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|Lesson #21 - Man Is Not To Change What God Says|
|Written by Ron Boatwright|
Man does not have the authority to change the will of God on any subject. There are a lot of false teachings that are being passed off as the truth. We have been given severe warnings in the Bible concerning any changes we try to make to God’s word. As we have already seen in Galatians 1:6-9, if we pervert the gospel by changing it, we will be accursed.
Another such warning comes in the closing verses of the Bible. Revelation 22:18-19 says, "For I testify unto everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, and from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Additions, subtractions, and substitutions to what God has commanded is disobedient and sinful. We have a standard today, and we are warned not to add to or take away from it. These are very stern warnings that should get our undivided attention.
How much stronger warnings could God give to those who try to make changes to His will when they change immersion into sprinkling, or to change the necessity of baptism for one to receive forgiveness of sins and be saved to their saying that baptism is not necessary for salvation. God has said plainly that it is necessary. We do not have the right to dismiss what we do not like. I cannot think of a more flagrant crime against both God and man than to teach lost sinners, who are wanting to be saved, something different than what God says in the Bible. To make an impression on them that they are already saved, when God has not promised it, is grievously wrong.
They also say one’s sins are forgiven and one is saved when he accepts Christ as his personal savior. They say he can then be baptized later if he wants to in order to join that particular denomination; but as we have already seen, this contradicts what God has said and will cause many people to be lost eternally. Since many people will not accept what God says, notice what 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 says, "Because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth." Do you have enough love for the genuine truth of God's word that you will obey it instead of the counterfeit doctrines of men? If you do not then God has promised to send you a strong delusion that you should believe a lie and be damned. The false doctrines of men will cause many good people to be eternally lost. There is nothing worse than causing a person to pass from this life with the false hope of going to Heaven. Anything that differs from what God says in the Bible is false doctrine which is designed by Satan to cause people to be eternally lost in Hell.
If you were baptized for some reason other than for forgiveness of sins in order to be saved then you do not have salvation and you are still lost. Who are you going to follow: God or man? As our Lord warns us in Matthew 15:14, "And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a ditch." Don’t allow someone, who has added to and taken away from God’s word, to lead you. Open your eyes and read God’s word for yourself. Those who have added to and taken away from God’s word will be lost. If you continue to follow them, then you too will be lost.
What You Need to Do
In Acts 19:1-5 we have an example of twelve men the apostle Paul met at Ephesus. They had something wrong with their baptism. In verses 3-5 we read, "And he said to them, into what then were you baptized? So they said, into John’s baptism. Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people, that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." These twelve men had been taught wrong and thus they could not have been baptized right. When they found out there was something wrong with their baptism, they made it right. They were then baptized for the right purpose.
Please refer back to how you answered the questions in Lesson 8 concerning your prior conversion. If you thought you were saved and your sins forgiven when you accepted Christ as your personal savior and you were baptized a week or so later, then the purpose of your baptism was not for the forgiveness of your sins so you could be saved. But now you have learned the truth about the purpose of baptism from the scriptures that have been pointed out. Please don't rationalize away what you actually did to be saved and now say that you were actually baptized for the forgiveness of sins in order to be saved. Many people end up doing this. Please do not be misled by false man-made doctrines. Your soul's salvation depends on your being right with God.
Is there something wrong with your baptism? You may say no, but if there is, we cannot fool God. He knows for sure and you will suffer the eternal consequences. It will be a sad day when you stand before the Lord on the Day of Judgment if you find out there is something wrong with your baptism. Have you been baptized for the right purpose and in the right way? Baptism, that is done according to scripture, for the right reason and purpose, is such an easy thing to do. It is not difficult, at all, to make sure it is done right.
Questions for Lesson #21
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Now and in the Future
The value of collections is revealed frequently and in often unexpected ways
“One of the most agreeable features of writing on the wartime Army is meeting the archivists and librarians who steer the erstwhile researcher through the maze of records. They are among the nicest, most dedicated people anywhere, and without them history would be a lot more fiction than fact.” — Geoffrey Perret, author of There’s A War to be Won: The United States Army in World War II
When your job is to maintain the largest number of collections under one roof at the University of North Dakota, you never know what someone will want or the reason they’ll want it.
“I love my job because I get to do so many different things and help so many different people,” said Curt Hanson, head of the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections at UND’s Chester Fritz Library.
As collection curators, Hanson and his staff are accustomed to handling requests from the routine to the unusual. Sometimes they’re from on campus. More often than not, they come from the opposite side of the world.
“It’s not as if we’re only documenting North Dakota,” Hanson noted. “Our interest doesn’t stop at the border.”
But whether they’re helping faculty update department histories, tracking down an interstate water treaty or looking for information on the origins of lumberjack songs, Hanson and his archivists do all they can to help researchers find what they need.
“Our mission is to preserve and make resources available,” he explained. “The whole idea of preserving collections is with the expectation that at some point, someone is going to want to take a look at the material. We want to let people use this material, research it and examine it so they can write, publish, and create presentations based on our resources.”
The range and variety of collections is enormous, spanning the beginnings of UND and key people in North Dakota’s history to events that shaped the world, such as the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals following World War II. A growing number of the collections have been digitized, and listings of the library’s major collections and their contents are available online.
Appropriately, the department is named after Elwyn Robinson, the late UND professor emeritus who wrote History of North Dakota in 1966, the first comprehensive history of the state.
“The Special Collections Department existed before the library,” Hanson related. “Beginning in the late 1950s, the History Department — including Elwyn Robinson — decided that the University needed to collect important historical documents.”
“It’s the largest collection of North Dakota history materials in the state,” said Kimberly Porter, chair of UND’s Department of History. “If you’re looking for broader materials that cover the state’s history, the Chester Fritz Library is the best place to do that.”
When Porter decided to update the history of North Dakota where Robinson left off, she used the archives of UND’s Special Collections to help write her book, North Dakota: 1960 to the Millennium.
“As I tell my graduate students, the library is where it begins and ends,” she pointed out. “If you want to do quality research, if you’re going to do primary research, a lot of that’s tucked away in Special Collections. If you do it right, your work ends up in the library as a published document or book.”
While UND students and faculty frequently use Special Collections to create research papers, theses, dissertations, articles and books, the vast majority of requests for information and materials come from off campus.
“Research is a very wide-ranging term for us,” Hanson said. “For every researcher who comes into the library, we probably have four or five others we never see who contact us primarily via e-mail and phone. We look through our materials on their behalf. We photocopy or scan materials and send them off.”
One of the library’s digitized collections contains the political cartoons of Stuart McDonald, who worked for the Grand Forks Herald from 1961 to 1967. The works of the nationally recognized, award-winning cartoonist are valued by historical researchers interested in political issues of the 1960s, such as the Vietnam war.
Several months before U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts died, the Boston Globe contacted Hanson for permission to use some of McDonald’s cartoons related to the Kennedys for an online Web exhibit. That wasn’t suprising but another request a short time later was somewhat odd.
“The state of West Virginia wanted to use two of McDonald’s cartoons in one of their state assessment tests,” he said. “Imagine that: A guy who was drawing political cartoons in Grand Forks, N.D., in the 1960s is featured in something designed to test the competency of West Virginia high school students.”
That’s how it is in Special Collections, which can be a boon to everyone from military historians to genealogists to experts on international law. People sometimes discover unexpected gems while mining the archives for information.
A well-known resource is the Department’s Family History and Genealogy Room, which includes more than 1,000 volumes in its Bygdebøker (Norwegian farm history) collection.
“There’s always somebody out there researching something, no matter how off-the-wall I might consider it,” Hanson said. “I’m amazed at the creative ways people use our collections. There are people going down completely different avenues that I would have never imagined. It’s our researchers, our users, our patrons who give value to our collections.”
Hanson recalls a PBS TV producer searching for information on William Bell, a UND student from the early 1900s who played an instrumental role in the development of the tuba.
“When we were able to find photos of Bell in our UND yearbooks, he was incredibly excited,” Hanson said. “He acted as though it was Christmas Day because we found a photo of Bell in the UND band. He was just thrilled.”
How much a collection is used or likely to be used doesn’t determine whether it’s accepted for the library’s Special Collections Department. Only with the passage of time can a collection’s value be determined.
For example, Hanson notes that 50 years ago, nobody foresaw the popularity of women’s history. Today, there’s a great deal of interest in the subject, which means that collections containing women’s diaries and journals, as well as records from women’s organizations and businesses, are sought after by those studying, teaching or writing about women’s history.
“We have that topic very well covered,” Hanson said, “even though it’s not something we would have been collecting back when the History Department began putting collections together. It’s how history travels.”
Another example Hanson cites are the Frank L. Anders Papers. Anders, a World War I veteran and Medal of Honor recipient who lived in Fargo, spent much of his life collecting documents and other materials on Gen. George A. Custer and the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Before he died in 1966, Anders donated his collection to the Chester Fritz Library where it went unused for more than four decades. Recently, a historian studying Little Big Horn found the Anders Papers to be an invaluable source of information.
“Even though a collection may not be used on a regular basis, we do everything in our power to preserve it,” Hanson said. “Everything we take in, we do it with the expectation that at some point in time, someone’s going to find it useful.”
When Hanson teaches archiving to UND history students, he delivers an important message: “I tell them that you may not know the people who come here to research a collection, and it may not even happen in your lifetime, but I guarantee you that they will appreciate what you’ve done.”
Patrick C. Miller | Staff Writer
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An Economic Valuation Study of Public Libraries in Korea
|Title||An Economic Valuation Study of Public Libraries in Korea|
|Publication Type||Journal Article|
|Year of Publication||2012|
|Authors||Ko, YM, Shim, W, Pyo, S-H, Chang, JS|
|Journal||Library and Information Science Research|
The economic value of public libraries for local residents in Korea was measured. An economic-value measurement model that enables the estimation of diverse types of public library services was designed, using a conditional-value measurement method. Benefits were taken as the value of the main services provided by public libraries, such as accessibility to informational materials, facilities, and programs. Costs included the total amount of expenses at libraries such as personnel expenses, materials purchasing expenses, and other operational costs. data were collected from 1220 users from 22 public libraries in the province of Seoul/Gyeonggi-do and the other seven Korean provinces. The return on investment (ROI) was calculated to be 3.66.
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The operational failures of the Brazilian transportation system have had a detrimental effect on the country’s broader economy. Combined with other concerns including excessive taxes and bureaucracy, the obviously inadequate infrastructure is largely responsible for the colossal lack of competitiveness known as the “custo Brasil” (in English, the “Brazil cost”) that afflicts the country. Brazil’s freight haulage productivity especially suffers from the excessively complex logistics involved in disbursement. In 2007, transport costs represented a gargantuan 13 percent of Brazilian GDP, compared to the United States’ relatively efficient 7 percent.5 Thus, it costs an average of $1,240 USD to export a container of freight while the same task requires only $990 USD in the United States. This particularly damages the pre-eminent agrifood sector’s performance, therefore multiplying both external and internal prices.6
In order to prepare for the inevitable oncoming transitions in Brazil, the whole transportation matrix of the country needs to be remodeled. The World Bank’s 2010 Logistic Performance Index describes Brazilian infrastructure as “still outdated and undeveloped,” and ranking it as the 41st country in the world. The exorbitant costs of the Brazilian transportation system are correlated with the burdens of the road sector, which comprises sixty percent of the country’s total freight volume, demonstrating a critical need for diversification through multimodality.
Fortunately, the current economic climate allows for a comprehensive investment plan which would reverse historical problems while bolstering its economy. The total overhaul of Brazilian infrastructure will combat the country’s developmental necessities, while seeking to wholly transform the country. Through the National Logistics and Transports Plan (PNLT) and the Program for the Acceleration of Growth (PAC), the government allotted more than $29 billion USD between 2007 and 2010 to transportation.7 President Rousseff, previously nicknamed “the mother of PAC,” extended the program into the so-called “PAC 2,” thus adding to already numerous large-scale projects often challenged by Brazil’s large geographic size. This could potentially create jobs and stimulate growth. As the World Bank has noted, “any change in the transportation matrix will have a broad and complex impact on the Brazilian economy.”8
The shifting equilibrium between the private and public transportation sectors remains an important issue. Christopher Garman, director of Eurasia Group, depicted on July 10 the necessity for creating a new constructive framework, insinuating that only the private sector would be able to improve the PAC. According to Carlos Cavalcanti, head of the Infrastructure and Energy Department at the Industrial Federation of the State of São Paulo, the privatization would actually solve the “Bras infection,” an expression bemoaning the sprawling bureaucratic and rarely efficient public companies traditionally including “Bras” in their name. Besides the expected efficiency improvement, the World Bank concludes that the privatization process allows for a significant increase in finances. Therefore, Brasilia is shifting from primarily investment to increased regulation in order to control inappropriate and unwise private investments. However, public regulation has begun to suffer from deficiencies that have emerged from the ambiguity of the objectives and proliferations of specialized public agencies. Consequentially, a profound reorganization is crucial if the bureaucratic standards of the regulatory branch are to be made relevant.
Brazil recently implemented various public-private partnerships (PPPs) in its Logistical and Transports National Plan’s (PNLT) strategy through numerous auctions and concessions. Several projects demonstrate a massive transfer to the utilization of private companies, aimed at cost reduction as well as improving transportation’s efficiency. Operations such as the Federal Highways Concessions Program (PROCOFE) have already undergone such concessions.9 Brasilia is focusing on transforming the Brazilian coast and its extremely congested seaports, and in particular, must address the complete renovation and expansion of the Rio de Janeiro port as well as the road that connects Santos and São Paulo.10
The primary embodiment of the plan can be seen at the country’s airports. Guarulhos (São Paulo), Viracopos (Campinas) and Brasília’s airports started the auction process in early 2012, deals involving hundreds of billions of dollars with multinational conglomerates and the state.11 In order to bid, companies were required to meet rigid rules, but the bid still significantly surpassed expectations. Moreover, Infraero, the state-controlled company in charge of infrastructure operations, kept a 49 percent stake in each airport, providing another guarantee that the adoption reflected a stable consensus between private and public management. Combined with the auctions’ economic aspects, they consolidate Brasilia’s choice to expand concessions of infrastructure, notably to the Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport, already targeted by foreign companies including Aéroports de Paris.12 Currently, this orientation rewards the political courage of President Rousseff and her war against congestion, especially considering the projected enormous increase in traffic and national preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. A member of the ruling leftist Worker’s Party (PT), her pragmatic approach allows the aviation sector to utilize international expertise while implementing the large scale expansion and designing reforms estimated to cost about $1.98 billion USD, for the five principal airports.13 However, the massive lack of developmental policies implemented during the two previous decades has resulted in a strained collection of colliding problems and misconceived mega plans that have some upset. When it comes to significant progress in the sector, Brazilian air infrastructures will continue suffering from an inadequate structure.
In order to effectively address congested airways, the emblematic high-speed train project TAV (High Speed Train) has also become an irresistibly attractive alternative between Rio de Janeiro, Campinas and São Paulo. The government auction granting control authorization to issue the contract attracted eight international conglomerates including Siemens, Alstom, and China Railway Materials. Due to geographical challenges, this project involves technologically and economically ambitious engineering and construction, thus Brazil cannot neglect the assistance of foreign companies. Still, the recent meeting between President Rousseff and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan demonstrated that the decision could follow a geopolitical approach over a mere qualitative one by selecting an emergent country ally.14 The TAV project and its construction bill cause pessimistic forecasts concerning its long-term viability. Indeed, consequent usage costs represent a main concern given the economic challenge of prohibitively high fares.
Due to the economic risks, questions also remain about the relevance of the TAV project. Initially planned to be completed in time for the 2016 Rio Olympics, the project has been delayed to the point that its inauguration date is unknown.15 Its predicted high cost tickets will increase and normalize social differences by excluding much of the working class from the most efficient mode of transportation. According to the National Terrestrial Transportation Agency (ANTT) forecasts, this will be mitigated through a much more efficient transportation system.
Even if the southeastern region desperately needs improvement of its communication’s matrix, Brazil’s efforts will lead to grossly unequal levels of infrastructure throughout this territory. Thus, the TAV will increase regional discretional eclecticism, mainly regarding the under-developed Northeast, by conferring a high-performing transportation service for the wealthiest part of Brazil. Further, the World Bank pinpoints inter-regional concerns because “national transportation networks shape the patterns of competition and cooperation between various regions, and growth in one may come at the expense of another.”16 Undoubtedly, a country must first invest in its main axis in order to develop and permit a broader use of new technologies in connected parts of the system.
As the private sector becomes increasingly engaged in the transportation sector, it ushers in an opportunity to improve Brazil’s bureaucratic inefficiency. Provided that the grand design does not stand privatizations but concessions, the government will have smartly positioned itself and will have gained popular political support. The stimulus package pledged by Rousseff on August 15 is meant to contribute $66 billion USD over 30 years to the railway and road sectors. The government’s understanding of the transportation sector’s essential role in to boosting the Brazilian economy will allow it to undertake a boom in construction while facing an unprecedented slowdown.17 Nevertheless, this tsunami of privatizations will encounter a strong opposition in Rousseff’s own complex political coalition, where various senior leaders fear an abandonment of public prerogatives for sources of capital and which will emphasize the necessity to strengthen the entire nation instead of focusing only on economic growth.
Originally published on September 3, 2012.
Arnaud Koehl, Research Associate at Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Please accept this article as a free contribution from COHA, but if re-posting, please afford authorial and institutional attribution. Exclusive rights can be negotiated.
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Clay Ave., Anthony Ave. bet. Mount Eden Pkwy. and E. 170 St
Directions via Google Maps
The Daily Plant : Monday, March 2, 2009
Before They Were Parks (Part I)
Many City parks are in their second or third lives, having served other purposes prior to their acquisition by the Department of Parks & Recreation. Most of them have interesting stories to tell about their former uses. A few highlights below serve as reminders that everything has a history, sometimes scandalous, sometimes sad, and sometimes silly.
The City of New York established a potter's field—that is, a burial place for unknown or indigent people—on the site of modern day Bryant Park in 1823. The potter's field continued to be used until 1840.
Around that same time, between 1839 and 1843, the Croton Distributing Reservoir was built where the New York Public Library now stands, on the east side of the park. The land of the former potter's field became Reservoir Park in 1847. The reservoir, which was the city's prime water source for a time, was removed in the 1890s. In 1884, the park was renamed Bryant Park for New York Evening Post editor William Cullen Bryant.
Washington Square Park
Washington Square is yet another park that once served as a potter's field, established as such in 1797, and concluding this role in 1827 with its designation as a public park.
It is said that while a potter's field, Washington Square was once the site of a public execution, giving rise to the tale that the Hangman's Elm that still stands in the northwest corner of the park was once used for hangings. Finally, Washington Square Park's last use before becoming a park was as a military parade ground in 1826.
One of the major early battles of the Revolutionary War was fought in Prospect Park in August 1776. In fact, the topography of Battle Pass — on the east side of the park along the park drive — looks much the same as it did when George Washington's Continental Army forces dug in against British and Hessian soldiers moving up from the south, eventually forcing Revolutionary troops to retreat in defeat.
You might not think of it while lounging on a blanket, but Fort Greene Park's high vantage point suited it well for a military installation. Indeed, it was one during both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
In 1776, American Major General Nathanael Greene, for whom Fort Greene Park is named, supervised the construction of Fort Putnam on high ground that is now part of Fort Greene Park. The fort was renamed for General Greene and rebuilt for the War of 1812. When the threat of war passed, locals enjoyed visiting the grounds of the old fort for recreation and relaxation, and the City of Brooklyn designated the site a public park in 1845.
The area that is now Claremont Park was once part of the Morris family estate, founded in 1679. The Morris family lived on the land during the Colonial era; the most famous Morris, Gouverneur Morris (1752-1816), wrote the final draft of the Constitution. Gouverneur Morris II (1813-1888) auctioned off much of his land in 1848 and wealthy newlyweds Elliott and Anna Zborowski de Montsaulain acquired a parcel in the northern portion of the former Morris property.
In 1859, the Zborowski de Montsaulains built the Claremont mansion and developed the grounds with terraced lawns, descending to the Mill Brook (now Webster Avenue).
After the site became a park, the mansion was converted for use as the local administrative headquarters of the Bronx Parks Department. The mansion was razed in 1938 and replaced with a gazebo.
QUOTATION FOR THE DAY
“Don’t listen to those who say you’re taking too big a chance. Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor, and it would surely be rubbed out by today.”
(1927 - )
Directions to Claremont Park
- Before They Were Parks (Part I)
- HOW EDITORS INSERTED PARKS INTO NEW YORK CITY
- Baseball Fields
- Basketball Courts
- Dog-friendly Areas
- Handball Courts
- Spray Showers
- Water Fountains
Know when to go:
View upcoming athletic area usage
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String is just the datatype, as is int. You don't need to specify the size of it until you instantiate it. When an array is returned by something different, it can take the place of the placeholder.
Simple look: T -> 4 byte pointer <- T returned
The T you declared is simply a pointer to the returned results of the T. The pointer has been assigned, but in Java world I don't know if its a direct memory pointer or if it has multiple levels of indirection. I'd assume multiple levels.
Your thread is different. String.split will return a String, so you cannot just cast that into an int type. Without a defined size of the T, it is assumed to be that of 0, so you cannot dereference it to write any data into it.
So with your example you could have actually used:
String octets = args.getHostAddress().split("\\.");
The only way to cast it is by iterating it after the fact, which means you'll need to either do something immediately, store it in a collection, or use a pre-defined array size.
Sorry, for a better explanation of the problem in your other thread:
int i = null; is an int array without a size. Your error came from trying to use i[value], since this would never exist. This is why you needed to use a new int for the size.
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Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE,
tel: 0191 3742577. FAX: 0191 3743848. e-mail: G.H.Cross@Durham.ac.uk
As a new class of materials, dendrimers or "starburst" polymers have generated great interest throughout the scientific community. Despite synthetic difficulties 1, a wide range of these new materials have been produced and characterised 2, 3, 4. However, the study of their properties is still in its infancy (relative to classical polymers) and there remains large gaps in our knowledge which must be filled if the potential uses of these new materials are to be realised. Dendrimers are highly branched structures produced by either divergent or convergent synthetic methodologies 5 which allow the formation of monodispersed nanoparticles of controlled dimensions and specific surface functionalisation.
The work reported here involves the surface functionalisation of the terminal amino groups of PAMAM (polyamidoamine) dendrimers with aromatic moieties. We intend to investigate some physical properties (fluorescence spectral characteristics, non-linear optical responses) of various generations of these functionalised dendrimers and observe any differences in behaviour as progression is made from microscopic (lower generations) to mesoscopic (higher generation) morphology. It is envisaged that steric crowding at higher generations may lead to the onset of collective effects, especially as aromatic groups present the possibility of p orbital overlap 6. Of the chemistry investigated, the two reactions shown below were selected for further study and a series of several generations of functionalised PAMAM dendrimers were prepared.
The fluorescence spectra of different generations of compound (I) are presently being investigated. EFISH measurements of PAMAM dendrimers functionalised with the polar aromatic group -CH2C6H4NO2 (Compounds (II)) are being carried out and may reveal information about the changing dendrimer morphology between lower and higher generations. The results will be discussed.
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Who better than a musician to tell us why music in education matters and how much we all benefit from having music in our lives. Here at nonprofitshoppingmall.com several of us have worked in the music industry. We have reached out to our friends to ask: Why does music in education matter to you?
Darryl Phinnessee, Grammy winner, Singer and Composer (you know the tunes! like the "Fraser" theme lyrics "Tossed Salads and Scrambled Eggs), Michael Jackson band, Rod Stewart, Lionel Richie, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, The Black Crowes, Ray Charles........... we run out of space :-)
"Not only is music one of our most beautiful & creative artistic expressions, it is also mathematics expressed in sound". So students get two disciplines with music. Art & Science."
Eddie Baytos, musician (he plays piano, accordion, B-3 organ, drums, percussion, harmonica, slide guitar, guitar, dobro), dancer, choreographer, film maker. Has worked with everybody, including Bruce Springsteen, Annie Lennox, Eurythmics, Bo Diddley, Prince, Mark Wahlberg, Rickie Nelson, ....... and his own band, The Nervis Brothers.
"Music has had a place in schools since the dawn of man. Over thousands of years it has been one of the first things taught to children because it helps with learning other subjects and as well as with brain development & retention. It has been proven time and time again. The ancient Egyptians, Sumarians and so on have know about this. Music is like breathing to all human beings and should not be exempted but included in all school programs. Art and dance also. So please don't stop these vital programs. Make sure they are implemented! "
Alex Fletcher, Singer and co-founder of Order 66.
"Music is an art form. Art is meant to move human emotions and make us think more. Music is also the bases of what moves our lives everyday. When we drive our cars most of us listen to our favorite radio station. When we hang out with our friends most of the time we start quoting lines from a song we love. Music in schools are important because they make students expand their minds to a world where they can create. Without the will to create, we have nothing."
Bill Macpherson, Zaire-born and raised, guitarist and multiple Grammy nominee. Has played with jazz /flamenco violinist extraordinaire Willie Royal, the Willie of "Willie and Lobo" and is bandleader/founder/producer of Native Vibe.
"The focus required to develop music skills is considerable. Learning any instrument well is difficult so students really have to put in time to their practicing. There is little instant gratification so you have to learn patience, discipline and humility. As you persevere in the process students gain a sense of pride and self-esteem. This can come in the form of praise from an impromptu performance in your own home, participation in a talent show or an actual performance in public. Another benefit to being able to play an instrument is this is a very healthy, relaxing, calming activity to do , like yoga or meditation. Another benefit is social, as children or young adults develop music skills they can interact with other musicians, in bands, ensembles, choir, church groups etc. This is healthy and positive comradery and time well spent with other like minded and motivated young people. Last but not least is the incredible benefit of being able to tap into your personal creativity and have a vehicle to release it."
Matt Cornwall, DJ, is known internationally for his outstanding work spinning records at events for clients such as star photographer David LaChapelle, R&B star Macy Gray, Starwood Hotels, Warner Bros., Fox, and EventWorks.
"Music is not just important in schools... it's of the most dire importance.. right up there with math, literature, and now..physical ed! Since the absolute beginning of human history, music has always played a fundamental, crucial and critical role in the evolution of story telling and ultimately human communication. I can think of no greater power than music. It heals, it moves, it represents, it changes ... what more do you want?? It is truly our collective innate gift, the power of song and making music. You stop teaching music, you ultimately stop the song of humanity. That's not being dramatic, that is the truth.
Let the music play on~
Tom Jacob, drummer, keyboardist, songwriter. Al Jardine's Endless Summer Band, Lanny Ray and The Strangers and many many many studio sessions.
"My brother was my inspiration for getting into drumming and piano playing, 35 years ago. You know why? He was listening to Elvis and the Beatles and went to school to learn how to do what they did. I myself studied music theory, electronic music, (Old school) patching raps & moog synthesizers, when they were something no one had seen before. I took guitar, choir and piano. It set the foundation for a career that stems from entertaining the troops in Vietnam at the young age of 9 years old and culminating to recording and touring with Hall of Fame inductee, Life time achievement Award winning, original Beach Boy, Al Jardine. Education not only helped my music career, but gave me so many other benefits. It kept me out of trouble, gave me more presence of mind and a creative perspective in all aspects of my life. It is a known fact that the arts, whether it be music or otherwise, is also a more positive influence on any Childs creative endeavors. Pursue your creative dreams………..Go to School"
Yochanan Sebastian Winston, flutist, saxophonist, conductor and composer. He has worked globally as a music educator and performer whose collaborations include
Chaka Khan, David Sanborn, Anthony Braxton, Steve Reich, Avraham Fried, the Arditti String Quartet and Pierre-Yves Artaud and many more.
"For years, musicians and its lovers sat idly by while politicians continuously cut back on music and arts programs in the schools. We in the creative community (musicians, artists, dancers, etc.) had very little response other than, "What a shame. Music and art are so NICE." It wasn't until quite recently that university researchers gave us the ammo we needed all along. You see, music and art IS nice. BUT, it has been proven beyond any shadow of a doubt that the study of music creates synaptic relationships in the brain that improve the following areas:1. Cognition (the ability to understand) 2. Spatial relationships 3. Math 4. Time/space continua (actions occurring with a time coefficient)Furthermore, it teaches a student incredibly valuable lessons about team building and discipline (IF you work at something, you WILL get better at it). It's not for no reason that education from the early Greeks through the Renaissance always saw the study of music as ESSENTIAL to the education of a human being. It's not just NICE!!! It's incredibly valuable (too)."
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You don’t have to look far to know that mobile usage is huge and continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Of the more than 300 million people in the United States, 96 percent have mobile phones. This is staggering to think of when just 15 years ago only 13 percent of the American population had mobile devices, according to CTIA.
Pushing this growth even further is the penetration of smartphones, which now represent 43 percent of total mobile phones, according to comScore. As these web-enabled devices edge closer to becoming the norm, consumers’ habits are also changing when it comes to how they search for information online.
By 2013 the number of people using their mobile device to search on the Internet will overtake desktop Internet users for the first time, according to Morgan Stanley Research, and by 2012 more smartphones will ship than desktop computers.
Mobile Health Trends
Not surprisingly, how consumers and health care professionals search for health-related information online is also trending toward mobile. If you think about it, mobile Internet usage and health-related queries are a perfect match.
For example, when a curious or concerning symptom arises nobody wants to wait to find out what it is. They want accurate information and they want it now. And they’re increasingly getting this information on their phones.
The Pew Internet Project found that 17 percent of cell phone users have used their phone to look up health or medical information and 9 percent have apps on their phones to track or manage their health. It also found that younger people, 18-29, are more likely to search for health-related information on their phones with 29 percent of this group acknowledging this practice.
The mobile trend is growing at an explosive rate. According to Google, current mobile health queries represent 18 percent of total search traffic, compared to 10 percent a year ago.
Health Apps, Mobile-Optimized Information
With more health-focused organizations offering apps and mobile-optimized information the choices for consumers are abundant. Most online health media companies have entered the market by offering downloadable apps.
Play > Stop
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WASHINGTON — Under cover of night, Sen. Joseph Biden Jr. drove up to a yellowed stucco mansion in Belgrade where Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milosevic was waiting. It was April 1993, about a year after Serbian forces and paramilitary gangs armed by Milosevic had unleashed a murderous campaign against Bosnia's Croats and Muslims.
Biden had been calling for sanctions and NATO air strikes against the Serbs and lifting a weapons ban on the Bosnians. All that would happen later, but at the time he was getting nowhere. Milosevic was paying attention, though. He invited Biden to his palace for a private chat.
As Biden tells the story in his memoir "Promises to Keep," the Serbian leader argued that the Serbs weren't persecutors but victims. Biden responded with accusations of Serbian atrocities. Milosevic denied them.
Finally, Biden recalled, "Milosevic could tell I had just about had it with his lies, and at one point he looked up from the maps and said, without any emotion, 'What do you think of me?' "
"I think you're a damn war criminal, and you should be tried as one."
The incident defines much about Biden. He's known for being blunt and plainspoken. He's also highly regarded in the Senate for his knowledge of the world. As for Milosevic, the air strikes Biden pushed for eventually helped lead to his surrender; Milosevic was tried for war crimes and died in prison.
Biden, 64, is running for president largely on the strength of his foreign affairs expertise. People who know him, however, say that the character he's shown since he experienced tragedy at age 29 is an equally important part of who he is.
