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A few weeks ago my pastor preached about "how can we give love to our family and friends". One of the most important ways of loving them is by being good listeners, even if you dont care what they are talking about.
Why do I mention it on this forum? Because as musicians we must be good listeners before we talk. We all like playing our favorite scales, modes, riffs and repeat them often, because they sound cool, right? But what happens if 3 of 4 people are talking about the SuperBowl and somebody came out of nowhere and completely changed the subject? All the sudden everyone looks at you like they're lost. Maybe the subject was good, but just a little out of place. Has that ever happened to you?
The same thing happens when we play. We know some cool scales, blues, pentatonic, etc, etc.. but before we contribute to the conversation, we must know what they are talking about, then we join. The same thing applies to us as musicians. Before we play, we must listen to what the other musicians are talking about (playing) so we can join the conversation and contribute with words (notes) that make sense.
Most of us know that we need to follow the melody and the chord progression, so we follow the piano or the guitar. While this is very important, we should also pay attention to other details that will help us join their conversation:
1) The bass (Identify the root of the chord)
2) Identify a motif on the melody and other instruments.
3) What lines are the strings or the brass playing? Try replying to what they just said (Played).
These are only some ideas. If you are a good listener, you will be able to join a conversation and contribute valuable words (Notes) to the subject.
I hope these tips help. Feel free to contribute and share your ideas.
Good post. Listening is very important I would recommend getting as many recordings of varying styles as you can. Listen to how the masters play and try to figure out what they are doing and apply their concepts to you playing. Ask you self: How do they approach melody, rhythm, articulation, etc.? Find ideas that you like and that make the most sense to you and transcribe them. Then try to create you own ideas based on what you have listened to and transcribed.
Also learn to listen tot he big picture. Not just lifting specific ideas, but the tune as a whole. Try to develop an understanding of the the feel, groove, tempo, style etc. Many time we can't see the forest because of the trees.
A great guide for listening is "Listeneng To Jazz" by Jerry Coker.
Christopher Mickel said:
Many time we can't see the forest because of the trees.
I like that example. We need to focus on the actually song and ask ourselves if we are contributing to make the song better or worst. I think you can actually use this example to compare the difference between an instrumentalist and a musician. | <urn:uuid:6d4d07aa-0b41-44fa-84e0-8c55ca2eab1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sax.mymusictalk.com/forums/topic/112/listen-first-then-talk/view/post_id/236 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954601 | 631 | 2.125 | 2 |
Dick speaks with Brewster Kahle, who is collecting copies of all the books he can from around the world.
Tagged with “internet” (96)
Fresh Squeezed Mobile is Breaking Development’s channel to get fresh ideas out there about mobile web development and design.
This week we talk to Scott Jenson about the future of mobile, Internet of Things, connected devices, Internet connected toasters and infrastructure policy.
As a student of the classics at Harvard in the 1970s, O’Reilly was impressed by a book titled The Discovery of the Mind: In Greek Philosophy and Literature, by Bruno Snell. In the four centuries between Homer and classical Athens, wrote Snell, the Greeks invented the modern human mind, with its sense of free will and agency. (In Homer, for example, no one makes a decision.) O’Reilly sees a parallel with the emerging of a global mind in this century.
Global consciousness was a recurrent idea in the 1970s—-from Teilhard de Chardin’s noosphere and Omega point (“the Singularity of its day”) to “New Age mumbo-jumbo” such as the Harmonic Convergence. O’Reilly noted that the term “singularity” for technology acceleration was first used in 1958 by John von Neumann. In 1960 J.C.R. Licklider wrote an influential paper titled “Human-computer Symbiosis.” O’Reilly predicted that “exploring the possibility space of human-computer symbiosis is one of the fascinating frontiers of the next decades and possibly century.”
Echoing Dale Dougherty, he says the Web has become the leading platform for harnessing collective intelligence. Wikipedia is a virtual city. Connected smart phones have become our “outboard brain.” Through device automation, Apple has imbued retail clerks with superpowers in its stores. Watson, the AI that beat human champions at “Jeopardy,” is now being deployed to advise doctors in real time, having read ALL the scientific papers. YouTube has mastered the attention economy. Humanity has a shared memory in the cloud. Data scientists rule.
The global mind is not an artificial intelligence. It’s us, connected and augmented.
What keeps driving it is the generosity and joy we take in creating and sharing. The global mind is built on the gift culture of every medium of connectedness since the invention of language. You gain status by what you give away, by the value you create, not the value you take.
— by Stewart Brand
In today’s programme have we all become cyborgs without even knowing it?
We’ve always extended our human bodies ever since we first picked up rocks or sticks as tools, it’s part of human nature. So are the digital tools of today any different? Aleks asks just how far we’ve come and are willing to go to become one with our technology and become cyborg.
Aleks hears from film maker Rob Spence better known as Eyeborg about the reaction he gets to the camera he has where his right eye used to be. It’s a different type of eye artist and composer Neil Harbisson uses, born entirely colour blind Neil uses an electronic eye on an antenna attached to his skull to hear colours it’s now such a part of how Neil perceives the world that he hears the colours in his dreams!
Brandy Ellis is a very different type of cyborg; having suffered from depression for years she opted to have electronics implanted in her brain to control her symptoms. Her feelings are literally regulated by a machine.
Ultimately Aleks finds out from anthropologist Amber Case how we’re all every bit as cyborg as Rob, Neil or Brandy in how we coexist symbiotically with our digital devices.
Aleks Krotoski looks at how story telling has changed in the digital age and whether it is has more in common with how we told tales in the past than we might think.
Social science is often concerned with the emergence of collective behavior out of the interactions of large numbers of individuals; but in this regard it has long suffered from a severe measurement problem - namely that interactions between people are hard to measure, especially at scale, over time, and at the same time as observing behavior.
In this talk, Duncan will argue that the technological revolution of the Internet is beginning to lift this constraint. To illustrate, he will describe four examples of research that would have been extremely difficult, or even impossible, to perform just a decade ago:
Using email exchange to track social networks evolving in time Using a web-based experiment to study the collective consequences of social influence on decision making Using a social networking site to study the difference between perceived and actual homogeneity of attitudes among friends Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to study the incentives underlying ‘crowd sourcing’ Although internet-based research still faces serious methodological and procedural obstacles, Duncan proposes that the ability to study truly ‘social’ dynamics at individual-level resolution will have dramatic consequences for social science.
This inaugural lecture by Jonathan Zittrain proposes a theory about what lies around the corner for the Internet, how to avoid it, and how to study and affect the future of the internet using the distributed power of the network itself, using privacy as a signal example.
Jonathan Zittrain holds the Chair in Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University and is also the Jack N. & Lillian R. Berkman Visiting Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. His research interests include battles for control of digital property and content, cryptography, electronic privacy, the roles of intermediaries within Internet architecture, and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education.
Vint Cerf’s keynote at the plenary session "A Decade in Internet Time" to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Oxford Internet Institute.
When we try do social science on the Internet, it is vital to know what is solid and what is highly changeable. Outsiders and newcomers tend to be awed and misled by the illusions of ‘technology’ - which seem rock-solid and immutable, like a child’s view of home and religion.
But the ‘technologies’ of the computer world are extremely changeable, and give play to motivated assumptions and decisions. Like gasoline mixed with air, this an explosive mix. Fast-evolving software ideas, churned by human political agendas, power today’s wildly changing product and Internet world.
If software is successful, it steers the path that many users take, and selects among many possibilities to further the creator’s agenda.
Suppressing the other possibilities may also be part of the agenda.
[For the present purposes I propose a simple definition of politics: THE CLASH AND RECONCILIATION OF AGENDAS (which agendas in turn may be motivated by prestige, power, profit or ideology). This definition would seem to cover the range: electoral politics, office and palace intrigue, war (Clausewitz’ continuation of politics by other means), and now the steering of products and programs.]
We will glance at some examples of technology politics before 1950 (Brunel, Tesla, Armstrong, von Braun) and then at software politics among some two dozen individuals and companies in the computer and Internet world - the clash and resolution of their agendas (so far).
Software agendas generally play out through projects and products, some of which can change more drastically than others. The digital media conventions (called by laymen ‘ICTs’) are by far the most changeable - and thus political.
Theodor Holm Nelson invented the term "hypertext" in 1963 and published it in 1965, and is a pioneer of information technology. He also coined the words hypermedia, transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity and teledildonics. The main thrust of his work has been to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people. His motto is:
A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds.
Nelson is currently a visiting professor at Oxford University, and a philosopher who works in the fields of information, computers, and human-machine interfaces. He founded Project Xanadu in 1960 with the goal of creating such a system on a computer network, further documented in his 1974 book Computer Lib / Dream Machines and the 1981 Literary Machines. Much of his adult life has been devoted to working on Xanadu and advocating it.
The open-source world has learned to deal with a flood of new, oftentimes divergent, ideas using hosting services like GitHub — so why can’t governments? In this rousing talk Clay Shirky shows how democracies can take a lesson from the Internet, to be not just transparent but also to draw on the knowledge of all their citizens.
Clay Shirky argues that the history of the modern world could be rendered as the history of ways of arguing, where changes in media change what sort of arguments are possible — with deep social and political implications.
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The social shopping site Groupon appears ready to close a new financing round of $950 million dollars at a valuation of $4.75 billion. While the latter number may be surprising, it's the amount of money that Groupon's sucking in that shocked me. That's green tech or biotech-level money. What could a tech company need all that money for just a couple years after its founding? It's not like Groupon actually, you know, makes something and needs factories or anything.
P Morgan Brown has a good explanation of what's going on. Basically, they've decided to go right after all the small businesses (SMBs) of America. And to do that, they're going to need, as Matthew Ingram put it, "a massive local-sales army." As Brown points out, not even Google has attempted to build that kind of fighting force.
Read the full story at P Morgan Brown.
Groupon knows that without people pounding the pavement, pounding on doors and pounding the phone, they won't reach the mass of SMBs who are 1) not actively seeking out new advertising options online and 2) are hounded by traditional SMB advertising providers like the Yellow Pages, who don't ever let up on closing small business deals. And to put that organization in place is going to take a ton of cash. You need sales agents in each city, you need sales management, you need office space, you need call centers, you need fulfillment, billing and operations teams to handle that size of a customer base. And that takes a ton of money.
What Groupon is doing is something that no other tech company has done in recent memory--made a real run at securing a big chunk of the SMB market. Sure, new local-business-focused companies pop-up all the time. But most of them are either niche providers or they partner with the big existing yellow page providers to get access to their sales organization. They become a B2B channel provider leveraging the existing sales force because few can generate or raise the cash necessary to build a sales organization to go out and reach those SMBs directly.
Even mighty Google has taken this approach until now. They're either unwilling to, or culturally unable to, commit to the SMB market with a massive sales force.
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“A new study from Social Studies of Science… reveals that when men chair committees that select scientific awards recipients, males win the awards more than 95% of the time. This new study also reports that while in the past two decades women have begun to win more awards for their scientific achievements, compared to men, they win more service and teaching awards and fewer prestigious scholarly awards than would be expected based on their representation in the nomination pool.”
“Women’s scientific achievements often overlooked and undervalued”
This is a problem. The authors of the study don’t argue that there’s a sexist conspiracy to prevent the ascent of women, and I wouldn’t either. But the findings mean that we have to take into account the bias that undoubtedly exists in our society, and which scientists aren’t immune from.
1:01 pm |
May 12 2012
| 608 notes
Birth control shots may double risk of HIV
A birth control shot, popular in eastern and southern Africa, has been shown to double the risk of picking up HIV. The shot is convenient and effective, given once every three months and used by 12 million African women. It may, however, come with a sinister side effect. The shot also increases the risk that men will pick up HIV from their female partners if they are infected. The findings, if they hold up to scrutiny, spell trouble for public health officials in Africa, who must contend with both high HIV and pregnancy rates.
10:11 am |
October 5 2011
| 51 notes
A follow-up to my post about women in science
Earlier this week, I received a question about how to get more women involved in science. The responses were much larger than I expected, and overwhelmingly positive, and I’m very thankful for those that did respond.
I’d like to quickly highlight some of the best responses I received. Thanks to dhstjean, miranatee, andromedalogic, vegetablestew, liointrouble, etherealcure, ladyenterprise, and indigocrayon for your insights, stories, and advice. Jdbtr passed along this excellent article from HuffPo, and fitzkillabitch suggested this great comic from XKCD. Drakonlily wrote an entire Wordpress entry entitled ‘LadyScience’. Finally, my IRL friend Lily passed along some great advice: while it’s good to highlight the accomplishments of women scientists, it’s important not to make a distinction between ‘scientist’ and ‘woman scientist.’
There are also those that, while I believe they meant to respond positively, said something along the lines of “if it’s what you really love, you’ll pursue it anyway.” I just want to note that the entire reason anon originally wrote in was because of a niece who gave up on science because she was told it wasn’t for her. We shouldn’t underestimate the power of our surroundings and our socialization to shape our psyche, as Simon pointed out.
Thanks again to everyone that gave their input.
7:39 pm |
July 30 2011
| 48 notes
As women get more education, childhood mortality declines
Health researchers have found that, across the world, women’s education and declining child mortality rates correlate strongly. Education accounts for a massive 51% of global reduced mortality, according to the study.
10:15 am |
June 22 2011
| 265 notes
Crap Psychologist May Lose Job Over Racist Article
First Lawrence Summers, now Satoshi Kanazawa? This is absurd. There is nothing that is outside the boundaries of legitimate academic discourse except bad science and non-science. Nothing. If a scientist were to show, in a legitimate study, that a certain group is somehow inferior in some way, that scientist could not legitimately be fired, no matter how many people got their little feelings hurt because of it. Scientific inquiry takes precedence over anyone’s self-esteem.
The one objection I’ve heard to Kanazawa’s study, besides the misreading of conjectures as conclusions and the aforementioned bawling about hurt feelings, is that black women are only considered unattractive because whites somehow ‘control’ standards of beauty. Well, let’s look at some data on that: (this obviously isn’t strictly representative, but it’s the best that I can do with what I know is available; anyone know of better data?)
Most races on the chart have reply rates around 42, meaning that men respond to their messages around 42% of the time on average. Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander women have reply rates a few percentage points higher than 42; if whites control the standards of beauty, one would expect white women to get the highest reply rate. Also, Hispanics have essentially the same reply rate as whites, going against the hypothesis that beauty is related to the perceived status of a race. The only race on the chart with a reply rate below 42 is black, as Kanazawa predicted, and they almost universally have the lowest reply rate.
There are a whole host of criticisms of Kanazawa that show he is a shoddy, dishonest, and incompetent academic - aside from the fact that he’s a contemptible human being. To respond to the data Kanazawa used - just because a metric has a number attached to it does not mean that it is objective or reproducible in any way. Considering that beauty is entirely socialized, I would suspect it would be nearly impossible to reproduce Kanazawa’s results. The fact is that Kanazawa’s findings are both offensive and unscientific and have no place in scientific discourse.
3:31 am |
May 23 2011
| 10 notes
Science and Feminism
sometimes feminists really irritate me. of course i embrace the overall belief that everyone should be equal regardless of sex/gender/orientation/lifestyle. but just like, the overall attitude of feminists is really snarky and annoying and they think they can just ignore science. you can’t ignore science. i think all the feminists would be a lot better off if they took a course in evolutionary biology.
Feminists who studied evolutionary biology would, of course, learn about the complete arbitrariness of genders, dominance, and hierarchy in nature.
1:30 pm |
March 4 2011
| 9 notes
‘Feminine’ science catches girls’ interest
Girls showed considerably more interest in topics such as “how a laser is used in cosmetic surgery” and “how to calculate the probability of a miscarriage” than in topics such as “how to calculate the force a rocket needs to take off” and “how to calculate the probability of a car accident.” One of the authors, Dr. Sylvie Kerger, said that girls were more interested in social and real contexts such as the decline of forests whereas boys clearly found mechanics and technology more compelling.
MEMO TO ALL: This is not good science.
9:39 pm |
March 3 2011
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A couple of months ago I discovered kombucha. I thought it tasty, a pleasant alternative to juice on occasion. In talking to a friend of mine, Christy, I found out that kombucha may actually be good for me. Excellent! This sent me on a researching frenzy.
Here’s a little about kombucha:
Where it actually originated is a mystery. No one knows. However, it is known to have been used in China, Japan, and Russia for centuries. It’s been used for medicinal purposes. It’s said to be able to help cleanse the body, benefit the digestive system, aid in curing cancer, regulate the digestive system, and many other things.
What kombucha is: a fermented tea. It is very basically, alive bacteria and yeasts – thus a probiotic. I know it sounds gross, but it’s true. The kombucha scoby, short for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast, is a colony of bacteria and yeasts. It is brewed in a cooled tea with sugar. The tea provides the base for the growth, and the sugar the food. It’s tastes varies depending on the type of tea used to brew.
In researching the health benefits of kombucha tea, I’ve found mixed results. I’ve found the Mayo Clinic and Skepticblog mentioning that there are no trials done on humans, showing any positive results.They simply have not been done, or as I sometimes wonder, properly publicized. Both sites, among others, recommend caution, as with brewing anything, if you get contamination, you might grow something that will make you sick. These are very valid concerns.
On the other hand, I have found sites recommending it, along with other fermented food things such as kefir. Seeds of Health, a UK site, gives a good general description of many other these types of things. This and other sites, mention that it has been used in China and Japan for centuries. That these cultures viewed it as beneficial.
There are also stories of people drinking kombucha everyday when they were sick with an illness and after a while they were cured. The most famous of these stories is of the founder of GT Kombucha. Basically, his mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, ended up drinking kombucha and the growth slowed. Unless I remember the story incorrectly, she’s still alive and that all too place in 1995.
I will not take away from those whom believe in this drink, having real life experience with them, perhaps centering around almost, but not loosing their lives. It’s a very, very emotional experience, one that should be respected and not ridiculed.
I say why the hell not? It makes sense to me that fermented kombucha tea would be beneficial like kefir and yogurt. It is alive after all. Everything that I’ve been reading is the more alive your food is, the better it is for you and the healthier you will be. There is also something to be said about something that Eastern Cultures have been using for centuries if not millenia. They get it right often enough for me to believe them, and not the Western Culture’s idea. Plus it seems that kombucha is packed full of vitamins and minerals, organic acids (organic meaning real, not USDA organic) and other micro-nutrients such as polyphenols. Some of the nutrients found in kombucha tea are vitamin C, some B vitamins, acetic acid, and glucuronic acid. These vitamins and mineral don’t magically appear once the kombucha is done fermenting. From what I’ve read, it’s the tea you use to make the “base”, that contains most of the nutrients. Why not drink plain tea? Well, let’s not forget about the scoby, mushroom, mother, baby, whatever you want to call it. That is the live part, the part that should benefit your intestinal flora, which due to the way we eat, or have eaten throughout our lives, is probably lacking in vitality. Combining the tea’s nutrients with the scoby’s life seems like a wonderful, symbiotic idea.
Some things to consider:
Both sides will caution against contamination. The “anti-kombucha” side or skeptical side, will say it is probably safer to buy prebottleg stuff from the store rather than brew your own. The “pro-kombucha” side will say “wash your hands”, “through out if there is mold growing in it” etc. I’ll reiterate, wash your hands, make sure all appliances are properly washed and rinse with vinegar before using. Use a fresh towel to dry your hands as needed, not a two day old one. Cover with a CLEAN towel, secure with a CLEAN tie of some sort. Don’t sneeze in it. Don’t drop food in it. Don’t use things that aren’t dried properly. Don’t stick your fingers in it if you haven’t washed them. It should smell like fermenting stuff, slightly sweet and vinegar like. It shouldn’t smell like the trash, or like something is rotting horribly. Keep it in a place that is protected from constant daily things, like in a cupboard with a door. Be logical and smart about it. You are dealing with bacteria and yeasts. But, in my opinion, it is perfectly safe, as long as you follow the precautions.
Another consideration is since this will contain bacteria and yeast, someone whom is severely immuno-compromised should consult their doctor, preferable a naturopathic doctor to make sure its a good idea, or at least safe. Someone whom has a yeast/candida problem should also check with their doc and watch themselves very closely.
Either way, do your research, then make an educated decision. And stay tuned. I decided to learn to brew my own kombucha! A post with some pictures and directions shall follow in the next couple of weeks! | <urn:uuid:8a52378f-1634-4373-9485-2341c919a12b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellinghamhippie.com/recipes/kombucha-live-fermented-tea/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959038 | 1,287 | 2.09375 | 2 |
A team of EU-funded researchers has developed a robotic companion and intelligent home environment that could help elderly people live richer and more independent lives and reduce the burden placed on healthcare services.
People are living much longer into old age, and the need for care and medical assistance for elderly populations is growing rapidly. Ideally, elderly people should be able to live happily and independently at home, but medical complications and conditions such as depression and dementia can make this extremely difficult.
'Without support, assistance and cognitive stimulation, sufferers from elderly dementia and depression can deteriorate rapidly; in these circumstances their carers, for instance their spouses or children, face a more demanding task; the elderly and their carers both face an increased risk of social exclusion,' explains Professor Atta Badii of the University of Reading, UK.
To address these challenges, European researchers are developing intelligent home-help systems and robot assistants which support elderly people to live well and look after themselves. Happier, healthier and more active elderly populations can ease the burden of care on family, friends and health authorities.
A robot companion
Prof. Badii, is the coordinator of the FP7 project, 'Integrated Cognitive Assistive and Domotic Companion Robotic Systems for Ability & Security' ( CompanionAble), which has created a robotic companion called 'Hector'. Hector can move around a house on its own and respond to commands such as 'follow me' or 'go to the kitchen'. He can help users socialise and provide cognitive stimulation in their daily lives. Users interact with Hector directly through voice commands and a large touch screen.
Hector functions autonomously, or as part of a larger-scale intelligent-home system designed to support independent living for elderly people. By controlling smart systems around the house, Hector is able to open and close curtains and windows, turn lights on and off, or regulate the central heating.
Here, Hector bridges the gap between new smart environments that are sometimes difficult to use and elderly people who may not be experienced or able to interact with such systems with ease. As a companion, Hector acts as an intermediary; he makes these systems accessible through more natural interactions.
'Hector can, for example, help his human companion get ready to leave the house,' says Prof. Badii. 'He approaches his owner and reminds him not to forget to take certain items such as a purse. He can also detect any open windows or doors, or appliances that have been left on, and remind his human companion to deal with these issues before he leaves the house.'
The multi-talented Hector also helps his companion to socialise through an easy-to-use video-telephone interface; he can automatically connect the user to family, professional carers or trusted associates. If he or other smart systems detect abnormal or alarming situations, for example if the user has a fall, Hector will dial up a 'Remote response centre' which will then handle the emergency.
Smart home integration for enhanced care
Hector's integration into smart home systems and remote care and control centres can be adapted to new environments relatively easily, Prof. Badii stresses. 'We can extend Hector's capabilities in a modular fashion, making him a "plug-and-perform" companion robot; he can be effective in a large variety of home settings to support assisted independent living.'
The care support offered by CompanionAble includes monitoring vital physiological signs and more subtle factors such as moods, as well as diary management, video telephony and reminders to ensure users take the right medicine on time.
The project has installed CompanionAble systems in a number of demonstration homes, which are used to test and improve the wide spectrum of functionalities developed by the project partners through long-term studies with real elderly care recipients. The high reliability and low maintenance costs that these studies have demonstrated open the way for the commercialisation of the smart technologies developed by the CompanionAble project.
The project team comprises 19 specialist partners who are currently presenting the results of the project, and the elegant integration of Hector with smart home facilities, at a wide range of dedicated sites and public events. Final trials and demonstrations are underway in Belgium, Spain, France and the Netherlands.
The four-year CompanionAble integrated project received EUR 7.8 million (of a total of EUR 10.72 million project budget) in research funding under the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) 'Information and communication technologies' (ICT) theme.
- 'Integrated Cognitive Assistive and Domotic Companion Robotic Systems for Ability & Security’ website
- CompanionAble project factsheet on CORDIS
- Project CompanionAble - Concepts 2011
- Project CompanionAble - Concepts
- CompanionAble robot searching for user in apartment
- Companionable robot searching for people lounging on couch or chair
- Companionable robot during navigation tests
Related Articles: - Feature Stories - Independent ageing: support from interdependent ICT
- Feature Stories - Safer, more active and independent: the proven benefits of ‘Ambient assisted-living' technology
- Feature Stories - An open market of assisted living apps for older people
- Feature Stories - Ambient technology for older people, designed by older people
Country: UNITED KINGDOM
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Four decades later, good old James is still going strong, it's Ozzy and Sharon on TV, and it's anything but a man's world. Women account for 57 percent of all college degrees and have entered the workforce in numbers equal to men. To say the world has changed is a gross understatement, but the marketing still looks like it was created in 1966.
Women are the dominant economic force in America today, accounting for 80 percent of all purchases including such previously male-dominated areas such as small pickup trucks, riding lawn tractors and 68 percent of all new cars. More importantly they are involved in 93 percent of all carpet-cleaning decisions.
Anyone over the age of five realizes that men and women are very different. Women have heightened senses and are extremely detail oriented. They focus on their family's needs over their own. They always ask for advice from friends or experts before making a purchase. Following a pleasant buying experience they are very loyal and will tell two to three times as many people as a man about their findings. Technical facts and figures mean little to them.
The best-selling book series "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" by John Gray explores these gender differences. Men speak Martian, while 93 percent of our clients - women - speak Venutian. This is most obvious in ads that focus on the truck or the method. The testosterone-driven ads that focus on heat, psi and inches of Hg are very popular, as well as ad copy that states that their chosen method is the only one that works. Chest thumping statements about being No. 1 or being the best are redundant. All advertising needs to answer one question from the customer's perspective: "Why you, what's in it for me?" If Clara Peller of Wendy's fame were to return, she would be asking, "Where's the benefit?"
Buying decisions are right-brained triggered, meaning they are based on emotion. Ninety percent of these actions are unconscious choices. This is why emotion-based marketing is more successful and profitable than fact-based marketing. Pictures of babies, puppies, kittens or a beautiful room will get more attention to a van picture. Stock photos are not recommended. Personal pictures or ones that trigger emotions are definitely suggested.
Open up the Yellow Pages in any city and review the cleaning section. The ads are repetitive and have little differentiation. The most glaring mistakes include: headline is the name of the company or repeats the category such as carpet cleaning; ad lists features with no benefits; copy is boring or too technical; no guarantee; and no website. Play the cross out game with your ad. Compare your ad to the others in the phone book. Cross out anything in your ad that is in a competitor's ad. What remains is your point of differentiation.
This leads to the big question that you need to answer before you design any advertising. What is your unique service proposition, or USP? You can figure it out by answering these questions:
Once you have established your USP, you are ready to plan your marketing strategy. Which media will reach your target audience - women - most effectively, and within your budget? The phone book reps will unfortunately sell ads to your competition. You can't guarantee placement and you can't change your ad for at least a year. And unless you have recently inherited a small fortune, the cost may be prohibitive for a small company. Coupon books will attract price shoppers. Face-to-face selling is effective, but very time consuming.
Direct mail can be cost effective if you have created the right piece with a compelling message and it is directed to a select market. One benefit of direct mail is you can quickly test a piece and get immediate feedback. If the message or the market is wrong, or you are not tracking correctly, you might as well throw your money down the sewer.
Women spend 40 percent more time researching a service than men. They love information and love to learn at their convenience. The Internet is the perfect place for them to compare services and products and is one of the reasons why more women than men use the Internet. A good Web site will provide all of the information that can't be found in a printed piece. Include pictures, testimonials, spotting charts, scheduling features and Flash media that can demonstrate your processes and services. Remember, your home page is an online welcome that invites people into your living room, so make it comfortable and friendly.
The Web designer should understand your market and not be obsessed with adding all the "cool" stuff. In other words, the guy with the purple hair skateboarding to work, although talented, may not be the best choice to write copy aimed at a 45-year-old woman.
Customer retention is the most important consideration in a good marketing program. An established company should spend the majority of its marketing budget on existing clients. 3M Corporation surveyed over a thousand employees asking how they chose a carpet cleaning company. Forty-eight percent of them cited "by referral." Keep your name in front of these clients so they can readily name your company when someone asks. Keeping top-of-the-mind awareness is hard when people are exposed to over 3,000 advertising messages a day.
Newsletters can be personalized as well as targeted to your select audience - women over 35. Write general-interest articles for this audience, not carpet-cleaning articles. Use coupons to track and reward referrals. Send the newsletter monthly and your name will always be within 30 days of a buying decision.
Free bottles of spotter with your company information on the label can be inexpensive reminders of your great service. When the consumer removes a spot and creates a clean spot in the middle of a dingy traffic area, she will realize it is time for an overall cleaning. Your name is on the bottle in her hand. With newsletters and spotters there is no reason for your customer to search for your company information in the phone book.
Whatever media you choose, make sure that several women review the ad. Try to use women who are not connected to your business to be sure your copy is not too technical or confusing. Start writing and rewriting ten headlines everyday. Once you have the headline, write the copy. Tell a story. If your first try doesn't light up the scoreboard, change one item or maybe just a word or two and test again. Few things in your business can improve your profitability as much as the ability to write a great ad. | <urn:uuid:d278bbe6-20b6-49ff-bf6f-e481bbf4ab8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icsmag.com/articles/print/the-world-has-changed-has-your-marketing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963339 | 1,321 | 1.726563 | 2 |
ASIC is Australia’s corporate, markets and financial services regulator.
We contribute to Australia’s economic reputation and wellbeing by ensuring that Australia’s financial markets are fair and transparent, supported by confident and informed investors and consumers.
We are an independent Commonwealth Government body. We are set up under and administer the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act (ASIC Act), and we carry out most of our work under the Corporations Act.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 requires us to:
maintain, facilitate and improve the performance of the financial system and entities in it
promote confident and informed participation by investors and consumers in the financial system
administer the law effectively and with minimal procedural requirements
enforce and give effect to the law
receive, process and store, efficiently and quickly, information that is given to us
make information about companies and other bodies available to the public as soon as practicable.
ASIC currently comes under the portfolio responsibilities of the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon Bernie Ripoll MP.
We regulate Australian companies, financial markets, financial services organisations and professionals who deal and advise in investments, superannuation, insurance, deposit taking and credit.
As the consumer credit regulator, we license and regulate people and businesses engaging in consumer credit activities (including banks, credit unions, finance companies, and mortgage and finance brokers). We ensure that licensees meet the standards - including their responsibilities to consumers - that are set out in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.
As the markets regulator, we assess how effectively authorised financial markets are complying with their legal obligations to operate fair, orderly and transparent markets. We also advise the Minister about authorising new markets. On 1 August 2010, we assumed responsibility for the supervision of trading on Australia’s domestic licensed equity, derivatives and futures markets.
As the financial services regulator, we license and monitor financial services businesses to ensure that they operate efficiently, honestly and fairly. These businesses typically deal in superannuation,managed funds, shares and company securities,derivatives, and insurance.
The laws we administer give us the facilitative, regulatory and enforcement powers necessary for us to perform our role. These include the power to:
register companies and managed investment schemes
grant Australian financial services licences and Australian credit licences
register auditors and liquidators
grant relief from various provisions of the legislation which we administer
maintain publicly accessible registers of information about companies, financial services licensees and credit licensees
make rules aimed at ensuring the integrity of financial markets
stop the issue of financial products under defective disclosure documents
investigate suspected breaches of the law and in so doing require people to produce books or answer questions at an examination
issue infringement notices in relation to alleged breaches of some laws
ban people from engaging in credit activities or providing financial services
seek civil penalties from the courts
commence prosecutions - these are generally conducted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, although there are some categories of matters which we prosecute ourselves.
Protecting consumers and investors
We have powers to protect consumers against misleading or deceptive and unconscionable conduct affecting all financial products and services, including credit. | <urn:uuid:5bdc7982-613d-4d8b-a262-b22bbe11ff2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asc.gov.au/asic/ASIC.NSF/byHeadline/Our%20role | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937016 | 652 | 1.679688 | 2 |
- At Home
Do your relatives want to hug, kiss and touch your kids...but your kids sometimes don’t want to? What do you do? Do you force your children to hug Uncle Joe or Nana Betty so as not to insult the adult? If so this is the message you are sending your child:
“The wants and feelings of the adults are more important than your wants and feelings. I, the adult, can tell you what to do with your body.”
This message is subliminal - you have sent the message to the child that even though you might not be comfortable, or perhaps not in the mood to give a hug, you have to because I have said that you need to. This makes a child feel powerless instead of feeling powerful and in control of how they “share” their bodies with others. We know parents don’t intentionally want to send that message but we do it all the time - check out this scene: (shown in picture from our children’s book)
Uncle Joe comes to visit and says to his niece, “Come give your Uncle a hug.” She says, “No thanks.” She then instead offers a high 5, knuckle bump, or a premade card, she is polite and assertive, and can even say, “It’s great to see you”. But she gets to decide if she wants to hug, kiss or touch Uncle Joe because YOU the parent have sat down with her and explained that her body belongs to her and she is in charge of who touches her and who she DECIDES to touch. You have just empowered her! You have just taught her about personal boundaries. Imagine having this ongoing conversation from age 3 - this skill you have taught your child will be a gift for his/her lifetime.
Why? Children who have a strong sense of self, and have been empowered with personal safety education will not be as vulnerable to a predator in their midst. Giving a child the opportunity to REHEARSE this subliminal yet empowering experience, and to choose when and with whom to share their physical affections with their parents support, sends a strong and important lifelong message to the child. Parents need to tell their children, “You do not have to be blindly obedient just because an adult tells you to do something.”
A child who feels empowered about their body boundaries will become a “hard” target for someone wanting to harm him or her! A gift all parents should give their children. Our new children’s book, "My Body is Special and Belongs to ME!" empowers children. The beautiful illustrations were done by a 15-year-old artist, the daughter of two police officers. The message the book has to offer uses fun not fear, to teach children that their bodies are special and belong only to them. We also added an extensive parent section so you can feel comfortable continuing the learning. To get your book now and give the gift for a lifetime: www.kidsafefoundation.org/products
All the proceeds from our book go directly to our 501c3 nonprofit to bring prevention education programs and materials to children, parents and teachers. | <urn:uuid:782ad5cb-7122-4175-a3a1-b11c7f1e0b94> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.modernmom.com/blogs/kidsafe-foundation-sally-cherie/empowering-your-children | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967453 | 666 | 2.34375 | 2 |
States lurch toward health care reform
States are moving toward health care reform but not without significant challenges. Nearly every aspect of federal health care reform legislation has been politicized and yet federal deadlines loom large.
Federal health care reform legislation created new and significant requirements for states to comply with leading many states to launch court challenges claiming overreach and unconstitutionality. They have had enough success that the Supreme Court is expected to issue a final ruling later this year.
However, in the interim the deadlines remain and states – even those that aren’t opposed to the measure are running out of time. Vermont and New Jersey are the two latest states to take up debate on whether to institute state run health insurance exchanges.
Health officials in New Jersey are applying for funds even as debate continues in the legislature in order to make sure they meet a fast approaching set of deadlines. The federal government is offering states funding assistance to set up their own exchanges. However, the application deadline for those funds this year. States then only have until 2013 to use those funds and build the exchange. Funds that aren’t used by the 2013 deadline will be revoked and exchanges that aren’t online by the 2014 deadline will be federally administered.
This timeline doesn’t provide states with the luxury of time that politicization requires. States waiting for the late year court ruling may find themselves boxed out of funding support ushering in a new level of federal control.
In Vermont the legislature will take up debate over their exchange today with the goal of implementing a statewide single payer health care system which local republicans actively oppose. They are expected to offer amendments making participation in the exchange voluntary rather than mandatory as required by federal law.
The federal government just approved hundreds of millions of loan funds to states for the creation of non-profit cooperatives another key component of health care reform legislation. Proposals were approved in Nebraska, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, New Mexico, Montana and the city of Milwaukee. With still more in the pipeline.
These cooperatives are designed as a cost control by allowing them to provide lower cost alternative coverage on the exchanges. However, private insurers like WellPoint are making an end run around that by setting up private exchanges designed to compete with state and federal exchanges. Some Governors are supporting this like Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania who is attempting to advance a multi-exchange model in his state legislature.
Overall the mixed messages coming from statehouses are setting up risks if the courts side with the federal government are paving the way for increased consumer burdens. In California, insurers are planning an 8-14% rate hike, an increase which out paces the current costs of medical care. Insurers claim that these increases are necessary to offset health care cost inflation, but also follow a growing tend of premium increases ahead of limits imposed when health care reform comes fully online in 2014.
“Consumers should be outraged that premiums continue to grow faster than underlying costs,” said Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research said in the Los Angeles Times. “There’s help on the horizon for millions of Californians from health reform, but things may get worse before they get better.”
A point that seems to be true for the nation. | <urn:uuid:057678f8-a37e-4479-a81e-b3d660298279> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://civsourceonline.com/2012/02/23/states-lurch-toward-health-care-reform/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960653 | 670 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Pha That Luang (Great Stupa in Lao) is the most significant religious and national monument in Laos. Situated on a hill five km north of Vientiane it was built in the 16th century on the ruins of an earlier 13th century Khmer temple. Initially covered in gold leaf, Pha That Luang was destroyed by the Siamese invasion in 1828, then later reconstructed by the French in 1930. The temple has become a symbol of Lao nationalism. Pha That Luang consists of three levels, each conveying a reflection of part of the Buddhist belief.
The image LA26694 ("06 Monument of King Saya Setthathirath") has been added to your selection. Click on 'Lightbox' to view the content of the selection. | <urn:uuid:496fb35e-d13b-4913-a298-182ea13c59d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.molon.de/galleries/Laos/Vientiane/PhaThatLuang/?add=LA26694 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966049 | 163 | 3.046875 | 3 |
10. What are the advantages of writing an experience into a story? If you’re a writer that’s simply what you do, it’s the juice of your writing, your own experience even if covered up with the veils and masks of fiction.
But for those of you who are not looking to be published, but want to write to express yourselves, it’s emotionally satisfying, healthy actually, to write out an experience, especially a traumatic one.
Dr. James W. Pennebaker wrote a wonderful book about this called Opening Up. He had tested the immune systems of two groups of his students who wrote twenty minutes a day for four consecutive days – one group wrote about superficial subjects, the other group wrote about an extremely stressful event in their life. Blood samples of the students were taken before writing, after the last session, and six weeks later. Dr. Pennebaker found that the students who wrote about painful, traumatic events showed heightened immune function and also paid fewer visits to the university’s health center in the following weeks. There was another study on writing reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association - people suffering asthma and rheumatoid arthritis who wrote about traumatic events showed clinically relevant changes in their health compared to a control group.
