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What impact will new Chinese leadership have on you?
This year the US election coincides almost to the day with another leadership process. In China the Communist Party Congress is about to begin, tasked with selecting new leaders for the first time in a decade.
They will formally take power next year.
It is a highly important moment for over a billion Chinese people, but also for others across the world because of the influence the new leaders' decisions will have on their lives.
The BBC's Katya Adler reports. | <urn:uuid:d45281ab-280f-41cf-8f1e-723b7c82c92c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20208244 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962909 | 105 | 1.6875 | 2 |
June 23 is “The Great American Backyard Campout”. As a kid I remember sleeping in the yard in sleeping bags. I don’t recall ever staying outside the whole night cause I’m a chicken but catching lightening bugs, telling scary stories and campfires were always the highlight of the evening. The Great American Back yard camp out is organized by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) and support by the DINOSAUR TRAIN’s “Buddy”. This campaign is devised to remind parents and children the importance and benefits of spending time outdoors.
Here are some interesting facts provided by the NWF about just how much times have changed, and the implications of spending less time outdoors.
- Children are spending half as much time outdoors as they did 20 years ago. (Juster et al 2004); (Burdette & Whitaker 2005); (Kuo & Sullivan 2001)
- Today, kids 8-18 years old devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes using entertainment media in a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). (Kaiser Family Foundation)
- In a typical week, only 6% of children ages 9-13 play outside on their own. (Children & Nature Network, 2008)
- Children who play outside are more physically active, more creative in their play, less aggressive and show better concentration. (Burdette and Whitaker, 2005; Ginsburg et al., 2007)
- Sixty minutes of daily unstructured free play is essential to children’s physical and mental health. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2008)
- The most direct route to caring for the environment as an adult is participating in “wild nature activities” before the age of 11. (Wells and Lekies, 2006)
Be a part of the NWF’s “Great American Backyard Campout” and set an example for children that will get them excited about the great outdoors!
You can participate in the campaign by registering for FREE at www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Great-American-Backyard-Campout.aspx. Whether or not you can participate on June 23, the website provides FREE helpful information to make your camping experience a fun one, including campfire recipes, nocturnal wildlife guides, campfire songs and games, nature activities and much more.
Buddy and the clan from Dinosaur Train want to ensure you’ll have some extra fun during your campout with these latest books from Penguin Young Readers Group. All kids should love to read. My children love to read and my six year old impresses me every day with his ability to read big words. He’s so incredibly smart, he loves to read and I’m so proud of him.
In Ride with Buddy, Buddy introduces readers to his friends and family on the Dinosaur Train. This Level 2 reader is perfect for young fans who are starting to read on their own.
In Dinosaur Campout, The Pteranodon family is going on a campout! This adorable 8 x 8 is perfect for a first camping trip or night away from home. (SRP: $3.99).
And don’t forget to download Dinosaur Train’s Nature Trackers Club Guide Book, available here, filled with fun activities that you can also enjoy during your campout. The Dinosaur Train Nature Tracker’s Club is a community of young children, their families and educators committed to learning about nature and doing good things for their environment. Nature Trackers enjoy exploring and having adventures, respecting their environment, collecting things, tracking and observing plants and animals, and challenging themselves to get outside and make discoveries every day. When you have completed all four activities in the Guide Book, simply mail in the form provided in the download and receive an official Nature Trackers member token!
Disclosure: No compensation was provide for sharing this information or for providing a giveaway for my readers. Giveaway is open to U.S readers only and will come directly from participating Pr.
~ * ~ * ~ GIVEAWAY ~ * ~ * ~
Win It: The Jim Henson Company has teamed up with Penguin Young Readers Group to offer Night Owl mama readers a GIVEAWAY copy of two of their latest Dinosaur Train books, Dinosaur Campout and Ride with Buddy.
To enter use the Rafflecopter widget below. Log in using your email address or your Facebook I D. Answer the required question to unlock optional extra entries | <urn:uuid:e064e124-9049-431c-a7b5-5db371475b14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenightowlmama.com/2012/06/dinosaur-train-celebrates-the-great-american-backyard-campout-book-giveaway.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931831 | 935 | 2.75 | 3 |
A new ‘super grid’ for electricity that connects Britain to mainland Europe is being tabled as the solution to balancing international supply and demand.
The new system would use cables laid under the sea, making it easier to connect offshore wind farms to the grid, eliminating the need for pylons that run from the countryside to the coast.
It would also serve as a new way of balancing the load on the system, which could reduce wasted energy that is lost in the grid during transmission, as well as balancing the difference in supply and demand across the whole of Europe.
The report comes from the Energy and Climate Change Committee, whose Chairman Tim Yeo said: “Developing an integrated and interconnected offshore network would allow us to tap these huge resources cost-efficiently and prepare the ground for a future European Supergrid – if it is necessary and feasible in future”.
The committee says that although the costs of implementing such a grid are high, they could deliver a 25% capital saving on the cost of connecting each offshore wind farm individually. | <urn:uuid:0f34265b-9caf-48fb-9048-5ff22875f035> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://utilitiessavings.co.uk/2011/09/european-super-grid-could-cost-28-billion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966045 | 215 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Albert Gleaves, born 1 January 1858 in Nashville, Tenn., graduated from the Naval Academy in 1877. After serving on board Hartford and Trenton, he was appointed an Ensign in 1881. Assigned to many ships and station, he commanded Gushing during the Spanish-American War and later North Dakota. Promoted to Rear Admiral in 1915, in World War I he commanded the Cruiser and Transport Force. For his outstanding contribution he was awarded the Army and Navy Distinguished Service Medals.
In 1919 he was promoted to Admiral. While serving at the Naval Ordnance Proving Ground, Admiral Gleaves made outstanding contributions in the field of gunnery and torpedoes. While carrying out some tests on torpedo steering devices he changed these weapons from instruments of luck into instruments of precision. The gear which he tested in Gushing provided the imprints which made the torpedo the "terrible weapon" of World War I. In spite of a life of constant action in war and peace, he found time to write a biography on Captain Lawrence; the "History of the Cruiser and Transport Force," and the "Life of an American Sailor, William Hensley Emory, Rear Admiral, USN." After a most distinguished career, he retired in 1921. Admiral Gleaves died 6 January 1937 at Haverford, Pa.
(DD-423: dp. 1,630; l. 348'4"; b. 36'1"; dr. 13'6"; s. 37 k.; cpl. 276; a. 4 5" ; cl. Gleaves)
Gleaves was launched by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, 9 December 1939; sponsored jointly by Miss Evelina Gleaves Van Metre and Miss Clotilda Florence Cohe, granddaughters of Admiral Gleaves; and commissioned 14 June 1940, at Boston Navy Yard, Lt. Comdr. E. H. Pierce in command.
Departing for shakedown training soon after commissioning, Gleaves operated off the Atlantic coast and in Caribbean waters until returning to Boston 19 March 1941 to prepare for convoy duty. She departed Newport on her first voyage 23 June 1941, and saw her convoy arrive safely at Iceland. After patrolling in Icelandic waters for a time, she returned to Boston 23 July.
Subsequently, Gleaves made four other convoy voyages to Iceland, Ireland, and North Africa protecting the vital flow of supplies to the European Theater. As the pace of German submarine attacks increased, she made more and more attacks on U-boats, but recorded no confirmed kills. On 11 to 12 May 1942, despite the efforts of Gleaves and the other escort vessels, seven ships of the convoy were lost in two separate attacks by a large wolfpack.
After returning to Boston 31 March 1042, Gleaves departed 10 May for participation in the Allied landings in Sicily. After engaging in support and convoy operations in the battle zone, Gleaves and Plunkett accepted the surrender of the Italian garrison on the island of Utica 5 August 1943, and later landed occupation troops on the island. She also drove off a group of five enemy E-boats attempting to attack shipping in the harbor of Palermo, Sicily.
As Allied preparations for the invasion of Italy reached a climax, Gleaves bombarded the Italian mainland. In September 1943 she helped clear the way for the Alerno landing forces. Following the assault, Gleaves convoyed shipping in the Mediterranean area in support of the drive north from Salerno.
When German air and land forces combined in a determined attempt to stop the landings at Anzio in January 1944, Gleaves was again on hand to lend decisive gunfire support and antiaircraft cover. In May of that year she attempted to search out and destroy German submarine V-616 but other ships of the group sank the U-boat. Survivors from the sunken U-boat were picked up by Gleaves 17 May.
Gleaves next took part in the invasion of southern France in August 1944. She escorted the Rangers in their initial landings; bombarded shore installations in support of the main assault; and screened heavier units of the fleet off shore.
Sent to San Remo on patrol and support duty, Gleaves helped in the bombardment of shore installations there 1 October firing on shipping in the harbor of Oneglio, Italy, with hits on two cargo ships. On the night of 1 to 2 October, Gleaves was attacked and succeeded in destroying one of three small explosives-laden German motor boats moving down the coast to San Remo. The other two were temporarily driven off. Returning to her station off San Remo, Gleaves was attacked two more times before she, by violent maneuvering, depth charges, and well-placed gunfire, left five boats sunk in her wake. The following morning she returned to the area to find a sixth boat disabled; and captured it with two operators on board, who provided the Allies much valuable information.
In December 1944, Gleaves was assigned as fire support ship near Allied positions on the Franco-Italian frontier, and ably performed this duty until sailing for the United States in 'February 1945. After a period of outfitting at New York and training activities in the Caribbean, she departed 30 June 1945 from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the Pacific, arriving at Pearl Harbor 4 August. After the war's end, Gleaves proceeded westward to Saipan and Nagasaki, Japan, with the occupation forces. She distinguished herself for outstanding rescue and salvage work during the powerful typhoon which swept through the Philippine Sea during September and October.
While repairing her machinery at Adak, Alaska, 23 November, Gleaves received word that steamer Adabelle Lykes in the Pacific was suffering from a smallpox epidemic. The veteran "can do" destroyer put to sea at top speed from Adak on 25 November with the vital vaccine. She met the stricken steamer next day and transferred the life-saving supplies.
Her duty in the North Pacific terminated, Gleaves transported 300 veterans from the Aleutians to Seattle, Wash., on "Magic-Carpet" duty, arriving 10 December 1945. She then moved to San Francisco and on 2 January 1946 departed for Charleston, S.C. At Charleston, where she arrived 18 January 1946, Gleaves decommissioned 8 May 1946, and was placed in reserve at Philadelphia, Pa. She was later moved to the Reserve Fleet at Orange, Tex., where she remains in 1967.
Gleaves received five battle stars for World War II service,
USS Gleaves (DD-423) leaves the building ways 9 December 1939 | <urn:uuid:9a1f24fe-dcef-4cb5-8714-dd1acf010282> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g5/gleaves.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966844 | 1,351 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Information Assurance (IA) in the field of communication and information systems is the confidence that such systems will protect the information they handle and will function as they need to, when they need to, under the control of legitimate users. Effective IA shall ensure appropriate levels of confidentiality, integrity, availability, non-repudiation and authenticity. IA shall be based on a risk management process.
Where the protection of European Union Classified Information (EUCI) is provided by cryptographic products, such products shall be approved as follows:
- (a) the confidentiality of information classified SECRET UE/EU SECRET and above shall be protected by cryptographic products approved by the Council as Crypto Approval Authority (CAA), upon recommendation by the Security Committee;
- (b) the confidentiality of information classified CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or RESTREINT UE/EU RESTRICTED shall be protected by cryptographic products approved by the Secretary-General of the Council as CAA, upon recommendation by the Security Committee.
Here is the List of Approved Cryptographic Products (LACP)
Unintentional Electromagnetic Emanations Protection
CIS handling information classified CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL and above shall be protected in such a way that the information cannot be compromised by unintentional electromagnetic emanations (TEMPEST security measures).
Council of the European Union (GSC) has decided to establish a list of EU accredited TEMPEST companies in order to react to the fast changing technology in the IT-world and to to gradually transform the traditionally product-oriented approach into a more company-oriented method.
The list covers both parent and subsidiary companies, which are located in an EU Member State and are involved in the development, testing, production, sales, support and/or maintenance of TEMPEST equipment complying with the EU TEMPEST standard IASG 7-03 level A, B or C or EU TEMPEST standard IASG 7-02 Equipment Zone 1 or 2.
The list is not limited to companies having the full range of facilities and knowledge in-house for making TEMPEST equipment; companies responsible for parts of this process might also fall within its scope, e.g. a company offering only TEMPEST testing, or a company producing the TEMPEST equipment and only doing production short tests after another company has developed a certified prototype, might also be included.
Here is the List of Accredited TEMPEST Companies | <urn:uuid:69b180af-2320-468e-8a83-26118b836810> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://consilium.europa.eu/policies/information-assurance?lang=ee | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920298 | 510 | 1.710938 | 2 |
CPS investigates after children burned by power line in northwest Harris County
Two children are recovering in a hospital after they were burned by a downed power line.
The 3-year-old boy and 5-year-old girl were playing in their back yard in the 3200 block of Nutwood in northwest Harris County around 1:30 p.m. Sunday and came into contact with a power line.
"He blew the end of his finger off and the other took a piece of her toe off," uncle Cecil Davis said.
Officials said the power line was dangling in the yard for a few days and wasn't live, but it somehow came into contact with a live wire.
"My husband looked over the fence and the kids were down," neighbor Lauri McNeill said. "She wasn't breathing for a while. Her dad was doing CPR, finally got her to breathe."
Both children suffered second-degree burns and were rushed to Shriners Hospital in Galveston in critical condition. The girl had burns over 30 percent of her body and the boy was burned from the waist down, relatives said.
"I don't know if they were playing on it or if she tripped over it or what," Davis said. "The wind was blowing and, I guess, it banged against the transformer as it blew."
Children's Protective Service officials said they are looking into the situation.
"Two kids playing in their own back yard, minding their owned business and get burned and CPS wants to step in? Something is wrong," Davis said.
Davis said the children's father reported the downed line about two weeks ago.
"They said it was no problem because it was just a guide cable," Davis said.
CenterPoint Energy officials went to the home after the incident.
"After making the scene safe, we began conducting an investigation to determine what happened," a statement from CenterPoint Energy read. Additionally, we are in the process of reviewing phone records to determine call history on the account." | <urn:uuid:4fd510df-1796-42b2-aade-9b20bb2f16a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.click2houston.com/news/CPS-investigates-after-children-burned-by-power-line-in-northwest-Harris-County/-/1735978/18974470/-/view/print/-/11qub6y/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992864 | 413 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Calexico School Board Cuts Preschool Program, Reduces Adult Ed
CALEXICO, CA - Penny Baltierra expressed concern for her two-year-old grandson, Eduardo. She says they're being affected because he won't be able to go to preschool in the Calexico Unified School District.
On Thursday night, the Calexico Unified District School Board voted 3-2 to cut its preschool program and reduce its adult education program.
Belen De La Cruz's two-year-old attends preschool. She's not happy either.
"I am pretty...disgusted is the word I can really use with what took [place]," says De La Cruz. "It's ashamed our only Calexico preschool through the District will be closing."
Calexico Unified School District Superintendent Richard Fragale says they have the daunting job of cutting its budget by $6 million. They had to layoff 89 teachers as well.
"My response is we don't want to stop it either, you know," says Fragale. "And someone made the remark last night, 'Well, what about let the State do it [take over the School District]?' If the State makes the decision, it means they're taking it over."
Calexico Unified School Board member Joong Kim opposed the preschool and adult education cuts. He says the District can do a better job at managing its money.
"When you're cutting the District's teachers...layoffs, it raises class size," says Kim. "Eliminating the preschool, reducing the adult education program...is that a benefit for the children? The benefit for the community? At the same time, we have lots of disconcerting lawyers presenting every single minute."
De La Cruz says the District should prioritize its spending.
"[The] monies being used...you're paying an attorney $30,000 a month?" says De La Cruz of the Calexico Unified School District employing legal representation to fight its battles. "That's almost what a...starting teacher's salary is for the whole year. Why not do away with that and put that money into instead for the better future of our kids."
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YUMA, Ariz. (13 On Your Side) - We have an update for you on the missing Yuma teen who hasn't been heard from in more than four months. Right now, police detectives are looking for a person of interestMore >>
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Bob and Barbara Schmidt dashed to their home on a dirt road in a heavily wooded area northeast of Colorado Springs as smoke from what would become the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history filled the air.More >>
A new wildfire in the foothills southwest of Denver forced the evacuation of dozens of homes Wednesday as hot and windy conditions in much of Colorado and elsewhere in the West made it easy for fires to start and spread.More >>
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ANDRADE, Calif. (13 On Your Side) - A Somerton man is arrested for trying to smuggle cocaine through the Andrade Port of Entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered the 38 pounds ofMore >>
A Somerton man is arrested for trying to smuggle cocaine through the Andrade Port of Entry.More >> | <urn:uuid:ef3e178c-4300-4976-a43a-ae4c32f97ba8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kswt.com/story/17015146/calexico-school-board-cuts-preschool-program-reduces-adult-ed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96264 | 1,024 | 1.671875 | 2 |
(CNN) - Mitt Romney, fresh from a narrow win in the Iowa caucuses, defended Wednesday his opposition to the DREAM act, which would allow a path to citizenship for minors in the country illegally.
"You know, the Hispanic-American voters I speak with are overwhelmingly concerned with opportunity," Romney said on CNN's "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien."
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
"They want good jobs in America and rising incomes. If they want a president who is going to talk to them about a handout or more benefits for free, they got that guy. If they, instead, want a president who understands the economy who has lived in the economy and understands what it takes to help people get jobs, again, then I'm that person," Romney continued.
Romney made his first firm statement on the DREAM act last week, affirming as president he would veto the law if it passed Congress. The proposal lays out a path to American citizenship for minors in the United States illegally who serve in the military or attend college. Currently the initiative has yet to pass Congress, despite several attempts.
On Wednesday, Romney said the priority should be enforcing immigration laws currently on the books.
"I think people, whether they're Hispanic or non-Hispanic, I think people agree that we'll enforce immigration laws in part to secure legal immigration as an important pathway to this country," Romney said. "I like legal immigration, I want more legal immigration. But illegal immigration has to be stopped to make legal immigration possible." | <urn:uuid:b77f6384-2edd-4761-a3f4-624e6cf510ff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/04/romney-defends-dream-act-stance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977274 | 320 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Is there any extension or standard option to view/edit attributed relationship records attributes using standard ArcMap attribute editor dialog? Same to question about identify dialog :)
I'm not sure if you are talking about the related records or the rows in the actual relationship class.
If it's the related records, the attribute editor provides some basic editing abilities:
And you can edit the field values of the related table:
Not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but I'll give it a shot. You can get to the related records with the Related Tables button in the attribute table (once you have a feature selected), which is editable.
In the Identify box you can see related records by using the + option under your main layer, but I don't believe it's editable.
This question is protected to prevent "thanks!", "me too!", or spam answers by new users. To answer it, you must have earned at least 10 reputation on this site. | <urn:uuid:f36bd279-ef43-4568-b7b8-ce4a0371500a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/28119/how-to-view-edit-attributed-relationship-data-in-identify-attributes-dialog-in-a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908757 | 200 | 1.546875 | 2 |
A search for articles on Brodmann Area 12 was undertaken in Medline using the search terms “Brodmann Area 12″. Whilst at the time of writing, this search retrieved 97 results I could find only 4 papers of relevance suggesting that Brodmann Area 12 is a relatively under-researched area or that the search was not sufficiently sensitive to pick up relevant papers. However although the search was relatively simple, for other Brodmann Areas this simple search strategy has resulted in a much larger number of relevant articles suggesting that the populations of papers that are being selected from are disproportionately smaller in the case of Brodmann Area 12. I note that the search often returned abstracts referring to other Brodmann Areas but where the number 12 had been used elsewhere (e.g the number of subjects) distracting from the search query.
Turning to the retrieved papers the authors of this paper look back at Brodmann’s 1909 paper and find that he didn’t identify Brodmann Area 12 although he did in later works. The authors also note that Brodmann Area 12 is believed to play an important role in Frontotemporal Dementia. The theme is reiterated in this paper where the author comments on the function of the Brodmann Area classificiation. In one study grey matter loss was found in areas including Brodmann Area 12 in those with ‘pathological sweet tooth’ and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration compared with a group of healthy controls. In another study, Neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity (NPYLI) was found to be increased in Brodmann Area 12 and a number of other areas in people who had been diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease.
In summary, a search for papers on Brodmann Area 12 returns relatively few papers suggesting either that this area does not have a physiologically significant function or that it does but the focus for research has been on other areas although the reasons for this are unclear.
An index of the site can be found here. The page contains links to all of the articles in the blog in chronological order. Twitter: You can follow ‘The Amazing World of Psychiatry’ Twitter by clicking on this link. Podcast: You can listen to this post on Odiogo by clicking on this link (there may be a small delay between publishing of the blog article and the availability of the podcast). It is available for a limited period. TAWOP Channel: You can follow the TAWOP Channel on YouTube by clicking on this link. Responses: If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org. Disclaimer: The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog. | <urn:uuid:d13fa531-61ae-4049-a186-adfca8eaa4a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theamazingworldofpsychiatry.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/brodmann-area-12-a-brief-overview-of-the-literature/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948193 | 628 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Don’t slow your body down during your halftime break. Before heading back to action, feed on this advice from Olympic sport dietitian Bob Seebohar.
STACK: What is a popular halftime food?
Bob Seebohar: I grew up playing soccer; and at halftimes, [we’d] always have oranges and water. Fruit has a lot of fructose, a sugar found in fruits. A lot of fructose slows digestion from the stomach, which means athletes will come out [in the second half] a little bit slower and less energetic. They think the oranges are doing them great, but in fact, it’s quite the opposite.
STACK: What foods should athletes consume instead?
BS: The halftime foods you [should] focus on are fast carbohydrates, water and then salt. A great halftime snack is something like a pretzel and sport drink. You should stay away from juice, because it has a lot of fructose. Sport drinks are decent. [They contain] the right sugarmeaning it’s going to get out of your stomach quickly and not sit there, causing digestive issues.
I try [to] promote more grain-based halftime foods and snacks, [including] pretzels. Whole-grain saltines work great with water, because they are very salty, and [they] give you carbohydrates. Unfortunately, we don’t think about that, because typically [a] refreshing halftime food is fruit. You can have a little bitmaybe one orange slicebut [athletes] nowadays go through five or six at halftime. No wonder they come out in the second half not feeling good.
STACK: Why is salt important?
BS: Think of salt as a sponge [for] your body. Salt actually absorbs the water you’re consuming. Sport drinks [are] very crucial, because the more fluid you can absorb and keep in your body, the better you’re going to stay hydrated. | <urn:uuid:dcaad194-2ae7-4b24-812a-88f11065312b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stack.com/2008/10/01/halftime-eating-tips/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95264 | 410 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Oct. 21, 2001
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Poem: "Directions," by Jim Barnes from Paris (University of Illinois Press).
On my way back from the Tabac
two Dutch businessmen stopped to ask
which way and how far to the Metro.
I tell you it felt fine: I felt
Parisian and tried to sound it.
Walking to the Crillon, Caroline
and I were stopped by a chic couple
who asked if they were near the Ritz.
We pointed diagonally toward
place Vendome, then shared our Michelin.
Only in Paris, as they say,
can an American be so French
that Europeans ask directions
and seven strangers wave at you
from cars and waiters read your mind
and offer Chateau Neuf du Pape.
It's the anniversary of the opening of the Guggenheim Museum in 1959. It's the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in New York City.
It's the anniversary of the Fall of Aachen, 1944, the first German city to be captured by the Allies in WWII.
It's the birthday of writer Ursula Le Guin, born in Berkeley, California, in1929. She's the author of science fiction novels such as The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. She intended the four books in The Earthsea Series to be for children, but they attracted adults as well. She has published over 80 short stories, two collections of essays, 10 children's books, several volumes of poetry, and 16 novels. Le Guin says, "Sure, it's simple writing for kids. Just as simple as bringing them up."
It's the anniversary of the light bulb, first demonstrated by Thomas Edison in 1879, in his Menlo Park, New Jersey lab. The problem was finding the right material for the filament, which needed to be super-hot to give off light. Edison finally hit on the idea of using a carbonized cotton thread for the filament, since carbon can be heated to over 6,000 degrees without melting; later he tried carbonized bamboo strips, which worked even better.
It's the birthday of chemist and industrialist Alfred Bernard Nobel, born in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1833. In 1867, he obtained a patent for a safe and manageable form of nitroglycerin, which he called dynamite. He eventually wound up with a total of 355 patents, created an industrial empire, and became one of the wealthiest men in Europe. His scientific research took him to many countries, and he had a keen interest in social issues, taking radical positions on many contemporary problems. After his death in 1896, he left the bulk of his estate to fund annual prizes to persons whose work had been of the greatest benefit to mankind. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901.
It's the birthday of poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge, born in Ottery St. Mary, County Devon, England, in 1772, whose work marked the beginning of the Romantic movement in English literature: poems in praise of love, nature, and the individual, all written in everyday language. In his early 20s, Coleridge planned to build a utopian society on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania; the plan fell through, and Coleridge stayed in England and soon met poet William Wordsworth. From that relationship came Lyrical Ballads, which opened with Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner and ended with Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey. As he grew older, Coleridge suffered from a variety of pains and from an addiction to opium, which had been freely prescribed by his physicians. His famous poem, Kubla Khan, was inspired by an opium dream: He woke from three hours of sleep with a clear image of the poem in his mind.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® | <urn:uuid:c15a2d4d-4b09-470f-a8fe-d5f61112c0aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2001/10/21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972301 | 812 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Saint Peter's Church
Saint Peter's Church, Vatican City, principal and one of the largest churches of the Christian world. The present structure was built mainly between 1506 and 1626 on the original site of the Vatican cemetery and an early shrine to St. Peter. In the 4th cent. Emperor Constantine built the first church of St. Peter, a wood-roofed basilica, with transepts, five aisles, and an atrium. It was said to be built over the grave of St. Peter. Here Charlemagne and many other emperors and popes were crowned. In the 15th cent. Pope Nicholas V undertook the rebuilding of the choir and transepts after a design by Bernardo Rossellino. In 1452 the work was begun, and part of the choir was built.
Pope Julius II decided that the entire church should be rebuilt and in 1506 appointed Bramante as the architect. He appears to have originally planned a symmetrical Greek cross with a great dome over the center. Bramante was succeeded by Raphael (1514), Antonio da San Gallo (1520), and Michelangelo (1547), who completed the building up to the drum of the great dome. Giacomo della Porta modified the design and completed the dome.
Throughout the 16th cent. there was controversy over the final form in which the church would be built—the centralized Greek cruciform plan or the shape of a Latin cross. The problem was resolved in favor of the Latin cross plan, when Carlo Maderno added the nave and facade (1607–14). Unfortunately his additions obscured the dome. The church was dedicated by Urban VIII in 1626. Between 1629 and 1662 Bernini completed the great composition of St. Peter's, creating a forecourt preceded by a majestic elliptical piazza bounded by quadruple colonnades. The great obelisk of Heliopolis, brought to Rome by Caligula, was moved by Domenico Fontana, and now adorns the center of the piazza. A monumental avenue leading to the piazza was added by Mussolini. In 1996–99 the facade of the church was cleaned, and a dull straw color restored to lower portions of it.
The huge scale of all the elements of the interior prevents any accurate notion of its magnitude, and its effectiveness is chiefly due to the dome, which is 404 ft (123 m) high from the pavement. The interior diameter of the dome, 137 ft (42 m) is one of the largest in the world. Beneath it is the high altar covered by Bernini's superb bronze baldachino. At this altar only the pope may read Mass. The interior with its colored marbles, its sculptures, and its gilt and fresco decorations gives an effect of multicolored space.
See J. Lees-Milne, Saint Peter's (1967); T. and R. Bergere, The Story of St. Peter's (1967); I. Lavin, Bernini and the Crossing of St. Peter's (1968).
More on Saint Peter's Church from Infoplease:
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Italian Physical Geography | <urn:uuid:dfd22e71-ecde-42dc-bb9f-e8904e570b30> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/saint-peter-church.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962 | 662 | 3.25 | 3 |
Extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF) is a minimally invasive procedure performed through the side of the body to treat spinal disorders and reduce long-term back or leg pain that has not responded to other treatments, such as steroid injections, physical therapy and pain medication.
XLIF differs from traditional procedures because the surgeon accesses the space between each spinal disc from the patient's side, rather than from the front or back, sparing major back muscles, bones and ligaments. Advantages of XLIF include:
- Less surgery time — XLIF can be completed in as little as an hour, reducing the time the patient is in surgery and under anesthesia.
- Less blood loss and scarring — Minimally invasive procedures result in less tissue disruption and reduced blood loss.
- Less pain — Because the surgeon accesses the intervertebral disc space from the patient's side, XLIF does not disrupt sensitive back muscles, bones or ligaments. Many patients are able to walk the same day after surgery.
- Shorter hospital stay — In some cases, XLIF requires only an overnight hospital stay, compared to several days of immobility and hospitalization after traditional procedures.
- Quicker return to normal activity — Patients usually walk the day of surgery, although full recovery takes a few months, compared to six months or more for traditional procedures.
XLIF may be recommended to treat the following lumbar or lower spine disorders:
- Adjacent level syndrome, a condition that develops adjacent to the site of a previous fusion surgery
- Degenerative disc disease with instability
- Degenerative scoliosis, a right or left curvature of the spine
- Degenerative spondylolisthesis, which occurs when a vertebrae slips forward over another vertebrae
- Posterior pseudoarthrosis, a previous fusion surgery that did not fuse correctly
- Post-laminectomy syndrome, an instability of the spine that occurs after a previous non-fusion surgery
- Recurring disc herniation
XLIF is not recommended for patients with the following conditions:
- Degenerative spondylolisthesis greater than grade 2. This is defined as one vertebra being displaced more than 50 percent off the adjacent vertebra
- Need for direct nerve decompression, when a patient has a nerve that is so severely pinched that the surgeon must directly free it during surgery. XLIF alone will not adequately solve the problem.
- Retroperitoneal scarring, or scarring behind the abdominal cavity, on both left and right sides of the spine due to abscess or prior surgery
During XLIF, surgeons work in areas that are close to nerves on the spinal column. To prevent nerve damage, nerve monitoring, called electromyography or EMG, is used that provides surgeons with real-time information about nerve position relative to his or her instruments.
XLIF, which typically takes about an hour, is performed under general anesthesia so you'll be asleep during surgery. Steps of the surgery include:
- Once you are asleep, you will be positioned on your side. The surgeon will use X-ray to locate the disc to remove and will use a marker to mark your skin above the disc.
- A small incision is first made toward your back. The surgeon places his or her finger through this incision to protect the peritoneum (sac containing abdominal organs) as instruments pass through the lateral space to the spine.
- A second incision is made on your side through which the instruments will pass to remove the herniated disc.
- Special instruments, called tubular dilators, will be inserted through the muscle on the side of the vertebrae. X-rays and nerve monitoring will safely guide instruments to the appropriate location and away from nerves.
- After tubular dilators are placed, a tissue retractor is placed over them, locked to the surgical table and held open to stretch the small incisions and provide light and instrument access to the disc space.
- With the spinal disc visible, the disc is removed.
- An implant is placed into the empty disc space. The implant is filled with bone graft for fusion.
- An X-ray image ensures the implant is correctly placed. The retractor is removed and the small incisions are closed with a few stitches and a bandage.
- Depending on a patient's condition, additional support, such as screws, plates or rods, may be inserted to stabilize the spine for fusion.
Because XLIF is less disruptive than conventional surgery, most patients can walk the evening after surgery and are discharged from the hospital the next day.
Your surgeon and health care team will determine the best course for you, depending on your comfort and other health problems you might have. Your surgeon will discuss with you any appropriate pain medications as well as a prescribed program of activities. In general, XLIF surgery results in quick recovery and return to normal activities.
Possible risks and complications include:
- Deep vein thrombosis or clotting
- Failure for the implant to fuse
- Injury to blood vessels
- Muscle weakness
- Nerve or spinal cord damage
- Persistent pain at the site of bone graft harvest in the hip
- Progression of existing spinal disease
- Urinary tract infection
For more information about XLIF, contact the UCSF Spine Center at (866) 817-7463 or (866) 81-SPINE.
Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center. | <urn:uuid:1ae6e0f3-cfda-414a-9879-dcbdd125be9b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ucsfhealth.org/treatments/extreme_lateral_interbody_fusion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922509 | 1,136 | 2.25 | 2 |
Oct 10, 2010
Hi, I was diagnosed in APRIL 2008 WITH A vl OF 4,587 AND A cd 4 COUNT OF 247. now my numbers are VL 0, cd4 732 and I am doing really well on this combo of truvada, norvir and reyataz.My question is , how important is the CD4% count as it does not figure on the lab results. My doctor said they only do a % count if the white blood cell count is at a certain level, maybe to do with hepatitis or similar.Thank you.
| Response from Dr. Holodniy
In your case it is probably not that necessary to know the percent. However, CD4 counts tend to bounce around for a variety of reasons and the CD4 percent tends to be a more stable number over time. That's why I like to have both numbers so I can follow what is going on with a patient better over time.
