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Investment strategies also vary considerably based on the size of the IRA account balance. As account balances increase, the proportion of assets in equities and balanced funds decrease, and allocations to bonds and other types of assets increase. Here's a look at how investment allocation changes as account balances grow:
Less than $25,000 saved. People with less than $25,000 in their IRA account tend to invest it aggressively, with approximately 69 percent invested in equities. Balanced funds are also popular, especially among those with the least savings. For people with less than $10,000 invested in their IRA, 21 percent is in target-date or similar types of funds. Bond allocations are very low (6.9 percent) for people with less than $10,000 saved and 10.1 percent for those with account balances between $10,000 and $24,999. Investors with small balances can make significant progress by boosting their savings rate. "The primary goal as income increases should be to increase the percentage of salary that is being saved," says Trott. "Even though income is increasing, it's extremely important to make sure that they continue to monitor their spending."
$25,000 to $99,999 saved. People with between $25,000 and $49,999 in their IRA continue to have a large allocation to equities (65.2 percent), but that amount drops to 59.8 percent for people with $50,000 to $99,999. The latter group has a higher bond allocation (15.2 percent).
$100,000 to $249,999 saved. The allocation to equities declines as retirement savers accumulate bigger account balances. People with between $100,000 and $149,999 in their IRAs have 55.7 percent of their account balance invested in the stock market, which declines to 52.4 percent among those with $150,000 to $249,999 saved.
$250,000 or more saved. People with $250,000 or more saved for retirement have the most diversified portfolios. They have the smallest proportion (45.7 percent) of their IRA account allocated to equities and the largest proportion invested in bonds (24.2 percent). Relatively affluent retirement savers are the least likely to use balanced funds (7.7 percent). They also have 9.2 percent of their account balance invested in money funds, including money market mutual funds and certificates of deposit. "They are maintaining their balances instead of growing their balances like those who are younger and those with smaller balances," says Copeland. | <urn:uuid:af0c408b-fc2e-453d-9a1c-9cfd50c50f9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2012/11/12/how-your-investment-choices-compare-to-your-peers?s_cid=related-links:TOP&page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97704 | 525 | 2.171875 | 2 |
John Joseph Gotti, Jr. was an Italian-American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a life of crime at an early age. Operating out of the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, Gotti quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the crime family's biggest earners and a protégé of Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce.
After the FBI indicted members of Gotti's crew for selling narcotics, Gotti took advantage of growing dissent over the leadership of the crime family. Fearing he and his men would be killed by Gambino crime family Boss Paul Castellano for selling drugs, Gotti organized the murder of Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter. This left Gotti as the boss of one of the most powerful crime families in America, one that made hundreds of millions of dollars a year from construction, hijacking, loan sharking, gambling, extortion and other criminal activities. Gotti was one of the most powerful crime bosses during his era and became widely known for his outspoken personality and flamboyant style, which gained him favor with much of the general public. While his peers avoided attracting attention, especially from the media, Gotti became known as the "The Dapper Don" for his expensive clothes and personality in front of news cameras. He was later given the nickname "The Teflon Don" after three high-profile trials in the 1980s resulted in his acquittal, though it was later revealed that the verdicts were the result of jury tampering and juror misconduct. Law enforcement authorities were not impressed with his style or reputation, however, and they continued gathering evidence against Gotti that helped lead to his downfall. | <urn:uuid:b51ad9c4-5760-4dc9-9261-366535ec7c28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.worldofquotes.com/author/John+Gotti/1/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990327 | 369 | 1.78125 | 2 |
135 -- Number of words in George Washington's second inaugural address, the shortest on record.
8,445 -- Number of words in William Henry Harrison's inaugural address in 1841, the longest on record. Harrison died one month after his inauguration, possibly from prolonged exposure to bad weather during his swearing-in.
$4 -- The cost to attend the first inaugural ball, held in 1809 for President James Madison.
1821 -- The first year that the presidential inauguration fell on a Sunday. President James Monroe consulted with the Supreme Court and agreed that ceremonies would be held on Monday.
1901 -- The first year that the House of Representatives was involved in preparations for the inauguration. Since that date the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies has organized the inaugural ceremonies.
4 -- The number of outgoing presidents who did not attend the inauguration of their successors.
1857 -- James Buchanan's inauguration is believed to be the first to be photographed.
1897 -- The inauguration of William McKinley is the first to be recorded by motion picture cameras.
1949 -- President Harry Truman's inauguration is the first shown on television. | <urn:uuid:f0ea925e-3c3b-46d9-a557-887572b02bff> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ketv.com/news/politics/By-the-numbers-Presidential-inaugurations/-/9674400/18165518/-/item/1/-/stpqn/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954436 | 232 | 3.0625 | 3 |
11 September 2012
Preparations for the test in the wind tunnel
Technician Mario Jünemann prepares the SHEFEX II model for its test in the high-enthalpy wind tunnel at Göttingen. This involves incorporating 50 pressure sensors and 60 thermocouple elements to the projectile. During this test, thousands of data values are recorded within a thousandth of a second.
DLR (CC-BY 3.0).
Aircraft for research
For more than 30 years, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has managed research aircraft. The flying testers form the platform for research missions of all kinds This picture shows the engine of the largest member of the research fleet, the Airbus A320-232 ATRA (Advanced Technology and Research Aircraft).
Parabolic trough solar power plants
Studies have demonstrated the vast potential of solar power; for example, the deserts on Earth receive more solar energy in just six hours than the world's population consumes in an entire year. To enable the cost-efficient conversion of solar power into electricity, solar cells and solar thermal power stations need to operate more efficiently and become much less expensive to build.
The car of the future communicates with traffic infrastructure
In a driving demonstration, the DLR Institute of Transportation Systems, an autonomous vehicle was able take advantage of traffic information, from traffic lights to speed adjustment.
At the International Aerospace Exhibition (Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung; ILA) 2012 in Berlin, the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und- Raumfahrt; DLR) will be displaying their research in the aerospace sector with more than 70 exhibits at the DLR stand (Hall 4), the Space Pavilion, the open-air area and the static display.
"Research is the future. The future is based on today's societal issues and their implications for future generations," said Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Chairman of the DLR Executive Board. "Today is about finding answers in the interest of the environment, together with ensuring mobility, a necessary energy transition; everything is geared to society's needs. Today, not only is knowledge acquired by DLR, but it is Germany’s asset for tomorrow," said Wörner.
'DLR Next Generation' is about application-oriented research
Aviation is facing major challenges. Aircraft will be safer, quieter, cleaner, more economical and more comfortable. These are also the parameters of ‘Flightpath 2050’ – Europe's vision for aviation – which guides aeronautics research at DLR. The aim is to create the air transport system of the future.
Robotics, Earth observation and the use of the International Space Station are focal points of aerospace research at DLR. The focus of its work will involve development of radar technology, new communication technologies, and space exploration.
The energy research sector at DLR looks for solutions that can contribute to the energy transition. DLR scientists are working on efficient and economical solar energy and energy storage. Work at DLR is interdisciplinary; energy scientists can apply findings from aeronautics research to optimise wind turbines.
Ensuring and optimising the mobility of tomorrow, whether on the road or in the air, is the objective of the transport research carried out at DLR. Here too, various research institutes and facilities work together across various disciplines, with flight guidance researchers working with their colleagues in the airport sector.
Next generation space
Our need for information continues to grow and shape our modern communication society. We are currently able to access the Internet, email or SMS via mobile phone, tablet or laptop - anytime and anywhere. To satisfy this hunger for information, new developments are taking place for communication satellites. The Heinrich-Hertz satellite mission is testing new technologies in the areas of satellite payloads, ground stations, antennas and satellite platforms under the extreme stresses of geostationary orbit. This will strengthen Germany's position in the field of geostationary satellite systems and services and is a response to international competition for the best ideas and technologies.
DLR has set itself the target of creating a compact satellite programme as a platform for its own research and development work. On the one hand, the scientific excellence of the DLR research institutes at both national and international levels will be developed and expanded. On the other hand, the satellite itself is considered as a research object and will be used to test new technologies and procedures. The first mission of the programme, the satellite 'Eu:CROPIS' (Euglena: Closed Regenerative Organic food Production In Space) will test the performance of a biological life support system under different gravitational conditions. In selecting the experiments, there has been close cooperation between DLR and NASA. Thus, an unprecedented combination of experiments and technologies has been achieved, which will extend the lead of both institutions in the gravitational biology field.
Next generation aeronautics
Numerical simulations are now used in the early stages of aircraft design, in order to limit the number of possible configurations and designs. It is followed by wind tunnel tests on models and flight-testing of prototypes. With increasing computing power, however, these simulations could also be partially combined to form an overall digital picture. In the project 'High-performance computing (HPC)-4-Digital-X', researchers have been working on conducting the 'first flight in the computer'. The concept, design, engineering and construction as well as the flight characteristics and the flight behaviour will be determined by numerical simulations prior to costly hardware implementations. Digitisation of the licensing procedures for aircraft components, which are still very lengthy and costly, will be also be pursued.
Aircraft carry passengers and freight around the globe. As other modes of air transport are developed, there will be various effects on the economy, the environment and society. In the work on Aviation Impact Assessment (AIA), air transport of the future, which is expected to experience strong growth, will undergo a comprehensive peer review. Questions here include: What quantity of emissions, especially carbon dioxide, will air transport emit? How will the noise affect the urban centres? How many people will work in the aviation industry? How will changes in mobility alter the world? Technological studies in the current research programme are included for this glimpse into the future.
Next generation energy
In high winds or gusts, the rotor blades of a wind turbine have to be feathered or completely turned away from the wind. With intelligence, moving the rotor blades can be avoided and electricity generated at higher wind speeds. With a movable blade leading edge, called a droop nose, the air resistance of the rotor blade can be varied, depending on wind strength. With a droop nose, which was originally developed for the wings of commercial aircraft, a wind turbine will be able to work more hours at full load than before. In the new DLR research field of wind power, the researchers are sharing their aviation expertise to enable more powerful, quieter and lighter wind turbines. Future wind turbines will be much larger and have longer blades. In order that their weight does not become too large, extremely light and strong carbon-fibre reinforced composites will be increasingly used. Also in this area, DLR is bringing its expertise and experience from the aviation industry to the development of wind turbines.
Next generation traffic
With the 'Total Airport Management Suite' (TAMS), DLR researchers have created a system in which all parties involved in flight operations – air traffic control, airport operators and airlines – can be connected. Until now, the various organisations have worked with their own systems, which cannot coordinate with the other. This causes inefficiencies in the overall process as well as longer waiting times. DLR researchers have integrated all the individual systems into a superior overall system together with industry partners, thus facilitating operations and making failures quickly visible. In such cases, TAMS is able to offer a choice of solutions. As well as DLR, the partners Siemens, Barco Orthogon, Inform, ATRICS and Stuttgart Airport were involved in TAMS.
To learn more about all DLR exhibits and themes at ILA, visit the special page www.dlr.de/en/ILA2012.
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Meditation for Sunday – July 25, 2010
Expectancy Determines Outcome.
What do you expect to achieve in your life?
I ask because defining your expectations is a key ingredient in achieving your desired outcomes.
If you expect grand outcomes, you are much more likely to achieve grand outcomes. If you expect little or nothing, that is exactly what you are most likely to achieve; little or nothing.
You would never think of driving in unfamiliar territory without a road map, so why shouldn’t you lay out a desirable road map to help you reach your desired outcomes?
Often our expectations in life are shaped during our early formative years. Many parents tell their young children they are capable of accomplishing anything they desire. I was fortunate to have such parents. Other parents fill their children with limiting beliefs that only serve to limit the expectations of their children.
One key example of this has always stuck out in my mind. Several years ago, I was visiting a friend at his workplace on a Saturday. One of my friend’s fellow workers brought his ten-year-old son with him to work.
When I was introduced to my friend’s co-worker, the coworker then introduced his son as his “little idiot”. I was extremely upset when I heard this. I did not say anything to the worker as I did not feel it was any of my business, but I felt like saying something such as, “I’m sure you don’t really mean that, as your son appears to be very smart to me.”
When I talked with my friend about this later, he indicated his co-worker was an extremely nice guy and was a very good family man who loved his son very much.
Notwithstanding, in my opinion, he was unintentionally inhibiting his son’s future development. Children as well as adults, have a tendency to believe what they hear. If you tell them they’re smart, they will believe they’re smart. If you tell them they’re an idiot, even in jest, they will believe they’re an idiot
My next post will talk about limiting thoughts and limited expectations . . .
As you meditate upon this thought, ask yourself the following questions:
- What do you expect to accomplish in your life?
- What do you tell your children and others around you to expect?
Have you checked out my website that profiles the benefits of walking? iWarriorWalk.com | <urn:uuid:42d72a97-245a-4b5b-89f8-9fd6e8f0f05c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stanleybronstein.com/expectations/ | 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 | 0.983154 | 523 | 2.21875 | 2 |
- Legal Weddings: In accordance to the marriage laws of the Burgerlijke Wetboek van de Nederlandse Antillen;, “a marriage is legal when it is acknowledged by law between one man and one woman above the age of 18 and has been conducted by a civil officer, which generally creates legal responsibilities between both parties”. See Documentation required to get married in Sint Maarten;
- Blessing Ceremony: This is a ceremony conducted under the couple religion such as: Catholic, Jewish, Indian, Muslim, Non Denominational. Etc.
- Renewal of Vows: This is for any legally married couple who wishes to re-commit themselves to each other after being married for a number of years.
- Symbolic Wedding: This is a ceremony where the couple expresses their love to each other without being legally bounded. | <urn:uuid:be661efc-a1c3-4717-8600-351a3072bcde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sintmaartenmarry-me.com/wedding-services/ceremony-types/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950103 | 179 | 2.0625 | 2 |
DHAKA: With the theme ‘Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services’, the World Population Day was observed in the country as well as elsewhere around the globe Wednesday.
Different government and non-government organizations chalked out various programmes marking the day.
As per health ministry data, Bangladesh’s population stands at 15.10 crore and population growth rate is 1.34 percent.
Following the demographic trend, within 50 years the population of Bangladesh will reach a staggering figure of 30.20 crore.
President M Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the occasion.
President Zillur Rahman said, “Population growth is still a matter of grate challenge in developing countries, including Bangladesh due to various social, economical and cultural reasons.”
He added: “But, our government is working to improve the situation by empowering women and creating awareness against population growth among rural people.”
In her speech, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “The present government has implemented a number of policies in education, population and social security sectors in a bid to make the population management a success.”
She urged people to move forward in order to protect mother and child health.
BDST: 1825 HRS, JUL 11, 2012
Abul Kalam Azad, Newsroom Editor
M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor
All rights reserved. Sale, redistribution or reproduction of information/photos/illustrations/video/audio contents on this website in any form without prior permission from banglanews24.com are strictly prohibited and liable to legal action. | <urn:uuid:4e2ebb89-40b0-410f-bd21-d9f46bca08d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.banglanews24.com/English/detailsnews.php?nssl=c471696beb14dcf27c43d37fe49f7250&nttl=2012073047159 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922096 | 337 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Posts Tagged ‘Sampling’
CLick Any Of The Banners To Visit The Official Site For Any Of These Beat Makers
I just found out that the original beat thang has been remade into what they now call BTV SOLO which probably stands for Beat Thang Solo. The price has been reduced from 100 dollars to about 40 dollars, but you can get it for $35 if you click “Try It” , on the banner next to the video above and purchase through our affiliate link. It currently has a trial period, so you can get your money back for a limited time if you are not satisfied, but I am sure you will be satisfied if you try it.
In this price range this is probably the most advanced and best deal you will get on any beat maker for your laptop or computer. With that being said, there is a longer learning curve with this beat software if you are new to making beats, and this is do to the many features it offers, but you do not have to use all the features on this software when starting out. Plus the video tutorial like the one above makes it easy to learn. You can just do the simple things first and start using the more advanced features as you get more comfortable with the easy functions.
The other beat makers on this page have what I call grid editing which make creating a new beat a little easier when first starting out, but despite that, this beat maker out weighs all of them when it comes to features like effects, roll editing, wave editing, and many other advanced functions. This beat software is a slightly scaled down version of the 100 dollar version and was created for those on a budget. It is still considered a pro. level beat maker. I advise you to check out all the beat makers on this page and to visit there websites before making a decision on which to buy or try if they offer a free trial. BTV has a 60 day trial period, so feel free to try it out for a while. Click Here to get started or on the banner above next to the video, and make some hits! | <urn:uuid:c86011b4-535f-4b67-800d-1a5271a06596> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.beatmakersnmore.com/tag/sampling/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952792 | 431 | 1.515625 | 2 |
The Department of Geography and Planning
Research the impact of human activities on the environment. Travel to the Czech Republic and discover the country's architecture and history. Learn practical skills in field and laboratory techniques, and remote sensing technology. Get practical experience with Geographic Information Systems. These are just a few opportunities available to you when you choose to major in Geography and Planning at the University of Saskatchewan.
Britton, Virgl Win 2013 Dean's Distinguished Staff Award
posted June 5, 2013
Brenda Britton ...
RUP Students Rethink Traffic Bridge
posted April 19, 2013
Regional and urban planning (RUP) students have developed some distinct and thought-provoking proposals for the future of Saskatoon’s Traffic Bridge. Students in an advanced urban design class...
Urban Planning Prof. Leads Prairie Urban Aboriginal Knowledge Network
posted April 15, 2013
By Kirk Sibbald The University of Saskatchewan is home to a new research centre focused on fostering connections between academics, Aboriginal organizations and governments across Canada. The...
YWCA Women of Distinction Nominees
posted April 11, 2013
YWCA Saskatoon announced a total of 34 nominees for the 2013 Women of Distinction Awards on April 11, in 10 award categories. Nominees affiliated with the College of Arts & Science include...
No event items available | <urn:uuid:e232810e-f0ca-4652-975c-173d4d3cd4a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arts.usask.ca/geography/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916834 | 277 | 1.804688 | 2 |
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has ousted the chairman of its Vermont affiliate over an essay he wrote likening a "Pure Vermont" campaign slogan by the losing gubernatorial candidate to the Nazi leadership's emphasis on pure German ethnicity.
The federal commission voted in Washington on Friday to dismiss Curtiss Reed Jr. from his post as chairman of its State Advisory Committee, also citing remarks he made in a 2008 Vermont Public Radio interview criticizing the Bush administration.
Reed's essay appeared in the Oct. 20 Brattleboro Reformer and on the website vtdigger.org and said the slogan of former Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie was tantamount to genocide.
"Brian Dubie's 'Pure Vermont' brand is another example of cross-cultural blundering," Reed wrote. "Presumably, the slogan refers to Vermont's agricultural products and environmental legacy. But for many Vermonters, these words denote racial, religious and cultural oppression. They imply that Vermont is a place reserved for white Christians."
"'Pure Vermont' raises the specter of Hitler's Aryan Nation and the Khmer Rouge where the purifying agent was genocide," Reed wrote.
Reed, of Brattleboro, released copies of e-mails between him and Martin Dannenfelser, staff director with the civil rights commission, in which Dannenfelser said members found Reed's comments about Dubie's slogan "very troubling."
"Taken together," Dannenfelser wrote, "commissioners are concerned that you have used these public platforms to impugn the motives of Mr. Dubie and the Bush administration and, in the case of Mr. Dubie, to associate his views with those of avowed racists and mass murderers."
Dubie, the lieutenant governor who lost narrowly to Democrat Peter Shumlin Nov. 2, released a statement through his office Tuesday defending the slogan.
"Pure Vermont is about the people and products that make Vermont great, and it's a message Vermonters have responded warmly to, all over our state. It's a positive message and welcoming message."
Reed maintained in his essay, and in interviews Tuesday, that the slogan illustrated Dubie's insensitivity to Vermont's growing diversity, and that many of its new residents would hear the slogan differently from the descendants of families that had been in the state for generations.
"If the audience to which he was speaking was exclusively native-born, sugar-mapling families in Vermont then his campaign slogan would not be a problem," Reed said. "But we live in an increasingly diverse community here in Vermont. People, both in terms of their religious backgrounds and cultural heritages that are here, are from populations who have been victims of purification campaigns in their home countries."
Reed, 56, aside from serving until Friday in his unpaid role as state advisory committee chairman, is executive director of the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, a civil rights advocacy group. He said he twice tried to raise concerns with Dubie's campaign, in May and again in October, about the "Pure Vermont" slogan, but got no response.
The national commission is supposed to vote to grant charters to each of 51 state advisory committees every two years, though that process has been behind schedule in recent years. Reed said that is partly what prompted him to say in the 2008 radio interview that the Bush administration appeared to be engaged in "a systematic effort to restrict the activities of the state advisory committees."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to commission Chairman Gerald Reynolds, an appointee of President George W. Bush, in 2008 and again in 2010, urging that Vermont's state advisory committee be reconvened and put back to work. His 2010 letter noted that during its most recent active period in 2009, it had produced a well regarded report on racial profiling by police agencies in the state.
At Friday's meeting, the federal commission granted the Vermont committee a new two-year charter but voted separately on Reed's reappointment as chairman. Five of eight commission members voted against it, and the others abstained, said commission spokeswoman Lenore Ostrowsky.Tags: | <urn:uuid:f45e6065-d845-48f4-b8df-401c2784a6d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.necn.com/12/07/10/US-commission-ousts-Vt-chair-over-race-r/landing_politics.html?blockID=3&apID=a38bc6022c5240989cb0dc206807cb0f | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973575 | 872 | 1.617188 | 2 |
The Traveling Salesman Problem (sic)
Examples of where industrial engineering might be used include: shortening lines (or queueing theory) at a theme park, streamlining an operating room, distributing products worldwide (also referred to as supply chain management), and manufacturing cheaper and more reliable automobiles
Operation Research is about mathematical optimization. Solving all manner of problem using complex algorithms and usually computers. One of the applications of operations research was the invasion of Normandy. One of the classic theoretical Operation Research problems is the “Traveling Salesman Problem” (sic). Which is (from wikipedia):
Given a list of cities and their pairwise distances, the task is to find the shortest possible route that visits each city exactly once and returns to the origin city.
This is actually what i am doing this week, though the specific optimization is less about distances and more about buyers schedules. . Visiting a collection of hammocks wholesalers on the East Coast, because we did so well at the trade show last year, that we cant really afford to go back (it costs roughly $30K) and then have new customers we cant satisfy because of our production limitations and at the same time we dont want to loose our existing customers.
And our customers mostly love us. The product is quality made, they get few returns, it lasts for a long time, it is made in the US and it distinguishes them from the big box stores. Should you wish to buy a hammock go to our online store.
Interestingly to me (and perhaps other geeky readers) the traveling salesperson problem is consider a difficult problem. Specifically, NP-Hard where it is the hardest of its class of problems. There are of course brute force approaches, where you measure from every city to every other city til you cover all the routes, but this gets big very fast.
About paxusa funologist, memeticist and revolutionary. Can be found on Wikipedia and in locations of imminent calamity. buckle up, there is going to be some rough sledding.
- Loud Love is Transformed
- Monsanto vs Occupy vs Iraq Protests
- Surprising possibilities – the case for hope
- Chicken Boy
- Killing bigger demons – Monju
- The Netizens fight back
- The universe wants horny beefies
- UVa Dumpster Dive
- Grillin' like a villain
- May is Kewaunee Closes
- On being a new manager
- PAL and Bedrooms
- Poly Comics
- A hammock for you, my American Friend?
- Mysterious internet tendencies | <urn:uuid:9decd180-00f4-4acf-af13-62fc62d9a15d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://funologist.org/2012/08/21/the-traveling-salesman-problem-sic/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93112 | 532 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Seasonal influenza is more than just a mild cold
Seasonal influenza is a highly communicable, acute viral infection that predominantly attacks the respiratory tract and sometimes the lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness and can lead to death. Up to 5 to 15 percent of the worldwide population is infected each year and approximately 250,000 to 500,000 die. More than 90 percent of deaths associated with influenza in industrialized countries occur among those 65 years of age and over.
Despite the severity of the illness, many people mistakenly believe that influenza is merely a severe cold. While colds and influenza share many symptoms, they are caused by different viruses and can result in different consequences for patients. Influenza-related complications can include pneumonia and dehydration, and worsening of chronic conditions, such as congestive heart failure, asthma or diabetes.
Vaccination is one of the most significant public health interventions ever implemented, sparing millions of people from complications of infectious diseases. Use of currently available vaccines has been calculated to save more than 8 million lives annually, translating to one person saved every five seconds. | <urn:uuid:8bb00eae-080a-4d0e-9d0a-146974b86a71> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.novartis-vaccines.com/newsroom/feature-stories/seasonal_influenza.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951912 | 218 | 3.890625 | 4 |
Strategy Formulation & Implementation
In all well managed organisations in the private sector there will be a short-term business plan and a long-term business plan. The latter may focus on five years, but can be longer. The public sector is subtly different because of the vagaries of political direction and shifting sands with strategies. In either case there is a powerful incentive for procurement to formulate and implement a strategy that locks into the business plan.
BFL have been engaged in many situations where the procurement strategy is vague or non-existent. For example, there has been little thought to the supply market and where the ideal supplier s may be. That could be within a short distance of the buying organisations location(s) where goods and services are required. It could however be that the ‘best’ suppliers are off-shore. Taking the latter situation we know of one large national retailer who would only trade through the UK agents of off-shore manufacturers. In another case we know of a retailer who created a procurement unit in China.
The procurement strategy would, of course, give due account to the nature of contracts placed with suppliers. Short term contracts are unlikely to deliver real value for money because the supplier is unable to plan for the longer term. However, long term contracts have the great benefit of offering lower cost because contracts can be negotiated on the supply side. The contractual detail can cover off the business interests of all parties by acknowledging that contract termination may occur. Should it do so what are the consequences? That is the strategic question that must be answered.
In the shipbuilding sector we were retained by a Merchant Bank to advise on a strategy for four shipyards. Procurement was an isolated function in the business, contributing very little to strategic affairs. For example, they had no input into the bidding side of any of the businesses. In consequence, when tenders were successful the buyers were faced with unrealistic demands for short-term deliveries. They were also faced with quotations that had lapsed in validity, In effect the shipyards profit was eroded even before any work had commenced! One of the consequences of this was that the Group of shipyards were heading for administration unless dramatic changes were made to tendering and procurement. A project was taken as a model and the tendered prices were challenged before our client submitted their tender to their client. The costs were driven down by over 10% on the basis that the new procurement strategy would be founded on creating long-term trading relationships with key suppliers of goods such a scaffolding, painting, dry docking and temporary labour. These purchases were common denominators in most contracts.
The procurement strategy will need expert knowledge of the commodities being purchased. This is why category management can be a welcome solution.
Related Case Studies | <urn:uuid:17bf3dc1-65f1-4191-ab0a-5dacb79d1d6b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.brianfarrington.co.uk/services/strategy-formulation-and-implementation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975987 | 559 | 1.914063 | 2 |
This week’s Golden Apple award winner teaches reading and language arts in Everitt Middle School’s Aspire Academy.
The program is for middle school students who are struggling in reading and language arts, based on FCAT scores.
Tracey Sirmans leads the program at Everitt, inspiring students and teachers alike to reach for high goals.
In Ms. Sirmans, students always have something to look up to.
“On the ceiling we have our 2012-2013 high school proficiency scores,” said Tracey.
Posting their reading goals is just one of the many ways she motivates her students to achieve.
“Ms. Sirmans has been helping me with reading strategies and that has been going great,” said student Leyla Flores.
She knows how critical reading is to every subject and wont settle for less than a student’s best.
“Tracey Sirmons is the perfect combination of structure and flexibility in the classroom. Every student is going to leave with a learning gain and she is not going to take anything until that happens,” said Principal Shirley Baker.
“I see promise in our youth today and i see that they have knowledge that is held within and it just take a special teacher to see what is inside of them, unwrap their gifts so they can understand their greatness.”
Baylee Dugan’s mom nominated her for the award.
“She'll help us whenever we need help with something and she will help us and show us how to do it right,” said Baylee.
Her impact clearly goes beyond classroom.
“She is like a 2nd mom to me and a role model too; she is a really good teacher.”
“I hope through my encouragement and my structures that they will be successful, not only in school and high school or in other careers and in college, but that they will be good citizens of society.”
Congratulations to Tracey Sirmans, this week’s Golden Apple award winning teacher.
“I am proud to be an educator.”
“She is the best teacher I’ve ever had.”
In addition to winning the Golden Apple, Ms. Sirmans was nominated by Everitt for Teacher of the Year. | <urn:uuid:15cd2433-d641-4fcb-a6a1-a7c160d38b66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wjhg.com/news/newschannel7today/headlines/Everitt-Middle-School-Aspire-Academy-Reading-and-Language-Arts-Teacher-Wins-Golden-Apple-184279061.html?site=mobile | 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 | 0.971761 | 488 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Guest Author - Connie Krochmal
The World of Cacti-How to Select From and Care For Over 1000 Species” by Danny Schuster, was published by Facts on File in 1990.
This book is destined to be the most-thumbed one in your cactus library.
It has everything you would expect from a great reference book, and really does live up to its title.
There are four chapters, and each is brimming with helpful information. If you really want to be successful in growing cacti, it is best to check out the first three chapters. The first deals with the origins, classification, and native habitats of cacti. This information will help you provide the proper care and conditions for your cacti.
There are drawings and color photos of the different shapes, and even a drawing and explanation of the different kinds of root systems. In addition, there’s an enlightening section on the different kinds of cactus flowers, illustrated with drawings. Within this first chapter there is a discussion on the classification of cacti. A lot of cacti don’t have common names, so that fact makes this section of the book an important one. Otherwise, the Latin names can seem like a foreign language. Following that, there is a chart of the botanical classification of the Cactaceae family that will be of interest to serious cacti lovers.
In order to keep your cacti thriving, you need to know something about their native habitat. Was it from the desert or from the jungle? The book has an enlightening section on that subject in the first chapter, in which the different habitats are discussed, such as true desert, desert grasslands, chaparrals, and subtropical forests.
Chapters 2 and 3 deal with the nitty gritty of growing cacti. These give details on temperature, watering, soil mix, fertilizer, and other details on growing indoors, in greenhouses, and outdoors. There are detailed, step-by-step instructions on propagation by different methods, including grafting. In addition, the author discusses the different things that can go wrong, such as pests, rots, scarring, and deformation, and what to do about these conditions.
You may be tempted to skip the first part of the book, and go straight to the encyclopedia of plants, which is the final and major chapter in the book. For each genera or species, there are color photos, often featuring the flowers. He provides detailed descriptions, information on propagation, lists of species, and notes of interest for each genus. For example, Copiapoa was once very popular. In the 1970’s they were very popular, but there seems to be little interest in them now.
In the appendix, there is practical information that cacti growers will find to be helpful. There is a list of cactus groups, journals, and nurseries, and a glossary of technical terms.
There is no doubt. Cacti lovers will find this book is useful and helpful. | <urn:uuid:b8bd2daf-b07f-45f0-8599-8ac232cfb61c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art11863.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946845 | 633 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Matt Gillis , Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — Only a few short hours before the scheduled execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, frustrated members of the public and family members of Gardner lined the steps outside the Utah State Capitol in protest.
Carrying signs saying "Not Fair, Not Just," two of Gardner's cousins stood and listened as members of Utahns for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a coalition of religious and secular Utah organizations and concerned individuals, proclaimed how the firing squad execution should not go forward at the Utah State Prison.
"God says, 'I'm a vengeful God,' not that 'I'll kill you,' " said Richard Hainsworth, one of Gardner's cousins, while surrounded by his wife and other family members.
Another cousin, Jerry Hainsworth, said he's known Gardner since they were both "in diapers" and described the execution as "horrible."
"It didn't need to be this way," his wife, Stephanie Brown, said. "He's our blood."
Protestors of the execution said they knew the rally Thursday night would not make a difference but hoped their actions would make Gardner's execution the last one in Utah.
"It's just the beginning of awareness," said Robert Wood, president of the board of directors of the local chapter of American Civil Liberties Union. "There are very few civilized countries that have the death penalty. We just have to keep it in peoples' consciousness that life without the possibility of parole is a better punishment."
Erin Day said she still remembers the last execution by firing squad execution and it haunts her memories.
"I remember standing outside the window that night and thinking someone was going to die," said the Draper woman. She and her family are staying in Salt Lake City Thursday so they don't have to see helicopters flying overhead as occurred in 1996 or think about Gardner's death.
Earlier on Thursday, Utah residents filled the pews in St. Mark's Cathedral praying Gardner would be spared from execution — what many described as the murder of a murderer that would solve nothing.
"Vengeance can never be disguised as justice," Rev. Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church said to more than 100 people listening and hoping the execution planned for midnight would be called off. "When we start despising wrongdoing more than we love the good, society unravels."
Sitting in a middle pew, John and Jeanne Galliher of Columbia, Mo. said they've been following news of the execution since they first heard the date was set for Gardner, who shot and killed defense attorney Michael Burdell and wounded sheriff's bailiff George "Nick" Kirk during an escape attempt at the courthouse in Salt Lake. Gardner had been in court that day to face charges in the murder of Melvyn Otterstrom during a robbery.
The Gallihers visited family in Logan but decided to drive down to Salt Lake for an interfaith prayer vigil at the cathedral to protest the taking of a life. The vigil came just hours before the execution at the Utah State Prison.
"All human life is sacred," John Galliher said. "I don't think there's anything controversial about that."
Salt Lake couple Don and Beth Granberg said their reason for prayer is simply because "it's wrong to kill people," Beth Granberg said.
"This seems like the state is committing the same kind of violence that Ronnie Lee Gardner did to people," she said. "That doesn't make it right."
The Right Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish, 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, said that she was "distressed" about the execution and prayed for Gardner, his victims, their families and for the members of the firing squad.
"As Christians we condemn the taking of a human life, recalling that Jesus himself was the victim of a state-sponsored murder," the Rev. Irish said in a prepared statement. "His death holds before our eyes the poverty of capital punishment and its capacity to dehumanize those who carry out its sentence."
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- Attorney General John Swallow tells House... | <urn:uuid:6aff66ee-eea2-4915-9dcb-92ef1434d53d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700041193/Utahns-visitors-pray-in-opposition-to-Ronnie-Lee-Gardner-execution.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977256 | 925 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The benefits of a university education are well documented: a lifetime of enhanced earning power and entry into a wide range of professions; the intellectual satisfaction and cut and thrust of informed debate; the chance to spread one’s wings.
What isn’t so well understood is how to get there. Many parents with children at school today didn’t go to university. Even if they did, the process has changed beyond recognition, with computerisation, tuition fees and unprecedented levels of choice.
Choosing a course (Year 12)
The nitty-gritty of university application gets under way quite early in Year 13, so ideally students should finish Year 12 with a good idea of what they want to study and where.
Most students select their course to fit their career choice (if known) or the subject(s) they enjoyed at school. For the undecided, the Stamford Test aims to match students’ interests, abilities and skills to courses via a short questionnaire. It’s available free on the Ucas website — the UK government organisation that manages university applications.
The Ucas website details which universities in which areas offer which courses. University websites have clear course descriptions, and most institutions run informed open days where prospective students and their families can meet academics and students, and view teaching facilities and accommodation.
Many schools arrange for sixth-formers to attend free higher education fairs, where universities answer questions and hand out prospectuses. If your child’s school doesn’t, you can usually turn up on the day.
Applying (Year 13, autumn)
In the autumn term of Year 13, the process shifts up a gear. Applications and offers are handled via the Ucas website and students usually need to register via their school, although some are more on the ball than others so it pays to double check.
Students can apply for up to five courses. If they choose fewer, they can add extra ones later. There is no order of preference and universities are not told which other institutions the student has applied to. Entry requirements for most courses hinge on applicants’ exam results. Most take A-levels but 49 types of qualification are officially recognised by Ucas, including BTEC, Scottish highers and the International Baccalaureate.
