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The Regenerative Community: Building local capacity for sustainability that endures
We are an alliance of leaders in the field of regeneration, working with communities at all scales, from neighborhoods to watersheds. We help them rediscover their unique social, economic and ecological identity and destiny. This unique identity is the basis for overcoming fragmentation and divisiveness. Then, together, we align around, create, and implement authentic place-sourced and developmental strategies across the whole community.
We help communities conceive, connect, construct and celebrate their unique regenerative potential, tapping the native genius and creativity of people and their place, and building local capacity for long-term results.
Fragmentation drives resistance to change. It promotes suboptimal solutions through compromise or mandate. Communities that cultivate a deeper sense of connection around a larger sense of purpose are able to make the changes required to become sources of health and wholeness for their members and the places they inhabit. | <urn:uuid:0e63ce76-dceb-4839-822a-4ae655687099> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://regenerationalliance.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929654 | 191 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis. (The Guardian)
Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% – far more than previously estimated – according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body.
The figure emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.
Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush. | <urn:uuid:e9bb833e-d38e-4dd2-b2c9-fd5e8e42e62e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://guiltycarnivore.com/2008/07/04/biofuel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950887 | 162 | 1.953125 | 2 |
This is a traditional thesis program requiring 33 semester hours of course work. One will have the opportunity to structure his or her course work and thesis topic according to his or her other particular research interests in biology (to include Microbiology, Marine Biology, Biotechnology, or Molecular/Immunobiology). Whether one wants to go on to doctoral work, employment, or teaching in the field, a master's in this program is ideal. Some representative careers include: bioremediation, marine biology, medical research, microbiology, education, pharmaceutics, and public health.
The Coastal Zone Studies (CZS) program in biology is a non-thesis tract degree program that incorporates course work in biology, environmental studies and geology. The program is designed to provide interdisciplinary knowledge and skills necessary for understanding and managing the coastal environment founded on a solid grasp of the biological principles of the system. Course work includes directed studies at the 5000 and 6000 level to allow for "hands-on" experience working in biology. The degree is particularly relevant to individuals seeking employment in federal, state, or private consulting agencies concerned with overseeing coastal environments.
This specialization is one in which in which students are provided a solid background in the biological sciences and methods to identify and solve problems, management practices, and techniques in scientific research and/or policy-making as they pertain to the environment. | <urn:uuid:39a7b49c-275c-40e8-a127-bb8dd4e06749> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uwf.edu/biology/ms-biology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940316 | 280 | 1.601563 | 2 |
AEA Conference 2013
Call for Proposals
Will be mailed out the last week of January!
TIG Social Event - Hold the Date
System TIG Elections!
Results are in!
Our new leadership team is featured
on the TIG Leadership tab from the menu above.
Who We Are
The Systems in Evaluation TIG (SETIG) formed as the result of a series of sessions on
systems thinking in evaluation offered during AEA's 2002 annual meeting in
Created to provide a forum for ongoing conversation about the use of systems thinking and systems theory in evaluation, the TIG has greatly expanded in size and scope,
with membership exceeding 450.
The TIG focuses on the use of systems thinking and systems theory as a framework for evaluation planning, design, implementation, analysis, and reporting, across a wide range of content areas, and using a diverse array of evaluation approaches, research methods,
and data collection and analysis tools.
Areas of interest to TIG members include:
- Evaluation approaches that use systems theory to plan, design, and implement evaluation
- Discussion about how to ground evaluation methods and approaches in systems thinking and theory
- The contributions of diverse perspectives in understanding issues related to the use of systems thinking and theory in evaluation | <urn:uuid:1af41bab-9e97-47d0-b7bc-5f17041d645b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://comm.eval.org/systems_in_evaluation/home/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903518 | 260 | 1.554688 | 2 |
I knew when he signed his name to that that that meant that the working women and minorities had a chance to stand up for what they believed in and themselves. And that is what this country is built on, and that is what it is about.
Women make up over 50% of the United States and just over 15% of Congress. Want to help raise that number? Come along with the WLA to D.C. and talk to law and policy makers about their career path and their policies for America’s women! | <urn:uuid:9ee3b42a-0cd0-4718-9979-0ddde833f8a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://harvardwla.tumblr.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992263 | 108 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Brandon Savage has posted some of his thoughts on when it's okay to write bad code in your development lifecycle:
I've been there myself. I recently needed to prototype something. As I sat down to work on it, I had absolutely no idea how I was going to write the component I was working on. And so, I started working - without a plan, without writing tests, without designing an architecture, and without really knowing how the component was going to end up. You know what? The component came out working, but when I was done it was ugly. Totally ugly. The code was bad. But I had a solution, and a solution that worked.
He points out that sometimes, doing things "the right way" can stifle creativity and experimentation - two things that a developer needs to solve the problems they face day to day. He notes that refactoring is a part of their job and moving from a rough prototype to a finished product often improves this skill and can find issues not discovered before.
This does NOT mean that developers can push bad code into a repository. Nothing lives longer than temporary code; see to it that your finished code is always good. | <urn:uuid:4242ffe4-d89c-4113-bede-10485c746d01> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phpdeveloper.org/tag/creative | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988846 | 240 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Lakewood’s Economic Development Division offers guidance about loans, capital or financing that may be right for your business. The organization can also steer you to the organizations providing these services. Additionally, The City and County of Denver has compiled a comprehensive Capital Matrix of most known funding sources for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Micro and Small Business Loans Up to $250,000
ACCION is an award-winning nonprofit organization that invests in the community by increasing access to business credit, making loans and providing training to help emerging and existing entrepreneurs.
The Women’s Business Development Center, Colorado's only dedicated entrepreneurial business center for women, plays a critical role in contributing to the number of quality women-led venture investment opportunities for angels and venture capitalists, representing a high potential for growth in Colorado.
The Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute is a nonprofit microfinance organization that combines business development services and microloans to help entrepreneurs build businesses as a means of becoming economically self-sufficient.
Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF) is a nonprofit community development financial institution founded in 1976 to help small businesses. The Fund provides small business loans up to $150,000 to entrepreneurs unable to obtain financing from traditional sources. CEF offers access to management consulting and business training.
The Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade’s Business Finance Division brings together several financing tools, including debt and equity financing, cash incentives, grants and tax credits, to support economic development activities that improve and support employment opportunities in Colorado. Visit the Business Finance section of their website.
Many of these alternative lenders have compiled advice and best practices in one convenient website. Visit www.smallbizlending.org to learn more.
Larger Loans Over $250,000
Colorado Lending Source (CLS) offers small businesses access to attractive, fixed-rate, long-term financing for real estate and equipment expansion projects. The community-based nonprofit organization promotes small business growth.
The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) is a state program designed to create affordable housing, business and economic growth opportunities for Colorado residents. CHFA's QIC program provides fixed-rate financing for small business loans guaranteed by the SBA. Loans may be used for working capital, equipment purchases, business expansions and real estate acquisitions. The ACCESS program provides financing for fixed assets with a first mortgage funded as part of an SBA 504 loan package.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers a variety of loan programs for specific purposes. Ask your business bank about the SBA loans they currently provide. | <urn:uuid:56528730-892d-4103-b8d2-363f73fa05c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lakewood.org/City_Managers_Office/Economic_Development/Small_Business_Services/Loans_and_Financial_Programs.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90602 | 521 | 1.585938 | 2 |
If you are not aware by now, you should be-- breakfast is the most important meal of the day, even if that means just having a bowl of cereal. If you have a busy schedule, breakfast cereal is quick, easy and convenient. It’s also typically something you can get your kids to eat without too much fuss.
Choosing a healthy breakfast cereal is one of the best ways to start a day with nutrition, but how can you tell what cereals are the healthiest for you and your family?
#1 – Cereals that Include Whole Grains
The first thing to look at when choosing a breakfast cereal for yourself and your family is the grain content. You should look for cereals containing whole grains as opposed to any refined grains. Whole grains contain more natural fiber, potassium and magnesium, among other nutrients. Whole grains are easier to digest and keep you feeling fuller longer.
#2 – Cereals Low in Sugar
Another important element to healthy breakfast cereals is low sugar content. Loading up on sugar first thing in the morning, or at any time, is not conducive to optimum health. In fact, feeding your children heavily laden sugar cereal each morning is harmful to their learning processes and overall health.
#3 – Cereals with Little or no High Fructose Corn Syrup
In addition to having low sugar content, a healthy cereal should not contain high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is considered a sweetener but it is typically highly processed and modified, not something you or family should be ingesting first thing in the morning, or at all.
#4 – Cereals with Little or no Fat Content
One thing you should be paying attention to when you are looking to purchase a healthy cereal is the fat content. The types of fats to avoid are saturated and trans fats. These types of fats are contributors to heart disease and high cholesterol as well as major factors in the onset of obesity.
Top Five Healthy Cereals
Knowing what types of cereals to look for can help with maintaining a healthy weight and give your body the right nutrition. There are many cereals to choose from. This list of five cereals will help you get started in making healthy choices but is not all inclusive.
- Whole Grain Cheerios
- Shredded Wheat (the plain type with no added sugar)
- Fiber One Bran Cereal
- Raisin Bran
It does take a little more effort to prepare oatmeal in the morning, but the health results are well worth it and oatmeal does come in instant packages. No matter what cereal you choose to purchase, simply reading the ingredient labels will help you make healthier choices. | <urn:uuid:71cfe1ba-7baf-49ad-bb0c-db19f9e500a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/nutrition/healthy-eating/the-5-most-healthy-cereals.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936147 | 543 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Think you bear some resemblance to U.S. President Barack Obama? Well, your likeness can't possibly be as uncanny as this guy's, who had to make a website just to bring an end to all the confusion.
I Look Like Barack Obama is more than a personal website; it's a public service. Chicago-dwelling software engineer Trevor (who asked us to withhold his last name) is informing the public that, hard as it is to believe, he is not the president of the United States.
Okay, so maybe they don't look exactly alike — or at all alike, for that matter. But it's a clever campaign and we're totally going with it.
To address the skeptics that are perhaps less inclined to play along, Trevor used an advanced facial recognition software embedded deep within Microsoft Paint to illuminate the similarities.
Did the hair on your neck just stand up? Sure, there are a couple of differences you might be noticing. As Trevor puts it, "While both of us are half-white, Barack's other half is black, but my other half is also white." On the other hand, the two share 98.5% of the same DNA. Sure, they also share that same DNA with chimpanzees, but that's beside the point.
As we near the presidential elections, the campaigns are gaining momentum on the Internet. Naturally, I Look Like Barack Obama is spiking too. But Trevor actually started the site back in 2004 after he saw Obama speak at the Democratic National Convention.
"I was mesmerized," Trevor told Mashable. "Who was this guy on TV, and why did he look so much like me? I couldn't believe it. It's the same reaction that other people get when they visit my site."
Trevor says 20% of the response to the site can be described as confusion. Emails are either intended for the Prez himself, or from people who are in denial that these two men are, in fact, not the same person.
"People think both of the pictures on the front page are Obama and I'm just messing with them," Trevor said. "They're not! One is actually me, and you'll just have to guess which!"
We understand that it's going to take some getting used to before everyone's comfortable with the fact that there are basically two Barack Obamas out there. If you're looking for harder evidence, Trevor is available to appear as his doppleganger at your bachelorette party, office retreat or Bar Mitzvah. Nothing says mazel tov like a presidential impersonator.
Image courtesy egadapparel, Flickr. | <urn:uuid:89499de7-db27-4bf7-aafc-d7b8c946aa29> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mashable.com/2012/08/08/barack-obama-look-alike-site/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981895 | 543 | 1.710938 | 2 |
I struggle to understand the righteousness of Israelis when it comes to international criticism, and so I've typed up a fascinating passage about the colonial mindset from Doris Lessing's novel A Proper Marriage, which is set in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, during World War II.
In one episode in the book, liberal colonial women stage a performance by "colored" children for a white audience in the capital, Salisbury (now Harare). The organizer of the show, Mrs. Maynard, is upset that she is not getting much help from young lefties, including the heroine of the book, Martha Quest (who like her creator leaves the colony for England in 1949).
The passage below explains Mr. and Mrs. Maynard's colonial mindset. The Maynards are liberals. Mrs. Maynard had grown up thinking of herself as a "rebel." And at the very end of the passage, the reference to young people is to Martha's set, the young lefties.
For it is by no means an accident that people find themselves in the colonies. Mrs. Maynard, as a girl [in England], had infuriated her family by refusing to get married at the right time. Instead, she had become a crusader for better housing in Whitechapel. She had been prevented from marrying a penniless clergyman who was similarly devoted only by the greatest effort on the part of her relations. As a revenge she had married Mr. Maynard: Africa had seemed to her both romantic and suitably exasperating to her family. She had seen herself ministering to grateful savages. And Mr. Maynard had left England because he found it insular. They had both been rebels, of a kind. Perhaps the strongest strand in their relationship was the feeling that they were rebels against tradition--even now, when their first concern was to uphold it.
For that matter, there is no white person in the colonies who has not arrived there for some similar reason: they are crusaders against tyranny to a man. Which accounts for that shrill note of protest when the world suggests that it is both stupid and old-fashioned to suppress native populations: for when these same colonials are passionately engaged in fighting against a minimum wage of one pound a month, or advocating the sjambok [whip] as a means of guidance for the uncivilized, they are always, in the bottom of their hearts, quite convinced that this too is part of their character as rebels against the tyranny and conservatism of the mother country which they left as adventurers into a free world.
Mrs. Maynard was quite genuine in her cry that these young people must feel with her in helping the unfortunate half-castes; that they should not must kill her idea of herself as a fearless and progressive person. | <urn:uuid:c04d6f3f-7651-4e1f-ab0f-746a35cc8426> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/the-progressive-vanity-of-the-colonial-per-doris-lessing.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985397 | 570 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Bloomberg reported today that former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who currently heads President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, “visited nine cities in five countries in the past eight weeks to warn that bankers and regulators ‘have not come anywhere close to responding with necessary vigor’ to the worst economic crisis in 70 years.”
In particular, Volcker has slammed the notion that financial regulation will stifle innovation by saying that the greatest banking innovation in the last 20 years was the ATM. “I wish someone would give me one shred of neutral evidence that financial innovation has led to economic growth — one shred of evidence,” Volcker said at a banker’s conference in England.
However, “there’s little evidence that policy makers are heeding Volcker”:
Two years after the start of the deepest recession since the 1930s, no U.S. or European authority has put in force a single measure that would transform the financial system, based on data compiled by Bloomberg. No rule- or law-making body is actively considering the automatic dismantling of banks that Volcker told Congress are sheltered by access to an implicit safety net
While Bloomberg is technically correct that “automatic dismantling” is not being considered, the report leaves out that Great Britain is taking apart the mega-banks that are still under government control, while the financial regulatory reform package passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week included an amendment from Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) that would allow regulators to dismantle systemically risky firms.
Plus, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said today that House Democrats are “considering reinstituting the Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act,” which placed a regulatory wall between depository institutions and investment banks, preventing financial conglomerations like Citigroup from coming into being “As someone who voted to repeal Glass-Steagall, maybe that was a mistake,” Hoyer said.
So while it’s true that Volcker’s voice hasn’t been amplified enough — and the administration is counting way too much on public admonishments to influence bank behavior — there are at least some steps being taken to more actively rein in the biggest banks on both sides of the Atlantic.
Volcker’s argument about the role of innovation, though, is spot-on, and hasn’t been adequately discussed. As Dean Baker pointed out, “financial industry profits now account for more than 31.5% of all corporate profits,” which is “a higher share than at any point during the housing bubble years.” One financial engineer actually told Volcker that financial innovation does nothing to help the economy, but “it’s a lot of intellectual fun.”
Do we need a financial system that swallows up almost one-third of corporate profits by passing paper back and forth? I don’t think we do. And hopefully lawmakers will realize that Volcker is beating this drum and listen up.
Newsweek is reporting that Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) will introduce a bill reinstituting Glass-Steagall tomorrow. | <urn:uuid:6d6a5e1a-dc08-4e6c-855b-0c53ec9355df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2009/12/15/173053/volcker-dems/?mobile=nc | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962252 | 675 | 1.695313 | 2 |
In years past, we have had rather glorious winter gardens. I’m sure I’ve written about it on this blog before, because I usually feel like bragging when we can go outside in January or February and harvest a salad.
We learned our techniques from Eliot Coleman’s classic book Four Season Harvest, and we found for the first three or four winters that it really wasn’t tough at all: Just plant hardy greens in the fall, put cold frames (basically, mini greenhouses) over them when the frosts start, and eat to your heart’s content until spring. Compared to summer gardening, it’s actually a breeze, because there are no insects and almost no weeds.
Well, this year we had our Waterloo. We planted our usual winter crops in the ground in early October. They all failed to germinate. So we planted again. For the second time, lousy germination and for those little plants that did poke through, insect damage.
So we took the operation inside, figuring we’d plant in seed flats and put the plants under grow lights to help them catch up. Then we’d move them outside. Three things prevented this from happening: 1. The big snowstorm in December. 2. The extreme cold in January. 3. Big and extreme laziness in both December and January.
Eventually, our will for a winter garden petered out entirely and though we haven’t actually discarded our seedlings, we no longer take care of them. It’s really a sad scene.
Well, sometimes it happens, I guess. You always get a fresh start with the next season, and so shall it be this spring.
Anyone have a more successful winter garden they want to crow about? | <urn:uuid:35cb0004-f231-4f52-8ade-f46e8db7ed8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.c-ville.com/Our_sad_little_winter_garden/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955161 | 369 | 1.828125 | 2 |
In response to:
On Linguistics from the May 14, 1964 issue
To the Editors:
Will you please report a few errata in my Linguistics review in the issue of May 14?
On page 15, for the benefit of the uninstructed your editor wisely but inaccurately defined “phonemes” for me. A phoneme is what is analyzed as the smallest discrimination that could make a difference to being understood. Thus, a Spanish d would still be taken for d, so it is not a separate phoneme from d; but thin is different from sin, so a strong lisp is phonemically pathological. Also, a rising intonation is taken for a question rather than an assertion, so it is a separate phoneme. The gist of my review is that an accurate analysis—of phonemes, syntax, or anything else—is of the concrete whole that is being analyzed; since language finally exists in particular practical speeches, we cannot finally rely on mere averages, or matching pairs over short stretches with unconcerned listeners, or on fiat of what in a speech is linguistic and what is para-linguistic. Linguistic analysis is literary analysis.
On page 18, your copy-reader dropped a “not” in my sentence about Zellig Harris, which should read: “Is it not a bit of a hoax not to accumulate in parallel the vast treasury of ‘paralinguistic’ speech which also somehow communicates?”
Finally, on page 2, at the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) I am in the Department of Urban Affairs, not English. | <urn:uuid:0e1323c6-9022-43c9-a6ab-3142f76e61f3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1964/may/28/lingustics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946109 | 337 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is an independent research organisation concerned with policies affecting the environment in Europe and beyond.
Our aim is to disseminate knowledge about Europe and the environment and to analyse and present policy options. Our focus on European policy making is shared by few and we have a reputation based on being first in the field and possessing a history of knowledge and involvement acquired over thirty years. We undertake research and consultancy on the development, implementation and evaluation of environmental and environment-related policies in Europe.
Our research work involves both pressing short-term policy issues and long-term strategic studies. Our project portfolio varies from year to year but we are committed to being at the forefront of thinking about the environmental aspects of EU policies and keeping an open dialogue with policymakers and stakeholders. We work closely with the full range of policy actors from international agencies and the EU institutions to national government departments, NGOs and academics.
IEEP has an interdisciplinary staff including lawyers and natural and social scientists with experience in several European countries. We are a charity with offices in London and Brussels and a network of partners in other European countries. The London office of IEEP was founded in 1980, the Brussels office in 2001. A presence was established in Finland in 2008.
The Institute has nine research areas spanning the key European and related national policy agendas: | <urn:uuid:9af68328-59a6-49ed-9082-9a074a8e23e2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ieep.org.uk/about-us/about-ieep/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956312 | 270 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says
(CBS News) Modern wheat is a "perfect, chronic poison," according to Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist who has published a book all about the world's most popular grain.
Davis said that the wheat we eat these days isn't the wheat your grandma had: "It's an 18-inch tall plant created by genetic research in the '60s and '70s," he said on "CBS This Morning." "This thing has many new features nobody told you about, such as there's a new protein in this thing called gliadin. It's not gluten. I'm not addressing people with gluten sensitivities and celiac disease. I'm talking about everybody else because everybody else is susceptible to the gliadin protein that is an opiate. This thing binds into the opiate receptors in your brain and in most people stimulates appetite, such that we consume 440 more calories per day, 365 days per year."
Asked if the farming industry could change back to the grain it formerly produced, Davis said it could, but it would not be economically feasible because it yields less per acre. However, Davis said a movement has begun with people turning away from wheat - and dropping substantial weight.
"If three people lost eight pounds, big deal," he said. "But we're seeing hundreds of thousands of people losing 30, 80, 150 pounds. Diabetics become no longer diabetic; people with arthritis having dramatic relief. People losing leg swelling, acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, depression, and on and on every day."
To avoid these wheat-oriented products, Davis suggests eating "real food," such as avocados, olives, olive oil, meats, and vegetables. "(It's) the stuff that is least likely to have been changed by agribusiness," he said. "Certainly not grains. When I say grains, of course, over 90 percent of all grains we eat will be wheat, it's not barley... or flax. It's going to be wheat.
"It's really a wheat issue."
Some health resources, such as the Mayo Clinic, advocate a more balanced diet that does include wheat. But Davis said on "CTM" they're just offering a poor alternative.
"All that literature says is to replace something bad, white enriched products with something less bad, whole grains, and there's an apparent health benefit - 'Let's eat a whole bunch of less bad things.' So I take...unfiltered cigarettes and replace with Salem filtered cigarettes, you should smoke the Salems. That's the logic of nutrition, it's a deeply flawed logic. What if I take it to the next level, and we say, 'Let's eliminate all grains,' what happens then?
"That's when you see, not improvements in health, that's when you see transformations in health."
Watch Davis' full interview in the video above.
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- Carole King celebrates Gershwin Prize honor at White House
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- Bowser and Barbara: Dog owner's joy amid Okla. rubble | <urn:uuid:5c3679d9-2b0b-4618-9a61-8168fc8bab1a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505269_162-57505149/modern-wheat-a-perfect-chronic-poison-doctor-says/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957411 | 817 | 2.296875 | 2 |
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After a decade of war, Iraqis and U.S. military veterans are coming together to launch…
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August 5, 2008, New York – In response to the hand-picked military jury’s decision in the Military Commission against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Shayana Kadidal, Senior Managing Attorney of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Guantánamo Global Justice Initiative, issued the following statement:
“Hamdan’s trial violated two of the most fundamental criminal justice principles accepted by all developed nations: the prohibition on the use of coerced evidence and the prohibition on retroactive criminal laws.
The trial will not create finality – the decision to keep these cases out of the ordinary criminal courts will produce years of appeals over novel legal issues raised by the untested military commissions system. Even after those appeals are finished, the process will never be seen as legitimate by the world. This case was the first trial run of the commissions system, and the decision proves nothing except that the system itself should be scrapped. Terrorism-related crimes should be tried in the time-tested domestic criminal justice system, a system whose rules have been designed over the centuries with one goal: to seek out the truth.”
CCR has led the legal battle over Guantanamo for the last six years – sending the first ever habeas attorney to the base and sending the first attorney to meet with a former CIA “ghost detainee” there. CCR has been responsible for organizing and coordinating more than 500 pro bono lawyers across the country in order to represent the men at Guantanamo, ensuring that nearly all have the option of legal representation. CCR represented the detainees with co-counsel in the most recent argument before the Supreme Court. For more information or to read the amicus brief filed by CCR in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, see the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case page.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. | <urn:uuid:c67fef2c-9672-42da-990f-b35455c1bbf8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-statement-hamdan-decision | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00076-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935047 | 544 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Topic: Dyspepsia, pain in upper abdomen or chest
Fact Sheet: Dyspepsia in Children807
Dyspepsia refers to pain or discomfort centered in the upper abdomen. The symptom characteristics of dyspepsia in children are pain and discomfort in the upper middle region of the abdomen. Individuals often describe the pain as occurring around eating, after eating, or at night. The discomfort can be a sensation of fullness after meals, an early feeling of having had enough to eat (satiety), bloating, belching, nausea, retching, vomiting, regurgitation, anorexia, or food refusal. Diagnosis and treatment discussed. Revised and updated 2009.
Fact Sheet: Bellyaches in Children809
Every child complains about a bellyache now and then. How can a parent tell what is wrong, and if it is dangerous? It is not always easy. Children less than 5 or 6 years of age often do not have the words to describe their sensations accurately. Toddlers do not separate emotional from physical distress. The young child's bellyache may represent hunger, fatigue, or a need to use the bathroom. School age children may wake with bellyaches on school days. Are they sick, or just anxious about an important test? Revised and updated 2009.Topics: Constipation, difficult to pass stools, Dyspepsia, pain in upper abdomen or chest, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Lower Abdominal Pain, Pelvic Pain
Without thinking much about it, most of us expect that doctors will be able to "explain" our aches, pains, and complaints by finding some sort of tissue damage or disease that causes our discomfort. Despite such expectations, many of us have learned that not all physical suffering can be neatly explained by a physical examination or by medical tests and procedures. Doctors call physical disorders that are real but not caused by tissue damage "functional" disorders. Children with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) and their families struggle with this sometimes frustrating and confusing situation every day. This article reviews characteristics, causes, and treatments.Topics: Dyspepsia, pain in upper abdomen or chest, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Lower Abdominal Pain, Pelvic Pain, Pain Management
Fact Sheet: Report from IFFGD Research Award Winner: Home Based Guided Imagery to Treat Pediatric Functional Abdominal Pain837
Functional Abdominal Pain (FAP) is a frustrating condition for the family. The stomachaches and accompanying symptoms are unpredictable and not easily modifiable. Children may miss school and miss out on other things such as peer and family events. Many parents feel unable to cope and rely on medical professionals for diagnosis and treatment. Recent studies suggest that guided imagery and self-hypnosis are promising optioins for treating FAP.Topics: Dyspepsia, pain in upper abdomen or chest, Functional, Lower Abdominal Pain, Pelvic Pain, Pain, Pain Management, Research
In this issue:
- Functional GI Disorders – Setting the Record Straight
- Infant Regurgitation
- VA Recognition of Functional GI Disorders
- New U.S. Food Safety Laws
- Resilience of Children Receiving Intravenous Nutrition
- Ask Questions about Tests
- Research Findings in Chronic GI Conditions
- Progressive GI Symptoms: Could it be Scleroderma?
Remember, Digestive Health Matters is FREE to Members.Topics: Brain-Gut, Colonic motility, inertia, pseudo-obstruction, DHM Magazines, Dyspepsia, pain in upper abdomen or chest, Nausea, vomiting, Other Disorders/Symptoms, Tests, lower GI tract, Tests, upper GI tract
Documents listed on this page are available for download in Adobe’s PDF format. If you don’t have Adobe Reader, please visit Adobe’s site to download it. It’s free! | <urn:uuid:0f0428e4-615f-4e6b-a6c1-a62171cbdfeb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iffgd.org/library/?kidTopicGroup=10&topicGroup=kidTopicGroup | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907967 | 815 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Dekalb Genetics Corporation and Dow AgroSciences LLC have jointly announced the resolution of a significant patent dispute regarding the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) insect-resistance technology in corn.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Dekalb had alleged that Dow AgroSciences’ pipeline Bt corn products, including Herculex* I insect-resistant corn, which Dow AgroSciences plans to introduce in 2002, violated multiple patents held by DEKALB which cover various technologies involving the use of Bt in corn. Through a license and settlement agreement, Dow AgroSciences has obtained a license to the Dekalb patents for the sale of Herculex corn, as well as Dow AgroSciences’ pipeline Bt product intended to control corn rootworm, in exchange for the payment of a royalty to Dekalb. The financial terms of the settlement are confidential.
"We are very pleased to resolve this dispute and remove a potential obstacle to the launch of Herculex corn next year," said Pete Siggelko, global leader of plant genetics and biotechnology of Dow AgroSciences. "We believe that Herculex will provide valuable and cost-effective insect control technology to the American corn grower, and we are excited to have resolved this legal issue prior to our planned market introduction."
"As an authorized licensee of Dekalb’s Bt intellectual property, Dow AgroSciences now has important rights necessary to commercialize future insect-protected corn seed products," said Bruce P. Bickner, chairman and chief executive of Dekalb. "More importantly, this settlement agreement and license provides the foundation for a new relationship between Monsanto and Dow AgroSciences, in which the companies are exploring further opportunities to resolve remaining intellectual property conflicts between them in a manner that will be mutually beneficial."