I conduct a writing workshop at the Wellness Community www.wellnessandcancer.org) a place for people who have cancer, or who are close to someone who has cancer, and I’ve found over the years that writing out their stories is cathartic – especially when they read what they’ve written aloud. There’s such identification and connection. It’s different than talk therapy. And amazingly, more laughter than tears. I certainly don’t believe writing can cure cancer but it sure can make the journey through it easier.
The Wellness Community workshop inspired my last book, Writing Out the Storm: Reading and Writing Your Way Through Serious Illness or Injury. I’d intended for the book to be just about the workshop, what everybody wrote and the poems and bits of memoir that I’d found to inspire them. But I couldn’t get the book to jell. Finally I realized I had to include my own story of having breast cancer because that’s part of what I’d talk about in the workshop and it would give a narrative to the book. I didn’t really want to go back to that scary corner of my life, but once I started writing I was amazed to discover how I was letting go of the experience by going back into it in a deep and honest way. (The paradox of writing about trauma.) I also found some humor in it.
11. What specific courage does a writer need? The courage to be honest. To not fudge the truth because you’re worried what people will think. And again, the courage to keep going even with negative criticism and rejection of your work.
12. Do you think the amount of courage required to write a memoir is also necessary to write a novel? It probably differs for everybody. I personally find writing memoir or personal essays easier and require less courage because the story is basically there and I pretty much know the boundaries to what I’ll reveal (i.e. I won’t write really personal stories about my kids, stepkids or grandchildren that could embarrass them in any way.) Everything else in my life is up for grabs.
But writing a novel – I don’t think any kind of writing is harder and requires more courage. You live in a parallel universe, sometimes for years, when you write a novel. You have no idea if it’ll sell. You’re just sitting at your computer day after day in your bedroom slippers hoping someone will want to read about these people and stories you’re making up.
13. What is the most common mistake that aspiring memoirists make, and how would you suggest they guard against it? Worrying about what other people will think. You just can’t focus on your mother’s reaction or what your spouse will think while you’re trying to write the truth. Let it rip – you can always go back and rewrite or change names.
14. As a rule, are memoirs more or less ‘truthful’ than biographies? This question has stumped me ever since I first read it. It’s a whole philosophical discussion of what’s truth - perceived or objective reality? The subject of a whole essay. Would anyone like to venture an opinion on this one?
15. How is it that one small book (Courage & Craft) can address the process of writing both fiction and non-fiction? The process of getting started writing is the same for both non-fiction and fiction.
16. What are the 5 characteristic of well-crafted creative writing? I could write a number of versions of this. But I’ll go with my current thoughts.
One – Clarity: It doesn’t confuse people. (This sounds so obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of writers who think they have to be clever or coy or literary which just leaves the reader in the dark.)
Two – Form: It has a beginning, a middle and an ending. The beginning draws readers in and the ending is satisfying. This holds true for fiction, memoir, personal essays, autobiographies, and stories for kids. Occasionally a writer who’s a genius ignores this, but most of us aren’t geniuses and can’t ignore it.
Three – Emotion: It’s emotionally charged and the reader cares what happens to the protagonist. We either cry or laugh or are scared or feel something.
Four– Meaning and connection: It’s about people or situations the reader can connect to. Either a story we enter into with the author for entertainment, or a subject or emotion that we too are dealing with or want to learn about, or can find humor in. It is not a story about the author gazing at his or her belly button. In some way the writing connects to the rest of the world.
Five - Language. The author cares deeply about words and their power. No overblown adjectives or adverbs (and only those absolutely necessary for information.) No flabby cliches. The author loves language and hones and rewrites every sentence. The author has read The Elements of Style.
Please hit the Comment button if you have any thoughts or alternate answers to any of these questions. | <urn:uuid:ff21823e-345f-4dae-aa8e-89f2abd8827c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://writingtime.typepad.com/writing_time/2007/09/5-characteristi.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958157 | 1,368 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Most people now recognize the dangers of unprotected exposure to the sun. Sun exposure is the primary cause of skin aging. That’s why smart people wear a sunscreen when they step outside. What fewer people realize is what you put into your body is also important for protecting your skin against environmental damage. Heliocare oral antioxidant supplements provide a deeper layer of protection against ultraviolet light and environmental pollutants by giving cells internal antioxidant support. When used in combination with a sunscreen, they provide extra layer of protection that’s deeper than skin deep. No topical sunscreen offers perfect protection against the sun’s damaging rays.
Sunscreens rub off, and it’s easy to not apply enough or forget to put one on. Heliocare insures that your skin is protected for those times when a topical sunscreen falls short. The secret? An extract from a South American fern called Polypodium leucotomos, a powerful source of skin-protective antioxidants that promote cell health. After serving the medical and pharmaceutical industry for over 100 years, Heliocare is proud to offer their line of antioxidant supplements to keep your cells fit and healthy.
Additional Heliocare Information
After decades of enjoying the outdoors and basking in the sun, most people now understand the dangers of too much UV exposure. The sun is actually the primary cause of prematurely aged skin and can lead to a breakdown of collagen, dryness, uneven skin texture and other issues. Sunscreen is always recommended by physicians and skin care experts alike. Protection should be used every day, year round to ensure healthy and beautiful skin throughout the years. If you are diligent about using a topical sunscreen, you are off to a great start. But what if there were an additional step you could take to boost your skin’s defense against sun damage?
Heliocare is a unique supplement that can be used in conjunction with your regular sunscreen products in order to give you additional protection against sun damage. Heliocare ingredients contain protective properties which increase the skin’s ability to resist sun damage. Taking Heliocare pills every day can give you a leg up on UV exposure and allow your own cells to protect themselves.
Introduce Heliocare capsules into your daily routine as a supplement and along with your topical sunscreen, you can rest assured that you are doing everything in your power to protect your skin against the damaging UV rays. Of course, limiting your exposure is always optimal but avoiding the sun is not always possible or realistic. When you do head outdoors, make sure you are fully protected.
The primary ingredient in Heliocare is Fernblock which shields the skin structure from damage and boosts the skin’s natural defense system. This is an ingredient which neutralizes damaging free radicals that form with environmental exposure. Heliocare can also help your skin repair itself following excessive sun exposure so not only does it protect your skin, it also helps it heal faster and minimize some of the past damage you may have experienced. | <urn:uuid:f25d4b84-1b65-4854-87be-0a84387fb8ea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.skinstore.com/heliocare.aspx?avs=Brand%7CHeliocare&as=Special+(Descending)&vb=List&c=True | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929724 | 615 | 2.34375 | 2 |
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The 2008 U.S. report on International Religious Freedom has criticized the Egyptian government for restricting the practice of religious freedoms.
The author divides the 2008 U.S. Religious Freedom Report into five categories. [to read the report in full see: www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2008/]I: Authoritarian regimes controlling religious thought by using terrorism as a pretext to suppress peaceful religious practices.II: Persecution of minorities and religious groups.III: Failure to fight intolerance against religious groups.IV: Governments enacting laws or taking action that benefits only the religion of the majority.V: Not recognizing other religions and banning their believers from declaring their creeds.He says the black list of the report included Burma, China, Eritrea, North Korea and Iran, while Saudi Arabia began to show some improvement.As for Egypt, the author says the report criticized the government for restricting religious practices despite some positive steps in this regard, and accused it of failing to alleviate the discriminatory laws and practices against Christians, and of a slow police response to some incidents of sectarian strife.The report said the government does not follow Article 46 of the Constitution on freedom of belief and religious practice, as it does not recognize the conversion of Muslims to any other religion. It said those converts were arrested on the basis of some judicial rulings, such as the ruling in January 2008 by the Administrative Court that said freedom of conversion between religions does not apply to Muslims, and the ruling that constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion do not apply to Bahā’īs, who are still subject to law No. 263 of 1960 that bans their activities. With regard to the Personal Status Law, it only recognizes the three monotheistic religions, except in cases of conflict between a Christian woman and a Muslim man, where Sharī‘ah would be applied.The report said the government bans the Muslim Brotherhood group, which is engaged in charitable and political activity, and arrested its members on charges of belonging to a banned organization.It said the government gave the Azhār powers to confiscate intellectual and artistic works that it would deem non-compliant with Sharī‘ah, and that it discriminated between Muslims and Christians in public sector employment. It also mentioned some sectarian clashes, such as the incidents at Abū Fānā Monastery and in the village of Armant. | <urn:uuid:773d4a21-5316-46c1-b012-8f405b264ccb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arabwestreport.info/year-2008/week-40/7-government-failed-alleviate-discriminatory-laws-and-practices-against-christians | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957213 | 493 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Wagner : Die Meistersinger von NurenbergBayreuth, Bayreuth, 1951 (Audio)
Director: Herbert von Karajan
Archivos para descarga:
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21, 1868. The conductor at the premiere was Hans von Bülow.
The story takes place in Nuremberg during the middle of the 16th century. At the time, Nuremberg was an Imperial Free City, and one of the centers of the Renaissance in Northern Europe. The story revolves around the real-life guild of Meistersinger (Master Singers), an association of amateur poets and musicians, mostly from the middle class and often master craftsmen in their main professions. The Mastersingers developed a craftsmanlike approach to music-making, with an intricate system of rules for composing and performing songs. The work draws much of its charm from its faithful depiction of the Nuremberg of the era and the traditions of the Mastersinger guild. One of the main characters, the cobbler-poet Hans Sachs, is based on an actual historical figure: Hans Sachs (1494–1576), the most famous of the historical Mastersingers.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg occupies a unique place in Wagner's oeuvre. It is the only comedy among his mature operas (he having come to reject his early Das Liebesverbot), and is his only opera centered on a historically well-defined time and place rather than a mythical or legendary setting. It is the only mature Wagner opera to be based on an entirely original story, devised by Wagner himself. It is also the only one of Wagner's mature operas in which there are no supernatural or magical powers or events. It incorporates many of the operatic conventions that Wagner had railed against in his essays on the theory of opera: rhymed verse, arias, choruses, a quintet, and even a ballet. Die Meistersinger is, like Orfeo, Capriccio, and Wagner's own earlier Tannhäuser, a musical composition in which the composition of music is a pivotal part of the story.
Wagner's autobiography Mein Leben described the genesis of Die Meistersinger. Taking the waters at Marienbad in 1845 he began reading Georg Gottfried Gervinus’ History of German Literature. This work included chapters on Mastersong and on Hans Sachs.
"I had formed a particularly vivid picture of Hans Sachs and the mastersingers of Nuremberg. I was especially intrigued by the institution of the Marker and his function in rating master-songs....I conceived during a walk a comic scene in which the popular artisan-poet, by hammering upon his cobbler's last, gives the Marker, who is obliged by circumstances to sing in his presence, his come-uppance for previous pedantic misdeeds during official singing contests, by inflicting upon him a lesson of his own."
Gervinus book also mentions a poem by the real-life Hans Sachs on the subject of Protestant reformer Martin Luther, called "Die Wittembergisch Nachtigall" ("The Wittemberg Nightingale"). The opening lines for this poem, addressing the Reformation, were later used by Wagner in Act 3 when the crowd acclaims Sachs: "Wacht auf, es nahet gen den Tag; ich hör' singen im grünen Hag ein wonnigliche Nachtigall."
In addition to this, Wagner added a scene drawn from his own life, in which a case of mistaken identity led to a near-riot: this was to be the basis for the finale of Act 2.
"Out of this situation evolved an uproar, which through the shouting and clamour and an inexplicable growth in the number of participants in the struggle soon assumed a truly demoniacal character. It looked to me as if the whole town would break out into a riot...Then suddenly I heard a heavy thump, and as if by magic the whole crowd dispersed in every direction...One of the regular patrons had felled one of the noisiest rioters.... And it was the effect of this which had scattered everybody so suddenly."
This first draft of the story was dated Marienbad 16 July 1845. Wagner later said, in "Eine Mitteilung an meine Freunde" (1851) that Meistersinger was to be a comic opera to follow a tragic opera, i.e. Tannhäuser. Just as the Athenians had followed a tragedy with a comic satyr play, so Wagner would follow Tannhäuser with Meistersinger: the link being that both operas included song-contests.
Influence of Schopenhauer
In 1854, Wagner first read Schopenhauer, and was struck by the philosopher's theories on aesthetics. In this philosophy, art is a means for escaping from the sufferings of the world, and music is the highest of the arts since it is the only one not involved in representation of the world (i.e. it is abstract). It is for this reason that music can communicate emotion without the need for words. In his earlier essay Opera and Drama (1850-1) Wagner had derided the staples of operatic construction: arias, choruses, duets, trios, recitatives, etc. As a result of reading Schopenhauer's theories on the role of music, Wagner now re-evaluated this prescription for opera, and hence many of these features can be found in Die Meistersinger.
Although Die Meistersinger is a comedy, it also elucidates Wagner's ideas on the place of music in society, on renunciation of the Will, and of the solace that music brings in a world full of Wahn (which may be translated into English as "illusion", "madness", "folly" or "self-deception"). It is Wahn which causes the riot in Act 2 — a sequence of events arising from a case of mistaken identity, which can be seen as a form of self-delusion. Many commentators have pointed out that Sachs in his famous Act 3 monologue Wahn, Wahn, überall Wahn is paraphrasing Schopenhauer when he describes the way that Wahn, or self-delusion, drives men to behave in ways which are actually destroying them.
...in Flucht geschlagen, wähnt er zu jagen; hört nicht sein eigen Schmerzgekreisch,
wenn er sich wühlt ins eig'ne Fleisch, wähnt Lust sich zu erzeigen!
(driven into flight he believes he is hunting, and does not hear his own cry of pain:
when he tears into his own flesh, he imagines he is giving himself pleasure!)
Following the completion of Tristan und Isolde, Wagner resumed work on Die Meistersinger in 1861 with a completely different philosophical outlook from that he held when he first drafted his comedy. The character of Hans Sachs becomes one of the most Schopenhauerian of all Wagner's creations. Wagner scholar Lucy Beckett has pointed out the remarkable similarity between Wagner's Sachs and Schopenhauer's description of noble man:
"We always picture a very noble character to ourselves as having a certain trace of silent sadness... It is a consciousness that has resulted from knowledge of the vanity of all achievements and of the suffering of all life, not merely of one's own." (Schopenhauer: The World as Will and Representation)
The other major facet of Sachs' personality — his renunciation of his hope of winning Eva's love — is also deeply Schopenhauerian. Sachs here denies the Will in its supposedly most insistent form, that of sexual love. Wagner marks this moment with a direct musical and textual reference to Tristan und Isolde: "Mein Kind, von Tristan und Isolde kenn' ich ein traurig Stück. Hans Sachs war klug und wollte nichts von Herrn Markes Glück." ("My child, I know a sad tale of Tristan and Isolde. Hans Sachs is sensible and does not wish to share King Mark's fate.")
Having completed the scenario, Wagner began writing the libretto in 1862, and followed this by composing the overture. The overture was publicly performed in Leipzig on 2 November 1862, conducted by the composer. Composition of Act 1 was begun in spring of 1863 in the Viennese suburb of Penzing, but the opera in its entirety was not finished until October 1867, when Wagner was living at Tribschen near Lucerne. These years were some of Wagner's most difficult: the 1861 Paris production of Tannhäuser was a fiasco, Wagner gave up hope of completing Der Ring des Nibelungen, the 1864 Vienna production of Tristan und Isolde was abandoned after 77 rehearsals, and finally in 1866 Wagner's first wife, Minna died. Cosima Wagner was later to write:
"When future generations seek refreshment in this unique work, may they spare a thought for the tears from which the smiles arose."
The premiere was given at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater, Munich, on June 21, 1868. The production was sponsored by Ludwig II of Bavaria and the conductor was Hans von Bülow. Franz Strauss, the father of the composer Richard Strauss played the French horn at the premiere, despite his often-expressed dislike of Wagner, who was present at many of the rehearsals. Wagner's frequent interruptions and digressions made rehearsals a very long-winded affair. After one 5 hour rehearsal, Franz Strauss led a strike by the orchestra, saying that he could not play any more. Despite these problems, the premiere was a triumph, and the opera was hailed as one of Wagner's most successful works. At the end of the first performance, the audience called for Wagner, who appeared at the front of the Royal box, which he had been sharing with King Ludwig. Wagner bowed to the crowd, breaking court protocol, which dictated that only the monarch could address an audience from the box.
Herbert von Karajan | <urn:uuid:bfaf2ac5-2045-4e38-9251-84c11399aefc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.todoperaweb.com.ar/musica/opera/wagner-die-meistersinger-von-nurenberg-id-78.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947066 | 2,235 | 2.78125 | 3 |
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Working aerodynamics into any vehicle destined to drive over 100 kilometers per hour is important, but these Audi form studies strive for the reduction of friction and air resistance for a much more fastidious cause. Hussein Al-Attar was working at the company’s Ingolstadt Exterior Design Studio in Germany when he came up with these super-streamlined computer models, fit to be paired with the most powerful of engines.
These futuristic race car concepts look nearly like spaceships beamed down to earth with their sleek and sharp sculpting and discernible absence of wheels. These Audi form studies embody some of the most significant physical features of high-speed supercars, with cutting curves, a smooth body and a narrow cross-section that sits low to the road. | <urn:uuid:4ed49bf2-b0c4-4ccd-8d69-487968d61dd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.trendhunter.com/printView/audi-form-studies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925544 | 172 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Celita Lamar remembers when horses from the long-gone riding academy roamed the streets of Coeal Gables, when the city’s first car dealership became an oyster house, and when a couple purchased the building on the southwest corner of Alhambra Circle and Salzedo Street to pursue their dream of a European-style café.
Now, Lamar, 73, is one of several volunteers who help share this history with the public on the Historic Walking Tours offered by the Coral Gables Museum each Saturday morning.
“I’m passionate about Coral Gables because I think it’s unique and its history is exciting,” Lamar said. “I’ve been connected to it for a very long time.”
Caroline Parker Santiago, director of programs at the museum, conceived of the tours as a way of preserving local history and imparting the area’s architectural heritage.
“There are so many rich examples of buildings from the 1920s,” Santiago said. “I thought it would be great.”
For $10 a person, participants meet at the museum at 11 a.m. and head out for a 11/2-hour stroll through downtown Coral Gables, stopping at points of interest to learn about each building’s hidden past.
Salvatore Davide brought his daughter, Vicky Davide, whose favorite part of the tour was looking at the interior of the buildings.
“And not only because of the air conditioning,” she said after snapping a photo of the antique Otis elevator in the Hotel St. Michel. “It’s fascinating.”
“Vicky’s a little history nut,” Salvatore Davide said.
Each tour is led by a volunteer who shadowed a museum staff member and underwent training offered by the Coral Gables Museum and the city’s Historic Resources Department.
Lamar attended the training, but her passion for the City Beautiful was just as clear as her knowledge of its history as she led her first tour on Saturday.
Lamar explained to visitors that the Westin Colonnade hotel was once the real estate office of Coral Gables founder George Merrick.
“This was the place,” she said. “This was where the deals were made.”
Complete with sweeping rotunda, marble floors, trickling fountain and Corinthian columns, it must have made quite an impression.
“It was the perfect place to convince people to come live here,” she said.
Walking through Coral Gables, it is clear buildings were often designed to maintain the Mediterranean Revival Style of the 1920s.
Arches, rounded roof tiles, towers and balconies contrast sharply with the modern buildings on the north side of Alhambra Circle.
“This represents what happened later,” Lamar said, pointing at the looming glass.
But even as Coral Gables continues to change, remnants of history lie in the small architectural details emphasized on these tours — the two fireman heads protruding from the side of the museum or the colorful stained glass in the Alhambra Towers.
The museum used to be a police and fire station. The Alhambra Towers were a Presbyterian church.
“These are fun facts that even residents don’t usually know,” Santiago said.
The tours kicked off Jan. 17 as a new addition to the museum’s programming, which already includes exhibit tours and bicycle tours.
They will continue indefinitely with the exception of holidays.
“It’s nice to see people realize we have a treasure here,” said Patrick Alexander, a museum staff member who led the first tour. “You’re always discovering something new.”
Santiago said she hopes out-of-town visitors and South Florida residents alike will take advantage of the walking tours.
For Santiago, keeping the history of Coral Gables alive is the most important thing.
“You are going to realize what a special place Coral Gables is,” Santiago said. “Then, when your friends come from out of town you will share that knowledge and become a sort of tour guide yourself. That’s historic preservation. It’s a ripple effect.” | <urn:uuid:7521f4d6-65cd-4ba1-a946-24b1b78ed1a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/12/3230430/coral-gables-museum-offers-walking.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955673 | 903 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Stars of Political Cartooning – Vaughn Shoemaker
Each day this month I will be profiling a notable political cartoonist. Since the choices are vast, I’ve decided to slim the numbers down a bit and eliminate living cartoonists. Perhaps I will do a current political cartoon stars in the future.
Here‘s an archive of the artists mentioned already.
Today we look at a cartoonist who created the character “John Q. Public.”
Vaughn Shoemaker was born in 1902, and by the age of 22, he was the head cartoonist for the Chicago Daily News, a position he would hold for almost thirty years before moving on to various other papers before his retirement in 1972.
Shoemaker used very clean lines, and was a favorite of many of his fellow cartoonists, including Herb Block.
Here’s one of his early cartoons, where we see Shoemaker harken back to the days of Nast and Tammany Hall, in discussing New York Democrats…
Early on in his career, Shoemaker developed a character named John Q. Public who worked as the personification of the typical US citizen. Many other cartoonists took this idea, as well, and the name soon became synonymous with “average US citizen.”
Shoemaker was highly critical of Hitler, as these cartoons show…
I particularly enjoy the one about how the Nazi leaders did not look like the Aryan “supermen” that they wanted of the German race.
Shoemaker was not initially a Democrat supporter, but like many, he got behind FDR…
Here he shows FDR stewarding the ship during war…
And here is a cartoon arguing for the drafting of young men for the war efforts.
Here is a neat cartoon he did late in career showing what problems Vietnam was causing LBJ….
Shoemaker was a devout Christian, and he claimed to kneel and pray before beginning every cartoon.
Shoemaker died in 1991. | <urn:uuid:da14fcd9-d59e-46de-a1cb-56dfccc9ad82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/10/22/stars-of-political-cartooning-vaughn-shoemaker/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979308 | 411 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Basal and Squamous Cell Carcinomas
Basal and squamous cell carcinomas are the most common types of cancer. Both arise from epithelial tissue (see epithelium). They are rare in dark-skinned people; light-skinned, blue-eyed people who do not tan well but who have had significant exposure to the rays of the sun are at highest risk. Both types usually occur on the face or other exposed areas.
Basal cell carcinoma typically is seen as a raised, sometimes ulcerous nodule. The nodule may have a pearly appearance. It grows slowly and rarely metastasizes (spreads), but it can be locally destructive and disfiguring. Squamous cell carcinoma typically is seen as a painless lump that grows into a wartlike lesion, or it may arise in patches of red, scaly sun-damaged skin called actinic keratoses. It can metastasize and can lead to death.
Basal and squamous cell carcinomas are easily cured with appropriate treatment. The lesion is usually removed by scalpal excision, curettage, cryosurgery (freezing), or micrographic surgery in which successive thin slices are removed and examined for cancerous cells under a microscope until the samples are clear. If the cancer arises in an area where surgery would be difficult or disfiguring, radiation therapy may be employed. Genetic scientists have discovered a gene that, when mutated, causes basal cell carcinoma.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Pathology | <urn:uuid:c0354b6f-0017-4a28-9b03-5d2a38486797> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/science/skin-cancer-basal-squamous-cell-carcinomas.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940666 | 336 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Time for lesson number two in our DSLR 101 series! Our topic today? You may have heard of it, it’s a little thing called ISO.
ISO is traditionally a measure of film speed; basically how sensitive a roll of film is to light. Obviously if you’re using a DSLR you’re not using film but your camera still has ISO settings. Instead of film it’s a reference to how sensitive the camera’s image sensor is to light. ISO settings can vary greatly but most cameras have at least 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. The lower the number the less sensitive the sensor is to light.
Although lower ISOs are usually desirable (leave your camera on Auto settings and it’ll choose 100 or 200 most of the time) to give you clear, sharp photos there are times when a higher ISO can be useful.
Choosing a higher ISO allows you to use a higher shutter speed or smaller aperture. This is especially useful for shooting in low light, particularly shooting action in low light (for example indoor sports events or concerts). It also comes in handy in places like museums and art galleries where use of flash and/or tripods may be prohibited, or in any low light situation when you don’t have a tripod available!
Higher ISOs cause a grainy effect, which, while we often want the clearest photos possible, can sometimes be desirable to create a certain look in an image.
You can choose your ISO setting in the menu of most DSLRs, check your manual if you can’t find the ISO option in yours.
Try taking the same shot at several different ISO settings so you can get a feel for what each different setting produces. | <urn:uuid:539ad84f-39a4-4748-a8fd-96910833dd12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://photodoto.com/dslr-101-iso/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901741 | 359 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Network Time Protocol (NTP)
A protocol running over TCP/IP port 123 that is designed to synchronize clocks on servers. You can have NTP servers and NTP clients. Clients receive time data from the NTP server, and can adjust their clocks as necessary. Ideally the server is connected to some type of atomic clock that keeps regular time. | <urn:uuid:8bfb3821-8fc2-4ff3-aa85-90f4cef3dc35> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geek.com/glossary/network-time-protocol-ntp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951145 | 73 | 3.21875 | 3 |
The video above demonstrates how Siri can be hacked to control your thermostat, but with a little massaging the hack could be used to make Siri perform a wide array of new functions. Let the games begin!
As cool as it is to watch Siri text your friends or find you hookers—we can't help but dream about the untapped potential of Siri's DARPA-funded artificial intelligence. Thanks goodness for the enterprising hackers teaching Siri new tricks.
In the video, the developer @plamoni shows how he gave Siri the ability to control an internet connected thermostat. The hack sends his voice commands to a proxy server, which in turn enables Siri to get a remote readout of the current temperature or to change your thermostat's climate settings. It's a pretty cool trick, but the point of the hack is to build a framework so that developers can experiment with extending Siri's functionality far beyond what Apple has officially sanctioned. In theory, Siri could be used to control nearly any internet-connected device.
Unfortunately, the new hack won't allow any old schlub to get in there and start rewiring Siri. @plamoni has published the code for his proxy server on GitHub, but unless you've got some pretty sophisticated developer chops, it's not going to do you any good yet. The developer says he's thinking about adding some functionality which would make it easier to use his hack. Even if we're not quite in a place where we can make Siri bend to our will, remember that Siri hasn't even been out in the world for two months yet. It's not hard to imagine a future in which Siri's brain is more widely accessible for a host of new functions outside the Apple-programmed lot. Take that walled garden. [GitHub and Engadget via The Next Web] | <urn:uuid:5d7a4463-9ec0-4aaa-aedc-68ed7f267b46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gizmodo.com/5861403/siri-hacked-to-control-your-thermostat-or-almost-anything-else | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942659 | 377 | 2.421875 | 2 |
The fight to make gay marriage legal in the Northeast U.S. seems to be stalling this month.
Legislatures in New York and New Jersey have failed to schedule votes on bills to recognize the unions.
The states are seen as gay friendly, but the most recent election cast doubt on whether same-sex marriage would pass there anytime soon.
New Jersey voters recently booted out former Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in favor of Republican Governor-elect Christopher Christie.
Gay marriage legislation is also currently floundering in New York.
Analysts say if the issue fails to pass in these two states, there could be national implications.
Maggie Gallagher is the president of the National Organization for Marriage, an organization which mobilizes social conservatives to fight against same-sex unions.
"If they are unable to pass gay marriage in New York and New Jersey, combined with the loss in Maine, it will confirm that gay marriage is not the inevitable wave of the future," Gallagher said. | <urn:uuid:c17044b3-6a70-49f4-bb77-cd5b30d3b080> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2009/November/Gay-Marriage-Fight-Stalls-in-NY-NJ/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963857 | 204 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Water, while one of the most abundant compounds on the planet and one of the most crucial compounds to life on earth, is one of the oddest. It exhibits physical characteristics that are completely anomalous from other molecules with similar size and structure. This page lists 63 anomalies that water exhibits, ranging from the well-known fact that at one atmosphere it expands upon freezing to the relatively unknown fact that water's viscosity decreases with pressure below 33°C. What many may not know is that water has more than the three phases that are typically associated with it—ice at low temperature, liquid water at moderate temperatures, and steam at high temperatures. In reality water (H2O) has 14 different phases, solid water (ice) contributing 12 different phases alone.
Since water behaves so strangely and is of such critical importance to life on Earth,scientists have long sought to fully understand all of its properties. One area of research is looking into understanding what happens to water at extreme conditions. It is believed that the accepted phase diagram of water at extreme temperatures and pressures may not be correct. For everyday life this doesn't matter. However, when you want to initiate a nuclear fusion reaction or understand the phase of ice that may be found on a celestial body, one needs a very accurate description of the water or ice at those conditions.
There are few places on earth capable of reproducing conditions as extreme as those described above. One place that can is the Sandia National Nuclear Laboratory, home of the Z machine. The Z machine is the largest X-ray generator in the world and can be used to create extreme temperatures and pressures with the goal (among others) of gathering data for the simulation of nuclear weapons. Understanding how water exists at the conditions generated in the Z machine is important; during its current operation the Z machine sends a 20-million ampere pulse of electricity through water which gets compressed to incredibly high pressures. Normally this water acts as an insulator and switch, but a series of planned upgrades to further strengthen the Z machine could mean different behavior from the water at such extreme conditions.
By passing the 20 million amperes of current through a small aluminum chamber, a magnetic field is created that isentropically compresses aluminum plates that sandwich a thin (25 micron) layer of water to pressures ranging from 50,000 to 120,000 atmospheres. For reference, what you experience at sea level is one atmosphere of pressure. What the researchers found was at these incredibly high pressures, water was squeezed into ice—ice VII to be exact, which was subsequently hotter than the boiling point of water at atmospheric pressure. As described by Sandia researcher Daniel Dolan, "Apparently it's virtually impossible to keep water from freezing at pressures beyond 70,000 atmospheres." Maybe that's a bit of an understatement, but it is very important to know for future operation of the Z machine and similar devices. The physical properties of ice—any ice phase—are vastly different from their liquid counter part.
As an aside, I have always enjoyed reading about and seeing videos of people who attempt to see who can light their grill the fastest, and have always loved the video of the guy who dumped a dewar of LOX on his grill bringing it to temperature in less than a second, vaporizing most of his grill in the process. What does this have to do with hot ice and the Z machine, you ask? Well, it turns out that at these pressures and temperatures the water underwent a phase transition from liquid to solid in less than 100 nanoseconds. Sadly since the ice here is so hot, it won't let you cool your beer any faster. | <urn:uuid:ba0a578b-26e9-4d53-9a29-556c82c14c12> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/science/2007/03/turing-water-into-very-hot-ice-very-very-quickly/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957599 | 744 | 3.734375 | 4 |
7 July 2009
GENEVA – Six independent United Nations experts* again call upon the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to uphold its international obligations to ensure that the human rights of all individuals are protected following the presidential elections in the country.
“We also encourage Iran to honour its standing invitation to the UN experts to conduct official visits to the country, by accepting the outstanding requests made by several Special Procedures mandate holders to allow international independent scrutiny of the current situation,” said the six experts in a joint statement.
Despite recent concerns expressed by five UN experts and those expressed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, about the possible use of excessive police force and violence employed by some militia members during opposition protests in the past weeks, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly continue to be undermined and the situation of human rights defenders is increasingly precarious.
Freedom of expression and the situation of human rights defenders
Hundreds of individuals, including human rights defenders, journalists, students, clerics and opposition supporters have been injured and arrested in recent weeks following clashes with security forces and members of the Basij militia. The safety of defenders has deteriorated considerably in the aftermath of the elections, most significantly in reaction to denunciations of human rights abuses reportedly committed by security forces. Interference with broadcasts and online coverage of protests, the expulsion of several foreign journalists as well as restrictions on the freedom of journalists to move and report freely has stifled freedom of expression in the country.
Excessive use of force
Since 12 June 2009, at least 20 people have been killed and hundreds of others seriously injured in clashes with security forces which allegedly used live ammunition and rubber bullets to disperse protests. The experts recall that the use of force must be exercised with restraint and only once non-violent means have been exhausted. In addition, the use of firearms by the security forces is prohibited, except in self-defence or defence of others from an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Independent investigations into the actions of the security forces have yet to be carried out.
The legal basis for the arrests of journalists, human rights defenders, opposition supporters and scores of demonstrators remains unclear, giving rise to concerns of arbitrary detentions of individuals legitimately exercising their right to freedom of expression, opinion and assembly.
The majority of those arrested are reportedly being detained at Tehran’s Evin prison, where many are being held incommunicado without charge or access to legal representation or their families. The experts are concerned about the risk of enforced disappearances given that the whereabouts of many of those arrested remain unknown.
The six experts reiterate their grave concern about reports of killings, ongoing arrests, use of excessive police force and the ill-treatment of detainees. The experts strongly urge the Government of Iran to uphold its obligations under international law to protect human rights in the country.
(*) The six human rights experts are Manuela Carmena Castrillo, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the Working Group on arbitrary detention; Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Frank La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Santiago Corcuera, Chairperson-Rapporteur of the working group on enforced and involuntary disappearances. | <urn:uuid:1b60ba07-91e7-428d-bbee-90f1920005b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=8383&LangID=E | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937655 | 703 | 1.84375 | 2 |
In the United States, the most significant event of 2011 hands down should have been the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops from Iraq. But for most Americans, the end of this illegal and immoral war and occupation hardly registers a ripple.
The reason: the continued belief in American exceptionalism.
In the United States, only U.S. casualties matter. According to the Iraq Coalition Count, almost 4,500 U.S. soldiers perished during the war and slightly more than 32,000 U.S. soldiers were officially listed as wounded. No U.S. agency officially keeps track of Iraqi numbers.
Not counting “enemy” casualties seems to be the ultimate form of dehumanization (The non-governmental Iraq Body Count group officially lists between 104,308 – 113,962 Iraqi documented deaths). That’s the point of a war; dehumanize and demonize the enemy. No need to count them because they are not worthy of being identified or even acknowledged.
In Iraq, we were able to witness, from start to finish, the ushering in of a preemptive and unjustified illegal war, by the United States, sans legal consequences for those who engineered this massive crime against humanity. We learned, during this same time, that society takes more seriously the lives of dogs (Quarterback Michael Vick was imprisoned for cruelty to animals) than the lives of Iraqis.
In the U.S. narrative – as repeated in U.S. media – this war was waged to prevent Iraq from terrorizing the world, never mind that all the “evidence” was trumped up. It is mind-boggling the notion of killing and maiming untold tens of thousands of Iraqis and displacing hundreds of thousands of them, and for U.S. politicians to continue to invoke notions of U.S. sacrifice and heroic deeds in the same breath. All this at the cost of a trillion dollars, not counting future costs.
This is how national myths are created. Coupled with the rise of “The Homeland,” since 2001, the United States now shares the ideological space of dictatorships: Everything for the homeland. That was a deft psychological maneuver. Despite being the world’s sole superpower, the United States, with colonial/immigrant roots, could not previously claim a “homeland.” Now, it’s the mother’s milk of politicians: Enter the Homeland Security industry.
This has led to the exponential growth of the U.S. military machine, for permanent preemptive wars to be fought overseas and at home. In fact, especially with the use of drone technology, the entire world has now become a battlefield, including the United States, obviating the need for trials, etc. The mantra now is that the homeland must also be protected with militarized walls and fences, border patrols, and drone technology.
This “need” to protect the homeland against evildoers at all costs gave rise to the unquestioned post-2001 logic of: “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.” Such logic caused many of us to willingly sacrifice our rights and freedoms. If truth was the first casualty, the U.S. Constitution was the second. But this is not logic; it is evidence that the entire nation appears to live with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Either that, or that it is soulless. Not the entire nation, but the merchants of war that have exploited fear and hate.
In the United States, for the past 10 years, the Black Man has gotten a short reprieve; now, it is the fear and hate of brown men, women and children that is driving this frenzied effort to “protect the homeland.” But there has been no reprieve because in the largest penal system in the world (upwards of 2 million inmates), the inmates are primarily black and brown. There is a direct connection between permanent war, “the homeland,” the expansion and privatization of the U.S. penal system, the criminalization of youths of color and the degradation of both the U.S. Constitution and human rights worldwide.
All is not hopeless. Domestically, the Occupy Movement is proof that the 99% are no longer falling for the logic of the 1%. And in Arizona, the ultimate symbols of “Homeland Security,” state senate president, Russell Pearce, has been recalled while his political twin, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is reeling from a series of Justice Department investigations that have found his department guilty of engaging in egregious racial profiling. His days are numbered.
In the bigger scheme of things, both are small potatoes. If the World Court were to affirm that there is no statute of limitations for starting illegal wars and indict those that engineered the Iraq War (The Bush-Cheney cabinet, those who made off with book deals as opposed to trials at the Hague), perhaps the world can begin to have a conversation about justice and “American exceptionalism.” It might even prevent further preemptive wars. | <urn:uuid:b3fd6327-f235-42d9-9e61-93270b45ab4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/5817-iraq-war-reaffirmation-or-the-end-of-us-exceptionalism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962143 | 1,041 | 1.914063 | 2 |
1956 HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION The 1956 Hungarian Revolution was a spontaneous revolt against Soviet repression. What began as a peaceful demonstration turned into a violent rebellion. Civilians destroy Soviet icons. Spirit transferred from film to D-5, available in all HD and SD formats.
RUSSIAN WINTER Russians trudge through bitter cold and frozen, snow covered ground during a brutal winter in the Soviet Union. Snow blankets an array of empty landscapes and town scenes. Closeups of townsfolk reveal their intense plight and poverty.
SOLDIERS REMOVE CZARIST SYMBOLS Bolshevik soldiers remove stone decorations and statues that represented the former Czarist dynasty. Other soldiers march frenetically through the streets with rifles in hand, many looking directly at the camera.
CROWDS OF BOLSHEVIKS SEIZE POWER Enraged Bolsheviks and their supporters, including common Russian folk, storm buildings and shoot off firearms. Men in military uniforms assist them as the crowds surge towards the royal palace and overthrow the Czar.
SOVIET INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT The USSR's buildup of factories to support its military and political needs: A man explains to another how a device operates, a farmer sprays pesticide with a huge tractor device, men work in a steel mill, workers move huge metal pipes across a warehouse, and mechanics build engine parts for vehicles.