Each grade of each qualification earns students a defined number of Ucas Tariff points (for A-level it’s 120 points for an A, 100 for a B and so on). Universities usually demand either a total number of Tariff points or minimum A-level grades (for example, ABB). Read the notes carefully as there may be restrictions, such as: points must be earned from only three A-levels, General Studies doesn’t count, or students must have at least a B in Maths.
Schools tell students their predicted grades, but it still makes sense to choose one or two “back-up” universities, or courses whose requirements are less stringent.
The application process is all online and can be completed in stages. The trickier bit is the “personal statement”, where students have carte blanche to sell themselves to the university. Most candidates won’t be interviewed so, apart from exam results and a short reference, the personal statement is the university’s only chance to assess students’ suitability and enthusiasm (plus their ability to spell).
The process can be pretty daunting for a 17-year-old, so be prepared to provide advice and moral support. It’s worth starting early, jotting down ideas and writing a first draft during the summer holidays.
The deadline for most applications is January 15, 2012 (October 15, 2011, for medicine, dentistry, veterinary subjects and all courses at Oxford and Cambridge; March 24 for some art and design courses). But it’s recommended pupils get applications in well before: my daughters’ school asked for them by the October half term. Although universities are obliged to consider all applications received by the deadline, many start making offers in the autumn.
Students can apply until June 30, but then universities will only consider the application if they still have vacancies. Anyone who applies after June 30 goes straight into Clearing in August.
Once an application is done, the school may check it, add references and forward it to Ucas. Ucas charges a modest fee (£11 for one course, £22 for two or more), paid via the school or the Ucas website. Students then receive written acknowledgements from Ucas and sometimes from the universities.
Students wishing to take a gap year can apply for a deferred place (subject to university agreement) but still have to meet the deadlines for the year in which they apply.
Offers (Year 13, spring/summer)
Assuming students have met the appropriate deadline, universities must issue an offer or rejection by early May, but many do so much sooner. Students who have taken A-levels (or equivalent) will receive “unconditional” offers, but for the rest any offer will be “conditional” on academic success. Conditional offers may ask for a set number of Ucas Tariff points, or exact grades in specific subjects (or even modules). Study the offer carefully, as it may not entirely match what you read in the course prospectus. A minority of courses also invite candidates for an interview.
Students don’t have to do anything until all their university choices have responded. Ucas will then prompt the student to make their decision by a set deadline (for example, early May if they have received all responses by the end of March). Unconditional offers are simple. Accept one and you’re in. But if a student’s first choice is a conditional offer, they can also accept a second choice if they wish (usually conditional on lower grades). All other offers are formally declined and cannot be reinstated later.
Ucas calls the first choice “firm” and the second choice “insurance”. Note that students can’t choose between their firm and insurance offers once they get their results: if their firm choice accepts them, they cannot plump for the insurance choice instead.
Students with no offers can apply for another course that has vacancies, via Ucas’s Extra service. If rejected, they then apply to another, and so on.
Finance (Year 13, spring/summer)
As soon as students have a firm choice they can start applying for a student loan (and grant if eligible) via the appropriate Student Finance organisation (one each for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). These depend on household income, so parents will need their income data to hand.
Students need to quote a bank account into which the money can be paid, and a valid passport number: if it’s expired you must post their birth certificate and a counter-signature. This year the deadline for loan applications was in May. Miss it and the cash may not be available by the start of term.
If the university offers scholarships or bursaries, it may be necessary to apply for these now, too, so check.
A-level results are published on a set Thursday in August (August 18 this year) and it’s vital students are home then and for the next week. Most exam results (including A- levels) are sent direct to Ucas, which automatically notifies universities. If the student gets the grades required by their firm or insurance choice, you can all breathe a sigh of relief, crack open the bubbly and start packing.
If they have just missed the required grades, one of their choices might still offer them a place, although there may be a nail-biting delay. Alternatively, the university may offer a different subject, a different level or a different start date. This is called a “changed course” and the student may accept or reject it.
After results (August)
Students without a confirmed place automatically go into Clearing, which tries to match them with courses that still have vacancies.
Course availability is shown on the Ucas website, but things change fast and students need to be quick. They must contact the university’s admissions office — usually by phone — to see if it will consider them, and to check out the institution and course. It can be daunting for an 18-year-old, so they’re likely to need parental help and encouragement.
Clearing is frantic and stressful, but for many it works: last year 200,000 students went into Clearing, of whom 46,000 found places. Add the hundreds of thousands who achieved their firm or insurance choice, and that’s a lot of young people on the road to future success. And even a greater number of very relieved parents. | <urn:uuid:37a5b245-f38d-4344-ab6b-eeb17c72fcc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8675256/University-application-a-parents-guide.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948562 | 1,819 | 2.453125 | 2 |
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Officials confirm that cantaloupes linked to a multi-state outbreak of listeria infection were sold in Wisconsin Aldi stores.
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said Friday that the whole melons from Jensen Farms in Colorado, sold under the brand name Rocky Ford, were shipped to Aldi stores in Wisconsin between Aug. 16 and Sept. 13.
Once notified of the Jensen Farms recall, Aldi stores promptly removed the melons from their sales floor Sept. 13 and issued a nationwide recall. However, officials say some melons may remain in customers' homes.
The department is still determining whether other Wisconsin retail stores also received the cantaloupes.
Two cases of listeriosis among Wisconsin residents have been linked to the outbreak, but they have not been linked to cantaloupe bought at Aldi. | <urn:uuid:ef9e7d15-ae1c-4278-858b-2bce830abc9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wsaw.com/news/health/headlines/Cantaloupe_Linked_to_Outbreak_Sold_in_Wisconsin__130921378.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9557 | 182 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Assembly Approves Earned-Income Tax Credit
A tax credit increase that will benefit low- and moderate-income workers in New Jersey has been adopted by the state Assembly.
The measure was passed Monday by a 48-31 vote. The state Senate has not voted on the bill.
The bill increases the state’s earned income tax credit from 20 percent of the federal credit to 25 percent. That could mean the average tax credit would jump from $430 to $545 per year for more than 500,000 taxpayers.
The refundable credit is meant to encourage work and reduce taxes for low- and moderate-income workers. It’s expected to cost $50 million per year.
The state credit was 25 percent before it was cut two years ago.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) | <urn:uuid:ad409def-69fe-4a46-8d41-a15859467677> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nj1015.com/assembly-approves-earned-income-tax-credit/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970191 | 171 | 1.695313 | 2 |
The following is part one of a guest essay from Charles Komanoff, an economist and environmental activist in New York City. For more on taxing carbon fuels, go to http://www.komanoff.net/fossil/.
For part two of this essay, go here.
“Pam and Matt Keith spent Memorial Day weekend on a houseboat on Lake Oroville in Northern California. But because of high gasoline prices, the Keiths never even untied the boat from its mooring slightly offshore. When they ventured away from the shore, they supplied their own power — in kayaks.”
So began The New York Times take on the start of the summer driving season in an age of $3 gas: “Holiday Travelers Hit the Road, but Scrimped a Bit.”
The Times’ page-one piece was guaranteed to bring smiles to both economists and despisers of motorized recreation. As a member of both camps, I ate it up. I loved that the Keiths were kayaking instead of houseboating around the lake, and that another California couple, Celia and Michael Shane, had shelved their annual jet-skiing trip in Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada. “To save the $70 per tank it now costs to fill up their minivan,” the Times reported, "the Shanes were barbecuing instead.” For guys like me who can let a single roaring jet ski ruin an entire beach day, fewer decibels mean more happiness. And after a year’s drumbeat of articles insisting that higher gas prices hadn’t dented Americans’ “love affair with their cars,” it was heartening to see the paper of record start acknowledging the No. 1 tenet of economics — higher prices mean lower demand.
The world’s thirst for petroleum breeds war, props up dictators, and imperils the climate. Known oil deposits are shrinking by the day. So no question in economics is more pressing than whether, and by how much, changes in the price of gas reduce the demand for it. I’ve been examining this question since May 2004, when the price first edged past two bucks. Every month I faithfully enter the latest price and consumption data into a spreadsheet. This has to be done just right. For one thing, because gas use follows seasonal patterns, monthly data must be compared over intervals of 12 months (or 24, etc.). For another, changes in price must be adjusted for general inflation. Most important is netting out the upswing in gasoline use that ordinarily accompanies expanding economic activity when the price of gas is stable. Only after taking these steps can one isolate the effect of higher pump prices on gasoline demand.
What my spreadsheet shows is that higher gas prices are dampening gas use. Not hugely, but enough to command attention. True, demand isn’t down in absolute terms, but it’s practically flat, which means it’s lagging the higher levels it would otherwise be reaching due to economic growth. For all of 2005, with an economy 3.5% bigger than the previous year’s, gasoline usage was up only 0.2%. Similarly, purchases of gasoline in April 2006 (the most recent month available) were just 0.1% greater than in April 2005, even though the economy was almost 4% larger.
What emerges from these numbers is a “price elasticity” of around 20% (economists write this as 0.2). This means that declines in gasoline usage due to rises in price are averaging 20% as much as those same percentage changes in price. For example, a 10% rise in the price of gas engenders a 2% drop in demand. This 20% ratio has held remarkably constant over the past 24 months, never straying beyond a range of 11%-26% (provided I use three-month “moving averages” to smooth out monthly variations in inventories).
It turns out, then, that Americans have been responding to the rising price of gas by using less. As a smattering of articles have reported, many of us are cutting out a few car trips here and there, shortening a few others, occasionally carpooling, now and then leaving the SUV in the driveway and taking the sedan, perhaps trying a lighter touch on the gas pedal, even walking or biking occasionally. The overall impact, while modest, is visible in my spreadsheet nonetheless. And it’s been proportionate: small price rises evoke small changes, big hikes bring bigger ones.
But, you ask, if the price-elasticity of gasoline is 20%, how come the recent doubling of gas prices — in percentage terms, a 100% price jump — hasn’t dropped demand by 20%?
There are two reasons: first, gas prices haven’t doubled. In fact, they’re not even up by half. Notwithstanding the mass near-hysteria over prices at the pump, the average 2005 price, $2.34, was just 43% higher than the average 2003 price, $1.64. Adjusted for inflation, the two-year real increase was 34%, or roughly one-third — a long way from doubling. Even $2.80 gas this April, the highest monthly price ever save for the post-Katrina spike last fall, was only 16% higher in real terms than the April 2005 price and just 39% higher than April 2004. By these terms, compared to two years ago demand should be down just 7-8% (I got that by multiplying the 20% elasticity by the roughly 35-40% real price increases).
The second point is that the basically flat demand compared to two years ago indeed constitutes a drop of 7-8%, relative to where demand would have been due to the economy’s being 7-8% bigger.
For part two of this essay, go here. | <urn:uuid:a5679987-0e5d-4185-8cd1-e4f7f1ebe3c3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://grist.org/article/fuel-tax-magic-part-one/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955274 | 1,230 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Obamacare: It's Even Worse Than You Think
The next few weeks will be crucial to the future of American health care and American prosperity.
President Obama's strategy to pass sweeping health care legislation rested on stealth and speed. The idea was to fill the conversation for months on end with vague talk about expanding coverage, "bending the cost-curve," improving quality, and rooting out waste, without showing the public how the plan would actually work or what it would cost. Legislation, meanwhile, would be composed behind closed doors, and the bills would be introduced as close as possible to when they might come up for a vote to minimize the time in which they could actually be read and thought about by those who would vote on them and those who would live under them. By the time the details emerged, maybe momentum and being "closer than ever before" would be enough to overcome the torrent of objections that were sure to be raised when people got a real look at the nuts and bolts.
That moment has now come. House Democrats finally unveiled their plan on July 14, with the aim of passing it by July 31, the last day before the August congressional recess. The Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has released its part of the plan, but the Finance Committee (which must figure out how to pay for it all) has yet to do so. There, too, the leadership hoped for a vote before the recess.
But things have not gone as the Democrats intended. As details have emerged, an extraordinary wave of public concern has washed over the debate and left the plan's champions reeling. It is all but certain that both the House and Senate will recess for August without voting on health care, despite the president's insistence on its urgency. And the emerging tone of the public debate casts serious doubt on the fate of Obamacare more broadly.
The reasons for the public revolt are easy to see. The Democrats want to spend $1.5 trillion over a decade, impose an $800 billion tax increase in the midst of the worst recession in a generation, increase federal borrowing by $239
As these facts have become clear, Obama's standing has fallen and public opinion has grown decidedly less enthusiastic for the administration's approach. The trend is likely to continue, because the details of the plan reveal that its two most serious drawbacks--its cost and the prospect of government rationing--are worse than even most of their critics have grasped.
First, there are massive hidden costs inherent in a little-understood provision of the plan. The centerpiece of Obamacare is a new premium subsidy program. In the House bill, families with incomes up to four times the poverty level would get a fixed cap on their insurance premiums, tied to their incomes. For instance, a family whose income is twice the poverty level would pay no more than 5 percent of its total income for insurance. But providing that guarantee to all such households in America would cost far more than even the Democrats are willing to propose. The plan therefore would make subsidies available only to households getting insurance through the new "exchanges," insurance pools set up in each state as a parallel system to job-based coverage. And full-time workers in all but the smallest firms would be barred from entering the exchanges, at least for a time, so they wouldn't have access to the new entitlement.
This means that two households, identical in all respects including income, would be treated very differently depending on whether they got their insurance through the exchange or through their employer. At twice the | <urn:uuid:64e07604-492b-4c3c-ae29-98480e0c3d11> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/764zjvvu.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978288 | 715 | 1.570313 | 2 |
By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor, eSchool News, February 3, 2013 — According to the Harvard Family Research Project report, “Partnerships for Learning: Community Support for Youth Success,” data collected from a community schools initiative called Elve 8 show what successful partnerships for learning look like—and the effects these can have on learning.
When partners work together to combine resources strategically, aligning their goals with the curriculum, a “seamless web of supports” is created that provides children with a “holistic learning experience,” says the report.
According to the report, by offering an array of combined services, community schools are able to create five “conditions” that research indicates are necessary for youth to succeed:
1. A shared vision of learning: Partners share a common understanding of the goals and resources needed to support children’s learning.
2. Shared leadership and governance: Partners have an equal say in leading efforts to support children and families
3. Complementary partnerships: Partners share complementary skills and areas of expertise to create a seamless and comprehensive set of learning supports for children.
4. Effective communication: Partners communicate effectively and frequently to ensure they are aligning their activities and are working in harmony with one another.
5. Regular and consistent sharing of information about youth progress: Partners have access to crucial data that help them better understand the youth they serve.
6. Family engagement: Families serve as key partners to help address the complex conditions and varied environments where children learn and grow.
7. Collaborative staffing models: Schools and community organizations create staffing structures that intentionally blend roles across partners, so that staff work in multiple settings to provide adult support spanning school and non-school hours.
Read the entire story here. | <urn:uuid:388b09bc-79f0-4a53-b5bb-d35b766c2784> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wgbyeducation.wordpress.com/tag/partnership/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945533 | 368 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church. Reid has a political problem that’s about to smack him upside the head on November 2nd. The problem is that the political positions taken by Reid appear to be at odds with his professed religious beliefs. And this is a problem for Reid because there are approximately 173,639 Mormons in Nevada, comprising about 6.7 of Nevada’s population. What’s more, Mormons tend to be devout voters – and the vast majority of them vote Republican. That 6.7 percent figure is larger than Angle’s percentage lead in the polls. Losing the Mormon vote could be disastrous for Reid. And Mormons have good reason to abandon Reid on November 2nd. After all, Reid isn’t exactly representing the views of those conservative Nevada Mormons.
This article presents both sides of the argument as to Reid’s political vs. religious beliefs – you be the judge as to where you think Reid’s true affection lies.
Official Mormon Church Position on Politics
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints officially maintains a position of neutrality when it comes to politics. Here is the church’s official statement on this subject:
The Church’s mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, not to elect politicians. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is neutral in matters of party politics. This applies in all of the many nations in which it is established.
The Church does not:
- Endorse, promote or oppose political parties, candidates or platforms.
- Allow its church buildings, membership lists or other resources to be used for partisan political purposes.
- Attempt to direct its members as to which candidate or party they should give their votes to. This policy applies whether or not a candidate for office is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader.
The Church does:
- Encourage its members to play a role as responsible citizens in their communities, including becoming informed about issues and voting in elections.
- Expect its members to engage in the political process in an informed and civil manner, respecting the fact that members of the Church come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences and may have differences of opinion in partisan political matters.
- Request candidates for office not to imply that their candidacy or platforms are endorsed by the Church.
- Reserve the right as an institution to address, in a nonpartisan way, issues that it believes have significant community or moral consequences or that directly affect the interests of the Church.
Reid’s Rock and a Hard Place
However, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does hold doctrinal positions that are diametrically opposed to the political views held by Reid – which puts him in a position of having to choose between his religious beliefs and his political beliefs. Guess which way he goes when the chips are down? Right, politics wins every time with Reid. Let’s examine some of these issues that place Reid between a rock and a hard place.
In his defense, Reid will point to the following official statement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints:
Elected officials who are Latter-day Saints make their own decisions and may not necessarily be in agreement with one another or even with a publicly stated Church position. While the Church may communicate its views to them, as it may to any other elected official, it recognizes that these officials still must make their own choices based on their best judgment and with consideration of the constituencies whom they were elected to represent.
Note that the Church says that members of the church who hold political office can make policy choices that are at odds with church doctrine. However, it makes no statement that such held political views transcend official church doctrine. In other words, Reid can hold liberal views on any subject he believes in – but that doesn’t mean the Church is going to change its doctrine to fall into line with the views of Reid. Reid is still on the hook doctrinally for advocating positions that go against the beliefs of the Church. Reid is free to hold opposing viewpoints, but take a guess what would happen, for instance, if he were to stand at the pulpit and give a religious speech in favor of unrestricted abortions? Yup, his Church leaders would be having a private chat with him for his allegedly apostate behavior.
So let’s take a look at some issues on which the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has spoken out and at the corresponding political positions of Reid.
Human life is a sacred gift from God. Elective abortion for personal or social convenience is contrary to the will and the commandments of God. Church members who submit to, perform, encourage, pay for, or arrange for such abortions may lose their membership in the Church.
- Voted NO on restricting UN funding for population control policies.
- Voted NO on defining unborn child as eligible for SCHIP.
- Voted NO on barring HHS grants to organizations that perform abortions
- Voted YES to expanding research to more embryonic stem cell lines
- Rated 50% by the National Right to Life Committee, indicating a mixed record on abortion.
- Sponsored bill allowing emergency contraction
It would appear that Reid is eligible under the rules of his Church for excommunication on the basis that he encourages abortion and has also sought to pay for abortions.
Excerpt from a First Presidency Message published in 1986: Guiding Principles of Personal and Family Welfare by Thomas S. Monson, who is now the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Work is basic to all we do. God’s first direction to Adam in the Garden of Eden as recorded in scripture was to dress the garden and take care of it. After the fall of Adam, God cursed the earth for Adam’s sake saying, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground.” (Gen. 3:19.) Today, many have forgotten the value of work. Some falsely believe that the highest goal in life is to achieve a condition in which one no longer needs to work.
Let us hearken to the counsel given by President Stephen L Richards in 1939: “We have always dignified work and reproved idleness. Our books, our sermons, our leaders, including particularly our present President, have glorified industry. The busy hive of the honeybee Deseret—has been our emblem. Work with faith is a cardinal point of our theological doctrine, and our future state—our heaven—is envisioned in terms of eternal progression through constant labor.” (In Conference Report, Oct. 1939, p. 65.)
Self-reliance is a product of our work and under-girds all other welfare practices. It is an essential element in our spiritual as well as our temporal well-being. Regarding this principle, President Marion G. Romney has said: “Let us work for what we need. Let us be self-reliant and independent. Salvation can be obtained on no other principle. Salvation is an individual matter, and we must work out our own salvation in temporal as well as in spiritual things.” (In Welfare Services Meeting Report, 2 Oct. 1976, p. 13.)
President Spencer W. Kimball further taught concerning self-reliance: “The responsibility for each person’s social, emotional, spiritual, physical, or economic well-being rests first upon himself, second upon his family, and third upon the Church if he is a faithful member thereof.
“No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family’s well-being to someone else.” (Ensign, Nov. 1977, p. 77.)
Reid has presided over the largest expansion of the welfare state ever seen in the history of The United States of America. Reid championed ObamaCare through Congress and voted for nearly $ 1 Trillion in stimulus spending – which will have the effect of making our children and grandchildren unable to be self-reliant. Reid seeks to expand entitlements at every opportunity – making people reliant on the government for their sustenance, thereby removing from them the opportunity to work to support themselves and instead placing them on a public dole.
Personal Liberty and Freedom of Choice
Excerpt from a talk given January 31, 2006 at Brigham Young University by Elder D. Todd Christofferson Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In years past we generally used the term free agency. That is not incorrect. More recently we have taken note that free agency does not appear in the scriptures. They talk of our being “free to choose” and “free to act” for ourselves (2 Nephi 2:27; 10:23; see also Helaman 14:30) and of our obligation to do many things of our own “free will” (D&C 58:27). But the word agency appears either by itself or with the modifier moral: “That every man may act in doctrine and principle … according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment” (D&C 101:78; emphasis added). When we use the term moral agency, we are appropriately emphasizing the accountability that is an essential part of the divine gift of agency. We are moral beings and agents unto ourselves, free to choose but also responsible for our choices.
…The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency” (Moses 7:32).
The position of Harry Reid echoes that of the Democratic Party in general and Barack Hussein Obama in particular. Reid supports a vast expansion of government in order to enable the central planning and control long envisioned by the political left. Reid supports Obama’s appointments of “Czars” who have been appointed to take free will away from the people and replace that free will with federal degrees in all facets of life – all without Congressional oversight or approval.
Civil Discourse in Politics
The Church expects “its members to engage in the political process in an informed and civil manner…”
- “My staff tells me not to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway. In the summer you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol, especially Christian conservatives. It’s true, they stink like hell.” – Harry Reid
- Reading in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Sherman Frederick writes: “There are about 250,000 Hispanic voters in Nevada, about 50,000 of which register Republican. No telling how many Hispanic voters — Republican and Democrat — vote for the individual candidate and not a straight party ticket, like most Americans do. For Harry Reid to say that all Hispanics should then vote only for Democrats like himself is like calling a good cross section of Hispanic Nevadans little short of stupid.
And lest we forget, polls show that Nevada voters (which include that Hispanic electorate) are on the verge of overwhelmingly voting into office the state’s first Hispanic governor, Brian Sandoval. A dreaded Republican. What is that — stupid squared?”
- Reid said that Obama could be a successful presidential candidate because he is “light skinned” and that he speaks with “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
Civil discourse isn’t exactly Reid’s strong suit. Seems he doesn’t give much weight to the advice of his own church leaders.
Reid is appears to consistently be at odds with the doctrines of his own religion. This places him in the awkward position of having to refute allegations of hypocrisy. Which he is? Is he an orthodox Mormon who devoutly practices the teachings of his church? Or he is dedicated to the liberal, leftist, socialist, communist policies of the Democratic Party? There doesn’t appear to be much grey area in this matter. And it doesn’t appear that a devout Mormon can hold to both positions simultaneously. The church positions speak for themselves and appear to be closely aligned with the beliefs of the vast majority of conservatives and self-professed members of the Tea Party. Perhaps this is what gives Reid his dour countenance – he can’t reconcile his public socialist policy planks with the teachings of his own religion.
Which is it Harry? Do you support the theology and doctrines of your faith, or do you support the progressive policies of the Democratic Party?
As for the rest of us, we get to judge Reid via an easy parameter – “By their works ye shall know them.”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:fb1a804d-4e1a-4f9a-a884-1e8de439dd9e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2010/10/harry-reid-between-a-political-rock-and-a-religious-hard-place/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962021 | 2,754 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Revision as of 22:41, 19 July 2012 by J.R.R. Tolkien
Events that occurred on 29 January
- 1909 - Author and collector Richard E. Blackwelder is born.
- 1917 - Tolkien faces a Medical Board in Birmingham, but he is deemed not fit to return to war.
- 1954 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes a letter to the Rector of the University of Liège.
- 1968 - J.R.R. Tolkien writes a letter to Ken Jackson. | <urn:uuid:80b589d8-199b-40b1-80e7-25181f3083fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=29_January&oldid=206142 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917061 | 109 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Shelby is a girl. I've never heard of a boy named Shelby.
They were not leaving that night. I should have added "tomorrow morning" to the "we have to be at the hotel".
Shelby is possessed by this alien force. Hence why she ends up in the strange place. She was abducted. The entire piece was written in this style. There are decided contrasts in the writing to highlight this: Shelby not wanting her body to go there. Her body goes there assuredly. Her body is moving with the assurance that her mind is not providing. I even provide a note early on that says that all of her dialog is POV. I felt as though there was more than enough there for everyone to understand(the people who don't read loglines for whatever reason) that she was not in control of her actions.
Me telling the audience that it isn't a dream is a technique. You are allowed to do that. Not everything has to be shown. Some liberties can be taken when structured.
A symphony of shrills is a harmonious arrangement of shrills or screams. They indicate pain. That's a hint that I beat on several times.
Shelby can't move her eyes. She can't do anything. Her words and screams are merely her thoughts. Again, her "not bothering to look" is indicative of the contrast between mind and body.
I should have cut the bit about mentioning it was her home. I think her yelling lyle would be enough.
"The door shuts behind Shelby, blowing the candle lights out." Is the actual quote. She is in the bedroom, not the hall.
"How are we supposed to see a machete in Shelby's head in a POV shot?" I never wrote a scene where we see a machete stuck in her head. I did write "Marge takes the machete to Shelby’s head. It sticks." Which can be seen, since Marge is holding the machete, as it's stuck on the side of the camera.
The alien encounter is the possession of these people.
Here's the breakdown:
Marge warns of bad things coming. Implications that other people have already left. They are to leave tomorrow(I didn't specify, though I should have). Shelby is possessed at night and taken to a cave, where it can be implied that the other bodies are kept. We see the faces of other people on walls, and we do hear screams. But the screams don't sound human. So what are they?
So Shelby's body keeps taking her through the cave. Then it stops when it hears a loud, pleading scream. Then it heads in that direction. Why? Since her body is being manipulated, we can assume that her body's motivations are the alien's motivations.
She heads through the forest and sees from the corner of her eye, someone dragging another person in the opposite direction(towards the cave). Foreshadowing.
She arrives at her house and here's Lyle's cries of "help". Her body goes inside and moves "purposefully" through. There were heavy hints that the body knew exactly what it was doing and what it needed to do. There was a task. What is it?
She heads upstairs, and follows the sounds of the help. She sees Lyle's head screaming it. She takes the head. It can now be assumed that her task, the alien's task was to take this head. She goes in the room and sees Lyle's body and the alien on the floor. She moves towards it. Why? If we recall the "pleading cries" and the "help" from Lyle(who was clearly also possessed) as well as the body being dragged from the city to the cave(through the forest), one can assume that it's her task to retrieve this body and the alien and bring them back. These are the bodies and aliens that didn't make it out of their homes alive.
So I reversed the horror story paradigm. Normally it starts in the home, with mystery and scares building and eventually peaking once we reach the strange place. Here I started in the strange place with the mystery and scares increasing and peaking as we reach the home. This way we get the duality of the fear. We get Shelby's side, being exposed to all of this, and we have the alien's side, begging to be rescued from Marge's home(and other homes possibly).
Marge was the evil to the aliens. She killed her son before he could leave the home(he was possessed). It's implied because his head is chopped off and she has a machete(I should have described it as bloody). And they needed help.
Marge attacks her daughter because she is possessed. And kills her in much the same way as she did her son.
Shelby's screams of help(now audibly) should call back memories to Lyle's screaming. You put two and two together, you can assume that there's a cycle here. Another possessed body will be sent to that house to retrieve these two dead aliens and the dead bodies. And Marge will likely kill them too. You can even assume a step further, that she uses the dead bodies as bait(Lyle standing at the window). But if you got that far, I'd be overly impressed.
A lot of this you missed because you didn't read the logline(which takes a second to read). At the end of the day, it all depends on how much the reader cares. If they want to know what happened, they will find out. If they didn't really care, they won't and they'll take it all at face value.
I doubt I could have "easily cut three pages from the script by tightening descriptions and dialogue" to come in under 8 pages. Please direct me at any sentences and descriptions that could be cut. I'm not really sure how you can suggest what needs to be cut when you didn't understand the story. It's just about as lean as I can get it, minus a line or two here and there.
Thanks for reading. I can't make you re-read it, but when you don't get something, why not give the logline a read to try to understand it? Or try to put clues together?
Thread: The First Night
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06-16-2012 12:20 PM
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
Last edited by ZellJr; 06-16-2012 at 12:43 PM.
06-16-2012 12:58 PM
OK. This is helpful. I can now re-read this with the CliffsNotes :-)
And just so I've got it right, the "elevator pitch" (damn, I sort of hate that phrase, but it works here):
Aliens have landed. They possess and behead people. A family is trying to get out, before it's too late (nice scene, BTW - loved the interplay between the three, but more on that in a more formal review). Daughter is possessed - her body ends up in cave. Because she is possessed, she has lost control of her physical actions, but her mind is still her own, so we experience her uncertainty, her terror and other emotions. The alien in possession of her body takes her to her home, because the aliens goal is to possess humans and take them to the cave. Upon arriving, we discover (through her POV) that the brother has been decapitated by the mother because he's been possessed. Now, unlike Shelby, the brother can talk (his cries for help), but she arrives too late to save him from the mother's machete. Shelby comes upon the scene, sees her brother, and alien and her mother with the machete. The mother then kills Shelby.
I think I've got it more or less right - reading this over, and looking at the script, is it the alien who is crying for help or is it Lyle, the brother?
06-16-2012 01:15 PM
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
Lyle is crying for help through the possession of the alien. Lyle is dead(beheaded; poor Lyle). But the alien still screams through him. For help. So the aliens need saving(from Marge) just as much as the possessed people need saving. It goes both ways.
You're pretty close. The aliens don't behead people. But Marge beheads the possessed people(to protect herself).
But yup. That's the gist. More possessed people will respond to Shelby's cries for help now and return to save Shelby. Marge will likely kill them. etc. etc
06-16-2012 01:53 PM
I don't get why some have found it so hard to follow. I always read once with my punter brain before I turn my critic brain on. Maybe people are tripping on details. That said it shouldn't need an explanation almost as long as the script and I preferred the open interpretation. The writer's intent is only half a story, the audience's interpretation the other half. You shouldn't mind if the audience interprets your story wrong, only whether it entertained them. An open interpretation will leave an audience with questions and prompt discussion. The trick is that is has to raise good questions and answer enough to be satisfying. You had a strong internal logic so even though I read it a little different to your intent it still felt right.
06-16-2012 02:10 PM
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
But I find it's most fun when you get to compare your interpretations with the author's.
As a reader, I always want to know what the writer intended. Curiosity's sake of course. But also to sharpen up my own reading skills. My own analytical skills and attention to details. It helps me to pick up on things.
But that's just me.
06-16-2012 02:34 PM
OK, cool. I'll re-read it with that and your notes in mind. I think there's a lot of good stuff going on here...
Love that phrase "punter brain"
06-16-2012 03:48 PM
I disagree. Everything that I need to understand the story should be in the story (I'm not saying you don't need mystery). Audiences get a tagline at most. If you get a bug budget feature then they may have seen a trailer. With a few tweaks it would've made perfect sense on first reading. And don't get too burned up over reviews. Take what you can use and toss the rest.
06-16-2012 03:51 PM
- Join Date
- Sep 2011
No one's getting burned up.
I've yet to meet anyone who has paid to watch a movie without knowing what it's about or asking. Every query service out there asks for a logline. Every script service asks for a logline. You will almost never see a script without a logline.
06-17-2012 06:55 PM
It's okay everybody. I can clear this whole thing up with two words.
06-17-2012 07:34 PM
(incidently I for one try my best to see movies devoid of prior knowledge...I have to go into lockdown when I hear about a movie that's up my alley!)
Last edited by Egg Born Son; 06-17-2012 at 07:39 PM. | <urn:uuid:43932656-3af7-4464-8bd2-46a96a872f77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?284355-The-First-Night/page2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975131 | 2,395 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Family legend claims that my g-g-grandmother was from the Chickasaw tribe, but I have never been able to substantiate that rumor. Any help would be appreciated.
Her maiden name was Frances Siota (or Ciota) Mathis (or Mathews). Her father, Chapel Mathis originated in North Carolina according to census records, but migrated to Graves County, TN. Siota married Josiah Fears 8 Nov 1856.
Thanks in advance for any help. | <urn:uuid:92a38473-8d5a-4b78-a63f-ff9694949562> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.ethnic.natam.nations.chickasaw/165/mb.ashx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961098 | 100 | 1.828125 | 2 |
- page 32
- Is Part Of
- Full text
- from the springs of both groups is of good quality, and there is a sufficient quantity, if developed and conserved, to irrigate several acres. 8. Rest Spring and Burro Spring, Inyo County (C-3).—Rest Spring is in a shallow gulch at the head of a canyon draining southward and westward into Butte Valley. It is one-half mile west of the summit of the Panamint Range and 15 miles north of Goldbelt Spring (No. 15), to which there is a plain trail. It is 6 1/2 miles south of Tin Mountain, the northernmost peak of the range. The flow is about 3 barrels of water daily. A trail running due north leads to Burro Spring, 1 1/2 miles distant. This spring is in a shallow gulch at the head of a canyon draining southward and eastward into Death Valley, one-fourth of a mile east of the divide. This spring also yields about 3 barrels of good water per day. 9. Mesquite Spring, Inyo County (C-4).-—This spring is in the east bank of the wash in Death Valley, one-half mile from the bottom. It is 6 miles southwest of Staininger's ranch, 19 miles southeast of Sand Springs, and 11 miles northwest of the locality known as Lost Wagons. There are other springs in the desert portion of California and Nevada that are also known as "Mesquite " springs. 10. Indian Springs, Inyo County (C-4).-—Like "Mesquite," the name " Indian " is applied to several desert springs. Those here referred to are near the northeast end of the great Panamint Range and near the south end and west side of Termination Valley on an old and little-used trail that runs southward from Lida, Nev., by way of Sand Springs to the north end of Death Valley. They are marked by remains of Indian tepees. There are said to be other springs in this vicinity, but their location is unknown except to local prospectors. 11. Tule Spring, Inyo County (C-5).—This spring is about 3 miles south of west, air line, from Willow Spring (No. 12) and 12 miles southwest of Bullfrog, Nev. It is on the north side of the east branch of a canyon at the foot of a cliff, 1 3/4 miles southeast of the high, sharp, rocky Thimble Peak. It is about 500 yards east of the trail from Bullfrog to Surveyors' Well (No. 18) by way of Willow Spring (No. 12). There is a very small quantity of excellent water. There is another Tule Spring to the southeast, near Tecopa. 12. Willow Spring, Inyo County (C-5).—This spring is on the east slope of the Grapevine Range, 9 miles southwest of Bullfrog, Nev., and 3 miles north of the Boundary Canyon road at the pass. The flow is 10 barrels of good water daily. There are at least 8 watering places in the desert region with which this paper deals that are known as Willow Spring or Willow Springs; so this is by no means a determinate name.
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Instead of blindly raising the cost of gasoline and diesel to Maryland consumers, now is the time to rethink how the more than $3 billion spent yearly on transportation needs in Maryland are funded. We should not allow government to squeeze more money out of Marylanders' pockets without a thorough review of how the funds are administered and utilized.
