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WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary James D. Watkins said Friday that he would reject a federal judge's request that he testify in Ohio on the disputed terms of a $78-million pollution settlement with neighbors of the Fernald nuclear weapons plant.
Watkins said also in an interview that he would present to President Bush within two weeks a plan for restoring the nation's capability to produce a gas needed to make nuclear warheads.
The plan will include a recommendation that three currently idled military reactors in South Carolina be restarted and run for another 15 years to ensure a supply of tritium, a radioactive gas used to boost warheads' explosive power.
At issue in the Fernald settlement is whether the 14,000 area residents who sued the Energy Department, claiming emotional distress and diminished property values as a result of uranium dust releases from the plant, may still sue for contamination cleanup costs.
The department, which owns the plant, said Wednesday that the proposed settlement is intended to preclude any further suits over cleanup. The plant, known as the Feed Materials Production Center, is 18 miles from Cincinnati. | <urn:uuid:04957489-77a3-445a-ae8a-d24e7e9374af> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.latimes.com/1989-08-26/news/mn-824_1_pollution-settlement | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950707 | 219 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Civil disobedience possible to fight emergency law
DETROIT—The Rev. Jesse Jackson and U.S. Rep. John Conyers joined religious and civil rights leaders Thursday to promise protests and possible civil disobedience against Michigan's new emergency manager law that could lead to a takeover of Detroit government.
"We are prepared to go from education, mobilization, litigation, legislation, demonstration and civil disobedience," Jackson said as he and others held a news conference at Detroit's Bethany Baptist Church.
"We want a positive commitment to restoring democracy and economic justice for all citizens." Jackson said.
Hours later, Gov. Rick Snyder posted a video on a "Rick Snyder For Michigan" Facebook page in which he called on Mayor Dave Bing and the Detroit City Council to "partner together" and come up with their own financial rescue plan so Michigan can stay out of the city's business.
The Detroit Public Schools and the cities of Flint, Pontiac and Benton Harbor already have state-appointed emergency financial managers. Michigan recently enacted a law expanding the state's power to push aside local government and school officials whose agencies get in financial trouble.
Conyers said the expanded law is "seriously flawed" and said it unfairly targets communities with large numbers of minority group members.
Jackson, a Chicago-based activist, said emergency managers are like dictators with the power to override local democracy, discard union contracts and cut vital public services. He said he is seeking U.S. Justice Department intervention.
The state is evaluating whether Detroit's financial problems merit the naming of an emergency manager. Bing and the City Council have opposed a state takeover of Detroit and are working on budget-balancing measures.
"The city should be responsible for the city," Snyder said in his video release. "Our role is to be a supporting resource."
The governor then highlighted what he said was the seriousness of the city's money problems, citing Bing's statement that Detroit could run use up its available cash in April.
"We can't let the city run out of money," Snyder said. Besides Detroit's cash-flow problem is a long-term structural deficit that needs a fundamental solution, he said.
"Detroit's been in a financial crisis of some kind for decades," the governor said.
Governor's video statement: http://on.fb.me/sFrZW0 | <urn:uuid:ee03afe5-6568-4b4e-8d62-07c1a5ef36ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/12/22/civil_disobedience_possible_to_fight_emergency_law/?camp=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955001 | 482 | 1.648438 | 2 |
NOTE: Due to limited resources, these pages may not have been regularly updated. It is possible that the information provided below and/or in the links given may be outdated or inaccurate. If you come across conflicting information or are confused by the answers given, please contact the STScI helpdesk at: firstname.lastname@example.org>.
Q: Is there an astrometric equivalent of shutter shading?
A: No, there does not appear to be any such effect, down to 0.01". WFPC2 image pairs, taken back to back at the same pointing, 0.11 sec for one exposure and 1.0-1.2 sec exposure for the other, were examined for possible effects. On 10 image pairs (4 WF3, 6 PC), there was a good point source with adequate signal in the 0.11s case and no saturation in the longer image. The results show an average offset of only 0.003" (no difference WF vs. PC) and a range of 0.001"-0.005". Since this is rather precisely what would be predicted from nominal, well-behaved HST jitter, the conclusion is that there is no astrometric equivalent of shutter shading (to well under 0.01" level).
Q: What are the "dead" areas seen at the edges of the chips?
A: The "dead" areas are due to the pyramid being in the aberrated part of the beam. The aberrated image of the pyramid edge is 40 ± 20 pixels from the edge of the chip along the two edges of each CCD which butt against the fields of view of neighboring CCD's (e.g. WF2 is butted against PC1 and WF3). Also, because the beam is aberrated at the pyramid, there is a vignetted area at the inner edge of each field with a width of 4 arcseconds. The vignetted light ends up focused in the corresponding position in the adjacent channel (with complementary vignetting).
Q: I can't find the information I need such as HST's period, radius, and orbital elements.
A: You can find the information you need in a file that has the extension .shh. Within this .shh file are the following keywords:
HSTORB = 1/2 the orbital period of HST in seconds. SINEINCL = The sine of the inclination of the angle of HSTs orbit. POSTNSTX = Position of HST from the center of the Earth in kilometers, (in x). POSTNSTY = (same but in y) POSTNSTZ = (same but in z) VELOCSTX = Velocity of HST around the Earth in km/sec. VELOCSTY = (same but in y) VELOCSTZ = (same but in z)
Note that the values for the keywords are those of HST at the beginning of an observation. | <urn:uuid:ea88871c-b983-426f-a318-8753a2d390fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stsci.edu/hst/wfpc2/wfpc2_faq/wfpc2_misc_faq.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927919 | 620 | 1.960938 | 2 |
In this instance, that man is Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan, from the United Kingdom. Though Hannan is an extremely talented writer and author (visit his Telegraph blog), he has also represented South East England in the European Parliament since 1999, occasionally giving riveting speeches which have gone viral on the internet (upwards of 2.7 million views). His words and rhetoric have been well received across the Atlantic, owing to his adherence to limited government and libertarian principles.
Hannan has been an active force in rejecting the European Union, sparking and sustaining an already healthy eurosceptic movement across the European continent. He has preached the importance of sound money and peaceful cooperation in the market place, beyond the bounds of coercion and force. He has lambasted irresponsible nationalization and bailouts during the continued financial crisis, in his country and abroad. He has continuously denounced the undemocratic and overbearing European Commission, who have managed to impose a supranational government upon the unwilling European population. Daniel Hannan is, in the most modern sense, the most notorious British Jeffersonian. Hannan’s admirable appreciation of the American constitutional model has been well advertised across speeches, books, and publications, even going so far as to publicly proclaim that he would have voted for Ron Paul in the 2008 Presidential election were he an American citizen.
Daniel Hannan is an individual to follow and to value, and we look forward to his future contributions to political discourse in Europe and across North America.
Here is Hannan speaking at Cato, praising the American constitutional model and warning American citizens that they must protect the basic tenants of their society which have made them the freest people in the democratic world:
An ever-familiar hymn sung by conservative and classical liberal economists in the past 100 years has been that of regulatory burden. This is the idea that certain norms, dreamed up and enforced by the altruistic State, are actually doing more to harm innovative economic growth than anything else. In a time of economic stagnation, this is certainly a legitimate query to ponder. So, say these economists, cut the regulations!
In this same line of thinking, it is generally conceived that most business people would certainly agree: regulations and government intervention are actively hampering prosperous economic growth and expansion. They would argue that because of ordinances, regulations, and laws, they are not allowed to fully commit to their goal of providing the best service or product for their customers, and that therefore this makes the marketplace more restricted to additional income and labor.
In the ideal world, this is surely the case.
However, in the world which we inhabit, most in the “business community” (who are actually antithetical to true business), tend to favor the status quo where regulations are concerned. This conglomerate of business interests do their part to actually favor certain regulations, especially those that would save their huge corporate monopoly from the doomed-uncertainty and promise of competition a truly free market would provide.
This is a point that many in the anti-corporate progressive sphere seem to conveniently neglect, mostly because it does not fully adapt to their own world-view. In the minds of progressives, the economic reality is a constant struggle between the people and the “evil” corporations. The corporations are greedy, immoral entities willing to usurp anything at any cost. They are hell-bent on enslaving the people in sweatshops to make shoes and clothes for 2 cents a day. Their ultimate goal is to further perpetuate poverty and completely eviscerate the middle class. Big business is there to hurt you. Hence the new liberal adoration for government intervention. Government should be there to protect you. Therefore, the people lend their support to the government to protect themselves from the “evil” corporations who would otherwise, if left unregulated, trample all human life. As is often the case in us versus them scenarios, however, this just does not stand up to the facts.
The fact is that the government has been intervening in businesses for decades on end, and corporations have only gotten more powerful and more influential with each passing session of Congress. This is entirely contingent upon the rules and regulations which are proposed and adopted by the legislative authorities, supposedly for the benefit of a “safer, fairer” marketplace. Why is it then that businesses have continuously increased their lobbying budgets over the years while increased regulations, which supposedly have been drafted to restrict them, have been passed at an exponentially increased rate? It is no mistake that money spent on lobbying Congress alone has virtually tripled in the last ten years:
The numbers speak for themselves. To those who may be skeptical, it may be beneficial to mention specific regulations which have been passed under the guise of protecting society, but have actually done more to favor corporations and monopolization. Though a plethora are readily examinable, a recent one has been the ban on traditional incandescent light bulbs. According to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, passed by the democratic Congress and signed by Republican President George W. Bush, incandescent light bulbs are to be completely phased out by 2014. On the surface, this seems to be an environmentally-friendly move by the government. The government is protecting the people from the wasteful, inefficient light bulbs created by Thomas Edison over 100 years ago. The government has the people in mind and is attempting to do something great for society. This seemingly-angelic move by government, however, is far from virtuous or environmentally-friendly.
The biggest proponent of this regulation, without a doubt, was the corporation of General Electric, who spent over $39.2 million dollars lobbying Congress in 2010. General Electric is the principal provider of the compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), which green advocates have always been eager to promote as a more sustainable choice than the traditional and cheaper incandescents. Despite CFLs containing significant amounts of mercury, costing significantly more, and not producing the same quality of light, the government seemed to side with GE, disfavoring the traditional bulbs which continue to be quite popular and cheap today. Instead of the free and open marketplace to allow consumers to choose what type of light bulbs to buy, the government has now reduced that choice and favored an alternative, which also happens to be the product of a company that spends millions of dollars lobbying the politicians in Washington. This means that producing and selling incandescent light bulbs to compete with GE CFLs will be illegal past 2014, punishable by the force of government fines or cages.
The next case is much more emotional and personal than what type of light will be allowing us to read the Sunday comics early in the morning or providing direction for our bathroom trips late at night. I speak of accidental death insurance, provided by a private company to a family when one of its members has an untimely passing. This is normally sought in order to provide funds that a otherwise healthy family member would have provided, barring their unfortunate death. Totals normally amount from around $100,000 to over $5 million, depending upon the case and the need of the family. These are contracts which are mutually agreed to and signed by both parties, each acknowledging an obligation one has to the other. The family shall pay a small balance each month, and the company shall provide the maximum amount of funds if any accidental death is to occur. So far, this is a well-sought legitimate service which provides mutual benefits for both the companies and the customers. The problem begins, however, when the business and the government begin to collude.
The example I shall be drawing from is documented on Bloomberg News, in an article published just yesterday. It is titled Accidental Death Becomes Suicide When Insurers Dodge Payouts by David Evans. Evans analyzes the case of Todd Pierce, a 46 year old cancer survivor killed in a horrific and fiery car accident. Through his employer, Todd took out accidental life insurance that would pay his wife were he to pass away unexpectedly, as did happen. Due to the pursuant contractual obligations mutually agreed upon by both parties, MetLife was expected to pay Todd’s widow an total of $224,000. Despite the sheriff, the state medical examiner, and the official autopsy report concluding that Todd’s death had been an accident, however, MetLife made their own medical decision. They labeled the death a suicide, noting Todd’s previous battle with cancer and the toxicology reports which indicated he had a prescribed drug in his system. As any breach of contract would be submitted to, the case was brought to Federal court in Montana by Todd’s wife, Jane Pierce. What Jane didn’t know, however, is that she wasn’t just fighting for her husband’s benefits, she was fighting the corruption of the entire American corporate monopoly system.
The regulation standing in Jane’s way was the Employment Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), orginally passed as a measure to standardize all pension plans for private employers. This, again, would seem to have been done under the veil of a good cause. The government was attempting to make all private pension plans fair and standard. But, again, the law favors the very corporations which it is imposed upon. The crux of the regulation was that:
In order to achieve ERISA’s goals, federal courts ruled that employees must surrender their rights to jury trials and compensatory and punitive damages if they sue an insurer for wrongfully denying coverage.
This means that, in order to pursue any case where insurance has been denied, the plaintiff must surrender any hope of jury trial or extra compensation so that the case will be heard. In a market place free of regulation or ordinances such as this one, this certainly would not have been applied. Instead, however, under the authority of the government and the liking of the insurance corporations, the pursuit of any claims beyond the original plan and a jury trial must be forsaken. The little guy loses. The big guy wins. The regulation passed by government therefore, favors the corporate monopoly the private insurance provider holds over the customer, something that would not have been enforced where that regulation not passed. The article in Bloomberg documents multiple other cases which deal with accidental insurance cases as well, where corporations use the regulatory loopholes provided by ERISA and other legislation to avoid paying for what they were once contractually obligated to do. The corporations can twist the government rules in order to benefit themselves, where an otherwise free market would have caused their demise. In this case then, the rules are made by the powerful for the benefit of the few, not a new calling. This is what government and business collusion brings about, and should be the strongest argument for redacting and reducing regulations in certain industries today.
In conclusion, it is always beneficial to return to the casting narratives which plague the current American political landscape. While progressives cling to the fear of Big Business and conservatives rally against all-but-their-own Big Government, there is nothing more harnessing than exposing the ever-more dangerous collusion of both against the individual. When the interests of the government and certain favored businesses align, there is always a case to worry, a case for lamenting a loss of freedom or just and competitive commerce. The free market is the only place where this is guaranteed. A place where monopolies, abusive corporations, and powerful corporate lawyers cannot be sustained. A place where the small are not forced to face the mighty and justice is always in favor of those who do right and not those who are the most physically strong. In the struggle of protecting the individual from harm, it is freedom, not compulsion, that is the shield against malice.
As a student of a University prone to bouts of activism, I am no stranger to pickets, demonstrations, or volatile button campaigns. The fact that my fellow pupils were willing to skip their BritLit seminars to hoot and holler never phased me or garnered my interest, but it certainly fueled my learned apathy. Their causes and aims, anything from banning Pepsi products to lobbying for gender-neutral bathrooms, seemed to me both dull and absurd, a guaranteed yawnfest if there ever was one. I would have preferred they just walk around with “I LUV SOCIALISM” t-shirts, relinquishing the need to be so irksome. Luckily enough, the ‘Che’ shirts adequately did the job.
These activists represented, to the uncaring individual that I was, a social nuisance. Their unabashed hatred of the status quo and frothing-at-the mouth idealism was only enough to strike my nerves ever so slightly, inspiring inner-diatribes of rants for a fortnight. Little did I know, however, how much I would bow to their appeal when the forces of nature did change.
Once the Financial Panic of 2008 began to be felt in full force, the institutions of the world began to feel the sting of lost revenue. Governments, corporations, and nonprofits were looking to desperate measures to continue their model of existence, blatantly ignorant of their unsustainable nature proven by the Financial Crash. Bailouts and slush funds were shuffled about and lazily tacked together, throwing public money into dark spirals with no certain end. Massive wealth transfers were justified to “escape panic” and stabilize the world economy, now a needlepoint from the edge of disaster. Trillions of dollars were let loose into corporate boardrooms and executive suites, no strings attached and no questions asked. The bank profits soared and the stock market rallied to an all-time high, overshadowing the constant 9.6% unemployment rate in place since December 2008.
Now, it seemed, was the perfect time to call back all those debts. Thus necessitated the “Great Payback”, with all institutions clamoring for revenue wherever they could find it, either by shedding thousands of workers or finding the backlogs of cash which lay untapped. Downtrodden Main Street would not only have their coffers emptied by the faithful hand of Government, but they now faced raising costs in every encounter of their life. Gasoline prices steadily climbed, airlines became creative with new fees, restaurants began charging for water, and cell phone companies overbilled those naughty roamers. With little hope of work and the future still cloudy, thousands began enrolling in supplementary education, seeing new opportunities that would come with the prestige of an alma mater. Governments, aware of the potential that this financial crisis could afford, called for hikes in student tuition.
As University administrators claim, “the cost of maintaining and improving” schools has risen significantly, making this the ideal time to raise them without question. Tuition hikes have been proposed in Australia, the United States, Canada, and the EU, with the most brutal being in the United Kingdom: up to £9,000 ($15,000). Though the financial crisis was perpetuated and brought about by reckless lending, both by central banks and financial institutions, the students will be the ones shackled with the bill, not to mention the trillion dollar debts and budget deficits passed by Governments each year which will be paid with the incomes of future citizens not yet born. So it goes.
At last, we return to our socialist activists, always happy to protest a new cause. In most circumstances, there is little which would bind our minds in unison. Normal political occurrences assign us to opposing corners with fire, bullets, and occasional harsh words consuming the middle. On this University tuition complaint, however, I must say I side with these activists. Not only do I lend my support, but I encourage and endorse everything they do to give their governments a hard time.
Once the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition of Prime Minister David Cameron, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Klegg, decided to raise the tuition cap to well over $15,000, it became the last straw for this so-called “post-ideological” generation. These students were expected to be more concerned about trivial reality shows, hip fashion styles, or whatever else dominated their cultural-centric minds, but they proved that the beating they were continuing to take would end with the augmentation of their access to adequate higher education. Though I do stress free-market values and ideas political and economic circles, I can do nothing but cheer on the revolution enticed by the British youth.
These students had been promised a certain condition of life, that being affordable education and ample opportunity, and were subsequently told that due to a “banking crisis”, all that must be taken away. And that certainly is far from their only motivation. From the terror crackdown to the rampant CCTV Police State, these students have woken up to swing their fate away from that given to them by George Orwell in 1984. The UK, as they saw it, would not become Airstrip One. It would not become a place manipulated and controlled by elites that would benefit at their destruction. It would not become a monarchical regime with all subjects forever bowed down to the Queen’s feet.
Forgoing passivity and refusing to stay docile, obedient citizens have taken to the streets to shake the authority of the government and prove that they shall not stand for the injustice that has been mandated by “popular decree”. These protests and demonstrations elicit a fervor that is stronger than any ideology, religion, or ethnic group, and proves yet untamed by the strong arm of English force. The unwillingness of the British youth to continue to be ruled as slaves for a system which does not benefit them sends a message, not just to the elites in London, but to all governments across the world, that the public shall no longer serve as the silent captives in a game which bars their participation.
I cheer the young Brits and look to my North American compatriots, so that we may use the inspiration of our English cousins to confront the very Leviathan that has usurped justice on this very continent. | <urn:uuid:6b4b8a5b-7795-43a1-b114-6f9d9026ba6a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://libertyinexile.com/tag/freedom/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970739 | 3,654 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Remember when Ireland gave away all her gas and oil fields to the Shell corporation? No? Well, that’s because the Irish media barely reported this dodgy deal. It went something like this: Fianna Fail politician Ray Burke decided that he’d secretly meet with the good folks from Shell and give them significant portions of the country’s natural gas and oil fields. Chairperson of the Campaign for the Protection of Resources, Padhraig Campbell put it as such:
Ray Burke, against the advice of senior officials in his department, held a meeting on his own with the oil companies after which the terms and conditions previously attached to licenses were changed dramatically in favour of the companies
Why did Burke do this? Well, that’s anyone’s guess. It might be worth noting that he was soon after charged with corruption in an unrelated case and actually served time in prison… I’m not saying anything… I’m just saying.
Anyway, it would be nice to imagine a world in which Ireland received some nice, hefty €€€s for her exploitable resources.
Maybe such imaginings are ultimately pointless, but it gives me an excuse to discuss a fine lecture transcription that Michael Hudson recently put up on his site (note: the points he makes here are essentially reiterations and clarifications of the points he made in this clip).
Hudson is discussing – apropos of Norway – what a sovereign state should do when they have excess financial assets. He points out that they certainly don’t want to hold these assets in the state’s own money – otherwise this would drive the value of this currency upwards which would kill exports. What the Norwegians have done instead is essentially what household savers do:
The money is consigned to fund managers to invest in a wide array of stocks and bonds so as to minimize risk. In effect, Norway has a big set of mutual funds.
Sure, the risk is spread around if this is done, but, as Hudson points out in his television interview, this risk is not spread in the case that the financial markets as a whole take a hit – as they did back in 2008.
Hudson points out that its probably a far better idea to follow what the BRIC countries are doing.
Being concerned mainly with their national development, they start by asking what their economies will need to import over the next half-century, and how foreign investment can best serve their long-term diplomatic aims. Singapore invests heavily in Australia, partly to help political as well as economic reciprocity. China has bought up majority shares of mineral resources (including silica mines in Norway and Iceland) and bought into the partnerships of major U.S. hedge funds. Both countries use their sovereign wealth funds to upgrade their long-term economic productivity, living standards, technology and educational levels.
Can you spot the trick here? Okay, if the financial markets take a hit wealth is simply wiped-out, right? But if the markets that some in East Asia are investing in take a hit wealth is not simply wiped-out. Even if the value of the assets invested in falls, these countries still have access to hard resources that they can use to upgrade their long-term economic productivity. In addition to this they also buy ‘political capital’ inside the countries they have invested in.
Now here’s where it gets really interesting – and where you should start taking a second look at your own investments:
The financial climate has changed radically from when Norway’s Oil Fund was established in 1990. Norway has built up its savings since then by selling enormous quantities of oil and gas, and employing many thousands of workers. By coincidence, an even larger sum of $600 billion recently has been created overnight – electronically on computer keyboards, by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board as part of Chairman Ben Bernanke’s Quantitative Easing policy (QE2). This money has been provided to spur bank liquidity, in hope that they can earn their way out of the losses they suffer from their bad mortgage loans and other gambles.
The aim of these banks is the same as that of Norway’s Oil Fund: to make money. As the financial press has noticed, nearly the entire $600 billion has been sent abroad – to the BRIC countries and raw materials exporters in strong balance-of-payments positions, whose economies are not as “loaned up” as those of the United States and Europe, where Norway invests most of its money. So while Norway is putting its money into these countries, their financial managers are jumping ship – sending electronic dollars and euros to the economies that use their own sovereign wealth funds in the opposite way from what Norway is doing.
Money has become intangible. It can be created pretty much at will by any large sovereign state. This newly created money can then be used to buy the very same financial assets that Norway is currently pumping her savings into. So, Norway have to extract and sell oil and gas to buy this financial paper – at the same time, US banks can just ask the government to create money to buy the very same paper. Seems a little unfair, right? Well, not really – that’s just how the money system works. It does have one rather obvious consequence though:
This makes Norway’s foreign exchange savings (i.e., the Oil Fund) much less valuable in terms of how much it actually costs to buy $600 billion worth of stocks and bonds. The cost is almost zero for the U.S. banking system. And that is what Norway’s Oil Fund is competing with when it puts its money into the U.S. and European financial markets.
Hudson then points out that this is part of a much broader problem in the West:
Asian economists view the West as entering a dead end – one of corporate as well as individual debt peonage. They see Iceland, Ireland and Greece as a normal result of current policies, not as anomalies. From their perspective – and from that of many of my economic colleagues at UMKC – the world has entered an era of “debt pollution.” Tax reform has favored debt leveraging and speculation (e.g., low capital gains taxes, and a tax shift off finance and property onto labor). The upshot is that savings and credit have not been invested in expanding the means of production or to alleviate the global economy’s debt overhead, but simply to bid up real estate and stock prices on credit.
This makes the financial markets, not simply a more unstable means of earning revenue, but also something of a spectral presence – gambling on gambles already gambled. Hudson is blunt about the conclusions he and many others draw from this state of affairs:
This is not a formula for long-term growth. It is a financial distortion of real development. I believe that it is as serious as that of the environmental pollution associated with global warming and other problems. I have spoken to Asian officials and can attest to the fact that this is their perspective.
But its not all gloom. Hudson says that its actually quite easy to tear away this veil and see what a wise economic policy might look like:
Governments of mixed economies such as China and Singapore are engaged in long-term planning to improve economic well-being. Toward this end they are investing in themselves, specifically in core resources that future generations will need to control and import in decades to come. They therefore are converting their holdings of currency and financial securities into long-term control over natural resources and technology.
Okay, so Ireland isn’t exactly facing these problems right now. We certainly don’t have excess savings sloshing around looking for somewhere to invest. We’re heavily in debt – and we gave away our natural resources – but still, if we ever do seek to get our balance back this will be how we need to do it. We need to drop the speculative mumbo-jumbo that tanked the economy in the first place and start looking once more how to invest in the means of production. | <urn:uuid:927c6bc6-619f-4b3e-ae97-323c4f9960dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/strange-ghosts-we-never-knew/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974514 | 1,669 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Not yet translated into English?
Not yet, but they tell me soon. ... I never want to write the same book, that takes place in the same location, because I always want to write something different. That's why I generally kill off my hero at the end. So there is no continuation, and this lets me go look into another country.
It takes me three or four years to write such a book. After three or four years, I have the feeling of having taken in all the country’s problems. I don’t have much more to say. I try to put everything into the one book and then go somewhere else.
Often the Southern Hemisphere because when it’s winter in France, it’s summer down there, so I always leave in winter. I have a year of summer.
What are the advantages to writing as a traveler? What are the disadvantages?
I think it’s an advantage because there are taboos on all societies. In South Africa, for example, there’s the taboo around the Zulu Inkatha, and the ANC of Mandela. There was a civil war manipulated by apartheid, and no one talks about it.Even today?
Completely. But I understand. Mandela, when he took power, said no, no. That was horrible, apartheid. We won’t talk about it any longer. Everyone is together. Tomorrow is more important than yesterday. ... Something extraordinary happened. He had De Klerk, the white Afrikaaner. He had Buthelezi, the chief of Inkatha, and when he took power, he raised their arms.
As an outsider, I can talk about this. I can talk about the war between Inkatha (and the African National Congress). It’s no problem for me. A South African, for reasons of national reconciliation, will not talk about it.Why Zulu as a title? Why not Xhosa, or Afrikaaner?
That was just to discuss the war between the Zula Inkatha and the Xhosa ANC. Because I knew the area around Cape Town, my journalist friend lived in Cape Town, my book takes place in Cape Town. There are no Zulu in Cape Town, very few. The Zulu live in another part of South Africa, far away.
So, to talk about the problem of the war between the Zulu Inkatha and the ANC, I took a Zulu character (homicide detective Ali Neuman), I put him in Cape Town. He takes refuge in Cape Town, because his father was pro-ANC, even though he was Zulu. One could be Zulu and for the ANC.
There were people who understood that Mandela was the symbol of resistance against whites, and they understood that Buthelezi and the Zulu Ikatha were manipulated by apartheid. So for me, it was a way to talk about this civil war
.Many South African crime novels are extremely violent. Is such violence more striking for white readers than for black readers?
Unfortunately for Africans, they live among violence. It’s everywhere. For us it’s more shocking because we are unaccustomed to living with violence all the time. Blacks who live in the townships, they live with violence. But us, whites, we are not used to living with barbed wire, fencing, electronic security. Houses in South Africa have this, electricity everywhere to protect the houses.
... We’re not accustomed to this violence, so we have the roman noir
as a catharsis. For us, who have an ultra-securitized society, we are even more scared of violence. By contrast, I think that if I were a black South African author, I would not write about a violent life. What would interest me would be love stories, that kind of thing, because “Violence? OK, we know it.”The Irish crime writer Alan Glynn talks about the 1970s as a golden age for books and movies of paranoia: The Conversation, The Parallax View. He says that our own age is good time for a revival of such books and movies. Is Zulu a novel of paranoia?
Completely paranoid, just like white South African society is paranoid. At the same time, there is good reason to be scared because there is so much murder and rape, but most rape and murder happens between blacks. It is often blacks who suffer.This is a kind of golden age for South African crime fiction. Do you know many of the current South African crime writers?
Very few. I have just met Deon Meyer, but I don’t know the others. But the poor are fantastic society for writing a roman noir
It’s like the Americans If American authors are so good, and American authors are superb, it’s because they have a terrible society, with enormous gulfs between rich and poor.
All the most interesting ingredients for me are not in France. That’s why I go back to Argentina. There was the dictatorship. There was the crisis of 2002. These are fantastic subjects for romans noirs
With Sarkozy, France has more and more subjects for romans noirs
: xenophobia, pitting one community against the other. He’s playing a very dangerous game, this guy.
... I think the role of noir authors is to detect— You have to get your nose down in the shit. That's our job, a little bit. We say, “Look! Look what’s happening there and there and there!”© Peter Rozovsky 2010 | <urn:uuid:2a5f3ac1-92de-45f2-b034-dd40ff8ee3bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.co.uk/2010_09_01_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972224 | 1,174 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Public Lands hears sage grouse update
|Sage grouse numbers are improving throughout the area.|
Todd Black, from Utah State University, was at the recent Emery County Public Lands Council meeting with a presentation concerning the Gunnison sage grouse in Utah. The power point presentation explained the sage grouse numbers in Utah, and how the state has been divided into 13 areas for management purposes.
In June of 2002, the US Fish and Wildlife Service set a strategic management plan into place to protect and preserve the habitat of the sage grouse, whose numbers were so low that it was being considered for an endangered species listing. In an effort to increase the sage grouse numbers so the bird would not be listed, a cooperative was formed to begin the process. USU oversees the cooperative and works with the local group in each of the 13 areas of the state.
Each of the 13 individual management units in Utah have a local working group consisting of local representatives who best know the conditions of that unit. In the Emery/Carbon county area the group is named the Castle Country Adaptive Resource Management and their next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2006 at 7 p.m. at the Carbon County Fairgrounds. They welcome all county representatives to attend the meeting to become informed and get involved with the process to keep sage grouse from being listed.
Ray Petersen, public lands director for Emery County, reported that a project begun by the forest service last year has not made any forward progress. "The ranger began the project to inventory every road and trail in each of the drainages into Emery County. Last year, the inventory of the Muddy drainage was completed and was very well accepted by all the parties involved. Plans were underway to begin the inventory process this year moving northward into the Ferron drainage. The Muddy process was encouraging, I feel this project should continue," said Petersen.
He further stated that in a recent conversation with the ranger, it had been mentioned that no support from upper management of the forest service was coming, and the project has been interrupted. Petersen asked the lands council to consider drafting a letter to be sent to Alice Carlton, the regional supervisor of the forest service, urging that the project be continued because of the value to everyone involved. All other agencies can benefit from the actions the forest service is taking with the road inventory.
Another item to be addressed in the letter would be the enforcement issues. There are several areas that are being abused by ATVs in the forest, and there is a need for more law enforcement presence in the forest. "Most of the damage happened during the hunting season. Unfortunately there are those sportsmen out there that give all hunters a bad name," said Councilmember Eric Luke. "Maybe more seasonal closures should be considered for the forest," said Luke. All council members endorsed the concept of the letter and the council approved sending it to Carlton.
Following the consideration of the letter to be sent to the forest service, Councilman Sherrel Ward stated that having Deputy Ray Jeffs in the Swell has proved to be a great value. Ward said that destruction has decreased and Deputy Jeffs is doing a great job to educate users of the Swell on the open routes.
Petersen talked about patents which are taken out by cities or counties to administer a portion of public land for recreational uses. Currently Ferron holds a patent for a portion of land that is designated for an ATV play area. Emery is considering a patent for a portion of land near their city. "Huntington and Green River are in the process and considering the same patent for ATV play areas near their towns also, The BLM is desirous for cities to take these patents and encourage them to do so," said Petersen. These patents fill a need that each city recognizes concerning ATV use around the towns. "Liability is an issue for further discussion. I want everyone to think about this and be aware of it," continued Petersen. Petersen stated that he is continuing to work with the BLM on a new route designation map for the Swell. This is an update of the 2003 map and does not close or open any new routes.
Beetle killed trees was the subject Councilman Gary Petty reported about. He said he had been to a forest service open house and the problem of cleaning up the dead trees in the forest is ongoing. "The forest service does not have a handle on the problem. We need to get that timber out of there, our watersheds are at stake," said Petty.
Petersen commented that ATVs and the beetle killed trees are the two biggest issues facing the forest service at the present. "Everyone involved with these issues is frustrated with the condition of the forest," said Petersen. Vernell Rowley is over the heritage portion of the lands council. He reported several interesting facts about the Spanish Trail which runs through Emery County. "Capt. Gunnison surveyed the trail in 1853, in 1855 the Elk Mountain Mission used it, in 1878 the star mail route ran on it, in 1880, two Orangeville residents used it to transport produce back and forth to Green River, and in 1934, H.J. Oliver was commissioned to put bench markers on the trail," said Rowley. | <urn:uuid:fd1d1f7a-b825-436b-b587-05bc6a0b3e48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ecprogress.com/index.php?tier=1&article_id=3678&poll=74&vote=results | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973953 | 1,075 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Former Global Fund Board Member and Cambodian human rights activist Mu Sochua pulls no punches. At an event this Monday at her alma mater, UC Berkeley, she began her talk by posing a rhetorical question: "Should we compromise in the fight for justice?" Sochua faces extreme pressure and legal punishment from her government back home for speaking out against the ruling party’s intimidation tactics and corrupt practices.
Cambodia in Crisis: Missed Opportunities and Misdirected Aid
In her talk, Sochua strongly emphasized the dire human rights situation in Cambodia: over 4,000 women in Cambodia die each year from child birth; over half of its children cannot attend or drop out of primary school due to poverty or family illness; 250,000 people have been forcibly evicted from their land in the past six years; only 30 percent of forests remain intact; and just 30 percent of the population has access to safe drinking water.
Sochua also drew attention to the flow of international aid: USAID spent over $53 million on assistance to Cambodia in 2008. That same year, Cambodia received $687 million in foreign aid from donors like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Union - almost half the government's annual budget. However, corruption and lack of accountability means very little of the money reaches its people. Cambodian Women particularly experience the brunt of economic marginalization – as they are highly vulnerable to forced trafficking for sex and labor.
Activists working to reverse the situation face serious challenges: Sochua spoke of the difficulty in translating social justice concepts and vocabulary into Khmer, the official language of Cambodia. There is no Khmer word for accountability and "opposition" is translated as "destroyer." Sochua discussed her campaign to explain the concepts of politics and rights at the grassroots level with village women.
She says any agenda for long-term social change requires political will. In her own commitment to political activism, Sochua points to the need to link human rights and social welfare to politics as an empowerment strategy of empowerment. She uses domestic violence as an example: social welfare alone can help individuals heal, but for real change, domestic violence must become a political issue.
At a recent US Congressional hearing on the human rights situation in Cambodia, Sochua met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and made two requests: first to bring her home safely [as a Member of Parliament stripped of immunity by the ruling party, she is facing significant jail time]; and second, to tie US aid to human rights: "We cannot accept democracy fed to us by the teaspoon, we want full democracy."
Clinton and members of Congress pledged that persecution of any of the three witnesses at the hearing could put US aid at risk. Sochua asked her US supporters to hold their Congresspersons to that commitment.
Listening to Sochua, it was alarming to learn how the Cambodian government is trying to systematically undermine her: in highlighting appearance before the U.S. Congress, Sochua was referred to as a “traitor” by a government spokesperson. The sentence for treason in Cambodia is 20 years to life in prison.
A woman of action, Sochua also shared some useful ways we can advance human rights and democracy in Cambodia: US supporters can write to their Representatives demanding that they follow through with withholding aid if Sochua is arrested upon her return to Cambodia
- Send a letter to Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, to let him know that the world is watching. Contact the Cambodian Consulate in the US for information on how you can send this correspondence.
It reminds us that women's movements have a lot of work ahead in establishing a peaceful and just democracy with respect for women’s human rights. Sochua is a committed human rights defender who is literally putting her life on the line when she says: "You can't go halfway, there is no compromise in the fight against injustice."
Find out about other Bay area events where Mu Sochua is speaking. Listen to a radio interview with Mu Sochua conducted by Preeti Shekar, Pacifica radio producer and member of the Global Fund communications team. Read the UC Berkeley News Center report on Sochua’s talk Fighting Cambodia’s Goliath: Mu Sochua –by UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare
Iris Garcia is part of the Program Team at the Global Fund for Women | <urn:uuid:126cb8cc-e637-498a-be20-bfff465c22d1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/impact/news/45-2009/1539-mu-sochua-you-cant-fight-injustice-halfway | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954943 | 910 | 2.125 | 2 |
1. Alkaloid salts (herbal derivatives) are an option for cancer treatment in your pet. Traditional veterinarians and oncologists aren't typically aware of this treatment modality but at the conference I heard some amazing stories of clinical efficacy. They can be administered by mouth, topically, and by injection. It is possible to treat some tumors with this method primarily but it can also be used in conjunction with traditional treatment methods (ie. growth removal). To learn more visit www.buckmountainbotanicals.net. Select the category "Tumors and Warts" on the bottom left-hand side of the page to read clinical papers and case studies. I currently carry the Neoplasene products and have used a few of the herbal extracts.
