, Chile - Gen. Augusto Pinochet, who terrorized his opponents for 17 years after taking power in a bloody coup, died Sunday (Dec. 10, 2006), putting an end to a decade of intensifying efforts to bring him to trial for human rights abuses blamed on his regime. He was 91.
Supporters saw Gen. Pinochet as a Cold War hero for overthrowing democratically elected President Salvador Allende at a time when the United States was working to destabilize his Marxist government and keep Chile from exporting communism in Latin America. But the world soon reacted in horror as Santiago's main soccer stadium filled with political prisoners to be tortured, shot or forced into exile.
Gen. Pinochet's dictatorship laid the groundwork for South America's most stable economy, but his crackdown on dissent left a lasting legacy: His name has become a byword for state terror, in many cases secretly supported by the United States, that retarded democratic change across the hemisphere.
Gen. Pinochet died with his family at his side at the Santiago Military Hospital on Sunday, a week after suffering a heart attack.
"This criminal has departed without ever being sentenced for all the acts he was responsible for during his dictatorship," lamented Hugo Gutierrez, a human rights lawyer involved in several lawsuits against Gen. Pinochet.
A small group of Gen. Pinochet supporters gathered outside the hospital, weeping and trading insults with people in passing cars. Some sang Chile's national anthem.
Many other Chileans saw his death as reason for celebration. Hundreds of cheering, flag-waving people crowded a major plaza in the capital, drinking champagne and tossing confetti.
"Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile represented one of most difficult periods in that nation's history," said Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman. "Our thoughts today are with the victims of his reign and their families."
Chile's government says at least 3,197 people were killed for political reasons during Gen. Pinochet's rule, but courts allowed the aging general to escape hundreds of criminal complaints as his health declined.
Gen. Pinochet left no doubt who was in charge after the Sept. 11, 1973, coup, when planes bombed the presidential palace and Allende committed suicide with a gun Fidel Castro had given him. "Not a leaf moves in this country if I'm not moving it," he said. | <urn:uuid:80b2c770-faa5-47bf-ab60-5d755d5ca98a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sptimes.com/2006/12/11/news_pf/Worldandnation/Gen_Pinochet__who_nev.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979741 | 510 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Florida Gov. Rick Scott's grandstanding defiance of a Department of Justice demand that he end his voter purge recalls another dark moment in the nation's history. It happened on June 11, 1963. when another southern governor, George Wallace, chose to "stand his ground' at the door of the University of Alabama's Foster Auditorium to block two black students from entering to enroll. (History has recorded it as the notorious "stand in the schoolhouse door") This, after all, was the guy who had promised at his inauguration "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
Inasmuch as Wallace figured that he had the majority of voters on his side, it didn't take as much courage as, say, that of the man who stood in the path of tanks in Tianamen Square to block their passage to an uprising. (He was pulled away from probable death by onlookers.)
In Wallace's case, he finally stepped aside so that the students could enter after he was confronted by federal marshals. But he managed to create his self-absorbed moment of his choosing. He even ran for president four times.
Today, Wallace isn't around to look at the faces of the University of Alabama's basketball coach and players. They would have been barred before the Feds moved in a half-century ago.
Like Wallace, Rick' Scott's 15 minutes of defiance will eventually be exhausted for all but the historians. His elections supervisors in all 67 counties have now pulled out of the game. Just one more example of how Tea Party Republicans are creating havoc wherever they go. For Scott, it all depends on how he wants to be remembered when his politician days are behind him. | <urn:uuid:de71e14f-5f09-490c-867c-8a3b86fb982a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grumpyabe.blogspot.com/2012/06/schoolhouse-doors-and-now-voting-booths.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985645 | 343 | 2.796875 | 3 |
1 In 12 Fans Leave Intoxicated
With football season all but done, we now have basketball and baseball to look forward to now. But while you attend your favorite sporting event, did you know that according to some new research, 1-in-12 fans leaving a sporting event is intoxicated.
After measuring the blood alcohol content of 382 adults following 13 baseball games and three football games, researchers from the University of Minnesota found 8 percent of fans surveyed had a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher, the legal intoxication limit. They also discovered those who had tailgated before a game were 14 times more likely to leave the game drunk.
The study was released in the April edition of The Journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. | <urn:uuid:9e6938ab-6eda-4ad5-8714-9037abbb0fc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://1079ishot.com/1-in-12-fans-leave-intoxicated/ | 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 | 0.973378 | 152 | 1.851563 | 2 |
New! If you like Otomata, check out my new instrument Circuli by clicking here!
Update: Click here to get Otomata for your iPhone / iPod / iPad!
Official facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Otomata/218837764796473
Also this reddit page has many examples:
And there is a subreddit for Otomata:
Otomata is a generative sequencer. It employs a cellular automaton type logic I’ve devised to produce sound events.
Each alive cell has 4 states: Up, right, down, left. at each cycle, the cells move themselves in the direction of their internal states. If any cell encounters a wall, it triggers a pitched sound whose frequency is determined by the xy position of collision, and the cell reverses its direction. If a cell encounters another cell on its way, it turns itself clockwise.
This set of rules produces chaotic results in some settings, therefore you can end up with never repeating, gradually evolving sequences. Go add some cells, change their orientation by clicking on them, and press play, experiment, have fun.
If you encounter something you like, just press “Copy Piece Link” and save it somewhere, or better, share it!
Here is something from me to start with:
Here is an action video:
Edit: Woah so this has become famous! My sincerest thanks to you all!
Here are replies to some common questions:
Q: Will you add feature X?
A: I really strived for simplicity for this instrument. there are a lot of things that can be added, but I don’t want to clutter things. The ability to change the scale that is used and ability to change the overall tempo is already added in the second release. Always open to suggestions.
Q: MIDI Output? OSC output?
A: I will look into my possibilities for doing this. I will make a standalone version of this at some point which will emit OSC and MIDI. A VST and AU version might follow. These will take time. Sorry.
Q: What did you use to program it?
A: I programmed this with the HaXe programming language (it is awesome, look it up). I wrote a DSP library with HaXe and programmed this to try it actually. So far it works nicely!
Q: Why can’t I load pieces from other peoples’ links?
Q: Will you open source it?
A: I will open source the HaXe DSP library I used to program this. I might open source the whole thing while I’m at it. Also the code needs a bit of clean-up to be meaningful.
Q: Can I use the output in my own piece, am I allowed to do that?
A: By all means do so! Hell do it even if I said no. I’d love it if you give some sort of attribution, still cool if you don’t do it.
C: You are a filthy liar! You can’t create “never repeating” patterns with a system whose state space is finite!
A: You are right. I should have said “(practically) never repeating” above. But please do the math, it is possible (but not proven) that there might exist some configurations where the exact repetition would take (billions of billions of times) longer than the known age of our universe. I am not a mathematician by any means, so that is as far as infinity goes for me (I also believe that light travels in infinite speed in a vacuum, come at me bro! I am a digital being, speed of light is my universe’s sampling rate). That said, I can see how my exact wording would make you cringe, sorry about that!
Thanks a lot for the interest. I have many nice instruments to play with at prototype state and will keep doing this. Follow me from wherever you please to get notified. | <urn:uuid:b244a3b0-5a3d-4942-b0ea-bcb6f5baf587> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.earslap.com/projectslab/otomata/?q=60612a2s6s6o212n6n6a2m6m2o2p6p20 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931443 | 847 | 1.78125 | 2 |
- Hebrew סופר (sofér). (Wiktionary)
- Hebrew sōpēr, active participle of sāpar, to count, write; see spr in Semitic roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“Bloomenstiel is a "sofer," or expert in the age-old art of transcribing Hebrew calligraphy, a job Jews believe began with Moses, the first scribe to reduce G-d's laws to writing.”
“Youlus, an Orthodox rabbi and sofer, or Torah scribe, told his well-intentioned but gullible marks, among other things, that he had found two such Torah scrolls buried in what he called a "Gestapo body bag" in a Ukrainian mass-grave of murdered Jews.”
“A few years ago, members of BCC worked with a sofer (a scribe) to repair the worn and broken letters of part of the scroll.”
“Her paternal grandfather was Rabbi Joshua Baumol, author of Emek ha-Halakha; her maternal grandfather, Mordecai Kohn, was a sofer (scribe).”
“Dis fuglee sofer iz purdiest den mime. *sob* Butz ai byied a streechie hat fur itz, sew OP wodn leaf!”
“The website, along with publications in these two languages, will be inaugurated by the Isreali ambassador Mark sofer at a function at the Hyatt Regency hotel Friday.”
“I could only imagine them taking the parchment to a sofer stam and asking him to fix it: It's here ... and here and here and here.”
“But attending Yeshiva College is not the same as serving as a rabbi, a dayyan, a Jewish Studies principal, and, in the context of avodah zarah, a shochet, a sofer, and a wine producer.”
“The get must be written by a religious scribe sofer, with the explicit and free-willed approval of the husband, and with the specific intention that it is to be used by a certain man and woman.”
“I was contacted by a sofer (ph), a Jewish ritual scribe in Jerusalem.”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sofer’.
Looking for tweets for sofer. | <urn:uuid:fa7bfcbe-a1a9-4480-9698-5561eb5931d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordnik.com/words/sofer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943939 | 532 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Data Visualisation is a powerful method for analysing and presenting large quantities of information - and with the continued explosion of "big data" tools to help make better sense of the data are a necessity. Over the last year Daden have been looking at how immersive spaces can be used to provide an alternative to the 2D tools which are so common today. The result is the launch of Datascape.
Users can visualise and interact with data from almost any source and from any domain including financial, political, technical, scientific, health and social media. Data can be imported from spreadsheets and databases or even taken from live feeds.
Datascape’s 3D environment enables a large volume of data to be displayed, whilst still giving access to individual data points and their rich data – which in the Pro version is over 65,000 points and over 10 dimensions of information. There is also a free Community edition which can plot a maximum of 6,000 data points.
Read the press release and instructions on how to download the free community version of this product here: bit.ly/datascape
Loading more stuff…
Hmm…it looks like things are taking a while to load. Try again? | <urn:uuid:9dc8e861-cf73-4bcf-ac13-1ef8ae5c2a3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vimeo.com/49678359 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920828 | 247 | 2.234375 | 2 |
A former Riley patient is bringing Christmas cheer to those still there during the holidays.
Monday, BJ Yoho delivered 1,600 toys to patients at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health.
BJ was born with Spina Bifida and has had 16 surgeries, including the amputation of his right leg so he knows the halls of Riley well.
For the last three years, he has collected toys to give to children. It's why he's been named the 2012 Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Champion for Indiana.
"It makes me happy… ‘cause I know that kids aren't home at Christmas, they can have Christmas here,” said Yoho.
Last year, he set a record by collecting 638 toys. He was able to far exceed that thanks to help from several Bloomington elementary schools and a few area Ace Hardware and Kohl's Department stores. | <urn:uuid:2ca66a27-980a-4a69-857b-d436945c5ffe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailypress.com/topic/wxin-former-patient-delivers-1600-christmas-gifts-to-kids-at-riley-20121210,0,5621466.column | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984746 | 182 | 1.5625 | 2 |
What is MEF?
The Managed Extensibility Framework
for short) simplifies the creation of extensible applications. MEF offers discovery and composition capabilities that you can leverage to load application extensions.
What problems does MEF solve?
MEF presents a simple solution for the runtime extensibility problem. Until now, any application that wanted to support a plugin model
needed to create its own infrastructure from scratch. Those plugins would often be application-specific and could not be reused across multiple implementations.
- MEF provides a standard way for the host application to expose itself and consume external extensions. Extensions, by their nature, can be reused amongst different applications. However, an extension could still be implemented in a way that is application-specific. Extensions themselves can depend on one another and MEF will make sure they are wired together in the correct order (another thing you won't have to worry about).
- MEF offers a set of discovery approaches for your application to locate and load available extensions.
- MEF allows tagging extensions with additonal metadata which facilitates rich querying and filtering
How does MEF work?
Roughly speaking, MEF's core is comprised of a catalog and a CompositionContainer
. A catalog is responsible for discovering extensions and the container coordinates creation and satisfies dependencies.
- MEF's first-class citizen is a ComposablePart (see Parts). A composable part offers up one or more Exports, and may also depend on one or more externally provided services or Imports. A composable part also manages an instance, which can be an object instance of a given type (it is in the default MEF implementation). MEF, however, is extensible and additonal ComposablePart implementations can be provided as long as they adhere to the Import/Export contracts.
- Exports and imports each have a Contract. Contracts are the bridge between exports and imports. An export contract can consist of further metadata that can be used to filter on its discovery. For example, it might indicate a specific capability that the export offers.
- MEF's container interacts with Catalogs to have access to composable parts. The container itself resolves a part's dependencies and exposes Exports to the outside world. You're free to add composable part instances directly to the container if you wish.
- A ComposablePart returned by a catalog will likely be an extension to your application. It might have Imports (dependencies) on components the host application offers, and it's likely to Export others.
