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HD 5970 vs HD 5800 CrossFireGiven the strangely low performance levels of the Radeon HD 5970 in comparison with the less powerful CrossFire solution of 2 Radeon HD 5850s, we wanted to compare Radeon HD 5970 with a CrossFire system with the same processing power. To do this we clocked two Radeon HD 5870s at 725/1000 MHz. We also compared this solution to the Radeon HD 5850s in CrossFire which have 10% less processing units.
Keep the mouse over the graph to display actual performance.
You get a good deal more out of the equivalent CrossFire system than the Radeon HD 5970. The newcomer is between 1 and 13% down, depending on the games. We can only suppose that connecting the two GPUs to the system via a switch and a single PCI Express connector is a limitation on performance. It is possible of course that AMD might reduce this loss in efficiency with future drivers.
You’ll note that the Radeon HD 5870’s additional processing units don’t give much of a gain. The advantage comes rather from their higher clock.Update 23/11/2009:
Because the results for the Radeon HD 5970 were down on those for a CrossFire system based on the Radeon HD 5870 set at the same clock, and even on a CrossFire system based on the Radeon HD 5850, which is nevertheless less powerful on paper, we began to wonder if this would also have been the case on a P55 platform on which the PCI Express ports function at 8x, namely a bandwidth towards the GPUs reduced by half compared to our test system.
Given that the two GPUs on the Radeon HD 5970 have to share a single PCI Express 16x port to communicate with the rest of the system, we were justified in asking if that might not be the limitation. Although we thought it improbable that such a difference might result from this, we wanted to make sure by physically reducing the width of the PCI Express bus from 16 to 8 lanes per card.
As you can see in the graph that has been updated, this had nothing to do with it and the bandwidth towards the system isn’t the problem because the impact on performance is minimal, as we thought. This will reassure P55 platform users who may have thought that a CrossFire with the Radeon HD 5800s would be less worthwhile for them.
It remains to be seen what lies behind the Radeon HD 5970’s lower performances. It could still be that the PLX switch is a limitation (latency, efficiency etc.), that the drivers are not yet perfect or that the card puts a break on performance so as to avoid overloading/overheating, though we didn’t note any reduction in clock when we were monitoring it. | <urn:uuid:61b7c960-4e4d-4177-9e91-28e0110c9d44> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.behardware.com/articles/777-18/report-amd-radeon-hd-5970.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947172 | 570 | 1.5 | 2 |
Standard & Poor’s Rating Services recently reaffirmed the University of Toronto’s ‘AA’ debt rating, but warned of the likelihood of a downgrade in the next twelve months.
The credit rating agency cited the university’s “exceptional student quality and enrolment demand; strong liquidity; and good government support” as promising financial indicators, but noted that “sizable pension deficit payments and high debt” warranted a negative outlook.
The university’s pension deficit stood at CAD$1.016 billion as of July 1, 2011. The current deficit is largely the result of the recent financial crisis, during which the university’s pension and endowment funds fell sharply following several years of underperformance.
In the year leading up to July 1, 2008, the university’s funds lost over one hundred million dollars; the following year, over one billion. The university’s pension plan performed worst out of 23 Canadian university pension plans measured in 2008 by the Globe and Mail, declining by 29% that year alone.
In response, U of T president David Naylor commissioned a committee to investigate the performance of the University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation (UTAM), a corporation founded in 2000 to “mimic the investing approach developed at Yale and Harvard.” The committee, lead by former chancellor Hal Jackman, published its findings in a report in December 2009, stating that “UTAM’s performance over this period [2000-2009] has not met expectations.” While allowing for the decade’s dual market crashes, the Jackman report nevertheless recommended that UTAM be brought under U of T’s control, with the CEO reporting directly to the university’s president.
Standard & Poor’s report also noted that Ontario’s university pension relief program and the university’s own efforts “have limited the potential scope of U of T’s pension difficulties,” but warned that there would be a downgrade should the university fail to follow through on its approved strategy.
- With files from the Globe and Mail, Reuters, and U of T Magazine. | <urn:uuid:48fc0dc9-ac57-4ec8-89d5-2b0d47016235> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thevarsity.ca/2012/06/14/sp-eyes-hole-in-universitys-pension-plan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937663 | 446 | 1.507813 | 2 |
While those hesitations certainly have merit, CAD and design tool vendors jumping into the new frontier of mobile apps claim there's little to be concerned about. They say engineers' reticence is really tied more to a general lack of understanding of the new technology and what is still a very immature and emerging market.
"It really boils down to a lack of information," Amar Hanspal, senior vice president for Autodesk's Information Modeling and Platform Products group, told us. "People may not realize that these things are more capable than they perceive them to be. Sure, you can play Angry Birds on your mobile phone, but the device is capable of doing a lot more than that."
Constant Aviation engineers employ Autodesk's AutoCAD WS app to help design the proper placement of electronics going into small planes when out in the field.
Consumption and collaboration
So what exactly is an iPhone, Android, or Windows tablet capable of when it comes to serious engineering work? As it turns out, right now, the devices still lend themselves best to the consumption and collaboration around engineering data, not necessarily for the creation of complex 3D CAD models. CAD specialists toiling away on constructing 3D parts and assemblies are still going to want the luxury of a large monitor (sometimes two), a mouse, and a keyboard to perform the complex tasks related to extruding surfaces, creating fillets, or modifying geometry.
But, as it turns out, dedicated CAD work is only one aspect of engineering, and as experts contend, only a small part of the workflow around product design and development. There are many constituents involved in the product development process who are not CAD specialists, and who live outside of engineering and need fast and easy access to core design data, whether they're in the office, offsite with a client, or commuting on the train.
"Not all engineering activities make sense to migrate to a mobile device," says Laurent Bernadin, executive vice president of chief scientists at Maplesoft, which markets the Maple mathematical computing software, now offered in an app form for the Apple iPad. "If you have designers sitting in front of a CAD system doing detailed design of a product that involves tens or thousands of parts, they will probably never do that on a phone. But there are a lot of tasks that can be taken on the road, and beyond that, there are activities you didn't really have computer support for before that are now becoming possible."
With tools like Maple Player for the iPad or Autodesk's AutoCAD WS, on-the-go engineers and other professionals can have easy access to product data, not to mention the ability to take the design with them for more effective collaboration with peers. As such, mobile design tool apps delivering capabilities for 3D visualization and viewing, basic markup, and conceptual sketching and ideation are natural targets for mobile platforms, as are any number of highly targeted technical calculators, reference tools, or industry- and domain-specific engineering utilities. | <urn:uuid:14d1ea77-9ff8-439a-a4f6-04c9f5ef01d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1394&f_src=designnews_sitedefault&doc_id=242872&page_number=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95644 | 610 | 1.960938 | 2 |
The Lancet, Volume 355, Issue 9207
, Page 908, 11 March 2000
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)74115-5Cite or Link Using DOI
Global vaccine research progresses
The 20th century witnessed a revolution in immunology and saw the introduction of vaccines that led to the reduction or elimination of 21 infectious diseases, states the Jordan Report 2000 by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The report, which was was released on March 2, updates scientists and policy makers on the current state and future direction of vaccine research. In the case of HIV/AIDS, the report notes that at the end of 1999 there are 34 million people ...
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Welcome to the Section of Certification & Licensing
The mission of Certification and Licensing is to protect and reduce the risk to the health, safety, and exploitation of Alaska's most vulnerable citizens being served, and to ensure that there is public confidence in the health care and community service delivery systems through regulatory, enforcement, and educational activities. This is accomplished by:
- conducting inspections of adult and childrens residential facilities to ensure compliance with state licensing requirements;
- receiving and investigating complaints involving resident physical, mental, and sexual abuse, financial exploitation, and safety/sanitation concerns;
- providing facilities with a notice of violation, when necessary, and take appropriate action when facilities fail to come into compliance with state or federal law;
- ensuring a process where all service providers with direct client access have a background check. | <urn:uuid:515de952-2bac-4e33-935a-2f3f10b5a15c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dhss.alaska.gov/dhcs/Pages/cl/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932932 | 165 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Beats, Rhymes, and Death
Hip-Hop in Syria Is Seriously Dangerous Business
Photo by Mohannad Rachid
While hip-hop in the West has evolved into a platform for radical political discourse juxtaposed with mindless party anthems, things are obviously a bit more complex in Syria. Centuries ago, Arabic poets held hijas, which were basically proto–poetry slams, and by extension, freestyle rap battles. But these roots never blossomed into much of a scene, mostly due to the constraints of the authoritarian Assad government. The lack of availability of decent tunes in the country is exacerbated by the fact that, in general, music is a touchy subject for Muslims (some interpret verses of the Koran as favoring a ban on music altogether). These extreme levels of censorship and sensitivity clash with the traditionally rebellious nature of hip-hop, and to violate them by recording a track with incendiary lyrics can be a deadly decision.
On July 4, 2011, the poet Ibrahim Qashoush’s body was found floating down the Orontes River, which flows through Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. According to residents, Qashoush’s vocal chords had been ripped from his slit throat. The poet was rumored to have coined the mantra “Yalla erhal ya Bashar,” or “Come on Bashar, leave”—a battle cry demanding the ouster of the familial regime that has ruled Syria for four decades. This slogan, along with the Arab Spring’s famous rallying cry “Al-sha‘b yurīd isqa-t. al-niz. a-m” (“The people want to bring down the regime”), has inspired both revolutionaries inside the country and Syrians living in exile around the world to support the resistance. One of the most interesting examples is LA-based rapper Omar Offendum, whose anti-regime track “#SYRIA” got so much attention that he won’t be able to visit his homeland again unless Bashar and his followers are overthrown.
Omar has deep family ties to Syria (his late father was a native of Hama, and his mother currently lives in Damascus) and identifies as a Syrian American, even though he was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Washington, DC. “I’m American for all intents and purposes, but I’m very much connected to Syria,” he said. Omar’s early lyrics consisted of the typical party fodder and other bullshit embraced by most young MCs. Then, while he was in college, 9/11 happened. “I realized really quickly that all of a sudden I had this microscope on me,” he said. “I went from just being another kid on campus rapping to ‘the Arab rapper’ or ‘the Muslim rapper’—people were questioning my Americanness after a show because I was against the war.”
For the next decade, Omar rapped about the many injustices in the Middle East and performed at fundraising events for Palestine and Pakistan. Then, last year, the conflict in Syria erupted, and he embraced the cause of the rebels as his own. His last visit to the country was in 2010, the same year he released his solo debut, SyrianamericanA. In 2011, he penned the one-off track “#SYRIA” and included the hashtag symbol in its title because “Syria was a trending topic more on Twitter than it was on any news site.” Its lyrics incorporated a powerful mix of recitations of the Arab Spring’s slogan and Qashoush’s chant, interspersed with lines like, “I have a dream the regime will fall/ And that what comes next will be better for us all.” Omar realized that releasing the track would jeopardize both his safety and that of his family back home. He only made it available to the public earlier this year, after his relatives in Syria gave him their blessing.
Omar had good reason to wait for their approval: The hip-hop scene in Syria is as sectarian as its politics, and the government listens to everything that’s released. The most famous rapper in the country is Murder Eyez, an Aleppo native who’s landed on Assad’s bad side in the past but now rhymes in support of the president. His competition includes Eslam Jawaad, a Syrian-Lebanese MC who lives in London and whose stance is also pro-regime.
Some might say it’s odd that some Syrian rappers have subverted a genre that has traditionally taken an antiauthoritarian stance, but Omar can explain: “It’s always been assumed that hip-hop would be the mouthpiece for the street and the struggle, but then in Syria for the first time you had this unique situation where all of a sudden it was also being used by the regime—but not really by the regime, by people who felt that this regime was something to be proud of. To them, they were standing up to the world superpowers that they felt were against Syria.”
Omar, however, is not alone in his musical support of rebel forces. Artists like MC Roco and the band LaTlaTeh combine elements of hip-hop and Arabic music while gently challenging the current situation in Syria. “What’s interesting is that the overwhelming majority of the artists either had to go into exile because they were threatened by the government, or they just straight-up disappeared,” he said. “I can’t tell you how many people were jailed or disappeared. Every once in a while, they would hand-pick someone suddenly whom they would let get away with saying something, as a form of pressure release, maybe, and give off the impression that they were supporting the arts or the culture, but there were always lines that were drawn.”
While Omar acknowledges that rhyming about Syria from the sunny confines of LA is safer than doing so from within the country, he still receives plenty of death threats, especially online. And the potential danger of returning to his homeland isn’t the only thing keeping him away; the Syrian government formally notified him that he has been banned from entering its borders. “Until this stuff is resolved, I’m technically exiled even though I’m not really from there,” he said.
For now, artists like Omar and a few brave Syrian residents will continue to express their frustrations and political views through hip-hop, but what’s next for the country and the future of the art form there remains to be seen. Omar told me that he hopes he can return to Syria at some point in the future. “I love and cherish Syria, and insha’Allah [God willing], I’ll be able to go back and maybe have a house there and show it to my kids someday,” he said. “But right now, this is the reality of the situation.”
For an overview of the issues that have fueled the conflict in Syria, we recommend reading "Road to Ruin," our condensed timeline of Syrian history, and "The VICE Guide to Syria," a crash course on the country's geopolitical, cultural, and religious complexities. | <urn:uuid:90745ef4-e4a4-4032-acf8-69a862e50598> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vice.com/read/beats-rhymes-and-death-0000345-v19n11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981483 | 1,528 | 2.125 | 2 |
- Prison Planet.com - http://www.prisonplanet.com -
Radiation From Fukushima Would Take 7 Days To Reach U.S.
Posted By admin On March 14, 2011 @ 9:41 am In Featured Stories,News In Focus,Paul Watson Articles | Comments Disabled
Prevailing wind conditions would send fallout drifting towards west coast cities
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Monday, March 14, 2011
Radioactive particles from the stricken Fukushima nuclear facility would take around a week to reach Alaska and eleven days to reach Los Angeles, according to an Accuweather.com analysis, which highlights the fact that prevailing winds over the region would send any potential fallout from the crisis-hit plant drifting towards west coast cities in the United States.
Given the fact that many analysts believe the Japanese government is grossly understating the amount of radioactive particles released by the two separate explosions to affect the Fukushima plant, one which occurred Saturday and one earlier today, monitoring stations in Alaska will not know if there is a threat from such radiation until Saturday at the earliest.
“Radiation detected at the Fukushima plant on Monday is twice the maximum seen so far,” the BBC is reporting, citing Kyodo News.
An Accuweather.com analysis highlights how prevailing wind trajectories would take the radiation from a westerly direction towards the west coast of the United States.
“A typical wind trajectory across the Pacific is westerly, since there is often a large dome of high pressure over the central Pacific and an area of low pressure in the Gulf of Alaska,” writes meteorologist Meghan Evans.
Today’s localized winds are set to carry any radiation out into the Pacific from a north westerly to south easterly direction. However, “The wind direction will switch to an onshore direction Monday night into Tuesday, threatening to send the radiation toward the population,” writes Evans.
“This is not good news, since an onshore direction would blow most of the radiation toward populated areas. An added threat is that with higher elevations just about 4 miles inland from the power plants, if a temperature inversion sets up in the atmosphere, radiation could be trapped.”
The worst case scenario is that localized winds could take the fallout south to Tokyo, and the prevailing westerly winds could also carry upper atmosphere particles towards the U.S.
It would take roughly seven days for the radiation to reach Anchorage, eight days until it reached Honolulu, ten days for Seattle and eleven days before it hit Los Angeles, according to figures calculated by Expert Senior Global Meteorologist Jim Andrews.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
Assurances from officials that any radiation would dissipate over the Pacific Ocean before reaching the United States are tenuous given the fact that pollution from Chinese coal factories, traveling significantly greater distances, routinely hits California.
“Previous studies have documented that dust from Asia — especially from deserts and industrial regions of China — routinely crosses the Pacific Ocean on prevailing winds to sully the air over the western U.S.,” highlights Massie Santos Ballon , a student in the Science Communication Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has also studied how, “About a third of the airborne lead particles recently collected at two sites in the San Francisco Bay Area came from Asia.”
Weather conditions will hugely influence where any potential radiation falls. If there is a significant amount of rainfall, which has been forecast for the next few days, the majority of the radiation will fall in a localized area. However, drier conditions will allow any radiation to travel much further.
As we featured in our earlier report , nuclear expert Joe Cirincione also fears that radiation from the Japanese nuclear plant could also reach the west coast.
When Fox News host Chris Wallace questioned whether radioactivity could travel thousands of miles across the Pacific, Cirincione responded, “Oh, absolutely. Chernobyl, which happened about 25 years ago, the radioactivity spread around the entire northern hemisphere. It depends how many of these cores melt down and how successful they are on containing it once this disaster happens.”
Concern surrounding the likely path of any radiation is emphasized by the fact that the French embassy is now, “Advising its citizens to leave Tokyo and its surroundings in case a cloud of radiation heads to the city.”
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com . He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos and a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.
Article printed from Prison Planet.com: http://www.prisonplanet.com
URL to article: http://www.prisonplanet.com/radiation-from-fukushima-would-take-7-days-to-reach-u-s.html
URLs in this post:
Prison Planet.com: http://www.prisonplanet.com../
the BBC is reporting,: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698
An Accuweather.com analysis: http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/46940/winds-at-japan-power-plants-sh-1.asp
Image: http://www.prisonplanet.tv/
Stock up with Fresh Food that lasts with eFoodsDirect (AD): http://www.efoodsdirect.com/
highlights Massie Santos Ballon: http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0522-ucsc_cec_ballon.html
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2010/12/01/lead-isotopes-air-pollution/
As we featured in our earlier report: http://www.prisonplanet.com../nuclear-expert-radiation-could-spread-to-us-west-coast.html
is emphasized by the fact that the French embassy: http://diplomaticbriefing.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/newsline-french-embassy-urges-citizens-to-leave-tokyo-area-in-case-radiation-reaches-city/
Prison Planet.com: http://prisonplanet.com/
Copyright © 2013 Prison Planet.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:cb7194cc-ee4b-4e14-8b07-56093468a985> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.prisonplanet.com/radiation-from-fukushima-would-take-7-days-to-reach-u-s.html/print/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907492 | 1,342 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Sumac: I'm seeing it everywhere recently. It's a fairly underrated and unused spice in my opinion. Its tart and subtly piney flavors come from the ground berries from a special kind of plant that produces bright red and purple berries which when ground up produce a flavorful spice. You can use it in place of fresh lemon juice or add it for an extra bit of tang in a dish. Often found in Turkish cooking, but the spice grows all over North America as well.
Buddha's Hand: Now that a few green grocers and supermarkets carry them (though very, very poor examples not worth buying) and a few farmers are planting a tree or two, it's now something that you might be able to find. Its floral and sweet lemon flavors make it great for zest, and since the pith is sweet the fingers can be chopped and eaten on their own which are often dipped in sugar first. Plus the name and appearance are more than enough to sway a few people to give it a go.
Wattleseed: With a flavor that's a bit like coffee, hazelnuts, and chocolate this Australian spice is up on my list. More of a dessert spice, it may take a while before people really start to play with it. Mainly because the stuff is still hard to get in the U.S. unless you buy it online.
Cheese: I know I'm being general but I have a hunch that more people are going to start getting into cheese the way some people do about wine. Profiling regions, countries, type of dairy, and developing pairings and dishes utilizing only the best kinds of cheese possible. It's a dairy revolution.
Figs: When the season comes back people will be all over them. All the recent more popular cookbooks have all had figs featured in them; The Perfect Scoop, Urban Italian, A Platter of Figs, etc... It seems that once the season comes back people will probably scramble to them to start learning how to utilize this honey-sweet fruit. | <urn:uuid:3989f933-ac7a-4ce5-b977-fcc2368711f7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vanillagarlic.com/2009/01/rockstar-ingredient-2009-my-top-picks.html?showComment=1232712480000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968562 | 419 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Hans Peter Hahn (Hg.), Karlheinz Cless (Hg.), Jens Soentgen (Hg.)
People at the Well
Kinds, Usages and Meanings of Water in a Global Perspective
Water is never just H2O. It is always more. It has its own ways of world-making and is much more than just a substance or a commodity. Water is also a focal point of religious meanings and inspires cultural practices. The book shows the different forms, the wide range and the impressive diversity of people´s dealings with water in different cultures. It presents case studies from various parts of the world, staging problems about changing accessibility of water and the expectations of men and women at different places. While focusing on the micro level the transdisciplinary approach highlights the fundamental differences of water related meanings and practices.
Hans Peter Hahn
Hans Peter Hahn ist Professor am Institut für Ethnologie der Universität Frankfurt am Main.
mehr zum Autor
Karlheinz Cless, Dr. rer. oec., ist Doktorand am Institut für Ethnologie der Universität Frankfurt am Main.
mehr zum Autor
Jens Soentgen, Dr. phil., ist wissenschaftlicher Leiter am Wissenschaftszentrum Umwelt der Universität Augsburg.
mehr zum Autor
Water is a renewable resource, which occurs everywhere on earth, and in many places even in abundance. In its clean and humanly safe and usable form, however, it is becoming increasingly scarce. Water is not always available in sufficient quantity or quality at the right time and to all people. Dirty water and a lack of water are considered responsible for the death of millions of people, primarily children and adults in economically disadvantaged situations and regions. Concerns around the increasing pollution of drinking water, acute problems of supply and droughts threatening agriculture and sometimes leading to famine have sensitized the public around the world to the extraordinary value of this precious resource. The aim of this book is to point out the value, importance and meanings of water. At the same time it is meant as a contribution to a better understanding of valuations of water, its many uses and conflicts concerning access to this precious substance.
Questions concerning which use of water receives priority, which value is attributed to the resource and, more generally, how water is perceived will be dealt with using case studies from around the world. The common starting point for these studies is the assumption that water is subject to multiple, often contradictory valuations. Any perspective which reduces water to a problem of supply or to questions of value and price will fall short of understanding the social and cultural valuations of water. Equally problematic is the reduction of water to being just a carrier of meanings, religious convictions or symbols and rituals, which would involve an exclusively culturalistic argumentation. Water is more than either of these approaches. It always represents both the need to use water and the desire to view it as meaningful or even holy. Both contexts are connected and intertwined and can only be disclosed and discovered through detailed studies of specific cases.
There is no life without water. All life has its origin in water, and many myths dealing with the creation of the world have life come into existence from water. This is true also in a scientific perspective, as the origin of the biosphere on planet earth can only be explained with reference to the particular attributes of water. It is therefore no surprise that the appropriate uses of water, the right, i.e. socially accepted dealings and its related meanings are always culturally grounded. Each culture has conflicts and processes of negotiations about legitimate uses relative to inappropriate uses. Water is not only the foundation of life. It also gives structure to societies and cultures, as well as defining, in various ways, the rhythm of everyday life and rituals.
Water is full of contradictions
What is water and how can we comprehend it? On an initial level this is a question of water as a natural substance. But even on the level of material description it is obvious that water is hardly ever just H2O. Water is a complex material with unusual and sometimes extraordinary characteristics, for example, concerning its behavior at various temperatures. Therefore it requires an assessment from a phenomenological perspective, including the macroscopic level of perceptions. The history of research on water and its characteristics is central to the development of the modern natural sciences, and in particular for the history of the science of materials (Stoffwissenschaften) (Needham 2010; Ball 2010).
In his contribution to this book, Klaus Ruthenberg describes the discovery of the structure of water more in detail. He develops his argument that the characteristics of water cannot only be discovered analytically, i.e. on the atomic and molecular levels. Rather, there are numerous essential characteristics, like color, viscosity, capacity and absorption of temperature, which are only observable on the macro level. Chemical analysis as such is insufficient to understand even the most basic properties of water. Water reveals its characteristics only in a complementary perspective between micro- and macro-analyses. This reference is important for the overall objective of this book, because it refers to the necessity of connecting different approaches from a wide range of disciplines.
Water is more than a mixture of two chemical elements in a liquid aggregate state. Only as steam or distillate can water be close to pure H2O. Otherwise it always contains other substances and ingredients, which are either beneficial or harmful. Many characteristics of water only develop through these additives, which also decide whether the water is appropriate for consumption or agriculture. Pure water is neither appropriate for consumption nor of high value in agriculture. Therefore, it is legitimate to assume that these additives substantially contribute to the foundational role of water in many ecosystems, and that these additives facilitate an infinite field of economic activities for human beings.
Water is many different things at the same time. These differences often include contradictory evaluations. A certain kind of water with a specific meaning may achieve a particular relevance which appears to be acceptable only for certain people, but is ignored or rejected by many others. This contradictory character of water is not only valid for distant or old cultures, but also, and no less, for present-day consumer societies. This becomes obvious when looking at valuations and appreciations of certain kinds of bottled water. Although water comes free of charge or at a very low price from a tap, a fountain or a well, people spend money for water in bottles or from mineral springs or spas. There is another example of such contradictions in the daily use of water worth mentioning here: though on the rational level the importance of washing and cleaning for personal hygiene and health is well understood, in reality it is often forgotten.
Water is life and is full of meanings. But it is also a complex and contradictory substance. The collection of papers in this book refers to case studies from various disciplines in the cultural sciences. The cases studies all demonstrate the characteristics just mentioned. At the same time, they are explicitly selected in order to avoid a Eurocentric perspective, conveying rather a global perspective. They are based on philosophical reflections, findings from the natural sciences and hydrological discoveries, as well as ethnographic, archaeological and historical observations. All case studies document local knowledge and specific water-related experiences in order to acquire a better understanding of local uses and use patterns. The volume thus presents an interdisciplinary mosaic of the intriguing, amazing and wondrous world of water. In each case study, the entanglements of appreciations of water, its uses and meanings are at the center of the considerations. | <urn:uuid:c910827c-aef6-4892-a419-80e6ff7817fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.campus.de/wissenschaft/kulturwissenschaften/Ethnologie%2FKulturanthropologie.40447.html/People+at+the+Well.99493.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932404 | 1,577 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Createasphere has an excellent article on the technologies that we have to watch out for...and explains why.
Thunderbolt, IMF, UltraViolet, and Cloud technologies generate buzz.
The 2011 IBC conference, held September 8-13 in Amsterdam, generated news and discussion about all areas of production, post and content distribution. Here is a sampling of just some of the developments to watch for in the coming months.
The Interoperable Master Format, or IMF, has been a big topic in the US, and at IBC word was spreading in the international community.
“The purpose of IMF is to create a high-quality, standardized and interoperable file framework for finished content,” explained SMPTE’s IMF Working Group chair Annie Chang, who is Disney’s VP Post-Production Technology. “IMF allows for flexible versioning so that multiple language versions and edits can be put together without the need to create full linear versions of each language/edit. IMF can store only the different pieces (audio, image and subtitles) and uses a Composition Play List to ‘mix and match’ and create the various versions needed.”
According to Chang, some of the IMF draft documents should start rolling out this Fall.
Chang encourages involvement in the SMPTE effort from hardware and software manufacturers that have systems that edit, play out and/or transcode files.
DVS has already stepped up to the plate, introducing version 4.3 of its Clipster, which debuted at IBC with new features including mezzanine format mastering for IMF workflows with extended JPEG2000 support.
Clipster’s batchlist function enables independent and automated processing of IMF, as well DCI and other distribution jobs.
Also during IBC, the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), the European Broadcast Union (EBU), and SMPTE agreed to work together to accelerate their respective efforts at driving interoperability and delivering efficient media workflows.
This will include meeting regularly and collecting input from users.
Said SMPTE President Pete Ludé: “As more media organizations rely on rapidly developed software-based tools, it is particularly important that standards-development processes meet these fast-paced needs.”
Numerous manufacturers introduced Thunderbolt-enabled devices at IBC, demonstrating the promise of the technology.
“Thunderbolt is important because it’s incredibly fast, supporting standard protocols, which means we can create devices to work all the way up to uncompressed 4:4:4 HD on systems that before could not handle it, such as a MacBook Pro,” said AJA President Nick Rashby. “We're very excited to see how new Thunderbolt-enabled technologies help evolve workflows.”
AJA introduced Io XT, an I/O device with two Thunderbolt ports. Said Rashby: “Io XT won’t be your ‘endpoint’ on your setup, because we support daisy-chaining connectivity of multiple Thunderbolt-enabled devices.”
This is the developing I/O device that was first exhibited as a technology demonstration at NAB. The product is slated for availability in Q4 for $1495.
At IBC, Matrox and Promise Technology hosted a demonstration of multi-layer realtime editing of uncompressed HD projects using Matrox’s MXO2 LE MAX video I/O devices and Promise Pegasus RAID storage connected to the Apple iMac via Thunderbolt technology.
Pricing for Thunderbolt-enabled Matrox MXO2 devices starts at $549, and Matrox Thunderbolt adapters for MXO2 devices are available for $199.
Blackmagic Design also made Thunderbolt-supported products a big part of its IBC exhibit.
Now available for $995, Thunderbolt-enabled UltraStudio 3D offers portable capture and playback with full resolution dual stream 3D support, as well as full SD, HD and 2K support.
Blackmagic’s second Thunderbolt-supported product, Intensity Extreme, will be available later this year. The $299 video capture and playback product is designed for professional videographers with HDMI and analog video. "We think the combination of HDMI and analog on an extremely compact Thunderbolt bus powered design combined with an affordable price will change the lives of thousands of professional videographers," said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic.
CHANGE IN THE PROFESSIONAL FINISHING SPACE
Following news that Adobe acquired Iridas for an undisclosed sum, there was plenty of talk about what that might mean in the professional finishing space.
Adobe’s announcement of the deal suggested that Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium and Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection “are expected to gain a comprehensive set of tools so video editors can manipulate color and light for any type of content, including professional film and television.”
Bill Roberts, Adobe’s director of video product management, did not discuss specifics, but said of Adobe’s vision: “We think that the tasks of audio, effects, finishing, editing should all have dedicated interfaces and the workflow should be simple and seamless and lossless between the applications. Historically that is what we have done and that should not change going forward as we start to integrate this technology.”
Adobe was not the only company making acquisition news at IBC. In late August, 3ality Digital bought Element Technica, renaming the company 3ality Technica and making IBC its first trade show under the new brand name. The company had a booth and also hosted a reception during IBC. Plans are to beef up its R&D, while continuing to offer products from both companies with emphasis on integration. That includes integration with Element Technica rigs and 3ality’s Stereo Image Processor (SIP).
In Hollywood, momentum has been building around the Image Interchange Framework, or IIF, an architecture developed by an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences-led committee of industry professionals, coupled with ACES (Academy Color Encoding Spec). The goal is to create a way to manage color consistency throughout production.
IIF ACES has already started to find its way into production, including at Encore, where colorist Pankaj Bajpai used a workflow on FX series Justified, shot by Francis Kenny, ASC.
At IBC, Blackmagic Design featured the new DaVinci Resolve 8.1 software update, which now includes ACES color space support.
In related news, Blackmagic announced that DaVinci Resolve for Microsoft Windows will be accompanied by the Mac OS X version, meaning that when a customer purchases DaVinci Resolve, he or she can choose which operating system to use.
Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) – an industry consortium of more than 70 stakeholders including Hollywood studios and manufacturers – are getting ready to launch UltraViolet, a DRM system that effectively would allow each customer to create a content library in the cloud that could be accessed on any supported device.
At IBC, preparations for the launch were evident at the DTS booth, which was demoing its MediaPlayer using UltraViolet Common File Format (CFF) files created with upcoming version 2.0 of the Digital Rapids Transcode Manager automated transcoding software (which was demoed at the Digital Rapids booth).
“From mobile phones and tablets to PCs and connected TVs, multi-screen viewing and the increasing volume of digital content are driving fundamental shifts in the way media is distributed and consumed,” said Brick Eksten, president of Digital Rapids. “UltraViolet will play a crucial role in unlocking the potential of multi-screen media consumption, and we’re excited to be continuing our successful partnership with DTS by working together in support of the standard.”
Just after IBC came the earliest content announcements. Upcoming home entertainment releases of Horrible Bosses, Green Lantern, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Warner Bros.), as well as The Smurfsand Friends With Benefits (Sony) will support UltraViolet.
DECE members include Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros., Deluxe, Technicolor, LG, Samsung, Microsoft, Netflix, and Best Buy.
UltraViolet’s rollout begins next week in North America.
The entertainment technology community continues to explore ways that the cloud can be incorporated into workflows to create efficiencies. The models that were featured this year at IBC primarily surrounded broadcast applications.
Quantel, for instance, showed the next stage of its QTube cloud-based broadcast production workflow at IBC, which now includes the ability to integrate files held on generic IT storage, and well as to access and combine content from multiple sites.
Rogers Media in Canada is already using QTube for coverage of live events including MLB and NHL games. Said Frank Bruno, VP Engineering for Rogers Media: “For us, QTube is a problem solver; we have so many stations across the country and also camera people going to multiple venues and events. As long as you are near a connection, you have contact back and forth. We don’t have to worry about shipping disks or hard drives.”
At IBC, Chyron offered a look at its AXIS World Graphics cloud-based graphics creation system. Also aimed at broadcasters, the system is designed for reporters, production assistants, and news producers who would have access to prebuilt templates via a web browser to quickly create graphics for outlets including websites and mobile devices.
Avid Technology released a white paper outlining its view of the media cloud. It explained: “Avid strongly believes that the successful media enterprise will focus on delivering new consumer experiences via distribution platforms that create new revenue models.
“Forward-looking digital media strategies must include cloud-based services in addition to traditional intranet and internet-based solutions. Avid’s Integrated Media Enterprise (IME) framework provides a blueprint for organizations to confidently embark on this journey and take full advantage of the opportunities presented by cloud computing – now.” | <urn:uuid:53325ae6-5e8c-4b34-91a9-d43ecbf507b0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dcinematools.com/-ware/the-future-holds/1643-superb-future-technology-article.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930907 | 2,090 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Rescue Homeless Garfield Park Conservatory Plants
WHAT: Help rescue a homeless plant and take home a piece of living history from the Garfield Park Conservatory, all while donating to help rebuild the damaged facility.
WHO: Those looking to adopt can choose from tropical trees and plants, succulents, and perennials are looking for a good home.
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 22 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. (or until all plants are sold)
WHERE: Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave.
*Near Garfield Market Place, located just north of Conservatory Entrance
MORE: Many of plants that would have been stored in the currently damaged propagation houses need new homes. Since the hail storm damage occurred to the 103 year old facility on June 30th, these plants have been able to live outside during the summer. As normal fall temperatures begin to drop, these plants will be at risk. They are in dire need of a loving home!
Average cost of plants will be under $10, with some larger tropical plants priced higher. Additional donations welcome. All proceeds from this sale will go toward benefiting the Garfield Park Conservatory renovation.
Master Gardeners will be on hand to help answer plant care questions. | <urn:uuid:b38d5151-f313-4197-b217-ebaf6d9d1034> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/rescue-homeless-garfield-park-conservatory-plants/?Archive=y&pg=4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938987 | 259 | 1.8125 | 2 |
China's online games market grew 32 percent in 2011, says study
Pearl Research estimates the online games market at $9.2 billion by 2014
China's rapid expansion into the global market has been felt around the world, and while China does not open its borders to foreign consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360, social gaming and MMORPGs have made a huge impact on the culture of the online marketplace. Pearl Research now estimates that in 2011, China's gaming business jumped 32% overall to reach a value of $6.6 billion.
Pearl, who looked into MMORPGs, casual, social and web-based games, says that their latest study was able to break down the emerging trends in the market, attributing much of the success to companies like Tencent, Netease, Shanda Games, Changyou and Perfect World. Those five companies alone accounted for over $5.3 billion. Tencent was the market leader, posting over $1 billion in revenues for 2011.
Overall, the market is expected to continue with rapid expansion, Pearl suggests in their full study that the industry as a whole will grow to over $9.2 billion by the end of 2014, continued to be fueled by popular MMORPGs and social-based titles.
Chinese gamers seem to fancy smaller titles, as a shift in smaller browser games and mobile titles are making a huge impact on the landscape. Overall, more than $800 million in revenues were had from web-based titles that could be played in a browser. Of those games, over 60 percent were in the RPG genre. The most popular title, with over 800,000 concurrent users, is Tencent's Qi Xiong Zheng Ba. | <urn:uuid:742237f2-400f-48be-8040-3afe358e1014> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-03-28-chinese-gaming-market-grew-32-percent-overall-in-2011-says-study | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969585 | 348 | 1.585938 | 2 |
To know the wind and weather will make the salmon
spring; To know the spot of heather that hides the strongest wing; To
tell the moon's compliance with hail, rain, wind and snow; Hat ha! this
is the science of Roger Goodfellow.—Noctes
THE close association of grouse with the Heather
will afford, it is hoped, ample apology for the introduction of the
The existence of grouse among the Heather, and the
service rendered by the plant to the birds, attracted the attention of
the early historians of Scotland. Bellenden, in his translation of Boece,
writes: "In Scotland ar mony mure cokis and hennis quhilk etis nocht bot
seid, or croppis of hadder."
This statement is reflected in the following:
Within the fabric rude
Or e'er the moon waxes to the full,
The assiduous dame the spotted spheroid sees
And feels beneath her heart, fluttering with joy.
Not long she sits,
till with redoubled joy
Around her she beholds an active brood
Run to and fro, or through her covering wings
Their downy heads look out: and much she loves
To pluck the Heather
crop, not for herself,
But for their little bills. Thus, by degrees,
She teaches them to
find food which God
Has spread for them in desert wild.
And seeming barrenness.
Grouse were usually taken by hawking and netting
until shooting flying was introduced, which is said by Fosbroke to have
been in 1725.
Grouse, says St. John, generally make their nest
in pL high tuft of Heather. "The eggs are peculiarly beautiful and
gamelike, of a rich brown color, spotted closely with black. Although in
some peculiarly early seasons the young birds are full grown by the 12th
of August, in general five birds out of six which are killed on that day
are only half come to their strength and beauty. The 20th of the month
would be a much better day on which to commence their legal persecution.
In October there is not a more beautiful bird in our island; and in
January, a cock grouse is one of the most superb fellows in the world,
as he struts about fearlessly with his mate, his bright red comb erected
above his eyes, and his rich dark brown plumage shining in the sun.