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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:da906aed-657e-47b4-8348-a5ce5a35ab97> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Labs/Q211223.html?ic=4003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940872 | 318 | 1.75 | 2 |
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Director Peter Weir's (The Last Wave, The Truman Show) 1975 film Picnic At Hanging Rock helped initiate the first wave of interest in Australian moviemaking. Strangely, it's never been available on video in America, except as a bootleg, until now. Based on Joan Lindsay's novel, Picnic At Hanging Rock concerns a Valentine's Day excursion by the members of a girls' boarding school in 1900 to the natural landmark of the title. Three of them, and one of their teachers, disappear without explanation, leaving their community to puzzle, fret, and eventually fall apart. An air of dread looms over Hanging Rock, like a ghost story in which the ghosts are spoken of but never seen. Horrific outbursts of emotion interrupt long stretches of silence as it becomes clear that the film is drifting further and further from offering any explanation of its central event. Hanging Rock suggests, insofar as it suggests anything, that however mysterious the disappearance might be, it primarily serves to focus the unstated anxieties of the society in which it occurs. It's a beautifully shot, haunted, and haunting movie, a classic example of the power of suggestiveness, elusiveness, and understatement and a peerless mystery in the truest sense of the word. For this re-release, Weir has prepared a director's cut which, in an unusual move, trims about seven minutes from the original running time. | <urn:uuid:489d8389-ada5-4c5d-a89d-d4c2807bbc26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.avclub.com/articles/picnic-at-hanging-rock,19385/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953679 | 298 | 1.75 | 2 |
Are you having back pain with any of the following?
We understand that you are experiencing one or more of the health issues that might be impacting your back pain.
We recommend that you discuss these health issues with your doctor before proceeding with this program.
Once you are cleared by your doctor to do this program, we hope it helps you find relief from your back pain.
Most women are very glad to move into the second trimester of their pregnancies. After the morning sickness and fatigue you'll likely experience early in pregnancy, the middle part of your pregnancy is often the time when you'll feel the best. The second trimester spans the time between 14 weeks to about 28 weeks of gestation. This is an exciting time during pregnancy when the baby is growing rapidly and when you often feel more energy, so enjoy it!
Between the third and sixth month of pregnancy, your baby will grow very quickly! At the beginning of this trimester, your baby is about 3 inches long and weighs only 1 ounce, but by the end of the trimester he or she will be 11 to 12 inches long and will weigh up to 1½ pounds.
If you could see your baby:
You should start to feel your baby moving sometime between 18 and 22 weeks as its muscles become more active. At first, the fetal movements feel like fluttering or "butterflies." As your baby grows and becomes stronger, its movements will also become stronger.
As your baby continues to develop past 20 weeks gestation:
You may notice that your baby kicks and stretches more. Your baby can hear your voice or other nearby sounds and might respond to a loud noise by kicking. Amazing as it may seem, your baby will recognize your voice and your partner's voice right after birth if you talk to the baby daily while you are pregnant.
If you could see your fetus at 14 weeks gestation, you would probably be able to recognize its gender. Hair is starting to grow on the scalp, and tiny eyelashes and eyebrows appear.
At 20 weeks gestation, the skin is wrinkled, red, and shiny. Little hands have fingernails and fingerprints. The baby can also suck its thumb and grip firmly with its hand.
During your pregnancy, there are many kinds of prenatal tests that can help you learn more about your baby's health. All prenatal testing is optional, though many kinds of tests are a routine part of every pregnancy. We can discuss your options and decide which tests might be a good option for you.
These are tests that we recommend for all pregnancies to check the health and development of your baby. These routine prenatal tests are safe for you and your baby. During your second trimester we may recommend tests for:
In addition, we routinely offer an ultrasound test during your second trimester of pregnancy.
Certain blood tests can help you find out if you have a higher or lower chance of having a baby with certain birth defects, but they can't make a definitive diagnosis. These are optional prenatal tests, and are very safe for you and your baby. Serum-integrated screening, sequential integrated screening, and quad tests are examples of optional screening tests. These tests are most effective when done at a certain stage of fetal development. Depending on which trimester you are in, we can discuss which screenings are available for you.
While there is no test that can detect all potential problems, these tests can diagnose certain kinds of birth defects. Prenatal diagnostic tests are more invasive than other prenatal tests, and there is a very small associated risk of miscarriage. Some women choose diagnostic tests based upon their family history, or their age during their pregnancy. Examples of diagnostic tests are amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.
Breast milk is the perfect food for your baby. There are many health benefits for you and your baby. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, breast milk is the only food that your baby will need during the first 6 months of life. We recommend that you continue to breastfeed your baby for up to 1 year if you are able to. Even after you introduce solid foods, you can continue breastfeeding for as long as you wish.
Breastfeeding decreases your baby's risk for many types of infections and allergies. Benefits include:
Benefits to you may include:
There are rare medical conditions where breastfeeding is not advised. We can talk further if this applies to you.
You and your baby will be more successful at breastfeeding if you are prepared. You can begin preparing now and continue throughout the last weeks of pregnancy. Suggestions for how to prepare include:
Take a class, read a book, or read our article on breastfeeding for more information. Talk to women who've had successful breastfeeding experiences. Remember, breastfeeding is a learned skill and takes practice.
To locate classes near you, search our health class directory or contact your local Health Education Center or department.
Breastfeeding does take time, but it is time well spent. You're giving your baby the best possible food, holding your baby close, and making a strong connection. Breast milk is the best food for your baby and has all the nutrition your baby needs for the first 6 months of life. The longer you breastfeed, the greater the benefits will be for you and your baby.
Get phone numbers of hospital lactation consultants, your local Pediatric Department, or members of your local La Leche League. Have these numbers ready so you can call after you and your baby go home from the hospital. For breastfeeding questions, call the 24-hour helpline at 877-4-LALECHE.
Expressing and storing your breast milk allows you to get extra milk from your breasts that can be given to your baby when you're not there.
All new mothers will need help in the beginning, so ask your friends and family to plan to help out. After the baby arrives, they can assist with meals, shopping, and the care of older children. This will allow you to spend plenty of time with your new baby.
If you're preparing to breastfeed (or just thinking about it), the second trimester is a good time to recognize your nipple type. Some nipple types require extra preparation so that you can breastfeed successfully. Our article on breastfeeding has more information, or ask us if you aren't sure what type of nipples you have.
Pregnancy hormones cause the digestive tract to relax and function more slowly, which can cause constipation. As your uterus enlarges, this can also cause constipation.
What you can do:
Heartburn (sometimes also called reflux) is caused by stomach acid coming up into your esophagus (the tube connecting your mouth to your stomach). Heartburn during pregnancy is caused by a hormone which relaxes the stomach sphincter (valve) that keeps the acid out of the esophagus. This same hormone causes a delay in stomach emptying so that more acid builds up.
What you can do:
If your heartburn is still a problem, please let us know. There are prescription medications that you can use.
As pregnancy progresses, leg cramps, breathlessness, contractions, the frequent need to urinate, and an active baby may all interfere with your sleep.
What you can do:
You may need to try various options in order to find a comfortable position.
Lying on your side is better for you and the baby now that you are in your second trimester. When you are lying on your back, the weight of your uterus and your baby rests on the vena cava, the largest vein in your abdomen. When there is pressure on that vein, your blood pressure can go down and you may feel dizzy or light-headed.
Leg cramps are common in mid to late pregnancy. They usually occur late at night and may wake you up. They may be caused by the pressure of the enlarged uterus on nerves or blood vessels in your legs, from lack of calcium, or occasionally from too much phosphorus in your diet. What you can do to prevent leg cramps:
What you can do to relieve leg cramps:
As your baby grows, your pregnancy hormones can trigger changes in your skin. These changes should fade away after your pregnancy. These skin changes are not usually treated during pregnancy. If you’re worried, talk to us about your concerns.
If you have an emergency medical condition, call 911 or go to the nearest hospital. An emergency medical condition is any of the following: (1) a medical condition that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity (including severe pain) such that you could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in serious jeopardy to your health or body functions or organs; (2) active labor when there isn't enough time for safe transfer to a Plan hospital (or designated hospital) before delivery, or if transfer poses a threat to your (or your unborn child's) health and safety, or (3) a mental disorder that manifests itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity such that either you are an immediate danger to yourself or others, or you are not immediately able to provide for, or use, food, shelter, or clothing, due to the mental disorder.
This information is not intended to diagnose health problems or to take the place of specific medical advice or care you receive from your physician or other health care professional. If you have persistent health problems, or if you have additional questions, please consult with your doctor. If you have questions or need more information about your medication, please speak to your pharmacist. Kaiser Permanente does not endorse the medications or products mentioned. Any trade names listed are for easy identification only. | <urn:uuid:6c0540b7-9930-4ed3-b0a2-b5564fb61cb3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/mdo/presentation/conditions/condition_viewall_page.jsp?condition=Health_Topic_Pregnancy_The_Second_Trimester.xml&showProvider=false | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952444 | 1,979 | 2.125 | 2 |
Egypt’s judges slam presidential declaration as ‘unprecendented assault’
EGYPT’S highest body of judges has condemned Islamist president Mohammed Morsi’s decision to grant himself near-absolute power.
In a statement, the Supreme Judicial Council said the move was “an unprecedented assault on judicial independence.
Morsi’s declaration last week places his decrees beyond judicial review until a new constitution and parliament is in place, a process which is expected to take several months.
Their condemnation of the president’s edicts are the latest blow to Morsi, whose decision on Thursday set off a storm of controversy and prompted tens of thousands of people to take to the streets in protest on Friday.
Through their statement, the judges join a widening list of leaders and activists from Egypt’s political factions, including some Islamists, who have denounced the decree.
The Supreme Judicial Council is packed with judges appointed by jailed former president Hosni Mubarak. It regulates judicial promotions and is chaired by the head of the Court of Cassation.
Their move reflects a broad sense of anger within the judiciary. Some judges’ groups and prosecutors have already announced partial strikes to protest Morsi’s decree.
Morsi has accused pro-Mubarak elements in the judiciary of blocking political progress. In the last year, courts have dissolved the lower house of parliament as well as the first panel drafting the constitution, both led by the president’s Muslim Brotherhood group.
The edicts Morsi issued mean that no judicial body can dissolve the upper house of parliament or the current assembly writing the new constitution, which are also both led by the Brotherhood. Supporters of Morsi feared that the court might in fact dissolve one of these bodies, further postponing Egypt’s transition to democracy.
They say Morsi has a mandate to guide this process as Egypt’s first freely elected president, having defeated one of Mubarak’s former prime ministers this summer in a closely contested election.
The judges’ council’s stand against the president sets the ground for an uneasy alliance between former regime officials and activist groups that helped topple Mubarak’s regime and have in the past derided those officials as “felool,” or remnants.
Morsi’s opponents nonetheless see the judiciary as the only remaining civilian branch of government with a degree of independence, since the president already holds executive power and as well as legislative authority due to the dissolution of parliament.
The judges released their statement following an emergency meeting yesterday. They said Morsi’s decision is an “unprecedented assault on the judiciary and it rulings” and called on the president to “distance himself from the declaration and all things that touch judicial authority, its specifications or interference in its members or its rulings”.
The primary court in Alexandria and the judges’ club there announced they and public prosecutors have suspended all work until the declaration is withdrawn, according to the Egyptian state news agency, Mena.
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Weather for Edinburgh
Friday 24 May 2013
Temperature: 3 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North east
Temperature: 7 C to 17 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: West | <urn:uuid:2d44b6c9-1c9f-49b0-bf50-70a42f1a77ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/egypt-s-judges-slam-presidential-declaration-as-unprecendented-assault-1-2658550 | 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 | 0.962462 | 680 | 1.570313 | 2 |
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Why should you go to Oplontis?
Oplontis is popularly believed to be the villa built by the Emperor Nero as a wedding present for his second wife, Poppea.
Poppea is understood to have been a member of the Sabina family which was a significant political force in Pompeii. The emperors had a number of houses in the area around Vesuvius and it seems likely that this building was a gift which would show her family the extent of Nero's feelings for her rather than just being preferable to staying with the inlaws. It is magnificent.
The excavated area is only a small proportion of the range of buildings which would have made up the villa. The rooms are notable for their size and for the quality of decoration. The decorative styles are of interest as are the decorated light wells in the wing beside the swimming pool and the arrangement of the garden. The swimming pool is enormous.
How to get there
Use the Circumvesuviana train service to go to the station named Torre Annunziata.
The main exit from the station is on the sea side, turn left out of the station, walk 50 metres to the main road, turn right and walk downhill, crossing a main road. The Villa is a hundred metres beyond the main road. It is on your left and in a big hole in the ground. There are signs directing you to the excavations near the station but they are a bit thin on the ground after that.
This site does not have a car park.
A summary of the train services is available.
The author last completed the journey described in June 2001 but he also visited by coach, driving down the route described, in 2008. | <urn:uuid:817617ac-9237-4176-bf77-fbd6c57dc43b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.herculaneum.mlfowler.com/?q=oplontis | 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 | 0.981471 | 383 | 1.921875 | 2 |
The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest (Latin: Archidioecesis Strigoniensis–Budapestinensis) is part of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. It represents two Hungarian cities, Esztergom and the national capital Budapest. These two prominent cities fall under the tutelage of one diocese due to Hungary's early history wherein Esztergom was one of the former capitals of the Kingdom of Hungary (much larger than the present republic – roughly the eastern half of the Habsburg empire).
The diocese was founded in the 10th century. Its name was changed from Archdiocese of Esztergom on May 31, 1993. It had a uniquely prominent status, see under the title of Prince primate.
Its current Archbishop is Péter Erdő.
Archbishops of Esztergom-Budapest
See also Archdiocese of Esztergom
See also
External links | <urn:uuid:ef82e9ea-bd03-4af2-9ed7-39639f75a5ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Archdiocese_of_Esztergom-Budapest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952132 | 205 | 1.84375 | 2 |
By Larry Kudlow
You would think $1 trillion in spending stimulus and $2.5 trillion of Fed pump-priming would produce an economy a whole lot stronger than 1.9 percent gross domestic product, which was the revised first-quarter number. And you’d think all that government spending would deliver a whole lot more jobs than 69,000 in May.
But it hasn’t happened.
The Keynesian government-spending model has proven a complete failure. It’s the Obama model. And it has produced such an anemic recovery that, frankly, at 2 percent growth, we’re back on the front end of a potential recession. If anything goes wrong — like another blow-up in Europe — there’s no safety margin to stop a new recession.
And that brings us to the grim May employment report, which generated only 69,000 nonfarm payrolls. It’s the third consecutive subpar tally, replete with downward revisions for the two prior months. It’s a devastating number for the American economy and a catastrophic number for Obama’s re-election hopes. All momentum on jobs and the economy has evaporated. | <urn:uuid:35cab8c4-c753-4c2f-8c75-e631ada24983> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.politicalnewsnow.com/2012/06/03/larry-kudlow-obamas-economic-model-is-a-failure-rcp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931803 | 248 | 1.523438 | 2 |
The news is far from good. The Taliban are gaining territory in Pakistan and are now so close to the Islamabad they're getting handover training in using the nuclear strike codes. Those pigs weren't just suffering from a bad hangover. The only calming influence on global warming is the reappearance of the ozone hole.
And now, it turns out that digital radio switchover might not be happening for a while yet:
Tim Davie, the head of BBC radio, has warned that the industry faces a listening slump with no prospect of digital switchover "in our lifetime" unless it wakes up to the challenges ahead.
Actually, the news is even worse than it first sounds - given the nuclear Taliban, swine flu and climate change, "in our lifetime" now means "by the end of 2011 at the latest."
Still, it's nice to know that some things never change:
Yes, that's MediaGuardian misspelling its own name, in keeping with the Graniaud housestyle.
Davie is gloomy:
Davie said it was "likely, not possible that we will be managing decline" in the years ahead with a "continued and sustained decline" in the average number of hours people who listen to the radio.
But it depends on what you mean by "radio", surely? Isn't the challenge less about a decline in listening, and more about in thinking about how to react to shifts in listening? | <urn:uuid:2a13300f-ef25-4b97-8c3b-e0c957dc7382> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://xrrf.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/digital-radio-more-bad-news.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944056 | 296 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Putrajaya, Malaysia, 15 October 2010—Dengue has developed into a major threat to global public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today, as it warned of a worsening situation if countries do not act now to strengthen their response.
The increased frequency and size of dengue outbreaks in some countries in WHO’s Western Pacific Region and the mosquito-borne disease's expansion in the past few years to areas previously unaffected are signs that firmer action cannot be further delayed, WHO said.
"National resources need to be mobilized to sustain dengue prevention and control, and the disease’s profile needs to be raised on the global health agenda to stimulate the interest of international agencies and donors," WHO’s Regional Director for the Western Pacific, Dr Shin Young-soo, said.
Speaking at the annual meeting here of WHO’s Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, Dr Shin called on governments to display strong leadership and commitment, greater advocacy and investment, and better clinical management of cases. Regional collaboration was also vital, he said.
Overall, the number of cases in the Western Pacific Region has more than doubled over the past 10 years. Many countries have experienced a significant increase in cases this year, with the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Philippines particularly badly hit.
Of the estimated 2.5 billion people at risk of dengue globally, about 1.8 billion—more than 70%—live in Asia Pacific countries.
The meeting was told that some of the reasons for the growing threat from the disease included:
- Higher temperatures and rainfall in many parts of the region this year, encouraging mosquito breeding.
- Growing population densities.
- Greater international travel by infected people.
- Higher awareness levels and better surveillance systems were also probable factors in some countries.
While there was as yet no clear evidence that the increase in cases was due to global warming, climatic changes play an important role in the nature of mosquitoes, including the aedes aegypti, which is responsible for the spread of dengue.
Addressing the meeting, Dr Hans Troedsson, the Western Pacific Region’s Director for Programme Management, underlined the need for governments to take a broad approach to the problem, involving urban planning, sanitation and environment. “This is not just a health problem,” he said. “This is an inter-sectoral problem.”
At a community level, elimination of mosquito breeding sites, such as water jars, building sites and discarded garbage, is essential, Dr Shin said. “The fight against this disease is everybody’s problem.”
Although considerable efforts have been made to strengthen national dengue prevention and control programmes since the endorsement of WHO’s Dengue Strategic Plan for the Asia Pacific Region (2008-2015), countries need to keep pace with the rapidly changing incidence and distribution of the disease, WHO said.
The meeting heard that dengue surveillance is an important component of national dengue programmes. While Singapore has had more cases in recent months than in the same period last year, the total number of cases continues to drop year by year. This may be attributed to the country's unique dengue outbreak and response system—which includes intersectoral collaboration during and between outbreaks—and a sensitive surveillance system that continues to operate between outbreaks.
To view the French version | <urn:uuid:0054e710-be8d-4ae9-9017-c12e90c49414> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.wpro.who.int/rcm/en/archives/rc61/press_releases/pr_20101015.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953121 | 702 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Food Fight: Greek vs. Regular Yogurt by Dana Angelo White in Which is Healthier?, August 7, 2012
- Comments (1,769)
Deciding whether a food is healthy or not can be really difficult, especially when food companies market their products in such clever ways. It’s even harder to decide between foods with healthy components, or similar-sounding foods. For this food fight we’ll explore regular and Greek-style yogurt — which one is the better choice?
Greek-style yogurt contains less water than regular varieties. This creates yogurt with tangier flavor and thicker consistency; this also affects the nutrition facts. One cup of non-fat plain Greek yogurt has 80 calories and 13 grams of protein (comparison to regular yogurt is below). The calcium and vitamin D content of all yogurts will vary from brand to brand (and whether you choose, non-fat, low-fat or whole milk) so check labels.
Any flavored yogurt will have added sweeteners. Fruity flavors of Greek yogurt will include on average 2 to 3 teaspoons of sugar per serving. The popular honey flavor won’t contain any refined sweeteners, but honey varieties tend to have more grams of sugar per serving than the ones with fruit.
See the results of our Greek yogurt taste test
The same 1-cup portion of non-fat plain regular yogurt has 107 calories and only 10 grams of protein. Flavored regular yogurts typically also rank higher in the added-sugar department. Check the list of ingredients and you will often find more sugar than fruit. The good news is whether it’s Greek or regular, both offer tummy-pleasing probiotics.
There certainly are a lot more choices of regular yogurt on supermarket shelves and with that variety comes a lot of junk! Many of the regular yogurt brands contain thickeners, stabilizers, processed sweeteners (such as high fructose corn syrup) and artificial colorings. The super low-cal yogurts are the worst culprits because they are also full of artificial sweeteners.
Healthy Eats Winner: Go Greek! More protein and less junk.
TELL US: Who do you vote for: Greek or regular yogurt? | <urn:uuid:499e5c6b-12d2-49a3-a703-53994be9f8d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/2012/08/07/food-fight-greek-vs-regular-yogurt/comment-page-8/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924533 | 458 | 2.125 | 2 |
One question I get asked a lot after I tell people that I am the vegan mother of four children is:
Are your children vegan?
I always think it is an odd question. I can’t imagine being a vegan and raising meat eating children. The idea of cooking separate meals within a family environment is just plain silly. To answer the question, yes my children are vegan and they will eat vegan as long as I purchase and prepare their meals.
With increasing rates of obesity and type-2 diabetes among American children, raising my children as vegans is the best choice for our family. I know that I am blessed, having given birth to four healthy children without any complications, however I do feel that excellent health is much more about maintenance rather than luck.
The constant in our household is lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Most meals (we indulge from time to time) are cooked from scratch and more often than not, nothing goes to waste because my children clean their plates and ask for more at almost every meal. We don’t buy a lot of juice. If we are thirsty we mainly drink water. We go through a lot of broccoli, fresh garlic, onions, parsely, cilantro, green onions, apples, bananas, pears, carrots, and peppers of all types. We eat basmati rice, cous cous, we buy dry beans (pinto, black, navy, garbanzo) and soak them before cooking, we also eat a lot of other grains (barley, quinoa, bulgar, millet). We cook brown and orange lentils. We us olive oil, sesame oil, vegetable oil and vegan margarine. With such an interesting variety to choose from we manage to keep the menu exciting.
Cooking with fresh wholesome ingredients plays a big part in whether or not your children will eat healthy for a life-time rather than part-time. My eldest will eat an entire container of cherry tomatoes. My middle son will beg for a banana smoothie to start his day. My youngest son will eat just about anything you place in front of him. All of my children have been or are currently breast-fed. I believe that breastfeeding is absolutely the single most important thing that you can do for your baby. Breastfeeding helps children develop healthy appetites as well as a healthy immune system.
Vegan children are not as picky eaters and tend to be just as adventurous as their parents. I love this. I don’t get strange looks when I use curry spices or when making a sofrito for my spanish yellow rice, or when I use seaweed or any other not so average spice or flavor combination.
I would love to hear from other vegans out there who are raising vegan children and vegans who are not raising vegan children. What are the choices of the different households? What is grocery shopping like? Are you a meat eating parent with a child who refused to eat the Standard American Diet? Are your children vegan? | <urn:uuid:a02aa95c-9818-4f3a-8e25-9a7122824851> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stemartaen.com/2009/05/are-your-children-vegan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968424 | 615 | 1.773438 | 2 |
EXHIBITOR WORKSHOP: The Works People -- With Reading Works you can be assured there are no gaps in your handwriting, phonics, reading, and spelling programs. Do you want a language arts program that is based upon neurological research and... More
I am a bookworm and I live with a family of bookworms. I purposely encouraged them to be bookworms because reading is not only enjoyable but also educational. Reading takes us to many places right from the comfort of our favorite chair. Some of our books have traveled with us, adding yet another layer of memories to the story. For those of us who homeschool, having books within reach is often necessary for our school days, rainy days and lying around in the sun days.
Great spelling does not have to be a mystery when you know...the rest of the story. Public school methods of memorizing words using pictures, workbooks, and games will never give a student the tools to know HOW English is built and WHY it is built... More
The two Rs of teaching preschoolers are relationship and readiness. Hear practical ideas for strengthening your relationship with your child as well as building academic readiness in key subject areas: reading, math, and writing.
Do you need the assurance that there are no gaps in your handwriting, reading, spelling and grammar programs? Do you want a language arts program that is based upon neurological research and addresses all learning styles? Do you need a complete,... More
Reading and spelling are complex skills. Many children have become discouraged by oversimplifications, such as “S” says /s/. In reality “S” says /z/ 70% of the time, including simple words like “is”. Others... More
Exposing your young child to excellent literature is key to your success as a homeschooler. Learn why to read aloud, what to read, and how to read so that you instill in your child a love of literature.
EXHIBITOR WORKSHOP presented by Sara Eppinga of The Logic of English. Discover why many students struggle with reading and spelling. Practical tools will be interwoven with homeschool stories and powerful NIHCD Research that... More | <urn:uuid:ac52449a-8068-4b8d-b595-5d419fb17806> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mache.org/category/tags/reading-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962829 | 452 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Barney's Busy Day by Harv Sterriker
Price: Free! 1060 words.
Language: English. Published on May 3, 2013. Fiction » Children’s books » Animals.
barney has worked hard all day pulling heavy loads of grain. the boy feels sorry for him and offers a little encouragement and comfort. barney interacts with the animals in a series of flashback incidents in the book. The book is written in poetic narrative style and is good for libraries and all to read, especially horse lovers everywhere. | <urn:uuid:26dbc768-e508-4322-8e88-5908be1d1dcb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smashwords.com/books/category/4872/newest/0/5.99/any/40 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94083 | 110 | 2.1875 | 2 |
On the evening of November 16-17 1996 my bride and I were outside the observatory of the Shreveport Astronomical Society gazing up through partly cloudy skies at the Leonid meteor shower. The display was about as active as the Perseids. But the cold and having to be at work the next day we decided to end our viewing session at 2 a.m. However by 4 a.m. the shower picked up dramatically. Over the western US all hell... well actually, all heaven broke loose, with reported guestimated counts of hundreds a minute to thousands an hour. I've regretted that decision to this day.
Actually the big display was supposed to have occurred in 1965, but it didn't materialize. The Leonids are a lackluster shower most years however every 33 or so years the Leonids are spectacular. Such was the shower of 1933. The reason is that the Leonids like all meteor showers are associated with a comet.
Comets are known polluters, shedding dust, gas and bits of rock every time they pass near the sun. The gasses and dust get blown away by the solar wind of charged particles and pressure of sunlight. The larger bits then slowly migrate away from the comet along the orbit ahead of and behind the comet. So if a comet's orbit crosses the earth's orbit we have a chance to see a meteor shower in the day of the year the earth itself crosses that spot. Comet orbits are reasonably fixed in space unless the comet comes close to a planet. Still even the most stable comet's orbit will change a bit with time. And each particle is independently influenced by, primarily the suns' gravitation and also the minute pull of all the other planets. With time the debris spreads out both farther along the orbit from the comet, but also away from the comet's orbit. The Perseid meteor shower peaks on August 12th, but its meteors can be seen three weeks before and a week after that date.
Since the orbits of the meteoroids are parallel to each other the seem to come from the same direction in the sky. The Leonids are so named because the come from the head of the constellation Leo the lion, inside the left edge of the asterism of the Sickle. The point in the sky where the meteors seem to diverge from due to perspective is called the radiant. For the Leonids it's located around 10 hours right ascension and +22 degrees declination.
The comet in the case of the Leonids was independently discovered in 1866 by Ernst Tempel and Horace Tuttle. The comet had a short period as comets go of just over 33 years. Also the comet's orbit is opposite the direction of the planets; clockwise when seen from the north. That means the comet, if it should ever hit the earth would hit head on at 71 kilometers per second (km/s). That's more than twice earth's velocity orbiting the sun. The Space Shuttle orbits the earth at a mere 8 km/s. Luckily the probability of the comet nucleus striking the earth is remote. However the cometary debris does hit the earth every year as the Leonid meteor shower. In addition there seems to be a huge amount of debris following a year or behind the comet. And when we encounter that we get to witness a meteor storm.
The nights of November 16-17 both 1998 and 1999 are prime candidates for the meteor storm because Comet Tempel-Tuttle passed by earlier this year. If this is like 1965 when the comet last passed through, the meteor storm occurred during the 1966 shower rather than the 1965 date.
So what are the prospects for 1998 and 1999? This November 16-17 the moon will be out of the way, a thin crescent two days before new rising around 5:55 a.m. for Traverse City. For 1999 the first quarter moon will set at 12:38 a.m. and be out of the way for the prime viewing hours. The radiant will be above the horizon starting about 11 p.m. and will be rising the rest of the night reaching its highest in the south shortly before 7 a.m. However morning twilight starts about 6 a.m. The weather in Western Michigan is quite cloudy in November, so many amateur astronomers are heading to clearer parts of the country and the world for this event. As for me, I'll make sure I'm dressed warmly.
(This is a reprint, with some changes, of an article by the author for the Inside Orbit, a publication of the Grand Rapids Astronomical Association.)
Questions? Comments? Send Email to me at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:75af4eb6-682d-477f-a91a-629d7f8da19b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ephemeris.bjmoler.org/leonid.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953646 | 948 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Early Intervention in an Underserved Population
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has increased dramatically in recent years, with recent data reporting one out of every 150 children being affected (CDC MMWR, 2007). Although our understanding of the cause, course, and prognosis of ASD has developed greatly in past decades, there has been a significant lack of research focusing on sociodemographic factors that may influence rates of identification and subsequent treatment. This is of particular concern because significant social disparities in autism services have been identified (Mandell, et al., 2009). Families of racial/ethnic minority, lower levels of education, and those who live in non-metropolitan areas experience greater limitations in accessing services for ASD (Thomas, Ellis, McLaurin, Daniels, & Morrissey, 2007). The purpose of the proposed project is to expand, adapt, and evaluate a modified version of an early intervention working with caregivers from a low-income, underserved population. This study proposes a randomized group crossover experimental design with 60 children randomly assigned to receive either a caregiver-implemented intervention or community support. The study aims 1) to compare of the effectiveness of the two treatment conditions on outcome measures of social communication skills, autism symptoms, developmental levels, and adaptive behavior; 2) to identify specific child and family characteristics that predict response to intervention, as well as providing a preliminary examination of how factors at the caregiver level mediate child outcome measures; and 3) to test the overall applicability of the early intervention in the targeted population. The study will begin to investigate moderating and mediating factors of service utilization, satisfaction, and adherences. | <urn:uuid:99f9edda-3226-402e-9c61-c66ba383f06b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.autismspeaks.org/behavioral-psychosocial-educational/grants/early-intervention-underserved-population | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924096 | 344 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Researchers speculate that damage from storms like the EF5 tornadoes that ravaged the South in April could be reduced by better building practices and the enforcement of existing codes.
Researchers and a rapid assessment team supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) claim that much of the damage could be linked to inadequate connections between building members such as trusses, roof rafters, and walls.
“We often found inadequate or no connections at critical locations in structures, such as attaching the trusses or rafters to the supporting walls, or sill plate to the foundation,” says Rakesh Gupta.
Gupta is a professor of wood science and engineering in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University, an expert in wind loading and structural resistance, and was a member of the NSF research team.
“Time and again we’ve seen that such connections are often inadequate under extreme loading conditions,” Gupta says. “For instance, trusses that were just toe-nailed to the walls often failed in the high winds, the roof blew off and that allowed the rest of the building to collapse. And in some cases there were no anchor bolts between the bottom plate and foundation, allowing the whole building to shift off the foundation.”
The final report from the NSF is not yet available, but Gupta has stated that it would be possible to build structures that could resist EF5 tornadoes – but that it is not economically feasible.
DOE Providing $7 Million for Updated Building Codes
3 Construction Companies Share Best Practices
Secretary Chu Tasks Leaders with Natural Gas Best Practices | <urn:uuid:97fb42c4-3f18-471d-aecc-8d0d55f49f85> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.interiorsandsources.com/article-details/articleid/11997/title/building-practices--codes--and-tornadoes.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970691 | 330 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Russell Jones, Senior Interior Designer at Design Forum Interiors, studied architecture before redirecting his energies to interior design when he realised he was more in tune with the interior aspect of projects. If an interior isn’t fun, isn’t sympathetic to its surroundings, isn’t interesting, and isn’t an experience, then in my view, it simply hasn’t been designed, but just put together,’ he explains.
We asked Russell to tell us how he combined all these aspects in a recent project creating the interiors for apartments in Val d’Isère, France.
We love the cosiness of this living area. How did you create the warm feeling?
‘Warmth isn’t just about colour: a blue-themed interior can still have an incredibly warm feeling. Tone is important when it comes to warmth – strong colours with vibrancy naturally create a sense of warmth, whilst in this interior we have used soft textures, with neutral tones uplifted by shots of a vibrant green. The shape of the furniture indicates a relaxed, comfortable feel – it looks like a room that can be lived in rather that just looked at – and this is as important as the textures, colour and materials used.’
You’ve included lots of comfortable seating in what could be an awkward space. Any advice on how to make more of rooms that aren’t as big as we’d like?
‘The less clutter the better, plus intelligent use of wallpapers or paint colours can give the illusion of a larger room. Make use of the perimeter of a room, and leave the centre as just space – a coffee table or feature pendant light can fill this void, but nothing bulky or visually consuming.’
