text stringlengths 213 24.6k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1
value | url stringlengths 14 499 | file_path stringlengths 138 138 | language stringclasses 1
value | language_score float64 0.9 1 | token_count int64 51 4.1k | score float64 1.5 5.06 | int_score int64 2 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Home > Facts > Anti-aging diet|
More About:antiaging and diet
Recommended Dietary Allowances
Central Europeans and Russians, Diets of
Central European and Russian Diet
Corn- or Maize-Based Diets
...diets in the Americas and Africa. While niacin
...dietary supplements are defined by the 1994 Die
Dietary Reference Intakes
...diets. DRIs are specific to age group, gender,
...diet refers to a person's pattern of eat
...dietary supplements in the United States catapu
Dietary Reference Intakes
...diets, set national nutrition policy, and estab
...diet with few resources, and the USDA produced
Highlight any text in the article to look up more information!
The anti-aging diet is one that restricts calorie intake by 30–50% of normal or recommended intake with the goal of increasing human lifespan by at least 30%. People on the diet also have improved health providing they consume adequate vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients.
The idea that a calorie-restrictive diet can significantly increase lifespan has been around since the 1930s. In 1935, Cornell University food researchers Clive McCay and Leonard Maynard published their first in a series of studies of experiments in which laboratory rats were fed a diet that contained one-third less calories (compared to a control group of rats) but still contained adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals, protein, and other essential nutrients. This calorie-restrictive diet provided much less energy than researchers had previously thought rats needed to maintain growth and normal activities. The rats on the lower calorie diet lived 30–40% longer than the rats on a normal calorie diet. Since then, more than
(Illustration by GGS Information Services/Thomson Gale)
2,000 studies have been done, mostly on animals, about the connection between calorie restriction and increased longevity.
A reduced calorie diet was taken a step further by the University of California, Los Angeles, pathologist Roy Walford who studied the biology of aging. In 1986 he published The 120-Year Diet and a follow-up in 2000, Beyond the 120-Year Diet in which he argued that human longevity can be significantly increased by adhering to a strict diet that contains all the nutrients needed by humans but with about one-third the calories. In 1994 he co-authored The Anti-Aging Plan: Strategies and Recipes for Extending Your Healthy Years. His anti-aging plan is based on his own research and that of other scientists. Included is his study of diet and aging conducted as chief physician of the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona in the early 1990s. Walford was one of eight people sealed in Biosphere 2 from 1991 to 1993 in an attempt to prove that an artificial closed ecological system could sustain human life. He also cofounded the Calorie Restriction Society in 1994.
Anti-aging diets are regimes that reduce the number of calories consumed by 30–50% while allowing
the necessary amounts of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients the body needs to sustain itself and grow. This calorie restriction has been shown to increase the lifespan of various animals, including rats, fish, fruit flies, dogs, and monkeys, by 30–50%. Some human studies have also been done—and longterm studies are underway— but evidence of its impact on humans is very limited compared to results available from the animal studies. The completed studies indicate that calorie restriction can increase the maximum human lifespan by about 30%. The problem preventing scientists from offering substantive proof that humans can greatly increase their lifespan by restricting calories is that the current maximum human lifespan is 110–120 years and full compliance with the diet is difficult. A 30% increase would extend the human lifespan to 143–156. This is an exceptionally long time for a scientific study and requires involvement of several generations of scientists. Only several hundred people have ever been documented to lived past age 110 and there are only two people with confirmed documentation who have lived to at least age 120: Jeanne Louise Calmet (1875–1997) of France who lived 122 years and 164 days; and Shigechiyo Izumi (1865–1986) of Japan who lived 120 years and 237 days, according to Guinness World Records.
Since 1980, dozens of books have been published offering specific calorie reduction diets aimed at increasing lifespan. The most popular diets include the Okinawa Diet, Anti-Inflammation Diet, Longevity Diet, Blood Type Diet, Anti-Aging Plan, and the 120-Year Diet.
Calorie restriction is a lifelong approach to eating by significantly lowering daily calorie intake while still getting all the body’s required nutrients. People who experience starvation or famine receive no longevity benefits since their low calorie intake contains little nutrition. The diet is believed to most benefit people who start in their mid-20s, with the beneficial effects decreasing proportionately with the age one begins the diet.
Although there are variations between anti-aging diets, most reduced calorie diets recommend a core set of foods. These include vegetables, fruits, fish, soy, low-fat or non-fat dairy products, nuts, avocados, and olive oil. The primary beverages recommended are water and green or black tea.
Guidelines on calorie reduction vary from diet to diet, ranging from a 10% reduction to a 50% reduction of normal intake. Roy L. Walford (1924–2004), author of several books on anti-aging diets, says a reasonable goal is to achieve a 10–25% reduction in a person’s normal weight based on age, height, and body frame. The Anti-Aging Plan diet recommends men of normal weight lose up to 18 % of their weight in the first six months of the diet. For a six-foot male weighing 175 lb, that means a loss of about 31 pounds. For a small-framed woman who is five-foot, six-inches tall and weighs 120 pounds, the plan recommends losing 10% of her weight in the first six months, a loss of 12 lb.
Walford’s Anti-Aging Plan is a diet based on decades of animal experimentation. It consists of computer generated food combinations and meal menus containing all of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Recommended Daily Allowances of vitamins and other essential nutrients using foods low in calories. On the diet, the maximum number of calories allowed is 1,800 per day. There are two methods for starting the diet: rapid orientation and gradual orientation.
The gradual orientation method allows people to adopt the diet over time. The first week, people eat a high-nutrient meal on one day. This increases by one meal a week until participants are eating one meal high in nutrients every day at the end of seven weeks. Other meals during the day are low-calorie, healthy foods but there is no limit on the amount a person can eat. After two months, participants switch to eating low-calorie, high-nutrition foods for all meals.
On his Web site (http://www.walford.com), Walford states: “Going for longevity on the Anti-Aging Plan requires caloric limitation. We advise, however, that you view this as a lifestyle change and not a quick-fix program or a diet. Any person can physiologically adapt to this level of limitation and experience no physical hunger provided that nearly every calorie eaten is a nutrient-rich calorie.”
A sample one-day low-calorie, high-nutrition menu developed by Walford is:
The three meals and snack contain 1,472 calories, 92 g protein, 24 g fat, 234 g carbohydrates, 27 g fiber, and 310 g cholesterol.
The goal of the anti-aging diet is to slow the aging process, thereby extending the human lifespan. Even though it is not a weight loss diet, people taking in significantly fewer calories than what is considered normal by nutritionists are likely to lose weight. Exercise is not part of calorie reduction diets. Researchers suggest people gradually transition to a reduced calorie diet over one or two years since a sudden calorie reduction can be unhealthy and even shorten the lifespan.
There is no clear answer as to why severely reducing calorie intake results in a longer and healthier life. Researchers have various explanations and many suggest it may be due to a combination of factors. One theory is that calorie restriction protects DNA from damage, increases the enzyme repair of damaged DNA, and reduces the potential of genes being altered to become cancerous. Other calorie reduction (CR) theories suggest:
The primary benefits of the anti-aging diet are improved health and prevention or forestalling diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s. Studies show that most physiologic functions and mental abilities of animals on reduced calorie diets correspond to those of much younger animals. The diet has also demonstrated extension of the maximum lifespan for most life forms on which it has been tested.
A reduced calorie diet is not recommended for people under the age of 21 since it may impair physical growth. This impairment has been seen in research on young laboratory animals. In humans, mental development and physical changes to the brain occur in teenagers and people in their early 20s that may be negatively affected by a low-calorie diet.
Other individuals advised against starting a calorie-restricted diet include women who plan on getting pregnant, women who are pregnant, and those who are nursing babies. A low body mass index (BMI), which occurs with a low-calorie diet, is a risk factor in pregnancy and can result in dysfunctional ovaries and infertility. A low BMI also can cause premature birth and low birth weights in newborns. People with existing medical conditions or diseases are discouraged from reduced calorie diets. They should be especially cautious and consult with their physician before starting.
There are a wide range of risks associated with an anti-aging, reduced calorie diet. These risks include physical, mental, social, and lifestyle issues.
Social issues can arise over family meals, since not all family members may be on a reduced calorie diet. Conflict related to the types of food served, the amount of food served and the number of meals in a day, and fasting may develop. Other social issues involve eating in restaurants, workplace food, parties, and holidays. The long-term psychological effects of a reduced calorie diet are unknown. However, since a low calorie diet represents a major change in a person’s life, psychological problems can be expected, including anorexia, binging, and obsessive thoughts about food and eating.
An anti-aging diet that restricts calories may slow the aging of the heart and lengthen lifespan, according to a study by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. The small study, released in 2006, followed 25 people aged 41–65 who consumed only 1,400–2,000 calories a day for six years. Results of the study showed participants had heart functions that resembled people 15 years younger and their blood pressure was significantly lower than a control group who had a calorie intake of 2,000–3,000 per day, the amount of a normal Western diet.
A calorie-restrictive diet may reverse early stages of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study released in
2005 by the Oregon Health and Science University and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. Researchers said mice in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease who had their calorie intake reduced by 50% had elevated levels of glutamate, an essential brain chemical that is lost due to Parkinson’s disease. Results of this study are optimistic, but further research is necessary to prove any level of effectiveness in humans.
Connor, Elizabeth. Internet Guide to Anti-Aging and Longevity. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Information Press, 2006.
D’Adamo, Peter, and Catherine Whitney. Aging: Fight It With the Blood Type Diet. New York: Putnam Adult, 2005.
D’Adamo, Peter, and Catherine Whitney. Aging: Fighting It With the Blood Type Diet: The Individual Plan for Preventing and Treating Brain Decline, Cognitive Impairment, Hormonal Deficiency, and the Loss of Vitality Associated With Advancing Years. New York: Berkley Trade, 2006.
Delaney, Brian M., and Lisa Walford. The Longevity Diet. New York: Marlowe & Company, 2005.
Goode, Thomas. The Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-Aging, and Fat Prevention. Tucson, AZ: Inspired Living International, LLC, 2005.
Walford, Roy L., and Lisa Walford. The Anti-Aging Plan: The Nutrient-Rich, Low-Calorie Way of Eating for a Longer Life—The Only Diet Scientifically Proven to Extend Your Healthy Years. New York: Marlowe & Company, 2005.
Willcox, Bradley J., and D. Craig Willcox. The Okinawa Diet Plan: Get Leaner, Live Longer, and Never Feel Hungry. New York: Clarkson Potter, 2004.
Dibble, Julian. “The Fast Supper: Is a Life Lived On the Edge of Starvation Worth Living? Our Hungry Reporter Gives the Ultra-Extreme Calorie Restriction Diet a Two-Month Taste Test.” New York (October 30, 2006): 44–51.
Downey, Michael. “Low-Calorie Longevity: The Anti-Aging Diet.” Better Nutrition (December 2002): 38–43.
James, Kat. “Eating for Eternal Youth: Calorie Restriction in Right Balance.” Better Nutrition (June 2004): 68–70.
Lasalandra, Michael. “Age Study Eyes Low-Calorie Diet And a Glass of Red.” The Boston Herald (August 25, 2003): 3.
Leavitt, Kathryn Perrotti. “The Live Longer Diet: Eat the Right Foods Regularly and You Can Live a Long and Vibrant Life.” Natural Health (September 2003): 54–57.
Lemonick, Michael D. “Eat Less, Live Longer?” Time (August 30, 2004): 44.
Meyer, Julie. “The Longevity Diet: Everyone Knows That Reducing Calories Can Help You Lose Weight; Members of the Calorie Restriction Society Say It Helps You Live Longer.” Natural Health (March 2007): 39–42.
Stipp. David. “Researchers Seek Key to Anti-Aging in Calorie Cutback.” Wall Street Journal (October 30, 2006): A-1.
American Aging Association. The Sally Balin Medical Center, 110 Chesley Drive, Media, PA 19063. Telephone: (610) 627-2626. Website: <http://www.americanaging.org>.
American Dietetic Association. 120 South Riverside Plaza, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60606-6995. Telephone: (800) 877-1600. Website: <http://www.eatright.org>.
Calorie Restriction Society. 187 Ocean Drive, Newport, NC 28570. Telephone: (800) 929-6511. Website: <http://www.calorierestriction.org>.
National Institute on Aging. Building 31, Room 5C27, 31 Center Drive, MSC 2292, Bethesda, MD 20892. Telephone: (800) 222-2225. Website: <http://www.nia.nih.gov>.
Ken R. Wells | <urn:uuid:7888e7fb-669e-4736-9b47-dda11a6dd9f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.diet.com/store/facts/antiaging-diet | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927522 | 3,236 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Front Page Titles (by Subject) CHAP. VIII.: A particular Case, in which the defensive Force of a State is inferior to the offensive. - Complete Works, vol. 1 The Spirit of Laws
The Online Library of Liberty
A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.
Search this Title:
CHAP. VIII.: A particular Case, in which the defensive Force of a State is inferior to the offensive. - Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works, vol. 1 The Spirit of Laws
The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 1.
About Liberty Fund:
The text is in the public domain.
Fair use statement:
A particular Case, in which the defensive Force of a State is inferior to the offensive.
IT was a saying of the lord of Coucy to king Charles V. “that the English are never weaker, nor easier overcome, than in their own country.” The same was observed of the Romans; the same of the Carthaginians; and the same will happen to every power that sends armies to distant countries, in order to re-unite, by discipline and military force, those who are divided among themselves by political or civil interests. The state finds itself weakened by the disorder that still continues, and more so by the remedy.
The lord of Coucy’s maxim is an exception to the general rule, which disapproves of wars against distant countries: and this exception confirms likewise the rule, because it takes place only with regard to those by whom such wars are undertaken. | <urn:uuid:f634ab46-073c-4a7a-beea-1aa2ee978ca1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=837&chapter=71338&layout=html&Itemid=27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925523 | 343 | 2.546875 | 3 |
A computational model that recovers the 3D shape of an object from a single 2D retinal representation
Vision Research 49,9 (2009) 979-91;
Human beings perceive 3D shapes veridically, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. The problem of producing veridical shape percepts is computationally difficult because the 3D shapes have to be recovered from 2D retinal images. This paper describes a new model, based on a regularization approach, that does this very well. It uses a new simplicity principle composed of four shape constraints: viz., symmetry, planarity, maximum compactness and minimum surface. Maximum compactness and minimum surface have never been used before. The model was tested with random symmetrical polyhedra. It recovered their 3D shapes from a single randomly-chosen 2D image. Neither learning, nor depth perception, was required. The effectiveness of the maximum compactness and the minimum surface constraints were measured by how well the aspect ratio of the 3D shapes was recovered. These constraints were effective; they recovered the aspect ratio of the 3D shapes very well. Aspect ratios recovered by the model were compared to aspect ratios adjusted by four human observers. They also adjusted aspect ratios very well. In those rare cases, in which the human observers showed large errors in adjusted aspect ratios, their errors were very similar to the errors made by the model.
eye, visual perception
Date of this Version
This document is currently not available here. | <urn:uuid:f3c8f89e-1657-490f-8b63-45bb4bd86505> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/ecepubs/22/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957534 | 301 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Mars Science Lab Curiosty has discovered fractures filled with calcium sulfates in sedimentary rock units. On earth, fractures like these are often filled with percolates like calcium sulfate – gypsum – drywall – possibly even. The significance is that the percolate material is carried by flowing water or by a fluid that is chemically compatible with water. So this is more concrete proof that Mars is warmer and wetter than previously thought.
Sky watching this week: the Winter Circle of constellations high in the south at 10 pm. Jupiter and the Moon appear very close tonight – Look for the moon after sunset, Jupiter will be the bright star close to the moon. Between red star Aldebaran below and Pleiades above. Another opportunity to observe this is on March 17th.
Plus, Saturn rises just after 1 am and is high in the south an hour before sunrise – 6 am. Venus is low, low in the east 40 minutes before sunrise. Jupiter rises at 1 pm and sets around 4 am – so it’s visible most of the night close to Taurus. Mars is low, low in the southwest just after sunset.
Photo credit: NASA | <urn:uuid:20799516-e7e5-48a9-8f11-efd2d4db759b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whyy.org/cms/skytalk/yes-mars-has-a-liquid-past-the-rocks-tell-the-story/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92673 | 242 | 3.109375 | 3 |
News & Announcements
The West Pier
Brighton's West Pier was first opened to the public 145 years ago today. Designed by Eugenius Birch, the pier took three years to build at a cost of £27,000. It was opened on 6 October 1866 by Mayor Henry Martin and proved a great success.
The pier closed to the public in 1975 and has since been damaged by storms and fire. Yet it remains one of Brighton's most iconic structures.
To mark this anniversary we have added more paintings and photographs of the West Pier to our Image Store. | <urn:uuid:5333fd2b-2aa6-4b2e-892e-21ad7de0cd99> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.images.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/assetbank-pavilion/action/viewNewsItem?id=8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983132 | 117 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Goma Plateau (ゴマ山 Goma Mountain) is the portion of the Goma mountain range that was upheaved by the Golden Sun event. Isaac chose to build his Lookout Cabin on one of the plateau's outcroppings, allowing him a spectacular view of Mount Aleph to the north through which he keeps an eye on Aleph's remains. It is one of the earliest locations in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, and in the game it technically begins when the area of Lookout Cabin is exited.
Goma Plateau's map starts with a long bridge that connects the cabin's area from west to the rest of the plateau, where the road forks. Going south leads to the overworld on a linear path to Patcher's Place, while going further east leads to a cave entrance leading to a single, large, cavernous room. Beyond this cave is the path into Tanglewood, which itself leads into the Abandoned Mine; these three areas together function as the game's introductory dungeon-style area.
Once your party, comprised of Matthew and Karis, have exited off the right of the screen with the Lookout Cabin in it and emerge on the west end of Goma Plateau, lengthy cutscenes begin to happen which essentially rigidly guide the party through the Plateau towards and through the cave into and through Tanglewood beyond. Cutscenes will prevent you from leaving the bottom end of the plateau area into the overworld at this point, so head to the cave entrance at the lower right.
Inside the cave, your first battle will ensue; like all battles at the beginning, this is extremely easy, and most can be won in a single move by having Karis cast the Whirlwind Psynergy. Following this, follow the path around the cave room's perimeter clockwise, sliding down a cliff slide near the top left of the room, until you get close to the top right where an earth pillar stands in your way; different cutscenes will occur if you either use the Move Psynergy to drop the earth pillar off its platform, or you retreat back a bit, in which case you then must use Move to remove the pillar. Move will be assigned to the left shoulder shortcut for you, so press the L button to cast Move while near the pillar. Hop across the area where the pillar used to be located. From the upper right corner of the area you can hop to the Psynergy Stone pointed out in a cutscene - hop left twice, down twice, and left once to reach it - and interacting with it will consume it and replenish your party's PP meters. Slide down the cliff slide at the right end and follow the path out of the cave's right exit.
Back outside, head down to the area below the cave exit to where there is a lone earth pillar, and cast Move to move it one space right, allowing you to hop left across it. After another cutscene at the bottom left area of the screen, follow the linear path right and up into the next dungeon segment, Tanglewood.
|Bestiary of Goma Plateau|
|Monster Name||LVL||HP||ATK||DEF||AGI||EXP||Coins||Weakness||Drop||Drop Rate| | <urn:uuid:60174dda-48df-4e90-b4cb-1d0c4d292790> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://goldensunwiki.net/Goma_Plateau | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906272 | 665 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Mozilla® Firefox for Windows® 8 being developedBy Sashank Nandury ,Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
Mozilla is developing a touch-centric browser for Windows 8. This news has been confirmed by developers at Mozilla. If everything goes as per schedule, the first version of the Firefox browser for Windows 8 would be released this summer. The beta version should be ready by the second half on 2012.
Brian Bondy, a developer for Mozilla has affirmed in his blog post that this is a huge project that Mozilla is currently taking on. In his blog post, Bondy has explained the nuances of creating a browser for Windows 8.
Apparently this new browser will require a lot of coding because of the new interface that Microsoft has introduced. This browser will run in the Desktop interface of the new operating system and will only run in the MetroUI interface if and only if Firefox is made the default browser for your computer.
To know more about it, read the complete story here. | <urn:uuid:6760cdce-4781-4cc8-9bca-8b68e3236c93> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://windows8.iyogi.com/news/firefox-for-windows-8-being-developed.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937467 | 204 | 1.5 | 2 |
One common question I guess is how much should I see performance improved in case I increase memory say from 16GB to 32GB. The benefit indeed can be very application dependent – if you have working set of say 30GB with uniform data access raising memory from 16GB to 32GB can improve performance order of magnitude by converting very IO bound load to CPU bound, it is well possible to see limited gains – if your working set already fits in 16GB you may not see any significant gains upgrading memory to 32GB. Interesting enough similar can happen for very large working set – for example if your main queries do full table scan of 100GB table it does not matter if you have 16GB or 32GB the load is going to be way too much IO bound anyway.
Interesting enough because of MySQL scaling issues it is also possible to see performance to go down as you increase buffer pool size. Some threads which would be safely sleeping waiting on IO completion are now finding their data in buffer pool so they start to compete on hot latches and performance go down.
Now back to original question – how do we predict the benefit from increasing the memory and so cache sizes ? I typically start by looking at the type of load we’re dealing with. If it is CPU bound and there is little IO wait we typically do not expect to gain much by increasing the memory.
This however have to be watched carefully. Performance does not always stays the same and the goal may not be optimizing average performance. It may be heavy data processing batch job which is IO bound and which runs too slow (and affects other transaction) and may be increasing memory is helpful to solve this problem.
If it is IO bound (high IO system utilization, low CPU usage) one should think about how much CPU capacity is available. If your CPU is 25% busy you will unlikely get more than 4x even if you eliminate all IO completely (unlikely because there is increased CPU overhead going IO path as well), so account for that.
Besides pure CPU based computation you should account for locking. Consider for example bunch of transactions updating single row in the table. Having such workload you would likely see no IO and a lot of CPU idle and not because of internal Innodb limits but because your application logical serialization problems.
So what if we have very IO bound application without serialization issues (say reporting slave) which is very IO bound showing 100% IO subsystem utilization on 5% of CPU usage ? This is the true challenge becomes because MySQL has no tools to analyze working set (we have per query working set in our patches but it is not enough). We have couple of ideas how to do global working set profiling but it should wait for now.
At this point I typically use my intuition to try to guess how much data application to get some ballpark figure and often it is enough.
If you would like to be more scientific there are couple of other things you can do. First – you can test by scaling down the data. If you have data for say 500.000 users on the 16GB server get it down to the half of that and you will often be close to seeing performance 32GB server would have. You however have to be careful and understand how data is used in your application. If you say have data for 10 years and load data for 5 years only to compare performance you may get misleading results if reports are typically done for last few months. Basically in such exercise your goal is load data so the working set would be half of original so it would have cache fit similar to one on the larger system you’re trying to compare to. Using this approach you also should be careful with your estimations and take IO subsystem into account – even with same cache hit ratio more data and more load means there are higher demands for IO subsystem performance.
By far the best method is trying, if you can afford it – just get memory upgrade and see how it affects performance. With many vendors you can get the memory upgrade or the whole system to try and return it back if it does not fit your needs. This approach especially works well if you have many slaves (or many shards) in which case you can see performance or capacity improvements quite easily. | <urn:uuid:b8ddbeee-d72e-41ef-8c04-295be9c5b118> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/2008/08/07/predicting-performance-improvements-from-memory-increase/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960384 | 856 | 2.03125 | 2 |
April 24: CDS Lunchtime Learning
Center for Disabilities Studies sets session on applied behavior analysis
1:19 p.m., April 4, 2012--Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is best known for its application to the treatment of individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. However, ABA is used in a variety of settings and with a variety of individuals.
At the next University of Delaware Center for Disabilities Studies (CDS) Lunchtime Learning session on Tuesday, April 24, Christine Barthold, a clinician and researcher at CDS, will present “The ABCs of ABA: What is It and How is It Used?”
May 23: Ocean Currents Lecture
May 24: Adelante
Barthold will describe the theory behind ABA, some common myths about ABA, and ways in which ABA is used to solve everyday problems. She also will discuss intervention for those on the autism spectrum and explain the new partnership between CDS and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation that provides ABA services in employment settings.
Barthold is a researcher on the CDS Steppingstones project, a National Institutes of Health funded grant, and a clinician with CDS Employment Services, providing functional behavior assessments and applied behavior analysis services for individuals with challenging behavior in employment settings. She works in schools and the community.
The Lunchtime Learning session will be held Tuesday, April 24, from noon to 1 p.m., at the Center for Disabilities Studies, 461 Wyoming Road, Newark. The program is free and open to the public; however, reservations are requested. Contact Meredith Cooke at firstname.lastname@example.org or 302-831-3632 and indicate if you need an accommodation. Attendees are welcome to bring a bag lunch. Water and snacks will be served.
About the Center for Disabilities Studies
The Center for Disabilities Studies at the University of Delaware supports the well-being, inclusion and empowerment of people with disabilities and their families. The mission of the center is to enhance the lives of individuals and families through education, prevention, service and research related to disabilities. CDS promotes independence and productivity so individuals and families can fully participate in the life of their communities in Delaware and beyond. For further information, visit the center's website or call 302-831-6974. | <urn:uuid:7becc177-55c2-4505-84b8-b2d84d21989f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/apr/cds-lunchtime-learning-040412.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930658 | 485 | 2.109375 | 2 |
A Pillar with a Past
The contemporary “yeshiva world,” in which young men spend almost all their waking hours for many years in the study of Talmud, traces its origins to Volozhin, a town a few miles west of Minsk in present-day Belarus, which in the 19th century was within the borders of Russia. Since the area’s Jews were culturally part of Jewish Lithuania, Volozhin and the other yeshivot that it spawned and inspired down to the present are deemed “Litvish,” a term that has come to connote not only geography but also such traits as erudition and keen rationality.
The Volozhin yeshiva was launched in 1803. While it did produce rabbis, it was not, strictly speaking, a rabbinical school. Rather than offering professional training, it was dedicated to the service of God through intense study of talmudic texts. The Russian government’s decision to close it in 1892 is commonly attributed to the school’s refusal to countenance secular studies in the curriculum, but the opening of tsarist Russia’s official archives after the fall of Soviet Communism has shown that the closure was due to internal disputes within the yeshiva and the regime’s fear of student radicalism.
The paramount personality in Volozhin’s history was Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (1816-93), often referred to as Netziv—which means “pillar” in Hebrew and is also the acronym of the first letters of his name. Rabbi Berlin’s life was virtually synonymous with the yeshiva. In 1830, at age 14, he went to Volozhin to marry a daughter of the head of the institution and to engage in full-time study. In 1853, after the deaths of his father-in-law and an older brother-in-law, he was placed in charge. He would run the yeshiva—not without several challenges to his authority—for nearly four decades, until it closed. In that role he was the mentor of many rabbinic leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook, first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine. He also made an indelible impression on such yeshiva dropouts as the well-known Hebrew writer Micah Yosef Berdichevsky, who wrote essays about the yeshiva and its head, and the great poet Hayim Nahman Bialik, whose classic poem about yeshiva life, Hamatmid (“The Perpetual Student”), features Rabbi Berlin in a cameo role.
No serious biography of Netziv exists; but Gil S. Perl’s The Pillar of Volozhin, a revision of the author’s Harvard doctoral dissertation, not only sheds light on the rabbi’s intellectual development but also identifies a key historical watershed for the Litvish intellectual elite. Perl’s book compares two of Netziv’s important literary works. One is his well-known commentary on the Torah, Ha’amek Davar, written in the 1860s and 1870s, which has become a classic. The other work, far less famous, is Emek Hanetziv, a commentary on Sifre, the rabbinic midrash on the Books of Numbers and Deuteronomy that is believed to have been compiled in the third century C.E. Emek was not published in Netziv’s lifetime. Preserved in manuscript form by his descendants, it finally saw the light of day in 1958.
Midrash, as Perl explains, means “the way in which the rabbinic exposition is grounded in the words of the verse.” He finds convincing internal evidence that Netziv wrote Emek while still a young man, no later than the 1840s. Since Netziv’s coverage of Sifre’s midrash deals with the same biblical texts as his later commentary on Numbers and Deuteronomy in Ha’amek Davar, any difference in approach between the two works would be significant.
It is significant indeed. The earlier Emek demonstrates a “broad range of intellectual interests,” including grammar, semantics, ancient history, and popular science. It quotes not only traditional commentators but also Renaissance scholars whose religious Orthodoxy had been questioned, like Elijah Levita (recently discovered to be an ancestor of British Prime Minister David Cameron) and Azariah de Rossi. Even more striking, Emek cites Moses Mendelssohn, the very personification of 18th-century Jewish enlightenment, and his student Naftali Herz Wessely, whose proposal to reform Jewish education through the introduction of secular studies brought the wrath of the rabbinical establishment down on him.
Perl’s familiarity with early 19th-century Litvish culture enables him to place Emek within a broader context. It seems that Netziv was just one of many rabbinic scholars producing works on midrash; and these contemporaries, too, had no compunction about referring to secular disciplines and citing authorities outside the circle of tradition.
But in Netziv’s later Ha’amek Davar, published in 1879, the use of information from non-Torah sources is considerably curtailed; references to controversial non-rabbinic authorities are almost entirely gone, and a strong polemic stressing the centrality of Torah study and opposition to doctrinal deviation suffuses the work.
Perl suggests two reasons for the shift. One was personal: as head of the Volozhin yeshiva, Netziv now represented the rabbinic establishment and could not risk the intellectual chances he had taken as a little-known young man in a manuscript that he did not even publish. More significant, the times had changed. By the mid-1840s, the Russian Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment) had turned militant in its attacks on traditional Jewish life, even enlisting the government to set up alternative Jewish schools. The traditional society of Netziv’s youth, which had allowed for a certain intellectual openness, had been replaced by an either/or choice between what had become Jewish Orthodoxy, on the one hand, and secularization on the other. Netziv, of course, chose the former. By the end of the century, what Perl calls the yeshiva world’s “staunchly conservative and parochial stance” was well entrenched.
Much of the contemporary yeshiva leadership believes it is following Jewish tradition by focusing narrowly on talmudic learning to the exclusion of other fields of knowledge and diverse points of view. In this perceptive book, Gil Perl reveals just how recently this assumption emerged.
Lawrence Grossman, director of publications at the American Jewish Committee, edited the American Jewish Year Book from 2000 to 2008. | <urn:uuid:e8415250-5cd3-41ed-b444-02fbfe7e814d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/5702/features/a-pillar-with-a-past/?jtahome | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970738 | 1,447 | 2.984375 | 3 |
By Dory Dinoto with Saulo Araujo
July 1st, 2009
The US-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA), created in 2005 by the Bush and Garcia administrations, came into effect on February 1st, 2009. Since this time, several protests have been held within the country by indigenous groups, peasants and their supporters. At the heart of the protests are several laws, which have been enacted, and since revoked, by the Garcia administration under the FTA.
Social movement leaders in Honduras, including members of Grassroots International's partner, La Via Campesina, fear for their lives, as tens of thousands have gathered to protest Sunday's coup d'etat against President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya Rosales.
Please call on the Honduran Embassy to demand that the congress and military respect and guarantee the human rights of all Hondurans and reinstate the democratically elected president, Mel Zelaya.
By Nikhil Aziz
June 25th, 2009
Grassroots International's friends at the Global Development & Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University announced their award of the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought to Bina Agarwal of Delhi University, India. Agarwal is an early pioneer of research and advocacy on gender and land rights, which many of Grassroots' partners have been fighting for in the field.
Salena Tramel, Grassroots International Program Coordinator for the Middle East and Haiti, recently visited with all of Grassroots' partners in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. This was not her first time in the region, having lived and worked in the West Bank just two years ago. Her previous experience in the region provides a vantage point from which to consider the current political, economic and social reality in the region.
Saulo and I traveled with our partner Rafael Alegria of the Via Campesina and COCOCH (Honduran Coordinating Council of Campesino Organizations), about an hour northeast of Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa, near the town of Comayagua, to meet Analina Claros, one of the leaders of the Nueve Noviembre (November 9th) settlement, and her neighbors. This is what she shared with us over a wonderful homecooked stew of chicken and vegetables and freshly made corn tortillas, all grown and raised in their settlement:
"The cascading series of events now known as the world food crisis started in Mexico as the 'tortilla war' in January 2007. It then flared up in Italy as the 'spaghetti strike' nine months later. Later it became an unstoppable avalanche ... La Vía Campesina believes that this crisis is the result of decades of destructive policies: pressure from international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to decrease investment in small-scale food production through structural adjustment programs; increasing the power of transnational corporations; financial speculation; and more recently, governments' support for the frantic escalation in the production of agro-fuels."
Many social movements from across the Americas were in Trinidad for the 4th People’s Summit to articulate their demands for moving the hemisphere towards economic (including trade) and climate justice, food sovereignty, human rights, and an end to militarization. They represented movements of women, peasants, indigenous peoples, labor and those struggling for environmental justice.
Representatives of two of Grassroots International’s Brazilian partners were in the San Francisco Bay Area April 22 - 29 to meet with U.S. allies and help educate the U.S. public about the damaging impacts of agrofuel production in Brazil. Altacir Bunde is an economist and leader of the Popular Peasant Movement (MCP) and coordinator of the Creole Seeds Project in Goiás, Brazil. Altacir has been a leading voice in the movement to protect agro biodiversity and defend against the expansion of large scale single crop plantations in the Central Plateau of Brazil.
Sunday marked Land Day in Palestine and around the world. Land Day is an annual commemoration of the events of March 30, 1976, when the Israeli army and police killed six unarmed Palestinian protesters and injured 96 others during a peaceful protest in the Galilee. More than 300 people were also arrested in the demonstration opposing the Israeli authorities' seizure of 5,500 acres as "closed military zones." | <urn:uuid:9e76c7d3-7bdf-4bc6-aa3c-b591e35e66b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.grassrootsinternational.org/term/land-rights?page=13 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950536 | 902 | 1.820313 | 2 |
- Used Books
- Kobo eReading
- Staff Picks
- Gifts & Gift Cards
- Sell Books
- Stores & Events
Special Offers see all
More at Powell's
Recently Viewed clear list
Ships in 1 to 3 days
More copies of this ISBN
Life in Year One: What the World Was Like in First-Century Palestineby Scott Korb
Synopses & Reviews
For anyone who's ever pondered what everyday life was like during the time of Jesus comes a lively and illuminating portrait of the nearly unknown world of daily life in first-century Palestine.
What was it like to live during the time of Jesus?
Where did people live?
Who did they marry?
And what was family life like?
How did people survive?
These are just some of the questions that Scott Korb answers in this engaging new book, which explores what everyday life entailed two thousand years ago in first-century Palestine, that tumultuous era when the Roman Empire was at its zenith and a new religion-Christianity-was born.
Culling information from primary sources, scholarly research, and his own travels and observations, Korb explores the nitty-gritty of real life back then-from how people fed, housed, and groomed themselves to how they kept themselves healthy. He guides the contemporary reader through the maze of customs and traditions that dictated life under the numerous groups, tribes, and peoples in the eastern Mediterranean that Rome governed two thousand years ago, and he illuminates the intriguing details of marriage, family life, health, and a host of other aspects of first-century life. The result is a book for everyone, from the armchair traveler to the amateur historian. With surprising revelations about politics and medicine, crime and personal hygiene, this book is smart and accessible popular history at its very best.
