text stringlengths 213 24.6k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1
value | url stringlengths 14 499 | file_path stringlengths 138 138 | language stringclasses 1
value | language_score float64 0.9 1 | token_count int64 51 4.1k | score float64 1.5 5.06 | int_score int64 2 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UPDATE @ 8:15 PM: Water should be back on for most residents on Rockford's west side. A ruptured water main by the city's Stanley Street water station caused thousands to be without water for a few hours tonight. The valves have been shut off where the break was, and pressure has been returned almost to normal for those who lost water. Water will continue to be shut off for the immediate area around the water main break, and a boil order will be issued for those in that area. Crews with the Rockford's Public Works Department will go to each house in that area to inform them of the situation.
Repair crews will continue to work throughout the night to fix the break in the line. Rockford DPW says the break occured along one of the oldest parts of the city's water system.
The water main rupture occured around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Stanley Street water station. The city has blocked off Tay Street down to Stanley.
Residents on Rockford's Westside, as well as those in the Brown Hills neighborhood are all affected.
Once water is restored, the Public Works Department could issue a boil order.
We'll bring you more information as it becomes available. | <urn:uuid:6a94afae-fa8f-410c-b6a4-2b62e8578ee2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mystateline.com/fulltext?nxd_id=356862 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968434 | 252 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Oct 15, 2006
Just wondering I am a WM HIV+ for about a year now. Last year I hooked up with a african american girl and we ahd unprotected sex (that was before I knew I was infected).
She is just now getting tested, because it took some work tracking her down.
Are African Americans more prone to infection than Caucasians like Sickle Cell Trait?
| Response from Dr. Horwath
No. The risk factors are the same for everyone. Unprotected sex and injection drug use are responsible for transmitting HIV.
Get Email Notifications When This Forum Updates or Subscribe With RSS
This forum is designed for educational purposes only, and experts are not rendering medical, mental health, legal or other professional advice or services. If you have or suspect you may have a medical, mental health, legal or other problem that requires advice, consult your own caregiver, attorney or other qualified professional.
Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material. | <urn:uuid:657d610b-9d94-4418-ac83-863c4fa30a42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Mental/Q178891.html?ic=4003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929899 | 237 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Managed to book family room to accomodate family of five at last minute with the help of Natalie who was amazing when I phoned and was able to help us out. Room was large, very clean and comfortable. Overall the premier inn was clean throughout. Took advantage of booking our breakfast for tr next morning where kids eat free!!! We... More
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Premier Inn Tamworth South. The UK's fist greenest hotel bringing together the best environmental initiatives to help us towards a greener future. With our 20 ensuite bedrooms, flat screen free view TVs, adjoining restaurant (The Centurion Table Table), Air-cooling and 24hr reception.We are one of a very select few that is a Green Hotel. Here is why we are Green.1)We heat and cool the hotel using the earth's natural energy using a special underground pump. Four heat probes, 130 metres below our hotel, take advantage of the earths natural energy to dump heat in the summer and cold in the winter.2) Re-using water. All toilet flushes use grey (recycled) water - water re-used from showers and baths plus 50% of rainwater from the roof. This provides 100% off all toilet water and will save 20% of the entire water usage.3) Sustainable wool from British sheep is used in the walls creating exceptionally efficient thermal and acoustic insulation. Heat loss of the hotel is reduced by 60%4) Solar power. Solar panels have been used on the hotel's south facing roof. They can produce hot water to the system with almost no energy used. The system is expected to generate 11.740kWhr per year - enough for 1000 baths a year!5) All lighting is low energy thanks to LED's that produce high light levels while only using 5 Watts per bulb, this coupled with motion detectors means the lights are not left on. An 80% saving against standard lighting methods.6) All materials used are locally and sustainable sources. Timber is used rather than concrete where possible and when concrete is used it is a low cement that has been locally sourced. Our use of carbon has been reduced by using natural resources, sustainable materials, such as external timber cladding, and recycled materials, such as plasterboard and rendering. ... more less
- Reservation Options:
- TripAdvisor is proud to partner with Booking.com, Priceline and HotelsClick so you can book your Premier Inn Tamworth South reservations with confidence. We help millions of travellers each month to find the perfect hotel for both holiday and business trips, always with the best discounts and special offers. | <urn:uuid:e9f5330d-a46d-48dc-b9ff-fa0a6dff06d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tripadvisor.com.my/Hotel_Review-g504160-d1431772-Reviews-Premier_Inn_Tamworth_South-Tamworth_Staffordshire_England.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937886 | 542 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Five Tips for a Better Financial Future
What is the sign of a good decision?SM
It’s assessing and then addressing what is most important to your family and its financial future.
If you are like many Americans, the recent economic downturn has thrown your family budget for a loop. You may have readjusted your spending habits to a significant extent – and you’re starting to realize that these new habits are here to stay. Even if you have been fortunate enough to remain employed, you may have been affected by the fallout from declining retirement plan balances. It could be time to take a step back and take a long, hard look at their finances—and where they want to be financially in the future.
Tips to help improve your economic future
Here are some tips to help you take stock of your overall economic picture, with actionable steps designed to help improve your long-term financial security.
Tip #1: Determine what is really important.
Take stock of what is really important to you and your family—is the newest electronic game system or cell phone more important than creating a secure financial future?
Start by developing your family’s mission statement. This is easier than it sounds: Simply write out what is important to you as a group. Include your long- and short-term goals, and what you are willing to give up in order to make those goals a reality. Don’t forget that along the way, you may still want to keep small luxuries (like a video game system) that you want to keep in your budget – since these can help you feel less deprived and even save you money (by keeping you from going out to first-run movies, for example).
TIP #2: Cut back, even if it hurts (a little).
Figuring out what is most important to your family from a financial perspective is a good decision for your long-term financial security. Making even small sacrifices in your spending can help you meet your goals. Identify where you can make small changes to cut back on non-essential expenditures. And don’t overlook the bigger-ticket items you pay for every month, such as your cable TV/Internet subscriptions and car insurance. Making minor adjustments to these items can free up more dollars than you might imagine, and play a significant role in helping you fund your family’s long-term financial goals.
Tip #3: Become a dedicated saver.
If you are like many families, trying to juggle financial priorities can make saving extremely difficult in tough economic times.
Successful savers “pay themselves first” whenever they receive a paycheck. To help make it easier, check with your employer to see if you can have part of your pay automatically deposited into one or more savings accounts. It can make saving automatic—and nearly painless.
Tip #4: Run your numbers.
Are you on track with your current disability coverage, life insurance, and retirement savings plan(s)? In other words, will these important items provide you and your family with the amount of financial protection you’ll need – when needed? Don’t wait until it’s too late. Take a checkpoint now to assess their adequacy and make the appropriate adjustments.
Taking the right steps today can help to ensure a better financial future for both you and your loved ones.
Tip #5: Get the help you need.
When it comes to Tips 1 through 4, you may feel you need some assistance. Whether you need help in just one area or all four, start looking at your future through a new lens – one that has your family’s financial goals in focus, with a plan to help you get there. Contact a financial professional to discuss ways they can help you put these tips into action—and your financial dreams on track.© 2010 Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Springfield, MA CRN201205-133776 | <urn:uuid:1e9c8a44-3a1b-4401-b727-d8d6dc20684c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://womensjournalcc.com/blog/2010/12/five-tips-for-a-better-financial-future/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950359 | 809 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Ri J. Turner is currently a participant of AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps in Washington, DC, where they work as a clinic coordinator at the Bread for the City Medical Clinic. Ri was formerly the Operations Manager at Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture & Spirituality, and also served on the NUJLS Executive Board. Ri has written for a variety of publications including Torah Queeries, Elevate Difference (formerly Feminist Review), and Zeek. They also contributed to the recent anthology Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community.
At the intersection of queer and Jewish, how can LGBT Jewish students build a movement to empower themselves?
In this review of Shifting Sands: Jewish Women Confront the Occupation, Turner suggests that “Not in our Name” should be used as a counternarrative to a pro-settler Zionism.
ZEEK is presented by The Jewish Daily Forward | Maintained by SimonAbramson.com | <urn:uuid:38adcf95-16e1-4231-940f-b25e176fbcb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zeek.forward.com/authors/ri-j-turner/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949867 | 202 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The doctor cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, but I have bad news.”
He paused, looking down at the floor. He looked back up at her. He started to say something and then stopped, looking back down at the floor.
That’s when Pat began to cry.
She’d argued with herself about even coming to the doctor’s office. Her baby was a year old, and he hadn’t started crawling yet. He tried, yes, dragging his legs behind him as he struggled to make it just a few feet on the floor, but it didn’t look right. Everyone told her that she was worrying over nothing, and maybe she was, but she told herself that she would take him to the doctor, just to be safe . . .
“Your son has a neuromuscular disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy,” the doctor said. “It’s a form of muscular dystrophy that primarily affects children.”
Pat was speechless. Everyone had told her she was silly. She had hoped she was wrong, prayed she was wrong, but still . . . she knew.
“What’s going to happen to him?” she managed to say.
“Where most children grow stronger as they get older, your son is going to get weaker. He’ll lose the ability to move. He’ll lose the ability to breathe on his own. And one day, he’ll catch an infection that will spread into his respiratory system, giving him severe pneumonia . . .”
She held up her hand to stop him. “You’re saying he is going to die?”
He nodded. “There are three types of SMA. Caught this early, your son almost certainly has Type I. Most children with Type I die of pneumonia before the age of two.” He paused. “I’m sorry.”
Pat looked up into his face and saw that he really was sorry. It made her angry. Not because of his pity, but because in this man’s eyes, her baby was already dead.
“Don’t be sorry,” Pat said, wiping tears away from her face. Her voice was suddenly very calm.”He isn’t going to die.”
“It’s important you understand the situation, Mrs. Morrow. The pneumonia . . . he won’t be able to fight it.”
“He won’t have to,” she said. “I’ll fight it for him.”
The miracle of mothers
Over the next 16 years, I had pneumonia 16 times. But I never died. It sounds strange to say it, but my mother wouldn’t let it happen.
She orchestrated a team of more than a dozen doctors. She slept in a chair beside me in the hospital, sometimes for as many as 30 days in a row. She pounded my chest and back every two hours to loosen the mucus, covering my chest and back with bruises.
Today, at 27 years old, I’m one of the oldest people in the world with my type of SMA, and people tell me it’s a miracle. And I agree, it is. But the miracle isn’t just me. It’s a mother who fought like only a mother can to keep me alive.
By “alive,” I don’t mean just “not dead,” either. You’d think my mother would have been satisfied for me to live at home, tucked away from the world where she could protect me, but for her, that wasn’t living. She insisted that I be great.
When my elementary school principal decided that disabled children didn’t have a place in her school, my mom appealed to the school board and turned every board member’s life into a living hell for two years.
When I wanted to play basketball, she forced an astounded coach to reinvent the rules of the game so that I could be the “ball carrier” for the team, and no one could take the ball away. Not surprisingly, everyone wanted me on their team.
When I could no longer pick up a pencil, she arranged for honors students at local colleges to help me with my homework after school. I graduated at the age of 16, not only near the top of my class, but with college credit.
If you’re a mother, none of these things surprise you. Some mothers are weak, sure, but the vast majority fight for their children, especially when those children are defenseless. It’s not because they’re trying to be heroes. It’s because that’s their job.
And I think we can learn something from them. Not to minimize what mothers do, but I’ve come to believe that our job as writers is not all that different.
Fighting for your ideas
Growing up, I always had to fight to get people to listen to me.
The worst part about being disabled isn’t the pain or the struggle but how the world tries to shove you into a corner and pretend that you don’t exist. After all, what could you possibly have to contribute? You’re going to die soon, poor thing. Here’s a nice, quiet room and some morphine to ease the pain.
They don’t proactively hold you back, no, but they don’t expect you to succeed either. I’ve spent my entire life fighting against the weight of those expectations.
Like when university professors were flabbergasted when, on the first day, I asked my attendant to raise his hand, so I could answer the question that no one else could.
Or the vaguely constipated look on the face of a venture capitalist when I asked for $500,000 of startup capital for my first software company.
Or the disbelieving stares of people at a real estate conference when I gave a talk about buying million-dollar homes without even being able to get up the stairs to see the inside of them.
Their disbelief has never stopped me, of course. It’s not a matter of persistence or strength or attitude, as some people think. It’s a matter of shame.
How could I possibly look my mother and father and all of the others who have sacrificed so much for me in the eye and tell them, “I can’t?” I couldn’t bear it. The shame of dishonoring their sacrifice by giving up would poison my soul.
And so I fight
If my mother could ignore a doctor who would condemn me to death, then I can ignore my inner demons who tell me I’ll never make it as a writer.
If my mother could demand that I achieve straight As in school, then I can demand greatness from every blog post I publish.
If my mother could lobby school administrators and government agencies to get me the help I needed, then I can lobby bloggers and social media power users to get my idea the attention it deserves.
Not to imply that I’m unique, because I’m not. Yes, I’ve had to overcome a lot of adversity, but so does every creative person who wants their ideas to see the light of day.
If you want to succeed, you can’t wait for the world to give you attention the way a cripple waits for food stamps to arrive in the mail. You have to be a warrior. You have to attack with the madness of a mother whose child is surrounded by an army of predators.
Because, let’s face it, your ideas are your children. Their future is as tender and delicate as that of any newborn.
You can’t just write them down and expect them to succeed. Writing isn’t about putting words on the page, any more than being a parent is about the act of conception. It’s about breathing life into something and then working to make sure that life becomes something beautiful.
That means spending ten hours on a post, instead of 30 minutes.
That means writing a guest post every week, instead of one every few months.
That means asking for links without any shame or reservation, not because you lack humility, but because you know down to the depths of your soul that what you’ve done is good.
You have to realize that your blog is more than just a collection of ones and zeros floating through cyberspace. It’s more than the words on the page. Your blog is a launchpad for your ideas, and you are the rocket fuel that lifts them off the ground.
So burn it up, baby.
Your ideas are counting on you.
About the Author: Jon Morrow is Associate Editor of Copyblogger. Get more from Jon on twitter.
About the Author: Jon Morrow is Associate Editor of Copyblogger. If you'd like to learn more about what it really takes to become a popular blogger, check out his free videos on guest blogging. | <urn:uuid:f04d22e9-19e8-44c8-91f6-f1136e612d90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.copyblogger.com/fight-for-your-ideas | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975924 | 1,941 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Electronic Records of Korean and Vietnam Conflict Casualties
By Theodore J. Hull
|A Korean girl places flowers on the grave of an American soldier, UN cemetery at Pusan, April 9, 1951. (NARA 111-C-6425)|
U.S. involvement in the conflict on the Korean peninsula began fifty years ago, after the Communist invasion of June 1950. Almost twenty-five years later, the North Vietnamese stormed the U.S. embassy in Saigon, officially ending our involvement in the conflict in Southeast Asia. Between those two landmark events, over ninety thousand U.S. military personnel died in service to their country while serving in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Among electronic records holdings in the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) are the records of those heroic individuals, available to all who are interested in knowing some details of their ultimate sacrifice. Researchers are interested in these records for a variety of reasons. They may be individuals seeking to determine the fate of a comrade-in-arms or document their own experience of traumatic stress. They may be family members wanting to understand more about a loved one's final demise, local committees compiling lists of names for a memorialization effort, or government agencies and veterans service organizations seeking to compile lists of casualties to better serve their constituents. Increasingly, especially as the span of time increases and these conflicts become part of a more distant past, genealogists are making use of these records to document the end of military service for one of their ancestors.
Among the online resources available to genealogists are the state casualty list extracts generated from two electronic records files in NARA's custody. These files, known as the Korean Conflict Casualty File (KCCF), 1950-1957, and [Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties Current File (CACCF) in the Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD, Record Group 330), may be found at the NARA web site online The practice of publishing casualty lists derives from a long tradition of honoring the war dead. Many local communities have asked the Office of the Secretary of Defense for listings of casualties geared directly toward their specific memorialization efforts. NARA holds the published listings from World War I and World War II, and when we received the initial transfer of the [Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties Data Base (CACDB), from which the CACCF is generated, we also assumed responsibility for creating state list extracts from that file. One of the most notable examples of the use of casualty records for memorialization was the compilation of the names that appear on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ("The Wall") in Washington, D.C.
In the late 1970s, OSD compiled the KCCF database from records supplied by each of the military services. While details of the exact origins of the KCCF are sketchy, the impetus for its creation grew out of an apparent demand for lists of Korean casualties for memorialization purposes. NARA received the KCCF from OSD in 1980 and generated state list extracts of records for Korean conflict casualties.
Reviewing the names in the state list extracts of the KCCF or CACCF is often the first step on a journey to discover more about an individual casualty of the Korean or Vietnam conflict. Because the state lists were created to meet the needs of those building memorials, they contain only selected fields from the entire databases. The KCCF and CACCF are electronic "data files." This means that the information in the records is recorded in a regular, predictable, "fielded" format in a computer-processible file. Therefore, creation of the state list extracts is a matter of retrieving only those fields, or "data elements," believed to be necessary for the task at hand, converting certain fields from a coded format to a human-readable format, and generating the desired output. One of the common characteristics of electronic records data files is that certain fields contain coded information in a standardized format. Data are coded for a variety of reasons, such as to conserve computer storage "space," to utilize a standardized code authority file to reduce data entry errors, and to allow for quantitative analysis. For example, a coded field familiar to many readers is the U.S. Postal Service abbreviation for state names; the standardized code for Maryland is "MD." To make such fields "human-readable," a computer programmer using some software package instructs the computer to convert the coded information to represent the actual value of that field. A programmer can also instruct the computer to generate lists that show only selected fields, sort the records on any of the selected fields, and generate printed lists or other computer outputs. It is precisely this process that is used to generate the KCCF and CACCF state list extracts.
Therefore, each state casualty list incorporates selected data elements for all deceased casualties grouped by state "home of record" as identified by the serviceman or woman upon last entrance into military service. "Home of record" does not necessarily refer to the place of birth, residence of next of kin, place of longest residence, or other common uses of the term "hometown." In the Korean data file, the army used the county as the "home of record," while the air force, navy, and marines used the city or town. In the Vietnam-era data file, the "home of record" is city/town for all services.
The casualty state lists contain the following fields for each casualty: name, rank or grade, branch of service, home of record, date of casualty, date of birth (Vietnam only), and category of casualty. The state lists are sorted in two ways: alphabetically by last name or alphabetically by "home of record." Both versions of the lists are available online via the NARA home page. Those who cannot access the Internet or who would rather receive printed versions may purchase copies for a cost-recovery fee. Contact the Center for Electronic Records reference staff to request a price quotation.
As mentioned earlier, the state list extracts can be a valuable starting point for a genealogist. The KCCF and CACCF full records provide a more complete picture of a serviceperson's demise and, when coupled with additional records, can add tremendously to a genealogist's understanding of an ancestor's military service. Researchers can request printouts of an individual's "full" record from the Center's reference staff. The full record includes the individual's service/Social Security number, which can be used to access other records related to the individual such as the military personnel file, potentially available from the National Military Personnel Records Center.
Staff of the Center for Electronic Records have developed a software application that can be used to generate a formatted printout of an individual record or selected sets of records based on well-defined search criteria. These printouts show the original value of the coded field and the translation of that code to a human-readable format. Full printouts of the KCCF and CACCF, sorted on any of up to three fields in the records, are also available for a cost-recovery fee. Finally, copies of the KCCF and CACCF files can be made available to researchers in an electronic format on CD-ROM, 9-track tape, or 3480-class tape cartridge, for a cost-recovery fee.
The KCCF electronic records data file contains selected descriptive data about U.S. military personnel who died by hostile means as a result of combat duty in the Korean conflict. There is one record for each individual-33,642 in all. The dates of death range from 1950 to 1957. Access to the records in the file is completely open. In the case of the KCCF full records, information potentially available about each casualty includes: military service branch, country of casualty (always Korea), casualty group, file reference number, name of casualty, [record] processing date, service number, military grade or rank, pay grade, date of casualty, service component, home of record (place and state), birth date (year only for most records), cause of casualty, aircraft involvement (air/non-air casualty), race, sex (all are male), and citizenship. The majority of the records have no meaningful data in the "cause of casualty" or "air/non-air casualty" variable.
The CACCF data file contains records with final data on U.S. military personnel who died as a result of hostilities (killed in action, died from wounds, died while missing, or died while captured) or other causes (died from illness or injury, non-hostile; died from other non-hostile causes; died while missing, non-hostile) in Cambodia, Communist China, Laos, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, or Thailand during the conflict in Southeast Asia. Access to the final records of deceased casualties is completely open. The data file was created by the Comptroller of the Office of the Secretary of Defense by a directive of January 20, 1967. Responsibility for continuing maintenance was transferred in 1973 to the Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (DIOR), Washington Headquarters Services, a field activity of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. DIOR inputs casualty records into the CACCF on the basis of a formal Report of Casualty (DD Form 1300). The DD Form 1300 originates with the casualty office of the branch of service of the deceased serviceman or woman. This data file continues to be maintained by DIOR, and staff there add, delete, or revise records as new information is received from the casualty offices of each of the military service branches.
|In Long Khanh Province, Republic of Vietnam, SP4 R. Richter watches for a helicopter while Sgt. Daniel E. Spencer stares at their fallen comrade. (NARA, 111-SC-653974)|
Records in the current file (CACCF) are an extract from a larger database known as the Combat Area Casualties File (CACF), also known as Combat Area Casualties Data Base (CACDB); CACDB is the original designation for the project (see DoD Directive 7730.22, March 20, 1973). The CACF contains final and nonfinal records for those who died or were declared dead and records for those who returned alive to military control. NARA received ten transfers of the CACF between August 1980 and May 1986. Beginning in June 1988, DoD began transferring separate Current (final records), History (nonfinal records), and Returned Alive files. The most recent version of the CACCF processed into NARA's holdings came in December 1998. In that version, there is one data record for each individual, 58,193 in all. Dates of death range from 1956 to 1998.
CACCF full records contain military service branch, country of casualty, type of casualty, file reference number, name of casualty, [record] processing date, service or Social Security number, military grade, pay grade, date of death, home of record (city and state), military occupation code, birth date, reason (cause of casualty), aircraft involvement (air/non-air casualty), race, religion, length of service, marital status, sex, citizenship status, posthumous promotion, date Southeast Asian tour began (date missing or captured in some records), final record code, body status, service component, a thirty-one-character comments field, and province (of casualty).
Companion records to the KCCF and CACCF files are also available. NARA has in its holdings electronic records data files of U.S. Army casualties from the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, both deceased and wounded. These files are known as the [U.S. Army] Korean War Casualty File (TAGOKOR), 1950-1953 and the [U.S. Army] Casualty Information System (TAGCEN), 1961-1981, in the Records of the Adjutant General's Office (Record Group 407). The TAGOKOR and TAGCEN files contain similar information about individual casualties as that in the KCCF and CACCF files with some notable exceptions. For example, the U.S. Army files identify the organization with which any individual was associated. In the case of the TAGOKOR file, that unit identifier (specifically the Troop Program Sequence Number) will identify the U.S. Army organization down to a fairly detailed level. In TAGCEN, the unit identifier is at the major organization, or division, level. Therefore, genealogists or other researchers interested in obtaining records of a unit in which an individual served can use the casualty records to narrow that search.
Another significant difference between the OSD and U.S. Army casualty records is that the army files include records of the wounded. There are 109,975 records in TAGOKOR. According to an analysis of the records on the basis of the codes for the variable "casualty type," 27,727 are records for army personnel who died, and 82,248 are records of nonfatal army casualties. Access to all records in TAGOKOR is completely open. The TAGOKOR records for deceased casualties are coded to indicate 25,308 hostile casualties and 2,419 non-hostile casualties. KCCF includes only records of hostile, or battle-related, casualties. On the other hand, TAGCEN was developed to centralize information on casualties (deceased and wounded) of U.S. Army personnel and their dependents, worldwide, during the period 1961-1981. There are a total of 293,858 records in TAGCEN; numerous duplicate and incomplete records are included in the file. Records that identify surviving casualties are not released to the public, except to the named individual or if proof of death is provided by the requestor. The records of wounded casualties are not considered complete, and many of the fields are blank in the records of the deceased. These records have not been actively maintained and thus reflect information available to the army no later than 1981, when these records were transferred to NARA.
As in the case of the KCCF and CACCF records, NARA will provide researchers with formatted printouts of individual records or multiple records contained in TAGOKOR and TAGCEN based on specific search criteria. In addition, copies of the full TAGOKOR file and a "public use" version of the TAGCEN file are available in an electronic format.
Finally, NARA has a number of other electronic records data files of potential interest to genealogical researchers. These include the World War II Prisoners of War Punchcards (thirteen electronic records files) in the Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General (Record Group 389); Repatriated Korean Conflict Prisoners of War File in the Records of the Veterans Administration (Record Group 15); Index to Returned or Exchanged Captured American Prisoners-Korea-Phase III, Interrogation Reports, in the Records of the Army Staff (Record Group 319); and public use versions of the [Southeast Asia] Combat Area Casualties History and Returned Alive Files in the Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Record Group 330). Another electronic records data file with records of individuals open to contemporary genealogical researchers is the Data from War Relocation Authority Form 26: Evacuee Summary Data ("Locator Index") in the Records of the War Relocation Authority (Record Group 210). #online">Descriptions of these holdings may be found on the NARA web site or upon request from the Center for Electronic Records reference staff.
Genealogists interested in learning more about ancestors who died in service
to their country during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, or who were prisoners
of war from World War II through the Vietnam conflict, should look to NARA's
electronic records holdings as a source for such documentary materials. The
online casualty state list extracts, readily accessible on NARA's home page,
are only a first step on the path to discovering other records potentially of
use to your records search.
|Articles published in Prologue do not necessarily represent the views of NARA or of any other agency of the United States Government.| | <urn:uuid:63f3bc8d-450b-4408-b5a5-feb6af809662> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2000/spring/korean-and-vietnam-casualties.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92822 | 3,338 | 2.5 | 2 |
May 31, 2011 By Hilton Collins
Cameras in airports give control room operators a good handle on all airport activity — long security lines, busy check-in counters and terminal waiting areas included. These cameras are typically used for security purposes. But in Houston, city airport officials are taking an even closer look at understanding airport activity through a customer service perspective — and standard surveillance cameras may not be enough.
“Certainly we use cameras all over the airport for security purposes, but there are some implications that are a little more related to customer service where we are looking to get data collected about what’s happening within our facilities and on our roadways,” said Lisa Kent, CIO of the Houston Airport System (HAS), which represents Houston’s three airports: George Bush Intercontinental, William P. Hobby and Ellington. Last year, HAS partnered with Purdue University to conduct a unique study: The two entities used Bluetooth technology to track the nearly 50 million people who passed through Houston’s airports. Officials hope the study’s results, which are also of interest to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), will ultimately improve customer service and the general airport experience.
In a Bluetooth environment, data is transmitted over short distances between fixed or mobile devices. In Houston, the technology will reveal whether construction was causing traffic backups, or if passengers were delayed from leaving parking garages because payment transactions took too long. The TSA wants data on how long customers wait in line before going through security checkpoints. After passengers are through security, Kent wonders where they go next. “Do they spend much time in the concession areas? Do they go straight to the gate hold room and stay there?” she asked.
The Bluetooth study, she said, was a way to track the transit time for people carrying Bluetooth-enabled devices that are in discoverable mode, and to measure that transit time between point A and point B.
The project went live inside Bush Intercontinental’s terminal and on the roadway and parking garage. HAS officials analyzed customer activity by tracking people’s movements between those points. “That helps us plan for a better customer experience so that people are happy while they’re in our facility,” Kent said. Bluetooth antennas with sensors were installed in various areas and captured discoverable unique serial numbers. The numbers, called media access control (MAC) addresses, are emitted by phones, iPads, phone earbuds or other Bluetooth-enabled devices. The sensors captured a person’s MAC address as he or she passed by, and then successive sensors also captured it as the person continued on his or her way. Long-range sensors detected movement on roadways, and short-range sensors detected movement inside the building. The pilot also incorporated GPS technology.
In total, nine sensors were deployed, including one on each roadway coming into the airport, in the garages, at the two terminal entrances, at the ticket lobby, in the north and south concourses, and near airport checkpoints.
“We were trying to demonstrate that not only were we capturing the wait time through the checkpoint, but then how long it took the passenger to get through the checkpoint and actually out to one of the gate concourses,” said Project Manager Darryl Daniel.
There’s bound to be worry about privacy and anonymity with a project that tracks people’s movements. But according to Kent, there’s no reason for concern. “We truncate that MAC address, so even if I had the full MAC addresses, there isn’t a way for me to associate that address with your cell phone number,” she said, “and certainly not with your name.”
The technology was used to calculate passenger transit time from sensor to sensor. The data wasn’t transmitted in real time during the pilot, but that’s something HAS would shoot for in a permanent deployment, along with ways to involve security cameras. “We are looking at camera locations to give us views of things like those queues so that, in a future phase, when we do see that wait time is increasing, we can actually look at the queue to determine if there is a problem [there],” Daniel said.
HAS considered using video analytics for the customer wait-time analysis, but Bluetooth was cheaper and easier, Kent said. Airport lines can be fluid and unpredictable, making it tough to rely solely on camera technology without backup for deep study.
With the pilot completed in September, airport system officials have a better understanding of how to approach a permanent deployment. Neither Kent nor Daniel specified when that would happen, but they offered details on how data from a long-term project could be applied. Customer preferences, for example, may become more obvious. “If we have certain concessions in an area that passengers are just walking right past, they’re not even dwelling to look, it helps us make decisions from a commercial standpoint about what we should consider changing,” Kent said.
They would also have a better understanding of where sensors should be located. During the study, some sensors were too close together or long range when they should’ve been short range and vice versa.
HAS also must work with the federal government on interpreting and applying the data. “If you’re comparing information about how many people went through at the same time [that] you’re measuring wait time, you’re getting feedback from your partners like the TSA about how many lanes were open at that point,” Kent said.
A partnership with the TSA could benefit HAS airport personnel. Kent said the TSA could handle operational deficiencies at terminals, and information gleaned from the Bluetooth pilot could tell them how.
But airport officials aren’t relying on that project alone to strengthen the alliance. HAS is also working with the TSA on an advanced surveillance program so the federal government can learn how much and what type of technology it would need to enhance airport security. The Aviation Safety Program allows the TSA to fund a portion of the camera system and recording capabilities for that project and, in exchange, TSA workers view the camera feeds.
“In general terms, we are deploying newer camera technologies, some additional storage capabilities, and additional viewing and monitoring capabilities that enable us to do a better job of monitoring more and more cameras,” Kent said.
Video surveillance has been in place in HAS’ system for as long as Kent and Daniel can remember, but technical migrations have happened over time. The cameras at Bush and Hobby, for example, were analog, but staff incorporated digital functionality from 2006 to 2009. And more digital units are on the way. “We are just now starting to design and deploy pure IP digital cameras,” Daniel said. They include high-definition and megapixel units. “It’s an ongoing migration, and you’ll see that in every industry with their surveillance technology.”
Today the camera hardware environment is a conglomerate of units from different vendors (Kent and Daniel couldn’t divulge which for security reasons) and they’re supported by Honeywell software. Kent added that HAS is committed to routine technology refreshing, which keeps security updated and enhances efficiency. She admits that the surveillance technology in the terminals isn’t as sophisticated as what’s in most casinos, but she’s happy with it so far. And according to Daniel, most units are built to last. “The life cycles of the cameras are pretty robust,” he said.
You may use or reference this story with attribution and a link to | <urn:uuid:05d2e9e5-f9d4-4ad5-8a94-df0538da9078> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.govtech.com/transportation/Digital-Cameras-Bluetooth-Houston-Airports.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959724 | 1,571 | 1.890625 | 2 |
|Page 1 of 9:|| |
|Index||84 reviews in total|
22 out of 22 people found the following review useful:
Great story, excellently acted and produced, 16 July 2002
Author: Michael Morrison (email@example.com) from Arizona
Based on the true story of Bill Porter, this movie showcases a rarity: An admirable man. Movies today are so full of meanness, of violence, of generally nasty people, that this small movie about a man who insisted on earning his own way in life just shines like a beacon. William H. Macy's performance is award caliber. Actually everyone in the film is believable, and most are likeable and all are interesting. Even though I saw this great movie on a Ted Turner cable channel, I loved it, and recommend it to everyone. In fact, as a thank you, I rushed out the next day to buy the sponsor's product, elastic bandages. Johnson & Johnson really deserve our gratitude for presenting this marvelous story of a man who refused to accept anyone else's lack of belief in him. Bill Porter is a hero for modern America; this movie is inspiring.
22 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
The story of Bill Porter., 2 January 2003
Author: Cipher-J from USA
The problem with attempting to review this type of story is that we are not
given much room for an opinion. How do we critique the representation of a
character who started out with a debilitating disorder, and did everything
he could to overcome his limitations? In a film such as "I Am Sam" we can
draw attention to the flaws in its premise, but the premise of this story is
entirely believable. So all one can do is give it praise or question
whether there is a message that follows logically from that basis. We are
presented with the life of Bill Porter, whose accident of birth left him
with cerebral palsy at a time in history when such persons were typically
institutionalized. But Bill had a mother who believed in him until he
believed in himself. As a result, and against all odds, he became a
door-to-door salesman for products now more conventionally available at the
In these days of 800 numbers, the Internet and megaplex shopping centers, it is hard to imagine a day when the door to door salesman met the needs of the neighborhood personally. To a certain extent, this story is as much about that phenomenon as the life of Bill Porter. We see him finding a place in the lives of his customers, fulfilling a role not unlike that of a minister or psychologist, a person who quietly and tactfully linked people together, listened to their concerns, and helped to heal their wounds. At the same time, we see Bill as an all too real human being, himself, disabled not only physically, but emotionally. The deep sense of pride that drives him on also blocks him from experiencing a relationship of his own. It is a very moving and personal story, respectful and ennobling. It needs no other message.