Motorist-paid gas taxes and vehicle fees are by far the largest source of transportation funding for both highways and mass transit. Maryland can no longer meet the needs of two costly major mass transit systems and adequately maintain and improve our highway system on the backs of motorists. The governor has proposed a sales tax on gas and diesel that would increase fuel prices around 18 cents per gallon, much higher than his own blue ribbon commission's recommendation of 15 cents per gallon. Instituting either of these proposals would take billions of dollars more out of Marylanders' pockets without any guarantee of how or where that money will be spent or any significant improvement in highway congestion or infrastructure. A look at Maryland's transportation spending history over the last 10 years bears this out, as commute times have increased, transit ridership has been flat and millions of dollars of transportation funds have been permanently diverted to the General Fund.
Increased spending by government on this level may create some jobs, but there is no doubt that more jobs will also be lost due to the significant impact on the cost of moving goods, commuting to work and driving children to school and activities. Families don't have unlimited funds, and in this economy, with extremely high gas prices already, increasing costs in one area will require cuts in another area of family spending. The net result will be to create more of a financial burden for families and small businesses in the midst of economic hard times. Maryland's poorest families will be hit the hardest with this very regressive proposal, as more of their income will be required just to meet daily needs.
Most of Maryland's approximately 2,300 gas stations are operated by small businesses and are located within close proximity to our neighboring states; these proposed increases will make our small businesses uncompetitive with their nearby, out-of-state competitors. Under the governor's sales tax proposal, Virginia, Delaware andWashington, D.C., will have at least a 20-cents-per-gallon advantage. Maryland retailers, on average, don't even make 20 cents per gallon and will be forced to pass all tax increases on to their customers. The net result will be the loss of Maryland jobs and tax revenues as consumers make their purchases out of state and reduce in-state spending.
Protecting the Transportation Trust Fund is absolutely essential to prevent our elected representatives from siphoning off funds for other purposes. Money collected as user fees and taxes are supposed to be dedicated to improving highways and commute times and for mass transit. They should be spent for those purposes and protected from the all too-common government raids.
A huge problem facing the Transportation Trust Fund is that billions of dollars of motorist-paid funds (gas tax, titling tax, vehicle registration and Motor Vehicle Administration fees) are being spent supporting two major mass transit systems, with 50 percent of TTF funds spent just on transit operating costs. Fares paid by transit riders cover only a fraction of the operating costs, yet mass transit systems handle less than 10 percent of local travel, while highways and bridges are choked with the remaining 90 percent. This is not sustainable. Out-of-control operating costs must be contained and other, broader-based funding sources identified to separate mass transit operating spending from highway spending.
There are alternatives to raising taxes. Virginia has leveraged about $1 billion into almost $5 billion for transportation infrastructure programs without raising its gas tax, and at present it has no plans to increase gas taxes. Virginia reevaluated on what and how they were spending transportation funds and implemented new and workable alternatives. Maryland should consider doing the same.
Now is not the time to squeeze more money out of Marylanders' pockets. Our state government needs to find other alternatives — including living within its means.
Pete Horrigan is president of the Mid-Atlantic Petroleum Distributors Association. His email is email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:7bc59485-a515-46ae-957f-1f97d51f9eb8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kwch.com/bs-ed-gas-tax-con-20120223,0,4048922.story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958263 | 847 | 1.820313 | 2 |
The Unwelcome Guest Story Detail
Barney Bear is out in the woods picking berries for a tasty snack when he comes across a little skunk who wants his berries. Fearful of the skunk's scent, he tries to avoid it, but when he arrives back home, the hungry, odoriferous little skunk enters his home shortly after he does. When Barney discovers the skunk, he demands that it leave his house. When the skunk refuses, Barney gives chase, during the course of which he falls into a well and the skunk rescues him. Even after the rescue, the poor, put-upon bear is still angry and is about to clobber the pest with a shovel, but he just can't bring himself to do it. So instead, he dons a gas mask and invites the skunk back into his house.
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This page has been viewed 211 times this month, and 1141 times total. | <urn:uuid:69863ed8-c18c-4a4c-8910-6ebba2afcb6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon_story/4967-Unwelcome_Guest.html | 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 | 0.976991 | 222 | 1.625 | 2 |
March 23, 1895: The plight of women and girls who work in New York City’s dry goods stores was the subject of compelling testimony at a legislative hearing today. Assembly members heard detailed accounts of oppressive working conditions, but also measures being implemented to improve them.
Alice Woodbridge was an early witness who testified, “It is nothing unusual for the girls to work from 10 to 16 hours a day.” When asked if she could name specific stores in which this was the practice, she said it was customary in all stores except three: Arnold, Constable & Company, B. Altman & Co. and Lord & Taylor.
The pay is as deplorable as the hours, according to Woodbridge: “The average wages of women in the dry goods stores of this city is $4.50 a week.” For “cash girls”–who carry change and parcels and act as floor messengers–the average wage is $1.50 a week. Some of the saleswomen at Macy’s–a store which compels employees to take unpaid vacations–get only $2 a week.
Dr. Jane Robbins testified that she has many patients who are “cash girls,” and they complain not only about wages and hours but about the way they are treated in the large retail stores. The older ones say the “small” ones are also subject to “corruption” by the male employees. The details of this practice, and where it occurs, were not described in public, but Dr. Robbins said this will be discussed privately with the head of the committee later.
The worst-paid and hardest-working young women Robbins sees are employed in flower factories, where they must run up and down stairs all day for $1 a week. She described one patient,
under 14 years of age, who is slowly murdered by overwork in a 14th Street dry goods store. But it takes a long time to kill a little girl who comes of good stock … I could show you a great many children in this city who ought to be playing tag, but who are in charge of counters in retail dry goods stores at $2 a week.
Robbins believes that prohibiting the employment of individuals under 14 would halt such exploitation.
Another witness was Josephine Shaw Lowell, president of the Consumers’ League. Her organization has compiled a list of firms who practice what they call the “standard of a fair house,” and whom their members will patronize. Lowell has made the rounds of stores at various times of the day to see if the law that mandates seats for women employees is being implemented. At some stores, there were no places to sit at all, and the managers stated frankly that they had no intention of complying with the law.
Another witness corroborated this attitude. When she complained to the manager that he provided no seats, she was told, “This is a business house and not a hospital,” though the manager finally agreed to put a couple of seats at the side counters. At other stores, Lowell found there were a few boxes behind the counters, but they were mainly used to stand on when women reached for high shelves. Even in the stores where there were a number of seats, virtually none were being used, even during times of the day when business was slack–so women were clearly discouraged or prohibited from using them.
Thanks to activist women like Woodbridge, Robbins and Lowell, and organizations like the Consumers’ League, it is hoped that working conditions will improve over time. The Consumers’ League traces its origin to 1888 when shirtmaker Leonora O’Reilly asked Josephine Shaw Lowell to work with the New York Working Women’s Society to improve conditions for the city’s women workers. Five years ago, the league was formally organized and circulated its first “White List” of companies with fair employment practices.
Note on inflation: $1 in 1895 would be $26.60 in 2011; $1.50 would be $39.90; $2 would be $53.20 and $4.50 would be $119.70.
Photo of Macy’s in New York City, 1907, from Wikimedia Commons. | <urn:uuid:b8ef4cc3-81c1-4f87-ba8d-5d0adc589601> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://msmagazine.com/blog/2011/03/23/live-blogging-womens-history-march-23-1895/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979597 | 871 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Before dodgeball was banned
I was invited to speak at a gathering on Monday, and to be honest I was shocked. Not being asked to speak, mind you, but rather by what I heard when I got there.
The person who gave the introduction told the audience that I wrote stories – stories about childhood before dodgeball was banned. His introduction almost made me speechless. So much so, I changed the title of this story.
Dodgeball has been banned in many elementary schools because it has been deemed too violent a playground activity. The news saddens me still. There was a moment in time, long, long ago where kids were allowed to play and be kids. Back then childhood was very different than it is today.
It was truly a simpler time.
If our memories are the doors to the past, then our dreams are surely its keys. Hard to believe The Boy will look back on his childhood one day, daydream and proclaim that time as the good old days. But, of course, he will be wrong. For you see, I’ve lived both his childhood and mine. And I assure you, the good old days came and went long before he was born – back during the time four brothers and one sister grew up at 110 Flamingo Street.
It was a simpler time.
Whenever we were in the house and the phone rang, there would be a race to the kitchen to see who could answer it first. You see, back then we only had two phones: one in our parent’s bedroom (and we weren’t allowed in there without being invited) and the other in the kitchen secured to the wall some four feet up off the ground.
One sharp tug on the cord and the yellow phone slid off its cradle. And even though a chair was placed directly under it, we weren’t allowed to stand in it. After all, chairs were made for sitting, not standing. Everyone knew that.
As the receiver dangled and bounced like a yo-yo, we fought to see who would get the privilege of talking on the phone. If someone called, it usually was important business for adults and not for children, and if it was Old Mrs. Crabtree, we could get an early warning ... perhaps enough time to make up a good excuse and not get punished for whatever we’d done that day in class. Funny, for some reason, Mrs. Crabtree was a regular caller to our house.
If it wasn’t Mrs. Crabtree, we’d quickly hand the receiver off to Mom or Dad. We were not to tie up the line with endless chatter. Besides, who would want to spend hours talking on the phone anyway? It was much more fun to walk over, knock on the neighbor’s door, and soon escape into a world of childhood adventures.
It was indeed a simpler time.
There were no car seats – and seatbelts were only used to restrain us from fighting in the backseat of the green station wagon with faux wood panels. We jumped bikes over self-made ramps, without bike helmets, elbow or knee-pads to protect us when we crashed. Street football was played in the cul-de-sac down by Old Mrs. Crabtree’s house. When one of us got hurt, Dad would say, “A little blood never hurt anyone. Just rub some dirt on it. You’ll be fine.” This he said quite often. One of us four boys was always getting hurt.
When Down the Street Bully Brad and his gang came around we defended ourselves. For seven years we hurled water balloons, dirt clods, and pinecones at each other. We shot slingshots and BB guns and no one every lost an eye. And yet, despite all of this, we somehow survived.
Endless summers were spent performing flips into frigid waters while dangling off the rope swing down at Cripple Creek. Little hands probed scary holes in the banks on just a dare. Many shoes were lost in the gray mud quicksand of silt that collected in the shallow waters of the creek’s bends. For bedroom night lights, we ran around collecting Mason jars of lightning bugs at dusk – where the back lawn flattened out and disappeared into the murky waters of the swamp.
It was a simpler, safer time.
We slept with the bedroom windows open. Night air was considered healthy back then. Front doors were only locked when we went on vacation once a year. But it really didn’t matter if they were. Who would take what wasn’t theirs? That wasn’t right. We were just kids and even we knew that.
One day, I’m sure, when The Boy has children of his own, he’ll tell them stories of when he was young. I just hope when he does, he’ll look back with as much fondness as I do. And who knows, he may even call that time a simpler time. How funny that, for him, I guess, it truly will be.
[Rick Ryckeley, who lives in Senoia, has been a firefighter for over 26 years and a weekly columnist since 2001. His email is firstname.lastname@example.org. His book is available at www.RickRyckeley.com.] | <urn:uuid:e35156c2-b106-4ef8-9bb1-150abec2d5d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecitizennews.com/blogs/rick-ryckeley/02-17-2012/dodgeball-was-banned?quicktabs_3=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984459 | 1,112 | 1.523438 | 2 |
BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- We all know the importance of the 'Coats and Toys for Kids' Campaign, but sometimes it helps us all understand a little better when we can put a human face to what is a very real need. That's why earlier this week we went down to the coat pick up room at the Salvation Army in Bangor where we met Dave Woodard and Katrina Ireland.
Dave walked into the coat room wearing a jacket much too thin for a cold Maine November day, so Katrina Ireland, a volunteer at the Salvation Army, helped him pick out a new one.
"What about this one?" she asked "Timberlake, that looks manly."
"It's good it works," answered Dave. "The old one was more or less a leather jacket it didn't keep you warm. You feel cold air into it."
For Katrina, there's a lot of satisfaction in helping Dave, especially since she knows what it's like to need help. Last February, she says she was let go from a job she had for 17 years.
"I was working 60-80 hours a week supporting three kids, so it was devastating."
So Katrina, who remains unemployed, also received some coats from the 'Coats and Toys for Kids' Program. Now she volunteers six days a week at the Salvation Army, sometimes in the soup kitchen and other times helping people find a coat. Sometimes they're coats for kids, but sometimes for adults like Dave. | <urn:uuid:9e3e0436-831d-4f5b-bd96-ae4e7c38ac1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wlbz2.com/news/article/223231/315/Coats-for-Kids-volunteer-helps-man-get-new-winter-coat- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983977 | 307 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Keeping Your Joints Healthy
Our medical professionals work with you to help keep your joints healthy
The following suggestions can help you keep joints strong and vital, today and in the future:
- Exercise: Range-of-motion and strength and endurance exercises can keep joints healthy.
- Stretching: Slow, controlled stretching helps with flexibility, and muscle movement can help with minor aches and pains.
- Aquatic Exercises: These are highly effective ways to exercise without joint stress and we encourage our patients to use aquatic exercises to keep their joints healthy. Classes are held at the Hurley Health and Fitness Center.
- Weight loss: Reducing your weight by as little as 10% can help alleviate the stress on your joints.
- Heat and Cold: Common treatments such as cold or hot packs, heating pads are treatments that can reduce pain and improve movement.
Supplements: Several nutritional supplements have been shown to have a positive affect on joint health, including the following:
- Glucosamine is a natural component of joint cartilage. Taking 1,500 milligrams of glucosamine per day may help to rebuild and renew existing knee and hip cartilage.
- Chondroitin sulfate provides dietary support for healthy joints and bones.
- MSM (Methylsulfonyl-methane) is an organic sulfur found within connective tissues and joint cartilage.
Before starting any exercise and/or nutritional supplement program always check with your Hurley physician or other medical professional. | <urn:uuid:a290f578-8307-43a1-8370-73ead16a7904> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hurleymc.com/services/services/orthopedics/center-joint-replacement/keeping-your-joints-healthy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938917 | 311 | 2.5 | 2 |
Your due date, an estimated date of when the baby will be born, is based on the length of an average pregnancy 280 days, or 40 weeks from the first day of your last period.
Using this method of calculation, and assuming that you conceived on the 14th day of 280 days, you weren't officially pregnant during the first two weeks of your pregnancy. You may also be surprised to learn that you're very unlikely to give birth on your exact due date. In fact, the chances of this happening are only 5 percent! You are, however, extremely likely to have your baby within two weeks on either side of this date, because a normal pregnancy can last between 37 and 42 weeks.
A Handy Due Date Formula:
Start with the first day of your last period and count backward three months to get the month in which you will deliver. Add seven to the day of the month in which your last period began to get the due date. For example, if your last period began on August 20, you would count backwards three months to May, then add seven to 20 to get a due date of May 27.
Enter The First Date Of Your Last Period: | <urn:uuid:d96e9df7-16f7-4600-aa8b-c29b8ac1664e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intellihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/23722/29696.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961342 | 239 | 3.078125 | 3 |
June 2011 Features
June 29, 2011
Interest rates remain at historically low levels due to the extraordinary bond-buying efforts undertaken by the Federal Reserve to address the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession. In June with the end of the second round of quantitative easing, the Fed’s bond-buying program, the potential for rising interest rates has increased. “The prime rate has fallen to 3.25 percent, but the long-term average is 7 to 8 percent so the potential for interest rate risk is currently high,” said Richard Monson, president of Southwest Georgia Farm Credit.
June 27, 2011
As demand from industrial goods manufacturers and other steel-consuming industries increased in early 2010, steel producers took prices up. Since then prices have remained steady as manufacturers continue to rebuild inventories in a variety of industries. “We’re a small fish in a big pond in terms of steel use so we buy where the market is at,” said Jody Tyson, owner of Tyson Steel.
June 24, 2011
For many Georgians, the words “4-H” bring to mind club meetings and trips to Rock Eagle, the mountains or the beach for camp. But it’s about much more, says a Georgia 4-H program expert. | <urn:uuid:912db1d2-f051-40ad-9e77-c68eb8199389> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://growinggeorgia.com/features/2011/06/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959953 | 266 | 1.507813 | 2 |
The trial began Saturday for Pope Benedict XVI's former butler over the alleged leaking of hundreds of secret papers from the pope's personal apartment to an Italian journalist.
The butler, Paolo Gabriele, could face a sentence of up to eight years in an Italian prison if convicted, although it is possible the pope could choose to pardon him. He is charged with aggravated theft.
Gabriele did not enter a plea but has admitted leaking the papers to the Vatican prosecutor, according to Vatican statements.
Vatican computer technician Claudio Sciarpelletti, who worked in the Vatican's secretariat of state, is also on trial, accused of complicity in the crime. If found guilty, he faces a shorter prison term of only a few months.
The Gabriele case is thought to be the most significant ever heard in the Vatican City courthouse, which has handled mostly petty theft cases in the past.
Corruption claims based on the leaked documents rocked the Catholic Church hierarchy and could even affect who becomes the next pope.
Saturday's initial session was held under closely controlled conditions, with only a handful of approved reporters allowed to attend.
Those reporters later briefed other journalists on the proceedings. They had been made to hand over their own pens in exchange for Vatican-issue ones in case any contained concealed listening devices, the reporters said.
They recounted that the three lay judges, led by Giuseppe Dalla Torre, heard that Vatican investigators had seized 82 boxes of various sizes of evidence from Gabriele's apartments in Vatican City and Castel Gondolfo, a small town near Rome.
The investigators also confiscated a gold nugget and a check made out to Pope Benedict XVI for 100,000 euros from the University Catolica San Antonio di Guadalupe and an original version of Virgil's Aeneid from 1581, from his apartment in Vatican City. | <urn:uuid:f1258369-500e-4e01-bb7b-e23b4ada8b00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kcci.com/news/national/Pope-s-ex-butler-on-trial-over-Vatican-leaks/-/9357144/16788096/-/2typwa/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964374 | 386 | 1.585938 | 2 |
A History of the Green Party in Ontario: Frank de Jong
After almost 20 years of glacially slow growth the Green Party of
Ontario is at long last starting to show signs of life. In the provincial
election, expected in April, we will be fielding a full or near full
slate of candidates and we will be presenting a professionally looking
and sounding platform document. Party memory is growing and social
cohesion among party members is generally quite high. We are appearing
in public opinion polls at around 3% of the popular vote. These are
all encouraging signs for a party that has languished between the
floor and the wax for 15 years.
The Party has grown so very slowly for a variety of reasons. It was
founded too early, before the greater green movement grew to the point
that it needed or wanted an electoral wing. The "wrong"
people started the party. The other parties were "green enough"
for the average voter. Ontario was not noted for it's ecological wonders
and the voters don't consider nature conservation a priority. Pollution
and resource depletion were not serious enough to matter to voters.
Any or all of the above reasons will do.
The first setback to the GPO was that the people who founded the
Canadian and Ontario Greens in 1983 abandoned the party after it did
very poorly in the 1984 federal election. These early Greens assumed
they would do well at the polls, and even elect MPPs, by virtue of
their ideas alone. But, alas, they found out that ideas must be supported
by organization, credible candidates and money, which all had been
in short supply.
The GPO barely survived the 1985 mass exodus of members. Those who
inherited the party by default had too much time on their hands and
turned the party into a radically decentralized organization. The
first GPO Constitution defined the organization as an "anti-party
party", designed to be an integral part of the larger green movement,
not independent of it. It was structured to be controlled by local,
grassroots, green groups and not have a centralized traditional political
party structure. The Constitution didn't allow for a province-wide
membership list or policy development. There was to be no leader in
an effort to prevent careerism and prevent the media from having a
particular individual to praise or blame. The idea was that green
groups around the province would choose and support one of their members
as the Green candidate in each election. (This flat hierarchy model
was the structure de jour of the other social and environmental organizations
of the era that shared a similar distrust of top-down decision-making.)
In the 1990 provincial election we ran 40 candidates, but the party
had no leader, no support structure, no policy or platform, and no
membership base to draw support from. The fact that we had no leader
was terribly confusing to the media and the public, not to mention
to our candidates. That we had no platform or policy or support rendered
being a candidate a lonely prospect, indeed.
Traditional structure was slowly introduced into the GPO, conference
by conference. The process was often acrimonious but the normalizing
forces eventually prevailed. The Party adopted a province-wide membership
database and passed our first province-wide policy. We chose a Chief
Financial Officer and Secretary, established a party newsletter, and
modified the Constitution to have a leader mandated to speak for the
party. In 1993 held our first leadership contest and I was chosen
as the first leader.
When the recession hit in the mid 90s the party stagnated. Voters
bought the line about jobs vs. the environment. Even though party
membership was at around 100, we still put up 40 candidates in the
1995 election. Despite this being only our first election as a normalized
party, the campaign came off smoothly if with very low profile.
Party membership remained at 200 members for the next 3 years, but
in 1998 membership started growing and by the 1999 provincial election
it had doubled to around 400 members. We now had at lease some organization
in around 60 ridings. By this time we had an office in Toronto, but
we couldn't afford staff so volunteers did the work. But the increased
energy allowed the party to field 58 candidates in 1999.
The party continued to developed as an organization, expanding its
membership and improving its showing at the polls. In the 1999 provincial
election public support for the Greens was discernible growing. Based
upon votes cast (30,633 votes or 1.7% of the popular vote in 1999),
the Greens became the fourth largest party in the province, a distant
forth, but finally pulling away from the rogue's gallery of minor
Our task now is to establish the Greens as a credible, electable
organization---one of the big parties. To do that we must be shrewd
and calculating. Ontario is not BC. We don't have their spectacular
natural landscapes and can never follow in their footsteps simply
as a defender of natural beauty. Southern Ontario is considered rather
boring and our North is considered to be either too cold or infested
by blackflies to be a worthy election issue. The GPO will never get
elected as a party of nature conservation. We tried that for about
10 years and got less then 1% of the vote for our efforts.
But there are two key messages that will get us elected: health prevention
and green economics. We are the party best able to protect the health
of our citizens from pollution, and we are the party best able to
stick handle the economy through the ecological crisis. In fact, the
two are complimentary. Green market mechanisms are the best way to
conserve and protect the building blocks of good human health---clean
air, water, soil, intact forests and fishery ecosystems. And a healthy
population with access to extensive renewable resources is the basis
of a strong, sustainable economy.
Ontario is famous for its economy, for its industrial might. We are
proud of being the economic motor of Canada. We walk a little taller
when we ponder our robust, diversified, manufacturing-based economy.
We disdain the recession-prone hewers of wood and drawers of water
that are the other Canadian provinces. The GPO must tap into this
sense of pride in our economy. People will vote for us if we articulate
green economic literacy, if we can describe the win-win shift from
a consumption to a conserver economy. In the simplest terms, we must
describe how the green tax shift will conserve resources, reduce pollution
and create jobs by making people less expensive to employ. We must
provide examples of how full cost accounting will make green technology
cost effective without subsidies.
Voters are extremely worried about both their health and that of
their family. To get elected the GPO must explain that no amount of
high-tech gadgetry, expensive drugs or money in the healthcare budget
can keep them and their loved ones from getting sick. Only a clean
planet will produce healthy people. We must show that rather than
legislating micro-managing rules and regulations as other party's
suggest, that the best way achieve a healthy population is through
green economics and putting the invisible green hand to work conserving
resources and reducing pollution.
Twenty years of wishful thinking has not gotten us elected. Twenty
years of copying the platforms of other, more successful Green Parties
has not worked either. Thinking we are God's gift to politics will
not get us elected. To win voter's support we must start thinking
strategically and tap into what is unique about Ontario. We must appeal
to what people in this province really care about most deeply---the
economy and their health. The Green Party message must show that we
have the secret, the inside track on how to keep ourselves healthy
and the economy vibrant. With this message we are electable.
... A better way to live ...
Frank De Jong has been the leader of the Green Party in Ontario
since 1993. A renaissance man, Frank is a teacher, opera singer, and
long-distance cyclist as well as politician. He will be running against
Ernie Eves in the riding of Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey during the
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Who holds the record for the oldest Kentucky Derby winner? Well, it’s not going to be the horse that won the Derby, as all Kentucky Derby competitors must be three years old, but what about the people involved with the horses?
The oldest owner of the winning Kentucky Derby horse was ninety-two-year-old Frances A. Genter, whose Unbridled won the roses in 1990.
The oldest trainer to win the Kentucky Derby was seventy-six-year-old Charlie Wittingham, who won the 1986 Kentucky Derby with Ferdinand. Whittingham was a member of the National Racing Hall of Fame and had over 2,500 career wins. He died in 1999 at the age of 86.
At the time of Ferdinand’s 1986 victory, the record for the oldest winning jockey was also set. At 54, Bill Shoemaker became the oldest jockey to win the Kentucky Derby when he crossed the wire aboard Ferdinand. It was the fourth and final Kentucky Derby Shoemaker would win. The Hall of Fame rider had over 8,800 career wins and died in 2003 at age 72.
Photo: Facebook/Charlie Whittingham | <urn:uuid:2e275abb-c91e-4b72-8d1c-82a532834d26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.louisville.com/content/countdown-kentucky-derby-fifteen-fun-facts-14-old-timers-horse-racing?device=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982788 | 236 | 1.875 | 2 |
Biden Kicks Off Five Days of Earth Day Activities with New Energy Efficiency Effort
April 21, 2010
Vice President Biden will today kick off five days of administration events around the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with the announcement of the selection of 25 communities for up to $452 million in Recovery Act funding to "ramp-up" energy efficiency building retrofits. Under the Department of Energy's Retrofit Ramp-Up initiative, communities, governments, private sector companies, and non-profit organizations will work together on pioneering and innovative programs for concentrated and broad-based retrofits of neighborhoods and towns—and eventually entire states. These partnerships will support large-scale retrofits and make energy efficiency accessible to hundreds of thousands of homeowners and businesses. The models created through this program are expected to save households and businesses about a $100 million annually in utility bills, while leveraging private sector resources, to create what funding recipients estimate at about 30,000 jobs across the country during the next three years.
"For forty years, Earth Day has focused on transforming the way we use energy and reducing our dependence on fossil fuel—but this year, because of the historic clean energy investments in the Recovery Act, we're poised to make greater strides than ever in building a nationwide clean energy economy," said Vice President Biden. "This investment in some of the most innovative energy-efficiency projects across the country will not only help homeowners and businesses make cost-cutting retrofit improvements, but also create jobs right here in America."
"This initiative will help overcome the barriers to making energy efficiency easy and accessible to all—inconvenience, lack of information, and lack of financing," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "Block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, we will make our communities more energy efficient and help families save money. At the same time, we'll create thousands of jobs and strengthen our economy."
In addition to the $452 million Recovery Act investment, the 25 projects announced today will leverage an estimated $2.8 billion from other sources over the next 3 years to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across the country. Overall, the program funding was eight times oversubscribed, with more than $3.5 billion in applications received for the just over $450 million in Recovery Act funds available, indicating significant demand for investment in energy-saving and job-creating projects like these nationwide.
Grantees will employ innovative financing models to make these savings accessible, for example by offering low and no-interest loans that are repaid through property tax and utility bills. In implementing these projects, grantees will deliver verified energy savings and incorporate sustainable business models, to ensure that buildings will continue to be retrofitted after Recovery Act funds are spent. The Department will use the lessons learned from these pilot programs to develop best-practice guides to comprehensive retrofit programs that can be adopted and implemented by other communities across the country.
The Retrofit Ramp-Up projects, which are part of the overall $80 billion Recovery Act investment in clean energy and energy efficiency, complement the Obama Administration's "Recovery through Retrofit" initiative, which lays the groundwork for a self-sustaining and robust home energy efficiency industry. The awards are the competitive portion of DOE's Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, which was funded for the first time under the Recovery Act to help state, local, and tribal communities make strategic investments in improving energy efficiency, reduce energy use and fossil fuel emissions.
Secretary Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, joined Vice President Biden today for the announcement, which was the first of more than two dozen events and activities Administration officials will participate in around Earth Day. In addition to today's event, the President will host an Earth Day reception with environmental leaders on Thursday, April 22nd, a video message from the President will air as part of events on the National Mall on Sunday, April 25th, and administration officials will participate in educational programs with school children, visit wetland and coastal restoration projects and participate in community service projects as part of the president's Earth Day call to action. The events will highlight some of the ways the administration is working to improve the environment, transform American infrastructure for greater energy-efficiency and build a clean energy economy that supports the jobs of the future. As part of the events, administration officials will also continue the push for Congress to act on HOME STAR legislation and comprehensive energy and climate change legislation. A full roster of Administration Earth Day activities is below and more information on the president's Earth Day call to action is available on the "A New Foundation for Energy and the Environment" Web page on the White House Web site.
Retrofit Ramp-Up Awards
The following governments and non-profit organizations have been selected for Retrofit Ramp-Up awards. These projects are planned to begin in fall 2010. Final award amounts are subject to negotiation:
- Austin, Texas: $10 million
- Boulder County, Colorado: $25 million
- Camden, New Jersey: $5 million
- Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning: $25 million
- Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance, Ohio: $17 million
- Greensboro, North Carolina: $5 million
- Indianapolis, Indiana: $10 million
- Kansas City, Missouri: $20 million
- Los Angeles County, California: $30 million
- Lowell, Massachusetts: $5 million
- State of Maine: $30 million
- State of Maryland: $20 million
- State of Michigan: $30 million
- State of Missouri: $5 million
- Omaha, Nebraska: $10 million
- State of New Hampshire: $10 million
- New York State Research and Development Authority: $40 million
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: $25 million
- Phoenix, Arizona: $25 million
- Portland, Oregon: $20 million
- San Antonio, Texas: $10 million
- Seattle, Washington: $20 million
- Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance: $20 million
- Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority, Ohio: $15 million
- Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation : $20 million
Retrofit By the Numbers
- Residential and commercial buildings consume 40% of the energy and represent 40% of the carbon emissions in the United States. Building efficiency represents one of the easiest, most immediate and most cost effective ways to reduce carbon emissions and save money on energy bills while creating new jobs.
- Existing techniques and technologies in energy efficiency retrofitting can reduce energy use by up to 40% per home and lower total associated greenhouse gas emissions by up to 160 million metric tons annually.
- Residential and commercial retrofits also have the potential to cut energy bills by $40 billion annually.
Administration Official Earth Day Events and Activities
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
Thursday, April 22: Washington, D.C.
Secretary Salazar will make remarks on the National Mall for Take a Child to Work/40th Anniversary Earth Day/Buddy the Bison Hike sponsored by the National Park Service. Five hundred local students will participate in the event.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke
Wednesday, April 21: Washington, D.C.
Secretary Locke will deliver keynote remarks at the Creating Climate Wealth Summit at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. He will address how energy reform can strengthen our security and spur economic growth.
Thursday, April 22: Jersey City, New Jersey
Secretary Locke will speak in Jersey City, New Jersey, at the Lincoln Park restoration project that is turning a landfill into a healthy wetland. NOAA funded this habitat restoration project through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis
Thursday, April 22: Online Webchat
On Thursday, Secretary Hilda Solis will host a Webchat to discuss issues and opportunities related to Earth Day. Also on Thursday, the Department of Labor will issue a report detailing green job training opportunities made available over the past year, including $490 million in Recovery Act funding for green jobs training.
Friday, April 23: Washington, D.C.
On Friday, a Job Corps ceremony will honor a winning Job Corps Center for their green construction project.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Thursday, April 22: Chicago, Illinois
Secretary Sebelius will hold an Earth Day health event with Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Ron Sims at a Chicago Public Housing Authority site.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan
Thursday, April 22: Washington, D.C.
Secretary Donovan will deliver remarks at the Earth Day Network's 40th Anniversary of Earth Day rally on the National Mall, in which he will highlight the president's Earth Day Call to Action and HUD's efforts to develop more sustainable, inclusive neighborhoods, while increasing green job and green housing opportunities for families across the country.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood
Thursday, April 22, Secretary LaHood: Chicago, Illinois
Secretary LaHood will attend an Earth Day event at Daley Plaza in Chicago. The event includes a school climate video competition for participating school groups and will have alternative fuel vehicles on display.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu
Thursday, April 22: Washington, D.C.
Secretary Chu will speak at an Earth Day celebration for Department of Energy employees.
Friday, April 23: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Secretary Chu will hold a clean energy event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, focusing on the benefits of energy efficiency.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan
Thursday April 22: Washington, D.C.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will deliver remarks at a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day Thursday at the National Mall in Washington. Secretary Duncan will discuss how education can play a role in developing a green economy.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson
Wednesday, April 21: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Administrator Jackson will be in Pittsburgh for an Energy Star event with children from the Sarah Heinz House Boys and Girls Club. This is a club that provides children and teenagers with strong role models and a safe, fun place to go after school, on weekends, and during the summer.
Thursday, April 22nd: New York City
The administrator will participate in an urban-focused community service project with Green For All at the Grant Houses Community Garden in Manhattan. Administrator Jackson will take a tour of the garden, deliver remarks to press, students and volunteers and participate in a planting activity with volunteers. The administrator will also be a guest on the David Letterman Show to talk about the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and the president's clean energy and green jobs agenda.
Friday, April 23rd to Sunday, April 25th: Washington, D.C.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the EPA will be hosting a celebration event Saturday and Sunday, April 24-25, on the National Mall. The event will feature a variety of interactive, family friendly exhibits that highlight the work of the agency and celebrate its 40th anniversary this year. Administrator Jackson will appear on The National Mall on Friday to visit the Office of Research and Development's P3 student participants and recognize winners. P3 is the next step beyond P2—pollution prevention—and focuses on the three components of sustainability: people, prosperity, and the planet.
White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley
Sunday, April 25: Washington, D.C.
Chair Sutley will deliver remarks at the Earth Day Network's 40th Anniversary of Earth Day festivities on the National Mall. She will focus on the Obama Administration's environmental agenda, and how the transition to a clean energy economy can create millions of American jobs while reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler
Thursday, April 22: Washington, D.C.
The Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler will attend the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division's (ENRD) Earth Day 2010 event on April 22 at Marvin Gaye Park where it has held its annual Earth Day service celebration since 2004. In those five years, the Division has been able to help the park purchase over $7,500 worth of trees and landscaping materials as part of the park revitalization event. ENRD has also devoted over 2,500 hours of employee time to planting trees, removing trash, laying sod, and gardening.
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan and Agriculture Undersecretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager
Friday April 23: Sussex County, Delaware
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan will travel to Delaware on Friday to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony for a project that will modernize water quality and public sanitation services in Sussex County through the upgrading of the Inland Bays Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Friday April 23: Woodland Park, Colorado
Agriculture Undersecretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager will travel to Woodland Park, Colorado, where he will participate in an event marking the use of Recovery Act funds to improve drinking water quality in a subdivision.
Commerce Department Senior Officials
Earth Day Week: Huntington Beach, California; Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; Seattle, Washington; Muskegon Lake, Missouri; Grande Isle, Louisiana; Maunalua Bay, Hawaii; Jersey City, New Jersey; and Florida Keys, Florida
April 17 through 23, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leadership will hold events at American Recovery and Reinvestment Act coastal restoration projects in eight states. The events will highlight job creation in Huntington Beach, California; Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; Seattle, Washington; Muskegon Lake, Michigan; Grande Isle, Louisiana; Maunalua Bay, Hawaii; Jersey City, New Jersey; and Florida Keys, Florida.
Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren
Thursday April 22: Berkley, California
OSTP Director John Holdren will be in Berkeley, California, where he will give a free, public, evening lecture on the topic of: "Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being: Priorities and Policies in the Obama Administration," to be held in Sibley Auditorium in the Bechtel Engineering Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
Veterans Affairs Officials
Hospital Directors and Regional Office Directors will lead Earth Day events at Virginia health facilities across the country including Martinsburg, West Virginia; North Texas; Clarksburg, Virginia; Saginaw, Michigan; Battle Creek, Michigan; San Diego, California; Spokane. Washington; Fresno, California; Los Angeles, California; Long Beach, California; Reno, Nevada; Tucson, Arizona, Boise, Idaho; Menlo Park, California; Palo Alto, California; and Ft. Harrison, Montana.