Unluckily they are more easily killed at this time of the year than at
any other; and I have been assured that a ready market is found for
them, not only in January, but to the end of February, though in fine
seasons they begin to nest very early in March. Hardy must the grouse
be, and prolific beyond calculation, to supply the numbers that are
killed legally and illegally."
Another writer gives the following description of
the black grouse: "Although a forest-haunting bird, frequenting pine
woods and the shrubby glens of mountain ranges, the black grouse does
not confine itself to such locations, but visits the sides of the
heath-clad hills, or the wide, open moorland, where the bilberry plant
abounds, and also makes incursions into cultivated tracts for the
purpose of feeding upon the grain of oats, or rye, or often upon the
blades of corn.
"During autumn and winter the males, having laid
aside their mutual animosity, associate together in small flocks, apart
from the females; but in the spring they separate, and each chooses and
maintains his own exclusive territory. Here he calls the females around
him, but these soon wander away in search of sites for incubation,
where, unassisted, they rear their brood. The eggs vary from six to ten
in number. The young males are clothed in the garb of the females till
the autumnal months, when they acquire the glossy black plumage of their
own sex, with whom they associate till the ensuing spring.
"During the winter, when the snow is deep, the
black grouse feeds upon the tops and buds of the birch and alder, and
also upon the young and tender shoots of the fir and pine, as well as of
the tall heath.
"The red grouse, according to ornithologists, is
confined exclusively to the British Isles. As a rule, it may be said
that wherever in extensive hilly moorlands the Ling or Heather prevails,
there, unless driven from its asylums, the red grouse will be found in
more or less abundance.
"They pair in January and breed in March. The
nest, if we may so call it, is composed of twigs of Heather, wiry
moorland grass, often cotton grass intermixed with a few feathers or a
little coarse sheep's wool. Sometimes the nest is placed under a deep
covert of Heather; but we have seen it amid bilberry bushes; in patches
of cotton grass; and, occasionally, in depressions surrounded by low
herbage, such as wild thyme, etc., midway on the mountain side."
The industry of the birds, if it can be so termed,
is thus quaintly pictured by Wm. Black in "White Heather":
Ronald Strang, in conversation with Carry Hodson,
"There are six—seven—blackcocks; do ye see them ?"
"Oh.. yes. What handsome birds they are!" she
said, with a curious sense of relief.
"Ay," said he, "the lads are very friendly amongst
themselves just now; but soon there will be wars and rumors of wars when
they begin to set up house each for himself. There will be many a
pitched battle on those knolls there. Handsome? Ay, they're handsome
enough; but handsome is as handsome does. The blackcock is not nearly as
good a fellow as the grouse-cock, that stays with his family and
protects 'them, and gives them the first warning if there's danger.
These rascals there wander off by themselves and leave their wives and
children to get on as they can. They're handsome, but they're ne'er-do-weeIs.
There's one thing: the villain has a price put on his head; for a man
would rather bring down one old cock thumping on the grass than fill his
bag with gray hens."
Grouse shooting in Scotland and other parts of
Great Britain has long been classed among the most enjoyable of sports.
It commences on August 12, ending on the 10th of December, and so great
is its hold on British lawgivers that it has been facetiously remarked
that "the grouse season rules the Parliamentary recess," although
Professor Blackie, with equal facetiousness, has told us: "A London
brewer shoots the grouse. A lordling stalks the deer." And, as the poet
Who treads on the heather will ne'er feel the
Though to health he has been a wild sinner;
Nor die of a
surfeit, though after a bout
With some chief at a true Highland
It has been recorded that the total sporting
capital of Scotland is estimated at about Ł12,000,000 sterling. The
sporting rental of the shire of Inverness alone is estimated at L5o,000
a year, in calculating the rental of a moor, and this allows a guinea
for every brace of grouse shot on it. Or, as another writer puts it:
"'The Heather is cheap enough,' we are sometimes told; 'it ranges from
about seven pence to eighteen pence an acre;' but the extras amount up
to a tidy sum before the season closes. * * * No good shooting with a
comfortable residence upon it can be obtained much under two hundred and
fifty pounds for the season; but the expenses concomitant largely
augment that sum."
The Rev. Hugh Macmillan thus pictures the
associations of the sport: "The fresh, exhilarating air of the hills,
laden with the all-pervading perfume of the heather bells; the
magnificent prospect of hill and valley stretching around; the blue
serenity of the autumnal sky; the carpet of flowering Heather glowing
for miles on every side, and so elastic to the tread: the vastness and
profundity of the solitude; as well as the strange and unfamiliar sights
and sounds of the scene—all these appeal to that poetical spiritual
faculty which is latent even in the most prosaic statistician of St.
The diseases of the grouse and their causes have
long given concern to the ardent sportsman; and the matter has been
frequently discussed. About half a century ago several contributions on
the subject appeared in "Chambers' Journal." One writer remarked: "It
would seem from a series of articles that sheep are in excess, which is
very naturally the case now in Scotland on many moors. The Heather must
be burned to a great extent to make room for them and to produce fresh
food, which is depriving grouse of shelter. In the next place, as sheep
are perpetually in motion, they constantly disturb the ground, and in
the breeding season unquestionably destroy the nests, and in the autumn
they are dressed with an ointment composed of butter, tar and mercury.
The question then arises as to whether the dressing so far affects the
constitution of the sheep for a time that the soil and herbage are
influenced thereby so as to be prejudicial to grouse."
Another writer, in the same journal, says: "Let
Scotland return to its natural state, as I found it in 1832, and feed on
its grouse portions the Highland black-faced sheep in place of its
foreign usurper, the white-faced Cheviot. The black-faced requires less
care, less burning of the Heather, less gathering and driving, less
grease and tar, stains the ground less. travels less in bodies, and with
its quick eye and light, careful tread, respects the nest and eggs of
its native companion."
Colonel Whyte, an authority, remarks: "The place
the grouse loves to feed on is knolly ground, with the young, short
Heather sprouting up; and this is precisely the spot which the sheep
selects for his nightly resting place. Can we wonder, then, at the
livers of grouse being diseased, feeding, as the birds do, on Heather
besmeared with mercury?"
"The diseases of the grouse," says an authority,
"a contagious epidemic like cholera, scarlet fever or measles; bad
Heather; the consequences of overstocking unwholesome food; atmospheric
influences; tape worms dropped from sheep in embryo form and taken up by
the grouse in their food; and liver complaint. Disease proceeded from
lead poisoning, caused by the grouse eating shot. Shot, by oxidation,
becomes the color of whortleberries; it is thought that the grouse
picked them up in mistake for these berries.
"The most wholesome food for the grouse are the
young and tender shoots of the Heather. Old, rank Heather, and decayed
fibers, lack the conditions requisite for a healthy condition of grouse,
and are not duly assimilated in the system of the bird; disease of the
liver, from the results of which they speedily die. When there is not a
sufficiency of young Heather for the grouse to feed upon they will take
other food which does not agree with them. Scottish Heather, again, is
of great importance for the nests of the grouse. Grouse never hatch in
long Heather if they can avoid it; nor do they lie in it. Nests are
rarely found in Heather of more than a foot in length. When amid close,
rank heath, the young birds eat the decayed fibers and die of
indigestion. They are also liable to disease from the damp, unhealthy
position when they leave the nests."
Those who have eaten this feathered product of the
Scottish mountains and moors will readily indorse Voltaire's following
characterization: "L'oiseau du Phase et le coq de brujčre de vingt
ragôuts I' appret delicieau charment Ic nez, le palais, et les yeuz."
The following description of "How to Eat Grouse"
is by the famous French chef, M. Soyer: "There is a wonderful gout in
your bird of the Heather which baffles me; it is so subtle that I fail
to analyze it. It is, of course, there, because of the food that it
eats, the tender, young shoots of your beautiful heath; but it is
curious, sir, that in some years these birds are better than in others.
Once in about six seasons your grouse is surpassingly charming to the
palate; the bitter of the backbone is heavenly, and the meat on the
fleshy part of short and of exquisite flavor; but for common I feel no
difference. In all other years the best is mediocre, and not any
attentions of my art will improve it. In such years I leave it alone;
but in the years of its perfection I do eat one bird daily, roasted, and
with nothing—no bread sauce, no crumbs, no chips—no, nothing, except a
crust of bread to occasionally change my palate. Ah, sir, grouse, to be
well enjoyed, should be eaten in secret; and take my experience as your
guide: Don't let the bird you eat be raw and bloody, but well roasted;
and drink with it, at intervals, a little sweet champagne. Never mind
your knife and fork; suck the bones, and dwell upon them. Take plenty of
time. That is the true way to enjoy a game bird."
The love of the Professor, as portrayed in Notes,
for the royal sport is well known, a love not wholly shared in by the
more poetic and sensitive Shepherd, who thus addressed some unfortunate
victims of the Professor's skill with the rifle: "The bonny gray hens. I
could kneel down on the floor and kiss ye, and gather ye up in my airms
and press ye to my heart till the feel o' your feathers filled my veins
wi' love and pity, and I grat to think that never rnair would the hill
fairies welcome the gleam o' your plumage risin' up in the morning licht
amang the green plots on the sloping sward that, dipping down into the
valley, retains here and there, as though loth to lose them, a few small
stray sprinklings of the Heather bells."
The Gaelic term for the male bird is
Coileachfraoch, i. e., heather cock; and for the female Cearcfraoch, i.
e., heather hen.
The cry of the grouse sounds like the words, "go,
go, go, go back, go-o back!" But Mr. McGillwray (British Birds, I., p.
181) says "that the Celts, naturally imagining the moor-cock to speak
Gaelic, interpret it as signifying, "co, co, co, co, mo-chlaidh, mo-chlaidh
1" i. e., "Who, who, who, who (goes there?), my sword, my sword!"
Mr. Campbell, in his "West Highland Tales" (I., p.
227), explains it thus: "This is what the hen says: 'Faic thus—a'm la
ud's'n la ud eile.' And the cock, with his deeper voice, replies: 'Faic
thus— an cnoc ud s'n cnoc ud eile.' 'See thou yonder day, and yon other
day,' 'See thou yonder hill, and yon other hill.'
occasionally furnished inspiration for Burns, as in the following:
Now westlin' winds and slaughtering guns
autumn's pleasant weather;
The moorcock springs, on whirring wings
Among the blooming heather.
Again, in that feeling composition where he calls
on his feathered friends to mourn the demise of Captain Matthew
Henderson, "a gentleman who held the patent for his honors immediately
from Almighty God,"
Mourn, ye wee songsters o' the wood;
that crap the heather bud,
Ye curlews calling thro' the dud;
And mourn ye whirring paitrick brood; | <urn:uuid:eba9a9a6-8fba-48e7-aa21-b70759ba635e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.electricscotland.com/gardening/heather29.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941563 | 3,651 | 3.34375 | 3 |
20 Questions About the GMAT
What to know about the GMAT before taking it. Facts and fables about the most important test you'll ever take.
Thanks to the Internet, you can learn almost anything you want about the GMAT without ever leaving home. Much of what you'll read, however, is wrong.
The Web is full of GMAT misinformation and paranoia: "Is it really true that people who take the test stoned score higher? Will I get fingerprinted at the test center? Are other people cheating while I'm not?"
Don't laugh; these are real questions I've seen posted on the Internet. (The correct answers are: sometimes, no and yes—in that order.)
Let's tackle some of the common GMAT myths and misconceptions.
1. What if I take the test more than once? Will schools average my scores? No. I'm not aware of a single school that still averages GMAT scores. Back in the day, policies varied from program to program, but then one year everything changed. Suddenly the schools all agreed to unify their practice. Now virtually all of them accept only your highest score.
2. What about the math and verbal sub-scores? Do schools use them? Yes. In fact, your math sub-score is critically important. Admissions officers are terrified of admitting candidates who will bomb out because they can't handle the math-intensive courses. So getting an acceptable math score is important. The verbal sub-score isn't quite as critical, and applicants who speak English as a second language are often given extra leeway for low verbal scores.
3. What about the AWA score—the essay? Do schools use it? Almost never. Adding the essay to the GMAT has been a total failure.
4. If the essays are so unimportant, is it okay to skip them? Definitely not. It's true that schools place virtually no weight on your AWA score when making the admissions decision, but ignoring the essays completely—as some unwise test takers have done—makes the applicant look lazy. Write the essays. If nothing else, it's a good way to warm up for the two parts of the exam that matter dearly.
5. Is it easier to improve in math or verbal? Most GMAT prep students who take a class improve more in math than they do in verbal. The concepts in math are more concrete and the answer choices are less ambiguous.
6. What is an acceptable GMAT score? It varies from school to school and candidate to candidate. Applicants from overrepresented work backgrounds—such as banking or consulting—need higher GMAT scores, while candidates from underrepresented work backgrounds can be admitted with significantly lower numbers. Regardless of a candidate's work background, however, being admitted to a top-tier program with a score below 600 is almost impossible.
7. How much can I improve on the GMAT? The GMAT curriculum can be mastered completely. The people who write the exam aren't robots with superhuman brain power. They're ordinary worker bees who follow prescribed formulas to write predictable test questions. Because I've studied the test for so long, I know every concept that appears on the exam. If I can master it, you can master it.
8. What do you score on the GMAT? 800.
9. What is your personal favorite section and least favorite section of the GMAT? Favorite is data sufficiency (lot's of cool techniques to apply), and least favorite is reading comp (too many boring passages about how flies mate).
10. What are your suggestions for how to improve the GMAT? More vividly detailed reading passages about how humans mate.
11. When should I take the test? At least 31 days before your first application deadline. There is now a 30-day waiting period between test administrations for people who want to take the test more than once. Schedule your test early enough to take it multiple times and still make your deadline.
12. Any suggestions for test day? Arrive super early. Sneak Skittles in your shirt pocket. Go commando.
13. Should I use GMASS, the Graduate Management Admissions Search Service? Yes, checking the GMASS box at MBA.com or on your computer on test day will allow schools to recruit you based on your GMAT score and self-reported GPA.
14. Should I elect to send my scores every time I take the test? Yes. The fee you pay to take the exam includes sending your scores to five schools. Beyond that, you can send scores to more programs at a cost of $25 per school. (Outrageous.) There is no advantage in holding off on sending your GMAT transcript until you get the score you wants. Schools will use only your highest score anyway, so don't wait until you've taken the test many times and then be forced to pay $25 per school. Send your scores with every test.
15. Does the GMAT 'measure' anything? Apparently not. No one claims that the GMAT is an intelligence test or that it measures any kind of aptitude or potential. In fact, the Graduate Management Admissions Counsel is so lawyered up on this issue that it invests more energy clarifying what the test doesn't do than explaining what it does. The only justification ever given for administering the test is that there is a slight correlation (median correlation = 0.51) between GMAT scores and first-year grades in business school. (Shockingly, the study conducted to find that modest correlation was paid for and conducted by the very people who write the test.) There is apparently no correlation whatsoever between a student's GMAT score and his or her second-year grades. Go figure.
16. They take my picture at the test center as part of the security process. Is it true that schools can pull up that picture on the Internet? Yep, and they often do. That "security" picture is made available to schools (for some stupid reason), so don't be caught wearing your "Legalize It!" T-shirt and flipping off the camera.
17. What is the average GMAT score? In the 2008-2009 test-taking cycle, the worldwide average was 539.
18. What's the gender breakdown among GMAT test takers? 60% male; 40% female
19. Which undergrad majors score highest and lowest on the GMAT? Physics (606); Education (485)
20. Which U.S. states have the highest and the lowest average GMAT scores? The highest isn't a state at all, it's the District of Columbia (593). The lowest is Mississippi (441).Next: GMAT Sentence Correction >
75 minutes of math; 75 minutes of verbal; 2 essays
That's all that stands between you and 21 months in Palo Alto.
- GMAT Homepage
- 20 Questions About the GMAT
- GMAT Strategy
- GMAT Structure
- Sentence Correction
- Critical Reasoning
- Reading Comprehension
- Problem Solving
- Data Sufficiency
- GMAT Non-Standard Test Accommodations
Links to the official GMAT Web site.
First download the GMAT Information Bulletin, then schedule your exam.
Some Advice: OK, I'm clearly biased because I teach the GMAT exam, but take a GMAT prep class. If nothing else, sitting in a classroom with other test takers will motivate you to study harder. | <urn:uuid:cfa413b5-87c1-47d6-8516-d86f4574eec9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mbaapplicant.com/gmat_20_questions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950197 | 1,541 | 1.773438 | 2 |
For the hiring process to be effective, you must lay the groundwork before you place your first job posting. Unfortunately, as work piles up, it's tempting to put the planning process aside in favor of filling the position.
But it's hard to hire the right IT specialist if you haven't defined specifically the combination of technical skills, hands-on experience and industry knowledge you need. You're not just trying to fill a job; you're looking for someone who can add value, enhance your bottom line and advance the objectives of the organization. By hiring simply to close a vacancy rather than strategically satisfy the needs and requirements of your firm or department, you run the risk of selecting the wrong person. To avoid this costly mistake, consider the following guidelines.
Forecast your Workload. This is the cornerstone of a strategic approach to staffing. Based on current activity levels and foreseeable business in the future, what do you anticipate your firm or department's workload to be? This step will help you decide which type of technology employee is required - full-time, part-time or contract—or whether you even need a new hire at all.
Evaluate current personnel resources. Which key technical skills do you have on staff and which are you lacking? Are your employees' talents being fully utilized, or is there room to promote from within?
Create a job description. This is a brief but important document that provides a snapshot of the job and serves as a basis for hiring criteria. A well-written job description should include the following:
Title—explains the type of professional you're hiring (e.g., "senior manager," "help desk technician," "programmer)
Primary responsibilities—outlines the main duties of the position
Secondary responsibilities—describes periodic, rather than daily, duties (e.g., "train new staff members)
Core competencies—highlights the skills and attributes required to perform the job
Experience required—specifies types and amount of experience; for example, does the job candidate need to be familiar with a particular technology (e.g., "possess an MSCE certification" or have a minimum number of years' experience in the field)
Compensation—includes starting salary and basic benefits such as health or life insurance, 401(k) plans, paid vacation, life insurance, etc.; also, determine if the package you're offering is competitive
Preferred educational background—such as degrees, certifications and other credentials; be careful not to turn this item into a "deal-breaker" later in the hiring process - degrees and certifications can be a useful screening device, but their absence should not prevent you from hiring an otherwise qualified, experience prospect
By ensuring you're on the right track in terms of the skills you're seeking before beginning the hiring process, you strengthen your chances of finding the best IT talent.
Reprinted by permission from Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis. Robert Half Technology has more than 100 locations in North America, South America, Asia and Europe, and offers online job search services at http://www.rht.com.
Only registered users can write comments. Please login or register. | <urn:uuid:6f56732f-6673-4424-8351-688ac50ceae8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ciozone.com/index.php/Career/Recruiting-IT-Staff-How-To-Assess-Your-Needs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927832 | 660 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Authority, responsibility, sacrifice, discipline, duty, restraint: we no longer know how to value the qualities of adulthood. The very words are ugly to us. We reject them, because we know, deep down, that we aren’t equipped for them. Instead we worship our own ancestors, the so-called “Greatest Generation” (a phrase that didn’t exist until Tom Brokaw invented it in 1998). Assenting to that myth, we sentence ourselves to permanent childhood. To being, precisely, descendants.
William Deresiewicz juxtaposes the plight of the modern American child with the plot of The Descendants. Read. | <urn:uuid:bd881802-6058-462a-8f6e-7f5f80989457> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theamericanscholar.tumblr.com/tagged/cultural-criticism | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911212 | 136 | 2 | 2 |
Germanic mythology is a comprehensive term for Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology and other versions of the mythologies of the Germanic peoples. Since Norse mythology is the best known version of, and a source of knowledge for Germanic mythology, the two terms are usually interchangeable, but are not the same mythology. It is a common misconception. The close similarities in these mythologies are due to their being derived from a common Proto-Germanic mythology, dating roughly to the last few centuries BC, in turn ultimately derived from Indo-European mythology, but also due to the persistent cultural contact between the various tribes and peoples.
Most sources have been lost, and it is only from Iceland that there is a substantial literature. The Frankish emperor Charlemagne is said to have made a substantial collection of Germanic pre-Christian writings, which was deliberately destroyed after his death. Some information is found in the Nibelungenlied, and in Beowulf. Limited information also exists in the Germania of Tacitus.
Unfortunately, even less is known about mythology or religion of the East Germanic peoples, separated from the remaining Germanic tribes during the Migration period. Such knowledge would be suited to distinguish Proto-Germanic elements from later developments present in both North and West Germanic.
There are certain differences between the mythology of the North Germanic Scandinavian people as it has come down to us and what is known about the West Germanic mythology:
- In Scandinavia, Frigg and Freya were two different, but clearly related, goddesses, whereas they seem to have been one and the same in the other Germanic mythologies. In Norse mythology there are certain vestiges of an early stage where they were one and the same, e.g. Odr/Odin, their shamanistic skills and Freya/Frigga's infidelity. See Frige.
- In Anglo-Saxon mythology, we find the goddess Eostre who does not appear in Norse mythology.
- In the Merseburger formulae appear a Sinthgunt who is a sister of the sun's (Sol). She is not known by name in Norse mythology, and if she refers to the moon, she is then different from the male moon (Mani) of Scandinavian mythology.
- In the present day Netherlands a pre-Germanic goddess named Nehalennia was worshiped.
See also :
- Blockhead Hans
- Frau Welt
- Gingerbread Man
- The Glutton of Rodeneck (Austria)
- How Falkenstein Castle Got Its Name
- The Little Gray Man
- The Pierced Armor of the Castle of Eltz
- Saint Boniface
- Salzburger Schiachperchten
- The Silver Fir Cones
- Thor's Oak
- Weisse Frau
- Weyland (Saxon) | <urn:uuid:7ff69ddc-3ba6-4435-aaed-b6445a3b0e23> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://enc.slider.com/Enc/Germanic_mythology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951733 | 597 | 3.390625 | 3 |
U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
DOE Announces $10.5 Million for Small Business Research and Development in Clean Energy Technologies
February 22, 2013
The Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy recently announced 70 grants totaling $10.5 million to small businesses to develop technologies with a strong potential for commercialization and job creation. These awards will help small businesses with promising ideas for clean energy solutions that could improve manufacturing processes, boost the efficiency of buildings, reduce reliance on foreign oil, and generate electricity from renewable sources.
Funded through DOE's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, the awards included three projects that will explore concepts for improving the performance and reducing the costs of land-based and offshore wind technologies.
Boulder Nonlinear Systems, Inc., in Lafayette Colorado, will develop a compact, low-power wind sensor to monitor offshore winds and optimize wind power.
Hyper Tech Research, Inc., in Columbus Ohio, is developing a lightweight 5 MW to 6MW superconducting wind turbine generator that is easily transportable.
Wetzel Engineering, Inc., in Lawrence, Kansas, will research the development of field-assembled, component-based rotor blades that will avoid the expense and logistical challenges of transporting very large blades.
Read the full story.
View the list of awards. | <urn:uuid:54d6293b-33dc-4fa1-b9d1-7616cdadbd8a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www1.eere.energy.gov/wind/printable_versions/news_detail.html?news_id=19040 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901821 | 287 | 1.929688 | 2 |
I just finished writing a book chapter on the World Geography of Scuba Diving for a book that a friend is putting together on recreation dive tourism. One of the things that I did for that chapter was to look at 15 online lists of "the top ten dive sites in the world".
|Taken at Pulau Sapi (Sapi Island) very close to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.|
Here is my list of the World's Top 10 Dive Destinations that comes from my combining 15 lists created by other people. (A longer version of this list will appear in the book when it comes out.)
COUNTRY (REGION) -LISTINGS- DIVE DESTINATIONS
1) Australia (S Pacific) -10- Great Barrier Reef, Heron Island
1) Indonesia (SE Asia) -10- Sulawesi, Raja Ampat
1) Mexico (M America) -10- Baja California, Riviera Maya and Cozumel
1) Thailand (SE Asia) -10- Koh Tao Island, Phuket Island
5) Malaysia (SE Asia) -9- Sipadan Island, Mabul Island
5) Egypt (Africa/M East) -9- Ras Mohammed Nat. Park, Red Sea (south)
7) Belize (M America) -8- Barrier Reef Reserve, Great Blue Hole
8) Fiji (S Pacific) -7-
9) Ecuador (S America) -6- Galapagos Islands
10) USA - Hawaii (C Pacific) -5- Kona Coast
10) Maldives (Indian Ocean) -5-
10) Micronesia, F.S (S Pacific) -5- Chuuk (Truk) Lagoon
OK. So my list is more than 10, due to so many ties. But let me explain it.
The top four countries that tied for first place were each listed on 10 of the 15 lists that I looked at. No country appeared on more than 10 of the lists, indicating how variable these lists are. Malaysia, which is where I am currently living, appeared on 9 of the lists, as did Egypt.
To the right of the listings number are any specific sites that might have been mentioned more than once. Lists tend to combine countries (like the Maldives and Fiji) and destinations (such as the Kona Coast or Sipidan). My list is based on countries. Dive destinations are shown only if they appeared on two different lists or more. So Maui, which appeared on only one of the 15 lists, did not make it onto the list above.
|I took this photo of a pregnant pygmy seahorse at Lembeh Strait, near Manado on Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.|
Personally, even though I included top dive destinations from both the US and UK, I think the results are a bit biased. Based on other data I used for the book chapter, I believe that Australia, Indonesia, Mexico and Belize may be ranked a little too high and Pacific Island countries area little too low.
Australia, Indonesia and Mexico are all far larger in land area and coastlines than any of the other countries on this top ten list. (The mainland US and Canada were in the top 25, but not the top 10.) This gives them an advantage in that they have many more dive sites, as well as dive sites from widely different parts of their country. Mexico and Belize are boosted by their close proximity to the very large US diver market, which puts them on more top dive lists than they otherwise might be. On the other hand, the Pacific island countries may be a bit lower because they are so remote from both North America and Europe (the second largest dive market). Many, but not all, of the top 10 dive spot lists are written for specific diver markets, such as the US, the UK or Australia.
In addition, I doubt that very many Americans get to Egypt's Red Sea to dive, as I almost never see it in articles or advertisements in the dive magazines in the US. However, it still ranked quite high on this list. I believe that this is because it is such an important dive destinations for the UK and Europe in general. The Red Sea is the closest tropical-like coral reef destination for Europe.
All of these destinations are in warm water regions of the world. Europe does not appear at all, not even on the full list of 25 countries that I ended up with. Colder water dive sites, in general, only occasionally appear on top 10 diving lists that I reviewed. I wonder why? ;-)
I have personally dived at five of the places on this list, and snorkeled at one more of them. One of the problems is that any one dive spot, no matter how fantastic it is, may not be that great on the day that you are there due to water and weather conditions. Thus, my one day diving experience at the Great Barrier Reef was not very memorable, in part because a large cyclone a couple of months earlier had covered a lot of the coral with muck.
Still, I love scuba diving, and I love the Asia-Pacific region -- and I now have a (growing) list of places that I need to visit!!!
|You can read how I got lost on my last dive just last week at : | | <urn:uuid:488d0e54-b882-455a-98a2-55f3e9f18b33> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tourismplace.blogspot.com/2012/04/top-10-dive-destinations-in-world.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944864 | 1,117 | 1.625 | 2 |
The International Headache Society lists the most common symptoms of migraine in a document titled ICHD-2, which is commonly used for diagnosis of migraine headaches. Depending on which symptoms show and in which phase of life they occur primarily, there are seven different types of migraine headaches.
Approximately 40-60% of all migraines begin with prodromes several days before the actual migraine attack begins. The prodrome describes a phase beginning prior to the actual condition, normally consisting of atypical symptoms. Migraine patients tend to develop unusual moods, ranging from deep depression over irritability to euphoria. Frequent yawning can be part of the prodrome, too.
The aura is one of the most well-known symptoms of migraine and is usually recognised even by patients who never suffered from migraine headaches before. However it occurs rather rarely, in face 20-30% of all migraine attacks begin with an aura. They develop across a timeline of 5-20 minutes and generally do not last longer then 60 minutes – if they happen to do so, a chronic migraine is probable. These auras are perceived differently by nearly all patients: Some experience an enhancement of vision with only few visual disturbances, such as prominent zigzag patterns, while others suffer from utterly blurred vision and lose awareness of local structures. This kind of aura is characterised by certain spots of the pucture blurring significantly. In some cases, images totally lose all contours or a one-sided loss of perception occurs. This can be frightening for the patient and will cause extreme nervousness. Most patients, however, experience the aura as dashing white and black lights.
The post-aura phase is the headache. It is characterised by unilateral, throbbing, severe pain and commences one the aura ends. In some cases, aura and headache are merged into overlapping phases. Adults tend to suffer from headaches between 4-72 hours, while children’s headaches ought to last no longer than 1-48 hours. Unless the headaches cease before the deadline, the migraine attack is considered chronic and ought to be introduced to a doctor.
Following the headache the postdrome commences, which is the final phase of the migraine. Many sufferers report impaired thinking a few days after the headaches came to an end, some experience soreness in the painful part of the head. Some develop cognitive deficiencies, gastrointestinal symptoms, fatigue, weakness, and mood changes. Several patients feel either euphoric or deeply depressed before life goes on as usual. | <urn:uuid:725c4f06-e3cb-4024-8795-3dde99a6e691> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.my-migraine.com/migraine-symptoms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923092 | 511 | 3.25 | 3 |
Trailrunner7 writes "Researchers are fairly confident now that whoever wrote the Duqu malware was also involved in developing the Stuxnet worm. They're also confident that they have not yet identified all of the individual components of Duqu, meaning that there are potentially some other capabilities that haven't been documented yet. There was a lot of speculation when Duqu first emerged about whether the attack was the work of the same group--still unknown--that had created Stuxnet and unleashed it on Iran's nuclear facilities last year. Some of that was centered on supposed similarities in the code between the two pieces of malware, but that was before many of the individual components of Duqu had been identified and analyzed. Now that the analysis and research into the Duqu malware have advanced a bit, researchers say they've found more evidence that points to the malware being the work of the Stuxnet authors or their close associates. 'I'm convinced it's the same group,' Costin Raiu, director of global research and analysis at Kaspersky Lab, who has done much of the analysis of Duqu, said." | <urn:uuid:6952087c-0482-463d-893f-8fc25b3f999d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/11/16/1810231/experts-convinced-duqu-work-of-stuxnet-authors?sdsrc=rel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983651 | 224 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Moot Hall at Keswick Tourist Information Centre
The history of the Moot Hall is sketchy, but there are reports of a significant building on the site as early as 1571. The current building was erected in 1813, and since then has served as a courthouse, a prison, a museum, a town hall and even a butter and fruit market! The famous one-handed clock can be seen above the west end of the hall. The building is now home to Keswick’s Tourist Information Centre.
ContactSenior Information Advisor
email a friend
VenueKeswick Tourist Information Centre
Market Square, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5JR
Map reference: NY 266234 Lat: 54.60043 Long: -3.13767 | <urn:uuid:95029671-71e4-4a6e-bf77-01da8131b316> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.golakes.co.uk/thedms.aspx?dms=13&nearby=1&feature=4&GroupId=1&venue=5050551&easi=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914076 | 161 | 2.21875 | 2 |
In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Althorp like this:
ALTHORP, an extra-parochial tract in Brixworth district, Northamptonshire; contiguous to Brington parish, 6 miles NW of Northampton. Pop., 78. Houses, 10. It gives the title of Viscount to Earl Spencer; and Althorp Park here is the Earl's seat. "The domain of Althorp," says Dibdin, "has been possessed by the Spencer family upwards of three centuries; but the exact period of the erection of the house seems to be unknown. There is, however, no question of its having received its principal improvements during the time of the first Earl of Sunderland (1636-1643), who was the son of the second Baron Spencer. ...
The lady of this earl (danghter of Robert Sidney, second earl of Leicester, and better known as the Sacharissa of Waller the poet,) erected and covered in the great staircase, which had been formerly an interior courtyard, in the fashion of the times. From that period to the present, both the house and park have continued to receive improvements. The family of the Spencers became possessed of the park at Althorp about the year 1512. This originated in a license from the king to John Spencer, afterwards Sir John Spencer. At that time the park is described as containing 300 acres of land, 100 acres of wood, and 40 acres of water in 'Oldthorpe;' but this seems to have been only an extension of some property previously acquired there, for it is certain that Althorp, so called, was purchased by this Sir John Spencer as early as the year 1508." The great attraction of Althorp House is its noble library, which Dibdin says is the finest collection of books perhaps in Europe. "It occupies a suite of rooms, four in number, and measuring in the whole about 170 feet in length. These are garnished from top to toe with the choicest copies of the choicest editions of the choicest authors in the choicest bindings." The collection of pictures also is very rich. The queen and son of James I., when on their journey from Scotland to London in 1603, rested some days at Althorp; and a mask, composed by Ben Jonson, was exhibited for their entertainment.
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Althorp has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Daventry. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Althorp and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Althorp, in Daventry and Northamptonshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
Date accessed: 23rd May 2013
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Althorp". | <urn:uuid:6ffef205-30a4-4035-94ec-739a15d6fa1d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/place_page.jsp?p_id=7515 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970254 | 651 | 2.28125 | 2 |
Last week, a reader posed the question, how can you help a puppy “that has had a traumatic experience during a fear imprint stage?”
It will depend on the puppy’s genetic predispositions and how traumatic the event was from the puppy’s perspective. My impression from my clinical practice is that many dogs who are exposed to a traumatic event early in life are not permanently scarred. This leads me to believe that many dogs who do succumb to a fear or phobia because of a traumatic event are most likely hereditarily predisposed to this type of emotional behavior. Nonetheless, we don’t have any concrete evidence to prove that point at this time.
What constitutes a traumatic event? It could be something as simple as prolonged separation from you, her owner. It could be a surgery, a bite from another dog, or a frightening encounter with a child. The trauma is in the eye of your puppy. The best way to understand the puppy’s perception of what happened is to read her body language. If she displays fearful body language, she could well be traumatized by the experience.
Observe how long it takes for her to recover from the trauma. If she has recovered immediately as the stimulus (person, animal, or thing) has backed off or disappeared, she is likely not traumatized by the situation. If she is trembling 10 minutes afterward, reacts extremely when back in the same situation, or displays fear when she is exposed to the environment where she was initially scared without the actual stimulus present, that experience has caused her trauma and her future behavior will most likely be shaped by it.
So, what to do?
Take it slow.
Forcing her to be in environments and with stimuli that scare her without control over those stimuli will not make her better. It will make her worse.
Make a list of what frightens your dog. Include locations and stimuli. You should work through each of those stimuli methodically.
Find your dog’s currency.
Use what your dog loves most to encourage and reward bravery.
Expose her to what frightens her at a level at which she is not scared. Then, as she succeeds at that level, you can increase the level of the stimulus to increase her threshold or tolerance for the scary thing. Don’t move the stimulus closer until she is completely successful at a lower level.
Pair something great with the scary stimulus. Take something you know that she loves and reward her generously with that special treat or toy when she is exposed to what scares her.
What I have written above sound pretty easy right? Then why do so many people fail at this procedure? The most common mistake is moving too quickly or forcing the dog to tolerate something in the hopes that she will adjust. That is called flooding. Flooding is a procedure where the puppy is exposed to the full strength stimulus instead of slow exposure.
Imagine that you are afraid of spiders. Which procedure below would help you get over your fear?
- You are tied to a chair and a box of spiders is dumped on top of you (flooding).
- You are sitting in a chair and every second you are handed $100 as you look at a box of spiders about 50 feet away. Each day, the box is moved one foot closer to you while those $100 bills just keep a comin’ (desensitization and counter conditioning).
Of course you chose “B,” and your puppy would too! It may be sounding pretty simple about now, but it can take many months to get through this procedure. You have to bring patience to the table as well.
If your pup has been traumatized and her behavior is changed by it, now is the time to act. Don’t wait. As she develops she will be most amenable to turning back the hands of time.
Dr. Lisa Radosta | <urn:uuid:34733af0-c0e6-4b90-b2c4-b4e225bd78c4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.petmd.com/print/29821 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967418 | 805 | 2.890625 | 3 |
PirateWall is a simple Twitter Client. It displays search results for a certain keyword or hashtag in realtime in a shell-based environment. It can also be configured to act as a data provider for many different visualization tools. For example, it is possible to use the client as a text generator for many XScreensaver applications like "apple2" or "starwars". When used in a Unix shell environment, colorized output can be generated.
The OpenDedup Virtual NAS Appliance is designed for simple setup and management of deduplicated storage for virtual environments. The Appliance includes capabilities to create, mount, delete, and export deduplicated volumes (SDFS) via NFS and ISCSI from a Web-based interface. It also includes VMWare VCenter API integration that allows quick data store creation and rapid cloning of virtual machines located on the deduplicated volumes with no need for additional storage. The Virtual NAS Appliance also includes optimized folder replication using SDFS replication technology.
BitNami Cloud Tools packages together Amazon Web Services tools with preconfigured Java and Ruby language runtimes to work out of the box. It is a self-contained, easy to use distribution with one goal in mind: to make it simple to get started using AWS services from the command line.
LabKey Server is open source software that helps scientists manage, analyze, and share complex datasets. It supports tandem mass spectrometry, flow cytometry, assays for neutralizing antibodies, Luminex, observational studies, and secure, Web-based collaboration. The software is modular, configurable, and customizable. It can be installed in your institution on any modern hardware and operating system. It is designed to integrate with your existing systems, instruments, and work flows, and to be readily adapted by skilled programmers to novel methods of inquiry. The project is under active development by a team of professional software engineers and a community of active contributors. New versions are released about four times per year.