- The default MEF composable part implementation uses attribute-based metadata to declare exports and imports. This allows MEF to determine which parts, imports, and exports are available completely through discovery.
For more information, see the MEF Programming Guide | <urn:uuid:e61464b9-5ff0-4eb9-845f-9830a2f1c170> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mef.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Overview&referringTitle=Home | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919908 | 573 | 1.710938 | 2 |
All About Geranium ‘Azure Rush’
Blooms of Bressingham’s new geranium boasts the same great traits as ‘Rozanne’ with a compact habit and a few notable differences.
January 31, 2013
If you’re looking for a sure winner that’s tried and true, Geranium ‘Azure Rush’ is it. A sport of Geranium ‘Rozanne,’ which was the 2008 Perennial Plant Association Perennial Plant of the Year, this cultivar features all the same great traits with a few distinctions. ‘Azure Rush’ is a lighter blue color than ‘Rozanne,’ and it ambles while ‘Rozanne’ rambles. This means it is more compact with shorter internodes, resulting in a neater, low-growing, mounded habit.
Turn up the heat and ‘Azure Rush’ continues to thrive, providing long-lasting color from late spring through fall. It also boasts:
• Amazing flower power with large 2.5-inch flowers
• Vigorous growth, compact and self-branching
• A mounded habit that is 18 to 20 inches tall with a 24- to 28-inch spread
• First-year flowering
• Hardiness in USDA Zones 5 to 8 and AHS Heat Zones 12 to 2
This long-lived garden perennial is a good groundcover with an ideal habit for patio planters, window boxes and hanging baskets. ‘Azure Rush’ can be grown in sun to part shade, tolerating summer heat better in partial shade and with ample moisture.
Easy To Grow
Transplant liners into 1-gallon or 8-inch pots with one plant per pot, using porous soil with good drainage. Plants should be grown moist. Do not let plants wilt hard. Fertilize with a constant liquid feed of 150 ppm nitrogen. No pinching or maintenance is needed.
Vernalization is not required for flowering. Plant unvernalized liners for finished flowering plants in about nine to 10 weeks. ‘Azure Rush’ can also be transplanted in the fall and overwintered in the final sales container for a vigorous spring flush. A detailed technical guide is available at BloomsofBressinghamPlants.com.
Blooms of Bressingham’s trialing program has evolved and improved. Each variety is tested for years in gardens and pot trials at secure trial sites by leading perennial growers and universities. GG
Gary R. Doerr is president of Blooms of Bressingham NA, overseeing all international activities for the company, which includes recruitment, trialing, introduction and promotion of new varieties exclusively worldwide. | <urn:uuid:1d46e8fd-491b-4db8-9caf-bdb74bd56f3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenhousegrower.com/article/32813/all-about-geranium-azure-rush | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900726 | 581 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Free College Resources Help You Meet College Demands (page 2)
You're Probably Paying For These Services, So Why Not Use Them? While getting accepted to college is a major achievement, succeeding in college is an even bigger one. To give yourself every advantage, tap into college resources.
Colleges are communities
The more involved you are in your community, the more likely you are to stay in college and complete your degree. Several studies have found that students who live on campus and are involved in school activities are more likely to graduate. Why? Perhaps these students are more aware of the resources that their college has to offer.
Don't be shy about asking for help. For example:
- Meet with your professors during office hours to ask any questions you have about assignments and course topics. If you have a problem with a professor, you should speak with the chair of the department or with a dean of undergraduate studies.
- Get help with basic composition techniques in your school's writing center.
- See if tutors are also available through a particular department.
- Look into study groups with other students in your courses. These groups are a great way to get support in a more informal setting.
College residences usually have a resident adviser who can address issues outside of your regular courses. If necessary, your adviser can direct you to other campus services for more specific forms of support, assistance, or information.
Also, many colleges have "living-learning" programs which let you live with others who have similar interests, interact with faculty outside of the classroom, and broaden your involvement in academic, social, and leadership activities.
College counseling services
If you're having a tough time coping with stress, pressures from home, or problems in relationships, or if you feel isolated or depressed or have other personal issues that you want help working through, mental health counselors are a great resource. Colleges generally offer free and confidential counseling to students for a set number of sessions or semesters. If you have continued counseling needs, they can refer you to off-campus counselors and psychologists.
The doctors and nurses at college health centers provide medical services and education. Services include treatment of illness and injury, immunizations, and diagnostic testing. Counseling and health centers often are joined or work together with the goal of maintaining students' overall wellness. Like counseling services, all services at college health centers are confidential.
Most colleges have clergy members with whom you can talk, as well as religious organizations that hold services and sponsor activities. Religious centers can be a good source of support and a stabilizing influence in what can otherwise be an ungrounded environment.
The financial aid office at your school can explain your financing and loan options. Aid forms can be daunting, but financial aid counselors know all the options and can introduce you to strategies you may not have previously considered. If you have questions about or problems with work-study, this is the place to go, too. The key to meeting college demands is being knowledgeable about the resources available to you. The earlier you start taking advantage of these resources, the better.
Reprinted with the permission of White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans
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WORKBOOKSMay Workbooks are Here!
WE'VE GOT A GREAT ROUND-UP OF ACTIVITIES PERFECT FOR LONG WEEKENDS, STAYCATIONS, VACATIONS ... OR JUST SOME GOOD OLD-FASHIONED FUN!Get Outside! 10 Playful Activities
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- Steps in the IEP Process | <urn:uuid:6d0e6252-da47-41b4-9117-a94b4d456e3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.education.com/reference/article/resources-help-meet-college-demands/?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948539 | 818 | 2.3125 | 2 |
A report released this week by two senior members of Congress notes that the unusual number of extreme weather events in 2012 has cost the country billions of dollars and that the unusual frequency of these events is consistent with what scientists have predicted from climate change.
The staff report, “Going to Extremes: Climate Change and the Increasing Risk of Weather Disasters” is from the offices of Reps. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA), the prime movers behind the last attempt at significant climate legislation. It cites information from a variety of sources, including NOAA, the news media and the private sector to show how rising weather risk costs real money.
Their report comes a week after Congress headed home for the elections having accomplished very little to address climate change. Nearly half the bills introduced by the current Congress would block or hinder climate action, though none of these have been enacted into law.
It also comes the same week that three environmental groups dropped off a petition with 160,000 signatures calling on moderator Jim Lehrer to ask about climate change at next week’s presidential debate and two other environmental groups launched a website criticizing both Gov. Romney and President Obama for failing to talk about the problem (beyond making a joke about it at one convention, and saying it’s not a joke at the other.)
The report notes that this July was the hottest month ever for the contiguous United States, and the first eight months of this year were the hottest on record. The extreme heat has been paired with a severe drought in nearly two-thirds of the contiguous United States, an expanse of drought unmatched since the 1950s. In addition, the unusual heat and drought are contributing to what could end up as the worst fire year of the past decade.
And the extremes haven’t been confined to the land. Ocean temperatures off the Northeast coast were higher this summer than at any point in records dating back to 1854. In the Arctic, sea ice shrank to a new record low, 18 percent below the previous record set in 2007, which itself was a very unusual year.
This year’s extreme weather events are not only destroying forests, crops and homes, they’re also acting as a drag on the economy. Wells Fargo estimated that the drought could cost the economy $50 billion over the next year. Aon Benfield, a reinsurance company, estimated that insured U.S. losses are already into the billions with drought losses still unaccounted for. If these estimates are accurate, this year will be the second year in a row where U.S. disaster losses have topped $50 billion.
Extreme weather events over the past several years illustrate the consequences of the underlying increase in extreme weather risk as the climate changes. As Going to Extremes states, “Global warming has stacked the deck with extra jokers, making some weather events more frequent and severe.” That’s why it is so important to get the topic back on the political agenda.
There will always be uncertainty about future weather conditions, but we know the risk is increasing as the planet warms. That allows us to plan for more bad weather, but only if we heed the warnings and learn from the events that expose our vulnerabilities. Assuming that the recent weather was just a fluke will set us up for more and more unwelcome surprises. | <urn:uuid:ca70a9c3-394d-4f95-aeac-f0f44790990a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.c2es.org/print/blog/huberd/increasing-extreme-weather-costly-many-ways | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962321 | 693 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Part 15 here
IMAGES OF DEREGULATION
Exactly 20 years after D-Day, it’s difficult to find one single image that sums up the 20 years of deregulation. This one gets close. The idea came from a flier that fell out of a magazine.
It shows two minibuses, one articulated bus, two single decks and two double decks, of varying ages and construction. Each says something of the last 20 years.
Transit Holdings Minibus
This is a 16 seat Ford Transit/Mellor with, appropriately enough, Harry Blundred leaning on the bonnet. Ahead of deregulation, it was Blundred who was credited with starting the so-called urban minibus revolution, something that caught on rapidly as operators used them to protect their markets and see phenomenal growth. The essence was high frequency, penetrative services, often using customer-focused labour new to the bus industry. It was more about marketing an alternative product than the service itself.
Judging by the vehicle’s destination, it’s a publicity shot for Transit’s abortive Bansingstoke competitive minibus network of 1988, something that resulted in an inevitable response – incumbent Stagecoach operating briefly over Blundred’s Devon General routes. Stagecoach purchased Transit’s Devon General and Bayline in 1995.
Wall’s Double Deck
Wall’s was one of a number of Manchester operators whose services mushroomed during the early deregulation years. Over the years, these included Bee Line, Bullocks, Mayne, UK North, Bluebird, Finglands, Timeline, Stevensons and Magic Bus. Stagecoach-owned Magic Bus is an example, of course, of a low cost unit established by the big boys, to win tenders or win passengers from competitors.
Manchester has seen its fair share of bus wars over the 20 years of dereg; the Manchester skirmishes continue today, principally between Stagecoach and UK North. And on the political front, it was GMPTA that started the current regulatory debate and one of Manchester's MPs is a vocal supporter of re-regulation.
The vehicle itself is ex-GMPTE. Wall’s was not the only Manchester operator buying former GMPTE buses to compete head on with GMPTE’s successor, then GM Buses. It led to a GM Buses’ policy of scrapping, not selling, its redundant stock.
Bee Line Minibus
The next vehicle is an 18 seat Freight Rover Sherpa, converted by the most successful minibus bodybuilder of the 1980s, Carlyle. It is a black & white image of the Bee Line Buzz Company’s yellow and red livery.
Bee Line was an interesting early Manchester competitor. Starting from scratch with a fleet of 225 vehicles in January 1987, it was perhaps the only significant grown-from-nothing commercial operator in Britain (arguably other than Stagecoach), backed by BET’s re-entry into UK buses. It spawned a “me too” response in GM Buses’ Little Gems. Bee Line ventured into big buses, again using some ex-GMPTE stock, but was soon to close.
Ex-Hants & Dorset VFX 986S
This 1978 49 seat Leyland National was new to Hants & Dorset. Cascaded Nationals played more than their fair share in competitive markets through the first 10 years of deregulation and a few still hang on today with, for example, Chase of Cannock.
Refurbished Nationals as East Lancs Greenways were popular among British Bus subsidiaries in the early 1990s, as a cheap but none-too-cheerful way of buying a “new” product in a time of great uncertainty within an operating industry that could ill afford new vehicles. The product filled an important gap. It said much about the state of the industry at that time.
This vehicle appears to be either operated by “Happy Harry” and we confess that we know nothing of this. Perhaps it refers to Harry Blundred (the face does look like a
caricature of him) or perhaps it was something to do with Luton, Happy Harry being the football club’s mascot.
Just visible on the vehicle’s destination is “Free Bus”. Such tactics weren’t common but there were sufficient incidents of them to make it a notable part of the early deregulation story.
First Manchester Artic
There’s quite a technological leap between the National and the next vehicle, First’s Scania N94 Omnicity, operating on the former GMPTE and now privatised First Manchester’s tram-busting 135 service between Manchester and Bury. The 10-minute headway boasts new 58 seat dual door articulated buses, in an effort to extend low floor operation to as many seats as possible. A feature of the last five years, even so artics have yet to take off in much of deregulated Britain, the rigid single decks holding sway in markets once the preserve of pre- and immediately post-dereg double decks.
Though independent of deregulation, the 18m articulated 58 seater is an example of how the rules changed in the 1990s regarding new bus builds, to assist disabled people It wasn’t so long ago that you could get up to 52 seats on an 11m Leyland National, to the artic’s left.
Brighton & Hove Scania
This operator is constantly held aloft as an example of how the private and public sectors can work together in a deregulated environment to further modal shift. For deregulation’s detractors, Brighton & Hove is the exception that proves the rule. Building on a unified network encompassing ex-NBC and former municipal operations, its successes have included “I’m on the Bus” and an early example of a flat fare. Passenger growth, though slowed, has been impressive, year on year since Go Ahead acquired the company in 1993.
Impressive, like its vehicles. Brighton & Hove has invested in a significant number of SLFs, including these Scania N94/East Lancs Omnidekkas.