Dekalb is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Monsanto Company, a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. For more information on Monsanto and biotechnology see: www.monsanto.com.
Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is a global leader in providing pest management and biotechnology products that improve the quality and quantity of the earth’s food supply and contribute to the safety, health and quality of life of the world’s growing population. For more information about Dow AgroSciences, visit www.dowagro.com.
*Trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC | <urn:uuid:6dd16d81-1b66-43a1-ba05-8093670bbd3d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/dekalb-genetics-and-dow-agrosciences-resolve-biotech-patent-dispute | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922865 | 555 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Gila Ridge High School provides an innovative and environmentally responsive design resulting from a lively collaboration of stakeholders. The district determined the need for the new building, interviewed architects, and then set up a group to begin defining the program for a student-centered facility.
The programming and design committee CAPACITY1,800COST PER SQ FT$184.00FEATURED IN2008 Architectural Portfolio administration, facilities/maintenance personnel, department heads and teachers from the existing four comprehensive high schools; parents; and most important, students. Small learning communities were requested from all stakeholders—even the science teachers were willing to separate labs to achieve this goal.
Sustainable measures incorporated into the design include the careful and conscious orientation of the building along the east-west axis (all classrooms have only south- or north-facing fenestration); the use of locally produced and low-VOC building materials; and the selection of a chilled-water mechanical system for cooling, rather than the package rooftop units commonly used in the area. Electrically, the building uses multi-level lighting options and occupancy sensors within individual spaces to accommodate different classroom activities, as well as save energy. Classroom daylighting was modeled, and sloped ceilings with high light reflectance were used to draw natural light deep into each classroom. The building envelope design, including the use of high-performance glazing and light-colored exterior materials, also contributes to this exceptionally conscientious facility. | <urn:uuid:caf77656-b422-4139-a307-3f456ed7f8ef> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://schooldesigns.com/Project-Details.aspx?Project_ID=3334 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951876 | 296 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Whose best interests? Editor of the Reformer:
I attended the Feb. 16 meeting on wind energy in Grafton. Speakers were divided into two panels -- those in favor of rapid build out of industrial wind in Vermont, and those with reservations about this activity. In the ensuing debate, it emerged that the two sides were also divided on a core question: Should we always trust those with political and economic power to make the best decisions for us all?
First, the panel of wind developers and their proponents voiced robust support for their own decisions and those of the Public Service Board. Their manner was jolly, forceful, indeed, almost manic. We were relieved and delighted to hear that they are really great people, and that all their decisions are for our own good. Their efforts bring about nearly perfect protection of everything that needs protecting when wind turbines come to our town. I, for one, was relieved to learn that our dear world is in such righteous hands.
Then, a panel whose expertise lay in physics, government, and community organization expressed reservations. Certain themes emerged: We need to question the assertions of the wind developers and their political backers, especially given the enormous profits at stake; we must find in ourselves the competence to research their claims, look at data, draw our own conclusions; and we can understand complicated stuff. "Question Authority" they seemed to say,
So now I’m torn. It is really hard to understand stuff and make my own decisions. And wouldn’t it be so much nicer to believe in those dear, enthusiastic developers, even if most of the stuff they said didn’t make any sense?
So let me exhort the people of this great state to be joyful in the knowledge that our true protectors, Green Mountain Power, Iberdrola, Peter Shumlin, David Blittersdorf, and the Illuminati of the Public Service Board, are in full command of our future. They have only our best interests at heart. And I know because they tell me so.
Windham, Feb. 19
Where’s my law dictionary?
Editor of the Reformer:
I find it very difficult to understand what has happened with the renovation project of the Rockingham Free Public Library and the lawsuit the sub-contractors have initiated to recover what is owed them. I am afraid the article by Domenic Poli in the Feb. 20 issue does very little to clarify the situation.
The following sentence, for example, makes no sense at all to the ordinary reader: "The town also is accused of unjust enrichment/restitution, promissory estoppel/detrimental reliance, perfection of contractor’s lien and negligence/negligent misrepresentation."
Wouldn’t it be better to describe the situation in simple, easily understood language, and leave the technical ramifications to those who have to deal with them?
Bellows Falls, Feb. 20
Vote for Spoon
Editor of the Reformer:
If elected to the Brattleboro Selectboard, Ben Spoon Agave will bring positive energy and an intelligent perspective to the governing body of our town.
Spoon started on the Traffic Safety Committee fifteen years ago, and has continued serving, as a Representative Town Meeting Member for 12 years; on the Development Review Board for six years; the Planning Commission for six years, including as chair; as member and chair of the Charter Revision Committee for three-and-a-half years; and a year on the Board of Civil Authority. For the past four years, Spoon Agave has been on the Town Finance Committee. Spoon is also a former Selectboard member.
Although it is good practice for a new candidate to start with a one-year term, past history has shown that an untried candidate winning a three-year seat can be a mistake that we get stuck with, regardless of their connections or good-sounding campaign promises.
Ben Spoon Agave’s extensive experience with town government makes him an especially knowledgeable candidate. He is accessible: easy to talk to. What I really like about Spoon is that he is a straight talker. Spoon Agave is not someone who will sit quietly accepting nonsense just because it is easy to go along. He has the diplomatic skills to speak truthfully without hurting someone’s feelings.
I feel confident that, if elected, Ben Spoon Agave will bring a good balance of thought, insight, and the ability to listen collaboratively to others which will benefit our town in both the short run and for the future.
Brattleboro, Feb. 19
You have a right to know
Editor of the Reformer:
There are several schools of thought regarding genetically engineered foods (also referred to as GMOs or GE foods). But regardless of your position on the matter, the facts remain that even as far back as 10 years ago, 90 percent of Vermonters who were polled by UVM’s Center for Rural Studies supported labeling products that include genetically engineered foods.
Take heart. There is a bill (H. 122) in this current Vermont legislative session, proposed by 50 legislators, including several of our own local representatives, that would provide consumers with information about whether or nor the foods they buy and feed to their families have been produced using genetic engineering technologies. In this bill, GE raw agricultural commodities would be labeled "genetically engineered" on the packaging or on the bin or shelf where it is sold. Processed foods would be labeled "partially produced with genetic engineering" on the package.
Vermont alone may not have the political clout to make this change across the nation, but leadership can certainly come from our little state. To learn more, please attend the free VT Right to Know Citizen Forum at the Marlboro Grad Center today at 6:30 p.m., one of five forums statewide. This forum is co-sponsored by the Brattleboro Food Co-op, the Putney Food Co-op, and Post-Oil Solutions.
Brattleboro Food Co-op, Feb. 19
Former road foreman wants your vote
Editor of the Reformer:
I am a candidate for the open seat on the select board in the town of Londonderry.
I have lived my whole life in the Weston-Londonderry area and currently own, along with my sons, Wayne’s Auto and Lawn Care in Londonderry. The redemption center and a field mowing business is located there as well.
For those of you who do not know me (I could not make it to candidate night as I was on a wrecker call and was stuck in Middlebury), perhaps we met on the town road somewhere as I worked for the town road crew for several years and was road foreman the last few years, stepping down last fall to help the boys with our family business which has grown to a point where I was needed there.
I feel that I am especially qualified for the position because when you are road foreman you get involved in a lot of different aspects of the town. Budgets, town equipment, town building and all the infrastructures of different divisions of the town. I have also spent time at the recycling center and transfer station as the road crew helps maintain some of their equipment. As road foreman I have attended many board meetings, with the weeks report on salt use, sand use, issues with vehicles, fuel use for the trucks plus all the town buildings and transfer station.
I would appreciate your support on Town Meeting Day.
You can always stop by the garage (redemption center) or call me at 802 824 4430 with any questions.
Londonderry, Feb. 22 | <urn:uuid:4940ea4a-8738-42f4-9012-f5b965db4f98> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reformer.com/letters/ci_22668214/letter-box | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964921 | 1,583 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Religious Land Use
Arnstein & Lehr counsels its private and government clients on all aspects of Religious Land Use freedoms and protections, including application and enforcement of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and the protection and enforcement of related Constitutional and Civil Rights.
Our services include:
- Providing ongoing consultation and assistance with all aspects of Land Use Planning in which Religious Assembly is an intended use
- Assisting government clients in their efforts to design and implement Land Use Regulations consistent with state, federal, and Constitutional laws
- Representing private clients in the enforcement and protection of Religious Land Use rights, as well as related Constitutional and Civil Rights | <urn:uuid:88e67699-e896-41db-8ef8-7fa2865167e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://legalnews.arnstein.com/religious-land-use/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927176 | 149 | 1.578125 | 2 |
What You Need to Make an Exceptional Ring
Whether you want to wow the love of your life with a bespoke engagement ring, or set up your own jewellery making business, you are going to need the right tools for the job. But what are they, exactly? Here is a list of the equipment you will need to create such a spectacle, presented in order of what you'll need from start to finish.
Credit: Mauro Cateb
Ring clamps can be made from a variety of materials ranging from plastic to wood and metal. They are used to hold rings while you work on them. Some clamps have one rounded end for working on eternity rings, and the other end is flat for working on cluster rings.
Most jewellers would say this this tool is almost indispensable. This flexible cable drill consists of a motor unit, often suspended above the user, connected to a hand-piece by a flexible cable which transmits power down to the hand-piece. This allows the hand-piece to be small and light. Speed is often controlled using a foot pedal.
A grain tool is usually made from carbon steel. It looks like a long three-inch nail which has a concave hole in its point. It is mostly used for pushing claws over stones or rounding off grains which are raised by a half round scorper.
Grain tool holder
This is a small wooden handle with a screw chuck at one end for holding grain tools.
A needle file is a tool used to design or finish small pieces of material. This small tool has a series of teeth laid out on metal with a small handle, designed according to what kind of finish is required on an object. The file is used to smooth and shape metal, wood or glass and is often invaluable when creating intricate details onto an object. The friction created when the teeth of the needle file push against an object effectively shaves off pieces of the material until the effect that is required is produced.
Drills (assorted sizes)
These can be called burs (American) or fraizers (English). They are used for drilling out holes in metal and come in all shapes and sizes ranging from 0.5mm – 10mm. They are made of carbon steel and are used with the pendant drill.
Scorpers (many sizes and types)
The scorper is a tool, like a chisel, used by goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers for stone setting, carving shapes, cleaning castings and texturing surfaces as well as engraving.
credit: Steven Brownlee
A loupe shows the jeweller or craftsman what the naked eye can’t: it magnifies an object, normally a diamond, ten times over. It is used to inspect the stone and is easy to use. A loupe normally has one or three lenses and allows the user to see the minute details of a stone. They can be mounted on stands or hand-held objects.
Long nosed pliers are normally used by setters for straightening or moving claws.
These very sharp cutters are used for cutting down claws or wires.
Buff sticks are used to polish jewellery, particularly in areas that are hard to polish by hand alone. They are usually flat and made from wood and felt or leather.
Setters buff sticks
These are made from a flat piece of wood about 12 inches long and are wrapped in sandpaper. They are used to take scratches out of the metal and come in different grades ranging from very course to very fine.
This guide was produced by Ingle & Rhode - London based jewellers of unique engagement rings, wedding rings and a variety of other bespoke jewellery designs. | <urn:uuid:85e1984b-a2b4-4756-bf31-8a8ea09e65bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.napkin-rings.org/2011/12/how-to-make-exceptional-ring.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952509 | 764 | 2.234375 | 2 |
The National Endowment for the Humanities, together with the American Library Association, has launched in 2008 a program that will supply classrooms and public libraries with reproductions of significant American art, one example on each side of twenty high-quality posters, forty examples in all, under the overall title Picturing America. It was my idea, invited to give the 2008 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, to use some of these forty works, with others, to pose the question “What is American about American art?” The question has often arisen; it was asked in almost these exact same words in 1958, by Lloyd Goodrich, then the director of the Whitney Museum of American Art. His essay was titled “What Is American —in American Art?” and began:
One of the most American traits is our urge to define what is American. This search for a self-image is a result of our relative youth as a civilization, our years of partial dependence on Europe. But it is also a vital part of the process of growth.
My impression is that inquiries into an essential Americanness are less fashionable than they were fifty years ago, since they inevitably gravitate, in this age of diversity and historical revision, to that least hip of demographic groups, white Protestant males of northern European descent. These thin-lipped patriarchal persons figure, as founding Puritans or Founding Fathers, as western pioneers or industrial magnates, at every juncture of traditional history books, and our diverse, eclectic, skeptical present population may have heard quite enough about them.
Yet my skimming survey of our sensitively diverse set of forty artworks cannot avoid these primal Americans. Let us begin with the first great painter cast up by our art-sparse, undercivilized, eastern-coastal New World, a young man as precocious as he was assiduous, John Singleton Copley. Born in 1738 of Irish immigrants on Boston’s Long Wharf, his childhood marred by his father’s early death and then, when he was thirteen, by that of his stepfather, the English artist and engraver Peter Pelham, Copley was all his life a striver and, with what I would like to think of as a typically American trait, a learner.
Colonial Boston, a town of less than 16,000, accounted for 40 percent of the colonies’ shipping; it abounded in shops and skilled craftsmen but was devoid of art schools and museums; European art entered its homes, if at all, in the form of fine consumer goods and inadequate monochrome prints. Copley was to complain in letters that his fellow colonials “generally regard [painting] no more than any other usefull trade, as they sometimes term it, like that of a Carpenter tailor or shew [shoe] maker, not as one of the most noble Arts in the World” and that his native land offered him “neither precept, example, nor Models.” Peter Pelham was proficient in the art of mezzotint, and Copley’s first known work, done when the boy was fifteen, skillfully imposed the head of one clergyman, the Reverend William Welsteed, upon the torso of a portrait print his stepfather had executed of another, the Reverend William Cooper.
Copley’s oil portrait of his stepbrother, Charles Pelham, executed a year or so later, is a typical stiff portrait of the period, with a totally indecisive background and a tabletop in odd perspective, yet with a pleasing care in such details as the pen and the vest and an arresting liveliness to the young subject’s glance. By 1756, the teenage artist attempted, in the portrait of Ann Tyng, a nearly full-length female figure, a landscaped background, and an apparatus of pastoral conceit; by the next year, in that of the aristocratic Theodore Atkinson Jr., who still wears a wary stiffness in the pose and expression, the painter achieved a marvelous virtuosic realism in the white silk waistcoat embroidered with silver thread.
A canvas of Epes Sargent, the seventy-year-old owner of half of Gloucester, shows a textural brilliance of another sort, in the thoughtful aged face and the puffy, wrinkled hand set off against a coat of plain gray broadcloth. The painter’s voracious eye even notes the little snowfall on Sargent’s shoulder from his powdered wig. By the year of this painting, Copley, not yet thirty, was already recognized as a worker of visual miracles, the supreme portraitist not only in New England but in all the colonies, combining a preternatural skill in mimicking fabrics—as marvelous in pastel, as we see in his rendering of the merchant prince Jonathan Jackson and his blue-green silk morning coat, as in oil—with an increasing power of conveying the inner life behind the faces of his New World aristocrats. For instance, in the portrait of Mrs. James Warren, née Mercy Otis, a colonial rarity, a female intellectual, poet, and future playwright and historian, her facial expression is as complex as the folds and lace trimmings of her voluminous blue satin dress, painted when Copley was only twenty-five.
The Copley example chosen by the Picturing America series is his 1768 portrait of a successful Boston silversmith, Paul Revere, whose name, thanks to an 1861 poem by Longfellow, would come to reverberate in the legend of the American Revolution. It is Copley’s only portrait of a craftsman in shirtsleeves, and the painting itself shows some merely craftsmanly qualities. The shirt is splendid but the hand on the chin appears too big for the face, and the reflection of the fingers of the other in the silver of the teapot seems surreally artful. Whatever Revere is thinking about, it is most probably not the midnight ride he will undertake in eight years’ time but the job he will undertake tomorrow morning, its meticulous graving and polishing.
This painting, and one several years later of the rising firebrand Samuel Adams, might lead one to associate Copley with the colonies’ cause of independence, but in fact he married the daughter of Richard Clarke, principal agent for the British East India Company; it was Clarke’s tea, largely, that was dumped into Boston Harbor by revolutionaries painted as Mohawk Indians. In the coming crunch, Clarke was a Tory, and by 1776 Copley had settled with his wife, children, and father-in-law in London’s Leicester Square. But for a decade before this Copley had been seeking to make his painting more English. He wrote in a letter of yearning “to acquire that bold free and gracefull stile of Painting that will, if ever, come much slower from the mere dictates of Nature, which has hither too been my only instructor.”
In 1765, seeking better instruction, he submitted a painting of his half-brother Henry Pelham, titled Boy with a Squirrel, to the 1766 exhibition of the Society of Artists in London. His friend Captain R.G. Bruce, who had carried the canvas to England, sent back the approbation of Joshua Reynolds, the leading British portraitist of the day and soon to be the first president of the Royal Academy. In Bruce’s paraphrase, Reynolds said, “Considering the Dissadvantages…you had laboured under, that it was a very wonderfull Performance” despite “a little Hardness in the Drawing, Coldness in the Shades, An over minuteness.”
The same mail brought Copley word from Pennsylvania-born Benjamin West, who in three years of London residence had apparently mastered English artistic style and manners. West wrote of “the great Honour the Picture has gaind you,” though he and some fellow artists had found fault with it as “being to[o] liney, which was judged to have arose from there being so much neetness in the lines.” Reynolds, by way of Bruce, encouraged Copley to come to England “before your Manner and Taste were corrupted or fixed by working in your little way at Boston,” and the Society of Artists elected him a fellow on the strength of the “liney” canvas; the contemporary art authority John Wilmerding points out that it was the “first major work painted by an American artist for himself, rather than on commission, and it also became the first American picture to be exhibited abroad.” Copley, Tory or not, was the George Washington of American art, and, rather disconcertingly, he knew it, writing Pelham in 1775 from England’s shores, “It is a pleasing reflection that I shall stand amongst the first of the artist’s that shall have led that Country to the Knowledge and cultivation of the fine Arts.”
This picture’s transatlantic intentions give it a schizophrenic quality: the mahogany tabletop, the water glass, gold chain, and the tiny pet flying squirrel have all a dry minuteness, but the subject’s face, unlike that of Copley’s usual hard-faced colonials, is creamy, dreamy, and in romantic profile. Copley’s customers for portraits among the colonial gentry put up with an absence of flattery, a refusal to glamorize, that British sitters of comparable status might not have accepted; even here, Copley’s warts-and-all portrait policy permanized in paint his half-brother’s oddly folded ear, as well as, elsewhere, Nathaniel Allen’s hairy moles and Miles Sherbrook’s acne scars.
Copley’s next submission to the Society of Artists, for the 1767 exhibition, was titled Young Lady with a Bird and Dog. This time, Benjamin West complained that the girl looked “disagreeable,” and conveyed Reynolds’s opinion that
Each Part of the Picture [is] Equell in Strenght of Coulering and finishing, Each Making to[o] much a Picture of its silf, without the Due Subordanation to the Principle Parts, viz they head and hands.
What Reynolds meant is shown by a sampling of his own portraits of Horace Walpole and Lawrence Sterne. In both, light is sharply focused on the head and one hand. Incidental details are confined to papers, since both men are writers, acting out their roles on a minimalist stage. In Reynolds’s more elaborate portrait of Warren Hastings, the first governor general of India, the proficiently painted details of clothing and furniture do not usurp attention from the casually posed nobleman and agent of empire, but frame him, in his relaxed dignity; he has a good opinion of himself, and the portrait agrees.
The confident theatricality of English portraits, when Copley attempts it, seems to embarrass his down-to-earth colonial subjects, and turns their expressions ironical, as we see Sylvester Gardner’s in his 1772 portrait. If their poses are stiff, it is an honest wooden stiffness; in Copley’s paintings of English gentry, the stiffness is burnished to a metallic luster, and rings hollow. Even in his most admired and ambitious English painting, a historical tableau in the approved Grand Style, The Death of Major Peirson, the central pictorial incident, with its single drop-shaped drop of blood, feels staged to the point of farce. And the dying hero’s flowing hair, and the spruce details of the uniforms crowding around him, seem, well, “liney.”
What did Benjamin West mean by this word? A line is a child’s first instrument of depiction, the boundary where one thing ends and another begins. The primitive artist is more concerned with what things are than what they look like to the eye’s camera. Lines serve the facts. Folk art tends to be “liney,” as we can see in anonymous American portraits done well before Copley, earlier in the eighteenth century. Such portraits, executed as a “useful trade” like sign-painting and printmaking, were the sole genre of high art widely practiced in America before the nineteenth century brought in Romantic landscapes. They share a resolute attempt at likeness and an honest notation of such details as fabric patterns but lack a convincing atmosphere and a third dimension; they are, as it were, two-and-a-half-dimensional, and so was Copley’s early work. The conventions of illusionistic painting, providing through tint and brushwork the sense of recession in space and of enclosing atmosphere, are not demanded by every culture. In the art-sparse, mercantile world of the American colonies, Copley’s lavish literalism must have seemed fair dealing, a heaping measure of value paid in shimmering textures and scrupulously fine detail. “Overminuteness” could scarcely exist, as it did not exist for Holbein or Jan Van Eyck. | <urn:uuid:71e134ad-809d-458e-8fc5-5cfe55d22d50> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/jun/26/the-clarity-of-things/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967157 | 2,780 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Exploring the pathways of our lexicon
Remembering the Language Maven
William Safire passed away over the weekend at the age of 79, and his loss is felt particularly strongly by those who loyally followed his "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine for the past three decades. Safire retired from his Pulitzer Prize-winning political column for the Times in 2005, but he continued to relish his role as "language maven" to the very end. He was not simply a pundit on matters political and linguistic, however: he was also an extremely generous man, both publicly in his philanthropic work with the Dana Foundation and privately with friends and colleagues.
On hearing of his passing, fellow maven Paul Dickson remarked to me that Safire "opened a door which a lot of people got to walk through and play with words as a vocation." That was certainly true in my case. As a word nerd in training, I read "On Language" religiously every Sunday. When I was perhaps nine or ten, I recall taking issue with something Safire had said in one of his columns and writing a letter to him (in pencil!). Unfortunately, I was too intimidated to follow through and never mailed the letter.
Flash-forward to 2003, when I was bit braver in corresponding with him. He often published requests for assistance from those he dubbed "Lexicographic Irregulars" (word sleuths after the manner of Sherlock Holmes' Baker Street Irregulars). On this occasion he sent out a request about the history of the expression "stay the course." I had done some hunting on the expression and found that it had originally meant something quite the opposite of its modern sense: 'to stop or check the course (of something).' Safire then wrote a column citing my research and considering other "Janus-faced" words and phrases that span opposite meanings. Even though I was a lecturer in linguistic anthropology at the time, I was proud to be considered a Lexicographic Irregular.
Over the ensuing years I graduated from Irregular to something more regular. After becoming editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press, I fielded occasional queries from Safire and his research assistants (on everything from "go figure" to "fire wall"). He was always quick to give credit where credit was due, and he also enjoyed coming up with warm-spirited epithets for those who helped him. (I was on the receiving end of "that etymological Inspector Javert," "netymologist," and "longtime capo of the Phrasedick Brigade" — sobriquets that I will always treasure.)
When I made the move from OUP to the Visual Thesaurus last year, he was extremely supportive, readily agreeing to be interviewed about the revised edition of his magnum opus, Safire's Political Dictionary. (We ran the interview in two parts, here and here, with extended excerpts from the dictionary here and here.) He was also kind enough to recommend me for fill-in columns this year while he was on vacation and then on hiatus for health reasons. Few were aware that he was so gravely ill, and so the news of his passing was, for me and many others, sudden and unexpected. He will be remembered fondly for his openness, humanity, and thoughtfulness. Farewell, Language Maven. | <urn:uuid:b7e78259-b0be-4fd4-85bf-796c012dbe5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/remembering-the-language-maven/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984642 | 695 | 1.914063 | 2 |
- Special Sections
- Real Estate
Mammoth's highly used Shady Rest area has a long history of sometimes conflicting uses, especially in the winter when snowmobilers and skiers, dog walkers and snowshoers vie for the trail system. Although the conflicts have died down somewhat over the years, due mostly to hard work by both user groups in educating their members, the need for a final solution for winter use in the area, still remains.
That opportunity might be available finally.
The Inyo National Forest recently received an off highway vehicle grant from the state of California to fund recreation planning efforts for the “Shady Rest” area within the Town of Mammoth Lakes.
The planning process is designed to address year-round motorized use while considering the needs of non-motorized users in the immediate and surrounding area and the potential impact of proposed geothermal development. The desired outcome of the planning process is to design, review, and approve the development of a new motorized staging area.
The planning process will begin with a series of public meetings to discuss current and future recreation uses and review site development options. Information from the public meetings will be used to help develop a proposed action released to the public and subject to the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Enviornmental Quality Act.
A series of three public meetings will be held to discuss the future recreation management of the Shady Rest area.
All meetings will be held at the auditorium of the Mammoth Lakes Ranger Station and begin at 5:30 p.m. and will last about one and a half hours.
The first one will be Feb. 10 on the topic of: Existing condition, current uses and needs assessment
The second meeting will be Feb. 17 on the topic of: Multiple uses, recreation development options
The third will be March 3 on the topic of: Presentation and review of recreation alternatives
For further questions regarding the recreation planning process, contact Jon Kazmierski, recreation officer for the Mammoth Lakes and Mono Lake Ranger Districts, at 760-924-5503 or firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:55f49319-956a-4e5f-8bce-c32f64c62595> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mammothtimes.com/content/motorized-use-options-shady-rest-meetings-begin-feb-10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924736 | 451 | 1.5 | 2 |
Top 10 Most Evil Men
The most unfortunate aspect to researching this list was the realization that that I could do a top 100 most evil men and still have a multitude of people for a second list! The selection of this list is based not upon death tolls, but upon the general actions, and impact, or brutality of the people. From bad to worst, here are the top 10 evil men in history.
10. Attila The Hun
Attila was Khan of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire which stretched from Germany to the Ural River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. In much of Western Europe, he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity. An unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in 441 by an invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire, the success of which emboldened Attila to invade the West. He passed unhindered through Austria and Germany, across the Rhine into Gaul, plundering and devastating all in his path with a ferocity unparalleled in the records of barbarian invasions and compelling those he overcame to augment his mighty army. Attila drowned in his own blood on his wedding night.
9. Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre was a leader of the French revolution and it was his arguments that caused the revolutionary government to murder the king without a trial. In addition, Robespierre was one of the main driving forces behind the reign of terror, a 10 month post-revolutionary period in which mass executions were carried out. The Terror took the lives of between 18,500 to 40,000 people, with 1,900 being killed in the last month. Among people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, and other purported crimes.
In an act of coincidental justice, Robespierre was guillotined without a trial in 1794.
8. Ruhollah Khomeini
Ayatollah Khomeini was the religious leader of Iran from 1979 to 1989. In that time he implemented Sharia Law (Islamic religious law) with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups. Opposition to the religious rule of the clergy or Islam in general was often met with harsh punishments. In a talk at the Fayzieah School in Qom, August 30, 1979, Khomeini said:
“Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God’s order and God’s call to prayer.”
In the 1988 massacre of Iranian prisoners, following the People’s Mujahedin of Iran operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner and kill those who would not repent anti-regime activities. Many say that thousands were swiftly put to death inside the prisons. The suppressed memoirs of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri reportedly detail the execution of 30,000 political activists.
After eleven days in a hospital for an operation to stop internal bleeding, Khomeini died of cancer on Saturday, June 04, 1989, at the age of 86.
7. Idi Amin Dada
Idi Amin was an army officer and president of Uganda. He took power in a military coup in January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. His rule was characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extra judicial killings and the expulsion of Indians from Uganda. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is unknown; estimates range from 80,000 to 500,000. On August 4, 1972, Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan citizens (most of them held British passports). This was later amended to include all 80,000 Asians, with the exception of professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers. Amin was eventually overthrown, but until his death, he held that Uganda needed him and he never expressed remorse for the abuses of his regime.
6. Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II was King of Belgium from 1865-1909. With financial support from the government, Leopold created the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken to extract rubber and ivory in the Congo region of central Africa, which relied on forced labour and resulted in the deaths of approximately 3 million Congolese. The regime of the Congo Free State became one of the more infamous international scandals of the turn of the century. The area of land privately owned by the King was an area 76 times larger than Belgium, which he was free to rule as a personal domain through his private army, the Force Publique. Leopold’s rubber gatherers tortured, maimed and slaughtered until at the turn of the century, the conscience of the Western world forced Brussels to call a halt.