18 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Door to Door will leave you hoping for a salesman to knock on your door., 14 July 2002
Author: (firstname.lastname@example.org) from Brunswick, Maine. USA
William H. Macy strikes gold in this wonderfully done film. Not only was
Macy the star of the story he was also the co-writer and
This is the story of Bill Porter, a door to door salesman for the Watkins company, who has cerebral palsy. The story takes us from the early 1950's up to the late 1990's and shows us the life of this salesman and all the people who he has met and affected, for over forty years.
Bill is a loveable, funny, caring, and sympathetic character who the viewer cannot help but fall in love with.
The story is well worth seeing and will leave you in tears at times, and laughing right up until the end. I highly recommend this wonderful film.
Viewers hint: Keep your eyes on the tree!
The hardest part for me was getting through each sucessive turmoil in
the main characters life. If this doesn't make you see how much you
take for granted then nothing will. Bill Porter is a story that's worth
telling and done so in a manner that was entirely compelling. Not only
was the flick a tear jerker but a real valuable lesson on why people
need to be given respect no matter how hard they may have it in life.
Respect is most definitely the most important part of a person's life.
Persistence in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds make's the
challenge all the more rewarding.
You know there's a bunch of talk nowadays about how decadent a culture we have become and how the liberalism of the 60's was a failure. I find the fact that some people really came to like and trust such a decent man as Bill Porter a reflection on the good that does come when people care just as much about their community as they do themselves. No matter who they are or how wrong they may seem in the eyes of society they respected Bill. We live in a world where the only concern has become preservation of wealth, while in many respects preservation of community and peace has slipped by the wayside. This movie in many ways is a wake up call to care for one another, to love thy neighbor and give people the chance to succeed.
This movie reminds us of the things that truly matter in life, such as empathy,respect, patience and humor. Sometimes we all need to think like Bill Porter and put our best foot forward even in the face of ignorance and suffering. It's not so much a question of doing good only for reward but of doing something/anything rather then quitting when odds are that you will lose the fight. Not giving in to that feeling is what makes "Door to Door" such an incredible success for anybody that cares to listen to the messege of the film. In forcing yourself to see the world through Bill's eyes you grow to respect him as a individual person that in his mind is not disabled in anyway not just because he thinks so but because he does so by lifting everyone he encounters in his life up to his altitude. Attitude is 95% of the battle and Bill proves himself a winner in life by winning that battle despite a course that is fraught with obstacles that you or me may never encounter. Thank you Bill Porter.
15 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
A TV production of high quality, 14 July 2002
Author: anaventura from Austin, TX
I've always been suspicious of TV-only productions and TV-driven directors.
"Door to Door", however, was a refreshing change in the sea of boredom and
mediocrity latest TV productions have used us to.
It was a true delight to watch William H. Macy playing the salesman Bill Porter. We revisit generations from the 60s to the 90s -btw, great music selection - led by this guy who sells door to door. Helen Mirren who was recently in Gosford Park is great. Kathy Baker, the nurse in "The Cider House Rules" is fantastic. Both are short but great parts!
This movie is a must!
12 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A very good TV movie, 2 August 2003
Author: Derek237 from Canada
I don't really understand why this movie was only made for TV, it has a
lot of qualities that make it better than half the stuff out today on
the big screen. But whether it's a big screen, a small screen, 2 hours,
90 minutes, this is still a good movie. William H. Macy is heartwarming
and almost unrecognizable as Bill Porter. It's actually one of his best
The one thing that bugged me were the title cards that had little quotes under the year the section of the movie was taking place, I didn't think those were needed. That aside, this is an overall good movie. It has drama, humour, and some damn fine acting.
My Rating: 7/10
11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Very inspirational!!, 16 July 2002
Author: Erin from Ohio
This movie is very inspirational!! William H. Macy did a wonderful job in this movie and deserves an award for his outstanding performance. It is very well written and I can't wait to watch it again and again. We need more family movies like this. There was no violence, no sex, no vulgar language. I have been recommending this movie to EVERYONE! Bill Porter is UNSTOPPABLE!!
11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Uplifting story of a man who wouldn't let his disability hold him back., 14 July 2002
Author: TxMike from Houston, Tx, USA, Earth
Bill Porter was born with cerebral palsy. As he tells a friend, "The
squeezed my head too tight when I was born." Bill had a good sense of
we believe he was just making a joke. His dad had been an award-winning
salesman, and Bill wanted to follow in his footsteps, but was letting his
disability hold him back. Until he told the head of sales, "Give me your
worst route, the one no one wants. If I succeed, you're a hero. If I fail,
you've lost nothing." Bill finds it very rough going at first, but
eventually succeeds by getting to know all his customers and gaining their
Bill Macy is just fabulous as Bill Porter. In this film they let his ears protrude naturally, instead of pinning them back as they have done for all his other films. The story spans 42 years, from 1955 when he gets his first job, to 1997 when he gets his route back after they have closed the door-to-door division, instead selling by phone and the internet. He realized he missed the human element too much.
9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Funny, heartwarming and wonderful, 16 July 2002
Author: SherBa from Virginia, USA
I loved this movie. I loved William H. Macy. He was terrific as Bill
Porter. He made the character so real with so much spirit that I couldn't
help but love him. I was often moved to tears and laughter as I came to
admire this "persistent and persevering" and wonderfully endearing
It is a treat from start to finish and I highly recommend that everyone see it.
8 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
William H. Macy is absolutely delightful in this sugar-coated but well-meaning tele-movie., 14 July 2002
Author: Aussie Stud from Providence, Rhode Island
William H. Macy portrays the adult life of Bill Porter, an inspirational
story about a man afflicted with Cerebral Palsy who manages to become a
successful door-to-door salesman throughout four decades spanning the
sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties.
"DOOR TO DOOR" is a factual-based story about the adventures experienced by Bill Porter as a door-to-door salesman, a man filled with so much admiration, persistence and charm, William H. Macy nails down the role with absolute brilliance.
Unfortunately, "DOOR TO DOOR" is very heavily coated with saccharine sweetness that it almost brushes off as a project that may have been intended for Lifetime, Television for Women. The story-lines involving Porter's customers and how their lives were changed by him are certainly inspiring, but one must also wonder if they actually did happen. I was most certainly intrigued by the story-line involving the separated couple and the butchered tree that marked the perimeter of their property, and the awkward story-line involving the gay couple and an obvious insinuation that one of their friends might have been inflicted with the AIDS virus, something that was never resolved and seemed a little misplaced.
Unlike "FORREST GUMP" which was entirely fictional, I never for a second during that movie wondered if and/or how the situations he got himself into actually happened. Throughout "DOOR TO DOOR", I did wonder a few times if 'this' or 'that' really happened, but regardless, I still enjoyed the movie without being buried under the obvious flaws and cliches.
Kathy Baker portrays a devoted customer who purchases his products even when she has no use for them, while Helen Mirren portrays his endearing mother who is stricken with Alzheimer's Disease and becomes one of the many hurdles Porter must struggle with throughout his difficult life. Kyra Sedgwick was charming as his trusty assistant, the energetic flame of his life that he never got to claim as his own, but probably became the best friend that he ever had.
William H. Macy definitely deserves an Emmy Award for his outstanding performance in this movie. He is just as brilliant on the small screen as he is on the big screen, while most people don't remember that he was once a featured cast member of the hit television series "E.R.".
"DOOR TO DOOR" is a truly inspirational story and highly recommended for those who are sick of all those movies about things getting blown up or people getting peppered with bullets. A welcome change indeed!
My Rating - 8 out of 10
|Page 1 of 9:|| |
|Newsgroup reviews||External reviews||Official site|
|Plot keywords||Main details||Your user reviews|
|Your vote history| | <urn:uuid:f35ec0bc-c3c9-407c-b9ca-9bb01b4ead9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274468/reviews | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976299 | 2,851 | 1.570313 | 2 |
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Debbie Godfrey likes the school where her son Dylan is a first-grader. She is comfortable with the teachers and the principal in the small brick building tucked into a quiet suburb near her apartment.
But Wilcox Elementary School is closing next year, another victim of budget cuts that have troubled school districts across the country.
''It's horrible. They're taking away a really good school,'' Godfrey said. ''If they'd given us a little bit of time, maybe even us parents could have come up with a solution.''
Nationwide, legislators and local officials have cut billions of dollars from education spending by trimming their schools' staffs, cutting programs and even closing some buildings to deal with deficits caused by the recession.
Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon has eliminated $35.4 million in grants for K-12 schools -- money that funds programs such as full-day kindergarten, summer school and gifted programs. Some teachers' aides already have been laid off.
In New York, several school boards have warned of double-digit increases in local taxes to offset state tax shortfalls. Gov. George Pataki is trying to hold down state education spending to make up for billions of dollars in revenue lost because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
''It's really going to be a tough year,'' said Michele Bartmess, spokeswoman for Utah's Granite School District, the state's largest, in Salt Lake City. ''They (legislators) don't want us to impact the kids, but anything they do impacts the kids.''
Utah legislators have sliced $41 million from the state's $2.3 billion public education budget.
In all, state legislatures have trimmed $11 billion from education budgets in the past year, according to the National Education Association, the nation's largest lobby group for public school teachers with 2.5 million members.
State funding makes up 46 percent of the resources provided to K-12 schools, the largest single source. Local taxes provide 44 percent and federal funds are about 10 percent.
The full impact of the cuts is unclear because a number of states are still debating their budgets.
Education analysts say the cuts threaten to unravel some of the efforts of the last decade to improve public education. In some cases schools will have to be consolidated, class sizes will have to increase, teachers and aides will be laid off.
Oregon's $846 million budget shortfall has forced a $112 million reduction in state aid to local schools. Many districts are considering teacher layoffs, bigger class sizes and other belt-tightening actions.
John Marshall of the Oregon School Boards Association said the impact will vary. Some districts have enough of a financial cushion to avoid steps such as layoffs.
''But I think it's clear that what we are seeing is a steady erosion in quality,'' Marshall said.
The Portland school district -- the largest in Oregon -- is taking a number of steps to erase a $40 million shortfall.
At a meeting last month attended by more than 500 people, the city school board voted to reduce the length of the school year by nine days to 171. Some of those days could come from teaching training time, but if all are carved from instructional time, Portland will have the shortest school year in the country next year.
The board also voted to close the two small elementary schools. And it will likely replace custodians with contractors and reduce salaries for all district workers, depending on contract negotiations. Teachers face cuts in salary and benefits as high as $5,000 per year.
The effect on students will be harder to quantify, said district spokesman Lew Fredericks. He said it could translate into declining test scores as today's elementary school students are shuffled through the system with a lesser level of personal attention and shorter school year.
Peninsula Clarion ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:fc25fb71-e665-4d36-a5a6-080a4074d319> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://peninsulaclarion.com/stories/041002/sch_041002sch0050001.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964572 | 788 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Celery Volatiles Enhance Chicken Soup
Posted: January 7, 2008
Researchers from Ochanomizu University (Tokyo) and the Technical Research Center at T. Hasegawa Co. have found that volatile extracts from celery can enhance the umami and sweet properties of chicken broth. The researchers hypothesized that certain odor compounds could enhance the intensity of flavor in a complex food matrix. To test this, chicken broth was formulated to include celery extracts containing both volatile and non-volatile compounds. The broth was evaluated in terms of “mild,” “impactful,” “lasting,” “thick,” “satisfied,” “complex,” “refined,” and “clarified.” The researchers considered these elements in terms of “sweet,” “salty” and “umami” taste. Six to 10 female volunteers were recruited to evaluate the formulated broth, and found that celery’s volatile compounds 3-n-butylphthalide (0.2 PPM), sedanenolide (0.7 PPM) and sedanolide (0.2 PPM) enhanced the flavor more than non-volatile compounds. This research report—“Flavour Enhancement of Chicken Broth from Boiled Celery Constituents”—has been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (December 29, 2007). | <urn:uuid:7da640a7-604a-4cdc-b525-fefc8e0a46fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.perfumerflavorist.com/flavor/application/savory/13500682.html?mobi=y | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940978 | 309 | 2.078125 | 2 |
London Think Tank Describes 'War Gone Badly Wrong' In 9/11 Response Review
September 8, 2011 by Sam Rolley
A report created by the U.K.-based Oxford Research Group (ORG) sums up the consequences of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade as “a war gone badly wrong.”
Paul Rogers, a professor of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in West Yorkshire and Global Security Consultant to ORG, created the report which seeks to measure the intentions for U.S. and European involvement in the Mideast against the consequences of involvement 10 years later. The author says the horrific events of 9/11 were a sound reason for the U.S. to pursue al-Qaida in the Mideast, but that the War on Terror has essentially lost direction and represents unexplainable and indefensible practices of foreign policy as it enters its second decade.
The report concludes:
A brief war in Afghanistan is shortly to enter its second decade, seven years of war in Iraq have yet to bring a lasting peace, and Pakistan remains deeply unstable. Meanwhile, groups linked loosely with the al-Qaida movement make progress in Yemen, Nigeria, Algeria and the Horn of Africa.
At present, the outlook is somewhat bleak. The United States and its coalition allies have indeed started to learn from a decade’s failures; but the lessons they are drawing show them still to be rooted in a “control paradigm”: keeping the lid on conflicts (“liddism”) rather than preventing their emergence. The control paradigm still dominates, albeit in a slightly different form. Rather than a reliance on “boots on the ground” and troop “surges”, and the sustained use of air-power and precision-guided munitions, we are likely to witness a blurring of the roles between the military and agencies such as the CIA; an assumption of paramilitary roles by intelligence agencies; and a deployment of the military’s special forces in “taking out” threats whenever and wherever they arise.
In the context of an increasingly fragile and uncertain world, and of a situation where radical groups and individuals from marginalised communities are capable of probing the innate weaknesses of advanced industrial states, these measures are seriously misconceived in terms of finding solutions to the problems western states are facing. This new way of attempting to “control” global insecurity, exemplified in the reaction to Osama bin Laden’s death, may initially prove popular. But so, once, were the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is difficult to imagine that the newer type of “transnational” warfare will be any more successful than the failed policies of the last decade.
The report also calls upon U.S. and British officials to use the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 as an opportunity to reflect on the mistakes of the past decade via an in-depth, comprehensive assessment of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure, according to ORG, will allow the U.S. and its partners to learn from the evident failure of the War on Terror by paying more attention to the underlying causes of conflict, such as factors motivating young paramilitaries to take extreme action. | <urn:uuid:706679a4-edf3-4462-a082-32b5bece4a95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://personalliberty.com/2011/09/08/london-think-tank-describes-war-gone-badly-wrong-in-911-response-review-42646/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943924 | 667 | 1.703125 | 2 |
This article originally appeared in Developments, a newsletter
produced by the UMass Medical School/UMass Memorial Development Office.
Time is critical when someone is experiencing a stroke. To help save precious
time, UMass Memorial Medical Center is working with its community hospitals to
get treatment to stroke victims faster. The Telestroke Program gives four UMass
Memorial community hospitals-Clinton, HealthAlliance, Wing Memorial and Heywood
Hospital in Gardner-immediate access to Medical Center neurologists with
expertise in stroke care to assess and diagnose a stroke patient upon arrival at
an emergency room.
By combining the latest in video, networking and software technology,
neurologists examine and talk to a patient or family members as well as the
emergency room physician in real time through videoconferencing. The neurologist
can also view CT scans with the emergency medicine physician and work
collaboratively throughout the patient care process.
"Once a diagnosis is made, we can decide on the most effective treatment plan
to quickly lessen the symptoms and outcomes of the stroke," said Wiley Hall, MD,
assistant professor of neurology and surgery and Telestroke Program director.
"Our experts are examining patients via audio and video, eliminating the need to
spend precious time transferring them to the Medical Center." | <urn:uuid:4aed5686-6b64-40d4-b89a-1f25af5a7cf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.umassmemorial.org/support-groups-and-education/health-articles/stroke-care-anytime-anywhere | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934773 | 277 | 2 | 2 |
4kW Solar PV Array
Typically a 4kW array will consist of between 16 and 18 solar PV panels. The number of panels required depends on roof size, direction of the roof and shading from neighbouring building and trees. The panels can be mounted on a pitched roof, a flat roof or even on the ground.
You would expect a 4kW array to provide between 60% and 100% of a typical family home's electricity requirement.
Solar panels vary in size, from 1.3m to 1.65m tall by .8m to 1m wide. Allbrite offer solutions from UpSolar, Sanyo, Sharp and Kyocera.
Because we are certified MCS installers our installations are eligble for the government’s Feed In Tariff Scheme (FITS) meaning that you will be paid for every Kilowatt Hour (kWh) of electricity that your solar panels generate. Therefore, at the current rate of 43.3 pence per kWh generated, your 4kW PV solar panel system could earn you at least another £1720 each year, for 25 years. And, of course, by generating your own free electricity you are automatically safeguarding yourself from the impact of future rises in the cost of electricity.
Call us on 01352 757 557 for more information and a free no obligation survey, or fill our contact form and we will call you back. | <urn:uuid:300e0c4a-851f-45c1-91b8-c9ea288de760> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allbriteuk.co.uk/solar-photovoltaic/4kw-solar-pv-array | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919747 | 291 | 2.328125 | 2 |
These days, it is common knowledge that branding is an essential tool for building a successful, sustainable enterprise -- but what does that mean if your business is you? To answer this question, I scoured the land of independent-publishers-turned-savvy-branders to ask the best of the business to share their insights on what it takes to create and sustain their successful brands.
As many of you know, well-executed branding can ensure a consumer chooses your product over all others, though the others may be incredibly similar. The classic example of this is the powerful brand of Coke. People around the world choose Coke over other types of cola, which taste virtually the same due to one single differentiator: branding. Coke has perfected its brand over a century by ensuring its products stand for consistency and enjoyment while visually being equated to these feelings. The results of its successful branding can be seen today, where Coke is reportedly recognized by 94 percent of the world's population.
In the past few years we've seen the explosion of personal blogs. In fact, WordPress keeps a handy counter on its website that shares the number of WordPress sites in the world -- its count is up to 73 million. And that is just one -- albeit the largest -- platform. Many of these voices are clambering for the same audience and must look to branding as a key differentiator that will help them stand out in a crowd.
The challenge for most publishers is that the process of branding can feel uncomfortable because you're spending lot of time thinking about yourself rather than your audience. Most publishers I know would much rather think about their audiences' interests, their next blog posts, or how to improve their photography -- not what their personal brands mean. But most are motivated to overcome these fears of self-promotion once they understand the tremendous benefits of branding. Effective branding means readers will choose to follow a specific blog over all others and, to that blogger, this can mean lasting success.
But what does effective branding entail? I had in-depth conversations with some of the savviest publishers on the web, and here are some of the common themes I heard from them.
Figuring out how to start defining your brand can seem like a daunting task, but it's easier than you think. Just consider what you do well. What unique perspective do you bring to your writing that your audience comes back for again and again? The key here is to be authentic.
Joy Wilson of the highly successful food blog Joy the Baker described defining her brand as "an extension of who I am." She adds: "The written voice is my speaking voice. The visual design is the same aesthetic I'm drawn to on a daily basis. Being true to myself makes creating content feel fun and natural."
Spend as much time as you need here to nail what makes your blog you. Talk with friends and family and ask them to share what they think are your signature traits and then compare that to what you're passionate about -- even ask your audience! What resonates with all parties will emerge as your brand. Still need some inspiration? Check out the blogs you're frequently compared to and identify how you're different from them. Use these differences to help you define what your brand represents.
You've talked to family and friends. You've researched your competitors. Now what? It's time to ensure you're representing your brand in all aspects of your work, all the time. Which brings us to our next best practice -- be consistent.
John Shankman, publisher of The Awl, has garnered a loyal audience for his brand. His secret? Stay committed. "Building a publishing brand is about producing great media that entertains and informs," Shankman said. "It should come from an authentic voice that readers appreciate -- from there the brand naturally develops as you stay committed to that mantra."
Similarly, My Modern Metropolis, an online destination for art enthusiasts and trend spotters, has found that its beautiful visuals drive its readers back to the site. Co-founder Alice Yoo shared the importance of brand consistency. "It's important because people learn to trust and connect with you on a deeper level," Yoo said. "Visitors know that they can expect to see beautiful photography, clever design, and incredible art that will inspire them when they come to our site."
Your readers return to your site for a reason -- they expect high-quality content as conveyed through the lens of your brand. Give this to them, and you will continue to bring them back again and again. If your blog offers candid and humorous reviews of the latest devices, then stick with this -- veering off to suddenly provide reviews in a dry analytical way will just alienate your audience. Joy the Baker underscores this point: "If I jump around from topic to topic, and my tone changes with my mood, it'll be really confusing for the reader to understand what my brand's voice and perspective is." So bottom line, be consistent in your style and voice.
Now that you've identified your brand and consistently implement it in your written word, it's time to translate it into the visual design of your site. All brands strive to be as recognizable as Coke, but that took many years to develop with a lot of designers. Despite this, conveying your brand visually can be a simple gut check of whether your color palette and logo align with the adjectives used to describe your brand. How do the colors of the site make you feel? What does your logo or site font say about your brand?
The good news here is that no matter what, you make the final call on your site's look and feel because it should be authentic to you. Liz Stanley, publisher of the popular women's lifestyle blog Say Yes to Hoboken, said, "The biggest thing for me was staying authentic. My brand was me -- my life, my personality, my hobbies, my likes and dislikes. For the visual design, I worked with a designer to look at all those elements of my personal brand in order to try to create a visual representation of it for others."
The point of carefully tying your site's design with the meaning of your brand is to make it a reliable entity that your readers can count on. (And it doesn't hurt to seek outside design help if you can spare the expense!) The more you can convey what you stand for with just a color or a logo means your brand can reach more people and provide you with what we're all looking for -- fame! Then you can start prepping yourself for speaking opportunities, book deals, and the revenue that comes with it. Not bad, right?
If you've followed all of the steps I've outlined, then you are well on your way. But all this great work may go unnoticed if you're not building your audience along the way through proactive measures. Enter the fourth best practice: Be proactive.
All successful publishers know that the key to spreading your brand message is by proactively reminding your readers (and potential readers) to head to your site and check out your content. What better place to do this than with social media heavy hitters Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest? With sites like Facebook bringing more than 900 million users to its pages every month, the size of the audience you can potentially reach is enormous. And the best part is that these platforms are designed to make sharing content sticky -- so it's a no-brainer to take advantage of these powerful sites to spread your brand message.
Start out simple by sharing a quick one liner about the blog post you published via Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Then spend some time checking out blogs you love and pin content you love to your brand's Pinterest board. Turn these steps into a daily routine so your followers can count on your reminders to view your compelling content. Before you know, it your page views will increase due to the referral traffic you're driving from your social media channels.
The final step on your journey to making your publishing brand a household name is to think big. Be fearless in your pursuit of spreading your brand to the world. Have you ever thought about publishing a book? Speaking in front of audiences? Hosting a show on television? What are the dreams you have for yourself that you don't dare share with others? These dreams should become the goals for your brand because that is how all great things are accomplished. There are scores of publishers who have successfully bridged their publishing brands into all of these areas, and you can too by thinking big. No one ever learns to swim without getting in the water, right? So go ahead -- jump in!
My Modern Metropolis shared its "think big" goals for its brand, including custom mobile and iPad applications.
"We'd like to expand into different platforms," Yoo said. "We're launching My Modern Shop soon, where we'll be selling artwork and photographic prints from artists and photographers who've been featured on our site. By offering more functionality and a deeper experience, we'll be able to better group our followers and partnerships with items we curate."
Sit down and map out your dreams. Start with your ultimate goal and create smaller ones that build up to an end goal. Just the act of writing these down will motivate you to start accomplishing them. And remember: You are the only person who limits you from thinking big and going for it!
Reinforcing and fine-tuning your publishing brand can be an overwhelming feeling. It's like that nerve-wracking moment in a job interview when your possible future employer asks you to describe yourself using only three words, and your brain screams for mercy. However, in this case, you are your own employer, and there is no wrong answer as long as you stay true to who you are as a publisher. By using these practices as a blueprint for self-branding, you'll be amazed by what you can build.
Rosa Terrazas is director of publishers and communities at Federated Media Publishing.
On Twitter? Follow iMedia Connection at @iMediaTweet.
"A set of grunge stencil letters" image and "Revolution background" image via Shutterstock.
iMedia Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:7e74bc5f-9c47-4a7c-824d-20eb517ac7d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.imediaconnection.com/printpage/printpage.aspx?id=32026 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96012 | 2,081 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Think heart-healthy during the month of February
February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of Americans, but we can reduce the rate of heart disease through a healthy diet and lifestyle.
For the first time, the American Heart Association has defined what it means to have ideal cardiovascular health, identifying seven health and behavior factors that impact health and quality of life. We know that even simple, small changes can make a big difference in living a better life. Known as “Life’s Simple 7,” these steps can help add years to your life (see sidebar).
The American Heart Association has a new national goal:
By 2020, to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent.
If you have any technical difficulties, either with your username and password or with the payment options, please contact us by e-mail at email@example.com | <urn:uuid:fec96bdb-c6e2-4947-a72b-91f02ad1ee51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newtondailynews.com/2013/02/06/think-heart-healthy-during-the-month-of-february/aagl359/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944181 | 197 | 2.59375 | 3 |
The Black Ridge Trail—Colorado National Monument's highest trail—offers views in every direction along its 5.4-mile course. Look for the rugged, 14,000-foot peaks of the San Juan Mountains on the southern horizon. Grand Junction, the Grand Valley, and the Book Cliffs are ever-present to the east and north beyond the Monument’s steep-walled canyons. In late spring, the high desert gains new shades of green as native grasses come up between the piñon and juniper—blooming Indian paintbrush also add splashes of crimson to the brown-and-green landscape. Hike this scenic route north to south for a steady climb, or start at the southern end for a leisurely, 900-foot descent to the visitor center.
Mapped by Genny Wright, Jenn Fields, and Tim Shisler | <urn:uuid:cade4be1-878c-4c69-b21d-b48be4a183ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.backpacker.com/destinations/hikes/53315 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908652 | 179 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Lawmakers Finish Draft Universal Service Fund Reform
New legislation would allow the Universal Service Fund to be used for broadband deployment, expanding the USF from its traditional use as a fund to subsidize phone service in underserved and rural areas and Internet connections in schools and libraries.
Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., released Nov. 6 their
draft discussion bill for reforming the Universal Service Fund. The proposed
legislation would broaden the base of contributions into the USF and
controlling distributions from the fund and allow the use of the USF for
The USF currently subsidizes phone service in underserved and rural areas. Through the E-rate fund, the USF also subsidizes Internet connections in schools and libraries.
Boucher and Lee said the draft bill would also control costs by directing the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a competitive bidding process to determine which wireless carriers will receive USF support. Additionally, the measure caps the total amount of USF support and changes the calculation methodology for the nonrural, high-cost portion of the fund from geographic to wire center averaging.
The discussion draft also directs the FCC to establish and implement performance goals for each USF program and to determine the appropriate methodology for audits of USF recipients.
"The Universal Service Fund is broken. Consumers currently pay more than 12 percent of long-distance revenues into the fund, and that number will jump to more than 14 percent next year. Our discussion draft is a comprehensive and forward-looking measure, which will control the spiraling growth of the Universal Service Fund while ensuring that universal service support is available to the carriers which rely on it to provide service," Boucher, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and Lee said in a joint statement.
A legislative hearing on the draft discussion bill is scheduled for Nov. 17. | <urn:uuid:05bd5d2b-f242-4037-a501-10ea1c3b92be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Government-IT/Lawmakers-Finish-Draft-Universal-Service-Fund-Reform-357029/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939565 | 388 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid asserted Tuesday that the time had come for Israel to return to serious peace talks with the Palestinians, even if previous attempts to seal an agreement, most notably that of former prime minister Ehud Olmert, were too generous toward the Palestinians.
“Both parties understand that they have to go back to the Road Map,” Lapid told American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem – a reference to an outline laid out by president George W. Bush. “We have to jumpstart [the process]… People have to understand that we’re talking about the two-state solution.”
However, before a full Palestinian state can be established, he said, there first had to be an interim stage, during which the Palestinian Authority would be granted the status of “a semi-country within temporary borders.”
Lapid noted that he had “high hopes” for President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel.
He also said that despite the need for territorial compromise, the prospect of concessions “hurt” him.
“I mean, I look at these territories as part of Greater Israel, but I understand that this dream might be postponed for another 1,000 years,” Lapid said, “because the other option is having a country that is not Jewish. I want to live in a Jewish country and in order to live in a Jewish country, I have to somehow… I don’t want to say get rid of, but separate myself from the 3.3 million Palestinians we have right now between the [Mediterranean] Sea and the eastern border of Israel.”
Lapid maintained that Olmert — whose premiership marked the last time serious negotiations took place between Israel and the Palestinians — had been too generous on issues such as Jerusalem (which Olmert offered to divide) and the right of return claimed by millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants (where Olmert reportedly offered a symbolic return of a small number of Palestinian under the rubric of family reunification).
“I think the Olmert administration went too far, and I think they made the mistake of starting with issues that should be postponed — like Jerusalem; like the right of return,” he said.
“I’m against any kind of withdrawal from Jerusalem,” Lapid declared, drawing applause from the assembly at the annual Israel mission of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “Jerusalem is not only a place, it is also an idea. I mean, this is the founding ethos of this country, and countries do not give up parts of their ethos.”
Lapid’s statements came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud-Yisrael Beytenu faction is in the midst of negotiations with Yesh Atid in an effort to form a coalition, reiterated his support for a two-state solution to the conflict.
A likely senior partner of Netanyahu and Lapid in a future coalition, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, on Tuesday dismissed the possibility of any kind of Palestinian state alongside Israel.
“There is no room in our small but wonderful God-given tract for another state,” Bennett said in a Knesset speech that stressed Israel’s Jewish religious heritage as a cornerstone of its society. “It won’t happen. Friends, before every discussion on the territories, we need to declare: ‘The land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel.’ Only then can we start the debate.”
During his speech to the US Jewish leaders Tuesday, Lapid touched upon another hot-button topic, pledging to fight the Chief Rabbinate’s control over life-cycle events in Israel. He also promised to use his political power as the head of the Knesset’s second-largest party to battle for the recognition of all major streams of Judaism in Israel.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure equality for all movements of Judaism in Israel — Orthodox, Conservative and Reform — in conversions, in budgets, in the eyes of the law,” Lapid said. “No one can claim ownership over the Jewish God. Small, old petty politics cannot determine something as eternal as Jewish identity.”
Lapid, who is destined to become a senior minister if he joins the next government, also pledged to do his utmost to introduce civil marriages in Israel. Currently, Israelis can only get married through the Chief Rabbinate, which is dominated by ultra-Orthodox clergymen who do not recognize non-Orthodox Jewish movements.
“The complete dominance of the Orthodox rabbis over divorce and marriage is an insult to every free man,” Lapid said. “This is just wrong and it therefore has to disappear.”
The freshman legislator told the visiting Jewish leaders that many Diaspora Jews often felt that Israelis didn’t appreciate that they had “saved” the Jewish people from assimilation over the centuries. “So I want to use this opportunity to thank you for this, on behalf of myself and especially on behalf of my children,” Lapid said.
Bennett, the Jewish Home party leader, also addressed the conference, praising America’s Jewish community for its religious tolerance.
“We’ve got a lot to learn in Israel from you guys about accepting many colors and many different flavors, and not judging people by the size of their kippah. Here in Israel, we’re a bit too tribal, and that’s one of the things we want to solve,” said Bennett, whose parents immigrated to Israel from San Francisco. “The prime minister of Israel, in my opinion, should have two hats: one as the prime minister of the Israeli citizens and the second as the leader of all the Jews in the world.” | <urn:uuid:80d297e7-3a93-4912-a82c-91c5d6b9518c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesofisrael.com/lapid-calls-for-peace-talks-bashes-olmert/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966141 | 1,243 | 1.789063 | 2 |
Apr 27, 2008
My partner and I have been together for 12 years. Recently, my partner tested positive, and I negative. My question is why has he been infected and I have not shown positive? Looking back, he may have been infected for a few years ago when we had outside sex partners. I am going to re-confirm my status with blood work. But, I'm so afraid for our future, and what more news we can bare. Can you put some light of everything that has happened?
| Response from Dr. DeJesus
Thanks for posting your question. If your HIV test indeed continues to be negative, you and your partner will become what we call a "discordant couple," meaning that one is positive and the other is negative.
Discordant couples are not rare, although many may have engaged in unprotected sex for months or even years. There are many factors that can influence this. HIV is not 100% transmissible with every sexual contact. For some discordant couples infection may take only one unsafe exposure, for others a few, and for others many unsafe exposures. This is because HIV transmission may be influenced by the amount of virus present in the positive partner at the time of the sexual contact, the type of sexual exposure that took place, time of exposure, fluid exchange, the presence of other STDs (such as herpes), the status of the negative partner's immune system, and believe or not, even circumcision on the negative partner for some specific contacts; among many other factors.
In addition, albeit rarely, a few people are able to resist becoming HIV infected, or their immune system may make it very difficult for them to get infected, because of their own immune system mechanisms (which I am not going to discuss.) Again, this is a very rare event, and it is unlikely that this will be your case. So, if you are negative indeed, do not assume that you are part of that group and avoid exposing yourself.
The fact that you have not become infected yet, despite repeated unsafe exposures, does not mean that it will not happen tomorrow. You can still enjoy safe sexual encounters with your partner by using condoms, and maybe he could consider starting HIV medications to further lower his viral load, and thus the chances that transmission to you will occur during intimacy.
By the way, HIV is a very controllable disease these days, and although you are better off remaining HIV negative, there are plenty of new treatment options for your partner. Good luck to both of you!
Get Email Notifications When This Forum Updates or Subscribe With RSS
This forum is designed for educational purposes only, and experts are not rendering medical, mental health, legal or other professional advice or services. If you have or suspect you may have a medical, mental health, legal or other problem that requires advice, consult your own caregiver, attorney or other qualified professional.
Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material. | <urn:uuid:beac51dd-710a-4daf-b810-8887f6f58c0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Meds/Q192513.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966808 | 635 | 1.9375 | 2 |
The web site e21 (Economic Policies for the 21st Century) has collected a number of questions from several sources which tomorrow night’s moderator, Jim Lehrer, should ask the candidates. They really are very good. Here are a few samples.
On Social Security: For the past two years Social Security’s payroll tax has been reduced and the program given over $200 billion in subsidies from the general government fund to compensate for the uncollected taxes. This policy ended decades of bipartisan commitment to FDR’s original vision that Social Security would be a self-financing system of earned benefits, supported entirely by separate payroll taxes paid by workers. Explain why you supported or opposed turning Social Security into a general-fund-subsidized system. Do you think that Social Security benefits will retain their historical political support now that they substantially exceed what today’s workers and beneficiaries have paid for?
In order to expand its regulatory powers, the EPA has declared that carbon dioxide is poisonous. People produce carbon dioxide when they breathe out, and plants require carbon dioxide to grow. If the EPA ruling is enforced, it will cost thousands, maybe millions of jobs. Do you think carbon dioxide is poisonous? How will you enforce or modify the EPA ruling?
Do you believe the federal government has too much or too little control over American families and communities? If you think it is too much what one or two major reforms would you advocate that might change that balance?
James C. Capretta:
Mr. President, you held a fiscal responsibility summit in February 2009 during which you pledged that your administration would make the tough choices and yet, during your term, the fiscal outlook has deteriorated rapidly. The Congressional Budget Office now projects that U.S. debt will reach 90 percent of GDP under your policies. Why didn’t your administration tackle these tough issues, especially during the two-years when your party had sizeable majorities in Congress?
After previous deep recessions, the economy and labor market had strong recoveries. Why is growth so meager and unemployment so high this time?
What makes economies grow and incomes rise? And where do government spending and taxes fit in your view?
The questions are generally at a high level, and focus on the issues that badly need to be debated. Let’s hope we get more questions along these lines, and fewer like “Why don’t you stop making war on women?” | <urn:uuid:a72aff5f-66b2-4471-a244-c534f6ae4a24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/10/questions-you-wont-hear-tomorrow-night.php?tsize=small&tsize=large&tsize=small | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961112 | 499 | 1.570313 | 2 |
“Tribes in Tradition” Photo Exhibition and Dance Event Opened by the Director-General
11 July 2011
The Director-General opened the “Tribes in Transition” photographic exhibition and dance by the Yellow Bird Apache Dancers, organized by the Permanent Mission of the United States of America on the occasion of the 4th Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Director-General highlighted the history of exclusion affecting many indigenous peoples and called on the international community to move forward on the path of human rights, justice and development to ensure that the equal worth and dignity of indigenous peoples were recognized.
To view the remarks of the Director-General, please click here. | <urn:uuid:55fe0403-3c9b-4ebc-98be-d132f3b8d12e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://unog.ch/80256EE600583A0B/(httpActivities)/FD693E7377AE99A6C12578CB002BF3F4?OpenDocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94028 | 140 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Frequently Asked Questions.
1. Why is TxDOT considering replacing Harbor Bridge?
Answer: TxDOT has determined that US 181 and the Harbor Bridge must be improved to maintain a safe and efficient transportation corridor. The existing bridge has safety issues associated with the lack of shoulders, steep grade, a reverse curve, and an accident rate that is higher than the statewide average. The Harbor Bridge also has high maintenance costs and provides no acceptable access for those on foot or on bicycles. Furthermore, the bridge’s 138 feet of navigational clearance, which met World War II standards when it was built, make it difficult for the Port of Corpus Christi to compete with other Gulf Coast deep water ports because of larger ship sizes today.
A new bridge would allow TxDOT to improve safety, thereby reducing accident rates; provide better opportunities for moving people and goods (including military equipment and Port assets) throughout the region; provide adequate capacity to meet future traffic demand; and provide greater economic development opportunities for the Port of Corpus Christi.
2. How will TxDOT decide whether or not to replace Harbor Bridge?
Answer: Before it can make any decision about the Harbor Bridge, TxDOT must complete a series of project activities to ensure that all aspects of a possible new bridge have been considered. In the summer of 2003, TxDOT completed a Feasibility Study, which evaluated four alternative corridors (including the existing one) where a replacement of the Harbor Bridge might be located. The “no-build” option-leaving the bridge as it is now—was also examined. Now TxDOT is working on two other key activities—preparing the environmental documentation that is required before any new bridge could be built—and the schematic design—developing the preliminary engineering designs for a new bridge, associated approaches, and tie-ins to existing roadways. The results of the environmental study and schematic design, including a considerable amount of public input, will enable TxDOT to decide on a bridge replacement.
3. What is an Environmental Impact Statement?
Answer: An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is a document required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for large projects that use federal funds. It provides a detailed analysis of the probable environmental consequences of the preferred alternative(s) for a project. The EIS also considers the environmental consequences of the no-build alternative. Public input is considered throughout the EIS development process. The EIS must be reviewed by various state and federal regulatory agencies, and must ultimately be approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Highway Administration.
4. When will the EIS be ready for the public to review?
Answer: A draft EIS will be ready for public comment sometime in 2013. A more detailed project timeline can be found on this website.
5. When might a new bridge be in place?
Answer: Many factors affect the timing of a possible bridge replacement. The purpose of the current environmental documentation phase is to come up with a recommendation regarding the proposed alternatives (including the “no-build”) and to obtain environmental clearance to proceed. Once TxDOT has received environmental clearance for the project (anticipated to be sometime in 2015), the timing for bridge construction will depend on the availability of funding.
6. Why will it take so long to replace Harbor Bridge?
Answer: The process of planning and building a project of this size takes many years (see project timeline). TxDOT completed a feasibility study in 2003 and is now compiling the environmental documentation and preparing the schematic design for a possible bridge replacement. During these stages of the project, public input is sought and considered. If the project is given the go-ahead, the right-of-way must be obtained, the detailed design developed, and the bridge constructed. Throughout the entire process, various state and federal agencies must review and approve the environmental documentation and the proposed plans. Furthermore, TxDOT must obtain the funding to build a bridge, if that is the selected alternative.
7. How much will a new bridge cost to build?
Answer: At this point, TxDOT estimates that it may cost about $500-600 million to build a new bridge and the associated approaches and tie-ins, should the final decision be made to replace Harbor Bridge.
8. What would a new bridge look like?
Answer: Harbor Bridge is currently a steel truss-style bridge over a highly corrosive saltwater environment. It is still too early in the process to determine the look of a new bridge. Local citizens will have a chance to offer ideas about the design of a new bridge during a Design Guideline Workshop to be held in 2013. At that time, the bridge architects and planners will present some possible bridge design ideas and will seek ideas from the public.
9. Will I be able to walk or bicycle across a new bridge?
Answer: Currently the existing Harbor Bridge does not provide any bicycle lanes and the sidewalk is closed to the public; however, the City of Corpus Christi and Nueces County have identified Harbor Bridge as a desired link in their recently adopted Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans.
The plan is for any new bridge to provide access for pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as motor vehicles.
10. Where would a new bridge cross the Corpus Christi Ship Channel?
Answer: The location has not yet been determined. The Feasibility Study completed in 2003 identified four possible corridors and identified one of those as a preferred alternative. However, the Federal Highway Administration has asked TxDOT to look at several of these alternatives (including the no-build) during the environmental documentation/schematic design phase of the project.
11. How would a new bridge tie into the existing road system in Corpus Christi?
Answer: The schematic design currently being developed will evaluate various options for connecting a new Harbor Bridge and its approaches to the Crosstown Expressway (SH 286). Public input on access ramps and approaches is being considered throughout this process.
12. How will a new bridge affect neighborhoods near the old bridge?
Answer: During the environmental documentation process, TxDOT will be considering the impact of any new structure on the nearby neighborhood homes and businesses. These impacts will be described in the EIS. Comments from the public about potential neighborhood impacts are important input.
13. How can I participate in the Harbor Bridge project?
Answer: Public involvement is a key element of the Harbor Bridge project. You can participate in the project in a number of ways. At the project’s public meetings and hearing, you can learn more about the project and provide comments. You can attend meetings of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC) or Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which hold regular informal meetings with TxDOT to exchange information. You should also continue to monitor this project website for new developments.
14. What is the Citizens’ Advisory Committee?
Answer: The Harbor Bridge Citizens’ Advisory Committee (CAC) is an advisory group composed of people within the community who represent a broad range of views, backgrounds, and interests. The committee serves in an advisory role to the Harbor Bridge project team and acts as a valuable link between TxDOT and the community throughout the EIS and schematic (preliminary engineering design) for this project.
15. How can I become a Citizens’ Advisory Committee member?
Answer: Individuals may nominate themselves for membership or be nominated by others. TxDot makes the final decision on membership based on the criteria described below.
Criteria considered by TxDOT for CAC membership include:
- Broad representation of stakeholder interests
- Geographical representation within the project area
- Demonstrated interest in the Harbor Bridge project
- Willingness to make time commitment needed for CAC participation.
Contact the TxDOT project manager (Victor Vourcos at 361-808-2378 or Victor.Vourcos@txdot.gov) for more information.
16. Will the Harbor Bridge project include tolled lanes/managed lanes as was planned in 2007?
Answer: TxDOT has determined that the improvements to US 181 and SH 286 that are part of the replacement of the Harbor Bridge will not include tolled lanes as was planned in 2007 because the project limits have been shortened.
17. What is SAFETEA-LU?
Answer: SAFETEA-LU stands for the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users that is the Transportation funding bill passed by Congress on August 10, 2005. | <urn:uuid:c26852d0-8e56-4ad8-915f-6b230f49e115> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ccharborbridgeproject.com/questions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937193 | 1,788 | 2.046875 | 2 |
|« Bank of America Phishing email (no subject)||How to Pull a Bumper Cover Back into Place »|
How to Clean Just About Anything
A bit of analysis can be applied to cleaning. Most people probably consider these things without even thinking about it.
- Do you want it spotless or just better? You can allow yourself to make it better. That means cleaning it to get rid of the bulk of the problem, either visually or from a fire/safety perspective.
- Is a food storage, preparation or consumption area? If so, don’t use anything harmful to clean it, do a really good job, and it would be good if it smells nice when you’re done. Simple Green is a good choice.
- Will it get hot? If so, clean it when it isn’t hot. If it’s electrical, unplug it and avoid getting it very wet. Don’t use any product that is not supposed to be heated, or anything flammable.
- Will it get wet? You might just want to soak it in a bucket of water or vinegar and then knock off the crud with a brush or scouring pad.
- What’s the worst thing that will happen if you don’t do it or do a bad job? If the answer is nothing, you don’t need to be too fussy.
- Is it yours? After all, if it is yours, you can do whatever you want. If it belongs to someone else, clean it so it looks like it did when you received it.
- What is it dirty with - routine crud or a specific splatter? IF it is routine crud, is there a way to keep it cleaner? Is the crud overspray from something else, or someone careless? If it is a spill - can the spill be avoided in the future?
- Will it be in the same state of ick in 2 weeks? If so, there’s no point in cleaning it carefully. A good example is a toilet - as soon as you finish, it will be used again.
- Why is it dirty? This is another prevention opportunity. If it would be cleaner if something was done differently, consider changing habits.
- Water is known as the universal solvent. Hot water is even better. Add a little soap or dish liquid. Let it soak over night and then you can just knock the crud off in the morning.
- Picking one small task at a time is much easier than cleaning a whole room at once. If you have five minutes, you can wipe the refrigerator door, sweep the floor or pick up a few toys and put them back where they belong.
- Don’t try to clean when other people are around. Pick times when everyone else is asleep or away to wash the kitchen floor.
- Rubber gloves make even the most disgusting chore more bearable. They’re cheap. Buy some.
- To clean up poop on the carpet, tear a paper plate in half or use two pieces of cardboard. Push the poop with one piece into the other and dump it in the toilet. The carpet cleaning may be very limited, or you might need Simple Solution, or a carpet cleaner or Simple Green.
- It may be more work than it is worth to get kids to help. They’ll have to figure out how to clean when they’re grown up anyway - if it’s quicker to just do it yourself, do it.
- Avoid harsh chemicals
- Avoid confined spaces, open a window or door if possible.
- Rags are good, throw them in the washer when you’re done and you can use them again.
- Fancy stuff that will be thrown out isn’t worth it. The Swiffer may be easy to use, but you could also just dampen a bath towel and push it around the floor with your foot. Or use a sponge mop or string mop. | <urn:uuid:6f8218ee-141b-43f5-98c1-46a5e3f43538> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.wirehopper.com/2011/12/17/how-to-clean-just-about | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922501 | 837 | 2.25 | 2 |
Carol service lights up the lantern of the north
20 December 2006
Historic Scotland is inviting the public to experience a festive atmosphere like no other in one of Scotland’s most magnificent and awe-inspiring places.
On 23 December, Elgin Cathedral (affectionately known as the ‘Lantern of the North) will be brought alive by the beautiful sounds of local church choirs and the Moray Concert Brass as they perform a repertoire of classic Christmas carols.
The striking sandstone ruin will be lit up especially for the evening (the two towers at the front and the centre aisle), and guests will be able to enjoy the music as it drifts up into the winter night sky.
Brian Ford, District Visitor Services Manager at Historic Scotland said: "Elgin Cathedral is a breathtaking sight to behold at all times of the year but the Christmas Carol Service will really add to the magic.
There is no need to book, visitors can just turn up on the day, as long as they make sure they wrap up warm and bring their own seating if needed. The choirs and musicians involved are all immensely talented and we are thoroughly looking forward to welcoming them to the Cathedral."
Elgin Cathedral is one of Scotland’s most beautiful medieval buildings and the inspiration for many an artist. The Cathedral was built during the 13th century and was the ecclesiastical centre of the diocese of Moray. However the Reformation of 1560 effectively left the Cathedral redundant. The proud boast by one of its former bishops that his cathedral was ‘the ornament of the realm, the glory of the kingdom’ is certainly borne out by a visit to this beautiful ruin.
The Elgin Cathedral Christmas Carol Service takes place on Saturday 23 December at 6.15pm and is a free event. The service should last around 45 minutes. All are welcome.
Please wear warm clothing and bring along seating if required. There are limited spaces, so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. For further information about the service, please contact the Cathedral on 01343 547171.
Notes for editors
- Elgin Cathedral is in Elgin on the A96. Admission: Adult £4.00, Children £1.60, Concessions £3.00. The Christmas Carol Service is free to all.
- One of Scotland’s most beautiful medieval buildings, Elgin Cathedral is a magnificent ruin, much of which dates back to the 13th century. Its many outstanding architectural features include the country’s finest octagonal chapter house.
- Elgin Cathedral is just one of 345 outstanding historic properties and sites in the care of Historic Scotland. These include some of the leading tourism attractions in the country, including Edinburgh, Stirling, and Urquhart Castles, Fort George, Linlithgow Palace, the Border Abbeys, and Skara Brae. | <urn:uuid:e78c7b87-1b98-4971-975d-eb946e530e22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/largertext/news_article?articleid=17506 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955843 | 591 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has alerted Congress that the nation will once again hit the debt ceiling on Monday, but that his department can take “extraordinary measures” to keep paying the bills for another few months.
Incredibly, the debt ceiling was raised from $14.294 trillion in August 2011, to its current level of $16.394 trillion. Thus in the span of only sixteen months, the Obama administration has added a whopping $2.1 trillion to the national debt. [Source]
The entire hullabaloo about the "Fiscal Cliff" is a politico- and media-manufactured diversion.
The real discussion we need to have -- but won't -- concerns the "Fiscal Abyss" (in the words of former Comptroller General David Walker) facing our nation.
Raising taxes is like putting a Band-Aid on a severed femoral artery.
DON'T RAISE THE DEBT CEILINGI've thought long and hard about this issue -- and have arrived at what is probably a controversial opinion: Republicans should refuse to raise the debt ceiling without huge spending cuts and entitlement reforms.
Here's a news flash: President Obama wants the country to default. He has layered on so much debt, so fast, that the U.S. simply can't honor its obligations.
And the administration's cascade of regulations (like "Boiler MACT") are explicitly designed to prevent the economy from growing fast enough to help make up the difference.
DEFAULT NOW -- OR DEFAULT LATER?The real question we should be asking is whether a default now is preferential to a default later.
I believe a default now is by far the best solution for the vast majority of Americans: when the default occurs, it will shock the financial system, rattle markets around the world, and -- in all likelihood -- herald the onset of another Great Depression.
A default several years down the road, however, will be far worse for America:
• The crash will be much larger, and much more catastrophic for the citizenry -- and it will hit seniors and the poor much harder;
• America's manufacturing sector will be less able to recover than it is today, having been downsized by this administration's regulatory onslaught;
• And America's citizens will be even less self-reliant, whether it comes to EBT cards, firearms, family-owned farms, and every other measure of independence;
• The military will be weaker, having been gutted by years of Obama's efforts to defund national defense;
The real question we must ask is this: do we want the economy to crash on Obama's timing -- or ours?
THE NEXT DEBT-CEILING DEBATEI believe that the House of Representatives should refuse to raise the debt ceiling without immediate and immense cuts and entitlement reforms. Barring, say, a $900 billion reduction in annual spending (removing the Stimulus from the baseline budget, for example), the House should refuse to raise the debt ceiling.
Let the country default.
It is provably better to default now than later.
We know that President Obama wants the country to default. That much is clear with the accompanying chart, which comes to us directly from the White House. He just doesn't want the default to happen quite so soon, before he's had a chance to -- in his words -- "fundamentally transform" America.
So let's default now, before things get immeasurably worse. | <urn:uuid:22957697-acb1-412f-b84e-759f6dfc7a7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.directorblue.blogspot.com/2012/12/should-us-default-now-or-later-only.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940747 | 719 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Since November 2004, Microsoft has been working with the
National Health Service (NHS) in England to help improve patient safety through
the NHS Common
User Interface (CUI) Programme. As part of this, through extensive
research with healthcare and I.T. professionals, Microsoft
has been creating user interface Design Guidance and supporting Toolkit controls,
with the intention of providing a common look and feel for NHS systems.
In June 2007, Microsoft launched the Microsoft Health Common User Interface Website.
This provides a mechanism for publicly releasing the Design Guidance and Toolkit
controls with the intention to:
Since then, Microsoft Health CUI has provided regular releases of the Design Guidance
and Toolkit controls in a format suitable for public use. As part of future envisioning,
Microsoft Health CUI has published
demonstrators to explore how emerging and established technologies could
be used for healthcare applications.
To date, Microsoft has worked with numerous Independent Software Vendors, helping
them to develop safer and consistent user interfaces, which successfully incorporate
the needs of the healthcare industry.
Patient safety is a top priority within the global healthcare industry and is paramount
to all design and development of Microsoft Health CUI Design Guidance and Toolkit
controls. This is assured through the use of a set of Patient Safety Principles,
which are also of importance to organizations, such as the
World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).
Microsoft Health CUI is committed to helping healthcare providers improve patient
safety and increase clinical productivity. This is achieved through a program
of user research that includes a variety of structured activities involving clinicians,
patient safety experts, and other potential end-users.
"The Microsoft Health CUI is a key building block to increasing application
time-to-market, clinician productivity and increasing patient safety across the
Roger Killen, Managing Director - The Learning Clinic
The following are examples of how clinical and software providers are involved in
the Microsoft Health CUI research activities:
If you are a healthcare professional and would like to be involved in Microsoft
Health CUI research activities, please visit
NHS Connecting for Health - Events Online.
Where applicable at feature level, the Microsoft Health CUI Design Guidance and supporting Toolkit controls adhere to the guidelines defined by the following leading authorities in patient safety:
An effective, rigorous and iterative design and development process is used to create
the Microsoft Health CUI Design Guidance and supporting Toolkit controls, involving
patient safety risk assessments with a wide range of clinical and healthcare professionals
throughout the process. The Delivery
Lifecycle provides you with further insight into the activities that make
up this process.
The development of the Microsoft Health CUI Design Guidance and Toolkit controls
is an ongoing and iterative process that is devised to constantly improve patient
safety. As such, regular updates to these will be made available through the Microsoft
Health CUI Website.
For all future releases, the controls will be developed in
Windows® Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Microsoft® Silverlight™.
These will be designed to integrate seamlessly with ASP.NET and WinForms, therefore
ensuring that existing controls do not become obsolete. The
Technology Roadmap provides a breakdown of the versions of the controls that are available
now and in the future. | <urn:uuid:639b9b00-02f8-438c-9dc7-052a6da5a285> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mscui.net/Introduction/PatientSafety.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913613 | 701 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Turns out Perez Hilton’s Twitter account can be used for good. Last August, the celebrity blogger alerted his more than 4 million followers to a YouTube video posted by Jonah Mowry, in which the tearful 14-year-old talks about being bullied for being gay since first grade.
This weekend, Hilton tweeted a link to a follow-up video that suggests that for at least one bullied teen, having your story go viral is the best anti-bullying message there is. “The Internet can often times be a big bad thing. But, in times like this, it can be quite beautiful!” Mr. Hilton wrote on his blog.
In the original video, Jonah shared the painful slurs he endured, as well as how he responded - by cutting himself and considering suicide. It did, however, end on a hopeful note. “I’m not going anywhere, because I’m stronger than that,” he said. “I have a million reasons to be here.”
He can add 3 million more reasons, which is the number of times the video has been viewed on YouTube, inspiring a Facebook tribute page and supportive tweets from Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga.
The difference four months can make is apparent in the new video, posted on Dec. 4. In it, Jonah is relaxed, chewing gum and with a friend at his side. “To the people who think nobody likes me… Everyone in my school loves me,” he says.
“He is so touched by all the love being sent his way,” Mr. Hilton blogged.
Are you inspired by this happy ending? Is it a sign of change - and the influence of anti-bullying messages from Rick Mercer and the like? | <urn:uuid:fd25be8f-3eb5-4753-84a5-64a0ea53de56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/it-did-get-better---and-went-viral---for-this-bullied-teen/article619791/?service=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969819 | 367 | 1.5 | 2 |
On PHPRiot.com there's a new tutorial showing you how to use the Douglas-Peucker algorithm to make the pathing on your map the simplest possible (the fewer points the better) having serious benefits a wide range of users, most notably those on mobile devices.
When drawing a path on a map (for instance, the directions from point A to point B) it is important to consider the limitations of the device you're drawing the path on. In this article, I will show you how to reduce the number of points in a path so the path can be displayed with minimal loss of quality on devices such as iPhone or Android-powered devices that may struggle with an extremely large set of points.
Using the GTFS service's data, he's been creating maps for an iPhone application. Naturally, a path with 700 points would take a lot of resources to render. Using the Douglas-Peucker algorithm he can reduce it down to a much more manageable 70 points. He explains the algorithm briefly and hows how to implement it in PHP with three classes - ShapePoint, Shape and ShapeReducer. The resulting reduced dataset is then passed directly over to a Google Maps for plotting. | <urn:uuid:86f15349-487e-4f61-b78a-d9ebe06cdae5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://phpdeveloper.org/tag/reduce | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929726 | 242 | 2.625 | 3 |
You can purchase from this page directly by clicking the 'Purchase' link below.
If you haven't previously registered, you will be taken through a registration process as part of the purchase procedure.
Reports are provided electronically as pdf files. We attempt to email full report pdf files to your registered e-mail address.
Global enterprise-wide online access for a period of one year from date of purchase is also available.
Please contact us using the sales link found to the right on this page for additional information on this option, or if you would prefer not to purchase online.
Published: November 2012
Over 30 major (large-volume) family types of plastic are produced commercially today. The two major groups are thermoset plastics (which cannot be recycled) and thermoplastic polymers (which can be recycled). A smaller, but growing, category includes those derived from biomass. Most of the products from this category are derivatives of cellulose or modified starch. Recently, two new families of plastics derived from corn, polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) have been developed and are being used to replace hydrocarbon-derived thermoplastics in a variety of applications.
This report covers the following thermoplastic families:
- Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a polyester resin
- Polyethylene (HDPE, LDPE, HP-LDPE, LLDPE)
- Polypropylene (PP)
- Polystyrene (PS); expandable polystryene (EPS) is the primary polystyrene recycled
- Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
The increasing global substitution of plastics for other types of materials will keep plastic waste in the public spotlight for many years. The unrelenting introduction of new plastic packaging materials with unique compositions tailored to provide superior performance characteristics for specific applications will contribute to the increasing technical complexity of plastics recycling. The continued use of new materials, mixtures of materials and a diversity of container shapes will create new challenges for mechanical recyclers, making it more difficult and expensive for collectors and processors to match their output to available markets while creating new markets.
Commodity thermoplastic resins are unique among commonly used materials in their ability to be recovered and recycled. In this report, recycling is defined as including mechanical (physical) recovery, chemical (depolymerization to monomer) recovery, thermal (pyrolysis to basic feedstocks) recovery and incineration with energy recovery. Although the chemical and pyrolysis processes have the potential to be very attractive recovery routes that eliminate many of the technical and quality limitations encountered with mechanically recycled plastic resins, they are not being used extensively globally. However, the cumulative effect of plastics recycling on the global consumption of thermoplastic resins has been negligible in terms of virgin resin displacement. Part of this is due to new markets being developed for recycled materials. It will take wider institution of recycling technologies that essentially produce "virgin" resin (e.g., chemical depolymerization) before virgin resin displacement occurs.
Energy recovery and recycling are complementary. Communities with waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities typically extract recyclable materials such as plastics, paper and glass before sending nonrecyclable wastes to the WTE facility. Studies in the United States, Canada and Europe have shown that communities with WTE facilities often have a higher total diversion rate from landfills and a correspondingly higher mechanical recycling rate. Single-stream recycling, whereby plastics and other post-use materials are commingled, then collected and sorted by a materials recovery facility, allows communities to collect more materials for recycling and energy recovery diversion options based upon local needs. Each energy recovery facility employs 50–60 full-time employees, while improving energy security and protecting the environment.
Postconsumer PET is the most recycled plastic globally, with a developed recovery infrastructure in developed nations. Postconsumer HDPE is the second-most-recycled plastic in the world. Combined, recycled PET and HDPE account for nearly 99% of the global bottle recycling capacity, and nearly 70% of total postconsumer plastics recycling.
China currently produces 85% of the world's recycled PET fiber. Chinese capacity to convert rPET to polyester fiber more than tripled from 2002 to 2007. China is the final destination of 70% of the world's plastic waste. China is estimated to have recycled 8 million metric tons of domestic plastic waste in 2007. Despite this massive figure, very little information is available on plastics recycling in China. China put a ban on imported postconsumer plastic bag and film waste in 2007.
Globally, the plastics recycling business is still largely regionalized and located primarily within centers of high population density for feedstock acquisition. Achieving a balance between supply and demand for recycled plastics is critical to the longer-term viability of regional collection programs. High transportation costs for low-bulk-density plastic material dictates the economic boundaries of feedstock acquisition. Local/regional granulation facilities have been evaluated as a way to offset the high freight costs of baled plastics.
Collection of plastic recyclables will continue to be one of the most important challenges facing the global plastics industry. The passage of new legislation dealing with the recovery and reuse of plastic waste has slowed. To strengthen the collection infrastructure, additional legislation may be needed to provide more consumers with an economic incentive to recycle. | <urn:uuid:85186c9a-2417-41e4-a308-2608dd511b46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ihs.com/products/chemical/planning/ceh/plastics-recycling.aspx?pu=1&rd=chemihs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928716 | 1,110 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Matt Cashore/USA Today Sports
KENT -- In a world wherever everything else has gone online, why not first dates on Facebook?
"If you see someone that you are interested in, or want to talk to, you add them as a friend, you can message them, or write on their wall, and if they think that you're worth talking to, they'll talk to you back," said Kent State University sophomore Anthony Tavella.
Kent State students say they know what others are learning through the Manti Te'o scandal: dating someone you've never met, and maybe never will, is more and more common.
"I didn't really know of anyone that would meet, because sometimes girls would find hot guys that lived in California or something and just talk to them, on Facebook and text and stuff, it was just cool," said Natalie Krebs, also a student at Kent.
In high school, Krebs says, "it's for status, it's for fun. It's not something that's...because you're actually trying to be with somebody."
When something seems fishy, it could be. Catfish, the term for someone who uses digital trickery to disguise who they really are, has spawned its own MTV show.
"We can fall victim to these hoaxes very easily. It is so simple for someone to pretend they are someone they're not online," said Kent State Professor Stefanie Moore.
Moore teaches her students to be skeptical online and when using social media. She says it can be easy for you, too, to spot the red flags.
If you're using Facebook, look to see how many friends a person has, or how complete their profile appears. Catfish typically won't be posted in pictures with friends and others.
On Twitter, followers and interaction can be a good indication of a legitimate profile. Read someone's tweets to see if they respond to others or simply send out messages.
On many dating sites, you can use a reverse image search to see where that photo your new online interest emailed you really came from. Two resources Moore recommends are Google's Inside Search, found here, or Tineye.com.
"If you see multiple sources of the same picture, it might tip you off to maybe this person isn't real," she said.
If online searches fail, do your homework says Moore. Pick up the phone and call. Or following Deadspin's lead, look for birth or school records.
While being duped can be embarrassing, it's a lesson to us all to be cautious online and in love.
"You can't love someone if you don't see them and know who they are in person," said Tavella. | <urn:uuid:a290e8e4-1e69-41ce-8beb-aecbae5664d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wkyc.com/news/watercooler/article/278601/91/Kent-Teo-not-the-only-one-caught-by-catfish | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975679 | 559 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Nostalgia for the Light has been one of the most talked about documentaries at the San Francisco International Film Festival. It pairs some very unlikely subjects. After all, what do Chilean astronomers, archeologists studying human remains, and women, searching the desert for the bodies of loved ones killed concentration camps, have in common on the surface? Nothing it seems. But Patricio Guzmán’s poetic film makes a human connection between them all in an incredibly moving way.
The setting is the Atacama Desert in South America. It’s covers over 40,000 square miles, lies at an elevation around 7,000 feet above sea level, and is widely recognized as the driest place on the planet. The altitude, the dry area, the elevation, and the non-existent cloud cover make it a perfect place to study the sky. Guzmán spends the opening of the film discussing his childhood interest in astronomy, and interviewing the scientists that spend so much time looking into the sky.
Guzmán’s enthusiasm is obvious, and his narration is both informative and passionate, and brilliantly scripted. It’s clear that he has something else in mind with this documentary from the images he shows frequently. Images of nebuli, constellations and other galaxies (images captured by the astronomical observatories in the Atacama) are abundant, but they lack explanation through narration, or other means. They are beautiful, but they are not the point.
The desert also hides many of Chile’s secrets and history. Ancient burials site of pre-Columbian people are plentiful, and remarkably preserved. Because there is no humidity, plants, animals or water, and the fact the ground is so salty, bodies are mummified without effort. Burial clothes are also often preserved, exhibiting remarkably brilliant color for being thousands of years old.
During Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, thousands of nationals were arrested and incarcerated as political prisoners. Atacama served as the perfect place to have a concentration camp. Pre-existing, abandoned houses of the once booming mining industry served perfectly as the foundation. All the military had to do was to add barbed wire. After being executed, many of these prisoners were buried in mass graves in the Atacama.
Mass graves were moved by digging the bodies up with machines sometimes, so human bone fragments literally litter the surface of the ground. Groups of surviving family members mostly women still brought to tears by discussing the events of the past, still comb the desert, hoping to find the bodies of those passed. They hope to finally put them to rest, and get the closure they’ve been searching for for over thirty years. One woman found only her brother’s foot, which she recognized by the shoe and sock it was still covered in.
The contrast between such celestial matters with more terrestrial powerfully concludes for the audience the importance of looking to the future, but more so the danger of forgetting the past. A too narrow reading may assume Guzmán’s film is speaking specifically about Chile’s tragic history. But a broader and more complex idea is easy to find, and certainly more poignant. | <urn:uuid:b9e87f54-0b8d-4bc9-b1ca-10b4ccda32f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/nostalgia-light-review-sfiff/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966431 | 654 | 2.265625 | 2 |
"How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but - mainly - to ourselves."
"And so, for the first time, I began to feel a more general remorse — a feeling somewhere between self-pity and self-hatred — about my whole life. All of it. I had lost friends of my youth. I had lost the love of my wife. I had abandoned the ambitions I had entertained. I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and had succeeded — and how pitiful that was."
"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up a whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life… You give them a piece of you. They didn’t ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like ‘maybe we should be just friends‘ turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It’s a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. Nothing should be able to do that. Especially not love. I hate love."
The Fundamental Laws of Human Stupidity
1. Always and inevitably each of us underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2. The probability that a given person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic possessed by that person.
3. A person is stupid if they cause damage to another person or group of people without experiencing personal gain, or even worse causing damage to themselves in the process.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the harmful potential of stupid people; they constantly forget that at any time anywhere, and in any circumstance, dealing with or associating themselves with stupid individuals invariably constitutes a costly error.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person there is.
Look at those little tykes. They’re adorable. And they’re about a billion times more fun than some stodgy old music critic, so we asked them to opine on Azealia Banks’ new single, “212.” | <urn:uuid:be538c1c-ab9f-444f-ae7e-9863ed5f0398> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://uncleboonmaaay.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963699 | 614 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Notre Dame Rare Book Room
posted by: Aaron McNeely
As part of our last week at QuarkNet, Professor Karmgard arranged a tour of the Notre Dame Rare Book Room. I was excited to have this opportunity, and had wanted such a tour for a long time.
Despite the priceless works on display, the tour was very informal. The selections were displayed on foam platforms on a long table, and we were allowed to handle and look through any of the books. The display included first editions of de Revolutionibus of Copernicus, Newton’s Principia, and Galileo’s Dialogue. Other works included Ptolemy’s Almagest, Descartes, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and some Transactions of the Royal Society. There were some works on chemistry and alchemy present, but of course I was mainly interested in the famous astronomy books.
We were allowed to take photos without flashes.