RAGING BOLSHEVIKS Enraged Bolsheviks consisting of peasants, commoners and military men, run, drive and ride horseback on their way to overtake various governmental posts and facilities while overthrowing the Czar.
VLADIMIR LENIN GIVES SPEECH The first Russian communist leader, Vladimir Lenin, stands in front of a large crowd in Red Square, delivering a speech. The camera pans across the crowd as some wave banners in the air.
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A premier dv, film and video, digital and hd stock footage archive | <urn:uuid:2d5d809b-e470-42ab-ad89-802a6cd76600> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.efootage.com/clip_list.php?query=communism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915634 | 447 | 3.046875 | 3 |
The first-year curriculum consists of a series of required courses taught in a specific sequence. Course work can be completed in either the full-time (day) or part-time (evening) program. Typically, the day program enrolls 180 students; the evening program has 70 students. One of the hallmarks of Rutgers School of Law–Newark is the small section. The day class is divided into six sections, each with 30–32 students. One course in the fall semester is taught in a small section; other courses are two or three sections (60 or 90 students). Legal Research and Writing sections are 15–16 students total. Similarly, the evening class is also divided into two smaller groups. One course in the fall is taught in the small group.
The fall semester consists of five courses and 16 total credits: Contracts, Property, Torts (4 credits each), Criminal Law (3 credits), and Legal Research and Writing I (1 credit). Final exams are at the end of the semester. The spring semester has three required courses, plus a required elective. The required courses are Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure (5 credits each), Legal Research and Writing II (2 credits), and an elective chosen from a select group of courses. The elective can be 3 or 4 credits. Total credits earned are 15 or 16, depending on the elective.
In the fall, you will have 16 hours of class time spread out over a five-day week. Students have the option to be placed in either an “early” or “late” track. For the early track, classes begin at 8:30 am and finish by 3:45 pm on most days. The late track starts at 9:55 am and concludes at 5:30 pm on most days. On Fridays, all classes are done no later than 2:20 pm. Tracking takes place in the summer and you will be asked whether you prefer an early or late track. In most cases, your request can be honored.
A typical day consists of two classes in the morning, a break in the mid-afternoon, and one or two classes in the afternoon. You will not have more than two classes in a row. It is important to have some down time between classes to meet with classmates informally or to look over your notes and prepare for the rest of the day.
Spring semester is a bit different. Constitutional Law and Civil Procedure will meet four times a week – one class will take place in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Legal Research and Writing will continue to meet at the same time as it did in the fall. The elective courses will be scheduled during the other class times.
Students in the part-time, evening program take the same first-year curriculum but in a different sequence and over three semesters. Fall semester consists of Contracts and Torts, each 4 credits. Classes meet Monday through Thursday evenings, 6:30–8:30 pm. Only one class is taught per night. For example, Contracts may meet Monday and Wednesdays; Torts on Tuesdays and Thursdays. One of these classes will be taught in a small section, as in the day program.
Civil Procedure (4 credits) and Criminal Law (3 credits) are in the spring semester along with Legal Research and Writing I (1 credit). The Monday through Thursday schedule continues but classes are from 6–8 pm. Legal Research and Writing I meets once a week after Criminal Law.
The first summer is the only required summer semester. Legal Research and Writing II must be completed during this summer. However, students have the option to take Professional Responsibility or Legal Profession as well.
The remaining two required courses are completed in the fall: Constitutional Law and Property (4 credits each). The class schedule is the same: Monday through Thursday, 6–8 pm. The first-year elective is taken in the spring along with upper-level courses.
After the required coursework is completed, part-time students can take up to 11 credits but no fewer than 8 each semester and the entire curriculum from 8:30 am to 10 pm is available to you. There are upper-level courses offered in the summer sessions.
For information about transferring between full-time and part-time after completion of the required first–year curriculum, click here. | <urn:uuid:077c0299-0393-43e9-84d1-b31c3347e876> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://law.newark.rutgers.edu/print/1959 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950834 | 889 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Web Attacks Expand in Iran’s Cyber Battle (Updated Again)
- 4:06 PM
What started out as an attempt to overload a small set of official sites has now expanded, network security consultant Dancho Danchev notes. News outlets like Raja News are being attacked, too. The semi-official Fars News site is currently unavailable.
“We turned our collective power and outrage into a serious weapon that we could use at our will, without ever having to feel the consequences. We practiced distributed, citizen-based warfare,” writes Matthew Burton, a former U.S. intelligence analyst who joined in the online assaults, thanks to a “push-button tool that would, upon your click, immediately start bombarding 10 Web sites with requests.”
But the tactic of launching these distributed denial of service, or DDOS, attacks remains hugely controversial. The author of one-web based tool, “Page Rebooter,” used by opposition supporters to send massive amounts of traffic to Iranian government sites, temporarily shut the service down, citing his discomfort with using the tool “to attack other websites.” Then, a few hours later, he turned on the service again, after his employers agreed to cover the costs of the additional traffic. WhereIsMyVote.info is opening up 16 Page Reboot windows simultaneously, to flood an array of government pages at once.
Other online supporters of the so-called “Green Revolution” worry about the ethics of a democracy-promotion movement inhibitting their foes’ free speech. A third group is concerned that the DDOS strikes could eat up the limited amount of bandwidth available inside Iran — bandwidth being used by the opposition to spread its message by Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. “Quit with the DDOS attacks — they’re just slowing down Iranian traffic and making it more difficult for the protesters to Tweet,” says one online activist.
But Burton — who helped bring Web 2.0 tools to the American spy community — isn’t so sure. “Giving a citizenry the ability to turn the tables on its own government is, I think, what governance is all about. The public’s ability to strike back is something that every government should be reminded of from time to time.” Yet he admits to feeling “conflicted.” about participating in the strikes, he suddenly stopped. “I don’t know why, but it just felt…creepy. I was frightened by how easy it was to sow chaos from afar, safe and sound in my apartment, where I would never have to experience–or even know–the results of my actions.”
Meanwhile, San Francisco technologist Austin Heap has put together a set of instructions on how to set up “proxies” — intermediary internet protocol (IP) address — that allow activists to get through the government firewall. And the Networked Culture blog has assembled for pro-democracy sympathizers a “cyberwar guide for beginners.” Stop publicizing these proxies over Twitter, the site recommends. Instead, send direct messages to “@stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they will distributed them discretely [sic] to bloggers in Iran.” Other advice:
- Keep you bull$hit filter up! Security forces are now setting up twitter accounts to spread disinformation by posing as Iranian protesters. Please don’t retweet impetuosly, try to confirm information with reliable sources before retweeting. The legitimate sources are not hard to find and follow.
- Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become ‘Iranians’ it becomes much harder to find them.
- Don’t blow their cover! If you discover a genuine source, please don’t publicise their name or location on a website. These bloggers are in REAL danger. Spread the word discretely [sic] through your own networks but don’t signpost them to the security forces. People are dying there, for real, please keep that in mind.
- Denial of Service attacks. If you don’t know what you are doing, stay out of this game. Only target those sites the legitimate Iranian bloggers are designating. Be aware that these attacks can have detrimental effects to the network the protesters are relying on. Keep monitoring their traffic to note when you should turn the taps on or off.
UPDATE: Here’s the latest wrinkle in the online conflict, according the activists’ Twitter streams. The government is filtering text-message traffic, and Secure Socket Layer-protected web sites. That’s making it much harder for pro-democracy types to communicate with each other — and with the outside world. In response, the activists are calling for renewed assaults on government web pages. “Iranian gvmt is blocking out all INTERNET/SMS/PHONE – as long as they do this, we cut down THEIR sites,” one Tweets.
UPDATE 2: As of 12:30pm eastern time on the 17th, PageReboot.com and WhereIsMyVote.info are both offline.
[Photo: U.S. State Department] | <urn:uuid:99730caf-2677-4ef3-a309-485c248120f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/web-attacks-expand-in-irans-cyber-battle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939019 | 1,121 | 1.617188 | 2 |
In a speech to French diplomats, Mr. Hollande called for an “intensification of efforts for the political transition to take place quickly” and urged the Syrian opposition to form a “provisional, inclusive and representative” government. “France will recognize the provisional government of the new Syria as soon as it is formed,” he said. [Globe and Daily Mail]
THE PRESIDENT of France also warned Bashar al-Assad against the use of chemical weapons, joining other countries led by the U.S.
There is also a bit of a debate, as you’ll see in the video, of the causes of a Syrian helicopter crashing to earth. Free Syrian rebels are taking responsibility, but this has not been confirmed. | <urn:uuid:199ab940-3b75-411b-bf12-971c5c40557c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taylormarsh.com/blog/2012/08/french-pres-hollande-will-recognize-provisional-government-in-syria-as-soon-as-its-formed/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975714 | 155 | 1.742188 | 2 |
If the jaws become tired after
chewing gum or eating chewy foods, this is one of
the earliest signs that something is wrong with the
functioning of the chewing system. The human jaw is
so well designed that it is impossible for the jaws
to become tired unless the jaws are not properly
aligned. The most common problem is a lower jaw,
which is deficient or well behind the upper jaw.
These patients appear to have protruding upper teeth
but in the majority of these cases the lower jaw is
positioned behind the upper jaw. If any tiredness of
the lower jaw should occur, the child should be
examined by a dentist trained in the area of TM
Dysfunction (TMJ) a jaw joint problem. Dr Shodjaee
has been trained to treats those patients with
orthodontic, orthopedic or TMJ problems.
Jaw joint (TMJ) problems are
beginning to develop when a child experiences
headaches. Pain from headaches is not normal,
especially in young children. Normal children are
healthy, pain-free and have relatively low stress
levels. Therefore, headaches that do occur are a
sign that the system is overloaded. Headaches of
once or twice a month can easily be an early warning
sign that should be taken seriously.
Poor posture combined with a jaw
problem significantly overloads neck muscles
creating pain and discomfort. These problems tend to
get worse as the children get older if the
structural problems, as discussed previously, are
not corrected. Early evaluation and treatment can go
a long way to providing a lifetime of better health
and comfort for our young patients.
If your children have any
of the above problems, please consider making an
appointment with Dr. Shodjaee and his staff. For an
assessment appointment please call 613-216-2016. | <urn:uuid:37fcbaba-7a6e-4599-bdf0-9e7349bc1066> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drfarid.com/Headaches%20in%20Children.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927468 | 397 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Alien Planets With Extra Suns Can Have Strange Orbits
An artist's illustration of the alien solar system Kepler-47, a twin star system that is home to two planets. The planets have two suns like the fictional planet Tatooine in the "Star Wars" universe.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle
The more stars a system of alien worlds starts with, the more likely those planets will orbit those stars at odd tilts, scientists say.
The discovery, based on a study unveiled today (Nov. 14), suggests that even Earth's own sun may have had a companion star early in its development.
In recent years, astronomers have detected hundreds of exoplanets — worlds circling distant stars. Many of these are "hot Jupiters" — gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn that are closer to their stars than Mercury is to the sun.
Researchers had thought hot Jupiters arose when giant planets were dragged inward by protoplanetary disks of gas and dust falling toward stars. However, this idea was recently cast into doubt by the surprising discovery that a major fraction of hot Jupiters have orbits that are tilted in respect to their stars' rotation.
Stars all spin, just as Earth's does, and their worlds often line up with this spin — they orbit around the equators of their stars and revolve in the same direction. However, sometimes alien planets have misaligned orbits instead, ones that are at slight or even sharp angles around their stars. The orbits of some exoplanets are so far tilted that they are actually backwards — they move in retrogradeorbits in exactly the opposite direction of their stars' spin.
Scientists had thought if hot Jupiters were dragged toward their stars by protoplanetary disks, they would all end up in relatively normal orbits around the equators of their stars. However, astronomers recently discovered that a whopping 25 to 50 percent of these planets actually may have misaligned orbits.
"The misalignments seemed to point towards a much more volatile, violent evolutionary path for hot Jupiters," said study author Konstantin Batygin, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
For instance, perhaps it was a gravitational tug of war between exoplanets that hurled some inward at their stars. Still, it seemed unlikely such processes were responsible for all these misaligned planets.
"A crude and oversimplified analogy is taking a machine gun, shooting in every direction possible, and hitting the correct target about 1 percent of the time," Batygin said. "Surely not impossible, but it seems unlikely."
Now Batygin has discovered protoplanetary disks can indeed produce such tilted orbits if these systems each harbored multiple stars. [Photos: Alien Planet With Twin Suns Found]
Although the solar system has only one sun, most stars like Earth's sun are binaries— two stars orbiting each other as a pair. Increasingly, astronomers are discovering planetary systems with twin suns (like Luke Skywalker's fictional home planet Tatooine in "Star Wars"). There are also many three-star triples in the universe, at least one of which is known to host planets, and the number of stars a system has can even climb as high as seven.
Through computer modeling, Batygin found that the complex system of gravitational pulls that binary stars exert on protoplanetary disks would disrupt them enough to misalign the disks. He added that the more stars a system has, the more likely its planets orbits would be tilted.
This idea does not require that a system have multiple stars for billions of years, Batygin added.
"It is generally believed that 85 to 100 percent of stars form as multiples," he said. Many times, stars then get stripped from these systems during the first 1 million to 10 million years of their lifetimes.
Batygin noted the orbital plane of the solar system's planets is misaligned from the sun's equatorial plane by 7 degrees. Given this skew, "I think it is safe to say that the solar system falls into the misaligned category." In other words, the sun once may have had a companion star very early in its history.
Future research can analyze other details about the interactions between planets, their stars and protoplanetary disks. "For instance, the magnetic coupling between the disk and the host star should be looked at more carefully," Batygin said.
Batygindetails his findings in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Nature.
MORE FROM SPACE.com | <urn:uuid:00d6d34a-a90d-4de0-b2af-317721abd153> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.space.com/18474-alien-planets-multiple-stars-tilted-orbits.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+spaceheadlines+%28SPACE.com+Headline+Feed%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964943 | 943 | 3.265625 | 3 |
The dangers of substance abuse are as varied as the types of substances abused. Whether your loved one is abusing street drugs, prescription drugs or alcohol, they face real and serious dangers with each use. Being the loved one of an addict is a sad and overwhelming experience. As much as you want to find help for your loved one, the task of doing so can be very difficult to handle on your own. By making a phone call to an intake counselor you can receive answers to your questions and learn how to get help for your parent, partner or child. The conversation you have with a counselor is private so there’s no need to worry about fear, shame or embarrassment.
Affect On Family And Others
Substance abuse affects more than just the abuser. Family members, friends and coworkers can also suffer to varying degrees, but the addict is too wrapped up in his or her addiction to realize how others are affected. The fear of what substance abuse can lead to leads many family members to remain in denial of their loved one’s addiction. Unfortunately, denial does nothing to protect the addict from these very real dangers.
- Health Risks- Different substances produce different side effects, such as hallucinations, incoherence and even temporary paralysis. The degree of severity in side effects depends upon the substance abused and the duration for which it’s used. Continued substance abuse eventually causes lethal damage to the organs, such as the hearts, lungs or liver. Drug abusers who use needles are susceptible to exposure to hepatitis C, AIDs and HIV. Repeated use of many substances can also lead to brain damage.
- Legal Consequences- The legal ramifications of substance abuse go well beyond being arrested for purchasing or using illegal drugs. Substance abusers who drive will under the influence or sell drugs to support their own habits put themselves at risk for arrest and others at risk to lose their lives. The downward spiral of substance abuse leads formerly responsible, upstanding people to engage in illegal behaviors for the sole purpose of supporting their habit, and this can lead to months or years behind bars.
- Emotional Dangers- Many substance abusers use drugs or alcohol to stimulate the pleasure pathways of the brain. Continued substance abuse can actually cause physical changes to these pathways and lead to brain damage. This brain damage can create substance abuse-induced forms of mental illness, such as depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders. As the brain is altered and changed from damage caused by drugs or alcohol you and your loved one can face these consequences for life.
- Loss of Life- One of the scariest dangers of drug and alcohol abuse is the risk of death. No one wants to lose a family member to addiction and no one should have to. But loss of life is a very real possibility for substance abusers and one they face with each use. The need to use commonly overrides even the fear of death, but as the loved one of an addict it is the consequence you fear the most.
Delray Can Help
An addiction to drugs or alcohol carries results in consequences that grow along with the addiction. As your loved one progressed in his or her addiction, the risks they face become more frightening. Speaking with a trained counselor can help you find the support you need to deal with your parent, partner or child’s addiction. They can also help you understand how best to help your family member without enabling them to continue being an addict. The dangers of substance abuse are very real, but so are the opportunities to overcome addiction.
The Delray Recovery Center is a full-service drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that prides itself on their experience and quality of treatment for their patients. We offer an array of treatment options for all substance abusers that will certainly meet you and your families needs. We have a full-time trained staff of rehabilitation specialists that have the necessary skills to assist you in the long road to recovery. There is hope, light at the end of the tunnel; Delray recovery Center is here for you. Call us today at the number listed above, or fill out the form at the top of the page to have one of our drug abuse specialists contact you immediately. | <urn:uuid:2d1dcd6e-7fbd-4e5c-8741-21875d962db8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.delrayrecoverycenter.com/substance-abuse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957791 | 841 | 2.78125 | 3 |
November 11 2006
Doraleh , Djibouti - The tiny but strategic Red Sea state of Djibouti on Saturday unveiled a multi-million-dollar project to expand its port and make it the Horn of Africa's main regional shipping terminal.
President Ismael Omar Guelleh laid the foundation stone of the second-phase of the $400-million facility upgrade, expected to be complete and operational by late 2008.
The expansion of Doraleh port, about 10km south of the capital, entails construction of a 2km container jetty for deep-water anchorage, allowing an additional 1,5 million offloads a year, officials said.
The port currently has the capacity to handle 10 million tonnes of general cargo and 400 000 container units per year and the upgrade will mean a significant boost in cargo traffic for the impoverished nation, they said.
" Djibouti five years ago was not like this," said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, head of Dubai-based marine terminal firm, DP World, that is financing the project. "This is just a beginning.
"Development is everywhere (and) the port is the livelihood of the people here," he said. " Djibouti is one of nine key developments we have worldwide and is a vital link in our global network of 51 marine terminals."
The first phase of the expansion project was finalised in February and saw the construction of a $130-million oil terminal.
Located at the southern end of the Red Sea on the Gulf of Aden, Djibouti is a key staging post between the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal shipping route through to the Indian Ocean.
It is also home to the largest overseas French military base and the only US military base in Africa. | <urn:uuid:fbfe1644-f91f-4759-9115-3a4114b34704> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2005/251/71.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936886 | 363 | 1.703125 | 2 |
September 9, 2011
Affordable and appropriate constructions materials, from reeds to steel, should be considered when building homes
BANGKOK, 9th September 2011: Today, the 3rd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum and Exhibition concluded with recommendations on housing policy, finance, technology disaster mitigation and response, for more resilient homes and communities.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 3rd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum, Jonathan Reckford, Chief Executive of Habitat for Humanity International, said: “Tackling the challenge of substandard housing and disasters must involve mitigation – to avoid the unmanageable – and adaptation – to manage the unavoidable.”
When disaster strikes, tackling immediate needs is the understandable focus. However, without attention given to longer-term recovery and reconstruction from the beginning, the transition from emergency response to reconstruction is disjointed and uncoordinated.
One of the recommendations of the Forum focused on removing the difficulties faced by low-income families when trying to access housing loans. Obstacles like not having official identification or credit history need to be overcome by NGOs, civil society organizations and community groups, working together with governments and financial institutions.
“When you are poor, you cannot think of the future because you face eviction. But once you have secure housing, you can start to think about your welfare and that of your community. Once your house is secure, you can do a lot of things,” said Mrs Sanong Roeysungnoen, community leader from Champae city, Khonkaen Province, Thailand.
A variety of affordable and appropriate building materials were presented at the Forum, including reeds and bamboo. Other materials were presented as useful in disaster mitigation, like used tires. Construction experts at the Forum stressed that humanitarian agencies should not simply experiment with new technologies in low-income communities, but rather work with local residents to identify suitable solutions.
Rick Hathaway, Habitat for Humanity International’s vice president for Asia-Pacific, announced that the location for the next Asia-Pacific Housing Forum in 2013 will be Jakarta, Indonesia.
Organized by Habitat for Humanity and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), 700 delegates attended the 3rd Asia-Pacific Housing Forum in Bangkok, Thailand. More than 220 organizations from 35 countries were represented, drawn from governments, international and local NGOs, private sector, academia, civil society organizations, and local communities. The theme was ‘Sustainable shelter in an age of climate change and disasters.’
Visit http://aphousingforum.org for more information. | <urn:uuid:8b52225e-1867-4ba7-92bc-9f42a1934f8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.habitat.org/print/asiapacific/news/2011/09_09_2011_3rd_Asia-Pacific_Housing_Forum_Makes_Shelter_Recommendations.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941235 | 532 | 2.109375 | 2 |
A newly published Oxfam report , “Ready or Not: Pakistan’s resilience to disasters one year on from the floods”, says that millions of people are still struggling to recover from last year’s floods and will fall even deeper into poverty if hit by floods again. Reconstruction after last year’s floods is estimated to cost more than $10 billion, almost a quarter of Pakistan’s national budget; and further disasters will put an additional strain on the country’s economy.
The mega floods of last year would have challenged any government, but the emergency response led by Pakistani authorities saved thousands of lives. However, Oxfam has expressed concern about the pace of recovery and reconstruction, which has left millions of people unnecessarily exposed to another disaster.
Husna La Shari is one survivor who is struggling to rebuild her life in Khawand La Shari in Shikapur, Sindh. Her family and community were hit hard by the flooding last July. Husna has 7 children and an elderly husband. She is responsible for providing for her entire family as her husband is too old to work. Before the floods last July, she worked on fields farming and harvesting. But after the floods, the fields are no longer fertile and Husna is struggling to feed her family. Oxfam is working in Husna’s village providing latrines and rehabilitating water pumps. Husna took part in Oxfam’s Cash for Work program in her village, clearing rubble and cleaning irrigation channels in the fields.
“It was difficult for me before the flood and it is now more difficult for me as there is no farming or harvesting. We cannot cultivate the land here this year… PDI (Oxfam’s partner) came and gave us money for doing labor. We collected whatever remained of our houses and we put it all in one place and together we cleaned the village. My husband was not capable, so I did it, I earned the money. PDI gave us kitchen pots, blankets, quilts and buckets and we are thankful as they helped us a lot. I am still in trouble to get food. How will I feed my family?”
Around 37,000 people affected by the 2010 floods are still living in camps in Sindh alone; and across the country, many of those who have returned to their villages have inadequate housing, with some still living in tents. More than 800,000 families are still without proper homes and many flood defenses, such as river embankments, destroyed in last year’s floods, have not yet been properly repaired. This increases the likelihood of breaches in future floods. For example, embankments in Sindh province have reportedly been increased by only two or three feet rather than the recommended six feet.
Neva Khan, Head of Oxfam in Pakistan, said:
“Pakistan needs to act now. Investing in measures today that reduce the impact of disasters is essential to save lives and safeguard development gains in the future. It will ensure schools built with aid funds are not washed away and that farmers can keep the crops they have toiled over. A year after Pakistan’s mega floods it’s time we learned this lesson.”
Some lessons learned
For children in the Shikapur district of Sindh, playing an interactive game is one way to avoid the risk of illness which often comes in the wake of a natural disaster. Julia Moore, a hygiene promotor for Oxfam, teaches children basic hygiene activities such as washing their hands and faces and showing them how to use a latrine.
“Pakistan is a disaster-prone country and has been flooded 67 times since 1947. Climate change will only increase the threat of floods. But while floods and earthquakes are inevitable, widespread devastation is not. For years, not enough has been done to protect ordinary Pakistani men, women, and children from disasters before they strike.” Says Kahn.
Lives and scarce resources could be saved in the future if the Pakistan government, with support from international donors, invests more in measures to reduce the impact of disasters. This could include flood resistant housing, and effective early warning systems – especially at the village level. In order to implement these programs, more funding is needed for local authorities and organizations that play a frontline role in preparing for and responding to emergencies. | <urn:uuid:4697a476-8b87-4cb8-9f83-d821a13dd5da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oxfamamerica.org/articles/201cit2019s-time-we-learned-this-lesson201d | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973227 | 894 | 2.078125 | 2 |
While I salute the courage of the 29 young men who had thermometers applied to their undercarriage in the name of science, I doubt the outcome is a surprise to anyone. Hot laptops resting on your lap will cook your coconuts.
The study, performed by the urology department at the University of New York at Stony Brook, was positive in its findings that yes, your scrotum will rise in temperature if you clap your legs together and put big, heated slab on top of them for an hour. Even using a laptop cushion, advised as a preventative measure against toasted skin syndrome, didn’t prevent the scrota in question from reaching the danger zone.
Tests showed an increase of 2.5 degrees Celsius, which doesn’t sound like much, but remember that your balls are out there for a reason: to stay cool. Other research has shown that an increase of even one degree can be bad for your sperm.
Want children? Keep it on the desk. | <urn:uuid:b711d47f-8d51-446e-a843-62b55195ddfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/08/research-confirms-what-we-all-suspected-laptops-are-spermicidal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956681 | 208 | 2.359375 | 2 |
|Rules of procedure, house and senate
The Texas Constitution allows each chamber to determine the rules of its own
proceedings. This is accomplished through the adoption by each chamber of a resolution
after the beginning of each regular legislative session. Each chamber publishes a volume
of its rules, which is distributed to members and is available to others through House
Document Distribution or the Secretary of the Senate’s Office. The rules also are available online at the house of representatives’ website and the senate’s website. Texas Legislative Manual. Paper copies of current and previous rules are available at the Legislative Reference Library. | <urn:uuid:0fc5b94a-f827-4a4a-96ba-2c45b97d5bf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/gtli/leginfo/media_rules.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932986 | 126 | 2.640625 | 3 |
- What is Atheism
- Law & Politics
- Press Information
- Christians Take Over Interfaith Army Chapel in Combat Zone
- Press Kit
- 9/11: 'Never Forget' Must Include All Victims
- Atheists Advocate Separation of Church and State at DNC
- Congressman Pete Stark to Speak at 2013 National Convention
- American Atheists Announces 50th Anniversary Logo Design Contest
- American Atheists Announces Harassment Policy for Conventions and Conferences
- American Atheists Jubilant Over Latest Religion Report
- American Atheists Removes Religious Billboards from Charlotte
- Former Pastor Now American Atheists Public Relations Director
- Former Pastor Teresa MacBain New Public Relations Director
- ITALIAN JUDGE LUIGI TOSTI ACQUITTED!
- American Atheists to Protest Bradford County, FL Decalogue on May 19
Supporting Civil Rights for Atheists and the Separation of Church and State
OSU Football Player Asks Twitter Followers to "Show Some Hate" To An Atheist
Hate, as an emotion, can be a very powerful motivator for both good and bad. The hatred of racism has helped propel civil rights. The hatred of sexism has helped propel women’s suffrage. When one sees hate fuel good things, it is usually hate directed at an unjust or cruel idea or social norm.
It is the hatred of the other kind that concerns most of us: hatred toward people, especially when manifested physically, such as the brutal beatings of homosexuals, lynching of black southerners during the Civil Rights era, etc. This is the type of hate that normally brings about bad things. History is certainly rife with examples.
Everyone is perfectly free to hate anyone they want. But when someone directs hate at an individual or group of people or asks others to “bring the hate” or “visit the hate” upon someone else, then one’s freedom of thought is now a physical manifestation of and subject to criticism, laws, and the appropriate consequences and repercussions associated with the physical action or manifestation.
We have a prime example of this at The Ohio State University: the difference between hating someone and bringing the hate upon someone. OSU football player Jake Russell (#21, punter) tweeted late night on January 24th, “my roommate max rouse (look him up on Facebook) is an atheist, please show him some hate.”
The tweet was deleted later on by Mr. Russell, but not before it was captured for the entire world to see Mr. Russell’s bigotry on display (see image below). Why did Mr. Russell want his 1,400+ followers to show some hate to an atheist? And what exactly does it mean to “show hate?”
Clearly concerned about the well being of Mr. Rouse, the screen capture was emailed to OSU Vice President of Student Life, Javaune Adams-Gaston. Mrs. Adams-Gaston assured American Atheists (via Greg Lammers, our Missouri State Director, who saw and reported the tweet) that the school will investigate the matter immediately. Thank you to Mrs. Adams-Gaston and The Ohio State University for not sitting idly by while this happens.
As for Mr. Russell, we hope sir that no one ever asks anyone else to show you some hate. We hope that one day you will learn the pluralism that exists at your school and in your future places of employment and residence. If anything happens to Mr. Rouse, you will be directly responsible for instigating such action and inciting someone else to violence or harassment. Mr. Russell has brought dishonor to his team and to his school. He has disgraced himself by displaying his bigotry in public. In a way we owe Mr. Russell an thank you for displaying his bigotry so we now know to be wary of him and his possible actions.
To Mr. Rouse, may we point you to The Ohio State University Students for Freethought on campus, an affiliate of the Secular Student Alliance. May you find like-minded friends there, where we can practically guarantee no one will “show you some hate.”
by Blair Scott | <urn:uuid:1947d31a-366e-4f1d-b9c7-54e98452a44d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://atheists.org/content/osu-football-player-asks-twitter-followers-show-some-hate-atheist?page=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946061 | 864 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Mr Edward Craufurd1816 - 1887
- Ayr District of Burghs July 7, 1852 - January 31, 1874
First recorded, on March 8, 1853 SHERIFF COURTS (SCOTLAND) (No. 2). Commons
Last recorded, on July 29, 1873 CUSTOM HOUSE CLERKS AT THE OUTPORTS. Commons
Information presented on this page was prepared from the XML source files, together with information from the History of Parliament Trust, the work of Leigh Rayment and public sources. The means by which names are recognised means that errors may remain in the data presented. | <urn:uuid:3c3701ec-c056-48d5-841b-c97e515e7fae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/people/mr-edward-craufurd/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935591 | 131 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The Loddon Mallee Region covers north western Victoria bounded by the South Australian border to the north west; the Murray River to the north and the Macedon Ranges to the south east. The Loddon Mallee region occupies more than a quarter of Victoria and with one of the most consistently warm climates in the State - people flock to the region for the waterways of the Murray River, acclaimed restaurants and wineries, heritage towns, and grand forests. The population of the region is currently reported as 307,405.0
The Loddon Mallee region covers an area of 58,961 square kilometres (more than a quarter of the area of the State)
The Loddon Mallee contains nine municipalities:
Regional Ethnic Communities’ Councils/Migrant Resource Centre’s:
Diversity in the Region
The CALD population of Loddon Mallee is reasonably small– only 3 per cent of the population were born in non-English speaking countries (NESCs) and the same number speaks a LOTE at home. Italian is the only LOTE in the region with more than 1,000 speakers and is spoken by only 1 per cent of the population. Greek and Turkish follow a distant second, each spoken by 0.3 per cent of the population.
English and LOTE speakers have quite different age profiles within the Loddon Mallee region. The largest age group for English speakers is the 0–24 group, followed by the 45–64 (baby-boomer generation), 25–44 and last of all the 65 plus group. LOTE speakers are not numerous as any age but their numbers peaking in the 25–44 and 45–64 age groups (3,500 speakers each) and are otherwise around 3,100.
Language spoken at home, Loddon Mallee
Prepared by OMAC with special tables from ABS 2006 Census (July 2011).
Country of birth, Loddon Mallee
Proficiency in Spoken English by Lodden Mallee Region, Victoria, 2006 Census
Disability services in the region
Of the population of people born in NESCs in LMR: 649 (or 4.6% of the total LMR disability population of 14,077) need disability-related assistance, and 2,361 (or 9.3% of the total LMR carer population of 25,477) are carers of people needing disability-related assistance.
Of the population of people who speak a language other than English (LOTE) in LMR: 724 (or 5% of the total LMR disability population of 14,077) need disability-related assistance, and 1,066 (or 4.2% of the total LMR carer population of 25,477) are carers of people needing disability-related assistance.
For the Italian and German speakers in LMR, disability correlates strongly with age (over 80% of these community members are aged 65 years and over) whereas for the Greek and Turkish populations, as with the English-speaking population, around 50% or more who need disability-related assistance are aged less than 45 years.
Useful information links for the Loddon Mallee Region
|Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 May 2013 10:19| | <urn:uuid:cc3d688d-8079-4011-b937-4f9f0f363a44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.multicultural.vic.gov.au/regional-advisory-councils/regions/loddon-mallee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931575 | 675 | 2.375 | 2 |
April 23, 2012
Scientists say the notoriously dry continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater.
They argue that the total volume of water in aquifers underground is 100 times the amount found on the surface.
The team have produced the most detailed map yet of the scale and potential of this hidden resource.
Now scientists have for the first time been able to carry out a continent-wide analysis of the water that is hidden under the surface in aquifers. Researchers from the British Geological Survey and University College London (UCL) have mapped in detail the amount and potential yield of this groundwater resource across the continent.
This article was posted: Monday, April 23, 2012 at 12:51 pm | <urn:uuid:5bba74e1-0574-4997-a250-42ba01fa818d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infowars.com/huge-water-resource-exists-under-africa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926792 | 146 | 3.28125 | 3 |
The following HTML text is provided to enhance online
readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML.
Please use the page image
as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy.
America Becoming: Racial Trends and Their Consequences - Volume II
FRANK BONILLA is Thomas Hunter Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, at Hunter College of the City University of New York. From 1973 to 1993 Dr. Bonilla was the director of C.U.N.Y.’s Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos and Professor in C.U.N.Y’s Ph.D. Programs in Sociology and Political Science. Professor Bonilla’s current research, writing, and advocacy efforts are focused on promoting a vitalization of Latino academic and policy research capabilities.
THOMAS D.BOSTON is a Professor of Economics in the School of Economics at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and the owner of Boston Research Group, an Atlanta-based consulting company. Dr. Boston has consulted for dozens of public agencies and private companies and is recognized as one of the country’s most knowledgeable experts on minority business issues.
JOHN SIBLEY BUTLER holds The Gale Chair in Entrepreneurship and Small Business in the Graduate School of Business (Department of Management) at the University of Texas. He is Chair of the Management Department and holds a joint appointment in Organizational Behavior in the College of Liberal Arts (Sociology). His research is in the areas of organizational behavior, entrepreneurship/new ventures, and general race relations.
ALBERT CAMARILLO is a Professor of American History and Director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. He is a past director of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research and the Stanford Center for Chicano Research. In his research, Professor Camarillo has examined the origins of the Chicano civil rights movement, as well as settlement, labor, and immigration patterns in urbanized populations.
CECILIA A.CONRAD is an Associate Professor of Economics at Pomona College in Claremont, California. Prior to joining the faculty at Pomona, Professor Conrad taught at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and at Barnard College, Columbia University, New York. Her research focuses on the economics of inequality and of the family.
CHRISTOPHER EDLEY, JR, is a Professor at Harvard Law School and the Co-Diretor of the Harvard Civil Rights Project. He served as Senior Advisor to President Clinton for the Race Initiative. His acaemic work is primarily in administrative law, but has also included civil rights, federalism, budget policy, and national security law. | <urn:uuid:8e413e45-e85c-4589-ae62-fe11019c65eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9719&page=440 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937223 | 561 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The mission of the Antitrust Division is to promote economic competition through enforcing and providing guidance on antitrust laws and principles.
The goal of the antitrust laws is to protect economic freedom and opportunity by promoting free and fair competition in the marketplace.
Competition in a free market benefits American consumers through lower prices, better quality and greater choice. Competition provides businesses the opportunity to compete on price and quality, in an open market and on a level playing field, unhampered by anticompetitive restraints. Competition also tests and hardens American companies at home, the better to succeed abroad.
Federal antitrust laws apply to virtually all industries and to every level of business, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. They prohibit a variety of practices that restrain trade, such as price-fixing conspiracies, corporate mergers likely to reduce the competitive vigor of particular markets, and predatory acts designed to achieve or maintain monopoly power.
Antitrust Laws and You
Antitrust Division Manual: Chapter II, Statutory Provisions and Guidelines of the Antitrust Division
Enforcing Antitrust Laws
The Division prosecutes certain violations of the antitrust laws by filing criminal suits that can lead to large fines and jail sentences. In other cases, the Division institutes a civil action seeking a court order forbidding future violations of the law and requiring steps to remedy the anticompetitive effects of past violations.
Many of the Division's accomplishments on these fronts are made possible by an unprecedented level of cooperation and coordination with foreign antitrust enforcement agencies and with state attorneys general.
Other Antitrust Sites Worldwide
Providing Guidance on Antitrust Laws
The Division provides guidance to the business community on antitrust laws, much of it jointly with the Federal Trade Commission. This guidance explains the boundaries of permissible conduct and may reduce uncertainty about the parameters of legal behavior. This saves money for both business and the government by helping companies to structure and organize their operations in accordance with the law. In order to receive guidance from the Division, a business must request a formal business review.
Guidelines and Policy Statements
Compliance Assistance Resources for Businesses
Serving as an Advocate for Competition
In addition to enforcing the antitrust laws, the Antitrust Division also acts as an advocate for competition, seeking to promote competition in sectors of the economy that are or may be subject to government regulation. These sectors include:
- Federally regulated industries, such as communications, banking, agriculture, securities, transportation, energy, and international trade.
- State or locally regulated industries, such as insurance, housing, health care, public utilities, professional and occupational licensing, certain aspects of banking, and real estate.
The Division's advocacy efforts include participation on Executive Branch policy-making task forces, preparation of testimony on legislative initiatives, publication of reports on regulated industry performance, and intervention in regulatory agency proceedings.
Competition and Real Estate
EAG Competition Advocacy Papers
Antitrust Division Manual: Chapter V, Competition Advocacy | <urn:uuid:69d0d6d7-c8c5-4452-be31-de3836f8ebc0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.justice.gov/atr/about/mission.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913209 | 608 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Calvin Lunsford Beale
Calvin Lunsford Beale, senior demographer at the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, died on September 2, 2008 at the age of 85. A lifelong resident of Washington, DC, Beale earned an undergraduate degree at Wilson Teacher’s College in 1945. He studied geography under O.E. Baker at the University of Maryland and received an M.S. in Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His 62-year career in the federal government began at the Veteran’s Administration in 1942 and included jobs in the Office of Strategic Services and the Census Bureau. Beale came to USDA in 1953 and, at the time of his death, had the Department’s longest record of full-time federal service.