The last vehicle is a Dennis Dart – the epitome of UK low floor bus operation in the 1990s – on a Stagecoach service, again in Manchester. We have documented the post deregulation rise of Stagecoach from bit part player to multinational elsewhere. The Manchester Stagecoach vehicle reminds us that competition is still very much with us today, that former PTE fleets are in the hands of a small number of players (including former GM Buses South, to Stagecoach in 1996), and that the average age of the UK bus fleet is a mere seven years.
We suggest the picture would be complete with the inclusion of a 1970s Leyland Leopard coach operating a deregulated local bus service. In addition to the dual purpose vehicles of the time within ex-NBC fleets, some independents used them to compete or run tendered services in the early years of deregulation and, frankly, they were less than suitable for the type of operation on which they were found.
Original of image here
Thursday, 26 October 2006
Part 15 here
Posted Thursday, October 26, 2006 | <urn:uuid:011906cc-a9b6-4bba-981e-fe17a4680c84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://omnibuses.blogspot.com/2006/10/dereg-first-20-years-pt-16.html?showComment=1161970320000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962861 | 1,510 | 1.984375 | 2 |
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By: Nick Blumberg on 02/27/2013
Teaching Arizona’s students is a challenge at every grade level, but perhaps especially so in the nation’s largest community college system. Of recent high school graduates coming into the Maricopa Community Colleges, 40 percent can’t read at a college level, and 30 percent can’t write at a college level. In the third part of our series Educating Arizona, KJZZ’s Nick Blumberg reports on a program that tries to keep those students on track and in school.
Mike Callaway is the Writing Program Administrator at Mesa Community College. (Photo by Nick Blumberg - KJZZ)
On a recent rainy morning, about 20 students are gathered in Mike Callaway’s English 101 class at Mesa Community College. They’re getting ready for a paper that’s due soon by practicing peer review with a sample paper. Callaway has them read through it, and then break into groups to talk about things like the author’s thesis and the way the writing is organized.
It’s an ordinary-looking class on the surface, but it’s actually part of a unique approach to remedial education. Instead of taking developmental English before they can enroll in English 101, students now take them at the same time, with a breakout section for developmental learners. It’s called the Accelerated Learning Program, and it started in the Baltimore County community college system several years ago. Callaway said the data show it has helped students stay and succeed in school.
“They complete at the next level, so it’s not just them being passed by their teacher," Callaway said. "They’re actually completing 102, verified by a separate instructor that they have been successful in college writing.”
And Callaway said the program brings with it a different style of teaching. The old model of developmental classes had students learning at a sentence structure level.
“We’re trying to move away from that and start thinking about writing in the ways that people write outside of the classroom," Callaway said. "They think about their audiences, they think about their purpose. And they really focus on how they’re going to achieve what they want to achieve with their writing.”
That approach is in line with the state’s new standards for K-12 public school students, known as Common Core. Schools are set to implement the Math and English standards by August 2014.
“We’re really wanting them to be prepared for a variety of postsecondary options so that they can be successful and they can have choices,” said Sarah Galetti, who works in the K-12 Academic Standards division of the state education department. She said instead of creating students who can regurgitate information, the state wants the children it educates to become thinkers, who can analyze information and seek out context.
Galetti said there are a variety of reasons students don’t leave high school fully prepared for colleges and universities. But she sees Common Core as part of the solution to that problem. The curriculum plans out the material from kindergarten all the way up to 12th grade to ensure it gets progressively more difficult.
“We’re really looking at this staircase of text complexity that will help to ensure that when they do reach that two-year, four-year, whatever it is beyond high school that they’re choosing to do, that they’re going to be prepared for the text that they’re encountering,” Galetti said.
“Coming out of high school, there are a significant number [of students] that are entering college and are still not prepared," said Brenda Bautsch, a Senior Policy Specialist with the National Conference of State Legislatures. She said Common Core aims to close the gap between what high schools think students need to know and what colleges think students need to know. If that happens, it’ll be a welcome development for lawmakers.
Bautsch said the state legislators her organization works with see this as: "an issue of, taxpayers are paying twice to educate these students, they should have learned these skills and this knowledge in high school or even earlier, and instead they’re having to re-learn it in college. So, states are spending more money. And then, obviously students are too.”
These challenges may not just delay a student’s progress ... sometimes, it can derail it. According to research from Columbia University, less than a quarter of community college students who test into developmental education classes earn their degree or certificate within eight years.
That means Mike Callaway’s developmental students are at risk of leaving higher education behind. Callaway said the Accelerated Learning Program is in its second year, but so far it’s been successful -- 75 percent of students who took the developmental course at the same time as English 101 progressed to the next class.
Callaway said many students don’t initially like the idea of taking an extra class. “But when they’re in that course, I think they’ve enjoyed it. It’s a smaller course; the breakout section has ten students or eight students. We get small group discussion. They get individualized instruction, and in the end I think they come to value that experience.”
So far, the results in Mesa match up with what educators in Baltimore saw. Students are more likely to succeed academically. And it’s more cost-effective, which could be a boon to students and schools.
KJZZ’s license is held by the Maricopa Community College District. | <urn:uuid:70885ac8-bc86-4224-a77d-9f93c788cc53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kjzz.org/content/1302/changes-remedial-education-aim-keep-students-track-and-school | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963877 | 1,256 | 1.867188 | 2 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Alliance to Continue Moving Gender Identity Rights Forward in Maryland
CIVIL RIGHTS TEAM THAT HAD SUCCESS IN HOWARD AND BALTIMORE COUNTIES WILL PRESS AHEAD IN 2013 TO SECURE GENDER IDENTITY RIGHTS IN MARYLAND
Laurel, MD – November 20, 2012 – Gender Rights Maryland (GRMD), the state’s only civil rights organization exclusively representing trans persons, and the Howard County and Baltimore County Parents and Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) Chapters, today announced they will continue the alliance they formed this past year in passing gender identity and expression legislation in two Maryland counties.
The alliance will mark the second year of cooperation between the organizations that resulted in the passage of comprehensive anti-discrimination protections for trans and gender non-conforming persons in Howard and Baltimore Counties in 2012. The organizations plan to take the measures to the Maryland State Legislature and to the Prince Georges County Council for passage in 2013.
PFLAG Howard County President Matt Thorn said, “PFLAG Howard County is proud to have been an integral partner in the successful passage of comprehensive legislation in Baltimore and Howard counties. We stand unwavering with our brothers and sisters in the fight for gender identity and gender expression non-discrimination. The transgender community has stood steadfast with the gay and lesbian community in the quest for marriage equality and it is fundamental that the LGB and ally community stand by the trans community in the pursuit of comprehensive non-discrimination laws on the state level.”
“Following the tremendous success that these three organizations had working together with other friends and allies in Howard and Baltimore Counties; PFLAG Baltimore County is making a commitment to remain part of this alliance and to continue our work for trans rights and protections in the state of Maryland,” said Mark Patro, PFLAG Baltimore County Chapter President.
“We welcome all allies, including those allies who worked for these causes in previous years, to join our alliance in moving these issues forward,” said GRMD Executive Director Dr. Dana Beyer.
“This team has been instrumental in persuading legislators to take action on the issues surrounding trans rights” said Sharon Brackett, Board Chair of GRMD. “Our alliance with PFLAG, and the results we have achieved together, has secured protections to over a million more Marylanders, including many thousands of trans and gender non-conforming persons in Maryland. Now is time to make sure that all Marylanders have a common set of rights.”
PFLAG Baltimore County, http://www.PFLAGBaltimore.org
Founded in 2009, Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of Baltimore County promotes the equality and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons, their families and friends by providing support to cope with an adverse society, education to enlighten an ill-informed public and advocacy to end discrimination and secure equal civil rights.
PFLAG Howard County, http://www.pflagmd.org
Founded in 1994, PFLAG Howard County has a thriving program that truly makes a difference in the lives of LGBT people and their families, as well as providing a forum for educating the broader community in order to advance real and lasting change in the hearts and minds of people in our county and beyond.
Gender Rights Maryland, http://www.GenderRightsMaryland.org
The purpose of Gender Rights Maryland is to promote civil rights, education, tolerance, equality and acceptance on the basis of sex and gender identity/expression in the State of Maryland. Gender Rights Maryland’s legislative goal for 2012-2013 is to see the passage of a comprehensive gender identity anti‐discrimination law in Prince Georges County, MD and the passage of statewide legislation consistent with Federal gender identity policy and law in Maryland before the end of the | <urn:uuid:5f662b2e-e3fc-441c-95fe-76f954e0ebd0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://genderrightsmaryland.org/joomla/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909778 | 799 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung is the proud partner of London's Victoria and Albert Museum in presenting »Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts«. The Kunsthalle is the sole continental venue of this unique exhibition. This is the first show to comprehensively explore the world of the maharajas and their extraordinarily rich culture, bringing together over 250 magnificent objects from India's royal collections, many seen in Europe for the first time. The exhibition will include three thrones, a silver gilt howdah, gem-encrusted weapons, court paintings, photographs, Indian turban jewels and jewellery commissioned from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels in the 20th century.
The exhibition covers the period from the 18th century, when the great era of the maharajas began, to the end of the Raj (British rule) in 1947. It will show the changing role of the maharajas in an historical and social context and look at how their patronage of the arts both in India and Europe resulted in splendid and beautiful commissions designed to enhance royal status and identity.
The royal collections of Udaipur and Jodhpur are lending several spectacular paintings and objects. Another object on show in Europe for the first time is the Patiala Necklace, part of the largest single commission that Cartier has ever executed. Completed in 1928 and restored in 2002, this piece of ceremonial jewellery originally contained 2,930 diamonds and weighed almost a thousand carats.
The exhibition begins with a recreation of an Indian royal procession with a life-sized model elephant adorned with animal jewellery, textiles and trappings and surmounted with a silver howdah.
The initial display explores ideas of kingship in India and the role of the maharaja as religious leader, military and political ruler and artistic patron. Symbols of kingship include a gaddi (throne) from Udaipur, elaborate turban jewels, ceremonial swords and a gold ankus (elephant goad) set with diamonds. A palanquin from Jodhpur used to carry the Maharaja's wife provides a rare glimpse into the lives of ladies at the royal court. The interior of the palanquin contains original framed prints and cushions.
The next section of the exhibition focuses in the shifts of power and taste in the 18th and the early 19th centuries. The disintegration of the Mughal Empire led to a period of political change in which rival Indian kings laid claim to territory. On display will be the golden throne of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who united the warring factions of the Punjab into a powerful Sikh state, as well as weapons and armour owned by Tipu Sultan of Mysore and the Maratha ruler Yeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore.
This period also witnessed the rapid expansion to the territorial interest of the English East India Company. This led to a new hybrid Anglo-Indian style which will be seen in objects such as a Spode dinner service and an Egyptian-revival style chair designed for the Nawab of Awadh.
The exhibition then looks at the grand imperial durbars of the Raj through large-scale paintings and rare archive film footage. This section will include a carpet of pearls, rubies, emeralds and diamonds made for the Maharaja of Baroda and exhibited at the durbar of 1903.
The final section explores the role of the 'modern' maharajas during the Raj and the increasing European influence on their lives. The exhibition shows how they were portrayed in both Indian and European style through portraits of the maharajas and their wives by photographers and artists including Man Ray, Cecil Beaton and Rja Ravi Varma.
The maharajas´ patronage of European firms resulted in luxurious commissions. On display will be saris designed by leading French couture houses, a costume by Madeleine Vionnet, a diamond and emerald necklace designed by Van Cleef & Arpels and a Louis Vuitton travelling case.
The maharajas were also patrons of the emerging European avant-garde. The show includes modernist furniture commissioned by the maharaja of Indore for his palace in the 1930s and architectural designs for the Umaid Bhawan palace, an Art deco style residence commissioned by the Maharaja of Jodhpur.
This exhibition demonstrates that India's rulers were significant patrons of the arts, in India and the West, and will tell the fascinating story of the changing role of the maharaja from the early 18th century to the final days of the Raj.
February 12 May 24, 2010
open daily from 10 am to 8 pm
February 16: 10 am to 2 pm
Regular: € 12,–
Groups of 10 people or more,
and senior citizens: € 10,–
Students up to 30 years of age,
and the unemployed: € 5,–
→ further reductions
organised by the “Volkshochschule”
Mo, Sa: 11:30 am
Tu, Th, Fr: 3:30 pm
We: 6:30 pm
Reservations are not required.
In addition to the admission fee,
the tour costs € 6,–
→ to book your own tour
in German and English offered by Antenna Audio (€ 5,–/€ 3,50 in addition to the admission fee)
Lectures and Events (in German)
The special rate of € 25,– is only available at the Kunsthalle
→ for more information
How to get to the Kunsthalle | <urn:uuid:31ff5b83-f088-408b-baa8-d1bf80318fb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hypo-kunsthalle.de/newweb/emaharaja.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928138 | 1,172 | 2.203125 | 2 |
SYNOPSIS:The Bell Witch is a ghost story of American Southern Folklore. It’s a tale of a sinister spirit who haunted the Bell family in Robertson County, Tennessee for a period of four years. The haunting’s involved spectral creatures, disembodied voices, unbelievable violence, and even resulted in the death of John Bell… all at the hands of the infamous Bell Witch.