Copernicus’s De Revolutionibus
Literal image of the Copernican system
Galileo: Dialogue characters
Principia: Diagram of Comet Halley’s orbit
Sketches from Transactions of the Royal Society (sunpots, Saturn)
More Royal Society sketches (eclipse, moon map-labeled Hevelius)
This was a unique experience, one that any book-lover would appreciate. I asked the director about other books: Gutenberg Bible? (no), Shakespeare’s folios (fragments). He also said that the library had some original Greek literature written on papyrus and lots of medieval documents. He said that the library specialized in Dante and had many editions of his works.
Bottom shelf: All Dante | <urn:uuid:3ef415cb-81f0-4813-96db-b0a4f9b8364b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://erc.nd.edu/blogs/mamcneely/2010/08/07/notre-dame-rare-book-room/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948238 | 357 | 2 | 2 |
DISABLED! To enable this workshop, click 'Edit Workshop' and change the workshop's status to 'Enabled'
Intro to Photoshop Through Photo Montage
Create an image compiled from multiple images used as artistic expression or design visualization. Learn basic Photoshop skills such as masking, selecting, shadowing, using brushes, using the clone stamp tool, experimenting with tone and contrast, and layer management. Skills developed in this workshop can be applied to various Photoshop projects such as photo retouching to digital painting.
Some experience with Photoshop
No events are scheduled at this time. | <urn:uuid:cdc44549-7504-4499-a544-8e82d55f4d46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lib.ncsu.edu/events/registration/workshop/index/details/workshopId/2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901777 | 118 | 2.21875 | 2 |
The tomatoes aren't just coming, they're here! Each week at our farmer's market, more and more tomatoes are making their appearance. This week, one of the more unusual and tasty varieties was the Cherokee purple.
History: Like most heirlooms, this one has quite an interesting story behind it. It is a so-called "black" tomato, which refers to the very deep, almost chocolatey, color of its flesh. One Craig LeHoullier received a mysterious packet of seeds from this tomato, along with a cryptic note, back in 1990. Obviously such a recent tomato wouldn't make the roster of "heirlooms" but the note reported that the seeds were from a line propagated for 100 years, and supposedly given to the original owner by the Cherokee peoples. And thus the name, for what has become a very popular heirloom, mostly because it tastes so good!
Worldwide Production: Hard to know, given that so many are backyard specimens.
Growing: These are indeterminate type tomatoes, and ripen in 80 days. A healthy plant can get to be nine feet tall, and the tomatoes themselves can weigh 16 ounces.
Eating and Processing: There are so many ways to eat a tomato, but these have such good flavor that they should be enjoyed out of hand or in as simple a recipe as possible.
Health Information: Homegrown tomatoes taste so good that health doesn't even seem to factor. Well, it turns out that they are incredibly healthy, with lots of Vitamins A, C, K, and potassium.
Where to Find: Farmer's markets, for one. If you want to try your hand at growing them in your backyard, try the Seed Saver's Exchange.
Relevant Blog: CherokeePurple.com - a short-lived endeavor, but still!
Bottom Line: These make a mockery out of those croquet balls lurking in the "fresh produce" aisle.
2. Tantalizing Tomatoes!
3. Tomato nutrition facts | <urn:uuid:02c4e214-6a97-42da-8db4-30b1632c8eb0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ehealthforum.com/blogs/basiceating/heirloom-thursday-cherokee-purple-tomatoes-b10085.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965229 | 425 | 2.359375 | 2 |
A historic county courthouse is more than a building for government functions. Standing with dignity and strength at the center of dozens of Georgia cities, these old structures serve as landmarks in, as symbols of, and as anchors for their communities.
Decisions affecting all Georgians have been made in these buildings built for citizens rather than for bureaucrats and for communities rather than for jurisdictions. The courthouses’ dignity and distinctive features engender a local pride and affection that modern econobox structures can never match. In those places where old courthouses have been lost to fire or demolition, people remember them with fondness for decades afterwards.
In most county seats, the courthouse remains a major traditional landmark, often the most recognized landmark in the county. Usually standing on the highest point in town, and frequently surrounded by the principal local businesses and institutions, they designate the heart of a community.
The courthouse is also a symbol of a county. Courthouse towers frequently appear in the logotypes of county governments and county historical societies because they instantly communicate the concept of county. Because they have architectural character, they add distinction to the county’s image and enhance community pride. The old county courthouse is one building in the community that is not likely to be confused with others. The courthouse can be an important anchor in a downtown business district, generating foot traffic in much the same way as a department store in a retail mall.
No one really knows what served as Dade County's courthouse after the county's creation on Christmas Day of 1837. Usually, when the General Assembly created a new county, it provided for an inferior court or a special commission with power to select a site and contract for building a county courthouse. However, the legislation creating Dade County made no provision for a courthouse.
In the early days of most counties, officials and judges met in private homes or utilized Masonic lodges or other buildings for county business. Although one source says that Dade County's first courthouse was built in Trenton in 1849. It is likely the first courthouse was constructed earlier.
Though no one knows when it was actually built, that first courthouse burned in April 1853, and the legislature appropriated $1,200 to help the county build a new courthouse (Ga. Laws 1853-54, p. 156). At some point thereafter, a new courthouse was built -- but it was burned by Union troops in November 1863 in connection with the Chattanooga campaign.
It is not clear what Dade County used for the next six years, but a new courthouse was constructed in 1869. While a plaque at the present courthouse indicates that the 1869 courthouse burned in 1895, local newspaper articles document that the 1869 courthouse was used until torn down in 1925 to make way for a new courthouse.
Dade County's fourth and present courthouse was built in 1926. More recently, the Dade County Justice Building, a block west of the old courthouse, was completed in 1989. The largest county government facility is the Dade County Administrative Building adjacent to the justice building, constructed in 2000-2001. Today, the superior court, district attorney, and state probation offices remain in the old Dade County courthouse, with other judicial and law enforcement offices in the Justice Building.
Courthouse Photo by Jimmy Wayne | <urn:uuid:3a80e847-df1b-43bc-9713-5fb5f2f6a66e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dadecounty-ga.gov/CountyCourthouse.cfm?lid=1139 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965312 | 665 | 3.65625 | 4 |
This study explores the extent to which bilingual speakers in stable bilingual communities become fully bilingual in their two community languages. Growing evidence shows that in bilingual communities in which one language is very dominant, acquisition of the dominant language may be quite unproblematic across sub-groups, while acquisition of the minority language can be hampered under conditions of reduced input. In Wales, children are exposed to both English and Welsh from an early age, either in the home or at school, or both. The data reported here indicate that regardless of home language background, speakers develop equivalent, mature command of English, but that command of Welsh is directly correlated with the level of input in Welsh in the home and at school. Furthermore, maintenance of Welsh in adulthood may be contingent on continued exposure to the language. The data have implications for theories of bilingual acquisition in stable versus immigrant bilingual communities, for optimal conditions for bringing up bilingual children, and for theories of critical periods of acquisition.
(Received August 10 2007)
(Revised April 16 2008)
(Accepted May 01 2008)
* This work was partially supported by the following grants, for which we are extremely grateful: Welsh Assembly Government grant (Gathercole & Thomas); Welsh Language Board grant (Gathercole, Thomas, Williams & Deuchar); ESRC R25037 (Ellis, Gathercole & Vihman); ESRC R000237882 (Gathercole). We also wish to recognize Margaret Deuchar, Eddie Williams, Nadine Laporte, Emma Hughes, Erica Reisig, and Norma Roberts for their collaboration on various strands of the research reported on here. | <urn:uuid:af4f6821-c92d-4ece-9481-d378424716af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=5484708 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920076 | 336 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Safe and Authentic Behavior on the Battlefield
Brady's Sharpshooters General Order Number I
Safe Behavior on the Battlefield:
Safety is our number one priority in reenacting. The main dangers of injuries are
accidents involving powder burns. Black powder burns slowly. If you ever see a night
firing display, you will observe bright jets of light coming 10-20 feet out of the
barrels of the muskets! Even beyond this range, non-burning particles of powder have
enough force to tear into the skin (or eye). You will observe many of the veteran
reenactors bear little black speckled "tattoos" on their hands or face, the result of
powder burns. You do not want to burn anyone, friend or foe! To avoid burning others,
observe these rules: If you can make out the face of your target in the enemy's ranks,
aim over his head (This is further away than the traditional "whites of their eyes",
or around 30 yards. At closer ranges, or if fighting from a trench or lower position,
fire your weapon at a 45 degree angle upwards. Never discharge your weapon downwards,
due to gravel in the ground. At these close ranges, do not even aim (using sights)
your weapon at an enemy. This will frighten and perhaps anger both them and neighboring
To avoid shooting or being shot by your friends in our unit know your place in your
team, know where your neighbors are, and trust absolutely no one. Never fire unless
you are certain you are parallel to, or a foot in advance of, your neighbors. After
firing immediately take a long step back to load. At times we may be temporarily
intermixed with line units due to their coming to our position. If this happens,
step back immediately and let them have the position. At these moments the line
infantry will be disordered, excited and confused, so feel free to direct the line
boys on how to take turns "firing from a defile", stepping back to load. We will
pull ourselves out of the situation as quickly as possible, so look to the rear for
our officers and NCOs. These precautions will also avoid the second most common
cause of serious injuries, damage to your ears. Wear earplugs and use your eyes to
keep your relative position in the unit, if you can't clearly hear orders.
The third common cause of injuries is the result of hand-to-band combat. WE WILL NEVER VOLUNTARILY INITIATE HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT, as it is not authentic for our impression. But we may expect frequently to be overrun by charging Rebs and their excitable teenagers and occasional "nut cases" will generally be leading the charge. Beware particularly of the dismounted Reb cavalry, for they love to pistol you at point-blank range! In these situations, if you see a weapon aimed at you, cover your face with your hat and drop to the ground! If someone is trying to bayonet you, drop your weapon, grasp their muzzle and point it away from you (This prevents a point blank shot or a broken rib from the point). You may then, if he is a large Reb, cry out and drop to the ground. A very excited Reb should be bearhugged from behind while your comrade makes a gentle pass with his gun ("bayoneting" him). Of course, if we are being charged by a unit of more than one or two men, run away to our next rallying point! If you are one of our " Heavy Brigade", and cannot escape, surrender by reversing you gun or putting your hands in the air. Once surrendered, insist on retaining your gun, and get somewhere comfortable until you can rejoin the unit. In the real war, many more men surrendered than fought hand-to-hand!
The fourth cause of injury or death is sun or heat stroke, or heart attack. Do not push yourself too much to keep up! You may straggle, and catch up to the outfit when you can! It you feel overly warm or dizzy, if you stop sweating, or feel a pressure in your arm or chest sit down, drink water, and call "medic" if you think its serious. Trained paramedics will come to your assistance! Drink as much water as you can hold before the battle, and during the battle, and when you are out of water, you are out of the battle! I would like unit members to exercise aerobically twice week to strengthen their hearts.
The fifth common cause of injury is sprains and pulled muscles, tripping over rocks and the natural scenic fauna in the area. Inform your comrades of any holes and rocks you spot and assist each other over obstacles by holding back branches, and holding each other's guns as we cross. When traveling over rough terrain (bushes, cliffs) if your gun is loaded, UNCAP it! Again, take it slow, Officers and NCOs will adjust the unit's speed to its slowest member. We have time! It is no problem!
The sixth and final cause of danger at reenactments is horses. A horse will not step on you if he can help it, but he may not be able to stop or he may misstep. When horses approach, the outfit will head for cover. Even one tree or bush may discourage a troop of horses. If in the open we will form the "rallying square" clustered together with muskets extended towards the horse's head. Never sit or lie down if horses are in the area!
Authentic Behavior on the Battlefield:
Always remember that we portray a detachment of telescopic sharpshooters, and behavior of line or even light infantry may not be correct for us. For purposes of safety, we may at times operate in a slightly more dense and controlled formation than is truly authentic. There are also certain things reenactors typically do that are not quite authentic, and that we will avoid.
It is not authentic for skirmishers to take many casualties at even close range, especially when using cover. We do, however, urge each of our privates to take one walking wound at each battle we fight pick your time, grab yourself as if hit, pull your clothing away from the area to see how badly hit you are, and go back away from the unit and find some cover (this is bow it was for the majority of people hit during the war! Whether they died in 10 minutes or an hour, they generally could walk at least a short distance). After five minutes and some water, straggle back to our unit DO NOT join another unit, or operate on your own!
For NCO's especially, their presence on the field checking the positions of the men and checking what the recruits are doing is an issue of safety. If they take a casualty it may lead to disintegration of the unit and then an accident! Officers and NCOs may simulate receiving a flesh wound and then binding it up with a bandana and continuing on the to fight (I will not have a NCO who can't take 2 or 3 flesh wounds and keep on going!).
On the firing line, sharpshooters tended to work together as teams of 2 or 3 men. One man would spot, with field glasses if possible, while his partner shot. He would give him feedback like "left, right, a notch higher (or lower)" or "they're looking up" (or down). We will try to work this in more this season.
Do not shout modern expressions at the enemy. Authentic things to shout include "Here's your mule!" And taunts like "Johnny, I hear you got a new general, General Starvation". Soldiers did talk and joke a lot under fire. We may occasionally charge, by which I mean move threateningly upon the enemy without actually closing to hand-to-hand, at such times I want everyone to shout as loud as they can the Union battle cry which is "HURRAH!!!"
Back to the Brady's Michigan Sharpshooters Home Page | <urn:uuid:34eb2679-cc47-46d7-871d-8325fab3e901> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bradyssharpshooters.org/safety.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949156 | 1,690 | 2.328125 | 2 |
This afternoon, the Illinois State Senate voted 35 to 21 in favor of House Bill 1, which would establish a medical marijuana pilot program in the state. The measure had previously been approved by the House of Representatives and moves to the Governor Pat Quinn’s desk for his signature. While Governor Quinn hasn’t taken a firm stance on HB 1, Lt. Governor Sheila Simon has been open in regards to her support for this legislation.
You can read the full text of the measure here.
NORML will keep you updated as this story develops.
Reason-Rupe has just released new polling data that revealed only a minuscule percentage of Americans believe that marijuana use and possession should result in jail time. When asked which approach they thought the government and law enforcement should take toward someone found smoking marijuana or in possession of a small amount of marijuana, only 6% responded that they should be sent to jail. 35% of respondents said that these individuals shouldn’t be punished at all, 32% responded they should pay a fine, and 20% said they should have to attended substance abuse courses.
The survey also found that 52% of Americans favor federal legislation that would prevent the federal government from prosecuting people who grow, possess, or sell marijuana in the states that have legalized it. Recently, Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) introduced the “Respect State Marijuana Laws Act” which would do exactly that. You can click here to easily contact your Representative and urge him or her to support this measure.
Full results of this poll are available here.
Schools that institute student drug testing programs are likely to experience a rise in students’ consumption of ‘hard’ drugs, according to observational trial data published this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Researchers at the University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research analyzed the impact of student drug testing programs in some 250,000 high-school and middle-school students over a 14 year period. Investigators reported that random drug testing programs of the student body and programs specifically targeting student athletes were associated with “moderately lower marijuana use,” but cautioned that drug testing programs overall were “associated with increased use of illicit drugs other than marijuana.”
An estimated 14 percent of middle school students and 28 per cent of US high school students are now subject to some form of drug testing.
Urinalysis, the most common form of student drug testing, screens for the presence of inert drug metabolites (breakdown products), not the actual parent drug. Because marijuana’s primary metabolite, carboxy-THC, is fat soluble, it may be present in urine for days, weeks, or in some cases even months after past use. By contrast, most other illicit drug metabolites are water soluble and will exit the body within a matter of hours. Authors of the study speculated that students subjected to drug screens were switching from cannabis to other illicit drugs which possessed shorter detection times.
“Random SDT (student drug testing) among the general high school student population, as well as middle and high school subgroups targeted for testing, was associated with moderately lower marijuana use; however, most forms of testing were associated with moderately higher use of other illicit drugs, particularly in high school,” the authors concluded. “These findings raise the question of whether SDT is worth this apparent tradeoff.”
Commenting on the findings, the study’s lead author affirmed, “It is clear that drug testing is not providing the solution for substance-use prevention that its advocates claim.”
Previous assessments of student drug testing programs have reported that those subjected to such programs are no less likely to report consuming illicit drugs, tobacco, or alcohol than their peers.
The abstract of the study, “Middle and High School Drug Testing and Student Illicit Drug Use: A National Study 1998–2011,” is available online here.
Subjects who regularly consume cannabis possess favorable indices related to diabetic control as compared to occasional consumers or non-users, according to trial data published today online in the American Journal of Medicine.
Here is a summary of the study from the website diabetes.co.uk:
A new study has revealed that smoking cannabis may help protect against type 2 diabetes after researchers in the US found that regular users of the drug have better blood sugar control.
Murray Mittleman, of the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, analysed data on almost 5,000 patients who were quizzed about their use of recreational drugs as part of the National Health and Nutrition Survey between 2005 and 2010.
They found that 2,103 had never use cannabis, 975 had used the drug in the past but were not current users, and 579 (over 10%) had inhaled or ingested it in the past month.
Tests showed that current users had 16% lower fasting insulin levels and reduced insulin resistance than those who had never used cannabis. Non-users also had larger waistlines and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or ‘good’) cholesterol – both of which are risk factors for type 2 diabetes.
The same benefits were seen among participants who had used the drug in the past but the associations were not as strong, indicating that the effects of cannabis use on insulin levels and insulin sensitivity wear off over time.
“Previous epidemiologic studies have found lower prevalence rates of obesity and diabetes mellitus in marijuana users compared to people who have never used marijuana, suggesting a relationship between cannabinoids and peripheral metabolic processes, but ours is the first to investigate the relationship between marijuana use and fasting insulin, glucose, and insulin resistance,” said lead investigator Mittleman.
Commenting on the study, American Journal of Medicine Editor-in-Chief Joseph S. Alpert, MD, Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, wrote in an accompanying commentary: “These are indeed remarkable observations that are supported, as the authors note, by basic science experiments that came to similar conclusions.” He added: “We desperately need a great deal more basic and clinical research into the short- and long-term effects of marijuana in a variety of clinical settings such as cancer, diabetes, and frailty of the elderly. I would like to call on the NIH and the DEA to collaborate in developing policies to implement solid scientific investigations that would lead to information assisting physicians in the proper use and prescription of THC in its synthetic or herbal form.”
Diabetes mellitus is a group of autoimmune diseases characterized by defects in insulin secretion resulting in hyperglycemia (an abnormally high concentration of glucose in the blood). There are two primary types of diabetes. Individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (also known as juvenile diabetes) are incapable of producing pancreatic insulin and must rely on insulin medication for survival. Individuals diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (also known as adult onset diabetes) produce inadequate amounts of insulin. Type 2 diabetes is a less serious condition that typically is controlled by diet. Over time, diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, hardening of the arteries and death. The disease is the third leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease and cancer.
Observational trial data published in 2012 in the British Medical Journal previously reported that adults with a history of marijuana use had a lower prevalence of type 2 diabetes and possess a lower risk of contracting the disease than do those with no history of cannabis consumption, even after researchers adjusted for social variables (ethnicity, level of physical activity, etc.) Investigators concluded, “Our analysis of adults aged 20-59 years … showed that participants who used marijuana had a lower prevalence of DM (Diabetes Mellitus) and lower odds of DM relative to non-marijuana users.”
Although subjects who consume marijuana on average have higher average caloric intake levels than non-users, the plant’s use has been associated with lower body-mass index (BMI) and lower rates of obesity.
Abstracts of today’s study, “The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among US Adults,” are online here. NORML has additional information and citations regarding cannabis and diabetes in our Library here.
Recent nationwide polls have shown that a majority of all Americans support marijuana legalization. Survey data released this week by Behavior Research Center shows even stronger support at the state level in Arizona.
Behavior Research Center asked respondents whether or not they favored or opposed legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, 56% responded they favored the idea and only 37% were opposed. Marijuana legalization had support from all age groups, across all counties and with both Democrats and Independents.
Commenting on the results, Behavior Research Center stated: “It is perhaps ironic that as support for same-sex marriage and defelonization of marijuana have long been albatrosses which conservative candidates could hang around the necks of some of their moderate or liberal challengers, it now appears that hard opposition to gay marriage and perhaps even to marijuana liberalization could become issues moderates and liberals can use against their conservative opponents.”
You can view the full results of the poll here. | <urn:uuid:c48eabc0-57e5-4aa0-8105-b78fe5270532> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://norml.wpengine.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961644 | 1,904 | 1.773438 | 2 |
CERN has confirmed that the anomalous results which indicated that neutrinos traveled faster than the speed of light were caused by faulty machinery. The findings were reported on heavily last September, and since then scientists the world over have been trying to explain how the neutrinos broke one of the fundamental laws of physics. Earlier this year, there was word that the team behind the results had found possible faults in its test equipment, and the error has now been confirmed.
While it may seem like a huge blow to the team, CERN Research Director Sergio Bertolucci was pragmatic in his summary of the events. He thanked the scientific community for its collaboration on finding the error, and explained why mishaps like this show the strength of science:
"The story captured the public imagination, and has given people the opportunity to see the scientific method in action - an unexpected result was put up for scrutiny, thoroughly investigated and resolved in part thanks to collaboration between normally competing experiments. That's how science moves forward."
Bertolucci summarized that "although this result isn’t as exciting as some would have liked, it is what we all expected deep down." | <urn:uuid:07c82b81-e869-45db-9c83-676c60f09f6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/8/3072393/speed-of-light-neutrino-mistake-cern/in/2900800 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982327 | 234 | 2.671875 | 3 |
PTC Therapeutics, Inc. announced in late October that it is expanding the development of Ataluren PTC124®, an investigational new drug, to a third indication—hemophilia. The other indications are for muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis.
The announcement marks the initiation of a Phase 2a clinical trial in patients with hemophilia who have a type of genetic mutation known as a “nonsense mutation.” Nonsense mutations occur in both hemophilia A (nmHA) and hemophilia B (nmHB); they account for approximately 10% to 30% of all hemophilia cases. In hemophilia, a nonsense mutation occurs when an interruption in the genetic code--a change in part of the DNA strand--causes a disruption of the "translation" of key genetic messages. This premature disruption then blocks the synthesis of factor VIII (hemophilia A) and factor IX (hemophilia B) proteins, causing poorly functioning clotting factors and often severe bleeding symptoms.
“We are excited about the initiation of this proof-of-concept trial of Ataluren in patients with nonsense mutation hemophilia, a more severe form of the disorder with a great need for alternative treatment options,” said Langdon Miller, MD, Chief Medical Officer of PTC Therapeutics.
The purpose of this multi-center, open-label trial is to evaluate the activity, safety and pharmacokinetics of Ataluren in approximately 24 adult male patients with nmHA or nmHB. The primary goal of the trial, which consists of two 14-day treatments at two different dose levels, is to determine if Ataluren can safely improve FVIII and FIX functioning.
“We are very pleased to be part of this groundbreaking trial,” stated Kathy High, MD, principal investigator at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. “HA and HB are chronic, disabling and potentially life-threatening genetic disorders, and there is a significant need for new strategies for preventing bleeding complications. For patients with nonsense mutation hemophilia, even a small increase in FVIII or FIX could be very beneficial. As an oral therapy, Ataluren has the potential to offer a noninvasive treatment option.”
In early December, PTC Therapeutics announced that it had received a $1 million Challenge Grant from the National Heart Lung, and Blood Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health. The grant was one of 840 grants given to stimulate research. The two-year grant will support the Phase 2a trial of Ataluren.
Source: PTC Therapeutics news releases dated October 26 and December 2, 2009 | <urn:uuid:004dde4e-f584-454e-a265-95941e536d7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hemophilia.org/NHFWeb/MainPgs/MainNHF.aspx?menuid=286&contentid=1434 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930266 | 551 | 1.921875 | 2 |
|Home||Reviews||Tools||Forums||FAQs||Find Service||ISP News||Maps||About|
how-to block ads
DVG-1120M ATA is also a firewall and therefore blocks all incoming traffic for externally initiated requests. As such, if you have any applications/servers on the DVG's LAN, you will have to set port forwarding on the DVG (below), or other routers connected to the WAN side of your ATA.
Note that since this applies only to requests initiated from the Internet, if you are FTPing from your computer, there are no ports to open since the request is initiated from within your LAN. However, if you want to FTP to your computer from an external site, you need to "forward" ports as noted below.
DVG Port Forwarding
Port forwarding allows traffic on a specific port to be passed on. This is handy if you need to access your LAN from a remote location or you want to set up an ftp server.
You should setup a FIXED LAN IP for the computer(s)/server(s) you are forwarding to from the DVG. Note that this address will be determined by the DVG'S LAN IP address which by default is 192.168.15.1 (i.e. Your computer/server can have an address of 192.168.15.2).
Alternatively, you can set a DHCP address range of "one" (1) to force a fixed DHCP address for the device connected to the Ethernet port.
After signing onto the DVG, you need to go to NAT Configuration, and then Local Server Configuration to access the screens for setting up port forwarding.
There are only 6 slots, so if you need to open up TCP and UDP simultaneously for a particular port, then you'll have even fewer left for additional ports.
If you're a heavy BT user then good luck!
An example by Kenmo:
I have the following port forwarding setup working: | <urn:uuid:28363713-b17d-462a-91de-750fe88e201b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dslreports.com/faq/12175?navm2=6 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926053 | 414 | 2.171875 | 2 |
But Wood is not sitting in a lecture hall on the UC Berkeley campus, nor has he met Dreyfus. He is in the cab of his 18-wheel big rig, hauling dog food from Ohio to the West Coast or flat-screen TVs from Los Angeles to points east.The 61-year-old trucker from El Paso eavesdrops on the lectures by downloading them for free from Apple Inc.'s iTunes store, transferring them to his Hewlett-Packard digital media player, then piping them through his cabin's speakers. He hits pause as he approaches cities so he can focus more on traffic than on what Nietzsche meant when he said God was dead, then shifts his attention back to the classroom.
"I'm really in two places at once," he said. "The sound of chalk on the chalkboard makes it so real."
By making hundreds of lectures from elite academic institutions available online for free, Apple is reinvigorating the minds of people who have been estranged from the world of ideas.
For several years universities have posted recorded lectures on their internal websites, giving students a chance to brush up on their classes or catch ones they missed.
But 28 colleges and universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford and Yale, now post select courses without charge at iTunes.
The universities want to promote themselves to parents and prospective students, as well as strengthen ties with alumni. Some also see their mission as sharing the ivory tower's intellectual riches with the rest of the world.
"It was something we couldn't easily do before the digital age," UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said.
These unofficial students, invisible to their instructors, won't earn degrees for listening. Some professors won't even respond to their correspondence. But they relish the explosion of free lectures.
Retirees in Long Beach and Weaverville, Calif., halibut fishermen in Alaska, data entry clerks in London, casting agents in New York -- all separated from the classroom by age, distance or circumstance -- are learning from some of the world's top scholars.
"Something revolutionary is happening," said UC Berkeley professor Richard Muller, whose Physics for Future Presidents class airs on iTunes. "A large number of people around the world want more education. They thirst for understanding and knowledge." One e-mail Muller received came with the subject line "Thank you from a grateful sailor in Iraq."
Apple began working with Duke University in late 2004 to broadcast classes from its website using iTunes software and has expanded the service to other schools. Separately, some universities started putting lectures on the iTunes store in the form of podcasts, which are free video or audio recordings that anyone can download to their computer or iPod.
The downloads have surged since May, when Apple began featuring lessons on the iTunes home page under the heading iTunes U. For example, the 86 courses UC Berkeley offers are now being downloaded 50,000 times a week, up from 15,000 before Apple's promotion.
Analysts say Apple foots the bill for storing and cataloging the recordings to create goodwill with universities, which are big buyers of its Macintosh computers. It has another motive: Podcasts drive demand for iPods.
For their part, universities are experimenting to see what works. Mogulof said UC Berkeley had no plans to charge for the podcasts but acknowledged that the benefits were unclear.
"We know there's oil under the ground," he said. "People are punching a lot of holes, and no one is sure what will come up as a big gusher."
The courses on iTunes U may not be the stuff of Casey Kasem's "American Top 40." But they are ranked nonetheless, and some become surprise download hits. One recent week, popular iTunes U podcasts included Modern Theoretical Physics from Stanford, Elementary Greek from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and Intro to Biology from MIT.
It's a stretch to say that professors compete for iTunes popularity, but many are eager to know how many people tune in and see whether the university can benefit.
Dreyfus has cracked the top 20. He's the iTunes U equivalent of an indie rocker with a cult following. | <urn:uuid:04663ca6-a89a-443e-85c9-3539896271c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-podclass24nov24,0,5117576.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963456 | 851 | 1.929688 | 2 |
HISTORY OF FLIGHT Use your browsers 'back' function to return to synopsisReturn to Query Page
On July 30, 1993, at 1700 central daylight time, a Rockwell International 690-A, N707BP, registered to Motel Developers, Incorporated, of Norfolk, Nebraska, and piloted by an airline transport certificated pilot, was involved in a midair collision with a Piper PA-28R-200, N33056. N33056 was registered to Storm Flying Service, Incorporated, of Webster City, Iowa, and piloted by a private pilot. Both airplanes were destroyed.
The midair collision occurred approximately 1 1/2 to 2 miles east-southeast of the Karl Stefan Memorial Airport, Norfolk, Nebraska. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. N707BP was being operated as a business flight under 14 CFR Part 91. The IFR flight plan under which it was operating was canceled approximately five minutes before the collision. The pilot and three passengers on board N707BP were fatally injured. The flight originated from Mountain Home, Arkansas, exact time unknown.
N33056 was being operated as a personal flight under 14 CFR Part 91 when the accident occurred. A flight plan had not been filed for the airplane which had departed on runway 19 at the Karl Stefan Memorial Airport just prior to the collision. The pilot was fatally injured.
The Unicom radio operator at the Karl Stefan Memorial Airport said he heard a person identifying himself as N707BP's pilot requesting an airport advisory. He said N707BP's pilot stated he was 20 miles southeast of the airport. A second pilot flying near the airport stated he heard the radio transmission from N707BP requesting information about the airport's runway. Both individuals stated they did not hear a radio transmission from N33056.
Witnesses to the midair collision stated N707BP was in level flight and heading in a northerly direction just prior to the collision. The witnesses stated they observed N33056 flying in an easterly direction. According to these witnesses, the airplane entered a steep right bank and pitched up immediately before the collision.
According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) medical records, the pilot of N707BP obtained a second class medical certificate on June 16, 1993. During the examination the pilot was found to have 20/200 uncorrected vision that was corrected to 20/30. A July 13, 1993, letter from the FAA's Aeromedical Certification Division directed the pilot to have his vision rechecked because it did not meet the 20/20 visual acuity requirements of 14 CFR Part 67.13(b)(1). According to the June 16, 1993, medical application form, the pilot had normal field and color vision. According to the pilot's medical examiner the pilot of N707BP did not wear contact lenses.
FAA medical forms, dating between August 1979, and June 1993, showed the pilot's uncorrected distance vision varied between 20/100 and 20/400. The variance may have been caused by the pilot squinting when his eyes were examined, according to an FAA research optometrist. The pilot's corrected vision varied between 20/15 and 20/30. The doctor's response to this condition was that the pilot may have had a poor prescription.
The doctor said peripheral vision proportionately decreases the further away an object gets from a person's central vision. He said the 20/30 vision should give a pilot ability to see some movement when beyond 15 degrees of his central vision. Defining an object, and recognizing relative motion, would be difficult for the pilot the further away it was from his central vision. Beyond 15 degrees, and one to two miles, the pilot can see a flashing light or reflection from another airplane according to the doctor.
According to his logbook, the pilot of N33056 had last flown a PA-28R-200 on November 30, 1991. His logbook showed a flight in a Piper PA-28-151 on July 14, 1992. According to his logbook, the pilot's most recent flight was on May 26, 1993, in a Cessna 152. There were no flight times entered between the July, 1992, and May, 1993, dates. FAA medical records related to N33056's pilot showed he had a visual acuity of 20/20 in each eye as of October 22, 1992.
The Karl Stefan Memorial Airport is a non-controlled airport. The traffic pattern altitude is 1,000 feet above ground level and has lefthand traffic patterns for all runways.
The Federal Aviation Administration's Airman's Information Manual (AIM), dated May 27, 1993, provides an airport traffic pattern diagram that is advisory in nature. Concerning airport arrivals and departures, the AIM states: "Enter pattern in level flight, abeam the midpoint of the runway, at pattern altitude." The AIM states departing airplanes "... continue straight out, or exit with a 45 degree left turn beyond the departure end of the runway, after reaching pattern altitude."
The traffic pattern a pilot should fly when approaching the airport to land is established by the Federal Air Regulations (FAR), FAR 91.126 (a), (b) (1), and 91.127 (b)(1). Both regulations address arriving aircraft only. There are no regulatory requirements regarding departures from a non-control tower airport.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
N707BP's wreckage was located in three specific sections: left outboard wing section, left engine and inboard wing section, and the fuselage/right wing and engine/empennage sections. N707BP's fuselage, empennage, and right wing were destroyed during the ground collision and fire. The right engine and propeller were found in the largest ground scar next to the main wreckage. The left engine and small section of left wing were observed approximately 360 feet south of the main wreckage area.
N33056's wreckage was confined to an area centered approximately 1,800 feet south of N707BP's final resting place. N33056's wreckage was arranged in an arc around its rear fuselage from an easterly heading, through north, and to a west-southwest heading.
Three cut marks were found on N33056's left forward fuselage. The first cut was found approximately nine inches forward of the firewall. The second and third cuts were located approximately 27 and 53 inches aft of the first cut. The pilot's seat had a cut through the left rear section of its cushion. The cut aligned with the third cut observed in the fuselage when the seat was positioned on its track.
N33056's right and left wings were both found in three separate sections. Two of the left wing's three sections were comprised of main wing spar pieces and portions of wing ribs attached. Wing skin associated with these wing spar segments had separated from the structure, and were ripped and crushed. The third section was intact from the inboard end of the aileron outward to the wingtip. The wing skin on this section was crushed aft at the leading edge and exhibited many torsional tears and compression folds.