In 1972, Biden's wife and baby daughter were killed in a car accident. His two young sons were hospitalized with serious injuries. The accident happened a week before Christmas and six weeks after Biden had been elected one of the youngest U.S. senators ever.
One of his sons, Beau Biden, now 38, the attorney general of Delaware and the father of two children himself, recalls that his father said at the time: "Delaware can get another senator, but my boys can't get another dad."
"Those weren't just words," he added. "He lived them."
Beau Biden remembers that his father stayed constantly at the hospital with him and his brother. The boys recovered, and Biden's sister, Valerie, moved in to help care for them.
Biden wrote in his memoir that he told the then-Senate majority leader, Mike Mansfield, that he wouldn't become a senator, but Mansfield persuaded him to give it at least a six-month try.
He began a daily commute by train — 80 minutes each way between Wilmington and Washington — rushing to get home in time for dinner, or at least dessert, and to tuck his children in at night and be there when they woke up. His son said that Biden put his children first, making sure he got to ball games and other important events.
Biden has never had a home in Washington. He's always made the commute.
Biden grew up in a close Roman Catholic family in Wilmington. His father worked for a car dealership. In his memoir, Biden said that his family taught him what he called the "first principle of life" — that "the art of living is simply getting up after you've been knocked down."
Biden and his second wife, Jill, rebuilt the family after they married in 1977, Beau Biden said. They also have a daughter, Ashley. Jill Biden earned a Ph.D. in education and teaches at a community college.
Biden has taught law on Saturday mornings at Widener University since 1991. His income is his $165,200 Senate salary and $20,500 from teaching. In a 2005 ranking of the 100 senators for wealth, he was 99th. In other words, unlike most other presidential contenders, he isn't a millionaire.
"He's not even close," said David Wilhelm, who was Biden's campaign manager during his first run for the presidency in 1987 and is now a senior adviser to Biden.
Biden comes across as "a middle-class guy with middle-class aspirations, sometimes middle-class resentments," Wilhelm said. "I think it's something the folks inside the Beltway miss about him. But he's an outstanding retail politician with an innate ability to connect with folks."
In 1987, Biden was dividing his time between campaigning for president and, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, running the hearings that eventually led to the defeat of Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court.
Campaigning in Iowa that year, Biden frequently quoted British politician Neil Kinnock's comments about opportunity. Then, at the end of one debate, he quoted Kinnock without attribution. A staffer for Michael Dukakis' rival campaign sent a video to reporters, and news stories accused Biden of plagiarism. He dropped out of the race.
In 1988, Biden twice underwent surgery for brain aneurysms and an operation for a blood clot. He fully recovered.
As he presses his second presidential campaign, the respect and affection that his colleagues hold for him are evident in interviews.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said that Biden as president would be "very good at bringing people together and sitting down and working through problems. He'd know how to get the business done."
Colleagues say Biden is a hard worker who puts in a lot of time learning from experts. He speaks publicly in a conversational way — not flowery, not flat — and usually not brief, either. In fact, his tendency to talk at length is well known.
Kerry remembers one Senate Democrats' retreat, when Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy's dogs were in the room and Biden was getting more and more heated talking about Iraq, "and the dogs went nuts."
Everybody laughed, Biden included.
One veteran Senate Republican, Orrin Hatch of Utah, worked with Biden on the 1994 crime bill that provided federal funding to boost community law enforcement. One part of it was Biden's Violence Against Women Act, which increased training and resources for those who respond to domestic violence and sexual assault.
"He's willing to work with you," Hatch said. "That's why we got a lot done together."
ON THE WEB
Joe Biden's official campaign site
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The Home Energy Diet
by Paul Scheckel
Welcome to the rewarding world of energy efficiency! I have done my best to make this book informative, entertaining, and guiltfree, offering something in each chapter for both novice and expert. I think youíll find The Home Energy Diet a refreshing approach to what can be a dry subject. I commend you for reading about efficiency, but reading alone will not save energy ó action will. So I ask that you really use this book, and in return I promise you appreciable dividends as you reduce your use of energy and trim your energy bills.
"Iíll start tomorrow." How many times have you or someone you know said that about a diet? We know we should do it, we know itís good for us, but we simply donít like change, especially when we think it will hurt. Donít lose another opportunity to save today by waiting until tomorrow! Energy efficiency starts with learning how to recognize a problem, making the right choices, and sometimes changing old habits. This book will help you become more aware of energy use in your home and in the world. Iíll help you put your home on an energy diet by showing you how easy it is to make realistic, cost-effective, energy efficient improvements, and by offering you a wealth of ideas to help reduce your use, lower your costs, and increase your comfort. You will succeed with this diet by keeping in mind my "Triple-A" approach to energy efficiency:
Accomplishing these steps can have a positive impact on your lifestyle. I will not ask you to sit alone, shivering in the dark as some readers may remember being asked to do during the "energy crisis" of the 1970s. I think the difference between the 1970s and today is the difference between energy conservation and efficiency. Efficiency is taking advantage of modern technology to do the same thing better. An efficient compact fluorescent bulb can reduce power use by two-thirds and offer better performance over the old-style incandescent light bulb. Conservation is simply turning off the light. Efficiency measures allow you to do more with less, so you come out ahead in terms of cost, savings, and comfort.
Over the past 12 years, Iíve had the enjoyable job of performing energy audits in thousands of homes, new and old. Iíve been in all of your attics and basements, probed your flue pipes, and poked around in your refrigerators. I know the kinds of questions you have, I know what your concerns are, I know what kind of beer you drink, and I can put you on the track to energy savings. Iíve also been involved with renewable energy, having installed many solar electric and hot water systems, and built a half-dozen electric cars, so I can offer some advice about going "off-grid" (or disconnecting from the electric company). You can start a solar energy project as I did, with a single solar panel powering an off-grid room in your house. I now live almost completely dependent upon renewable energy with solar electricity, wood heat, and a biodiesel car. I live an extreme version of the message presented in this book because instead of buying conveniently pre-packaged energy, I am my own energy company, managing my own energy resources. The less I use, the less effort and cost I need to put into energy production.
Just as science continues to prove the health benefits of a proper diet, new forces are motivating us to save energy: dwindling and unpredictable fossil fuel supply, desire for security, stresses on personal and national economies, and pressures on social and natural environments. Energy efficiency is the first step towards a sustainable energy supply and lower pollution levels. Reduced resource consumption at home offers you greater independence, flexibility, and security along with lower energy bills, and will make your house a more comfortable place to live. I canít promise you this will be a painless process, but it will be worth your efforts, and you will feel better as you go along. Location, amenities, price, schools, and possibly utility costs generally make it to the top of the prospective homebuyerís list. When you bought or rented your home, did you ask about how the heat and hot water worked before you moved in? Was the furnace ductwork checked for costly leaks? Did you have the ventilation system tested to see if it actually moved air? How was the previous occupantís health?
Why are these things important? Energy-related problems are often masked as comfort issues. You may feel cold, dry, stuffy, or even sick inside your home. Indoor air quality is becoming a cause for concern as homes are being built more tight with better construction practices designed to be more energy efficient. Most of us spend up to 90 percent of our time indoors, yet are more aware of outdoor air pollution than of poor indoor air quality. How do you address these issues? We will examine how the systems in your home can work with and against each other to alter your home environment.
If I had to choose only one message to rise like cream to the top of my milk bottle full of advice, it would be that energy efficiency is an investment, not a hardship. The cheapest kilowatt is one you donít have to buy ó a concept called negawatts. Studies show that the cost of buying efficiency is about half the cost of buying energy. Purchasing a product that uses less energy than another similar product has significant, long-term impacts on your energy consumption and costs. The price you pay to buy a new refrigerator, light bulb, or furnace is a small percentage of the price you will pay to operate it over its lifetime. Many of us look to banks or the stock market for retirement funds, but efficiency improvements offer cost-effective, tax-free returns that are greater than many traditional investments. Compound these returns by re-investing energy cost savings and you can begin building your energy savings account today. As energy prices rise, your savings increase.
This book begins with an overview of energy literacy that presents general information on how energy is measured, where it comes from, where it goes, and its impact on our lives. You can read the book in any order you wish depending on where you want to make improvements, but I recommend that you begin with Chapter 1 to learn the basics and then jump around from there. The chapters are organized in order of what you might find easiest to approach. The electrical use chapter comes first because many electrical efficiency measures are easily addressed. Using energy-efficient lights for example, is an easy thing you can do today that will cost-effectively reduce your electric bill. However, greater overall savings will likely be realized by focusing on areas that cause your home to use more energy for heating, cooling, and hot water. Some improvements may not be worth making unless you were going to replace the item anyway, or perhaps when you are renovating. A heating system is a good example: the cost to replace a properly operating, though perhaps old, furnace would not likely justify the expense unless it has an extremely low efficiency rating. When the time does come to replace it, then the incremental cost to buy an exceptionally efficient model is going to be well worth the energy savings youíll realize over the lifetime of the furnace.
I hope to dispel a few myths about energy use as well. You might be surprised to find that new windows are often at the bottom of the list of efficiency improvements. Youíll see why in Chapter 6. Which uses more water, showers or baths? Should you leave your computer on all the time? Does it use more energy to do dishes by hand or in a dishwasher? Can your house be too tight? There are some very common problems built in to many homes, and by the time youíre done with this book, you should be able to have an intelligent conversation with any contractor or salesperson who wants to work on your house or sell you a new appliance.
When someone asks me, "Do I use more power than average?" my answer is always: "It depends. Letís try to figure out what your average is, and then consider ways to reduce your energy consumption." "Average" is better thought of as an estimating tool. The ultimate outcome is for you to be able to detail your own specific energy situation and reduce your overall energy consumption through knowledge, awareness, change of habits, and investments in efficiency. With The Home Energy Diet, you will learn to dis-aggregate (pick apart, piece by piece) all your energy uses in order to build an energy profile of your home. This profile may vary seasonally, depending on whether or not you use heat, air conditioning, dehumidifiers, swimming pools, or other seasonal items. Are you comfortable in your home? If not, try to describe your discomfort in detail: Are you too cold? Too hot? Is the house drafty? If so, where ó around windows and doors, or maybe near the heat registers? Is the air too dry? Too humid? Stuffy? How does your house make you feel? Sleepy? Invigorated? (Anxious? Maybe the source of your discomfort is high utility bills). Do you have icicles or ice dams in the winter? Icicles may look quaint, but they are a sure sign of wasted heat energy.
A home inspection by a good energy auditor can help you identify problems and sleuth out the mystery energy users in your home, but there are limits to what an inspection taking only a few hours can accomplish. If you want all the answers, the energy guy would need to move in and become intimate with your home, your habits, and your troubles. Short of giving up the spare bed, be prepared for the auditor to get personal with you ó and tell the truth! We are not here to judge you or your habits, we are excited energy geeks who really want to know the answers and find solutions to problems. If we want to look in your fridge, itís not because we forgot to eat lunch, but because we want to size it up for potential energy consumption.
Throughout the book are fun short stories based on my years of experience as an energy auditor. There are several characters, but most all of them are named Ken and Connie Sumer (representing the great pastime of consumerism), who generally seem to do everything they can to unknowingly increase their energy bills. Like most homeowners, the Sumers donít know very much about energy; why should they? Itís a specialty they havenít had time to learn about, and itís not as though houses come with an ownerís manual. Yet we all want to lower our energy bills and reduce maintenance costs on our homes. If the technicalities get to be too much for you, read about the Sumersí energy misadventures for a chuckle, or at least for a practical, real-life point of view. These folks really are clueless though. The only reason they know the difference between the cat-box and the water heater is that they actually pay attention to the cat-box! Take the opportunity to really examine how your home operates. If you have a head for math, the Math Box sidebars are for you. You donít need to read the Math Boxes to understand the point being made; they will just take you deeper into the heart of energy use and savings calculations if thatís where you want to go. If you just want to know what to do now to save energy, skip right to the Energy Diet section in the appropriate chapter for a list of energy-efficient action items.
When I tell people I live off-grid in a solar-powered home, at first they may imagine a hovel ó a dark, drafty, old log cabin with a lot of really weird gadgets cobbled together that they could never understand. A look of sympathy comes over their faces as if to empathize with my suffering. "Oh, thatís so neat," they say, "but it must be so hard. I mean, how do you live without all the modern conveniences?" They go on about how the kids leave lights on and all that laundry, and they usually end up by concluding that they just canít afford to make the change to solar living. Itís far enough out of the norm that they canít picture what it would be like. "And besides, solar power doesnít really work, does it?"
Eventually, some of these people brave the unknown and come for a visit. Immediately they notice that the house looks entirely normal. Itís your average home, nothing fancy, just 1,500 square feet of average. Then they notice the 19-cubic foot fridge, the clothes washer, dishwasher, microwave, TV, computer, lights, coffee grinder, hot and cold running water, and so on. "This isnít what I imagined," is the usual comment. "It looks so normal, and everything works!" As if I want to live in the dark ages. I enjoy living in the modern world as much as anyone else ó most of all, I want my home and its contents to be simple and affordable, and to work well with a minimum of maintenance, just like everyone else does. My appliance-laden, solar-powered home uses about 80 percent less electricity than the average home, and about a third of this use is the refrigerator! We donít suffer or deny ourselves any modern conveniences because it is getting easier to find very efficient appliances today. If solar power can work here in cloudy New England, it can work almost anywhere, but you donít have to "go solar" to have a low-energy home. Take advantage of the latest technology to live an energy-efficient, low-impact lifestyle. It gets easier every day, and there are far fewer excuses than there were ten or twenty years ago for being an energy hog.
You can take the concept of "off-grid" even further by heating your home and hot water with renewable fuels (wood) and producing or buying a renewable gasoline (ethanol) or fuel oil (biodiesel) substitute. Alternative energy is not the alternative anymore; it is the practical fuel of choice, and the only fuel we will use in the future.
You may think that individual savings measures are too small to bother with; instead, youíre looking for the one magic bullet that will shave a large part of your energy bill. Itís fine to go after the big things first, but there will be far more little things to do where the savings really add up. When you are finished reading this book, you will have the tools to determine where to spend your energy-improvement budget for the best savings. And for a comprehensive efficiency resource list, see
Buy this book TODAY!
"Iíll start tomorrow." How many times have you or someone you know said that about a diet? We know we should do it, we know itís good for us, but we simply donít like change, especially when we think it will hurt. Donít lose another opportunity to save today by waiting until tomorrow!
click for more about Paul Scheckel's important new book
Deus ex Machina
by Paul Freundlich
click for more about Paul Scheckel's important new book
Do you know someone interesting to nominate
to be interviewed in a future issue of
If we choose your nominee, you both receive a free
by Stephen Morris
In Beyonder, 4 books make 1 trilogy
copyright © 2003-2012 by The Public Press : The Page, all rights reserved
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Local law enforcement is planning to focus more attention on drunk driving offenders and motorcycle safety while the state Office of Traffic Safety is going to be picking up the tab.
The Bishop Police Department has been awarded a new $53,000 traffic safety grant for a year-long anti-DUI program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on local roadways.
“The Bishop Police Department is dedicated to keeping our streets safe through both enforcement and education,” Interim Police Chief Chris Carter. “This grant has an overtime component to keep officers on the street as well as an equipment component.”
Carter said the Bishop Police Department will be investing in additional radar units to monitor traffic speed, blood-alcohol sensors for the field and a DUI enforcement trailer that will serve as a base of operations for sobriety checkpoints and other large-scale field operations.
The DUI Enforcement and Awareness grant is designed to assist in efforts to reduce the number of people killed and injured in alcohol and other drug-related collisions. The grant specifies activities that will target impaired driving offenders as well as educate the public on the dangers of impaired driving.
In Bishop, this will be done through the use of DUI/driver’s license checkpoints, warrant searches and stakeouts for repeat DUI offenders, saturation patrols and court stings targeting DUI offenders with suspended or revoked driver’s licenses who get behind the wheel after leaving court.
Carter said the Bishop PD teams up with the CHP twice a year to conduct sobriety, seat belt and driver’s license checkpoints. Utilizing the grant, he said, there will be at least four checkpoints this year.
Carter also said that officers will be able to utilize the grant money to check up on repeat offenders to be sure they are not getting behind the wheel while intoxicated or if their license has been suspended because of prior convictions.
“The grant is pretty broad in the areas of enforcement,” Carter said. “If we know there’s an offender with multiple convictions and we’ve heard that they’ve been drinking and driving, or if we suspect that they have, we can be on the look-out for those specific people.”
Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In 2009, nearly 11,000 people died in highway crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher.
“Last year in California 950 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes, a 7.6 percent reduction in deaths from 2008,” said Christopher J. Murphy, director of the Office of Traffic Safety. “This grant will help keep that trend going by getting drunk drivers off the roadways of Bishop, making it safer for everyone.”
The grant also provides for two special Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operations.
Carter said the Bishop Police Department has not had a lot of trouble with unsafe motorcycle riders locally, but noted that statewide motorcycle fatalities were on an incline until last year.
Last year motorcycle fatalities dropped for the first time after an 11-year, 175 percent increase. These operations are aimed at keeping that decline going.
Carter said the grant will fund special details to patrol the area and specifically pay attention to motorcycle riders, so extra officers will be on duty patrolling areas frequented by motorcycles. Officers will be cracking down on all traffic violations made by motorcyclists, and other vehicle drivers.
These special operations began Oct. 1 and will run 12 months.
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Not a lot to worry about here this year: As long as there's garbage, municipal solid waste (MSW) managers will have a job.
The issues you'll face this year, however, are where that garbage is going and how its treatment is changing. As recycling grows, the amount of waste sent to landfills is dropping. So the waste is still there, but it's being handled differently.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Americans generated 245.7 million tons of MSW in 2005, a drop of 1.6 million tons from 2004. Recycling increased by 2%, an increase of 1.2 million tons to 58.4 million tons. Composting rose slightly to 20.6 million tons (a negligible increase over the previous year).
Recycling is on the rise. Single-stream recycling—common in many areas—will continue to increase as cities face higher tipping fees from private landfills, more stringent environmental regulations, and a push toward more “green” processes. Cities are diverting money saved on tipping fees to recycling and composting programs to decrease the number of trucks sent to landfills, thus lowering overall tipping fees.
Waste-to-energy (WTE) will increase, though the number of new facilities will remain stagnant. There's renewed interest in harvesting landfill byproducts, due mainly to the growing appreciation of the link between MSW and energy. Many facilities are meeting their bond maturity, so the “mortgage” has essentially been paid, allowing operators to try out new technologies and invest more in capital equipment. By retrofitting furnaces and implementing other conversion technologies, landfills and other waste facilities can take advantage of tax credits and selling off their energy.
Conversion technologies become more popular in wake of skyrocketing energy prices. Pyrolysis and gasification offer more opportunities for recovering products from waste than incineration. Other benefits include less MSW being sent to landfills and lowered methane and other emissions.
St. Lucie County, Fla., for example, announced last fall that it will build a $425 million plasma-arc gasification facility, eliminating the need for a landfill and generating energy for nearby industry. It will be the first such plant in the nation operating on such a massive scale and the largest in the world.
Rising fuel prices, changing engine standards. The price of fuel—whether it's gas or an alternative fuel—continues to rise, putting a dent in fleets managers' pocketbooks. Emissions standards for model year 2007 on-road vehicles were tightened; 2010 will see more stringent standards. See the “fleets” section on page 33 for more information.
Flow control may change. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that flow control—state or local laws, regulations, and economic incentives or disincentives that direct where MSW should be processed or disposed—violates the “dormant” Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Since that decision, several exceptions to this general principle have developed. These exceptions, and their application to specific circumstances involving MSW, continue to be argued in the courts.
In arguments beginning this month, the Supreme Court will determine the constitutionality of flow control. The verdict, due in June, could cause dramatic changes in where waste is hauled, since hauling across state lines might be cheaper or more efficient for some municipalities. The case, United Haulers Association Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority, dates back more than a decade. The issue is whether the counties can direct trash flow. The local laws were struck down by a federal court but then upheld by a federal appeals court, according to the National Solid Wastes Management Association.
Transfer station siting along rail lines. In the Northeast, private firm Chartwell International Inc. has bought a rail line and the property along it, intending to construct and operate a transfer station there. Due to the siting of these waste disposal and offload facilities, the company believes it is exempt from environmental or site plan oversight, prompting local officials to take the issue to court. Depending on the court's decision, siting of transfer stations and their EPA oversight could take on a whole new meaning.
The placed-in-service window may expire at the end of the year. The Section 45 Renewable Electricity Production Credit (REPC), commonly referred to as the Production Tax Credit, is a per-kilowatt-hour federal tax credit for electricity generated by qualified energy resources. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended the credit through Dec. 31, 2007. The REPC originally funded only wind, closed-loop biomass, and poultry waste, but now includes landfill gas and MSW combustion.
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Crime Magazine is about true crime: organized crime, celebrity crime, serial killers, corruption, sex crimes, capital punishment, prisons, assassinations, justice issues, crime books, crime films and crime studies.
September 7, 2007
Editor's Note: "Policy" is a form of lottery in which a ticket is purchased and numbers selected, with the winning numbers announced at a drawing. No one knows for sure how the policy game began, but the Sixteenth century European countries were using the lottery to raise money for the state. In the United States, Virginia first introduced a lottery game in the Seventeenth century, and it spread across the country during the next century.
The policy game first appeared in the 1880s in New Orleans, and then spread to New York, Chicago and other cities with large African-American populations. Some historians believe that the name "policy" derives from the practice of blacks playing the game with money meant for insurance policies.
In the policy game, 78 numbers (1 to 78) are wrapped in special containers and dropped in a drum-shaped container or "wheel" from which numbers are drawn. The player selects a certain amount of numbers, the most common being three numbers, or a "gig," betting that the combination of numbers chosen will "fall" or win in the next drawing of winning numbers. The policy operator was known as a "banker" and the games they ran as "banks."
Once back on the streets, Sam "Mooney" Giancana wasted no time pursuing his take over plan for the Black Belt policy racket. He followed up on Ed Jones's jailhouse offer to help set him up in policy and arranged a meeting with Ed's brother, George, at the family's Ben Franklin store. The following evening, he met with Paul Ricca and Jake Guzik, two leading members of The Outfit, Chicago's powerful white mafia.
Giancana was confident that the mob bosses would see the light. "Once those guys see there's money in this. Money…big money…Well, shit. I'll be on my way," Sam told his brother Chuck.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Ricca and Guzik were part of the so called "Big Six" who ruled The Outfit. The other heavyweight godfathers included Joe Adonis, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky and Longy Zwillman. As a young and ambitious gangster, Guzik developed a close relationship with Al Capone, who came to depend on him while organizing the Chicago underworld. Guzik was the Chicago mob's financial wizard for nearly two decades, and his role in arranging payoffs to police and politicians was so valuable that his mob colleagues nicknamed him the "Greasy Thumb."
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View your list of saved words. (You can log in using Facebook.)
Schismatic Christian movement in North Africa in the 4th century. It arose out of the debate over the status of church leaders who had cooperated with Roman officials during persecutions of Christians. The movement's leader, Donatus (died c. AD 355), denied the validity of priestly duties performed by such leaders, insisting that lapsed Christians were not in a state of grace and thus had no authority to administer the sacraments. The struggle over the Donatist heresy came to a head in 311, when Caecilian was consecrated bishop of Carthage by a lapsed bishop. The Donatists declared the election invalid, but Constantine I decided in favor of Caecilian, prompting the Donatists to break with the Roman church in 312. Despite persecution, Donatism survived in North Africa until the advent of Islam (7th century).
This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise. For the full entry on Donatism, visit Britannica.com.
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The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. at the Monticello High School cafeteria.
The proposal for an endangered species designation was announced on January 11. The announcement opens a 60-day comment period where residents can make their opinions known on the proposal.
It is anticipated that a final designation could be made later in 2013.
A public hearing in Dove Creek, CO on January 31 was initially the only planned local meeting. The meeting in Monticello was set up at the request of the San Juan County Commission.
More than 70,000 acres of private land in San Juan County may be designated as critical habitat for the sage grouse, a species with an estimated local population of approximately 100 birds.
The private acreage is nearly 20 percent of the total private land in San Juan County, where more than 92 percent of the land is owned by the state or federal government.
In total, 1.7 million acres of land may be designated as critical habitat for the birds, which are located primarily in Colorado.
Local groups have been trying for several years to take proactive measures to protect the birds and avoid a cumbersome federal designation.
However, local officials have said that while the designation of the Gunnison Sage Grouse as an endangered species may be unavoidable, they hope to minimize the impact of critical habitat.
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The Victoria Cross is a military decoration awarded for valour “in the face of the enemy” to members of armed forces of some Commonwealth countries and previous British Empire territories. It takes precedence over all other Orders, decorations and medals; … Continue reading
With the help of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) we have produced a set of resources to visualise the Commonwealth cemeteries, burial plots and memorials across the globe for those who lost their lives as a result of World … Continue reading
Taking a list of World War I military engagements from Wikipedia, it is possible to plot these on a map. Then using code to analyse Wikipedia (as seen in this earlier visualisation) we can plot a shape on the map … Continue reading
We’ve taken some military maps from Wikimedia Commons to produce a KML layer. A KML file is a file that contains geographic annotation and visualisation for earth viewing software. Within the map are 4 layers – some of which might … Continue reading
Between the 9th April and 16th May 2012 the Battle of Arras was tweeted in realtime by the WW1C Project and a number of contributors from the TWitter community. We geotagged our tweets to tell the @Arras95 story. You can see the tweets above in the interactive map, or open them in Google Maps.
All the tweets are also available for download in CSV format (opens in Excel).
There is no easy way to compare medals across different armed forces – they remain distinct entities without comparison. Harry Cator won a VC and a Croix du Guerre for his actions at Arras, but the majority of medals … Continue reading
Aubrey Herbert was almost blind but served in France, Gallipoli and Mesopotamia in World War One. He was the basis for characters in the work of John Buchan and Louis de Bernières. Herbert’s life and death (he died after having … Continue reading
Arras was part of the front line for a large period of the war. Although we focus on Arras in 1917, it was also a site of a battle in 1915 and 1918. As such the town had already suffered … Continue reading
From a Munich hospital in December 1916 future dictator Adolf Hitler sent a postcard to his comrade Karl Lanzhammer, expressing his desire to go back to the front line. Nursing a leg wound from the Battle of the Somme he … Continue reading
Arras Cathedral was severely damaged during the war, and became part of a propaganda / recruitment campaign. We’ve taken some of these propaganda shots and placed them as a Google Earth 3D Map of the cathedral to give you a … Continue reading
Edward Thomas was a War Poet in World War I, who died fighting in the Battle of Arras in 1917. The First World War Poetry Digital Archive has a large collection of his resources including letters and diary entries, which … Continue reading
We have made a simple file that contains geographic annotation of the front lines at Arras 1917 for earth viewing software, e.g. Google Earth or Google Maps. View in Google Maps Instructions for Google Earth: If you haven’t already, download … Continue reading
Wikipedia is in a position of influence for how people learn about history, but how do the Battles of Arras (1914, 1917 and 1918) differ across the site? What do the edits and page changes tell us about these battles … Continue reading
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Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
Capt. Charles O'Brien. A gentleman-captain, he held five commissions 1665-8. In 1668 the King made him the gift of a fireship. In the same year much to Pepys's annoyance he made fat profits from private trading on a voyage to Constantinople in one of the King's ships.
OBRYAN, Charles,—was made lieutenant of the Jersey, and afterwards second lieutenant of the Royal Charles in 1665. After the action between the fleet under the command of the duke of York, and that under the Dutch admiral Opdam, he was made commander of the West Friezland, a ship taken from the Dutch. In 1666 he was appointed, by prince Rupert and the duke of Albemarle, captain of the Advice of forty-eight guns, and served in the action of the 25th of July, which was so decisive on the part of the English, as one of the seconds to sir Edward Spragge. In 1668 he was appointed commander of the Leopard of fifty-six guns, and sent to Smyrna for the purpose of conveying thither sir Daniel Harvey, ambassador from Charles the Second to the Porte. He does not appear to have had any command afterwards.
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Take Advantage of Ceiling Options to Address Workplace Trends
You might also like:
This is Casey Laughman, managing editor of Building Operating Management. Today's tip is to take advantage of ceiling options to help address workspace design needs.
It's easy to think that ceilings are just there for looks. Unlike walls or floors, they don't meet an obvious functional need except to hide the plenum. And if the design goal is a contemporary, loft-like appearance, why not just eliminate the ceiling? Over the past decade, that's exactly what a growing number of spaces did. What's more, doing without the ceiling seemed a logical complement to an emphasis on green design.
But doing without ceilings meant giving up some of their important benefits. High on that list is acoustics.
In some open-plenum spaces, the lack of ceiling has had a negative impact on productivity. Heartland Acoustics and Interiors president and CEO Jason Gordon says it looked cool, but no one could function.
Exacerbating the acoustical challenges has been the move from private offices and workstations to desking or bench systems. As this has occurred, the physical barriers between employees have been removed, and it becomes very difficult to offset the loss of physical separations.
With fewer surfaces left to absorb sounds, noise from conversations and equipment reverberates within the space. One solution is sometimes referred to as "clouds" or "canopies." These are panels suspended from an open ceiling to provide acoustical absorbency and reduce noise levels. Another solution has been sound-absorbing panels that can be connected to the bottom of the floor above an open area. They absorb sound, while maintaining the look of an exposed structure. While some panels are formulated for use in offices, others have been developed for recreational areas, such as gyms and swimming pools.
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Length: 305' 3" overall.
Beam: 30' 4" extreme.
Displacement: 1,015–1,018 long tons normal.
Draft: 9' 3" mean.
Propulsion machinery: direct drive steam turbines with reciprocating engines for cruising; 12,000 shp; 2 shafts.
Designed speed: 29.5 knots.
Fuel bunkerage: 307 tons.
Torpedo battery: 8 x 18-inch torpedo tubes in four trainable twin mounts.
Gun battery: 4 x 4-inch/50 caliber rapid fire guns in single pedestal mounts.
In 1917, Benham received experimental 4-inch twin mounts but these were removed before she was sent to the war zone.
1 Bureau of Construction and Repair’s General Information book for USS Aylwin.
2 Bauer and Roberts.
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A bit late to the debate but,
Take this if from a comp.sci student (I don't do HCI, but it's more important than my expected profession)....Respect the work of others, especially from outside your profession. You might be smart, but subject knowledge often matters more. Secondly I enjoy software and computers - so if it talks to me. Yay!. But really most people don't.
Context switches for humans are _extremely_ slow and can cause _errors_!. Humans have to rethink some number of 'instructions' earlier when switching back.
Abstractions and models are everywhere in programming, the same goes for reasoning about human thinking. If you model human thinking as a continuous stream of thoughts (many other metaphors work surprisingly well), imagine the harm done when something requires attention and interrupts the stream.
Anything moving or changing requires a context switch, if noticed. If it requires interaction you just lost at least 1 min. And the point of notifications is, well being noticed ;).
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Every time I see Mayor Mendoza, I am greeted by his warm smile and a firm hug. When I saw him yesterday, however, the mayor of the Honduran municipality of San Antonio de Cortes had something important he wanted to discuss, something that he had been thinking about since I had last seen him eight months ago.
I first visited San Antonio in 2007, when we tested Water For People’s newly developed mapping and monitoring system with the World Water Corps, the volunteer wing of Water For People. Each visit to this progressive municipality brings new ideas and results — for example, I have been stunned by the roll-out of water meters to more effectively track water use and tariffs throughout San Antonio — and the people here like to think big.