"A society both familiar and strange emerges from this absorbing historical study. Korb (The Faith Between Us) calls his retrospective 'a lively romp through the land of Palestine,' circa 5 B.C.E. — 70 C.E., but the picture he draws from archeology, ancient historical accounts, and religious texts is anything but lighthearted. For the average Jew, he contends, life was impoverished, taxes crushing, hygiene abysmal, crime outrageous, rulers — Roman and Jewish — rapacious or deranged, and death gruesome. (He details a typical crucifixion as well as Herod the Great's fatal case of genital worms.) Confronting these harsh realities, he continues, was an all-encompassing religious culture featuring elaborate codes of purity, a sense of ambient holiness emanating from the Temple in Jerusalem, ancient traditions and dynamic new sects, from Pharisees to insurrectionary Zealots. The author tries to distance himself from historical-Jesus controversies, but can't help gravitating to them (especially in his extensive footnotes, which are as interesting as the main text); he deploys his sources to speculate plausibly about Jesus the man and examine the appeal of Christianity's response to contemporary social upheavals. Korb's vivid, breezy prose makes accessible a mountain of scholarship that illuminates the past." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
What was it like to live in the time of Jesus?
What did people eat? Whom did they marry? How did they keep themselves clean? What did their cities and towns look like? What did they believe?
The answers, it turns out, are surprising. This simple question is not so simple after all. With a historian's insight and a reporter's curiosity, Scott Korb gives us a backstage pass to the unexpected and sometimes down-and-dirty truth about what everyday life was like in first-century Palestine, that tumultuous era when the Roman Empire was at its zenith and a new religion-Christianity-was born.
About the Author
Scott Korb is the co-author of The Faith Between Us: A Jew and a Catholic Search for the Meaning of God. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin and graduate degrees from Union Seminary and Columbia University. He has written for Harper's, Gastronomica, the Revealer, and Commonweal. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
What Our Readers Are Saying
Other books you might like | <urn:uuid:471268a9-49a0-4ba4-bd93-7973dfb9cf63> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781594488993-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947676 | 893 | 2.609375 | 3 |
INDEPENDENT directors on boards of numerous companies in which the public has a stake, are paid fat fees for attending board meetings. Some corporates hand over a cheque of as much as $3000 after conclusion of each meeting to the independent director.
If 10 meetings were to be held in a year, the outsider on the board would make a cool 30,000 dollars, or something around Rs3 million. It raises an unsettling question: could that kind of cash compromise the ‘independence’ of independent directors?
As the stock market has grown, with the market capitalisation now well above the Rs2-trillion mark, from a few hundred billions some years ago, big profitable companies, in almost all sectors, have grown tremendously in terms of size and financial strength.
In consequence, their share values have risen and ‘prior’ or ‘insider’ information about material facts, such as dividends and future plans could enrich those who are armed with such knowledge. The company boards are obviously the most well-informed. It could be one reason that more shareholders are now jostling for a place on company boards than any time before. Unlike the past when the number of contestants matched the number of vacant seats and all who stood were declared elected, increasing number of corporates are now having to go through the process of voting, counting and announcing the names of successful candidates.
Most lone contestants as independent directors are unlikely to make to the company boards unless backed by majority shareholders. But there could be other reasons for the recent surge in shareholders' interest for membership of board of directors that draws up company policies. One may be the Code of Corporate Governance that has given teeth to the board.
The 'powers of directors' were listed under section 196 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984. But as the law was ancient, some of the powers such as, “to make calls on shareholders in respect of money unpaid on their shares and to issue debentures”, hardly have relevance with the modern times.
With regard to the independent directors, corporate regulators point to several improvements in the refreshed Code of Corporate Governance promulgated in 2012 over the earlier Code of 2002. While the previous Code encourages a minimum of one independent director on the board of a listed company, the new law has made it mandatory to place one independent director, while preference is for one-third of the total number of the directors on the board to be independent directors.
Secondly, corporate monitors claim that “very scanty criteria for assessment of independence” was provided in the previous Code while the 2012 law “has substantially expanded the criteria”. Section 2(e) of the code defines 'independent director', as a person who is not connected or does not have any other relationship with the public sector company, its associated companies, subsidiaries, holding company or directors.
The test of independence principally emanates from the fact whether such person can be reasonably perceived as being able to exercise independent judgment without being subservient to any form of conflict of interest. The company shall disclose in the annual report non-executive, executive and independent directors.
Many corporate experts say that though well-intentioned, the idea of ‘independent directors’ seems impractical. “Minority shareholders are disorganised and election of candidates through cumulative voting by stockholders is a difficult task”, says one expert, adding that “the sitting sponsor directors, on the other hand, must be perfectly pleased to put puppets on the board, though that would clearly be seen as 'conflict of interest'.” But for the sponsoring directors, it would be best to ‘purchase’ independent directors’ silence.
The Code of Corporate Governance (CCG) 2012 among other things proposes that every company “shall elect the chairman of the board from amongst the independent directors so as to achieve an appropriate balance of power, increase accountability and improve the board's capacity for exercising independent judgment.”
A former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) said that in theory at least the appointment of chairman of the board from truly empowered independent directors would forestall many corporate wrongdoings, one being the unjustified inter-corporate financing. “For every listed company there are on average eight subsidiaries and non-listed smaller entities to which such companies extend loans and advances and in most case, such loans are written off a year or two later”, he says.
Investors in public listed companies have forever looked forward to those happy prospects of separation of ownership from management, empowerment of independent directors and safeguarding interest of small shareholders. But most corporate law experts say that if the boards — in case of family-owned companies — admit an independent director to the board and also show generosity in payment of meeting fees, there is little chance of a board room brawl initiated by the independent director, even where such director believes some decisions taken by the board to be against company interests. | <urn:uuid:5d97bffd-55dd-4cca-8944-5857b09c3b5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://beta.dawn.com/news/776832/independent-directors-integrity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965537 | 1,020 | 1.765625 | 2 |
After campaigning about how “we” (the American people) could “change” Washington, US President Barack Obama is trying not to lose contact with the Americans who elected him to be their president.
His biggest domestic challenge is rescuing the country’s economy from disaster and, to help him with the challenge, Obama has apparently taken a cue from another US president who did just that – Franklin D. Roosevelt.
A report by ABC’s Jake Tapper reveals that the new president is reading a selection of 10 letters from the public every morning. And not only is he reading them, he has also developed the habit of distributing the letters ahead of policy meetings, telling aides “this is the sort of person our policy needs to address”.
The letters, selected by the White House Correspondence Office, tell the story of families struggling to make their mortgage payments, of businessmen having a hard time cutting costs, or of divorced parents barely managing to raise their children on social security. Sometimes the purple folder includes letters from children.
Each day, Obama replies to two or three correspondents in his own hand.
Tapper quotes the president’s senior advisor David Axelrod: “[Obama’s] greatest concern is getting isolated in the White House, away from the experiences of the American people”.
Yet the 44th US president is not the first to have requested a daily account of real America’s concerns. Historian Robert McElvaine recalls in the Huffington Post that the habit served President Roosevelt well during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The White House received 450,000 letters in just the first week of Roosevelt’s presidency, McElvaine writes, and they continued to pour in at the rate of 5,000 to 8,000 a week. Under Roosevelt’s administration, the staff employed to answer letters from the public soon rose from one person to 50.
Just like Obama does today, Roosevelt argued then that the letters offered the best indicator of the public’s opinion and of its needs. And judging by FDR’s experience, McElvaine adds, “the nation (…) may benefit substantially from the adoption of the practice by the new president.” | <urn:uuid:bd0d41dc-fbf5-4341-9056-3a7691cde2b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.france24.com/en/20090224-obama%E2%80%99-daily-reading-10-letters-us-citizens- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960232 | 465 | 2.34375 | 2 |
Tired of your notebook running out of battery when you are out and about? Design firm Nikoladesign has a concept that may one day solve that problem.
For the most part, this notebook looks pretty much like your regular portable computer. The difference is it has an extra flap which acts as a solar panel for converting light to power, according to Tuvie.
This could come in useful for researchers and scientists who work outdoors as the places they operate in won't have conveniently located power sockets. If this ever gets made, sunblock lotion may become a new laptop accessory.
(Source: Crave Asia) | <urn:uuid:47b22779-d2a6-4198-b419-1235c78b821a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9882954-1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976368 | 127 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Militia roadblocks keep food from hungry in Somalia
By Guled Mohamed
WAJID, Somalia (Reuters) – When Habiba Hassan’s food ran
out, she fed her four children on boiled bones and aran, a
bitter leaf that grows in Somalia. She blamed her husband for
the family’s plight, and not just because he abandoned her.
Hassan said her husband was with a militia group manning a
roadblock near the Wajid refugee camp where she lives in a
small shack made from plastic bags, dirty rags and pieces of
cardboard box since fleeing fighting in southern Baidoa.
“He is with the militia who are holding the (World Food
Program) food aid that was coming our way,” she said last
month. “He does not care about us.”
The 14-truck aid convoy was the first in years to risk the
land route from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Wajid, a town in
barren and dangerous south-central Somalia.
The United Nations’ food agency was forced back onto
Somalia’s potholed and perilous roads after pirates hijacked
two of its ships last year, complicating efforts to get food
aid to people hit by years of conflict and a severe drought.
Somalia slipped into chaos in 1991 when militias ousted
dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. An interim government was formed
at peace talks in 2004, but has proved fractious and fragile,
unable to rein in powerful warlords and their militias.
Hundreds of roadblocks, where gunmen extort money from
passing drivers, are dotted across the capital Mogadishu and
along roads and dirt tracks throughout the country, providing a
major source of income for the warlords.
Militia members, armed with guns and sometimes with
double-edged knives, erect wooden barriers to stop trucks and
buses. If the cargo is valuable, they may steal it.
They use the money they extort to buy khat, a stimulant
commonly chewed by Somalis. Once high, they become reckless.
Gun battles often break out and people are regularly killed.
The presence of these ad hoc barricades has angered many
Somalis, like those waiting for the food aid in Wajid.
“These militia are merciless. Why should they hold food
brought to their own people?” asked Ali Marid, who heads the
camp where Hassan lives with 730 Somali families.
“Ten people have already died of hunger this month.”
DROUGHT DEEPENS DESPAIR
Political wrangling is still undermining peace efforts,
despite the return home last year of the fledgling government
led by President Abdullahi Yusuf.
But there are some signs of tentative progress. In early
January, two factions in the government agreed to convene
parliament in Somalia within 30 days — offering hope that
efforts to rebuild the country might be revived.
A severe drought has deepened the misery of people in a
country that barely functions. The United Nations said last
month that 1 million people were in dire need of food aid.
WFP says the roadblocks coupled with piracy at sea are
making distribution extremely difficult.
“Surely what do we do when such people are refusing the
food passage?” said Zlatan Milisic, WFP country director in
“Sometimes militia open fire at convoys without warning,”
said Said Sharif Mohamed, a WFP logistics officer in Wajid.
Aid agencies sometimes travel with their own security but
that can be risky as it can increase the danger of ambush by
militia seeking guns and ammunition.
The WFP aid for Wajid did finally reach those in need in
the town some 125 miles northwest of Mogadishu. The militia in
Yurkud, west of Wajid, held the convoy for nearly two days but
let it go after they were paid.
The roadblocks have infuriated people across the Horn of
Africa nation. Bus drivers have gone on strike, people have
thrown rocks at checkpoints in Mogadishu and truckers have set
up their own barricades to halt traffic and cut militias’
In Wajid, residents decided to kill any gunmen seen
operating roadblocks, district commissioner Isak Nur Isak said.
“Three militia operating a checkpoint on the outskirts of
Wajid were shot dead by our police forces recently,” he said.
Somalia’s Minister of Information Mohamed Abdi Hayr said
roadblocks were endangering millions of lives but that some
were operated by people desperate to make a living.
“If you are to force them to stop … you need to give them
jobs, food and then you can disarm them,” he said, adding that
he hoped the new agreement to convene parliament would
encourage donors to free up funds for Somalia.
“The government expects to receive the aid which was
promised to it and we will this year do something about the
checkpoint menace,” he told Reuters.
Welcome words for the people like Nuney Matho, whose
1-year-old son died of hunger in the Wajid camp.
“My worry is that I will lose my other two children,” she
said pointing to her son’s fresh grave.
“These militia are heartless.”
(For more information about emergency relief visit Reuters
AlertNet http://www.alertnet.org email: firstname.lastname@example.org;
+44 207 542 5791) | <urn:uuid:a2f48810-2c27-4a48-ba51-5e512c554c31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/359759/militia_roadblocks_keep_food_from_hungry_in_somalia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948803 | 1,218 | 1.859375 | 2 |
The new version of ArcGIS Explorer offers many compelling features and enhancements, including tools to increase productivity and more ways to share geographic information. It has many updates that help integrate it with ArcGIS 10, including direct support for image services, improved support for ArcGIS 10 layer packages and geodatabases, and more ways to leverage ArcGIS Online.
ArcGIS Online, which is deeply integrated into the ArcGIS Explorer experience, provides an easy way to find and share geographic information and form online communities. With the new ArcGIS Explorer release, users can search for and add content directly from ArcGIS Online, as well as share map items immediately, to their online account. All maps, data, and groups can be accessed from ArcGIS Explorer.
This release of ArcGIS Explorer offers a number of features that support enhanced interoperability, both with the ArcGIS system and via KML. ArcGIS Explorer now allows users to share (export) to layer packages to provide better ArcGIS Desktop interoperability. Users can also export to and create notes from KML. Shared layer packages, notes, and KML can be saved locally, added to ArcGIS Online, or e-mailed directly from the application. KML handling has been improved in both 2D and 3D modes, and region-based KML is now supported in 2D mode.
Additionally, the ability to add data directly from Excel spreadsheets is available. ArcGIS Explorer users directly use and optimize image services.
Many other enhancements have been made to ArcGIS Explorer. For example, OpenStreetMap is now included in the basemap gallery. Notes can now be labeled, and the note, presentation, pop-up, and Analysis Gallery features have all been improved with new tools to help users be more productive and more easily share information. A new query capability enables users to create expressions to filter data displayed on their maps. Enhancements to symbology improve symbol appearance in 2D and 3D modes.
In addition to the free download of ArcGIS Explorer, Esri offers a free ArcGIS Explorer Software Developer Kit (SDK). This SDK has been updated to support Visual Studio 2010, including templates for the new add-in types and an updated add-in wizard. The reference and conceptual help have also been updated, and new samples are included.
ArcGIS Explorer is supported in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese.
To learn more about ArcGIS Explorer, visit www.esri.com/explorer. | <urn:uuid:b38c8d79-fa8f-49c8-949d-4f9ba519556f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esri.com/news/arcnews/fall10articles/new-version.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918959 | 531 | 2.015625 | 2 |
The India Meteorological department has finally acknowledged that this year's monsoon may be the weakest in seven years, as rainfall so far has been less than half of the norm for the period, and the annual forecast has been trimmed to 87 per cent of the 'long-term average'.
The country as a whole received 27.4 mm of rain in the period, compared with an average 62.7 mm, which is 56 per cent less than the normal, IMD director S Kaur announced from New Delhi on Thursday. As many as 31 of 36 weather divisions in the country received deficient or scanty rains, he added.
The IMD has also toned down its predictions for the remaining month or so of the monsoon. It has lowered the forecast for August rain to between 85-to-90 per cent of the long-period average, from 101 percent predicted in June.
In what is worse, IMD chairman Ajit Tyagi said on Wednesday that the winter monsoon is likely to be poor as well, threatening the prospects for rabi crops like wheat and rapeseed. About 60 per cent of India's agriculture is rain-fed.
Tyagi called it "a difficult year", particularly in sugarcane areas in the northwest, soybean regions of central India and the rice and corn growing state of Andhra Pradesh.
However, soyabean regions did get useful rain on Wednesday and this is predicted to continue for the next few days, bringing some cheer to farmers and the government. | <urn:uuid:5f541601-3b8d-4b80-b098-7f9b282b3ea7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://domain-b.com/economy/agriculture/20090814_winter_crop.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97314 | 307 | 2.21875 | 2 |
The John Scopes trial: when monkeys go on trial
History has a strange way of repeating itself.
It was 86 years ago last week (May 5, 1925) when a high school biology teacher named John Scopes got arrested for teaching evolution in his classroom. The Butler Act, passed earlier that year, made it against the law for Tennessee educators to teach theories on human origin that conflicted with the Bible.
Scopes was not an unwilling participant. He was enlisted to be a defendant by a group of businessmen in Dayton, Tennessee, who wanted to bring a bit of publicity to their small town. Their ploy worked. The dramatic trial that followed became a national media sensation, attracting two of the country’s leading orators – William Jennings Bryan, to argue for the prosecution, and Clarence Darrow, to argue for the defense. Vendors even hawked toy monkeys outside the courtroom.
After an eleven-day trial, John Scopes was convicted and fined $100. The conviction was appealed to the State Supreme Court where it was overturned and dismissed on a technicality, leaving the legality of the Butler Act undecided. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the United States Supreme Court ruled that laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause (Epperson v. Arkansas).
So where does this leave us eight decades later? Last month, the Tennessee House of Representatives voted for a bill that would change how certain topics are taught in the state’s science classes. The measure, which passed 70-23, calls out biological evolution along with human cloning, global warming and the chemical origins of life as topics that “can cause controversy.” It further states that education officials and administrators:
“…shall endeavor to assist teachers to find effective ways to present the science curriculum as it addresses scientific controversies. Toward this end, teachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught.”
While the measure also states that it should “not be construed to promote any religious or non-religious doctrine,” critics see the move as a backdoor way of teaching religious-based creationism in the classroom.
Hey, here is a list of questions:
- What is the difference between a hard and soft science theory?
- In what ways does the Dover case address some of the concerns this author has regarding a possible hidden agenda for the teaching of creationism in science classes?
Proponents argue that the bill is meant to protect teachers who are discriminated against for presenting any evidence that challenges evolution to their students.
The measure is currently held up in the Senate Education Committee and likely won’t see any further development soon. While the jury is still out on whether this could lead to another “monkey trial” in Tennessee, it is clear that debates over what and how we teach children in public schools will continue to repeat themselves. | <urn:uuid:7b01c345-0071-4d2c-af70-be924bc38181> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2011/05/the-john-scopes-trial-when-monkeys-go-on-trial/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961869 | 616 | 3 | 3 |
Largest Abandoned Factory in the World: The Packard Factory, Detroit
Packard was once a premier nameplate in the United States, mentioned in the same breath as Duesenberg, Cadillac, Pierce-Arrow, and Lincoln. The crown jewel for Packard was the Packard Factory, a 3.5 million square-foot complex sprawling across 35 acres. Operations were so expansive, at one point the plant boasted 75% of the entire world’s automotive production.
In the years following World War II, the Packard Motor Car Company struggled to keep pace with the larger automakers that had been buying-up the smaller companies to form “the Big Three.” Those not part of the Big Three had to merge to stay competitive: Kaiser and Willys formed Kaiser-Willys, Nash and Hudson formed American Motors, and Packard joined forces with Studebaker. The experiment was short-lived, however, and Packard plunged into bankruptcy soon after.
Unfortunately for Packard, Studebaker was considered by many of the time to be of lower prestige and quality; the effects of the merger had a negative effect on the marketplace’s perspective of Packard cars.
The 1950’s were not kind to Packard; they went from being one of the premier car builders – outselling Cadillac up until 1950 – to complete bankruptcy.
(click thumbnails to enlarge)
In 1957, no more Packards would be built at the Detroit plant. For the next two years a handful of Studebaker models continued to wear the Packard badge until Studebaker itself could no longer carry the brand. By the turn of the decade, Studebaker would begin to pull the Packard nameplate from its models. By the early 1960s, Studebaker dropped the Packard name altogether.
Studebaker would go on to meet the same fate several years later, having survived longer only due to the differing lower-price/higher-volume sales model.
Upon liquidation, the remaining pre-war Packard designs and tooling were sold to Russian car companies. For decades Packards would continue to be built under the ZIL and ZIM nameplates, catering to the Communist elite. Post-war Packard designs would continue to appear around the Soviet Union into the 1970s.
At least the Packard name would survive. General Motors’ electrics division – now known as Delphi – was originally Packard Electric when the auto manufacturer purchased it in 1932. The company was later renamed Delphi Packard Electric Systems, and coincidentally would be the only profitable division within parent company Delphi during the late-2000′s auto crisis.
The crown jewel of the entire Packard story, however, is the factory. Designed by Albert Kahn and opened in 1903, the factory was world-class in its day. The Packard factory occupied 3.5 million square feet of space between 47 buildings. It employed over 40,000 skilled workers on a campus that spanned 35 acres.
The facility was the most modern plant of its time – the first to use reinforced concrete in industrial construction.
(Click for larger version)
The plant was closed in 1956, leaving the factory vacant. Since there was no company at the time in Detroit that required 3.5 million square-feet of space, the city considered parceling the factory out to multiple tenants – but there wasn’t enough interest.
Only one tenant other than Packard has ever occupied the factory long-term: Chemical Processing Company moved into a small part of the factory in 1958. To put the footprint into perspective, Chemical Processing’s operations required 57,000 square feet – less than 1% of the entire factory complex.
Chemical Processing would move operations in 2007. Ironically they would ultimately be a tenant of the factory longer than Packard itself, even though their lease started two years after Packard vacated. The owner of Chemical Processing admitted part of the reason for his move in 2007 was due to vandals and break-ins around the factory.
Not realizing a business is still operating there, scavengers would often break-in to cut power and phone lines for scrap copper. Vandals seem to be in a race with Mother Nature to see who can destroy the building the fastest.
Vandalism over time: 2001 (left), 2010 (right)
panorama circa 2010
The Packard factory isn’t going anywhere soon. It would likely cost the city of Detroit over $10 million to properly raze it. With low property values and no immediate needs to re-develop the area, financially-strapped Detroit can’t justify the expense.
For decades the city offered the land for sale but there were no suitors. Finally the only ownership group that ever expressed interest purchased the land – but they haven’t paid any property taxes since they bought it in 1987 and have no plans to develop it.
Packard Factory then & now
In 2011, the Packard Factory stands as the largest abandoned industrial complex in the world. In a country where nationwide property values have increased dramatically over the last century, it is amazing to see a several billion dollar facility left to rot for over 50 years in a major city.
The façade from the main entrance recently sold at auction for $1.5M
Satellite image and map: click here
Interesting note on the map: a newer Cadillac factory – sitting just across I-94 from the Packard complex – dwarfs the old factory in size. Everything south of I-94 and north of Gratiot Avenue is mostly vacant: this is the run-down area of old industrial Detroit.
Despite being central to the overall area, the land here is very undesirable due to crime, decay, and the city’s complete lack of tending to the area. Plots of land sit vacant all over the place; some homes in the area have sold for as little as $7,000.
Above: Mean-spirited ‘Packard Crushathon’ in late 70′s decimated the remaining Packard population
Below: Packard in its heyday | <urn:uuid:78890eaa-3d4c-45aa-aa2a-f55cb7dfcec2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/08/15/largest-abandoned-factory-in-the-world-the-packard-factory-detroit/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957455 | 1,264 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Slideshow: "Enjoy an Ice Cream Cone Shortly Before Lunch"10 classic ads from the sugar and cereal industries.
Since the 1930s, sugar has been finding its way into a large proportion of what we eat. But not on its own. The research and PR arms of the Sugar Association, the leading trade group representing sugar growers and refiners, was bent on promoting the benefits of the sweet stuff to the masses, despite growing suspicions that sugar might play a role in serious conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. In their new Mother Jones exposé, best-selling author Gary Taubes and independent researcher Cristin Kearns Couzens used internal sugar documents to show how the industry set about countering scientific evidence on sugar's risks, commissioning studies by sugar-friendly researchers, and recruiting food and beverage companies—among them Coca-Cola, Nabisco, General Foods, and Quaker Oats—to help finance the effort. Here are a handful of decades-old ads designed to promote the wholesome goodness of sugar and its usefulness as a diet aid. In 1972, as I point out in our sugar timeline, the Federal Trade Commission ordered the sugar industry to stop making these kinds of erroneous claims. | <urn:uuid:d0ee5c5b-251f-48a2-946c-28645c478c6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.motherjones.com/slideshows/2012/10/classic-sugar-ads/sugar-crisp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93107 | 244 | 2.296875 | 2 |
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the floor of the Senate again this morning to urge my colleagues to vote to extend the production tax credit for wind energy. It is also known as the production tax credit. I know the Presiding Officer's home State of West Virginia has a robust wind energy sector as well. I look forward to coming to the floor and talking about the Presiding Officer's State in the future.
The reason I am talking about the production tax credit is it is set to expire at the end of this year, and it will cost citizens in my State and the rest of the Nation their jobs. We cannot let this happen. Tens of thousands of vital jobs are dependent on the wind industry all across our great country.
As I have mentioned, I come to the Senate floor on a daily basis and I highlight a State and talk about what the production tax credit has done to encourage economic growth in that State. Today, I wish to talk about the great State of Illinois, the land of Lincoln, where the wind industry is thriving. Illinois is an impressive example of how wind resources can be harnessed and put to good use creating jobs and supporting local communities.
Overall, Illinois has the fourth largest installed wind capacity in the United States, with over 600,000 homes powered by the wind. If fully utilized, the wind energy resource in Illinois could provide 525 percent of the State's current electricity needs. That is truly a staggering amount of electricity for the fifth largest State in the Nation.
In 2011, Illinois was second only to California in the number of new wind energy projects completed, and they installed more wind turbines there than any other State in the country. Clearly, Illinois recognizes the economic potential wind energy holds for the future, as many other States have.
Just last week in Illinois, Invenergy announced it completed construction of the Bishop Hill wind energy facility in Henry County. That is up in the northwestern part of Illinois, near Davenport, IA. The project covers 22,000 acres of farmland and includes over 100 wind turbines and can power 60,000 homes. The Bishop Hill project is clearly a huge investment in Illinois and our Nation's clean energy future. But the economic power of wind energy has been equally impressive. The wind energy there supports 7,000 jobs, it contributes close to $19 million every year in property taxes to local communities, and Illinois led our Nation in 2011 with over 400 new wind turbines installed.
Just this month, Illinois State University released a report that estimates that the 23 largest wind farms in Illinois will contribute roughly $5.8 billion to the local economies over the lifetime of these projects. The construction of these wind farms generated over 19,000 jobs that cut paychecks totaling over $1 billion for workers. These are good-paying, high-skill jobs that we are proud to have in our country and that American workers are proud to have and it is one part of the overall wind energy story.
For example, the Odell Grade School, in Odell, IL, has a much needed project underway that will expand the school and make it more energy efficient. While this project is expensive, it will be paid for, in part, by payments from local wind farms. Wind energy is supporting a better education for Odell's youth without increasing taxes to the local residents.
This is not unique to Illinois. It is happening all across our country. I have no doubt the people of Odell would agree with me that extending the PTC is a commonsense proposal. However, without Congress extending the production tax credit, our country and the wind industry literally face impending disaster. In fact, many wind energy manufacturers and producers have already been preparing for the end of the PTC by backing off their investments in many of these communities such as Odell and by announcing future layoffs of thousands of workers. It is just flatout unacceptable that we in the Congress would let this happen.
I think everyone understands where I am heading. This is a serious issue that needs attention now--not next month, not in the fall, not in the lameduck session but now. The wind industry will not wait for us to extend the PTC at some date in the future. They have already begun to scale back their operations and move overseas. Further inaction is unacceptable. China is stepping into the breach and literally taking our jobs overseas. Other countries are prepared to do the same. For us in Congress to miss this opportunity to not only preserve jobs but put in place policy that would create thousands of good-paying jobs because of election-year gridlock is flatout unacceptable. If we don't act, our people in our States will suffer.
I come to the floor every day to implore my colleagues to extend the wind production tax credit as soon as possible. The PTC equals jobs. We ought to pass it as soon as possible. I will be back next week to continue discussing the wind Production Tax Credit and urge us to be bold, take up this issue and extend the wind production tax credit. It is about American jobs. It is about maintaining our leading position in the world when it comes to clean energy development.
I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT | <urn:uuid:db7e3bb9-b32a-4c01-92a3-8515d57938e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://votesmart.org/public-statement/728013/cybersecurity-act-of-2012-motion-to-proceed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956362 | 1,082 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Dawn Journal: Safely past Mars
Posted By Marc Rayman
2009/03/09 05:47 CDT
Dear Dawnlight Saving Times,
Now boosted into a new solar orbit courtesy of Mars, Dawn continues its interplanetary journey. The spacecraft is healthy and coasting, keeping its main antenna pointed to Earth, as it will for most of the next three months. After that, it will resume its familiar routine of devoting most of the time to gently thrusting with its ion propulsion system, with only a short period each week for communications.
Following the last log, as the probe succumbed to the gravitational pull of the red planet, its trajectory gradually began to change. Flying true to the plan, Dawn swooped close to Mars and then left it behind on a new course, having taken advantage of Mars's gravity.
The spacecraft plunged to within 542 kilometers (337 miles) of the planet, reaching that lowest altitude at 4:27:58 pm PST on February 17 [00:27:58 UTC February 18]. The last time it had been so close to another solar system body was on September 27, 2007, as it left Earth to begin its long journey to the asteroid belt. In the intervening time, it traveled alone (although always accompanied by the good wishes of space enthusiasts on its home planet and throughout the cosmos) for 1.06 billion kilometers (661 million miles).
The image shows a portion of the fretted and cratered northwest margin of Tempe Terra, Mars. The scarp of the highland / lowland boundary is illuminated by the light of dawn, and traces of fog appear in the lower portion. The area covered by the image is about 55 kilometers (34 miles) across. The targeting of the encounter was well within acceptable limits. Before embarking on the mission, long before launch, engineers chose 500 kilometers (311 miles) as a convenient initial target altitude for planning purposes. With the extraordinary capability of the ion propulsion system, Dawn easily could accommodate significant deviations from the plan. To accomplish its mission, the probe needed to fly anywhere through a window shaped liked a croquet wicket, extending from more than 750 kilometers (466 miles) above the planet down to 300 kilometers (186 miles). (The lower limit was chosen for safety, maintaining a comfortable distance from the tenuous atmosphere and other threats the spacecraft was not designed to handle.) The width at the bottom of the wicket was almost 670 kilometers (415 miles).
In an effort to broaden our readership beyond only those sentient beings in the universe who share in the passion for the exploration of the solar system, the November and January logs included some material for anyone passionate about archery. We compared Dawn's flight by Mars to shooting an arrow at a target 47 kilometers (29 miles) away. The objective was to hit a small region just outside the 30-centimeter (1-foot) red bull's-eye. For the readers who have joined us because of that topic, we return to it once again here. (We do not plan to expand upon the croquet theme in future logs but hope our new readers attracted by references to that sport will remain with us anyway.)
Our original target altitude of 500 kilometers corresponded to about 17.2 centimeters (6 3/4 inches) from the center of the bull's-eye. Using navigational data from January, we predicted Dawn would fly by at 543 kilometers (337 miles) above the surface, the arrow sinking into the target about 17.4 centimeters (less than 6 7/8 inches) from the center, just outside the red circle. Now we know that that prediction was in error by the equivalent of about 40 micrometers (less than 1/600 of an inch). The arrow was off from that expected location by about the thickness of a hair.
The location of the original target was at the 11:00 position, but the base of the wicket-shaped window extended from where the hour hand would be at 10:51:02 to 11:03:49. (The wicket is not as symmetrical as official croquet rules might require.) As a reminder, because we are concerned only about the hour hand, the tick marks adjacent to the 11:00 position correspond to 10:48 and 11:12, so this wicket is very narrow. In January, it appeared our arrow was headed for about 11:03:42. In fact, the actual trajectory took the spacecraft through the window at the 11:03:40 position.
The gravity assist was extremely accurate indeed. The archers hit their target and won the big prize: the continuation of the mission of exploration in the asteroid belt, seeking answers to questions about the dawn of the solar system. In addition to the gravity assist, which was essential to the success of the mission, the operations team had devised a plan to acquire some bonus data to aid in the calibration of the science instruments, as described last month.
In order to point its instruments at their calibration targets, the probe oriented itself for a short time in such a way that light reflected from Mars reached its "star tracker." This unit (with a mystifying name, whose origin is lost in the dim mists of time) tracks stars in order to help the attitude control system establish the spacecraft's orientation (or "attitude") in the zero-gravity of spaceflight. The tracker's camera images stars and its internal computer recognizes patterns, much as you might recognize some of the lovely constellations visible from your planet and use them to orient yourself at night. When Mars light entered the star tracker, the camera was dazzled, temporarily unable to see the stars. If you reside on a planet with a large moon, you may have experienced a similar phenomenon. It is much harder to see stars when the bright moon interferes.
Engineers had anticipated this behavior. Because they knew the star tracker likely would be unable to provide useful data to the attitude control system for a while, gyroscopes had been powered on well beforehand. Using these spinning masses, attitude control can sense turns and keep track of how the attitude changes even when the star tracker is not yielding accurate information.
As another preventive measure, commands stored on board temporarily precluded protective software, known as fault protection, from seeing any alerts indicating that the star tracker was not able to produce valid data. Because they expected the data to be invalid, engineers did not want fault protection to respond under the mistaken impression that the tracker was unhealthy.
As Dawn approached Mars, with instruments powered and beginning their calibrations, the light reached the star tracker, but it performed better than expected. After reaching its minimum distance, as the spacecraft rotated during its ascent, the star tracker's line of sight moved closer still to Mars. Almost two minutes after the closest approach, the device finally was overwhelmed with light and reported that it could not track stars, declaring itself to be nonoperational and causing a software flag to be hoisted to alert interested parties. As planned, attitude control relied on gyros and fault protection remained blind to the alert.
About 11 minutes later, as the spacecraft's attitude continued to change, the star tracker's view moved far enough from Mars that the unit once again could discern stars. When it recognized patterns, it reported its data to attitude control, which readily used them. All was well, and the tracker had functioned better than anticipated, identifying stars with Mars closer to its line of sight than anticipated.
Another seven minutes after that, as Dawn's momentum continued to carry it away from Mars, the stored command to restore fault protection's ability to see any star tracker problems was executed. The star tracker was indeed working well, but the compulsive reader will note that the chronology above does not include lowering the virtual flag that was raised when the tracker announced it had stopped tracking stars. A software bug, hardy enough to elude the operations team and survive the rigors of the deep-space environment, prevented the flag from coming back down when the tracker resumed normal operation. Although attitude control was making good use of the data, when fault protection saw the flag, it fulfilled its function; treating the tracker as if it were unhealthy, the protective software deactivated the unit.
Fault protection's next step was to try to use the backup star tracker. Another bug, identified last year while the spacecraft was in flight, deprived the second tracker of the time necessary to complete its activation routine. (That bug has been fixed in a new version of the software scheduled to be transmitted to the spacecraft before ion thrusting resumes in June.) With no star tracker available, fault protection correctly followed the plan its designers had given it: it interrupted the calibrations, powered off the instruments, and put the spacecraft into "safe mode," awaiting instructions from Earth on what to do next.
The operations team, following events on distant Earth (delayed by the more than 19 minutes it took radio signals to cross the separation), observed the signature of safe mode. There was no urgency in responding, however, because the instrument calibrations could not be restarted, and the crucial gravity assist was unaffected by the spacecraft's activities. Mars would sling Dawn in the intended direction without regard for the probe's actions.
The cause of the "safing" was quickly determined, and the team returned the spacecraft to its normal operational configuration within about two days. In addition, all the bonus calibration data that the instruments had transferred to the spacecraft's main computer before they were deactivated were transmitted to Earth.