2. Homeopathic remedies are a treatment method that may be very useful in conjunction with acupuncture and/or traditional medicines as a way to stimulate the body's own response to heal. At the conference homeopathics for skin disease was discussed with an explanation of the medications working on the spaces between cells for their efficacy. These medicines are wonderful because they are very safe. I have experience with a few cases where we incorporated them and had a more rapid response to the acupuncture therapy and the acupuncture sessions where able to be spaced out more quickly.
3. Not all fish oils are created equally!!! I am thrilled to offer a new product line that I discovered at the conference. The Canadian company Ascenta originated as a manufacturer of fish oil for humans with very stringent guidelines for quality assurance. Now Enhance Animal Wellness (www.enhanceanimalwellness.com) is proud to offer their products through licensed veterinarians. I had used omega -3 fatty acids when I was still in general practice but the level of purity was no where near this lineup (they test for over 400 contaminants and you can view the results for every lot number online). The company manufactures omega-3 supplements for dogs, cats and horses. They are in liquid form to be poured on food and so far widely accepted by my patients as far as palatibility. This is the first fish oil that I have been exposed to that is not real "fishy" in smell. The only product that smells a little fishy is the cat line because it is ocean fish flavor. The dog product smells like a smoked beef bone and the horse product smells like green apples. There is only natural flavoring used to make these products more palatible. Nothing artificial is added. A very cool thing about this company that I have to mention is how "green" they are by utilizing sustainable practices and being a member of 1% for the planet (www.onepercentfortheplanet.org).
Please check out the above links if you have a few minutes. They are great!
Until next time.........by the way, I said I would follow up regarding the metal recycling efforts for my acupuncture needle handles and it has been denied. Too many concerns with biohazard disposal. :( | <urn:uuid:d8ad0ca0-0d90-4364-a28a-d415b4e27618> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drjester.com/1/previous/2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964506 | 608 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Name: Christopher Brophy
Title: Vice President-Corporate Sustainability
Organization: MGM Resorts International
Years in current position: Five
Primary responsibilities: He has a leadership role in developing, executing and communicating the company’s programs for environmental responsibility. He also oversees the planning, analysis, and capital budget management for energy conservation projects at all MGM Resorts International properties, and is responsible for the company’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions inventory and reporting. Brophy reports to Cindy Ortega, the company’s senior vice president and chief sustainability officer.
Organization’s most significant environment-related accomplishment so far: “I don’t know how you cannot say CityCenter. It is the most significant environmental construction achievement ever. But it is not just CityCenter. It did not stop there.”
Organization’s most significant environment-related challenge: “Our resource conservation is our most significant challenge—especially water here in the desert. It is at the forefront of what we are trying to do. We are also working to leverage the power of our 62,000 employees to create a much more sustainable community.”
LAS VEGAS—As vice president of corporate sustainability for MGM Resorts International, Christopher Brophy manages a team of eight people, including an executive assistant, who guide the hospitality company’s sustainability efforts. Each member of the team has a specialty—engineering, finance, strategy, etc. Together, they have helped MGM reduce its environmental impact by staggering amounts. That is no small feat for a company with the likes of CityCenter, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and others in its fold.
“Since 2007 (excluding CityCenter) we’ve reduced our annual electricity consumption by enough energy to power both the Monte Carlo and New York New York hotel and casinos each year,” Brophy says. “That’s more than 5,000 hotel rooms, two casinos, five pools, and 20 restaurants that we can power just on the energy we’ve saved.”
Brophy mentioned a couple of examples of projects that have led to the energy consumption reductions. The first one, an LED lighting retrofit at ARIA Resort & Casino, resulted in an annual reduction of 4.7 Million kWh of electricity consumed. The second example, the placement of variable frequency drives on 300 pool pumps, is saving 11.2 million kWh of electricity annually—enough to power 1,000 homes for a year. The retrofit cost $1.4 million. It is expected to return $1.3 million in savings in the first year.
Recycling Changes Under Way
Reducing waste is a huge priority for MGM, especially material waste. “Bellagio just recently redid their entire recycling program,” Brophy says. “They reorganized the dock to be more efficient.” Bellagio now has a 47 percent recycling rate after the first three months of the program. “We are looking to use that same model at a couple of other properties,” Brophy adds. MGM as a company has a recycling rate of 38 percent.
As mentioned earlier, given its number of hotels in the desert environment of Las Vegas, water conservation is a major concern.
“We are getting to a point where our landscaping programs are very water efficient,” Brophy says. “MGM Grand took out 70,000 square feet of grass and saved 4 million gallons/year.”
When asked what his typical day is like, Brophy said there is no such thing. He tries to meet with members of the sustainability team as frequently as possible.
“I am responsible for managing the team and what they are doing on a daily basis,” he says. “I provide my guidance and feedback to each person. I view myself as a facilitator. I also work to leverage partnerships with other companies.”
Brophy has been part of an industry-wide effort to formulate a methodology to calculate and communicate the carbon footprint of hotel stays and meetings. (See related article.)
Leadership from the Top
About a year ago, MGM’s CEO, James Murren, formed an executive committee on corporate responsibility. The committee meets once a month with Murren.
“Mr. Murren is incredibly committed to sustainability,” Brophy says.
For Brophy, it is his second time around working for MGM Resorts International. He previously served MGM as a senior associate in corporate strategy. Before joining MGM in his current role in 2007, Brophy was the director of technology projects and operations for The Breakers Palm Beach, a luxury resort and club in Florida. In this role, he managed strategic technology and operational initiatives for departments throughout the organization. Brophy has Bachelors and Masters of Business Administration degrees from the University of Arizona and the University of Arizona Eller College of Management.
When asked if he has always had a keen interest in the environment, he says, “I have always been an outdoorsman but I never really thought about applying sustainability to business until this job came along.”
In regard to what he enjoys most about his job, he says, “Being able to make a difference that provides a benefit for our customers, our company, and the planet. My challenges are different every single day.”
Go to MGM Resorts International. | <urn:uuid:80b041e4-0451-4e09-b4e8-1bd950bbf752> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenlodgingnews.com/christopher-brophy-leads-team-making-huge-difference | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956862 | 1,128 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Students at two schools in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District scored among the highest in Riverside County, according to results released Thursday by the California Department of Education.
Dorothy McElhinney was ranked fifth in the county among middle schools based on its 2012 Academic Performance Index score of 889, an increase of 16 points from 2011. Murrieta Valley High School was the fourth-highest scoring comprehensive high school in the county with an API of 848—an increase of 15 points from last year.
API reflects growth in student achievement from one year to the next and is determined by results on the California Standards Tests in English, math, history/social science and science, and the California High School Exit Exam.
The scores range from 200 to 1,000, with a performance target of 800.
As a district, Murrieta Valley Unified improved by 11 points, from 843 in 2011 to 854 in 2012.
“The growth in this year’s API scores validate all the hard work being done on behalf of students,” said Karen Parris, spokesperson for Murrieta Valley Unified. “It is the result of our teachers, support staff and administrators working hard to evaluate and improve their instruction and provide targeted interventions to help students succeed.”
According to the state, 53 percent of California schools met or exceeded the 800-point bar in 2011-12, up four percentage points from the previous year.
"In the real terms of the state's Academic Performance Index, Riverside County students continued to score gains in 2012," county Superintendent of Schools Kenneth Young said. "Our students registered a six-point year-over- year API improvement, third best of any California county with 10,000 or more graduates."
Young said the federal component of the API—the Adequate Yearly Progress standard—reveals signs of slow or no progress in some schools. He also worried that the state's new School Quality Snapshot, unveiled today, might misrepresent how well some students are doing.
"The snapshot perpetuates the notion that students who score 'proficient and above' in English, math and science are meeting an important benchmark," the superintendent said. "Yet there's mounting evidence that a 'proficient' rating doesn't guarantee a high school graduate is prepared to succeed at college level work. We need standards with real-world meaning."
The county's highest-scoring elementary schools on the 2011-12 API were:
—Alamos Elementary, in the Temecula Valley Unified School District, at 951;
—George Washington Carver Elementary in the Desert Sands Unified School District, at 927;
—Ysabel Barnett Elementary in Temecula Valley, at 927;
—Kennedy Elementary in RUSD, at 926; and
—Crowne Hill Elementary in Temecula Valley, at 926.
Statewide, 59 percent of elementary schools, 49 percent of middle schools and 30 percent of high schools met the state API benchmark.
Elementary school scores statewide increased by 7 points to 815, while middle schools jumped 14 points to 792 and high schools increased 11 points to 752.
The county's highest-scoring middle schools on the 2011-12 API were:
—Western Center Academy in Hemet Unified, at 955;
—Amelia Earhart Middle, in Riverside Unified, a 906;
—San Jacinto Leadership Academy in San Jacinto Unified at 897;
—Vail Ranch Middle in Temecula Valley Unified, at 891; and
—Dorothy McElhinney Middle, in Murrieta Valley Unified, at 889.
The county's highest-scoring comprehensive high schools on the 2011-12 API were:
—John F. Kennedy High in Corona-Norco Unified, at 866;
—California Military Institute, in Perris Union, at 856;
—Great Oak High in Temecula Valley Unified, at 849;
—Murrieta Valley High in Murrieta Valley Unified, at 848; and
—Nuview Bridge Early College High in Nuview Union, at 847.
"We've set a high bar for schools and they have more than met the challenge, despite the enormous obstacles that years of budget cuts have put in their way," state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said. "The incredible efforts of teachers, administrators, school employees, parents and students should serve as an inspiration to us all. While there's still more work to do, California's schools have earned a vote of confidence."
Scores for all schools in Murrieta Valley Unified for 2012—and the difference from last year's—were as follows:
—Alta Murrieta Elementary: 912, a 19-point increase from 893;
—Antelope Hills Elementary: 897, a 3-point increase from 894;
—Avaxat Elementary: 856, an 11-point increase from 845;
—Cole Canyon Elementary: 913, a 4-point decrease from 917;
—Buchanan Elementary: 865, in line with 865;
—E. Hale Curran Elementary: 845, a 7-point increase from 838;
—Lisa J. Mails Elementary: 889, a 13-point increase from 876;
—Monte Vista Elementary: 843, a 10-point decrease from 853;
—Murrieta Elementary: 850, a 2-point increase from 848;
—Rail Ranch Elementary: 880, a 37-point increase from 843;
—Tovashal Elementary: 880, a 12-point increase from 868;
—Dorothy McElhinney Middle; 889, a 16-point increase from 873;
—Shivela Middle: 838, a 17-point increase from 821;
—Thompson Middle: 874, a 17-point increase from 857;
—Warm Springs Middle: 844, an 8-point increase from 836;
—Murrieta Mesa High: 818, a 7-point increase from 811;
—Murrieta Valley High: 848, a 15-point increase from 833;
—Vista Murrieta High: 837, a 14-point increase from 823.
—Tenaja Academy: 688, a 60-point decrease from 748; and
—Creekside High: 564, a 48-point decrease from 612.
Murrieta schools that did not reach their growth targets in one or more subgroups, according to federal benchmarks, were Buchanan Elementary, Monte Vista Elementary, Murrieta Elementary and Vista Murrieta High.
Additionally, though the district saw a 37-percent increase in overall scores, four schools have been placed in Program Improvement status under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. These include Avaxat, Buchanan, E. Hale Curran and Murrieta elementary schools. Rail Ranch Elementary entered its second year of Program Improvement status.
Among school districts and statewide, there continues to be a movement to get out from beneath the federal thumb of NCLB.
"California's request for a waiver from the requirements of NCLB is still pending," Torlakson said. "While we're waiting for the flexibility we need, we're not going to allow a flawed system to distract us from the work we're doing to help schools improve."
Along with the annual API scores, Torlakson also unveiled the California Department of Education's new School Quality Snapshot, a free, online accountability tool that puts a wide variety of academic results and other information about a school's performance at the fingertips of parents and the public, according to a CDE news releae.
These reports—visual representations of data schools already reported to CDE—represent a first step in how the Department and the State Board of Education plan to use data to better inform the public about the progress of California schools as they reshape the School Accountability Report Card and revise the Academic Performance Index as required by Senate Bill 1458 (Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento), CDE stated in the news release.
—City News Service contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:13192b0b-596a-49d8-acb2-daa5318eca9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://murrieta.patch.com/groups/schools/p/murrieta-schools-improve-api-scores | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928564 | 1,719 | 1.8125 | 2 |
I've always felt that if people from different nations could just get to know each other we could bring an end to wars and conflicts. But I'm beginning to have my doubts. Will wars ever cease, according to the Bible? — F.M.
We should encourage every effort to bring peace to our world, and the Bible certainly urges us to pray for peace and support those who work for peace. One reason the Bible commands us to pray for our leaders is so "we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness" (1 Timothy 2:2).
But the Bible also warns us that we will never bring about a complete end to wars and conflicts -- not until Jesus Christ returns to establish His Kingdom of perfect justice and righteousness. Why is this? The reason is because wars don't come about just because we don't understand each other, or because some people have less than others. These may contribute to conflicts but they aren't the basic cause.
Instead, wars ultimately come from within ourselves -- from within our own hearts and minds. Pride, greed, envy, jealousy, lust for power -- all these can lead to wars and conflicts, and they all come from within the human heart. The Bible says, "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?" (James 4:1).
This is why we need Christ, and why the greatest contribution we can make to peace is to give our lives to Him and urge others to turn to Him also. He can change our hearts, putting love in place of hate, and joy and contentment in place of envy and greed. Have you put your life into His hands? | <urn:uuid:83c27725-86de-46f8-92d1-73aba6ab9787> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?articleid=9204 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966984 | 347 | 2.21875 | 2 |
The Five Most Common Mistakes When Specifying Valves
As the old saying goes, "If you have enough time to do something over again, you had enough time to do it right the first time."
Unfortunately for the water or wastewater treatment professional, this is easier said than done. Budgets are constantly slashed; demands are constantly greater. Staffing is restricted, but responsibilities keep increasing and you're required to be an expert in areas you probably had little exposure to just a few years ago. Yet today, more than ever, the consequences of a simple mistake can be disastrous.
Some of these mistakes are the result of a malfunctioning valve ... or so it seems. In reality, the valve probably functioned as it was intended, but was specified improperly. It's unfortunate, because with a little homework, these problems would never happen.
No other component exerts as much control over a piping system -- yet so little time is spent specifying and understanding the humble valve. With a little effort and a few simple questions, you can avoid a lot of the heartaches, such as the top five mistakes.
1 -- The Name Game: Too many synonyms!
This is a case of "You say 'po-tay-to' I say 'po-tah-to.'" Take pressure regulators, for example. Somebody might call it a "pressure sustaining valve," still another might know it as a "pressure reducer valve."
To muddy the waters even further, backpressure regulators are commonly mistaken for pressure regulators. The backpressure regulator is a normally closed valve installed at the end of a piping system to provide an obstruction to flow and thereby regulate upstream (back) pressure. This valve is called upon to provide pressure in order to draw fluid off the system. The pressure regulator is a normally open valve and is installed at the start of a system or before pressure sensitive equipment to regulate or reduce undesirable higher upstream pressure.
Because of this "name game," a normally open pressure regulator is sometimes installed to perform as a backpressure regulator, where it simply passes the fluid to the return tank and therefore does not maintain any pressure upstream.
Solenoid valves are often misapplied as well. Generally, a solenoid valve is required to default to a desired position, referred to as fail-safe, upon loss of power. In the case of a two-way valve, either closed or open, or a three-way valve, either left port or right port. Even the relatively universal "energize to open" is occasionally mis-ordered as "normally open." In some of these cases, the process control system will compensate for the one valve operating improperly, but in the event of a power loss the results might be disastrous.
The question to ask: What is the valve to accomplish? In the case of a "pressure regulator," will it be used to control pressure downstream or upstream? Is that actuated valve needed to shut off or divert flow? Understand and write out precisely what function the valve is to perform.
2 -- Irreconcilable Differences: Media and Material
"If stainless steel works so well with water, why is my system is falling apart?!" So we ask: "Are there any impurities in your water?" The reply: "Of course not ... but the valves on the sodium hypochlorite injectors are rotting away!"
Even though this example sounds too absurd to be true, less obvious but equally ludicrous mistakes are made with alarming regularity.
Material compatibility is critical to the safe operation of a system and personnel safety. The result of a material misapplication can be catastrophic. Corroding pipe and valves can cause chemical leaks, which may injure workers, cause productivity losses and require reporting to OSHA and the EPA. Additional expenses for clean up of the chemical spills and fines may also be expected.
Proper material compatibility analysis requires knowledge of the type, concentration and temperature of fluid(s) being handled and the valve body and seal material. Every materials manufacturer publishes an easy to use chemical compatibility chart, which takes the guesswork out of specifying compatible materials. Unfortunately, anxious designers are notorious for ignoring the published temperature ratings of valve and seal materials, assuming that they all have a built in safety factor.
3 -- Size Matters . . . But Sometimes Pressure Matters More
If the pipe diameter is 2 in., most people assume a 2-in. valve will do the job. In a few cases, that's true. But in general, pressure considerations are of utmost importance in a piping system, and therefore critical when specifying a valve. Unfortunately, there are no industry-wide standard pressures for valve sizes; no two manufacturers design a 2-in. valve the same way, and different designs have different pressure considerations.
Outlet pressure, for example, is critical to solenoid valves but frequently overlooked. If downstream pressure sufficiently exceeds the valve's outlet pressure rating, the core spring may not be powerful enough to close the valve. In the case of a pilot-operated solenoid valve, however, an unusually low inlet pressure can be just as problematic: If the pilot valve requires 5 psi pressure drop (delta P) to operate the main orifice, and the system has only 3 psi, the valve may not open.
The factors to consider before specifying a valve are minimum and maximum inlet pressures, minimum and maximum differential pressure, outlet or backpressures and set pressure.
4 -- The Autobahn in Disguise
Velocity is very often overlooked when specifying a valve. Unlike that famous European roadway, a piping system does have a "speed limit." The generally accepted safe velocity for a thermoplastic piping system is 5 feet per second. But like the pace of today's water treatment facility, a "slow" 5 ft/second process system just isn't productive enough! Unfortunately, it is becoming the rare exception to the rule.
At higher velocities, such as an ultra-pure water system in a semiconductor fab facility, an improperly selected valve can easily create a water hammer situation if it closes too quickly. This dangerous energy surge travels at the speed of sound and frequently causes damage to pipe, fittings, valves, and instrumentation.
A classic example of this happened in a reverse osmosis water system at a major New York City hospital. Water was piped down to a sub-basement from storage tanks on the 16th floor. As the r.o. water was needed, a ball valve was opened, which ultimately fed a tiny gooseneck faucet. Unfortunately, the system designer didn't take the 16 floors of head into consideration. Every time the ball valve was opened, water slammed into the constriction caused by the gooseneck faucet, which resulted in a dangerous water hammer back through the system.
The problem could've been prevented with a little planning: Always consider liquid velocity, and valve closing time.
5 -- Letting the Electric Slide
Neglect of actuator voltages and electrical enclosure types is not quite as common as the mistakes above, but often creates the most headaches and is potentially the most dangerous.
If an incorrect voltage is specified on a solenoid valve or a valve actuated by an electric motor, it will not operate properly. Often the actuator or coil will overheat, and may cause a fire.
NEMA ratings on electrically actuated valves are designed to provide for safety. NEMA has ratings for many types of electrical enclosures for a variety of environments. Most common are general purpose, water tight, corrosion resistant, and explosion proof. Specifying the wrong enclosure type may endanger personnel and property.
No one plans to fail; they only fail to plan!
Beyond the five common mistakes outlined above, be sure to plan for the inevitable: Maintenance. Even though you've done your due diligence and averted problems, virtually every valve will require service at some point. Make sure the valve can be rebuilt. Consider where the valve is installed...is it accessible? Can you think of any personnel who will relish the task of servicing a valve suspended from a 50 foot ceiling behind a heating unit?
Too often, valves are purchased by pipe size and without enough consideration for pressure, flow, chemical compatibility, performance, or safety factors. The mistakes listed above are just the most common-and most obvious. To properly specify a valve, all components and aspects of the system should be taken into consideration. Don't hesitate to contact the valve manufacturer directly for a review of the application parameters before selecting and installing a valve. It's a free consultation with a qualified expert, so take advantage of it. | <urn:uuid:79258688-e208-4ba1-b066-7f2d6179f387> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wqpmag.com/five-most-common-mistakes-when-specifying-valves | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940285 | 1,768 | 2.734375 | 3 |
It is one o’clock in the morning, and I cannot sleep. Ideas keep pouring into my head; I started a new sequence of them in my little note-taking digital recorder. The notes just help me get my thinking started – and writing always follows, when I follow up on my latest burst of creativity. I fire up my computer and write for hours. I have been reading Hannah Arendt recently, and have the book The Portable Hanna Arendt before me now.
Her masterpiece was The Origins of Totalitarianism, a title suggested by her publisher – but which she disliked personally, as being too simplistic. The basic idea is that Totalitarianism is so terrible it cannot be compared to anything else (it cannot be said to come from anywhere else, for example), and has to be considered something new entirely. In the terms of complexity science: it is an emergent quality – something that just shows up when a given level of complexity is reached. In my personal view, it is the horror that is destroying us – so horrible we cannot believe it is happening.
Another book Democracy Inc., by Sheldon S. Wolin, is subtitled Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism. The author does not even mention Arendt, they seem to have been two ships passing each other in the night. Arendt does a better job of expressing The Horror of It All, but it taxes even her considerable powers of description.
When Arendt wrote her book in 1951, the Holocaust was the model of Totalitarianism she had most in mind. She also knew something of Stalinist Russia and its terrors. She knew nothing of the terrors in China and Cambodia that were to come – where antisemitism did not play a role. But where intellectuals were treated just a viciously. Mass movements like these are perhaps over; intellectuals everywhere have been discredited; but brutal dictatorships are now as common as ever.
Inverted Totalitarianism, something bred in America, is the new political model. Previously, mass movements such as Fascism, always had a leader, and he was all-important. The new model needs none, although temporary leaders – such as those in the conservative movements, or the CEOs of large corporations – do come and go. In the inverted model, the dictators are the people themselves, who enforce conformity ruthlessly – as the media directs them. Even in the workplace – which is strictly hierarchical, and where those at the top make most of the money, and all of the decisions (and which function as a new aristocracy) – complete obedience is enforced from the bottom up.
These people do not want to be free, they want to be ruled – but ruled by everybody. Every politician knows this, and is ruled by them also. It is a state of affairs previously unimaginable, but now common. Where everyone is scared to death of everyone else – where the terror is total – and therefore totalitarian.
Only one thing needs to be added: all of this is unconscious, and is denied completely. Everything I have said can be inferred easily from the facts – but these mean nothing to those in its grip. This is something no one, in their wildest dreams, could have imagined (Orwell comes to mind).
What is missing is an explanation for all of this. In one sense, an explanation is impossible: the whole thing is so monstrous, it defies explanation. Some extremely intelligent men have been unable to see it at all – I could give you a long list, if you like. But in another sense, the explanation is easy – and has often been said before. I quote:
Things are in the saddle and ride mankind.
We have become so enamored of our things, we have become like them ourselves. We, as these super-humans (which we take ourselves to be), now attack ordinary humans. The technology that drove us over the tipping-point is the Computer/Software/Internet combination – which has succeeding admirably in becoming like us, and in becoming our new master – by making us like it.
I hope you have not missed the irony of this: this complex is nothing but the latest embodiment of The Machine – which has always included people as one of its parts. We have been captured by something of our own making!
This was brought home to me, in a very dramatic way, when my young emotionally-sensitive wife went to work in an office. They had to call me at work, and ask me to come and get her, because she had freaked out and was screaming at everyone. Looking back at it, I realize she had seen what was really going on in an office, and reacted to it – where normal people simply took it in their stride, and could see nothing wrong happening. Beth was right, and they were wrong.
I had much the same reaction to the office myself – but managed to get out of the whole scene more-or-less intact – and build a new life for myself in Costa Rica. A life so different I now seem to be a different kind of person – one incomprehensible to my former family and associates – and sometimes even to myself. | <urn:uuid:a5c6c557-bc14-49d3-afeb-bbf9b7d2a25b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://halsmith.wordpress.com/tag/totalitarianism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984794 | 1,060 | 1.671875 | 2 |
No one can resist the temptation of a sinful dessert and, although it is not a sin to indulge, it may put your health at risk. When cooking, there are 10 healthy recipe substitutions that can significantly reduce the calories, fat, and sugar contents of your dish without compromising the taste.
1. Trade eggs for egg whites
Your taste buds won't be able to tell the difference with this easy switch. This heart healthy alternative slashes the amount of cholesterol and calories you may otherwise consume.
2. Choose the low fat version
If a dish calls for milk, reach for the skim or one percent variety instead of whole milk. This rule also applies to yogurt, cheese, sour cream, buttermilk, coconut milk, cream cheese, and many other products.
3. Go for the low sodium option
Many foods such as soy sauce, soup, taco seasoning, and even deli meats come in reduced sodium varieties.
4. Use unsweetened applesauce instead of oil when baking
Using unsweetened applesauce instead of oil in cakes and other baked goods does not alter the taste, but cuts out the fat and more than half of the calories. For brownies, try using mashed baby prunes in place of oil or butter.
5. Flavor food naturally instead of using salt
Increase the amount of spices, or use salt free seasonings instead of going overboard with the salt.
6. Swap enriched pasta with whole wheat pasta
Whole grains boost the nutritional content by adding fiber.
7. Buy whole wheat bread instead of white bread
White bread is full of empty calories and packs zero nutritional value. Whole wheat bread dances circles around white bread by adding fiber.
8. Opt for Cool Whip instead of whipped cream
A frozen whipped topping such as Cool Whip has far fewer calories and fat than whipped cream and tastes (almost) as good.
9. Use Splenda® instead of sugar
The artificial sweetener Splenda® has a product line designed especially for baking. They make a white and brown sugar substitute for all of your baking needs, reducing the amount of calories by half.
10. Trade in canned items for fresh ones
Unprocessed natural foods are always better and they're environmentally friendly, too. Pick up some fresh produce instead of reaching for the can opener.
The best way to figure out what works in your kitchen is to roll up your sleeves and start experimenting. Make a conscious decision to seek out healthy alternatives and your waistline will thank you.
More articles on cooking healthy | <urn:uuid:6902b09f-9565-4424-8bd1-747b898d6eee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/818544/10-Healthy-recipe-substitutions | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904234 | 520 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Although a great deal of attention has been paid to the importance of the youth vote in the presidential race, the two candidates for U.S. Senate are also fighting to win the vote of this demographic.
Worcester-area schools have hosted several events for Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and challenger Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, and some students are actively campaigning on their campuses.
Alethea Harney, Ms. Warren’s press secretary, said that supporting young people is important to Ms. Warren, and that student volunteers in Worcester and across the state have been involved in supporting her campaign and reaching out to other young people.
“Elizabeth believes that students who have worked hard and played by the rules shouldn’t be burdened by crushing debt, and she will fight to make sure all our kids have a real shot at success,” said Ms. Harney.
Clark University has a large number of Warren supporters. Ellie Zuckerman, a junior and political science major from Seattle, is political director of the 30-member Democrats of Clark University, whose members have been actively engaged in Warren’s campaign by making phone calls, canvassing and holding campus events.
Ms. Zuckerman says she thinks that Ms. Warren has inspired political engagement in the Clark community. “It’s been pretty cool for 2012; we’ve seen a big increase in our membership, and I think that Elizabeth Warren is a big part of that. People haven’t seen a politician quite like her before.”
The appearance Oct. 13 on the Clark campus of TV actor and “Scrubs” star Zach Braff got the 320 attendees buzzing about Ms. Warren’s campaign, according to Ms. Zuckerman. “Zach Braff had been watching TV one day when he decided, ‘I’m gonna use my influence to support the vote,’ and he put a funny spin on it, but the overall message was that now is the time for action.”
Clark’s support of Ms. Warren fits in with statistics showing that younger voters typically vote Democrat. A survey by the Harvard Institute of Politics found that 16 percent of respondents identified as “Strong Democrats” and 10 percent as “Strong Republicans.” There were also many who did not affiliate themselves with a political party; of these, 25 percent identified as liberal and 25 percent as conservative.
But as the president of Clark University’s 10-member Republican Club, Mark Vanderhoof points out that Scott Brown appeals to a wide base of young students because he is bipartisan. “Socially, he’s pretty similar to his opponent. I don’t personally agree with his social policies, however, his economic stance provides the best hope for a positive future for our generation,” said Mr. Vanderhoof.
A senior and a political science major from Webster, Mr. Vanderhoof said the club’s vice president is an intern for state Rep. Ryan Fattman of Sutton, and that she often extends offers to other members of the club to help out with campaigning for both Mr. Brown and Mr. Fattman.
Mr. Vanderhoof is not alone in his concern about the economy. Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found that creating jobs and lowering the unemployment rate is the most important issue to young voters overall.
Alleigh Marre, the press secretary for Mr. Brown’s campaign, said that one of the top concerns for Mr. Brown regarding young people is fixing the economy and working to make sure students are able to find jobs after they graduate. “That is why Scott Brown has made job creation his top legislative priority, and has been proud to go to the White House three times in the last year to stand with President Obama as he signed Brown’s bipartisan jobs initiatives into law.”
According to Mr. Vanderhoof, the Brown campaign is focused less on individual groups, such as students, and more on the overall picture. “The difference between the two parties is that the Democratic Party is more small-scale, emotion-based and focuses on issues that don’t have huge effects on all members of the party, whereas the Republicans look more broadly toward the future,” he said. | <urn:uuid:2ecc4506-0e58-4c1d-99fc-c0dbd5c9aebb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.telegram.com/article/20121104/NEWS/111049662/0/eworcester | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976203 | 900 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Disorders and Treatment
- Mental Illness
- Bipolar Disorder
- Mood Disorders
- Borderline Personality
- Mental Health Diagnosis
- Mental Health Treatments
- Alternative Meds
- Case Studies
For more self-control, gargle sugar water. Findings from the University of Georgia seem to confirm it. Fifty-one students joined the study and were asked to take part in two assignments which measured self-control.
The first assignment asked students to cross out the E's on a page from a statistics book. This exercise is known to diminish self-control. In the second exercise, students were asked to name the color of different words which spelled the names of other colors. These words were flashed on a monitor. This is referred to as the Stroop test.
Half of the students rinsed their mouths with lemonade sweetened with sugar, while the other half rinsed with lemonade sweetened with Splenda. The students who rinsed with sugar responded to the color rather than the spelling of the word significantly faster than those who used the artificial sweetener.
“Researchers used to think you had to drink the glucose and get it into your body to give you the energy to (have) self-control,” said Leonard Martin, professor of psychology in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
“After this trial, it seems that glucose stimulated the simple carbohydrate sensors on the tongue. This, in turn, signals the motivational centers of the brain where our self-related goals are represented. These signals tell your body to pay attention.”
While rinsing with glucose improved Stroop test scores, it is unclear that it would work for something really demanding like quitting smoking. “The research is not clear yet on the effects of swishing with glucose on long-term self-control,” Martin explained. “So, if you are trying to quit smoking, a swish of lemonade may not be the total cure, but it certainly could help you in the short run.”
Source: MedicalNewsToday, Psychological Science
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Hiring for the right fit
You can teach a new employee to use specialized software, write a press release, even organize a conference call — but can you teach them to be trustworthy, compassionate, and ethical? Personal values matter, but they are often overlooked during the hiring process.
Value-based hiring is the idea of employing people whose values align with the business culture of your organization, rather than hiring candidates solely for their skills and experience. For example, you may be looking for an employee who demonstrates reliability, strong leadership skills, and an appreciation of diversity in addition to having a good track record.
Hiring based on values can help you:
- Create a strong organizational culture
- Promote ethical behaviour
- Increase employee satisfaction and reduce turnover
Uncovering personal values during the hiring process can be challenging. Ask open-ended or situational questions to encourage interviewees to open up about themselves. It is important to remember that there are no right or wrong answers — you're trying to get insight into the candidate's character. You could also ask candidates to participate in an activity that would allow you to observe how they interact with others.
If you are looking for someone with strong leadership skills, you could ask them to describe a situation where they led a team. In a group interview, you could observe candidates completing a group challenge that requires them to interact with others, solve problems, and exhibit leadership.
It is also important to give potential employees the opportunity to learn about your business. Be clear about your business's values — you want potential hires to be able to opt out of the hiring process if they don't feel like the position will be a good fit.
Hiring based on values takes time and effort, but it can help you find the best candidate for the job. Check out our Attract and keep talented employees blog for more tips on attracting outstanding employees. You can also visit our section on Hiring employees to learn more about the recruitment process. | <urn:uuid:bffda0ac-3583-458a-8964-f2a78b9e8771> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/blog/entry/3761/sgc-13/tof-182/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954176 | 399 | 1.84375 | 2 |
As a striker for the world's best women's soccer team in the '80s, Canadian standout Carrie Serwetnyk could scan the pitch of her University of North Carolina teammates and see athletes who would graduate to become sport leaders in their country.
April Heinrichs went on to coach the American national team from 2000 to 2004, winning Olympic gold at the Atlanta Summer Games.
Tracey Leone managed the U-19 women's team and later the adult national team. She helped run programs at five American universities.
Today, Serwetnyk can list the successes of her North Carolina Tar Heel teammates. Back home in Canada, she found similar opportunities were closed to her. Although she is a certified coach and was the first women inducted into Canada's soccer hall of fame, she was turned away from entry-level positions at soccer organizations for which she believes she was qualified. She says she was occasionally treated with disdain, and not just behind closed doors.
Serwetnyk, who lives in Kitsilano and published the magazine Free Kick, believes she was a threat to power structures occupied and protected by men.
"I never understood before what was meant by a glass ceiling," she said.
Now committed to seeing major changes in the ways soccer is run in Vancouver and across the country at community, provincial and national organizations, she founded Why the Women's World Cup Matters. She is leveraging the 2015 World Cup, hosted by six Canadian cities including Vancouver, to draw awareness to the inequality and discrimination she says affects the girls and women who make up 47 per cent of all soccer players in Canada.
According to her research, women's programs receive less than 10 per cent of all funding and comprise less than one per cent of leadership positions, specifically on boards and as club directors and technical staff.
On Monday night, she got the support of the Vancouver Park Board, which passed a motion to determine if the recreational system provides equal access for women of all ages. The study will extend beyond soccer.
Marion Lay also spoke in support of the review and Serwetnyk's larger ambition. The Olympian and active promoter of women in sport said only 17 per cent of Canada's Olympic team coaches are women, although Canadian women participate on near equal footing with men. Canada is among the world's top five countries when it comes to the number of girls and women who participate in sport but is ranked 35th in terms of women who coach and lead national programs.
Equal participation is an important achievement, said Lay. The goal now is to increase the number of women in sport leadership roles, using the excitement and attention of the Women's World Cup.
"One sport will be the catalyst for all sports," said Lay. "If we start now, we will have time."
Serwetnyk is hosting a fundraiser for Why The Women's World Cup Matters from 7 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 29 at the London Pub (700 Main St.). | <urn:uuid:cdde7fd2-fcd8-4903-aa20-69fddc2222b5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vancourier.com/sports/story.html?id=7618061 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975867 | 610 | 1.648438 | 2 |
The Hamishsphere: A Vogue History of Royal Wedding Dresses
While speculation over Catherine Middleton’s dress has apparently consumed most of the fashion world, Vogue takes a longer view. We look back at a century of royal brides and their style choices, as chronicled in the magazine.
Vogue announced the engagement of Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon to His Royal Highness the Duke of York in March 1923; in her portrait by Beck and Macgregor, her profile is framed by the upstanding fur collar of her coat and by a velvet hat trimmed with ostrich feathers.
In June of that year, Vogue published an elaborate drawing of the wedding ensemble that she chose, with its dress “of silver lamé embroidered with seed pearls suggesting a medieval Italian robe,” veiled in lace lent by the groom’s mother, Queen Mary, (and no tiara—just a chaplet of leaves). The whole look was an apt complement to the soaring perpendicular arches of the Abbey’s inspiring architecture—and to a storied setting that saw its first royal wedding in 1100 when Henry I of England married Matilda of Scotland.
The dress was made, as custom decreed, by a British couturier, in this case, the distinguished and conservative court dressmaker Madame Handley Seymour (who would later make Elizabeth’s 1937 coronation gown). However, its design was closely based on a dress created by the Parisian couturier Jeanne Lanvin, whose romantic designs accorded with the taste of Lady Elizabeth of Glamis.
(Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s granddaughter, Princess Anne, also looked to the Middle Ages for inspiration when she wore a dress with hanging sleeves and embroidery of pearl trelliswork, designed for her by Maureen Baker of the Susan Small label, for her first marriage, to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973).
Queen Elizabeth’s daughter Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), looked to the Renaissance when she wed the dashing young captain Philip Mountbatten in 1947—or at least her couturier Norman Hartnell (later knighted for his efforts in creating iconic images for two generations of royal ladies) cited Botticelli’s c.1482 painting Primavera as the inspiration for the elaborate embroidery motifs of scattered flowers on the rich duchesse satin dress and the tulle veil. The theatrically minded Hartnell, whose clients included royalty, society beauties, actresses, and the romance novelist Barbara Cartland, was famed for his magnificent embroideries, and he employed hundreds of embroiderers in his Mayfair workrooms.
Princess Elizabeth had first been dressed by Hartnell when she and her sister, Princess Margaret Rose, were bridesmaids at the 1935 wedding of her uncle the Duke of Gloucester to Lady Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott (who was dressed by Hartnell in remarkably understated blush-pink satin; her father had recently died, and the planned stately wedding was dramatically scaled down as a result).