This open-plan space still feels as if it has intimate areas. How can we create the same effect at home?
‘If we understand the spaces that we want to create – be it a dining room or a sitting room – we can then set about creating pockets of practical useable space that have an identity, and give the impression of individual areas in an otherwise open-plan living space. Different spaces can be separated by art, or by texture, or even by wall coverings. The most important aspect to consider when designing in an open-plan space, however, is continuity: everything must flow.’
The lighting in this dining area looks great. What’s the best way to ensure a dining table is well lit without harshness?
‘The worst thing about lighting in my view is being able to stare into a bright bulb, leaving you with a glare in your eye for the rest of the evening. The most intelligent lighting is hidden, integrated into the building and is used in a subtle way to light art, pieces of interest or areas that have a practical use (dining table, reading area and so on). As well as this, the use of low level lighting with table lights and standard lamps to give a general ambience to certain areas is a clever and aesthetically pleasing way to integrate light into unlit spaces.’
There’s a great balance of comfort and smartness in this bedroom. How can we achieve this?
‘Comfort is achieved with good quality materials and textures that are soft to the touch with a luxury appeal. The integration of pattern and colour continuity then creates the designed look, and the smart aesthetic. We used heavy weight linen curtains here (comfort) with a hint of blue on the leading edge (creating the designed smart look); the comfortable bedroom chair with a stripe coloured fabric ties in all colours in the room; a checked bed throw injects another pattern into the room so is in neutral colours; then the art – a small piece with a large frame and statement border – adds a small amount of red as an uplift, and still ties together the colours in the room plus provides a sense of femininity with the floral pattern.’
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Home accessories with striking silhouettes | <urn:uuid:6b9b7624-bec8-4b4c-b329-e78657c2c6ab> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.achica.com/achicaliving/2012/09/russelljones/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919145 | 1,020 | 1.742188 | 2 |
KARACHI: Ramazan is around the corner and mosques and playgrounds all over the country will witness large gatherings, especially at the time of ‘taraveeh’ prayers. We have examples of mosques and shrines being targeted in the past. On December 4, 2009, four terrorists attacked the Parade Lane mosque in Rawalpindi during Friday prayers killing 36 people.
A large gathering in a mosque, especially for ‘taraveeh’ prayers, could be an easy target for terrorists wishing to spread chaos in the holy month. The methods used in the past have included attackers entering and opening indiscriminate fire with automatic weapons, the planting of a time bomb and its detonation via a remote-controlled device, the hurling of a hand grenade or the sending of a suicide bomber.
Here are some suggestions about how to protect mosques and other places during Ramazan: 1) Every mosque management should form a watch committee of volunteers to monitor security. A team of young unarmed volunteers should be formed to carry out round-the-clock watch and to observe any suspicious activity inside and around the mosque. Services of private security agencies can also be hired. 2) The mosque should be combed before and after prayers to ensure that no suspicious object is lying or concealed inside or around the premises. If something suspicious is found, the police should be called immediately. 3) All entrances to the mosque should remain locked except the main one, which should be manned either by policemen or by the volunteers. However, other entrances should be opened during prayer timings only and must remain under strict watch. 4) All windows and openings of the mosque should have iron grills, with wire mesh covering, so that no one is able to intrude or throw anything from outside. Similarly, if prayers are held in the mosque’s courtyard, it should be covered with canopies and surrounded by partitions. 5) Mosques should be well-lit at night. 6) Worshippers should be told to immediately inform the police or the mosque committee if they suspect foul play. The committee should also organise a neighbourhood watch system in coordination with shopkeepers, hawkers and residents of the area.
Although the primary responsibility of ensuring security of mosques rests with law enforcers, the measures suggested could help prevent a terrorist attack.
Sqn-ldr (retd) S Ausaf Husain
Published in The Express Tribune, July 20th, 2012.
More in LettersPakistan’s treasure for sale | <urn:uuid:2c0b8e4d-7b5d-4caa-8e34-e2df34a3e2b2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tribune.com.pk/story/410595/ramazan-security-steps-for-mosques/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95231 | 515 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Voices From The Readers
Ocean City Police Need Tasers
Mr. Ayres response to my letter recommending the use of Taser Electronic Control Devices is technically correct, but he gives only the part of the story which supports his position. Yes, there are currently pending 30-plus claims against Taser International, but there have been over 70 claims settled in Taser's favor. And yes, as Mr. Ayres stated, a California jury recently awarded a judgment of $6.2 million to the family of a man who died after being repeatedly 'tasered' by police. However, my research indicates that the rest of the story is: Taser International was found only 15 percent responsible for the man's death. The rest of the responsibility was judged to be the man's own actions in ingesting a toxic dose of methamphetamine.
This is the first case where Taser has been found even partially responsible for a death, and it is quite possible it will be overturned on appeal once the scientific evidence is reviewed
The man was simultaneously shocked by three Taser ECD's over 25 times, and in spite of this the police were exonerated of any wrongdoing.
This was, after all, in California, land of the fruits and nuts, and perhaps the world's greatest concentration of irresponsible trial lawyers.
More importantly, the number of lawsuits filed against Taser has nothing whatsoever to do with the safety of the device. Some members of Mr. Ayres' esteemed profession will file a lawsuit regardless of its merits in hopes that the defendant will agree to a monetary settlement rather than incur the costs of litigation. Trial lawyers also know that even if they cannot negotiate a settlement, there is a good chance that they can sway a jury in their favor through emotional appeals, regardless of the facts or scientific evidence. I won't take space here to defend this opinion, but if you doubt it, just read a little about the silicon breast implant lawsuits of the 1990's.
The fact is that all of the scientific studies conducted to date support the safety of Taser ECD's. To the best of my knowledge, it has never been proven scientifically that a shock from a Taser can even disrupt the normal heart rhythm, let alone cause the death of an individual. And plain common sense dictates that a Taser, no matter what its risk, is much safer that a gun.
Mr. Ayres assertion that, 'police officers cannot be adequately trained to know when to cease the use of the Taser on a combative subject' makes no sense to me. Why not? Is the city employing learning disabled police officers? If they can be trained as to when it is appropriate to use deadly force or when to stop hitting someone with a baton, then I would think it would not be too difficult to teach them when to stop using a Taser.
In the interest of full disclosure, I do own shares of Taser International stock. I began buying it several years ago because I believe they have an innovative, life saving product that police have long needed to protect themselves and the public. I hope to make a profit on the stock some day as the true value of their product becomes better understood, and as the trial lawyers realize the futility of their efforts in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence regarding the safety of Taser ECD's.
Mr. Ayres is obviously an articulate and learned individual. I am sure that he comprehends subtle nuances of the law and City Council reasoning that I cannot begin to appreciate. I tend to see things more simply, and I know that if I ever go berserk and threaten someone, I sincerely hope that a police officer uses a Taser rather than a Glock or a Smith & Wesson to subdue me.
Get Police Involved If Observe Vandals
To the citizens and welcomed guests of Ocean City I wish to express my frustration with the resurgence of the nocturnal jackass. Each year I'm excited about summer arriving, business gets going and the fishing is at its top. Then the first busy weekend I'm reminded that with the arrival of visitor's a few pesky and destructive nocturnal jackass's come across the bridge. They spread out across our town after business ends and most civilized humans are sleeping. Maybe fueled by substances legal and illegal they reek havoc on our town. It's just awful to wake up and find that you have been visited by one of this nocturnal jackass's. Trash in your yard, empty beer cans their favorite drink. Also they love to write graffiti, uproot flowers and plants, break lights and other outdoor furniture and just doing about anything else negative their small pea brains can think of.
Like any other pest we must not ignore them or they will multiply.
The Mayor and City Council on behalf of the citizens of Ocean City have invested in a top-notch pest control unit by employing a great police force. Please do not hesitate to call about one of these pests. Our officers don't want them here as much as you. The police can't be everywhere at once. So they need your eyes and you to call them if and when you observe one of these nocturnal jackasses's. Please don't not try to approach one of these pests yourself, they can be dangerous when interrupted doing one of there negative activities best to allow a professional pest control personal handle these pests.
To share with you my last experience with a nocturnal jackass was on Aug. 20. I did not see him or her. Yes there are males and females so they can have little nocturnal jackasses. I arrived at work only to discover some nocturnal jackass decided to show off its strength and pull out three sapling cherry trees I planted this spring in front of the restaurant. Leaving them lying on the sidewalk. I can only imagine how proud this pest must have been. Those trees were at least one inch around, surly a great feat only becoming of an Alfa nocturnal jackass in his small pea brain.
As an active citizen of Ocean City, my promise to you is that I will call police anytime I observe one of these pests. I call on you to do the same. We cannot allow a few nocturnal jackasses's to destroy our hard work and investments. Also we must clean up quickly behind these pests for if you leave the evidence that one of these pests were active in your area more will likely come and copy the previous pests unruly work.
Thank you for allowing me to vent publicly.
Joseph Hall II
(The writer is the owner of Hall's Restaurant.)
My husband and I, along with our 8-year-old niece, returned last evening from our vacation in Ocean City. You may have seen us as we strolled your beaches, dined in your fine restaurants and shopped in your quaint stores. My niece is a bright, energetic, loving, and smart little girl, who just happens to have cerebral palsy. She wears braces to help her walk, but we let her go without them a few times, due to the heat and her desire to feel the sand between her toes. Her gait is unsteady and she struggles to do the everyday things that most of us take for granted. She attends therapy several times a week and works out at a grueling pace just to take a few steps.
Please do not think that because she wears braces, she does not see the children who point and stare at her, or the ones who actually follow us around stores to do so (sad but true), or the rude parents who also stare and make no effort to inform their kids that their behavior is inappropriate. I wish I could say this was an isolated incident, but it happened day after day, from Ocean City to Bethany Beach.
Instead of doing nothing, maybe you could tell your child to say hello to the little girl. They'd find out that she is a lot of fun to talk to and is a really cool kid. It boggles my mind to think that we as a nation try to give the impression that we are an "inclusive society" and that every person is worthy of respect and opportunity, after what we've witnessed (for the second year in a row, no less). Apparently, these children have not been taught to treat others as they would like to be treated.
We would, however, like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful people who work at Fenwick Island State Park, especially the lifeguards. Chris, Tommy, and Ryan, to name a few, could not have been nicer. They offered us assistance and went out of their way to make our niece comfortable and happy. They are truly compassionate and fine young men. It is because of people like them that we will return to Fenwick Island State Park.
So next year, we will pack our car and travel to your city so that our niece may experience the joys of vacationing at the beach, and say a prayer that when she looks up at us with questioning eyes, it will be to ask if she can play with her "new friend", rather than, "why are they staring at me?"
North Versailles, Pa.
Thanks For Service
(The following letter was addressed to the Ocean City Mayor and Council, City Manager Dennis Dare, Public Works Director Hal Adkins and Public Works Superintendent Bruce Gibbs. A copy was forward to our office for publication.)
The Ocean City Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has a vested interest in the beach. Along with thousands of others each year, we use it for our enjoyment. We play on it, walk on it, lay on it during the day. We stroll casually, sometimes romantically on it, during the event. Whether we are local or tourists or day users from the surrounding areas, the beach is and always will be the focus of this town.
Sometimes we forget those persons directly responsible for our beach's condition. We take it for granted that come 8 in the morning it will be there in its usual pristine condition. We forget there are unsung persons working out there all night so we can appreciate the truly, most inspiring view we have come to love in the morning.
It is with great gratitude that we, the Ocean City Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, acknowledge the men and women through their diligence, caring and work ethic for their contribution in keeping our beach in such a state. We wish to thank the supervisors, crew leaders and especially those persons who drag the beach, those persons who empty the trash cans and those persons who ride the beach picking up debris left by everyone else. Those of you that clean the beach should be commended for a job well done.
Your spirit will always be appreciated by us and should be appreciated by those persons who use this treasure. Again thank you for all you do.
Terry L. Steimer
(Dawson is the chairman of the local Surfrider chapter, while Steimer is the chair of the chapter's 'Please Leave Only Your Footprints' campaign.)
Seeking Lost Bird
Unbeknown to me, my cockatiel bird got out of her cage Saturday morning, Aug. 9. When I opened the front door, she flew away in the area of 40th Street oceanblock.
I am a cancer patient who has been taking treatments for the past six months, with more to come. My little bird friend has helped me cope with the side effects of the cancer treatments.
I named her Widgie. She talks and calls herself 'little Widgie'. She is very friendly and can whistle tunes. Whenever I let her out of the cage, she flies to me and nuzzles her head in the palm of my hand and goes to sleep as I pet her head.
She is gray and white with an orange circle on each side of her face. If anyone has found her, please call 845-806-6417. A reward is being offered. | <urn:uuid:4da57b77-a810-4088-a985-8e26afeb59a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mdcoastdispatch.com/ocean-city-maryland-news-archives/2008/08/22/Letter-To-The-Editor/Voices-From-The-Readers-69 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96958 | 2,444 | 1.523438 | 2 |
8 Catastrophic Examples of Word Choice Mistakes
Nobody likes to feel confused—when we don’t understand something, we tend to reject it. Even worse is when we get the incorrect impression about something and don’t find out we were wrong until later. Clarity is key when it comes to business writing, and word choice plays a crucial role in how easy it is for the audience to understand your message.
What is word choice? The concept is easy to define; it’s simply the usage of the best words for getting your point across. Words are powerful tools and when used correctly, they’re all you need to compel your audience to action. However, words can also be dangerous weapons—ticking time bombs in your writing that can backfire on you by leading the audience astray, leaving them perplexed or turning them off completely. It’s important to learn how to spot problematic words and replace them with clear, powerful ones so that your copywriting can be as effective as possible. Here are some of the most common mistakes people make when it comes to their choice of words in business communication.
Every now and then, you might find yourself using a word that is completely wrong—either because you thought it meant something different or because it sounds similar to the word the you actually wanted to use. In some cases, you might even use a word that doesn’t exist, such as “irregardless.”
Improper word choice can sometimes be the result of spelling or grammar errors. A car dealership might write an ad where they say they can “ensure” a great deal on a used vehicle, but if they wrote “insure,” the audience would think they were talking about auto insurance. “Ensure” means guarantee, while “insure” means to protect. See how one little letter can make a big difference?
It always helps to have an extra set of eyes take a look at your final draft to verify proper word usage. When in doubt, consult a dictionary to ensure you’re using the right definition. You can also review a list of commonly misused words to determine if you’re already making mistakes you’re not aware of.
Some words are just too wishy-washy and non-specific to effectively deliver your message. Vague words are weak and can lead to situations where the audience isn’t sure of your intent. For example, “Our product does plenty of stuff” is a weak sentence because the audience wants to know exactly what the product can do.
Whenever possible, use descriptive word choice that give the audience a clear idea about the ideas you want to convey. Using an ambiguous word leaves too much room for interpretation, which can lead to the audience drawing the wrong conclusions. A poor sentence like “Our product is good” could mean any number of things—it could mean the product is effective, it could mean the product is a good value, it could even mean the product is delicious.
Leaving it up to the audience to decide is a risky game to play. For some people, the word “good” is enough to make a positive connection, while other audiences might think that “good” is step below “great” or “excellent.” It’s generally much better to choose words with vivid, clearly defined value, such as “inexpensive,” “gorgeous,” or “durable.”
Words with negative connotations
The last thing you want from your marketing collateral is to accidentally offend your audience. Be sure that the word choice you use doesn’t have double meanings or negative connotations that might confuse readers.
For instance, the word “youth” has positive overtones relating to both childhood and vitality. Meanwhile, “juvenile” may technically mean the same thing, but it can also have negative connotations relating to immaturity. If you were advertising a health and beauty product, you would talk about how it leaves you with a “youthful appearance,” not a “juvenile appearance;” the latter would simply imply that you look childish.
Pronouns make communication quicker and easier, but when there are multiple subjects being discussed, pronouns can easily be misunderstood. For example, “Dr. Macklin often brings his dog Champion to visit with the patients. He just loves to give big, wet, sloppy kisses!” The dog is the one giving the kisses, but the uses of the “he” pronoun makes it sound like it could be the doctor giving the kisses instead!
You can simply fix the problem by clarifying the subject; in this case, “Champion just loves to give big, wet, sloppy kisses!” However, since you want your business writing to make an impression, consider a choice of more descriptive words than pronouns or proper names. “Our friendly, furry pup just loves to give big, wet, sloppy kisses!”
Using slang and regional terms might give your copywriting a bit of extra flavor, but choosing the right words helps ensure that your audience will understand what you’re saying. The words you use should match the vocabulary of your target audience; keep in mind that the wider your audience, the less colloquialisms you can effectively use.
Consider advertisements for national soft drink companies like Coke and Pepsi. You never hear them called “pop” or “soda” or any other regional term. For the most part, these companies are so big that they can use the brand name itself as the de facto descriptor for their product. If need be, they will use broad terms such as “drink” or “beverage” that will be clear for any audience, despite region or age.
On the other hand, the soft drink company Faygo uses the term “pop” to describe their product. Although pop is a regional term. it coincides with the region where Faygo is distributed. If the brand were to go national, it would likely need to change the name of some of its products in order to reach a wider audience.
Like colloquialisms, jargon words will only be understood by select audiences. In some cases, that may be your target audience, but even so, you want to make your copywriting as accessible as possible to attract new customers—even the ones who might not fully understand the finer details.
Jargon is often unavoidable in business writing because you need to give your audience all of the information necessary to make an informed decision. However, there is a time and place for it; you don’t want to use jargon in your brand’s message or slogan, but you would include it in a list of specs and features. And when you do use jargon, you want to follow it with an explanation in layman’s terms, whenever possible.
Consider the copywriting found in a restaurant menu that explains how a dish is cooked, how it’s served and what it contains. Without a clear, jargon-free choice of words, it would be difficult for new customers to know what they’re ordering, especially if they’re unfamiliar with the type of food that’s being served.
Advertising and business writers sometimes have a tendency to exaggerate. We all want our product or service to sound appealing, and that desire sometimes makes us go a bit overboard and use words like “ultimate” or even call a product “inexpensive” when it’s actually quite pricey.
Hyperbolic words such as “ultimate” or “flawless” can often act as a red flag to your audience, lowering your credibility and giving the impression that your offer is too good to be true. if your customers discover that the language in your marketing is misleading, it can backfire in a big way. Focus on using words that accurately represent your business’s strengths; if your product is popular, efficient or long-lasting (or if it actually is inexpensive), go ahead and use words that express those traits. Just don’t try to embellish the truth if you don’t have the credentials to back up your claims.
Words that go against your brand identity or target audience
Most importantly of all, your persuasive writing has to be in tune with your brand identity and target audience; word choice that goes against these can easily lead to brand confusion. For example, a high-end jewelry store targeting upscale consumers would use formal language, while an accessories boutique for young girls would use slang. Calling a diamond bracelet “cute” would be just as confusing to the audiences as referring to a plastic bracelet as “elegant.”
This also means you have to keep a consistent style across all platforms. The word choices you make for your print media should also match your online media, your social media posts and even company e-mails. You have to figure out the “voice” of your brand in order to know what word usage works best with your identity and audience.
The hardest part of choosing the right word is trying to get it right the first time. Nobody is perfect and the best strategy is always to write first, then edit later. Trying to figure out the best word choice while in the middle of the writing process may stifle your voice or make it difficult to get your message across. Focus first on what you want to say, then go back to make sure you’re saying it clearly.
Know of any other common word choice mistakes? Any cringeworthy examples of poor word usage in advertising? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments!
Posted in Copywriting | <urn:uuid:ec087cbd-72f4-4b9f-ae1c-3863a3df33cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.printwand.com/blog/8-catastrophic-examples-of-word-choice-mistakes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951057 | 2,040 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Why are we afraid to love?
I would like to say a few things in response to Charlie Julius's article that was published in the January 15th paper. Mr. Julius opens his letter with his opinions of homosexuality and how he is intrigued that in today's society we as Americans are so eager to accept something God "diametrically opposes". I grew up in Julesburg, CO and am now finishing my degree in humanities at the University of Colorado at Boulder. As proud as I am to call myself one of the few homosexuals to have survived a conservative upbringing, I am even more proud to call Julesburg my home.
One of the hardest things I have had to do as an individual early in my life is to reconcile my natural disposition with society's interpretations of God's word. This battle lasted from my freshman year in high school until after my freshman year in college, five years. I am now a senior. I never hated myself for my feelings or my conflicts; I only allowed my faith and inner being to guide me. I trusted that someday, whatever lifestyle I would decide to live would be the best one for me. I have always felt God's love in and around me, and for this I give great thanks and appreciation to my loving family and the great people that make Julesburg such an amazing place to live, who have supported me unconditionally with whatever life has given me.
It was in the spring of 2006 when my inner battle was wearing me thin. This warring was constantly on my mind because society expected one thing from me, to be a heterosexual male, and my soul wanted another, to be able to love freely and feel love in return. When anger did strike out in what seemed to be an unsolvable dilemma that I feared was going to last my entire life, a sudden epiphany cleared my head. I realized that if our purpose in this world or at least what I feel is mine, is to love and spread God's love throughout, I knew that could only be done one way: loving myself for who I am and for who God created me to be.
I know that many people reading this will have difficulties understanding why God would create something he directly calls a "perversion," as Mr. Julius quoted from the Bible. However, I have learned to trust what God tells me in my heart over what many generations of tainted societies allocate as the black and white truth. If the reader is unfamiliar with me and my lineage in Sedgwick County and would be quick to call me a perverse human being perhaps one should then check with a neighbor to discover that my intentions in this world and the heart I have to guide me is as holy as any church-going Christian.
I greatly hope that this letter doesn't offend anyone. My intentions are merely to point out that while many bad things are going on in the world around us, loving unconditionally the important people in our lives especially the ones that need us the most, is not one of them. I can attest that I would be on a very unfortunate and disastrous path in life if I didn't have those people to show me that they still cared and supported me. Mr. Julius also raises the morality of abortion, however, if we already lose so many lives due to the legalization of abortion why would we want to risk losing more by not opening our hearts and minds to our children's ability to live and love freely?
I would also like to point out that my generation has done nothing but respected our predecessors and the world they have given to us; we have supported our troops and our government as shown by the recent voter turnouts and the peaceful protesting, in contrast to the outbreaks during the Vietnam era. The youths of America have come a long way. I only hope that our fathering generations will someday respect us for what we have had to overcome as individuals and support us as we are the upcoming leaders through what Mr. Julius calls "the end time prophecies of the Holy Bible [that] are being fulfilled right before our eyes".
We would like to address a longtime concern that has recently affected us personally. The concern is people driving down Cedar Street at excessive speeds. One of our cats was hit and killed by such a driver last Friday. Apparently, the driver did not stop afterwards. We were unaware of what occurred until sometime Saturday morning looking for our cat, Baby. The City had been called to remove his body, as we found out later. Thank you to City employees Jim, Jeff, Deryl, and Jeff for their compassion in helping us find out what became of Baby after that. We do not wish anyone else to go through what we did with a pet, but how much rose would it be if it were a child in this situation? Please, everyone, think, slow down, and drive more cautiously in our town.
Kim and Stephanie Dickmeyer | <urn:uuid:63ca3765-c24f-4abc-b393-8348c428d198> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.julesburgadvocate.com/ci_12664802?source=most_viewed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983432 | 989 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Several robots drive around a large city. Major traffic routes are modelled as roads (the robots can travel faster over the roads). Run this demo using the citydemo script. Note that you will have to click on view:icons to see the robots, because to scale, they are very small.
Three robots drive across different types of roads. Green roads support rapid movement (e.g. pavement) while the brown roads are slower (e.g. dirt roads). The blue area is a simulated impassible river, but the roads server as bridges across it. Run this demo using the roaddemo script. | <urn:uuid:64d32317-bb66-4270-b6d6-a88612a8b03f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~trb/TeamBots/Domains/Roads/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946818 | 127 | 2.75 | 3 |
Lego blockbuster to be made in Sydney
Animation for a new feature film based on the popular children's toy Lego will be created in Sydney.
The New South Wales Government has announced Animal Logic will bring the colourful plastic blocks to life.
The Warner Brothers film will be completed from Animal Logic's base at Sydney's Fox Studios ahead of its scheduled cinema release in 2014.
Lego's distinctive plastic bricks have been produced since 1949, but the brand's media spin-offs have so far been limited to computer games and straight-to-DVD animations.
Animal Logic chief executive Zareh Nalbandian says the film will employ 200 people.
"It's a 3D movie. It is going to raise the bar with anything that's been done with Lego in the past," Mr Nalbandian said.
"I'm really confident that the talent and the passion that exists in this building will make it something that's outstanding and will get recognition on the world stage.
"It will be a combination of playing with real Lego, and I say playing because it needs some playing to be creative and invent what the film is going to look like, and ultimately translate that into computer animation." | <urn:uuid:f1bbf432-113a-4a35-b09e-85c5fa9c805d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-16/lego-feature-film-blocks-in-sydney-studio/3674710 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964169 | 244 | 1.742188 | 2 |
This exhibition features a selection of private collections borrowed from residents of the Philadelphia area. It is an eclectic presentation of a variety of collections. Some are nostalgic objects of the past such as antique doorknobs, walking canes, enamel flower pins, and vintage postcards. Many of the collectibles are objects from popular culture — Smurfs, Beanie Babies, and bobbleheads as well as everyday things like key chains, brushes, and olive oil cans. Others represent souvenirs from the collector’s travels — snow globes, matchbooks, and floaty pens while a few focus on specific imagery such as owls or hands. These wide ranging themes reveal that collecting is an expression of personal interest as well as creativity. Each collector has made individual decisions about what to collect and what objects get added to their collection.
As diverse as the collections are, most have been gathered primarily as a hobby and for the collector’s own enjoyment. While the activity of collecting is a universal experience, each collection is personal and unique as each object often represents a specific remembrance or story. Not only are collections a wonderful record of our culture, they also provide insights about the collector’s interests and personal history.
Above Right: Enamel Flower Pins courtesy of Patti Dougherty
Far right: Matchbooks courtesy of Margot Berg
Close right: Hands courtesy of Susan Moore | <urn:uuid:4fe07b83-fab6-4f29-8aa2-53cac19ae2f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phl.org/arts/archivedexhibitions/Pages/private2009.aspx?alert=close | 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 | 0.949374 | 284 | 2 | 2 |
IN THIS SUMMARY
The fixation of capturing new buyers has probably been fueled by the marketer’s desire to increase revenues and profits. But, as a company pursues this goal, present customers are often overlooked. Their continued patronage is assumed. Their value to the enterprise and contributions to profit are taken for granted. And because their satisfaction is presumed, the organization fails to maintain them. This is a costly mistake. Attracting new customers has become increasingly expensive as mass media costs escalate. It is obvious that marketing must change its mindset from completing a sale to beginning a relationship that builds loyalty. In the company that strives to maximize the satisfaction of current customers, the customer is not only right, but his or her opinions are actively sought. This is the spirit of aftermarketing. Effective relationship marketing requires an organizational commitment to aftermarketing techniques. Thus, the product or service offered, the delivery or distribution system, employee actions, attitudes, and values, management’s actions, attitudes, and values, the organization’s structure and culture, and employee incentive and reward programs must all be considered for change. Relationships are built through interaction and exchange. Aftermarketing acknowledges the difficulties of these pursuits in the 1990s marketplace and suggests the formation of a customer communication program to help establish better relationships. Proprietary media are exploding because of the control the marketer can exert over the vehicle, both in content and in circulation. Proprietary media are usually adopted to accomplish aftermarketing goals, such as managing customer relationships. Although start-up costs are significant, such publications ultimately become very cost-effective marketing tactics. Sometimes customers go out of their way to establish a conspicuous relationship with a marketer-behavior evidenced by the increasing popularity of affinity merchandise. The importance of this trend is that the merchandise offers significant strategic value to affirm the value and importance of the marketer’s products and image among consumers. | <urn:uuid:23a69a12-75c3-4e26-a44f-c9320f9730ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bizsum.com/summaries/aftermarketing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959582 | 390 | 1.703125 | 2 |
ALEXANDRIA, VA. -- About two-thirds of the way through the first day of the Education Department's two-day forum on higher education accreditation, something strange happened: a new idea emerged.
Not that the conversation that preceded it was lacking in quality and thoughtfulness. The discussion about higher education's system of quality assurance included some of the sharper minds and best analysts around, and it unfolded at a level that was quite a bit higher than you'd find at, say, the typical Congressional hearing.
The discussion in a hotel conference room outside Washington was designed to help the members of the Education Department's National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity understand the accreditation system, so it included a wide range of voices talking about many aspects of quality, regulation and oversight in higher education. The exchanges served largely to revisit history and frame the issues in a way that probably seemed familiar, at least to those who follow accreditation closely.
The basic gist on which there was general agreement:
- Higher education accreditation is imperfect (seriously so, in the eyes of some), with many commentators citing how rarely the agencies punish colleges and how inscrutable and mysterious their process is to the public.
- Politicians and regulators are asking accrediting agencies to do things they were never intended to do, like make sure colleges don't defraud students.
- Despite those flaws, most seemed less than eager to try to create a wholly different system to assure the quality of America's colleges and universities, because they see it as either difficult or undesirable.
Yet given Education Secretary Arne Duncan's formal charge to the newly reconstituted panel, which was distributed at its first formal meeting in December, most of the higher education and accreditation officials who attended the policy forum said they had little doubt that the panel is strongly inclined to recommend significant changes, rather than just ruminating about how well the system is working.
And if the early part of the meeting was short on specific ideas about meaningful changes the panel might suggest to Duncan, things heated up as the afternoon wore on. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most outside-the-box idea came from Kevin Carey of Education Sector, who is among the more innovative thinkers about higher education policy today.
In his presentation, Carey argued that accreditors lacked the expertise and capacity to assess the quality and legitimacy of complex for-profit higher education companies, as federal regulators -- with their growing concerns about commercial colleges -- have increasingly looked to the agencies to do. "The existing accreditation system was not designed to accommodate [large, nationwide, publicly traded college companies], and it would be a mistake to try to bend and warp the present system to do so," Carey said.
Instead, "I would call on the accreditation community to work with for-profit colleges and policy makers to develop a new federal regulatory apparatus responsible for consumer protection and quality control in the for-profit sector," Carey said. "When Uncle Sam provides or guarantees 9 out of every 10 dollars -- or more -- that flow into the coffers of large private sector corporations, the federal government must play a far stronger role in managing that process than it does today."
Carey's proposal, which drew predictable pushback from the presidents of the University of Phoenix and Keiser University, who sit on the Education Department advisory panel, contained a second element that echoed arguments by several other speakers that accreditors focus far too much on setting minimum standards and too little on prodding colleges to be excellent, especially in ensuring that their students are learning.
He suggested that accrediting agencies apply two levels of scrutiny to the institutions and programs they review -- one ensuring that they meet a minimum level of financial stability and academic quality, and a second, tougher level of scrutiny using "strong, aspirational standards of knowledge, skills and progress that only the most successful institutions can claim."
Colleges would need to pass muster in the first review to gain the accreditor's stamp of approval to award federal financial aid to their students, Carey said. (In his proposed scenario, accreditors would remain gatekeepers for federal aid for nonprofit colleges.) The second review, he said, would allow accreditors to truly differentiate among institutions of varying quality based on a set of specific outcomes, rather than allowing all institutions to assert "monolithic accreditation status.... This would in many ways return accreditation to its core strength in peer-driven standard setting and start to free it from the role as the federal government's proxy guarantor of quality, a role for which it is increasingly ill-suited."
Differentiation and Separation
While Carey's proposal was more specific and unconventional than most, he was far from alone in raising the theme that accreditors needed to better differentiate their roles and activities. There was widespread agreement among many speakers that the agencies have struggled to balance their two clear and often conflicting roles: the original one, in which groups of colleges set standards by which they voluntarily agree to judge one another's quality, and the "gatekeeping" role in which the federal government essentially subcontracts with the accreditors to gauge which institutions are of sufficient quality to award federal financial aid to their students.
"There is an uneasy tension between the historic purposes [of accreditation] and the gatekeeping functions it has assumed over the years," said Susan Hattan, a consultant for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, who spoke on behalf of her group.
The latter arrangement, which was born in the 1950s, has led the federal government to look to accreditors as a primary tool for ensuring the quality and, increasingly, the integrity of colleges and universities, and those accountability demands have led federal regulators -- when they are dissatisfied with the performance of higher education -- to push accreditors in ways that make many of them uncomfortable.
In recent years, for instance, the Education Department has pushed accreditors (in the process it uses to formally recognize the authority of accreditors to give colleges the federal seal of approval) to compel the colleges they review to better measure and report how successfully their students learn. That has led to complaints from accreditors and colleges alike that the government is "becoming more and more engaged in the day-to-day operation of accreditation and increasingly involved in judging how institutions are to be accredited," said Judith S. Eaton, president of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
The tension has prompted some critics, like Anne Neal of the American Council for Trustees and Alumni (and another member of the Education Department's advisory panel on accreditation), to call for breaking the link between the federal government and the accreditors, instead replacing it with tougher federal financial audits of colleges and greater transparency by institutions about their outcomes.