The gamma ray and neutron detector (GRaND) obtained excellent measurements of both gamma rays and neutrons from Mars. The instrument has been operated a number of times in flight to measure high-energy radiation that pervades space as it strikes the spacecraft, but, unlike the other science sensors onboard, it can detect bodies only when it is very close to them. Dawn's other instruments have observed distant planets and stars several times already, but that is not possible for GRaND, even with its suite of sophisticated detectors. Mars is the only occasion in the mission for it to observe a specific, well-characterized object. It was powered on in January in anticipation of this opportunity.
GRaND obtained a thorough set of data as Dawn traveled down to its lowest point, despite being over the night side of the planet part of that time, because it does not require illumination by the Sun to "see" its subject. It acquired additional valuable data as the spacecraft receded from Mars. This was GRaND's only measurement of a planetary body; and, apart from being quite brief, it was performed in much the same way it will be when Dawn orbits each of its protoplanetary destinations. It was especially good fortune that space radiation levels were relatively low during the encounter with Mars, making the radiation escaping from the atmosphere and surface particularly clear for GRaND. Scientists will compare GRaND's data with measurements of gamma rays and neutrons by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft (which has been studying the planet for more than seven years), helping them prepare for interpreting the unique observations it will make of Vesta and Ceres to reveal many of the atomic constituents of those protoplanets.
The visible and infrared spectrometer's data were not stored in the spacecraft's main computer memory before the safing because the camera's data had priority. One of the images the camera acquired is shown at the top of this log.
With the benefit of an excellent gravity assist, the Dawn project is gratified to have Mars behind and Vesta now so clearly ahead. Having obtained even more than was needed from the red planet, Dawn is ever more eager to press on to its destinations in the asteroid belt.
Dawn is 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Mars. It is 336 million kilometers (209 million miles) from Earth, or 915 times as far as the moon and 2.26 times as far as the Sun. Radio signals, traveling at the universal limit of the speed of light, take 37 minutes to make the round trip.
Dr. Marc D. Rayman
3:00 am PDT March 8, 2009
P.S. While the spacecraft is not concerned with changes between standard time and daylight saving time, its human colleagues are. Your correspondent, however, subscribes neither to the spacecraft's indifference nor to the more traditional rigid adherence. He does follow the convention of advancing clocks, as we do today, but rather than setting his clocks back with everyone else late in the year, he saves that extra hour. Every 24 years, that should give him one extra day. | <urn:uuid:59f52d90-f25f-415c-84cc-619a6ef9ecbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/marc-rayman/1869.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961612 | 2,572 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Religious Studies is an academic approach to understanding and interpreting the major and minor religions of the world from a variety of sources and disciplines. The sources used are sacred texts, languages of such texts, history, rituals, mysticism, myths, theology, philosophy, ethics, social behaviour and group dynamics, festivals, politics and economics.
Each Tradition usually has many traditions that compete within each of the major and minor religions to define the authentic Tradition, and each tradition can slip into traditionalism.
Religious Studies uses both an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach as a means to clarifying the nature of the spiritual, communal and public quest that is part of the religious journey.
UFV’s Religious Studies department offers a range of courses that concentrate in the areas of Buddhism, Christianity, Islamic Tradition and more. A major advantage of studying religious studies at UFV is the instructor/student ratio. This creates a personalized learning environment where we feature small classes as well as the chance to get to know your instructors and fellow students. | <urn:uuid:095e232b-239b-4cea-89f2-b3adf8a78094> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://Harv.McCullough@ufv.ca/religiousstudies.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932729 | 209 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Jul 24, 2012 Farmers who've escaped the drought are pulling in high prices for their crops.
Jul 19, 2012 Cattle ranchers in the Midwest face some tough decisions as their pastures bake with little to no rain.
Jul 19, 2012 Soybean prices have reached a record high, and corn prices are near records in the midst of a rough drought across the Midwest. It could impact all of us soon in the form of higher prices for everything from cereal to chicken.
Jul 13, 2012 In the wake of Peregine Financial and MF Global scandals, many farmers are losing faith in commodities brokerages they used to rely on. Regulators and futures industry leaders are hoping to restore confidence with increased oversight and account insurance.
Jul 13, 2012 Freak weather in Michigan has annihilated orchards of sour cherries, meaning you should expect to see cranberries replacing them in your trail mix soon.
Jul 12, 2012 Corn may play a bigger role in the economy than you think. And when prices rise, the effect is wide.
Jul 9, 2012 The heat wave is cooling off. But in parts of the Midwest, that is little consolation to farmers whose crops have been badly damaged by the heat, as well as a drought that's being called the worst in decades.
Jul 5, 2012 The Senate's version of the Farm Bill eliminates some key funding for farmers, especially those who make more than $750,000 a year.
Jul 2, 2012 Hill City, Kansas, has been seeing temperatures reach as high as 115 degrees for several days. Ace Billups, a farmer there, talks about the heat's impact on his business. | <urn:uuid:e87b2807-7476-4317-a83f-d5dffeaa2943> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marketplace.org/story/related/9%201172%202934%203080/9339?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958273 | 336 | 1.554688 | 2 |
"Resource management and conservation in coastal waters must address a litany of impacts from human activities, from the land, such as urban runoff and other types of pollution, and from the sea," said Benjamin S. Halpern, first author, who is based at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at UCSB.
"One of the great challenges is to decide where and how much to allocate limited resources to tackling these problems," he said. "Our results identify where it is absolutely imperative that land-based threats are addressed so-called hotspots of land-based impact and where these land-based sources of impact are minimal or can be ignored."
The hottest hotspot is at the mouth of the Mississippi River, explained Halpern, with the other top 10 in Asia and the Mediterranean. "These are areas where conservation efforts will almost certainly fail if they don't directly address what people are doing on land upstream from these locations."
Nutrient runoff from upstream farms has caused a persistent "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi runs into this body of water. The dead zone is caused by an overgrowth of algae that feeds on the nutrients and takes up most of the oxygen in the water.
The authors state that they have provided the first integrated analysis for all coastal areas of the world. They surveyed four key land-based drivers of ecological change:
• nutrient input from agriculture in urban settings
• organic pollutants derived from pesticides
• inorganic pollutants from urban runoff
• direct impact of human populations on coastal marine habitats.
Halpern explained that a large portion of the world's coastlines experience very little effect of what happens on land nearly half of the coastline and more than 90 percent of all coastal waters. "This is because a vast majority of the planet's landscape drains into relatively few very large rivers, that in turn affect a small amount of coastal area," said Halpern. "In these places with little impact from human activities on land, marine conservation can and needs to focus primarily on what is happening in the ocean. For example: fishing, climate change, invasive species, and commercial shipping."
Coauthors from NCEAS are Colin M. Ebert, Carrie V. Kappel, Matthew Perry, Kimberly A. Selkoe, and Shaun Walbridge. Fiorenza Micheli of Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station and Elizabeth M. P. Madin of UCSB's Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology are also co-authors. Selkoe is also affiliated with the University of Hawaii's Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.
NCEAS is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the National Marine Sanctuaries, and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship provided additional support for this research.
† Top photo: Global hotspots where human activities on land are impacting coastal marine ecosystems. The numbers show the rank order of the hottest hotspots (red dots). The blue and green dots are land-based activities that are having an important effect on marine systems but not as much as those areas marked by the red dots.
Credit: B. Halpern and colleagues, NCEAS.
†† Bottom photo: The hottest hotspot of land-based impact on marine ecosystems is the Mississippi River. The river plume is shown here as seen from space. | <urn:uuid:f66f1cce-19e5-4154-b7b9-b6734b4eeed0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2053 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944461 | 696 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Learn about key events in history and their connections to today.
On Nov. 8, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon for the presidency in one of the closest and most contentious elections in American history. Mr. Kennedy would end up defeating Mr. Nixon by just 0.1 percent in the popular vote, and the results of the election were still uncertain on Tuesday night.
The New York Times called the election for Senator Kennedy before midnight on Tuesday, one of the first papers to do so. In its Thursday edition, The Times recounted how time revealed just how narrow Kennedy’s margin of victory really was: “Just about midnight a slow process of attrition set in that whittled away at his ‘sure’ win until, in the dramatic hours of the early morning, it was clear that this was the closest election in generations.”
The results in numerous states were still uncertain on Wednesday morning, including California, where Mr. Kennedy initially led, but lost after the counting of absentee ballots. Still, it was clear that Mr. Kennedy had won the requisite number of electoral votes, largely because of narrow victories in Illinois and Texas. In 16 states, the winner had a margin of 2.5 percent or fewer votes; Mr. Kennedy won 13 of these closely-decided states. By comparison, only seven states were this close in the similarly contentious 2000 election in which George W. Bush defeated Al Gore.
Many Republicans contended that Mr. Kennedy had fraudulently won Illinois, Texas and other states. Cook County in Illinois, controlled by Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, a Kennedy supporter, was reputed to be rife with voter fraud, and there were allegations that dead people had been counted as voters. Texas, the home of Mr. Kennedy’s running mate, Lyndon B. Johnson, reportedly had counties with more votes than registered voters.
Mr. Nixon declared that he did not want to dispute the results, though his supporters pursued recounts or legal actions in 11 states. Mr. Nixon received praise for his decision to concede and let the country move on with President Kennedy rather than begin a potentially divisive campaign to overturn the results. Also, courts did not allow for widespread recounts in Illinois and Texas, so there was never any danger of Mr. Kennedy losing the presidency.
Many historians agree that there was extensive voter fraud in Cook County, though it is uncertain if it would have changed the results. In Texas, where Mr. Kennedy won by a larger margin, it is unlikely that any voter fraud made a difference.
The 1960 election was historic for a number of reasons. The two candidates took part in the first televised general election presidential debates, and Mr. Kennedy became both the youngest man and the first Catholic to become president.
Connect to Today:
In recent years there have been several high-profile election disputes where the losing candidates refused to concede before exhausting all legal options, most famously the 2000 presidential election, as well as recent Senate races in Minnesota and Alaska.
What do you think is the proper course of action in a disputed election? In your opinion, should a declared winner be able to take office without opposition? Or, do you think it is necessary to pursue any means possible to ensure that every vote is counted properly? Consider the push for electoral reform that followed the 2000 presidential election. Do you think that changes to the election process on a federal level might decrease the possibility of future disputes? Why or why not? | <urn:uuid:b781b2d3-5ba0-4855-bee2-1f545b23297a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/nov-8-1960-john-f-kennedy-elected-president/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979111 | 710 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Washington (CNN) – Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate have decided to move ahead with votes after Thanksgiving to extend the Bush tax cuts for those making $250,000 or less.
These decisions come hours after Democratic leaders met at the White House with President Obama, where several sources say they talked extensively about the tax cuts. Until now, how or whether Democrats would proceed on the thorny issue of extending the Bush era tax cuts was unresolved.
In the House, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told CNN that Democratic leaders have scheduled a vote. "At least that will be available for members to have a vote on," Hoyer said.
What is still unclear is if that House vote would extend so-called middle class tax cuts permanently, or just on a temporary basis.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid said he plans to vote on the middle class tax cut extension most Democrats want, but he will also allow Republicans to hold a vote on what they are demanding: a permanent extension of all Bush-era tax cuts.
"We want to give the Republicans an opportunity to vote on McConnell's legislation," Reid said. He also said he might hold multiple votes on the issue, "If we have to do it more than once, twice, to show the American people that we support the middle class."
Reid said he is not sure whether the Democrats' legislation in the Senate would be a permanent extension for those making $250,000 or less, or temporary. The Senate Democratic caucus appears to be split on that.
"We have to be very, very careful extending things indefinitely because we have to focus on what the economy might be in the future," said Reid.
It is unclear if Democrats in either chamber have enough votes to pass only the middle class tax cuts. Democratic leaders are leaving open the possibility of compromise with Republicans if their measures do not pass. In fact,
Democratic sources say Obama made clear in Thursday's meeting they may ultimately need to find a middle ground.
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D- Maryland) released a statement regarding an extension of middle class tax cuts:
“The House will vote on an extension of middle class tax cuts before they expire. Democrats are firmly committed to continuing tax cuts for middle class families on income up to $250,000. We cannot afford to add $700 billion to the deficit to benefit the wealthiest Americans with almost no economic benefit as Republicans want to do," Hoyer said in the statement. | <urn:uuid:0f3af9dc-e874-4a75-b455-146a3f4e05db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/18/house-and-senate-democrats-plan-tax-cut-votes-after-thanksgiving/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965436 | 508 | 1.507813 | 2 |
I wonder if the diachronic perspective on induction mitigates the grue/bleen paradox. Remember: the predicate "grue" means "green if looked at before future time t, blue after." (Vice versa for bleen.) The paradox is that the usual account of induction doesn't explain why we infer that things are green rather than grue (or any of an infinite number of variants of grue), because all past observations are equally consistent with grue and green.
Now there is a symmetry between grue and green: something is "green" if it's grue before time t and bleen after. This symmetry means that the best one can do is say "all reasonable agents should have consistent relative inductive biases." As Tarun pointed out in comments a long time ago, natural selection could not, in any obvious way, have made us prefer blue/green to grue/bleen because natural selection can't see into the future.
On a synchronic theory of induction this is a serious problem: there is nothing in the past to tell green and grue apart. But suppose one has a diachronic theory: in that case, the relevant question becomes, "is it possible for two inductive agents, starting with (possibly different) simple theories about the world and developing these theories according to a good rule of motion -- good enough to have survived natural selection -- to have inconsistent green/grue preferences?" The answer to this question is not obvious, but it's clearly not obviously yes, which is what you'd need for the paradox; and it seems at least plausible that the answer is no. In particular, in the case where all creatures have a common ancestor, the initial simple theory is the same, and the question is whether isolated populations could have developed different rules of motion that were (a) good and (b) led to discontinuous relative inductive biases. It would be very odd if the answer to this question were yes. | <urn:uuid:7f3c864d-139c-4052-8d07-cdf7d3f3b008> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://glassbottomblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/diachronicity-and-grue.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963984 | 403 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Donations really do make a difference.
The Beyond Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program (BBOW) is a non-profit workshop that is sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. It relies entirely on participant registration fees and donations to operate. Monetary donations are greatly appreciated.
Beyond BOW workshops are advanced hands-on courses generated from a novice course that is taught at BOW.They are purposely designed for small groups that enable us to give greater one on one quality attention and instruction that fulfills the need of safety, education, and personal assurance in a non-threatening environment.
All registration fees and donations are placed into the BBOW account operated by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation. These funds are used to purchase new equipment and supplies for the various courses, facility rental and meals, and participant ‘goodies’.
Monetary Donations should be made payable to: Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation or LWFF (place Beyond BOW donation in the memo area)
Mail Check or Money Order to:
Dana Norsworthy – BOW Coordinator
368 CenturyLink Drive
Monroe, LA 71203
If you have questions, please contact Dana Norsworthy at 318-345-3912 or email:email@example.com | <urn:uuid:2321b559-230e-46e0-aad2-cafcedb07d07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/donate-louisiana-beyond-bow | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911384 | 266 | 1.539063 | 2 |
What is the A-Bike?
The A-Bike is the lightest most compact folding bike ever developed. Combining a revolutionary design with ultra lightweight materials it is truly portable. It rides just like a normal bike but then fold it up, zip it into it’s bag and hop on a train, the bus, or even a plane. Designed for commuters, but equally fun for the young and a simple practical option for anyone wanting to cycle more. | <urn:uuid:80d96cef-91c7-4e4f-9565-d9c914e4ebbb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.a-bike.co.uk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934288 | 96 | 1.679688 | 2 |
North Carolinas current congressional and legislative districts have been ensconced in law for more than 14 months, and were used in Novembers election. Yet emails that legislators and their lawyers exchanged as they drew the districts remain a closely guarded secret.
This has happened despite a state law that says redistricting-related documents prepared by legislative employees (including outside counsel) for legislators are no longer confidential and become public records once the new redistricting maps become law.
The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that those documents are protected by attorney-client privilege. In her dissent, though, Associate Justice Robin Hudson points out that the attorney-client privilege protects only confidential communications. Under state law, email and other communications between legislators and their outside lawyers stopped being confidential as soon as the redistricting maps won final approval. The majority never addresses, let alone explains how they reconcile that, Hudson wrote.
Aside from the legal intricacies, one wonders why Republican legislative leaders dont want to be fully open with the public about how they arrived at the district maps under which we now all vote. These are secrets being kept by publicly elected politicians and their publicly funded lawyers about districts the public uses to elect public servants. Makes you wonder what theyre hiding, no?
United Ways new effort
The local United Way is wading into treacherous territory, one where many others have tried, failed and even fled: Closing the achievement gap between the highest- and lowest-performing kids in K-12.
From the Gates Foundation to the elementary down the street, educators and advocates nationwide have worked to help at-risk students perform on grade level. Yet the problem persists.
Now the United Way of Central Carolinas is making this challenge a centerpiece of its strategic direction for the next decade. Led by executive director Jane McIntyre, the United Way has moved to whats known as a Collective Impact model. Rather than being an umbrella funding agency that passes money from the public to scores of nonprofits, the United Way now seeks to proactively lead collaboration among agencies to accomplish more focused goals.
First up: Increasing the graduation rate for at-risk kids, who lag their peers on that measure by about 10 percentage points. The United Way is bringing together 16 of its member charities and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to work toward erasing that gap. Last week, United Way released data on nearly 8,600 at-risk kids served by those agencies. That will serve as a baseline to track progress over the coming decade, informing United Way grant decisions and helping nonprofits better track their own performance.
The transition to Collective Impact, if not done right, could be a semantical exercise. But if the United Way and these agencies truly collaborate, working with shared data and communicating frequently, they could succeed where others have dabbled and failed. | <urn:uuid:ad33c19a-6bf0-478d-b0e7-804df5b02798> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/01/28/3812844/what-do-legislators-not-want-you.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963526 | 567 | 1.96875 | 2 |
As many as 800,000 young immigrants could avoid deportation under a new policy President Barack Obama plans to announce Friday, granting work permits to those who entered the country illegally as children. As The Associated Press reports, the executive move effectively implements much of the DREAM Act, a piece of federal legislation long debated in Congress, that would "establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military." Obama is expected to announce the new policy in a 1:15 p.m. Rose Garden address.
In the meantime, AP has a basic rundown of how it would work:
Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The officials who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it in advance of the official announcement.
The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods.
Update (10:45 a.m. EDT): The latest version of the AP's story says the plan "tracks closely to a proposal offered by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as an alternative to the DREAM Act." You can read more about Rubio's proposal in The Washington Post and U.S. News and World Report. | <urn:uuid:4d133a4a-d400-4c2f-ad2a-086d531d6ab8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/06/obamas-new-immigration-policy-looks-lot-dream-act/53600/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97163 | 354 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Women Deacons: Why Not Now?
FutureChurch’s newest education and advocacy resource is designed to help Catholics learn the rich history of female deacons, discover why the Church should restore the female diaconate, and implement a discernment process to surface women candidates to present to the bishop of their diocese.
Women Deacons: Why Not Now? promotes dialogue and advocates for the restoration of women to the permanent diaconate in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. At present women’s voices are silenced in our churches, their names and stories omitted from our lectionary, and their service unwelcome at our Eucharistic table. Female permanent deacons could preach at Mass, baptize, witness marriages and perform other services for the people of God.
Throughout history, women have served the church in many ways and have taken on different roles. Women’s roles were restricted and redefined as the definitions “deacon” and “ordination” were developed and society changed. Recent scholarship, however, supports a reexamination of these definitions in order to understand the role women deacons served in the early church. Women, along with men, were diakonoi, deacons, in service of the people and of the Church. They proclaimed the good news, they served at the Eucharistic table, and they ministered to the sick and impoverished.
In the same manner as our Celebrating Women Witnesses project, the Women Deacons: Why Not Now? packet is grounded in extensive historical and biblical research. Each woman is depicted in original artwork created by Eileen Cantlin Verbus.
We have created essays for each of five historic women deacons:
Phoebe was a leader of the Church at Cenchrae and probably carried Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 16:2).
St. Macrina was the leader of the women’s monastic community at Annisa and was renowned among the laity and clergy alike as a teacher of the Word and defender of Christian doctrine.
St. Olympias was a fourth century deacon and a friend and patron of St. John Chrysostom. As Bishop of Constantinople, John put her in charge of all the deacons assigned to the great basilica of Hagia Sophia.
Dionysia was a fourth century wife and mother who overcame several crises and was ordained deacon of the cathedral at Melitene, Armenia.
St. Radegund was a sixth century queen and deacon who founded a monastery at Poitiers where she served as the spiritual guide.
We have also created individual prayer celebrations focused on the life and work of each woman deacon. These prayer services provide opportunities to educate and to see women serve in the liturgical roles once granted to women deacons.
To assist you in promoting dialogue and educating your community, this resource also contains A Brief History of the Female Diaconate, Names of Women Who Served as Deacons, and Women Deacons in Catholicism? An Education Program. Our materials provide instruction on how to advocate for women deacons, eight reasons for restoration to the permanent diaconate, and the process of finding and presenting women candidates to your bishop. | <urn:uuid:9b150abd-d21b-49be-867e-dc92791ad7a0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.futurechurch.org/womendeacons/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96975 | 665 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Approaching the Bench
The importance of agency affidavits to the successful defense of any FOIA lawsuit was emphasized in Update's Winter issue. Courts have become increasingly more demanding of such affidavits in recent FOIA cases. They have rejected them for procedural as well as substantive inadequacies.(1) Thus, we need to focus attention on the specifics of agency affidavits which justify withholding of records.
STEP ONE: AGENCY PROCEDURES
The typical affidavit submitted to a court to explain why an agency is withholding records requested under FOIA should serve three purposes. First, it should explain to the court the entire administrative process before the lawsuit and any administrative developments since the lawsuit. The affidavit should list chronologically and attach relevant administrative correspondence. Also, when agency procedures such as how the agency maintains or retrieves records are relevant, the affidavit should explain the agency process.
STEP TWO: VAUGHN INDEX
Second, the affidavit should generally describe the records withheld or itemize them.(2) This requirement means preparing a list of each record withheld in whole or in part with identifying characteristics, such as title, date, addressor/addressee and general subject matter. If most of the records have been withheld only in part it is often appropriate to submit copies of these records in the deleted form furnished to the requester as an attachment to the affidavit to help explain the withholding to the court.
STEP THREE: JUSTIFYING CLAIMS OF EXEMPTIONS
Finally, the affidavit should explain how the withheld information is exempt from disclosure under the applicable FOIA exemption(s). This explanation must show how each of the withheld records or portions fit the particular standards of the exemption(s) claimed. For example, to justify withholding under the "deliberative process" component of exemption five, each of the following points should be made as a result of various court decisions:
(a) that the record pertains to a "predecisional" agency matter and does not embody the final agency decision on such matter.(3)
(b) that the withheld information consists of recommendations, opinions, suggestions and analyses pertaining thereto, and thus is "deliberative."(4)
(c) that any disclosure of the information withheld would impair the deliberative process of the agency by inhibiting the full and frank exchange of views necessary with respect to such matters.(5)
(d) that all factual information not covered by some other exemption has been segregated and released, except where such information is "inextricably intertwined" with exempt material, or where the disclosure of such factual information would itself "expose" the deliberative process.(6)
With such detailed attestations--and with a full description of the administrative process and of the general nature of the records withheld--the agency, the lawyers and the court are in the best possible position to evaluate and to protect the important interests recognized in FOIA exemptions.
1. See, e.g., Founding Church of Scientology v. Bell, 603 F.2d 945, 947-49 (D.C. Cir. 1979).
2. Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820, 827 (D.C. Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 977 (1974).
3. See, e.g., Coastal States Gas Corp. v. Department of Energy, No. 79-2181 (D.C. Cir., February 15, 1980) (slip opinion at 21-27).
4. See, e.g., Jordan v. Department of Justice, 591 F.2d 753, 773-74 (D.C. Cir. 1978) (en banc).
5. See, e.g., Mead Data Central, Inc. v. United States Department of Air Force, 566 F.2d 242, 256 (D.C. Cir. 1977).
6. See, e.g., Mervin v. FTC, 591 F.2d 821, 825-26 (D.C. Cir. 1978).
Go to: FOIA Update Home Page | <urn:uuid:73c2a5ea-24d1-4d67-a468-b06d044052a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.justice.gov/oip/foia_updates/Vol_I_3/page8.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909659 | 848 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Since we're talking energy these days, I wanted to ask your opinion on something I read in yesterday's NY Times that discussed how some individuals were being thwarted from installing a wind turbine on their private property even though the code in their area says it's legal. Mostly the reasons for it are due to the height and, basically, what an eyesore they are for the neighbors.
Other issues include improper installation and fear of the windmill falling over and landing on your house, fear of the blades shearing off and/or ice flying off the blades in winter, shadow flicker (the strobe of sunlight passing through rotating blade) and, most importantly, noise. Perhaps flying fricasseed birds should be added to this handbag of reasons. The American Wind Energy Association estimates that one-third of small wind projects are thwarted by vague or overly strict local laws, or by outdated zoning rules that preclude them.
What do you think about the responsibility of neighbors regarding installing these energy generators? It can certainly be argued that it's one thing when you live out in a rural area with lots of land. It's another issue altogether when you live in close proximity to someone else's property.
I know in California the installation of solar panels has caused issues since you can force a neighbor to cut down or trim their trees if the branches shadow your solar panels. Are we going to see the reverse problem when it comes to the responsibility of the owner of these wind machines?
What do you think about wind turbines?
Photo courtesy of the NY Times | <urn:uuid:5e059a9f-d368-43dd-bad6-c9a8539d6a96> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecrunchychicken.com/2009/09/wind-turbine-eyesore-or-awesome.html?showComment=1253012607728 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955864 | 313 | 1.875 | 2 |
Zinc is an essential trace mineral with more biological roles than all the other trace elements combined. But the scary part is your body does not manufacture zinc and has no way to store it.
As an essential mineral, zinc is suggested to play critical roles in…
- Regulating gene expression and supporting healthy cellular growth…*
- Supporting immune function and maintaining a healthy metabolic rate…*
- Maintaining a normal sense of taste and smell...*
- Promoting healthy eyes…*
- Supporting normal growth*
So, I put my team to task to work with a phenomenal supplement developer to create Mercola Zinc Complex with three outstanding compounds.
- Zinc Gluconate
- Zinc Amino Acid Chelate
- Zinc Citrate
There's should be little doubt in your mind why I believe it's important to avoid low zinc levels in your body. In my opinion, by eating the appropriate wholesome foods and supplementing with Mercola Zinc Complex, your body should get what it needs.
Discover More about Dr. Mercola's Zinc Complex | <urn:uuid:5b36121c-65ac-4110-a02d-691a78d08a21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shop.mercola.com/product/mercola-zinc-formula-30-per-bottle-3-pack,895,30.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908032 | 224 | 2.40625 | 2 |
The cultivar, 'Italian Skies' bears profuse flower cymes in sky blue. Compact, low-growing, broad, evergreen shrub. Leaves are oblong, glossy, dark green and finely toothed up to 2 inches long. Excellent for a shrub border or against a sunny wall.
Established plants can benefit from fertilization. Take a visual inventory of your landscape. Trees need to be fertilized every few years. Shrubs and other plants in the landscape can be fertilized yearly. A soil test can determine existing nutrient levels in the soil. If one or more nutrients is low, a specific instead of an all-purpose fertilizer may be required. Fertilizers that are high in N, nitrogen, will promote green leafy growth. Excess nitrogen in the soil can cause excessive vegetative growth on plants at the expense of flower bud development.
It is best to avoid fertilizing late in the growing season. Applications made at that time can force lush, vegetative growth that will not have a chance to harden off before the onset of cold weather.
How-to : Fertilization for Annuals and Perennials
Annuals and perennials may be fertilized using: 1.water-soluble, quick release fertilizers; 2. temperature controlled slow-release fertilizers; or 3. organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion. Water soluble fertilizers are generally used every two weeks during the growing season or per label instructions. Controlled, slow-release fertilizers are worked into the soil ususally only once during the growing season or per label directions. For organic fertilizers such as fish emulsion, follow label directions as they may vary per product.
Conditions : Sun
Sun is defined as the continuous, direct, exposure to 6 hours (or more) of sunlight per day.
Conditions : Types of Pruning
Types of pruning include: pinching, thinning, shearing and rejuvenating.
Pinching is removing the stem tips of a young plant to promote branching. Doing this avoids the need for more severe pruning later on.
Thinning involves removing whole branches back to the trunk. This may be done to open up the interior of a plant to let more light in and to increase air circulation that can cut down on plant disease. The best way to begin thinning is to begin by removing dead or diseased wood.
Shearing is leveling the surface of a shrub using hand or electric shears. This is done to maintain the desired shape of a hedge or topiary.
Rejuvenating is removal of old branches or the overall reduction of the size of a shrub to restore its original form and size. It is recommended that you do not remove more than one third of a plant at a time. Remember to remove branches from the inside of the plant as well as the outside. When rejuvenating plants with canes, such as nandina, cut back canes at various heights so that plant will have a more natural look.
Conditions : Full Sun
Full Sun is defined as exposure to more than 6 hours of continuous, direct sun per day.
Tools : Watering Aides
No gardener depends 100% on natural rainfall. Even the most water conscious
garden appreciates the proper hose, watering can or wand.
Watering Cans: Whether you choose plastic of galvanized makes no difference,
but do look for generous capacity and a design that is balanced when filled
with water. A 2 gallon can (which holds 18 lbs. of water) is preferred by
most gardeners and is best suited for outdoor use. Indoor cans should be
relatively smaller with narrower spouts and roses (the filter head).
Watering Hose: When purchasing a hose, look for one that is double-walled, as it will resist
kinking. Quick coupler links are nice to have on ends of hoses to make
altering length fast. To extend the life of your hose, keep it wound around
a reel and stored in a shady area. Prior to winter freezes, drain hose.
Sprayers: Are commonly thought of as devices for applying chemicals, but
can really be a step saver for watering houseplants or small pots of annuals
rather that dragging out a hose or making numerous trips with a watering can.
The backpack sprayer is best suited for this. Take care not to use any kind
of chemical in tanks used for watering!
Sprinklers: Attached to the
ends of garden hoses, these act as an economical irrigation system. Standing
Spike Sprinklers are usually intended for lawns and deliver water in a circular pattern. Rotating Sprinklers deliver a circle of water and are perfect for lawns, shrubs and flower beds. Pulse-jet sprinklers cover large
areas of ground in a pulsating, circular pattern. The head usually sits up on a
tall stem, except for when watering lawns. Oscillating sprinklers are best for watering at ground level in a rectangular pattern.
Conditions : Moist and Well Drained
Moist and well drained means exactly what it sounds like. Soil is moist without being soggy because the texture of the soil allows excess moisture to drain away. Most plants like about 1 inch of water per week. Amending your soil with compost will help improve texture and water holding or draining capacity. A 3 inch layer of mulch will help to maintain soil moisture and studies have shown that mulched plants grow faster than non-mulched plants.
How-to : Pruning Flowering Shrubs
It is necessary to prune your deciduous flowering shrub for two reasons:
1. By removing old, damaged or dead wood, you increase air flow, yielding in less disease. 2. You rejuvenate new growth which increases flower production.
Pruning deciduous shrubs can be divided into 4 groups: Those that
require minimal pruning (take out only dead, diseased, damaged, or
crossed branches, can be done in early spring.); spring pruning
(encourages vigorous, new growth which produces summer flowers - in other words,
flowers appear on new wood); summer pruning after flower (after
flowering, cut back shoots, and take out some of the old growth, down to the
ground); suckering habit pruning (flowers appear on wood from previous
year. Cut back flowered stems by 1/2, to strong growing new shoots and remove
1/2 of the flowered stems a couple of inches from the ground) Always remove dead, damaged or diseased wood first, no matter what type of pruning you are doing.
Dig a hole twice the size of the root ball and deep enough to plant at the
same level the shrub was in the container. If soil is poor, dig hole even wider
and fill with a mixture half original soil and half compost or soil
Carefully remove shrub from container and gently separate roots. Position in center of hole, best side facing forward. Fill in with original soil or an amended mixture if needed as described above. For larger shrubs, build a water well. Finish by mulching and watering well.
If the plant is balled-and-burlapped, remove fasteners and fold back the top of natural burlap, tucking it down into hole, after you've positioned shrub. Make sure that all burlap is buried so that it won't wick water away from rootball during hot, dry periods. If synthetic burlap, remove if possible. If not possible, cut away or make slits to allow for roots to develop into the new soil. For larger shrubs, build a water well.
Finish by mulching and watering well.
If shrub is bare-root, look for a discoloration somewhere near the base; this mark is likely where the soil line was. If soil is too sandy or too clayey, add organic matter. This will help with both drainage and water holding capacity. Fill soil, firming just enough to support shrub. Finish by mulching and watering well.
How-to : Planting Perennials
Determine appropriate perennials for your garden by considering sun and shade through the day, exposure, water requirements, climate, soil makeup, seasonal color desired, and position of other garden plants and trees.
The best times to plant are spring and fall, when soil is workable and out of danger of frost. Fall plantings have the advantage that roots can develop and not have to compete with developing top growth as in the spring. Spring is more desirable for perennials that dislike wet conditions or for colder areas, allowing full establishment before first winter. Planting in summer or winter is not advisable for most plants, unless planting a more established sized plant.
To plant container-grown plants: Prepare planting holes with appropriate depth and space between. Water the plant thoroughly and let the excess water drain before carefully removing from the container. Carefully loosen the root ball and place the plant in the hole, working soil around the roots as you fill. If the plant is extremely root bound, separate roots with fingers. A few slits made with a pocket knife are okay, but should be kept to a minimum. Continue filling in soil and water thoroughly, protecting from direct sun until stable.
To plant bare-root plants: Plant as soon as possible after purchase. Prepare suitable planting holes, spread roots and work soil among roots as you fill in. Water well and protect from direct sun until stable.
To plant seedlings: A number of perennials produce self-sown seedlings that can be transplanted. You may also start your own seedling bed for transplanting. Prepare suitable planting holes, spacing appropriately for plant development. Gently lift the seedling and as much surrounding soil as possible with your garden trowel, and replant it immediately, firming soil with fingertips and water well. Shade from direct sun and water regularly until stable.
Diseases : Verticillium or Fusarium Wilt
Wilts may be contracted through infected seed, plant debris, or soil. This
fungus begins and multiplies during the cool, moist season, becoming obvious
when weather turns warm and dry. Plants wilt because the fungus damages their
water conducting mechanisms. Overfertilization can worsen this problem. Able to overwinter in soil for many years, it is also carried and harbored in
Prevention and Control: If possible, select resistant varieties. Keep nitrogen-heavy fertilizers to a minimum as well as
over-irrigating as they encourage lush growth. Practice crop rotation and prune out or better yet remove infected plants.
Pest : Mealybugs
Small, wingless, dull-white, soft-bodied insects that produce a waxy powdery covering. They have piercing/sucking mouth parts that suck the sap out of plant tissue. Mealybugs often look like small pieces of cotton and they tend to congregate where leaves and stems branch. They attack a wide range of plants. The young tend to move around until they find a suitable feeding spot, then they hang out in colonies and feed. Mealybugs can weaken a plant leading to yellow foliage and leaf drop. They also produce a sweet substance called honeydew (coveted by ants) which can lead to an unattractive black surface fungal growth called sooty mold.