Mayor Amner Mendoza Motiño, a tall man who seems to always be smiling, is on of those big thinkers. An agricultural extensionist by training and profession, Mayor Mendoza has only recently come into formal politics. I had last seen him in the nearby municipality of Chinda in January, when the mayor of that town was announcing that Chinda had reached full coverage for EVERYONE – every citizen had clean water and sanitation.
Yesterday, Mayor Mendoza asked me why Water For People had not signed a similar agreement with San Antonio, because he also wanted to achieve full coverage for EVERYONE.
The only response that I could muster was, “That’s a good question!”
As I have mentioned in a previous blog about lasting coverage, Water For People is modeling EVERYONE initiatives globally: meaning that everyone, including future generations, can and should have access to sustainable clean water systems.
This is not just an idea for us to brand. Rather, we believe this campaign can become a movement, focusing on lasting coverage, boosting low levels of coverage to full coverage, and setting up financial, technical, and managerial systems that will ensure that water poverty is truly eradicated — co-financing all around; 10 years of monitoring and support; services to all villages, not just those that are easily accessible and thus less costly.
But, as this program continues to evolve, we have recently been discussing if there is value in having the EVERYONE commitment driven by communities and municipalities, rather than directed as an NGO initiative. Mayor Mendoza’s question was a perfect opportunity to test whether our EVERYONE program can make this transition.
We hope to use Mayor Mendoza and San Antonio as a case study to answer these questions that we have been debating in our headquarters and in the field:
- Would local ownership and investment in the work be increased if the municipality itself were a self-starter program, if the municipality were making the case to us that it wants to achieve full coverage for EVERYONE forever, instead of the other way around?
- What if Water For People then took a back-seat role, signing on to the community’s pledge to support the government in achieving its goal?
- What specific changes would each community make to the model that we have outlined?
The first step was to have Mayor Mendoza write out his specific pledge on a piece of paper, then transfer it to the municipality’s official letterhead. The pledge read that, as mayor, he was committing the municipality to a program where EVERY family, EVERY school, EVERY clinic — EVERYONE — would have water and sanitation. San Antonio de Cortes includes 44 communities, 60 schools, three public health clinics, and more than 60,000 people, according to the technicians responsible for the municipality’s water and sanitation facilities. Many families live in hard-to-reach areas, so reaching EVERYONE will be challenging due to a mix of the region’s hydrology and the existing settlement patterns.
But Mayor Mendoza wants the program to succeed; this program that was his idea, that he penned on paper himself.
He has committed to co-financing from the government and the communities, with the finances coming from the municipality accounting for 50 percent of the total costs for the program. We at Water For People have committed to 10 years of post-implementation monitoring support which will mainly be spearheaded by the municipality itself. Mayor Mendoza has suggested some additional programmatic and financial changes that would bind the municipality more closely to these lasting results and allows San Antonio to successfully meet the goal of full coverage for EVERYONE forever.
Interestingly, although it is part of the EVERYONE commitment originally penned by Water For People, the mayor’s version of the pledge did not include the outcome that no other international water and sanitation agency would ever be needed by the municipality. Mayor Mendoza did not want to write this, and his reasoning was simple, he told me — although he wants that outcome achieved, he’s deeply worried about natural disasters and political opponents.
“Do not misunderstand. I like the ideas about an infrastructure bank to finance system replacement in the future, and I do not want to need outside NGOs ever again,” said Mayor Mendoza, smiling, as always. “I just do not want it written; we all hope we can achieve full coverage forever without the need of more help, even in case of another hurricane.”
Mayor Mendoza survived Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and he helped to rebuild San Antonio in the wake of that natural disaster. He told me that international relief agencies were very important during the hurricane and after it, and he did not want a document to be misinterpreted if a disaster were to strike again.
Additionally, the mayor told me that he is also slightly worried that political opponents would use the document to say that he was driving away NGOs from a poor municipality.
These are two key points that we, as outsiders, would not have thought about, and thus why the original Water For People EVERYONE pledge looked slightly different than Mayor Mendoza’s version. But, ultimately, San Antonio is Mayor Mendoza’s responsibility, not Water For People’s. And while many agencies will bypass local governments altogether — for a variety of reasons, such as corruption, human resource constraints, and bureaucratic complications — our program is driving forward with a clear and audacious outcome in mind: we want the community to be self-sufficient, and much of that depends on being a self-starter.
Water For People is rightly playing a support role, and, if success is achieved, then the residents of San Antonio and its mayor will rightly be seen as the ones who solved the municipality’s water and sanitation problem.
And so it was that we signed, on San Antonio de Cortes letterhead, Mayor Mendoza’s WASH plan for EVERYONE forever.
Follow Ned Breslin on Twitter.
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A new study in monkeys provides the strongest evidence yet that an estrogen-like chemical called BPA could alter chromosomes, increasing the risk of birth defects and miscarriages, scientists say.
Although researchers have performed hundreds of studies of BPA in mice, there are far fewer studies in humans and their closest relatives, non-human primates.
In a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington State University geneticist Patricia Hunt found chromosomal damage in rhesus monkeys, which share 95% of their DNA with humans. Significantly, the damage occurred at levels of BPA that are similar to the levels to which humans are routinely exposed, Hunt says.
She notes that the new findings confirm earlier results in lab mice.
"This is hitting uncomfortably close to home now," Hunt says. "It's so close to humans that we can't really deny this is a problem."
Researchers have been concerned for 15 years about the risks of BPA, used in plastic bottles, heat-activated cash register receipts, the linings of aluminum cans and countless consumer products. Studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find that more than 92% of Americans have the chemical in their bodies.
In this article, Hunt studied the effects of BPA on pregnant monkeys, focusing not just on the mothers, but on the ovaries of their unborn daughters.
Females are born with all of the eggs they will ever have, and these eggs develop while they are still in their mothers' wombs.
Hunt found that BPA caused damage at two times in pregnancy: First, in early pregnancy, when the fetus' eggs were developing, causing the eggs to divide improperly. That kind of damage can cause birth defects, and has in Hunt's earlier mouse experiments.
This time, Hunt didn't study these monkeys long enough to observe any birth defects. Second, BPA caused problems later in pregnancy, causing eggs to be improperly "packaged" in the follicles in which they develop.
That could limit the number of viable eggs, impairing fertility, Hunt says. BPA can affect multiple generations simultaneously, says Andrea Gore, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Texas at Austin. That's because BPA can affect a pregnant mother; her unborn fetus; and, if that fetus is female, the fetus' future offspring, who will develop from her eggs.
"It's a three-for-one hit," Hunt says.
Ana Soto, a professor at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, praised Hunt's careful research.
Although the study was small, with only 19 monkeys, it is of very high quality. "This is very worrisome," says Soto, who published a paper in May showing that BPA also alters mammary gland development in rhesus monkeys.
Steven Hentges, a scientist with the American Chemistry Council, an industry group, says the study's small size makes it "of unclear relevance to humans." Government studies suggest that, "because of the way BPA is processed in the body, it is very unlikely that BPA could cause health effects at any realistic exposure level," Hentges says. "Regulators from Europe to Japan to the U.S. have recently reviewed hundreds of studies on BPA and repeatedly supported the continued safe use of BPA."
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What's In Your Home?
- "Of chemicals commonly found in homes, 150 have been linked to allergies, birth defects, cancer and psychological abnormalities."—Consumer Product Safety Commission
- "A 15-year study revealed that women who work at home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than women who work outside the home. This has been directly linked to the high concentration of harsh chemicals in the home." —1990 Toronto Indoor Air Conference
- The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) analyzed 2,983 chemicals used in personal care products, finding 884 of the chemicals were toxic. There are better, safer, and cost-effective options for you and your family.
Don't Be Just Another ADHD, Asthma, or Allergy Statistic
- "About one-half of children diagnosed with ADHD have also been identified as having a learning disability. This disorder is reported to affect from 5-20% of school-age children and over 2 million American children (mostly boys) take the controversial drug Ritalin."—Centers for Disease Control
- "Estimates from a skin test survey suggest that allergies affect as many as 40 to 50 million people living in the United States." —Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1987
- "Allergic diseases affect more than 20% of the U.S. Population."—American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, 1998
- More than 20 million Americans have asthma today. Asthma accounts for approximately 10 million physician office visits, 400,000 hospitalizations, and 1 million emergency room visits each year.—American Lung Association, 2003; American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, 2000
You Have Choices
Did you know that safer alternatives exist and can actually be more affordable than what you are currently using for personal care, hygiene, home cleaning, vitamins and more?
Request a Free Home Safety Consultation Today and one of the representatives from EveVenture can give you a call to walk through the details of how you can create a healthier home for your family.
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Remember, it’s not the idea, it’s the execution that matters:
In fact, execution is probably one of the biggest competitive advantages that startups typically overlook. Investors would always rather have an “A” entrepreneur with a “B” idea than a “B’ entrepreneur with an “A” idea. This is why investors always rate the management team as the key criteria they use to decide where to invest their funds. Ideas don’t make profitable businesses. Management teams that successfully execute their ideas make all the money.
For example, a discount airline is not an innovative concept. Major companies such as United and Delta have tried to execute this many times. Only Southwest has figured out how to make a low-cost, point-to-point airline profitable. While the idea is not unique, the successful execution is rare. This is why “first-mover advantage” may not be an advantage at all. Competition is a valuable thing. Examining the successes and failures other people made with the same idea will always help execution.
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The hot topic of the moment in the cafes, on the airwaves and in parliamentary offices is the new electoral law, or, as it may well turn out, the lack thereof.
For if the squabbling and indecision over replacing the existing law with a system of proportional representation continues for much longer, time will run out before the scheduled 2013 elections arrive.
There are currently many different electoral law propositions being discussed, and they share little if any common ground, all pushing for varying numbers of electoral districts, all of differing sizes. And it cannot seriously be claimed that a single one does not push the agenda of the party or group endorsing it.
While all governments over recent decades have attempted to overhaul the creaking electoral system, this is the first time that the country’s leaders have had an opportunity to do so with minimal external influence. With Syria embroiled in its own crisis, the wishes of Lebanon’s neighbor are less powerful than in the past.
But it seems that Lebanon’s own sectarian system will render this opportunity a wasted one.
Normally, when a country calling itself a democracy is in the process of creating a new electoral law, propositions and amendments will be drafted by independent and neutral bodies, individuals who will not benefit, or lose, from whatever system eventually arises. In this way, the new law will most closely translate the vision and aspirations of the population as a whole. There will always be opposition from certain quarters, but this process is mostly likely to transcend biased and unrepresentative proposals.
Electoral proposals authored by independent bodies, rather than by political or religious groups, are the only way to ensure the electorate is given the chance to nominate people who will represent them, and who can be held accountable to their actions, rather than people voted in on the ticket of their ancestors or their connections.
To allow potential candidates the bare minimum of time to prepare for the elections – so that they can know how and where to campaign – the not yet existing electoral law will have to be agreed upon by the end of the year. But with politicians from across the board voicing general disbelief that this will happen it remains to be seen whether this will actually transpire.
And if by a miracle a new law is eventually agreed upon, it can be guaranteed that one or more players will remain dissatisfied, perhaps indeed to the extent that they will be encouraged to disrupt the path to elections.
As with so many areas of government and governance in Lebanon, the disconnect between promises and reality when it comes to the new electoral law seems dangerously large. If politicians want to prove this is not a failed state, it is imperative they all work with integrity to achieving a democratic, transparent system, and one that is driven by nationalism, not individualism.
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Fort Washington Park
Riverside Dr., Hudson River, W. 155 St. to W. 179 St.
Manhattan, 10032, 10033, 10034
Directions via Google Maps
Fort Washington Park
On June 20 1776, Pennsylvania battalions of the Continental Army began constructing a five-bastion fort for General George Washington (1732–1799) at the intersection of present-day Fort Washington Avenue and 183rd Street. Their quickly assembled, earthen-walled structure had no water supply and no significant barricade to repel attackers. The highest hill on Manhattan island was an ideal location for the fort, with its views overlooking the Hudson River to the east, the valley of Manhattan as far south as what is now 120th Street, and protection on the north side from Fort Tryon. Unfortunately, Fort Washington’s prime position did not spare it from British bombardiers. British, and Hessian forces captured this last American stronghold in Manhattan on November 16, 1776, as General Washington watched helplessly from Fort Lee on the New Jersey side of the Hudson. The overall battle of New York City, from Manhattan to Long Island, cost the Continentals several hundred lives and over four thousand prisoners of war.
The British army and its sympathizers then occupied the city until the American victory in 1783. Wilhelm, Baron von Knyphausen (1716–1800), a German general in British service, was commander of New York from 1779 to 1780 and what remained of the American fort was renamed Fort Knyphausen in his honor. After the war, vestiges of the Fort disappeared, and the surrounding area became known as Washington Heights. Granite paving outlines the former contours of Fort Washington in the southern portion of nearby Bennett Park. For the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Fort Washington in 1976, the Washington Heights-Inwood Historical Society re-enacted the conflict on the site of the former fort.
The Laws of 1894 mapped this park, which now stretches from 155th Street to Dyckman Street and from Riverside Drive to the Hudson River, as parkland and named it Fort Washington Park. The City of New York officially acquired most of the property in five separate parcels between 1896 and 1927, all through condemnation. Parks was granted jurisdiction at the time of those acquisitions, but some additional parkland was added from the Port of New York Authority (1939), the Board of Estimate (1966), and the Department of Real Property (1989).
In the early 20th century, many construction plans circulated for this parkland. In 1912, the West End Hotel wished to build a sister facility with views of the majestic Hudson. Developers advanced plans to build an open-air stage and comfort station on the shore of the Hudson in 1913. The theatre was to be a reproduction of an ancient Greek theatre in Taormina, Sicily. Each time the threat of encroachment loomed, the neighborhood organizations of Washington Heights fought to protect their green space.
Inspiration Point Shelter, on Henry Hudson Parkway at 190th Street, opened in 1925 as a resting place for pedestrians and leisure drivers. Designed by architect Gustave Steinacher in 1924, the neoclassical sitting area opened a year later and quickly became a favorite of Hudson River tourists. In 1927, the Board of Estimate allowed Parks to relinquish control of a parcel of land at 179th Street for the Port of New York Authority’s construction of the George Washington Bridge. When it was completed in 1931, the steel-cabled beauty was the longest suspension bridge in the world.
The West 181st Street Beautification Project and the New York Restoration Project help Parks ensure that Fort Washington Park can provide diverse opportunities for rest and recreation. Baseball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, and a playground welcome athletes of all ages. Benches are available for those who simply want to take in the views of the Hudson River and the Palisades Cliffs in New Jersey. Each September, the Little Red Lighthouse Festival brings hundreds of lovers of children’s literature and nautical history to Fort Washington Park and its most famous landmark, in the shadow of the “Great Gray Bridge.”
Directions to Fort Washington Park
- "Daddy and Me Adventure" Continues With a Visit to the Little Red Lighthouse
- This Weekend In Parks
- Little Red Lighthouse Stands Tall
- Barbecuing Areas
- Baseball Fields
- Basketball Courts
- Dog-friendly Areas
- Handball Courts
- Historic Houses
- Tennis Courts
- Water Fountains
Know when to go:
View upcoming athletic area usage
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Senate Approves Bill Restoring Funding for Hydrogen Car Research
Saturday, October 17, 2009
The hydrogen car may have legions of fervent fans, but Energy Secretary Steven Chu apparently is not among them. Earlier this year, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist essentially zeroed government funding for the clean vehicles and came close to mocking their potential, saying the technology needs four "miracles" before it can become widely adopted.
"Saints only need three," he cracked in a magazine interview.
But the hydrogen car is back. On Thursday, the Senate agreed to restore nearly all the money for hydrogen car research that the administration had proposed to cut. The measure, part of an appropriations bill previously approved by the House, is expected to be signed by President Obama.
"It's the right set of priorities," said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.), a leader in the effort to fund the technology. "If you discontinue the research, you shortchange the future."
In slashing the budget, Chu, an advocate of alternative energy, reopened longstanding questions over whether hydrogen cars are a faraway dream, or as President George W. Bush once said, a technology that could be in showrooms by 2019.
"With a new national commitment . . . the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free," Bush said in his 2003 State of the Union address.
Hydrogen car advocates said Friday that the vote to restore funding represented a sensible step toward funding a variety of alternative energy possibilities.
But critics said the vote reflects only the difficulty of killing a government program. The money keeps alive about 190 projects around the country, officials said.
"It's an insult to the American taxpayer to pretend that hydrogen cars are a practical and affordable near-term or even medium-term greenhouse gas reduction strategy," said Joseph J. Romm, a former Department of Energy official in charge of clean-technology programs.
A one-time hydrogen advocate, Romm has since written "The Hype About Hydrogen," a critical look at the industry's prospects.
"I give Chu and the Obama administration a lot of credit for trying to do the right thing," Romm said.
Before the cars can become much more than an experiment on American roads -- it is estimated that there are fewer than 200 operating in the United States -- the industry may need as much as $55 billion more in government support over the next 15 years, according to industry sources and a National Research Council report last year. That money would pay for more research and subsidies to build fueling stations.
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ARS Works Toward Control of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
The brown marmorated stink bug is easily recognized by many because it’s invading our homes. But the pest, shown here feeding on an apple, is also a major economic threat to fruit crops, garden vegetables, and many ornamentals. ARS scientists are fighting back by developing traps, sequencing the bug’s genome, and testing parasitic wasps as biocontrols.
The brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is wreaking havoc in U.S. homes, gardens, and agricultural operations, causing personal and economic woe. Agricultural Research Service scientists are exploring various aspects of monitoring and control of this increasingly important insect pest, which is an invasive Asian species known as a sporadic pest of many tree fruit crops in China, Korea, and Japan. Along with being a household nuisance, it is a major economic threat to producers of orchard fruits such as apple, peach, and pear; garden vegetables and row crops; and many ornamental species.
Since its detection in the northeastern United States a decade ago, the BMSB has been detected in 38 states and has earned the distinction of being classified as the top invasive insect of interest by the U.S Department of Agriculture. With economic losses to the apple industry estimated at $37 million in 2010, the bug’s threat to apple growers prompted a Member of Congress to organize a public hearing in western Maryland. There is also concern about the potential damage it could cause to vineyards in California and other states.
Tracy Leskey, with the Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, West Virginia, is the principal investigator of the research group, which includes several scientists in ARS’s Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland; Jana Lee, an ARS entomologist in Corvallis, Oregon; and Kim Hoelmer, director of the USDA-ARS European Biological Control Laboratory in Montpellier, France.
A major project led by Leskey, funded through the USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative Program, is called “Biology, Ecology, and Management of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug in Orchard Crops, Small Fruit, Grapes, Vegetables, and Ornamentals.” While this is a mouthful, it goes to the heart of the damage that can be caused by this pest. The project is funded for 3 years with $5.7 million in federal funds and $7.3 million in matching funds. The group includes ARS, Pennsylvania State University, Washington State University, North Carolina State University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Rutgers University, Northeastern IPM Center, Oregon State University, University of Maryland, University of Delaware, and Cornell University. The project will take advantage of research that ARS scientists have conducted on BMSB since it was detected in the United States in 2001. The project’s progress can be followed on its website, stopbmsb.org.
Adult and late-instar nymph stink bugs, Halyomorpha halys, feed on a Honey Crisp apple, a popular cultivar among consumers. (D2709-6)
Setting the Trap
Growers need as much in-the-field information as possible to find ways to manage BMSBs. “Monitoring tools are used to assess the presence, abundance, and seasonal activity of pests and natural enemies to determine the need for and timing of insecticide applications,” says Leskey. “Specifically, our group evaluated responses of brown marmorated stink bugs using different visual stimuli, compared the effectiveness of commercially available traps from Asia with a black pyramid prototype trap, compared relative attraction to different doses of odor attractants, and conducted a field cage experiment designed to establish how often the brown marmorated stink bugs reproduce.”
Leskey has focused on visual stimuli that can, in addition to odor stimuli, attract the BMSBs to traps that will help farmers monitor the level of infestation in fields.
Support scientist Starker Wright (left) and entomologist Tracy Leskey inspect traps baited with experimental pheromone lures. The lures are being tested for brown marmorated stink bug attraction.
“We used pyramid-shaped traps of different colors—black, green, yellow, clear, white. In field trials in 2009 and 2010, we found significantly more stink bug adults and nymphs captured in the baited black pyramid traps than in the other traps,” says Leskey. “Further, more adults and nymphs were captured in a trap placed on the ground than in a commercially available baited trap from Japan that we hung from a tree limb.”
“We also found that in 2010 and 2011, brown marmorated stink bugs produced two generations in 1 year in Kearneysville, based on presence of eggs and newly molted adults in field cage experiments,” says Leskey. “Although it has been reported that these bugs produce only one brood in eastern Pennsylvania, it appears that in more southerly locations within the Mid-Atlantic, they can produce two generations.”
Technician Brent Short counts the number of adult males and females and other life stages of brown marmorated stink bugs captured in traps baited with experimental lures.
Secrets of Attraction
Researchers at the ARS Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory (IIBBL) in Beltsville, Maryland, are leading the pivotal pheromone research efforts and genomics studies and partnering with Leskey on field tests of potential attractants for use in commercial traps.
Scientists at IIBBL were working on the BMSB long before it became such a huge problem in the United States. Aijun Zhang, an analytical chemist, started looking for the BMSB pheromone in 2003, along with Ashot Khrimian, a synthetic chemist, and Jeff Aldrich, an entomologist who retired in 2011. Khrimian and Aldrich published results in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and in Tetrahedron, showing that a compound identified as a pheromone of another stink bug was also a late-season attractant for the BMSB. When the BMSB emerged as a major pest in the United States, Aldrich and Khrimian began helping U.S. manufacturers develop traps with the attractant.
“Our work has already led to successful commercial products now on the market. But what we now have is only a late-season attractant, and because that doesn’t help growers as much as we would like, we still have work to do,” Khrimian says.
ARS scientists at Beltsville, Maryland, analyze reaction products to evaluate purities of synthetic lures for brown marmorated stink bug. Left to right: chemists Shyam Shirali, Ashot Khrimian, and Filadelfo Guzman.
In 2010, the team of scientists at IIBBL found an “aggregation pheromone” that shows promise as the main pheromone attractant for BMSB. This pheromone is released by males when they feed, and it attracts both males and females. The scientists are trying to determine the chemicals that make up the pheromone. They are working on identifying the specific isomers (structurally related chemicals) that the stink bugs may be releasing to attract other stink bugs to feeding sites. They are trying to identify the various combinations or ratios of attractant isomers that will produce an affordable and efficient lure, Khrimian says.
The mixture and components were also evaluated in field trials this summer in Beltsville, Kearneysville, and elsewhere. Don Weber, who is overseeing the Beltsville field studies, set up traps with the different candidate formulas and twice each week counted the numbers of male, female, and nymphal (immature) stink bugs they attracted. These pyramid traps, based on those designed by Leskey, are similar to those developed for weevils and pests of woody fruit. They have a screen funnel that allows the stink bugs entry, but inhibits exit. Lures with the experimental formulas hang alongside kill strips inside clear plastic containers.
A provisional patent application was filed, and the researchers hope to include results from the summer field trials in supplemental data that will be filed as part of the completed patent application.
A female parasitoid wasp, Trissolcus mitsukurii, from Asia. This species is one of several parasitoids being evaluated as potential biocontrols of brown marmorated stink bug.
Help From Genes and Natural Enemies
Dawn Gundersen-Rindal, research leader of the ARS Beltsville group, has been working with scientists at Baylor College of Medicine to sequence the stink bug’s genome. The sequencing is part of an international effort, known as the “i5K Project,” to sequence the genomes of 5,000 insects. Because it is such a nuisance to homeowners, a threat to agriculture, and rapidly spreading in the United States, the BMSB is one of the group’s top priorities, she said.
“Sequencing the genome will tell us about the genes that give this insect its defense mechanisms and its ability to respond to threats, such as pathogens that we might want to use against it. It might give us clues, for instance, how it may develop resistance to insecticides,” she says.
Separate from the sequencing project, Gundersen-Rindal is looking for genes that might be unique to the stink bug or make it vulnerable to specific treatments. “We hope we can find critical genes and use them against the stink bug by developing molecular biopesticides that address some weakness unique to its genetic makeup,” she says.
An adult parasitoid insect emerging from an egg of a stink bug. After a parasitoid female wasp lays an egg into a stink bug egg, the parasitoid offspring (one per egg) develops inside the egg, eating it from the inside out.
Another approach to reducing the population of BMSBs is classical biological control—using its natural enemies to help keep its populations in check. Hoelmer continues work he began at the Beneficial Insects Introduction Research Unit in Newark, Delaware, to find parasitoid insects that may lend a hand. Surveys conducted in the United States found that native stink bug parasitoids are not capable of controlling BMSBs, so it is important that more effective biological control agents from Asia be identified, tested, and eventually imported to the United States. Hoelmer has collected some of these parasitoids during foreign exploration in collaboration with the USDA-ARS Sino-American Biological Control Laboratory, in Beijing, China, and is now testing them in quarantine culture in Newark to determine their specificity for the BMSB.
Each of these research disciplines is needed to control BMSB populations in the United States, which will help farmers and homeowners alike. The project is an example of how USDA and ARS have the organization, infrastructure, and expertise to move quickly toward solving an emergent problem for agriculture.—By Sharon Durham and Dennis O'Brien, Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.
This research is part of Crop Protection and Quarantine (#304) and Methyl Bromide Alternatives (#308), two ARS national programs described at www.nps.ars.usda.gov.
To reach scientists mentioned in this article, contact Sharon Durham, USDA-ARS Information Staff, 5601 Sunnyside Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-5129; (301) 504-1611.
"ARS Works Toward Control of Brown Marmorated Stink Bug" was published in the January 2013 issue of Agricultural Research magazine.
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The federal government will consider including an expanse of land stretching from Lake Ontario to the Oak Ridges Moraine in a new national park, says the chair of the Rouge Park Alliance.
The revelation, made last Friday at an Alliance meeting, is good news for park advocates, who have long contended that the protected land should connect the lakeshore with the moraine.
“That would replicate the old carrying trail used by first nations as a route for trapping and trade, and it would connect with the trails in the Oak Ridges,” said Alliance chair Alan Wells.
Transport Canada must still do a study on 5,000 acres of land it owns in Markham, he said, but that parcel could ultimately be signed over to the park.
However, Parks Canada won’t be looking at other federal land in north Pickering, which was expropriated in the 1970s to build an airport, he said.
The government also won’t expropriate private properties, including some farms, that currently sit in the Rouge Valley.
Earlier this month, Environment Minister Peter Kent said the boundaries of the park would likely be roughed out by the fall. After that, it could take some time to assemble the land. The government is to hold community consultations in the next few months.
The area also contains roads, hydro corridors and other infrastructure that typically isn’t allowed in national parks, which means the federal government may have to pass an act to grant it an exception, Mr. Wells said.
Also Friday, the Alliance approved a plan for trails to be built in the park and referred it to Parks Canada.
The valley of the Rouge River is a long strip of parkland that forms Toronto’s eastern boundary.
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"Industrial herring trawl ships should not be allowed in any groundfish nursery areas under any circumstances," says Gary Libby, groundfisherman from Midcoast Fishermen's Association (MFA) in Port Clyde, Maine. "New England's historic cod and haddock fishermen have sacrificed too long to let industrial trawlers from away ravage these sanctuaries. They are destroying our future."
"The loopholes in this rule are so big you could sail a midwater trawl ship through them," said Earthjustice attorney Roger Fleming, who is handling a related lawsuit for the MFA.
There are numerous loopholes in this final version of the rule which undermine its effectiveness. Instead of requiring ships to return back to port when dumping occurs, which discourages dumping bycatch and help ensure the monitoring of all catch including groundfish, now vessels can dump with broad discretion. For example a vessel operator can determine there is a mechanical problem and dump and fish in the closed area -- which the old version of the rule had prohibited. The final rule will go into effect on Monday, November 2.
After revelations of large amounts of juvenile haddock bycatch by these industrial trawlers was discovered last October in this closed groundfish area, outcry from groundfish fishermen, conservationists, and the New England Fishery Management council prompted NMFS to initiate a rule making process to outline regulations for how industrial trawlers would be monitored when they access this closed area.
"This is less than a half measure because it does not even go as far as the council intended," added Fleming.
Earthjustice, representing the Midcoast Fishermen's Association, filed a lawsuit against NMFS in December 2007, after the agency failed to evict the high-volume herring ships from areas identified as spawning grounds and sanctuaries for the region's dwindling groundfish populations.
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Current Date: Fri, 24 May 2013 11:31:17 -0400
Being an international student at UNC comes at a price — an out-of-state price.
While invaluable, it’s not an experience everyone can afford, even before currency exchanges that can work against you.
Paying more than $41,000 a year in undergraduate tuition and fees is a large weight to carry for anybody. But it’s especially taxing for international students, who are ineligible for most scholarships and financial aid.
According to the admissions office, the University offers only a “very limited number of merit scholarships” for incoming international students.
I wasn’t one of them.
But I remember darting back and forth between offices during my freshman year, only to realize my chances of getting financial aid were close to none.
International students with green cards, legally allowed to work and live permanently in the United States, are the only ones who can be considered. But those green cards are hardly an option for students arriving at UNC directly from their home countries. Those students will usually receive student visas and are only allowed to work up to 20 hours a week during the academic year.
Though limiting, the opportunities a visa affords students are better than nothing. I, for example, was allowed to work as a Spanish teacher’s assistant during my sophomore year in exchange for class credit.
But class credit doesn’t pay rent.
This year, I faced new hurdles. Looking for at least minimum-wage work, I went to the international student office for a list of on-campus jobs.
Resume in hand, I was rejected time and again, as they were only accepting applications from work-study students. A quick phone call informed me of what I already knew: International students are ineligible for work-study.
I must have visited every department’s library for a student assistant position when I finally spilled my guts to a librarian in Carroll Hall.
“I’m an international student,” I said.
She smiled sympathetically.
“We have no money,” she replied.
On-campus work is the only chance international students have for making an honest wage. This semester, I didn’t stand a chance.
I was never lied to. From the moment I applied, the international student office has told me of the opportunities UNC can and cannot offer.
In many ways, they have been a helpful ally.
But now, in my fourth year at UNC, I feel like some of the 1,493 of us on campus fall through the cracks too often.
Some Ivy League universities and a few others are able to offer financial aid to international students because they are privately funded. But there are public universities, like UC-Berkeley, that offer opportunities for funding after one year of study.
Work-study positions are also available.
At a university that prides itself on reaching beyond its borders to attract global talent and imbue students with a world view, international students should become a bigger part of the conversation.
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America's Worst Wind Energy Project
October 17, 2011
The more people know about the wind energy business, the less they like it. And when it comes to lousy wind deals, General Electric's (GE) Shepherds Flat project in northern Oregon is a real stinker, says Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
The arguments being put forward by wind energy proponents are similar to those that the Obama administration is using to justify its support of Solyndra, the now-bankrupt solar company that got a $529 million loan guarantee from the federal government. In some ways, the government support for the Shepherds Flat deal is worse than what happened with Solyndra.
- The majority of the funding for the $1.9 billion, 845-megawatt Shepherds Flat wind project is coming courtesy of federal taxpayers.
- That largesse will provide a windfall for General Electric and its partners.