5. Pol Pot
Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979, having been de facto leader since mid-1975. During his time in power Pol Pot imposed an extreme version of agrarian communism where all city dwellers were relocated to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labour projects. The combined effect of slave labour, malnutrition, poor medical care and executions is estimated to have killed around 2 million Cambodians (approximately one third of the population). His regime achieved special notoriety for singling out all intellectuals and other “bourgeois enemies” for murder. The Khmer Rouge committed mass executions in sites known as the Killing Fields. The executed were buried in mass graves. In order to save ammunition, executions were often carried out using hammers, axe handles, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks.
4. Vlad ?epe?
Vlad III of Romania (also known as Vlad the Impaler) was Prince of Wallachia three times between 1448 and 1476. Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for serving as the primary inspiration for the vampire main character in Bram Stoker’s popular Dracula novel. In Romania he is viewed by many as a prince with a deep sense of justice. His method of torture was a horse attached to each of the victim’s legs as a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled, and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp; else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Wikipedia has an article that describes, in great details, the methods of Vlad’s cruelty. The list of tortures he is alleged to have employed is extensive: nails in heads, cutting off of limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of sexual organs (especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to animals, and boiling alive. There are claims that on some occasions ten thousand people were impaled in 1460 alone.
3. Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV of Russia, also know as Ivan the Terrible, was the Grand Duke of Muscovy from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of Tsar. In 1570, Ivan was under the belief that the elite of the city of Novgorod planned to defect to Poland, and led an army to stop them on January 2. Ivan’s soldiers built walls around the perimeter of the city in order to prevent the people of the city escaping. Between 500 and 1000 people were gathered every day by the troops, then tortured and killed in front of Ivan and his son. In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, causing a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father, which resulted in Ivan striking his son in the head with his pointed staff, causing his son’s (accidental) death.
2. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, becoming “Führer” in 1934 until his suicide in 1945. By the end of the second world war, Hitler’s policies of territorial conquest and racial subjugation had brought death and destruction to tens of millions of people, including the genocide of some six million Jews in what is now known as the Holocaust. On 30 April 1945, after intense street-to-street combat, when Soviet troops were spotted within a block or two of the Reich Chancellory, Hitler committed suicide, shooting himself while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule.
1. Josef Stalin
Stalin was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. Under Stalin’s leadership, the Ukraine suffered from a famine (Holodomor) so great it is considered by many to be an act of genocide on the part of Stalin’s government. Estimates of the number of deaths range from 2.5 million to 10 million. The famine was caused by direct political and administrative decisions. In addition to the famine, Stalin ordered purges within the Soviet Union of any person deemed to be an enemy of the state. In total, estimates of the total number murdered under Stalins reign, range from 10 million to 60 million.
Bonus: Emperor Hirohito of Japan
Hirohito was the Emporer of Japan from 1926 to 1989. In 1937, Japanese troops committed the war crime that is now known as the Rape of Nanking (the then Capital of China, now known as Nanjing). The duration of the massacre is not clearly defined, although the violence lasted well into the next six weeks, until early February 1938. During the occupation of Nanjing, the Japanese army committed numerous atrocities, such as rape, looting, arson and the execution of prisoners of war and civilians. A large number of women and children were also killed, as rape and murder became more widespread. The death toll is generally considered to be between 150,000 and 300,000. The Wikipedia article contains images and descriptions of the atrocities committed.
Notable Omissions: Oliver Cromwell, Mao Tse-tung, Kim Il-sung, Caligula | <urn:uuid:25c4012c-6d75-402a-80e9-e828d3732d2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://listverse.com/2007/09/05/top-10-most-evil-men/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976101 | 2,200 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Even as demands build back home to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, a new military study finds that those troops are under increasing psychological stress, and their morale has hit the lowest point in five years. Veterans who have had three or more deployments are enduring the most strain, according to the study, which USA Today
|Five years ago, almost two-thirds of US troops had medium to high morale; now, fewere than half do. (Getty Images Photo)
One-third of those troops exhibit signs of psychological problems defined as stress, depression, or anxiety, USA Today quotes the study as finding.
Morale has taken a precipitous plunge since 2005, when 65.7 percent of the troops said they had medium, high, or very high moral. That figure now is 46.5 percent. About 1 in 7 soldiers — and 1 in 5 Marines — reported high or very high morale, according to the study report, which is based on a survey of soldiers and Marines last year.
"We're an Army that's in uncharted territory here," Gen. Peter Chiarelli told U.S. Today.
"We have never fought for this long with an all-volunteer force that's 1 percent of the population," said Chiarelli, an Army vice chief of staff who has focused on combat stress.
On the upside, the report found that the praise the troops have for their unit sergeants has never been higher as the United States approaches the 10th year of its longest war.
And Chiarelli holds out hope that psychological stress will subside. "I'm not worried about our ability to continue the fight," Chiarelli told USA Today. "Folks who are coming home now are going to see that they're not going back for 24 months. And that hasn't been the way it's been for 10 years."
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:75d0d6e5-a7fd-452a-abba-4752cc0c73d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/US-troops-stress-morale/2011/05/09/id/395640 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980501 | 395 | 2.15625 | 2 |
A pregnant woman faints while her lover and his young betrothed walk down the aisle. In this moral tale, Octave Tassaert drew the attention of his contemporary audience to what was understood as a wide social problem – the plight of unmarried mothers. This was a subject that seemed to concern Tassaert greatly, considering he painted it a number of times. It was also a subject that found an eager market among Parisians at the time.
Indeed, Tassaert found significant success following the Revolution of 1848 with his genre scenes covering the themes of moral and economic poverty, drawn from contemporary life. These paintings collectively describe French society as one fractured by social inequality, and one where the revolutionary tenets of liberty, equality and fraternity were in need of continual reaffirmation. | <urn:uuid:fa7f0a54-a3f3-4318-8a73-1293b22195be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nga.gov.au/Exhibition/FrenchPainting/Detail.cfm?IRN=126623&BioArtistIRN=26104&MnuID=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975048 | 160 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Praise be to Allaah.
If the wife stipulates that her husband should not take another wife, this is a valid condition and he must adhere to it; if he does take another wife, she has the right to annul the marriage contract.
That is because of the report narrated by al-Bukhaari (2721) and Muslim (1418), that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: âThe conditions that are most deserving to be fulfilled are those by means of which intimacy becomes permissible for you.â
And because he (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: âThe Muslims are bound by their conditions, except a condition that makes something permissible forbidden or makes something forbidden permissible.â
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (1352) and Abu Dawood (3594). It was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.
This condition does not make something permissible forbidden; rather it restricts the manâs power and gives the wife the right to annul the marriage. Such conditions were made at the time of the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them).
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about a man who married a woman, and she stipulated that he should not take another wife or make her move from her home, and that she could live with her mother, and he went ahead (with the marriage) on that basis. Is he obliged to adhere to that, and if he goes against these conditions, does the wife have the right to annul the marriage or not?
He replied: Yes, these conditions and similar ones are valid according to the madhhab of Imam Ahmad and others among the Sahaabah and Taabiâeen, such as âUmar ibn al-Khattaab, âAmr ibn al-âAas, Shurayh al-Qaadi, al-Awzaaâi and Ishaaq. The view of Maalik is that if she stipulates that if he takes another wife or takes a concubine, she has the right to decide whether to stay married to him or not, then this condition is also valid, and the woman has the right to leave him. This is similar to the view of Ahmad. That is because of the report narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim in al-Saheehayn, that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: âThe conditions that are most deserving to be fulfilled are those by means of which intimacy becomes permissible for you.â And âUmar ibn al-Khattaab said: âRights are connected to conditions.â So the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) made that by which of means intimacy becomes permissible more deserving of being fulfilled than anything else.
End quote from al-Fataawa al-Kubra, 3/90.
These conditions only apply if they are agreed upon at the time of the marriage contract. If they occur after the marriage contract has been done, they are a promise and do not give the wife the right to annul the marriage, but the husband has to fulfil his promise, because of the general meaning of the evidence that enjoins fulfilling promises, such as the verse in which Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): âAnd fulfil (every) covenant. Verily, the covenant will be questioned aboutâ al-Israâ 17:34 and the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), âGuarantee me six things and I will guarantee Paradise to you: be truthful when you speak, fulfil it when you make a promise, render back if you are entrusted with something, guard your chastity, lower your gaze and restrain your hands (i.e., do not harm others).â Narrated by Ahmad (2225); classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaamiâ (no. 1018), and because breaking promises is one of the attributes of the hypocrites.
See also the answer to question no. 30861.
And Allaah knows best. | <urn:uuid:e852c84f-553b-4f24-9b71-e93bb62a00e1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.islamonline.com/news/print.php?newid=444343 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962897 | 910 | 1.90625 | 2 |
Who should consider the ClearNav?
- Developing cross-country pilots - The improved situational awareness provided by ClearNav will help beginning and intermediate cross-country pilots develop their skills more quickly and confidently, and get more out of each flight.
- Contest pilots - Big improvements in task optimization and tactical guidance (especially for Area tasks) will appeal to contest pilots at all levels. Greatly enhanced visual and audible SUA alarms will make 1,000 point penalties a thing of the past.
- Ridge and mountain pilots - ClearNav is the first instrument to do a thorough job of showing how both terrain and wind affect the areas a glider can reach.
- OLC pilots - Look for task optimization and a streamlined flight submission process.
- Pilots who must cope with problem airspace - Better depiction of problem airspace and configurable monitoring of close approaches will give pilots much better tools for flying close to airspace while staying legal and safe.
Why not a touch screen?
Graphic displays often use a touch screen for user input; the ClearNav doesn’t. There are two important reasons for this:
- Visibility – Adding a touch-sensitive layer to a screen reduces its brightness, an unacceptable compromise for an instrument whose most important goal was an uncommonly bright and clear display.
- Ease of use – On a desk or in the palm of your hand, a touch screen is very easy to use; in a glider cockpit, it is much less so: The display may not be located at a convenient distance for touching; the pilot’s right hand is busy on the stick; turbulence and g-forces often make accurate screen-touching difficult and time-consuming.
Our research showed that a properly designed remote keypad was superior to a touch screen, and pilots who use the ClearNav report that controlling it is quick and intuitive. One ClearNav beta tester even described the ClearNav remote as “genius.”
Why not a wireless remote?
This is relatively easy to do, but has critical disadvantages:
- Wireless remotes require batteries (which tend to die at inconvenient moments)
- Wireless remotes are easy to lose
- Interference is possible
For these reasons, we decided that a wired remote is a better choice for a gliding instrument.
Does ClearNav Instruments offer a variometer?
Soon —this is planned for early 2011. It will be designed to integrate with the ClearNav and maximize the benefits of both instruments and will also reflect the variometer expertise of the CNI development team.
Can I install the ClearNav myself?
Definitely. We have put a great deal of thought into designing installation options that accommodate every glider and panel configuration. No special tools are needed, and the wiring nexus board makes installation easier than for almost any other gliding instrument.
How do I download a flight log from ClearNav?
You simply transfer the secure flight record, already encrypted by ClearNav’s advanced security functions, to either an SD card or a USB memory stick. No cables, protocols or waiting are required.
How do I update ClearNav maps or turnpoint data?
By means of the SD flash card or USB memory stick. Terrain, map and turnpoint information will be available on-line, via the CNI website and other established and well-regarded data sources. Using your PC, you’ll download the information and transfer it to your SD card or USB memory stick. The ClearNav takes care of transferring the files when you load the card or stick, and you’re ready to fly with the latest data.
At soaring contests, last-minute turnpoint changes can be a nuisance. With ClearNav, you simply put the latest turnpoint file on your SD card or USB stick, and it will supersede the outdated data as soon as it is plugged into your ClearNav.
What if more than one pilot wants to fly a glider equipped with ClearNav?
Not a problem. ClearNav uses “personality” files, in which a pilot’s preferences (for units, display configuration, and many other things) are stored. When ClearNav starts up, you will choose the desired personality. Your ClearNav can store as many of these as necessary—it would be no trouble to support a dozen different pilots.
Does ClearNav include a PC-base configuration application or flight simulator?
You can experiment with all ClearNav functions while on the ground or at home simply by connecting the ClearNav to a standard glider battery. The ClearNav software is also PC compatible and can be run in simulation mode and operated using a standard keyboard. (The remote keys are mapped to the keyboard in this application, and the size of the ClearNav window will be controlled by the resolution of your monitor.) We will also offer a simple configuration utility which will allow you to speed creation of your pilot profile by using your computer and keyboard and transferring the profile to your ClearNav.
Does ClearNavigator include thermal centering or airmass history?
Does the ClearNav display speed-to-fly?
We will be adding vario-based display features as we develop our own variometer. At release, the ClearNav will be compatible with the Cambridge 302 (and will facilitate download of flight records from the 302). We are not presently planning to duplicate items displayed on the 302, but are open to suggestions from our users.
Is ClearNav compatible with FLARM?
Yes. The ClearNav will accept input from a FLARM unit, and will clearly display the location of targets as identified by the Flarm device connected to the ClearNav.
Will there be charges for software updates?
Bug fixes and minor updates will be distributed free of charge via the internet. Version upgrades will be free of charge for a minimum of one year and will be reasonably priced thereafter.
Can I run other soaring software packages on the ClearNav?
The ClearNavigator application is custom-designed to work with the ClearNav remote-control based user interface and to maximize the benefits of the large bright display. As computer users well know, with a system comprised of software made by one party and hardware by another, the source of a system problem can be a mystery, making it difficult to obtain support. For this reason, CNI has invested significant resources into creating our own top-notch soaring software application and will be committed to providing excellent documentation and support as well as upgrades and improvements driven by user demand. At present, CNI is not seeking to open the ClearNav platform to other applications, but we will be open to discussion with our customers and other software authors.
What warranty will be provided?
The ClearNav will be covered by a full Two-Year parts and labor warranty, with factory service available for the life of the product. | <urn:uuid:11487c67-0ebf-4c93-8aaa-f366fcefbb0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.clearnav.net/main/cn-FAQS.html | 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 | 0.909855 | 1,402 | 1.640625 | 2 |
There are many approaches to assessing the effectiveness of an NBA player. Some of these can quickly become complicated, but one simple approach involves evaluating the number of points scored per shot attempt.
As evidenced by the recent attempts of somewhat normal people to defeat retired NBA benchwarmer Brian Scalarbrine one-on-one, it's possible to at least attempt shots against NBA-level competition. But it isn't always possible to attempt quality shots that won't be altered by defenders and that will actually find their way into the net.
By gcardinal from Norway
With this in mind, points per attempt gives us a window on an individual player's effectiveness based on whether a player is capable of finding and making quality shots. Note that I consider a quality shot either a shot that is likely to fall OR a shot that is likely to result in a foul, so I didn't remove points scored via foul shots from the data below. Points are points. Also note that for this view of player effectiveness, I focused on the players with 100 or more field goal attempts as of January 22, 2013.
Getting right to the bottom line, the top 20 players in the NBA are noted in the following table, along with their positions, age, team, field goal attempts, points, and points per attempt. The data comes from basketball-reference.com.
It's no surprise that the top scorers are mostly centers or power forwards, with the key exceptions being Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kevin Martin, and Kyle Lowry. These four guys stand out above their positional peers, and all four happen to be current or former members of the Oklahoma City Thunder or Houston Rockets. Both the Thunder and Rockets are known for number crunching, so perhaps this table gives us a window into one statistic that both teams value.
It's also interesting to note that both Durant and LeBron James, his primary competitor for this season's MVP award appear near the top of the list, which includes a total of 295 players. Other players who are also occasionally mentioned as possible MVPs but who don't appear in the top 20 include Chris Paul (#26), Carmelo Anthony (#33), and Kobe Bryant (#39). It's interesting to note that Bryant has taken 1,199 shots compared to Howard's 649, which might indicate that it's time for Kobe to pass the ball more. Since Steve Nash also ranks ahead of Kobe (although barely, at #36), Kobe might also want to consider passing the ball back to Nash, who has only taken 190 shots this season.
Age and Efficiency
Age appears in the above analysis because I expected it to show up as a variable that made a difference. My assumption is that age makes a given player smarter and therefore more efficient. The average age of all players who qualified for this list was 27, so while 13 of the 20 top players are at or above the average NBA player's age, the evidence above isn't enough to suggest that age makes a player more efficient. In fact, if you chart the points per attempt of all players with over 100 shot attempts versus their ages, nothing suggests any meaningful trends about age and efficiency. Maybe a more detailed analysis would show trends at specific positions (e.g., guards), but my time for preparing this post is limited, so I'll stick to the basics.
The All-Stud Team
An All-NBA Team of efficient scorers comprise of the top player at each position would look like this:
C: Tyson Chandler, Knicks
PF: Tiago Splitter, Spurs
SF: Kevin Durant, Thunder
SG: James Harden, Rockets
PG: Kyle Lowry, Raptors
As Sean O'Connor observed on Twitter, this would be a solid team. I wholeheartedly agree with Sean. As a Mavericks season ticker holder, I've seen my fair share of the players on this All-Stud Team, and I would be more than happy to go to battle with this group.
The All-Dud Team
It's all well and good to recognize those players who succeed, but since the Internet also likes to reward futility, let's take a quick look at the least efficient players in the NBA at each position.
C: Kevin Seraphin, Wizards
PF: Lamar Odom, Clippers
SF: Michael Beasley, Suns
SG: Will Barton, Trailblazers
PG: John Lucas, Raptors
These guys would likely defeat a very good college team, but they also probably don't make their owners and coaches very happy (am I right, Lamar)?
Others of note include Eric Maynor, who ranks 291st and demonstrates that the Thunder don't do everything perfectly, coach's son Austin Rivers, who clocks in at number 289, and the Knicks' Raymond Felton, who ranks 281st.
Also, for those who were wondering, JaVale McGee actually ranks pretty high on this list, showing up at #30 overall. | <urn:uuid:ff29916c-a78d-423a-9adb-cdb3117d6ea1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://basketball.champsbelt.com/2013/01/the-nbas-most-efficient-scorers.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924035 | 1,004 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Colonial Subjects of Health and Difference: Races, Populations, Diversities
Monday June 11th – Wednesday 13, 2012
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science / Free University, Berlin
Organizers: Alexandra Widmer, Veronika Lipphardt
Keynote speaker: Professor Warwick Anderson, University of Sydney
Human diversity in the European colonies represented a fascinating topic of research for scientists and posed challenging administrative issues for colonial bureaucrats. For officials, managing the challenges of colonial administration was often dependent on acquiring data on their subject populations, while, conversely, the scientific pursuit of that data was firmly embedded in colonial rule. For those whose lives became colonial subjects during this time, colonial rule meant, at the very least, being exposed to new kinds of illnesses, expertise and exploitation. It also often meant being counted and categorized in the name of welfare and reform.
The core concern of this workshop is to identify connections between the study of ‘races’, ‘populations’ or ‘human variation’ and the colonial practices associated with health and governance of diverse human groups in the early 20th century. Thus, this workshop topic lies at the intersection of the history of science and the history and anthropology of colonial projects.
Interested scholars should send a 300 word abstract and short CV by November 15, 2011 to firstname.lastname@example.org. Please write Colonial Workshop in the subject header. We will notify participants in January 2012.
If you have content related questions please contact awidmer@ mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
This is a project of the Historicizing Knowledge about Human Biological Diversity independent research group. The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science will cover travel costs to Berlin and four nights accommodation.
For a complete workshop description please see our website.
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Slavery and the attendant racial problems in the US have left a permanent scar on our nation, causing our worst war to date, suffering and oppression on an enormous scale, and a lasting animosity that always simmers beneath the surface of American society. Much has been done to redress wrongs, but one of the most fundamental crimes of slavery is still practiced, only by another name.
Those who have read Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn closely cannot miss that one of the most important themes of the book is fatherhood. Poor young Huck was stuck with Pap Finn, a wretched father who beat and used his son cruelly, drinking himself into oblivion whenever he could get his hands on his corn whiskey. When Huck ran off after a particularly bad drinking bout on Pap’s part, he found Jim, who, having recently taken flight himself, helped him get by in the woods and make his way downriver.
As it turned out, Huck fled from a bad father, while Jim went on the run to be a father. Jim was to be sold away from his family, and rather than accept this with resignation, Jim became a runaway slave, which could lead to terrible punishment.
The relationship between Huck and Pap Finn is often explained as an allegory of the relationship between Britain and her colonies. Twain liked to use such methods in his writing, but was usually more explicit about it, so there was likely more to it than that. Although much of Twain’s political views and personality shine through in the odd adventures and colorful characters who animate the book, it is above all a story of a fatherless son and a childless father.
Huck Finn has come under some criticism for the portrayal of Jim as a superstitious, unsophisticated caricature of a southern slave. But for all the supposed patronizing racism of the prose and dialog, Jim comes off as a fundamentally decent, caring man and, most importantly, a loving, dedicated father. He cares for Huck as though he were his own son, protects him from distress, and helps feed him. His greatest regret is berating his daughter for not listening, and then realizing to his horror that she’d gone deaf. And this decent father is to be removed from his children at the whim of his “superiors.” This is the most powerful condemnation of slavery in the book. It is a rebuke to all those who would defend the institution of slavery, and it is delivered through the example of fatherhood.
Sadly, when it comes to the black family, things don’t look all that different today. Black men are still removed from their children on a whim. Social welfare workers sever black men from their families as a routine matter. They inject feminist theory into the black community like so much poison, and advocate the use of police to separate men from their children. If we were to go by the dismal statistics, we’d have to assume there aren’t more than three black men in ten qualified to be in their children’s lives.
The very deep reach of government workers and agencies into the black family creates another kind of servitude. Black mothers who go on the dole are owned by the government (if not in word, in fact), which then asserts its claim over their children’s father and drives a financial wedge between parents, all too often separating father from children. Women’s advocates in black communities are mainly white, and a disproportionate number of them are of the lesbian feminist persuasion, prone to seeing men as expendable at best, but more often as a menace to be dealt with by the law, and sometimes as sexual competition. They also hold significant power over their female charges, and can exert pressure for sexual favors, a problem that has been alleged at women’s shelters, but surely exists elsewhere as well. The relationship between government agent and public charge is loaded with the potential for exploitation, and just as pederasts were attracted to the priesthood, a certain kind of female who fancies young single mothers is attracted to social work.
Over the last 50 years, we have steadily re-created the conditions of slavery in the black family, and hardly a protest is raised outside of the black community. First, social welfare programs that rewarded women for kicking husbands out of the home began the trend. Then, when the fatherless children caused a crime wave, incarceration at extremely high rates further exacerbated it. Finally came welfare reform that not only incentivized father removal, but also put fathers on the hook for the welfare that came on the condition that they were kicked out their child’s life. The pressure black fathers have been put under by policy is so severe, and so obviously designed to remove men from their families, that when one hears a politician bemoaning absent fathers in the black community one is tempted to tar and feather the bastard.
You’d think this state of affairs would be a national source of shame, but somehow people have accepted it as normal. So much so that a myth has developed around Africa being a traditionally matriarchal continent, where fathers never mattered much anyway. This is pure garbage. Traditional African families are not, and never have been, matriarchal. As a rule, West African families are patrilineal, virilocal, and patriarchal.
Of course, when you enslave men, suddenly their authority in the family means very little. Whether they are owned by the private sector, as in the old South, or the public sector, as in our big cities today, matters little. The effect is to strip them of any influence over their families and hand it to public schools, social welfare agencies and the police. Meanwhile, this is all justified by appeals to “elevate” blacks from their deplorable condition — just like in good old slavery. However, if you want to believe that, you also have to believe that slave masters and social workers know what’s better for children than their own fathers, and care just as much. Frankly, I just don’t buy it, but, as mentioned before, only some three out of ten black kids grow up with dad — if that.
What this means is that there’s either something very wrong with our policy, or something very wrong with black men. Given that blacks survived on their own for millennia before coming into contact with other civilizations, it’s got to be the former.
If Mark Twain were alive today, he’d look at the situation and shake his head as it became clear that black men have it no better than Jim did where family is concerned. For all the supposed progress we’ve made, some things just remain the same.
As a white man, I chafe at the notion of white guilt, but there are some things my government does that make me sick. Systematically removing children from their fathers – an injustice that falls disproportionately on black men – is one of them. We all pay the price for it in higher incarceration rates, police costs and social welfare. The costs are enormous. But, most importantly, like slavery it is an intolerable moral wrong for which there can be no justification other than purely callous self-interest on the part of those who profit from the status quo. | <urn:uuid:99de4655-6e8e-4fde-ad63-dbb8c9ea210f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.the-spearhead.com/2012/06/07/an-historic-wrong-still-needs-righting/ | 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 | 0.983462 | 1,494 | 3.65625 | 4 |
FLASHBACK: 40 Years Ago!!! Johnny Nash's 'I Can See Clearly Now' Hits Number One
It was 40 years ago Sunday (November 4th, 1972), that Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" hit the Number One spot on the charts. Nash, who was born in Houston in 1940, broke the color barrier while still a teenager on Texas TV when he became the first African American featured on a local variety show called Matinee. In 1956 Nash appeared on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts show, and he went on to release several Top 40 singles in the late '50s and early '60s.
Nash had first traveled to Jamaica in 1958 while co-starring with Burt Lancaster in the movie Take A Giant Step, which featured Nash in a dramatic role portraying a black man coming of age in America. Nash was fascinated by the island's scenery and music. He returned in the late '60s to use Jamaican musicians for a pair of singles, which included a cover of Sam Cooke's "Cupid," which bombed in the U.S., but hit the Top Ten in the Britain.
Nash relocated to London in 1971 and hired future reggae legend Bob Marley as a songwriter. Among the tunes that Marley wrote for Nash was "Stir It Up," which was a hit for both Marley and Nash.
Marley used the money he received from writing songs for Nash to start his Tuff Gong record label. In 1972 Nash returned to Jamaica and recruited most of Bob Marley's backing band, the Wailers, to help him record an original composition called "I Can See Clearly Now."
"I Can See Clearly Now" entered Billboard's Hot 100 on September 9th, 1972, and hit the top spot on November 4th, 1972, staying there for a solid month.
Noted rock critic Robert Christgau described the song as "the kind of record that gets you through a traffic jam."
The song has since been featured in several major motion pictures, including 1991's Thelma & Louise and 1997's Grosse Point Blank. A cover version by reggae legend Jimmy Cliff -- who also played on the original recording -- was featured as the theme to 1993's Cool Runnings, a movie about the Jamaican bobsled team. Cliff's cover version hit the Top 20 in 1994. | <urn:uuid:e4a3023e-8ece-4192-af6a-9a6c64ec66f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wxhc.com/music-news.php?id=2992&cat_id=4&p=22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976888 | 486 | 1.8125 | 2 |
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - An earthquake has shaken the Chilean capital, causing people to flee into the streets, but there are no initial reports of damage.
The University of Chile says the quake had a magnitude of 5.7 and took place at 2:22 p.m. (1:22 p.m. EST; 1722 GMT). It was centered about 50 miles (84 kilometers) from Santiago and 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the city of Los Andes.
A magnitude-8.8 quake and tsunami in central Chile in February 2010 killed more than 500 people.
Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:e56a3020-29b6-427a-b739-b9aa04731d7b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kolotv.com/news/internationalnews/headlines/Earthquake-Shakes-Chilean-Capital-173735581.html?site=full | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943754 | 148 | 2.15625 | 2 |
He knows he is alive, but how does he knows this? He knows that the cool fluid that he feels surrounding him is water. He keeps his eyes closed because, from the depth of his mind, he remembers water can irritate them. He does not know how he knows this, or why. Where am I, he wonders.
His eyes, muscles, and joints ache, but his naked body is comfortable in the coolness of water. He keeps his eyes closed and makes an attempt to move his hands. Are they hands? He stretches his fingers out and moves them. He can feel his tight skin stretch against the tips of his fingers. He makes a fist. His fingernails, long and over grown, press against his palm. He feels his muscles and tendons pull as they are stretched and flexed for the first time in—How long have I been here? The
I like the idea you're going for here. There are some really good details such as the tightening of skin as he makes a fist, the fact that his nails are overgrown. The first part of it is a little awkward and choppy. The first phrase: He knows he is alive, is interesting and it draws me in. However, the question after it is a bit odd. You could start:
He knows he is alive; at least he's pretty sure he's alive.
Then go into the second paragraph; taking elements of the first and integrating them into the second. For example:
His eyes, muscles, and joints ache, but his naked body is comfortable in the coolness of water. He keeps his eyes closed; because, from the depth of his mind, he remembers water can irritate them. He makes an attempt to move his hands.
Otherwise I liked it a lot. I would be interested in reading more. You grab the reader's attention right away. Where is he? What's going to happen? It's a jump-right-in kind of story. At least that's the feel I get from it. Keep it up.