The Bell Witch may or may not sound familiar. However it should. The original inspiration for the film “The Blair Witch Project” and also the recent “An American Haunting”. The film we are reviewing today is the independent release titled: “The Bell Witch Legend”. Now to clarify, this indeed is a documentary. Rather than a film or “mockumentary” which you are all too familiar with from the Blair Witch Folks.
The doc released by SkyDive Films and directed by Zac Adams runs 42 minutes and is pretty fascinating to say the least. As far as documentaries go this one is pretty scary. I say that because these are real folks with real stories that upon hearing them tend to creep you out. A small town with a big dark history. All originates from the past and a curse issued on the Bell family long ago in the 1800′s upon John William Bell. Now I did look into this as the reports are fascinating and found the following info posted on wikipedia:
According to the legend, the first manifestation of the haunting occurred in 1817 when John William Bell, Sr. encountered a strange animal in a cornfield on his large farm in Robertson County, on the Red River, near Adams, Tennessee. The animal, described as having the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit, vanished when Bell shot at it. This incident was quickly followed by a series of strange beating and gnawing noises manifesting around the outside, and eventually inside the Bell residence that did not stop until 3 a.m (witching hour). Betsy Bell, the family’s younger daughter and the only daughter still living at home (Bell’s oldest daughter Esther married Alexander Bennett Porter July 24, 1817 when she was 17), claimed to have been assaulted by an invisible force.
An artist’s drawing of John Bell’s death, originally published in 1894. In the foreground one can see a couple of men feeding the family cat with some of the unidentified liquid which was found near the body of John Bell. The cat died.
John Bell Sr., later in life, suffered frequent facial seizures, often rendering him speechless. John Bell, Sr. died on December 20, 1820. A small vial containing an unidentified liquid he had apparently been given or ingested thinking it was medicine was found near the body. When some of the contents were force-fed to the family cat, the animal died immediately; the bottle was then thrown into the fireplace. At the funeral, people could hear the Bell Witch laughing and taunting the pastor.
Pat Fitzhugh’s retelling of the Bell Witch legend concludes with a statement to the effect that many people believe that the spirit returned in 1935, took up residence on the former Bell property and remained there through the present day. He notes “the faint sounds of people talking and children playing can sometimes be heard in the area” and asserts that it is “very difficult to take a good picture there.” Other sources have said that 1935, the year when the witch claimed it would return (“one hundred years and seven” past 1828), brought nothing out of the ordinary to the Bell descendants living at the home who’d been anticipating some great disturbance.
This at least updates you on the history portion. As the doc rolled on, you could really see the truth and fear in these peoples eyes as they spoke about the Bell Witch. And to further clarify, the Bell Witch was no witch at all but rather a poltergeist spirit with a mean temper. A vengeful one at that. Reports in the film go on to state incidents that have happened but to numerous occasions. One man states that it is forbidden to remove a stone from the Bell Witch cave or as to encounter misfortune. This is accompanied by stories to back this telling up such as folks who ignored warnings and paid the price.
I really enjoyed this and think you will all to. You get a full dose of history from the folks who live there and have researched it. It’s definitely not your tourist thriving location, however films such as these and others have brought alot of outsiders to see it all first hand and experience a piece of it for themselves.
The documentary is shot in basic doc form with cuts back and forth to ongoing stories, shots of the town and Bell Witch clippings. They have also enlisted actors to play out some of the past tales on screen. Though the appeal isn’t so much visual as it is hearing real accounts of the unknown. Enough that you might not sleep so well afterwards. Chilling, creepy and shocking!
On a side note, for those looking to delve more into the background, there seems to be many pages that go into great detail on the legend and its past haunting’s. | <urn:uuid:07300c21-e0fc-4935-ae3b-88f924b859fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://horrornews.net/16461/film-review-the-bell-witch-legend-2008/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97096 | 1,080 | 1.984375 | 2 |
By Farai Sevenzo
For those of us who love to procrastinate, watching football is the ultimate task-interfering cognition – and so up and down the lands where football is beamed, men and women are avoiding cleaning or doing one more wash of the clothes, or the cooking, or whatever task is at hand to spend 90 minutes plus extra time watching the beautiful game and the world’s best exponents of the art at play or battle.
Over this last month, however, the game has been bedevilled by the age-old argument over race. It began with the captain of England receiving a four-match ban for using racially abusive language to a fellow professional more than a year ago. This then degenerated into split camps over the merits of the English Football Association’s “Let’s Kick Racism out of Football” campaign.
And the issue refused to go away as football fans witnessed appalling behaviour when the Serbian Under-21 squad met their English counterparts in Krusevac, where the crowd mimicked monkey noises every time black players touched the ball.
Players are encouraged to wear messages urging people not to tolerate racism. During dinner the other day I complained to my eastern European friends that with the meltdown of their communist concrete a couple of decades ago, nothing had changed in their attitudes to the world at large, that they were a closed and myopic people who were once happy to sing the communist songs and urge the workers of the world to unite and yet they did not have a single race relations act between them. It is embarrassing to see many of the world’s top leagues peppered by African talent being paid millions and still have idiots throwing bananas at the likes of Roberto Carlos and Christopher Samba and have the football mastery of Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry or Mario Balotelli reduced to the colour of the player’s skin – embarrassing for them. I went on about a time in African liberation movements when we all had pictures in the family albums of uncles and cousins being trained in the Soviet bloc, posing in snow in Romania or learning film-making or medicine in Moscow before the swing to the far right and the ugly love for all things Nazi amongst this vocal minority in 21st Century eastern Europe. My friends listened patiently to my rant and reminded me that my generalisations were just as myopic.
Their communist past was drunk with the utopian ideals of brotherhood for all, and why should they be expected to love the men their leaders kissed on the Kremlin parades or the African students they gave countless scholarships to?
And what is more, none of these former Eastern bloc countries invaded nations and looted their way through history and their lack of people of colour is simply because they were not Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Holland or Spain.
Of course they do not deserve a badge for not being colonialists but their race issues are Europe’s problems, where, as we all know, a man’s skin is his passport regardless of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Meanwhile the great and the good are struggling to keep racism off the football pitches.
It matters little to the racists that the football World Cup travelled to South Africa and is about to travel to Brazil – rainbow nations both if ever the label fitted – and the Football Association in England has had coaching staff and players wearing badges and T-shirts urging folk to kick racism out of the game. South Africa held a very successful World Cup tournament in 2010. Of course the governing body of world football, Fifa, whose leader once told us that players should just shake hands and avoid name calling, pays the same lip service to the promised eradication of race-fuelled disagreements, but nothing changes.
In another game somewhere on the planet, sticks and stones will not break bones but words will continue to harm. The punishments are said to rarely fit the crimes and the game was being held hostage by the racists and more should be done.
The talk over racism lingered on and hung like a foul mist over the Euro 2012 competition in Poland and the Ukraine, and as last weekend’s matches ended, the row threatened to take in referees and officials too.
Besides passing onto our children how utterly precious their individual difference is and to value the same difference in others, how can we hope to trounce the racists by the statute books or by bigger bolder fines for millionaire federations and millionaire players?
Those that have killed off apartheid through the statute books have yet to find a way to erase it from people’s heads.
And whether you are a footballer or an idle shopper or making your first pilgrimage to Mecca or being stopped and searched by the law – there will be occasions when your senses scream that the only logical explanation for your shoddy treatment must lie in your difference and that, we learn from the wise and learned, has been the way of shallow humanity since the days of Abraham, Othello, Mandela and Sitting Bull.
But we will continue to see coaches in “kick racism out of football” badges, players in message T-shirts and poets reading anti-racist poetry before kick-off.
In reality there is no other way than to speak up against the injustice, as the wise and learned would have us do, since blind narrow-minded prejudice can too often go beyond the football fields.
•Sevenzo, African journalist, film-maker and columnist wrote this article for the BBC. | <urn:uuid:90caa52a-3026-4e1e-89fb-2c57a29be8c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/11/06/kicking-racism-on-and-off-the-pitch/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965112 | 1,117 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Books by Kenn Kaufman
In the most recent issue of Audubon Magazine, celebrity birder Kenn Kaufman places Hawk Mountain Sanctuary at the top of his "Ten awesome places to catch one of nature's greatest spectacles."
He writes, "A beautiful setting and a rich history make this a must-visit destination for raptor fans. When northwest winds strike the Kittatinny Ridge, they create updrafts. Migrating raptors in fall can ride these cushions of rising air for miles, gliding effortlessly toward the south-southwest, then connecting to other ridges along the Appalachian chain as they continue their journeys. The exposed knobs of Hawk Mountain once served as a vantage point for shooters, but in 1934 this became a refuge for birds of prey, and binoculars and notebooks replaced the guns. Today the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association offers year-round nature education and coordinates global research and conservation projects."
Others making the list include Cape May, NJ, Holiday Beach, Ontario, Detriot River, Michigan, and others. Read it now. | <urn:uuid:f51e461d-feef-4c56-ad36-5b5002a2159e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hawkmountain.org/who-we-are/news/audubon-magazine-hawk-mountain-is-the-pinnacle-of-hawk-watching/page.aspx?id=3524 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91056 | 216 | 2.078125 | 2 |
12:07 AM EST, January 7, 2013
Clear Spring High School students have kicked off the Race for Awareness program at the school to help students cope with everyday life.
Created and organized by Clear Spring High School FBLA Vice President Kayla Stoner, the Race for Awareness is a service project that will be carried out by three organizations at the school: Future Business Leaders of America, Future Farmers of America and National Honor Society.
The three organizations plan to raise awareness of their respective issues and show their individual interest in helping a cause.
The Future Business Leaders of America selected Donate Life America as its organization to promote.
Donate Life America is a nonprofit organization aimed at making people more aware of the benefits of organ donation. It encourages people to become organ donors.
Stoner said her group chose the organization because it was one that affected the Clear Spring community. Taking approximately three weeks to complete, the FBLA would like more people to become organ donors and recognize all the benefits of donating.
The Future Farmers of America chose the Lyme Disease Association, which is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization that promotes research, education and patient support. FFA Treasurer Shannon Bishop said having Lyme disease is a big reason why FFA chose that association.
The officer team agreed that this was the organization of choice.
After two weeks of planning and organizing, the FFA plans to raise awareness of the disease.
Lastly, the National Honor Society decided to raise awareness about suicide prevention. In suicide prevention, steps are provided in fighting suicidal thoughts, along with helping others with their problems. Signs of depression will be listed so suicide risks could be recognized early.
Two NHS student representatives, Sean Kreps and Sarah Elwood, said the NHS took a vote to choose the topic.
They want to show that pressure on students, along with their heavy workloads, might be a factor in suicide. In their weeklong process, they plan to raise awareness, especially with teachers and parents.
The Future Business Leaders of America would like to continue the project in years to come, get more people involved and educate the community about worthy causes.
Fliers for all of the organizations discussed can be found at the following locations: Clear Spring Pharmacy, M&T Bank at the Clear Spring location and Clear Spring Town Hall. | <urn:uuid:6d90e3b1-02db-49b0-b5e7-9db576ac8e3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sun-sentinel.com/topic/hm-clear-spring-high-students-kick-off-race-for-awareness-20130106,0,4100562,print.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958047 | 475 | 2.1875 | 2 |
Perhaps no other country in the world is as friendly to tourists
as Mexico. The
country has an excellent system of ground, air, and sea-based
transportation, tens of thousands of hotel rooms, and a cuisine
that is world-famous for its flavor and diversity.
However, environmental awareness and tourism have
yet to tread the same path. Sometimes it seems as though environmental
tourism in Mexico is like the famed Copper Canyon, a gorge in
Chihuahua deeper than the Grand Canyon in the United States.
Conservation is marooned on one side, tourism on the other.
Sometimes it appears that there's no bridge across the abyss.
Perhaps it's the hybrid origin of "ecotourism" that makes
each side distrust the concept. Conservationists shudder when
tourism leaders brand amusement parks as ecotourism destinations.
Likewise, when environmentalists devise complicated eco-trips
that tour operators can't book, the operators see ecotourism
as nothing more than utopian whimsy.
Until recently, most of Mexico's protected areas and biosphere
reserves were simply off-limits to tourism. Either the government
tried to keep areas "tourist-free" because of the lack of park
guides, or the areas themselves were too remote from the main
tourism corridors to attract visitors.
In the 1990s, though, organized tours and individual travelers
discovered and raved about the natural wonders of Mexico. Whether
to watch birds or whales, people began visiting the great outdoors
to experience the diversity and beauty of nature. Tourism providers
discovered the accompanying economic benefits of offering natural
history tours, and communities themselves began to see that
"ecotourism" offered the potential to diversify their income
This book is the most comprehensive guide for the individual
traveler who wishes to explore the natural diversity found in | <urn:uuid:2c8be8dc-1f45-4bdf-9dca-d71baa671b62> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/search/tequila.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937754 | 397 | 3.0625 | 3 |
And that’s just an added bonus. The real benefit is that you will be eating quality food that significantly improves your health.