But while a few of the people who spoke at Thursday's meeting shared Neal's belief that accreditation is broken and in need of a complete overhaul -- Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers described the accreditation system as a "racket" filled with self-dealing and too-low standards -- most of those who joined the day's parade of criticism urged the Education Department panel to proceed cautiously.
"Many well-intended actors, such as the honorable members of this panel, might be tempted to consider imposing an external accountability system that imposes [a common set of] standards" on colleges, said Richard Arum, the New York University sociologist whose recent book, Academically Adrift, has fed criticism that accreditors have enabled academic underperformance by many colleges and students. But "such a system would be ill-advised at this time," Arum argued.
David A. Longanecker, executive director of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, shared Carey's view that "the pass/fail nature of a process in which everybody passes" undercuts the credibility of accreditation, and that accreditors needed to adopt a stronger set of outcome measures to better fulfill the "quality assurance" function that politicians are demanding that the agencies play.
But to those who might argue that that role would be better turned back to the federal government or to some party other than accreditors, Longanecker demurred. "Accreditation is still our best bet as the voluntary system that it is today," he said.
Even arguably the day's toughest critic of accreditation, Nassirian, agreed. "Just about the only worse way of doing things," he said, "would be to adopt governmental recognition as an alternative." | <urn:uuid:a36d257a-5c14-4f58-a9a2-a19d1b2908e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/04/education_department_panel_hears_ideas_about_improving_higher_education_accreditation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970443 | 1,746 | 1.867188 | 2 |
LISBON - The deal with the Tervita Corp. to purchase the former Youngstown-Southern Railroad fell through because of two environmental concerns, which should not have been enough to cancel the deal, Tracy Drake, CEO of the Columbiana County Port Authority, said Monday.
Drake and Larry Drane of Tetra Tech, which did the environmental study, presented the results to the port board. One item of concern was oil in the area of the car barn in Negley.
Drane reported the oil was dealt with originally in the 1990s when it was discovered and was believed to have come from another site across the road. The other site was at one point a tank farm. After the owner of the tank farm had monitoring wells built the state fire marshal in 1995 issued a No Further Action letter to the railroad company.
After the meeting, Drake said if there are any health concerns now due to the oil at the 13-acre car barn site, they could be dealt with now.
The other concern was oil near a train refueling site in North Lima. Drake said there appeared to be oil staining the ground in the area surrounding the place where the diesel engines are filled. Similar places usually have a mat to soak up the oil, according to Drake, but it is not known yet how long ago the mat at this particular location was put into the ground.
Both the port authority and Tervita had studies conducted about the possible environmental concerns. The Tervita study also noted two locations along the tracks in Signal and Negley where derailments of trains caused spills in the past. However, the study noted vegetation now covers the sites and past documentation reveals there appears to be no environmental threats.
Drake said Tervita still plans to purchase the demolition debris landfill north of Negley, but not the railroad, which has been used in the past to transport materials to the site for disposal. He said the port authority will continue to support Tervita's efforts to bring jobs to the area. | <urn:uuid:92b63cd7-1196-45a5-b64a-887881126d90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/543439/Derailed.html?nav=5006 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978859 | 412 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Sculpture and 3D Studies BFA
124 credits, four-year program of study
Fine Arts faculty are committed to helping students develop respect for learning and for the creative process, and to enable them to contribute to human culture with confidence and authority.
Students in the BFA Sculpture / 3D Studies program are exposed to a range of three-dimensional art making genres including object-making, non-objective abstraction, figurative sculpture, and site-based work. Students learn skills and processes including welding, woodworking, lost-wax bronze casting, clay, and plaster media, as well as less traditional multi-media, installation, and environmental work. In addition to the program's comprehensive technical foundation, equal emphasis is placed on each student's abilities to develop concepts and content.
The program provides educational field trips to galleries, museums, and artists' studios along with presentations by visiting artists and a lecture series. Students in Sculpture/3D Studies create a thesis body of work in their final year and explore employment opportunities and/or graduate studies.
Requirements for Admission
All applicants must meet portfolio requirements as an element in the department's admission decision. Additional materials may be required. All applicants must also follow UMass Dartmouth admissions procedures detailed in the University Catalogue. | <urn:uuid:a1caf2a4-e4e8-4d05-a273-fa69641e6867> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.umassd.edu/cvpa/undergraduate/finearts/sculptureand3dstudies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94439 | 264 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Nearly every week or month of the year is designated for some group or cause, but Mount Airy’s fire chief said the message behind an observance now under way could save lives.
“Have Two Ways Out” is the theme of National Fire Prevention Week, which began Sunday and will continue through Saturday.
In participating in the annual observance, Chief Zane Poindexter said the Mount Airy Fire Department is emphasizing the need for local residents to adopt a plan for survival. This involves designating multiple escape routes, in case smoke or flames are blocking primary exits.
While that would seem to be a matter of common sense, Poindexter said the “Have Two Ways Out” slogan has taken on special significance due to the way homes are constructed and furnished today. Both reflect a lesser quality and stability than in years past, he said.
“The construction of homes and furniture has changed so much, that in 30 seconds a fire can be out of control,” Poindexter said. Now everything burns much quicker, he added, which makes decisions by those inside all the more critical.
Even if there is a working smoke alarm and the family is prepared to react to a fire, it is advisable to have two exits — not just for a house but each room if possible, in case doorways are blocked.
Experts advise preparing a diagram of the home and marking doors and windows, along with making sure they open easily from inside.
Children should be taught to touch doors before opening them if they are reacting to a fire alarm, since one that is hot can indicate the exit is blocked by flames and the other should be used.
If smoke is encountered, those in a burning structure should crawl on the floor while escaping to better protect themselves from inhalation, one of the leading causes of fire-related deaths.
Plans also should include assisting members of the household who might have trouble escaping on their own, such as young children or the elderly.
Experts further suggest having a meeting place outside to account for everyone inside. | <urn:uuid:eccbdcfe-7c57-4567-94af-f0f9087fba46> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mtairynews.com/view/full_story/20418504/article-Fire-chief-advises-having-%E2%80%98two-ways-out%E2%80%99 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964648 | 422 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Inflammation has become the buzzword of the past 10 years. It has been linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and a host of autoimmune issues. Most people do not realize to what level inflammation can affect your health. In fact, it is one of the leading causes of obesity. Dr. Mark Hyman is... Read More
You can never be too thin or too rich. The Hamptons Diet may not help with money problems, but it promises to assist you in your weight-loss endeavors. Even the average Joe can reap the benefits of this modified low-carb approach to weight loss. The program created by Dr. Fred Pescatore, MD, a former Atkins... Read More
The average person consumes approximately 100 to 150 pounds (45 to 67.5 kilos) of sugar per year with 80 percent coming from processed foods like soft drinks, candy, cereals, and baked goods. But what if we could have our sweets without the high caloric count? Would you use a sugar substitute if your cookie would taste the same and you could still lose weight?
Sugar substitutes can be natural or synthetic and... Read More
It seems like everything you eat these days is bad for you. First, eggs are part of a balanced breakfast. Then, they are filled with cholesterol, back away slowly. Next, you're allowed to eat the whites for lean protein but make sure you take out the yolks , that was where all that nasty cholesterol was hiding. Whew. And it goes like this for so many foods. Luckily our understanding of how different foods affect the body grows daily.... Read More | <urn:uuid:eaf2c0c6-5353-4afd-ad06-ee1c91f4a859> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mydailymoment.com/index.php?option=com_tag&tag=sugar+alcohols&tag_id=1673 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957007 | 332 | 2.125 | 2 |
This answer to a similar topic describes in a detailed way how vulnerable SMS and voice calls are in terms of decryption. In order to do so, an attacker needs to set up a fake base station located relatively close to the victim's device.
Assuming this scenario, I have the following questions:
- Is the attacker able to intercept only traffic FROM the mobile phone or also TO the mobile phone? I would imagine that a carrier does not forward SMS or voice calls intended for the victim's device to a fake base station as he knows which base stations belong to his network, isn't it?
- How does the integration of the fake base station into acarrier's network work? I'd assume that there has to be some sort of authentication? | <urn:uuid:07c18f74-c92d-429d-9cb0-e242d552c677> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/11785/sms-voice-call-interception-with-a-fake-base-station/11891 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97606 | 152 | 2.296875 | 2 |
At most every talk I do, kids and parents are curious about just how I "draw on the computer". I've been using a Cintiq for the past 4-5 years, but for demos, I bring along my ginormous 9 x 12-Inch Intuos 3 tablet, which is just too large for most people. I usually recommend the more affordable, student-grade Wacom Bamboo Line for beginners -- which can be found at most Apple stores, but I recently found an even cheaper option that just might be what blossoming artists may be looking for.
I first heard about the Monoprice tablets on twitter. Fellow artists were raving about not only how great the tablet was, but the price.
What do I mean by price? The 10 x 6.25" Monoprice tablet I picked up was under $50.
To top it off, the whole order arrived in about 2 days.
So, how does it compare?
The design of the stylus are similar (note, I switched the grip on my Cintiq stylus -- it usually has a similar grip to the Monoprice one). The Monoprice stylus does not come with an "eraser" tip and requires a AAA battery to operate.
I don't feel the battery makes the pen -that- much heavier. The stylus also comes with a plastic stand, which is perfectly sturdy -- just not as well constructed as the higher-end weighted wacom version.
It also comes with this warning taped to the pen barrel:
The tablet itself is well constructed. There are "feet" on the bottom of the tablet to provide stability. The surface also has some tooth, which I'm guessing gives the sensation of drawing on paper.
The tablet isn't as sleek-ly constructed as their Wacom counterparts, but it's nicely designed and feels nice to work on.
There are also built in "hot cells" that can be programmed:
Simply tap on the buttons, which can be programmed in their Tablet Settings "app". I set a couple of mine to launch MangaStudio and Photoshop - my 2 most often used drawing programs.
Note, I am writing this from a MAC OSX Lion experience. Things may differ with a PC version.
First off, you'll need to install the proper driver before plugging the tablet in. Instead of inserting the CD, I recommend downloading it from the UC-Logic site.
After inserting the battery (look closely for the +/- on the bar) and plugging the tablet in, it should work. In order to load the "system preferences", you'll actually have to open an app called TabletSettings in your LaunchPad. (It will not show up in your System Preferences.)
There you can make all the adjustments to your "hot cells", pressure sensitivity, buttons, scope, etc. I recommend playing around with the settings until you are comfortable and making adjustments as necessary.
I launched MangaStudio first and found myself a little disoriented. It's been a while since I last worked on a tablet and getting used to the screen ratio via hand-eye-coordination took some time.
I found my lines came out a little jagged, so I launched Photoshop to try a few sketches there:
After the first two figures, I started making adjustments to the pressure sensitivity and the tablet scope. By the last couple figures and hands, I think I got a pretty good feel for the tablet. It seemed to capture most of my gestures, but to get the fine lines nice and clean, you'd need to zoom in -- and even then the lines occasionally had a jagged appearance. (Though I'm not sure if that's due to the tablet surface, my hand, or something else? I'm still testing things out.)
Overall, this is a -great- tablet. It does exactly what it needs to and for the most part, I find it does the job well. For the price point of under $50, it's practically a steal. It's an easy entry-point for someone who wants to get started with digital drawing and coloring and won't feel like a massive investment.
I had purchased this for the purpose of taking it along with me to talks/demonstrations and I think it'll do the job swimmingly. Additionally, if Scott ever needed a tablet to work on, I think he'd be more comfortable working on one this size.
Will I be swapping my Cintiq for the Monoprice tablet? No. The Cintiq will remain a part of my daily work set-up.
In short, my advice?
+ If you're looking to get started with a tablet, the Monoprice is a great choice. It's right on par with the Wacom Bamboo model.
+ If you are looking for a beater tablet to travel around with when you work, Monoprice is right for you.
+ If you do a lot of digital work already via mouse (i.e. Illustrator) and would like to try out a tablet, the Monoprice is a great choice.
+ If you already have a tablet of Bamboo grade or higher, I still recommend the Wacom Intuos Line.
+ If almost all of your work is digital and that's your daily work -- if you can afford it, get a Cintiq. You'll save so much time by not having to guess where your lines start and end.
* * * * *
You can find the tablet at Monoprice.com by searching for "tablet" or "graphic tablet" or "drawing tablet".
In fact, you can find a ton of computer-related stuff there for amazingly cheap prices. I think we picked up a battery pack for our cellphones, a headphone cable, a stereo plug, and a few other things. ♥
If you have one, let me know what you think! Likewise, if you're thinking of picking one up and have some questions, feel free to ask. :D | <urn:uuid:2689792b-5e04-4db1-96eb-cdd6bda76685> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nemu-nemu.com/2012/06/27/review_monoprice_uc-logic_pen.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964958 | 1,251 | 1.601563 | 2 |
The Fukushima report isn't the only interesting one to come out of Japan this week. The Retraction Watch blog has been following the case of one Dr. Yoshitaka Fujii from Toho University's medical school, who has published extensively in the field of anesthesia. Unfortunately, however, it seems that Dr. Fujii has not bothered to perform extensive research to create those publications. Toho University has now published the results of an investigation into Fujii's work, and found that the vast majority of the underlying "data" was simply made up.
Of 212 papers credited to the researcher, the investigation only found clear indications of supportive data for three. At least 172 of the rest are clearly based on fabricated data. Fujii apparently claimed his studies were all double-blind and performed at multiple institutions, factors that would make tracking down the underlying data more challenging. And, to make sure he had indications of collaborators at other institutions, he simply forged their signatures on papers he submitted.
Fujii slipped through the cracks partly because there was no obvious responsible party. The fraudulent results were spread across dozens of journals, contained authors from multiple institutions, and probably involved diverse sources of funding. Things only came to a head when the editors of the journal Anasesthesia hired an outside consultant to investigate instances of Fujii's work where problems were obvious for all to see: some of his published findings only had a one-in-1033 chance of being based on real data.
Assuming all of the fraudulent papers get retracted, Fujii will set a new record for the most retractions ever, more than doubling his closest competitor. At Retraction Watch, where they follow these issues closely, they're pondering whether anesthesia itself has a problem. Of over 2,000 papers that have been retracted over the last four decades, a full 13 percent have involved anesthesiologists. | <urn:uuid:387671da-90b0-490c-a5ed-35de000ffdd3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/07/new-record-for-faking-data-set-by-japanese-researcher/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979821 | 378 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The woman behind Persephone Books
Nicola Beauman makes a living from re-printing the forgotten works of female writers. She talks to Cazz Blase about chick lit, the 'surplus' women of the inter-war years and the book trade
Persephone Books is a small, London-based publishing house and bookshop. Selling books mainly by mail-order, Persephone publishes "mainly neglected fiction and non-fiction by women, for women and about women" and focuses on 20th century 'middlebrow' texts, making it unusual in a market that continues to focus on earlier or more literary texts. "The titles are chosen to appeal to busy women who rarely have time to spend in ever-larger bookshops and who would like to have access to a list of books designed to be neither too literary nor too commercial," says the website. Among the authors they have published are Monica Dickens, Dorothy Whipple, Frances Hodgson Burnett and Winifred Watson who wrote Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day.
Nicola Beauman, who founded and still runs the company, comes from a writing and publishing background. She was motivated to found Persephone after her first book, A Very Great Profession: The Women's Novel 1914-39, was published by Virago in 1983. "I realised that there were lots and lots of books that no one else wanted to re-print," she says. She was particularly inspired by the works of the author Dorothy Whipple, "whom the mainstream feminist presses didn't like", a state of affairs which proved fortuitous for Persephone "because she's been our best-selling writer". So successful was Someone At A Distance, the first Persephone book, that Beauman has since published three other Whipple novels: They Knew Mr Knight, The Priory, and They Were Sisters.
I'm longing for someone to do a PhD on Dorothy Whipple, who's a phenomenally good writer. No-one has ever written a word about her.
While Whipple remains the company's best-selling author, its most sought-after book is Winifred Watson's "funny and quirky" Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, which has been championed by India Knight in her book The Shops, and Maureen Lipman, who read the book for Radio 4. The novel tells the story of Miss Pettigrew, "a governess sent by an employment agency to the wrong address, where she encounters a glamorous night-club singer, Miss LaFosse".
When asked why she chose to focus on women writers of the first world war and inter-war years, Beauman says: "I think it's a fantastic era for women's writing, when they were particularly overlooked." There is a noticeable lack of critical work on those women who were writing between 1914 and 1950, as Nicola Humble has also pointed out, in her book The Feminine Middlebrow Novel 1920's to 1950's: Class, Domesticity and Bohemianism, which was published in 2001. "There has been very little written about them," says Beauman, "critics stick with the same little group." She is referring to authors like Virginia Woolf, Rebecca West, Rosamund Lehrmann, Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby. "I'm longing for someone to do a PhD on Dorothy Whipple, who's a phenomenally good writer. No-one has ever written a word about her."
Persephone would not publish chick lit because it is not well written
The infamously large number of "surplus women" , to use Billie Melman's phrase, who emerged from the first world war, accounts, in Beauman's view, for the large number of women writing in the inter-war period. Melman has estimated that there were 1,920,000 'surplus' or unmarried women in Britain following the end of world war one and, as Beauman points out, writing was "a perfectly respectable job for a woman, whereas they couldn't go and run a company. So there were lots of writers, and many of them were very, very good." She adds that she has been able to get quite a few of these writers into the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, a database that includes "many feminists and suffragettes".
While some writers have sought to draw a comparison between neglected feminine middlebrow authors of the inter-war period and chick lit authors of the '90s, Beauman is dismissive of the purported link. "The kind of novels I'm interested in got quite serious critical attention at the time," she says - but it is unlikely that Persephone would consider re-issuing any chick lit novels in years to come because "they're not well written, it's all to do with style. I mean, I am passionate about, quite honestly, the good sentence, and style, and whether things are well written."
Of the 75 books Persephone has published, Beauman says she loves "them all", and the list is not limited to any obvious genre, including novels, cook books, children's books, science fiction, romance and much else besides. As to the typical Persephone reader, Beauman admits that this varies, but that she would "have once thought it was middle England, middle class, middle income" when in reality "our readers are all ages and all types, and 20% men."
When it comes to re-publishing books, there appears to be little opposition from the agents representing the authors in question. In "about half of the cases" Persephone track down the families of the author to arrange re-publishing, and "they are always very helpful".
Are there are any books on the Virago Modern Classics list that Beauman would have liked to publish? "Yes, one or two I would loved to have done, particularly Molly Panter-Downes' One Fine Day, which I love."
When asked if there are advantages to not having to deal with authors when publishing books, Beauman laughs, but does admit that there are "slight advantages". "You have to be quite extrovert - lunches, and whatever - with authors, whereas I'm always more interested in text. We do have a few living authors: we've got Judith Viorst, Nicholas Mosley, Elizabeth Berridge and Oriel Malet who wrote Marjory Fleming and... then we have quite a lot of the authors daughters, who have become friends."
If 8,000 people bought our first Dorothy Whipple, there must be another 8,000 who would love it as well.
Along with having its own shop and monthly book group, the Persephone books have very distinct covers and packaging. Each title has a simple grey cover, marked with the Persephone logo and a unique end paper, which is reproduced on the bookmark accompanying each copy. This simple design came about "because I very much admire those early Penguins and I admire French paperbacks, which are white and red. I thought it was quite a good - I know it's a terrible word - 'brand'. But [that is] quite important, because people buy your books if they recognise them. If you have a recognisable look people say 'oh, a Persephone book'. The other thing is, of course, we're incredibly poor, we don't make much money, in fact hardly any money at all, and so we save on a designer because we have the same look for each book."
In addition to this uniform design, many of the books also include prefaces, but Beauman is modest when it comes to describing how the preface writers are recruited. "Oh, just luck really. I try to think of someone, or I slightly know them, sometimes I can't find someone, anyone, so we don't always have a preface." At the other end of the scale, Jacqueline Wilson prefaced the re-print of Eleanor Graham's 1938 novel The Children Who Lived In A Barn. Asking Wilson was "tremendous luck. Somebody told me, I can't remember who, it was one of her favourite books, so I wrote to her and she said she would write about it."
Wilson, of course, is one of the country's best known, and best selling, children's authors and, according to recent library statistics, her books are the most borrowed from British libraries. A number of the authors published by Persephone, including Frances Hodgson Burnett, Richmal Crompton, Noel Streatfield and Monica Dickens tend to be known almost entirely for their children's novels, but Beauman hopes that by publishing their adult novels Persephone is helping to change the critical and public perception of these, and other, writers, and she believes that such writers would be pleased by this shift in literary focus. "Certainly Richmal Crompton," whose Family Roundabout has been published by Persephone, "would rather have been known for her adult novels. Well, all of these writers were equally proud of their adult novels."
In 2008, Persephone plans to re-print some of its best-selling books in a different format, with pictures on the front, rather than the grey, in bookshops, at a slightly cheaper price of £9 - compared to the standard price of £10 each plus £2 postage, or three for £33, including postage.
To get them to a wider audience? "Yes, I feel, you know, 8,000 people have bought our first Dorothy Whipple, there must be another 8,000 who would love it as well."
Persephone Books can be found at 59 Lamb's Conduit Street, London, WC1N 3NB. For more information, or to receive a free biannually magazine and catalogue, visit: www.persephonebooks.co.uk or email firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:d97312e4-1750-4b07-b3b4-3f18fe9d17c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2007/10/the_woman_behin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978868 | 2,054 | 2 | 2 |
Just how many gun purchases don't require federal background checks, and how does that happen?
Forty percent of all firearms purchased in the United States are sold without background checks because the guns aren't bought from a federally licensed firearms dealer, Nichols said.
Rather, those weapons are bought at gun shows, on street corners, over the Internet or from friends or neighbors, Nichols said.
These are the so-called loopholes in the current federal background check system.
The NRA disputes that characterization about the "gun show loophole" because federally licensed firearms dealers participate at gatherings and, of course, conduct background checks.
"Most of the guns that are purchased at a gun show are purchased from federal firearms-licensed holders," Keene said.
He challenged the 40% figure for gun sales without background checks -- particularly at gun shows.
"We don't know what (is the) percentage at gun shows. It may be 10%," Keene said. "It's not such a loophole at gun shows. But it's like if you sell me your shotgun, that's a private transaction. Just as if I sell you a car, I don't have a dealer's license."
Ten states and the District of Columbia have their own laws requiring background checks for any firearm sold at a gun show, Nichols said.
Six more states require background checks for gun-show sales of handguns -- but not for rifles or shotguns, Nichols said. | <urn:uuid:e9db1e81-34b9-45fa-ae47-2b8792f400fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wmtw.com/news/national/-Universal-background-checks-defined/-/8792078/18125280/-/item/2/-/f3v9q6z/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954631 | 293 | 1.960938 | 2 |
VIGALANTEE: Hunting for Souls
By: Tolu Olorunda
Staff Writer – YourBlackWorld.com
Vigalantee (born Roger Suggs) is no stranger to the underground Hip-Hop scene. Born in Chicago, Vigalantee has always been a fan of Hip-Hop – though a critic, when necessary. In addition to his musical career, Vigalantee is also an arduous community-organizer and activist, whose youth program is touching many young lives across the city of Kansas. As the name suggests, Vigalantee is hunting for more than nice beats or dope rhymes. As a young man, trapped in between the perils of inter-racial animosity and intra-racial hostility, Vigalantee knows how critical it is for young Black kids to find worthy role-models in the communities that shape their destinies.
Vigalantee grew up in Chicago, and experienced, firsthand, the much-referenced tales of gang warfare. Concerned with the emotional toll this reality wreaks on a child, his mother sent him to a relative’s home in Georgia. Vigalantee describes this as the unraveling of another “extreme” living condition [...]
More At Your Black Brothers
There are many reasons why Spike Lee chose to make Miracle at St Anna, his new film about the second world war efforts of African American soldiers. Not least among these was the film-maker’s assertion that his fellow director Clint Eastwood had omitted black stories from his two war films, Letters From Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers.
It was perhaps inevitable that the controversy over the issue would focus minds on the veracity of Lee’s own film, And sure enough, it has emerged this morning that Italian war veterans are rather upset about the US director’s depiction of them in Miracle at St Anna.
The film’s press screening in Rome yesterday saw Lee and script-writer James McBride forced onto the defensive over the movie’s linking of an antifascist Italian partisan resistance group to the 1944 Nazi massacre of 560 Italian civilians.
Miracle at St Anna suggests that a partisan named Rodolfo collaborated with the Nazis, indirectly sparking the slaughter. Not so, say veteran organisations, who fear the film could cause history to be rewritten.
McBride was apologetic when questioned on the issue. “I am very sorry if I have offended the partisans,” he said. “I have enormous respect for them. As a black American, we understand what it’s like for someone to tell your history, and they are not you.
“But unfortunately, the history of World War II here in Italy is ours as well, and this was the best I could do,” he added.
Lee struck a more confrontational note. “I am not apologising for anything,” he said. “I think these questions are evidence that there is still a lot about your history during the war that you [the Italians] have got to come to grips with…
By Carrie Rickey
Inquirer Film Critic
If Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna were a symphony, you’d think, three sublime movements, a fourth that’s turgid, and what’s with the wacky coda?
Adapted by James McBride from his best-seller, Miracle is, by turns, a dazzling, dim, lucid, confounding, absorbing, tedious, silly, profound, bloody and – 160 minutes and almost as many subplots later – bracing account of four African American infantrymen separated from their Buffalo Soldiers unit in Tuscany during World War II.
The film opens in 1983 as one of the soldiers, Hector (Laz Alonso), a post office clerk, shoots a customer at point-blank range, then flashes back to his World War II tour of duty, and concludes in 1984 on what would appear to be Fantasy Island.
Even at its most indulgent, Lee’s film powerfully summons the courage of black soldiers in the face of discouraging racism. Though denigrated and infantilized by their white commanding officers, the Buffalo Soldiers nonetheless defended the country that did not always defend their so-called freedoms.
Lee can express more with a sweeping camera movement or an agitated edit than almost any other filmmaker working…
- Iron Man 3 Surpasses $1 Billion In Worldwide Box Office p.ost.im/p/dVBcPPYOUR BLACK WORLD 2 hours ago | <urn:uuid:b582e560-f750-408b-b3a3-8038b92476d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blackbloggers.wordpress.com/tag/miracle/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95432 | 954 | 1.5 | 2 |
A Cyrillic Catechism
Most comprehensive Hindu book yet is published in the Russian language
Four years of on-again, off again effort came to fruition for Swami Sadashivacharya on April 27 at Moscow's Moskva conference hall. On that brisk spring day the Russian language version of Dancing with Siva was released. Russian books on Hinduism are few; so this encyclopedic tome--1,008 pages in the original English--fills a wide gap at a critical time in the evolution of the nation's spiritual consciousness.
By timely and judicious compromises, the Russian Orthodox Church survived 80 years of communist rule. But the institution that limped into freedom's dawn was a mere shadow of the mighty mentor of all things Russian it had once been. The old folks had clung to their faith over the years, but the new generation was educated on communist doctrines which dismissed religion's necessity. Now, with communism itself relegated to the netherworld of failed social experiments, religion is an appealing, untested option for Russian youth. And just as India once looked to the Soviets for inspiration and guidance in forming a socialist country, seekers of the disbanded Union now look to India as the world's primeval fountain of wisdom and knowledge.
It was such a quest that took the young Swami Sadashivacharya to India years ago. He and other seekers formed Moscow's Tantra Sangha in 1992, with the intent of promoting Hindu Tantric philosophy and worship. When he met Hinduism Today publisher Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami in Berlin in 1993, he was presented a copy of Dancing with Siva. "At the very first moment of getting it, I was deeply impressed and wished to do everything possible to make a Russian version," recalls Swami. "I asked Gurudeva for his blessing to translate the book, and immediately, without any words, he put his hands upon my head and gave his blessings." Swami knew the book would fill the great void in Russian-language publications for comprehensive books on Indian spirituality. "There are several hundred books on Hinduism in Russia," Swami said, "but most of them are very simple, thin and unillustrated." Dancing with Siva covers every aspect of Hinduism in question/answer format, and includes extensive references on major Hindu denominations, hundreds of carefully defined Sanskrit terms, a timeline of Hindu history, material for parents and children, a synopsis of each of the world's major religions and abundant illustrations.
Leo Ozolin began the massive translation task immediately upon Swami's return to Russia in 1993, but soon stopped for lack of funds. In 1996, Sophia Publishing company took an interest in adding the Catechism to their titles on yoga, New Age, healing, meditation and transpersonal psychology. Two professional translators, Peter Aleinikov of Moscow and Andrey Kostenko of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, were hired to complete the text. They divided the book between them, and reported easy going with the translation, though they admitted, "The Sanskrit terms were hard." Aleinikov, who spent a full year on the project, believes it is a useful work as "Russian people are very interested in Hindu philosophy." Kostenko was inspired by "the divinity, integrity and ease-of-understanding brought to the complex subject of Hinduism." He served as proofreader and production motivator while Swami Sadashivacharya provided editing and organizational input. The high-quality, hardbound text is now available for US$12 to $15 in Russian stores--a moderate price within reach of even a student's budget. The reception is "very warm and excellent," Swami reports.
Paramacharya Bodhinatha Veylanswami of Himalayan Academy Publications--publishers of Dancing with Siva and, we need disclose, Hinduism Today--flew to Russia for the book release. He reports a successful event with a number of distinguished speakers enthusiastically endorsing the book, including the publisher, scholars and leaders of several spiritual groups, notably Vladimir B. Avdeyev, chairman of the Russian Pagan community and Sri Vaidyanath das, president of the Russian branch of ISKCON.
The most unexpected revelations came from speaker Yuri P. Shilov, an archeologist of Ukraine. He explained how his life had been transformed when his archeological research into Ukraine's history revealed that the region's early culture was Vedic. As a Marxist at the time, this came as a great shock. Mainstream scholars had not suspected such a strong Ukraine-India connection. But other evidence was already at hand, including the ten-kopek Ukraine coin bearing the country's national symbol--the Hindu trident! Shilov plans to join new digs in India, and to team up with visiting Indian archeologists in his own land.
Kim I. Shilin, a scholar in the "Laboratory of East Culture's Ecology," Institute of Asian-African Studies, Moscow University, praised the Indian approach, which "treats life as a whole and seeks revival of the initial harmony," an outlook he hopes will counterbalance the impact of the West's aggressive, materialistic philosophy.
There is no permanent Indian presence in Russia. Indians come from Bharat for a few years, but then return. This differs from the Western paradigm, where resident Indian Hindu populations have built temples, established their teachings and given strength to inspired Westerners. Russia's seekers with Hindu leanings are on their own (though India is not that far away). Thus, they are encouraged by the section in Dancing with Siva on how people not born into the faith can enter Hinduism through study, severance and traditional rites. Meanwhile, others in the former USSR are turning to Paganism, the land's pre-Christian faith, sparking a grassroots revival, as is also happening in Europe. Pagans in both communities are discovering, too, that their ancient heritage is closely akin to Hinduism.
The Russian version ofDancing with Sivais available from the Tantra Sangha, P.O. Box 70, Moscow 103055, Russia.
The comments are owned by the author. We aren't responsible for their content. | <urn:uuid:55678010-270b-4d98-b3d8-5722cab0573b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=4996 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963782 | 1,287 | 2.09375 | 2 |
We’ve all been there: a late night sink load of dishes after a successful dinner party. You had a great time, so you’re determined not to let the massive cleanup put a damper on your night… until you flip the switch on your garbage disposal and it seems to have taken the night off too. The good news is that if it is making a humming sound, it may be a fairly simple fix. With the correct plumbing supplies and self-education, you may not need to contact your local plumbing contractor.
When your garage disposal refuses sink debris through the grinding chamber, but continues to make a humming sound, this is usually an indication of a stuck flywheel. It is not the product of a clogged drain. A stuck flywheel is usually due to a logged item between the impellers and shredder ring. In most cases, this is one plumbing problem that you can do yourself. Here’s how:
You will need the following plumbing supplies:
- The offset wrench that came with your disposal. (If you do not have this, you can purchase one at a hardware store that sells your garbage disposal model.)
- A wooden broom handle or something similar in shape and size (this may be used to physically free the stuck impeller or flywheel if it is not easily turned during initial steps).
- Before beginning the repair, be sure to turn off power to the garbage disposal at the electrical service panel. NEVER put your hand down into the garage disposal hopper (grinder chamber).
- Insert the offset wrench into the flywheel turning hole in the bottom of the unit and turn it clockwise. This should help to dislodge the stuck impeller or flywheel. (If it dislodges correctly, you should be able to feel the flywheel turn freely.)
- If you have trouble dislodging the flywheel with the offset wrench, you can use the wooden broom handle to attempt to free the stuck impeller and flywheel. To do so, stand over the sink and place the broom-handle into the top of the unit through the drain.
- Place the broom-handle into the hopper and against the impeller. Try to free the stuck flywheel with leverage. Be careful not to be too forceful, as you may easily damage your garbage disposal by doing so. As with the offset wrench, you should be able to feel the flywheel turn freely when it dislodges. | <urn:uuid:4d793740-bce4-43bd-b28c-b0360c1298fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theunclogblog.com/2010/06/why-is-my-garbage-disposal-humming.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928703 | 501 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Conducting farm and ranch tours
Invite the public to tour your farm or ranch to educate them about agriculture and make extra money. Plan ahead helps ensure a positive outcome.