Treasury Department Initiative
Earth Day Week
With Americans poised to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced a broad new initiative to dramatically increase the number of electronic transactions that involve Treasury and millions of citizens and businesses, a move that is expected to save more than $400 million and 12 million pounds of paper in the first five years alone. Treasury will also make an announcement about a change in the Department's energy consumption that, when coupled with the move from paper to electronic transactions, will greatly reduce Treasury's environmental impact.
Earth Day Week: Washington, D.C.
NASA is taking part in the celebration of Earth Day's fortieth anniversary on the National Mall in Washington beginning Saturday, April 17. The agency's involvement includes 9 consecutive days of activities and exhibits open to the public. The "NASA Village," which contains three domed tents, will highlight the use of NASA science and technology to advance knowledge and awareness about our planet and sustain our environment. | <urn:uuid:c5970992-97c5-4fbb-83fd-bec070c8b6f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/daily.cfm/hp_news_id=242 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914315 | 3,214 | 1.914063 | 2 |
… big changes. It just makes cents!
Threads of Life wants to collect one million pennies – $10,000 – to offset the approximate cost of sending ten family members to one of three regional family forums in 2013. Your small change will make big changes in people’s lives.
It’s time to rid yourself of those pennies! Collect your pennies and make a donation to Threads of Life – and help ten family members who have been personally affected by a workplace tragedy. The Canadian penny will go out of circulation in fall 2012 but you can make a difference by helping us reach our goal of $10,000 in penny donations.
Threads of Life provides family support programs and services to Canadian families affected by a workplace fatality, life-altering injury or occupational disease. These programs and services include training interested members to provide peer support to other family members through the Volunteer Family Guide program and to share their story with schools and businesses through the national Speakers Bureau. Threads of Life’s key family support service is the opportunity to attend an annual regional Family Forum. The Family Forums provide families with the opportunity to meet others who are living with the devastating outcome of a workplace tragedy, while learning healthy coping skills in a safe, respectful environment.
What can I do?
Collect your pennies.
How do I make a donation?
Make a deposit. Simply roll your pennies and deposit the pennies into your bank account. Make a donation to Threads of Life for the equivalent amount. You can then make your donation,
Online. Donations can be made by credit card on our secure site. You will receive an email confirming your donation following the successful transaction.
Over the phone. Call us directly at 1-888-567-9490 to perform a credit card transaction over the phone.
By mail. Your donation can also be made by completing the Single or Monthly Donation form and sending a cheque or money order* made out to “Threads of Life” to:
Association for Workplace Tragedy Family Support – Threads of Life
P.O. Box 9066,
1795 Ernest Avenue,
London, Ontario, N6E 2V0
Your donation will help Canadian families of workplace tragedy. Threads of Life is a registered Canadian charity (CRA charity #87524 8908 RR0001).
For more information, contact John McCabe at email@example.com or 1-888-567-9490. | <urn:uuid:b26d3d0e-fd51-4035-9a6e-8711f595ea9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://threadsoflife.ca/donate/pennies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931937 | 523 | 1.515625 | 2 |
To my knowledge, Artur Schnabel and Eduard Erdmann were the first pianists to play Schubert’s last three sonatas in one evening. After one of my own performances of this wonderful, if strenuous, program, a Viennese newspaper pronounced that even if I, as somebody who had turned his back on Vienna, wanted to deny the fact, I must have “experienced” these pieces while I was resident in Schubert’s city. How Schubert’s sonatas, his Winterreise and Heine songs, the Mass in E flat or the String Quintet, could be “experienced” in Vienna these days was not disclosed. Not that Schubert had ever been the kind of regional musician that a cosmopolitan like Busoni chose to see in him. There is no shortage of elements in his music that came from outside the boundaries of his city: we detect a Hungarian flavor in the finale of the B flat sonata, Bohemian dances (polka and sousedská) in the third of his Posthumous Pieces, and even a tarantella in the macabre finale of the C minor sonata that relates in spirit much less to Schubert’s painter friends Kupelwieser and Schwind than to the black fantasies of Goya (who, incidentally, also died in 1828).
What is a “Viennese composer”? (Besides Schubert, the critic mentioned Mahler and Alban Berg.) Is he somebody whom the Viennese punished because he did not compose like Johann Strauss—somebody whose uncomfortable music had to be administered to the Viennese belatedly, and with a great deal of effort? In a letter of 1827, Schubert describes Metternich’s Vienna as follows: “It is admittedly rather big, but makes up for it by being devoid of cordiality, openness, true thought, sensible words and, in particular, spirited deeds.” Even today, Vienna may be the right place to teach musicians what a Strauss waltz is about. But to claim that there ever existed, or still exists, a Viennese Schubert tradition is wishful thinking. Apart from Brahms, the North German, few musicians took any interest in Schubert’s instrumental music in nineteenth-century Vienna. (The Schubert enthusiasts Schumann, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Anton Rubinstein, Dvorák, and George Grove were occasional guests from abroad.) How many of the great Schubert singers or conductors originated from Schubert’s home town or home country? Where, until fairly recently, were the Viennese pianists who might have championed Schubert’s sonatas? For Sauer, Rosenthal, or Godowsky, these were of no consequence. They owed their discovery to the Berlin of the 1920s—to Schnabel and Erdmann. Schnabel did indeed study in Vienna; but even if he had been advised to look at Schubert’s unexplored sonatas, his teacher Leschetizky would hardly have told him how they ought to be played. Significantly, Schnabel’s enormous influence as a teacher did not permeate Vienna at all.
These days, Vienna does not provide more clues about Schubert than any other city. Admittedly, the panorama from the Belvedere has hardly changed since Schubert’s time. Do people, however, still live in one-room apartments—as did Schubert …
Copyright © 1988 Alfred Brendel
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Saturday, June 6, 2009
In this brief video clip, artist Clark Hulings recalls how the art teacher George Bridgman at the Art Student's League insisted on erasing student work and redrawing over it.
How do you feel about art teachers who draw on your work? Students are paying teachers for their expertise, and it’s a privilege to own an example of a master’s hand, right?
But it’s also can feel like an act of vandalism. It can be infuriating if the teacher doesn't respect or understand what you were trying to accomplish. Should teachers ask permission? Should they do their drawing on the blank paper off to the side? If you have an opinion or a story, please share it.
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Swallowing Your Pride to Put Food in Your Stomach
I was at the local food bank today, having given a ride to a friend. He’s talented and capable, but temporarily out of work and low on resources in this tough economy. The experience was a painful one for him, and I write this with his reluctant permission. He wishes to be anonymous, he says. He’s embarrassed that he has to avail himself of these life-saving services. He’s not alone.
In the short time we were there — possibly 15 or 20 minutes — three dozen people crossed our paths, arriving, waiting, leaving. Ours is a relatively small city of 60,000 or so. I can only imagine the numbers of hungry residents lining up for help in Dallas, New York, or downtown L.A.
Our local food bank is a compassionate place. The folks who go there for help are treated with dignity and respect by the staff and volunteers. Clients are treated like human beings, not like numbers. And yet, there seemed to this observer to be a pervasive sense of embarrassment among many of them. I saw several people quickly scan the waiting room, then furtively watch the door as they waited for their names to be called for a bag of groceries. Others’ heads were lowered and their shoulders hunched, perhaps in defeat, perhaps in an attempt to draw inside and become as small as they could.
Not all reacted the same way. Two women stood at the entrance, openly snacking on a bit of this pastry and a mouthful of that fruit bar. The elder of the two tossed boxes of generic macaroni and cheese onto a worker’s cart as he passed her. “I don’t want no more of that crap,” she said sharply. “Every week, it’s the same bad stuff.” The worker took her comments in stride, smiling. I got the impression that he’d heard the same story many times before.
In the center of the reception room, people gathered around a large table loaded with cartons of soy yogurt, wilted greens, organic sour cream, French onion dip, cottage cheese, and a few stray cans of fruits and vegetables with unappealing labels. Bread racks on two sides of the room were loaded with loaves of French bread, wheat bread, ciabatta rolls, and dinner rolls. All this is a bonus; clients can help themselves to as many of these items as they can carry. And they do.
When their names are called, each person gets a single bag of groceries assembled from the donations of concerned citizens and businesses. The intake form asks about dietary restrictions, and my friend wrote “Soy Allergy” in big letters. He might not die from eating soy, but he suffers with welts that last for more than a week. He is understandably cautious.
In his bag of groceries, allowed once per week, at least three quarters of the items listed soy in the ingredients on the labels. Coffee cake: soy lecithin and vegetable oil (may contain soy). Canned soup: contains soy protein. Canned chili: contains soy protein. And soy and soybean oil and more soy and soybean oil. “Go back and ask them again,” I said, trying to be helpful.
“I heard you shouldn’t make trouble, because they’ll remember the name on your slip and give you all the bad stuff the next time,” my friend said. But after looking at the slim pile of groceries remaining in his bag, he went to the counter and asked to exchange. A second try, and the volunteer cheerfully brought him a small bag of Doritos (soy ingredients). He also handed my friend a few cans of tuna and some beef jerky — which one might expect to contain just tuna and just beef. “These should be fine,” the man said. My friend checked the labels and said, “Thanks for trying, but all of these list soy in the ingredients.”
“What can you eat?” the volunteer asked. I thought he sounded exasperated, but he surely couldn’t have been as exasperated as my friend, who kept his cool through the whole ordeal. A third try, and he brought out two small, sealed snack packets, one containing tuna and the other shrimp. No soy this time, but not enough food to get through the week, either, after having to forgo the soy-inclusive items (canned beef stew, etc.) that had formerly filled the bag.
The canned fruits and vegetables in his shopping bag were the cheapest quality goods on any grocery store shelf. I get it that the food bank needs to stretch its dollars as far as it can. If green beans are priced at three for a dollar for the generic brand (with lots of sodium and water), and the brand name beans are 79¢ apiece, then it’s no contest. The food bank will opt for the cheaper variety every time. Feeding three people wins out over feeding one. But no one asks about the quality of the ingredients; they can’t afford to raise the question.
What struck me as I waited was that almost all of the clients were overweight, and some were grossly obese. Former Texas Senator Phil Gramm (one of Senator John McCain’s main economics advisers during the presidential campaign) is quoted as saying, “Has anyone ever noticed that we live in the only country in the world where all the poor people are fat?” The implication seemed to be that overweight people couldn’t possibly be that poor, because they’re obviously eating. But what are they eating?
Another friend who had lived with us for a while also took regular trips to the food bank. Most of what he brought back was pastries and breads and pasta. The pastries and breads were the items available daily (rather than weekly) in the waiting area, because stores freely offer those items as their expiration dates pass. Like my friend today, he could take as many of those as he wished. So what does a hungry person do when nutritious food is hard to come by, but starches are plentiful? What would you do, if your belly was aching to be filled and that was your only option?
It’s a vicious cycle, of course, as malnourished people have difficulty mustering the energy to get a job. And people without a job have no money to buy healthy foods — for themselves or their children. Malnutrition also begets despair, and despair often feeds its belly with comfort food. Comfort food — the pastries and breads and pastas — lure the poor onto a treadmill that fattens them. And being fat begets inertia, so that getting a job becomes less of a goal — and less of a possibility — all the time.
So much for my penny psychology.
What I learned today — the takeaway that I would like to share with you — is this: When you have the wherewithal to donate to a food bank (and, unless you’re receiving food there yourself, perhaps you do), please choose selections that will provide first-rate nutrition. Sure, everyone loves a guilt-filled snack now and again, but try to remember how much healthier it is to munch on trail mix or dried fruit. Donate food (or funds) with the sobering thought that one day you, too, could be on the receiving end of the generosity of others.
Oh, and it would also be helpful if you could find some foods without the ubiquitous soy. (Read the ingredients label.) Someone who’s hungry may thank you.
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Yeah… why isn’t that the case with everything?
Environmental lawsuits should not halt California’s high-speed rail line unless it’s proved to cause far more harm than good, the governor’s office proposed yesterday.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) administration floated draft legislation that would curb the state’s environmental law as it applies to initial construction of the train.
The language, circulated among green groups, would require judges before they stop development to weigh the project’s impact on the state. They would be obligated to consider job losses as well as the fact that a delay could force California to forfeit $3.3 billion in federal funding.
The $68.4 billion bullet train venture brings pluses that make it worthy of special consideration, the draft bill argues. | <urn:uuid:25ca8095-0862-49fc-bfad-8d262cf6e6a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://junkscience.com/2012/06/08/calif-governor-floats-plan-for-letting-bullet-train-roar-past-enviro-lawsuits/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945643 | 170 | 1.65625 | 2 |
I was reading Emotional Design by Don Norman the other day, and he was contemplating ways in which we could leverage emotional machines to improve the learning process. This got me kick-started again on thinking about applications of the cognitive subroutines theory that I’ve been playing with. As a side note, I think I’m finally emerging from the dearth of ideas I was suffering for a week or so. Apologies for the banality of posts during that time.
So the question of the day is: How do we leverage cognitive subroutines for the sake of learning? What does this theory tell us about how to teach people something new?
I covered this a little bit in the footnotes of that first post. To teach somebody a new physical action, it requires breaking it down into easily digestable chunks. Each chunk is practiced individually until it’s ingrained in the subconscious and can be performed autonomously. In other words, we build and train a cognitive subroutine that can then be activated with a single conscious command like “hit the ball” instead of having to call each of the individual steps like “take three steps, bring the arms back, jump, bring the right arm back cocked, snap the arm forward while rotating the body, and follow through”. Watching toddlers figure out how to walk is also in this category. At first, they have to use all of their concentration to figure out how to take a step, but within a short period of time, they just think “I wanna go that way” and run off.
For physical activities the analogy to cognitive subroutines is pretty straightforward, and was what I was thinking of when I first came up with this idea. How does it map to other, less concrete activities? Let’s take the example of math. We start out in math learning very simple building blocks, like addition and subtraction. We move from there to algebra where we build in an abstraction barrier. As we learn more advanced techniques from calculus to differential equations, we add more and more tools to our toolbox, each of which builds on the one before. Trying to teach somebody differential equations without them understanding calculus cold would be a waste of time. So in a relatively linear example like math, the analogy to cognitive subroutines is also straightforward.
What about a field like history? Here it becomes more difficult. It’s unclear what the building blocks are, how the different subfields of history interrelate, and what techniques are necessary at each level. Here we start to get a better picture of where the cognitive subroutines analogy may start to fail. It applies when there are techniques to be learned, preferably in a layered way where each technique depends on learning the one below it, much in the way that subroutines are built up and layered. Trying to fit more broad-based disciplines such as history into that framework is going to be a stretch.
Perhaps history might be a better example of the context-dependent cognitive subroutines, where we have a few standard techniques/theories that get activated by the right set of inputs. So we have our pet theory of socioeconomic development and see ways to apply it to a variety of different situations (I’m totally making this up, of course, since I’m realizing that I don’t actually know what a historian does). Actually, this makes a lot of sense. In fact, I’m doing it right now; I came up with a theory (cognitive subroutines), and am now trying to apply this theory everywhere to see how it fits. By trying it in a bunch of places, I’m getting a better sense of what the proper input conditions for the theory are, and can see how to refine it further.
So for history, the important thing to teach may not be individual theories, but the meta-theory of coming up with good theories in the first place. In other words, critical thinking skills. As mentioned in my new directions post, I think such skills are broadly applicable, from politics to history to evaluating advertising. With such meta-skills, there would be an infrastructure in place for building up appropriate cognitive subroutines, and for understanding the limitations of the cognitive subroutines we already have.
One last thought on the subject of cognitive subroutines and how they apply to learning. What does the theory have to say about memorization-based subjects? From medical school to history taught poorly, there are many subjects which are memorization-based. I don’t think there’s really anything to be gained here. Memorization, like cognitive subroutines, is all about repetition, but I don’t think that the cognitive subroutine theory gives us any new insight into how we can improve somebody’s memorization skills.
I also tend to think that memorization will become less and less useful moving forward, as I noted in my information carnivore post. Why memorize when you can Google? However, developing the cognitive filtering subroutines necessary to handle the flood of information available is going to be tricky. That was the point of that information carnivore metaphor, but it’s interesting that it comes back up again in this context.
Anyway. There’s some fertile ground here for thought, again trying to think of ways in which this theory can be less descriptive, and more prescriptive. I’ll have to spend some time trying to flesh things out. | <urn:uuid:f84865e2-1386-4d00-8a1a-e53063bcc739> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nehrlich.com/blog/2005/03/10/cognitive-subroutines-and-learning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955423 | 1,150 | 2.84375 | 3 |
The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs.
Digital media have proliferated in Chile over the last five years. They have given impetus to a culture of openness and transparency that has been in development since the country’s return to democracy in 1990. However, digitization of terrestrial broadcasting is yet to get off the ground, in spite of television’s endurance as the dominant medium for news and information. Significant obstacles also remain in respect of pluralism and diversity, including ownership concentration and a persistent digital divide, neither of which have been helped by the global economic downturn.
Overall, digitization has only partly impacted on the media landscape in Chile. It has neither altered the neoliberal trajectory of media policy, nor reduced high levels of ownership concentration and incumbent advantages. But there is, at the very least, a framework in place that will potentially open doors to new entrants in the digital terrestrial arena, as well as sustain the public service, local and community sectors. This will provide an important antidote to the digital divide which is likely to persist in terms of access quality, even after universal service is achieved. Whether this potential will be realized is, however, uncertain. | <urn:uuid:c7429ee0-2498-46de-9167-35edbd41fa68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/mapping-digital-media-chile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949566 | 280 | 2.453125 | 2 |
May 18th, 2013
|10:34 pm - Watermelon|
Has anyone ever grown watermelon vertically or trained them onto a fence? I just prepped a section in the back (that actually gets enough sun) for some edibles. I've had to get creative as my garden has lots of shade. Anyhow, it runs along a chain link fence and has a walkway, so the growing section is only about 2 feet deep and about 20 feet long. I have some watermelon starts to put in, but I was thinking that in order to make use of vertical space, staggering the plants and having every other one trellised to the fence, high enough to get it off the ground but low enough that the fruit won't have to go into slings. I hope. Has anyone done something like this and did it work out well for you?
|08:01 pm - Please Read This If You Dislike Monsanto or Certain Other Big Corporations|
I know that at least some of the people who are members of this gardening community dislike Monsanto and would avoid buying its products if they could. According to this article I found, there's a new app called "BUYCOTT that shows you a product's corporate family tree while you shop" and thus lets you avoid buying products that put money in the pockets of corporations you dislike.
(BTW: The comments section that follows this article has some interesting comments that might be worth reading too.)
Here's the name of the article and the website if you're interested:
New App Lets You Boycott Koch Brothers, Monsanto and More by Scanning Your Shopping Cart
May 17th, 2013
|09:45 pm - Chorizo, Tomatoes & Garlic Linguine|
I made this last Saturday after coming back from the car dealership in Glasgow because someone did a hit-and-run job on our car! It wasn’t badly damaged…though I can’t say the same about my pocket. Seems even the smallest dent costs an absolute fortune to fix! *Sigh* As if I’m not poor enough already. Thank goodness it doesn't cost an arm and a leg for a good home cooked meal!
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Click here for recipe and pictures...
May 16th, 2013
|07:17 pm - Transplanting to outdoor containers|
I'm in a bit of a last minute scramble...I think I was avoiding this. I have a whole bunch of indoor starts (greens - kale, chard, asian mustards, spinach, lettuce) and they have been hardened off to tolerate sun during the day but come back in at night. Probably didn't need to do that but I had been anyway. I'll be traveling next week and I'm thinking of planting a bunch of them in large containers outside (will be watered via drip/sprinkler system). I live in southwestern Montana (Zone 4b) and it looks like next week's low temperatures will be low-mid 40s and high temps at mid-60 to low-70s. Showers/thunderstorms are predicted next week as well. Most of the transplants are of decent size (3-4" at least) so I'm hoping that helps too. Anyone have some sage advice/reassurances that planting a bunch of them out in containers right now will be successful? Or which ones might fare the best being planted out?
Thanks a bunch!! Happy gardening! :)
|09:25 pm - European Pine Sawfly|
I usually just watch this community and pick up advices on gardening along the way. However, just today, I had my first major gardening problem for spring. I found my dwarf mugo pine tree infested with little green worm-like pests with large, black heads. I never saw them before and neither has my mom. A quick help from Google told me that they were European Pine sawflies.My mom, who is very big on organic gardening, whipped out her book of natural pest remedies and started concocting something. And they worked. I watched the sawflies start wriggling and then just stop moving.
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|05:10 pm - Vegan Flatbread Pizza Recipe|
Last month I catered my sister in law's wedding. It was quite the challenge since they needed options all the way from Vegan to Steak and just wanted appetizers. Flatbread pizzas were the way to go! It was so fun coming up with different kinds of fancy pizzas. Here is my first installment of my Flatbread Pizzas - a Vegan Roasted Squash and Asparagus Flatbread Pizza. Even if you are a meat-eater, this is sure to satisfy your pizza cravings, while leaving the boring typical toppings behind.
For more check out my blog at: The Realistic Housewife Thanks!
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|02:00 pm - Summer Lemon Tart|
This easy lemon tart is the perfect combination of sweet and sour. The crust is buttery and slightly sweet, and the lemon curd filling is refreshing and light. It's a bit messy, but that's kind of what summer is all about.
For more pictures, and to read about what I love and hate about summer in Vancouver, head over to Leanne Bakes!
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|12:09 am - spring garden photos|
his year is very cold and late spring. All in the garden burgeon later then usually.
I put some photos of garden.
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May 13th, 2013
|07:18 pm - Butterscotch Chewy Cake - A Vintage Pillsbury Award Winner!|
A winner from a 1955 Pillsbury baking contest, this chewy, pecan filled cake is rich with butterscotch flavor. Topped with butter pecan ice cream and caramel sauce makes it a decadent and very tasty warm weather dessert!
So much more over at The Alchemist.
( Read more...Collapse ) | <urn:uuid:8bcb45d7-3acb-4991-b0a2-99831c2f05d5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://users.livejournal.com/_furbish/friends | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950272 | 1,261 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Tips For Evaluating New Lighting Technologies
Part 3: How to Evaluate Cutting Edge Lighting Technologies
How to Evaluate Cutting Edge Lighting Technologies
By Lindsay Audin - November 2011 - Lighting
While being an early adopter may elicit bragging rights, extra care is needed when dipping one's toes into the new technology lagoon. Don't assume all new lighting technologies will achieve claimed results and savings, but don't let excessive skepticism block your access to new options. Understand that a technology that works well outdoors, for example, may not work as well when adapted to the needs of indoor lighting. Avail yourself of test data and perspectives from independent sources and local expertise, and evaluate lower risk cost-effective alternatives.
Start by being clear on the main goals. If energy savings is the primary aim, that will guide the design toward cutting kWh. On the other hand, if ROI must exceed a known value, that must be clear to the designer. To ensure accurate calculation of dollar savings, the analyst should demonstrate a clear understanding of how the facility's power is priced.
Understand that those selling equipment may be paid a commission based on a percentage of their sale, not a percentage of your savings. Have an independent analyst/designer verify that the equipment/design being considered is the most cost-effective option, not just a cost-effective option.
If LEDs are involved, look for the DOE Lighting Label. If there is none, be sure the equipment has at least the Energy Star label. For a retrofit device, verify with the fixture manufacturer that the fixture's UL rating is not violated by use of the retrofit device in it. Carefully review the equipment's warranty and failure replacement policy.
Regardless of lighting source or fixture, secure and test for at least a month several samples in a typical location. Check light levels, distribution, glare, color, noise, and dimming. Compare to existing lighting and other cost-effective alternatives. Look for differences among samples, as well as issues noted by installers and occupants who will work under the sample lighting.
When evaluating claims based on new metrics, involve an appropriate level of expertise, preferably from a professional lighting designer who isn't also specifying the fixtures.
Lindsay Audin is president of EnergyWiz, an energy consulting firm based in Croton, N.Y. He is a contributing editor for Building Operating Management. He can be reached at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:72a8221b-483d-4f82-b0a0-5ebc68b2527b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.facilitiesnet.com/lighting/article/How-to-Evaluate-Cutting-Edge-Lighting-Technologies--12788 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933312 | 499 | 1.765625 | 2 |
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A batting helmet is the protective headgear worn by batters in the game of baseball or softball. It is meant to protect the batters head from wild pitches thrown by the pitcher. A batter who is ”hit by pitch”, due to a wild pitch, may be seriously or even fatally injured.
In 1907, the first batting helmet was created by Roger Bresnahan after being struck on the head by a ball during a game. A batting helmet covers the back, top, and sides of the head, and at least one ear whether you are a right or left handed batter. Whichever ear faces the pitcher, is the one that is covered. Batting helmets that cover both ears are common too, mostly worn by ‘switch hitters’ in the Major Leagues. These helmets are mandatory in the minor leagues. It wasn’t until 1971, that batting helmets became mandatory in the major leagues.
Batting helmets come in a variety of styles, colors and models. Helmet accessories include helmet shields, softball and baseball face masks & face guards, decal kits & stickers, chin straps, hardware kits and fence helmet hanging bags. | <urn:uuid:9705fe30-5503-4467-b72a-bbe7e465f375> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homerunmonkey.com/homerun-batting-equipment/homerun-batting-helmets/where/color-filter/silver/manufacturer/all--to-star_mizuno_rawlings.html?m-layered=1&m-layered=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950678 | 304 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Lionel, "A Changed Young Man"
By: Margaret Sowry
Population Served: At-Risk Youth
Lionel (not his real name) joined the 12 Heartbeats (the self chosen name of the drumming participants) the second week of the protocol. He walked with a swagger and reeked of attitude born in the "Hood", as he so aptly referred to it. He slumped in his seat, and interjected sarcastic humor into nearly everything.
Lionel deferred any serious thought, reaction or comment to his "jokester" mode effortlessly. "Being funny" he readily acknowledged as his best quality. He offered no apology.
His first drumming contribution was a violent slam on the gathering drum that sent everyone to their feet. The group's awareness drifted to a gunshot in the hood... a sound that was all too familiar.
Over the course of the following weeks, he remained stoic while clinging to the gathering drum. If one of the other members arrived first and took the drum, he immediately reclaimed it. Somehow Grandma Drum was a security symbol for him. The group shared an understanding not to challenge his need. Even when the group rotated instruments, Lionel never allowed Grandma to move from his side.
During the first four HealthRHYTHMS sessions, Grandma reflected his anger, frustration and sense of being lost. Everyone recognized that unspoken eerie connection between Lionel, Grandma and his legendary "gunshot sound."
The first time Lionel put away the mallet for a brief period and placed his hands on Grandma, it was to drum his expression of "running away." The others in the group immediately commented and gave credit to his breakthrough. He had not shared anything "real" previously, and had never tolerated any acknowledgement of an emotional response. He merely nodded sheepishly and appeared pleased.
During the next session, "Inspirational Beats" challenged the group to complete the phrase: "The hardest thing for me to do is?" Lionel immediately blurted: "be more tolerant of others, and not come on so strong." He moved Grandma aside and reached for a djembe. He drummed with freedom and enthusiasm. His hands flew with incredible rhythm and expression.
"WOW, Lionel that was incredible, did you know you could do that?" yelled several members of the group.
He shrugged his shoulders and responded, "I was just ready."
Who could ever imagine what happened within this young man that incredible day? One had only to look into his eyes to witness immense pain, anger and fear. There was no way to measure the significance of that rare moment. The celebratory response from the group echoed the look of new-found strength on his face. He never echoed another gunshot.
Soon thereafter, Lionel was discharged.
Mid-fall, the facility received a telephone call from the principal of the school that Lionel attends. "I don't know what happened there at your facility, but Lionel is a changed young man. He attends school every day, he studies hard, plays basketball and is planning a future. Whatever took place there transformed him and gave him hope." | <urn:uuid:ad868efa-d173-4b42-a747-198317360637> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.remo.com/portal/hr/article?id=43 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985878 | 649 | 1.75 | 2 |
A one-mile-long pedestrian bridge spanning the Ohio River between Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana is under construction and expected to open next spring. With work progressing on laying a new concrete deck on the circa 1895 former railroad bridge and a dramatic elliptical spiral ramp built of Cor-ten steel to match the patina of the old span already soaring above the Hargreaves-designed Waterfront Park in Louisville. The latest piece of the puzzle came into focus in late July as a new park in downtown Jeffersonville was unveiled to the public.
At the northern end of the bridge, a new ramp follows the original path of the Big Four approach before taking a turn to drop pedestrians and cyclists at ground level one block from the central business district. Here, Big Four Station, as the park is called, forms a monumental gateway into the city complete with an obelisk at the base of the ramp, four sculptural light columns surrounding a water feature, and an open air pavilion. The park sits on the site where a grand canal was once planned to spur economic development and ameliorate combined sewer overflow issues under an EPA consent decree.
Designed by The Estopinal Group (TEG) and Taylor Siefker Williams Design Group, the park’s layout—currently in the concept phase pending public approval—radiates from the obelisk, forming a series of smaller spaces designed to handle farmers markets, public events, and general play. A cascading water feature forming an exclamation point in plan frames a market pavilion and four 25-foot-tall, internally-lit light towers covered in a layered metal filigree and art glass.
Anchoring the plaza, a large open-air pavilion blends traditional and modern design to create a multipurpose space with a pitched roof and an internal barrel vault. A series of perforated metal walls obscure the pavilion’s structural supports, provide an easy way to hang objects during events, and offer additional security since visitors can see if someone is on the other side.
At the other end of the park, a playground covered in a tensile-fabric structure keeps children cool in hot months and a bike rental station provides easy access to the bridge. Two parcels adjacent to the landing have also been reserved for future development around the bridge.
Once complete—the bridge will open next spring and the park the following year—pedestrians and cyclists in Louisville and Southern Indiana will have safe and easy access to Louisville’s expansive waterfront park system and the Ohio River Greenway in Southern Indiana. Currently, the only bike crossing between the states is on a four lane automobile-oriented bridge known for its speeding traffic. “Big Four Station has the opportunity to revitalize the entire Rose Hill neighborhood and extend into the CBD,” Estopinal said. “We have the beginning of a really cohesive recreational corridor.”
One Response to “Mile-Long Pedestrian Bridge Connects Kentucky and Indiana”
Post new comment | <urn:uuid:484eeb8c-6250-47fa-8fec-de551fa233a7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/43283/comment-page-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929546 | 619 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Dilemma of A Carnivore
W here were you when Barbaro broke his leg? I was at a steakhouse, watching the race on a big screen. I saw a horse pulling up, a jockey clutching him, a woman weeping. Thus began a worldwide vigil over the fate of the great horse. Would he be euthanized? Could doctors save him? In the restaurant, people watched and wondered. Then we went back to eating our steaks.
Shrinks call this "cognitive dissonance." You munch a strip of bacon, then pet your dog. You wince at the sight of a crippled horse but continue chewing your burger. Three weeks ago, I took my kids to a sheep and wool festival. They petted lambs; I nibbled a lamb sausage. That's the thing about humans: We're half-evolved beasts. We love animals, but we love meat, too. We don't want to have to choose. And maybe we don't have to. Maybe, thanks to biotechnology, we can now grow meat instead of butchering it.
With all the problems facing humanity -- war, terrorism, poverty, tyranny -- you probably don't worry much about whether it's right or wrong to eat meat. That's understandable. Every society lives with two kinds of moral problems: the ones it's ready to face, and the ones that will become clear or compelling only in retrospect. Animal sacrifice, human sacrifice, slavery, the subjugation of women -- many traditions seem normal and indispensable until we're ready, morally and economically, to move beyond them.
The case for eating meat is like the case for other traditions: It's natural, it's necessary, and there's nothing wrong with it. But sometimes, we're mistaken. We used to think we were the only creatures that could manipulate grammar, make sophisticated plans or recognize names out of context. In the past month, we've discovered the same skills in birds and dolphins. In recent years, we've learned that crows fashion leaves and metal into tools . Pigeons deceive each other. Rats run mazes in their dreams. Dolphins teach their young to use sponges as protection . Chimps can pick locks. Parrots can work with numbers. Dogs can learn words from context. We thought animals weren't smart enough to deserve protection. It turns out we weren't smart enough to realize they do.
Is meat-eating necessary? It was, back when our ancestors had no idea where their next meal might come from. Meat kept us alive and made us stronger. Many scientists think it played a crucial role in the development of the human brain. Now it's time to return the favor. Thousands of years ago, the human brain invented agriculture, and hunting lost its urgency. In the past two centuries, we've identified the nutrients in various kinds of meat, and we've learned how to get them instead from soy, nuts and other vegetable sources. Meat has made us smart enough to figure out how we can live without it.
So why do we keep eating it? Because it's so darned tasty. Don't give me that hippie shtick about how Western society foisted beef on us. McDonald's didn't invent the appendix. McDonald's didn't invent all the genes we've acquired -- at least eight, according to a 2004 article in the Quarterly Review of Biology -- that help us, but not chimps, manage a meat diet. Look at the fossil evidence recently published in Nature. Around 5,000 years ago, when people in Britain figured out how to domesticate cattle, sheep and pigs, they promptly switched from fish-eating to meat-eating. A similar revolution swept North America around 700 years ago. My daughter has been demanding meat ever since she tasted it in baby food. I've seen vegetarian friends lust at the thought of a burger. We're carnivores. We evolved that way.
If we were just beasts, that would end the discussion. But we're not. Evolution didn't stop with our lusts; it started there. Food gave us brainpower. Technology lifted us above survival and gave us time to think. We began to understand the operation of living things, even ourselves. We saw what we were, and we saw what we could be. That's the paradox of humanity: Our aspirations transcend our nature, but they have to respect it. To become what we must become, we have to work with what we are.
Anyone familiar with Alcoholics Anonymous understands this duality. It's the heart of the Serenity Prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." Many alcoholics take this to mean that addiction can't be changed, but behavior can, with God's help. But prayers often mean more than we understand. In the case of meat, maybe we don't have to go cold no-turkey. Maybe what we're asking for is the wisdom to see that we can't change our craving for meat, but we can change the way we satisfy it.
How? By growing meat in labs, the way we grow tissue from stem cells. That's the great thing about cells: They're programmed to multiply. You just have to figure out what chemical and structural environment they need to do their thing. Researchers in Holland and the United States are working on the problem. They've grown and sauteed fish that smelled like dinner, though FDA rules didn't allow them to taste it. Now they're working on pork. The short-term goal is sausage, ground beef and chicken nuggets. Steaks will be more difficult. Three Dutch universities and a nonprofit consortium called New Harvest are involved. They need money. A fraction of what we spend on cattle subsidies would help.
Growing meat this way would be good for us in lots of ways. We'd be able to make beef with no fat, or with good fat transplanted from fish. We'd avoid bird flu, mad cow disease and salmonella. We'd scale back the land consumption and pollution involved in cattle farming. But 300 years from now, when our descendants look back at slaughterhouses the way we look back at slavery, they won't remember the benefits to us, any more than they'll remember our dried-up tears for a horse. They'll want to know whether we saw the moral calling of our age. If we do, it's time to pony up.
William Saletan covers science and technology for Slate, the online magazine at http:/ | <urn:uuid:d2312e50-1b0a-41c1-9616-870f55335eeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/26/AR2006052601709.html?referrer=emailarticle | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969033 | 1,346 | 2.171875 | 2 |
What is Organizational Culture?
Organizational culture is a set of shared values, the unwritten rules which are often taken for granted, that guide the employees towards acceptable and rewarding behavior.
The organizational culture exists at two distinct levels, visible and hidden. The visible aspect of the organization is reflected in artifacts, symbols and visible behavior of employees. The hidden aspect is related to underlying values and assumptions that employees make regarding the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.
- Artifacts: These are visible components of culture, they are easy to formulate, have some physical shape, yet its perception varies from one individual to another.