Yet, many people still don’t grow their own food.
Gardening is typically seen as either an art form or darn hard work that requires spending long days weeding in your vegetable plot.
Well, it doesn’t have to be that way…
Because there is an extremely easy and efficient way to grow your own food, which even the busiest corporate executive can do — and it’s called ecological gardening.
In my experience, it’s the ultimate way to grow your own food.
Insights Into an Ecological Garden
An ecological garden is an ecosystem made up of edible plants, and it behaves in exactly the same way as a natural habitat.
Over time, you become more of an observer than a gardener as you watch Mother Nature do most of the work.
Nature follows very simple laws and works in the same way, on any system, anywhere in the world.
To understand ecological gardening, observing natural ecosystems can provide us with the answers we need.
A natural ecosystem is made up of thousands of living and non-living components all co-existing in a given area. Each living component occupies its own niche space.
Understanding the role of the niche space is very important when creating an ecological garden.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine a giant rainforest tree crashing to the ground after standing tall for hundreds of years. Such a large tree would have filled an enormous niche space.
Lying in the soil, hundreds of dormant seeds spring to life, desperately fighting for their opportunity to occupy the best real estate in the forest — the empty niche space.
The niche space is quickly filled and harmony is restored.
Low-Maintenance, High-Yielding Vegetable Garden
When we look at a traditional vegetable garden with the “niche space” insight, what we see is a very unnatural system. There is very little diversity and a lot of empty niche spaces.
And this means that empty niches spaces will be filled as quickly as possible with weeds.
The solution to this problem is to create a garden that has tightly filled niche spaces so that weeds don’t have any opportunities to grow.
We can achieve this by using a planting arrangement that mimics a natural ecosystem. This type of planting arrangement also creates a range of highly protected micro-climates.
With a well-planned ecosystem planting arrangement, you will have created an ideal growing environment for longer lasting plants.
The planting arrangement also creates a natural form of pest management.
Managing an Ecological Garden that’s Perfect for a Modern-Day Lifestyle
Managing an ecological garden is different than managing a traditional vegetable garden.
You will notice that the garden is in a continual state of gentle change, just like a natural ecosystem.
It can be difficult for the traditional gardener to stand back and observe this, as many of us instinctively like to control things. This style of gardening calls for a great deal of faith in natural laws.
Absolutely everyone from farmers to inner-city townhouse dwellers can create an ecological garden. It may seem strange… but if you’ve never grown food before, then you are — in some ways — at an advantage.
Like all industries, the gardening industry can get stuck in doing things a certain way and most seasoned gardeners will inevitably over-work the garden.
But if we start to work with nature, we actually gain more control by being able to grow food more efficiently than ever before. It’s a paradox — but it works!
Sowing the First Seeds
A small area can provide you with a bounty of food, saving your family thousands of dollars per year while providing you a fresh supply of quality food that improves health.
The most wonderful part is that you can easily enjoy an ecological garden even in a tight space on a tight schedule.
I only invest around eight hours per year to growing my food, and I only use a space of around 20 square feet (6m x 6m). That’s an area that could fit into many suburban backyards several times over.
So, if you believe growing food is only for tough, bearded warriors with a lot of time — think again. Check out how ecological gardening could be the low-maintenance, high-yielding and pesticide-free gardening choice for you.
About the Author:
He is an absolute nature lover and after finishing school, he moved down the path of becoming an Ecological Gardener by completing a Bachelor of Applied Science and gaining qualifications in Horticulture and Landscape Design.
Jonathan is the creator of the Food4Wealth eBook and video package that shows anyone how to set up and maintain an ecological garden.
Which of your health-conscious girlfriends would benefit from this informative article on growing their own organic food?
Please help them increase the quality of the food they eat by sharing this useful article using the social media and email buttons below. | <urn:uuid:3f7d2857-47b5-4222-8321-c4f9a8e2367d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://itsallaboutwomen.com/money/ecological-gardening-to-eliminate-your-fresh-food-bill/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934095 | 1,046 | 2.90625 | 3 |
||Author: Fritz Schneider, Thomas A. Powell|
List Price: $49.99
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media (20 September, 2001)
Sales Rank: 33,941
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 out of 5
Customer ReviewsRating: 5 out of 5
Easy to follow, very concise examples, wide variety of topics
Rating: 5 out of 5
Looks good and very up-to-date
This review is based only on a quick glimpse of the book, so read this with some reservation. I might follow up with a more thorough review later.
This book looks very comprehensive, and seem to be very much up-to-date with latest browsers and W3C standards, including DOM 1 and DOM 2.
But more than a 1000 pages probably makes it very difficult to read in bed ! ;-)
Giving 5 stars might seem a bit optimistic without further investigation, but I'm pretty sure it is a at least a 4-star book.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Excellent primer and reference
This leads on to a more general reference on the language. It is here that the book really shines. As well as lots of examples, the fundamental principles behind the langauge and any associated technologies are mentioned. All this is done in a very avuncular style and I must admit I enjoyed reading the book, and trying out some of the examples/topics on my PC.
There are some caveats:
This is not a book for pure novices. Previous exposure to other languages is inferred and the author(s) point out similarities with Java and C++.
Netscape is the preferred browser here, but unlike some other tomes, at least IE gets a mention and differences are noted, though the writing does favour the NS browser.
These are small gripes with what is otherwise a much needed and well scripted (sic) resource.
· HTML & XHTML: The Complete Reference (Osborne Complete Reference Series)
· Web Design Complete Reference
· Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide
· HTML: The Complete Reference | <urn:uuid:b17f4f32-d48f-4e64-afe1-51939c0f69a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.centrasoft.com/d1/0072191279.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909444 | 449 | 1.929688 | 2 |
Personally, I think that segulos are psychological aids. It's not that you bake a key in your challah and magically you somehow make more money. Rather, the baking of the key in the challah is supposed to be a symbolic gesture that will convey to you that all parnassah really comes from God. And once that becomes more clear to you, it will help your prayers, and your trust in God, and hence your observance of the mitzvos, which actually is a valid form of gaining this-worldly benefits (see Deut. 11:13).
Now, I will compare this concept to two other phenomena:
- Tzitzis. There is a commandment to wear tzitzis on every four-cornered garment with one string of techeles. Why? "וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְוֹת יְהוָה, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם" - "And you will see it and you will remember all the commandments of God, and you will do them". Somehow, wearing these strings will provide a reminder of God's commandments. They are somehow symbolic. They are a psychological aid. I like to think of segulos as extra-biblical tzitzis.
- Symbolism of the Prophets. We find this all the time. In order for a prophet to convey a certain message to the people, God would tell them to do something symbolic to help the people understand the message. Isaiah walked around naked and barefoot for days (or maybe years). Jeremiah harnessed himself to a yolk. Ezekiel laid on his side for hundreds of days, and then turned around onto his other side for a few more. Hoshea married a prostitute. Etc., etc. You get the point. Why did they do these things? Why didn't they just tell the people God's message? The answer is obvious. Sometimes you can read something or have something told to you over and over again. But when someone acts it out, when it happens in practice, that's when it really sinks in. Same here. You can read about God's hashgacha and hear lectures about it all day. But the symbolic gestures, when you do something active to show it, sometimes that's what it takes to sink in.
The consequence of this is that segulos only "work" if they are meaningful to you. If you do a segula because you lost a bet, or with skepticism or sarcasm, you're missing the point. You do a segula because you grasp the symbolism. If it's something that turns you off rather than being at all meaningful, it's counter-productive.
I'm not going to claim that this is how everyone has ever understood segulos. There will probably be statements across the vast ocean of Jewish literature that contradict this. Chida (for example) may not have understood segulos like this. But I think that this is a valid approach to them, and perhaps how many people have understood it. | <urn:uuid:c0bcfc70-6a00-44f5-aa26-a427b9ad7c61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/25895/how-do-segulas-work?answertab=active | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965634 | 711 | 2.21875 | 2 |
The Round Rock Public Library welcomes Natalie Kane of Semillitas de Español for a very special music-rich learning experience during this week's Spanish Bilingual Storytime at 10:30 a.m. in Room B.
This active, participatory program may run slightly longer than our normal 30-minute storytime program. It welcomes children from birth to age 5--a special treat for kids younger than our normal Bilingual program can accommodate.
Spanish Bilingual Storytime meets Tuesday mornings at 10:30 a.m. in Room B. The regular program is geared for ages 3 and up and features a lively combination of stories, fingerplays, and songs. Both English and Spanish languages are featured. | <urn:uuid:cb0ec876-dca8-48af-b369-dd921f9013c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://roundrocktexas.gov/home/index.asp?page=9&recordid=21733 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910555 | 145 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Duration: 2 days
Pitching is an essential skill necessary to forge a career in the Media industry and by using practical tried and tested methods you'll have the confidence to pitch your idea clearly and with purpose.
This weekend workshop will show you how to fully understand your story and concept. You will need to visualise the world you intend to document, as well as the contributors you plan to film. If you are thinking of immersive story-telling 'Talent' is important and we'll be thinking about the right celebrities for your films, too. You will understand how a narrative structure works - an essential skill in pitching your ideas to Commissioning Editors and Broadcasters.
The key skills to a Perfect Pitch:
Concept, Contributors, Story
Will you watch it? Well, if you won't, the people you're pitching to won't buy into it... Know who you are pitching to. Know your "tone" as well as the demographic you are targeting. Know your story.
In this intensive workshop, you will be guided through a series of target points: concept, contributors, story. We will go through a tried and tested structure that hits these target points. We will investigate what makes for a good story and the Broadcaster commissioning 'Strands' or 'Seasons' - We will look at the hook of a good story and what might grab your audience. We'll think about marketing to sell your idea; locations and budgets, too.
The Three P's - Prepare, Practice, Pitch
Once we've prepared what we're going to say, we'll practice the pitch. It's essential that you have a structured speech that will allow you to get out everything about your idea that you need to in a reasonable amount of time. By practicing, you'll also be able to identify those areas where your pitch drags, gets confusing, or simply fails to sufficiently sell your story. At the end of this course, You will get feedback to your ideas and advice specific to your pitch.
Study in one of the world's most beautiful locations - Portimao, the Algarve, the southern-most region of mainland Portugal. Due to its all-year-round mild weather, the Algarve is one of the most attractive areas in the Mediterranean for filming. Learn more at: www.facebook.com/londonfilmacademyonlocationinalgarve
This course is run in collaboration with the Algarve Film Comission.
Accommodation & Flights
The price of accommodation, meals and flights is not included. Look for your ideal accommodation in Portimao here: www.portimar.pt
Or for details of reduced rates at the local hotels please contact Floripes Cuco, Portimar on +351 282 470 004 or email@example.com
Check the current tuition fee using this currency converter.
All classes will be conducted in English (applicants must be fluent in English to benefit from these courses).
Minimum age 18.
Apply for this course
There are no set dates for this course at the moment.
Please register your interest with us and we will contact you as soon as a date has been set for this course
Alternatively please call us on +44 (0) 20 7386 7711 or email us firstname.lastname@example.org for more information. | <urn:uuid:25dd14fe-9ff2-483c-9e83-ba596377a350> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.londonfilmacademy.com/lfa-courses/show-course.asp?id=97&course=Documentary:%20Pitch%20Perfect%20On%20Location%20In%20Algarve,%20Portugal%20&page_id=59 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937432 | 693 | 1.515625 | 2 |
(KFVS) - Missouri’s fifth-grade students are known to have lots of energy, and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is seeking to tap that energy to provide ideas for the Earth Day 2013 slogan.
The Department of Natural Resources is once again sponsoring a slogan contest for Missouri fifth-grade students. Students are asked to create their slogan ideas based on the theme “Energy Efficiency.” The student submitting the winning entry will be honored at the Earth Day 2013 celebration, April 19 at the Capitol in Jefferson City.
A slogan contest entry form, rules and details are available on the Department of Natural Resources' website by clicking here.
Deadline for the slogan contest is Feb. 28. The winners will be announced in March. | <urn:uuid:9933447b-a36d-40f4-8ccc-015be2f4a110> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mississippi.kfvs12.com/news/events?page=7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942993 | 153 | 2.0625 | 2 |
In less than 25% of cases did the husband end the relationship or want the divorce. In the "Great Society" our concern over poverty became predatory in nature when government essentially decided that child support should automatically replace the father as a matter of "women's choice".
The primary political movement which caused this problem is radical feminism. Politically energized women espousing theories founded in misandry, combined with profiteering legal associations, devised every excuse in the book why marriage is not necessary.
Wild allegations against husbands, accusing them of child abuse and domestic violence became the norm, when in fact serious child abuse and domestic violence by husbands in the intact family is rare and sporadic in nature.