Radio interview source: Ellie Rilla, Community Development Advisor, University of California Extension
It's fun to visit other farms to observe new crop production techniques in the field and tour livestock operations. People who invite others onto their property put a lot of thought and work into making it a good experience.
Ellie Rilla is a community development advisor with the University of California extension service. She says when you're deciding whether or not to have tours on your farm, ask yourself the following questions:
"Do I have a place that is aesthetic enough, that has something to offer and share in a place that's drivable, that's got traffic and parking taken care of," she says. "And, am I the kind of person that loves to interpret and share all the wonders of farming and ranching?"
If the answers are yes, develop a tour program to fit a varied audience from school groups to adults. Decide how large of a group you can comfortably handle.
Rilla says engage people as soon as they start the tour, especially kids. One way is to ask a question.
"What do you know about farming or what do you think I grow here? Lots of questions that sort pique kids' interest so that the farmer or rancher's just not listing off what I do here, but really trying to engage the kids," says Rilla. "I know this one farmer who always comes with one of her goats, or one of her small cows. She has it there, and then just starts asking the kids what they know about these animals."
Choose three-to-five points that you want to emphasize during the tour, and whenever possible, make it an interactive, hands-on experience.
Keep visitors away from machinery and other potential hazards. Post signage and instructions, especially if there are other places for people to explore such as a gift shop or an area where they can pick their produce.
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You must be logged in to leave a comment. Login | <urn:uuid:b0d2a564-543c-4622-8eb3-f426644a6f89> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/country-life/recreation/conducting-farm-and-ranch-tours/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96327 | 489 | 2.28125 | 2 |
An opening event for the exhibit will take place at 7 p.m. Nov. 27 during the Fourth Tuesday Tour with a guided tour of the exhibit and an appearance by author and local historian James E. Casto portraying Collis P. Huntington. A reception follows. Admission to this opening event is free. Free Tuesdays at the Huntington Museum of Art are sponsored by AT&T.
Casto, costumed as Huntington, will give a first-person program on the rail tycoon who founded the city of Huntington.
In the exhibit, more than 160 years of photographic and railroad history is covered. The collection includes works by Bisson Frères, William Henry Jackson, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Lewis W. Hine and Aaron Siskind.
Huntington Museum of Art, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, 2033 McCoy Road, Huntington; 304-529-2701 or www.hmoa.org. Admission $5 per person or $18 for a family of four or more. Admission is free on Tuesdays and to museum members.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Beverly Fotheringham, of North Bend, received an honorable mention for her work "Morning Light" in the 12th Annual National Miniature Exhibition at Renaissance Art Gallery.
Judge Tom Suter, director of art, Ohio University Southern, commented: "What a great example of using complementary colors and geometry to frame such a lovely animal. Great details on the fur!"
The show of more than 200 works runs until Dec. 9.
Renaissance Art Gallery, 900 Eighth St., Suite 20, Huntington. 304-525-3235 or 304-453-3187 or galler...@yahoo.com; www.orgsites.com/wv/renaissance; http://renaissancegalleryart.blogspot.com. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Studio hours 10 a.m. to noon Monday, 1 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. | <urn:uuid:7350f46b-7011-4f5b-b9cc-90b4d90a2871> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wvgazette.com/Entertainment/201211090248?page=2&build=cache | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913957 | 466 | 1.59375 | 2 |
|1.||Bureau of Labor Statistics|
(US GOVERNMENT) bureau within the federal government of the United States; part of the Department of Labor. Measures unemployment, hours worked, hourly wages, inflation, productivity, and so on.
The Department of Labor was created as a result of the NLRA (1935), which gave workers the right to organize.
Yesterday the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published its monthly report of hours worked. This revealed that, while employees are working more hours, unemployment has not declined and wages continue to decline. | <urn:uuid:4bed9bb5-2659-4cd0-9f9c-d800abfda2c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bureau%20of%20Labor%20Statistics&defid=5098535 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952709 | 118 | 3.390625 | 3 |
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VIENNA — Afghanistan cannot be stable while its economy depends so heavily on the drugs trade, and its allies must step up the fight to combat the industry, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Thursday.
Opening a major international conference on ways to combat narcotics production in Afghanistan and smuggling through neighboring states, Ban said the problem undermined efforts to help Afghanistan emerge as a normally functioning economy.
“We cannot speak of sustainable development when opium production is the only viable economic activity in the country,” he told delegates of the so-called Paris Pact Ministerial Conference, which first met in 2003.
“We cannot expect stability when 15 percent of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product comes from the drugs trade.”
The Vienna conference, with participants from more than 50 countries and international organizations including the foreign ministers of Russia and France, was due to adopt a new declaration at the end of a one-day session.
With foreign combat forces, and much of their cash and air power, expected to be gone from the country by the end of 2014, the Afghan government will need more help fighting poppy cultivation, which rose over the last year, experts say.
“Despite continued efforts by the international community and major achievements, the problem of illicit traffic in opiates continues to be of serious concern,” the draft Vienna Declaration said.
“Illicit traffic in opiates, including heroin, is a growing problem, generating illicit financial flows, fuelling corruption and organized crime and in some cases funding terrorist activities and insurgency.”
The poppy economy in Afghanistan, which provides an income for insurgents in the country blighted by decades of war, has grown significantly in 2011 with soaring prices and expanded cultivation, a UN report said late last year.
Land under poppy cultivation climbed 7 percent from 2010 as farmers sought to capitalize on a sharp rise in opium prices caused by an unidentified disease, the report by the UN drugs agency and Afghanistan’s counter-narcotics ministry said.
Three provinces in the north and east of the country that had been declared “poppy-free” have returned to production, it said. Opium is a thick paste from poppy that is processed into heroin.
Ban said export earnings from Afghan opiates may be worth as much as $2.4 billion.
“Above all, the Afghan government must prioritize the issue of narcotics,” he said, according to a copy of his speech.
An initiative in Helmand province – a carrot-and-stick approach to stopping poppy growing which involved giving out food seeds and fertilizer – was a good example of government efforts, but more can be done.
“Law enforcement agencies must work harder on eradicating crops, eliminating laboratories, keeping precursors from entering the country and inhibiting drug trafficking.”
© 2012 Thomson Reuters
Big Data is now being used by advertisers to test the efficacy of traditional and digital media campaigns, but can it be considered a panacea?
Powered by WordPress.com VIP | <urn:uuid:37bc68ba-552c-451f-8993-090e84e6afa5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/16/afghanistan-will-never-be-stable-while-it-depends-on-the-the-drug-trade-un/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942675 | 670 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Strokes and other insults to the cerebral vascular system may cause a wide variety of symptoms, including sensory deficits, motor deficits, and cognitive impairment. These symptoms range from mild to severe and may resolve almost immediately or persist for years. Because each patient is affected uniquely, the physician must take into account the individual patient’s constellation of symptoms, severity of symptoms, course of recovery, and baseline function when making recommendations concerning driving.
Driving should always be addressed prior to the patient’s discharge from the hospital or rehabilitation center. Patients with residual deficits who wish to resume driving should be referred to a driver rehabilitation specialist (DRS) whenever possible. Upon stabilization of symptoms, the DRS assesses the patient for fitness to drive through clinical and on-road evaluations. After assessment, the DRS may recommend adaptive techniques or adaptive devices (eg, wide-angle rear view mirror, spinner knob for the steering wheel, left foot accelerator) and provide training for their proper use. Even patients with mild deficits should undergo driver evaluation prior to resuming driving, if possible. Research indicates that a post-stroke determination of driving safety made on a medical basis alone may be inadequate.10
For the patient whose symptoms clearly preclude driving, it should not be assumed that the patient is aware that he/she should not drive. In such cases, the physician should counsel the patient on driving cessation.
|Post intracranial surgery||The patient should not drive until stabilization or resolution of disease and surgery symptoms. See also stroke recommendations below.
|Stroke||Patients with acute motor, sensory, or cognitive deficits should not drive. Depending on the severity of residual symptoms and the degree of recovery, this restriction may be permanent or temporary.
Upon the patient’s discharge from the hospital or rehabilitation center, the physician may recommend temporary driving cessation until further neurological recovery has occurred. Once neurological symptoms have stabilized, physicians should refer patients with residual sensory loss, cognitive impairment, visual field deficits, and/or motor deficits to a driver rehabilitation specialist, if available, for driver assessment and rehabilitation. The specialist may prescribe vehicle adaptive devices and train the patient in their use.
Patients with neglect or inattention should be counseled not to drive until symptoms have resolved and safe driving ability has been demonstrated through assessment by a driver rehabilitation specialist.
All patients with moderate to severe residual hemiparesis should undergo driver assessment before resumption of driving. Even if symptoms improve to the extent that they are mild or completely resolved, patients should still undergo driver assessment, as reaction time may continue to be affected.
Patients with aphasia who demonstrate safe driving ability may fail in their efforts to renew their license due to difficulties with the written exam. In these cases, the physician should urge the licensing authority to make reasonable accommodations for the patient’s language deficit.
Patients with residual cognitive deficits should be assessed and managed as described under the dementia recommendations in Section 4. Periodic reevaluation of these patients is recommended, as some patients may recover sufficiently over time to permit safe driving.
|Subarachnoid hemorrhage||Patients should not drive until symptoms have stabilized or resolved. Driving may resume following medical assessment and, if deemed necessary by the physician, driver evaluation (including on-road assessment) performed by a driver rehabilitation specialist.
|Syncope||Syncope may result from various cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular causes, and it is recurrent in up to 1/3 of cases. Cardiac arrhythmias are the most common cause of syncope.11 (See Section 2 for causes of cardiac syncope.)
Driving restrictions for neurally-mediated syncope should be based on the severity of the presenting event. No driving restrictions are necessary for infrequent syncope that occurs with warning and with clear precipitating causes. Patients with severe syncope may resume driving after adequate control of the arrhythmia has been documented and/or pacemaker follow-up criteria have been met (see Section 2).12 For patients who continue to experience unpredictable symptoms after treatment with medications and pacemaker insertion, driving cessation is recommended.
|Transient ischemic attacks (TIA)||Patients who have experienced a single TIA or recurrent TIAs should refrain from driving until they have undergone medical assessment and appropriate treatment.
|Vascular malformation||Following the detection of a brain aneurysm or arterio-venous (AV) malformation, the patient should not drive until he/she has been assessed by a neurosurgeon. The patient may resume driving if the risk of a bleed is small, an embolization procedure has been successfully completed, and/or the patient is free of other medical contraindications to driving, such as uncontrolled seizures or significant perceptual or cognitive impairments.|
10 Wilson T, Smith T. Driving after stroke. International Rehabilitation Medicine. 1983;5(4):170-177.
11 Syncope. In: Beers MH, Berkow R (eds.). The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 17th ed. Merck and Co., Inc., 1999. Available at: http://www.merck.com/pubs/ mmanual/ section16/chapter200/200b.htm Accessed January 9, 2003.
12 North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology/American Heart Association. Personal and public safety issues related to arrhythmias that may affect consciousness: Implications for regulation and physician recommendations (Part 3 of 4). September 1, 1996. Available at: http://naspe.org/naspe_in_ action/position_statements/view/?id=8505. Accessed January 9, 2003. | <urn:uuid:9eafc86b-edf6-449d-9bac-cefb86fa4160> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nhtsa.gov/People/injury/olddrive/OlderDriversBook/pages/Ch9-Section3.html | 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 | 0.916953 | 1,172 | 2.375 | 2 |
“I don’t care whether you are Democratic or Republican, we (Mississippians) would be utterly stupid to change,” said William Mounger of Jackson, one of the six electors who cast their ballots for Romney on Monday in a ceremony at the state Capitol that was overseen by Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and that included Gov. Phil Bryant.
States have the number of electoral votes equal to their congressional delegation (the number of members they have in the U.S. House, plus their two U.S. senators.) In every state except two, all the state’s electoral votes go to the candidate that received the most votes in that state. In Nebraska and Maine the electoral votes are divvied up by congressional districts with two being decided by the statewide vote.
The winner of the presidential election is the candidate who obtains a majority of the electoral votes regardless of the nationwide popular votes.
Mounger said the current system helps small states like Mississippi. He used New York as an example. That state has 27 congressional districts so, the percentage added to the electoral tally by including the two Senate slots is much less there than it would be in Mississippi, which has only four congressional seats.
He said the two Senate slots increase Mississippi’s clout by 50 percent, where in New York, California or other large states including the Senate seats has much less of an impact percentage-wise.
Hosemann, and Austin Barbour, another elector, agreed with Mounger that changing to the popular vote to elect a president would hurt a small state like Mississippi. Despite Obama winning by more than 4 million votes nationwide, Barbour, who served as a deputy strategist in the Romney campaign, said if 350,000 votes had been changed in a handful of swing states on Nov. 6 the results would have been different.
Hosemann added that he opposed a popular vote model because states have different voting laws. For instance, a person has to register 30 days before the election to vote in Mississippi while some states have same-day voter registration.
If the election were decided by the popular vote, Hosemann said election laws nationwide would need to be uniform.
The electors in addition to Mounger and Barbour were Ricky Jay Calhoon, Charles Cannada, William Randolph James and Billy Powell, all of the Jackson area.
The electors are selected by the state parties, though they are not bound by the popular election votes in their states.
On Monday, all six Mississippi electors voted for Romney, who won the state 710,746 to 562,949.
It would take a change in the U.S. Constitution to eliminate the Electoral College, though there is a move to convince states to change their laws to commit their electoral votes to the candidate who won the popular vote. If enough states adopted that proposal, it would render the Electoral College moot. | <urn:uuid:441abc35-b340-4eb4-8a45-130bb722c8a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://djournal.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Mississippi+electors+tap+Romney-+like+system%20&id=21162751 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975467 | 600 | 2.03125 | 2 |
1 post tagged software
Julie Samuels (Electronic Frontier Foundation), Timothy Lee (Ars Technica), Christina Mulligan (Yale Law School Information Society Project)
Before SOPA, we began to see increased attention on technology and policy in Washington D.C. The America Invents Act was the long awaited reform to patent law, but did it actually do anything? Many say no. With recent features in the mainstream media, like This American Life, and high profile cases such as Google v Oracle, Facebook v Yahoo, people have begun paying more attention to and discovering the impact that patents have on their lives. This open discussion, led by Julie Samuels, Tim Lee and Christina Mulligan, looked at strategies for overcoming problems surrounding software patents. In a post-SOPA world, how do we address increased threats to innovation from patent trolls and thickets?
A “one size fits all” patent system doesn’t work but changing the patent system will be a long process. The session leaders identified three main avenues for action: courts, Congress and DIY efforts from the community. These avenues for action, however, have various pros and cons. For example, the courts are obviously highly influential on IP policy but they don’t have a good understanding of software technology and software patents. In Bilski, Justice Kennedy stated that the community has accepted software patents as patentable subject matter; which is a notion that many in the community would likely disagree with. It’s important that we find some way to remedy this discrepancy, as antagonists are likely to take advantage of this misunderstanding.
In creating change, Congress has to be a key player. Congress creates the law but at the same time is highly influenced by lobbyists and industry. Much of the influence is not due to corruption, but rather a lack of information. In the everyday lives of politicians, there is an expectation that they are able to speak fluently on each issue as it arises. Understandably, members of Congress seek out “experts” to brief them, but more often than not, who they end up listening to often leads to an biased assessment of technology. When big companies act, Congress listens. We need to find ways to get more big companies to embrace a new set of norms with respect to software patents.
The above efforts are bringing change, but slowly. The people paying attention are innovators, consumers and activists. We’ve seen some movement on the DIY side, from places like Y Combinator and Engine Advocacy, demonstrating that people are coalescing around the promotion of innovation and the exchange of ideas. The question remains as to how these DIY efforts can use the lessons learned from SOPA to push forward improvements in the software patent world. Striking a chord within the community is critical, and we need to create positive stories and deliver concrete numbers to illustrate the real effects of poor software patent policy. | <urn:uuid:5939a967-19d9-4185-93a8-1a9dc1f56cfc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.innovateactivate.org/tagged/software | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957705 | 595 | 2.046875 | 2 |
M.U.L.E. might be one of the most influential computer games of all time. The 1983 game’s combination of strategy elements and economic simulation with intuitive hot-seat multiplayer can be seen in everything from Civilization to Maxis’ simulation games. In fact, Will Wright actually dedicatedThe Sims to M.U.L.E. creator Dani Bunten, who passed away in 1998 while working on an updated, Internet-compatible version of the game.
That sadly aborted effort can now continue thanks to a new Kickstarter project that aims to capture the gameplay and feel of M.U.L.E. while updating the experience for a new generation that has probably never heard of the original game. Creative Director Christopher Williamson went so far as to contact Bunten’s daughter to get access to some “secret designs” the developer was working on before her death.
Just like the original game, Alpha Colony will be about mastering supply and demand as you race to colonize a planet using a robotic Multiple Use Labor Element. While the updated game will attempt to hew as close to possible as the source material, the team says it has been influenced by elements of modern games like Settlers of Catan and Words with Friends. And of course the presentation is being updated, with the blocky M.U.L.E. graphics of the early ’80s replaced by full 3D models, complete with facial expressions and personality traits. | <urn:uuid:ccb7f0b0-e5aa-4d6e-9584-d271e18efb41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alphacolony.com/kickstarter-game-watch-from-classical-swordplay-to-classic-strategy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936709 | 299 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Once I came across G. K. Chesterton's rant on the matter, it was difficult to see it any other way:
“Under the lengthening shadow of Ibsen, an argument arose whether it was not a very nice thing to murder one’s self. Grave moderns told us that we must not even say 'poor fellow,' of a man who had blown his brains out, since he was an enviable person, and had only blown them out because of their exceptional excellence. Mr. William Archer even suggested that in the golden age there would be penny-in-the-slot machines, by which a man could kill himself for a penny. In all this I found myself utterly hostile to many who called themselves liberal and humane. Not only is suicide a sin, it is the sin. It is the ultimate and absolute evil, the refusal to take an interest in existence; the refusal to take the oath of loyalty to life. The man who kills a man, kills a man. The man who kills himself, kills all men; as far as he is concerned he wipes out the world. His act is worse (symbolically considered) than any rape or dynamite outrage. For it destroys all buildings: it insults all women. The thief is satisfied with diamonds; but the suicide is not: that is his crime. He cannot be bribed, even by the blazing stones of the Celestial City. The thief compliments the things he steals, if not the owner of them. But the suicide insults everything on earth by not stealing it. He defiles every flower by refusing to live for its sake. There is not a tiny creature in the cosmos at whom his death is not a sneer. When a man hangs himself on a tree, the leaves might fall off in anger and the birds fly away in fury: for each has received a personal affront. Of course there may be pathetic emotional excuses for the act. There often are for rape, and there almost always are for dynamite. But if it comes to clear ideas and the intelligent meaning of things, then there is much more rational and philosophic truth in the burial at the cross-roads and the stake driven through the body, than in Mr. Archer’s suicidal automatic machines. There is a meaning in burying the suicide apart. The man’s crime is different from other crimes – for it makes even crimes impossible.”
Hopeless people do not merit inclusion in the same category as kamikaze pilots. Those are hardly suicides in the same way wrist-cutters and overdosers are. This applies to suicide bombers and school shooters as well, albeit to a lesser degree since their acts show more insanity than effectiveness. The kamikaze pilot is not suicidal, but sacrificial. | <urn:uuid:a66ec7ce-0deb-4024-80be-24468983a34f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deathmetal.org/forum/index.php/topic,13042.msg63548.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969902 | 568 | 1.984375 | 2 |
By Charles Lam
Northwest Asian Weekly
Al Young and his sister Connie Yu Young served the Tacoma Art Museum with a lawsuit on Thursday, Feb. 28, to stop the auction of their late parents’ donation to the Tacoma Art Museum. Then, on Tuesday, March 5, they withdrew the lawsuit following a concession from the Tacoma Art Museum.
The donation in question is a collection of Chinese imperial robes and jades given to the Tacoma Art Museum by the Young family in the 1970s.
The second auction of the collection will take place on March 12 at Bonham’s auction house in San Francisco, however, without several works slated to be donated to a Northwest institution in the near future.
“We regret that the conversation between us, the museum, and the community took the direction that it did,” said Al Young in a statement released by the Tacoma Art Museum. “We appreciate the museum hearing our concerns and we will work together to address them. We believe the museum’s increased emphasis on the work of Chinese American artists of the Northwest will fulfill our parents’ intentions.”
Young returned a call by the Northwest Asian Weekly but was unable to comment further.
As originally planned, some of the funds realized from the auction will be used to purchase art from Northwest Chinese artists. Those works will have the Young family name attached to them.
“Col. John C. and Mary Lee Young and their family have a rich legacy, which the museum will continue to recognize,” said Stephanie A. Stebich, director of the Tacoma Art Museum. “We are pleased that all has been resolved, and are happy that the Young family will continue to be a part of Tacoma Art Museum. We regret that the Young family heirs had the impression that the museum did not value the gift of their parents.”
Originally filed on Thursday, Feb. 28, in Pierce County Superior Court and prepared by Shakespear N. Feyisa and Laurie Shiratori, with input from Lem Howell, the lawsuit sought to prevent the March 12 auction of the Young collection.
During their travels abroad, the Youngs would seek out Chinese imperial robes and jades. The entirety of their collection was gathered from outside China and is made up of pieces that were removed from China during the tumultuous 20th century.
The Young family struck up a relationship with the Baskin family of Tacoma, eventually donating half of their textile collection and most of their jade collection to the Tacoma Art Museum in the 1970s. The other half of the textile collection was donated to Stanford’s Cantor Art Center.
The collection was a part of several well-reviewed exhibits during the Tacoma Art Museum’s early history, but had not been shown for several years.
Following their most recent review of the collection, the Tacoma Art Museum had decided to “deaccession” the Young collection, a process by which a museum formally transfers ownership of an object to another institution or individual.
The entire collection was valued between a low of $30,000 and high of $100,000.
However, at the first auction in December 2012, a small portion of the collection sold for $229,467.
That discrepancy set off a public outcry that resulted in letters of support from community members, former legislators, and one Native American tribe. (end)
For more information, see the previous story online at www.nwasianweekly.com/2013/02/tam-sale-of-chinese-treasures-upsets-donors-museum-sells-collection-of-jades-and-robes.
Charles Lam can be contact at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:e2aa5fbc-4fca-4774-aaaa-1f418ea4cb5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nwasianweekly.com/2013/03/young-family-serves-tam-with-lawsuit-then-drops-it/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966515 | 769 | 1.515625 | 2 |
October 14, 2009
Mystery in Creation
Parashat Bereshit (Genesis 1:1-6:8)
Hebrew letters, when decoded, are magical. So it was especially powerful when my adult b’nai mitzvah Hebrew class was working on the letter Bet and opened the Torah to this week’s portion to find that it’s the first letter of Torah.
“Why not Alef?” one student asked.
The ancient rabbis asked the same question. Their answer? Look at how the Bet is shaped. What does this letter — which is open to the left and closed on the right — teach us?
It points us toward the future. Look forward, not backward. It doesn’t matter what came before; what matters is what happens now. This is an important spiritual teaching for those of us caught up in past dramas that keep us from going forward and beginning again.
Then my students tried to sound out the first three words of Torah: Bereshit bara Elohim. We read some different translations. One rendered the words: “In the beginning, God created ...”; another: “When God began to create ...”
One student immediately pointed out that those translations don’t mean the same thing. How you choose to translate these three words determines your view of creation — is this the beginning or not?
So we looked to Rashi, the famous medieval commentator. Commenting on the opening words, Rashi says: “These words call out: Interpret me!” In other words: All this is metaphor, not to be taken literally. It is not intended to teach the actual order and physical details of creation. The next sentence includes: “and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.” If this teaches the order of creation, when were the waters created?
What Rashi knew in the 11th century is apparently lost on certain Americans who are demanding that creationism be taught alongside evolution. Is it possible to reconcile the biblical account with modern scientific knowledge? Maybe in very broad strokes. “Let there be light” might not be so different from the Big Bang theory.
But to argue this way is to miss the point. The Bible is not science, but religion.
And just to make the point even more clear, when creationists talk about the biblical story of creation, which one are they talking about?
There are actually two — the first chapter and the second. In the first, human beings are the pinnacle of creation, created on the sixth day in the image of God, male and female. In the second, the human was created first and then the animals. In the first, the human is both male and female. In the second, first there is the male human and then out of his rib comes woman. Or maybe not. Maybe the second story is a detail of the first. Some rabbis read the word tzela, which is usually translated as “rib,” to mean “side.” (It is the same word that is used to describe the side of the portable tabernacle in the wilderness.) So even in the second story, one could imagine the first Adam as male and female, androgynous. In this reading, when God creates man and woman, God splits the original human in two, fashioning one side as a man and one side as a woman.
Another interpretation of the two stories comes from Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. For him, two different images of human beings emerge from each story. In Genesis 1, humans are given power over the whole world. In Genesis 2, the focus is more personal, presenting a human being longing for community. Both stories together capture the truth. We are simultaneously powerful beings who need intimacy and community.
Perhaps the two stories are to remind us that we need humility to acknowledge that there are no answers to certain questions. There is mystery in creation. Beginning the Torah with the letter Bet hints at the mystery.
So the purpose of the creation stories in Genesis is not to tell us the physical details of how the world was created, but rather to help us understand why we are here. We are created in the image of God, says the first story. Our task is to create a world where everyone can live as though he or she really were created in God’s image — every human being unique, equal and of ultimate value. The second story tells us that we are to tend the garden God gave us. A midrash tells us that God took the original human being by the hand and showed the human all the trees of the garden. “See how beautiful and how perfect are all my works. All that I created, I created for you. So take care of my world. For there is no one else to look after it.”
Science and religion don’t contradict each other; they speak different languages. We need science to understand how the universe works and to improve the conditions of our lives. We need religion to remind us that creation isn’t finished; it is up to us to be God’s partners in creating a world that is good. We need them both — each for their appropriate purpose.
Laura Geller is senior rabbi of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, a Reform congregation. | <urn:uuid:b44034a3-d4f5-424b-a5de-ad8f2c9c0a90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishjournal.com/torah_portion/article/mystery_in_creation_Parashat_Bereshit_Genesis_1_1-6_8_20091013 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960169 | 1,114 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Luddites, like Ziggy, the Buffalo Bills, and Hamilton Burger, never seem to win. Thank god. But people freaking out about technology - whether it's President Obama arguing that ATMs and ticket kiosks at airports put people out of work or silly folks such as Kirkpatrick Sale literally raging against the machines - are a feature not a bug of civilization.
Here's Brookings Institution's Scott Winship setting the record straight on how technology helps make humans richer and more robust:
Technological development will surely eliminate some specific jobs. But there is little reason to think that the future will look any different from the past in this regard. Productivity gains in manufacturing and other sectors will lower the cost of goods and produce more discretionary income, which people will use to pay other people to do things for them, creating new jobs. Mass leisure will also create other kinds of jobs, such as those devoted to entertaining and informing each other. To the extent that the least-skilled need help, we will be in a much better position to afford safety nets, and our main concern will be the age-old one of discouraging dependency. To the extent that technology increases inequality much of it will be to reward innovators for finding ways to drive our workweek and retirement age down or to induce some to keep working 40-hour weeks.
I was going to post a clip of Star Trek's Capt. Kirk besting a computer by forcing it to "feel," but then settled on this fight scene, which makes a strong case for robot overlords that wouldn't allow this sort of thing. | <urn:uuid:2a4fd4a5-5545-41ac-8351-6697109e5a98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.com/blog/2013/02/20/why-we-should-welcome-our-new-robot-over/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957706 | 320 | 2.125 | 2 |
Japan's nuclear industry
The risks exposed
What the damage to the Fukushima plant portends for Japan—and the world
ONE danger of earthquakes, from Tokyo to San Francisco, has always been the flames that rise from the wreckage when fires are unleashed from their hearths. In Japan they have been called the “flowers of Edo”. But no earlier flames have been as foreboding as those that have erupted sporadically from the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station. The horrifying spectacle will not end the planet's nuclear endeavours. It could, however, reshape them radically.
Of the nuclear plants that provide about a third of Japan's electricity (see chart), Fukushima Dai-ichi is not the first to be paralysed by an earthquake. But it is the first to be laid low by the technology's dependence on a ready supply of water for cooling. To be near water is usually to be near the sea. And in this case, that meant right in the path of a tsunami.
The immediate impact of the catastrophic failures at Fukushima is not yet clear. It is worse than America's near-disaster at Three Mile Island in 1979, which was fairly swiftly brought under control. But it is highly unlikely to be as devastating as the accident at Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986, which sent a radioactive cloud across Europe that caused the deaths of an uncertain number of people, possibly well into the thousands.
The 40-year-old reactors in the nuclear power station run by the Tokyo Electric Power Company faced a disaster beyond anything their designers were required to imagine, and shut themselves down appropriately. They might have got through comparatively unscathed, as did the reactors at Fukushima Dai-ni, a similar plant farther along the coast. But at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant things went wrong in many ways.
Nuclear reactors are protected by what plant designers call “defence in depth”. Some of these defences are simple barriers. The nuclear fuel is encased in hard alloys to construct fuel rods; the reactor core that these rods make up, and the water it sits in, are contained within a steel pressure vessel. That in turn sits within a larger steel structure, the primary containment vessel. Around it sits the steel and concrete secondary containment structure.
Other defences are actions, rather than things. The first action to be taken in the case of an earthquake is an emergency shutdown, which is achieved by thrusting control rods that sit below the reactor in its pressure vessel up into the reactor's core. The control rods soak up the neutrons that mediate the chain reaction which produces most of a reactor's energy, shutting it down. But other reactions will continue for a while; straight after shutdown, a reactor like those at Fukushima Dai-ichi is still a heat engine as powerful as a fair-sized jet engine at full throttle, locked in a small tight box. Things can get hot pretty quickly if there is no way of keeping it cool.
And after the tsunami hit, Fukushima Dai-ichi lost its cool. Generators stopped; electrical switching equipment was flooded. Attempts failed to get the cooling system working with batteries and generators from elsewhere. The emergency power eventually ran out altogether.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi plant uses boiling-water reactors, which are basically electric kettles where the nuclear reactor is the heating element at the bottom. If the kettle can't be turned off and its spout is bunged up because the steam is radioactive, the situation inside will deteriorate. The amount of water will decrease, until eventually the nuclear core at the bottom is uncovered. It then gets even hotter even quicker, and bits of it will start to melt and react with the steam. The steam, meanwhile, will become ever more plentiful, and pressure will build up to a potentially explosive level. This seems to have happened to some extent in all three reactors.
In reactor 1, and later in reactor 3, steam contaminated with some radioactive elements was allowed out of the pressure vessel and into the larger containment vessel that surrounds it. There hydrogen in the released gas met a spark and exploded, blowing the roofs off the buildings but not, it seemed at the time, damaging the containment systems. With the primary containment vessel of reactor 1 still too full of steam, the radical decision was made to flood it with sea water to absorb the heat. The sea water was also laced with boric acid, which can soak up stray neutrons that the control rods miss.
Reactor 3's pressure vessel was then treated the same way, as, eventually, was reactor 2's. But at some point, according to the company's reports, reactor 2 boiled dry, and also—the two things possibly connected—suffered damage to the doughnut at the bottom of the containment vessel in an explosion on Tuesday morning. That is why it was reactor 2 which, by March 15th, was posing the greatest threat. Later it was reported that the containment was compromised at reactor 3 as well.
At around this stage the problems of the deteriorating plant began to spread. On March 15th, and again on the 16th, fires started in the building housing reactor 4. The reactor was safely off-line for maintenance when the quake struck, but there is spent fuel in storage tanks in the building, as elsewhere in the plant. This, too, needs to be covered with water that is circulated so as to keep things cool. At reactor 4 and reactor 3 spent fuel may have been exposed to the air. After the fire, radiation levels inside the plant soared. At this point, the level outside the plant was fairly high too. At one stage an unprotected person at the main gate would have received the maximum allowable yearly dose for a nuclear-industry worker in a matter of hours.
Conflicting reports of how much radiation was spreading farther afield were enough to cause panic. Matters worsened when America announced that it thought radiation levels were extremely high, and could severely constrain efforts to control the situation. On March 17th these included the use of helicopters and possibly water cannon to top up the water in the spent-fuel stores, bulldozing new access paths and yet more efforts to supply the plant with reliable electricity from the grid.
The Japanese are now sure to reconsider their reliance on nuclear power, which is currently provided by 55 reactors, many similar in design to those now in trouble. Despite high spending on solar power over the years, the only real alternatives are imported natural gas or dirty coal. In the short term, with large parts of the country's nuclear-generating capacity shut down, more gas will have to be imported. If the long term has a lot less nuclear power in it, there will be a corresponding need for gas and probably coal.