In the face of postwar austerity, hundreds of brides-to-be across the country sent Princess Elizabeth their clothing coupons so that she could have the dress of their dreams.
When Elizabeth’s fashionable sister Princess Margaret married Antony Armstrong-Jones (a sometime Vogue photographer) in 1960, the couple encouraged Hartnell to suppress his more exuberant fantasies and instead (and very much against his own instincts) produce a streamlined version of the hourglass ball-gown silhouette that suited her Elizabeth Taylor–like figure: acres of masterfully worked white organza with no embellishment at all. Vogue declared her “a new princess; her dress, unadorned, struck a clear true note.”
Lady Diana Spencer looked to relatively unknown designers—David and Elizabeth Emanuel, recently graduated from the Royal College of Art—when she wed Prince Charles in 1981. Lady Diana was first introduced to the Emanuels’ work when she wore one of their feminine blouses for a Vogue sitting with Lord Snowdon (the self-same Tony Armstrong-Jones). The Emanuels’ wildly romantic Victorian wedding dress, with its 25-foot-long cathedral train and frothing ruffles fulfilled the public fantasy of a fairy-tale princess. (The nineteen-year-old Lady Diana wore a somewhat aging Cojana suit of sapphire blue for her official engagement photograph and interview with Prince Charles. Miss Catherine Middleton chose a dress of the same color for her photo call with Prince William, but its sleek and body-revealing lines illustrated her own fashion assurance.)
But of course nothing could be further removed from the majesty and romance of these royal brides’ choices than the austere dress and jacket of “Wallis Blue”—a very strong forget-me-not blue that set off her eyes and her sapphire-and diamond-clip—that Wallis Warfield chose when she shocked the world by wedding the Duke of Windsor in 1937. The Duke had of course renounced his throne to marry the woman he loved. Cecil Beaton, exclusively photographing the bridal couple and reporting on the day for Vogue, noted that the dress gave “the bride-to-be the fluted lines of a Chinese statue of an early century.” (In his private diaries, however, he observed how underwhelming the ensemble was for the occasion.)
Wallis wore pieces by Schiaparelli and Mainbocher for the portfolio of engagement photographs taken earlier by Beaton; she was, of course, under no obligation to dress British even for her wedding. Instead she looked to the Chicago-born, Paris-based couturier Main Bocher, whose own rigorous sense of expensive, disciplined elegance was perfectly attuned to her own.
Fearing that no British museum would accept, she later gifted the dress to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it resides to this day.
See our slideshow above featuring a century of royal brides. | <urn:uuid:d0f62b14-c7ec-45c8-bd6d-deda618c5373> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vogue.com/vogue-daily/article/hamishsphere-a-vogue-history-of-royal-wedding-dresses/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954299 | 1,261 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Science subject and location tags
Articles, documents and multimedia from ABC Science
Monday, 10 August 2009
Psychopaths have faulty connections between the part of the brain dealing with emotions and that which handles impulses and decision-making, scientists have found.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Witness confidence can be a good indicator of a positive identification in a police line-up, say Australian researchers.
Monday, 3 August 2009
A method of measuring happiness based on blogs and Twitter has helped researchers highlight the happiest days in recent US history.
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Biomedical researchers believe they know why we swing our arms when we walk, a practice that has long piqued scientific curiosity.
Thursday, 23 July 2009 33
Opinion Winning a game show is just up to chance, right? Not according to Simon Singh, who says maths can sometimes improve our odds of walking away with the big prize.
Monday, 20 July 2009
Loss of self-control in old age may lead to problem gambling, an Australian study has found.
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Treatments to stop over-eating and drug addiction must go beyond blocking the pleasure centres of the brain, say researchers.
Monday, 6 July 2009
Costa Rica is the happiest place on earth, and one of the most environmentally friendly, according to a new survey by a British non-governmental group.
Thursday, 2 July 2009
More than one in seven adolescents believe they will not live beyond 35, according to a US study.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 34
Science Feature Critics say video games can make you angry, unresponsive and soft in the brain. But that's not the whole story. Some cognitive scientists argue they can also be good for you.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
The risk of a house being burnt down in a bushfire in Australia is small and hasn't changed in the past 100 years, say researchers.
Friday, 5 June 2009
Internet-based therapies are as successful as face-to-face treatments at combating depression, says an Australian researcher.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Children with imaginary friends are better communicators and become more creative, achievement-oriented adults, according to Australian and British research.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009 13
Ask an Expert Dozens of CCTV cameras at Sydney Airport didn't stop a man being killed in broad daylight a few weeks ago, so how good is CCTV at preventing crime?
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
A drug commonly used to treat blood pressure may help people erase bad memories and even treat phobias, a team of Dutch scientists say. | <urn:uuid:9beb387a-30c7-48bb-94b5-d657643422f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.abc.net.au/science/tag/browse.htm?site=science&topic=latest&tag=psychology&page=10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950144 | 534 | 2.21875 | 2 |
By John Macdonald
According to the 1880s slang guide, tubular was an adjective used to express coolness when the word cool wasn’t quite adequate. To make your skiing cooler than cool, make all your turns, like, totally circular dude. As the cavemen and women who taught Cro-Magnon ski lessons used to say: “ Z turns bad…S turns good. Ug!”
Somewhere between the laws of physics and modern ski design, all your ski turns need to be round: short turns-round, medium radius turns-round, long radius turns…still round. Seeing the pattern? Any time your momentum is going one way, and you want it to go in a new direction, round turn shape is the turn shape of choice.
Oddly (or not), ski racers are faster, powder skiers are happier, and Spring skiers are far less exhausted by Noon when the tracks left behind are round. So why don’t all skiers make round turns all the time? Because many skiers use the “hockey stop- brakes” turn entry to control speed. This “Z turn” strategy works poorly on ice, and is exhausting in all but clean frozen groomer conditions.
Allow your round turn shape to control your speed…carve some shape (round) into the top of your turns, and finish your turns climbing out of the fall line. Experiment with letting your round turn shape manage your speed, and don’t be afraid to carve into the fall line. You’ll be carving out of it as well and keeping your speed under control.
So, to make your personal skiing and racing, like, totally tubular, dudes and dudettes, like, make your turn shape, like, totally circular. Your old “grody to the max” Z turns will give way to totally awesome S turns and your be arcing your way to greatness.
Remember, best advice of all, take a lesson or attend a race clinic. You’ll have a great time and improve your time. | <urn:uuid:b094f606-e27b-47ac-9935-74771d1bf313> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.conwaydailysun.com/index.php/outdoors/skiingsnowboarding/88220-weekend-warrior-like-totally-circular-dude | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925136 | 435 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Notes & Reviews:
In the summer and early autumn of 1781, Franz Joseph Haydn began work on the six quartets we know today as Op. 33, or more eruditely as Hoboken III: 37-42. They are also known popularly as the "Jungferne" quartets, the "Russian" quartets and "gli scherzi".
The first documented performance of the quartets was in the chambers of the Russian Grand Duke Paul (later Tsar Paul I). Haydn inscribed a dedication on the manuscript copy of the quartets that he gave to the Grand Duke, hence the second popular nickname, the "Russian" Quartets.
The third popular name, "gli scherzi" or "the Jokes", speaks to the music itself. For the first time in his quartets, Haydn replaces the minuet movement with one entitled scherzo; while all six movements share essentially the same form, they demonstrate incredible variety of texture and invention. In the trio section of the scherzo of Op. 33, No. 2 in E flat major (Hob. III: 38, which is itself known as "the Joke"), Haydn specifies fingerings in the first violin part that imply sliding between the pitches (perhaps a slightly tipsy tavern fiddler?).
The last movement of the same piece features an elaborate joke, with several false endings, finishing with precisely the same two measures as it began.Notes & Reviews:
Recording information: Glenn Gould Studio, Toronto, Ontario (01/2012).
ReviewsThere are currently no reviews, be the first one!
Works DetailsHaydn, Franz Joseph : String Quartets (6), Op.33, H. 3/37-42
- Ensemble: Eybler String Quartet
- Running Time: 63 min. 47 sec.
- Period Time: Classical
- Written: 1781 | <urn:uuid:d9f6b675-a9be-4a74-9b8d-45d8260f98c6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hbdirect.com/album/2340702-fj-haydn-string-quartets-op-33-eybler-quartet.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927517 | 395 | 2.671875 | 3 |
a1 School of Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics, Flinders University, South Australia, Australia
a2 Flinders ENT, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia
a3 Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Flinders University, South Australia, Australia
Objectives: To develop a virtual-reality subtotal tonsillectomy simulation for surgical training.
Materials and Methods: Computer models of a male patient's head and throat, and the surgical instrument, were created. These models were combined with custom-built simulation software. Recently developed tissue simulation technology that exploits recent developments in programmable graphics processing units was used to model tonsillar tissue in a way that allows surgical interaction whilst providing accurate tactile feedback. Current real-time rendering techniques were used to provide realistic visuals. Iterative refinements were made to the simulation, and in particular the tissue simulation, in consultation with relevantly experienced surgeons.
Results: We have used newly developed tissue simulation technology to developed a novel virtual-reality subtotal tonsillectomy simulation for surgical training, the first of its kind.
Conclusion: Early feedback suggests that this simulator can help surgeons to rapidly acquire subtotal tonsillectomy surgical skills in a risk-free and realistic virtual environment.
(Accepted January 17 2012)
(Online publication March 15 2012)
Presented at Frontiers 2010 – the Art, Science and Future of Otorhinolaryngology, 28 July 2010, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and at the 14th ASEAN ORL Head and Neck Congress 2011, 12 May 2011, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Professor A S Carney takes responsibility for the integrity of the content of the paper
Competing interests: None declared | <urn:uuid:12a7fe28-aef4-478e-8415-f970ef884a6e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8599399&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0022215112000199 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917772 | 362 | 1.78125 | 2 |
A good friend of mine and fellow teacher will be visiting the "herd" this week. She REALLY needs some horse time! Our school is preparing for the upcoming state tests. Our kids are frazzled and uptight and so are we, their teachers! Even though we've only been back at school for two days after our spring break, the pressure is on! Now, we've been preparing them all year for these state tests, but the stakes are high. My school is a low performing school and as such, we are restricted to ONLY teaching reading, writing, and math. NO art, music, science, or social studies, or PE! Afternoons, we have "intervention", which means more of the same. The kids are bored and tired. The teachers are worn out. So, off to the horses we go tomorrow for some R&R! Last year, another teacher from my school went up to see the herd and Scout immediately sensed her emotional needs and followed her around and nuzzled her constantly! She and Scout had an immediate connection and she really enjoyed her day with the horses, especially Scout! Isn't it amazing how these wonderful creatures can sense our needs? I'm hoping my teacher friend will connect with one of the horses and relax and let her stress out, at least for an afternoon! | <urn:uuid:88806d32-f459-4760-a8f7-aa876253d198> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://deserthorses.blogspot.com/2010/04/horse-visit-needed.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983982 | 270 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Is offering a du-rag with the purchase of alcohol singling out natural hair?
The power of subliminal messaging has been discussed and debated in regards to commercial advertising for many years. By now, most savvy consumers are aware of all the companies’ and corporations’ implicit and explicit claims to improve a person’s potential to have more sex, become more attractive or jump start their social life just by picking up a product.
As consumers, we have watched as some brands hit and miss the mark, often making headline news when they miss like with the Hail to the V campaign and Nivea’s “Civilize Yourself” campaign. These ads often push the boundaries so much so that they go overboard, and Seagrams liquor is no different.
Sitcom Joke Turned Reality
For people who remember the sitcom, “The Wayans Brothers,” featuring Marlon and Shawn Wayans, you may remember an episode entitled, “Gots to Have a J.O.B.” During the course of this episode, budding actor Marlon is cast for a role in a commercial for a new type of malt liquor called J.O.B. He quickly realizes, however, that his dreams of stardom come with a complicated price when issues regarding color and stereotypes arise as not-so-subtle racist marketing tactics come into play.
The episode was meant to be funny and shocking, but also sought to call attention to the ways in which businesses can reaffirm and even create stereotypes that in turn lead to prejudice against certain classes and cultures.
More than a decade later, in a time period that many once thought would be void of such stereotypical messages, Seagram’s has seemingly taken a page out of the same ridiculous book that inspired the Wayans. Except this time, Seagram’s is serious.
In their most recent marketing campaign, they have made it quite clear as to who they believe will be purchasing their alcohol by including a free du-rag with each bottle. Yes, a free du-rag emblazoned with their gold marketing.
Branding & Demographic Stereotypes
Although other cultures have worn scarves and other fabrics to protect their hair throughout history, in the United States, in our current time period, the du-rag is pretty much universally seen as an African-American headpiece. In fact, the du-rag was established as an African-American piece as early as the 1800s.
Whereas other companies are typically smart enough to only subtly insinuate their racist or sexist slants in advertising, Seagram’s has decided to go all the way into exploitative territory by directly targeting Black consumers by offering a product that is historically African-American.
By shamelessly targeting the urban market with these free products, they clearly show their ignorance of the breadth of Black culture as well as their insensitivity towards the very people they are trying to convince to purchase their liquor.
Your Money, Your Choice
Luckily, when companies make massive mistakes that reveal their greed for money, consumers will always have the last laugh. When people stop spending their money on things they no longer stand behind — for moral reason or otherwise — the corporations that make those products as well as the advertisers that agree to run thoughtless campaigns have no other choice but to take heed.
Anyone with natural hair already knows how important it is to keep our locks covered and protected at night, especially to extend our the life of our hairstyles. But as a community, the line must be drawn when companies without the health of our hair in mind start to suddenly take interest, and pair it with alcohol no less. For this natural, I say no thank you!
The advertising industry often seems to just not get it. Check out what they really think about curly hair!
What do you think about Seagram’s du-rag advertising campaign?
This entry was posted on Monday, November 21st, 2011 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Healthy Living & Lifestyle. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed. | <urn:uuid:b45282e7-8ebc-4a27-a19a-1ad32d4162f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/living/seagrams-du-rag-campaign | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971199 | 865 | 1.78125 | 2 |
Summary: From the author of the bestselling Bury My Heartat Wounded Knee, a classic account of the building of the transcontinental railroads.
In February 1854 the first railroad from the East reached the Mississippi; by the end of the nineteenth century five major transcontinental railroads linked the East Coast with the Pacific Ocean and thousands of miles of tracks crisscrossed the West, a vast and virginal land just a few years before.
The story of th ...show moreis extraordinary undertaking is one of astonishing technological ingenuity, otherwordly idealism, and all-too-wordly greed. The heroes and villains were Irish and Chinese laborers, intrepid engineers, avaricious bankers, stock manipulators, and corrupt politicians. Before it was over more than 155 million acres (one tenth of the country) were given away to the railroad magnates, Indian tribes were decimated, the buffalo were driven from the Great Plains, millions of immigrants were lured from Europe, and a colossal continental nation was built.
More prices and sellers below. | <urn:uuid:50645f9a-f788-4b25-8922-8d0b8d4ded9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.textbooks.com/Hear-That-Lonesome-Whistle-Blow-The-Epic-Story-of-Thetranscontinental-Railroads-01-Edition/9780805068924/Dee-Brown.php?mpcond=VeryGood | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958198 | 217 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Kansas University School of Medicine is the nation’s most popular medical school, according to an analysis released today by U.S. News and World Report.
The report ranked the percentage of students admitted to medical schools who opted to enroll in the program.
At KU, 176 — or 82 percent — of the 214 accepted students chose to attend the school in the academic year beginning in 2010, which was tops among the 121 U.S. medical schools that were included in the report.
“I am just really proud of the school and the people who made it so popular with the students,” said Barbara Atkinson, executive vice chancellor at KU Medical Center and executive dean at the KU School of Medicine.
Others in the Top 5: University of Nevada-Reno, University of New Mexico, University of Washington and University of North Dakota.
Every school on the list is a state institution, which likely contributed to the rankings, since tuition for in-state students at public medical schools is significantly lower than tuition for out-of-state students or at private schools. At KU, annual medical school tuition is $28,084 for a Kansas resident and $48,504 for a nonresident.
Atkinson said there were 100 Kansas students who qualified and could have been accepted into the school this year, but KU didn’t have enough spots available.
“I think students know that when it’s that competitive and if they’ve been offered a spot, this is a good place to be,” she said. “But, we really need to be able to find a way to increase even more.”
The report highlighted that the five most popular schools are also among the top medical schools in the country when it comes to training primary care physicians. KU’s primary care program is ranked 41st.
To address the need for more primary care and rural physicians, the KU School of Medicine is adding a four-year program in Salina and expanding its Wichita campus to a full, four-year program in the fall.
“The primary care piece and practicing in underserved, rural areas is a really important mission of our school, so we were pleased with that ranking as well, Atkinson said. | <urn:uuid:60a9061d-09ae-4c81-ab58-6a7e3ce74105> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/may/17/us-news-ranks-ku-most-popular-medical-school-count/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979672 | 469 | 1.648438 | 2 |
A digest of important news from sources selected by our local editors. Delivered weekday mornings.
If ever there were a local example of a company being prepared for a crisis, we've seen it in the past couple of weeks as the Odwalla E. coli story has unfolded
Too many organizations believe that a terrible crisis could never happen to them, so they fail to adequately prepare. But as the Odwalla situation has shown, even very good companies are at risk and, to twist a phrase, the best defense is a good offense.
When a company is awash in crisis, a well-thought-out communication plan is its lifeboat. Often, the difference between survival and extinction in a crisis is whether a company has planned to manage how its reputation is affected--from the very first public exposure of the bad news.
The first mistake--and it's a common one--that companies make during a crisis is failing to respond rapidly enough in a meaningful way.
Here's a typical scenario: A business finds itself in a situation that it thought would probably never happen. Things are coming out of the blue, questions outnumber answers, the deluge of media interest grows, and everything is clouded by an enormous sense of paranoia. Unsure of what to do, the CEO, often with the support of his top lawyer, makes the decision to stay mum until the facts are clearer.
Meanwhile, the issue is being framed in people's minds. They're jumping to conclusions and forming reputational opinions that they will not change easily.
By staying quiet, a company is giving up its ability to make sure those first impressions truly reflect the corporate values.
By not participating, its executives are forfeiting their opportunity to shape the context in which their company will be portrayed.
Not communicating quickly and decisively enough certainly affected Jack in the Box's ability to frame how it was perceived early during the 1993 crisis. The same cannot be said of Odwalla.
Health department officials held a 4:30 p.m. news conference linking the latest E. coli outbreak to Odwalla. Only 23 minutes later, at 4:53, the company had issued its first news release on the issue over PR Newswire.
The four-paragraph release could be a textbook example of what to do right. It announced in the first sentence that the company was recalling all fresh apple juice, which demonstrated from the very beginning that it was willing to take major actions to protect the public.
Then it stated the possible E. coli link. The release then quoted the CEO as saying that the company's first concern was for the "health and safety of those affected."
It concluded by saying that there would be additional media updates and gave the name and direct phone number of the PR director.
Most companies don't realize how vulnerable they would be if a crisis were to strike. As we've witnessed with Odwalla, a company's soul is exposed during a crisis. Anyone who thinks a company can maintain corporate privacy in these kinds of dire situations is deluding himself.
The first step in developing a meaningful crisis communication plan is to know how the company's values are reflected in its reputation. During a crisis, corporate values are either the company's bedrock or its quicksand.
Values are far more important than the events of the day. Too few executives realize this distinction. To understand the role of values is to know the difference between a company's reputation and its image. In Odwalla's case, its image is reflected in the outrageous names it gives its products and the colorful labeling and packaging that is so distinctive. A company's image is something that is added on to the product to make it sell better in normal times.
Reputation, though, is not crafted on Madison Avenue. Reputation is what people know about the product and company that relates to them personally. Reputation is earned. It creates loyalty. It brings them back to a product long after the attraction of the snazzy labeling or catchy name has lost its appeal. In a crisis, a good reputation makes customers willing to give the company a second chance.
If you have never tasted an Odwalla juice or never learned anything additional about the company, you have nothing on which to base a reputational opinion. You are limited to the company's image.
And if you're like most people, you don't completely trust an image. Really, do Michael Jordan or Ken Griffey Jr. make Nike shoes better? Of course not.
In a crisis, packaging is dismissed. The questions become reputational ones: Is this company to blame? Does it deserve trust? Or, is it simply trying to cover its rear?
Most companies, if they had the luxury of time, would choose to protect the interest of their customers. They want and need them to continue buying.
Unfortunately, they often waste that precious opportunity at the beginning of a crisis to demonstrate that they deserve trust. That's one reason why a crisis communication plan is essential.
In a crisis plan, all the hard questions get asked and answered in advance. Under what circumstances should we recall the juice, or close the restaurants, or bring in counselors? Is there a point where we should be fully willing to accept responsibility, if not blame? Who gets to call what shots? Will the CEO make every decision? With whom does the company need to communicate directly and on what schedule?
By formalizing the communication plan in advance of a crisis, the company is free to act swiftly and decisively. It can maintain the trust of its loyal customers and win the respect of others--as has happened with Odwalla.
A crisis communication plan is like life insurance for a company. You hope you never need it, but to not have it if a crisis were to occur would be to leave an unwanted legacy and, perhaps, financial ruin.
Wiley Brooks is president of The Wiley Brooks Co., a Seattle public affairs firm that helps organizations develop crisis plans. Wiley Brooks was retained by Jack in the Box two weeks into the 1993 E. coli crisis. | <urn:uuid:7e9bb80d-45df-4793-b032-510d6ad5e9d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/1996/11/18/editorial3.html?page=all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973798 | 1,240 | 1.859375 | 2 |
By Diana Hsieh
Should the government intervene when widespread racism makes life impossible for some people? Given that the effect of strictly respecting the rights of private property owners in the South was that blacks could not find accommodations, health care, transportation, food, and other basic necessities of life, shouldn't the government have intervened? Didn't civil rights legislation help eliminate racism – and wasn't that a good thing – even if that meant violating the right to property of racists?My Answer, In Brief: Severe and widespread racism can only survive when enforced by government. As such, the solution to such racism is the elimination of the government's violations of rights based on race. That will radically change a culture in and of itself. To attempt to do more – particularly to ban racism in private transactions – violates the rights of innocent people and sets a terrible precedent.
Download or Listen to My Full Answer:
- Duration: 30:21
- Download: MP3 Segment
- "Racism" by Ayn Rand in The Virtue of Selfishness
- Wikipedia: The Holocaust, Jim Crow Laws, and Apartheid
- Blind auditions key to hiring musicians
- Philosophy in Action: Sexual Harassment Laws
- South Africa's War Against Capitalism by Walter Williams
- Wikipedia: Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution
A podcast of the full episode – where I also answered questions on recommended works of Aristotle, veto power over abortion, staying in a marriage, and more – is available here: Episode of 20 January 2013.
About Philosophy in Action Radio
Philosophy in Action Radio applies rational principles to the challenges of real life in live internet radio shows on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. For information on upcoming shows, visit the Episodes on Tap. For podcasts of past shows, visit the Show Archives. | <urn:uuid:67395c93-e0d3-4f0b-9e7f-e316f3c7acd0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.modernpaleo.com/2013/01/solutions-to-widespread-racism.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923328 | 369 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Lummi Island is more like Fidalgo, and Sammish than, say, Waldron. Because of the ferry we experience few of the inconveniences of islands not served by car ferries. The Whatcom Chief has been a virtual bridge to the mainland. The ferry makes the island attractive to a number of people who wouldn’t consider Waldron, Sinclair or Blakely, for example.
But what if we were forced into a situation with limited car ferry service? Could we deal with it? How would we deal with it?
It’s actually not so rare to find car free or limited car islands and communities around the world. You can verify this statement by viewing this website.
If there was limited car ferry service we would, as a natural result have limited vehicle use. For one reason, it would be harder to get gasoline. We could look to other ways to move around the island: shuttles, livery service, car share, ride sharing, hitchhiking, bikes, motorcycles, electric bikes, scooters, electric cars, Segways, by foot, etc.
For all of us it’s hard not to contemplate grabbing the keys and jumping in our personal auto and going about our business, filling the tank when we need to with not unreasonably priced fuel. But there are other ways we could get around if it were necessary.
Right now the county could designate Lummi Island as a golf cart zone so that street legal golf carts could be driven on our roads. Using golf carts and other neighborhood electric vehicles would be a great start to saving fuel and reducing the number of automobiles on the road. (A couple of us have made repeated requests to the County Council to look at this with no action so far: note in the comments section of this blog the recent back and forth between Mike Skehan and Barbara Brenner.
In 2010 the Washington legislature approved the use of golf carts on roads with speed limits of 25mph or less (the Lummi Island speed limit).
Here’s the ordinance passed by the city of Langley on Whidbey Island: Most of these ordinances require that golf carts be equipped with headlights, taillights, rear view mirrors and other safety equipment. Golf carts can be electric or gas powered. Obviously, in a reduced fuel environment electric power would be preferred.
Golf carts are modified to make them into Neighbor Electric Vehicles (NEV). Why golf carts? Golf carts are a relatively inexpensive way to begin. At $4 a gallon on golf cart dealer estimates that an electric golf cart gives you 200 mph based on the cost of recharging a cart. There are other benefits as well (which also apply to NEVs and full size electric cars): less maintenance, quiet, cheaper insurance, in most cases a lower initial investment than a gas powered car, easier to park.
Golf carts are not as comfortable as NEVs and electric cars. But, they could get you around the island and make a good transition vehicle.
Next: more about NEVs | <urn:uuid:6217b47e-402f-42c4-a04f-ccd2c51dcea7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://transitionlummiisland.com/a-way-to-continue-happy-motoring | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954138 | 623 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Shots - Health Blog
Tue November 8, 2011
Unhappiest Hospital Patients Are In New York City, Chicago And Florida
Not all hospital patients are alike. Some are harder to satisfy. Especially those who are admitted to hospitals in and around New York City, Chicago and parts of Florida.
Patients in those places gave some of the lowest evaluations of their hospital stays, Medicare data show. The surveys asked patients how well their doctors and nurses communicated, whether their pain was always handled welland whether their rooms were clean and quiet.
Out of 295 hospital markets, the ones with the least satisfied patients were: Manhattan, the Bronx, and East Long Island, N.Y.; Newark and Paterson, N.J.; Takoma Park, Md.; Chicago; and Fort Myers and Ocala, Fla.
The markets with the happiest patients were: Mason City and Dubuque, Iowa; Houma and Monroe, La.; St. Cloud, Minn.; Topeka, Kan.; Tupelo; Miss.; Bryan, Texas, Rapid City, S.D. and Bangor, Maine.
Hospitals are paying more attention to the surveys as Medicare prepares to use the results as one factor in deciding how much to pay hospitals. The new approach, part of the Affordable Care Act, pits hospital again hospital, with Medicare putting aside a portion of its regular payments and doling them out as bonuses.
Competing for every dollar is becoming increasingly important for hospitals, especially if a failure by Congress's supercommittee to reach a deficit cutting deal will lead to across-the-board Medicare cuts.
New York has the hardest patients to please in the country, with its nationally known teaching hospitals, including NYU Langone Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian and the Mount Sinai Medical Center, faring worse on patient surveys than community hospitals in the Midwest that aren't known beyond their towns.
No one has proof why New York does so poorly, but everyone has a theory. It could be all the old, cramped hospital buildings that make patients shack up in double rooms. It could be the cranky mix of lots of poor patients in especially bad health and wealthy, entitled patients. It could be the frenetic environment of teaching hospitals with a plethora of residents and specialists poking at patients.
Or it could be that New Yorkers are just grumpier and more willing to express it. "There's a different cultural norm," is the diplomatic phrasing of Deirdre Mylod, a vice president at Press Ganey, one of several consulting firms that hospitals hire to help them improve their patient scores.
Patient views are getting attention from the top at Continuum Health Partners, the nonprofit hospital system that owns Beth Israel Medical Center and three other New York hospitals. Beth Israel's president, Harris Nagler, makes daily rounds on the units, talking to patients. "He's on the units every day," says Gail Donovan, Continuum's chief operating officer.
It's no longer a just a matter of pride for Continuum administrators: their annual bonuses are influenced by how the hospitals far on patient experience surveys. | <urn:uuid:7ae75d15-9261-4c2c-913e-53da321b4ac6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kazu.org/post/unhappiest-hospital-patients-are-new-york-city-chicago-and-florida | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953287 | 638 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Nigeria can be a sad and sickening place. By 2014, Nigeria will have existed for 100 years as a corporeal entity. However, with 7 years away from becoming a century old nation, the physical aspect of Nigeria, its politics, resource management, people, their culture and attitudes, still remain ingrained in tertiary terms, primitive overtures and is overly displeasing.
In 1865, Washington DC had no electricity. But in 1894, Ijora Power Station - Lagos, one of the first in West Africa, was established. In more than 100 years that electricity has made its presence in Nigeria, the country's leadership cannot boast of 20 percent electricity to its more than 130 million folks.
In the 50s, Bank of America Nigeria (now defunct Savannah Bank of Nigeria) was fashionable in Nigeria before it was a household name in US, yet no Nigeria Bank has an equity contribution of $1 billion; the treshold used to gauge the strengthen of a bank. During the early 90s, when some managing directors of Nigeria Banks complained to the then Head of State IBB about lack of representation on the funding and financing of LGN - Liquified Natural Gas plant, IBB agreed to set aside 10 percent of the plant cost to be financed by Nigerian banks. But lo and behold, a consortium of the banks could not come up with the $1.2 billion represented by the mere 10 percent set aside. Today still, no Nigeria Bank finances exploration of oil/gas, despite Federal Government of Nigeria having earned nearly a trillion dollars in oil/gas revenue. In fact, no Nigeria bank has an energy lending unit to help further the oil and gas sector. Most annoying, some banking laws in Nigeria preceded US banking laws because Nigeria got its banking footing from UK via Barclays and Standard, two of the world's leading financial institutions.
It was due to the attraction Nigeria had in the 50s that the Bank of America, then a mere neighborhood financial institution in California sought a foothold in Nigeria and remained until the 70s when the Indigenization Decree nationalized its existence, and it became Savannah Bank of Nigeria. In fact, Bank of America still has unredeemed shares in Savannah Bank and a few years old ago, Senator Nwobodo sought my help to see whether BofA would take a look at Nigeria. It went nowhere.
In 1985, I paid N768, an equivalent of nearly $1,280 to fly from Nigeria to Dallas. Naira was exchanging at 60 kobo to the Dollar. Today the Naira has lost both its luster and as well as backing (although nothing backed it then). Today, Naira exchanges at N135 to the Dollar. If one were to calculate the percentage change, the resulting decimal points will be so huge that the calculator will spin out 'E-E-E-E-E-E-E' - an indication of extended error. If in less than 20 years Naira had a free fall and today's Nigeria government boasts of having more than $20 billion in foreign reserve, the Naira has not made any significant move against the Shilling or the Dollar. The condition of South Korea after its war was worse than Nigeria after the civil war that ended in 1970. Today, South Korea and China, have more that a trillion dollars in foreign reserve the first time in the history of the world financial trend that any nation[s] achieved such a fate. Both countries in the 70s produced nothing and whatever they did produce, was laughed at. But we now know their stories.
In the 80s' while nothing backed the Naira, the spirit of the people, their desire to be self sustaining and develop Nigeria as a true giant of Africa and an emerging developing nation, spurred foreign direct investment. Note in the late 70s to early 80s, most major auto-makers had an auto-assembly plant in Nigeria, and Nigeria showed its technological prowess in the auto-making sector by launching Igalla; a Volkswagen partnership with VON - Volkswagen of Nigeria. The Ajaokuta Steel Plant was the envy of the world and many super powers sought contracts and stakes in the plant. Nigeria was about to pop. Today, Ajaokuta lies dormant and the satellite town developed to support the staff, a well master planned community that was a prelude to Abuja, is instead lived in by rats and rodents, and covered by native vegetation. I was there a few years ago and uncontrollably cried sentimentally.
Can one imagine a Nigeria that remained true to its self defined path and route, made the required sacrifice, committed to achieving what it set out to do then? By now, leaving Nigeria for any other place would have been an option but not due to deprivation, starvation, unruly conducts and practices of the leadership. Nigeria may be OVERCOMING. That needs to change to where Nigeria must PREVAIL, and join the comity of nations as a credible, respected and admired member ready at any time to help enhance and restore the dignity of its people and mankind; as is depicted by the motto of University of Nigeria. As the most populous black nation in the world, nothing short of a successful nation to help restore and enhance the image of the black person, will do Nigeria any good.
Lessons can be learned and improvements made. But longevity does not mean things will get better unless concrete and concerted efforts are made to improve things. A monkey does not go overseas and come home a dog: No matter the cloning. Until the likes that currently man the fort for Nigeria are replaced by what the US Marines may consider 'a few good men and women', Nigeria will remain what it was and is. Nigeria may not in a million years see the sort of light and development a nation can enjoy by working hard and placing its men and women in positions to make positive difference.
Whats next? Nigerians should get involved positively by committing themselves to espousing values and virtues to help unleash the latent strength in Nigeria. In doing so, Nigerians must nurture institutions that will help make Nigeria's collective existence a thing of pride and honor.
By Ejike Okpa
participates in discussions on public finance and structure.
Comment on this article! | <urn:uuid:0fc91bae-0f42-44b6-83f7-90485c6f52eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/sections.php?magazine=130§ions=12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963577 | 1,275 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Ever since its heyday in Victorian times, Norfolk has been one of the finest, most popular holiday destinations in the UK. The average sunshine and temperature records are amongst the best in the country making Norfolk a holiday destination for all seasons.
The famed Norfolk countryside is fresh and green in the spring, dotted with vibrant poppies in summer and vividly coloured with reds and browns in the autumn. It is ideal for cycling, walking, horse riding, bird watching or just relaxing. The country towns, with their attractive buildings, spectacular churches, specialist shops and weekly markets, all offer their own unique kind of holiday or short break all year round.
Add to this an extensive list of stately homes, ornamental gardens, nature reserves, museums and family attractions and it very quickly becomes clear that Norfolk has something for everyone.
Please click the following links for further information: | <urn:uuid:93521c3c-b21f-4b9d-89b7-f1ff94b40e31> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.flyingkiwiinns.co.uk/north_norfolk_attractions.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945108 | 177 | 1.570313 | 2 |
- (Photo: Joyce Frost)
A Washington State branch of a megachurch will be soon moving to a historic church building due to its growing numbers.
The Seattle Downtown branch of Mars Hill Church plans to relocate from a former Tabella nightclub to the historic building for First United Methodist Church of Seattle, which for the past five years has served as an entertainment hall.
Pastor Tim Gaydos of Mars Hill Church Downtown Seattle told The Christian Post about how the building, constructed in 1906, had for years been considered for demolition.
"This building faced an almost 25-year battle to see it preserved, and it faced a wrecking ball to be replaced by a large tower five years ago. A developer and preservationist came in, bought it, and turned it into a concert hall," said Gaydos.
"We developed a good relationship with him and started talking about what it would look like to repurpose it and return the space to its original intent as a church, what it was built for over 100 years ago."
According to the Seattle Times, the former home of First United Methodist Church of Seattle once served as the congregation of notable Seattle "founding families" when it was completed in 1906. However with time the congregation decreased in numbers and eventually First UMC ended up selling the building in 2007.
Dr. Sandy Brown, senior pastor of First UMC, told The Christian Post that the sale of the historic First UMC building was part of a growth strategy for the 500-member congregation.
"The 2007 sale of our historic property at Fifth and Marion was part of our long range strategic plan to replant ourselves in a more residential neighborhood of downtown Seattle," said Brown.
"We achieved that goal with our property purchase and building project at Second and Denny, where we have 10,000 condo and apartment-dwelling residents within a 1.5-mile radius of our building."
According to Brown, outside of "the memories created in that sacred space," First UMC has no current connections to the historic facility or Mars Hill, having "deconsecrated" the space on Easter Sunday 2008.
"In doing so, we relinquished our ties to the building and closed it as a place of worship. We are glad for Daniels Development that they were able to find tenants to occupy this beautiful building," said Brown.
"Our relocation has contributed to the renewed vitality of our historic congregation."
Mars Hill Church was founded in 1996 and is headed by Pastor Mark Driscoll. It has 14 locations in four states with an average weekly attendance of 14,000. According to Pastor Gaydos, the Downtown Seattle branch of Mars Hill has a 1,500 regular attendance divided into five worship services.
"Based on the incredible and miraculous growth rate that we've been on, if that continues, and we believe that Jesus is really doing a miraculous thing building his church in urban Seattle, then we would love to see God allow us to outgrow this space in the next five years," said Gaydos.
"At that point, we'd likely have to look at Key Arena!" | <urn:uuid:f919e814-ff3c-4358-91fb-46b1d55ca0d9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.christianpost.com/news/mars-hill-seattle-branch-moves-into-former-methodist-church-79634/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979049 | 634 | 1.757813 | 2 |
|Online sunLanguagesen Games|
|Gravity 2 Game|
Use the gravity of other planets to send your asteroid into the sun.