Prevention and Control: Isolate infested plants from those that are not. Consult your local garden center professional or the Cooperative Extension office in your county for a legal insecticide/chemical recommendation. Encourage natural enemies such as lady beetles in the garden to help reduce population levels of mealy bugs.
Fungi : Rusts
Most rusts are host specific and overwinter on leaves, stems and spent flower debris. Rust often appears as small, bright orange, yellow, or brown pustules on the underside of leaves. If touched, it will leave a colored spot of spores on the finger. Caused by fungi and spread by splashing water or rain, rust is worse when weather is moist.
Prevention and Control: Plant resistant varieties and provide maximum air circulation. Clean up all debris, especially around plants that have had a problem. Do not water from overhead and water only during the day so that plants will have enough time to dry before night. Apply a fungicide labeled for rust on your plant.
Fungi : Powdery Mildew
Powdery Mildew is usually found on plants that do not have enough air circulation or adequate light. Problems are worse where nights are cool and days are warm and humid. The powdery white or gray fungus is usually found on the upper surface of leaves or fruit. Leaves will often turn yellow or brown, curl up, and drop off. New foliage emerges crinkled and distorted. Fruit will be dwarfed and often drops early.
Prevention and Control: Plant resistant varieties and space plants properly so they receive adequate light and air circulation. Always water from below, keeping water off the foliage. This is paramount for roses. Go easy on the nitrogen fertilizer. Apply fungicides according to label directions before problem becomes severe and follow directions exactly, not missing any required treatments. Sanitation is a must - clean up and remove all leaves, flowers, or debris in the fall and destroy.
Pest : Caterpillars
Caterpillars are the immature form of moths and butterflies. They are voracious feeders attacking a wide variety of plants. They can be highly destructive and are characterized as leaf feeders, stem borers, leaf rollers, cutworms and tent-formers.
Prevention and Control: keep weeds down, scout individual plants and remove caterpillars, apply labeled insecticides such as soaps and oils, take advantage of natural enemies such as parasitic wasps in the garden and use Bacillus thuringiensis (biological warfare) for some caterpillar species.
Fungi : Leaf Spots
Leaf spots are caused by fungi or bacteria. Brown or black spots and patches may be either ragged or circular, with a water soaked or yellow-edged appearance. Insects, rain, dirty garden tools, or even people can help its spread.
Prevention and Control: Remove infected leaves when the plant is dry. Leaves that collect around the base of the plant should be raked up and disposed of. Avoid overhead irrigation if possible; water should be directed at soil level. For fungal leaf spots, use a recommended fungicide according to label directions.
Conditions : Slope Tolerant
Slope tolerant plants are those that have a fibrous root system and are often plants that prefer good soil drainage. These plants assist in erosion control by stabilizing/holding the soil on slopes intact.
Conditions : Wind Tolerant
Plants that are wind tolerant usually have flexible, strong branches that are not brittle. Wind tolerant plants often have thick or waxy leaves that
control moisture loss from whipping winds. Native plants are often the best adapted to not only wind, but also soil and other climatic conditions.
Glossary : Low Maintenance
Low maintenance does not mean no maintenance. It does mean that once a plant is established, very little needs to be done in the way of water, fertilizing, pruning, or treatment in order for the plant to remain healthy and attractive. A well-designed garden, which takes your lifestyle into consideration, can greatly reduce maintenance.
Glossary : Perennial
Perennial: traditionally a non-woody plant that lives for two or more growing seasons.
Glossary : Seed Start
Seed Start: easily propagated from seed.
Glossary : Shrub
Shrub: is a deciduous or evergreen woody perennial that has multiple branches that form near its base.
Glossary : pH
pH, means the potential of Hydrogen, is the measure of alkalinity or acidity. In horticulture, pH refers to the pH of soil. The scale measures from 0, most acid, to 14, most alkaline. Seven is neutral. Most plants prefer a range between 5.5 and about 6.7, an acid range, but there are plenty of other plants that like soil more alkaline, or above 7. A pH of 7 is where the plant can most easily absorb the most nutrients in the soil. Some plants prefer more or less of certain nutrients, and therefore do better at a certain pH.
Glossary : Plant Characteristics
Plant characteristics define the plant, enabling a search that finds specific types of plants such as bulbs, trees, shrubs, grass, perennials, etc.
Glossary : Small Shrub
A small shrub is less than 3 feet tall.
Glossary : Flower Characteristics
Flower characteristics can vary greatly and may help you decide on a ""look or
feel"" for your garden. If you're looking for fragrance or large, showy flowers,
click these boxes and possibilities that fit your cultural conditions will be
shown. If you have no preference, leave boxes unchecked to return a greater
number of possibilities.
Glossary : Foliage Characteristics
By searching foliage characteristics, you will have the opportunity to look
for foliage with distinguishable features such as variegated leaves, aromatic
foliage, or unusual texture, color or shape. This field will be most helpful to you if
you are looking for accent plants. If you have no preference, leave this
field blank to return a larger selection of plants.
Glossary : Landscape Uses
By searching Landscape Uses, you will be able to pinpoint plants that are best suited for particular uses such as trellises, border plantings, or foundations.
Glossary : Fertilize
Fertilize just before new growth begins with a complete fertilizer. | <urn:uuid:e36a2fdf-61b9-4a50-a4ed-b11737ce29ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.backyardgardener.com/plantname/pda_f548.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933947 | 3,726 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Genetic Test Could Better Reveal Fetal Abnormalities
A DNA molecule.
CREDIT: Giovanni Cancemi | Shutterstock
A new test may be better at detecting potentially harmful genetic changes in children before they are born than current methods, researchers say.
The test, called a chromosomal microarray, detected more irregularities that could result in genetic diseases — such as missing or repeated sections of genetic code — than did karyotyping, which is the current standard method of prenatal testing.
For instance, children who are missing a small portion of chromosome 22 will be born with DiGeorge syndrome, which can cause severe heart defects and developmental delays. In the study, a chromosomal microarray detected this missing section and diagnosed the condition, whereas a karyotype is not able to find the change.
Microarrays also identified some genetic changes linked to autism not revealed by karyotyping.
The findings suggest microarray should replace karyotyping as the standard method of finding genetic irregularities in fetuses, said study researcher Dr. Ronald Wapner, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Columbia University in New York. Microarrays are already used to diagnose genetic conditions in children with developmental disabilities and birth defects.
However, experts cautioned that microarrays could provide more information than is useful. Some abnormalities identified by the test are new, and have unknown or uncertain consequences, which can put stress on families. [See 11 Big Fat Pregnancy Myths.]
It is critical that parents who receive this type of testing are counseled before and after the test about what the findings could mean, experts say.
Microarrays vs. karyotype
In karyotyping, fetal cells are analyzed under a microscope, which allows researchers to see whether too many or too few chromosomes are present, or if the chromosomes have an abnormal structure. In contrast, microarrays compare a sample of the fetus' DNA with that of a healthy person, giving researchers a closer look at the genetic code.
Both tests require fetal cells, which are obtained either by amniocentesis, a procedure that takes cells from the amniotic fluid, or chorionic villus sampling, which takes cells from the placenta. These procedures comes with risks, including a small risk of miscarriage.
In the study, Wapner and colleagues analyzed information from about 4,400 pregnant women who had prenatal testing because they were over 35, had an abnormal result on screening test for Down syndrome, or they had an ultrasound that indicated possible birth defects.
Microarray testing was just as good as karyotyping at detecting whether the fetus had too many or too few total chromosomes.
In addition, about 2.5 percent of samples with a normal karyotype had microarray results that revealed missing or repeated sections of genetic code that could result in a genetic disease.
For fetuses with possible birth defects, about 6 percent of samples with a normal karyotype had abnormalities on the microarray.
In a second study, also published today, microarrays more often provided results on genetic testing looking for the cause of a stillbirth — 87 percent microarray tests produced results compared with 70 percent with karyotype.
When to use microarrays
Dr. Manny Alvarez, an obstetrician and medical editor for FoxNews, said he agreed with the conclusion that microarrays should replace karyotyping. "I will certainly be adding microarrays" when conducting amniocentesis tests, Alvarez said.
Also, karyotyping requires live cells, and if cells fail to grow in a lab, the amniocentesis must be repeated, Alvarez said. Microarrays don't require live cells, and so they do not have this problem, he said.
Some doctors have held back on using microarrays for prenatal testing because it's not always clear how a genetic disease will manifest, said Dr. Monique Ho, an obstetrician and prenatal geneticist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. One child with a particular genetic mutation may be disabled, while another with the same mutation may appear healthy.
But as databases of genetic abnormalities grow, and researchers study children for longer periods, understanding of what genetic findings mean will improve, Wapner said.
Ho said microarrays could replace karyotyping in some but not all cases. Doctors might want to use microarrays if time is a factor, because the test is faster than karyotyping.
However, microarrays cannot reliably detect a phenomenon known as mosaicism, in which a genetic abnormality is found in some cells, but not all of them, Ho said. Microarrays also cannot detect changes in which there is no loss or gain of DNA, which could affect the next generation of children, Ho said.
The new studies will be published tomorrow (Dec. 6) in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Pass it on: The standard method for prenatal testing, calledkaryotyping, may be mostly replaced by a new test called a chromosomal microarray.
MORE FROM LiveScience.com | <urn:uuid:191792cf-7d24-44d2-b938-340d6f69f3f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livescience.com/25276-microarray-genetic-prenatal-testing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937389 | 1,055 | 3.65625 | 4 |
Oil & Natural Gas Projects
Exploration and Production Technologies
Coalbed Methane Research
The project encompasses several tasks related to coalbed natural gas (CBNG) and produced water. The objectives of the first task are 1) improving the efficiency and reducing the cost of managing produced water from CBNG production for beneficial use and 2) conducting technology transfer to industry and regulatory agencies.
The objective of the second task is to develop a total maximum daily load (TMDL) model for the allocation of discharges based on environmental standards and measures in California.
A third goal is to conduct a technology exchange workshop in China that summarizes the technical and applied aspects of selected current technologies used in U.S. coal basins for the exploration, drilling, and development of CBNG and coal mine methane (CMM) resources.
Arthur Langhus Layne LLC, Tulsa, OK
Work continues on all tasks, and the work is being reviewed by several interested parties. Major deliverables will be completed this year.
Cost reductions will be achieved by enhancing the infiltration option for CBNG operators to evaluate. If the use of unlined infiltration ponds is a widespread option available across the Powder River assign (PRB), CBNG operators will be able to evaluate and utilize this option and not be limited to costly options such as deep injection and water treatment. The research will document current usage of infiltration ponds. The hydrogeological conditions at selected ponds will be characterized and numerical modeling performed to document the water budget of the ponds at various locations throughout the PRB. Geochemical modeling will also be used to forecast the future functioning of the ponds, given their current character. Fate and transport models will be run to forecast the changes in bedrock and percolating water as infiltration proceeds. Modeling results will be compared with published hydrogeological data and geographic information systems (GIS)-derived spatial relationships of natural parameters to forecast the potential magnitude of CBNG infiltration pond development. Modeling results will be collated to suggest risk-based regulatory limits for pond placement, construction, and reduction of potential impacts to soil and water resources.
The development of a TMDL model for allocation of discharge will be very useful to the industry and regulatory agencies in California in their efforts to maintain oil and gas production but effectively minimize environmental impacts. The development of an allocation model for TMDLs will address the diverse concerns of stakeholders: health, environment, industry, land use, regulatory, interest groups, local economy, and cost issues.
The workshop in China will allow the Chinese government and industry to apply the best technology to the development of their resources.
The PRB CBNG play is one of the most rapidly expanding gas plays in the United States. Since the late 1990s, more than 12,000 CBNG wells have been installed that produce in excess of 25 billion cubic feet of gas per month. Associated with the production of natural gas from PRB CBNG wells is the production of large volumes of variable-quality produced water that must be managed appropriately. The CBNG industry has struggled to find economic means of managing the produced water in an evolving regulatory environment. The rapid expansion of the PRB CBNG industry has led to a reactionary environment where produced-water management regulations and monitoring guidance are being developed as a result of limited monitoring data and limited investigation into the duration and extent of these changes.
Infiltration systems and impoundments are being used across the more heavily developed Wyoming portion of the PRB as means to economically manage produced water. These systems typically comprise unlined on-channel dams or off-channel pits that retain produced water and allow it to infiltrate into the subsurface. Infiltration systems in their simplest form (unlined pits or dammed drainage ways) are an inexpensive means to prevent water from directly discharging into surface waters, allowing the water to evaporate or infiltrate into the subsurface. Regulators and citizens groups have expressed concerns as to the fate of infiltrating produced water.
ALL Consulting will prepare a report on the topic of CBNG impoundments—the technologies, impacts, and alternatives. To date, ten impoundments have been investigated in the field by the research team through the use of geotechnical borings, monitoring wells, subsurface and airborne geophysics. Additional impoundments have been analyzed based on monitoring reports submitted to regulatory agencies. The subsurface investigations have yielded signs of water infiltrating beneath the impoundment resulting in changes to the chemistry of the water within the groundwater aquifers. There has been little evidence to indicate the changes would result in violations of state water quality standards. The impoundments which were classified as in-channel features showed impacts to the alluvial aquifer and changes in water quality that resulted in improved water quality. However; based on data analyzed under this project and collected by other CBNG operators, as time goes on, water quality for both in and off-channel impoundments is expected to be returned to pre-existing conditions. Documentation is being assembled on these impoundments to documenting the research to date on fate and transport of infiltrating CBNG water. The draft report on the CBNG Impoundment Study was sent to the PAC for review and comment in December 2007. Reviewer comments will be incorporated as appropriate and the final report will be submitted to NETL for approval.
The TMDL work continues as interviews with the industry proceed and information is added to the model research.
A technology exchange workshop that summarizes the technical and applied aspects of selected current technologies used in the U.S. coal basins for the exploration, drilling, and development of CBNG and CMM resources was held in Shanxi, China, in May 2007. The workshop included over 300 slides that were prepared and translated into Chinese. The workshop was presented by ALL through an interpreter. Response to the workshop was very positive and the participants expressed an interest in pursuing similar work with DOE in the future.
Current Status (December 2008)
This project has been completed and the final report is listed below under "Additional Information".
This project is a follow-up to DE-AD26-03NT30489 and was awarded under an Environmental Advisory Services contract through the GSA Schedule.
Project Start: March 30, 2006
Project End: March 31, 2008
Anticipated DOE Contribution: $245,000
Performer Contribution: none required
NETL – Chandra Nautiyal (firstname.lastname@example.org)
ALL Consulting – Dan Arthur (email@example.com or 918-382-7582)
Final Project Report [PDF]
Final Report Appendices [PDF] | <urn:uuid:c5017f31-cb7b-4bdb-954c-0be91cbfda48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/Petroleum/projects/Environmental/Produced_Water/02045CoalbedMethane.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944924 | 1,370 | 2.171875 | 2 |
St. James Heritage Sites
Welcome to the JNHT St. James Heritage Sites.
- Flagstaff - Site of a small Maroon community and features considerably in the Maroons Wars which begun in 1795
- Salter's Hill Baptist - Voluntarily constructed by enslaved Africans in 1825
- St. James Parish Church - was built between 1775 and 1782.
- St. Mary's Anglican - situated on the Montpelier Estate, which dates back to the days of slavery.
- Historic Court House (Mobay) - Built in or around 1774, an important monument in St. James' history.
- Fort Montego - It housed four 12 pounder guns and five smaller guns.
- Goodwill - established after the abolition of slavery and in 1840 it was still in its infancy.
- Greenwood Great House - built in 1790 by The Barretts of Wimpole Street
- Rose Hall Great House - built in the mid 19th Century by George Ash for John Palmer, Custos of St. Thomas for £30,000.
- 1 King Street - the property at this location was formerly the Manse of the Burchell Baptist Church.
- Sam Sharpe Square -The square includes several heritage structures: the Sam Sharpe Monument, the Cage, the Civic Centre and the Freedom Monument and a fountain.
- Barnett Street Police Station - dates back to the late 19th century, constructed of cut stone
- Grove Hill House - built in the early 18th century. The house is a two storey Georgian structure
- Old Slave Ring - It is said that on this site prospective buyers viewed the slaves as they were paraded and auctioned.
- The Dome - erected over the source of the creek in Montego Bay.
- Town House - A keystone on the arch suggests that the Town House was built in 1776.
- North Coast Highway - a government initiative to improve the entire stretch of north coast road
- Anchovy Railway Station - erected around 1894, a two storey Jamaica/Georgian timber structure
- Cambridge Railway Station - built around 1894, a two-storey timber building
- Catadupa Railway Station - constructed in 1895, a two-storey Jamaica/Georgian timber structure
- Montego Bay Railway Station - built around 1894, a simple timber building.
- Montpelier Railway Station- a uniquely designed building which demonstrates Jamaica/Georgian architecture with Victorian elements. | <urn:uuid:5c6a11cb-adde-4c69-a832-63526fea72e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jnht.com/st_james.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927926 | 511 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Join the Friends
The Museum was founded in 1984 with the aim of ‘preserving the past and the present for the future. We provide a focus for collecting and conserving information about the local area and a resource base for local studies.
The Museum is independent and self sufficient and was granted full Accreditation Status by the Museum and Libraries Association in 2008 and complies with all the criteria for good governance.
The Friends of Tom Brown’s School Museum help the Curator run the museum. We would not be able to maintain the Museum nor open it to the public without the help and support of our Friends.
We are all volunteers, there are no paid staff.
You can help in one of the following ways
- Joining the rota for duty in the Museum when it is open, for one or two sessions a year. No specialist knowledge is needed.
- Helping to maintain the artefacts and archives
- Paying an annual subscription of £5.00 a year
- Paying a life subscription of £50.00
Whichever you choose you will receive three Newsletters a year and invitations to talks and special events, and you will be helping to support a unique local resource.
You can download a membership form with further information here: Friends membership form
You can also join The Friends and set up an two-year subscription (£5 payment each year) by clicking on the Subscribe button below.
(A PayPal account must be used. The contact for the payments is David Kennedy, who has a Gloucestershire address.)
If you prefer you can make a one-off donation to the Friends of Tom Brown’s School Museum, which will be used to help safeguard our collections and provide better displays at the Museum. Click on the Donate button. | <urn:uuid:c621d7ec-9037-4c21-ae9c-2a8772116d47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.museum.uffington.net/join-the-friends/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928614 | 368 | 1.53125 | 2 |
CABRAMATTA was the first practice site for followers of Falun Dafa in Australia and early morning exercisers stretching and meditating in Cabra Vale Park have since become a feature of the local landscape.
For those who have ever wondered what it is all about, today is the chance to learn. Falun Dafa followers are holding a community open day in Freedom Plaza, to promote a way of life based on the three principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance.
The belief system, which followers are quick to point out is not a religion, is banned by the communist government in China, where pratictioners are allegedly persecuted and jailed without trial.
According to local Falun Dafa devotee Willa Huang, one in 11 people in China are adherents, leading the Government to fear the group is a front for political rebellion.
"But we are not a formal organisation. There are no membership lists, you don't have to pay any money to join. Falun Dafa is not a religion or political party," she said.
Practitioners complete a set of five exercises each day which are said to restore balance and harmony in the body, as well as being good for all-round health.
"We also follow the three guiding principles and try and live well and be good to other people," Mrs Huang said.
There are about 5000 Falun Dafa practioners in Australia, and 700 of them live in the Fairfield area.
Article Source: Fairfield Advance, Sydney
Original article Date: 28-Aug-2002
Posting Date: 29-Aug-2002
Category: Media Reports | <urn:uuid:6be07fb0-1b74-433a-9f09-e12837882ae6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.falunau.org/archivesArticle.jsp?itemID=52 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95734 | 336 | 1.625 | 2 |
On this day in 1916, with World War I in full swing, the popular monarch Franz Josef of Austria dies at the age of 86, after reigning for 66 years.
The issue of who would succeed the emperor had long been complicated. Franz Josef's life was marked by tragedy: His only son, Rudolf, committed suicide in 1889, and his wife, Elisabeth, was assassinated in Geneva in 1898 by an Italian anarchist. Both of his brothers died early as well; the first, Karl Ludwig, contracted an illness after drinking contaminated water, while the other, Maximilian, was executed in 1867 by a Mexican firing squad after an ill-fated three-year reign as the country's emperor. After all this, Karl Ludwig's son, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, emerged as his uncle's heir.
Franz Josef had no particular affection for Franz Ferdinand. Like many, he considered the archduke silly and ineffectual, and he disapproved of his marriage to Sophie Chotek von Chotkova, a former lady-in-waiting. Nonetheless, when Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in June 1914 by a Bosnian Serb nationalist, the emperor followed the advice of his foreign minister, Leopold Berchtold, and went ahead with a hard-line approach to Serbia that soon led to the outbreak of a general European war.
Popular until his death, Franz Josef was destined to be the last significant Hapsburg monarch. He was succeeded by his 29-year-old great-nephew, Karl I, who immediately began efforts to reform the creaky old Dual Monarchy. First, he dismissed the head of the Austrian army, Conrad von Hotzendorff, replacing him with the more flexible Arz von Straussenberg. He also refused to swear loyalty to the Austrian constitution, announcing his intention to continue with his liberal reforms. Karl's liberalism posed a threat to the Hungarian prime minister, Istvan Tisza, whom he pressured to resign in May 1917.
Some of Karl's greatest efforts were directed toward ending the First World War. In April 1917, he and his foreign minister, Ottokar Czernin, visited Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to press the need for peace. The empire, they said, could not hold out much longer. At the same time, unbeknownst to Czernin, Karl was already in secret peace negotiations with Britain and France. His wife, Zita, was French; her brother, Prince Sixte Bourbon-Parma, acted as an intermediary in the negotiations. The negotiations foundered when Karl stubbornly refused to cede any territory to the Italians; the following year, France made the negotiations public to great effect during Germany's spring offensive in 1918. Furious with Karl's deception, Czernin resigned, and the Germans never again trusted the emperor.
The unraveling alliance between the Central Powers had been pushed to the limit, but did not break...yet. Over the course of 1918 it became clear the tide was turning in favor of the Allies. As hunger and discontent intensified within Austria, Karl continued to press for peace, without success. In October, hoping to satisfy growing nationalist aspirations within the Dual Monarchy, he issued a manifesto establishing a federation of Austrian states. It was too little, too late. With the armistice on November 11, 1918, Karl renounced his constitutional powers. The following March, after attempting to retain his throne, he was forced into exile in Switzerland and was formally deposed by an Austrian court. He attempted several times to return to Hungary, but was denied entrance. The last of the Hapsburg monarchs died penniless in April 1922, on the Portuguese island of Madeira. | <urn:uuid:9a566611-42f9-4b06-ae26-07bf28c86db7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/emperor-franz-josef-of-austria-dies?catId=16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981703 | 767 | 3.546875 | 4 |
A Sketch of The Character and Ministry of William Gadsby
I give a few thoughts, agreeably to request, on the character of the late Mr. Gadsby, not to praise the man, but the grace of God in him, and that the generation to come may know that in Manchester “a prophet hath been among them,” taught by the Spirit, and commissioned by Christ to preach “the glorious gospel of the blessed God,” for the obedience of faith, and for a witness against the ungodly at the appearing of Jesus Christ. In so doing I wish it to be understood that I do not give the following brief outline of his character to commend his memory to the children of God scattered abroad, as I believe that the testimony of God by his mouth has done that long ago in many of their hearts.
1. As it respects his natural disposition, when crossed and put much out of the way, he was rather passionate and hasty, but he was kind, free, benevolent, and hospitable. He made no pretensions to human learning, but he was not an ignorant man; he knew human nature well, and the nature of the world, and the things of it too. His natural talents were good and powerful. He had a capacious, clear, and strong mind—apt in conception, quick in perception, deep in penetration, humourous and keen in wit, sound, comprehensive, and decisive in judgment. These were some of the natural qualities of his mind as man, which, when guided and regulated by the indwelling of the blessed Spirit and his divine operations, were one means of making him an able minister of the New Testament, and a burning and shining light in his day.
2. His habits of life were plain and simple. He never stooped to assume the foppish and fashionable manoeuvres and manners of the age, doubtless considering them unbecoming the simplicity of the truth as it is in Jesus. On the other hand, he was not morosely reserved and uncivilly distant, but affable and courteous, as far as was consistent with truth and conscience. On this account many respected him as a man who hated or knew nothing of the truths which he preached. He was frugal, careful, and prudent in domestic affairs, but disliked penuriousness and illiberality.
3. As it respects his religion, I think I have heard him say that the Lord made himself known to his soul when he was about or near the age of eighteen years. He used to say, when referring to that period, that before he was savingly convinced of sin he had a sense of sin, and great fears of hell and the devil, but that in all these convictions and fears there was no grace. But when the Lord the Spirit convicted him of sin, he felt it was against the Lord that he had sinned, and felt the fear of the Lord more than of Satan, which caused him to cry and beg for mercy.
After this, while he was very ignorant literally, and young spiritually, the Spirit revealed and powerfully applied to his soul justification by the righteousness of Christ, opening up to his mind the glory of this doctrine, and gave him some deep, clear, and comprehensive views of the glorious “mysteries of God, and of the Father, and of Christ,” (Colossians 2:2) and made them unctuous and sweet to his soul. Possessed of this experience, and urged by a few friends around him of like experience, he began to preach to them in a barn near Hinckley, I believe. No man was more sensible of the overpowering filth of the human heart, which caused him many sighs and groans.
I do not think that any minister of the Lord of life was ever upheld by the hand of God in a more consistent and blameless life for so long a period. His walk and conversation were an ornament to the pure and sound doctrines he preached; and yet, at times, O the distress and trembling fears he had lest he should be left to fall into some sin, and disgrace the blessed truth of God! such was the working of corrupt nature within and the feeling sense of his own weakness to stand; but the Lord most graciously held him up, and brought him honourably through all.
These things were means, in the hand of God, of making him a powerful and comforting minister of the Spirit of life.
Once when a noted minister in Manchester fell into sin, it distressed his soul almost to agony lest he should be permitted to fall into a similar sin. He endured temptations, suffered trials and afflictions of almost every kind, too numerous to mention, and many times laboured under the painful sense of coldness, deadness, barrenness, and all the fruits of depraved and helpless nature. These things were deeply and repeatedly experienced by him.
On the other hand, he was frequently favoured with solemn and glorious faith’s views of the eternal love of God, the glorious mysteries of redemption, and the sweet anointing and sealing power of the blessed Spirit.
The Lord led his mind clearly into the deep things of God, and sealed them home with such sweet power as to assure him of his interest in them. He was blest with a clear, comprehensive, and sound judgment in the harmony of truth, and loved to keep a clear distinction betwixt the law of works and the gospel of free grace, and betwixt the religion of human nature and the religion of the Holy Ghost. In short, a sense of what he was by nature, a sense of the fiery temptations and wily snares of Satan, and a sense of what he was in and by the Lord Jesus, were variously and copiously experienced by him.
4. As a servant of the Lord, he was “an able minister of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit;” and, at times, his preaching was powerful and full of majesty. To the truth of this he has perhaps more witnesses in this kingdom than any other man.
He was, by the grace of God working in him and by him, enabled to make full proof of his ministry. The blessed Spirit often clothed his speech with power and demonstration to the souls of the people.
His language was not in the words of man’s wisdom; it was plain, accurate, and expressive: his method clear, and always aiming at the point in the text. When the Lord touched his heart with the sweetness of the truth, while preaching, it filled him with energy and zeal, and sometimes the tone of his voice told the sweet sensations and anointings of the blessed Spirit in his heart; and when dwelling upon the glories of Christ and his fulness, and the bliss and blessedness of the church triumphant, his soul was wrapped up in ecstacy, and his preaching at these seasons was powerful and brilliant.
As to faithfulness, he paid no more regard to offending Arminians and Fullerites than he would to Satan and his agents, for the sentiments of these classes he abhorred, and always set his face as an iron pillar and brazen wall against them. He had not that keen and searching manner of separation that some of the Lord’s servants have, (for every servant of the Lord has his own work to do, and his own manner of doing it,) but he was very faithful, and at the same time, with the people of God, forbearing.
He had a particular manner, peculiar to himself, of simplifying and entering into the various feelings and exercises of the Lord’s quickened people. The burden of his ministry seemed chiefly to consist of three particulars:
1. In laying bare the death, depravity, deceit, and helplessness of human nature.
2. In tracing out the first work of divine quickening in the cries, desires, and sensations of the living soul, and the various trials and temptations of God’s afflicted sheep of slaughter. (Zechariah 11:7)
3. In holding forth the rich glories of eternal grace and love in the covenant purposes of God the Father, the mediatorial glories of the God-Man, the inseparable union of the church with him, and her completeness in him, having all fulness treasured up there; and the effectual operations and sweet anointings of the Holy Ghost in the heart.
These things he held forth with powerful majesty as he was enabled by the Lord working in him mightily. (Colossians 1:29.) He naturally had a great degree of eccentric wit, which he sometimes used in the pulpit, and which was frequently a source of grief and uneasiness to his mind, but it frequently beseemed him when it does not his imitators, as something weighty and solemn generally succeeded it, but even this failing the Lord overruled tor good. Many on that account heard him who otherwise would not have done, and sometimes, at these seasons, he made powerful and convincing illustrations. Referring to his humourousness in preaching, an old minister in Lady Huntington’s connexion told him of it, and wished him to avoid it, when he replied “If I must study to do that, I cannot preach at all:”
“Then,” said the other, “go on.”
His language at times in the pulpit to nice ears might appear coarse and too plain, hut he did not study to please the ears of fleshly hearers with fine speech or eloquent “words of man’s, wisdom,” for that makes the cross of Christ of no effect; (“not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect;” 1 Corinthians 1:17;) but that plain language and those (to some too) familiar figures manifested the independence of the preacher’s soul, and freedom and deliverance from the thraldom and systems of men; and also proved that the truths which he preached were realities possessed in his own heart, and that he neither learnt, borrowed, nor stole them, nor his manner of delivering them, from others, but were truly original, as must be the case with every sent servant of the Lord. He did not, therefore, come into the thick forest of religious profession in Lancashire to fell the trees of self-righteousness with a borrowed axe. (2 Kings 6:5)
The Lord placed him in a large field, and owned his word by him extensively. Many souls were brought out of Arminian and legal bondage by him, many comforted and watered, and some quickened into life.
God made him the honoured instrument of planting and confirming many churches in the truth in Lancashire and elsewhere, so that he may be called “the great Apostle of the North,” as J. C. P. once said of him, nor do I believe so great a preacher (taking his labours as a whole) has been raised up in this land for very many years.
That great man of God, W.Huntington, was a greater and more useful writer to the church of God, but, as far as I know, I believe W. Gadsby was a greater and more powerful preacher, and his ministry more widely extended over the land. He preached the doctrines of grace clearly and harmoniously, but not in that dry, formal, systematic manner which some of his imitators do.
He learnt them by the divine light and unctuous teaching of the Spirit, and preached them in the same, and so the Lord frequently owned them to the souls of his people.
Notwithstanding this, he at different times endured many trials and perils in his own church from false brethren, and divisions caused by heretics. His constant and strenuous contention for the doctrines of free grace, and the gospel liberty of the children of God, in opposition to workmongers and letter professors, caused him to be maliciously and notoriously branded with the epithet of Antinomian, and his personal character vilely disparaged by wicked and graceless professors. But the Lord stood by him, and kept him faithful to the end, and brought him to his latter end in honour and high esteem among many friends for the truth’s sake.
Some said, “he was sunk in his sentiments at the latter end,” but this is a base falsehood, and I give it a flat contradiction.
He died with the sweetness and power of those truths in his heart which he had preached nearly fifty years.
By some he has been charged with “petty jealousies;” but if his own words are to be believed, this is not true, for he has told me to the contrary. Others have called him “a pope;” but nothing could be farther from his wish and feelings than to be considered such. He was esteemed and looked up to as a father in the truth, and an able minister of the New Testament by many of the Lord’s people; but if any esteemed him otherwise, he did not own it or receive it.
His benevolence to the poor, his humane disposition, his liberal principles, and good nature, compelled even his enemies frequently to speak well of him, and many of them to be at peace with him.
“When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” (Proverbs 16:7.)
Notwithstanding, because he lived godly in Christ Jesus, he suffered much tongue persecution.
In him that scripture was surely fulfilled, “them that honour me, I will honour,” (1 Samuel 2:30), for the Lord brought him to his end in honour and respect. His life and his death were a blessing to my soul. I heard him preach fifteen times. Three times were his sermons blessed to my soul, the last time very sweetly, and at the news of his death the Lord softened and solemnized my soul, and raised my heart up to himself; and I believe my heart prayed that a double portion of that Spirit that was upon him might be upon me,(2 Kings 2:2,) and for some days the solemnity and reality of death and glory to the saints was much upon my mind. I experienced, too, a feeling of gratitude and love to the Lord for his great grace and kindness to this his honoured servant.
By the grace of God he has fought the good fight of faith and finished his course, and is now gone up to bis rest, and to be crowned with the crown of righteousness, glory, and eternal life.
By John M’Kenzie | <urn:uuid:aa6103b7-1d31-4e42-b85b-d207b9f1efb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://testallthings.com/2008/04/26/john-mkenzie-a-sketch-of-the-character-and-ministry-of-william-gadsby/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988113 | 3,076 | 2 | 2 |
- Inhabitat New York City - http://inhabitat.com/nyc -
Bushwick Art Park’s Recycled Art Oasis Pops at the Festival of Ideas
Posted By Yuka Yoneda On May 10, 2011 @ 9:13 am In Art NYC,Manhattan | No Comments
Going back to that interesting tidbit about Bushwick meaning “forested neighborhood,” currently, the moniker could not be less fitting. The NYC Department for City Planning recommends a minimum of 2.5 acres of open space for every 1000 people. At the moment, Bushwick has a paltry 0.5 acres per 1000 people. The Bushwick Art Park Project is hoping to up that number just a little bit by creating a community park on Vandevoort Place, which is currently a garbage-strewn wasted area. They would use the existing walls for murals, install thought-provoking sculptures on the street, and rotate the art on a seasonal basis, giving many artists the chance to show off their work.
The mini version of their park on the Bowery was a great way to spread the word about the Bushwick Art Park and was buzzing with people wanting to know more about the colorful installations. Leon Reid IV ‘s yellow and green street signs recycled and reworked into “pedestrians” immediately caught our eye with their vibrant color and personality. Those who wanted to rest their weary feet after a long day of walking were welcome to take a seat on Skewville ‘s clever recycled street dividers turned into benches. In fact, we saw one of the “elements” of artist Olek’s exhibit, a crocheted human, trying them out, too. For those of us who were feeling a bit thirsty, Specter ‘s reclaimed Target shopping cart piled high with wooden “beers” was enticing, though most of us stayed away at the thought of splinters. While she wasn’t technically a part of the Bushwick Art Park, Girlzilla, who was crafted by the Lower East Side Girls Club certainly looked like she was about to stage and invasion.