Posts: 38 | Registered: Feb 2012
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While I'm not against waking openings in principle, I'm getting a standard boot-up sequence. And what do you do with a computer that's booting up? You wait. I'm at the start of your story, ready to read, and the first thing I get is you saying "Please hold while the MC comes online. Current Status: Verifying hands." That forces me to entertain myself in the meantime, which, as you can see, results in snarky rejoinders to the writing. Not good.
Posts: 201 | Registered: Jan 2010
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I'm not a big fan of doing thoughts like this. It may be a matter of taste, but the methods of including internal thoughts that feel the most natural when I read them are:
1. Where am I? he wonders. 2. Where is this place? 3. He wonders where he is.
If the waking character is the narrator, then you can just include his thoughts as narration if you change the tone a little (2nd version).
Other than that style of thought, I actually sort of enjoyed the new take on the trope. I envisioned it as a human booting up, and didn't mind the "waking start."
Posts: 494 | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged | | <urn:uuid:a85b9058-cd57-4a16-9389-8aa76fd6426c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=001244;p=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987017 | 711 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Media Releases 2007
January 11, 2007
What are you doing behind the wheel?
Canada’s home, car and business insurers aim to change the behaviour of drivers
Toronto – January 11, 2007: Are Canadians prepared to give up their cellphones and other distractions while driving? Despite the growing body of research that concludes that driving while distracted is dangerous and increases the risk of a collision, drivers don’t appear to be listening.
A recent poll of Canadians suggests that while the majority is concerned about driver distractions and quick to point out the dangerous behaviour of others, many drivers are still reluctant to change their own driving habits.
“Driving while talking on a cellphone or otherwise distracted has become one of the most serious road safety issues in the country today,” said Stanley Griffin, President and CEO of Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), the national trade association for Canada’s home, car and business insurers.
The poll, conducted by POLLARA, found that 89% of respondents were concerned about driver distractions such as talking on a cellphone or engaging in a growing list of tasks behind the wheel. But an alarming 60% of drivers indicated they would not stop using their cellphones when driving – even when told that their cellphone use makes them four times more likely to be involved in a collision.
Canada’s home, car and business insurers want to change that. The industry announced today the launch of a $4 million multimedia public education campaign. The campaign will remind drivers to keep their eyes on the road and avoid distractions while driving, such as cellphones, PDAs, text messaging, eating and setting up the DVD player for the kids in the back seat.
“In an environment where multi-tasking has become the norm, drivers are allowing their attention to wander away from the task that requires their full attention – all too often with deadly results,” said Mark Yakabuski, Vice-President, Federal Affairs & Ontario, IBC.
“We believe education is the answer. This is not a young driver problem, and it is not a cellphone problem. Canadians need an attitude shift away from the notion that driving is a part-time job,” he stressed.
Mr. Yakabuski noted that research confirms the obvious: a distracted driver is a dangerous driver. For example, he pointed out that two separate studies – one done in Canada and the other in Australia – have concluded that drivers talking on cellphones are four times more likely to be involved in a collision.
IBC added to the mounting body of research today by releasing the results of a study it commissioned to compare the behaviour of novice and experienced drivers when distracted. A somewhat surprising finding of the study is that experienced drivers were just as susceptible as novice drivers to the distracting effects of talking on a cellphone.
“We expected our research would find that the novice drivers on cellphones drove considerably worse than their more experienced counterparts. While the novice drivers did perform poorly both on and off the phone, we were surprised that, in some respects, experienced drivers drove as badly as beginners did while on the phone,” said Mr. Yakabuski. “In the end, we found that these distractions worsened drivers’ ability to react quickly to hazards, no matter how much driving experience they had.“
The education campaign starts on January 22 and includes television commercials, and radio and print ads that will initially run in Ontario and Atlantic Canada for three months. The ads feature the theme, “What are you doing behind the wheel?” and show drivers eating sandwiches, drinking coffee and doing other tasks that take their attention away from driving. The ads also direct people to a website (www.clickonthis.ca) for additional information on driver distractions and other injury-prevention issues.
Another aspect of the campaign is a contest underway in conjunction with CHUM Television. Canadians are invited to submit their driver distraction stories online or through Citytv’s Speakers Corner booths in Toronto, Ottawa and London, Ontario.
“Almost everyone has a story about near-misses or dangerous behaviour behind the wheel. By asking people to share their stories we will engage them in the discussion and encourage them to think about their own driving habits,” said Mr. Yakabuski.
Industry representatives will also be visiting schools and service clubs to take the message directly to people throughout the province. As part of the presentation, an interactive driving simulator dubbed the D.U.M.B. (Distractions Undermining Motorist Behaviour) Car will provide a dramatic demonstration of what happens when you don’t keep your eyes on the road.
“Realistically, we know we can’t change behaviour overnight,” Mr. Yakabuski said. “But we believe that, in time, common sense combined with self-preservation will prevail, and Canadians will give the job of driving the respect it deserves.”
The research on driver distractions commissioned by IBC was conducted by Human Factors North, a Toronto-based consulting firm specializing in driver performance, signage and wayfinding, accident analysis and laboratory and on-road experiments. The two-part study was conducted in a driving simulator in a University of Calgary laboratory and on the streets of Calgary. In both phases, participants were asked to interact with cellphones while dealing with traffic situations. In the simulator, participants were also asked to interact with a CD player while driving. The reaction times, eye movements and vehicle control of the participants were measured to assess driver performance.
Insurance Bureau of Canada is the national trade association of the private property and casualty insurance industry. It represents insurers who provide more than 90% of the non-government home, car and business insurance in Canada. To view news releases and information, visit the media section of IBC's website at www.ibc.ca.
For more information: Ellen Woodger at 416-483-2358 or John Karapita, IBC, at 416-362-2031 | <urn:uuid:ce54181b-6ccd-4c3e-a0b9-52c106ad6394> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ibc.ca/en/Media_Centre/News_Releases/2007/01-11-2007.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967032 | 1,236 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Survey: Quality Of Life Scores Highest For Florida Entrepreneurs
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Decent roads and a nearby airport are important, but good fishing and a short commute to work are among things entrepreneurs rate highly when choosing a place to grow a business, according to a new University of Florida study.
That may be why within Florida, the less-developed Panhandle region was tops in quality of life and three of the four other categories used in the study to compare the state’s regions, said Joseph McCann, director of UF’s Office of Executive Education, which coordinated the study for the Warrington College of Business Administration and the Fisher School of Accounting.
But statewide, McCann said, Florida needs to improve several other factors that contribute to the entrepreneurial business climate, most notably providing the financial support entrepreneurs need to get their projects off the ground.
McCann sent questionnaires to owners of businesses among the Florida 100, an annual list compiled by UF of the state’s fastest-growing privately held companies. Seventy-nine responded of the 100 responded. The Florida 100 represents 12 industries and collectively generated 1999 total annual revenues of more than $968 million
To arrive at a rating for the state overall, McCann used the business owners’ ratings of their regions on a scale of 0 to 5, with 5 being the highest. They were asked to evaluate entrepreneurial climate; physical and intellectual infrastructure; quality of life; and accessibility, quality and cost of available services.
The respondents gave quality of life the highest overall mean, with a score of 3.92. Within that category, leisure opportunities got the biggest nod, with a mean score of 4.41. Other quality-of-life issues included a positive, supportive climate for families; clean ecology; reasonable cost of living; and affordable housing close to work.
Northwest Florida led in entrepreneurial climate; quality of life; intellectual infrastructure; and quality, cost and accessibility of external services, the study shows. Central Florida came in first in physical infrastructure, but the Panhandle came in second.
“Obviously there are fewer only nine companies of the Florida 100 companies in this less populated region when compared to Central Florida,” McCann said. “But the ones there like it for several reasons. In general, the central part of Florida stretching from Tampa/St. Pete on the west to the Melbourne area on the east was most consistently ranked well and held the majority of the Florida 100 companies.”
However, the study shows entrepreneurs gave the state, on average, a lower score for its “entrepreneurial climate” — 2.66. Issues within that category include pace of new business creation, low labor costs, availability of skilled workers and access to affordable start-up or seed capital.
Charlie Uhrig, managing director in corporate finance for Raymond James & Associates in St. Petersburg, said the low ranking for entrepreneurial climate — particularly affordable seed capital — may be a function of which industry entrepreneurs are in.
Most venture capitalists, he said, are putting their money in information technology, telecommunications or health care. The Florida 100 represents a broader ranger of industries, he said, “so it stands to reason why they would be concerned about this more than a group of survey respondents who are in the hot’ areas.”
McCann agreed. “Florida has made great gains in providing access to capital for technology-intensive companies, but access remains more difficult for many service-sector companies.” he said.
Overall mean scores for the other categories were: intellectual infrastructure — 3.12; physical infrastructure — 3.0; and accessibility, quality and cost of external services — 2.74.
“I’d say the overall mean scores are lower than I would have expected,” McCann said. “There’s a lot of work to do on several items that were not perceived well, and the overall scores were dragged down by these very few specific items.”
The survey also queried entrepreneurs about the lessons they’ve learned.
To the question, “To what do I credit our success?” most said their own personal qualities were the deciding factor. That was followed by having supportive family and friends, good employees, a solid product or service, operational effectiveness and access to money and advice.
Asked “What are our biggest business challenges?” the largest share said placing bets on key people, followed by finding and training good workers, managing rapid growth, financial management, competition and leadership.
Finally, asked what their biggest mistakes were, most entrepreneurs said the most common was putting the wrong people in the wrong jobs. That was followed by not investing adequately in development, starting with too little capital and starting with the wrong concept or service.
Copies of the survey results are available by calling Executive Education at (352) 392-8660 or by e-mailing the office at firstname.lastname@example.org. The survey results also may be viewed on the World Wide Web at www.ufexec.ufl.edu.
- Steve Orlando
- Joseph McCann | <urn:uuid:4ab761ac-e410-4668-adba-50f588bf06f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.ufl.edu/2000/04/25/startups/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956058 | 1,056 | 1.953125 | 2 |
Turnabout is fair play, and in no arena as much as that of student academic achievement.
So after several years of hashing out policies focused on the quality of teacher education programs and teacher performance in the classroom, it’s only right that the gaze of accountability should turn to parents.
According to Education Week, a new tool to measure the quality of parent-school relationships is starting to make its way into several school districts.
Harvard University and SurveyMonkey, a Web-based polling company, developed a 71-item parent questionnaire that includes inquiries such as “How often do you meet in person with the teachers at your child’s school?” and “How often do you have conversations with your child about what his or her class is learning at school?”
The purpose is to measure family and community engagement and to collect data that can determine what parents think about their school’s effectiveness. In some cases, the information will be used for meeting federal Race to the Top grant requirements.
How I wish that in these pilot districts, all parents would be required to take the survey (or the school risks losing federal funding) and then be issued a report card to be posted on the district’s website underneath their pictures.
I know I’m dreaming. But what if those parent report card scores were aggregated in such a way that they could be compared school to school and district to district? What if, as the government compares the academic performance of schools by way of their own report cards and then gives adequate progress or failing grades, school communities were given those designations as well?
It might do little more than shame some people into paying more attention to what’s going on at their kids’ schools. Or it might quantify what I believe is the most pervasive problem impacting the quality of public school education: lack of student support at home.
As an ex-teacher, I’m always ready to criticize lazy teachers and inept administrators for the failings of the American education system. But I’m also eager to lay the blame for much of it where it rightly belongs: with parents.
My favorite statistic to counter the popular myth that the sole determinant of academic success is teacher quality comes from David C. Berliner’s 2009 research paper “Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success.” In it, Berliner notes that “U.S. students spend about 1,150 waking hours a year in school versus about 4,700 more waking hours per year in their families and neighborhoods.”
Slice those figures anyway you want, but parents are responsible for the quality of the time their children spend away from school and should understand that they have responsibility for at least a third of the academic hours, too (with both students and teachers making up the remainder).
I’ll leave it to those who like to use the ills of poverty to explain away why poor and minority children underperform in school to duke it out with those who demand that all teachers be brilliant educators, entertainers, life coaches and social workers.
But instead of finding the perfect place to lay blame for our country’s educational shortcomings, now -- as meaty reforms are actually taking root nationwide -- is a great time to put parents in the spotlight.
One of my education reform heroes is Phillip Jackson, executive director of The Black Star Project, an organization working to eliminate the ethnic and racial achievement gap. He recently wrote in an email blast:
“Those who say ‘... a parent’s income and educational level are the biggest predictors of school success’ are wrong. ... Here are the real and best predictors of school and students’ success: 1) motivated, inspired, hardworking and minimally skilled students, 2) engaged parents who have a burning desire for their children to receive a good education and 3) excellent teachers with high student-achievement expectations.”
Thank goodness that, so far, education reform efforts have addressed item No. 3 in order to cultivate item No. 1, but neither works without engaged parents who have that burning desire for their kids to excel academically.
So why not put parents on the spot?
If teachers have to be evaluated based on a “value-added” equation that includes their pupils’ standardized test performance, it’s only fair that they have the students’ parental engagement grades factored into their final score.
Esther Cepeda’s email address is firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:fce40510-bd81-4b69-ab0c-68ac7ea11639> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mexicoledger.com/article/20130126/NEWS/130129526/-1/blogs01 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968339 | 954 | 2.0625 | 2 |
You have probably noticed many times that nursing can be a very satisfying career choice. However, now that you finally have your stage and are out in the ditches now, you may be considering if anyone has any recommendations or recommendations to help you out. Well, here are the best recommendations for new the healthcare team.
First off, don't be hesitant to ask problems. People are consistently learning, regardless of what their career is. In this scenario, if you don't know how to do something, or aren't sure where something is or goes, ask. Most of the RNs that have performed there for a while will not only be flattered because you asked for, but will have no problem helping. However, if you are going to ask an experienced healthcare professional a question, be very particular.
As described before, you are always learning, so notice those who have more encounter than you do. This can help you comprehend the methods and company of the hospital or hospital. Or, if there is a certain procedure that you are unclear of or are having problem with, ask if you can night or notice a professional. More than likely they won't ideas, so long as you don't get in the way.
If you works night changes, you may want to alter some of your personal workouts. Don't eat large meals when your shift is over, instead eat little better meals throughout the day so your human system can focus on getting to relax, not taking in. You will also want to limit your coffee intake; 2 associated with coffee are considered to be enough. If you aren't on a day to night rotating and consistently have night changes, try to keep your sleep-wake schedule as continuous as possible.
Try to relax while on the job. More than likely you will be in a scenario that may seem annoying, stressful, or even complex. Whatever you do, try to stay as comfortable as possible. When you stress, aspects will not make as much sensation and it will make it more difficult for you to cope with the scenario at part. If you encounter as though something is above what you have found, or something you had never found about, go ask for help. There is nothing wrong with asking for help. But, regardless of what, try and keep a comfortable and continuous mind-set about the scenario at part.
Learn how to keep your primary problems straight. What this means is that is you have a personal who is in nervous need of pain therapy, you should probably usually them first before the person who has a fresh. Of course, primary problems will change depending on the situation; the person that needed the pain therapy may only need it for a disappointment, but the other personal may have a seriously infected fresh. You will need to also comprehend how to research the different conditions that you may be offered on a day to day base.
Also, realize that you are only personal. This may mean that at times you may be disappointed or flustered; that is absolutely OK. You need to also keep in ideas that you will have fantastic times and you will have bad days; just don't stop.
Another aspect you may not think about is that some aspects are better qualified through encounter. Having your nursing stage is essential and can get prepared you for a lot, but some of the other problems you may encounter may only be able to be qualified while on the job. If you have ever considered about becoming a healthcare professional, you can get your nursing stage online. Some online students even take on an internship so they can have those real activities. | <urn:uuid:9da689bd-ed6d-4ba8-aebc-b4c5fa281a8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goodamericanwife.blogspot.com/2012/07/tips-for-new-nurses.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978775 | 722 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Clap Clap On /Clap Clap Off Module
Assembled and Tested - Control AC w/ Claps
This listing is for a DIY clap-clap on/clap-clap off relay module. It bas been fully assembled and tested in house. Upon power up, the device scans for two claps in succession. That will turn the relay on. There is a red LED indicator on board that lets you know when the relay is turned on. The above video will give you a full demonstration. Just skip to the end. I sell these in DIY kit form as well, so you build it yourself from scratch for a few dollars less! This device requires 7-9v @ 100mA or higher in order to operate. A 9v battery is nominal. The relay pins are connected to a 3-pin terminal block.
These pins are labelled:
NC - Normally Connected to the Common Pin
CO - Common Pin (Connected to the NC pin when the relay is off / Connected to the NO pin when the relay has been activated)
NO - Normally Open. This pin is not connected to the Common Pin until the relay is activated.
The device is driven by a programmed micro-controller that detects loud noises. The on board microphone picks up on these noises (claps). When a single clap is detected, a countdown begins, and the device waits for another clap. If another clap is detected within a short period after the first clap, then the relay will turn on, and stay on until another two claps are detected.
1) A 7v - 9v power supply (If you're going to use a wall wart, aim for a 7v-9v. No more than 9v. 100mA or higher)
2) An imagination!
1) Power AC devices, such as a Christmas tree, or Christmas lights, lamps, etc.2) Two claps to turn on the relay; two claps to turn it off. There is an on board red LED that acts to show you when the relay is on. When the LED is emitting light, the relay is on. | <urn:uuid:07d870d7-676e-401d-a4cb-ca4bf0e2dafb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.engineeringshock.com/clap-onoff-module.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932802 | 445 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Saudi Arabia's central bank plans to launch a real estate refinancing company with 5 billion riyals ($1.3 billion) of capital to help develop the kingdom's mortgage market, local media quoted its governor as saying.
The company will be launched through the Saudi government's Public Investment Fund (PIF) or its subsidiaries, local daily Iqtissadeya cited Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Governor Fahad al-Mubarak as saying.
The PIF was established in 1971 to provide financing support to important development projects that cannot be implemented by the private sector alone.
Last November, the Saudi central bank said it was studying draft regulations that could see the creation of a company similar to collapsed U.S. firm Fannie Mae, established by the Washington in the 1930s to finance the U.S. mortgage market.
"We studied the successful experience in other countries in terms of mortgage," Arab News on Tuesday quoted Mubarak as telling an economic forum in the western port city of Jeddah.
Central bank officials were not immediately available to comment.
November's draft said the new firm, with a minimum registered capital of 2 billion riyals would have to stay majority state-owned but real estate financing firms would be allowed to acquire stakes up to a combined total of 30 percent.
After over a decade of study, the government last June approved a law allowing home mortgages to help reduce a housing shortage in the world's top oil exporter, one of the main drivers of inflation in recent years.
The law followed King Abdullah's decision in 2011 to build 500,000 housing units for Saudis over several years as part of a $110 billion fiscal package aimed at soothing social tensions at home as unrest spread through the Arab world.
Earlier this month, Mubarak said he expected a large but gradual growth in mortgage finance activity in the kingdom, adding it would be based on studying risks.
Analysts say the desert kingdom needs to build up to 275,000 new homes a year for the next five years to satisfy demand pinned at about 1.65 million new homes.
Some banks already offer housing loans, but these must be secured against salaries, making them available only to well-paid Saudis employed by the country's leading companies. | <urn:uuid:5f2302bf-29f3-490c-b9ff-e72a0ad36052> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.arabianbusiness.com/saudi-c-bank-says-launch-fannie-mae-style-company-494064.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954925 | 454 | 1.523438 | 2 |
For years Christiane Northrup M.D., has taught women about heath, wellness, and the miracle of their bodies. Now, in her first children’s book, she presents these ideas to the youngest of girls.
Beautiful Girls presents this simple but important message: that to be born female is a very special thing and carries with it magical gifts and powers that must be recognized and nurtured. Dr. Northrup believes that helping girls learn at a young age to value the wonder and uniqueness of their bodies can have positive benefits that will last throughout their lives. By reading this lovely book, little girls will learn how their bodies are perfect just the way they are, the importance of treating themselves with gentle care, and how changes are just a part of growing up.
This is a picture book.
It took me less than five minutes to go through the entire book but I like that the book offers an empowering message about attitude and its impact on our female body.
Beautiful Girl begins with the following,
Hello, beautiful girl.
Do you know how lucky you are?
Why? Because you were born a girl!
And as a girl, you have been given special gifts that will bloom as you do.
I love the way the book begins.
The words are inviting and the pictures?
They are adorable!
If you’re like me, who just love messages and illustrations that are uplifting and positive, you’ll enjoy reading this book. | <urn:uuid:57bb30ea-ae71-4c11-a47e-df087c3e32a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.leisurereads.com/beautiful-girl-christiane-northrup-and-kristina-tracy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972402 | 306 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Benjamin, was born in London in about 1798, the son of Abraham and Abigail Nordon. he had 4 brothers and 1 sister, all born in London. Joshua Davis (b.1800), Marcus (b.1803), Samuel (b.1805), Harry (b.1806) and Sarah. After arrival, he became very involved in the Jewish community. First the congregation gathered in his home, until 1849, when the synagogue was completed. He was the one responsible for the building of this new synagogue, the first in Cape Town. In 1858, he and his wife Abigail returned to England. The family can be found in the 1861 census (www.findmypast.com).
Benjamin died on the 14th of May 1874 in Ramsgate, Kent, England. He and his wife Abigail are buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Ramsgate. That cemetery, is located on land that Benjamin and his wife presented to the congregation in 1872.
Benjamin's brothers also left there mark on their new homeland. On 25 Apr 1846, Captain Joshua Davis Nordon, died at the head of his troops during the Gaika War. he was buried in Grahamstown, with full military honors.
Marcus, bought land in Grahamstown, and settled there.
Samuel, was killed in 1858, leading a charge of men during the Basuto War.
Harry, bought land and settled in Graaff-Reinet.
Sarah, married John Norton.
This is truly a remarkable family, which has left a rich legacy for their descendants.
The records of this family can be found in both The Jews of the British Isles and The Jews of Africa and the Orient. | <urn:uuid:421dbfd8-33ee-489e-88a6-4d8da345391f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.knowlescollection.blogspot.com/2010/08/norden-family-of-london-and-cape-town.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989011 | 356 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Full of Beans: Lively, energetic, in high spirits, as in "The children were full of beans today, looking forward to their field trip". This expression has no valid explanation. (circa 1840). -- From www.answers.com
Well, that about sums it up. This expression does indeed have no valid explanation. However, humans are not so worried about 'valid', so we do have a not-so-valid explanation that has run rampant across the internets.
Maybe it has something to do with horses! Since time immemorial, people have known that if you mix beans into a horse's feed it will grow stronger and have more energy. the beans have a high protein content, which helps the horse build muscle and repair tissue damaged during heavy exercise. Thus, the term could have been used to refer to those strong horses that were quite literally full of beans. Of course, we have no evidence that this is the true origin. It is worth noting that horses are also often associated, probably falsely, with the expression 'feeling one's oats', which most likely comes to us as a corruption of 'to sow your wild oats'. 'Feeling one's oats' is largely synonymous with 'full of beans', and it is sometimes assumed to have come from the fact that horses are more lively after feeding... Sound familiar?
The horse theory could be correct, but it is easy to make up etymologies. To demonstrate this, I went ahead and made up another origin myth -- who knows, it may even be true. Just to be clear, every part of this alternative explanation is true, we just don't have any evidence that it is related to the expression.
Maybe it has to do with Twelfth Night! For centuries it was an European tradition for employers to give a feast for their employees on the Twelfth Night. In England this was known as a bean-feast, after the bean hidden in the Twelfth-Night cake. The people who found the beans (always one male and one female; two cakes were baked so that there would be no odd pairings) were the king and queen of the feast, known as the 'The King of the Bean' and 'The Queen of the Bean'. These lucky winners played the role of the lord of the manor for the night, dressing in their masters' clothes and giving mock orders. Eventually, 'bean-feast' came to mean any celebration or festive occasion, and the traditional bean was replaced by a small coin baked into in holiday cakes and puddings. Bean feasts are also the origin of the UK expression 'beano'. It would be a small jump to imagine that the king and queen of the feast might be said to be 'feeling full of beans', and that this phrase could easily cross the Atlantic...
Full of Beans: Stupid; Erroneous; Misinformed.
"Feeling one's beans" is also sometimes used to mean that someone is acting foolish, talking nonsense, or being stupid. This appears to be a newer usage, but it has become quite common. This sense of the phrase may be familiar to most of us from A Christmas Story ("You're full of beans, and so's your old man!"), but it has been used on both sides of the Atlantic for decades.
Unsurprisingly, we don't know the origin of this usage either. It may simply be a mis-application of the older sense of the phrase, or it may be a humorous variation on 'full of hot air' ('cus beans give you gas, you see). In any case, be careful when telling someone that they are full of beans, they may not think it means what you think it means. | <urn:uuid:c8fb2b2f-4767-4d38-87fa-dd58cfc29e42> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://everything2.com/title/Full+of+beans?showwidget=showCs2018486 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97848 | 762 | 2.71875 | 3 |
In San Francisco Bay Area, housing prices are among the highest in the nation. In some Bay Area cities such as Palo Alto, CA and Cupertino, CA – the housing prices are even higher. Part of this is driven from the quality of the public schools in this area.
From US News High School ranking.
Seven South Bay schools have a lot to brag about today – they’re among the top 100 in the nation according to a new survey by U.S. News and World Report.
Lynbrook High School in San Jose ranks #73 out of 100 and that, along with eight other schools in the Bay Area, is a notable accomplishment – considering more than 18,000 high schools were analyzed in the U.S..
The list focuses on broad achievement in the U.S.. The rating is done by U.S. News & World Report. It’s the magazine’s first-ever ranking of America’s best high schools. It measures how well schools educate all of its students and their college readiness – using a formula with a three-step analysis.
First, it looks at students’ state testing data, like math and reading results, and factors in poorer-performing students. The analysis also evaluates how well each school’s disadvantaged students did. A third factor is availability of college-level coursework and how well students did on A.P., or advanced-placement tests. The top 100 schools earn gold medals. Nine in the Bay Area shot to the top of that list.
Ranking of Bay Area High Schools from U.S. News & World Report:
#2 Pacific Collegiate Charter, Santa Cruz
#49 Mission San Jose, Fremont
#59 Monta Vista, Cupertino
#66 Henry M. Gunn, Palo Alto
#68 Piedmont High, Piedmont
#69 Lowell High, San Francisco
#72 Saratoga High, Saratoga
#73 Lynbrook High, San Jose
#85 Palo Alto High, Palo Alto
In total, the U.S. News ranking recognizes almost 1,600 high schools that meet its criteria for great learning achievement. Aside from the top-100 gold medal schools, many more can boast silver and bronze status and at least half a dozen of those are also in the Bay Area. | <urn:uuid:31d323c9-1d67-46fc-9806-37b9d828e3b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.femtalks.com/sf-bay-area-local/8-bay-area-public-high-schools-rank-among-the-best-in-nation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950973 | 483 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Croatia’s natural features are without doubt what make it such an attractive destination. Consisting of 1185 islands, only 66 of which are inhabited, it is the largest archipelago in the Mediterranean. It has 1,778 kilometres of coastline with the Adriatic running along the entire west coast of the country. The Dinaric Alps run the length of the country and it is one of the few countries on the continent which has preserved its natural habitat. Almost 8% of the country is contained within its seven national parks, four of which are along the coastline (Kornati, Mljet, Brioni and Krka) and three in the mountains (Risnjak, Paklenica and the Plitvice).
While it may have wonderful geographical attributes, however, its history hasn’t always been as favourable. Having served as an important province of the Roman Empire and home to Eastern Europe’s largest fortress of that era, it was largely occupied by immigrants after the fall of the Romans. These immigrants who were mainly of Slavic origin created their own empire but came under heavy attack from the Crimean Tatars in the mid-thirteenth century and again from the Turks in the mid-sixteenth century. Following the second attack, most of the country fell under the Austrian Empire while Italy and France secured control of the remainder.
Following the end of World War I the Croats, Serbs and Slovenes formed a kingdom which, in 1929, became known as Yugoslavia. This new kingdom took a heavy blow during World War II and following this it became an independent communist state under the hand of Marshal Tito. Again the Croats suffered greatly and this communist regime was to continue up to 1991 when they declared their independence. Four long years of violence were to ensue, however, as the Croats tried to eject the occupying Serb armies from their land. A ceasefire was finally declared in 1995 and under UN supervision the last enclave was returned to Croatia in 1998.
