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Total Eclipse of Arduino
I have frequently said disparaging things about Arduino. This invariably prompts e-mails from Arduino fans, some thoughtful and some… let's just say heated. I knew the situation was bad when I saw a Slashdot comment on an Arduino book that mentioned something about "Arduino haters like Al Williams…" (keep in mind, I was not involved in any way with the article or the discussion).
- A How-To Guide on Using Cloud Services for Security-Rich Data Backup
- How to test and launch a world-class application
- Best Practices: Using Apple's Global Proxy to Boost Mobile Security
- InformationWeek 2013 IT Spending Priorities Survey
- The Untapped Potential of Mobile Apps for Commercial Customers
- Secure Cloud: Taking Advantage of the Intelligent WAN
I'd like to say that I really like the Arduino. I'd like to say that, but I just can't. My recent port of lwos (which I will get back to next time) reminded me of just how much I don't like it. But wait — if you are a fan, don't stop reading to send me a nasty e-mail yet. Wait until I get to the end.
Excepting the religious wars about emacs and vi, I am a pretty moderate guy. So, in all fairness, I do like some things about the Arduino. I like that it has brought a new awareness to embedded controllers. I like that it has spawned a lot of cheap daughterboards (don't make me say shield) and clones that can fit them. I really like the Atmel CPUs — in fact, I was using GCC, Atmel, and a bootloader long before the Arduino showed up. The best thing I like is that there are a number of really cool libraries for the Arduino and that makes it very productive (although I also liked Pascal Stang's avrlib library, which had a lot of cool features too and also predates Arduino).
So, gee, that sounds pretty positive. What don't I like? Ok, I'll be honest. Part of my personality is that rabid fans of almost anything puts my guard up. Even the things that I really like, I can (and will) enumerate a long list of flaws that I wish were different. So when you tell me that some tool is perfect (except, of course, emacs which is the exception that proves the rule), I am instantly going to be suspicious.
On the other hand, I'm no fool. If something really is that great, I will get over it and get with the program. But nearly every time I use the Arduino it leaves me frustrated. I say nearly every time. I did some work this semester with a high school student and he wanted to read an IR remote in Java. We built a board, put the Arduino bootloader on it, and instantly found a really nice program on the Internet that did exactly what we wanted. No fuss. But it also wasn't the core of the project.
I recently built an Arduino library for the IDE and also ported lwos to it. The editor is handy, but if you are used to a real programming editor it is frustrating. Sure you can use another editor (and sure, I can make the same argument about many IDEs). But the editor is really super simple and while that's a good thing for a new person, it is frustrating otherwise.
The other thing that is strange is that the IDE doesn't compile your code like you would guess it does. It basically builds a big single C++ file and compiles it. It guesses (mostly correctly) what libraries you need. Mixing in C code is very ugly. C++ is a little easier, as long as you don't want to use any of the Arduino libraries in your code.
Yes, every one of these problems is surmountable. But it is an unnecessary hoop to jump. The real tool underneath is GCC and there is no reason you can't have an "expert" mode with some better editor features and more control over the build process. I get that the tool makes it easy for beginners, but it would be nice to not make the old timers cranky. Besides, it isn't just the old timers. Every beginner will eventually graduate to bigger projects and find the same stumbling blocks.
Last time I mentioned a link to instructions on how to build Arduino code with Eclipse. To tell the truth, I'm not a huge fan of Eclipse (did I mention I like emacs?) but it is certainly capable and well-known. It also has good integration with Atmel debugging tools so, unlike the Arduino IDE, you could actually debug what you write.
Nevermind that link. It was out of date and the instructions no longer worked (assuming they ever did). I did a search and found quite a few instructions that involved doing things like compiling a program in the IDE and then swiping a library file made for the project. That sounds ugly. I wanted to just use Eclipse.
I did a few experiments with the AVR plug in. My code would build, but something kept it from running properly. Then I found the Arduino plug-in here. After you get it set up properly, it manages to build a library for your target and lets you write your Arduino code with Eclipse. There is even a serial monitor view so you can interact with the Serial object in your program.
I like it. Of course, even things I like might have an issue or two. In this case, I wish there were better documentation for the plug-in, and installing it seems to double up with the standard AVR plug-in (I assume the author uses the same base). There are few spots on the website that hint that the plug-in only works on Windows, but then later notes mention that starting with version 1.2.4, it works with Windows, Linux, or OS X. It is running fine for me under Linux.
I can get cheap Arduino hardware. I don't especially dislike the bootloader. I do like the libraries. With this plug-in I can ignore the IDE and the wonky build process it uses, which is really the part I hate. Maybe this plug-in will let me love the Arduino, after all.
One thing I am interested in, by the way, is the Arduino Leonardo. I'll be talking about it soon, but it is interesting because it can impersonate USB HID devices (a topic I've talked about before with the PIC). If building an HID device is as easy as the rest of the Arduino libraries, that would be something to get excited about. Especially if I can dump the hokey IDE. | <urn:uuid:980d63e4-695f-4239-b354-92b9316702cd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/tools/total-eclipse-of-arduino/240143006 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966276 | 1,382 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Turkey established a customs union with European Union in 1996 in accordance with the Association Agreement signed in 1963. The main aim of this study is to analyse the effect of that customs union on the market structure and pricing behaviour in the Turkish manufacturing industry for the period 1994- 2000. In other words, this study intends to test the pro-competitive effect of the trade liberalization
initiated by the customs union. For this purpose the price-cost margin equation of 12 manufacturing sub-sectors are estimated using import and export ratios with European Union countries and control variables. A second equation is estimated for concentration ratio index using trade ratios with EU countries as explanatory variables. The estimation method is panel data covering 8 years and 12 cross section units.
The estimation results show that the export and import ratios of trade with EU countries have a negative effect on the price-cost margin in the manufacturing sector. It is concluded that trade with union countries created a beneficial wealth and efficiency effect in Turkish manufacturing industry due to falling price-cost margins. Similarly, Herfindahl index equation estimation results indicate that increasing imports with union countries caused a decline in the concentration ratio for manufacturing
industry during the considered period. Therefore, it can be argued that increasing competition through raising trade volume with EU countries has had a significant effect on the changing market structure and pricing behaviour of the manufacturing industry. | <urn:uuid:801f68ce-0985-497f-b436-a997bbf520d3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://edoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/receive/HALCoRe_document_00012770 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924239 | 272 | 1.867188 | 2 |
Researchers expected that overweight people walking their dogs 30 minutes daily would find Fido made a good exercise buddy. But the power of the pooch was even greater than you might expect.
"Dogs provide three unique supports that 'people buddies' just don't," says lead study author Robert Kushner, MD, a professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and academic medical director of the Wellness Institute at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
1. Initiator extraordinaire.
Your dog wants to walk, probably more than you do. "You look at those dancing eyes, the furry feet tap dancing, the tail helicopter rotor engaged, and you don't want to disappoint him by not going for a walk. So you go!" says Marty Becker, DV, coauthor with Dr. Kushner of Fitness Unleashed!: A Dog and Owner's Guide to Losing Weight and Gaining Health Together
(Three Rivers Press, 2006).
2. Pure joy.
People reported a unique sense of joy when walking with their dog that went far and above what they'd feel when walking with people.
3. Parental pride. "People love it when others stop and ask questions about and admire their dog," says Dr. Kushner. There's more to being a parent than admiring glances, though; wanting a healthy, fit pooch was a strong motivator for many walkers.
Know Your Canine
All dogs can benefit from exercise; in fact, 50% of America's pets are overweight. And there can be another benefit, says Dr. Becker. "Besides excess pounds, behavioral problems may melt away with exercise as well." But every dog is different. Knowing what you can expect from your dog depends on both breed and temperament.
"There are 'lap dogs,' like retrievers, Dalmatians, and Afghan hounds, that are great for running long distances – laps – around the local high school track. Then there are other 'lapdogs,' like Maltese, teacup poodles, and shih tzus, that are better at shorter walks and then lying in laps," says Dr. Becker. "If you're lean and mean and training for a triathlon, you wouldn't want to burn up the asphalt with a dachshund, whose legs would be a blur trying to keep up."
Reluctant runner. "Don't be discouraged if it doesn't happen right away," says Dr. Kushner. "While some dogs will happily wait by the door for a walk, others you may have to almost drag along at first until you develop a new daily habit."
Harnessing the Habit
Of course, whenever you head out, you need to pay attention to safety. Here are a few hints.
Just like you'd talk with your doctor before starting a new workout, check with your vet. If your pet is older or has been sedentary, you want to rule out any condition that might make exercise painful or dangerous for him.
"Start by walking your dog two blocks per 10 pounds of body weight per day," says Dr. Becker, "then increase your distance by 5 to 10% each week."
Bring water – for yourself and your panting partner.
Watch his signs.
"If your dog ever lags behind on a walk, stop and let him rest," says Dr. Becker. "If he lies down, seeks shade, or pants excessively, he could be in danger of heat exhaustion, and you need to stop!" Give your dog some rest and water to recuperate.
Pat the pavement.
Before you walk, touch the surface you're going to walk on. "If it's too hot for your hand, it's too hot for your dog's foot pads," says Dr. Becker. Opt for a grassy park or shady path. It's also a good idea to time walks for mornings or evenings, when the temperature and humidity are lower.
Walking daily is the best way to turn even a reluctant dog partner into an enthusiastic one. | <urn:uuid:579ae0e2-e0d5-435d-9b67-6d618e321069> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.livebetteramerica.com/fitness/articles/your-four-legged-exercise-partner?src=SH | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963462 | 824 | 2.453125 | 2 |
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SLEMAN - Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr observed on Saturday the newly constructed Pentingsari bridge in Sleman District, Yogyakarta which was knocked down by flowing lava after the eruption Mount Merapi several years ago. The bridge was reconstructed using funds from the Australian assistance as well as involving contribution and discussion process of the local people.
The bridge built in Pentingsari hamlet, Umbulhardjo village, Cangkringan sub district was smashed down in November 2011 after it was eroded by lava flowing from Mount Merapi which erupted in October 2010. On the occasion, Bob Carr also witnessed the implementation of the National Program for People`s Empowerment (PNPM) in Umbulhardjo village, Cangkringan sub district.
Australia is the biggest donor to the PNPM program with assistance worth 215 million USD. Bob Carr was impressed with Cangkringan sub district and its people who were now able to restore their economic condition after the eruption Mount Merapi. "Australia is happy with being able to provide assistance and this is the benefit of becoming a neighbor," he said. | <urn:uuid:965d9164-a56b-4a2f-815c-1bfe7aa9849f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.republika.co.id/berita/en/national-politics/12/07/16/m77o51-australian-foreign-minister-observers-merapi-bridge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978166 | 238 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Paul Gregg has written up an example of what he calls "tail -# file for PHP" (starting from the end of file and moving backwards a given number of lines).
Here I will demonstrate a fairly tuned method of seeking to the end of the file and stepping back to read sufficient lines to the end of the file. If insufficient lines are returned, it incrementally looks back further in the file until it either can look no further, or sufficient lines are returned.
His script meets two goals - reading enough lines in for the request and keeping those lines to a minimum. His code grabs the size of the file and opens the file as a resource to fseek to a certain point and read in the lines from the defined start to finish and push them into an array. You can see the source here and a sample execution here. | <urn:uuid:5f579983-ce25-49bf-8415-c30051d22ce6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://phpdeveloper.org/tag/fseek | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945733 | 169 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Wanna make something like this in Cinema 4D R8 and Unwrap 3D? read on......
1. First things first I scanned a reference pic I drew, as you can see it was a scruffy little doodle in the corner of my sketchpad but it captured the idea before I forgot it :) in the bottom right viewport click EDIT and choose CONFIGURE, now at the bottom of the new dialog you can see it says "Background" then a long blank box with a small button with dots on right next to it, click it and browse you drive for the ref pic I usually name them ref445x200.jpg or something telling me the width and height, I type that into the horizontal and vertical size boxes! NEXT I created a TUBE with 12 rotation segments(sides) and 1 height segment then I made it editable, selected the faces where it will meet the gun and pressed delete to delete them because they wont be seen anyway!! After that I created a spline to make the fins and I dropped it into a new EXTRUDE NURBS as shown....settings shown below.....
OK in the splines object properties change its "intermediate points" to NONE this will use only the points you clicked when you created the spline and Cinema 4D wont put extra's inbetween, this keeps it low poly...next are the settings for the "Extrude Nurbs"
In the "Extrude Nurbs" change the movement to 10m or something, depends how thick you want the fins or whatever to be also lower the settings for Subdivision as low as they will go again keeping the "extrude" lowpoly
This is a big one :) Its simple really but hard to explain. Basically 1. Click "make editable" and it will convert the "Extrude Nurbs" into polygons as shown in the top right. 2. Drag a box as shown in red to select all the polys, 3. RIGHTCLICK and choose CONNECT, this creates a new object of all the polys joined together, drag n select the original parts again and press DELETE on the keyboard, you are now left with the all-in-one polygon object. 4. Doubleclick to rename it "fin" and as you can see you can still select the side caps by clicking the triangles marked in red.....Phew! it'll soon become second nature to Select, Connect, Select Old and Delete....see easy ;)
OK we have a Fin, I want 4 of em temporarily so I select the Fin in the Object manager (right hand side of the screen) and press CTRL+C to copy it, I then Press CTRL+V three times to paste three more Fins creating a total of four fins, I rotate each one to face 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees see the box marked in red!
I created a Cylinder and before I make it editable I set the "height segments" to 1 and the sides to 18, also VERY important I change the CAPS segments from 3 to 1. Click "MAKE EDITABLE" as before to turn it to a polygon object! As you can see on the bottom left there are three modes of poly editing, point mode, edge mode and face mode! see next stage.....
1. select FACE MODE, 2. CLICK the select tool, 3. tick "Only select visible elements" in the active tool tab, this restricts selection to faces that are showing, 4. rotate the 3d view around to the back and Select the end faces of the cylinder! holding SHIFT while you select adds to the selection and holding CTRL while selecting removes from the current selection!
Now to Extrude these faces either goto STRUTURE>EXTRUDE or just press "D" click and hold the faces, now as you move the mouse it will move in and out, let go of the button and you can extrude again like in the next stage....
1. Extrude again (following the guns profile in the ref pic) select POINT MODE select these points/verts and scale them down vertically until they are more or less flat, 2. back to FACE MODE extrude again then scale the faces and move them into position again following the ref pic, 3. extrude again then once more, scale down again and move the end faces upwards as shown...
1. Create a box make it editable then select FACE MODE, 2.select the bottom face and extrude (press"D") downwards then 3. scale it in a bit! could of used BEVEL I suppose but extrude and scale has a bit more control
OK I wanna add a bit of detail to the power cell, I select the side faces in FACE MODE, then press "K" this is for the KNIFE, I then drag a line across as shown while holding SHIFT, this restricts it to horizontal, vertical and diagonals, I make another cut a bit higher up as well, as you can see its now divided into three
1. select the face as shown on both sides (rotate the 3d view to see the other side) now press "D"and drag to extrude out a bit, 2. NOW use "I" to EXTRUDE INNER this will extrude the edges inwards inline with the surface, no "D" again and extrude it in towards the centre of the power cell to make an indent on each side.
I decided to add a bit of detail to the main part as well, select some faces using SHIFT to add to the selection and CTRL to minus from it, then press "D" to extrude the six quads out a bit as shown.
I want to extrude a pipe type thing out the back of the power cell so select the strip of faces across the back as shown, the press "K" for knife and drag two lines up (in the back view not in the 3d view) while holding SHIFT to constrain it vertically. Now DESELECT the two outer faces leaving the centre face still selected using CTRL+Leftmouseclick.
1. Extrude four times, each time rotating the faces slightly to create a curved connector/pipe/tube thingy, 2. I knew there was a reason why I marked this, DELETE this face as it will be inside the main part so you wont see it :)
Heres the model so far, I made the handle from a cylinder and scaled a few points in and out, I made trigger same way as the fin, drew a spline dropped it into a Extrude Nurbs, made it editable and connected it then deleted the original parts. This tutorial is not meant to teach how to make this gun exactly but give some advice on how to build low-ish poly stuff in Cinema 4D for use in 3D game engines etc. Its around 1000 polys' and could be optimized but with todays and tomorrows GFX cards it shouldn't be a prob :) NEXT page is splitting it into parts for UV mapping!!! | <urn:uuid:45a37de7-6cb8-4b91-9c56-827f7a6f94bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.webdesign.org/3d-graphics/tutorials/cinema-4d-low-poly-gun-tutorial.4984.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9247 | 1,476 | 1.515625 | 2 |
As Colorado lawmakers push closer to passing a spate of new gun laws, they have almost no data about who owns firearms in this state or even where criminals get their guns.
Coloradans do not have to register their guns with the government. Background checks required to purchase firearms are destroyed within 24 hours of approval by federal law. A state permit is required to carry a concealed weapon, but Colorado keeps no list of who has one — that's up to each sheriff.
Even when considering only "crime guns" — the ones used to kill, shoot or threaten in the course of robberies, carjackings or other crimes — there is no state database that shows whether those guns were bought legally, stolen or obtained through so-called "straw purchases" in which a person who can pass a background check buys it for someone who can't.
Police and sheriff's departments are not required to trace the guns they seize, and many of them don't because they lack the time and resources.
The shortage of information is fallout from years of battle between advocates of stricter gun laws and those protecting the privacy and rights of gun owners. Laws prohibiting a national database of gun transactions and requiring the destruction of background-check records within 24 hours were part of the 2003 Tiahrt Amendment, named after former congressman Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, and supported by the National Rifle Association.
"We have hurt the ability of law enforcement to respond," said Joseph Vince, a former agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who is a law enforcement consultant at Crime Gun Solutions. "We have hurt ourselves."
The data deficiency has hindered law enforcement in "connecting the dots" to prevent and solve crime because "the dots have been taken off the paper," he said.
The Colorado legislature is considering proposed laws that would require background checks on all gun sales, even those on the Internet; ban concealed weapons on college campuses; and limit magazine capacity to 15 rounds. The House has passed the measures and sent them to the Senate.
None of the bills would require Coloradans to register their firearms with the government; any such proposal would no doubt incite ferocious debate. Supporters of registration say it would make it easier for law enforcement officers to protect the public and trace crime guns, but gun-rights advocates oppose it on right-to-privacy grounds and concern that it could lead to confiscation of weapons. Seven states require registration of some or all types of firearms.
In New York, where handgun permits are required, the super-charged privacy issue flared a week after the December elementary-school shootings in Newtown, Conn. A suburban New York newspaper, the Journal News, published the names, addresses and mapped locations of more than 33,000 handgun-permit holders in two counties. The newspaper was lambasted and its reporters harassed.
Whether a person owns a gun — like other politically unpopular rights — is their own business, gun-rights advocates argue.
"The government has no legitimate right to know who attends a mosque. Or who owns copies of various books. Or who has an abortion," said David Kopel, a research director for the Independence Institute and a University of Denver law professor. Also, Kopel said, gun- ownership data has been misused in past decades to ruin the reputation of whatever "flavor of the month" the president wants to ban.
Researchers shut out
The lack of hard data on gun ownership means many statistics come from surveys, including those conducted on prisoners. The ATF r eleases state-specific statistics regarding traced guns, but the data do not include a level of detail that would reveal whether guns used in crimes are purchased legitimately through background checks, on the Internet or stolen. It does not divulge which stores sold guns used in crimes. Also, the ATF's tracing data represent only a fraction of guns used in crimes in Colorado because many local law enforcement agencies don't trace them.
The ATF traces some 340,000 guns each year but is prohibited by Congress from sharing the trace information with anyone but law enforcement agencies in connection with an investigation. That includes academic researchers. The ATF is also barred from creating a database of gun transactions that agents could use to trace weapons.
In an age when computers can spit out data in an instant, the process that the ATF uses to trace guns is archaic.
Gun stores and pawnshops are required to keep records of sale and must have customers fill out a federal form — called a Form 4473 — used to complete a background check. Once a background check clears, the FBI, or in Colorado's case, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, must expunge it from the system within 24 hours under federal law.
Gun stores are not required to give the ATF or any other agency their records, unless they go out of business. Even then, the ATF is barred by Congress from dumping the rec-ords into a database. Instead, the records stack up until the agency gets around to putting them on microfiche film.
Instead of punching a gun's serial number into a database and finding out who owns it, workers at the ATF's tracing center have to track the gun manually. They start by calling the gun's manufacturer to ask which distributor bought it. Next, they call the distributor to find out which gun store or pawnshop got the gun. If the ATF is lucky, the gun store is still in business and has kept a proper record of the sale. If the gun store is out of business, and the ATF has its paper records, workers at the tracing center dig through files to find the name of the person who bought the gun.
And even after all that, the ATF has discovered only the gun's original owner. The firearm could have been sold multiple times since then, whether on Craigslist or to a cousin or through a newspaper ad.
The ATF traces crime guns on cases the agency is working, including officer-involved shootings, but those are only a fraction of the gun crimes in Colorado. The federal agency also assists police and sheriff's departments with some traces, although those local departments decide for themselves whether to run a trace.
Guns not always traced
The Denver Police Department has a designated officer to trace crime guns that the department has seized, but other police and sheriff's departments across the state are not nearly as consistent.
"It just depends on the resources that an agency has to do that," said Chris Olson, executive director of the County Sheriffs of Colorado. "I couldn't say everybody is doing that."
County sheriffs in Colorado are responsible for granting or denying permits to carry concealed weapons, with fingerprint background-check assistance from the CBI. The permit information is releasable only to another law enforcement agency, and sheriffs are not required to report a list of permit holders to the state.
Even if there were a statewide database, it wouldn't help in tracing guns used in crimes; concealed-carry permits are not connected to any gun or serial number.
Olson called gun registration a "prickly issue."
"People are very sensitive about that," he said.
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593, email@example.com or twitter.com/jbrowndpost | <urn:uuid:99b90dbe-618d-4b34-aac9-74ddcf1a0f3e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_22667850/shortage-hard-data-firearms-rooted-gun-control-debate?source=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963385 | 1,477 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Oskar Kokoschka was an Austrian poet, playwright, and painter. Born
on March 1, 1886, in a renowned family of goldsmiths, in Pochlarn,
Austria, he held the credit of being an 'Expressionist' leader in
arts. Most of his works concentrated around painting the portraits of
famous personalities in Vienna. Kokoschka studied at the Vienna
School of Arts and Craft, under a scholarship program, from 1905 to 1909. | <urn:uuid:52c3f6b6-c575-4a55-b24d-d423b23a643e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://virtualvienna.net/main/modules.php?name=News&file=categories&op=newindex&catid=28 | 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 | 0.974142 | 103 | 2 | 2 |
With Ford Motor Co. gearing up to sell its former Wixom assembly plant property, it’s in the process of dealing with environmental issues such as the site’s closed landfill, and has determined it would be best to retain ownership of the landfill given the potential for any future liability.
Officials from Mannik & Smith Group, representing Ford, approached the Wixom City Council on Tuesday, July 24 with a request for a land division that separates the 32.13-acre landfill from the rest of the property.
The request met all the requirements of the city’s zoning ordinance and the council approved the land division.
“This way Ford maintains any liability for the landfill and any environmental issues that may arise in the future,” said Wixom City Manager Mike Dornan.
The other 285.18 acres of the site will remain available for purchase.
City officials are still anxiously waiting the sale of the property, but are not holding their breath. They’ve experienced disappointments during the process of getting the city redeveloped over the last few years.
A deal went south after three years invested with a pair of renewable energy manufacturers that failed to get their financing in order to purchase the shuttered facility. Ford then returned to the drawing board to take the steps necessary to attract renewed interest in the site.
“The site has been a moving target for the last 2.5 years and it’s hard to say whether anything will materialize,” Dornan said. “I will feel more comfortable when they say they sold the property, but I remain optimistic a sale will occur — I have to be.”
The renewable energy companies, Xtreme Power and Clairvoyant Energy, backed out on their commitment to buy the site when they failed to obtain U.S. Department of Energy loans.
Over the years there has been a constant stream of potential buyers.
“There were rumors other automotive companies were interested, talk of developing a water park, a university, and the alternative energy companies,” Dornan said.
But more recently, Townsend Energy Solutions of Baltimore threw its name in the ring last year as a possible purchaser of the property, located at Wixom Road and I-96.
The company says it has a track record of successfully investing in real estate, energy, sporting and manufacturing companies. Their investment holdings topped $1.5 billion in 2008.
“Townsend is still working with Ford and interested in moving their business there,” Dornan said.
Dornan also noted that another company — the name of which Dornan declined to identify — is in serious discussions with Ford Land.
“I know they are talking to one company, but an offer to purchase hasn’t been executed,” Dornan said.
The site is zoned as a mixed-use development, a designation that makes the property suitable for manufacturing, research and development, office, and freeway service/commercial land uses.
In the meantime, the city’s tax revenue from the plant has plummeted and with budgetary constraints, the city is anxious to recoup that monetary stream.
In 2002, Ford paid the city $1.453 million in property taxes, compared to $153,000 in 2011.
The Ford plant, closed since May 2007, first opened on April 1, 1957 and employed as many as 4,500 workers who pounded out a wide array of cars, from the luxurious to the fast and the practical. The plant had been reduced to only production of the Lincoln Town Car just before its closure.
At the top of its game, the plant cranked out 280,659 vehicles in 1988, and over the total 50-year period of operation, it produced more 6.5 million vehicles, according to Ford officials. | <urn:uuid:d8d66e35-f30a-4139-9be0-f109ade9471f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://spinalcolumnonline.com/2012/08/01/ford-motor-co-retains-ownership-of-plant-landfill/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963626 | 795 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Environmental Challenge to Utility Licensing Impact on Trout Fishery
In Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC, No. 09-1134, a petition for review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's decision declining to impose conditions on a utility's annual licenses so as to preserve the Klamath River's trout fishery, the court denied the petition where 1) the Commission quite plainly articulated and applied a standard in rejecting the Tribe's claims; and 2) the Commission's determination that the utility was not causing "unanticipated, serious impacts" had sufficient factual support in the record.
As the court wrote: "One of the modern U.S. government's major regulatory tasks is to reconcile competing demands on the Nation's natural resources. This case involves one small episode in that larger story. The dispute concerns water resources in the Pacific Northwest, where a hydroelectric plant provides power to some citizens but interferes with the food needs and recreational desires of others."
- Read the DC Circuit's Decision in Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC, No. 09-1134 | <urn:uuid:551971f6-84b9-494a-a01d-8ec0c597aca1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.findlaw.com/dc_circuit/2010/12/hoopa-valley-tribe-v-ferc-no-09-1134.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935427 | 218 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Today is the 17th anniversary of the August coup in Moscow. The hardliners of the Politburo conspired with the Soviet military and security services to overthrow the reforming Communist, Mikhail Gorbachev. However, as we know, the coup failed and the Soviet Union disintegrated.
In the past week, we have had to confront the fact that the defeat of the hardliners was by no means as complete as it seemed at the time. The secret organs of the Soviet state have turned out to be far more robust than we had hoped. Indeed, almost any figure of consequence in the modern Russian Federation- seemingly with the sole exception of President Dimitri Medvedev himself- is a former member of the Soviet security services.
The education of the so-called "Siloviki"- the "security people", has been rather unusual. The core values of the KGB and the GRU were based upon a ruthlessly Manichean view of the world- Leninist conspiracy would undermine the capitalist "Imperialists". Any victory of the Soviet state was, ipso facto, a defeat for the hostile "Imperialist" powers and vice-versa. The strategic battle for control could not be seen in win-win terms, but only in a zero-sum game.
This has shaped the thinking of almost all of the power elite of the Russian Federation. In that sense, Russia is- and sees itself as- rather more than the legal successor to the Soviet Union. As I have previously noted, Vladimir Putin regards the fall of the USSR as a colossal geo-political defeat for Russia, and therefore his primary security goal is to restore decisive Russian control over the geo-strategic space of the former Soviet Union.
The increase in Russian influence over the former Soviet space might not, of itself, prove any kind of threat to World peace, were it not for the way that the Siloviki view power projection. Maintaining the zero-sum game view of geopolitics in the post-Soviet space leaves little room for non-Russian influence and no room at all for alliances across the former Soviet frontiers. The Siloviks do not respect the idealist school of international relations, and take an ultra-realist position in terms of the military balance.
NATO has therefore made a series of strategic blunders over the past few years. Despite the criminal nature of the Milosovic regime in Belgrade, Russia regarded Serbia as a friendly power- linked by history, language and Orthodox culture. "He may be an S-o-B, but he is *our* S-o-B" sums up their view fairly accurately. In that sense, what worried Russia was not the use of hard power- the NATO bombing- but the extent of Western support for the revolution that ultimately overthrew the regime.
When, in due course, the Rose revolution took place in Georgia, and the Orange revolution in Ukraine, the Siloviki believed that they were facing a challenge that was not only undermining Russian influence on the former Soviet space but which, indeed, posed a threat to their own rule in Moscow. The consequence has been that Russian hardliners now view any democratic movement anywhere in the former Soviet Union as implicitly hostile. As a result they have supported the existing authoritarian regime in Uzbekistan - at least partly to eject the American base there, while also rolling back the "tulip revolution" in Krgyzstan in order to achieve the same goal in that country. Perhaps the first critical NATO blunder was to establish bases in those two countries, particularly since Moscow began to see democratic change as a challenge to dominant Russian influence.
The next critical blunder has been to dilute and to over-extend the military power of NATO. When the bloc was formed, NATO was an integrated military alliance that fully expected to have to face a military challenge from Soviet aggression. However, following the end of the Soviet Union, it has ceased to be a military alliance but has become as much a diplomatic forum- and one struggling to find a real role. In the end, NATO membership has become simply a badge to denote support for Euro-Atlantic values. The irony is, that despite Russian concerns, NATO is not only far less inclined to oppose Moscow, it is actually not militarily prepared to do so.
The Russian aggression against Georgia now shows that Russia is quite willing to use overwhelming force against any country that it deems hostile. It judges, probably rightly, that neither the United States, Britain nor France is now prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend the newly expanded alliance. This leaves a security vacuum at the heart of Europe. NATO was built upon the strategic reality that in the face of a Soviet attack, such weapons would be used: mutual assured destruction thus became the ultimate reality and, it tuned out, a highly effective deterrent against Soviet attack.
NATO is not merely abandoning nuclear deterrents, but is leaving a fatal ambiguity in the minds of Russian strategic planners. The "empty words" that NATO has used against Russia show the alliance to be divided. The onslaught of Russian subversion against Germany and other powers has essentially paralysed any unity of purpose within the alliance- and left NATO's northern flank very exposed indeed. Russia has been infuriated by the hostile rhetoric, but is now contemptuous of NATO's ability to defend itself.
Russia will not respond well to the increasing independence of Ukraine, and will certainly seek- through all means- to impose its will there. Although some rather ill-informed observers have argued that the Russian minority renders Ukraine defenceless, in fact only 17% of the population is Russian, and of these the majority identify clearly with the Ukrainian state. What may actually render Ukraine defenceless is the lack of political will to support the legitimate Yushchenko government in the face of Russian threats. The Siloviki have already demonstrated that they are prepared to use assassination as a weapon against their enemies- including an attempt on President Yushchenko himself.
In the past year we have also seen deliberate Russian subversion against a NATO state: Estonia.
In the light of what has happened in Georgia, it now seems foolhardy to delay the establishment of a large-scale and permanent NATO presence in the Baltic. The repeated violation of NATO Baltic airspace is only reinforcing the Russian impression of NATO weakness. In addition, it seems clear that Swedish and Finnish applications to join NATO should be actively supported- and as quickly as possible.
Good fences make good neighbours, and the ambiguity that both the Bucharest summit and yesterday's Brussels summit is creating is highly destabilising. When dealing with the Siloviki, it pays to be very clear about where the boundaries are. Leaving the impression that NATO is no longer prepared to commit to the full defence of it members could be fatal. Leaving the impression that Ukraine is still part of the Russian sphere could be just as dangerous as defying such influence. As Russia continues to delay its withdrawal from Georgia- and to prolong its punishment of a previously loyal Western ally- the West must not merely talk- it needs to make a practical demonstration of the limits of its future tolerance.
A failure to do so will destabilise the whole of European security- and allow the restoration of Russian power even beyond the former Soviet border. Those who believe in political or national freedom would not survive long under the rule of the Siloviki, most of whom who still remain loyal to their origins as the Soviet secret police. | <urn:uuid:6a07a0de-aa6f-43cc-b635-4ffe36eaa1bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cicerossongs.blogspot.com/2008/08/fighting-last-war-end-of-effective.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971796 | 1,511 | 1.8125 | 2 |
This angry diabetic has been really bewildered for the past few weeks with many new and personal challenges... As we know, life's problems do not stop at diabetes, or any other chronic illness, nor do they care if we're having to juggle other things. In fact, in the storm of life... sometimes when it rains, it just pours. (I need to buy a raincoat.)
So, I thought... why not take a little time to address a common, and often overlooked, issue with diabetes? Anger. In the past few weeks, my blog has registered many, many Google searches for "anger and diabetes," "do diabetics suffer from anger," "do diabetics need anger management," etc. I fear many of these folks might be family members really wanting to understand, and care for their loved ones... or maybe folks just wanting to understand themselves a little better.
Before I get a little further into the discussion, I want to add that while the emotions we experience through the ups and downs of illness, and life, are perfectly normal... this blog post is in NO WAY a justification for aggression, violence, or abuse. It might be an EXPLANATION of a course of events, but in the end... we are responsible for our own selves, and how we manage our health, and our emotions.
Got that? Okay... :)
Diabetes is a PERVASIVE disease...
Now, in order to make some of kind of sense of the emotions a person with diabetes might feel, we need to understand one thing: Diabetes is a PERVASIVE life change. It is one of the most pervasive life changes an 'afflicted' person will ever have to face. While it may not seem as such in the beginning stages (especially for type 2, and often during a "honeymoon phase" for a type 1), with time, an individual will soon become painfully aware of just how MUCH diabetes will demand of them.
Diabetes demands that we (and often our loved ones) learn a LOT of information in a short amount of time, and often more than many medical professionals; that we completely change how we view our eating habits, and what we consider healthy according to the whims and demands of a little electronic gadget called a 'glucose meter;' that we throw away the information we once thought made SENSE, for a new, and obscure world which we merely go about feeling, through the grace and support of others who have been there before us; that we are on alert to protect ourselves from the harm of careless outsiders, or clueless third parties. It demands that we learn to 'forecast' how meals will affect us, depending on their level of carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and fat, and sometimes... algebra, and the phases of the moon! :) And yes... just to throw a nice wrench in it, diabetes often demands FAMILY UNITY and outside support. Diabetes... is a THIEF of spontaneity. It demands you plan out almost every moment of your life.
Let's face it, if most of us got into a relationship with someone who was like this, we'd call them CONTROLLING... And most of us can't handle change very well, let alone pervasive change. A social network like Facebook changes how some things look, and feel, and millions of people get up in arms, and feel imprisoned! Living in harmony with a controlling, and demanding disease like diabetes, is NOT an easy feat for the weak-hearted, or for those who fly off the seat of their pants. It is HARD work; often 24/7 work. It is like chess; one always needs to think 2 or 3, or 4 moves ahead. If you snooze... you lose.
Diabetes makes us feel judged...
Being diagnosed with diabetes, in itself, can be anger inducing. We often feel like we have failed somehow. Whether it's type 1, or type 2, folks often feel a big burden of guilt over past habits or parenting, or perceived flaws (however erroneous those might be.) Often, folks who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may have been fighting, or struggling with weight and eating habits for years, before feeling like they were given a 'death' sentence for 'failing' to make the grade at these tasks. To top it off, few medical professionals discuss how BIG the role of our genetic make up is when it comes to diagnosis, and how even folks who are thin, or otherwise in relatively good health, can end up with a diabetes diagnosis.
Instead, diabetes is portrayed as the disease of the obese and inactive, and not simply a disease in which our immune systems are more sensitive to unhealthful triggers, thanks to our genetic make up. Many things like alcohol, smoking, other medications and illnesses, as well as pollutants or pesticides, may trigger a diabetes diagnosis. Some of those triggers, we may work at reducing their influence; some, we may not. One works at REDUCING the risk of getting diabetes, but the use of the word "prevention" is a potentially judgment inducing misnomer.
Diabetes is poorly understood...