- Rituals and ceremonies: New hire trainings, new hire welcome lunches, annual corporate conferences, awards, offsite meetings and trainings are few examples of most common rituals and ceremonies.
- Symbols & Slogans: These are high level abstraction of the culture; they effectively summarize organization’s intrinsic behavior. Symbols are rituals, awards or incentives that symbolize preferred behavior; “employee of the month” is one such example of a symbol. Slogans are linguistic phrases that are intended for the same reason, “customer first” is an example of corporate slogan.
- Stories: These are narratives based on true events, but often exaggerated as it told from old to new employees. The stories of the organization’s founders or other dominant leaders are the most common ones, the challenges they had faced and how they dealt with those hurdles etc. In some form, these are stories of the organization’s heroes, employees relate the current system due to events that had happened in the past and stories are the medium that carries the legacies.
- Values: These are conscious and affective desires of the organization, the kind of behavior it wants to promote and reward. Usually every organization sells its cultural values through some artifacts like written symbols or slogans and publishes them in various mediums. However, the true values can only be tested within the organization, through the employees, based on their collective opinion about the experience of the values.
- Ethics: It is the code of moral principals and values that distinguishes the right behavior from wrong. Ethical values are different from rule of law which is dictated by the legal system of the country and have to be followed anyway. However, the laws themselves are based on some moral principles and thus there is some natural overlap between ethics and the laws. The geographic location of the organization and the culture of the place also influence the ethics, this is particularly important for multi-national organization.
Irrespective how an organization depicts its ethical values, they can be tested by the two criteria.
- Commitment: Whether the organization views its employees as resources required for business activities or it intends to invest in long term relationship with its employees; reflects the organization’s commitment to its employees. Commitment can be in various forms, maternity leave, life-work balance, unpaid leaves, it’s strategies for downsizing or globalization; are some examples.
- Career: The ethical values are also echoed in organization’s interest and investment in the career development of its employees. Whether it values specialization and narrow career paths that runs the risk of being outdated along with technology or it values broad skill development and offers training in new technologies at its own cost.
- Empowerment: The social culture and the structure of the organization influences the underlying values related to the amount of employee empowerment.
- Control/Decision: Management by nature is about control, the difference is how it enforces it. Well defined guidance, job description and authority of taking decisions are formal methods of control, while team or collective decision making is a social or cultural method of control. The functional or divisional structure encourages formal control while process or network structures promote a culture of employee empowerment.
- Responsibility: The authority of decision making is closely related to issue of responsibilities. The culture of responsibility is measured by observing whether the individuals are expected to take responsibility of their decisions or there is a collective responsibility in case of team decisions.
- Assumptions: Both the artifacts and the values give rise to assumptions the employees make about the organization's culture. Finally, it’s the assumptions that govern how an employee determines the right behavior and feels about his job and career, how the culture actually operates within the organizational system.
- Failures: The implication of failure is the most influential assumption that every employee derives from all the artifacts, stories, myths and values. The fear of failure and how it would be perceived determines the actual empowerment felt by the employee; the stated values vs. practiced factuality.
Foundation of the Organizational Culture
Organizations are mini social systems that are less complex than their counterparts at city or national level. The foundation of the organizational culture is also rooted in three distinct social entities, anthropology, sociology and psychology.
- Anthropological: It uses the physical artifacts like symbols, stories and values to study the cultural viewpoint of the employees who practice it, and how it adds meaning to their jobs.
- Sociological: It is a study of the different group behaviors in the organization, their causes and their consequences on its culture. The method of the study comprises of identifying certain key attributes and then quantifying them using questionnaires, surveys and interviews.
- Psychological: It is study of factors that influence the individual’s behavior. The key difference from sociology is that it is behavioral analysis at individual level rather than application of psychology on a social system. How a person behaves individually can be quite different from how he behaves in a group. As an example, humans by nature use statistical knowledge in making decisions, however they apply it rather poorly. The last positive or negative outcome influences our decision more than statistical average; such observations can be used effectively in growing a desired culture.
What Influences Organizational Culture?
The culture is influenced by the other entire contextual dimensions; purpose, environment, technology & size. Thus it is futile to expect or create a culture that is not aligned to these factors.. A lot of studies on organizational culture have been wrongly focused only on analyzing the organization behavior and its contributions to organization’s effectiveness. However, the culture is not a separate, self sufficient entity in itself, but rather one part of a whole.
Types of Organizational Cultures
In case of organizational design, while the contextual dimensions define the structure; the culture should aim at providing adequate reinforcement to the structure. The organizational culture can be accessed by evaluating the contextual factors and the structural dimensions. In some way, one can argue that the study of organization’s structural design itself is indicative of type of culture it has, after all the culture is a consequence of how the organization is controlled and what influences its operations. It should also be noted that in large organizations, different functional units might have or require different type of cultures.
There are four most common and identifiable types of organizational cultures:
: The organization has purpose of differentiation, it strives for innovation and competition, it requires research & development and its size is rather small, its control structure is horizontal. The culture encourages risk taking, values new ideas, is quick to detect and react to external changes and rewards ingenuity.
- Market: The organization has clear financial & sales goals and is focused on customer satisfaction. The external environment is not rapidly changing, is stable but demands efficiency, the control structural can be either horizontal & hierarchical. The organizational culture is competitive and demanding, success is measured by market share and penetration.
- Clan: It is aimed at efficiency and has internal focus, it encourages employee participation, and it values and often prides itself by taking exceptional care of its employees, just like a clan. It values employee empowerment by having a horizontal structure and creates a strong sense of identity in its employees.The clan leadership has strong concern for people, they value loyalty and traditions.
- Bureaucratic: It operates in a stable environment and has a hierarchal control structure; the organization has a lot of processes, rules and policies that guide the day to day operations.The leadership is focused on efficiency, predictability and low cost.
Why we need Organizational Culture?
- Common Identity: The culture gives a sense of collective identity to all the employees in the organization, it creates values and beliefs that go beyond the personal aspirations of the employees.
- Guidance: The culture creates good working relationships and promotes ethical communication between employees. It also helps employees in making decisions in the situations where there are no formal rules or policies, situations that haven’t been experienced yet.
- Justification of actions: The culture evolves from prior precedences, when employee behavior and decisions are guided by the culture, their actions are better understood by the management. | <urn:uuid:e69e8715-a335-4a5f-bf33-e6b7cc3353c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://practical-management.com/Organization-Development/Organization-Culture.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939441 | 1,787 | 3.34375 | 3 |
- Date: January 12, 2011
The numbers are grim—rhino poaching in South Africa averaged nearly one a day in 2010. Of the 333 rhinos illegally killed last year, ten were critically endangered black rhinos, according to national park officials. This is the highest ever recorded in South Africa and nearly triple the number in 2009 when 122 rhinos were poached. Alarmingly, the new year began with another five rhinos lost to poaching.
“This is not typical poaching,” said Dr. Joseph Okori, WWF African Rhino Program Manager. “The criminal syndicates operating in South Africa are highly organized and use advanced technologies. They are very well coordinated.”
The current wave of poaching is being committed by sophisticated criminal networks using helicopters, night-vision equipment, veterinary tranquilizers and silencers to kill rhinos at night while attempting to avoid military and law enforcement patrols.
The recent rhino crime wave is largely attributed to the increased demand for rhino horn, which has long been prized as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine. Its popularity increased in Vietnam after claims that rhino horn possesses cancer-curing properties, despite any medical evidence.
What we’re doing
Poaching to feed the illegal wildlife trade is not a local problem. It is a global issue that has far reaching impacts from the ground up. WWF and our wildlife trade program called TRAFFIC are working to combat the crisis on different levels.
Locally, we support anti-poaching operations, the introduction of new technologies like transmitters in rhino horns, facilitate regional dialogues on security and raise awareness among the public. TRAFFIC also provides information to law enforcement agencies globally on the latest developments and assists in coordinating their efforts to combat international trafficking.
In South Africa, WWF’s Black Rhino Range Expansion Project aims to increase the overall numbers of black rhino by making available additional breeding lands. This is done by forming partnerships with owners of large areas of natural black rhino habitat. So far, 98 black rhino have been translocated to new rangelands and at least 26 calves have been born on project sites. In December 2010, South Africa’s Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Authority committed to donating 20 black rhino to the project in an effort to aid South Africa in reaching its national target of 5,000 black rhinos.
In the international arena, we work to reduce demand in consumer nations and stop wildlife trafficking through initiatives liking aiding enforcement officials to detect rhino horn in transit. With funding from the US government, TRAFFIC facilitated a visit of five South African officials to Vietnam, the country heavily implicated in the recent poaching surge, in October 2010. The visit was an important first step to discuss strategies to combat the illegal rhino horn trade.
”Strategic, coordinated enforcement cooperation was urgently needed between the two countries to get ahead of the criminal syndicates and thankfully, that has started to happen now,“ said Crawford Allan, regional director of TRAFFIC North America. “Stemming the demand for rhino horn among Asian communities is the sustainable solution to this challenge - improving awareness, stronger penalties and finding alternatives are complex and tough approaches to implement but they also have to be rolled out now wherever a market persists, to compliment the urgent enforcement efforts.”
WWF and TRAFFIC also play an active role with regional bodies like the South African Development Community and CITES to monitor rhino horn trade and find policy solutions.
South Africa has responded by intensifying its law enforcement efforts, and made approximately 162 poaching arrests last year. The country is home to approximately 21,000 rhinos, more than any other nation in the world. | <urn:uuid:a90efd96-e843-4d01-a9d5-e566d74bfbf8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://worldwildlife.org/stories/one-a-day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942108 | 757 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Popular painkiller leads to overdose deaths
July 05, 2012 (WLS) -- Overdose deaths linked to methadone have skyrocketed since the drug has become a more widely-prescribed painkiller.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the drug accounts for one in three deaths from prescription painkillers.
Methadone is better known as an addiction treatment, but health officials explain most of the overdose deaths are people who take it for pain, not drug addicts.
Experts say overall painkiller deaths have increased by about four times over the last decade, and besides methadone they involve other drugs such as vicodin, oxycontin, and opana.
- Schaumburg couple survive Oklahoma tornado
- $19.6M settlement in priest sex abuse lawsuit
- ABC7 Weather Forecast
- Program Note: Wheel of Fortune will air at 2:05 a.m.
- Maywood honors man who found missing toddler's body
- Trial begins in Burger King manager's 2006 murder
- CPS protests continue ahead of key school closings vote
- Kellie Pickler wins 'Dancing with the Stars'
- Florida man pleads guilty in Bears fan death
- 'Bishop bomber' sentenced to 37 years in prison
- Photos: Tornadoes hit Oklahoma, Kansas
- Addison comfort dogs headed to Moore, Okla.
- Photos: Chicago Weather: Storms sweep through area | <urn:uuid:c454c2f4-6653-4939-9888-e82ec2282948> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/health&id=8726359&rss=rss-wls-article-8726359 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917492 | 294 | 1.796875 | 2 |
|Collection of mysterious mail|
|a beautiful old stamp|
On Friday, November 30, the post office box held another piece of mail from the anonymous poet, another small piece of lined paper folded to become its own envelope, bearing various stamps, address and enclosed poem typed on a manual typewriter. The stamps this time are five in number: an 8-cent American flag stamp, 6-cent Leif Erikson, 15-cent coral reefs, 15-cent USA Olympics 1980, and—my favorite—a beautiful, deep blue, landscape format 3-cent commemorative depicting the arrival of Lafayette in America in 1777.
But it is the poem inside that is the real prize.
|an exquisite little poem|
Previous poems were on the subjects snow, honey, and the firefly. This new one is titled “Tell Me.” It is so lovely it bears repeating:
who does not dream
what Night already knew
how the willows laugh
when Moon finds the cloud
where Sun hid her pearls | <urn:uuid:6bfbe22f-4771-467b-b4ca-c56605b3ad37> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/2012/12/mystery-poet-strikes-again.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931141 | 215 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Former Mexico foreign minister to address immigration issues
ARLINGTON - Immigration solutions must include legalizing Mexican residents living in the United States without papers and providing an orderly process for future immigrants, according to Dr. Jorge G. Castañeda, foreign minister of the Republic of Mexico from 2000 to 2003.
Castañeda is The University of Texas at Arlington's Center of Mexican American Studies Distinguished Lecture 2010 speaker. The free event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 14, in the UT Arlington Library's sixth floor parlor, 702 Planetarium Place.
"Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants" is Castañeda's topic. It also is the title of his book, which draws on his experience as foreign minister and as a well-known scholar on immigration issues. The author reveals the intricate negotiations between Mexico and the United States in 2001-02 as only an insider could do.
"Ensuring an orderly process in the future secures the American economy," said Castañeda, who teaches fall courses at New York University.
Castañeda also is the author of "El narco: la Guerra fallida" (Santillana, 2009) and "Un Futuro para Mexico" (Santillana, 2009) in Spanish. He serves on the board of several institutions and businesses, works as a political consultant and writes for several newspapers and magazines, including a weekly column in Reforma. He also appears on "Es la hora de Opinar," a weekly Mexican television show on which he discusses current issues.
Castañeda earned bachelor's of arts degrees from Princeton University and Universite de Paris-I (Pantheon-Sorbonne), a master's degree from the Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes and his doctorate in economic history from the University of Paris-I.
Call the UT Arlington Center for Mexican American Studies at 817-272-2933 or e-mail email@example.com for more information about the event.
Call Herb Booth at 817-272-7075 or e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.org for media inquiries.
The University of Texas at Arlington is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer.
america architecture bioengineering biology chemistry collaboration computer economic economy emerging endowment english environmental explore hospital innovative institute lab leader math maverick nursing online partnership professors retail speakers tech venue war
Thu, May 23 – All Day
Last day to drop classes
Thu, May 23 – All Day
Building Professional Institute
Thu, May 23 – 8:00 am
Fine Lines: Anne Allen, Amy Herzel, and Angela Kallus
Thu, May 23 – 12:00 pm
Thu, May 23 – 6:00 pm | <urn:uuid:4104e09b-8bee-4523-b04a-109ea49adb51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uta.edu/news/releases/2010/04/mexican-american-studies-lecture.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915053 | 579 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Apr. 30 – In a meeting with a delegation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants on Monday, April 23, Deputy Minister of Finance and President of the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Li Yong, emphasized the importance of communication and cooperation between China and the United States in the field of accounting. He noted that such dialogue not only conforms to the trend of global governance in international accounting, but also serves the interest of the strategic economic and trade partnership between China and the United States.
Li put forward the role and performance of public accounting in China and the future development of the industry in China during the visit of the U.S. delegation.
Li said China is dedicated to establishing the following:
- Internationally recognized auditing standards and professional ethics
- An examination system that is in line with international standards
- An education system that focuses on competence and lifelong learning
- A quality management system that is independent, preemptive and conducts long-term monitoring and periodic examination
In the aspect of service providing, many agencies are expanding rapidly and some influential Chinese public accounting agencies have set up overseas branches. These entities are enhancing their ability to provide more comprehensive overseas services, as well as expanding into different fields – from auditing to consulting, and non-auditing taxation services. Furthermore, public accounting is playing a more important role in foreign trade and foreign investment in China.
According to China’s Ministry of Finance, with regards to social influence, the development and improvement of China’s public accounting industry ensures the order of the market and a healthy economic development. The industry is also well-supported by the government. In the 12th Five-Year Plan, the government has included certified public accountants in the middle and long-term talent scheme.
With the advancement of globalization, accounting assumes a more significant role in global economic governance. Li pointed out that it’s possible and necessary for China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies, to strengthen communication and cooperation in the field of public accounting.
Li lists four suggestions for future cooperation.
- Under the framework of the U.S.–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, China and the United States should make the most of the advantage of public accounting to enhance mutual trust and cooperation in economics and finance.
- China and the United States should further coordinate cooperation in international accounting organizations and collectively promote the internationalization of public accounting.
- China and the United States should maintain high-level contacts and deepen cooperation in training, standardization, and quality management. Efforts should also be made to promote the mutual recognition of standards of practice and monitoring systems which will better serve the capital flows between China and the United States, as well as cooperation between enterprises.
- China and the United States should jointly support the work of related international organizations, such as International Federation of Accountants and International Accounting Standards Board, for advancing the internationalization of public accounting standards.
Dezan Shira & Associates is a boutique professional services firm providing foreign direct investment business advisory, tax, accounting, payroll and due diligence services for multinational clients in China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Vietnam. For further information, please email firstname.lastname@example.org, visit www.dezshira.com, or download the firm’s brochure here.
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and its Impact on China Subsidiaries
This issue of China Briefing Magazine is dedicated to helping companies understand the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and establish controls to prevent (and, if necessary) resolve FCPA noncompliance.
This issue of China Briefing details FCPA regulations, fraudulent accounting practices within Chinese companies and due diligence issues for IPO listings. It also covers PRC GAAP regulations, compliance with them and the differences between EU and U.S. standards. | <urn:uuid:38b87034-93ea-4358-b8cd-a665dccd7068> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2012/04/30/china-u-s-to-boost-communication-and-cooperation-in-the-field-of-accounting.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934732 | 782 | 1.671875 | 2 |
A disappointing report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning showed the nation's unemployment rate slipped to 9.2% in June, up from 9.1% in May.
Only 18,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were added in June, according to the Employment Situation summary, released Friday morning.
Construction employment, which fell sharply during the 2007-to-2009 period, was "essentially unchanged" in June. It has shown little change since early 2010, the report said.
Since March, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 545,000, and the unemployment rate has risen by 0.4 percentage points. | <urn:uuid:46496f95-322c-41bc-9e06-20348ceda111> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homechannelnews.com/print/230631 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974705 | 128 | 1.726563 | 2 |
by Joe Shea
October 2, 2010
ARE JEWS THE CHOSEN PEOPLE?
BRADENTON, Fla., Oct. 2, 2010 -- As leaders and groups emerge throughout history, it is a universal precept that they are tested by trial and tragedy.
Such events have been visited upon almost every people that ever lived, from ancient times to the present. Many of those peoples and their nations did not survive challenge; among the few who have survived, only a handful prospered; among them are the very few who triumphed.
As an American Catholic of Irish descent, I am a member of the very few, a race of hardy, intelligent, productive people who survived multiple conquests, a deliberate famine and mass migration to finally find freedom, and so prosper and triumph in the United States.
Many of my fellow Irish-Americans are at the top of many professions; I'm proud that someone who shares my exact same name, Joseph Patrick Shea, was the managing director of Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm that held the top floor at 1 World Trade Center. Joe Shea was the top man at the top firm at the most prestigious business address on earth until Sept. 11, when a radical few of yet another resurgent people, the Arabs, also long tested and tried if not triumphant, destroyed him and nearly his firm when they leveled the World Trade Center.
The Armenian people are also survivors, not only of endless persecutions and murders perpetrated by the Arabs, Persians, Turks and Russians, but several deliberate attempts at genocide that very nearly destroyed them. They, too, have survived enormous challenges to maintain an independent identity which has also prospered, if not yet triumphed, in America.
We tend to forget the genocide that was aimed at the Tutsi people of Rwanda by their neighbors, the Hutus, killing nearly a million of them.
We rarely remember to count the black Americans kidnapped in Africa, brought here as slaves, squeezed into depressed, sprawling ghettoes and discriminated against at every level of American life; even with a black President among their achievements, and great leaders in music and the arts, half of black children will not finish high school, and a quarter of them has either been arrested or imprisoned at some point in the past four decades.
Despite the individual triumph of President Barack Obama, and the casinos that have been minting money for American Indian tribes, or the shaky peace that governs Rwanda, I don't think anyone would call the Irish, or any of the above, or the Armenians a "chosen people." No one would say that of the Arabs, the Chinese or the Indians, who mostly continue a test of suffering from ignorance, poverty, disease, hunger and oppression into the 21st Century.
The Jews are another matter. They have suffered almost since the time of Abraham from persecution, famine, betrayal, displacement, discrimination and unjust libels. Far more so than any people in the past two millennia, they have suffered, survived and struggled for identity and nationhood. And while there have been a great many sieges of mass murder perpetrated against the many peoples of the world, none has devastated and destroyed a people so much as the 20th Century Holocaust that took the lives of 6,000,000 Jews in Germany and Eastern Europe; many died in other theaters of the Second World War, and their death represented the loss of two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe.
And who would not say they have survived, prospered and triumphed? The State of Israel is a concrete triumph. The Jewish people of America are at the top of numerous professions, they do run the entertainment industry, and are enormously influential in the worlds of law, medicine, news, banking, the arts and education. They are the richest per capita of members of any American religious denomination (followed by the Irish Catholics, I'm proud to say), and they are prominent in both houses of Congress and the White House. They are triumphant in the sense that they need not apologize to anyone for their success; and they are the last to complain of unequal access to education, health care and other benefits of American life.
They, in fact, are the chosen people. Measured against other populations and the entire length and breadth of history, they are the shining triumph of humanity. And since they sit at the top of a very large heap, and intend to stay there until a new strategy for humankind emerges, they remain the targets of hatred, jealously, terrorism, bias and betrayal.
The most successful people on earth have developed the most successful defenses on earth. They try not to marry outside their faith so as to strengthen its unity; they respond in kind when they are attacked, both as a culture and as Israel, their nation; and they sometimes overreact, as they did against the many and frightening but mostly harmless missile attacks from Gaza, for which they killed almost indiscriminately 1,000 persons in Gaza; or when they sent commandoes to land on a Turkish aid flotilla, and suddenly killed 11 of the passengers.
The Jewish people also rose up in angry reaction at the drunken comments by actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson, to a Jewish police officer during a DUI traffic stop near Malibu. The chief of Paramount Studios, Brad Grey, then called for "shunning" Gibson, invoking an ancient Jewish practice that, coming from Grey, was the equivalent of a fatwa and could end his meaningful career.
Again, on Friday last, they reacted angrily to the mostly innocuous comments by CNN daytime anchor Rick Sanchez to a comedian's question on Sirius Radio. Sanchez implied in his response that Jon Stewart was a bigot, and that there are many others "like" Stewart (Jewish, that is) who are "liberals" (I thought Sanchez was a liberal, honestly, and I watched him daily) at CNN who had discriminated against by keeping him on the "second tier" of anchors. Sanchez said, ""I'm telling you that everyone who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart, and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority? Yeah." he said. "I can't see someone not getting a job these days because they're Jewish."
The long and arduous defense of freedom of speech by American Jewish intellectuals short-circuited upon hearing that; their well-established ideals did not inhibit a cultural counterswipe that has probably destroyed the career of one of the very few prominent and successful Cuban-Americans - not to mention an egomaniac, which was Sanchezís real problem.
Our human struggle for survival has engraved in all of us defensive reactions to certain kinds of provocations. I went to great lengths to save the life of a wandering blue bug, as I reported here recently, but I'll usually stomp on a moving cockroach and automatically swat at a fly. Who knows why? My excuse is that I have an obligation to preserve life. But when a substantial part of an entire people reacts to a provocation by an individual, the outcome is unusually harsh, and in some form, that one person dies, literally or figuratively. Sanchez, at this moment, is dead.
A Gainesville preacher recently tried to reverse that equation and insult the entire world of Islam by burning one or more Korans; what he probably did not expect was that the entire spectrum of American society, and all of Islam, too, would turn against the idea and swat him and his outrage into oblivion. It's unfair, perhaps, to pit a 200-lb man against a 1-oz. cockroach, but that is how we are built: bother us and we act. There may be compassion in the wake of that first reaction, and often is when Jews are involved, but if you bother some people, watch out.
What is the Rick Sanchez incident to tell us, then? That's what stimulated these thoughts tonight. I would still predict he'll get some sort of reinstatement, but no apology. Yet I am bothered by what CNN has done, and even I felt a little revulsion as I started to tune in today, then changed my mind. I hate FoxNews for its lies and overt bias, and don't care much for MSNBC even though it always on the side of right - I guess because it often is. I can watch Bay News 9, our local, mostly objective, all-news station in the Tampa Bay region only so long before I hunger for more national news. By choice, I was without a tv for 33 years, and far better off, yet who can throw away a 32" flat screen?
I don't know what the hell I'm going to watch now; the triumph of the chosen people has ruined CNN for me, because it so dramatically overrode free speech rights, for which I have risked everything I had (disclosure: I don't have anything, anymore).
So struggle on, my dearest Irishman, myself; with luck, you will survive and prosper; don't expect a triumph. | <urn:uuid:38f980f4-c81e-484d-b6aa-243859aecaf6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.american-reporter.com/4,656W/439.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977909 | 1,868 | 1.8125 | 2 |
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In becoming a teacher, former CEO Jim Ellis says he gained much more than he lost.
In research conducted by the Gallup organization with more than eight million subjects, employees are more likely to stay with the organization, have more engaged customers, and will be more productive if they have ties of friendship to others in the organization--especially their bosses. An exemplary boss is one who gets to know employees on an individual basis, tailoring their management to the individual.
Your workflow--processes, procedures, and policies--need to be communicated verbally and written. Written communication should include job descriptions, performance standards, performance reviews, and controls.
Although somewhat out of date, this article provides a useful overview of the purpose and principles of competitive intelligence gathering as well as tips and techniques that still apply.
Complements are products or services that are consumed together or that enhance the consumption of one another, such as movies and popcorn. This in-depth article offers grounding in the theory of complementarity in business; practical examples, such as IBM and Linux; and questions to help you determine what role, if any, this approach can play in the growth of your company.
David Rothkopf, CEO of Garten Rothkopf and author of <em>Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making</em>, mulls over the research in his latest social macroeconomic tome. He iterates a wealth of trends and statistics on the ever-broadening gap between rich and poor, and how true global influence is the product of a shockingly small handful of global players.
Entrepreneurial companies can and should take the ethical high road even as major corporations set appallingly low standards for ethical business behavior, writes the founder of a service concern. Included is a look at the company's own core values with respect to its customers, employees, community, and the company itself.
Only 31 percent of employees are engaged at work, and 17 percent are actively disengaged.
William Sahlman is the Dimitri V. d'Arbeloff - Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. The d'Arbeloff Chair was established in 1986 to support teaching and research on the
entrepreneurial process. The Chair honors the late Dimitri d'Arbeloff (HBS '55), whose entrepreneurial skills helped make Millipore Corporation a world leader in its industry. Mr. Sahlman received an A.B. degree in Economics from Princeton
University, an M.B.A. from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Business Economics, also from Harvard. His research focuses on the investment and financing decisions made in entrepreneurial ventures at all stages in their development. Mr.
Sahlman was co-chair of the Entrepreneurship and Service Management Unit from 1999 to 2002. From 1991 to 1999, he was Senior Associate Dean, Director of Publishing Activities, and chairman of the board for Harvard Business School
Publishing Corporation. From 1990 to 1991, he was chairman of the Harvard University Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. He is a member of the board of directors of several private companies.
Randy Komisar joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers in 2005 as a partner. For several years prior Randy has partnered with entrepreneurs creating businesses with leading edge technologies. He was a co-founder of
Claris Corporation, served as CEO for LucasArts Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, and acted as a "virtual CEO" for such companies as WebTV, Mirra and GlobalGiving. He was a founding Director of TiVo where he is currently chairman of the
Nominating and Governance Committee. Earlier Randy served as CFO of GO Corporation and Senior Counsel for Apple Computer, following a private practice in Technology Law. Randy holds a BA in Economics from Brown University and a JD form
Harvard Law School. He is a Consulting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University and author of the best-selling book The Monk and the Riddle, as well as several articles on leadership and entrepreneurship. Randy frequently
speaks here and abroad on such topics.
Want to get connected? Sign up to receive regular news, polls and updates from The Kauffman Foundation.
© 2013 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:1273766a-3f32-4b16-a6fb-e37fd2b7350f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.entrepreneurship.org/en/Resource-Center/Audiences/Academics.aspx?start=10&num=10&sort=title&dir=asc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944933 | 1,209 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Help Preserve Archaeology in Greece
September 15, 2010 | by Sebastian Heath
Greece, a country in which many AIA members have worked or studied, has asked the United States to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would require documentation for objects coming into the U.S. that may have been illegally exported from Greece. The US already has MoUs with countries such as China, Cyprus, and Italy as well as many nations in Central and South America. Adding an agreement with Greece will be a major step forward in enabling the U.S. Government to help reduce the looting of sites and the destruction of our shared archaeological heritage. The MoU faces substantial opposition from collectors and dealers, particularly those who buy and sell ancient coins. Indeed, the U.S. government site where people can comment on the proposed MoU (link) now makes public some very strongly held opinions:
"Dear Madam or Sir, I write in opposition to the cultural property request from the government of Greece. As a relatively low-budget collector, I believe that granting this request will increase the cost of my collecting. This, while doing absolutely nothing to protect the cultural heritage of Greece" (See full comment)
"Coin collectors, beneficiaries of the free flow of coins around the world, have preserved these small pieces of history, often advancing their understanding through research and analysis. In the absence of a vibrant coin collecting hobby, millions of coins would ultimately be lost to posterity, taking their historical information content with them." (See full comment)
Archaeologists believe that ancient objects can make the greatest contribution to our understanding of the ancient world if information about their findspots is preserved and made public. The proposed MoU is one tool that will help preserve knowledge about past societies. But it is extremely important that the voices of professionals and enthusiasts alike are heard. If we do not write, the committee considering Greece's request cannot know what we think. If you would like to submit comments, go here and click on "Submit Comment". If you would like help with what to say, go to the AIA's page of information about the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, the body that will make the initial recommendation as to whether or not to enter into an agreement with Greece. It is very useful to look at the four determinations that the committee will use. It is important to note that Greece's archaeological heritage - including coins, ceramics, sculpture and other objects - is under threat. If you would like confirmation that this is the case, you can read David Gill's blog "Looting Matters". His recent post "Protecting the Archaeological Record of Greece" lists earlier posts that demonstrate the damage that illegal excavation and import has done to our understanding of Greece's rich past.
Read the Program's 2013 Annual Report to learn about its many activities this past year.
NYC special event: an evening of archaeology an entertainment, tickets available now.
Congratulations to the AIA-Milwaukee Society—the winner of the 2012-2013 Best AIA Local Society Program online contest! | <urn:uuid:37baae13-9008-46c4-bf7d-62b0693b6179> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.archaeological.org/blog/2910 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953704 | 629 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Conservationists look to final plenary to cement positive yet tentative decisions
Bangkok, 11 March 2013. In a highly anticipated Committee vote today, proposals to list under CITES* five species of sharks were supported by more than the two-thirds majority of voting countries needed for adoption. Conservationists are pleased yet mindful that decisions must still be confirmed in the final plenary session later this week.
Last Thursday, 7th March at a reception dedicated to sharks at the Retro Café, Bangkok, Project AWARE welcomed CITES country delegations and turned over more than 135,000 shark petition signatures from scuba divers and shark supporters in more than 228 countries, territories and areas of special interest.
Overfishing threatens the magnificent and prized ‘Ali Maduwa’, writes Malaka Rodrigo.
A giant “maduwa”, or manta ray, was netted last week by fisherman in Welipatanwila, Ambalanthota, on the South coast. The ocean creature was pregnant and weighed 1,500 kilograms. A week earlier, another manta ray was caught by fishermen in Akkaraipattu, on the East coast. Both sea creatures have been identified as Giant Oceanic Manta Rays, the largest member of the ray family. | <urn:uuid:4a3dd57c-f06e-41ef-b2bc-000b6c1343df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.projectaware.org/category/tags/cop16 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947136 | 263 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Seasonal Recipes: The Tastes Of Summer
Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 12:41 pm
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
Cooking on hot summer days tends to be something we either do outside, or try not to do at all. But at the same time, we are in the season of wonderful food. And if you're lucky enough to live near farm stands in the country or farmers markets in the city, real tomatoes, fresh corn and new potatoes are all around. For inspiration, I get out a worn, stained paperback book written by an Englishwoman, Elizabeth David, in the 1950s. It's called "Summer Cooking."
The point of the book is maximum enjoyment, she writes, of the produce which grows in the summer season. And it could be any kind of super-fresh treat. Elizabeth David, in the introduction to the book, mentions a few heads of purple sprouting broccoli or a pound of tender, little string beans, cooked for just seven minutes to be eaten cold as a separate course, with an olive oil and lemon dressing - but quickly, almost before they have cooled. That's just about as detailed as "Summer Cooking" recipes get.
To talk about "Summer Cooking" and Elizabeth David, we reached out to Sophie Grigson. She is a cookbook writer herself. She's also a food and travel television star and a newspaper writer. Welcome to the program.
SOPHIE GRIGSON: It's a pleasure to be here.
WERTHEIMER: Now, you wrote to us that you chose an Elizabeth David recipe for your wedding breakfast. Tell us about that.
GRIGSON: Yeah. Well, it's a wonderful recipe, very simple as many of the best recipes are. It's called pepperoni al tiamontase(ph). Tiamontase is peppers. It is peppers that have been halved lengthwise. You keep the stalk on if you can. And you pop into each half a few quarters of tomatoes, some sliced garlic, chopped anchovy and a generous drizzle of good olive oil. A little salt, a little pepper, and you pop in a hot oven and roast it for about half an hour or 20 minutes, half an hour. Then you serve them at room temperature.
I quite often put a piece of fresh buffalo mozzarella in each pepper, after it's cooked but before it's served. Sometimes I add the basil. You know, you can really play with it. But as long as you don't make it too complex, I think that will be a great mistake.
WERTHEIMER: Let's just talk for a minute about Elizabeth David and especially about the book "Summer Cooking." I think that it is a classic. That's how I think of it - fun to read and fun to cook from, fun to sort of use for ideas. Do you think that book stands the test of time? I mean as a professional cook, what do you think?
GRIGSON: Oh, I think totally. Chefs, food writers and cooks right across the world, I think, still refer back to all of Elizabeth David's books - "Summer Cooking," "Mediterranean Cooking," "Italian Cooking" - because there's an authority there and a clarity. You know, Elizabeth David, she writes very clearly. She's quite sharp. Sometimes it reads a little old-fashioned but there is that clarity, and that absolute certainty that this is a recipe that will taste fantastic.
WERTHEIMER: I noticed reading your recipes that you sort of take the leaf from Ms. David's book, in that you also have a simple style; few ingredients, about five or six lines of instructions. You have a recipe for me Cool Ginger Chicken. So could you just tell us about it?
GRIGSON: This is a Chinese recipe. It is a poached chicken recipe. It's very - I mean, it's just perfect for summer's day. We often think that if, you know, you have to shove a chicken, you know, you just slide into the oven and roast it. But if you want to eat chicken when it's cold, and you want it to be moist and full of flavor, it's a much more successful way of cooking, is to poach it.
And the great thing about poaching, you put few herbs in the water with a whole chicken and a few spices, maybe some pepper. The great thing is you end out with two-in-one: you have a chicken and you have fantastic stock for no extra effort. And if you poach chicken, it stays moist and full of flavor. And it's great for salads.
Then just finish up with a lot of ginger, a lot of spring onions whizzed up with some oil. And you just spoon that over and let it absorb the flavors. And there it is, ready to eat.
WERTHEIMER: Well, now like many Americans who dip into English cookery books, I have always been fascinated by summer pudding - which is featured in Elizabeth David's book. I guess you could say that it's a version of bread pudding that's made with lightly cooked raspberries and red currants - and red currants in her version. I've never actually made it.
GRIGSON: You haven't made it? Oh, my great gosh. Go out, get lots and lots of nice summer fruit and make it immediately. I think it's one of the all time great, great puddings. But, I mean, you have to have good bread and you have to have good fruit.
WERTHEIMER: What you do is you pour the lightly stewed red fruit into a bowl that has been lined with bread. Elizabeth David says a souffle dish will work. And then you put bread on top of it, weight down a little bit and put it in the fridge. And you reserve juice in her version; it's for making patches, on those parts that don't turn properly red from the juice soaking through.