In the years which have elapsed since the bloodshed of the 1990’s life in Croatia has improved steadily and the country is now becoming an important tourist destination. The strength of the Croats has played a large part in the country’s transformation and has also been responsible for the fact that so much of the culture and so many of the traditions of the past thousand years have been preserved. From food and drink to music and dance, ethnic diversity is visible throughout and it is not without reason that both Dubrovnik and Split have been classified by UNESCO as world cultural heritage cities. | <urn:uuid:b56a4e84-0f4f-4be9-a8bd-a2516eb6fb8c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hostelworld.com/guides/country-guides/croatia/about | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980391 | 528 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Mosquito, some species in Thailand and Vietnam spread a drug-resistant malaria strain
A third of malaria drugs used around the world to stem the spread of the disease are counterfeit, data suggests.
Researchers who looked at 1,500 samples of seven malaria drugs from seven countries in South East Asia say poor-quality and fake tablets are causing drug resistance and treatment failure, reports the BBC.
Data from 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including over 2,500 drug samples showed similar results.
Experts say The Lancet Infectious Diseases research is a "wake-up call".
The US researchers from the Fogarty International Centre at the National Institutes of Health who carried out the work believe the problem may even be much greater than data suggests.
"Most cases are probably unreported, reported to the wrong agencies, or kept confidential by pharmaceutical companies," say the researchers.
No large studies of drug quality have been carried out in China or India - countries that house a third of the world's population and are a "probable" source of many counterfeit drugs as well as genuine anti-malarial medicines, they say.
Lead researcher, Gaurvika Nayyar stressed that 3.3 billion people were at risk of malaria, which is classified as endemic in 106 countries.
"Between 655,000 and 1.2 million people die every year from Plasmodium falciparum infection," he said.
"Much of this morbidity and mortality could be avoided if drugs available to patients were efficacious, high quality, and used correctly."
In parts of the world where malaria is prevalent, anti-malarial drugs are widely distributed and self-prescribed, both correctly and incorrectly, say the researchers.
The study found there are insufficient facilities to monitor the quality of anti-malarial drugs and poor consumer and health-worker knowledge about the therapies.
And there is a lack of regulatory oversight of manufacturing and little punitive action for counterfeiters.
Despite this, malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25% globally since 2000, and by 33% in the WHO African Region.
But the World Health Organization says maintaining current rates of progress will not be enough to meet global targets for malaria control.
It is calling for renewed investment in diagnostic testing, treatment, and surveillance for malaria. | <urn:uuid:9f26f743-4cb5-4138-a223-211f7a711072> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/third-of-malaria-drugs-are-fake/116347/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941126 | 471 | 2.84375 | 3 |
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As a student, you may be eligible for certain tax benefits. To find out more—and to see how your current income, financial aid, loans, and work-study all affect your taxes—visit irs.gov and read the section about students:
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators also provides a helpful guide on tax benefits for parents and students. To access this information, click here. | <urn:uuid:c1eb0bf2-c38e-4a24-abb7-7cd79e1ecc84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.law.pace.edu/tax-benefits | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917728 | 88 | 1.523438 | 2 |
It is of primary importance to understand the motivations for your desire to excel in anything. This takes into consideration more than you would normally imagine because of what is entailed in your sincere striving. It is not enough to simply "wanna be" a version of what you are using for visual representation of your ideal. You must clearly be in the mindset that will afford you the ability to instantly and constantly "be there" and even more, to “be here.” Some people call this being in the "zone" or being in the "state." It is more than that. It is not "being” in anything. It is "being the thing itself" and not being "in," which suggests that you have to put yourself “there” to be there. This is an erroneous form of detachment that causes hesitation and can get you killed in real combat. It is much better to “be the thing itself” rather than seeking to be the thing itself. Upon examination of the mentality involved with the attendant desire, it also frees the Spirit of the Thing Itself to be active in you, as you, and through you to reinforce the necessary attitude to maintain itself as the thing itself.
Spirit is generally understood as a connection to the infinite that will permit you to attain excellence. It is based on personal intent to overcome any particular restriction, whether self-imposed or not. Being self-imposed suggests some form of lack in self-esteem and self-worth. It is usually based on a physical challenge that must be overcome on the physical and mental level. Though both require a mental state of "being," both are relatively easy to overcome.
In any art form there is what I is called the Spirit of the Thing Itself, and I will refer to this concept often, as it is the way to understand beingness in regards to accomplishment. As an example, when you are at an impasse in your training, it is necessary to overcome limitations by not accepting them and denying these limitations any authority in your quest for perfection. You do not deny the existence of them, but rather call upon the Spirit of the Thing Itself to remove any negative authority on a conscious and sub-conscious level. You will learn to do this in a mode of instantaneity.
Musashi didn't desire to "become." He simply accepted and knew that he "was" while maintaining it by constant practice to the extent reasonable within the balance of the individual life he lived. His personal practice made him the great swordsman. The ability to attain to his desire was delivered by the Spirit of the Thing Itself seeing his devotion and making his quest that much easier to attain to.
It is the deliberateness of intent that will always maintain a winner in a position of constant winning. Though there may be times when weakness of spirit and inability to maintain ascendancy will reign in an individual's life, it is the overall desire of self-definition that succeeds regardless of seeming outcomes in the present. The reality is that when you are needed by yourself to survive, you always have the choice through fate or free will to accept the higher expression of your decision.
© SFKaufman 2011
Excerpt from The Art of the Zen Sword Master, a work in progress.
For more info on author, visit http://www.hanshi.com | <urn:uuid:24a97b82-2448-47f4-b4e6-e23a534c0614> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://redroom.com/member/sfkaufman/blog/essential-deliberateness-of-intent-in-mastery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973018 | 686 | 2.109375 | 2 |
Copyright © 2007 Dorling Kindersley
Plant crops provide us with food, clothing, and many other important products. Farmers select seeds from the best plants to grow next season. This selective breeding makes plants evolve features that people want them to have – such as heavier rice grains – but it is a slow process. To change faster, crops can be given new features directly from other life forms. Cells take their features from instructions they carry, called genes. Genetic modification (GM) allows us to move a gene from one life form to another.
In genetic modification, scientists first identify the gene for the desired feature. They can cut this donor gene from its DNA strand, using chemicals called enzymes as scissors. The gene is kept in one piece and multiplied by inserting it into a bacterium. The bacterium is used to carry the new gene into the target plant, by “infecting” it.
Scientists use plasmids, which are found inside bacteria, to stop donor genes unravelling and to replicate (copy) them. The donor gene is zipped on to the plasmid using chemicals called enzymes.
Tomatoes can be bruised when they are packed and stored. As they ripen, their skins become more delicate and are more easily damaged. Damaged tomatoes quickly begin to rot, because mould can grow on their skins. Scientists have genetically modified tomatoes by adding genes that stop their skins softening as they ripen. This means they are less likely to bruise in storage and be wasted. | <urn:uuid:d805d59c-7e3c-4429-ae23-0cb30ba766fd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.factmonster.com/dk/science/encyclopedia/genetically-modified-crops.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963713 | 308 | 3.875 | 4 |
Secretary Clinton made a powerful case today at the UN in Geneva for why the respect and fair treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide is of concern to the United States and the world. President Obama also released a Presidential Memorandum today commiting the entire U.S. government to support this important human rights agenda. The Council for Global Equality applauds their leadership.
The speech can be viewed via webcast by following the links below:
If you would like to read the Secretary’s remarks: http://www.humanrights.gov/2011/12/06/remarks-in-recognition-of-international-human-rights-day/
Before Secretary Clinton addressed the the full general assembly, she met with LGBT Activists and Supporters from the Diplomatic Corps. You can read her remarks here: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/12/178389.htm
See the Presidential Memorandum – International Initiatives to Advance the Human Rights of LGBT Persons: | <urn:uuid:dc78c74a-ab9f-4615-81ed-200cd2b0ed90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://globalequality.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/council-applauds-clinton-speech-and-white-house-announcement-in-support-of-human-rights-for-all/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934259 | 213 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Someone asked me the other day if I was happy.
My first reaction was to say “of course I am happy”; as it seems that there is a good deal of pressure in America to be happy.
If you are not happy, then by golly you better get happy. If you must, go see a counselor, adviser, or therapist (depending on your HMO), take a happy pill, how about some retail therapy, or do something, but don’t sit around being unhappy; unless doing that makes you happy. I am more inclined toward the later.
Really, when you think about it, America was founded upon the principle of happy. The Declaration of Independence clearly ranks happiness up there with not dying and not being locked up in jail; which I fully support.
Apparently, Thomas Jefferson thought we had the right to pursue happiness (when he wasn’t busy pursing Sally Hemings) as he wrote “they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Of course it is important that we recognize that we are not entitled to happiness, only the pursuit thereof. So an American has a certain amount of pressure to be happy or at least pursing it. We went to war and gained our independence just so we could pursue happiness.
This is tough if you are inherently moody, grumpy, mean, ornery, or chemically imbalanced, which sometimes I am probably all of these at the same time. Certainly, some of my friends and relatives are.
My too kind and loving wife never is; she is either happy or very happy…or taking a nap. Turbo never was grumpy either, although sometimes he lacked the energy to demonstrate his enthusiasm.
Adding to this problem is that everyone has a different definition of happy. So if I think I am happy, am I really happy? The last self-help book I read, and I read them all, told me that I wasn’t really happy, that I only thought I was happy and for a mere $15.99 they would send me a CD that would guarantee that I would be happy. The CD was a bunch of monks chanting which really didn’t make me happy.
This is America, where in 1964 Harvey Ross Ball invented the “Smiley Face”. First, with a name like that, how could he be happy? And besides that, he invented it for an insurance company and was only paid $45 for it, which is all he ever received for it as he did not copyright it.
I’ll bet that didn’t make him happy. And how can anyone use “insurance” and “happy” in the same sentence? The Smiley Face almost puts a pressure on us to be happy. There it is staring at us, taunting us, demanding that we be happy.
Think of all the famous smiles. According to a art historian, the coy Mona Lisa smile represents a, “visual representation of the idea of happiness. Leonardo made this notion of happiness the central motif of the portrait.”
What about Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat in Alice In Wonderland? The last thing that disappears is the cat’s smile. Isn’t that odd? When Alice asks why he is grinning, the Duchess replies, “It’s a Cheshire cat and that’s why.’’ I feel the same pressure, I am American and that’s what we do, we smile.
How many times have you heard the sage advice, “Grin and bear it.” It doesn’t matter that social security is going to be broke, that the housing market has collapsed, that Wall Street has stolen all our money and then paid big bonuses to the crooks; we are supposed to be pursuing happiness.
So everyone straight away better be for getting happy. Although, some countries apparently don’t value individual happiness as much as us American’s do. But, if you have migrated to America, legally or not, you better be pursing some happiness.
They have done studies and people that use metrics, (they are probably not happy because they are studying metrics) have come up with enough statistics to show what happy people do and where they live. One of the happiest places in the world is the Netherlands. I point out that prostitution and marijuana are both legal there; but do not offer an opinion if there is a cause and effect relationship.
So here I am trying to be happy. I am probably one of those that aren’t really happy unless I am unhappy. This is probably leftover guilt from my upbringing, where teachers always tried to “wipe that smile off my face”.
My entire upbringing was that way; if it feels good, stop it. If it tastes good, don’t eat it. If you’re having too much fun; just remember all the suffering in the world. So I am conflicted …and should probably contact an adviser, counselor, or therapist (depending on my HMO).
I don’t know whether to feel happy or guilty or just feel happy because I feel guilty. | <urn:uuid:fd445cc2-5cc4-4b29-add1-8e7e23d80d3c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sjrnews.com/view/full_story/11220190/article-Am-I-happy-?instance=columns_cave_view | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976413 | 1,094 | 1.695313 | 2 |
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... hurch.aspx
If You Go to Church, Heed This Warning
December 06 2011 | 357,783 views | + Add to Favorites
By Dr. Mercola
Recently the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, held an invitation-only call.
The call was co-sponsored by the U.S. Health and Human Services, the Office of Minority Health, and CDC.
Conspicuously, the end of the invitation read:
“This call is off the record and is not for press purposes” -- but it became public when it showed up on the HHS website.
Fortunately one of our staff was able to get on the call.
The focus of the call was on getting faith-based organizations to sponsor flu clinics with Walgreens.
Basically, they want to move inside your church, mosque or synagogue, and set up shop, with your pastor, priest, imam and rabbi on hand to convince you to get a flu shot.
As an example, they cited a priest who stopped in the middle of mass to roll up his sleeve and get vaccinated, inspiring the rest of his parish to line up behind him.
Talk to God, Get a Shot
The idea of holding out your arm and getting a shot in the middle of a worship service, with your pastoral leader urging you on, really seems to be pushing it. The reason they’re doing this, health officials said on the phone, is that they’ve found that non-traditional settings such as worship services can be highly effective in influencing people’s decisions.
Speaking directly to church leaders, Joshua DuBois, executive director of the White House Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership, said:
“As trusted messengers, you’re able to spread messages and help get people vaccinated.”
Zeroing in on minorities, particularly older adults, blacks and Latinos, health officials said churches, mosques and schools are places where barriers to vaccinations can be taken down, and these minorities can be convinced to get vaccinated. Besides hosting flu shot clinics, churches can also help by putting reminders in their bulletins, and by church members personally reminding others to get their shots, officials said.
They even went so far as to encourage the churches to pay people’s insurance co-pays so they’d be more inclined to get the shots. For those who simply can’t pay anything, there’ll be 300,000 free shots given out as part of the flu vaccine crusade.
Who's Funding This?
The original concept of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, developed in 2001, was to help community leaders enhance the 1998 Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health.
The partnership targets cancer screening, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS and vaccinations. It also originally covered complementary and alternative health care options, although that type of care, which would include health measures other than vaccines, was not even listed as an option during this phone conference.
For at least 10 years, this collaboration of community-based volunteers, nonprofit organizations and faith-based groups worked at a grassroots level in their respective neighborhoods, funded by Congress through various health care grants.
However, in 2010 the initiative took a turn with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which moved the initiative’s management to the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, paving the way for the federal government to fund and run projects like flu clinics right in your church.
Interestingly, flu shots were already covered by most insurance plans, Medicare and the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program.
But for some reason health officials have decided it’s OK to push the government into places of worship, mid-service, to sell and administer vaccines – and this no-press-allowed phone call reiterated that over and over again. I can only wonder which vaccine they’ll move into your church next, all in the name of “community health.”
The Secret's Out – Flu Shots Are Hardly Effective, If at All....MORE AT LINK | <urn:uuid:06b2a08a-1964-402e-af90-c14a6a3dfae1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://watchermeetup.50.forumer.com/this-should-be-the-red-screen-go-to-church-heed-this-t1224151.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96523 | 864 | 1.898438 | 2 |
IFSA - the International Forestry Students' Association
IFSA is a non political, non religious and non for profit organisation that has developed in the last 35 years to its current status as a worldwide organisation bringing together forestry students from all over the world in a wide spectrum of activities.
|is for global cooperation among students of forest sciences in order to broaden knowledge and understanding to achieve a sustainable future for our forests, and to provide a voice for youth in international forest policy processes.|
|is to provide a platform for students of forest sciences to enrich their formal education, promote cultural understanding by encouraging collaboration with international partner organisations and to gain practical experiences with a wider and more global perspective. Through its network, IFSA encourages student meetings, enables participation in scientific debates, and supports the involvement of youth in decision making processes and international forest and environmental policy. See also IFSA's Strategy|
Our members and partnerships
|IFSA's members are generally local associations of forestry students but can also be individuals persons (students or not). See also: IFSA's membership.
IFSA achieves its goals by organising extracurricular activities which promote exchange of experiences and information between students. Those activities take place in International Forestry Students’ Symposiums (IFSS), seminars, several working groups called commissions, publications,etc. See also:IFSA's activities.
IFSA also maintains excellent partnerships with international forest related organisations like IUFRO, EFI, CFA but also many others international students' associations. See also:IFSA partners
It all began in Great Britain in 1973 with an annual meeting of forestry students: the International Forestry Students Symposium (IFSS). The event was held there for thirteen years and the goal was to provide forestry students with a platform where they could meet their counterparts from other countries, discuss their ideas and views and create an atmosphere of solidarity and inspiration. During the following years the symposium attracted more and more students.
The first accomplishment of these meetings was the creation of INFOCENTER; an office established to co-ordinate the exchange of information among forestry students. During the 18th IFSS in Lisbon, Portugal in 1990, the participants decided to expand the co-operation between forestry students beyond the annual symposium. At the constitutional assembly of IFSA, the founding member associations approved provisional statutes and elected the first representative organs. INFOCENTER was relocated and took on the official role as IFSA's communicative and informational organ. The following year, the 19th IFSS was organised in the Netherlands. This symposium turned out to be a great success with 112 participants from 38 countries; it was the first time that students from all continents were represented. The following symposium was organised in Italy (1992). Here the third General Assembly (GA) designated a central organ, the Secretariat, to be responsible for the association's bureaucratic tasks, internal communications and all INFOCENTER duties. The Secretariat, thus, fully assumed its role as IFSA headquarters.
IFSA became a truly world-wide organisation when the new statutes were finally approved in 1994 at the fifth GA during the 22nd IFSS in Switzerland. The association was officially registered as a charity organisation with its seat in Göttingen, Germany.
Five years later, with the adoption of the revised Statutes, Decrees and By-laws, the general assembly moved the seat to Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. | <urn:uuid:3253cb69-2c08-4744-94db-cfe87587cf61> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ifsa.net/discoverifsa.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952271 | 701 | 2.125 | 2 |
Seeds add both nutritional enrichment and variety to your bird's diet.
Courtesy Megan Hughes, Florida
When you think “bird food,” what comes to mind? Probably seeds. Birds love it, and it’s been a staple food for our pet birds for as long as we’ve been bringing them into our homes. There’s just something about cracking open a seed and digging out that tasty nugget inside that birds love.
True, many pet owners now feed their birds a formulated pellet as their base diet. Even then, many people supplement that diet with some seeds.
“Pellets have all the nutrients we know that a bird requires and that’s a great way to go, but there’s nothing wrong with providing some seeds for a fun treat or for a small amount of the diet for some species,” said veterinarian and BIRD TALK columnist Margaret Wissman, DVM, DABVP, Avian Practice.
Seeds add both nutritional enrichment and variety to a bird’s diet. “Seeds have a lot of textures and shapes that a pellet doesn’t have,” Wissman said. “Seeds offer an opportunity for birds to spend time and energy foraging for food. They have to use their beaks and tongues to extract what’s inside the seed, and sometimes they’ll hold the seeds with their feet.” In the process, birds develop beak and foot dexterity.
But what exactly is in that seed mix we’re feeding to our pet birds? What are the main components of a seed? What kind of nutrition do seeds offer?
A seed is a plant structure capable of producing a new plant. It consists of four parts: embryo, cotyledon, endosperm and hull (or seed coat). Each plays a specific part in taking the seed from a dormant (but still living) state to an active, growing state.
The embryo (or germ) turns into the seedling. It will begin to grow when conditions are favorable — in other words, when it receives the right amount of moisture and warmth.
Seed leaves (or cotyledons) encase the embryo. Cotyledons are generally the first parts visible when a seed begins to germinate. These leaves are usually shaped differently than the leaves of the mature plant. If the seed is a monocot, it will have one cotyledon. Dicots produce two cotyledons.
The endosperm is the seed’s built-in food supply. It contains oil, starch and protein — all the nutrients necessary to grow the embryo.
The hull — the hard outer covering on a seed — protects the embryo and endosperm from disease and insects while preventing it from drying out. It also prevents water from entering the seed and initiating the germination process too early. Seed coats vary in thickness, with some being paper-thin (as with peanuts) or thick and hard (as with honey locusts and coconuts). In order for a seed to germinate, the embryo soaks up water and swells, which splits the seed coat apart.
Pet birds typically eat ungerminated seeds, which haven’t started growing but ideally are still alive and haven’t dried completely. Once a seed is hulled, the remaining embryo, cotyledon and endosperm are called the kernel or nutmeat. This is what our pets eat. | <urn:uuid:c0a8babe-f5de-459a-998e-48848735e045> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-diet-and-health/bird-nutrition/bird-seed-components.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939595 | 740 | 3.25 | 3 |
September 13, 2012
Olorotitan was one of the most elegant dinosaurs of all time. The 26-foot-long hadrosaur, found in the Late Cretaceous rocks of eastern Russia, had the typical deep tail, beefy legs and slender arms of its kin, but a fan-shaped crest jutting out of the back of the dinosaur’s skull gave it a striking profile. As with its North American cousins Corythosaurus and Lambeosaurus, the hollow head ornament is what makes this dinosaur stand out.
Paleontologist Pascal Godefroit of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and colleagues initially described Olorotitan in 2003. Now, in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, Godefroit joins co-authors Yuri Bolotsky of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Ivan Bolotsky of Jilin University in China in a thorough assessment of the hadrosaur’s osteology and relationships. The study is based on a mostly complete skull and skeleton–the dinosaur is primarily missing its hands and feet, perhaps because scavengers consumed them before the Olorotitan was buried, but much of the rest of the skeleton was found in articulation.
The hadrosaur’s crest is the most distinct part of its skeleton. As the researchers write, “The large crest dominates the skull.” While crushed and not entirely complete, the preserved part of the crest nevertheless shows that the ornament curved up high over the skull. According to the paper’s reconstruction of the missing skull parts, the front spire of the crest supported a backwards-pointing fan of bone.
This crest was hollow, just as in North American lambeosaurine hadrosaurs such as Parasaurolophus. Indeed, these ornaments were not just for show, but probably allowed adorned dinosaurs to allow them to bellow low-frequency calls over long distances. Each species had their own call based on the shape of the nasal passage inside their skull. Frustratingly, though, the relevant portions of the crest in the Olorotitan skull are either fragmentary or crushed, so no one knows the route its nasal passage took. We need another skull to find out.
There are a few other curious things about Olorotitan. The dinosaur’s skeleton has 18 neck vertebrae–several more than other hadrosaurs. While certainly not in the sauropod class of magnificent necks, Olorotitan had a relatively elongated neck compared with its closest relatives, which is fitting for a creature’s whose name translates to “gigantic swan.”
Further along the spine, the dinosaur’s skeleton seemed to have 15 sacral vertebrae (the fused vertebrae that run through the upper blades of the hips). But, as Godefroit and collaborators point out, the actual number of sacral vertebrae is probably slightly lower. The principal, mostly-complete Olorotitan skeleton used in the study was apparently an old individual in which extra bones of the lower back and tail fused to those at the sacrum.
But, in comparison with another specimen, the estimated age of the mostly-complete Olorotitan shows how size can be a deceiving factor in determining how old a dinosaur was. Godefroit and colleagues point out that various aspects of the old animal’s skeleton were fused, and that the dinosaur shows evidence of many repaired fractures. But there’s another partial Olorotitan skeleton–principally a portion of the lower back, hip and part of the tail–that appears to be of “equivalent size” that doesn’t show these age-related characteristics. If this is accurate, it’s a reminder that dinosaurs varied in terms of size at any particular age–just like us. That’s a simple fact, but something worth keeping in mind as researchers continue to debate how dinosaurs grew up. Skeletal indicators of age, such as bone fusion and the microstructure of skeletal elements, are more important than size alone.
Godefroit, P., Bolotsky, Y., Alifanov, V. (2003). A remarkable hollow-crested hadrosaur from Russia: an Asian origin for lambeosaurines Comptes Rendus Palevol, 2, 143-151 DOI: 10.1016/S1631-0683(03)00017-4
Godefroit, P., Bolotsky, Y.L., and Bolotsky, I.Y. (2012). Olorotitan arharensis, a hollow-crested hadrosaurid dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of Far Eastern Russia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica DOI: 10.4202/app.2011.0051
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No comments yet. | <urn:uuid:77ba108b-b957-4817-82b6-a383b84cf69a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/2012/09/outlining-olorotitan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916802 | 1,038 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Forecasters predict as many as four to eight hurricanes this year. University of Houston resources have expertise in a variety of topics related to storms – before, during and after.
Math Whizzes Compete in UH High School ContestFifth Annual Event Encourages Future Mathematicians, Scientists
February 9, 2010-Houston-In a veritable mathematics spelling bee, hundreds of Houston’s most math-savvy teens will showcase their talent in physics, calculus and other subjects during the annual University of Houston Mathematics Contest Saturday, Feb. 13.
Some 450 students from more than 30 Southeast Texas high schools have signed up for the math tournament, where the region’s young math whizzes will square off for bragging rights and trophies.
“Kids who enjoy math should have the opportunity to compete against each other, just like kids in any other field,” said Jeff Morgan, professor and chair of UH’s department of mathematics, which is sponsoring the event. “We ran a similar contest when I was a faculty member at Texas A&M University and started this one at UH in 2005. The tournament is more than just good community outreach, it’s a way to showcase the university to hundreds of top-achieving students.”
Morgan is passionate about math outreach and takes the UH math department’s responsibility of being a resource to the community seriously. He and the participating teachers from local and area high schools go above and beyond to help high school students develop and sharpen their passion for math. At a time when U.S. students are falling behind in global competitiveness in math, this event challenges the prevailing wisdom that today’s high school students don’t care about the subject.
Students compete in up to eight categories, including geometry, statistics, physics and a calculator test. In addition to individual winners, the school with the most points also will be recognized. There are winners in several categories, and the overall sweepstakes winner has been Clements High School from Fort Bend Independent School District for five years in a row.
In addition to the individual exams, there is a team project in which groups of students are given long and complex math problems to solve the week before the competition. Then there is a lightening round capping off the tournament – the Quick-Click Smack Down – where students are given just seconds to click in their answers to a series of math problems. Competitors are gradually eliminated until the one with the fastest mind and fingers is left standing.
Door prizes such as T-shirts, iTunes gift cards and calculators also will be given away. There is no fee, and registration begins at 8 a.m., Feb. 13 at the Science and Engineering Classroom building. For more information, visit http://mathcontest.uh.edu/.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 37,000 students.
About the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
The UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, with 170 ranked faculty and approximately 4,500 students, offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in the natural sciences, computational sciences and mathematics. Faculty members in the departments of biology and biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, earth and atmospheric sciences, mathematics and physics conduct internationally recognized research in collaboration with industry, Texas Medical Center institutions, NASA and others worldwide.
For more information about UH, visit the university’s Newsroom at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/.
To receive UH science news via e-mail, visit http://www.uh.edu/news-events/mailing-lists/sciencelistserv.php.
For additional news alerts about UH, follow us on Facebook and Twitter. | <urn:uuid:88e32373-8110-4cbb-b274-5698f98d4267> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uh.edu/news-events/stories/2010articles/Feb2010/02092010MathContest.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943215 | 837 | 2.203125 | 2 |
A process that began 50 million years ago-- the slow motion breakup of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate into two pieces--isn't over yet. In fact, they think it caused the two massive April 11 earthquakes beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
The first quake was a magnitude 8.7, 20 times more powerful than California's long anticipated "big one." It tore a complex network of faults deep in the ocean floor. The violence triggered unusually large aftershocks thousands of miles away, off the US West Coast.
The quake lasted 2 minutes and 40 seconds (most last just seconds) and was followed by a second main shock, of magnitude 8.2, two hours later. In the September 27th edition of the Los Angeles Times, Monte Morin quotes planetary scientist Thorne Lay as saying, "It was jaw-dropping. It was like nothing we'd ever seen."
It took seismologists completely by surprised and at first Lay wondered whether the computer code he used to analyze earthquakes was wrong. Most great earthquakes occur along plate borders, where one plate dives beneath the adjoining plate. However, the April 11 quakes occurred in the middle of the plate.
Unlike the huge earthquake that struck in the same region in 2004 and created a deadly tsunami, the April 11 quakes did not cause similar destruction.
We want to deliver a small warning to all our readers and listeners: If we don't get more support from you, it won't take a tsunami to finish us off, and it will happen FAST: We will be nothing more than a memory in the future. So if you really do love our up-to-date news about the climate (and everything else), subscribe today! | <urn:uuid:a31b7315-a2bf-4a4f-be3b-6fe723874817> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/slow-motion-disaster | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958623 | 356 | 3.71875 | 4 |
Spartans Look to Lend Hand to National Museum of Iraq
By Sgt. 1st Class Kap Kim, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service
BAGHDAD, Nov. 13, 2007 When what was supposed to be simply a short meeting turned into a grand tour of the National Museum of Iraq, some 1st Cavalry Division soldiers got to see a part of early civilization that was beyond their imagination -- in some cases, artifacts that dated back to more than 5,000 years ago.
National Museum of Iraq director Dr. Amir gives Army Lt. Col. Kenneth Crawford, commander of 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and the U.S. State Department culture heritage liaison officer, Diane Siebrandt, a tour of the museum’s exhibits, Oct. 31, 2007. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Kap Kim, USA
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Army Lt. Col. Kenneth Crawford, commander of 2nd “Spartan” Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, and Diane Siebrandt, a U.S. State Department culture heritage liaison officer, set up the meeting with Dr. Amira, the museum’s newly appointed general director, Oct. 31.