Diabetes doesn't just bring with it a lot of self blame... It often brings with it the blame of outsiders who poorly understand this disease. This is, in part, the fault of our current medical professionals, and in part, the fault of our media who is looking to market to, and cash in, on a 'growing' population.
One would think that for such a deadly disease, there would be many prepared and able medical professionals, and certainly... there are some great ones out there. However, the amount of uneducated, misguided, and often, dangerous medical professionals out there, is staggering. Many patients, particularly type 2s, are left out in the dark... with little information as to what they have, and how to proceed. They are often kept from access to specialists, educators, testing tools, and insulin... so managing this disease, and learning how to do so in what one would think should be a safe environment, are often HUGE, and frustrating, hurdles. Many folks end up erroneously thinking this is a disease of avoiding sweets -- which it is not -- and are left not understanding why they can't make strides, and worse, being judged and labeled as "noncompliant."
The amount of new information we are learning about diabetes, every day, is far outpacing the amount of continuous diabetic education many medical professionals are receiving. This leaves us with a world of antiquated guidelines, and outdated diabetic organizations... leaving many patients out there, clueless, and confused.
Diabetics are poorly understood...
It follows that because diabetes is such a pervasive disease, and such a complicated and misunderstood disease, that diabetics themselves would be misunderstood.
Many folks can understand the need to keep a home free of elements that might provoke a deadly allergy, in a family member, such as nuts... Few folks can understand what it's like to have to completely re-structure a life after a disease, and require the support of the entire family unit to achieve it. Often, family members or friends, might think that diabetes is just the person's problem, and that they don't need to contribute or support in any way. They don't want us to "cramp" their style, or to have to change on our account, in any way. Often, for example, if a person with diabetes is the cook in the home, they end up making different meals for their family, or may even get little acknowledgement for their desire to have a healthier pantry in the home.
Feelings of frustration, anger or resentment, are often met with snide comments of disbelief: "What's the big deal? You can eat that...," "Just diet and exercise and your diabetes will go away...," "So? Just stop eating sugar...," "I don't see why you feel so sick, you must be faking...," "You brought this on yourself, anyway... It's your fault... I'm not the one with diabetes...," "Please don't bore me with your disease...," "At least it's not cancer...," etc...
For the diabetic, it's often a lonely world, especially if one does not have a support group to vent in. Our struggles often go unacknowledged, and we can be viewed as drama queens, or hypochondriacs 'obsessed' with our disease. It is a 'nuisance' for others to change, especially if that change is INDIRECTLY related to them. Diabetics will often feel left out of activities involving food, particularly if the items are challenging and no longer doable for them.
Diabetes brings scam artists and opportunists...
Often, our loved ones who DO try to help fall prey to media misinformation, scams, and opportunists. This is not surprising, since there is so little accurate information out there, it presents an information vacuum for predators and those who want ratings and readership, and a trap for folks who want hope, and are not getting the right education and attention from their medical teams. We live in a society that wants quick answers, and quick remedies, and quick blame... and is prone to gullibility. Unfortunately, scammers want a quick buck, too... and many "doctors" have long abandoned their Hippocratic oath, over worship of the all-mighty dollar. (If it's a TV doctor, or a doctor with complaints or cures about EVERYTHING, and an opportunity to sell you an expensive supplement or product to fix it, or a book to cure it... He is NOT a true doctor. If every doctor or 'specialist' in the article you just read looks like a super model of some sort, they are most likely NOT 'nationally renowned.')
Unfortunately, actual medical professionals have been guilty of misleading regular folks with promises of gastric bypass cures, and diet cures, as well. Telling folks if they just lost weight, they wouldn't have diabetes anymore... or treating them like school children who need pass and fail grades. Recently, a famous 'study' hawked the 'curative' properties of gastric bypass, but what NO ONE noted was that the company sponsoring and paying for the study was the medical company PROFITING from the gastric bypasses. (Yes, I am sure cigarette companies would just LOVE to tell me how healthy cigarettes are for me, if left to their OWN designed studies.)
Now, a well educated diabetic, constantly on their toes about misinformation can CATCH these tricks full of smoke and mirrors, but a relative who is not in the middle of the fray, or a well meaning friend or person, is not as apt to pay attention, and more likely to assume or rely on the 'goodness' of the medical establishment. I mean, why not? This crazy study was published EVERYWHERE; even the New York Times.
Opportunistic journalists often feed on opportunistic headlines from opportunistic profit seeking groups, or doctors, and this creates a world of hurt, trouble, and often anger, for many persons with diabetes.
Diabetes is PERVASIVE in ignorance...
I wish diabetes was JUST a misunderstood disease; the problem is people will make decisions BASED on that ignorance, and misinformation.
Doctors choose to not educate themselves because it's a disease that can be 'avoided' and it's the person's fault; insurance companies choose to not cover services, supplies and medicines, and testing tools, because it's a disease that could have been 'avoided,' and it's the person's fault; employers choose to not respect diabetic's needs because they see them as 'making stuff up' because according to many poor doctors, it's 'no big deal,' and it could have been 'avoided,' and it's the person's fault... and it keeps snowballing and snowballing.
You get the idea.
For diabetics, proving themselves as worthy patients, employees, friends, and family members, is often a daunting task. NO ONE today would dare go accusing someone with AIDS of giving themselves a disease, and chastise them; however, this is often the bread and butter of diabetes... Especially, type 2 diabetes and small children with type 1 whose parents often get accused of having given them 'too much sugar' as babies. I mean, who thinks that? Do you know any moms out there who filled their baby's bottles with pixie dust sticks? I don't...
Diabetes BRINGS mood swings...
Anger, depression, loneliness, you name it. When our blood glucose levels get either too high, or too low, our moods WILL swing back and forth. Mood swings can vary between just general grouchiness, irritability, to violence (especially, during low blood sugars, when we may have little control over who we are.)
It's bad enough dealing with this scenario, but often friends just make us feel 'belittled' when they ask "Can you check your blood sugar?," if we share our emotions, or our frustrations. I admit, it's sometimes not so easy to tell... but if you're in the middle of a rational argument with someone, do not stop to ask them this; it's quite the same as asking a woman if she's on her period. I don't condone violence, but I can't say violence WON'T happen if you happen to reduce someone's honest views or emotions to a blood glucose episode.
How can I help?
Be an active "reader", and consider your friend or loved one with diabetes, as an open book; that is, listen more, and talk less. Read more, and assume less. Seek to learn, and seek ways in which you can be of help. Instead of suggesting actual tasks to 'police' your diabetic's behavior, you may ask an open ended question, such as "Is there anything I can help you with?" Or, "I have noticed you struggle with x, y, and z... is there anything I can do to make that easier?"
We can help our diabetics by "dividing and conquering" tasks, like bringing back up glucose supplies, or calling ahead to find out what meals will be served at events, or friends' places. We can even help by making a favorite diabetic's dish to bring. I don't know why, but these small things that take away my 'spontaneity,' are the ones that peeve me the most. If I have someone else as a back up for my forgetful mind, I don't have to feel so vulnerable at those times.
Invest your life alongside your diabetic friend or loved one's life -- I mean, you want them around for a lot longer, right? Why not go to their support groups with, or their diabetes educator sessions...? Ask thoughtful questions that do not put a person on the spot; you can ask about what a hypoglycemic event is, and feels like, when the person is NOT in the middle of one, for example.
Embrace a HEALTHIER life. Do not treat the diabetic's new life changes like they are a death sentence, but as a wake up call to the entire family that they need to be a bit more conscientious of what they eat, portion, and manage. If they are related to you by blood, it might benefit you ENORMOUSLY to follow their eating regimen and lifestyle, and get used to it now... while you don't have the strong pressure of complications looming over your head.
Finally, if your loved one, or friend, is greatly struggling with uncontrolled anger, and depression, remind them that it is OKAY to feel that way, and that it is OKAY to need some help sometimes with the overwhelming burden of managing a controlling, and demanding illness. Diabetes is as much a psyco-social disease, as it is a physical disease, and it WILL require outside support, and often require therapy.
This blog post is by no means exhaustive, but I hope to have at least shed SOME light for many of you on how being a diabetic can change one's world view, and bring with it, many unwanted frustrations, resentment, and often anger. Much of that anger we can grow from, and overcome, and some of it will forever linger... as is the nature of the disease, and the world we must face as diabetics.
Do you have questions, or topics you would like for me to cover? Feel free to let me know. :) | <urn:uuid:4b0b51d0-8780-4a6d-8555-9fb4dbdcf39c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theangrytype2diabetic.blogspot.com/2012/04/are-diabetics-angry.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969372 | 3,408 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Etta James (January 25, 1938 - January 20, 2012) was a highly acclaimed soul-R&B singer who is famous for her smooth yet impassioned rendition of "At Last" (1961). Her many other hits also included "All I Could Do Was Cry" (1960), "Don't Cry Baby" (1961), "Trust In Me" (1961), "Pushover" (1963), and "Tell Mama" (1968).
Born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, she began singing gospel music at age 5 at her church and on the radio. She was discovered at 14 by bandleader Johnny Otis who came up with "Etta James" as her stage name (by reversing the syllables in her first name). Otis produced her first hit, "The Wallflower," which topped the Billboard R&B charts in 1955. This song, which James co-wrote, was an answer song to Hank Ballard's chart-topping "Work with Me, Annie." (1954).
Etta James' career took off in 1960 when "All I Could Do Was Cry," "My Dearest Darling," and "If I Can't Have You" (with Harvey Fuqua) all became hits on both the Billboard R&B and Billboard Hot 100 charts. In 1961, she had a hit with the lushly orchestrated and romantic "At Last," a song dating back to 1942 when it became a pop hit for Glenn Miller. Over the years, "At Last" became Etta James' signature song and helped to establish her as a pop cultural icon. Her long string of hits continued through the late 1970s, and she continued recording and performing extensively to well into the 21th century.
Etta James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and she was inducted into both the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2001. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and won many Grammys. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked her at #62 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. She has been a key influence on many R&B singers over the years, and acclaimed producer Jerry Wexler named her "the greatest of all modern blues singers."
The song(s) featured on this page are on:
To listen to a song clip, click any song title that has a speaker icon. This will take you to a list of links to CD and/or MP3 product pages from one or more online merchants that have sound samples.
- All I Could Do Was Cry 1960
- Don't Cry, Baby 1961
("Don't Cry, Baby" later also charted for Aretha Franklin in 1962.)
- My Dearest Darling 1960
- Something's Got A Hold On Me 1962
- Stop The Wedding 1962
- Tell Mama 1968
- Trust In Me 1961
("Trust In Me" previously charted for Chris Connor (1957) and Patti Page (1959).)
Previous Artist | Next Artist | <urn:uuid:5188969b-b31c-496b-b1e2-d02a4c987ead> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allbutforgottenoldies.net/etta-james.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968593 | 628 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Opponents of industrialized agriculture have been declaring for over a decade that how humans produce animal products is one of the most important environmental questions we face. We need a bolder declaration. After all, it’s not how we produce animal products that ultimately matters. It’s whether we produce them at all.It's noted in the piece that "It is doubtful you can build a genuinely sustainable agriculture without animals to cycle nutrients," which leads to the suggestion that "Farmers could avoid this waste by exploiting animals only for their manure, allowing them to live out the entirety of their lives on the farm...."
Exploiting animals only for their manure.... I don't know about that, but it got me thinking about op-ed writers. You know, they are animals. We could exploit them for their (metaphorical) manure. | <urn:uuid:a0bc5c3b-901a-4d25-8ecd-e77d6e3e544c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.althouse.blogspot.com/2012/04/myth-of-sustainable-meat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965351 | 172 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Russia will try to test a new spacecraft docking system again Saturday (July 28) with an unmanned cargo ship at the International Space Station, after a first attempt earlier this week failed and was prematurely aborted.
A robotic Russian Progress 47 cargo ship undocked from the space station on July 22 for the test, and will attempt to automatically link up to the orbiting outpost tomorrow at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 GMT July 29). The Progress 47 arrived at the space station in April, and had been attached to the Pirs docking compartment on the Russian segment of the orbiting laboratory.
Russian flight controllers tried to test the new Kurs-NA docking system on Monday (July 23), but a technical glitch stopped the spacecraft from arriving at the space station. The spacecraft's onboard computers kept it a safe distance away from the orbiting laboratory while Russian engineers on the ground tried to diagnose the problem.
"The Progress has been experiencing some issues with the new Kurs-NA system," Dan Harman, NASA's International Space Station manager of operations and integration, told reporters in a news briefing Thursday (July 27). "Right now they're continuing to work through those."
The Kurs-NA docking system is an upgraded version of the Kurs system that has been used for years on Russian spacecraft. The Kurs-NA system features updated electronics, and is expected to use less power and improve safety. Russia intends to eventually use the newer automated system on future robotic and manned missions to the International Space Station.
During Saturday's docking test, the Progress 47 spacecraft will approach the station to within roughly 29 miles (46 kilometers). At this point, the Kurs-NA system will be activated, and if the spacecraft appears to be performing well, Russian flight controllers will proceed with the automatic docking.
NASA Television will broadcast live coverage of the attempted re-docking beginning at 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on Saturday. NASA TV can be viewed here: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.
The docking attempt will come just a day after Japan safely docked its own unmanned cargo spaceship, HTV-3, at the space station. The robotic freighter arrived Friday morning (July 27) to deliver a new batch of food, supplies and science experiments.
The space station's Expedition 32 crew, led by Russian cosmonaut and station commander Gennady Padalkaplans tomonitor the upcoming Progress 47 docking test. There are six astronauts currently living at the orbiting complex, including Padalka, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Revin and Yuri Malenchenko, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Joe Acaba, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. [Photos: Space Station's Expedition 32 Crew]
If the spacecraft is unable to successfully perform the demonstration, the cargo ship will prepare to leave the station for good.The disposable Russian Progress ships are intentionally sent to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere at the end of their missions.
Progress 47 arrived at the space station in April, and delivered food, clothing and other supplies for the crew living aboard the orbiting outpost. After the cargo onboard the spacecraft was emptied, the station crew filled the Progress with trash and other disposable items.
The Progress 47 cargo ship is scheduled to make its final departure from the space station on July 30 at 2:11 p.m. EDT (1811 GMT).
The next Russian cargo ship, Progress 48, is slated to launch on Aug. 1 from the BaikonurCosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
If Russia encounters another glitch during this weekend's docking test, the upcoming launches of subsequent Progress and Soyuz vehicles will not be affected, NASA officials said.
- Space Station's Robotic Cargo Ship Fleet (A Photo Guide)
- How Russia's Progress Spaceships Work (Infographic)
- Photos: Japan Launches 3rd Robotic Supply Ship to Space Station | <urn:uuid:e7f2a740-e08a-4945-98a9-f556360d5ec1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.yahoo.com/russia-try-space-station-docking-test-saturday-144726189.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925867 | 794 | 2.40625 | 2 |
On 9 February 2013, the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) released an annual report, covering the year 2011. KACST is an independent scientific organisation in Saudi Arabia, which administratively reports to the Prime Minister. It is both the national science agency and its national laboratories. The function of the science agency involves science and technology policy making, data collection, funding of external research, and services like the patent office.
In the field of patents, according to the report, 984 patent applications were filed and 253 patents were granted in 2011. Furthermore, all applications for patents submitted up to 2010 have been classified. The annual report can be downloaded in English from the KACST website. | <urn:uuid:47cf7764-d714-4bca-b379-f9b439c47ce1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.epo.org/searching/asian/asia-updates/updates-2013/20130215.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948743 | 146 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654
|Name:||Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673|
|Title:||Ionnes Blaev Lectori Salvtem|
Scroll through pages:
When, reader, some years ago I published England, I gave a promise that, after the edition of maps of Belgian Cities, I would issue Scotland. Now I fulfil it: here is Scotland together with Ireland, as the fifth part of my Atlas. I dedicate it to your prudence and benevolence, so that it may sail with the support of these favourable winds, or rather may fly to the attention of men like you, who are capable of both understanding and forgiving. For it is obviously a new work which is now for the first time perceived by your eyes; it has come together from the industry and labour of various people; for the weight of an Atlas, which carries the whole sphere of Earth, cannot be sustained even in part by one man.
What each has done I shall set out. Timothy Pont, a native Scot, traversed widely every region of Scotland, more curiously observed details by eye, and reduced them to some maps, still crude, as all tasks are imperfect at their beginning. John Scot of Scotstarvit with amazing care collected both these and others, scattered in the hands of various persons, and sent them to me like sacred images from a shipwreck, torn indeed and very unsightly. These I arranged and frequently separated into several what was one confused map. The final touch was provided here by Robert and James Gordon, who besides corrections to Pont’s maps, also | <urn:uuid:d9b706a3-d76d-4e22-b541-ee5bd154d9c2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://maps.nls.uk/atlas/blaeu/page.cfm?id=1008 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970081 | 336 | 2.515625 | 3 |
King Tut Exhibition Opens In Seattle
To download artifact images, visit National Geographic's FTP site:
Username: press; Password: press
Katelyn Del Buco
PR Specialist, King Tut exhibit
Pacific Science Center, Seattle
(206) 269-5728 / (831) 332-3631(cell)
THE EMERALD CITY IS AGLOW WITH THE TREASURES OF TUT KING TUT EXHIBITION OPENS FOR FINAL U.S. STOP AT PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER
SEATTLE - (May 24, 2012) - The highly anticipated exhibition Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs opened today at Pacific Science Center for the final showing in North America. More than 30 years after the first King Tut exhibition captivated Seattle, the magic and mystery of the boy king returns to the Pacific Northwest with an almost entirely new selection of treasures and more than twice the number of artifacts.
Upon discovery of the tomb, British archaeologist Howard Carter said, "Everywhere, the glint of gold." Carter's words have never rung truer than now to describe the arrival of the grandest exhibition in the world. The community's early response to the opening of the exhibition has been unparalleled with over 90,000 tickets sold and field trips for school groups booked until the fall.
The exhibition features more than 100 artifacts from the tomb of King Tut and sites representing some of the most important rulers throughout 2,000 years of ancient Egyptian history. Most of these artifacts have never been on display in the United States before this exhibition.
"This is an exciting time for not only Pacific Science Center, but for our state and region," said Bryce Seidl, president and CEO for Pacific Science Center. "We have the great pleasure to be hosting the final showing in North America of the most special exhibition in the world. We are so excited to be able to bring the King Tut exhibit to our region as part of our 50th year of community focused programs and events that showcase science, technology, history, culture and the imaginative spirit we cherish here in the Northwest."
Come face-to-face with the largest image of King Tut ever unearthed - a 10-foot-statue of the pharaoh found at the remains of the funerary temple of two of his high officials. See authentic objects from King Tut's tomb including jewelry, furniture and statuary, as well as the boy king's golden sandals - created specifically for the afterlife and found covering his feet when his mummified remains were discovered by Carter. An extraordinary gold death mask that covered the head and chest of the mummy of King Psusennes I will also be showcased along with artifacts belonging to some of ancient Egypt's most powerful rulers, such as Khufu, whose face adorns the Great Sphinx and who built one of the Great Pyramids, the only remaining structures of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
New scientific discoveries continue to provide insight into King Tut's legendary life and death. The exhibition features a 3D replica of King Tut's mummy, (the actual mummy has never left the Valley of the Kings in Egypt), as well as the first CT scans of the young king's mummy obtained as part of a landmark Egyptian research and conservation project, partially funded by the National Geographic Society. The majority of proceeds from the tour support the preservation and conservation of antiquities and monuments in Egypt, including construction of the new Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.
As part of the total experience, and in addition to an audio guide narrated by award-winning actor Harrison Ford ($6), Pacific Science Center will feature two IMAX films: Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs, and Mysteries of Egypt. Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs takes audiences on a journey to the royal tombs of Egypt, exploring the history of ancient Egyptian society as told through the mummies of the past. A National Geographic film, Mysteries of Egypt, transports audiences to a distant time and place where the Nile River Valley cuts an emerald swath through the desert sands. Both films are free for members.
As the Science Center approaches its 50th anniversary on October 22, 2012, the institution is as committed as ever to serving the community and being an engine for creative and critical thinking for the Pacific Northwest. Bringing diverse programming and exhibits from around the world to the community is at the heart of Pacific Science Center's mission. As part of that effort, the Science Center is proud to bring King Tut back to Seattle.
GETTING TO THE EXHIBIT
Due to the high volume of events around Seattle Center during the Science Center's King Tut exhibition opening weekend, please be aware that traffic conditions will be congested and heavier than usual. For more information regarding road conditions and alternative modes of transportation to the Seattle Center, please visit SDOT or WSDOT.
EXHIBITION ORGANIZERS AND PARTNERS
Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs is organized by National Geographic and Arts & Exhibitions International, with cooperation from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities. Northern Trust is a proud cultural partner. American Airlines is the official airline of the exhibition. The exhibition in Seattle is sponsored by Seattle's Convention & Visitors Bureau.
TICKETS AND INFORMATION
For further information and ticket details please visit pacificsciencecenter.org/king-tut. Discounted tickets for Pacific Science Center members and groups of 10 or more are available. Groups interested in purchasing tickets can call (206) 443-3611. The exhibition runs through Jan. 6, 2013.
ABOUT PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER
Located under the arches near the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center serves approximately one million guests on site and more than 300,000 students, teachers and families throughout Washington state each year. Pacific Science Center began as the United States Science Pavilion during the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. Millions came to explore the wonders of science during the World's Fair and upon closing ceremonies, the Science Pavilion was given new life as the private not-for-profit Pacific Science Center, becoming the first U.S. museum founded as a science and technology center. On July 22, 2010 Pacific Science Center was declared a City of Seattle Landmark. Pacific Science Center is committed to providing accessibility for all guests. | <urn:uuid:0b1086f1-62a4-4767-9e96-41f42248a872> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://science-center.org/News/king-tut-exhibition-opens-in-seattle | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936556 | 1,293 | 1.53125 | 2 |
That study in the article was widely discredited at the time (January 2011), it was actually an interpretation of the studies used to decide to raise the weaning age to six months by other bodies. The authors of the study all regularly do research for baby food and formula companies, and one of them did a study funded by a formula company saying that breastfeeding and a western diet causes heart disease-the babies the study was based on were born in the 60s and the way the study was conducted wasn't proper at all. He has also appeared in court defending SMA on a number of occasions. The uk government looked at this article and a lot of other recent research and decided not only to keep the recommended weaning age at 6 months but to no longer advise that from 17 weeks is ok, except for exceptional health circumstances. The authors of this study have achieved what they wanted though because people are still regularly linking to this BBC article on forums xx
A hungry baby probably just needs more milk, even at 6 months they are not yet fully about to get the full nutrients etc (guts not mature yet) from solids and their main source of food remains milk (bf or formula).
I dont particularly like HVs they dont seem to always know what the hell they are talking about. I saw mine once and never felt the need for another visit, I was not impressed the first time anyway lol
I would suggest a pediatrician's advice before going against the recommended guidelines..
As the article says most of the studies were done in developing countries. Of course the baby is going to have deficiancys if the mother is surviving on dirty water and one bowl of food a day.
In the developed world where mothers are eating 3 meals a day and have access to vitamin supplements then baby's get everything they need from breastmilk. If they dident then the human race would have died out centuries ago.
Summer rain - 12lbs!! That advice is just scary!! I think my DS was 12lbs about 9 weeks old!!! I am in NZ and the 16lb rule was definitely gone when I was born (1979) because my mum was told 5 - 6 months for first foods, as was my aunt and her children were born in the early 70's.
Thanks to everyone for the links. Its so good to feel informed and knowledgeable on the topic. Google can only go so far!! All this baby stuff is so new to me!!
Any opinions, advice, statements or other information expressed or made available on BabyandBump.Momtastic.com by users or third parties, including but not limited to bloggers, are solely those of the respective user or other third party. They do not reflect the opinions of BabyandBump.Momtastic.com and they have not been reviewed by a physician, psychologist or parenting expert or any member of the BabyandBump.Momtastic.com staff for accuracy, balance or objectivity. Content and other information presented on BabyandBump.Momtastic.com are not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, counseling, diagnosis, or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical or mental health advice from your physician or other qualified health provider because of something you have read on BabyandBump.Momtastic.com. BabyandBump.Momtastic.com does not endorse any opinion, advice, statement, product, service or treatment made available on the website. If you think you have a medical emergency, call your doctor or emergency services immediately. | <urn:uuid:ca39807d-ca7e-44b1-8266-9c070e8203d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://babyandbump.momtastic.com/weaning-nutrition/936881-why-has-advice-changed-again-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977351 | 721 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Did you know that 43% of the world is under age 25? Almost half! And that number is over 50% in developing countries. This number represents a half of the world that has long clamored to have its voice heard - and has found technology and social media to be the platforms that finally give them the influence they have long demanded. Just look to Egypt and the Arab Spring for potent examples of the power that youth wield today. | <urn:uuid:20e723e8-1e46-4db6-8991-753bce455c7f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ultravirgo.com/news/design/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97275 | 88 | 1.648438 | 2 |
By playing with the proportions of a simple chair Steffen Schellenberger has created a collection of versatile, functional objects.
Says Schellenberger, "By playfully manipulating the conventional proportions of a chair, the basic idea of the triplets changes the character and functionality of the furniture." The Triplet chair with an extended backrest also serves as a coatrack.
"The triplets can be used in the hallway or entrance but certainly won't feel misplaced in the bath- or bedroom either." The Triplet chair with the long legs has a mirror as a backrest suggesting it could be used in an entranceway for a quick glance and/or to lace up a toddlers' shoes.
"Despite their individuality, the triplets will need the spatial proximity to at least one of their siblings to unfold their spirited character." The Triplet chair with the with the cabinet for a seat can be used for storage, for keys or small electronics. | <urn:uuid:a0523016-0ddf-49f2-9593-14dce5252076> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mocoloco.com/archives/027185.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938434 | 194 | 1.882813 | 2 |
Dylan Scott is a GOVERNING staff writer.E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
Forty years ago, Montana lost the coal race. In the 1970s, the state competed with its neighbor Wyoming to take advantage of a boom in demand in the eastern and southern United States. Wyoming emerged the clear winner: It was better positioned to ship its coal eastward, and political turmoil stifled production in Montana. Today, Wyoming exports 10 times more coal than Montana, even though Montana is home to the biggest coal reserve in the country.
But another boom is on the way, thanks to soaring demand in China, India and other parts of Asia. On the whole, the Asian-Pacific market is expected to increase global energy demand by 40 to 50 percent in the next two decades. Who will supply that energy? The United States, among other countries. According to Mark Mills, an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a former adviser to President Ronald Reagan, the United States is sitting on more than 10,000 billion barrels of oil-equivalent in natural gas, oil and coal -- four times what’s available in the Middle East.
This time around, Montana doesn’t want to lose out. The state has 120 billion tons of coal below its surface, nearly one-quarter of known coal reserves in the United States, according to the state’s energy department. Gov. Brian Schweitzer has been an impassioned advocate of increased coal mining (specifically, clean coal) since he came into office in 2005. “We have a lot of coal in this country. We have more coal than any other country on the planet,” he said at a 2007 legislative conference, advocating for clean coal technology. “We’ll create hundreds of thousands of jobs during the next 20 years. We’ll be energy independent. And you won’t have to send your grandchildren to another war some place that has oil.”
Such is the promise of America: Energy Exporter. Thanks to the unprecedented shift in global supply and demand, the U.S. is poised to transition from one of the world’s biggest consumers of energy to one of its largest producers. In 2011, refined oil exports from the United States eclipsed imports for the first time since the government began collecting comprehensive data in 1993. For refined gasoline specifically, the United States hadn’t been a net exporter since 1959. (It’s important to note that when it comes to crude oil, we still import far more than we export -- meaning that the United States, for now, remains a net energy importer.)
But the long-sought goal of energy independence is starting to look like a possibility for the first time since the 1950s. “The thought that U.S. oil and gas production would boom the way they have -- after all, oil production is growing more quickly in North America than any other part of the world -- would have been unthinkable to many only a decade ago,” says Blake Clayton, a fellow for energy and national security at the Council on Foreign Relations. “The prospect of the United States ever returning to the days of producing more oil than it consumes, what politicians often describe as ‘energy independence,’ used to seem like a chimera. Now it’s not nearly so far-fetched.”
Some have estimated that the United States could become the world’s leading energy producer by 2020. The economic impact would be staggering. The Manhattan Institute has estimated that if the energy exportation potential of the United States were maximized, as many as 4 million jobs would be created, and federal, state and local coffers would be flooded with as much as $1 trillion in new revenue. Beyond the financial windfall, the global ramifications of such a shift are difficult to predict. But the fallout would undoubtedly lead to a fundamental reshaping of America’s geopolitical and macroeconomic role on the international scene.
At the local level, the impact is already being felt. States like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas have benefited greatly as the oil and gas industries have taken off in recent years. After natural gas deposits were discovered a few years ago near Williamsport, Pa., for example, more than 100 companies set up shop there. In 2010, while other cities were only beginning to dig out of the Great Recession, Williamsport’s 29,000 residents saw their town’s economy grow by 7.8 percent, one of the fastest rates in the country. Meanwhile in Ohio, the unemployment rate is a full percentage point below the national average, and companies are reportedly investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the state to prepare for a pending natural gas boom. North Dakota, another leader in the oil boom, has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
If coal follows a similar trajectory, states like Montana want to position themselves to reap the benefits. But eager policymakers will have to make the sell to their cities and towns. Turning the Pacific Northwest into the next frontier of energy exportation would require substantial investments in infrastructure. It would call for ports in Oregon and Washington to ship the product to China and its neighbors, along with increased rail traffic cutting across Montana and Idaho to carry the coal to the sea. Both of those elements are already encountering resistance from many communities along that route, the places that would bear the brunt of the export boom. Local officials are worried about the impact on their infrastructure when rail traffic, which is already a nuisance, rises to meet the increased output. (And that’s not to mention broader concerns about the environment and public health.)
No one’s anticipating a Persian Gulf on the Great Plains. At least not yet. But if even a fraction of that estimated trillion-dollar payday turns out to be realistic, cities and states may see the financial promise of coal increasingly trump other concerns. And if the U.S. continues on the path toward becoming a net exporter of energy, the nation -- and its place in the world -- could soon be radically different.
If you want to get coal out of Montana, you’ll almost certainly have to go through Helena. The state capital sits nestled between Helena National Forest to the northeast and Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest to the southwest -- squarely on the path of any coal being shipped from the eastern part of the state to potential terminals in Washington or Oregon. Bisected by the Montana Rail Link line, Helena already has between 35 and 50 trains passing through every day, according to a recent city traffic study. Because most crossings are at grade, traffic comes to a standstill every time they do. The problem is serious enough that the city’s emergency services have laid out alternate routes if they need to make a run, going significantly out of their way to avoid the crossings.
If Montana’s coal industry expands as supporters hope it will, Helena officials expect the train traffic could double. Ideally, the city would build concrete walls to mitigate train noise or, even better, replace the existing rail crossings with underpasses or overpasses. But in the wake of the economic downturn, Helena, like most cities, can’t afford such investments. “We don’t have the money to address any of this,” says Helena Commissioner Katherine Haque-Hausrath. “We’re a small city in the whole scheme of things. We’re just trying to do our part to be a part of the conversation.”
Three hundred miles west of Helena lies the town of Cheney, Wash., which would be similarly impacted by the increased rail traffic from more coal production. Mayor Tom Trulove says he, too, is concerned about how the additional trains would affect his citizens. “Like everyone else, we’re in favor of jobs. We support economic activity. We’re just trying to find a way to mitigate the social costs of that activity.”
Helena and Cheney are among the many communities that have sent letters to the Army Corps of Engineers, which is reviewing applications for coal ports in Oregon and Washington, asking for an environmental impact assessment of the plans -- specifically the swell in rail traffic -- before any approval is granted. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber submitted a similar plea in April, and so far his request is the only one to earn a response. The Army Corps told Kitzhaber it would meet its requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act, but it didn’t respond to his concerns about rail traffic. In a local newspaper, Kitzhaber’s natural resources policy adviser called the corps’ response “opaque.”
Helena’s letter cited the risk of increased traffic congestion and pollution, of course. But it also framed the issue as one of international importance. “With access to our cheap coal, countries in Asia will be induced to build new coal-fired power plants, instead of transitioning to cleaner energy sources,” the City Commission wrote. “This will lock in reliance on coal as a source of energy for the life of these power plans, with an astronomically negative effect on climate change.”
For its part, the coal industry says it’s conscious of local concerns. The railroad companies say they’ve invested in new technologies to reduce the amount of coal dust escaping from their trains. And mining companies seem on board with Schweitzer’s push for clean coal technology. A spokesperson for Montana Rail Link, one of the largest rail companies in the state, says that fears like those voiced in Helena’s letter are “a gross mischaracterization.” “We think that there can be a balance,” says Bud Clinch, executive director of the Montana Coal Council. “All these concerns can be mitigated. This can be a good thing for the state of Montana.”
The tug-of-war between environment and economics is nothing new. But the promise and politics of energy exporting heighten the debate. Oregon and Washington have both fostered environmentally conscious reputations over a number of years. But with a total of six ports proposed in the two states -- ports that would funnel as much as 100 million tons of coal to Asia every year -- the states’ leaders have largely stayed quiet. Other than his letter to the Army Corps, Kitzhaber has declined to take a firm position on whether the ports should be built. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire has taken a similar wait-and-see approach.
Many local leaders within those states, however, have been vocal in their opposition to becoming centers of the new coal economy. In May, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution opposing the construction of any coal terminals in the state, saying the impact on traffic, public health and global climate change would be detrimental. Similarly, in September, the Portland City Council voted unanimously to oppose any new port until a full environment and health assessment is conducted by the Army Corps.
Thanks to the slower-than-hoped-for recovery from the economic downturn, however, those environmental concerns may ultimately be outweighed by financial ones. “If we weren’t still mired in the Great Recession, I think it would be more likely that the ports would not get built,” says Tom Power, an economics professor emeritus at the University of Montana. “But all bets are off given the anxiety associated with the lingering recession.”
States and localities are, understandably, focused on the tangible impacts of a shift toward energy exportation of coal, oil and natural gas. But there are other fundamental questions at the heart of such a transition. Is energy independence really achievable -- and is it worth the environmental toll? How would it reshape America’s role on the global stage?
Indeed, is the trend toward exporting even real? Some analysts, for example, attribute last year’s shift on refined oil exports to decreased domestic demand in a depressed economy. Once the economy recovers, the thinking goes, American energy demand will rebound, and last year’s export boom will turn out to have been an anomaly, a statistical blip. Or maybe it won’t. Michael Ross, a University of California at Los Angeles political science professor and author of The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations, says that a host of factors -- new technologies, discoveries of new resource deposits -- could affect the country’s potential future as an energy exporter. Few people foresaw the current boom, he points out. The real bottom line, he says, is that “we simply do a terrible job of forecasting. I wouldn’t place a whole lot of money on anybody’s long-term forecast.”
It’s certainly not inevitable that states will choose revenues over environmental concerns. New York, for example, has placed a firm moratorium (although not necessarily a permanent one) on natural gas fracking, despite some estimates that the state is forgoing nearly 100,000 new jobs by doing so. And not everyone is so sure of the purported economic impact anyway. An analysis by the University of Montana projected that, while mining jobs in the state will likely increase between 2010 and 2020, they would actually grow more slowly than they did between 2000 and 2010. Other sectors, such as health-care services and leisure/hospitality, are expected to grow much more quickly.
“You only need a relatively small workforce to move huge quantities of coal. Mining and rail shipping are incredibly efficient in terms of labor,” says Power of the University of Montana. “It’s not that it’s a boon for the economy. It’s a boon for the state government. That’s where the impact is and that’s the reason it’s being pushed.”
But it’s the international implications of energy independence that could represent the most sweeping changes. It’s an idea that echoes the perspective that Montana’s Schweitzer expressed in his 2007 remarks. If we didn’t need to import oil from other countries, would we have gone to war with Iraq? Would we have intervened in Libya?
Michael Klare, a professor at Hampshire College and author of The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources, says there are numerous potential outcomes of an energy-independent America, including “a greater willingness of the part of the United States to pull its boots from the ground in the Middle East, while still controlling the oil flow at sea; a greater boldness in confronting China, sensing its greater dependence on imported oil carried by ship over sea lanes controlled by the U.S. Navy; and a greater focus by the United States on oil production in the Western Hemisphere.”