What of the rest of the world? Industry boosters had hopes of a nuclear renaissance as countries try to cut back on carbon emissions. There has been talk of a boom like that of the 1970s, when 25 or so plants started construction each year in rich countries. Not any more. Public opinion will surely take a dive. At the least, it will be difficult to find the political will or the money to modernise the West's ageing reactors, though without modernisation they will not get any safer. The searing images from Fukushima, and the sense of floundering haplessness, will not be forgotten even if final figures reveal little damage to health.
The German government has declared a three-month moratorium on its controversial plan, agreed only last autumn, to prolong the life of its nuclear plants. This is likely to lead to the shutdown of its seven oldest plants and their permanent removal from the power grid. America's never more than limited enthusiasm for new nuclear plants may disappear altogether.
If there was nothing else the matter, the nuclear industry might be able to weather a not-too-bad final outcome at Fukushima. After all, new reactors are said, with some justification, to be a lot safer. And most countries have the option of building them in seismically inactive zones, a luxury Japan does not enjoy. Even old reactors in the West, such as America's boiling-water reactors, have been revamped in such a way as to preclude, it is thought, anything like the power outage that doomed the similar reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi. But something else is the matter. Although the new reactors may be much safer than the old ones, they are a lot more expensive.
It is hard to say how much more expensive, since so few are being built. Generous loan guarantees have failed to get any commissioned so far in America. Two are under construction in western Europe, and both are over-budget. The labour of getting safety approvals makes investors jittery. And natural gas is abundant, far cheaper and relatively clean.
Yet the world will not necessarily turn en masse against nuclear power. Although events at Three Mile Island halted construction of nuclear plants in America, elsewhere—in France and, strikingly, in Japan—it continued. France, which has 58 nuclear reactors, seems to see the disaster in Japan as an opportunity rather than a setback for its nuclear industry. President Nicolas Sarkozy sang the industry's praises on March 14th, saying that French-built reactors have lost international tenders because they are expensive: “but they are more expensive because they are safer.”
But the region where nuclear power is set to grow fastest, and seems least likely to be deterred, is the rest of Asia. Of the 62 plants under construction in the world, two-thirds are in Asia. Russia plans another ten. By far the most important nascent nuclear power is China, which has 13 working reactors and 27 more on the way. China has announced a pause in nuclear commissioning, and a review. But its leaders know that they must move away from coal: the damage to health from a year of Chinese coal-burning dwarfs any caused by the nuclear industry. And if anyone can build cheap, one-size-fits-all nuclear plants, it is probably the Chinese.
If the West turns its back on nuclear power and China ploughs on, the results could be unfortunate. Nuclear plants need trustworthy and transparent regulation, a clear distinction between operators and regulators and well enforced building codes. The Fukushima plant lacked some of those. China can offer none.
From the print edition: Briefing | <urn:uuid:3fe4ecac-edf0-4947-b82f-aaa94dd8d9fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.economist.com/node/18398734/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969414 | 2,110 | 3.484375 | 3 |
The Implications of Vantage Point in Parental Mediation of Television and Child's Attitudes toward Drinking Alcohol
Fujioka, Yuki, Austin, Erica Weintraub, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media
Many scholars have reported substantial disagreement and variance in interpretation when parents and a child report family interactions, including family communication styles (Austin, 1992, 1993b; Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990; Tein, Roosa, & Michaels, 1994; Tims & Masland, 1985) and media-related interactions such as behavior surrounding television (e.g., Greenberg, Ericson, & Vlahos, 1971; Rossiter & Robertson, 1975; Van den Buick & Van den Bergh, 2000). These reports raise an important question about the literature of parental mediation, which suggests that parents can play a crucial role by mediating possible influences of television on children (e.g., Austin, 2001; Austin, Pinkleton, & Fujioka, 2000; Desmond, Singer, Singer, Calam, & Colimore, 1985; Nathanson, 1999; Valkenburg, Krcmar, Peeters, & Marseille, 1999; Van den Buick & Van den Bergh, 2000). Although recent research has stressed the importance of children's perspectives when examining family television interaction (e.g., Austin, 1993b; Nathanson, 2001a; Van den Buick & Van den Bergh, 2000), most studies have depended heavily on parents' self-reports of mediation behavior when examining mediation effects on a child. Recent research (Nathanson, 2001a), however, reported a weak correspondence between parents' reports and children's reports about parental mediation even when they were asked to describe it in a specific context. The implications of scholars' reliance on child or parent reports, therefore,
require further investigation.
Accordingly, this study examines mediation effects from both the children's and parents' perspectives. It addresses the following two issues regarding parental mediation: (a) the extent of agreement/disagreement between parent's and child's reports on parental mediation behavior; and (b) which mediation reports better predict relevant outcomes--more specifically, a child's attitudes toward drinking alcohol. The child's attitudes toward alcohol are investigated because this is one of the dependent variables that have been examined in the mediation literature (e.g., Austin et al., 2000).
The goal of this study is not to determine who (either parent or child) can provide more accurate or honest reports about parental mediation, but rather to clarify whose perspective should be taken into account in a given context (e.g., evaluating the effectiveness of parental mediation or exploring parent's motives underlying mediation behavior). This clarification is important because it may help improve the internal validity of research to achieve a better understanding of parental mediation and outcomes. In addition, some of the findings offered by this study are of practical use. For instance, this study reveals what type of mediation behavior seems easy or difficult for parents and a child to discuss. This information may be beneficial for media educators and practitioners to develop better media literacy programs through which parents may learn how their mediation efforts can be effectively internalized as intended by a child.
Parental Influence and Mediation
The literature has indicated four possible routes through which parents influence the effects of media messages on their children. These include (a) rule-making strategies (restricting a child's television viewing); (b) active mediation (critical discussion with a child); (c) parent-child general communication norms (McLeod & Chaffee, 1972); and (d) parental modeling (Austin, 2001; Desmond et al., 1985). Although coviewing often has been considered as a direct intervention analogous to mediation, some have suggested that it may relate more to parental modeling (Austin, 2001). Coviewing is a parental act of viewing television with a child, which can be applied to any situation in which a primary caregiver and a child watch television together. Active mediation, however, refers to an occurrence of parent-child discussion regarding television messages, through which parents provide explanations and clarifications of television content to their children. Active mediation can take place at any time regardless of television viewing. Also, recent research suggests that mere coviewing of television content can be interpreted by a child as parental endorsement of the material, which in fact may facilitate message effects (Nathanson, 2001a). As a result, it is important to consider coviewing in conjunction with, but separate from, mediation.
Parental mediation differs from other forms of parental behavior surrounding television in that it involves actual discussion of television messages. Cumulative research has suggested that active parental mediation via critical discussion is the most promising type of parental influence for combating possible negative influences of media (Austin, Fujioka, Boils, & Engelbertson, 1999; Nathanson, 1999). It may cultivate critical-thinking skills and skepticism in a child (Austin, 1993a; Austin et al., 2000) via a reasoning-oriented discussion rather than through the parent's use of control, which may backfire (e.g., Nathanson, 1999). While both rule-making and coviewing provide for parental control over, and involvement in, a child's media use, neither necessarily encourages a child's decision-making skills. A recent study (Van den Buick & Van den Bergh, 2000), for example, reported that restrictive parental guidance might reduce a child's television viewing, but the decrease in the use of television resulted in an increase in the use of other media providing gratifications similar to television, such as computer games.
Valence of Mediation
Conceptualizations of mediation have been evolving as it has become better understood. Valkenburg et al. (1999), for example, has conceptualized parental mediation as a non-valenced construct ("instructive" mediation). Austin et al. (1999), on the other hand, perceive it as a directional or "valenced" construct with two distinct dimensions, negative and positive mediation. Parents may "endorse" some television messages via positive mediation strategies while "counter-arguing" other messages via negative mediation. The "positive" or the "negative" nature of mediation reflects the nature of discussion, whether expressing agreement or disagreement with television messages. Parents may exercise either or both types of mediation styles according to their concern and attitudes toward television messages (Austin, et. al., 1999). Nathanson's recent study (2001a), for instance, showed that parental discussion involved in negative mediation of television violence was derived from parents' concern for possible harmful message effects on their children.
Positive mediation has similarities to the construct of "social coviewing" proposed by Valkenburg et al. (1999), which focuses on parents and children using media together for enjoyment rather than for instruction. Valkenburg et al., however, combine the act of coviewing with positive affect, while Austin et al. (1999) focus on affirmative commentary without the assumption of co-use. Austin et al. have proposed a separate index to measure co-use without presuming that co-use includes discussion of any sort.
The valence of mediation as identified by Austin et al. (1999) seems to provide an important distinction since the literature suggests that different outcomes associate with the reported frequency of positive and negative mediation. In general, it is negative mediation, not positive mediation, that indicates a parent's intentional discussion with a child. Negative mediation, thus, helps a child develop critical viewing skills and reduce television influence (Austin et al., 2000). Positive mediation, however, often takes place on a haphazard basis and associates with more positive views about television content and uses. As an intervention strategy, positive mediation appears to backfire by reinforcing what is …
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: The Implications of Vantage Point in Parental Mediation of Television and Child's Attitudes toward Drinking Alcohol. Contributors: Fujioka, Yuki - Author, Austin, Erica Weintraub - Author. Journal title: Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. Volume: 47. Issue: 3 Publication date: September 2003. Page number: 418+. © 2009 Broadcast Education Association. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means. | <urn:uuid:a846705a-ac4b-4613-80d4-1ef7d5a4f3c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.questia.com/read/1G1-109848053/the-implications-of-vantage-point-in-parental-mediation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921618 | 1,728 | 2.125 | 2 |
Dennis G. Kloeth, WEEKENDER | Tue, 02/28/2012 2:11 PM |
Great strides in technology have changed the way golf is played.
Ever since golf was born as a game in the late 1500s, the equipment has played an important role – a role that was enhanced when it graduated to a sport. Old Tom Morris, the sport’s founding father and four-time British Open winner between 1860 and 1867, conquered the Old Course at St. Andrews with a wide selection of clubs that included hickory-shafted Mashies and Scare Neck Brassies and Spoons. The latter were the predecessors of today’s driver.
As well as being a highly successful golfer, Morris earned a reputation as a highly sought-after club maker; by the time he died in 1908, club making had made considerable progress. The Scar Neck Brassie had given way to the so-called “Drilled Neck Spoon”, whose patent was granted in 1898, three years after the clubs went on the market. According to those in the know, this elegant little golden-headed club is possibly the most influential patent in golf club development. It was characterized by a radical move away from attaching the head to the shaft with a scare/splice and toward the modern socket head that is still used today.
From the days of the “spoon” to the drivers of today, a considerable amount of time, money and thought has been pumped into equipment R&D. The watchword in designing and developing new equipment is “longer and more accurate”. Initially, pursuit of this ideal led to the introduction of the steel shaft – replacing hickory – in 1925. It was not until 1929 that the steel shaft was allowed in tournaments – and only after the Prince of Wales used one on the Old Course at St. Andrews that same year. Billy Burke was the first player to win a major – the 1931 US Open – with a steel shaft.
Today, manufacturing of golf equipment is all about science and technology, characterized by seemingly esoteric concepts such as “center of gravity”, “perimeter weighting” and “Coefficient of Restitution (COR)”, to name just a few. The result has been more forgiveness and greater accuracy for irons and longer drives off the tee. In the face of relentless competition, nothing is left to chance and the major golf brands spend millions not only on R&D, but also on marketing. Tour players, obviously, are important in this regard, by endorsing brands – and, of course, performing well in tournaments while using these brands.
In golf today, “hitting it longer” is a magic phrase. Amateurs and pros alike are in search of an extra 20 to 30 yards on any given shot. Few amateur golfers, however, realize that “hitting it longer” has all to do with technique and skill – and a state-of-the-art golf ball. Golf ball technology has come a long way since the early “featherie” and “gutty” of 1850.
In particular, the Haskell ball, introduced in the early 1900s, was revolutionary. This ball was a composite of a solid core wound with rubber string covered in gutta percha, called a three-piece ball design. This design persisted until the early 1970s, when it was replaced by the highly popular two-piece ball design of today.
Into the Woods
When Tiger Woods agreed to endorse and play with Nike clubs and balls – and of course, went on the take the golfing world by storm – it was clear that he had what might be described as a lethal combination of talent and equipment, aweing golfers worldwide with his short game and with tee shots of more than 300 yards. In 1997, he won the Masters by a margin of an unprecedented 12 strokes (over Tom Kite), a feat never before seen. Unsurprisingly, Nike clubs and balls started flying out of the shops.
Woods represented a game changer in many ways. Since his early days on the tour, R&D in golfing equipment has improved in leaps and bounds. Now, 15 years later, Woods is no longer considered a long hitter, having been surpassed by an array of younger professional golfers hitting the ball further than ever before. J.B. Holmes, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson are three of the longest hitters on tour, averaging tee shots of 325 to 350 yards.
Obviously, the dramatically improved equipment and balls have changed the game tremendously, raising concerns that golf courses will be too short and too easy for the pros. To prevent this from happening, in 2005, most tournament courses in the States were renovated; not only were the distances between holes increased, but also the positions and lengths of the rough were shifted and fairway bunkers and water hazards more strategically placed – all just to make sure that the game required a lot more than just a 300+-yard drive. In March 2006, Augusta National, home of the famous Masters tournament, ended a renovation program that made the course not only longer, but also a lot tougher. In April of that year, the winning score of minus 7 brought the game back to normal.
The long hitters on tour have no doubt made a considerable contribution to publicity and sales for the many golf brands that dominate the tour, the market and the game. TaylorMade drivers are the most used drivers on tour and, when the new TaylorMade R11S driver was introduced at the end of last year, pro and amateur golfers were guaranteed that they could lengthen their drives by 20 to 30 yards. This created an enormous buzz and record sales for a club that is priced in the top segment of the market.
For the average golfer, buying the latest and most popular driver on tour and using, for instance, the touring-pro-preferred Pro V1 balls, has more to do with emulating the pros than with actually hitting longer shots. Only if you’re a single handicap golfer should you be interested in keeping up with the incredibly high frequency with which new and (supposedly) improved clubs and balls are introduced to the market.
We can safely say that after 50 years of R&D, the most sweeping changes in golf equipment and ball design are behind us – poor-quality clubs and balls are history. But while high-tech equipment can make a difference for those at the top of the game, mere mortal golfers like you and me are better off putting the R&D into ourselves – finding a teaching pro to bring out the better golfer within may prove to be the real game changer. | <urn:uuid:833fd728-20fc-4baf-9722-55a44c27f9a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/02/28/driving-force.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976598 | 1,384 | 2.140625 | 2 |
This week’s Tombstone Tuesday features a tombstone (or, more properly, a cenotaph) of a man you’ve probably never heard of who was part of a story that you’ve likely heard only one side of.
If I were to ask you to name a chief of the Shawnee during the early 1800s, I’m guessing most of you would respond with “Tecumseh.” While Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa (The Prophet) are the most well-known Shawnee leaders, they were not the only ones. One of the other chiefs was Catahecassa — Black Hoof.
Black Hoof led a group of Shawnee in northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana that did not agree with Tecumseh’s idea of a pan- Native American alliance. Perhaps because Black Hoof was older and had dealt directly with the whites for a longer time than Tecumseh, he believed that fighting the Americans would be futile. He had fought against the colonists during the Revolutionary War and there is conjecture that he was present at Harmar’s Defeat in 1790. What may have turned the tide in Black Hoof’s mind was witnessing the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers, in which the Shawnee and other tribes were defeated by troops led by General “Mad” Anthony Wayne.
While Tecumseh and The Prophet denounced the white man’s influence and promoted a return to “traditional” Native American ways, Black Hoof reached the conclusion that the only way for the Shawnee in Ohio to survive was to adapt and become farmers like their white neighbors. He travelled to Washington in 1807 to urge the government to provide assistance toward that goal. The government authorized William Kirk to help them establish a farm near Wapakoneta.
The Wapakoneta farm was a great success. They had over 500 acres in crops and a sawmill and gristmill under construction. The residents of Dayton sent the War Department a letter praising the Shawnee for protecting them against other tribes.
Alas, the prosperity was short-lived. Through a series of bureaucratic blunders (namely, Kirk not filing all of the required reports) and some rumors placed by William Wells, the Indian Agent at Fort Wayne, Secretary of War Henry Dearborn ended the funding for the project.
After the Battle of Tippecanoe, the powder keg of white/Indian relations finally exploded. The War of 1812 saw Tecumseh and his followers siding with the British; Black Hoof and his followers tried to either side with the Americans or at least stay neutral.
With the British defeat, the War Department changed its method of procuring land from the Native Americans in the north. Rather than gaining land through treaties, it would be done by removal. Black Hoof tried for as long as possible to keep his band of 300 Shawnee in northwest Ohio, but the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the death knell. Even though they could show that they were good farmers and that their children attended the Society of Friends School for the Shawnee and even though they had the support of Secretary of War Lewis Cass, it was to no avail.
The removal process (which began with a dubiously negotiated treaty in 1831) ended in the Shawnee removal to Kansas in 1832. Black Hoof stayed in Wapakoneta and died there just three months after his people moved west.
Black Hoof is buried near St. John’s Ohio. His monument shown here is located in Black Hoof Memorial Park/St. John’s Cemetery at the intersection of U.S. Route 33 and Ohio State Route 65. | <urn:uuid:28602af8-a709-4a1d-b0d1-6935c2e10af1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://familytrees.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/tombstone-tuesday-chief-black-hoof/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=7b62a7b6bf | 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 | 0.983372 | 778 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Associated Press
AUGUSTA — Preliminary figures released Friday say 49 percent of all Maine residents 16 and older hunted, fished or watched wildlife in the state last year, and that a total of $1.4 billion was spent on those activities.
This file photo shows two turkeys on the opening day of the 2012 spring turkey season in Maine. 49 percent of all Maine residents 16 and older hunted, fished or watched wildlife in the state last year, generating $1.4 billion.
Shawn Patrick Ouellette / Staff Photographer
The figures were compiled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which issues a report every five years that looks at who participated and what they spent on hunting, fishing and wildlife watching. The data is sorted by state, region and nation.
A full report with Maine numbers will be available in December. But, numbers based on Fish and Wildlife Service surveys so far show 1.1 million residents and nonresidents did some sort of wildlife-associated activity in Maine last year. That includes 838,000 wildlife watchers, 341,000 anglers and 181,000 hunters. Together, they spent more than $1.4 billion, which includes travel expenses and equipment.
Nationally, 38 percent of the U.S. population enjoyed some form of wildlife-associated activity last year, spending a combined $145 billion on the activities. The total spending was achieved following increases in hunting and fishing nationally between 2006 and 2011. The number of people who fished increased by 11 percent during that period, while hunting participation increased by 9,000 from 2006 through last year.
But state officials are concerned about the economic impact of a decline in nonresident hunters coming to Maine. The 35,301 nonresident licenses bought in Mane in 2006 declined by 9,000 in 2011, according to state Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department.
However, hunting license sales to Maine residents are increasing. The more than 173,660 hunting licenses sold in 2006 increased by 4,000 in the last year. | <urn:uuid:668eb1d3-f0ae-41f2-851b-8e5f0e6b0393> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pressherald.com/news/Report-Fish-game-activities-mean-14B-in-Maine.html | 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 | 0.960669 | 423 | 1.945313 | 2 |
This atlas describes the histologic changes relevant to the modern practice of forensic pathology. It guides the reader through the common questions that the forensic pathologist will need to answer in relation to the cause of death, such as: is this feature artifact or is this real? What does this signify? How old is this injury? The book focuses on key issues of forensic importance - e.g. sudden death, environmental deaths, injury timing and suspected child abuse. The book is highly illustrated with color photographs to increase the understanding of changes related to disease, decomposition and artifact. All illustrations are also available on a CD-ROM packaged with the print book. Ideal as a source of quick reference next to the microscope, this is essential reading for forensic pathologists, forensic pathology fellows, pathologists who consult in forensic cases, pathology residents, autopsy pathologists, coroners and forensic investigators. | <urn:uuid:89c2637b-9d35-41a7-9f98-34f70010e94c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amazon.co.uk/Atlas-Forensic-Histopathology-Peter-Cummings/dp/0521110890 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934439 | 177 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Pages from the 1979 book "Kids' Stuff" by Linda Foa and Geri Brin.
Besides "Children's Spaces" by Norman McGrath (later) this is our favorite book about kids' design. If you judged Kids' Stuff by its crazy cover you'd probably never open it, but inside it's like a kid's version of High Tech, the 70's industrial-style home design sourcebook, with hundreds brilliantly designed things, like chairs, tables, lamps, storage, drawer pulls, tents, ropes... all photographed either on seamless, on a Superstudio-esque grid, or in the cool NYC apartments of the authors and their friends. One of my favorites is the table from Scandinavian Design (above), used as a changing table, and "actually billed as a writing desk by the manufacturer". The book's acknowledgements mention a heavy thanks to designer Joe D'Urso and design author Barbara Plumb, and it shows. Also it's a sourcebook itself, so it tells you what everything is, how much it cost, and where it was available. Everything that is except the incidental decor in the kids' rooms, notably this girl's ball-bearing based, plastic sphere-encased, self-levelling desk lamp (below). | <urn:uuid:abda975d-7df1-42a1-8013-5cafa4904db9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.warymeyers.blogspot.com/2011/02/kids-stuff.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946968 | 258 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Covering the largest geographical area of any BAUS region, the population served by Scotland East amounts to some 3 million people.
A journey through the region takes you from the rolling hills of the Scottish Borders, through the capital city of Edinburgh, home to the Scottish Parliament, over the Forth Road Bridge to the ancient Kingdom of Fife. To the north are the fertile plains of the River Tay where the joint centres of Dundee and Perth, once great for industry but now largely devoted to farming and tourism, form the gateway to the Scottish Highlands.
Up the east coast, past a string of small towns famous for the herring industry, lie the city of Aberdeen, the oil capital of the UK, the highland city of Inverness and, further on, the wild and remote communities of Caithness & Sutherland. Across the stormy waters of the Minch and the Pentland Firth lie the remote Western Isles, Orkney & Shetland, with their rich Viking-inspired history and small centres of population, winning a living from the sea and with much promise for the future as centres of renewable energy.
This wide-flung area has everything from the bustle and politics of city life to unparalleled opportunities for sport and leisure in remote & beautiful surroundings. | <urn:uuid:3ab1593e-500d-4590-8bc1-86db7b3ea5b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baus.org.uk/Regions/scotland-east?NRMODE=Published&NRNODEGUID=%7B090A51AC-140B-49BD-9194-B7E7BA7E671D%7D&NRORIGINALURL=%2FRegions%2Fscotland-east&NRCACHEHINT=NoModifyGuest&year=2012&month=7&day=21 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917166 | 259 | 2.046875 | 2 |
the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources and political and economic activities
the branch of geography dealing with how human activity affects or is influenced by the earth’s surface
another term for phytogeography.
the branch of geography dealing with natural features
the study of people and their environment with particular emphasis on social factors
the branch of geography that deals with the boundaries, divisions, and possessions of states | <urn:uuid:7406a4b0-4cc3-463b-9c92-fe380b3a10e4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oxforddictionaries.com/search/english/?region=uk&q=geography | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965611 | 109 | 2.828125 | 3 |
** Only the app's developer can control when an app is free or not. All apps that we post as Good Free Apps of the Day are verified to be free at the time of this post. We make no guarantees otherwise. **
Digits materialize and begin to fall… and stack up. By forming strings of digits that add up to TEN, the digits explode to clear space and rack up points. As play progresses, the numbers fall faster and faster, making play TENSER.
EASY, RESPONSIVE CONTROLS!
Transport the digit instantly by tapping to the left or right. When the digit turns completely red, it will fall. Or swipe down to drop the digit when you’re ready!
SET THE TENSION LEVEL!
The game allows you to set the TENSION… how many seconds you have before the digit falls. You can also play the game the way it was designed, with the TENSION increasing as the levels increase.
WATCH OUT FOR VARIA-BULLIES!
Suddenly yellow smiley faces start to fall! Use your reasoning skills to determine the value of these Varia-bullies, and watch for other surprises that may fall. Strategize to find the best way to clear more space. | <urn:uuid:01843df4-cbc5-412c-8e57-086b0ab47118> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smartappsforkids.com/2012/10/a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902255 | 262 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Carrie Sanders got first-hand experience with cancer at only age 19. During this challenging and traumatic period, she decided that she wanted to dedicate herself to live her life with meaning and purpose by entering the medical field. As a psychotherapist, she's created a journal that intends to support women through their journey with cancer.
Journaling the breast cancer journeyAt last, an easy to use, comprehensive organizer to help women deal with the immense challenges of a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment plan is available. The Breast Cancer Journey Planner is packed with indispensable resources and worksheets including: helpful advice, questions to ask medical providers, an appointment calendar, journaling pages, glossary of terms, financial resources, and much more. The three-ring binder has pockets to store and organize information and fits in most purses, making it easy to take to doctor appointments. The author created the organizer based on her first-hand experience as a cancer survivor and counselor to cancer patients.
Excerpt from the Helpful Hints ChapterHere are some general guidelines to help make your doctors' appointments as smooth as possible (your doctors will appreciate it too).
The first time you see any physician—surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, or plastic surgeon—bring with you:
1. Bring a family member or friend to all of your appointments
2. All of your current and prior radiology mammograms and reports (two years past)
3. All of your current laboratory results (e.g., hormone receptors, CBC, chemistry profiles, etc.)
4. All reports of breast surgery you've had
5. All of your pathology reports
6. The name, address, fax and phone number of every place where you've had any tests (laboratory, X-rays, CAT scans, MRI, etc.)
7. The name, address, fax and phone number of every physician, surgeon, naturopath, and any other healthcare provider you've seen pertaining to the diagnosis and treatment of your breast cancer
8. A list of all medications you're taking, including prescription, over-the-counter, and vitamins and supplements. Your list should include: the name, the strength, how often, the reason and when you began taking the medication (days, weeks, months, years).
9. Bring your calendar (like the one provided in this planner) to every doctor's appointment so you can schedule follow-up visits easily.
10. Bring with you your health history. This should include your past and present illnesses, diseases, surgeries, allergies, and your family health history
Lastly, make sure you feel comfortable discussing your questions, concerns, and fears with your doctors. Remember, they are there to help you get the best possible care.
To purchase The Breast Cancer Journey Planner or for more information, visit www.theidealcancerorganizer.com or www.amazon.com
More with Carrie Sanders... | <urn:uuid:5a07bfc6-6db8-4198-b7a7-68df8f0983b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sheknows.com/sheknows-cares/articles/805823/the-breast-cancer-journey-planner | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934795 | 605 | 1.609375 | 2 |
A press release from the National Garden Bureau alerted me to the fact that I am hopelessly out of date. This was news to me, because I use Facebook to blurt out things about life to the world and shamelessly champion the benefits of arachnids, which resulted in having fewer Facebook friends than I used to. I tried to Twitter, but it was so time consuming to follow I grew exhausted, and decided I'm simply not a twit.
But the release hinted that without the addition of Pinterest, I am hopelessly out of touch with the latest in social media crazes. Pinterest is a self-described virtual bulletin board where you can collect ideas, "pinning" them by category (or board), that you want to save for a later date. Like a digital scrapbook where you keep clipped notes, photos or websites, Pinterest is a very popular place for sharing ideas.
I cautiously visited the website, immediately plunging over my head into what appeared to be a random photo collection of shoes, cupcakes, and chickens stalking people in bathtubs. Confused, I exited hastily, unable to fathom why this was so popular. But with a growing number of friends commenting that they found recipes or ideas for décor on this site, I couldn't shake the idea that I'd need to summon the courage to return.
So I did what anyone my age does when confronted by new social media: I asked a 34-year old friend to teach me. She helped me sign up to use Pinterest, explaining patiently that what I collect can be links to websites telling me how to do something, like making little lawnmower cupcakes, to following celebrities.
You store these images on "boards," organizing by categories. With this small instruction and an encouraging nod, my friend pointed me to the simplest search methods on Pinterest and launched me on my way. Bravely I typed the National Garden Bureau into the search bar and a whole new world of images and ideas seduced me: clothespin seedling markers, making fairy gardens, ranking vegetables for efficiency and plants of the year.
Their most popular boards, New Flowers, Cut Flowers, Gardening Tips and How-Tos, Herbs, Patio Pots and Containers, and Recipes from Your Garden, are packed with lush photographs and suggestions that will keep gardeners entertained for months. Indeed, once you begin to Pinterest you may never actually go outside to garden, because your time is spent ogling images of other gardeners' places.
The fun doesn't stop with just plants and serious advice. Check out the Yolkswagon, an old car turned into a chicken coop, or lamps turned into birdbaths. But double check some of the information posted under the photos before you believe it; one pinner pointed out how to tell boy peppers from girl peppers by counting the lobes, when in reality both are swollen ovaries.
One caution when you're getting started: at first, Pinterest asks you to click on a few photos that interest you. What it doesn't say is that when you do, you're asking to "follow" the person who pinned it, and you end up with random items on your page without a clue where they came from. In my case, it's hot pink stiletto shoes and lace-up combat boots, a startling tweak on my boards.
If you're looking for good ideas on repurposing items, updating outdoor furniture, or general garden fun, check out Pinterest. But make sure you set a timer to tell you when you've been on long enough. | <urn:uuid:6182cc85-92d5-44c4-9923-0b2eb3c6d42a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailycamera.com/lifestyles/ci_22715903/entertainment/classicalmusic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950477 | 733 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Wisdom and Wholeness
The attempt to describe wisdom
is an impossible task. However, the attempt is important if we
want to create a wise democracy. We need to find ways to understand
wisdom that we can bring into the realms of politics and government,
so we can say that this process or decision is wiser than that
one and, more importantly, why it is wiser.
Around such understandings a movement can
be built. Without them, we will have nothing but our individual
opinions which, despite their considerable value, give us nothing
to rally around.
Our tentative conclusion is that wisdom,
in its essence, is about wholeness.
It is about the wholeness of life. Wise people and decisions take
one or more dimensions of that wholeness seriously. They appreciate
it and build on it with what they say and the impact they have
on the world.
So let's explore "wholeness"
The words "holy," "wholesome,"
"health" and "healing" are all rooted in the
idea of "wholeness." Wholeness involves the entirety
of things, which suggests inclusion and seeing the big picture.
It involves diversity, but diversity that dances with unity instead
of undermining it. It involves cooperation, interaction, dialogue,
compassion, and all the other things that "bring us together"
without losing our individual "integrity" (another word
grounded in wholeness), thus enhancing relationship and interconnectedness.
Our essential unity and kinship are powerful factors in wholeness.
So are holistic ways of knowing -- from
systems theory and ecology to intuition, from quantum mechanics
and field theory to heartful stories and human resonance. And,
contrary to the inclinations of many "new paradigm"
people, we can't exclude logic and facts and all our linear ways
of knowing, because wisdom challenges us to engage the WHOLE SPECTRUM
of our cognitive capacities!
Above all, wisdom serves life. It serves
the wholeness (healing, integrity, sacredness) of individual lives,
and it serves the larger whole, the whole of the community or
the world, in which these individual lives are embedded. It honors
and learns from the past, deepens into the present, and acts on
behalf of The Seventh Generation after us - - engaging the whole
of time, the big picture.
In the end, it knows that it can only approximate
wholeness in all that it knows, says and does. So it tends to
be humble. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and tells us
(with a twinkle) that "there is always more to it than that!"
So that is a taste of the many dimensions
of wholeness, of what it might mean to appreciate and act on the
wholeness of life -- a wholeness which is, paradoxically, completely
present and tantalyzingly improvable. In the center of that paradox
wisdom lives and serves.
Our challenge is to find ways to help wisdom
live and serve among and through us in every corner of democratic
life, from the smallest conversations to the most powerful institutions.
Now let's try to articulate the relationship
between wisdom and wholeness
Wisdom is applied appreciation of the wholeness
of life. (This includes all varieties of appreciation and all
varieties of wholeness.)
A person or culture is wise to the extent
that they comprehend, value and support life's wholeness -- in
any or all of its manifestations. They also tend to embody or
exemplify that wholeness in various ways, and their engagement
with life arises from it, or is experienced by them and others
as an expression of it. Another way to put it: A truly wise person
or culture is a vehicle or channel for life's wholeness on behalf
They bring their growing insight about life's
wholeness into each engagement with life (in its wholeness), in
support of its emergence and evolution into fuller or newer manifestations
The wholeness of life (or some aspect of
life's wholeness -- not its fragmentedness) is what is real to
those that are wise as they engage with life.
Since life, in its wholeness, expands
ever deeper into life and, ultimately, into mystery, they are expansive, inclusive, curious, learning,
seeing the bigger picture -- and yet also humble, accepting and
willing to let go, for they know that ultimately they do not know
(there is always more to it), and they deeply honor the awesome
mystery that lies in, under and beyond it all.
Since life, in its wholeness, is intricately
interconnected, interdependent and co-creative, they take relationship and complexity seriously,
not only as a challenge but as a source of life. They are motivated
by love, mutuality, the common good and enlightened self-interest.
They are responsible but not blaming (since we're all creating
what's going on), engaged but not controlling (control is an illusion
-- sometimes useful, but an illusion nevertheless), and interested
in the many roles that are or could be involved in any phenomenon,
and the choices among them. And since life's wholeness never involves
"one thing alone," they find meaning in contexts, in
fields of influence, in paradox and in the dynamic tension between
what seem to be opposites.