Paint transfer marks from N707BP were observed on portions of N33056's left bottom wing skin. The bottom left wing root fairing strip had paint transfer marks that were the color of N707BP.
The bottom of N707BP's left wing outboard section revealed a tire sidewall transfer mark. Tire sidewall lettering and manufacturer's symbol from N33056's left main landing gear tire were found on this section.
MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
The FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute toxicology report on the pilot of N707BP stated that toxicological tests were not possible due to a lack of suitable specimens. The autopsy on this pilot was performed at the St. Luke's Medical Center, Sioux City, Iowa, on July 31, 1993. The report stated the probable cause of death was from, "Severe traumatic injuries, from midair crash of airplanes."
The FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute toxicology report on the pilot of N33056 stated detection of carbon monoxide and cyanide was not possible due to a lack of suitable specimens. No ethanol was detected in the vitreous fluids. 7.400 (ug/ml, ug/g) of salicylate was detected in the liver fluid. The autopsy was performed at the St. Luke's Medical Center, Sioux City, Iowa, on July 31, 1993. The autopsy reported stated the probable cause of death was from, "Severe traumatic injuries, from midair crash of airplanes."
Geographic coordinates for the Karl Stefan Memorial Airport are 41 degrees, 59 minutes North and 97 degrees, 26 minutes West. On July 30, 1993, at 1700 central daylight time the sun's position in the sky was 40 degrees, 38 minutes above the horizon and its azimuth was 257.3 degrees at the airport's location. The sun's position was obtained from the United States Coast Guard Academy, Professional Studies Branch, New London, Connecticut.
The wreckages of N707BP and N33056 were released to Mr. Richard Knopf, Karl Stefan Airport Manager, Norfolk, Nebraska, on August 3, 1993. | <urn:uuid:6c503cdd-cf98-47ed-b1f8-60c6327784c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20001211X12827&ntsbno=CHI93FA302A&akey=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970044 | 1,903 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Thousands of school administrators convene each year at the National Conference on Education.
The conference line up features the most influential education leaders in the United States — speakers who simply don’t come to regional events. We pair these visionaries with the most successful practitioners — superintendents who have proven case studies to share – and the result is a unique platform to address the most critical topics facing public school educators. While in Nashville, you can visit with more than 200 companies committed to improving the K–12 space. The exhibit hall is an interactive and valuable resource that will leave you educated and energized. AASA’s National Conference on Education is your premier destination to stay current with the news, ideas, and connections that help advance not only the profession, but also individual careers. So roll up your sleeves, dust off your cowboy boots, and come prepared to learn, network, share…and evolve your perspective on public education. | <urn:uuid:224c2d74-1638-4b8e-85be-c66a520df5f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nce.aasa.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930404 | 190 | 1.5 | 2 |
South Jersey looms large as hundreds explore their roots
For Rabbi Gary Gans of Marlton's Cong. Beth Tikvah, the best week of the year is when the international conference on Jewish genealogy takes place.
Earlier this month, it was a double simcha for him. Gans was a presenter and a learner at the 29th Intern ational Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies Conference, held at the Sheraton Philadelphia Center City Hotel during the first week of August. The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Philadelphia cosponsored the event, which drew 900 visitors from four continents, 13 countries and 42 states.
"This is one of the most creative weeks, when fellow genealogy addicts end up in the same place. It brings about a great new energy level," said Gans, whose synagogue is the meeting site for the Jewish Genealogical Society's South Jersey affiliate group. The rabbi, a tombstone maven, presided over two wellattended workshops on the history of grave markers, focusing on how to decipher Hebrew inscriptions and use them to gain clues valuable in family research.
At the conference, Gans also discovered more contacts and resources to aid his own research. He has already found his great-grandmother's Lithuanian postal bank account in rubles, and noted that with the fall of the Iron Curtain and archives from Eastern Europe resurfacing, there has never been a better time for budding genealogists.
JGSGP's David Mink, who co-chaired the conference, grew up in Jenkintown, PA, but lived in Cherry Hill for 32 years before moving to Philly in 2006. Mink, the owner of the Sansom Street Oyster House, said South Jersey was destined to play a major part in the conference.
"South Jersey's Jewish agricultural communities are a story that isn't told too often, but this was an opportunity to tell that story," he said. Workshops and panel discussions about the Jewish agricultural colonies were followed by a mid-week bus tour of key sites.
Amateur genealogist David Brill, a civil engineer from Cherry Hill, has researched his maternal great-great-grandparents, Moses and Rebecca Levene, who settled in the colony of Carmel in the early 1880s. They relocated to Philadelphia around 1893, but kept the idealism that drew them to make something of the land.
"A lot of the Philadelphia Jewish community find they have connections to these Jewish colonies," Brill said. He ran one of the workshops that gave the conference a unique local flavor, and helped lead the bus tour, which stopped at the one-room, circa 1890 Garton Road Shul in Rosenhayn, and visited the Alliance, Carmel and Woodbine colonies.
A highlight of the tour was meeting Helen and Morris Ostroff, who grew up in the colonies and are guardians of the Garton Road Shul. "We were very happy to get that personal connection," Brill said.
South Jersey's Jewish history holds a particular fascination for Cherry Hill resident Ruth Bogutz, president of the Tri-County Jewish Historical Society. Her husband Richard's mother was born in Rosenhayn, but she has concentrated on studying community building in urban areas such as Camden and smaller pockets such as the old section of Springville in Mount Laurel. It was founded before World War I by 25 Russian Jewish immigrants seeking escape from Philadelphia. It eventually became a weekend retreat for local Jewish families.
Bogutz' conference sessions drew people who live in South Jersey now or had moved away but wanted to know what was going on in their old neighborhoods.
"The dedication of the generations that came before me was quite amazing," said Bogutz, who plans to make a film about the Jewish communities of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties. Bogutz said she also learned from those who attended her programs, and even bumped into a woman whom she'd been good friends with 50 years ago in Camden.
For Haddonfield residents Joyce Kay, a retired psychiatrist, and her husband, Gordon, a retired pathologist, the conference has become a nearly annual event. The couple, who emigrated from Scotland in 1964, have followed the conference to the Catskills, Washington, DC, even Sacramento—each time making more connections and gathering more clues about their ancestors, who hailed from Lithuania and Latvia.
They have learned about Gordon's family, the Karnovskys, and have attended a Karnovsky family reunion. They have met cousins from Vineland and are now trying to trace some of Joyce's maternal cousins who migrated to South Africa.
Joyce Kay's mother's name is a difficult one to trace— Levine, changed to Lewin. But she has found a relative in Texas who has been helpful, and this year met a professional genealogist from South Africa who also gave her some pointers.
"We attended some very useful meetings on using computers to trace family history, and on presenting the family tree," said Joyce, who has conducted presentations on migration patterns at past conferences.
A lot of the groundwork for those hoping to research their Jewish roots in the Delaware Valley has been laid by Mount Laurel resident Steve Schecter. He has created a 200-page illustrated resource guide that every conference registrant received on a CD. It includes information on heritage landmarks and area synagogues, cemeteries and funeral homes—both active and inactive.
Schecter became interested in the subject when his mother used to talk about growing up in "the good old days" in South Philadelphia.
"She'd refer to folks as 'boat relatives,' meaning they came over (from Europe) on the same boat. After my mother died and I did more research, I learned that they did come over and band together, but frequently they were related through marriage or were distant cousins," Schecter said. He plans to integrate feedback from the conference into his guide, and eventually will come out with a hardback book or larger CD.
"We're at a critical juncture in time. The last generation of native Yiddish speakers and people who experienced the Holocaust are dying off. We need to recapture their history," Schecter said.
"Finding your roots is not just finding long lost dead people. It's finding out the context of their lives, the challenges they confronted so that we could have the tremendous advantages that we do have," he said. . | <urn:uuid:fc63b13d-35ea-49e2-9d2b-501b624f5538> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishvoicesnj.org/news/2009-08-26/home/001.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978257 | 1,315 | 1.585938 | 2 |
The 40 victims of United Airlines Flight 93 are symbolic of America’s will to fight back against terrorism – an effort that began in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and continues through the death of al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden.
A new book – “Heroes Were Made” – will pay tribute to the bravery of Flight 93’s passengers and to the region that became their final resting place.
“Heroes Were Made,” slated for release in August, features a foreword by former Homeland Security Director and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.
The book will include stories and photographs from nearly 10 years of coverage by The Tribune-Democrat. In addition, newspaper staff members are developing new content, including a chronicle of the efforts to fund and build a permanent memorial at the crash site.
The book is a joint project of The Tribune-Democrat and its sister publication, Johnstown Magazine.
“We’ve been reporting extensively on this tragic event for the past nine years,” said Robin L. Quillon, publisher of both the newspaper and the magazine. “We’re anxious to share our photographic and reporting archives with the world, which will give a detailed description of the events leading up to and including that tragic day.”
“Heroes Were Made” will sell for $24.95 plus shipping and handling.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Flight 93 National Memorial project.
“This book will be a fitting tribute to the 40 victims of the crash of Flight 93 and will celebrate their sacrifice – which saved others,” Quillon said.
Beginning Monday, the book can be ordered online at www.heroesweremade.com.
Orders also can be placed by calling (866) 307-0905.
“Heroes Were Made” will be available prior to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Washington and Somerset County.
“This book also celebrates the other heroes of Flight 93 – the community that embraced the families of the crash victims and made this story their own, and the many individuals who have worked so hard to bring the permanent memorial to reality,” Quillon said.
Click here to subscribe to The Tribune-Democrat print edition.
Click here to subscribe to The Tribune-Democrat e-edition. | <urn:uuid:6f8c4fdb-bb7e-42ca-aaa1-d2db01a76962> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x1071584823/Flight-93-tribute/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942251 | 499 | 1.96875 | 2 |
Forging Connections: Women's Poetry from the Renaissance to Romanticism
Written by: John Rogers, Helen Wilcox, Donna Landry, Margaret A. Doody, Susan J. Wolfson, John M. Anderson, and Stuart Curran
Edited by: Anne K. Mellor, Felicity Nussbaum, and Jonathan F. S. Post
Format: 180 pages, 7 x 10, illus., paper
Release Date: 2002-01-01
About this Book
Essays by John Rogers, Helen Wilcox, Donna Landry, Margaret A. Doody, Susan J. Wolfson, John M. Anderson, and Stuart Curran on the way that women poets found their vocation, looking not only at individual poets such as Aemilia Lanyer, Margaret Cavendish, and Charlotte Smith; but also at how the vocation of woman poetess was perceived in other literature, especially eighteenth-century novels. All of the essays touch on the differences between male and female poetic vocation: the ways in which family, community, and forms of biological generation allowed women to situate their own vocational space and "line," separately from men's but often in dialogue with it. The first two essays, by John Rogers and Helen Wilcox, present a rich picture of Lanyer's self-initiation; through devotional verse, she at once "delivered to posterity a new literary tradition" (Rogers); and "slipped in the back door" (Wilcox). Donna Landry then explores the natural muse, which, she argues, inspired a particularly empathic view of flora and fauna that at the same time did not neglect scientific taxonomy; and Margaret Doody shows that women refused the male preoccupation with courtship and marriage, fashioning their own categories for a wider range of affections. Susan Wolfson and John Anderson show how Charlotte Smith consciously situated her poetry in relation to, but to the side of, the male-authored poetic and political traditions. Stuart Curran closes the volume by looking at the mother-daughter dyad in poetic inspiration, in terms of a metaphorical collaboration either of assimilation or reanimation.
(also published as Huntington Library Quarterly 63:4) | <urn:uuid:c815dbd7-f4cd-4702-aabf-2a21846b83c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary_bookpublication.aspx?id=2490 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929348 | 462 | 1.945313 | 2 |
The European Commission says that this week’s UN climate change conference in Cancun (Mexico) should work towards a legally binding agreement. Key parts of the current agreement on climate change, known as the Kyoto Protocol, expire after 2012 and there is also need for urgent action on the ground.
Last year’s international agreement at Copenhagen recognised the need to keep global temperatures below 2 C pre-industrial levels but several large countries are still reluctant to sign up to a binding framework.
The EU, the world’s leading aid donor, will give a full report in Cancun on its delivery of ‘fast start’ funding to support developing countries. Support to developing countries’ efforts to stop climate change is a key part of negotiations.
In 2010 the EU mobilised ‘fast start’ funding of Eur2.2 billion. This forms part of the EU’s overall commitment made last year to provide Eur7.2 billion over the period 2010-2012.
“The EU is ready to agree on an ambitious global climate framework in Cancun but regrettably some other major economies are not. Cancun can nevertheless take the world a significant step forward by agreeing on a balanced set of decisions covering many key issues,” explains Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action. “It is crucial that Cancun delivers this progress, otherwise the UN climate change process risks losing momentum and relevance, and so far no one has been able to point to an alternative forum that can deliver more. Therefore Cancun must deliver progress on substance, and it can, if all parties show political will.” | <urn:uuid:e32d53f5-cd69-4dc9-9913-84a70087acfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eandemanagement.com/tag/un-climate-change-conference/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919374 | 339 | 2.5 | 2 |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flies to the US for talks with President Obama next week, having already been warned not to "surprise" Washington with an Israeli military operation against Iran, according to the liberal daily Haaretz.
On the eve of talks which are seen as crucial to defining the future of the Middle East peace process, the US President was reported to have dispatched an unnamed envoy to warn the Israeli leader of US concern that Israel could act unilaterally against Iran.
The message was said to have been conveyed to Mr Netanyahu after an earlier meeting in Washington at which an envoy representing the Israeli Prime Minister had discussed the US President's initiative to open dialogue with Tehran. That meeting was reportedly held with the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the President's national security adviser, James Jones.
The report by the paper's normally well informed diplomatic editor, Aluf Benn, pointed as a probable reason for US concern to Mr Netanyahu's pre-election pledge to do "whatever is necessary" to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. It also cited his additional comment after taking office that "We will not allow Holocaust-deniers to carry out another holocaust."
The Prime Minister's office declined to confirm the report last night.
Mr Netanyahu's meeting in Washington comes at a time of increased expectation that President Obama may tell him that the chances of building a powerful coalition-including Arab states – to pressure Iran to abandon its perceived nuclear weapons ambitions –will be enhanced by progress in talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a future two-state solution.
King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the leading figures in the Arab world who is associated with that view, yesterday pressed Mr Netanyahu to commit himself swiftly and publicly to a Palestinian state at a previously unannounced meeting between the two men at the Jordanian Red Sea resort of Aqaba.
Some diplomats believe Mr Netanyahu could be on the verge of declaring for the first time his support for a Palestinian state. While he has said since taking office that he is serious about security, economic and political talks with the Palestinians, he has not yet taken that step.
Meanwhile Mr Netanyahu urged Pope Benedict XVI at a meeting in Israel to speak out against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The premier said on Israeli TV last night: "I asked him, as a moral figure, to make his voice heard loud and continuously against the declarations coming from Iran of their intention to destroy Israel."
Earlier, at an open air mass, which was easily the best attended of his five-day tour of the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI greeted tens thousands of Catholics and called on Christians and Muslims to "reject the destructive power of hatred and prejudice."
The Pope was again warmly received by pilgrims from several continents as well as a significant contingent of Christian Israeli Arabs.
But several hundred disappointed worshippers were unable to take the sacrament on Mount Precipice, apparently because of a shortage of priests to serveit. One of them, Isobel Agrilea, a 30-year-old Spaniard, said: "This was bad organisation for the eucharist. I think it's really sad." | <urn:uuid:072645c4-a684-42a2-8c72-c1f5f5462750> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/dont-surprise-me-by-attacking-iran-obama-warns-netanyahu-28479313.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977824 | 633 | 1.5625 | 2 |
On the very day thousands of undocumented youth stood in long lines to apply for a two-year reprieve from deportation, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer denied the state’s undocumented immigrants that qualify for the reprieve, any public benefits.
The executive order signed yesterday will deny eligible undocumented youth the ability to obtain a driver license, state ID cards, or any other public benefits including instate college tuition rates.
Governor Brewer justified her action by noting that President Obama’s ‘Deferred Action’ only allows for qualified undocumented youth to have a two-year reprieve from deportation and possibly a work permit, therefore the state is not mandated to do more for them since they do not have lawful status in the country.
President Obama announced in June that undocumented immigrants under the age of 30 who have been in the country before they turned 16-years old qualified. In addition, applicants had to prove they were a student, college graduate and/or a member of the military without any convictions to qualify.
Experts estimate that close to 1.7 million undocumented will benefit from Obama’s ‘Deferred Action’ and in Arizona some 80,000 will benefit. Applications to the program commenced yesterday across the country and many waited in long lines amongst other hopefuls.
Brewer helped pass one of the country’s toughest anti-immigration laws, SB1070, and is a fierce foe of any pro-immigrant legislation. She is also a fierce critic of Obama’s immigration policies and has called the ‘Deferred Action’ as “backdoor amnesty,” according to the Tucson Citizen. | <urn:uuid:b8d82ace-d61f-422d-8ff1-4e94f9b39310> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/az-gov-brewer-bars-benefits-for-undocumented-youth-qualifying-under-obamas-/17882/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969158 | 334 | 1.9375 | 2 |
SNI is leveraging communication tools that deliver information to patients, referring physicians and the public as a crucial part of providing care at the advancing edge of neurological knowledge. The goals of these tools are two-fold. One goal is to update established patients and their doctors regarding the latest developments in our programs and centers. The other is to lower the barrier for patients and physicians who are facing a new neurological problem to discover tertiary subspecialty care.
A new SNI communication tool
Dan Rizzuto, Ph.D., director of SNI research, and John Henson, M.D., recently launched the SNI blog to complement other communication efforts and to provide a communication outlet for the staff of SNI. The SNI blog offers brief notes about advances in neurological care provided in SNI’s centers, as well as news items about the institute that are of interest to our patients and referring physicians.
Blog content is more dynamic than Web content. Search engines are able to detect targeted key words within each entry, which helps direct highly relevant Web traffic to the blog. This aids in the dissemination of information to patients and physicians. Viewers also can subscribe to an e-mail notification system that will alert them to newly posted material.
Other SNI communication tools
At SNI we provide print and electronic options to meet the needs of various audiences.
BrainWaves. This print news letter is designed to be an educational resource about neurological topics for physicians in thePacific Northwest. Each issue focuses on conditions treated at SNI. Staff members author the articles.
Physicians Practice. Swedish has the exclusive contract with this practice management journal to customize content in six issues annually. Although the journal is not exclusively used for SNI information, many neurological topics have been covered in recent issues. Swedish maintains an online library of past content in the Health Professionals section of its website at www.swedish.org.
Swedish Neuroscience Institute website. Earlier this year the SNI website took on a new look as part of a project to redesign the entireSwedishMedicalCenter website. SNI members are now able to directly update information about their programs, and are actively developing online patient resources for each of SNI’s programs. The SNI website is a repository of information about our neurological services, research, clinical trials and professional expertise.
Our goal is to continuously improve access to neurological information and the delivery of that information to interested groups of patients and referring physicians. | <urn:uuid:dc9dfcab-7d57-4730-9c37-b790375e6b70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://swedish.org/About/Blog/April-2011/SNI-Communication-Tools | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942958 | 504 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Team NOFI's Current Buster Technology is available in different sizes
Last July, in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the X PRIZE Foundation launched the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE. As with previous X PRIZE competitions, this one was intended to encourage private sector scientific research, by offering a cash prize to whichever team could best meet a given challenge. In this case, teams had to demonstrate a system of their own making, that could recover oil from a sea water surface at the highest Oil Recovery Rate (ORR) above 2,500 US gallons (9,463.5 liters) per minute, with an Oil Recovery Efficiency (ORE) of greater than 70 percent. Today, the winning teams were announced. | <urn:uuid:0d5f084c-b713-4961-9ba9-0dc2ec8ac9f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gizmag.com/oil-cleanup-x-challenge-winners/20141/picture/144685/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957182 | 153 | 2.4375 | 2 |
Overview of Birth Defects
Single Gene Defects
The Difference Between a Chromosome Abnormality and a Single Gene Defect
Evaluating a Child for Birth Defects
Testing for Birth Defects
Uses of Genetic Testing
Genetic Services: When, Where, How
Identification, Treatment, and Prevention of Birth Defects
Medical genetics is the branch of medicine concerned with how hereditary and genetic factors play a role in causing a disease, birth defect, or inherited susceptibility to a health problem.
Everyone is at risk for being born with a birth defect. Most birth defects are not under our control, and they are not caused by an action or inaction on the parents' part either before or during the pregnancy.
Even with normal prenatal diagnosis through testing like amniocentesis, there is still a 3 to 4 percent chance that a child will be born with some type of birth defect or health problem.
The Human Genome Project began in 1990 with the goal of mapping the location of all of the genes on the chromosomes. This monumental achievement has given scientists the building blocks to determine how diseases are caused, how to possibly treat them and, ultimately, prevent them.
Research in medical genetics has given us information about the genetic mechanisms that can result in disease. Common examples of genetic conditions have been included but are not meant to be comprehensive. The goal is to understand how genetics affects the health of our children.
Reviewed Date: 01-06-2012
Página Principal - Genética Médica | <urn:uuid:282c4dbe-217f-40b9-960d-1d412a59065a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chkd.org/HealthLibrary/Content.aspx?pageid=P02129 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929214 | 317 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Name: Khaled I.
Date of Incident: June 2012
Location: Al’ Arrub refugee camp, West Bank
Nature of Incident: Prison conditions / hunger strike / solitary confinement
A 16-year-old boy describes the prison conditions in Hasharon prison where children are sometimes punished with solitary confinement and denial of family visits.
Sixteen-year-old Khaled was arrested on 11 January 2012, and transferred to Ofer prison, in the West Bank. On 24 April he was transferred to Hasharon prison, inside Israel, in violation of article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which prohibits such transfers.
Khaled reports that there are around 40 children in his section of Hasharon prison. The children are held in rooms with capacity for either eight, six or two persons. “The rooms have bunk beds with thin and uncomfortable mattresses,” says Khaled. According to Khaled, nine children went on hunger strike in June. One of their complaints was that there was very little to buy in the prison shop (the cantina). “We have to buy things from the cantina because the prison food is bad,” says Khaled. “Since the hunger strike we now have biscuits, chickpeas, tuna and other foods.” Khaled says that each child is provided with 150 Shekels per month for the cantina from the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners and their families. “Some families cannot afford the money, so we find ourselves compelled to eat the prison food even though it is bad and insufficient.”
“In the past, the prison administration (Israeli Prison Service) punished us for silly reasons. For example, about four weeks ago I was put in solitary confinement in a cell measuring 2x1 metres for seven days for hanging a Palestinian flag in my room. They also impose other penalties. If you are late getting up, or smile during roll call, they take the television away and ban family visits for a month,” says Khaled. Although some things improved after the hunger strike, like the number of items for sale in the cantina, Khaled still complains about their treatment. “For example,” says Khaled, “four days ago, at around 3:00 am, prison guards stormed Room 4 and searched it for about five minutes. We still don’t know why they went through their bags and searched their beds.”
13 June 2012 | <urn:uuid:b0a1d6df-eb74-4dfe-8040-2fdfd079f438> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/voices-occupation-khaled-i-solitary-confinement | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974331 | 503 | 1.96875 | 2 |
When David M. Pittenger joined the staff of Baltimore's National Aquarium in 1979, his job was to sell the aquarium concept to the public -- quite a trick since the facility wasn't built yet.
The job of selling the aquarium may still present a challenge to Mr. Pittenger, just named as its new director. But at least he won't have to convince anyone of the attraction's worth.
Fourteen years after it opened with its rooftop rain forest, the aquarium remains an aesthetic and cultural signature of Baltimore's waterside renaissance. It is the top tourist draw in Maryland. Even as the Camden Yards baseball stadium has snared some of the limelight in national travel reviews, the aquarium remains a major cog in Maryland's $4.6 billion tourist industry. The ultimate tribute is how often the attraction has been copied by other cities chasing downtown revivals.
That's a tough legacy to uphold both for Mr. Pittenger and the aquarium board's new president, James A. Flick Jr., who runs Dome Corp., which is Johns Hopkins' profit-making arm. The new director and chairman succeed, respectively, Nicholas Brown and Frank A. Gunther Jr., who played key roles in shaping the aquarium.
Their challenge is the same as any teacher's -- to educate and invigorate. The handful of critics who view the place as a floating circus miss the point: The aquarium is an invaluable tool for imbuing children and adults with respect for the environment. In an electronic age of message overload, the sight of fish as big as file cabinets turning pirouettes underwater is an arresting image that transcends the clutter.
We urge the aquarium's new leadership to explore ways to spread their message in places harder to reach. Moving the popular $1 admission "Dollar Day" from summer to the less touristy winter season, and holding a second one next Feb. 26 for Black History Month, are laudable attempts to include city children who otherwise couldn't afford this wonder on the edge of their neighborhoods. Reaching out to city kids is also a cornerstone of the Children's Museum being developed across Pratt Street from the aquarium.
That museum and the new Christopher Columbus Center will draw even more foot traffic to the east side of the Inner Harbor. David Pittenger's trick will be to keep the fish exhibit fresh as it heads into its third decade. | <urn:uuid:4f28d269-5681-46d4-aef7-e58a04635683> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1994-12-25/news/1994359004_1_national-aquarium-pittenger-aquarium-remains | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953275 | 482 | 2.03125 | 2 |
"The brain is like Velcro to negative experiences and Teflon to positive ones." That's how the neuropsychologist Rick Hanson describes negativity bias—a psychological phenomenon where humans tend to pay more attention to bad feedback and forget about good outcomes.
As a result, people usually overestimate the possibility that disaster will strike. This is a great survival strategy (that rock might be a bear, so I won't poke it). But it's an impractical tactic for the modern world of work (my boss might say no, so I won't even ask for that raise).
What does negativity bias have to do with my career change? One of the worst side effects of negativity bias is an unwillingness to take risks. Of course, not all risks are good for your career. But taking (smart) chances can have major payoff—especially in the increasingly volatile and competitive job market. "Tough as it is for cautious people like me to accept, if you don't occasionally take calculated gambles, you won't get ahead as quickly as those who do," writes career coach Alexandra Levit in a piece for The Wall Street Journal.
How can I take good career risks? The smartest career risks are ones with possible upsides that greatly outweigh the possible downsides. In other words, when the reward justifies the gamble.
But to clearly calculate the true riskiness of a situation, you've got to work around your negativity bias. To take the leaps you need for a great career change, try these tactics:
* Remember that your negativity bias can make you exaggerate risks. Whatever you're planning, there's a good chance that it's actually less perilous than it seems at first glance.
* Think about the worst-case failure scenario: Could you survive it? In a post for Tim Ferriss's blog, Ben Casnocha and Reid Hoffman, authors of the book The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career, write: "When the worst case of a given risk means getting fired, losing a little bit of time or money, experiencing some discomfort … it is a risk you should be willing to take. By contrast, if the worst-case scenario is the serious tarnishing of your reputation or something otherwise career-ending, don't accept that risk."
* Take a big picture view. While your instinctive reaction to a risk may be "NO!" take a 3,000-foot view to get a true sense of the long-term rewards. In a year or five from now, will this risk potentially put you at an advantage? Perspective can take the edge off your initial response and allow you to make a more clear-headed calculation.
Remember, even if you fail, making thoughtful gambles teaches you a vital skill: how to evaluate and handle risk. By taking leaps of faith, both small (like volunteering for a project that's outside your comfort zone) and big (like changing careers), you introduce regular unpredictability into your career. And that can increase your immunity to surprise, shock, and change.
Bottom line: to survive and thrive in your career, you've got to get used to taking risks.
Annie Favreau is the managing editor for Inside Jobs—a site that helps career changers and choosers discover strong career options + find the right education to make it happen. Follow her on Twitter @InsideJobs. | <urn:uuid:645d3707-d1a6-4874-9071-6082ef80c25f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/02/12/how-negativity-bias-can-wreck-a-career-change | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938026 | 696 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Although it rhymes with RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks), MAID (massive array of inactive disks) is a completely new approach to storing data. It's an approach that is carving out its own niche among tape-based and disk-based data-protection solutions. (For a primer on MAID and some of the players in the market, see "MAID technology challenges tape.")
To rival tape drives, MAID solutions treat disk drives as start/stop devices, powering on units only when access is needed to store or retrieve data. For that reason, in MAID solutions you will find parallel or serial ATA drives, engineered to survive repeated power cycles unlike the more vulnerable SCSI drives.
Copan Systems, one of the pioneers of MAID solutions, has released its first product, the Revolution 200T. The 200T is a capacity hog, storing as much as 224TB of backup data in a 3-foot wide, 7-foot-high cabinet.
Fully configured, the Revolution 200T can emulate as many as 56 distinct tape libraries from major vendors, and can be the target of backup applications from BakBone, Galaxy, and Veritas, ensuring a transparent migration from tape libraries to the Copan box.
Copan claims an unrivaled data transfer rate of 2.4TB per hour for its Revolution 200T. They also estimate a TCO of 40 percent to 50 percent, compared to other disk-to-disk-to-tape approaches. Currently the Revolution 200T, with its FC and GbE connectivity, doesn’t offer WORM (write once, read many) capabilities, but Copan plans to add that feature in future releases to attract customers with those compliance requirements.
The architecture of the Revolution 200T is intriguing, although you may have to adjust to its gargantuan storage proportions in its extremely compact build. The unit mounts 250GB SATA (serial ATA) drives from Hitachi, Maxtor, or Seagate. Its core is a canister, essentially a narrow drawer where 14 drives stand vertically over two facing rows. Group eight canisters to make a shelf, and pile as many as eight shelves to fill the cabinet with an amazing 896 (yes, almost 900) drives. Adopters may start with a minimum configuration of 56TB on two shelves and increase capacity in 28TB increments.
Whatever the configuration, typically only 25 percent of the drives will be active at any given time, which helps keep environmental factors such as noise, heat, and power consumption down, but which creates some unprecedented challenges in maintaining data reliability. To that end, Copan has surrounded the unit with three tiers of management software and has developed custom technologies such as Power Managed Raid and Disk Aerobic that ensure parity protection across canisters and monitors disk drive integrity.
If you feel that the Revolution 200T turns the tables on our conventional way of using disk drives, you are right. Copan’s new product may not have rendered tape libraries obsolete, but may significantly reduce their deployment target. I wouldn’t be surprised to see MAID arrays become part of tape library offerings in the near future. | <urn:uuid:ee9462d0-4168-4fbb-9365-72ea799ba063> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoworld.com/t/platforms/maid-your-archives-547 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941735 | 649 | 1.757813 | 2 |
How does having bladder cancer affect your emotional health?
During and after treatment, you may be surprised by the flood of emotions you go through. This happens to a lot of people.
You may find yourself thinking about death and dying. Or maybe you’re more aware of the effect the cancer has on your family, friends, and career. You may take a new look at your relationships with those around you. Money may be a concern if medical bills pile up. You may see your health care team less often after treatment and have more time on your hands. These changes can make some people anxious.
This is a good time to look for emotional and social support. You need people you can turn to. Support can come in many forms: family, friends, cancer support groups, church or spiritual groups, online support groups, or private counselors.
The cancer journey can feel very lonely. You don’t need to go it alone. Your friends and family may feel shut out if you decide not include them. Let them in – and let in anyone else who you feel may help. If you aren’t sure who can help, call your American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 and we can put you in touch with a group or resource that may work for you.
You can’t change the fact that you have had cancer. What you can change is how you live the rest of your life – making healthy choices and helping your body and mind feel well.
Last Medical Review: 12/03/2012
Last Revised: 01/21/2013 | <urn:uuid:254cffc2-98b5-4411-8da3-ce9cb90e8bb8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cancer.org/cancer/bladdercancer/overviewguide/bladder-cancer-overview-after-emotional-health | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958543 | 326 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Over the break, my wife and I spent a glorious week on the Caribbean island of Nevis. We spent our time swimming, snorkeling, walking along the beach, and driving on the wrong side of the road.
After a few days, I started to notice something. When we were around both tourists (mostly American) and locals, the locals had much better body posture. As a whole, they stood up rather straight and had normal walking gaits. In contrast, it was not infrequent for the tourists to be slumping or hunched over. After I noticed this, I started paying more attention, and I found relatively few exceptions.
It made me wonder if the American (western?) lifestyle, complete with sedentary activity and high levels of stress, didn't manifest itself on our bodies. This certainly seems to be the case with peoples' weight, but I wonder if it's also the case with body posture.
I don't know if I stand up straighter now, after a week on Nevis, but it sure helped me get the real winter that we've had here for the past month. | <urn:uuid:c4946cbb-6420-4240-94d4-8c500702e304> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brewright.blogspot.com/2011/02/body-posture-in-developing-country.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985931 | 229 | 1.5625 | 2 |
| Saturday, March 17, 2001 - 09:01 pm |
I feel there will never be peace with the Palestinians, as long as we (ALL THE JEWS) do not keep ALL the Miswoth. The only way we can live in peace in Israel is by keeping all the Miswoth that Hashem has given us. This is the only way we will have the right to Eres Yisrael.
What do I mean by keeping all the Miswoth. Like Hilel and Rabi Akiba said: Love your neighbour like yourself. All the Jews MUST love each other UNCONDITIONALLY. Many Miswoth are attached to this: Do not steal, do not kill, Help your fellow man, and more.
We also must learn Tora every day. We must have a set time every day to stuying Tora.
Rambam, the great Hacham, Doctor and philosopher said that a business man should work 3 hours a day and learn Tora 9 hours a day.
Tora is the manual for living for a Jew. With out Tora we are nothing. Unfortunately most of us can not do like Rambam says; however, we CAN study at leat 1 to 2 hours of Tora every day. Tora does not mean just the 5 books of Moses. The word Tora means ALL the Tora (Nevi-im, Ketubim, Talmud, Shulhan Aruch, Rishonim Aharonim, Sifrei Mussar and much more).