In other words, as much global power and influence as the United States wields today, energy independence could expand that reach even more. “Energy exporting countries are a lot less inclined to be cooperative, to play nice in the realm of international diplomacy,” says Ross. “For the world’s most powerful diplomatic and military power to go from dependent on others for its fuel to being independent, that could have quite far-reaching consequences.” | <urn:uuid:d44307ef-0832-449e-8ade-5276cd6f7e8d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.governing.com/gov-what-happens-when-us-becomes-energy-exporter.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955555 | 3,161 | 2.5625 | 3 |
July 23, 2012 Leave a comment
HappyWater – a premium alkaline-based bottled water product – is launching in Vancouver this summer. From their Twitter account (@LiveHappyWater) and media kit, their bottled beverage can be described as a “100% blend of pure, natural spring and lithia waters from ancient Canadian mountain springs.” Their Twitter feed also tweets where they’ll be around Vancouver this summer to sample out product to passerbys, so feel free to seek them out for a free bottle if you work downtown.
First of all, what is the difference between “alkaline” or lithia water relative to other types of water and beverages? Scientifically speaking, there is a pH scale that determines the acidity and alkalinity of all beverage products. On a scale from 0 (acidic) to 14 (alkaline), 7 would be consider neutral. Searching on the web revealed the following results on beverage acidity: soft drinks (~3.2), juices (~5.0) and coffee (~5.0) are acidic. Waters have varying degrees of acidity or alkalinity depending on its manufacturing and purifying process. Aquafina (~5.4) and glaceau smartwater (~5.9) are slightly more acidic on the scale while evian (~7.4) and Fiji (~7.6) are slightly more basic on the scale. HappyWater’s (~7.4) alkalinity puts it in the same arena as evian (~7.3) and Fiji (~7.6). Since our stomach produces acid to break down our consumables, neutral (milk) and alkaline-based drinks would be some options to stabilize an upset stomach (or balance out the natural acids in our stomach).
Vancouver should be a good market to launch this premium product, given its local sourcing. HappyWater originates from the Canadian Rocky Mountains, relative to evian (French Alps) and Fiji (Fiji Islands). While I’m not sure if the location factors into the product pricing, they can be expected to be priced competitively with other premium waters. Their current availability is localized to Vancouver and parts of the Lower Mainland at the moment, but national and American expansion would be a great opportunity given the premium waters potential in the marketplace.
Until their expansion out East or me making a trip to Vancouver, I’ll just wait to try a HappyWater. | <urn:uuid:b99446bc-9684-4525-9f35-51a4aaa731ca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bevwire.wordpress.com/tag/glaceau-smartwater/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917233 | 504 | 1.539063 | 2 |
The pictures and discriptions below are of some of the historical places and sites that can be visited in Iron County. We will continue to add places as we get the information.Immanuel Lutheran Church of Pilot Knob
Immanuel Lutheran Church
Pilot Knob's Battlefield Hospital
National Historical Register 1979
North Ziegler, Pilot Knob, MO 63663
140 years of History
In 1861, the Lutherans drew up a constitution and named their church the German Lutheran Evangelical Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession. Gockel presented plans for a church building and the mining company donated the land. Although he also helped build the exterior of the church, Gockel's purest inspiration can be seen in his design of the pulpit and alter. Once the church was completed, it wasn't long before the little congregation needed a full-time pastor. Carl Graeber, a graduate of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, accepted the call in 1864.
As the Civil War broke out, a group of German immigrants began building their new church. Little did they know that within 3 years, wounded soldiers would lay dying in their place of worship. Doctor Seymour Carpenter, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Union army, established several makeshift hospitals in the town of Pilot Knob in preparation of the day of battle. On September 27, 1864, despite the good Doctor's efforts, there were more wounded soldiers than his staff could handle or his hospitals house. Since that day, the church has barely changed and remains a beautiful example of a small town 1860s church right down to having the original pastoral robes. Tours are available and a real must see if visiting Pilot Knob. (See also Lutherans On-Line for more photos of this church.)
The Parlor is a beautiful turn of the century home. The Parlor was built in 1908 by Charles J. Tual, a noted architect. He designed and built the house as a present for his bride.
In 1960, the home was purchased by a Mr. Howell who operated a funeral parlor there for a short time. The funeral of the current owner's great-grandfather; W. L. Cofer, was held at the home.
In 2000, the house was purchased by Dana Campbell and Jeannette Schrum, Moody Campbell, and Robert Halket. They extensively renovated the property, with all the interior woodwork being restored to its original state, and opened The Parlor as a Bed & Breakfast.
To see the home as it is now, please visit their website at TheParlorBandB.com | <urn:uuid:6e12557a-5bcc-43f8-84fa-fe3fdb689a51> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~moicgs/places.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975205 | 536 | 1.890625 | 2 |
The Christian Science Monitor featured an article on our Healing the Wounds of War program in the Middle East! Ilene Prusher interviewed some of our Gaza trainees, and myself, to write this thoughtful piece. She also notes that it is the one-year anniversary of the Israel siege on Gaza, “Operation Cast Lead,” which devastated the people and landscape of Gaza, and from which they are still struggling to recover a year later.
Here is an excerpt of the article, but I hope you check out the original, with some pictures and related stories on Gaza and the Middle East, here.
Gaza war anniversary: How one group helps victims overcome trauma
By Ilene R. Prusher Staff writer / December 28, 2009
Rawya Hamam was watching her son deteriorate. Hisham wouldn’t sleep, clung to her incessantly, and said he wanted to go back into her belly so he’d be safe. “Grandma is lucky she died so she doesn’t have to live here now,” the boy told his mother.
It’s not a normal statement to expect from a five-year-old child, but neither were these normal times. A year ago, at the outbreak of war between the militant Palestinian group Hamas and Israel, anything resembling a normal life disappeared into a violent maelstrom that wreaked unprecedented destruction on the Gaza Strip. More than 1,400 Gazans were killed, according to a Palestinian count, in a campaign the Israeli army named “Operation Cast Lead,” with the aim of getting Hamas to stop the daily launch of occasionally fatal rockets onto Israeli communities. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the three-week war. . . . keep reading
We’re so thankful for the recognition of our work in Gaza, alleviating psychological pain and suffering, and all of the work we do, both in the Middle East and here in the US teaching health and mental health professionals to learning to handle their stress and incorporate mind-body techniques into their practice through our Mind-Body Medicine Training as well as our Healing Our Troops program. These warm, caring professionals we train use their skill and wisdom to help families recovering from disaster, like those who survived Hurricane Katrina, as well as working with troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and their families.
(If you kept reading my post, don’t forget to check out the rest of the original CSM article with pictures and related stories on Gaza and the Middle East, here.)
December 20, 2009
If Gaza is saturated with tradition, and blessed with generous impulses, it is galvanized by politics. Until several years ago, when we developed a high level of skill and firmness in directing our trainees back to their own present feelings, simple declarative statements often threatened to veer off into impassioned political narratives. The Palestinian faculty we have trained now recognizes the hazards, and has become adept at forestalling rhetoric, foreclosing budding arguments, redirecting attention inward, and calling for immediate feelings as well as the historical conditions that may have provoked them. Inevitably, however, politics and the devastating consequences of political decisions are not far from the minds and speech and feelings of Gaza’s men, women and children.
In the small groups we see and hear that the consequences of history are inscribed in our participants’ pain and fears. Remember the hurt that the young psychologists whom I described in the previous blog carry from childhoods shadowed by loss and deprivation and squeezed by self-righteous brutality. And anxiety about present safety and future survival is absolutely, understandably universal: Gaza is closed off from the rest of the world, vulnerable to unpredictable attack from Israelis who control its borders and airspace and to violent schisms and reprisals within. Inevitably there are symptoms: One stocky young male psychologist from a distinguished family of Gazan warriors admits, embarrassed but eager for help, to “panic attacks” when his toddler daughter develops a cold or returns late from a babysitting relative; several other mental health professionals speak of waking abruptly, hearts racing at innocent sounds that evoke body-memories of Israeli shells landing or Fatah and Hamas fighting under their windows.
Six months ago, Gaza, though deeply wounded, seemed far more hopeful. Crumbled buildings – large public and small private ones – punctuated the streets of Gaza City and Rafah; blasted orchards and fields torn by shells tolled a loss of innocence as well as income; memories of the 1400 who died in the fighting in December and January filled the eyes of families we visited and appeared, often briefly, modestly, but with head-shaking sadness, in conversation. Still, there was a sense that things might, even that they likely would, finally change for the better.
One of Hamas’ top officials, Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmed Yousef, spoke of the renewed faith in American idealism that Barack Obama’s election and his speech in Cairo had inspired in him and others; of his hope for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas; and of a future in which a regional partnership “of the world’s three great monotheistic religions” would bring peace, tourism and industry to Gaza and the West Bank as well as Israel. “Soon, inshallah, (god willing)” our Gaza faculty estimated, “we will be able to go with you to Israel, the West Bank, maybe even America.”
The current “situation” – the word is an all-purpose one that Israelis as well as Palestinians regularly use – seems by contrast dispiriting, even desperate, to the Gazans I meet outside of as well as in our training. Now Ahmed Yousef reminds me that “we have not fired on Israel for a year,” and asks, sadly, rhetorically, “and what has been our reward?” Young people wonder whether a world that will not open Gaza’s borders to trade that is necessary for rebuilding or to the free passage that will overcome their punishing isolation, understands or cares about or even notices their plight. Several speak, with resignation but chilling firmness, of the inevitability, in the absence of progress, of resuming “resistance”:
I do not feel that the vast majority of Gazans whom I meet – and I have worked closely with several hundred and met many hundreds more over the last seven years – want to return to fighting; it is that they do not know what else to do, how else to lift the crushing weight of the occupation, to signal, amid what appears to them colossal indifference, if not hostility, that they are “human,” and deserve the basic rights that the rest of us assume. “Don’t the Israelis understand we are just like them” one young woman, a well educated “political independent” asks me. “I have parents and children I love. I want to help my people. Yes, I hate what the Israeli government has done to us, but I do not hate Israelis.”
There are to be sure fanatics in Gaza, people chained to an unchanging allegiance to past wounds, committed to a holy war that will wipe Israel from the landscape. They are, however, very few among the very many I have met. Hamas has been a resistance movement and has committed terrorist acts, as, I would add, have other movements in this region. However, many of its leaders and many of the young who have been drawn to it now aspire, in spite of their current distress, frustration, and discouragement, to becoming partners in leading a state, productive members of a tolerant regional and world community. A burly young man, a high ranking government functionary who speaks with resignation about the possibility of resuming resistance, sounds a few moments later exactly like an American graduate student. He is particularly glad to talk with me, he says, because he wants my advice on framing a topic for the PhD thesis he hopes to write.
The day before our training ends, I speak, at Ahmed Yousef’s invitation, at The House of Wisdom, an independent Swiss funded Gaza City “think tank” that he helped found. “Everyone has to speak English here,” he tells me. “We want to be part of the world community.” Thirty earnest young intellectuals – political scientists, environmentalists, government officials – gather on short notice: Some are affiliated with Hamas, others with Fatah; many are unaffiliated with any political party.
I sit at the intersection of long polished seminar tables – it could be Georgetown or Harvard- and talk about the work we are doing in Gaza, the research that demonstrates its efficacy in reducing stress, improving mood, and enhancing hope for the future. I discuss the resilience of the people and the community that supports them; the central role of self-care and mutual help in all health and mental health care; the necessity of knowing and caring for and changing oneself as a prelude to helping others do the same; the dangers of fixed ideological positions that force people to deny or suppress their true and changing needs; and the importance of meaning and purpose in sustaining all of us. There are nods of heads and some smiles. The questions and comments are thoughtful, balancing appreciation for and curiosity about our work – “Yes, I and others in politics could use that,” remarks one man – with reminders of the challenges to safety and survival as well as sanity that continue to confront all Gazans.
As the seminar draws to a close, the House of Wisdom executive director Mahmoud El Madhour, a wavy haired, urbane PhD engineer and MBA who has studied Greek philosophy in Greece, and is a proud independent, thanks me. He ends the afternoon with a few words of reflection: “Without communication,” he begins in easy but urgent English, “we have nothing.” He pauses for a moment. “We stand here in Gaza, with no other place to go. This is my resistance. Gaza is a lovely place. And I want you to know I do not mind sharing it.”
Gaza City, December 16, 2009
As the days pass, our participants discover and discuss new possibilities of psychophysiological self-regulation – breathing deeply to relax in spite of the anxious anticipation of leading a group for the first time, or to find a calm place from which to encounter memories of family members “martyred” by violence. They find in the creative imagination of guided imagery unexpected ease: “When I go to my imaginary ‘safe place’ I discover it is my home – I would not have believed it because we are close to the border and have often been shelled – and I thank God for my family and for seeing the green of the trees every day.”
Sitting in the circles of our small groups we move more deeply into each others’ minds and hearts. Experiences and feelings that are rarely if ever publicly revealed in tradition-saturated Gaza are shared; long suppressed emotions and conflicts emerge.
We hear about the ways that the frustrations of men, deprived in the Nakba – the “catastrophic” loss of homes and villages of 1948 – of their patrimony, unable to maintain their self-respect without jobs or freedom, have manifested in the self-righteous abuse of women and children. Her late arrival after difficulty navigating the streets during a Hamas demonstration reminds one young psychologist – gentle, always smiling, pale in her long black coat – of her father’s fury at an elder brother when one evening years ago he came home late: The old man burned the boy’s arm with a stick glowing with red heat, and turned the instrument on his wife when she pleaded for mercy. The girl watched. A university professor cries with shock and pain for her young colleague, and recalls her own father’s contrasting kindness. Then it is the turn of a large young man, a gentle giant I think, who is also a psychologist. “I have not spoken of this before,” he begins. When he and his brother were six and five, their father forced them, out of, the psychologist now believes, some warped idea of discipline and manliness, to walk 10 kilometers to school each morning before dawn; the young man remembers, his face softening in hurt, his hands opening in incomprehension, how furious his father became when one day, attacked by dogs, the boys ran home. The participant who is leading the group today suggests we stand and hold hands. He asks us, so wisely I think, to “Feel the support of the group,” The pale young woman, quietly tearful, nods with relief and release; the young man thanks us – “Shukran” – and tells us he has vowed always to understand and be kind to his own children.
The ways of Gaza are ancient, sometimes painfully problematic, but also rich and in many ways still sustaining. The closeness to families that can under pressure constrict can also hold up people who should by all ordinary reckoning have collapsed. Mothers, fathers and especially grandparents appear in another imagery exercise – the summoning of a “wise” or “inner guide” with a frequency I have seen nowhere in the Western world. “My grandmother was strong and kind” one young woman announces, emphasizing the conjunction. “she was always there for me.” Another says his long dead, imagined grandfather counseled him not to throw stones at Israeli tanks; “It is a waste, he says to me. True courage will be in caring for your children and your wife.” When a young psychologist – unusually lithe and natty, a “dead ringer” I am told for a Turkish movie star – tells me I remind him of his grandfather. I’m at first taken aback, ready to protest – “I’m much too young,” I think. When I look again and see the sweetness of his face, the tears in his eyes, I am aware of the foolishness of my reaction, and accept the honor he is giving me.
Each day the nature that remains free from overcrowding, the destruction of artillery shells and fear of Israeli patrols appears, vital and hopeful, in mental imagery, check-ins and reminiscences. In the drawings participants make of “how I want to be” and “how I will achieve it,” there are palm trees with ladders- steps to a more hopeful future- leading upward; small patches of green issue gracious invitations; many colored flowers represent “all the brightness of experience;” birds of free thought and feeling fly at the top of pages; the sun warms tired heads and softens hunched, burdened shoulders. Often the sea that borders Gaza appears, deep and ever present, calming troubled minds.
Here’s another video update of our 2009 Gaza Advanced Training Program (ATP)! You’ll see another technique we use, chaotic breathing, a form of very “active meditation” illustrated at minute :37. You’ll also see the introduction to the “fishbowl,” in which we demonstrate to the trainees the small group model, at 1:24. (Small mind-body skills groups meet privately, so this demonstration during training is the best way we’ve found to show the health and mental health professionals attending how to lead their own groups.) | <urn:uuid:4532b94e-ac3c-4dc6-8ab6-9fdd74b4d7c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://cmbm.org/tag/mideast/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967967 | 3,210 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Keith Ward's Why There Almost Certainly Is a God (Lion 2008) is a splendid book, a book of almost Pythonesque silliness. It is, as its subtitle says, a textual means of 'doubting Dawkins'. And since Ward is a former Professor of Philosophy from London, and is now Regius Professor of Theology at Oxford, I like to believe that he intends the whole thing as a joke: a confection of god-of-the-gaps and appeals-to-authority, mixed in with some marvellously stretched-out nitpicking and point-missing where Dawkins is concerned. God-of-the-gaps? There are, Ward asserts, two games in town: spiritualism or materialism. The latter won't do. Why?
We are no longer very sure what 'matter' is. Is it quarks, or superstrings, or dark energy, or the result of quantum fluctuations in a vacuum? It is certainly not, as the ancient Greek materialist Democritus thought, lumps of hard solid stuff -- invisible atoms -- bumping into one another and forming complicated conglomerations that we call people. It seems to me that this depends upon what we mean by 'hard', 'solid' and 'stuff'; but Ward is happy that he has herein completely demolished materialism as a viable philosophical position.
What is the point of being a materialist when we are not sure exactly what matter is? Parody doesn't get any sharper than this! Brilliant stuff. (Since not even Ward can claim wholly to comprehend the deity he worships, he is beautifully finessing the obvious 'What is the point of being a theist when we are not sure exactly what theos is?')
There's more: he says that his decision to get up in the morning and write Why There Almost Certainly Is a God, rather than (say) stay in bed or have a cup of coffee, cannot be explained by science. Beautiful! 'How can my talk of knowledge, desires, intentions and awareness translate into statements of physics that only relate to physical states?' There are many rhetorical questions like this in the book; and Ward is aware that some scientists have set out to answer them; so although sometimes he's happy to leave his questions hanging, from time to time he fleshes out answers. Now, one book I personally admire very much, which addresses precisely this issue (that is to say, lays out how the physics of brain chemistry underpins human behaviour) is Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained. There's the possibility that the arguments of Dennet's book could undermine Ward's splendid rhetorical question ('how can my thoughts translate into statements of physics?'), and indeed his whole book. But it's ok -- he's got that covered:
Daniel Dennett [believes] that conscious states are 'nothing more than' brain-states and brain-behaviour. Dennett wrote a book called Consciousness Explained in which he defended this radical theory. Most competent philosophers were unconvinced and privately referred to his book as 'Consciousness Explained Away' No further engagement with Dennett is needful: for any philosopher who agreed with him would, by definition, be announcing their incompetence. But Ward's appeal to authority does not stop with certain unnamed philosophers. It also includes a large number of unnamed people who all agree with him about God:
If you are thinking seriously about the God hypothesis it will be very strong evidence if a large number of people, apparently well balanced, intelligent and virtuous, feel that God has met them in the proclamation of Christ's teaching, death and resurrection. Irrefutable! There are something like 2.5 billion Christians on the planet. That fact alone proves Christianity is true. Of course, there are also 1.5 billion Muslims, but you can disregard them: they are not competent philosophers -- in private we call their religion 'Isnotlam'.
It would be nice to be more serious about the arguments Ward puts forward, but, really, it's difficult to see how. The main spine of the book's thesis is the appeal to 'personal explanation': that human consciousness cannot be explained by science and must therefore be grounded in a primary, infinite, divine consciousness. His 'two big' objections to Dawkins are: 'the irreducible existence of consciousness' and 'the irreducible nature of personal explanation'. As to the first, it seems to me that nobody who has observed a loved-one diminish under the effects of Alzheimer's disease could ever genuinely claim that human consciousness can never be reduced. (Ward means 'reduced to scientific explanation', but the point holds, I think: if consciousness is a function of brain activity as Dennett says, then deterioration in the material capacity of the brain through disease or illness would lead to deterioration in the consciousness of the individual concerned. Which is precisely what we see). And when it comes to his second question, I'd say Ward uses 'irreducible' when he means 'distinctive'. And anyway, the 'irreducible nature of personal explanation' has no bearing on the larger question. That's not only my view, incidentally: it's also Ward's: 'what human beings can imagine or picture to themselves is not a reliable guide to the ultimate nature of reality' . | <urn:uuid:f3828910-e9d7-4425-8c59-933d2fc67a17> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://punkadiddle.blogspot.com/2011/12/keith-ward-why-there-almost-certainly.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961698 | 1,092 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Niels Otto RAASTED (1888-1966)
Sonata for solo violin, Op. 30 No. 1 [12:59]
Sonata for solo violin, Op. 30 No. 2 [13:26]
Sonata for solo violin, Op. 18 No. 1 [14:26]
Sonata for solo violin, Op. 18 No. 2 [12:52]
Sonata for solo violin, Op. 18 No. 3 [12:29]
Johannes Søe Hansen (violin)
rec. 23-25 February 2010, Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen, Denmark
DACAPO 6.220563 [66:12]
When I first received this CD, I had never heard of Niels Otto Raasted. When they first received the CD, retailers MDT and Presto Classical had never heard of him either; indeed, Raasted’s last appearance on disc was in 1997, when the Kontrapunkt label included one of his works on a “Danish Organ Music” album. Violinist Johannes Søe Hansen personally dug up the manuscripts to these solo violin sonatas in a Danish library, so this is about as little-known as little-known music gets. And yet Raasted’s solo violin sonatas are in fact modeled on some of the best-known music ever written: Bach’s violin sonatas and partitas.
Niels Otto Raasted, according to the informative and well-written booklet, was sent to Germany by his parents in order to undertake an apprenticeship as a goldsmith. He returned home with a degree in organ performance, a letter of recommendation from one of the world’s most prominent organists (Karl Straube), and lesson notes from composition study with Max Reger. He then settled in to a very long career as one of Denmark’s premier organists, presiding over the instrument at Copenhagen Cathedral for over thirty years and, in addition to regular performance, composing chorales and hymns.
In the early years of that career, though, before taking up the prestigious Copenhagen job, Raasted wrote for other instruments too; the booklet mentions three symphonies, and the CD itself presents for our inspection five sonatas for solo violin, written in 1918 and 1921. None have been recorded before. All are deeply indebted to Bach and Reger, and all impress with their sincerity and musicality, even if they do not strike me as inspired.
Some are more derivative than others. There is a D minor set that ends with a chaconne, for instance, and the chaconne is a slavish but short imitation of Bach’s. In fact all of the sonatas bear the stamp of Bach, the technical challenges of whose sonatas and partitas are never really exceeded, and of Reger, the emotional plainness of whose studies is omnipresent. That is not entirely fair: the finale of Op 18 No 1 is a recognizably cheery little air, the fugue in Op 18 No 2 is very dramatically constructed, and the pizzicato scherzo of Op 30 No 2 is a delight and a dramatic contrast with the emphatic finale. Op 30 No 2, in A minor, is the standout sonata in the group. But generally Raasted seems to be aiming for a sense of dignity, confidence, and majesty, rather than the emotional volatility of Ysaÿe’s roughly contemporaneous solo sonatas.
The problem Raasted faced when modeling these works on Bach is obvious: in any game of comparisons, Bach will always win. The Dane appears to have known this to some degree. The Raasted works are intentionally modest in dimensions (the longest, fourteen minutes), fairly modest in emotional scope and impact, and humble in their demands on the listener. It feels cruel to say that this music is similarly modest in its interest, but I do not know how else to put it. Johannes Søe Hansen plays with devotion and full technical command, but he might indulge Raasted’s solemn, buttoned-down conservatism a little too much. Or perhaps he found it impossible to escape, and is simply communicating the music’s solid construction as clearly as he can. The sound is good but a bit reverberant, which enhances the music’s own churchlike aesthetic.
So what is the appeal of this music? It is composed with craft, sincerity, and formal rectitude; that much is certain. Whether it is enjoyable is a question in answer to which individual listeners will differ. While in the British Library recently I read a sermon given in 1699, to a Society of Lovers of Musick, by William Sherlock, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. Sherlock told the Musick Lovers (I have normalized capitalization for ease of reading), “A grave, serious mind, which is the temper of devotion, is disturbed by light and airy compositions, which disperse the thoughts, and give a gay and frisking motion to the spirits, and call the mind off from the praises of God, to attend meerly [sic] to the agreeable variety of sounds, which is all that can be expected from such sounds as have nothing of devotion in them ... I thank God, the ordinary service of our Church is very grave and solemn, and well fitted to devotion.” William Sherlock would have liked to meet Niels Otto Raasted.
Intelligent sonatas to be respected, but not necessarily enjoyed. | <urn:uuid:99809e26-369f-4819-9d33-baa898bc57c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/DEC10/Raasted_Sonatas_6220563p.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954468 | 1,152 | 1.507813 | 2 |
Last weekend, the magazine published my article with the print headline, “If They Build It, Will the Kardashians Come?” The story, about Baku’s ambition to become a new hub for the global 1 percent, focuses on Khazar Islands, a $100 billion megadevelopment being built on the Caspian, and the headline flicks at the development’s target audience — celebrities and, mainly, people who want to be celebrities — while touching on the unavoidable globalizing and liberalizing effect this sort of project will have.
Some readers, however, took issue with the headline. After all, Kim Kardashian claims Armenian heritage, and the Azeris and Armenians have a particularly complicated relationship. (It has been barely 20 years since they were killing each other over Nagorno-Karabakh.) The question was raised, quite literally: even if she wanted to, could Kim Kardashian actually come to Baku?
One one level, if Baku has any shot at becoming the city it wants to be, there are going to be Armenians there. Anyway, Armenians are scheduled to compete in the 2015 European Games, which Baku is hosting. If Baku’s bid for the 2024 Olympic Games prevails, there will probably be Armenians there, too. There will be Armenian race-car drivers who compete at the Formula One race track planned for Khazar Islands, and there will be Armenian musicians who play at its symphony hall, and there will probably be Armenian investors who see the value in building a big, flashy development on the Caspian. Kim Kardashian may even swing through to promote her new line of pumps or clutches or skin scents or whatever. This is on top of the 30,000 Armenians, according to Kenan Guluzade, the former head of marketing for Khazar Islands, who live in Baku. | <urn:uuid:71d2e3e6-a732-4912-acd6-9103a87939d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/baku-azerbaijan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951563 | 387 | 1.554688 | 2 |
If I could make one suggestion to Mark Reynolds, or anyone else listening, it would be to find a “go to” approach. In golf, the great ones have a swing and ball shape that they go to under pressure. It’s a swing they know will keep the ball in play. In baseball, there are at-bats where contact is paramount. At-bats where a strikeout fails to advance runners, kills a rally, leaves a runner on third, stops momentum and brings down the crowd. A contact or “go to” stroke is the answer. At the end of the year, tracking contact in those at-bats would show a high percentage of times the team benefited. That, in itself, should be enough motivation.
Mark Reynolds and any other high K guy could choke up, spread out and just center the ball, and they’d hit 50 home runs and around .300 in today’s game.
Eventually they will, like John Daly in golf. When he gets older, loses his length and ego that goes with it, he’ll learn to play a simpler, more rewarding game. When hitters understand that a shorter, less violent, level swing increases contact, when they realize that more contact means more production, more consistency, and more wins, they’ll change.
It took me 13 years to see the light, make those changes and become “dangerous” and “good.” Why should they wait that long? Take it from me and my buddies: Sometimes a single is harder to hit than a home run! | <urn:uuid:fcfa0e9b-a4a7-450f-8213-f7e3f9c93f69> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/newsstand/discussion/mike_schmidt_free_swinging_sluggers_should_shorten_up_to_cut_down_on_strike | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959915 | 330 | 1.515625 | 2 |
By Grant Bissell
St. Louis (KSDK) - 'Tis the season for rip-offs, especially when it comes to gift cards.
Gift cards are a $100 million business, and scammers know it.
The latest scheme involves stealing gift card numbers before the cards are even bought.
Conmen will visit a store and write down the numbers on the back of gift cards. Then they'll wait until the cards are activated and start shopping online with your money.
The best way to protect yourself is to buy a card from behind the counter, if possible.
The Better Business Bureau also has suggestions on how to make a safe purchase.
"If you're buying a gift card on the computer make sure you're doing it through a secure site to protect your credit card information. And make sure that you use a credit card to buy the gift card so that if there is a problem with the gift card after you send it you can challenge it and get the money back from your credit card company," said Chris Thetford with the St. Louis BBB.
Remember, while gift card laws have changed recently, you still need to check for hidden fees and expiration dates.
And if all of this has you nervous about gift cards, you can always give cash or a check instead. | <urn:uuid:6c4df636-982d-4313-b13c-509e58a16eb8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ksdk.com/money/article/350621/5/Gift-cards-vulnerable-to-scammers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954952 | 269 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Federal agencies are offering two new grant opportunities for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. US EPA will fund feasibility studies for renewable energy developments on brownfields or other contaminated properties. Local governments are eligible grant recipients. Applications are due May 20. The Department of Agriculture is offering grants and loans to rural small business owners and agricultural producers for energy efficiency or renewable energy projects through its Rural Energy for America Program. Applications for the next round of grants are due June 15.
Luke Forrest is Project Coordinator for the Center for 21st Century Communities. Contact him at email@example.com or 734-669-6323. | <urn:uuid:45c82d04-817e-4b47-a305-bcb12ef4ec13> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mml.org/resources/21c3/post/2011/04/27/Two-New-Federal-Energy-Grant-Opportunities.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927822 | 126 | 1.695313 | 2 |
Tyler Cowen raises more questions than he answers in Fast Company:
The traditional gauge of economic success is profit, but over time we’ll find that such statistics as measures of GDP tell us less and less about broader efforts to improve human well-being. Much of the Web’s value is experienced at the personal level and does not show up in productivity numbers. Buying $2 worth of bananas boosts GDP; having $20 worth of fun on the Web does not. And this effect is a big one. Each day more enjoyment, more social connection, and, indeed, more contemplation are produced on the Web than had been imagined even 10 years ago. But how do we measure those things?
This is not necessarily new. Having $20 worth of fun by reading a library book, or running down a hill, or visiting the Tate Gallery, doesn’t boost GDP much either. So I guess my question for Tyler is this: are you saying that the web has increased the amount of fun that people can have without spending money, or at least has increased the nation’s aggregate fun-to-spending ratio? Are you saying that the correlation between aggregate fun and GDP used to be stronger than it is now, thanks to the advent of the web? And if so, are you implying that policymakers should be concentrating on new aggregates, such as some kind of Gross National Happiness measure, since GDP is proving an increasingly bad proxy for such things?
Of course, determining whether the fun-to-GDP ratio is improving requires coming up with some independently quantifiable measure of aggregate fun, which seems pretty hard. Maybe as an interim measure, before we get there, we should start thinking about Joe Stiglitz’s concept of green net national product. Maybe that would be more correlated to fun than GDP. | <urn:uuid:65a943cb-7e9c-4a8e-b23c-fd754236b72e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/06/25/measuring-fun/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960028 | 374 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Photo: Oxmoor House
SEASON: Although available year-round, spring and fall are the peak seasons.
CHOOSING: Select leaves that are green and smell fresh, with no water-soaked, wilted, or yellowed patches.
STORING: Store spinach in a produce bag in the refrigerator for three to seven days.
GROWING: Spinach is a relatively quick crop, needing only five to six weeks from the time seeds are sown until harvest. Select a sunny bed and prepare the soil by working in plenty of compost.
The low-growing spinach lends itself to planting in a bed. (A 2- to 3-foot-wide row that can be worked from one side or the other is ideal.) Level the dirt with a rake, and scatter seeds thinly across the bed. Then rake again to cover the seeds. Water to settle seeds and soil into place. Seedlings will begin to appear in about a week. Thin as needed, and be sure to toss the leaves into your next salad.
Plant spinach seeds in the spring about a month before the last frost. For a fall garden, sow seeds one to two months before the first expected frost. The fall spinach will stop growing once the weather gets cold, but with a little protection from mulch, it will live and provide fresh greens in mild winters and the next spring.
Harvest spinach by pinching off the outer leaves, allowing the plant to remain in the garden to grow. Keeping a layer of mulch around plants will help keep soil from splashing onto the leaves when it rains.
HISTORY: This popular leafy green originated in the Middle East and was eventually brought to the United States by the Spaniards. Popeye the sailor is known for his love of the iron-rich, vitamin-packed food. The cartoon hero was credited with saving the spinach industry in the 1930s, so much so that Crystal City, TX―self-proclaimed spinach capital of the world―erected a statue in his honor.
APPEARANCE: You will find its dark green leaves to be either curled or smooth, depending on the variety. The New Zealand variety is smaller, with flat, fuzzy, spade-shaped leaves. Spinach tends to have a slightly bitter taste.
EATING: There is a variety of ways to enjoy this great vegetable. It can be served raw in a fresh, crisp salad or cooked (try boiling, sautéing, or blanching). For fullest flavor, cook only until it begins to turn limp. It also works well as an ingredient in casseroles, quiches, soups, and other concoctions. Dishes that use spinach as a main ingredient may be followed by the phrase a la florentine.
BENEFITS: Spinach is a rich source of vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, and potassium. However, its nutritional value is somewhat inhibited by the oxalic acid it contains, which may curtail the absorption of calcium and iron. While this does not affect calcium absorption from other foods cooked with spinach, you may want to get your calcium from additional sources. –Cindy Hatcher | <urn:uuid:6630514e-3b01-460a-b92b-ab9852ffcf9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/essential-ingredients/spinach-00400000001220/print-index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946063 | 655 | 2.515625 | 3 |
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Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.
Teacher Resources by Grade
|1st - 2nd||3rd - 4th|
|5th - 6th||7th - 8th|
|9th - 10th||11th - 12th|
A Biography Study: Using Role-Play to Explore Authors' Lives
|Grades||9 – 12|
|Lesson Plan Type||Standard Lesson|
|Estimated Time||Seven to ten 50-minute sessions|
Dramatizing life stories provides students with an engaging way to become more critical readers and researchers. In this lesson, students select American authors to research, create timelines and biopoems, and then collaborate on teams to design and perform a panel presentation in which they role-play as their authors. The final project requires each student to synthesize information about his or her author in an essay.
ReadWriteThink Timeline Tool: This interactive tool can be used with any lesson requiring students to create a timeline.
K-W-L-S Chart: Students can use this chart to help guide their inquiry process in a variety of different lesson types.
Erb, S., & Moore, N. (2003). A taste of Chautauqua: Historical investigation and oral presentation. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 47(2), 168-175.
- Role-play is one technique that has the potential to generate excitement and engagement as students explore the past.
- The process of studying a person's life story and performing as if one were that person is rooted in the institution of Chautauqua. The Chautauqua institution began as an adult education movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
- The role-playing technique used in this lesson is an excellent introduction to Chautauquan tradition, as it uses a similar, but less arduous process of historical investigation and presentation of biography.
Daisey, P. (1996). Promoting literacy in secondary content area classrooms with biography projects. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 40(4), 270-278.
- Biographies can provide role models for learning new attitudes and behaviors. They can help promote an appreciation of diversity, giving students a renewed inspiration to promote equality and justice.
- Biographies provide an interesting way to practice interpreting data for biases, embellishments, or deletions. Students learn to assess the quality of a biography by noting if it has sufficient and trustworthy references, a balanced portrayal of the subject, and an explicit identification of which parts are true and which parts are fictionalized. | <urn:uuid:29d8dfd1-1315-49e4-bce3-cdaa571814bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/biography-study-using-role-398.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901276 | 604 | 3.796875 | 4 |
Tarek Mehanna: Criminalized for Doing the Right Thing
Tarek Mehanna: Criminalized for Doing the Right Thing - by Stephen Lendman
Post-9/11, the Bush administration declared war on terror. It was sham cover for eroding personal freedoms and waging war on humanity.
Muslims became prime targets. They've been victimized, vilified, and persecuted for their faith, ethnicity, prominence, activism, and charity.
They've been hunted down, rounded up, held in detention, kept in isolation, denied bail, restricted in their right to counsel, tried on secret evidence, convicted on bogus charges, and given long sentences.
They've been incarcerated in segregated Communication Management Units (CMUs). Doing so violates US Prison Bureau regulations and the Supreme Court's February 2005 Johnson v. California decision.
They're political prisoners, not criminals. Based on scoundrel media reports, you'd never know it. They're complicit supporters of state terror.