Photos © Yuka Yoneda for Inhabitat
Article printed from Inhabitat New York City: http://inhabitat.com/nyc
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/nyc/bushwick-art-parks-recycled-art-oasis-pops-at-the-festival-of-ideas/
URLs in this post:
Tweet: http://twitter.com/share
Share on Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/share
Email: mailto:?subject=http://inhabitat.com/nyc/bushwick-art-parks-recycled-art-oasis-pops-at-the-festival-of-ideas/
Skewville: http://www.skewville.org/
Trust Art: http://www.trustart.org/projects/107-bushwick-art-park
Factory Fresh Gallery: http://www.factoryfresh.net/
Festival of Ideas: http://inhabitat.com/nyc/index.php?s=festival+of+ideas
Leon Reid IV: http://www.leonthe4th.com/
crocheted world installation by Olek: http://inhabitat.com/nyc/photos-oleks-crazy-crocheted-room-at-the-festival-of-ideas-even-features-crocheted-humans/
NYC: http://www.inhabitat.com/nyc
Specter: http://www.specterart.com/
Lower East Side Girls Club: http://www.girlsclub.org/
+ Inhabitat’s Festival of Ideas coverage: http://inhabitat.com/nyc/tag/festival-of-ideas
Copyright © 2011 Inhabitat Local - New York. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:ab2e1c36-f516-426c-bab2-cefc96a56ac5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://inhabitat.com/nyc/bushwick-art-parks-recycled-art-oasis-pops-at-the-festival-of-ideas/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902386 | 878 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the relativistic quantum theory that describes the interactions of quarks and gluons to make up hadrons, is a pillar of the standard model of particle physics. Yet it remains a work in progress. This is because, while QCD has obvious similarities to the much simpler quantum theory of electrodynamics that involves electrons interacting through exchanges of photons, gluons carry a color quantum number leading to a marked increase in complexity in the number of fundamental interactions.
The static potential between two heavy quarks is a fundamental quantity in QCD that enters the description of several measurable quantities such as threshold production of quark pairs and quark bound states. Though it is possible to compute this potential using perturbation theory, the complicated interactions amongst quarks and gluons pose a challenge. It took more than twenty years to reliably compute the second-order corrections to the potential after the first-order corrections were first computed in the late 1970s!
Writing in Physical Review Letters, two research groups have independently computed the third-order (three-loop) corrections to the interquark potential. This benchmark calculation was carried out by Alexander Smirnov and Vladimir Smirnov from Moscow State University, Russia, and Matthias Steinhauser from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, and independently by Chihaya Anzai and Yukinari Sumino from Tohoku University and Yuichiro Kiyo from KEK, both in Japan. The two calculations agree with each other and provide state of the art results for a building block in many physical quantities, some of which are likely to be measured at a future electron-positron linear collider and the large hadron collider at CERN. The potential is also crucial for comparing perturbation theory with lattice simulations. – Abhishek Agarwal | <urn:uuid:9eb0d831-8ea2-4664-b7ca-b0435581d644> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://physics.aps.org/synopsis-for/print/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.112003 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936748 | 381 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Hellcat, the F6F in World War II
Largely responsible for crushing Japanese airpower wherever the American fast carrier force sailed, the Grumman F6F Hellcat was considered the most ... Show synopsis Largely responsible for crushing Japanese airpower wherever the American fast carrier force sailed, the Grumman F6F Hellcat was considered the most important Allied aircraft in the Pacific during 1943 and 1944. Designed for speed, range, and climb to compete with Japan's exceptional Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it succeeded not only in engaging the "Zeke" on equal terms but also in dictating the rules of combat. Fighters in every sense of the word, the Hellcats were credited with destroying more than five thousand Japanese aircraft, gaining outright air supremacy over the invasion beaches, and helping ensure Allied amphibious victories in the Central Pacific. Aviation historian Barrett Tillman presents the full story of the fighter plane--the men who built and tested it, the squadrons that flew it, and the heroes it created. Heavily illustrated with photographs from the pilots' own collections, this spirited, carefully documented operational history is an absolute must for anyone interested in aviation history. It is now available for the first time in paperback. | <urn:uuid:86c87c90-586a-456f-89a2-2d0113e7d9f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alibris.co.uk/booksearch?qwork=2863534&cm_sp=1rec-_-RHS-_-p1-0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935863 | 250 | 2.875 | 3 |
By Bill Wilson – On Jan. 23, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a measure suspending the $16.394 trillion debt ceiling until May 19, 2013 through passage of H.R. 325.
Ostensibly, the purpose is to buy the House time to address the $85 billion of sequestration cuts that go into effect automatically on March 1. And the continuing resolution for Fiscal Year 2013 that expires on March 27.
There was some talk on Capitol Hill over this sequencing of events somehow being advantageous for House Republicans. So, upon passage, and with promises of support from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the White House, there likely was some celebration among members feeling they had won some sort of victory.
Only, it may prove to be a Pyrrhic victory.
Namely, because the only way House leadership could secure the votes was to promise a 10-year pathway to a balanced budget, and that the sequester cuts would remain in place.
That, according to a Jan. 18 joint press statement from the current and former chairmen of the House Republican Study Committee, which promised that “As part of [the] agreement, the House will work to put the country on the path to a balanced budget in 10 years. House leadership also agreed to stand by the $974 billion discretionary number that is part of the sequestration process.”
Now that Republican leadership has gotten what it wanted, the onus is on them to deliver the spending cuts that were promised.
That means, in the continuing resolution debate in March, the 10-year pathway to a balanced budget must be included — complete with real spending cuts that actually lower the baseline. And then when the Senate and White House balk, they must be willing to stand firm to complete the process.
It means that the budget sequester passed in 2011 must be kept in place.
The “Full Faith and Credit Act,” which would prioritize interest payments when the debt ceiling is reached — taking the Obama threat of default off the table — must be passed. Which actually may be the only way to ensure that come May 19, the statutory debt ceiling — the only congressional check on rampant government borrowing — is reinstated.
Without those things, conservative members in the House will have been sold a bill of goods by their leaders. That’s bad enough, but what comes next may be even worse.
Through the elimination of the debt ceiling, even only through May 19, the American people now have no say on the amount of debt the government contracts. Why?
The periodic vote on the debt ceiling was the only real opportunity representatives had to affect some 60 percent of the $3.7 trillion budget that operates on autopilot, the so-called “mandatory” spending.
Without those votes, those programs will be financed automatically, adding to the debt without any congressional authorization. Therefore, the suspension of the debt ceiling actually represents a partial repeal of representative government.
It opens the floodgates for the U.S. Treasury to issue unlimited obligations until the debt ceiling is reinstated. What if the Treasury decides to start selling bonds to fund, say, the next ten years of Medicaid welfare expenses? Sure, a provision in the bill states that “An obligation shall not be taken… unless the issuance of such obligation was necessary to fund a commitment incurred by the Federal Government that required payment before May 19, 2013.” But what if Obama doesn’t see it that way?
After all, those expenses have already been authorized and can be actuarially projected going forward. Without any statutory limit on the national debt, now $16.4 trillion, what’s to stop such an unbridled issuance of new debt?
Even if the Obama Administration does not decide to stock up on debt to fund future obligations, now that it has been suspended, the debt ceiling may never be reinstated.
To complete Obama’s conquest, all the Senate needs to do come May 19 is again threaten default should the debt ceiling suspension not be indefinitely extended. By then, if House Republicans have failed to put the “Full Faith and Credit Act” in place — their only defense against Obama’s default threats — they would appear likely to fold under even the slightest pressure.
We all know what will happen — Harry Reid will demand an indefinite suspension, the House will boldly insist on no more than a two-year suspension, the final “compromise” will be a five year suspension and the GOP will proclaim victory! We have watched this sad drama so many times now a 5th grader could write the script.
Of course, at that point, House Republicans will have ceded their constitutional authority over fiscal matters to the executive, marking an end to representative government in any true sense.
Perhaps the only real advantage that may be gleaned from suspending the debt ceiling is that if and when the final collapse of resistance in the House comes — whether on the sequester, or betraying conservatives by not attaching a 10-year pathway to a balanced budget to the continuing resolution — there will be no hiding the vapid emptiness of the promises so solemnly made to the American people by “leaders” they had trusted to get control of the rogue federal government.
Bill Wilson is the President of Americans for Limited Government. You can follow Bill on Twitter at @BillWilsonALG. | <urn:uuid:3559ba39-aedf-482b-87f2-3554c466581e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://netrightdaily.com/2013/01/the-houses-pyrrhic-victory-on-the-debt-ceiling/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952252 | 1,108 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Before you even leave, make sure you check insurance coverage with your carrier and, particularly, whether or not you are covered while traveling abroad. Also, keep in mind that some insurance plans do not cover you if you’re more than 100 miles from home. If your coverage does not apply to where you might be traveling, it's probably a good idea to buy travel insurance that includes medical benefits. Know the protocol to use the benefits in advance.
http://www.InsureMyTrip.com, is an example of a website that allows consumers to compare travel-insurance rates. Travel insurance costs will vary by age, coverage limit, length and price of your trip.
So now you’re aware of your coverage and it’s time to get ready. First and most importantly, make sure you have all your insurance documents and information with you, including your prescription drug card. Complete the information page on the inside of your passport in case of emergency or if you aren’t travel abroad or don‘t have a passport, write out your information and emergency contacts and keep it with your documentation along with a concise list of your medications . Remember, those of you who take medications should pack enough to last the entire trip and then extra in case of travel delays.
For those that have a pre-existing medical condition, carry a letter from your primary care physician describing the condition and any prescription medications you are currently taking, including generic names for these drugs. Be sure to leave any medications you are taking with you outside of the United States in their original containers, clearly labeled. Some medications are considered to be illegal narcotics in foreign countries. You may want to check with the foreign embassy of the country you are visiting to be sure.
For more information and in severe cases, contact the nearest US embassy or consulate for a list of local physicians and medical facilities. If your illness is serious, consular officers can help you find medical assistance, and, if you desire, inform your family and/or friends. They can also assist in the transfer of funds from family or friends in the United States. Payment of hospital and other medical bills are the travelers' responsibility.
To be prepared for those minor incidents, bring the basics when you pack. I always bring a supply of medicine with me for headaches, coughs, colds, stomach disorders, along with band-aids, ointments and other first aid needs.
Just because you’re on vacation doesn’t mean you can’t take a day to relax and hopefully heal. Missing one day may be a lot better than missing out on your whole vacation. If you’re still not feeling well, there are several options for you to help aid in your recovery.
Your hotel front desk or concierge can help you in seeking a doctor or pharmacy nearby and possibly help you in transportation. Sometimes, if you're not sick enough to need a doctor, a pharmacist can suggest over-the-count medicines that can be helpful.
You may be able to find Mobile Physicians who actually visit you at your location. Just note that you may have to pay upfront for many of these “in-home” services and your insurance company may not reimburse you for all the expenses. However, if you have travel insurance, some of these expenses may be covered. A trip to an urgent care center or even an emergency room are also options.
Be sure to keep all the paperwork you receive so you are able to submit itemized bills for reimbursement to your health insurance provider.
Hopefully you will never need to use this information and your travels are safe and healthy, but at least you are prepared and have your resources ready! | <urn:uuid:e5a09f76-396d-4c7e-a239-dbeec6476e7a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.twigtravel.com/1/category/health/1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952083 | 759 | 1.6875 | 2 |
The Roberts lab is interested in exploring the use of aggregated cell cultures from both mammalian and plant sources. Optimizing the growth and functionality of these cell types to gain desired products is achieved by manipulating cell behavior using metabolic engineering, bioprocess engineering, and polymer science. Research in our laboratory focuses on two major topics discussed below: Engineering of Taxus Plant Cell Cultures and Engineering Mammalian Cell Microenvironments.
Engineering of Taxus Plant Cell Cultures
Development and optimization of plant cell culture processes for the supply of valuable plant-derived chemicals through the study of cellular aggregation and the development and application of both metabolic engineering approaches and flow cytometric methodologies. Plant cell culture technology impacts several important areas in bioprocessing, gene discovery, and human health. Specific applications include U.S. and world-wide supply of plant-derived therapeutics, platforms for metabolic engineering of novel natural products, propagation and genetic engineering of superior plant species, and identification of new plant biosynthetic pathways or regulatory genes. The goals of our research program center on development and implementation of novel tools in plant cell culture systems to both gain fundamental insight into plant biosynthesis and to directly influence the design and engineering of culture systems for commercial use.
Our primary system of study is Taxus suspension cell cultures for production of the secondary metabolite anti-cancer agent paclitaxel (Taxol™, Bristol-Myers Squibb). Results in this field of research broadly influence the metabolic engineering of non-model plants and more specifically a significant industrial process to supply a potent therapeutic agent for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
Metabolic Engineering of Taxus Cell Cultures
Genetic engineering of Taxus cells is essential to assess gene function and to evaluate the effectiveness of overexpression or silencing strategies on cell metabolism. Taxus is highly recalcitrant and resistant to genetic transformation. We developed the first methodology to enable transient transformation using particle bombardment technology. This technology is being applied in evaluation of putative transcription factors, shown to increase expression of taxane biosynthetic pathway genes in collaboration with Elsbeth Walker in the Biology Department at UMass Amherst. We provided the first evidence for taxane biosynthetic pathway regulation at the mRNA level that suggested two candidate biosynthetic genes for metabolic engineering.
To extend this work to a more system-wide analysis, we performed differential expression studies to identify genes that were upregulated in cultures that accumulate higher amounts of paclitaxel, including several putative novel pathway genes. In collaboration with Jennifer Normanly in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department at UMass Amherst, we are developing heterologous transformation systems (e.g., tobacco) to study the function of these genes.
Working with Joyce Van Eck at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, we are investigating Agrobacterium-mediated stable transformation of both Taxus callus and suspension cultures, which opens up a plethora of opportunities with regards to characterizing the cultures in response to overexpression or silencing of putative regulatory genes. This metabolic engineering work represents a significant future focus for our laboratory.
Aggregated Culture Heterogeneity
Techniques for Analysis of Plant Cell Cultures
Engineering Mammalian Cell Microenvironments
Understanding the role of physiological and mechanical properties on aggregated mammalian cell cultures grown within 3-dimensional biomaterials is the second major research thrust in the Roberts Lab. Recognizing the role of oxygen tension in tissue engineered constructs has lead to the investigation of synthetic oxygen carries (perfluorocarbons) in both 2- and 3-dimensional cell culture.
We have demonstrated enhanced oxygen transport and cell function using immobilized PFC oxygen vectors in hydrogel matrices for encapsulated cells. The use of synthetic PFC oxygen carriers and characterization of the mechanism behind increased oxygen transport is an important step in enabling the design of tissue engineering devices and in sustaining viability and functionality of large-scale devices. Our new technology has recently received a Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property Award to enable collection of in vivo data for wound healing applications Surita Bhatia in the Chemical Engineering Department at UMass Amherst.
We have also recently extended our strategies to focus on aggregated cell culture systems, such as the clinically relevant application of islet cell transplantation. To broaden the impact of this work, we are directing research towards the fundamental study of protein transport in hydrogels containing microemulsions and have recently shown that protein transport is influenced by composite hydrogels. To effectively design a functional encapsulation system the effects of additives must be taken into consideration when optimizing transport of specific proteins (e.g., insulin) within hydrogel matrices. Ongoing and future work is directed towards understanding the effect of inclusion of these additives on both small molecule and protein transport as well as matrix properties. A new collaboration with Kimberly Tremblay in the Veterinary and Animal Science Department at UMass Amherst and Alfred Crosby in the Polymer Science and Engineering Department at UMass Amherst will lead to further investigation of the role of matrix microstructure and extracellular environment on the growth and function of aggregated cell types in composite hydrogels. | <urn:uuid:8ef7e2c7-bff4-4d8c-89e8-a8ab48b43dc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.openwetware.org/index.php?title=Roberts:Research&oldid=542106 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910541 | 1,057 | 2 | 2 |
HARTFORD, Conn. - The Connecticut Supreme Court on Monday rejected state regulations barring banks from charging non-customers for using their automated teller machines.
The court ruled 5-2 that the law on which the ban was based was not drafted with ATMs in mind.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called the decision "a defeat for consumers" and said he would continue efforts to ban the charges.
The fees, typically ranging from $1 to $2, are levied on customers who use ATMs belonging to another bank. The decision does not affect the fees a customer's own bank might also charge for using another bank's ATM. The legality of those fees was never in question.
Connecticut was one of two states where the fees were banned. Iowa's ban remains in effect, but two surcharge bans recently approved in California cities are on hold while banks challenge the votes in court.
In banning the fees, Banking Commissioner John Burke relied on a 24-year-old law that prohibited banks from charging non-customers any fees.
But that law did not take ATMs into account, and the banks argued that the fee ban was a violation of their rights.
"No one, including our Legislature, could have foreseen at that time what the economic and competitive effects of ATMs would be," the justices wrote.
Fleet, based in Boston; and First Union, based in Charlotte, N.C.; challenged the Connecticut ban. The banks argued that the fees were necessary to support the costs of installing and maintaining the network of ATMs.
Jim Schepker, a spokesman for Fleet, said the bank would reintroduce its $1 "convenience fee" Jan. 3. First Union said it would begin assessing the $1 fee today.
Bob Doyle of New Britain said the ruling might force him to switch banks.
He questioned banks' claims that they need the fees to cover the costs of operating their ATM networks.
"They've eliminated tellers, so they're saving money there. There's no health benefits to pay to an ATM machine and no retirement," Doyle said.
Burke ordered the ban in October 1998. A U.S. District Court judge ruled in April that only the federal government could issue such a ban. But in June, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court decision stating that the issue was up to the states.
In California, the bans are on hold in San Francisco and Santa Monica while the courts consider the issue. In the meantime, fees collected there must be placed in an escrow account.
Amarillo Globe-News ©2013. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:17e9a567-7d47-406a-b72c-8a28e4b6beb1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amarillo.com/stories/1999/12/21/bus_court.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975734 | 544 | 1.632813 | 2 |
How do I update Google Chrome?
I'm having fun with Google Chrome but am wondering: how the heck do you get an update to it when there's a new version? Do you just wait until the social networks are abuzz, or does the program automatically check?
Your timing is splendid! As it happens, Google just this evening released an update to its barnstorming Google Chrome web browser and so I expect a lot of people will have this same question. With Windows you know that it automagically updates (assuming you have autoupdate turned on) but what about individual Windows applications?
A bit of digging reveals how this works in Chrome: the update subsystem is displayed as part of the About Google Chrome window, including an indication that there's a new version - if there is - and how to get it.
First, of course, like with anything else to do with Chrome, you have to figure out how to get there!
To find the "About Google Chrome" box, you need to click on the little wrench icon:
Then you probably would never notice this, but it actually checks for a new version back at Google central when this window launches. This time I caught it in the act:
A few moments later, the bottom portion changes to tell me what's going on:
Do I want to update? Uh, yeah! I click on "Update Now" and...
It took me a few minutes before it had finished downloading the new version of Google Chrome, but once it did, finally, I saw this:
I quit and restarted the browser, and now when I go to the About Google Chrome window, you'll notice the version and release numbers are updated:
Now I did this manually. I would be surprised if the browser didn't automatically check when you launched it next, so you can probably just ignore the update until it tells you to check it out. But if you're impatient or want to gain more control over the process, well, now you know how to do so!
Finally, if you haven't yet installed Google Chrome, you might want to check out my handy tutorial: How to download and install Google Chrome.
More Useful Windows PC Help Articles:
Let's stay in touch!
Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help
right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!
Reader Comments To Date: 35
Thanks for Tweeting this Dave, great info.
Great info about how to update Chrome - not easy to find out by yourself :) Cheers!
there are so many advantages and features with Chrome, such as it's speed, for example; now if only they would take care it's flighty cookie management...
i have no words for appreciations for the Google services and prompt action and reply from the Google Team. Who are always helpful to the customers. Being a retired senior citizen, i am utilizing free Google services because i am not in position to purchase the software. i am always thankful to the Google Team the services rendered to the poor people, senior citizen and to the students.
Once again lot of thanks to the Google Team and its services.thanks. ifhusain
Thanks for the useful information.
I have read one of ur article that really helped me while my first dynamic site.
Now i got a confusion and I wanna ask u
plz if you can help
what does this regular expression mean
"/]*href\s*=\s*[\��?‘]?([^\��?‘ >]+)[\��?‘ >]/isU"
plz if you can tell me in words
i will be v thankful
I wounder if there is any way to make costumizeable buttons and place them depending on needs. For instance adding new buttons. Also I miss having some more options to really make the browser personal.
I installed google chrome and found it faster and more user friendly, however after 3 weeks I have returned to IE8 due to
(1) pfd's will not download from the web
(2) an increasing number of non acess sites from AVG virus protection service
wonder if you know any information about Microsoft works word processor...
Basically when i scroll down the page it scrolls really fast and i need to know how to slow it down?
question 2 - I want to multiple highlight somethings for example ctrl + highlight but it wont let me?
questions 3 - on previous Microsoft word processors they have the ability to press the paint icon and then quickly duplicate the font and size onto another section?
Could you help me with any of these questions
Thank you for you time,
Thanks for a precise and to-the-point explanation. Only thing I would love to see here, is an updated picture of a later (latest?) version of Chrome, though I can also see the value of stating when this feature became available. If it's easier to add a text line stating the latest version, I guess that would be just as nice. Keep up the good work! :-)
I have installed Google Chrome and didnot choose the quick launch. But now i find it nice and how do i set the quick launch(without reinstallation)?
nice. thx realy sorted that out 4 me :)
i do have a question about the bookmark toolbar in chrome: can i have 2 lines instead of 1?
i have a lot of sites i visit reguarlly so i want 2 have 2 line at the top of the browser instead of 1.
I have Google Chrome on my Desktop. In the download screen there about three earlier downloaded scripts that would not go away even I clear all downloaded items. Every time I open the download screen I see my old 3 downloaded scripts that will come up again. Please help. Thanks
Hi Dave ,I have version one of the chrome and when i check "About google chrome" as u mentioned it says "update server not available"
This was awesome. I typed in Google "How do you updated Google Chrome" and there this was. Now I know how. It was actually a very easy thing that I could have discovered, if I wasn't too lazy, lol.
I like Google Chrome, but... what I don't like is the fact that when users on deviantART create their own skins or themes for it, they are only able to be installed by swapping the .dll file, and if the themes .dll file that they provide, isn't compatible with the version you have, then it won't work.
It shouldn't be tied to the version you have, that's unfair. Also I don't like the fact that Google won't let users make their own themes, and put them up on their site, instead they have celebrities, and artists the world already knows... which is not fair.
If there are ways to make themes not tie to the .dll file, and be able to work with any version, no problem - just one click install deal. Then I'd be happy.
how do i re-install live messanger?
google chrome not compatible with any capture software,example ashampoo snap not work capture
Good helpful tips if anybody would be interested in Farmville Walkthroughs check this out :) have a nice day ya'll.
I am go to about box for update
but there is no update button is available
the msg "update server not availabe (error 3)"
is displayed please help me
i am using first release of chrome
i want use full features of google chrome
thanks in advance
can i download google chrome 4 on my windows xp service pack 2? if yes tell me the downloading site.
plz help me!
BTW, Chrome tries to update itself behind the scenes using chrome_updater.exe, which seems not available on computer, and seems created temporarily intentionally for update process.
But the question, why ISN'T there any option to disable Google Chrome updates? Or couldn't i find it?
I'm not running Chrome on my PC at this point, but Onur, if you go into preferences and unselect "automatically check for updates", does that cause the chrome_updater.exe to not launch when the program is started up?
I always like google web browser,i think google is
best of web. browser.
thanks.. really help full..
Quick and clear information, thanks!
Google Chrome seems to still have problems streaming certain online games. Funnytowers.com is a game that seems to run error free exclusively, only on Internet Explorer. Now, I absolutely LOVE Google Chrome, and I recommend it to every one of my friends who is computer/internet savvy. But not being able to implement my favorite browser and my favorite internet game is disheartening to say the least. PLEASE fix it. I would love to make Google Chrome my only browser but I simply can't do it if I can't play my beloved Funny Towers game within Google Chrome.
Just what I needed. Although a few things have changed, this was perfect. Now it doesn't ask you if you want to upgrade, it just starts for you. In addition, there is now a relaunch button, to more easily restart the browser.
thanks for the information - a bit hard to find on your own....
while in China this winter Google Chrome & Firefox suddenly wouldn`t open.Firefor did,after a while,but not GCH.And,I cannot uninstall it,whatever I try.Any suggestions ?
A compuuterwise friend suggested it may be a virus.Norton 360 doesn`t find one,nor does Spybot
Search & Destroy.
I have downloaded Google Chrome for a specific Deviantart purpose called Muro. But for some inexplicable reason, i can no longer get on Deviantart, period. Whenever I try to get on Deviantart, it just says, " Google Chrome" stopped working, and then i have to exit out of the internet. And for any other site it is fine. What do I do?
hey dave i hv 1 prblm .....whn i click the äbout google chrome dn it ws writtn dt 'update servr nt availabel error :3 '..nw tll me hw 2 updt google chrm...plzzz
Thanks for showing me how to update Chrome.
I found no such update button when i did as directed (on the "About google Chrome"). I can't believe it worked for everybody else!
I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by
buying you a cup of coffee!||
Follow Me on Pinterest
Find Me on Google+
ADT on G+ | <urn:uuid:029aafbd-903a-4dff-93dd-4f4bf011c1a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_to_update_google_chrome.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922067 | 2,271 | 1.570313 | 2 |
8 Mistakes Small Business Owners make with their Bookkeeping
So proud and loud at the premier top spot has to be doing it all yourself, so then;
- Either you or your spouse/parnter doing it all yourself with no previous knowledge, although you were good at maths, so think that this will help you do it all correctly. Hang on though, didnt you start this business as you were good at doing something and could make some money from it? And was that bookkeeping? Think you get my point!
- So number two has to be buying things on your credit card or cash and forgetting to put them in the system – then sitting and trying to work out why your accounts cant be reconciled, which again is something that must be done on a regular basis so that you know what is in the business and what is not.
- Number three – Employees – ok so they only worked for me for three weeks, I don’t need to bother with paperwork etc do I? WRONG, keeping accurate records means keeping HMRC off your back – do it!!
- Ok, so half way through then, number four – bank reconciliation – how many understand what this means? How many understand the importance of it? I rest my case milord!
- Backup sits at number five – do you keep backups of all your records? Does it cross your mind that if something was to happen, do you really want to sit at your machine for three days solid, inputting the information all over again – I mean it took you long enough last time to understand where everything went – do you think you will remember? So backups backups and more backups!
- Number six – yep nearly at the end now – bank accounts – do you have one for the business and one for you? No??!!! Heck, do you really want to have to provide the Revenue with explanations and copies of all the major purchases you have done personally, but show up on the account as you decided there was no harm in using your personal account – good luck!!
- Penultimate one then has to be VAT – oopps, sorry did I swear then?? Are you on the right scheme for your business (at this point some glaze over as they aint got the foggiest that there were different schemes), do you understand what you can and cant claim for? The last one alone is a good enough reason to get someone else to do it for you.
- Ok, so finally then, yep we made it to number eight – losing paperwork …. arrrggghhh I hear cries of, ring any bells? Yep HMRC to be polite, request (ok more order really) that you keep all your reeipts and statements and anything basically that moves for a minimum of six years – yep, six years of boxes full of paper that can stretch to many boxes, oh and don’t go and store them where the mice live – they like tearing up pieces of paper and having babies in them – there is a simple solution to this though – did you know that the Rev will allow you to store it all electronically now?
Ok so here comes the shameless plug then – well you knew it was coming – www.ftzaccounts.co.uk are mighty fine bookkeepers or if you are merely looking to get your receipts scanned in and formatted in a pdf and excel spreadsheet, might I recommend www.shoeboxaccounting.co.uk and on that cheerful note, I will leave you to ponder on why you didnt think of these! | <urn:uuid:30bc1a57-52af-4e8c-ac6d-fd27e6558f08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newbranch.co.uk/index.php/finance/8-mistakes-small-business-owners-make-with-their-bookkeeping/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972742 | 732 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Travel is no longer a novelty; it’s part of the Australian way of life. The average Australian travels interstate by air once every nine months and overseas every three years.
It’s big business. What’s more, travel is a fast-growing business, even when most of the world economy is sluggish or in recession, as it is now. And it’s the technology companies that are cashing in.
After the initial flourish of great technological ideas like Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook, the industry has begun to consolidate as IT companies buy other companies to strengthen their market position.
For example, online travel booker Expedia.com has bought TripAdvisor and Google has achieved global domination of the advertising business after proving itself the cleverest online search engine and watching its competitors fall away.
As part of its mission to take over the world, Google has targeted the travel industry for growth and, in its latest flourish, has bought the well-established travel guidebook company, Frommers.
However, Google’s position has become so powerful that state jurisdictions have struggled to evolve rules that can successfully regulate such multi-national behemoths.
The US government has clashed with Google repeatedly in the past five years as it has bought up advertising interests and, in April last year, imposed a series of conditions on Google’s $US676 million purchase of airline fare tracker ITA Software, which is undepinning its expansion into the travel business.
The US Justice Department required Google to license the ITA technology to other companies on reasonable terms until 2016. The government said it would also monitor Google to ensure it did not engage in anti-competitive behaviour in the travel data industry.
Microsoft, Kayak.com, Expedia and other Google competitors had banded together under the banner FairSearch.org to oppose the acquisition of ITA, whose software provides data for online travel sites such as Orbitz. They said the deal would reduce competition.
Technology companies will be even more inter-connected with the whole travel experience following the rolling out of tablets – miniaturised hand-held home computers – in the past year to deliver in-flight entertainment on board passenger aircraft.
One of the features of this technological revolution is vertical integration of the platforms in the same way that Apple has attempted to lock in its customers to its own branded products from home computers to smartphones.
Google, for example, having achieved dominance of the search engine industry, can now control and monetise what you are shown when you think you are calling up a straightforward directory of the most searched-for keywords on the internet.
But what you are not shown can be just as important. For example, when you use the US-based Orbitz to locate the cheapest available airfares on any given route, you are not shown results for airlines that don’t pay commissions to Orbitz or other companies in the Orbitz supply chain.
If you’re travelling in America, that means you are not seeing results for the country’s biggest domestic airline, Southwest, which only deals direct with its customers and does not pay commissions to “middle men”. That’s one of the reasons its fares are low.
The power of the internet itself makes it easier than ever to find out exactly “who’s up who” in the system that’s selling you an airline ticket and to locate the cheapest travel deals. But it’s still a bewilderingly complex industry that a casual buyer can’t be expected to understand.
That’s why travel sellers like Webjet, which promise to take all the worry out of travel buying in exchange for a substantial fee, are prospering even though you can “do it yourself” much more cheaply.
Who are the people and the websites that you absolutely trust in purchasing travel? Are there sellers that you swear by or others that you’ll absolutely never use? | <urn:uuid:1c03bb7a-0c6a-4619-a3a0-0b3cebd0980d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bunburymail.com.au/story/233875/travellers-beware-tech-companies-want-your-dollars/?cs=34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952468 | 818 | 1.796875 | 2 |
You are here:
Mapping and visualization
The features on a map reference the actual locations of the objects they represent in the real world. The positions of objects on the earth's spherical surface are measured in . While latitude and longitude can locate exact positions on the surface of the earth, they are not uniform units of measure; only along the equator does the distance represented by one degree of longitude approximate the distance represented by one degree of latitude. To overcome measurement difficulties, data is often transformed from three-dimensional geographic coordinates to two-dimensional .
Learn how to specify a coordinate system in ArcMap
Because the earth is round and maps are flat, getting information from a curved surface to a flat one involves a mathematical formula called a , or simply a projection.
This process of flattening the earth will cause distortions in one or more of the following spatial properties:
No projection can preserve all these properties; as a result, all flat maps are distorted to some degree. Fortunately, you can choose from many different map projections. Each is distinguished by its suitability for representing a particular portion and amount of the earth's surface and by its ability to preserve distance, area, shape, or direction. Some map projections minimize distortion in one property at the expense of another, while others strive to balance the overall distortion. As a mapmaker, you can decide which properties are most important and choose a projection that suits your needs.
Learn more about map projections
Do you need to display your data with a projected coordinate system?
If your spatial data references locations with latitude and longitude—for example, decimal degrees—you can still display it on your map. ArcMap draws the data by simply treating the latitude-longitude coordinates as planar x,y coordinates. If your map doesn't require a high level of locational accuracy—you won't be performing queries based on location and distance, or you just want to make a quick map—you might decide not to transform your data to a projected coordinate system. If, however, you need to make precise measurements on your map, you should choose a projected coordinate system.
Reasons for using a projected coordinate system
The following are some reasons for using a projected coordinate system:
What type of map projection should you choose?
- You want to make accurate measurements from your map and be sure that the spatial analysis options you use in ArcMap calculate distance correctly. Latitude-longitude is a good system for storing spatial data but not as good for viewing, querying, or analyzing maps. Degrees of latitude and longitude are not consistent units of measure for area, shape, distance, and direction.
- You are making a map in which you want to preserve one or more of these properties: area, shape, distance, and direction.
- You are making a small-scale map such as a national or world map. With a small-scale map, your choice of map projection determines the overall appearance of the map. For example, with some projections, lines of latitude and longitude will appear curved; with others, they will appear straight.
- Your organization mandates using a particular projected coordinate system for all maps.
Here are a few things to consider when choosing a :
- Which spatial properties do you want to preserve?
- Where is the area you're mapping? Is your data in a polar region? An equatorial region?
- What shape is the area you're mapping? Is it square? Is it wider in the east–west direction?
- How big is the area you're mapping? On large-scale maps, such as street maps, distortion may be negligible because your map covers only a small part of the earth's surface. On small-scale maps, where a small distance on the map represents a considerable distance on the earth, distortion may have a bigger impact, especially if you use your map to compare or measure shape, area, or distance.
Answering these questions will determine what map projection and projected coordinate system you'll want to use to display your data.
Map projection classifications
Map projections can be generally classified according to what spatial attribute they preserve.
Learn more about map projections
Equal area projections preserve area. Many thematic maps use an equal area projection. Maps of the United States commonly use the Albers Equal Area Conic projection.
Conformal projections preserve shape and are useful for navigational charts and weather maps. Shape is preserved for small areas, but the shape of a large area, such as a continent, will be significantly distorted. The Lambert Conformal Conic and Mercator projections are common conformal projections.
Equidistant projections preserve distances, but no projection can preserve distances from all points to all other points. Instead, distance can be held true from one point (or a few points) to all other points or along all meridians or parallels. If you will be using your map to find features that are within a certain distance of other features, you should use an equidistant map projection.
Azimuthal projections preserve direction from one point to all other points. This quality can be combined with equal area, conformal, and equidistant projections, as in the Lambert Equal Area Azimuthal and the Azimuthal Equidistant projections.
- Other projections minimize overall distortion but don't preserve any of the four spatial properties of area, shape, distance, and direction. The Robinson projection, for example, is neither equal area nor conformal but is aesthetically pleasing and useful for general mapping. | <urn:uuid:f892150e-454b-4d81-acc6-c9832ec07edc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.3/body.cfm?tocVisable=1&ID=204&TopicName=About%20coordinate%20systems%20and%20map%20projections | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904241 | 1,137 | 4.125 | 4 |
Getting Started: Pick your device
Basic instructions for getting started with digital content
There are a wide range of devices that patrons can use to read eBooks and listen to audiobooks with. If you have questions, we have listed some general answers to help get you started with OverDrive. If you need more detailed assistance, the library recommends that you visit My Help or the help option both located on the OverDrive website or visit the website of your eReader manufacturer for technical assistance. Help is also available in person at any Randolph County Public Library branch or by calling the Reference Desk at 318-6803 to set up an appointment with library staff.
How to Check Out
In order to check out an ebook you will need a valid library card and PIN number.
There is 21, 14, or 7 day lending on all items. You may return ebooks before lending period ends. You can have 3 ebooks checked out at one time.
If an ebook you want is checked out, you can place it on hold. You may place up to 3 holds on unavailable items. When you receive email notification, you will have 3 days to download the ebook.