Today, six in ten husbands will be arbitrarily thrown out of their families, losing their children, and forced into a system of indentured servitude to their estranged families, a system which unquestionably violates the Geneva Convention on Slavery. Few of these husbands have done anything wrong, and only a very few cases do real reasons exist for a divorce which essentially destroys his social place in family and society. The level of discrimination caused by such hateful treatment of over half the fathers in America has become the major civil rights issue of our time -- for it discriminates against about half the citizens of America, whether they be black, white, or another race.
There is only one answer to this problem. "We must now grant to fathers the same right to be in the family as we have granted to women in the workplace." | <urn:uuid:60d00ee0-ab67-41b3-8806-cd1f537851ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dadsnow.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971911 | 306 | 2.53125 | 3 |
When Ocypus olens is threatened it produces an unpleasant smelling chemical defence from a pair of exocrine glands found at the terminal segment (8th tergite) of the abdomen.
It can also excrete fecal fluid from its anus as well as foul smelling fluid from its mouth.
Ocypus olens reproduction takes place in the autumn.
14-21 days after mating, the female lays a single egg in a damp, dark place such as
This provides the emerging larvae with a habitat.
The larva emerges after 30 days and will live mainly underground. It is predacious like the adult, and has a similar diet and defence behaviour.
The larva has 3 successive growth stages, called instars. The final larval stage at approximately 150 days reaches 20-26mm in length.
At this stage, pupation begins, taking up to 35 days.
The fully grown adult then emerges from the pupae, remaining inactive for up to 2 hours whilst the wings dry out. These can then be folded under the protective second wing cases (elytra).
Adults can either: | <urn:uuid:06856f7b-7d90-4b81-a580-87dc36d82dff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhm.ac.uk/print-version/?p=/nature-online/species-of-the-day/common-species/ocypus-olens/biology/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935898 | 231 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Keys to Jamestown
Main Subject Area: Social Studies
Additional Subjects: Language Arts
Duration of Lesson: Two 50- to 60-minute sessions
Additional Subject Area Standard(s):
• Students will define the terms “collaboration,” “community,” and “change” and explore how these ideas were demonstrated by the peoples of the Jamestown settlement.
– Coin of the Month for March 2007, highlighting the Jamestown commemorative $5 coin.
– Coin images from the "Jamestown Anniversary Coins" worksheet.
– Jamestown Challenge quiz at
• Computers with Internet Access (if available)
• The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation at www.jamestown-yorktown.state.va.us
• The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities at www.apva.org
– 1607: A New Look at Jamestown by Karen Lange
– Explore Colonial Jamestown with Elaine Landau by Elaine Landau
– The Jamestown Adventure: Accounts of the Virginia Colony, 1605–1614
• Chart Paper (1 sheet per group and 3 sheets for Classroom Discussion)
• Coin images (1 copy per group and 1 copy for classroom discussion). (Download the “Jamestown Anniversary Coins” worksheet, an Acrobat PDF.)
Coins Used in Lesson:
Grade Level(s): 6-8
1. Write one of each the following words at the top of a piece of chart paper (one word per piece of paper): “Collaboration,” “Community,” and “Change.” Ask the students to take a few minutes to think about what each word means to them. How do these things impact their daily lives?
2. After think time, have students brainstorm their responses. Note their responses on the chart paper, leaving room for definitions.
3. Below each title on the charts, help the class to define each of the words. (Collaboration means working together, community is a neighborhood or group of people who share a common interest, and change is when things are no longer the same as they had been.) Keep the definitions on display.
4. Help the students to make connections between the words and to see how they relate to one another. (Communities are impacted by change; collaboration can change a community).
5. Briefly state where Jamestown is located, the date Jamestown was founded (1607), and that 2007 is the 400th anniversary of the town’s settlement.
6. Divide the class into groups of 4 to 6 students. Distribute the “Jamestown Anniversary Coins” worksheet, 1 sheet per group.
7. Ask the students to begin thinking about how they see collaboration, community, and change depicted on the coins shown on the worksheet.
8. Assign each group one word, either “collaboration,” “community,” or “change.” Give each group a sheet of chart paper and markers.
9. Using the selected text, coin images, and possibly information from the Internet, have each group discuss how its assigned idea was at work in Jamestown and how the Jamestown coins depict the concept.
10. Have the groups use their chart paper to define, illustrate, and create a visual aid for a class presentation, to be given during the next session. Remind the students to include two central ideas: how the Jamestown settlement exemplified collaboration, community, or change, and how the idea is depicted on the Jamestown commemorative coins.
1. Revisit the class definitions of collaboration, community, and change. Briefly review the founding of Jamestown based on material covered in class readings and discussions.
2. Have each group present its word and visual aid to the class. Encourage the student presenters to highlight the way collaboration, community, or change impacted Jamestown as well as how the Jamestown coin designs depict the idea.
3. Once all the students have made their presentations, revisit the class definitions from the previous session. Ask the students for examples of each word that were found in Jamestown itself and in the coin designs. Record class ideas on the chart paper.
4. Ask the students:
5. Have students make these connections visible on the chart paper. They can draw lines connecting ideas, circle key or repeated words, etc. Respond to any student questions.
6. Have students compose a letter as if they were a member of the original Jamestown community.
7. The letter may be started in class and completed at home as an extension of the class discussion.
8. When the letters are finished, have students share their letters, display them around the classroom, or include them on the teacher’s Web site or in a class newsletter.
Assessment / Evaluation:
Differentiated Learning Options:
Have students work in pairs or individually to take the "Jamestown Challenge" online quiz. | <urn:uuid:dd0b87c7-063e-4ce5-a5ae-23c04ddfd5ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/lessonPlans/viewLP.cfm?lessonPlanId=182 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918096 | 1,058 | 4.15625 | 4 |
p. 521 V.
On the Flesh of Christ. 6939
This was written by our author in confutation of certain heretics who denied the reality of Christs flesh, or at least its identity with human flesh—fearing that, if they admitted the reality of Christs flesh, they must also admit his resurrection in the flesh; and, consequently, the resurrection of the human body after death.
[Translated by Dr. Holmes.]
Chapter I.—The General Purport of This Work. The Heretics, Marcion, Apelles, and Valentinus, Wishing to Impugn the Doctrine of the Resurrection, Deprive Christ of All Capacity for Such a Change by Denying His Flesh.
They who are so anxious to shake that belief in the resurrection which was firmly settled 6940 before the appearance of our modern Sadducees, 6941 as even to deny that the expectation thereof has any relation whatever to the flesh, have great cause for besetting the flesh of Christ also with doubtful questions, as if it either had no existence at all, or possessed a nature altogether different from human flesh. For they cannot but be apprehensive that, if it be once determined that Christs flesh was human, a presumption would immediately arise in opposition to them, that that flesh must by all means rise again, which has already risen in Christ. Therefore we shall have to guard our belief in the resurrection 6942 from the same armoury, whence they get their weapons of destruction. Let us examine our Lords bodily substance, for about His spiritual nature all are agreed. 6943 It is His flesh that is in question. Its verity and quality are the points in dispute. Did it ever exist? whence was it derived? and of what kind was it? If we succeed in demonstrating it, we shall lay down a law for our own resurrection. Marcion, in order that he might deny the flesh of Christ, denied also His nativity, or else he denied His flesh in order that he might deny His nativity; because, of course, he was afraid that His nativity and His flesh bore mutual testimony to each others reality, since there is no nativity without flesh, and no flesh without nativity. As if indeed, under the prompting of that licence which is ever the same in all heresy, he too might not very well have either denied the nativity, although admitting the flesh,—like Apelles, who was first a disciple of his, and afterwards an apostate,—or, while admitting both the flesh and the nativity, have interpreted them in a different sense, as did Valentinus, who resembled Apelles both in his discipleship and desertion of Marcion. At all events, he who represented the flesh of Christ to be imaginary was equally able to pass off His nativity as a phantom; so that the virgins conception, and pregnancy, and child-bearing, and then the whole course 6944 of her infant too, would have to be regarded as putative. 6945 These facts pertaining to the nativity of Christ would escape the notice of the same eyes and the same senses as failed to grasp the full idea 6946 of His flesh.
In his work On the Resurrection of the Flesh (chap. ii.), Tertullian refers to this tract, and calls it “De Carne Domini adversus quatuor hæreses”: the four heresies being those of Marcion, Apelles, Basilides, and Valentinus. Pamelius, indeed, designates the tract by this fuller title instead of the usual one, “De Carne Christi.” [This tract contains references to works written while our author was Montanistic, but it contains no positive Montanism. It should not be dated earlier than a.d. 207.]521:6940
The allusion is to Matt. xxii. 23; comp. De Præscr. Hæret. 33 (Fr. Junius).521:6942
Tertullians phrase is “carnis vota”—the future prospects of the flesh.521:6943
Τῷ δοκεῖν haberentur. This term gave name to the Docetic errors.521:6946 | <urn:uuid:eaeba1a2-0272-4456-b02b-055a0e5b2eae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/003/0030556.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955787 | 894 | 1.71875 | 2 |
LAND AREA: 506.72 square miles
Black/African American: 6,012
American Indian: 325
Pacific Islander: 303
Two or more races: 1,597
Hispanic/Latino: 4,634 (of any race)
From the 2010 Census, US Census Bureau.
Burke County is located in west central North Carolina, in the state's Mountain region. It was formed in 1777 and named for Thomas Burke, delegate to the Continental Congress and governor of the state (1781-82). The county originally comprised substantial territory in the western part of the state, and portions of it later formed counties including Alexander, Buncombe, Caldwell, Catawba, Madison, Mitchell, McDowell, and Yancey. Its present borders have been settled since 1834. Morganton, the county seat and largest city, was incorporated in 1784 and named for Gen. Daniel Morgan, the Revolutionary War hero who led Continental troops at the Battles of King's Mountain and Cowpens. Other Burke County communities include Connelly Springs, Drexel, Glen Alpine, Hildebran, Rhodhiss (on the Caldwell County line), and Valdese. A small western portion of the city of Hickory also lies within Burke County, although most of the city is located in neighboring Catawba County.
Catawba and Cherokee Indians were the primary inhabitants of the lands that became Burke County when English, Scotch-Irish, and German settlers first moved into the area. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, many of these settlers came from Pennsylvania, having traveled south through the Shenandoah Valley along what came to be known as the Great Wagon Road. After the Civil War, the development of the Southern Railroad through Burke County led to increased contact with the rest of the state and region and brought industrial development to Morganton and the county's smaller communities.
The county's economy today is diversified. Industrial products include furniture, chemicals, machine parts, and textiles, although the textile industry in Burke County has diminished sharply in recent years, mirroring developments elsewhere in the state. The county is also home to a significant agricultural processing industry, and it is one of the state's largest producers of forest products, including Christmas trees, and ornamental plants. Burke County has the highest proportion of state government employees outside of Raleigh. Important state institutions in the county include the North Carolina School for the Deaf; Broughton Hospital and Western Carolina Hospital, which serve the state's mental health needs; and Western Correctional Center, a state prison. The Historic Burke Foundation operates Quaker Meadows, the Revolutionary-era home of the McDowell family, and Western Piedmont Community College houses the library and re-created office of Senator Sam J. Ervin Jr.
Burke County is known for its natural resources and parklands, which contribute to a thriving tourism industry. Lake James State Park and South Mountains State Park are both located in the county, as is a portion of the Pisgah National Forest. Because of the size of these park and forest lands, the U.S. government and the state of North Carolina are two of the three largest landholders in the county. (The third is Duke Energy, whose predecessor companies created 6,510-acre Lake James in the 1910s and which today operates several hydroelectric facilities in the county.) The Blue Ridge Parkway runs through the far northwestern corner of the county, past the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area and its popular Linville Falls as well as other destinations for hiking, camping, mountain biking, and nature study. The population of Burke County in 2004 was estimated to be 89,000.
Edward W. Phifer Jr., Burke County: A Brief History (1979).
Burke County Government: http://www.co.burke.nc.us/
Burke County Chamber of Commerce: http://www.burkecounty.org/
DigitalNC, Burke County: http://digitalnc.org/counties/burke-county
User submitted images, Flickr. (How you may contribute).
Rudersdorf, Amy. 2010. "NC County Maps." Government & Heritage Library, State Library of North Carolina.
1 January 2006 | Bangma, Peter | <urn:uuid:77f52725-a728-46ef-9d82-0b5f3a0ef1e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncpedia.com/geography/burke | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942837 | 872 | 2.90625 | 3 |
ORLANDO — In a move that could bankrupt denominational missions programs, 250 children of missionaries have filed a class-action lawsuit against their parents for raising them in “disgusting, disease-ridden parts of the world” like Indonesia, Cambodia and virtually anywhere in Africa. The result was an “unfair, sucky, non-western upbringing that alienated these children from their U.S. peers, and put ticking timebomb illnesses in their bodies,” according to the lawsuit.
The children seek $1 million per person in damages. Because their parents are legally tied to the organization they serve under, that money could come straight out of missionary budgets of the Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist Convention and several smaller organizations, wreaking havoc on missions programs.