On October 21, 2009, Mehanna was wrongfully and maliciously charged with "conspir(ing) with Ahmad Abousamra and others to provide material support and resources for use in carrying out a conspiracy to kill, kidnap, main or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country and extraterritorial homicide of a US national."
No evidence whatever proved it. Nonetheless, he was accused of conspiring with others "to participate in violent jihad against American interests and that they would talk about fighting jihad and their desire to die on the battlefield."
False charges also claimed they "attempted to radicalize others and inspire each other by, among other things, watching and distributing jihadi videos."
In fact, there was no plot, no crime, no intent to commit one, and no evidence proving otherwise. He was targeted for posting pro-jihadist material online. According to Massachusetts ACLU education director Nancy Murray:
"It might be speech that horrifies people, but it's the nature of the First Amendment to protect that speech, unless it's leading to imminent lawless action."
No matter. On June 24, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled nonviolent speech and advocacy "coordinated with (or) under the direction of" foreign terrorist groups illegal.
In other words, lawful nonviolent political advocacy, peace conference participation, human rights advocacy training, related legal services and advice, as well as donating cash and humanitarian aid may be unconstitutionally used to convict.
In its 6 - 3 ruling, doing so the Court said violated the Patriot Act prohibition against providing material support to groups designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.
In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the High Court ruled government can't punish inflammatory speech unless directed to incite lawless action.
In Texas v. Johnson (1989), Justice William Brennan wrote the majority opinion, saying:
"(I)f there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable."
Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall added:
"Above all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression (regardless of its) ideas…subject matter (or) content….Our people are guaranteed the right to express any thought, free from government censorship."
Today's High Court has no Brennans or Marshalls. Attornies General like Ramsey Clark no longer exist.
No wonder Mehanna was convicted. "Secret evidence," unavailable to defense attorneys, was elaborately manipulated to do it. Justice was nowhere in sight. First Amendment rights don't matter. Without them all others are at risk.
Already gravely eroded, they're perilously close to disappearing all together. America's on a slippery slope to tyranny. Freedom hangs by a thread. Anyone challenging state power is vulnerable. Constitutional protections don't apply.
Intimidated juries most always go along with prosecutors. On December 20, Mehanna was found guilty on seven counts of "conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, conspiring to kill in a foreign country, and of lying to authorities in a terrorism investigation."
Obama got another trophy. Unpopular views may be criminalized.
On April 12, sentencing was pronounced. An FBI Boston Division announced it, saying:
"A Sudbury, Massachusetts man who was convicted last year on charges that he conspired to kill Americans was sentenced today to 17.5 years in federal prison."
"US District Court Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. sentenced Tarek Mehanna, 29, to 210 months, to be followed by seven years of supervised release."
"Mehanna was convicted of conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda, providing material support to terrorists (and conspiracy to do so), conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, conspiracy to make false statements to the FBI, and two counts of making false statements."
Last December, the ACLU of Massachusetts condemned the conviction, saying it "undermine(d) the First Amendment and threaten(ed) national security."
"Under the government's theory of the case, ordinary people - including writers and journalists, academic researchers, translators, and even ordinary web surfers - could be prosecuted for researching or translating controversial and unpopular ideas. If the verdict is not overturned on appeal, the First Amendment will be seriously compromised."
On April 13, the Boston Globe reported Mehanna's father, Ahmed, expressing outrage about his conviction. He said it shows America is more repressive than the Egyptian government he grew up under decades earlier.
Mehanna's support committee issued a statement, saying:
"This isn't over....This is bigger than Tarek and it's bigger than his family. It affects all of you reading this....Tarek, we stand with you, helping to bear" up against state oppression. "When we share our struggle, we are never alone."
Those who know Mehanna call him "humble, reserved, warm, compassionate, intelligent, charismatic, well-read, and dedicated." He challenges injustice, advocates for Muslim prisoners, and helps people in need.
No matter. He'll spend the next 17.5 years in prison for doing the right thing. Obama prosecutors call it terrorism or conspiracy to commit it. It's the wrong time to be Muslim in America. Moreover, we're all as vulnerable as Tarek.
Mehanna's Sentencing Statement
"I learned about the American-led sanctions that prevented food, medicine, and medical equipment from entering Iraq, and how – according to the United Nations – over half a million children perished as a result."
"I remember a clip from a ’60 Minutes‘ interview of Madeline Albright where she expressed her view that these dead children were 'worth it.' I watched on September 11th as a group of people felt driven to hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings from their outrage at the deaths of these children."
"I watched as America then attacked and invaded Iraq directly. I saw the effects of shock and awe in the opening day of the invasion – the children in hospital wards with shrapnel from American missiles sticking but of their foreheads."
"I learned about the town of Haditha, where 24 Muslims – including a 76-year old man in a wheelchair, women, and even toddlers – were shot up and blown up in their bedclothes as the slept by US Marines. I learned about Abeer al-Janabi, a fourteen-year old Iraqi girl gang-raped by five American soldiers, who then shot her and her family in the head, then set fire to their corpses."
"I just want to point out, as you can see, Muslim women don’t even show their hair to unrelated men. So try to imagine this young girl from a conservative village with her dress torn off, being sexually assaulted by not one, not two, not three, not four, but five soldiers."
"Even today, as I sit in my jail cell, I read about the drone strikes which continue to kill Muslims daily in places like Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen. Just last month, we all heard about the seventeen Afghan Muslims – mostly mothers and their kids – shot to death by an American soldier, who also set fire to their corpses."
I mentioned Paul Revere – when he went on his midnight ride, it was for the purpose of warning the people that the British were marching to Lexington to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock, then on to Concord to confiscate the weapons stored there by the Minuteman."
By the time they got to Concord, they found the Minuteman waiting for them, weapons in hand. They fired at the British, fought them, and beat them. From that battle came the American Revolution. There’s an Arabic word to describe what those Minutemen did that day. That word is: JIHAD, and this is what my trial was about."
"All those videos and translations and childish bickering over ‘Oh, he translated this paragraph’ and ‘Oh, he edited that sentence,’ and all those exhibits revolved around a single issue: Muslims who were defending themselves against American soldiers doing to them exactly what the British did to America."
"It was made crystal clear at trial that I never, ever plotted to 'kill Americans' at shopping malls or whatever the story was. The government’s own witnesses contradicted this claim, and we put expert after expert up on that stand, who spent hours dissecting my every written word, who explained my beliefs."
"Further, when I was free, the government sent an undercover agent to prod me into one of their little 'terror plots,' but I refused to participate. Mysteriously, however, the jury never heard this."
A Final Comment
Tarek reflects the best of what America should be, but never was and isn't now. He'll suffer in prison. So do thousands of others wrongfully convicted. America's gulag is notorious. It's the world's largest by far.
It's the shame of the nation. It reflects repression, not justice. Those most vulnerable are victimized. Muslims are target one.
What kind of society criminalizes praying to the wrong God? What's ahead if public rage won't challenge it? Imagine the worst because it's coming.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org. Also visit his blog site at www.sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. | <urn:uuid:3b841e75-ab09-4175-8cae-bf348112d3f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mostlywater.org/tarek_mehanna_criminalized_doing_right_thing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96452 | 2,214 | 1.53125 | 2 |
This is a picture of the shadow cast by a single atom, captured by scientists for the first time. How did they do it? Science. Ooooooooor drew straws and the shortest had to sell their soul to the devil. Not worth it, bro!
To get this to work, an atom of Ytterbium was cooled down to just a few thousandths of a degree above absolute zero in an ion trap. An illumination source was shined onto the atom, and on the other side of it was a fresnel lens that captured and focused all of the light that made it past the atom. The light that didn't make it past (that the atom absorbed) was what created that perfect little atom-sized shadow.
Pretty neat, right? But you know what the most interesting result of the experiment is? Now we know atoms aren't vampires. I don't know about you, but I know I'm gonna be sleeping like a baby tonight. "Because of this?" No, because I just took a handful of Ambien, YES BECAUSE OF THIS.
Hit the jump for a picture of the setup.
Thanks to shannon and Cpt Amazing, one of which tried to tell me it looks like a nipple (it was Cpt Amazing, I don't think he's ever seen one). | <urn:uuid:956f31e2-d925-426a-9db6-9a9583d0b2d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.geekologie.com/2012/07/grainy-an-atoms-shadow-spotted-for-the-f.php | 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 | 0.98027 | 272 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Getting It Wrong On School Choice
Guest column by George Mitchell.
During the last year, three different reports have claimed to compare the academic achievement of students in the Milwaukee Public Schools with students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.
Two conclude, erroneously, that MPS students outperform students in the choice program.
The third reaches far different conclusions.
Two of the three, from Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and the Milwaukee-based Public Policy Forum (PPF), used deeply flawed methods to conclude that MPS students outperform those in the choice program. Page one stories in the Journal Sentinel validated these erroneous reports. The paper compounded the errors by wrongly suggesting that the DPI and PPF data allow individual schools to be evaluated.
The third report comes from the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) at the University of Arkansas and is based on rigorous methods. Its reports, including several issued today, draw starkly different conclusions from those advanced by DPI, PPF, and Journal Sentinel news stories.
Responding to widespread attention generated by the DPI and PPF reports, the experts at the University of Arkansas refute the validity of those reports and demonstrate why they provide neither a basis for comparing MPS and Milwaukee’s school choice programs nor for evaluating individual schools.
SCDP researchers constitute the nation’s most knowledgeable scholars in the evaluation of school choice programs. The SCDP director, Patrick Wolf, and his team have more experience than any other researchers in navigating and surmounting the challenges associated with studying school choice programs. Their extensive scholarship has been published in multiple academic journals. The respected periodical Education Week recently published an extensive list of high quality, peer-reviewed research on school choice issues. SCDP scholars were responsible for, or are cited in, much of this research.
In short, the SCDP researchers know what they are talking about. Their credentials overwhelm those who issued the DPI and PPF reports. For reasons that defy explanation, the Journal Sentinel newsroom effectively has given the benefit of the doubt to DPI and PPF. Even though the newspaper is well aware of the methodological issues and pitfalls, it has failed to highlight the serious flaws in both reports.
For example, relying on the DPI report, the Journal Sentinel said, “Students in Milwaukee's school choice program performed worse than or about the same as students in Milwaukee Public Schools in math and reading on the latest statewide test, according to results released Tuesday that provided the first apples-to-apples achievement comparison between public and individual voucher schools [emphasis added].” The paper published this story while in possession of SCDP reports that reached different conclusions and highlighted flaws in the kind of “comparison” DPI presented.
Reporting on the more recent PPF study, the Journal Sentinel said, “Overall, voucher students did not score higher than MPS students in either reading or math.” This reflected language in the PPF study itself, namely, “On the aggregate, a smaller percentage of voucher students earned proficient scores in reading and math than did Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) students…At no grade level did voucher students, on the whole, out-perform MPS students in either reading or math.”
Thus, news reports about the DPI and PPF reports were unambiguous: MPS students outperformed students in the MPCP. As a consequence, that message appeared in news reports around the country. In the shorthand of journalism, the consistent theme is that “state studies” in Wisconsin showed public school students outperforming those in Milwaukee’s “voucher program.”
In its report on the PPF study the Journal Sentinel gave the last word to an opponent of the Milwaukee choice program: “Critics…argue [that] students in the voucher program haven't shown better overall results than their peers in MPS. Bob Peterson, president of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, points to voucher students' failure to top MPS students' reading and math scores.” There was no mention in this story of SCDP research nor was there an effort to contact SCDP for comment.
In a report issued today, the SCDP director, Professor Patrick Wolf, specifically warns against relying on “snapshot comparisons” based on one year of data. He cites the 2011 DPI report and the 2012 PPF report as examples of how not to interpret data.
SCDP cautions about misinterpreting data go back more than a year. Yet DPI, the PPF, and the Journal Sentinel directly ignore the SCDP warnings.
The shortcomings in the PPF report are particularly stunning. The report’s author served on an advisory team to the SCDP research project. Despite her unique exposure to deliberations on research methods and pitfalls, she has authored a report that is a textbook collection of errors.
As for the Journal Sentinel, the SCDP effectively refutes its claim that the 2011 DPI study was an “apples-to-apples comparison.” The paper’s uncritical validation of the recent PPF comparison underscores a failure to report carefully and use standards with which the paper should be completely familiar. Indeed, more than fifteen years ago a Milwaukee Journal editorial called for the application of “peer reviewed” research techniques to sort through and clarify an early controversy about school choice results. The more recent reporting in the Journal Sentinel consigns that earlier call for high standards to the dustbin.
As for conclusions based on sound social science, the newly released SCDP analyses flatly contradict the DPI and PPF conclusions. For example:
“When similar MPCP and MPS students are matched and tracked over four years, the achievement growth of MPCP students compared to MPS students is higher in reading [and] similar in math.”
“Enrolling in a private high school through MPCP increases the likelihood of a student graduating from high school, enrolling in a four-year college, and persisting in college by 4-7 percentage points.”
These and many other positive conclusions regarding the MPCP reflect the use by SCDP scholars of a rigorous comparison of similar students, something that the one-year DPI and PPF snapshots don’t provide.
It remains to be seen if the Public Policy Forum will correct the record. That would seem unlikely, given that its lead researcher put on blinders and effectively disregarded some of the nation’s leading education scholars.
And DPI? Don’t hold your breath. Its head says the expansion of school choice is “immoral.”
What about the Journal Sentinel? Responding to today’s release of SCDP reports, it is unrepentant. It says the new information “casts the program in a slightly more favorable light.” The words “slightly more” substitute for the more accurate “significantly different.”
Instead of explaining the SCDP’s use of a more rigorous method than used by DPI or PPF, the paper reports that SCDP used a “smaller” sample that did not include “all” students. The “smaller” vs. “all” phrasing will mislead readers. The correct description of the SCDP sample would be “better” and “more rigorous.” Eschewing plain English, the paper instead says the SCDP used a “complex statistical methodology based on growth models.” To cap things off, the paper quotes the president of the Milwaukee teachers’ union as being critical of SCDP methods. His credentials for disputing the SCDP work are nil.
The paper makes no mention of SCDP’s explanation of flaws in the DPI and PPF data and methods. The SCDP analysis and refutation of those studies fundamentally undercut the paper’s earlier validation of the DPI and PPF reports.
George Stanley, the Journal Sentinel’s Managing Editor, is fond of saying the paper’s only job is to “go where the facts take us.” Unless, that is, it means admitting a mistake and setting the record straight. | <urn:uuid:e82bacc8-6558-4c81-87c6-815610e9101b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.620wtmj.com/blogs/charliesykes/140483613.html?viewAll=1&viewAll=1&action=quotecomment&cid=82376812&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945774 | 1,709 | 1.914063 | 2 |
Sony unveils PlayStation 4: what do we know so far?
Sony has confirmed widespread rumours by unveiling its next-generation gaming console the PlayStation 4.
At an event in New York the Japanese electronics giant announced its latest device, which will eventually compete against Microsoft's yet-to-be-unveiled Xbox 360 successor and Nintendo's Wii U.
Boasting a fast new system and an updated controller set to give the gamer a tighter sense of control, Sony claims the PS4 will enable seamless access to gaming.
But the high-powered event was arguably as interesting for what it didn’t cover as what it did. Guests weren’t told a price or a firm date, and didn't actually see the device itself.
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So what is the PS4 all about and what features will it include? We recap on what we know so far:
The unveiling of the PS4 confirms widespread rumours. The eagerly-anticipated device will succeed the PlayStation 3, which went on sale in 2006.
It is the Japanese electronics giant's first major game machine since the PS3.
The announcement took place at an event in New York, streamed around the world.
What features does the PS4 boast?
Sony described the PS4 as being like a “supercharged” PC. It runs off an x86-based CPU (central processing unit) - similar construction to that found in most desktop computers - and an "enhanced" PC GPU (graphics processing unit).
PS4 system architect Mark Cerny said the fast new system will have a 8 gigabytes of memory and an updated controller called the DualShock 4.
The controller has a touchpad, a headphone socket, a “share button” and a light bar which can be tracked by a camera to detect where the player is. The new pad will give the user a tighter sense of control, Cerny said.
The console also contains new hardware dedicated to video compression to make it a more social device.
Users will be able to pause a game, select a few minutes of recorded video of their most recent activity, and instruct the clip to be uploaded to a social network.
This will then occur in the background while they can return to their game. Sony said it wanted to make sharing video clips as common as it is today to share screenshots.
The PS4's system architect Mark Cerny outlines the DualShock 4 controller here:
And it seems Sony believes two heads are better than one - gamers will be able to allow one of their friends connect to their machine and take control of their character to help if they have got stuck, or allow several friends to watch their live progress as spectators.
This facility uses technology from Gaika, a company snapped up by Sony in 2012.
IGN News sums up the PS4’s features here:
How much will the PS4 cost to buy?
Sony did not announce how much the new device will cost to buy. It might provide details at E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles in June.
When will the PS4 go on sale?
Sony said the console was "coming holiday 2013" suggesting it will go on sale in at least some countries in or around December.
What didn’t Sony tell us?
Sony left much up to the imagination. The gaming giant did not give any indication of its price nor did it show what the console would look like.
There was no mention of whether the console would support 4K - or ultra-high definition - video. However, Sony told the BBC it would have more to say on this "at the appropriate moment".
There was also no mention of what plans the company had regarding films, music, television shows and other digital content offered on the PS4.
How has the industry reacted to the announcement?
The social aspect of the PS4 has been met with praise from many industry experts. Stephen Totilo, editor of the gaming site Kotaku, told the BBC: “To be able to capture video of what you play while you play and share that with people brings console gaming closer to the cutting edge of modern gaming on a PC.
“This system seems smarter and more connected - it doesn't seem like a dinosaur.”
Meanwhile the Guardian reports “the PlayStation 4 has a better chance of achieving early profitability than its predecessor – whereas the PS3 had a custom, Sony-manufactured processor called the Cell (which attracted criticism from developers for being difficult to program), the PlayStation 4 uses more off-the-shelf components similar to those found in PCs (an approach Microsoft has always taken with its consoles).”
Many were bemused by Sony’s decision not to show the device itself. Following the New York event, Wired reported: “As we’ve learned from previous PlayStation announcements, talk is the cheapest thing there is.
“And that’s basically what Sony did today: It espoused a philosophy, said the names of a lot of popular games, but didn’t give us any real concrete information in an age where it’s more important than ever.”
Meanwhile Cnet wrote: “The PS4 looks like it's long on promises and big-picture dreaming, but currently short on clear, concrete reasons why anyone would be tempted to buy one.”
Gartner consumer technologies research director Brian Blau referred to the PS4 as evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
Meanwhile ratings agency Fitch said the PS4 was "unlikely to be Sony's saviour”.
Sony shares fell in the wake of the presentation, ending down 1.77 percent at 1,331 yen on Tokyo's Nikkei index. | <urn:uuid:4b927b67-bf6b-4abb-81b4-594a98e8ea2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Sony-unveils-PlayStation-4-know-far/story-18212395-detail/story.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960084 | 1,221 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Deep in Siberia
Siberia's Lake Baikal contains more water than all five US Great Lakes combined, about 20% of the world's total, unfrozen fresh water reserve. It's also the oldest (more than 25 million years) and deepest (depending on what source you use, between 5134 and 5390 feet) lake in the world.
Fact Sheet : Lake Baikal
- Tahoe-Baikal institute
watershed education in two of the world's premier freshwater ecosystems: Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada and Lake Baikal in southern Siberia.
- Sacred sea
a journey to Lake Baikal
Last updated by curious on Dec. 17, 2009
While the Library has verified the information presented in these files in what it considers to be reliable and authoritative sources, it cannot take responsibility for nor guarantee the accuracy of the information presented. | <urn:uuid:34f75635-f948-418f-9ec5-be8c580556cb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.santacruzpl.org/kids/didyouknow/57/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902245 | 180 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Guns In America: A Loaded Relationship
Wed March 20, 2013
How To Be The Good Guy With A Gun At School
Originally published on Wed March 20, 2013 6:51 am
Ever since the Newtown, Ct., school shooting, there's been a raging debate over how to keep America's schoolchildren safe. National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre proposed stationing an armed guard in every school in the country. Critics said that idea was impractical and would be too expensive to carry out.
But many schools and school districts already have armed police officers. Since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, about one-third of the schools in the U.S. have added some kind of armed security, according to federal data.
And one such district in Stockton, Calif., a Central Valley city, has had its own experience with a school massacre.
Securing School Campuses
Stockton Unified School District Police Officer Myra Franco's black-and-white squad car is speeding toward Cleveland Elementary School. It's already on lockdown because the city police are looking for an armed suspect who was last spotted a couple of blocks from the campus.
"The description we have is a black male, around 25 years of age, wearing a black hoodie and some black sweats," says the five-year veteran. "So we're going to keep our eyes on the lookout for him. But our primary focus is to make sure that the campus is safe."
Coincidentally, Cleveland Elementary was the site of one of the country's first school mass shootings, back in 1989. A young white supremacist with a criminal history opened fire, killing five children and wounding 30 other people, including a teacher. The victims were primarily Southeast Asian refugees.
As Franco drives up and gets out of her car, the campus is completely silent. Doors locked, lights out. No one is moving around outside. The only potential hiding place is a bathroom. Franco and another officer both draw their weapons.
"Anybody in the bathroom?" Franco calls out.
Both officers move cautiously inside the bathroom, where they check each and every stall. They find no one inside, and after a few more tense minutes, Franco appears to relax. She says there's no threat on campus.
Minutes later, Franco's boss, Stockton school police Chief Jim West, arrives to get briefed on the situation.
The School Police Beat
Franco and West belong to a department of 20 police officers. It was originally established not long after the 1989 massacre at Cleveland Elementary. Today, the department keeps an eye on K-12 school campuses — 50 of them — in a city that is ranked per capita as one of the most violent in the country.
But protecting schools from external threats, like an active school shooter, is only part of the job.
Back at his office, West says much more of their time is spent protecting the students from each other.
"What you see here is a collection over a span of many years that are examples of some of the contraband that we've confiscated," says West, pointing to a glass display case outside his office. He lists knives, guns, gang paraphernalia and homemade objects.
West says that about three years ago, the district began assigning what he calls "school resource officers" to high schools, and he saw an immediate payoff. At one school, he says, violent incidents between students dropped by more than half.
"From our perspective, the best crime is the one that never happens," he says. "So we're constantly trying to get information from children that will help us prevent the fight, prevent any tragedies, and the way you do that is by creating relationships with them. And Myra is one of our officers that does that very well."
An Officer, A Mentor
Myra Franco wears a bulletproof vest under her blue uniform and carries a gun at her right hip. She's a street-savvy Stockton native, with experience that seems to come in handy at her regular beat at Amos Alonzo Stagg High School.
As Franco walks around the campus during lunch hour, she jokes that if there are going to be any fights at school, they'll happen at lunch. However, the mood is light this particular day.
Many students seem not to notice her at all. But several groups of students do approach her, some with small talk and others with tidbits of information about tensions on and off campus.
"What I kind of try to do is not lecture them, but try to talk to them more as, you know, at their level so that they can understand ... why they shouldn't be doing the [bad] things they do," she says.
She's a mentor figure for them. "The way I see it, it's like they're all my kids," she says with a laugh.
One advantage, Franco says, is the fact that students know she'll be on campus every day. "They think twice before they do something because they're like, 'What's Franco going to tell me?' Because they know I will get on them."
Just last January, Stagg High was locked down after a report that a student had brought a gun on campus. "We had to stay in class and stay under the tables for about three hours," student Mimi Gonzales says.
But, she says, knowing that Franco was around had a calming effect. Gonzales says it makes a difference having the officer on campus.
"She'll probably stop the violence from going on, or if somebody tries to bring a gun or anything, they'll stop it," the student says.
Trusting An Officer
A moment later, another student approaches Franco. She begins by saying she doesn't want to be a "snitch," but she ends up telling Franco what she saw anyway.
The young student, clutching her books across her chest, doesn't want to be interviewed. But after a few minutes Franco explains what happened.
"She's [the student] saying that yesterday when she was walking home she saw two students from Stagg High School, who are a couple, the male was beating the female. We're looking at a potential domestic violence incident," Franco says.
Less than 15 minutes later, the alleged female victim is summoned to her counselor's office to talk with Franco and a health specialist.
The details of their conversation are private. But Franco and the other school officials learn that the girl and her boyfriend did have a violent fight. The girl is checked for bruises, but she has none. After the girl returns to her class, Franco and the other school officials agree that they will plan for an intervention.
As we walk out of that meeting, Franco stops to reflect on what has just happened. A student trusted her enough to tip her off about a case of domestic violence. She says it's common for students to give her a lead.
"I don't know if it's ... because I grew up in Stockton — I guess you can say I can talk like people in Stockton do," Franco says. "So for some reason, a lot of people just come up to me and they want to tell me stuff."
Franco says she's sure that her police car parked in front of the school discourages any outsider who wants to come on campus with the intent of doing harm. But she's quick to add that having the trust of everyone inside the school is just as important to her. | <urn:uuid:46039df3-0935-4522-aa4e-379ed9bb88a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kazu.org/post/how-be-good-guy-gun-school | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984804 | 1,532 | 1.796875 | 2 |
Updated on 23 September 2010
That analytics is a much-heard industry buzzword now is not without reason. Most experts believe that the use of analytics can help IT decision makers to make better and faster decisions and automate processes. It enables them to build a solid foundation of strategic analytics products and services to take advantage of all of the data sources, including structured and unstructured data.
Factors Driving Analytics
Business Analytics (BA) has been a hot topic of discussion amongst industry experts since almost two years now. Research groups have estimated that the analytics market stands at $17 billion worldwide. Most industry verticals including the government, BFSI, IT and manufacturing sectors started depending on analytics in a big way owing to the development and support, and for localisation needs. A large fraction of the banking segment depends upon BA for diverse needs, achieves better outcomes, and derives better customer satisfaction.
For instance, SBI is the largest user of analytics. Some of the functions that the bank is keen on using analytics for are executive reporting systems, new recruitment process, judging the propensity of employees, getting monthly sales updates and sales forecasting, etc. One customer, Asian Paints, uses analytics for sales forecast and operational maintenance, as an extension to Business Intelligence.
Leading companies across various industries are using the insights they glean from analytics to achieve significant outcomes in areas such as customer satisfaction and retention, operational efficiency, financial processes, and risk, fraud and compliance management. Under analytics, about 300 customers are using predictive analytics tools for varied functions. In the case of analytics, investments are measured based on the sales performance after using the tools. About 20 to 30 banks monitor sales performance with analytics. Another example is that of the insurance sector which uses analytics for creating product differentiation in the market place. Indeed, analytics has been the game-changer for many enterprises.
When and Where to Use Analytics
There is not an iota of doubt that analytics will turn insights into outcomes which is why most customers are fascinated by the technology. The challenges have been many for IT heads who struggle to feed the line of business with accurate figures and factors and the market pulse. Unlike other technologies, analytics is driven by finance, HR, marketing and other business groups and not so much by IT. The new trend is that the discussions and negotiations are carried out in the line of business.
There are a few tasks that IT managers need to remember before jumping into full-fledged deployment. It is critical to carry out a pilot implementation project on analytics. It is important to test the waters and understand the impact it makes on the business.
IT teams need to attend informal workshops and have some initial discussions with the business to understand how it should be taken forward, in a way through which it can co-exist with the other tools.
Another vital aspect is having a right choice of partner or partners, gaining insights into the problems and the integration process. After a thorough analysis, a value statement needs to be created on what can be construed as success and which can be measured.
IT heads can use a specific type of dashboard, and deploy predictive analytic tools to measure the outcome. Most often, the scale of implementation matters; this determines the RoI.
Take stock of unstructured and structured data using BI tools. Use data mining tools to map the data and transcript the same. Have security agencies deploy resources to form policies and analyse data to assess potential threats. The data should be analysed in real time.
Technically speaking, the use of BA does not need a BI or data analytics. A well defined pilot project can be implemented in three months. IT, along with business and finance departments, plays a big role in zeroing in on analytics.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that analytics would definitely help CIOs when they are unable to plan a budget or handle a complex situation. It will help in having set up a tool to understand KPIs of the company. By embedding insights into actions across the organisation, one can gain clear insights into all areas of business—customers, competition, and the market, giving the business the ability to predict trends before they happen. To state an example, HMEL, a joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Mittal Energy Investment Pte Ltd, Singapore, has adopted a new IBM analytics-based solution to transform how the company manages its financial and operations data to boost business performance.
HMEL has built the 9 MMTPA (million metric tonne per annum) Guru Gobind Singh Refinery in Bathinda, Punjab. The first oil and gas project to be set up in Punjab, the refinery produces petroleum products complying with Euro IV emission norms, with a capability of processing 180,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
The analytical solution integrates information from the various components of the MES, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and control systems within the refinery and delivers a consolidated, single view of the data. The technology enables HMEL to analyse key corporate business processes including planned versus actual investments, production, key performance indicators, among others. The system generated near real-time information for HMEL business executives to use to make more intelligent decisions regarding optimising productivity and margins.
The IBM analytics solution not only delivered the ability to access data consistently, but also equipped the organisation with the power to interpret, transform and derive process operation actions from the information. The industry standards based information model and associated integration techniques enabled HMEL to turn data into information that could be accessed and delivered through Web services.
Analyse to the best
“Most industry verticals including the government, BFSI, IT and manufacturing sectors started depending on analytics in a big way owing to the development and support, and for localisation needs”
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What do you think is the best career move? | <urn:uuid:fbf8f72b-8afa-40cc-a3b6-72f54e328bb7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.itnext.in/content/smart-analytics-razor-sharp-decisions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933027 | 1,202 | 2.015625 | 2 |
Negotiate : reaching agreements over water
Dore, John. ed. ; Robinson, Julia, ed. ; Smith, Mark, ed.; IUCN, Water and Nature Initiative
Water practitioners are increasingly called upon to negotiate workable agreements about how to best use, manage and care for water resources. NEGOTIATE makes the case for constructive engagement and cooperative forms of negotiation in dealing with complex water issues. It unpacks constructive approaches such as Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (MSPs) and consensus building, and finally focuses on the diversity of agreements which can be produced to regulate or encourage fairer and more effective water allocation and use.
This guide aims to provide practical tools for government officials, NGOs and local communities to create platforms for negotiations that are balanced and open, in order to arrive at collaborative action to improve water resources management.The book contains a brief overview of theory in this field, followed by practical tools and steps to change power relations. It describes how to analyse the issues and political play involved, convince colleagues and stakeholders, set up campaigns and advocacy, set in place participatory methods, enter negotiations, and move towards a multi-stakeholder platform for action. | <urn:uuid:d991b501-0b14-4cb5-9cf2-0ce5178e8029> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iucn.org/about/work/programmes/water/resources/toolkits/?4912/Negotiate--Reaching-agreements-over-water | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920855 | 244 | 2.25 | 2 |
It’s not always easy to get through to kids; engaging them in conversation about the environment can be tedious, especially if they are twitching from video game withdrawal and anxious to return to their XBOX. Luckily, there are games out … Continue reading
Photo credit: Julien Harneis Lord David Puttnam, ambassador for Unicef UK, asks on BBC’s Green Room what kind of price our children and future generations will have to pay for “the three or four carbon-happy generations that have lived before … Continue reading
Photo credit: x-ray delta one Our society is suffering from estrogen overload. No, I’m not referring to Sex and The City reruns—estrogen overload refers to the increasing amount of estrogen in our environment, our food and our bodies. “Good” Estrogen … Continue reading
I play soccer in a large park in the eastern part of Salamanca. West of the park are the train tracks and on the other side of the tracks is a large elementary school, immediately east of the park is … Continue reading
“You will be SHOCKED by the response…” I belong to a Melbourne-based Climate Action Group called the Yarra Valley Climate Action Group (YVCAG) which is very active in public education through public meetings, participation in public demonstrations and by providing … Continue reading
Green Blog is always looking for new authors and contributors. If you want to become a guest author or a regular contributor please see this page for more information. | <urn:uuid:ef861fe1-96e9-4e48-9ba3-0d0e71611db7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.green-blog.org/tag/children/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932514 | 314 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Official Name for Dulce, New Mexico underground base!
Popular Internet radio broadcaster Jerry Pippin http://www.jerrypippin.com/
based in Muskogee, Oklahoma, stunned his worldwide audience on September 25 when he featured researcher Anthony Sanchez who, for the first time ever, revealed to the public the official government/military name for the much-rumored, alleged underground installation in Dulce, New Mexico.
Sanchez disclosed the complete name of the installation as: “Rio Arriba Scientific & Technological Underground Auxiliary”.
He stated that this information came to him directly from a retired Air Force Colonel in January of 2010 when the Colonel invited him for an private interview in his cabin in California.
The interview lasted about three hours and was recorded on tape.
The Colonel is presently teaching in a college under a new, assumed name.
Sanchez seems to be in touch with the Colonel who gave him more astounding information about this complex.
Sanchez stated that the Colonel agreed to cut off all communications with him once Sanchez’ book, UFO Highway, is released in December, 2010.
The official, abbreviated form of the Dulce installation is RIO ARRIBA CO, DSD-3 or RIO-AUX, Sanchez told the audience.
This military designation is not found anywhere on the Internet.
Sanchez said that he was told that this designation is “classified” when he made an inquiry with the Military Records in St. Louis.
Another information that stunned Pippin’s audience was the revelation that there are three separate installations in Dulce. The main underground installation is named TA-D1 and is located, surprisingly (and confirming the long-existing rumor), under Archuleta Mesa!!
The second underground installation (a two-level installation) is named TA-D2 and is located on a non-descript area between the Eastern slope of Archuleta Mesa and County Road 357, close to the Colorado stateline. The exact location of this Security installation will not be disclosed.
The third installation is called TA-D3 and is located in the Leandro Canyon (close to the Project Gasbuggy site of 1967), about 22 miles southwest of Dulce. This installation is the furthest from the main complex, but is connected to the main facility by an underground tunnel system, stated Sanchez. “In fact, all three facilities are interconnected by subterranean tunnels. The most astounding information that was disclosed to me was that the main facility under the Mesa is also connected to Los Alamos National Laboratories in Los Alamos, New Mexico”.
(A distance of about 65 miles!!).
TA, as everyone knows, is Technical Area, as used in Los Alamos.
In this stunning broadcast, Anthony Sanchez confirmed the Colonel’s statement that there is no record whatsoever of a Thomas Edwin Castello that was ever employed as security personnel in Dulce.
Another statement made by the Colonel, Anthony Sanchez said, was that there have never been any “Reptilians” in Dulce.
One interesting thing that the Colonel mentioned to Sanchez was that the Colonel and his wife were present incognito at the 2009 Dulce Base Conference which was held in Dulce, New Mexico.
The conferece was held on Sunday, March 29, 2009 and drew about 130 people.
The Colonel confirmed to Sanchez that he and his wife were near a parking lot close to the Best Western Jicarilla Inn at 5:50 a.m. on the morning of the conference, sitting and drinking coffee when two military helicopters flew over the building. One stayed around longer, hovering over the building.
The other circled the area, then scanned some vehicles, including theirs, before leaving.
The Colonel confirmed that the helicopters were from DSD-3.
The Colonel also confirmed to Sanchez that there were two AFOSI investigators sitting there in the audience who he personally recognized.
In addition to them, there were several recogniable LANL scientists, he told Sanchez.
(The conference was held at Best Western Jicarilla Inn and was later forced to move to a community hall in a mini-mall located at a walking distance from the Hotel, because of a warning issed from the Dulce Fire Departmen for exceeding the maximum number of attendees allowed at the Hotel.)
What shocked the audience in this Jerry Pippin Show was the revelation that, yes, there was indeed an altercation in 1979 between the military and other “inhabitants” of the installation in Dulce.
This was the primary reason why the Colonel, a specialist in Military Psychological Post-Trauma Counseling, was sent to Dulce in 1979 as a member of a special team that dealt with post-traumatic syndrome experienced by military personnel.
The Colonel stated that were it not for the late Paul Bennewitz and Myrna Hansen, the Dulce story would never have surfaced.
Anthony Sanchez’ fasinating book, UFO Highway
is scheduled to be released in December of 2010 and will include the complete, fully transcribed amazing 3-hour interview with the Colonel that took place in January of 2010.
One documentary evidence item to back up the claims of the Colonel was shown to some researchers by Anthony Sanchez at a press conference held on September 11, 2010 in Angel Fire, New Mexico.