Have fun with the new adventure from PUKACA. From cloud to cloud, help IKARUS to fly to the Sun. It's simple to play. Just click to start and touch the clouds and fly higher and higher.
|The Orbit Game Game|
Try and make the satellite last as long as you can without hitting a star so we can collect as much information about the stars as possible
|Ice & fire Game|
This is Ice & fire an entry for the stencyljam 2013. It's a platforms game with infinite jump and a jump down function. The program of this game may seem simple but it's actually complex, for example the jump is not a regular jump it's measured so you can jump as high as you keep the button press, you press it more you jump higher I think that the first game in that this was shown was the mythical Mario Bros for Nintendo. Also in the game you can see a girl but this is not a regular sprite, it's actually a marionette, her hands, head, neck, torso, legs, etc are controlled individually, the forearms move according to the position, angle and length of the arms and they also turn according to their own angle, this to attain more fluid movement. | <urn:uuid:404cd8bd-94d3-4124-80af-d6134edc490f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fupa.com/games/1/sunLanguagesen.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936159 | 288 | 1.71875 | 2 |
A cooperative program between private landowners and FWP, Block Management helps landowners manage hunting activities and provides the public with free hunting access to private land, and sometimes to adjacent or isolated public lands. Block Management addresses fall hunting only-spring bear and turkey hunting access are typically not included in the program.
Block Management Basics (155 KB)
There is no charge to hunt on block management lands (referred to as Block Management Areas or BMAs). Program funding comes from the sale of various licenses, including the resident and nonresident hunting access enhancement fee, nonresident upland gamebird licenses, nonresident combination deer/elk licenses, and chances sold in the Supertag license lottery.
Landowner participation in block management is voluntary. Contracts are negotiated annually in the spring and summer. After enrollment is complete, each FWP administrative region publishes a Hunter Access Guide, which lists the block management opportunities available to you for the current season. These regional guides are published on or before August 15, annually.
Formally started in 1985 and expanded significantly in 1996, Block Management has provided free public hunting experiences across the state since its inception. Positive working relationships have been formed between landowners, hunters, and resource managers. The future looks promising, but is dependent on you. By following the rules for the BMA, as well as demonstrating courteous, legal and ethical behavior, sportsmen and women can do their part to assure future access to private lands in Montana.
For the 2012 hunting season, approximately 1,270 landowners have enrolled about 8 million acres of land in the Block Management Program. By researching your options, you can probably find a block management hunting opportunity that fits with your needs. | <urn:uuid:c3eb9be3-e78b-4b71-b78e-06cad4f17cea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/hunterAccess/blockman | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949822 | 340 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Nilgiri tahr, the endangered mountain ungulate species, was sighted recently at a new location, the Adimali forest in Idukki district.
The animals were sighted by Forest guards who were surveying the area as part of the elephant census. The presence of the ungulates has been reported for the first time from the region, said N.C. Induchoodan, Divisional Forest Officer, Munnar.
Five animals were sighted on a steep hill at Muthanmudi, near the Choorakettan tribal settlement in the Adimali range of the Munnar Forest Division. A Forest guard of the Panamkutti Forest Station took photographs of two Nilgiri tahrs during the trip from the area, which is at a height of 1,700 metres.
“We did not expect to see tahrs in the region, which is at an aerial distance of 20 km from the Eravikulam National Park where two-thirds of the world’s mountain ungulate population is housed,” Dr. Induchoodan said.
The Forest Department will now conduct a detailed survey in the area in August after a let-up in rain. A few tahr enthusiasts have offered to join the survey, which is likely to be held during the Onam holidays, he said.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified the species as Endangered “because its population size is estimated to number fewer than 2,500 mature individuals, there is an observed continuing decline in the number of mature individuals, and no sub-population contains more than 250 mature individuals.”
According to the IUCN Red list, “the present distribution of the Nilgiri tahr is limited to approximately 5 per cent of the Western Ghats in southern India, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu although not along the border between these two States. In the beginning of this century, the range probably extended northward at least to the Brahmagiri hills of southern Karnataka. The animals are more or less confined to altitudes of 1,200 to 2,600 metres, population as low as 900 may or may not represent pre-human extent of occurrence in elevation.”
Mohan Alampath, a member of the Caprine Species Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission of the IUCN, said the sighting of the animal in the Adimali region was exciting news for those interested in Nilgiri tahr. The area with large grasslands is an ideal habitat for the animals, said Mr. Alampath, who had also served as Wildlife Warden of the Eravikulam National Park.
The animals may establish in the area if offered proper protection from disturbances such as uncontrolled fire and cattle grazing. The two areas where the animals have established in India are the Eravikulam National Park in Kerala and the Mukuruti National Park in Tamil Nadu, he said.
The global population of the ungulate species is estimated to be between 2,000 and 2,500 individuals and shows a decreasing trend. They are found at high elevations on cliffs, grass-covered hills, and open terrain. Principal threats are habitat loss due to domestic livestock and spread of invasive plants and poaching. The population of these animals is small and isolated, making them vulnerable to local extinction. The species faces competition from domestic livestock, according to the IUCN. | <urn:uuid:313ce112-7726-4ce2-8765-98a0206d7495> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article3565840.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96002 | 712 | 2.890625 | 3 |
(Source: Flickr / nicholaspeter)
Produced by Grap Luva
Mixed, Recorded & Arranged by Damu The Fudgemunk
Mastered by K-Def
Arp 87 is a stunning pair of interacting galaxies. Stars, gas, and dust flow from the large spiral galaxy, NGC 3808, forming an enveloping arm around its companion. The shapes of both galaxies have been distorted by their gravitational interaction. Arp 87 is located in the constellation of Leo, the Lion, approximately 300 million light-years away from Earth. Arp 87 appears in Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. As also seen in similar interacting galaxies, the corkscrew shape of the tidal material suggests that some stars and gas drawn from the larger galaxy have been caught in the gravitational pull of the smaller one. This image was taken in February 2007 with Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 detector.
I look up — many people feel small because they’re small and the Universe is big — but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity.
That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant, you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you.
That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive…
- Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson [ x ]
Jupiter…is always a joy to look at. Even through nothing more powerful than a good pair of binoculars. Jupiter’s four Galilean moons should be visible, their positions changing noticeably from one night to the next. The smallest telescope reveals features on Jupiter’s cloud tops, including two dark bands straddling the equator. Through larger telescopes, other dark belts and bright zones appear, as well as exciting detail within the belts.
The best way to learn about Jupiter through observation is to draw it. Observers use a soft, 2B pencil and a dim white flashlight so that they can see what they are committing to paper. Before beginning to draw, they watch the planet for a few minutes to get familiar with the shapes and details of its belts and zones. Since Jupiter rotates very quickly - the whole planet goes once around in less than 10 hours - observers complete the basic outline of their drawings in about a quarter hour, filling in the details later.
The experience of drawing this planet brings to mind the fact that Jupiter is big. It is a planet much larger than Earth and some 400 to 600 million miles from us.
While you look at Jupiter’s moons, consider how they helped persuade Galileo that the Earth was not the center of the universe, and remember that the idea was so threatening to that era’s powerful religious politics that he was forced to recant on pain of torture. By taking us back to an earlier, darker time in our history, Galileo’s moons remind us not to be too attached to the accepted wisdom of our own age.
David H. Levy; author, Impact Jupiter: The Crash Of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9; comet co-discoverer (image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4)
Amateur Astronomers: When using a “dim flashlight”, make sure to use filtered red light, via LED or DIY.
Everyone: This “darker time in our history” persists to this day. We may not have astronomers being physically tortured; no, the torture comes from our (predominantly misinformed) society’s continual persistence in ‘tolerating’ the ‘rights’ of religious influence in politics and education.
This world (and our species) deserves minds capable of critical thinking fueled by an insatiable curiosity without religious influence governed at the helm by scientifically illiterate people who claim to have a neurological two-way radio with the creator of the universe/s.
Galileo would be proud of our achievements, but more steadfast than we in his commitment to the true nature of the physical world via the scientific method and meticulous observation, to which religious “knowledge” have produced no such observations, progressions or achievements toward our understanding of the universe, led by the literal interpretation of outdated Biblical text, in order to give credit to a creator or reason yet to be named by science itself, upon which the ‘rights’ of religious organizations are allowed to exploit their superimposition of the divine plan unto our current understandings of the cosmos, without aiding in any of the countless hours of scrupulous investigation themselves.
As a father and a student of life, my parenting efforts have been led by a simple motive: teach my child (and others) how to think, not what to think. All of us the world over will benefit by a society and human civilization led by this principle as well. | <urn:uuid:55601e22-268c-4189-8182-669e4ec12d2a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wavesfadingwords.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943244 | 1,021 | 2.875 | 3 |
If you’ve just graduated from high school and are preparing for what might be your first year of college dorm life, you probably have a lot of questions and concerns. You may be facing the first time you’ve ever shared a room, especially with someone to whom you’re not related. What if you don’t get along? What do you need to take for your room? Top bunk or bottom bunk?
For many, this will be an entirely new experience. First off: relax. You’re certainly not alone–chances are that every other freshman in the dorms will have the same fears and concerns. Take advantage of the time before school starts to prepare yourself. You can begin by visiting our Campus Life section and reading the many articles about what to expect and how to handle college dorm life.
College Dorm Life and Homesickness
It’s natural for some homesickness to accompany your first two or three weeks of adjusting to college dorm life. You’re in an entirely new environment. On one hand, there are no more curfews, no constant reminders to do your homework, no questions about where you’re going, or who you’re going to be with.
On the other hand, you’re on your own for what might be the first time in your life. No one’s cooking your meals, except maybe the cafeteria staff. No one’s making sure your homework gets done, or that you get up for class on time. No one’s washing your clothes. The freedom accompanying college dorm life can be both a blessing and a curse. However, during this major transition, many students find that the biggest hurdle they face in their first college dorm life experience is homesickness. In her article Back to School Blues, Christina Couch offers a number of valuable tips on how to cope with the natural feelings of loneliness and homesickness that often affect new students.
Finding an inexpensive way to keep in touch with family and friends can be a great way to smooth the transition into college dorm life. Many campuses offer free or low-cost Internet connections in the dorms, so e-mail and instant messaging are two ways you can check in with people at home. In addition, to save on long distance phone bills, look into available VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services.
Sharing your exciting and/or trying experiences with people from home can help dispel feelings of isolation and loneliness. You may actually learn that you’re not missing much. However, if feelings of homesickness and depression persist as a result of college dorm life, make sure you talk to someone about them. A good place to start with is your dorm’s resident advisor.
One of the anxieties that comes with the approach to college dorm life lies in the preparation. How do you figure out what to take with you? Preparing your college dorm room checklist can begin with your visit to the dorms during orientation. While there, take a good look at what’s provided by the school. If you get the chance, ask dorm residents how they prepared for their college dorm life, such as what they brought, what they forgot, what they found out they needed after a few days in their dorm room. In addition, visit your college or university’s web site to see if they have a dorm room checklist online, and also be sure to check for items that may be prohibited from the dorms, such as candles or space heaters.
Once you’ve put your dorm room checklist together, contact your future roommate to introduce yourself and discuss what each of you is planning to take to college. There’s no sense in trying to fit two microwaves or small refrigerators in what will will likely be extremely limited space. This might also be a good time to discuss your individual expectations and what you each anticipate from college dorm life. If your future roommate regularly stays up until 3 a.m., and you’re an early riser, you will probably want to take the opportunity to set up some ground rules you both can live with before you move in.
Megan O’Leary, in What to Bring to College, provides a college dorm room checklist including many items you’ve probably considered, such as an alarm clock, a computer, and other essentials of college dorm life.
She also includes some items you may not have thought of, but that can make your college dorm life more pleasant, such as houseplants, a shower caddy, and a comfortable chair or bean bag. Be sure to get yourself a daily planner or calendar to mark down important dates, such as when papers or projects are due and exam days. Remember (and this takes some getting used to), one of the biggest adjustments to college dorm life you’ll have to make is to be disciplined, to put yourself in charge of getting your homework done and preparing for tests.
Get Involved with College Dorm Life
The experts agree that one of the best ways to cope with the loneliness that can accompany college dorm life is to get involved in activities on campus. Allowing yourself to get bored can lead to depression, so make sure you have things to do; the more you get out of your dorm room, the more you’ll get out of college dorm life.
By finding activities you like, you’ll meet like-minded people and develop friendships, and when you broaden your college experience you’ll find that college dorm life becomes easier and easier.
Visit our Campus Life section for more free information about college dorm life and meeting new people on campus, how to tackle college academics, how to stay healthy and in shape during your college years, and much more.
College-Bound Student Information
CollegeView offers an extensive amount of valuable information and resources for the college-bound student. Please follow these links to discover more articles that can help you in your choice for an educational pathway: | <urn:uuid:374f3356-2366-49ab-90db-9ade226a7fee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/college-dorm-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956378 | 1,234 | 1.765625 | 2 |
While forgiving often seems like something that you do for others, it is, in reality, something you do for yourself.
Forgiving benefits the person who receives forgiveness, and it benefits the person who forgives even more.
Many times, the person that has not received forgiveness has forgotten the event while the person who refuses to forgive continues to harbor anger and bitterness. Holding on to anger and bitterness harms the angry person more than it harms others.
I have heard many people say that they have experienced events in their lives that they cannot forgive. I suggest that line of thinking makes two common mistakes:
- Confusing forgiving with forgetting, and
- Confusing can’t forgive with won’t forgive.
You can forgive someone for their actions without forgetting what happened. If the harm really is severe and you believe that it will come back again in the future, you can choose to let go of the anger and negative thoughts about the other person without forgetting that they cannot be trusted in certain situations.
If someone has harmed you, you can forgive them in order to move forward and remember that you do not feel safe trusting them in the future.
Choosing to let go of anger implies an act of will. It is a choice, and most people (with only a few exceptions) really are free to choose how they think.
Initial anger might be beyond control, and that moment is temporary. Continuing to be angry is a choice.
To free yourself to build healthy, happy, productive personal and professional relationships, choose to forgive. | <urn:uuid:d35e6597-1598-40ed-a57b-82be5faf1587> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://recoveringengineer.com/reflections/the-abcs-of-life-forgive/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969377 | 315 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Homemade pasta and fresh shellfish makes this a dish that is both comforting and luxurious.
For the pasta dough, place all of the pasta ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Tip the mixture out onto a clean work surface and shape into a ball. Knead for a few minutes, until smooth, then wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, kill the lobster humanely by putting it in a plastic bag in the freezer for half an hour, then pierce it between the eyes with a sharp knife.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
For the filling, cut the lobster in half lengthways. Discard the matter in the head section. Remove and discard the sac behind the eyes. Remove any green tomally (liver) and the roe in the body section (these can be pan-fried and eaten, or discarded). Remove the claws, and the meat from the tail, retaining the shell for the sauce.
Cook the lobster tail meat and claws in a pan of boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes. Drain, cool slightly, then finely chop the lobster tail meat. Once the claws have cooled, crack them open and carefully remove the meat – try to keep it in one piece. Reserve the larger claw for garnish and finely chop the smaller claw.
Place the salmon, scallops and vermouth into a food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and add the double cream, tarragon and the finely chopped lobster meat. Set the bowl over a larger bowl filled with ice and stir until the mixture thickens to a stiff mousse consistency.
For the sauce, roast the reserved lobster shell in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until they turn a dark red colour.
In a clean pan, heat the olive oil and gently fry the onion, carrot and celery for 2-3 minutes, or until softened but not coloured. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, salt and freshly ground black pepper, then add the roasted lobster shells and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Remove the pasta from the fridge and roll through a pasta machine. Starting with the machine at its widest setting, pass the dough through the rollers. Do not fold but repeat this process, decreasing the roller setting down grade by grade with each pass, until you get a very thin sheet of pasta dough. Cut the pasta sheet into two equal pieces.
Lay a sheet of pasta on a floured worked surface and, using a teaspoon, place spoonfuls of the lobster mixture along the sheet, leaving a gap of 6cm/2in between each mound of mixture. Brush the surface of the pasta with the beaten egg, then lay the second sheet of pasta on top. Press around the edges of the filling to seal, ensuring there are no air bubbles. Cut out the ravioli using a 6cm/2in round pastry cutter.
Strain the reduced lobster stock through a fine sieve into a clean pan. Deglaze the stock pan with the brandy, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, then pass the liquid through a sieve into the reduced stock. Reheat the stock over a low heat, then whisk in the whipping cream until well combined. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Cook the ravioli in a pan of boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked through, then drain thoroughly.
Melt the butter in a pan and add the remaining lobster claw. Heat gently for 1-2 minutes, then drain briefly on kitchen paper. Chop into four equal pieces.
To serve, arrange the ravioli on plates and top with the lobster claw meat. Spoon the sauce over and garnish with tarragon shoots.
Type the ingredients you want to use, then click Go. For better results you can use quotation marks around phrases (e.g. "chicken breast"). Alternatively you can search by chef, programme, cuisine, diet, or dish (e.g. Lasagne).
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Daimler Seeks Partners for ‘Mild’ Hybrid Cars
FRANKFURT — DaimlerChrysler is holding talks with other automakers and suppliers to find partners for "mild" hybrids that boost cars’ performance and fuel efficiency, its research chief told Reuters on Tuesday.
The project — separate from its alliance with General Motors and BMW to develop full hybrids — could lead to hybrid versions of both petrol and diesel vehicles, Thomas Weber said on the sidelines of an industry conference.
"As the Frankfurt car show proved, we are basically at the center of many discussions," said Weber, who is also in charge of technology at the world’s fifth-biggest carmaker.
"One sees that Mercedes-Benz is setting some of the trends, so by definition we are highly interesting conversation partners for those in the supplier industry who deal with this area but manufacturers are speaking to us as well."
Daimler showed two Mercedes-Benz S-class concept cars in Frankfurt that feature mild hybrids — simpler and less expensive versions of the technology that saves fuel by yoking at least one electric motor and batteries to a standard engine.
A mild hybrid can boost acceleration and make engines work more efficiently in stop-and-go traffic, but costs less than a full hybrid that can add thousands to the price of a car.
A mild hybrid, however, would not offer the same fuel savings as a full hybrid, and cannot run on battery power alone.
Weber said it was important to try to standardize the technology and thus avoid splintering the market. "At least on the component side we have to have standards," he said.
LIMITED MARKET POTENTIAL
Daimler’s two-pronged strategy of developing full hybrids with GM and BMW while developing mild hybrids in house or with other partners shows it is not being dragged reluctantly into the hybrid market, Weber stressed.
Nevertheless, hybrids have limited market potential, especially given the similar efficiency that a modern diesel engine affords, he said.
"In the United States we think the share of hybrids in specific areas will be there, but we also believe that diesels will pass the 10 percent threshold before hybrids do," he said.
"In Europe I personally believe the mild hybrid concept has a chance because in certain circumstances they can offer something beyond the highly efficient drivetrains already available today," he added.
"The share of hybrid in Europe will be just a few percentage points even in the years ahead."
Weber said Mercedes was working on both petrol and diesel hybrids even though the higher cost of diesel engines and hybrid technology has held up diesel hybrids so far.
Extra costs for diesel and hybrid together meant "a mild hybrid in combination with a diesel could perhaps come a bit earlier than the full hybrid with a diesel," he said.
But especially in the luxury car segment interest was present for diesel hybrids as long as they offer fuel efficiency, meet emissions standards, perform well, are fun to drive and can be marketed at a reasonable price, he said.
"People will want to spend money on something special. That is why we see an appropriate market opportunity for a diesel hybrid," he said.
GM is set to start selling full-sized sport utility vehicles with full hybrid technology in late 2007, followed by a Dodge Durango full-sized SUVs amid a range of other models.
Mercedes is eyeing a full hybrid launch shortly thereafter.
"We have not made any comments on (the timing of a Mercedes launch) but in any event before the end of the decade," Weber said.
"It will also depend on the discussions with customers. We want to avoid the situation such as we had with the 3-liter (engine capacity) auto where you develop the technology, make it ready for production and then no one buys it." | <urn:uuid:fd04ff5b-bc24-4db1-9ed8-68ac33c4605e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/245584/daimler_seeks_partners_for_mild_hybrid_cars/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966442 | 792 | 1.59375 | 2 |
By Catherine Wagley
By Catherine Wagley
By Wendy Gilmartin
By Jennifer Swann
By Claire de Dobay Rifelj
By L.A. Weekly critics
By Catherine Wagley
By Zachary Pincus-Roth
It’s hard to think of an institution taking up 20 acres of Miracle Mile real estate as an underdog, but that’s how the Los Angeles County Museum of Art looked just a few years ago when private donors failed to line up with their checkbooks behind Eli Broad and a few LACMA trustees, and voters rejected a bond measure that would have guaranteed a massive chunk of the estimated $200 million to $300 million for the museum’s much-touted plans to demolish and replace all but the historic May Company building (now LACMA West) and the Bruce Goff–designed Japanese Pavilion on its Wilshire campus with a new tent-topped monolithic structure designed by Rem Koolhaas. But by 2004, the museum was back with a new plan by architect Renzo Piano to rehab the campus and add a new contemporary-art museum backed by Broad, and by the time director Andrea Rich announced her retirement in 2005, the museum had raised more than $150 million toward its transformation. With new leadership in place, the first in three phases of what the museum has now officially termed its Transformation with a capital “T” well under way, and the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) about to open, LACMA is poised to become the region’s premiere cultural mecca. Here are a few reasons why.
Powers that Be
Under the tutelage of Thomas Krens, Michael Govan spent his 20s running the Williams College Museum of Art, laying groundwork for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MOCA) and working on projects for the Guggenheim, including Frank Gehry’s Bilbao building. Tapped in 1994 to run the Dia Art Foundation, he masterminded the conversion of a 240,000-square-foot former Nabisco box factory on the Hudson River into DIA Beacon, now a world center of minimalist and post-minimalist art. Now CEO and Wallis Annenberg director of LACMA, Govan is backed by a re-energized and reconfigured board of trustees, nearly half of whom have joined since 2001, headed by board chairman Andrew M. Gordon of Goldman Sachs & Co, and joined by new trustees David Bohnett, head of Baroda Ventures private-equity firm; Terry Semel, chairman and CEO of Yahoo! Inc.; and author, producer and art collector Michael Crichton.
Put simply, BCAM, made possible by a donation from Eli and Edythe Broad of $50 million to the museum’s capital campaign, plus a $10 million fund for acquisitions, gives LACMA the architectural landmark it was hoping for, more or less, and brings 60,000 square feet of exhibition space devoted to contemporary art, making LACMA one of the few encyclopedic museums with a sustained and substantial contemporary-art presence, and allowing contemporary art to be displayed in a cultural and historical context difficult to match in most institutions. Also put simply, the new museum that will open (on February 16) with a display of around 200 works of postwar art is LACMA’s catch and every other museum’s one that got away.
Did I mention Real Estate?
With a former one-block section of Ogden that linked Wilshire and Sixth but bisected the LACMA campus now incorporated in the grounds, and with outdoor space opening up behind LACMA West and BCAM, and adjacent to the recently upgraded park behind the rest of museum row, the stretch between Fairfax and Curson offers continuous culture along Wilshire and continuous green along Sixth. It’s less grand than the Smithsonian and National Gallery necklace around the Mall in D.C., or the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s snuggling up next to New York’s Central Park, but it’s more accessible than either of the Getty locations, and greener than the Grove.
Art in Public
The museum, which already has an under-recognized outdoor lineup of sculptural works, is taking advantage of its grounds as an outdoor extension of its galleries, with major new commissions that are serious works of contemporary art, yet are sure to be crowd pleasers too. Chris Burden’s Urban Light, being just off Wilshire between BCAM and the old Ahmanson building, is a forest of antique Los Angeles County cast-iron lampposts the artist has collected and restored for the past seven years. Robert Irwin, known for both his more subtle and minimal Light and Space installations, and his more ambitious and flamboyant projects like the garden at the Getty, will fuse these inclinations on the grounds adjacent to BCAM, with a carefully ordered grove of palm trees selected as much for their natural presence and iconic L. A. signature as for their potential to offer an interplay of light and shadow. And if the museum can get past a feasibility study and the necessary fund-raising, it might eventually be home to Jeff Koons’ proposed Train, a 70-foot replica of a 1940s locomotive, dangling from a 161-foot-tall crane, releasing steam and chugging three times a day.
A Serra of Their Own
Works by the New York sculptor have been popping up from San Diego to San Francisco over the past few years, as West Coast institutions scramble to bring his massive steel forms — not only important works for any institution claiming a serious collection of 20th- and 21st-century sculpture but also instant landmarks — into their collections. But LACMA, with funding provided by the Broads, got Band, a centerpiece of Serra’s retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art last summer and without question one of the defining works of Serra’s career.
Gifts that Keep on Giving
Local institutions winced in 2005 when real estate developer Edward R. Broida gave 62 works from his collection of modern and contemporary art to the National Gallery of Art in D.C., and again in 2006, when upon his death, 175 works went east to MoMA. Govan is hopeful of achieving what he has called a “critical mass of prestige” that would prevent L. A. collectors from viewing their own local institutions as second-rung locations for depositing their treasures, and LACMA might even begin to draw donations from elsewhere. Recent major gifts including 130 works of modern art, 20 of them Picassos, from the Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection, might just begin to turn LACMA into a gravitational force for gifts.
THE GIANT ON THE BLOCK
The LACMA West building boasts 300,000 square feet of space, most of which LACMA visitors have never seen unless they shopped there when it was still a May Company department store. Phase 2 of LACMA’s Transformation includes overhauling and increasing the gallery spaces already created for special exhibitions, an expansion of the Boone Children’s Gallery, a video and new-media lab, rehabbed library and study collections, new curatorial and administrative offices, a restaurant, retail space and a bookstore.
THE LETTER C
It’s the letter that makes the LACMA acronym an awkward bit of verbiage, but it stands for County, and is central to the museum’s complex, daunting and also rich position as the people’s art museum. Its ever-expanding reach as an encyclopedic museum, and its clear moves toward a more multicultural consideration of contemporary art, make it a more accessible and interesting location for a diverse constituency.
The Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), along with the new BP Grand Entrance, opens with a free community weekend, Feb. 16-18. For information: (323) 857-6000 or lacma.org.
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This Day Today
ThisDayToday.com is a fun online channel
with short daily videos covering an event that happened today. Launched 1st March 2012 the idea created by Mark
Tweddle and Lynn Ferguson combines daily facts and a little humour all stuffed into a tiny daily video that's under
17 August - Bill Clinton admits to an improper relationship with Monica Lewinsky in 1988.
9 June - Nero the cruel Roman Emperor commited suicide in 68AD.
13 April - Alfred Mosher Butts the inventor of the game Scrabble was born in 1899.
27 March - Viagra given US Food and Drug Association approval in 1998.
20 March - Discoverer of gravity Sir Isaac Newton died in 1720.
17 March - St Patricks Day.
14 March - Scientist Albert Einstein born in 1879.
7 March - Graham Bell patented the telephone in 1876.
The videos are written and directed by Lynn Ferguson, Nedulous Productions LLC.
Behind the scenes after the 100th video upload . | <urn:uuid:ad017ec1-6775-4a51-8542-ec9e06fac676> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bradleywalsh.co.uk/online-this-day-today.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95869 | 211 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Military work gives boost to Reno fuel-cell company NNBW Staff, 8/25/2008
A contract to provide fuel cells to power a small, unmanned aircraft tested by the military is putting wind beneath the wings of a young Reno company.
Scheelite Technologies Inc. won an $800,000 subcontract to provide fuel cells for tiny aircraft — their wingspans are only a foot or two — that are under development by Northrop Grumman Corp. for the U.S. Air Force.
“This jump-starts us,†says Lee Ky Good, one of the co-founders of Scheelite Technologies.
For about three years, development of the company has been bootstrapped by Good and the company’s other founder, Jacek Chrostowski. Each of them has more than 30 years experience in technology and industry.
The direct-methanol fuel cell technology used by Scheelite Technologies generates electricity more efficiently than conventional hydrogen fuel cells.
Scheelite takes the basic direct-methanol technology a step further with fuel cells that are flexible and compressionless — allowing them to be as small as about an inch square.
The tiny size makes the company’s fuel cells a good fit on unmanned aircraft, Good says. A study by The Teal Group projects that military and other users will purchase as many as 50,000 unmanned aircraft annually by 2016 — and each of the aircraft requires $3,000 to $15,000 worth of fuel cells.
Scheelite also thinks its small fuel cells may find a market as long-lived power supplies for electric bikes.
Because the cells are thin and flexible, they also might be used in clothing. For instance, Good says, Scheelite Technologies fuel cells could be sewn into military clothing, providing an on-the-go power source for soldiers’ communication technology.
Good and Chrostowski are hoping to win another $10 million in federal contracts in the next three years to fund further development of the fuel cells as they also begin to look for commercial applications. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada has been a key supporter of the company’s effort to win funding, Good says.
The company plans to staff up — it currently employs five part-timers and consultants — and is beginning to look for contract manufacturers to make its fuel cells.
Ultimately, Good says, the company wants to license its technologies and products to generate higher volumes and more efficient manufacturing. | <urn:uuid:c288f7ca-0a29-41f0-bc9a-2a6acb1c52de> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.in3partners.com/press.php?pID=107 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954898 | 542 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Each month when the Tigress’s can jam canning challenge ingredient has been announced, I’ve been relieved that it wasn’t up to me to choose. Being the only Brit taking part, it seemed such a massive responsibility to come up with a seasonal ingredient that would somehow accommodate all canjammers, travel half way around the world and fit into everyones canning calendar. Then the other day Tigress emailed me to say it was my shot and for a moment I was filled with dread. I say a moment, and it really was just a moment, as if by divine suggestion, the word ‘cucurbits’ fell from the sky and landed right on my head. The Tigress’ Can Jam ingredient for July is cucurbits, but it’s cucurbits with a proviso (see below).
In case you aren’t familiar with the term cucurbits, it refers to Cucurbitaceae, a plant family commonly known as melons and gourds, including crops like cucumbers, squashes (including pumpkins), loofahs, melons and watermelons…. So what’s the proviso? First let’s dispense with the loofahs! (too chewy), secondly, pumpkins and winter squashes, they’re out. It is most likely too early for them anyways but also they are troublesome ingredients to deal with for hot water processing and I aint taking responsibility for that.
So that leaves cucumbers, a traditional pickling favourite and one I want to learn lots about from you experts over in the US. (By the way, as far as I’m concerned, bread and butter pickle should actually contain what it says on the jar. Likewise ‘coffee cake’ Anyhow, I digress…) Summer squashes such as courgettes and marrows… ha… gotcha! Of course this is yet another strange difference in the language we share. To all you canjammers in the US, small zucchini and zucchini. I have Sarah at Toronto Tasting Notes to thank for help translating here. And finally, to bring a luscious sweetness to the proceedings, melons of all types.
I’m hoping this group of ingredients is specific enough to make sense as well as being wide enough to cater for everyone. I am finding that Tigress’ Can Jam is giving me the opportunity to try new ingredients I’ve never worked with before, as well as making me approach familiar ingredients in new ways or ways I hadn’t got round to trying. I think these cucurbits offer scope for all manner of pickles, chutneys, relishes and jams and I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with, as six months in, the canning done so far has been a total revelation. As previously mentioned, I want to learn how to can my cucumbers like I’m in that Little House on the Praire. Marrows, zucchini to most of you, I’ve always considered a waste of everybodies time, but I’m now ready to reconsider. There are endless recipes for marrow chutneys and jams and as this vegetable is effortless to grow, I really think it is time to learn to love this clod-hopping monster of a gourd.
Courgettes, or small zucchini, are one of those glut kitchen ingredients that there are never enough uses for to reduce the surplus mountain, so it will be fabulous if some of you could come up with some essential recipes that the rest of us can’t live without.
And then there are the melons…. they fill me with such romantic notions; from the pickled watermelon rinds I’ve read of and dreamed about tasting, the spicy syruppy concoctions that might be sweet and sour at the same time, and finally, French inspired preserves, combining melon with lemon, or ginger, or raspberries, or peaches, that transport you to a village in Provence. Are you getting the gist?
I hope you feel inspired to go off and make cucurbits your own. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. If you need to refer to Tigress’ canning guide you will find it here. All recipes must be posted between friday july 16 and friday july 23rd, with friday july 23rd at midnight being the cut off point. Tigress has allowed two extra days at the beginning this month so if you are so inclined and you can get your post up on the earlier days, please do! as it will help her to get a head start on the round-up. (Bravo Tigress for all your work).
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In wholistic medicine, the body is part of a larger system, including also emotions, mind, relationships (with each other and with the environment) and spirit. This tradition acknowledges that the body has its physical functions and processes that deserve full assessment and treatment. However, the body is not seen as the only level of being.
The mind has great influence over the body, and maladies often have their origin there.
Consciousness is an entity in and of itself. Consciousness is a level of being that can influence the body, as well as being influenced by the body. How consciousness comes into being, and how it relates to the physical body is explained in many variations on the theme of mind-body or bodymind approaches. (These are beyond the range of our present discussion.)
At one end of this spectrum are those who hold that mind and emotions are products of the physical body but that psychological factors may be act upon the body. Emotional tensions can activate stress responses that impact the body. For instance, the nervous system tightens the voluntary muscles of locomotion. Chronic muscular tensions can result in tension headaches, backaches, TMJ problems, and repetitive stress injuries. Involuntary muscles can tighten into asthmatic attacks in the lungs, irritable bowel syndrome and other dysfunctions in the gut, and into hypertension and circulatory disorders in the cardiovascular system. Adrenalin and stress steroids also tighten muscles, raise blood pressure, and alter immune system functions. Many conventional doctors accept some or all of these as possible mechanisms contributing to illness.
Some wholistic therapists stop short of hypothesizing motivating forces that extend beyond the body, other than social ones, staying close to the conventional medical model.
Further along the wholistic spectrum, the body is seen as an expression of spirit manifesting into the material plane of existence. Spirit is the primary level of existence. Spirit expresses itself through everything that is. Sub-units of spirit, human souls, incarnate as physical human beings. All of life, every particle and nuances of beingness and relatingness, is a part of the lesson of physical incarnation. Figure 2 diagrams this perspective.
Note that the arrows point in both directions, indicating that events at each level of being can influence our experiences with the other levels. For instance, physical and emotional experiences may heighten our spiritual awareness.
Regardless of your position along the wholistic spectrum, if you can conceive of connections between spirit, mind, emotions and body, many more interventions open up for addressing physical problems.
Figure 2. Wholistic view of beingness and
Much illness is unhappiness sailing under a physiologic flag.
Before wholistic therapists treat symptoms or illnesses, it is important to ask, �What is your body saying through these problems?� My experience as a psychiatric psychotherapist is that simply asking this questionis often sufficient to bring a person to awareness of underlying stress factors.
We have many terms in common usage derived from body parts and functions. It would not be unusual to hear any of the following metaphoric body terms mentioned in casual conversation: I had a gut feeling that something was wrong, and bellyached to my friend about how my nose was bent out of shape. She cried her eyes out over this tearjerker, but after brooding over it for a while, decide to put her best foot forward and not be such a bleeding heart. After I spilled my guts over the problem, I had a good belly laugh at how foolish I�d been and breathed a big sigh of relief. (See Table 1 for a spectrum of such terms, and Humor$ for another tongue-in-cheek sampling of such terms.) | <urn:uuid:5b8f6318-6bd1-412e-9a31-898417045db6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthy.net/scr/column.aspx?ColumnId=34&Id=756 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946947 | 763 | 3.046875 | 3 |
World output of bauxite reached 220m tonnes in 2011 (US Geological Survey), the majority being used in the production of smelter grade alumina, itself used in the manufacture of aluminium. Smaller amounts (around 10m tonnes) of this served the niche non-metallurgical sector, which comprises applications such as abrasives, chemicals, calcium aluminate cement (CAC), refractories, and others.
China has long dominated trade in both the metallurgical and non-met. calcined bauxite sectors; the former through massive growth in its aluminium industry, and the latter through various export controls and natural geological advantages.
China is host to low-iron, relatively high-silica diasporic bauxite, which is most suitable for producing calcined bauxite grades for refractory use. This composition is also suitable for calcined bauxite grades for abrasives - used to manufacture brown fused alumina - and China leads world production on both fronts.
Over recent years, the country has favoured the development of its domestic industries over... | <urn:uuid:fa117336-e166-4430-b11a-5634dd64390f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.indmin.com/Article/3053951/Channel/197169/Projects-in-the-Pipeline-Refractories-and-proppants-drive-new-bauxite-investments.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932656 | 222 | 2.8125 | 3 |
This week’s question on The Guardian’s Comment is Free Belief section is ‘Do Believers make Better Citizens?’ This is what I think.
Whether it’s from Red Tories or Blue Labour, London Citizens or the Big Society, the persistent connection assumed between religion and social participation is one of the fictions that has most irritated humanists in the past decade. It rests on a story of Britain as being once a Christian place, where communities were strong and charity widespread. Britain became less religious, but still with movements of social solidarity that, although secular (trade unions, for example, or friendly societies), tried their best to perpetuate the good effects religion had. They couldn’t do it, of course, and now these secular movements have collapsed. To save ourselves from going down with them, we must turn back to our good old-fashioned religions – they alone are able to provide the solidarity, community and motivation we need to fix our horribly broken society.
It’s not just a few disillusioned old ex-Marxists who have adopted this idea – the theoretical analogue of their own individual life stories – but a worrying number of otherwise rational people.