By learning Tora I mean: Lilmod Ulelamed Lishmor Wela-asot. To learn in order to teach and to keep and to do all the miswoth
Waiting for Geuala Shelema with your help.
| Saturday, March 24, 2001 - 11:35 pm |
dear Eli Cohen
I agree with every word you wrote. we cannot achieve our goals if we don't do what we were ordered by hashem.
sometimes people don't understand why we have to do every day the same Tefilla and the same actions as wearing Sisith and Tefillin. but if you go and study you'll find that every day has its Tikkun in 6000 years of the world since the creation! so go on every jew and do what you were commanded and hashem will arrange all the rest
Haim from Yerushalayim Ir Hakkodesh
| Tuesday, April 17, 2001 - 04:23 pm |
How can there be peace with the PA when they urge their people to "kill the Jews wherever they are"? Recently on PA radio they said, "Once we defeat the little Satan (Israel) we will deal with our enemies in the great Satan (America).
| Wednesday, April 25, 2001 - 10:23 am |
There will be peace only when HASHEM wants it.
We have to do all the Miswoth and learn and pray sincerely and try to bring our brothers and sisters close to the path of truth (Derech Emeth).
The Beth Hamiqdash was destroyed because of Sin-ath Hinam (hate between people) and it will be rebuilt thru AHABATH HINNAM (UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR YOUR FELLOW HUMAN). This is our responsibility.
For more detail please refer to the following: | <urn:uuid:760d9051-1979-4259-8d3a-f7989aa747fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.midrash.org/dpost/messages/28/90.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945511 | 707 | 2.25 | 2 |
Your guide to Euro 2012 in Wroclaw
Welcome to Wrocław, to Euro 2012, and to our one-stop guide to the city and the tournament.
On this page you will find all the information you need, about fixtures, teams, transport, accommodation, tickets, the stadium, help and advice, and Wrocław's cultural and historic backdrop against which the competition will be played out.
Wrocław is the industrial capital of Poland's Śląsk (Silesia) region, an area rich in natural resources and with a strong work ethos. It's just possible that workmanship on the football pitch could turn up a true gem in the city this summer. We're here to make sure you don't miss the moment.
Wrocław will host just three group games during the Euro 2012 competition, but won its right to do so thanks to a dynamic and robust bid that included the building of a new stadium in the city. As the capital of Silesia, it's a city that has long been associated with heavy industry, but in recent years has begun to build a reputation too as the host city of major European events. Clearly, the townsfolk here are not the kind to put all their eggs in one basket. The city itself has had a torrid history, changing hands several times. Is it now Polish, German, Silesian..? Of course, Wrocław is a city on Polish territory, but there are little things in the make-up of the locals, and those of the surrounding region, that suggest there is some degree of autonomy here, at least in thought; calls for a greater degree of self-governance for Silesia are regular, but have the character of coming from the vocal minority. For example, don't be surprised if you hear the German word 'ja' used instead of the Polish 'tak' for 'yes'. Although such linguistic peculiarities are dying out, there are still plenty of other words that you will not hear anywhere in Poland other than in Silesia.
In truth, it is probably the case that the real character of Silesia takes something from Polish, German and local culture. This is hardly surprising; by the time the 19th century was coming to an end, Wrocław itself was one of the largest cities in what was then Prussia, and was at the time called Breslau. This name is still remembered in the works of the modern crime writer Marek Krajewski, whose novels painting a gloomy and almost supernatural portrait of the city are incredibly popular in Poland. Krajewski is a Wrocław native, born and bred, so knows the city, its characters, its history and its quirks inside out. The German domination of Breslau was to continue right up to the end of the second world war. It was here that the Nazi forces in Western Europe had their last stand, fighting the advancing Soviet army and holding out for 14-weeks before finally raising the white flag on May 6 1945. After the war came a peculiar period in the city's history, which threw some of Northern and Eastern Poland's cultural heritage into what was already something of a melting pot. Wrocław became Wrocław as it was returned to Poland - and the Germans living there were thrown out. In their place came Poles from Lviv in Ukraine, and from Vilnius in Lithuania. These newcomers both set about building what was to become modern Wrocław, almost from scratch, and over the decades it rose again as a fully fledged urban centre.
As a 21st-century Central European city⦠well, you can see for yourself. Tourists who come to Wrocław do so in large numbers, and with very good reason; it is not for nothing that the city has been named European Capital of Culture for 2016, so as well as building up to this summer's football tournament it is preparing to face the glare of the continent's media for quite some time. Visitors come for shopping, and for sport, for concerts, to see the beautiful cathedral and gardens,and night life. The most important of these this summer, to most minds, anyway, will be the European football championships. Sixteen teams, 31 matches, and only one victor. This is how it's going to look in Wrocław from June 8â¦
Friday June 8, 9.45pm
First Round, Group A
Russia v Czech Republic
Tuesday June 12, 7pm
First Round, Group A
Greece v Czech Republic
Saturday June 16, 9.45pm
First Round, Group A
Czech Republic v Poland
This is the group that the co-hosts will be watching closely, and the one which caused the most speculation and comment in the media when the draw was made. Much interest has of course been generated simply because this is Poland's group. This is a nation of football fans and even those who don't follow the Polish Ekstraklasa league are practically aching to see some kind of memorable performance from 'their boys'. Of course, there is also the prospect of taking on the old enemy - or one of the old enemies, at least; for group A pits Poland against Russia, and despite diplomats from both sides making the right kinds of noises, there is no lack of antagonism between the two. That's not to take anything away from either the Czech Republic or Greece, both finalists in this competition in recent memory, but all the attention will be on the two big games, between Poland and Russia. Only the Czech Republic will make their base in Wrocław, staying at Hotel Monopol, and training at Wroclaw Municipal Stadium.
As one of the host nations, Poland didn't have to play competitively to secure a place in this tournament. In fact, this is only the second time that Poland have played in the European championships, and given that they went out in the first round after losing 2-0 to Germany, 1-0 to Croatia, and drawing 1-1 with Austria and finishing last in the group, the fans here will be looking for a vastly improved performance. They have fared better in World Cup terms, qualifying seven times since 1938, and coming third in 1974 and 1982. Now they are ranked 68th in the world by FIFA, having climbed five places up the ladder in the past 18 months; but it might just be that statistics and historical performances are blown out of the window if the wind of national pride and expectation, combined with home advantage, play their part.
The Russians are a relatively new force in world football, having really come to national attention in 2008, when they reached the semi-final stage of the Austria-Switzerland hosted tournament and lost out 3-0 to eventual winners Spain. Their qualification for Euro 2012 was emphatic, having topped group B with seven wins, two draws, and just one defeat, amassing 23 points on the way. The only loss came to Slovakia (1-0), and Russia drew 0-0 with both Armenia and the Republic of Ireland. The victories were against Andorra (2-0 and 6-0), Republic of Ireland (3-2), Macedonia (1-0 in both matches), Armenia (3-1), and Slovakia (1-0). Their only victory in the European championship came way back in 1960, when Russia was playing as the Soviet Union.
It seemed, back in 1996, that everyone wanted the surprise finalists the Czech Republic to claim a historic victory over Germany. Everyone, that is, except the Germans, who fully expected to win it and went on to do just that. The Czechs did win the European Championships once, back in 1978, when they were playing as Czechoslovakia. To reach the finals of the competition this time around, the Czech Republic had to negotiate the qualification play-offs, having finished second in Group I, 11 points behind the group winners Spain. On paper, the play-off tie between the Czech Republic and Montenegro looked like a foregone conclusion for the Czechs. In fact, their win over two games was 3-0 on aggregate - with late goals in both matches securing their 2-0 and 1-0 victories. Though the attention of everyone but the Czechs is likely to be on the Poland-Russia clashes, neutrals would probably concede that it is the Czech Republic, not the home nation, that has the best chance of making it out of the group.
Nobody in the footballing world could quite believe what was happening on July 4 2004, when a stunned Portugal side collected not the European championship trophy but the also-ran medals. Greece, which had been given odds of around 150-1 before the start of the competition, had stolen the show with a single goal that wrote striker Angelos Charisteas into modern Greek legend. Nobody is expecting repeat performance⦠but then nobody was expecting it eight years ago either - something that fans of all 16 nations competing in this summer's tournament would do well to remember. However, don't write them off. For, while Greece are not widely considered as championship material, they have certainly been holding their own in the run-up to the competition. They qualified direct from Group F, finishing two points clear of Croatia at the top of the table. En route, the Greeks had beaten Latvia (1-0), Israel (2-1 and 1-0), Malta (3-1 and 1-0), Croatia (2-0) and Georgia (2-1). They drew 1-1 with Latvia, 1-1 with Georgia, and 0-0 with Croatia.
Meet the locals
Unfortunately for Wrocław, the most memorable moment in its modern footballing history is a very black spot indeed. This was the 'ustawka' - an organised riot between fans - in 2003, in which one person died, 12 hospitalised, and more than 200 arrested.
But football in Poland, as in other nations, is a passionate sport; just as the English were rehabilitated into European club football after the dark days of the 1980s, so UEFA has accepted that Poland has dealt effectively enough with its hooligan problem to warrant it's co-host status of Euro 2012.
The local team is Śląsk Wrocław, an Ekstraklasa club with five trophies to its name. They won the Polish Cup in 1976 and 1987, the Ekstraklasa Cup in 2009, the Polish Super Cup in 1977, and the league in 1977. Playing in green and white, which carries a distinct red flash on both home and away strips, Śląsk Wrocław are now one of the main forces of Polish football, having finishing second in the Ekstraklasa in the 2010-2011 season. Their home, and the ground for the Euro 2012 matches, is Stadion Miejski, which boasts close to 43,000 seats.
Stadion Miejski is a brand new stadium that was built in the space of just two years, at a cost of almost 73 million złoty. It was designed and built by architects JSK Architekci, and stands at Aleja Śląska 1, within easy reach of all parts of the city.
Even before the Euro 2012 tournament started, Stadion Miejski had already come to the attention of connoisseurs of this kind of archicture. In fact, at the time of writing, it is up for the title of 'best stadium' in an international competition that has just 27 finalists. Possibly this is because the stadium combines a variety of uses, not just football, with facilities for shopping, concerts, commerce, office space and leisure.
At the business end, Stadion Miejski is a steel, concrete and fibreglass structure which can actually change its appearance - thanks to a clever lighting system - to suit whichever event is being held there. It stands 37 metres high, and the roof covers a total of 38,000 square metres. The seating, as at the other Euro 2012 venues, will be reduced a little for the duration of the tournament, so the stadium will be able to seat 41,500 fans. Of these, most are regular seating - but there will also be 100 spaces for disabled fans, 1,600 for business customers, and 500 in boxes. There's not much chance of becoming caught short either, as, unlike some older-style football stadiums, the toilet facilities are both state of the art and numerous. Naturally, fans will be offered the opportunity to buy merchandise and refreshments too; in fact, there's a food counter which is almost 300 metres long.
And, for the game itself, you will find that wherever you are seated, the view is fantastic. In fact, the minimum distance from the first row to the pitch is just under seven metres - so seats here come with the opportunity to offer advice and instruction to the player of your choice.
If you are flying directly into Wrocław, you can get a flight to Copernicus Airport from several UK cities and many more across Europe. There is a bus, number 406, direct from the airport - which was due to open a new terminal in early 2012 - to the city centre; or, you can hop into a taxi or hire car and get to the stadium itself in under 20 minutes thanks to the new motorway link, the A8.
Like the airport and motorway, Wrocław railway station has also been the subject of pre-tournament renovation, which was due for completion before the first match kicks off at Stadion Miejski on June 8. It's a great way to get to the stadium from the city centre, taking just a few minutes and three stops to make the journey.
Within the city, make the most of the bus and tram network which offers comprehensive coverage around the centre and environs. Take a look at the city's local information website if you want to plan your journey in advance, or expect to take some time sightseeing as well as watching the game.
Travelling onwards, perhaps to see games at other Euro 2012 venues, the Polish railway service has connections to the rest of the cities in Poland. Gdansk is 480km away, Poznan 145km, and Warsaw 302km. To get to the Ukraine, you're going to have to cross not just a border but a fair distance too. Lviv is 513km distant, Kiev 950km, Kharkiv 1,360, and Donetsk is 1,780km away.
Wrocław offers plenty of choice if you're dropping into the city for a game and just need a very basic bed for the night, or if you are planning to stay for the duration of the tournament and perhaps build a bit of a holiday into the trip too and are looking for a longer-term apartment or perhaps something right at the top end of the market. Although the city is not likely to physically run out of beds, it is worth remembering that the coming of Euro 2012 is just like any other event as far as market forces are concerned. It will push up prices for accommodation so you should book as early as possible in order to secure the best deals.
Hostels, hotels, apartments, single, double, triple, dorm or suite⦠it might take a little patience if you're fussy about what you want, but persevere. And look out too for something new for 2012, as Poles cash in by offering their apartments for rent during the tournament. This last option may be too much of a hit and miss chance for some, but if you read the language check out Wrocław's local media online to see what's on offer.
For everything else, there's a one-stop service covering not just Wrocław but many other cities in Poland and across Europe. Visit the website at Freebookers, or email firstname.lastname@example.org for more information.
A total of 1.4 million tickets are available for the Euro 2012 competition, and there are a number of ways in which you can get your hands on them.
But first, a warning. By all means, visit Wroclaw to soak up the atmosphere and see games in the city's bars⦠but don't expect to be able to buy tickets at the stadium, and definitely avoid the touts that will inevitably put in an appearance. This latter point is important - not only will you pay massively over the odds and quite possibly end up with a fake ticket, but you probably won't get into the game. UEFA, the organiser of the tournament, has pointed out that it is the only body authorised to sell tickets to the games, in any form. This means that offers from other companies which do not have UEFA's blessing, including those selling travel, accommodation and ticket packages, are definitely not the real deal. UEFA said that fans should go through the official route to ensure their tickets are fairly priced and legitimate.
One of these routes is via the football association in your home nation. Each of the 16 qualifying countries has a UEFA portal for selling tickets. There are also UEFA licenced tour operators selling packages. In fairness, if you haven't already got a ticket, it might be a problem doing so. UEFA's ticket lottery is long-closed, but you might still have a chance via the official resale programme. If not, the official sponsors of the tournament run competitions offering tickets as prizes - certainly not a sure-fire way of getting to the match, but worth a shot if all else fails.
Help and advice
Football has always pushed emotions a little closer to the surface, and heated the blood by a degree or two. Most fans visiting Wrocław for the tournament will be there to urge on their teams and have high-spirited fun. All the same, it's as well to be aware of where you can get help if you need it. To summon emergency aid by telephone, call the European emergency line - 112. However, there's no guarantee that the operator will speak your language. You can also call Polish services direct, on 997 (police) 998 (fire) or 999 (medical). If you need help from a representative of your own country, or get into trouble during your stay in Wrocław, your first port of call should be your consulate in the city. Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Slovakia, and Ukraine are all represented in Wrocław. Finally, you can get medication for a variety of non-emergency conditions (including hangovers) at the chemists all over the city. Look for the Apteka signs, or call into any supermarket.
Kinga from Poland Reply
My colleagues keep asking about my hometown - I'll send them this link so I don't have to explain everything to them ;)
Ash from Poland Reply
Your account of the city would suit Katowice better than Wroclaw. Katowice is in Slask or Silesia and it is here that you will find people of mixed ethnic roots and mutated Polish and German language .Wroclaw is the capital ot lower Silesia . Katowice is the capital of upper Silesia and also a large coal mining and industrial area.
Hanah from United Kingdom Reply
Thanks, that's useful. | <urn:uuid:8e1b34ee-ee1f-44bc-b0b5-3ddbd59b7803> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.local-life.com/wroclaw/articles/euro-2012-wroclaw | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970528 | 4,022 | 1.5625 | 2 |
clappy humor: A style of humor in which actual humor content is irrelevant. Instead, the comedian makes cutting, witty remarks about a person, idea or movement to which both he and his audience are largely opposed, and the audience does not actually laugh, but instead applauds his wit. Clappy humor is only there to make a political point and to be clapped at; it is not supposed to be "funny" or joke-based, as mere jokes and laughter would be considered frivolous by both comedian and audience.
Whoever peruses this essay should know that it states only Runeberg's conclusions, not his dialectic or his proof. Someone may observe that no doubt the conclusion preceded the "proofs". For who gives himself up to looking for proofs of something he does not believe in or the predication of which he does not care about?
— Jorge Luis Borges, Three Versions of Judas
There seems to be a ton of athiests commenting here... I could be wrong, that's just what it looks like. I'm pretty sure, though, that no matter what either side has to say, their argument is just going to make those who agree with them happy, and nothing else. Nobody is going to be convinced there is or isn't a God in the comments section. | <urn:uuid:03358c03-dfcc-411a-b0e2-c63424991b75> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/ConfirmationBias | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977678 | 266 | 1.765625 | 2 |
An undistinguished, low-budget costume drama about a classical topic in Roman history, L'Enlevement des Sabines, by Richard Pottier, chronicles the problem of the men in early Rome. In fact, that is the problem -- there are only men in early Rome. Their leader is the son of the war god Mars and so the tendency is to fight first and ask questions later. But among the Sabine women who do not live so far away are some very attractive females. Needless to say, the Romans see the answer to their problem, though in the end the answer does avert a war between the two sites.
by Eleanor Mannikka synopsis | <urn:uuid:f9c93514-b0c8-47ae-9990-7cc62a946ae1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allmovie.com/movie/il-ratto-delle-sabine-v40317 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914485 | 138 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Washington Bureau—The U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.5% in the third quarter, unofficially marking the end of the worst recession since World War II.
The growth reported today by the Commerce Department for the three months that ended Sept. 30 snapped four straight quarters of economic contraction and was driven largely by a rebound in consumer spending supported by the federal stimulus package and improved business spending that included a revival of homebuilding..
The increase in the gross domestic product, the total value of goods and services produced in the country, is the evidence most economists have said is needed to declare victory against the recession.
But today's preliminary report doesn't mean the economy is in good shape. Its expansion in the third quarter only partly offsets its dramatic 6% decline last fall and winter. A number of forecasters are predicting weaker expansion in the fourth quarter and in the early part of 2010.
And the country's unemployment rate, which reached a 26-year high of 9.8% last month, is expected to remain high for some time
Peter Morici, an economics professor at the University of Maryland, said the economy needed to have an annual growth rate of 3% or more over at least three quarters to add enough jobs to bring down unemployment.
"I don't see a rosy picture," he said before the GDP figure was released.
Although a recession is commonly defined as two or more straight quarters of GDP decline, economists rely on the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, nonpartisan research group, to mark the beginning and end of business cycles. The bureau, which considers GDP and employment data as primary factors in determining a recession's length, said the latest recession began in December 2007.
The White House said it sees evidence of an impact from the $787-billion economic stimulus act approved by Congress in February in the newest quarter's economic report.
"This is in stark contrast to the decline of 6.4 percent annual rate just two quarters ago,'' said Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Maintaining that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contributed between 3 and 4 percentage points to real GDP growth in the third quarter, Romer said: "This suggests that in the absence of the Recovery Act, real GDP would have risen little, if at all, this past quarter."
"After four consecutive quarters of decline, positive GDP growth is an encouraging sign that the U.S. economy is moving in the right direction,'' Romer said. "However, this welcome milestone is just another step, and we still have a long road to travel until the economy is fully recovered.
"it will take sustained, robust GDP growth to bring the unemployment rate down substantially,'' she said in a statement issued by the White House this morning. "Such a decline in unemployment is, of course, what we are all working to achieve." | <urn:uuid:d4797e63-954b-4282-8439-ac900e7c90bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ctnow.com/news/nationworld/sns-dc-gdp-story,0,5502985.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963057 | 593 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Why he's interesting This Shaker Heights high school teacher's latest hit "Molecules Gone Wild (Bio Style)" parodies Psy's "Gangnam Style" and will teach you a thing or two about macromolecules. With 70,740 views, Hsu's YouTube sensation has made its way to living rooms and college campuses. While Hsu prefers live performances, he's made videos using beats from Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" to the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way."
Cellular start Hsu first released his inner rapper while student teaching in a biology class at Shaw High School. "A student laid down a beat and I rapped about mitochondria. I tried. I was terrible, but I felt that it was a bonding experience. That destroyed my sense of shame for the rest of my teaching career."
Prep and production It takes an average of 40 hours to produce one of his videos from writing, singing, recording and filming. "For 'Molecules Gone Wild (Bio Style),' I actually kept a log from start to finish. It took 55 hours."
Record deals "There's the constant joke of making an album. If the ideas come to me, then maybe I'll try to do something."
Finding inspiration Hsu was in a doctor's office waiting room when the idea to make his first video, "Cell Respiration" struck. "On the drive over I was hearing Black Eyed Peas' ["I Gotta Feeling"] then the idea just came to me. By the end of the night, I had the first verse written out."
TV Teachers His favorite TV teacher is Boy Meets World's Mr. Feeny. "I like a lot of how he supported Cory, how he was more than just a teacher. Every now and then when I am able to connect with the child and make a difference in their life, I feel good about my job and I think that's a lot of what Feeny was about."
Snake charmer Hsu cares for two nonpoisonous snakes in the science department: a small corn snake and a small ball python. "I have picked [the ball python] up just fine, but I've been bit by him. It didn't hurt, but it was definitely all bloody."
hey, kool-aid man! Pop culture can be used to break down the walls in the classroom. "Teaching can be subversive sometimes. You have to lead them to the water to get them to drink it by pretending its full of Kool-Aid." | <urn:uuid:4df1c336-5580-43c6-a8b4-663e8025b988> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=1578600D80804596A222593669321019&tier=4&id=8EAE8F2CA8F64C04A6D00AA40861D06D | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97739 | 529 | 1.570313 | 2 |
While not exactly first aid, during an emergency or survival situation some psychology may need to be employed. A person who is overcome with grief at the loss of a loved one, shocked by the effects of a disaster, or otherwise in a debilitating frame of mind is at far greater risk than someone who is focused and determined. Having a basic understanding of how to get someone to "snap out of it" or otherwise rapidly deal with a psychological issue could save lives. A professional psychologist can help a person "deal" with their issues in a more complete way later, during a disaster it is more important that they keep functioning.
Mitigating Stress following a Disaster
What can survivors do to reduce the risk of negative psychological consequences and to best recover from disaster stress? Researchers are beginning to conduct studies to answer this question. Observations by disaster mental-health specialists who assist survivors in the wake of disaster suggest that the following steps help to reduce stress symptoms and to promote postdisaster readjustment.*
Protect: Find a safe haven that provides shelter; food and liquids; sanitation; privacy; and chances to sit quietly, relax, and sleep at least briefly.
Direct: Begin setting and working on immediate personal and family priorities to enable you and your significant others to preserve or regain a sense of hope, purpose, and self-esteem.
Connect: Maintain or reestablish communication with family, peers, and counselors in order to talk about your experiences. Take advantage of opportunities to "tell your story" and to be a listener to others as they tell theirs, so that you and they can release the stress a little bit at a time.
Select: Identify key resources, such as FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, or the local and state health departments, for clean-up, health, housing, and basic emergency assistance.
Taking each day one at a time is essential in disaster's wake. Each day is a new opportunity to FILL-UP:
Focus Inwardly on what's most important to you and your family today; Look and Listen to learn what you and your significant others are experiencing, so you'll remember what is important and let go of what's not; Understand Personally what these experiences mean to you, so that you will feel able to go on with your life and even grow personally.
- The construct "Protect, Direct, Connect, Select" was developed by Diane Myers, unpublished manuscript. | <urn:uuid:05d8515d-4140-4716-9eaf-9683d78c4653> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zombiehunters.org/wiki/index.php/Survival_Psychology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955631 | 498 | 3.25 | 3 |
It seems like such an elegant use of genetic engineering.
Splice the genes for a naturally pest-killing microbe into a crop plant so that the corn or wheat or potato plants themselves become lethal to the pests. No more wasteful -- and expensive -- spraying of toxic pesticides. Instead, the bugs taste the leaves and go off to die.
Indisputably, it works. The genes of Bacillus thuringiensis
, or Bt, have been added to corn, cotton, potatoes, and other crops, with the desired results. Scientists are aware, however, that any effort to manipulate the ecological balance must reckon with the evolutionary consequences. So even before the first Bt crops were planted, scientists, farmers, and regulators began worrying about unintended effects.
For example, insects that feed on the Bt-enhanced plants are continuously exposed to the lethal Bt toxin, not intermittently exposed, as when Bt is sprayed. The plants kill most of the insects, but a few bugs will survive because of random mutations that make them resistant.
They'll not only survive, but they'll gain a reproductive edge, breeding with each other to create strains of Bt-resistant bugs that could dominate an area. The greatest fear is that the resistant insects would prevail to such an extent that Bt in the form of a spray, used by organic farmers for more than 50 years, might become useless too.
To forestall this catastrophe, the federal Environmental Protection Agency called for farmers to create "refuges" -- fields planted with the original, non-Bt-modified crops. In these refuges the pests' reproduction will be free of the selection pressures favoring resistant mutants. The few Bt-immune individuals will be overwhelmed by the wild-type, Bt-susceptible insects. And when the resistant bugs mate with the wild-type individuals, their offspring will be vulnerable to the Bt toxin.
There's general agreement refuges should work. The questions arise over how large the refuges must be (as a percentage of the farmer's total crop planting) and whether the requirement will be economically disadvantageous to farmers.
For example, they would have to spray the refuge crops with traditional Bt pesticide -- so why not just spray all the crops with it? The debate goes on, and the problem remains unresolved.
Consider the arguments for and against the use of genetically modified foods in this NOVA | <urn:uuid:46c38783-ccc5-46d8-993e-0163e19f7134> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.gen.btcorn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93471 | 499 | 3.71875 | 4 |
Papal encouragement for Latin American faithful
CWN - December 13, 2011
Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the people of Latin America to maintain their historic commitment to the Catholic faith, as he presided on December 12—the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe—at a special Mass for the region.
The Pontiff made headlines during the afternoon Mass by announcing that he would travel to Cuba and Mexico sometime in the early part of 2012. In his homily, he spoke more broadly about the importance of the faith to the culture of Latin America. He said that the region’s people should recognize that Jesus Christ is “the definitive response to the question about the meaning of life and to the fundamental doubts which, today too afflict, so many men and women of the American continent.”
“It is important for its various peoples to safeguard their rich store of faith and their historical and cultural dynamism, always defending human life from conception to natural end, and promoting peace,” the Pope said. “Likewise, they must protect the authentic nature and mission of the family, and at the same time intensify their widespread educational efforts which will rightly prepare people and make them aware of their abilities so that they may meet their destiny in a worthy and responsible way.”
Recognizing the problems that face the region and the need to confront them, the Holy Father asked the people of Latin America to promote “ever more adequate initiatives and concrete programs aimed at reconciliation and fraternity, increasing solidarity and protecting the environment, increasing efforts to overcome poverty, illiteracy and corruption and eradicating all injustice, violence, criminality, civil unrest, drug trafficking and extortion.”
The Mass in St. Peter’s basilica was scheduled to celebrate the 200th anniversary of independence for many of the countries of the region. (Different countries in Latin America are marking that anniversary on dates stretching from 2008 through 2024.) Pope Benedict remarked: “Peter's Successor could not let this anniversary pass without expressing the Church's joy at the copious gifts which God, in His infinite goodness, has poured upon those beloved nations over the years.”
The Pope concelebrated the Mass with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State; Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America; Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City; and Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, Brazil. The Mass was celebrated in Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin, with Argentine as well as Roman music.
The congregation in the Vatican basilica was unusually colorful, with many young people dressed in the traditional garb of their countries, and a number of national flags in evidence. L’Osservatore Romano remarked that these were not signs of nationalism, but a confirmation of the deep roots of Catholicism “in that that immense part of the world where today almost half of the faithful in communion with Rome live.”
An appeal from our founder, Dr. Jeffrey Mirus:
Dear reader: If you found the information on this page helpful in your pursuit of a better Catholic life, please support our work with a donation. Your donation will help us reach five million Truth-seeking readers worldwide this year. Thank you!
Progress toward our June expenses ($15,085 to go):
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off! | <urn:uuid:d0fcf9e2-4871-4515-8732-acb822af9d15> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=12651 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951926 | 746 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Usually in MVC we will have only one controller which will redirect the requests to the corresponding view. what about the Spring. Should we use only one controller or one controller per request. Im involved in devloping a web application in Spring. This involves User registration , User management, some reports etc. we have developed this by having a controller(Simple form controller) for each. Totally we are having 25 menus and about 50 views and each menu is having a controller. Is this architecture right?
And can you give me some best practices in using Spring. | <urn:uuid:03bab352-f0d5-41f6-a3d8-49b9a3454ba7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.springsource.org/showthread.php?13840-Architecture-Design | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909156 | 113 | 1.679688 | 2 |
October 22nd, 2007 by Bob Bly
There?s an old joke that goes: the proof that advertising works is that millions of people think yogurt tastes good.
I think even better proof is that marketers have conned consumers into spending $15 billion per year on bottled water brands ? about a third of which already use filtered tap water anyway.
Bottled water costs about a thousand times more per gallon than tap water. Worse, bottled water often contains more bacteria and impurities, because the EPA regulates municipal water systems more stringently than the FDA regulates bottled water.
Yes, bottled water is conveniently portable. But why not just buy a plastic bottle and fill it with cold water from the tap as needed? Can anyone say ?canteen??
Source: ?Water and Oil Shouldn?t Mix,? Ecoprint, 10/07, p. 3.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 7:53 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. | <urn:uuid:f9ecfa68-24a6-4857-ae58-93a656f3c8d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bly.com/blog/general/who-says-advertising-doesnt-work/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966813 | 233 | 1.945313 | 2 |
(5 of 6)
Kate Bainbridge, a former schoolteacher who was similarly misdiagnosed in the 1990s in England, has since recovered enough to communicate by using a computer. "It really scares me to think what might have happened to me had I not had the scans," she wrote in an e-mail to a journalist in 2007. "They show it was worth carrying on even though my body was unresponsive."
This year, Laureys further challenged presumptions of the quality of life for postcoma patients with a survey in the British Medical Journal of locked-in patients. Such people sustain a brain injury that results in paralysis so severe they can control only their eye movement, even as their consciousness network remains intact. The journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby, perhaps the most famous such patient, earned fame through a memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which he dictated by blinking.
In the immediate weeks after their injury, locked-in patients show intense activity in a region of the brain associated with anxiety and emotion, but they eventually adjust. Laureys' survey of 168 locked-in patients found that while a minority--just 7%--reported life to be "miserable" and were lobbying to be euthanized, a vast majority said they were "happy" despite their condition. "That result showed that we should be very careful not to presume that we know the subjective experience of a noncommunicative patient," Laureys says. "That has profound implications for families and doctors considering whether to withdraw life-sustaining treatment."
But those implications can cut two ways. Truly vegetative patients who remain awake but unresponsive for more than 12 months following traumatic brain injury or three months after cardiac arrest or stroke are classified as permanently vegetative. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that such patients may have their feeding tube withdrawn if they have a living will, if their legal proxy so desires or if there is strong evidence that the patient would want to die.
There is no known time limit, however, for when a minimally conscious patient might suddenly return to full awareness. In 2003, 39-year-old Terry Wallis of Arkansas emerged from minimal consciousness and regained fluent speech after lingering in a nursing home for 19 years after a car crash. Using diffusion tensor imaging, a novel brain-scanning technique that maps the intact internal cables in the brain, Schiff found in 2006 that Wallis' brain had undergone axonal sprouting. New connections had been made among existing neurons.
All families with a vegetative loved one imagine that he or she will be the next Wallis, though few are. So even with the dignity and perhaps comfort of the patient on the line--not to mention the welfare of the family's wallet--it can be agonizingly difficult to pull the plug. "The right to die is an important principle," Laureys says. "But doctors must also be clear that we can't always give a certain prognosis." | <urn:uuid:dfc5af51-982d-4f0d-acea-21f1f73e999a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2099727-5,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976835 | 612 | 1.835938 | 2 |
- About Us
- Student Life
Storm King takes great pride in the amount of individual attention each student receives when trying to plan for life after secondary school. The mission of the college counseling program at The Storm King School is to educate and advise students, parents and guardians, on the American college experience. Our goal is to provide personal attention for each student, regardless of particular interest or academic standing. The primary objective is to assist each student with the selection and application to the most appropriate college or university that matches their preparation, talents, and potential.
College guidance begins in the freshman and sophomore years with preparation for the PSAT exam and continues until spring of senior year. We encourage parents to be very active participants throughout this extended process. During winter and spring break of the junior year, we advise parents and students to begin planning and attending college open houses and visiting college campuses. Throughout the summer before senior year, we strongly recommend that students personally visit colleges and universities, requesting formal interviews as available. Along with taking the ACT/SAT (and TOEFL for our international students), the fall of senior year is the time for thoughtful discussion between students and their advisors regarding the college process. Parents often join their son or daughter for conversations with the college counselor. Storm King hosts college admissions representatives on our campus, schedules visits to local college campuses, and attends a variety of college fairs during the fall.
A special note for parents:
Your child has a unique opportunity. As a student in the United States, he or she has the privilege to study at some of the finest colleges or universities in the world.
To make the most of that opportunity, I ask that you encourage him or her to become immersed in the international culture at The Storm King School. American colleges have a vast applicant pool to choose from, yet your child has the benefit of exposure to the worldwide cultures represented at our school. Add to that his or her own family traditions, and your child stands apart from the rest.
Colleges look for students who bring an open mind to their campuses. The world of work in the 21st century will demand it. These are the kind of students we graduate from The Storm King School. | <urn:uuid:6f4c72b2-e95c-4e3b-8fb6-ef352484bf30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sks.org/academics/College_Guidence/index.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958164 | 445 | 1.757813 | 2 |
The Air Force has dusted off plans more than two decades old to place fixed nuclear missiles on rail cars or massive road vehicles to protect them from a surprise attack.