I also was a witness to that documentary evidence. | <urn:uuid:a749c5cc-28d6-4834-b556-6a141c8ce17c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fyufos.tumblr.com/post/1193608927/official-name-for-dulce-new-mexico-underground-base | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973269 | 1,126 | 1.742188 | 2 |
Latest Features on AustralianDollar.org.uk
Australian tourism deficit rises: More Aussies head on holiday while tourist arrivals fall back as Australian dollar strength kicks in
- Category: Featured
- Published on Thursday, 08 March 2012 15:15
- Written by Will Peters
A research note from Westpac shows that Australians made 7.8m short-term trips overseas in the year ending Jan 2012, up 9% from the same time last year.
In contrast, short-term arrivals remained stagnant, down 0.5% over the year to 5.9m.
"The subsequent 1.9m passenger shortfall is the largest ever seen and the trend suggests that this deficit will only widen. The effect on the balance of payments is clear as the tourism related services contribution to BOP has fallen from $7.9bn in the 2009 calendar year to $5.1bn in 2010 to -$0.5bn in 2011," says Time Cameron at Westpac.
According to the research note, this large drop off in the year just gone can be attributed to Australians not only making more trips but spending a little more, on average, each trip.
Also, while passenger arrivals haven’t fallen significantly, the amount tourists spend have, down 8% in 2011 vs. 2010.
What You SHOULD Know
Was the low value of pound sterling behind today's BoE decision?
GBP has moved higher across the forex markets in the wake of news that the Bank of England has opted to not increase the supply of money through quantitative easing.
Latest Currency Questions Answered Over at The Transpert
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- Pound sterling vs Australian dollar trading at all time lows, fantastic opportunity to transfer AUD into GBP says one commentator
- Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar slip against pound sterling as a plethora of issues trouble investors
- Pound dollar exchange rate remains on the defensive as the US currency runs rampant | <urn:uuid:936552b2-e9de-44fc-b9cf-f8486676074f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.australiandollar.org.uk/featured/60-australian-tourism-australian-dollar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911738 | 454 | 1.5 | 2 |
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
By Shelley Grieshop
Local schools ready for MRSA
Health departments in the Grand Lake area are educating local schools and reassuring parents about an antibiotic-resistant bacteria diagnosed in several area students in recent weeks.
Mercer County-Celina City Health Department officials, including Health Commissioner Dr. Philip Masser and Infectious Disease Control Nurse Joyce Jansen, gave an educational presentation Tuesday night at Celina City Schools to more than 100 area educators, coaches, custodial workers and school nurses following the recent diagnosis of a Marion Local Schools student.
Jansen said the session was meant to calm parents and instruct schools on how to properly prevent the methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and its spread.
"We want to let parents know that our school officials are eager to learn and are taking all appropriate steps," she said.
The student at Marion Local responded well to the first round of antibiotics given and other students and staff were never at risk, officials said.
Jansen's counterpart in Auglaize County, Deb Scheer, said more than one school in the county has dealt with students and/or staff members with confirmed MRSA cases since the beginning of the school year, but she refused to identify the schools.
"I don't think it's fair to the school to point fingers like that," she said, adding the situation is under control.
Scheer said appropriate steps were taken in Auglaize County, too; she presented an educational program on MRSA at St. Marys City Schools this morning and has other sessions scheduled for area nursing homes.
Both nurses said the local MRSA cases are not related and therefore the incidents are not considered an epidemic. MRSA cases do not have to be reported to the health department. Many cases go undiagnosed each year, they said.
MRSA is unfortunately not as rare as it once was in the U.S. and can be quite serious, the women said. The problem arises when antibiotics do not work on the resistant staph strains.
Athletes are reminded to take showers after practice and games, wash sweaty clothes and towels and wipe down and never share athletic equipment like shoulder pads. Keeping skin healthy and hands washed frequently remains the biggest weapon against MRSA, she said. Everyone should take special care of their skin.
Health officials have instructed school janitors to carefully follow the directions on the disinfectants they use for cleaning.
Both health departments will give presentations on MRSA to any organizations or schools interested.
Additional online stories for this date
Print edition only stories for this date
• Activist group challenges Celina ethanol facility
• Council members don't support pay raises for themselves
• Five people compete for three at-large seats on Celina council
• Fort Recovery man indicted on 16 counts
• Absentee voting brisk in Auglaize County, official says
• Some would pay for recyclables collection
• Portion of newly resurfaced street damaged by water main break
• Physical therapy business opens in Celina
• Celina marching through WBL
• Flyers top Cardinals for trip to Coldwater | <urn:uuid:381e8e4c-c49b-4912-b9e3-99dcb3d4110f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dailystandard.com/archive/2007-10-24/stories/4381/local-schools-ready-for-mrsa | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96328 | 651 | 1.859375 | 2 |
With one exception, I agree with Andrew Napolitano's eloquent defense of states' rights and the Second Amendment ("Shooting up the Constitution," Commentary, Thursday). That exception is his claim that the states created the federal government. He writes that there is a "serious typographical error" in the Preamble to the Constitution, because it reads, "We the People," not "We the States."
I disagree. One reason the Founders created special constitutional conventions to ratify the Constitution, as opposed to the usual practice of having state legislatures ratify it, was because they wanted to make clear the Constitution was something separate from the states, and they wanted "the people" to ratify it to give it its own identity and legitimacy.
Also, the Constitution includes language that makes the new national government "the supreme Law of the Land." If the Founders had considered the Constitution, the government and country it created to be simply the result of a compact among the states, it is hard to see why they would have included those six words.
Finally, at the Constitutional Convention, the original language developed by the convention's Committee of Detail read, "We the people of the States ." However, the Committee of Style, which was charged with the document's final language, deliberately changed that to "We the People ." That was no typographical error.
BRUCE G. KAUFFMANN
© Copyright 2013 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
By Douglas Holtz-Eakin
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Educational programs, free screenings to be held on GVSU campuses for National Eating Disorder Awareness Week
Through a series of programs hosted by Grand Valley State University organizations and on-campus centers, university leaders hope to bring awareness to students about eating disorders and food habits during this year’s National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
On Feb. 26, free and confidential screenings will be held on both GVSU campuses and administered by GVSU counseling staff for students, staff and faculty as part of National Screening Day, one of the major initiatives organized as part of the week of advocacy.
Many programs are designed to promote more than just awareness surrounding eating disorders.
Karen Burba, the doctoral intern at the GVSU Counseling and Career Development Center, said topics like disordered eating habits will be focused on during the events.
“Far more students may engage in eating behaviors that are disordered than those that have an eating disorder,” Burba said.
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 91 percent of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, and 25 percent of college-aged women engage in bingeing and purging as a weight-management technique.
“It is also a way for the Counseling Center to reach out to those who may be wondering about their eating and if they should get help,” Burba said. “By having a one-on-one feedback session with a counselor, it can help a student to feel more comfortable following up on potential resources.”
In addition to the screenings, the GVSU Love Your Body Week Committee – a group facilitated by the GVSU Women’s Center in coordination with National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, will use the week of awareness to bring attention to other aspects of bodies and social relationships.
On Feb. 26, the group will host an event in room 2263 of the Kirkhof Center at 5 p.m. that will discuss how ideas around food are seen within society, followed by the Feb. 27 event “From Hater to Body Celebrator,” at 7 p.m. in room 2204 of the Kirkhof Center.
“From Hater to Body Celebrator” will feature the week’s keynote speaker, Amber Krzys, who will offer student participants advice on ways to embrace and reclaim their bodies.
Extending the conversation on body acceptance, the GVSU Women’s Center will host the art exhibit “I Am Human,” on Feb. 27 from 12-5 p.m.
Sarah Graham, part of the Love Your Body Week Committee, also said the center is giving GVSU students the opportunity to share their comments about embracing their bodies on a pair of jeans.
“We use the name ‘Love Your Body’ in order to be inclusive of all types of body image issues and expand the conversation beyond just disordered eating,” Graham said.
Graham said she hopes the events during the week will give students the opportunity to become educated about their bodies and society in order to “see past the socially-constructed ideal of beauty.”
Screenings will be held at various locations around GVSU’s Allendale and Pew campuses. For more information on National Eating Disorder Screening Day, as well as times and locations, visit gvsu.edu/counsel/ and click on “Special Events,” “National Eating Disorder Screening Day” on the blue sidebar. | <urn:uuid:cdf01a58-c29e-4713-b8fb-e0b9a34c6202> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lanthorn.com/article/2013/02/educational-programs-free-screenings-to-be-held-on-gvsu-campuses-for-national-eating-disorder-awaren | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95281 | 742 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Madison, WI – People registering to vote can now show either paper or electronic documents to prove Wisconsin residency, the Government Accountability Board has ruled.
The Board voted unanimously at its meeting Tuesday to allow people to show electronic documents displayed on electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets and laptops to prove they meet Wisconsin residency requirements when registering to vote.
“Encouraged by both Federal and State government, many people today have gone paperless in their lives, including banking, utilities and taxes,” said Kevin J. Kennedy, director and general counsel of the G.A.B. “The Board’s decision recognizes that documents from these secure electronic transactions are just as valid on a screen as they are on a piece of paper.”
When people register on Election Day, they must provide an identifying document to prove residency before they can vote. The same is true when they register in their municipal clerk’s office less than 20 days before an election. Most people use a driver license or state ID card if their address is current. People who have moved can use many other documents for proof of residence, including a property tax bill, current lease, bank statement, utility bill or other government document that includes their full name and current address.
Previously, the staff of the Government Accountability Board interpreted the state law to require that a proof of residence document must be a paper record. The Board was asked to consider accepting electronic documents as proof of residence because many voters now receive most bills and correspondence electronically and may not have ready access to a printer.
At the meeting Tuesday, clerks told the Board that some of them have been accepting electronic documents because they do not want to prevent eligible Wisconsin residents from voting simply because they do not have access to a printer. Clerks said that at some polling places, volunteers bring in laptop computers and printers to allow registering voters to print a document. One clerk asked the Board to act immediately so clerks have enough time to include the electronic proof of residence option in their poll worker trainings for the November 6, 2012 General Election.
Kennedy said the G.A.B. staff recognized the popularity and efficiency of using of electronic documents as proof of residence, but had recommended against it for the November General Election because the agency would prefer to first obtain feedback from local clerks about the proposed change, and it might be too much of a change for Wisconsin’s overburdened local election officials to deal with so close to the election.
Responding to comments questioning whether electronic documents could be faked, Kennedy said that a faked document can just as easily be printed.
“Our biggest concern is that local election officials require proper documentation when people register to vote,” Kennedy said. “We have not received any reports about people using faked documents to register, but we have received some reports that unacceptable documents such as business receipts have been accepted for proof of residence. We would much rather have someone show a bank statement on a smart phone than try to use an oil change receipt on paper.”
After hearing testimony Tuesday from clerks, attorneys and students, the Board of former Wisconsin judges discussed what it means to “provide an identifying document that establishes proof of residence,” as required by state law (Wis. Stat. Sec. 6.34(2)). State law does not require or permit the clerk to keep or make a copy of the document.
“Providing means showing,” Judge Thomas Cane said at the meeting. “The only question is whether what you show is an identifying document. I don’t see the difference.”
The Board did clarify in its decision that municipalities are not required to provide computers or internet access so people can show electronic documents.
Kennedy emphasized that proof of residence to register to vote is different than proof of identification (photo ID) to receive a ballot. “The voter photo ID law is on hold due to court orders,” Kennedy said. “Currently, voters are not required to present a photo ID to vote, but individuals registering at polling places must present an identifying document establishing their voting residence.”
Elections Division Administrator Nat Robinson said G.A.B. staff will be communicating with municipal clerks around the state to let them know about the new policy. “We will be developing detailed educational materials for clerks and poll workers as part of our Back to Basics initiative,” Robinson said.
Reid Magney, public information officer, 608-267-7887
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Our American Heritage
The Iroquois Confederacy
Sojourn Magazine Winter 1998 (707) 964-1674
"(The Iroquois League) was a model social order in many ways superior to the white man 's culture of the day=85Its democratic form of government more nearly approached perfection than any that has been tried to date." -- Elmore Reaman 1967
Because historians tend to focus on military engagements and changes in national boundaries, our population has little understanding of cultural and social interactions. In an interesting twist of interpretation, Felix Cohen proposed, in a 1952 article called "Americanizing the White Man," That "(historians) have seen America only as an imitation of Europe," but that "the real epic of America is the yet unfinished story of the Americanization of the white man."
He defines Americanism as largely a product of the influence of Indian culture on the white European settlers. In an equally bold statement, Francis Jennings in The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism and The Cant of Conquest (1975) states that "What white (American) society owes to Indian society, as much as to any other source, is the mere fact of its existence."
Early Euro-Americans voluntarily adopted methods, lifestyles, artifacts, and ideas from the indigenous people, often in order to survive. Indians in America provided half the modern world's domesticated food crops, numerous herbal medicines, clothing, transportation pathways and modes, crafts and artifacts, hygiene methods, and thousands of words including place names and ideas of governance that blended ideals of rugged individuality with concern for the common welfare.
The Iroquois republic had continuously existed since the 14th or 15th century. In 1930, Arthur Pound 's Johnson of the Mohawk states, wrote "with the possible exception of the also unwritten British Constitution, deriving from the Magna Carta, the Iroquois Constitution is the longest-existing international constitution in the world." Known ad "The Great Law of Peace," this orally transmitted constitution describes a federal union of five (later six) Indian nations: Mohawk, Onondagam Seneca, Oneida, Cayuga and the Tscarora, adopted in 1715. It was only put in writing in 1915 by Arthur C. Parker, archeologist for the State Museum of New York.
The Europeans and Iroquois of the mid-18th century were on more friendly terms. Many English nobles adopted the lifestyle of Indians and joined their nations. The Treaty Councils brought cultural exchanges in which leaders and statesmen met as equals to diplomatically solve problems and alleviate strained relations. The trade of Great Britain and the peace and prosperity of the colonies was dependent upon this alliance.
During the era, Benjamin Franklin published twenty-six treaty accounts and represented the state of Pennsylvania as an Indian commissioner. In the pre-Revolutionary period, when he and his friends were advocating a federal union of the colonies, no European model was found to be suitable. Franklin 's contact with the Iroquois influenced many key ideas for a new form of government =96 federalism, equality, natural rights, freedom of religion, property rights, etc. At the 1744 treaty council, by Franklin '= s account, Canassatego, speaker for the great council at Onondaga, recommended that the colonies form a union in common defense under a federal government: "We are a powerful Confederacy, and by your observing the same methods our wise forefathers have taken, you will acquire much strength and power; therefore, whatever befalls you, do not fall out with one another."
In arguing for such a plan, Franklin stressed the fact that the individual nations of the confederacy managed their own internal affairs without interference from the Grand Council.
Twenty years after Franklin 's plan was defeated at the Albany congress, it reappeared in the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. Franklin, Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington were all familiar with the Iroquois polity. There is also strong scholarly evidence that European philosophers such as Locke, Roussea, More, and Hobbes were familiar with the societies of the American Indians. The integration of this knowledge into their theories of utopias and natural societies further inspired the U.S. founding fathers.
Even Marx and Engels drew on Iroquois models to support their theories and designs. Engels, like the American revolutionaries a century earlier, was impressed with the Iroquois ' ability to achieve economic equality without coercion and to maintain social consensus without a large state apparatus. It is interesting to note that the roots of American democratic government and communism came from similar ideologies =96 one emphasizing individualism and the other communal holdings =96 both key elements held in balance by the Iroquois. Other scholars see a prototype for the 20th century United Nations in Iroquois thought and constitution.
Each of the Iroquois nations was represented to the Confederate Council by a lord of the confederacy and one war chief. Their league included a system of checks and balances, and no action could be taken without the approval of all five Indian nations. Their notions of equality and liberty extended to women as well as men. In war, they never enslaved captives but offered to adopt those willing to accept the Great Law. Their own members could be alienated or expelled by not following the Great Law, and a non-member could be adopted by proposal or invitation with approval from the lords.
In their constitution, the lords of the confederacy are described as mentors and spiritual guides of the people; their hearts are to be full of peace and goodwill, and their minds full of yearning for the welfare of the people, including those of future generations, their words and actions are to be marked by calm deliberation. They must be honest and have no self-interest; if they become wayward they receive warnings first from the clan women then from the men. If they persist in negative behaviors, they ultimately lose their position and possibly their life. The lords are poorer than the common people. They own few material possessions, and give away presents or plunder acquired by treaty or war. They are above pettiness and corruption, and show no signs of selfishness.
Those who recognized the wisdom and long history of the Iroquois government did not consider the Indians as mere "savages." Like the Iroquois, Thomas Jefferson believed that public opinion and popular consent were key in maintaining freedom and good government. He held that the power of public opinion was an important reason for the Iroquois ' lack of oppressive government and class differences, and for the power to impeach officials who offended governing principles. Like the Iroquois, he also believed that the best government is the least government.
In oratory, the Europeans compared the Iroquois with the Greeks and Romans. Both emphasized ethical proof in their arguments. The Indians ended their orations with the words hiro and kone. Hiro means "I have said," and kone was spoken as an exclamation of joy or sorrow, depending on the occasion and circumstances. The French pronunciation of these words together became "Iroquois."
Unlike Europe, the Iroquois society was matri-lineal. Women owned the land and the status f their lineage. They owned all possessions of their husbands after marriage except their horse and rifle; they took charge off the money, and were the tribe 's educators and communicators of tradition. They female heirs of the lords of the confederacy were called royaneh (noble). The lord of the confederacy was nominated by women =96 selected for qualities of trustworthiness, good character, honesty, faithfulness to the people and the nation, support of the family, and good management of personal affairs. There was not state religion, and the religious rites and festivals of each nation were safeguarded against being disturbed or interrupted. Civil duties were separated from those of the religious leaders, and festivals were held in the longhouses.
In examining the vision of our forefathers and the many hundreds of years of the Iroquois confederacy 's success, we see how far we have strayed in just over two hundred years. More and more a nation of law and order, with vast class and economic distinctions and political favoritism, we would do well to reeducate ourselves in the values of the Iroquois =96 honesty, good character, honor, the power of the spoken word and public opinion, and the high status of women.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, when any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.
From the Declaration of Independence.
Researched and written by Jerri-Jo Idarius
Copyright © 1996. The Light Party. | <urn:uuid:546071f8-9ce7-4f79-93c4-dd4ad984b94a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lightparty.com/Spirituality/Iroquois.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964146 | 1,858 | 3.75 | 4 |
Nicole Johnson believes movies and television shows can be funny and still portray men in a positive light. Why it’s not being done in this day and age baffles her.
Growing up, my brother, Matt, and I were unapologetic television and movie buffs. We loved any box with rabbit ears, and the silver screen was a magical place where Extra Terrestrials, Ewoks, and Super Heroes lived. In fact, I could call up Matt right now and say, “Jack Abramoff is as corrupt as Boss Hogg”, and we would nostalgically burst out loud laughing over the comparison.
A portion of our childhood was shaped by Happy Days, Benson, Battlestar Galactica, Different Strokes, Good Times, The Cosby Show, Little House on the Prairie, and of course, reruns of The Brady Bunch, Leave It to Beaver, and Lassie, (just to name a few). Moreover, our minds were influenced by the educational cartoons of the time. Don’t scoff; we learned a lot from The Smurfs and Fat Albert. As for the movies, Star Wars, Superman, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, and E.T. will always be some of our favorites.
The aforementioned movies and televisions shows not only entertained us, but they taught us right from wrong and proved goodness undeniably conquers evil. My brother and I were fortunate; we grew up during the decades where men were celebrated in film and television. I’m grateful we were raised at a time where industry giants were at the apex of their careers. Thank you, George Lucas and Norman Lear.
It didn’t matter if we were watching Tom Bosley’s Mr. Cunningham, John Amos’s Mr. Evans, or Christopher Reeve’s Superman (Clark Kent), my brother and I knew these characters were strong and honorable. There was no ambiguity; we knew they were good men. In our generation, media outlets consistently showcased two types of dignified gentlemen: the type of men Matt would want to emulate and the type of men I would want to marry. Despite our affinity for Hollywood, we didn’t learn everything from fiction. My father provided us with a real-life, everyday example of what it meant to be an extraordinary man. His tutelage continues to this day. Thank you, Dad.
The media I was exposed to in my youth and adolescence is the antithesis of American media today. In 2011, there is a dearth of movies and television shows portraying men in a manner worthy of emulation. Currently, programs in the medical, legal, and criminal justice genre feature certain men as honorable and capable, however there are few television dads who could rival the television dads of generations past. Ergo, the dads incarnated on ABC’s Modern Family are vaudevillian compared to the standards of the 1960’s and 70’s.
Here’s what I find tremendously disconcerting: Hollywood has started writing and producing content which depicts men as ridiculous and as people who should not be taken seriously. The characterizations of men in the media over the past two decades portray men as weak and incompetent. Interestingly enough, it’s men who are behind the scenes doing this, not women. Hollywood is a notorious “boys club.”
Why do male movie executives (yes, Jud Apatow, I’m referring to you) consistently disseminate this type of content? Clearly the men creating movies such as Knocked Up, Old School, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Pineapple Express, Super Bad, The Hangover, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I Love You, Man are simply seeing dollar signs. (For further proof, watch the trailer for the upcoming movie The Sitter.) What man would walk away from these movies saying, “I want to be like him?” Conversely, what woman would walk away saying, “I want to marry him?” I understand it’s designed to be entertaining, but if I were a man, I’d be horrified.
Television executives are equally as culpable in contributing to the debasement of men. The most glaring example is ABC’s newest show, Man Up. I’ve seen two full-episodes and I am disgusted ABC actually put this show on the air. ABC’s Man Up portrays men as infantile, incapable, uncultured, weak, pathetic, and flat out moronic (I could go on, but I’ll stop here). Don’t the executives at ABC realize this show is damaging to men? Do the writers not care they are depicting men as buffoons? Why not just put the male actors in clown suits and call it a day?
I’m tired of Hollywood trying to sell me on the concept of “loveable idiots”, and I am disheartened by the ubiquitous content that tears men down. I love filling my life with laughter, however why are my current content choices trying to get me to laugh at a reduced version of men? Why is Hollywood trying to get me to focus on the broken-down, allegorical version of who they think my husband is? Obviously they don’t know my husband.
Millions of men are driven, capable, intelligent, honorable, responsible, etc. At present time, why is this not regularly celebrated on film and television? I wonder if the media is deliberately trying to degrade men, because I know there are ways of infusing positive aspects of manhood and masculinity into content while maintaining the comedy and excitement. Case in point: Frasier, Scrubs, and Jim Carrey’s, Liar Liar.
I hope media outlets will revamp their destructive strategies. The current template has the potential to be catastrophic to men (and women). There’s a reason why Kay Hymowitz wrote Manning Up, and it’s not solely because of the economy and Feminist movement. The media has contributed to a portion of this plight. Perpetuating images of the “man-child” has established the need for academic and sociological involvement. Thank you, Kay Hymowitz.
To the executives at ABC and beyond, men deserve better. Every protagonist should not be painted as a pinhead, and all antagonists shouldn’t be written as angry Neanderthals. The superfluous use of these stereotypes is depressing. It’s time to redesign the formula. Good men are everywhere; let your content reflect this fact. | <urn:uuid:9d952023-0063-4edd-8777-ec244cbb785c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-depressing-depiction-of-men-in-the-media/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959007 | 1,366 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Some of the best advice I was ever given was to “ask for what you want in life because people don’t read your mind and just hand it to you.” But, a close second is when my dad yelled at me from the waterski boat to “STAND UP LIKE A LADY!” What?? People now usually “wakeboard” behind a boat, but we waterskied! I am only a “thirty-something” but nostalgic for the good old days where a beginner started on two waterskis and eventually braved the real challenge, learning to slalom (single) ski. When I was twelve, our family went to the lake with many other families that had mostly boys my age. Those boys were learning to slalom ski, and I wasn’t about to be outdone! I wanted to make my dad proud that his daughter could keep up with any of his friend’s sons, and so I was determined to learn to slalom ski. As our jet boat started (and after my stream of silent prayers while I was floating in the middle of Lake Mead,) the boat’s engine roared ferociously and I hung onto that ski rope with all of my might. The motor propelled hundreds of gallons of water into my eyes and up my nose, but, I hung on. I was obedient to the instructions and kept my body curled and close to the single ski while I was pulled out of the water. I quickly found that the problem was not in “getting up” out of the water, which was other peoples’ usual problem. My problem was in staying up. After a few weeble wobbles after being pulled on top of the water, I was down every time. Several false starts later, my dad finally simply told me to “STAND UP LIKE A LADY” once the boat had pulled me out of the water. That was all it took, and I was a slalom skier!
I have thought about this idea many times through my life and have applied it when I felt like I was shrinking under the weight of life’s challenges. When we are scared or trying something new, it is easy to literally “curl up” under the pressure. That is the time that we weeble wobble as we are trying to find our balance. Often all it takes is a reminder to “STAND UP” and stand tall to the new challenge to stay afloat. It’s okay to “fake it ‘till you make it,” but if you don’t STAND UP, you may as well get back in the boat.
Motivational Speaker | Former Miss Nevada | <urn:uuid:990b9a21-5357-4441-92ad-df73e976674f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.smittenby.net/2012/06/28/stand-up-like-a-lady/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982921 | 572 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Home > News/Media
Actor John Ratzenberger Presents Keynote at MEP National Conference, Orlando, Florida
Above: John Ratzenberger with MEP Director Roger Kilmer at Manufacturing Innovation 2012.“The fate of western civilization depends on American manufacturing,” actor John Ratzenberger told attendees of the NIST MEP national conference, Manufacturing Innovation 2012, during his keynote address in Orlando on May 7.
“If not for manufacturing. . . if skilled workers didn’t show up for work, everything would grind to a halt. People who make things and invent things and repair things are my heroes,” said Ratzenberger.
The former Cheers star and the voice of numerous Pixar animated characters said that the average age of a manufacturing worker is 57 and many will retire soon.
“But we haven’t trained kids or gotten them interested in manufacturing jobs!” Ratzenberger said. “Some of you in the audience don’t have enough skilled workers to fill your positions. The problem is nationwide. We need to bring school guidance counselors to your plants. . . let’s band together and start a huge PR effort to let kids know how cool manufacturing is because you get to build stuff.”
Above: Actor John Ratzenberger greets MEP conference attendees on May 7, 2012.Ratzenberger, who worked as a carpenter in his teens and early years, mourns the loss of high school shop classes where young people learned common sense and how to work with their hands and make things that are useful. He also laments the increasing number of college degrees earned in fields where few jobs are available, such as sports management. “Last year we gave out twice as many degrees in sports management instead of engineering.”
“I’ve been told that kids coming out of high school don’t even have the ability to read a ruler,”said Ratzenberger. “Yet jobs for skilled workers are there, about 600,000 jobs are currently available. But if we want to continue as a mighty nation, we have to look at manufacturing first.”
Ratzenberger mentioned the M.O.S.T.® program which rapidly trains individuals for front line manufacturing positions utilizing 18 wheel trailers which are dispatched to the manufacturers facility and provides fast-track customized training in CNC operation and welding. He invited attendees to stop by the Florida MEP M.O.S.T.® mobile training unit for a tour, which was parked in front of the Orlando Marriott World Center and offered demos of the virtual reality welding simulator.
“You won’t learn unless you put your hand to something useful. Why give out degrees to kids who have no common sense skills like changing a tire or putting together a coffee table or a set of bookshelves, or repairing a vehicle when it breaks down. People who grow up without skills have nothing to pass down. Skills to make something useful is what built America.”
Ratzenberger urged everyone in the audience to help change the culture and bring dignity and respect back to skilled workers, and take action to help kids see manufacturing as an attractive, high-paying and rewarding career choice. “Manufacturing is to America what spinach is to Popeye,” he concluded.
Above: Florida MEP's M.O.S.T.® mobile training unit was available outside the MEP National Conference for tours and demonstrations.
Above: Visitors aboard the M.O.S.T.® mobile training unit try their skills at welding utilizing the virtual reality training simulator which displays results in real-time.
About Manufacturing Innovation 2012: More than 800 people attended the annual national MEP conference which included 86 breakout sessions with expert speakers. The conference focus was on innovation, bringing hundreds of manufacturers, industry experts and MEP staff together to discuss, debate and share best practices on accelerating innovation in U.S. manufacturing. For more information, visit NIST Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership
1180 Celebration Blvd., Suite 103
Celebration, FL 34747
Phone: (321) 939-4000
Fax: (321) 939-4001
Copyright © , Florida MEP
Florida Manufacturing Extension Partnership does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, gender, disability, age, political affiliation or belief. This nondiscrimination policy encompasses the operation of all educational and training programs and activities. It also encompasses the employment of personnel and contracting for goods and services. | <urn:uuid:71670003-d62c-4c97-94ee-ce5a21e2f3b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.floridamep.org/mep_conference_2012.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945905 | 937 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Ethereal Aurora Hovers Over Northern Quebec: Photos
?The solar flares of early March, plus a few others that have occurred since, are steadily igniting the northern lights this year. With the advent of spring, that activity will intensify as the aurora reaches its brightest season. This year and next, with the sun’s activity spikes as part of its 11-year cycle, that is going to be even more pronounced.
Yes, NASA recently blasted a rocket into the center of the aurora borealis in order to learn more about it. But once in a while we must suspend all that science talk and steep ourselves in the beauty of it all.
Circumpolar dwellers have many legends and myths surrounding these lights. Is it any wonder?
These photos taken by Quebecois Sylvain Serre on March 18, 2012, make it obvious why such sights take us of out of time and mind.
“Incredible night in the land, tonight,” Serre wrote on his entry to Spaceweather.com. “The northern lights weren't there at the beginning, but after five minutes, there were coming, as always. They were so strong that I had to try new adjustments for my camera.”
Keep it coming, sun. | <urn:uuid:d3d6f84d-e104-4eab-b84f-853286e9d965> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/ethereal-aurora-hovers-over-northern-quebec%3A-photos-104552 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980226 | 263 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Companies need to examine and update their policies and technologies for managing rising volumes of hitherto secret information that can be retrieved without authorisation by insiders and outsiders alike.
In an interview published by market analyst Gartner, Don Tapscott, CEO of the New Paradigm Learning Corporation, argued that effective management of secrecy-versus-transparency issues could help companies build more trusting relationships with key stakeholder groups, ranging from customers, employees and investors to public policy.
Tapscott added, "Every company needs a transparency strategy to adjust to advances in IT. If you just nonchalantly fumble into this new age, punishment can be very swift. Most companies are just winging it. There can be all kinds of unintended consequences of being too closed or inappropriately open."
According to Tapscott, IT imperatives for an effective transparency strategy include:
- Creating an IT architecture and suite of applications and data structure for more "open" enterprises
- Understanding the interests of other parties by utilising forecasting tools and models, data mining and integrated communications across a variety of channels
- Monitoring performance against goals
- Applying customer relationship management software that gathers information about stakeholders and also builds relationships with them
- Developing IT systems to create transparency in the supply chain. | <urn:uuid:1737df00-b3f2-4d7b-8e86-9609828856c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240065588/Review-your-information-access-strategies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928917 | 257 | 1.90625 | 2 |
There are many different opinions about how to prevent another Newtown, and very little research to help us decide what will actually work. This is no accident, according to The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
An article in JAMA (published online Dec. 21) points out that one reason we do not have good information about what works and what doesn't when it comes to reducing gun violence is that since 1997 Congress (and some state legislatures) have been repressing research into the effects of gun control policies on the use of guns to kill other humans.
According to JAMA, "Decades of research have been devoted to understanding the factors that lead some people to commit violence against themselves or others," but "....substantially less has been done to understand how easy access to firearms mitigates or amplifies both the likelihood and consequences of these acts."
The reason for this is that "...in 1996, pro-gun members of Congress mounted an all-out effort to eliminate the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the leading government agency on this subject)."
In the end, Congress did not eliminate the center, but it did insert this restriction into the appropriation bill for the agency: "....none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control." Later this language was extended to cover all agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services.
We cannot say for sure that research into gun control would have been definitive, but we can say that we would be better off if we had it. We could certainly avoid some bad decisions based entirely on emotion.
The Cape Cod Times points out in a recent editorial that violent crime has dropped 49 percent since 1992 and property crime has fallen 40.7 percent. What's going on? Why have these things been dropping? To find out, we need more research — unfettered by political restrictions.
JAMA claims that continuing research over the last 20 years, which led to more prevention efforts, has helped reduce motor vehicle deaths by 31 percent, deaths from fires by 38 percent, and from drowning by 52 percent.
We should jump-start federal funding for research into gun violence and what we can do about it. And we think they should start with the psychological effect of military-style weapons. We think there is a huge psychological difference between a hunting rifle and an AR15, which is a carbon copy of a weapon designed to spray bullets at multiple people as rapidly as possible.
Who is attracted to weapons like this and why? What do they use them for? Would imbalanced people be less likely to think of mass killing if these weapons were not available? Suppose we just limited the number of bullets they could fire at once. Would either of these steps reduce total deaths from guns?
It's time we had some research-based answers.
Community activists Paul Schrader and Jack Edmonston live in Sandwich. | <urn:uuid:504afaea-1c59-4e5a-b7a2-110ba1635d02> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130115/OPINION/301150335/-1/OPINION0310 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972039 | 609 | 2.40625 | 2 |
The thought of building a tunable spectrum meter has been muling around in my head for a bit and finally got it built. Basically I thought that I could use a mixer and a local oscillator in combination with the W7ZOI power meter to read the power of a transmitter and its harmonics. I thought about it a bit more and realized that just tuning the LO up and down frequency with a direct conversion type of arrangement would not work. The power meter would detect all frequencies presented to it rather than just the frequency I wanted to measure. After a while I realized that since the mixer would produce the sum and difference of RFin and the LO. If you add 10 MHZ to the signal you want to measure and then use that as the LO then the difference winds up being a fixed frequency of 10 MHz: eg. LO = signal+10 (signal+10)+signal is one mixer output frequency (signal+10)-signal is the other freq which is 10MHz I decided to try a 10 MHz xtal filter as the fixed IF frequency. The plan was to build a 10MHz filter anyway to experiment with Farhan's BITX20 so the work to build the filter wouldn't be wasted if the experiment didnt work. The filter was designed with the AADE filter designer. I spent a day with Chapter 3 of Experimental Methods gathering the crystal parameters of the 10 MHz xtals I had to use as input to the filter designer.. In case anyone is interested in my crystal parameter results, I have a spreadsheet here. Here is the filter (50 ohm in/out 3kHz wide @ 10MHz): I built a mixer out of a MiniCircuits ADE-1 I added a 3dB PI pad at RFin which is two shunt 300 ohm resistors and a series 18 ohm resistor. I added a 6dB PI pad at IFout to help with matching into the xtal filter this is two shunt 150 ohm resistors and a series 36 ohm resistor. The LOin port should be driven at about +7dBm (about half a volt RMS). The Local Oscillator is a homebrew signal generator which is based on the AMQRP DDS-60 and AA0ZZ's PicEl PEGen software. The siggen puts out a constant signal level from about 50kHz to 50MHz and drops about 6dB between 50 and 60 MHz. I had originally been running a DDS30 siggen as my LO but blew that siggen up somehow so that was a clue to me that it was time to upgrade the software and DDS to the DDS60. Now I can measure harmonics up to 50 MHz. The siggen is set to run at +7dBm so that it drives the ADE-1 mixer well. The attenuator was something that was in my junk box. You can build your own step attenuator. The W7ZOI/W7PUA power meter is based on the Analog Devices AD-8307 logarithmic amp It reads directly in dBm from -70 dBm to over +13 dBm. The article describing the meter is on the cdrom that comes with "Experimental Methods in RF Design" or you can get it from the ARRL website if you are a member. Kanga also has a kit of parts. I was asked how I made the meter scale. I used Tonne Software's METER program to create the scale. Here is the actual config file that I used for the Meter program I used a RadioShack 0 - 1mA meter 270-1752. The article references a RadioShack 0-15V meter 22-410 which is really a 0-1mA meter in series with a scaling resistor. I think the physical meters are the same size so my meter scale should fit. In any case the config file is here that you can modify to suit.