The Obama administration's loan guarantee for the now-bankrupt Solyndra has garnered lots of attention, but the Shepherds Flat deal is an even better example of corporate welfare. Several questions are immediately obvious:
- Why is the federal government providing loan guarantees and subsidies for an energy project that could easily be financed by GE, which has a market capitalization of about $170 billion?
- Why is the Obama administration providing subsidies to GE, which paid little or no federal income taxes last year even though it generated some $5.1 billion in profits from its U.S. operations?
- How is it that GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, can be the head of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness while his company is paying little or no federal income taxes?
Green jobs are costly. If we ignore the value of the federal loan guarantee and only focus on the $490 million cash grant that will be given to GE and its partners when Shepherds Flat gets finished, the cost of the projected 35 permanent "green energy" jobs will be about $16.3 million each.
Source: Robert Bryce, "America's Worst Wind Energy Project," National Review Online, October 12, 2011.
Browse more articles on Environment Issues
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Shenyang, China -- 12 people are reported to have died tragically after falling from the Daedong Bridge in Pyongyang during a rush of citizens trying to leave the fireworks display being held in Kim Il Sung Square on April 15th.
The tragedy occurred at a time when a 500-meter radius around the square was crowded with people.
A source from Pyongyang explained more on Friday, “After news that the General (Kim Jong Il) would not be participating in the event started circulating immediately after the fireworks began, the crowd flocked to the bridge to go home, causing the incident to occur. The bridge is the oldest one of four bridges along the Daedong River and only has a one meter high barrier, so tens of people fell from it and 12 died.”
According to the source, the fireworks display, “My Country Where the Supreme Leader’s Desire Blossoms,” started around ten minutes later than its 8 P.M. scheduled start time in the vicinity of Kim Il Sung Square and the Juche Tower, at which point Lee Yong Cheol, the Secretary of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League appeared on the podium set up in the Square to announce, “The No. 1 Event (in which Kim Jong Il would have taken part) has been cancelled. Now, fireworks and performances commemorating the Day of Sun will start.”
Thereafter, the source explained, “Since just one firework went off in the first ten minutes, the crowds started going back home saying it was boring and worse than last year’s event. In last year’s event, there were fireworks like a waterfall from the top of the Ryugyong Hotel, but this time there was no such thing.”
“Since the No. 1 Event was cancelled anyhow, going back home during the event could not be treated as a political problem,” the source added. “Therefore, people intended to leave as soon as possible.”
So, by 8:30 P.M., people were gathered on the road trying to get out of the Square, and officials from the National Security Agency and the People’s Security Ministry tried to regulate their departure. Those who wanted to avoid that regulation flocked to the Daedong Bridge, because on the other side of the bridge in Munsu Street there is the last stop of a trolleybus by which those living in Dongdaewon-, Sungyo-, and Daedonggang-districts could easily travel home.
Thereafter, the crowd tried to force itself across the bridge, causing the disaster.
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We need to make sure notorious rainforest destroyer Asia Pulp & Paper gets the message: We will not accept paper made from rainforest destruction.
Just over two years ago, independent fiber tests revealed paper linked to Indonesian rainforest destruction and human rights violations in books sold by nearly all top American publishers. Today, all of the top ten US publishers—including HarperCollins, Disney, Scholastic, and Random House—recognize that customers will not accept books with paper that comes from the destruction of endangered rainforests. This truly is a seismic shift in an industry that just two years ago was rife with controversial paper, and it's all thanks to your hard work.
But while US publishers are sending a loud and clear message that consumers are demanding paper that is not tied to rainforest destruction or human rights violations, APP has yet to take action of its own. APP is going to make a big sustainability announcement next week, and it could be a significant milestone in the fight to save the world's rainforests and protect the rights of forestdependent communities and wildlife. But APP needs to know that we expect the company to address all of these issues with both words and deeds.
APP really needs to hear from you. Please send the company a message now and ask APP decision makers to protect rainforests and the communities and wildlife that depend on them.
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In one of the more intriguing sociological studies of late, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia has determined after a three-year study that families fall into four distinct groups.
According to Carl Desportes Bowman, Director of Survey Research for the Institute, these family types “speak different languages, they have different sets of beliefs and suspicions.”
This explains why there are so many different parenting styles. Simply put, “we are all looking out through different windows, and therefore looking onto entirely different worlds.”
So what are these family types?
1. The Faithful (20%)
The “Faithful” are parents who put religion at the center of their world. The most important value they hold is morality, helping their children differentiate between right and wrong – a differentiation is based on God or scripture. They believe the rest of the world doesn’t have a moral compass, and they want to make sure their children do. The Faithful perceive a “strong decline since their own childhoods” in “American moral and ethical standards,” the “quality of TV, movies, and entertainment,” and “the dating and sexual practices of teenagers.” They pray as a family, believe in spanking and regular chores, turn to pastors and church for parental guidance, and feel secure in their control over their children. Eighty-eight percent are married, 74 percent in their first marriage.
2. The Engaged Progressives (21%)
The “Engaged Progressives” see “tolerance” as the key to their moral code. The most important value they hold is personal freedom – theirs and everyone else’s. They believe their role as parents is to “prepare children to be responsible choosers, weighing alternatives, thinking carefully through courses of action in advance.” When faced with moral ambiguity, they look less to God or scripture and more to “What would be best for everyone involved.” These families have more exposure to pop culture and technology. Advice is gained less from pastors or church, and more from therapists or psychologists. They are hesitant to use discipline of any kind (not even grounding).
3. The Detached (19%)
The “Detached” feel marginalized and unsure of themselves and their place in society; they are “a group adrift.” When asked what they want for their children, only one-third consider honesty to be essential. They value “practical skills over book learning.” They are the least likely to believe they have the power to control their children’s technology or the right to know their children’s friends. “Their parenting strategy is to let kids be kids and let the cards fall where they may.”
4. American Dreamers (27%)
The “American Dreamers” share the low economic and educational levels of “The Detached,” but have higher aspirations for their children. “They hope for much and invest even more,” the report says, “pouring themselves fully into their families’ futures.” Fewer than two-thirds of the parents are currently married, many have never married, and they are more likely than any other group to be women. They are optimistic that their children will be better off than they were, and will do anything to make that happen. They “are as quick to spank or scold as they are to praise or reward good behavior.”
The report’s authors offer two rather blunt assessments from their report:
First, these four types of family cultures are molding the next generation of Americans. We can talk about schools and governments, pop culture and technology, but nothing is as formative as the family and its culture.
Second, that although ”the media, the activists, and the politicians have focused their attention on the culture being fought between the Faithful and the Engaged Progressives, the deteriorating economic, civic, and familial fortunes of the Detached and the Dreamer families should be garnering even more of our country’s attention.”
If culture is defined as the world in which we live, and the world which lives in us, this study is a good reminder that the heart of that world is, indeed, the family.
James Emery White
“The Culture of American Families”, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, read online.
Culture of American Families Project, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, read online.
Culture of American Families Executive Report, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, read online.
“U-Va. sociology professor: Parenting in red, blue and purple America,” Washington Post, November 19, 2012, read online.
“Parenting Styles Defined In New Report On 'Family Culture',” The Huffington Post, read online.
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, N.C., and the ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president. His newly released book is The Church in an Age of Crisis: 25 New Realities Facing Christianity (Baker Press). To enjoy a free subscription to the Church and Culture blog, log on to www.churchandculture.org, where you can post your comments on this blog, view past blogs in our archive and read the latest church and culture news from around the world. Follow Dr. White on Twitter @JamesEmeryWhite.
Have something to say about this article? Leave your comment via Facebook below!
About Dr. James Emery White
James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; President of Serious Times, a ministry which explores the intersection of faith and culture (www.serioustimes.org); and ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture on the Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. White holds the B.S., M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees, along with additional work at Vanderbilt University and Oxford University. He is the author of over a dozen books.
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ATLANTA -- Pregnant woman may be able to have eight alcoholic beverages per week without harming their developing child, according to a study by released by Danish researchers.
The CDC, based in Atlanta, provided some of the funding for the study.
Dr. Colleen Boyle is the Director of the National Center of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. She calls the study important, but is quick to point out the results do not translate into any new recommendations for expectant mothers.
"This was one study looking at some very specific outcomes. We have many other studies out there that point to the potential problems of consuming alcohol while pregnant so women have to look at the totality of the information out there," said Boyle.
The study evaluated the drinking habits of about 1,600 pregnant woman and assessed the children's intelligence quotient (IQ) once they turned 5 years old.
According to their research, the children whose mother had one to eight drinks per week didn't perform worse on IQ and brain functioning test than children of mothers who abstained from drinking.
Doctors still say pregnant women should abstain from drinking; however, this study could provide relief to women who drank before they knew they were pregnant.
Gynecologist Dr. Mimi Vanoyan worries the Danish study may send a mixed message to some expectant moms.
"I reallly questions the reasoning behind even participating in a study like this. There is no question that alcohol is transferred through the placenta. Alcohol is a known toxin. I tell my patients it is simply not worth the risk to consume alcohol during a pregnancy," said Vanoyan.
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This little bit of sculpture adorns one of the columns inside the church of St.-Ours in the medieval fortress city of Loches. This is the church you've been seeing in the previous exterior shots with the four pointed towers. It's a design I haven't seen a lot of around here.
I suppose that most of the interior of the church was painted at one time. If you look closely at the image, you might be able to see traces of color on the sculpture. Most medieval churches, and many renaissance ones, were elaborately painted when they were new.
Asparagus with hollandaise sauce
6 hours ago
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A torii gate along the forested approach to Meiji Shrine
Meiji Shrine (明治神宮, Meiji Jingū) is a shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. Located just beside the JR Yamanote Line's busy Harajuku Station, Meiji Shrine and the adjacent Yoyogi Park make up a large forested area within the densely built-up city. The spacious shrine grounds offer walking paths that are great for a relaxing stroll.
The shrine was completed and dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and the Empress Shoken in 1920, eight years after the passing of the emperor and six years after the passing of the empress. The shrine was destroyed during the Second World War but was rebuilt shortly thereafter.
Emperor Meiji was the first emperor of modern Japan. He was born in 1852 and ascended to the throne in 1867 at the peak of the Meiji Restoration when Japan's feudal era came to an end and the emperor was restored to power. During the Meiji Period, Japan modernized and westernized herself to join the world's major powers by the time Emperor Meiji passed away in 1912.
The offering hall of Meiji Jingu
The main complex of shrine buildings is located a ten minute walk from both the southern entrance near Harajuku Station and the northern entrance near Yoyogi Station. Entry into the shrine grounds is marked by a massive torii gate, after which the sights and sounds of the busy city are replaced by a tranquil forest. The approximately 100,000 trees that make up Meiji Jingu's forest were planted during the shrine's construction and were donated from regions across the entire country.
At the middle of the forest, Meiji Jingu's buildings also have an air of tranquility distinct from the surrounding city. Visitors to the shrine can take part in typical Shinto activities, such as making offerings at the main hall, buying charms and amulets or writing out one's wish on an ema.
Meiji Jingu is one of the Japan's most popular shrines. In the first days of the New Year, the shrine regularly welcomes more than three million visitors for the year's first prayers (hatsumode), more than any other shrine or temple in the country. During the rest of the year, traditional Shinto weddings can often be seen taking place there.
At the northern end of the shrine grounds visitors will come across the Meiji Jingu Treasure House, which was constructed one year after the shrine was opened. The Treasure House displays many interesting personal belongings of the Emperor and Empress, including the carriage which the emperor rode to the formal declaration of the Meiji Constitution in 1889. There is also a Museum Annex Building just to the east of the main shrine buildings that displays temporary exhibitions.
A large area of the southern section of the shrine grounds is taken up by the Inner Garden, which requires an entrance fee to enter. The garden becomes particularly popular during the middle of June when the irises are in bloom. A small well located within the garden, Kiyomasa's Well, is named after a military commander who dug it around 400 years ago. The well was visited by the Emperor and Empress while they were alive and has become a popular spiritual "power spot".
The Meiji Jingu Treasure House
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Gmail has quickly become the only email service I use other than my company account, and I also use Google Apps for the websites I own. So all in all I am in good hands, but there is also a risk to lose everything if something goes wrong.
Though I setup most of my Gmail accounts in Windows Live Email which in itself creates a local backup, not all attachments are downloaded to my local PC. In such situations the Gmail Backup is a excellent software, which will allow you to backup your entire Gmail account offline.
Related: Backup Files To Your Gmail Account
Gmail Backup will allow you to download all the emails and attachments to your local machine, and it is not just a one time process since it provides you with incremental backups, where only the emails that have not yet been backed up to your computer will be downloaded.
In addition to that you can also specify the dates from when you want to backup your emails. Gmail Backup requires you to enable IMAP access in your Gmail account. The software works on Windows and Linux based machines.
So take advantage of this handy free software and backup your Gmail account just to stay safe from any disasters.
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Evangelist sent from Rome to Gaul c.250. Worked with Saint Saturninus of Toulouse and Saint Denis of Paris. First bishop of Arles, Gaul (modern France. His cultus is ancient; Pope Zosimus wrote about him in 417. Often confused with the Trophimus mentioned by Saint Paul the Apostle, they were actually centuries apart.
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A great series of articles from Mark Suster from his Both Sides of the Table blog describing the makeup and attributes of entrepreneurs.
1. Tenacity – the most important attribute of an entrepreneur is never being willing to give up.
2. Street Smarts – getting out and understanding customers is far more important than book smarts or computer research.
3. Ability to Pivot – it’s not good enough to be tenacious and smart. You also need to be sure you have a great product/market fit and that it is a big enough market to make money. The best entrepreneurs fine tune their product and their business model until they find this groove.
4. Resiliency – being an entrepreneur is sexy … for those who haven’t done it. In reality it’s gritty, tough work where you will be filled with self doubt. Entrepreneurs are survivors.
5. Inspiration - Tenacity + street smarts is not enough without inspiration. You need to lead teams and convince others to move mountains when by all means they shouldn’t believe they can.
6. Perspiration - We all know people who can stand up at a conference and deliver a rousing speech or who sound awesome in front of customers. But it takes more than inspiration to build a successful business. It takes perspiration also.
7. Willingness to Accept Risk – I’m not talking about crazy risks, but entrepreneurs are people who are willing to start a business on a leap of faith. They don’t wait on the sidelines forever doing “side projects” until the day when they’re ready to start a company. If you aren’t willing to take a shot by going full time on your startup it tells investors you aren’t confident enough in the idea or in yourself.
8. Attention to Detail – If you’re going to lead an early stage business you need to be on top of all your details. You need to know your financial model. You need to be involved in the product design. You need to have a details grasp of your sales pipeline. You need to be hand on.
9. Competitiveness - The best entrepreneurs hate losing. Whether in person life or business they play to win. It consumes them. Sharing the market is not enough – they want to win every deal, hire every great employee and sign-up every partner. And they want to do it at the expense of the competition. As Leo Durocher famously said, “nice guys finish last.”
10. Decisiveness / Gets Things Done – Entrepreneurs don’t “noodle,” they “do.” This is what separates entrepreneurs from big company executives, consultants and investors. Everybody else has the luxury of “analysis” and Monday-morning quarterbacking. Entrepreneurs are faced with a deluge of daily decisions – much of it minutiae. All of it requiring decisions and action.
11. Domain Experience – Domain experience is not an absolute requirement. In fact, some people would argue that the uber successful ventures come from people outside the industry willing to challenge the conventional wisdom. But I believe that having domain experience and relationships gives you an unfair advantage. Better that you start with this than from scratch.
12. Integrity – I believe that integrity and honesty are very important to most venture capital investors. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that they are required to make a lot of money. This post talks about my views on this attribute.
And a bit of infographics on the subject from LinkedIn data:
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The website that offers the best information on Tutankhamun's lifetime achievenments is.
Lots of folks don't appreicate the lifetime achievements of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, it is a shame they don't. If they did perhaps he wouldn't be considered such a boy king. Of course everyone claims that Pharaoh Tutankhamun had very little to do with these building efforts. But most of these people are applying 20th century AD realities to him, not 14th century BCE realities. However most of the work that survives to today, were usurped by both Ay and Horemheb not long after Tutankhamun's death. In fact many that Ay usurped were then usurped by Horemheb, and some of them were then usurped by Ramesses II.
A brief list of his known achievements
He built at Karnak and Luxor.
At Luxor he continued the construction of the entrance colonnades of Amenhotep III's temple. (The famous picture of Luxor where you see all the pillars is the entrance colonnade that Tutankhamun mostly started, decorated and finished.)
He richly embellished the temples with images of Amun (in the image of Tutankhamen), Amunet, and Khonsu.
Even more statues and sphinxes depicting Tutankhamun himself.
A small temple in Nubia.
A pair of granite lions.
He restored the religion of the Old Gods to Egypt and reopened closed temples of all the Gods that had been proscribed.
He restored the names of Amun, and other proscribed gods that Akhenaten had removed.
He repaired the ruined temples that Akhenaten had wrecked.
He moved the capital to Memphis, built there and in Thebes.
He began construction of his tomb near that of Amenhotep III"s.
Built at least one colssal statue of himself that was to stand at his mortary temple started at Medinet Habu.
He also oversaw the reburials of his Armana relations that where originally buried at Armana.
He also according to a chest found in his tomb was involved with war. This chest is the only surviving remains of his war exploits where he led, or was associated with battles in Nubia, and Syria. In Syria there is increasing acceptence that he was with Horemheb at the battle of Gezar, AKA The Eastern Expedition.
There is also the mighty interesting report by the King of Hittite, Mursilis II, about the death of Egypt's King at the time of Egypt's defeat of a major battle against Hittite. (considered to be at Aleppo.) The Pharaoh, King Mursilis II referred to is considered to be Tutankhamun. He would have been between the ages of 17-19, it was during his last year of life. Scholars are also sure that his campaign in Nubia was more successful than the Syrian one(s).
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The recent death of Fran Crippen, a champion swimmer who died at the age of 26 in a 10-kilometer open-water race, serves as a sobering reminder of the inherent danger of sports.
Intense competition puts tremendous energy demands on the human body. The cardiovascular system must provide adequate blood supply to vital organs including the brain, heart, lungs and kidneys while meeting the increasing vascular needs of large muscles.
There is also a thermoregulatory component to be considered. Exercising in extreme environments of heat or cold puts added stress on human organ systems. The physiological mechanisms involved in human function work best at a stable temperature. Any variance requires added energy to provide adequate cooling or warming.
Safety considerations often include making certain the venue is safe for competition. Medical support, adequate nutrition, hydration and properly functioning equipment must be available and supervised by officials.
Athletes typically envision themselves as indestructible. While that belief may serve as a driving force, it may also lead to trouble.
In the case of Crippen, there is evidence that he recognized this event and others may be unsafe. Inadequate medical support and dangerous conditions were reported but not changed.
Crippen suffered extreme physical exhaustion and eventual cardiopulmonary failure. The most likely cause was exertional heat stroke given that the water temperature was in the high 80s.
This incident provides a reminder that all athletes, spectators and officials have an obligation to safety.
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Best Poems by
great poets : Some of the greatest famous poems by
your favourite poets . . .
The Cure by Rudyard Kipling
Long years ago, ere R--lls or R--ce
Trebled the mileage man could cover;
When Sh--nks's Mare was H--bs--n's Choice,
And Bl--r--ot had not flown to Dover:
When good hoteliers looked askance
If any power save horse-flesh drew vans--
'Time was in easy, hand-made France,
I met the Cure of Saint Juvans.
He was no babbler, but, at last,
One learned from things he left unspoken
How in some fiery, far-off past,
His, and a woman's, heart were broken.
He sought for death, but found it not,
Yet, seeking, found his true vocation,
And fifty years, by all forgot,
Toiled at a simple folk's salvation.
His pay was lower than our Dole;
The piteous little church he tended
Had neither roof nor vestments whole
Save what his own hard fingers mended:
While, any hour, at every need
(As Conscience or La Grippe assailed 'em),
His parish bade him come with speed,
And, foot or cart, he never failed 'em,
His speech--to suit his hearers--ran
From pure Parisian to gross peasant,
With interludes North African
If any Legionnaire were present:
And when some wine-ripe atheist mocked
His office or the Faith he knelt in,
He left the sinner dumb and shocked
By oaths his old Battalion dealt in.
And he was learned in Death and Life;
And he was Logic's self (as France is).
He knew his flock-man, maid, and wife--
Their forebears, failings, and finances.
Spite, Avarice, Devotion, Lies--
Passion ablaze or sick Obsession--
He dealt with each physician-wise;
Stern or most tender, at Confession...
To-day? God knows where he may lie--
His Cross of weathered beads above him:
But one not worthy to untie
His shoe-string, prays you read--and love him!
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By Peter L. Saltonstall, President and CEO, National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)
The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (FDASIA) includes the most groundbreaking measures for rare disease patients and their families since the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. And, just as the rare disease patient community—with NORD as its unifying voice—played a major role in the Orphan Drug Act, NORD and rare disease patients have taken a leadership role in developing and shaping this new legislation and in securing its enactment in a timely manner.
Crafted for the purpose of reauthorizing the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), the FDA Safety and Innovation Act includes far-ranging provisions of critical importance to rare disease patients. These reflect, in many cases, years of advocacy, education and relationship-building by NORD and its member organizations on behalf of patients.
Of particular importance to NORD and the 30 million Americans with rare diseases it represents are the provisions related to:
- Accelerated patient access to new medical treatments
- Resolution of conflict-of-interest provisions introduced in the previous PDUFA reauthorization
- Accelerated development of “breakthrough therapies” that show early promise
- Enhanced FDA consultation with rare disease medical experts
- A rare pediatric disease priority review voucher incentive program and
- The development of Humanitarian Use Devices (medical devices for small patient populations)
PDUFA, as followers of this website know, provides essential funding for FDA by authorizing the agency to charge user fees to companies seeking to have products reviewed. Originally enacted in 1992, it must be reauthorized every five years. The deadline for the fifth reauthorization was September 2012.
Over the past two years, in anticipation of the 2012 reauthorization, NORD has been meeting with senior FDA officials to help them better understand the concerns and needs of patients, and the challenges of orphan product development.
At the same time, we and our advocacy partners have been working very closely with Members of Congress and their staff members, including the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Senate HELP Committee and House Energy & Commerce Committee, where the first Congressional debate related to the PDUFA reauthorization took place.
In past reauthorization cycles, the process was contentious at times, but this year it was bipartisan and collaborative in both the Senate and the House. We believe that happened, in part, because of the effective groundwork laid by many stakeholders and in particular by the patient community.
The stakes remain high for rare disease patients and patient organizations. Of the nearly 7,000 diseases considered rare (“rare” is defined as affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans), only about 250 have FDA-approved therapies. That is a huge challenge for the patient community, and there is a growing sense of urgency to accelerate the development of treatments.
At the same time, rare disease patients don’t want to become second-class citizens with respect to treatments. They want the same reasonable expectation of safety and efficacy from medical treatments that other patients would have.
A Strong Commitment to Rare Disease Patients by FDA
Some very promising developments for rare disease patients to come out of this process were outlined in a document submitted by FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, to Congress in January 2012 (the PDUFA Authorization Performance Goals and Procedures for Fiscal Years 2013-2017). In that document, FDA committed to:
- Increased staffing and expansion of the Rare Disease Program in CDER (the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research) and CBER (the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research)
- Increased FDA efforts to assure good communication among product reviewers, industry and patients
- Modernization and enhancements related to non-traditional clinical trial design for orphan drug development
- Enhanced staff training for FDA reviewers with regard to orphan product reviews
- Enhanced interaction between FDA’s Rare Disease Program staff and review teams
In Congress, Several Important Bills Incorporated into FDASIA
In Congress, several bills that initially were introduced separately later were incorporated into the PDUFA reauthorization. Those of particular importance to rare disease patients and supported by NORD included:
The TREAT Act
Introduced by Senator Kay Hagan (NC), the Transforming the Regulatory Environment to Accelerate Access to Treatments (TREAT) Act included provisions to expand FDA’s Accelerated Approval pathway; address the conflict-of-interest issue; provide greater clarity, consistency and transparency in the review process; and encourage innovation and adoption of modern scientific tools in regulatory science. NORD worked closely with Senator Hagan and her staff in developing and promoting this bill.
The FAST Act
Introduced by Representatives Cliff Stearns (Fl-6) and Edolphus “Ed” Towns (NY-10), the Faster Access to Specialized Treatments (FAST) Act was aimed at accelerating the development of treatments for rare diseases while maintaining FDA’s high standards for safety and efficacy. NORD and other patient advocates provided significant input to Representatives Stearns and Towns.
The Breakthrough Therapies Act
Promoted by the Friends of Cancer Research, the Advancing Breakthrough Therapies for Patients Act addressed the need to provide expedited development and evaluation of potential therapies that show promise early in the research process.
The EXPERRT Act
Championed by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Expanding and Promoting Expertise in Review of Rare Treatments (EXPERRT) Act was designed to expand cooperation between FDA and outside rare disease experts and patient advocates.
The Creating Hope Act
Promoted by Kids v Cancer and the Congressional Childhood Cancer Coalition, this Act would expand a priority review voucher program to incentivize the development of new drugs for rare pediatric diseases, including childhood cancers.
Humanitarian Use Devices
NORD worked closely with Senator Al Franken (MN), Representative Charles Bass (R-NH) and other Members of Congress to bring about much-needed reforms related to Humanitarian Use Devices (HUDS). These are medical devices developed for small patient populations through the FDA Humanitarian Device Exemption Program. This program encourages the development of medical devices for patient populations of fewer than 4,000 people. Provisions included in the FDA Safety and Innovation Act related to this will encourage the development of devices for both pediatric and adult patients and also expand the existing pediatric device incentive to adult HUDS.
Rare Disease Patient Voices Were Heard
NORD is very grateful to FDA, industry and Congress for listening to the concerns of rare disease patients articulated over the past two years and being responsive so that this critically important legislation could be enacted quickly. We thank President Obama for signing the FDA Safety and Innovation Act so that all involved can begin to implement these desperately needed measures.
Most of all, we thank our members, supporters and policy partners for understanding that effective change begins with education, advocacy and relationship-building, and for working with us to make that happen.
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Place of Grace
Sometimes, faith alone doesn’t overcome the problems we face. At St. Joseph Behavioral Health, we understand that faith is a personal matter and can be used as an important resource for healing. Place of Grace is an option for psychiatric treatment using the resources of the Christian faith for adults who choose to integrate their faith with emotional recovery. Place of Grace provides a unique opportunity for patients to deal with life’s challenges through a biblical perspective.
The Place of Grace program objective is to minister to the whole person—body, mind and spirit. In addition to the regular programming, this program includes:
- Daily quiet time for Bible study and personal reflection
- Goal setting
- Christian group therapy
- Individual time with a case manager and a pastor
- Weekly on-site church service
Intensive Outpatient Therapy (IOP)
St. Joseph Behavioral Health has two intensive outpatient therapy groups to help those with mental and/or addiction issues. IOP can help prevent inpatient hospitalization by providing therapy to intervene before a crisis situation develops. IOP can also be a step-down to a less restrictive level of care after inpatient hospitalization. Therapy sessions are three days a week, three hours each session, for a total of nine hours a week. For those with co-occurring disorders, both psychiatric and chemical dependency issues can be addressed utilizing both programs.
Regardless of which program is attended, education and medication monitoring by RNs, medical oversight by a psychiatrist and therapy by licensed therapists can help patients make noticeable progress in a relatively short period of time.
The IOP team works closely with a patient’s private therapist to ensure the continuum of care with transition back to private therapy is uninterrupted. Continuing care is available weekly at no charge to patients who have completed IOP and desire further therapeutic support to prevent relapse.
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Survey Finds More Bats Than Expected in NDResearchers from North Dakota State University will spend Halloween weekend showing experts the results of what is believed to be the state's first survey of bats. It's a population that's bigger than expected.
By: Dave Kolpack, Associated Press
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Researchers from North Dakota State University will spend Halloween weekend showing experts the results of what is believed to be the state's first survey of bats. It's a population that's bigger than expected.
Early results show a bountiful batch in a state with few of the animals' favorite roosting spots, such as caves and trees. Graduate student Paul Barnhart discovered thousands of bats in an abandoned barn in western North Dakota.
"Walking in there, all the bats started yelling and it was just deafening," Barnhart said. "I loved it. We took pictures and thought, 'This is our Mecca right here.'"
Barnhart is part of a team led by biological researcher Erin Gillam. The researchers conducted the survey to learn more about how the state's bats hibernate and gain a better understanding of a fungal disease that has killed more than a million bats in at least 11 states.
Gillam said the results exceeded expectations but that may be because no one had tried to count the state's bats before.
"It was assumed the bat population was sparse because there's so much prairie," she said.
Gillam and some of her students are participating in the North American Society for Bat Research symposium that ends this weekend in Denver. Much of the conference is dedicated to discussion of white-nose syndrome, a disease first seen in upstate New York in 2006.
The fungus grows on the nose, wings and ears, and some scientists believe the irritation causes bats to wake often during hibernation and burn so much energy that they starve before spring. Fear of the illness spreading has prompted the U.S. Forest Service to bar entry to caves in several states where the disease has not been confirmed, including South Dakota.
Although it's not clear how the disease is spread, Gillam believes it will eventually reach the Dakotas.
"If we have hibernating bat populations we need to know about those so we can protect them to the best of our ability," Gillam said.
The North Dakota survey, funded by the state Game and Fish Department, began in 2009. Barnhart, who calls bats "just the cutest things ever," spent last summer scouting the state and wound up catching and releasing about 200 bats.
Hot spots for bat activity included Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the Missouri River Valley and the Pembina Gorge. In a state known for having few trees, Barnhart jokes he could have assigned a name to every one after scouring them for flying mammals.
Barnhart catches bats in so-called mist nets, which are strong enough to corral them but light enough to spare them from injury. After weighing the bats and checking their condition, he glues harmless glow sticks to their backs to help with future detection.
There were nights when Barnhart caught 30 bats at a time, which was a surprise to Gillam and other researchers in the department. Barnhart talks about his bat-bagging skills with obvious pride.
"If you want to find bats, give me a call. I'll find you bats," he said, smiling.
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About the Author: Eythan Sontag is a member of the Department of State’s Civilian Response Corps-Active component.
The crack of bullets and explosions pierce the air. Tires squeal and skid as vehicles corner tightly at high speed around curves and dirt roads. Global Positioning System (GPS) units beep and handheld radios crackle as field missions are planned and carried out.
These are just a few of the sounds that characterize the experience for students participating in one of the Department of State’s most atypical training curriculums: Security for Non-Traditional Operating Environments (SNOE). The course is designed specifically for the growing cadre of U.S. Government civilians – members of the Civilian Response Corps – who are prepared to deploy on a moment’s notice to conflict-affected countries throughout the world. Students gain critical knowledge and field skills that will help them more effectively and safely function in unconventional and austere environments, often beyond the reach of U.S. civilian or military support structures.
SNOE, developed jointly between the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization (S/CRS), is entirely unlike the average training most Foreign or Civil Service officers receive. The focus is on “hard skills” that can be utilized in high-threat and remote circumstances – ranging from the jungles of Africa to the mountains of Afghanistan. Topics include everything needed for a hostile or semi-permissive environment including, surveillance detection, trauma first-aid, hostage survival, personal safety practices, weapons familiarization, improvised explosive device awareness, mission planning, land navigation and high-threat on- and off-road driving techniques. The course adopts an “experiential” approach that emphasizes hands-on application of the skills. While some of the training is conducted in classrooms, the majority of it is in the great outdoors – aimed at replicating to the maximum degree possible the stresses and conditions that corps members might experience in the field.