“It’s about time we took our destiny into our own hands,” said Marsha Limnell, 22, an MK who now lives in Happy Valley, Pa., and who went through five years of trauma counseling after growing up in Uganda. “I mean, who would ask to be raised in Kampala?”
The suit asserts that children have a “right to be raised in conditions equivalent to those in the country of their citizenship.” In effect, it means that raising a U.S. citizen in sub-standard conditions elsewhere in the world could be considered child abuse. Legal experts say that could force future missionaries to give their children citizenship of the country they serve in.
MK Cameron Leftengle, 17, grew up in Malaysia and was convinced she was leading the kind of life most other kids would envy, until she returned to Illinois as a second-grader and ran into a spate of cultural transition issues.
“I remember squatting on the playground and defecating during recess, like we did in Malaysia,” she says. “The kids laughed at me and I got sent to the principal’s office. I was humiliated.”
She was also embarrassed when her classmates found she’d brought toasted crickets and fire ants for lunch.
“The scars from those experiences are hard to overcome,” she says. “My life was basically ruined.”
She insists she’s more upset with the denomination than with her parents because they “promote a culture of dysfunction among missionary children” as a result of lifelong work in a foreign culture.
No denominations named in the suit cared to comment, but insiders say “they’re holding their breath and hoping this will blow over.” The case will be heard by a judge in September.• | <urn:uuid:e875d07a-2006-4b9b-b7f7-1b39d085e385> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.larknews.com/archives/151 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977965 | 548 | 1.523438 | 2 |
My perennial mistake, which was especially prominent in the current brain-death controversy, is to assume that if I write something carefully, people will read it carefully. I should not have been surprised that many people are strongly condemning what I wrote based on a careless reading of it - because this sort of thing has happened many times before. And I should not have considered it adequate to make important points once - if something is important, it should be repeated again and again and again. In this post I would like to highlight, address and dispel the most common misunderstandings of my approach and criticisms thereof. The examples of the misconceptions about my views are from comments on R. Maryles' blog and elsewhere.
1. Misconception: That I judge brain death as death
Example: "My main issue with his approach is that who says that the body's life does not have intrinsic spiritual value on its own even if one says the neshama has left and only a nefesh remains (since the nefesh is in the blood, and the blood is pumping, I assume it remains)? By allowing one to "kill" a brain-dead person, it is treating the human body without a mind as an animal."
What My Position Really Is: Indeed, it could well be that one may still not kill a nefesh without a neshamah (although I strongly suspect that Chazal and the Rishonim would judge otherwise). My point was not that brain death is death; it is that those who rule on the matter without considering the significance of Chazal's knowledge and options available have not performed a proper analysis.
2. Misconception: That I believe halachah to be necessarily based upon science
Example: "R. Slifkin's error lies in his apparent assumption that the halacha is based on scientific facts - or more correctly, on the conclusions scientists might draw from a given set of factual circumstances. To me, this assumption is rather unfounded, and is quite inconsistent with our notion of the halacha as a system of law - a system with its own internal logic and its own internal philosophical system for viewing the world and its phenomena."
What My Position Really Is: I have repeatedly stressed that halachah is often independent of the scientific reality, for a variety of reasons. One example is the laws of bishul, where it is possible to cook something and not transgress bishul, and it is also possible not to cook something and yet to transgress it. Even in the case of defining death, halachah is clearly not identical to science; as I pointed out, science defines bacteria as being alive, whereas halachah doesn't. But sometimes, the halachah is built upon a certain understanding of the natural world - such as Chazal's ruling that one does not transgress Shabbos to save the life of an 8-month fetus, because it is not viable, and their ruling that one may kill lice on Shabbos, because they spontaneously generate. I argued that Chazal's understanding of physiology, and all the more so the medical options available to them, are likely to have affected their rulings on this issue, and therefore those who analyze it without taking this possibility into account have not performed a proper analysis.
3. Misconception: That I believe halachah should change in response to our greater scientific knowledge - which leads to Conservative Judaism
Example: "the obvious conclusion of RNS's approach is the wholesale elimination of much of Hilchos Tereifos... this is the line between Orthodoxy and Conservatism"
What My Position Really Is: If RYGB wants to condemn this position as being Conservative, then it is others that he is labeling this way, not me. His claim that "we are accustomed to assume that Chazal are the final arbiters of Halachah regardless of whatever thought process under-girded their rulings" is a condemnation of many great Acharonim and modern Poskim, who do indeed believe that halachah should change in response to our greater scientific knowledge - with examples being those such as Rav Lampronti, who forbade killing lice on Shabbos for this reason (as does Rav Nissim Karelitz and Rav Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg), and most Gedolim today,who forbid eating worms found in fish, against the Gemara. But unlike them, I personally do not believe that in general, our greater scientific knowledge warrants changing halachah. However, in cases of potential pikuach nefesh, virtually all Poskim do not rely on Chazal's formulations, but rather follow modern medicine - with the case of the 8-month fetus being a potent example of this. In fact, this case is much less problematic than that of the 8-month fetus. In that case, everyone simply overrides Chazal's formulation and effectively acknowledges it to be wrong. In this case, Chazal's formulation was absolutely correct, given the circumstances - if I went back in time 1500 years, and was checking signs of life in a body buried under rubble, I would also be looking to see if the person is breathing, not doing a scan of brain activity!
4. Misconception: That I am advocating working outside of the halachic system in this case.
What My Position Really Is: We need to do the same in this case that we do in similar cases of medical halachah, such as with Chazal's ruling on the 7 vs. 8 month fetus. We look at Chazal's underlying value - in that case, that Shabbos is only transgressed for saving a life that is viable - and take into account that their particular application of that value may have been influenced by either their misunderstanding of fetal viability or the limited medical options available to them. So, too, here: Chazal's underlying values were the preservation of human life. But when considering their application of this value - their ruling that when checking a person buried under rubble, one checks his breathing (which some see as an indication of pulse), we must take into account the possibility that their particular application of that value may have been influenced by either their misunderstanding of physiology, or by the limited medical options available to them. Now, ignoring Chazal's application of their values is not the conventional way of following Chazal, which is why I don't believe that it should be done in the case of lice, or worms in fish - unlike many Poskim. But in cases of pikuach nefesh such as the 8-month fetus, this is the approach that most Poskim take. | <urn:uuid:95df0b50-4ba7-4228-bd0d-3ae85939a240> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2011/01/popular-misconceptions-and-my-mistake.html?showComment=1295366144848 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964947 | 1,375 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Here’s a recent question:
Is there anything right now I can invest into that makes at least 5% and does not tie up my money for 4 years or more? CD’s are lousy and savings accounts are no better. – anonymous
Before I begin, if you want an answer to a question, could you at least tell me your first name? Geez, that doesn’t seem like too much to ask.
Now, here’s your answer: in a word, no. There is no safe investment that makes 5% and doesn’t tie up your money. In fact, even if you’re willing to tie up your money for five years, you still won’t earn 5%, at least not with zero risk.
The safest investment is widely considered to be direct obligations of the US government: treasury bills, notes and bonds. (The only difference between the three is when they come due: bills are the shortest maturity, coming due in as little as 3 months; bonds can go out as far as 30 years.) That’s because the government can print money, so it’s virtually impossible for them to default on a debt. This is as close to riskless as there is.
So if “safe’ is the requirement, treasuries are the benchmark. What are they paying? To find out, I simply Googled “current yields on treasuries” which took me to this page at the US Teasury website. As of Feb 1, 2010, here’s what riskless investments were paying:
- 1 month: .05%
- 1 year: .33%
- 3 year: 1.41%
- 5 year: 2.38%
Bank CDs and money market funds aren’t quite as safe as treasuries, because they’re not direct obligations of the government. Nor do they offer state income tax exemption. That’s why they may pay a little more interest than treasuries. But they still won’t pay 5%. When I did a search for CDs at my interest rate website, interestmatters.com, the best rate I could find was 3.5% on a five-year CD.
Btw, anonymous, when I was a stockbroker (read about my background here) this was probably the most common investor demand I received: “I want more than the bank’s paying, but I refuse to take any risk.” This is a nonsensical request, no different than asking for a goose that lays golden eggs. And any investment adviser who promises to deliver on such a demand is either a fool, a liar or looking for a lawsuit.
So there’s your answer: there’s no gain without pain, there’s no wealth without risk. If you want to keep your money both safe and liquid (translation: you don’t want to tie it up) you’re not going to earn squat. If the return of your money is more important than the return on your money, the best you can do right now is shop your rates at interestmatters.com, do the best you can for now and wait for higher rates. Which, btw, I’m confident will appear; if not this year, probably next.
And if you’re willing to ramp up the risk a bit to earn more? Stay tuned, because I’m going to be talking about exactly that in entries to come.
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Yesterday, we discovered April, our youngest chinchilla, dead of unknown causes. Her left thigh was plucked bare of fur but had no wounds. The only sign of distress on her was fur matted with what looked like snot or chinchilla vomit below her nose and mouth.
I think the fur may have been pulled out by April’s cage-mate and mother, January, in some sort of attempt to get her attention.
We buried her in the pet graveyard under our crabapple.
In case you’re wondering, bare chinchilla skin looks surprisingly human but feels thicker and supple, like a cheek with pores. The skin is whiter than than mine, just about Bjorkish in hue. | <urn:uuid:1bd6bf36-f68c-423a-99a5-8335dbc710b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://101squadron.com/blog/2009/04/death-of-a-chinchilla.html/comment-page-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976443 | 152 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Featured in Exhibitions
More about Screenprinting
Explores the different possibilities of water-based screen-printing in a professional print shop atmosphere. Students can gain a solid working knowledge of screenprinting, employing both traditional and contemporary methods of stencil making, film preparation and, printing methods on various papers, as well as alternative surfaces and materials. Techniques such as digital film outputting, mixing gradations with ink, multi-color registration, and fourcolor process printing are demonstrated and employed. Through independent projects, demonstrations, and critiques, students are encouraged to create a cohesive body of work and utilize the medium for their own individual artistic needs. | <urn:uuid:37f75812-8173-46c6-ad30-449ab9505313> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mica.edu/Browse_Art/Untitled_1_by_Shannon_Townsend.html | 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 | 0.933325 | 132 | 2.984375 | 3 |
The North Thompson/Yellowhead Highway
Lake, stocked with two species of rainbow trout, is easily accessed
with a car-top boat. Farther north, Heffley Lake is a great
location for rainbow trout. Ice fishing is also possible here. Heffley
Lake Fishing Resort rents boats. Heffley Lake is located east of Heffley
Creek and 19 miles (31 km) northeast of Kamloops
off Yellowhead Hwy 5 on the road to Sun Peaks Resort.
The Barriere Lakes (North, South, and East) are all located
about 60 miles (100 km) north of Kamloops and 10 miles (16 km) west
of Hwy 5 on Barriere Lake Road. Some of the best trout fishing in
this region renowned for its fine fishing lakes can be found here.
You can fish at Rearguard Falls Provincial
Park, approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) of east of Tete Jaune Cache
on Hwy 16. The park is on the Upper Fraser River, and the falls are
the final barrier to salmon migrating from the Fraser's mouth, some
744 miles (120 km) southeast at the Pacific Ocean. Salmon season begins
in August and continues through September.
Fly-in fishing lodges are located on some of the 700 lakes in the
area; flights depart and return to the Kamloops Airport. For a list
of lodges, contact the Kamloops Visitor Info Centre.
A lake a day
as long as you stay is no idle boast for the Nicola
Valley. Close to 50 percent of the province's total freshwater
sportfishing occurs in the Thompson-Nicola region. Relative to its
size, this region is unsurpassed in British Columbia for its sports
fishery. The Thompson and Nicola Rivers are historic salmon-spawning
tributaries of the Fraser River, and the smaller tributary streams
are where rainbow trout, dolly varden, and kokanee lay their eggs.
It's the lakes, however, that are the main attraction for anglers.
There are few fishing runs as legendary - or as threatened
- as the steelhead run on the Thompson River and one of its
main tributaries, the Nicola River. Steelhead are an oceangoing
species of trout (or salmon, depending on whom you consult) famous
for their size, speed, stamina, and tremendous strength. In order
to surmount obstacles in the Fraser Canyon before entering the Thompson
near Lytton, steelhead must possess all these characteristics.
Chapperon, Douglas, and Nicola Lakes have long
been noted for their ample fish stocks. Nicola Lake, renowned for
its depth, is said to harbour 26 varieties of fish, some weighing
up to 20 pounds (9 kg). Nicola Lake is the easiest to reach and
is located about 4 miles (7 km) east of Merritt on Hwy 5A. Use the
boat launch at Monck Provincial Park
for access to the big lake. Douglas and Chapperon Lakes are located
about 12 miles (20 km) and 18.5 miles (30 km), respectively, east
of Hwy 5A on the Douglas Lake Road. Angling is the most popular
form of sportfishing in the Nicola area lakes, but ice fishing,
spear fishing, and set-lines methods are also used.