“What we did was huge,” said Siebrandt, who works closely with Iraq’s Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities.
After a meeting with Amira and her other director generals, Crawford and a few lucky soldiers from his personal security detail received the first tour of the museum and its exhibits since the early part of the war. The doors were closed to visitors April 23, 2003.
“I was in awe of what I saw in there,” said Crawford, a San Antonio native. “You come here, and you’re in the cradle of society.”
During the Ottoman Empire, archeologists and fortune finders were granted digging permits and were able to keep any find. According to Siebrandt, it was during that time when most of the Mesopotamian artifacts left the country.
After World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, it was a British traveler, Gertrude Bell, who started supervising many of the excavation sites and brought to light the importance of having a sense of cultural awareness. The museum, which was originally opened in the early 1900s by Bell, was known then as the Baghdad Archaeological Museum. Many of the exhibits contain artifacts once belonging to her private collection.
The museum was open to the general public until 2003, when looters and vandals stole many priceless items during the war, Siebrandt said. Since then, the museum and its staff have closed the doors to almost everyone. So, the meeting and subsequent tour of the exhibits currently under construction were a surprising treat for the few who were able to see it.
Since December 2006, the State Department and coalition forces have tried to start a dialog that might start the process of reopening the museum to the Iraqi people. “We just were never able to get dialog started,” Siebrandt said. “With Dr. Amira, I met with her and talked about Colonel Crawford (coming to the museum). It was all about getting the right person in.”
For Crawford, whose unit does a lot of civic projects throughout the Karkh Security District, getting to help the museum reopen to the public is important. “It’s an icon, … not just for Karkh or Baghdad, but for Iraq,” Crawford said. “This showed a big step toward joint relations. It was nice to just get our foot in the door to ID areas of the facility we can maybe help with -- the end state of getting the museum open to the public.”
(Army Sgt. 1st Class Kap Kim is assigned to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Public Affairs.) | <urn:uuid:a681f526-2147-424e-9fbb-c2288b3ac3dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=48127 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975073 | 836 | 1.992188 | 2 |
Charles Darwin was a DIY biologist. He was not a professor at a university; he was not a researcher at a government lab. As a young gentleman, he had the right connections to tag along on the voyage of HMS Beagle as an unofficial, unpaid naturalist. Once he came home, he spent most of his time at his country estate, where he ran decades of experiments on orchids and rabbits. He played a bassoon to earthworms to see if they sense low noises. He made painstaking observations on other species. He spent years peering through his personal microscope at barnacles. He spent afternoon following ants around his lawn. To add to his personal discoveries, he wrote to a global network of friends and acquaintances for every scrap of information he could find that seemed relevant to his theory. While Darwin took advantage of every tool a Victorian naturalist of means could get his hands on, they were quite simple compared to the equipment evolutionary biologists use today. No DNA sequencers or satellite databases for him.
The simplicity of his tool kit and the grandeur of his work makes Darwin exceptional enough in the history of science. What makes him even more so is our ability, some 150 years later, to get to know his DIY biology in deep detail. Darwin described many of his projects in his books, and the University of Cambridge still has hordes of his letters on file. In recent years, this Himalaya of information has become available in searchable form online at places like The Darwin Correspondence Project and Darwin Online.
Ned Friedman, a botanist at Harvard, has come up with an intriguing way to use Darwin’s life to teach the basics of evolution. He and a team of graduate students have created a freshman seminar called “Getting to Know Darwin,” in which the students recreate ten of Darwin’s experiments and observations, spanning his life from his college days to the work on earthworms, which he carried on during his final years. To get an intimate feel for Darwin’s ideas and work, the students read his letters in which he discusses each topic. They then run experiments very similar–or in same cases, identical–to the ones Darwin ran himself.
Friedman has now gone the extra mile and put all the details of the class online at the Darwin Correspondence Project site. You can read about each lesson, such as the one on biogeography–the science of why species are where they are. Friedman’s students do experiments with seeds in fresh water and salt water to see how plants could get to remote islands. Some ducks’ feet obtained from a butcher shop allow students to see how Darwin figured out that birds could transport plants to new homes.
From my inspection of the site, I think it would be great not only for college courses, but for high school and even for curious families. Maybe it’s time for me to dump some seeds in some salt water…
Friedman explains the project in this video: | <urn:uuid:0974dcbd-75ed-4256-a149-0113b76d32db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/28/creating-young-darwins/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98104 | 609 | 3.4375 | 3 |
|Walleye are commonly affected by two skin conditions that may occur separately
or in combination. Differentiation of the two infections may be somewhat difficult for the untrained eye. Both of
these conditions are considered to be caused by fish viruses.
These viral skin infections are not associated with walleye mortality, and they are harmless to humans. Infected
walleye should be processed for consumption in the normal manner. On the rare occasion when a skin lesion penetrates
into the musculature, that portion of the fish tissue can be removed and discarded to improve its appearance. A more
detailed discussion of these two conditions is presented below.
The first condition, called lymphocystis, is commonly found in the central portion of the United States, especially
in and around the Great Lakes region, and in the south-central and south-eastern regions of Canada. It is characterized
by raised, rough, nodular masses of generally light colored, somewhat opalescent white, gray or cream-colored tissues
that superficially resemble warts. Larger, more developed lesions may have areas of pinkish or reddish coloration
due to blood vessels in the infected tissues. These lesions are usually external, located on the skin or the fins,
but occasionally they are found internally along the gut and in the heart and other internal organs. Massive replication
of the virus within the walleye skin cell causes the size of the infected cell to increase in size dramatically. Eventually
these cells burst or slough off, releasing the virus and leaving a light colored scar. Lymphocystis usually appears
in the spring and reaches maximum development in the summer. In the fall and winter the lesions gradually disappear.
Although walleye are most susceptible to the lymphocystis virus, perches, sauger, darters, sunfishes, basses, bluegill
and crappie can also develop the infection.
The second condition is called dermal sarcoma. This benign skin tumor is similar to lymphocystis in gross appearance
and location on the fish, although dermal sarcoma tend to be found more frequently on the body than
on the fins, and the lesion tends to be more variable in color, depending on the blood supply and the amount of fibrous
tissue present. These single or multiple, smooth and firm nodules develop to about a half inch in diameter. They are
more prevalent in the fall and spring. They are less frequently observed in the summer. Female and younger walleye
tend to be more affected by this condition. The cause of dermal sarcoma has not been determined definitively, but
transmission studies suggests viral activity. | <urn:uuid:59953c05-40f4-481d-be13-84a5eb4d0df6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fishandboat.com/images/pages/qa/fish/walleye_tumors.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943562 | 564 | 3.4375 | 3 |
3 Anti-Authoritarian TV Shows that Grapple with America's Security State
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When the horrific events of 9/11 led the Bush administration to hastily sign the USA Patriot Act, which granted the government broad powers that many believe tread on Americans’ constitutional rights, it was barely reported in the mainstream news media. In 2003, when John Ashcroft drafted a follow-up broadening the bill, the coverage was so scant that media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) was compelled to write a lengthy condemnation, observing:
The fact that the DOJ has secretly prepared legislation that would fundamentally alter the protections afforded Americans by the Constitution is, by any measure, a huge story. The first USA Patriot Act was rushed through Congress in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks with very little media coverage or public debate. (See "Are You a Terrorist?", Extra! 11-12/01, http://www.fair.org/extra/0111/usa-patriot.html.) Media must not let this happen a second time-- there is too much at stake.
And yet, in May 2011, when President Obama signed a four-year extension of the bill, it did happen a third time.
Fortunately, while the mainstream media may be turning a blind eye to the breadth and unconstitutionality of the Patriot Act, mainstream television, it seems, is picking up the slack. Two new programs, "Person of Interest" and "Homeland," as well as the older "Fringe," hinge their plots on provisions of the law. And while shows like "24" and "Alias," already in progress during 9/11, dealt with some of its aftermath, they didn’t do it like these shows, which present a progressive, anti-authoritarian message that actually seems like they’re trying to teach us something. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does—there’s no preachiness, just integral points and intrigue woven in with the most terrifying, Orwellian truths about what the government calls “Homeland Security.”
"Person of Interest" is the new show created by JJ Abrams, and its plot is straight out of a Philip K. Dick novel (a specific one: The Minority Report). The gist: a billionaire computer genius (played by "Lost" fan fave Michael Emerson) was commissioned to develop an elaborate program for the government that detects and identifies people who will be involved in a murder in the future. The database collects their Social Security numbers and uses ubiquitous surveillance cameras to track their movements, but does not reveal whether they are the perps or the victims, setting the stage for interesting stereotype challenges in the future. The program was built to prevent another 9/11 using provisions of USA Patriot—which Emerson’s character details in full in the pilot—but, feeling strange about the monster he’s created, he fakes his own death and disappears. That is, until he recruits a downtrodden ex-CIA agent (who also faked his death to defect, obviously) to help him prevent everyday murders.
The pilot was rife with cop drama grit and just enough science fiction to please us nerds, but most of all it presented a show that will examine how far Americans will go for the illusion of safety—and how much we’ve already given up. Shot with movie-grade cameras and interspersed with surveillance camera shots (like "The Wire," which also touched upon the Patriot Act), it looks slick, too. The cast is loaded with talent, including the ever-radiant Taraji P. Henson as a good cop with suspicions about the CIA agent’s identity. The only complaint with "Person of Interest" is with the media campaign promoting it: Henson has been summarily excluded, despite being one of the best actresses working. (Luckily, TV Guide’s era is quite over, while Henson’s star is just beginning its rise.)
"Person of Interest" is JJ Abrams’ second show to focus on post-9/11 laws and agencies; the first was "Fringe," which began in 2008 and focuses on a secret division of FBI agents working under the supervision of Homeland Security to explore mysteries that allude to the presence of parallel universes. Much like "The X-Files" portrayed the corrupt nature of the FBI and the CIA through the existence of a shadow government, Fringe’s protagonists encounter rogue characters around the world who may control things from behind the scenes. And while its premise is more science fiction-leaning that that of "Person of Interest" (at least so far), it too has its dalliances with USA Patriot. Clearly, JJ Abrams is enthralled with the ways the government controls us, and his interest has only become more acute. This quote from "Person of Interest" co-writer Jonathan Nolan ( The Dark Knight), however, emphasizes how normalized this surveillance existence has become: “What 9/11 did is irrevocably change the characters’ lives, and we’re dealing with that fallout,” he told the LA Times. “Just as we do in everyday life.” | <urn:uuid:b8055c9d-774a-4889-a993-468090176c59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alternet.org/story/152584/3_anti-authoritarian_tv_shows_that_grapple_with_america's_security_state?qt-best_of_the_week=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963344 | 1,080 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Britain: 100 conversions to Islam each week
The typical British convert became a Muslim at age 27 and, according to the survey, was not motivated to convert by marriage. 55% of converts, however, were married to a born Muslim, and 12% were married to another convert.
The study found that the vast majority of women converts adopted the hijab (headscarf) upon conversion. Books were cited as the primary influence upon converts, followed by Muslim friends and the Internet.
Read the full survey here.
at 4:51 PM | <urn:uuid:3068123e-e95e-4321-94af-4ac0ebb151a2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://krestaintheafternoon.blogspot.com/2011/01/britain-100-conversions-to-islam-each.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987058 | 117 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Earlier today this picture appeared on the Facebook page of the Israeli Embassy in Ireland. It is an image of the Sacred and Immaculate Heart, with the festive caption, “A thought for Christmas…If Jesus and mother Mary were alive today, they would, as Jews without security, probably end up being lynched in Bethlehem by hostile Palestinians. Just a thought…”
My initial reaction was, “Smooth move, directing this picture and caption at a country where the population is a.) predominantly Catholic and b.) generally sympathetic to Palestine. PR skillz, u no have any.” Then I thought of something else.
This image of the Holy Hearts is hanging on the wall of my host family’s house in Bethlehem (only ours is kitschier and better). When I saw the embassy’s Christmas message, I thought of the family’s experiences during the Intifada, when the house was constantly being requisitioned by Israeli troops. They used to corral everyone into one corner, and my landlady was never allowed to be the one to wake her children: the soldiers pulled them out of bed at gunpoint. When the soldiers got thirsty my landlady used to give them water. Occasionally some of them became distressed and she and her husband would try to comfort them. There were times when the curfew lasted so long that the family ran out of food. Soldiers would bring their own meals into the house (sometimes hot pizza, with its appetising smell) and the kids just had to sit there and try to bear the hunger until such time as curfew was lifted and they could go to the shop.
Last year I ended up bringing an Israeli friend who was then performing his own military service into the house. (He was off-duty at the time, obviously, and before you ask – it’s a long story. I may tell it some day.) I was worried about how the family would react to him. Sure enough, my landlady wasn’t best pleased – but not because he was an Israeli Jew and a soldier to boot, but because, “If the army find out he has been here they can hurt him. You need to look after your friends, Vicky, he is a good boy.” She sat in the living room and talked with him, underneath the Holy Hearts image and the equally kitschy representation of the Last Supper.
That picture on the wall of one Bethlehem family home has witnessed a lot of things, but never hate of the sort that was exhibited by the embassy this afternoon. Just a thought. | <urn:uuid:db391b53-dc27-4f24-baa8-951985fdc4a5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bethlehemblogger.wordpress.com/tag/apartheid/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984496 | 534 | 1.84375 | 2 |
What is sustainable seafood?
Sustainable seafood can be wild-caught or farm raised, but must be harvested with care to maintain stable catch levels in the long-term without major harm to the environment and other sea life.
Various aspects of the fishery are considered when evaluating its sustainability:
- Are harvest levels monitored? Many fisheries are still not properly monitored to be able to calculate what the true harvest levels are.
- Are harvest levels low enough that fish populations will survive over the short and long-term?
- Is any harm done to the fish's habitat, such as alteration of the seafloor?
- Are large proportions of non-target species (bycatch) killed in the process?
- Many fish are shipped long distances, requiring a lot of energy and packaging to transport the catch. What is the carbon footprint of the fishery?
There are also several criteria specific to fish farms (aquaculture):
- What is the food source for the farmed fish? Are the farmed fish fed wild fish that are caught unsustainably?
- Does the farm create significant amounts pollution and other water quality impacts on the area around the farm?
- Does the farm minimize risk of spreading disease or genetic contamination to wild populations? | <urn:uuid:c6b7cf5d-5ce8-4c86-8a75-d340e1cd5150> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://sbnature.org/twsc/438.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93134 | 258 | 3.578125 | 4 |
The Court Removed the Healthcare Freedom Amendment from the Ballot in 2010
Shouldn’t the Supreme Court be above politics and protect our right to amend the Florida Constitution? They blocked that right.
The legislature passed a proposed constitutional amendment during the 2010 Session that would have placed an amendment on the November 2010 ballot, referred to commonly as the Healthcare Freedom Amendment. The amendment would have added language to the Florida constitution prohibiting government from compelling individuals or businesses to purchase health insurance. This was a direct result of the passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The Justices removed the amendment from the ballot claiming that language in the ballot summary could have been misleading. Rather than allowing the full text of the amendment to replace the ballot summary, as they have done previously, they struck the entire amendment from the ballot.
The majority opinion states that placing the text of the full amendment on the ballot in place of the original ballot summary is outside of their authority. However, in 2004’s ACLU v Hood the Court did exactly the same thing it now claimed it cannot do. Chief Justice Canady specifically referenced this in oral arguments as well as his dissenting opinion.
Supporters of the Court’s decision claim that the State admitted that the ballot summary was misleading. However, they did not. By not addressing the issue of whether the language was misleading in their brief, the Court automatically assumes this is an admission. When asked by Justice Quince, during oral arguments, if they were “conceding that there are problems with the ballot language” they replied yes.
There was no reason for the State to address the claim that the language was misleading in their brief because there was already established precedent that the full text of a proposed amendment could be placed on the ballot.
Chief Justice Canady’s opinion specifically notes, “The courts should act with restraint when we are asked to interpose judicial power to bar the people from voting on a proposal submitted to them by their elected representatives. Here, we could and should demonstrate appropriate restraint by placing on the ballot the ‘actual text of the amendment itself and not the proposed ballot summary.’”
Instead, the majority of the Court chose to follow their own policy preferences. They ignored precedent in a situation where it suited their desired outcome, over-riding the will of our elected representatives. | <urn:uuid:b9139ef6-17b3-41e6-b354-9539d7c31bc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://youbethejudgefl.com/case-summaries/florida-department-of-state-v-mona-mangat/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97245 | 479 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Plasma Physics Seminar
Monday, March 26
2535 Engineering Hall
Speaker: Carlos Paz-Soldan UW-Madison
"Stabilization of the Resistive Wall Mode and Error Field Modification by a Rotating Conducting Wall"
Abstract: The interaction of a rotating conducting wall with a linear plasma column and its resistive wall mode (RWM) instability is detailed. A rotating wall capable of routine operation at speeds of ~ 300 km/h was designed, manufactured, and assembled. The interaction of error fields with the rotating wall are shown to lead to asymmetries in wall rotation. Analytic theory is used to illustrate that the error field at a given wall velocity is complex and can often overcome the natural shielding of the wall. MHD mode-locking is found for the first time in a linear plasma column. A torque balance model which includes the effect of the error field, plasma rotation, and wall rotation is developed and applied to the experiment. Asymmetry in wall rotation is also found in the torque balance, with one wall rotation direction eliminating the mode-locking bifurcations. Using locked and born-locked modes, the stabilizing effect of the rotating wall on the RWM is experimentally demonstrated. The rotating wall is found to decrease the locked mode growth rate and increase the RWM stable operation window to higher plasma current. | <urn:uuid:23dc4413-b329-4f6f-b4a6-fec7b84626cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.engr.wisc.edu/ep/EP-event-plasma-physics-seminar-2012Mar26.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913591 | 278 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Latest update: 21/07/2011
- Croatia - Serbia - war crimes
Police traced Hadzic through Modigliani painting
Serbian fugitive Goran Hadzic, arrested Wednesday after seven years on the run, was found by police because he tried to sell a Modigliani painting investigators knew he owned.
By News Wires (text)
AP - He was on the run for seven years, the last Serbian fugitive sought by the U.N.’s Balkan war crimes tribunal.
Goran Hadzic, the former leader of Croatia’s ethnic Serbs, was arrested Wednesday by black-masked Serbian secret police in a hilly forest as an accomplice delivered cash to him – the end of a money trail that began with a photo of a Modigliani painting.
The arrest was hailed as the symbolic closure of a horrific chapter in Balkan history and an important step toward the former pariah state of Serbia joining the European Union.
It came less than two months after the capture of Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic, who was accused of some of the worst atrocities of the war in the former Yugoslavia.
Western-leaning Serbian President Boris Tadic told his nation in announcing the arrest of Hadzic, 53, that “we have turned a difficult and grim page of our history.”
“It was our moral duty,” Tadic said on national television. “We have done this for the sake of citizens of Serbia, we have done this for the sake of the victims among other nations, we have done this for the sake of reconciliation.”
Hadzic was a warehouse worker in 1991 when Yugoslavia broke up and Croatia’s minority Serbs rose in opposition to the country’s independence.
He swiftly gained prominence through his links to Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic’s secret police, taking charge of an ethnic Serbian ministate created by the brutal expulsion of non-Serbs from one third of Croatia’s territory.
Black-bearded with a dark, piercing stare, he worked closely with criminal gangs that made huge profits from smuggled cars, gasoline and cigarettes.
He also cooperated with paramilitary forces that became notorious for their brutality, including the “Tigers” led by Zeljko Raznatovic, known as Arkan.
According to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, Hadzic was among those responsible for the 1991 leveling of Vukovar, said to be the first European city entirely destroyed since World War II.
In one of the worst massacres of the Croatian war, Serb forces seized at least 264 non-Serbs from Vukovar Hospital after a three-month siege of the city, took them to a nearby pig farm, then tortured, shot and buried them in an unmarked mass grave.
A month before, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) southwest of Vukovar, about 50 Croats who had been detained for forced labor were made to walk through a minefield to render it safe for the Serbs, according to the indictment.
About 10,000 people died in the war, which ended after Croatia retook the territories in 1995.
The Hague tribunal indicted Hadzic in 2004 on 14 charges including war crimes and crimes against humanity, among them the murder, torture, deportation and forcible transfer of Croats and other non-Serbs.
He narrowly escaped arrest for years, apparently due to tips from the Serbian security services. Defense lawyer Toma Fila said Hadzic had spent some time out of the country, but did not specify where or when. Serbia’s postwar authorities have long faced accusations that they were not doing enough to hunt down war crimes suspects.
Last year, Serbian authorities found a photo of a painting by Italian master Amedeo Modigliani while searching the home of Hadzic’s good friend Zoran Mandic.
They determined that Mandic was trying to sell the work, “Portrait of a Man,” along with other valuable paintings, and realized that Hadzic might be running out of cash and financing his continued freedom through the sale of art owned by him and his friends, authorities said.
“The painting opened Pandora’s box,” deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said, adding that he believed it was worth 22 million euros ($31 million). That estimate could not immediately be confirmed.
For months, state security agents monitored Hadzic’s suspected aides and his support network, including friends and family.
“This, combined with stepped-up pressure on the family and constant searches of the houses of Hadzic’s family and friends, finally led to results,” Vekaric said.
Serbian security police found out that Hadzic was meeting a money courier and arrested him in a forest outside the village of Krusedol in a hilly region of northern Serbia where many of his relatives live, war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic told reporters.
The balding Hadzic, without a beard but retaining a mustache, was armed but did not resist, they said.
Hours later, he was brought for questioning at the war crimes court in the capital of Belgrade, a key step toward his extradition to The Hague. His lawyer said Hadzic will not appeal the process, paving the way for extradition within days.
State TV showed Hadzic entering the courtroom escorted by guards. He walked slowly, slightly hunched.
Fila said Hadzic is a “reasonable man” who only wants to see his family before his extradition.
In October, the EU’s executive arm is due to present a progress report on Serbia that is now expected to conclude it has fulfilled the requirements for candidacy. That report is scheduled to be adopted by member states by December, allowing talks on accession to open by spring.
It would then take several years for Serbia to negotiate and meet the political and economic reforms demanded by the EU. New laws will be required on everything from farming to financial markets.
Tim Judah, a London-based Balkan analyst, said Hadzic’s arrest should “end any kind of lingering doubts about Serbia’s sincerity within the EU.”
EU leaders welcomed the arrest and saluted “the determination and commitment” of Tadic’s government.
“This is a further important step for Serbia in realizing its European perspective and equally crucial for international justice,” said a joint statement by EU president Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
The U.N. Security Council in New York and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed Hadzic’s arrest.
The council in a statement called it “an important moment for international justice and for the victims of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia” and expressed hope that Hadzic’s arrest “will help bring the western Balkan region closer to reconciliation.”
U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said the secretary-general believes Hadzic’s arrest “sends a powerful message that those who are alleged to have committed such crimes cannot evade justice and will be held accountable” and that “ending impunity is an essential step for reconciliation, sustainable peace and justice in the region.”
Tadic, leader of the center-left Democratic Party, needs support from the EU to boost his government’s position ahead of next year’s general elections.
Recent surveys have shown that Tadic could lose to the conservative opposition unless he manages to raise hopes of economic recovery, foreign investment and new jobs.
Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the war crimes tribunal, said the arrests of Mladic and Hadzic “mark a long-awaited step forward in Serbia’s cooperation.” | <urn:uuid:f0a892b7-71ea-408b-bc4d-f53406ebfc13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.france24.com/en/node/5223827/mailtofriend | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969698 | 1,663 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Measuring a person's social impact is a hot topic at the moment, courtesy of the explosion of social media and our collective desire to analyze and measure the world. Now comes Identified, the "first product to measure how 'in demand' you are to companies right now," according to its press release. It is, practically, a score for how hot a property you are as a professional--an enterprise, and much more personal, layer of influence than social media-centric measures like Klout or PeerIndex.
The company is coming out of beta today, and has revealed that it will be "providing free and open access for companies and the public to the Identified Scores of over 50 million professionals worldwide."
The system works like this: By accessing Facebook for whatever information people are prepared to share publicly, a basic Indentified profile is made. Then, when an individual signs into the service, they are offered the chance to enter more information about themselves--from their current jobs to their sports and leisure interests. This information is used to add to and refine their score.
Companies have a separate access portal to the system, which offers a "channel of communication between companies and professionals that doesn't exist on LinkedIn, job boards, career centers, or résumé databases." Individual users also get a summary of which companies have been looking at their profile, hence "Identified is the first tool to provide people with real time, interactive feedback on how companies evaluate their professional information." Which means if you're in the market for a job your Identified score might be a key to unlock certain doors, and the entire process could let you refine how you present yourself in order to make yourself more attractive.
But the key to all this working well is ubiquitous personal data, something users can be wary of sharing (with Facebook's frequent privacy debacles as exhibit A). We spoke with Identified cofounder Brendan Wallace about this, and he thinks this won't be a problem for his service.
"What we've found is that it's incredibly addictive--it's a data point people can't get elsewhere," Wallace says. "They want to know how companies perceive them. So people are inputting a tremendous amount of information into Identified. We use Facebook as our starting point, but we're seeing over 85% of our users are adding in professional information that doesn't exist in Facebook, doesn't exist in LinkedIn, doesn't really exist anywhere other than probably their résumé."
The added information comes from perceived trust, Wallace says, but notes that "it's also interactive. One of the things when you go on LinkedIn or you create a résumé, you don't know what happens--it's this 'black box' sensation. And on Identified we tell you instantly: 'Hey Brendan, we know you went to Princeton--if you tell us you majored in Economics, we'll tell you if that makes you more or less attractive.' People want that instant feedback."
To avoid controversy about how the site's scoring works--a problem that's recently plagued Klout--Wallace explains that, "The score has three components. An education component and a work component, which are kind of tried and true, and we've also seen that people's networks are actually in demand. For example, sales companies when they look for particular sales reps, they actually look for people that tend to have large networks. So your network is a component of the score as well. The score is a sum of the three, and it's completely live--it varies on a daily basis, and we recalculate our algorithm three times daily."
Privacy is key, of course, and while all the information is public: "you can obviously delete the information." Identified does automatically build profiles for people (another controversial move for peer companies recently) Wallace notes "we only share that information with the people they already share it with on Facebook...We're very sensitive to what people want to share about themselves, because people's professional information is very sensitive, and it needs to be treated in a very sensitive way." This automatic sharing is "totally dependant on what the person has already selected based on their Facebook privacy settings."
LinkedIn will likely take note of the apparent frictionless way Identified works, and the rich analytical information it can share with individual users and companies. "What companies want, when they search for a sales rep or an engineer, is they don't want to see 60,000 candidates," says Wallace. "They want to see 10 of the best candidates--they want to know who they should be talking to. Our score, which is not perfect, is an approximation of what we think is most relevant right now. It's like the back end of Google PageRank--we're ranking people based on who we think is the most relevant for a particular search right now." | <urn:uuid:ffda164b-d4f2-4929-bded-7d98f9cdfbf2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fastcompany.com/1794237/identified-takes-analytics-social-media-employment-market | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967149 | 983 | 1.578125 | 2 |
ITU-T Study Group 16 Work on E-health
E-health and Standardization
The evolution of advanced digital telecommunication techniques has enabled the development of multimedia systems to support e-health applications, in particular in the area of telemedicine.
In order to allow for a wide deployment of e-health applications (with an initial focus on telemedicine applications), in particular in developing countries, it is important to achieve interoperability among systems and to reduce the cost of devices through economies of scale. Consequently, the development of global international standards with the involvement of the major players (such as governments, inter-governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, medical institutions and medical doctors) is a key factor to achieve these objectives.
In the Standardization Sector of the ITU (ITU-T), this is handled by Question 28/16 (Multimedia framework for e-health applications), which focuses on standardization of Multimedia Systems to support e-health applications. Question 28 is allocated under ITU-T Study Group 16, which is the Lead Study Group on ubiquitous applications (“e-everything”, such as e-health and e-business). This high-level Question will coordinate the technical standardization of multimedia systems and capabilities for e-health applications in ITU-T and will develop corresponding Recommendations. | <urn:uuid:a8668cd4-a3c9-4e88-b5c0-9f586f9eb1d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/newslog/ITUT+Study+Group+16+Work+On+Ehealth.aspx | 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 | 0.917873 | 275 | 2.140625 | 2 |
CAPITOL CHATTER Department says program saves money, cuts emissions
Energy conservation programs work, the Minnesota Commerce Department reports.