Step by Step Ebook Instructions
Need help selecting an ereader or tablet? Check out these helpful articles. | <urn:uuid:aa4b8e56-918a-431a-a168-ed00f9b72ed6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.randolphlibrary.org/ebookhelp.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929734 | 259 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Malathion Pesticide Exposure and Its Effects
Attention and behavior disorders are some of the most common conditions among young children, and some of the most concerning for parents. Researchers have long been looking for causes of these types of conditions, and while heredity and chemical imbalances are commonly thought to be causes, exposure to malathion pesticide is also showing to be a possible source.
Pesticides called organophosphates, which include parathion and malathion pesticide chemicals, have been shown to be a possible link in the development of attention difficulties in children who are exposed to the toxins. While it is one of the lesser potent pesticides that have been included in the study, the prevalence of the use of malathion pesticides make exposure to the substance very easy.
The malathion pesticide is used in the treatment of fruits, vegetables, cotton, landscaping, public pests, recreation areas such as playgrounds, and much more. In order to help keep exposure to malathion pesticide to a minimum, many people choose to:
- Wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before eating
- Cook foods completely
- Wash new clothing before wearing
- Constantly wash hands, especially when out in public areas
- Avoid touching the face or mouth, as well as foods, with dirty hands
If your child is displaying symptoms of attention or behavioral problems, and you suspect it may be caused by over exposure to malathion pesticide, contact your physician. He or she may be able to help properly diagnose the condition and help you create a plan to manage the condition. | <urn:uuid:be57330f-ae78-45e5-a3c8-b4a79873cc6f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vaxa.com/malathion-pesticide-adhd.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959468 | 324 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Puppy Grooming is generally thought of as professional haircuts performed by a licensed groomer. Depending on the breed your puppy is, this may be applicable. But, for many dogs, a professional grooming isnít necessary. To me, grooming means everything from brushing hair and teeth, to bathing, to clipping nails.
Brushing Your Puppy's Coat
Brushing Puppy Teeth
Clipping Puppy Nails
Bathing Your Puppy
Special grooming needs?
If you have a breed that will require professional grooming, ask around to find a reputable groomer. Get recommendations from friends or vets who have personally used the groomer for their dog and can vouch that they do a nice job and treat the dogs well. Go visit the grooming facility and check out the work environment. A reputable groomer will have no hesitation to show you their facility and answer any questions you have.
You can also purchase books that can guide you in grooming your puppy yourself, but it is usually a good idea to have them groomed the first time by a professional so you will have a guideline to follow as the puppyís coat grows out.
Need grooming products? Click here | <urn:uuid:9acebce5-52a2-424f-a282-10612e37c699> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dogclassonline.com/puppy-health/grooming.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938517 | 241 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Filed under: Men's Health
Male hypogonadism is a condition in which the body doesn't produce enough testosterone, the hormone that plays a key role in masculine growth and development during puberty.
You may be born with male hypogonadism, or it can develop later in life from injury or infection. The effects — and what you can do about them — depend on the cause and at what point in your life male hypogonadism occurs. Some types of male hypogonadism can be treated with testosterone replacement therapy.
Want to know more about this article or other health related issues? Ask your question and we'll post some each week for CNN.com reader to discuss or for our experts to weight in.
|Most Viewed||Most Emailed||Top Searches| | <urn:uuid:fca5ab88-1248-4b73-9166-c18ef8a2d6cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/male-hypogonadism/DS00300.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954643 | 167 | 2.890625 | 3 |
THE NSW Education Minister, Adrian Piccoli, is planning to make bold changes to the way school teachers are trained, supported in the job, and managed out of it to lift teacher quality and improve learning outcomes.
Mr Piccoli wants to look at how underperforming teachers can be removed from classrooms as one element of a comprehensive review of how best to improve the quality of teaching in all schools in NSW.
''You've got to have a transparent, fair and fast process for removing teachers if you want to guard your standards,'' he said.
The minister and his director-general, Michele Bruniges, are clearly frustrated at the present process for removing under-performing teachers. Mr Piccoli said it was important for the profession's integrity.
He hopes to work with Catholic and independent schools, universities and teacher unions on the review process.
While it is still a discussion paper built around a series of provocative questions, the review's outline highlights a number of incendiary issues. In the minister's sights are universities that are churning out too many graduates and whose staff may lack recent teaching experience, and mid-career teachers who perhaps should be forced to continue learning to keep their jobs.
''We're eager to make bold changes even if we upset individuals or organisations along the way,'' Mr Piccoli said.
''This really is the key to education reform. Nothing is off the table.''
The review signals the possibility of a minimum university entry score for aspiring teachers and perhaps offering education only as a postgraduate course. It highlights concerns that some students enter university to become teachers with a tertiary admission ranking as low as 40.
At present 5500 teachers a year graduate from NSW universities but the Education Department employs only 300-500 new graduates in permanent positions.
The review will consider placing a limit on the number of university student teaching placements it offers each year to encourage universities to cut their numbers.
The review will focus on better supporting graduates - many of whom work, without clear supervision, as casuals in schools and classrooms - when they enter the profession.
Existing teachers are also to be questioned about their learning and whether they should have to demonstrate that they have kept their skills, knowledge and teaching practice up to date to be able to continue teaching.
The review paper was welcomed by Peter Aubusson, the president of the NSW Council of
Deans of Education, and Maurie Mulheron, the president of the NSW Teachers Federation.
Associate Professor Aubusson conceded that universities needed to look at the tertiary admission rankings of teaching entrants and said it was vital to manage better the transition of graduates into the profession.
Mr Mulheron said it was in the interests of the profession to protect standards but he warned that while disputes about staffing and resources remained unresolved, the minister would struggle to win the goodwill of the profession.
The executive director of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Sydney, Dan White, said schools in Sydney had invested in training for teacher mentors to support new graduates.
''We believe 99 per cent of teachers are very competent and capable practitioners but it is critically important there are standards that manage under-performance and that principals and employing authorities have courageous conversations to ensure there is a quality teacher in front of every classroom,'' Dr White said.
Correction: The original version of this story should have said the NSW Education Department employs 300-500, not 3500, new graduates in permanent positions each year. | <urn:uuid:e1730e20-e261-43b2-a089-8228ae826a6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/152766/minister-targets-inadequate-teachers-to-improve-classroom-standards/?cs=25 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966667 | 704 | 1.65625 | 2 |
LARGE, placid mulleins, as summer advances, velvety in texture, of a light greenish-drab color, growing everywhere in the fieldsat first earths big rosettes in their broad-leavd low clusterplants, eight, ten, twenty leaves to a plantplentiful on the fallow twenty-acre lot, at the end of the lane, and especially by the ridge-sides of the fencesthen close to the ground, but soon springing upleaves as broad as my hand, and the lower ones twice as longso fresh and dewy in the morningstalks now four or five, even seven or eight feet high. The farmers, I find, think the mullein a mean unworthy weed, but I have grown to a fondness for it. Every object has its lesson, enclosing the suggestion of everything elseand lately I sometimes think all is concentrated for me in these hardy, yellow-flowerd weeds. As I come down the lane early in the morning, I pause before their soft wool-like fleece and stem and broad leaves. glittering with countless diamonds. Annually for three summers now, they and I have silently returnd together; at such long intervals I stand or sit among them, musingand woven with the rest, of so many hours and moods of partial rehabilitationof my sane or sick spirit, here as near at peace as it can be. | <urn:uuid:a3542a9a-c9a3-4d44-b9af-0491bad72451> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bartleby.com/229/1131.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959335 | 300 | 1.632813 | 2 |
The following procedures were developed from previous National Weather Service procedures and input from a broad array of expertise from climatologists, snow specialists, weather observers, and data users. Some of the materials have been extracted from "The Snow Booklet" by Nolan J. Doesken and Arthur Judson, CSU, 1996).
It is essential for all observers to understand the importance of taking standard measurements in the prescribed consistent manner. Inconsistent observing and reporting methods result in incompatible data which can result in profoundly incorrect differences between stations and observers.
Each season before the first snows come: Review these instructions for measuring snow. It is easy to forget what needs to be measured, especially in those parts of the country where snow falls infrequently.
Observers should determine three values when reporting solid precipitation. They are:
Measure and record the greatest amount of snowfall that has accumulated on your snowboard (wooden deck or ground if board is not available) since the previous snowfall observation. This measurement should be taken minimally once-a-day (but can be taken up to four times a day, see note below) and should reflect the greatest accumulation of new snow observed (in inches and tenths, for example, 3.9 inches) since the last snowfall observation. If you are not available to watch snow accumulation at all times of the day and night, use your best estimate, based on a measurement of snowfall at the scheduled time of observation along with knowledge of what took place during the past 24 hours. If you are not present to witness the greatest snow accumulation, input may be obtained from other people who were near the station during the snow event. If your observation is not based on a measurement, record in your remarks that the "snow amount based on estimate".
Remember, you want to report the greatest accumulation since the last observation. If snowfall occurred several times during the period, and each snowfall melted either completely or in part before the next snowfall, record the total of the greatest snowdepths of each event and enter in your remarks "snowfall melted during the OBS period". For example, three separate snow squalls affect your station during your 24 hour reporting day, say 3.0, 2.2, and 1.5 inches. The snow from each event melts off before the next accumulation and no snow is on the ground at your scheduled time of observation. The total snowfall for that reporting 24-hour day is the sum of the three separate snow squalls, 6.7 inches, even though the snow depth on your board at observation time was zero. Snow often melts as it lands. If snow continually melts as it lands, and the accumulation never reaches 0.1 inches on your measuring surface, snowfall should be recorded as a trace (T) and record in your remarks that the "snow melted as it landed".
It is essential to measure snowfall (and snow depth) in locations where the effects of blowing and drifting are minimized. Finding a good location where snow accumulates uniformly simplifies all other aspects of the observation and reduces the numerous opportunities for error. In open areas where windblown snow cannot be avoided, several measurements may often be necessary to obtain an average depth and they should not include the largest drifts. In heavily forested locations, try and find an exposed clearing in the trees. Measurements beneath trees are inaccurate since large amounts of snow can accumulate on trees and never reach the ground.
If your daily schedule permits, you may wish to make a snowfall observation every 6-hours, beginning with your regularly scheduled time of observation. This is the procedure followed by NOAA's National Weather Service Forecast Offices. Follow the same rules for a once-a-day observation, but the snow accumulation reported will be the greatest for the previous six hours instead of 24 hours. If you take your observations at this frequency, make sure that you clear your snowboard (or other measuring surface) no more than once every 6 hours. Record the frequency of observations during the day in the comments section of your report. Never sum more than four, six-hourly observations to determine your 24 hour snowfall total. If you use more than four observations, it would falsely increase snowfall totals.
Freezing rain (glaze ice) should never be reported as snowfall. This precipitation type is liquid precipitation and should be reported as such.
Report snow depth to the nearest whole inch, rounding up when one-half inch increments are reached (example 0.4 inches gets reported as a trace (T), 3.5 inches gets reported as 4 inches). Frequently, in hilly or mountainous terrain, you will be faced with the situation where no snow is observed on south-facing slopes while snow, possibly deep, remains in shaded or north-facing areas. Under these circumstances, you should use good judgement to visually average and then measure snow depths in exposed areas within several hundred yards surrounding the weather
station. For example, if half the exposed ground is bare and half is covered with six inches of snow, the snow depth should be entered as the average of the two readings, or three inches. When in your judgement, less than 50% of the exposed ground is covered by snow, even though the covered areas have a significant depth, the snow depth should be recorded as a trace (T). When no snow or ice is on the ground in exposed areas (snow may be present in surrounding forested or otherwise protected areas), record a "0".
When strong winds have blown the snow, take several measurements where the snow was least affected by drifting and average them. If most exposed areas are either blown free of snow while others have drifts, again try to combine visual averaging with measurements to make your estimate.
If you added warm water to the gauge to melt the snow, make sure you accurately measure the amount of warm water added before pouring it into the gauge. Then, when you take your liquid measurement, subtract the amount of warm water added from the total liquid measurement to get your final liquid water equivalent of the snowfall.
As winds increase, gauges collect less and less of the precipitation that actually falls. Generally speaking, the stronger the wind and the drier the snow, the less is captured in the gauge. If you notice that less snow is in the gauge than accumulated on the ground, you should first empty any existing snow from inside the 8-inch cylinder, then use it to take a snow sample, sometimes referred to as "take a core" or "cut a biscuit" from your snow board with the 8-inch overflow can. Melt the biscuit of snow, pour the liquid into the small measuring tube to measure the water equivalent. | <urn:uuid:8723c4e8-4903-4f73-ad85-ce0d92d72dc1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grr/coop/howto/measuresnow/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949316 | 1,370 | 3.375 | 3 |
Exactly who are the folks funneling unlimited amounts of money into the coffers of political candidates? We are set to find out who is giving loads of cash to Super PACs on the same day that Floridians and Oregonians are heading to voting booths. In Florida, today is the state’s primary elections, while Oregon’s 1st Congressional District holds a special election to fill the seat vacated by David Wu.
The most common question surrounding Super PACs seems to be, “What are they?”. The answer leaves many with quizzical expressions and a cloud of confusion in the air. This is due to the convoluted legal language that is involved with their formation and operation.
For this legal language – and how to get around it – we will look at one of the most talked about Super PACs this year would be that of Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert – named “AMERICANS FOR A BETTER TOMORROW, TOMORROW“. Colbert (pronounced “Coal-Bear”) formed his own Super PAC, and has since highlighted the loopholes and fallacies of the legal structure of them. Below is a video of Stephen Colbert talking on ABC’s “This Week” pointing out the silliness of the Super PAC structure while being a “candidate”:
And yet another great interview that shows that contradictory nature of the Super PAC legalities:
See? This is a twisted system with an even more twisted structure. This page on the FEC website provides some information, and a list of registered Super PACs.
When the Super PACs release their list of donors Tuesday, we will see who is donating unlimited amounts of money to the 2012 political process.
—Rich Mitchell is the Sr. Managing Editor of Conservative Daily News. His posts may contain opinions that are his own and are not necessarily shared by Anomalous Media, CDN, staff or .. much of anyone else. Find him on twitter, facebook and google+ | <urn:uuid:4643cec5-e3ff-43ce-9e2a-8e42bb8ec3b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/01/what-are-super-pacs-why-are-they-releasing-their-donor-list/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957862 | 410 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Posted by Laura W on January 07, 1998 at 17:11:36:
In response to Fox Follow-Up, written by Woodhouse on January 07, 1998 at 08:44:39
] The Charles Fox story is a good example. Can you tell me how he came to have the surname Fox? Was it Lord Holland's family name? Lady Holland's first husband's name? Her maiden name?
Fox is the family name of the Hollands, and also of the Earls of Ilchester. A very famous member of the family was Charles James Fox, who was the younger son of the 1st Baron Holland.
Lady Holland (wife of the 3rd Lord Holland) was born Elizabeth Vassall, and was the daughter of a wealthy Jamaica plantation owner. Her first husband was Sir Godfrey Webster, by whom she had a couple of children. She ran off with Lord Holland, whom she met in Italy while he was on an extended Grand Tour. They lived together for some time and had their first son, Charles, before her divorce was final and they could marry.
The first Lady Holland was born Lady Caroline Lennox, eldest daughter of the 2nd Duke of Richmond. She eloped with Henry Fox, then merely a politician, and it was several years before her parents forgave her. She was a great-granddaughter of Charles II and had definitely married beneath herself. Curiously, later Lady Caroline was created Baroness Holland in 1761, with a remedy to her children by her husband, Henry Fox. Fox was then created Baron Holland of Foxley in 1762.
The 1st Earl of Ilchester was Henry Fox's older brother, Stephen Fox. Holland House eventually ended up in the hands of his descendants when the Holland line ran out.
Posting followups to old messages is disabled; instead go to the main index and post a new message which mentions this one. | <urn:uuid:eeb23880-3808-4b81-93c9-6baa585e198d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pemberley.com/pemb/adaptations/regency/archive/messages/2163.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989892 | 389 | 2.375 | 2 |
May's jobless report; frankly, it stinks
By Dale McFeatters
There's no way to put a happy face on the May jobs report: It stinks.
The unemployment rate rose from 8.1 percent to 8.2 percent, ending an 11-month run when the rate was dropping, You can argue ― and the White House will ― that the increase in the unemployment rate was because so many Americans, 642,000 of us, tried to reenter the workforce.
Statistically, that's true but of little comfort to the 12.7 million still unemployed, a number that rose by 220,000.
The grimmer number is that last month the economy created only 69,000 jobs, the fewest in a year, and to make it even worse, the government revised downward by 49,000 jobs the number of jobs created in the previous two months.
To begin returning to robust employment, we need to return to the levels of January through March, when jobs were being created at the rate of 226,000 a month.
Construction, a bellwether industry, lost 28,000 jobs while manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, education and health-care all added jobs; governments, the hospitality and leisure industry and professional services all shed jobs.
On its White House blog the Obama administration said the unemployment figures should be considered in the context of other, more positive economic trends, which is how economists would regard them but is of little comfort to someone who can't find a job. The blog had a list of job-creating initiatives the White House had sent to Congress but that the lawmakers had failed to act on. Again, small comfort to the jobless.
Mitt Romney called the May figures "devastating" and again touted his background in private business but without saying how, specifically, that would result in more jobs.
The unemployment figure is perhaps our most politically sensitive statistic, and May's number was clearly bad news for the White House, but the U.S. economy is so massive the politicians can only affect it at the margins unless they almost willfully drive it off a cliff, as could happen this coming Jan. 1 if tax and spending issues are not resolved.
Even then there are significant external forces outside their control: major defaults in Europe, a partial collapse of the eurozone and a slowing economy in China, to name a few.
The key question is whether May's numbers are only a bump in the road or the start of a longer-term trend. Let's hope it's merely a statistical pothole.
Dale McFeatters is an editorial writer for4 Scripps Howard News Service (www.scrippsnews.com). | <urn:uuid:7803bcef-f4c0-4e5f-851a-7197831605d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2012/07/137_112335.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960684 | 555 | 1.851563 | 2 |
Examining Athletic “Potential” and the Relation to Athletic Success
I often have parents tell me about their son or daughter’s mental toughness and athletic potential, and how great their child is when competing in practice or other non-game, low pressure situations. While it is always nice to hear a parent proudly talk of their child’s potential, it is also important to note that potential is just that — potential. In other words, what really matters is the child’s ability to turn potential into real, tangible, athletic results!
One sport psychology quote I have always liked as it applies to potential is “you are what your record says you are.” Athletes are judged by what they actually do and how they perform in games, and not the abilities they can display by chance on rare occasion, or in non-pressure situations. While potential is a nice talking point, it is often the end point for many people as they hang onto potential as a defense mechanism to help with the anxiety associated with seeing potential stop short of actually turning into regular, successful athletic behaviors and movements.
The message here today is not to dismiss potential, but to instead prompt sports parents to try and quickly move beyond the word “potential” and instead evaluate real-life results. Unfortunately, many sports parents tend to hang onto athletic potential for too long, using it as a way of denying the reality of a situation. Trust me, after working with sports parents for over 20 years, nearly every parent sees their child’s “potential,” and most also base this on seeing moments of excellence in practice or some other low-pressure situation. While this is nice, keep in mind the “jump” from doing something in a non-threatening, backyard situation to a real-life game situation is a huge mental toughness leap for many kids – one that is much more challenging than what meets the eye. Remember, anxiety (something commonly experienced in sports) can dramatically hinder athletic potential from developing, thereby thwarting potential in its tracks.
Again, potential is a nice thing to talk about, and it can sometimes be used to help a child with focus, motivation, and confidence development. The key is to identify and discuss potential, but then move on quickly and base your judgements and opinions on real-life results whenever possible. Keeping a level head and rational thinking will allow you to better help your child in many ways, perhaps most importantly with respect to your personal expectations and the decisions you will make around future level of competition in the leagues you choose (i.e. travel vs. recreational). We all see our loved ones in biased ways, and it’s very normal to see athletic “potential” in your child that might be very different than what others see. Keep cheering and support your young athlete, but try to watch him or her objectively, too.
Peak performance products to help with confidence, focus, and anxiety reduction – only at Advanced Human Performance Systems!
Powered by Facebook Comments
Dr. Chris Stankovich is a Professional Athletic Counselor and Sport Performance Scientist and studies the psychosocial variables impacting human performance and success. He is the author of 5 books and has had his work featured in numerous national media outlets, including USA Today and ABC World News. Dr. Stankovich is known as "The Sports Doc" for his regular television feature on Ohio News Network and NBC 4 Columbus (OH). For more information on peak performance products, speaking engagements, training seminars, and free education downloads, please visit http://www.drstankovich.com. | <urn:uuid:84a2c7f6-3d64-44f4-92d9-b2bf616c1d58> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.drstankovich.com/examining-athletic-potential-and-the-relation-to-athletic-success/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964642 | 744 | 2.28125 | 2 |
MP fears remote airstrips a health risk
The Dignity for Disability MP, Kelly Vincent, says the poor condition of airstrips in the APY Lands makes medical access to the isolated region even more difficult.
Ms Vincent says there is confusion as to who should be maintaining the strips since the South Australian Government's 12-month contract ran out in June.
A Government spokeswoman says the Federal Government funds maintenance but the strips are managed through a local corporation.
Ms Vincent says the airstrips have not been maintained for several months.
"This has actually led to at least one acute patient waiting two hours to land and having to land at a different airstrip because the airstrip he was originally going to land at was not safe," she said.
She says this can have repercussions for people with serious medical conditions.
"So this is something as basic as maintenance of an airstrip, which is basically some graded dirt, that is really impacting on their lives and imposing a great risk to people's health," she said. | <urn:uuid:9f1a0f91-82d3-4311-8dc0-ac19f9b6f53c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-17/mp-fears-remote-airstrips-a-health-risk/4318038 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985593 | 210 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Happy Pi Day!
March 14 -- a.k.a. 3.14 -- has become a day to appreciate the wonders of pi. This mathematical constant describes the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s also handy for calculating a circle’s area, along with plenty of other uses in the fields of trigonometry, physics, statistics, cosmology and fluid dynamics, to name just a few.
Humans have been contemplating pi for nearly 4,000 years. The ancient Babylonians figured out that pi’s value was roughly 3 as far back as 1900 BC. The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes figured out that pi was slightly bigger than 22/7. Today, it is commonly taught in schools as 3.14, though enthusiasts can take the number out to as many decimal places as they’d like. So far, computers have calculated 10 trillion digits.
Larry Shaw, a physicist at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco, is credited with creating Pi Day in 1988. This year, the museum will host a Pi Parade and serve pie to visitors (in years past, they’ve had pizzas). Pi partisans who can’t be there in person may participate virtually through Second Life.
In my book, the No. 1 way to mark the day is with a slice of cherry pie a la mode. But there are slightly more cerebral ways to celebrate, including:
* Search for your birthday -- or Social Security number or ZIP Code -- among the first 200 million digits of pi. (My own birth date appeared twice.) A search engine can look for any number up to 120 digits long.
* Calculate pi on your iPhone or iPad. Yes, there’s an app for that -- and it’s free. In 1949, it took the ENIAC, the world’s first electronic computer, an entire 70 hours to calculate pi out to 2,037 digits. Now your can do it on a device that fits in your pocket.
* Send an e-card. There are several to choose from here.
* Watch this three-minute, 14-second video of a very patient soul who built a huge pi out of dominoes.
* Appreciate this sight gag. It’s not quite a palindrome, but if you take the number 3.14 and hold it up to a mirror, you might be surprised by what you’ll see.
* Find out if you got into MIT. The admissions office posts its decisions on freshman applicants on Pi Day. If you think this is cool, this is the school for you. (Pi also makes an appearance in one of MIT’s cheers: “... Cosine, secant, tangent, sine/ 3.14159 ...”)
By the way, March 14 is also Albert Einstein’s birthday -- he would have been 134 years old today.
Return to the Science Now blog. | <urn:uuid:1cedf7e6-0e97-44a5-8383-bfd102926b70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portlandscw32.com/news/nationworld/la-sci-sn-pi-day-today-20130314,0,7559656.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936812 | 621 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Canola oil increases in polyunsaturated fatty acids and decreases in oleic acid in drought-stressed Mediterranean-type environments
Aslam, M.N., Nelson, M.N., Kailis, S.G., Bayliss, K.L., Speijers, J. and Cowling, W.A. (2009) Canola oil increases in polyunsaturated fatty acids and decreases in oleic acid in drought-stressed Mediterranean-type environments. Plant Breeding, 128 (4). pp. 348-355.
*Subscription may be required
Seed fatty acid (FA) composition, oil and protein (meal) was assessed on five canola (Brassica napus) varieties in 14 cropping environments in southern Australia, including several low rainfall drought-stressed environments. We modelled the relationship between seed quality attributes and growing season rainfall and temperature using a linear mixed model. Variance components for variety and years within locations were relatively large, but variance components for variety × environment interaction were small or insignificant for most seed quality traits. Mean oleic acid content varied from 57% in ‘Surpass 300TT’ to 62% in ‘ATR-Beacon’. As growing season rainfall decreased from 300 mm (moderate) to 150 mm (severe drought stress), mean oleic acid decreased by 3.8%, linoleic acid increased by 2.0%, linolenic acid increased by 1.7%, and saturated FA decreased by 0.4%. Seed oil (% dry weight) decreased by 3.2% and protein in meal (% dry weight) increased by 3.9% across the same rainfall range. High oleic acid composition was associated with higher rainfall and cooler average minimum and maximum temperatures during the growing season.
|Publication Type:||Journal Article|
|Murdoch Affiliation:||School of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology|
|Publisher:||Blackwell Publishing Inc.|
|Copyright:||2009 The Authors|
|Item Control Page| | <urn:uuid:2eb051b3-936f-48ff-bc9d-b255e3568766> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/5272/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913112 | 422 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Markets, whether large or small, keep communities thriving. But conflicts, disasters and a lack of infrastructure can prevent people from conducting the daily transactions on which all growth and progress depend. Around the world, Mercy Corps discovers why commerce is stuck.
In some places, manufacturers need loans to purchase equipment and young people desire job skills. In others, key transportation routes to market must be rebuilt or farmers require better storage to keep their inventory fresh until sold.
Our economic development projects provide financing, equipment, training or technical support. These projects help people find jobs, build their businesses, supply their communities with the goods they need —and improve their lives.
All stories about Economic opportunity
Afghanistan: A Story of Glitter and Plastic Flowers January 3, 2007
A Stitch in Time November 30, 2006
Brus, Serbia - Many Serbs say that, the further south you travel in their country, the sadder the situation grows. But you wouldn't know that from meeting Nevenka Mihalovic.
South Sudan: Generating Market Opportunities November 10, 2006
Agok, southern Sudan — Before April of this year, whatever hustle and bustle existed in this lightly populated farming town typically ceased after sunset.
Kyrgyzstan: Storing Up Value October 19, 2006
Tosor, Kyrgyzstan — Apples may be a fall fruit, but growers here think of them as a winter moneymaker.
Kyrgyzstan: Selling the Harvest October 19, 2006
Tamga, Kyrgyzstan — Mariam Jeenalieve's backyard orchard produces a colorful mix of apples: there's the Chinese Kulon Kitika, recognized by its alternate streaks of pink and lime-green, the golden-yellow Tashaima, and an inordinate number of pale-red McIntosh.
Kyrgyzstan: Learning to Grow October 19, 2006
Tamga, Kyrgyzstan — It's a crisp, late-September morning that feels perfect for plucking apples, and a tree in Murat Toguzbaev's backyard is sagging with dozens of plump Red Delicious varietals just ripe for the picking.
Kyrgyzstan: A New Breed of Development October 16, 2006
Kara Dobo, Kyrgyzstan — Veterinarian Joldosh Ibragimov doesn't exactly pine to return to the days before Kyrgyzstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. But he does fondly recall at least one thing about Soviet rule: big cows.
Lebanon: After the War, the Mattas Press On September 7, 2006
Kawkaba, Lebanon - Ask Assad Matta what the recent fighting did to the olive oil business and he just groans.
United States: Haircut and Empowerment, Fifteen Dollars September 1, 2006
Doug Haywood is the crab in the gumbo. And Mercy Corps is helping stir the pot.
United States: Mercy Corps to Launch On-Line Service for Entrepreneurs August 8, 2006
Mercy Corps has acquired MicroMentor, an innovative on-line service for entrepreneurs, from the Aspen Institute, which created the program and launched it in the United States. | <urn:uuid:247226c5-0dc5-40b3-80ed-db6d64c3e712> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mercycorps.org/economic-opportunity?page=36&gclid=CO-w3JSizawCFQRO3god6lD-pg&source=13292 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929447 | 669 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Question: Was my pediatrician correct when he said my 9-month old baby is too young to be tested for autism?
Answer: So first of all, I think it's really important that the parent is bringing their concerns to their pediatrician, because it's through that ongoing discussion that early indicators of autism are most likely to be identified. While it's true that there isn't any specific test, whether it's a questionnaire or a blood test, that can indicate which nine-month old has autism, certainly there are aspects of development that are very relevant to thinking about which infants are at risk of developing autism -- things like, you know, the ability of the child to connect socially through their eye gaze, through their social smiles, their early play development, you know, able to imitate actions of other people, the development of early communication skills like babbling and use of gestures. I mean, all these things are relevant, even as early as nine months, in evaluating a child's early social and communication development.
So, although it's true that there isn't a specific test for autism at nine months old, certainly parents, you know, from as early an age as possible that they start becoming aware of differences in their child's development, they should certainly bring those concerns to the attention of their health care provider and to be aware that, as the child becomes somewhat older, there may be specific screening tools or other assessment instruments that may help kind of distinguish the children who are truly at highest risk. So I think the important thing here is that it's not about a single test, but it's more about ongoing discussion and the importance of both parents and professionals being aware of what the early indicators are. | <urn:uuid:7f9c8cac-7533-4bd3-94a7-4603673db3c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AutismSymptomsDiagnosis/story?id=5427932 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981458 | 346 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Possible Worlds: An Introduction to Logic and Its Philosophy. Co-authored
with Raymond Bradley. (Indianapolis: Hackett),
first published 1979. The fourth printing with corrections, 2010 – Copyright © Raymond
Bradley and Norman Swartz – may be
The Concept of Physical Law. (New York: Cambridge University Press),
1985. The second edition, 2003 – Copyright © Norman Swartz –
Beyond Experience: Metaphysical Theories and
Philosophical Constraints. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press), 1991.
The second edition, 2001 – Copyright © Norman Swartz –
may be downloaded for free.
You might like to peruse my page of philosophical
notes, miscellaneous lectures, papers, etc., that I have distributed to
students over the years. As well, I have also assembled a
of material written by others, that I have found to be fun, and informative,
Up till the time I was a senior in high school, I was determined to
become an electrical engineer. But in my senior year, my brother who was
studying physics in university, convinced me that jobs would be easier
to find for physicists than for engineers. And so I changed directions,
and studied physics in university. I was well on my way to becoming a physicist
when, in my third year, I took an introductory philosophy course as an
elective. I wonder if there ever was a student who knew less about what
philosophy is! I hadn't the remotest clue what philosophers thought about.
That philosophy course was a revelation. For the first time in my life
I discovered that other persons, indeed one hundred generations of thinkers,
had been discussing the issues which kept intruding into my thinking. I
was totally hooked. As soon as I graduated, I switched directions again,
that second and last time from physics to philosophy. I would have been
a contented engineer (even now I love to tinker with electronics and do
some occasional carpentry and plumbing); I would have been a contented
physicist; but I have never regretted abandoning those pursuits for philosophy.
Why have I read, written, and
taught philosophy? At bottom, the answer is very simple: because
for me it has been so much fun. I have pursued certain
philosophical issues – most especially the nature of time and space,
personal identity, laws of nature, and free will – because they
fascinate me. It's just my nature. There's no value judgment attached.
Other persons like sports; others, reading novels; others,
playing the real estate market; etc. Each to their own. I don't for a
moment believe that students ought to like philosophy.
Those that do, fine; those that do not, equally fine.
Actually I'll let you in on a public
secret. Above all, I would
have preferred to have been a musician. I am incredibly jealous of fine
musicians. I would willingly give my right arm to be a concert violinist.
But it's not to be: I can enjoy music rapturously; but I cannot make
music. (I've tried; it's hopeless. And so I have been a philosopher.) My heros
are Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Verdi, Puccini, Prokofiev, and the
inimitable (and sorely missed)
No one is solely a philosopher. I have been
a philosopher by profession; I earned my living by writing and teaching
philosophy. But I am also a husband, a father and grandfather, a son, and a brother –
on all of which I lavish time and affection. And for the last ten years or
more, especially in the time since I retired in 1998, I have been active in
fighting purveyors of hate and have been doing volunteer work within, and for,
a number of human rights and charitable organizations.
Return/transfer to SFU Philosophy Department's | <urn:uuid:836f22e7-d6e4-4641-babf-fd4d4539c9e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfu.ca/~swartz/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954969 | 844 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Alexander Russo on Waiting for "Superman"
Has "Superman" Started a War?
You might want to hold off gushing about Waiting for "Superman" at the next meeting you find yourself at—or at least give careful thought about how you bring it up.
Directed by Davis Guggenheim (best known for An Inconvenient Truth), this new documentary was meant to rally public concern about improving education (and possibly earn Guggenheim another Oscar). And, thanks to a massive media campaign, the movie has accomplished its goal. But it's also set off an angry round of objections from teachers about how they and the schools they work at are portrayed in the movie and elsewhere in the media—the "war on teachers," some are calling it. Educators in classrooms and district offices are objecting to the absence of traditional public-school success stories in the film, which instead lauds the Harlem Children's Zone (which includes charter middle schools) and the leadership of Washington, D.C.'s Michelle Rhee (who won fame firing teachers and closing schools). The movie also lays a lot of blame at the feet of teachers unions.
Those on the political right were quick to crow that the movie marked the demise of organized labor's control of schools nationwide. "Their days as political supermen are numbered," opined the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, charters' moment in the sun seemed to be never-ending, despite recent research showing that only 17 percent of charters are substantially better than district schools.
The reaction against the movie has been notably steady. It was one thing to have traditional educators criticized at education conferences, but quite another to have it happening on Oprah.
At first, the push-back was mostly online, but then it was echoed in mainstream outlets like the New York Times opinion page. "People don't much like stern-faced do-gooders telling them how to think and what to do," wrote columnist Judith Warner. Cable news host Lawrence O'Donnell quipped: "Watch Jersey Shore. Watch it. And tell me what teacher could possibly have reached any one of them."
Recent developments didn't help Guggenheim's case for charter-driven reform. At least one major charter network in Los Angeles is on the brink of ruin. Rhee has left her spot in D.C. And a dedicated teacher seems to have committed suicide over her "less effective teacher" rating in the Los Angeles Times.
The rhetorical war seems to have softened recently. The Huffington Post's newly created education page is featuring testimonials about celebrities' favorite teachers—most of them from public schools. Several columnists have noted that there are a handful of promising innovations taking place (like the new contract in Baltimore and the unionized charter school in the South Bronx). When the New York City schools declared that they were going to release teachers' individualized value-added scores to the press, Secretary Duncan hinted at the need for caution (and at least one outlet declared it wouldn't use names in any reporting that it did).
Meantime, Duncan and the heads of the two national unions announced a conference on labor-management innovation for early 2011; the New York Times profiled AFT president Randi Weingarten in almost positive terms; and the Wall Street Journal felt the need to note that it hadn't declared a war on teachers.