Even some non-religious people join in. Of course they don’t believe in all that religion stuff themselves, but religious people certainly do more good in society than non-religious people, don’t they? They volunteer more and things like that. Naturally, many religious leaders welcome this reinforcement of the case for their own importance with open arms and make statements, like those of the Bishop of Leicester and the chief rabbi giving evidence to parliament on the “big society” recently, warmly affirming the proposition that religious people disproportionately contribute to voluntary, charitable and civic life.
Unfortunately for them, the argument they advance is supported more by faith than by evidence.
This point was demonstrated yet again last week by the latest figures from the government’s citizenship survey. In terms of civic engagement and formal volunteering, the figures show no significant difference between those with a religion and those with no religion (57% and 56% respectively). There is scarcely any difference in participation between those with no religion and self-described Christians (56% and 58%). At 44%, the proportion of Hindus and Muslims participating in civic engagement and formal volunteering is actually lower than the proportion of non-religious people doing so, and the lowest of all groups. This is no flash in the pan – it is a continuing feature of the figures over a number of years.
The figures supplement other data that makes the same point, not only from previous years’ citizenship surveys. In 2007, Faith and Voluntary Action, from the National Council of Voluntary Organisations found that “religious affiliation makes little difference in terms of volunteering”, and as a matter of simple numbers, the overwhelming majority of the voluntary, community and charity sector in the UK are secular.
Why, in the face of such data, do so many persist in advancing the false argument that religious people engage more and the doomed policy of placing our hopes for a better future in the success of churches, temples and mosques? Some are clearly self-interested, trying to boost their own religious agendas, but many may simply be unaware of the facts. Non-religious people are volunteering all the time, but don’t feel the need to do it in the name of being non-religious. They may even do it for charities that have a nominally religious origin. Being therefore less visible than specifically religious contributions to society, this can support the myth that non-religious people do less community work. This anecdotal misconception can only be corrected by data, which is not something to which most people have access.
But I for one wouldn’t necessarily want it any other way. I am not overly concerned whether a person doing good is doing it because she thinks God wants her to or out of a humanist sense of obligation to fellow human beings. We would do much better to concentrate on other factors – economic and social – that will improve the conditions in which volunteering and engagement can flourish. I don’t think it is too much, in our shared society, to ask religious leaders to adopt the same view and give up the one-upmanship. To focus on what divides us rather than on the shared humanitarian and civic principles that might unite us is counterproductive. | <urn:uuid:f6ea3836-92a9-48a5-8ef7-582b1e238692> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://andrewcopson.net/2011/09/httpgu-comp326ya/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955737 | 896 | 1.898438 | 2 |
NEW IN PAPERBACK:
ANIMAL INVESTIGATORS, How the World's First Wildlife Forensics Lab Is Solving Crimes and Saving Endangered Species
By Laurel A. Neme, PhD
"THE WILDLIFE" Radio
Listen to Laurel Neme every Monday from 1:00-2:00 pm EST on WOMM-LP, The Radiator, 105.9 FM in Burlington, VT
Podcasts, interviews, articles, and photos from the show can be found here. You can also download podcasts via iTunes or http://laurelneme.podbean.com.
|The WildLife: The Secret Life of Seahorses, Helen Scales|
|The WildLife on WOMM-LP|
|Monday, 29 August 2011 00:00|
Helen Scales, author of Poseidon’s Steed: The Story of Seahorses from Myth to Reality, reveals the unusual anatomy and strange sex lives of seahorses. She tells “The WildLife” host Laurel Neme that seahorses live mysterious lives, tucked away out of sight on the seafloor, and provides insights into their strange characteristics, including: kangaroo-like pouches for the males to bear the young, horse-like snouts used like straws to suck in tiny zooplankton, prehensile tails to grasp sea grasses, swiveling chameleon eyes and color-changing skin. Seahorses face many threats, including habitat loss and degradation and commercial trade. They’re used in traditional Asian medicine, and also sold as curios and as aquarium pets. Global consumption of seahorses is massive, with about 25 million seahorses sold each year. There’s so much we still don’t know about seahorses. For instance, we’re not even sure how many different species there are.
Dr. Helen Scales is a marine biologist, writer, and broadcaster who specializes in fisheries, habitat protection, and the international trade in endangered species. She has lived and worked in various countries and now lives in Cambridge, England where she works as a consultant for a number of conservation groups including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Natural England, and TRAFFIC International. For her PhD from the University of Cambridge she studied the loves and lives of one of the biggest coral reef fish, the Napoleon wrasse, and its imperiled status due to demand from Asian live seafood restaurants.She appears as a radio host on the BBC’s The Naked Scientists show and on BBC Radio 4’s Home Planet. She also produces and presents a new podcast series, Naked Oceans, a fun and informative exploration of the undersea realm. In her first book, Poseidon’s Steed: The Story of Seahorses from Myth to Reality, she explores humankind’s thousand-year fascination with seahorses. This episode of “The WildLife” originally aired on The Radiator, WOMM-LP, 105.9 FM in Burlington, Vermont on January 17, 2010. It was reposted on August 29, 2011. | <urn:uuid:b334142f-85d7-4747-abd2-baee46e009e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.laurelneme.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=417:the-wildlife-the-secret-life-of-seahorses-helen-scales&catid=48:the-wildlife-on-womm-lp&Itemid=251 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906979 | 653 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Next to creating regular backups as I explained here it is important to keep your computer virus- and trojanfree.
It is true that if you would get an infection you can use Macrium Reflect to go back in time and instantly get rid of any virus you might have caught, but if you do that without antivirus programs, you'll be endlessly replacing your system with images and never getting any work done.
Besides - even your external drive with the images might get infected if you let things roam free.
In fact, that is an important part of the reasons I don't recommend using system restore, because it is part of your systemdrive and might easily get infected / damaged by the infection, which results in the impossibility to restore.
Ok, enough scaredy talk. Let's see what we can do.
Nowadays you don't have to spend a fortune on antivirus programs, there are enough free options that keep you perfectly safe, so let's get started!
Basically there are three things you need:
1) a virusscanner
2) a firewall
3) a malwarescanner(s)
When you have a legit version of Windows (I wouldn't expect anything less from you!) you can use MSE (short for Microsoft Security Essentials). It'what we recommend here at HTG :)
Here is a tutorial on how to install and use it.
Another good free virusscanner is Avira.
Here are two slightly older but very good tutorials on how to install and use Avira:
There are several other free virusscanners available, I just happen to like these two because they are relatively light on resources and do a good job.
Just keep this in mind:
- Use only one! Installing and using more than one will NOT give you better protection. It will only mess things up.
- the default settings ensure you regularly get the latest updates. That's very important. Wrongdoers find new ways to attack on a daily basis, so the updates should come in just as fast ;)
- sometimes a virusscanner gives a false possitive. That means it sees something as a virus, which you doubt is a virus, like a program you've been using for ages and you get a new virusupdate and all of a sudden your virusscanner tells you that program is evil. It doesn't happen often and if you think it is a false possitive you can always ask here or on the forum of the virusscanner.
- most virusses and trojans get on your computer by users! So be careful:
On this site, about halfway down under 'Human Behaviour' there is a good list about the do's and dont's you should keep in mind :)
WEB OF TRUST:
To know which sites are safe or not is a little bit easier these days. You can download the Web of Trust (WOT for short) add-on for your browser and it will show you with a little green (= safe) ring or orange (= dodgy) one or a red (=bad bad link!) what the quality of the site is you want to visit.
So it will be easy to avoid the bad ones!
Another thing you need to keep your computer safe is a firewall.
A firewall protects you from unwanted visitors from the internet. More about what a firewall is / how it works you can read here under 'Software Firewalls', but my main point is you need one :)
Fortunately in the newer windows OS Vista and Se7en there is an inbuild firewall.
Go to Control panel > Windows Firewall and make sure it is set to 'on', like this:
On the lefthand side you can click 'Turn Windows firewall on or off' to turn it on if it's not.
And you can click 'Allow a program through Windows Firewall' to add programs you want to allow internet connection or block the ones you don't want to.
Mostly Windows handles this by itself though and it does a pretty good job :)
If you don't want to / can't use the Windows Firewall there are some freeware options, but often they are a lot heavier on system resources. So if you can use the inbuild Windows Firewall.
A free alternative is ZoneAlarm Free Firewall.
Even with all these measures you might attrack a virus or worm or trojan. If it's not you, then someone else who uses the computer - friends come over and their kids play a game on the computer or download stuff you wouldn't want to touch with a ten foot pole etc. etc.
It doesn't matter how, when it happens you want to be prepared for action ;)
a) give your system a full scan with your virusscanner
b) download and install SUPERAntispyware (SAS for short), let it update and run the scan.
c) do the same with Malwarebytes. Mind you: don't run them together - first one, then the other.
d) if your system is badly infected get the portable version of SAS and put it on an USB stick and run it.
e) or if you've prepared yourself well, get out the Macrium Reflect bootCD and restore an image you made earlier, like I advised here and be back in a smoothly working environment in the shortest possible time with the least effort :)
(I tend to do the dishes when restoring an image and be up and running by the time the last forks and spoons go in the drawer. Now how's that for getting out of trouble!)
SOME MORE LINKS ON HOW TO REMOVE FAKE ANTIVIRUS AND OTHER MALWARE:
And here is a single link to an example of these scareware scams - it's no use giving you a full list, since they change all the time.
Just note that they contact you when you're not looking for them and most of the time they want instant money for instant help.
DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR CREDITCARDNUMBER!!! | <urn:uuid:62fbccae-24c6-41e3-ba60-16ad65189e21> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/how-to-keep-your-computer-safe-for-free | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931139 | 1,262 | 2.125 | 2 |
As USF readies for its downtown return, so, too, is the city of San Francisco embarking on a new chapter with the election of its first Asian American mayor, the largest surge in technology jobs since the dot-com boom of the late ’90s, and crushing budget woes. Corey Cook, USF associate professor of politics and director of the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good, is an expert on urban politics and public policy. He sat down with USF Magazine to discuss the challenges and possibilities that lie ahead for San Francisco. The following is adapted from that discussion.
USF Magazine: Let’s start with the San Francisco mayoral election. Can you talk about the ways in which it was significant?
CC: Obviously, the election of the city’s first Chinese American mayor is historic, particularly given the history of Chinese exclusion and discrimination in San Francisco and California. Mayor Ed Lee’s election is the culmination of decades of activism and organizing in the Chinese American community.
But there was an historic field of candidates. Among the top-tier candidates you might have had a lot of firsts—the first Latino mayor, the first openly gay mayor, the first Japanese American mayor. USF hosted the first of the many mayoral forums in 2011, and, in May, well before then-acting Mayor Lee jumped into the race, you could sense that this might be an historic election.
USF Magazine: What accounts for such a diversity of candidates?
CC: Part of that is the growing diversity of the city—in particular the increasing proportion of the population identified as Asian and Asian Pacific Islander and Latino. But part of it is the result of institutional and political changes. The city has undergone some fairly dramatic political shifts.
In the wake of the dot-com boom, and growing public concerns about rising housing prices and gentrification in the South of Market neighborhoods, the city adopted district elections for the board of supervisors. Not only have district elections helped ensure that neighborhood interests are represented on the board of supervisors; they have also diversified the board and helped bring about what has been called the progressive movement in the city.
We’ve had about 10 years of conflict over land-use issues, social services, and the city budget between these two broad camps—a moderate mayor and a progressive board of supervisors. But with Mayor Gavin Newsom heading to Sacramento and a complete turnover of the board of supervisors because of term limits, I think there was a sense that this election marked a new political era in the city.
So you had nine or 10 serious candidates running for mayor reflective of various neighborhood interests, the socio-economic diversity of the city, and also this ideological conflict between progressives and moderates. It was a pretty remarkable election.
USF Magazine: What are some of the other ways San Francisco has changed during the past 20 years?
CC: Well, you’ve seen some significant changes in how people live and work in the city: the decline of the middle class and the precipitous decline in the African American population, and also changes in the primary economic drivers in the city. Just in the past decade we’ve experienced a dot-com boom and bust and a housing boom and bust, and more recently a tech boom.
And the leading industries in the city have changed. Aside from construction, we don’t make things in San Francisco very much. The leading industries are typically talked about as knowledge.
generation and experience generation. Knowledge generation includes things like information technology, biotech, and digital media. Experience generation includes things like arts, retail, tourism, and hospitality. So much of what people do in San Francisco falls into these broad categories.
The challenge is that there isn’t much “middle” in either of these areas. There are a lot of high-paying jobs and a lot of low-paying jobs. So you see these growing disparities in the city and in the region, which has become one of the most disparate regions in the country in terms of income.
USF Magazine: What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for Lee’s administration?
CC: As I mentioned, San Francisco has gone through a period of divisiveness in City Hall. I think the mayor was elected, in part, because he has worked effectively across the political spectrum—as a civil rights leader and as city administrator. And as acting mayor, he dialed down the rhetoric and worked collaboratively. That’s not to say there aren’t still significant disagreements over a range of issues, but in his year as acting mayor, Lee was able to negotiate a consensus budget agreement and a near-consensus agreement about public pension reform
So he’s displayed the ability to bridge some of those differences because of his governing style, his experience in city government, and his ability to draw from both the progressive and moderate camps. But the challenge is that it is a fragile coalition. The mayor only appeared on about 44 percent of ballots cast. In other words, 56 percent of voters did not mark Ed Lee as their first, second, or third choice in the election. So while on one hand, he well outpaced his rivals, the election shows that he still has a lot of work to do to build a stable governing coalition.
USF Magazine: What are some of the issues the city will face in the next few years?
CC: I think many of the issues this administration will tackle are connected to land use, economic development, and the improvement of the city’s public schools. There are some big development projects like California Pacific Medical Center, the Central Subway, and Bayview redevelopment. And, of course, the budget, particularly this year as public employee contracts are renewed.
These are complex issues that oftentimes become highly divisive and can pit neighborhoods against each other, different ethnic communities against each other, and economic interests against each other. The challenge for the mayor is to try to maintain a broad coalition, and that’s remarkably difficult in a city as diverse and politically sophisticated as San Francisco.
USF Magazine: Relative to other American cities, San Francisco has a very small population of residents under 18, and the school district has lost almost 7,000 students over the last decade. Is San Francisco a family-friendly city?
CC: I think so. But in full disclosure: My family just moved to San Francisco from Oakland several months ago, in part because we think San Francisco is a great city to raise a family.
If you look at the Census data, one of the things that I think would surprise a lot of people is that there are more households with children under 18 in San Francisco today than there were a decade ago. But the average household size has shrunk. So people are having fewer children, and that’s part of a broader national demographic phenomenon, but it’s not the case that families with children are fleeing the city in droves.
That said, it’s certainly the case that San Francisco has far fewer children and youth than other large cities, and it’s a topic that was much discussed during the last election. And the consensus is that in addition to employment, the key determinants of the number of children and youth who live in the city are the quality of schools and the affordability (or lack thereof) of housing.
The McCarthy Center did a Bay Area Regional Survey last June, and one of the questions we asked was, “How would you rate the schools in your city?” We asked this of everybody and aggregated the responses by county, and San Francisco was rated abysmally in comparison to the others—something like 4.9 on a scale of one to 10; much lower than other counties. But later in the same survey, we asked people with children in the schools how they rate their own child’s school. And it turns out that people in San Francisco rate their own schools more highly than do folks in Marin County. So part of it is perception.
Still, there are significant disparities in student opportunity and achievement in the schools. African American and Latino students are less likely to graduate and have access to the courses needed to be eligible for college admission. There was a great panel at USF this spring that addressed this, and there are some innovative solutions being proposed, including creating community schools to focus local resources, like wrap-around services [individualized community-based intervention services], directly in these school settings. One community school plan is being implemented in the form of a federal Promise Neighborhood grant in the Mission District, a cradle-to-college community development program. A lot of people, including several faculty members in the School of Education at USF, and many of the organizations we work with at the McCarthy Center, are working with the school district to ensure that the schools are effectively preparing all students.
I’m less optimistic about affordable family housing. Rental prices are increasing in San Francisco and across the state. And there has been a profound loss of federal and state funding for affordable housing. In addition, the bursting of the housing bubble has affected housing developments that were in the pipeline and decreased the viability of affordable projects. In one of his first acts, the mayor initiated a task force to develop an Affordable Housing Trust Fund proposal. They are developing a proposal for the November ballot to fund affordable projects. It’s complicated policy and an early test of his political skill to hold together this coalition.
USF Magazine: What should businesses expect from Lee’s administration?
CC: When he was running for mayor, he proposed a 17-point jobs plan that was balanced between business recruitment, small business assistance, lowering payroll taxes, and cutting regulations, and a focus on workforce development and enforcing the local hiring ordinance, which suggests that he has a more nuanced view than the “pro-business” or “pro-worker” archetypes. That said, I think the first 100 days or so have seen a focus on the Mid-Market area and trying to nurture a high-tech cluster there, and we’ve seen that business interests have a strong voice within the administration.
USF Magazine: How seriously are California’s budget woes affecting San Francisco?
CC: It would be hard to overstate the effects. The UCs and the CSUs have been ravaged, and San Francisco State University, like USF, is one of the anchors of San Francisco socially and economically. So far, the state legislature and the governor have been able to insulate K-12 education from significant cuts, and the governor is putting some proposals on the ballot this upcoming year for revenue increases that, if enacted, will forestall further budget cuts.
However, if these measures do not pass, we will see massive cuts in K-12 education, including cancelling parts of the school year, which will have enormous consequences in San Francisco. There are also a whole host of cutbacks in the social safety net that have directly affected people living in the city, like seniors dependent on in-home supportive services, and a substantial number of nonprofits in San Francisco have gone out of business because of these cutbacks.
The consequence of eliminating the Redevelopment Agency has been profound. About half of the city’s affordable housing budget disappeared with the stroke of a pen when the Redevelopment Agency was eliminated in California. And the state is returning formerly incarcerated persons to their home counties, which ultimately means that San Francisco is facing an influx of ex-offenders. Supporting these individuals as they search for job opportunities and reintegrate into society will be a significant challenge absent adequate state funding.
At the same time, that McCarthy Center survey found that people in the Bay Area were, on the whole, far more optimistic about how things were going in their localities than in the state, and San Franciscans were much more likely to perceive that the city is headed in the right direction than the state as a whole. I think people’s perceptions are pretty much in line with the objective indicators.
USF Magazine: There’s a lot of buzz in the city about the latest tech boom. Is it actually a boom or a bubble?
CC: In many ways, that’s the million-dollar question. On the one hand, this period seems like a replay of the tech boom of the late ’90s. It’s been reported that there are more tech jobs in San Francisco today than at the height of the boom in the ’90s. But I think people around here remember how so many ideas that seemed so good at the time went bust.
So while the city is very much attempting to nurture a tech revival in the city, and build on its highly educated and creative workforce and physical advantages on the Pacific Rim, at the same time, there is some wariness. There are many economic lessons from the last dot-com boom. For policymakers, one lesson is that when there was enormous wealth being produced in the city, if you don’t figure out ways of having that wealth broadly shared, you’ll have considerable gentrification and displacement in neighborhoods and the loss of vital community, arts, and nonprofit organizations that can’t afford to stay.
While the city has certainly invested a lot in trying to create a tech cluster around companies like Twitter, Airbnb, Zynga, and Salesforce, at the same time there is concern about building a strong and innovative workforce and in creating vibrant, stable communities, rather than just attracting a transient workforce to the city. So you have the local hiring ordinance and a variety of proposals emanating from San Francisco’s state and federal officeholders to invest in primary, secondary, and higher education—in private, independent colleges, in Cal grants, and in public institutions like the California State University system and the community college system—to ensure greater sustainability than we saw a decade ago. | <urn:uuid:e47be69c-e26c-455e-ba3b-c39e3757a2b6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.usfca.edu/magazine/cook_2012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971706 | 2,865 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Tom Brown's Science and Art of Tracking
ISBN 9780425157725 | 240 pages | 01 Feb 1999 | Berkley | 6.06 x 9.01in | 18 - AND UP
Summary of Tom Brown's Science and Art of Tracking Summary of Tom Brown's Science and Art of Tracking Reviews for Tom Brown's Science and Art of Tracking An Excerpt from Tom Brown's Science and Art of Tracking
More popular than ever, Tom Brown, Jr.'s unique approach to inner growth through outer awareness has gained a wide audience, ranging from weekend campers and nature lovers, to serious survivalists and college students. The Science and Art of Tracking expands upon Tom Brown's most enduring subject: the important life lessons to be learned through tracking skills. Tom Brown was taught the ancient skills of survival by a Native American he called Grandfather. His most advanced lessons were those of the scouts, members of a secret society who were highly attuned to nature. The scouts refined tracking to a disciplined science and art form. With these physical skills came enhanced perception and true enlightment. "Tracking was their doorway to the universe," Tom Brown writes, "where they could know all things through the tracks..." Now Tom Brown, Jr. shares generations of wisdom through one of the most rewarding pursuits to be found in nature. Tracking lets us unlock the secrets of each animal we follow, and in turn, to become more aware of our own place in nature and the world. It is a journey of discovery that engages the senses, awakens the spirit, and enlightens the soul.
To keep up-to-date, input your email address, and we will contact you on publication
Please alert me via email when: | <urn:uuid:dfb946ed-e937-4463-9dc7-6e3c6b51816d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780425157725,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935825 | 347 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Come November 4, Californians will punch their ballots for or against an amendment to the state Constitution titled "Eliminates Rights of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act" (aka Proposition 8). That's a harsh name for a measure whose origins can be traced to a 2003 Massachusetts Judicial Court order stating that full marriage rights must be made available to all. Political bedlam ensued, prompting an Assembly bill, which, if passed, would have been the first step toward writing a gay-marriage ban into the Massachusetts Constitution. In this energetic and unapologetically biased documentary, directors Mike Roth and John Henning are there for the first, failed statehouse vote and the two-year battle that follows, during which queer activists and their hetero sympathizers organize against a second legislative vote on the potential amendment and, later still, a civil action seeking the same initiative. Amidst the turmoil, the directors capture the sweet angst of several couples planning their nuptials, but what propels Saving Marriage is footage of the campaign to replace an old-school state representative with a 25-year-old gay health-care worker — a political novice whose attempt to change the system from within makes you think there's hope yet for this democracy thing. | <urn:uuid:3572e591-8b26-4cfa-af61-98381acffd67> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/saving-marriage/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952613 | 250 | 1.554688 | 2 |
(CNN) -- Prince William has arrived in the Falkland Islands for a routine deployment as part of a four-man search and rescue crew, Britain's Ministry of Defence said Thursday.
The prince will begin his Royal Air Force search and rescue duties after undergoing briefings and a familiarization flight, the ministry said in a statement. A six-week deployment to the Falklands is conventional for search and rescue pilots at this stage of their career, it said.
"Flight Lieutenant Wales will be deploying purely in an RAF role and will not be completing any ceremonial roles as the Duke of Cambridge," the ministry said.
However, the deployment has not been without controversy. This week, Argentina's foreign ministry criticized Britain over the matter.
"Prince William is coming ... as a member of the armed forces of his country," the ministry said in a statement. "The Argentinian people regret that the royal heir is coming to the soil of the homeland with the uniform of the conqueror and not with the wisdom of a statesman who works in the service of peace and dialogue between nations."
Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982, prompting a war in which more than 600 Argentinian and 255 British troops died. After the war, the United Kingdom retained control of the islands, which are off Argentina's coast in the South Atlantic.
News of British plans to deploy the destroyer HMS Dauntless to the region did nothing to dampen the rhetoric from politicians in both countries.
While British officials have said the ship's deployment is routine, according to Britain's ITN news network, some Argentinians see it as a provocation.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has criticized Argentinian officials for their renewed claims to the island.
"We support the Falklands' right to self-determination, and what the Argentinians have been saying recently, I would argue, is actually far more than colonialism, because these people want to remain British, and the Argentinians want them to do something else," he told lawmakers last month.
Demonstrators marching outside the British Embassy in Buenos Aires last month burned British flags and urged Argentina to sever ties with London.
Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has said the British "are preying on our natural resources, our oil, our fish" in the Falklands, known as the Malvinas in Argentina.
Fernandez's campaign has won some supporters. In December, members of the Mercosur trade bloc -- which includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay -- said they would stop ships bearing the Falkland Islands flag from entering their ports. The move angered some British officials.
About 2,500 residents live on the islands, in addition to 1,700 people stationed at the British military's Mount Pleasant Complex there, according to the website of the islands' government. | <urn:uuid:af963b03-183f-457a-9801-059fd3c26bb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.co.uk/2012/02/02/world/europe/britain-prince-william-falklands/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962979 | 577 | 1.960938 | 2 |
BIRMINGHAM, England, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Pope Benedict XVI beatified 19th Century Cardinal John Henry Newman and noted the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in a mass Sunday in England.
The rainy open-air mass in Birmingham's Crofton Park drew more than 50,000 people and came near the end of the pope's four-day state visit to Britain.
The pope's visit has been marked with highs and lows, the BBC noted. It is the first time a pope has visited Britain in nearly three decades and he apologized for child abuse by Catholic priests on several occasions.
In his homily Sunday, Benedict paid tribute to those who died fighting the "evil ideology" of the Nazi regime. His beatification of Newman was a step toward his sainthood.
Paying tribute to Newman, the pope said: "His insights into the relationship between faith and reason, into the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society, and into the need for a broadly-based and wide-ranging approach to education were not only of profound importance to Victorian England, but continue today to inspire and enlighten many all over the world."
During his visit, the pope also spoke about what he called the "marginalization" of Christianity and the effects of "aggressive secularism."
Benedict was scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron later Sunday.
|Additional World News Stories|
SAN ANTONIO, May 25 (UPI) --Flash floods fueled by 10 inches of rain left one woman dead and one presumed drowned in San Antonio Saturday, and authorities urged evacuations in some areas.
JAKARTA, May 25 (UPI) --South Korean pop star Psy will perform in Indonesia at a concert celebrating diplomatic ties between the two countries, his management agency said Saturday.
WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) --In the U.S. non-federal sector, older workers are more likely than younger counterparts to report being able to put their best skills to use, a survey says. | <urn:uuid:43edbe88-79d3-4ccd-ba8d-aa12ee27b450> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/09/19/Pope-beatifies-cardinal-in-Britain/UPI-72741284908734/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972022 | 421 | 1.710938 | 2 |
How to Be Sober in College when Everyone is Drunk
How to Be Sober in College when Everyone is Drunk
Boozy conversations and endless drunken parties may not be what you had in mind when you went off to college. Or you may have wrestled with substance abuse in the past and you’re concerned that being around a bunch of party animals could derail your success in the present. Whatever your concern, you can get through college, stay completely sober––and still have a blast.
- Seek out like-minded people. Not everyone thinks that alcohol-infused hazes in between cramming and lecture attendance is what college is all about. Maintaining sobriety throughout college is the goal of quite a few college students, and not just those required to so for religious or teetotaler reasons. Notice the students who don’t participate in the binge drinking, parties and all-night beer pong and seek to befriend them. In particular, look for companions through sport and hobby organizations/clubs –– people dedicated to training or pursuing a hobby are likely to have a lot less time and interest in getting drunk all of the time. Don’t be afraid to ask whether people like partying a lot or not –– you’ll soon get the answer you’re looking for!
- Live off campus. Another way to ease yourself out of permanent party time is to keep away from campus. Can you tee up with a friend or can you find suitable individual living digs somewhere else? By having a place to go to each day away from the influence of the constant party people, it can be a lot easier to avoid the temptation of yet-another-alcohol-infused event.
- Take care about rooming blind –– you don’t want to end up living with someone who drags the parties off-campus and right into your new home. Ask questions about the party preferences first! Or better yet, see if you can room with a friend or friend of a friend.
- Support your like minded friends and fellow students. Being drunk a lot of the time isn’t cool but it’s often paraded as cool by those who like to see themselves as the party animals of campus. Let them be but at the same time, don’t put yourself down. Instead, be supportive to friends and students who also don’t want to spend a lot of time partying and drinking, letting them know that it’s okay to be this way and it’s fine to want to pursue other interests. Go out together to the movies or a meal in place of all the parties, so that you can still have a great time together, just minus the alcohol.
- Hang out in clubs or coffee houses that don’t serve alcohol. Plenty of hip coffee houses or the student union are alcohol free but allow for plenty of social interaction.
- Enjoy a few parties minus the alcohol. Try not to spend your entire life wedged between the library stacks––getting out and enjoying the parties can form part of your sobriety plan. There are a few tricks to staying socially involved on campus without falling for the darker side of permanent hangovers. First of all, don’t back out of all invitations; instead, be choosy. Go to those parties that seem like there will be some fun to be had and where you know the people going. Assess the worthiness of every drinking occasion thrown your way before agreeing to it and have a ratio of agreeing to say, one out of every three invites. When you actually do attend, here are some other tricks to keep you sober:
- Find out where the non-alcoholic beverages are. Juice is great for making the pretense of participation without too many questions being asked––after all, anything could be in the juice, right? Or, while everyone is destroying brain cells with a vodka tonic, have a club soda with a twist on the rocks. Other party goers will think you’re pounding vodkas while instead you’re staying lucid and watching the circus unfold around you.
- Sip your drink as though it has some strong potion inside. If you chug your non-alcoholic drink, partygoers who think they’re being helpful might start ordering you shots to cover your lack of a drink. Instead, be nonchalant about how your nurse your drink and make more of the focus on trying to have a discussion with your pals.
- Surround yourself with trusted friends also disinterested in getting drunk. Find a reasonably quiet spot to chat and observe from.
- Set a decent time to leave, preferably before the party antics are way out of control. Dropping in for an hour or two should suffice and ensure you get the atmosphere, catch up with people, enjoy yourself a little and still get back to bed at a decent hour.
- Drink just a little. While this step is optional, staying sober during college doesn’t mean being a complete teetotaler. The real art is in drinking just enough to enjoy without becoming drunk––for most people this is in the order of having only one to two glasses for the entire night. It means that you can enjoy a taste of something (and always choose quality alcohol to make this worthwhile) but then you acknowledge your limit and finish. It takes willpower, which is something that will set you in good stead for the rest of your life so learning it now can’t hurt.
- Go wild now and then. Let your hair down and be a little crazy around the drunk people––without actually being drunk yourself! The drunken mob around you won’t remember if you danced the can-can or sang Lady GaGa songs at the top of your voice out of tune but they’ll probably have a great laugh and even join in at the time. You don’t need to be drunk to be a bit of an exhibitionist, and hanging in the drunk crowd can be the perfect excuse to let the crazy out then disappear back to your dorm quietly, with nobody remembering a thing the following day. (If they do remember, tell them they’re exaggerating.)
- Punk your friends. You have the advantage of being lucid and in total control, allowing you to play silly pranks on your pals while they’re too drunk to know what is going on. The old hand in the warm water or mustache drawn on the face with eyeliner can be a fun way to get a little more mileage out of the evening and your sobriety. Obviously, don’t do any pranking that involves something permanently damaging or harmful, including permanent alterations to the appearance, illegal activity, dangerous activity or reputational damage such as posting photos/videos on the Internet.
- Avoid preaching. There is nothing more boring and more inclined to turn away potential friends and supporters than to hear someone pontificating about how evil alcohol is and how every drunk person is doomed to fail. People just want to have fun when it comes to parties and leisure time and many of the people drinking have probably worked really hard all day and see the party as a way to relax. You’ve decided that having fun is possible without alcohol and that’s great but it’s a whole lot better to show your strength by example, in the doing, than to go on and on about how superior you are to people who can’t control their drinking tendencies. Seek to get the balance right between encouraging others to drink less and simply letting be but showing how you can still enjoy life without relying on alcohol all the time.
- Find fun beyond parties. If the means of celebration has become a little too cliched and everyone heads off to the same bar or party hall each time, look for other ways to have fun at these times. Some examples include:
- Hit some concerts. See a band with another sober-minded friend or group of friends. You can all focus on the music instead of drunken drama.
- Go to dinner. With all the money you’re saving on not having booze, you can most likely afford a meal that’s not Ramen or mac n’ cheese. Find a restaurant near campus you love and make a reservation and be sure to take a friend or two with you.
- Enjoy a live sports game. Tee up a group of interested pals and head on to a sports match. Place limits on what can be drunk (if it’s even allowed) and organize bets or some similar way of following the game that rewards everyone for making guesses about the event.
- Enter a challenge of some sort, such as a sporting event, a competition related to your subject, etc., that involves travel or attending a large, exciting event. This can be something to look forward to, to prepare for and provides and opportunity to meet new people and discover new things or places.
- Create parties that revolve around doing something themed rather than just turning up and drinking. Host a whodunnit night, plan lots of party games that require skill and bright thinking, show movies, run a book club, hold a cooking competition, etc. When people are focused on an actual activity rather than simply gathering, there is often a lot less pressure to drink and a lot more pressure to stay focused on the tasks at hand. It’s still fun, as the mind is occupied in achieving something!
- Keep a running total of how much money your friends have spent on alcohol and how much you’ve saved. Consider a financial goal such as purchasing a car or something substantial by graduation.
- Keep your sense of humor intact. Watching wobbly, giggly friends try to sit down in a chair (and fail) can be pretty hilarious and awfully good entertainment sometimes.
- Try to keep your eye on the prize. Why did you go to college in the first place? If the answer is “to drink”, you should really re-examine why you’re there!
- If you’re with someone who has had too much to drink and appears to be having trouble breathing or has lost consciousness for a considerable amount of time, perform CPR and call 911. Alcohol poisoning is real and can be deadly if not treated immediately.
Edit Things You’ll Need
- Non-alcoholic drink alternatives
- Alternative events to attend
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When I think of the holidays, I think of good food
I remember being a kid, helping my mom make struffoli – a traditional Italian Christmas dessert. They were my absolute favorite. It makes me think about the traditions I want to pass down to my own children.
That’s why it pains me to see holiday celebrations reduced to catered events and store-bought sweets. I understand the time crunch – some years my husband and I have been so busy we didn’t even put up a tree! This is why it’s to keep it simple. Trust me when I tell you this:
Real, healthy, delicious food can easily be made for the holiday table. It doesn’t have to be an extravagant – just homemade and memorable.
You’ll love the recipes in this book, I just know it!
Here’s a sampling:
- No Sugar Added Cranberry Sauce
- Tahini Acorn Squash
- Holiday Brussels Sprouts
- Quinoa Salad with Pomegranate and Mint
- Whole Grain Spiced Molasses Cookies
- Italian Seed Cookies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Snowballs
- No Sugar Added Poached Pears
These aren’t tasteless low-cal or low-fat recipes that will leave you hankering for more. Instead, they’re all made with real, quality ingredients. Whole grains. Nutrient-dense vegetables. You may see a little sugar or chocolate pop up here and there, but the emphasis is on natural sweeteners for sure.
Why? Because when you eat truly satisfying, delicious meals you’ll be less likely to overeat or snack in between. My family loves these recipes and yours will too!
Order your copy today and learn to:
- Make nutritious and easy dishes and desserts
- Create healthy upgrades to YOUR favorite holiday dishes
- Shop for the best quality ingredients
- Figure out what kitchen equipment is worth investing in
Plus, I’ve included printer-friendly 4×6 cards for each recipe so you don’t have to waste a ton of ink and paper printing out the whole eBook. Save a tree, will ya?
This is your chance to do something inexpensive yet really special for yourself and loved ones – make the holidays healthy! How ’bout that?
Real, Whole Food Holiday Recipes Ebook (PDF file) is just $11.99 | <urn:uuid:a9f6cb0a-3e28-4ffa-bc85-dc88a0024d66> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://findyourbalancehealth.com/store/holidayrecipes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921483 | 502 | 1.5 | 2 |
The National Travel Survey, which covered personal travel made in Great Britain during 2009
showed that the average distance travelled per person by bicycle was 46 miles, compared with 42 miles the previous year, the average trip distance rising to 2.8 miles from 2.4 miles.
young people are cycling less, because of road safety fears, the report showed: the number of trips by a typical teenager has plummeted from 70 a year in the early Nineties to 28.
The survey notes: “Due to the relatively small number of cyclists in the NTS sample, results for travel by bicycle are more volatile than those for other modes.”
Bear in mind that Transport for London’s sample for ‘cycling in London’ consists of counts taken on just 29 streets in the whole of Greater London. | <urn:uuid:facf6d35-30ac-4bd2-b527-da9ddf686127> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://crapwalthamforest.blogspot.com/2010/08/cycling-statistics-and-national-travel.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961774 | 166 | 2.1875 | 2 |
All those sea captains in the China and sandalwood trade related to you through Cape Cod and Nantucket lines may have left part of their story here in these lovely islands. The same goes for your mariner and whaler ancestors. The whales still come to sport off Maui though the whalers are long gone. Lahaina, once the royal capital of Hawaii, still slumbers in the tropic sun and remembers the time when gangs of New England seamen alternately cavorted with and terrorized the local population. Some of the more rowdy ones even spent time in the royal calaboose of Kamehameha III. Where there are kings there are chamberlains and secretaries and where these are found there are records.
And what a charming setting for a record repository we have! The Archives of Hawaii neighbor the only royal residence in America. Iolani Palace. Hawaii enjoys along with Vermont and Texas the distinction of being a state which was once an independent country. Its story is the story of Kamehameha V, King Lunalilo, and Queen Emma Naea Rooke, but it is also the story of Hiram Bingham and of families like the Judds, Doles, and Emersons. Whenever I drive down the highway named after Princess Likelike I remember that her husband was a Scot named Cleghorn whose American cousins I believe populated 17th century Barnstable, Massachusetts. Their daughter, the late Princess Kaiulani Cleghorn, was our last official heir to the throne.