Apache PhotArk is a photo gallery application including a content repository for the images, a display piece, an access control layer, and upload capabilities. The idea is to have a rigid design for the content repository with a very flexible display piece. The images in the content repository will be protected with granular access control. | <urn:uuid:80ade301-4d32-4920-97a1-400a2ddb3fc6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freecode.com/tags/apache-20?page=1&sort=created_at&with=3297&without=238 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908157 | 478 | 1.734375 | 2 |
The events in the opera take place at the beginning of the fifteenth century in Spain, with the background of a revolt against the King of Aragon by Count Urgel of Biscay In command of the King's army at Saragossa is the Count of Luna. Years before, when the Count was a young child, a gipsy woman was discovered near the cradle of his brother, Garcia. Terrified servants chased the old woman away, but the boy gradually grew ill. His father searched for the gipsy, accusing her of witchcraft, and had her burned at the stake. The woman's daughter kidnapped Garcia in revenge, intending to throw him into the flames of her mother's pyre. In her frenzy, however, she threw her own baby into the fire and has brought up Garcia as her son.
ACT I - THE DUEL
Scene 1 - Aliaferia palace in Aragon
Ferrando, Captain of the Guard, stands watch with other retainers and soldiers, before the palace while Count of Luna maintains his nightly vigil beneath the windows of Leonora, with whom he is in love. Upon his companions' request Ferrando relates how, as an infant, the Count's brother was bewitched by a gipsy, then suddenly vanished. A child, presumably the same one, was later found dead amid the ashes on the site where the old woman had been burned at the stake in punishment for her crime. The perpetrator of the gipsy's vengeance, he tells them, was her daughter, an evil woman of whom nothing has been heard since. As a clock strikes midnight the soldiers and retainers disperse.
Scene 2 - The gardens of the palace
Leonora, a lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Aragon, tells her attendant Ines of the first stirrings of her love. She met a mysterious knight at the tournament but then, with the outbreak of civil war, she did not see him again. Lately, however, he reappeared to serenade her as a troubadour. Ines tries to persuade her lady to forget the stranger, but Leonora affirms that she would gladly die for him. As they retire to their rooms, the Count appears, determined to declare his love for Leonora. His soliloquy is interrupted by the troubadour's song. Leonora rushes out to greet her love, but in the darkness mistakenly approaches the Count. At this moment the troubadour appears and Leonora realizes her error. The Count's jealousy and anger grow vehement when the troubadour reveals himself as Manrico, an officer in the army of Prince Urgel and thus the Count's enemy in the civil war. As the Count and Manrico rush off to settle their dispute in combat, Leonora falls unconscious to the ground.
ACT II - THE GIPSY
Scene 1 - A gipsy camp in Biscay
Several weeks have passed. In a cleft in the mountains of Biscay a company of gipsies greet the dawn with a joyous chorus, to which they beat time with their hammers. In their midst, by a bonfire, sits the old gipsy woman Azucena and by her side Manrico. She is gazing into the fire singing a song full of weird, terrifying images, savage flames, an exulting crowd, a poor old woman dragged and beaten by soldiers, and a ghost that cries `Avenge me!'. The gipsies disperse to the villages to earn their daily living. Manrico remains behind and asks to know the meaning of Azucena's song. She tells how she saw her mother dragged to the stake, while she followed behind carrying her infant son on her back. She called to her in vain to give her a mother's blessing but the soldiers pushed her away roughly Her mother was thrust into the flames; and from the billowing smoke her ghost seemed to cry out to her daughter for vengeance. Accordingly Azucena had gone to the Count of Luna's palace, stolen the Count's eldest son intending to cast him on the pyre. His piteous sobs moved her; and she wavered. Then in a delirium she saw her mother's ghost. Terrified she threw the child on he embers; the mist cleared from her mind and, there was the Count's son by her side. It was her own baby that she had murdered. Manrico is horrified; he has always imagined her to be his mother and now? Azucena hastily reassures him. Of course she is his mother; when she had found him half dead on the battlefield of Yelila had she not nursed him back to health? Manrico recalls with pride how he stood alone against the hated Count of Luna; yet earlier in a duel when he had the Count at his mercy and he could have killed him some instinct had held him back. A messenger appears with dispatches from the Count of Urgel. He has captured the fort of Castellor, and wishes Manrico to take charge of the garrison. Leonora thinking him dead has decided to take the veil. Manrico, ignoring Azucena's frantic attempts to detain him, hurries away.
Scene 2 - A covent near Castellor
It is night and the Count and his men are lying in wait at the convent where Leonora is due to arrive. When she appears with Ines the Count rushes out and seizes her, but Manrico appears and stops him. His men hold back the Count's forces while Manrico leads Leonora away to safety.
ACT III - THE GIPSY'S SON
Scene 1 - Count of Luna's camp
Soldiers under the Count's command prepare to besiege Castellor while di Luna thinks of Leonora in the arms of his enemy. Ferrando reports that a gipsy woman has been taken prisoner in the vicinity of the camp. Azucena is brought in and explains that she is searching for her son. When she learns that her interrogator is Count of Luna, fear betrays her identity and confirms his suspicions that she was responsible for the abduction of his infant brother. Led to believe that she is Manrico's mother by Azucena herself, di Luna decides to use the gipsy as a pawn in his plan to avenge his brother and reclaim Leonora.
Scene 2 - Inside Castellor
Manrico and Leonora prepare to be married, but she is uneasy with thoughts of the attack on Castellor, which is to come at dawn. Manrico reassures her, telling her that love will strengthen him in the face of death at his enemy's sword. As they are about to approach the altar Ruiz, one of Manrico's soldiers rushes on with the news that Azucena has been sentenced to death at the stake. Manrico resolves to save her and orders his men to prepare for battle.
ACT IV - THE ORDEAL
Scene 1 - The Ramparts of Aliaferia Palace
Manrico's gallant attempt at rescue has failed; both he and Azucena are now imprisoned in a high tower in the palace of Aliaferia. From the garden below Leonora listens to the distant chanting of the monks, with their prayers for the souls of those about to die, and the voice of the troubadour proclaiming his eternal love for herself. The Count appears; in a desperate bid to save her lover's life Leonora offers herself to his rival on condition that Manrico be allowed to go free. The Count agrees. Unseen by him, Leonora swallows poison from a phial.
Scene 2 - The Prison of the Palace
Azucena and Manrico are together in the same cell in the hours before they are due to die. Azucena's fear of being burned at the stake has driven her to despair, and her son tries to comfort her by recalling their gipsy life in the mountains. Leonora comes to tell Manrico that he is free, but he will not leave alone, and suddenly realising how Leonora has gained his freedom, he rejects her; but the poison has already taken effect and as she dies Manrico understands the strength of her devotion to him. The Count appears as Leonora dies and orders Manrico to be taken immediately to execution. He drags Azucena to a window to witness his death, and as he is beheaded Azucena triumphantly reveals that Manrico was the Count's brother.
Photo by Attila Juhász | <urn:uuid:5f6b3b64-0650-4815-81e2-2eedbeab88f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://opera.hu/en/opera/A_trubadur/201301291900/info | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981017 | 1,776 | 2.921875 | 3 |
By Dr Ananya Mandal, MD
There are several hormones that regulate the making and ejection of milk from human breasts as well as from the breasts of all female mammals after childbirth.
The initiation of breastfeeding in all mammals including humans is an effort from both the mother and the baby. For example while human mothers hold their baby close to their breast while attempting to feed the baby, several animals like rats do not transport their newborn pups which are blind and deaf at birth, to the nipple.
Instead the mother rat assists newborns by assuming a special squatting posture that allows the pups to find the nipple. On the other hand babies of rhesus monkeys are able to move to their mother’s nipple without the mother assisting them.
Among all mammals the specific maternal behaviours that help to initiate breastfeeding and the subsequent maintenance of lactation that is continued flow of milk according to the nutritional needs of the baby.
There are alveolar cells within the breast that make breast milk. During the latter half of the pregnancy the breasts gear up to make milk after childbirth.
A hormone called Prolactin secreted by the pituitary gland in the brain is responsible for the alveoli making milk. Prolactin rises when the baby suckles.
There is another hormone called Oxytocin that causes tiny muscles around the alveoli to squeeze the milk via small tubes called milk ducts. These milk ducts progressively enlarge to end in the nipple and eject the milk from the nipple. Oxytocin also causes the muscles of the uterus to contract during and after birth. Before childbirth this may induce labour and after childbirth it helps uterus to get back to its original size and reduces the bleeding after childbirth.
Both prolactin and oxytocin help the mother form an emotional bond with her baby.
Lactation begins and is maintained by neuroendocrine mechanisms. This involves the neural component mediated by the nerves in the breast (especially nipples) that are stimulated by the baby’s sucking.
The neural component also includes the emotional factors in the brain like hearing the baby cry or thinking of the baby. The endocrine component refers to the hormones related to let down reflex.
In addition there are other signals that allow maintenance of lactation. One of these is smell. Smell helps the baby recognize its mother and helps in forming social attachment and an emotional bond with the mother.
Reviewed by April Cashin-Garbutt, BA Hons (Cantab) | <urn:uuid:a81edd15-bc8f-443d-9d9b-00651ad10641> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.news-medical.net/health/Breastfeeding-and-Hormones.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906031 | 507 | 3.34375 | 3 |
By Howard Goodman
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Despite his claims of being cancer-free, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is so seriously threatened by the disease that he has less than a year to live in the opinion of Russian doctors, according to a report from a Texas-based private intelligence firm released today by WikiLeaks.
The intelligence memo, written in December 2011 by Reva Bhalla of the firm Stratfor, describes Chavez’ condition as “very serious” and says a team of Russian doctors blames Cuban doctors for botching an earlier attempt to remove a tumor, which started near the prostate gland, spread to the colon and lymph nodes, and into the bone marrow up to the spine.
If Chavez’ health deteriorates significantly before the October election, he will likely appoint Foreign Minister Nicolas Faduro to take his place, the memo states. Maduro is described as “loyal as a dog to Chavez,” but also “the most pragmatic in the regime,” who would be more open to the United States.
The memo is one of 5 million emails from Stratfor obtained by the hacktivist group Anonymous and published by WikiLeaks in conjunction with 20 news organizations from around the world. Those released so far “are a mix of the innocuous and the embarrassing,” said the Washington Post, but WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said juicier material was in store in coming weeks.
The email concerning Chavez’ cancer, dated Dec. 5, 2011, was based on information from an unnamed “well-connected VZ source working with Israel” whose information on Venezuela has proved valid in the past, according to the memo’s author.
Chavez, 57, has returned to Havana, where he underwent an operation in June, for more surgery. Last week, he told supporters that the tumor in his pelvic region had returned, was “most likely malignant,” and he was “preparing to face the worst.”
The socialist leader, whose regime is closely watched by many in Florida, has both Russian and Cuban doctors on his medical team — and they are seriously at odds, according to the leaked memo. The Cubans give Chavez two years to live. The Russians say he’s got just one year. They had to do a second surgery to clean up the Cuban surgeons’ alleged mistakes, and the Russians complain that Cuba’s doctors lack the right imagery therapy to properly treat Chavez, the memo says.
“The medical team complains that Chavez is a very ‘bad patient,’ ” the memo states. “He doesn’t listen to his doctors, he ceases treatment when he has to make a public appearance.”
The doctors themselves squabbled over Chavez’ consultations with a Chinese physician who advocated natural treatments and, the memo states, “the Russians are saying this is horse shit treatment.”
The memo adds, with sardonic humor: “Only Chavez can get the most politicized medical team in the world.” | <urn:uuid:3f7ffde8-9394-4489-8f15-51ac74205ce9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fcir.org/2012/02/27/private-intelligence-firm-hugo-chavezs-cancer-very-serious/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976185 | 630 | 1.726563 | 2 |
|PDF (64 KB)|
"Everywhere I go, I'm inspired by hard-working teachers who are committed to doing whatever it takes to leave no child behind. And as we move forward, we must do a better job making sure we have our best teachers in our neediest classrooms."
— U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
Teachers are the key to improving student performance and closing achievement gaps. Good teachers have helped students make great progress toward becoming proficient in reading and math. More must be done to ensure teachers have the tools they need to help their students achieve.
Math and science teachers deserve proven, research-based instructional methods to help them reach their students. And teachers who make real progress in closing the achievement gap or who choose to serve in challenging environments deserve to be recognized and rewarded.
Through Building on Results: A Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act, educators who make great progress will be rewarded through a Teacher Incentive Fund. Math teachers will be trained in scientifically proven instruction. And students struggling in reading or math in later grades will receive targeted and intensive intervention.
Teacher Incentive Fund—The Fund will help states and districts reward teachers and principals who make progress in raising student achievement levels or closing achievement gaps, as well as educators who choose to serve in the neediest schools.
Math Achievement—To improve math achievement, the President's Math Now for Elementary School Students and Math Now for Middle School Students programs will provide competitive grants to train teachers in proven instructional methods, including upcoming findings of the National Math Panel.
Science Achievement—Beginning in 2008-09, disaggregated results from science assessments will factor into state accountability calculations, with grade-level proficiency expected for all students in science by the 2019-20 school year.
Reading Achievement—The Striving Readers program, which provides intensive intervention to students in grades 6-12 who are struggling to reach grade level in reading / language arts, will be expanded to reach more students. We will continue to invest in Reading First, the largest, most successful early reading initiative ever undertaken in this country.
Rural School Districts—New teachers in small, rural school districts will have additional time to meet Highly Qualified Teacher requirements. Larger rural districts will have the flexibility to use federal funds that are currently available to only the smallest districts. Finally, larger per-child Supplemental Educational Services (SES) amounts will be provided for qualified rural students. | <urn:uuid:6cf4ec87-1730-4a3f-a753-78f8ab3eb6e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/nclb/factsheets/teachers.html?exp=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939348 | 501 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Smile Advocate – Interview with Dr Asha Karan
Dr Asha Karan of Smile Makers Dental Clinic proves there’s more to dentistry than just fixing teeth
By Maripet L. Poso
Articulate, soft spoken and passionate about promoting health education, Dr Asha K Karan of Smile Makers Dental Clinic commands attention whenever she speaks, evoking a sense of calm and authority. Her ability to make her patients understand the importance of dental care in a simple language and engaging style is among her traits that sets Dr Asha apart from other dentists.
A graduate from the National University of Singapore, Dr Asha has been practising dentistry for more than
20 years. She also holds a Diploma in General Dental Practice from the Royal College of Surgeons, United Kingdom. She founded Smile Makers Dental Clinic to help change people’s attitude towards dental care.
Her passion for health education goes beyond the four corners of her dental clinic. In her spare time, Dr. Asha has volunteered within the community, providing pro bono dental care for residents of charitable homes. For 13 years, she was president of the Singapore Dental Health Foundation, an organisation dedicated to public education and health promotion.
A true smile maker
Ezyhealth & Beauty: What do you find most satisfying about your work?
Dr Asha Karan: The smiles my patients give me. We are Smile Makers after all. I like dressing up my clinic with photos of my patients’ smiles.
EHB: Why is a smile important?
Dr Asha: Your smile is a reflection of yourself. It’s a reflection of your self-esteem, your values. If you have taken the time to take care of yourself, it means that you are a careful person who values your health, and you want to portray yourself in the best way possible.
EHB: What does it take for you to bring your patients’ beautiful smiles back?
Dr Asha: One, we want to help the patient get the smile that they desire. But we must be realistic. Patients’ expectations must also be realistic. Two, we empower them with the right techniques, the right information, so that they can maintain the health of their teeth.
When someone comes for veneers, for example, we must first assess whether their mouth is healthy. Veneers are largely a cosmetic procedure. We can’t do a cosmetic procedure if we find that the basic health is not there. So we may have to spend some time getting their gums and teeth into good health first. But there are people who say ‘I’m very busy, I’m flying here and there. Do it now’.
EHB: How do you deal with such patients?
Dr Asha: We want what’s best for them so sometimes we have to say, “No”. We explain to them that it is in their best interest to have treatment done in the right sequence. After the mouth is much healthier, do the cosmetics. There are times when patients come in with the wrong perceptions about what they need. For example, if their teeth are irregular, then veneers may not be the answer. They may need to straighten their teeth first. After straightening the teeth, then, if needed, improve the colour and shape with veneers.
Patient care through education
EHB: How important is health education for you?
Dr Asha: For me, health education has always been important. I see myself as a health professional. The very word, “profession” implies a duty to the community. I feel strongly that I have a duty to patients, not only to give them what is best for them, but to equip myself with knowledge and skills to give them what is right for them. The duty of care for the patient involves keeping myself abreast of the latest techniques and technology in dental care. Health education comes naturally to me. I see it as an essential part of my work as a health professional.
EHB: When it comes to your dental practice, you believe in putting health first before beauty. Can you elaborate on this?
Dr Asha: Dentists are not mere service providers. There has to be congruence between patient’s values and the doctor’s values. I’d rather restore health before I chase beauty. Patients need to know how to maintain health. For example, straight teeth are more important than white teeth. Straight teeth are easy to clean. With straight teeth you have more efficient bite. If you have straight teeth, your smile looks more refined. Whitened teeth is like the icing on the cake. But first you have to make sure that the cake is good.
EHB: How necessary is oral health education in dental practice?
Dr Asha: If the patient does not understand what I’m doing, they won’t appreciate why I do it. They’re not going to take care of themselves either. Also, it has something to do with fear. People fear what they don’t know. If you make it known to them, if you explain to them in a very simple language, they will say, “Hey, that makes sense!”. Knowledge about their health gives them better sense of control. It gives them confidence that they are getting the right treatment.
The importance of consultation
EHB: Do you have a fool-proof approach to treating each patient that comes to you?
Dr Asha: There is no one size fits all. There is no one solution for everything. That’s why spending time at a consultation, understanding the patient’s condition, understanding their limitation of time, budget and priorities is necessary. It’s all about patient-centered healthcare. Understanding the patient’s values helps us to customise the treatment. So the initial consultation process is important.
EHB: What do you consider the most valuable service you provide to your patients?
Dr Asha: A person can spend several thousands of dollars straightening teeth or getting crowns and implants made. But if he does not maintain his teeth, all that sophisticated work is not going to last. Straightening teeth, inserting implants, making crowns and dentures, that’s just one part of my work — the more technical part of the work. But helping you, the patient, understand the nature of the problem, and then helping you to control it or to overcome it — that’s my most valuable service. That’s patient empowerment. | <urn:uuid:a63f3f18-9227-49f7-b24d-fa4e0d2851a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ezyhealth.com/magazine/smile-advocate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942568 | 1,377 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Courtyard of the Papal Residence, Castel
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In today's Gospel chapter 15 of St Luke Jesus recounts the three "parables of mercy". When he speaks of "the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep, of the woman who looks for the lost coin, of the father who goes to meet and embrace his prodigal son, these are no mere words: they constitute an explanation of his very being and activity" (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, n. 12). In fact, the shepherd who finds the stray sheep is the Lord himself who lays upon his shoulders, with the Cross, sinful humanity, in order to redeem it. The prodigal son, then, in the third parable, is a young man who having obtained his inheritance from his father "took his journey into a far country, and there, he squandered his property in loose living" (Lk 15: 13). Reduced to a penniless state he was obliged to work as a servant, even accepting to satisfy his hunger with food intended for animals. Then, the Gospel says, "He came to himself" (Lk 15: 17). "The speech he prepares for his homecoming reveals to us the full extent of the inner pilgrimage he is now making... leading "home'... to himself and to the father". (Benedict XVI Jesus of Nazareth, Doubleday, 2007, Chapter 7, p. 205). "I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants'" (Lk 15: 18-19). St Augustine wrote: "The Word himself calls you to return, and with him is a place of unperturbed rest, where love is not forsaken unless it first forsakes. "While he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him" (Lk 15: 20) and, full of joy, had a feast prepared.
Dear Friends, how is it possible not to open our hearts to the certainty that in spite of being sinners we are loved by God? He never tires of coming to meet us, he is always the first to set out on the path that separates us from him. The Book of Exodus shows us how Moses, with confident and daring pleas, succeeded, so to speak, in moving God from the throne of judgement to the throne of mercy (cf. 32: 7-11). Penitence is the measure of faith and through it one returns to the Truth. The Apostle Paul writes: "I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief" (1 Tm 1: 13). Returning to the parable of the son who goes "home", we note that when the elder brother appears, indignant at the festive welcome given to his brother, it is again the father who reaches out to him and begs him: "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours" (Lk 15: 31). Only the faith can transform selfishness into joy and renew true relationships with our neighbour and with God. "It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found" (Lk 15: 32).
Dear Brothers and Sisters, next Thursday I shall be going to the United Kingdom where I will beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman. I ask all to accompany me with prayers on this Apostolic Journey. Let us entrust to the Virgin Mary, whose Most Holy Name is celebrated in the Church today, our journey of conversion to God.
After the Angelus:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today in Granada, Spain the Capuchin Friar Leopoldo de Alpandeire, in the world Francisco Sánchez Márquez, is being beatified. I rejoice with the Franciscan Family that is seeing their brother join the numerous ranks of its Saints and Blesseds.
I welcome the English-speaking pilgrims, especially the Bishops taking part in the ecumenical meeting sponsored by the Focolare Movement. I also greet the young people of the Don Bosco Oratory from Victoria, Gozo, Malta, and the Friends of the John Paul II Foundation from Saudi Arabia. I thank the members of the parish choir from Slovenia for their praise of God in song. In today's Gospel Jesus speaks of the rejoicing in Heaven which accompanies the return of sinners to the house of the Father. May his words encourage us to trust always in God's merciful love and forgiveness. Upon all of you I invoke the Lord's abundant Blessings!
I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week; thank you for your presence, have a good Sunday!
© Copyright 2010 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana | <urn:uuid:7cba04f6-8f9a-4158-a23a-8bcc62bec596> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20100912_en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967979 | 1,024 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Spectacular 2,000-year-old Hellenistic-style wall paintings have been revealed at the world heritage site of Petra through the expertise of British conservation specialists. The paintings, in a cave complex, had been obscured by centuries of black soot, smoke and greasy substances, as well as graffiti.
Experts from the Courtauld Institute in London have now removed the black grime, uncovering paintings whose "exceptional" artistic quality and sheer beauty are said to be superior even to some of the better Roman paintings at Herculaneum that were inspired by Hellenistic art.
Virtually no Hellenistic paintings survive today, and fragments only hint at antiquity's lost masterpieces, while revealing little about their colours and composition, so the revelation of these wall paintings in Jordan is all the more significant. They were created by the Nabataeans, who traded extensively with the Greek, Roman and Egyptian empires and whose dominion once stretched from Damascus to the Red Sea, and from Sinai to the Arabian desert.
Such is the naturalistic intricacy of these paintings that the actual species of flowers, birds and insects bursting with life can be identified. They were probably painted in the first century, but may go back further. Professor David Park, an eminent wall paintings expert at the Courtauld, said that the paintings "should make jaws drop".
At the instigation of the Petra National Trust (PNT), conservation experts Stephen Rickerby and Lisa Shekede restored the paintings to life. The work took three years, and was completed only last week. "The paintings were a real mess," Rickerby said.
He described what has emerged from the blackened layers as "really exceptional and staggeringly beautiful, with an artistic and technical quality that's quite unlike anything else".
Three different vines, grape, ivy and bindweed – all associated with Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of wine – have been identified, while the birds include a demoiselle crane and a Palestine sunbird with luscious colours. The scenes are populated by putti-like figures, one winged child playing a flute while seated in a vine-scroll, others picking fruit and fighting off birds pecking at the grapes. The paintings are exceptional in their sophistication, extensive palette and luxurious materials, including gold leaf.
Petra – the Greek word for "rock" – is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, where ancient eastern traditions combine with Hellenistic architecture, with monumental buildings sculpted out of the solid red sandstone. A Unesco world heritage site since 1985, it was the Nabataeans' capital city, flourishing as an economic and religious centre from the third century BC for some 400 years. Its site, in the Shera mountains, was an important crossroads for Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia.
The paintings are not at the main site, but at the less well known canyon of Siq al-Barid in Beidha – nicknamed "Little Petra" – about 5km away. As they are now the most important surviving examples of Nabataean art, they rank among Petra's most remarkable treasures and are likely to become a major tourist attraction, Rickerby said. They are located within the "biclinium" (dining area), a principal chamber and a recess, where ritual dining is thought to have taken place. The most outstanding painting covers the vault and the walls of the recess.
The site was a retreat for affluent Nabataeans. The surrounding land shows evidence of ancient vineyards and grape-pressing sites, which explains the significance of the paintings' subject-matter. The Greek historian Strabo conveyed a sense of their wealth when he wrote: "The Nabataeans are a sensible people, and are so much inclined to acquire possessions that they publicly fine anyone who has diminished his possessions."
Rickerby said: "They show a lot of external influences from the ancient world and are as good as, or better than, some of the Roman paintings you see, for example at Herculaneum… This has immense art-historical importance, reflecting a synthesis of Hellenistic–Roman cultural influences."
Park said: "Petra is a vast site at the cultural crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean, and among the rock-cut tombs and temples the survival of a fragile wall painting that decorated a dining hall is extraordinary… The quality of the painting is matched by the luxury of its materials, including gilding and translucent glazes. It is the only surviving [in situ] figurative wall painting from the Nabataean civilisation that created Petra.
"It provides an incredibly rare insight into the lifestyle of this ancient and little-known civilisation." | <urn:uuid:846fbc32-591a-432b-832d-fbdcddb93079> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/22/hellenistic-wall-paintings-petra | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962905 | 972 | 3.171875 | 3 |
News & Events
Clarkson Researchers Develop Wireless Bridge Sensors Without Batteries
[A photograph for media use is available at http://www.clarkson.edu/news/photos/bridge-sensor.jpg]
Clarkson University researchers have developed technology that uses the vibrations caused by passing traffic to power wireless bridge monitoring sensors.
"We have completely eliminated the battery from the equation," says Assistant Professor Edward S. Sazonov, who developed the technology along with Professor Pragasen Pillay. "Hermetically sealed wireless sensors powered by bridge vibration can remain on the bridge without need of maintenance for decades, providing continuous monitoring of such parameters as ice conditions, traffic flows and health status."
The two electrical and computer engineering professors, along with graduate students Darrell Curry and Haodong Li, used the New York State Route 11 bridge, a steel girder structure, which runs over the Raquette River in Potsdam, N.Y., as a case study.
Energy was harvested by locating an electromagnetic generator on a girder. The harvester responded to one of the natural vibration frequencies of the bridge. Each time a car or a truck passed over the bridge, even in a different lane from the sensor installation, the whole structure vibrated and excited the mover in the generator, producing electrical energy. Harvested electrical energy powered unique wireless sensors that increased energy output of the harvester and consumed only microwatts of power while performing useful tasks.
Sazonov and Pillay have been invited to present their work at the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies Meeting in Washington, D.C., in January. The board provides support for their research.
Wireless monitoring of bridges and overpasses has gained much attention in the past few years. Bridge collapses happen suddenly and unpredictably, often leading to tragic loss of human life. In 2006, the Federal Highway Administration listed 25.8 percent of the nation's 596,842 bridges as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. While many of these bridges will remain in service for years, they need monitoring and rehabilitation. Currently, bridge monitoring is performed through periodic visual inspections. In the tragic example of I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse, the bridge passed a visual inspection a year prior to failure.
Clarkson University, located in Potsdam, New York, is a private, nationally ranked university with a reputation for developing innovative leaders in engineering, business, the sciences, health sciences and the humanities. At Clarkson, 3,000 high-ability students excel in an environment where learning is not only positive, friendly and supportive but spans the boundaries of traditional disciplines and knowledge. Faculty members achieve international recognition for their research and scholarship and connect students to their leadership potential in the marketplace through dynamic, real-world problem solving.
Photo caption: Clarkson University Assistant Professor Edward S. Sazonov and graduate students Darrell Curry and Haodong Li check data from a wireless bridge sensor on the Route 11 bridge in Potsdam, N.Y. Clarkson researchers have developed technology that uses the vibrations caused by passing traffic to power wireless bridge monitoring sensors. | <urn:uuid:e8a7adb3-d149-4010-860c-38aed734c1f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://clarkson.edu/news/2007/news-release_2007-10-17-1.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 | 0.935246 | 641 | 2.671875 | 3 |
THE state is continuing to seek ways of ameliorating possible future job losses which may or may not result from Walmart’s investment in Massmart.
It would like the R100m set aside for this purpose increased to R300m. This newspaper has in the past questioned the wisdom of the state taking its own regulatory authority to court because this will make South Africa even less of a global destination for real investment.
But there is a secondary effect which this tinkering will cause — the distortion of the business environment for retail.
Just last month Pick n Pay — a direct competitor of Walmart’s — announced it was cutting 3000 jobs without a murmur of dissent from government.
There was no demand for the creation of a fund to ameliorate the results of this decision. Apparently job shedding by wholesome South African companies is not frowned on by the anti-imperialist lobby.
What this in effect means is that Walmart is paying a penalty for a possible future transgression while actual job-shedding goes unpunished.
No company should make a decision to shed jobs lightly and the state is entitled to ask serious questions when thousands are to lose their jobs.
But legislating against this or imposing fines in anticipation of it happening is not the way forward. All this does is make South Africa’s labour market less competitive, causing us to lose out on the jobs that further foreign investment would bring.
Distorting the market with piecemeal interventions smacks of ignorance and arrogance.
*This is a draft leader for the Sunday Times
LAST week this newspaper reported that the ANC’s treasurer general, Mathews Phosa, had seen the light and wanted his party’s investment arm, Chancellor House, to sell it’s stake in Hitachi Power Africa.
It seemed as if reason had finally prevailed following weeks of criticism because of Hitachi’s contract to build boilers for the Medupi power station,
Phosa’s words were:
“We are planning to exit within the next six weeks – but no one must hold us to six weeks because you don’t know what will happen in a commercial transaction.”
And he made it clear that the investment company had agreed to withdraw, saying:
“The chairman of the [Chancellor House] trust, Popo Molefe, has been briefed about the planned sale and there is consensus between us and him.”
But Phosa appeared to have spoken too soon. The ink had barely dried when ANC’s secretary general, Gwede Mantashe backtracked, saying:
“The debate whether we are going to sell the stake will continue for some time . I don’t think it’s an issue that must be taken at Luthuli House, because you have a company that has a board.”
On the face of it, this was yet more proof that the ANC’s left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.
Could Phosa and Mantashe not have consulted one another before going public? After all, they have offices a stone’s throw from one another in the party’s Luthuli House’s headquarters.
But there is more to this prevarication than a mere comedic mix-up.
In the days between Phosa’s statement and Mantashe’s contradiction of it, something very significant happened.
The World Bank, which was heavily lobbied not to grant a loan to Eskom because of, among other things, the link to Chancellor House, finally agreed to write a cheque for US$3 billion.
It is not a stretch to see it this way: Phosa’s commitment to withdrawing the investment helped seal the deal and once that was done, Mantashe’s riposte was aimed at holding onto the millions, perhaps billions, which the party stands to make.
By Thursday, the ruling party was taking yet another tack, this time in the person of Public Enterprises Minsiter, Barbara Hogan, who said:
“I don’t understand what the conflict of interest is, when there is no political party involvement, where there is no beneficiary.”
And, for good measure:
“The World Bank loan does not cover the Hitachi contract. It is completely separate from the boiler. So the World Bank is not involved in funding the boiler programme that Hitachi has contracted for.”
All of this misses the point which is that it is entirely inappropriate for the ruling party to hold a stake in a business which is a major beneficiary of a state contract.
Whether or not the World Bank funds the making of the boilers does not change the fact that decisions about public spending should not be influenced by the commercial gains those making the decision stand to make. Full stop.
Ahem. This falls in the shameless self-promotion department …
SUNDAY TIMES EDITOR MONDLI MAKHANYA PROMOTED TO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF AVUSA MEDIA NEWSPAPERS
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya has been promoted to editor-in-chief of Avusa Media newspapers it was announced today.
Announcing the promotion Avusa CEO Prakash Desai said that in his new position Makhanya would be charged with setting up and running centres of excellence that will produce unique, original and compelling content for all of the group’s newspapers and websites. In this new role, he would also represent the interests of editors on the Avusa Media management committee.
The editor of The Times, Ray Hartley, will assume the editorship of the Sunday Times and the editor of Business Times, Phylicia Oppelt, will become the editor of The Times. They will both report to Makhanya as will all other editors of Avusa Media newspapers. Read More…
THE biggest danger facing the South African state is corruption and its sidekick cronyism. News that the communications minister, Siphiwe Nyanda is part owner of a company that has been awarded a R67.8 m tender by the Gauteng roads and transport department represents another setback.
There are several problems with this tender. The first is that, if the DA’s Jack Bloom is to be believed, the tender did not follow the correct procedure.
But that pales in comparison to the problem of cronyism. A cabinet minister should not be involved in companies that are awarded government tenders for obvious reasons.
There are any number of reasons why this represents a conflict of interests. For one thing, currying favour with a senior party member might open doors for an ambitious bureaucrat.
For another, it suggests that South Africa is not a country where businesses can compete on a level playing field for government business, a serious disincentive to investors.
Bloom points out: “This contract also appears to have grown in value, and was not reviewed to see if another company could do it more cost-effectively.”
All the above are compounded by the fact that Transnet on Wednesday dismissed two senior managers for manipulating a tender process involving GNS.
President Jacob Zuma made a promising start when he pledged to fight corruption. He did so amidst whispers of disbelief because of the long shadow cast by the conviction of his financial advisor Schabir Shaik on charges of corruption and fraud.
He needs to move quickly to regain public confidence. Cabinet ministers should follow the example of Tokyo Sexwale who placed his business interests at arms length on re-entering politics.
THAT President Jacob Zuma has failed to declare his financial interests is of grave concern. It sends a strong signal from the top is that transparency is no longer necessary in financial dealings.
This as the financial affairs of Julius Malema continue to attract attention.
Yesterday City Press reported that Malema had failed to file tax returns and that his companies had not been issued with tax clearance certificates which are necessary to tender for government business. Despite this the companies were awarded contracts.
Zuma’s stand on the need for impeccable financial dealings is well known. He has publicly stated that he sees nothing wrong in a politician receiving a “loan” from a friend, even one involved in a company tendering for government business.
The claim, made by Schabir Shaik in his trial that the payments to Zuma were loans was questioned by Judge Hillary Squires, who presided over his trial.
He said: “Even after Zuma became executive deputy president and leader of government business in Parliament, with an annual remuneration … of some R850 000 from his two offices, Shaik still continued to make these payments, when there can have been no possible reason to do so, whether they were regarded as loans or friendly payments to help a deserving comrade whose work was inadequately rewarded.”
Then there is the fact that one of Zuma’s wives is staying in accommodation “donated” by a businessman.
The question is: Who will stop the rot? The Scorpions have conveniently disappeared, Parliament’s public accounts committee has had its teeth pulled and any number of senior politicians, after casting an eye over their own ledgers, are prepared to publicly defend this sorry state of affairs.
Cosatu’s Zwelinzima Vavi appears to be the only person of any standing prepared to take this mess on, but does he have the clout to make a difference?
THE appointment of Tito Mboweni to the position of chairman of AngloGold Ashanti has been greeted with … well, with hatred by the ANC Youth League.
This is what they had to say:
“The ANC Youth League notes the appointment of Tito Mboweni as Chairman of Anglo Gold Ashanti, one of South Africa’s mineral exploiters. Tito Mboweni’s appointment iinto a Mining corporation is not at all surprising and reflects the reactionary, nonsensical and backward views he expressed when he was mis-Governor of the South African Reserve Bank that Mines will not be nationalised in South Africa. There is no doubt that Tito Mboweni was, like those who did in the recent past, speaking the views of white capital, which controls the South African economy, particularly the extraction, processing and trade of minerals. His latest appointment is clearly a reward for protecting the interests of male white capital.”
Electricity is the product of an industrial process of converting coal, radioactive material or moving water into energy. It is an industrial process that requires the ingenuity, planning and efficiencies of industrial production.
It is not something that the state should be doing, certainly not on its own. Would you expect government to produce canned peaches or cell phones with the same cost efficiency of a private producer? Would you expect government to distribute the peaches or cell phones efficiently.? The answer would be a resounding “no”.
Governments are not, at the best of times, geared up for efficient industrial production because such processes require the best technical expertise exposed to the cold winds of competition if they are to be performed at their most efficient.
There may have been a time when the production of electricity in Dickensian coal-fired power stations provided a state-financed sinecure for the incompetent. But those days have gone.
The world is less tolerant of inefficiency than it has ever been before. If your energy prices are too high, you lose your competitive advantage, particularly if you are an investment destination far from the markets that manufacturers are targeting.
That South Africa still has a government appointed body called the National Electricity Regulator which sets the price for energy based on political horse-trading is laughable. The chair of this regulator, one Cecilia Khuzwayo said yesterday: “It is clear that the economy is now in recession mode.” This days after the government announced that GDP growth for the fourth quarter was 3,2%.
This contempt for the facts is evidence of just how poorly placed civil servants are to set prices, never mind take decisions that will impact on growth, inflation and jobs for years to come.
The electricity price hike of 25% agreed on by this government committee feeds the beast of inefficiency. And, as usual, it is the people who will pay.
JULIUS Malema was put through the wringer by Radio 702′s Redi Direko this morning and he was not convincing.
He said he had documentary evidence that he was no longer a shareholder in companies benefitting from government tenders, but said he would not produce the documentation unless asked to do so by the ANC or the South African Revenue Services.
Redi produced documentation which showed that he was still involved in several companies. Malema said the companies register might not have been updated.
“Why is this issue not before the law enforcement agencies?”
Earlier Malema said he did not have to account for anything to journalists.
“I will never be locked up in this country because I have never done anything wrong.”
“I am not an active shareholder.”
“It’s my constitutional right … to participate in business.”
His defence leaves the door open for a second defence in the event that it is shown he is still an active shareholder. He will then claim that he has always defended his “constitutional right” to participate in business.
THE Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan has tabled a budget which is 8.6% larger than last year’s and perilously close to the R1 trillion mark at R907 billion.
This growth in spending will have to be financed by an economy which is only just stuttering into life after a damaging recession and so the tab is likely to be picked up once more by South Africa’s stressed out tax base.