Beale conducted ground-breaking research on the U.S. farm population, tracing and explaining its rapid decline over several decades. His comprehensive reporting on black farmers chronicled the circumstances underlying the massive rural exodus of the 1950s and 1960s. He was the first to uncover the 1970s’ nonmetropolitan turnaround, when for the first time more people were leaving metropolitan areas than were moving in. More recently, he drew national media attention by documenting the disproportionate placement of prisons in nonmetropolitan counties.
Beale collaborated with Donald Bogue on Economic Areas of the United States, based on their county-level delineation of State Economic Areas. Released in 1961, it remains the most comprehensive socioeconomic portrait of the U.S. to appear in a single volume.
Beale combined a legendary command of statistical data with firsthand knowledge from 50 years of travel that took him to over 2,400 U.S. counties. Conversations with USDA extension agents and other local officials allowed him to spot emerging trends and issues relevant to rural policymakers back in Washington. A love of American architecture led to a collection of over 2,000 county courthouse pictures. Several of his best photos are published as magazine covers and featured at the very popular County Courthouse web site: www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/population/photos.
In 1990, the RAND Corporation published A Taste of the Country: A Collection of Calvin Beale’s Writings. Edited by Peter Morrison and reissued in 2002 by Penn State University Press, it includes notes from his field visits and a selection of previously unpublished papers. Beale received the USDA Distinguished Service Award in 1968 and the Secretary’s Award for Superior Service in 2003. He was made an honorary fellow of the Population Reference Bureau. In 2005, Beale received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Melungeon Heritage Association for his pioneering research on mixed-ancestry groups.
Calvin Lunsford Beale (Necrology). 2008. AAG Newsletter 43(10): 17. | <urn:uuid:9bd55826-9a7e-457e-9c12-3e46a9d52119> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aag.org/cs/membership/tributes_memorials/a-f/beale_calvin_lunsford | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954942 | 579 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Russian Presbyterians form General Assembly
Assembly to focus on theological education, ordination, training of lay leaders
November 16, 2012
Last month, 29 delegates from across Russia met here to form the country’s first Presbyterian General Assembly.
“Our numbers are smaller than we had anticipated, but the start has been made,” said Dr. Valdimir Li, pastor of Moscow Presbyterian Church. “Everything begins from a small seed. The main thing is that the seed falls into good ground.”
Li, a physician with a master’s degree in theology, will serve a two-year term as the biennial assembly’s first president. Ahn Soon-Cheol, a long-term Moscow missionary from Korea is his deputy.
The next assembly will be held in 2014 on oil- and gas-rich Sachalin Island, home to many Presbyterian congregations founded and sponsored by Koreans.
An immediate task for the assembly is to obtain government registration, which will allow congregations to join a genuine Presbyterian denomination. For the past 20 years, Presbyterian congregations have been forced to exist under a variety of interdenominational umbrellas in order to be considered legal.
The assembly will also work to develop a faculty of Reformed theology. In September, five students began studying at the Moscow Evangelical Christian Seminary, which offers general courses. In the future, the seminary hopes to offer courses specialized for different denominations.
“This is an interdenominational seminary,” Li said. “It will give us a good legal basis for our work.”
Other new tasks will involve the development of guidelines for ordination and the training of laypeople. Coordination between the four regional sections of the General Assembly (Central, Siberia, Far East and Sakhalin) will be required and will allow for more summer children’s camps.
Russian Presbyterians first attempted to form a General Assembly in 2009, on the 100th anniversary of the Korean Presbyterian presence in the Russian Far East. But Li, a native-born Russian of Korean ancestry, reported that that meeting was organized by expatriate missionaries, whom he claims have exported their many divisions to Russia.
“We Russians heard about this gathering last,” he said. When it became apparent that an assembly would not be forming, “the six or so sponsoring denominations in Korea simply lost interest.”
At the October meeting, all voting positions were held by Russian citizens.
“We have decided that Russians will carry the ball and that Koreans are welcome in a supporting role,” Li said, noting that this development is still resisted by some.
Contacts with Korea remain strong, but Li decries the fact that the General Assembly’s Western connections are limited to Korean groups located there.
“We need literature and theological information,” he said. “Who could help us develop and structure our new theological faculty? We need lecturers willing to come here and teach our students for short periods. That would be a very concrete form of aid.”
William Yoder writes for the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, a partner church of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He is a regular contributor to Presbyterian News Service. | <urn:uuid:fd3af3ec-880f-4243-a6f8-89490c1456d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcusa.org/news/2012/11/16/russian-presbyterians-form-general-assembly/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957114 | 689 | 1.609375 | 2 |
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S-54 collaring machines are used in the manufacture of engine a/c systems, fuel rail and high pressure diesel products as well as exhaust cross-over applications and vapor recovery systems.
The T-DRILL range of automatic chipless cut-off machines offer extremely high accuracy with fast production rates for cutting tubes from coil or rackloading systems for multilayered straight tubes. Various materials such as aluminum, stainless steel and brake pipe tubing can be cut using either method.
See references here: Automotive | <urn:uuid:0bdaca34-5340-4b5a-af61-9e0733bb751c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.t-drill.com/tmp_t-drill-usa_site_1.asp?sua=2&lang=9&s=234 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921051 | 377 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Noninvasive optical imaging is an emerging method of functional neuroimaging that has major advantages that make it particularly suited to both basic and clinical neuroscience research as well as to clinical practice.2—7 It has great promise for contributing to neuropsychiatry.2 The required equipment is compact and portable, it is relatively easy to use, and the method is relatively tolerant of subject movement. Studies can be performed in almost any location including at the bedside and in natural settings. Patients who are not good candidates for more traditional functional imaging methods (e.g., functional MRI [fMRI] and positron emission tomography [PET]) often do well with optical imaging, as it does not require absolute stillness or confinement and has no associated loud noises. It is also safe to use in the presence of metal (e.g., plates, pins, pacemakers), an important consideration for some populations of interest. It has much faster time resolution than most other functional imaging techniques and can easily provide repeated within-subject measures. Other major advantages are low cost and high safety. Like surface electroencephalography (EEG), optical imaging captures activation-related changes only from the cerebral cortex. Historically, the major disadvantages of optical imaging have been its lower spatial resolution and smaller regions of coverage, areas of major improvement over the last decade. Use of optical imaging for monitoring of cerebral state in high-risk situations (e.g., neurosurgery, intensive care unit), while an important clinical application, is outside the scope of this review.8—10
The concept that the functional state of tissue influences its optical properties in observable ways is well accepted. Familiar medical examples include hypoxia-induced cyanosis and anemia-related pallor. Both result from changes in the concentration of oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) and deoxyhemoglobin (HbR). Hemoglobin (Hb) is a chromophore, a chemical group that absorbs light at a specific frequency, thus imparting coloration. Most noninvasive optical neuroimaging approaches presently used in clinical practice and human research are based on using some version of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure intrinsic activation-related changes in the concentrations of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin. Thus, similar to fMRI, optical neuroimaging measures the hemodynamic response to brain activation. Unlike fMRI, which is based on detecting activation-related changes in HbR, NIRS can monitor localized changes in cerebral blood volume and both HbO2 and HbR.
The initial demonstration of NIRS-based noninvasive monitoring of cerebral oxygenation state utilized transmission of light through the tissue of interest (transillumination).11 While very useful for thinner structures (e.g., finger pulse oximetry), this approach is not well suited to noninvasive monitoring of the adult brain due to the size of the adult head and the thickness of overlying structures (e.g., scalp, skull, dura, CSF). It was not until the development of techniques based on detection of light emerging from the surface near the light source that NIRS began to be more widely utilized for human research.12 The interaction between light and tissue depends upon scattering and absorption at the particular wavelength.2—7 Scattering decreases with increasing wavelength. Compared to visible light, light in the near-infrared range easily penetrates into tissue. Unlike X-ray photons, which travel in a straight line through soft tissues (due to their higher energy), near-infrared photons will change direction multiple times (Figure 1). Although comparatively less in the near-infrared range, scatter limits penetration depth and spatial resolution. Absorption in the near-infrared range is primarily due to the presence of endogenous chromophores such as water, hemoglobin, bilirubin, and cytochrome (Figure 2). Tissue penetration is best at wavelengths between ∼700—900 nm. (Depth sensitivity is limited by hemoglobin absorption below this range and water absorption above it.) In this range, sometimes called the "biological optical window" or the "medical spectral window," light can penetrate into tissue as much as several centimeters and still return to detectors at the surface. The separation between the source and detector is an essential factor in determining depth sensitivity, as photons reaching a detector farther from the source are more likely to have penetrated more deeply (Figure 1).13 Thus, signals from closely spaced source-detector pairs will be more sensitive to superficial tissues (e.g., scalp). This can be used to mathematically compensate for the effects of signal from superficial tissues on signals acquired from more widely spaced source-detector pairs.
Optical imaging requires the use of devices (known as optodes) for coupling light between an optoelectronic component (e.g., light source, photodetector) and a surface (e.g., skin, scalp).2—7 By utilizing more than one wavelength of light, measurements can be made that are differentially sensitive to changes in oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin (Figure 2). Some wavelengths are equally sensitive to both (isobestic points). At an isobestic point, changes in total hemoglobin concentration (HbT) can be measured directly. Although there are methods for measuring absolute concentrations, most optical imaging measures change relative to initial conditions (Figure 3).
There are three major methods of noninvasive optical imaging.2—7 The simplest approach is the original continuous wave method in which light sources provide a signal of constant amplitude and detectors measure light amplitude attenuation. Under these conditions, it is not possible to directly measure the scattering properties of tissue which cause photons to travel along different paths (and have different pathlengths) between the source and detector (Figure 1). Assumption-based modeling and computer simulations are required to estimate these effects. Advantages of the continuous wave method include low cost; high safety (it can be done with light emitting diodes [LEDs]); and smaller, very portable equipment that is easily used in clinical settings and natural environments. Major disadvantages are limited spatial resolution (particularly in the more portable systems) and provision of relative rather than absolute measures of concentration change. The more complex time-resolved and frequency-domain approaches to optical imaging both provide better sensitivity, but require use of laser light sources, which increase cost and introduce potential safety issues. For time-resolved optical imaging, a pulsed laser is used as the light source, and the time it takes photons to arrive at the detector is measured (time of flight).14 One benefit of this approach is that early arriving photons (short time of flight) have penetrated less deeply into tissue (shorter pathlength). Thus, the temporal distribution of photons can be used to resolve depth. For frequency-domain optical imaging, the light source is modulated and the phase delay (phase shift) of light at the detector(s) provides a measure of time of flight.15 Greater phase delay indicates photons that have traveled more deeply (longer pathlength). Optimizing analysis of these types of data in order to improve depth sensitivity and quantitation is an area of very active research.
The two methods for analyzing noninvasive optical neuroimaging data in humans are optical topography and diffuse optical tomography (DOT). Optical topography is done with a sparse array (Figure 4). Pairs of light-emitting and light-detecting optodes are separated by 2—4 cm, providing lower (generally >5 mm) spatial resolution. Point measurements are interpolated into a 2D topographic activation map that can be roughly superimposed onto the area of brain underlying the probe array. Diffuse optical tomography is generally done with a denser array (Figure 4).16—18 Dense arrays provide source-detector pairs with multiple separations. As noted in Figure 1, pairs that are close together will be more sensitive to superficial tissues (e.g., scalp, skull), whereas pairs with a greater separation will be more sensitive to deeper tissues (e.g., cortex). In diffuse optical tomography, overlapping information from multiple detector pairs can be combined in the form of a model-based 3D image reconstruction. Reconstructing data can improve depth sensitivity and decrease physiological noise. Recent studies have demonstrated the feasibility of much higher resolution mapping of limited areas of the cortex using tomographic reconstruction approaches.16,18,19
As described in recent review articles, optical neuroimaging has been utilized to study motor, sensory, and cognitive task-related activations in multiple populations including the very young and elderly and individuals with psychiatric disorders.2—4 Recent studies illustrate the application of optical neuroimaging to processes and tasks that previously were not amenable to functional imaging. Monitoring during performance in more naturalistic situations allows exploration of complex cognitive functions. For example, a study that acquired repeated measures while the subjects performed a simulated naval air warfare management task that varied on task load, task difficulty, and requirement for divided attention found positive correlations between level of activations and level of performance.20 Similarly, a study that acquired repeated measures while the subject was playing a game of Japanese chess (shogi) was able to correlate the cognitive demand level of the game stage with location and extent of activation.21 Another that acquired repeated measures during a conversational task supports the potential for studying social interactions in a natural setting.22 Other studies comparing task-related activation during actually performing a motor task versus some form of pretence (e.g., peeling an apple versus making similar hand motions, physically executing a movement versus mentally imagining performing it) have found that the activations differ, underscoring the importance of a functional imaging technique that allows subjects to move freely.23,24
Optical neuroimaging also has the potential to improve clinical management in a variety of ways. For example, it may be useful for early diagnosis of some conditions. A recent study evaluated the potential of optical neuroimaging to inform diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease based on the known early onset of visuospatial deficits in this population.25 Performance was similar between groups on a simple line orientation naming task, but patients with mild-moderate dementia likely due to Alzheimer’s disease had much less activation in parietal cortex compared to age-matched healthy individuals. As noted by the authors, studies of individuals with mild cognitive impairment are required to fully evaluate the potential diagnostic utility of this approach. Initial studies in which optical neuroimaging has been combined with treatment indicate the potential of this technique to monitor treatment response and provide insight into the processes underlying clinical efficacy.26,27
Similar to other neuroimaging methods, individual differences in physiology and anatomy are a potentially important source of variability in optical neuroimaging. Study participants can differ considerably in the proportion of hemoglobin in the arterial and venous compartments, as well as in total hemoglobin concentration.7 Thickness and composition of the superficial layers, especially the skull and CSF, also vary across individuals. In some studies, addition of structural imaging (e.g., MRI, CT) has been used to improve localization by using models of light propagation that are based on the individual subject’s anatomy.
Optical neuroimaging is a relatively new addition to the field of functional neuroimaging, and there is little standardization as of yet. There is a growing effort within the optical imaging community to develop a more systematic framework for experimental design and data analysis.5,6,28 One area of particular concern is minimizing factors that degrade the signal of interest. Inadequate shielding and/or poor coupling between optode and skin can allow ambient light to reach detectors. This has been addressed in multiple ways including decreasing ambient light (e.g., dim room light, covering sensor array with dark or opaque material), filtering, and differential detection. Movement of sources and detectors relative to the scalp can also cause significant changes in the coupling of light into and out of the head. Hair exacerbates this problem since it is highly absorbing (due to its melanin content) and can interfere with probe contact, causing fluctuations in light delivery and detection during movement. Thus, in addition to spring-loading of optodes to improve contact, secure anchoring of the probe array is essential. Elasticized bandages are commonly used to hold smaller arrays in place. Caps and helmets have been developed to accommodate larger arrays and tasks requiring more movement. Optimizing the probe design to match the demands of the desired task is recommended. Identification of motion artifacts can be done by visual inspection of data, as they are generally very large compared to the signal. Statistical methods for motion detection/correction (e.g., outlier detection, principal component analysis) have also been developed. Physiological noise (e.g., respiration, heart rate, etc.) will also be present. Filtering, signal averaging, gating, and comparing signals from near and distant detector pairs have all been used to decrease its impact on signal.5,6,28
In summary, noninvasive optical imaging is an exciting new approach to functional neuroimaging with many advantages for use in psychiatric research. These include the ability to perform studies in a wide range of settings and in patient populations unable to tolerate confinement or loud noises. There is clear potential for applications to clinical care. In addition, there are optical imaging techniques in much earlier stages of development that hold the potential of providing entirely new types of information. One approach may allow optical imaging of brain activation directly by measurement of activation-induced intrinsic light scattering changes.15,29 Another is development of fluorescent compounds that may have use as optical contrast agents.30,31 Thus, optical imaging may provide a future tool for both assessment and monitoring treatment response in psychiatric illness. | <urn:uuid:5aa004d8-8df4-462a-9bc0-c1eaaa33b346> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=104261 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93351 | 2,814 | 2.859375 | 3 |
August 15, 2012
Let’s talk about how everything has changed, geopolitically. In August 2012, we are no longer operating on all the old assumptions that anchored behavior among the nations in the 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Interpreting what’s going on in light of those old assumptions will now lead us into error. We are wrong about some very important things today, if our thinking remains stuck in the themes of the past. Here are just four of those important things:
1. The import of what Russia and China do with their military forces. When Russia deploys bombers or attack submarines close to the US, or Russia and China parade huge naval forces around the Japanese islands, or Russia sends a big naval force to the Mediterranean and prepares to hold the most comprehensive military exercise since the end of the Cold War in the Caucasus, or China conducts air force exercises with Turkey and sends warships into the Black Sea for port visits – when these things happen, they mean Russia and China are serious about the potential need to use force.
It means they are not satisfied with the status quo, and they are preparing for the day when they will have to breach it, or can benefit from a breach in it through the use of force (even if only for intimidation). It is the height of foolish complacency for Americans and Europeans to take these signs lightly.
It is also a backward-looking conclusion, to say that the US can prevail over any of the forces deployed by Russia and China. The post-Cold War paradigm in which that might have been true is shattered. Russia and China are preparing for confrontations they can win. We are not. They won’t confront us with forces in our own region – although, as Russia has done, they will certainly warn us with them. They will instead induce things to happen in their region – things prejudicial to our interests – which we can only prevent if we use force where we are at a disadvantage: on their turf.
This isn’t a resumption of the Cold War. It’s a new-old paradigm of international confrontation, and the advantages we had in the Cold War, such as our superb network of alliances, no longer necessarily apply to the tasks America will perceive to be necessary.
2. The explanatory narrative of the Arab-Israeli conflict. In the early years of modern Israel’s existence, it was generally understood in the West that the Arabs hated the re-formed state. They were quite explicit about it, after all, and the data point in the public mind was phrased in just those terms. A number of the Arab nations threw in with the Soviet Union in order to gain support for their various projects of Arabism and anti-Western, anti-Israeli geopolitics.
From the late 1970s, when the Israel-Egypt accords were signed, the political mainstreaming of Yasser Arafat, the “intifadas,” and the rise of globalist Islamism gradually turned the narrative to a different theme. The Oslo accords and empowerment of the Palestinian Authority set the stage for that theme to produce endless drama, in which the Palestinian Arabs have been depicted as the victims of a brutal campaign of sequestration by Israel. In many ways, history and current events have been completely falsified by anti-Israel forces during this period. But the persistent thread in the narrative has been that “justice” will only come when the Palestinian Arabs have a nation of their own.
In light of this narrative, the “Peace Process” has been focused in the last decade on negotiating a settlement by which the Palestinian Arabs gain a nation-state. The best-known corollary to this narrative, in the mainstream media and among anti-Israel groups, says that Israel is the problem in these negotiations: Israel won’t make enough concessions; Israel keeps expanding settlements in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria); Israel provokes the terrorist attacks of Hamas with her cruelty to the Palestinian Arabs. These allegations have been ridden almost to a UN vote on recognizing a state of Palestine – unilaterally, against the national prerogatives conferred on Israel by the UN Charter itself.
The “almost” is important, because this paradigm too is changing. The impetus is no longer behind forcing a Palestinian state on Israel as the chief means of gaining position against Israel. Before the Arab Spring, that strategy had the support of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, as the primary means of changing the Arab-Islamic world’s position in relation to Israel. As the Arab Spring unfolds, however, promoting unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state has lost its strategic urgency. The other factors in the region are changing, and there may well be better ways to get at Israel.
Egypt has a long-pacified buffer with Israel in the Sinai, and the Arab world’s largest nation is now in Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim-Brotherhood hands. A Morsi advisor told Egyptian media this week that Egypt’s new government is looking at amending the Camp David Accords to affirm Egyptian sovereignty in the Sinai. This policy shift won’t be benign, given Morsi’s rallying cry from June 2012:
“Our capital shall be Jerusalem!”
“Millions of martyrs march toward Jerusalem!”
“Banish the sleep from the eyes of all Jews!”
“You lovers of martyrdom, you are all Hamas!”
“Jerusalem is our goal!”
Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, continues to leverage cooperation with the United States to gain control over the future of Syria, which also has a border with Israel. Erdogan and Morsi, heads of populous nations, are now in competition with each other for leadership of the emerging phenomenon of modern state-Islamism. The Muslim Brotherhood’s influence will be effectively focused through the lens of Morsi’s government in Egypt; Erdogan is without a doubt an Islamist, but the Muslim Brotherhood has had an Arab- and Jerusalem-oriented trend in the last several years, and Morsi is its great hope now for wielding state power. Erdogan’s scope of interest is more diverse, given Turkey’s geography and history. (Erdogan is also better armed, and remains a member of NATO, so Turkey is not to be counted out.)
Iran, through her client Hezbollah, sits on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Hezbollah has controlled Lebanon’s government since early 2011, and has completely controlled southern Lebanon since at least early 2010. Iran has been rocked on her heels by the travails of Bashar al-Assad, her client in Syria. But her influence in Lebanon keeps her in the game.
Israel’s other border is with Jordan, which remains solidly aligned with Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are seeking to be better armed and to leverage more of a say in the Levant, but at the moment, their influence is the least of Israel’s problems.
Hamas will not cease perpetrating terror attacks on Israel any time soon, but then, Hamas’s attacks were never about an earnest yearning for a Palestinian state. They are mounted solely to undermine Israel and wreak destruction. They will continue in spite of the decline of interest in pressing for a Palestinian state. But that decline will be noticeable. Morsi, Erdogan, and the mullahs are competing with each other now, and their absorption will be in gaining power and position where they can. The Palestinian narrative will be sidelined. Its strategic usefulness – except as a perfunctory theme for denigrating Israel – is plummeting as I write, because a new objective is emerging.
3. What the priority of radical Islamists is. A short while back, the Obama administration put out a report that the number of global terrorist incidents had declined between 2010 and 2011, connecting the decline to the death of Osama bin Laden. The administration certainly can’t be blamed for putting out good news, but its analysis is flawed. Bin Laden’s influence on global terrorism had declined precipitously in the years since the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. He was nowhere near the operational leader or even rallying influence that he had been a decade before.
We will very probably find when we get the terrorism statistics for 2012 and the out years that the number of attacks continues to decline. The reason will be the strategically important thing that happened in 2011: the Arab Spring. The toppling of old, sclerotic despotisms has opened the door to the ascent of state Islamism – and that’s where the Muslim Brotherhood is putting its efforts now. Islamist autocrats, which is what Morsi is becoming, will not tolerate extemporaneous terrorism that works against their purposes. (Morsi is likely to clamp down on terrorism inside Egypt much more effectively than Mubarak did.)
The Arab Spring’s civil wars have also kept jihadis occupied, fighting in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, and turning to new opportunities for political agitation in nations like Tunisia and Egypt. Terrorism is no longer the most significant model of radical Islamist political expression. It is outdated to think in those terms.
Guerrilla tactics will still prevail in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, where they are especially well suited to population control. Terrorism won’t stop, either. But the model of terrorism against the West in the last 40 years is no longer the way Islamist extremism will communicate or seek influence. The terrorist paradigm is giving way at this very moment to the paradigm of state-Islamism.
4. The reason Iran wants nuclear weapons. Ten years ago, Iran wanted to be nuclear armed so she could deter US policy, drive us out of the Middle East, and pluck away Israel’s friends and options.
Now the Arab Spring has happened, and Iran’s relative position in the region has been eroded. Iran is in a less stable and preeminent position than she was two years ago. Her emerging competition then was Erdogan’s Turkey, but Ankara’s competition for leadership as an Islamist state was ambiguous up until the past year, since Erdogan has sought to retain Turkey’s ties with the West and keep good relations with Russia, Iran’s main patron. Erdogan has presented himself as an Islamic alternative to state Islamism, even while systematically undoing Turkey’s liberal reforms and guarantees from the Ataturk era.
Turkey has her drawbacks as a focus of Islamist aspirations, with a political history in the region that automatically alarms much of Europe and Central Asia. Turkey has even been a source of discouragement to modern Islamists. The Ottoman Empire was defeated and dismantled by the West, after all, and Ataturk’s Turkey gave in to Western mores and ideas. Arab Islamists are not necessarily anxious to rally behind Turkey’s leadership in a neo-Ottoman consortium.
Still, Erdogan is, as noted, heavily armed, and has been able to put together political successes recently, bolstered by the Obama administration. Now, with the Arab Spring, has come an emerging Islamist Egypt. Ten years ago Iran was the only Islamist theocracy in the region. Now there are two others emerging, and vying for leadership of the global-Islamist ideology. Syria is up for grabs, and might, with US help, migrate into Turkey’s orbit. The Arab Spring brought strife to most of the region, and Iran was implicated in some of it – in Bahrain and Yemen – which created greater alarm for Saudi Arabia, and has lined the Saudis up behind the push to eject Assad and Iran from Syria.
Iran’s relative situation has deteriorated. To regain a sense of leadership and invulnerability – as well as to vindicate Shia Islam over the recent Sunni triumphs in the region – Iran needs a big strategic win. She needs a trump card over the emerging Sunni centers of gravity in Cairo and Ankara.
She will have to win out over those competitors if she wants to have an Iranian-led army waiting for the Mahdi in Jerusalem. She’s not just planning a long game against the US now; she’s jockeying against regional competitors – who are already making their moves – for the whole ball of wax.
For this reason, I now think there is a real possibility that Iran will try to detonate a warhead this year. The movement in the rest of the region makes the task more urgent from Iran’s strategic perspective. And the US election may well create a frame for Iran’s intentions. The clearest frame would be drawn if Obama loses in November. His lame-duck period would be the time Iran would want to shoot for.
If he wins again, Iran would have a little breathing room in terms of whether the US would take action against an Iranian “breakout.” But there isn’t much time to be lost in establishing regional preeminence for Iran through acquiring nuclear weapons. The aftermath of the Arab Spring has made sure of that.
If Israel is seeking to be prepared to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities before the US election, a report Lauri Regan discusses at American Thinker, I believe it is because the urgency of a breakout for Iran has ratcheted up in 2012. In the wake of the Arab Spring, if you’re standing still in the race to Jerusalem, you’re falling behind. | <urn:uuid:53a51ee4-81d2-4a45-a777-513a5e0435c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.zstreet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=667:paradigm-shift-iran-now-needs-the-bomb&catid=5:must-read&Itemid=30 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959236 | 2,760 | 1.992188 | 2 |
So it looks like Wi-Fi Protected Access, known to the cool kids as WPA, has been partially cracked. Even better, the methodology was recently incorporated into Aircrack-ng, which is one of the most popular “security” tools out there. Expect script kiddie attacks sooner rather than later.
The actual method will be discussed at an upcoming security conference, PacSec, in Tokyo.
From start to finish, the attack takes between 12-15 minutes to complete.
Should the attack evolve—and there’s no reason to think it won’t now—the usefulness of WPA pretty much evaporates. Maybe it doesn’t so much matter to your Linksys router, but enterprise-level folk will be none too pleased, now that they have to make the transition to WPA2. Good thing most hardware out there supports both. | <urn:uuid:6053babb-7c2d-4c91-a8e6-7961dbcf897b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techcrunch.com/2008/11/06/floodgates-wpa-partially-cracked/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953594 | 183 | 1.890625 | 2 |
BlackBerry’s new smartphone software is so last week. A new free mobile operating system is being readied for release—by a company hoping to earn support from mobile carriers and handset makers interested in weakening the dominance of Apple and Google.
That new smartphone software is a version of Ubuntu, a free Linux-based operating system for laptops, desktops, and servers. The U.K. company Canonical, which developed Ubuntu, says the first commercial handsets running the operating system will hit stores at the end of 2013. But an early version of the software will be available free in the next few weeks, along with tools for installing it on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone. The source code will also be released, allowing developers to modify the software so that it can be installed on any Android handset.
Pat McGowan, director of engineering at Canonical, demonstrated Ubuntu for phones at an event on MIT’s campus last week. While BlackBerry carpeted several basketball courts for an extravagant Manhattan launch of its new BB10 software the same week (see “BlackBerry’s New Phones Score Points”), Ubuntu’s public debut was more subdued. Instead of press flown in from around the country, the attendees were a handful of computer programmers and academics, some perhaps attracted as much by the free pizza as by a novel mobile platform.
As the setting suggests, Canonical can’t match the resources behind BlackBerry or the other leading mobile-OS makers, Apple, Google, and Microsoft. It has just a few hundred employees and measures its annual revenue in tens of millions of dollars rather than billions. Ubuntu can be installed on most computers in place of Windows or OSX, but it’s most dominant in the world of Web servers. And Ubuntu on the desktop is most popular among programmers and in a few niche markets around the world.
Even though no plans for devices running Ubuntu have been announced, the platform could still fare well in the mobile market for one important reason: it offers a way for handset makers and carriers to lessen the control Google wields through its free Android operating system.
“There does seem to be room in the market for another mobile operating system,” McGowan said during his presentation, adding that Canonical has seen a “very strong, good reaction” from mobile carriers and phone manufacturers so far. “There’s an interest in something other than Android because Google’s got a lot of control,” he said. Although Google’s Android is also based on Linux and is free to use, the company develops it in private, and most phone makers use a version bundled with Google services. Furthermore, in the past Google has released the latest versions of the software to some hardware makers before others—and required them to install it without modification, to demonstrate the latest capabilities.
Canonical could also gain momentum by targeting fast-growing smartphone markets in developing countries, where high-end devices may be too expensive for many people (see “Ubuntu Smartphone Aims for Success in Developing Countries”). But Ubuntu’s biggest challenge may be in delivering the kind of polished design and usability consumers expect from smartphones, which have not traditionally been priorities of the volunteer programmers who work on Linux and the standard Ubuntu operating system. The version of Ubuntu that McGowan demonstrated on a Galaxy Nexus was rough around the edges—slowing down when I opened several apps, for example—but had many features one would expect from a modern smartphone, including a simple music player and music store and the ability to play high-definition video.
With no commercial devices expected until late this year, the platform will start well behind the competition, with few apps to attract users unless carriers choose to help out.
“The question is whether enough people will use it that developers will write apps for it, and the reverse,” says Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School who studies competition in technology industries. “Will enough developers write apps for it that people will use it? It’s a chicken-and-egg problem.”
In hope of accelerating the development of compatible mobile apps, Canonical has made it possible to build them using the same standardized technologies used to build Web pages. That means many developers won’t need to learn a new programming framework, and the code used to create Web apps like the ones found in in Google’s Chrome Web Store should run on Ubuntu devices with minimal modification.
Canonical says that software for the mobile version of Ubuntu will also work on the versions available for PCs and televisions, something not offered by other operating system companies. “Having a platform on top of all of those—I think that’s interesting,” says Andrei Hagiu, an associate professor at Harvard Business School. “They’re saying: ‘We’re going to simplify this world both for users and developers.’”
Ubuntu won’t be the only free, open-source mobile operating system to launch in coming months. The Mozilla foundation, which makes the Firefox Web browser, is preparing smartphone software known as Firefox OS with support from the handset maker ZTE. Meanwhile, a consortium of companies including Intel and Samsung is backing another Linux-based operating system, called Tizen (see “The Underdog Operating Systems Set to Shake Up the Smartphone Scene”).
Even if carriers and hardware companies welcome the arrival of all that competition as a way to dilute the influence of Google and Apple in mobile software, it could make things considerably less simple for user and developers. “Don’t we have enough operating systems for phones?” asks Hagiu. “If I’m a developer, I kind of hate that I have to write for all of them.” | <urn:uuid:1c9e8495-2fd5-4bc8-85f9-6ca30a936b6c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.technologyreview.com/news/510731/ubuntu-invites-phone-makers-to-cheat-on-google/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943268 | 1,204 | 2.125 | 2 |
Control a Remote PC with Ease for Free
I'm constantly accessing different computers, but I don't need to get up from my chair to swap PCs. Instead of walking between them, a VNC (virtual network computer) setup lets me log into remote machines that are across the room or around the world. Now I can manage software installations, see if a download is complete, or just troubleshoot from anywhere.
Windows XP Professional, and Vista Business and Ultimate include this functionality, called Remote Desktop. (Lesser SKUs can connect to those operating systems, but they can't host a remote computer.) You can also set up PCs with the open, VNC protocol, using a range of software. But those routines often require port forwarding and other network management. I've shirked that level of network management and sampled LogMeIn, which uses its web server so you don't need to know IP addresses or other networking details. Plus a new, albeit paid, iPhone client [app link] drives it all from anywhere.
Just install free host software on the remote PC, and add an optional client installation on your controlling side. You'll then log into the website and see a list of your configured PCs (or Macs). The service works inside the web browser, and other than moderate delays for screen redrawing, it's just like controlling a PC normally. The paid service adds a few extra features, such as simplification of file transfer to a remote computer, but you might never need that upgrade. | <urn:uuid:5f171e8d-ea06-4fab-ad68-6553086440fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pcworld.com/article/156073/Control_a_Remote_PC_with_Ease_for_Free.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93889 | 309 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Anyone have any thoughts (or experiences) they could share on the topic? Is this a gradual step-by-step process, that we go thru in somewhat journey form or might a person have different levels of wisdom in different areas of their practice, such as one person deeply understanding some aspects of the dhamma experientially, while being at an intellectual level of cinta-maya panna with others?
Relevance of Vedana to Bhavana-maya Panna
"The Pali term bhavana-maya panna means experiential wisdom. Bhavanabhavana is meditation through which wisdom (panna) is cultivated. In order to understand the essence of the term bhavana-maya panna and its relevance to vedana (sensation), we first need to understand the meaning of the term panna. Panna is derived from the root 'na' which means 'to know', prefixed by 'pa' meaning 'correctly'. Thus, the literal English translation of the word panna is 'to know correctly'. Commonly used equivalents are such words as 'insight', 'knowledge' or 'wisdom'. All these convey aspects of panna, but, as with all Pali terms, no translation corresponds exactly.
In the ancient texts, panna is defined more precisely as yatha-bhutam-nana-dassanamyatha-bhuta-nana-dassanam, seeing things as they are, not as they appear to be. That is, understanding the true nature of anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering) and anatta (essencelessness) in all things. This realisation leads to the ultimate truth of nibbana. It may also be described as pakarena janati'ti pannapakarena janati ti panna-because it is understood through different angles it is panna. The Visuddhimagga elaborates on this explaining that the characteristic of panna is to penetrate the true nature of things. Its function is to dispel the darkness of ignorance, and prevent one from becoming bewildered by its manifestation. Its immediate cause is concentration (samadhi). Hence the words 'He whose mind is concentrated knows and sees things according to reality'.
The texts mention three types of panna-suta-maya pannasuta-maya panna, cinta-maya pannacinta-maya panna and bhavana-mayapanna. Suta-mayapanna is wisdom obtained from listening to others, from being instructed by others about impermanence, suffering and essencelessness. It may also develop from reading sacred texts. This type of panna is clearly dependent on an external source. Thus, suta-mayapanna consists of learning which has been gained by listening to others (parato sutva patilabhati). Such wisdom is parokkha (inferred knowledge). This may inspire one to tread on the path of Dhamma, but in itself cannot lead to the attainment of liberation.
Cinta-maya panna is the wisdom obtained from one's own thinking, not just from hearing others (parato asutva patilabhati). It is the understanding of impermanence, suffering and essencelessness, from what one has grasped by the means of one's own intellect. It is the process of intellectually analyzing something to see whether it is logical and rational. Having gone through such a process, one can then accept a teaching intellectually. One may thereby become knowledgeable about the theory of Dhamma, and may be able to explain it to others. One may even be able to help others realize the fact of anicca, dukkha and anatta, but still one cannot obtain liberation for oneself. On the contrary, there is a danger that one may accumulate more mental defilements by developing ego since one lacks the direct experience of wisdom.
Sometimes we find in the texts a change in the order of suta-maya panna and cinta-maya panna. At times cinta-maya panna is mentioned first, followed by suta-maya panna and bhavana-maya panna. At times, suta-maya panna is followed by cinta-maya panna and bhavana-maya panna. But in both cases, bhavana-maya panna comes at the end and is of prime importance for the realisation of truth. It does not make any difference in which order we find the first two. Initially a person may listen to the Dhamma from an outside source- suta-maya panna, and then develop cinta-maya panna by rationally thinking about it, trying to understand anicca, dukkha and anatta intellectually, and thereby develop yoniso manasikara (right thinking). Or one may start with cinta-maya panna, one's own intellectual understanding, by reflecting rationally on anicca, dukkha and anatta, and then, by listening to others (suta-maya panna), one may confirm one's intellectual understanding. We should remember that whichever of the two may come first, neither of them can give liberation. Liberation results only from bhavana-maya panna.
Bhavana-maya pannabhavana-maya panna is the wisdom obtained by meditation-the wisdom that comes from the direct experience of the truth. This development of insight is also called vipassana- bhavana (Vipassana meditation). The meditator makes right effort and so realizes for himself that every thing in the world is transitory, a source of suffering, and essenceless. This insight is not the mere acceptance of what someone else has said, nor the product of deductive reasoning. It is, rather, the direct comprehension of the reality of anicca, dukkha and anatta.
To develop bhavana-maya panna, we must experience all phenomena and undestand their true nature. And this is done through experiencing vedana, (bodily sensations), because it is through these sensations that the totality of our nature manifests itself as pancakkhandha (the five aggregates)."
excerpt from Vipassana Research Institute | <urn:uuid:85a86a6e-278c-4975-a078-0828d0df04da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=2170&start=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932499 | 1,356 | 2.171875 | 2 |
National Bank Financial Group donates $50,000 to the Literacy Foundation
Montreal, 10 September 2010 -
National Bank Financial Group is pleased to present $50,000 to the Literacy Foundation for itsThe Gift of Reading® project, which distributes new books to underprivileged children.
The Financial Group is aware of the importance of education for young people, and this financial support is just one of the steps it intends to take to help reduce the dropout rate and foster the desire to learn, from early childhood to university.
“Knowing how to read is an essential element of personal development and self-sufficiency and, by extension, of people’s individual contribution to society. That is why, on International Literacy Day, we salute the Foundation's 20 years of accomplishments in the fight against illiteracy,” said Lynn Jeanniot, Senior Vice-President of Human Resources and Corporate Affairs at National Bank Financial Group.
Every year, National Bank Financial Group invests hundreds of thousands of dollars through its donations program to stimulate learning and make sure that young people have access to the resources they need to develop fully. More information on the many causes and projects the Financial Group supports as part of its commitment to the communities it serves can be found in our social responsibility report at www.nbc.ca/socialresponsibility.