Every week a tourist arrives here for a vacation and becomes so intoxicated by the lifestyle, the racial and cultural mix, and the fumes of our plumeria that he sends for his possessions and stays. The genealogical implications are obvious. My baptismal register is full of names like Leilani Wong Judd or Kekaulike Yamamoto Bunker, and we mustn’t forget my favorite - Sean O’Casey Matsumom. Those careful record keepers, the Mormons, also have a temple here at Lai’e.
Frequently, New England seamen came to this melting pot and found a local bride who would have had a hard time in the drawing rooms of nineteenth-century Boston. So they stayed and sold shoes and sealing wax and the material for all those muumuu's and holokus our visitors love. Their children sometimes brought brides from the mainland, sometimes not; but for many years commercial and other ties to New England remained. Displaced Yankees sometimes served in the cabinets of Hawaiian kings and to this day the state soup is corn chowder.
A case in point of how far people wandered is that of artist James Gay Sawkins who was painting miniatures in Boston in 1831. In 1837 he was working in Central America and in 1840 he was showing work in New York. By 1851 he had a studio in Honolulu. The Privy Council of the Kingdom of Hawaii paid him $100 for a portrait of Kamehameha the Great before his wanderlust took him off to Australia.
I have at least one lady friend who despaired of ever getting her husband to travel until she got him hooked on genealogy. Now he sits in the record repositories of London while she shops at Harrods. In Hawaii we have the prestigious Bishop Museum and a local DAR library for researchers and the Ala Moana Shopping Center, so a similar vacation is possible here also.
The point of all this is that you may very well have an ancestor or cousin who did not get lost in Ohio in the first two decades of the last century. He or she may be resting in a grave which looks out over the Pacific towards Tahiti. If you go to the Royal Mausoleum in the lush Nuuanu Valley, you will see the epitaph of His Royal Highness John O. Dominis, Prince Consort of Hawaii, husband to the last queen and owner of the house which is now the Governor’s Mansion. The American flag is not allowed to fly here for this tiny bit of soil is still ruled by the ghosts of our kings and it is their flag which waves in the trade winds. Good Prince John left progeny though not of the legitimate kind. His forgiving and under standing wife, Queen Liliuokalani, adopted them and provided for them. When you hear her song Aloha O’e, remember her, and when you scurry across Copley Square on your way to NEHGS look up at the sign over Chauncy Hall. It was her husband’s school. | <urn:uuid:4e7ff935-444b-4f37-b4fd-9073dadef85f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.americanancestors.org/of-shoes-and-ships-and-sealing-wax/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960209 | 944 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Wed November 30, 2011
Central Banks Join To Battle Credit Crisis, Stocks Surge
The Federal Reserve and five of the world's other major central banks just announced "coordinated actions ... to ease strains in financial markets" and make more credit available to consumers and businesses by pumping money into the global financial system.
In a statement released at 8 a.m. ET, the Fed says:
"The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank are today announcing coordinated actions to enhance their capacity to provide liquidity support to the global financial system. The purpose of these actions is to ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster economic activity."
Translation, according to The Associated Press: The central banks are making it easier for financial institutions to get cash, especially dollars, that they can lend — hopefully at lower interest rates. The central banks are doing that, in part, by lowering the cost of "existing dollar swap lines by 50 basis points," Reuters adds.
The AP says: "Stocks surged following the news. Germany's DAX was trading 4 percent higher as were Dow futures in New York. The financial system has been showing signs of entering another credit crunch as Europe's debt crisis has shown alarming signs of spreading." | <urn:uuid:25a1c317-0798-4d07-8118-30c405c6044f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kazu.org/post/central-banks-join-battle-credit-crisis-stocks-surge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958098 | 285 | 2.234375 | 2 |
The three ship’s divers specially trained by the French Navy to join the crew of the Gowind® OPV L’Adroit practice daily and are ready to respond at any time.
The French Navy ship’s divers are tasked with regular inspection of the ship’s hull (verification of the condition of the water inlets, the sacrificial anodes, the shaft lines and the hull appendages) and removal of any foreign bodies trapped in the propellers.
The Gowind® OPV L’Adroit is fitted with variable-pitch four-bladed propellers, the pitch adjusting according to the required thrust. In the propeller hub, an eccentric system controlled by a rod mechanism adjusts the pitch of the blades simultaneously to the angles for ahead or astern movement. With a reputation for high reliability, this type of propeller also favours manoeuvrability, providing L’Adroit with flexibility and responsiveness indispensable for conducting its operations and highly appreciated by the crew.
But the divers also carry out ship safety and security tasks. They are at work at ports of call to check for hazards near the quay, such as underwater obstacles or terrorist explosive devices. Lastly, they are ready to respond at any time in the event of a man overboard or an aircraft crash. The L’Adroit’s technological equipment provides new capabilities and facilitates the implementation of such operations. The capacity of the shell doors customarily used for this type of task is limited to three divers, but the OPV’s aft ramps now enable rapid launching of boats loaded with personnel and equipment.
The hostile conditions in which these divers work (high pressure, strong current, low visibility, etc.) necessitate intensive training and complete knowledge of the hull. Nevertheless, the reduced 32-person crew of the L’Adroit demands a high level of versatility from these sailors. The three ship’s divers of the L’Adroit also occupy the posts of chief engine room artificer, master at arms and electrician, respectively. | <urn:uuid:754a6518-9968-4c83-b896-44d9b2df9be2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.dcnsgroup.com/2012/04/26/un-role-determinant-pour-les-plongeurs-de-bord-de-lopv-gowindladroit/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922724 | 422 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Herman Cain says many things I want to hear. But I’ve compared the words of the GOP’s national platforms since the Bush era began in 1988 with the actual performance of the Party’s national officeholders during the same period. I am therefore immunized against any temptation to believe that words spoken by GOP candidates in pursuit of conservative support when they run for office are a reliable indicator of how they will perform once in office.
Over the years I’ve participated in many political and legal battles alongside grass-roots conservatives committed, as I am, to restoring, defending and conserving the constitutional republic established by America’s founders – you know, the one based on the self-evident truth that the will of the Creator God is the first principle that defines right and justice in human affairs. Time and again in the course of our activities my fellow workers have shared their grief and disappointment over this or that supposedly conservative politician who won not only their vote but their hard-working support, but betrayed their hopes once in office.
Their all too accurate lament always brings to my mind the words Shakespeare ascribed to Scotland’s ill-fated King Duncan in his response to the reported execution of the traitor who nearly cost him his throne: “There is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust.” (Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” Act I, Scene 4) In the era of ambition-driven sound-bite politics, is there any way to distinguish the deceptive campaigners from the candidates who will, once in office, stay true to the principles and policies they espouse?
Part of the way can be found in another scene in “Macbeth” (Act I, Scene 2), when King Duncan praises the valiant sergeant who brings him the glad tidings of victory over the foreign invaders who supported the traitor’s war against his throne. “So well thy words become thee as thy wounds …,” he observes. Particularly when it comes to electing someone to the highest position of trust the American people have constitutionally empowered themselves to bestow, it makes sense to look for the “wounds,” i.e., the evidence that a candidates’ words are matched by deeds performed in the service of the principles and policies they now espouse.
On the whole the present crisis of America’s life is rooted in the betrayal of our national principles being perpetrated in the name of so-called “abortion rights.” Our willingness as a nation to deny the unalienable right to life of our helpless, nascent posterity is proof positive that we have, in the most critical respect, abandoned the will of the Creator God who, according to our Declaration of Independence, endowed us with the rights on which the liberty and self-government of the people depend.
Herman Cain professes to believe the same thing. However, as I think back upon the crucial battles conservatives have waged against the forces seeking to deny the unalienable right to life and disparage the authority of God on which it depends (e.g., the effort to prevent the judicial murder of Terry Schiavo; the fight against the state-supported murder of embryonic human life in Missouri; the fight to defend South Dakota’s law restoring respect for the right to life of nascent posterity; the movement to defend then Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s display of respect for the Ten Commandments in Alabama; the effort in Illinois to decry Barack Obama’s willingness to sacrifice, on the altar of so called “abortion rights,” children born alive despite the abortion procedure intended to murder them), I don’t recall the presence and efforts of Herman Cain.
Those battles were unpopular at the time they were fought. Many who engaged in them were shunned and ridiculed by pundits and prognosticators on every hand. To this day, they live with the scars and aching wounds inflicted upon them. I could not fairly doubt the words of someone like Herman Cain if he were among them. But at least he emphatically proclaims his pro-life sentiments now, as the highest prize of power dances within his reach. On this account, I was tempted to give him such credibility as it deserves. Then I saw the following exchange on John Stossel’s Fox Business program:
I also made this transcript of the relevant portion:
- Stossel: A quickie, a quick question on one more hot subject – abortion …”
Stossel: You’re against it …
Cain: I’m pro-life from conception, yes
Stossel: Any cases where it should be legal?
Cain: I don’t think government should make that decision. I don’t believe that government should make that decision.
Stossel: People should be free to abort a baby …
Cain: I support life from conception. No, people shouldn’t be just free to abort because if we don’t protect the sanctity of life from conception we will also start to play God relative to life at the end of life.
Stossel: I’m confused on what your position is. If a …
Cain: My position is I’m pro-life, period.
Stossel: … woman is raped she should not be allowed to end the pregnancy?
Cain: That’s her choice. That is not government’s choice. I support life from conception.
Stossel: So abortion should be legal.
Cain: No abortion should not be legal. I believe in the sanctity of life.
Stossel: I’m not understanding. If it’s her choice, that means its legal.
Cain: I don’t believe a woman should have an abortion. Does that help to clear it up.
Stossel: Even if she is raped?
Cain: Even if she is raped or she is the victim of incest, because there are other options. We must protect the sanctity of life and I have always believed that. (Applause.) Real clear.
From this exchange, I have no doubt that Herman Cain emphatically declares his personal belief that women should not abort their nascent offspring. I have no doubt that he understands that the denial of unalienable right involved in abortion must lead to other assaults, e.g., on the right to life of the elderly. But I more than sympathize with John Stossel’s confusion when Cain’s emphatic pro-life declarations are accompanied by the equally emphatic statement that, when it comes to the legality of abortion, “I don’t’ think government should make that decision. I don’t believe that government should make that decision.” Equally confused is his assertion that, in the case of rape, “That’s her choice. That is not the government’s choice. I support life from conception.”
Cain has reportedly declared his support for legislation that would acknowledge the personhood of nascent posterity. But if, from conception, the nascent child is a person, how can it be just to allow one biological parent to murder that person, innocent of any crime, even when the other biological parent is a rapist? If we acknowledge personhood and then declare that in certain circumstances innocent persons can legally be murdered (i.e., slain unjustly in violation of the God endowed unalienable right to life), we simply set the stage for intense and extensive abuses of power in any area (such as the administration of government-controlled health care) where violating the rights of innocent people offers expedient advantages.
In this regard, Herman Cain is not making sense. Despite his absence from so many pro-life battles, I am loath to conclude that his emphatic proclamation of pro-life views is just a Mitt Romney-style ploy staged to confuse sincere grass-roots advocates of America’s founding principles. Yet even assuming that this is not the case, his words reveal a profound misunderstanding of the logical consequence of those principles. According to the principles of the American Declaration of Independence, government exists to secure God-endowed unalienable rights. This is the defining obligation of just and legitimate government power. Therefore, just government is obliged to protect by appropriate laws every person’s God-endowed unalienable right to life. Any regime of law that in any case allows parents to murder their innocent children fails this obligation, thereby losing its claim to justice and legitimacy. (This is why, for instance, the “honor killings” sanctioned by Islam’s Shariah law confirm its inconsistency with the requirements of just government.)
Sometimes politicians betray their professed conservative views because they were never sincerely committed to them in the first place. Sometimes they do so because, despite their sincere proclamations of personal belief, they lack the understanding to defend their views when challenged on grounds of law and civic principle. When it comes to making and enforcing laws, personal beliefs and predilections cannot, in practice, be sustained except by people who know how to deal with such challenges. The self-contradiction that confused John Stossel will surely be exploited in the debates and councils (in the public eye and behind the scenes) in the course of which laws are made and policies implemented. Someone who starts by firmly espousing a self-contradictory view will end by surrendering to opponents who embarrass him with that self-contradiction. Sadly, the people who supported him will then lament the failure of principle that, with a little discerning thought, they would have seen coming long before it occurred.
Will we ever again have leaders whose supposed stand for principle survives the belated wisdom of hindsight? Not until we learn to get beyond candidates’ words in order to listen for the sound understanding needed to back them up. When it comes to his professed pro-life views, I do not perceive that sound understanding in Herman Cain. I do see more grief and disappointment on the way for those who once again let vain hope drive them to ignore the warning signs. And when it comes to Herman Cain’s espoused positions, there are more than one. Stay tuned. | <urn:uuid:f0422541-2025-4954-87d2-a0cc5f8ecd53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wnd.com/2011/09/350033/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953562 | 2,152 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Well, This Can't Be Good
From the LA Times - "Chunk of Ice Shelf Collapses Putting Larger Area at Risk"
From the accompanying article:
Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica that started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and had been there for perhaps 1,500 years.
British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan attributed the melting to rising sea temperature due to global warming.
Scientists said that while they were not concerned about a rise in sea level from the latest event, it was a sign of worsening global warming.
Such occurrences are "more indicative of a tipping point or trigger in the climate system," said Sarah B. Das, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
"These are things that are not re-forming," Das said. "So once they're gone, they're gone."
I'm sure in retrospect, no one will regret having missed any opportunities in these past eight years in addressing global warming. Nope, no problem here at all. Bush has been a fantastic president. So much better than that liar, know-it-all Gore.
(Note, photos are credited to government entity and appear to be in public domain.) | <urn:uuid:6a04d8c6-11b2-4f08-9812-2244d77fc4dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://correntewire.com/well_this_cant_be_good_0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951904 | 265 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Public attitudes towards smoking and tobacco control policy in Russia
Danishevski, K., Gilmore, A. and McKee, M., 2008. Public attitudes towards smoking and tobacco control policy in Russia. Tobacco Control, 17 (4), pp. 276-283.
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Background: Since the political transition in 1991, Russia has been targeted intensively by the transnational tobacco industry. Already high smoking rates among men have increased further; traditionally low rates among women have more than doubled. The tobacco companies have so far faced little opposition as they shape the discourse on smoking in Russia. This paper asks what ordinary Russians really think about possible actions to reduce smoking. Methods: A representative sample of the Russian population (1600 respondents) was interviewed face to face in November 2007. Results: Only 14% of respondents considered tobacco control in Russia adequate, while 37% thought that nothing was being done at all. There was support for prices keeping pace with or even exceeding inflation. Over 70% of all respondents favoured a ban on sales from street kiosks, while 56% believed that existing health warnings (currently 4% of front and back of packs) were inadequate. The current policy of designating a few tables in bars and restaurants as non-smoking was supported by less than 10% of respondents, while almost a third supported a total ban, with 44% supporting provision of equal space for smokers and non-smokers. Older age, non-smoking status and living in a smaller town all emerged as significantly associated with the propensity to support antismoking measures. The tobacco companies were generally viewed as behaving like most other companies in Russia, with three-quarters of respondents believing that these companies definitely or maybe bribe politicians. Knowledge of impact of smoking on health was limited with significant underestimation of dangers and addictive qualities of tobacco. A third believed that light cigarettes are safer than normal cigarettes. Conclusion: The majority of the Russian population would support considerable strengthening of tobacco control policies but there is also a need for effective public education campaigns.
|Creators||Danishevski, K., Gilmore, A. and McKee, M.|
|Departments||Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > Health|
|Research Centres||UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies|
Actions (login required) | <urn:uuid:36732076-e8b6-4833-afda-ff805f461c25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://opus.bath.ac.uk/14629/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950969 | 500 | 1.765625 | 2 |
It's time to read and vote for your favorite article in the 2013 Write-Off Contest! The four finalist's articles are featured in the May 13 newsletter and can be found through this link. Hurry! Voting ends May 18.
Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), is a beautiful, tall, arching plant with dual personalities: it has the willowy visual effect of ornamental grass in the landscape, and boasts a variety of culinary and medicinal uses as an herb.
(Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 17, 2008.)
A native of India, lemongrass is widely used in Thai and Vietnamese cooking. Therefore, when growing lemongrass, you'll want to replicate its native Indian climate by giving the plant full sun, sandy, well-draining soil and average water - do not over-water.
In areas of the country that do not experience freezes, lemongrass will act as a perennial and grow rather large - up to 9', in fact. However, if your winters can get harsh, better to pot up the plant and bring it in to the garage. This will stunt its growth somewhat, but it should survive. (Before storing, first see if it needs divided. Lemongrass is a clumping type of grass, which means you can eventually divide and get several plants out of it...or, of course, you can re-plant some and eat the rest!)
When harvesting your lemongrass, select a firm stalk with leaves that appear green and fresh. If leaves are browning, wilted or dried out, there won't be much flavor. The grass blade can be sliced very fine and added to soups for a lemony twist. Also, the bulb can be bruised and minced for use in a variety of recipes.
Prepare lemongrass by peeling off and discarding one or two layers of the woody exterior leaves. These leaf blades are tough and therefore better for teas, potpourri and flavoring, but not so good for outright eating. Instead, use the tender white inner hearts.
Medicinal herb teas can also be brewed from lemongrass. The tea has been used for everything from lowering cholesterol to soothing digestive problems. Externally, the oil can be used to treat athlete's foot or acne.
Many lemon-scented and lemon-flavored products actually get their lemony goodness from lemongrass rather than from real lemons. Some have reported it being a successful insect repellent.
If you have trouble finding lemongrass at your local nursery or gardening center, check with Asian grocery stores, farmers markets or organic groceries selling fresh herbs. Pick a plant that has fat, healthy-looking stalks and light-green bases with leaves wrapped tight so they do not curl or dry out.
After you get the lemongrass home, peel off the outside leaves, place the stalks in a jar of water and put it on a bright windowsill.The stalks should root in a couple of weeks and be ready for planting outdoors, so long as the soil has adequately warmed.
Lemongrass is especially yummy with fish or chicken. Or, try this fabulous herb oil as a salad dressing or bread dip:
Olive Oil Fresh Rosemary Twig Fresh Lemon Grass Fresh Thyme Twig Clove of Garlic Salt Peppercorns, red and black
Combine all the above ingredients in a clear bottle. Let sit for at least a week. Shake vigorously before serving.
About Tamara Galbraith
I am an avid organic gardener and certified Master Gardener for Collin County, Texas (that's North Dallas). However, I don't take being an MG too seriously, as I still manage to kill plants on a regular basis.
I enjoy growing nearly everything: vegetables, herbs, tropicals, roses...the only plants I'm really bad with are orchids and houseplants. I am also a fierce defender of spiders.
When not gardening I can be found cooking, birdwatching or hugging on either my sweet English hubby or my two wonderful doggies, Ray and Bailey. | <urn:uuid:1c0e4289-837e-4a49-91bf-e4bd25787fa2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/738/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950901 | 871 | 2.53125 | 3 |
In most JVMs there is no confusion between memory allocated for the application and memory allocated by the running of the VM itself (for example a call to malloc() within the JIT). However, in Jikes RVM, the VM and the application are both written in Java. Moreover, they currently share the same heap. It would be very desirable to improve this situation and separately allocate VM and application objects. Aside from cleaner accounting and behaving more like a production JVM, there may be opportunities for performance optimizations since the lifetimes of objects created by the JIT will typically be bounded by the invocation of a single compilation, as an example.
This project would start by identifying all transitions from the application into the VM proper and channeling all such transitions through a zero-cost "trap", which simply serves as a marker. The trap can be viewed as analogous to a kernel trap in the OS setting. The project would also involve writing a simple checking routine which would walk the stack and determine whether execution was currently within the VM or application context. The combination of these mechanisms could then be used to identify and verify all application<->VM transitions. | <urn:uuid:114e346f-c2f1-403c-a4ce-9984ffd55613> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/RVM-399 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958829 | 232 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Think it's the bake element not working well. It heats 35 degrees less than what's needed. So, to bake at 350 I need to set the oven heat temp at 385. This occurs at all temps.
Will replacing the bake element rectify this or could there be something else wrong? This has gone on a yr or two and it continues to work with that 35 deg discrepancy.
Would the AP4093085 part No. work?
ANSWER Hello Sunflower. You will need to test the oven sensor and see if it is bad. It should read around 1100 ohms at room temp and around 1650 ohms at 350°. If it is good, replace the control in the unit. You can test this with a multi-meter TJMA-DMT3. Here is a link on how to use a multi-meter. http://forum.appliancepartspros.com/oven-repair-including-ranges-cooktops/4810-how-check-continuity-ohmmeter.html
Answered by AppliancePartsPros.com | Friday, February 15, 2013 | <urn:uuid:1aaa6b3d-5d5e-4200-b37b-7a200fc7b7ec> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.appliancepartspros.com/answers-for-whirlpool-oven-bake-element-74003019-ap4093085-question-84336.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905006 | 233 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Peter Funt is a writer and public speaker, and can be reached at www.CandidCamera.com. His column is distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate.
It's a two-man race now, Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. Here's the betting line on key categories that seem to matter most in debates and on the stump.
In the category of Falsely Characterizing Obama, Romney uses "European Socialist," which is powerful and connects well with xenophobic voters.
Gingrich relies on "Saul Alinsky Radical." Alinsky, the Chicago populist who died in 1972, was best known for fighting on behalf of the poor and middle class — so drumming away at this obscure reference isn't helping Gingrich. Edge: Romney.
In the What's My Fake Line? category, most registered Republicans are counting on the fact that anything beats "community organizer." So, Gingrich calls himself an "historian," while Romney professes to be a "businessman."
Neither candidate cares for "politician," although that's what they've each been for most of their adult lives. Edge: Romney.
In the all-important Wives category, Gingrich's total of three is hard to top. Romney has only been married once, although his great grandfather did flee to Mexico with at least five wives to escape U.S. monogamy laws. Edge: Gingrich.
When it comes to Exaggerated Job Creation Claims, Gingrich boasts that he helped create an astounding 27 million jobs during the Reagan and Clinton administrations.
The math and politics are fuzzy, but who wouldn't vote for 27 million new jobs? Romney can only claim 120,000 jobs — most coming at places like Staples and Sports Authority long after his tenure. Unfortunately for Gingrich, GOP voters believe that government can't create jobs, thus negating his 27 million. Edge: Romney.
Gingrich easily wins the Who I Want You to Think of When You Think of Me competition. Gingrich deftly cites Ronald Reagan in his answers to all questions.
Romney, on the other hand, doesn't seem to relate to anyone in his past — although he does, oddly, have a large photo of his father, George, on his campaign bus. He also used to mention his Irish Setter Seamus, until word got out that he once strapped Seamus to the roof of the family car for a 12-hour drive to Canada. Edge: Gingrich.
Fawning Over Hispanics is an important category in Florida, and Gingrich has hired former advisors to Sen. Marco Rubio along with several other local Hispanic leaders.
But Romney trumps that by having his son, Craig, narrate campaign ads in Spanish. Edge: Romney.
There's keen competition in the category of Personal Attacks, even though both men claim they'd rather not stoop to such things. Romney calls Gingrich a "failed leader;" Gingrich says Romney is "timid" and "confused;" Romney labels Gingrich "highly erratic;" Gingrich says Romney is full of "pious baloney." Edge: even.
In the Wackiest Idea category, Gingrich appeared to have it wrapped up when he declared that students should be hired as school janitors. Then, in a stunning move, Romney bested him by announcing that he favors "self-deportation" of illegal immigrants. Edge: Romney.
In the Whose Tax Returns are More Damning category, Gingrich has a lot of splainin' to do about the $1.6 million he was paid by Freddie Mac to teach history.
But Romney's return not only revealed bank accounts in Switzerland, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, it put the lie to a fundamental GOP claim. If low tax rates for the wealthy — Romney paid about 15 percent — are supposed to spur job creation, then how many jobs did Romney create with over $40 million that he earned the last two years? None. Edge: Romney.
It's a tight one. The best Romney and Gingrich backers can hope for is that it never comes down to the category all pageant hopefuls dread most: Congeniality.
Peter Funt is a writer and public speaker. He is also the long-time host of “Candid Camera.” He can be reached at www.CandidCamera.com. His columns are distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc., newspaper syndicate. | <urn:uuid:24a96db7-72a4-4536-8f5a-965dd40ef177> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news-daily.com/news/2012/jan/31/gop-faces-odds-peter-funt/?features | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967607 | 903 | 1.617188 | 2 |
Includes: Atlantis Chronicles #1-7
Clipped from Wikipedia: The history of Atlantis was detailed in The Atlantis Chronicles a 7-issue limited series published by DC Comics from March 1990 through September 1990. It was written by Peter David, and illustrated by Esteban Maroto. The series focused on a series of Atlantean historical manuscripts, also called The Atlantis Chronicles, and chronicled the rise and fall of Atlantis. Each issue dealt with a separate era or event in Atlantis' past, beginning with its sinking, as told through the royal historian's point of view.
Clipped from Wired/GeekDad: This is a big, sprawling Shakespearean family saga that tells the history of the DC Universe Atlantis through the lives of its royal family.
It starts, of course, with strife between two brothers. That strife is passed down through the generations as the members of the royal family view not only to rule the underworld kingdom but also scheme to conquer the world above. Every good family saga needs a great villain and this story has one in Kordax, who’s reviled for a mutation and returns for revenge on those who cast him out.
Love is won and lost, cities destroyed, and the series ends with a glimpse of Aquaman as the child destined to carry all this family history.
A longer plot summary can be found in this Comics Should be Good blog post. | <urn:uuid:956120c1-71e1-42d7-a6bd-477b899f76ce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thedorkreview.blogspot.com/2011/12/wanted-tpb-atlantis-chronicles.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961703 | 284 | 1.859375 | 2 |
Herbert Allen Giles (1845-1935) spent several years as a diplomat in China and in 1897 was appointed Cambridge University's second professor of Chinese. His published works cover Chinese language and literature, history and philosophy.
This series of lectures, published as "China and the Chinese," was given at Columbia University in 1902, to mark the establishment of a Chinese professorship there. The lectures were not intended for the specialist, more to urge a wider and more systematic study of China and its culture, and to encourage new students into the field.
While many of the observations are just as relevant today, others will remind us how much China has changed since the period of the Manchu Qing dynasty in which he wrote.
Lecture I - The Chinese Language
Lecture II - A Chinese Library
Lecture III - Democratic China
Lecture IV - China and Ancient Greece
Lecture V - Taoism
Lecture VI - Some Chinese Manners and Customs
May 11, 2006 Subject:
China for the curious
In case this is a title you might put onto your list titled: "Interesting -- maybe when I'm feeling scholarly" . . .
These six lectures are a fascinating introduction to the significance of Chinese civilization and scholarship. If that sounds a little dry, start with the last lecture (6: Some Chinese Manners and Customs); if it intrigues you, start with the first (The Chinese Language).
The author, Giles, is marvelously clear, accessible, and comprehensive, and David Barne's reading is a perfectly transparent conveyance of Giles' ideas. Even when the reader might easily be more noticeable than the text -- in the Chinese pronunciation -- instead he makes it seem very natural that the Chinese sounds and intonations should share breath with the English, and so the text remains at the forefront of attention. So here's a really wonderful text, read so deftly you cease to notice the reader -- except every now and again, when it dawns on you what a genuine pleasure it is to listen to this voice. | <urn:uuid:3a9ac8e7-c6f3-4261-b4e6-aa724b21c487> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.org/details/china_chinese_librivox | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942335 | 424 | 2.3125 | 2 |
It was revealed yesterday that AT&T was mulling the idea of charging for FaceTime access over 3G and LTE cellular networks. The prompt in the latest iOS 6 beta was discovered by 9to5Mac, asking customers to call AT&T to use FaceTime over cellular networks, presumably so that the carrier could charge additional fees for the service. When asked about the feature at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that it was “too early” to know what the company’s final plans will be.
That doesn’t mean the CEO has completely ruled out the idea of charged FaceTime cellular access, however. Stephenson was non-committal in his answer, saying that he had heard “the same rumor.” As you may have already gathered from reactions across the internet, the idea hasn’t exactly gone down well. Users are rightly pointing out that data is already bought and paid for, so applying additional charges for services that use that data simply comes across as a way to siphon more money from customers.
Carriers in the United States and Europe have tried to build a business model around video calls in the past, although high prices and lack of phones to take advantage of the technology resulted in the service’s failure to take off. There are millions of iPhone 4S’ out there capable of using FaceTime over cellular, but we’re pretty sure that consumers will balk at the idea of paying extra for the privilege. Hopefully AT&T will get the message that charging for FaceTime over cellular will go down like a lead balloon before the company finalizes its plans. | <urn:uuid:afba35b0-8f11-45ae-a753-0eeafe11a47f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.slashgear.com/att-too-early-to-comment-on-facetime-3g-fees-18239042/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967954 | 341 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Intel recently made much fanfare about their $0.18 dividend increase. Are they trying to help investors and beleaguered pension funds? Well, if Intel is serious about returning value to shareholders it should initiate a buyback right now. A massive buyback. Intel could double EPS overnight and the stock would follow. Failing to do that amounts to fiduciary negligence by the board and management. .
Here’s how it would work. Intel has about 5.6B shares outstanding. It can use its $20B cash hoard to repurchase about 1B shares at $20 each. Then it can issue $56B in debt to repurchase another 2.8B shares. With only 1.8B shares left and $9.8B in net income, EPS would sky rocket to more than $5.50. At a P/E of 10 I’ll let you calculate the new stock price.
Bear in mind that $56B of new debt is very conservative because Intel would have still have a generous 7x in interest coverage. The company pays less than 3% interest on its existing bonds that mature 25 years from now. If Intel increases its existing $3B debt by another $56B it would probably have to pay closer to 4% . The total annual interest expense on the $59B would be roughly $2.4B and it is all tax deductible – a $720M gift from the IRS every year! See the charts below for the before and after operating income allocation (based on the latest quarterly financials, annualized). [more]
Now that the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, is talking about variations for a global gold standard, I thought I’d throw one out. It is the Gold Equivalence Provision (GEP) and is designed to constrain reckless government spending but still allow prudent monetary policy (if you don’t think that’s an oxymoron). I think it should have the legal strength of a constitutional amendment and it should cover all forms of government debt.
Under GEP, the holder of the debt has an option to collect principal and interest in gold ounce equivalents based on the price of gold at the time the bond was issued. Note: this is very different from the gold standard because the price of gold is set by free markets. Here's how it works: Suppose a government agency issues a 10 year $10,000 bond with a 10% coupon on a day when NYMEX gold closes at $1,000. The holder of the bond would normally receive $1,000 interest per year and then the lump sum principal of $10,000 after 10 years. In terms of Gold Equivalence, the holder is being paid out interest of 1 ounce of gold every year, and then the principal of 10 ounces after 10 years. The Gold Equivalence Provision (GEP) would kick in at any time that gold rises above the closing price of gold when the bond was issued (i.e. $10,000 in this example). In that scenario, the holder would get paid out the current market value of the equivalent gold ounces. If the gold price drops then the bond works in the normal way.
For example, suppose after 1 year the price of gold is $1,200. Since this is higher than $1,000 gold price at issuance it means that the GEP kicks in. The holder gets paid out $1,200 instead of the usual $1,000 in interest. Suppose after year 2 the gold price drops to $900. Well then the GEP does not apply and the holder gets paid the regular $1,000 in interest. Principal payments work the same way. If after 10 years gold is trading at $1,500 an ounce then the holder gets $15,000 in principal instead of $10,000.
All the usual gold-bug and sentimental reasons plus these two:
- Because it’s useless. No, seriously. The gold price has limited industrial or economic repercussions. If the price of gold rises or falls suddenly it doesn't affect farmers or motorists like the price of soy beans or oil would. So it is the perfect market proxy for inflation expectations or financial discontent.
- Because it’s large market cap makes it hard to manipulate for any extended period of time. You need massive, global discontent/inflation expectations to move the price.
What would GEP do?
The GEP would impose a market based constraint on government spending. If the markets feel that spending is unsustainable, the gold price will rise and the government will be constrained. Or at the very least, bond holders would be made whole. This is more flexible than the usual balanced budget amendments (which always have "war" and other loopholes anyway) because productive debt financed projects would not be penalized. If the market thinks that, say, Interstate freeway construction is good for the economy, then gold prices would stay tame. Naturally, many of the gold standard deficiencies apply too. If someone figures out a way to make gold from sea water then the whole mechanism will collapse. [more]
Isn’t it perplexing that people who advocate a return to the gold standard are often against big government and supposedly pro-market? After all, the term “gold standard” is just a euphemism for government price fixing where the government sets an arbitrary, non-market price for the currency/gold conversion. By now humans should have learned that government price fixing almost always leads to a host of bad, unintended consequences. I’ll get to those in a moment. [more] | <urn:uuid:12dd81f9-ee14-4c58-b4fe-0a60a3a21fd8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/ViewBlog.aspx?t=01005752343243997379&month=11&year=2010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953928 | 1,158 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Thoroughly updated for its Fourth Edition, this book is a comprehensive review for the American Board of Family Medicine certification and recertification exams. It contains over 1,800 board-format questions, including over 1,000 multiple-choice questions from the major subject areas of family medicine and over 700 questions drawn from 60 clinical problem sets. The book includes a pictorial atlas of clinical photographs, radiographs, and lab smears, with questions regarding these images. Detailed answers and explanations follow the questions.
This book includes AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ sponsored by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
A companion website includes four practice exams. The website also offers an iPod downloadable audio companion with 120 facts from Bratton's 1000 Facts to Help You Pass the Family Medicine Boards book, with an option to buy more. | <urn:uuid:cea1831e-7560-4207-8264-dd96d28d59be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lww.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product__11851_-1_9012053_Prod-9781608317196_____PDP | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925551 | 172 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Ocean City Maryland: Saint Mary Star-of-the-Sea Catholic Church
"An Ocean City Original"Ocean City, Maryland sprang to life on July 4, 1875 with the grand opening of the Atlantic Hotel, located on the beach between Wicomico and Somerset Streets. The hotel?s one hundred twelve rooms lodged about two hundred fifty guests. It stood virtually alone on the beach, the first tentative step toward creating a town that at the time existed mostly in the minds of a small group of investors.
The new seaside resort enjoyed modest success in its first year but business fell off in 1876 as potential visitors opted to attend centennial celebrations in nearby Philadelphia and elsewhere. However, the opening of three new hotels in 1877 ? the Seaside Hotel, at the corner of Baltimore Avenue and Wicomico Street directly behind the Atlantic, the Ocean House, farther down the beach just below what is now South 1st Street, and the Excursion House, built by the railroad at Worcester Street to accommodate those visiting for the day ? brought the crowds back to Ocean City that summer. Nearly three thousand people were reportedly in town for the Fourth of July holiday. Among the new visitors was the Right Reverend Henry C. Lay, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Easton (Maryland), who preached to audiences in one of the parlors of the Atlantic Hotel, the first organized religious services held in Ocean City. Also visiting that year was Bishop Thomas A. Becker of the Catholic diocese of Wilmington (Delaware), who had traveled to the Atlantic Hotel with several of his colleagues for a religious retreat by the sea.
The Catholic clergymen perceived a need during their 1877 visit for a Catholic ministry in the fledgling resort, and Bishop Becker took the lead in getting one underway. He arranged for the use of a room in a cottage rented by John Tracy, the proprietor of the Atlantic Hotel, as a provisional Catholic chapel. The cottage, one of the first erected in town, was situated on a lot at the south corner of Atlantic Avenue and Wicomico Street that was owned by Philadelphian John Myers, a stockholder in the Atlantic Hotel Company (see 1875 plat at the end of this article). The parcel today is the site of Dolle?s Candyland and the Cork Bar. It?s uncertain whether services were held in the chapel during the 1877 season, but it was functioning in 1878, as related in this report in The Baltimore Sun on August 17:
?The Roman Catholic visitors worship in an adjacent cottage [to the Atlantic Hotel], where, on a rudely constructed altar, mass has been almost daily offered by one or more of the several priests of the archdiocese who have been here this season.?
A Catholic Church
Bishop Becker undoubtedly recognized that the tiny one room chapel was only a temporary arrangement, and he began looking for other property on which to construct a more permanent presence. His search culminated in his acquisition of three lots for $100 collectively, evidenced in the Worcester County land records by a deed dated May 25, 1878. The three lots (numbers 55, 73 and 74) formed a contiguous L-shaped parcel on the southwest corner of Baltimore Avenue and Talbot Street (see plat). Bishop Becker pressed ahead with his plans for erecting a suitable place for Catholic worship on the Ocean City beach. The Sun report from August 17, 1878 continues with this update on his progress:
?Bishop Becker ? has selected a site for a chapel and residence adjoining. Mr. John Stack, the well-known Baltimore builder, is here [Ocean City] in this connection, and has with him the plan of the structure to be submitted to the bishop. The building will commence without delay, and will do credit to the architectural efforts of this place. The site is on the beach facing the wild ocean waters and adjacent to the Seaside and Atlantic Hotels.?