At the outset of the course, students are issued a range of field equipment, from first-aid kits, to body armor to personal survival packs to GPS units. SNOE instructors cover the use and maintenance of this gear, and students have ample opportunity to put the items into practice. Few, if any, of the State Department’s training classes actually encourage participants to start fires (with a flint and knife), build improvised shelters (using trash bags, survival gear or material from the local environment) or to signal for helicopter evacuation (employing signaling panels or mirrors). The kit, while often essential in carrying out typical Civilian Response Corps missions, is only as helpful as the ability to utilize it correctly; the SNOE course ensures that its students gain a basic familiarity and proficiency with the equipment so that it can be effectively used when the time and circumstances require it.
The first iteration of SNOE ran from mid-June to early July 2009, and was held at various training venues in Virginia and West Virginia. Instructors included a mix of contractors with extensive military, law enforcement or other specialized experience; highly trained medical personnel; and Diplomatic Security driving, weapons, security and explosives experts. The Civilian Response Corps students represented not only S/CRS, but also other components of the Department of State and other agencies, including the Department of Justice’s Marshal Service and the Department of Health and Human Services. Participants’ diverse reconstruction and stabilization backgrounds – in such places as Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, the Balkans, Asia and Latin America – added practical perspectives and context to the course.
SNOE culminates in a field training exercise that synthesizes many of the topics covered in the previous three weeks of training. Throughout the course, instructors feed students information about a notional conflict-impacted country where they will eventually “deploy.” The vast range space of U.S. Marine Corps Base Quantico serves as the venue for this notional country, and role players – acting as displaced persons, tribal leaders, militants and other characters – set the stage for SNOE participants to practice mission planning, navigation, surveillance detection, driving and a host of other hard skills.
Participants in the pilot course departed Quantico physically and mentally fatigued, but also fulfilled by the new competencies they had gained and the knowledge that they will be better equipped for future missions.
Additional information about the course is available in the training section of the S/CRS website. Note that this course is an expanded version of OT-610 Foreign Affairs Counter Threat (FACT) and also fulfills all FACT course requirements.
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THE KIDS CORNER
Legendary jazz man came from Pittsburgh
A sign on Hampton Street in Highland Park stands as testimony to the man from Pittsburgh who was one of the great jazz legends of all time.
Born in 1914, Billy Eckstine grew up in Highland Park. He sang for the first time in public at a church bazaar when he was only 11.
He graduated from Peabody High School in East Liberty, and he loved music and football. He was offered a sports scholarship, but he broke his collarbone soon afterward and decided the pursuit of music would be less dangerous.
At age 18, he went to Washington, D.C., to compete in a talent contest. His deep baritone voice took first place at the regional level. He sang ``Star Dust'' in New York City to win the top prize and went on to become one of America's most popular ballad singers in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
``The Great Mr. B'' set a standard for black men as romantic leads. Young men, both black and white, copied his style of dressing by rolling up their shirt collars and draping a jacket off the body.
Though he sang mostly ballads, in 1943, he formed a jazz band that became the first true bebop big band. Future jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughan were part of the group during its four-year existence.
After the band folded, Eckstine continued as a solo performer, gaining international fame. He had 11 gold records and many Top 20 songs.
Eckstine loved coming home to Pittsburgh. He was an important part of the jazz scene in the Hill District when it was one of the jazz centers of the world.
One of his performances at the old Paramount Theatre broke an attendance record set by another legend, Frank Sinatra. Eckstine died in Pittsburgh in 1993.
A year later, the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania erected a marker at his childhood home in Highland Park to honor this local black entertainment pioneer.
-- By Debra Alward
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Please join us as Sara Hirschhorn discusses her dissertation research on Jewish-American immigrants and the Israeli settler movement.
Sara Hirschhorn is a doctoral candidate in the Dept. of History at the University of Chicago, where her research focuses on the history of Zionism, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Her dissertation is entitled “City on a Hilltop: The Participation of Jewish-American Immigrants Within the Israeli Settler Movement, 1967-1987.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011 @ 5:00
Center for the Study of Languages, Cobb 218
Speakers of all levels are invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served.
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By William Pfaff
One might hope that when President Barack Obama misspoke in front of an open microphone at the Seoul nuclear security conference on Tuesday, he knew he would draw attention to the need to end what has always seemed to be one of the biggest policy frauds of the present day: the scheme purporting to defend Europe and the United States from Iranian nuclear missiles.
The president said to the departing Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, that he could not discuss the issue until the U.S. presidential election is over. He said the distraction and pressures of the race make it impossible to search for a compromise on this issue—which is pretty obvious. The best “compromise,” as he may understand, would be to drop the project as useless and a waste.
Obama had already told the press in Seoul that “the only way I get this stuff done is if I am consulting with the Pentagon, with Congress, if I’ve got bipartisan support and frankly, the current environment is not conducive to those kinds of thoughtful consultations.”
Medvedev repled, “I understand. I will transfer this information to Vladimir [Putin: Russia’s former and future president].”
Hearing of this secret confiding of such a message to the highest Russian authorities, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said, with deep concern for America’s national security, that it was “an alarming and troubling development” that an American president would confide in his Russian counterpart that, in the mist of a presidential campaign, he can’t get around to missile defenses.
Romney might have added, “meaningless missile defenses,” since this has from the start been the salient characteristic of this project, so far as the American taxpayer is concerned, and it has been a Republican boondoggle from the start.
Since there currently are no Iranian strategic nuclear missiles, no Iranian nuclear weapons to put on them, and no conceivable advantage to be gained by Iran in destroying parts of Europe with nuclear blasts (and, without strategic missiles able to reach the United States, no way to turn American cities into nuclear rubble)—and since, if Iran even tried to do any of these things, its own cities would quickly become radioactive ruin, it seems fair to say that the importance of this threat to the West is nil.
European missile defense against the threat of hypothetical Iranian nuclear missile attack is a make-work project for the American aerospace industry and always has been.
Israel has more cause than Europe to worry about missiles, but these are short- or middle-range and are not nuclear. Periodically these fall on Israeli frontier territory, fired by Palestinian militants. The Israelis tell us that Israel is now much safer; it has an “iron dome” missile defense to fend off the missiles, or at least some of them. They have deployed the iron dome against the threat from Gaza. It has worked well enough for Israel now to demand funds from the United States to build hundreds or thousands of such iron domes. A sensible U.S. president (could it be Obama? ... probably not) would reply to them that peace with the Palestinians would be cheaper.
All of this goes back to the late Edward Teller, who rejoiced in the title of “the father of the hydrogen bomb.” It was early in the Ronald Reagan era that I happened to be in Berkeley, Calif., and was invited to an “important” lecture by Teller. I went, and while there were many hints and allusions to secret matters that we, the audience, were unqualified to know about (but would be dazzled by them if we did know), it was clear that he was telling us that he knew how to defend America against nuclear missiles.
Later he gave the same talk without the winks and hints to Reagan, who was enthusiastic and told Teller to go ahead. The first version of the idea that Teller offered, as I understood at the time, was to set off vast thermonuclear explosions in space where hostile missiles would have to travel, and the explosions would blow up the missiles. There was a problem in what this would do to the atmosphere and to those living underneath the explosions, I believe, but ever since then, work on “Star Wars” has continued in the aerospace labs and factories with little to show for it.
However, it kept a lot of physicists employed, and some of them now have come up with the iron dome. (What is there about the titles Israelis bestow on their military projects and campaigns? “Cast lead”—what was that supposed to mean? American operational code names are vainglorious and sappy—“Enduring Freedom,” “Everlasting Peace,” etc. Whatever happened to the stolid realism of the old brown-shoe army with Operations “Anvil,” “Torch,” “Overlord” and “Dynamo”?
Back to the subject. The European nuclear shield against Iran was pretty obviously intended by the G.W. Bush administration to be the basis of a future threat to Russia (just as the Russians recognized). What to do with it now? Can it be turned into something useful and unthreatening? Could it quietly be dismantled?
Probably not. That is what Presidents Obama and Putin have to talk about.
Visit William Pfaff’s website for more on his latest book, “The Irony of Manifest Destiny: The Tragedy of America’s Foreign Policy” (Walker & Co., $25), at www.williampfaff.com.
© 2012 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
White House / Pete Souza
President Obama shares a toast with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev in a 2010 meeting. The two men recently raised eyebrows with a frank exchange that was captured by an open mic.
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Take, for example, the yearly phenomenon that, rain or shine, cold or hot, takes place just off the coast from December to April. The annual gray whale migration, which sees roughly 20,000 whales pass San Diego on their way to Baja California, is in full effect.
Every year, starting in October, the California gray whale embarks on its 10,000-mile roundtrip journey from the Bering Sea down to the lagoons of Baja. The pregnant females — the same ones who made the trip during last year’s migration to breed in the lagoons — usually leave first, followed by the males, young adults and juveniles. Covering roughly 85-100 miles a day, most of the entire population will reach their destination by mid-January.
To witness the whales’ path through San Diego’s coastal waters, Birch Aquarium, along with several other companies around San Diego — including some located in Point Loma — takes to the high seas to give locals and tourists a glimpse of nature’s longest mammal migration. On a recent whale-watching cruise (Birch offers twice-daily excursions for which it teams up with Flagship cruises), the air was brisk and the seas choppy, but that didn’t stop a couple of whales from awing the crowd with their blows and flukes.
Soon after the ship left San Diego Bay, the onboard naturalist narrating the excursion announced a blow — the visible spray of vapor that appears after the whales exhale — had been spotted nearby. The blow, the naturalist explained, is the most common way of finding gray whales in the open water (contrary to some passengers’ belief that the crew uses expensive and fancy equipment to locate the massive cetaceans). When gray whales come up to the surface to breathe, a pool of water is left on top of their head, and as their warm breath hits the cool ocean air, the pool condenses and is expelled above their heads, creating the perfect indicator for their location.
Following the “footprint” — the path of calm, glassy water that trails the whales, indicating the direction in which they are swimming — our ship was able to find the whale and witness its behavior as it surfaced for five or six blows and then dove deep for a three- to five-minute “sounding dive.” A few times, the passengers crowding the deck of the ship were treated to a fluke, as the whale made a dramatic display of its tail before beginning its deep descent.
Gray whales, while once hunted almost to extinction, have made an impressive comeback, with numbers now keeping them safely off the endangered species list. Growing to about
45 feet long and weighing about 33 tons, the whales live a consistent schedule of migrating to Baja — with most preferring one of three lagoons: Scammon’s, San Ignacio or Magdalena — where they rest, breed and give birth, after which they make the return journey with their new calves back up to the Arctic. When they return north, they spend about five months feeding constantly on bottom-dwelling amphipods as they struggle to put on the six to 12 inches of blubber needed for the next migration (their prime source of food isn’t found in abundance in other parts of the Pacific, so they feed very little during the migration period). Then, the process starts all over again.
In all, our cruise viewed a few gray whales (the whales usually travel alone, so seeing groups of them together is unexpected, though it occurs sporadically), along with sea lions and several pods of common dolphins. Though passengers aren't guaranteed a whale sighting, the abundant marine life in the waters off San Diego is a treat in itself. At one point as the ship reentered the bay, a group of about 10 dolphins playfully followed the ship, jumping and weaving among each other as if escorting us back home.
Though the temperature called for heavy layers and the wind wreaked havoc on some passengers whose bellies didn't take kindly to the high surf, the cruise offered a chance to glimpse nature in all its glory. After all, the gray whales didn't care about San Diego’s weather woes. They continued, slow and steady and stopping briefly to allow the humans to gawk at them, on their way to their Mexican vacation.
Whale-watching options in San Diego:
• Birch Aquarium with Harbor Excursions: departing at 9:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., 1050 North Harbor Drive, through April 14, (619) 234-4111, www.sdhe.com, $37 weekdays and $42 weekends (discounts for children, seniors and military)
• Hornblower Cruises: departs
9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., 1066 North Harbor Drive, through mid-April, (619) 686-8715, www.hornblower.com, $37 weekdays and $42 weekends for adults (discounts for children, seniors and military)
• Seaforth Sportfishing with San Diego Whale Watch: 10 a.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, December through April, (619) 224-3383, www.seaforthlanding.com, $44 adults (discounts for children, seniors and military)
• H&M Landing: Daily departures at 10 a.m. from mid-December through March; 6-hour cruises to Coronado Islands departing at 10 a.m., (619) 222-1144, www.hmlanding.com, $37 weekday cruises, $45 weekend cruises ($60 six-hour cruise)
• Hike Bike Kayak Sports: departs 10:30 a.m from December through March, 2246 Avenida de la Playa, (866) 425-2925, www.hikebikekayak.com, single-person kayak $70, tandem kayaks $60 per head
• Birch Aquarium: excursions of four, five or six days following the whales down to their birthing grounds in the lagoons of Baja California,
(800) 661-1325, www.andiamotravel.com, call for pricing
• H&M Landing: trips of nine or 11 days, (619) 226-1729 or (619) 226-8224, cost varies
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Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow
The American Trucking Associations is committed to a bold sustainability program that will have an immediate impact on the environment, reducing fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons and thus reducing the carbon footprint of all vehicles by nearly a billion tons over the next ten years.
Our new plan will extend the significant progress industry has already made over the past 24 years in reducing its carbon footprint and overall impact on the environment.
|ATA is a SmartWaySM Transport Partnership Excellence Award Winner|
Drive Smart Tip
Use fresh and proper engine oil.
The recommended motor oil for your vehicle will save you 3 to 5 cents a gallon.
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In these tough economic times, there's one thing that remains free and plentiful in Florida, especially during the summer: rainwater.
The concept of collecting rainwater for domestic uses isn't new, but it has gained popularity as more people look for ways to conserve resources and save money.
"Once people figure it out, it's a no-brainer,'' said Laurie Walker, director of the University of South Florida Botanical Gardens, which uses rain barrels to water some of its plants. "Everybody should be doing it.''
The botanical gardens and local county extension offices hold free workshops every month or so to teach people how to set up a barrel at their home. In Hillsborough, participants get a free rain barrel. In Pinellas and at USF, the barrels cost $30.
Hillsborough has distributed more than 7,000 barrels since starting the monthly workshops in 1999, said Lynn Barber, who teaches the programs.
In the past year, attendance has increased about 25 percent, reaching about 125 people at each workshop, she said. Every workshop is full until February.
Sue Boe of Odessa signed up for the August workshop in April. She wanted an easy, cheap way to water her plants, wash her car and bathe her two Yorkshire terriers.
Boe uses the captured water about every four days. The 55-gallon drum set up under the edge of her roof rarely goes dry, and even a short rain shower fills it up. A screened lid keeps away the mosquitoes.
"It gives me a good feeling to know that I am using water that's free and readily available and I'm not compromising our potable water,'' she said.
On average, 1 inch of rain that falls on a 1,000-square-foot roof provides about 625 gallons of water, Barber said. Most of that goes down a storm drain or washes away, picking up pesticides and other pollutants.
Brian Gregson founded Rainwater Services a few years ago in St. Petersburg to help homeowners find eco-friendly ways to irrigate their yards. He began with rain barrels, then graduated to larger cisterns, which hold 500 to 1,500 gallons.
He described cisterns as "rain barrels on steroids,'' which can substantially reduce residents' water bills, depending on the size of the cistern and complexity of the system. The most avid conservationists tap rainwater to flush toilets. Treated rainwater can be used throughout a home, including for washing dishes and doing laundry.
Most rain barrel owners collect rainwater for plants, vegetable gardens and other outdoor uses, which account for up to half of household water usage. The barrels are food-grade quality, meaning they can be used to store products for human consumption. Barrels are typically recycled olive, pepper and juice concentrate containers.
Finding the barrels has become more and more difficult. You can't buy them at places like Lowe's and Home Depot, and wholesalers and garden shops have a limited supply.
"There's a decrease in the number of barrels coming into the pot,'' said Barber, the Hillsborough workshop leader. Wholesalers either are reusing their barrels or buying fewer because restaurant sales are down.
USF holds workshops every few months as the barrels become available. Based on the demand, Walker said, they could definitely offer more.
"So many people call us every day,'' she said. "It's kind of bittersweet.''
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The Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana, Commentary by Sankara (SBE38), tr. by George Thibaut at sacred-texts.com
15. Those who do not take their stand on symbols he leads, thus Bâdarâyana (opines); there being no fault in the twofold relation (resulting from this opinion); and the meditation on that (i.e. Brahman) (is the reason of this twofold relation).
It is a settled conclusion that all going has reference to the effected Brahman, not to the highest Brahman. Another doubt now arises here. Does that person who is not a man lead to the world of Brahman all those who take their stand on the effected Brahman, without any difference; or only some of them?
The pûrvapakshin maintains that all those who possess knowledge--provided that knowledge be not of the highest Brahman--go to the world of Brahman. For in Sûtra III,
[paragraph continues] 3, 31 that going was put in connexion with all the different vidyâs (of the qualified Brahmans), without any distinction.
To this the Sûtrakâra replies, 'Those who do not take their stand on symbols.' That means: Excepting those who take their stand on symbols (i.e. who meditate on certain things as symbolically representing Brahman), that person who is not a man leads all others who take their stand (i.e. who meditate) on the effected Brahman, to the world of Brahman; this is the opinion of the teacher Bâdarâyana. For in acknowledging in this way a twofold relation there is no fault; since the argumentation as to the non-restriction of going (Sûtra III, 3, 31) may be understood as referring to all meditations with the exception of those on symbols. The words, 'and the meditation on that,' state the reason for this twofold relation. For he whose meditation is fixed on Brahman reaches lordship like that of Brahman, according to the scriptural relation, 'In whatever form they meditate on him, that they become themselves.' In the case of symbols, on the other hand, the meditation is not fixed on Brahman, the symbol being the chief element in the meditation.--But scripture says also that persons whose mind is not fixed on Brahman go to it; so in the knowledge of the five fires, 'He leads them to Brahman' (Kh. Up. V, 10, 2).--This may be so where we observe a direct scriptural declaration. We only mean to say that where there is no such declaration the general rule is that those only whose purpose is Brahman go to it, not any others.
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Comic strip adventure hero Tintin and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have been honoured by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
At a ceremony in Brussels, he presented a Tibetan butter lamp to the Herge Foundation representing Tintin books.
The book Tintin in Tibet was published in the same year that the Dalai Lama fled the Himalayan kingdom.
He also presented a lamp and silk scarf to fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Archbishop Tutu of South Africa.
They came in out of the Brussels rain - two men in their seventies, old friends - one in a black suit with a silver cross, the other in the red robes of a Tibetan monk.
Archbishop Tutu helped end apartheid in South Africa. The Dalai Lama is still campaigning against China's military occupation of Tibet.
The awards ceremony took place under tight security, at a 19th-Century concert hall in central Brussels.
The Dalai Lama draped a silk scarf around the archbishop's neck and presented him with a Tibetan butter lamp: the Light of Truth Award from the International Campaign for Tibet.
In his speech, Archbishop Tutu paid tribute to his friend.
"I give great thanks to God that he has created a Dalai Lama," he said. "Do you really think, as some have argued, that God will be saying: 'You know, that guy, the Dalai Lama, is not bad. What a pity he's not a Christian'?"
A preacher with the timing of a stand-up comic, the archbishop continued: "I don't think that is the case - because, you see, God is not a Christian."
The Dalai Lama, said Archbishop Tutu, "has a childlike, boyish, impish, mischievousness. And I have to try and make him behave properly, like a holy man!"
The Dalai Lama rocked with laughter on his chair and wrapped his red robe more closely over his shoulder.
There was also an award for the Herge Foundation, established in memory of the author of the Tintin cartoon adventure books. Tintin in Tibet is one of the most popular in the series.
It is not a political book: instead it tells the story of Tintin's friendship with a Chinese boy, Chang, whose plane crashes in the Himalayas. When Tintin goes to rescue him, he encounters Tibetan monks and the mythical yeti - the Abominable Snowman.
The award was accepted by Herge's widow, Fanny Rodwell. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.
"We never thought that this story of friendship would have a resonance more than 40 years later," she said.
Another shaven-headed monk knelt by the Dalai Lama's chair, whispering a translation of Mme Rodwell's speech, which was in French.
When the book was published in Chinese, it was Tintin who needed rescuing. The Chinese authorities had renamed it Tintin in China's Tibet.
When Herge and his publishers protested, the Chinese backed down. The book is now sold in China under its original name.
Some of the Tintin adventures are 77 years old
The Dalai Lama said Tibetan Buddhism was a heritage "not just for Tibetans: it can do good for billions of people in our modern world".
"The Tibetan state is located between two of the world's great powers, India and China. Good relations between these powers are crucial for world peace. Tibet has an important role to play," he said.
And he urged his supporters not to regard the Chinese as their enemies.
Archbishop Tutu drew an explicit comparison between the anti-apartheid movement and the campaign for Tibetan autonomy from China.
"We used to say to the apartheid government: you may have the guns, you may have all this power, but you have already lost. Come: join the winning side. His Holiness and the Tibetan people are on the winning side," he said.
Outside, there were free copies of Tintin in Tibet available, but only in Esperanto. One of the monks scurried past, clutching his copy under one arm.
Archbishop Tutu dedicated his award to his fellow Nobel peace laureate, the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest from the military government.
"Can you beat it?" Archbishop Tutu asked incredulously. "The military junta are armed to the teeth and they are scared of a little woman. They run away from Rangoon and hide somewhere in the forest, because she is good, and they are scared."
But he looked forward to the day when he and the Dalai Lama would be able to attend her inauguration as Burma's president.
"Freedom," he concluded, "is unstoppable."
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Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner
Fernández de Kirchner, Cristina Elisabet (krēstēˈnä ālēsäbātˈ fārnänˈdās dā kērchˈnâr) [key], 1953–, Argentinian politician. A Peronist student activist in the 1970s, she received (1979) a law degree from the National Univ. of La Plata. There she met Néstor Kirchner, whom she married in 1975 and who, after a varied political career, became (2003) president of Argentina. A member of the Peronist Justicialist party, she was twice elected (1989, 1993) to the Santa Cruz provincial legislature. She was elected to the Argentinian senate in 1995, the chamber of deputies in 1997, and the senate again in 2001 and 2005. The glamorous center-leftist became known for her advocacy of human rights and women's issues and, in her later terms, for her active support of her husband's policies. During his presidency, she was an influential adviser to him and acted as unofficial international ambassador for Argentina. In 2007 he announced he would not seek a second term and declared his support for his wife as his successor. She was elected later that year, pledging to continue her husband's programs, and easily won reelection in 2011.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Argentinian History: Biographies
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"Simply hold a lighted match directly under his feet." was the shop owner's reply.
The shop owner held a lighted match under the parrot's left foot. Chet began to sing: "Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! ..." The shop owner then held another match under the parrot's right foot. Then Chet's tune changed, and the air was filled with: " Silent Night, Holy Night..."
The young man was so impressed that he paid the shop-keeper and ran home as quickly as he could with Chet under his arm. When the wife saw her gift she was overwhelmed.
"How beautiful!" She exclaimed, "Can he talk?"
"No," the young man replied, "But he can sing. Let me show you."
So the young man whipped out his lighter and placed it under Chet's left foot, as the shop-keeper had shown him, and Chet crooned: "Jingle Bells! Jingle bells!..." The man then moved the lighter to Chet's right foot, and out came: "Silent Night, Holy night..."
The wife, her face filled with curiosity, then asked, "What if we hold the lighter between his legs?"
The man did not know. "Let's try it," he answered, eager to please his wife. So they held the lighter between Chet's legs. Chet twisted his face, cleared his throat, and the little parrot sang out loudly like it was the performance of his life:
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This is the CD of the Broadway musical version of the movie musical version of the movie version of the Broadway play.
It all started in 1939 with Philip Barry's play The Philadelphia Story. Katharine Hepburn starred as the priggish aristocrat on a voyage of self-discovery as she tries to break one marriage and begin another. She convinced MGM that Barry's play needed to be made into a movie, and she again was the star, joined by Jimmy Stewart and Cary Grant. In 1956, MGM enlisted the talents of composer-lyricist Cole Porter to turn The Philadelphia Story into a musical called High Society. It was the studio's success story of 1956, thanks not only to Porter's songs, but also to stars Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. Now, given the dearth of old-fashioned musicals on today's Broadway, High Society the movie musical has become High Society the Broadway show. This is the reverse of the old pattern set by the shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein, et al., but it not unique; the same thing happened to State Fair just a few years ago. The new book is by Arthur Kopit, and Susan Birkenhead, where needed, has contributed additional lyrics.
This is not a simple stage adaptation of the movie. Songs have been added and others have been dropped. Given the absence of Louis Armstrong, it is not surprising that the Broadway show lacks "High Society Calypso" and "Now You Has Jazz." ("Mind If I Make Love To You?" is another casualty.) Interpolations from other shows include "Ridin' High," "I Love Paris," "She's Got That Thing," and "It's All Right With Me." Some of these additions are gratuitous, and others do seem to fit into the plot. Because I have not seen the show (and because DRG has not supplied a synopsis - an unfortunate omission), I can't be sure of this either, but I believe the plot has been somewhat altered.
It wouldn't be fair to compare Errico, McDonald, and Bogardus to Kelly, Crosby, and Sinatra; the new singers are perfectly good in their own way. The Broadway show seems to be more of an ensemble piece than the movie, so smaller-scaled leads make sense. Melissa Errico is flexible enough to be both brassy and tender, and her "It's All Right With Me" is the show's worthy turning-point. Daniel McDonald's Dexter is charming and irresponsible, and it's a shame that he doesn't get to do more with "True Love," one of Porter's most unequivocally romantic songs. As Mike Connor, Stephen Bogardus gets even fewer chances to shine, but "You're Sensational" turns out well, and his duet with Randy Graff ("Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?") displays his excellent comic timing. Other cast members include John McMartin as bibulous Uncle Willie and young Anna Kendrick as a precocious and loveable brat. Gemignani, the conductor of so many musical theatre productions, moves Porter's music along with efficiency. The CD's engineering is excellent, but, as mentioned, the annotations are inferior. Also, the track listing in the booklet and on the tray card is incorrect; consult the CD itself for a correct listing.
High Society is the next best thing to a new Cole Porter musical. Broadway still has an obligation to revive the original ones, but if a quilted-together show like this one can succeed, perhaps it will give producers the courage they need to proceed with the real thing.
Copyright © 1999, Raymond Tuttle
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National Wildlife Refuge
|Hwy 40, 14 miles west of
Phone Number: 775-941-0199
|Visit the Refuge's Web Site:
Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge
The Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge protects more than half a million acres of high desert habitat for large wintering herds of pronghorn antelope, scattered bands of bighorn sheep, and a rich assortment of other wildlife. The landscape is vast, rugged, and punctuated with waterfalls, narrow gorges, and lush springs among rolling hills and expansive tablelands of sagebrush and mountain mahogany.
Although established for the protection of wildlife and habitat, the refuge encompasses other interesting features. The remains of old homesteads and ranches intrigue visitors. The lure of fire opals draws miners and rock collectors to the Virgin Valley mining district. Geothermal hot springs create a refreshing oasis in the heart of the refuge. The refuge's mosaic of resources and public interests generates significant management challenges.
Getting There . . .
Highway 140 provides access into the heart of Sheldon Refuge. From Lakeview, Oregon, travel 68 miles east on 140. From Denio, Nevada, travel 14 miles west on Highway 40.
Click here for a refuge map.
Gasoline and groceries are available in Denio, Nevada (14 miles from the east boundary), Lakeview, Oregon (68 miles west from boundary on Highway 140), Cedarville, California (46 miles from west boundary) and Winnemucca, Nevada (100 miles from east boundary). They are the nearest full-service communities with overnight lodging, auto repair, retail stores, and tourist information. During the summer, the Royal Peacock Mine in Virgin Valley has some supplies such as ice, several furnished overnight accommodations, and a pay phone.
Driving or riding any mechanical vehicle (including bicycles) off road is prohibited and they must remain on established roads. Please respect all road closures. Most refuge roads are not maintained for passenger vehicles. Those who wish to travel off the main thoroughfares need high clearance and four-wheel drive vehicles. Small amounts of precipitation can make roads very muddy. During the winter and spring, most refuge roads are impassable due to snow or wet conditions. Please avoid driving on muddy roads for your own safety and the protection of fragile resources.
Emergency services and roadside assistance are not readily available on the refuge. Cellular phone coverage is extremely limited. Refuge staff are not able to provide or sell gas, ice, phone access, towing, or auto repair service.
Get Google map and directions to this refuge/WMD from a specified address:
Learn More >>
The primary focus of the refuge is to manage the refuge as a representative area of the sagebrush-steppe landscape for optimum populations of native plants and wildlife. Prescribed fire is the primary habitat management tool used to create, restore and improve the health and diversity of habitats which are beneficial to wildlife.
Approximately 300 species of birds, mammals, amphibians, fish, and reptiles live on the refuge, including mule deer, bighorn sheep, sage grouse, kangaroo rats, mountain lions, waterfowl, and up to 3,500 pronghorn, to name a few. Wildlife populations and habitat are monitored closely to ensure that wildlife and habitat management objectives are met.
Horses and burros are not native to Sheldon Refuge. They are descended from domestic stock turned loose around the turn of the twentieth century. They are primarily grass eaters, and their grazing can devastate native vegetation and cause severe damage to riparian habitat.
Periodic horse and burro roundups are required to keep their numbers in check and reduce their impacts on native wildlife. California bighorn sheep were once abundant in northwestern Nevada.
Several factors, including competition with domestic livestock, disease and over-hunting resulted in the elimination of sheep from the area around 1930. Refuge efforts to reintroduce them have been successful, and today their numbers continue to expand.Learn More>>
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IVs are "Individual Values" and are hidden points for each stat (HP, Attack etc) that are random for each pokemon. They can be from 0 to 31, and are added gradually up to level 100 (i.e. a pokemon with 20 IVs in Attack will have 20 higher attack at level 100 than if it had 0 IVs).
EVs are "Effort Values" which are extra points you get by battling different pokemon. See http://pokemondb.net/ev for a detailed description of EVs.
You cannot control what IVs your pokemon has, they are fixed from when the pokemon first appears to you. But you can control their stats quite a lot using EVs.
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POTSDAM - Amanda Clapper 14 grew up playing sports and has been in competitions of all kinds, including soccer games and swimming matches.
None of it compares to the intensity of a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), according to Clapper, an environmental engineering major and robotics team leader.
The kids who are at these events have more energy and are more excited to be there than kids Ive seen at sporting events. No matter what, its a bunch of fun, Clapper, an environmental engineering major, said. Its always a standing ovation when someone wins something.
One of the two FIRST teams sponsored by Clarkson, Team 4124, was a regional winner at the BAE Systems/Granite State Regional in Manchester, N.H., on March 2 and will advance to The FRC Championship in St. Louis, Mo., in April.
A team of 25 Clarkson undergraduates serve as mentors for approximately 50 high school students from the Salmon River and Massena central school districts as they design, build, program, test and prepare a human-sized robot for competition over the course of six weeks.
This years FIRST Robotics Competition game, Ultimate Ascent, involved robots competing in alliances of three-on- three on a 27-by-54-foot field over two days of qualifying and elimination matches. The goal was for each robot trio to shoot as many Frisbees as possible into their scoring zones within two minutes and 15 seconds; 45 teams from across the U.S. and Canada competed at the Manchester Regional.