The big increases in expenditure include the servicing of state debt which is up a massive 23,9 percent to R71 billion. This is alarming as the raison d’être of government’s fiscal policy over the last ten years has been to reduce debt servicing to increase capital spending with the aim of kickstarting growth.
Gordhan’s spending plan appears to have prioritised social spending on grants which is up by 13%, education which is up around 12 percent for schools and universities and “community development” – presumably the improvement of service delivery by local government — which is up by 20%.
There is more spending on the police (up 9.8%), housing (up by 11.2% and hospitals (up by over 11%).
All of this spending appears aimed at ameliorating the effects of our economy’s failure to delivery growth and jobs on a par with other developing nations.
Gordhan pointed out in his speech that South Africa needs to compete with other economies if it is to grow, but his budget seems to prepare us for failure.
Gordhan is confident that government is putting in place an industrial policy that will take us out of this cycle of negativity, but there are no signs that President Jacob Zuma is prepared to make the tough choices needed to go forward by cutting government spending and making investment less onerous. | <urn:uuid:f3dadc62-d274-462e-9856-777c0d125fa6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/hartley/tag/businessfinance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970514 | 3,181 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Update November 2012
Update September 2012
Update August 2012
Iran’s 2nd and last oil peak
Update July 2012
17/8/2011 Iran crude oil decline to 2016
Petrol queues getting worse everyday – Tehran September, 2010
Riot police in Tehran when regime cuts economic subsidies – Iran 19 Dec. 2010
Iranian riot police out in force as food and fuel subsidies end
PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has taken a big political gamble.
Why are there these problems? This graph explains everything:
Increasing local consumption will intersect with a declining production curve some time in this decade. In the following post I had used IEA data:
3/7/2010 Iran needs $130 oil to balance budget by 2015 when crude oil production is down by 700 Kb/d
Dr. Ali Samsam Bakhtiari (rest his soul in peace) told me and others in ASPO in 2006 that Iran may no longer export oil by 2015. This is no secret as it follows from his estimate presented at the International Workshop On Oil Depletion IWOOD 2003 in Paris:
A realistic view of long term Middle East production capacity
Ali’s estimate for Iran from that presentation forms the underlay (blue area) for the above graph. Apparently he expected a collapse of oil production similar to what happened before and after the fall of the Shah:
Excerpts from Dr. Bakhtiari’s presentation to the Australian Senate Hearing on oil supplies in July 2006:
|Senator MILNE— ………..Let us assume there is a geopolitical crisis and Iran decides to stop supplying into that 81 million barrels a day. What impact would that have?Dr Samsam Bakhtiari—At present I think that Iran is supplying roughly two million barrels of oil for exports. In the case of some geopolitical problem, you would have to take the two million out of the 81 million. That in itself would not be very harsh. Why? Because major consuming countries have their strategic petroleum reserves. They could start taking it out of their reserves.What would be impacting heavily on the price is the psychological impact of any geopolitical happening, whether in the Persian Gulf or in South-East Asia. Because the leeway in [transition phase] T1 is extremely small—as I have tried to mention to you—the slightest impact geopolitically will have enormous consequences. If you had in Saudi Arabia, for example, or anywhere else, some two million to three million barrels of spare capacity—that you usually had before—then people would not be so worried about this geopolitical impact. But you do not have spare capacity anymore.I will give you just one example of what we in NIOC [National Iranian Oil Company] did in 1975 after the first price shock, when the price went from roughly $2 per barrel to $11 per barrel. To find out what the real price was NIOC set up an auction, saying, ‘We have a few barrels and we are going to auction these barrels, so whoever is interested should give us a bid.’ Through the bids, we found out what the real price was. Some bids were up to $41. There were people who were willing, at $11 per barrel, to pay $41.CHAIR—If I understand you correctly, you are saying that we should be investing now as a matter of priority in public transport.Dr Samsam Bakhtiari—Certainly, yes. Right now. As soon as possible. Start tomorrow on public transport. It is better than starting the day after tomorrow. You also have the problem that, at some stage, you will not be able to invest that easily. The further we go down the line, investment gets more difficult. People who think they will undertake projects in 10 years time do not realise the problems of making these projects.http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=@Hansard/S9515.pdf
Independent petroleum geologist Jeffrey J Brown
reminds us continuously:
“Here is Sam’s forecast for Iranian net oil exports, showing actual net exports through 2006 (the 2007, 2008 and 2009 data points fall between his middle case and high case):”
“The projected 2005 to 2015 net export rate of change is shown, -4.9%/year–within a range from -11.9%/year to +2.1%/year. The actual observed net export rate of change, for 2005 to 2009, has been -1.4%/year.”
The above graph is from this article:
A Quantitative Assessment of Future Net Oil Exports by the Top Five Net Oil Exporters
Iran’s oil reserves
Iran’s 2P technical oil reserves are 60 Gb compared to “political” reserves of 140 Gb as calculated by Jean Laherrere, a French petroleum engineer:
See also under OIL RESERVES, OPEC’s PAPER BARRELS.
————- Impact of Iran’s oil peak in the 2nd oil crisis 1979 ———————
Between 1965 and 1979, global oil production more than doubled from 31.8 mb/d to 66 mb/d. Iran’s oil production tripled between 1965 and 1973, but then peaked up to 1976, long before the revolution year of 1979.
Iran had overproduced. Their production to reserve ratio in the 1970s of 3.8% pa was more than 3 times that of rivalling Saudi Arabia at 1.3% pa
The following graph shows incremental production after the 1st oil crisis in 1973:
Above the horizontal axis we have countries with growing production, below the axis countries with decreasing production. All data are relative to production levels in 1973, using data from the BP Statistical Review.
(1) Growing countries (green areas) increased steadily, irrespective of oil crises, recessions or otherwise
(2) By 1979 that growing group had increased oil production by +8.3 mb/d, far exceeding decline elsewhere, including Iran, of -4.7 mb/d.
(3) In the same year, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other Middle East countries had increased production by 4 mb/d compared to 1973
(4) But the Iranian revolution in 1979/80 brought the whole system out of balance. In 1980, decline in Iran and elsewhere, including Kuwait and Libya had reached -7.9 mb/d while production in the growing group had increased to just +9.1 mb/d due to annual growth slowing down from +1.4 mb/d pa to just +800 kb/d pa.
(5) A year later, in 1981, the balance had tipped. Decline and/or production cuts amounted to -11 mb/d while the growing group made just +9.9 mb/d. On the graph we see the cross-over point where the mirrored decline curve goes above the “Rest Eurasia” area. Saudi Arabia, then a swing producer, kept the system alive.
(6) In the following years up to 1985/86 we can clearly see that decline exceeded growth
Conclusion: Some claim the 2nd oil crisis was artificial. This cannot be supported by oil statistics. The Iranian oil peak between 1973 and 1976, the following production decline – exacerbated by the revolution-, as well as production declines and/or production cuts in other countries brought the global oil supply system out of balance and out of rhythm until the mid 80s. The next peaking event was the peaking of the West Siberian oil fields in Russia in 1987, which can also be seen on the graph. | <urn:uuid:7b2ca438-b0c2-4218-855e-b29eadb485d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://crudeoilpeak.info/iran-peak | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952141 | 1,603 | 1.703125 | 2 |
After we made the decision to release the source code to NTXShape, there was one other important decision to be made: which license to use. There are a wide range of licenses in common use for open source development. At one end of the spectrum of licenses are the BSD and MIT licenses, which are very permissive and allow the recipient a great deal of flexibility in what they can do with the software, to the point where the software can distributed in proprietary commercial applications without providing source code. At the other end of the spectrum is the GNU General Public License, which places strong restrictions on what can be done with the software, but these restrictions are structured mainly to prevent you from placing stronger restrictions on what can be done with the software. In the open source community there is room for both of these extremes and many variations in between.
In some cases, after looking at all of the existing licenses, a company or person may feel that none of them precisely meet their interests, and might decide to create a new custom license and use that. We considered doing that. However, even in a custom license, there are trade-offs. The advantage of a custom license is that you get to help choose the trade-offs. The disadvantage is that you or your lawyer might get it wrong.
By using one of the standard, commonly-used licenses, you have the advantage that the license has already been scrutinized by many eyeballs, and any holes in the license may have already been spotted and discussed in publically archived forums. In addition, some of these licenses have been drafted and revised through a community review process, so the initial license may be more balanced to your needs and contain fewer bugs than a "custom" license that you might otherwise hire a lawyer to write.
Another distinct advantage of the commonly-used licenses is their value as a communication tool. The common licenses have worked their way into the jargon (or the lore) of the open source / hacker community. So, if your software is licensed under GPL, a hacker will at a glance have a very good idea of what he/she can and cannot do with it. If you're using a less common license or a custom license, they may need to read pages and pages of legalese, and (because hackers aren't lawyers) will still not have as good a picture of their rights as they would get from those three letters "GPL" (or another well-known license).
This communication advantage can be very important when marketing the project, i.e. when attempting to generate interest and enlist developers to participate in your project. Later on, I will come back to this notion and call it "project marketing".
So then we looked at the various open source licenses that have been certified by the Open Source Initiative, and of those, focused on the ones that are explicitly meant to be used for a variety of software, not just for some particular software application, and not just for the software of one corporation. For example, the Jabber public license is out because it's just for Jabber, and the IBM Public License is out because it's just for IBM.
The Q Public License is also out because, although it does comply with the Open Source Definition in a strict sense, it is so out of touch with hackers' expectations, and makes code-sharing so inconvenient that it tends to damage the credibility of projects that use it. Heck, it almost killed Qt itself within the open source community; and KDE (which is itself covered by GPL) was damaged heavily in the early days by mere association and linkage with a QPL-licensed library.
The licenses that we looked at included (from strongest to most permissive) GPL, Lesser GPL, Mozilla Public License, and the BSD and MIT Licenses. Of these the GPL had to be discarded because it would impose technical limitations on our software that outweighed the technical benefit of being able to link with other GPL software. Although we've used MIT-style licenses in other projects, the BSD and MIT licenses are just too permissive for this one. We want all enhancements to the NTXShape core to be published as open source; the BSD and MIT licenses do not require that.
So, for us, this leaves the Lesser GPL and the Mozilla Public License.
The Lesser GPL used to be called the Library GPL. For historical reasons this license still refers to the software application as "the Library" which can be confusing for licensees. Also, a licensee is allowed to convert the Lesser GPL to a full GPL, after which their enhancements could not be incorporated back into our version of the software. So, for us, LGPL is out.
The final license that we considered for the open source release of NTXShape was the Mozilla Public License (MPL) version 1.1. This license strikes a good balance between making the source code available for use in commercial situations, while at the same time requiring that modifications / enhancements be published under the same license (thereby enabling all good enhancements to find their way back to us). The Mozilla Public License was written and revised through a community review process, is widely used in projects outside of the Mozilla umbrella, and has value as a communication / project marketing tool when enlisting support for the project. This license is not a perfect fit for all software, but it is a very good fit for NTXShape.
The Mozilla Public License does have a mechanism for alternative licensing - that is, you can combine it with another license to offer the licensee a choice of terms. The Mozilla project itself has licensed much of their software under dual or even triple licenses with MPL, GPL, and Lesser GPL. Many other authors using Mozilla Public License also offer GPL as an option. Although we have no philosiphical objection to the GPL, NTXShape will not do this.
There are a wide variety of "Mozilla clone" licenses based on the Mozilla Public License with
varying degrees of changes. These include the Sun Public License, the Apple Public Source License,
the Interbase Public License, and others. Sometimes the only difference is the name (this change
allows a different company to control revisions to the license); other times (e.g. Apple) there
are some changes in the license terms. The only way to know what has changed is to read these
licenses carefully; therefore the "Mozilla clone" licenses do not have the same communicative
value as the "real" Mozilla Public License. Therefore I suggest you think twice before creating
your own "Mozilla clone" license. I would also recommend against using someone else's "Mozilla
clone" license - Mozilla and Netscape are invested in bazaar style development, and are sure
to be very careful about community reaction when publishing updates to the license, in order
to keep from alienating their developers. The other companies that publish clone licenses might
not be so responsible - Borland/Interbase has already burned many of their open source bridges.
(That said, I think Sun has been a good open source citizen up to now.)
There is one other license that we might have considered: the Common Public License, used for some projects on IBM's developerWorks site. It looks much like the IBM Public License, except that it is not "hard-coded" for IBM, and is is intended for general use. These licenses, both published by IBM, seem to strike a balance similar to that of the Mozilla Public License, but are easier for a human (as opposed to a lawyer) to read.
However, the Common Public License bears a version number of 0.5. It is not a widely used license, perhaps because its version number implies instability. As a result it is not as well known as the licenses mentioned above, and has not entered into the open source vernacular. So, although it looks promising, this license does not have the same communication / project marketing value as the better known, more widely used licenses.
IBM needs to release a 1.0 version of this license, and do a better job of marketing this license to developers, so that the license itself can help market IBM developerWorks' open source projects. Until they do those things, I doubt this license will get very much mindshare outside of IBM's developerWorks. | <urn:uuid:a04533da-2ea4-4dba-9434-43d931bf34f4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ntxshape.sourceforge.net/opensource.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958403 | 1,708 | 1.875 | 2 |
(Health.com) -- Listening to your favorite tunes or funny jokes could lower your blood pressure, perhaps even as much as cutting salt from your diet or dropping 10 pounds, according to the preliminary results of a small study presented Friday at American Heart Association meeting in Atlanta.
In the study, Japanese researchers found that people who took part in bimonthly group sessions built around music or laughter lowered their systolic blood pressure (the top number in the reading) by an average of five to six points after three months. By contrast, the average blood-pressure reading in a control group that received neither therapy didn't budge.
Though relatively modest, blood-pressure reductions of the size seen in the study have been linked to a 5% to 15% lower risk of death from heart disease or stroke, says Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, in Baltimore.
"I think there's definitely a physiological effect going on, some sort of mind-heart connection," says Miller, who was not involved in the new study but has conducted similar research.
Researchers at the Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine randomly assigned 90 men and women between the ages of 40 and 74 to receive hourlong music or laughter sessions every other week, or no therapy at all.
In the music sessions, participants listened, sang, and stretched to their choice of Japanese pop, classical, or jazz. (They were also encouraged to listen to music at home.) The laughter sessions included listening to humorous Japanese storytelling somewhat akin to stand-up comedy and laughter yoga, a practice of faking laughter until it feels natural.
After three months, the average systolic blood pressure in the music and laughter groups had dropped by 6 mmHg and 5 mmHg, respectively, whereas there was no change in the control group. What's more, measurements taken immediately before and after each therapy session revealed short-term dips of 6 mmHg to 7 mmHg associated with each session.
The three-month decline is in the range of what could be expected in someone adopting a low-salt diet, losing 10 pounds, or taking a blood-pressure-lowering medication, Miller says.
He adds, though, that music and laughter alone aren't sufficient to treat high blood pressure. "This is a great natural tool to improve your health, but I wouldn't recommend replacing medication," Miller says. "Although it could increase your likelihood of going off medication or reducing the dosage."
How, exactly, music and laughter might benefit blood pressure remains unclear. The lead study researcher, Eri Eguchi, says that by promoting relaxation the therapies may lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that can contribute to high blood pressure.
And in a previous study, Miller and his colleagues showed that both laughing and listening to upbeat music improved the function of the inner lining of blood vessels, causing them to expand by 30%. (Watching or listening to unnerving movies or music -- such as the opening scenes of "Saving Private Ryan"-- had the opposite effect.) Nitric oxide released in response to laughter or music might be the "magic compound" that dilates blood vessels and lowers blood pressure, Miller suggests.
Vera Brandes, director of the research program in music and medicine at Paracelsus Medical University, in Salzburg, Austria, says that music and laughter may affect blood pressure through different pathways. Music is believed to influence the parasympathetic nervous system, which relaxes the body and slows the heart rate, she says, but more research is needed to understand how humor affects a person's emotional -- and, in turn, physical -- response to stress.
"Even though the effects of music or laughter did not differ significantly in size, the mechanisms are probably only partly the same," Brandes says.
Eguchi presented her findings at the American Heart Association's annual conference on nutrition, physical activity, and metabolism. Unlike the studies published in medical journals, the research has not been thoroughly vetted by other experts.
Copyright Health Magazine 2011 | <urn:uuid:f96f28cb-2018-4e0a-b8c2-b76149cdd0ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/25/laughter.music.lower.blood.pressure/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96092 | 835 | 2.078125 | 2 |
In real life faith trumps all. A good poker face does nothing for a person’s soul. But, if you have faith you have everything. Faith is what we believe in. What we believe in is who we are. Who we are is how we live.
I have seen firsthand what faith does to people. It changes people and situations. People of faith remain strong during the weakest of times. They don’t rely on luck to carry them through life. They are fully satisfied inside which then shows on the outside. Faith within makes the impossible become possible for these hopeful souls. These people are the last in line to receive and the first in line to give. They are committed in faith and in for the long haul. Faithfully drawn by an inner strength they live out their life day by day.
Faith shapes our lives and those who we love and encounter. The stronger our faith the weaker our problems become. If we live in faith we live. Death has no meaning. Life continues on because of our faith.
Faith therefore secures life.
Don’t spend so much time worried about your poker hand, accept it, deal with it, then you can keep what is really important your top priority. In other words simply have faith.
Faith Trumps All. | <urn:uuid:f98044eb-20b6-45b5-82cc-1b6180e039fb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://catholicdaily.net/betterlife/2012/08/29/faith-trumps-all/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966677 | 265 | 1.625 | 2 |
January 04, 2012
FWC biologists documented 453 manatee carcasses in state waters in 2011.
October 10, 2011
A record high for green turtle nests; a near-record for leatherbacks.
September 23, 2011
They were taken to White Oak Conservation Center to be raised and conditioned for a future return to the wild.
July 20, 2011
There have been no reported cases of avian influenza in humans in the United States.
July 19, 2011
High temperatures and cloudy, rainy days can spell trouble for fish in Florida’s marine and freshwater habitats.
June 20, 2011
This year's season runs June 25 - Sept. 25.
June 15, 2011
Data will help improve the management of this popular recreational fishery.
May 05, 2011
Anglers who submit a tarpon DNA sample to this study in 2011 will be entered into random, bi-monthly drawings for various prizes.
April 27, 2011
The best time to find spawning horseshoe crabs is around high tide, just before, during or after a full or new moon.
April 25, 2011
Saturday, April 30 at FWRI headquarters in St. Petersburg. | <urn:uuid:7f68b39d-ae9a-45b8-b7f0-b24ab5a9f311> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.myfwc.com/news/news-releases/?p=4&category=1218 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92089 | 247 | 2.265625 | 2 |
Is Fashion Art?
by Elyssa Jechow
Famed French couturier Paul Poiret once said, “I have always liked painters. It seems to me that we are in the same trade and that they are my colleagues.” Yet fashion has had to struggle to gain that “collegiality” among the arts, being also seen as “the bastard child of capitalism and female vanity,” according to Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. French philosopher Gilles Lipovetsky indicates a rough road for fashion as he opines similarly, “Like science and industry, fashion is one of the faces of modern artifice, of the effort of human beings to make themselves masters of their own existence.” A poor statement of an art form, if it is such.
Fashion holds a valid claim to status as an art. Great couture requires a creative mind (think Alexander McQueen, Valentino Garavani), skilled craftsmanship involved in the making of any garment, and the creative use of media (from fabric and sequins to even trash and raw meat). Fashion trends have at many times followed artistic trends, and the bond between the visual arts and fashion design during the Art Nouveau period, for example, is undeniable.
Fashion is also for the consumer. The rise of global capitalism and the establishment of the assembly line have made fashion available to the masses. Styles and brand names serve to convey social status. Whereas “styles of music and painting might evolve in pursuit of truth and ultimate form…the fluctuating styles of the skirt…are seen to merely entice the gullible or put down the hoi-polloi” (Virginia Postrel, Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703453804575479902076411376.html). There is some truth to that statement. If the industry decides it wants to sell us something, it uses a variety of media to convince us we need it: a strut down the runway at any major fashion week event, a celebrity endorsement, and now even affordable designer lines at discount stores like Target and Wal-Mart.
My answer to the critical question, though, would be a bit more ambiguous, and given a little time for contemplation, I could give an answer I’d be satisfied with. There are some truly brilliant minds that have graced the world of fashion and made it their own art form. In my mind, McQueen has been the greatest of these – his posthumous solo exhibit at the Met received rave reviews, and justifiably so. The art institution has recognized other designers with their own exhibits. A relatively recent issue of Vogue did a spotlight on the “Balenciaga and Spain” exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and the Roberto Capucci “Art into Fashion” exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art was a smash.
I suggest some different terms, though. Aside from the actual medium (if we want to call it that), I’ve come to see fashion as an outlet of sorts for other forms of art – maybe as sort of an avenue for cultural movement. We certainly saw that happen in the 1920s when women bared their legs and cut their hair and in the 1960s when hippie style was surely definable. Notable First Ladies like Jackie Kennedy and Michelle Obama have used fashion politically. We can name the grunge movement, the “hipster,” the list could go on…
Fashion, I think, also enables art – a different type of cultural movement, more thoughtful. In September of 2010, New York Fashion week opened at the Lincoln Center – but it wasn’t only to be runway shows that year. Throughout the duration of the rest of the year, the new director of fashion at the center organized events like opera, theater, dance and music, fashion films, photo exhibits and lectures.
At the turn of the century (the last one), fashion press employed fine artists to illustrate the designs of the day. Today, contemporary art’s most famous photographers (think Annie Leibovitz) are regularly hired by the fashion press. There was a fascinating picture story In W magazine’s November 2011 “Fashion Meets Art Issue.” “Ai Weiwei Enforced Disappearance: An Exclusive Collaboration with China’s Most Wanted Artist” was the imprisoned (under house arrest) Chinese artist’s first work since being released from government custody. Weiwei Skyped in on the shoot from his studio in China and directed the crew as they shot on Rikers Island and in New York City. The story commented on conflicts between individuals and authorities, the model was dressed in Alexander Wang. Fashion enables art.
In very recent years, photography has enabled fashion to become a kind of street art. “Street fashion” blogs like The Sartorialist, Face Hunter, Garance Doré, and countless others have inspired fashion aficionados to look to the streets to increase their style savvy. Photographing both fashion icons and unknowns in their street clothes, the blogs provide inspiration for the creative, expressive dresser. In fact, The Sartorialist photographer and blogger Scott Schuman was named as one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Design influences. And though some of these particular blogs have become quite famous worldwide, there are also thousands of fashion bloggers photographing inspirational styles on the street, posting blog entries, and making an impact on the fashion and self-expression of their readers.
Back to our original question: Is fashion art? The question defies an easy answer because what we wear also crosses into the world of commodity and craft. To some, it’s an industrial machine, designed to trick people into dumping exorbitant amounts of money on non-essentials. Yet to others, it ranks right up there with painting, sculpture, and the opera. This dual nature points to a gray area. No matter how we look at it individually, though, it is fact that the fashion world and the art world are most definitely woven rather tightly together. Both institutionally and in less formal forms, fashion and art collide, and I believe, will continue to move along a continuum together as contemporary art progresses and evolves.
For related articles from The Muse Dialogue: | <urn:uuid:2b6947e4-a561-48a6-b9af-2242ff919529> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://musedialogue.org/articles-by-genre/visual-arts/costume-design/is-fashion-art/ | 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 | 0.956654 | 1,331 | 2.203125 | 2 |
The European Broadcast Union (EBU) has called for harmonization across the continent, and preferably the world, of standards for TV services that include Internet connectivity either on its own or in a hybrid setup alongside traditional broadcast over cable, satellite or digital terrestrial. This should be done quickly before the field takes off too far with fragmented standards that divide the industry, impose unnecessarily high costs on both vendors and operators, and prevent consumers from having unfettered access to diverse services.
The move is significant at a time when Europe itself is moving on divergent paths. The UK is lining up behind the YouView platform for Internet-connected TV backed by the BBC and telecommunications operator BT, among others, while most remaining countries speraheaded by Germany and France are behind the alternative HbbTV standard. The EBU declaration could be seen as veiled criticism of the UK stance and a call for YouView to move toward HbbTV.
But, the call made by the EBU’s director general, Ingrid Deltenre, goes much further by urging the industry to adopt 19 principles for Internet-connected and hybrid TV designed to lower costs while maximizing choice and viewing experience for consumers. The EBU called on all stakeholders to support and respect the principles.
The principles fall under six headings: linkage between broadcast and broadband; content integrity and display of the broadcast signal on-screen; access to broadcasters' content; preservation of a safe viewing environment, including the protection of minors; copyright/intellectual property rights and piracy; and data protection.
Some of the areas are more urgent than others, notably data protection because that has to be addressed early on in the deployment to be effective in ensuring services comply with national, EU and international rules on collection, processing and use of personal data, including any viewing, usage, or search data and user profiling.
On the other hand, data protection, along with some of the other areas such as protection of minors, are general requirements of all TV services. Therefore, the key areas address the linkage between broadcast and broadband services. | <urn:uuid:d2f820e3-f58d-4f0f-9a29-456e16c961ac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://broadcastengineering.com/news/european-broadcast-union-calls-harmonized-internet-tv-standards | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935963 | 419 | 2.046875 | 2 |
Eg syns alltid at det er morsomt å lese bøker av Bill Bryson, så no har eg begynt på Mother Tongue : the story of the English language.
Nor are languages any respecters of frontiers. If you drew a map of Europe based on languages it would bear scant resemblance to a conventional map. Switzerland would disappear, becoming part of the surrounding dominions of French, Italian and German but for a few tiny pockets for Romansh (or Romantsch or Rhaeto-Romanic as it is variously called), which is spoken as a native language by about half the people in the Graubünden (or Grisons district – almost everything has two names in Switzerland) at the country’s eastern edge. (s.29) | <urn:uuid:a91e308c-2504-45c0-b5d2-89fd2b3eacb5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bloggbib.net/Tanz/?p=881 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926352 | 170 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The big picture: wine style
I suppose every field has its controversies. Two that we hear about quite often in wine production are alcohol level and the hundred point scale. I will address them together as I believe they are closely linked. Over the last decade or so we have seen alcohol levels in table wine creep up. Levels of 15%, 16%, even 17% are not uncommon. It used to be that 14% was considered high, with most wines in the 12 to 13% range. What happened?
At the time we entered the wine business, in the early 70’s the models for “great wines” were relatively few. The very top ones had long track records, and were considered classics. We tasted Bordeaux and Burgundies, as well as Napa Valley Cabernets, that were structured “classically” and appreciated for their ageability. How did we learn about them? We read books about wine, written by well-known authors, and met individuals with lots of expertise to share, often with deep cellars as well. These wines became our models and we turned to them again and again, and wished to emulate them in our winemaking efforts.
In the 90’s things began to change. There was a huge amount of new wealth created by the high tech industry. The surge in disposable income brought in lots of new wine consumers, and lots of wine brands were created. Without a background in wine knowledge and faced with overwhelming choices, many consumers were looking for direction in order to appear wine knowledgeable. In an increasingly complex world, our particular culture became enamored with ratings, lists, and authorities. We had nightly top ten lists. We demanded that sports teams have playoffs such that we could proclaim “were number 1” and the athletes were excused from any standard of behavior as long as they won. We no longer required much actual knowledge from experts (just being on television seemed to ensure that an opinion demanded attention) or smarts from leaders (this is to be a politically neutral zone but it is amazing the extent of risks we are willing to take on based on pundits’ analyses identifying “bad guys vs. good guys).” Reasoning became less important than choosing sides. Staged dramas were called “reality shows.” Magical thinking became more acceptable than critical thinking.
Into this milieu steps the 100 point scale. Perfect for the culture at this point in time. The sports writer or lawyer becomes the wine expert. Who’s number 1?. What’s the top 100? Conversation overheard in a wine shop at the end of the decade: I wanted 97’s, you sent me 95’s. Talking about vintage? No, points.
Faced with a hundred wines in a day to taste, how is the poor expert going to function? This isn’t arty, ain’t no discussion (he’s got no time for that now). Forget about finesse and subtlety, we are in a rush to judgment. Hedonistic is the way to go…gobs of it!
And so it goes like this: grapes picked too soon are lean, restrained, tight, and in some varieties a bit “green.” Then they soften up and show what they have: varietal characters for sure, hopefully regional or site specific ones. Beyond that they go pruney, then raisin-y. In former times, we might have erred on the green side, reluctant to ever sacrifice the regionality or the characters of site. In this new reality show, green may be cool for energy, but not in the rocket juice, where it will just have to be voted out. Ageabilty? That is so yesterday. In the old paradigm desiccated grapes of a certain brix were called Amorone, in the new paradigm they are called “numba one”.
How do we deal with these phenomena? First of all, we don’t subscribe to the bigger is better style of winemaking. We stick to our guns in valuing balance and finesse. We consider that vineyard sites that give age ability are national or better said, planetary treasures. We feel we have such a site, in fact our wines tell us that. While we don’t get too fussed about wines made in the gaudy style garnering the big points, we do feel that there should be room for a range of styles, and don’t appreciate the narrow focus on the part of some reviewers. (A famous pianist we met said “the crickets are always with us” in reference to the pundits of his world). We have generally taken a pass on sending our wines in for review, but on occasion have yielded to direct requests. Results have generally been favorable and solid, about what we would expect in making wines of restraint and balance (note that the reviewers generally ignore the age-ability question, only rating wines on release, which some winemakers have found to be a rather easy thing to “game.”
May 13, 2013
March 6, 2013
February 6, 2013
October 22, 2012
October 11, 2012
October 3, 2012
June 4, 2012
May 24, 2012
May 4, 2012
April 20, 2012 | <urn:uuid:37e36256-db8c-4393-92af-eef5724b134a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dyerwine.com/blog/The-big-picture--wine-style | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97671 | 1,106 | 1.84375 | 2 |
This may come as a bit of a shock to Andrew Coyne and Jim Flaherty, but even the IMF are warning in their most recent fiscal policy update that austerity in the advanced economies is going too far, and will dampen growth.
Indeed, they even suggest that too much austerity may spook the dreaded bond markets.
“Further declines in cyclically adjusted deficits could be undesirable not only from a growth perspective, but possibly from a market perspective as well. While smaller deficits and debt ratios do lead to lower borrowing costs, other things equal, advanced economies with faster output growth are also currently benefiting from lower spreads. This likely reflects in part concerns about the feasibility of fiscal consolidation and solvency in an environment of very weak growth.Thus, further tightening during a downturn could exacerbate rather than alleviate market tensions through its negative impact on growth.”
Figure 3 shows that countries with the largest discretionary reductions in their deficits (negative changes in the cyclically adjusted budget balance) will have the slowest rate of growth in 2012.
And Figure 4 shows that countries with the highest growth rates will enjoy the lowest interest rates.
The IMF estimate the change in the all government Canadian cyclically adjusted budget balance to be minus 0.6% of GDP between 2011 and 2012, and minus 0.7% between 2012 and 2013. In plain language, that is the change in the balance due to spending cuts (or tax increases, though I don’t see any on the horizon.) Earlier IMF work suggests that a minus 1% change of GDP in the balance implies a o.5% increase in the rate of unemployment.
The IMF estimates likely do not fully reflect the scale of pending cuts in the coming round of federal and provincial Budgets.
Finally, one has to be more than a bit puzzled why the IMF staff are issuing such useful reports, while other IMF staff are actively engaging in imposing draconian and self-defeating austerity programs.
- Niall Ferguson’s Latest Idiocy (May 5th, 2013)
- Beating Back the Ghosts: Be Gone Appeals to Reinhart and Rogoff Authority. Welcome the Triumph of Reason. (April 16th, 2013)
- Back to Balance in Nova Scotia (March 25th, 2013)
- Budget 2013: Time for a real action plan, not another ad campaign (March 19th, 2013)
- Breaking The Taboo on Monetizing Deficits (February 22nd, 2013) | <urn:uuid:947ee07e-bcc6-4b46-827f-7f71cb749152> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2012/02/24/fiscal-austerity-and-growth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940271 | 503 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Do we have a little Neanderthal in us? That's not a reference to your behaviour at the end-of-year office party, but to the genes of our extinct cousins. With the imminent publication of the genome sequence of Homo neanderthalis, that question may finally be answered.
So far no one has uncovered evidence of any cross-species romps - at least none that left a trace in our DNA. The 3-billion-nucleotide Neanderthal genome is our best chance yet of finding out.
Whether they did or didn't will make the headlines next year, but the importance of the Neanderthal genome reaches much further. For a start, any sign of interbreeding will force us to rethink our place among our ancestors. The researchers working on the genome have already discovered some details of the hominin's nature: a few individuals were pale-skinned redheads; others couldn't taste bitter vegetables; they may have spoken a ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content. | <urn:uuid:5386037e-7ccd-4495-9fcc-473273015429> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427395.700-2010-preview-arise-neanderthal-brother.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941063 | 221 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Classroom therapy may not be answer to treating depression in teenagers, study findsNovember 7th, 2012 in Psychology & Psychiatry
(Medical Xpress)—Researchers at the University's Department for Health have found that introducing mood therapy into the classroom may not be the answer to treating depression in teenagers.
The team looked into the effectiveness of holding Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) sessions for adolescents in secondary schools with the aim of identifying those at high risk of depression, negative thinking and anxiety.
The Government is attempting to prevent children and adolescents developing depression by introducing various programmes in secondary schools to teach skills for well- being. Schools provide a convenient and accessible location for delivering depression prevention programmes.
The researcher's trial followed the Resourceful Adolescent Programme, a universal depression prevention programme that has been shown to be effective in Australia and New Zealand.
It was delivered to young people between the ages of 12 and 16 at eight schools by trained and supervised graduates and consisted of nine modules and two booster sessions each lasting about 50 to 60 minutes.
The programme aims to develop skills such as emotion-regulation capacities, coping mechanisms and thinking styles, which are reported to protect against the development of depression.
But the Bath researchers found that schools were not the appropriate setting to the deliver the therapy and suggested that more research is undertaken before the initiative is rolled out as part of the National Curriculum.
Professor Paul Stallard who led the study said: "Our findings suggest a more cautious approach is required to the implementation of depression prevention programme in secondary schools.
"Although secondary schools provide a convenient focus for mental health interventions the suitability of this setting for depression focused interventions cannot be assumed.
"We know that therapies such as CBT are effective but it seems they do not work as well in this type of setting. This may be because schools are ultimately designed for academic learning and are not set up to teach psychological wellbeing."
Depression in adolescents is an important mental health disorder. By the age of 19 up to 20 per cent of adolescents will have experienced at least one clinically important depressive episode, which can affect development issues, interfere with education and increase the risk of suicide as well as major depressive disorder in adulthood.
Although depressive episodes may be persistent in adolescents, depression is poorly recognised and comparatively few people receive specialist treatment.
Initial recovery with or without treatment is often good, but recurrence is common, with up to 75 per cent of people experiencing another episode within five years.
The results of the study are published in the paper: "Classroom based cognitive behavioural therapy in reducing symptom of depression in high risk adolescents" in the British Medical Journal.
Provided by University of Bath
"Classroom therapy may not be answer to treating depression in teenagers, study finds." November 7th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-classroom-therapy-depression-teenagers.html | <urn:uuid:a3d6962d-627e-49d8-bba9-078bd3a92fc5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medicalxpress.com/print271500494.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954087 | 593 | 3.375 | 3 |
|FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE|
UIS presentation will examine moral values in American politics
April 1, 2005
SPRINGFIELD - James A. Morone, professor of political science at Brown University, will speak on “Hellfire Nation: Moral Values in American Politics” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, in the Studio Theatre, located on the lower level of the Public Affairs Center at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Part of UIS’ Public Policy Summit, which this year examines “Politics and Religion: Global and American Perspectives,” the program is free and open to the public.
Morone’s presentation will explain how fears of sin and dreams of virtue influence every political issue, from the war on terror to the war on drugs and from health care to foreign policy.
Morone specializes in American politics, American political thought, urban politics, and public policy. In his most recent book, Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History (Yale University Press, 2003), Morone contends that religious and moral movements have been behind almost all of the great developments in American history, from colonial times to the present. Hellfire Nation was chosen as a top 10 book of the year by Christianity Today and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. His earlier book, Democratic Wish: Popular Participation and the Limits of American Government (Basic Books, 1990), was named a notable book of 1991 by the New York Times. He has written more than one hundred essays on politics, history, and social policy.
Morone is currently president of the New England Political Science Association and immediate past president of the Politics and History section of American Political Science Association. The Brown University classes of 1993, 1999, and 2001 chose him to receive the Barret Hazeltine Citation as the teacher who most inspired them. He has also been on the faculties at the University of Chicago, Yale University, and the University of Bremen.
The annual policy summit series is sponsored by the UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership. For more information, contact CSPL Interim Executive Director Barbara Ferrara at 217/206-6576.
|The University of Illinois at Springfield, one of three U of I campuses, is a small, public liberal arts university that offers 42 degree programs – 21 bachelor’s, 20 master’s, and the Doctorate of Public Administration. UIS has a special mission in public affairs and service and is known for extraordinary internships, a wireless campus, extensive online offerings, and a commitment to teaching.|
|UIS HOME PAGE | SEARCH THE UIS WEBSITE | PRESS RELEASE INDEX| | <urn:uuid:6338e79f-8312-4aa1-a324-f3258613a4aa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.uis.edu/pressreleases/apr05PR/04_01c_05.html | 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 | 0.935567 | 553 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Interview with Michel Sidibé, Executive Director, United Nations Programme on AIDS/HIV
Imagine that your organization didn’t exist and you were asked to invent it. What would you do? How would it be fundamentally different from what exists? What would be the differences regarding mandate, resources and objectives?