About National Bank of Canada
National Bank of Canada is an integrated group that provides comprehensive financial services to consumers, small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations in its core market, while offering specialized services to its clients elsewhere in the world. National Bank offers a full array of banking services, including retail, corporate and investment banking. It is an active player on international capital markets and, through its subsidiaries, is involved in securities brokerage, insurance and wealth management as well as mutual fund and retirement plan management. National Bank has over $146 billion in assets and, together with its subsidiaries, employs 18,438 people. The Bank’s securities are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (NA:TSX). For more information, visit the Bank’s website at www.nbc.ca.
Information (The telephone number provided below is for the exclusive use of journalists and other media representatives.)
Senior Advisor, Public Relations
National Bank Financial Group | <urn:uuid:eae74550-67dc-4bf8-a11a-02c5b2b2abcc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bnc.ca/bnc/cda/newsdetail/0,2714,articleCode-16271_divId-2_langId-1_navCode-6060_viewFilter-2010,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941586 | 467 | 1.53125 | 2 |
- Keep your wireless phone batteries charged at all times. Have an alternative plan to recharge your battery in case of a power outage, such as using your car charger to charge your device or having extra mobile phone batteries on hand.
- Keep your wireless phone dry. The biggest threat to your device during a hurricane is water, so keep your equipment safe from the elements by storing it in a baggie or some other type of protective covering.
- Have a family communication plan in place. Designate someone out of the area as a central contact, and make certain that all family members know who to contact if they get separated. Most importantly, practice your emergency plan in advance.
- Program all of your emergency contact numbers and e-mail addresses into your mobile phone. Numbers should include the police department, fire station and hospital, as well as your family members.
- Forward your home number to your wireless number in the event of an evacuation. Because call forwarding is based out of the telephone central office, you will get incoming calls from your landline phone even if your local telephone service is disrupted at your home. In the unlikely event that the central office is not operational, services such as Voicemail, Call Forwarding, Remote Access call forwarding and call forwarding busy line/don’t answer may be useful.
- Track the storm and access weather information on your wireless device. Many homes lose power during severe weather. If you have a wireless device that provides access to the Internet or weather and news apps.
- Camera phones provide assistance. If you have a camera phone, take, store and send photos — even video clips — of damaged property to your insurance company from your device.
- Take advantage of location-based mapping technology. Services such as AT&T Navigator and AT&T FamilyMap can help you seek evacuation routes or avoid traffic congestion from downed trees or power lines, as well as track a family member’s wireless device in case you get separated.
Small Business Tips:
- Set up a call-forwarding service to a predetermined backup location. Set up a single or multiple hotline number(s) for employees, employees’ families, customers and partners, as appropriate, to call so that all parties know about the business situation and emergency plan. For this to be most effective, maintain an updated contact list, including mobile and home phone numbers and e-mail addresses, for all employees.
- Protect hardware/software/data records/employee records, etc. Routinely back up these files to an off-site location. Use a generator for supplying backup power to vital computer hardware and other mission-critical equipment. Prearrange the replacement of damaged hardware with vendors to ensure quick business recovery.
- Outline detailed plans for evacuation and shelter-in-place plans. Practice these plans (employee training, etc.). Establish a backup location for your business and meeting place for all employees.
- Assemble a crisis-management team and coordinate efforts with neighboring businesses and building management. Be aware that disasters affecting your suppliers also affect your business. Outline a plan for supply chain continuity for business essentials.
- Consider a back-up cellular network. Services like AT&T Remote Mobility Zone, allows organizations to protect their critical communications by installing small cell sites at the businesses’ locations. If a disaster disables primary communications networks, the back-up cellular network can help keep your company connected.
Maximizing Service During and After a Hurricane:
- Try text messaging. During an emergency situation, text messages may go through more quickly than voice calls because they require fewer network resources. All of AT&T’s wireless devices are text messaging capable. Depending on your text or data plan, additional charges may apply.
- Be prepared for high call volume. During an emergency, many people are trying to use their phones at the same time. The increased calling volume may create network congestion, leading to “fast busy” signals on your wireless phone or a slow dial tone on your landline phone. If this happens, hang up, wait several seconds and then try the call again. This allows your original call data to clear the network before you try again.
- Keep non-emergency calls to a minimum, and limit your calls to the most important ones. If there is severe weather, chances are many people will be attempting to place calls to loved ones, friends and business associates. | <urn:uuid:be4c7f3e-9f2f-4311-828d-c7a7ddcf5ad5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freehold.patch.com/blog_posts/wireless-and-communications-prep-tips-ahead-of-hurricane-sandy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928944 | 907 | 1.6875 | 2 |
This Study Guide has been re-edited and re-printed.
This edition is the second printing.
This Study Guide is for the third edition (2011) of the “8 Points” that have both identified and guided ProgressiveChristianity.org (formerly The Center for Progressive Christianity) since the organization’s founding in 1994. We have been asked numerous times why we find it necessary to change or update the “8 Points.” There are three primary answers to that question. First, we change the wording because we often get comments and suggestions from our readers and supporters that make sense to us. Some of these are theological comments and some are simply seeking greater clarity demonstrating that we were not as clear as we should have been. We try and take those comments into consideration every time we make a change.
Secondly, as people with open minds and soft hearts, we continue to evolve and change. That is what “progressive” is all about. New scholarship, conversations and even detractors challenge us to rethink what we have been positing, and at some point, after much discussion and conversation with our advisors, we may decide that we should change the way that we have written that last edition or emphasize new points. This seems to happen, although not by design, about every five years or so.
Thirdly, we never want the “8 Points” document to become something sacred in itself, beyond testing and questioning. In another words, we are not trying to challenge creedal thinking and outdated dogma with a new creed.
These are fascinating times for people of faith and for Christians. More than one scholar has compared these times to the chaotic years of the late first and second century church. According to some scholars, people in the streets were literally fighting over who and what Jesus was and what he was teaching. At the same time, the vast majority of the Roman population could have cared less about Christianity and often saw the minority of Christian advocates as trouble makers and fools.
Aside from the 1800 years of history, today we have a lot more data and information about the times of Jesus than was available to those early Roman citizens or anytime in modern history. Over the last fifty years, there has been a virtual explosion of information, not only about the historical Jesus but about the times in which he lived and died, that was not available to early Christians. This information has changed the perspective of many thinking people.
It is impossible to pinpoint the actual beginning of Progressive Christianity as we describe it today. There have always been those brave enough to challenge the prominent views of the official church, going back to Origen in the third century. As a modern movement, we can certainly give credit to a group of clergy and scholars like Lyman Abbot, William Jewett Tucker, Horace Bushnell, George Gordon, Walter Rauschenbusch and Henry Emerson Fosdick who mounted a powerful attempt to change the way we view Christianity in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. This courageous group of scholars, clergy, and administrators went against the grain in their belief that doing anything else would doom the future of Christianity. They used terms like Progressive Theology, Progressive Orthodoxy, Modern Theology and something called New Theology.
In 1892 Lyman Abbot suggested that it was time to “Put the new wine into new bottles, that both may be preserved. Spiritual experience is always new. It must therefore find a new expression in each age.” Walter Rauschenbusch warned in 1917 that by striving vainly “to keep Christian doctrine unchanged, we shall ensure its abandonment.”
Scholar, Richard M. Gamble writes on this era in his book, The War for Righteousness, “Progressive Christianity…was to be intellectually respectable, credible, relevant and liberating.” Unfortunately these scholars and well known clergy confronted a fire storm from what came to be called the fundamentalist movement.
Some would argue that because of their support and alignment with progressive politics and President Wilson’s dream of a League of Nations, this brave and inspired group of religious leaders lost credibility. I would suggest that their lack of success only demonstrates the fact that religious convictions change very, very slowly. It is possible that the eminent theologian, Walter Rauschenbusch, was right nearly one hundred years ago when he wrote “to keep Christian doctrine unchanged, we shall ensure its abandonment.”
And that is why many of us work so tirelessly to foster a new Christianity.
The background material and the questions of this Study Guide were designed to stimulate conversation and to raise issues that might not otherwise come up. None of these materials are intended to make a final theological, Christological, or canonical argument. The last thing we would want to do is to tell anyone how he or she should believe or approach their faith. Most of these materials and study questions are drawn from real, ongoing discussions in churches, seminaries and universities. They are also drawn from the input we had from church groups that wrestled with the earlier versions of the “8 Points” in their own settings. We look forward to this continued input and dialogue.
~Fred C. Plumer | <urn:uuid:520ab8c3-8620-4eb8-8a9d-da222ccb4d36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/study-guide-for-the-8-points-of-progressive-christianity-2012/?rel=viewprofile&uid=17073 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97162 | 1,071 | 1.757813 | 2 |
ABU DHABI // At 69, Patrick Reyners feels he has a new mission in life. After a career of which many would be envious, now might seem the time to slow down; instead, he has come to the UAE to impart his decades of knowledge of nuclear law to a new generation.
Mr Reyners, from France, teaches around Europe, including the international nuclear politics degree at the University of Dundee, and at the International School of Nuclear Law in Montpellier.
On Sunday he will begin teaching students at the Paris Sorbonne University, while continuing to work for the Federal Authority on Nuclear Regulation in the capital.
Born in Paris, Mr Reyners, says he is redefining himself after 30 years working with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
There, he felt he was working for the greater good, in a little-appreciated field.
"Nuclear law as a speciality was comparatively neglected," he says. "I was never given a chance to satisfy my inclination to laziness."
He says his new role is part of the bigger picture, helping establish a base for education and training in a country he says could be a hub for nuclear energy.
"To embark on a nuclear energy programme is a major national decision, not just in terms of economy and infrastructure policy but in terms of investment," he said.
"When you decide to embark on a nuclear energy programme, it's a decision that's going to involve your country for the next century."
"It's a huge system, not just a matter of substituting coal or oil or investing however many dollars. It's got to be done right."
He is in no hurry to retire.
Although his subject is deeply serious, his energy and enthusiasm cannot help but be felt by his students.
"I would not characterise my teaching activities as a hobby, but besides purely and simply liking doing it because it's fun, I feel a sort of responsibility to transfer to young and clever minds my little bit of knowledge and experience in this domain. It certainly doesn't feel like work."
While he is helping overcome what he says is one of the nuclear programme's biggest challenges - training local manpower - he says the Sorbonne's intensive course is not enough.
Now the country needs to look at training high level academics in nuclear law.
"It has to be instilled patiently into the mindset and attitudes of people, to be cultivated," he said. "The culture of nuclear safety is a very important brick in building this [industry]."
He has seen the nuclear story unfold over many decades. Despite the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - seen as the "original sin of nuclear energy" - by the 60s and 70s the general perception, he says, was that nuclear energy was wonderful progress for science and technology, and nuclear law a very promising career.
"Until the late '70s and '80s, it was seen as a source of practically unlimited and cheap energy," he said.
But by the time of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, the nuclear community had learnt many lessons about the importance of improving nuclear safety.
Across Europe and the West, nuclear operations were all but frozen. Only a few exceptions such as Korea, Japan and China continued their programmes.
"Not a single nuclear reactor has been built in the US in the last 40 years, which is a measure of the decline of nuclear energy."
Prof Jean-Yves de Cara, executive director of the Sorbonne, said Mr Reyners is a vital part of training this new generation.
"Patrick is a great expert and has great experience in teaching and training professionals in this field. He's a great asset to FANR and the Sorbonne," he said.
"If you want to build such a power and if you have in mind the requirement for security and conformity with international legislation, it's very important to offer the students - and in particular the Emirati students - some views and an introduction to this very specific field of law," added Prof de Cara. | <urn:uuid:7117e08e-f35e-4f67-9d30-16e501f963d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/nuclear-lessons-for-the-uae | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97775 | 840 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Twenty seconds after an Arizona utility worker shorted out a high-voltage power line near Yuma, Ariz., last week, part of a Mexican energy plant shut down, exacerbating an emergency that quickly roiled across southern California, the state’s top transmission official said Friday.
The interruption south of the border was one of nearly two dozen events on five different grids over an 11-minute stretch that culminated in the massive blackout Sept. 8, according to Stephen Berberich, chief executive officer of the California Independent System Operator.
In his most extensive comments yet regarding the outage, Berberich told The San Diego Union-Tribune there is no indication the Arizona and Mexico disturbances were related, beyond their timing.
He also said it was too soon to rule out any cause and effect.
“The exact cause or final definitive answer is not quite sorted,” Berberich said. But “those seem to be the precipitating events.”
Mexico’s national electric monopoly, the Federal Electricity Commission, which controls nearly all transmission and distribution south of the U.S. border, has attributed the power outage to failures in Arizona and California.
Baja California is connected through two transmission lines to the electricity grid that covers much of the western U.S. and part of Canada.
Javier Larios, regional superintendent for Mexico’s Federal Electric Commission, said its system in Baja California shut down as a protective measure — not due to problems of its own.
In a previous statement, the commission said the failure originated in Arizona and California and apologized to its 1.1 million customers for the “failure outside its system.”
Contacted Friday, a spokesman for the commission declined to comment immediately on the alleged problem in Mexico.
Up to 7 million people from western Arizona to the coast and Baja California to Orange County lost power at 3:38 that Thursday afternoon. The blackout persisted for more than 24 hours in some places, although most customers saw service restored within 12 hours.
San Diego Gas & Electric quickly identified the origin as an Arizona utility worker whose work tripped a major transmission line outside Yuma, an outage that cascaded across the entire SDG&E service area.
A spokesman for Arizona Public Service, the company operating the section of the troubled transmission line, reported a power loss outside Yuma about 2:27 p.m. He stopped short of saying it was responsible for the interstate blackout.
Nothing Berberich said Friday undermined either utility’s position.
Rather, the Cal-ISO chief said, investigators so far have identified 23 separate events that occurred during the 11-minute span, each of which played a role in denying electricity to San Diego County and beyond.
A second-by-second review of actions taken by each of the agencies involved will detail exactly what happened, he said.
“In that area of geography, there are multiple balancing authorities that come together,” Berberich said. “When everything starts to tick out of service in those areas, it starts to pull on the ISO.”
The California Independent System Operator is the largest of 38 “balancing authorities” within the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, a Utah nonprofit that works to ensure electrical reliability in all or part of 14 states and a portion of Mexico and Canada. | <urn:uuid:2b8461d0-8baa-4926-bd4c-2a04971c9fcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2011/sep/16/outage-had-roots-in-mexico-too/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950708 | 691 | 1.765625 | 2 |
NEW ORLEANS — If NFL Environmental Program Director Jack Groh can help it, nothing that can be reused will get thrown away after the party’s over and the Super Bowl XLVII invasion packs up and leaves town.
Groh said he started the job 20 years ago, and since then has been expanding the effort to make the massive event as energy efficient as possible and reduce the impact to the environment. Through partnerships with local non-profits, Groh works to make sure that extra food and supplies go to where they are needed most.
As the program has evolved throughout two decades, Groh said the NFL is always trying to be proactive and stay ahead of the curve. Initiatives today include solid waste management and recycling, prepared food recovery, materials donations and reducing the greenhouse gas impact.
To encourage others to minimize their impact, event managers and contractors receive a “Greening Guide,” filled with guidelines for planning accommodations, transportation, meetings, food service and events. The tips are not regulations or requirements but rather suggestions, the guide says, under the notion that, “Decreasing our environmental impact is a responsibility we all share.”
Many of the efforts can also save money, Groh noted, in not requiring the cost to remove as much waste.
“Both of these factors — waste reduction and greater efficiency — also have the potential to reduce the costs associated with producing your events,” he said.
The guide includes tips for small things that can add up — such as instituting a “no idling” policy for vehicle stops longer than three minutes, using biofuels when available, properly inflating tires to save fuel and carpooling when possible.
For outdoor events, the guide includes suggestions such as: “Use nontoxic paint for ground painting or marking” and “Walking paths should be clearly marked and keep traffic away from sensitive natural areas.”
Groh said that cardboard alone makes up about 30 to 40 percent of the recycling efforts, with sites for recycling various materials set up at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and at hotels serving as team and NFL headquarters.
To compensate for the power usage, the NFL is partnering with Entergy to purchase renewable energy offsets, including purchasing travel offsets that will reduce the impact of air travel by NFL staff and teams.
Another project aimed at counteracting carbon emissions involves a partnership with the nonprofit Hike For Katreena and sponsors the planting of several thousand trees in local neighborhoods. Groh said the tree-planting efforts will include a ceremonial planting in the spring when the “golden shovel” is officially passed from New Orleans to the next host community in New York and New Jersey.
To involve children, the Super Kids Super Sharing event put students at local schools to work collecting and redistributing new and used books and sports equipment. Last week, more than 11,000 books and more than 2,000 pieces of sports equipment were given to schools, after-school programs and city recreation programs.
Partnering with Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans, Groh leads a massive effort that collects tens of thousands of pounds of food and distributes it to those in need.
Following strict health standards, the food “recovered” has to have never left the kitchen or have been exposed to the public.
But with the multitude of banquets, VIP parties and catered events, as well as daily meals for the teams and staff, Groh said there is often extra food that is prepared but not needed.
Once that food is identified, Second Harvest is on hand to collect it. Groh said that while the private organizations holding their own parties don’t have to participate, he contacts as many as he can and encourages them to donate their unused food.
In addition to food, Groh works to make sure that other materials of value don’t get thrown away. From pencils and notepads to carpet and banners, everything left behind by the NFL staff that Groh can get his hands on gets donated.
There’s about 5 to 6 six miles of fabric used to decorate the dome, hotels, streets and the airport, Groh said. Events, from classy parties to kids’ fitness experiences, are constructed in temporary locations, leaving behind tens of thousands of square yards of carpet and artificial grass, as well as other reusable materials. All of that material will be recovered through a partnership with The Green Project of New Orleans, Groh said.
In the hallways outside every office used by the NFL staff, Groh said there will be boxes to collect any unused office supplies, which will then be packaged and donated.
“It’s hard for anyone to throw anything away after the Super Bowl because I’m always looking over their shoulders,” Groh said.
And, he said he’s constantly looking for more things to save from the trash bins and landfills. Groh said people will call him regularly and ask him if he can use a palette of this or a box of that.
No matter how big or small, he always says yes — knowing he can find someone who can. | <urn:uuid:0a6e5a4a-1a3a-446c-9522-b6e135d0e29d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/neworleansnews/5000176-123/recycle-effort-pushed-by-nfl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961752 | 1,081 | 2.140625 | 2 |
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IPCC 'under-equipped and hamstrung'
The police watchdog is "woefully under-equipped and hamstrung" and does not have the power or resources to get to the truth, a scathing report by an influential group of MPs has said.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is currently investigating the Hillsborough disaster in the UK's biggest-ever inquiry into police misconduct, should be given a statutory power to require a force to implement its findings, the Home Affairs Select Committee said.
More cases should be investigated independently by the IPCC instead of being referred back to the original police force on a "complaints roundabout".
The watchdog, which was established in 2004 and is chaired by Dame Anne Owers, investigates the most serious complaints against the police, as well as the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the UK Border Agency. A total of 31,771 officers were subject to a complaint during 2011/2012 and when appeals were made against the way forces handled a complaint, the IPCC found that the police had been wrong in one in three cases.
Committee chairman Keith Vaz MP said: "When public trust in the police is tested by complaints of negligence, misconduct and corruption, a strong watchdog is vital to get to the truth - but the IPCC leaves the public frustrated and faithless."
The watchdog should have a statutory power to force implementation of its findings and in the most serious cases it should instigate a "year on review" to ensure that its recommendations have been properly carried out, the committee said.
A Home Office spokesman said: "Improving police professionalism and integrity are at the cornerstone of the sweeping reforms we are making to the police force, and the IPCC has a key role to play. We are already working to ensure the organisation has the powers and resources it needs to manage the challenges it is currently facing and we will shortly announce a package of new measures designed to further improve the public's trust in the police."
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "The Home Affairs Select Committee is right that the IPCC is not strong enough to tackle the problem when policing goes wrong. That is why I called for radical reform of police accountability last year, including replacing the IPCC with a new Police Standards Authority."
The IPCC welcomed the committee's report, saying it had already highlighted many of the recommendations and agreed that it could not meet the public's expectations without further resources and powers. Dame Anne said: "This report recognises that we do not yet have the resources or powers to do all that the public rightly expects and needs from us. That is what we have been saying for a long time. Without that, we will continue to struggle to meet the legitimate expectations of complainants and of families who have lost someone in tragic circumstances."
She continued: "We want to be able to carry out more independent investigations. We need to exercise rigorous oversight over the way police deal with complaints, and follow up our own recommendations." | <urn:uuid:d31c9e5d-6af6-4bc1-945d-27fd91e37e23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ludlowadvertiser.co.uk/uk_national_news/10199961.IPCC__under_equipped_and_hamstrung_/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965939 | 635 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Consumers continue to be outraged when cable companies try and move from flat fee models for internet access to tiered pricing plans based on usage. Early dial-up ISPs tried the pay per usage plan and found across the board that unlimited usage scenarios were much more popular with customers.
Today, broadband connections around the country for the most part are unlimited and users can download as much content as they want (in theory). The reality is that most ISPs today already attempt to throttle users who use what is deemed excessive bandwidth. At the same time, many ISPs are pushing new tired pricing plans that force users to pay significant fees for each gigabyte of data downloaded or transferred after what are typically very low monthly allotments of bandwidth.
Time Warner was the most recent large ISP to announce trials of tiered pricing that would have seen customers paying $150 per month for unlimited bandwidth as opposed to the roughly $40 per month an unlimited plan costs today. The outrage from customers and lawmakers was much stronger than Time Warner had anticipated and the company announced that it would be dropping its tiered Internet pricing plans for now.
According to the American Cable Association (ACA), metered bandwidth Internet pricing is coming and will be a necessity. According to Patrick Knorr of the ACA, his company, Sunflower Broadband, is already charging customers metered rates for internet access and has been doing so for several years.
The ACA argues that metered pricing is going to be a necessity as demand for bandwidth increases with the adoption of high-bandwidth video services. According to ACA chair Steve Friedman, the metered charges are not intended to inhibit content, but to ensure quality of service for all customers using the service. Friedman says he isn’t sure that Time Warner did a good job explaining that. That rationale is the same used by cable companies when they tried to block certain types of content with the claim that it was to prevent piracy and offer quality service to all users.
ACA President Matt Polka says that while metered internet is in early development, that outcome is certain. Polka claims that there is no limit to the build-outs that ACA members have to do to meet customer demand and with new services coming ACA member simply won't be able to support all of that at $40 per month.
Polka likens internet usage to his heating bill saying that he would like to pay the same amount year round, but in the winter when he uses more, he has to pay more. If Polka's heating company suddenly decided that he was only allowed 4 cubic feet of gas before an overage charge of $2 per cubic foot was assessed to support the need to install more gas pipelines to "ensure quality service," he might feel like the majority of Internet subscribers do.
Knorr insists that bandwidth-based billing is the only way to manage infrastructure and that it is simply a case of raw math that the infrastructure to accommodate the growth in HD downloads isn’t there at this point. He continues saying that the only way to rationalize a business model is to put some of the responsibility on the subscriber. | <urn:uuid:72ac0436-36ca-4fee-a848-b701215a4760> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=14996&commentid=437742&threshhold=1&red=400 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97683 | 628 | 1.78125 | 2 |
by Jen Phillips April
Effective Websites Bring You $$
There are websites and there are websites that work. The latter rank well in search engines so they’re found both by your prospects and they turn those prospects into customers.
After all, what’s the use of more visitors if they don’t buy from you?
Effective Websites include:
1—Good Design – Design should be clean, easy to use and not get in the way of your message.
- Stick to one font. Writing in two or three different types of text is distracting
- Skip the Flash. Flash isn’t mobile friendly or SEO friendly. Search engines can’t read Flash, nor can iPads or iPhones.
- Keep the most important information “Above the fold”—the first screen people see without scrolling.
2–Usability – How easy is your site to use? Get some unbiased opinions on this. Is it obvious who you are and what you do?
- Is your logo in the upper left? Does your logo and tagline express what you do and who you help?
- Do you have a solution-oriented headline at the top of the page that highlights your promise in words your customer would use? (Most businesses don’t)
- Is it easy to know what to do next?
3—Navigation—Stick to convention here. Navigation should run across the top or down the left side. Save the right for special promotions/offers and your newsletter sign up. If you have a shopping cart, that should be in the upper right.
Keep your navigation on the left or at the top
4—Content—Your content should answer the questions your visitors have in the language they use. Keyword research can help. Use a headline in the words your visitors use to find a solution like you.
Have enough copy on the page to tell your both your human visitors and your search engines visitors what your page is about and how you help. 250-300 words will accomplish this.
Calls to Action – Don’t forget to ask your visitor to DO something – call you, send in a contact form. It may sound silly but ask them and your conversions will increase.
5—SEO essentials – know the language your prospects use and what problems you solve for them. Get this across in your copy and your meta-data. If you’re using WordPress, make sure you use an SEO plug in and fill in the available fields. Make your title and description useful to get the click and incorporate the keywords you’ve identified.
Entire disciplines exist around each of these topics with plenty of accompanying books, websites and courses. However, don’t need to be an expert in each to improve your website’s performance. By understanding the critical elements, your website will outperform much of your competition.
Yes, I offer site reviews. If you’d like to know more, click here.
What are your questions about having an effective website? Love to hear in the comments below. | <urn:uuid:41d1b0ca-0388-400d-a6d6-60ae92424835> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jenphillipsapril.com/blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91557 | 636 | 1.546875 | 2 |
What did we do without the ATM? They've changed the way we live, but it's important to think about fees and security when you use them.
The automated teller machine (ATM) has been around for a while, and it's made life easier for consumers. But we shouldn't get so comfortable with them that we ignore commonsense behavior. In this chapter, you'll learn about the high fees you could incur for using an ATM out of your bank's network, how secure your ATM deposits are and when they are credited to your account, and how debit cards differ from ATM cards.
What can you expect to learn from this chapter:
- ABCs of ATMs
ATMs are around the globe, but you need to be mindful of fees and security when you use them. This article links you to many useful Bankrate articles, too.
- ATM fees
Use of ATM machines that are not in your bank's networks can mean high fees. Planning ahead for your cash needs will help you keep your costs down.
- Making a deposit at an ATM
Despite the convenience of ATMs, few people make deposits to them. We bust some myths and outline the federal rules regarding the availability of funds.
- Debit cards
What is a debit card? How does it differ from a credit card? Are there more fees for using it? Everything you need to know about debit cards is here.
- Tips for responsible use of debit cards
Eleven things you need to know, from understanding which type of debit card you have to knowing what your checking account balance is to avoid overdraft. | <urn:uuid:19cf5efd-20aa-4771-9293-e21bad3ee5b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bankrate.com/finance/checking/chapter-2-abcs-of-atms.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960532 | 330 | 2.59375 | 3 |
HIV and AIDS Faith Advocacy Toolkit
The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
’s HIV and AIDS campaign is based on the knowledge that all churches are living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. People who live with HIV and die with AIDS are our friends and family, our teachers, neighbors, our pastors and priests. The campaign “Live the Promise,” holds individuals, religious leaders, faith organizations, and government’s organizations accountable for the commitments they have made and advocates for further efforts and resources to respond to HIV and AIDS.
Check out the HIV and AIDS Faith Advocacy Toolkit.
The ELCA is a member of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. | <urn:uuid:1c483c5c-55b7-4afe-8761-8df5e8457f05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Poverty-Ministries/HIV-and-AIDS/Advocate/HIV-and-AIDS-Faith-Advocacy-Toolkit.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963201 | 144 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Yesterday the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a ‘leading think-tank’ (their description, not mine) published a report called ‘Rethinking Child Poverty’ and issued an accompanying press release calling on the government to ‘scrap flawed child poverty targets’.
Child Poverty Action Group and Channel 4′s Fact Check have already examined some of the assumptions and statistical work in the release and found it wanting, perhaps an example of the ‘educational failure’ that the CSJ mention as a cause of poverty. The CPAG report suggested that one of CSJ’s claims was ‘nonsense’ and could ‘only stem from a failure to understand the difference between the median income (the middle income) and the mean income (the average income)’ while the Factcheck blog suggests the report is ‘misleading’. Both of these responses are worth reading and I will not duplicate what they have covered.
Miles Corak, in a blog post, predicted what the criticisms of a UNICEF report released on the same day would be and his comments are also relevant to the CSJ report. He wrote that the response from critics would include:
Relative poverty rates are not poverty at all, they are measures of inequality, the critique continues, and as such can never be eliminated.
The CSJ wrote:
The first methodological flaw of the Government’s central measure of poverty is that it is defined in relative terms. The result of this is that the poor will always exist statistically, as it is inevitable that some in society will have less than others
Entirely predictable then. What is also unsurprising is the way that poverty is framed and this post concentrates on the language used in the press-release (and which is echoed throughout the report) which, once again, sets out to link poverty with individual or family ‘problems’ and behaviours. Here’s a few examples:
Poverty is about more than money – it is about the family breakdown, addiction, debt-traps, and failing schools that blight the lives of our children
the accent would be on measuring the underlying causes of blighted young lives, such as family breakdown, welfare dependency and educational failure, rather than the symptoms of low relative income
The ‘relative’ yardstick takes no account of the true, underlying causes of a deprived upbringing, for instance whether a child has the love and care of two parents, whether he or she has the role model of adults who go out to work for a living, or whether drug or alcohol addiction scars family life
Yet we know from our own extensive research as well as the research of others that the key drivers of poverty are family breakdown, educational failure, economic dependency and worklessness, addiction and serious personal debt
Other factors that should be taken into account include the ability to save, the quality of a child’s parenting, family stability because children from broken homes are twice as likely to suffer behavioural problems than those from intact families, levels of worklessness in households because children tend to repeat the work habits of their parents, access to good schools, truancy rates, drug and alcohol addiction and levels of household debt
The press-release consistently ignores the potential for any kind of link between income and family circumstance, ignores the centrality of money in our society, portrays that society as largely benign and passive and lays the blame for child poverty at the door of the parents. No mention is made of political or societal responses to these examples of ‘social breakdown which fuel’ poverty. But if family breakdown is a driver of child poverty, why are poverty rates for lone parents different in different countries? Are differing levels of unemployment symptomatic of different cultures and attitudes to work, both regionally and internationally (and what about in-work poverty). Poverty is the result of political and economic decisions and there isn’t a great deal of ‘evidence’ worthy of the name that suggests otherwise. Anecdotes are not quite the same thing.
The ‘extensive’ evidence that they mention largely consists of their own work and government commissioned research. No academic publications feature in the report at all, which should be, but isn’t, surprising. The CSJ speak highly of their Alliance, a group of over 300 ‘grassroots poverty-fighting charities’ who tell them what life is like for people in poverty. Why not speak to the people themselves rather than relying on intermediaries? Academic research (including work that we’ve covered here by Kathy Hamilton and Chris Warburton-Brown) that has actually gone out and spoken to people on low-incomes has found that money, and more specifically a lack of it, plays a central role in people’s lives.
Regular readers will know that this is an issue that we cover quite frequently here and I’m beginning to get a bit sick of reading (and writing) about this stuff, but it is, as a colleague said to me, a ‘zombie arguement’: no matter how much you think you’ve killed it off, it keeps coming back to life and, unfortunately, it appears to be particularly resilient at the present time. But, as Franklin D. Roosevelt argued,a lie does not become a truth no matter how often it is repeated.
What is particularly worrying, in my mind, is the opportunity that this intervention, and others like it, presents to the government to discuss poverty in a different way and which legitimises the ‘new approach’. There have already been reports of a desire within the government to scrap the income related targets and the CPAG response notes that:
it is difficult not to regard many of the arguments advanced in the CSJ report as little more than a smokescreen to allow the government to claim to do ‘something’ about poverty without spending any money. If poverty is about income, self-evidently we need to bolster family incomes. But those who attack poverty measures (however poorly) provide cover for the coalition to keep cutting the incomes of poor families, while claiming to champion their cause
Given the CSJ’s reputation for researching and analysing the causes of poverty and deprivation, its intervention in the debate should provide the coalition with a welcome opportunity to replace Labour’s narrow and self-defeating policy with a more authentic and constructive approach. It could also present the Prime Minister with a chance to reaffirm his commitment to tackling social problems by supporting and strengthening families.
Many of you will be aware that Iain Duncan Smith founded the Centre for Social Justice and that Christian Guy, the MD of CSJ, is his former speech writer. It is unlikely that this report came as a shock to the government. Interesting times lie ahead…. | <urn:uuid:ff598b20-194b-4c4f-92a0-3c17e44656af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://northeastchildpoverty.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/repetition-does-not-transform-a-lie-into-a-truth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964186 | 1,406 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Cosmologies of extended massive gravity
We study the background cosmology of two extensions of dRGT massive gravity. The first is variable mass massive gravity, where the fixed graviton mass of dRGT is replaced by the expectation value of a scalar field. We ask whether self-inflation can be driven by the self-accelerated branch of this theory, and we find that, while such solutions can exist for a short period, they cannot be sustained for a cosmologically useful time. Furthermore, we demonstrate that there generally exist future curvature singularities of the "big brake" form in cosmological solutions to these theories. The second extension is the covariant coupling of galileons to massive gravity. We find that, as in pure dRGT gravity, flat FRW solutions do not exist. Open FRW solutions do exist -- they consist of a branch of self-accelerating solutions that are identical to those of dRGT, and a new second branch of solutions which do not appear in dRGT. | <urn:uuid:8be1ea8b-7e24-4f42-ad93-e9be5f27f87a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.citeulike.org/user/clareburrage/article/11928262 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918569 | 213 | 1.546875 | 2 |
"If we take the time to look, we find nature regularly provides us wonderful gifts."
The Allegheny Mountain of West Virginia is the pinnacle of the Allegheny range in the eastern United States. These are the second oldest mountains in the world and although once were grander than the Tetons, they have worn down severely over the millions of years since their creation.
I live on the side of one of these mountains, Mount Porte Crayon, for six months of the year where I do photography of the very diverse and unique habitats of this area. I share this photography with The Nature Conservancy with the goal of supporting their efforts to conserve wilderness.
This image was taken in early October soon after heavy snowfall. October snowstorms are common in the higher elevations of the Alleghenies. The ferns were still green but the heavy snowstorm waited them down creating a mat of ferns over the ground. Soon after the snowfall, the weather turned warm and the snow melted as leaves began to fall. The next morning after this snow melted there was a heavy frost. I was struck by the beauty of the frosted red leaves against the backdrop of the matted ferns.
I photographed this image with the Pentax 645 medium format film camera using a 120 mm macro lens. The camera was on a tripod and I used the mirror lockup and the cable shutter release for this image made at F11 at one quarter of a second. The outline of the frost on edges of this bright red Maple leaf creates a magical quality to the image. If we take the time to look, we find nature regularly provides us such wonderful gifts.
Kent Mason, a retiree, decided to give five years of professional photographic services to The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia after he found out his favorite photo location, Bear Rocks, was a Nature Conservancy preserve. See more of Kent’s images at: wvphotographs.com. | <urn:uuid:fa74f721-7694-4224-a8e5-68fbbe3af70f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nature.org/photosmultimedia/photoofthemonth/photo-of-the-month-november2012.xml?s_intc=tab1p3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960626 | 400 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Cincinnati cyclists have been waiting for the arrival of bike lanes on Riverside Drive since summer of 2011, and patience is running thin. Yesterday, Cincinnati's Department of Transportation announced that it was considering "indefinitely postponing" the bike lane project because of possible future construction on I-471.
The plan was originally postponed because Duke Energy needed to perform some work in the area. Now, Cincinnati officials are concerned that the I-471 traffic could redirect to Riverside in the face of construction, meaning Riverside could become saturated with rerouted motorists. The bike lane project originally required a travel lane to be removed from Riverside drive to install bike lanes.
Nern Ostendorf, Queen City Bike's executive director, expressed disappointment with the decision. "We really have to stick to our plans and prioritize. If we keep being bullied [by the city], nothing's ever going to change."
Riverside Drive is currently a main thoroughfare for East End bikers who work downtown, but problems with speeding call for reform. "The road doesn't have the infrastructure that it needs right now for bikers to be safe," says Ostendorf.
She says that the installation of the lanes is crucial to Cincinnati's urban and economic development. "We need to change people's understanding of navigating space with things other than cars." Ostendorf says there's an immediate correlation between the installation of bike lanes and hikes in business in surrounding areas.
"1. There is no guarantee that substantial I-471 traffic would shift to Riverside Drive; 2. East End already deals with commuters speeding through their neighborhood on a daily basis. It’s time for DOTE to make Columbia Parkway the obvious alternative for motor vehicle commuters by going ahead with this project, which will reduce traffic and speeding in a residential area."
The post directs proponents of the bike lane installation to contact City Council members, along with Michael Moore, director of Cincinnati's Department of Transportation, to lobby for the reversal of the postponement.
Moore could not be reached for comment on Friday.
The wife of an Israeli diplomat in India and her driver were injured Monday when the car they were traveling in was bombed, while another bomb was defused outside an Israeli embassy in Tblisi, Georgia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran, which he called “the greatest exporter of terror in the world.”
Cincinnati City Council is set to approve $960,000 to fund this year’s Summer Youth Employment Program, but the councilwoman overseeing the process wants to begin collecting data to track outcomes and increase efficiency.
Council’s Budget and Finance Committee this afternoon heard a presentation from city staffers about plans for the 2012 program, which is designed to provide employment and training for low-income youth.
Next month marks the fourth anniversary of a fire that destroyed parts of the historic Old St. George Church in Clifton Heights. But the structure remains vacant and building inspectors this week cited the owners for conditions at the site.
The city’s Property Maintenance Code Enforcement Division posted a citation Wednesday on the fence in front of the church. It was issued by Housing Inspector James Hatton, and states the building’s owner failed to comply with an order issued by the Buildings and Inspections Department on Aug. 31, 2010.
It’s yet another gloomy, rainy morning in Cincinnati, so let’s let our minds take a voyage around the Internet and see what is going on in the world during the last 24 hours.
House Speaker John Boehner is probably cringing at a CBS News poll that found an overwhelming majority of Americans like the proposals mentioned in President Obama’s State of the Union address. And by “overwhelming,” we mean a whopping 91 percent of respondents. (You read that correctly.)
At least three of Cincinnati City Council’s four new members will appear at a meet-and-greet event next week in Price Hill to answer questions.
Chris Seelbach, Yvette Simpson and P.G. Sittenfeld are scheduled to attend the Jan. 5 forum, which will be held at Elder Hill School’s Schaeper Center. It’s uncertain at this time whether the fourth and final new council member, Christopher Smitherman, will attend.
A group that supports preserving the historic Gamble House in Westwood is angry that Cincinnati building inspectors aren't enforcing the law at the property, which is allowing heavy rainfall to damage it while a court battle drags on about whether to save the mansion from demolition.