No one with any practical sense really wants to go to war with teachers (or even teachers unions)—for the simple reason that teachers are generally doing the best job that they can under difficult circumstances, and that "going to war" nearly guarantees stiff resistance to further changes. There's no solution to be found in creating more charter schools, either, especially given that less than 20 percent are succeeding. The change has to happen in public schools.
"No one is proposing that every public school become a charter school," wrote singer and philanthropist John Legend, seeking to bridge the differences between fans of the movie and its critics. "But we'd be crazy not to try to replicate the conditions that make great charters work."
About that, pretty much everyone can agree. | <urn:uuid:4ba8d195-9dc4-4471-84b4-42b822db7400> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3755267 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974298 | 846 | 1.671875 | 2 |
- Arts & Literature
- Science & Technology
By Alex Lynchehaun
Christmas films are typically saccharine, sentimental and shit. Movies like the dreadful Santa Clause series, or the eye wateringly bad Four Christmases threaten to turn even the cheeriest of souls into scrooges. Had Love Actually been set and released in October, its combination of predictable plotting, wooden dialogue and an unbearably upbeat tone would surely have induced nausea and vomiting, rather than see it rake in millions across the globe.
Fortunately, while most festive films are about as inspiring as a sack of coal, a few classics have slipped through the net. For anyone lacking Christmas spirit, the following ten movies are sure to perk you up.
10. The Snowman
It may be under 30 minutes long, and wordless, but The Snowman is a perfect Christmas film. The story of a boy’s brief friendship with his frosty creation, famously backed by the song Walking in the Air, has become essential viewing in any British household come December 25th. The track starts 16 minutes into this clip, but David Bowie’s inexplicable introduction here is not to be missed.
9. The Muppet Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol has a strong claim to be the quintessential Christmas novel, and there are a plethora of adaptations out there. Bill Murray’s role as a greedy executive in Scrooged is a highlight, but even he can’t top Michael Caine’s turn as the avaricious lead. Firmly in the “shouldn’t work but does” category, even Caine’s dreadful singing can’t derail this anarchic classic.
8. Home Alone
Home Alone is a dark, dark movie. Essentially, it tells the story of a boy abandoned by his family and left at the mercy of two local burglars. Yet rather than being intimidated, this boy takes the chance to unleash his sadistic streak, torturing the duo until they can take no more, before turning them over to the police. It’s basically a festive Funny Games, what more could you want from Christmas?
7. Trading Places
The nature vs nurture debate remains as divisive today as when it was first mooted. That was, of course, in 1983 when Trading Places was released. Yet not only is the film a seminal sociological work, it also happens to be quite Christmassy. The plot revolves around a man stripped of all that is dear to him, the collapse of his life, and his plot to get revenge. It’s compelling, gritty and very funny.
6. The Nightmare Before Christmas
A great film for Halloween and Christmas, Henry Selick’s wonderfully zany fantasy follows Halloween Town’s attempts to hold their own Christmas celebrations, attempts that inevitably start to go awry. Produced by Tim Burton, and presumably an inspiration for Corpse Bride, the combination of offbeat musical numbers and Selick’s trademark animation make this a seasonal treat.
5. Bad Santa
This list features a surprising number of suicidal, alcoholic Santas – two, to be precise – and Billy Bob Thornton’s eating, drinking, shitting, fucking Father Christmas is one of the great movie creations. In between robbing department stores and beating up children, he has time to befriend a bullied kid and start a friendship that changes both of their lives. And he gets punched in the balls. Brilliant.
4. Edward Scissorhands
Much of Edward Scissorhands revolves around the Christmas holidays, which means that it counts as a Christmas film. This is fortunate, because it gives you another excuse to watch what is probably Tim Burton’s greatest film. The concept is inspired, the visuals sumptuous and the story beautifully told. Horror nuts will also enjoy an early Vincent Price cameo as Edward’s creator.
Kids love presents. Except when they try to kill you. This rule, now universally acknowledged, can be traced back to Gremlins, when a kid gets a present that tries to kill him, his family and his entire town. Gremlins is a very black comedy, and director Joe Dante famously refused to leave out some of the bleaker and more violent scenes. The result: just the right amount of Christmas gore.
2. It’s a Wonderful Life
It had to be somewhere, didn’t it? Frank Capra’s Christmas Carol inspired masterpiece isn’t just a great Christmas film, but a full on classic. Despite a few of the cheesiest scenes ever committed to screen, much of the movie is pretty tragic. James Stewart’s George Bailey is a good guy beset by misfortune, whose dreams never quite materialise and who ends up teetering on the verge of suicide. Christmas can’t come too soon.
1. Die Hard
Yes, it’s official; Die Hard is the best Christmas film. It starts at a Christmas party, includes the line “now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho” and introduced the world to Alan Rickman, something for which nobody can be too grateful. When the mince pies are finished, everyone’s had a bit too much wine and the annual game of charades has finally ended, John McClane is the man to revive flagging spirits. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy. | <urn:uuid:48eabd94-47cf-4e03-9345-76be774b35e0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://oxfordstudent.com/2012/12/17/the-10-best-christmas-films-a-definitive-list/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94301 | 1,122 | 1.5 | 2 |
NEW DELHI (AP) — The photo shows a boy sitting shirtless by a row of sandbags as he glumly eats a snack. The next photo shows him lying face up in the dirt, a series of bullet holes in his chest.
The makers of a documentary on Sri Lanka say the boy was the 12-year-old son of Sri Lankan insurgent leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, and that the photos prove he was captured and then executed by the Sri Lankan military. Sri Lanka denies the charge.
The accusation comes as Sri Lanka struggles to fend off a surge of criticism about its conduct in the final days of the war in 2009 and its treatment of government critics and the Tamil minority in the four years since.
Last week, Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, accused the country of failing to investigate reports of atrocities and said government opponents were being killed and abducted. The United States has said it will introduce a new resolution on Sri Lanka — urging a full accounting of what happened at the end of the war — when the U.N. Human Rights Council meets next week.
Christian clergy in the country have called for an international inquiry into the final months of the war, and a respected think tank warned the country was growing increasingly autocratic.
The documentary, “No Fire Zone,” which is backed by Britain’s Channel 4, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch among others, is to be shown in Geneva during the sitting of the Human Rights Council.
It includes testimony from a U.N. worker trapped in territory controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels, who says he narrowly escaped being killed by shelling that came from government lines, according to excerpts of the film shown Friday in New Delhi. It showed footage of a Tamil Tiger commander apparently in government custody, and then a series of photos that purport to show him dead of an apparent bullet wound to the face and then his body dragged to a funeral pyre and incinerated. And it accuses Sri Lanka of killing 12-year-old Balachandran Prabhakaran.
“The evidence is just mounting,” said G. Ananthapadmanabhan, who heads the India chapter of Amnesty International.
Sri Lanka denied the allegations, and said the pictures were fabricated as part of a plot against the country.
“Why did they wait for four years and why did they wait for a Human Rights Council (meeting)?” asked government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella. “There is a target, the agenda is to tarnish the image of the government. We completely reject the claims.”
The director of the film, Callum Macrae, said the timing of the documentary was intended to help inform the debate of the council.
“I’m not going to apologize for that at all. That’s not a conspiracy, that’s journalism,” he said.
The ethnic Tamil rebels and their leader Prabhakaran fought for more than a quarter-century for an independent state in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. A U.N. report says tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the final five months of the fighting.
Prabhakaran pioneered the use of suicide bombing, conscripted child soldiers into his forces and was feared and loathed by the nation’s ethnic Sinhalese majority. He was killed at the end of the war in May 2009 along with his oldest son, Charles Anthony.
The documentary shows a series of photos it says depict his youngest son, Balachandran. In the first two, he is sitting by the sandbags, in the third he is apparently dead. Metadata on the photos showed they last one was taken with the same camera, two hours after the first two, the filmmakers said.
Macrae said the photos were authenticated by a forensic pathologist and other experts.
Sri Lankan military spokesman Brig. Ruwan Wanigasuriya said the military was unaware of the fate of Prabhakaran’s wife, daughter and youngest son, or if they were even in the country at the end of the war. He questioned the identity of the boy in the photographs.
“How do you know this is Balachandran? Has anyone seen him? Has Mr. Callum Macrae seen him?” he asked.
The film showed an earlier snapshot of the same boy with Prabhakaran and his wife, and MacCrae said his identity was confirmed by people familiar with his image.
Reports of the film’s allegations have inflamed anti-Sri Lankan sentiment in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, whose ethnic Tamils hold deep sympathy for their Sri Lankan brethren.
Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa backed out this week of hosting the Asian Athletics Championships because of Sri Lanka’s participation. “Tamils will never accept it,” she said.
A Tamil Nadu-based government coalition partner, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, called on India to support the upcoming resolution before the Human Rights Council. The government said it needs to see it first.
“As and when this resolution comes into being, we will have a look at it and take a call on it,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin.
Under pressure from the DMK, India, the country with perhaps the most influence over its south Asian neighbor, supported a resolution in the council last year that urged Sri Lanka to investigate human rights abuses and reconcile with its Tamil population.
In a report Wednesday, the International Crisis Group said the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa had failed to comply with that resolution and instead has worked to centralize power, in part, by impeaching the chief justice. It also lamented the government’s abandonment of its pledge to work toward reconciliation after the war. Earlier this month, Rajapaksa ruled out giving Tamil regions greater autonomy, apparently backing away from his repeated promise to do just that.
Christian clergy from the mainly Tamil north also called on the U.N. council to push for an international inquiry to investigate reports of war atrocities.
“We are convinced that the root cause of these problems is a lack of political will,” a letter signed by 133 Roman Catholic, Anglican and Methodist clergy members said this week. “Hence, it is our firm conviction that technical assistance from the U.N. in the form of training, advice, financial and material support will not suffice.”
Associated Press writer Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.
More Related Stories
- Oversized load blamed for bridge collapse
- This is what Guy Fieri looks like as a balloon
- Iran hackers aiming at U.S. energy firms
- Lawyers release data in attempt to discredit Trayvon Martin
- Anonymous rallies behind Kaitlyn Hunt
- Bridge collapse: Part of "aging infrastructure"
- Mistrial in penalty phase of Arias case
- Amanda Bynes arrested after hurling bong from window
- Interstate 5 bridge collapses north of Seattle
- Mississippi could begin prosecuting women for miscarriages
- Teenage girl claims she was beaten up for looking like Taylor Swift
- UK Military: London attack victim was a "model soldier"
- Billionaire hedge funder: Babies, breast-feeding "kill" focus, keep women from succeeding
- "Bookless library" set to open in Texas
- 2 more arrested in London attacks
- Glenn Beck: CNN interview with atheist tornado survivor was a setup!
- Incoming BBC news director on journalism gender gap: "We can do better"
- Illegal construction, shoddy materials at fault in Bangladesh factory disaster
- Ahead of Obama's speech, U.S. acknowledges four American drone killings
- Must-see morning clip: Bill O'Reilly visits "The Daily Show"
- Lawsuit alleges anti-gay hiring practices at ExxonMobil
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 picsclose X
- 1 of 11
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin
Recent Slide Shows
- 1 of 11 | <urn:uuid:c123f42c-93cf-4351-b370-3aa43c1ae4c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.salon.com/2013/02/24/sri_lanka_under_pressure_to_probe_war_crimes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956727 | 2,232 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Riposta considers it a green cremation. He claims it is more environmentally friendly, and that is why he thinks it will be well-received in Maine.
Dangerous emissions are not being released into the air through chimney stacks, Riposta said.
The waste from this process goes through pipes that lead out of the building much like the sewer pipes in our homes.
"When you flush your toilet does that go into a public water? Or when you put water down a sink, does that go into a public water? No, it goes to a waste water treatment system. The two systems are completely separated," said Riposta.
He said he finds himself educating and explaining to everyone the alkaline process compared to the flame cremation. The churches, he said, needed convincing much like they did when the traditional cremation was new.
"I said this is the same process. He was concerned that the soft tissue was being placed into the waste-treatment facility. I said father it's no different than burning somebody and putting them up the chimney. It's just a matter of perception."
Chuck Lakin and Eva Thompson stopped in to see what it was all about. He's a casket make and she is a member of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maine. Lakin says the skeptics will eventually come around.
"They are saying the same things about alkaline hydrolysis now that they were saying about cremation 40 years ago. This is sacreligious, this is undignified, this a travesty to the funeral process, that kind of stuff. And all it is something new and people haven't figured it out," said Lakin.
The price for liquified cremation is just under $2,000. A traditional cremation runs about $2,400.
Riposta says he has already processed several bodies. | <urn:uuid:7772fe68-6996-40ef-bbab-3cdb769bf8c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wmtw.com/Special-Report-Liquifying-human-remains-seen-as-a-green-alternative-to-cremation/-/8792672/13433902/-/item/1/-/129fod7/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982593 | 383 | 1.992188 | 2 |
There's no doubt Californians love their cars. The Golden State accounts for almost 10 percent of all car sales in the country, The Wall Street Journal reported recently.
If you're in the market for an electric vehicle, you'll certainly have your pick. With its laws incentivizing car manufacturers to go green, California has driven the push for eco-friendly transportation.
Electric vehicles can provide up to three times the power conversion compared to their gas-powered counterparts and boast an engine that operates more quietly and requires less maintenance, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. To top it off, buying an eco-friendly car can net you a federal tax credit of up to $7,500.
Though electric cars are more energy-efficient, you can still travel up to three times as far in some internal-combustion vehicles. Another thing to consider is electric car batteries are expensive to replace and can take up to eight hours to charge.
Several car manufacturers offer eco-friendly vehicles, including Chrysler, General Motors, Honda, Ford, Nissan, Tesla and Toyota.
Some manufacturers are establishing their own charging stations hoping to lure potential customers. Tesla has built a network of six solar-powered charging stations from L.A. to San Francisco, according to Car and Driver.
Whether you're looking to buy an electric car or you already own one, Santa Clara County is full of service stations—including one at Cupertino City Hall—that will keep you charged for your emissions-free commute. The cost is fifteen cents per kilowatt hour which translates into $3.50 to $4 for a full charge for most electric vehicles, according to city spokesman Rick Kitson.
Here is a list of local charging stations, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy. Stations offer Level 1 (120 volts) and Level 2 (240 volts) charging.
Cupertino City Hall
10300 Torre Ave., Cupertino
680 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale Ford Lincoln
650 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale
13650 Saratoga Ave, Saratoga
City of Saratoga
14421 and 14493 Big Basin Way, Sarartoga
13777 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga
Stevens Creek Nissan
4855 Stevens Creek Blvd., Santa Clara
Sunnyvale CalTrain Station
W. Evelyn Ave. and S. Murphy Ave., Sunnyvale | <urn:uuid:d1ed060d-5e0a-4048-b8a8-e70995a0c1a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cupertino.patch.com/groups/going-green/p/charge-your-electric-car-in-cupertino | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927008 | 502 | 2.125 | 2 |
BYOD: Focus on the User Experience Not the Device
Click here to download now
Overview: The evolution of devices, integration of technology into personal lives, availability of cloud-based services and wireless evolution has moved bring-your-own-device (BYOD) from vision to reality. With demand for BYOD as high as it is, it's possible that staying with the status quo and not moving to BYOD is a bigger risk than implementing it.
This ZK Research report examines these risks, the benefits of BYOD, key IT issues when it comes to implementing BYOD and the most important criteria to consider when evaluating a solution provider. | <urn:uuid:05eaa720-2ab0-459b-b3d5-32e4d1408e47> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.informationweek.com/whitepaper/Mobility/Mobile-Business/byod-focus-on-the-user-experience-not-the-device-wp1359751757?articleID=191707458&cid=SBX_byte_fture_wp_Wireless_security_malware_writers_prefer_android&itc=SBX_byte_fture_wp_Wireless_security_malware_writers_prefer_android | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939243 | 132 | 1.5 | 2 |
Garwood Butte Trail
Just about anything you find on TravelOregon.com can be added to your own personal Trip Planner. Find out how.
The Garwood Butte Trail offers access to Garwood Butte Lookout. It begins with a gentle climb and becomes steep and rocky with narrow switchbacks and protruding rocks. At .4 miles up the trail, Mt. Bailey is visible through the trees. At 1 mile the trail gets steep and rocky (gains 1,000 feet in elevation in 1.5 miles) and the Crater Lake Rim can be seen to the southeast. The footing is difficult on the last few feet of the climb. The lookout at the end of the trail features excellent views of Old Man Camp, Bear Creek, Mt. Bailey and the Crater Lake Rim.
Once named Bear Butte, the lookout was built in 1942 using the L-4 cab design. The butte and the lookout were renamed Garwood for Leroy Garwood, a one time District Ranger on the Diamond Lake Ranger District who died in 1944. Caution is recommended near the lookout as the structure is in poor condition.
This trail is a challenge for experienced mountain bikers.
Facility Type: Trail
What’s around here? Location & Nearby Things to See & Do
Is any of the information on this page incorrect? | <urn:uuid:98e81250-d9fc-44ea-90e9-86b7c8c8209e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://traveloregon.com/see-do/recreation/cycling/hiking/garwood-butte-trail/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945644 | 278 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes Staff
Bringing You The Bull And Bear Case From The Markets Desk
Fear of a credit bubble in Brazil are unfounded, as sky-high lending rates along with an extremely low level of lending against collateral safeguard against the spiraling feedback loops that send an economy racing to the top and then plummeting to the bottom, according to research by Nomura. What is the case in Brazil, though, is that credit fueled demand growth might be topping out as the consumer debt burden reaches unsustainable levels.
While market observers and the media act like sheep many times, regurgitating what has been fed to them by others, such as the idea that there is a credit bubble in Brazil ala subprime mortgage bubble in the U.S., a closer look at credit markets in Brazil quickly shows that attention is being placed on the wrong place.
The risk of a credit bubble in Brazil is unlikely, according to Nomura’s Tony Volpon. Two necessary conditions for a credit bubble, cheap and widely available credit, and a dangerous, self-feeding link between credit markets and assets, are simply not present in the large South American country. The risk lies with a consumer that is reaching unsustainable levels of debt burden and that aggregate demand might slow substantially.
Credit has grown at staggering rates in Brazil, with credit-to-GDP ratios going from 24.7% in 2005 to 46.6% in April of 2011. Most of this growth, though, stems from subsidized corporate lending via the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES). Subsidized corporate loans have grown at a much faster pace than consumer loans (year-over-year to April, BNDES loans grew 26.3% compared with consumer loan growth of 18.2%) and make up 34.6% of total credit, outstripping consumer loans (32.8%). (Read Brazil’s Credit Rating Upgraded As It Becomes ‘The Country Of Now’).
According to Volpon, explicit government guarantees and Brazil’s low net debt-to-GDP ratio of 39.8% reduce the risks “seen in other sovereign credits.”
The risk that consumer loans feed a spiraling debt bubble is low given sky-high lending rates in Brazil. Lending costs have dropped substantially, with consumer loan interest going from an average 61.3% per annum in 2005 to 46% in April 2011, but still, “every Real of new debt immediately generates another 47 cents of interest payment per year.” From the report:
We believe these very high loan rates are a major impediment to any credit “bubble”. The reason is that credit at such an expensive level very rapidly exhausts the consumer’s ability to take on more debt at the margin | <urn:uuid:e491e7f0-d258-4ed6-9665-8e43facdd566> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2011/07/06/no-credit-bubble-in-brazil-just-unsustainable-consumer-debt-burden/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960317 | 582 | 1.960938 | 2 |
By 1955, Senator Richard Russell had become one of the most powerful and influential U.S. Senators in modern history. At the time of his death, hewas the most senior member of the Senate. His credibility as a witness is beyond question. In 1955, Senator Russell was dispatched to Russian on a fact-finding mission. It was during this trip, just after 7:00 PM on October 4, 1955, while traveling on a Soviet train, that Senator Russell witnessed a disc-shaped UFO taking off near the railroad tracks.
The Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter (aka Hopkinsville Goblins Case or Kelly Green Men Case) – unsolved since 1955
The Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter, also known as the Hopkinsville Goblins Case or the Kelly Green Men Case, was a series of UFO/alien sightings that took place in the fall of 1955, the most famous and well-publicized of which centered around a rural farmhouse at the time belonging to the Sutton family, which was located between the hamlet of Kelly and the small city of Hopkinsville, both in Christian County, Kentucky. Members of two families at the Sutton farmhouse alleged to have seen unidentifiable creatures and other witnesses attested to lights and disc-shaped objects in the sky (some accompanied by odd sounds). The events that occurred are regarded as one of the most significant, well-known and well-documented cases in the history of UFO incidents, and a favorite for study in ufology, as many other reputable witnesses, including local policemen and state troopers, were witnesses to the events. Even the United States Air Force investigated the mysterious incident.
The years 2012 and 2013 produce a wave of new UFO sightings around the Moon (and the International Space Station) and discoveries of older footage of near-moon sightings, many of which were quite difficult to explain. Outer space sightings are not rare – lunar sightings have been reported by astronomers since the 1700’s and countless tales of UFO sightings by astronauts in space circulated during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Even astronaut Buzz Aldrin once described a UFO that accompanied them in route to the moon in 1969. Of course anyone who believes intelligent extraterrestrial beings have visited our planet would rightly assume that those same beings would take the time to visit and explore our moon too. Here are a series of videos uploaded to YouTube showing UFOs orbiting, approaching, or landing on the Moon.
Project Blue Book was a systematic study of the UFO phenomena conducted by the United States Air Force from 1952 through 1970. Its goals were to determine if UFOs were a threat to national security and to scientifically analyze UFO-related data that was collected. Most feel that in the second regard, Project Blue Book was a grave failure. During the course of the project, 12,618 UFO reports were collected. Of those, 701 reports remained “unidentified”.
When big-name scientists, celebrities, or other influential people admit their belief in the UFO phenomena, it’s an eye-opener. When an astronaut, one that has flown an Apollo mission, says that he has inside knowledge that UFOs and aliens are indeed visitors from other planets, well, it’s jaw dropping. That’s exactly what happened in 2008 when Edgar Mitchell, [...]
One of the most astounding of documented sightings of aerial phenomena took place on April 4, 1561 at dawn over Nuremberg, Germany. What was described could only be called a war in the heavens, with a wide variety of craft ranging from spheres to spear-like cylinders to crosses and “plates”.
A young Japanese student Masujiro Kiryu, was going through his fathers scrapbook of photographs from the China Campaign, just before World War II, when he discovered a strange cone-shaped object in the sky above a Tsientsien Street.
On March 13, 1997, one of the most massively witnessed UFO sightings occurred in the skies over and around Phoenix, Arizona. Witnessed by thousands of people and photographed by hundreds, there is no doubt that something was seen over the skies of Phoenix that night. The question remains – what did they see?
On December 26, 1980 at approximately 3:00 AM (the original report incorrectly states December 27), two United States Air Force security patrolmen noticed unusual lights outside the back gate. Thinking that an aircraft had crashed, they requested to leave the base to investigate.
In the summer of 1952, Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base became quite alarmed when radar picked up several flying objects over Washington D.C. Even more alarming, coordinates indicated that he objects were flying directly over the White House and the United States Capitol.
On May, 11 1950, in McMinnville, Oregon, Mrs. Trent was in her backyard feeding their rabbits when she noticed a strange object in the overcast sky. In a panic, she ran into the house and called to her husband who was in the kitchen grabbing a bite to eat.
On June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold saw something that would not only change his life forever, but his experience also served as a catalyst for our modern UFO craze. His report after seeing nine unidentified flying objects, is generally considered to be the first widely reported UFO sighting in the United States.
Possibly no event in the UFO community has triggered as much debate as the ‘alien autopsy’ film. The film, showing a purported autopsy performed on a dead alien from the Roswell, New Mexico crash, offers a unparalleled view into what a real alien could possibly look like.
That the United States government conducts “Black Projects” is no secret. Black projects are projects that are considered top secret. They are so top secret that the government will not even acknowledge that they exist and will hide the budget details of the project or mislead the public by providing false details on the project. The US Military/Industrial complex understandably requires that these projects exist. One reported project is called “Aurora”. | <urn:uuid:7c4888bd-62be-4b11-8319-63b0905e6694> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://altereddimensions.net/category/features/aliens | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97394 | 1,218 | 2.328125 | 2 |
This self-paced course teaches you the basics of Six Sigma Green Belt so you can make a positive impact on your company’s cost-cutting efforts. You’ll understand the five main domains in the CSSGB Body of Knowledge and become familiar with the material on the ASQ CSSGB certification exam.
Study at your own pace with the content you'll need to prepare for the Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) exam. The program includes a pre and post tests, progresses checks, course activities, and a PDF download which provided a print version of the modules that cover the five main domains in the CSSGB Body of Knowledge. In addition to studying online you’ll have a print reference to take with you for the CSSGB exam.
Green Belts, individuals supporting Six Sigma project, and/or individuals looking to achieve their ASQ Certification in Certified Six Sigma Green Belt.
Prior knowledge of Six Sigma and/or quality is recommended as this course is designed as a review of the subject areas needed for the CSSGB exam. | <urn:uuid:b2d84a27-d4a8-4053-b861-e805c11abe0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://asq.org/training/certified-six-sigma-green-belt-certification-preparation_CSSGBASQ.html?WT.mc_id=LK110015 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923284 | 214 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Back to the main articles page
Lecture at Asheville Buncombe Community College / An Open Report
On Tuesday, January 26, 2010, at the invitation of the Honorable Dr. Mary Motley, a history professor at Asheville Buncombe Community College, I would be asked to lecture to her class about the War Between the States and my work as President of Southern Heritage 411. However, it was obvious in her and her students critique that I must have failed miserably in that task.
One of their concerns was that they felt that I should filter my presentation by talking less about the Civil War (even though I told them that I did not refer to the War as a Civil War) as Yankee vs. Southland. For me that is a foregone conclusion, both then and now, as I explained to them that the NAACP's unholy resolution against the Southern Cross came from the rhetoric of northern White men who supposed that the black folks of the South would aid in this attack if you just said slavery loud and long enough, simply because Southern Blacks had no real knowledge of the real causes of the War Between the States. And I suppose they looked past my references of Lincoln's support of the Corwin Amendment, the Morrill Tax, his suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, his support of total warfare against a defenseless civilian population, the Battle of the Crater, and other atrocities committed against Black Union soldiers who fought for the North.
After fielding several questions from a young white female, I asked of her, dear where are you from? At first she refused to answer, and expressed agitation from being called dear. When I told her that I was from North Carolina and was not ashamed of it, she replied she was from Connecticut. When I smiled about it, she replied, see I knew you would react like that. I knew that she was a Yankee by her questions and reaction to my answers, and certainly being offended by me calling her dear.
In continuation of the critique, it was said that I needed to take my message to the black community. I find that a preposterous summation, since they claimed to have visited my website, www.southernheritage411.com, and heard my characterization of the Historic March Across Dixie, especially traveling down the supposed Civil Rights Highway (Highway 81 from Montgomery to Selma), the same highway that Dr. Martin Luther King took going in the opposite direction. I even told them about a young man by the name of Lorenzo White, whose family had put Dr. King and his entourage up for the night on his trek to Montgomery. And his statement on how proud not only Dr. King would have been about the journey that my brother and I were on, but his very own father as well, and the basket of food and money he gave us, and more importantly a long list of names of other black folks who would come to our aid if we needed it, and that one day he would run for the office of President.
Donned in the uniform of the southern soldier and carrying his glorious banner, I have carried my message of the place of honor and dignity earned by both free and indentured southern Blacks, beside a man he not only called master, but family and friend, deep into the communities of the South, be they Red, Yellow, Black or White, and far into the communities of the North from Missouri to Gettysburg.
In conclusion to so many things of this critique, I shall respond to one last. It was said that I should have responded to why the flag is so controversial to black people. My answer is that it was not until we faced the coercion of the NAACP to make it so. I told this class that the Honorable Andrew Young had come to the City of Asheville to give the keynote speech for the 100 year anniversary of Asheville School, and that I would ask of him, would Dr. King have attacked the Confederate Flag? And his answer was: Dr. King had been asked by one of his lower lieutenants, Jesse Jackson, and Rev. Abernathy to attack the flag, and he told them to leave it along. Let's do something about the things we can do something about; social vertical mobility for women in the job place, housing, education, the babies standing on the corners selling dope, unable to vote with no hope. I guess I was speaking too fast. I told them that all roads lead to Appomattox. After the Honorable General Robert E. Lee signed that treaty there, a process of dividing the Southern white man and the Southern black man began in earnest. The Confederate Flag is as much the southern black mans flag as any Southern white mans, and no effort to make it less can change that fact. We have been tricked long enough by those who come to our homeland with their lying rhetoric and smiling faces about how they came here to save us from the economic institution of slavery, and the bad old Southern white man, the only man in America who has shown us the love of Jesus Christ, and the one we are now suppose to show treachery as traitors to his glorious cause of defending our homeland from those who had invaded it. | <urn:uuid:c3004eaf-3d16-438f-9350-8098884f48f0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.southernheritage411.com/hke.php?nw=376 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986176 | 1,058 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Philly’s Black men answer the call to become peacekeepers in their communities
Men "answering the call" to be peacekeepers within their communities to help stave off violence.
PHILADELPHIA (FinalCall.com) - Nearly 11,000 Black men answered the call to show up at Temple University’s Liacouras Center on Oct. 21 for “A Call to Action: 10,000 Men—It’s a New Day,” which helped start them on the path to becoming “peacekeepers” in a city that has seen too much bloodshed over the past decade.
Charles “Charlie Mack” Alston, hatched the idea for the Call to Action along with men such as Dennis Muhammad, Nick Reed, and Darryl Robinson, in the living room of his Delaware home. Since that day, many people had come aboard to make October 21, 2007 a day to remember.
“I cannot describe the feeling in my head, when I drove up to the Liacouras Center, and saw all those men in line as early as 9 a.m.—program didn’t start until noon—standing two deep in a line that went on for blocks,” Mr. Alston told the Final Call. “I know I felt the same way in 1995, when I looked out across the Capitol in Washington, D.C. and saw that sea of Black men, who had come for the Million Man March,” Mr. Alston admitted
“And just like that day in 1995, it was grassroots brothers who answered the call on Oct. 21, to atone, to stop the hemorrhaging in our community. We admitted that we had dropped the ball after 1995, but we had finally come together to set things right,” Mr. Alston said.
“What was my initial feeling seeing how many men showed up on [October] 21?” stated Kenny Gamble, chairman of the Philadelphia Millions More Movement, in response to a Final Call question. “The spirit of the Million Man March was alive and well,” that’s what I said to myself, Mr. Gamble replied.
“The MMM was our precedent—it just took this long to get it organized—to realize that we must come up to this universal level of thinking. No more excuses,” Mr. Gamble opined.
Organizers for the "Day of Action" on Oct. 21 hold a press conference to explain the goals of the event. Among them are Philadelphia Mayor John Street and Philadelphia Millions More Movement Chairman Kenny Gamble.
With the year 2007, coming to a close, more than 300 people have been murdered on the streets of Philadelphia, the nation’s sixth largest city, which has a population of 1.5 million (44 percent Black).
“Since 1990, there have been 2,889 murders in Philadelphia, and 1,906 of them were under [the age of] 34, and 44 percent of those killed were Black males,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson explained to The Final Call. “So, it’s time for [Black] men in this city to stand up,” he stressed.
Rodney Muhammad, the Delaware Valley Regional Representative of the Nation of Islam at Muhammad’s Mosque No. 12 in Philadelphia, said he was overjoyed that Mr. Gamble compared the gathering of “10,000” to the Historic gathering of nearly two million men at the Million Man March in 1995.
“I remember the Honorable Elijah Muhammad stating in his book, ‘Message to the Blackman in America,’ that there was a need to call Black scholars and professionals together to come up with a strategy to improve the condition of the Black man and woman in America.
“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, in his call for the Millions More Movement, stressed that no one organization had the answer to our problems—so, a call for 10,000 men in Philadelphia was placed—and they came,” Mr. Muhammad said, stating that Philadelphia has become a “lightning rod” for the nation, igniting a movement which can further inspire Black men to take responsibility for solving their own problems.
“Ten-thousand Black men have shown that solving the overwhelming problems of our community is doable,’ he added.
Abdur-Rahim Islam, a Philadelphia real estate developer, is an integral part of the grassroots alliance that bought into Mr. Alston’s vision to put peacekeepers into the streets. “We want to do three things,” he told the historic gathering, according to press reports. “We want to inspire, educate and instruct.” Mr. Islam told The Final Call that there was a goal of bringing 350 organizations under the “call for action” umbrella, which 1,000 have already joined.
“The key message to the organizations was you have to change the thinking on the ground, bring about a paradigm in our community from dependence on others to ‘do for self,’” Mr. Islam noted. “Violence is just the symptom which comes at us from our blighted neighborhoods. But, not to worry—it is coming together,” he said.
According to Mr. Gamble, it has been coming together for the past two-and-a-half years with a lot of hard work; and a lot of hard working, dedicated people. He said over 1,200 men had shown up for the orientation workshops, which began on Oct. 23 at Dobbins High, Germantown High and South Philadelphia High.
Men line up at the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple Univ. on Oct. 21 for the "Day of Action: 10,000 Men--It's a New day."
“We work from what we call a logic model, which is decrease the violence and increase education. That is the solution to most of our problems. Education will help us to understand the need for morality and the need to raise our standard of living—how to protect our families,” Mr. Gamble stressed.
“Please do not write your story and not share how Minister Farrakhan inspired me,” insists Mr. Alston to The Final Call.
“I attended the hip hop meeting in Atlanta during the Holy Day of Atonement, that the Minister attended. After the event, I was with him in the car and he took my hand, after I asked him to pray for me to have a successful event on Oct. 21. ‘Allah [God] would not put you in this position, if He did not want you to be successful’—that is what he told me,” recalled Mr. Alston.
Mr. Muhammad said that when he had the opportunity to address the mighty gathering on Oct. 21, he said that God had ordained their coming together.
“I told them the story of how God blessed Joshua to take the city of Jericho. In truth, Philadelphia is our Jericho; and just like in Joshua’s day, God will give us this city, if we have the determination to organize and work together, he said.
While addressing a gathering in town for the 10th Anniversary of the Historic Million Women March on Oct. 25, Philadelphia Mayor John Street shared his thoughts on the Oct. 21 event: “We were there to make a statement. If anyone needs to make a statement, it’s Black men, and we made a statement that day.”
Nisa Islam Muhammad contributed to this article.
FCN is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content
supplied by third parties. Original content supplied by FCN and
FinalCall.com News is Copyright 2009 FCN Publishing, FinalCall.com. Content
supplied by third parties are the property of their respective owners. | <urn:uuid:f81fb042-08f4-4742-905f-18c7ff78b006> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4075.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971594 | 1,662 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Short answer, yes.
Long answer; USB ports are 5V per their specification. That's why you're finding a lot of devices using them as charging/power ports these days. With the old style round plugs, it was possible to put the wrong charger on the wrong device. Not possible with a USB port. The only caveat with USB ports is the current draw. The specification states 500ma or half an amp, but some devices can go slightly over and some ports do not support the full current specification. With wall chargers, it's rarely an issue, but can be with computer ports. The Tornado passthru (and USB charger) does approach the current limit. Unlikely to be a concern with a wall charger, but can be a concern with some computer ports, especially laptop computers.