GRIGSON: I do have one tip. When you make your pudding, you cook the fruit with sugar until it lots of juices run - that's the whole point. And when I'm putting my bread into the pudding basin - sort of line the pudding basin - I dipped one side of the bread into the juices before I line the basin - the outer side. That means you get an even color when you turn it out.
WERTHEIMER: And people really do this in England, right? You're telling me that really happens?
GRIGSON: Oh, my God. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes, all the time. It is a major, major pudding. We have this really strong image of British summer, which is something that we haven't really had this year. We've had a miserable summer this year. But we have this image of the rather bucolic summer, sitting outside in the garden. And summer pudding is part - and cricket matches; lovely, lovely idea. And summer pudding is an essential part of that image.
WERTHEIMER: Sophie Grigson's newest cookery book is called "Spices." Sophie Grigson, thank you so much for joining us
GRIGSON: It's been a total pleasure. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF A SONG, "EVERYBODY'S TALKIN' 'BOUT CHICKEN AND RICE")
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Singing) Everybody is talking about chicken and rice. All those dishes are mighty nice. Gather around you girls and listen to me, I want to tell you about my baby's recipe...
WERTHEIMER: You can find a recipe for Sophie's Cool Ginger Chicken on WEEKEND EDITION's Facebook page.
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio. | <urn:uuid:c5ec4488-4a9f-44f8-867a-d5768e1361d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kunc.org/post/seasonal-recipes-tastes-summer | 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 | 0.968017 | 1,662 | 1.5 | 2 |
On that Sunday, Brandsma's sacrifice was united to the holy One he had celebrated so many times at Holy Mass. On that Sunday, the 9th Sunday after Pentecost, new waves of persecution would be launched in his native Netherlands due to the reading from pulpits across the nation of the Pastoral Letter of the national episcopate (see previous post).
Why had Brandsma been detained and sent to Dachau? He had been under strict surveillance by the German forces of occupation and their local National Socialist collaborators for some time. He was a great master of Carmelite spirituality, but that was not the problem for the occupation forces - the problem was the influence the former Rector of the Catholic University of Nijmegen had with Abp. de Jong, Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht.
Catholic periodicals had always blocked the publication of Socialist and Communist propaganda - they should not, and could not, print National-Socialist propaganda either. Abp. de Jong published the following note, drafted by Brandsma:
Circular of the Archbishop of Utrecht in the name of the Episcopate to the directors and editors-in-chief of Catholic periodicalsWe are completely aware of the most difficult position in which the Catholic press finds itself as well as of the big economic interests that are at stake. We would also greatly deplore if the Catholic press, which has been built through so many efforts and sacrifices, and which have done so much good, were to disappear. But there are limits and we could not recognize papers as Catholic that propagate a view of life that is in conflict with the Catholic view. These [papers] would be of even greater danger to Catholics than neutral or National-Socialist papers, as the faithful take a reserved stand towards these, whereas they would believe that the Socialistic view of life would be acceptable to them if it were propagated in papers with an otherwise Catholic position. Also, it would cause scandal if Catholic journalists were allowed to propagate National-Socialism, which is prohibited to others.Therefore this reverend Episcopate declares explicitly that the admission of advertisements of the N.S.B. [Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging - Dutch National Socialist Movement] in your papers, as well as the admission of articles that tend to promote the N.S.B. in whole or partly (unless they are, in relation to this matter, effectively improved, corrected or cut down), deprives your paper of its Catholic character and that the public will be notified of this. Concerning the admission of those National-Socialist messages and reports whose publication is obligatory, their source must be made clear. The reverend Episcopate also declares that disregard for these norms must in general be considered as a sign of significant support to the NSB and that those responsible for it also fall under the sanctions that are hereby applied.In order to achieve a unanimous attitude, the reverend Episcopate would mostly appreciate the receipt of a written declaration - via the Spiritual Advisor [of the Chancery], Prof. Dr. T. Brandsma - that you, as a director or editor-in-chief, are willing to follow these norms.
Bl. Father Bradsma would be detained days after the publication of this note. | <urn:uuid:979a0236-63e1-4513-94aa-260a4c0c085d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2012/07/father-titus-brandsma-carmelite-friar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976747 | 675 | 2.296875 | 2 |
How To Find The Right NYC Nutritionist
There are plenty of people out there who are looking for a NYC nutritionist and the reason to why they are doing so is because they generally want to look better and also lead a better life at the same time. Nutritionists are health specialists who work on a professional level with nutritional science and food and they cover aspects like preventive nutrition, nutrient related deficiencies and diseases. More to that, they also work on nutrient manipulation which basically refers to helping with the enhancement of clinical responses to human diseases. On top of that, such specialists are also the ones to get in touch with if you need to get advice on dietary matters with regards to physical well being and optimal nutrition.
There are many people out there who call themselves a qualified nutritionist, yet plenty of them are not that efficient when it comes to doing their job. That is why you will need to be aware of those who are just a waste of time and those who really know what they are talking about. Below you will find some useful tips on finding a nutritionist.
Factors to keep in mind: Educational attainment
Like many careers out there, when individuals decide to become nutritionists, they will need to go through a very comprehensive and rigorous educational training in order to be able to provide the best services for their clients. It’s also ideal that these individuals are registered dieticians or have a doctorate degree. The nutritionist’s education needs to come from a school that is very popular, accredited and also recognized for its nutrition program.
There are plenty of states out there in which if you would like to work as a dietician in NYC, you will need to have a license for this. Depending on the state you live in, you need to see whether this law is available here and what you can do to comply with it if you are not yet compatible.
If you decide to visit a dietician, you will have to base all of your info on credible sources. Most of the times, these specialists will have their recommendations based on the latest and newest guidelines which are offered by the federal government. For specific illnesses, if there are any guidelines, the dietician will have to use them as a basis for their patients. Yet there are also professionals who will get to base their info on a study. If you would like to make sure that the advice you are getting is right, you should ask for a copy of the study.
The time the professional dietician has been in service from is very important. If you would like to consult a reliable nutritionist, you will have to go for the ones with more experience. They are very popular and they will definitely do a good job at ensuring your diet is going to make you achieve your goals, regardless of what they might be. Ask yourself and inquire about the approach the nutritionist used and how effective it is.
The way the professional works
When dealing with clients, such professionals will employ different methods to do so. There are also times when they will make use of a few smart techniques and one of them is asking some of their clients who have a food log or an eating experience diary kept, a journal about the client’s current medical conditions, lifestyle and so on. Because people who will want to lose weight will be very stressed and will at times feel like quitting, the dietician will also be responsible with providing individuals the right mental support tin order to be successful with their goals.
Asking for references is yet another great way for you to actually find a nutritionist who is reliable and someone you can really trust. He or she has definitely helped many other patients and that is why you should ask the professionals for the contact details of those people. It’s actually a very interesting way of “testing” your dietician. This is because if they trust you, they will get you the list of people you can get in touch with. If you will be welcomed with a refusal on what you ask of him or her, then you should certainly start looking for something better.
Even though many people believe them, they are not really true. If the dietician you are going to promises they will create a magic eating plan for you, then you should not believe them. There are no such things and you should know that diet will always come with a great deal of patience and work from your side.
Opportunity to sell products
It’s saddening that when you will go to certain dieticians, they will try to take advantage of your problems and want to sell you certain products that (they say) will help you with having a more balanced and healthier diet. When you are put in front of situations in which you can choose to get some products that may help you with your goals, you should not feel pressured at all of having to buy those products. Only get them if you feel they’re going to help you with achieving your goals.
Most of the times you will see that an experienced and a professional dietician will charge you an affordable fee for taking advantage of their services. You need to know that your budget for healthcare needs to match the fees the specialist asks for. If you think the rates of the nutritionist whom you just visited are too high, then maybe you will need to shop around for better ones.
Working with a dietician is something that can get really hard and impossible if you cannot open yourself in front of him or her. You need to feel that you can connect with the nutritionist and that you can really make use of his or her advice and turn it into visible and noticeable results. More to that, when the professional discusses matters with you, she or he needs to be very calm.
As you can see, there are quite a few things you need to keep in mind when selecting a nutritionist. Just keep these tips in mind and everything will be easier eventually. Good luck with finding the right NYC nutritionist! | <urn:uuid:102568bf-e10b-468f-b3f6-1b90d528d4ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nycnutritionist.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977204 | 1,212 | 1.710938 | 2 |
As if Chicken Little needed any further encouragement, the US Department of Agriculture recently announced that more than 16 million acres of land were developed in the United States between 1992 and 1997.
During this period an average of 3.2 million acres were developed per year, more than double the annual average of 1.4 million acres during the previous decade.
Already, political forces are lining up to put the data to use.
"These new figures confirm what communities across America already know," says Vice President Al Gore. "Too much of our precious open space is being gobbled up by sprawl."
To him this is just another reason to embrace Smart Growth, the fad designed to limited urban development by restricting outward growth, diverting monies to mass transit systems, and other steps to create more compact development.
Is this really what the data say? Well, not quite, not if put into context.
Even if the data are completely accurate, the United States now devotes about 105 million acres to urban and developed uses — just 5.4 percent of the land, a bit more than the 4.6 percent developed in 1992.
The vast majority of nation's land is still reserved for open space, forest, pasture, cropland and range.
In fact, from 1982 to 1992, the nation added more land to protected rural parks and wildlife preserves than it urbanized.
Farmland loss rates are also plummeting.
According the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, farmland loss rates have moderated from 5.8 percent in the 1970s, to 5 percent in the 1980s, to 2.7 percent in the 1990s.
Of the farmland converted to other uses, most of it changed to non-urban uses such as forests, parks and rangeland, not urbanization.
At the same time, agricultural productivity has gone through the roof, making more land available for non-farm uses, such as housing, offices and even shopping malls, while still providing a surplus of agricultural products.
Despite some anti-sprawl rhetoric, most Americans think moving into new homes in low-density suburban areas is a vast improvement in their quality of life; suburban America, unlike most traditional big cities, is not faced with a glut of empty houses.
Preserving open space is an increasingly important part of this lifestyle improvement. Homes are taking up less and less land.
In 1990, the median lot size for a new home was 10,000 square feet, about one-quarter of an acre.
By 1996, the median lot size had fallen to 9,100 square feet, a little more than one-fifth of an acre.
One reason lot sizes are falling is because open space is becoming more important in housing subdivisions.
People are willing to live closer together if they can look out their back door at wider open spaces and forests, often maintained by a privately operated homeowners' association rather than the local park district.
Nevertheless, local policymakers shouldn't become too complacent about land development. Numerous policies distort real-estate markets and encourage the overdevelopment of vacant land, including:
- Local zoning policies that mandate low-density housing when families often prefer higher densities and multifamily lifestyles.
- Environment laws that make redevelopment in cities risky and financially unprofitable.
- Local governments of all sizes that subsidize new development by failing to adopt full-cost pricing for water, sewer and other infrastructure.
- Tax and regulatory policies that overburden businesses and families in big cities, encouraging development on the fringe and in rural areas.
- Big-city school districts that continue to neglect parental demands for more educational choices, a more responsive school system, and targeted high-quality instruction at the classroom level.
Ironically, Gore's proposal to up the ante for land preservation by using federal money to help buy vacant land is likely to encourage the very sprawl he rails against.
By preserving splotches of green space here and there on the urban fringe, development will just leapfrog to other areas, placing even more strain on roads and existing infrastructure.
Urban policy should work to improve the efficiency of land markets and their ability to meet consumer demands, including the demand for open space in new housing developments.
Rather than demonizing land development, local citizens and policymakers' efforts would be much more productive if turned to their own backyards — for example, zoning codes and infrastructure policies that would mitigate problems of urban sprawl.
An important step in the right direction would be to eliminate the distortions in property markets that currently encourage development at the urban periphery.
That would be truly smart growth.
Samuel Staley is director of urban and land use policy at Reason Foundation and co-editor of the book "Smarter Growth: Market-Based Strategies for Land-Use Planning in the 21st Century." | <urn:uuid:71e6e53a-524d-430a-a07f-374bc6274b39> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reason.org/news/printer/urbanization-trends-dont-threa | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950084 | 984 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon visit the Beaufort castle in Lebanon
Ministry of Defense - IDF Archive
Source: Arutz Sheva
By Chana Ya'ar
This week the IDF marked the 30-year anniversary of Operation Peace for Galilee with a ceremony featuring a speech to the troops by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.
The operation, also known as the First Lebanon War, was authorized by then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin and launched on June 6, 1982, in response to Arab terrorists who had entrenched themselves in southern Lebanon.
The terrorists had created in effect a state within a state, and from there were sending out operatives to murder civilians across Israel's northern border.
Three days before the launch of Operation Peace for Galilee, Israeli Ambassador to Britain Shlomo Argov was shot and critically wounded. Although the assassination attempt took place in London, far from Israel's northern border, it had been carried out by Arab terrorists led by Abu Nidal.
In retaliation, Israel bombed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorist training bases in southern Lebanon. The terrorists responded with massive rocket attacks against Israel's northern communities, resulting in many deaths and extensive property damage.
The First Lebanon War was launched with several goals:
to eject the PLO from Lebanon
to remove Syria's influence from the country
to strengthen the chances for a pro-Israeli Christian government led by Bashir Gemayel
Prime Minister Begin at the time said he hoped to sign a treaty with such a government, one that would bring Israel at least “forty years of peace.”
Unfortunately, it was not to be. Although the IDF managed to surround the PLO and elements of the Syrian army all the way up to Beirut, Israel was forced by international pressure to pull back. PLO terrorist chief Yasser Arafat and his operatives were allowed to relocate to Tripoli under international protection.
The Sabra and Shatilla massacre was blamed on Israel, who did not perpetrate it - but was accused of not realizing it would occur.
Israel, meanwhile, maintained a security buffer zone in southern Lebanon, but a civil war raged in the country until 1990, by which time Syria was in complete control of Lebanon.
Shi'ite militant groups waged war over Israel's presence in the security zone for years, until Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak withdrew IDF forces altogether in the year 2000.
The IDF withdrawal from the S. Lebanon security zone had a strong effect on the Palestinian populace. They took inspiration from the idea that Hizbullah "chased" the IDF out of S. Lebanon through terrorism. This was a good partof the motivation behind the Oslo War, also known as the Second Intifada, which began in 2000.
The move allowed the Hizbullah terrorist organization freedom to create the network of bunkers and weapons caches with which it carried out the Second Lebanon War against Israel in 2006. | <urn:uuid:ffb73595-54b5-40e5-b7ed-4690dde8dc44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.israelifrontline.com/2012/06/30-year-anniversary-of-operation-peace.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972228 | 606 | 2.5625 | 3 |
To built the first wooden church in Ust'-Kulom, Komi Republic, ancient Komi Christians selected some logs prepared for the church, made a raft and let the raft float in the river Vychegda to choose the place for the church. The church was built at the place on the river bank where the raft of logs stopped.
Is the story connected with river logging, with transportation of the timber down the streams? Or is this way the church symbolism was connected with the cosmic river and raft? Actually the raft was made of logs selected for foundation of the church to choose the place for the church building, not for transportation.
Wonderworking icon of Theotokos came to the first Komi Christians in the boat by way of the river Vishera. The old man, who was dead St. Stephen of Perm, told residents of Vishera, now Bogorodsk (“the village of God’s Mother”) to venerate holy icon of Virgin Mary. The church was built at the place of the icon's arrival.
Every year before church service at the feast of the icon’s arrival, white reindeer used to come to the church asking to be sacrificed to Mother of God. Every year priests sacrificed white reindeer to Theotokos in accordance with reindeer’s own will. That is why the church was decorated with wonderworking white reindeer antlers.
Priests noticed that reindeers coming to the church were very tired after long run. Eventually the reindeer was late for liturgy and was substituted with the bull. White reindeer who was late and came at the middle of the liturgy was so distressed and sorry that it smashed his head at the gates of the church. Since that time no white reindeer ever came the church asking to be sacrificed to the Virgin Mary.
Even in Soviet time for the most important local meetings of the Communist Party Komi people used to sacrifice reindeer or bull.
[Ed. Note] The sacrifice of the deer is a fanciful way of keeping the Christian's worldly lusts for killing and eating flesh alive, but it totally neglects the fact that Jesus was the last sacrifice, and that there is no need for further shedding of blood, and in the process they diminish the work of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
In a similar Christian tradition, some deer have crucifix between antlers...as shown in the images below.
Coat of Arms of Hrodna Belarus | <urn:uuid:b417219a-0cd8-47ce-82d5-a459b9688b28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.all-creatures.org/articles/rf-komichristian.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967088 | 522 | 2.65625 | 3 |
The 2-1-2 (Pinch on a Wide Rim) is a very aggressive forechecking system. It is often used late in a game when you are in need of a goal or at specific instances that will allow you to take advantage of your opponents positioning and/or weaknesses. Basically, what you are trying to do is to take away your opponents time and space, and forcing them to make decisions quicker than they can manage. To be successful on a 2 man forecheck, a team needs to have very good skaters and apply non stop maximum physical and mental pressure.
This forecheck system can be one of the more difficult ones to learn and implement because it emphasizes the interchanging of positions. All players need to know the roles and positioning of their teammates, and be capable of reading and reacting to how the play is unfolding, and make adjustments when necessary.
Tasks of Initial Penetration:
1) The first forechecker (F1) must create immediate pressure on the puck and FINISH his check, either in the corner, along the boards, or in open ice (if puck carrier is skating towards you) by steering the puck carrier wide (inside-out). F1 must always finish the check and make contact.
2) The second forechecker (F2) needs to read and react to how the play is unfolding, and must remember to be very aggressive and persistent. If F1 has made contact in the corner with the puck carrier, then F2 needs to get to the loose puck. If F1 is angling the puck carrier towards the boards, F2 must skate to where the puck is most likely to go (either puck carrier will chip it off the boards, or look for a D to D pass, or reverse. F2 needs to be aware of what support options the puck carrier has.
3) The third forechecker (F3) needs to offer support on the Strong Puck Side near the top of the circle, ready to attack any pass or rim to the strong hash marks. F3 also has the responsibility for covering D1 at the blue line if he has pinched in on the play or has slid over to cover for D2.
4) The fourth man (D1) needs to rush up ice as quickly as possible and support wide from the strong side point at the blue line (puck side). Play wide at blue line (close to the boards). Be ready to pinch if opportunity arises.
5) The fifth man (D2) needs to rush up ice as quickly as possible and support from the weak side blue line and look to pinch if the puck has changed corner on a rim.
Tasks of Different Situations:
A) If puck is passed from D to D (from initial position, right corner to left corner)
F2 - needs to pressure puck carrier (angle and finish)
F1 after he has finished check, needs to support F2, moving to the front of the net (read and react to how play is unfolding, attack lose puck if you can)
F3 moves across high slot to support strong side D
D2 - slide across to protect wall at the blue line, be ready to pinch
D1- move across to support partner (you are now weak side), be ready to pinch
B) If puck is moved to hash marks (from initial position, right corner to right hassmarks)
D1 slide to boards at blue line
D2 slide over to middle of the ice at blue line
F3 move to puck carrier, angle and finish
F2 move to high slot, becoming new High Man
F1 look for the loose puck after finishing
C) If puck is rimmed along boards (from initial position, right corner, to left side along boards)
D2 needs to read and react by pinching
D1 moves across to fill for D2
F3 moves across to fill for D1
F2 supports D2, looking for loose pucks
F1 finishes check, then fills in for F3 in high slot
It is important to note that some teams alter this system slightly based on the make up of their players. For example you can have your high forward always replace the pinching D, or have D1 and D2 always replace each other.
Also, it is important to note that the game of hockey is a game of speed, transition, and quick puck movement. The above is a guideline on playing a 2-1-2 system, but many times you will need to read and react to how the play is unfolding around you, and adjust accordingly. Some key points to remember is that you always want 2 forwards that apply constant pressure on the puck, 1 forward high in the slot area ready to pinch in if puck is turned over, or backcheck if opposition break out is successful, and 2 defenseman that are aggressive at the blue line, ready to pinch in along the boards.
If the opposition is forced to makes decisions while they are under heavy pressure, youre on your way to turning over the puck and getting a scoring opportunity. Constant work, quick feet, and anticipation are essential.
Gianni Raimondo is a guest columnist who submitted this article as a HockeyPlayer.com reader. He is a coach in Montreal, Quebec (Deux Rives Organization, Midget Level), site administrator, and head writer for http://www.behindthebench.t83.net/
This first appeared in the July /2007 issue of Hockey
© Copyright 1991-2003, Hockey Player® LLC and Hockey
Posted: Jul 6, 2007, 17:36
Top of Page | <urn:uuid:0ab54b58-cf55-419b-a19b-e90862e4bfce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hockeyplayer.com/artman/publish/article_546.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946568 | 1,164 | 2.140625 | 2 |
My Atlantic colleague Mark Bowden has produced another of his riveting narratives in the new issue of the magazine. His article is about the former US Air Force fighter pilot who is among the last to have encountered -- and beaten -- enemy airplanes in action. As Bowden points out, American pilots rarely have a chance to demonstrate their prowess any more, because no one is crazy enough to challenge them.
As a narrative and portrait of fascinating characters, this story is great. But for the record, I disagree with its implication that if the US doesn't build more F-22 fighter planes, it will pay the price in pilots' blood. Mark's case for the plane is more sophisticated than what the Air Force has typically claimed. His story doesn't say that if we don't build the F-22 we can't defend the nation. He says it's a choice between paying the price for defense in money -- or in pilots' lives.
Perhaps. I'm glad Mark wrote the story, because what to do about the F-22 is one of the next big defense decisions the Obama Administration must make. But as you consider his argument, you might also consider some of the material below, which offers other ways to think about the trade-offs this airplane represents.
Extra reading possibilities:
- In "Uncle Sam Buys an Airplane," in the Atlantic in 2002, I described the genesis of the "Joint Strike Fighter," now known as the F-35. Its whole rationale was the fear that the F-22 would become so expensive that the U.S. would never be able to buy and field more than a tiny force. The F-35 has had problems of its own since then, and the contract officer at the center of my story has since been jailed for corruption on an unrelated matter, but the economic questions remain. (Excerpt after the jump.)
- In "F-22, Fact vs Fiction," published in 2000, the fighter pilot and aircraft designer Everest Riccioni assessed the F-22's abilities relative to the F-15's and other planes and argued that in the real circumstances of air combat, it would offer few advantages to pilots that would justify its costs -- and that the excessive cost of the airplane jeopardized pilots, since it meant too small a fighting force. The link above opens his paper as a Word document.
- In "Three Reasons Why the ATF Should Not be Approved for Engineering and Manufacturing Development," an internal Pentagon paper written in 1991, the defense analyst Chuck Spinney warned that the F-22 (then called the ATF) would inevitably become too expensive to buy in adequate numbers and would therefore leave the Air Force in a weakened situation. Most of the problems he foresaw have in fact materialized.
- in "Preying on the Taxpayer," published in 2006, the Project on Government Oversight analyzed budgetary and performance questions about the F-22.
- In the new book "America's Defense Meltdown" (described here, no longer available for free download but in bookstores shortly -- and ready now for Kindle) Pierre M. Sprey and Robert Dilger argue that the US could best guarantee air superiority by canceling further F-22 purchases and instead choosing a radically less expensive alternative, which they describe in detail. Excerpts after the jump.
- And just as a bonus, if you've ever wondered what it is like to sit in an F-15 during an hour-long aerial combat drill, well, wonder no longer.
Please do read Mark Bowden's article, which you'll enjoy. Read these others too. Discuss and decide. That's why we're here!
From "Uncle Sam Buys an Airplane," 2002:
In the 1980s [the Air Force] had begun work on the F-22, the ultimate go-anywhere, fight-anything Cold War weapon. To ensure that the plane could penetrate Soviet air defenses and beat any MiG then on the drawing boards, it was designed with barely an eye to cost. When the Soviet Union and the threat of its air force went away, the F-22 remained--but it entered what Chuck Spinney, an influential budget analyst at the Pentagon, has called the "Defense Death Spiral." In the death spiral Congress and the Pentagon buy into a program because the promised performance is so high that the projected costs seem acceptable. Then problems emerge, the schedule slips, and the promised costs start to seem "unrealistic." (The corollary in civilian life is what happens after you contract to renovate your kitchen.) Congress notices the cost and starts worrying. It slows down the production rate and reduces the total order, so the per-unit price really soars. Then Congress or an administration gets serious about cutting the program.
This is what happened to the B-2 bomber. The Air Force originally planned to buy more than 100 and ended up with twenty-one, at a cost of more than $1 billion apiece. As for the F-22, the first Bush Administration signed up for 750, at $50 million apiece. By the end of the Administration the "buy" had been cut to 648. During the Clinton Administration the buy was reduced, in stages, to 339--on the reasonable grounds that the plane was getting too expensive and that the Soviet threat had faded. The current Bush Administration has lowered the acquisition target yet again, to around 300.
The Air Force leadership has remained loyal to the F-22, consistent with its general enthusiasm for the highest-end, most sophisticated fighter conceivable. "This airplane will make the skies safe for everybody else," was the way a retired four-star Air Force general recently put it to me. But replacing the small F-16s and A-10s with the new airplanes would mean, in the words of Jacques Gansler, who directed defense acquisition policy during Bill Clinton's second term, "cutting the force structure in half." So in 1991 the Air Force was shopping for a cheaper airplane...
From "Reversing the Decay of American Air Power," in America's Defense Meltdown, 2009:
The business-as-usual policy dooms us to an Air Force of decreasing effectiveness,
uselessly small force size, and such inflexibility that it can only be employed for
strategic bombardment, against only mostly incompetent enemies. Here we propose
a very different approach to an Air Force that can flexibly serve the real, and highly
diverse, defense needs of the nation. This approach is based on the following common ground rules, each a complete departure from present U.S. Air Force planning
* Based on realistic, auditable cost estimates validated by objective and independent analyses, stay within the roughly $250 billion the Air Force is likely to be allowed to spend on aircraft procurement over the next 20 years or so.
* Ensure that the following missions can be performed effectively in real-world combat as a matter of the highest urgency:1. close air support of American troops anywhere, whether in counterinsurgency missions or in sophisticated armored warfare;* Develop and procure only aircraft and weapons of the utmost austerity, stripped down to only the capabilities directly required by actual combat experience. "Nice-to-have" features and capabilities for hypothesized future combat lead directly to shrinking force size and degraded effectiveness in real combat.
2. battlefield airlift to American troops in remote areas, and
3. air-to-air superiority (dogfighting) against any air force, modern or aging, large or small;
4. battlefield interdiction, particularly in adverse terrain and against primitive, highly camouflaged supply lines.
Based on these principles the authors go on to propose a kind of fighter that the Air Force could support in numbers of 1,100 or more, rather than 200 or 300. The whole book is worth serious consideration. | <urn:uuid:e02e77cf-6e01-42ff-98df-cf64fca0ccde> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2009/02/let-a-thousand-flowers-bloom-atlantic-style-f-22-dept/9588/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963614 | 1,606 | 1.765625 | 2 |
ICS1413: ARCHITECTURAL/COMPUTER-AIDED DRAFTING I
This class focuses on the knowledge and skills required to plan and prepare scale pictorial interpretations of plans and design concepts for residential buildings. Emphasis is given to the development of competencies related to solving drafting and design problems that require the individual to understand and apply a wide range of technical knowledge and critical thinking skills. This class is designed to allow the student to produce drawings as traditional drawings or as computer-aided drawings.
CTE General Technology Fee: $30. | <urn:uuid:3b2748c4-9fd9-4d99-b117-315378f60d29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.atu.edu/academics/descriptions/?term=201330&subject=ICS&number=1413 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905578 | 117 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Many Americans realize the power of brain education and how having a higher degree can increase one's chances of finding employment. Furthermore, a number of individuals have a need to keep learning because they want to become masters of their field.
Drexel University Online, which offers several virtual degree programs, announced it will offer a new master's in creativity and innovation from the Goodwin College: School of Technology and Professional Studies.
The degree program can be used in a number of fields, including corporate, academics and military. The idea behind the degree program is to help students' abilities to recognize problems in different settings and think of possible solutions through creativity. This could be a great higher degree option for anyone who is thinking about going into a managerial position.
"Through the process of creative thought, the center's work enhances an individual's ability to imagine new ideas by learning to envision that which cannot immediately be seen," said Fredricka Reisman, the director of the Drexel/Torrance Center for Creativity and Innovation. | <urn:uuid:32b7bf08-f4c3-407c-8105-8e2315763820> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ilchi-lee.com/2011/05/27/drexel-university-online-announces-new-brain-education-offerings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96411 | 206 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Occasionally, automakers get it right in the new feature department — seat heaters? Good. Back-up camera? Good. Intermittent wipers? Really good. Self-parking? BMW’s iDrive and Ford’s Microsoft Sync? Let’s just say the jury’s still out. The market, however, decided quickly on the list below, which contains automotive gimmicks that range from not-very-useful to patently absurd.
- Record Player: Offered by Chrysler from 1956 to 1957, it was the auto industry’s first attempt at making pre-recorded music playable in a car. While engineered for the rather bumpy environment of a moving car, the player wasn’t immune to skipping and scratching the records, which weren’t the standard-size LPs or 45s but a smaller proprietary format that required owners to buy all of their music again. Those of a certain age who have owned Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” on 8-track, vinyl, cassette, CD and MP3 can sympathize.
- Front-Mounted Horse Head: This turn-of-the-century accessory was meant to make early internal combustion cars less frightening to horses. More than just a freakishly large hood ornament, it literally consisted of a not-very-convincing, life-size fake horse head that could be mounted on the front of the car. It could also be used as an additional fuel tank, pre-dating the Pinto, (the other exploding equine) by some 70 years.
- Swamp Cooler: Numerous companies from the 1930s through the 1960s marketed these ungainly contraptions that looked like the offspring of a jet engine and a canister vacuum. The device attached to the window of the car and contained a few gallons of water, which used the ram air effect created while the car was moving to force humidified air inside. They were minimally effective in hot, dry areas. Practical and relatively inexpensive auto air conditioning put an end to their use. Occasionally, auto swamp coolers can still be seen as odd period accessories on classic cars.
- Rear-Facing Seats: Car sickness occurs when the brain receives conflicting signals about whether the body is in motion or not. Rear-facing seats were a common source of this type of cerebral confusion, yet they were standard as the “back, back” seats in so many of the classic station wagons that baby boomers grew up (and threw up) in.
- Semi-Automatic Transmission: Both Porsche and Volkswagen used this obscure bit of technology to allay the fears of clutch-o-phobes. It was essentially a conventional manual transmission without a clutch pedal. The device was actuated when the driver put his or her hand on the shift lever. Unlike today’s shiftable automatics, there was no fully automatic mode. You had to move the lever through each gear. Porsche called it “Sportomatic,” and VW called it “Automatic Stickshift,” even going so far as to advertise it with a chrome badge on the back of the car. They’re heartily disliked by collectors who often replace them with conventional manual transmissions. | <urn:uuid:15637d52-3c27-430b-a25a-6fa912d9985a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/10/13/feature-failures-5-silliest-automotive-features-ever/?intcmp=features | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964422 | 678 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Notes on the social crisis in America
11 October 2012
Jailed youth mentally damaged by solitary confinement
A report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union found juvenile prisoners suffer severe psychological and developmental damage from being held in solitary confinement.
More than 95,000 US prisoners are under the age of 18.
“Locking kids in solitary confinement with little or no contact with other people is cruel, harmful, and unnecessary,” said Ian Kysel, Aryeh Neier Fellow with Human Rights Watch and the ACLU and author of the report. “Normal human interaction is essential to the healthy development and rehabilitation of young people; to cut that off helps nobody.”
The practice is widespread throughout the US jail and prison system, with some young people forced to spend weeks, months, or even years without human contact. In the New York City corrections system, more than 14 percent of all adolescents were subjected to solitary confinement during their imprisonment. At Rikers Island, the average length of solitary confinement was 43 days. Nearly half of Rikers’ juvenile prisoners have diagnosed mental health problems.
Young prisoners interviewed for the report described emotional distress, suicide attempts, self-harm, and hallucinations. Those allowed out of their isolation cell reported being permitted to exercise only a few times a week, alone, in small metal cages. Several said they were denied books, magazines, writing implements and classes. Others said the most difficult aspect of solitary confinement was being denied visits and “not being able to hug their mother or father.”
“Being in isolation to me felt like I was on an island all alone, dying a slow death from the inside out,” said “Kyle B.” from California.
“In segregation you either implode or explode; you lose touch with reality, hear voices, hallucinate and think for hours about killing yourself, others or both,” said “Douglas C.” of Colorado. “The anger and hurt gets so intense that you suspect everyone and trust no one and when someone does something nice for you, you don’t understand it.”
“Alyssa E.” of Florida explained, “I cut myself. I started doing it because it is the only release of my pain. I’d see the blood and I’d be happy.… I did it with staples, not razors. When I see the blood and it makes me want to keep going. I showed the officers and they didn’t do anything.… I wanted [the staff] to talk to me. I wanted them to understand what was going on with me.”
Juan Mendez, the United Nations’ rapporteur on torture, has called for a complete ban on solitary confinement as a cruel and inhuman punishment. In April, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry recommended that any youth confined in isolation for more than 24 hours should be evaluated by a mental health professional.
Facing foreclosure, Florida mother kills two sons, self
A Florida mother who took the lives of her two children before committing suicide last month was facing foreclosure and desperate financial straits, Clearwater police reported.
On the night of September 22, 34-year-old Dawn Brown drowned her sons Zander, 9, and Zayden, 5, then hanged herself with an electrical cord. Murphy Brown, the father of the children, reportedly found his family early Saturday morning; the boys had been tucked into their beds.
Last year, Brown was charged with welfare fraud and was facing a court date October 1. She had entered a plea of not guilty 10 days before her suicide.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, Brown had wanted to be a teacher, but had lost her scholarship and dropped out of college shortly after her arrest. After that, a neighbor told the paper, “She fell into a depression, and really just never came out of it.”
“It ruined her life,” another neighbor told the Tampa Bay Tribune. “She loved kids so much. It’s hard to see now, but she wanted to take care of children. She wanted more kids.”
The family was also confronting a looming foreclosure. Court records revealed that the Browns had been in foreclosure proceedings at least three times in the past 10 years.
The Brown family had been living without electricity for weeks. “They began cooking meals on a charcoal grill,” the Times noted. “To heat up frozen dinners in a microwave, they ran an extension cord to a neighbor’s outlet.” Neighbors said that Dawn Brown had despaired over not being able to read books because of the electric shutoff.
Murphy Brown, who had been working irregularly as an independent mechanic, was without money to bury his family. He and his neighbors plan to sell off all the family’s possessions and strip the house.
Wealthy New Yorkers complain about swelling homeless shelters
An October 10 Associated Press article, “NYC homeless boom puts shelters in lap of wealthy,” reports the dissatisfaction of upscale Manhattan residents about a new homeless shelter that has been opened in their “neighborhood of multimillion-dollar brownstones.”
“It sort of felt almost like a bomb landing,” commented one resident of the Upper West Side. “We just have lots of concerns about safety. And no one really seemed to care about what we thought.”
The city’s homeless population has soared in recent years. The most recent count of shelter residents found that more than 46,000 people sought help each night—the highest ever recorded. New York City is home to 14 percent of the nation’s homeless population.
Absurdly, billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg attributed the rise in need to improvements in shelter conditions. “We have made our shelter system so much better that, unfortunately, when people are in it—or fortunately, depending on what your objective is—it is a much more pleasurable experience than they ever had before.”
As the AP points out, however, in reality, “The crisis stems from a lack of affordable housing and the city’s ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor, one of the widest in the US and comparable to that found in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Shelter occupants said that the cots were infested with bedbugs, and the living spaces were full of roaches and mice. Following a state-level funding cut for housing assistance, the Bloomberg administration has refused to provide rental subsidies to assist the homeless to help them leave the shelters.