I would have invented UNAIDS 30 years ago, when a coordinated global response could have prevented the epidemic that has come to define our era. Perhaps we would be out of business by now. The upside is that we are a 21st century UN organization. By which I mean that it is a unique network-based partnership governed by member states, UN organizations as well as civil society. This keeps us fresh and innovative. Our vision –Zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination, Zero AIDS-related deaths– has inspired and galvanized the global community. We renewed our mission last year with an emphasis on uniting and mobilizing all partners, speaking out in solidarity with those most affected, and empowering agents of change with strategic information. We have become the world’s go-to organization for HIV strategy and policy. In other words, I think that we have many of the fundamentals just right. If I were to start from scratch, I would have done two things differently. First, I would have led the UN in the use of modern communication tools –earlier and more aggressively. Too often the UN is behind the curve of technological innovation. These tools not only generate efficiencies but also connect us to emerging thought and bottom-up learning and change. The Arab Spring has demonstrated the real utility of modern communications and that solely top-down approaches are neither appreciated nor sustainable. Second, I would have put a shelf life on the organization –to convey both the sense of urgency and “feasibility” of getting the job done. With upfront investments in the HIV response we can end the HIV epidemic.
To read the full interview, order a copy of the magazine. | <urn:uuid:c93a8161-791e-4060-bfdf-d54392d25bd2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theglobaljournal.net/group/michel-sidibe/article/391/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974316 | 403 | 1.734375 | 2 |
Matthias Küntzel notes that yesterday,
...the Berlin daily the Tagesspiegel published a letter-to-the-editor from Dr. Mounir Herzallah, a Shiite from the South of Lebanon. Dr. Herzallah reports on how Hezbollah-terrorists came to his town, dug a munitions depot and then built a school and a residence directly over it. He writes:“Laughing, a local sheikh explained to me that the Jews lose either way: either because the rockets are fired at them or because, if they attack munitions depot, they are condemned by world public opinion on account of the dead civilians.” Hezbollah, he says, uses the civilian population “as a human shield and then when they are dead as propaganda.”
Just how indifferent the lives of their fellow Muslims are to the Shiite Islamists was already made clear during the Iran-Iraq War, when Khomeini sent thousands of Iranian children into the mine fields. Still today, this mass murder is defended as “martyrdom” by people like Ahmadinejad and Nasrallah.
In April, The New Republic published an abridged version of Küntzel's article on these “children of the minefields.” He has now made available the unabridged version. The particular role of Hizballah is also touched upon in the text. The English translation is by John Rosenthal. You will find the article here. | <urn:uuid:e37ca3b9-f36e-4b94-9bf4-c3a16111df41> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jihadwatch.org/2006/07/the-jews-lose-either-way.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954102 | 302 | 1.554688 | 2 |
The global labour movement urged President Obama and other world leaders at this month’s meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to take strong stands on issues of jobs, trade imbalances, currency policy, workers’ rights and climate change.
With 59 million people expected to be unemployed worldwide by the end of the year, trade union leaders called on the G-20 countries, which include China and Japan, to continue to press for a coordinated global economic strategy to stimulate new jobs to ensure a real recovery.
In a statement prepared for the 14-15 November APEC meeting, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Asia Pacific Labor Network (APLN) called for accelerating efforts at job creation by Asian and Pacific governments. The global labour movement expressed concern about low wages in Asia and called on Asian leaders to “get back on the track with the creation of decent work.”
Unions also called for workers’ rights to be at the centre of a strategy for global economic growth. In their joint statement, the ITUC and APLN said decent work and respect for human rights is essential to achieve a stable regional economic structure.
A report in the blog of US national union federation AFL-CIO says working families and their unions are calling for progress to be made on climate negotiations— progress toward climate change policies that pay attention to employment and workforce issues and promote green jobs. | <urn:uuid:b72c6afe-6237-4558-b59b-cd3c39d29ef7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hazards.org/greenjobs/blog/2009/11/22/unions-worldwide-lead-the-leaders/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941907 | 292 | 1.9375 | 2 |
During his televised speech on February 10, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak delegated some of his presidential authority to handpicked vice president Omar Suleiman. Professor Lisa Hajjar of the University of California, Santa Barbara, chronicles Suleiman’s record, including his role in the U.S. extraordinary rendition program, his close ties to Israel, and his personal involvement in the torture of prisoners. [includes rush transcript]
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: "Uprising in Egypt," our Democracy Now! special. And you can see the live streaming of what’s happening in Tahrir Square and in Alexandria at our website at democracynow.org, as we stream live and broadcast on radio and television around the country and around the world. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonzalez.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, during his televised speech last night, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak shocked much of the world when he announced he would not resign. Instead, he vowed to delegate some of his presidential authority to handpicked vice president Omar Suleiman.
PRESIDENT HOSNI MUBARAK: [translated] I decided to delegate to the Vice President responsibility of the president according to the constitution. I know very well that Egypt will overcome this crisis and that its will will not be broken. It will stand on its feet again with the commitment and honesty of its children, all of her children, and will return the cunning of plotters and the gloating of the gloaters.
AMY GOODMAN: Shortly after Mubarak spoke, Vice President Omar Suleiman addressed the nation.
VICE PRESIDENT OMAR SULEIMAN: [translated] Youth of Egypt, youth of Egypt and its heroes, go back to your homes and your jobs. The nation needs your arms to build, improve and be creative. Do not listen to tendentious satellite channels and channels which have no aims except to mesmerize and to weaken Egypt and ruin its image. Listen only to what your consciences instruct you to do, your awareness and your appreciation of dangers surrounding you.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Omar Suleiman is a longtime ally of the United States. He played a key role in the U.S. extraordinary rendition program. He also underwent training in the 1980s at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School and Center at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
Newly released classified U.S. diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks reveal that Israeli officials have long hoped that newly appointed Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman would eventually succeed Hosni Mubarak as president of Egypt. In an August 2008 cable, a U.S. diplomat wrote, quote, "There is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Omar Soliman."
AMY GOODMAN: For more about Suleiman, we’re joined right now by Lisa Hajjar, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She recently wrote an article called "Omar Suleiman, the CIA’s Man in Cairo and Egypt’s Torturer-in-Chief."
Lisa Hajjar, lay out what you know about the man who Mubarak says he’s handing over some responsibilities to.
LISA HAJJAR: Well, Omar Suleiman, as Juan had just noted, started his career, in terms of relating to the United States, in the '80s. In 1993, he became the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services, which is just somewhat like the United States CIA. It does external security, but it's part of the military. In the 1990s — I mean, we’ve been thinking and hearing a lot about Suleiman’s role in the war on terror, extraordinary rendition, but for the United States, rendition began under Clinton. It was regular rendition rather than the extraordinary kind. And it was developed very much in cooperation with Egypt, and specifically with Suleiman, because at that time, as al-Qaeda was developing and engaging in attacks in Egypt and Africa and elsewhere, the desire was to be able to pick up, kidnap people and transfer them to countries for trial. And so, in the 1990s, a number of suspected Islamist terrorists were picked up in other countries, transferred to Egypt. So, Suleiman was at that point already facilitating this approach.
And Suleiman, of course, had — you know, not only as the chief of Egyptian intelligence, but also ideologically deeply committed to an anti-Islamist politics, and something that endeared him certainly to George Bush when, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, just within days, President George Bush authorized the CIA to engage in a much different kind of program, establishing the black prisons, the extraordinary rendition program, which meant the right to kidnap people from anywhere and either disappear them into black sites or send them to third countries for torture by proxy. And Egypt was the primary destination, although other countries were also destinations for these American CIA torture flights.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Lisa Hajjar, you also write about his role in helping Israel and the United States repress the Palestinians in Gaza through the destruction of the tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt and that provide a lifeline, basically, for the Palestinians in Gaza. Could you talk about that?
LISA HAJJAR: Sure. I mean, his — you know, he really has defined himself politically and ideologically as an ardent anti-Islamist, and in that regard — and has very close relations with Israel. He held, has held for years, the Israel dossier for the Foreign Ministry, in addition to his position as the head of security, and so was very much of the same mind as Israel in terms of adamant opposition to Hamas. And even during the period of the Operation Cast Lead, very end of 2008, January 2009, when Israel was militarily attacking and besieging Gaza, and that period, he was the one who facilitated the blockage of Gaza from the Egyptian side. And subsequent to that, he has demolished or overseen the demolition of the tunnels through which both arms but also foodstuffs had been able to go into Gaza. So, he’s also been quoted as saying — you know, sharing in the Israeli position that Gazans should basically be kept on a very strict diet. So, a deeply anti-humanitarian position towards Palestinians.
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa Hajjar, there’s so many things you raise in this. You quote Jane Mayer, The New Yorker writer, quoting former U.S. ambassador to Egypt, Walker, describing the Egyptian counterpart, Suleiman, as "very bright, very realistic," adding that he was cognizant that there was a downside to "some of the negative things that the Egyptians engaged in, of torture and so on. But he was not squeamish, by the way," Walker said, referring to Suleiman. And I wanted you to address two different people, to tell us their stories, so significant: one in which Suleiman tortured a man himself, the Egyptian-born Australian citizen, Mamdouh Habib, and then this very significant case of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, who U.S. officials hoped would link Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda.
LISA HAJJAR: Yes. Well, as I mentioned, Egypt was a very significant destination for this torture by proxy. The case of Mamdouh Habib, he was an Egyptian-born Australian citizen who was arrested in — he was in Pakistan, he was arrested in Pakistan in 2001. And, you know, Habib’s situation illuminates a much broader phenomenon, just to put this in context. The United States was operating at that time on the assumption that anybody who is in either Afghanistan or Pakistan who was not Afghani or Pakistani should, under former vice president Dick Cheney’s One Percent solution, should be assumed to possibly be a terrorist. And so, you know, any Arabs — and, you know, that’s why so many people were rounded up and either shipped off to the CIA or rendered to other countries. So Habib was picked up by the Pakistanis, tortured in Pakistan, under questioning with CIA agents present, was then extraordinarily rendered to Egypt, where he was subjected to brutal torture, electric shocks, he was suffocated in water, beaten and hung by his wrists.
But the account that he subsequently, in his own autobiography, My Story, tells is that on one day, when he was being tortured and questioned about his ties to al-Qaeda or concessions to involvement in terror, he was smacked so hard on the face by the person was questioning him that his blindfold was dislodged. And the person was revealed to be Omar Suleiman. And Suleiman was frustrated that Habib, who, as we now know, was absolutely innocent of any kind of ties, but this was the time when, you know, they wanted to get intelligence, regardless of the circumstances and the notion that people were dissembling. So another thing that Habib recounts that Suleiuman did to try and break him was he instructed a guard there in the interrogation room to kill a Turkistani prisoner to show Habib that they were serious. And so, the guard killed the prisoner with what was accounted as a vicious karate kick. And, you know, ultimately, Habib was then sent back to Bagram, ended up in Guantánamo, and was released ultimately because there was absolutely no evidence that he was guilty of anything. But his case, I think, is extremely indicative.
AMY GOODMAN: And al-Libi?
LISA HAJJAR: Al-Libi. So, al-Libi actually was, you know, a militant, had been based in Afghanistan, was someone who was a trainer or ran the al-Khaldan camp. And he was captured fleeing, in November of 2001, fleeing out of Afghanistan, picked up. He ends up in Egypt. You know, and again, many people ended up there. Al-Libi was brutally tortured.
Now, in the fall of — the late fall of 2000 and early winter of 2003 — 2002, 2003, the Bush administration was intent on going to war with Iraq. And they wanted evidence to be able to build public support both domestically and internationally. And so, as Scott Horton and others have reported, this was a period when torture and just the intensity of interrogations escalated, because CIA and military interrogators were under incredible pressure to produce the kind of evidence of specifically an al-Qaeda-Saddam Hussein connection. And in fact it was al-Libi who gave the information, under torture, in Egypt, that two al-Qaeda operatives had gone to Iraq for training in chemical and biological weapons. However, the confession was false, although it was used by Colin Powell, that along with the yellowcake from Niger sale, the two pieces of evidence that were used to justify the war in Iraq when he spoke to the United Nations in February of 2003. The war begins. Subsequently, we learn that al-Libi’s confession was false, and he said that he had just said whatever his interrogators wanted him to say in order to make the torture stop.
But what becomes interesting is once it’s revealed that al-Libi had recanted his testimony, which — you know, once the Iraq war is going so poorly and there are no weapons of mass destruction, al-Libi is then essentially disappeared. I mean, no one knows where al-Libi went for a while. He didn’t end up in Guantánamo, and — you know, because his people would have wanted to question him about the evidence he had — or the statement he had made in relation to this massively devastating war. In 2009, April 2009, several Human Rights Watch investigators were in Libya doing an investigation of Libyan prison conditions, and there they discovered al-Libi. And they saw him and spoke to him, and according to Human Rights Watch, they said he was in relatively OK health and so on. But the fact then they revealed al-Libi is alive, he’s in Libya, and it immediately re-raised the questions of people wanting to speak to him.
This was deeply humiliating to Omar Suleiman, because it was known that he had been tortured in Egypt, he had given a false confession, and this false confession had led to a war that is deeply unpopular. So, in May of 2009, Suleiman flies to Libya in order to meet with his counterpart. And by the time Omar Suleiman’s plane is on its way back to Cairo, al-Libi had committed suicide in his prison cell. So, he’s gone now. No one can ask him about his experience in Egyptian torture chamber.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And this is the man who Mubarak appointed or handed over his presidential powers to last night. Reports on Suleiman that we’re not getting in the rest of the commercial media here in the United States.
LISA HAJJAR: Right. Well, I think — and, you know, in some ways, Suleiman wasn’t particularly — I mean, he was certainly known to Egyptians, but his record of torture is something that people who follow torture have been aware of for a long time. And I think it’s important now for the media, for particularly progressive media, to be able to bring this story to light. And as it’s filtered back into Egypt, some of these accounts, I think it’s also — this is not the only thing that’s diminishing Omar Suleiman’s legitimacy, but — because he can do that himself every time he opens his mouth, but, I mean, certainly this should contribute to it.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, Lisa Hajjar, we’re going to certainly link to your piece. Lisa Hajjar is a professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. She recently wrote the piece that we’re talking about today on Omar Suleiman, called "Omar Suleiman, the CIA’s Man in Cairo and Egypt’s Torturer-in-Chief."
When we come back from break, we’re going to go to Cairo to Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Anjali Kamat of Democracy Now! We’re getting this news, that President Mubarak is in Sharm el-Sheikh. And the networks, various ones, are reporting there will be a, quote, "important statement soon from the office of Egypt’s president," that according to state TV. Tell your friends to tune in to your local radio station, television, the networks, Free Speech TV, Link TV, and online at democracynow.org. As we have these conversations, we are showing the live images on the ground of the most significant day of protest in Egypt’s history. Millions have taken to the streets in strike and rally, from Suez to Cairo. | <urn:uuid:307dac0e-97e5-4b8f-909a-ee94ffbdc288> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/11/omar_suleiman_the_cias_man_in | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981517 | 3,133 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Canadian Bilingual School seeks to develop in our students the creative minds and ethical spirits needed to contribute wisdom, compassion and leadership to a global society. We provide a rigorous academic program which encourages high expectations for success through developmentally appropriate instruction that allows for individual differences and learning styles. Our school promotes a respectful, safe and supportive environment where students, parents, teachers and community members are encouraged to be actively involved in our students learning.
We believe in :
2. Having a positive belief in people
3.Developing Critical Thinking
CBS Code of Conduct
As a member of the CBS community,
1.I will be accountable for my own learning and will ensure that my work reflects both my integrity and the best of my abilities.
2.I will treat others, regardless of position or background, with respect and dignity.
3.I will ensure that my actions and attitude contribute to maintaining a positive learning environment for all.
4.I will take proper care of my belongings and respect the property of others.
5.I will accept my responsibilities to the CBS community by following the school’s rules and regulations. | <urn:uuid:f77a08ac-5212-474b-84bc-d56b0d094c25> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cbskuwait.com/aboutus.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915664 | 229 | 1.851563 | 2 |
DxOMark has many unique features, two of which are that (1) we perform sensor measurements on RAW images and (2) we test each lens on every camera on which it can be mounted. Why do we do this?
A RAW image is the picture that is directly delivered by the sensor. It is mostly unprocessed, and cannot be visualized on directly on a screen. It has to be transformed by a fairly complex signal processing known as RAW conversion.
To answer this question, consider the image as viewed by the end-user of a camera. A color image is an array of pixels, each characterized by its spatial position and three integer values that convey intensities in three color channels—red, green, and blue.
The image "seen" by the sensor is completely different. Each photosite, corresponding to a pixel in the final image, can see only one type of color (either red, green, or blue). This means that the signal perceived by the sensor has a single channel at each pixel. The spatial distribution of the different color channels is up to the sensor maker, but the vast majority of sensors use a Bayer color filter array.
Moreover, the red, green, and blue that the sensor sees does not match the red, green, and blue seen by the human eye, for both physical and psychophysical reasons (meaning the color constancy that involves the brain and not just the eye).
A Bayer color filter array. Each photosite is either sensitive to red, or green, or blue. There are twice as many green photosites as red or blue photosites.
This image with interlaced channels is the RAW image. There is no way it can be avoided, since it is essentially what the sensor "sees." A RAW converter transforms it into an image that the user can see. Every camera has a RAW converter embedded on a chip. The RAW image is transferred to this image processing chip, converted to a RGB image, then transferred to the memory card. This process is generally sufficient for most users, who are usually interested only in the final image.
However, expert photographers want to control many parameters of the RAW conversion itself (such as white balance, exposure, and so on), a possibility now offered by camera manufacturers, who have made versions of their RAW converters available as PC software. In this case, the RAW image is directly transferred to the memory card before undergoing RAW conversion.
As we do not have access to intermediate outputs on the sensor, DxOMark measures RAW images — the very same images that can be accessed by photographers who use cameras that shoot in RAW.
Certain manufacturers embed a small part of the processing directly in the sensor, which means that some degree of processing occurs before the RAW image is sent to the RAW converter. In this case, measurements for these "pre-cooked" RAW images can be biased by this processing.
To avoid any potential impact on our measurements, DxOMark always tests all cameras to detect any pre-processing of RAW images. A processed or pre-cooked RAW image has different characteristics from a genuinely unprocessed image. To some extent, these characteristics enable us to walk back the processing and reconstruct the original image to perform unbiased measurements, and we always inform the user about models with embedded pre-processing. | <urn:uuid:f4d57620-509c-4897-a789-b5e349712b95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/en%D0%A3%D1%8F%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%D0%9D%D0%A2%D0%8F%D0%A3%D1%8F%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%D0%9D%D0%A2%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%D0%A3%D1%8F%EF%BF%BD%EF%BF%BD%D0%9D%D0%A2%D0%9D/About/In-depth-measurements/Measuring-sensors-using-RAW-and-testing-lenses-on-cameras | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942204 | 677 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Publications & Reports
Changing weather patterns have dramatically affected crop production, leaving rural farmers unable to properly feed themselves and vulnerable to debt. Oxfam calls the situation 'deeply worrying.
Climate change is damaging people's lives today. Even if world
leaders agree the strictest possible curbs on greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions, the prospects are very bleak for hundreds of
millions of people, most of them among the world's poorest. This
paper puts the dramatic stories of some of those people alongside the latest science on the impacts of climate change on humans.
Climate change, poverty and the environment in Malawi.
This report gathers people's observations of climate change in Malawi and what it means for their lives and livelihoods. They describe rising temperatures, longer drier seasons and more intense and concentrated rainfall. The report shows how climate change interacts with poverty and environmental pressures to create a spiral into vulnerability.
In 2006, Oxfam Canada decided to strengthen its longstanding commitment to women's rights and gender equality by making these issues the strategic focus for all of the organization's work.
To ensure we walked the talk on gender equality, we set about transforming not only our programming, but also our internal structures, culture and practices to be more inclusive and respectful of women and men in all their diversity.
Oxfam Canada recently checked in to see where we are in translating this organizational commitment to action.
Read the results.
On the April 28, 2009 meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide, Eve Ensler and Stephen Lewis addressed Canadian Members of Parliament on how Canada can help end the use of sexual violence in war.
Each year, on average, almost 250 million people are affected by natural' disasters. In a typical year between 1998 and 2007, 98 per cent of them suffered from climate-related
disasters such as droughts and floods rather than, for example, devastating but relatively rare events such as earthquakes. According to new research for this report, by 2015 this
could grow by more than 50 per cent to an average of over 375 million affected by climate-related disasters each year.
Hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees will face a humanitarian emergency this year, unless urgent steps are taken to deal with a serious public health crisis unfolding in the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya, international agency Oxfam warned in a new report issued today.
The survey report, 'In Her Own Words: Iraqi women talk about their greatest concerns and challenges, is being released on International Women's Day to highlight the daily hardships women are facing as a result of years of conflict.
The realization of the right to health for millions of people in poor countries depends upon a massive increase in health services to achieve universal and equitable access. A growing number of international donors are promoting an expansion of private-sector
health-care delivery to fulfil this goal. The private sector can play a role in health care. But this paper shows there is an urgent need to reassess the arguments used in favour of scaling-up private-sector
provision in poor countries. The evidence shows that prioritizing this approach is extremely unlikely to deliver health for poor people. Governments and rich country donors must strengthen state capacities
to regulate and focus on the rapid expansion of free publicly provided health care, a proven way to save millions of lives worldwide. | <urn:uuid:1f8aac5b-807d-4520-aa34-7eb9d5823087> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oxfam.ca/news-and-publications/publications-and-reports?page=5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939471 | 683 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Consumers right to sue for misleading claims
ALG REPORT | JAN 28, 2011
Consumers can now sue the companies or manufacturers for misleading claims made by them. This decision resolves a long overdue decision about the rights of consumers vs businesses over the scope of Proposition 64, a 2004 measure targeted to reduce lawsuits against businesses. Consumers who buy a product as a result of believing the misleading claims in advertising can sue the manufacturer even if the product was not defective, the California Supreme Court decided in a 5-2 ruling on Jan 24, 2011. It was a victory for consumers and supporters of Consumer rights said that the favorable decision will force the manufacturers to be honest about their claims and consumers will not be tricked.
The case involved a lawsuit against Orange County-based Kwikset Corp. for placing "Made in U.S.A" labels clearly visible on locksets. A trial judge determined the company was selling numerous products under such labels even though they contained foreign-made parts or were assembled in foreign countries. The company has stopped labeling the locksets the way it was done up until this decision.
Hopefully, this decision will pave the way for advertising that tricks consumers but cannot be labeled as unlawful. For example, some TV ads run the selling section of the ad with vivid imagination, colors, creativity but when it’s time to tell the consumers about disclaimers, disclosures or associated risks, the color and size of font is very small and almost illegible or if it is speech, then the speed is fast and without any intonation so consumers generally are unable to grasp the content or message as a whole. The company is following a law, but is clearly tricking the consumer. | <urn:uuid:a19e003d-1c9b-490f-9d3e-8dfdc1ed811f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://amerindelaw.com/blog/item/consumers-can-sue-over-misleading-claims | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961782 | 345 | 1.773438 | 2 |
Whether you know it as a clapperboard, a slate, slate board, time slate, or by another name, you probably recognize this staple of movie making. It’s a handy way to help synchronize sound with video, and to keep track of clips when it comes time to edit. But this clapperboard is quite a bit more accurate than most. It’s got an atomic clock source for dead-on accuracy.
The project came from the growing availability of Rubidium clock source modules on eBay. They can be had for under $100 and you’ll enjoy accuracy of 0.1 ppm. [Luddite Tech] grabbed one for himself and included it in this build. As you can see in the clip after the break, the contrast of the eight-digit display is adjustable, and shines brightest when the marker is snapped. We’d guess the cable he connects at the beginning of the demo is used to set the initial time reference. After that the in-built WiFi can be used to push the time markers to a computer. | <urn:uuid:f109445d-0e98-4089-a5d2-74d879f9becb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hackaday.com/2012/08/02/atomic-clapperboard/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=104f7cb3e5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939836 | 219 | 1.96875 | 2 |
First Person - no easy answers to the housing problemBy Terry Byrne
February 25, 2010
Conservative spokesman for housing Councillor Terry Byrne reveals what he has learned over four years about social housing:
As the municipal year draws to an end I find myself thinking, “What have I learned during my four years as a councillor and Conservative spokesperson on housing?”
Well, firstly I’ve learned that as far as housing is concerned, there are many difficult issues and many hard choices to be made, but no easy answers.
I believe that as a society we should seek to provide decent, secure housing for those people who for one reason or another are unable to play a full part in the economic life of the country and need help from the rest of us. We should also give help to young people starting out and provide a safety net for those effected by redundancy, recession, or any of the setbacks that threaten us all at one time or another.
One thing that we’ve all learnt during the credit crunch is that no one should think, “I’m okay, I’ll never need help”. So a socially responsible housing service is a must.
We should also ensure that our social housing tenants receive a first class repair and maintenance service and that their neighbourhoods are safe and pleasant places in which to live. In Reading the decision was taken to retain the ownership of our housing stock rather than sell it off to a housing association and that we would continue to run our own repair and maintenance service.
A recent inspection awarded this service two stars out of three and retention of housing stock and services is, in my view, currently the most economical and efficient way of discharging our responsibilities as a social landlord.
One thing that made it difficult to provide these services was the fact that for many years the Labour Government imposed a negative subsidy on our housing revenue account. This meant that instead of being able to spend all the rent we collected on improving services, we had to give a large chunk, millions, to the Government so they could subsidise services in other boroughs, mainly in the North of England.
This was so obviously unfair that, in the face of fierce lobbying by ourselves and other negative subsidy areas, they have finally abandoned the scheme and we’ll be free of it in 2011. However the dead hand of central government, with Labour’s insistence on seeking to control every aspect of our lives, still weighs heavily on housing policy.
Thankfully, under a Conservative government local authorities will have much more control over their own destinies and regional planning authorities will be a thing of the past. We will be able to build what we want, where we want and when we want. Also, if one of our tenants exercises the right to buy their council house we will be able to retain the capital raised and use it to build another council house.
In this way the right to buy does not decrease the number of council houses available.
However the issue of social housing will still present many difficult problems. Currently, thanks to the Government’s handling of our economy, some 73 per cent of our social housing tenants are on housing benefit and many are also in receipt of the Jobseeker’s Allowance.
This must make it very difficult for those people to feel that they have a real stake in their own futures and are fully part of society.
The allocation of council houses is always a problem. At present we have a shortage of two or three-bedroom council houses. So what should we do if a couple in a two-bedroom flat decide to add to their family?
Do we build larger and larger units to cater for expanding families?
Another problem is that of under occupation. We have quite a number of older couples, widows, and widowers, living in family-sized council houses.
No authority would want to ask these tenants to move away from the neighbourhoods they know, but with overcrowding at one end of the scale and under-occupation at the other it really is yet another difficult problem for which we need to find a solution.
These problems have developed over a long period and are the result of many years of muddled social housing policy. As such they will also take several years to unravel.
However, one central idea that could start to address the problems would be to consider every council tenant as a potential homeowner.
Obviously there will be people who will always need support from the state, but for many tenants ownership is a real possibility.
If we can develop a range of mortgage support, shared equity and ownership support schemes then more people will be able to feel that they are part of society as a whole and we can finally start to tackle the problems of social division and exclusion. | <urn:uuid:c139a672-4631-40c0-bfa4-4da2ccc197dd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.getreading.co.uk/blogs/andanotherthing/s/2066553_first_person__no_easy_answers_to_the_housing_problem?page_size=50 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973824 | 975 | 1.5625 | 2 |
More precisely, the image-intensities at each position are attenuated, depending on the strength (b-value) and direction of the so-called magnetic diffusion gradient, as well as on the local microstructure in which the water molecules diffuse. The more attenuated the image is at a given position, the more diffusion there is in the direction of the diffusion gradient. In order to measure the tissue's complete diffusion profile, one needs to repeat the MR scans, applying different directions (and possibly strengths) of the diffusion gradient for each scan.
Traditionally, in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), three gradient-directions are applied, sufficient to estimate the trace of the diffusion tensor or 'average diffusivity', a putative measure of edema. Clinically, trace-weighted images have proven to be very useful to diagnose vascular strokes in the brain, by early detection (within a couple of minutes) of the hypoxic edema.
More extended diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans derive neural tract directional information from the data using 3D or multidemensional vector algorithms based on three, six, or more gradient directions, sufficient to compute the diffusion tensor. The diffusion model is a rather simple model of the diffusion process, assuming homogeneity and linearity of the diffusion within each image-voxel. From the diffusion tensor diffusion anisotropy measures, such as the Fractional Anisotropy (FA), can be computed. Moreover, the principal direction of the diffusion tensor can be used to infer the white-matter connectivity of the brain (i.e. tractography; trying to see which part of the brain is connected to which other part).
Recently, more advanced models of the diffusion process have been proposed that aim to overcome the weaknesses of the diffusion tensor model. Amongst others, these include q-space imaging and generalized diffusion tensor imaging.
DWI is a modification of regular MRI techniques, and is an approach which utilizes the measurement of Brownian motion of molecules. Regular MRI acquisition utilizes the behaviour of protons in water to generate contrast between clinically relevant features of a particular subject. The versatile nature of MRI is due to this capability of producing contrast, called weighting. In a typical -weighted image, water molecules in a sample are excited with the imposition of a strong magnetic field. This causes many of the protons in water molecules to precess simultaneously, producing signals in MRI. In -weighted images, contrast is produced by measuring the loss of coherence or synchrony between the water protons. When water is in an environment where it can freely tumble, relaxation tends to take longer. In certain clinical situations, this can generate contrast between an area of pathology and the surrounding healthy tissue.
In diffusion-weighted images, instead of a homogeneous magnetic field, the homogeneity is varied linearly by a pulsed field gradient. Since precession is proportional to the magnet strength, the protons begin to precess at different rates, resulting in dispersion of the phase and signal loss. Another gradient pulse is applied in the same direction but with opposite magnitude to refocus or rephase the spins. The refocusing will not be perfect for protons that have moved during the time interval between the pulses, and the signal measured by the MRI machine is reduced. This reduction in signal due to the application of the pulse gradient can be related to the amount of diffusion that is occurring through the following equation:
where is the signal intensity without the diffusion weighting, is the signal with the gradient, is the gyromagnetic ratio, is the strength of the gradient pulse, is the duration of the pulse, is the time between the two pulses, and finally, is the diffusion constant.
By rearranging the formula to isolate the diffusion-coefficient, it is possible to obtain an idea of the properties of diffusion occurring within a particular voxel (volume picture element). These values, called apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) can then be mapped as an image, using diffusion as the contrast.
The first successful clinical application of DWI was in imaging the brain following stroke in adults. Areas which were injured during a stroke showed up "darker" on an ADC map compared to healthy tissue. At about the same time as it became evident to researchers that DWI could be used to assess the severity of injury in adult stroke patients, they also noticed that ADC values varied depending on which way the pulse gradient was applied. This orientation-dependent contrast is generated by diffusion anisotropy, meaning that the diffusion in parts of the brain has directionality. This may be useful for determining structures in the brain which could restrict the flow of water in one direction, such as the myelinated axons of nerve cells (which is affected by multiple sclerosis). However, in imaging the brain following a stroke, it may actually prevent the injury from being seen. To compensate for this, it is necessary to apply a mathematical operator, called a tensor, to fully characterize the motion of water in all directions. This tensor is called a diffusion tensor:
Diffusion-weighted images are very useful to diagnose vascular strokes in the brain. Diffusion tensor imaging is being developed for studying the diseases of the white matter of the brain as well as for studies of other body tissues (see below).
(Vector length)2 = BX2 + BY2 + BZ2
Diffusion vector angle between BX & BY = arctan (BY/BX)
Diffusion vector angle between BX & BZ = arctan (BX/BZ)
Diffusion vector angle between BY & BZ = arctan (BY/BZ)oi;'io '
The principal application is in the imaging of white matter where the location, orientation, and anisotropy of the tracts can be measured. The architecture of the axons in parallel bundles, and their myelin sheaths, facilitate the diffusion of the water molecules preferentially along their main direction. Such preferentially oriented diffusion is called anisotropic diffusion.
The imaging of this property is an extension of diffusion MRI. If diffusion gradients (i.e. magnetic field variations in the MRI magnet) are applied in at least 3 directions (although use of 6 directions improves the accuracy for "off-diagonal" information), it is possible to calculate, for each voxel, a tensor (i.e. a symmetric positive definite 3 ×3 matrix) that describes the 3-dimensional shape of diffusion. The fiber direction is indicated by the tensor’s main eigenvector. This vector can be color-coded, yielding a cartography of the tracts' position and direction (red for left-right, blue for superior-inferior, and green for anterior-posterior). The brightness is weighted by the fractional anisotropy which is a scalar measure of the degree of anisotropy in a given voxel. Mean Diffusivity (MD) or Trace is a scalar measure of the total diffusion within a voxel. These measures are commonly used clinically to localize white matter lesions that do not show up on other forms of clinical MRI.
Diffusion tensor imaging data can be used to perform tractography within white matter. Fiber tracking algorithms can be used to track a fiber along its whole length (e.g. the corticospinal tract, through which the motor information transit from the motor cortex to the spinal cord and the peripheral nerves).
Some clinical applications of DTI are in the tract-specific localization of white matter lesions such as trauma and in defining the severity of diffuse traumatic brain injury. The localization of tumors in relation to the white matter tracts (infiltration, deflection), has been one the most important initial applications. In surgical planning for some types of brain tumors, surgery is aided by knowing the proximity and relative position of the corticospinal tract and a tumor.
The use of DTI for the assessment of white matter in development, pathology and degeneration has been the focus of over 2,500 research publications since 2005. It promises to be very helpful in distinguishing Alzheimer's disease from other types of dementia. Applications in brain research cover e.g. connectionistic investigation of neural networks in vivo.
DTI also has applications in the characterization of skeletal and cardiac muscle. The sensitivity to fiber orientation also appears to be helpful in the arena of sports medicine where it greatly aids imaging of structure and injury in muscles and tendons.
New Guidelines Urge Use of MRI Over CT Scan in Stroke Patients; American Academy of Neurology now says diffusion MRI best for detecting blockage.(magnetic resonance imaging)(computed tomography)(Brief article)
Jul 12, 2010; MONDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- Diffusion MRI scans are better at diagnosing ischemic stroke than CT scans, according to a... | <urn:uuid:4c75a535-8979-46ac-9d74-ae2237752148> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Diffusion_MRI | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916758 | 1,841 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Medical Mondays – You ask the questions and our highly trained bioidentical hormones experts will post your answer LIVE! Q: I just made an appointment to see Dr. Jeffrey Thackrey in Fort Lauderdale – a BodyLogicMD affiliated physician. I currently take several vitamins and supplements and I was wondering if my new
Do vitamins and supplements increase mortality rate in older women? The headlines in USA Today sure make it look like they do. The only clear associations shown in this study were that supplemental iron was found to increase the risk of mortality and the higher the dose of iron, the higher the risk.
Tonight’s lead story on a national news network was a report that suggested that supplements might actually be harmful. The results were debatable, having much to do with the specific group of women over 60. Calcium supplements appeared beneficial; iron supplements appeared harmful. The reasons, overall, were not clear to researchers. So, | <urn:uuid:6768b13d-ce95-4512-90b2-1491f5e03469> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bioidenticalhormoneexperts.com/tag/vitamins-and-supplements | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972168 | 188 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Every year, natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods, disrupt drinking water supplies and wastewater disposal systems. Still however, many people are ill-prepared to deal with this when the situation arises. When it comes to emergency preparedness with your water supplies, you can never be too careful.
The most important thing you should remember is to only use water that has been properly disinfected for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth. You should also boil water. Boiling water will kill most disease-causing organisms that could be present. Boil the water for a minute, let it cool and store it in a clean container with a lid over it. It is also advised that you follow the advice from local officials, and to look for other sources of portable water in and around your home.
Here at Filters Fast, we know the dangers of drinking contaminated water, and the numerous health risks it poses. Below are great products that will keep your water safe and clean for consumption:
The Katadyn MyBottle Water Purifier is the only personal water bottle purification system on the entire water filter market that is registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To use this water bottle purifier, fill the bottle with the water you want purified, insert the specially-designed Katadyn purification system, and drink from virtually any fresh water source.
The Katadyn Ceradyn Drip Water Filter System is a high performance, free standing gravity water filter system. It has a 2.6 gallon capacity for larger quantities of water and is especially useful for larger quantities of people. With this Katadyn filter you can drink safely from streams, rivers and lakes.
The Katadyn Black Combi Endurance Microfilter System is a personal pump action filter which uses a two stage filter composed of activated carbon and ceramic to remove micro-organisms and disease causing agents such as viruses, bacteria, spores, dirt and some chemicals. This Katadyn Combi filter comes with a bottle adaptor and a carrying bag along with a measuring gauge.
Every year, we celebrate World Water Day and American Red Cross Month in recognition of the importance of clean water and helping those in need of it. Let us all do our part to aid others and to make the world a better place. | <urn:uuid:8e463765-ec7b-4890-b224-b439c7defff3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.filtersfast.com/blog/index.php/tag/american-red-cross-month/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952704 | 466 | 2.28125 | 2 |
New Findings on Carbon Dioxide Release from World's Oceans
Carbon Dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas, is intricately linked to global warming. The largest store of CO2 is the world's oceans. How the oceans sequester or release CO2 to or from the atmosphere is important to understand as mankind alters Earth's climate with the burning of fossil fuels. A new report from researchers at the University of California, Davis offers clues on how that mechanism works by analyzing the shells of plankton fossils.
CO2 from the atmosphere touches the ocean surface is absorbed by the water. Marine phytoplankton consume the CO2 from the surface as they grow. After the plankton dies, it sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Decomposition then transforms the organic compounds of the plankton into dissolved CO2. This cycle, known as the biological pump, is extremely effective at removing CO2 from the atmosphere and depositing it in the deep ocean waters.
As global temperatures rise, one of the first symptoms is the melting of glaciers and sea ice. This frigid water then sinks to the bottom of the ocean, pushing up the carbon-rich waters that have been trapped under the warmer water for so long, like fizzy soda under a bottle cap). Once the older carbon-rich water reaches the surface, the collected greenhouse gas is released back into the atmosphere, accelerating the cycle of temperature rise.
This is what occurred at the end of the last great ice age, about 18,000 years ago. The question is, where and how quickly does the release of CO2 from the oceans occur? Earlier studies suggest that the release took place all over the northern and southern hemisphere and over centuries and millennia. However, Howard Spero, a UC Davis geology professor, and his colleagues disagree.