The report goes on to provide these precise details of the planned structure:
Mr. John Stack, Jr., of Baltimore, is the architect, and his plan shows a handsome chapel, in style purely gothic, but flattened to suit the climate and location. The chapel proper is 36 by 26 feet, and 22 feet high in the clear, with organ gallery, sanctuary 16 by 18 feet, and sacristy 12 by 16 feet. The floor is raised above the sand surface five feet on piles. A vestibule 6 by 10 feet forms the main entrance. The church is lighted by a large double gothic window, with quarterfoil [sic] or rose centre, overlooking the gallery, and on each side four windows 3 ? by 9 feet, and still two smaller windows, one on each side of the vestibule. Projecting gables and a neat gothic cross will ornament the edifice. The sanctuary, octagonal in shape, will connect the chapel and episcopal cottage, which, in design, is also gothic, but somewhat flatter than the church ? The church windows are to be of stained glass of neat design, some of them to be introduced by leading Catholics visiting here.?
Bishop Becker now had the land and a blueprint for a new Catholic church; the only thing he lacked was funding for construction. That step, as might be expected, proved to be the most difficult. A Sun reporter offered this assessment on July 21, 1879:
?It had been proposed to build a Catholic chapel here [Ocean City] this season, but the project will hardly be carried out so soon. Bishop Becker, of Wilmington, and a number of Maryland and Delaware priests, who were here last season, gave impetus to the movement. Mr. Charles G. Nicholson, of Baltimore, started a subscription. At the services today [July 20] it was announced that Bishop Becker had purchased the site for a chapel, and the subscriptions were renewed.?
Adequate funding was eventually secured and everything was in place to commence work on the new building by May 1880, according to this account in The Sun:
?May 16, 1880 ? A Catholic church of handsome pattern will also be built of wood, 48 by 29 feet, on ground purchased three years ago by Bishop Becker, of Wilmington, Del. This will be the first church on the site of the new city. It is understood that a contract has been signed and material secured for the building already, and workmen will begin operations towards the close of this month.?
Construction was completed by the end of August. Ocean City?s first church was christened ?St. Mary Star-of-the-Sea?, although no reports have been located regarding a dedication ceremony that summer. But a letter written on August 25, 1880 from a visitor in Ocean City to the Springfield Republican in Massachusetts serves as confirmation:
?What is the name of your church?? I asked a lady whom I had observed taking thither most of her brood of eight, both morning and evening. ?Star of the Sea,? she answered. ?Yes,? repeated a boy of 13 at her feet, looking up with that smile children use speaking of those they love, ?St. Mary, Star of the Sea.? Catholics, young or old, never seem to think their church a good place to get away from.
St. Mary Star-of-the-Sea Catholic Church
The growth in the number of parishioners served by St. Mary followed the growth of the town of Ocean City. By 1907, church officials believed it was necessary to expand the little sanctuary in order to accommodate that growth. Bishop John J. Monaghan of the Wilmington diocese, a frequent visitor in Ocean City, took charge of the effort. The renovation program added a new transept, which increased the building?s width by sixteen feet, and its length was increased proportionately. A gothic tower was erected on the northeast corner of the church, and a large bell was installed in it ?whose sweet and solemn tones can be heard all over the town and for miles around?. Bishop Monaghan presided at the dedication ceremony, which took place on August 6, 1908, the Feast of the Transfiguration, and included priests from the Wilmington, Baltimore and Washington D.C. dioceses. St. Mary became a mission church of the newly formed parish of St. Francis de Sales of Salisbury in 1910.
The church never made use of the lot (number 73) that fronted on Dorchester Street, between Baltimore and Philadelphia Avenues. In 1927, the recently incorporated Ocean City Volunteer Fire Company was looking for land on which to build a new station house. On November 25 of that year, Msgr. Edward Dougherty deeded the lot to the town for the use of the Fire Company for the nominal sum of $10. The station house that was erected there in 1928 remains operational today.
Msgr. Eugene Stout oversaw a renovation and expansion of St. Mary in 1939, which doubled its seating capacity. The number of parishioners increased to about one hundred twenty by 1949, adequately served during the off-season at the downtown church by two masses and catechism classes for the children. But the summer season crowds required some seven to nine masses each Sunday, two of which had to be conducted in the auditorium of the Ocean City High School, at the corner of Baltimore Avenue and 3rd Street. Foreseeing the need for a larger facility, Msgr. Stout arranged in 1949 for the Salisbury parish to acquire nine adjacent lots along the west side of Philadelphia Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets from the developer of the new Neptune Development, Sandy Plains, Inc. Construction of a new mission church, which was named Holy Savior, began in 1953, with the cornerstone laying ceremony taking place on August 9. The new church, which was open only during the summer season, held its first services in 1954. Additional adjoining land parcels were donated to the parish by John Hitchens and Daniel Trimper, Jr. in 1956 and by Sandy Plains again in 1966.
Our Lady Star of the Sea parish, comprising the historic church on Talbot Street and its larger mission church on Philadelphia Avenue, was officially established in 1967. Msgr. Stout, who had lobbied the Bishop of the Wilmington diocese for the creation of a new parish for Ocean City, was named its pastor. On January 18, he announced a major expansion plan for Holy Savior, estimated to cost more than $300,000 and to involve more than ten thousand square feet of new construction. The Daily Times (Salisbury) provided this description of the planned improvements:
?Additions will be built on all sides of the present structure. Construction will be of concrete, brick and steel. It will be air-conditioned.
A new feature will be a series of colonnades in front and on the sides of the church building. The present bell tower will be removed. Eventually, plans call for the erection of a spire. But the spire is not included in the present contract.?
St. Mary held a centennial celebration in 1977 to commemorate the opening of the first Catholic chapel in Ocean City by Bishop Becker. The celebration also marked the culmination of a restoration project at the old church that had been led by the pastor, Rev. Stephen Connell.
Bishop Becker?s vestments and chalice were used at the celebratory Mass. A new facility at Holy Savior that opened in the spring of 2008 was named the Father Connell Parish Center, in honor of Rev. Connell?s service to Ocean City?s Catholic community.
St. Mary Star-of-the-Sea and Holy Savior Church are both active today, offering a full Mass schedule and monthly calendar of events, as well as conducting numerous religious and community outreach programs. The vibrant ministry is currently led by Rev. John P. Klevence. It has been a truly remarkable journey from humble beginnings for ?An Ocean City Original?.
A Few Images From The Past
Above: St. Mary Star-of-the-Sea Catholic Church (right) and residence (left) before the renovation and expansion of 1907 - 1908. Note that there is no bell tower on the right side of the chuch building. This card was mailed from Ocean City to Baltimore on July 23, 1907.
Below: St. Mary as it appeared ca. 1912 (postmarked August 2). The bell tower, added in 1908, was a striking addition to the church. Mass has ended and the handsomely dressed parishioners are presumably heading off for their Sunday dinner.
Above: A 1920s view of the church looking south down Baltimore Avenue, which was a two-way street at the time. ?Peg? mailed this card to Mrs. A. Corliss in Baltimore on July 15, 1935.
Below: The church was renovated and expanded in 1939, and the bell tower is now incorporated into the overall design of the building. Mrs. Matthews writes to her daughter Virgo in Baltimore on August 17, 1945:
Make some soup"
Above: Another view from the 1940s (production date: 1941). Mailed from Ocean City to White Hall MD on June 23, 1947: ?Glad you
enjoyed yourself at C. P.?
Below: St. Mary Star-of-the-Sea Church in the late 1960s (a 1965 Ford Mustang is visible parked on Talbot Street alongside the church). Mailed in 1976.
Above: Holy Savior Catholic Church, Philadelphia Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets, ca. 1957, about three years after its dedication.
Below: The substantially enlarged Holy Savior Church ca. 1975. The spire, not included in the original expansion project of 1967 ? 1968, has now been added, replacing the former bell tower.
Original plat of Ocean City: August 31, 1875
Lot 7, site of cottage owned by John B. Myers, a lower room of which was used as a Catholic chapel from 1877? ? 1880? (now Dolle?s Candyland)
Lots 55, 73 and 74, conveyed to Bishop Becker on May 25, 1878 (lot 73 was deeded to the town on November 25, 1927 for use of Volunteer Fire Company) | <urn:uuid:fb73425b-740b-4706-ae29-44b7584408ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ocmuseum.org/index.php/site/oc-history_article/saint_mary_star_of_the_sea/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975307 | 2,913 | 2.21875 | 2 |
A major objective of the International Space Station is learning how to cope with the inherent risks of human spaceflight--how to live and work in space for extended periods. The construction of the station itself provides the first opportunity for doing so. Prominent among the challenges associated with ISS construction is the large amount of time that astronauts will be spending doing extravehicular activity (EVA), or "space walks." EVAs from the space shuttle have been extraordinarily successful, most notably the on-orbit repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. But the number of hours of EVA for ISS construction exceeds that of the Hubble repair mission by orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the ISS orbit has nearly twice the inclination to Earth's equator as Hubble's orbit, so it spends part of every 90-minute circumnavigation at high latitudes, where Earth's magnetic field is less effective at shielding impinging radiation. This means that astronauts sweeping through these regions will be considerably more vulnerable to dangerous doses of energetic particles from a sudden solar eruption.
Radiation and the International Space Station estimates that the likelihood of having a potentially dangerous solar event during an EVA is indeed very high. This report recommends steps that can be taken immediately, and over the next several years, to provide adequate warning so that the astronauts can be directed to take protective cover inside the ISS or shuttle. The near-term actions include programmatic and operational ways to take advantage of the multiagency assets that currently monitor and forecast space weather, and ways to improve the in situ measurements and the predictive power of current models. | <urn:uuid:6513c39e-42c4-44bc-92cd-7ca474da13ed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=9725 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932362 | 313 | 3.46875 | 3 |
The Mental Health America expresses its gratitude to the brave service men and women who have lost their lives, and we offer our condolences to their families.
The death of a loved one is always difficult. When the death results from a war or a disaster, it can be even more troubling given the sudden and potentially violent nature of the event. After the death of someone you love, you experience bereavement, which literally means, “to be deprived by death.” You may experience a wide range of emotions, including:
These feelings are common reactions to loss. Many people also report physical symptoms of acute grief – stomach pain, loss of appetite, intestinal upsets, sleep disturbances or loss of energy. Of all life’s stresses, mourning can seriously test your natural defense systems. Existing illnesses can worsen or new conditions may develop. Profound emotional reactions can include anxiety attacks, chronic fatigue, depression and thoughts of suicide.
Mourning is the natural process through which a person accepts a major loss. Mourning may include military or religious traditions honoring the dead, or gathering with friends and family to share your loss. Mourning is personal and can last months or years. Grieving is the outward expression of your loss. Your grief is likely to be expressed both physically and psychologically. For example, crying is a physical expression, while depression is a psychological expression.
Be aware that the death may necessitate major life adjustments, such as parenting alone, adjusting to single life or returning to work. These challenges may intensify any anxiety and grief you are already experiencing. Allow yourself to express these feelings.
Living with Grief
When a loved one dies, the best thing you can do is to allow yourself to grieve. There are many ways to cope effectively.
Helping Others Grieve
If someone you care about has lost a loved one, you can help him or her through the grieving process.
Helping Children Grieve
Children grieve differently from adults. A parent’s death can be particularly difficult for small children, affecting their sense of security. Often, they are confused about the changes they see taking place, particularly if well-meaning adults try to protect them from the truth or from their surviving parent’s grief. Limited understanding and an inability to express feelings put very young children at a special risk. They may revert to earlier behaviors (such as bed-wetting), ask questions about the deceased that seem insensitive, invent games about dying or pretend that the death never happened.
Coping with a child’s grief puts added strain on a bereaved parent. However, angry outbursts or criticism only deepen a child’s anxiety and delays recovery. Instead, take extra time and talk honestly with children, in terms they can understand. Help them work through their feelings, and remember that they are looking to you for suitable behavior and coping skills.
Contact your local Mental Health America or the Mental Health America for information on mental health, mental illness, treatment options, and local treatment/support services. You can contact Mental Health America at 1-800-969-6642 (toll-free) or at its website, www.mentalhealthamerica.net.
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Inc. assists people who have lost family members in the Armed Forces. TAPS provides a survivor-peer support network, grief counseling referrals, and crisis information and can be reached at 1-800-959-TAPS (8277) or www.taps.org.
The Army Family Assistance Hotline is 1-800-833-6622,
and the Army Reservist Hotline is
1-800-318-5298. The Coast Guard Reserve Website is www.uscg.mil/hq/reserve/reshmpg.html. The number for Marine Corps Community Service Centers West of the Mississippi is 1-800-253-1624; and, East of the Mississippi, the number is 1-800-336-4663.
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website contains information on and applications for compensation, health, burial, special programs, and other benefits. Contact www.va.gov.
The following military family service-related websites include information and networking: www.lifelines2000.org; www.militarycity.com (this includes access to www.armytimes.com, www.navytimes.com, www.airforcetimes.com, and www.marinecorpstimes.com); www.afsv.af.mil/FMP; and www.sgtmoms.com.
The Mental Health America has several resources available to help you and others cope with tragic events, loss and other topics. To obtain this information, call our toll-free line 800-969-6642. | <urn:uuid:14c75cee-7390-4d32-b0fb-3531be8fa4ad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nmha.org/reunions/infoWarGrief.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920477 | 991 | 3.28125 | 3 |
“Our situation may not only be stranger than we suppose; it may be stranger than we can suppose.”—J.B.Haldane
People demanding governmental change are not united in focusing on the political economics at the root of most global problems but they are moving in that direction. This shows that many can understand the situation, however strange it may seem. But that understanding does not transmit to much of what passes for global leadership.
Leadership’s inability to cope with, or its desire to maintain “our situation,” even with the potential for planetary disaster, reinforces the egotistical greed of private profit and perpetuates the anti-social problem of public loss. That problem has reached a point at which it threatens all humanity and not just divided and conquered national, religious, racial or other falsely labeled identity groups.
Many people understand that we have reached a critical turning point that demands radical change in how and why we produce the means of supporting life to the advantages of a shrinking minority which amasses incredible wealth while the vast majority are living in or fast approaching a status close to poverty. But that reality is more often completely denied by global leadership, especially in the Western world. Since this is where the problem originates and is sustained, it becomes more important that the West play a greater role in the movement to radically change global policies, starting by transforming national leadership. That has begun in some parts of the world like Latin America but here in the USA, it might as well still be the 20th century for all the “change” in the power of tiny minorities to run a supposed democracy by buying and occasionally selling its leadership the way all commodities are traded in the profit and loss marketplace. That is the serious situation in which humanity finds itself, and Americans, despite a taught notion of positive exceptionalism, playing the most negatively exceptional role in the creation of waste where there was plenty, and war where there was peace.
Current policies to maintain empire at all costs are misread by many who accept affirmative action for capitalism as the substance of social change. When people of diverse cultural, ethnic, racial or sexual sectors preside over as well as participate in the mass murders of foreigners in wars to perpetuate minority domination, many imagine that the dead smile happily at having been slaughtered by a such a wonderful collection of minority groups exercising democratic power. More important, redistributing tokens in a system threatening disaster for humanity hardly changes anything but for a few who will—very briefly—be most comfortable while their societies are flooded, destroyed by wars or disintegrated in some other form by an angry nature taking its measure of a species that draws closer to outliving its sustainability.
We need to follow at least some of the advice offered by groups like the Royal Society of London and Another World Is Possible. Despite their differences in funding and outlook, one being establishment and the other seeking alternatives to that establishment, in confronting our problems they come to many of the same conclusions. Both clearly call for a reorganizing of social priorities and an end to the wasteful commodity culture of the west as the only way to end the poverty suffered by billions and begin making a better life possible for all humanity. Both highlight the dangers posed by climate change and clearly identify political economics at the root of our treatment of the planet and its people. They use slightly different language and propose slightly different programs, but they are united in saying that another world is necessary if humanity is to survive and progress. That will call for a totally different economic and political foundation even if these groups do not state that fact in the same words.
The warfare culture that treats human welfare as a secondary consideration should not only be obvious from the perspective of those killing and being killed by the massive military organizations supporting an equally massive market force of comfort for some at the expense of deprivation for most. People far removed from the military battlefields and who sincerely profess reverence for deities, preach humanitarian unity and practice sincere if primitive forms of democratic politics still tolerate tens of thousands of humans living in the streets, sleeping under bridges and in doorways, while tens of millions of pets live in comfort in the homes of the same good people. Social and humanitarian priorities are skewed under the domain of profit and loss capital which forces all good people into situations that provoke bad things.
The domestic priorities of a market system which finds animals more valuable than people is the same one making foreign wars that find some humans even less valuable than those same animals. This has little to do with any individual acting in bad faith and much more to do with a system of political economics which cannot help but benefit some by treating others as a lower life form than our pets. We would do well to stop seeking individual villains, though there certainly are many, and pay much closer attention to the system in which wonderful people—and they are far more in number—cannot help but perpetuate growing disaster simply by following the teachings of business as usual and accepting that profits on one side that create loss on the other are some form of decency and humanity when the evidence is, and becoming more so with frightening speed, quite the contrary.
“Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.”—John Lennon | <urn:uuid:ea77a370-72e3-495b-a4b4-7039a5c8208a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/8972 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96248 | 1,098 | 2.203125 | 2 |
By Jacob Goldstein
Evidence-based medicine sounds straightforward enough, but (like everything else in health care) it’s become pretty contentious. The argument against evidence-based care says, more or less, that no two patients are alike, so doctors must be flexible in their use of evidence and can’t be bound by rigid protocols based on large studies.
But Intermountain Healthcare, a network of hospitals and clinics in Utah and Idaho, has been pushing for more evidence-based care at its facilities for a while now, with some pretty interesting results.
After Intermountain figured out that about a quarter of the elective inductions of labor on its maternity wards were being done before the 39th week of pregnancy (contrary to accepted guidelines), they looked at how the babies fared — and found that those born before 39 weeks were far more likely to wind up in intensive care. When the docs saw those data, the percentage of elective inductions before 39 weeks fell sharply, an Intermountain exec told us a while back.
As it turns out, Intermountain has created a whole system for developing evidence and creating internal protocols — a system explained at some length in a story coming out in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine. One key piece is simply to start measuring how docs are performing a given procedure, to allow the staff to begin to understand variations in care and how they might be correlated with variations in outcomes.
Since developing a protocol for acute respiratory distress syndrome in the late 1980s, Intermountain has developed protocols for some 50 clinical conditions, accounting for more than half of its patients. Doctors, nurses and administrators create the protocols based on internal evidence about what works and what doesn’t. Once a protocol is in place, doctors have the option to override whatever default choices the protocol recommends.
But outcomes seem to improve after the protocols are put in place. A protocol for dealing with one a category of pneumonia cut the death rate associated with the condition by 40% over several years, the article says. | <urn:uuid:03418300-bf24-4782-8da9-1b4ecf69fd1e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/11/05/when-doctors-create-their-own-evidence-based-medicine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958975 | 417 | 2.171875 | 2 |
American political institutions give us
all part of the responsibility for how we are governed. Catholics need to carry
out that responsibility in accordance with their best understanding of man,
society, and American political life.
The Catholic understanding of man and
society is reasonably well worked out, but the nature of American political
life is ambiguous. Our institutions are republican by design, and based on
limited and distributed powers. They are also democratic, and claim to reflect
the will of the people. What’s needed to bring those two aspects together is
mutual persuasion. If powers are limited and distributed, mutual persuasion is
necessary for government to go forward, and if that is how decisions are made,
they can reasonably be viewed as the considered judgment of the people.
That system seems a good one for carrying
on public life in accordance with reason. For government to do something a
great many people in different situations must be persuaded the action would be
sensible. As described, though, the system is simply procedural. It says that a
variety of people have to agree before something happens, but not what kind of
people they are or what leads them to agree. It leaves uncertain what the point
of the activity is.
Our foundational documents do not really
settle the issue. The
Preamble to the Constitution says that the goals of the “more perfect
union” established by the Constitution are justice, domestic tranquility,
common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty. The First
Amendment tells us that religion and the press have a protected though
unofficial role, while other amendments protect property and privacy rights and
show a tendency to broaden the popular element in government. And the
Declaration of Independence says that we are all created equal and endowed with
rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Such points are suggestive, but they do
not do much to settle the goals of government or the grounds of its decisions.
The goals are said to include happiness and the general welfare, for example,
but what are those things? Do they include wisdom, virtue, and religion? How
destruction and liberation from traditional restraints? And how do “we the
people” go about making decisions? Political spin? Fasting and prayer? The
maneuverings of activists? Also, how much influence should Exxon, the New
York Times, Harvard
University, the Pope, or the AARP have on the process? The documents don’t
answer such questions, so on the face of it they’re left to the workings of the
That’s not satisfactory to most people. A
system of government must be able to demand loyalty and sacrifice, and it has
to stand for enough good principles and good people to justify that. Those
called to support it won’t be satisfied if it’s basically a free-for-all. For
that reason a political system is never defined solely by reference to
institutions and procedures. It is always tied to a vision of what life is and
ought to be.
So what is that vision in America’s case?
Or if it’s ambiguous, what should Catholics take it to be? If we look at events
since independence it’s evident that we started with a mixture of tendencies
that turned out to be unstable. On the one hand we had radically secularizing
tendencies, such as equal freedom understood as something that defines itself,
that tended in the long run to identify the human good with practical and
mainly economic advantages, and put power in the hands of managers who claim
they can deliver those advantages to each of us. On the other hand, public life
was also influenced by religion and natural law, as well as by understandings
of the good life inherited from Christendom and classical antiquity. Those
understandings were strong in daily life and profoundly affected law and
policy, but they were less often mentioned as political principles, and were
often considered undemocratic because they led to differences of social
position among ordinary peoplefor example, between men and women.
In recent years there have been two main
ways of resolving tensions among the opposing tendencies. Both of them have
involved subordinating inherited to secularizing tendencies while trying to
divert attention from what was being done. Religion, natural law, and inherited
conceptions of the good life have been replacedor identifiedwith some
understanding of individual rights oriented toward doing and getting what one
wants. That understanding is then said to be the meaning and justification of
The first way of resolving the conflict,
which now counts as conservative, emphasizes the strength and assertiveness of
particular individuals and institutions as the highest standard, and interprets
the meaning of America as global capitalism backed by American power abroad,
and entrepreneurship backed by somewhat traditional family life at home. God
and God’s law are real, the idea seems to be, and traditional values and
understandings of the good life are a good thing, but what they all stand for
is American freedom, power, and economic individualism.
The second way, which calls itself
progressive, downplays effective action by particular actors in favor of a
legal and administrative order that secures and equalizes the satisfactions of
all individuals. God and higher law are merged into a system of universal human
rights that is intended to be backed by emerging global bureaucracies.
Strength, assertiveness, effective action, and traditional patterns of life
disappear as ideals, except to the extent they undermine the position of
traditionally dominant groups because they are displayed by the less advantaged.
Both resolutions are evidently
unsatisfactory, for reasons that can be gathered by contemplating the
presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Both leave out basic features
of human life, and neither is willing to limit itself by admitting that human
actions and relations have a setting that is larger than human desire. The
result is that both lose touch with reality and end badly.
Since neither makes sense, neither is
usable as a guide for what America should be. People claim from time to time after
an election that one or the other has won definitively, but that will never
happen because each soon discredits itself. In the meantime the dysfunctions
resulting from the deficiencies of the two views accumulate: in the world they
have given us, one in eight young black men is in prison, more than half of all
births to women under 30 are out of wedlock, the life expectancy of white
people without a high school diploma dropped four years between 1990 and 2008,
foreign adventures exacerbate the problems they are intended to solve, and
obviously unsustainable levels of government borrowing are insufficient to prop
up economic activity and employment.
Hence the need for the Catholic view,
otherwise known as Catholic social teaching. In spite of efforts by bishops,
the record presence of Catholics in high public office, and a huge array of
Catholic institutions of learning, that view is all but absent from public
discussion. Nonetheless, it is the one that best supports what has made
American life and politics functional and worthy of loyalty. The others kick
out too many considerations in the interests of a pure system of technology and
Catholic teaching is essentially moderate
and inclusive. It respects individual and local freedom, and takes economic and
other practical concerns seriously. And it accepts a First Amendment approach
to religion as appropriate in a country in which influential people do not
accept Catholicism as their standard of cooperation. But it also recognizes
God, nature’s law, and the inheritance of Christendom and antiquity as
indispensable components of social life. Since those things have been
fundamental to what has been best in America, and they are evidently needed to
make it clear that there are limits on what power can do, the Catholic view or
something very like it is the only one available that is capable of restoring
America to itself.
A great deal has to happen before it can do
so, but we need to understand the goal before we worry about how to get there.
The Church is politic, and she thinks in terms of centuries and eternity. We
Catholics need to do the same, and reject immediate effect as the standard for
political action. In times of crisis it is more true than ever that it is
principle that is decisive. | <urn:uuid:7a2a4c9b-9faf-4fc2-b38c-ea16cb2906e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/1952/The_Church_and_the_Constitution.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957951 | 1,778 | 2.671875 | 3 |
I will not mention the weather because I don’t want to jinx it, so lets move on….
The hardest part about starting a workout program is finding the motivation to do so. We all have excuses as to why exercise and eating well is not a part of our weekly routine, but the truth is, no excuse is good enough when it comes to taking care of our body.
If you have to wake up an hour early, do it. If you have to come home an hour late, do it. If you have to cook a bunch of chicken and chop up vegetables for the week on Sunday, DO IT!
See the pattern here?
Stop allowing your mind to tell you that you can’t, because eventually, if you keep neglecting your health, you really will not be able to.
As soon as you begin to head down the path towards a balanced life, everything will suddenly feel lighter, both mentally and physically.
Start now. If not now, when?
Here are some tips that I recommend to clients who are struggling with finding a healthy balance.
Figure out what works for you and stick to it.
Put yourself first. Everything else can wait an hour until you are finished.
Make your breakfast the night before so that it is ready in the fridge for the following day. Oatmeal, eggs, green protein smoothies, or fruit with nuts and yogurt are all great “grab and go” meals.
Use your Sunday as prep. Make a batch of proteins such as chicken, lean ground turkey, beans, or hard boiled eggs. Chop all of your vegetables and set them in Tupperware containers, along with a carb such as brown rice, sweet potatoes, or quinoa. All you have to do is pick what you want, pack it up, and go.
- Make sure to also add a healthy fat to each meal, such as almonds, flaxseeds, coconut oil, avocado, or hummus.
Craving sweets? Grab a piece of fruit with a small handful of mixed nuts, make a cup of sweet tea, or drink a glass of water.
- Try and figure out why your sweet tooth is acting up, and fix the problem right then. Ask yourself: Did I eat enough at lunch? Drink enough water? Have a healthy fat with my meal? If so, and your body really just wants a taste of the good stuff, snack on a small piece of dark chocolate.
Acknowledge that you are eating it, savor it, and move on.
Spice up your life. You do not need to add cream sauces, butter, or high sodium marinades to your food. Herbs and spices, lemon juice, and fresh tomato sauce can add an abundance of flavor to any dish.
Check the Online menu. Before you head out to dinner, look over the online menu so that you have time to figure out what you want to eat. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for a vegetable medley or salad in place of pasta, or to change the way your meal is prepared. Most restaurants are more than happy to accommodate you.
“Bet you can’t finish it”
Buttery / Buttered
Creamed / Creamy
Fried / Deep fried
Your water bottle is your best friend. Always have it by your side.
- Try adding lemon, cucumber, or orange slices for a refreshing boost of flavor, along with a cup of decaf tea throughout the day.
Always have a challenge in mind, and make it your mission to achieve it.
- “I will run 1 extra minute today”. “I will try Yoga this weekend”. “I will perform a push up” “I will walk into the weight section with confidence, and bang out some bicep curls like the best of ‘em!”.
Pack your gym clothes for the next day in a bag by the front door, or lay them out so you can quickly get dressed and start your morning off right. Or…sleep in them!
Don’t think of exercise as a chore. It should be something that you enjoy because it makes you look and feel good. Figure out what type of exercise interests you, and use that as your starting point.
- Incorporate cardio, strength training, and stretching into your routine, and if you are unsure about how to perform a certain movement, or how to work a piece of equipment, be sure to ask a trainer at your gym, or the class instructor. It is their JOB to help you.
If it feels too easy, it probably is.
- If you don’t feel like you’re working out, then bump up the intensity. Don’t be afraid to sweat, or feel the burn when lifting weights. Those moments of discomfort are what change and challenge our body.
Realize that everyone is here for the same reason. The gym can be an intimidating place at first, but it’s important to realize that nobody is any better than another when it comes to exercise. Our goals may vary, but the fact that we are taking care of ourselves is what we all have in common.
All you need is yourself, and a little room. If you do not have a gym membership, use your living room as your workout area and your body as resistance. Push ups, squats, jumping jacks and mountain climbers are all challenging movements that target a large group of muscles and speed up the metabolism.
Remember why you are doing this. Whether it is for weight loss, muscle tone, lowering cholesterol, or stress management, remember why you are taking the time to workout and eat well. As the weeks pass, you will no longer need the reminder. It will become a part of your life that will continue to benefit you in more ways than one.
A healthy body is a happy body. Take care of yourself because no one else will. You are your own worst enemy, and best friend all in one. Become one with yourself, listen to your body, and begin to feel amazing.
Look what came in the mail yesterday
I still have a bag of Chocolate left, but I had some credits that I needed to use on OpenSky, so I figured I’d buy some Vanilla.
It tastes better in certain recipes such as pina colada smoothies, warm vanilla protein oats, juicing, or protein pancakes.
- 1/4 cup eggwhites
- 1 scoop protein powder
- 2 Tbsp almond milk (or skim)
- 1 Tbsp ground flax
- 1/2 mashed banana
Since it’s such a rainy, clammy morning, I craved a smoothie for breakfast.
- 1 scoop Sunwarrior Vanilla
- 1 big handful of raw spinach
- 1/2 frozen banana
- 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries
- 1 Tbsp ground flax
- water and ice
- 1/2 cup Kashi sprinkled on top
And of course, some black coffee with Stevia.
Quite the hot and cold breakfast I’ve got going on here.
10 minute warm up: Stair Climber
- 3 sets Bicep Curls: 10 half way up, 10 mid-point to shoulder, 10 complete curls
- 3 sets of 12 Hammer Curls
- 3 sets of 8 (per side) Walking Plank
- 3 sets of 15 Tricep Kickbacks
- 3 sets 15 Overhead Tricep Extension
- 3 sets of 10 Diamond Tricep Push ups
Cardio: 20 minute HIIT on the Treadmill
- 20 second fast jog
- 40 second sprint
- 2 min recovery
Abs: Two, 1 minute Planks
Post Workout snack
- Greek Yogurt
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
- blueberries and cinnamon
Such a good combo
So..I’ve been feeling very thankful lately; Thankful for my health, my family, my friends, and everyday experiences that I sometimes take for granted.
When we focus so much on the negatives in our life, we tend to miss all of the positives surrounding us.
If you find yourself dwelling on a certain situation today, twist it into a positive and try to make it into something good.
Remember that there is always a light at the end of a tunnel, a lesson learned through failure, it could always be worse, and with every bad, comes a good.
Have a good day xoxo
I love starting and ending my day with Yogi Tea messages.
And my favorite time of day is early morning, just as the sun begins to rise.
I love quick and easy meals
canned wild Alaskan salmon, roasted asparagus and carrots, sweet potato with coconut oil on a bed mixed spinach and kale
turkey meatloaf muffins
But I’ll take dining out over cooking, any day of the week
I love circuit training, and seeing what my body is capable of.
Go through the list 5x, resting as you need to.
- 20 Squats
- 20 Reverse Lunges (per leg)
- 20 Plié Squats
- 20 Curtsey Lunges (per leg)
- 20 Frog leaps (jumping feet to outside of hands while in plank)
Your welcome, legs .
And foam rolling my muscles, though it sometimes hurts more than the workout itself.
I love Farmer’s Markets and Country Stores
And I get oddly excited about staying at hotels, inns and cozy cabins.
I’ll try almost anything once
And sometimes, I fall in love with the adventure
What’s life without learning what you love? What your passions are, and how much strength lives within you?
What is life without a good story to tell. A story that people want to read.
The story of your life. The biography of you.
Do something worth reading. | <urn:uuid:0242a2b6-75df-4c0b-bf89-b73623eb4e41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fitgirlsmartini.com/tag/positivity/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926811 | 2,085 | 1.726563 | 2 |
June 20 2012
More than 1.7 million passengers used Dublin Airport in May, a 2% decline on the same period last year.
One of the main reasons for the decline was that passenger numbers in May 2011 were boosted by the Europa League Final, which was held in Dublin last year.
Passenger volumes to and from continental Europe declined by 3% with just under 930,000 people travelling to continental European destinations during May.
UK traffic declined by 4% with more than 585,000 passengers travelling to and from Britain during the month.
Transatlantic passenger volumes increased by 2% with almost 150,000 people travelling to and from North America during May. Other international traffic, which principally covers routes to the Middle East and North Africa, increased by 97%, with just over 36,000 passengers travelling on these services.
Domestic traffic declined by 58% with about 5,600 passengers taking domestic flights in May. More than 7 million passengers travelled through Dublin Airport in the first five months of this year, a 1% decline on the same period in 2011.
Back to News
Web Design & Development by Arekibo | <urn:uuid:7567e2a5-475f-4151-90ed-6f9db537fc43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dublinairport.com/gns/at-the-airport/latest-news/12-06-20/More_Than_1_7M_Passengers_Used_Dublin_Airport_In_May.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972532 | 231 | 1.640625 | 2 |
March 2, 2012
Effiency: Can Gov and Biz Get It Right?
Giles Parkinson, RenewEconomy
As one energy efficiency program was closed abruptly this week, and controversy continued to rage over another, a new $1 billion grants based scheme was quietly rolled out to try and encourage Australians – business consumers this time – to become more efficient about the way they use energy.
So far, the government’s interventions in the energy efficiency area have been colourful but erratic. We’ve had pink batts, green cars, cash for clunkers, and the solar hot water scheme, and state-based initiatives such as energy efficient light bulbs and standby controllers. All have been effective to some degree (some very much so), but none have really been successful in convincing consumers that energy efficiency is the easiest, the cheapest, and the...
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Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest lactose, a sugar found in milk and milk products. Lactose intolerance is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme lactase, which is produced by the cells lining our small intestine.
Although many people have adverse reactions to certain foods, most are caused by food intolerance and not a food allergy. Milk allergy is a reaction by the body's immune system to one or more milk proteins and can be life threatening when just a small amount of milk or milk product is consumed.
Milk allergy most commonly appears very early in childhood, while lactose intolerance occurs more often in adulthood. Primary lactase deficiency develops over time. Our bodies begin to produce less lactase starting in childhood. Most children who have lactase deficiency don't experience symptoms of lactose intolerance until late adolescence or adulthood.
People with lactose intolerance may feel uncomfortable 30 minutes to two hours after consuming milk and milk products. Symptoms ranging from mild to severe can include abdominal pain, abdominal bloating, gas, diarrhea and nausea.
The symptoms of lactose intolerance can be managed with dietary changes. Lactose-free and lactose-reduced milk and milk products are available at most supermarkets. Foods lower in lactose such as hard cheeses and yogurt can sometimes be consumed without side effects. Soymilk and other soy products free of lactose may be consumed as well.
People who still experience symptoms after dietary changes can take over-the-counter lactase enzyme drops or tablets that may make lactose-containing foods more tolerable for people with lactose intolerance.
Many people confuse lactose intolerance and allergy/sensitivity to milk. Lactose is highest in liquid milk, ice cream, and some yogurts; if any of those foods give you bloating, gas, or diarrhea after consumption, you may have lactose intolerance. If you tolerate Lactaid milk, you most likely have a lactose intolerance. Anything that disrupts the balance in your gut (dysbiosis, chronic inflammation) can lead to a decreased production of lactase, the enzyme that digests lactose.
If even low lactose dairy products give you problems, you probably have an immune mediated sensitivity and need to avoid all dairy products to a great degree.
I have written extensively about food sensitivity, here is one blog post: | <urn:uuid:dd72883d-62cc-495d-928a-e1de0a1d2f1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chickrx.com/questions/doesnt-do-all-bodies-good | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938407 | 478 | 3.6875 | 4 |
The Narrow Door
22 mHe went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and njourneying toward Jerusalem.
Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers
11 jOn the way to Jerusalem khe was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.
Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time
31 jAnd taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, kwe are going up to Jerusalem, and leverything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
The Parable of the Ten Minas
11 As they heard these things, he proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because nthey supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
The Triumphal Entry
28 And when he had said these things, bhe went on ahead, cgoing up to Jerusalem. | <urn:uuid:2ac39906-1511-4b74-9dad-eb0fc88e125b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esvbible.org/Lk13.22%3BLk17.11%3BLk18.31%3BLk19.11%3BLk19.28/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979178 | 183 | 2.09375 | 2 |
a. When briefed on the concept of the operation of TF Barker into the Son My area, he did not insure that the plan included provisions for handling, screening, and treatment of noncombatants and refugees.
b. After observing the bodies of noncombatnats in and around My Lai (4) during the morning of 16 March, and despite his knowledge that C Company had not encountered resistance, he failed to take effective action to prevent further killing of noncombatants by C Company.
c. He failed to take any action to insure that medical treatment was provided to noncombatants in the Son My area on 16 March.
d. After C Company had reported killing 84 VC in My Lai (4) by 0840 hours on 16 March, he either participated in or condoned the making of fictitious reports to higher headquarters and false entries in official records to the effect that 69 VC had been killed by artillery at a location north of My Lai (4).
e. Having observed on 16 March that many of the dwellings and other structures in My Lai (4) were being burned in violation of division policy and the provisions of pertinent directives, he failed to take any effective action to:
(1) Stop such destruction.