Bob Prokop, of Save the Historic Gamble Estate Now, said the city's inaction about securing the house contradicts what a building inspector told him would be done at the property in an email from last spring.
The state of Ohio has approved funds to help a Cincinnati brewery expand its operations, as well as assisting two other local companies with projects.
The state will spend $663,000 to assist the Samuel Adams Brewery Co. in expanding operations on Poplar Street in the West End. The money will go toward buying the property needed for the expansion, which is located next to the existing brewery.
A new Census Bureau report reveals that from 2005 to 2009, a segment of Over-the-Rhine had the highest income inequality of more than 61,000 communities nationwide.
The segment — known as Census Tract No. 17 — is the northeast quadrant of Over-the-Rhine. The findings were featured in an article Tuesday by McClatchy Newspapers, which attributes the disparity in the tract partially to gentrification and the influx of young professionals into the predominantly low-income neighborhood.
As part of CityBeat's continuing election coverage, we’ve once again sent a questionnaire to the non-incumbent Cincinnati City Council candidates to get their reactions on a broad range of issues.
Nine of the 14 non-incumbents chose to answer our questions. Others either didn’t respond or couldn’t meet the deadline.
During the next few weeks, we will print the responses from the non-incumbents to a different topic each time.
Today’s question is, “Do you consider the operation of public swimming poolsto be an acceptable function of municipal government?” | <urn:uuid:f8489371-3a56-4dbb-8f36-5e27061a3835> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blogs-3-1-1-34-111.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955677 | 1,285 | 1.703125 | 2 |
fideismArticle Free Pass
fideism, a philosophical view extolling theological faith by making it the ultimate criterion of truth and minimizing the power of reason to know religious truths. Strict fideists assign no place to reason in discovering or understanding fundamental tenets of religion. For them blind faith is supreme as the way to certitude and salvation. They defend such faith on various grounds—e.g., mystical experience, revelation, subjective human need, and common sense. A nonrational attitude so pervades their thinking that some assert that the true object of faith is the absurd, the nonrational, the impossible, or that which directly conflicts with reason. Such a position was approached in the philosophies of the 2nd-century North African theologian Tertullian, the medieval English scholar William of Ockham, the 17th-century French philosopher Pierre Bayle, and more recently in the works of the 18th-century German philosopher Johann Georg Hamann and the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. This modern attitude is often motivated by man’s apparent inability to find rational solutions for the world’s ills.
Moderate fideists, on the other hand, generally assert that some truths at least (e.g., God’s existence, moral principles) can be known by reason subsequently reinformed and clarified by faith—reason can or must play a role in the search for religious truths. This position frequently affirms that reason can, in some cases, partially comprehend religious truths after they have been revealed; or at least it shows negatively that no contradiction is necessarily involved in them or that there is a rational basis for accepting truths of faith that the human mind can in no way comprehend. Faith predominates, but reason is not ignored. Thus, the 17th-century French writer Blaise Pascal held that natural faculties are inadequate for religious certainty but suffice to justify religious faith in matters otherwise unknowable.
What made you want to look up "fideism"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:3259426b-17dd-413d-a4b7-4193b9f02d71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/206100/fideism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942473 | 418 | 3.171875 | 3 |
From 1934 to 1937, John Cage studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg in California. Upon his arrival in New York in 1942, he abandoned dodecaphony to develop his own compositional techniques inspired by Asian philosophy (Taoism, Zen Buddhism) and based on indeterminacy (chance). In the late 1940’s, Cage explored the acoustic possibilities of what he called the prepared piano (a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects (preparations) between or on the strings.) In the 1950’s, he participated in the summer program at Black Mountain College (Asheville, North Carolina, U.S.) and taught at the New School for Social Research (New York, N.Y., U.S.). It was during this period that he began a multi-year collaboration with the musician and composer David Tudor.
In the 1960’s Cage frequently integrated electronic sounds, ambient noises, and random fragments of radio broadcasts in his compositions. Works from this period, often created with representatives of other disciplines, such as Merce Cunningham and Robert Rauschenberg, also highlight the theatrical elements of musical performance. This experimental phase reached its peak in 1969 with HPSCHD
(written in collaboration with Lejaren Hiller) presented at the University of Illinois (Urbana, Illinois, US) and featuring several overlapping visual and audio tracks (7 harpsichords, 51 computer-generated audio tapes, and abstract films). In the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s, Cage returned to composing conventional scores, but he still frequently employed the techniques developed in the 40’s and 50’s.
[Documents available in the collection about John Cage...]
[Documents available in the collection by John Cage...] | <urn:uuid:e6a9d3e2-5947-48cd-b006-b6f32e074e1f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=1846 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951881 | 368 | 2.71875 | 3 |
In the previous two cases the particular model of the parallel program being run didn't much matter. In either case, the program was being run ``locally'' and so the user's standard NFS filespace and/or any special project space was likely mounted and immediately available on the user's own workstation and the cluster node alike. Backup of any critical data was already arranged within the preexisting backup paradigm of the department. Even things like visualization were likely transparently supported on the LAN workstations and the cluster nodes alike. There were essentially no additional costs associated with the management and secure utilization of multiple accounts or transport of data across LAN boundaries.
When the cluster in question is remotely managed, by a centralized University entity, this is no longer true. Cluster access and data transport will necessarily cross LAN administrative boundaries, and boundaries of trust. Cluster users will require a cluster-local LAN infrastructure to support their cluster computation, cluster-local accounts, authentication, security, and fileservices. Cluster users will require mechanisms for accessing the cluster and transporting their data to and from their department local LANs. Furthermore, since the remotely managed cluster may well be a shared entity with access split among many groups, the cluster itself will likely need a variety of cluster management tools to be installed that facilitate e.g. remote monitoring of jobs, batch job submission, job level accounting, and muchmore.
In essence, a core management LAN structure has to be created for the cluster. The cluster manager will need to manage accounts, security, users, and coordinate those structures with those of a variety of departmental LAN managers, where the cluster users have their primary accounts and the workstations through which the cluster will likely be accessed. Finally, the cluster will require more tools to be installed to support remote cluster access and monitoring, and making those tools effective will require more user support and training.
At best, a remotely managed, remotely sited cluster will thus require substantially more FTE management than will a locally managed cluster, however it is sited. It thus behooves us to consider ways that we can minimize this additional expense and recover a reasonable fraction of the cost-efficiency of managing a cluster within the cluster owner/user's LAN.
The obvious approach is to piggyback the LAN management aspects of the cluster on top of an existing LAN that already offers services to the entire University community. This approach permits us to realize substantial economies of scale. Although not as great as the economies that exist for LAN-local management (since the cluster will willy-nilly not be directly integrated into the owner/user's LAN) such an approach permits the University itself to gain important dual benefits, described below.
The unique solution thus appears to be to fully integrate the cluster with the existing Academic Computing group (acpub). Any member of the University community already can get an account within acpub, and for a variety of reasons most faculty, staff, students, and even many postdocs already have done so. Acpub provides at least one mechanism for institution wide disk authenticated access (AFS on top of kerberos) that is already, for the most part, supported to the departmental LANs likely to host the owner/users of centrally managed cluster facilities. One presumes that any additional LAN resources required by the cluster (e.g. local server disk pools, backup mechanisms, additional cluster management tools) could be scalably provided within their existing LAN support framework, minimizing cost and maximizing integrability.
This does create certain organizational issues that must be dealt with. The staff that runs the public cluster(s) cannot just "be" the acpub staff, as the acpub staff likely lacks core expertise in cluster construction and management (the same problem that exists in the locally manged clusters out in the departmental LANs). Also, at this point acpub is not primarily based on linux, and although their staff is far from incompetent in linux, neither are they the campus's primary experts. They are thus unlikely to be able to scalably extend their existing staff and services to clusters without augmenting their staff with one or more cluster and linux experts. Those experts would need to have the freedom to support the clusters ``semi-autonomously'' - integrating with and drawing upon the scalably extensible services acpub can provide for account management, access, authentication, and possibly disk services, while not being forced to strictly conform to the acpub workstation model.
One advantage of providing centralized cluster management within the acpub hierarchy is that it will provide acpub with a straightforward route for migrating from student clusters based on proprietary hardware and operating systems (e.g. Sun and Solaris, Wintel) to linux clusters. This is a desirable migration for many, many reasons (tremendous direct cost savings in software, greater security, the ultimate degree in system installation and management scaling, and open standards for a variety of document and data protocols that facilitates e.g. long term archival storage and retrieval of critical data). Acpub will virtually ``inherit'' the ability to build and manage scalable linux workstation clusters from the ability to build and manage scalable linux compute nodes; as noted above, compute nodes are just a specialized variant of a workstation from the point of view of installation and management.
It should be pointed out that this model for cluster support already works for at least the embarrassingly parallel class of tasks described above. The author of this document ran embarrassingly parallel Monte Carlo computations on the entire acpub collection of workstation clusters for close to a year some years ago (with the permission and support of the acpub staff), getting a phenomenal amount of research computing done before weaknesses in Solaris forced this experiment to be terminated. This extremely simple model of account+workstation or node access would likely fail for distributing true coarse grained parallel tasks in a multiuser environment, but a simple extension of it very likely would work, and that is what is proposed below.
This document does not attempt to suggest the details of how cluster and linux management might be integrated with the existing acpub staff and group; only that this is by far the most desirable way to proceed as (once a modest cost penalty for the initial startup is paid) it maximally leverages existing modes for delivering University level compute services to University personnel in all venues.
It will have the temerity to suggest that this be done delicately, in a way that carefully avoids crippling either the existing acpub staff or the cluster staff that would be working with them, and with full respect to the FTE capacity boundaries that undoubtedly already exist within acpub. As in, don't try to make acpub simply absorb the additional burden of cluster support with their existing staff. It will also have the temerity to suggest that it be done in a way that integrates existing methodology for providing the core linux installation and support services outside of acpub (as they are now, via e.g. the dulug site, with the integration of a ``virtual staff'' of linux experts and cluster experts that are not ``in'' acpub per se but are still charged with providing support and training services), crossing boundaries of administrative control.
A major point of the model proposed for cluster management on campus is that it remain decentralized as much as possible with support mechanisms that cross boundaries of administrative control even where it attempts to provide a basis for centralized management and access. It centralizes where one can see an immediate and clear CBA advantage in terms such as zero marginal cost extension of existing LAN management structures.
This is not at all paradoxical - linux based cluster management and support currently spans the entire globe, with linux and cluster specific development, instruction, and training coming from an international community. This model for support provides the greatest possible basis for experimentation, evolutionary optimization, and the rapid dissemination of the best and worst solutions throughout the institution, and encourages an open consensus model for technology engineering that ensures that the broad needs of the community are continuously met. If you like, it keeps the customers of any given service in close contact with the service providers, as the two groups are mixed.
In the next section we will discuss in some detail the economies of scale associated with a truly distributed support model. This section will be quite specific in its suggestions for how to integrate a ``centralized'' cluster facility into the existing linux and cluster community. | <urn:uuid:9b329a42-231e-45f3-bc1c-37447bb5323b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Beowulf/duke_cluster_wp/duke_cluster_wp/node7.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947127 | 1,705 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Knowing where you are coming from helps in charting where you want to go. The Arab mass media, like many other sectors of society, need to gauge how to take advantage of the Arab awakening that continues to challenge and transform governments. This is the time to do the hard, long overdue work
Traditional news media—television, radio, newspapers and magazines—have played an influential role in the spread of these citizen revolts. Yet the significance of digital media has been impressive, too, in shaping public opinion and spurring action as activists, citizens and journalists increasingly used and relied on it—most of all, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and cell phone text messaging. Even so, with their powerful and captivating spot reporting, traditional news media did convey developments on the ground in multiple countries and cities while also providing nonstop analysis and opinionated interviews. Such coverage affected the region's political mobilization, even if traditional journalists' impact seemed mostly inadvertent and only sometimes deliberate.
These contemporary means of messaging were buttressed efficiently and effectively by old-fashioned word-of-mouth conversation in mosques, churches, neighborhoods, local groceries, and street corners, and through professional organizations and political groups. In fact, the most important media lesson I learned during the past nine months came from watching what happened when governments shut down the Internet or cell phone systems, as leaders did in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and Libya. The number of people out in the streets visibly increased; this reminded me that mass news media can be marginalized or seem dispensable at times of political peril.
The challenge that has defined the aspirations of traditional Arab journalists since the 1950's—figuring out how to nurture and promote an independent, professional media free of government controls—is now being pushed to the side by at least a dozen serious digital communications media platforms that now compete with traditional audio, visual and print mass media. In many instances, the traditional news media, as a distinct sector of society, vanish from view at those times when hundreds of thousands of citizens gather in the streets and communicate face to face or digitally.
Inspired by Al Jazeera’s success, media representatives visit its newsroom in Doha, Qatar. Photo by The Associated Press.
I've worked in the news media business in the Arab world for the past 40 years, and I am a fervent celebrator of the political changes under way. To those who own, manage or work for traditional news organizations, I offer five observations for making progress at a time when there are unprecedented opportunities to create an independent (nonstate-affiliated), relevant and viable news media. These are attributes we've worked toward achieving for decades, and now, while doing this is still difficult, it is possible.
Young Arabs have little time or respect for their traditional news media. They took to the streets because they refused to put up with the humiliating subservience and dehumanization that the controlling regimes and their savage media practices subjected them to—practices that their parents and elders could not protect them from. Nearly half of all Arabs between the ages of 15 and 29 say they have little or no faith in their country's news media, according to recent Gallup surveys. The first task of journalists is to re-establish the relevance and credibility of news media with the half of Arab society who are under the age of 30.
It is critical to understand that young and old turn to their numerous media choices for news and entertainment; this requires journalists to find ways for public affairs reporting to become much more captivating.
Arab citizens, once freed from authoritarian regimes, can absorb the full range and combination of news, views and analysis critical to the news media's credibility and success. A proliferation of informational sources for those with access to a cell phone, radio, television or Internet connection—in other words, the Arab region's 350 million citizens—means that journalists must stand out as the reliable aggregator of facts, synthesizer of views, and purveyor of independent, accurate analysis. When people can choose from tens of thousands of sources of news and opinion, journalists need to sift and cut through the unfiltered noise and offer a contextual article, television or radio piece, or a multimedia online story that explains the significance of what happened. Why does it matter to me? To my country?
With its expansive reach across the region (and globally), Al Jazeera's cable and satellite TV succeeds because its journalism is solid: spot news gets covered quite accurately, quickly and fairly. Independent analysts provide well-considered commentary and opinions, tempered and contextualized. Its stories matter to its various targeted audiences, and editorial decisions are made mostly without pandering to biases or ideological allegiances.
Constitutional and legal protections matter. This is why political uprisings in the Arab region are calling for genuine constitutional change with the goal of protecting the fundamental rights and equality of all citizens. Legal limits to press freedom, including for reasons of national security, social or moral decency, or personal libel are routinely practiced here, as they are in many other countries. As these revolutionary movements push ahead, Arab news media need to define their legal safeguards, which means their voices need to be a part of the broader constitutional debate rather than ceding this ground to politically powerful entities.
Arab journalists who have more freedom to operate can experiment with meshing their independent reporting with emerging business models. Training will be essential if this younger generation of journalists is going to learn how to practice the nuanced mix of news and views that citizens in this region now expect.
Rami G. Khouri, a 2002 Nieman Fellow, is an internationally syndicated columnist and director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at American University of Beirut in Lebanon.
of achieving higher standards of professionalism, credibility and market viability for those who report the news. First, it's vital to pause and recall how various media—old and new—have fit into the gamut of change that has been sweeping the region since last December and understand how news and views—facts and passions—have been circulating through the region and continue to do so today. | <urn:uuid:26add447-3b13-490f-a34c-b7317f814f7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102677/Arab-Media-Rebuilding-Trust-With-Their-Public.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955259 | 1,241 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Treatment For Doctors Struggling With Addiction
Physicians with substance abuse problems are much more common than many people may believe. Statistics show that doctors struggling with addiction make up 8%-15% of all physicians, and these medical professionals need treatment that is specialized, because of the unique circumstances and easy access to drugs. The highest rate of substance abuse among medical professionals occurs among those who specialize in emergency medicine and anesthesiology, but even general practitioners and pediatricians are not immune to this issue. Often the substance abuse may start small, and the doctor may justify the drug use, but then the problem can start to interfere with patient care or affect the life of the physician and those around them.
Doctors struggling with addiction are common because these medical professionals have almost unlimited access to drugs. Physicians with substance abuse problems may be hesitant to ask for help, for fear of losing their medical license or ability to practice, especially if the drugs being abused are strictly controlled substances. Doctors with a substance abuse problem may want help but want to do so discreetly, in a setting that reflects their status and special considerations. Luxury substance abuse treatment centers can offer options that are not available in most facilities, as well as more intense and effective treatment and personal attention.
It is common for doctors struggling with addiction to successfully hide the signs of this substance abuse from others, but this does not mean the problem does not exist. Luxury treatment centers offer physicians with substance abuse problems a discreet way to eliminate the addiction, and get their lives and careers back on track. High end treatment facilities offer one on one counseling that is much more extensive than most facilities, with a minimum of four hours a week, so the treatment and recovery process is successful and the addiction is completely treated. These substance abuse centers have a much higher success rate than those which offer treatment at a lower cost, and for physicians this is an important factor.
Successful treatment is crucial for doctors struggling with addiction, whether the substance being abused is alcohol, opiates, or another type. Valiant Recovery offers treatment for physicians with substance abuse problems, in a setting that is luxurious and that encourages physical and mental well being. The staff to patient ratio is very low, and the facilities offer a wide range of options and activities to help the recovery process. Doctors struggling with addiction expect a certain standard because of their status, and that is exactly what is offered at Valiant Recovery. If you are a doctor or medical professional there is help available, and substance abuse can be treated with luxurious facilities and caring staff so you fully recover from your addiction.
Family Help Intervention Group Sessions Addictions Individual Sessions Admissions Location Healthy Lifestyles Spiritual Therapy Relapse Prevention Stress & Anger Mangmt Grief & Loss Pricing & Programs
You are worthy and excellent, and you will face recovery with Boldness and Courage. Your recovery is heroic and you have shown great bravery on your road to healing! | <urn:uuid:3b078c65-6b90-462e-95ad-6dbc00b5cef7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.valiantrecovery.com/doctors_with_addictions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955139 | 586 | 1.835938 | 2 |
And another thing ...
Microsoft Corp. ballyhooed the rollout of its new Vista operating system around the world last week. The software giant even held a fancy soir'e at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, in part for federal clients. The black-tie affair, co-sponsored by Intel Corp., featured an acceptable selection of food'shrimp, lobster bisque and beef tenderloin'and live music, and, of course, a horde of former federal officials now working for industry. There were a few current feds partying too, at least those who happened to have a tuxedo in the closet.
Meanwhile, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates shilled for Vista on Comedy Central's 'Daily Show with Jon Stewart' before heading off to England and three other countries to promote the new OS. Gates did offer some facts about Vista: 5 million people tested the beta version, and Microsoft consulted 50 families in seven countries on computer use and included 800 functions from that input. Then Stewart asked the key question: 'What does the F12 button do?'
Gates' advice: 'Stay away from it.' Good advice all around?
KEEPING TIME. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is taking part in a system for coordinating time measurements throughout the Americas. The Inter-American Metrology System uses Global Positioning System satellites and the Internet to compare times in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Panama and the United States, according to NIST. In a recent report, measurements in Canada, Mexico and the United States stayed within 50 nanoseconds of each other over an eight-month period last year. We can't say offhand exactly why that's significant, but it's still pretty impressive.
Give us the time of day at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:2b334d19-01ec-41d4-983a-fe8f5118c8d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gcn.com/articles/2007/02/04/and-another-thing.aspx | 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 | 0.927679 | 373 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Monday, 16 April 2012
Titanic - when tragedy is brought to book
Yesterday (April 15) was the one hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and there have been many commemorative events held at home and abroad in memory of those who lost their lives. I was born in Belfast and my grandfather, great uncle and father all worked in Harland and Wolff, proud builder of the White Star trio. There has been a buzz in the air, thanks to the opening of the new Titanic Visitor Centre in the regenerated docks area which I'm visiting today, not to mention the many television documentaries and dramas which have been aired in honour of the majestic ship. An ambtious docu-drama even tried to recreate the sinking, step by step. It's hard not to get emotionally attached to the event, as I have, and I wonder how the passengers would have felt knowing they were nearing death. Why did the band play on, continuing their rendition of 'Nearer My God To Thee?
This prompted me to think about whether or not a book can truly capture the enormity of such a tragedy. Many tragedies have been written about in both fact and fiction, from Columbine to September 11 to conflicts. In my soon-to-be-published book I deal with a tragedy, very loosely based on an actual event, but I often wonder whether rows of words on white pages can really show how horrific the incident was to witness first-hand. I try to re-create eye-witness accounts and wonder if my work really does it justice.
En route to New York on her maiden voyage in 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg which began the sinking process, leading to the loss of over 1,500 lives. What was the immediate reaction upon learning this? I imagine utter panic would have swept through the ship, each person reacting in a different way. I imagine some would have screamed, some would have remained silent, others would have prayed and told their loved ones they will meet again. How terrifying must it have been, sinking into waters so cold in the middle of a vast ocean?
A book by Morgan Robertson dubbed a ‘prophecy’ was published in 1898. The novel, Futility or The Wreck Of The Titan, about the sinking of a supposedly unsinkable ship, contains many similarities to the sinking of the Titanic. The first half of Futility introduces the protagonist, John Rowland, a disgraced former Royal Navy lieutenant, who becomes an alcoholic. Dismissed from the Navy, he works as a deckhand on the Titan which hits an iceberg on its travels. The ship starts to sink but he manages to saves the young daughter of a former lover by jumping onto the iceberg with her.
Furthermore as a journalist and one who has witnessed many tragic events over the years, I wonder if even newspaper reports can convey the enormity of tragedy and help readers understand the event. Is the newspaper article simple a summing up account of the event, or do readers feel empathy with the victims when they read the reports? Can words really do tragedy justice?
Pic taken: Belfast, April 2010 | <urn:uuid:f39fad67-a6fb-490f-8960-20ae61beea0f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.strictlywriting.blogspot.com/2012/04/titanic-when-tragedy-is-brought-to-book.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979952 | 644 | 1.835938 | 2 |
- With the grounding of virtually all civilian air flights
in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the bizarre
speculation about what's happening in North American air space heightened.
Columbus Alive received numerous citizen reports concerning airplanes "spraying"
or leaving behind mysterious "chemtrails" or "contrail grids"
in the sky. Some feared we were under biochemical attack while others postulated
we were being inoculated against anthrax or some other biochemical hazard.
- During a flight to Phoenix in early October, a Columbus
Alive reporter noted that air traffic was like a nest of hornets over southwest
Ohio and Indiana, with jets spraying everywhere. One plane appeared to
be a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, a refueling plane.
- What's the difference between a "chemtrail"
and a normal contrail (or vapor trail), the wisps of condensation you expect
to see in a jet's wake? Typically contrails can only form at temperatures
below negative-76 degrees Fahrenheit and at humidity levels of 70 percent
or more at high altitudes, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration meteorologist Thomas Schlattes. Even in most ideal conditions,
a jet contrail lasts no more than 30 minutes.
- So what are the big, bilious trails that seem to hang
indefinitely and slowly feather out and appear to turn into cirrus clouds?
Or the contrails seemingly purposely splayed over cities in geometrically
precise grid patterns? These are "chemtrails," and the mystery
of their source and purpose has been fueling increasing speculation among
government skeptics and on watchdog websites like chemtrailcentral.com,
chemtrail.com and carnicom.com.
- For the past decade, the official government response
to inquiries about the jet contrails appearing across the continent is
to attribute the phenomenon to increased commercial air traffic. In 1997,
the Christian Science Monitor reported the government's claim that the
jet contrails were actually causing clouds to form.
- Yet, in the month after the attack on the World Trade
Center, there was very little commercial airline traffic and virtually
no private civilian air flights. Still, white jets billowing lingering
plumes frequently appeared in the skies over Columbus. An Alive reporter,
using high-quality binoculars, could see that some of the white planes
had orange markings. In addition to Stratotankers, KC-10 Extenders, another
refueling plane, appeared to be used for spraying.
- There's nothing new about these sightings. It may seem
to be the stuff of X-Files-style paranoia or grist for conspiracy theorists
(and skeptics like Jay Reynolds, writing at goodsky.homestead.com, have
made thorough attempts to debunk the theories). But as chemtrail sightings
become more common, mainstream scientists (and the mainstream press) are
taking note. One scientist familiar with chemtrail experiments even agreed
to speak with Columbus Alive (though he refused to allow his name to be
used), saying that public disclosure of the experiments is inevitable and
maybe imminent. The Canadian Ottawa Citizen reported a "fervor over
chemtrails" on May 16: "What one sees here reflects sightings
across North America." The Citizen noted, "West Quebec Post publisher
Fred Ryan reports that his readers have been photographing and comparing
them [pictures of chemtrails], and such manifestations are listed on the
- "Ground fallout [from the chemtrails] analyzed in
the United States contained carcinogens and bacteria. Coincidentally in
the past decade, most jet fuel was re-engineered to reduce fire hazards
by adding a long-banned pesticide, which was reportedly also found in gel
samples from chemtrails. Also found were toxic micro-fibers, much finer
than asbestos," the Citizen wrote.
- Chemtrail sightings have been reported in 14 NATO nations.
Investigative reporter William Thomas notes that "Croatian chemtrails
began the day after that country joined NATO."
- Which begs one simple question: Why?
- Explanations range from chemtrails' use in military communications
applications to scientific experiments designed to control the weather,
thwarting global warming or relieving droughts.
- A scientist working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,
who insisted on anonymity, told Columbus Alive that two different secret
projects have been conducted. One involved cloud creation experiments to
lessen the effect of global warming. The other involved radiation reflection
off clouds in conjunction with the military's High Frequency Active Auroral
Research Program (HAARP) in Alaska.
- The scientist claims that the two most common substances
being sprayed into chemtrails are aluminum oxide and barium stearate. When
you see planes flying back and forth marking parallel lines, X-patterns
and grids in a clear sky, that's aluminum oxide, according to the scientist.
The goal is to create an artificial sunscreen to reflect solar radiation
back into space to alleviate global warming.
- In some cases, barium may be sprayed in a similar manner
for the purpose of "high-tech 3-D radar imaging. The barium can be
used for a 'wire' to shoot an electromagnetic beam through to take 3-D
images of the ground far over the horizon," according to the scientist.
- Thomas, writing in the November-December 2001 issue of
NEXUS New Times magazine, essentially confirmed this assessment of the
activities at the Dayton air base. "The barium spread in exercises
conducted out of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base acts as an electrolyte,
enhancing conductivity of radar and radio waves," Thomas reported.
"Wright-Pat has also long been deeply engaged in HAARP's electromagnetic
- Ken Caldeira, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore Labs
and one of the country's leading experts on weather modification, conducted
the original computer modeling for the use of aluminum oxide to fight global
warming. He told Columbus Alive, "We originally did this study to
show that this program [using massive spraying for weather modification]
shouldn't be done," due to negative health effects. Caldeira said
there are persistent rumors that the Bush administration will announce
geo-engineering weather modification projects this spring. Caldeira sees
this as "political suicide."
- Patenting Mother Nature
- The amount of information available on weather modification
and defense applications surrounding the HAARP project proves that chemtrails
aren't so secret after all. Public documents have trickled out of government
offices and committees for the last 50 years. And the most valuable cache
of data about weather-control efforts is freely available from a very reliable
source: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
- Throughout the Cold War, both the United States and the
Soviet Union actively investigated the military use of weather modification.
In 1958, Captain Howard T. Orville served as the White House's chief advisor
on weather modification. He publicly admitted that the military was studying
"ways to manipulate the charges of the earth and sky and so affect
the weather through electronic beams to ionize and de-ionize the atmosphere."
- Professor Gordon J.F. MacDonald, serving on the President's
Science Advisory Committee in 1966, frequently published papers on the
military use of weather modification. In the book Unless Peace Comes, MacDonald
titled a chapter "How To Wreck The Environment." He described
the military applications of weather modification including climate change,
melting the polar ice caps, techniques for depleting the ozone layer over
the enemy, engineering earthquakes, manipulating ocean waves and using
the earth's energy fields for brain wave manipulation.
- "The key to geophysical warfare is the identification
of environmental instabilities to which the addition of a small amount
of energy would release vastly greater amounts of energy," MacDonald
- In the early 1970s, the U.S. Congressional Subcommittee
on Oceans and International Environment held investigative hearings on
the military's research into weather and climate modification. The committee's
findings were shocking at the time, including detailed plans for creating
tidal waves through the coordinated use of nuclear weapons.
- A 1977 United Nations treaty, The Convention on the Prohibition
of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of the Environmental Modification
Techniques, prohibited "the use of techniques that would have widespread,
long-lasting or severe effects through deliberate manipulation of natural
processes and cause such phenomena as earthquakes, tidal waves and changes
in climate and weather patterns."
- The revival of the Cold War during the Reagan years produced
a slew of new inventions in the area of weather modification. Presumably
to cool off the earth, an August 1982 patent, number 4347284, outlined
plans to produce a "White covered sheet material capable of reflecting
ultraviolet rays" from the sun.
- Numerous other patents attempted to perfect "aerial
spraying of liquids," like patent number 4412654, registered in November
1983: "A laminar microjet atomizer and method of aerial spraying involved
the use of a streamlined body having a slot in the trailing edge thereof
to afford a quiescent zone within the [airplane] wing and into which liquid
for spraying is introduced."
- Not to be outdone, a patent was filed in July 1986 detailing
a "Liquid propane generator for cloud-seeding apparatus." The
abstract reads: "Apparatus is provided for release of liquid propane
from the holding chamber of a cloud-seeding rocket." A new and improved
"liquid atomizing apparatus for aerial spraying" was patented
in August 1990. "The generator is driven from a power take-off from
the engine of the spraying aircraft, a drive assembly includes a device
for controlling the speed of the generator relative to speed of the engine,"
reads patent number 4948050.
- The breakup of the Soviet Union in the 1990s ushered
in brave new opportunities in weather modification. The New York Times
reported on September 24, 1992, that a Russian company was openly selling
electronic equipment to manipulate the weather in a specific area. The
Times noted that certain Russian farmers used the weather-control technology
to alter the climate for better crop yields.
- A little over a month later, the Wall Street Journal
reported that Russian company Elate Intelligence Technologies Inc. was
selling weather-control equipment using the slogan "Weather made to
order." The Journal quoted Igor Pirogoff as saying that Hurricane
Andrew, which did an estimated $17 billion in damage, could have been turned
"into a wimpy little squall" by his company.
- South Africa's Water Resource Commission admitted to
being involved in the actual testing of "hygroscopic seeding particles
from a seeding flare" in an October 1994 patent: "In a confidential
technical trial which was conducted on a small isolated cloud formation
above the Nelspriut area in the Transvaal province of the Republic of South
Africa, two flares were ignited electrically from inside the aircraftto
- Russia's open selling of former Soviet military weather
modification devices often made for interesting news stories. "Malaysia
to battle smog with cyclones" is a headline in the November 13, 1997,
Wall Street Journal. "The plan calls for the use of new Russian technology
to create cyclones-the giant storms also known as typhoons and hurricanes-to
cause torrential rains washing the smoke out of the air," the Journal
- By 1997, the great global reinsurance firms-the companies
that insure the insurers, like the Swiss Reinsurance Company and Lloyd's
of London-were complaining publicly of global warming and the added risk
of climate-related insurance losses. Beating the drum in the U.S. for weather-modification
technology to combat global warming was none other than the father of the
H-bomb, Edward Teller. His public interest in the issue coincided with
the December 1997 Kyoto Conference on global warming and greenhouse gas
- In April this year, the New York Times described Teller
as director emeritus of the Livermore Weapons Laboratory and "an ardent
advocate of the Reagan administration's Star Wars anti-missile plan and,
more recently, has promoted the idea of manipulating the earth's atmosphere
to counteract global warming."
- The U.S. Air Force admitted to CNN in July that it had
broken up a storm over the Atlantic using products made by a company called
Dyn-O-Mat. The company's website, dynomat.com, lists "environmental
absorbent products" such as Dyn-O-Drought and Dyn-O-Storm.
- As recently as November 13, another patent was filed
outlining a "method of modifying weather." The abstract reads:
"The polymer is dispersed into the cloud and the wind of the storm
agitates the mixture causing the polymer to absorb the rain. This reaction
forms a gelatinous substance which precipitate to the surface below. Thus,
diminishing the cloud's ability to rain."
- Sunbury resident Dan King remembers a stormy day in July
when he was driving on a newly resurfaced section of I-71 and "the
rainwater looked like dish soap water on the highway. I thought it was
just from the resurfacing," he said, "but when I got out in the
country I saw the same thing. Piles of suds at the side of the road."
- The scientist who works at Wright-Patterson told Alive
that barium stearate is basically a soap bonded to a metal and could have
produced the soapy rain.
- It's impossible to know which chemicals are being sprayed
or for what reason since, according to the government, chemtrails don't
exist. But, increasingly, government skeptics and other watchdogs are demanding
to know if chemtrail spraying poses any health risks.
- In his NEXUS New Times article, William Thomas wrote,
"Chemtrails can cause drought by soaking up all available moisture,
and drooping chemical curtains fall through vast colonies of UV-mutated
bacteria, viruses and fungi living in the upper atmosphere. Could these
malevolent micro-organisms be piggy-backing on the plumes?"
- Thomas suggests that the spraying following September
11 has nothing to do with a deliberate biological attack or the inoculation
of the American public. Rather, it's simply an ongoing attempt by humans
to fool with Mother Nature.
- First published December 6, 2001 Copyright © 2001
Columbus Alive, Inc. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:14f60ae5-269e-49c3-9eed-cd980d6ffcc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rense.com/general18/mn.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92464 | 3,115 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Private health plans have a strong track record of offering high quality coverage options, with innovative programs and services to serve the Medicare population. Currently, more than 13 million seniors and people with disabilities have chosen to enroll in Medicare Advantage plans because they value the improved quality of care, additional benefits, and innovative services these plans provide. As a result of health plans’ efforts, survey findings show that 88 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees are satisfied with their coverage overall and 92 percent are satisfied with their doctor.
As policymakers consider how to sustain Medicare in the future, health plans are collaborating with providers and other stakeholders to help transform the health care system through innovative payment and delivery system reforms, critical components to ensuring that our nation’s public safety net continues to protect patients and is sustainable in the long run.
The Value Offered by Health Plans Participating in the Medicare Advantage Program
- MA Enrollees Receive Coordinated Care: Seniors and people with disabilities are choosing Medicare Advantage plans because they have developed systems of coordinated care for ensuring that beneficiaries receive health care services on a timely basis, while also emphasizing prevention and providing access to disease management services for their chronic conditions. These coordinated care systems provide for the seamless delivery of health care services across the continuum of care.
- MA Enrollees Receive Additional Services: The following are additional specific examples of the extra benefits and services that are not included in the Medicare FFS program, but are offered by Medicare Advantage plans to improve enrollees’ coverage and manage their overall health and well-being on an ongoing basis:
- Case management services
- Disease management programs
- Coordinated care programs
- Prescription drug management tools integrated with medical benefits
- Tools and data collection to address disparities in care for racial and ethnic minorities
- Nurse help hotlines
- Enhanced coverage of home infusion, personal care and durable medical equipment
- Personal health records to offer beneficiaries greater control over their health information and to coordinate information better
- Vision, hearing, and dental benefits coordinated with medical services
- Peer Reviewed Studies Show the Value of Medicare Advantage: As a direct result of these additional benefits and services, peer reviewed research has demonstrated that Medicare Advantage plans are more effective than the Medicare FFS program at addressing crucial patient care issues facing the nation, including reducing preventable hospital readmissions, increasing primary care visits, and managing chronic illnesses. The following are several examples:
- One recent study published in the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) found that the Medicare Advantage readmission rate was about 13 percent to 20 percent lower than that in the Medicare FFS program.
- A study published in the January 2012 edition of Health Affairs found that beneficiaries with diabetes in a Medicare Advantage special needs plan (SNP) had “seven percent more primary care physician office visits; nine percent lower hospital admission rates; 19 percent fewer hospital days; and 28 percent fewer hospital readmissions compared to patients in FFS Medicare.”
- Additional research co-authored by researchers affiliated with The Brookings Institution concluded that Medicare Advantage plans outperformed the Medicare FFS program in 9 out of 11 clinical quality measures. This means that Medicare Advantage enrollees received the level of effective care recommended by a doctor with greater frequency than patients in Medicare FFS, for 9 of the 11 procedures studied.
- MA Enrollees Are Protected Against Unpredictable Out-of-Pocket Costs: Medicare Advantage plans also protect beneficiaries from catastrophic health care costs. In 2012, all Medicare Advantage plans offer an out-of-pocket maximum limit for beneficiary costs, and about 78 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees are in plans that have annual out-of-pocket maximums of $5,000 or less. These out-of-pocket maximums – which are not offered by the Medicare FFS program – help protect Medicare beneficiaries from catastrophic health care expenses that otherwise might pose a serious threat to their financial security. Medicare Advantage plans also help reduce out-of-pocket costs for enrollees by reducing premiums for Part B and Part D, and by limiting cost-sharing for Medicare-covered services, including primary care physician visits and inpatient hospital stays.
- Impact on Vulnerable Beneficiaries: For years, AHIP has been tracking government data that show how valuable Medicare Advantage plans are for vulnerable beneficiaries, particularly those who are not eligible for Medicaid and do not have employer-sponsored retiree benefits. For many of these individuals, Medicare Advantage may be their only option for comprehensive, affordable coverage. Key findings of our most recent analysis, based on 2010 data and published in May 2012, show that:
- Thirty-nine percent of all Medicare beneficiaries had incomes below $20,000. By comparison, 43 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees had incomes below $20,000.
- Sixty-four percent of African-American Medicare Advantage enrollees and 82 percent of Hispanic Medicare Advantage enrollees had incomes below $20,000.
- These findings demonstrate that Medicare Advantage plans are important to many beneficiaries who cannot afford the high out-of-pocket costs they would incur under the Medicare FFS program. These vulnerable beneficiaries will pay a heavy price if the ACA’s Medicare Advantage funding cuts are fully implemented. | <urn:uuid:eb3bf1f4-c651-41c3-9719-fe4eff7ac057> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ahipcoverage.com/2012/10/11/fact-check-on-medicare-advantage/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949865 | 1,061 | 1.78125 | 2 |
The National Rifle Association has remained stone-cold silent in the aftermath of the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary. While gun control advocates have called for the banning of extended magazine clips and stricter safety laws on assault weapons, the NRA has been biding its time, promising only to make a public statement at the end of the week.