Since life, in its wholeness, has continuity,
consequence, unfolding meaning and story,
wise people and cultures are embedded in deep time, the long view,
the Seventh Generation. They are interested in history, vision,
purpose, destiny, possibilities and the Great Guiding Stories
that give life depth, meaning and direction.
Since life, in its wholeness, manifests
itself in the form of individual whole beings, wise people and cultures respect and learn from
people and other living things, honor diversity, nurture and use
the wholeness of human capacities. To a wise person or culture,
interactive differences and the living spirit of things are resources
for bringing forth even more remarkable forms of wholeness.
Since life, in its wholeness, is holy,
healthy and wholesome, they ground
themselves in Spirit, in healing and in seeking alignment with
the moral flow (or tendencies or "grain") of the Whole.
Since life, in this wholeness, is self-organizing, they seek ways
that nurture self-organization. Such ways require little effort
but much observant insight into the motivations and interactions
Since life, in its wholeness, is One, they are one with It. Since it is many, they embrace
many. Since it is Present and emergent, they are present and emergent,
with awareness. Since it is conscious, loving, and evolving, so
are they. They are life, alive, exploring and evoking the wholeness
(This definition can be understood and expanded
to the extent a person has a deep understanding of wholeness.) | <urn:uuid:c339f792-e7da-4ae3-97c9-3c78fbf23d49> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.co-intelligence.org/Wisdom%26Wholeness.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949175 | 1,518 | 2.640625 | 3 |
What do “poor duck,” “debuted,” and “kind to the gel” mean?
Question by Aditya I.P.: What do “poor duck,” “debuted,” and “kind to the gel” mean?
“Well, poor duck, she’s really my goddaughter. I don’t suppose you know her. She debuted four years ago.”
“But what’s her name?”
Arabella fidgeted with the glass jar for a moment, looking uncharacteristically hesitant. “I shouldn’t want you to—well, I can trust you to be kind to the gel. It’s not as if you’ve a puritanical past yourself.”
Answer by Doethineb
The girl in question was a debutante, who made her entry into polite society by being presented to the King (or was it still the Queen??) by her mother or some other female at Court at the age of 17 or 18.
Poor duck is just an affectionate term of commiseration. The man is suggesting that it may be a misfortune to be his goddaughter.
Gel is an affected way of saying “girl”. “Be kind to the girl.”
What do you think? Answer below!
- What does it mean when a guy calls a girl a “duck”?
- “White ducks”, a kind of shoe?
- Why do we play the childhood game “duck duck goose” in the NE US and “duck duck gray duck” in the MW US?
- Why is it that in Minnesota during the game of “Duck, Duck, Goose” it is instead “Duck, Duck, Grey Duck”
- Q&A: If I opened up a restaurant called “Kentucky Fried Goose” what kind of people do you think would eat there | <urn:uuid:6be65dbd-3be6-4578-a145-a6e958fcaa69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.henkillers.com/cheap-goose-decoys/2011/05/what-do-poor-duck-debuted-and-kind-to-the-gel-mean/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965733 | 433 | 2.390625 | 2 |
TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) is widely recognized as the most humane and effective strategy for reducing feral cat populations. TNR involves humanely trapping feral cats and transporting them to a veterinary clinic where they are spayed or neutered and may receive vaccinations and treatment for routine medical conditions. After surgery, the cat recuperates and is then released back to its colony habitat where it will live out its natural life.
Since the cats are no longer reproducing, the colony will gradually diminish in size, which also reduces or eliminates their natural tendencies of mating, fighting and wandering. TNR makes the colony more stable, impacts the influx of newcomers and improves the overall health of the cats.
Feral and free-roaming cats can be dropped off for surgery Monday through Thursday between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Pick up is the following morning at 7:30 a.m.
Great Plains SPCA offers two feral cat packages. The preliminary package includes spay/neuter surgery, rabies vaccines, pain medication, an antibiotic injection and an eartip. The secondary package includes the additional services of FVRCP (distemper) vaccine, flea treatment and dewormer. Contact the Great Plains SPCA Veterinary Care Center at (913) 831-SPCA (7722) for complete package details.
Please note that special feral pricing requires that cats are in traps or a $5 safe-handing fee will be added. Live, humane traps can be borrowed at no charge, but require a $70 check deposit for one trap or $140 for two or more traps. Traps can be borrowed from the Veterinary Care Center at 5428 Antioch Drive Merriam, Kansas 66202 Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
One Sunday a month, Great Plains SPCA offers high-quality but affordable spay/neuter surgeries for feral and free roaming cats. Appointments are required. To schedule, call (913) 831-SPCA (7722). | <urn:uuid:80212500-902d-4834-951c-6641277e37af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greatplainsspca.org/programs-services/feral-cats/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908618 | 434 | 1.671875 | 2 |
- ISHN GLOBAL
- EHS RESEARCH
The EPA has issued updates to pollution limits for new power plants under the mercury and air toxics standards, based on new information and analysis that became available to the agency after the rule was finalized.
A proposed “carbon tax” would have a “devastating” impact on manufacturing and jobs, according to the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), responding to climate-change legislation introduced recently in the Senate.
President Obama’s rumored pick for Secretary Energy is drawing loud “boos” from a coalition of anti-fracking groups, who say the appointment of Dr. Ernest Moniz would be “a major step backwards” in addressing the problems caused by climate change.
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) posted the second year of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions data on its website, which provides public access to emissions data by sector, by greenhouse gas, and by geographic region such as county or state.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) is throwing its support behind the EPA’s bid for a tough new air quality standard that the organization says will protect the health of all Americans by curbing harmful emissions of fine particulate matter, also known as soot. On the other side of the issue, manufacturers are predicting that it will “crush” growth.
A new report commissioned by the World Bank shows that carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise at alarming rates, and that adapting to a 4 degrees Celcius increase may not be possible -- or enough.
The EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice have announced a settlement with two subsidiaries of Sinclair Oil Corporation to resolve alleged violations of air pollution limits established in a 2008 consent decree at refineries in Casper and Sinclair, Wyo.
Since 2006, the U.S. has seen the largest reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of any country or region, according to a recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the 17th annual U.S. greenhouse gas inventory.
The EPA last week finalized its non-cancer science assessment for dioxins, which was last reviewed in the 1980s.
On demand This webinar will provide an overview of the standards that are providing safety managers a blueprint for compliance. During the NFPA Standards review component, NFPA 652, NFPA 654, NFPA 61 and other relevant Combustible Dust and Combustible Metals Dust Standards will be highlighted and discussed.
This standard establishes the elements and activities for pre-project and pre-task safety and health planning in construction.
With access to over one million professionals and more than 60 industry-specific publications,Clear Seas Research offers relevant insights from those who know your industry best. Let us customize a market research solution that exceeds your marketing goals. | <urn:uuid:6741cccd-139b-4872-aca7-c6378eb52cea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ishn.com/keywords/2364-emissions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933881 | 601 | 2.4375 | 2 |
There was a princess who was betrothed to a prince of a rival kingdom. Their fathers had arranged the marriage to seal the centuries old rift between their lands and bring peace at long last to the realm. But she did not love the prince, and she did not understand why her wedding vows should be any part of a political treaty. She fled on unicorn-back to a small independent country in the mountains.
When she was found missing, both kings blamed each other for sabotaging the arrangements. Their diviners and soothsayers revealed the princess’ location to them, and they both raised their armies to march on the small country, which grimly prepared its own soldiers and sorcerers to meet them. The war on two fronts had now become a war on three fronts, and all hope of peace was lost.
The prince, meanwhile, did love the princess, and vowed to rescue her. Telling his father that he was going to claim the princess and bring her back, he took the king’s personal dragonship, a huge vessel crafted from a hollowed out dragon, rigged with sails woven from the wings of pixies so it could traverse the clouds. With this swift conveyance he did indeed reach her in her mountain fastness while the invading armies were stalled at the border by the small country’s defenses. He confessed his love and she saw he was brave and true.
Together, he on his charger and she on her unicorn, they boarded the dragonship and set sail for the horizon, leaving their responsibilities behind them, their fathers to weep and gnash their teeth, and the peace of three lands to be sacrificed on the altar of their love. | <urn:uuid:1629ed1f-d5c3-4f51-926f-b3873773d5c9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mindspoon.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/twue-wove/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98798 | 343 | 1.820313 | 2 |
One situation Ruiz said they pay particular attention to is when
middle school students are combined into high schools. He said that
combination can lead to fighting over turf.
"One thing we want to watch is what kind of rivalries are starting
in our schools that might flow over into our city," he said.
The unit also takes incidents of graffiti or tagging very
"Tagging may not be considered a priority, but it's the beginning
of what can culminate in violent acts down the road," Ruiz said.
To prevent those violent acts, the gang unit utilizes a
three-prong approach: prevention, intervention and suppression.
The unit works closely with school resource officers to identify
kids who might be at risk of becoming involved with gangs, Officer
Harley Wing said. Officers then try to get those kids involved in
some of the various mentorship programs it works with.
Simply getting more people involved in a young person's life often
can prevent that child from joining a gang, Wing said.
"Most gang members are done by their late 20s, and they don't want
their kids in gangs," he said.
While officers in the gang unit do some patrolling, they also rely
heavily on information from the other patrol officers in the
department. Whenever an incident appears to be gang-related, whether
it be vandalism or an assault, it is passed along to the gang unit.
In addition to the Glendale-based gangs, it sometimes deals with
overflow from Los Angeles gangs.
"Sometimes, the Los Angeles gangs will come in to pick on the
Glendale gangs," Wing said.
Despite its efforts to nip gang activity in the bud, the unit
still must sometimes deal with violent crime, such as during a series
of assaults this summer. When that happens, Wing said Proposition 21,
which provides more serious penalties for even misdemeanor gang
crimes, is an important weapon.
"We're seeing a difference in the way they react to us," he said.
To keep kids from reaching that point, Ruiz said it is important
parents keep a close eye on what their kids are doing and who they
are hanging out with.
"We try to get as much parent involvement as we can," Ruiz said. | <urn:uuid:66ffa643-157d-4173-a03b-959eccd372c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.glendalenewspress.com/2002-11-19/news/export22949_1_gang-unit-gang-members-intervention-and-suppression | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971271 | 480 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series focusing on criminal background checks. The second and third installments will be posted Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
On 25 April 2012, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued updated guidance on the use of criminal background checks in employment titled Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Commission voted 4-1 to approve the updated guidance, which the EEOC indicated it will use to investigate cases of discrimination related to employers’ use of criminal background check policies. Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not prohibit the use of criminal background checks, the EEOC cited concerns that employers could use arrest and conviction records to unlawfully discriminate against job applicants based on their race or national origin. In addition to concerns about what the EEOC refers to as the “important issue” of reintegrating criminal offenders who have served their time into the work force, the guidance takes aim at criminal databases that the agency contends contain incomplete criminal records and other mistakes such as mismatching the subject with a report about another person.
The EEOC historically has taken the position that an employer’s policy or practice of excluding individuals from employment because they have criminal conviction records is unlawful under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 unless the policy or practice is justified by a business necessity. The EEOC’s position is based on statistics showing that African-Americans and Hispanics are convicted at a rate disproportionately greater than their representation in the population, which, in the EEOC's view, means employment decisions based on criminal conviction records have an adverse impact on African-Americans and Hispanics. “Adverse impact discrimination” is defined as a “substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotion, or other employment decision which works to the disadvantage of members of a race, sex, or ethnic group.” Because of the potential for disparate impact discrimination, the EEOC guidance rejects a blanket policy or practice in which an employer refuses to hire any applicant with a conviction.
In addition to disparate impact or “systemic” discrimination cases, the EEOC will continue to evaluate the more traditional disparate treatment discrimination cases based on criminal conviction. Disparate treatment discrimination exists when an employer intentionally treats applicants or employees differently based on a protected category, such as race or national origin. This can occur in the context of criminal background check policies if the policy is used to screen minority applicants but not white applicants, or where an exception is made for a white applicant but not for a similarly situated minority applicant.
If a hotel employer’s criminal conviction policy has a disparate impact on minorities, then the policy likely violates Title VII unless the employer can demonstrate that the policy is job related and consistent with business necessity. According to the EEOC, an employer making an employment decision based on a criminal conviction must consider the following three factors to meet this burden: 1) the nature and gravity of the offense(s), 2) the time that has passed since the conviction and/or completion of the sentence, and 3) the nature of the job held or sought.
The EEOC has recently shown renewed interest in background check policies, and employers in the hospitality industry have found themselves the target of some of these systemic investigations. This is all part of the EEOC’s E-RACE (Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment) initiative, a program dedicated to strengthening the “EEOC’s efforts to ensure workplaces are free of race and color discrimination.” One of the EEOC’s specific goals for the E-RACE initiative is to develop strategies for addressing “21st Century manifestations of discrimination,” which the EEOC identifies as including arrest and conviction records, as well as other pre-employment hiring practices.
Employers in the hospitality industry regularly conduct criminal background checks on applicants. These potential employees have access to your guests and customers, their personal belongings and often credit card information. Prudent hotels employers use criminal background information to guard against hiring employees with criminal histories that may place your guests in harm’s way. In light of the EEOC’s focus on the use of criminal background checks in hiring decisions, hospitality employers must strike a balance—protecting their guests, customers and employees and maintaining a meaningful and legally defensible criminal background check policy. Look for guidance in the next article on how to structure a legally defensible background check policy.
Disclaimer: The foregoing provides an overview of certain legal issues. It is not intended, and cannot be construed, as legal advice for any purpose.
Andria Ryan is a partner in the Atlanta office of Fisher & Philllips, LLP and serves as the chair of the firm's Hospitality Industry Practice Group. She represents employers in virtually every area of employment and labor law and can be reached at 404-240-421 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HotelNewsNow.com or its parent company, Smith Travel Research and its affiliated companies. Columnists published on this site are given the freedom to express views that may be controversial, but our goal is to provoke thought and constructive discussion within our reader community. Please feel free to comment or contact an editor with any questions or concerns. | <urn:uuid:a1ab952b-48aa-4ce2-b91a-7f75020c3133> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/8271/Criminal-background-checks-impact-industry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93786 | 1,109 | 2.078125 | 2 |
One of the enduring pedagogical tactics of professors is the deployment of the phrase "Show, don't tell." It's shorthand for a moment when there is too much exposition, too much explaining.
For example: instead of writing something like "As men with wooden stakes and kindling began approaching the congressional offices, the senator from Delaware became anxious," try writing "As men with wooden stakes and kindling set a pyre outside her office, the Senator worried the top of her brow with a finger and looked slightly away from the window." The anxiety in the second sentence is clearer this way, more potent. The message resonates more.
The same goes for the newest WikiLeaks scandal, one that shows (deftly), among a number of awful things, the extent to which the United States is currently at war with Iran. For some, this may not seem like news. From the Beirut bombing of a Marines barracks back in 1983 -- financed by Iran, carried out by its Lebanese surrogate Hezbollah, sounded death knell for 241 American servicemen -- to a number of incidents of kidnapping and violent incitement as well as Iran's funding of pernicious causes and its infamous 2002 lumping in the "Axis of Evil," it's easy to believe we're already in a proxy war with Iran. Or so we've been told.
But the recent analysis of WikiLeaks documents by major newspapers across the world, stemming from roughly four times as many reports as the July features published about Afghanistan and Pakistan, shows the wide-ranging ways in which Iran has played a hand in the killing of American soldiers and the assassination of Sunni politicians in Iraq. The documents also present information about Iran's arming and training of Shiite militias to fight or kidnap coalition forces. And for the coup de grâce, the reports highlight specific incidents in which U.S. troops in Iraq have come under direct attack from Iranian forces.
Now that we've been shown the evidence and it resonates more than it did when our war with Iran was couched in rhetorical or philosophical terms, the question is what should we do? Does this mean the United States should formally declare war on Iran? No. That would be completely insane. Beyond the well-known implications of such a war and its scope, a declaration of war would only bolster an Iran that is economically and domestically weak and run by a cleric established looking for an outsider on which to further project conspiratorial misdirections through its state-run media.
What America really needs to do is get serious about Iran. We must bury the idea that the United States should be engaging Iran. Since President Obama made his famous campaign remark about sitting down with the Iranian leadership within a year of taking office (and without preconditions), the Iranian regime has: continued to advance its nuclear program and spiced up the rampant fatalism of Middle East governments with a dulcet note of brinksmanship, threatened to destroy a fellow UN member state, committed national electoral fraud, murdered unarmed protesters, muzzled or jailed all opposition media, staunched free speech, funded the growing Hezbollah stockpile of missiles beneath the noses of UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, and perpetuated some dangerous falsehoods about both gays and the Holocaust. In addition to the damning links provided by the WikiLeaks document release about Iranian mischief vis-à-vis Iraq, there is undoubtedly more to this litany, all in service of the doleful reality that there is no amount of dialogue that can bring this regime around.
Ultimately, the United States must form a more serious coalition to squeeze Iran politically and economically. The call for this coalition has practically become a hollow trope, but it's become essential as the U.S.-led peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians continue. If President Obama can aggressively advance the cause of peace as well as coax Syria away from its alliance with Iran, the political gains Iran has made since the U.S. invasion of Iraq will be greatly cheapened. A peace deal would also help Sunni Arab states, deeply frightened of this new Iran, and make it easier to bring them into a coalition.
It won't be easy. Even wars without bullets are tough to fight. But more sabre-rattling about Iran's nuclear program will not help. Making a real impact on the landscape of the region will. It's time to show, not just tell.
The newest WikiLeaks scandal shows (deftly), among a number of awful things, the extent to which the United States is currently at war with Iran. The U.S. must form a more serious coalition to squeeze Iran politically and economically. The call for this coalition has become more important as the U.S.-led peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians continue. | <urn:uuid:1dcf035b-0093-4f1c-ba3d-5107af104e81> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-chandler/show-dont-tell-wikileaks-_b_773555.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963785 | 962 | 1.875 | 2 |
March 10, 1919 ‐May 8, 1990 were the years of Saul Lefkowitz' life, but in our minds and in our hearts, he does and will live on. Like other lives, Saul's was built in small steps and it is only with the perspective of time that we can see the logic and directness that resulted in a career founded upon his devotion to a field of law he loved.
Saul graduated from the City College of the City of New York in 1940 with a degree of Bachelor of Social Sciences. Soon thereafter, he began his service in the Army, from which he was honorably discharged in time to join the great post‐World War II class of trademark examiners who were recruited to examine applications being filed under the newly enacted Lanham Act. It was prophetic that Saul was assigned to examine the new species of service marks.
In less than a decade, Saul was appointed as the Assistant to the Assistant Commissioner in charge of trademarks. There followed his promotion to Examiner of Trademark Interferences. August 1958 saw the creation of Assistant Commissioner Leeds' great innovation, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, on which Saul served continuously for twenty‐three years, the last six (1975‐1981) as its Chairman. From the very beginning of his tenure, Saul was recognized as the intellectual leader of the Board. From 1959 to 1974, during which, rather remarkably, the Board was composed of the same four Members, a Lefkowitz decision was immediately recognizable by its length and thoroughness. On his retirement, USTA presented him with two bound volumes of his decisions.
Saul's contributions to the development of trademark law and the education of the trademark bar extended far beyond his published TTAB opinions. A bibliography of his articles in The Trademark Reporter would exceed a dozen titles. In 1978, in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Board, he conceived the idea of a full‐day seminar and dinner in Arlington, Virginia. Afterwards, the Members and Interlocutory Examiners of the Board presented a series of luncheon lectures on the Board's practice. The culmination of this activity was a full‐day program (dubbed the traveling dog and pony show) that played to enthusiastic audiences in Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles and New York.
After retiring from the Board in 1981, Saul joined Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner. L.L.P., as of counsel, a position he held until he died. In private practice, Saul served as a brilliant expert and consultant to practitioners around the world. Within the Finnegan Firm, he was a mentor and friend who always had time and a good word for everyone.
In December 1985, Saul and Janet Rice published a Primer on Practice Before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. From 1984, Saul also served as the Chairman of the National Coordinating Committee, where he struggled with the numerous problems of automating the PTO's trademark searching facilities.
No tribute to Saul would be complete without mentioning his devotion to his wife, Marion, his son Stuart and daughter Suzie, and his beloved grandchildren who graced the last decade of his life.
It was not widely known that Saul had three enthusiasms outside the law. For years, he and Stuart coached a basketball team of nine‐year‐old boys in a local league. He was an enthusiastic gardener and enjoyed bowling with Marion in a duckpin league.
The lasting memories of Saul are his kindness, his gentleness and his constant consideration of others. He will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues but his thoughts and writings will influence generations of trademark lawyers long into the future.
Adapted from an article written by David J. Kera that appeared in The Trademark Reporter (80 TMR 195 (1990)) | <urn:uuid:aee346e5-dade-454a-8f27-b2e187ae349e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.inta.org/Academics/Pages/SaulLefkowitzBio.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982526 | 783 | 1.609375 | 2 |
With cooperation from Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Electronic Arts, Blizzard, Warner Bros, and Disney Interactive, New York’s top prosecutor has been successful in banning online gaming accounts of more than 3,500 registered sex offenders. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said the crack-down, known as “Operation Game Over,” was a success. It was the first sting operation of its kind, and it could be the first of many.
Schneiderman said, “We must ensure online videogame systems do not become a digital playground for dangerous predators. That means doing everything possible to block sex offenders from using gaming networks as a vehicle to prey on underage victims.” Schneiderman and his team worked with the game companies mentioned above to link the sex offenders to their Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and online role-playing game accounts, and blocked a total of 3,580 accounts from being able to connect to other gamers online.
The Attorney General thanked the companies for their cooperation. He called it a first-of-its-kind initiative for online safety. The so-called dangers of online gaming are highlighted every few months, like clockwork, on the morning “news” shows and various other places where people can spread fear. Nevertheless, if one incident arises from online gaming when it could have been prevented as with Operation Game Over, is one too many. | <urn:uuid:2e54dc59-f2ec-4554-a3d0-90bba7013b90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slashgear.com/new-york-ag-kicks-thousands-of-sex-offenders-off-online-games-05221800/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961393 | 282 | 1.625 | 2 |
About the Department
Instruction in ten languages is offered at UCSC. For most languages, the sequence of courses begins in the fall. Some languages (e.g., French, German, Italian and Spanish) offer entry-level courses in other quarters as well; please check the schedule of classes for details.
The Language Program's main goal is to HELP undergraduate students develop proficiency in a foreign language, either to fulfill language requirements for their major or pursue personal interests. The program gives priority to the development of students' ability to function in the language in actual communicative settings and to create meaningful written and oral discourse in the target language.
Apart from the students' development of productive and receptive language skills, we also emphasize the study of cultural values pertaining to the community of speakers of the target languages offered and their history, literature, art, politics, economics and other related fields which are essential to the understanding of these communities.
We play an important role in assisting students to establish connections between their target language and culture and other fields of study of their own interest, thus developing an interdisciplinary and broader perspective. In this process we also emphasize the development of other skills essential to foreign language learning, such as learning strategies, and analytical, synthetic and critical thinking skills which are fundamental in the overall academic learning process.
Foreign language learning provides students with the means to access information in a wide range of areas of intellectual inquiry and interpersonal communication. This experience not only adds enormously to a student's cognitive development but it is also instrumental for future professions. | <urn:uuid:98a9f31b-ad82-4374-9171-d2da3af6347b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://language.ucsc.edu/about/?id=72 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931876 | 310 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agreed to work together to help coastal communities grow in ways that benefit the economy, public health and the environment. The partnership was formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement.
The new coastal communities partnership will seek to deliver the latest information and technology to communities for reusing previously developed land and providing more housing and transportation choices, while preserving critical natural areas and limiting air and water pollution. These techniques are important strategies for limiting air and water pollution, preserving land and enhancing quality of life. The agreement will help NOAA and EPA achieve national goals for better management of coastal resources and protection of human health and the environment.
The partnership results from a major goal of the Bush Administration to have federal agencies coordinate with state, tribal and local stakeholders to develop comprehensive cooperative conservation strategies to protect the nation's coastal resources.
The EPA-NOAA Partnership will provide training for local government staff and officials; outreach and education on successful policies, ordinances and initiatives; and assessments of the impacts of management actions on sensitive coastal areas.
"The agreement provides another tool to help coastal communities advance environmental, economic, and public health," said Steve Johnson, EPA acting administrator.
"This agreement will facilitate the development of management strategies that ensure continued conservation of coastal and marine habitats while at the same time make certain that coastal zone residents continue to benefit from the tremendous economic potential available there," said retired Navy Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.
EPA and NOAA will announce the MOA at the Fourth Annual New Partners for Smart Growth conference at the Deauville Beach Resort Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla. The conference, co-sponsored by EPA and NOAA, is looking at a range of cutting-edge growth issues nationwide. More than one-thousand participants, including local elected officials, real estate developers, government agencies and citizen leaders, are attending this event. The conference is also another example of how EPA and NOAA are collaborating to bring the latest tools, information and expertise to coastal communities looking for better ways to grow.
Coastal watersheds (areas draining into bays and oceans) are growing rapidly, with 55 percent of the U.S. population living within 50 miles of a coast. In the past 20 years, the rate of all land development nationwide has grown 30 percent, twice the rate of population growth. This rapid growth presents coastal communities with both challenges and opportunities.
The partnership is the second between NOAA and EPA focused on coastal communities. In 2003 the agencies established a joint program to assist local port and harbor communities redevelop brownfields. The Portfields Memorandum of Understanding is already producing results in New Bedford, Mass., Bellingham, Wash. and Tampa, Fla., with new waterfront efforts underway. The efforts have shown that communities can respond in innovative ways that not only create jobs while protecting rivers, watersheds and beaches, but also maintain the quality of life that makes coastal communities attractive for development.
EPA's Office of Water and Office of Policy Economics, and Innovation will collaborate with NOAA to implement the agreement. | <urn:uuid:451f4309-b6ba-468e-9f2d-fb737c50a155> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wqpmag.com/print/4894 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926747 | 651 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Howard urges Japan to abandon whaling
Prime Minister John Howard has called on Japan to abandon its push for commercial whaling culls as the International Whaling Commission rebuffed pro-whaling nations for the third day.
The crucial IWC meeting in Korea today voted 30-27 in support of an Australian resolution to protest against Japan's new so-called research whaling program.
But Japan has vowed to go ahead with plans to increase its research whaling program and extend it to two threatened species.
Japan wants to increase its scientific catch of minke whales from 440 to almost 900 each year, with many of them likely to be caught in Antarctic waters claimed by Australia.
Australia has been outraged at the Japanese plans, particularly to extend their catch to humpbacks, the basis of a whale watching industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Australian economy.
The Australian strategy in Ulsan has been to shame whaling nations away from the culling practice in the face of the international community.
IWC rules mean that Japan can go ahead with its planned kill this year, leading to calls in Australia for tougher action by the federal government, such as taking Japan to the International Court of Justice and banning Japanese whalers from using Hobart's port facilities.
But Mr Howard has resisted such calls, preferring to appeal to Japan to desist.
"We of course are close allies of the Japanese and Japan is a good friend to Australia and will remain so irrespective of our differences on this issue," Mr Howard said.
"But we do feel very strongly. It has united public opinion in Australia and I hope that Japan will take note of how strongly countries that are traditionally sympathetic to Japan's position in the world feel on this subject - and I'm thinking of Australia and the United States and others.
"So I just ask them to reflect on the strength of that opinion and I hope Japan acts accordingly."
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer poured cold water on the idea that Australia might take Japan to the ICJ.
The ICJ route is one advocated by Labor and the conservation group, the Humane Society International.
"Some members and commentators have argued that we should abandon all of this (diplomatic) process, that it doesn't amount to much, and we should instead just go to the ICJ," he told parliament.
"The government's always said that we don't rule in or rule out any options.
"But bringing legal action in the ICJ is a process that ... could take a decade or more.
"You wouldn't get very quick results there.
"It is better that Japan remains in the IWC where its whaling activities can be supervised and regulated."
Australian Greens senator Bob Brown called for the banning of Japanese whaling ships using Hobart to refuel and resupply.
But the government strongly opposed the motion. | <urn:uuid:d087194c-fbef-406b-8aa1-cb72d2c93d8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/howard-urges-japan-to-abandon-whaling/2005/06/22/1119321789315.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962557 | 585 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has chimed in on the furor surrounding the publication of a controversial cartoon in News International's The Sunday Times, which depicted Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appearing to lay bricks for a wall using the blood of Palestinians. The cartoon's caption reads, “Will cementing the peace continue?”
The Times had previously defended Gerald Scarfe's cartoon, with a statement saying the newspaper “firmly believes that it is not anti-Semitic. It is aimed squarely at Mr. Netanyahu and his policies, not at Israel, let alone at Jewish people.”
The outspoken Murdoch took to Twitter on Monday to express his disapproval and offer a rare apology on behalf of one of his publications. “Gerald Scarfe has never reflected the opinions of the Sunday Times,” he tweeted. “Nevertheless, we owe major apology for grotesque, offensive cartoon.”
The cartoon, which likely would have faced backlash regardless of its publication date, was particularly ill-timed as it ran on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Scarfe himself apologized “for the very unfortunate timing” of the cartoon in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, and said in a statement on his website that he had not been aware the cartoon would run on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
According to the Telegraph, the Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed its objection to the Press Complaints Commission shortly after the cartoon was published, charging the Times with publishing an item that was reminiscent of illustrations seen in “the virulently anti-Semitic Arab press.” Specifically, critics of the cartoon are accusing it of “blood libel,” a centuries-old false accusation that Jews used the blood of slaughtered Christians in rituals, including the preparation of matzah. According to the Anti-Defamation League, which has called for an apology from the Times, the charge dates back to the 12thcentury, when a young boy was found dead in Norwich, England, and a monk accused Jews of torturing and killing the child in a mock crucifixion.
“This is the stuff which historically justified hatred of Jews and led to the wholesale slaughter of Jews,” ADF International Affairs Director Michael A. Salberg told the Algemeiner.
The definition of blood libel in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, as referenced in a 2011 BBC article, explains further that blood libel can represent a “form of the belief that Jews had been and still were responsible for the passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ" and "popular beliefs about the murder-lust of the Jews and their bloodthirstiness, based on the conception that Jews hate Christianity and mankind in general". Inferences to Jewish ritualistic murder were also used in Nazi propaganda in the 1930s.
In 2011, Sarah Palin was widely criticized for using the term in response to critics who accused her rhetoric of inspiring the Arizona shooting that critically injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In retaliation against accusers who linked the shooting with a map her campaign had published, which included crosshairs over Democratic congressional districts -- including Giffords' -- where she hoped to unseat the incumbent, Palin recorded a video message attacking “journalists and pundits” who “manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn.” After her comments prompted an outcry, Palin later insisted that “blood libel obviously means being falsely accused of having blood on your hands.”
By Tuesday, the Sunday Times has shown indications of a more conciliatory response to the anti-Semitism charges. According to a News International “insider” speaking to the Guardian, acting editor Martin Ivens is expected to meet with the Board of Deputies of British Jews on Tuesday afternoon and offer a personal apology for publishing Scarfe's cartoon.
To contact the editor, e-mail: | <urn:uuid:a02be063-f596-4df9-8551-f073cda8d69b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/429128/20130130/rupert-murdoch-cartoon-anti-semitism-blood-libel-sunday-times-netanyahu-sarah-palin-gerarld-scarfe-a.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962597 | 800 | 1.804688 | 2 |
|Uploaded:||September 8, 2008|
|Updated:||March 4, 2011|
Welcome DragoArt members and visitors! Today we will be learning "how to draw Luffy" D. Monkey, step by step from One Piece! First off we will talk about why Luffy has a last name of monkey. Eiichiro Oda (Luffy’s creator) has said that the crazy and hyper Luffy resembles a monkey. He has a really big appetite too. This kinda reminds me of Goku from Dragon Ball Z. Most people figure out the pattern in Japanese manga that all protagonists or ‘good characters’ have a big appetite. I picked up this pattern by watching a lot of anime. He gets his nickname “Straw Hat Luffy” from his yellow-orange straw hat. Everyone recognizes him by his large comical eyes, straw hat and elongated torso. This makes part of his character. Luffy’s personality makes the other part of his character as well. When he was a child, he accidentally ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi. This is a devil fruit. It makes his body stretch like rubber. That’s the reason why his body looks so long and noodle-ish. Anyways, I drew this character because I noticed that no one has a tutorial on him. I wanted to make one so that everyone would know how to draw him. The tutorial on "how to draw Luffy" should be really easy for you. It is based on a novice level. A novice level is a beginner’s level of drawing. I know that the series ‘One Piece’ has been getting extremely popular. It is hosted on Cartoon Network, 4Kids, Funimation, and Odex. The series that are posted on these channels have different voice actors. Two of them are girls. The worst English dub was the 4Kids one. Thank god the funimation one is coming out on Cartoon Network! I can’t wait to see it! I laughed at the horrible 4Kids voices by the way, and they were terrible XD. You can also choose to read more about Luffy, and other One Piece characters if you want, or just go straight to the lesson, your choice. Well anyways, I hope this tutorial helps out! Have fun on drawing Luffy! | <urn:uuid:8793bf8f-033e-4b67-bcd7-829670582dc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/793/1/1/how-to-draw-luffy-or-monkey-d-luffy-from-one-piece.htm?cmID=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968082 | 478 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Validating standardized testing
Get plenty of sleep. Eat a healthy breakfast. Every spring, school children are sent home with these directives to help them score well on standardized tests. Fears of their children being held back or failing to meet graduation requirements can send parents into a panic.