According to Spero, the CO2 release that preceded the current warm period was akin to a big fizz rather than a slow leak, and took place largely in the Southern Ocean which surrounds Antarctica. This theory was tested by examining the carbon-14 content in the fossil shells of phytoplankton that were alive at the end of the last ice age. These shells were obtained from core samples, which took up ancient sediment from deep in the sea floor.
"We now understand that the Southern Ocean was the fundamental release valve that controlled the flow of carbon dioxide from the ocean to the atmosphere at the end of the last ice age. The resulting atmospheric increase in this greenhouse gas ultimately led to the warm, comfortable climate that human civilization has enjoyed for the past 10,000 years," Spero concluded.
The UC Davis study was published in the recent issue of the journal, Nature. The lead authors are Kathryn Rose, one of Spero's students at UC Davis, and Elisabeth Sikes of Rutgers University.
Link to published article: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v466/n7310/abs/nature09288.html | <urn:uuid:18c6687f-9952-4b0f-abfb-5eee045f4097> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.enn.com/climate/article/41715/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00022-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950361 | 614 | 4.21875 | 4 |
By limits I don't mean limits on what neuroscience can tell of about the structural components of the nervous system. Rather that much of the difficulties involved in interpreting this data is a lack of information about functional principles, that hold irrespective of the specific structural components that make our biology. Here is my reasons for assuming efforts such as the 'Blue Brain' project will not be as informative as might be presumed, even if it's successful. Which I doubt.
Consider the eye. No engineer in their right mind would design an eye the way our eye is constructed. The wiring from the photocells sicks out in front and interferes with light reaching the photocells. This wiring must then be fed through a hole it the actual photocells, producing a blind spot. It's as if our eyes are wired backward, like having wires coming out of the front of your computer monitor and going into a hole in the middle of the monitor to connect to the computer. The point here is that evolution built up function from previous function, and no mechanism existed to throw away functions that were poorly suited for the new functions that evolved. Instead evolution opted for imposing a myriad of smaller corrective measures to bypass the issues of bad construction.
What would this mean in terms of trying to learn functional principles of the brain from experimental neuroscience? For starters, simply copying a functional element of the brain almost certainly involves copying bad design which includes complex systems to correct those design flaws. This wouldn't be an issue if our body actually had an intelligent designer to avoid such design flaws from the start. If we understood the principles it's likely that the operational elements could be copied without such flaws. Yet simply copying every such flaw without already understanding these principles, even if it works, leaves us to simply wonder if getting this function actually requires all these complex elements. Almost certainly most of the design elements would be corrective add ons to prop up a function of something that originally evolved for a different function.
There's reason for even more skepticism about the success of the 'Blue Brain' project. Consider why it is that, unlike most of our biology, nerve cells don't automatically regrow. In order for new nerve cells to be useful, they must grow in response to a needed and practiced function. Simply growing a mass of new neurons in the brain would not in itself provide any training, or weighted responses to existing functions, to make it useful. To be useful they must grow in response to that use. This is why the most promising treatments for paralysis involve getting some small connection, then exercising that connection intensively.
Also humans have developmental stages such that functions can be built up hierarchically. Thus when a baby can't see, the neural learning to categorize visual inputs never develops. Once the brain develops a world model independent of sight, restoring visual function is not enough to restore vision. In the 'Blue Brain' project, how is this brain supposed to learn to hierarchically organize understanding and qualia without the benefit of the developmental stages required for functions to be built up? I don't think it will happen.
I'm certainly not knocking the validity of experimental neuroscience. It's an extremely rich source of empirical data, which will be absolutely necessary in testing our theoretical models. But I don't see it as the source for the theoretical models to be tested. Too much data can be a hindrance to developing good theoretical models. | <urn:uuid:deea1ee0-5111-41a5-8c6a-db946ae6e89d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://brainmeta.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php?t21876.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944423 | 685 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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what a superb piece - reminder of history and culture, not alone devastation... thanks again to Gerri Haines, physicians for Social Responsibility. best, f. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/04_01_02/art3.htm Daily Star (Beirut) January 4, 2002 Lebanese news Historic Baghdad street hit hard by sanctions Booksellers forced to sell private collections to stave off hunger Dania Saadi Daily Star staff BAGHDAD: On the Ottoman street of Al-Mutanabi, Baghdad stands out as a stark capital of contrasts, where the accumulation of 12 years of sanctions is forcing well-read Iraqis to sell their books next to Pokemon stickers. The Mutanabi quarter was always famed for its Friday vendors ‚ once full of booksellers who boasted the finest volumes printed in the Middle East. But as Iraqís economy plummeted, the street changed from a vintage bookshop to a flea market for used books, and vendors have been forced to sell their private book collections to stave off hunger. Today, flashing neon lights advertise the latest ad for German Staedler pencils. Nearby, thick dust has accumulated on a McGraw Hill series of books, while their salesman ‚ probably the holder of a diploma or degree ‚ vainly tries to entice customers with Pokemon paraphernalia. Mutanabi Street, in a-not-so-surprising twist of fate, bears the namesake of a pre-Islamic megalomaniac poet who allegedly considered himself a prophet. Long known for their near-prophetic pride, Iraqis these days ‚ once branded as the Arab worldís foremost readers ‚ buy and sell their used books and vast collections, making the saying ìwritten in Egypt, printed in Lebanon, read in Iraqî seem all the more distant. Traces of Iraqís enduring book-learning tradition are all too clear at the tail end of Mutanabi Street, where a printing press-turned-cafe dating back to the turn of the 19th century still houses many intellectuals. ìMutanabi Streetís love affair with printing goes back to the Abbasid era,î said Mohammed Khazem Khashili, the proud manager of the printing press-cum-Shahbander cafe since 1963. ìBack in the Abbasid era, it used to contain paper-makers.î Following the Abbasid era, the street developed into a book market, and during the Ottoman period bore the name Al-Khamaneh, the Turkish word for the army barracks facing the cafe. Intellectuals chatting in the cafe can still peer into the old barracks, which is now stacked with booksellers. The Turks had such a fondness for the street that they built their Qoushle, the official winter seat of government, on the corner facing the cafe. During the British Mandate, the Qoushle contained all facets of colonial rule, from ministries to courts of law. The Qoushle is replete with Iraqi history. At its far end, the Iraqis crowned their first king, Faisal Abdul Aziz. And there is still a youthful picture of the king on the walls of Shahbandar cafe, which also houses a collection of antique nargilehs and urns. In 1917, the cafe was renovated and officially renamed the Shahbandar cafe, recalling its ownersí long history of serving in the Turkish customs house nearby (ìshahbandarî in Persian means customs officials). About the same time, Mutanabi Street began to flourish as the official bookselling district for downtown Baghdad. The cafe harks back to the days when Iraqís intellectuals gathered to exchange philosophies. The intellectuals have almost disappeared ‚ as has the Shahbandar family, who relocated to Lebanon. The Iraqi fondness for reading is as deep-rooted as their adoration for Lebanon, which is close to the heart of the Mutanabi quarter. Lebanese printers were, and still are, the main suppliers of books to Iraqis, who long for freedom similar to Lebanonís. ìOur relationship with Lebanese printers goes as far back as 1945, when Lebanon acquired independence,î said Khashili. ìIraqis have long vacationed there and are familiar with its printing tradition.î Lebanon boasts some of the oldest printing presses in the Middle East; Iraq is said to be the birthplace of Gilgamesh, the worldís first known written epic. ìI have long been an avid reader, but when hunger hit home, I had to become a bookseller, and I started with my own 5,000-book collection,î said Sabah, who preferred not to use his family name. A professor of Arabic literature, he only has time to teach once a week at the university, while he tends to his bookshop. ìIf the Iraqis were not such avid learners, we would have run out of books a long time ago,î he said. Sabahís Arabic literature teacher from his school days is one of the intellectuals who still visits Shahbandar cafe for tea and a chat with his old friends. Meanwhile, the young-at-heart intellectuals and booksellers along Mutanabi Street browse through the latest Windows operating manual as they huddle inside a century-old building. These buildings overlook a street decked with Chinese double-decker buses and dotted with an occasional passerby wearing a T-shirt from the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris. ìThe Pokemon stickers are pretty popular with children,î said one bookseller, browsing through the latest collection of Winnie the Pooh stickers, calendars of London Bridge and IOU slips. A used novel today costs as much as a Pokemon bag ‚ about 3000 dinars ($1.50). Walking along Mutanabi Street, it is only natural to see a 1,000-page Webster stacked against an interpretation of a certain style of Islamic thought or a popular Egyptian series on Ways to Please Your Husband. ìAlthough religious books remain most popular,î said Hussain, 27, ìthese booklets are gaining ground ‚ particularly those about sorcery and genies.î An engineering student, Hussain has been selling and buying books since his college years, when he had to swap old books for required reading. ìThere isnít much money to make from this business,î he said. ìIím only in it because I love learning and I love books.î __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send your FREE holiday greetings online! http://greetings.yahoo.com -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email firstname.lastname@example.org CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings. | <urn:uuid:0cb9fcc1-9a92-4e8b-93ea-d4b62be4c524> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.casi.org.uk/discuss/2002/msg00004.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946225 | 1,475 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Since its introduction in 2000, USB 2.0 has been the de-facto interface standard of the PC world. With a transfer rate of 480Mbps, it is lightning fast and served as an apt solution for many interfacing needs. However, with the rise in demand for higher data rate applications like HD video streaming and high capacity hard disks, the reign of USB 2.0 is slowly being replaced by its successor – USB 3.0.
In communication world, faster is always better. With USB 3.0, 10 times faster data transfers are within reach. With a signaling rate of 5Gbps, SuperSpeed has dawned as a ‘Fast Sync and Go’ Technology. Thanks to SuperSpeed, users can copy a HD movie of 25 GB in just 70 seconds compared to 13.9 minutes at High Speed. This means no more waiting for consumers.
Figure 1:Comparison between various USB standards
The enhancements to SuperSpeed USB are not just higher data rates but also include improvements in overall interactions between devices and a host computer. One of these enhancements includes customized power distribution.
USB 3.0 ensures sufficient power is provided to devices when required.
50% more power is provided for unconfigured or suspended devices (150mA up from 100mA). 80% more power is provided for configured devices (900mA up from 500mA). This means that more power-hungry devices like hard disks and displays can now be configured as bus-powered devices.
Another impact of increased current sourcing is faster battery charging. Since USB 2.0, there is an increased trend in charging portable devices through USB VBUS
. Even though this is a handy feature, it required much time to charge a device over USB 2.0. With USB 3.0 featuring 900mA configured current sourcing, devices can now charge in half the time than what is required when using USB 2.0. For comparison, consider a 1400mAH battery and assuming 90% efficiency. With USB 3.0, the battery can be charged in 1 hour 44 minutes compared to 3 hours 6 minutes on USB 2.0 systems.
Power efficiency is another key enhancement of USB3.0. To eliminate wastage of power, checks are done at various levels of the USB 3.0 hierarchy. Link level power managements ensures that the host computer or device can initiate a power saving state when idle. Now links can progressively enter lower power states when link partners are idle. Continuous device polling no longer exists.
Figure 2:Market trends in USB (Source: In-Stat, 6/09)
PC market forecasts confirm the outburst of USB 3.0 host and devices is yet to happen. With certification of the NEC host controller by the USB-IF, more and more PCs are now equipped with USB 3.0 technology.
One major challenge lies in the development of multitude USB peripherals that are yet to hit the market. If USB 3.0 peripheral controllers available in market are adaptable to the design of any end application, faster market adaption is possible. | <urn:uuid:a00e633d-1619-4444-9f86-8b0fd80ac9f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eetimes.com/design/communications-design/4405189/Reap-the-benefits-of-a-general-purpose-interface-USB-3-0-device-controller?pageNumber=0&Ecosystem=communications-design | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928427 | 623 | 2.484375 | 2 |
Paul R. Coats
young saxophonist usually purchases a new mouthpiece during his junior high
or high school years, either because of damage to his "stock" mouthpiece or
the desire for an improved tone. He will usually be advised to buy a
particular brand and size (Selmer C*, etc.) or, more vaguely, a "medium
size" facing. Even worse, he may be told to buy a size number without being
aware there are no standard size numbers. Facing sizes are numbered, or
lettered, differently by each manufacturer, a #4 in one brand may be the
same size as a #3 or letter size in another brand. Also, a facing that is
considered "medium" for jazz or rock is "open" for concert band or
general, classical and concert band mouthpieces have large, round chambers
which produce a tone quality rich in fundamental and low overtones. These
mouthpieces are usually played with moderate tip openings (the gap between
the tip of the reed and tip of the mouthpiece) and reeds in the #3 to #3 1/2
type mouthpieces generally have smaller, more square chambers, which
encourage production of higher overtones. This gives more "edge", or
brilliance to the tone. These mouthpieces are usually played with tip
openings about .010" to .015" larger than classical mouthpieces, and with
softer reeds (#2 to #2 1/2).
tip openings require hard reeds to keep from choking up at loud volumes,
have less flexibility in pitch, and have a cold, hard tone. Larger tip
openings allow more flexibility in pitch, which is great for jazz, but may
cause problems for young players. Large tip openings require softer reeds,
and may cause embouchure fatigue.
chamber and material of the mouthpiece have a greater effect on tone quality
than the tip opening. Changing only the tip opening will cause a subtle
change in tone quality in that softer reeds are used, which vibrate with
more rich overtones.
a common misconception that metal mouthpieces are only for jazz, and that
hard rubber (or plastic) mouthpieces are for concert playing. This idea has
probably come about from the number of jazz saxophonists, usually tenor
players, who use metal mouthpieces. Hard rubber or plastic mouthpieces
vibrate and add overtones to the sound. Metal mouthpieces damp vibration.
The old big band tenor men wanted a smooth, warm tone, not a bright edgy
rock and roll tone as is common now. The most common metal mouthpiece used
by them was the Otto Link metal, which has a large round chamber, and
produces a dark, "hollow" tone. The Selmer (Paris) metal mouthpiece is a
very fine classical type mouthpiece and is used by Dr. Frederick Hemke and
many other fine artists.
Another quality of metal (and plastic/synthetic) mouthpieces is durability.
Hard rubber is a poor material for mouthpieces even though it is easy to
tool and to set into vibration when played. Hard rubber breaks easily when
bumped, warps over time or from heat (even from sunlight), and wears on the
tip and side rails from reed vibration. Crystal holds the facing well, but
is easily chipped if bumped. Wood cracks easily and warps from the effects
of moisture and temperature. For these reasons wood and crystal are not
suitable materials for saxophone mouthpieces. | <urn:uuid:43ec2879-3ebf-4cc4-9f11-1d09bc21f1a8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://saxgourmet.com/PaulCoatsArticles/mouthpiece_facings.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933773 | 751 | 2.53125 | 3 |
A Minnesota Light Box Counters Winter Blues
This simple, straightforward house is as open and airy as a loft space. It is perfectly designed to counter the effect of living in Minnesota, which can be dark and dreary through the winter months. But Julie Snow Architects in Minneapolis has risen to the challenge.
The clients for this small residence on a corner lot in Minneapolis were previous loft-dwellers. With their gigantic windows and light-filled spaces, lofts – empty warehouses converted for living space – can spoil you for house living.
The concrete perimeter wall has a cast-in-place concrete finish both inside and out. This wall type is commonly used to create cast-in-place foundations but is rarely used as a finished wall system.
A 4” core of insulation in the concrete, helps the occupants survive Minnesota winters. Cladding the second floor, Brazilian walnut provides a contrast with the concrete.
In plan, you can see how simple and clean the design is. In practice, just as much.
Via Arch Daily | <urn:uuid:e8e88f0b-fb90-4cb7-a1fd-117b72f9a2f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.homedesignfind.com/architecture/a-minnesota-light-box-counters-winter-blues/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930509 | 215 | 1.585938 | 2 |
When it comes to torture, we could all learn a thing or two from kids. Who knows better than they how to extract most anything they want within minutes of applying the technique? I'm talking about whining, of course -- that grating mewling that causes us to do anything (anything!) just to make it go away. But you can break the habit. And the rewards of victory can be rich for both of you.
Why they do it: Early talkers whine like babies cry. Some experts say that whining tends to peak in a child's development when she's feeling out of control and overwhelmed -- emotions that pretty much sum up toddlerhood. She lacks the vocabulary to articulate her frustrations, and that whimpering is the natural default noise.
Certain triggers, such as hunger and fatigue, can also cause breakdowns (true for kids of all ages), so keep that in mind the next time you take your toddler grocery shopping close to naptime.
How to stop it: Patience becomes the first rule when confronted with these early bouts of whining. When her son, Matthew, who's almost 3, melts down because he can't wait ten more minutes for dinner, Rae Sullivan of Durham, North Carolina, gives him a little extra attention, like five minutes of lap or snuggle time. Those five minutes are well spent if it means she can finish cooking without another whinefest. Tossing him a few crackers to eat in the meantime doesn't hurt, either.
"A lot of toddlers don't even know they're whining," says Sheila Oliveri, a mom of three and a nursery school teacher in St. Louis. So give your little complainer an exaggerated demonstration: "Whyyyyyy are you taaaalkingg like thaaaaaat?" The result will be twofold: "You'll show her exactly how irritating whining is," says Oliveri, "and you may make her laugh, which will make her forget why she was complaining in the first place."
Or try recording your child. Play it back to her so she knows what she sounds like, and work with her on better ways to ask for the things she wants or needs.
Besides contributing regularly to Parenting, Julie Tilsner writes about kids and food at badhomecooking.blogspot.com. | <urn:uuid:723b3753-1897-488c-9ceb-4f936913c81a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.parenting.com/article/how-to-silence-a-whiny-child | 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 | 0.969069 | 470 | 1.828125 | 2 |
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(Editor’s note: Following is the first in a series featuring the winners of the 2008 Indianapolis Serra Club Vocations Essay Contest.)
Priests, deacons, and religious brothers and sisters respond to the call of God by speaking about God’s acts and following in his footsteps.
They are normal men and women who hear God’s call and follow it. They spread his love through missionary trips in faraway places and right here at home through caring for the poor and at Mass. They never cease to do God’s will, and they spread his love in so many ways.
Priests spread God’s word in the Mass because they want everyone to know about God. They feel a great love for him and want others to experience it, too. Priests and deacons preach to congregations about God so that the people can pass it on.
Many missionaries travel to faraway places and teach people about God. They spread the news of his salvation and teach about God’s forgiveness. Some visit the poor and teach them about God’s great love, and that he will never leave their side. They never cease to share God’s love.
Priests and nuns also help people in their times of need. They will listen to people when they need to and give advice in God’s name. People can tell them all their troubles, and the priest or nun will keep it to themselves. If a person has a guilty conscience, they can come to confession and be given penance and absolution for their sins.
Many nuns and priests serve at food pantries and provide love, care and hope for the poor. They also provide medical care to poor people. They never tire of helping others because they love God so much that they will do whatever pleases him.
They could become teachers to teach religion or nurses to show his love for his people. They always share their faith and stand up for God.
The priests, deacons, and religious brothers and sisters love reading the Bible because it talks about God and all of his loving deeds. They share Bible readings and spread the news about God’s works. Priests share many of these readings at Mass and then explain them to the congregation in ways everyone can understand. They share the news of God with everyone they meet.
Many priests bless the sick and dying. They also comfort their families in their time of sadness. Nuns help the elderly and visit them often so they don’t feel lonely. They are willing to bear others’ burdens because God grants them strength and great compassion.
Priests, deacons, and religious brothers and sisters are loving, gentle when needed, and always try to do what is right in God’s name. They reach out to all of us in many ways. Through missionary work, Masses, teaching and caring for everyone, they teach us how to act.
They show us just how much God loves us and make us want to follow God, too.
(Abby Brenner and her parents, George and Candace Brenner, are members of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Indianapolis. She completed the seventh grade at her parish’s school last spring and is the seventh-grade division winner in the 2008 Indianapolis Serra Club Vocations Essay Contest.) † | <urn:uuid:fcbdc28d-3715-4f66-a92d-84b6aff69e36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.archindy.org/criterion/local/2008/07-18/serra.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974634 | 693 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Languages: English (official), Bantu (Luganda, Swahili), Nilotic (Acholi, Lango)
This is where the mad dictator Idi Amin Dada terrorized, tortured and murdered his opponents, tribes, for nine years until he had to flee in 1979 before the Tanzanians which he had unwisely attacked. More than 300 000 Ugandans had been murdered.
This tragic country was not out of its misery for a military coup replaced the puppets the Tanzanians had installed, by the equally murderous Lango dictator, Milton Obote. This second madman ravaged the country, and particularly the Baganda tribes in the southwest, from 1980 to 1985 when he was overthrown by a coup led by Tito Okello.
Obote's excesses led to the rapid development of a disciplined guerrilla force called the National Resistance Army led by Yoweri Museveni By the time Obote was ousted by Okello, the MRA controlled most of western Uganda. Fighting continued until Okello's forces had been chased over the border into Sudan in 1986.
Museveni had much to do to rehabilitate the moribund economy and to heal the inter tribal rancours left by the passage of the two tribal dictators. He declared an amnesty and 300 000 refugees returned home from Sudan. He proved irreplaceable and easily won elections held in 1994 and again in 1996. Uganda was on the mend but it had a long way to go!
|Lonely Planet CIA|
The bus ride from Nairobi to Kampala took all day from 7 AM to 7 PM. We went through immigration and customs formalities in this round tin shack at the Ugandan border town of Busia.
Just outside of Busia these baboons seemed curious about visitors to their land but they did not ask to check our passports.
Parliament Buildings in Kampala.
Matt, Scott and I arrived in Kampala in the evening and took a matatu (mini bus) to the Backpacker's Hostel on Natete road in a western suburb. The next day, they left for Fort Portal and the Ruwenzori mountains on the Zaire border and I went exploring Kampala.
Central Kampala which had been badly damaged by street fighting and looting during Adi Amin's fall before the Tanzanian army in 1979 and during the MRA takeover from Okello in 1986 had been nicely rebuilt when I visited in 1995. This city which had seen so much violence is now a modern thriving busy place showing the result of good government by the Museveni regime.
Kampala has risen out of its ashes but there are very few Asians left in Uganda now out of the 70 000 that were given 90 days to leave the country by Idi Amin Dada in 1972. This great Hindu temple bears witness to the prosperity that the industrious Indian community had achieved before their businesses were confiscated by Idi Amin and his cronies (an estimated 1000 million dollars worth).
The economy has improved steadily under Museveni. Its average GDP rate of growth of 6 % from 1985 to 1995 is one of the highest in Africa. This view of a small part of the sprawling Nakasero Market reflects this booming economy.
Next to the market are a bus station and a matatu station. Scheduled buses do the longer distances and these matatu (mini vans) go everywhere on set routes leaving only when full.
I took a bus from Kampala to Kabale close to the Rwanda border. At each stop crowds of vendors would materialize offering not only food and drinks but also clothes, sandals and all kinds of goods. During the 6 hour ride, an elderly gentleman next to me told me how northern tribes were persecuted and how Hindus were run out of the country during Idi Amin Dada's reign of terror.
A room is only 2.70 US$ and dinner only 3.00 US$ at the Visitours Hotel where I stayed before and after going to Rwanda. When I came back from Kigali I had the pleasant surprise of finding Matt and Scott, the two travellers I had met on the truck ride across the northern Kenyan desert from Moyale to Marsabit and who had travelled with me to Nairobi and Kampala.
This view from my hotel balcony in Kabale shows a line of trucks waiting to drive down the side road to the right to bring international aid to Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. It was only 100km so I hitched a ride with one of them to Kigali. I had the luck of meeting a crew of IRC (International Rescue Committee) drivers who invited me to stay with them in the house that had been allotted to them by the UN.
Rwanda countryside. My hosts, the Dutch Glenn, the English Geordie and the Kiwi Moochie were of that unusual breed that thrive on danger. They had come here from a trucking job in Bosnia and still had the bullet proof vests they had to wear there. They were a hard working, hard drinking tough bunch that did not like to be photographed.
I took very few photos in Kigali but I did manage to take this shot of Geordie and three of IRC's four wheel drive 5 ton Bedford trucks that are built to go almost anywhere. The crew was making good money here but the situation was quiet and they were toying with the idea of taking on a trucking job in Angola where they would get a considerable danger premium. I could readily imagine these guys joining a mercenary group if there was a high paying civil war nearby! Meeting them was an interesting experience.
After Rwanda I came back to Kampala and set off the same day in a matatu for the bush village of Bukalagi 150 kms to the north where I hoped to meet Father Pierre Landry, a friend of a friend of mine back in Montreal. I got there late in the day only to learn that Pierre Landry who had founded and built up this Catholic mission had moved away. I was nevertheless very well received by John, the headmaster and Father Vincent Bakkabulindi shown here in front of St Peter's church.
The school's children also gave me a warm welcome so I took their photo with Father Vincent and John before going back to Kampala and from there to Nairobi on my way to Arusha in Tanzania. | <urn:uuid:a01efd6d-6196-47d5-b100-c1645ba87409> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.berclo.net/page95/95en-uganda.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980438 | 1,312 | 1.921875 | 2 |
A moratorium on McDonalds?
Almost 40 percent of children in Price George’s County, Maryland are overweight. So state Sen. David C. Harrington wants to impose a moratorium on the permitting of new fast food restaurants in the area. Cutting obesity and its attendant ills in a particularly unhealthy part of the state is a great goal, and the county or the state should do all sorts of things fast food joints wouldn’t like to encourage better eating. But preventing the construction of new McDonaldses and Burger Kings is a nanny-state intrusion too far.
Other methods of promoting healthier eating enhance or are at least neutral to consumer choice. Forcing restaurants to display calorie counts for their full menus enables people to make more informed decisions about what they’re eating. So does expanding educational programs on healthy diets. Banning trans fats, which New York City has done, gets rid of an ingredient that’s pretty hard on the cardiovascular system and isn’t even necessary to make greasy food delicious.
Still other policies can nudge consumer behavior without such a broad restriction on the market; since overconsumption of fast food leads to higher health costs that society must bear, I’m even sympathetic to the argument that taxing it to discourage consumption and to make those social costs explicit might make sense. But, at some point, diners should be able to make their own choices about where and what to eat, and the market should be allowed to meet that demand.
Instead, Prince George’s officials worry about putting “citizens at risk to make poor decisions,” as Health Officer Donald Shell put it to The Post, even though that’s sort of the point of America’s whole “free country” thing. Now that’s a sentence that should make shivers run down your spine.
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The comments to this entry are closed. | <urn:uuid:69bca78f-9738-4de7-ab80-bdc57febcb32> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/01/a_moratorium_on_mcdonalds.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938527 | 610 | 1.84375 | 2 |
Previously known as manic-depressive disease, bipolar disorder is a relatively common mental health condition manifested in its classic form by alternating periods of mania—extreme high energy—and deep depression. In the "up" or manic phase, people may sleep little, talk fast, develop grand and unworkable plans, and sometimes behave bizarrely—for example, giving away all their money overnight. In the "down" phase, they may contemplate suicide. In many people with this disorder, the "down" phase predominates, and for that reason, the diagnosis may be missed. Other, more subtle versions of the condition also exist.
Bipolar disorder is dangerous unless treated, leading to a high rate of suicide and injury. The mineral
has been shown to dramatically improve symptoms of mania and reduce the rate of suicide. Various antiseizure medications also appear to help against mania.
Proposed Natural Treatments for Bipolar Disorder
: There are no natural treatments that can substitute for medications in the treatment of bipolar disorder.
However, some might help enhance the effectiveness of standard treatment.
study, 30 people with bipolar disorder took either
capsules or placebo for 4 months, in addition to their regular medications.
Those taking fish oil had longer symptom-free periods than those taking placebo. The researchers used five different standardized tests to measure symptoms, examining levels of depression, mania, and overall progress. The people taking fish oil proved emotionally healthier than those taking placebo on all but one of these tests. Another study found that ethyl-EPA (a modified form of a constituent of fish oil) was helpful along with standard treatment for the depressed phase of bipolar disorder.
However, ethyl-EPA does not appear to offer benefits for rapid cycling bipolar disorder.
Researchers pooling the results of 10 randomized trials involving 329 patients found that omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish oil) improved depressive symptoms in patient with either bipolar disorder or major depression compared to placebo.
In a subsequent systematic review, researchers pooled the results of 5 trials involving 291 patients with bipolar disorder only and found that those in the omega-3 group experienced a modest improvement in their symptoms of depression (but not of mania) compared to placebo.
The same researchers who conducted the fish oil study have also experimented with
for bipolar disorder.
Flaxseed oil contains alpha-linoleic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid related to the fatty acids in fish oil. In the researchers' informal observations of 22 people with bipolar disorder, all but four appeared to benefit from flaxseed oil. However, lacking a double-blind study, these results can't be taken as meaningful. When a double-blind study is finally performed, flaxseed oil may turn out not to be helpful at all.
One somewhat questionable study reported that an herbal combination utilized in
traditional Chinese medicine
("Free and Easy Wanderer") may augment the effectiveness of carbamazepine treatment for bipolar disorder.
Very weak evidence suggests possible benefits with
Inositol may also reduce psoriasis symptoms caused by lithium.
(However, caution is advised with inositol. See
Herbs and Supplements to Use Only With Caution
A special form of
called rTMS, has shown some promise for bipolar disorder.
Interestingly, use of an anion generator (an air ionizer that produces negative ions) has shown promise for mitigating the symptoms of acute mania.
Various supplements may help reduce side-effects of antiseizure drugs. For more information, see the articles on
Despite promising preliminary indications,
a double-blind study failed to find that
enhances the effect of the drug
Lithium is sometimes sold as a mineral supplement for treating bipolar disorder. However, this proposed use is based on a misunderstanding. When lithium is used medically as treatment for bipolar disorder, it is taken at doses far above any possible nutritional need. No researcher has seriously suggested that lithium
causes bipolar symptoms, and low doses of lithium are unlikely to have any effect at all.
Herbs and Supplements to Use Only With Caution
Antidepressant drugs may cause manic episodes in people with bipolar disorder. For this reason, herbs and supplements with antidepressant properties might also be risky. Case reports suggest that
16,17,18St. John's Wort
can indeed trigger manic episodes.
, while not normally considered to have antidepressant properties, has reportedly triggered episodes of mania in two people not previously known to have bipolar disorder.
product has also been associated with an episode of mania.
is often sold in the form of chromium picolinate. Picolinate can alter levels of neurotransmitters.
This has led to concern among some experts that chromium picolinate might be harmful to people with bipolar disorder.
It has been suggested that the drug lithium works, in part, by reducing the body's level of
For this reason, it might be advisable for people with bipolar disorder to avoid using supplements that contain vanadium.
Finally, numerous herbs and supplements may interact adversely with drugs used to prevent or treat bipolar disorder. For example, people who use
should avoid herbal diuretics. For more information on this potential risk, see the appropriate individual drug articles in the | <urn:uuid:047846f1-039b-496b-b69b-d95392b7c63d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medtropolis.com/your-health/?/21404/bipolar-disorder | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926547 | 1,081 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Abbott Laboratories has voluntarily recalled up to 5 million containers of its popular powdered Similac infant formula after finding evidence that beetles had possibly contaminated it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautioned that tiny insect parts could irritate babies delicate digestive tracts, and might make them refuse to eat. Dr. Brown, founder of Beaute de Maman, is sharing this information with all her web OB readers who might be using this product or are considering switching from breast milk to this product.
“So far, no major repercussions have been reported for infants drinking the contaminated formula, but we wanted to pass this information along to all our readers as quickly as we could,” said Dr. Brown.
For more information on how to look up the particular lot numbers that are involved or how to return a product, readers can view www.similac.com/recall.
The powder was sold throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, and certain Caribbean countries.
Dr. Michele Brown, OB/GYN, is the founder of Beauté de Maman, a leading personal care products company for pregnant women and new mothers. For more information about Dr. Brown or Beauté de Maman, visit http://www.beautedemaman.com/web-ob/ | <urn:uuid:9e06d3d7-2dd6-4326-bdf2-88ef48308625> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.beautedemaman.com/tag/contaminated-baby-formula/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945089 | 265 | 1.796875 | 2 |
No other country is investing as heavily in clean energy as China these days, but at the same time no other country burns as much coal to fuel its economy. So how green will China actually become? That is the question posed by a new report on China’s environmental policies.
The report titled “China Energy: A Greener Shade of Grey”, from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), says that renewables and nuclear power combined will supply 16% of China’s energy needs by 2020, up from 13% in 2010. Over the same decade, however, coal consumption will also rise 35% and carbon emissions by 43%.
The study highlights China’s expansion of renewable energy, but says its insatiable demand for coal, together with problems in the renewable sectors and waste management make for a gloomy outlook – hence the conclusion that the country’s policy is “a greener shade of grey”.
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Ancient Astronauts: The Gods from Planet X
Clay tablets from ancient Sumeria reveal the Anunnaki, an advanced civilization considered to be gods. The Anunnaki may have given the Sumerians technology that was used to construct sacred sites. This two-disc set asks if the Anunnaki came from a mysterious planet called Nibiru and if they are returning to usher in a new era of mankind. 180 minutes. | <urn:uuid:66a4f8a0-b9dc-46c0-8ba8-89d040433471> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.gaiam.com/ancient-astronauts-the-gods-from-planet-x/84-0823,default,pd.html?start=24&cgid=6010500 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922145 | 87 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Weak and feverish, a teenaged Eleanora watched from her window as uniformed men marched down the street and celebrated the end of a world war. It was the first one, and many at the time claimed it would be the last.
On that day in 1918, Eleanora Mockensturm Gillman was living and witnessing history on two fronts in Tiffin.
Her mother swaddled the 14-year-old girl in a blanket and carried her to the window to watch. She was one of the millions that year who suffered from an vicious influenza that swept the world in what is known as the last flu pandemic.
Her teeth became loose and her stomach raw from the 1918 medicine.
She would survive, barely, just like she would cancer 50 years later. She would see another world war and several smaller conflicts over the years. She's outlived all of her diseases, she says.
The white-haired writer of letters - she writes hundreds a year to pen pals all over the world - described that memory on New Year's Day, 100 years and one day after her birth on Dec. 31, 1904. Her family, a big family, celebrated her 100th birthday at the Little Sisters of the Poor Sacred Heart House in Oregon, where she lives. She has four living children, 24 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great grandchildren.
The slightly stooped Eleanora pulled a worn U.S. silver dollar from her pocket with 1904 on its face, a gift to celebrate the achievement that causes younger humans to marvel - younger humans, meaning her grandchildren in their 40s and 50s and her sons in their 60s and 70s.
She can hear, write, read, walk, and is so sharp, tacks are jealous.
She first married at 23 1/2, she said, and "I had my first child nine months and seven days later," she said, just so everyone was clear.
Mrs. Gillman graduated St. Mary's elementary school in Tiffin and then from Ursuline Academy High School. She trained to be a nurse in Toledo in 1926 at what is now St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center and worked at St. Charles Mercy Hospital.
Mrs. Gillman outlived her first and second husbands and three of her children. She received her first driver's license at age 96 after her second husband died.
"She thinks she's outlived all of her diseases," said granddaughter Marsha Tucker.
The ardent Democrat perks up about politics. She lived through the Great Depression and the New Deal.
"Dad and mother never had a car; we walked a lot of places," she said. "The Depression was bad, but we got through it. We didn't have any money in the bank for 25 years."
She didn't like President Reagan and doesn't like President Bush, she said. President Jimmy Carter was her favorite because of his work now with Habitat for Humanity, she said.
"Carter got a dirty deal from Reagan," she said. She voted for an independent this year, she said.
"I think the world right now is in a terrible place. I've never failed to vote," she said. Women won that right after the famous convention in 1919 in Seneca Falls, N.Y. She was 15.
She smoked when she was younger and drinks fuzzy navels, an alcoholic mixed drink, at celebrations, like the one just the other night for her birthday at Cousino's Navy Bistro at The Docks in East Toledo.
"Her prayers and her writing are what have kept her going," said her 67-year-old son, Richard Mockensturm, who helped her up, so she could use her walker.
She doesn't have a secret to long life, only constant writing and reading, she said. Stamps are her favorite gift.
"I slowed down this month; I was afraid I wouldn't make it," she said. "Oh yeah, I've had a good life. I just kept on going and time flew."
Contact Christopher D. Kirkpatrick | <urn:uuid:25e0fb9a-c305-42fa-a30a-eeaa69a9596e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.toledoblade.com/frontpage/2005/01/06/Oregon-No-secrets-just-living-outliving.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988407 | 851 | 1.921875 | 2 |
The word’ magic’ is very old, oldest of the oldest, it has been in existence from the time immemorial. The Indian Vedas, the Atharvaveda, in particular, gave descriptions of magic which the Brahmins learnt and practiced and possessed all skills of magical feats through this super power. This supernatural power has also a strong mention in the Egyptian literature apart from several religions.
But as per the latest recorded history, it says that it has come from Old Persian Magus, one of the Zoroastrian astrologer priests of the Medes and later on it picked up serious attention in the late 14th century from the Old French Magique.
Sorcery also appeared more or less in the same period but it picked up popularity in 1526. Magic, Black Magic or Hypnotism, Telepathy, all are the branches of the main base of supernatural powers of magic within man.
Potency and Influence
It works on the following principles:
The magic is based on natural and supernatural forces, which exist along with other four basic forces and these are numbered as fifth and sixth energy. The scientific basic forces are gravity, weak and strong, electromagnetism, the nuclear power, weak and strong. Fifth is natural command and sixth is supernatural force.
Human being has a strong composition of both desires in him or her, good and bad, either to help self and others or to harm others. This magic influence is in the genes of every person and this potency is called Positive Energy and Negative Energy.
Some have more percentage of positive energy in them, which urges them not only to help self but also others in all spheres and in all possible ways as they can possibly exercise. The people with more positive energy even go out of the way to help others. There are other types of persons who gain pleasure in causing mental injury or otherwise to other persons, places or things due to jealousy or their basic nature.