To use the Manual Spectrum Analyzer, connect your qrp amp or whatever signal you are testing to RF In. Tune the DDS LO to 10 MHz above the oscillator frequency coming out of the RF amp and read the output power of the fundamental on the power meter. (eg. If your amp is running at F=4 MHz then tune the LO to 14 MHz.) Tune the DDS LO to 2*F +10MHz and read the first harmonic power. (eg. for the 4MHZ example, the second harmonic is 8MHz so tune the LO to 18MHz) Tune to DDS LO to the third harmonic + 10 MHz and read. (eg. 3*4 + 10 = 22 MHz) Repeat until out of LO. Note: Keep RFin at a low level, say below -30 dBm to help prevent creation of distortion in the mixer which can mess up your measurements. If necessary an IF amp can be added after the mixer to raise the levels back up to more easily measureable levels.
It worked for me. Let me know if it works for you. Mike KL7R | <urn:uuid:50f86074-1f14-4c25-a9fc-a1747afde686> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kl7r.ham-radio.ch/analyzer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94288 | 1,036 | 2.09375 | 2 |
FCC Information Bulletin on Subliminals
| In 1977, twenty years after the first
reported use of subliminal ads in movies, the Federal Communications Commission
released this 8-page information bulletin on subliminal projection. The
document reviews the history of controversial subliminal telecasts and provides
an interesting description of FCC action on the issue.
Federal Communications Commission
"Subliminal projection" is a technique of projecting information below the viewing audience's threshold of sensation or awareness. It involves flashing a message lasting only a fraction of a second on the television screen. Theoretically, a viewer could receive such a message without realizing he or she had observed it.
The Commission is aware of only a few cases of television stations' engaging in on-the-air experiments using "subliminal projection" as an advertising technique.
During a two-week period in September 1957, WTWO, Bangor, Maine, tested subliminal messages in station promotional announcements. The words "if you have seen this message, write WTWO" were flashed every 11 seconds for 1/80th of a second, on alternate days. The station said there was no noticeable increase in WTWO's mail, so the experiment was abandoned.
During a five-week period in the Spring of 1958, two members of the Indiana University faculty, Melvin L. DeFleur, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, and Robert M. Petranoff, Lecturer in the Department of Radio and Television, conducted a combined closed-circuit and on-the-air subliminal projection experiment over WTTV, Bloomington, Indiana. The Summer 1959 edition of the Public Opinion Quarterly (Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 168-180) contains a report on their "Televised Test of Subliminal Persuasion."
The first known experiment with subliminal projection occurred in 1956, when a special projector was installed in a Fort Lee, N.J., movie theater by a New York City firm, Subliminal Projection Co., Inc. During a six-week period, patrons reportedly were exposed to two advertising messages projected subliminally on the screen during the regular presentation of the motion picture "Picnic."
The words "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Hungry? Eat Popcorn" were flashed on the screen every five seconds at the subliminal level of 1/3000th of a second. Although the Subliminal Projection Co. reported that the sale of popcorn and Coca-Cola increases as a result of this stimulation, it refused to release either its statistical data or the details of the experimental study.
The first television experiment with subliminal projection also occurred in 1956 in England. The BBC-TV, on a regular broadcast, transmitted a message at a speed assumed to be subliminal. At the end of the program, viewers were asked to report whether they had noticed anything unusual. Of the relatively few responding, only a small percentage correctly identified the message. Considering the few responses, it was suggested that some of the viewers possessed thresholds sufficiently low that, for them, the message was supraliminal.
On January 19, 1958, during a half-hour CBC-TV network program carried on 27 Canadian stations, an undisclosed subliminal message was flashed on the screen 352 times, alternately 1/5 and 1/2 of a second in duration. Viewers were asked to report their reactions. The CBC said the experiment proved inconclusive as to the effectiveness of the technique.
Early in 1958, some radio licensees reported experiments with an audio version of subliminal perception. Short, barely audible phrases designated "phantom spots" were pre-recorded by disc jockeys and faded in under musical recordings or dropped into pauses in their dialogue in quick low voices.
Stations WAAF, Chicago; WCCO, Minneapolis; KLTI, Longview, Texas; KOL, Seattle; and KYA, San Francisco, reportedly experimented with these so-called "added recall devices." However, it should be noted that these whispered quickie announcements were in fact consciously audible to the listening audience, and accordingly could not truly be termed subaudible messages.
>From the Fall of 1957 through the Spring of 1958, subliminal advertising received extensive coverage in the news media. As a result, the Commission received numerous inquiries about the new technique.
The questioners complained that the technique was being used as an advertising medium for the invisible transmission of messages on television as well as on movie screens. Widely publicized opinions contended the technique was a "sneaky" advertising device used to influence audiences to react, in a manner contrary to their normal likes and dislikes, to information they could not "see" or "hear". The inquiries expressed alarm at the enormous political possibilities in a technique that they alleged could be used to brainwash Americans with foreign ideologies.
Questions were raised about the ethics of televising concealed information because of the possible effects on audiences.
A Commission investigation made the following contacts:
1. In October 1957, with the two major companies known to be promoting "subliminal projection" for information concerning their work in this new technique.
2. With Experimental Films, Inc., a company said to have a patent application then pending in the United States Patent Office for a process of subliminal communications that would compete with Subliminal Projection Co., Inc. The FCC asked whether the facilities of any network or television station had been used for application of the techniques.
3. With the major television networks as to whether they had engaged in "subliminal perception" advertising. Each network stated that it had not, and the Columbia Broadcasting System said it had no intention of using the technique in the immediate future.
4. With WTWO, the television station in Bangor, Maine, concerning reports that it had experimented with on-the-air tests of subliminal advertising. WTWO reported on its September 1957 experiment and the consequent negative reaction.
5. With the Television Code Board of the then-named National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters (NARTB) (now the National Association of Broadcasters) which had issued a news release on "Subliminal Projection", stating that it had recommended to its subscribers that "any proposals to use the television medium in the process called subliminal perception be referred to the board immediately for review and consideration," and that "experimentation or use of the process should not be permitted on the television broadcast medium pending such review and consideration."
A letter from then U.S. Representative William L. Dawson of Illinois urged the FCC to request that networks and all television stations "forego" subliminal advertising pending a Commission study. On November 27, 1957, the Commission wrote to Representative Dawson stating that since the FCC's consideration of the issue must be governed by the Commission's authority under law, a warning to licensees was inappropriate at the time.
FCC Public Notice
On November 27, 1957, the Commission issued a Public Notice (FCC 57-1289) entitled Use of Subliminal Perception Advertising by Television Stations, noting that the FCC recognized subliminal perception was a matter vitally concerning the public interest and pointing out that the cautious approach of television licensees in use of the technique offered ample proof of their recognition of the public interest.
On October 24, 1957, then Senator Charles E. Potter of Michigan wrote to the Commission asking: "Does the [Communications] Act cover the use of this technique; if so, what section? Is it covered under 'public interest' section? How can a Federal Communications Commission ruling be obtained on this technique?"
In its reply, the Commission pointed out the general applicability of the Communications Act. It noted that there was no specific language in the Act anticipating subliminal projection but said reasonable public protection was available under the general provisions of the Act.
For instance, through the Commission's licensing procedures, the United States maintains control of and regulates radio transmissions in interstate commerce. Various sections of the Act, including Section 303, make it clear that in exercising control and regulation the Commission must be guided by public interest, convenience, or necessity.
In addition, the FCC said "subliminal perception" techniques might be subject to the Commission's rulemaking authority under Section 303 subparagraph (b) on the nature of the service to be rendered by each station; subparagraph (a) on the types of apparatus to be used; subparagraph (g) authorizing studies of new and experimental uses; and subparagraphs (f) and (r) as well as Section 4, subparagraph (i) giving the Commission wide authority to make rules and regulations in carrying out its functions and the provisions of the Act.
Under existing law, the Commission does not determine the particular programs or types of programs to be presented over the air, the contents of advertising copy, or its method of presentation. Moreover, Section 326 prohibits the FCC from censoring broadcast material, including advertising. However, regulation of "subliminal perception" would not necessarily constitute censorship.
Ever since it became apparent that broadcasting was developing along commercial lines, Government regulation has upheld the principle that listeners and viewers are entitled to know who is trying to persuade them. As far back as the Radio Act of 1927 and continuing with Section 317 of the Communications Act of 1934, there has been an unvarying requirement that all matter broadcast by any station for a valuable consideration is to be announced as paid for or furnished, and by whom.
During the 1957-1958 period of Congressional and public concern over subliminal advertising, Section 317 of the Communications Act read as follows:
All matter broadcast by any radio station for which service, money, or any other valuable consideration is directly or indirectly paid, or promised to or charged or accepted by, the station so broadcasting, from any person, shall, at the time the same is broadcast, be announced as paid for or furnished, as the case may be, by such person.
Undoubtedly Section 317, then and now, would prohibit broadcasters from subjecting audiences to messages received from undisclosed sources.
Application of Section 317 to sponsored subliminal program material presented, for example, at five-second intervals, would, in practical effect, ban unrestricted use of the technique. In addition, Sections 73.1212 and 76.221 (applicable to broadcasting and cable television, respectively) of the Commission's Rules require that sponsored program matter be announced as such. Therefore, it appears that sponsored telecast or cable-originated material that is subliminally projected falls within these rules.
Demonstration of Techniques
On January 13, 1958, the Commission, certain members of Congress and the news media witnesses a demonstration of subliminal projection on closed-circuit television facilities provided by WTOP-TV, Washington. The Subliminal Projection Co., Inc., conducted the demonstration.
Short messages were flashed subliminally (1/20 of a second) at five-second intervals during a showing of "The Gray Ghost." The messages were made visible to the audience later.
The company explained that the key elements of subliminal perception are speed and intensity of image. If intensity of the image (brightness) is decreased as length of viewing period is increased, the message presented can be kept below the threshold of conscious perception. The company's technique used low contrast and brightness.
The company offered the Commission assurances that this type of communication could not persuade or influence -- it could only remind; that an individual's perceptual defenses subconsciously rejected an unwanted message. In other words, a subliminal message cannot make a person do something he really does not want to do. The company argued the two-fold advantages of subliminal advertising were that the audience could enjoy television programs without interruptions and the advertiser could present his sales message when viewing attention was at its highest.
On February 13, 1958, representatives of the Precon Process and Equipment Co. of New Orleans addressed the Commission and members of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Washington, presenting a demonstration of its process and equipment.
At the May 1958 convention of the NAB, its TV Code Review Board amended the NAB Television Code and banned subliminal perception. Current editions of the NAB's radio and television codes state: "Any technique whereby an attempt is made to convey information to the listener [TV code says "viewer"] by transmitting messages below the threshold of normal awareness is not permitted."
On February 8 and March 12, 1958, Representatives Wright and Hosmer introduced Bills H.R. 10802 and 11363, "to make unlawful the use of subliminal advertising on television and prescribing penalties." Both bills were referred to the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, but no hearings were held. Mr. Wright reintroduced his bill January 9, 1959, H.R. 1998. Again, the bill was referred to but never reported out of committee.
Complaints Received In November, 1962, complaints were received that an announcer on the CBS program "To Tell the Truth" had told the audience it was seeing a subliminal advertisement during the program credits. The announcement proved to be false and CBS took steps to ensure the hoax would not be repeated.
Shortly before Christmas 1973, the Commission received complaints that some television stations had broadcast an advertisement containing a statement of such short duration that most viewers were unaware of it -- or at least consciously unaware of it. The message was "Get It", urging purchase of the produce advertised in the commercial.
An FCC inquiry disclosed that the NAB TV Code Authority had learned of the use of the subliminal message in late November and had received a statement from the advertising agency that it was sending telegrams to all stations to which the advertisements had been sent.
The agency told the Code Authority it was informing the stations of the subliminal statements, authorizing them to delete the statements from the spots, and telling them that film prints that did not contain the "Get It" flashes would be sent to them. Despite the Code Authority's action, some stations apparently continued to broadcast the subliminal spots, and some said they had no record of having received the telegram from the agency.
On January 23, 1974, the FCC adopted a Public Notice which it sent to all its broadcast licensees and which stated, in part:
We believe that use of subliminal perception is inconsistent with the obligations of a licensee, and therefore we take this occasion to make clear that broadcasts employing such techniques are contrary to the public interest. Whether effective or not, such broadcasts clearly are intended to be deceptive.
[document ends] Article Index | Subliminal Documents Index
© Copyright 1997-1999 ParaScope, Inc.
Dossier: Paranormal Government The ParaStore: Books, Videos, Zines & More Message board: Share your views! | <urn:uuid:6faf74fd-6540-4107-a900-24c41a828260> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.broadcasting101.ws/subliminal.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961496 | 3,062 | 2.328125 | 2 |
Call Admission Control Scheme in Wireless Mobile Network
An important issue in the operation of a cellular telephone system is how to efficiently use the available band width to provide good service to as many customers as for civil. This application demand and allocation could lead to congestion if the network has to maintain such high resources for the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of the applications. In this paper, channel assignment scheme is used for batter utilization of the resources. This scheme carried out specially effect of utilization of buffer, queue length and performance analysis of the mobile networks. Also find out blocking probability of the mobile networks. | <urn:uuid:4ef3de78-e35c-4eac-ac36-189a85ecd3bf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.techrepublic.com/whitepapers/call-admission-control-scheme-in-wireless-mobile-network/23509212 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913498 | 120 | 2.1875 | 2 |
A northern Kentucky county has taken a stand against proposed federal restrictions on gun rights.
The Boone County Fiscal Court approved a resolution against the enforcement of any federal mandates that may restrict gun ownership.
Boone County Judge-Executive Gary Moore told The Kentucky Enquirer that officials had a duty to show support for the Second Amendment and to Boone County Sheriff Mike Helmig, who has said he won't enforce any mandates.
In passing the resolution 4-0 on Tuesday night, county officials join several other communities that have taken similar stances.
Constitutional law professor John Bickers said Helmig isn't required to enforce such mandates since his authority is granted by the state.
He said federal law enforcement officers would be responsible for carrying out any federal mandates. | <urn:uuid:6c7f6256-fdeb-45da-9f6b-4f29f46771d2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbko.com/home/headlines/Resolution-Opposes-Restrictions-on-Gun-Rights--190448891.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967275 | 152 | 1.515625 | 2 |
Mirin: What it is and how to use it
Editor's note: Off the Beaten Aisle is a column by Associated Press Food Editor J.M. Hirsch that also appears at FoodNetwork.com. It explores lesser known but widely available ingredients.
Mirin is all about getting sauced.
See full article text
Because that's where Japanese cooking wine really shines — in sauces.
But first, a misconception. The wretched American product known as "cooking wine" probably has you reluctant to try anything similar. Relax and prepare for a delicious discovery. Mirin is nothing like that.
Though once sipped similar to sake, today mirin is exclusively a cooking wine. The clear, viscous liquid has a clean, yet intensely sweet-salty flavor. And while it packs a solid 12 to 14 percent alcohol, it's really the sugar that counts. Mirin often is as much as 45 percent sugar.
That sugar explains why mirin works so wonderfully in marinades, glazes and sauces. It tenderizes meats, thickens sauces and creates a wonderful glaze.
And chances are you've tried it before, though you probably didn't realize it. Mirin is a key ingredient in traditional teriyaki sauce and often is used as a finishing touch for Japanese soups.
Though often inaccurately called rice wine, mirin is made in part from rice. Rice, koji (think good bacteria in yogurt) and a distilled version of sake are combined and held for two months. During this time, the koji converts the starch in the rice into sugar. A lot of it. The solids then are strained and the resulting liquid is the mirin.
Mirin is widely available in the Asian or international aisle of just about any grocer. Some mass produced versions are made from grain alcohol and sugar, so check labels before buying.
For ideas for using mirin, check out the Off the Beaten Aisle column over on Food Network.
Mirin-marinated Short Ribs with Shiitakes and Egg Noodles
1 1/2 pounds boneless short ribs, thinly sliced
1 cup mirin
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and ground black pepper
1 pound wide egg noodles
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil, divided
7 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded, thinly sliced
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 red bell peppers, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
- Start to finish: 20 minutes active (plus 1 hour marinating).
- In a large bowl or zip-close plastic bag, combine the sliced short ribs, mirin, garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- When ready to cook, bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the egg noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- In a large skillet over medium-high, heat 1
tablespoon of the sesame oil. Remove the steak from the marinade (reserving the marinade) and add to the skillet. Cook until the meat
is half cooked, about 5
- Transfer the meat to a plate and set aside. Return the skillet to the heat and add the mushrooms, onion and peppers, then saute until starting to brown.
- Return the meat to the skillet and add all of the reserved marinade. Bring to a simmer and cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
- In a small glass, mix the cornstarch and water, then add it and the soy sauce to
the skillet. Stir well and simmer for 2 minutes, or until thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon the steak and sauce over the noodles. Drizzle each serving with a bit of the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil.
- Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 1,000 calories; 260 calories from fat (26 percent of total calories); 29 g fat (10 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 215 mg cholesterol; 118 g carbohydrate; 53 g protein; 6 g fiber; 1940 mg sodium.
J.M. Hirsch is the national food editor for The Associated Press. He is author of the recent cookbook, "High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking." | <urn:uuid:a2215c61-1c47-4763-9911-de8af9f0eb65> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://m.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120620/LIFE/206200302/-1/WAP09&template=wapart&m_section= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910657 | 920 | 1.5 | 2 |
BETHESDA- Police Chief Jeremy Campbell recently announced the donation of a high-tech data transfer device to the Sexual Predator Internet Initiative (SPII) Task Force by communications corporation AT&T. The device is used by AT&T stores to transfer contacts and other data from old cell phones to new phones, but law enforcement agencies and forensic labs download the cell information to storage media during investigations.
SPII personnel began using the device immediately and say it is "the overall best" unit and software that they employ. This particular version is able to extract more types of information from cell phones and smart phones than some of their other equipment, allowing them to expedite evidence gathering.
Chief Campbell notes that there has been a major increase in cell phone use by predators and other offenders, and in its first few weeks the unit has cut down the backlog of extractions and has aided SPII investigations as well as criminal investigations for neighboring law enforcement organizations.
T-L Photo/GLYNIS VALENTI
New equipment from AT&T allows the SPII Task Force to download more information faster from confiscated cell phones, expediting investigations.
"We are dedicated to strengthening our communities," says B.J. Smith, AT&T Ohio director of External Affairs. "In this instance a piece of equipment that we no longer need can help keep young people in southeastern Ohio safe.
"We are so pleased to be able to assist the Task Force in their important work."
State Senator Lou Gentile also thanked AT&T for their support. "Our public safety forces not only fight crime, but also must understand and examine the high-tech tools that can be turned into instruments of those crimes. AT&T's willingness to provide this assistance to the SPII Task Force is exactly the kind of local involvement and investment that we hope for from our corporate neighbors."
"It's hard to come by donations sometimes in this line of work," Campbell adds. "This was very gracious of AT&T." The equipment donation has saved SPII several thousand dollars.
The SPII Task Force targets internet crimes against children in Ohio, focusing on Belmont, Jefferson, Monroe and Noble Counties. SPII has two full-time and six part-time investigators who identify and investigate suspected IP addresses that may be involved in the creation, sale or distribution of child pornography or in child abductions.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company and a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile internet, AT&T also offers the most wireless phones that work in the most countries, and its IP-based business communications services are some of the most advanced in the world. Valenti can be reached at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:50660e1d-2af7-4271-be8c-7a0e70bfba43> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.timesleaderonline.com/page/content.detail/id/545376/SPII-given-equipment-from-AT-T.html?nav=5010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957656 | 580 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Settle's Alaskan Klee Kai
(330) 388-5005 Walt & Susan Settle
The Alaskan Klee Kai breed was developed in
Alaska By Linda Spurlin to be a companion sized
version of the Alaskan Husky. The Alaskan
Husky was the foundation of the Alaskan Klee
Kai, with a touch of Siberian Husky, Schipperke
and American Eskimo dog. The breed is about
30 years old and is still extremely rare, due to a
strict breeding program.
Alaskan Klee Kai are one of the rare dog breeds
recognized by the United Kennel Club.
The mask is the most distinctive characteristic.
Hight is measured from the withers (top of the
shoulders) to the ground. AKK come in three
sizes toy, miniature and standard. Breeders can
not guarantee the adult size of a puppy.
Toy: Up to and including 13 inches about 10lbs
Miniature: Over 13 inches up to and including 15
inches about 10 to 15lbs
Standard: Over 15 inches up to and including 17
inches about 15 to 23lbs
Settle's Alaskan Klee | <urn:uuid:c10335bf-e3f7-4c04-b1a2-b42c28fc447c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://photos.nextdaypets.com/dogpicture/settles-alaskan-klee-kai-in-ohio-ukc-reg~2124494.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906097 | 258 | 1.601563 | 2 |
A grand mix of Russian, Polish and Austrian influences, Stuart Wadsworth returns to Lviv and discovers that Ukraine’s Lion City is ready to roar again…
There are some cities in Eastern Europe which defy logic. Lviv to Ukrainians, Lwow to Poles, Lvov to Russians, Lemberg to Austrians and Germans, the city is a microcosm of Central European history, a battleground for centuries, truly a meeting place of the east and the west. A city whose name derives from the word ‘lion’ should be indomitable and indeed many have fought over this city, and many have lost it.
At heart, it’s Ukrainian, though the Poles in particular might have something to say about that, having occupied it for over 300 years. Many feel it’s a kind of long-lost half-sister to Krakow. It’s a little shabby, a little edgy if you like, in the Russian style – but at the same time it has an elegance that is pure Austrian and a café culture to match. The scars of the Nazi occupation can be felt in its now-deserted Jewish quarters, and the shackles of half a century of Soviet repression have just been shed, but its previous claim to being one of Central Europe’s most playful and flirtatious cities is re-emerging, just in time for it to play host city in the Euro 2012 tournament. And yet, Lviv remains relatively undiscovered, a budget-traveller’s dream and the perfect place to impress your friends back home that you have really found a hip, up-and-coming and inexpensive destination. Gateway to Ukraine, a tantalizing glimpse of the east and not at all what you might imagine. What are you waiting for?
Best of the Beaten Track
Lviv is blessed with a plethora of museums and art galleries, and enough mesmerizing buildings to make you want to throw away your rucksack and sell it for an easel and oil paints to take up street art. You could spend days wandering the Unesco-listed old town around Rynek Ploscha (Market Square), popping in and out of churches and cathedrals and relaxing in the myriad of atmospheric cafes, losing yourself in the town’s old-world charm. The good news is that Lviv is compact and easily negotiable on foot, so you need never hop on a bus or get in a taxi to see the main sights.
It seems unfair to single out one of these magnificent pieces of architecture over any other, but the distinctive round-domed Dominican Cathedral and gothic Latin Cathedral should not be missed. The former is adjacent to the bohemian Armenian quarter which houses the artsy Dzyha café and is perfect for a late morning latte. The neo-Renaissance tower of the Ratusha (town hall) can easily be climbed for amazing views of the surrounding splendour. Prospekt Svobody (or ‘Planta’ as the older locals call the boulevard, referring to the greenery around) is where young and old alike seem to strut their stuff, especially around sunset, as couples come out to hold hands and stroll along this outdoor catwalk. A statue of Taras Shevchenko, national poet and hero, is in the middle of it, while at the southern end stands Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz: symbolic of the schizophrenic Polish/Ukranian identity here and also of the poetic heart beating in Lvivians. Guarding its north side is the splendid turn-of-the-century Solimiya Krushelnytska Lviv Theatre of Opera and Ballet, a sumptuous affair that wouldn’t look out of place in Vienna. For fantastic views over the theatre, go to Panorama restaurant just opposite. Round a day’s sightseeing off by relaxing in Italiys’kyi Dvorek, a romantic hotspot of a café hidden down an alley off the square. This open-air coffee lover’s paradise is a riot of Italianate arches and statues, and if you’re not careful you can waste whole days loafing around here, feeling like you are on a film set – which in way you are, as it has been used as a backdrop on several productions.
If you’d rather explore with the aid of a local city guru check out the website of this Lviv tour guide.
There is more to Lviv than meets the eye. This is a city which keeps her secrets from the hurrying weekender, and must be delved into over time, savoured at a gentler pace. A stroll to the Castle Hill is a quintessential Lviv experience – from where to plan your alternative sightseeing. On a sunny afternoon, a stroll here will blow away the cobwebs of what will probably have been a fairly heavy dose of life the night before. Reminiscent of the man-made mounds in Krakow, you start to get a feel of the city and its beauty from this vantage point.
A short tram ride to the east of the town takes you to Lychakivske Cemetery. Lviv’s answer to Paris’s Pere Lachais; a spectacular but shambling assortment of gravestones, tombs, statues, crosses and floral tributes that is a photographer’s dream, all set in lovely overgrown grounds. This is Slavic melancholy at its most heartbreaking and serenely beautiful. While you’re in this part of town, take a stroll to the nearby open-air museum of Folk Architecture and Life which gives you a real feel for the traditional wooden houses and churches, furniture, clothing and farming life that has shaped this most earthy of countries.
A trip to the Lvivskie Museum of Beer and Brewing is also highly recommended; the small entrance fee is more than compensated for by limitless glasses of delicious frothy beer, and English language tours of this 290-year old cellar will satisfy the curiosity of the most avid hop-lover. This could turn into a boozy night of guzzling if you are lured into the adjoining Robert Dom’s Beer House and get seduced by the litre mugs of freshly poured nectar for around a Euro a pop.
Experience & Events
The main event occurring in Lviv in the near future is, of course, the Euro 2012 football competition. Although there are doubts in some quarters that the city will be ready in time, particularly with regard to its new stadium, when quizzed Lvivians give a disarming shrug of the shoulders and reply “this is how things work in Ukraine! We will be ready, but we’ll leave it to the last minute!” Fingers crossed, they will. So far however, only the hotels of the city have been given the green light by UEFA. For those not of a footballing bent, the Theatre of Opera and Ballet stages productions daily. Stump up a fraction of what you would pay for a similar production in western Europe, and you will be treated to a 90-piece philharmonic orchestra, more than 40 world-class soloists, a choir and a ballet troupe.
Slightly less high brow, but equally fun, the recently inaugurated Annual Fluorescent Art Festival is a two week extravaganza of glow-in-the-dark bodypainting, music and dance that takes place each June. The Lviv Lumines festival (to give the event its official title) “offers a fun and interactive way of viewing the very specific and engrossing art of fluorescent art” according to the organizers. If that still sounds too cultural for you then you’ll be pleased to know that every May Lviv stages a very special ‘talent’ show, known as ‘Lviv’s Ideal Lady’. The city’s prettiest specimens come under scrutiny not just for their looks, but for their ‘culinary, intellectual and choreographic skills’. Hoo-ah.
If Lviv is endowed with enough great hotels to keep UEFA head honcho and stern taskmaster Michel Platini happy, it must be doing something right. From the the post-soviet to the palatial, Lviv suits all pockets. Starting with the budget choices, you can’t go far wrong with the newly-renovated Sun Hostel. Central, homely and very good value, an ensuite double here will set you back little more than 15 Euro a night. Australian Eddie’s Kosmonaut Hostel is typically Lvivian – scruffy but full of character. The Soviet theme and chance to meet cool new friends are your best reason to chuck your rucksack down here. For a true Soviet experience though, try a night at Hotel Lviv. Dour stares from receptionists, attendants noting your comings and goings on each floor and a ‘disco’ downstairs. Still scraping in at most people’s budget range (around 30 Euro a double) comes the George Hotel. Turn-of-the-century chic is reason enough to choose this place, which embodies the term ‘faded grandeur’. Obsequious bell-hops and stiff waiters are all part of the George experience. Just skip down that grand staircase in the morning and pretend you don’t feel like a king. Really splashing out? Go to Hotel Opera at the end of Svobody Prospekt and just feast on that amazing view every mealtime at Panorama.
And then there’s the food… Lviv was once known as a centre of culinary excellence, in Habsburg times. Unfortunately the Russians came in and rather soured things. Luckily, the old times are returning and Lviv’s restaurant scene is starting to flourish again. If you want to transport yourself back to those heady days, make your way to Kupol, a throwback to the 1920’s which seems to effortlessly recreate pre-Soviet decadence with quirky wall decorations and wonky wooden tables and chairs. The eccentrically-decorated little garden is perfect on a sunny spring morning, and the Polish-Austrian-Ukranian menu does not disappoint. Veronika and its sister café Amadeus are serious contenders for cafe/restaurant of the year awards. The former serves astonishing omelettes and sumptuous cakes in a classy candle-lit basement, while the latter oozes class with one of the most eclectic menus in Lviv. Prices for both will not make you feel too much lighter, and neither will the food – but hey, you’re on holiday right? Try ‘The Most Expensive Restaurant in Galicija’ to get a feel for nouveau-riche Ukranians on a night out. This Masonic-themed place feels slightly sinister yet sexy at the same time. Enquiring as to the outlandish prices may land you a ‘tourist’ discount and your bill will magically be 90% cheaper. Don’t ask… Cheese soup and duck pate here recommended. ‘Pidpilya’ in the basement of Cabinet café does the best pirohi (Polish dumplings) in town.
You might have been excused for writing Lviv’s nightlife off as a non-event five or six years ago. Now, it’s all change and you can expect to party to dawn every night of the week if you so choose. Kick off at a cool café like Cabinet early doors, where you can sup a few beers in refined literary surrounds and even shoot a game of pool. Have a perv in Masoch Café, which is dedicated to writer and kinky fantasist Leopold von Masoch, who penned Venus in Furs. Born here but raised in Austria, he would have been impressed by the attention to detail here, including high heels and handcuffs adorning the wall, and a positively pornographic menu. Head to the Armenian quarter with its lively atmosphere and check out Gasova Lyampa, where you bizarrely walk down a flight of stairs only to ascend another and then admire the industrial décor, busts and pictures in homage to Ignacy Lukasiewicz, founder of the Polish oil industry and inventor of the Kerosene lamp. Move on to Kyrivka, underneath ‘The Most Expensive Restaurant…’ where you have to utter a password to a uniformed guard through a peephole on entry: “Slava Ukraini” (“Glory to the Ukraine”) before being offered a tumbler of something strong as a gift. Downstairs discover a chaotic but jovial bunker full of good-natured banter – Lviv’s youth enjoying plentiful cheap beer served by pretty girls in army uniform. Themed (like many new places in Lviv), Kyrivka pays homage to soldiers of the Ukranian Insurgant Army (UPA) who waged guerilla war against the Nazis, Poles and Soviet Union from 1943-49. If you are still compos mentis on leaving, you might want to head to a club like Metro with its progressive, cutting edge dance music, beer and girls on tap.
Getting to Lviv, it has to be said, is the one downside. The city does have an airport, but it’s not what you would call well-connected – and not at all to budget carriers, barring one Wizz Air connection to Kiev. Some intrepid souls fly to Rzeszow in Poland and train or bus the rest. Direct train connections from Krakow and Kiev are approximately ten and eight hours respectively. Just think: this is why this place is still so cool.
The trusty Lonely Planet guide to Ukraine is handy for Lviv, as is the always reliable In Your Pocket. In addition, there is Lviv Today which is good for cultural events and what’s on. Practical dual-language Ukrainian/English maps are available at www.vidviday.co.ua.
Ukraine has an enviable literary reputation. Giants like Gogol and Bulgakhov hail from Odessa and Kiev respectively, and a copy of Dead Souls or Master and Margarita will impress the locals. For a more modern perspective on Ukraine, reach for A Short History of Ukrainian Tractors by Marina Lewycka which whimsically documents the problem of Ukranian husband-hunting in the west and also the magnificent Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. Tackling the murky issue of Jewish shtetls (villages) in western Ukraine and their annihilation under the Nazis with sensitivity and humour in spades, this is a truly illuminating read to accompany you in Lviv.
Soundtrack to the City
View Lviv City Guide Map in a larger map | <urn:uuid:5a4fe898-dde2-43aa-8d72-5b7070cb9b7d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.urbantravelblog.com/guide/lviv | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938191 | 3,107 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Art historian, Museum director
Los Angeles, Calif.
Sound recording: 6 sound cassettes
Transcript: 71 p.
Collection Summary: An interview of Kenneth Donahue conducted 1981 Mar.18-Apr. 17, by Ruth Bowman, for the Archives of American Art.
Donahue speaks of his early interest in museums; his education at the University of Louisville; his work at the Museum of Modern Art, the Frick and Ringling Museums, and as assistant director at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; some exhibitions and acquisitions by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Biographical/Historical Note: Kenneth Donahue (1915-1985) was a museum director and art historian of Los Angeles, Calif.
These interviews are part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service. | <urn:uuid:6eedab72-48cf-4a1d-bdd3-1f33235d63f6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-kenneth-donahue-12735 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924455 | 225 | 1.679688 | 2 |
By Megan Green
In the late 1800′s, as cities grew larger and more crowded, the automobile become more and more of a necessity to offset the unhealthy and malodorous pollution from horses. Each horse could produce upwards of 35 pounds of waste per day, not to mention the macabre detail that dead horses littered the cities in the thousands per year. In 1903, William Phelps Eno wrote the first traffic code in the world for the city of New York and very soon the world was introduced to the Stop sign. Several years after that, Henry Ford put the modern assembly lines into practice, thus making the automobile cheaper and accessible to a wider range of consumers. This all led to the prevalence of automobile use and ownership facilitating the migration of people from cities to newly created suburbs post-World War II.
Now, in year 2011, we are at a similar crossroads. The trend has reversed; people are moving back to cities to decreasing space and resources. The streets are once again congested and, as a result, generating unhealthy emissions. Not only that, but the cost of filling up the gas tank just keeps skyrocketing. In the United States, CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards, enacted in 1975 as part of the Energy Policy Conservation Act, were updated in 2007 by the Bush Administration with the mandate to improve fuel economy (and therefore reduce tailpipe emissions) to 35mpg by model year 2020. President Obama announced another agreement July 29, 2011 to increase fuel economy to 54.5 miles per gallon by model year 2025. | <urn:uuid:8bca6d71-7cd2-412e-a66d-06f21230c58b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://reviews.carreview.com/category/gm-news | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949129 | 315 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Veteran Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar has been appointed U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special adviser on Myanmar, the United Nations announced on Thursday.
Mr. Nambiar is currently Mr. Ban’s Chief of Staff, a position he has held since 2007.
“Nambiar expressed (his) wish to step down, so as to allow me to compose a new team of senior managers for my second term as UN Chief,” Mr. Ban told reporters announcing the appointment.
Mr. Nambiar will move to serve as Mr. Ban’s “Special Advisor on Myanmar at an appropriate time, following the transition in my Executive Office,” the U.N. chief said, thanking the former Indian Permanent Representative to the UN for his “unfailing support, wise counsel, and dedication in handling the many challenges that have faced the organisation during my first term.”
Mr. Nambiar has previously served as India’s ambassador to Pakistan, China and Afghanistan.
Mr. Ban said the United Nations has been playing a key role in furthering the democratisation process of Myanmar.
“Encouraged” by the recent release of political prisoners in the country, Mr. Ban said he is planning to visit Myanmar in the near future to have further discussions with the authorities. | <urn:uuid:85ef40c2-2a71-435c-ad49-ba131d4da8e6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/nambiar-appointed-ban-kimoons-special-adviser-on-myanmar/article2834214.ece | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97271 | 283 | 1.554688 | 2 |
For us, communization does not signify some general positive positive process of ‘sharing’ or ‘making commoning’. It signifies the specific revolutionary undoing of the relations of property constitutive of the capitalist class relation. Sharing as such - if this has any meaning at all - can hardly be understood as involving this undoing of capitalist relations, for various kinds of ‘sharing’ or ‘making common’ can easily be shown to play important roles withing capitalist society without in any way impeding capitalist accumulation. Indeed, they are often essential to - or even constitutive in - that accumulation: consumption goods shared within families, risk shared via insurance, resources shared within firms, scientific knowledge shared through academic publications, standards and protocols sharked between rival capitals because they are recognized as being in their common interest. In such cases, without contradiction, what is held in common is the counterpart to an appropriation. As such, a dynamic of communization would involve the undoing of such forms of ‘sharing’, just as it would involve the undoing of private appropriation.
from “The Moment of Communization” by Endnote | <urn:uuid:31d4cdf8-61f5-4085-ad74-94833cf85f74> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hillelarnold.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=112 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963675 | 237 | 2.234375 | 2 |
Madeline Palmer was born in Anchorage, Alaska in 1980 and lived there for most of her life until moving to Washington State, eventually attending the University of Washington, Seattle, earning a double-major degree in linguistics and anthropology. She then attended the New York University as a graduate student in linguistics, focusing primarily upon Celtic languages, a field which has long interested her. The idea for Srínawésin came to her about twenty years ago when she read a novel and began to wonder why dragons never spoke in their language in any story, legend or tale she had read. This thought led to thinking about what their language would sound like and this simple question spawned a lifelong interest in language in general and specifically how a draconic language would sound and function. This paper is the accumulation of all of that work.