The robots had to navigate through the opposing alliance, which would attempt to block their Frisbee shots. The competition includes an autonomous period where the robots are programmed to score on their own and a teleoperator period where the robots are controlled remotely by the high school students.
Many things are happening in real time, said Team Advisor and Clarkson University Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering James J. Carroll. A lot of quick decisions have to be made in coordination with your alliance partners in order to successfully play the game.
Clarksons other FIRST team, Team 229, made it to the quarterfinal round at Manchester. That team will have another chance to win at the Boston Regional later this month and could also advance to the Championship Event in St. Louis.
Win or lose, the resulting experience is invaluable for exposing high school students to exciting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) concepts while developing a strong sense of civic responsibility and leadership skills among Clarkson student mentors, said Carroll. He also credits Massena and Salmon River robotics team coaches Steve Robert and Darcie Fregoe for their active participation in the program as a major factor in the teams success.
Libby Kamen 13, a former team leader, said the FIRST experience doesnt just expose high school students to the STEM disciplines. It also opens them to the possibilities of life and education after high school. Massena and Salmon River students have many opportunities to experience the Clarkson campus during their time on the FIRST team.
Were able to teach them about engineering and teamwork, Kamen said. But were also able to show them that a college education is something they can obtain and aspire to.
Clarksons FIRST Robotics teams are part of the SPEED (Student Projects for Engineering Experience & Design) program, one of the Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering hallmark initiatives, exemplifying Clarksons defy convention approach to education.
SPEED promotes multidisciplinary, project-based learning opportunities for more than 350 undergraduates annually. Projects involve engineering design, analysis, and fabrication. In addition, students learn real-world business skills, such as budget management, effective teamwork, and communications skills.
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Colleges and schools pay the second best income (http://vikipedio.org/ophthalmic-technician-salary-and-job-description) that might commonly standard fifty 9 thousand dollars. Within contrast, since a result you shall invest far more time as well as energy inside studying since this specific kind of profession requires you to possess some sort of 4 year diploma and also the needed permit in your own case to practice. Specialized lab technicians inside management roles can make even greater salaries these kinds of seeing that phlebotomy ophthalmic technician managers can receive the regular yearly pay of forty two thousand dollars while histology ophthalmic technician supervisors can have once a year salary that usual sixty two thousand dollars. A typical wage pertaining to a biological ophthalmic technician is forty two thousand dollars, pertaining to just a dental ophthalmic technician is generally thirty eight thousand dollars while with regard to a medical ophthalmic technician will median at forty one thousand dollars. Certain industries offer really attractive ophthalmic technician salaries pertaining to example $ 65,000 each year (within dentist workplaces) since well as fifty three thousand dollars each year (in junior universities).
Instruction degree accomplished, place and region of work, as well as a lot of others. Being a ophthalmic technician, you might be eligible to advantages since well while your own ophthalmic technician salary pertaining to example social stability, disability rewards, health related, holiday time, compensated leave days, sick leave as well as retirement funds. Probably the almost all highest paying industries pertaining to lab technicians tend to be the junior universities from where the total compensation package is usually going to be upon standard forty nine thousand dollars, within case you operate in the scientific research and also development services subject will be certain to get earnings that usual $42,000 inside a year. At junior level, the work is usually limited to general tests and inspecting the test results, while at greater level, it can be more intricate nucleic and protein tests. Lab technicians with the lot a lot more educative accreditation shall also receive far a lot more.
This particular profession can be ideal for any individual that enjoys performing in detail and also with medical equipment. Turning into the ophthalmic technician, you shall become doing work closely with a health lab technologist as well as they can instruct you inside every test to typically be performed. It really will be anticipated that through the end of this kind of 10 years there is actually going being yet a different 24,000 work accessible, this kind of distinct represents the advancement of fifteen percent; with the projected employment figure with regard to lab technicians is going to be close to 185,000 simply by the year 2020. The ophthalmic technician should collect and examine body fluids while well seeing that tissue through individuals. The exceptional degree of manual dexterity will be needed too, whenever the technician may frequently become working equipment and machines; they may be going to become also performing with needles and ought to be within the profession to deal with the tools with precision.
You can have some sort of easier time financing your own more studies, domestic responsibilities, family members as well as much a lot more. An average salary pertaining to simply some sort of ophthalmic technician might be typically $38,000 each and every year. According to years of knowledge together with some other factors, the ophthalmic technician could receive approximately 24 thousand dollars and also seventy thousand dollars. You must make sure that you are moving within the right direction in order for the vocation to flourish. Since there are lots of various health companies, where you might work, there ophthalmic technician salary may vary, based upon each establishment.
It is usually not that difficult to really understand what it takes being some sort of ophthalmic technician, as it simply might be some sort of matter of knowing the necessary duties and looking inside the career-related information. The harder the technician’s work, the greater the compensation can be. It has some sort of massive raise prospective, based upon the worker’s practical experience. This distinct job requires one to generally end up being informed about the various lab gear. While a result of the magnitude of the work the ophthalmic technician salary amounts is going to be quite very good, along with the usual ophthalmic technician salary being forty-eight thousand dollars; the following kind of figure will be according to the The month of May well report as well as was supplied inside information collated simply by the Bureau of Labor Information (BLS).
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Mobile marketing is at the top of every marketer’s to-do list but the challenge is that most of them don’t really understand how their target audience uses smartphones and tablets. At the heart of the problem is the fact that mobile marketing sounds new and expensive despite the fact that most of them own one or more of these devices.
When it comes to mobile marketing, most consumers are way ahead of marketers in their use of their smartphones and tablets. They’ve developed a variety of habits to deal with the on-going avalanche of content. To get your marketing on track, here are twenty-five research charts explained in plain English. Source: Heidi Cohen’s Actionable Marketing Blog
Mobile penetration for smartphones, tablets and other connected devices continues to expand, changing how both customers and marketers communicate and interact. Our voracious appetite for new connected devices has changed how we consume content and these changes require marketers to adapt their communications in order to reach their target audiences.
To help you mobilize your business to support your objectives, here are 53 new mobile marketing facts taken from twenty-three research charts organized by category.
YouTube has passed over a billion unique users every month, that’s almost one out of every two Internet users. Further, all of Ad Age’s Top 100 brands now run campaigns on YouTube despite the fact marketers consider video content difficult and expensive to create. So what do the top brands know about video content that you don’t? Includes 8 charts and marketing tips. Source: Heidi Cohen’s Actionable Marketing Blog
2012 was [finally] mobile’s year. Mobile, including both smartphones and tablets made significant jumps forward. Always within arm’s reach, they’ve become an integral part of our lives. As a result, consumers expect a seamless digital experience regardless of the device they’re using. Here are 29 mobile marketing charts to help you navigate mobile marketing in 2013. Source: Heidi Cohen’s Actionable Marketing Blog
Apple created a new category of computing devices known as tablets when they introduced the iPad last April. iPads look like a large iPhone (here’s information on the mobile market) without the telephony (aka, the ability to make a phone call.) Tablets with a 5” to 15” diagonal touchscreens are positioned between smartphones and computers in terms of computing ability and price. Since these Internet capable devices provide a rich content consumption experience through photographs and video, marketers and media executives hope that tablets will create the basis for premium paid online content products and engaging advertising.
Mobile marketing is on three out four marketer’s plans for 2011 according to Forrester Research. Unlike other forms of digital marketing, mobile marketing involves a layer of complexity due to the difference in platforms and devices. To help you understand this evolving marketplace, here are 56 mobile marketing facts including 23 charts. Each point is based on market research and can guide your marketing plans.
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Traditionally there are two main types of logic: formal and informal. Formal logic deals with the form of an argument (are the propositions internally consistent), while informal logic deals with the content of an argument (the truth or falsity of its propositions). In an age when logic of any kind is increasingly devalued, it is important for Christians to hold onto its principles as God made us to be rational. Classical Academic Press aims to educate young people in logic and its uses, not only from a theoretical perspective, but in order to put the concepts they learn to practical use.
The Art of Argument and The Argument Builder introduce informal logic. The Art of Argument is an investigation of logical fallacies, how to identify and avoid them. The student book contains everything the student needs, including reading assignments and written exercises; the teacher’s edition contains the full text of the student book, answers to all exercises and teaching tips. The Argument Builder deals with the more positive side of informal logic, equipping kids to focus on the veracity of their statements and material when constructing an argument. The teacher’s guide works the same as the one for The Art of Argument.
The Discovery of Deduction turns to formal logic. Students learn the proper form of various types of arguments, and how to keep their statements and propositions within each argument consistent and logically plausible. This one is a little more challenging than the other two, but it is a vital aspect of logic that often gets ignored, even where informal logic is taught and practiced. The teacher’s guide works basically the same as those for the other two texts, but there is more information for outside study and research.
All three texts are designed for students in middle school and early high school. While some will want to pursue logic study further, the information in these three books will be enough to prepare them for serious study in all fields, and give them a critical eye to examine arguments they will encounter in study and in life. Each book is highly practical in nature, so students won’t end up dead in the water, filled with useful theories but unable to articulate them to practical use. Overall this is an excellent course, both fun and highly educational, not too hard for teachers to implement yet challenging enough to keep students busy.
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Left Triumphs in Ecuadoran Elections, Country's Institutions to be Transformed
"We have won an historic victory," proclaimed President Rafael Correa of Ecuador. On Sunday the political coalition he heads won an overwhelming majority of the seats in the Constituent Assembly that is tasked with "refounding" the nation's institutions. Taking office early this year in a land slide victory, Correa has repeatedly called for an opening to a "new socialism of the twenty- first century," declaring that Ecuador has to end "the perverse system that has destroyed our democracy, our economy and our society." His government marks the emergence of a radical anti-neoliberal axis in South America, comprising Venezuela, Bolivia and now Ecuador.
"The Assembly elections are a devastating blow for the oligarchs and the right wing political parties who have historically pulled the strings on a corrupt state that includes Congress and the Supreme Court," says Alejandro Moreano, a sociologist and political analyst at the Andean University Simon Bolivar in Quito. Even Michel Camdesseus, the former director of the International Monetary Fund, once commented that Ecuador is characterized "by an incestuous relation between bankers, political-financial pressure groups and corrupt government officials."
The victory in the Constituent Assembly is the result of years of agitation and struggle by Ecuador's indigenous and social movements along with an unorganized, largely middle-class movement of people known as the "forajidos," an Ecuadoran term meaning outlaws or bandits who rebel against the established system. In March when the Congress and the right wing political parties tried to sabotage the elections for the Assembly, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Quito, blocking the entrances to Congress and backing the disbarment of the Congressional members who wanted to suppress the elections.
The "Country Movement," the popular political coalition lead by Correa, will convene the Assembly at the end of October. Its charge is to draft a new constitution that will break up the dysfunctional state, establish a plurinational, participatory democracy, reclaim Ecuadoran sovereignty, and use the state to create social and economic institutions that benefit the people. One of its first acts will be to abolish the existent Congress.
The Assembly will also facilitate an international realignment of Ecuador's international relations. The Correa government has already moved assertively in its relations with the United States. MarÃa Fernanda Espinosa, the dynamic Minister of Foreign Relations, declared that Ecuador intends to close the U.S. military base located at Manta, the largest of its kind on South America's Pacific coast. "Ecuador is a sovereign nation," she said. "We do not need any foreign troops in our country." The treaty for the base expires in 2009 and will not be renewed.
Thus far there have been no direct confrontations with the United States, but the Pentagon has manifested its displeasure. Every year since 1959, the US Southern Command, together with the Pacific coast nations of South America, have undertaken joint naval exercises called Unitas. This year they were to be hosted in Ecuador, but the United States opted to conduct them in Colombia, its closest regional ally. Ecuador responded by announcing it would not participate in this year's exercises, with Correa proclaiming, "It appears the Southern Command believes we are a colony of the United States, that our navy is just one more unit controlled by their country."
Correa is also standing up to Occidental Petroleum, a U.S.-based corporation whose Ecuadoran holdings were taken over by state-owned PetroEcuador last year for selling off some of its assets to a Canadian company in violation of its contract with the Ecuadoran state. With the takeover of Occidental's holdings, PetroEcuador now controls more than half of the country's petroleum exports, which themselves account for about 40% of Ecuador's total exports and one third of government revenues. Correa has denounced Occidental's "lobbying" of the Bush administration to regain its holdings. "We are not going to allow an arrogant, portentous transnational that doesn't respect Ecuadoran laws to harm our country," he said.
At the same time, Ecuador is negotiating special bilateral trade and economic agreements with presidents Chávez and Morales. Venezuela has agreed to refine Ecuadoran oil and help fund social programs in Ecuador, while the Bolivian government has concluded an agreement to import foodstuffs from small- and medium-size producers in Ecuador. Correa has also signed several petroleum accords with Venezuela, of which the most important is a $4 billion project for a refinery backed by PetroEcuador and the Venezuelan state petroleum company.
Alejandro Moreano of the Andean University worries that "that all of the interests involved in the Country Movement may not back the tough steps needed to end neo-liberalism and bring the banks and multinationals under control. This will depend on the strength of popular mobilizations as the Assembly undertakes its work." For his part Correa has repeatedly denounced the private banks in Ecuador for their exorbitant profit-taking and high interest rates. And he has expelled Ecuador's World Bank representative for meddling in the country's affairs and has virtually terminated the country's relations with the International Monetary Fund.
There is already a steady drum beat by the indigenous and popular movements to have the Constituent Assembly take over all multinational mining interests. In early June, the local populace in the gold-mining southern highland province of Azuay, backed by environmental and human rights organizations, blockaded major highways, demanding the expropriation of the mining companies, many of which are controlled by transnational corporations that have polluted local rivers and aquifers. Alberto Acosta, an internationally renowned anti-neoliberal economist who will be president of the Constituent Assembly, met with the protesters. He told them the mining concessions couldn't be annulled outright. "This is a task of the Constituent Assembly," he said. "It can establish a legal framework that will enable us to revise all the concessions." This month on October 22 a national mobilization will take place that will call upon the Assembly to nationalize all foreign mining interests in the country.
Roger Burbach is director of the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA), based in Berkeley, California. He has written widely on Latin America and U.S. policy and is currently working on a book titled The New Fire in the Americas. For more information on CENSA's publications, projects, and activities, see http://globalalternatives.org/
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Voting has begun in Yemen’s presidential election with only one candidate on the ballot amid the opposition’s call for the downfall of the entire regime.
The polls opened Tuesday, with 12 million eligible voters, and the sole candidate Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The election is to put an end to Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule and formally transfer power to his assistant, Hadi.
However, the country’s major opposition groups, including the Southern Movement and group have boycotted the election, demanding the removal of the regime that abounds with Saleh-era officials.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has thrown Washington’s weight behind Yemen’s election, offering his support to Hadi. In a letter to the Yemeni vice president, Obama said Yemen could be an example of the peaceful transition of power in the Middle East.
This is while demonstrations are expected to continue in Yemen as protesters say their revolution will not end until Saleh and all corrupt government officials are put behind bars.
On Monday, several polling stations were the target of bomb attacks prior to the beginning of the polls in the southern province of Aden and the southern port city of al-Makla, with no reports of casualties. The protesters also blocked roads leading to five villages in Daleh province, making it impossible for poll organizers to send ballot boxes there.
Saleh is currently in the US for medical treatment. He left Yemen in mid-January, shortly after the country’s parliament passed a law which grants him full immunity from prosecution.
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Monday, June 4, 2012
God on the Streets of Gotham
In light of all the recent summer blockbusters coming to the big screen, I thought I would share with you an incredible book, I had the privileged to get to read and review. It's Paul Asay's debut book, God on the Streets of Gotham, What the Big Screen Can Teach Us About God and Ourselves. I have to say if you're a Christian and love super heroes, then you will LOVE this one.
Here's just a sample of the synopis from the rear cover:
"For more than seventy years, Batman has captured the imagination of millions of people worldwide. First created in the 1930's, Batman has become a cultural icon in comics, television, and films. Why does the story of Batman continue to fascinate? Why does this dark hero inspire millions of us?"
I think Paul does a fabulous job at walking through all the different media aspects in search of these answers and holds them up to the light of God's word. Here are just some of the incredible passages I highlighted in my reading:
"Batman is no lunatic. He is no villain. He is a hero, pressed into service by a source he may be only dimly aware of. He believes in goodness even if he doesn't call it God. Perhaps he's like the disciple Thomas, who heard the call to follow, but didn't quite understand who he was really following.
But because Batman perhaps doesn't perfectly understand his calling or the implications thereof, he can sometimes get a little lost. He can grow confused in his role and sometimes his values can get a little scrambled. He is prone, like most of us can be at times, to place his trust in the wrong things and his faith in the wrong people. We all lose sight of God and sometimes chase after the nearest approximation. And sometimes he literally follows the wrong guy." (pg 18).
"He is not much like Superman, but he is something like Moses, David and Peter. The Bible doesn't sugarcoat our heroes for us or tell us they're anything but pretty sorry, flawed folks. And yet God takes them and makes them special, even great, just as he does with us. God takes badness and makes it good. He takes shadow and shines a light - if not on it, at least in it. He transforms us not from the outside but from within.
Is it surprising, then, that Batman would see some light and hope in Gotham as well? The place may be bad, filled with all manner of corruption, but there's goodness to be found underneath the grime. It isn't Sodom, without even ten righteous people. It can still be saved. It can still be redeemed - if only someone would care enough to help the cause along. Someone with a little faith. " (pg. 15).
This is just a small sampling of the fine work that Paul Asay does in dissecting all the parts that make up both the man, Bruce Wayne, but Batman as well. He analysis the villains, his partners, his tools of the trade and what it all means through comic books, movies and the television series and why we all need to believe in a hero. Not just in Jesus, but that a hero lies within us all to seek out to be a better person and to care for those in need.
I received God on the Streets of Gotham by Paul Asar compliments of Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review and highly recommend this to any one who loves super heroes, both young and old alike. Paul Asay is the associate editor at Plugged In, a ministry that reaches more than six million people with movie reviews that help people understand popular cultural trends and how they intersect with spiritual issues. I easily award this book a 5 out of 5 stars in my personal opinion and for me as a parent, this book makes a great resource for balancing things out in the world and what God would want us to see. I think this does nothing more than point us to Jesus Christ in all the things we do today. There is a light within the darkness if we but only are willing to search for it. For now, I'm off to enjoy watching Batman Begins again with a greater sense of purpose.
For more information on this book, the author and where to pick up your copy of this book today, please click on the links below:
You can find out more about Paul Asay by following him on Facebook by clicking here.
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It all began as a University research project back in 1995, those involved had no idea that a few years later it would become one of the most profitable companies world wide and one of the most attractive workplaces for jobseekers wanting to develop a professional career.
Google’s offices have sprung up around the globe, from Silicon Valley, California to Dublin, Ireland. Regardless of where they are located, Google always tries to create a positive work environment by hiring talented, local people who are committed to creating search perfection and who believe that it’s key to have a great time doing so.
On Fortune magazine’s list of best companies to work for, Google ranked first in 2007 and 2008 and fourth in 2009 and 2010. Google was also ranked first this year to be the world’s most attractive employer for Business students and second for Engineering students in the Universum Communications Talent Attraction Index.
If you are interested in becoming part of a great project like Google, and want to know more about the recruiting process, then check out this infographic created by Jobvine with full details. You will find also some interesting facts regarding the company’s approach to attracting top talent and the top salaries of Google employees.
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Super PACs fueling GOP attack ads
Eventual nominee could pay a price
In the first presidential election since the Supreme Court opened the floodgates of big-dollar campaign financing, new so-called super PACs have poured tens of millions of dollars into the Republican campaign, financing negative ads that have damaged the public’s view of the leading candidates.
The super PACs have special clout because, unlike candidates’ campaigns, they can collect donations of any size. The super PACs have spent $40 million thus far to support their respective candidates, even as they are forbidden from coordinating with them.
The arrival of the super PACS has resulted in a profound change in the nominating process, as candidates disclaim responsibility for the super PACS’ negative advertising. And because the GOP is the party with a contested primary race this year, its eventual nominee may pay a price for the super-PAC-fueled negative ads.
“I think super PACs may have created a system of mutually assured destruction,’’ said Mark McKinnon, who has been a media consultant to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain. “No matter who wins, they will have been so thoroughly nuked no one can govern because they’ll be completely radioactive.’’
Every candidate has a related super PAC, an independent but closely allied organization that can collect unlimited sums from individuals, corporations, and labor unions. As the campaigns move from state to state, so do the super PACs, which revealed donors and their contributions for the second half of 2011 Tuesday.
Restore Our Future, supporting front-runner Mitt Romney, has laid into his chief rival, Newt Gingrich, in Iowa and Florida. Winning Our Future, backing Gingrich, has become increasingly strident in its attacks on Romney. The result? Both candidates now are viewed negatively by the general electorate, recent polling shows, and the numbers have been spiking.
“What’s developed is this division of labor where the candidate’s campaign has the ability to focus more of its advertising on positive messages because they can leave the negative to the super PACs,’’ said Anthony J. Corrado, a Colby College professor of government who specializes in campaign finance issues. “As a result, the very negative primary campaign is going to leave whoever is the nominee in a position where they begin the general election with fairly high negatives.’’
And it could get worse, with Gingrich vowing to fight all the way to the August convention in Tampa.
Outside groups attempting to influence elections are nothing new. They existed before the Supreme Court ruling two years ago that lifted limits on contributions and the timing and content of electioneering messages. But they were prevalent in the general election, not the nominating phase.
The presence of super PACs has created a Jekyll-and-Hyde dynamic, particularly in Iowa, where the pro-Romney super PAC relentlessly ran a series of withering attack ads that eviscerated Gingrich while Romney’s own committee aired sunny, upbeat spots. The pro-Gingrich super PAC started with positive ads in Iowa, but by South Carolina had added a mix of tough attacks on Romney to its repertoire. By Florida, both super PACs - and the campaigns themselves - were running a steady stream of negative spots as the race took an unusually nasty turn following Gingrich’s victory in South Carolina. Romney won going away in the Sunshine State.
An analysis by Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group found that an astounding 92 percent of ads airing in the week before the Florida primary were negative, with 95 percent of 1,012 spots aired by Gingrich’s campaign being negative, and 99 percent of the 3,276 spots run by the Romney campaign also negative. The pro-Romney super PAC aired 4,969 spots, all negative, the group found. For the pro-Gingrich super PAC, 53 percent were negative. Overall, 68 percent of all ads aired in Florida targeted Gingrich with negative messages.
One factor in Winning Our Future’s ad mix was the request by Miriam Adelson, wife of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, that the super PAC use her $5 million contribution “to continue the pro-Newt messaging,’’ said a source with knowledge of the transaction who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly. As a result, the super PAC ran a combination of positive and negative spots. An earlier $5 million contribution from Sheldon Adelson had no such strings attached.
In the battle of super PACs, the pro-Romney group outspent the pro-Gingrich one better than 2 to 1. As of Dec. 31, Restore Our Future had raised $30 million, compared with $2.1 million for Winning Our Future. The Adelson contributions were in January, after the reporting period.
The super PACs are filling a gap in funding for the candidates’ own campaigns. When the primary season began four years ago, the top five Republican presidential candidates had reported raising $217 million. This cycle, the top seven GOP hopefuls had raised about $133 million, nearly 40 percent less.
The pro-Romney super PAC is already pressing its huge financial advantage by making small media buys in Arizona and Michigan, which will not hold primaries until Feb. 28.
The fund-raising disparity highlights another phenomenon in the super PAC era. Big checks - or the prospect of them - from single donors can help under-funded campaigns hang on despite defeats that in the past could be knockouts.
Rick Santorum, the Iowa winner but a third- and fourth-place finisher in three later states, has soldiered on despite raising only about $2.2 million through Dec. 31. He has said he raised about $4.5 million in the month since, but an allied super PAC, Red White and Blue Fund, has spent about $2 million to date to keep him afloat.
The pro-Santorum super PAC raised about $730,000 through Dec. 31, and nearly 80 percent of it came from two wealthy donors - Wyoming investor Foster S. Friess ($331,000) and Pennsylvania philanthropist John M. Templeton Jr. ($250,000). A second pro-Santorum super PAC, Leaders for Families, reported raising $150,000 in that period, with $50,000 coming from Friess and $75,000 transferred from the Red White and Blue Fund, reports show.
Santorum has done the most with the least of any of the surviving candidates. Rick Perry ($20.1 million), Jon Huntsman ($5.9 million), and Michele Bachmann ($9.3 million) all raised significantly more than Santorum before dropping out last month, and Perry and Huntsman had support from super PACs that outspent the one backing Santorum. In the competition to outlast the other as a conservative alternate to Romney, Santorum’s campaign overhead is a fraction of Gingrich’s.
Santorum and Ron Paul basically passed on Florida, an expensive winner-take-all state, and, like Gingrich, hope to benefit from a stretch with lower-cost caucus states in advance of Arizona and Michigan and Super Tuesday on March 6.
Paul raised $26 million through Dec. 31 and has been helped by Endorse Liberty, a super PAC, funded in large part by PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, who contributed $900,000, according to an FEC report filed Tuesday. The super PAC has spent about $3.3 million to promote Paul, mostly for Internet ads.
Brian C. Mooney can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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HOLDEN BEACH, NC (WWAY) -- It's been about 40 years since someone spotted a leatherback turtle in Holden Beach. Last night, Holden Beach visitors witnessed 54 baby leatherbacks hatch and make their journey to the sea.
"It was really cool," Klara Altmueller said. "It was not very fast going down."
It was not a quick process, but it was a special one. After months of babysitting the leatherback turtle nest, the hatchlings finally started to dig their way to the surface.
"The leatherbacks seem to be a little bit pokey coming down the trench as opposed to what else we've seen here, and being the first leatherback turtle nest we've ever had, we really didn't know what to expect," Holden Beach Turtle Patrol Project Coordinator Skip Hager said. "They sort of dribbled out by ones and twos and then the nest just sort of erupted with about 30 babies coming out and then put them all in a trench and let them walk."
Because it's so dark and lights distract the turtles, volunteers pick up the babies at the end of the trench and carry them to the shoreline so no one steps on them.
"We wait for the wave to come in, and as it starts to go back out you feel that little undertow and that's the time when we sort of dump everything in, and you'll feel them under your feet and the next thing you know, they're gone," Hager said.
Leatherbacks are rare to the Carolina coast. Only about eight leatherback turtle nests have ever been spotted here. They have a soft, oily carapace or shell that allows them to adapt to hot and cold temperatures. Seeing the baby leatherbacks on Holden Beach was a rare sighting. And one the old and young will not soon forget.
"It had yellow stripes, and it had long arms and little like little feet," Miriam Altmueller said.
There are still 15 turtles unaccounted for. Volunteers are going to give them a couple more days to try to make it out of the nest on their own. After 72 hours, they'll excavate the nest and release any stragglers. Holden Beach volunteers are watching over 30 nests this year. All of them are loggerhead turtle nests except two, the leatherback nest and a green turtle nest, which is expected to have turtle hatch in the next few days.
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We all know how important links are; the lifeblood of just about any SEO campaign. The more links point to a particular URL, the more important that page is assumed to be. Like any rule of thumb, that's an over-simplification, but it's true enough that if you only know a few things about search engine optimization, that needs to be one of them.
Further, the anchor text of these links is assumed to describe what a page is generally about; if you want to rank for a particular phrase in a competitive landscape, you need help from off-page optimization. Out of about 150 million results, Adobe's Acrobat Reader ranks #1 for "click here" even though the text is nowhere on the page.
From Humble Beginnings
The relationship attribute of a hyperlink ( a element ) was given a new, and by now widely recognized value, nofollow, in January 2005. This new rel="nofollow" code in a link tells the major search engines not to count the link it's applied to in their ranking algorithms. Google introduced this new value to help bloggers deal with comment spam; by removing any SEO benefit from links on unmoderated sites, to make them less attractive targets.
Wikipedia upped the ante, applying nofollow to all outgoing links from their site, except to a handful of wikia sister projects and internal pages. A high traffic, free encyclopedia that ranks well became a great spam target. Blog spam expanded into wiki spam.
Earlier this year, Google announced that it would like help identifying sites that sell links without using nofollow or some means of hiding the links from GoogleBot. Recent events show they're serious. Naturally, it didn't take long for webmasters to start using nofollow for any number of reasons; there are a few sprinkled into this post to illustrate the point. Can you tell which ones?
Rise of I-Follow or DoFollow
All of the major blogging platforms adopted nofollow in their comment links quickly. How could a change like this not see resistance? A movement calling itself "I-Follow" has sprung up, urging bloggers to remove the attribute from their comment links, and reward visitors who contribute something of value.
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|Birth Right. A short video by Neeta Kirpalani and Emily Jackson, 2008.|
Midwifery is controversial in Alabama, both legislatively and in debates about women's health policies. At the heart of this issue is the question of choice. Current laws deny many healthy women a choice in their birth plans. In Alabama, it is legal for a woman to give birth to a child at home; however, it is illegal to have a midwife assisting at this home birth. Some expectant mothers from Alabama travel to nearby states, such as Tennessee, where present laws enable midwives to attend out-of-hospital births. Many of these women are seeking alternative delivery options that enable them to have continuity in care and a more personal birthing experience. As of 2009, the practice of direct entry midwifery was legal and regulated in twenty five states, "alegal" (that is, direct entry midwives were allowed to practice without legal interference) in fifteen states, and explicitly illegal in only eleven states, including Alabama.1
|Neeta Kirpalani and Emily Jackson, Still image from Birth Right, 2008.|
The more important public health issue that resonates with midwifery issues is the lack of access to care for many women who reside in rural Alabama. Rural areas of the state are medically underserved, frequently impoverished, and suffer from higher infant and maternal mortality rates. According to a report by the American Hospital Association, between 1980 and 1989, Alabama had one of the highest rates of rural hospital closings in the nation.2 A 2009 report by the Health Resources and Services Administration found that "approximately 888,000 people, or 19 percent of Alabama's population, cannot access a primary care provider due to shortages in their communities."3
Midwifery advocates insist that legalizing midwifery would be a cost-effective response to the lack of birth plan options for women in rural Alabama. Midwives can provide services in the home at a fraction of the cost of a low-risk hospital birth. A study on the costs of maternity services in 2000 found that the average charge for a home birth with a certified midwife was almost $1,000 compared to over $5,000 when a woman delivered using an obstetrician in the hospital.4 Advocates assert that midwives could also help lower the state's high infant mortality rate of 9.5 deaths per 1,000 live births compared to the U.S. rate of approximately 6.7 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008.5
Neeta Kirpalani and Emily Jackson, Still image from Birth Right, 2008.
Midwives are a vital part of maternity care throughout the world. Many developed countries, including several in Western Europe, such as Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands, use midwives as the primary birthing attendants for normal, low-risk pregnancies. In the United States, views are polarized and there is a sharp division between the medicalized and midwifery models of care. Although medical interventions and healthcare costs are high and escalating, many midwives involved with home births have been denied the ability to serve as lead professionals in healthcare systems.
Changes in the delivery of care in the last few decades have resulted in an overmedicalization of healthcare. Over-reliance on medical technology and innovation with regard to maternal and child health has led to a collective loss of confidence in the female body's ability to give birth naturally, and has, instead, emphasized surgical intervention. Between 60 and 80 percent of U.S. births involve some form of medical procedure, although there is a need for these procedures in no more than 20 percent of all births.6 Midwifery advocates argue that many of these interventions carry high risks and complications that may not be clearly communicated to patients. Women who choose midwife-assisted home or hospital births want to be able to have more control over their deliveries and want to be able to give birth naturally, the way female bodies have been designed to do.