New Jersey unemployment benefits system critically understaffed
As few as 34 unemployment appeals case workers have been managing the 3 million applicants to the New Jersey jobless claims system since 2008. On October 8, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development acknowledged that the understaffing had created delays that were “clearly a due-process problem,” or an infringement of the rights of laid-off workers. Fred Zavaglia, the state Labor Department’s chief of staff, said that the agency was training eight new workers.
The New Jersey Record reported that thousands of applicants have dealt with appeals and uncertainty. Monica Menjon, a secretary who has never before been out of work, lost her job in August when the construction company she worked for went out of business. Since that time, she has received only a single unemployment check. Menjon told the paper that she was now worried about missing her mortgage payments. “It’s scary,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Only one in four appeals typically result in any change to benefits, according to the Record. State workers are concerned that a boom in appeals is coming with the expiration of a federally extended emergency unemployment compensation program in December. Some 100,000 unemployed workers will be left without benefits when that happens.
Suicide epidemic among American Indian youth
Indian teenagers and young adults are taking their own lives at more than triple the rate of other young Americans. On some reservations, investigative news organization 100Reporters found, the teen suicide rate was 9 to 19 times higher than among other youths. Several tribes have declared states of emergency to establish crisis-intervention programs.
“It feels like wartime,” South Dakota’s Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation child-welfare official Diane Garreau said. “I’ll see one of our youngsters one day, then find out a couple of days later she’s gone. Our children are self-destructing.”
Behind the suicides are a complex of social, historical, and economic issues. Indian children face extreme poverty, hunger, substance abuse, lack of health care and mental health counseling, and other ills. Unemployment on some reservations stands higher than 80 percent.
A study last year found that one in five adolescents thought daily about historical traumas affecting their communities, including loss of land and language. “Our kids hurt so much,” Garreau said. “Many have decided they won’t live that long anyway, which in their minds excuses self-destructive behavior, like drinking—or suicide.” | <urn:uuid:dd6d51a6-f051-47a7-8024-ceaac36d3640> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wsws.org/en/articles/2012/10/socr-o11.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972892 | 1,932 | 2.109375 | 2 |
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As this UN video shows, the increasing frequency of droughts continues to worsen the situation.
Currently, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that more than 18 million people in nine countries in the Sahel region are facing a severe food and nutrition crisis. More than a million children under the age of five are at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition and over 200,000 people have fled into neighbouring countries to avoid the conflict in northern Mali.
Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, noted that humanitarian partners throughout the region have raised their funding requirements to meet this crisis, but more is desperately needed.
"I commend humanitarian donors for maintaining their generosity and commitment to effective, coordinated and timely aid," said Amos.
To learn more about how The Hunger Site's charitable partner Mercy Corps is responding in this region, please watch this video. | <urn:uuid:b41f0cbc-a8be-4e2e-81ae-75ea74a6e733> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/ths/article/Sahel-droughts-coming-more-frequently097 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934475 | 194 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The StreamStats Web application provides access to automated procedures and very large, complex data sets. These data sets are known to contain occasional errors. Users are advised to carefully check all results for accuracy and to exercise their own professional judgment in evaluating the appropriateness of the results for their application. Basin delineations, in particular, frequently have been found to be erroneous. The Web site provides tools and base maps useful for verifying the accuracy of the basin delineations and for correcting them, if necessary.
Estimates provided by StreamStats assume natural flow conditions at the site. If human activities such as dam regulation and water withdrawals substantially affect the timing, magnitude, or duration of flows at a selected site, the estimates provided by StreamStats should be adjusted by the user to account for those activities.
StreamStats can be used to obtain regression equation-based estimates of streamflow statistics under natural conditions for USGS data-collection stations that are affected by human activities. Users should not assume, however, that the differences between the data-based estimates for the stations and the regression equation-based estimates are equivalent to the effects of the human activities on streamflow at the stations because there are errors associated with both sets of estimates.
Extrapolation occurs when one or more of the basin characteristics needed to solve the applicable regression equations for an ungaged site are outside the ranges of basin characteristics for the sites used to develop the regression equations. When extrapolation occurs, StreamStats provides a warning in the output to indicate that the basin characteristics are out of range. StreamStats will provide extrapolated estimates for ungaged sites, as those estimates still are often the best estimates that can be obtained for the site; however, the errors associated with extrapolated estimates are unknown. As a result, StreamStats does not provide indicators of the errors for the estimates.
Example of StreamStats basin characteristics table with warning because the drainage area is out of the range of applicability for the low-flow equations
Extrapolation also can occur when a basin characteristic that is not included as an explanatory variable in the regression equations is out of the range of the values of that basin characteristic for the stations used in the regression analysis. For example, an ungaged site may be located just downstream from a large lake, such that the percentage of the basin covered by open water is extraordinarily large compared to the percentages of open water for the stations used in the regression analysis. If the percentage of open water does not appear as an explanatory variable in the regression equations applicable to the location of the ungaged site, then StreamStats will not detect that extrapolation is occurring.
Users should carefully evaluate their sites of interest to determine if the available regression equations for that location are suitable for their intended purpose, and if extrapolation is occurring because of a basin characteristic that does not appear in the applicable regression equations for the location. In particular, numerous reports that contain regression equations provide limits to the applicability of the equations based on the percentage of the basin that is either urbanized or regulated. As a result, it is important that users should read the reports for the regression equations that apply to the area of interest, be aware of any such limitations placed on the regression equations, and carefully evaluate the drainage basins for their selected sites to determine if the limitations are violated.
The U.S. Geological Survey expressly disclaims responsibility for damages or liability that may arise from use of these data. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. | <urn:uuid:50da2dcd-1f32-4d76-b611-42246529ada1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://water.usgs.gov/osw/streamstats/ssdis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936393 | 705 | 2.40625 | 2 |
County officials, including the county's archivist Stu Veinotte, say the county is better off without all the old papers that constitute more than 200 years of local history.
Paper copies of old estate records, marriage licenses, tax and court records and book after book of deed records, some of which date to the late 1700s, will be gone, existing only in digital files and in some cases on microfilm.
"Right now we have a redundant (records) system," Veinotte said. "(Franklin County) has an incredible amount of records, and right now there is a ton of duplication, especially in the court system."
Veinotte is in charge of one of the county's largest projects: examining all of the old records, many of which are stored in two rooms in the basement of the courthouse annex, converting them to digital format to be stored in the county's computer system and in some cases microfilming them.
"This (project) is going to eliminate all paper (records)," he said.
The records management project is massive, and Veinotte has been working on it for the past six years.
So far, he has overseen the digitization of boxes full of old records, and book after book of records from the 19th and 20th centuries, including notary records from the
Old deed books that have been stored in the annex basement for years contain the earliest deeds recorded right after Franklin County was carved out of Cumberland County in 1784.
Those early deeds as well as deeds for the next two centuries were put on microfilm at some point in the late 20th century, but Veinotte said those old microfilmed records are in poor condition and need to be replaced.
Once the original documents are replaced and, in the case of records such as deeds, transferred to microfilm using document imaging software called Laserfiche, the county will get rid of the originals, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will be destroyed.
The county has already given a large number of documents to the Franklin County Historical Society, including ledgers containing monthly expenditures for county offices, a 1916 account book of sheep and dog taxes, journals with accounts receivable for both the 19th and 20th centuries, a list of "taxable inhabitants" of Warren Township in 1870, and a 1902-05 record of fees from "pool, billiards and hucksters" licenses.
More will be offered to the society as other documents are converted to electronic media.
The project began in July 2004 when Veinotte was hired as the county's first archivist using an Archives and Record Management grant awarded by the Pennsylvania and Historical Museum Commission, as well as financial contributions from the Franklin County Records Improvement Committee.
The committee was established by state law to assist in the management of county records. Committee members include the county's three commissioners, the clerk of courts, prothonotary, register and recorder, sheriff and treasurer.
As county archivist, Veinotte was to identify, process, organize and preserve some of the county's oldest documents and records.
"My job was to determine who the records belonged to, whether we needed to keep them or not and if we did need to keep them -- either by law or choice -- how to preserve them," he said.
Veinotte said most of the county's old records are in pretty good shape.
"The basement (where they have been stored for many years) is cool and paper is a good medium if you want something to last a long time," he said. "Just remember if you write letters, all your love letters will last for eternity."
He said that so far the county hasn't had to throw any of its records away because of damage.
When his department has decided to get rid of records, it has been because they have been transferred to digital format and possibly put on new microfiche. Those are the records that have been offered to the historical society.
Still, the county has what Veinotte calls "an incredible amount" of old documents to sort through and transfer.
Once Veinotte's 18-month contract under the ARM grant was up, he became a full-time county employee, and the county received a number of other ARM grants, which have been used to subsidize the cost for archival supplies and projects.
The county completed its latest grant project in May, in which a third-party vendor was used to digitally scan and microfilm all of the county's tax assessment records from 1846 through 1912.
Veinotte is now working on the county's new records management initiative, which is designed to help various offices expand records retention and retrieval needs.
The project to digitize all county records reduces the space needed to store records, Veinotte said, and makes it quicker and easier to access and retrieve those records, he said.
The county has converted the annex at the old Franklin County Prison on Franklin Farm Lane into a records management office.
The renovated office space will be used to continue the massive project of processing, scanning and microfilming records for seven county offices: Adult probation, clerk of courts, district attorney, prothonotary, public defender, register and recorder and sheriff.
That initiative will serve as the foundation for the county's comprehensive records management program, Veinotte said.
Vicky Taylor covers Franklin County court and community issues. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org or 262-4753.
What it costs
Startup for equipment: $160,000 (approximately), from RIF money collected from fees collected by row offices.
Annual salaries, including county archivist: $140,000 (approximately)
Operational costs: $1,500 annually (approximately)
Material and contracted costs: $72,222
Labor costs to date: $36,366 | <urn:uuid:b417edd2-0747-4d96-b2b2-69ac67957be1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.publicopiniononline.com/localnews/ci_15783284 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964286 | 1,214 | 1.820313 | 2 |
How to Bureaucratize the Corporate World
While already deeply entrenched in government decision-making, consultation and submission to the interests of various "stakeholders" is also becoming more and more common in the business world under the influence of the doctrine of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Weary of the relentless pursuit of profit and the daunting task of satisfying both shareholders and customers, corporate managers are falling all over themselves to emulate the methods of their bureaucratic cousins.
The doctrine of corporate social responsibility is an amorphous one. The name clearly implies some responsibility that the corporation owes to society at large. But what is this responsibility? According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, corporate social responsibility is "the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life." Other influential agencies such as the International Finance Corporation define corporate social responsibility in almost identical terms.
This commitment to improving the quality of life of society at large is not merely confined to providing useful goods and services at a price that is agreeable to all those who choose to buy them, nor to providing employment on terms that are agreeable to all those who accept. After all, businesses already do this, and it benefits society greatly. Rather, the common element in most current expositions of the doctrine of corporate social responsibility is that it requires corporate managers to sacrifice profits to the interests of a wide array of "stakeholders" who are affected by the conduct of the corporation. According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, "CSR means more than promulgating a company's own values and principles. It also depends on understanding the values and principles of those who have a stake in its operations."
The Sacrifice of Shareholders to Stakeholders
This stakeholder theory of corporate social responsibility is in direct opposition to the primacy of the interests of shareholders as owners of the corporation. Instead of working for the profit of shareholders, corporate managers are instead directed by this doctrine to act in the interests of a diverse group of "stakeholders," with the shareholder considered to be merely one of these stakeholders. The groups to whom shareholder profits are to be sacrificed include employees, customers, business partners, suppliers, competitors, government regulators, the general community and even "pressure groups" and "influencers."
Some may object to the assertion that the primacy of shareholders is compromised by the stakeholder theory of corporate social responsibility or that profits are sacrificed. They may protest that the interests of stakeholders are considered in addition to the interests of shareholders — that corporate social responsibility mandates the pursuit of social objectives in addition to profit. But this is mere wordplay, designed to obscure a single fundamental question: in situations where the interests of stakeholders conflicts with the pursuit of profit for shareholders, should profit be sacrificed? See if you can find this question stated clearly and candidly in any of the glossy brochures on the wonders of corporate social responsibility — you will not. Instead you will find equivocation, ambiguity, and groundless claims that any proposed sacrifices are really in the long-term interests of shareholders, even if the benighted are too stupid to see it.
The capacity of advocates of the stakeholder theory to engage in semantic contortions in order to avoid having to confront this question is quite a spectacle. To wit, we have the following from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development:
Sustainable business cannot be achieved by following the traditional thinking that the only thing business has to do is to make a profit…. [I]t now means not only making a profit but also managing issues that concern many stakeholders. Managing these concerns will enable the company to continue to make a profit.
This passage illustrates a common straw-man argument for the stakeholder paradigm. It tries to smuggle in the absurd idea — which is never openly stated — that the primacy of the profit motive is incompatible with any consideration of the interests of employees, business partners, suppliers, competitors, regulators, or the community at large. Sustainable business "now means not only making a profit but also managing issues that concern many stakeholders." This is in stark contradiction to the actual practice of private businesses, which have always involved consideration of these issues within the framework of the profit motive and shareholder primacy. Notice also that the Council would allow companies to "continue to make a profit," but how much of this profit would be sacrificed to stakeholder interests is not stated.
Package Dealing Shareholders and Special Interests — the "Stakeholder"
As with government decisions, the use of the stakeholder theory in corporate decision making serves to obscure the nature of the claims of the parties — i.e., the issue of property rights. By referring to all parties who are affected by the actions of the corporation as "stakeholders," shareholders are lumped together with groups seeking special favors by using a conceptual package deal. This term obscures the issue of who owns what, and elevates the "interests" of outside groups to a moral claim on the property of shareholders.
But merely being affected by the outcome of another person's decisions does not entitle a person to have a say in those decisions. We are all affected by countless decisions made by others every day. We all have an interest in what they do. We are all "stakeholders" in the decisions of others in the sense described by the stakeholder theory. This is precisely why we have property rights — to delimit the prerogatives of people to use scarce resources — to determine who may do what with what.
If a corporation decides to open a store in my neighborhood then this affects my life. I may find it convenient to have a source of useful goods and services nearby. I may find it annoying to have more people visit my neighborhood to purchase these goods and services. I may even find the products or services offered by this store to be repugnant. My views are certainly relevant to corporate managers insofar as they affect the profitability of such a store — they will be rightly interested in whether or not I would choose to shop there. However, my "interest" in their decision does not give me any legitimate moral claim to a say in whether or not they should purchase property and open such a store. And it certainly should not allow me to impose my will over the preferences of the shareholders of this company.
Bureaucratizing the Corporate World — Voluntary Compliance with CSR
One of the effects of the abrogation of the profit motive in favor of attempts to satisfy a diverse range of stakeholders is that it deprives corporate managers of any objective measure of success or failure. Under this management methodology, the profit-and-loss statement is replaced, or at least tempered, by a diverse array of arbitrary performance indicators. More importantly, the people to whom the manager is beholden expand and transform according to the vagaries of the stakeholding methodology and the corporate manager is himself granted power over determining who he will choose to work for and whose desires he will choose to satisfy.
As the qualitative social goals selected by corporate managers come to replace the clear and quantifiable pursuit of profit, and the various stakeholders jostle for a more influential position with corporate managers, the corporation loses any objective method of economic calculation of its success or failure — it is transformed into a bureaucracy. Indeed, this is the very essence of a bureaucracy. For, as Mises has observed, "[b]ureaucratic management is management of affairs which cannot be checked by economic calculation." He further observes that
Bureaucratic conduct of affairs is conduct bound to comply with detailed rules and regulations fixed by the authority of a superior body. It is the only alternative to profit management. Profit management is inapplicable in the pursuit of affairs which have no cash value on the market and in the non-profit conduct of affairs which could also be operated on a profit basis. … Whenever the operation of a system is not directed by the profit motive, it must be directed by bureaucratic rules.
In a profit-seeking business, the corporate manager is clearly bound by an objective means of determining his success or failure. In order to succeed in his pursuit of profit, he is at the mercy of his consumers, who together have absolute power to determine the level of his success. Moreover, he is at the service of his shareholders who will hold him to account for his success or failure. As Mises observes,
The real bosses, in the capitalist system of market economy, are the consumers. They, by their buying and by their abstention from buying, decide who should own the capital and run the plants. They determine what should be produced and in what quantity and quality.
However, in the absence of any objective method of economic calculation, the corporate manager is no longer required to make optimal use of the corporation's scarce resources in the satisfaction of its customers. His customers are no longer his real bosses. Rather, under the stakeholder theory of corporate social responsibility, the corporate manager is given wide scope to determine the identity and importance of the stakeholders who he will work for. He will determine who are his bosses and his bosses will be at his mercy, lest he decide that their satisfaction is no longer a worthy public-service objective.
Clearly, this is a complete inversion of the structure of ownership and management that exists in a profit-seeking enterprise. Under the stakeholder theory of corporate social responsibility, the dependence of the corporate manager on the satisfaction of his customers and the efficient allocation of the company's resources is severed. Instead, his performance is evaluated on the basis of his ability to comply with the prevailing rules of corporate social responsibility and curry favor with a host of influential stakeholder groups through quid pro quo arrangements — he is transformed from a businessman into a bureaucrat.
This problem of bureaucratic management is a characteristic of any enterprise that eschews the profit motive in favor of other qualitative goals. However, the problem is particularly pronounced when corporate managers are given wide discretion to determine the goals that they will work for and whom they are to be responsible to. In fact, this gives wide scope for outright corruption. Coelho, McClure, and Spry set out this danger in lucid terms:
If shareholder interests lose their primacy, then Pandora's Box opens. How are corporate duties to shareholders evaluated against duties to other stakeholders? How are conflicts between and among stakeholders resolved? These questions are both unanswerable and give management unbridled discretion that will too frequently result in either absolute chaos or criminality.
In assessing the dangers of bureaucratic inefficiency and corporate corruption that are inherent in the stakeholder theory of corporate social responsibility we need not rely purely on theoretical argument. For we are already intimately familiar with a kind of organization that operates in this manner — one which eschews the callous profit motive in the pursuit of "higher" social objectives for the public good. And observe the results: the rampant bureaucracy and waste, the cozy iron triangles, the galling fraud and corruption, and the saccharine political spin used to cover up the whole mess.
Nationalizing the Corporate World — Compulsory Compliance with CSR
Despite the popularity of the stakeholder theory among corporate managers, the prerogatives of shareholder ownership present a fundamental barrier to the full implementation of this methodology. In particular, the prerogative to hire and fire corporate managers, supplanting those who are not performing to the satisfaction of shareholders, ensures that the stakeholder paradigm can only go so far. While corporate managers may attempt to achieve social objectives in derogation of the profits of the company, they are ultimately answerable to the shareholders and must perform to the satisfaction of these shareholders or be removed from office.
So long as this and other prerogatives of ownership exist, the primacy of shareholder interests must remain and any derogation from profits made at the discretion of the corporate managers must be satisfactory to shareholders. Thus, the logical objective of the stakeholder paradigm is to abolish or at least diminish the prerogatives of ownership — especially the ability of shareholders to hire and fire the managers of the company. In order to ensure that stakeholders are properly taken care of, they must have some legal power in the selection of corporate managers and the operations of the company.
But who is to choose which stakeholders are to have a stake in the company and how much of a stake? Who is to choose which stakeholders will have a say in choosing an appropriate corporate manager and how much of a say? Surely it cannot be the managers themselves, since they would then be able to entrench themselves in power and plunder the corporation for their own benefit. And of course, it cannot be the shareholders, for it is allegedly the selfish instincts of these greedy devils, pursuing their own profits at the expense of the public interest, that necessitates the stakeholder paradigm in the first place. Instead, it must be some organization that is committed to the public good, some organization that is trusted with the power to determine what is best for all of us — it must be … the state!
Many corporations already include stakeholder representatives on their board of directors. Some scholars have argued that this practice puts "a formal mechanism in place that acknowledges the importance of their relationship to the firm." So far these arrangements have been imposed with the consent, or at least the acquiescence, of shareholders — there is no legal requirement for such a practice. However, there has already been substantial consideration given to calls for the imposition of legislative requirements to abide by the stakeholder paradigm in corporate management.
There are a number of rationalizations for this course of action. The most common is the view that the government, private corporations, and stakeholder groups must "cooperate" for the smooth running of the economic system. This is not a new claim:
The idea that government, corporations, and organized labor can, and should, cooperate for the betterment of society has a long pedigree. It can be seen in the early Christian church's distrust for individualism, and in its more recent (and discredited) manifestation in the political doctrines of fascism.
In fact, calls for legal recognition of stakeholder interests in private companies are not merely a manifestation of fascism — they are an ambitious attempt to entirely socialize the means of production by arrogating the prerogatives of ownership to the government. Private ownership is the prerogative to control, and as the prerogatives of control of one's property are removed by the government, ownership — in any real sense — is diminished and ultimately eradicated. Thus, the abrogation of the prerogatives of shareholder ownership in favor of stakeholder interests as determined by the government, is a means of nationalizing property by stealth. While the shareholder remains the owner of the company de jure, the government slowly takes on more and more of the prerogatives of ownership on behalf of stakeholder groups. The government becomes the de facto owner of the company and puts it into the service of "the public" through the various stakeholders favored by government regulation.
How Do Companies Operate under the Stakeholder Paradigm?
When the prerogatives of ownership in a company are determined by government proclamation rather than by the application of property rights, the company will operate in the same way as a government bureaucracy — by cozy symbiotic relationships between corporate managers who dole out special privileges, and stakeholder groups who lend their support to the continued position of these corporate managers in return for these privileges. Since the ability of stakeholders to control the company will be based on special privileges under the prevailing policy of government, rather than on any genuine claim to ownership, they have little stake in the capital value of the company and will attempt to plunder the company at the expense of shareholders.
Left-wing social activist and Body Shop founder Anita Roddick has lamented the cooption of the stakeholder paradigm by corporate managers and powerful interest groups: "I don't think Corporate Social Responsibility is working. I think it's been taken over by the big management houses, marketing houses, been taken over by the big groups. It's a huge money building operation now." This result is not surprising when we recognize that the stakeholder paradigm is simply a rehashed call for the political economy of fascism — a call for private enterprises to emulate the goals and methods of the bureaucracy.
Rather than allowing the goals of private enterprise to be mandated by government, the goal of any private enterprise must be determined by the owners of that enterprise. For businesses that are established in order to provide profit to shareholders, the social responsibility of corporate managers is adequately captured by Milton Friedman's well-known dictum:
There is one and only one social responsibility of business — to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.
In order to avoid the bureaucratization and nationalization of private enterprise and all of the calamitous consequences that must follow, shareholders and advocates for liberty must fight to preserve the prerogatives of share ownership. They must fight to uphold the legitimacy of the profit motive and reject the view that merely having an "interest" in the operations of a company implies a right to control.
Ben O'Neill is a researcher at the Australian National University and an advisor in the ACT Legislative Assembly. This article represents his personal views and not the views of his employers. Send him mail. Comment on the blog.
Holme, R. and P. Watts."Corporate social responsibility: making good business sense." World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2000: 10.
Holme and Watts, op. cit., p. 15.
Ibid, p. 16.
Cited from stakeholder dialogues conducted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. See Holme and Watts, p. 12.
O'Neill, op. cit.
Coelho, P.R.P., J.E. McClure, and J.A. Spry. "The social responsibility of corporate management: a classical critique." Mid-American Journal of Business 18, no.1 (2003): 19. This paper sets out some examples of situations where the stakeholder paradigm could lead to corruption. It also sets out an explanation for the popularity of the theory among corporate managers.
See Luoma, P. and J. Goodstein."Stakeholders and corporate boards: institutional influences on board composition and structure." Academy of Management Journal 42, no. 5 (1999): 553-563. The authors studied 224 companies listed on the New York stock exchange between 1984 and 1994 and found that 14 percent of these firms appointed stakeholder directors.
Mitchell, R.K., B.R. Agle, and D.J. Wood."Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts." Academy of Management Review 22, no.4 (1997): 853-886.
In Australia the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services recently considered legislation of this kind in its June 2006 report, "Corporate Responsibility: Managing Risk and Creating Value." While the Committee rejected the view that a legal requirement for stakeholder consideration was justified, they were clearly in favor of the stakeholder paradigm itself. Moreover, the Committee's willingness to make recommendations to investors, stakeholders and relevant business associations, rather than to the Parliament, was ominous.
Coelho, McClure and Spry, op. cit., (2003) 19.
Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom (University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1962): 133. | <urn:uuid:42265bf3-e140-4f1e-b7e0-74ce6096ed08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mises.org/daily/2832/How-to-Bureaucratize-the-Corporate-World | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957372 | 4,002 | 2.25 | 2 |
|What is it?|
Emulsify means combining two liquids together which normally don't mix easily. The ingredients are usually oil or a fat
like olive oil or egg yolks, and another liquid like water or broth. Acidic liquids like lemon juice help the process
by changing the pH of the mixture. The liquids are combined very slowly, usually drop by drop, while beating
vigorously, which suspends drops of liquid throughout each other. Bearnaise, hollandaise, and mayonnaise are
examples of emulsified foods.
In the human body bile juices emulsify the oily part of fats.
In the manufacture of supplements, fat soluble vitamins are emulsified when aids greatly in the absorption process. | <urn:uuid:df028252-904a-4dad-8c0c-74f1cb299e0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.becomehealthynow.com/glossary/emulsifybh.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916266 | 157 | 3.21875 | 3 |
REASON FOR TREATMENT:
Chris was not the first in his family to be diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. His grandmother, father, uncle, and two cousins have all succumbed to the disease. While looking for possible treatments for ALS worldwide, Chris's sister has turned to Beijing Beijing Puhua International Hospital hospital, and within a month from the original consultation the siblings have decided to come to China, hoping that Cell Therapy treatment will help Chris's battle with the disease.
CONDITION BEFORE TREATMENT:
Chris began noticing the first symptoms in 2004, when his left shoulder muscle began twitching. In 2007 weakness in his legs and arms started to bring a serious discomfort, walking and lifting objects became a struggle. Having family history of ALs, Chris undergone genetic testing, and the diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis were made.
Over time, as the disease progressed, Chris lost the ability to walk unassisted and started using a wheelchair constantly. He could use his arms minimally. He could not eat, dress and clean himself anymore.
Upon admission to Beijing Puhua International Hospital hospital, atrophy was noted in muscles of four limbs. Muscle strength was at a low level of both upper and lower limbs, fingers and toes on both sides. Tendon reflexes in four limbs and abdominal reflex could not be elicited. Chris could not cooperate with the movement coordination examination. Chris now needs aid in all daily activities, including feeding, dressing and personal care.
METHOD OF TREATMENT:
Cell Therapy implantation, Daily IV of medicines, neural nutrition and protection as well as Physical Therapy sessions, Traditional Chinese Medicine, massage and acupuncture.
AFTER THE TREATMENT:
After the treatment Chris's condition has improved significantly. His mental status is good.
While in the hospital, Chris's condition stabilized and no further deterioration was noted. Chris reports on more power in his trunk and upper limbs muscles. Muscle strength in all fingers increased as well, which makes it easier for him to control his wheel chair.
Chris has also reported on stronger voice, and easier breathing.
While leaving the hospital, Chris expressed his desire to come back for another treatment in our hospital, and seeing further improvements and slower deterioration upon return to native Australia. | <urn:uuid:e50cb3b7-1a04-44e1-8433-1d50f90058d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stemcellspuhua.com/s187.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965887 | 465 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Press Release 09-017
Keeping an Eye on the Inauguration
New system enabled law enforcement to monitor security cameras all at once, even from police cruisers
February 4, 2009
View videos of Milton Chen, chief technology officer at VSee, and Errol Arkilic, program manager in NSF's Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships.
One of the toughest technological challenges for law enforcement is to simultaneously monitor live feeds from the wireless cameras scattered across their jurisdictions. A nearly impossible task under any circumstances, it was an even greater one for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration.
In planning to safeguard the millions of visitors and residents in the city for the Inauguration events, Washington, D.C. required a new surveillance approach.
In response, law enforcement adapted a "virtual office" system called VSee to overcome the bandwidth obstacles that had prevented simultaneous access to all of the city's cameras.
Developed with National Science Foundation (NSF) support as part of the Small Business Innovation Research Program, VSee is a combination of hardware and software that allows users to securely receive and share large amounts of information, usually within a virtual office environment.
Though originally created as a telework platform, VSee was adapted to enable security officers to watch multiple remote cameras in real time from a single command center. Because the changes to the system shrank the cameras' data-streaming bandwidth to a fraction of its original size, even police cruisers were able to access the feeds via cellular networks.
The technology originally emerged as the Ph.D. work of Milton Chen, then at Stanford University, where he focused on videoconferencing and remote collaboration. "After I completed my Ph.D., my advisors and some of my colleagues who worked on the project decided to form VSee with me," says Chen.
Not satisfied with existing virtual office approaches, Chen wanted to find a way to capture the advantages of telework without the usual technical shortfalls and impact on office social dynamics--both burdens on productivity. Even today, with the support of funds from NSF and other sources, Chen and his team modify the software based on findings from research studies of the social dynamics of both the workplace and home work environments.
Existing collaboration tools limited the remote work experience in significant ways, with handicaps including difficulties sharing on-screen applications, limited webcam feeds and poor video, which can cloud the critical social cues necessary for remote communication.
"From a technology standpoint, what resonated most with NSF was the clever bandwidth-management enabled by VSee's approach," says Errol Arkilic, the NSF program officer who oversees VSee's grants. It was the bandwidth management that made the Inauguration monitoring possible. "VSee engineered a solution that bypasses the constraints of various communications protocols, a breakthrough that has the potential to span across many platforms, including wireless."
Within the remote-work system that Chen and his collaborators developed, all users can clearly see each other at once, work together on an on-screen document or other object, and trust that their environment is secure from intruders. And unlike a virtual meeting, the VSee platform is on all day, with options for privacy, so it becomes a true virtual office environment.
For the Inauguration application, the interface was the same, with each camera taking the role of a "user". With VSee managing the bandwidth, for the first time, security officials could keep all cameras active and bring real-time situational awareness to law enforcement officers wherever they were in the city.
VSee also solved the key problem of inter-agency collaboration. During the Inauguration, VSee was used by half a dozen law enforcement agencies to share information and collaborate in real-time.
While security applications are still new, the system's adoption for telework has expanded rapidly since its release in 2003, with several Fortune 500 companies and federal agencies adopting VSee for remote work or for traceless, secure collaborations.
The employees at VSee are continuing to refine their software, modifying it as they use it for their internal use in offices around the world. Says Chen,"By focusing on the collaboration requirements of a team like ours, we aim to create a simple tool to achieve the productivity of a bullpen in a tech startup."
Joshua A. Chamot, NSF (703) 292-7730 email@example.com
Errol B. Arkilic, NSF (703) 292-8095 firstname.lastname@example.org
Milton Chen, VSee (650) 400-1798 email@example.com
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
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Awards Searches: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/ | <urn:uuid:615d1468-57c7-4644-841d-97a46819f3ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=114128&org=IIP&from=news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939314 | 1,157 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Unbelieveable! This Is Not Butter!
Everyone has heard of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, the margarine spread with the memorably comical name. While there are many butter substitutes gracing our grocery store shelves (oh yes, how they make my stomach juices flow), I assumed that this was the only product that used the word "butter" to market its superiority over other butter substitutes through its fascinating ability to be mistaken for real butter.
But my world of fake butter (population: 1) was turned upside-down when I read Elyse Sewell's livejournal entry documenting curious products from her local supermarket, including two more I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!-like products: Butter It's Not! and Could It Be Butter? I found these names just as amusing as I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, possibly more so, but googling their names showed that the Internet didn't really give a damn about these other products. While I Can't Believe It's Not Butter returned 95,100 results, Butter It's Not returned 1,760 results and Could It Be Butter? brought up the rear with a paltry 186 results.
I came across a few other fake butter products with peculiar names. Check out the full gallery after the jump.
Butter It's Not!: As scottbateman said, "By Yoda was named."
Could it be Butter?: I imagine a misguided consumer saying this name in a hopeful tone: "Could it be butter? Oh please, for the love of God, could it be?..." and then falling into a heap of disappointment when they realize it's not butter.
What, not butter!: Shouldn't this be a question!
Unbelieveable This is not butter: Although this product is from Taiwan, I think with a few additional exclamation marks and more appealing packaging this name could catch on in the US.
I came across a few other names for fake butter products—Is It Really Butter? ("Nope, fooled ya!") and Too Good To Be Butter ("Doubtful!")—but I have no visual evidence to back this up. If you've ever seen these products or have other names to toss into the ring, please let me know.
Taste Like Butter: I first read this as "Tastes Like Butter." I'd think most people would if they have a few grammar lessons under their belts.
However, it's "Taste," not "Tastes." As Raphaël pointed out, "'Taste Like Butter' isn't even correct English!"
But I can think of at least one situation where it could be correct: if it were a command. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TASTE LIKE BUTTER"
You'd Think It's Butter!: Notice the typography on this product from H-E-B, a Texas-based grocery store chain; the words "Think" and "Butter" are bolded. Perhaps they want me to...think butter? Yet how come every time I read the name I just want to attach, "But It's Not!" to the end of it? | <urn:uuid:3201f2f6-7e70-41fe-8c4f-65f0b047fb9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/its-not-butterdeal-with-it.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960794 | 651 | 1.570313 | 2 |
By Kate Spinner
Summer afternoons in Florida are undoubtedly hot, but not quite as hot as they used to be, on average, in Sarasota.
A new analysis of the past three decades of temperatures shows Florida — especially Sarasota — bucking a pronounced warming trend nationwide.
At the Sarasota-Bradenton weather station, average high temperatures fell every month of the year and in some months by nearly two degrees. As a result, Sarasota's average high temperature for July will drop from 91.3 degrees to 89.8 degrees.
"It doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you integrate that over a whole year in terms of your heating bill or your crops, it really adds up," said Anthony Arguez, a physical scientist who managed the reanalysis of the nation's normal temperatures for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. | <urn:uuid:a1d31a94-ad93-4816-acbd-4d51a532d338> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conservativeunderground.com/forum505/showthread.php?41990-Sarasota-bucks-warming-trend&p=431198&viewfull=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943631 | 176 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Organizational Goals: The project aims to achieve The Miracle Foundation’s effort to raise the standard of living for the children living in the orphanage. The project will achieve the United Nations Children’s Bill of Rights which includes - The right to a stable loving and nurturing environment
• Physical, mental and emotional health
• Environment that fosters love for learning
The Miracle Foundation aims to provide an environment that most closely resembles a family situation with a series of cottages that house 10 children and their house- mother. The cottages are built around a shared playground, common areas, and a nearby school.
The project will endeavor to provide a happy, stimulating, and safe environment to develop and enhance every child’s abilities and personalities. The project should also serve as a model for future projects to be undertaken by The Miracle Foundation.
Social Goals: Community involvement will be encouraged both during the process of design and while construction. Local employment will be encouraged wherever possible. The design of the building will include spaces that can be used by the villagers as well to encourage interaction between the community and the Home.
Form and Image Goals: The building will reflect the local architectural language of the area. Use of local traditional materials and technologies will be encouraged. The building should not stand out incongruously, but at the same time correct any flaws in the local style and serve as a model for villagers.
Function Goals: The building is to be used as accommodation for the children. The environment would provide for spaces to play together, to learn and interact.
Economic Goals: The project will try to achieve a balance between the initial costs and long term operating and maintenance costs. The building will be designed to be functional and aesthetically pleasing, but not high end. As far as possible, sustainable features will be incorporated to reduce the recurring costs and minimize environmental impact. | <urn:uuid:c337e332-6cd3-4f45-8560-8e954c0a7e59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://architectureforhumanity.org/node/1253 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94268 | 380 | 2.234375 | 2 |
As American Coal Exports Skyrocket, Chinese Companies Look To Buy Up Appalachia
Much of the financial infrastructure for companies operating Appalachian surface mines may soon be in China, along with an increasing amount of Appalachian coal.