There are certain people who have high proportion of negative energy in their specific genes. They feel pleasure to harm others by using black magic either to gain something in exchange or to get enjoyment out of it. This practice has been common even long before Christianity. The people in ancient days used to blame devil for every offensive or annoying act, it was just because the genuine procedure had been a mystery during that period.
Black Magic is a mystic art
Black Magic is a mystic art of rituals or using one’s evil supernatural powers to influence or control events, sorcery or witchcraft. It is a sort of hypnotism, though its methods are different. It is exercised to affect malevolent powers deliberately to cause damage to other persons, places or things, directly or indirectly by its misuse. This term is also used with ‘K’ such as magick, and the people popularly use this term as ‘Black Magick’ or ‘Dark Magick’ and when it is used for giving benefit to a person it is called White Magic or White Magick.
White Magic and Black Magic (or Dark Magic) are the requisites used in place of Positive Energy and Negative energy, which can both benefit a common man, place or thing temporarily or can cause damage to any of them. Stronger the will power of a man, lesser the effect of Black Magic, stronger the stars of a person astrologically, negligible force of black magic effect. Similarly if the place or thing is more pious or holy, little the evil effect of the black magic.
Does the Black Magic really work?
The magic or black magic does exist, no question of modern people rejecting it. It is the energy that exists in every person, depending on one’s thinking and nature of soul, pious or evil. This energy can be increased to a great extent either in giving benefits to a particular person or harming any other person, place or thing.
A term taboo is also used for this. It was a custom among the Polynesians, who prohibited the use of certain persons, places or things. It normally forbids the use of physical connections with a particular person or woman.
They generally accepted opposite term for the black magic or dark magic and that is white magic. The Black Magic has a negative suggestion in American TV-Y which rates TV shows and they use the term of Magical DoRe Mi.
Sorcery is a branch of basic magic that can influence certain desired events, objects, people and the places by its mystical supernatural powers to a great extent.
Such Magical power affects have dual functions, they can heal as well as harm, and they can benefit as well as damage any person, place or thing. But more affectivity is related to negative power.
To be continued. | <urn:uuid:b22a4067-0375-49a7-91be-e11c2ddea3a1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.internationalreporter.com/News-2046/black-magic-and-its-techniques-use-and-misuse-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954374 | 969 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Voting no on the Bush tax cuts
President Barack Obama's call for an immediate extension of the Bush tax cuts for middle income families has been met with a furious and all-too-familiar cry from Republicans that the proposal threatens America's job creators.
The wealthy, they argue, create the jobs for the rest of Americans and ending the enormous tax cuts that have benefited them for the last decade will lead to slower job growth. It is a claim as hollow as it is insulting to the 98 percent of American families who would see their modest tax cuts extended under Obama's proposal.
For two years, Democrats have called for a balanced approach to deficit reduction, one that includes asking the very wealthy to join in the effort. For two years, Republicans have resisted.
They have continuously relied on the discredited claim that job creation hangs in the balance.
What they fail to acknowledge is that almost every small business owner in America — 97 percent — would see their tax cuts extended under President Obama's plan.In fact, Obama has proposed additional tax credits for businesses that invest or hire.
The misleading attacks about the impact on so-called job creators are illustrative of a broader philosophical disagreement between Democrats and Republicans about what makes for a strong American economy.
Democrats believe it starts with the middle class.
Not only does a strong middle class provide a vital backbone for the American economy, it serves as a foundation for future growth. Indeed, data from the nonprofit Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation suggest that seven of 10 American entrepreneurs have come from the middle class, as the National Journal noted in a May cover story.
"The risk-takers of tomorrow are growing up in today's middle-class families," reporter Jim Tankersley wrote.
But today's middle class has eroded under the weight of the severe economic downturn and years of top-down economic policy prescriptions from Republicans who have promised that a rising tide would lift all boats.
Meanwhile, as the top 1 percent of Americans saw their incomes triple in the last three decades, most families' wages barely budged, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Which brings us back to the Bush tax cuts. Extending all of them as Republicans want, rather than just on income up to $250,000 as Obama has proposed, is worth $74,505 in 2013 for the average person making more than $1 million. The price tag for America: $813 billion.
The typical middle-income American working family of four, meanwhile, stands to see their tax cut worth about $2,200 extended under Democrats' proposal. That's who Republicans should be fighting for. | <urn:uuid:3e00067a-41dd-4d3a-abdd-5d1148570b55> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://levin.house.gov/voting-no-bush-tax-cuts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96136 | 535 | 1.921875 | 2 |
The average revenue from the generation from this wind turbine is $700/year at a retail rate of 11.7 cents/kWh. Therefore the cost to maintain this equipment is $447/year more than the revenue from the power generation. This does not include the cost to amortize the initial investment of $50,000 at 6% interest, which over a 20 year period, would be $4,359/year. At this time, wind turbine values are not included in the total residential property value determination. It is suggested that a homeowner check with their insurance company on any additional insurance premiums required with purchase of a wind turbine. | <urn:uuid:2a097a7b-ef0f-4fa4-a105-e05a22bbb94b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.buckeyepower.com/economics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955316 | 130 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Sobeys’ customers can enter a code online to trace seafood purchases.
STELLARTON, Nova Scotia — Sobeys recently launched an ongoing contest to promote its seafood traceability program with the organization Thisfish.
Customers who purchase specially marked seafood items can text, enter a code on the Thisfish website or scan a QR code to find out who caught the fish, where it was caught and information on the fishing vessel and equipment used. They can even send a personal message to the fisherman.
Through Nov. 21, those who do a trace will be entered into a weekly drawing to win a $200 Sobeys gift card.
Read more: Price Chopper DNA Tests Seafood
The retailer also released a web video showcasing one of those fishing vessels and her crew, providing a snapshot into the lives of a group of Nova Scotia haddock fishermen with a unique fact about each one.
“We wanted to engage people in a social media way, the way that many people do these days, in a way that was authentic and spoke to this idea of tracing your fish to get to know who caught it,” said David Smith, vice president of retail strategy and sustainability at Sobeys.
So far the campaign has been a success.
“We’ve seen an amazing number of people viewing the video and had a lot of really good comments on it as well. And the sales of those traceable items in stores are moving pretty well,” said Smith.
Sobeys first partnered with the seafood traceability group Thisfish for a pilot program in March 2011 before rolling out a nationwide push in the fall of 2011. Smith estimates over 10,000 Sobeys customers have traced their seafood using Thisfish.
While traceable seafood is so far “only a fraction” of what Sobeys sells — Thisfish focuses only on wild, Canadian-sourced fish — the retailer also stocks 70 eco-certified private-label seafood items.
On the supply side, the 220 fisheries that supply Sobeys provide the retailer with detailed information on their catches on a quarterly basis. Sobeys uses this data to work with suppliers to improve their fishing practices.
Sobeys’ goal is to make sure by the end of 2013 all of its seafood comes from sources with clear sustainability plans in place.
|Suggested Categories||More from Supermarketnews| | <urn:uuid:b0234a66-ba4b-4b22-ba91-c2b8d5b78046> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://supermarketnews.com/seafood/sobeys-contest-video-promote-seafood-traceability | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00052-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946307 | 496 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Public release date: 15-Nov-2010
Contact: Annette Whibley
Regular exercise reduces large number of health risks including dementia and some cancers
People who take regular exercise could reduce their risk of developing around two dozen physical and mental health conditions - including some cancers and dementia - and slow down how quickly their body deteriorates as they age.
An extensive research review, published in the December issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice, says that apart from not smoking, being physically active is the most powerful lifestyle choice any individual can make to improve their health.
Physiotherapist and lecturer Leslie Alford from the University of East Anglia reviewed 40 papers covering the latest international research published between 2006 and 2010.
"The literature reviewed shows that how long people live and how healthy they are depends on a complex mix of factors, including their lifestyle, where they live and even luck" says Mr Alford. "Individuals have an element of control over some of these factors, including obesity, diet, smoking and physical activity.
"Although the focus of my study was on men's health, the messages on physical activity are relevant to both sexes and all age groups."
Health benefits identified by the review include:
- Regular moderate to intense physical activity is associated with decreased risk of coronary heart disease and ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke.
- A growing body of evidence suggests that increasing physical activity can also reduce the risk of certain types of cancers, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, depression, obesity and high blood pressure.
- Evidence of the beneficial effects of physical activity in the primary prevention and management of cancer is growing and there is an association between higher levels of physical activity and lower cancer death rates.
- Research has found that walking or cycling for at least an half-an-hour a day is associated with a reduction in cancer and that when this is increased to an hour cancer incidence falls by 16 per cent.
- Evidence is mixed when it comes to specific cancers. Research has shown a strong relationship between increased physical activity and reduced colon cancer in both sexes. And men who are more active at work - not just sitting at a desk - have lower rates of prostate cancer.
- Other cancer studies show that physical activity after diagnosis can aid recovery and improve outcomes.
- Studies have also shown that men who are physically active are less likely to experience erection problems.
- There is growing evidence that physical activity could decrease the risk of dementia in the elderly.
Recommendations identified by the review include:
- Healthy adults aged between 18 and 65 should aim for 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a week, such as 30 minutes of brisk walking, five days a week. And people who undertake more vigorous intensity exercise, such as jogging, should aim for 20 minutes three days a week.
- Healthy adults should aim for two strength-training sessions a week that work with the body's major muscle groups.
- Older people can benefit from exercise that helps to maintain their balance and flexibility.
- People who are physically active should continue to exercise even when they become middle aged or elderly and those who aren't should increase their physical activity.
- Not smoking and following a healthy diet is also important.
"Ideally, to gain maximum health benefits people should exercise, not smoke, eat a healthy diet and have a body mass index of less than 25" says Mr Alford. "The more of these healthy traits an individual has, the less likely they are to develop a range of chronic disorders. Even if people can't give up smoking and maintain a healthy weight, they can still gain health benefits from increasing the amount of regular exercise they take.
"Physical inactivity results in widespread pathophysiological changes to our bodies. It appears that our bodies have evolved to function optimally on a certain level of physically activity that many of us simply do not achieve in our modern, sedentary lifestyles.
"What is clear from the research is that men and women of all ages should be encouraged to be more physically active for the sake of their long-term health."
The paper, which appears in a special issue on Men's Health, can be accessed free at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1742-1241.2010.02478.x/pdf
A further five papers on men's health and an editorial can be accessed free at:
Note to editors:
- What men should know about the impact of physical activity on their health. Alford L. IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice. 64.13, pp 1731-1734. (December 2010). DOI: 10.1111/j.1742-1241.2010.02478.x
- Note to feature editors. The full paper provides a wealth of feature material, organised into clear question/statement-led sections covering everything from: "Why should I exercise?" to "I'm too busy, I don't have time".
- IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice was established in 1946 and is edited by Dr Graham Jackson. It provides its global audience of clinicians with high-calibre clinical papers, including original data from clinical investigations, evidence-based analysis and discussions on the latest clinical topics. The journal is published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, part of the international Blackwell Publishing group. www.ijcp.org www.twitter.com/IJCPeditors
- Wiley-Blackwell is the international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons, with strengths in every major academic and professional field and partnerships with many of the world's leading societies. Wiley-Blackwell publishes nearly 1,500 peer-reviewed journals and 1,500+ new books annually in print and online, as well as databases, major reference works and laboratory protocols. For more information, please visit http://www.wileyblackwell.com/ or our new online platform, Wiley Online Library (http://www.wileyonlinelibrary.com/), one of the world's most extensive multidisciplinary collections of online resources, covering life, health, social and physical sciences, and humanities.
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1. Perspective And Summary
15A. Phasing Propositions and Their Evidence on International Conflict
Democratic Peace page
Policies and distances are clearly interrelated.
---- Wright, 1942: 1255
In the previous discussion and Volumes, I have tried to make clear that distance vectors between actors empirically reflect their relative, latent attitudes and capabilities, and that attitudes are transformed into interests through the stimulation of associated needs. Attitudes are therefore inactive interests. And by themselves, distances only define potentiality. All this will be discussed further in Section 10.2 regarding the structure of conflict.
However, here and in Figure 8.1, I am concerned with distances in a situation in relation to behavior. A perceived situation stimulates needs; it transforms attitudes into interests, potential capability into actual capability. Therefore, the distances linked to an actor's behavior in a situation will reflect his living interests and relevant capabilities. Of course, not all interests will be weighted in a situation--not all interests will be active. It is the situational weights that measure the transformation of attitudes into interests and the relative weight these interests will have.
But between the activation of an actor's interests and the utilization of his relevant capabilities is the his will. The will is an actor's power to actually choose and try to gratify his interests--to bring himself to behave.
With this crucial understanding that an actor's will is engaged in common acts and actions, I can now deal more precisely with the equation of interests, capabilities, and wills. In a situation, the variation in behavioral dispositions of an actor towards others will be a function of his common interests and capabilities regarding them and his unique interests and capabilities. In vector terms,
- Wgi = gidi + Qgi,
- Wgi = variation in (vector of) i's behavioral dispositions towards others in situation g;
- gi = the perceived salience in situation g of i's interests and capabilities reflected in the distances along the th common component of international space-time;
- di = i's variation in (vector of) distance vectors
3from other actors;
- Qgi = i's (vector of) unique interests, capabilities, and will in situation g.
Thus, distances and situation tell only part of the behavioral story. As actor's in international relations, we are also individualistic. We have our particular interests and capabilities and our independent, free will. Note that Q measures the unpredictable part of an actor's behavioral disposition, the part not reducible to a function of his situation and distances from others. Thus Equation 8.1 embodies the belief that an actor's behavior is partly patterned, partly unique; partly due to his will influenced by common social forces, partly to his will acting independently of such influences.
Equation 8.1 is the vector equation interrelating the various sources of variation in an actor's common behavior that are shown in Figure 8.1. The specific behavioral disposition of an actor towards a specific other is then,
- wg,i j = gid,i-j + Qg,ij,
- wg,i j = the behavioral disposition of i towards j in situation g;
- d,i-j = i's distance vector from j on the th component of international space-time;
- Qg,ij = i's unique interests and capabilities regarding j in situation g.
In words, the specific behavior of an actor towards another is a function of an actor's situational expectations and dispositions, where these dispositions themselves are a function of situational perception and distances. More precisely, for common behavior h, from Equations 6.3 and 8.2,
- h,ij = ghigwg,ij,
- = ghig(gid,i-j + Qg,ij).
The vector counterpart of this equation is shown at the bottom of Figure 8.1 [note that the subscript i was accidently omitted from the d term, which is corrected below]. It is
- hi = ghig(gidi + Qgi).
Equation 8.3 is the basic equation of field theory.
Now to consider again the international sociocultural space-time. Figure 8.3 pictures this space-time, and the inner, common space-time spanned by the components of Table 7.1, such as wealth and power. As shown, the common behavior of an actor related to his distance vectors is a subspace of this common space-time. In other words, that common behavior of an actor associated with his common interests and relative capabilities is imbedded in sociocultural space-time. From Figure 6.3 and Section 6.4,
- i = Wii,
- i = matrix of i's dyadic behavior towards others;
- Wi = matrix of i's situational, dyadic dispositions;
- i = matrix of i's expectations of the outcome of behavior in different situations.
This defines i's region of common behavior space-time, as shown in Figure 6.3. Then for the matrix of i's dispositions,
- Wi = Dii + Qi,
- Di = the matrix of i's distance vectors from other actors on the common components of sociocultural space;
- i = the matrix of i's situational perceptions;
- Qi = the matrix of i's unique dyadic interests, capabilities, and will regarding others in various situations.
And from Equations 8.5 and 8.6.
- i = Wii
- = (Dii + Qi)i
- = Diii + Qii
- i - Qii = Diii.
Thus, as with the expectation and disposition equations of Chapters 5 and 6, there are also matrix, vector and scalar versions of the behavioral equations of interests, capabilities, and situation. These are shown in Table 8.1.
Of course, in day-to-day reality, interests, capabilities, wills, and situational expectations and perceptions interact in complex and multifold ways. International behavior in its rich daily variation is neither simple, linear, nor wholly reducible to mathematical functions. Historians have tried to capture this flow of events and activities, this interaction of personalities and situations, and often have become convinced thereby that international relations are idiosyncratic, unique, and irreducible to general forces, principles, or laws. At a more abstract level, many who have tried to analyze international relations statistically or mathematically have also become convinced that simple linear equations cannot fit the complex, interdependencies between national behaviors, forces, and conditions.
Here I do not wish to again join this issue.
The behavioral equations express relationships, interactions, dependencies. But they are not linked into the process of developing international orders, of conflict. The question is central: how do these equations reflect the conflict helix? Answering this is the burden of the following Chapters, and will require far more discussion and specificity about the elements of the behavioral equations than yet given.
* Scanned from Chapter 8 in R.J. Rummel, War, Power, Peace, 1979. For full reference to the book and the list of its contents in hypertext, click book. Typographical errors have been corrected, clarifications added, and style updated., and unique behavior, Q*gi. Because the empirical concern is with variation in common behavior, only Qgi is dealt with here.
1. This Figure is no "taxonomy gone wild." I am trying to reduce distinctions to only those necessary to understand the equations, which have also been kept to a minimum number. And I am also introducing the distinctions in the Sections where they serve a role in clarifying the empirical analysis. Thus, the three important variance charts, Figures 5.3, 6.1, and 8.1 have been introduced in this book rather than Vol. 1: The Dynamic Psychological Field or Vol. 2: The Conflict Helix, because only here is manifest dyadic behavior empirically analyzed.
2. The nature of the will in relation to the self and the question of free will was analyzed in Part VI of Vol. 1: The Dynamic Psychological Field.
3. The distance is the difference between the location of i and the other on a component. This difference can be plus or minus and is a single element vector. The vector of differences is therefore of vectors. Admittedly, this is clumsy. But the wording is necessary to avoid the ambiguity between distance as magnitude and distance as vector. Throughout I argue that the direction of difference is crucial, as for example whether an actor is the dominant or subordinate power to another. Distance magnitudes ignore direction. Vectors take this direction into account. See the Distance Vector Proposition 16.6 for supporting evidence.
4. As shown in Figure 8.1 unique interests and capabilities explain both some common behavior, Qgi
5. In my development of Model II of field theory published in Field Theory Evolving (1977) I had defined the basic equation as (in the notation used here)
- wg,ij = gid,i-j,
- wg,ij = the location of the dyad i-j in behavior space on a component Wg
This is the same as Equation 8.2, except for the definition of Q and the subscript g. The addition of Q marks my change in philosophy from determinism to a belief in free will--see my "Roots of Faith" (1976b) [and "Roots of Faith II, " 1988]. The addition of subscript g to was left undefined in my previous work to avoid introducing another layer of notation, even though it was necessary to define the coefficients of the different canonical equations emerging from canonical analysis.
Here I have now conceptually and substantively defined the terms and subscripts in the basic equations to bring out g as situation, and to relate this basic equation explicitly to specific, common behavior, as in Equation 8.3.
Admittedly, discussion of w ij in Field Theory Evolving is sometimes inconsistent with its treatment here as disposition wg,ij in situation g. Nor am I striving to maintain consistency. The previous theoretical-empirical work antedates by many years that of these Volumes. Then I had only a partial conception of the conflict helix. (see particularly 1977: Chapter 9, Section 4), and only a hazy view of the dynamic psychological field.
6. I have tried to cover this central issue in various ways, including from the perspective of the major method (1970: Section 2.2; 1972, Section 2.3.2), from philosophy (Chapters 9 and 10 in Vol. 1: The Dynamic Psychological Field), and from a probabilistic perspective (Chapter 2 of Vol. 2: The Conflict Helix). See also 1977: Chapter 16.
Each age and each discipline has its mindless slogans. One of these particularly dominating quantitative social science work is: "But that is linear." It is not realized that linearity is a concept covering many different types of equations, including those critics ordinarily propose to replace "linear" ones. In my work, a linear equation is of a linear space; it is linear only in the function--the separate terms can be complex. For example, distance d, could reflect some interconnected complex of forces, such as d1 = xy2(1- z), or a differential term dx/dt.
7. Situation is a latent function, operationally, in being defined by the canonical variates. Each canonical variate is, mathematically, an eigenvector and interpretable as a component. On latent functions see Chapter 10 of Vol. 1: The Dynamic Psychological Field. | <urn:uuid:97c9b80c-d5fe-4dca-8bc0-dba50dd09d4d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/WPP.CHAP8.HTM | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936168 | 2,411 | 2.703125 | 3 |
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At the time it was produced, Quo Vadis (1951) was the highest grossing movie from MGM after Gone With the Wind (1939). This remarkable epic takes place during a fascinating period in ancient history. It offers as spectacular a cast as it does sets, costumes, and everything else that could rightly be construed as colossal. Between the slaughter of innocent Christians in the arena, half of Italy starring as Roman citizens, and sets that dwarf even Ustinov, is a story of Roman commander Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) serving under the berserk Emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov). While Vinicius at first seems indifferent to the plight of the persecuted Christians, he soon sympathizes with them when he falls in love with a Christian girl, Lygia (Deborah Kerr), causing them both to be thrown to the lions.
The production of Quo Vadis came at the height of an executive power struggle at MGM (Dore Schary replaced former mogul Louis B. Mayer) and at a crucial time in the history of U.S. motion picture production because of the new competition from television. Director Mervyn LeRoy believed that motion pictures should offer larger and better spectacles in order to compete with the new medium. Whether this opinion was the result of prescience or hindsight, Quo Vadis was indeed the greatest spectacle ever made up to that time.
The logistics involved in producing a film of this magnitude were staggering. There were over two hundred speaking parts, many hundreds of workmen, and tens of thousands of extras. The company was managed in a paramilitary fashion, with group captains assigned to a specific number of extras, for whom they were responsible for everything from make-up to wages during the length of the shoot. As the first color film made at Cinecitta Studios in Rome, there were problems with lighting and equipment that was unfamiliar to Roman technicians who only had experience working in black and white film.
Imagine building a huge set only to see it burn? For scenes of Rome burning, dozens of workmen labored for months to construct a four-block area of ancient looking buildings, placing pipe throughout the sets for the flames. It took LeRoy and his technicians 24 nights to burn down the Rome they created for the cameras, when historically it only took Nero six days. Incredibly, all 2,000 extras moved through the fires without a single mishap. And somewhere in that swaying, moving mass of humanity, look for Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor who have bit parts.
Managing people is one thing, but working with one hundred and twenty lions for the coliseum scenes proved to be the biggest problem for the production. The lions did not like the sun. When the gates opened, the lions charged forward until they saw the bright rays of the sun. Even when starved for weeks the beasts still did not behave like voracious man-eaters. Finally, on the advice of lion-tamers, meat was stuffed in "dummies" dressed like Christians and the lions tore them to pieces quite savagely. Unfortunately, the dummies were too brutalized to use in the final film.
Another arena scene that prompted serious apprehension was when Lygia was tied to a post while waiting to be attacked by a bull. The athletic prowess of Ursus, played by actor Buddy Baer, was the only thing protecting Lygia from being mauled by the charging bull. In fact, the wrestling scenes between man and bull are some of the best in Quo Vadis because they seem so realistic.
When the Academy Award nominations were given out for 1952, Quo Vadis received eight including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actors (Leo Genn and Peter Ustinov), Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Direction, Best Dramatic Score, Best Film Editing, and Best Costume Design. However, it didn't win in any category since An American in Paris, A Streetcar Named Desire, and A Place in the Sun claimed most of the major awards.
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Producer: Sam Zimbalist
Screenplay: John Lee Mahin, S.N. Behrman, Sonya Levien
Based on the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Art Director: William A. Horning, Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno
Cinematography: Robert Surtees, William V. Skall
Editor: Ralph E. Winters
Music: Miklos Rozsa
Special Effects: A. Arnold Gillespie
Cast: Robert Taylor (Marcus Vinicius), Deborah Kerr (Lygia), Leo Genn (Petronius), Peter Ustinov (Nero), Patricia Laffan (Poppaea).
C-169m. Closed captioning.
by Celia M. Reilly | <urn:uuid:dedcaeda-47cc-445c-a187-1da6e31e1c5a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/933/Quo-Vadis/articles.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959087 | 1,006 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record - Published 1894 by Excelsior Publishing Co., Chicago" Pages 586 - 587
John Siegmund, a prosperous and successful farmer of this county, resides on section 18, in the town of Rhine. He
is a son of Jacob and Hannah (Willius) Siegmund, and was born October 26, 1835, being a native of Hesse-Darmstadt,
Germany. He was educated in his native country, where his boyhood was passed, emigrating to the United States at
the age of thirteen years. In company with his parents he sailed from London for New York in 1848. They were on
the ocean some thirty-five days, and on landing in the latter city came at once to Wisconsin, settling in
Germantown, where they made their home for five years.
In March of 1853, this pioneer family made their way to Sheboygan County, where they bought eighty acres of land,
situated on section 18, in the town of Rhine. The tract was in its wild state, but Mr. Siegmund was a man of energy
and will, and one who was not to be discouraged by the outlook. Here the parents passed the remainder of their
lives. After a few years of hard work, Mr. Siegmund added eighty acres to his original purchase; this, however,
lies in Russell Township. He and his wife were numbered among the honored pioneers, and after a residence of
thirty-four years in his adopted country, the former passed from this life. He was born September 14, 1805, and
died January 3, 1887. He died as he had lived, an honored and respected citizen. His good wife, who was born the
23d of October, 1809, died October 19, 1882. She was a kind Christian lady, and, with her husband, was a member of
the Evangelical Church. Four children came to bless the union of Jacob and Hannah Siegmund, as follows: Jacob, who
lives in Oregon, Marion County; John, the subject of this article; Helena, who became the wife of John H. Leimatz,
of Plymouth, and died some eight years ago; and George, a farmer in the town of Russell, this county.
John Siegmund was united in marriage to Rosina Klump, a daughter of Christopher and Margaret Klump, June 10, 1860.
She was born July 1, 1842, and is a native of Ozaukee County, Wis. Mr. and Mrs. Siegmund have four children, two
sons and two daughters. Jacob, born March 3, 1861, is a farmer in the town of Russell, on section 1; Otto, born
September 25, 1862, is still at home; Johanna, born February 8, 1867, became the wife of F. Conrad, a farmer of
Russell Township; and Caroline, born December 7, 1873, is at home with her parents.
Since 1868, Mr. Siegmund has operated the old homestead on his own responsibility, and has made of it an excellent
farm. It is in a good state of cultivation, and has the necessary buildings thereon. In improving his farm, he has
but carried out the work begun by his honored father, whose worthy example of right living has been of more value
to his children than gold. In his political sentiments, Mr. Siegmund is a Republican, as were all the family, and
in religious faith they are members of the Evangelical Church.
Copyright 1997 - 2009 by Debie Blindauer
All Rights Reserved | <urn:uuid:24a535e1-bf32-4e7b-817e-681993cfaafe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sheboygan/bios528.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990862 | 763 | 1.742188 | 2 |
PITTSBURGH, April 23 -- Preliminary results of a new bio-artificial liver assist device were presented by University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) researchers today at the 44th annual American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) conference in New York City. The device, designed by Excorp Medical Inc., significantly improved liver failure in animal studies, and researchers anticipate their results will help secure approval to begin studies in humans soon.
The researchers are awaiting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to allow further testing in humans as a phase I clinical trial which will evaluate whether the device is safe.
The Excorp bio-artificial liver assist device is intended to provide temporary support to patients with acute liver failure until their liver recovers spontaneously or until transplantation is possible. When human trials begin, researchers will place patients with acute liver failure on the device, which is connected to a vein and remains outside their bodies. Researchers believe it should help remove toxins from the patient's own liver cells, as the patient's blood circulates in a chamber with pig liver cells inside polymer membranes. The membranes allow toxins to pass through, but prevents proteins, and other cell byproducts from the pig cells to get into the patient's blood.
"Initially, the agreement between UPMC and Excorp allowed researchers to gather engineering and pre-clinical information about the device," said Jack Patzer, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery and chemical engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, who presented the findings at the ASAIO meeting.
"But with the bio-artificial liver assist device demonstrating such a
significant impact on the course of liver failure in our animal trials, we hope
within the month to secure FDA
approval to begin phase I human t
Contact: Lisa Rossi
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center | <urn:uuid:c84a5508-35f3-4e06-b32f-3c193bd1d165> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-2/UPMC-Reports-On-New-Liver-Assist-Device-14733-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92568 | 379 | 2.296875 | 2 |
Our tour of the Marianas begins SW of Guam. In this area the volcanoes are submerged and make up a region known as the Southern Seamount Province. Our first stop is Tracey Seamount, which lies 30 km west of Guam. Tracey is a ~2 km tall cone and volume of ~45 km3 It is one of the smaller volcanoes in the Mariana arc; Pagan, contains about 2200 km3 of material (Bloomer et al., 1989). It has a sector collapse on its western flank and resembles a submarine Mt. St. Helens. It was investigated by the ROV Hyper-Dolphin from the R/V Natsushima in Feb. 2009, which revealed that the cone is map up of alternating pyroclastics and dacite built on a basaltic-andesite base. A dome of dacite has formed in the collapse area. It is still considered active and that along with its proximity to Guam and its history of sector collapse suggest an underappreciated risk to the island.
Next up is West Rota. This is a large submarine caldera 40 km WNW of Rota. In fact it is the largest caldera in the IBM system, similar in size to Crater Lake in Oregon. Found in the caldera are large balls of rhyolite that are inferred to be rhyolite “balloons” that may have actually floated for a time after erupting (Stern et al. 2008). The youngest material dated so far is 37,000 years old, but there is evidence of current hydrothermal activity.
64 km of Rota and west of the main arc is the small but notable submarine volcano NW Rota 1. It is notable for being the site of the first directly observed deep submarine eruption. In 2001 it was dredged (my first cruise), but nothing unusual was noticed. In 2003 NOAA scientists detected an acidic plume above the summit. Subsequent dives by ROVs in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009 found continued vigorous activity, including sulfur-rich plumes, occasional small explosions and density flows of tephra down the flanks. The material being erupted is basaltic-andesite and despite the non-stop activity, no evidence has ever been observed on the surface that anything is going on down below. NW Rota is also the home to a rich ecosystem of shrimp and other organisms that are dependent on sulfur-loving colonies of chemosynthetic bacteria.
Further to the north we enter the Central Island Province, but not all volcanoes here have breached the surface. In addition to a multitude of small submarinevolcanoes, there are several larger ones: Esmeralda Bank, Zealandia Bank, Ruby and East Diamante Seamount. Several of these have some historic record of possible activity (mostly disturbed, discolored water) and Diamante has noticeable hydrothermal activity.
The islands proper start (moving S to N) with the intriguing Anatahan, which consist of overlapping calderas
Sarigan is next.
Recently there was a submarine eruption south of Sarigan. A cruise underway at this moment may, if time permits, send an ROV to visit the presumed eruption site.
Guguan last erupted in the 19th century. Alamagan to the north has no definitive historic record of activity, although there was a false alarm in 1999. Pagan is one of the few islands (outside of the larger Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Guam) to have any population. Even minor activity there presents a concern due to this. Agrigan has a caldera that was the site of small eruption around 1917. The symmetrical cone of Ascuncion had reported activity early in the 20the century, but its northern neighbors, the Maug Islands, have no historic eruptions and are in fact the eroding remnants of a caldera. Further north we enter another seamount province, except for Uracas or Farallon de Pajaros. This particular volcano and its submarine neighbors seem to be particularly restless. North of FdP is considered to be the end of the Marianas and the start of the Bonin or Volcano Islands.
Bloomer, S. H., Stern, R. J., and Smoot, N. C. “Physical Volcanology of the Submarine Mariana and Volcano Arcs.” Bull. Volcanology, 51, 210-224, 1989.
Gill, J., Klemperer, S., Stern, R., Tamura, Y., and Wiens, D. 2003. ‘Subduction-Factory’ Meeting Studies Izu-Bonin-Mariana Margin. Eos, v. 84, No. 1, p. 3
Stern, R.J., Fouch, M.J., and Klemperer, S., 2003. “An Overview of the Izu-Bonin-Mariana Subduction Factory” in J. Eiler and M. Hirschmann (eds.) Inside the Subduction Factory, Geophysical Monograph 138, American Geophysical Union, 175-222.
Stern, R.J., Tamura, Y., Embley, R.W., Ishizuku, O., Merle, S., Basu, N.K., Kawabata, H., and Bloomer, S.H., 2008. Evolution of West Rota Volcano, an extinct submarine volcano in the Southern Mariana Arc: Evidence from sea floor morphology, remotely operated vehicle observations and 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology. The Island Arc 17, 70-89. | <urn:uuid:5339fc65-7b08-4c58-a543-76ac61f4010f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/07/16/a-volcanic-cruise-through-the-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919133 | 1,172 | 2.984375 | 3 |
After the Staffordshire field at Hammerwich had been ploughed again last month, archeologists examined it again and discovered a new wealth of artefacts of the Anglo-Saxon period. In July 2009 the same field yielded 3,900 items, which are known worldwide as the Staffordshire Hoard. This time the scale is smaller, but the surprising fact is that many new pieces fit with parts found earlier. It means that the hoard is essentially the same. Some parts had been buried at a deeper level and were not excavated in 2009. However, the official decision will be pronounced January, 4th by South Staffordshire Coroner Andrew Haigh who will rule if the new findings are part of the Staffordshire Hoard and should be declared treasure.
The 90 metalwork items include a helmet cheek piece, an eagle shaped mount, a gold and garnet cross, as well as a whole array of very small parts that weigh less than a gram. All of them are now examined and x-rayed.
The original Staffordshire Hoard is on display in Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham. Its gold and silver artefacts are dated to the 7th and 8th centuries. It was discovered by Terry Herbert. The hoard is rather enigmatic in nature, because there is no grave or hut nearby. This might be war booty, since most of the items seem to be part of warrior equipment. Many of the objects were twisted.
Archeologists say they would like to go back in a couple of years and have a look at the Staffordshire field when it is ploughed again.
Photo: Staffordshire county council/PA
The Thames Scramasax is a blade that was recovered from the Thames River in England in 1857. It was discovered by a common laborer by the name of Henry Briggs, who in turn sold the find to the British Museum, where it is currently still on display. The single-edged blade is more commonly referred to as the Seax of Beagnoth. “Seax” is derived from the Old English word meaning “knife” and “Beagnoth” refers to either the knife’s owner or maker.
Here are 3 interesting things you should know about the discovery of the Thames Scramasax and its historical significance.
The single-edged knife has been dated to the 9th century, and as late as 900 AD. It’s a remarkably intact discovery that bears intricate inscriptions which allow historians to trace its origins and also garner some information on the rune, Old English language of the markings.
A 9th century seax was likely used either as a hunting knife, weapon or both. It is a long weapon with a single, sharpened edge that comes to a point. It is reminiscent of a flat-sided sword. The design and composition of the blade support the notion that it would have been made for someone of wealth and status, as it is intricately inlaid with copper, silver and brass.The wire inlaying technique required much skill from the artisan and can also be found on Viking swords from the same era. [click to continue…]
At some time early in the first century AD, the Greek geographer Strabo set out what he considered to be the main reason why the Romans had not pursued their initial interest in conquering Britain. The expeditions that Julius Caesar had launched in 55 and 54 BC were not followed up because: although the Romans could have held Britain, they have rejected the idea, seeing that there was nothing to fear from the Britons, since they are not powerful enough to cross over and attack us, nor was there much advantage to be gained if the Romans were to occupy it.
Eventually in 43 AD, the lame and unloved emperor Claudius, in an attempt to garner some military glory for himself, did decide that it was worth sending the legions to bring Pax Romana to this distinctly unpromising corner of the world. However, one always suspects that the Roman imperial authorities had significant reservations about their new acquisition.
When Greek and Roman writers bothered to mention Britain it was usually to pass comment on its geographical remoteness and the barbarity of its native inhabitants. Other northern frontier provinces would produce their quota of bright young things who blazed a trail in the rarefied stratosphere of the Roman court. However, these tales of success stand in stark contrast to the deafening silence that surrounds the achievements of the Romano-British elite on the wider imperial stage.
This ancient ambivalence is in marked contrast to the enthusiasm of 19th- and 20th-century writers and scholars for whom the history of Roman Britain has mattered a great deal. In an age of empire when Britannia really did rule the waves, comparisons with Rome were just too tempting to resist. Thus, the concept of Romanisation, the process through which Britain and its inhabitants became Roman, came into being. The introduction of towns, villas, baths, classical education and law to a land which supposedly had previously possessed none of these things could be comfortably equated with the civilizing mission that cohorts of British colonial administrators were engaged in around the globe. [click to continue…]
Last July the Yorkshire Museum raised £35,000 to purchase a unique Anglo-Saxon gold and sapphire finger ring. It had been found in April 2009 by a metal detectorist Michael Greenhorn, a railway technician who is also member of the York and District Metal Detecting Club. The find was reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and declared treasure.
Sapphires were associated with high status like royalty, upper nobility or bishops. The find is so rare that there is literally nothing to compare it with, so that dating of the ring represents some difficulty. The gold beading is characteristic for the Viking period but red and blue glass set in gold is found in earlier Anglian jewelry. It is possible that at some stage sapphire was used to replace blue glass to create a unique and expensive ring for the archbishop of York, one of the earls of Northumbria or even a king. The museum launched an investigation to find stylistic parallels in other pieces of Anglo-Saxon jewelry and narrow down the age range. No less interesting is the geological origin of the sapphire itself. It may have come from India or Sri Lanka.
The only other sapphire found in a jewel of the Anglo-Saxon period is the coronation ring of Edward the Confessor. The gemstone from this ring is now part of the Imperial State Crown of Great Britain, at the center of the cross on top of the crown.
The gold used for the ring is of a very high standard. It is an alloy of 90% gold, 8% silver and 2% copper. It weighs 10.2 grams.
Hopefully, the Yorkshire Museum will reveal more concerning this rare find in the near future.