But today, leaks emerged in the NRA information dam. In an apparent effort to gain some credibility before tomorrow’s press conference, one ‘source’ revealed to Fox News that the organization has seen a rise in membership following the shooting:
#NEWTOWN: An NRA source tells Fox News its membership has surged by an average of roughly 8,000 new registrations a day since the massacre.
— James Rosen (@JamesRosenFNC) December 19, 2012
The NRA may think it can up its credibility by showing off enrollment numbers, but the organization is ignoring a key fact about NRA members: They don’t always agree with the organization’s policy positions. NRA members support sensible laws about reporting stolen guns, prohibiting certain people from acquiring a firearm, requiring background checks, and issuing restrictions on concealed carry permits. Like Americans overall, NRA members support the second amendment, but they also believe in stricter gun safety laws than the NRA proposes.
It’s possible that the NRA will in fact come up with “meaningful contributions” that it’s promised in response to the horrific tragedies that took place this year — from Oak Creek to Sandy Hook, Aurora to the streets of Chicago — but if history is any indication, the NRA’s move might be an empty gesture before it continues on its warpath toward absolute deregulation of guns. | <urn:uuid:792ab822-daee-41fb-ab77-adaef86209a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/20/1366681/nra-membership-sandy-hook/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948836 | 347 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Three-phase transformer circuits
Since three-phase is used so often for power distribution systems, it makes sense that we would need three-phase transformers to be able to step voltages up or down. This is only partially true, as regular single-phase transformers can be ganged together to transform power between two three-phase systems in a variety of configurations, eliminating the requirement for a special three-phase transformer. However, special three-phase transformers are built for those tasks, and are able to perform with less material requirement, less size, and less weight than their modular counterparts.
A three-phase transformer is made of three sets of primary and secondary windings, each set wound around one leg of an iron core assembly. Essentially it looks like three single-phase transformers sharing a joined core as in Figure below.
Three phase transformer core has three sets of windings.
Those sets of primary and secondary windings will be connected in either Δ or Y configurations to form a complete unit. The various combinations of ways that these windings can be connected together in will be the focus of this section.
Whether the winding sets share a common core assembly or each winding pair is a separate transformer, the winding connection options are the same:
- Primary - Secondary
- Y - Y
- Y - Δ
- Δ - Y
- Δ - Δ
The reasons for choosing a Y or Δ configuration for transformer winding connections are the same as for any other three-phase application: Y connections provide the opportunity for multiple voltages, while Δ connections enjoy a higher level of reliability (if one winding fails open, the other two can still maintain full line voltages to the load).
Probably the most important aspect of connecting three sets of primary and secondary windings together to form a three-phase transformer bank is paying attention to proper winding phasing (the dots used to denote “polarity” of windings). Remember the proper phase relationships between the phase windings of Δ and Y: (Figure below)
(Y) The center point of the “Y” must tie either all the “-” or all the “+” winding points together. (Δ) The winding polarities must stack together in a complementary manner ( + to -).
Getting this phasing correct when the windings aren't shown in regular Y or Δ configuration can be tricky. Let me illustrate, starting with Figure below.
Inputs A1, A2, A3 may be wired either “Δ” or “Y”, as may outputs B1, B2, B3.
Three individual transformers are to be connected together to transform power from one three-phase system to another. First, I'll show the wiring connections for a Y-Y configuration: Figure below
Phase wiring for “Y-Y” transformer.
Note in Figure above how all the winding ends marked with dots are connected to their respective phases A, B, and C, while the non-dot ends are connected together to form the centers of each “Y”. Having both primary and secondary winding sets connected in “Y” formations allows for the use of neutral conductors (N1 and N2) in each power system.
Now, we'll take a look at a Y-Δ configuration: (Figure below)
Phase wiring for “Y-Δ” transformer.
Note how the secondary windings (bottom set, Figure above) are connected in a chain, the “dot” side of one winding connected to the “non-dot” side of the next, forming the Δ loop. At every connection point between pairs of windings, a connection is made to a line of the second power system (A, B, and C).
Now, let's examine a Δ-Y system in Figure below.
Phase wiring for “Δ-Y” transformer.
Such a configuration (Figure above) would allow for the provision of multiple voltages (line-to-line or line-to-neutral) in the second power system, from a source power system having no neutral.
And finally, we turn to the Δ-Δ configuration: (Figure below)
Phase wiring for “Δ-Δ” transformer.
When there is no need for a neutral conductor in the secondary power system, Δ-Δ connection schemes (Figure above) are preferred because of the inherent reliability of the Δ configuration.
Considering that a Δ configuration can operate satisfactorily missing one winding, some power system designers choose to create a three-phase transformer bank with only two transformers, representing a Δ-Δ configuration with a missing winding in both the primary and secondary sides: (Figure below)
“V” or “open-Δ” provides 2-φ power with only two transformers.
This configuration is called “V” or “Open-Δ.” Of course, each of the two transformers have to be oversized to handle the same amount of power as three in a standard Δ configuration, but the overall size, weight, and cost advantages are often worth it. Bear in mind, however, that with one winding set missing from the Δ shape, this system no longer provides the fault tolerance of a normal Δ-Δ system. If one of the two transformers were to fail, the load voltage and current would definitely be affected.
The following photograph (Figure below) shows a bank of step-up transformers at the Grand Coulee hydroelectric dam in Washington state. Several transformers (green in color) may be seen from this vantage point, and they are grouped in threes: three transformers per hydroelectric generator, wired together in some form of three-phase configuration. The photograph doesn't reveal the primary winding connections, but it appears the secondaries are connected in a Y configuration, being that there is only one large high-voltage insulator protruding from each transformer. This suggests the other side of each transformer's secondary winding is at or near ground potential, which could only be true in a Y system. The building to the left is the powerhouse, where the generators and turbines are housed. On the right, the sloping concrete wall is the downstream face of the dam:
Step-up transfromer bank at Grand Coulee hydroelectric dam, Washington state, USA. | <urn:uuid:9db97f5e-3404-4ba4-a8c5-d91dbe438eb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_2/chpt_10/6.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93577 | 1,335 | 3.546875 | 4 |
When you consider mashing up supercomputers and games, there's little doubt that many people think of IBM's Deep Blue Grand Challenge project--which beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a famous 1997 showdown--as the standard by which all future projects would be judged.
Now, IBM is trying to outdo itself with Watson, another supercomputer Grand Challenge that, this time, will attempt to beat the world's most successful players of the long-running hit TV game show "Jeopardy."
And while "Jeopardy" might not be the first game show to cross your mind as being worthy of a full-scale four-year IBM Research project, Big Blue thinks that the Alex Trebek-hosted show offers one of the most important natural-language processing challenges it has ever come across.
IBM has been working on--and talking about--the project, code-named Watson (see video below), for some time. And this fall, it conducted dozens of tests, pitting Watson against a series of former "Jeopardy" players to see if it was prepared to take on the best in the world.
And now, IBM has decided Watson is ready. On Monday, the company announced that Watson will take on two of the most successful "Jeopardy" players in history, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, next February, in a bid to see if its computer is good enough to beat the best humans at this most abstract of word games, and demonstrate its natural-language processing utility for a wealth of other fields as well.
Yesterday, Watson Research Manager Eric Brown, sat down for a 45 Minutes on IM interview to talk about the program, and to tout the computer's chances of beating "Jeopardy" kingpins like Jennings and Rutter, who between them, won more than $5.75 million.
Q: Well, I want to thank you for taking the time to do this. To start, I wonder if you could quickly sum up the Watson project from your perspective for those readers that aren't familiar with it?
Brown: The Watson project is a Grand Challenge project being pursued by IBM to build a computer system that can compete on "Jeopardy" at the level of a human grand champion. To solve this Grand Challenge, we have built an automatic open domain question answering system, called Watson. Watson is built on top of IBM's DeepQA (for Deep Question Answering) technology.
Why is "Jeopardy" a game worthy of being the follow-up to Deep Blue? I understand why--but I wonder if a lot of people would think of "Jeopardy" being worthy of being put alongside chess as an intellectual challenge.
Brown: Before Deep Blue, people though it was impossible to build a computer system that could beat a grand master at chess, which made that a very interesting Grand Challenge problem. But chess is fairly mathematical and well defined--each game state and the corresponding possible moves can be easily represented by a computer. "Jeopardy" requires understanding natural human language, which, unlike chess, is completely open-ended, is often ambiguous, and requires context to understand. Although humans can easily understand language, building computer systems that understand natural human language is extremely challenging. "Jeopardy" is a fantastic way to push the limits of this technology.
I watched the "Why Jeopardy" video, and I was struck by something someone said--the idea of Don't answer a question if you don't think you've got it right. Does that happen with Watson? And if so, why would it not know the answer?
Brown: That's a key element of "Jeopardy"--if you get the answer wrong, you are penalized and the value of the clue is subtracted from your score--not unlike in business where, if you make wrong decisions with bad information, you will get penalized. This means that not only must Watson come up with the correct answer but also a meaningful confidence in the answer to decide whether or not to even attempt the clue. As to whey Watson would not know the answer, perhaps the question should be, how could Watson know any of the answers?
Here are a few things to consider. First, when playing "Jeopardy," Watson must be completely self contained--it cannot be connected to the Web. All of the content Watson uses to answer questions is identified ahead of time, before seeing the questions.
Second, "Jeopardy" clues can cover any topic. In fact, we analyzed a random sample of 20,000 clues and found 2,500 different kinds of things the clues ask about. With such a broad domain, we couldn't possibly predict every clue "Jeopardy" might ask and build a database of answers. Instead, the DeepQA technology that underpins Watson reads millions of pages of text and uses deep natural language processing techniques to generate candidate answers and evaluate those answers along many different dimensions.
Finally, the "Jeopardy" clues are expressed using complex, often tricky, natural human language. Just understanding what the clue is asking for is a challenge.
Briefly, what is the source of the content Watson uses to answer questions?
Brown: Watson uses encyclopedias, dictionaries, news stories, books, and Web content, among other resources.
So, how did the Watson team decide that Watson was ready to take on the top "Jeopardy" champions?
Brown: Over the last four years of developing Watson, we've evaluated the system in two major ways. First, we run large test sets--say, 3,000 questions--in batch mode to evaluate system performance, conduct error analysis, and improve the system. Results over this many questions give us a statistically significant performance measurement.
The second way we've evaluated Watson is by competing in "sparring" matches against former "Jeopardy" players. Last winter we played 79 games against people that had appeared on "Jeopardy," and this past fall, we played 55 games against Tournament of Champion "Jeopardy" players. These sparring matches have provided a lot of insight into Watson's performance.
How confident are you that Watson can beat the champs? And how surprised would you be if one of the champs came out on top?
Brown: We are very confident that Watson will be competitive. However, the exhibition match is just two games, and anything can happen. Watson (or any player, for that matter) could get [unlucky] with the categories or the Daily Doubles. This is another reason why we played the sparring matches--to create a record over a much larger set of games.
After these large tests you've done, what kind of questions give Watson the hardest time?
Brown: Since we haven't played the final exhibition match yet, I can't give you any specifics. I will say that we're often surprised by some of the clues Watson can get right.
In one of the videos about Watson, I noticed a moment where, when asked to identify two of the men in the R.E.M. song, "It's the end of the world as we know it" with the initials "L.B.," Watson totally misunderstands and responds, "I feel fine." What had to change for it to get past those kinds of basic language misunderstandings?
Brown: The interesting point here is that humans might perceive that as a "basic language misunderstanding," but let's look at what's really going on. That kind of clue is challenging because of the many layers. You have to know the lyrics of the song, know what a "person" is, find the people in the lyrics, know what "initials" are, and match the initials to come up with the answer. This requires complex decomposition and nested processing.
Tell me what's surprised you most about working on this project?
Brown: I think the biggest surprise is how quickly we've been able to push the technology. When we started this project, our state-of-the-art question answering system at the time was nowhere near being competitive at "Jeopardy." Over the last four years, this team has made incredible progress and solved innumerable challenges, from natural language processing algorithms to scale out and latency. Seeing it all come together has really been amazing.
Brown: Another surprising element is the way this challenge has resonated within IBM, with our customers, and with the academic community. People are really drawn to "Jeopardy" as a demonstration of this technology. It has been very rewarding for the entire team.
How can what your team has learned on the Watson project be applied to other real-world projects/problems?
Brown: Watson is an application of underlying technology that supports better decision making by evaluating candidate answers (or "hypotheses") with lots of different evidence and algorithms. We see a number of exciting applications of this approach in areas such as the medical domain, business intelligence, help desks, etc.
Finally (and this is the standard last question in this interview series), I like to do IM interviews for several reasons: it allows my guest to be more thoughtful and articulate than they might be in a phone or in-person interview; I get a perfect transcript; and instant messaging allows for multi-tasking. So, if you don't mind, can you tell me what else you were doing during the interview?
Brown: I had a few IMs from colleagues, and I've talked to a few people that were in and out of the meeting room I'm sitting in. But for the most part I've been focused on this interview.
Excellent. Well, thank you very much for your time. I'm very excited by this project, and I really look forward to seeing how it turns out.
Brown: Great, thanks very much for the opportunity to share this with you and your readers. | <urn:uuid:68e830d1-ff6e-4d14-bad8-58fa2e3c3a83> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-20025829-52.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966428 | 2,041 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Local officials hope to help prevent incidents of suicide and domestic violence dramatically, which increase during the holiday season, according to law enforcement officials.
In September 1999, Lisa Spicknall's husband, Richard, drove their two children to a bridge over the Choptank River, killing them all.
"Their father had committed the ultimate act of domestic violence," she said. "He shot and murdered my two beautiful children."
Spicknall, flanked by Baltimore County officials Wednesday morning, shared her nightmare once again in an effort to remind people of the horrors of domestic violence.
"Just within the last two months, we've had several domestic homicides in Baltimore County," Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson said. "What strikes us is many of these cases are committed by family members, loved ones, associates, people that we know and trust and we're with for many, many years."
Baltimore County Health Officer Dr. Gregory Branch said he believes the rise in violent behavior around the holidays is linked to added stress.
"During the holidays, our expectations change -- what we want to give and want to receive -- so because of those, we don't cope very well with those stresses," Branch said.
Health officials said it's vital for people in crisis to take advantage of public services for assistance.
"It took me eight years, but (for) a lot of people, it doesn't take that long anymore because they realize now that the services are there and that there is a way out. They can see the light on the other side," Spicknall said. "I hope, by speaking out, that shows there is a light on the other side they can go to."
As part of her tour to speak against domestic violence, Spicknall said she emphasizes just how important those lifelines of help can be. | <urn:uuid:bd37676e-91d0-4aec-a170-31c887a1ea58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbaltv.com/Domestic-Violence-Increases-During-Holidays/-/9380084/8902334/-/duitxb/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983727 | 375 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Cellulitis is a common skin infection caused by bacteria.
Skin infection - bacterial
Staphylococcus and streptococcus bacteria are the most common causes of cellulitis.
The skin normally has many types of bacteria living on it. When there is a break in the skin, however, bacteria can enter the body and cause infection and inflammation. The skin tissues in the infected area become red, hot, irritated, and painful.
Risk factors for cellulitis include:
- Cracks or peeling skin between the toes
- History of peripheral vascular disease
- Injury or trauma with a break in the skin (skin wounds)
- Insect bites and stings, animal bites, or human bites
- Ulcers from diabetes or a blockage in the blood supply (ischemia)
- Use of corticosteroid medications or medications that suppress the immune system
- Wound from a recent surgery
- Signs of infection:
- Chills, shaking
- General ill feeling (malaise)
- Muscle aches, pains (myalgias)
- Warm skin, sweating
- Pain or tenderness in the area with the rash or sore
- Skin redness or inflammation that increases in size as the infection spreads
- Skin sore or rash (macule):
- Comes on suddenly
- Grows quickly in the first 24 hours
- Usually has sharp borders
- Tight, glossy, "stretched" appearance of the skin
- Warmth over the area of redness
Other symptoms that can occur with this disease:
- Hair loss at the site of infection
- Joint stiffness caused by swelling of the tissue over the joint
- Nausea and vomiting
Exams and Tests
During a physical examination, the doctor may find:
- Redness, warmth, and swelling of the skin
- Swelling and drainage if the infection is around a skin wound
- Swollen glands (lymph nodes) near the cellulitis
Your health care provider may mark the edges of the redness with a pen, to see if the redness goes past the marked border over the next several days.
Tests that may be used:
Cellulitis treatment may require a hospital stay if:
- You are very sick (very high temperature, blood pressure problems, nausea and vomiting that does not go away)
- You have been on antibiotics and the infection is getting worse
- Your immune system is not working well (due to cancer, HIV)
- You have an infection around your eyes
Most of the time, treatment with oral antibiotics and close follow-up is enough. Treatment is focused on controlling the infection and preventing complications.
You may receive antibiotics to control the infection, and analgesics to control pain.
Raise the infected area higher than your heart to reduce swelling. Rest until your symptoms improve.
It is possible to be cured with 7 - 10 days of treatment. Cellulitis may be more severe in people with chronic diseases and those who are more prone to infection because their immune system is not working properly (immunosuppressed).
People with fungal infections of the feet may have cellulitis that keeps coming back. The cracks in the skin offer an opening for bacteria to get inside.
When to Contact a Medical Professional
Call your health care provider if:
- You have symptoms of cellulitis
- You are being treated for cellulitis and you develop new symptoms, such as persistent fever, drowsiness, lethargy, blistering over the cellulitis, or red streaks that spread
Seek medical attention immediately if the cellulitis is on your face.
Protect your skin by:
- Keeping your skin moist with lotions or ointments to prevent cracking
- Wearing shoes that fit well and provide enough room for your feet
- Learning how to trim your nails to avoid harming the skin around them
- Wearing appropriate protective equipment when participating in work or sports
Whenever you have a break in the skin:
- Clean the break carefully with soap and water
- Cover with a bandage and change it every day until a scab forms
- Watch for redness, pain, drainage, or other signs of infection
Stevens DL, Bisno AL, Chambers BF, Everett ED, Dellinger P, Goldstein EJ, et al. Infectious Diseases Society of America. Practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of skin and soft-tissue infections. Clin Infect Dis. 2005;41:1373-1406.
Abrahamian FM, Talan DA, Moran GJ. Management of skin and soft-tissue infections in the emergency department. Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2008;22:89-116.
Michael Lehrer, MD, Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997-
A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. | <urn:uuid:12a45d88-29e5-4a5b-a30e-768cb991978b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cmccare.org/Health-Library/HIE%20Multimedia/1/000855.htm | 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 | 0.901132 | 1,125 | 3.25 | 3 |
Is high-tech gadgetry diminishing the ability of adults to give proper supervision to very young children? According to this Wall Street Journal article, the answer is "probably, so for Christ's sake put your phone down, you neglectful monster."
Okay, so that's not exactly what it says. The theory is this: the near-ubiquity of hand-held electronic devices are one possible reason why injury rates for young kids have been on the rise lately -- as in, a 12 percent increase between 2007 and 2010. As a pediatrician who's part of the American Academy of Pediatrics working group for injury, violence, and poison prevention puts it, "The injuries were going down and down and down. (The recent uptick) is pretty striking."
The article raises some truly disturbing connections between "device distraction" and childhood injuries or even deaths -- but does this mean I'm going to ban my cellphone from the playground? Yeah, probably not. | <urn:uuid:6fb00a57-3f3a-447b-b6a2-9f6983f17ffb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thestir.cafemom.com/technology/texting?next=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958811 | 193 | 1.515625 | 2 |
WorkABILITY is a project run by Hertfordshire PASS, which is a charity helping disabled people to live independently. WorkABILITY helps to support young disabled people aged from 16 to 25 to “overcome barriers to work” We do this by running different activities and by the young people being referred to us and we in turn will help them to find work in the local area.
The six apprentices first canvasses employers to get them interested in what we are doing and to see whether the employers would be prepared to take on a young person, with a physical or learning disability, supported by a mentor, in their companies. We have been successful in the past in finding work for young people namely from different areas in Hertfordshire, in different companies such as a publishers near us , a company called SERCO, which collects rubbish from areas of Hertfordshire, and an Oxfam warehouse. We have also run successful sessions in which students from a local college have visited us to gain experience of what it is like to work for a company and what they would ask you to do.
The activities we have are around hopes and fears, barriers they may face while working e.g Access to Work, Benefits, Transport etc and the other things would be that they ask questions of adults who have faced challenges themselves who are either disabled or non disabled e.g Mat Fraser. We got the young people who attended the 2009 Summer Job Forum we had to ask Mat about his job and how to be in employment and what barriers he may have faced in work. We also had a role play in the afternoon of that session which went really successfully. We used the metaphor of Jack and the Beanstalk in relation to getting a job i.e the cow being a PlayStation, the beanstalk being the career ladder of opportunity, and the axe “breaking down barriers that the person would face in life. The mother of Jack was also the “parent trap” (meaning that parents might not understand about their son or daughter being independent).
We feel our work is very important as we are the only truly user driven project we know of.We allow the people we work with to decide and pursue what they want to do in relation to work experience instead of someone like Hertfordshire PASS or the college or their parents just going out and picking something for them. This is vital as people with physical or learning disabilities should certainly have the same opportunities as non disabled people. This is something that we’re all very passionate about, as we all have some form of disability ourselves. | <urn:uuid:a754422a-2c83-454f-9ebe-70932c4f88c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hertspass.com/workability/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983225 | 521 | 1.984375 | 2 |
1. "These are single-family residences, and that's what they were intended for."
--Audrey Andrews, V.P. of a homeowner's association in Ocala, Fla., discouraging her neighborhood from taking hurricane refugees into their homes.
2. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees."
-- President George W. Bush
3. "Paula, the federal government did not even know about the convention center people until today."
--Former FEMA director Mike Brown, in an interview with Paula Zahn, Sept. 1.
4. "[ . . .] you are dealing with the permanently poor -- people who don't have jobs, are not used to getting up and organizing themselves and getting things done and for whom sitting and waiting is a way of life,"
-- Linda Chavez, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity and a former head of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
5. "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"
-–House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to three young hurricane evacuees from New Orleans at the Astrodome in Houston
6. "Last night, we showed you the full force of a superpower government going to the rescue."
-–MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Sept. 1.
7. "I also want to encourage anybody who was affected by Hurricane Corina to make sure their children are in school."
-–First Lady Laura Bush, twice referring to a "Hurricane Corina" while speaking to children and parents in South Haven, Mississippi, Sept. 8
8. "What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is that they all want to stay in Texas. Everybody is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway so this (chuckle) – this is working very well for them."
-–Former First Lady Barbara Bush, on the Hurricane flood evacuees in the Houston Astrodome, Sept. 5
9. "Judge Roberts can, maybe, you know, be thankful that a tragedy has brought him some good."
-–Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson
10. "Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen."
--D.H. Lawrence, "Lady Chatterly's Lover" | <urn:uuid:b986c92d-0933-4da3-b9e6-a6369bfcc460> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://vestalvespa.blogspot.com/2005/09/tuesday-list-quotes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968025 | 559 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Skype for iPhone is an app that lets you use the Skype service to send instant messages and make voice calls for free to other Skype users, and to make low-price voice calls to cell phones and landlines around the world. You have to use Wi-Fi to make voice calls--the voice service won't work over 3G mobile networks--but that effectively means free iPhone-to-iPhone calls (using Skype and Wi-Fi), low-cost international calls from and to anywhere in the world (again, with Wi-Fi), and voice calls for iPod Touch users even (with an additional microphone, and while connected to Wi-Fi). Call … Read more
Updated April 3, 2009 at 11:00 am PT with more questions and answers.
I'm going to answer some of the most frequently asked ones here, but if you've got more, you know what to do. Put 'em in the comments.
First of all, some context. Skype for iPhone is a voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, communications application that lets you chat with other Skype members for free, plus call landlines and mobile phones when you buy Skype Out credit. It is available in every country in which the App Store can be found, and it has already made a splash in the United States, Japan, and Europe.
Apple requires Skype and other voice applications to use Wi-Fi to place iPhone calls, not the hardware phone. Now without further ado:
1. If you've already got an iPhone, what's the point of having another calling application?
At least at first, Skype was primarily used to place international calls for free to other Skype users, or to landlines at a reduced rate on par with a calling card, for example. If you've got family and friends living abroad, the application's potential is a no-brainer.
Sure, you might not need to use Skype if everyone you know and love lives within a 500-mile radius of you. Yet users have already chimed in with examples of domestic uses, like if your home has a weak cellular signal but strong Wi-Fi; or if you eat through your free-talk minutes, a low-rate VoIP service like Skype will cost you less than the carrier's charge for each minute you go over your plan.
Also, don't forget that iPod Touch owners can use Skype and other VoIP applications (like Truphone and Fring) to make calls, even though the iPod has no telephone hardware--you just need earphones equipped with a mic.
2. If you're on the road, you still can't use your iPhone to make free calls with Skype, unless you can track down a Wi-Fi connection somewhere.
If you're in the United States, AT&T allows iPhone users free access to AT&T hot spots without incurring extra charges, though if you're attempting a call, you might not want to start it in the middle of Starbucks.
Also, even when you've got a laptop or desktop handy, and could use VoIP on the desktop, a calling client on the mobile phone gives you the freedom to wander. You won't be able to see your pals with the Webcam from the iPhone, though, so there is a trade-off.… Read more
If Skype for iPhone seems like a big deal to you, you're right. It's topping iPhone App Store charts in nine countries, Skype says.
The Skype for iPhone VoIP application, which became available Tuesday after an announcement at CTIA, is now the top free app in the U.S., U.K., Australia, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Russia, and Spain.
"I'm delighted that consumers have voted with their fingertips and chosen to download Skype in such phenomenal numbers," said Skype Chief Operations Office Scott Durchslag.
Hot on the heels of releasing Skype for iPhone, the VoIP communications company has come to the table with news of a free, "lite" version of Skype for BlackBerry. Already downloadable for Android, Java, Symbian, and Windows Mobile, BlackBerry has remained Skype's missing link.
Just don't expect to share photos of your cat quite yet. While Skype's core capabilities will debut in Skype Lite for BlackBerry, not everything Skype can do will be available right out of the gate. You'll be able to call other Skype users for free, and can initiate calls to … Read more
Global IP Solutions, a company that provides IP-based voice and video communication for mobile platforms, has now brought its solutions to power Web 2.0.
The company announced Monday that CommuniGate Systems (CGS), a carrier-class mobile unified communications (UC) provider, has embedded GIPS VoiceEngine to power voice communications in its Pronto client UC framework.… Read more
Months after teasing us at CES with an announcement of Skype's native VoIP client for the iPhone, the free Skype for iPhone will finally be available to download from the iTunes App Store sometime on Tuesday. We got a chance to sit down with the application's principal engineer before the announcement was made at CTIA 2009, to see Skype for iPhone do its thing. While most of the features aren't too surprising--Skype does want to maintain some consistency across its mobile applications, after all--there are a few capabilities that are notably missing, and a few iPhone-only perks … Read more
VoIP service Jaxtr is untethering its users from the Internet. The company was set to announce on Wednesday a new Jaxtr-on-the-go service that lets people make calls from their phones without having to visit to Jaxtr's Web site first.
The service is designed for people who aren't near a computer with Internet access or who don't have Web access on their mobile phones.
Basically, users can dial a toll-free local access number from their mobile or landline phone and type in the number they want to call. Then, they can either pay for a low-cost direct call … Read more
Skype's latest mobile beta for Windows Mobile phones graduated to version 3.0 on Tuesday. Skype 3.0 beta for Windows Mobile integrates two big features from the desktop version--file transferring and SMS. Both are welcome additions that bring the mobile VoIP application much closer in line with the newly updated desktop version, Skype 4.0 for Windows.
The SMS feature has been seamlessly added as a shortcut icon on the contact list page (it's the black circle encasing a tiny cell phone), but you can also initiate a text message by selecting "Send SMS" from … Read more
In these tough economic times, everyone is looking for a good deal.
And Sascha Segan at PC Magazine seems to have found a darn good bargain if you're looking for a cheap wireless plan that offers unlimited data and voice calling. The service, which costs only $70 a month with no monthly contract, is offered by a new mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, called Zer01 Mobile.
The company also offers unlimited international calling to 40 countries for an additional $10 a month.
Segan reports in his story posted on Thursday that the company is using a form of … Read more
Webcams aren't the first product to spring to mind when you think of Blue Microphones. The company has a solid reputation in the pro audio world for making high-end boutique microphones, but they've been slowly dipping their toes into the waters of consumer audio products, such as the Snowball USB podcast mic, and its baby brother, the Snowflake.
Now we have the Eyeball, a $99 Webcam that borrows on the design of the Snowflake, but leaves behind the intolerably cute product name. We compared the Eyeball with the Logitech Pro 9000 and the MacBook's built-in iSight camera … Read more | <urn:uuid:ff5316f3-1717-4e7d-b739-196da6bb2933> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnet.com/8300-5_1-0-9.html?keyword=voip | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939742 | 1,614 | 2 | 2 |
The first thing you notice upon entering the hangar-like construction building at Brooklin Boat Yard
in Brooklin, Maine, is the smell: scents of fresh local cedar and cherry mix with the exotic aromas of teak and mahogany. Then there’s the hushed, quiet focus of the place.
These days, most of the company’s 60-plus employees—carpenters, cabinetmakers, and mechanics—are engaged in the construction of a 90-foot sailboat, Bequia, for a New York businessman. This is the yard’s largest (and priciest, though the cost is a closely kept secret) project to date, and the place is swarming with workers. By launch (set for June 27, 2009, after this magazine had gone to press), they will have spent some 80,000 hours over three years: measuring, cutting, bending, and gluing wood, fabricating metal, and installing a suite of systems befitting a spaceship.
The end product will be one of the world’s finest sailboats.
That’s no hyperbole: Brooklin Boat Yard, tucked away on a quiet harbor on Maine’s midcoast, has garnered an international reputation for the design and construction of wooden yachts.
Steve White ’77 is owner of the Maine-based Brooklin Boat Yard, a world leader in the design and construction of wooden yachts. White is pictured here aboard his company’s largest project: a 90-foot sailboat that was scheduled for launch in late June. | <urn:uuid:12a57fca-ae65-4fe9-a79d-1d002f6aee4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.colby.edu/colby.mag/issues/50/article/962/the-boatbuilders/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926701 | 331 | 1.570313 | 2 |
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10 Ways to Green Your Pet
Our homes (and lives) just wouldn’t be the same without our fine, furry friends. With all the love and attention we shower on our fidos and felines, shouldn’t they get the benefit of a natural, sustainable lifestyle too? Eco-friendly options for cats and dogs (along with many other animals) have multiplied exponentially in the past decade. Food, toys, shampoo, litter, flea treatment … you name it, there is a “greener” version of it available today.
Why is eco-friendly pet care important? “Traditional” pet supplies often include noxious chemicals, heavy metals, inedible animal parts and extensively sprayed ingredients. Not only is your pet exposed to these questionable aspects of their everyday goods, but you are too! “It's really all part of getting back to nature,” says Dr. Jeff Feinman, certified homeopathic veterinarian in Weston, Conn. “It's better for your pet and the Earth.”
Greening your pet is easy. Just follow these ten tried-and-true steps to give your pet a more natural, sustainable life.
1. Find Out What You’re Feeding Them
After the countless pet food recalls over the past two years, it is no surprise that owners are more curious and cautious about what they feed their pets. If your pet’s food does not feature the green USDA “organic” seal or say “FDA-certified, food-grade meat,” you could be feeding them anything from pesticide-infused corn to diseased animal parts. Certified organic products have no added pesticides or hormones, use minimal processing, and are higher in vital nutrients. FDA-certified food-grade meat is AA- or A-grade meat, which is considered safe for human consumption. Many traditional pet food companies use grade D or lower. Your pet may also benefit from a grain-free diet.
2. Change the Kitty Litter
Clumping clay kitty litters are bad, not only for your pet, but for the planet too. Both feline and human lungs are easily irritated by the so-called “clay dust” given off when agitating clay litters. The mining process for clay is also dangerous, destructive and costly.
For a healthier Fluffy and family, check out the variety of compostable, biodegradable litters available. “There are tons of eco-friendly litter alternatives, from pine pellets (made from waste sawdust, a byproduct), to recycled newspaper, to wheat and corn,” says Starre Vartan, editorial director of local green-living guide, Greenopia.com. Three to try are World’s Best, Swheat Scoop and Feline Pine.
3. Biodegradable “Business”
You can’t prevent Scout from having to do his “business,” but you can dispose of the waste more sustainably. “Plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down when thrown in the landfills, and that helps to preserve that squishy mess,” says Wendy Leidhecker of Paw Luxury in Montoursville, Pa. Biodegradable bag choices are widely available, including BioBag and Skooperbox. You can also check out Gaiam’s Doggie Dooley, a mini septic system that eliminates the use of plastic bags.
4. Look Stylish, Indoors and Out
Made from sustainably grown hemp and organic cotton, eco-friendly leashes and collars both look good and are green. Hemp is biodegradable, strong, durable and hypoallergenic, and flourishes without pesticides. Though not all cities have leash laws, keeping your pet tethered is important for all wildlife. Cats and dogs are both known for reduced populations of birds and wild rodents. Check out Earthdog and Planet Dog for long-lasting and eco-friendly options.
5. Washing with WHAT?
Another part of having a lovable fur ball is keeping them clean. When your cuddle monster gets grungy, reach for a shampoo that is free of the same questionable and toxic chemicals you would normally avoid for yourself – parabens, sodium lauryl sulfates, cocomide DEA, cocomide MEA, TEA lauryl sulfate and propylene glycol. Known for everything from irritating skin to contributing to a variety of cancers, these ingredients have the same impact on your favorite pet.
6. Bones, Balls and Ropes
The dangers of lead in children’s toys have been widely publicized, but you might not know that the same dangers apply to your pet’s toys as well. Since dogs love to chew, they are more at risk than cats, but precautions should be taken with both species. “Lead in high doses can also be fatal to adults (humans or pets), and the smaller the body, the smaller the dose needed to do damage,” says Dan Shapley of The Daily Green.
When it’s time to play, reach for items that are made from organic cotton, hemp or sustainable plastics. “Toys spend a lot of time in your pets’ mouths. Toys are sucked on, chewed on, and licked. You are concerned about your pets’ food – you should also be concerned about what their toys are made of,” says Pam Wheelock, owner of five cats and a dog, Rosa, and founder of Purrfect Play sustainable pet toys.
For cats, the concern lies with their scratching posts, which are often made from chemically heavy carpets and glues. More sustainable options are available from Square Cat Habitat (made from bamboo) and Marmalade (made in the USA from recycled cardboard).
7. Sleeping Soundly
When the day (or hour) of playing is through, it’s time for an all-natural nap. Organic wool, hemp, recycled fabrics, organic cotton and recycled soda bottles are the most common eco-friendly elements to look for in a sustainable slumber bed for your pet. Like having organic cotton or bamboo sheets on your bed, a natural sleeping pillow protects your pet during their most vulnerable moments.
8. Free of Ticks and Fleas
Battling the little bugs — fleas, ticks and lice — can seem like a full time, chemically intense job. But it doesn’t have to be. Traditional flea dips are rarely used anymore, due to their toxic contents. “Here you are rubbing a pesticide into the skin — [it] is absorbed into the bloodstream of that animal, [then] circulates all through [their] system. This is done repeatedly during the life of the animal. Logic should kick in — this is not right, especially in older, immune-suppressed or very young animals, which are particularly vulnerable,” says Gloria Dodd, DVM and holistic veterinarian in Gualala, CA. The products usually contain pyrethrins and organophosphates, types of insecticides that are linked to the diseases’ development in humans.
Internal prevention is the first step, which means making sure your pet’s diet includes garlic and B-vitamins. Pests don’t enjoy the taste of animals that are rich in these chemicals. Herbal sprays and natural shampoos are the best options for preventing bugs externally, along with a weekly flea combing. “The first eco-product we used was Happytails Flea the Scene — an all-natural alternative to traditional flea medications,” says Leidhecker. “It has been so effective in giving Lola the upper paw in this flea-eat-dog world and she has not had any issues with fleas and bugs. We have even used it on ourselves before we go outdoors or on a hike. It serves as a force field and keep bugs at bay.” Other useful options include Only Natural Pet Herbal Defense Spray and Doc Ackerman’s Botanical Citronella Shampoo.
9. Come Back, Skittles, Come Back!
It might not seem like the most eco-friendly option, but when you consider that shelter workers nationwide are forced to euthanize an estimated 3 to 4 million homeless cats and dogs each year, getting your pet electronically tagged doesn’t seem so questionable. If your pet ever does get out of your home, think of all the resources it would take to track him/her down without an ID tag: paper for posters, driving around the neighborhood, frequent phone calls. All of that costs time and money, but you can save on both with an electronic ID tag that your veterinarian can implant and track.
10. Take Matters into Your Own Hands
With a little extra effort, you can save a load of money and worry by simply making goods for your pet at home, including food, toys and grooming products. Growing your own organic cat grass will keep your kitty euphoric for many months. A bit of scrap fabric and some dried catnip can be made into a set of simple feline toys in a matter of minutes. Not only will you save on buying new products, you’ll also be saving on shipping costs and the environmental impact of producing those new products.
“If you want to know exactly what is going into your furball's food dish, or your pet suffers from allergies, you can always make your own puppy chow with fresh organic produce, free-range chicken or grass-feed beef,” says Leidhecker. Search for homemade pet food and treat recipes online, as well as sustainable and thrifty pet toy ideas. Looking to keep your furry friend clean and flea-free? Mix your own pet cleaner, treats and more with Eco-Me’s Dog Kit and Cat Kit.
Victoria Everman is a freelance writer, model, environmentalist, crafter and yogi in San Francisco, California. | <urn:uuid:cd5a0ceb-c55b-4f4c-8830-b1b966043809> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://life.gaiam.com/article/10-ways-green-your-pet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938652 | 2,095 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Avery was a wizard, possibly the son of Avery, and a Slytherin student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After graduating from Hogwarts, he became a Death Eater. He fought in several battles during the First Wizarding War. Avery didn't search for Lord Voldemort after his downfall, but this was forgiven, after his master's return. During the Second Wizarding War, Avery fought at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries with a group of Death Eaters, attempting to take a prophecy from Harry Potter. After the battle, he was imprisoned in Azkaban, but escaped in 1997. It is possible that he fought at the Battle of Hogwarts, too. After Voldemort's defeat in 1998, he was presumably killed or imprisoned again in Azkaban.