(2) Report the facts to higher headquarters.
f. Having observed the bodies of women and children in and around My Lai (4) on 16 March, and after receiving subsequent reports and information on the same day indicating that many additional noncombatants may have been killed by artillery or gunship, he failed to initiate:
(1) An immediate investigation to determine the extent and the causes of the casualties.
(2) An investigation of an artillery incident, or to recommend that such an investigation be initiated, as required by USARV and Americal Division directives.
(3) A SIR as required by regulations.
g. Having been directed to investigate and report to his commanding officer concerning the Thompson Report and after personally hearing from W01 Thompson, CWO Culverhouse, and SP Colburn accounts of their observations of the events in Son My Village he failed to make an appropriate investigation to determine the truth of such reports.
h. Having been directed to investigate and report to his commanding officer concerning the report of W01 Thompson; having personally interrogated Thompson, Culverhouse, and Colburn; and having failed to make a genuine investigation of their reports, he:
(1) Made a series of false and misleading reports to his commanding officer to the effect that:
(a) He had made a thorough investigation of the Thompson Report.
(b) He had interrogated all of the commanders and many of the soldiers and aviation personnel involved.
(c) W01 Thompson was the only person he had found who had seen anything unusual on 16 March.
(d) There was no substance to Thompson's allegations.
(2) Concealed the existence of war crimes.
i. About mid-April 1968, having received information that (1) the Son Tinh District Chief had submitted a report to the Quang Ngai Province Chief alleging that US forces had killed approximately 500 noncombatants in Tu Cung and Co Luy hamlets of Son My Village on 16 March 1968, and (2) VC propaganda broadcasts were stressing that US forces had killed a large number of noncombatants in the Son My Village on 16 March 1968, he:
(1) Failed to conduct any investigation of the allegations of the district Chief.
(2) Falsely informed the CG, 2d ARVN Division, and the Province Chief that he had previously investigated similar allegations respecting the 16 March operation and had found them to be entirely without substance.
j. Having been subsequently directed to investigate the allegations of the District Chief and the VC propaganda, and to submit a written report incorporating the evidence he claimed to have collected in response to the Thompson Report, and having made no invesdiiqation of such allegations, he submitted to his commanding officer a written Report of Investigation, dated 24 April 1968, which was false and misleading in the following particulars:
(1) While the document purported to be a "Report of Investigation" and implied that he had made an investigation in response to the allegations of the District Chief, no proper investigation was ever conducted.
(2) It avoided any reference to the Thompson Report.
(3) It falsely stated that his interviews with the TF Barker S3 and the commanders involved revealed that at no time were civilians gathered together and killed by US soldiers.
(4) It falsely stated that 20 noncombatants were inadvertently killed by preparatory fires and in the cross fires of US and VC forces on 16 March 1968.
k. It appears that in conjunction with one or more members of his command, and possibly of the Province Advisory Team, he conspired to withhold and suppress facts concerning the actions of elements of TF Barker on 16 March and information regarding the origin of and basis for a statement dated 14 April 1968 prepared by CPT Rodriguez.
l. He gave false testimony before the Inquiry in a manner calculated to mislead this Inquiry in many particulars. For example, he testified that:
(1) On 16 March 1968 he observed the bodies of only 6-8 women and children in and around My Lai (4).
(2) He directed LTC Luper to investigate whether any artillery rounds landed on My Lai (4) and that LTC Luper thereafter reported to him that an investigation had been made and had disclosed that no artillery had struck the village.
(3) W01 Thompson was the only individual he spoke with who had observed anything unusual on 16 March.
(4) He had not been directed to submit his written Report of Investigation, dated 24 April 1968, and that the Report was prepared and submitted in order to bring to MG Koster's attention reports and propaganda received from Vietnamese sources.
(5) In May 1968, MG Koster directed a formal investigation be conducted and,that he (COL Henderson) directed LTC Barker to conduct such an investigation.
(6) In May 1968, LTC Barker conducted an investigation and prepared a formal report of investigation, including 15-20 written statements of witnesses, which he (COL Henderson) then transmitted to Division.
MY LAI COURTS-MARTIAL PAGE | <urn:uuid:91f05a0b-2b7f-405b-9504-ea2881b599f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/Henderson.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980129 | 1,296 | 1.59375 | 2 |
What are you going to do with all your Christmas cards? Three quick ideas to re-use them before they go in the recycling bin…
1. Easiest of all – simply save them til next year. Stash them away with your Christmas decorations and then come Christmas 2010 you’ll have a pile of cards ready for your children to cut, stick and craft with.
2. Make a memory game. You can make a ‘match the pairs’ game which will help develop your child’s memory and turn-taking skills. This works best with card which are all of a similar size. Depending on the age of the children playing it is probably best to select cards which are distinctive: in the picture above you can see I’ve chosen a card which is mainly white, one which is mainly green, one which is mainly purple , and so on. I’m playing with a 3 yr old so want to give her some fairly easy ones to match together. With older children you can make them more difficult.
Using just the front of each card, cut them in half.
Jumble them up and place them face down on the table or floor.
Now you’re ready to start playing. Player one turns over 2 of the cards. If they match, they can keep the cards. If they don’t match, they have to be turned back over. Player 2 has a go.
Keep alternating turns, collecting any cards which match, until all the pairs have been matched up. They player with the most pairs is the winner.
What you’re encouraging your child to do is develop their visual memory so they can remember when the matching pairs are, so they can turn them over when it’s their turn. Of course, especially with younger children, you can give a few clues to help them – it’s about having fun and developing a skill, rather than getting frustrated because it’s too hard.
3. Alternatively why not make some jigsaws? For young children, this works best with cards which have a recognisble picture rather an abstract design. You’ll see we used a Santa card and a nativity scene.
All you need to do is cut up the card, jumble the pieces and let them jigsaw away to make the picture again (and again and again and again in the case of my currently jigsaw-crazy daughter). | <urn:uuid:e90b344d-b125-4e58-a804-b1d166f0c5b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nurturestore.co.uk/recycle-your-christmas-cards-make-a-jigsaw-and-a-memory-game | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962445 | 502 | 2.53125 | 3 |
How To Be An Effective Writer
- 1. Show Up! And want to make it as a writer. This means don’t talk about being a writer – actually sit down in that chair and write! You have to want it so that it takes over everything else! Sometimes you’ll have to sacrifice your social life and your sleep in order to get all of your writing work accomplished.
- Show up at the same place every day—say 8am and start writing
- Bring an object with you that’s your writing object. It could be a hat, socks, scarf, T-shirt, Dollar Store Olympic medal. When you wear this object, your brain will kick into gear that YOU need to write
- Vary your workplaces: for instance, only check email in your kitchen, only write your blogs at the coffee shop where you know the Internet is spotty or even better, write outside in the park with no Internet.
- Time yourself—at least write for 20 min. The hope is that you’ll go longer.
- Figure out what your goals are. Do you want to be accepted in an MFA program? Write a novel? Be a full-time freelance writer? Be a creative writing teacher?
- Invest in yourself with a good computer, and with go to conferences, classes/workshops to keep developing professionally as a writer. Read “how to write” books and books within your genre. Hire a writing coach and do your homework. You need to put some skin in the game and when you spend $$ on yourself, you’ll know you’re a “real” writer.
And When You’re Working On Your Fiction and Nonfiction:
- consider your voice and audience
- find the focus of your piece
- add details
- add personal reflection
- give yourself a tough sentence inspection
All of these bullets are broken down below:
- Consider your voice and audience — Who is your audience and have you used the right language and tone to fit this audience?— reading your work out loud determines if your voice is too casual or too formal for the piece. You should also note if you shift from past to present tense or if your voice changes from the beginning to the end of the piece. Tone = author’s attitude towards the audience/Mood = author’s attitude towards the subject
- Find your focus of your topic – don’t go off on a tangent and make sure your piece doesn’t have a split focus (it could be two separate pieces instead of one) Check your logic and make sure you’re not jumping to conclusions for the reader
- Add details using concrete description or figurative language (a metaphor or simile to compare different objects) Adding details gives the reader the sense of being there with you, which makes the story come alive. Also, details make the personal universal. Applies more to creative writers, but if you talk about a tree, give the reader the name of the tree, along with giving naming flowers, cities, stores, clothing, food, drinks, etc.
- Add your own personal reflection so your audience can better relate to you as a reader, which will make them want to continue reading. There’s no substitute for using your own experience in your work to build credibility and trust. It’s OK to show some vulnerability with your audience.
- Give yourself a tough sentence inspection with sentence-order concerns — Examine your writing at the sentence level to check for grammar, punctuation, word choice and style. Take your time and read your paper out loud to catch mistakes and awkward phrasing. Choppy sentences need to be combined with a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet or so) and they should be varied between long and short. All of the “to be” verb forms produce weaker writing and should be replaced with stronger verbs along with (same with “there are” and “there is” constructions, although having a few “to be” verbs in your work is necessary. Trim the fat off of any words that are vague or redundant, such as “interesting” and “meaningful” and writing “very unique” or “past history.” Watch out for over using speech qualifiers such as “surely,” “just,” “really,” and “very.” Also check to see if you’ve used enough transitions such as “however,” “although,” “on the other hand,” “similarly,” etc. As an editor, I see writers favoring at least one of these “non words.” I need to watch how much I say “just”!
- Beginning/Ending Lines — These are often the most difficult, yet they are the most important since the beginning line is your reader’s first impression. Do your first lines drag, yet your story picks up the pace in the second paragraph? You may need to cut the first paragraph and jump to the second. Or perhaps, you can start your first paragraph with a short scene that shows, rather than tells. For the ending line, try to end on an image or try to connect the ending with the beginning, so that you make a frame for your piece.
- Larger-order concerns — These include giving enough examples and detailed descriptions, while achieving balance with your points. Also check to see if you’ve used enough transitions.
Was this post helpful to you? Please share other effective writing tips with us! | <urn:uuid:ea61deef-8a1e-44c8-94b5-5521898c47fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://aliceosborn.com/writing/how-to-be-an-effective-writer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939859 | 1,184 | 2.390625 | 2 |
.- Msgr. Guido Marini, the master of ceremonies for papal liturgies, spoke of Pope Benedict XVI’s loving concern for detail in the celebration of the Mass.
The Pope takes great care to “develop the liturgy as the celebration of the mystery of Christ,” and “often repeats that the liturgy is the Church’s greatest act of adoration,” Msgr. Marini told CNA on Oct. 28.
He said the Pope believes it is very important to contemplate the crucifix during the celebration of the Eucharist.
When Pope Benedict presides over a Mass, “one of the most significant aspects is that of the centrality of the crucifix on the altar,” the liturgist said. At the moment of the consecration, it is essential that everyone direct their eyes and hearts “towards him who is at the center, the Lord, in order to renew his sacrifice of love for the salvation of all.”
Msgr. Marini also observed how participating in a Mass celebrated by the Pope is an opportunity to strengthen one’s faith. “At those moments I think to myself, ‘I am at the side of the Vicar of Christ,’ and I renew my faith,” he said.
The priest noted how the liturgy is made up of “many little things,” such as kneeling while receiving Communion or keeping silent at the appropriate times. Attention to these details is important in order for the Mass to be a true conversation with the Lord, he added.
“I pay attention to everything that goes into the rite in order to really help those participating to experience God and to help those who are in a spirit of adoration,” Msgr. Marini said.
He also said that attention to detail is crucial in order to affirm “the centrality of the presence of the Lord” and “the authentic meaning of participation in the mystery of Christ.”
God “is truly the great liturgical protagonist and in which participation is authentic in the measure in which one enters into the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of the Lord.” | <urn:uuid:f10b2723-9acf-4c28-8a12-93466c05f485> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/newf.php?url=vatican-official-notes-popes-attention-to-detail-in-liturgy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962705 | 459 | 1.726563 | 2 |
A Nutrient to Dial Down Irritability in Autism
Balancing brain chemistry and behavior
The precise causes of autism aren’t fully understood, but experts agree that a combination of genetic, developmental, and environmental factors contribute to risk of developing the disorder. Imbalances in certain brain neurotransmitters are a focus of research as well, with the goal being to identify and correct these brain chemistry abnormalities in children with autism allowing for normal relationship development and social functioning.
Narrowing in on NAC
NAC may help normalize brain chemistry, but it is not known if more normal brain chemistry translates into more desirable behaviors. To study this question, researchers enrolled 33 children (ages three to eleven years) with autism spectrum disorder into a 12-week study. Half the children were randomly selected to take NAC, and half received a placebo.
The children in the NAC group were given 900 mg once daily for four weeks, followed by 900 mg twice daily for four weeks. During the final four weeks, 900 mg of NAC was given three times per day. The children’s behavior was tracked using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, which is a standardized tool for assessing problem behavior in subjects with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
At the end of 12 weeks, the children in the NAC group had significant improvements in their Aberrant Behavior Checklist scores for irritability compared with children in the placebo group. There were no significant differences in side effects between the NAC and placebo groups.
People with autism spectrum disorders are reported to be more irritable than other people, and this study suggests that the dietary supplement N-acetyl cysteine may lessen irritability in children with the disorder. The study was small, so it makes sense to proceed with caution if you would like your child to try NAC. Keep the following in mind before doing so:
- Talk to your child’s pediatrician and other medical team members before making changes to his or her diet or trying new dietary supplements.
- One child in the NAC group experienced worsening of baseline agitation and irritability and was taken out of the study. The symptoms resolved, but the child exhibited the same behavioral worsening six weeks later, leading to a medical evaluation that revealed severe constipation. It is not known if the NAC contributed to the constipation, but be aware that NAC may cause gastrointestinal effects in some people.
- Research on diet, supplements and autism is plentiful, and it may be tempting to try several things at once. It’s smarter to make only one change at a time, and preferably with the supervision of your pediatrician or other professional who is familiar with your child. This will allow you to carefully track your child’s response individually to each change, be it a diet change, a new supplement, or a new behavioral intervention.
(Biol Psychiatry 2012;71:956–61) | <urn:uuid:d9336966-db43-4e53-9bcc-574c134413f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.harvestmarket.com/healthnotes.php?resource=%2Fassets%2Ffeature%2Fa-nutrient-to-dial-down-irritability-in-autism_15193_4%2F~default | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953982 | 594 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Sick and tired of going to your bank's website and finding it down? You may be in luck.
A hacktivist group claiming responsibility for a string of cyberattacks against bank websites has suspended its operations after YouTube took down a controversial movie about the life of the Muslim prophet Mohammed.
The group, which calls itself the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters, had targeted the websites of many of the nation's largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank and Capital One, with "distributed denial of service" attacks beginning in September.
DDoS attacks, as they're known, use a network of remotely controlled virus-infected computers to overwhelm a website with traffic, making it temporarily inaccessible, says Martin Lindner, principal engineer for CERT at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute.
"A DDoS is a traffic jam," Lindner says. "They are denying a legitimate user's ability to get to a service."
That task is made easier by the fact that bank websites are not set up to handle the massive amount of traffic launched in a DDoS attack, Lindner says. Unlike online retailers like Amazon who must stay online to do any type of business, banks may not necessarily want to spend the money required to boost capacity to the point where DDoS attacks are doomed to fail.
But while there's no evidence that customers' accounts were ever compromised, the attacks were costly for banks and customers, Lindner says. Considering the scale of the attacks, it's likely there were many bank customers with pressing business at their bank that ended up feeling the financial pain, he says.
"If you can't get to your bank to do that transaction, there will be ramifications," he says. "I'm sure there are people that were inconvenienced and it was painful."
Bank customers are increasingly dependent on the Web to access their accounts. A 2012 report by Javelin found that 83 percent of Internet-connected U.S. households use online banking.
Izz ad-Din al-Qassam claimed its attacks cost U.S. banks $30,000 for every minute their websites were down, but Lindner is skeptical of that number and most of the rest of the organization's claims.
"In the DDoS world, no one knows who's actually doing it," Linden says. "Anyone can claim they did it."
What do you think? Have you been inconvenienced by not being able to access your bank's website lately? Are you glad the attacks may be over?
Follow me on Twitter: @ClaesBell. | <urn:uuid:8eb19846-8131-481e-ae65-38fe75b4645f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bankrate.com/financing/banking/hackers-halt-attack-on-bank-websites/?ic_id=News3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973711 | 544 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Arts & Life
Sun May 6, 2012
The Story Of 'How You Met Your Other' Can Say A Lot
Originally published on Sun May 6, 2012 11:06 am
If you're part of a couple, chances are you remember the exact moment you first met your mate. Well, it turns out that how a couple first met isn't just fodder for Hollywood romantic comedies, but might just predict whether a relationship thrives or falters.
That's according Faith Salie and Mario Correa, hosts of the RelationShow, a show about couples and relationships on member station WNYC.
Correa, who comes from a Latin American Catholic family, tells Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin that, being "all about rules," he wanted to know if there were rules for how you should meet your mate.
"Is it better if you meet someone through friends, as opposed to 'I-just-spotted-you-across-the-street.com?'" Correa says for example.
Salie says she also wanted to debunk what she calls the "meet cute" trope so prevalent in romantic comedies. That's "the one that says you have to meet your mate in some preposterously cute way," Salie says.
So, they went out and talked to couples about how they met.
Becky And Jeremy
About 22 years ago, a mutual friend suggested Becky and Jeremy meet. For reasons she can't quite explain, Becky decided to sit down and write Jeremy a letter.
"It was a love letter," Jeremy says.
The letter basically said: "Will you marry me? I don't know you, but I want to marry you."
Becky actually mailed the letter, and when Jeremy got it, he says the first thing he did of course was to show it to his fraternity brothers.
"Look, I'm getting love letters from people I don't even know!" he says.
It was a bold move, but one that appears to have worked since the couple is still together.
Alice And Chauncey
Alice and Chauncey met at a Gay Pride event in a gay bar, where Chauncey had been hired to model. Shockingly, Alice did not figure him to be straight.
"I thought, maybe he's just a gay man flirting with me because that's happened many times before," Alice says.
Alice says she didn't know until later in the night when Chauncey held her hand and finally kissed her. Chauncey says he thought it was a clue when he asked her to take his shirt off, but Alice still thought he was just being a "flirty gay guy."
"That's pretty obvious to me," Chauncey says.
So What Does 'The Meet' Tell Us?
So these couples met in very different ways, obviously, and to find out what it could portend, Salie and Correa talked to John Gottman, a pioneer in the field of relationship science.
Gottman says how a couple meets really doesn't matter. What matters, he says, is how the couple tells the story.
"You can really tell when people have a very positive 'story of us,' Gottman said. "They're sitting close, they're smiling [and] there's a relish in telling the story."
On the other hand, Gottman says if the couple isn't doing well in the relationship, the story can be very general, the memories negative and it can be like "pulling teeth" to get them to talk about how they met.
So it might seem obvious that a happy couple would tell a more positive story and vice versa, but Correa says that what Gottman does is to interview the couple over many years and listen to how the story evolves.
"Each time any of us tells a story, it changes a little bit," Correa says. "So he studies the same couples over many years ... and he listens for these changes."
By listening to those changes, Correa says Gottman can predict fairly accurately where a relationship is headed.
Dissecting The Story
Salie and Correa shared the stories of Becky and Jeremy and Alice and Chauncey with Gottman. Even though they weren't part of his longer studies, he said that their snapshots tell a lot about the couples.
Gottman said Becky and Jeremy had a way of enjoying one another's sense of humor and were very complimentary, a good sign. What was missing in Alice and Chauncey's story, he says, was Chauncey saying positive things about Alice.
"She says a lot of positive things about him but he's really saying, 'You know, she missed a lot of cues,'" he says. "So he's kind of criticizing her."
They're a new couple, however, and Gottman said there's still time to course correct.
So remember, the next time you tell the story of how you met your husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, be sure to stay positive.
Faith Salie and Mario Correa co-host WNYC Public Radio's RelationShow. | <urn:uuid:8e518f00-3cfb-433d-bee9-125874595490> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kttz.org/post/story-how-you-met-your-other-can-say-lot | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981209 | 1,074 | 1.648438 | 2 |
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and President Obama talk after flying over damaged communities and talking with residents, saying they are determined to rebuild as quickly as possible.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has adamantly insisted that presidential politics are the furthest thing from his thoughts during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, though that hasn’t stopped some from filtering his praise for President Barack Obama through a political prism.
The pugnacious New Jersey governor, who supports Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney over Obama this fall (and delivered the keynote address at Romney’s nominating convention), has heaped effusive praise on Obama’s handling of Hurricane Sandy, the massive superstorm to wreak havoc in the northeast, and especially the Jersey Shore.
Larry Downing / Reuters
President Barack Obama and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie talk with survivors of Hurricane Sandy in a community center while touring damaged areas in Brigantine, New Jersey, October 31, 2012.
“I want to thank the president for coming here today. It's really important to have the president of the United States acknowledge all the suffering that's going on here in New Jersey and I appreciate it very much,” Christie said this afternoon as he and Obama toured the devastation. “We're going to work together to make sure we get ourselves through this crisis and get everything back to normal.”
Obama was similarly complimentary, telling people at the Brigantine community center that Christie, who is up for re-election next year in deep-blue New Jersey, “is working overtime to make sure that as soon as possible everybody can get back to normal.”
The two appeared together, along with the New Jersey congressional delegation, following their tours to give similar remarks on camera.
Mitt Romney has continued to push full-speed ahead with his campaign in the battleground state of Florida this morning. The president's campaign team is charting the political course ahead while he tours some of the worst damage in New Jersey. Jen Psaki, Obama traveling press secretary, discusses.
The mutual praise is an outgrowth of both leaders’ handling of a natural disaster, but it coincides with a crucial juncture in the presidential campaign, with just days to go until Election Day. Obama is trying to preserve an advantage in swing states as Romney barnstorms the country in an effort to subsume the incumbent president.
Christie rebuffed suggestions on Tuesday that there were political implications to his work with the administration.
"I've got 2.4 million people out of power. I've got devastation on the shore. I've got floods in the northern part of my state,” he said on Fox News. “If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics then you don't know me."
And the Romney campaign gave Christie a pass for his work with Obama on Wednesday, dismissing a question about whether the GOP nominee was annoyed by the New Jersey governor’s praise for the president.
“Gov. Christie's doing his job. He's the governor of the state that's been hit by a very, very horrific storm,” Romney adviser Russ Schriefer said in a conference call with reporters. “He's doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing as governor of New Jersey. And the president is doing what he needs to be doing as president.”
That won’t necessarily stop observers from searching for political implications in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, especially so close to Nov. 6.
“I am hesitant to kind of make political calculations about the impact of an event that resulted in the deaths of 50 people and the loss of $50 billion in property,” senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said on a separate conference call this morning. “This was a disaster of huge proportions, and the president is doing what his responsibilities require -- and that includes going to New Jersey, as is what he's done in the case of every major disaster during the course of his presidency, to offer the support of the people of our country, to tour the scene himself, to speak firsthand with the first responder and the elected officials at the scene.”
Reuters, Getty Images
In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.
Obama will return to the campaign trail on Thursday after canceling three days’ worth of political events. And Romney on Wednesday was mostly tentative in attacking Obama, opting instead for a softer tone and words of encouragement for recovery efforts in the northeast.
Axelrod suggested that the storm essentially washed out several days of campaigning, during which point there was no movement in the jockeying between Romney and the president.
“Wherever you think this race is, it tended to freeze the race because people are focused on the storm,” he said. “That's what's been in the news; normally the election would have been in the news. So I think it's fair to say that that is the case.”
But as a series of polls suggest Romney is trailing in some battleground states, those days might also be crucial opportunities lost. | <urn:uuid:116db165-9213-4863-b7c2-347b59dd1b00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/31/14836620-obama-and-christies-shared-praise-far-from-unusual?pc=25&sp=50 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975573 | 1,056 | 1.539063 | 2 |
There has been plenty of confusion and misinformation about the national debt, the fiscal cliff, and new taxes on Americans thanks in part to the use of clever White House talking points and a complicit national media. Let’s clear up some of the current issues with facts and truth by looking at the numbers.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the latest fiscal cliff deal will add an additional $4 trillion to the national deficit. This is not a good way to begin 2013. What we do know is that the 150-page Obama-Biden-Reid ‘Tax And Spend’ increase passed the Senate and House with few details getting out to American taxpayers. Only ignorant and under-informed citizens still believe that there is any accountability in the Obama administration or that they’re attempting to govern with transparency.
With new Obamacare taxes already kicking in as of January 1, this is not a good sign. We constantly heard the president and his minions say that “taxes will not increase for the majority of Americans,” especially for those making less than $250,000 a year.
What we now know is the farcical fiscal deal doesn’t just hit the wealthy hard; taxes now increase for 77% of Americans because the temporary payroll tax cut was not extended, causing the Social Security tax to jump 2%, from 4.2 to 6.2 percent. We are now taking home anywhere from $50 to $189 less every month.
Already, many poor and middle-class folks have reacted in anger or shock, including some Democrats who believed it would not affect them. The average American family making $50,000 a year will be hit with around $1,000 due to tax increases.
How quickly we forget that in just one term, President Obama increased the national debt as much as all prior Presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush combined.
Before continuing, let’s recall a 2008 quote from then-Senator Obama who blasted President Bush for adding $4 trillion to the national debt – even though most Democrats and Republicans agreed to the spending in the hopes of avoiding a crash of the U.S. banking system and economy:
The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion dollars for the first 42 presidents — number 43 added $4 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child.
Hopefully, more open-minded Americans now see the hypocrisy of Obama claiming that the Bush administration’s spending was both “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic.”
To raise taxes on people in all tax brackets (not just “the rich”) was a mind-boggling move in what many call a recession, but this is exactly what they enacted. Cuts were not considered, now was the national debt of $16.4 trillion; so the hard-working people in America lose.
Before we detail some of the pork, it needs to be pointed out that the bill seems to take direct aim at married couples, penalizing them with hundreds of dollars in what might as well be called fines. Heterosexual marriage is practically being discouraged against. Families are the backbone of the free market system and key to getting the economy growing again. We’re now seeing evidence that this administration has much more invested in growing government than the private sector.
Senators received the fiscal cliff bill at the last minute and voted on it without reading through the legislation. Who can forget the Obamacare bill being shoved through Congress (while Nancy Pelosi infamously said “You have to pass it to find out what’s in it.”)? What did Pelosi think of the fiscal cliff resolution? She said it was “a happy start to a new year.” The bill contains $25.1 billion in cuts, however; big government liberals are thrilled because the same bill also increases spending by $330 billion over ten years.
Basically, the deal contains $10 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts. Imagine trying to operate a family budget or small business using this method.
President Obama approved of the temporary band-aid as he continued his Hawaiian vacation on the taxpayer dime. He successfully piled America’s fiscal problems onto taxpayers, further showing he never cared about cutting spending. This is who half of American voters chose to reelect.
Also seeing major tax increases are those earning $400,000 and couples that make $450,000 – sounds like a marriage penalty to me – including capital gains and dividend taxes. Moreover, deductions are now limited for individuals making more than $250,000 ($300,000 for couples). It seems like the Left no longer only considers millionaires “rich.”
Our government is adding about $4 billion a day to the national debt while the new ‘spending money we don’t have’ deal provides generous tax breaks, perks, and pork to selected corporate friends. The list includes:
$12.1 billion for the wind-energy (green) sector, $430 million for Hollywood film producers, $222 million for rum distillers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, $331 million for railroad operators, $650 million tax break for manufacturers of energy-efficient appliances, and $59 million to algae growers for biofuel efforts.
Meanwhile, unemployment has barely budged, food stamps have massively increased, and U-6 Total unemployment remains at 14.4 percent.
If any good news can come from Republicans caving again, John Boehner told the Wall Street Journal he will never again negotiate with Obama behind closed doors because the president has shown his true red colors, and his actions don’t match his public statements.
At one point several weeks ago, the President said to me, ‘We don’t have a spending problem.’” Once he got over his shock, the House Speaker fired back, “‘But Mr. President, we have a very serious spending problem.’
In keeping with the motto of not letting a good crisis go to waste, even the Senate wouldn’t even help hurricane Sandy victims without dealing themselves millions in new pork. Nearly a quarter of the $60-billion package goes somewhere else than directly to the victims or the infrastructure actually damaged by the hurricane. No surprises here. Both parties are at fault.
It seems our leaders in Washington keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results. It’s fiscal insanity. Democrats now say the fiscal cliff is just the tip of the taxing iceberg while Republicans say they’ve compromised enough. According to The Hill, the President’s party is pushing for another trillion in “new revenue” before the year is out. Revenue (government income) to them means taxing the people. Americans are taxed enough already. Have we now gone past the point of no return? How much more will the people take?
Photo credit: Jessie Owen (Creative Commons) | <urn:uuid:59b3b769-02a8-457b-baad-2f5f60c72b08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.impeachobamacampaign.com/tag/taxes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960074 | 1,495 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The death star
A STAR primed to explode in a blast that could wipe out the Earth was revealed by astronomers yesterday.
It will self-destruct in an explosion called a supernova with the force of 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT.
New studies show the star, called T Pyxidis, is much closer than previously thought at 3,260 light-years away — a short hop in galactic terms.
So the blast from the thermonuclear explosion could strip away our ozone layer that keeps out deadly space radiation. Life on Earth would then be frazzled.
The doomsday scenario was described yesterday by astronomers from Villanova University, Philadelphia, US.
They said the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite has shown them that T Pyxidis is really two stars, one called a white dwarf that is sucking in gas and steadily growing. When it reaches a critical mass it will blow itself to pieces.
It will become as bright as all the other stars in the galaxy put together and shine like a beacon halfway across the universe.
The experts said the Hubble space telescope has photographed the star gearing up for its big bang with a series of smaller blasts or “burps”, called novas.
These explosions came regularly about every 20 years from 1890 — but stopped after 1967.
So the next blast is nearly 20 years overdue, said scientists Edward M Sion, Patrick Godon and Timothy McClain at the American Astronomical Society in Washington. Robin Scagell, vice-president of the UK’s Society for Popular Astronomy, said last night: “The star may certainly became a supernova soon — but soon could still be a long way off so don’t have nightmares.”
Let’s hope there’s still time for England’s very own stars to put in a stella performance at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa. | <urn:uuid:415adb32-298d-40c5-8c74-6d9be24555a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2795981/Supernova-may-wipe-out-the-Earth.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941828 | 394 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Posted 1 year ago on March 30, 2012, 8:20 p.m. EST by gnomunny
from St Louis, MO
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
More than half the Wall Street exec's interviewed in a recent independent survey said that OWS has had a real impact on their business, this according to ECHO Research, a global research company. Commissioned by Markovsky + Company, a PR and investor relations firm, Echo interviewed 150 marketing and communications executives at large to mid-sized publicly-traded and private financial institutions including major banks, brokerage and asset-management firms, and insurance companies. More findings of the survey include:
71% believe OWS will last past the November elections.
74% believe that increased regulation of the financial services industry will help their firms improve reputations and trust with customers faster.
96% said their firms invited negative public perception . . . by their actions or inactions.
But, whether this research has impacted the CEOs and power brokers of these firms is another matter. According to Robert Reich, who needs no intro here, the bigwigs mostly see this as a PR problem. Scott Tagney, executive VP and head of financial services at Markovsky said, "There has been a shift in priority (since '08) from recovering and stabilizing to focusing on customer satisfaction, employee communications, and improving public perception."
Not surprising that their priorities mention nothing about reform. There is a bit of a silver lining however, at least in my opinion. According to the ECHO research site, they are "a global reputation analysis, media measurement and stakeholder research specialist" that enables "clients to measure how they are viewed, accurately and impartially, and to protect their brands and reputations." One of the tidbits I found on their site was this: "The average value of reputation as a percentage of market capitalisation has increased across the FTSE100 (the London Stock Exchange's top 100) has increased from 17% in 2007 to 33% at the start of 2012. It increased across the FTSE250 from 17% (2007) to 20% (now)." What I read in that tidbit is that public perception of a particular industry or business has more of an impact on that industry's bottom line than it had previously. Maybe people are starting to pay attention? One can only hope. | <urn:uuid:cda8d4f3-d365-4e1b-b57b-0da76aa7bbf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://occupywallst.org/forum/wall-street-finally-pays-attention-to-ows-or-not/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970589 | 488 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Moon's shadow moves over Earth
An annular eclipse of the Sun swept across the Iberian peninsular today, 3 October 2005. The eclipse, the first in the region for over 90 years, was witnessed by ESA staff at the European Space Astronomy Centre, Madrid, Spain.
The condition for an annular eclipse to occur, apart from Earth, Moon and Sun lining up, is that the apparent diameter of the Moon is smaller than the apparent diameter of the Sun.
At the point of totality when the Moon lines up exactly with the Sun, the Moon will not fully cover the solar disk, leaving a ring of light (annulus) still visible around the Moon. | <urn:uuid:3d92adf2-8c03-42da-aefc-4ff4548bd391> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Moon_s_shadow_moves_over_Earth | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923081 | 139 | 3.90625 | 4 |
In our previous article, we highlighted the importance of having a mobile friendly website and what is the importance. We would suggest you read the article before reading further Get Responsive Website to make your website Mobile Friendly. Concept of Responsiveness makes single website look different on different screens, whereas mobile website concept makes different websites for desktop and mobile. After reading you may be wondering now if making your website responsive, saves you big bucks and very easy, then why would you be interested in a separate mobile website.
To answer that i did some research, really why would people go for all that extra work, and what i found was that it is a viable way to create a separate website if you have lot of data on your website. Imagine mobile connectivity is most of the times worst than the dial up connection and user will not be able to download your website. In case you want to showcase only limited stuff to your mobile user and not all the things that is there on your website then having a separate mobile website is the option.
What is Mobile Website
Just like any other normal website you find a host provider and a domain name and then host your website on a server, in the same way mobile website is built with its own server space allocated, you can use same server which you are using for your desktop website or a different one. And Charging is also done in the same way, i.e., hosting charges which is some where from $5-$10 per year for hosting space varying from 1GB to 5 GB. You have to get the design and layout done separately, SEO, analytics, URl, everything will be separate, its like have a different website altogether. Ex: Times of India has a mobile website at http://m.timesofindia.com/
How to get Mobile Website
You can either get it done through a web designing company or you can do it yourself as there are many service providers available today and you can in a matter of seconds create your mobile website with the online tools they provide. They automatically converts the url into a mobile website, optimized for any mobile operating system or browser.You will just have to paste your desktop website url and in few seconds they give you a mobile version, you can edit the layout and color and everything online itself. And the final step will be to link your desktop and mobile website which you can officially link by copying the “redirection script” from the dashboard and paste in to your existing site, so mobile users who type the URL will be sent to the mobile version.
But Instead of using auto conversion tool to convert website to mobile format, i think its better to use tool that give users better control over what can be done. Afterall, conversions are’nt really accurate most of the time.
I prefer those that allow a semi-automated conversion. I guess the competition in this industry is getting really fierce with more and more companies coming out with better features.
A list of some of the service provider
- Morces – Giving users more control to grab content from existing sites, sync content in a simplistic manner. Support is good. Free too.
- Mobify – High tech technology that allows users to sync content at a very accurate rate. However, if too much modification is made to the desktop site, the mobile site get haywire. Probably giving users the option to manually sync will be better
- Mofuse – Simple way to put business on mobile by drag and drop. A bit costly.
- Dubamobile – Greatly promoted by Google (one year free hosting) . It’s like bmobilized – auto conversion. But that limits the users control. Conversion are not 100% accurate.
- bmobilized – Auto Conversion 7days free trails
- MobileGo – Indian service provider which i found. Its not automated but they charge less 2000 per year.
One Advantage of having mobile website is also that Google indexes mobile content differently. You get better ranking as this segment is still in its early stage. So if you want to enter mobile market before your competitor, this will be ideal.
Hope this article was useful, if you have a better service provider in mind plz share it in your comments, as it will be helpful to others too. | <urn:uuid:fe8e68c2-703f-4d87-b190-51cbed604c69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.startupfreak.com/mobile-website-versus-responsive-web-design-for-startups/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942122 | 873 | 1.859375 | 2 |
As of Thursday, July 12, 2012
© Copyright 2013
Clayton News Daily
JONESBORO — The Clayton County Board of Commissioners this week asked metro Atlanta leaders to consider minority-run businesses for projects that would be funded by the proposed regional Transportation—Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.
Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday that poses the request to officials at the Atlanta Regional Commission and leaders in Cherokee, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties.
Clayton leaders specifically want “small, minority and female and veteran-owned businesses” from the Atlanta area considered to construct at least some of the projects funded by TSPLOST, according to the resolution. It also states minorities make up 48 percent of the people who live in the metro Atlanta area.
The TSPLOST is allowed under Georgia’s Transportation Investment Act, but it still needs approval of voters through a referendum that appears on the state’s primary ballot.
“The Atlanta region can strengthen its future growth and prosperity by promoting the inclusion and participation of small, women, minority and veteran-owned businesses in the procurement opportunities and community economic development activities which will occur as a result of the passage of TIA,” states the resolution. | <urn:uuid:c23e7843-fae4-4d4a-b3a4-90732d17513d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news-daily.com/news/2012/jul/12/inclusion-infusion-boc-wants-minorities-tsplost-ta/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942577 | 270 | 1.507813 | 2 |