The department says state-mandated conservation resulted in gas and electric utilities implementing measures that will sa... Posted on 6/30/12 at 9:21 AM
As part of President Obama’s $475 million pledge to clean up the great lakes through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GRLI), the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has been awarded GRLI funds for conservation projects in the Midway watershed in Carlton and South St. Louis counties and portions of the Nemadji watershed in Carlton County.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is setting nearly 17,000 gypsy moth traps across the state this month as part of its annual program to monitor Minnesota’s forests and urban areas for new infestations by the destructive tree pest.
Conservation Officer (CO) Jeremy Woinarowicz (Thief River Falls) came across a snowmobiler who was doing some “testing” after installing new parts on his motor. When stopped for excessive speed, the snowmobiler was asked, “How fast do you think you were going?” He replied, “All of 90 at least.”
To help commemorate National Arbor Day, everyone who joins the Arbor Day Foundation during the month of April will receive 10 free shade trees.
National Arbor Day and Minnesota’s Arbor Day is the last Friday in April, which is April 25 this year.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, in partnership with the Onanegozie RC&D and the East Central Landscape Committee, invites landowners to attend “Wildlife Habitat Workshop for Landowners” to learn how to create and improve habitat for a wide variety of species.
View your ad here! Cost effective targeted advertising. Contextual advertising starting as low as $79/month. This includes targeted ad delivery and search results! Add your business to the Marketplace » | <urn:uuid:0fb87a93-0f9a-4528-97f0-69cc81a20511> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pinejournal.com/event/tag/tag/conservation/ | 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 | 0.945366 | 410 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Editor’s note: On August 24, 2011, Rabbi Menachem Youlus was arrested in Manhattan on fraud charges. Prosecutors accused him of selling fake Torahs and pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars through the nonprofit organization Save a Torah. His lawyer denied the accusations.
TIM O’BRIEN, guest anchor: Finally, a story about Menachem Youlus, a Torah scribe who has been called the Indiana Jones of rabbis because he has traveled to dangerous places all over the world in his mission to find, rescue, and recover sacred Torah scrolls. He has delivered more than 1,000 repaired scrolls to Jewish communities, many through his Save a Torah organization. He spoke with us as he put the finishing touches on a scroll that had been buried in a cemetery near Auschwitz. The scroll was welcomed at its new home, Central Synagogue in New York City, during Holocaust Remembrance Day services this past spring.
Rabbi MENACHEM YOULUS: When we began I thought, how many scrolls could’ve possibly survived the Holocaust? Five, 10, 100? Now I know it’s thousands. I thought I would find them in old synagogues that were burnt, or places like that. Now I found out that some of them are in museums, in warehouses, churches all over the world.
So we’re taking Torahs which have been desecrated, which have been left for dead and rejuvenating them and giving them hope in different communities that are just reviving or just starting out, and our goal is that everybody should have a Torah to pray with. A Jewish scribe is called a sofer. A quill has to come from a kosher bird. Turkey is what’s mostly used. Parchment that we use comes mostly from cow or calf. There are really three major fonts that we work with. But even within those three major fonts, there are a lot of dialects. On some of them you could get a letter within a letter, all kinds of nuances. What makes you a terrific scribe is not necessarily your handwriting. The most important thing is your total focus, your total intent, that what it is that you’re doing is only for God’s sake. If you have any other, literally anything else going on in your head, you could make that piece or that Torah not kosher.
You know, if you took an exam or one of your children took an exam, and they got a 99.99 on the exam, you’d be ecstatic. For me, I bring that home it’s a failure. It’s either perfect or it’s not.
The scroll that we’re talking about right now, the Auschwitz Torah, we had to repair over 52 percent of the lettering. It’s an arduous process. When you do God’s work, it’s not about you, and it’s not about what you can do. It’s what has to be done.
It’s the 613th commandment: that every man, woman, and child should write their own Torah scroll. If somebody fills in a letter in a Torah, it’s as if they wrote the entire Torah by themselves.
Rabbi PETER J. RUBINSTEIN (Central Synagogue, New York City): The fact that we’re in New York, in one of the great communities and certainly one of the great cities, that we will make it possible for people to view the scroll, to learn the story.
Rabbi YOULUS (Central Synagogue, New York City, speaking during Yom Hashoah service): We are here today to dedicate a Torah that was once used in a Jewish community that thrived for five centuries, was buried in the city of Auschwitz for nearly 60 years, and survived the Holocaust.
Rabbi RUBINSTEIN (Central Synagogue, New York City, speaking during Yom Hashoah service): Reborn from the earth, from ashes to life, please rise and let us greet to its new home the Torah from Auschwitz.
DAVID M. RUBENSTEIN (Torah Scroll Donor, Central Synagogue, New York City, speaking during Yom Hashoah service): The Jews, when they were rounded up and put into concentration camps, many of them just took their clothes with them. But some of them took parts of Torahs, and this was the most important thing in their life, and when many of these concentration camps were liberated, the only thing that the people in the concentration camps had to give to the liberators, the American soldiers in many cases, were pieces of the Torah, because to them this was the most valuable thing that existed for them. | <urn:uuid:d7d908f3-e753-4e0f-a5ee-9b6e8187615d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/august-1-2008/save-a-torah/7/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979335 | 998 | 1.898438 | 2 |
>Running 101>Slight inner knee pain/discomfort should I be worried?
I have only started back running again in the past week but the last run I got a slight pain/discomfort on the inner side of my knee by the end of my run, that lasted for a few hours after. Should I be worried? I do have proper running shoes as I do tend to over-pronate, but it is possible I have too much support. Or is this a problem with my gait?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Yes, it may well be an issue with your shoes. If you weren't having knee trouble before you resumed running, then it's almost certainly either how you're running, where you're running, or what you're wearing on your feet. It is definitely something to monitor, and to not suffer with too long. Maybe the shoes are overcorrecting or undercorrecting for your pronation. How can a shoe clerk tell exactly what you need by just looking at you for 30 seconds? I suffered with knee pain for over a year because of my "motion control" shoes. When I ditched them, no more knee pain.
This may be a real injury or simply growing pains (I used to get knee pain too when I started a few years ago), only you and time can tell. If it's a sharp localized pain that alters your gait, stops you in your track or gets worse as you run, I'd worry about an injury, aching, dull pain at the start of a run that gets better as you run is probably OK.
One thing that will build up muscles and avoid any possible injury issues while building up running is adding other cross training activities on days you are not running. The cross training could be a slow walk in the park, a fastish hike, power/race walk, elliptical, swimming, bike, lunges etc. The walking can also make you a bit sore the first couple of times you do it as you are using muscles not used in running. These cross training activities may not help your running directly, but by keeping you on the road, and letting you run without injury may help you get faster if that is a goal.
The inner knee is a common trigger point for me that the foam roller fixes. Have you tried rolling your adductors all the way down to the knee?
Example picture too large to embed:
I had the same problem when I started running. Icing right after the run helped quite a bit. The pain went away over time as I became more consistent. In my case, I would feel very little pain before running and it would go away while I am running only to come back after I am done running. Icing helped relieve it faster but even without icing it went away on its own until my next run.
Thanks for all your quick replies. I will see how things go, On my run today I changed my insoles back to the ones that came with my shoes in case the dr foot ones where over correcting. I have never used a roller before so I am not sure if there are any comparable exercises without such equipment, guess I will have to ask my yoga teacher . I will have to try icing it too, I am sure I have some frozen veg in the freezer.
© 2013 RunningAHEAD, LLC. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:8cfb66a2-f453-4dbd-91eb-7aa655d6a1fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/a63e288fc06649d9b8015ba58d28dd38 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96699 | 691 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Standardizing Deployments? Start with Production and Work Backwards
We’re often asked where to start when organizations want to standardize their deployment processes across environments. Starting with the deployment to development environments is common. Developers extend their continuous integration platforms towards continuous delivery organically, deploying to dev test environments for simple functional tests. And later to QA environments using similar approaches.
Many of these organic efforts stumble when they get closer to production. The production deployment often differs so much from the development deployments that the automation can’t be tweaked to meet the challenge. Common tripping points include the inclusion of clusters, load balancers, backups and databases (where dropping all the tables isn’t an option in production). This is so common that most continuous delivery efforts stop at a test environment and aren’t used for staging, production or disaster recovery environments.
Having seen teams reach this stumbling block over and over again, I’m increasingly convinced that for a common process to be created, you have to start with the production deployment process and work backwards from there. For databases, that means that development deployments should use incremental updates to databases rather than a drop and recreate approach. Having a load balancer in QA would be nice, but if it isn’t present, the automation should have a switch in it for, “If there’s a load balancer….” otherwise skip this part of the deployment.
Essentially, the goal is to move from a situation where dev and production deployments are “different” to one where the dev deployment is treated as a simpler version (a subset) of the production deployment. Once a common process is agreed upon (even if its just on paper at this point) standardization and automation efforts can begin in earnest with a good chance of success.
(Note: Opinions expressed in this article and its replies are the opinions of their respective authors and not those of DZone, Inc.) | <urn:uuid:192b7b40-860a-429e-8f2f-911bf703a899> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://java.dzone.com/articles/standardizing-deployments | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939939 | 402 | 1.59375 | 2 |
|Barnabas supports income-generation projects for Sri Lankan war widows|
A senior pastor and his wife were returning from visiting a church member in southern Sri Lanka when their motorbike was cut up by a 4x4 vehicle. The pastor’s wife was thrown to the ground. The couple were then set upon by a mob of 40 men, accompanied by five Buddhist monks and a local government official. The pastor was beaten and threatened with death if he did not stop spreading Christianity.
Attacks like this one in August 2012 on Christians and their property in Sri Lanka are sporadic but often severe. The government, which claims to uphold religious freedom whilst affording Buddhism (which is practised by about 70% of Sri Lankans) the “foremost place”, does little to investigate or prevent attacks by Buddhist extremists. A Sinhalese Buddhist and nationalist lobby demands privileges for itself at the expense of the Christian minority and campaigns for laws to control religious conversion.
Christians (and others) who seek to bring the government’s human rights abuses to international attention take great risks. More than a dozen Christian ministers have “disappeared”; they are thought to have been abducted and murdered by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime, after speaking out for the beleaguered Tamil people. Christian children may also experience discrimination at school. Fourteen-year-old Amila Tharanga Thilakaratne, who is the only Christian schoolboy in his class, was severely beaten by a Buddhist monk and left bleeding from the ear when he professed his faith in the classroom in June 2012.
Many Sri Lankan Christians, still feeling the effects of the 26-year long bloody civil war that ended in 2009, live in desperate poverty and need since their homes and churches were destroyed in the conflict.
Christianity has a long history on the island, pre-dating the arrival of Westerners by many centuries. Tradition claims that Sri Lanka was first evangelised by the apostle Thomas. Small Christian communities existed on the coasts of Sri Lanka during the succeeding centuries, but Christianity made significant progress only from the sixteenth century. Despite this long-standing presence, Christians now number only some 8% of the population, and their faith is perceived by many Sri Lankans as a product of Western colonialism. | <urn:uuid:89a8f1ef-066c-46fc-9aee-d0159b758788> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://barnabasaid.org/UK/Our-work/Our-current-projects/BF-Project-Countries/Sri-Lanka.html?modhome=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973464 | 478 | 2.796875 | 3 |
ASIA NEWS NETWORK
WE KNOW ASIA BETTER
Indonesia formally challenges US palm oil policy
Publication Date : 05-05-2012
Indonesia has formally challenged the recent greenhouse gas analysis of palm oil issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), saying that palm oil-based biofuel is qualified to join the renewable fuel programme in the world’s energy market.
According to the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers’ Association (Gapki), greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by palm oil-based biofuel by up to 50 per cent, higher than the 20 per cent required by the EPA. Gapki’s calculation is quite similar to the previous estimate put forward by the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil Commission which, based on joint research with an international research agency, maintained that Indonesian palm oil-based biofuel could cut between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of greenhouse gasses based on the method in accordance with European Union (EU) rules.
In its recent regulatory filing, the EPA said that palm oil-based biofuel could cut greenhouse emissions by only 17 per cent, falling short of the 20 per cent threshold, to be included in US renewable-fuel standards.
In its formal response submitted on April 26, Gapki also mentioned that palm oil production was more efficient in terms of land use than any other vegetable oil, because as a perennial it could produce fruit for up to 25 years, and could not, therefore, be compared to other vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, used in the EPA’s calculations.
The EPA earlier said that its carbon accounting for palm-oil biofuel was based partly on the “incremental expansion” of oil palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, which account for up to 90 per cent of the world’s palm-oil supply, producing a projected 1.5 million kilolitres of biofuel for the US by 2022.
The two countries would produce nearly 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year over 30 years as a result of clearing peat swamps and forests to expand plantations in order to meet US biofuel demand, the EPA stated.
The Indonesian Trade Ministry’s director general for foreign trade, Deddy Saleh, said that in response, the government pointed to the use of assumptions rather than hard data in the EPA’s calculations, which were not representative of real conditions.
Compared to other crops, he continued, oil palms were more efficient in generating vegetable oil as they needed only 0.26 hectares of land to produce one ton of palm oil, according to a 2010 study conducted by the Food Policy Research Institute.
"Scientifically speaking, CPO is much more efficient than other vegetable oils, such as soybean, sunflower and rapeseeds oil,” he said.
The government also said that the EPA’s analysis ignored Indonesia’s commitment to protect the environment and its efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions by 26 per cent through its own efforts and by 41 per cent with international assistance by 2020.
Sustainable palm-oil production has become a key concern over recent years in Indonesia, the world’s largest palm-oil producer, primarily due to massive expansions in oil palm plantations that have resulted in extensive deforestation.
In 2010, several major palm-oil buyers suspended their purchase of Indonesian palm oil because of the deforestation issue. | <urn:uuid:730cb3f2-e2a4-4adc-a609-d6a58d9888d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.asianewsnet.net/news-30258.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959913 | 691 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Thomas Farmarkis talks to Rowan Kunz from Study TV about how to effectively write an essay for HSC Economics, providing practical tips to help you get top marks. LIKE
Thomas Farmarkis talks to Rowan Kunz from Study TV about how to effectively overcome procrastination, providing one clear, and simple strategy to effectively deal with procrastination from studying. LIKE
Rowan Kunz from Study TV debunks the common myth that you need to quit sport & extra-curricular activities to get top grades at school. LIKE US ON FACE BOOK
Rowan Kunz from Study TV responds to the question “What should I do during the school holidays to get a head start for Year 12?” providing a specific study plan
Kumbi Levin talks to Rowan Kunz from Study TV about the exam texhnique she used for HSC PDHPE, including how she tackled specific sections of the exam paper. LIKE
Kumbi Levin talks to Rowan Kunz from Study TV about her #1 study tip for students taking HSC PDHPE – note, this tip applies for students studying ANY subject! | <urn:uuid:e8f4e0c9-85bb-4ba2-9595-1fdc4ab4f430> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://studytelevision.com/ | 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 | 0.905363 | 233 | 1.601563 | 2 |
by Anton Shilov
07/11/2012 | 06:46 PM
Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday said it had been awarded $12.6 million for two research projects associated with the U.S. department of energy’s (DOE) extreme-scale computing research and development program, known as “FastForward”. The DOE award provides up to $9.6 million to AMD for processor-related research and up to $3 million for memory-related research.
FastForward is a jointly funded collaboration between DOE office of science, and national nuclear security administration (NNSA) to initiate partnerships with multiple companies to accelerate the research and development of critical technologies needed for extreme scale computing, on the path toward exascale computing. Exascale supercomputers will be capable of performing one quintillion (or a billion billion) calculations per second, roughly one thousand times faster than today’s fastest available supercomputers.
The development of high performance, energy-efficient processor and memory technologies are critical to achieving the DOE's goals and AMD is initiating innovative designs for these components.
“This award from the DOE will fund critical research and development required to enable high-performance, power-efficient exascale systems. Additionally, AMD will undertake work to drive advances in memory bandwidth and communication speed, which are essential for heterogeneous architecture, exascale-class supercomputers with thousands of processors,” said Alan Lee, AMD’s corporate vice president of research and advanced development.
AMD Opteron processors are used today in many of the world’s leading supercomputers, including IBM’s Roadrunner computer at the DOE’s Los Alamos national laboratory, which in 2008 was the first supercomputer to reach sustained petaflop performance. AMD Opteron processors were also used in the world’s second petascale supercomputer, Cray’s Jaguar supercomputer deployed at Oak Ridge national laboratory. Moreover, the DOE announced last fall that 19200 AMD Opteron 6200-series "Bulldozer" processors will be used to help power their new Titan system also at Oak Ridge national laboratory, which is expected to provide peak performance in excess of 20 petaflops when it becomes fully operational by early 2013. AMD Opteron processors were also selected for the Blue Waters supercomputing project at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. | <urn:uuid:70aa27f1-86a8-4773-9e00-61ad53b89d72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/print/20120711184612_AMD_Receives_12_6_Million_from_U_S_Government_to_Fund_Exascale_Supercomputers_Development.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929551 | 511 | 1.984375 | 2 |
Problem: You have media somewhere on your editing system that needs to be copied to another computer or archived.
Solution: Media Copy 3.0
Media Copy is a helpful application that reads an Avid AAF or OMF 2.0 file or a Final Cut Pro 7 XML file, figures out which media files are used by that sequence then copies the media to a location you specify. This can be quite handy when your media files are strewn across your system, or you just don't know which media files are represented in your edited sequence.
New in Media Copy version 3.0 is the ability to read Avid AVP and AVB files-- those are Avid project and Avid bin files! You can use Media Copy as a project archive tool, read your Avid bins and copy all of the media those bins are using! | <urn:uuid:e8edf8be-fce4-4c1c-be9c-eb2361b14f70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.automaticduck.com/products/mc/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932824 | 172 | 1.625 | 2 |
The Internet age has spawned a new type of criminal, hackers that can introduce viruses, malware or conduct simple theft. If you think it can’t happen to your company, guess again.
On Oct. 22, South Carolina’s Department of Revenue reported that as many as 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers might have been exposed to a hacker in several recent cyber attacks that assaulted the department.
In September, U.S. Bank, PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America all reported that cyber attacks were attempted.
Regardless of a company’s size, the threat of a virus or hacking is a very real one. One virus could make all your data inaccessible and one breach could release millions of pieces of valuable information about your clients.
That’s why most insurance companies have started to offer cyber insurance or, in some specific cases, cyber-liability insurance. The response, however, has been tepid at best.
“You would think that there would be a big demand for it but it hasn’t really taken off,” said Brian Hunter, president of Hunter Insurance of Lincoln. “What’s happening is that a lot of these insurance companies, under their business-owner’s policies, are offering an endorsement where you can buy some limited-liability insurance coverage for it, as opposed to a separate policy that is a little more inclusive.”
Hunter said he offers two types of insurance; a first-party protection that protects the company’s computers from hacking and helps finance breach assessment and protection, and a second offers third-party protection should data such as Social Security numbers be hacked. If sensitive personal information becomes breached, the company has protection should a lawsuit be filed.
“It’s been a really hot topic over the last two or three years and that’s when some companies started offering special programs,” he said. “I find that most companies are not aware of it or they’re winging it, hoping it won’t happen to them,” he said.
“If your company works on the Internet they need it,” he continued. “They should at least … get a quote, and then come to a decision as to if they need it or not.”
The ramifications of a breach are significant. According to the 2011 Cost of Data Breach Study: United States, written by Symantec of Mountain View, Calif., and the Ponemon Institute of Traverse City, Mich., the average cost of a data breach was $5.5 million in 2011, down from $7.2 million in 2010. Symantic is a computer-security company and the Ponemon Institute is a research center dedicated to privacy, data protection and information-security policy. | <urn:uuid:63c4fb10-28ee-4b52-9ce4-2048687e7ff1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pbn.com/Despite-risks-cyber-insurance-finding-few-takers,84408?category_id=135&sub_type=stories,packages | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958314 | 597 | 2.34375 | 2 |
The Complete Cancer Survival Guide
by Peter Teeley and Philip Bashe
Main Street Books, 2000
ISBN: 0385486057 $19.95
Reviewed by Judi Ebbert
Peter Teeley, a survivor of stage III colon cancer and former press secretary to George Bush, with Philip Bashe, the author of numerous books, have assembled an arsenal of information for people fighting the 25 most common types of cancer. To create the comprehensive Cancer Survival Guide, the authors consulted leading cancer specialists at more than 30 major cancer centers.
When you first see this 972-page guide, don't be intimidated by its size. It is a resource that can be used time and again by patients and their families and friends fighting cancer. Headings, subheads, tables, lists, illustrations, and sidebars help readers get the information they need without having to sift through pages and pages of text. The clear, conversational language includes direct quotations from authorities on diagnosis, treatment, and quality-of-life issues.
The Cancer Survival Guide provides information on staging and diagnosis, state-of-the-art treatment options for each of the 25 most common types of cancer, as well as how to get a second opinion and decide where to get care. The Guide clarifies what to expect during treatment and explains how to take control of symptoms, side effects, and complications. In addition, the authors offer readers suggestions on how to protect emotional health, how to get help from family, friends, and hospital social workers, how to handle insurance, finances, and employment issues, and how to help yourself when treatment ends. The appendices list cancer organizations and how they might help, along with their street and website addresses and telephone numbers.
Teeley and Bashe have created an excellent resource for people who want to be actively involved in their care. The Cancer Survival Guide is an excellent tool for informed decision-making about survival strategies in the war against cancer.
Judi Ebbert is caregiver to her husband with colorectal cancer and a member of the Colon Cancer Alliance. | <urn:uuid:1d500765-e1b0-4691-a3af-233f00529229> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ccalliance.org/resources/bookreviews/complete_cancer_survival_guide.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936123 | 425 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Coolest news story of the day
Scores ill in Peru 'meteor crash'
Some 600 people in Peru have required treatment after an object from space - said to be a meteorite - plummeted to Earth in a remote area, officials say. They say the object left a deep crater after crashing down over the weekend near the town of Carancas in the Andes. People who have visited scene have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea after inhaling gases. A team of scientists is on its way to the site to collect samples and verify whether it was indeed a meteorite. "It [the object] is buried in the earth," local resident Heber Mamani told the BBC. "That is why we are asking for an analysis because we are worried for our people. They are afraid. A bull is dead and some other animals are already sick," he said. The incident began on Saturday night, when people near Carancas in the Puno region, some 1,300km (800 miles) south of Lima, reported seeing a fireball in the sky coming towards them. The object then hit the ground, leaving a 30m (98ft) wide and 6m (20ft) deep crater. The crater spewed what officials described as fetid, noxious gases. The gases are believed to have affected the health of about 600 people who visited the site. Most of the victims have been complaining of headaches, vomiting and nausea. Honorio Campoblanco, one of Peru's leading geologists, called on the authorities to stop people going near the crash site. But he discarded the possibility that the symptoms would have been caused by any form of radiation. | <urn:uuid:3fae7a92-e7fe-4346-98cc-b2b4e70af5fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tumeke.blogspot.com/2007/09/coolest-news-story-of-day.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969584 | 341 | 2.390625 | 2 |
With all eyes on the "fiscal cliff" posturing in Washington, the rising cost of pharmaceutical research and development is perhaps not as exciting a topic -- yet, in the long run, it may be just as important to the nation's future health.
In what seems like a constant refrain from the pharmaceutical industry, the Office of Health Economics, a U.K. think tank, found that total R&D costs for new drugs have skyrocketed since the late '70s -- from $199 million to $1.5 billion (both adjusted for inflation), a 750 percent increase. Even though some estimates have pegged the cost lower, while others higher, the take-away is that developing medicines and medical devices is expensive -- and it's not getting any better.
In that context, that we now see drugs costing more than $1 million should be little surprise -- clinical failure rates have increased, as has development time. This means that more and more companies need to recoup their investments in a shorter period of time (the effective patent life), with fewer drugs. It makes sense, then, that these costs would be passed on to patients -- there's little else to do, other than give up entirely.
But the bigger point to understand is the driving force of these costs: regulators consistently demanding larger clinical trials and more tests, especially to rule out rare side effects.
To be fair, regulators are only part of the problem. Some of the cost increase can be attributed to the fact that companies are looking for treatments for diseases that are very difficult to treat, like cancer and Alzheimer's. And with the abundance of good, cheap generics, companies have to generate more data to convince insurers to pay for the new pill instead of the old.
Still, much of the cost growth can be attributed to ever more stringent Food and Drug Administration regulations, which require more evidence from drugmakers, while making that evidence harder to obtain.
Take, for instance, antibiotics. A growing fear is that as the population develops greater antibiotics resistance, we may face a point in the near future when treating something as simple as strep throat will be a challenge. The logical regulatory response should be to find ways to streamline antibiotic development -- reducing regulatory barriers wherever possible without unduly compromising patient safety.
Rather than ramp requirements down, the agency has ratcheted them up. Clinical trial requirements for some indications require no previous antibiotic use for 30 days -- ignoring that when patients with serious infections are admitted into hospitals, they are routinely given antibiotics upon admission. Ruling those patients out from new trials makes drug testing much more time-consuming and expensive. On net, onerous regulatory requirements have helped drive the present value of antibiotics far below those of other classes of drugs, according to estimates by the London School of Economics.
What makes the FDA's hesitance even more perplexing is that in response to the AIDS epidemic in the early '90s, the FDA was surprisingly efficient at establishing a fast-track approval pathway for AIDS treatments and allowing companies to offer drugs to patients before final testing had been completed -- after all, if someone is dying of AIDS, the side effects of an unapproved drug pale in comparison. The accelerated approval paradigm can, and should, be scaled up for many other drug classes.
Under the leadership of Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, there have been welcome glimmers of a change in the agency's mind-set. In late November, an FDA advisory panel offered somewhat positive reviews of Vibativ, an antibiotic for hospital-acquired pneumonia that had been rejected twice in the past. More importantly, the FDA has acknowledged on several occasions that it needs to reform its clinical trial guidelines for antibiotics, and is developing a targeted pathway for treating drug-resistant infections. Still, more pressure from Congress and from infectious-disease experts will be needed to drive these changes home.
The FDA isn't and shouldn't be in the business of ensuring the industry's profit margins. But it also shouldn't promulgate regulations that make innovation counterproductive, pushing industry -- and the patients waiting for better antibiotics -- off a different kind of fiscal cliff. | <urn:uuid:8333e7ef-528d-40f9-9288-ce564701ba0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://washingtonexaminer.com/manhattan-moment-pushing-antibiotics-off-of-their-own-fiscal-cliff/article/2515256 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955378 | 835 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Editor's note: This is part of a series on Spaulding High's new competency grading system.
ROCHESTER — When students go back to Spaulding High School this fall, they may be surprised to find that despite the new competency-based grading system in place they will still be receiving letter grades of A, B, and C.
The meaning behind these grades, however, will have completely changed, according to Erica Stofanak, one of the key developers of the competency system, and Connie Littlefield, a guidance counselor at the high school.
While in the traditional grading system students would receive grades of A, B+, B, B-, and so on, with each representing certain percentages, under the new system A, B, and C represent not numbers, but a student's level of understanding of a course's competencies.
According to the school's new grading philosophy, an A grade represents an "advanced" level of understanding, and suggests that a student is able to effectively synthesize, analyze, evaluate and reformulate content knowledge and skills. This student is also able to use the knowledge they've learned in creative and novel ways.
A "B" grade suggests that a student is "beyond competent", which means they can analyze and interpret what they've learned in a variety of ways.
A "C" grade suggests that a student is "competent," meaning they have a minimum of baseline competency mastery. These students are able to demonstrate comprehension of what they've learned, but may struggle to use that knowledge in more creative ways.
Also new to the high school's grading system, Stofanak said, is that there is no longer a grade of F. Instead of receiving a failing grade, students will receive a "Not Yet Competent" (NYC), which suggests that they have failed to master their competencies.
Unlike a failing grade in the traditional grading model, however, an NYC does not automatically mean a student must retake the course in summer school or in another semester. Instead, students will have re-learning opportunities, which can be done during a semester or during the summer, and allow students to make up only the parts of a course that they did not understand.
Students will appreciate that what they do understand will not have to be made up, Littlefield said, and will be more engaged in relearning as a result. Stofanak agreed.
"Students will value that they're only required to show competency in things not competent in yet, and therefore will be more engaged and more successful in learning what they need to," she said.
Students who do not submit enough work to receive a grade under the new system, however, will receive an IWS, or "Insufficient Work Submitted," and will be required to repeat the entire course.
Stofanak and Littlefield agreed that one of the biggest concerns students and parents have about the new grading system is whether students will still be given a GPA.
Stofanak said that this is nothing to be concerned about, however, saying that while no numerical grades are reported to students under the new system, students will still have a numerical GPA, with an A grade representing a 3.5 to 4.0 and so on. Stofanak added that while many parents and students were worried about a lack of percentages, percentages have never been an accurate way of describing student achievement.