The service also wants to explore alternatives to traditional missiles to carry nuclear warheads, which could include hypersonic aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic Ocean in an hour, said Phillip Coyle of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, a former associate director for national security and international affairs in the Obama administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.
On Monday, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., kicked off a study on modernizing or replacing its current fleet of Minuteman III nuclear missiles housed in underground silos in Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming. The work includes potential upgrades to the command and control system.
The center said it wants industry and academic help in analyzing the future of its Minuteman III nuclear missiles. The options include no upgrades, incremental fixes, new missiles stored in silos, and new mobile or tunnel-based systems.
In 1984, the Air Force began developing a small intercontinental ballistic missile called the “Midgetman,” which was carried on a massive, blast-resistant 200,000-lb. wheeled vehicle. The project was canceled in 1992 after the Cold War ended.
In the late 1980s, the Air Force also hatched a plan to place 50 missiles formerly stored in silos on rail cars deployed to seven states. This project was canceled in 1991 after the Air Force shifted funding to nuclear bombers.
In September 2011, the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported that China had developed a mobile missile system, the same month Russia indicated it planned to revive its rail car based missile program, which began in 1983 but was scrapped in 2006.
Coyle said he was concerned that proliferation of mobile missile systems could lead to another arms race. “The Air Force will need to be careful that they don't stir up a hornets nest with proposals for mobile basing or advanced concepts other than the traditional booster and reentry vehicle. The former could cause Russia or China to redouble their efforts on mobile basing of ICBMs, set off a new kind of arms race, and weaken U.S. defenses,” Coyle said.
He added that if the Air Force decides to pursue hypersonic aircraft to deliver nuclear warheads, this could confuse nuclear armed countries such as Russia, which would not be able to determine if supersonic aircraft traveling at 4,000 miles per hour were carrying conventional or nuclear warheads, and potentially react with a nuclear strike. | <urn:uuid:9ed0d0bb-43cc-4463-bebf-b0b5ac4b1231> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2013/01/air-force-eyes-return-mobile-nuclear-missiles/60565/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960142 | 541 | 2 | 2 |
LOUISVILLE, Ky (WHAS11) -- Unseasonably warm weather drew people outside in Louisville on Friday, but not without a thought in the back of their minds.
"I believe in climate change," said Dick Shulhafer after completing a hole at Cherokee Golf Course. "It's obvious."
Climate change or the even more loaded phrase "global warming" are hotly debated.
"No such thing as global warming," wrote Linda Woods Alford Adkisson on the WHAS11 Facebook page. "Scientific data = our tax money."
"My opinion is that I put more faith in experts than I do trade groups who don't want to address it or people who wouldn't understand science if you put it on a microchip and put it in their head," countered Rob Mattheu.
U of L glacier researcher Keith Mountain says - yes weather is cyclical - but the increasing human imprint on the climate is also undeniable.
"We're in a stage of sort of unknown levels," Mountain explained, "unknown levels of methane, unknown levels of carbon dioxide. We've never seen these levels in the atmosphere no matter how many cycles we look back certainly for the last 850,000 years."
Yet, Mountain also understands public confusion about the issue.
"I would possibly argue that the scientific community in the past has not done a very good job explaining it in a matter that provides accountability and passes on that knowledge in a very straightforward way," he said.
2012 was the warmest on record in the United States, the first full year for the Louisville Zoo's Glacier Run. While some zoos and aquariums shy away from what can be a controversial discussion, the Louisville Zoo addresses it head on.
"That's the zoo's responsibility, to present objective, scientific information about what's happening with the environment and these precious creatures of course which are the heart of our mission, which is to better the bond between people and the planet."
Glacier Run is a recreation of an actual Canadian fishing village, Churchill, Manitoba. The exhibit includes a model of a receding glacier in Glacier National Park to bring "climate change," home.
"As there are more and more of us we need to learn how to live in balance with the precious resources of this planet better and better all the time," said John Walczak, the Louisville Zoo Director.
One theory why Qannik -- the Zoo's star polar bear -- began losing weight in the wild as a cub and was eventually orphaned is that its mother had only enough body fat and energy to care for one cub. The stress of climate change is evident on the polar bear habitat.
"There's less ice. The ice forms later, it melts sooner," Walczak said. "Those bears have less time to go out on to the ice to seek their food."
"Climate change is going to manifest itself differently in different parts of the world," Mountain said. "And this idea now of a general warming of what is the winter months of the middle latitudes in the United States seems to be a systematic pattern."
Why should that be a concern?
"We're seeing a shift in terms of water resources," Mountain continued. "We're seeing shifts in wintertime lows that really hold vegetation together. The whole biological community was held together on a certain prediction of what the weather would be. And so now we see changes in aquatic ecology. We see changes in invasive species. And so the wintertime temperatures are a significant control in our biological functions in this part of the world." | <urn:uuid:713bad35-d2a6-476c-80aa-16ef454693ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Louisville-Zoo-addresses-global-warming-186524291.html?ref=next | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966027 | 731 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Forbes rich list: The rich get richer as billionaires jostle to be named America's most wealthy
America's richest: Microsoft founder Bill Gates has topped the Forbes Rich list for the 18th year
While economic turmoil plagues millions of Americans, there is one elite group who have stayed safe from the storm this year.
The total wealth of billionaires and millionaires in the U.S. grew 12 per cent over the past year, hitting $1.53trillion.
They’re now rolling in the equivalent of the entire GDP of Canada.
The Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans contained few great surprises.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates remained the richest at the top of the list for the 18th year in a row, with $59billion, up $5billion.
Warren Buffet remained in second place, despite losing $6billion as the value of his shares in Berkshire Hathaway dropped. Buffet was the only person in the top 20 to see their wealth drop this year.
Investor George Soros, at 81, entered the top ten list for the first time. His fortune of $22billion earned him a place at number seven. He added $7.8billion to his net worth this year, thanks to investments in gold and related securities as well as equities.
He switched to cash in the spring, allowing him to preserve his gains and miss market turmoil caused by the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.
Billion dollar man: Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway is number two on the 2011 Forbes Rich List
THE RICH LIST 2011
Bill Gates (Microsoft) $59 B
Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway) $39 B
Larry Ellison (Oracle) $33 B
Charles Koch $25 B
David Koch $25 B
Christy Walton (Wal-Mart) $24.5
George Soros $22 B
Sheldon Adelson $21.5 B
Jim Walton (Wal-Mart) $21.1 B
Alice Walton (Wal-Mart) $20.9 B
He announced this summer that he would close his hedge fund and give money back to outside investors, focusing on managing investments for himself and his family instead.
Forbes said hedge funds are notoriously secretive and that after he shut his fund, Soros shared more information with the magazine about his wealth.
‘We always thought we were low on our estimates of him, but this time we had more details bringing him to No. 7,’ said Forbes senior wealth editor Luisa Kroll.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg added $10.6 billion to his fortune to make the biggest jump of the year into the top 20 at number 14.
He leads a new group of tech pioneers who are marching up the ranks.
He is one place ahead of Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who earned an extra $1.7 billion, but still slipped five spots to be tied at 15.
Zuckerberg, 27, is one of six in the top 400 to get rich from Facebook.
They include the world’s youngest billionaire, Zuckerberg’s former roommate Dustin Moskovitz, who is eight days younger than the Facebook pioneer. He is number 91 with $3.5 billion.
Former Napster renegade and Facebook backer Sean Parker and Jim Breyer, the social network’s venture capitalist, are also on the list.
Three other techie tycoons made their debut on the 400, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, Groupon’s Eric Lefkofsky and Zynga’s Mark Pincus.
Also new to the list were Go Daddy’s Bob Parsons, Green Mountain Coffee’s Bob Stiller and energy tycoons Farris and Dan Wilks.
The annual Forbes list comes as President Barack Obama plans tax hikes for millionaires so they pay at least the same rate as middle-class Americans.
He calls this the ‘Buffet rule’ as the millionaire has been urging the President to increase taxes for the richest.
Buffet has pledged to give away 99 per cent of his fortune to philanthropic causes. ‘He is the most generous billionaire,’ said Ms Kroll, adding that $3billion of his decline could be attributed to charitable donations.
Unlike Buffett, Tea Party backers David and Charles Koch want Washington to tax them less as their cash pile increases.
The brothers' wealth from conglomerate Koch Industries them into fourth place with $25 billion each, each up $3.5 billion from last year.
At number three was Oracle founder Larry Ellison, whose wealth increased $6 billion to $33 billion.
Christy Walton, heir to Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton's fortune, dropped to sixth place at $24.5 billion despite a $500 million increase in wealth.
Casino owner Sheldon Adelson was in eighth place with a fortune of $21.5 billion, up $6.8 billion.
Jim and Alice Walton, also of the Wal-Mart family, were ninth and 10th at $21.1 billion and $20.9 billion respectively. Jim Walton's fortune increased by $1 billion while Alice Walton enjoyed a $900 million.
To make the Forbes cut this year required a personal net worth of at least $1.05 billion. | <urn:uuid:37acbc77-d9e7-420b-86e1-ab682be1a352> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2040427/Forbes-rich-list-The-rich-richer-billionaires-jostle-named-Americas-wealthy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955112 | 1,104 | 1.5 | 2 |
Programs that Provide You Opportunities to Participate in Aviation
Join fellow members at EAA's annual convention-EAA AirVenture Oshkosh-the world's greatest aviation celebration. AirVenture is an international gathering place for all aviation enthusiasts. An AirVenture participant can study the latest aircraft and innovations; discover new ideas and techniques from the more than 500 forums and workshops; shop 'til they drop with more than 700 exhibitors; see aviation's top personalities perform each day; or just talk airplanes with people from around the world. AirVenture has become important and influential in the aviation industry, but retains its friendly and personal feel-part of the reason the world comes to Oshkosh every year. EAA Members receive preferred admission rates plus other benefits, and only EAA Members are authorized to camp at the AirVenture site.
Since its creation in 1962, the EAA AirVenture Museum has become one of the world's great treasure houses of aviation history. Located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, it displays a vast collection of more than 170 airplanes and 20,000 historic aviation objects, multiple theaters, and plenty of hands-on activities for the entire family. In addition, adjacent Pioneer Airport-an operational aerodrome-provides a glimpse into aviation's golden age. The museum covers all aspects of aviation, but has particularly strong coverage of homebuilt, aerobatic, air racing, vintage and World War II themes. EAA Members receive free museum admission.
EAA's beautiful B-17G Flying Fortress is a rare flying example of one of the most famous bombers in history. It operates as a flying museum, commemorating the bravery and sacrifices made in the battle for freedom during WWII. The airplane visits about 50 U.S. cities each year-offering the opportunity to take flight in the B-17, or a ground tour through the various crew stations. EAA Members receive a $40 discount on B-17 flights plus other benefits.
EAA's immaculate 1929 Ford Tri-Motor often tours the Midwest, offering EAA members and enthusiasts the opportunity to experience the magic of flight in the world's first mass-produced airliner. EAA Members receive a $10 discount on Tri-Motor flights. | <urn:uuid:a3e40671-7afb-4bbb-8727-a8a83695f9c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://eaa.org/membership/participation.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941607 | 460 | 1.53125 | 2 |
By Joel Hall and Johnny Jackson
Library systems in Clayton and Henry counties are helping students get ahead of the reading curve through summer reading programs. Programs in both counties got into full swing this week.
Clayton County's Vacation Reading Program began May 31 -- the first full day of summer vacation -- and will continue until August 6 -- the day before school goes back into session.
Janice Arcuria, coordinator of the program, said the goal s to encourage reading, and ultimately make young people more well-rounded individuals.
"The main purpose of the vacation reading program is to encourage them to read for fun," said Arcuria. "If you enjoy reading, you can pretty much do anything that you want to. People who enjoy reading will become lifetime readers, whereas people who just read for assignments, will stop reading when they get out of school."
The Clayton County Library System has been registering students for its reading program since Saturday and will continue to do so throughout the summer. Readers are broken up into age groups and are given different prizes -- such as paperback books, key chains, jewelry, free smoothies, and free meals -- when they have read a certain number of books, or have read for a certain number of hours.
Last year, the program registered 6,094 students in its infant to 11-years-old group, and 882 students in its 12-18 age group. Out of the 6,976 registered students, 2,568 were able to read at least 20 books.
This year, in addition to books and prizes, students involved in Clayton's summer reading programs will have something extra to celebrate. On Saturday, June 7, from 11 a.m., to 2 p.m., the Clayton County Headquarters Library, located at 865 Battlecreek Road in Jonesboro, will celebrate its 20th anniversary.
All afternoon, children will be able to participate in games located all around the library property. From 12:30-2 p.m., the library will offer free hot dogs, cookies, and chips, and throughout the day, there will be magic shows, storytellers, and arts and crafts demonstrations.
Around noon, there will be remarks from Clayton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Eldrin Bell, and from 1-2 p.m., a presentation on "Preventive Car Maintenance Tips for Ladies" will be given in the library parking lot.
In Henry, hundreds turned out for the summer reading program kick-off at the McDonough Branch of the Henry County Library System, which took place on Monday.
"What we try to do is make reading throughout the summer fun for them," said Debbie Zerkle, children's services specialist at the McDonough branch.
This year, the Henry County Library System is participating in the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP), which began at the grassroots in 1987 and has grown into a consortium of states that work together to provide inexpensive summer reading program materials for children through public library systems.
Participating systems have access to similar materials and resources. The systems also share the same summer reading program theme. This year's theme for children up to 12 years old is called "Catch the Reading Bug." Young adults, ages 12-18, participate in the "Metamorphosis @ Your Library" summer reading program.
Zerkle said the McDonough branch library experienced an influx of more than 300 children on Monday - the first weekday following the last day of school for many in Henry County - to help launch the library's summer program.
The program is available in variations at each of Henry County's public libraries, where would-be participants can sign-up through the end of June.
Program participants keep reading logs, and are asked to read 20 books or commit to 10 hours of reading. Zerkle said summer reading helps keep children stimulated and intellectually active.
"What I tell the kids is, if they read during the summer, they keep their brains active," Zerkle said. "And the kids that don't, they can get lazy."
More than 800 children have already signed up for the summer reading program at the McDonough branch library. Zerkle said about 1,300 signed up for the program in 2007. The library will assist children in finding age-appropriate books.
Fairview and Hampton branch libraries will host summer reading program kick-offs today at 3 p.m. and 10:30 a.m., respectively.
On the net:
Clayton County Library System:
Henry County Library System: | <urn:uuid:3570d9ff-bdb2-4b08-9242-0cb33077f5f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news-daily.com/news/2008/jun/04/clayton-henry-launch-summer-reading-programs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955548 | 932 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Five Ways to Learn About Leadership
Here are excerpts from the speech that Business Professor Don Parks gave at the Student Leadership Banquet on April 22, 2010. The speech was titled “How to Not Become “Dilbert’s Pointy Haired Boss” or Ways to Learn About Leadership.
From the earliest times in human history, an awful lot of people have thought and written an awful lot about leadership. Plato and Aristotle disagreed about who should be a leader and the roles of a leader. In the last hundred years or so, more than10,000 scholarly articles and countless books, across many academic disciplines, have been written about leadership. While some of them are awful, most at least provide useful tidbits, layer by layer, that, added together, create an intriguing layer cake of understanding.
Tonight, I want to share a little of what I’ve learned of learning about leadership. Five ways I’ve learned about leadership include:
First, read books explicitly about leadership such as Yukl’s 7th ed. Leadership in Organizations, Kouzes & Posner’s Leadership Challenge, or Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership. Also read books not explicitly on leadership, such as individual and organization histories; fantasy books such as Lord of the Rings, and books such as Band of Brothers. Movies and TV – even cartoons and movies like “Over the Hedge” can reinforce what not to be – a Dilbert boss. Have fun. Be intentional.
A second way is to observe good and bad leaders, and try to understand what they are doing and why. Direct observation, without media filters, is best. Be intentional.
A third way to study leadership is to use time you have already committed. You are active in a variety of organizations. Take advantage of Student Activities leadership lunches and online resources, Paideia, sports, organization, and Intra-Fraternity Council leadership opportunities. From earliest times, it has been obvious that the three things that affect leadership effectiveness are leader, followers and situation. So use classes that deal with leaders, situations and followers; courses like Shakespeare, Foundations of Business, Organization Behavior; courses in Psychology, Sociology, History and Political Science. Be conscious of leadership connections in your coursework. Be intentional.
Fourth is through trial and error. While experience is invaluable, it should be paired with knowledge and reflection. Use leadership knowledge to plan what you want to accomplish, then afterward, assess how well it worked. Be intentional.
Finally, add to or create a personal bookshelf and file on leadership that you can reference in the future – an addition for your file is a handout with a list of leadership books on the table as you leave. Be intentional.
Now for the advice. When handed lemons – and at some point we all are – make lemonade. Every leader I know suffered some setback, some lack of recognition, some promotion not received despite deserving it. At some point, we are all handed lemons.
Three short stories illustrate how to make lemonade.
- In southeast Alabama, farmers raised cotton up until around 1917, when an infestation of boll weevils destroyed the crop. Peanuts were planted and saved the farmers and the local economy, so the townspeople of Enterprise, Alabama, put up a statue to what? … The peanut? … No, … to the boll weevil.
- Kenny Rogers (somewhat later), wrote and sang “The Gambler” with lyrics that include: “Every hand’s a winner; and every hand’s a loser,” “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,” and “Know when to walk away and know when to run.”
- George Marshall was the top general in the U.S. Army during WWII. Winston Churchill called him “the organizer of victory.” In the wake of World War II, as the war-torn nations of Europe faced famine and economic crisis, Marshall, by then Secretary of State, first called for and crafted U.S. aid. It was labeled the Marshall Plan. One would think that someone so successful would not have had major setbacks. But he did. In the mid-1930s, instead of a combat command assignment, which by all rights he had earned and deserved, he was assigned to head up Civilian Conservation Corps districts in the southeast United States. He considered retiring, but instead performed his assignment to the best of his ability. Only a few years later, he had been promoted to 4-star general, head of the Army, and had the task of growing the army from 200,000 to over 8 million. His approach to training the young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps provided experience he used in ways he could not have foreseen when given what seemed like a dead-end assignment. Remember, life experiences are all connected. Out of obstacles, create opportunities. Turn the disappointment of lemons into opportunities. When handed lemons, make lemonade. | <urn:uuid:a68397ec-239d-4142-b8c7-b723fff25a05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://southwestern.edu/live/news/6529-five-ways-to-learn-about-leadership/academics/news.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964482 | 1,054 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Unmatched scalability, time-to-install, and physical footprint are three of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology’s significant advantages and benefits over other energy options. Whether designed to supply clean, renewable electricity to one household or tens of thousands, solar PV systems are unrivaled in terms of matching a project’s scale to clean energy output, and the ability to get a system up and running in comparatively short order.
Solar PV’s small physical footprint is another big advantage, particularly when it comes to bringing electrical power to isolated communities that lack, or have a particularly hard time gaining access to, an electrical grid. Israeli non-profit Jewish Heart for Africa has been capitalizing on all three of these attributes.
Founded in 2008 by Sivan Borowich Ya’ari, Jewish Heart for Africa (JHA) “uses Israeli solar and agricultural technology to bring light, clean water, improved education, nutrition and proper medical care to rural villages in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda.” This month, the non-profit will complete its 57th solar energy installation in four years, affording some 250,000 Africans access to electricity for the first time.
Solar PV as Keystone for Sustainable Development
“Of all the needs facing the developing world today, energy may not seem like a top priority,” explains Ya’ari, “but imagine a clinic trying to offer medical care at night without light. Patients can hardly find the clinic, doctors are forced to perform urgent procedures by the light of unsafe and unsanitary kerosene lamps, and they don’t have refrigerators to store lifesaving medicines and vaccines.
In these villages, solar technology isn’t an alternative energy source, it’s the only energy source. Powering a refrigerator, or even a light bulb, can save lives.”
JHA’s solar panels are also installed at schools, enabling students to gather and study after sundown. They also power water pumps, significantly enhancing the safety and reducing the amount of time and effort village women and children have to put into collecting and carrying clean water.
2011 was a year of significant achievement for JHA. Intended to serve as a launching pad for outreach, education and expansion to surrounding communities, JHA established its first eco-village in Ndaula, Malawi. Each eco-village is to be equipped with a solar-powered school, medical clinic, water pump and drip irrigation system “in order to improve their healthcare, education and economy, all using sustainable technologies.”
JHA’s Solar-Powered Eco-Villages
The Ndaula eco-village and other projects were the culmination, as well as a new beginning, for JHA in Malawi. JHA’s project team arrived in the country in February 2011, having worked for months with the Malawi Mission to the UN and its in-country partner Goods4Good to pave the way for its expansion. In just a few months, JHA had hired a local project manager and gotten its operations off the ground.
In addition to the Ndaula eco-village, JHA has installed a solar PV system at the Ukwe medical clinic. Serving some 30,000 people, medical staff at the Ukwe clinic had been treating patients — including delivering babies — by the light of kerosene lamps. The solar PV system now provides lighting 24×7, as well as solar-powered refrigeration, an essential function that the clinic has lacked for years. A solar PV micro-business that JHA sets up at all its project sites is providing local residents with jobs and income.
Looking ahead, JHA intends to bring solar PV power to another 250,000 Africans in coming years. “We couldn’t be more proud to reach this exciting milestone,” Ya’ari continued, “but for us, it’s not about reaching a big number. It’s about the people and the stories behind the quarter million: the mother who can bring home clean water to her family for the first time, the child who won’t get polio or tuberculosis because she received a vaccine stored in our solar powered refrigerators. These individuals are the reason that we’re already preparing to work towards the next quarter million.”
I've been reporting and writing on a wide range of topics at the nexus of economics, technology, ecology/environment and society for some five years now. Whether in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Americas, Africa or the Middle East, issues related to these broad topical areas pose tremendous opportunities, as well as challenges, and define the quality of our lives, as well as our relationship to the natural environment. | <urn:uuid:4b1244ff-d0f8-4c7d-b710-5071b81742e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cleantechnica.com/2012/06/06/solar-pv-the-keystone-as-jha-brings-clean-energy-light-water-food-education-and-jobs-to-africans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948514 | 990 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Apparently, CEC-wiring is mandatory in HDMI but product implementation voluntary.
According to Wikipedia different trade names for the IMPLEMENTED CEC are:
Anynet (Samsung); Aquos Link (Sharp); BRAVIA Sync (Sony); HDMI-CEC (Hitachi); Kuro Link (Pioneer); CE-Link and Regza Link (Toshiba); RIHD (Remote Interactive over HDMI) (Onkyo); SimpLink (LG); HDAVI Control, EZ-Sync, VIERA Link (Panasonic); EasyLink (Philips); and NetCommand for HDMI (Mitsubishi).Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#CEC
The specification is built on AV.Link, which is used in SCART.
You can download the HDMI 1.3a specification for free by filling in the form here: http://www.hdmi.org/manufacturer/specification.aspx
It exists a HDMI-CEC to USB and RS-232 bridge/converter
as featured on Hackaday
. This guy Valkyriemt made it work for him: Controlling Volume… Look Ma, no extra Wires!
A white paper on what this device does and how to use it can be downloaded here: PDF
Rainshadowtech.com which makes the device writes:
(HDMI-CEC to USB and RS-232 converter) device has been demonstrated to work with TVs from Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, LG, Panasonic, and Mitsubishi. TV CEC capabilities vary widely. Many recent models can be powered on, off, and have the external HDMI input source chosen via CEC.
This device could be connected into the HDMI cable between the TV and the PC, but that is not necessary. Because the CEC bus is a single wire bus between all components, the device can be plugged into any HDMI input in the Home Theater system. The advantage of this approach is that the integrity of the cable (and therefore the quality of the signal) between the TV and the PC does not need to compromised by adding this device to it.
As far as I understand it having merely looked at the HDMI specs, the specification allows for pass-thru signalling; meaning one sleeping device will still pass through messages (such as SHUT DOWN) to other connected devices that are on or off. In other words, HDMI cables can become an extension of the network cabling for LinuxMCE to talk to devices directly the last-three-feet.
I personally have a Toshiba REGZA 42" (42XV550P) Television that I bought a couple of years back, and it doesn't have a serial RS232 controller. It does have 3 HDMI connectors though. I am not much of an electronics guy either, but I think we should be able to wing it.
The remote control for my Toshiba REGZA 42" has its own REGZA Link mode, which is Toshiba's implementation of HDMI's CEC, though sending them using IR. Showcase: http://www.regza-asia.com/technology/technology_regzalink.asp?cat=sc4
If I can record the IR signals sent to the television in REGZA Link mode, I should be able to send the same signals from a computer to the television (and other CEC devices), given I have a way to interface with HDMI with on the command-line and a HDMI controller on the computer. From this it should be possible to create a device template or "device class template" (e.g. REGZA-device), no?
The CEC specification has its own addressing scheme (think DHCP) with logical addresses 4, 8 and 11 reserved for playback devices.
The CEC wiring IS MANDATORY so you would not need more than one HDMI cable between computer and television, since the wiring for the CEC signalling is already inside the cable (in other words, HDMI cables send CEC along with VIDEO and AUDIO). But I don't know exactly what tty you could use (if any).. Just some thoughts on the matter.. | <urn:uuid:c0b474ed-47e8-4edd-9144-c31f8ab3bc56> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=9664.15 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909835 | 866 | 2.109375 | 2 |
So, how can one know if they are straight or bisexual?
Asked by MilkyWay (13046 ) February 16th, 2012
What is bisexuality? How can it be recognised?
I’ve recently learnt that being straight and kissing a member of the same sex doesn’t necessarily make you gay, so is that bisexuality?
Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0
Wow! You've got 847 knowledge matches!Want to see them? Join Fluther! | <urn:uuid:21df8753-f47c-42a9-81a3-d1f4df1aca0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fluther.com/140015/so-how-can-one-know-if-they-are-straight-or-bisexual/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937156 | 103 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Mads sent us info on this project which derives beat sequencing data from barcodes -
It questions whether barcodes can contain musical qualities and be used as a media of sound and rhythm. It is intriguing to see everyday items, like milk, transform into sound. The user uses a standard barcode scanner to scan a barcode and hear what sounds are produced. Users have the opportunity to scan multiple items, and create a composition of sounds. The sounds of each barcode is unique and contains among many things the information of rhythmical qualities and the type of sound.
Resident blogger Becky Stern built a similar project generating some awesome compositions -
UPC Sequencer is an application that employs a barcode scanner to create music from UPCs. By creating an audio composition unique to each code, the composer begins to value products based on their contribution to a musical score rather than marketing and package design. The one part of the package not designed to appeal to the consumer’s wallet becomes the most valuable component. Items from a similar manufacturer have similar UPCs, creating recognizable patterns for similarly governed corporations. As patterns in sound are known to be highly recognizable, users can understand complex corporate ownership chains by composing music. Controller codes allow the user to select which type of intstrument a particular product should be. The product takes on a new meaning that is defined by the user and is therefore much more personal and genuine. Undermining the marketing hype surrounding consumer goods, the UPC Sequencer helps take back control over deciding what roles these products play in our lives. | <urn:uuid:b8a6fe09-7b8b-42ed-bd63-e8b9741081c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.makezine.com/2008/04/04/beats-from-a-barcode/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=ed3d838804 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934438 | 315 | 2.5625 | 3 |
“[It] appears that we must recognise at least two principal meanings in the word 'nature.' In one sense, it means all the powers existing in either the outer or the inner world and everything which takes place by means of those powers. In another sense, it means, not everything which happens, but only what takes place without the agency, or without the voluntary and intentional agency, of man. This distinction is far from exhausting the ambiguities of the word; but it is the key to most of those on which important consequences depend.” John Stuart Mill, On Nature, 1874
Nature as a term can be inclusive and exclusive. It may include everything in existence or exclude products of human agency (e.g. cities, corn fields, art, technology, pollution) from the rest of the world (e.g. old-growth forest, boulders, elephants, fire, snowfall). The distinction is blurred when we think of tree farms, artificial lungs, and cloned sheep. Many words have dual meanings, but perceptions of nature can influence our place in the world. When nature is viewed exclusively, where does this leave humans?
The city is often considered separate from the natural world. As a remedy, some call for the integration of nature (usually trees) into urban settings. While I consider this a good thing, the terms imply that cities are not already part of nature. When people use these terms, they don't necessarily intend to be exclusive. It just reflects a deeply ingrained idea of nature without a clear alternative. According to inclusive views, cities are no less natural than birds' nests. Both are constructed by animals with material derived from the Earth. This is not a justification for environmental abuse, but simply an understanding of human activity as within the scope of nature.
I like the idea that we are arrangements of atoms -- the same atoms that constitute the world around us. Some arrangements result from human action while others may result from the actions of bears, rain, or geological faults. Fortunately we are capable of conscious decisions, which can and should include a sense of responsibility for environmental well-being.
Perhaps it is enough to refer to streams, flowers, jets, and sculptures individually, reserving nature to describe the whole. All of the examples above are human concepts, and all are composed of material from the (natural) world. If this view of nature is too inclusive to be useful, is there a simple way to distinguish beehives from buildings, ponds from swimming pools, sunsets from street lights ... ?
(Photo of Portland from Adrian's Photo Blog; Photo of Dolly from Next Nature; Photo of Earth from Wikimedia Commons) | <urn:uuid:e8ddd866-c95f-4e58-a7fa-f0ee6ebc978f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thewhereblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/is-urban-nature-contradiction-in-terms.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950492 | 544 | 2.875 | 3 |
On Friday afternoon, my wife called out to me “Hey! You have to see this!”
And there on the news was a story about the waivers offered by our beloved national education secretary that would allow states to escape many of the more ornerous NCLB provisions. Which is to say, almost all of them. And the headline read “No Child Left Behind Ends.”
Could it be true? Could it REALLY be true? To me, this would be the educational equivalent of the the falling of the Berlin Wall. Perhaps…just perhaps..we might see some real reform in education. Meaningful reform. Something besides the test scores.
Georgia is a state that has already delivered its waiver application. Oddly enough, it was delivered by one of the authors of the original NCLB law, Johnny Isakson. Remember him? Basically, congress has not done its job in doing anything to fix this law simply because it is unfix-able. It never was and it never will be.
Isakson was one of the original authors of No Child Left Behind. But last week the Georgia Republican sponsored a bill with other GOP lawmakers to scrap the adequate yearly progress requirement. No Child Left Behind requires that all students be “proficient” in math and science by 2014. Those benchmarks are widely considered to be unrealistic.
Isakson said that after a decade of implementation the law “has served its purpose in raising expectations and standards.”"We knew when we wrote No Child Left Behind that if it worked, we would reach this point where schools would not be able to continue to meet AYP (adequate yearly progress) because the bar is set higher and higher each year for schools,” he said.
According to Isakson, they knew when they wrote the law, that schools would eventually all fail. The law was PROGRAMMED to fail! These are the people we send to Washington and this is what drinking that water and breathing that air does to people. And it illustrates perfectly why the congress has no business dictating federal education standards. The law was destined for bankruptcy even while it was being written and the lawmakers who wrote it KNEW it!
But this is not the end of NCLB. It is not the end of testing. It is not the end of the alternate assessment that has plagued those teachers of students with multiple and severe disabilities. There is still Race To The Top, which Georgia just received a year ago. And those who are most saddled by a law that never had them in mind when it was written, will be the last to realize the benefits of this waiver. That is because the waiver was also not written with these students in mind. But hopefully what eventually trickles down will be no worse than what is already in place.
I am somewhat hopeful that the career and work-ready provisions might at least help those students who could be employable with enough and the right kind of training, when they would otherwise stand no chance of getting into a college. And yes, there are a large number of students where this is true; they will not be able to get into a college and they have no desire to do so. But at least by fostering a culture of productivity and relevant skill-based training, it might prevent them from dropping out and actually give them an edge in life. At the present time, the work skills of a college drop-out and a high school drop-out are almost exactly the same due to vocational funding and programs being cut and minimized in order to switch the focus to collage-ready. And this focus has been particularly hard-felt for students with disabilities.
NCLB has been little more than an expensive and nightmarish public awareness campaign. According to Isakson, they wanted to put a spotlight on poor performing schools and poor performing groups of students by raising expectations and raising standards. But the law was outdated the day it was signed, as the world economy has been globalized. We need innovation, creativity, enthusiasm for learning, entrepreneurship and exploration. And these were exactly the things that NCLB has succeeded in killing with the standardized test-taking culture that saw the diminishing or elimination of the arts in education. While the rest of the world has been learning how to solve problems and create, our kids have been learning how to fill in bubbles. | <urn:uuid:daa3bf9d-afb7-4fd5-8f3d-98556b269dcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://specialed.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/the-end-of-nclb-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981184 | 893 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Understanding the elements that go into being a successful recruit will set you on the right path early and keep you ahead of the game. It’s important for recruits not to lose focus of the end goal and to concentrate on understanding the core recruiting items, which will make the recruiting process, proceed smoothly once these main items are understood.
Academic eligibility requirements
Academics are just as important as athletic skill when it comes to meeting college eligibility requirements. The NCAA division I and division II academic standards are the strictest out of the college athletic division levels. Some colleges and universities will need athletes to meet their own standards which may be higher than those set by the NCAA or NAIA eligibility center.
Potential recruits who want to reach the level of college athletics, don’t always consider initial academic eligibility requirements until it’s almost too late. Becoming eligible to meet NCAA or NAIA academic standards is an area in the recruiting process which needs to be understood early. Athletes should be meeting with high school counselors in order to determine which courses they will need to take throughout high school, what GPA they will need to maintain and which college entrance exams they need to have taken.
Rule of thumb for student- athletes: Keep your grades up throughout high school to make sure you will not be left in the cold when it comes time to meet academic requirements.
Reaching out to coaches can be one of the hardest things recruits will need to do in order to get recruited. Some athletes may struggle with this because they do not want to bug coaches. Other athletes may be under the impression that college coaches will find them, and do nothing to increase their chances of gaining exposure.