Avery attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 1970s and was sorted into Slytherin House. He and his friend Mulciber amused themselves by playing nasty pranks on other students, including Mary Macdonald, on whom Mulciber tried to use Dark Magic during the 1975-1976 school year. Avery was also a friend of Severus Snape, something that bothered Lily Evans, who was Snape's best friend at the time. She found Avery's sense of humour to be very sadistic and could not understand how Snape could associate with him. According to Sirius Black, Avery was part of a "gang of Slytherins" who later become Death Eaters and also included Bellatrix Black, her future husband Rodolphus Lestrange, Evan Rosier, Snape, and Wilkes.
First Wizarding War
Sometime during the First Wizarding War, Avery was apprehended by Ministry of Magic officials and stood trial for being a Death Eater. Avery was one of few who "wormed his way out of trouble", according to Sirius Black, since he pleaded the Imperius Curse. He was not sent to Azkaban. He was also one of the Death Eaters who didn't search for his master after his downfall.
Second Wizarding War
Avery was the first Death Eater to crack and grovel at Lord Voldemort's feet during his rebirth at the cemetery, saying that he didn't look for Voldemort after his downfall because he believed him to be "finished". He begged Voldemort to forgive everyone. Voldemort responded by using the Cruciatus Curse on him and saying he wanted thirteen years repayment before forgiving the Death Eaters for the lack of belief they had in him.
In 1995, Voldemort was seeking a prophecy that had been made about himself and Harry Potter, a record of which was kept in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. Avery told his master that it would be possible to obtain the prophecy by placing Unspeakable Broderick Bode under the Imperius Curse and having him get it for them. This attempt failed, as prophecies are protected by spells that only allow them to be retrieved by the person about whom they are made. Voldemort punished Avery for this mistake.
Battle of the Department of Mysteries
Avery later fought at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, when he was paired with fellow Death Eater Macnair. Avery was most likely sent to Azkaban along with the other Death Eaters present at the battle, save for Bellatrix Lestrange. It is possible that he escaped in 1997, along with other Death Eaters. It is also possible that Avery fought in several other battles, including the Battle of Hogwarts.
Personality and traits
Avery, when he was a student at Hogwarts, was described by Lily Evans as having an "evil sense of humour". She also called Avery and Mulciber "Death Eaters" before they became two of them, meaning that they had a passion with Dark Arts and blood purity. Avery was also disloyal, as he didn't search for his master after his downfall, and was characterised as a weak individual.
Avery is an English surname derived from an Old French version of the name Alfred. The meaning of the name is derived from the Old English words aelf, meaning elf, and raed, meaning counsel.
Behind the scenes
- In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Avery may have been the one hit by Ginny with Reducto, as this could have been a mirror of a scene in the book in which a Death Eater (either Lucius, Mulciber, Macnair, or Avery) grabs Ginny's foot and has Pluto blown up in his face by Luna).
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 (Appears as generic Death Eater)
Notes and references
Alecto Carrow | Amycus Carrow | Antonin Dolohov | Augustus Rookwood | Avery (I) | Avery (II) |
Barty Crouch Jr. | Bellatrix Lestrange | Crabbe | Evan Rosier | Gibbon | Goyle |
Jugson | Lestrange | Mulciber (I) | Mulciber (II) | Nott | Rabastan Lestrange | Rodolphus Lestrange | Rosier | Selwyn | Thorfinn Rowle | Travers | Walden Macnair | Wilkes | Yaxley
|Death Eaters who Defected:|
|Death Eaters' allies:|
Vincent Crabbe | Golgomath | Gregory Goyle | Fenrir Greyback | Narcissa Malfoy (defected) |
Quirinus Quirrell | Scabior | Dolores Umbridge
Dementors | Giants (Golgomath's control) | Muggle-Born Registration Commission | Snatchers | Werewolves | <urn:uuid:a6310ac4-0fc1-4382-b1b1-d288a59f70ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Avery_(Marauder-era)?diff=prev&oldid=753963 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973203 | 1,200 | 1.523438 | 2 |
“Are Americans Better Off Today Than They Were Four Years Ago” Is A Dumb Question
Dean Baker exposes the stupidity below the ‘better off today’ question that so many are asking, implying that Obama hasn’t done enough for the economy:
Dean Baker, “Are Americans Better Off Today Than They Were Four Years Ago?” The Question That Exposes Incompetent Reporters
Suppose your house is on fire and the firefighters race to the scene. They set up their hoses and start spraying water on the blaze as quickly as possible. After the fire is put out, the courageous news reporter on the scene asks the chief firefighter, “is the house in better shape than when you got here?”
Yes, that would be a really ridiculous question. Hence George Stephanopoulos was being absurd when he posed this question to David Plouffe, a top political adviser to President Obama on ABC’s This Week. Bob Schieffer was being equally silly when he asked Martin O’Malley, the Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, the same question on CBS’s Face the Nation.
A serious reporter asks the fire chief if he had brought a large enough crew, if they had enough hoses, if the water pressure was sufficient. That might require some minimal knowledge of how to put out fires.
Similarly, serious reporters would ask whether the stimulus was large enough, was it well-designed, and were there other measures that could have been taken like promoting shorter workweeks, as Germany has done. That would of course require some knowledge of economics, but it sure makes more sense than asking if a house is better off after it was nearly burnt to the ground.
(h/t Paul Krugman, who said, ‘Obama came to office in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. The question should be how well he dealt with that crisis — and in particular whether the man seeking to replace him would have done better.’)
- gayscifiguy likes this
- underpaidgenius posted this | <urn:uuid:36d74139-9f1b-442a-a95a-2eda61738919> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://underpaidgenius.com/post/30866372368/are-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97526 | 431 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Caine Road Covered Bridge
|Caine Road Bridge|
|Locale||Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States|
|Design||single span, Pratt truss with arch|
|Total length||124 feet (37.8 m)|
|Constructed by||John Smolen, Jr.|
Caine Road Bridge is a covered bridge spanning the west branch of the Ashtabula River in Pierpont Township, Ashtabula County, Ohio, United States. The bridge, built in honor of Ashtabula County’s 175th anniversary, and one of currently 16 drivable bridges in the county, is a single span Pratt truss design. The bridge’s WGCB number is 35-04-61, and it is located approximately 13 mi (20.8 km) east-northeast of Jefferson.
- 1986 – Bridge constructed.
Caine Family History
Thomas Caine and wife his wife Margaret (Quiggen) Caine were born in the Isle of Mann. They emigrated to America in about 1837, settling in Newburg, Ohio, and later moving to Pierpont, where he was a farmer. They had 7 children. Thomas died in 1894, his wife Margaret earlier in 1888. They are buried in nearby Evergreen Cemetery, along with four of their children.
- Length: 124 feet (37.8 m)
- Overhead clearance: 13 feet 5 inches (4.1 m)
- http://www.coveredbridgefestival.org/bridges.htm Ashtabula County Ohio Covered Bridge Festival
- http://www.dalejtravis.com/bridge/ohio/htm/3500461.htm Ohio Covered Bridges List, 35-04-61
- Ohio Covered Bridges List
- Ohio Covered Bridge Homepage[dead link]
- The Covered Bridge Numbering System[dead link]
- Ohio Historic Bridge Association
- Caine Road Covered Bridge[dead link] from Ohio Covered Bridges, Historic Bridges[dead link]
- "Caine Road Bridge". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2012-12-30. | <urn:uuid:195a7347-88a8-4249-ba85-69c4cfe80f15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caine_Road_Covered_Bridge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91053 | 459 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Decorative Family Tree Prints
Let Relation Creations turn your family tree into an artistic print. Our unique charts are designed to enhance the decor of any home. They represent people as an attractive arrangement of graphical objects, like pine cones or gourds, labeled with names and connected to each other with thin lines to show relationships. From a distance they look like decorative designs. Look closely and they are revealed to be genealogy charts.
Our Unique Prints
Our charts are printed on thick, high quality paper that is laminated with a thin layer of plastic that protects the print and enhances the colors. They measure twenty-four by thirty-six inches and are available in portrait or landscape orientation. Portrait orientation is taller than it is wide, like the diagram to the left. Landscape orientation is wider than it is tall.
The 24x36 size is a standard size so is easily framed. Simple frames are available at superstores, like Walmart, while more elaborate frames can be bought at local art shops.
The diagram shows the main elements of a relation creation. In the center is the family tree drawn with graphical objects. At the bottom is a customer chosen title, and to the side are the birth and death dates of the chart's persons. Both the title and the dates are optional.
Family Tree Design Themes
Relation Creations' designs are built around a theme, which is chosen when ordering. Each theme includes graphical objects used to represent people, canvases the objects rest on, and borders that complement the colors of the theme.
The heart of a theme is the objects used to depict the family tree's people. Objects can be real, like pine cones and river rocks; abstract, like colored circles; or can be drawn, like flowers sketched with a child-like hand. Most themes use two objects placed together for married couples and single objects for the unmarried. Lines with arrow heads point to children. People's names are written on the person objects.
The pictures above illustrate theme elements. The "Sliced Citrus" theme uses lemons and limes for persons. The "Autumn Gourds" uses a canvas made of leaves, which the gourds rest on. A small section of the "Abstract Circles" theme shows the thin lines that connect parents to children.
Choices for Themes
Our themes have choices so that a print can be ordered to match the decor of the room where it will be placed. Some themes offer a choice between several sets of objects used to represent people; most themes have choices for the canvas, which the person objects rest upon; and all themes have choices for the color of the border.
Theme options are depicted above. To the left, the "Zen Rocks" theme, which uses stones to represent people, has three sets of stones: Light, dark, and light plus dark. The middle picture shows canvas choices for the "Autumn Gourds". The canvas of leaves can be yellow and brown, varied, brown, or yellow. The last picture shows possible border colors for the "Sketch Flowers" theme. They are dirt, forest, ruby, and gold.
Family Tree Files
We accept family tree charts as GEDCOM files and PDF forms.
A GEDCOM is a common file format for exchanging genealogy information. GEDCOMs can be written by most genealogy software, and most Internet genealogy research sites can export family trees as GEDCOM files.
We also offer PDF forms that can be downloaded, filled out with a family tree, and then uploaded to our site.
Ordering a Print
A user account is required to order a relation creation. Registering is easy and there is no obligation to order anything. After creating a user account, family trees can be uploaded to the account.
A print can be ordered as soon as a family tree is uploaded to our site. When ordering, a theme is chosen. After that the theme's options, the person objects, canvas, and border color, are selected. Finally, options like a title, portrait or landscape orientation, and whether dates will be printed on the edge are specified.
After we design the relation creation, we will email an image for approval before printing. | <urn:uuid:5ee6d5f7-545a-4786-9e3f-d6b1ca02c879> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.relationcreations.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939996 | 871 | 1.585938 | 2 |
I lay myself down in the Dead Sea waters. It's the middle of January and I’m travelling with a group led by Earth Ministry, a nonprofit based in Seattle that works in the area of faith and the environment. We're in Israel/Palestine for the usual reasons -- a pilgrimage to holy sites -- but also to learn more about the water situation.
Take Action on This Issue
So I float in a shrinking Dead Sea. I put my hands into a polluted Jordan River.
Symbols are alive in the Holy Land, even if their source is dying.
For millions of people, the power of this river and land is evoked in the lyrical language of the Bible, which has made the Jordan River one of the world's great symbols. In these texts, just as the land is more than just another piece of property, water is never simply water. Here the waters sing in poetry.
It's not that the biblical images are simply poetry: All of us are on this trip because there is a genuine water crisis in this region. Too often we hear that the next war here will be over water. But this crisis, which includes not just how well humans are living with each other, but how well they are living on the land, is connected to the loss of a sense of water's "mystique," as Thomas Berry calls it. The mystique of the water here comes partly from the poetry -- and it's something that we lose the moment we think we control it.
The irony is that there's a dream in these scriptures of coming home to this place, but the attempt to literalize that dream has taken a gift and locked it up behind a wall.
One morning early in the trip, I awake at 4:30 in Nazareth and lie in bed as the birds begin to sing, as a chant rises from a nearby mosque. I turn on the light and begin to read from Psalm 46:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.
When I am at the Jordan, it is a holy day for Syrian Christians; both banks are lined with celebrants and priests, some in Israel, some in Jordan. They can see one another, even shout to one another across the 10-foot-wide stretch of the river. What they can't do is cross it. I walk down to the bank past a soldier and cup my hands in the still water. I say a prayer for my brother, dying from a stroke in a hospital in Chicago, and another for this place and these people. I let the water run through my fingers. I do not drink.
We travel about the countryside and through the villages. We listen to stories from Christian Palestinians, including Samuel Barhoum, an Anglican priest near Nazareth, and Sami Awad of the Holy Land Trust, a nonprofit based in Bethlehem that uses nonviolence tactics in support of Palestinian farmers. Both speak at length of going for days without water -- no water for bathing or for cooking, little for drinking -- while they can see Israeli settlements in the West Bank with swimming pools. We travel down to the Dead Sea, where we meet with Gundi Sachal, Middle East regional director for Friends of the Earth. We hear of (and see in front of us) the shrinking of the Dead Sea. Gundi confirms what we saw days before, and what I’ve also heard from Susan Koppelman, a young Jewish-American woman who works with the nonprofit initiative LifeSource in the West Bank: The Jordan River is now mostly untreated sewage, with 5 percent of its historical flow reaching the sea here. Lebanon, Syria, and Israel all cut into it. The Dead Sea drops a meter every year.
We float in the warm water. We sink our feet into the famous mud.
In both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, we hear the beautiful phrase "living water." But it's important to know that, when the scriptures use this phrase, it means fresh water that hasn’t been controlled by human action: Living water is a direct gift from God.
We may wish to dismiss this distinction; after all, the water that most of us in this country get from our taps is pure in some literal sense (as is the "pure spring water" that we drink from plastic bottles). But anyone who has drunk from a mountain stream on a hot day knows the difference, as does anyone who has done any research at all on the bottled water industry: Such water's claim of purity leaves out the "living" quality -- that mystique -- as well as the human and environmental cost. And these omissions are of course connected. We substitute the poetry of marketing for the poetry of water.
I certainly appreciate the convenience, as did the Romans, whose magnificent engineering under Herod the Great brought this living water directly to homes in Palestine. But in doing so, biblical archaeologist Marianne Sawicki suggests, they "secularized and subdued the water. That is, the Roman client ruler profaned water by removing it from the ideal realm of Covenant governance."
"Water is the basis for Jewish existence in the land of Israel," Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol said at the time of the 1967 war; "without control over the water sources we cannot realize the Zionist dream." But that dream lives through the inspired poetry of the prophets, who knew that water is not a commodity to be owned. Within that literal water is something invisible, something deeper and more fundamental, upon which any human existence in the land depends.
"Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." The royal priest Amaziah sent Amos away after this outburst of poetry. Amaziah wrote to the king, Jeroboam: "The land is not able to bear all his words."
Joshua crosses the Jordan to claim the Promised Land; Jesus -- another Joshua -- enters the Jordan for baptism, a dying to self to make way for new life. He’s driven into the surrounding desert, undergoing a second Exodus -- another vision of dying to an old perspective. He comes, he says, not to overturn but to fulfill Torah. To reveal it anew.
He comes to embody it, and he invites us to do the same.
In John's gospel Jesus identifies himself with this living water at Jacob's well (where he meets a Samaritan woman), which is itself living water in the traditional sense: water fed by underground springs, and thus moving and not simply stored in a cistern. But, more significantly, the well is identified with Jacob, who is Israel, which suggests that Jesus is also redefining Israel:
Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give them will never thirst; the water that I shall give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
How this water is given is mysterious, but it seems to be offered in Jesus' very being: It is himself he offers, some indefinable gift that, when she receives it, gives this woman a taste of the deepest of all realities.
We thought we knew about living water; now we meet its real meaning. This living water is both metaphorical (Jesus is not literally water) and real. And, if one reads these lines in the context of the gospels as a whole, it becomes clear what this "spring of water" signifies. It says: This is what truth tastes like. This is how deeply justice satisfies our thirst.
This is what it means to dwell in this land.
"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God." These are the words that President Obama quoted so powerfully at the memorial service after the shootings in Tucson in January. There’s a reason for this: Their poetry speaks to our deepest thirst. The lyric uses fundamental imagery -- rivers, habitations -- that catches the imagination and opens us again to this primal longing and fulfillment. Like any great poetry, the words take us deep inside of what actual water and rivers are. But they also make clear that these waters -- and, really, all waters -- nourish God's city, meaning both that the city belongs to God and that it is God’s very essence: It is a city made of who and what God is.
This is a vision that tells me that the meek "shall inherit the earth" or "possess the land" (Psalm 37) by serving it. One "owns" by attending, which is not ownership at all but a free relationship that honors the other before oneself.
It's the same vision that a Wisdom teacher once shared with two women, both of whom claimed ownership of a child. The true "owner," of course, was the one who could not bear to see the child sacrificed to a mathematical, legal, and ultimately violent resolution -- that of literally cutting the child in two. The true mother was the one whose love trumped her desire for possession.
Can this holy land be partitioned? Will a wall or fence -- whatever you want to call it -- settle the issue? Or is even the two-state solution a kind of Solomonic gamble? I honestly don't know, and can't claim to be enough of an expert to say. But I suspect that the real solution lies somewhere in the imagination of that Solomonic mother, meaning that it lies in the imagination of all of those whose love for this land trumps their desire for possession of it. Only in this way, paradoxically, will anyone come into their inheritance.
Doug Thorpe teaches in the English department at Seattle Pacific University. He is the author of the forthcoming Wisdom Sings the World: Poetry, Creation, and the Way of Dwelling, from which this is adapted. | <urn:uuid:11157318-761b-4def-be80-1645f710d600> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sojo.net/magazine/2011/04/living-waters | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960696 | 2,039 | 2.046875 | 2 |
From the publisher:
Augustine—for all of his influence on Western culture and politics—was hardly a liberal. Drawing from theology, feminist theory, and political philosophy, Eric Gregory offers here a liberal ethics of citizenship, one less susceptible to anti-liberal critics because it is informed by the Augustinian tradition. The result is a book that expands Augustinian imaginations for liberalism and liberal imaginations for Augustinianism.Give it a read.
Gregory examines a broad range of Augustine’s texts and their reception in different disciplines and identifies two classical themes which have analogues in secular political theory: love—and related notions of care, solidarity, and sympathy—and sin—as well as related notions of cruelty, evil, and narrow self-interest. From an Augustinian point of view, Gregory argues, love and sin constrain each other in ways that yield a distinctive vision of the limits and possibilities of politics.
In providing a constructive argument for Christian participation in liberal democratic societies, Gregory advances efforts to revive a political theology in which love’s relation to justice is prominent. Politics and the Order of Love will provoke new conversations for those interested in Christian ethics, moral psychology, and the role of religion in a liberal society. | <urn:uuid:e2b08ce8-a0cc-45ca-9153-7a14dcf2795c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americasyoungtheologian.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909658 | 252 | 1.578125 | 2 |
The Picture Book Month calendar included Bears as a theme on Nov. 7th. I do at least one bear themed storytime around this time every year. Sometimes, I do more than one, first pairing them with hibernation/sleeping themes, while other times it’s just bears. There are so many great books about bears out there, but the ones I’m featuring today are the ones I used just recently for an outreach visit to several classrooms of preschool and kindergarten kids.
If you work with young children and you don’t know this book and/or song, SHAME ON YOU! Go out and pick up a copy and learn it right now. And then, check out Michael Rosen’s rendition of the song on Youtube. And then, if you still can, pick up a copy of the pop-up book. Yes, there is a pop-up book floating around out there. It’s absolutely beautiful, simply done but with very sturdy construction for multiple story times. The kids are fascinated by it and I always get questions and comments like “The dog’s going the wrong way” and “The baby’s on the dad’s shoulders” and “Where’s the mom?” and “What does that tab do?” Yes there is no skipping any of the pull-tabs on this one, because your eagle-eyed audience will notice and make you go back and demonstrate what each one does again and again. You need this book, but if you can still track it down, splurge and get the pop-up version, with the swirling snow and the tripping children. You’ll thank me later.
No wonder it got an E.B. White Read Aloud Award. This book begs to be enthusiastically read aloud, although I will warn you that it’s my longest book on this list and it takes a full fifteen minutes sometimes to get through. But the kids will be intrigued by how the mouse keeps getting into the house of this reclusive bear who just wants to eat his breakfast. There are a few repetitive lines that the older kids will pick up immediately and will help you fill in the blanks if you let them. This is another book where kids pipe up with their opinions chastising the bear for turning the mouse away in the beginning and remarking on the “hanging thing” from the bears mouth when he shouts to the mouse to “BEGONE!” And a great vocabulary lesson awaits for readers wondering what “impossible! Intolerable! Insufferable” mean.
I quite often joke that the title is longer than the actual book, but the Woods pair up for what has become a classic, since my copy boasts a 1984 copyright date. It’s held up remarkably well over the years, and I’m sure scores of librarians and teachers have used this in their storytimes. It tells the story of a little mouse trying to keep his strawberry (that he JUST picked) away from the big hungry bear. We never see the big hungry bear, although in a stroke of design genius we do see the bear’s shadow on the back cover. Proving that you can still look at things in a different perspective, I had one little boy remark that it was the bear who was telling the story. I’m not sure if I agree with him, but he brought up an interesting idea to talk about point of view using this book, and see how many other readers shared his opinion. Great graphics lend themselves to laughter as the mouse tries again and again to hide, disguise, and guard his strawberry, and if you look closely you’ll see relics of each attempt scattered throughout the following pages.
Suzanne Blooms series about a goose and a polar bear is different from the rest in several ways. First, it features a polar bear, while most bear stories feature the traditional brown or dark-colored bear. Second, he’s paired with a goose, and the two incompatible creatures end up becoming wonderful companions. Thirdly, the story is told entirely in dialogue, which I’m always impressed by when I stumble across it. Usually the books talk to the readers with third person or first person narration, but in this one Goose and Bear talk directly to each other, without a single “he said” or “she said”. It takes a mature group of children to decipher Bear’s frustrations and Goose’s attention seeking behavior solely by the pictures, but when they do catch on it’s like magic. Due to the simple sentence structure, I usually save it for younger audiences, because although as I said some of it might go over their head, the simplistic drawings are eye-catching to all.
Wilson’s rhymes are longer than most picture books, but it rarely falters as Bear snores on through the slowly building gathering taking place in his cave. It’s when a stray pepper flake gets up his nose and results in a humongous sneeze that the animals freeze and are scared of what Bear’s reaction will be. No worries, since it all ends happily, but Wilson knows how to build suspense with the Bear gnashing and growling at being woken up early. Surrounded by forest creatures, Bears friendship will continue, as this debut book for Karma Wilson turned into a gold mine as she continues the series with “Bear Says Thanks,” Bear Wants More” and several others.
So what about you? What bear books can you never “bare” to be far from? | <urn:uuid:93d35263-3187-4e69-aece-b9752571b9db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://challengingthebookworm.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/bears/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96129 | 1,175 | 2 | 2 |
Now first to define a Qawwali ... my quick take on it would be a traditional song performance traced back to Islamic and Sufi poets and artists. Originally devotional in nature and thought to have elements of Persian and Turkish music, the qawwali is thought to be a link to the divine through song. Some more detailed descriptions of the qawwali are available on Wikipedia and Chandrakantha's websites.
The Qawwali has been brought to the international scene due to the popularity of artists such as the late, great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Sabri Brothers, as well as it's prominence in Bollywood films!
The scene is a familiar one: An elaborate stage set with elegant curtains and several platforms, a variety of musical instruments including (but not limited to) a sarangi, harmonium and dholak/tabla, a chorus of background singers clapping dramatically in rhythm, and a dynamic main singer who opens the entire presentation with a beautiful vocal alaap (melody).
This scenario was very popular in early decades of Hindi cinema, but not so prevalent anymore (sadly). There are a few exceptions, but I for one would LOVE to see a resurgence of qawwali items in Bollywood! I miss them!
I'll go out on a limb and say that the obvious KING of the Filmi Qawwali is none other than my darling heartthrob Rishi Kapoor. His qawwalis were immensely popular in the late 70s and early 80s. He exuded so much charisma and passion when performing them that I highly doubt I was the only one besotted with him! For me, Filmi Qawwalis and Rishi Kapoor go hand-in-hand.
But there are plenty more fabulous numbers besides Rishi's - so I thought I'd share my personal favorites. Obviously I think there are PLENTY more than what I've got here ... I've missed many of the qawwalis from the 60s and 70s, and certainly from earlier decades, but I threw this list together from what I could remember and most of my favorites are from the era I was growing up - the 80s and 90s.
So here's my list of favorite Filmi Qawwali songs - what's your favorite?
Filmi Qawwali Playlist includes the following songs:
- Parda Hai Parda - Amar Akbar Anthony (1979)
- Hum Kisise Kam Nahin - Hum Kisise Kam Nahin (1977)
- Pari Ho Aasmani Tum - Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai (1981)
- Aadhi Raat Ko - Parampara (1992)
- Tumse Milke Dil Ka Hai - Main Hoon Na (2004)
- Nahin Hona Tha - Pardes (1997)
- Aaja Aaja Tu Aaja Aanewale - Rajkumar (1996)
- Der Na Ho Jaye - Henna (1991)
- Koi Jane Koi Na Jane - Aur Pyar Ho Gaya (1997)
- Teri Jawani Badi Mast Mast Hai - Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya (1997)
- Ae Mere Zohar Zabhi - Waqt (1965)
- Aaya Tere Dar Par - Veer Zaara (2004)
- Dulhe Ka Sehra - Dhadkan (2000)
- Yaari Hai Imaan Mera - Zanjeer (1973)
- Dekh Lo Ishq Ka - Charandas (1977)
- Pal Do Pal Ka Saath - Burning Train (1980)
- Jeena To Hai Isika - Adhikar (1971)
- Teri Mehfil Mein Kismat - Mughal-E-Azam (1960)
- Mehenge Mar Gayi - Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974)
- Jhoom Barabar Jhoom Sharabi - 5 Rifles (1974)
- Tum Nahin Ya Hum Nahin - Karmayogi (1978)
- Eid Ka Din Hai - Deedar-E-Yaar (1982)
- Tumhe Husn Dekhe - Jab Se Tumhe Dekha (1963)
- Haal Kya Hai Dillon Ko Na Poocho - Anohki Ada (1973)
- Wallah Re Wallah - Tees Maar Khan (2010)
EDITED TO ADD: I discovered after I posted this whole thing that MemsaabStory has a wonderful, comprehensive post on her 10 favorite qawwalis that is far superior to mine - so I had to provide a link! Check it out! | <urn:uuid:96025f8b-bc38-4539-90e4-2d63c66f44ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bollystalgia.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-favorite-filmi-qawwalis.html?showComment=1293539204284 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922048 | 991 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Green light for commercial propertyPUBLISHED : | UPDATED:
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Green with envy ... lenders are also recognising the importance of environmental factors. Photo: Peter Riches
- Commercial buildings generate about 10pc of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Most comes from heating and cooling towers, with lighting and equipment also contributing
- At the big end of town, landlords have either upgraded their towers or are disposing of their lower grade properties to improve the overall quality of their portfolios
- Owners of small buildings face a stark choice if they want to stay invested in the sector. They can either upgrade to meet new environmental requirements or have their buildings gradually become obsolete.
- If a building is occupied by a tenant that has certain ‘green lease’ requirements, letting these slip might result in them paying a lower rent or even moving out
Investing in commercial property and helping to reduce Australia’s carbon footprint sound like divergent aims.
Smart private investors focused on hunting for bargain properties while the property cycle is at a low point (as at August 2012) can pick up assets at the best value they have been at for some years – either by buying small office buildings or shopping centres, or investing in direct property funds.
In many cases, the property part of an investor’s portfolio is put in the bottom drawer and all but forgotten – as long as the rent is paid and dividends come in.
But former civil engineer Shane Quinn says this approach is fraught with peril. He warns that office buildings, indeed any properties, can quickly become a problem if not managed adequately.
“If you don’t protect these investments they can quickly become liabilities,” he says.
His company, Quintessential Equities, specialises in finding rundown buildings and turning them around to attract better tenants. But the way he does this – by regenerating the property so that it has a higher environmental rating – has lessons for all commercial property owners.
What’s the fuss?
The first thing for owners, or for those seeking to buy properties, to consider, is what the fuss is about.
In simple terms, buildings can now be rated by their carbon footprint – or by how much carbon they produce.
Quinn says it’s a little known fact that commercial buildings generate about 10 per cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Most comes from heating and cooling towers, with lighting and equipment also contributing.
The government has recognised the problem and has introduced a rating system – NABERS [National Australian Built Environment Rating System] – which measures energy efficiency, water usage, waste management and indoor environment quality.
In 2011, laws came into effect that state office buildings (or spaces inside them larger than 2000 square metres) cannot be sold or offered for lease without a rating. Quinn says this has made energy usage and water consumption a huge driver for the entire property market.
While these factors are also important for shopping centres, hotels and even homes, he says they are most important in the case of office buildings. This focus on sustainability is changing the way smart investors look at property.
At the big end of town, landlords have either upgraded their towers or are disposing of their lower grade properties to improve the overall quality of their portfolios.
Upgrade or else
Owners of small buildings face a stark choice if they want to stay invested in the sector. They can either upgrade to meet new environmental requirements or have their buildings gradually become obsolete.
Quinn says that unless as an owner you can demonstrate you have a secure cash flow, at what is a tough time in the market, the value of your holdings can fall.
On the flip side, he says, there is the opportunity to pick up older assets and then reposition them to attract better tenants. “You’ve got lots of tenants driven by [corporate social responsibility] wanting to be seen to be green.”
But it is not just a matter of passively owning an asset for the long term.
“If you are buying a building, you had better be aware if you have a commitment to maintain a certain NABERS energy rating, you take that on properly,” Quinn says.
If a building is occupied by a tenant that has certain “green lease” requirements, letting these slip might result in them paying a lower rent or even moving out.
Lenders are also recognising the importance of environmental factors.
“Over time, the banks are going to become aware that secure cash flows that underlie the value of your asset could be eroded if it’s not managed well,” Quinn says.
He admits the wider focus on environmental matters has slipped.
“I know we’re still bunkering down post the GFC and carbon footprint is not as front of mind as it was, but it’s still there,” he says. “If you want a long-term lease with the government or a blue-chip tenant you’ve got to take this on board.”
Most governments aim to be in buildings with NABERS ratings of at least 4.5 stars on a scale that goes up to 6. Along with large companies, Quinn estimates their requirements make up about 60 per cent of the market.
“Certain parts of the market will always go for the cheapest option, but if you want quality tenants you’ve got to regenerate your assets to meet their green-lease requirements.”
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Ben Wilmot Smart Investor | <urn:uuid:3e46dfcb-673f-4720-9d78-5d3863105c77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.afrsmartinvestor.com/p/howto/property/green_light_for_commercial_property_SzWuiYjwFsgAqtAgDN8AXK | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958207 | 1,183 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Anyway, how is Jack presented in Lord of the Flies?
Jack is probably the main antagonist (besides human nature) in William Golding’s 1957 novel Lord of the Flies, whose plot centers around a group of boys stranded on an island, and their descent into savagery.
Right from his presentation he is presented as something of an antithesis to the book’s main protagonist, Ralph. He insists on being known by his last name in (going off his “kids’ names” remark) what is clearly meant to present him as having a superiority complex, although he soon relents. He is also presented as being markedly different in physique to Ralph, their faces in particular: Ralph had “a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil”, yet Jack’s face “was ugly, without silliness” (immediately presenting him in a negative light), and his “light blue eyes” were “turning, or ready to turn, to anger”. At this stage, it is also worth noting that the choir is “wearily obedient” and he seems to wield total control over them. He, as “the most obvious leader”, also attempts to seize control undemocratically (“I ought to be leader”), presenting him as a possible dictator at even this early stage. He also shows a strong dislike of Piggy (who is intended to be a symbol of civilization, and is essentially golding’s mouthpiece character). Despite this, the violence (not to be confused with his cruelty towards the weak shown in his actions towards Piggy) that marks him out particularly is only exhibited after his earlier inability to face “the unbearable blood” and the enormity of killing, and when exploring with Ralph and Simon he seems to act like a protagonist in books like The Coral Island (from which he takes his name, the book is also referred to by name on a few occasions - Lord of the Flies was in part a response to it) - “This is proper exploring”.
By chapter 3, Jack is already shown to be succumbing to the allure of savagery, with a “compulsion to track down and kill” “swallowing him up”, and him being reduced to “running, dog-like, on all fours” by this. Golding presents this as “madness”, outright stating it to be such in the narrative (which appears to be not from any character’s perspective). This aspect is furthered by him becoming “the mask” in Chapter 4, which ‘liberates’ him “from shame and self consciousness”, fully confirming his conversion towards a focus on the “brilliant world of hunting exhilaration and tactics” as opposed to “the world of longing and baffled commonsense”. This presentation is furthered by him letting “the bloody fire out” through his desire, showing how his savagery is getting the better of civilization due to the lack of a true authority beyond the symbol of the conch. His violent, dictatorial, side is shown once more in his use of the chant (“Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!”) and him whacking Piggy, breaking one lense in his glasses. A degree of cruelty, but cunning, is shown in his ‘apology’ (a “verbal trick”), and the very fact it’s directed at Ralph shows that he’s already starting to see his leadership as invalid.
This strain is later shown in him disparaging the conch in chapter 6, instead suggesting that the bigguns form a sort of cabal to decide things “We don’t need the conch any more... it’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us”, and earlier showing that he doesn’t care about the littluns at all (“Sucks to the littluns”), also showing a lack of compassion. Yet, at the same time, his own childishness shows up but a few pages later, his immediate response to Castle Rock being “What a place for a fort”, although the nature of this observation is also an early sign of the warmongering tendencies which would become so major later on.
Jack’s desire to gain control, and hypocritical tendencies in his attempts to do this, come to a head in Chapter 8 in which he tries to take control of the group (“Hands up... whoever wants Ralph not to be chief”) after disparaging Ralph for being “ a coward” in the face of the Beast (which, at this moment, he is presented as believing in, and responded to in the same way), only to fail humiliatingly, his childishness showing once again in his declaration that he isn’t “going to play any longer” and him outright crying in humiliation. This leads to the split and the clear presentation of the difference between his and Ralph’s leadership styles, the savagery of his becoming evident in the spearing of the sow, and desecration of Simon’s eden in order to put the eponymous Lord of the Flies (the pig’s head) in place.
By chapter 9, he has become “decorated and garlanded like an idol”, similar to the cult of personality that many dictators around the time Golding wrote the book had had (and still do have). He also seems to be the catalyst for the descent of all those present at the feast into savagery through forcing them to do the “dance”, leading directly to Simon’s death (although he later maintains (probably knowingly falsely (albeit possibly hidden to himself through some form of doublethink)) that the Simon they killed was in fact a guise of the beast).
Come Chapter 10, he is the Chief, and is hinted to be something of a fascist bully, having one kid beat up for nothing. His desire for control extends to stealing the fire (rather than asking, in part to show that “we’re strong, we hunt”), and ultimately forcing everyone but Ralph and Piggy (who he doesn’t like (since he’s the bad guy and they’re Golding’s mouthpieces mostly, although Piggy’s outsiderness is something else as well) and the littluns (who he simply doesn’t count) to join his tribe, using implied torture. His “full intent” to kill Ralph is presented, he is a “terror” (“but Roger” is implied to be worse), and his tribe are presented as nothing but “painted savages”, in contrast to the nice britishness of Ralph and Piggy (“Is it better...”).
In conclusion, Jack is presented wholly as Ralph's antithesis and is a representative of savagery, dictatorship and anarchy (these are all contradictory ideas, but he still somehow manages to be all 3). However, this said, perhaps the last time he is referred to is meant to be what he really is being presented as, nothing more than “a little boy” (mainly because it appears Golding thinks little boys are, in fact, naturally “terrors” and would regress to being such if left alone for too long). | <urn:uuid:de95b995-2cb0-40ba-a117-dfe0fd2aa6bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lissynumber.blogspot.com/2012/05/mrf-part-2-english-essay-how-is-jack.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982773 | 1,599 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Turner, Jim; Briggs, Gemma; Pike, Graham and Brace, Nicola
Can composite construction contaminate witness memory?
In: The 8th Biennial Conference of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 26-30 July 2009, Kyoto, Japan.
(Click here to request a copy from the OU Author.
Previous research has suggested that exposing a witness to a ‘misleading’ facial composite can affect identification accuracy. In practice it is the process of constructing a facial composite that may have the most effect on witness memory. In the present study, participants were asked to construct a facial composite but were actually presented with a pre-prepared sequence showing a ‘misleading’ composite being constructed. Participants were then shown either an immediate or delayed target-absent identification task, containing a foil similar to the misleading composite. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the malleability and durability of witness memory.
Actions (login may be required) | <urn:uuid:80d0df24-2dc6-4ea4-ba6a-ee80081893c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oro.open.ac.uk/26012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928402 | 206 | 1.625 | 2 |
Ringing in the new year doesn’t have to mean the bar scene or parties. Instead, why not consider a family-friendly activity?
Science Central will welcome guests Dec. 31 from 10 a.m. to noon to celebrate the 13th annual “Countdown to Noon.”
The event will feature a variety of activity tables and science demonstrations, all focused on traditional New Year’s Eve activities. Children’s activities will include making party hats, noisemakers, and face painting. On hand to assist with activities will be the reigning Miss 3 Rivers Festival, Miss 3 Rivers Festival Teen, and the 3 Rivers Festival Tiara Princess.
As the noon hour approaches, visitors will enjoy a brief soda pop toast, and the assembled crowd will countdown the seconds till noon with Science Central’s Executive Director Martin S. Fisher. The festivities will culminate with the annual balloon drop, with over 1,000 Lake City Bank balloons cascading down from the Science Central ceiling.
This event is more affordable than the average night on the town, too. Admission is $8 per person, ages 3 to adult. Science Central will be open from 10 am to 5 pm on December 31.
Science Central is a regional resource that provides inspiring and fun hands-on science education for people of all ages. Through more than 120 exhibits, school tours, distance learning programs, and weekend events, they bring the fun of science to more than 130,000 children and adults, annually. Normal hours are: Wed.-Fri., 10 am to 4 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday noon to 5 pm. | <urn:uuid:042ebcc0-dba4-4a13-b6e5-d419c3f55bbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visitfortwayne.com/blog/index.php/category/christmas-in-fort-wayne/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914158 | 335 | 1.71875 | 2 |