"The reality is that a number or percentage is meaningless," Stofanak said. "We are moving to a communicative, therefore meaningful, system of grade reporting." The new system is communicative, Stofanak said, in the way that each A, B, or C grade tells students what they are able to do with their learning and also suggests ways in which they could improve to get a higher grade.
The other major change in grading from the traditional model, Stofanak said, is the new system's rolling semester.
While in the traditional model students' final grades were typically calculated with each quarter's grades representing 45 percent and the final exam representing 10 percent, the new model will give students the entire length of the course to show that they are competent.
This new model, Stofanak said, will increase student performance by giving students the time they need to learn.
"It is a reality that all students learn material in different ways and at different rates," Stofanak said. "The reality is that a few students will need an additional month before (what they're learning) can be considered a secure skill." Under the new system, Stofanak said, course learning will not end at "an arbitrary date half way through a semester," but will end at the close of a course.
It is this extension of course learning, Stofanak and Littlefield agreed, that will increase student success, since those students who often understood material quickly will not be held back, but those who need more time will have it.
For more information on the new competency-based grading system, visit www.rochesterschools.com/shs and click on the "Competency-Based Instruction" link at the bottom of the welcome page. | <urn:uuid:4fd01003-3df3-41ad-9193-b0668eb47c36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110809/GJCOMMUNITY_01/708099999 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969237 | 1,076 | 2.359375 | 2 |
Keokuk was born about 1767 near Rock River, Illinois. He was not a chief by birth, but rose to command through ability and force of character. At an early age he became a member of the Sauk council and later stepped into prominence as a tribal guest-keeper. His lodge soon became a center for all social and political affairs and Keokuk was able to use his office to further his own ambitions. He worked his will against custom in veiled, diplomatic ways, secretly playing one faction against another. In time he became the leading councilor in the Sauk assembly, and enjoyed great popularity among his people.
Treaty of 1830
On July 15, 1830, U.S. Indian Comissioner William Clark signed a treaty with Saulk and Fox which ceded over 26-million acres of Sauk land east of the Mississippi to the government of the United States. It also created a neutral gound boundary between the Sauk and Foxes and their traditional enemies, the Sioux. The treaty was signed by Keokuk, and in November 1830 was approved by the Dakota Sioux. In Article 2 of this treaty the Sauk and Fox agreed to cede to the United States all of their lands east of the Mississippi and some of claims west of it in exchange for thousand dollars in goods from the United States every year.
Black Hawk War
A Native American, Black Hawk, of the Sauk tribe, did not approve of the Treaty of 1830. In the spring of 1830, when Black Hawk and his followers returned from their hunt, they found white settlers occupying their village. Black Hawk had not sanctioned the sale of this land and was determined to regain the village. This was the instigation of the 1832 Black Hawk war.
Those of the Sauk who favored a call to arms turned to Black Hawk who became their leader. Black Hawk was of the Thunder clan (Black-big-chest). Thus the political union between the Sauk and the Foxes was broken. The fighting began before Black Hawk was ready, and he was forced to charge with only a small number of those on whose support he had depended. After a series of battles in northern Illinois and Wisconsin Black Hawk’s forces were finally defeated at the Battle of Bad Axe in present day Wisconsin.With his depleted forces he could not successfully contend against the Illinois militia and their Indian allies.
Keokuk was also a leading figure for the native tribes during the negotiations to end the war which ceded six million acres of land in what is now the state of Iowa. Two areas were held back as special awards. One was these areas was a four hundred square mile strip surrounding the village of Keokuk was a reward for his neutrality during the conflict. The Sauk did not keep the land for long. In 1845 Keokuk and the Sauk were relocated to Kansas.
Death and Burial
On his death from dysentery, in April 1848 in Kansas, where he had moved three years earlier, the chieftainship, with its unsavory associations, went to his son, Moses Keokuk (Wunagisäa, 'he leaps up quickly from his lair'). Those who knew both father and son maintain that the son was superior in both intellect and ethics.
In 1883 the remains of the elder Keokuk were removed from Kansas to Keokuk, Iowa, where they were reinterred in the city park and a monument erected over his grave by the citizens of the town.
To find the family tree for Chief Keokuk in Roots Web, click here. This will take you to his individual information page. To see his ancestors, click on the Pedigree tab. To see his descendants, click on the Descendants tab.
If you are LDS (a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and you have a new FamilySearch account, you can find Chief Keokuk and his descendants on new.familysearch.org. Once you are in new.familysearch.org, type in your user name and password. Click on the Search tab. Click on the Search by Number tab. Type in LHZ7-J6N in the Person Identifier box. Click on Search
Chief Keokuk's pedigree with details will appear. The wife that appears on the first screen will be Pretty Door Aks Light Hair. No children are listed for this couple. To see the children of Chief Keokuk, go to the tab Spouses and Children and click on the other spouses. This will show their children. At this point you will be able to move around and see his ancestors and descendants. If you have trouble, contact your ward family history consultant.
Crazy Horse - Sioux
Red Fox - Sioux
Red Cloud - Sioux
Sitting Bull - Sioux | <urn:uuid:de5bed79-3c8a-4141-b8ce-ceaef397ce68> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://keokukchief.blogspot.jp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986515 | 988 | 3.75 | 4 |
is the third-generation Wi-Fi standard for wireless home networking. 802.11n equipment is backward compatible with older 802.11g
gear, and it supports much faster wireless connections over longer distances.
So-called Wireless N or Draft N routers available today are based on a preliminary version of the 802.11n industry specification. They are not guaranteed to fully interoperate with future 802.11n products.
All products listed in this category feature three MIMO radios and antennas that are the key feature of Wireless N routers, plus four-port 10/100 Ethernet switches for wired connections.
Introduced in 2006, the N1 (F5D8231-4) improves on Belkin's earlier pre-N wireless broadband router (the F5D8320-4). The Belkin N1 supports 300 Mbps maximum network bandwidth per the Draft N standard and a range up to 1,400 feet (450 m) using its 3 built-in antennas. Belkin supplies its limited lifetime warranty for the N1. They also offer matching 802.11n-capable network adapters (necessary to achieve the router's full speed and range).
The WRT300N is one of several Linksys/Cisco draft-N standard wireless routers using 802.11n technology. Supporting three MIMO
antennas and radios, it offers higher performance and greater range than the Linksys WRT150, for example, which features only 2 radios. Be prepared to tweak a few network settings out of the box; some report suffering dropped connections and technical difficulty in configuring this product to work with older 802.11b/g equipment. Cisco Systems supplies a limited 3-year warranty with the WRT300N.
TRENDnet may be a lesser known name in home networking, but the TEW-631BRP matches up well with the competition. TRENDnet tests this draft N router with Windows, Linux and Mac OS and supplies its 3-year warranty. Some reviewers have noted the TEW-631BRP maintains a strong wireless signal (important to avoid "dead spots" in homes) and runs reliably. This product also supports a switch that allows you to turn off the wireless radios when not using any Wi-Fi connections; it is a nice security feature many other routers don't support. Adjustable antennas and an attractive blue case round out the unit.
Like other wireless routers in this category, the WNR834B boasts Multi-In, Multi-Out (MIMO) antenna technology to improve speed and range. Naturally, you get maximum performance when using matching pre-N wireless adapters with this router, up to 270 Mbps according to Netgear. The WNR834B also includes built-in Quality of Service (QoS) and a 1-year warranty.
Buffalo can boast of an especially easy setup process for this router thanks to the AirStation One-Touch Secure System (AOSS) technology. Utilizing a physical button on the router, AOSS creates a default network configuration with just a few clicks. This router also is competitive in other areas including signal strength and security. The product may be more difficult to find than others in this category, however, due to ongoing legal proceeedings between Buffalo and another organization. Buffalo supplies its 2-year warranty for the WZR2-G300N.
6. D-Link RangeBooster N 650 RouterThis D-Link product was one of the early models of draft N wireless routers but has since been discontinued. Consequently, it may prove to be incompatible with the final 802.11n standard. This router advertised full support for up to 300 Mbps bandwidth utilizing the three Wi-Fi radios and detachable antennas. It also contains standard security features including WPA2 encryption and SPI firewall. contains Quality of Service (QoS) technology for improved VoIP support. Models sold in the U.S. and Canada included a 1-year warranty. | <urn:uuid:dae0bdb1-c56e-40a8-845e-881a05fb83b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelessrouters/tp/80211nprenhome.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907818 | 813 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Doctors Lounge - Pediatrics Answers
provided on www.doctorslounge.com is designed to support, not
replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site
visitor and his/her physician."
Back to Pediatrics Answers List
- Thu May 19, 2005 2:36 pm
Hello! Your help would be GREATLY appreciated at this time. I'm in an argument with my husband for the following reasons:
He has quit smoking cigarettes for 7 months now (amazing!) HOWEVER, he smokes a joint 3 times a week. He doesn't drink, or smoke any other drug. Is this harmful to his health? He does not add tobacco to his joint.
#2) Yesterday, our 6 month old daughter started crying in her sleep. My husband (after smoking a joint) went in her room to see her. He smelt like pot (on his breath and clothes) is this dangerous to her? He doesn't think so because there is no second-hand smoke and it is simply 'an odor' he says. Can the odor harm her?
| Dr. Heba Ismail
- Fri May 20, 2005 5:45 am
Marijuana affects memory, judgment and perception.
Findings so far show that regular use of marijuana or THC may play a role in some kinds of cancer and in problems with the respiratory and immune systems.
As for the odour, there is no evidence that it can be harmful to a child, but if your husband insists on continuing smoking a joint, it should be outside the house, as any smoke would be harmful to her, and is believed to precipitate chest wheezes and may be even asthma in children. | <urn:uuid:b01748d2-55a8-4e8b-bda9-8f122a7fa3e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.doctorslounge.com/pediatrics/forums/backup/topic-5464.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963697 | 348 | 1.9375 | 2 |
September 10, 2011
Most often than not, the basic needs of a human are taking for granted due to the fact that government should provide the basic needs of humans in every household and to ensure that people will get the things that the government must do. What matters most to a household is its basic commodities like that of electricity and water services. Water bladder tanks are the number one requirement to have an enough water supply in a residence. It stores water that can suffice to a family’s need in a long span of time. It can eliminate problems that are related to water loss. A water bladder tank is very essential especially to times when drought is experienced by a place. A family is very far from experiencing shortage of water because of the presence of such water reservoirs. These water bladder tanks are best served to the people by a company named Wet Earth. From the company’s name itself, a person is rest assured that the tanks will not run out of water, it will always be wet and will never be dry. Water problems will be eliminated because of the services Wet Earth offers. It does take into consideration the presence of weather problems that may occur any time. A person availing a product from Wet Earth is guaranteed to have save time and effort. It does not require one to take long walks or travel just to avail the finest irrigation system in the world. It just requires a person to press a few clicks on the keyboard or on the mouse. | <urn:uuid:d559b395-02b0-46cc-afae-a6510e9fe548> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lipblog.com/2011/09/10/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973282 | 294 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Lying Figures are skulking, humanoid monsters appearing in Silent Hill 2. The creature had been nicknamed Straightjacket and Patient Demon prior to the release of the Book of Lost Memories, which confirmed the official name.
The Lying Figure is the first monster James Sunderland encounters, after following trails of blood through Silent Hill. He confronts it in a closed tunnel after retrieving the radio, where it is seen feeding on a corpse.
Their bodies are trapped in what appear to be straightjackets made from their own flesh, covering them from head to toe with feminine legs and buttocks, and platform shoes hidden underneath their flesh. When they scurry across the ground, they make a high-pitched wailing noise that sounds like the scraping of metal against cement.
They attack by spewing a spray of poisonous mist from an opening in their chest which will knock James back and force him to recover for a few seconds before being able to resume his attack. Because of this, it's best to deal with them from range, preferably by using the handgun, as a few good shots can down the creature. However, if melee is the only option, it's advised to use the steel pipe while strafing left/right to avoid the poison.
They are slow moving while standing upright; however, when knocked down, they can easily hit James by skittering very quickly along the ground, easily outrunning the player. It's best to flee if the situation arises.
According to the Book of Lost Memories, the Lying Figure symbolizes a hospital patient squirming in agony. This is a manifestation of James's internal suffering.
In Silent Hill 2, Masahiro Ito designed the Lying Figure as reminiscence of Mary Shepherd-Sunderland in her state of terminal illness, which has been speculated to have something to do with physical distortion, as Mary says, "I look like a monster!" This furthers the evidence that the Lying Figure was meant to be similar to how Mary saw herself. As well, its main means of attack is spitting an acid-like mist at James; this is suggestive of vomiting, alluding further to the theme of illness. However, this may also be suggestive of how Mary spat hateful words at James during her illness. As the creature appears to have its arms restricted, it can be assumed that it represents James's frustration from being unable to touch or hold Mary during her illness. The way that it skitters along the ground and screeches like grating metal also likens it to a pest. This could point to Mary being burdensome and disgusting to James.
The prevalent theme of sexual frustration ties in, as this beast is practically unclothed, trapped, writhing, has effeminate legs and buttocks, has feet that look like platform shoes, and spews a spray from its chest, mirroring male ejaculation. In extension, the Lying Figure could also represent James's disgust with his own growing sexual yearning in the face of Mary's illness, and the figure symbolizes this by having both of its hands thrust down its underwear (easily noticeable in the creature's concept art).
- In the making of Silent Hill 2 video, monster designer Masahiro Ito revealed that his inspiration for the Lying Figure came from watching a programmer friend walk into the office. Ito states that his friend was wearing a hooded sweater with his hands in his pockets, and was walking "in a cool way" as he was listening to his walkman.
- An incarnation of the Lying Figure monster appears in the Silent Hill film, credited as the Armless Man. This version of the Armless Man likely represents Alessa Gillespie's hospitalization. | <urn:uuid:2e503b98-b2c4-420b-98e1-5d180b8ecda8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://silenthill.wikia.com/wiki/Lying_Figure | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976799 | 757 | 2.125 | 2 |
Posted: Sep 11, 2012 3:59 PM by Marisa Breese
Updated: Sep 15, 2012 2:26 PM
COLUMBIA - According to EPA, 27% of the United States waste stream is made up of yard trimmings and food waste that Americans could be composting.
Right now, the city Columbia collects the food waste of local Walmarts and Sam's Clubs. The waste is then brought to the city's compost facility, where it is broken down over a few weeks or a few months before it ready for commercial use as compost.
Landfill superintendent Cynthia Mitchell says although these two these two stores are large providers, they would like other businesses on board.
A concern, however, is that a lot of the waste comes from individual households.
While many communities have home collection services available for yard waste, but officials say it is more difficult to offer the same option with food waste, because it takes more effort to separate the food from other trash.
"It does take a segregated waste stream. We can't have different trash mixed up with it, it has to be just food scraps," said Mitchell.
At home, you can help out by purchasing your own composting bin.
Besides food, you can compost:
- Cardboard rolls
- Coffee grounds
- Sawdust from finished house projects
- And dead house plants.
Compost bins allow you to dispose of waste so you have less trash and a natural soil nutrient you can use to landscape. The EPA says compost can suppress plant pests and will promote higher crop yields, whether you farm for a living or just garden as a hobby. | <urn:uuid:fbe11d89-0685-40a0-8d51-a29315afef5d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.komu.com/news/composting-have-less-waste-and-make-your-yard-look-better/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96032 | 336 | 2.71875 | 3 |
I learned of cypress "knees," the vegetative structures of cypress trees, while on childhood visits to Florida with my dad and brother. They were amazing, mysterious swamp things. I later learned they were aeration devices for roots that are constantly in water.
Brad Rimbey went on a recent hike (2008) with Matt and Hope Corona who showed him (his picture) this cypress (Taxodium distichum named by Linnaeus) tree a few miles north of the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Refuge, western Florida, USA. He said "Thankfully this one and a few other granddaddies were too big to be logged out..."
Few can survive the numerous lightning strikes of the region.
Imagine the engineering feat required to move such masses to market. The maximum record is 45 m tall and 3.8 m in diameter.
As a boy I was skeptical of stories of pioneer woodsmen spending a night in a hollow tree or giant bears living in such trees. This giant tree eliminates that doubt.
The heart wood is resistant to decay and thus great for posts, patios, etc. It's highly prized as lumber for interior trim. | <urn:uuid:ee7d0231-0c95-4569-b583-6dd342b61eee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://faunalforce.typepad.com/faunalforce/2008/10/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970131 | 240 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Steel Beam at Northside Branch Library Goes Up in History with More Than 500 Signatures
By Diane Andrews
More than 500 people became part of Santa Clara's library history by autographing the very last 500 pound, steel I-beam to be hoisted into place atop the front tower of the Northside Branch Library. Maria Daane, Executive Director of the Santa Clara City Library Foundation & Friends, counted every signature.
The October 25 beam signing marked the end of the structural steel phase of library construction that began with groundbreaking July 9 of this year in the Rivermark shopping area, north of Highway 101 and just off Montague Expressway. The next construction phase is framing the walls of the library, which is scheduled to open in late 2013.
The custom of painting the last beam white and signing it evolved from ancient Viking traditions in Scandinavia, where chieftains built huge wooden homes and secured an evergreen tree to the topping out beam.
The first people to sign the beam at 2:45 p.m. were two grandparents with their grandson. By the last hour, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., it was hard to find a spot to add another signature on the fifteen-foot-long beam.
"We were astounded at the turnout for the beam signing. It amazed us that on only 48 hours notice via email, so many Northside residents would be willing to turn out to place their signature on the beam. I think it is a testament to how excited the residents of Northside are about their new library," says Daane.
"It's a great addition to the community," says Rivermark resident Kirthi Vani, a Library Foundation & Friends board member who is on the Northside Fundraising Committee. "I hardly go to the library now because it's a 15 to 20-minute drive, but I can see myself coming here every day."
"The library is an amazing community effort. It's been in the works for more than 40 years," says City Librarian Julie Passalacqua.
Library service to the north side was first promised during a successful Agnew Village annexation vote election campaign in 1960 to entice village residents to vote in favor of becoming part of the city of Santa Clara.
"You can expect handy bookmobile service and eventually construction of a branch library in your community," states a campaign brochure.
However, with varying political will and finances, funds to build the Northside Branch Library at 695 Moreland Way were not secured until 2012 when funds were transferred from the Redevelopment Agency account to the Foundation & Friends of the Santa Clara Library.
Bogard Construction based in Santa Cruz was awarded the $9.85 million construction contract and oversees 57 subcontractors and 500 to 600 workers. The cost is divided fairly evenly, half for materials and half for labor.
Construction Superintendent Diego Rocamora says that the 17,355-square-foot library will be the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver-certified building that Santa Clara has built. By comparison, Santa Clara's Mission Library is 8,000 square feet, and the two-story Central Park Library has about 80,000 square feet of floor space.
"We're a part of history today. I'm a Rivermark resident, and we've waited for this for so long. It's like a dream come true. And it feels incredible to be part of the history," says Ann Eldhose, manager of KeyPoint Credit Union's Rivermark Branch. | <urn:uuid:ef41972d-4bf5-41db-802e-6be58b21a8df> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.santaclaraweekly.com/2012/Issue-46/steel_beam_at_northside_branch_library_goes_up_in_history_with_more_than_500_signatures.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966646 | 729 | 1.8125 | 2 |
'HMS Diamond' joins with 'USS Enterprise' to demonstrate the Type 45 destroyer's outstanding air defence capabilities.
During the exercise warfare specialists in Diamond's operations room helped to choreograph sorties of F-18 Super Hornets and other aircraft, which add to the Carrier Strike Group's potency.
As her sister ship Daring did just a few months ago, Diamond joined forces with the 'Big E' to show how a Type 45 destroyer can shield a task group from air attack - exactly what she was built for.
The £1bn Royal Navy warship can track multiple targets courtesy of her Sampson radar and take them out, if necessary, at ranges of up to 70 miles (113km) away courtesy of the Sea Viper missiles in the silo on her forecastle. And she can also direct strike missions by guiding aircraft onto targets as well as generally co-ordinating friendly air activity.
The exercises also allowed for an exchange of US and UK sailors, known in international naval circles as cross-pollination, sharing knowledge and experience among the ships.
Lieutenant Commander Mark Headley, Diamond's Air Warfare Officer who hosted the American visitors on the British ship, said:
"Working with the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group has been a fantastic opportunity to build on Royal and US Navy understanding. The knowledge gleaned will help the Royal Navy maximise the exciting opportunities offered by the Type 45 destroyers." | <urn:uuid:84f289c6-e926-4754-8d6d-383de470e2bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.marinelink.com/news/exercises-warship-british346991.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952421 | 287 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Europe has had more bad news as the economic outlook looks very bleak.
The Bank of England has admitted there will be little growth in the UK economy this year as the double-dip recession intensifies.
The European Central Bank has warned that the debt crisis hitting the eurozone is causing the region's financial market to become increasingly fragmented.
France could also slip back into recession while Germany's exports are also facing problems.
Al Jazeera's Peter Sharp takes a look at the figures. | <urn:uuid:de6507b3-3b63-4a2a-b130-2a45e4a84b77> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aljazeera.com/video/europe/2012/08/201288171948967339.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971117 | 98 | 1.5625 | 2 |
Posted by Pdianek on December 29, 2003
In Reply to: Deuce! posted by Henry on December 29, 2003
: : Does anyone know the origin of this phrase?
: Where did the phrase "Anyone for tennis?" come from? Carla Bannerman, New York
: It was a Humphrey Bogart line from a 1930s Broadway play. Alas, not even the great Bud Collins, the author of the tennis encyclopaedia and a chap who has been watching tennis for a lifetime, can remember which Broadway play. However, given that Humph always played the hard man in the movies, appearing as a tennis-playing fop went down rather well with the theatregoers.
Actually, Bogart hadn't had time to develop his tough-guy stance. The play was 1920s, he was born in 1899. More (from a 1957 Alistair Cooke article) at http://www.guardiancentury.co.uk/1950-1959/Story/0,6051,105487,00.html | <urn:uuid:928df3c6-8da8-44c7-aff3-5a5479a0cd48> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/27/messages/273.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975507 | 214 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Lecture Based Unit: Dame Ellen MacArthur speaking to MLP students about her Sustainability Foundation in 2010
The Manchester Leadership Programme offers a unique combination of academic units and volunteering.
- Learn the importance of leadership that promotes social, economic and environmental sustainability
- Gain an insight into some of the key challenges facing 21st-century society.
- Develop skills that employers like to see on CVs such as:
- team working
- debating and influencing skills
- project management
- Increase confidence in written communication and analytical thinking skills
"I am now aware of my strengths and interests which will come in handy in the future. The MLP also gave me a lot of opportunities to do different things that otherwise I would not have done. It enhanced my university experience.” Feedback in 2010 from past MLP student (School of Pharmacy) | <urn:uuid:3291d40e-a1d2-490d-acb2-39c84d0d829e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mlp.manchester.ac.uk/about/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932693 | 174 | 2.328125 | 2 |
By Emily Greenhalgh
PBN Web Editor
BOSTON – During June and July, economic growth in the New England region “continued to disappoint” as employment growth faltered and the region lost 2,500 jobs in June alone, according to the Beige Book report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
None of the states in the New England region experienced statistically significant changes in employment in June, but Rhode Island saw the largest percentage decline in payrolls in the nation at 0.8 percent during the month.
Construction employment deteriorated sharply for the second consecutive month in June, falling to a rate of -3.8 in June, down from -2.5 in May and -1.7 in April.
Government employment throughout the New England area also decreased, dropping 1.2 percent in the region in June. State governments in the area experienced a small 0.2 percent increase in unemployment as federal and local government payrolls dropped 1.8 and 1.5 percent, respectively.
Professional and business services led both the New England region and the U.S. with a 3.4 percent employment growth from June 2011 to June 2012. The administrative and waste management industry led the sector with a 4.2 percent growth in June, the professional, scientific and technical business service industry followed with a 3.5 percent growth.
The number of average weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance grew 1.1 percent from May to June across New England. The regional data have shown an upward drift in jobless claims since February.
National and regional personal income growth weakened in the first quarter of 2012. In New England, personal income increased by 2.6 percent year-over-year while U.S. income rose by 2.9 percent. This marked the third consecutive quarter where the U.S. outpaced New England in personal income growth.
The report called residential real estate “something of a silver lining for the region” as housing permit growth improved by 34.5 percent across New England in June 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.
Massachusetts led the way in New England as three-month average permits increased 56.5 percent from 2011, while Rhode Island saw the area’s only decline with permits sliding 13.2 percent during the same period.
To view the full report, visit www.bos.frb.org.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s next Beige Book update will be released in late September. | <urn:uuid:0bf09fbc-7b89-45ea-811b-8d337b9a6bfd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pbn.com/Beige-Book-New-England-growth-continues-to-disappoint,70105 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946724 | 507 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Cunningham Defense Wasted on English A
Herald Columnist Sits In on Section; Sparks, Fur Fly
That was Bill Cunningham talking. He was giving the works to James A. Walker, instructor in English, whose assignment to two of his English A sections had the misfortune to fall into the ears of the man with the large column in the Boston Herald.
And the Tuesday meeting of Section 16 was the fruition of the three weeks' work. Present were the students, Walker, and Eiijah William Cunningham, who came prepared to defend himself against a paper written by a Freshman.
Before he got onto the actual paper, however, Cunningham had a few words with Walker. Brushing aside Walker's protest that he didn't mean to be so harsh on Bill and that he had been misquoted, Cunningham intoned, "That misquoting business is an old device people use when they wish they hadn't said something."
When he got down to the Yardling's composition, Cunningham wasn't quite so vituperative, probably being overawed by the English A manner of composition. The student, applying his eversharp pen to Cunningham's back in the prescribed manner lifted a few of the phrases sticking out all over the column and cited them as an example of something or other very bad. William objected unhappily that that was taking a statement out of context. "A honey of a way to take a person apart," he grieved.
Boston's oracle took a last wistful look at the ster's paper tearing him apart. "If I could write without the criticisms of editors and monitors," he said cryptically, "I'd write like this." | <urn:uuid:d796dfd1-3515-440e-82b8-ecc3d457d044> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1946/5/16/cunningham-defense-wasted-on-english-a/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980741 | 345 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Fresh from making its world debut at the recent Frankfurt Auto Show a few months back, the radical-looking BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept car is appearing for the first time in North America at the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show.
As a plug-in full hybrid with a turbodiesel engine, upward-pivoting doors and extreme styling, BMW's 4-seat Vision EfficientDynamics concept car is packed with technology enabling it to be both frugal and fast.
Complementing the Vision's futuristic exterior styling, the interior of the car has a flowing instrument panel and a seating arrangement designed to give the passengers a floating-in-air feel. The upholstery is made largely of natural materials (albeit Kevlar is used for the seats). New technology such as a 3-dimensional head-up display and BMW night vision is included.
The chassis of the Vision EfficientDynamics Concept is constructed primarily of aluminum; the roof and body exterior are of a special polycarbonate material. The car is 181.1 in. long, 74.8 in. wide and 48.8 in. tall. It has a 2+2 seating configuration with 5.3 cu. ft. of luggage space.
The Vision concept is propelled by three sources: two electric motors (one giving the car all-wheel drive in electric mode) and a turbodiesel engine (in front of the rear axle). The synchronous electric hardware can provide a continuous output of 80 horsepower and peak torque of 162 lb.-ft. via a two-stage, single-speed reduction gearbox. For that extra kick when passing, the motor can deliver 112 hp for up to 30 sec., and as much as 139 hp for 10 sec.
In back, the second electric motor resides between the mid-mounted turbodiesel and BMW's 6-speed DCT twin-clutch gearbox driving the rear axle. It is rated to serve up 33 hp continuously (51 hp peak) and maximum torque of 214 lb.-ft. Combined, the two electric motors can perform double duty in propelling the car or serving as regenerative powerplants to recharge the lithium-polymer batteries.
There are a total of 98 lithium-polymer cells arrayed longitudinally in the middle of the car. Each individual 30 amp-hr cell can deliver 600 amps at 3.7 volts. And when that extra passing power is needed, each cell can ramp up to provide 1200 amps. The entire battery pack weighs about 190 lb. An onboard computer keeps the lithium-polymers at optimal operating conditions by using up to 80 percent of its discharge capacity (10.6 kWh total) when the car is in motion.
No official word yet as to whether this concept car or its powertrain technology will enter production in the near future. | <urn:uuid:671825ee-d43a-4352-9d00-d05f844a1bfa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/2009-los-angeles-auto-show/bmw-vision-efficientdynamics-concept-1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923241 | 578 | 1.515625 | 2 |