Contacting coaches is one of the easiest things to do during your recruiting process. To get started you will need to take some time to create an introductory email, a sports resume and video link. Sending coaches a video link will allow them to see who you are and why you are interested in their program.
The biggest item that recruits need to understand is that coaches will only know athletes who have taken the time to reach out to them.
Recruits, usually have an idea of where they want to go to college. From here athletes will need to evaluate themselves as a player in order to find the best college fit for them. College division levels can be used as a guide to help incoming student-athletes determine which level of play they will be best suited for. Next, athletes will be able to narrow down their search to colleges in the preferred division level.
This is just the beginning of learning and understanding the recruiting process. Potential recruits will need to continue to work hard throughout their process in order to understand the many elements of college recruiting. | <urn:uuid:c29fa77e-8f36-445f-8093-19c55183c35b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.collegesportsscholarships.com/2012/05/01/college-recruiting-priorities.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969374 | 553 | 2.1875 | 2 |
The government's report that the economy added just a minuscule 96,000 jobs last month came at the end of the Democrats' defensive national convention where Obama, Bill Clinton and other party luminaries made extravagant claims that things will get better if Obama is re-elected to a second term.
But analysts at the Federal Reserve Board, economists and business leaders say Obama's declining economy is not going to get significantly better this year, next year nor the year after that, until there are dramatic changes in the nation's fiscal policies. Changes Obama Democrats refuse to make.
The deepening weaknesses in the employment picture was also underscored by revisions in the June and July job numbers that found 41,000 fewer jobs were created than was previously reported.
Not only is the rate of job growth shrinking fast in the fourth year of Obama's presidency, so is the economy's growth rate, slowing this year to a snail's pace 1.7 percent in the third quarter.
But he didn't say anything about the weak job creation rate or declining economic growth in his speech last week. Instead, he rattled off a long list of specious claims that he took credit for that were not true.
He told convention delegates and the nation at large that he had saved the automobile industry and boosted overall manufacturing, too. But auto industry employment was still 12 percent below pre-recession levels, and employment data shows we lost 15,000 manufacturing jobs last month, after a string of previous job losses in that sector.
Obama was playing fast and loose with the facts on this one, as he was throughout his speech. Like his statement that "Over the last three and a half years, we have focused on righting the ship....creating 4.5 million new jobs."
But the Labor Department says job creation in Obama's presidency was several hundred thousand at best. In fact, "Obama is on track to have the worst jobs record of any president since World War II," says Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler.
Obama claimed in his convention speech that he's had to deal with an economic recession that is the worst since the Great Depression. But Ronald Reagan similarly faced a severe recession in which unemployment rose to 10.8 percent (Obama's peaked at 10 percent) in November 1982.
But Reagan "put in place a very different set of stimulus measures -- emphasizing private sector leadership -- and when he faced the voters in 1984 the jobless rate had fallen to 7.3 percent," economist Peter Morici points out. | <urn:uuid:fe9ee7ee-d1d4-431b-b364-d063466a27d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://townhall.com/columnists/donaldlambro/2012/09/12/the_sooner_obama_goes_the_better_the_economy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981115 | 508 | 1.867188 | 2 |
NEW YORK, NY.- Nailya Alexander Gallery
presents Dmitri Baltermants: Photographs 1940s-‐1960s, an exhibition encompassing the photographers iconic WW II images and his work from the last years of Stalins glory and the era of Khrushchevs politics. The show of some thirty vintage prints will runs from 5 May through 30 July 2010, at the gallery's new location in the Fuller Building, 41 E 57th Street, Suite 704.
The gallery presents this exhibition in commemoration of the 65th Anniversary of the end of WW II in Europe this May. During the war, Dmitri Baltermants (1912-‐1990), who taught himself photography, worked for Izvestia (the Communist Party newspaper) among other journals, covering battlefields in Ukraine, Poland and Germany, reaching Berlin in 1945. His photographs chronicle war as a universal tragedy. Grief (1942), one of his most iconic war images, documents the aftermath of a Nazi massacre in the Crimean village of Kerch, by showing grieving village women as they search for the bodies of their loved ones. Baltermants spent a long time working on images from this ferocious event, which were only displayed for the first time in the 1960s. The gallery is exhibiting three of the photographers interpretations of the harrowing scene. While in Germany, Baltermants took another memorable photograph Tchaikovsky (1945), in which he captured a moment of calm and beauty in the midst of destruction: a group of Russian soldiers, gathered in a shattered room of a ruined house around a miraculously unharmed piano, listening to a soldier playing.
After the war Baltermants worked for Ogonyok, a popular illustrated magazine. It was the beginning of Cold War when anti-‐foreign agitation was visible throughout all spheres of life, particularly in science and culture. Baltermants made a historic picture of leading Soviet biologist Lysenko attacking Western genetic research in 1948. And in 1949 he photographed internationally renowned American bass- baritone singer and actor, Paul Robeson (1898-‐1976), who was warmly embraced in the Soviet Union for his civil rights and peace movement but persecuted in the US for his leftist politics, especially in the age of McCarthyism. Robeson received the Stalin Peace Prize in 1953. Every Soviet citizen remembered March 6th of the same year, the day when Stalins death was announced. Baltermants created the photograph The Announcement of Stalins Death out of three negatives in order to depict the grieving workers at the Dynamo Factory. The gallery is also exhibiting a rare color print of Stalin on his death bier.
Being a Kremlin photographer, Baltermants made a favorable portrait of the Partys next First Secretary, Nikita Khrushchev, at his dacha in the summer of 1955. Shortly after consolidating his power, the ebullient and dynamic politician was a stark contrast to the dangerous Stalin. Khrushchev is probably remembered as a most colorful Soviet leader, known for his dramatic, boorish gestures and unreasonable policies including his unshakable belief that Communism would triumph over capitalism. One of the spotlight images from this period is of Khrushchev holding a piece of corn at a meeting promoting his campaign to grow corn in the American fashion. After a visit to Iowa in 1959 where he saw field after field of maturing corn, his enthusiasm grew for innovation, which eventually undermined his reputation. In 1964, with another change of power (Khrushchev was forced to retire), Baltermants became a member of Ogonyoks editorial board and its main picture editor. The same year he had his first personal exhibition in London and the following year in New York. He became an accomplished artist, an expert in staged photography and a master of socialist realist art. | <urn:uuid:dddee29e-2bba-40fc-ac0e-44d4f65b7594> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=37977&int_modo=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970344 | 774 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Seems like it costs money to do just about anything.
And in the college world, for lots of students, that means taking out student loans.
There's an important deadline coming up for borrowers that might mean having to pay more money.
Getting a college education adds up.
"Tuition, housing, car insurance, books...food, of course; that's a big one," says John Schmeelk, a junior at ASU.
"It's a lot," says ASU junior Shannon Broadwater. "It's rather expensive between room and board, tuition, books, transportation...it's just a lot."
Student loans serve as a quick paycheck to make ends meet.
"I only have two," Shannon says.
But interest rates are going up.
Rates for Stafford loans are rising 4.70% to 6.80%--about 2 percent.
"And that's why the big push is on to consolidate to lock in the previous interest rate," says Willene Holmes, the director of financial aid at ASU.
Holmes is encouraging consolidation now.
The deadline is Friday, June 30.
Borrowers who wait for July 1 won't get the lower rate variable rate; it'll be the fixed higher rate.
"And it's been a long time since we've really experienced an increase of this magnitude," Holmes says.
Two years ago, the rate was only 2.77%.
"And people might say, 'Well, that's only a couple of points', but when it comes time to repay the principal and interest, 2 percent points will make a difference in a loan payment," says Holmes.
Something many students know...but some, like Broadwater, still choose to wait.
We asked Broadwater if she would regret her decision. "Probably so, I don't know," she said. "That depends. I mean, if I get a good job, it'll be worth it."
The increase includes Federal Plus loans for parents as well.
If you do not consolidate before July 1, you'll get a higher, variable rate, about a quarter of a point less than the new fixed rate.
Designed by Gray Digital Media | <urn:uuid:4b50be5f-58a1-4f4f-8f59-73ba0e888897> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/3212926.html?site=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978191 | 456 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Google is pulling out all of the stops in its coverage of Super Tuesday. As 24 states hold primaries today to help determine the Republican and Demoratic nominees for President of the United States, Google has created a Super Tuesday Map to help users follow what is happening in real time.
By utilizing services such as Twitter and YouTube, Google has created a way to better integrate citizens into election coverage than any television network has ever done. What you have here is a truly interactive way to explore the election process.
This specialized Google map has each of the states broken down into its counties and will feature live election results as they start rolling in later in the day. Google’s partnership with Twitter on this maps will provide live updates from Twitter users about their Super Tuesday experiences from around the country.
Interestingly, although the Google LatLong blog does claim to only offer “Twitter updates from around the country”, the map is clearly picking up data from around the world. These global tweets (Twitter updates) do appear to all be Super Tuesday related however as Google is utilizing the 3rd party application Twittervision to filter the messages it shows.
Google also plans to roll out a layer for this new map later in the day that includes Super Tuesday related YouTube videos. They will also allow for this Super Tuesday map to be embedded on anyone’s site. | <urn:uuid:fbd58ec1-b916-47da-a062-0757604ac0c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://venturebeat.com/2008/02/05/follow-super-tuesday-results-live-with-google/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952057 | 274 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), a department of Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) offers a variety of counseling services to help students realize their academic and personal goals. Meeting with a member of CAPS staff can help students clarify issues, explore options, and cope more effectively. Students currently enrolled who have paid student registration fees can receive counseling services through CAPS at no cost. Most Mental Health Services are located at North Hall. Make an appointment for mental health services.
- Individual Counseling
- Counseling for Medical Students
- Counseling for Veterinary Medicine Students
- Career Counseling
- Group Services
- Stress and Wellness Services
- Eating Disorder Services
- Sport Psychology Program
- Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine
Individual counseling assists you in clarifying your concerns, examining the solutions you have tried, and developing new coping strategies.
During the first meetings, your counselor will gather information about your personal, intellectual, and emotional style, as well as your relationships and academic status.This assists your counselor in determining which counseling strategies will be most helpful to you. Using this information, you and your counselor will develop goals for counseling. As counseling progresses, new goals may be formed as well.
The counseling process may include learning new problem-solving or coping skills, increasing self-understanding, exploring life patterns, and gaining a better sense of yourself.
It is important to think about what you would like to gain from your counseling sessions. It may be helpful to jot down a list of events, relationships, and feelings that you think are related to your concerns. Take time before each session to think about what you want to accomplish during that meeting. This is your counseling process, so be active in deciding how to use the time. As issues or feelings (either positive or negative) come up during counseling, it may be beneficial to share them with your counselor.
CAPS offers short-term, time-limited therapy to registered UCD students. If open ended counseling or assessment would be the next best step, CAPS provides support to transition to professionals in the community with a referral.
Counseling for (School of Medicine) Med Students:
Eligibility: All registered school of medicine students
Access: By appointment only
Location: Facilities Support Services Building (FSSB. Suite 1400) (This location is for pre-scheduled appointments only)
Availability: Monday through Thursday, day and evening appointments available
To schedule an appointment:
If you have an emergency after hours of operation or on holidays please call the CAPS main number at (530) 752-0871 and follow the prompts to connect you to a mental health professional. You can call anonymously or leave your name.
The School of Medicine and the campus' Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) office want to maintain your privacy and make sure there is no conflict of interest when services are provided. The CAPS staff is from the main campus and is not affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry or any other UCDHS Department.
Counseling for (Veterinary Medicine) Vet Med Students:
Eligibility: All registered veterinary medicine students
Access: by appointment only
Location: Schalm Hall (This location is for pre-scheduled appointments only)
To schedule an appointment:
E-Mail us at firstname.lastname@example.org
Please let us know all of your available open times for an appointment (days of the week and times of the day) & we will try to schedule an appointment with one of the Vet Med Counselors at the CAPS' Vet Med School Counseling office (Schalm Hall).
Or call us at (530) 752-0871 and be sure to tell us that you are a Vet Med Student
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) provides group and individual career counseling and collaborates with the Internship and Career Center (ICC) to provide workshops for interpreting career assessment results. Email email@example.com for more information.
Career Exploration Group
If you are conflicted between several career options, uncertain about what you might be good at doing, feeling stuck when making a choice, or really just want to know more about career decision making; consider joining the Career Exploration Groups.
Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) is offering several exciting groups. Groups consist of 4-10 students meeting weekly & are available to all registered UCD students. There is no cost for registered students. If you are interested in a group, please call CAPS at (530) 752-0871 or come to 219 North Hall to schedule an intake or group screening appointment. To participate in a group, a student must first have an intake / group screening appointment. The groups are listed below. CAPS also offers Stress & Wellness Groups and Sports Psychology Workshops. All groups meet in North Hall unless otherwise stated.
Stress and Wellness Clinic
Cultivating wellness and skillful stress management
A New Resource: Visit our new Mind Spa
Eating Disorder Services
Eating issues and disorders are important to discuss given the possible serious emotional and physical consequences associated with eating disorders.
You may obtain referrals for mental health professionals by meeting with a counselor at CAPS.
Sport Psychology Program
CAPS offers performance enhancement counseling and consultation to registered students and student-athletes.
Performance enhancement psychology promotes positive and effective mental health care to enhance performance across life domains (e.g., sport, career, personal, social, etc.).
Psycho-educational material in the areas of Sport Consulting, Psychological Counseling for Student-Athletes, and Performance Enhancement Training are provided to encourage the development of effective mind and body skills.
Multicultural Immersion Program (MIP)
The Multicultural Immersion Program (MIP) is an intensive educational experience made possible through a partnership between Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Department of Sociology.
MIP is based on didactic, experiential, and social justice models of learning, in which students engage in coursework, ongoing dialogue, and campus and community programming, that focus on race relations, intercultural communication, and the appreciation and promotion of cultural pluralism and unit.
Students take a two-quarter course sequence (Sociology 30A and 30B) taught by faculty in the department of Sociology.
Upon completion of the academic courses, students may apply for the MIP Internship, a yearlong paid position that focuses on developing and implementing workshops that address intercultural relations on campus and in the greater Davis community.
Peer Counseling at The House
The House is a drop-in and phone counseling service, open weekdays 8am to 5pm during Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters.
Students can talk to another student about personal and academic problems.
House staff help students with concerns such as relationship, loneliness, depression, and personal growth and provide workshops and wellness programs.
Located adjacent to the Housing Office, The House phone number is (530) 752-2790.
Consultation, Outreach and Peer Educational Programs (C.O.P.E.)
The Counseling and Psychological Services staff is available by telephone or by appointment to offer consultation to students, staff, and faculty to discuss students who are experiencing difficulties.
Our staff is also available to offer a psychological perspective in the planning and implementation of various educational programs, as well as, to provide workshops and presentations to the campus community during the academic year at no charge.
Commonly Requested Topics
Stress Management, Consultation and Psychological Services, Mental Health Issues Identification, Relationship/Dating Issues, Alcohol/Drug Abuse, Time Management, Coping with Anxiety, Diversity Awareness, Communication Skills, Conflict Resolution, Eating Disorders, LGBT Issues, Understanding Depression, Gender Issues
Requesting a Workshop or Presentation
When requesting a workshop or presentation, we are asking your assistance in helping us provide quality programs by giving us at least two weeks notice. The minimum number of participants for our programs is 10. The type of program being requested will determine the maximum number of participants.
Please note: our programs are provided between the hours of 8 AM to 6 PM unless other arrangements have been made.
To request a program, or for specific questions concerning consultation, outreach, and educational programs, please contact Diana Davis, Ph.D. (firstname.lastname@example.org), Director, Consultation, Outreach & Peer Education Services.
In addition to the topics listed in our Commonly Requested Topics section above, our staff is available to answer questions within their specialty area(s). For this service, please contact the staff identified with the particular interest area.
Distressed and Distressing Students Program
Faculty and staff play a central role in a student's college experience and are in a direct position to become aware when a student is distressed. This workshop will help you understand the components of this critical role: identifying, responding to and referring distressed students.
Responding to Distressed and Distressing Students - An Information Booklet (PDF) | <urn:uuid:a01b1dbf-5bb1-4d6b-99c0-d65280a2bb0e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shcs.ucdavis.edu/services/caps.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925646 | 1,887 | 1.804688 | 2 |
WARSAW (AP).- A foreigner outside of Poland commissioned the brazen theft of the infamous Auschwitz sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" ("Work Sets You Free") and detectives must expand their investigation beyond the country's borders, officials said.
In a bid to learn more about the escapade, the investigators held an re-enactment of the theft by the three men who confessed to taking the sign from the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
Based on the evidence gathered since the theft Friday, the crime was commissioned by a "person living outside Poland" and police were seeking help from Interpol and others as they investigate, said Artur Wrona, the chief prosecutor in Krakow.
Polish media have reported, without citing any sources, that someone in Sweden could be under suspicion, but Wrona refused to confirm or deny the claims.
In Stockholm, a Swedish police official said they've not been contacted about any links.
"There has been no requests made by the Polish police to the Swedish police yet," Superintendent Bertil Olofsson of the Swedish National Criminal Police said. "And so we can't confirm this speculation."
Despite the specter of an international link to the crime, Wrona said the investigation so far had exposed "glaring negligence" in the security system at the Auschwitz museum that let the burglars act "undisturbed."
He said they drove to the then-closed museum in a sports car after dark Thursday but found they needed tools to get the sign down. They went to a shop and bought tools including a spanner, he said.
When they returned, it was just after midnight and there were no guards about as they unbolted one side and ripped the other off the opposite gate post, officials said.
Police said the sign was cut into three pieces with a saw so it could fit in the getaway car.
Only one camera overlooks the gate and it remained unclear if it recorded the theft.
Museum spokesman Jaroslaw Mensfelt said that for more than 60 years of its existence, the museum's security system had seemed to be sufficient, but was now undergoing scrutiny.
"Any upgrades that might be made must mean that no one will ever think of another theft," he said.
Working from tips, police found the sign Sunday hidden under snow in the woods and arrested five suspects in northern Poland. Prosecutors said three of the five men have confessed to Friday's pre-dawn theft of the sign, which is a symbol of Nazi Germany atrocities during World War II.
All five suspects face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of stealing and dismantling the sign, which is a symbol of World War II and the Holocaust and has historic value for Poland.
Prosecutor Piotr Kosmaty said the re-enactment of the crime gave investigators "valuable material" but refused to elaborate. The three suspects who had confessed were taken back to Auschwitz to show investigators how they unscrewed and tore the sign, which weighs 66 pounds (30 kilograms), and is 16 feet (five meters) long, from the gateposts.
Kosmaty said the two other suspects had denied any involvement and, further, denied being at Auschwitz.
In Krakow, which is 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the Auschwitz museum, police displayed the broken sign for journalists. Each of the three parts bore one of the words. Some of the steel that formed its outline was bent and the letter "i'' was missing from the word "Frei" because it had been left behind during the theft. It was recovered at the scene.
Police forensics expert Lidia Puchacz said that cutting and sawing tools used in the theft were found at the home of one of the suspects.
She said the sign will be checked "millimeter by millimeter" for clues as to how it was cut up and by whom.
Krakow police spokesman Dariusz Nowak said the 115,000 zlotys ($40,000) reward for helping find the sign may be paid out to a number of people.
Prosecutors will decide when to return the sign to the museum where it will be further examined for authenticity. On Jan. 27 the museum is to hold ceremonies to mark its liberation by Soviet troops in 1945.
For now, an exact replica of the sign hangs in its place.
After occupying Poland in 1939, the Nazis established the Auschwitz I camp, which initially housed German political prisoners and Polish prisoners. The sign was made in 1940 and placed above the main gate there.
Two years later, hundreds of thousands of Jews began arriving by cattle trains to the wooden barracks of nearby Birkenau, also called Auschwitz II, where they were systematically killed in gas chambers.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. | <urn:uuid:0a6e66ca-5f22-425e-8309-11d15ebe04ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=35198&int_modo=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973046 | 986 | 2.078125 | 2 |
President Obama looked out at a historic public gathering in the streets of Cairo and declared his unequivocal support for the principles of democracy in a message that echoed both at home and abroad:
There are some who advocate for democracy only when they are out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. No matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who hold power: you must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party.
No, that was not our president’s reaction when the uprising began last week as he carefully balanced his support of President Hosni Mubarak with his calls for peaceful restraint by the Egyptian government. Nor was it in his remarks on Tuesday, as his positioning shifted, his urgency increased, and called for change to “begin now” in response to Mubarak’s announcement that he will not seek reelection.
The powerful call for democracy in Arab countries and throughout the world came from President Obama’s Cairo speech on June 4, 2009, as he sought to inspire a new relationship between the United States and the Arab world, built upon an understanding of the connectedness — not contradictions — between American and Muslim values.
The administration’s reaction to the events in Egypt was cautious over the first few days. There was a responsibility to deal diplomatically with a government that has been the second largest recipient of American foreign aid. But more than protecting Mubarak, the Obama team needed to protect the process unfolding in the streets of Cairo. America has a long, and unfortunate history, of being too hands-on in the regime changes of countries around the world — often with unintended consequences. Whatever results in Egypt will be stronger because it is authentically Egyptian, and not the result of the machinations of powers a world away. This transformation is not “Made in the USA” – it is of, by and for the people of Egypt.
The same principle should hold true in Yemen, where Ali Abdullah Saleh has announced he too will stand down for a successor at the next election. It’s the case in Jordan, where the king dismissed the government to rebuild a new cabinet in advance of intensifying protest. And if the Israeli-Palestinian process finds new urgency, as Thomas Friedman urges in his column in the Times, that process too should bear the authenticity of being guided by Israelis and Palestinians at their insistence, not simply at ours. Benjamin Barber argues that no two Middle Eastern countries will respond quite the same way to the shock of these events, but we can be consistent in our response to all the scenarios.
You’ve heard the phrase, “lead, follow or get out of the way.” In these cases, we can do a little of each: leading in declaring unwavering support for democratic principles, following the events with support for proper process and the safety of local populations, and making sure we play no role in obstructing the astonishing show of popular expression or the subsequent march toward new, fair elections — whether in Egypt and or wherever people rise up next.
While our leaders may be wise not to appear as ringleaders for the revolution, we also shouldn’t be the defenders of the status quo. We shouldn’t be scared of democracy. We cannot pick the outcomes or know for sure what leadership will follow Mubarak — as soon as next week, or as late as the next election. But as the president’s advisors and speechwriters look for the right position in these historical moments, they should look back to that speech the president already gave, a set of remarks that broke from the patterns of his predecessor and inspired Americans to believe there could be a new approach to international affairs:
So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other…That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people. Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own people. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere.
The Muslim world heard those words back in June, 2009. Let’s make sure they believe that’s where America stands in this fiery winter of 2011. | <urn:uuid:cb0bc1a2-925d-4929-a6ef-fb522da9f12d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/its-free-blog/2011/feb/02/lessons-obamas-cairo-speech/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966884 | 1,012 | 2.359375 | 2 |
South Africa is a nation rife with natural beauty. Found on the southern-most tip of the African continent it is bordered by five other countries including Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland.
Famous for its captivating and exquisite wildlife, South Africa is a popular travel destination for travellers wanting to experience spectacular flora and fauna. To help you save on the air fare, we thought we would showcase just some of the amazing species found in South Africa as part of this months installement of ARKive Geographic.
Sometimes the best things come in small packages, or perhaps the most powerful! The Namaqua dwarf adder is one such example, being the smallest venomous snake in the world. Reaching a maximum of 28 centimetres, this true viper has an attractive broad and triangular head, a heavy body covered in protruding scales, and retractable hollow fangs used to inject venom into its prey. This dune-dwelling reptile is classified Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, primarily due to mining activities and collection for the pet trade.
Rooted in Riches
The silver tree is a shining beauty, growing on the slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town. What makes this tree unique is its silver sheen and velvety leaves, which are covered in tiny hairs to protect it from desiccation and being eaten. The fruit of the silver tree will ripen over several months and is sometimes not released from its woody sheath for several years. This hearty plant can live for up to 80 years, yet is considered Vulnerable due to excessive leaf collection and other invasive plant species.
Lacking the fierce predatory nature of its larger relative, the great white shark, this brown shyshark is much less dominating in appearance and behaviour. In fact, its name comes from its tendency to coil its tail around its eyes as a defense against predators when it is caught or picked up. It prefers to feed on lobsters and smaller fish, and is endemic to waters around South Africa in the western Indian Ocean.
The secretary bird is a large bird of prey from the African grasslands, whose name stems from the peculiar long feathers on the back of its neck which are said to resemble the quill pens that secretaries used over a century ago. This unique bird is also known as the ‘marching eagle’ as it prefers to move around on foot. It can easily cover 20-30 kilometers a day hunting opportunistically for food, taking mongooses, hares, snakes, lizards, squirrels and even freshwater crabs! The secretary bird has an intricate courtship routine that involves pendulum displays in flight.
A Rare Hare
The critically endangered riverine rabbit is one of the rarest terrestrial mammals endemic to South Africa. What makes this lagomorph unique is that it typically produces only one kitten (baby rabbit) a year. The riverine rabbit is nocturnal and feeds on flowers and grasses at night. Over the past century, two-thirds of its habitat has been lost and it is estimated that only 250 individuals remain in the wild.
A horse of a different colour
What would a zebra be without its stripes? While zebras may all blend together in a herd, different zebra species have distinguishing characteristics, and each individual has a unique stripe pattern. The mountain zebra is discernible from other zebra species by the thin and relatively closely spaced vertical black lines on its neck and torso, and the ‘grid iron’ pattern of narrow stripes across the rump. The Mountain zebras also has a square flap of skin, or dewlap, on its throat. Hunting and habitat loss are primary threats to this black and white beauty.
While the range of the lion is not restricted to South Africa, it is difficult to overlook this ‘king of beasts’. An iconic species, lions inspire us with their courage, strength and spirit. This magnificent big cat is built to prey on animals many times its size, including African buffalo, hippos, and even elephants while hunting cooperatively! Male lions are larger than females and possess a mane of hair around their heads, a unique feature unique amongst the cat family. Some of the biggest threats that lions face are habitat loss, human conflict and over-hunting.
While these species are truly magnificent, they are only a small sample of what you can see in South Africa. Haved you visted before, or is it on your travel wishlist? Let us know, and please share your favourite South African species with us on our Facebook or Twitter page!
Maggie Graham, ARKive Program Assistant | <urn:uuid:dad25549-18f3-4ae2-8e64-f1cb5fc80dd7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.arkive.org/tag/arkive-geographic/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951108 | 961 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Local Government-based community Water and Sanitation services
Local Government-based community Water and Sanitation services, Bangladesh
Timeframe: 2005 – 2008
Implemented by WSP
Partners: Local Government Division, BWSPP (DPHE), RDA Bogra, SDC, Danida, DFID, AusAID
Desired Project Outcome:
Planning and management capacity of Union Parishads enhanced to improve water and environmental sanitation services through NGOs, private operators and communities.
The fundamental challenge across the SA Region is to reform the institutions of service delivery to create institutional structures, with a capacity to efficiently deliver these services. The World Bank CAS prioritizes building stronger local institutions and governance across development programs. The joint CAS recognizes that the policy context is slowly changing towards strengthening local governance as a mechanism to enhance basic local service delivery.
The purpose of this project is to enhance the capacity of the local government actors at Union Parishad level to improve basic services and livelihoods of their communities. This project contributes to the GoB’s overall local government reform and decentralisation process, and its related programs of incrementally strengthening local governance.
This project aims to:
a) Strengthen local government institutions, private providers and communities in at least six Union Parishads by year 08 to develop strategic plans and to facilitate implementation and sustainable management of water and environmental sanitation related services and facilities;
b) Develop communication strategy for decentralised service delivery, targeting policy makers and key stakeholders;
c) Aware policy makers on livelihood improvements through multi-purpose use of water.
Under this project WSP will:
• provide capacity enhancement to project partners, including local government institutions (LGIs), to address challenges in planning, financial management, project management and monitoring & evaluation, and to NGOs/Sponsors to prepare, implement and manage community water schemes on sustainable and cost-effective basis, with special reference to BWSPP;
• develop strategic communication approach to influence policy makers and other key stakeholders to support decentralised service delivery;
• Undertake a study to inform policy makers on livelihood improvements through multi-purpose use of water (in Bangladesh, India and Nepal).
1. GoB central agencies and national politicians do not intervene with project implementation, and allow local governments, communities and sponsors (NGOs) to take charge of service delivery
2. Influential drivers (Champions) and commitment to improve water and environmental sanitation related services and facilities in a UP exist at local government levels
3. NGOs/sponsors are available and willing to prepare, implement, and commit to manage community water schemes, and are able to invest in capital costs
4. Communities are willing to share the capital costs and continue paying 100% of the operating costs
Indicators of outcome:
1. At least six UPs that have participated in the capacity building program have adopted water and environmental sanitation management plans and are implementing activities by their own initiative and resources – June 2008
2. Communication Strategy applied in large scale projects – February 2008
3. Key design principles for livelihoods & multi-purpose use of water incorporated into at least one government/donor project – June 2008
You can access the description of the programme through the database of WSP activities. | <urn:uuid:58ca5939-feea-41f3-94a9-3464f126f384> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/index.php?id=2120&L=0%2F%20title%253%20target%3D%20targ%20target%3D%20target%3D%20title%3D%20target%3D | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906763 | 663 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Physician Assistant Focus Group Participants Sought
Attention Physician Assistants! We are seeking PAs (and PA students who have completed their clinical rotations) to provide feedback on a health literacy tutorial.
According to Healthy People 2010, health literacy is “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.”
The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific NW Region, is currently evaluating a web-based tutorial called “Addressing Health Information Literacy.” The tutorial was created by the Medical Library Association to assist clinicians with promoting improved health information literacy.
With this tutorial, we hope to deepen understanding and awareness of the impact of health literacy on patient outcomes, provide tools to educate and improve communication between providers and their patients, and support health care providers in improving the care of all patients by increasing health literacy.
Participants will be asked to take the online tutorial in advance (approximately 1 hour) and to participate in a 1 hour group discussion (either September 30 or October 1, 2010) at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, WA, during the Fall WAPA Meeting. Participants will be paid $100 for their time, and will earn Category II CME. Please contact Patricia Devine at email@example.com for more information.
Help us find out what works best for you! | <urn:uuid:350b42ef-c6d8-44b0-b77b-95658ea01f5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nnlm.gov/pnr/dragonfly/2010/07/21/physician-assistant-focus-group-participants-sought/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941805 | 288 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Prof’s book explores novels on surviving and resisting violence
January 17, 2013
University of Houston-Clear Lake Assistant Professor in Humanities Shreerekha Subramanian announced the publication of her first monograph “Women Writing Violence: The Novel and Radical Feminist Imaginaries.” In the book, Subramanian discusses the literary landscapes of African-American writer Toni Morrison along with South Asian writers such as Mridula Garg, Tahmina Durrani, Amrita Pritam, Bapsi Sidhwa and Mahasweta Devi.
Subramanian gives readers a new way of thinking about violence and survival from a feminist point of view. The book is available from Sage Publishing for $49.95. To find out more about the book, visit http://www.sagepub.com. For more information about, Subramanian, visit http://hsh.uhcl.edu/faculty
or call 281-283-3430.
■ ■ ■
University of Houston-Clear Lake offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including a doctoral program, from its four schools, which include the School of Business, School of Education, School of Human Sciences and Humanities, and School of Science and Computer Engineering. For more information about the university, visit http://www.uhcl.edu. | <urn:uuid:592f9e85-727c-4175-9bfa-7856211e244c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://newsroom.uhcl.edu/pr/uhcl/prof-s-book-explores-novels-on-242764.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912953 | 280 | 1.625 | 2 |
A new resolution on energy-efficiency regulation of ships was adopted at the 65th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO),...
An uptake fire generally starts when the load on the boiler is reduced. This is due to the quantity of excess air being very low at high loads.
Should a fire break out then the possibility of speeding up and reducing the excess air should be considered.
The amount of feed heating should be reduced to lower the inlet feed temperature and aid with cooling parts.
Where the possibility exists of damage to the superheater, then after first relieving pressure, it should be flooded.
Where the excess air on older boilers is high even at high loads a different plan of attack must be used.
The flames should be extinguished and the air shut off. The amount of feed heating should be reduced.
The safeties should be lifted to keep a high steam flow and hence high feed flow requirements. ( the boiler is now being fired by the uptake fire )
Lifting the safeties give the added advantage of reducing the boiler pressure and hence corresponding saturation temperature of the water aiding the cooling effect
Tackling the fire
If a direct attack should be made on hot non-pressurised parts then the nozzle should be set to solid jet and aimed at the seat of the fire.
This should not be carried out on hot pressurised parts due to the risk of a steam explosion.
Dry powder is a suitable extinguishing medium.
Under certain conditions an extremely destructive fire, commonly known as a hydrogen or 'rusting' fire, may occur Under high temperatures water will tend to disassociate to hydrogen and oxygen. The percentage amount increases with increased temperature These will recombust again liberating heat In a fire there is a danger that the use of superheated steam as an extinguishing agent (say sootblowers on an air heater fire) could in fact feed the fire and accelerate the growth. For example the displacement which occurs about 707oC
Heat + Hot 3Fe + 12H2O ---> 3Fe2O3 + 12 H2
Tackling this type of fire is very hazardous and consists mainly of boundary cooling and shutting off water and air supplies as effectively as possible.Under no circumstances should steam smothering be considered.
A typical scenario for this fire is a badly cleaned uptake igniting leading to tube failure. | <urn:uuid:67246c05-026c-4bae-8576-66567e6a5ab0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globmaritime.com/maritech/item/9849-uptake-fires | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922853 | 500 | 3.1875 | 3 |
There are several words in Engish meaning the front of the body. But what word should we use in this sentence: My sister's going to have a baby next month, but you'd never say that because her ?????? is so small.
Thank you very much!!!
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests | <urn:uuid:6531f42f-772a-42f8-b699-1c22fdc0a0fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.englishclub.com/esl-forums/viewtopic.php?p=390723 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958528 | 68 | 1.632813 | 2 |