Srínawésin: The Language of the Kindred: A Grammar and Lexicon of the Northern Latitudinal Dialect of the Dragon Tongue
This series of papers sets out to describe and detail Srínawésin, the language spoken by dragons. As part of the paper’s fictional background it is adapted from original notes written by Howard T. Davis, a linguistics student at the University of New York from 1932 to 1937, the author attempts to present this language in a readable form for linguists as well as laypeople to give Mr. Davis’ work as wide an audience as possible. Section I includes an overview of the draconic worldview, mindset, and physical characteristics which give this language several “unique” features. In Sections II through VII the author explains the phonetic sounds which comprise the language, the morphology of the words, the ways in which verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs and possessives are created as well as how sentences are constructed in grammatical form according to Davis’ notes. Section VIII includes several dialogues in Srínawésin, songs, legends, poems and discussions between Davis and his sources while Sections IX and X comprise an extensive lexicon, breaking down how words are derived from the original root forms, as well as a thesaurus of root forms according to their class structure.
Srínawésin: Lexicon of Verb Roots and Thesaurus
To complete Srínawésin: The Language of the Kindred, this final section is a user-friendly lexicon and thesaurus of the Dragon Tongue with approximately one thousand commonly used verb roots listed in alphabetical order. The first part is a lexicon of verb roots with each form of verbal, adjectival, adverbial and noun derivations according to class structure listed for many, but not all of the roots. The second section is a thesaurus listing the original verbal roots as noun-verbs, divided up into sub-sections for each of the thirteen classes of the language. The final part is a thesaurus of verbs divided up into various semantic themes such as Hunting, Stalking and Avoiding; Killing Dying and Eating; Personal Characteristics; Animal Descriptions; Flying Maneuvers and Actions and Living Patterns and Actions. This Lexicon and Thesaurus includes all verbal roots used in Srínawésin: The Language of the Kindred to allow anyone who is interested full access to the language.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. | <urn:uuid:35f80b01-4225-458b-af8e-86531568ea70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fiatlingua.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948223 | 698 | 2.578125 | 3 |
LONDON (CNNMoney.com) -- Google slightly altered its business strategy in China late Monday in an attempt to balance the company's desire to keep its Chinese website with its goal of avoiding self-censorship.
Google for the past three months has been automatically redirecting visitors to its Chinese site, google.cn, to its Hong Kong search engine, google.com.hk. Though Google does not sensor results on the Hong Kong site for users in mainland China, the Chinese government does.
Still, Chinese government officials told the search giant that it finds the auto-redirect "unacceptable" and would likely revoke Google's license to operate in country if it continues that practice, according to a company blog post.
As a result, Google said that over the next several days, it will stop automatically directing its mainland Chinese users to its Hong Kong search engine. Instead, it has begun to display a "landing page" on google.cn for some users, which requires users to click on an image that links to the Hong Kong site.
The search company also once again began hosting some search content on its Chinese servers, including maps, music, and translation services, which can be provided locally without the need for censorship. That content is hosted on google.cn and can be accessed on google.com.hk for users from within mainland China.
Google's license is up for renewal on Wednesday, and the company said it has resubmitted its renewal application based on its new approach. The company said its new strategy is consistent with local law and its commitment to not self-censor.
"We are going with this new approach because we would like to try to provide our service to Chinese users," Google China spokeswoman Marsha Wong told CNN.
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) had been using the automatic redirect after deciding it would no longer censor results in China. Google stopped censoring search results in China in March. Its stance against censorship of its China site toughened after Google announced in January that it had discovered a targeted cyber attack on its network infrastructure.
To circumvent China's strict censorship laws, Google no longer hosts its search operations within mainland China -- it physically moved all of its Chinese servers to Hong Kong. As a result, Google no longer needs to adhere to China's censorship laws, and it is up to the Chinese government to block access to the results it finds objectionable.
The arrangement is similar to how Chinese users have long been able to access Google's main search page, the uncensored google.com: The Chinese government allows access to some result pages and blocks pages it does not want its users to see.
The announcement had some impact on Google's stock. Shares were down 4% Tuesday morning in early trading.
Microsoft abruptly reverses its policies on connectivity and used games. More
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the central bank should curtail its $85 billion a month in asset purchases later this year and end it in mid-2014 -- if the recovery stays on track. More
In a merger of two 3-D printing leaders, Stratasys is buying Makerbot for an edge in the consumer market. More
What you major in can mean the difference between making an annual salary or making Frappucinnos post-graduation, according to a recent report. More | <urn:uuid:ea624de2-5e2c-4039-9ec0-5aaec1ca32c0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/29/technology/google_china/index.htm?postversion=2010062911 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944634 | 680 | 1.625 | 2 |
Against Schooling For an Education That Matters (Paperback)
|Author: Stanley Aronowitz|
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In "Against Schooling," Stanley Aronowitz passionately raises an alarm about the current state of education in our country. Discipline and control over students, Aronowitz argues, are now the primary criteria of success, and genuine learning is sacrificed to a new educational militarism. In an age where school districts have imposed testing, teachers must teach to test, and both teacher and student are robbed of their autonomy and creativity. The crisis extends to higher education, where all but a few elite institutions are becoming increasingly narrowly focused and vocational in their teaching. With education lacking opportunity for self-reflection on broad social and historical dynamics, "Against Schooling" asks How will society be able to solve its most pressing problems Aronowitz proposes innovative approaches to get schools back on track. | <urn:uuid:a5721a3c-26f7-48c4-a2ee-75c8e5fa271b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rakuten.com/prod/against-schooling/207948221.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00045-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955666 | 212 | 1.742188 | 2 |
The temperatures are forecast to plunge, and there’s a chance for snow by the end of the week. While the El Paso County Search and Rescue team says it is always ready, members are ensuring their vehicles are equipped for the winter season ahead.
“We’re checking our equipment, making sure everything is ready to go out in the snowy areas,” said Steven Sperry, the spokesman for the team.
Sperry said it is a good time for commuters to prepare themselves, also. He suggests drivers pack an emergency kit to keep in their cars.
According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, this kit should include items like:
- Flares/reflectors to signal for help and warn other motorists
- Sturdy scraper/snow brush/snow shovel to clear snow
- Battery or crank-powered radio to listen to emergency broadcasts
- Flashlight with extra batteries or crank-powered flashlight.
- Survival blanket or sleeping bag
- Chemical hand warmers
- Extra set of clothes, including coat, hat, mittens, boots, etc.
- Water for each person and pet in your car
- Food items containing protein such as nuts and energy bars; canned fruit and a portable can opener
- First Aid Kit and essential medications
- Tire chains and tow strap
- Nonclumping kitty litter/sand for traction
- Jumper cables
- Extra cloth or paper towels for cleanup if necessary
- Deck of cards or board game for entertainment
Sperry told KRDO Newschannel 13 that it does not take much snow to cause problems, saying that worn tires can cause drivers to slide off the road.
He said aside from having an emergency survival pack loaded in their car, it is also very important for drivers to keep an eye on the weather.
“Listen to the weather before they go out. Have an idea about what the weather is going to do. Make sure that you’ve got all your equipment with you,” said Sperry. | <urn:uuid:a1dafff6-f0ba-459c-9e5b-78828751bd2c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.krdo.com/news/El-Paso-Co-Search-and-Rescue-team-readies-for-winter/-/417220/17101648/-/svmndqz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948033 | 419 | 1.671875 | 2 |
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Elvis Presley made a sound so different it ushered in a new kind of music: rock and roll. He was able to combine gospel, honky-tonk, country and rhythm and blues to create a unique sound that crossed racial and cultural divides. Though he was incredibly popular, at heart, Elvis was a shy and polite man, and the demands of fame began to take a toll. While his dependence on prescription drugs cut short his life, Elvis’s influence on music and popular culture endures to this day.
208 pages; ISBN 9781440639128
, or download in | <urn:uuid:8f075f8b-e9ac-4766-9fe5-fa1dde2b9130> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ebooks.com/352770/elvis-presley/hampton-wilborn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919876 | 151 | 2.421875 | 2 |
I have a table with 2 rows and 2 columns.
When I place the video shortcode into each cell and align each cell vertical to TOP all but one video aligns properly.
so the first two (horizontally)do not line up. Instead the second video is kicked down about 10px.
The bottom 2 align horizontally to the top properly.
It's almost as if in the first row the second video has a top padding of 10px but it does not.
All the cells are formatted exactly the same. I even copied and pasted the same video shortcode in all cells, so all the html is the same.
I have looked at the code for some difference but it's all the same for each cell, no hidden breaks or returns etc
I know maybe I should use divs but I does anyone know why this happens? | <urn:uuid:6ebcec03-290b-48bb-bd63-b286530407c5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wordpress.org/support/topic/table-cell-alignment-problems-video-shortcode | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915117 | 176 | 1.625 | 2 |
Althoughsteroids are illegal in most countries , many people will have no hesitation reaching into the medicine cabinet to make things easier and even more efficient. There is no question, however, that steroids can only give so much because they borrow from what you already have ,and there can be many side effects from the use of steroids. The damage that can result from this is a very good reason to think long and hard before deciding to use steroids.
One has only to look at the highly publicised cases of some high-profile individuals to see what damage steroids can do. More than a few pro atheletes have died from the side effects that the use of steriods can cause.
In the end, it ia personal choice of each individual if they want to use steroids to get the boost that takes their training to the next level. But ask any doctor and they will tell you that there are huge downsides to relying on the effects of steroids, against a short-term, superficial upside. | <urn:uuid:b644a61c-6f29-418b-af79-f695a24bf3fa> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://iwantmusclefast.com/tag/side/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973853 | 201 | 1.90625 | 2 |
I and my friend were awaiting the arrival of the train, when he popped up the question of “What do you think of the Delhi gang rape?”
My first reaction was a “forced” silence that I thrusted upon myself with thoughts coming in my mind that no matter what I think about the issue, it will not end up making a difference.
As of now there is a lot of anguish among the people over the brutality of the incident that took place. How the life of a young girl with desires of fulfilling her dreams was abrupt cut short by men who unleash the beasts that resided within them.
It feels good that protests are being carried out throughout the nation demanding for better protection, to protect the rights of women and punish the culprits guilty of such heinous crime. The real question is will we be able to make that difference?
We, the Indian citizens suffer from short-term memory loss. Its like straight out of the movie Ghajini and donning the role of Amir Khan who lives in the reality for a short moment and is always clueless of his actions. We will vent out of fury, cry and make noise and then after a few days with our govt. making false assurances go back to our old ways as if nothing has happened.
India today is represented by inefficient, corrupt politicians for whom their own interests come first before the nation. The sad part is that none of the political parties can truly states that largest democratic country lives by the laws of “government of the people, by the people and for the people” the pillars of foundation for a democratic country.
Justice is dead in this country. The only place where people pin their hopes to get justice is our judicial system. Our courts is plagued by backlog of cases, shortage of judges to preside over court. The time the court takes to pass verdict often make people cynical and sarcastic. Wonder if justice can truly be delivered or the system is leveraged to benefit the corrupt/culprits as long as justice is delayed. Yet one only hears of talks of improving the system but no concrete progress has been made. Funnily though all of this does not stop the courts from going on vacations (set up during the British empire) even as justice is awaited…..
What do people in such a nation should do? Choose to look the other side? even though our so-called elected representatives are not doing the job they are supposed to. Are the people suppose to watch in silence like Gandhiji’s three monkeys “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”?
Its time to take a stand, make that difference that a nation needs from its people. The protest for the Delhi gang rape should not just stop there. Stating opinions will not make a difference unless followed by action. So the question now is what are we waiting for……
Bonus: The below ad rightly portrays the sentiment of India.
I was walking down the road today and I see an old man wearing a paper headband with Anna Hazare mentioned and his name and number. As I reached another place, saw an old couple walking down the road, with the old man wearing a human billboard in praise of our PM (you know what I mean) that showed support to Anna Hazare’s cause which has the country in upheaval as they try to pass the Jan Lokpal bill.
It’s good to see that finally the Indians have decided to stand for something, not sure if even more than half of them know the difference about the Government Lokpal bill and the Jan Lokpal bill. To see people standing for something really shows that we are ready to bring a change in the nation that it badly needs.
I hope this only the beginning of the more people agitations to come against far more serious issues where our elected politicians need to learn that people cannot be taken granted. The corrupt should be punished and the welfare of the people should be a priority.
Let us all believe that we can be the change that we want to see in the world, the only thing it requires is the drive to make it happen……
So do you have it in you?
I have seen promos of celebrities, people talking about the importance of voting and choosing good governance for a country like ours. The question is whom are you going to vote? if there are no good people in politics who can bring the change we would like to see in our country.
Every time the elections comes up, the political parties vie for the precious vote of ‘ours’ that would bring them back in power. Once they are in the power, it’s the same old story of this government not been better than the previous one. Every one of the politicians seems to be involved in some kind of scams, corruption. No wonder there wealth shows a huge jump (Check out their wealth declaration in each election) and still they get a hike in the salary of an MP (Member of Parliament). When the average Indian salary still does not account for that.
It does not matter which political party they belong to, they seem more interested in making money for themselves than serving the country. No attempt is being made to make the system transparent and fill out the loopholes that advocate its misuse. The process of transparency is on such a slow track that one wonder if they would even be alive to see it in their own life time.
What is the point of voting when you the person that you elect is going to do the same? Once elected, they cannot be held accountable for the tall promises they made. The next time elections are around, one should abstain from voting. This would send out a strong message to the political parties who boast of having national interest in their heart about the strength of the citizens. It’s the people who have the power to decide who should run the government.
Only when we are united can a message be send across that enough of the scams, corruptions that’s been taking rampantly and need of greater accountability to set in.
The problem of today is that its hard to find good politicians among the dirty fishes. The only way they can survive if we take the responsibility of cleaning the pool of bad fish.
Abstaining from voting is a greater way to send out across a message to the political parties that the citizens of the country are not living in ignorance and know the change they want to see.
There is a saying about the corruption in India that even after paying a bribe one cannot be certain that the work will get done. One can picture the image how corrupt can corrupt people can be.
Off lately, I have been reading about the various scams that have been reported in the media. Be it the 2G spectrum scandal, CWG scam or the latest Adarsh society ghotala. The media is doing its job of bringing the truth out in the open but the question largely remains is do you think all the necessary steps would be taken to punish who are guilty?
The answer is a straight “NO”. Except for the small fishes who would be made to bear the brunt of these scams, the bigger fish would go scot free and probably none would question their role in the future as the Indian public suffers from short term memory and the media which is hell bent on bringing the truth would stop reporting about it after a certain time has passed as it no longer makes the news it used to…
Corruption is not a new phenomenon in our society and even we as the people have accepted it as a way of life as long as it gets our work done. For e.g., the diwali baksish that is given to the postman, telephone guy, etc. are a sign that even though we know its wrong for them to ask money for us but still most of us give it so that the services they provide does not gets hampered.
People don’t join politics with the intention of serving the nation in the heart instead they are busy filling their coffers when they are in power. Look at the past of the politicians and one could see a rag to riches story which might seem phenomenal but there is more than what meets the eye. Take the instance of the former Jharkhand chief minister Madu Koda who was a mine worker who ended up amassing a wealth worth over crores. Then there are the Reddy brothers, sons of a police constable who went on to become mining barons and play key decision makers in the ruling government of the Karnataka state.
Its one thing to bring out the scams/corruption out in the open and other to see that the culprits pay for their crime. The Indian judicial system takes such a long time to book the culprits that when the verdict finally comes it comes too late, too little. No wonder this only encourages the corrupt people who know how to make use of the loopholes in the system.
Unless there is transparency in the system and the RTI Act is empowered more to bring out information on in the public domain, corruption would never come to an end.
They say god is everywhere and still we are fighting where do the god belongs.
I find it strange that a lot of bloodshed had been done; all because the saviors of religion wanted the god to regain his old place of which he was long displaced long before India got its independence and there were people who tried to build temple for the god by destroying the mosque of another god which as we know led to a lot of bloodshed. That place is called Ayodhya the birthplace of Ram, Ram Janmabhoomi or the place where Babri Masjid stands today.
No matter what the verdict comes out on the 28th Sept 2010 or perhaps latter, the so called saviors of religion will see to it that they get what they want or else we know what happened in 1992.
Religion has long been used as a bait for politics and this issue is no different. Why cannot god from both religion be worshipped on the same place which should be the perfect example of peace and harmony given that we are a country of diversity where people of different religions living together?
Then again such a solution wont be acceptable to the saviors of religion would they? There are far greater issues plaguing the country but the political parties are obsessed with religion so that they can claim a vote bank and continue their hallow governance and keep filling their coffers in the name of serving the people.
Where does it leave the common man in the midst of this? Does it matter what the common man thinks about this issue? I don’t think the people of politics give a damn to that. After all the common man is busy earning his daily living and avoiding such issues so that he doesn’t get hurt in the middle of the war.
No wonder that we live in a world of ignorance where it does not matter what’s going on unless it affects one. No matter what the outcome is, the common man is only going to hope that it does not remind them of the bloodshed in the past.
It is such an irony that we fight to give god back his place and don’t even care about people who don’t have a home to live…
The Tamil Nadu ministers are facing the brunt of the nation as the video above showed an inspector being attacked by gangsters and left on the road for dying. Apparently their slow response to the situation resulted in his death as they waited for the ambulance to arrive, even though there was a convoy of cars parked on the road.
Though the shocking video evoked public outrage on how the ministers fail to act but this does not surprises me. Their reaction was no different to what we as people do when come across as injured people lying on the roads due to an accident.
We gathered around in crowds and just watch instead of trying to save the victim’s life. It would take some exceptional people, still in touch with their conscious who would choose to react and do the necessary to get medical treatment for the victim.
When we ourselves take time to react in such situations, how do we expect the ministers to react quickly who are only mortal like us? | <urn:uuid:92311b55-c277-415d-828a-18f801d316da> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://expressionoffreedom.wordpress.com/category/politicians/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973616 | 2,496 | 1.742188 | 2 |
None available - please tell us if you know differently.
West Marden, West Sussex.
Grid reference currently unknown.
Currently there is no incumbent information available.
There are no baptisms in the OPC database.
No baptism IGI batches known.
There are no burials in the OPC database.
No burial IGI batches known.
There are no marriages in the OPC database.
No marriage IGI batches known.
There are no monumental inscriptions in the OPC database.
There are no images of this church in the OPC database. If you have one, please contribute a scan!
Built: bef. 1414.
Closed: bef. 1585.
Current use: Unknown.
There are no documents about this church in the OPC database. If you have one, please contribute a transcription!
There are no books about this church in the Sussex OPC Bibliography.
There are no articles about this church in the OPC Sussex Archeaological Collections Index.
The chapel of West Marden is referred to in 1414, when all offerings made there were assigned to the vicar of the mother church. Bequests were made to it in 1515 and, under the title of the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in 1525. (fn. 88) How much longer it functioned is not known, but it had apparently become secularized before 1585, when John Hewson granted to John Rowe of Bedhampton (Hants) the chapel lying in West Marden between the high road on the north, a meadow called Court Garden on the south and west, and 'a backside' on the east. (Victoria County History). It is possible some of the stone was reused in St Michael, Up Marden.
No registered users have badged this church yet. To share your interest with others, why not register as frequent use of this site? | <urn:uuid:3cec1403-e6ca-4c5c-85fd-17570144c5bb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sussex-opc.org/index.php?p=484&k=1463&t=Church | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942261 | 401 | 1.804688 | 2 |
The city of Baramulla, founded by Raja Bhimsina in 2306 BC held the position of a gate-way to the valley as it was located on the route to the Valley from Muzaffarabad (now in POK) and Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan). As such, a number of prominent visitors have been to Baramulla. These include the famous Chinese visitor Heiun T'Sang and Moorcraft, the British historian.
Mughal Emperors has special fascination for Baramulla. Being the gateway of the valley it was a halting station for them during their visits to the Valley. In 1508 AD Emperor Akbar who entered the Valley via Pakhil spent a few days at Baramulla and according to "Tarikh-e-Hassan" the city during Akbar's stay, had been decorated like a bride. Jahangir also stayed at Baramulla during his visit to Kashmir in 1620 AD.
From the very beginning, Baramulla has enjoyed religious importance. The construction of Hindu Teeratha and Buddhist Vihars made the city scared to Hindus as well as Buddhists. In the 15th Century, the place became important to Muslims also, as the famous Muslim saint, Syed Janbaz Wali, who visited the valley along with his companions in 1421 AD chose Baramulla as the centre of his mission, and after death was buried here. His shrine attracts pilgrims from all over the Valley. In 1894, the sixth Sikh Guru Shri Hargobind Ji visited the city and Gurudwara "Chatti Padshahi" was constructed in his memory. Baramulla thus became an abode of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs living in harmony and contributing to a rich composite culture.
The Baramulla District is the largest District in entire valley both with reference to the population and area. The District is spread over an area of 4588 Sq. Kms. The Baramulla District is bounded by Kupwara in the North, Budgam and Poonch in the South, parts of Srinagar and Ladakh in the East and has the line of control in west.
The district is divided into 8 Tehsils, 16 CD Blocks. The eight tehsils of Baramulla are Uri, Sopore, Gurez, Tangmarg, Baramulla, Sumbal, Pattan and Bandipora. The Sixteen blocks of the district are Uri, Boniyar, Baramulla, Wagoora, Pattan, Rafiabad, Rohama, Tangmarg, Sopore, Zaingeer, Bandipora, Hajin, Sumbal, Gurez, Kunzer and Singhpora.
The Baramulla District is the largest District in entire valley with reference to the population. Its population according to 2001 Projections is 11,50,652. Out of which 5,93,448 are male and 5,57,204 are female.
Baramulla district has severe cold climate in winter and a pleasant weather in summer. Each part of the district experiences snowfall during winter. Road to Gurez remains closed during winter due to snowfall. Snowfall in Gulmarg is known for winter sports. Average annual rainfall in District Baramulla has been recorded as 1270 mm. The district is worth visiting in the winters for enjoying the Snowfall and for winter sports, and also in the summers for enjoying the pleasant climate.
Baramulla is no different from other parts of Kashmir Valley. The food habits, dress pattern, customs and traditions are the same as followed in other parts of the valley. Kashmiri is the main language of the people in the District, Pahari and Gojari are also spoken in Uri and areas near foothills of Gulmarg and Bandipora. Sheena (Dard) is the local language in Gurez and Tulail areas. The people also speak Urdu.
District Headquarter Baramulla is located about 60 Kms. from Srinagar. There is a National Highway (NH-1A) connecting the district to the rest of the country. The general approach to the whole of the District is through road transport i.e. Taxi and Buses. Taxi and busses are available from Srinagar and Jammu. The nearest Airport is that of Srinagar about 65 Kms from District Headquarters. The nearest Railway Station is Jammu Tawi, about 360 Kms from District Headquarters. A new railway line is under construction which will connect Baramulla to Jammu Tawi through Budgam, Srinagar, Pulwama, Anantnag, Doda and Udhampur.
Gulmarg, Tangmarg and Khilanmarg, being full with natural endowments, scenic splendor, places of tourist interest round the year, snow claded mountain peaks and challenging tracks; allure the tourists, adventurers and trekkers not only from India but also from abroad. Winter sports in Gulmarg attract sports persons from all over the world.
- Baramulla is the largest producer of Horticulture products in the state. There are vast apple orchids in District. World-class apples are grown here.
- Baramulla has a Rabbit Farm in Palhallan, Pattan. There are only two rabbit farms in Northern India. The another one is in Himachal Pradesh.
Introduction of Angoora Rabbit Farm Wussan Pattan KashmirThe Angoora Rabbit Farm Wussan was established in year 1979 and is spread over 115 Kanals of irrigated land. Angoora farm Wussan is located at distance of 30 Kms to west of Srinagar. Agro climatic condition of area is conducive for rabbit rearing on commercial lines. Since its inception the performance of farm is encouraging for achieving more production. The farm has rabbit breeds Newzealand white, Californian, soveit chinchilla and grey giants producing meat and fur and wool producing breeds are German Angoora and French Angoora.
Rabbits are best known for being prolific and are herbivorous which efficiently convert fodder to food. The whole point of meat production is to convert plant protein of little, or no use to people as food into high value animal proteins. Rabbit meat production is therefore an attractive proposition especially when aim is to produce quality meat proteins. The Rabbits biological characteristics are, short life cycle, its prolificacy and food conversion capacity, which make it immediately after chickens and Turkeys, the best animal protein machine.
Finally rabbits are especially well adopted to backyard rearing system in which Capital and fodder resources are usually limiting factors in animal production. When rabbits are reared according to technique appropriate to environment they can do much to improve the family diet to rural and urban families, at same time supplying them with a source of income. With more advanced technology rabbit production can also help supply to big city meat markets. Rabbit meat can be prepared in great variety of ways. Nutritionally speaking it is one of the very best meats.
To sum up this all rabbits can be reared with intentions as: | <urn:uuid:9c38e20f-04ea-49dc-8953-fab32d3c209f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.onekashmir.com/district-profiles/kashmir-region/baramulla | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00019-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961415 | 1,477 | 3.03125 | 3 |
By Rebecca Martin.
Russia is arguably the home of ballet. Some of the world’s greatest stars, past and present have trained there and they are renowned for their gymnastic flexibility and dynamic technique. Russian ballet schools and companies are infamously difficult to get into and are incredibly demanding on the body and psyche. Add into that the volatile state of the arts and politics in Russia and you’ve got dancers who are willing to do anything to get to the top and stay there.
When news of an acid attack against The Bolshoi Ballet’s Artistic Director spread on January 17 this year, the dance world was stunned. Most shocking of all was that it wasn’t a random act of violence, but a calculated attack by a disgruntled theatre employee who was unhappy with the state of play at The Bolshoi Ballet.
Ballet has previously only ever dipped its toes into political matters, mainly when a dancer wished to defect from a country, as Li Cunxin famously did from China, but now the art form is knee deep in the political battles of a theatre in crisis.
Prior to the incident on January 17, The Bolshoi’s Artistic Director, Sergei Filin had been feeling under threat for some time, noting that his phones had been blocked, his car tyres slashed and his internet hacked, all of which he believed was a warning.
Bolshoi Ballet soloist Pavel Dmitrichenko is the alleged mastermind of the attack, although he has said that he didn’t order anyone to throw acid at Filin’s face. Dmitrichenko complained about Filin to an acquaintance, Yuri Zurutsky, who then offered to beat up Filin. Zurutsky was paid 50,000 rubles (about $1,600) by Dmitrichenko to inflict harm on Filin because he was unhappy about the way money was distributed within the ballet company. “I told Yuri Zarutsky about the policies of the Bolshoi Theater, about the bad things going on, the corruption. When he said: ‘OK, let me beat him up, hit him upside the head,’ I agreed, but that is all that I admit to doing,” Dmitrichenko said in court.1
It has been suggested that Dmitrichenko was upset over Filin’s refusal to cast his girlfriend in a lead role. However, Filin’s lawyer has said that the group of people involved in the attack is much larger than the two men charged by police. Accusations and theories abound, with The Bolshoi’s general director, Anatoly Iksanov, accusing principal dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze of inspiring the attack. Filin’s appointment as Artistic Director has exposed the infighting at The Bolshoi Ballet, with many dancers resisting his attempts to bring more modern repertoire to the company. He held an enormous amount of power, deciding matters of scheduling, casting, promotion and salary.
In Russian theatres today, defection and international travel are no longer the sources of drama. Instead, money is the main intruder aside from politics and professional rivalry. A dancer’s meagre salary is only boosted by Filin’s selection to perform leading roles. In Russia, lawlessness and corruption is the norm and what happens in the theatre is a reflection of what happens in the streets.“I feel like I’m on the front line of a war,” Filin said.2
In addition to the acid attack against Filin, The Bolshoi’s reputation has further been harmed by the recent revelations of former company dancer Anastasia Volochkova who claimed that it was a “giant brothel” with dancers forced to sleep with oligarchs and other influential members of society.
In a further twist to the tale, hundreds of dancers have sent a signed letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin demanding an investigation into Dmitrichenko’s confession. Filin himself believes that Dmitrichenko was party to something much greater than what has so far been uncovered and that the true mastermind is yet to be caught. Clearly he is not alone in his assertions.
Where does all of this leave ballet in Russia? Does this spell the end of the Bolshoi?
Ballet in Russia is part of the cultural landscape and a benchmark for dancers around the world. But the Bolshoi as a whole is devoid of a cohesive corps de ballet and is populated by gymnastic lead dancers who lack any great artistry on stage. Many of the best dancers are leaving Russia to dance in the United States and Europe and the company’s stars such as Svetlana Zakharova have been poached from The Mariinsky Theatre. The current scandals within The Bolshoi may affect the way the rest of the world perceives the company. Yet while the acid attack was shocking and the allegations of forced sexual activities are appalling, these things are apparently the norm in Russia and the locals are accustomed to such events.
The Bolshoi has fallen a long way since its golden age in the 1960s but it continues to create some of the world’s best dancers, firstly through the ballet school and then the company. Despite this, The Bolshoi itself isn’t guaranteed to last the test of time. The infighting that not only lead to the acid attack but the ensuing conflict amongst dancers and administrative staff, in addition to the current lack of direction for the company, doesn’t suggest much hope remains for a once great company.
“There is no happiness in our past,” the Soviet Bolshoi Ballet star Vladimir Vasiliev once said. ”And there will be none in our future.”3
Photo (top): Photo: The Bolshoi Ballet performing The Bright Stream. Photo courtesy of Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) and The Bolshoi Ballet. | <urn:uuid:4ab6f69b-54f8-48d7-af6d-e1ceb6aad84c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.danceinforma.com/USA_magazine/tag/dance-history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972746 | 1,239 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Memory and Piano Performance
Published August 16th 2012 by Psychology Press – 320 pages
The memory feats of famous musicians seem almost superhuman. Can such extraordinary accomplishments be explained by the same principles that account for more ordinary, everyday memory abilities? To find out, a concert pianist videotaped her practice as she learned a new piece for performance, the third movement, Presto, of the Italian Concerto by J.S. Bach. The story of how the pianist went about learning, memorizing and polishing the piece is told from the viewpoints of the pianist (the second author) and of a cognitive psychologist (the first author) observing the practice. The counterpoint between these insider and outsider perspectives is framed by the observations of a social psychologist (the third author) about how the two viewpoints were reconciled. The CD that accompanies the book provides for yet another perspective, allowing the reader to hear the polished performance.
Written for both psychologists and musicians, the book provides the first detailed description of how an experienced pianist organizes her practice, identifying stages of the learning process, characteristics of expert practice, and practice strategies. The main focus, however, is on memorization. An analysis of what prominent pianists of the past century have said about memorization reveals considerable disagreement and confusion. Using previous work on expert memory as a starting point, the authors show how principles of memory developed by cognitive psychologists apply to musical performance and uncover the intimate connection between memorization and interpretation.
"Of all the interdisciplinary collaborations of late between psychologists and performers, surely the most fruitful…has been that of the American-Romanian concert pianist Gabriela Imreh with cognitive psychologist Roger Chaffin and his wife the social psychologist Mary Crawford. I would go so far as to say that the report of their research should be required reading for every pianist, piano student and teacher in the land."
"This study of how a concert pianist prepares a new piece for performance is a collaboration between the pianist (Imreh), a cognitive psychologist (Chaffin), and a social psychologist with an interest in post-positivist methodology (Crawford). Centering on a description and analysis of how pianist Gabriela Imreh learned the third movement of J.S. Bach's Italian Concerto, the authors relate the pianist's account of how she learns to the psychologists' interpretation of the process."
—Music Educators Journal
"It contains interesting quotes from the writings of historically significant pianists and teachers, Imreh's own comments about the process during the learning period, and insights as the concert pianist prepares for the final goal, the recording. Recommended for all inclusive music libraries and for undergraduate and graduate libraries in institutions emphasizing performance, this book will also be useful to psychology students who study memory and memorization."
Contents: Series Editor's Foreword. Preface. In the Green Room. Improvisations. In the Words of the Masters: Artists' Accounts of Their Experience. Expert Memory. The Way to Carnegie Hall. Lessons From J.S. Bach: Stages of Practice. In the Words of the Artist. Effects of Musical Complexity on Practice. Memory and Performance. Stages of Practice Revisited. Coda. Appendices: Discography for Gabriela Imreh. Score of the Italian Concerto (Presto) by J.S. Bach. | <urn:uuid:ca644de7-065d-4eb5-a2f6-4e7cb927c613> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psypress.com/books/details/9780415651028/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938801 | 694 | 2.46875 | 2 |
Wednesday’s Wise Women … Clarice Lispector
“So long as I have questions to which there are no answers, I shall go on writing.” The hour of the star
By Clarice Lispector (1925-1977)
I have now arrived in Brazil for long a waited visit with my daughter in Rio de Janeiro. I thought I would like to give my blog a Brazilian feel and feature Brazilian Wise women. My experience is very limited I am ashamed to say. I apologise to you and my perceived wise women now for my feeble attempt to diversify.
When ‘M’ went away she gave me a book called the Hour of the star by Clarice Lispector to read. It was a very thin compared with the Apple in the dark I had read earlier. I enjoyed them both, the latter a little more sophisticated and profound for my needs at the time. However, the Hour of the star was less challenging but nonetheless deep; a mix of fiction and philosophy – a rich result of Clarice Lispector’s investigations into the psychological consequences of poverty. (Lispector 1992)
Brazilian writer style much like Virginia Woolf and I would like to read more.
In her short life she wrote seven novels, some short-story collections and some children’s books
Clarice Lispector died of cancer 1977 aged 57 the Hour of the star was published that year. It is a story of a poor girl called Macabea from the state of Alagoas, the state where the Lispectors landed in Brazil. She, like the Lispectors migrated to Rio de Janeiro. It is about a girl who is a bad typist, a virgin and only drinks Coco-Cola – a hopeless misfit – she died under the wheels of a yellow Mercedes. It is believed to be Clarice Lispector’s self portrait. And I am inclined to agree and can relate to Clarice’s/Macabea’s angst.
Lispector, C. (1992). The hour of the star. Manchester, Carcanet. | <urn:uuid:59e7e22b-c065-420f-a087-62ac9f3128ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://nelabligh.com/2012/03/21/wednesdays-wise-women-clarice-lispector/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966485 | 440 | 1.585938 | 2 |
Expect More Arizona’s Pearl Chang Esau’s passion for education is a testament to her family’s history and her own upbringing.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Esau grew up knowing that at one time her father’s parents lost everything they owned with Communist China and left their home to move to Taiwan.
The year before Pearl was born, Esau’s dad landed in Los Angeles. Through education, he found opportunity in his adopted country and rose to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
“I’ve seen how education can empower,” she said.
He passed that message of learning to his two children, so much so that when Esau graduated from college she went to work for Teach for America. Her first assignment was in a fifth-grade classroom in East L.A. She stayed with Teach for America and was executive director of the Arizona affiliate before being tapped in 2011 to lead Expect More Arizona as president and CEO.
“I feel we have so much potential in Arizona. I feel we have a great education system. We’re certainly not maximizing our potential,” she said.
Expect More Arizona’s message can be summed up as this: “It’s no longer acceptable to have mediocrity,” Esau said.
But much rests with the parents of schoolchildren. And that’s where Expect More Arizona now puts a lot of its hope. Though the organization started as a public awareness campaign to make strong education a priority, the focus today is on the power of parents.
“We have to help parents understand what that looks like,” she said.
Pearl hopes that through outreach and training, parents discover the key “building blocks” of education.
The group’s building blocks include “world-class achievement,” and the idea that all Arizona students should be “prepared for and successful in college and career;” and a “commitment to innovation,” or the expectation that “Arizona students are critical thinkers and innovative problem solves.”
To teach these ideas to parents, trainers are now attending workshops across Arizona. Those trainers will pass along the message to parents. Expect More Arizona plans to create a set of videos that highlight good schools and then take parents to see those schools through field trips.
But then, it’s the parents’ turn to take action, impressing what they’ve learned onto their children’s schools, Esau said.
“We’ve never advocated for abandoning neighborhood schools. We want informed parents who know what they want,” in education, she said. “You can improve your school.”