In fall, anglers head for two places in particular: Goldpan
Provincial Park, located on the Thompson River, and Spences
Bridge, located on Hwy 8, about 0.6 mile (1 km) west of Hwy
1, 23 miles (37 km) north of Lytton. Anglers can readily access
both the Thompson and the Nicola Rivers from Spences Bridge. For
information on steelhead fishing regulations, contact the Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Officer in Kamloops, (250) 374-9117.
Good river access for fishing makes the Coquihalla
River Provincial Park a popular spot. However, there are spawning
channels alongside the Coquihalla River in
the vicinity of this park, so be sure to get the newest fishing
regulations. This recreation area, located 15.5 miles (25 km) northeast
of Hope on Hwy 5, was
closed to private vehicles in early 1998, but fishers can reach
it by parking nearby and walking in. Southbound highway traffic
will find it easy to reach the park (via the Carolin Mines exit).
Northbound traffic should take Othello Road from Hope to the Dewdney
Creek intersection, then a sharp right turn onto the park access
road. Leave your vehicle here.
River Provincial Park, just north of the summit on the Coquihalla
Highway, offers great steelhead fishing. Nearby are the Coquihalla
Lakes, where both the Coquihalla and Coldwater Rivers have their
sources. The Coldwater River runs north alongside the highway. It
is shallow and gravel-bottomed, a good steelhead spawning area.
There is a small Forest Service campsite at Zum Peak beside the
river. Follow Zum Peak Forest Road for 5 miles (8 km) west from
the park to reach the Zum Peak campsite. Coldwater River Provincial
Park is located 31 miles (50 km) south of Merritt on Coquihalla
Highway 5, with north and south access ramps.
of Lac Le Jeune in Lac Le Juene
Provincial Park are famous for producing fighting rainbow trout.
Fly-fishing is also possible in the Stake-McConnell Lakes
Provincial Recreation Area - McConnell
Lake Provincial Park. | <urn:uuid:fa571170-4bdd-46bc-8584-17934ed20f52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.okanaganbritishcolumbia.com/fishing/?id=18 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915139 | 1,209 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Ireland's EU Presidency Hoping for Growth but Trouble Persists
Bailed-out Ireland hopes to use the momentum of its presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2013 to push through measures to boost growth and create jobs.
Ireland is the first country to take on the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc while being propped up by money from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
A limited recovery is underway, but with austerity measures still hitting ordinary people hard, Dublin is clear about its priorities.
"What we are doing during our presidency is advancing a theme to advance measures that promote jobs and growth," the minister for foreign affairs and trade, Eamon Gilmore, told Agence France Presse.
"And that just isn't a rhetorical statement. There are a number of key legislative measures that we attend to advance."
In November 2010, the one-time "Celtic Tiger" was forced to accept a 85-billion-euro ($112 billion) bailout program following a banking crisis and one of the worst property crashes of all time.
But since then, Ireland has been praised as the "poster boy" of the financial crisis for the way it has swallowed the bitter medicine of austerity -- unlike fellow bailed-out EU countries Greece and Portugal.
Now Dublin aims to be the first eurozone country to emerge from an EU-IMF program.
It has even found sponsors to help deliver what it calls a "cost-effective presidency", signing up car giant Audi among other partners in deals worth 1.4 million euros.
Ireland's economy is showing some signs of life, with official figures this month showing it grew 0.4 percent in the second quarter of this year and 0.2 percent in the third quarter.
And there has been a limited return to the debt markets, with the National Treasury Management Agency raising over two billion euros in four short-term auctions since July.
"If we go back to the middle of last year there was a belief that there was a very good chance of Ireland defaulting. So the progress since 2011 has really been quite impressive," said John McHale, professor of economics at the National University of Ireland.
"We are on track. There are central risks that remain at the same time, and the big uncertainty remains around growth, but the third quarter numbers were reasonably encouraging," he added.
But the muted recovery has come at a severe social cost.
Ireland's largest charity, the Society of Saint Vincent De Paul, said it has received about 6,000 phone calls to its head office in the past week from people needing help -- 30 or 40 percent of them making contact for the first time.
"In comparison to other recessions, poverty is creeping into the middle classes with devastating effects," said national vice president Tom McSweeney.
Joblessness remains frustratingly high, at 14.6 percent in November, and experts warn there is unlikely to be any return to the high levels of employment seen during the boom years.
"I think we have an incorrect recollection of Ireland that's blurred by the Celtic Tiger era," said Tony Foley from Dublin City University's Business School.
"Historically, our overall performance is not full employment and growing incomes -- it's unemployment and emigration."
Many people are still reeling from the contents of the sixth consecutive austerity budget, involving another round of painful spending cuts and tax hikes to hack a further 3.5 billion euros off the country's deficit.
"I wish the politicians would come and live a day in my life," Anne Hughes, from Tullamore in central Ireland told AFP.
Hughes, who cares for her 33-year-old daughter with severe intellectual problems, had been hit by a 20 percent reduction in the respite carer's grant.
"This cut is the difference between having a Christmas and not," she said, tears welling up.
While so far Ireland has avoided the violent protests that have erupted in other countries, particularly Greece, there is always the possibility the next cut or tax hike could push some people over the edge.
"There is an element of austerity fatigue setting in, and I think it's dawning on people that these cuts and salary reductions are permanent, as opposed to for a couple of years until everything is fine," Foley said.
During the presidency, 11 informal EU meetings will take place in Ireland including an ECOFIN gathering of finance ministers in April and discussions between agriculture ministers in May on reform of the Common Agriculture Policy.
Since the Lisbon Treaty came into force in 2009, all the main formal EU business is carried out in Brussels.
But Dublin will aim to play the honest broker as EU leaders attempt to hammer out a deal on the contentious one-trillion-euro 2014-2020 budget.
It will also be hoping to use its position of influence to broker a deal on Ireland's bank debt, particularly the money owed to the European Central Bank for recapitalizing the defunct Anglo Irish Bank. | <urn:uuid:f44949dd-7dd4-417b-b958-fdf65965976d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/66118-ireland-s-eu-presidency-hoping-for-growth-but-trouble-persists | 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 | 0.964869 | 1,019 | 1.984375 | 2 |
One small trend in recent history-writing is to focus on people’s sensory experiences. (I suppose writing whole books on “place” got old.) I first encountered this at a Massachusetts Historical Society seminar a few years ago which eventually fed into Richard C. Rath’s How Early America Sounded. That paper was about various yelling, ranting, and singing Quakers, before that religious movement settled down and became associated with quiet contemplation instead. Rath’s book also covers church bells, language barriers, and the importance of “earshot” in a culture with no electronic communication system.
I think another early example of sensory history is Elaine Forman Crane’s article “‘I Have Suffer’d Much Today’: The Defining Force of Pain in Early America,” published in Through a Glass Darkly. With few painkillers and no anesthetics, how did colonial Americans get through the day, especially a day with surgery scheduled? Since pain is subjective, baffling doctors even today, it’s very hard to compare one person’s experience to another’s. We must, as Crane does, fall back on thinking mostly about how people of the time thought of pain, particularly in how men and women were supposed to react differently to it.
The most general sensori-historical approach I’ve seen is Peter Charles Hoffer’s Sensory Worlds in Early America. While Rath focuses mostly on the seventeenth century, Hoffer discusses such events as the Boston Massacre, so I had to give it a shot. And I was underwhelmed.
Guess what? People sensed the Boston Massacre. They experienced the cold of the air. They felt the impact of sticks and snowballs. They heard the bang of guns. They saw the blood and bodies lying on the ground. Yes, people all over King Street were sensing things. (Except ropemaker Samuel Gray, who, having had part of his skull shot off, didn’t sense Pvt. Matthew Kilroy bayoneting his brain—if in fact that happened as some Bostonians claimed to have seen.)
So much physical detail might have been exciting for a historian who had previously focused on intellectual and abstract issues. Hoffer is a leading legal historian, and our legal system might in some ways be an attempt to get above how things feel to individual people to more general principles and rules. But I, having come to Revolutionary history through narrative writing in general and fiction writing in particular, never lost sight of the power of sensory detail.
When I saw pictures of Boston’s Pope Night, therefore, it didn’t take a lot of imagination to conclude that the celebration was meant to be loud. “To judge by the number of horns [Swiss artist Pierre Eugène] Du Simitière drew [in 1767], the evening must have been ear-splitting,” I wrote in an essay for The Worlds of Children. An ear-splitting event, but not an earth-shaking realization.
In the 30 Nov 2006 London Review of Books, Yale professor John Demos questions Hoffer’s approach to historical events on another ground:
One can discern, in each case, a sensory element; but its significance is more a matter of context than of cause. At the very least, one would need a way of measuring the sensory against the political, the material, the ideational and so on, in order to make the case.Demos’s point seems even more important when we consider the findings from neurology that emotion is key to memory. We remember not what we sense, but what we sense and feel emotionally about.
There is, finally, a conceptual difficulty lurking beneath the surface of Hoffer’s entire project. The ‘report of the senses’ can never by itself achieve motive power, whether in the lives of individual persons, or in the histories of groups. That comes only through further steps of processing: steps that involve both cognitive assessment and (for lack of a better term) emotional charging. . . . It is, above all, emotional energy that drives specific human actions—the energy of fear, joy, anger, surprise and a handful of other ‘primary affects’ (in various compounds and combinations). Hoffer gives barely a nod towards this crucial aspect. | <urn:uuid:bd3e1c6e-9c1a-42bd-8ef3-d9002fc938b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96149 | 905 | 2.28125 | 2 |
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Get ready for two weeks of intensifying warnings about how crucial, popular government services are about to wither — including many threats that could eventually come true.
President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans made no progress last week in heading off $85 billion in budget-wide cuts that automatically start taking effect March 1. Lacking a bipartisan deal to avoid them and hoping to heap blame and pressure on GOP lawmakers, the administration is offering vivid details about the cuts' consequences: trimmed defense contracts, less secure U.S. embassies, furloughed air traffic controllers.
Past administrations have seldom hesitated to spotlight how budget standoffs would wilt programs the public values.
When a budget fight between President Bill Clinton and congressional Republicans led to two government shutdowns, in 1995 and 1996, some threats came true, like padlocked national parks.
Others did not.
Clinton warned that Medicare recipients might lose medical treatment, feeding programs for the low-income elderly could end and treatment at veterans hospitals could be curtailed. All continued, thanks to contractors working for IOUs, local governments and charities stepping in and the budget impasse ending before serious damage occurred.
This time, at stake is not a federal shutdown but a so-called sequester. Between March 1 and Sept. 30 — the remainder of the government's budget year — it would mean reductions of 13 percent for defense programs and 9 percent for other programs, according to the White House budget office.
The cuts, plus nearly $1 trillion more over the coming decade, were concocted two years ago. Administration and congressional bargainers purposely made them so painful that everyone would be forced to reach a grand deficit-cutting compromise to avoid them.
A look at the sequester and the chilling impact the administration says it would have, based on letters and testimony to Congress:
—A key reminder: Social Security, Medicare and veterans' benefits, Medicaid and a host of other benefit programs are exempted. The cuts take effect over a seven-month period; they don't all crash ashore on March 1. And if a bipartisan deal to ease them is ever reached, lawmakers could restore some or all of the money retroactively.
—On the other hand: Left in effect, these cuts are real even though their program-by-program impact is unclear. The law limits the administration's flexibility to protect favored initiatives, but the White House has told agencies to avoid cuts presenting "risks to life, safety or health" and to minimize harm to crucial services.
—Defense: Troops at war would be protected, but there'd be fewer Air Force flying hours, less training for some Army units and cuts in naval forces. A $3 billion cut in the military's Tricare health care system could diminish elective care for military families and retirees. And, in a warning to the private defense industry, the Pentagon said it would be "restructuring contracts to reduce their scope and cost."
—Health: The National Institutes of Health would lose $1.6 billion, trimming cancer research and drying up funds for hundreds of other research projects. Health departments would give 424,000 fewer tests for the AIDS virus. More than 373,000 people may not receive mental health services.
—Food and agriculture: About 600,000 low-income pregnant women and new mothers would lose food aid and nutrition education. Meat inspectors could be furloughed up to 15 days, shutting meatpacking plants intermittently and costing up to $10 billion in production losses.
—Homeland Security: Fewer border agents and facilities for detained illegal immigrants. Reduced Coast Guard air and sea operations, furloughed Secret Service agents and weakened efforts against cyberthreats to computer networks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund would lose more than $1 billion.
—Education: Seventy thousand Head Start pupils would be removed from the pre-kindergarten program. Layoffs of 10,000 teachers and thousands of other staffers because of cuts in federal dollars that state and local governments use for schools. Cuts for programs for disabled and other special-needs students. | <urn:uuid:07419ea9-04f1-423c-ab56-a6b9d7e36a0b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2013/02/16/budget-cut-warnings-may-prove-harsher-than-reality?s_cid=related-links:TOP | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942876 | 849 | 1.757813 | 2 |