A lack of education among the general population and among medical professionals regarding the benefits and services of midwives provided the impetus for the video. In an effort to understand the roles of midwives in maternal and child health, the filmmakers focused on interviews with midwives, physicians, and legislators. Given the illegal status of midwifery in Alabama, they traveled throughout the state and into Tennessee to accurately depict the challenges faced by many women in Alabama who seek midwifery care. Midwifery advocates argue that legalizing the practice would be an important step in addressing larger public health issues in Alabama, which include cost effectiveness as well as a lack of access to care.
2. Health Care Information Resources Group for the American Hospital Association. (March 1994). Hospital Closures 1980-1993: A Statistical Profile. Chicago, IL.
3. Health Insurance Reform and Alabama: The Case for Change. Healthreform.gov. Citing the Office of Shortage Designation, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Special Data Request, April 2009.
5. Carr, Catherine A. "Charges for maternity services: associations with provider type and payer source in a university teaching hospital". Journal of Midwifery and Maternal Health 45(5), September 2000. See also: http://www.adph.org/healthstats/assets/vs08.pdf.
6. Wagner, Marsden. Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First. Berkley: University of California Press, 2006.
Block, Jennifer. Pushed: The Painful Truth about Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care. New York: Da Capo Press, 2007.
Cassidy, Tina. Birth: The Surprising History of How We Are Born. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006.
Logan, Onnie Lee, as told to Katherine Clark. Motherwit: An Alabama Midwife's Story. New York: Dutton, 1989.
Wagner, Marsden. Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008.
Alabama Birth Coalition website
Alabama Midwife Advocates March on State House. Leftinalabama blog. 27 February 2008.
Alabama Midwives Alliance website
Documentary Educational Resources: All My Babies: A Midwife's Own Story by George C. Stoney http://www.der.org/films/all-my-babies.html
Reclaiming Midwives: Stills from All My Babies. Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University.
PBS Global Health Watch Report. High Rate of Home Birth in the Netherlands Results in Reduced Costs, Superior Outcomes. 29 October 2009. The Big Push for Midwives website.
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One of the nation's oldest organizations founded to protect and defend blacks during the civil rights era has become one of the leading advocates for homosexual rights and is promoting "mix it up" day in over 2,400 public and private schools on Oct. 30.
Pundits on both sides of the aisle have said that Mitt Romney won the first presidential debate, but now Ohio voters are saying Romney is winning their critical swing state with a 51-48 percent lead over President Obama in the first post-debate poll of likely voters.
A new poll released Thursday says President Obama holds a commanding lead over his rival, Mitt Romney, with Millennials between the ages of 18 and 25, particularly young black voters. Romney, meanwhile, has the support of young white Christians.
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney showed surprising strength against President Obama in Denver last night, earning the highest poll ratings ever recorded in a presidential debate and the grudging respect of some of the most ardent Obama supporters.
Attorneys for the Department of Justice have appealed a court order that handed a temporary reprieve to Hercules Industries, allowing the Colorado Company not to comply with the Obama administration's controversial contraceptive mandate.
Some analysts and political pundits argue that Mitt Romney had a rough September and was never able to overcome President Obama's perceived "bump" in the polls following the Democratic National Convention. Now some of these same pundits are concluding that Romney is gaining more momentum going into the home stretch.
If you are seeking your daily dose of political news, chances are you obtain it from television or online media sources before you read your daily newspaper or listen to your favorite radio station, according to an updated Pew survey.
A controversial voter ID law implemented in Pennsylvania earlier this year that required a state-issued photo identification card before people could cast their ballot has been blocked by a judge only five weeks before Election Day.
With about five weeks to go before the Nov. 6 presidential election, several groups are working tirelessly to register what some believe are upwards of 30 million Christians that are not yet signed up to cast their ballot.
The lead organization seeking to promote the passage of a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman is preparing to launch two television ads that will run during the final weeks leading up to the Nov. 6 elections.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Saturday a bill that would ban what is known as "reparative therapy" for minors under the age of 18.
Even before Mitt Romney and President Obama square off in their first television debate, some voters in Iowa have already casted their ballot through early voting. But the issue many voters and political analysts have asked for several years is who exactly benefits from early voting?
Some political insiders are claiming that major media outlets and certain pollsters are ignoring the role Independent voters are playing in the November election, including results that are favorable to Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has offered his support to State Senator Roy McDonald after he was defeated on Sept. 12 in the GOP primary as a result of his support of the state's law legalizing same-sex marriage. However, Cuomo's support won't be needed because McDonald decided late Thursday to drop plans for a third-party run.
Obama spiritual adviser Jim Wallis of Sojourners has condemned a pro-Israel ad in the New York subway system-describing jihadists as "savages" -- an ad that has divided NYC and resulted in a high profile arrest of a Muslim activist who spray painted graffiti on one of the ads.
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Solar panels: Great idea if you're a spaceship, not so good anywhere it gets dark. There are some ways around this limitation, but MIT had a better idea: they invented a photovoltaic panel that doesn't need sunlight at all, and they've built it into a button-sized generator that can run your smartphone for a week straight.
What you're looking at in the above picture are a whole bunch of little tiny electric generators just a bit larger than your thumbnail. You put fuel (like butane) and air into one of those tubes, and they react, creating heat. What happens next is the really clever bit: the material that the generators are made out of has billions of itty bitty pits etched into it. We're talking nanoscale pits, so small that you can't possibly see them. When this pitted surface heats up, all those pits force it to emit light in several very specific wavelengths, and only those wavelengths. Then, you can put a photovoltaic cell that's also been tuned to those wavelengths right next to the material, and bam, you get electricity.
All this system is, really, is a way of converting heat into electricity. Sounds trivial, but pretty much our entire power infrastructure is based on that, and we're terrible at it. We have to do things like use heat to boil water into steam and then use the seam to spin a turbine to drive a generator to create electricity. Lots of steps, not much efficiency. MIT's photovoltaic generator is basically only one step with zero moving parts, and by constraining their material to only emit heat energy as light that the photovoltaic cell can use, the efficiency goes way up. Their prototypes use butane, but you can use anything that heats up: coal, wood, gasoline, radioactive uranium nuggets, the bottom of my laptop, erupting volcanoes, and yes, even sunlight.
Here's what you, the consumer, have to look forward to: MIT's current prototype generators are able to convert fuel into electricity with approximately three times the efficiency of a lithium-ion battery, and since they run on butane, you can just refill them and they're immediately good to go. With a bit more work, the research team at MIT is pretty sure they can triple their current level of efficiency, and since you can scale all this stuff down, MIT sees a photoelectric generator that can power your smartphone for a solid week being made a reality in the near future.
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BATON ROUGE -- The Senate voted 31-6 late Monday to assure Louisiana residents they have a strict right to own and bear arms. Senate Bill 303 by Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, now heads to the House for debate.
Riser said that if it's adopted, Louisiana would have the strongest gun protection laws in the nation.
Backers of the measure say federal court rulings have eroded Second Amendment rights in the U.S. Constitution, so stringent state protections are needed.
The National Rifle Association, a powerful gunowners rights organization, in recent years has asked legislators around the nation to adopt stronger legal protection of gun possession laws.
Riser's measure needs a two-thirds vote of the Legislature and then must be approved by voters in the Nov. 6 election.
Any law that tries to ban gun ownership in Louisiana must meet a compelling state interest and must be narrowly drawn, a legal doctrine known as "strict scrutiny," Riser said.
Opponents have claimed that the measure would allow guns to be carried where they are now banned, such as in bars and on school and university campuses or near them. Riser said that is not the case because the state has an interest in restricting guns in "sensitive area," like public facilities.
Sen. Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, pointed out that the language in Riser's measure that would be placed on the ballot may duplicate existing law and does not spell out its exact purpose.
The ballot language asks the voters to decide whether they favor an amendment "to protect as fundamental the right of individuals to keep and bear arms." Cortez said most voters already think that is the case and in the Constitution.
"I think we need to tighten up the ballot language" to make it clearer that the proposal is trying to incorporate a higher legal standard, he said. Riser said he would work on the language when it gets to the House.
New Orleans area senators who voted for the measure include: Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego; Conrad Appel, R-Metairie; A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell; Jack Donahue, R-Covington; David Heitmeier, D-Algiers; Danny Martiny, R-Kenner; Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa; and Gary Smith, D-Norco..
Voting against the measure were: Sens. Troy Brown, D-Napoleonville; and J.P. Morrell, Karen Carter Peterson and Edwin Murray, all D-New Orleans.
Earlier, the Senate voted 36-2 for a Morrell bill that would protect from repercussions public or private employees who report sexual abuse of a child by their bosses or co-workers. Senate Bill 158 now goes to the House.
The bill is part of a package of legislation dealing with reporting child abuse by those who see it happen or suspect it, Morrell said.
It allows the employees who report the abuse to file suit against their employer if the reporter is fired or disciplined.
The bill entitles the "aggrieved" worker to triple the normal damages plus court costs and attorney fees if successful with the lawsuit,.
If a judge finds that the allegations were "frivolous, vexatious or harassing," no recovery can be made, the bill said.
The two votes cast against the bill came from Sens. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, and Donahue.
Ed Anderson can be reached at email@example.com or 225.342.5810.
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Count on it: Your storage will grow. And unless you want people to start asking questions about your IT budget, you better have a better plan for managing storage growth than running out to buy more hardware.
What follows is a look at some of the basic actions you should be taking to be on solid ground: centralize storage operations, gather data on usage, talk with your customers, lead your users to determine new needs and finally, make and execute your plan.
Without a central storage facility, either distributed or centralized, you simply cannot manage your storage operations, which means you cannot manage its growth.
"You have to have a consolidated, central storage setup. Otherwise, you'll never get out of the trap," says Stephen Foskett, a consultant with GlassHouse Technologies Inc.
"I can agree with that," says Karl Rautenstrauch, storage administrator for Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Florida. "If you don't, you wind up with what I call islands of storage. That storage will be attached directly to servers and you cannot hand it off to a different server." That's exactly the situation that Rautenstrauch has -- he estimates some 70 terabytes (TB) of storage in "islands," compared with 151 TB in central storage.
If you cannot control something like storage in islands, you cannot manage it, and that means you cannot manage its growth. So centralize, before you try to do anything else. Rautenstrauch says one of his greatest priorities
is getting agents for his StorageScope software, from EMC, running on servers to at least monitor the isolated storage he has.
2. Gather data
Centralized storage is easier to monitor. Using some storage management software you can see who's accessing different storage volumes, how much traffic there is and how much storage the different areas in your organization are using. Foskett's firm has done studies that show that most Windows systems have storage utilization under 25%. It's not much better for Solaris systems, either. AIX systems seem to go to about 60%.
You have to decide what storage utilization percentage you think is right for your organization and its different storage functions. Your databases, for example, might use as much as 99% of available space because the data usage is very predictable. Foskett says he's seen that. Mail, on the other hand, isn't so predictable so you'd need more overhead. Rautenstrauch says he's running about 30% for Windows storage and as much as 60% for Unix storage.
Having data for several months on storage usage and knowing what you want to have for overhead for your various applications, you can begin to see when you'll need to upgrade. But that isn't the end of the story.
3. Talk to your customers
You're in IT. Your customers are the people who actually use the data you're storing. You need to talk to them and listen to how their needs will influence your growth plan.
When you're talking with customers, come armed with usage data so that if a customer says he needs more storage, and he's only using 30% of his storage allocation, you'll know there's a problem, and you can jointly determine a course of action with the customer.
But when you talk to your users, realize that they
don't understand IT, and often, they may not understand the capabilities that new technologies can give them. You have to be proactive in leading the discussion and to do that, you have to understand what the technology can do to advance business goals.
Take Dr. Robert Cecil, network director for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, a series of hospitals in the Cleveland area. Cecil's customers are doctors and much of the information he stores, and his customers use, are medical images, such as scans and X-rays. "If you ask them," he says, "they'll say they have no need for an image that's over a couple months old. But if there's a two-year-old image available, they will always call it up."
4. Lead users to determine new needs
So if you knew, for instance, that you can have the capability to store all images for a period of several years, using tape as well as disk, you can lead the discussion on how that capability could be used. That will help form a plan for implementing what users need. That's just an example of how you can support the business objectives with your storage plan. And you have to do it -- not the users.
"Some people complain that business people don't understand IT. But it's the IT people who should know the business imperatives," says Bob Shinn, a principal with State Street Global Advisors. But, "It's not the business people's job to understand IT." With that business understanding, you can determine new storage needs that you cannot account for by analyzing historical trends. In Cecil's example, if you offer the capability to provide a patient's full history of medical images, and users agree they can use it, you're in a strong position to put the proper storage into the budget.
5. Make and execute your plan
Now it's time to reap the benefits of your labor. Knowing your historical trends and the upcoming needs of your business, you can plan for replacement/upgrade of high-speed disk, slower disk and even tape, if you have the requirement. You'll know when you need it and how much you'll need. In addition, you can slot in the additional storage you need for new upcoming projects that you and the users have determined you'll need to meet new business objectives.
You have to match your requirements with your resources, of course, so the budget is a huge part of the overall plan.
Now you can execute. Make sure you stick with the plan as much as possible. If you've got central storage, have gathered and analyzed your data, talked with users about current storage requirements, jointly determined new needs with the customers and built a plan with phased purchases/leases for both expected growth and new requirements, you'll be able to manage your storage growth successfully.
About the author: David Gabe has been testing and writing about computers for more than 25 years.
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How to manage tax liability, avoid big exposure to lender
NORTH BAY – With the rise of foreclosures and short sales, homeowners, commercial property owners and real estate investors should be looking out for some potentially costly pitfalls.
Several issues can come up, most notably large unprecedented tax bills, and the possibility of being held liable to the lender if a property is sold for less than the loan value.
Steve Ghirardo, president of Ghirardo Real Estate Group and principal at Ghirardo CPA in Novato, said people call him concerned about cancellation of debt in terms of the tax liability. But he said the taxes are often a minor issue compared with potentially having to pay back lenders on properties whose value has fallen well below what is owed.
With the tax issue, if money is borrowed from a commercial lender and the lender later cancels or forgives the debt, the borrower may have to include the canceled amount as income for tax purposes, depending on the circumstances.
When the obligation is forgiven, the amount received is reportable as income, and the lender is required to report the amount of the canceled debt to the IRS using a 1099.
The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, signed on Dec. 20, 2007, by President Bush, allowed taxpayers to exclude income from the discharge of debt if it was a principal residence. Debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in connection with a foreclosure, qualifies for the relief.
This provision applies to debt forgiven in calendar years 2007 through 2012. Up to $2 million of forgiven debt is eligible for this exclusion, $1 million if married filing separately. The exclusion does not apply if the discharge is due to services performed for the lender or any other reason not directly related to a decline in the home’s value or the taxpayer’s financial condition.
So the taxpayer must choose either to exclude the cancellation of debt completely, which results in reducing the benefits of the operating loss, capital loss, credit carryovers and basis, or simply to defer the income for five years and then recognize it.
The situation for every taxpayer is likely to be very different, so looking at the related tax ramifications is key since the election is irrevocable, experts said.
But when it comes to short sales and the liability on the difference of loan to value, “It is the relationship with the lender, that is the issue,” Mr. Ghirardo said.
In California, he said, whether or not the loan is recourse or nonrecourse, once the lender goes through the deed of trust and completes that as a foreclosure sale, the lender cannot go after the borrower for the difference.
That is true no matter what, he said.
However, when a borrower wants to avoid foreclosure and do a short sale, the borrower may be liable to be taxed on the difference. Or there may be a time after the sale closes when the lender comes after the borrower for the difference.
A short sale is a sale by the owner of a property where the amount owed on the property is greater than the amount the seller will get. The lender must sign off on this because the lender is the one that stands to lose on the deal.
Short sales can be desirable for the borrower because they will not have to have a foreclosure on their credit report, and they set the terms.
“Clients come to me concerned about debt forgiveness, but that might not end up being the real problem,” Mr. Ghirardo said.
The real problem, he said, is that lenders are now adding paperwork that the borrower signs that reiterates their liability on the loan. It comes in the form of a letter and gives the lender the right to come after the borrower after the sale is complete for the difference between the loan value and the sale of the property.
So if a borrower took out an initial loan of $500,000 and the home went for $280,000 in the short sale, the lender could potentially come after the borrower for the remaining $220,000.
Tom Davenport of Beyers Costin in Santa Rosa, who focuses on business organization and finance as well as real estate acquisitions, said he has seen these letters.
“And I have advised my clients not to sign them,” he said.
In all cases, he has been successful in negotiating with the lender to change the terms.
“We have been able to get the lender to back off and remove the requirement,” he said.
The statute of limitations for the lender to come after the borrower is four years, the same as any breach of contract.
Timothy Brown, a Realtor with Creative Property Services in Santa Rosa, has focused a lot of attention on short sales.
He has also been successful in negotiating terms with the lender to make sure that the debt is forgiven.
Another issue concerning cancellation-of-indebtedness income is that while the 2009 act allows taxpayers to defer cancellation of debt income for loan modification recognition events occurring in 2009 and 2010, the income is generally deferred for a period of five years (for 2009 modifications) or four years (for 2010 modifications).
Once recognized, the amount is taken into income over a five-year period. So, the big issue to be aware of for this next year is if this is going to be taken advantage of, the loan modification has to happen in 2010, experts said.
Copyright © 1988–2013 North Bay Business Journal
View the policy for linking to website content.
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Short-Term Crop Removal
“Spread all of your P, K, S, & Zn needs in one variable rate application based off of 1
or 2 years of Yield Data from your Yield Monitor."
The Short-Term Crop Removal Program has been created for producers that are on a
year-to-year lease with their tenants. Our primary objective with this program is to
provide solid plant food recommendations based on past yield removals from yield
monitors. Field boundaries will need to be run for your fields so you can have an
accurate acre count and we can sort and clean your yield data. Yield data will be
cleaned and sorted based off of GPS collected field boundaries. Crop removal goals
can be created for one or two years of yield data depending on your fertilizing strategy.
1. Receive GPS-collected field boundaries with an accurate acre count and field
2. Accurate yield and moisture maps of your field with min., max, and average yield.
3. Soil Type maps and their productivity based on the NRCS yield goals.
4. Crop Removal recommendations based on one or two years of yield data for P, K, S,
& Zn in one variable rate application.
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| 0.940635
| 265
| 1.945313
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The Iraqi parliament is expected to vote on a U.S.-crafted law that would open the nation’s oil industry to exploitive foreign control. If the bill passes, it would give foreign investors up to 75 percent of Iraq’s oil profits until costs are recouped, and then twice the industry standard after that. This law is a naked admission that the U.S. invaded Iraq, at least in part, for its oil.
(Thanks to M. Mitchell)
Iraq’s massive oil reserves, the third-largest in the world, are about to be thrown open for large-scale exploitation by Western oil companies under a controversial law which is expected to come before the Iraqi parliament within days.
The US government has been involved in drawing up the law, a draft of which has been seen by The Independent on Sunday. It would give big oil companies such as BP, Shell and Exxon 30-year contracts to extract Iraqi crude and allow the first large-scale operation of foreign oil interests in the country since the industry was nationalised in 1972.
The huge potential prizes for Western firms will give ammunition to critics who say the Iraq war was fought for oil. They point to statements such as one from Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said in 1999, while he was still chief executive of the oil services company Halliburton, that the world would need an additional 50 million barrels of oil a day by 2010. “So where is the oil going to come from?... The Middle East, with two-thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies,” he said.
Oil industry executives and analysts say the law, which would permit Western companies to pocket up to three-quarters of profits in the early years, is the only way to get Iraq’s oil industry back on its feet after years of sanctions, war and loss of expertise. But it will operate through “production-sharing agreements” (or PSAs) which are highly unusual in the Middle East, where the oil industry in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the world’s two largest producers, is state controlled.
Opponents say Iraq, where oil accounts for 95 per cent of the economy, is being forced to surrender an unacceptable degree of sovereignty.
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U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Fuel Cell Technologies to Power Transit Buses
January 19, 2011
From the sunny climates of Pasadena and Atlanta to the chill of Chicago winters, fuel cell buses will be getting a real-time test because of the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) National Fuel Cell Bus Program. The Center for Transportation and the Environment in Atlanta will receive $6.42 million and CALSTART in Pasadena, California, will receive $10.17 million to coordinate research among fuel cell manufacturers, engineering firms, and transit agencies throughout the country. Included in the funding will be money to demonstrate how a fuel cell bus operates in the harsh winters faced by Chicago's RTA fleet.
Other funded projects include an effort to develop a smaller, less costly and more durable fuel cell power system that will enable commercialization of U.S. fuel cell buses, and an effort to develop and demonstrate a lightweight highly efficient bus that incorporates an improved hybrid-electric drive and enhanced bus design. The purpose of the National Fuel Cell Bus Program is to facilitate the development of commercially viable fuel cell bus technologies and to increase public acceptance of the fuel cell vehicles. See the FTA press release and a list of funded fuel cell projects.
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Campaigning for health workers
Health workers, the nucleus of health systems, are the hands that deliver health services to the populations. Often working under great pressure and difficult situations, they are rarely acknowledged and recognized for the value of their work. Despite promising progress in the past years, the severe scarcity of human resources for health still remains as a major obstacle to the achievement of the health related Millennium Development Goals. Globally 3.5 million new health workers are needed to ensure that every person everywhere has access to a skilled, motivated and supported health worker.
To reach this goal, the Global Health Workforce Alliance (the Alliance), since its inception has been working tirelessly to bring the health workforce crisis to the forefront of the global political agendas, including the G8, G20, and the UN. In 2010 for instance, the Alliance successfully influenced the UN Secretary-General's Global Strategy on Women's and Children's Health by developing a background paper highlighting the workforce requirements for realizing the Strategy's objectives.
It is clear however that there is still an urgent need to reinforce global and country leadership on HRH if we are to overcoming the crisis. With this in mind, the Alliance is highlighting two major campaign initiatives of its members and is calling upon all its members and partners to render support by signing the campaign petitions.
Launch of "Health workers count"
Today, Alliance member Save the Children UK launched a global campaign aimed at bringing people and organizations behind an urgent call for more health workers, better supported.
Over 250 organizations have already joined the call and signed the statement with the objective of leveraging a bold leadership "to make new, substantial and specific commitments to expand the number of health workers and better support those workers who are already in place." For organization signed up to the campaign and those interested in getting involved, the campaign organizers have released a campaign toolkit which provides practical information and suggestions on how to run the campaign at the country level. It also suggests a range of campaign activities in the lead up to the UN General Assembly meetings and related events.
Sign up for the campaign and more information on the toolkit visit:www.healthworkerscount.org.
The campaign can also be followed on twitter via @healthworkers.
Hands Up for Health Workers: Raise your hand for peace
For Peace Day celebrated on 21 September, Alliance member Merlin is building on its longstanding campaign "Hands Up For Health Workers" with a special initiative focused on the harsh situation faced by health workers in conflict situations. "Raise your hand for peace" wants 5 000 people to join health workers caught up in conflict to call for peace. The petition will be presented to world leaders in New York at the UN General Assembly.
Get involved by signing up here www.handsupforhealthworkers.org and your name will automatically be added to a petition that Merlin will take to the UN.
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VFMS Guidance Department
Guidance Department Staff
8th Grade; 6th Grade (A-D)
Ms. Sheri DeMaris
7th Grade; 6th Grade (E-M)
Mrs. Kelly Neary
5th Grade; 6th Grade (N-Z)
The Role of the School Counselor
School counselors are professionally trained specialists with strong backgrounds in the behavioral science and human relations. Counselors are specialists in identifying school and personal problems, helping students deal with social and emotional issues, and in facilitating the planning of current and future education. They teach classroom lessons on grade-specific topics and facilitate small needs-based groups.
With Whom Does the Counselor Consult?
The counselors meet weekly with the core team teachers, specials teachers, and foreign language teachers. They discuss individual students and look for patterns in behavior. Counselors also serve as a guide and support for parents. They consult with administrators, outside counselors, and our school psychologist.
What Does the School Counselor Do?
-Meets with students individually and in groups.
-Aids teachers and parents in helping children.
-Orients and schedules new students.
-Coordinates standardized testing programs.
-Maintains student records.
-Assists in the psychological evaluations of students.
-Teaches classroom lessons and facilitates small groups on decision making, social skills, career exploration, goal setting, etc.
-Assists in identifying students with special needs.
-Coordinates team meetings with teachers and parents.
-Assists parents in accessing community resources.
-Sponsors the Peer Mediation and Golden Eagle Programs.
-Sponsors grade level community service projects.
Groups Available for VFMS Students
Grief & Loss
*If you are interested in having your child join a group, please call your counselor.
Call your child's Counselor if...
-You want information on your child's progress in school.
-You want to schedule a conference with you child's teachers or school psychologist.
-You wish to share information with school personnel.
-You want standardized test scores interpreted.
-You wish to discuss the special needs of you child.
-You have any questions at all - if we don't know the answer, we can point you in the right direction.
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| 3
|
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while.
People who are interacting with adoptive parents or adoptive children:
• Don’t say, especially in front of the child, “Oh, I could never give up/give away my child!”;
• Don’t say, “Where did you get him/her?” or “Where did she/he come from?” (It may surprise you but the vast majority of adoptions in the US are domestic so the answer to that question will probably be “Peoria” or the equivalent even if the child “looks” foreign);
• The adoptive parent is the “real” parent both legally and emotionally--the birthparent is called birthmother, birthfather or first mother, first father;
• Adoptive brothers and sisters are “real” brothers and sisters even if one child is adopted from Russia and is white, another sibling is a domestic foster adoption and African American and the third kid is biological;
• Don’t tell an adoptive mother or couple, “Oh, now you’ll get pregnant!”
• Not everyone adopts because of infertility—don’t ask;
• We don’t adopt to “save” a kid and we aren’t “saints” for adopting a child—we are just parents;
• Foster kids aren’t broken children;
• Not all or even most birthmothers are teenagers or drug addicts—don’t make such an assumption;
• It surprises people sometimes, but, yes, you can love your adopted kid just as much as your biological child;
• Open adoption is the norm now (at least in the US), so learn about it and don’t assume that open adoptions are bad or confusing for the child. Some open adoptions work marvelously, some don’t;
• Adoptive parents pick international adoption for many different reasons—please respect that and don’t harangue them for not “saving” “one of our own”;
• Don’t tell an adoptive child that he/she should be “grateful” for being adopted—no child should feel like he/she needs to be “grateful” for his/her existence in a family;
If you are talking with a birthparent:
• Don’t say, especially in front of the child or birthparent, “Oh, I could never give up/give away my child!”;
• Not all or even most birthmothers are teenagers or drug addicts;
• Don’t tell her that “Well, at least you didn’t abort your kid!”
If you are talking with an adopted person:
• Don’t say, “At least your birthmom didn’t abort you!”
• Don’t imply that he/she should be grateful to have been adopted. Adoption is a great thing but it also includes a huge sense of loss and identity questions. My daughter, adopted from Guatemala, gained a lot from being adopted (better health care and education plus being raised by me!) but also left behind parents, two siblings and her culture. That is a lot to lose for an 18 month child.
• Don’t imply that his/her adoptive family isn’t “real” and/or that he/she isn’t really part of that family;
I’m sure I’ll think of more but that is what I have so far.
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9 indispensable money tips for teens
20-somethings will also benefit from these pearls of wisdom from someone who's been there, done that.
This post comes from Len Penzo at partner blog Len Penzo dot Com.
I hate to admit this, kids, but I used to think my parents were really dumb too. A few peas short of a casserole. All foam, no beer. Dumber than a box of hair.
I get it: Matthew, you're 14 and, Nina, you're 12 going on 26, which, by default, means you both already know everything about anything. But as time passes by, you'll begin to realize that the older you get, the smarter Iget.
Funny, yes, but it's true; I swear.
Keep that in mind because, as a responsible parent, I feel it is my sacred duty to at least try to pass along to you a little fatherly financial foresight.
This time, your dear old Dad is going to share a few pearls of wisdom that will help you save a lot of money when you're finally ready to start setting out on your own.
Now, get your pencils ready, kids, because here we go:
Learn how to cook. Cooking is a basic life skill that everyone should learn. That's because when you're just starting out on a tight budget, cooking at home is the perfect recipe for saving money. And, Matthew, keep this in mind: It's a proven fact that 99.42756% of all females love men who can whip up dinner without the aid of a microwave oven.
Start saving for retirement now. As a teenager, I earned roughly $25,000 working in a grocery store over several years; that's equivalent to approximately $55,000 today. Unfortunately, because I figured old age was an eternity away, I didn't put a single cent of that money toward my retirement nest egg. If I had invested just $2,500 of those earnings in 1983, that relatively tiny contribution would be worth almost $22,000 today, assuming an annual return of 8%.
Buy a first car that's dependable, not flashy. When I was 16, your Uncle Kevin was kind enough to give me an old sedan he no longer needed. But even though it was free, it still cost me a bundle in insurance, and operation and maintenance costs. If you truly want to minimize the financial impacts of owning a vehicle, make sure your first car is fuel-efficient, dependable, and at least a few years old. Save the flashy stuff for later.
Learn how to use a spreadsheet. A computer spreadsheet is arguably one of the greatest tools ever invented. Ever since we've been married, your mom and I have been using one to efficiently track our spending habits down to the last penny. If you kids intend to keep a budget -- and you should -- remember this: A spreadsheet will not only help you effectively manage your finances, it will also greatly simplify your life and save you lots of time in the process.
Live at home for as long as possible. I know it's not good for your social life, but living with Mom and Dad after graduating from high school will save you lots of money in rent, utilities, food and other living expenses that you can use to help cover college, or business start-up expenses -- and even give you a head start on your retirement savings. You're welcome. Post continues after video.
Know what you want to do in life before you go to college. College is so much more expensive today than when I went to school. If you expect me to help defray some of your expenses, figure out what you want to do before committing yourself to an expensive university. Otherwise, you risk earning a worthless college degree that's guaranteed to result in a poor return on your investment. By the way, there's no need to rush; you can always attend a community college until you get things figured out.
Don't rush into marriage. Divorce can be an extremely expensive proposition, which is one reason why choosing a spouse is one of the biggest decisions you'll make in life. So take your time; studies show that divorce rates are higher for people who marry at a younger age. And, Nina, don't fall for the romantic notion that everyone has a one-and-only perfect soul mate; it's not true. There really are plenty of fish in the sea.
Before you buy a house, rent. Homeownership comes with big risks and responsibilities, which is why it's not for everyone. There are lots of financial and personal factors involved in choosing whether to ultimately buy or rent. If you aren't living at home, rent for a while so you can carefully consider what's best for you before finally committing. (Should you rent or buy? Try MSN Money's calculator.)
Hold off awhile before having kids. I'll keep this short and sweet. Although they're worth every penny, children are notoriously expensive, so spend a year or two enjoying life with your spouse before you decide to start a family. Besides, kids, I'm really in no hurry to be a grandpa. At least not yet.
More on Len Penzo dot Com and MSN Money:
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Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
ABOUT SMART SPENDING
Editor Bev O'Shea lives and works in the foothills of the Appalachians. A former copy editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Orlando Sentinel, she joined MSN Money in 2007. She's a fan of sunsets, college football and free shipping, among other things.
Having worked as a writer, reporter and editor for more than 25 years, Editor Julie Tilsner is the sort of person who can't help but correct grammar in Facebook postings and on billboards. She's written for BusinessWeek, the Los Angeles Times, Parenting, Redbook, AOL and others. She lives in Los Angeles County with her family and loves to drink wine and practice yoga, although not generally at the same time.