Advocacy for good education starts with parents’ desires for their children, then a desire to improve their school and then education in the state.
That message takes Expect More Arizona back to its roots and its “Vote 4 Education” campaign this election season. The group is again asking voters to consider what candidates and policies can best impact education, even creating a list of questions that can be asked at public forums. And once those candidates are elected, Esau said it is the role of parents to see that education remains in focus.
“Parents are the best champions for education we have in the state,” she said.
Contact writer: (480) 898-6549 or firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:dd656fd5-36e5-4c76-b17b-13e23cc04a05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/education/article_f4cb75c6-17e4-11e2-9b33-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968969 | 731 | 1.875 | 2 |
The NET Bible (New English Translation) is a completely new translation of the Bible, not a revision or an update of a previous English version. It is being completed by more than twenty biblical scholars who are working directly from the best currently available Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. The translation project originally started as an attempt to provide an electronic version of a modern translation for electronic distribution over the Internet and on CD-Rom. Anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to use and print out the NET Bible without cost for personal study. In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. | <urn:uuid:8acffb13-3db5-47a1-824c-893fc08ccbc7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bible.org/print/10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945909 | 136 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Timbers Soccer History
The world’s game of soccer formally took ground in Portland in the 1970s with the inception of a professional franchise, the Portland Timbers.
The Timbers’ history begins in the spring of 1975, as an expansion club in the original North American Soccer League (NASL). The club’s inaugural NASL season featured home crowds of 20,000 fans and a surprising run that led the Timbers to Soccer Bowl ’75, playing for the NASL title. The successes of that first season generated a highly supportive and passionate fan base which has inspired a love for the game and helped Portland earn the moniker, “Soccer City USA.”
The original Timbers produced three playoff seasons (1975, 1978 and 1981). As a member of the NASL, the Timbers entertained fans against some of the era’s greatest players, including Pele and Franz Beckenbauer. In fact, Pele officially played his last professional soccer match in Portland at Civic Stadium at the end of the 1977 season. While a part of the NASL, the city of Portland became the home for several beloved Timbers players: Clive Charles, John Bain, Mick Hoban and Bernie Fagan helped develop the game in Rose City, first-hand.
Under the ownership of local businessman Art Dixon, the Timbers took life for two seasons from 1989-90 in the Western Soccer League (a league that would ultimately transform into the United Soccer Leagues First Division starting in 1997). The Timbers took the league by storm in 1989, posting an 11-5 record and reaching the semifinals. The squad featured former NASL midfielder John Bain as a player/coach as well as University of Portland standouts Kasey Keller and Scott Benedetti. All three were WSL All-Stars and Keller garnered the league’s MVP honors. Despite all-league efforts from Bain and Benedetti in 1990, the Timbers finished 10-10 and following the season would once again fade from the sport landscape in the Rose City.
With the dawn of a new millennium, the Timbers reclaimed the hearts of area soccer fans in 2001 as a member of United Soccer Leagues and quickly established themselves among the elite clubs.
In 10 seasons in U.S. soccer’s second tier, the Timbers posted eight winning seasons and advanced to the playoffs seven times. The Timbers captured the USL First Division Commissioner’s Cup as the regular-season champion in 2004 and 2009.
Also in 2009, the Timbers assembled a 24-game unbeaten streak – not only a record in the USL, but one of the longest unbeaten streaks in U.S. soccer history. The Timbers have earned 18 all-league selections and three coach of the year awards.
In the early days of the NASL club, the Timbers started a unique and beloved game-day tradition that continues to this day – the cutting of the “log slab.” After each goal scored at home by the Timbers, a round is cut from the victory log behind the north goal. Amidst a cloud of sawdust and the roar of a chainsaw, fans celebrate. This time-honored tradition has helped make Timbers matches a one-of-a-kind soccer experience in the United States.
Spanning multiple generations, the Timbers have been a proud part of the Portland sports landscape and are supported by fans second-to-none. As the club elevated to Major League Soccer in 2011 and began a new era of top-flight soccer in the Rose City, the Timbers aim to continue their traditions and commitment to excellence, on and off the field. | <urn:uuid:d0cce2ea-59e6-4b0c-b19b-6aedcba7bcca> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.portlandtimbers.com/timbers-soccer-history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95856 | 729 | 1.601563 | 2 |
Congrats to robot fans Rodolfo, Julián, Lucio and Mónica for the successful Kickstarter funding of their Multiplo robot set.
We developed this system in order to prototype robots. But we ended inventing a platform to build things. We have been using it at public schools and it had proved to be suitable as teaching material. They are currently using it for STEM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) for young students.
Making a robot was a challenge some time ago and only few could have access to that. We want to reach a critical mass that allow us to break boundaries. We have found Arduino philosophy inspiring. We think that it’s time that their concept spreads to other areas.
We want our fully Open Source Robot Kit to get into hands of educators, artists and any kind of creative people. It is our dream to get robotics close to people. We think it’s time for a change. Robotics for Everybody!
You can learn more on the project site. | <urn:uuid:05aec74e-58ce-4350-abbd-a5f74d450cf0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.makezine.com/2012/09/07/multiplo-an-arduino-controlled-open-source-robot-kit/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=bcc517a348 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00035-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967024 | 210 | 2.140625 | 2 |
Implied to be a demon born from longing to have something to love, the Beldam, also called the Other Mother, in the book Coraline is the main antagonist. She copies the world Coraline lives in and coaxes her to enter her counterfeit world. But her behavior, coupled with her want for Coraline to replace her own eyes with black buttons, turns Coraline off and causes the girl to go home. Unused to getting what she wants, the Beldam abducts Coraline's parents so she'll be forced to return to her. It's revealed that the Beldam has no true understanding of unconditional love and quickly reveals herself as a hideous and horrendous monstrosity and tries to keep Coraline from escaping her by force. The Beldam could be seen as a sign of abuse; kind and caring at first, but quickly becoming violent and insane when she feels control is being taken away from her. | <urn:uuid:ee16760d-8755-413a-a486-9098b0250f2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://s1236.photobucket.com/user/FoToNo/media/Nightmare%20Fuel/OtherMotherBeldam.png.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975943 | 189 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Two hours from Salvador , this atmospheric town on the banks of the languid blue Rio Paraguaçu is a treasure trove of arresting colonial architecture, which after years of abandon is slowly being restored. Cachoeira is also a center of Afro-Brazilian culture; there are an extraordinary number of traditional Candomblé terreiros as well as the Irmandade da Boa Morte (Sisterhood of Good Death)—a female religious order created by freed slaves over 200 years ago. The order’s annual Festa da Boa Morte has become a major event, attracting loads of Afro-Descendentes in search of their ancestral roots.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Cachoeira was one of the wealthiest and most populous cities in the Brazilian colony. Its strategic location upriver from the Paraguaçu’s entrance into the Bay of All Saints made it an important crossroads for the riches—particularly the gold mined in the Chapada Diamantina —that were being shipped from the interior down to the coast and off to Portugal.
Meanwhile, its fertile soil lured Portuguese colonists to cultivate sugarcane in the surrounding hills and led to the importation of thousands of African slaves who worked the plantations. While the slaves toiled, their rich masters poured money into the embellishment of the thriving town, bequeathing a legacy of magnificent baroque churches.
By the early 19th century, colonial rule was being increasingly challenged, and as a hotbed of revolt, Cachoeira achieved national prominence. Cachoeirenses led the battle for independence against Portuguese troops. When Brazil subsequently won its independence, it was in Cachoeira that Dom Pedro I chose to be crowned as Brazil’s first emperor.
At the end of the 19th century, sugar prices had diminished and slavery had been abolished. However, Cachoeira and, the neighboring town, São Félix (across the river), still prospered due to the cultivation of tobacco, the quality of which was renowned throughout the world. In recent decades, however, even tobacco’s importance has dwindled. Today the glory of former times is but a distant memory preserved in the town’s rich architectural and cultural heritage.
Santana (tel. 71/3450-4951) provides bus service between Cachoeira from Salvador . Buses, all of which pass through Santo Amaro , leave hourly from Salvador’s Rodoviária Central as well as from the Santana office in Rua Lauro de Freitas in Cachoeira.
If you’re driving, take the BR-324 from Salvador for 60 kilometers (37 miles) until it meets the BA-026 near Santo Amaro. From Santo Amaro follow the BA-026 for 38 kilometers (24 miles) to Cachoeira. | <urn:uuid:24997d75-0630-4436-ae48-a3a69c7f3f82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://moon.com/print/80503 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959826 | 610 | 2.75 | 3 |
What is IFSC Code?
The Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) is a 11 digit code for identifying the bank and branch in which an account is held. The IFSC code is used both by the RTGS and NEFT fund transfer systems in India. The IFSC number may also be frequently referred to as neft code or rtgs code. For more information on ifsc code, refer FAQ.
Total listing: 146 banks and more than 98000 branches in our database.
Alternatively, Lookup bank details from IFSC/ MICR Code.
Bank-wise listing of IFSC Codes
Disclaimer: IFSC data on this site is taken from websites of RBI and participating banks, however, it could include technical or other mistakes, inaccuracies or typographical errors. Users are requested to confirm with the respective bank before using the information provided. IFSC code database last updated on May 20, 2013 (RBI branch list as on May 15, 2013).
Also see Bank BSR Codes | Pin code in India | <urn:uuid:12f810e5-abea-4bab-80b2-8eabdf31f32e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ifsclist.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906781 | 211 | 2.53125 | 3 |
American swimmer Marcus Titus may be deaf, but he's one of the fastest swimmers in the nation. And when USA Swimming decided not to use hand signals to start races in the Olympic trials last month, he was just as quick to remind them their rule book said otherwise.
The resulting reversal was a victory for Titus, as well as deaf athletes everywhere. Although Titus missed making the Olympic team by .79 of a second and subsequently retired from competitive swimming, his campaign to make USA Swimming honor their rule book may go down as his greatest success.
Titus was referring to USA Swimming rule 105.3, which instructs referees how to use a strobe light or arm signal to start the race when deaf or hard of hearing swimmers are competing. The rule also allows for referee to reassign swimming lanes so that deaf or hard of hearing competitors can more easily see the visual start.
Titus can hear with the help of a hearing aid and also uses a sign language interpreter. Without hand signals to start the race, Titus would have to rely on watching other swimmers take off from the platform, possibly slowing his time by the fraction of a second he would need to win.
The National Team swimmer, who attempted to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 100- and 200-meter breaststroke events, started a Facebook page to rally for the change and provided a template on his blog for other deaf swimmers to send to USA Swimming officials. He said he wanted to make a change for deaf swimmers to make the races fair for all competitors.
USA Swimming had originally decided not to use hand signals for the Olympic trials because they would not be used at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. FINA, the world governing body for the five aquatic disciples of swimming, diving, water polo, synchronized swimming, and open water swimming, does not provide "ready" and "set" hand signals to accommodate swimmers with hearing impairments.
Following Titus's official complaint, USA Swimming issued this statement:" USA Swimming will use hand signals at the upcoming Olympic trials in order to accommodate our deaf and hearing-impaired swimmers. We thank National Team member Marcus Titus for bringing this issue to our attention. USA Swimming embraces an inclusive culture and is pleased to be able to accommodate our athletes with hearing impairments by making this change. The ruling is in accordance with USA Swimming rules [Article 105.3]. Meeting the needs of our athletes remains a top priority for our organization, and we are pleased to take this action."
Swimmers must satisfy criteria for disability according to rule 105 in the rulebook before they qualify to request a visual start. USA Swimming also includes accommodations for swimmers who are blind or have cognitive and/or physical disabilities. | <urn:uuid:2ae9a464-05c0-429d-b2ba-b4234a7de82a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.healthyhearing.com/content/articles/Assistance/Awareness/50420-Deaf-olympic-swimming-hopeful-marcus-titus-makes-history | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974538 | 568 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Text from The Photography Encyclopedia
Klein,William, American photographer, painter, and filmmaker
Better known in Europe and his adopted home town of Paris than in his native United States, Klein is accomplished in three distinctly different media. Born in New York, he served in the military with the U.S. Army. He was discharged from the service in Paris and remained there to study painting with Fernand Leger. He had his first exhibition at the age of 23. His work, though, retains a keen American sensibility.
While photographing art work in Milan, he became interested in the possibilities of abstract photography and published a book of abstract photos. He achieved recognition on the photography scene with the publication of New York, a photographic journal of his impressions there in the mid 1950s. The book won the Prix Nadar and provoked intense reaction, both pro and con. He spent the next ten years under contract to Vogue, establishing a reputation as a revolutionary and talented fashion lensman. In 196S, he moved to films, directing and often producing and writing them. Most received more attention overseas than in the United States, particularly Muhammad Ali: The Greatest, The Little Richard Story, and Who Are You, Polly Magoo?
Since 1972, Klein has produced more than 250 TV commercials mainly aired in Europe for such clients as Citroen and Fiat, and he has continued to produce photo books. Close Up and In and Out of Focus secured his reputation, as did a 1981 Museum of Modern Art retrospective of his 1950s work. Klein was named one of the 30 most important photographers in the history of the medium by the International Jury at Photokina in 1963. He has produced several books of his photographs and has exhibited in one man shows in London, Paris, and New York. His work is owned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Buying posters through this link
supports Masters of Photography | <urn:uuid:e29660e9-6197-4813-ae24-e6b4ff19a693> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.masters-of-photography.com/K/klein/klein_articles4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939551 | 407 | 2.046875 | 2 |
No. I don’t see this blog as being mainly about self promotion, yet here I am self promoting. But, if I don’t who will!?
The Horn Book recently recommended Earthling! in an article on graphic novels for kids. Here’s what they had to say:
Gr. 4-6 In this sic-fi graphic novel, Bud gets on the wrong bus and ends up at Cosmos Academy, an intergalactic school whose students fear Earthlings. With the help of new friends Gort, Bud devises a plan to return home before the aliens figure out who he is. Action and humor (especially in the characters facial expressions) are successfully captured in bright cartoon panels.
Posted in Chronicle Books, Earthling!, graphic novels | Tagged Earthling!, graphic novels | 1 Comment »
I will be reading and signing copies of my newest picture book, How Martha Saved Her Family from Green Beans at the entirely appropriately named, Green Bean books in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, May 4th. Stop by around 2 to join in the fun. Drop in about 1:45 to see me sweating and worrying that I forgot what I was going to say.
Green beans are welcome as long as they behave. I’ll read, draw some beans and answer questions about green beans. But I won’t pick any green beans up. They bite.
Posted in David LaRochelle, Green Bean Books, green beans, How Martha Saved Her Parents From Green Beans, illustration, Personal Appearance, picture books | Tagged How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans | Leave a Comment »
The Czech version of Earthling! is out, or almost out. Or will soon be out. Below is the cover and a page from the book – POZEMSTAN!
My grandfather was born in Prague, so maybe this translation is part of the circle of life. But not the part where lions eat gophers.
Posted in Chronicle Books, Earthling! | Tagged comic book, Earthling!, Graphic Novel | Leave a Comment »
If you’re in the area stop by the West Linn Public Library on Tuesday around 4:30 (that link is to more info on the event from the local paper) and you’ll get a book reading, I’ll attempt a few drawings, the kids will get to do some drawing activities and there’s a raffle for two of my books!
This is part of the continuing celebration of the publishing of How Martha Saved Her Parents from Green Beans, the best picture book of 2013, written by David LaRochelle. OK…So maybe it’s not THE BEST picture book of 2013. I’m just saying it’s a good book…and I’m sure kids of all ages will love the book and the event at the library.
See you there.
Posted in How Martha Saved Her Parents From Green Beans, Personal Appearance, picture books | 2 Comments » | <urn:uuid:92d7e5ef-61d0-410d-bb25-4c2acd4a2ee2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mfearing.wordpress.com/page/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940235 | 625 | 1.585938 | 2 |
If your students were like mine and came into first grade needing A LOT of practice with sight word and number recognition. Here's the perfect activity!!!
All you need to do is color the sight word you are working on to fit in the 120 chart and then call out the numbers to the students to color in. When they are finished they can turn it sideways to see what sight word they have made. To make it a little more tricky as the year goes on, make the words in a color pattern or call out the numbers saying ten less than, ten more than, 5 less than...etc. | <urn:uuid:4fed4b0e-fb98-477b-8717-e71f5844f96b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mrstsfirstgradeclass-jill.blogspot.com/2012/01/mystery-sight-words.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957337 | 121 | 3.359375 | 3 |
A visitor to the DPRK has photo-shopped an image of the old and new Kim Il-sung statues on Mansu Hill standing next to each other:
The new is on the left…the old on the right.
See the photo source here.
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I hadn’t noticed before that they changed him out of good Mao suit and into a western suit.
His right arm looks disproportionately long…
North Korean Economy Watch is proudly powered by
and Comments (RSS). | <urn:uuid:3d733ba3-6b28-4653-a5cf-56dd51c5e042> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nkeconwatch.com/2012/11/15/friday-fun-new-vs-old-on-mansu-hill/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943387 | 152 | 1.523438 | 2 |
British designer Jonathan Saunders on putting intelligent women at the centre of his work
Photography: Jonty Davies
Words: Lizzie Pook
Jonathan Saunders is a man in need of sleep. When we meet at a North London studio, it’s exactly two weeks, four days and 11 hours until his s/s 2013 womenswear show at London Fashion Week, so he’s been pulling a series of all-nighters. “Do you have grooming?” he asks hopefully, running his hands over the type of beard the average man would spend an inordinate amount of mirror-time trying to cultivate. “I haven’t shaved for weeks.”
He looks tired. But then, what would appear ‘dispossessed’ on most men – the wiry facial hair, the bomber jacket, the battered jeans – just serve to make Saunders look even more, well, cool.
The dog helps, too. Amber, the Battersea rescue Staffordshire Bull Terrier he re-homed eight years ago, is hurtling around the studio, pawing everybody in reach and clambering over any sofa or armchair available. “She eats everything she comes across,” says Saunders with a sigh. “She’s had numerous operations; they found a cassette tape in her, and an entire dog bone, split into three pieces.” Amber salivates proudly.
“That’s nothing,” interjects photographer Jonty Davies excitedly. “Our Jack Russell once ate a balloon, and when they operated on him to get it out, they found a rusty nail in his stomach; it had been in there for years…” Jonathan holds his hands up to concede defeat.
I can’t say this is the first thing I expected to be discussing with the man heralded as one of Britain’s true fashion visionaries. Born in Glasgow to conservative Jehovah’s Witness parents, Saunders started designing furniture as a teen, before taking a degree in textiles at Glasgow School of Art. On graduating, he left for London without a penny in his pocket to study at Central Saint Martins under the tutelage of the legendary Louise Wilson; the woman who taught Alexander McQueen and Christopher Kane, and who has been described as the most influential woman in fashion.
Within two days of his graduate show, Saunders was approached by McQueen himself, who commissioned him to design a series of prints for his 2003 collection. Thus began a whirlwind career that’s earned him countless awards, endless industry plaudits and placed him firmly in the ‘Best of British’ category. That’s not to mention the famous fans, including Charlize Theron, Emma Stone, Christina Ricci and Poppy Delevingne, who clamour over his colour drenched designs and graphic prints.
However, Saunders is not a man to rest on his laurels. In a seemingly endless pursuit of self-improvement, he cites “learning” as one of his main motivations. When we finally get a chance to speak, sitting down over his third latte in an hour, it’s clear Saunders has an archetypal artist’s brain, skipping from subject to subject and veering off on tangents in his mile-a-minute Glaswegian lilt. But what is obvious is his boundless passion, a deep respect for other British designers and a niggling feeling that he can’t quite believe how he got here…
When you’re designing, what’s in your mind as the end product – a dress that will make a woman feel beautiful, or a statement you’re trying to make?
The woman has always got to be at the centre of it. Fashion is not a self-indulgent thing where you can just make what you want. You have to understand how it will make someone feel, whatever your taste. What’s exciting about British designers is that the design process comes from the heart, more so than on any other international circuit. I think that’s because the education system here is a highly creative process, it’s not necessarily business-led.
Do you think creativity is something you’re born with or something that can be taught?
It’s your brain. It’s the way you work, the way you notice things and what excites you. For me, I was always interested in making things. I certainly wasn’t brought up with the notion of being a fashion designer as a child. But I just loved creating: first furniture, then textile designs. I do think everyone has the capacity to be creative, though. It’s always in your head to be unlocked, but you need encouragement. There have been several people in my life who have encouraged me and who have given me the confidence to be creative.
Who in particular?
My best friend, Yvie. I met her when I was 16, when I hadn’t been to art school yet – in fact I’d never even been to London. I hadn’t experienced anything really, but I knew I wanted to do something creative and she always backed me. Lulu Kennedy from [design bursary] Fashion East helped me decide what I wanted to do when I left college; and Louise Wilson was a huge influence. What’s great about her as a tutor is that, irrespective of your taste, she’ll tear you to shreds. But she encourages you to find out who you are as an individual. It doesn’t matter what you’re into, she’ll encourage you to do it to the nth degree.
What’s the best thing about being a designer in London today?
London is a great hub for designers because of the cross-fertilisation of different creative processes. Art, music and fashion have always been something that Britain can be proud of, and that’s probably a testament to our multi-culturalism, too. Also, there’s this never-ending rebellion that creatives seem to have, though I’m still not quite sure what they’re rebelling against…
Who were your icons growing up?
I always loved [Thirties Italian designer Elsa] Schiaparelli. She was so involved with the art scene and so brave for her time. She was graceful in her use of print, textile and all the things that were controversial and exciting about fashion. And because she was a woman, she understood the balance between an idea and reality; what you want to create and how it can be worn.
Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron have both worn your designs. Is it important to you to get that kind of recognition on a world stage?
It’s important to me that intelligent women want to buy my clothes. That’s flattering. It makes you feel like you’re doing something right.
So who exactly is the Jonathan Saunders woman?
Interesting question. We sell to 120 stores around the world; all different markets and all different women. So you can have a woman in New York, a woman in the Middle East, a woman in Hong Kong; they all have different approaches to wearing clothes. But I’d say they’re all drawn to the artistic process involved with fashion, they’re looking for something that has an element of craftsmanship to it. It’s colourful, graphic and eye-catching, but there’s an accessibility to it because the clothes remain simple.
You obviously have a strong work ethic. Do you ever worry stress will affect the way you design?
I often feel overworked. But because of my background and the fact that I didn’t learn draping in college or do pattern-making courses before I started my label, I often feel like a fraud. I work hard to overcompensate for that. I’ve made so many mistakes; it’s taken me a long time to work out what I’m about, so I feel like it requires that level of effort to learn from those mistakes and just keep on going.
What did working with Alexander McQueen and Christian Lacroix teach you?
When I left college, I felt completely out of my depth. But I like a challenge, and I like to get a job done. Coming from Glasgow School of Art, going to St Martins and being surrounded by people who were already in a sort of fashion guise, I felt completely out of place. I was threatened, worried that I wouldn’t fit in within the industry; that I wasn’t ‘cool’ enough. But those experiences taught me that the people you’d once looked at in magazines were genuine people; people who worked really hard and whose main aim was to create something new and interesting.
You’ve done several collaborations (with Pollini, Topshop, Target, Escada Sport…). Who would be your dream collaborator?
I’m really interested in how a brand can be multi-faceted in what products they provide. So, for me, Hermès is amazing. It’s a whole world, spanning everything from an ashtray to a towel to an incredibly made jacket. There’s something timeless about it. Not that they’d ever be interested in collaborating with me!
Fellow Scottish designer Louise Gray has said Scots are obsessed with colour. Is this some sort of rebellion because of the infamous Northern weather?
[Laughs] Is it the misery, you mean? I actually spoke with Louise about this. The thing is, Scotland is a great place culturally and creativity really does thrive there. But I also think it’s because we’re quite bolshy people. We knuckle down, we make mistakes, but we just battle through it. We make brave choices, too. If you work with colour then you’re making a real commitment to something; it’s not like a black tailored suit. Music is also important to us. That, and a night out; Scottish people tend to like a drink. Not me, of course… [smirks]
What music did you grow up with?
For me it was grunge: Nirvana and Pearl Jam. But rave culture and house music were also starting to happen, so I had this weird mix of those two conflicting things.
Is there anything we should be keeping our eyes out for at London Fashion Week [Saunders’ show takes place on 16 September]?
Since I graduated, I’ve always had this dream of showing at Tate Modern. Finally this year we’ve been able to make that happen. I’m so excited.
What will you do to relax once it’s all over?
See my friends, my sister and her kids, catch up and talk about anything except work.
Is there camaraderie between designers at London Fashion Week?
There’s a lot of camaraderie between designers in general in London. When we all started out, doing it from our bedrooms, it was vital that we had the support of each other; sharing stories and experiences, and helping each other out, because we wouldn’t have survived otherwise. What’s good is that there’s no competition between us at all. The worst thing we could possibly do is be generic, or look like anybody else – we’ve all got a real problem with that – so we’d never do anything that vaguely resembled each others’ designs. It breeds a good relationship between us all because our main concern is to make sure we are nothing alike.
So it’s not all backstabbing and bitching like we’re led to believe..?
Not at all. Some of my closest friends are designers who show in London. We’ll support each other if we’re feeling swamped, which is often the case. I do four women’s collections and two men’s collections a year, meaning most collections overlap and there is never, ever a quiet moment. But that’s the nature of fashion. It’s not a difficult job, it’s an amazing job, it’s creative and fun, but the challenge is trying to do everything in the time given because there physically isn’t enough. The trick is working out how you wing it… | <urn:uuid:26df3912-7f74-47b5-8df0-d8e1345991c7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stylist.co.uk/fashion/girls-best-friend | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967518 | 2,618 | 1.671875 | 2 |
General Treatments: Dental Crowns
Dental Crowns (caps) protect and keep badly decayed or fractured teeth.
• Badly decayed teeth
• Fractured teeth
• Need to protect and strengthen teeth
First, decay is removed and cleaned from the tooth. Then a filling called a build up is bonded in to replace a specific amount of tooth that was missing due to the decay. Dr. Miller is one of the very few dentists using a CEREC machine to fabricate a porclain crown immediately following preparation of the tooth. This means no terrible gagging impression, flimsy uncomfortable temporary, or return visit. You receive your permanent porcelain crown bonded and sealed in place in one visit.
Crowns are incredibly strong due to the fact that they are a single unit. This protects and strengthens the remaining tooth structure. In the hands of a skilled dentist, a crown will fit almost perfectly onto the prepared surface of the tooth, reducing the size of the seam between the crown and the tooth. This helps keep decay from eventually occurring under the crown.
Crowns should be placed before the tooth fractures due to decay or large fillings. This can often help prevent the future expense of root canal therapy. It can also prevent the possibility that a fractured tooth may need to be removed, requiring the expense of a bridge or implant to replace the missing tooth.
Crowns are excellent restorations and have few disadvantages. They are highly durable, but they will eventually need to be re-cemented or replaced due to normal wear.
Ocassionally, a tooth may still need root canal therapy after being crowned. However, this indicates that the interior of the tooth was already sick (infected) and would have eventually needed root canal therapy anyway. | <urn:uuid:f6521162-602f-4fef-83ed-be907c179079> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://smilecos.com/procedures/general/crowns/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957779 | 366 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Darwinism (1889) is a popular book by Alfred Russel Wallace. Read Darwinism (1889), free online version of the book by Alfred Russel Wallace, on The American Day Tribune. Alfred Russel Wallace's Darwinism (1889) consists of
parts for ease of reading. Choose the part of Darwinism (1889) which you want to read from the table of contents to get started.
This book contains 170486 words. With an average reading speed of 420 words per minute, you will finish reading this book in 2 days if you devote 4 hours daily. Measure your reading speed and know how fast you will finish any book. | <urn:uuid:c9221845-1fb1-497b-962d-d985afd3e880> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://readcentral.com/massappealnews/book/Alfred-Russel-Wallace/Read-Darwinism-1889-Online | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902438 | 135 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Does the verb "provide" always have to be used with "with"? For example,
Can you provide me with some good examples?
Can you provide me some good examples?
Can you provide some good examples?
I suppose it's a transitive verb, isn't it?
Moreover, is the following type of usage correct?
You should provide food for your dog before you go on vacation.
If you could give me some good examples regarding "provide" with different types of usage, I'd appreciate that. | <urn:uuid:5e9e9ff7-5377-4db9-88fc-f53f01e91943> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/18308/usage-of-the-verb-provide/18309 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960076 | 110 | 1.71875 | 2 |
House Democrats Balk at Second-Lowest Rate for U.S. Estate Tax in 80 Years
Senate Republicans won one of their top priorities in tax-cut negotiations with President Barack Obama by securing what would be the second-lowest U.S. estate tax in 80 years.
That victory has now become a focal point for House Democrats, who are venting over what they say is a poor deal that gives a disproportionate amount of benefits to the very rich while padding deficits. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California described the estate tax plan yesterday as “a bridge too far,” and one of her lieutenants, Maryland Representative Chris Van Hollen, called it a “huge bonanza.”
“The estate tax has really put people over the edge,” said Representative Allyson Schwartz, a Pennsylvania Democrat and a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. Democrats as diverse as Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, who belongs to the Congressional Progressive Caucus, cited the estate tax as a factor in their decisions to oppose Obama’s proposal.
Republican negotiators pushed for a top estate tax rate of 35 percent during the talks, a senior administration official said. Obama agreed to that rate as part of his tax cut plan, which would also allow the first $5 million of an individual’s estate to be passed on to heirs tax-free. Couples would receive a $10 million allowance.
‘More Generous Treatment’
“Republicans have asked for more generous treatment of the estate tax than I think is wise or warranted,” Obama said Dec. 6 in announcing a compromise framework that would extend the soon-to-expire 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and reduce payroll taxes by 2 percentage points next year. He said he was compelled to accept the lower rate in order to secure an extension of the tax cuts for middle-income Americans.
Except for this year, during which the estate tax is temporarily eliminated, the 35 percent rate and $10 million exemption would be the lowest tax burden applied to large estates since 1931, when the top rate was 20 percent.
If enacted, the estate tax would be 20 percentage points less than the 55 percent rate set to prevail in 2011 under current law, and the exemption is $8 million larger per couple. Under the plan, the 35 percent rate would be in place for two years.
Victory for Kyl
The estate tax deal represents a victory for Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican who has spent three years lobbying for the policy. Kyl’s effort, co-sponsored by Senator Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat, was joined in the last year by business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses. They supported the effort after concluding that repeal wasn’t possible.
“A $5 million exemption and 35 percent rate will provide much-needed estate tax relief until full repeal becomes possible,” the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition, an umbrella organization of trade groups, said in a statement yesterday.
Many details of the agreement still must be negotiated, including whether to apply the estate tax retroactively for 2010. In the absence of that tax this year, a complicated capital gains tax treatment for inherited estates took its place. Some might choose to file an estate tax return for 2010 under the new rules to obtain more preferable tax treatment.
Few Estates Affected
According to the Congressional Research Service, the Kyl- Lincoln approach would subject just 0.14 percent of U.S. estates to a tax and would generate $11.2 billion in revenue next year. By contrast, the 55 percent top rate, with a $1-million-per- person exclusion, would affect 1.76 percent of estates and would generate $34.4 billion in revenue, the CRS said.
Obama had previously backed, and House Democrats in 2009 passed, a 45 percent rate and a $3.5 million tax-free allowance. If applied for 2011, those parameters would subject 0.25 percent of U.S. estates to a tax and would generate $18.1 billion in revenue next year, the CRS said.
The new plan angered an advocacy group, the American Family Business Institute, which was formed to lobby for a permanent repeal of the levy. It was funded in part by families who would be subject to the tax.
“Hopefully Congress will have the courage to do the right thing and permanently repeal the death tax,” said Dick Patten, the group’s president.
Meanwhile, Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy at the liberal-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said the issue for Pelosi and other Democrats is whether policies they support -- such as an extension of unemployment benefits -- are enough to offset their disappointment over the estate tax.
“A new estate tax cut windfall for the wealthiest trust- fund kids is hard to fathom,” Marr said. “Still, this framework extends unemployment insurance, the child tax credit, and effectively expands the Obama working- and middle-class tax cut. That’s good news for these families and the economy.”
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at firstname.lastname@example.org
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions. | <urn:uuid:ff1b300e-9427-4f8d-93c3-430367524503> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-08/democrats-balk-at-second-lowest-u-s-estate-tax-in-80-years.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963476 | 1,155 | 1.71875 | 2 |
Why are the best historians all rightwing? I mean, of course, all the good historians writing at the moment. The opposite used to be true - if you wanted to read some really imaginative, bold historical writing several years ago, you would turn to Marxists like EP Thompson, Christopher Hill and Eric Hobsbawm. These writers belonged to a radical school of British historians who interpreted Marx in creative, subtle ways, and who were all fascinated by the nature of culture and disinclined to use crude models of base and superstructure. Today, the running is being made by the royalists and Tories and even the defenders of empire - the really clever, provocative history books are by the likes of David Starkey, Michael Burleigh and above all Niall Ferguson.
Reading Ferguson's The War of the World: History's Age of Hatred reminds me why historical writing matters. It can ask deeply disturbing questions that shift the ground on which the reader stands. You thought you knew what the 20th century was like, what it was really about? Ferguson will make you less certain. The book is controversial because the answer he proposes involves genetics, and a dark view of human nature. And yet it's irrelevant whether or not you find that plausible: what's revolutionary about the book is the way it rephrases fundamental questions about the modern world.
The traditional way of writing about the period from 1914 to 1945 is as a series of catastrophic events, all related and yet all separate. Instead, Ferguson asks a question that seems obvious once it's asked: what is the larger fact about this period? His answer is that it was a single eruption of hatred and violence, in which apparently different disasters - from the Russian civil war to the Holocaust - manifest remarkably similar patterns of cruelty.
No one will agree with everything he says; you're not supposed to. Ferguson's controversialism is well-known and often purely rhetorical - this is a man who can't resist quoting at length a speech by America's great Democratic president FD Roosevelt and making you think you're reading the words of Adolf Hitler. In actual fact, he goes on to make a clear and pointed contrast between the two men who acted as the "saviours" of their nations during the 1930s Depression. But he delights in baiting the left with the teasing idea that maybe Roosevelt was a fascist.
Mostly, the left has taken the bait, and this brings me to the question I started with. Why are historians like Ferguson making all the running? It won't do to try and diminish their work, which is so much more intellectually powerful than most avowedly leftwing history now. I think it's because the acerbic intelligence of the Marxist tradition disappeared after 1989 and has been replaced by a pile of sacred cows and good intentions. We side with this cause and that, but don't have anything to say about the bigger questions of global power.
The rise of historical approaches to literature and art in universities has actually made things worse because, frankly, a lot of pseudo-historical writing is being published by people who are not actually inclined to ask proper historical questions. I'm talking about the kind of writing about Renaissance literature that, say, takes colonialism as a starting point to pursue images of the other in Shakespeare without actually paying any detailed attention to the real, detailed history of Britain in the Atlantic in the 16th century. Perhaps the worst indictment of historical thinking on the left - and I'll return to this at greater length - is the seriousness with which Edward Said's badly argued, derivative (from Foucault) and fundamentally untrue book Orientalism is still adhered to as a guide to thinking about art and literature in a context of global history. Like I say, I'll return to a fuller critque of Said in due course. Meanwhile, why can't historians on the left try to match Ferguson's wit? Is the intellectual left just a conspiracy of the pious? | <urn:uuid:f3533af2-713e-4f7a-9ba4-fd1f2d70b06b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2008/may/01/whyareallthegoodhistorian | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967654 | 803 | 1.773438 | 2 |
At least seven people have been killed in US-led airstrikes carried out in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand.
Local sources said a warplane with the US-led NATO coalition forces carried out airstrikes on Trikh Nawar area of Naway-i-Barakzai district on Sunday.
Provincial officials confirmed the attacks and the deaths, but the Western military alliance has not made any comments yet.
Many civilians have lost their lives in the US-led operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past months, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged at the seemingly endless number of the deadly assaults.
The issue of civilian casualties in Afghanistan is highly sensitive and has been a major source of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Washington.
The US claims its airstrikes target militants, but local sources say civilians have been the main victims of the attacks. | <urn:uuid:1f2b5b96-f198-49e8-b709-2b9e494a8dbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://presstv.com/detail/2012/09/23/263123/usled-airstrikes-kill-7-in-afghanistan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949948 | 175 | 1.554688 | 2 |