On May 7, Guizhou Guochuang Energy Holding Group said it had raised 3.9 billion yuan in a private placement to be used mainly to acquire and develop Triple H Coal Company, making it the first Chinese company to invest in coal in America…
I want to put this into a context for other Tennesseans. The United States exports ten times as much coal as we mine every year in Tennessee. We don’t need to continue mining mountaintops in our state to provide infrastructure, jobs, or electricity. What’s more, Tennessee congregations, citizens, and campuses are working together to make Tennessee the first state to ban mountaintop removal by passing the Tennessee Scenic Vistas Protection Act in the state legislature. The bill would ban surface mines on virgin ridges above 2000 feet in the state.
Meanwhile, Triple H Coal – the company which looks to be in Chinese hands soon – is the only remaining Tennessee-owned company with active surface mining permits above 2,000 feet. In other words, assuming the deal to buy out Triple H is finalized, if Tennessee politicians talk about opposing the scenic vistas bill, they are talking about protecting companies that are leaving their pollution in Tennessee, but are sending most of the benefits (both mineral and financial) either out of state, or out of the country.
Tennessee coal makes up less than 1% of TVA’s coal purchases. Most coal from the Volunteer State is shipped by rail to South Carolina and Georgia. Unfortunately for Appalachian citizens, in the near future much of the financial infrastructure associated with nearby coal operations may no longer be locally invested either. It certainly doesn’t sound like these Chinese investors plan to stop with Triple H either…
A top Shenhua executive said that coal mines in Tennessee were attracting a lot of attention from investors.
The article notes that Triple H coal has surface and mineral rights for about 125 square kilometers (roughly 48 square miles) in Campbell County, Tennessee. If the acquisition is finalized, the company apparently has plans to build five new metallurgical coal mines with 1 million tons of capacity. Metallurgical coal, high quality coal used for making steel, is more valuable on the international market and more likely to be exported than the steam coal typically used in coal fired power plants.
To be clear, the main consumers of Appalachian mountaintop removal coal are in the southeastern U.S., particularly North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. However, as prices spike and companies switch to natural gas, purchased power, energy efficiency, and cleaner renewables, an increasing amount of mountaintop removal coal is going overseas. So from a profit perspective, it’s no surprise to see foreign companies continue investing in Central Appalachian coal companies that are practicing mountaintop removal. But from a people perspective, it is just another kick in the gut to an already burdened Appalachian people.
Interest in rapidly rising American coal exports, is growing after a report from Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) and his staff on the US House Committee on Natural Resources showed that around 12% of America’s coal was exported in 2011. That rate has been rising for several years. From the four states included in the report (WV, VA, PA, KY), more than 13 million tons were exported, with some surface mines in Appalachia exporting 100% of their coal production. The 13 million tons exported from Appalachia is almost double the annual surface production of the state of Virginia, a state where at least 3 mines exported 100% of their coal production in 2011. | <urn:uuid:c4010122-5f71-482a-8684-18e97da51bcf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://appvoices.org/2012/07/25/us-coal-keeping-the-lights-on-in-chinese-boardrooms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958872 | 773 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Sir John Carew Eccles (January 27, 1903 – May 2, 1997) was an Australian neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse. He shared the prize together with Andrew Fielding Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin.
In the early 1950s, Eccles and his colleagues performed the key experiments that would win Eccles the Nobel Prize. To study synapses in the peripheral nervous system, Eccles and colleagues used the stretch reflex as a model. This reflex is easily studied because it consists of only two neurons: a sensory neuron (the muscle spindle fiber) and the motor neuron. The sensory neuron synapses onto the motor neuron in the spinal cord. When Eccles passed a current into the sensory neuron in the quadriceps, the motor neuron innervating the quadricep produced a small excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP). When he passed the same current through the hamstring, the opposing muscle to the quadricep, he saw an inhibitory postsynaptic potential (IPSP) in the quadricep motor neuron. Although a single EPSP was not enough to fire an action potential in the motor neuron, the sum of several EPSPs from multiple sensory neurons synapsing onto the motor neuron could cause the motor neuron to fire, thus contracting the quadricep. On the other hand, IPSPs could subtract from this sum of EPSPs, preventing the motor neuron from firing.
Apart from these seminal experiments, Eccles was key to a number of important developments in neuroscience. Until around 1949, Eccles believed that synaptic transmission was primarily electrical rather than chemical. Although he was wrong in this hypothesis, his arguments led himself and others to perform some of the experiments which proved chemical synaptic transmission. Bernard Katz and Eccles worked together on some of the experiments which elucidated the role of acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter.
Eccles was born in Melbourne, Australia. He attended Melbourne High School and graduated from Melbourne University in 1925. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study under Charles Scott Sherrington at Oxford University, where he received his Doctor of Philosophy in 1929. In 1937 Eccles returned to Australia, where he worked on military research during World War II. After the war, he became a professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand. From 1952 to 1962 he worked as a professor at the Australian National University. He won the Australian of the Year Award in 1963, the same year he won the Nobel Prize. In 1966 he moved to the United States to work at the Institute for Biomedical Research in Chicago, Illinois. Unhappy with the working conditions there, he left to become a professor at the University at Buffalo from 1968 until he retired in 1975. After retirement, he moved to Switzerland and wrote on the mind-body problem. He died in 1997 in Locarno, Switzerland.
Eccles was a devout theist and a sometime Catholic, and is regarded by many Christians as an examplar of the successful melding of a life of science with one of faith. A biography states that, "although not always a practicing Catholic, Eccles was a theist and a spiritual person, and he believed 'that there is a Divine Providence operating over and above the materialistic happenings of biological evolution'... (Occasionally, if Eccles found himself in strange surroundings on a Sunday, he would go to some pains to find a church where he could attend a Mass.)"
- Sir John Eccles Biography. Nobel Foundation.
- Pratt, D.: John Eccles on Mind and Brain.
- Sabbatini, R.M.E.: Neurons and synapses. The history of its discovery IV. Chemical transmission. Brain & Mind, 2004.
Alexander 'Jock' Sturrock
|Australian of the Year|
1951: Theiler | 1952: Waksman | 1953: Krebs, Lipmann | 1954: Enders, Weller, Robbins | 1955: Theorell | 1956: Cournand, Forssmann, Richards | 1957: Bovet | 1958: Beadle, Tatum, Lederberg | 1959: Ochoa, Kornberg | 1960: Burnet, Medawar | 1961: Békésy | 1962: Crick, Watson, Wilkins | 1963: Eccles, Hodgkin, Huxley | 1964: Bloch, Lynen | 1965: Jacob, Lwoff, Monod | 1966: Rous, Huggins | 1967: Granit, Hartline, Wald | 1968: Holley, Khorana, Nirenberg | 1969: Delbrück, Hershey, Luria | 1970: Katz, Euler, Axelrod | 1971: Sutherland | 1972: Edelman, Porter | 1973: Frisch, Lorenz, Tinbergen | 1974: Claude, Duve, Palade | 1975: Baltimore, Dulbecco, Temin
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:721fd989-8fc2-4f92-a4f2-aa9039d99c8b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/John_Carew_Eccles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928169 | 1,041 | 3 | 3 |
The temperature may have reached into the 20s around noon on a recent mid-December weekday.
An extended period of air stagnation, with its freezing fog and light snow, had decorated the flora along Mill Creek with dazzling designs, especially between Tausick Way and Rooks Park.
And it seemed like more water birds than usual bustled in bunches on the friendly currents of the stream.
Perhaps because of the misty cold, I found the parking area at the Walla Walla Community College baseball and softball fields empty.
In fact, Nora the Schnauzer and I crossed to the unpaved south side of the creek and walked all the way past the project office and to Rooks Park without seeing another dog or walker.
I carried two cameras on the walk, one with a big lens for critters and one with a small lens for scenery.
Still all alone, we crossed the bridge below the dam and toured the park with its frost-flocked trees, new playground equipment and frosted volleyball net.
People had left many scuffling trails through the frosted grass of the park, either the day before or early that morning.
Eventually, when we started back on the paved path, I detected birds fluttering among the trees 20 yards away. I figured they were sparrows or juncos.
When one landed on a tree trunk, I wondered if it could be a brown creeper and aimed the big lens at it.
"Probably a brown creeper," I said aloud, but Nora continued watching mergansers and mallards on the water.
After that I aimed the big lens vaguely toward the birds hopping among the limbs and snapped off several frames before losing sight of them.
Alas, nothing looked very clear in the camera's LCD monitor.
About then a man with a spotting scope on a tri-pod crossed the park's arching, photogenic bridge. He was the first person I had met, and we shared stories about what we had seen.
I told him about the "brown creeper."
He seemed skeptical but went into the park to check as Nora and I moved on downstream.
I took more photos of the scenery, with an occasional shot of hooded and common mergansers, along with the usual shots of great blue herons.
We began to meet other people along the path.
The man with the tripod, however, passed on the south side of the stream.
Moments later, Carol Hargreaves, a frequent Mill Creek visitor who taught elementary school for 26 years and who knows birds, passed us as she headed to Rooks Park.
She had seen a flock of golden-crowned kinglets among the thickets near the bridge at the project office.
"I'll look for them," I said as she continued upstream.
Minutes later, the man with the tripod approached on the paved path. He suggested the birds at Rooks Park had been a flock of ruby-crowned kinglets.
He had a field guide and showed me a colorful picture of the tiny, striking birds that I had barely noticed.
Seconds later, Nora and I met Carol and Dale Pettibone.
We meet them often along Mill Creek, usually during the photographer's golden hour before sunset, and share information about cameras, lenses, what we've seen and what to look for that day.
Dale, who aimed a 500-milemeter lens at a kingfisher across the stream, also often carries two cameras.
As we talked, Carol Hargreaves stopped again to tell us that the flock of golden-crowned kinglets still fluttered around in a nearby thicket.
Dale and I hurried to the spot she indicated. We clicked frame-after-frame and showed each other the results in our monitors.
His looked sharp. Mine looked fuzzy. I blamed my fogged glasses.
Nora and I eventually headed for the nearby bridge to take the south side trail back to Tausick Way and the truck.
Mink tracks marked the thin layer of snow among the equipment boxes on the bridge, and I stood for several minutes watching for a mink to show itself.
It didn't, so we traipsed back to the truck and drove home.
Later, when I filed the day's photos on the computer, I made the serendipitous discovery.
Three photos of a ruby-crowned kinglet revealed sharp images of the 4-inch bird with a ruby-colored spot on its head.
Alas, no really sharp one of the golden-crowned kinglet appeared, but a couple did show the golden crown.
Nevertheless, I liked the ruby-crowned kinglet photo.
It's nice to be lucky sometimes.
Contact Don Davis at firstname.lastname@example.org. More of Don's photos can be found online at www.tripper.smugmug.com . | <urn:uuid:0e37a941-4742-44a0-a65c-6029da4db463> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://union-bulletin.com/news/2011/dec/29/a-little-luck/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964901 | 1,030 | 1.5625 | 2 |
The Canadian Cancer Society, B.C. and Yukon, is calling for regulations that would make outdoor patios of bars and restaurants as well as beaches, parks and playgrounds smoke-free.
The society is urging current MLA’s and all parties’ candidates to follow the lead of four other provinces and 30 B.C. municipalities by making a commitment to strengthen the tobacco control regulation to include greater protection in outdoor areas. Enhanced smoke-free public places are also supported by the BC Lung Association and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, which make up the Clean Air Coalition of BC.
“During national non-smoking week, we are urging policymakers to do one thing to enhance tobacco control and help prevent cancer — expand regulations around smoke-free public places,” said Barbara Kaminsky, CEO, Canadian Cancer Society, B.C. and Yukon. “There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke, a fact supported by the U.S. Surgeon General and Medical Health Officers’ Council of B.C. Children, teens and adults should be protected when they play outdoors.”
Tobacco use remains the largest single preventable cause of death and disease in B.C., killing more than 6,000 British Columbians each year. Second-hand smoke is linked to the death of up to 140 British Columbians each year. In total, tobacco use costs the B.C. economy $2.3 billion annually.
“We know that smoke-free outdoor places increase the motivation for smokers to quit or cut back,” said Kaminsky. “With the majority of people starting to smoke before the age of 18, eliminating smoking in public places creates healthy role modelling so youth are less likely to even consider taking up the habit.”
The Canadian Cancer Society has been a supporter of B.C.’s Smoking Cessation Program, including quitnow.ca, which has seen almost 150,000 orders for nicotine replacement therapies placed in just over a year.
“We believe the government has made great strides to helping reduce smoking rates in our province but we need to do even more,” she said. “Protecting British Columbians from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke outdoors and from exposure to smoking behaviours needs to be a top priority for all politicians.”
Smoking rates in B.C. are the lowest in the country at 14 per cent. However, in B.C. in 2012 the number of men and women who died from lung cancer was approximately double the number of those who died from breast and prostate cancer combined (2,400 versus 1,160). | <urn:uuid:3abf7b0b-b8ab-458e-bd8c-f9794e71c849> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.coastreporter.net/article/20130122/SECHELT0101/301229998/-1/SECHELT/province-asked-to-make-patios-parks-and-playgrounds-smoke-free | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95442 | 550 | 2.71875 | 3 |
13 4 / 2013
"Recently I was engaged in an online discussion about whether there are or can be a basic set of skills that all librarians should master. I have yet to see a persuasive argument for any particular library-specific skill that absolutely every librarian or library school graduate must have, and I’m pretty sure that’s because no such argument can be made. Most claims about what all librarians need to know or do or think rest on the assumption that there is a mythical creature—The Librarian. However, The Librarian doesn’t exist."
In which Wayne Bivens-Tatum talks about the TV movie The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (starring Noah Wyle) among other things.
Not to mention the many, many things that fall under “What They Don’t Teach You in Library School” and “Other Duties as Assigned”—all librarians have to be ready to do things they didn’t think they were going to be doing.
09 4 / 2013
"Now many public libraries want to lend e-books, not simply to patrons who come in to download, but to anybody with a reading device, a library card and an Internet connection. In this new reality, the only incentive to buy, rather than borrow, an e-book is the fact that the lent copy vanishes after a couple of weeks. As a result, many publishers currently refuse to sell e-books to public libraries."
Authors Guild president Scott Turow in his New York Times editorial last Sunday, which many in the publishing world have criticized for its negativity and defensiveness.
He claims to be looking out for the financial and creative interests of new and midlist authors, and yet, as I myself have pointed out, he fails to acknowledge how invested the American public library system is in launching writing careers. (First novels are always a draw for collection development librarians, and I market them aggressively.)
Turow is, how do you say, desperately out of touch with the opportunities of the digital age. Sad.
Wildly out of touch—and out of touch with the opportunities of the analog age? What does he think libraries have been up to all this time?
He makes it sound like anyone can go online to any library and download their ebooks. Digital books work just like physical books - a library card is required. The requirements for getting a library card doesn’t change just because you only want ebooks. | <urn:uuid:f9eddb34-1365-43f0-ada7-7e347fcb862c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mwisger.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956038 | 522 | 1.765625 | 2 |
From the grand classics of the 1930s to modern supercars of today, Italian designers have influenced the look of automobiles on a global scale. The Petersen Automotive Museum exhibition on Italian design explores the many ways in which Italian coachbuilders and manufacturers have contributed to the evolution of the automobile from a collection of disorganized parts to a single, visually appealing unit. Already well aware of the Italian contribution in the look of clothing, art, and architecture, museum visitors will be fascinated to learn that the country that gave the world Michelangelo and Botticelli also gave it the designers responsible for the exotic and inspired automobiles we have now come to expect from Italy.
Sculpture in Motion: Masterpieces of Italian Design
February 25, 2012 - February 3, 2013
- Aerodynamics: From Art to Science
- Art Wall: Theodore W. Pietsch II
- Braving Baja: 1000 Miles to Glory
- Fins: Form Without Function
Media Request Form
If you are a member of the media and would like to schedule a visit, request photos or other information, or would like to receive media releases, please send us an email with your request. | <urn:uuid:7fb7db1a-ac15-4093-83cb-24fd8c17f141> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://petersen.org/exhibitions/details/sculpture-in-motion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938391 | 237 | 2.4375 | 2 |
ISBN: 9781933392585 Year Added to Catalog: 2007 Book Format: Paperback Book Art: Black and White Photos Dimensions: 6 x 9 Number of Pages: 360 Book Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Release Date: October 20, 2008 Web Product ID: 375
Also By This Author
Not One Drop
Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
"Aldo Leopold wrote, 'A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.'
The tragic Exxon Valdez oil spill is wrong!
Riki Ott is the right person--at the right place--at the right time. Her expertise as an author and as a marine toxicologist alerts us to the true cost of our addiction to oil--not just monetary cost, but ecological cost. Democracy and the planet are at stake."
—Nina Bradley, Director of the Aldo Leopold Foundation
“As you read the following pages, allow your heart to break. Imagine Cordova as your home and Prince William Sound as your backyard. When you set the book down, make an absolute, iron-clad commitment to join other men and women who are determined to create a world that future generations will want to inhabit.”
– From the Foreword by John Perkins.
Betrayed by oilmen’s promises in the 1970s, the people of Prince William Sound, Alaska, awaken on March 14, 1989, to the nation’s largest oil spill. Not One Drop is an extraordinary tale of ordinary lives ripped apart by disaster and of community healing through building relationships of trust. This story offers critical lessons for a society traumatized by political divides and facing the looming catastrophe of global climate change.
Author Riki Ott, a rare combination of commercial salmon “fisherm’am” and PhD marine biologist, describes firsthand the impacts of oil companies’ broken promises when the Exxon Valdez spills most of its cargo and despoils thousands of miles of shore. Ott illustrates in stirring fashion the oil industry’s 20-year trail of pollution and deception that predated the tragic 1989 spill and delves deep into the disruption to the fishing community of Cordova over the following 19 years. In vivid detail, she describes the human trauma coupled inextricably with that of the sound’s wildlife and its long road to recovery.
Ott critically examines shifts in scientific understanding of oil-spill effects on ecosystems and communities, exposes fundamental flaws in governance and the legal system, and contrasts hard won spill-prevention and spill-response measures in the sound to dangerous conditions on the Alaska pipeline. Her human story, varied background, professional training, and activist heart lead readers to the root of the problem: a clash of human rights and corporate power embedded in law and small-town life.
Not One Drop is as much an example of how too many corporate owners and political leaders betray everyday citizens as it is one of the universal struggle to maintain heart, to find the courage to overcome disaster, and to forge a new path from despair to hope.
About the Author
A commercial salmon "fisherma'am," Dr. Riki Ott (PhD in marine biology) experienced firsthand the devastating effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill—and chose to do something about it. Ott retired from fishing and founded three nonprofit organizations to deal with lingering harm. Her previous book on the spill is Sound Truth and Corporate Myth$. She lives in Cordova, Alaska.
In the News
Riki Ott talks to CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta about the toxic effects of crude oil and dispersant fumes: AC360°
The Health Threats to BP Gulf Oil Disaster Cleanup Crews: The ... | <urn:uuid:9fcc20e5-d357-4f87-b5b5-af456b3bd16e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/not_one_drop:paperback/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912288 | 785 | 1.875 | 2 |
Food-Borne Illness Related to the Increased Incidence of Salmonella Enteritidis
PDF Version of BQA 98-014
(PDF, 22 KB)
Date: July 13, 1998 -- DSL-BQA-98-014
To: Nursing Homes NH
Facilities for the Developmentally
Disabled FDD - 05,
Hospitals HOSP - 05,
Community Based Residential
Facilities CBRF - 04,
Adult Family Homes AFH
Adult Day Care Centers ADC 03
From: Judy Fryback, Director, Bureau of Quality Assurance
The Wisconsin Bureau of Public Health informed the Bureau of Quality Assurance of a
substantial increase in the number of persons in Wisconsin who had diarrheal illnesses
during 1997 due to the bacterium Salmonella Enteritidis compared to the previous
three years. During 1997, there were 395 reported cases of laboratory-confirmed Salmonella
Enteritidis infections. This was roughly two and a half times the average annual
number of cases during the previous three years. There was an even greater increase in the
occurrence of Salmonella Enteritidis among elderly persons; the age-specific
incidence rate for persons 65 and older during 1997 was 9.1 cases per 100,000 population,
which represents a three-fold increase from the average of 2.9 cases per 100,000
population per year during the years 1994-96. In addition, there were eight outbreaks with
a common exposure such as a restaurant or party. One of these outbreaks occurred in a
nursing home and resulted in ten residents having a diarrheal illness due to Salmonella
Enteritidis with one of the residents being hospitalized.
Epidemiologic investigations of the sporadic and outbreak-associated cases suggested
that contaminated eggs were primarily responsible for the increase in reported infections.
Eggs have been linked to infections due to Salmonella Enteritidis in other parts of
the country as well. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer
Protection conducted a trace-back of eggs that were associated with two outbreaks and
identified chicken flocks living in environments contaminated with Salmonella
Enteritidis. Eggs from these flocks are no longer being sold as shell eggs in the
retail market. However, the source of eggs could not be identified for all cases of Salmonella
Enteritidis infection which occurred during 1997, because the small size of some
clusters and the sporadic cases did not allow identification of a particular source of
eggs even though there was evidence that the infections were due to eggs. Therefore, it
cannot be assumed that all Wisconsin flocks with Salmonella Enteritidis contamination
have been identified.
Food borne illness is a serious health issue for all persons, but persons who are
elderly, have weakened immune systems, or suffer from chronic disease such as diabetes are
at a higher risk of severe illness due to Salmonella Enteritidis. In fact, during
the years 1985-1991, the case-fatality rate in hospital- and nursing home-associated
outbreaks was 3.0%, 70 times the case-fatality rate in other settings (0.043%). The
symptoms of Salmonella Enteritidis include diarrhea, fever, nausea, vomiting,
abdominal pain, and headaches. These symptoms can vary in both severity and onset.
Food service operations in health care and community settings must guard against
outbreaks of food borne illness. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and the state Bureau of Public Health recommend the following measures to protect
residents, clients and patients living in health care and community settings:
Under no circumstances should raw eggs be served.
In institutions with high risk populations, pasteurized egg products should be
substituted for raw eggs used in recipes, where possible.
Separate blenders should be used for pureeing other foods if a blender is use for
scrambling eggs. Several outbreaks have been traced to pureed food prepared in the same
blender used to scramble eggs.
Particular attention needs to be given to washing and sanitizing any kitchen equipment
that comes in contact with the contents of shell eggs.
If shell eggs are used in health care and community settings, the Bureau of Quality
Assurance and the Bureau of Public Health are advising health care and community-based
providers to evaluate their food safety practices, including how eggs are purchased and
used in their facilities. In particular, we recommend the following:
Eggs and egg-containing foods must be refrigerated at temperatures of 40º F or below or
kept hot at 140ºF or hotter.
Never accept room temperature, cracked, or broken raw shell eggs.
Thoroughly cook all eggs so that the yolk and white are solid.
Do not accept or use eggs that have passed their "expiration," "sell
by" or "use by date."
Review procedures to prevent cross-contamination between raw eggs or foods containing
raw eggs; including with hands, surfaces, utensils and other foods. For example, hands
should be thoroughly washed with warm, soapy water and dried with single service
disposable towels before and after egg handling. Utensils, equipment, and work areas
should be washed and sanitized before and after coming in contact with raw eggs.
Eggs are not the only source of Salmonella Enteritidis. Other foods
implicated in Salmonella Enteritidis outbreaks include meats and meat products,
poultry, and combination foods, (e.g., salads) that contain the previously mentioned food
products. Food handlers and others who are infected with the bacterium can also spread Salmonella
Enteritidis. Food service employees with a diarrheal illness should be evaluated
medically and should not work while they are symptomatic. If there are questions about
specific cases of diarrheal illness, contact your local health department.
Mishandling and improper cooking and storage of foods are the most common contributing
factors to food borne outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis and other food borne
illnesses. Food service employees and others need to be educated about effective
food safety, including purchasing, storing and handling foods properly, cooking foods to
proper temperatures, using effective hand washing practices, keeping food contact surfaces
clean and sanitized, and preventing cross-contamination.
Attached is a memorandum
from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that answers questions about Salmonella
Enteritidis and eggs (exit DHFS). If you have any questions, please call Billie March, Dietary
Services Consultant, Bureau of Quality Assurance [call
Jean Kollasch at (608) 267-0466] or John Archer,
Epidemiologist, Bureau of Public Health at (608) 267-9009.
PDF: The free Acrobat Reader®
software is needed to view and print portable document format (PDF) files. | <urn:uuid:5a5fb1f4-2bb8-4819-a8e9-09ef7e349740> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/rl_DSL/Publications/98-014.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93169 | 1,466 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Posts Tagged ‘gaming’
Thanks to Izzy for the heads up on this story.
According to a Norwegian newspaper, a young boy and his sister were attacked by a moose, and the boy taunted the moose away from his sister and then played dead so that the moose would lose aggro and leave. “Just like you learn in level 30 in World of Warcraft,” the boy is reported as saying.
Which goes to show, gaming saves lives.
However, my level 23 Night Elf Hunter, Leafgarrett, would have been moose food.
Also however, if it had been a mountain lion instead of a moose, the strategy might not have worked. | <urn:uuid:b7672e8c-2123-4f76-b52b-45d28c9c1fcd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://rettstatt.com/blog/tag/gaming/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988836 | 145 | 1.5 | 2 |
Questions? Call us
+43 2243 38280-0
Monitoring water level is one of the major tasks of all drinking water providers, hydrographical institutions, dam operators, sewer managers, flood protection agencies, and of many others. Current water level is an important indicator that triggers imminent action.
With conventional methods levels are usually read in large intervals only. Such historic data is of limited relevance, being available rather late and not reflecting all events that occurred. Frequently level monitoring sites, e.g. ground water levels, are temporarily inaccessible, e.g. in winter, or are located in protected areas like bird habitats that cannot be accessed during breeding. Loggers have shown to frequently deliver unpleasant surprises, with batteries than ran empty, memory that failed or sensors that calcified and didn''t show any further changes.
Here you can see the two reservoirs of an austrian municipal supplier. The blue and pink lines show the level of the reservoir, which is kept in the green range by addVANTAGE Pro''s remote pump control. The green line shows flow, the yellow line the ON/OFF status of the pump. The pump is triggered by the level''s upper and lower threshold.
An Adcon radio system delivers data 24/7, at any time, any season, and any location. Data is available almost in real time, any alarming shifts in water levels can immediately trigger the required action.
All Adcon Remote Telemetry Units can be used with these sensors.
The savings in time, man power and traveling cost are considerable. Intervals between visits of the monitoring sites can be largely extended.
The image to the left shows the A753 addWAVE GPRS, a multi-purpose data logger that can monitor water level and quality, precipitation and temperature, pumps and motors - all at the same time.
Adcon supplies top quality products made in Switzerland: digitally compensated pressure transducers with outstanding accuracy, long term stability and tolerance against overpressure. By default we supply this Adcon LEV1 transducer with the following measuring ranges: 1, 3, 5 and 10 bar. Custom ranges in between and up to 100 bar can be ordered.
The transducers are supplied with a default Adcon 7-pin connector and a pressure relieve box, , a 0.1 to 2.5V output signal and have an extremely low power consumption.
Germanys OTT Hydrometry has built itself an excellent reputation as a manufacturer of highly reliable sensors and software for hydrographical purposes, and is a market leader in all german speaking countries. A large variety of OTT sensors is available with an SDI-12 interface, and can thus easily be connected to an Adcon RTU: | <urn:uuid:b56d7aff-f14b-4a2e-ad31-aba1c4b2ecf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.adcon.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=14:environmental-monitoring&id=58:precipitation-monitoring&Itemid=68&lang=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931393 | 562 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Originally published on GayNZ.
Wellington-based activist group The Queer Avengers is calling for a struggle “beyond marriage”, saying while it supports marriage equality, it’s not the end of the line for GLBT rights.
While the group supports Louisa Wall’s Bill to introduce marriage equality, it says the community still faces a number of obstacles.
Member Sara Fraser says these include bullying, suicide and homelessness among GLBT youth; inadequate access to quality healthcare for trans people; and common intimidation and violence in the streets.
She adds that there are many family structures which marriage and adoption law does not cover, for example polyamory and whangai adoption.
“This is not the final struggle,” Fraser says. “We’re looking ahead to the struggles beyond marriage.”
However when it comes to the marriage equality battle, the Queer Avengers are critical of MPs who are against it.
“Bill English says that equality is not a priority. Instead, National would like to focus on the important things, like making deals with casinos and scapegoating beneficiaries for the financial crisis,” argues Queer Avenger Ian Anderson.
“This government is more interested in cutting back rights than extending them.”
Anderson adds that equality is a matter of principle, not personal conscience. “If parties support the principle of equality, they should treat it as such. This is a basic civil rights issue. Conscience votes are a cop-out.” | <urn:uuid:608ae72e-eefe-472c-98f2-24ed0b7aec4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fightback.org.nz/2012/07/28/queer-avengers-call-for-a-struggle-beyond-marriage/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946238 | 316 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Monday, October 25, 2010 8:15 am
Talk of War
Posted by: Kaite Stover
When it comes to books on current events my discussion groups are divided. Some readers want the latest bestselling political nonfiction titles to discuss and others don’t want that much scholarly detail getting in the way of a good story.
Recently, USAToday featured four young adult novels on the Iraq war that will also appeal to adults.
The war-related topics covered in these books offer a wide spectrum of subjects–post-traumatic stress disorder, re-adjustment to civilian life, guilt over the deaths of Iraqi civilians, and even a young soldier’s memoir.
Of course, these books would be good partners to some of the headier tomes on the reading lists, but even better, consider these titles for a teens only book group or a parent-teen combo discussion. | <urn:uuid:411574fe-ba5e-4b7f-8bdd-a4a6ab88fe44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bookgroupbuzz.booklistonline.com/2010/10/25/talk-of-war/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939328 | 184 | 1.726563 | 2 |
The insider-account of the damaging divisions between the White House and the State Department comes as diplomats around the world wait to see if John Kerry, the new US secretary of state, can persuade Mr Obama to greater engagement on Syria, Egypt and the wider Middle East.
Vali Nasr, a university professor who was seconded in 2009 to work with Richard Holbrooke, Mr Obama's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, records his profound disillusion at how a "Berlin Wall" of domestic-focused advisers was erected to protect Mr Obama.
"The president had a truly disturbing habit of funnelling major foreign policy decisions through a small cabal of relatively inexperienced White House advisers whose turf was strictly politics," Mr Nasr writes in The Dispensable Nation: America Foreign policy in Retreat.
The book sets out in detail how Mr Holbrooke, appointed with great fanfare in 2009, was systematically cut out of decision making as both he and Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, tried to argue the merits of engaging with the Taliban and the dangers caused by the overuse of drones.
"The White House seemed to see an actual benefit in not doing too much," Prof Nasr writes, "The goal was to spare the president the risks that necessarily come with playing the leadership role that America claims to play in this region."
Admiral Mike Mullen, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff until September 2011, is quoted lamenting how little support Mrs Clinton received from the White House, even though she remained on good personal terms with Mr Obama.
"They want to control everything," Admiral Mullen is quoted as saying of a White House that Prof Nasr says was "ravenous" in its desire to manage foreign policy, even by the to-be-expected standards of turf wars between diplomatic and national security teams.
As Mr Kerry prepares to return home from his first trip abroad in his new role, Western diplomats in Washington say they are watching carefully to see whether he will be able to put meat on the bones of his promise yesterday to "empower" Syrian rebels in their fight against the Assad regime.
John Kerry and Moaz Al Khatib in Rome on Friday (AFP)
Last week Mr Kerry pledged $60m in new support, including medical kits and food aid, which will go direct to rebel fighters for the first time, but still falls far short of British and French ambitions to provide more military materials such as flak jackets and night-vision goggles.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, is expected to announce a British aid package this week and has done little to hide his impatience on the issue.
Diplomatic sources in Washington say that Mr Kerry had been "left under no illusion" by his European allies of the desire for greater action, but that it was still very far from clear if the White House was serious about stepping up aid. Rebel groups remain openly sceptical.
Analysts looking for signs that Mr Obama might be prepared to be more engaged on foreign policy in his second term found little to suggest a change of heart in his Second Inaugural speech and last month's State of the Union address.
"American foreign policy has been on a four-year autopilot, which I argue has been excessively risk averse and domestically focused. I don't see any clear decision yet to change that," said Mr Nasr in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
"I wrote this book to problematise the way Obama has approached this whole region, and that it is dangerous to disengage and confuse a low-level foreign policy with success in foreign policy," he concluded.
"My hope is that Kerry will be able to do more, but it is still early. He's definitely trying to create more US engagement, but there has to be a fundamental, strategic decision in the White House to reorientate our approach." | <urn:uuid:a11fb333-0de6-4005-a258-a2168411427c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/9908260/Barack-Obama-a-dithering-controlling-risk-averse-US-president.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980683 | 792 | 1.65625 | 2 |
China's first woman astronaut speaks of pride
China has named the female astronaut who on Saturday is set to become the nation's first woman in space.
Liu Yang, 33, an air force pilot, will join two male colleagues on board the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, state-run news agency Xinhua has said.
Ms Liu said at a press conference: "I thank the country and its people for your trust in letting me go to space on behalf of all women in the country".
The astronauts aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will dock with the Tiangong 1 - an experimental module currently orbiting Earth - and carry out scientific experiments on board. | <urn:uuid:eeb1a1e8-3abb-4ff1-a26c-87e0187578a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18463229 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927875 | 133 | 1.757813 | 2 |
There are 2 job postings in Canada.
Explore Careers - Job Market Report
Actors and comedians perform roles in motion picture, television, theatre and radio productions to entertain a variety of audiences. They are employed by motion picture, television, theatre and other production companies. This unit group includes acting teachers employed by private acting schools.
- Study and rehearse lines, gestures and expressions to interpret a role
- Portray roles in video or motion picture productions, television shows, theatre productions, radio dramas, commercials and other productions or perform the narration
- Sing or dance as required by specific roles
- Perform comedy acts in nightclubs alone or as members of comedy troupes
- Improvise a role.
- Train students in interpretation of scripts, speech, movement, and dramatic theory
- Prepare acting students for specific auditions and performances.
Jobs for Actors and Comedians in Lethbridge--Medicine Hat Region
Job opportunities from Job Bank and contributing job sites are updated daily.
Job Opportunities in the Canadian Forces
The Canadian Forces is currently recruiting 2,800 Regular Force, and 5,400 part-time Reserve Force members for a wide range of careers across Canada.
The mission of the Canadian Forces is to protect Canada, defend North America in co operation with the U.S., and contribute to international peace and security. On any given day, about 8,000 Canadian Forces members - one third of our deployable force - are preparing for, engaged in or returning from an overseas mission. At home, Canadian Forces can bring the best available military resources from across Canada to bear on a crisis or threat, wherever it occurs, nation-wide.
To learn about the requirements and application process, visit FORCES.CA.
Federal Employment Programs and Services
Want to learn about programs that assist individuals, businesses and community organizations to identify employment resources such as jobs, labour market information and training opportunities? Visit:
- Canada Benefits
- Employment programs and services - Service Canada
- Training and Employment Initiatives - Service Canada
- Career Transition Assistance
- Opportunities Fund for Persons with Disabilities
- Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy
- Students and Youth
Information for Youth and Students
Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP)
FSWEP provides full-time students with valuable, hands-on work experience related to their field of study and allows for a wealth of learning opportunities. For more information, visit the FSWEP Web site.
- Date Modified: | <urn:uuid:42503373-5f83-4f10-8e28-628f4dfc861b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.workingincanada.gc.ca/report-eng.do?area=25245&lang=eng&noc=5135&action=final&ln=n&s=5&source=3&titleKeyword= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909613 | 513 | 1.859375 | 2 |