Teachers and school administrators also feel the pressure for students to post high test scores. A provision of No Child Left Behind requires schools to report adequate yearly progress based on those scores. If the school does not meet AYP standards in consecutive years, schools can be forced to transfer students, replace teachers or be completely reorganized.
What might surprise many is that people at the state level also feel pressure when it comes to high stakes testing. States spend a great deal of time and money creating the tests, but a team of educational researchers including Karen Samuelsen of the University of Georgia's College of Education has discovered that many people at the state level feel unsure about how to validate the tests they are developing.
"Ensuring that a test is fair is a lot more complicated than people might think," said Samuelsen, an assistant professor in the department of educational psychology and instructional technology.
Samuelsen and Robert Lissitz, a professor of education and director of the Maryland Assessment Research Center for Education Success at the University of Maryland, have created a framework with a new vocabulary and a new way of thinking about validity that makes the validation of educational assessments a less daunting task.
The results of their work were featured in Educational Researcher, the official journal of the American Educational Research Association. The article is followed by commentary from well-known scholars in the field of measurement with Lissitz and Samuelsen's response to the comments. Comments on the article vary from total agreement or disagreement to some even expanding Lissitz and Samuelen's framework.
Their article has raised controversy because some experts in the field view it as an attack on renowned psychometrician Samuel J. Messick. His work at the Educational Testing Service examining construct validity is the basis for the testing standards of the National Council on Measurement in Education, American Educational Research Association and American Psychological Association. While Lissitz and Samuelsen believe in Messick's insistence on a variety of sources of validity evidence, conversations with those in state and local education showed Messick's unitary theory of validity left them puzzled as to how to provide that evidence.
Samuelsen says she has received only positive feedback since the article was published. State governments have found the new framework useful, and others in educational measurement have reported that it has informed their decision making. Those working in the area of classroom assessment have also shown interest in how to help teachers better understand the validation process. Samuelsen is hopeful that their framework will continue to be adapted by others, with input from those on the front lines of educational assessment. | <urn:uuid:0f7e8193-6c0a-49ad-8766-f595c11aeb53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uga.edu/about_uga/profile/validating-standardized-testing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965299 | 579 | 2.765625 | 3 |
September 22, 2011
- manacle (noun)
- What does it mean?
- 1 : a shackle for the hand or wrist : handcuff2 : something that prevents free action
- How do you use it?
- The prisoners' manacles were removed from their wrists and they were released into the sunlight, free again.
- Are you a word wiz?
We're betting you can answer this with your hands tied behind your back: which of the following words do you think are related to "manacle"?Give yourself a hand if you picked B! "Manacle" comes from "manus," the Latin word for "hand" and the ancestor of a number of English words. "Manual" is one "manus" descendant. That's not surprising, since one of the meanings of "manual" is "of, relating to, or involving the hands." It's also clear that "manus" had a hand in the origin of "manicure," the word for a beauty treatment for the hands and nails. One not-so-obvious "manus" word is the name of the tube-shaped pasta called "manicotti." "Manicotti" is originally Italian, the plural of "manicotto," meaning "muff," which is a warm tubular covering for the hands. | <urn:uuid:eddfd461-678b-4bf6-a100-a8620b892d2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wordcentral.com/buzzword/buzzword.php?month=09&day=22&year=2011 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973075 | 280 | 2.734375 | 3 |
I’m returning to the words and paintings of Cornelia Phillips Spencer, who took a closer look at our local flora 139 years ago.
“A November bouquet” is an appropriate accompaniment for Mrs. Spencer’s description. This particular fall wildflower bouquet, initialed J.J. S., is the work of Mrs. Spencer’s daughter, June James Spencer, who later married James Lee Love, assistant professor of mathematics at UNC.
A note by James Love in the Spencer papers of the Southern Historical Collection tells that, at her mother’s encouragement, June had become a fine botanical artist and in turn encouraged her mother, who is credited with most of the flower portraits in the collection.
In “Late summer woods,” N.C. Presbyterian, Oct. 8, 1873, Cornelia Phillips Spencer extols the “weeds.”
“If one should delight in weeds, now is the time. … It is often a little painful to find that in the late summer we must class among weeds many a plant, whose pretty flower early in the season seemed a paragon of delicacy; – now, the coarse and rampant growth is undeniably plebian and weed-sy. I fear that my summer favorite, the goldenrod, runs some risk of such deterioration. … The Vernonias, –commonly called ironweeds, – are a beautiful companion to goldenrods, their clear and brilliant purple being in the best possible contrast … the flowers, taken singly, or the heads with their singularly pretty involucres, would be ranked among our very daintiest darlings.”
“A coarse leaf and a coarse stem and a way or growing along the road side has given these beauties the name of weed. The asters are very conspicuous now, from pure white through all the shades of lavender and purple. They too look charmingly with the goldenrods. … The sunflowers and their cousins the Rudbeckias are a little flaunting, and should make the back-ground of a bouquet. Most of our fall flowers are rather strong growers and high colored.”
Later that same year Cornelia Spencer wrote “A journey in October” for the N.C. Presbyterian, Oct. 29, 1873.
“With all possible, all due admiration for the gorgeous assemblage of colors in later October, I must own to a great love for our landscapes while the greens are yet predominant, and the crimsons and yellows and browns are only the touches, – ‘Autumn laying here and there, A fiery finger on the trees.’”
“There is more leisure for observation and for enjoyment and full appreciation of the effects of color then, than when the whole forest is a mass of glowing hues. But what splendor of changing beauty the Creator has ordered to be shed around our daily life from the first of October to the close of November, when the last rich shades of brown are lost in the purple haze of Indian summer. People ought to be much abroad these days, and should take their children out and be never tired of calling their attention to the glories of the scene.”Cornelia Phillips Spencer advises us well!
Email Ken Moore at email@example.com. Find previous Ken Moore Citizen columns at The Annotated Flora. | <urn:uuid:60a9dc9e-5acc-42af-be68-293490181394> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.carrborocitizen.com/flora/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947319 | 711 | 2.34375 | 2 |
(WXYZ) - Michigan ranks among the top 20 most toxic states in the country, according to a new report being released Thursday.
The National Resources Defense Council analyzed data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Researchers monitored the level of air pollution coming from coal and oil-powered plants. They were specifically interested in levels of mercury, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and ammonia.
Researchers say high exposure to these chemicals can lead to health problems, including asthma, allergies, cancer and birth defects.
The official rankings will be released at 11:30 a.m., but the organization has already confirmed that Michigan is among the top 20 most toxic states in 2012.
Michigan was named the 7th most toxic state in the 2011 rankings.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Ypsilanti Police say on Wednesday a 50-year-old man will be arraigned for attacking a group of kids in a park.
The victim of a golf course attack says he was beaten after asking what the score was.
A tearful father is asking for help to find whoever killed his 25-year old son Ivan Murad. | <urn:uuid:5a5aec35-2887-447b-bf3f-60d463e0325e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/report-michigan-among-top-20-most-toxic-states | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945979 | 253 | 2.265625 | 2 |
"How is a taste in this beautiful art to be formed in our countrymen, unless we avail ourselves of every occasion when public buildings are to be erected, of presenting to them models for their study and imitation?...You see, I am an enthusiast on the subject of the arts. But it is an enthusiasm of which I am not ashamed, as its object is to improve the taste of my countrymen, to increase their reputation, to reconcile them to the rest of the world, and procure them its praise."
Among the many groups which look to Jefferson as the model of their purpose and embodiment of their ideals, American architects especially can attribute the roots of their profession to the "Sage of Monticello." Although never formally trained in architecture, Jefferson had studied the structures of Europe and read extensively on the great architects of Europe. Possessed by a penchant for Palladio and a natural ability for design, Jefferson set out to the wilderness of Piedmont Virginia to create his architectural masterpieces in a community he would establish as the ideal American village: The University of Virginia.
Jefferson believed that architecture was the heart of the American cause. In his mind, a building was not merely a walled structure, but a metaphor for American ideology, and the process of construction was equal to the task of building a nation. The architecture of any American building should express the American desire to break cultural--as well as political--ties to Europe. American architecture, Jefferson believed, would embody the fulfillment of the civic life of Americans, and he sought to establish the standards of a national architecture, both aesthetically and politically.
The University of Virginia was to become the physical model of Jefferson's cultural and educational ideals. In the design of his "academical village," Jefferson envisioned a democratic community of scholars and students coexisting in a single village which united the living and learning spaces in one undifferentiated area. In the plan at left, Jefferson organized the space around the open expanse of "The Lawn," surrounded it with student rooms and central pavillions which housed faculty members and offered common rooms for the community, and crowned the space with the Rotunda, his monument to Classicism. The effect of this design was intended to represent Jefferson's plan for American education: progressive, yet rooted in classical disciplines; broad-based and elective, but still centralized; and accessible, but still reserved for the privileged elite.
Although expressed in terms of education, Jefferson's political beliefs resound in both the theory and the design of his University. In both the layout of the buildings on the Lawn and in the jumble of architectural styles, Jefferson continually evokes and confounds the dictates of European architecture and emerges with an architectural "bricolage" of Italian, Greek, French, and Chinese influences--all cast in American building materials and presented in an academic community. As if to frustrate the pure classicist further, some materials, such as the columns on Pavillion Three, were made in Italy and imported as "educational materials" (to save customs duty), while other materials, like the columns on Pavillion One, were manufactured in Charlottesville. Jefferson has excerpted styles from the European traditions and reordered them according to his own tastes, expressing his wish to sever the ties to Europe and devlop a uniquely American identity. The assemblage of styles present on the Lawn serve to symbolize Jefferson's own New World Order, both architecturally and intellectually. The European traditions have been studied, borrowed, incorporated, and then recast in American materials according to American needs and tastes.The architectural riddling does not end with this collage of styles, however, but continues with the very layout of the entire space of the Lawn. Jefferson has adapted classical styles and mixed Italian villa architecture with Corinthian pediments and Doric columns, united French curves with Chinese latticework, and presented them in Virginia's own red brick and painted wood, but then positions them at odds with one another across the open public space of the Lawn. The physical space thus becomes a visual invitation to intellectual curiosity and inquistion: Jefferson the architect converses with classical architecture and classical ideas; each building converses visually with the others, and students and scholars on the Lawn study the structural and ideological debate presented by both architect and his architecture. With the completion of the Rotunda, Jefferson's shrine to Palladian classicism, the original approach from the south Lawn inspires yet another architectural conversation with another masterpiece of classical antiquity: St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. Like the approach to St. Peter's, the approach to the Rotunda leads the visitor down a shaded column-lined passage toward the central structural focal point. Instead of the great stone Piazza, Jefferson substitutes the vast natural space of the Lawn, and in place of views of Rome, visitors can gaze upon the natural majesty of the Blue Ridge mountains to the south. Jefferson's cathedral, of course, is a secular one erected in honor of knowledge, and his design innovations all center on the simple lines of neo-classicism rather than the elaborate ornament of Bramante's cathedral and Michelangelo's curving colonnades. The counterpoint to the Rotunda, rather than the vestiges of empire, is the scenic wonder of the natural world, suggesting the harmony of man and nature present in the pure mathematical design and in the architectural material of the University.
If the architecture suggests Jefferson's desire to break from Eruope both culturally and intellectually, then the actual construction embodies the toil behind the pastoral ideals espoused by Jefferson as the model for life in America. A project of this magnitude, especially when combined with the concurrent work at Monticello, was nothing short of monumental at the time. Charlottesville's remote location, small population, and limited cache of available resources made the construction project even more difficult that it already was. The university had to be in complete accord with the natural environment around it, and Jefferson had to adjust his design to accomodate the slope of the hill. As Richard Guy Wilson reveals, classical senses of perspective and proportion are distorted to account for the changing grade of the site, and the gardens to the east are larger than the ones to the west, destroying perfect symmetry. But the lack of ideal proportion and the chaos of architectural styles is cleverly contained by the uniform building materials and carefully ordered layout. Order is illusorily imposed on the Lawn, proving Jefferson's own point about the need to recast classical ideas in American terms. Wilson points out in his article, Jefferson's Lawn, that for Jefferson, "classicism is the language, but it was elastic and capable of change and growth."Jefferson refused to allow anyone to see the project until its completion, which reflects his desire to view America as an ordered garden in the New World. Nothing about the design of the university was accidental, and the point Jefferson wished to make through his architecture required a completed model. Concealed behind the peaceful order and the harmonious relation to the natural world was an agonizingly difficult physical undertaking to construct the university. Jefferson's veil of perfect order covered the machinery of building operations and maintenance which, as Kendra Hamilton has discovered, remains an illusion cultivated by the university even today.
Classicism may be changeable, but Jefferson's vision was not. Despite the architectural genius displayed in his work, he sought total control over the project and executed it with an unflagging adherence to classical order, and the rigid structure of his architecture extended to the society which would inhabit it. The rooms on the Lawn were to be occupied exclusively by privileged young white men only, and preferably those from the south and west. Women and African-Americans had no business on the grounds, except of course, as servants and slaves to the men. Additionally, the control Jefferson exerted even over the privileged faculty and students is reinforced by the architecture. In the original design, the Rotunda faced inward, enclosing the village from the outside and separating it from the town of Charlottesville to the east. Jefferson himself watched his university carefully from his perch at Monticello--a spatial theme echoed later when the President's house at Carr's Hill was built overlooking the Rotunda and the Lawn. The sense of order at UVA was nearly feudal in its organization, and Jefferson's vision of an America of gentlemen's farms and pockets of civility is questionable when viewed through the lens of the University and of his own estate, Monticello. With such an unwavering devotion to his one sense of order, the "father of liberty" is not as progressive and broad-minded as his architectural and ideological mission against Europe and classical thought would at first suggest.
Nonetheless, Jefferson' ideas were brazenly original for their time and do embody, at least in spirit, the intellectual, cultural, and political ideals for the nation. Jefferson contributed his architectural statement to federal buildings as well, assisting Pierre L'Enfant in the design and layout of the new Federal City of Washington and designing the state capitol in Richmond. Jefferson believed that "from architecture would flow education in taste, values, and ideals," ( Wilson, Jefferson's Lawn) and therefore constructed buildings that became ideas for America. The buildings remain as symbols of and showcases for those ideas, but the work goes on around them. Just as the Rotunda was eventually reconstructed to face North, turning its watchful eye outward from the Lawn, the nation itself gradually turned away from Thomas Jefferson's ordered philosophies. But the ideas are still with us, "preserved in amber," as it were, in the living history of life at the University. The Lawn still houses fourth-year students-- carefully selected representatives of the idealized University community-- and the Rotunda is sectioned off with velvet cords and plexiglas to protect the frozen displays of Jefferson's legacy. We have not become the feudal agrarian society Jefferson envisioned, nor have we achieved total social control and harmony with nature, but in many ways, his architecture still tugs at our sense of history and heritage--for better or for worse--and his ideas continue to define what is "American" in us: the need to reinvent and reconstruct for our own purposes, the desire for a distinctive national identity, and a quest for unity, driven by an inexplicable but powerful yearning for order, simplicity, and centrality. | <urn:uuid:493d2dd1-4d52-4faa-9f60-8b2084a610f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/jeff/jeffarch.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 | 0.964905 | 2,101 | 2.90625 | 3 |
ENQA Workshop on Quality Assurance and Qualifications Frameworks, 7-8 June 2007, Dublin, Ireland (01. Jan. 2007)
The ENQA Workshop on Quality Assurance and Qualifications Frameworks was hosted by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC).
The European Standards and Guidelines (ESG) call for quality assurance to pay attention to the learning outcomes of programmes. The Bologna qualifications framework calls for the specification of higher education programmes in terms of learning outcomes.
The Bologna Framework of Qualifications is an overarching framework enabling national frameworks of qualifications to be related to each other. Every EHEA member-state is committed to developing a national framework of qualifications. The alignment of these national frameworks to the overarching Bologna frameworks has to be verified by 2010. This verification is to be self-certified nationally according to a set of criteria adopted in Bergen.
One of the seven criteria is that the national quality assurance system for higher education refers to the national framework for higher education qualifications and is consistent with the Berlin Communiqué and any subsequent Ministerial Communiqués in the Bologna Process [this latter clause anticipates the adoption of the ESG in Bergen].
Moreover, the procedures for self-certification require that the self-certification process shall include the stated agreement of the quality assurance bodies of the country in question recognised through the Bologna Process.
So far there have been two initial national self-certifications, in Ireland and Scotland. These bore out the importance of quality assurance in agencies and in higher education institutions in the implementation of the national framework of qualifications.
It was noted from these initial self-certifications that both countries had demonstrated a commitment to implement the ESG and that this commitment is included in the verification reports. At the same time it was not possible for this to be fully tested at this stage, for example requiring all quality assurance agencies to have undergone an external review. In due course, though, perhaps by 2010, countries may be expected to have demonstrated compliance with the European standards in agencies and HEIs. | <urn:uuid:0178ff55-d144-4725-a3d2-c3f914092b43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enqa.eu/eventitem.lasso?id=74&cont=pasteventDetail | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939397 | 430 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Most corporate compliance and ethics programs comprise less than five hours of employee training per year, notes Abbott Martin in a Corporate Executive Board blog. While some might find that number disturbing, hours spent on training may well be a red herring. The key to effective compliance, Martin says, is more about the right timing than it is the right amounts of time.
Ethical breaches are at their highest during organizational changes that have a material impact on an employee's role or compensation (promotions, reorganizations, and so on). More than 80% of employees experience one such event each year, and those who experience two or more observe twice as much misconduct as other employees, according to research. Specific types of change are particularly noteworthy: employees experiencing a corporate layoff observe 3x as much bribery and 4x as much insider trading as unaffected employees. A single hour spent with employees during a key career moment, when both the risk of misconduct and receptivity to training is heightened, can have a much bigger impact on behavior than cyclical training.
While consumers remain cautious, sentiment is not nearly as bad as it was a year ago in the immediate aftermath of the debt ceiling fiasco in Congress, reports Oxford Analytica. Political uncertainty is likely to restrain spending, though there could be an up-tick following very weak sales in the late spring and early summer. There is no significant risk of recession through year-end.
You've got a plum executive opening just waiting to filled by the right candidate. So why is the field of candidates so weak? It might be the job description, most of which have two critical failures, notes Brad Remillard. First, they focus on minimums: minimum years of experience, minimum education and, thus, encourage the least qualified candidates. Second, they fail to focus on what defines success. Instead of simply listing responsibilities, focus on tangible factors: "Develop a plan of action to improve deliveries by 85% in first 30 days. Implement vendor qualifications program that ensures zero defects in 6 months." These concrete, actionable, items give job seekers something specific to react to and can help guide the hiring process. | <urn:uuid:6537a39f-7ed3-4c78-a3a2-0cd9870a5d9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.hbr.org/morning-advantage/2012/08/morning-advantage-catching-you.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness+%28HBR.org%29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963525 | 430 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Parenting in a Media-Laden Culture
On Tuesday afternoon members of our staff stumbled upon the images of Chris Brown’s new tattoo. They shared some links to articles discussing the singer’s choice in body art, and a great conversation developed between a few staff members who are raising children. In an age of quick media, pop star heroism, and many children in the process of developing their own identities, talking about the latest celebrity news can be daunting!
I asked a couple staff moms if they were willing to share their commentary. Raising middle-schoolers in the midst of this media seems to be largely about navigating the distinction between someone’s talent, which is good, and their violent or disrespectful actions, which is just not cool.
On the Chris Brown neck tattoo:
“This is soooooo frustrating to me as a parent… My child likes him and his music even after all he has done and now this! I also like his music and think he is talented but there is a line. I don’t download or play his music but she does. When I bring this stuff up, I get the eye roll—‘whatever mom, you’re just too sensitive, it’s just music.’ …Yet another tale from the uncool mom!”
First, I want to emphasize that I think this mom is totally cool! Probably one of the coolest people I know! It reminds me of a poster that hung in my classroom waaay back in 6th grade. It read, “What is popular is not always right. What it is right is not always popular.” I really can’t remember what I learned about in 6th grade, but this will always stick with me. But figuring out what to talk about with your own children isn’t quite as easy as some after school specials would have us think. Another super cool mom responded:
“Yes, this is tough. The stance I’ve taken is that you can’t change opinions, but you can state your opinion in order to educate. Also, I don’t like to censor too much, but if my partner and I see or hear something very offensive our son has to turn the channel or station. There are limits!”
So how about a real life example of setting limits and educating in action:
“Take the TV show, “Good Luck Charlie.” It is funny, but the kids, can be conniving and obnoxious in an “open faced,” innocent looking way. We started talking about the show. I said, this show is funny, but the kids are rather disrespectful to their parents. That’s funny on TV, but not in real life. He has since commented a few times, saying that yes, the kids aren’t respectful and sometimes not very nice to their parents. It’s at least a conversation. It probably would have been better if I would have started out by asking him what he thought of the characters’ attitudes, but that just didn’t happen! Parenting is a practice!”
One thing that I really appreciated in this response was that she recognized something that could be done differently next time. It was a good response, a small intervention, and a teaching moment. But in practice as engaged bystanders, there is always room for growth! Another take away from this conversation is that parenting involves educating on complex issues—like the many different sides of a person’s personality or character. Check out this great explanation:
“There are some musical artists I really enjoy, but I don’t like things about their lives, attitudes toward women, etc. I can value someone for their talent, but not admire them for certain other attributes or attitudes. So we can admire talent, but put people in their place when it comes to attitudes, human issues, etc.”
So, finally, how about some parting words of wisdom from these super-cool, very smart parents:
“Parenting around media issues is often “parenting-on-the-fly.” Something happens, you see or hear something, and you’ve got to decide, do I (have the energy to) react, what do I say, will it be heard? I truly believe it will be heard. Your child might not agree, but they’ve at least heard an opinion and it may get them to think about it a bit. Also, as I mentioned earlier, it’s probably even better to let your child think it through a bit or ask for her opinion to get the thoughts rolling. But, hey, do the best you can. Every day is a new day and a new opportunity. At least that’s how I view it!
P.S. No matter how painful it can be, just be sure to watch and listen to what your kids are consuming. It’s tempting, but don’t put your head in the sand!”
For more ideas about initiating talks about media and other topics with the people you care about, check out 100 Conversations. This new project offers tips on building good conversations with youth, and topics that youth in your life might just be wondering about. Of particular interest after this post-10 conversations on media. | <urn:uuid:5dfe2a0c-ed6f-4b27-8295-a1f41f8f15a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nsvrc.org/blogs/feminism/parenting-media-laden-culture?qt-sidebar_qt_1=2&qt-sidebar_qt_2=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972452 | 1,110 | 1.5 | 2 |
This is the promised posting about why new software technology finds it so difficult to gain acceptance even when major improvements are likely.
To give you some idea of the scale of the problem, in 1997 Ulf Wiger wrote a paper entitled Four-fold Increase in Productivity and Quality. It described a practical experience with a mature technology (the Erlang language) on a significant new system by a large company.
Now Ulf Wiger is a well known proponent of Erlang, so the uncharitable might suspect some degree of bias and selective reporting. But however skeptical one might be of Ulf Wiger’s claims it would be a big stretch to think that he had invented or imagined the whole thing. The most likely explanation is that the reported results are broadly accurate.
So how come we are not all now programming in Erlang? I believe the answer lies in the “hill climbing” approach that most companies take to optimising their behaviour.
If you are lost on a foggy mountain then one way to reach the top is to simply head up hill. You don’t need a map or compass to tell which way that is, and eventually you will reach a point where every way is downhill. That is the top. Businesses are very much in this situation. There are lots of things a business could do that might work to increase profits. Some are big steps, others are small. The likely result, especially of big steps, is shrouded in fog. So the best thing is to move up the hill of profitability in small steps. Eventually you get to the top, and then you can rest for a while.
The trouble with this algorithm is that you are likely to have climbed a foothill, and when the fog clears you see that the real mountain is somewhere else.
Here the analogy breaks down because unlike real mountains the business environment keeps changing. Mountains go up and down over millions of years. In business the equivalent happens much faster. In fact many businesses have to run as fast as they can just to keep up with the foothills.
So now what happens when someone claims to have discovered a huge mountain in the distance? Three questions will immediately occur to the managers:
- Is it real?
- Will we survive long enough in the Lowlands of Unprofitability to get there?
- Will it still be there when we arrive?
Is it real?
Managers in the software business are bombarded by sales pitches for things that will make their software faster, cheaper and better. 90 out of 100 of these pitches are for pure snake oil. A further 9 are stuff that will work, but nowhere near as well as advertised. The last 1 will change the world, and possibly make you a fortune if you time it right. The trouble is, how do you find that diamond in all the dross? Each new sales pitch requires a lot of time and effort to evaluate, most of which will give no return on the investment. And in the meantime there are those foothills to keep up with. So managers learn to listen to the sales pitch, nod sagely, and then carry on as before.
I say “managers” because they are usually the ones who make the decisions, and are therefore the target of the sales pitches. Sometimes they can be evaded. The early days of Linux adoption were punctuated by anecdotes of IT managers declaring that Linux was verboten in their shop, only to be gently told that it was already running some piece of key infrastructure.
Will we survive long enough to get there?
At first sight a new programming language looks simple to deploy: just start using it. Unfortunately things are not that simple.
Any significant project is going to require a team of developers, and then on-going maintenance and development of new versions. This means putting a team of people together who all know the language, and then keeping them on the staff. Do you train them? If so how long is it going to take them to get productive? In the days of the great OO paradigm shift it was generally agreed to take months. On the other hand you could hire them, but how many people out there know the language? Probably not very many. Either way, if somebody leaves then replacing them will be problematic.
A software house that has been earning money for a while will have been doing so on the back of some body of software (the exception being pure “body shops” who just write code for customers). This software is the major strategic asset of the company, and in practice most of the development effort in the company is devoted to maintaining and extending existing packages. The only way that you can apply a new programming language to an existing software package is to throw away and rewrite the whole thing. At the very least this is a huge and risky enterprise: revenue from the old legacy will drop off fast if you stop developing it, and in the meantime you just have to hope that the new system gets delivered on time and on budget, because if it doesn’t you will go bust. Of course a rewrite of this sort will eventually be necessary, but the sad thing is that by then the company is not in good enough financial shape to take the project on.
Most software companies have diversified and do not depend on one monolithic software asset, so in theory you could do the rewrites one system at a time. This is still expensive and risky, but at least you don’t have to bet the company. But typically each major asset has a division looking after it, and from within the division the sums look just the same as for a smaller company with one big asset. So the only people who can make such a decision are the board of directors. I’ll come back to this point later.
The last option for a new programming language is a completely new product line. Here you are starting with a clean sheet. You still have training and recruitment issues, not to mention long term support, and you have to put together a whole new toolchain for the developers, but the proposition does at least look sensible.
Will it still be there when we arrive?
New technologies often don’t hit the big time. If the suppliers go out of business, or the open source community loses interest, then anyone who adopted the technology early is going to be left high and dry. A previous employer of mine opted for Transputers in a big digital signal processing project. The Transputer was technically ideal, but then INMOS went out of business.
Geoffrey Moore has described a “chasm” between the Innovator market (who will buy anything just because it is new) and the Early Adopters (who make a rational decision to invest in new things). I’m not convinced that there is really a chasm: people seem to have continuous variations rather than discrete types. But either way there is a real obstacle here. In effect everyone is waiting for everyone else to jump first.
So those were the rational reasons why companies tend to avoid new technology. Now for the, err, less rational reasons.
Most of these come down to the fact that companies are not like Hobbe’s Leviathan. As described in The Tipping Point, once you get past about 150 people in an organisation the people in it cannot keep track of everyone else. Hence you find lots of people at all levels working hard to optimise their bit, but inadvertently messing up the stuff done by someone else. Bear with me while I take you on a short tour of the theory and practice of management motivation.
Companies try hard to reward people who do the Right Thing (at least, the Right Thing for the company). This generally means short term evaluation on how they are doing at their main task. Sales people, for instance, get paid partly by commission, which is a very direct linkage of short term performance to pay. Other people get annual bonuses if their bosses recommend them for it, and of course promotion happens from time to time. And its backed up by social pressure as well: these people are being rewarded for doing the Right Things, and everyone else takes note.
All of this is absolutely vital for a company to survive: you have to keep your eye on the ball, nose to the grindstone and ear to the ground. However, as Clayton Christensen describes in The Innovator’s Dilemma, it also leads to a problem when a “disruptive technology” arrives.
An example of what goes wrong was Xerox PARC. As is well known, the researchers at PARC pretty much invented the modern Office software suite, along with graphical user interfaces, laser printers and ethernet. The usual myth has it that Xerox executives were too dumb to realise what they had, but the real story is more interesting. Xerox did actually go to market with a serious office machine, called Xerox Star. You or I could sit down at one of those things and feel right at home. But when it was launched in 1981 it only sold 25,000 units, which was far too few to make a profit.
The reason (I believe, although I haven’t seen this anywhere else) is that Xerox salesmen (and they were almost all men at that time) were experts at selling big photocopiers to big companies. That was the bread-and-butter of Xerox business, and the quarterly bonuses of those salesmen depended on doing that as much as possible. Anything else was a distraction. So when this funny computer thing appeared in their catalog they basically ignored it. If someone specifically asked for some I’m sure that any salesman would be happy to fill the order, but they weren’t going to waste valuable face time with corporate buyers trying to explain why a whizzy and very expensive piece of equipment was going to revolutionise everything. So Xerox concluded that there was no market for networked desktop computers and sold the whole concept off to Steve Jobs in exchange for some Apple stock.
Christensen has a number of other examples of this phenomenon, all of which are market based. This is probably because you can observe the market behaviour and success of a company, whereas just about everything else they do tends to be visible only on the inside, and often not even then. But the same logic applies.
Suppose you are a project manager, entrusted with Project X to develop some new software. You have had your plans and associated budget approved by the Committee That Spends Money (every company has one, but the name varies). And then some engineer walks into your office and starts talking about a programming language, ending with “… so if you used this on Project X you could do it for a quarter of the cost”.
Now, strange to relate, a project manager will not actually be rewarded for coming in 75% under budget. Instead he (even today it is usually “he”) will be told off for not submitting a better estimate. Senior managers do not like padded estimates because it prevents the money being invested more profitably elsewhere. Coming in a bit under your original estimate is OK: it shows you are a good manager. But coming in way under shows you are either bad at estimation or just plain dishonest (managers watch Star Trek too). Besides, you already have approval for your original plan, so why bother changing course now?
But you have also been around a bit longer than this engineer, and have seen some technology changes. So you ask some pertinant questions, like who else has used it, how long it will take the programmers to learn it, and where the support is going to come from. At the end of this you conclude that, even if this technology is as good as claimed, if you use it on Project X you stand a very good chance of blowing your entire budget just teaching your programmers to use it. This will not get you promoted, and might even get you fired for incompetence. So you thank the engineer for bringing this matter to your attention, promise to look into it carefully, and show him the door.
So now the engineer tries going up the ladder. Next stop is the Product Manager, who looks after the product line that Project X will fit into. He can see that there just might be a case for making the investment, but he has already committed to a programme of improvements and updates to the existing product line to keep it competitive. His annual bonus depends on delivering that plan, and this new language will obviously disrupt the important work he has been entrusted with. So he too thanks the engineer and points him out of the door.
Next stop is the Chief Technology Officer. He is vaguely aware of programming languages, but being a wise man he seeks advice from those who understand these issues (most geeks will find this surprising, but very few senior managers got there by being stupid). Meaning, of course, the project and product managers mentioned earlier, possibly with a trusted engineer or two as well.
These engineers know about programming. In fact they owe their position to knowing more about it than anyone else. This new language will make that valuable knowledge obsolete, so they are not well disposed to it. On top of that they find the technical arguments in favour of the new language highly unconvincing. Paul Graham has christened this phenomenon The Blub Paradox. If you haven’t already read his essay please do so: it explains this far better than I ever could.
In short, everyone in the company with any interest in the selection of a new programming languge can see a lot of very good reasons why it would be a bad idea. The only people who disagree are the ones who have taken the trouble to learn a new language and understand its power. But they are generally in a minority of one.
And this is true in every company. Every company has a few eccentric engineers who try to explain why this or that new technology would be a great investment. Sometimes they are even right. But they are almost never taken seriously. And so great technologies that could actually save the world a great deal of money on software development (not to mention improve quality a lot as well) languish on the shelf. | <urn:uuid:bd548966-f68a-482a-ab91-7be473baaad8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://paulspontifications.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-software-technology-blockage-on.html?showComment=1232391240000 | 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 | 0.971961 | 2,910 | 2.0625 | 2 |