A writer for MSN Money since January 2007, Donna Freedman won regional and national prizes during an 18-year newspaper career and earned a college degree in midlife without taking out student loans. She also writes about smart money tactics for magazines and on her own site, Surviving and Thriving.
Mitch Lipka has been warning people about scams and shining light on questionable business practices for more than 20 years. Mitch, the consumer columnist for The Boston Globe, has also been a reporter and editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Consumer Reports, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and AOL. He won the 2010 New York Press Club award for best consumer reporting online and was honored in 2011 for his reporting on child product safety.
Marilyn Lewis is an award-winning writer with a passion for getting readers clear, straight information that helps them stay out of financial trouble. A former reporter for The San Jose Mercury News, she works from her home in Port Townsend, Wash. Contact her at MarilynLewis@Outlook.com.
LATEST BLOG POSTS
A single mom who says she was forced to accept a fee-heavy 'payroll card' instead of a check or direct deposit is taking a McDonald's franchise to court.
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E. Laurie George
The American and English short story, with attention to the influence of writers of other cultures. Aspects of the short story that distinguish it, in style and purpose, from longer fiction.
“Novel: a short story padded.”
--Ambrose Bierce, -The Devil’s Dictionary-, 1911
“When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock—to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures”
--Flannery O’Connor “The Fiction Writer and His Country”
“Each writer's prejudices, tastes, background, and experience tend to limit the kinds of characters, actions, and settings he can honestly care about, since by nature of our mortality we care about what we know and might possibly lose (or have already lost), dislike that which threatens what we care about, and feel indifferent toward that which has no visible bearing on the safety of the people and things we love" --John Gardner _The Art of Fiction_
This class in fiction celebrates the shorter rather than the longer narrative—the reading, writing, and interpretive critique of it.
Ambrose Bierce will be one of the “unpadded” writers whose fiction we will read first. Bierce’s stories are particularly fascinating, especially framed within the contexts of Flannery O’Connor’s and John Gardner’s assumptions about fiction. Over the course quarter, we will read stories as a means of investigating what subjects Ambrose Bierce and others cared about and thought they might lose or have lost, and we'll analyze how they crafted "unpadded" narratives with themes and styles that shocked the reading publics--both then and now.
All of the stories we'll read are modern and contemporary, stylistically conventional or experimental. We'll talk about why.
My primary goals of the course include:
*increasing your reading enjoyment of the short story and sophisticating your reading practices
*exposing you to a variety of fictional authors, genres, styles, and literary movements
*enhancing your critical abilities, both orally and in writing, to analyze, interpret and evaluate responses to stories
*convincing you that the critical reading of fiction can help immensely in the practical reading and plotting of life
Course print texts include Ann Charters' _The Story and Its Writer_ as well as one or two stories online or otherwise distributed to you.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
lecture, but primarily discussion--it is essential for you to be in class daily and to participate actively, thoughtfully, and vocally.
Class assignments and grading
Short in-class presentations of aspects of the stories we read; short written assignments; a final examination.
Discussion, presentations, frequent essay writing.
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| 0.932815
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Dangerous dolls, trains and other lead-tainted toys. Beads that metabolize into "date-rape" drugs. It's enough to ruin Christmas for any parent stressing over what's left to buy the tots this year.
After the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall of these and many other toys, moms like Stephanie Gonzalez just don't know what to think. "I’m assuming this is mostly about China," says Gonzalez, who lives in the Los Angeles area. “They must be using the most low-cost, bad-for-you products and chemicals because everything is so cheap.”
A common sentiment perhaps, but experts warn that avoiding products made in China is not a foolproof strategy.
“The country where a toy is being manufactured isn’t the sole problem,” says James Swartz, director of World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH), a group that has been presenting annual worst-toy lists for the past 35 years. More than 80 percent of the toys on the market are made in China and many are fine, he says. “Also it would be a mistake to assume a product is safe just because it’s made here in the United States or in Europe.”
WATCH’s Web site offers examples of risky toys. At the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site parents can check out which specific toys have been recalled, read toy safety tips and sign up to receive e-mail notification of recalls. Tips, a blog and more toy safety info can be found at Safety Mom.
Parents should also let this year's toy caution serve as a reminder that we really should be buying less and keeping the holidays simple and family-focused.
Dr. James R. Roberts, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, recommends a back-to-basic approach this Christmas. "Forget the toys," he says. "Get your kids bike helmets this year and get them outside on bikes."
“Buy an age-appropriate game and then play it together,” urges Dr. Helen Binns, a professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Here are some other gift ideas if you are thinking outside the toy box this holiday season:
Gift memberships to the zoo, children’s museum or aquarium promise kids of all ages plenty of fun-filled afternoons.
Or maybe you could plan a holiday trip. The Mancinos of Illinois are taking a trip to Arizona instead of exchanging vast quantities of gifts. “Instead of sleigh rides we’ll do jeep rides. Instead of skiing, we’ll go hiking,” says mom Renee Mancino.
Another idea for school-age kids: camping gear and a "gift certificate" for a family camping trip later in the year. Be prepared to pitch the tent in your living room Christmas day.
"Kids always love pop-ups by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart,” says Mary Taft, a mom and bookseller in the children’s department at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City, Iowa.Pop-ups are particularly popular with the preschool set.
Books about your children’s favorite characters are also fine. Charlie & Lola for the preschoolers and Transformers and Spider-Man for the older kids may not be considered great children’s literature but Taft says she sees nothing wrong with this reading material. “It’s appropriate to use the child’s interest in selecting books,” she says. “Maybe this isn’t all they read but it can certainly be part of it.”
Kids — preschoolers on up — love to cook. Try an apron, cooking utensils and children’s recipe book such as "The Pink Princess Cookbook" or "Betty Crocker’s Kids Cook!"
Music for little ears
Grandma Susan Mosher has found that relaxation CDs are a big hit. “I bought two CDs — "Discovering Your Special Place" and "Magic Garden & Healing Pond" [by psychologist Charlotte Reznick] — for my 8-year-old grandson,” says Mosher, who lives in Chicago.
“Sometimes he giggles over segments in the relaxation part that say to body parts, ‘I love you, feet!’ etc.," she says, "but he listens all the way through every night as part of his routine and he really enjoys it.”
Other great CD picks for young children include Dan Zanes' house party music and the audio recording of children’s poet Shel Silverstein’s "Where the Sidewalk Ends." Dora the Explorer lovers will appreciate "Professor Pocket’s Sing Spanish Speak Spanish" (for ages 2 and up).
A laptop, and a lesson in giving
For $399 (of which $200 is a tax-deductible donation), One Laptop Per Child will send a laptop to a child in a developing nation and one to your star student.
“I’m going with good old art supplies and dress-up kits,” says California mom Gonzalez. “Those seem safe and I like to get my daughter gifts that get the creative juices flowing.” Take note, though: Pigments in cheaper crayons may be lead-contaminated so Roberts recommends looking for supplies with the American Consumer Product Safety Council label.
The toy fiasco surely is causing parents grief this year, but pediatrician Binns urges moms and dads to not stress too much about what's under the tree.
“What your child needs most is you," she says. "Your interaction with your child is the key here. Not the toys.”
Victoria Clayton is a freelance writer based in California and co-author of "Fearless Pregnancy: Wisdom and Reassurance from a Doctor, a Midwife and a Mom," published by Fair Winds Press.
© 2013 msnbc.com. Reprints
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Resources from organizations that help nonprofits use technology successfully.
Tips on Using Database Software
My advice regarding computer and Internet use is focused on mission-based organizations (nonprofits, non-governmental organizations or NGOs, public sector organizations, civil society organizations, etc.), including those working in and for developing countries. It is given in as much non-technical terminology as possible, and is focused more on the human-side of technology use, rather than the tech itself.
Five Tech Tips to Punch Up Your Nonprofit Communications
Nancy Schwartz interviewed nonprofit technology expert and author Michael Stein for his take on tech tips to strengthen your web and email communications impact. Michael, who has worked with Children Now, Groundspring and now as an Internet strategist with the eOrganization.com, had some great ideas.
Nonprofit Tech is a collection of blog posts and articles all around nonprofit technology. It uses the Browse My Stuff technology to create this topic hub. Topic Hubs are sites that aggregate content from a variety of sources, organize that content around keywords in the topic domain, and support both manual and social curation of that content.
Nonprofit Technology News
The strength and diversity of our contributing authors is a bedrock value at Nonprofit Technology News. Here you’ll find the very best of the very best of the thought-leaders of our profession.
Wild Apricot membership management software, website hosting and event registration is available for small associations, non-profits, clubs and subscription websites.
NTEN – Nonprofit Technology Network
NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes. NTEN helps you do your job better, so you can make the world a better place.
TechSoup Learning Center
TechSoup.org's how-to articles, worksheets, and product comparisons are written for all levels of technical expertise and all sizes of nonprofit and social benefit organizations. This site includes original TechSoup content as well as relevant material republished from partner organizations, consultants, and nonprofit leaders.
The TechSoup Canada Technology Donation Program is an online product donation service that connects nonprofits with technology product donations from more than twenty-five leading corporate and nonprofit technology partners.
Disaster Recovery Toolkit from TechSoup
Disaster preparedness isn't just about being ready for a fire or earthquake; it’s a nimble, flexible approach to your organization’s day-to-day programs and operations.
Various types of website host that allow non profits to obtain a website for free or for a fairly priced fee.
Canadahelps provides online fundraising solutions that are easy, affordable and secure.
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July 27, 2004
WEA Delenda Est
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation has chronicled the recent crimes and misdeeds of the Washington Education Association in its series "Marysville Teacher Strike - Lessons Learned".
Read all five installments (about one page each) --
1: "Washington's courts repeatedly rule that teacher strikes are illegal"
2: "Attorney General’s poor advice prolongs strike" [that would be the same Attorney General who now wants to be governor]
3: "WEA’s real objective: Survival!"
4: "WEA harms children and teachers"
5: "WEA pressures districts to ignore state salary law"
After you finish reading the series, please come back and post a comment and explain to me: (1) what important benefits the WEA offers the people of Washington? and (2) why we should permit the WEA to skim $700+ off the salary of every public teacher in the state?
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 27, 2004 09:54 AM
You can thank John Dewey and the Prussian model of common schooling, combined with early twentieth century collectivization trends in labor for the start of all this. Add in a sprinkling of licensing requirements from officially approved Teaching Colleges, and you have the makings of a goverment sanctioned monopoly.
Now, of course, it's spiralling out of control, especially once Johnson's Great Society appeasement technique in the form of the Primary and Secondary Education bill in 1965 got the federal government involved in doling out ever-increasing amounts of cash.
The lure of centralized power of ever-concentrated control over the hearts and minds of future generations is too appealing for our betters to ignore, sadly and to our wallet's and our children's detriment.
1. What important benefits the WEA offers the people of Washington: well, I don't know about the people of Washington, but WEA members are themselves people of Washington, and it certainly offers them important benefits. Indirectly, it also benefits members' families, and the people they spend their enhanced income with, such as their local groceries, newspaper deliverers, streetwalkers, etc.
2. Why we should even permit it to exist: er, because we're a free country, and we believe in the freedom of association, even when people choose to associate in order to benefit themselves at the expense of the rest of us? We shouldn't give in to their demands, but we can't prevent them from getting together to make those demands without becoming a dictatorship.
Fair enough. I should have clarified the question to ask "why should we permit it to receive a mandatory $700+ chunk out of every public teacher's salary?" and I've updated it accordingly.
The WEA represents teachers in our state the same way mobsters used to represent shop owners. It's the old "buy our insurance or you'll need it" model. Technically teachers do have a choice: They can pay the union or find another career.
Teachers in our state pay an average of $759 each year to union officials. That gets divied up by the union's local, regional, state and national affiliates. All told, union officials take about $55 million a year just from Washington teachers.
Many teachers tolerate the union because they want protection from frivolous lawsuits. Guess how much the annual union-provided liability insurance policy costs? About $4.07 per teacher.
Teacher contracts are negotiated by local union officials (with some input from the regional affiliate) once every three years. That means each teacher pays $2,277 in dues for each contract. Rather pricey.
Meanwhile, average compensation (salary + benefits) for WEA staff is $109,591 a year, and the union has more lobbyists in Olympia than any other special interest group in the state.
Wonder what the union's real priorities are?
New comments may be posted only from the 'Comments' links at the bottom
of each entry on the blog home page
Look: here's a comment from a real, live public school teacher. I support the WEA completely. The WEA, among many other functions, advocates for public education. That, right now, is a pretty lonely voice in the wilderness.
At my school this year, we laid off teachers. We're looking at laying off more next year. If we teachers want to pay for an advocacy group to preserve education, why not ?
Why aren't folks questioning the salaries paid to lobbyists for roads, for defense contracting, for auto dealerships ? Those costs are of course folded into the costs of goods and services, and so are "invisible". But they're there.
Public education is a huge enterprise run at a huge bargain. It's also a cheap target. I urge those of you who want to criticize public institutions to find something more worthy of your time. Like the US energy policy, or $ 200 billion for the Iraq "war" (in the Seattle Times today)
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study on how technology could help to regulate climate change has studied hundreds of ideas, and selected three considered practical and able to be implemented quickly. The report's authors propose the construction of forests of artificial trees and installing tubes of algae on the sides of buildings to absorb carbon dioxide. They also proposed painting the roofs of buildings white to keep the Earth cool by reducing the amount of solar radiation absorbed.
The engineers from Britain's Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) have asked their government for an investment of 10 million pounds (around 16.3 million dollars) in these ideas to counter the threat to Britain posed by global warming.
One of the authors of the report, Dr Tim Fox, said geo-engineering techniques could buy us a few extra years' breathing space while we transition to a low-carbon world, and may help ward off the climate change scenarios we fear. The report claimed global temperatures could rise by as much as 6°C in the next 90 years if we don't act soon, and the results would include major refugee movements as well as food and water shortages.
One proposal was the building of forests of artificial trees. Each synthetic tree could capture up to 10 tons of CO2 a day, which is thousands of times more than a real tree. Each tree would cost around $24,400, and a forest of 100,000 of them could be constructed within the next couple of decades using existing technologies. A forest that size would be able to remove 60% of the UK's total CO2 emissions. Globally, forests of five to ten million trees could absorb all the CO2 from sources other than power plants.
The trees would have a special synthetic filter that absorbs carbon dioxide. When the filters had absorbed their load of CO2 they would be replaced with new filters and the old ones would be stored in empty gas and oil reservoirs, such as depleted oil wells in the North Sea. The trees are already at the prototype stage and their design is well-advanced. The prototype is the size of an average shipping container.
Another proposal put forward by the study was to install transparent tubes filled with algae on the outside of buildings. The "algae based photobioreactors", as they call them, would absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and could later be turned into charcoal, which could then be buried to trap the carbon dioxide.
The third idea proposed by the IME was to paint city roofs white to reflect sunlight back into space and prevent it warming the Earth. Cities can be up to 4°C hotter than suburban areas, and reflective roofs could reduce the need for cooling and save up to 60% of a building's energy use.
Dr Fox warned that geo-engineering ideas such as those proposed are not a silver bullet that will solve all the problems, and they would need to be used in conjunction with other measures such as reducing our emissions and adapting to changes in the climate.
More information: Read the full Institution of Mechanical Engineers report
© 2009 PhysOrg.com
Explore further: Researchers use light projector and single-pixel detectors to create 3-D images
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The iPhone 5 doesn’t just have a lighter, thinner construction, though. As rumored, it also has “ultrafast wireless.” Yep, that means LTE.
“Ultrafast wireless technology. You can imagine the challenge our team faced: thinner, smaller… ” says Schiller coyly. Despite this, “we’ve added HSPA+, DC-HSDPA, and yes, LTE.”
“Ultrafast wireless technology. You can imagine the challenge our team faced: thinner, smaller… but we’ve added HSPA+, DC-HSDPA, and yes, LTE.”
Apple’s officially calling this technology “ultra-fast wireless technology.” They aren’t saying as much, but this is all clearly meant to stop from being sued in countries without LTE standards, like what happened to Apple in Australia when they released it as the iPad with Wi-Fi and 4G. Most countries still don’t have true LTE, so they can’t make a big deal about that, hence the hedging.
Apple confirms that AT&T, Verizon and Sprint iPhone 5s will all have LTE. You’re only going to want the Verizon one.
(This story is developing.Check back for updates.)
- Image GDGT
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New Drug Could Stop Alzheimer's Early in Its Tracks, Lancaster University Study
2/4/2013 7:35:13 AM
A new drug to prevent the early stages of Alzheimer's disease could enter clinical trials in a few years' time according to scientists. Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia, which currently affects 820,000 people in the UK, with numbers expected to more than double by 2050. One in three people over 65 will die with dementia.
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A digest of important news from sources selected by our local editors. Delivered weekday mornings.
Cell-phone use by motorists has been scrutinized by legislators nationwide in recent years. Records show that drivers who use the devices while behind the wheel are more likely to be involved in car accidents.
Five states — California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Washington — as well as the District of Columbia prohibit driving while talking on a handheld cell phone, but those bans generally allow hands-free devices to be used, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Several other states have local but not statewide bans on use of handheld phones behind the wheel. Seventeen states ban cell-phone use by certain groups, such as novice drivers and school bus operators. And seven states prohibit text messaging while driving.
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to give workers the option of getting overtime pay or compensatory time off for working extra hours. Which would you prefer?
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Priests to purify site after Bush visit
GUATEMALA CITY --Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.
"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.
Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.
Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites -- which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles -- would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.
Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.
The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."
Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524.
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SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The city of San Diego will add 117 charging stations for electric vehicles at public facilities by the end of this year, under a plan unanimously approved Tuesday by the City Council.
The installations are part of a federally funded program to improve electric vehicle infrastructure and study the habits of drivers.
The charging stations will be located in existing parking lots at libraries, recreation centers and other city buildings. According to a staff report, those kinds of locations were chosen because drivers are more likely to stay awhile.
Customers will pay 50 cents per kilowatt hour to fill their batteries.
"We just need to give people more opportunities to build the infrastructure, to make these changes, reduce our carbon footprint and improve the environment," Councilman Todd Gloria said.
There are about 1,900 electric vehicles in use in San Diego, according to San Diego Gas & Electric.
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|How Organic Agriculture contributes to combat Desertification|
June 13, 2008
World Environment Day: Organic Agriculture contributes to a low carbon economy
Desertification refers to land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry
sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic
variations and human activities like conventional agriculture.
Desertification is caused mainly by overcultivation, overgrazing,
deforestation and poor irrigation practices, which result in organic
matter loss, soil contamination, erosion, soil compaction and sealing,
salinization and long-term loss of natural vegetation.
The international community has long recognized that desertification is a major economic, social and environmental problem of concern to many countries in all regions of the world. As early as 1977, the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) adopted a Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD). Unfortunately, despite this and other efforts, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concluded in 1991 that the problem of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas had intensified, although there were "local examples of success".
Desertification is a worldwide problem that directly affects over 250 million people and a third of the earth’s land surface. It is especially concentrated in developing countries. Since 1990, about 6 million hectares of productive land have been lost each year around the world. Desertification causes food insecurity, famine, poverty, and human displacement that can give rise to social, economic and political tensions. Thus, the vicious circle of further poverty and further land degradation continues.
Combating desertification requires an integrated approach. Organic Agriculture , including techniques such as windbreaks, shelterbelts and reforestation, should be promoted and strengthened with socio-economic measures that address insecure land tenure systems and promote sustainable human settlements.
Organic Agriculture helps to improve soil fertility, prevent wind and water erosion, improve water infiltration and retention capacity and reduce surface and ground water consumption and contamination – all measures contributing to bringing land back to life.
Gerald A. Hermann, IFOAM’s President, emphasizes that “Farm practices that do not take care of the soil and its organic and living content undermine the very resource agriculture depends on – the land.”
Angela B. Caudle de Freitas, Executive Director of IFOAM, strongly advises that "Governments, development agencies and donors should promote Organic Agriculture in their agricultural development efforts to reverse desertification where it has occurred and to prevent it from expanding. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) should encourage governments to adopt Organic Agriculture as a tool to combat desertification.”
Organic Agriculture is a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment and promote fair relationships and a good quality of live for all involved.
|© IFOAM - International Federation of Organic Agriculture|
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Hope for millions of Germans suffering from periodontitisFebruary 1st, 2013 in Dentistry
Credit: Fraunhofer IZI
Twelve million Germans suffer from periodontitis, an inflammation that can lead to the loss of teeth if left untreated. Bleeding gums during brushing or when biting into an apple could be an indication of periodontitis, an inflammatory disease of the tissues that surround and support the teeth. Bacterial plaque attacks the bone, meaning teeth can loosen over time and in the worst case even fall out, as they are left without a solid foundation to hold them in place. Furthermore, periodontitis also acts as a focal point from which disease can spread throughout the entire body: If the bacteria, which can be very aggressive, enters the bloodstream, they can cause further damage elsewhere. Physicians suspect there is a connection between periodontitis pathogens and the sort of cardiovascular damage that can cause heart attacks or strokes. In order to stop the source of inflammation, dentists remove dental calculus and deposits from the surface of teeth, but this is often not enough; aggressive bacteria can only be eliminated with antibiotics.
Of the estimated 700 species of bacteria found in the mouth cavity, there are only eleven that are known to cause periodontal disease in particular; of these, some are deemed to be severely pathogenic. If these biomarkers are present in the gingival sulcus - the small gap around the base of the tooth - then the patient is at high risk of a severe form of periodontitis. But the only way to find out is by conducting a bacteria test. The problem is that current methods for identifying pathogens are time-consuming and must be carried out in an external contract laboratory. Conventional bacterial analysis using microbial culture carries the risk of bacteria being killed as soon as they come into contact with oxygen.
However, German scientists have developed an innovative mobile diagnostic platform that can be used in a dental office to analyse DNA collected from teeth and identify the 11 most relevant periodontitis pathogens in less than 30 minutes. The mobile diagnostic platform is designed to speed up identification of the eleven most relevant periodontitis pathogens considerably.
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI in Leipzig have collaborated with two companies, BECIT GmbH and ERT-Optik, to develop a lab-on-a-chip module called ParoChip. In future this will allow dentists and medical labs to prepare samples quickly and then analyse the bacteria. All the steps in the process - the duplication of DNA sequences and their detection - take place directly on the platform, which consists of a disk-shaped microfluidic card that is around six centimeters in diameter. 'Until now, analysis took around four to six hours. With ParoChip it takes less than 30 minutes. This means it's possible to analyse a large number of samples in a short amount of time,' says Dr. Dirk Kuhlmeier, a scientist at the IZI.
Samples are taken using sterile, toothpick-shaped paper points, after which the bacteria are removed from the point and their isolated DNA injected into reaction chambers containing dried reagents. There are eleven such chambers on each card, each featuring the reagent for one of the eleven periodontal pathogens. The total number of bacteria is determined in an additional chamber, via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This method allows millions of copies of even tiny numbers of pathogen DNA sequences to be made. In order to generate the extremely quick changes in temperature that are required for PCR, the disk-shaped plastic chip is attached to a metal heating block with three temperature zones and mechanically turned so it passes over these zones. This causes a fluorescent signal to be generated that is measured by a connected optical measuring device featuring a fluorescence probe, a photo detector and a laser diode.
The key benefit is that the signal makes it possible not only to quantify each type of bacterium and thus determine the severity of the inflammation, but also to establish the total number of all the bacteria combined. This enables doctors to fine-tune an antibiotic treatment accordingly.
'As the connected optical measuring system allows us to quantify bacteria, ParoChip is also suited to the identification of other bacterial causes of infection, such as food-borne pathogens or those that lead to sepsis ,' says Kuhlmeier, who goes on to emphasize further advantages of the compact diagnostic platform: 'Using ParoChip does away with many of the manual steps that are a necessary part of current bacteria tests. The synthetic disks can be produced cheaply and disposed of after use in the same way as disposable gloves.'
Already available as a prototype, ParoChip is initially intended for use in clinical laboratories; however it could also be used by dentists to carry out in-house analysis of patient samples in their own practice.
More information: Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI
www.izi.fraunhofer… zi.html?&L=1 /
Provided by CORDIS
"Hope for millions of Germans suffering from periodontitis." February 1st, 2013. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-millions-germans-periodontitis.html
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Pluristem Therapeutics (PSTI) Stem Cells Save Second Patient With Bone Marrow Failure
8/6/2012 9:17:22 AM
HAIFA, Israel, Aug. 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pluristem Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:PSTI) (TASE:PLTR), a leading developer of placenta-based cell therapies, announced today that the life of a patient suffering from bone marrow failure in which there was a dangerous reduction in the number of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets (pancytopenia) has been saved using Placental eXpanded (PLX) cells. This is the second time in the past three months that a patient suffering from bone marrow failure was successfully treated in a compassionate use treatment with PLX cells with a return of bone marrow function.
The patient, a 54 year-old woman diagnosed with lymphoma cancer, was initially treated with chemotherapy. Her condition continued to deteriorate, necessitating a bone marrow transplant. The transplant, as well as alternate therapies, were not successful. As a result, the woman suffered from prolonged dangerous pancytopenia. PLX cells were then administered to the patient at the Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, under the Israeli government's compassionate use program. Following the injection of the PLX cells intramuscularly (IM), the woman's clinical condition and blood counts improved to the point where the patient was able to be released from the isolation unit and subsequently discharged from the hospital.
"This is a real breakthrough – the woman was in isolation due to low white blood cells and high susceptibility to infections and in addition her red blood cells and platelets were low, leading to a very dangerous and life-threatening situation," said Professor Reuven Or, Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cancer Immunology at Hadassah Medical Center. "Further, autologous bone marrow transplantation that she received engrafted poorly, and as a last resort, we applied for a compassionate treatment using Pluristem's PLX cells based on our previous experience with those cells. The treatment with PLX has saved her life and can certainly be classified as a medical miracle," added Dr. Reuven Or. "The result of this unique case demonstrates that PLX cells could potentially be effective for use in cancer patients, who receive bone marrow transplantation following severe radiation and chemotherapy treatments, which severely damage their bone marrow."
The clinical improvements observed in this and a previous patient treated with PLX cells demonstrate that these cells could potentially assist in the recovery of bone marrow following bone marrow transplant failure or other conditions where the bone marrow is significantly compromised.
Pluristem recently announced it is preparing to apply for Orphan Drug Status for its PLX cells with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of aplastic bone marrow. The bone marrow transplant market is an estimated $1.3 billion per year in the U.S. alone, based on 30,000 bone marrow transplants in the U.S per annum.
In May, Pluristem announced that a seven year-old girl, whose condition was rapidly deteriorating due to an aplastic bone marrow, experienced a reversal of her condition with a significant increase in her red blood cells, white blood cells and blood platelets following the intramuscular injection of the company's PLX cells. The patient has subsequently been released from the hospital and returned home.
"We are extremely grateful to be working with Professor Reuven Or and his team, whose work helped save the life of this woman," said Zami Aberman, Chairman and CEO of Pluristem. "Pluristem now has several clinical data points to suggest that our PLX cells are successful in treating patients whose bone marrow is failing."
About the Patient
This 54 year-old patient was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2008 and received chemotherapy, resulting in remission of the disease in 2009. At that point, doctors collected stem cells from her bone marrow. The cancer returned to her spinal cord in 2011. She was treated with both radiation and chemotherapy, which damaged her bone marrow. Autologous stem cell therapy was administered with cells collected from her in 2009. The bone marrow engrafted poorly and she was not responding to alternate treatments. Forty-five days after the autologous stem cell transplantation, with the patient's clinical condition deteriorating, PLX cells were administered IM via two courses a week apart. Approximately two weeks after her second course of PLX cells, clinical improvement was noted with an increase in her red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Her clinical condition has improved significantly to the point that she was released from the hospital.
About Pluristem Therapeutics Inc.
Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq:PSTI) (TASE:PLTR) is a leading developer of placenta-based cell therapies. The Company's patented PLX (PLacental eXpanded) cells are a drug delivery platform that releases a cocktail of therapeutic proteins in response to a host of local and systemic inflammatory and ischemic diseases. PLX cells are grown using the company's proprietary 3D micro-environmental technology and are an "off-the-shelf" product that requires no tissue matching prior to administration. Pluristem is focusing on the use of PLX cells administered locally to treat systemic diseases and potentially obviating the need to use the intravenous route.
Data from two phase I studies indicate that Pluristem's first PLX product candidate, PLX-PAD, is safe and potentially effective for the treatment of end stage peripheral artery disease when given locally. Additionally, Pluristem is developing PLX-PAD for cardiac ischemia, PLX-BMP for Acute Radiation Exposure, Bone Marrow Transplant Failure and Chemotherapy induced Bone Marrow Aplasia, PLX-ORTHO for orthopedic indications and PLX-PAH for Pulmonary Hypertension in collaboration with United Therapeutics. Pluristem's pre-clinical animal models have demonstrated PLX cells are also potentially effective in other inflammatory and ischemic indications, including diastolic heart failure, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathic pain and pulmonary fibrosis.
Pluristem has a strong patent portfolio, GMP certified manufacturing and research facilities as well as strategic relationships with major research institutions.
For more information visit www.pluristem.com and follow Pluristem on Twitter @Pluristem, the content of which is not part of this press release.
CLICK HERE to watch a video where CLI patients and doctors involved in the clinical trials share their stories.
The Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6882
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and federal securities laws. For example, we are using forward looking statements when we when we discuss how the results of this case demonstrate that PLX cells could potentially be effective in cancer patients who receive severe radiation and chemotherapy treatments, severely damaging their bone marrow, when we discuss how PLX cells could potentially assist in the recovery of bone marrow following bone marrow transplant poor engraftment or other conditions where the bone marrow is significantly compromised, when we discuss the bone marrow transplant market in the U.S, when we say that data from two Phase I clinical trials indicate that Pluristem's first PLX product, PLX-PAD, is safe and potentially effective for the treatment of end stage PAD or when we say that Pluristem's pre-clinical animal models have demonstrated PLX cells are also potentially effective in in other inflammatory/ischemic indications, including diastolic heart failure, inflammatory bowel disease, neuropathic pain and pulmonary fibrosis. These forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Pluristem only, and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements: changes in technology and market requirements; we may encounter delays or obstacles in launching our clinical trials; our technology may not be validated as we progress further and our methods may not be accepted by the scientific community; we may be unable to retain or attract key employees whose knowledge is essential to the development of our products; unforeseen scientific difficulties may develop with our process; our products may wind up being more expensive than we anticipate; results in the laboratory may not translate to equally good results in real surgical settings; our patents may not be sufficient; our products may harm recipients; changes in legislation; inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and applications; loss of market share and pressure on pricing resulting from competition, which could cause the actual results or performance of Pluristem to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by law, Pluristem undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. For a more detailed description of the risks and uncertainties affecting Pluristem, reference is made to Pluristem's reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: Pluristem Therapeutics Inc.
William Prather R.Ph., M.D.
Sr. VP Corporate Development
Director Investor & Media Relations
Finn Partners - for Pluristem
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Distance based methods: Minimize the number of global changes
between each pair in a group of sequences previously aligned.
Least squares approach:
From a matrix of distances D between species, find a phylogenetic tree
that predicts a set of distances d so that the following expression is
- Join the clusters that are close to another and also apart from the rest
- Heuristic: Minimize the sum of the branch lengths in the tree
- Additivity of evolutionary distances
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