Actually some USB ports can output at up to 10w. USB 2 defaults to 5w, but can output at 10 if the device requires it. A good example of this is the iPad. My iPad charges on my Mac Pro, but not my PC, as the Mac Pro checks the device first. | <urn:uuid:a27b0f43-d91c-4678-8efc-842e158fe32a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.com/forum/general-e-smoking-discussions/can-i-post-whatever-i-want/?prev_next=next | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940446 | 225 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Madison Development Corp. and CATI form tech transfer partnership
MILWAUKEE- Technology transfer and commercialization efforts are on the rise in Wisconsin. Following last week's announcement by the Medical College of Wisconsin to intensify its efforts at technology transfer, the Madison Development Corporation (MDC) and the Center for Advanced Technology & In...
New Wisconsin company formed from CATI patents
Sturtevant, Wis RmSys, Inc. has announced its formation based on technology licensed from the Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation, Inc. RmSys will be using the patented technology for an industrial application in environmental remediation. Ram Bhatia, chief operating officer of RmSys i...
Three Wisconsin approaches to technology transfer and commercialization
...repreneurial activity and technology transfer. The cati
Center, a 40,000-square-foot business incubator lo...unused intellectual property for a tax deduction. cati
helps to place a value on these patents and then ...in private industry is untapped, said Mark Wagner, cati
director. Most companies only use about 20 percent...
CATI: Transforming technology transfer in Wisconsin
...lson, of K. A. Jones and Associates, consults with cati
on IP/technology valuation. He said participating ...County Economic Development Corporation developed cati
in 2001. According to Matthew Wagner, CATIs direct...g to Carlson. Ram Bhatia, president of RmSys, said cati
is the best venue for people like me who have the ...
SRPM founded on CATI-patented technologies
... Third cati
company in 12 months
STURTEVANT, Wis. A third...or CATI. SRPM has secured a license agreement with cati
on its flexible, raised-pavement marking system, a...ent during road reconstruction.
Matthew Wagner, cati
director, said the original technology was acquire...
Wisconsin seeks to develop $10 million angel investment fund
...nd other resources in the state including lawyers, accountants and technology transfer organizations such as the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, cati
and the Medical College of Wisconsin Research Foundation.
State agencies collaborate to create angel network
The department is also collaborating ...
$2 million venture debt fund available for high-growth Dane County businesses
...r underutilized patents.
According to Staniszewski, the partnership with cati
offers additional economic development tools in Dane County. "We felt this ...nterested in the State of Wisconsin Technology Zone Tax Credits.
Our new cati
partnership, along with our loan programs and the Tech Zone tax credits, gi...
Will tech transfer save Wisconsin's economy?
...Eau Claire. Developed strategic plan for state. cati
The Center for Advanced Technology and Innovat...g on the shelf.
"We work in two primary areas," cati
Director Matt Wagner said. "We acquire technologie... based on that technology.
According to Wagner, cati
is already the second-largest entity of its type i...
Southeastern Wisconsin Technology Collaboration
...ege of Wisconsin .
Theres a short term and a long term goal. The short term one is to improve technology transfer from academia to business. This cati
is designed as a center to help to take good ideas, new technologies, and get them into production, said Dan Finley, Waukesha County Executive. The l...
MDC "Venture Debt" loans help fund tech firms
$2 million venture debt fund available for high-growth Dane County businesses August 16, 2004 by Mike Klein
Madison Development Corp. and cati
form tech transfer partnership March 15, 2004 by Mike Klein
Three Wisconsin approaches to technology transfer and commercialization March 17, 20... | <urn:uuid:45a499cb-2caf-4b38-9d95-af58bdeda3c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/tag/CATI/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919819 | 793 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Forces in Motion
What can the power of the wind, magnets and robotics do for you? Find out as you compete against other individuals and groups to see who can keep their motion-related designs flying longer, racing faster or shooting straighter. Then head to our “Drop Zone” and use the motion analyzer to check out the effects of gravity on various objects in super slow motion. If it moves, we've got it covered.
Rock Star Robotics?
The FIRST Robotics competition takes robot design to rock concert levels of excitement. Each year more than a thousand teams compete to master a new design challenge. During the national finals, thousands of fans gather to cheer their robot to victory.
Inventor Dean Kamen (inventor of the Segway and other devices) created the competition in 1992 to promote engineering to high school students. The contest, based on Dr. Woodie Flowers' Mechanical Engineering course at MIT, has become a national event involving thousands of students of all ages. The Junior FIRST LEGO League involves students age 6 to 9. The FIRST LEGO League is for students 9 to 14. And finally, the first Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition engage high-school age students. Teams are judged not only on their score in the game, but on design excellence, teamwork and ability to overcome obstacles.
Want to get involved? For more information, visit www.ctfirst.org.
Forces in Motion is made possible by the Northeast Utilities Foundation. | <urn:uuid:d9d8e479-5cfd-4d35-b9f9-74b52951d844> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ctsciencecenter.org/exhibits/forces-in-motion/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940031 | 301 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Question: What Types Of Physical Therapy Can Be Used To Treat Pain?
Answer: There are many different techniques a physical therapist can use to help a patient with pain. Most of these techniques will be based upon the initial examination that a physical therapist will perform on the patient during their first appointment. At that time, we'll work with you to set up some goals and then establish a plan of care.
Some of those techniques that a therapist can use to help manage your pain are exercise, which can be stretching or strengthening exercises. We also will do a lot of education with you which will help teach you how to move more appropriately or move more efficiently to prevent pain or irritation of your current symptoms. We will also be working with you to establish a home exercise program, so you will not only achieve success with us while you are in our clinic, but also once you're discharged from physical therapy.
Other techniques we can use to help a patient manage pain are manual therapy, which may be soft tissue mobilization or techniques to help relieve muscle spasm or tender points. We can also mobilize stiff joints. Other techniques we utilize are modalities or hot or cold therapy using heat or cold packs.
We can also use electrical stimulation which essentially provides a tingly feeling on your skin when we apply the pads to you. We also have ultrasound which we can use to provide a more deeper, penetrating heat or to prepare tissue for exercises to come in the session. | <urn:uuid:014ff78f-2756-423a-a378-025b08cafdd6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abcnews.go.com/Health/TreatingPain/story?id=4047805 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954607 | 293 | 2.390625 | 2 |
LOOK AGAIN: Picasso and Man: The 1964 Exhibition
April 14, 2012 – February 17, 2013
Take a look back to 1964 — when the Art Gallery of Toronto (as the AGO was then called) thrilled Toronto audiences with the first-ever Canadian retrospective of Pablo Picasso’s artworks. The month-long visual extravaganza showcased 270 artworks on loan from all over the world. By 1960s standards, the numbers are astounding: 107,214 visitors and 23,736 copies of the catalogue sold.
Picasso and Man: The 1964 Exhibition is the first in the AGO’s new program of Look Again exhibitions devoted exclusively to celebrating the Gallery’s history. | <urn:uuid:7bad960b-2f3f-441a-8255-1d73f83a9a00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ago.net/look-again-picasso-and-man-the-1964-exhibition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911314 | 147 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Prevalence of metabolic syndrome according to different definitions in a hypertensive population.
ABSTRACT The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes mellitus (DM). Several definitions of MetS have been proposed. The aim of the present study was to estimate and compare the prevalence of MetS according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III), American Heart Association-National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (AHA-NHLBI), International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the more recent Joint Interim Statement (JIS) definitions in patients attending a hypertension clinic.
The records of patients referred to the hypertension clinic at the University Hospital (Heraklion, Crete) from January 2001 to June 2009 were screened retrospectively. A total 384 patients (146 men) were included in the study.
The prevalence of MetS according to the IDF and JIS definitions was significantly higher compared with that of the NCEP ATP III in both genders (IDF: P = .009 and P = .002, JIS: P = .002 and P = 0.001 for men and women, respectively); this was the case for the AHA-NHLBI definition only among women (P = .03). All MetS components differed significantly (P from < .0001 to .02) between patients with and without MetS for all definitions.
The prevalence of MetS varies considerably depending on the definition used in a hypertensive population in a Mediterranean country. These differences will influence risk assessment. | <urn:uuid:8d282ce4-e5bc-457a-b7d8-0c296cad93da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.researchgate.net/publication/51110519_Prevalence_of_metabolic_syndrome_according_to_different_definitions_in_a_hypertensive_population | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940488 | 326 | 2.09375 | 2 |
SELECTING THE BEST
Spotting a Safe Seafood Seller: Always purchase fish from a dealer that maintains high quality. Based on FDA's Food Code, here are some ways of spotting a safe fish dealer:
• Employees should be in clean clothing and wearing hair coverings.
• They should not be smoking, eating or playing with their hair.
• They should not be sick or have any open wounds.
• Employees should be wearing disposable gloves when handling food and change gloves after doing nonfood tasks and after handling raw fish.
• Fish should be displayed on a thick bed of fresh - not melting - ice preferably in a case or under some type of cover. Fish should be arranged with the bellies down so that the melting ice drains away from the fish, thus reducing the chances of spoilage.
Selecting Quality Fish: Appearance is bright and shiny in quality fish, and most of the scales are intact and adhere tightly to the skin. Each species has characteristic markings and colors which fade and become less pronounced as the fish loses freshness. Eyes are bright, clear, full and often protrude. As quality goes down, the eyes often turn pink and become cloudy and sunken. This does not always apply to small-eyed fish such as salmon. Gills are red and free from slime. With time, the color fades to light pink, then gray and finally greenish or dull brown. Odor is fresh and mild. A fish just out of the water has practically no "fish" odor. The fishy odor develops with time, but should not be strong or objectionable. Flesh is firm, elastic and not separating from the bones.
Fresh Fillets and Steaks: Odor is fresh and mild. Flesh is moist, firm, elastic and has a fresh-cut appearance without traces of browning or drying around the edges. Pre-packaged steaks and fillets are tightly wrapped with no liquid and little or no air in the packages.
• Encourage customers to smell fish before they purchase.
• When in doubt throw it out
Safe Handling before Purchase: The integrity of each fillet is compromised every time it is pulled from the case or moved around. Large fish fillets, like salmon, should be handled with both hands, not picked up in the center of the fillet. Picking up a fillet in the center causes the flesh to pull apart because fish lack connective muscle tissue (that beef has).
• Never fold a fish fillet before wrapping, again, compromising the integrity of the fillet
Safe Handling after Purchase: Whether you've purchased fish that is fresh or frozen, always keep it cold. Never leave perishable items in a hot car unless packed in ice or in a cooler; seafood products must be kept cold to ensure peak quality. It's always a good idea to keep your refrigerator temperature between 32 to 38 °F, and your freezer at 0 °F or colder.
Refrigeration: Store fresh fish in its original wrapper in the coldest part of the refrigerator, which is under the freezer or in the "meat-keeper" drawer. Plan to use your fish purchases within one to two days. If not, freeze them. However, do not refreeze previously frozen products because the quality will suffer. For a more detailed summary of proper storage times for different fish products, refer to the table on page three.
Freezing: It is best to freeze fish in tightly wrapped package form. This takes less storage space and fits a family portion for one meal at a time. Fish freeze faster in tightly wrapped packages. Small whole fish, steaks or fillets (raw or cooked) are easy to prepare for packaged freezing. Wrap them tightly and individually (double thickness if possible) in cling wrap, forming a tight skin on the product. Master-bag these individually wrapped items in a good, strong polyethylene bag or foil before freezing, but never more than a pound per master bag.
Large fish have large surface areas exposed, and they are difficult to protect from oxidation. The best way to handle these fish is simply to freeze them unwrapped or temporarily bag them in plastic. After freezing, dip them in water to form a protective glaze. Then you can bag the fish and return it to the freezer. The glaze may need renewing every five to six weeks.
Label each package with the date, kind and type of fish and the weight and number of servings or pieces. A crayon or grease pencil is ideal for this purpose. Do not overload your freezer, and do not pack the unfrozen fish too tightly. Either of these practices can greatly extend the freezing time and reduce the quality. Most home-frozen fish should not be stored over six months, no more than three months for salmon. For a more in-depth summary of proper freezer storage times for fish, refer to the table below.
Thawing: While freezing fish quickly keeps more cell walls intact, the opposite is true for thawing. Defrost gradually so cells are disturbed less and fewer juices leak out. The best way to thaw is overnight in the refrigerator. Avoid thawing at room temperature. If you must thaw fish quickly, here are safe options: seal fish in a plastic bag and immerse in cold water for about an hour, or microwave on the "defrost" setting, stopping when fish is still icy but pliable.
Marinating: Marinate fish in the refrigerator, not on the counter. Discard the marinade after use because it contains raw juices, which may harbor bacteria. If you want to use the marinade as a dip or sauce, reserve a portion before adding raw food.
Guidelines for Cooking Fish: Cooked to perfection, fish is at its flavorful best and will be moist, tender and have a delicate flavor. In general, fish is cooked when its meat just begins to flake easily when tested with a fork and it loses its translucent or raw appearance. Like most foods, fish should be thoroughly cooked. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggest cooking fish until it reaches an internal temperature of 145 °F.
One helpful guideline is the 10-minute rule for cooking fish. Apply it when baking, broiling, grilling, steaming and poaching fillets, steaks or whole fish. (Do not apply the 10-minute rule to microwave cooking or deep frying.) Practice makes perfect and cooking fish properly is all in the timing. Here's how to use the 10-minute rule:
• Measure the seafood product at its thickest point. If the fish is stuffed or rolled, measure it after stuffing or rolling.
• At 400 °F bake for 10 minutes per inch thickness of the fish, turning the fish halfway through the cooking time. For example, a 1-inch fish steak should be cooked 5 minutes on each side for a total of 10 minutes. Pieces of fish less than half an inch thick do not have to be turned over.
• Add 5 minutes to the total cooking time if you are cooking the fish in foil or if the fish is cooked in a sauce.
• Double the cooking time (20 minutes per inch) for frozen fish that has not been defrosted.
o However, please note that it is best to cook fish from a completely thawed state to avoid fish over cooking on the outside and undercooking internally.
Fish is the original "fast food." It cooks quickly, within minutes, because it lacks the connective tissue of red meats and poultry. Some of the best cooking methods for fish include poaching, broiling, grilling, baking and microwaving because they bring out flavor without adding fat.
Baking: Whole fish, whole stuffed fish, fillets, stuffed fillets, steaks and chunks of fish may be baked. Use pieces of similar size for even cooking. It's best to bake fish in a preheated, 400 °F oven following the 10-minute rule; bake uncovered, basting if desired.
Broiling: Steaks, whole fish, split whole fish and fillets lend themselves well to broiling. Place fish, 1-inch thick or less, 2 to 4 inches from the heat source. Place thicker pieces 5 to 6 inches away. Baste frequently with an oil-based marinade. Using the 10-minute rule, cook on one side for half the total cooking time, basting once or twice, then turn the fish over to continue broiling and basting.
Grilling: This technique lends itself well to thick steak fish such as salmon, halibut, swordfish, tuna and whole fish. Preheat an outdoor gas or electric grill. If using a barbecue grill, start the fire about 30 minutes before cooking. Let it burn until white-hot then spread coals out in a single layer. Adjust the grill height to 4 to 6 inches above the heat. To grill fish, a moderately hot fire is best for cooking seafood. Always start with a well-oiled grid to prevent the delicate skin of the fish from sticking. Support more delicate pieces of fish in a hinged, fish-shaped wire basket for easier turning or handling.
Frequently baste steaks and fillets while grilling to prevent them from drying out. Marinating fish an hour before grilling also helps keep it moist. Apply the 10-minute rule for proper doneness. Use indirect heat for whole fish by banking hot coals on either side of the barbecue or preheat gas or electric grill. Oil fish well and place in an oiled fish basket. Cook fish covered, 10 to 12 minutes per inch of thickness, turning halfway through cooking time.
Microwaving: Use a shallow dish to allow maximum exposure to the microwaves. Arrange fillets with the thicker parts pointing outward and the thinner parts, separated by pieces of plastic wrap, overlapping in the center of the dish. Cover dish with plastic wrap and vent by turning back one corner. Allow 3 minutes per pound of boneless fish cooked on high as a guide. Rotate the dish halfway through the cooking time. Rolled fillets microwave more evenly and are less likely to overcook than flat fillets, which may have thin edges.
Basic tips: Always use clean utensils and storage containers for safe storage. Divide large amounts of leftovers into small, shallow containers for quick cooling in the refrigerator. For frozen storage, wrap fish in heavy foil, freezer wrap or place in freezer container. For optimum taste, use fish within a month. When reheating leftovers, make sure that they have been cooked to 165 °F. If you may have kept the food refrigerated for too long, throw it out. Never taste food that looks or smells strange to see if you can still use it.
Since overcooking toughens the meat, shellfish should not be overcooked. Mollusks, including oysters and clams, are done when the shells open or the meat begins to curl on the edges. Crustaceans, including lobster and shrimp, are done when they turn red or bright pink.
Like finfish, the shellfish can be cooked in a variety of manners. In addition some may be eaten raw.
Oysters, clams, and scallops may be eaten raw. They are truly gourmet fare since the flavor is delicate and the meat tender. You can remove the meat of shellfish by slipping a knife between the shells and prying them open. To serve, place half of the shell and muscles on cracked ice. This keeps the raw meat cold and is attractive and appetizing as well.
The boiling or steaming methods vary from mollusks to crustaceans. Both should be alive when placed in boiling water. Lobsters and crabs should be boiled in salted water for about twenty minutes. Clams, oysters and scallops should be placed on a rack in a deep pot or kettle so the water does not touch them. After five minutes the shells should open which indicates they are done. Discard any shells that do not open, for this indicates the shellfish was dead prior to cooking. You may serve the shellfish in the shell or you may remove the meat prior to cooking.
Broiling-Shucked mollusks, lobster tails, crab legs, shelled shrimp, and whole shellfish are often broiled. Due to the direct heat the meat is quickly cooked and as such is moist. Broiling may not be limited to the kitchen. Grills, hibachis, and rotisseries employ the same cooking techniques. Whole shellfish must be killed prior to broiling. Plunge the shellfish into boiling water or sever the spinal cord. Then split the shellfish and remove the inedible organs. Baste with melted butter during broiling. The shellfish may be seasoned with salt and pepper.
Baking-Raw shellfish and cooked shellfish are used in baking. Raw shellfish bakes in the same fashion as it broils. Shellfish such as oysters, clams, and scallops which are eaten raw may be included in a baking dish without previous preparation. Cooked meat is often combined with other ingredients and baked in a casserole or as an appetizer.
Frying-Most shellfish except lobster may be fried. Deep- fat frying takes from two to five minutes and pan frying takes five to ten minutes. Shuck or remove any portions of shell and inedible parts. Use an egg batter to dip whole shellfish or chunks of meat. Then bread with a mixture of crumbs and flour or a packaged mix.
Deli & Bakery Manager
Forest Hills Foods
More Tips for buying fish: | <urn:uuid:9ba8cc7b-759b-4c0b-ab0a-1d1cea8637d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wzzm13.com/life/local/programming/take_five/242910/205/How-to-Buy-Fish | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927882 | 2,818 | 1.75 | 2 |
Charges of hypocrisy be damned: Some Silicon Valley tech wizards are quietly raising their kids outside the lurid digital landscape that their own industry calls childhood.
The earthquake rips through the streets, swallowing trees and cars and people—everything except John Cusack and his family. Cusack, of course, expertly navigates the destruction that stays just an inch or two behind them. His limousine careens past falling buildings and over huge gaps in the roadway, but the audience knows it’s way too early in director Roland Emmerich’s end-of-the-world disaster flick 2012 for anyone vital to perish.
Gary Yost, creator of the groundbreaking software 3D Studio Max, sits in a darkened Fairfax theater and laughs. Afterward, he marvels, horrified: “Some people will take their kids to that movie.” Yost says he would lock his nine-year-old daughter, Ruby, in a closet before he’d let her near it—or anything like it. He came to see the film at the invitation of some old colleagues who worked with him on 3D Studio Max, which he created in the early 1990s as a design tool for architects and engineers, but which is now owned by Autodesk (and sold as 3ds Max) and widely used to make video games and movie special effects, like the earthquake sequences in 2012.
You’d think a guy like Yost would be the coolest dad at his kid’s school, what with all the whizbang, exploding action effects he helped create. But he keeps that part of his life quiet, because Ruby goes to Greenwood School in Mill Valley, a Waldorf-inspired institution that bases its curriculum on the teachings of early-20th-century philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who emphasized an experiential type of learning. You won’t find a single computer in any of the classrooms at Greenwood, which runs from preschool through eighth grade. Not only that, but Waldorf schools—and there are several ringing the San Francisco Bay—discourage “screen time” of any kind, both at school and at home, and especially before sixth grade. That means no TV, no texting (OMG!), no Facebook, no IMing or surfing the Net, and no video games like the ones made with Yost’s software.
It’s easy to imagine the typical Waldorf parents in the Bay Area: some earthy-crunchy-green types, some old Deadheads sipping kombucha and driving Priuses. And it does have its share of those. But you’d be surprised to learn just how many Waldorf mothers and fathers come from the exalted world of high-tech, like Yost does. In fact, a significant number of parents at Greenwood—and at San Francisco Waldorf and the Waldorf School of the Peninsula—work at some of the very companies whose products the Waldorf schools train their students to avoid. Their ranks include an executive speechwriter at Google, a former Apple marketing manager whose job it was to get computers into classrooms as early as prekindergarten, the chief technology officer of eBay, a cofounder of legendary children’s-software maker Broderbund, and the CEOs of several high-tech startups—all folks you might expect to enroll their kids at schools like those in Tiburon’s Reed Union School District, where even kindergartners get lessons on computers. Instead, these digital-age parents have opted for a homespun environment where children handwrite their own textbooks, learn to knit in first grade, and spend two years in kindergarten communing with gnomes and fairies (no ABCs in sight). Then these parents push against the currents of the culture and their own industry by continuing an anti-tech lifestyle at home.
Just how radical a decision have these tech types made? Consider a day in the life of a typical plugged-in student. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study released in January, kids from 8 to 18 spend 7 hours and 38 minutes a day interacting with some form of media—and often two or three at a time—be it a smartphone, music player, computer, television, magazine, or game console. OK, 38 minutes of that is for print, including books—but on top of the seven and a half hours, they spend half an hour talking on the phone, and teenagers spend another hour and a half texting. And this digi-engagement is not likely to slow down, especially in the Bay Area, which incubates this stuff faster than a five-year-old can say Twitter. After January’s event announcing the release of the Apple iPad, Yost declared that he was not going to buy one and would make every effort to keep it away from his daughter. “This would be like crack cocaine to her,” he says.
Many of these low-tech high-techers feel that there’s just no rush: Kids can learn the gadgets quickly enough at a later age. But there’s also a growing undercurrent of real concern that some of these devices and services are worse than unnecessary—they’re actually bad for kids. Not all of the Waldorf parents were willing to talk about it for print—this is, after all, the industry that gives them their stock options and that depends on getting young people hooked on its products—and not all agree that it is truly harmful. But as the tech explosion keeps accelerating, and as we hear more and more about social-networking addiction and other modern afflictions, some of these parents are starting to wonder what they’ve wrought. | <urn:uuid:5d7c600b-5319-4bc5-98da-975858cbdb16> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sunriseschoolofmiami.org/tech-gets-a-time-out-june-2010-san-francisco-magazine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973161 | 1,175 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Pingback: Wentworth Hosts Umass Dartmouth & Wheaton College | Wentworth Women's Rugby
Can you explain Tiebreaker protocols? Thanks!
For standings, they are based on overall all record first, then it is brought to point differential. So say two teams are 5-1 but Team A has a point differential of 20 and Team B has a differential of 10. Then Team A would be the higher rank.
Also if you’d like to reference our policies and want the exact wording on ties here is the link.
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )
You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )
You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )
Connecting to %s
Notify me of follow-up comments via email.
Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Join 215 other followers
Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. | <urn:uuid:d8e29fd7-ad40-4805-8ac4-2cac41290d5e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://colonialcoastrugby.com/competitions/standings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905418 | 223 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Health goes beyond physical education – it concerns many aspects of how we live and how we eat, involving social, psychological and economic issues as well as nutritional ones. The health education minor helps qualify you to teach elementary, middle, and high school health courses. If you want to become a coach or physical education teacher, the minor can help you develop skills to better promote healthy living through your athletics curriculum.
This page contains information about Exercise Science - Health Education on our Storm Lake campus. For information about programs and majors for adult learners and degree completion, visit our Graduate & Professional Studies site. | <urn:uuid:484aff45-ba83-4eaa-a460-b0092556b089> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bvu.edu/academics/programs-majors/overview.dot?inode=179&categoryInode=21a5dccb-be22-44d8-ba74-d763aebd5241 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939735 | 118 | 1.921875 | 2 |
I've just found this paper, which seems to address some of the issues I want:
25 Years of TeX and Metafont: Looking back and looking forward — TUG 2003 keynote address by Nelson Beebe [TUGboat 25:1, 2004]
TeX has lasted longer than many other computer software technologies.
This article reviews some of the history of TeX and METAFONT, how they
have come to be used in practice, and what their impact has been on
document markup, the Internet, and publishing.
TeX has several design deficiencies that limit its use and its
audience. We look at what TeX did right, and with 25 years of
hindsight, what it did wrong.
We close with some observations about the challenges ahead for
electronic representation of documents.
Are there any other published references? | <urn:uuid:28536ac8-f08d-4c6d-bcf2-f317a02c40c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/58501/a-critique-of-tex/58502 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949814 | 176 | 1.960938 | 2 |
With schools having reopened this week, the Right to Education scheme should have rolled out in its full spirit. Sunday Times of India speaks to Tushar Giri Nath, state project director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, on the status of implementation of the revolutionary policy. Excerpts:
Have we identified the out-of-school children in the state? And how many are inducting into schools?
Karnataka has 68,000 out-of-school children : 12,000 of them are already under special training, 48,000 have gone to school at some point of time and are dropouts, 27,300 will be sent to residential school. Apart from them, 8,000 children who don't attend schools due to migration are sent to seasonal hostels . There are 49 special homes for urban deprived children. We have charted out a need-based plan for each of the categories. Training is from 3 months to one year, and can be extended. They will move to mainstream schools as and when we think they are ready for it. We should bring all of them into special training in the next three months. From June 19, we are sending a team of three officials to the field for seven days. From July 5, Shaaligage Naavu Neevu and a media campaign on awareness of RTE will kick off, when 5,000 officers visit 50,000 schools. By November 11, which is National Education Day, we will know the result.
What's the biggest obstacle in getting all children into school?
It's the circumstances they come from. They are still fighting the basic issues. Their poor parents move every now and then in search of employment. In case of girls, parents don't trust the system.
Considering the craze for private schools, don't you think the government should look at quality in its schools?
You've hit the nail on its head. Quality , and retaining students in government schools, is the most important challenge for us. There may be better private schools, but a majority of them are not. Still, we have parents going there. We have to prove we are the best.
There are complaints of private schools not adhering to the rules.
The government will take note and surely take action. Those who do not want to implement it are coming up with excuses. But how long can they delay the inevitable? A neutral arbitrator needs to listen to our case and theirs. There is the Child Rights Commission , courts etc. Those who are not under our system of schools would have finished admissions earlier and there might be some validity in what they say. The arbitrator should look into how much of this can be considered. We have some uncertainties, and have to grapple with them. We are about to make the reimbursements, we have an open web-based tool for registration, there's a helpline. Next year, it'll be a hit. This time, the time was less, seats were not available, and there was no information given to parents.
How is Karnataka faring when compared to other states?
We are doing much better than many states. The rules came into effect here on April 29. In the short time we had, we've put everything into place. There are states where the rules in came last year but are not yet implemented. There was clarity from Day 1. We also had the most liberal policies. No other state had Rs 3.5 lakh as income limit for EWS category. We are giving a fair chance to all. | <urn:uuid:92f405cb-6fe3-4768-9b78-e21ff61c7862> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-10/bangalore/32155639_1_private-schools-residential-school-special-training | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980333 | 728 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Strange Layer of Venus Surprisingly Cold
The terminator of Venus (the line between day and night) as seen by the Venus Express spacecraft in May 2006.
CREDIT: ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Venus may be closer to the sun than Earth, but its typically hellish atmosphere has a surprisingly cold layer that's chillier than any part of our own planet's atmosphere, a new study reveals.
This region may be cool enough for carbon dioxide snow or ice to form, according to new observations from Europe's Venus Express satellite. This is surprising for a planet with normally oven-hot temperatures, scientists say.
"The finding is very new and we still need to think about and understand what the implications will be," Håkan Svedhem, Venus Express project scientist at the European Space Agency, said in a statement today (Oct. 1).
Scientists discovered the cold layer by measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide gas molecules at various altitudes along the dividing line between day and night on Venus (called the terminator). Combing these data with the known atmospheric pressure at each height, the researchers were able to derive the temperatures of various layers of the planet's atmosphere. [Photos: Venus, the Mysterious Planet]
The strangely cold region lies about 78 miles (125 kilometers) above the planet's surface, and appears to host temperatures around minus 283 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 175 degrees Celsius). It's sandwiched between warmer layers on both sides.
"It is special, as we do not see a similar temperature profile along the terminator in the atmospheres of Earth or Mars, which have different chemical compositions and temperature conditions," Svedhem said.
Venus' atmosphere is full of carbon dioxide, which might change phase when it enters this cold layer.
"Since the temperature at some heights dips below the freezing temperature of carbon dioxide, we suspect that carbon dioxide ice might form there," said Arnaud Mahieux of the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, who is lead author of the paper reporting the results in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
If there is ice or snow made of carbon dioxide there, it should be very reflective, creating especially bright spots on Venus.
"Although Venus Express indeed occasionally observes very bright regions in the Venusian atmosphere that could be explained by ice, they could also be caused by other atmospheric disturbances, so we need to be cautious," Mahieux said.
The 220 million Euro ($283.7 million) Venus Express mission launched in November 2005, and arrived at the second planet from the sun in April 2006. Since then, the probe has been orbiting Venus to learn more about the world often called the closest twin Earth has in the solar system. The spacecraft is slated to continue operating through at least 2014.
MORE FROM SPACE.com | <urn:uuid:0b759735-f20c-4764-be83-83e2cbca2c7e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.space.com/17850-venus-atmosphere-cold-layer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941282 | 575 | 3.8125 | 4 |
Syed Nazakat, India, is the Special Correspondent at the weekly magazine The Week.
As a broadcast, print and online journalist, Nazakat has reported from 17 countries. He covered the war in Afghanistan, political unrest in Nepal, developmental issues in Laos and Cambodia and the conflict in India's Kashmir region. He was the first Indian journalist to report from an Al-Qaeda rehabilitation camp in Saudi Arabia. Over the past decade, Nazakat has produced stories that revealed India’s secret torture chambers, the country’s rendition program in Nepal, suicides in the Indian military, arms smuggling in Bangladesh and women trafficking from Afghanistan. His areas of specialization include military and security, money laundering, terrorism and human rights.
Nazakat has been the recipient of several prestigious journalism awards including India's prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award, the Karmaveer Puraskaar national award and Christiane Amanpour Award for Religion Journalism in 2013. He was also the finalist for the 2010 Daniel Pearl Awards for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting.
Nazakat is a fellow at the Konrad Adenauer Asian Center of Journalism at Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines and the guest faculty for the Convergent Journalism program at AJK Mass Communication Research Centre – Delhi.
Read a Q&A with Nazakat in ICIJ's Secrets of the Masters series. | <urn:uuid:c1454bff-60cb-4900-ac96-bd511d31ea71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.icij.org/journalists/syed-nazakat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910489 | 285 | 1.773438 | 2 |
New Delhi, June 17: For long, golf has been viewed as a rich man’s sport in India while the all-consuming passion for cricket has somewhat stunted the growth of a discipline that will be making its debut at the 2016 Olympics. The trend is changing with dozens of youngsters walking about the greens of Delhi and elsewhere with a golf kit slung across their shoulders.
Pundits and golfers alike feel a lot has changed over a decade or so. Many academies and camps are available for youngsters to sharpen their skills as parents push their wards to take to a sport that they think helps a person’s all-round development, both physical and mental.
Shubham Jaglan is seen as a mascot of the new-wave golfing community. At seven plus, he is the top-ranked sub-junior and has already emerged as one of the brightest prospects of Indian golf. And where does he come from? Not the greens of Royal Calcutta Club or Delhi Golf Club (DGC), but from the plough fields of Israna village near Panipat, Haryana, in northern India.
Another bright young prospect is 14-year-old girl Ridhima Dilawari. Born in England, she thinks it is natural for her to take to golf after hitting the ball a couple of times. Ridhima is now a regular at the DGC, training relentlessly.
On the roster of the Indian Golf Union (IGU) are 195 golf courses and approximately 100,000 golf club members in the country. Over 50 percent of these courses have 18 holes, including five in Kashmir. More than half the total courses belong to the Indian Army.
Jasjit Singh, a golf teaching pro at the nearly 200-acre DGC that celebrated its centenary this year, feels that good prize money is one of the reasons for the growing popularity of the sport.
“Money is playing a big part in the growth of golf in the country. It has opened a great career option for young golfers and they realise they can make a living out of it,” Jasjit told IANS.
At entry level, a golf professional may earn Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000 a month; at mid-level Rs.25,000-45,000 a month and at the senior level Rs.50,000- Rs.2 lakh a month.
Jasjit, who is a certified Class A trainer, said it was wrong to categorise golf as an expensive sport.
“It is not so expensive to play golf, there are many facilities that have the provision of pay and play and they don’t charge much. No sport is cheap, golf gear is actually less expensive than a cricket kit,” insists Jasjit.
Anirban Lahiri, who turned professional just four years ago and has already won two Asian titles, also feels that golf over the years has grown phenomenally and is heading in the right direction.
“Over the last decade or so, golf has grown phenomenally. In my junior level days there were 10-20 kids in my age-group. Now every group has 60-80 kids and they have junior tours; it’s a good sign for India,” Lahiri told IANS.
Lahiri, who along with Gaganjeet Bhullar was part of the Indian national team that won the team silver medal at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, gives credit to the PGTI and IGU for a stellar job in promoting the sport.
“PGTI and IGU have done a great job, giving a lot of professional training to budding youngsters. There are numerous junior programmes and a lot of promotion has gone in at the junior level. Golf has become a lot more accessible now,” he said.
Both Jasjit and Lahiri share the view that more needs to be done to make golf more popular.
“The facilities here need to be upgraded. In comparison to some of the other countries we are far behind. We lack the latest technology and the government needs to promote the game. It should not be left just to the corporates,” said Jasjit.
Lahiri, however, feels that golf remains elitist and more money needs to be ploughed in at the amateur and junior levels if the sport has to have a rapid growth.
“Things are changing, but golf still remains an elitist sport. At the amateur and junior level more money needs to be pumped in for a quicker growth of the sport.”
There is no doubt the game is finding new followers in India among all age groups, both men and women, who play not so much to compete but who find the singular nature of the game and its backdrop of natural surroundings a great stress reliever.
“As a middle-aged beginner I find golf a huge stress buster and addictive,” says Anasuya Gupta, CMD of the Cico Group, who took to golf late after her son Aviroop picked up the game at St. Andrews, the home of golf, in Scotland.
“I would like to play the game regularly but golf club memberships are mostly closed or have a decade long waiting time, which I find very restrictive. I wish they would open memberships to new enthusiasts so that people like me get an opportunity to play as often as I wish,” she said.
(Santosh Rao can be contacted at email@example.com) | <urn:uuid:8c49d871-0bb4-4028-bbf8-9447e1921fdf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indiatalkies.com/2012/06/golf-fast-catching-cricket-popularity-image.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968809 | 1,152 | 1.53125 | 2 |