Photo: © independent.co.uk
Bamburgh sword is a rare Anglo-Saxon sword from the seventh century. It once belonged to an Anglo-Saxon king or a member of a royal family. The sword was made up of six individual strands of iron: this technique is known as pattern welding, Babmburgh sword thus being a six pattern-welded sword. Cold weapons of such structure are also called ‘snake patterned’ because of the herring bone appearance created by the forged strands. Six strands or layers of carbon steel forged together made it a perfect weapon: in comparison, Sutton Hoo sword had only four layers. Bamburgh sword is the only one of its kind ever found.
The recovery of the sword is rather peculiar. It was dug out during the first excavation at Bamburgh castle, Northumberland, in 1960. After that it was forgotten in the attic of the broadcaster and archeologist Brian Hope-Taylor who took part in the excavations. After his death in 2001, some of his former PhD students came to his house hearing that his books were being sold off. The sword was going to be dumped in a skip by workers who were clearing the house. It was returned to Bamburgh Castle in 2005, where Paul Gething and Graeme Young were working on the Bamburgh Research Project. It is then that the rare nature of the artifact became known. The sword was sent to the Royal Armouries for further examination.
Discovering such a sword is a unique chance for an archeologist. More excavations at the Bamburgh castle may reveal more details as for this exceptional weapon.
Photo: Bamburgh sword | <urn:uuid:ca5cb4e3-a37a-46a1-aa85-7e1b74a2e33c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ansax.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978024 | 1,767 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Although the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan rarely receive the intense scholarly attention garnered by Shakespeare, their canon does have some commonality with that of the Bard, in their lasting appeal and longevity on the stage. This is not to say that Gilbert’s libretti bear any strong resemblance to Shakespeare’s plays, but more generally, “the richness of Shakespeare is what makes his works endure, and the same is true of Gilbert and Sullivan” (Gayden Wren, A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Art of Gilbert and Sullivan [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001], 5).
While no one is likely to confuse Gilbert’s writings with Shakespeare’s, more than one critic has noted a literary kinship between Gilbert and the great Athenian dramatist Aristophanes. Edith Hamilton draws this very comparison: “The two men fooled in the same way; they looked at life with the same eyes. In Gilbert’s pages Victorian England lives in miniature just as Athens in Aristophanes’. . . . But the freedom Aristophanes enjoyed was not [Gilbert’s], and his deft, clear-cut pictures of dishonesty and sham and ignorance in high places are very discreet and always nameless. . . . They saw beneath the surface of the passing show. They wrote of the purely ephemeral, and in their hands it became a picture not of the ‘Follies and Foibles’ of a day and nation, but of those that exist in all nations and all ages and belong to the permanent stuff of human nature” (“W.S. Gilbert: A Mid-Victorian Aristophanes,” in W.S. Gilbert: A Century of Scholarship and Commentary, ed. John Bush Jones [New York: New York University Press, 1970], 114-15).
Like Aristophanes, Gilbert takes aim at the great institutions of his society. In H.M.S. Pinafore, this institution is, as the title suggests, the British navy. The title itself is an important aspect of the comedy, pairing this ultra-masculine establishment with an ultra-feminine bit of children’s apparel. Building upon this incongruity is Captain Corcoran’s “exceedingly polite” attitude toward his crew. In his first song, he boasts, “Bad language or abuse, / I never, never use, / Whatever the emergency; / Though ‘Bother it’ I may / Occasionally say, / I never use a big, big D—” (W.S. Gilbert, Asimov’s Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan, ed. Isaac Asimov [New York: Doubleday, 1988] 155).
While Gilbert’s particular target is the navy, he also takes a few potshots at the British class system and inept, social-climbing bureaucratic hacks. Though Edith Hamilton describes Gilbert as “very discreet” in his ridicule (115), none of his contemporaries had the least difficulty in identifying the real-life counterpart of Sir Joseph Potter.
Isaac Asimov notes that “The actual First Lord of the Admiralty at this time was William Henry Smith (1825-91)” and that in general quality, if not in particular detail, Smith’s qualifications for and rise to this lofty position were suspiciously similar to the fictional Sir Joseph’s (Asimov’s Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan, 163). “Like Sir Joseph Porter, he had no experience with ships at all. There is no doubt that Gilbert was taking direct aim at Smith and, in view of the astonishing popularity of H.M.S. Pinafore, it is perfectly understandable that poor Smith became known as ‘Pinafore Smith’ and that the name stuck to him for the rest of his life” (Asimov, 163).
In order to drive home his message about the failings of the British class system, Gilbert uses the vehicle of Victorian melodrama. Gayden Wren describes the conventions of this popular genre: “Long-held secrets, concealed identities, and switched babies were, of course, standard in Victorian melodrama. The discovery of long-lost noblemen hidden among the peasantry was also a staple, serving the Victorians’ desire to allow change yet keep things as they were: They could cheer a noblewoman’s right to marry a peasant, but it was much neater and less disruptive of social norms if, after ringing declarations of equality, it turned out that the peasant was himself a nobleman all along” (65).
Gilbert is faithful to these plot elements, but he carefully and subtly weaves in new threads. Ordinarily the Victorian melodrama reinforces the mores of that society, bolsters the idea that there is more to being an aristocrat or a peasant than an accident of birth. “The Victorian creed believed 100 percent in nature, 0 percent in nurture” (Wren, 65).
A cursory examination of H.M.S. Pinafore might suggest that Gilbert endorses this belief—after all, Ralph and the Captain naturally gravitate to their “proper” social spheres. However, a closer look reveals that Gilbert is, in fact, poking fun at these attitudes. His characters stubbornly refuse to look beyond the most superficial qualities of the individuals around them. Theytake one another at face value, defining each other almost entirely by appearance and position in society.
This is most painfully apparent in the character of Ralph, who is superior to his fellows in both intellect and ability. When, in Act 1, he waxes eloquent with Josephine (“Driven hither by objective influences—thither by subjective emotions—wafted one moment into blazing day, by mocking hope—plunged the next into the Cimmerian darkness of tangible despair”), Josephine dismisses his language as “simple” (170). Like the other characters, she recognizes none of his excellent qualities, but sees him only as an “audacious tar,” and a “common sailor.” Only Sir Joseph—hardly a reliable source—acknowledges Ralph as a “splendid seaman” and “a remarkably fine fellow” (165).
This blindness to true character also extends to the characters of Dick Deadeye and Sir Joseph Porter. The misshapen Deadeye, alone among his shipmates, is firmly anchored in mid-Victorian common sense, but, as he mournfully explains, “From such a face and form as mine the noblest sentiments sound like the black utterances of a depraved imagination” (150). Sir Joseph, on the other hand, is lauded as a fount of wisdom, despite a serious dearth of qualification and intelligence.
Gilbert further satirizes Victorian attitudes about social rank in his treatment of the “switched-baby” plot element. Much of H.M.S. Pinafore’s absurd humor is derived from the characters’ obstinate adherence to the traditional social order, and from their unquestioning—even simple-minded—acceptance of Buttercup’s “switched-baby” story and the instantly switched status of Ralph and Captain Corcoran.
Not content with dismissing the merits of noble birth and political ascent as qualifiers for high social rank, Gilbert seems to suggest an alternative. As Gayden Wren explains, “The option Gilbert prefers and implicitly endorses in H.M.S. Pinafore is predictably that which applies to both himself and Sullivan: status-by-talent. . . . What makes H.M.S. Pinafore a comedy rather than a dark satire is that the perverse machinations of politics and status-by-birth unpredictably bring the right person to the top. The ship is safe with Rackstraw at the helm, because he’s clearly the best qualified for the position” (70).
Just as the Pinafore is safe in the hands of Rackstraw, theatre-goers are always secure in the hands of Gilbert and Sullivan. While H.M.S. Pinafore—Gilbert and Sullivan’s first real “hit”—may not be quite as sophisticated or polished as their subsequent operettas, it is nevertheless both complex and appealing. Sullivan’s music, effervescent and comical, never fails to delight, and Gilbert’s libretto, full of absurdity and satire, simultaneously comforts and tickles. | <urn:uuid:f4492f92-029c-49fc-8e99-bee87c393905> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bard.org/education/studyguides/HMS/hmsappeal.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947529 | 1,810 | 2.25 | 2 |
There is a quick set of tips for improving the performance of the Eclipse IDE that is making the rounds, and it starts off with the moronic suggestion of disabling your anti-virus software:
- Disable antivirus software
- Disable unecessary validations
- Modify eclipse.ini
- Create a ram disk(virtual disk) on memory, and put your jdk on the ram disk.
- Make sure you are using sun jdk
You Are Not Special: You Are Not a Beautiful Snowflake
I can deal with the last four tips, and I can even appreciate putting your workspace files into a folder on your hard drive that is not indexed by your anti-virus software, but the advice to turn off any anti-virus software is ludicrous.
First off, every client you work for will have strict rules about the fact that every machine must have virus software installed. Sure, some organizations may extend a professional courtesy to you by not inspecting your laptop when you walk in the door, but that doesn't mean you don't have to respect their policies.
Ruining it for Everyone
Plus, when people do rebuff this professional courtesy, they simply make life more difficult for the honest developers that maintain a modicum of integrity and professionalism. If contractors start deciding they don't need to follow corporate policies, that's when corporations start making strict policies about never extending professional courtesies, which means more shops that are going to annoyingly start inspecting laptops every time a contractor enters the office and connects to the network.
Better Hope You Have Moron Insurance
And if you do infect your client's network with a trojan or a worm or a backdoor, not only are you going to get fired, but you could be looking at a six or seven digit lawsuit being launched over your negligence.
Programmers and developers have to get over this idea that they are above the law and better than everyone else that's connected to the Intertubes. Knowing how to write a for loop doesn't give you the right to put every other box connected to the network at risk.
The Best Way to Improve Performance
By the way, I've run IBM development tools, from VisualAge to RSA, on many slow computers. I've never seen a single system that was made significantly faster by disabling the anti-virus, which I have done simply to demonstrate to others that it's an act of futility. In fact, the best way to speed up any given WebSphere or Rational product is to simply switch to NetBeans and Glassfish instead. | <urn:uuid:32546be9-5092-4f41-8749-7ff83c75762c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.theserverside.com/discussions/thread.tss?thread_id=62562 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946001 | 524 | 1.609375 | 2 |
NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
I am 17 years old, female and I been having problems with my bladder. Lately I noticed a cloudy look to my urine, and sometimes I pee my pants. But when I pee my pants I have no pain nor do I feel the urine come out. Sometimes I urinate a lot more but in small amounts. I rarely have pain in my lower abdomen so I have no clue what the problem can be. Can you be any help to me?
There can be several causes of this problem. The most common would be a urethral diverticulum which is a small outpouching in which urine collects and drains intermittently. You will need to see a urologist who can do the exams and X-rays needed (usually an MRI) to diagnose and treat your problem.
Marc F Cymes, PA
Clinical Instructor of Urology
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University | <urn:uuid:46b6b1eb-70a6-4237-bbf4-d71bcb029598> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netwellness.org/question.cfm/55018.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952214 | 226 | 2.21875 | 2 |
By Julie Somers
Recently, I received as a gift a pretty amazing coloring book full of images of medieval tapestries. Beautifully drawn copies of medieval masterpieces, yet empty and free to the possibility of re-creating them in my own fashion, or faithfully following the ‘exemplar’. This made me think of the relationship between the scribe, rubricator and/or illuminator. Which can be complicated, because in different settings, they could be the same person.
In past posts we have discussed the medieval doodle, typically a rough drawing placed in the empty margins of a manuscript. Yet, what about those drawings that were intended, but left unfinished? Did the artist know what was desired and where to place the image? Sometimes, like looking at the coloring book, it is best to start with an unfinished piece to see the steps needed to complete it.
When the medieval scribe set about creating a manuscript, much like the modern publisher, layout was of key importance. The scribe had to decide many factors, including the placement of images. Often, when a manuscript was ‘under construction’ notes were left behind indicating what initials the rubricator should add and where.
Commonly called ‘guide letters’, they acted as instructions to the next step in line of production. Look closely, it is very small!
Another example, a mid twelfth-century manuscript from Germany, now at the Walters Museum has many initials left in varying stages of production.
In fact, sometimes more detailed instructions were left for the illuminator. An early example of this practice can be seen in the Quedlinburg Itala from the 5th century. Some of the paint has worn away revealing the instructions beneath; “Make the tomb [by which] Saul and his servant stand and two men, jumping over pits, speak to him and [announce that the asses have been found].”
In addition to initials, miniatures are often found unfinished. In an example from ‘The Abingdon Apocalypse’ (1270-1275) we can see the area that was ruled for the miniature, with a pencil sketch in place.
Perhaps the most well known example of unfinished miniatures is the Winchester Bible (1160-1175). Many of the images represent the progressive stages of production. Some are sketches while others seem to be just waiting for color.
From these few examples it is easy to see that a great way to learn about the production of a medieval image in a manuscript is to look at those that were left unfinished. In this web video presentation from the Fitzwilliam museum, you can follow along in the process of creating illuminated manuscripts.
With a focus on the material aspects of the medieval manuscript, we might ask; what can we learn about the creation of images from those left unfinished? In fact, we can learn quite a lot. It may be even more interesting to consider those images that were planned but did not make it to final completion. | <urn:uuid:8b8c068d-6d62-4179-a1c6-acc8e95cdd53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medievalfragments.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/image-interrupted-the-unfinished-medieval-manuscript/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969249 | 622 | 3.25 | 3 |
DHAKA: University Grants Commission (UGC) Chairman Professor AK Azad Chowdhury Wednesday said Bangladesh would turn into a middle income country by next 10 years by proper use of our marine resources.
The educator made the remarks at a seminar titled ‘maritime boundary of Bangladesh and natural resources’ organized by Zoology Department of Jagannath University at the central auditorium.
He said, “Bangladesh is no more a bottomless basket. It becomes a huge potential country. We have to protect our resources with proper utilization of the manpower.”
Regarding Jagannath University, he said, “The University is the second largest of the country. So, UGC will keep continue all kinds of financial aids to the university.”
With chairman of Zoology Department Professor Dr Saiful Islam, the seminar was also addressed, among others, by JnU VC Professor Dr Mesbahuddin Ahmed, captain of Bangladesh Navy Sheikh Mahmudul Hasan PSC, Dean of Life and Earth Science Institute Professor Dr Abu Zafer Mohammad Ruhul Momen and Dhaka University Professor of Fisheries Department Dr Kawser Ahmed.
BDST: 1944 HRS, MAY 23, 2012
Edited by: Shahin Afroz, Newsroom Editor, M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor
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Even if your dishwasher has a cycle specifically for pots and pans, most of them should still be washed by hand. Glass and most enamel-coated cookware is generally dishwasher-safe. Cast iron and aluminum should never be put in the dishwasher. Most pots and pans with nonstick surfaces should also be hand-washed. The key to removing burned-on foods from most cookware is soaking. Fill the dish with hot water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid and let it set for a while. You might even do this immediately after cooking and let the pans soak while you enjoy dinner. Afterwards, use a non-abrasive pad with detergent to remove the softened food. You can remove stains from aluminum cookware by boiling a quart of water with two tablespoons cream of tartar. Boiling a cup of water in a nonstick pot with two tablespoons baking soda is another stain-removal trick. Afterwards, wipe the nonstick surface with vegetable oil before storing it to retain its nonstick qualities. Cast iron requires special care. Rinse it out in plain hot water, then dry thoroughly. Some people like to put it on a warm burner for a few minutes to dry it thoroughly. Stack cast iron pots and pans separately with paper towels between them to absorb excess moisture. | <urn:uuid:37187035-d05a-4d92-af2c-3eba38d0855b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.foxkansas.com/guides/home/household/story/Getting-your-pots-and-pans-clean/TWiP3QY4S0uFY1PC6fYtJg.cspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951642 | 264 | 2.171875 | 2 |
The Ravens have joined efforts with MedStar Sports Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a public safety campaign to address concussion awareness and prevention.
As part of the joint concussion awareness efforts Jameel McClain, Ravens' starting linebacker and Andrew Tucker, MD, Ravens' team physician are featured in a new public service announcement.
"It is a very important program for us," said Ravens President Dick Cass during a press conference at the Under Armour Performance Center in owings Mills. "it is something we are concerned about. The program is just not directed at youth football, it is directed at all youth sports. We are trying to raise concussion awareness in our market, the greater Baltimore area, about the dangers of concussions and how to treat them and how to recognize them. We have committed a total of $125,000 to this program over the next 5 years and I think that is a significant sign of our commitment to this issue."
He says the Ravens efforts in this partnership with MedStar Sports Medicine are part of a greater NFL effort raise concussion awareness around the country.
"MedStar Sports Medicine, like the Ravens, consider it to be of vital importance to work collaboratively to raise awareness," said Lew Lyon, vice president of MedStar Sports Medicine. "Concussion is something unlike other injuries and awareness needs to be emphasized because we are all at risk - even the individual who doesn't consider themselves an athlete."
"It is a honor for me to be able to partner up with MedStar and the Baltimore Ravens on something that is so important," says Ravens linebacker Jameel McClain.
"Creating awareness about this subject that is sometimes overlooked, especially at a younger age in sports. In sports we have the mentality of being a warrior and toughening it out. I was always told as a kid if it's not broken you can go. But when it comes to the head you never know," adds McClain. "So if you are dinged-up or if you are dizzy, you have to sit yourself out. You have to be aware. But not just for the players but for the coaches and the trainers that are there and the family members to make sure that this awareness is important because, the long term effect what we are finding out now is way more important than we thought it was back in the day."
Maryland House Bill (HB) 858 and Senate Bill (SB) 771 - legislation designed-to protect student-athletes from the dangerous effects of concussions - were signed into law by Governor Martin O'Malley in July 2011. Maryland became the 18th state to enact such legislation in the United States.
HB 858 and SB 771 provide protections for student-athletes who are suspected of incurring a concussion during practice or play. Any such individual will be removed from activity and returned only after clearance by an appropriate licensed health care professional. The legislation also calls for the Maryland State Department of Education to implement concussion awareness programs for coaches, school personnel, student-athletes and parents/guardians. Students and their parents/guardians must also sign a concussion information sheet before participating in any sport. This applies to sports played on public school and Parks & Recreation lands.
MedStar Health, the Ravens and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) first joined forces in 2011 in a public safety campaign addressing sports concussion awareness and prevention.
The Ravens and MedStar Sports Medicine co-branded established CDC materials (coaches fact sheet, parents fact sheet, athletes fact sheet, coaches clipboard). The materials, highlighting the common signs, symptoms and treatment protocol associated with concussions, were distributed to more than 150 area youth and high school football coaches and athletic directors.
From partnerships with over 50 different organizations ranging from the professional, college, high school and recreational levels, MedStar Sports Medicine is seeing the impact concussion has on all ages. MedStar Sports Medicine developed a Concussion Program to provide education to players, coaches, athletic trainers and leagues about the seriousness of the injury and when to seek help. Our experts offer baseline (before play) and post concussion computer-based testing to aid physicians in determining the best course of treatment and when an athlete can safely return to sports and other activities. Athletic trainers are available for free phone consultation 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Ravens entered into a formal multi-year partnership with the MedStar Sports Medicine Concussion Program in 2011, providing a $25,000 grant to MedStar Sports Medicine each year for five consecutive years. Funding supports the Program's community outreach, providing more education to coaches and parents. Funding also subsidizes the testing costs of student-athletes in the area, allowing screening for those who cannot afford it.
MedStar Sports Medicine and the Ravens are leading the way in raising awareness about concussions and providing treatment to the region's athletes.
The partnership continues the commitment of both organizations to advance the safety of young athletes in all sports.
Hearst Radio Inc. AP Material ©
The Associated Press.
and Web Development | <urn:uuid:b1bc93fc-2361-48f9-bf51-e0f2ff053e53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbal.com/article/94080/3/template-story/The-Ravens-And-MedStar-Sports-Medicine-Join-Forces-In-Raising-Concussion-Awareness-In-Baltimore-Area | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960559 | 1,031 | 1.789063 | 2 |
This specification covers production acceptance test requirements for the manufacture of lighter-than-air light sport aircraft. This provides the minimum requirements for the establishment of a ground and flight test program for verifying the initial (first run) production aircraft meets certain operational performance requirement that have been set forth by the manufacturer in its Aircraft Operating Instructions. The minimum requirements to verify that each subsequent production aircraft has no obvious defects that would prevent the safe operation of the aircraft are described. Every production aircraft shall be flight tested to the minimums such as lighter-than-air airships, hot-air balloons and gas/hybrid balloons.
This abstract is a brief summary of the referenced standard. It is informational only and not an official part of the standard; the full text of the standard itself must be referred to for its use and application. ASTM does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents of this abstract are accurate, complete or up to date.
1.1 This specification covers production acceptance test requirements for the manufacture of lighter-than-air light sport aircraft.
1.2 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
Aircraft Operating Instructions; airplane; airship; balloon; lighter-than-air; light sport aircraft; rotorcraft; special airworthiness certificate; weight shift control; Aircraft--Lighter-than-air sport; Airworthiness; Production acceptance testing;
ICS Number Code 49.020 (Aircraft and space vehicles in general)
ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.
Citing ASTM Standards
[Back to Top] | <urn:uuid:8f8b3c68-bd32-4967-93f9-8f3a4f991992> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.astm.org/Standards/F2356.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911434 | 362 | 2.015625 | 2 |
BMX - Bicycle Motocross
Welcome to the wonderful world of BMX racing! The manual you hold is
designed to try to provide a comprehensive, yet simple guide to the
various aspects of the sport. In the early 1970's, a group of
California kids were imitating their motorcycle motocross heroes on
their 20-inch bicycles, and they built a homemade track to "race"
their bicycles on. This new sport, created by kids, for kids, was
happening throughout the nation. In 1974, the National Bicycle
League (NBL) was formed as the first sanctioning organization to
turn the backyard racing into an exciting, competitive sport on a
local, state, national and international level. In 2011, USA BMX was
born after the American Bicycle Association and the National Bicycle
can be used for competition. The handlebars must also have grips
that are in good condition. If your bicycle has a kickstand, chain
guard, reflectors, freestyle pegs or other gadgets, they must be
removed for safety purposes on the track. We have tools and people
to help you remove these parts.
One point to remember:
Getting started with the right bike and BMX equipment is extremely
important to a successful season. We do have some loaner beginner
bmx racing bikes available for you to try. You will learn that a
bike made for BMX racing will greatly help the rider on the track,
starter bmx racing bikes are sold at local bike shops. We also have
Helmet: A helmet is the most important part of your
equipment! If you do not have a helmet to use, ask one of the track
officials. We have some helmets available for you to borrow. For
racing purposes, you must have either a full-face helmet or a helmet
with a mouth guard attached.
must wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. It is advised that if
your pants are baggy and could possibly become entangled in the bike
chain, you use some tape to fit the leg tight around your ankle. You
will not be permitted to roll your pant leg up, all skin must be
Optional: You may see many riders
wearing gloves, chest protectors, extra padding, etc. These items
are optional, however can be very helpful, especially to a new
rider. Please ask any track official if you have questions about
what is necessary or acceptable.
The track at Northmoreland Park is open to the general public during
park hours, only if the track is not wet or muddy. Anyone can ride
the track during those times if the track is dry. However to
participate in any racing events or gate practices, you must sign up
at our track to become a member of USA BMX. You may join USA BMX
with a 30-day trial membership to see if you enjoy racing. If you
decide that you like it and want to continue, you can then extend
your membership for the year and will receive a membership card with
your USA BMX number. The last 3 digits of that USA BMX number will
be the number you will place on the front of your bike. You will
also be given a number plate.
Things you will receive through you membership:
- USA BMX publication (monthly)
- Membership card
- Participant medical insurance
- Qualified officials
- National and state point standings
- List of tracks and schedules of events
There are three skill levels in BMX:
Novice (beginner), Intermediate and Expert. The brand new rider will
start as a novice and will race other novices the same, or close to
the same age. Age classes in BMX are one year apart, beginning with
the 5 year old and under class and continuing up to the 17 and older
classes. Beginning riders will continue to compete in the Novice
class until they have won 15 races or raced for one year. When a
beginner receives his 15 move-up awards, he then becomes a
The classes for girls are slightly different, they can run either as
a "girl" or run in the boy classes. Please ask the Clerk of Course
if you have any specific questions about the girl classes.
The first thing to do is check
the local schedule to see what time registration begins. You will
need to register prior to each race to be included. Simply go to the
registration area and present your USA BMX membership card.
The next stop you will need
to make is at the "Bike Inspection Area." If you are not sure where
that is, ask any track official. The inspector will check your bike
to see that all fittings are tight, that there are grips and ends on
the handlebars, and that your chain is fitting appropriately. He
will also check that you have the appropriate clothing and helmet
on. Once approved, he will place a sticker on your number plate. You
will not be allowed to sit on the gate without an approval sticker.
Before the race begins there will
be a practice gate session. This is an open session and is not
divided into classes or age groups (at the local level). One of the
track officials is called the "Gate Starter." He/she is in charge of
the gate area. During practice times, he will encourage riders to
fill in all 8 gate spots.
DESIGN OF A RACE:
You will notice many volunteers helping out during the races. Please
realize that these folks are volunteers and do not get paid for the
work that they do. Their only payment is for you to have a safe and
fun race. Following is a list of the various positions of the
- Track Director - functions as the chief referee for the day -
final say in all decisions.
- Clerk of Course - in charge of the registration process
- Official for the Starting Hill - assuring that all riders are
in the correct moto and the correct gate.
- Gate Starter - in charge of all gate activity
- Bike Inspector
- Corner Marshals - oversee each area of the track to record and
observe racing. These are the folks who provide info to the
referee in the event of a protest.
- Scorers - (3) at the finish line
- Paramedic may be present
Your track also has 1 Rider Representative available. This is an
elected position and it is their responsibility to be your voice to
the board. Please learn who your Rider Rep is and feel free to ask
him/her questions and express your opinions on issues related to the
A typical race consists of 3 separate races around the
track (not at the same time). You will race once, and then you will
have a break, then race again, take a break for a total of 3 races.
These races are called motos. Once the official clerk has divided
all racers into their class and age groups, they will post the moto
sheets. These sheets will tell you what number moto you are in, what
gates you will have for your motos. After completing your three
races there will be a main event. If there are 8 or less riders in
your class all riders will be in the main, if there are more than 8
riders the top 8 from the motos will advance to the main. It
is your responsibility to check the moto sheets, to know the number
of your moto and what gate you have for each race.
You will begin the race by sitting on the gate with the rest of your
group. The Gate Starter will watch to make sure everyone is ready.
He will then make a short announcement and push the button to begin
the gate sequence. If the Gate Starter is beginning before you feel
you are ready, you need to speak loudly saying, "hold the gate" and
raise your hand. The Gate Starter will wait until you are ready. If
you do not let the starter know you are not ready, he cannot be held
responsible for beginning without you.
During the race there are officials posted at various
points around the track to observe the racers and watch for
offenses. If you feel that someone has purposely done something
wrong to you during the race, you need to raise your hand in protest
immediately after crossing the finish line. One of the
officials will hear your complaint and judge the action. No protests
will be honored later or will be accepted if voiced by anyone other
than you the rider. A parent may not protest for a child - the child
must raise the protest.
What happens if I am the only one in my class
who shows up to race?
If there are not enough riders to make a class, the
rider will be combined with another group. For instance, if you are
the only 10-year old novice who shows up, you may be combined with
the 11- year old novice class just for the purposes of running the
moto. This prevents you from having to travel the track by yourself.
When this race is finished, there will be 2 first place
trophies awarded. No matter how you finish, you will receive a
first, because you are truly the only rider in your class. There
will also be a first place 11-year old rider. You will not receive a
move-up point for this race. There must be at least 3 riders in the
same class on the gate for move-up awards.
At the end of your racing for the day, you may go to the
registration area to pick up your trophy. You will need to tell the
trophy staff your name and what moto number you were in. Please
realize that the trophy staff is working as fast as they possibly
can, be patient!
The points that you add up all year, decide what track
plate you can ride for the following year. For example, you may come
out with the most points of everyone in your class based on your
performance. You will be given a #1 plate to wear on your bike at
the local track for the following year.
That is how local BMX racing works! Let's move on and
look at other levels you can participate in.
Pennsylvania State Series
There are 4 tracks in our region that are part of the PA series:
- Johnstown BMX, PA
- Drake Well BMX/Titusville, PA
- South Park BMX/Pittsburgh, PA
- Westmoreland BMX/Apollo, PA
The state series consists of qualifying races and one state
championship. A qualifier is a weekend race held at each track. Each
track in the state hosts either a qualifier or the championship each
Any registered rider may participate in the state series. It does
not matter what place you take in the qualifiers, you can still
compete in the championship. Points accumulate with each of the
qualifiers and do count towards the championship.
The State Championship rotates to a different track each year. Based
on the number of points you enter the championship with and the
place you take in the championship race itself, you will be awarded
a state place for the year. For example, you may earn the #1
10-year-old Novice plate for the year in the state. You will be
awarded a trophy and a number plate with "1". There will also be a
small letter after the number telling the class you are in (rookie,
novice, etc). Your plate will say "1" r. You can then wear that
plate on your bike for the next racing year at all state and local
races, until another #1 is awarded.
The State Series is a great way to improve your racing skills. You
will be racing against the best kids in the state and that can only
help you get better. Plus it is a lot of fun!
USA BMX NATIONAL SERIES
The highest level you can race at is the National
Series. You must complete 6 national races to compete in the
National Championship. Again the awards are given based on points
accrued as well as the place taken in the Championship. If you win
the national #1 novice plate you can wear that plate at any race for
the following year.
The schedule for the National Series can also be found
Certain national riders may qualify to go to the World
Championship. This race rotates to a different country each year.
The different levels of racing can be very confusing at
first. Please feel free to contact any of your track officials and
they can point you towards helpful information about the various
Well that is BMX racing in a nutshell! I hope it sounds exciting.
Westmoreland BMX will work very hard to make your season successful.
It takes many people to keep Westmoreland BMX going. The track
itself and all areas inside of the fence are maintained by the
organization, not by the Park. For this reason, volunteers are
always welcome and needed. Whether you would like to become an
official and work the race itself, volunteer to help in the
concession stand, or simply cut some grass every now and then, we
accept all help graciously.
Financially the organization is self-supporting also. We do not keep
money collected for registration, your yearly fees are given to USA
BMX and your weekly fees get divided up between trophy and operating
costs. Therefore the only money we get to keep is that which is
donated for sponsorship, advertising and what we bring in from the
concession stand. Monies that we do make are used for promotions,
operating expenses, track maintenance and track rebuilds.
The parks department is good to our organization, without them we
would not have a track at all! Please be courteous and respectful to
the park staff and police. Also please respect the park itself by
not littering and by cleaning up your area after you are done. | <urn:uuid:9d998e88-7a80-4f79-89c5-3e8a53a5b85f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://westmorelandbmx.com/newriderinfo/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940172 | 2,971 | 1.796875 | 2 |
India's weapons shipments to Nepal are set to resume, following a profligate list of aid projects proposed during the Chinese premier's visit to Kathmandu last week.
Now visiting India, Nepalese home and defence minister BK Gachhedar has formally submitted a list of military hardware to India and conveyed Baburam Bhattarai's government request to resume arms and weapons supplies to Kathmandu, the Hindustan Times reported. Meanwhile, New Delhi has begun the procedures for supplying arms to Kathmandu, with the possible exception of the Lancer counter-insurgency helicopter.
As I wrote yesterday for GlobalPost, India and China are vying for influence in Nepal with soft power, including a "Battle for Buddha." And I stand by the argument that the biggest advantage India has in that battle is its free press -- warts and all. But this post is about the warts.
There's some funky writing in this HT article, folks, so I'm not entirely clear what the author means. But he seems to say that Gachhedar TOLD Indian defence minister AK Antony that Chinese premier Wen Jiabao promised aid to Nepal in exchange for an agreement (perhaps tacit) that Kathmandu would check the flight of Tibetan refugees across its borders. And then he dramatically overemphasizes the sum of money given for policing...
The article reads:
Wen promised $120 million aid to Nepal for police training and border check posts with an eye towards Tibetan refugees. It is understood that Wen asked Nepal to maintain good relations with India but at the same time asked that Tibetan refugees be handed back to Chinese PLA instead of UN humanitarian bodies like UNHCR in Nepal.
That's curious, to say the least. According to other sources including the Associated Press and Nepal's own Republica newspaper, Wen pledged only 10 million yuan (or about $1.5 million) to enhance the capabilities of Nepal's police forces and another 400,000 yuan ($65,000) to strengthen its armed forces. Presumably, the rest of the money was earmarked for projects like the development of international dry ports and cargo terminals, upgrading highways around the Kathmandu Valley, and so on.
Following that statement, the HT writes:
Erstwhile Nepal King Gyanendra had already closed down the Tibetan Bureau office catering to refugees crossing over from Tibet to Kathmandu after he declared emergency in February 1, 2005.
Since then, India has also not supplied lethal weapons to Nepal.
Strictly speaking, these two statements are true. But the juxtaposition is misleading, according to sources in the know in Kathmandu. India DID stop weapons supplies to Nepal after the king declared emergency. But according to folks in Kathmandu its reasons were not related to the closing down of the Tibetan Bureau office. The sanctions were triggered by what HT obliquely refers to as declaring emergency but is normally called a coup d'etat. As always in these cases, the military backed and enforced the coup. Moreover, there was evidence of the army torturing and killing civilians -- a much more obvious and direct reason for ending weapons supplies.
Curiouser and curiouser. | <urn:uuid:6f231991-c4b7-4244-a06a-405f1d35a089> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/the-rice-bowl/india-nepal-weapons | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951946 | 650 | 1.65625 | 2 |
Alegent Creighton Health offers programs in two allied health professions which enable you to combine your compassion for others with training to prepare you for a career in direct patient care.
The art and science of radiologic technology combines advanced technology with human compassion. While it is one of the youngest of the allied health fields, the profession has expanded tremendously in demand, educational advancement, new techniques and subspecialties.
The Alegent Creighton Health School of Radiologic Technology was established on July 1, 1996 from the consolidation of Immanuel and Bergan Mercy Radiologic Technology programs.
Respiratory Therapy is an allied health specialty instrumental in providing diagnosis, treatment, management and preventive care of patients with cardio/pulmonary problems. One of the most rapidly growing fields of paramedical study, Respiratory Therapy today offers a wide variety of exciting career challenges and opportunities.
The Alegent Creighton Health School of Respiratory Therapy has been in existence since 1972. It was the first respiratory therapy school in the state.The Alegent Creighton Health School of Respiratory Therapy is affiliated with Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska, and University of Nebraska-Kearney in Kearney, Nebraska. These colleges award credit for the courses taught at Immanuel Medical Center | <urn:uuid:d2905fa9-a0a7-4c4b-9af6-5f97df4d992a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.alegentcreighton.com/body.cfm?id=127 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927078 | 262 | 1.53125 | 2 |
We have fiber optic, and our old rotary dial phone works just fine with it. Here's how our system works: the box on the outside of the house is Optical Network Terminal - this converts the signal to work with the house's copper wire. Since there is no longer a copper wire connection from the phone company (which previously carried power), the home's internal phone wiring needs to be powered from the home's regular AC power. There is a converter box in the basement that provides this charge to the ONT, but it is, of course, subject to household power outages. To protect against this, the converter box contains a rechargeable backup battery, which will power the home's phone system for eight hours of talk-time (supposedly - I have never had to test the battery life yet).
We have Verizon Fios phone service, which I believe is fiber optic, right?
In any case, the backup battery only lasts for 8-12 hours whether you use the phone or not.
We got to test it out last year after the hurricane when a transformer was taken down by a tree a few blocks away.
Our power lines are actually underground, but that transformer above ground apparently serves our lines.
After about 8-12 hrs (I can't remember exactly) the battery died and we had no home phone service. Instead we charged our cell phones in our car. | <urn:uuid:8f0e8d86-7cae-4527-89c5-83dded7c229f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldhouseweb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29936&start=30&st=0&sk=t&sd=a | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964627 | 285 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Take a look at some striking images of forests, forest biodiversity and people that depend on it.
Join us in celebrating all that’s wonderful about the world’s forests—our jungles, woods and mangroves—and what they mean for the well-being of people and the planet.
Forests are under the spotlight as never before. They are globally important in regulating climate and locally important in sustaining communities and supporting biodiversity.
A tour of some of the world's forested landscapes and our work with local communities who live in, and depend on forests.
// Concept, Design and Technology by getunik.com | <urn:uuid:eaf611c9-4851-4a01-a03e-0050de3584e8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/forest/iyf/photos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00033-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936107 | 131 | 1.742188 | 2 |
China, High Speed Rail and Mobility
January 18, 2011
Many in the United States point to China as an example of why investment in rail transportation makes sense here. Unfortunately, that is not really the lesson from China we should learn. While it is true that China's investment in high-speed rail is making it a world leader in this technology, it is not true that this is a model that should be emulated by the United States or other developed countries, says Samuel Staley, director of urban and land use policy at the Reason Foundation.
China is investing in all forms of transportation to match unprecedented growth in income and the demand for mobility.
- In the last 20 years, China has built a national expressway network larger than the one that connects the European Union and almost equivalent of the U.S. Interstate Highway System in order to improve access between provinces and metropolitan areas.
- Air travel is also expanding rapidly -- in 2009, 166 airports were open to civilian transportation;this number is expected to increase to 260 by 2015.
So, China's investment in rail is not necessarily seen only as a substitute for other means of traveling between cities and provinces; rather it is diversifying, becoming more layered and taking advantage of the sheer scale of a national economy expected to add 400 million more people to its cities by 2025.
In a culture and economy with a history and legacy of riding trains, the high-speed component is a logical complement to the network. This is fundamentally different from the United States, where our high degree of wealth and well developed transportation infrastructure already provides an unprecedented level of mobility and access through highways and air travel, says Staley.
Source: Samuel Staley, "China, High Speed Rail and Mobility" Reason Foundation, January 13, 2011.
Browse more articles on International Issues | <urn:uuid:0bc93852-c76c-4535-a28c-859c263a179c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=20230 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956388 | 369 | 2.296875 | 2 |