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Only two of the world's megacities (metropolitan areas or urban areas with more than 10 million people) have adopted names that are more reflective of their geographical reality than their former core-based names. It is likely that this will spread to other megacities and urban areas as the core jurisdictions that supplied the names for most become even less significant in the dispersing urban area.
The first metropolitan area to make a change was Jakarta which became "Jabotabek," a title derived from the names of four major municipalities in the metropolitan area, Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi. However, since that name did not include letters from the fifth largest municipality, Depok, the metropolitan area is sometimes called Jabodetabek. But adding a couple of letters for municipalities could lead to an exceedingly long name. For example, a new municipality of South Tangerang was recently created, representing the sixth municipality with nearly 1,000,000 people or more in Jabotabek. Presumably there will be those who will insist on calling the metropolitan area Jabodetabekst, a more Russian than Indonesian sounding name.
Further, a large part of the metropolitan area is not in one of the six larger municipalities and instead is in one of the many smaller jurisdictions. There is thus the potential of the name even longer than the present world record holder, "Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateahaumaitawhitiurehaeaturipuk-
akapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu," which is the 105 letter name of a hill in the Hawks Bay area of New Zealand.
The second mega-city with a new name is the Mexico City area. Mexico's national statistics bureau, the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) has designated the Mexico City metropolitan area as the "Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México," which translates to the Valley of Mexico metropolitan area.
Alternate names for metropolitan areas or urban areas are not unusual. One of the earliest may have been the "Southland," a name apparently given to the Los Angeles area or Southern California many decades ago by the Los Angeles Times. There are Tri-State areas, such as New York and Cincinnati and Seattleites refer to the Puget Sound area. However all of these names have varying definitions depending upon who is using them and none directly corresponds to the boundaries of either an urban area or a metropolitan area.
Perhaps better defined is the Randstad area of the Netherlands, which includes at least the urban areas of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. However this area is too large to be considered a single metropolitan area or a single urban area.
Similarly, there is the Pearl River Delta, made up of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Macau. This area of virtually continuous urbanization is by far the largest in the world, but does not qualify as a metropolitan area or an urban area because each one of the jurisdictions is essentially a separate labor market. Further, despite the fact that Hong Kong and Macau are a part of China, the border controls between Shenzhen and Hong Kong and Zhuhai and Macau make it structurally impossible for those areas to merge into single labor markets.
The Yangtze River Delta is another accurate title for a large area of urbanization. This includes the city/province of Shanghai, and up to 14 city/prefectures, such as Nanjing, Suzhou, Ningbo, Yangzhou and Hangzhou. However, as in the case of the Pearl River Delta each of these represents a separate labor market and urban area. | <urn:uuid:9a6431ec-9ff7-4aec-b5d4-172b3359b9f9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newgeography.com/content/002069-whats-a-metropolitan-area-name | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938457 | 791 | 3.34375 | 3 |
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Steamer For Steaming Sandwiches
Although steamed sandwich is quite popular in the US, many people are unaware of it. When steamed sandwich is uttered, immediately you would conjure up a soggy sandwich that is cold and inedible. However, this is not the case. In fact, steamed sandwich are delicious.
Steamed sandwich is made from meat and cheese. It is the meat that is usually steamed first. Then the entire sandwich is inserted into a special steamer and served piping hot. The steaming process ensures that the sandwich is not soggy. Usually any meat and cheese combination can be used to make a steamed sandwich, but the most common and popular ones are roast beef and cheddar cheese, corned beef and smoked cheddar cheese, and turkey with smoke cheddar cheese. Usually this type of sandwich does not contain any lettuce, tomato or garnishes generally found in other sandwiches. The sandwich is seasoned with mustard and mayonnaise.
The uniqueness of this sandwich is that the meat is cut into extremely thin and fine slices, so that it melts in the mouth effortlessly.
Generally a steamer for steaming sandwiches consists of a simple aluminum box that has pit for hot distilled water. There is a manual lever that controls the steam, which rises into the cooking chamber of the steamer where the sandwich is placed on top a steel plate. As the lever is pumped, there is a whistling-like sound from the emerging steam.
The most popular make of steamer for steaming sandwiches is the Lincoln Fresh-O-Matic. However, there are other brands too. If the steamer is used properly, you can be sure that the resultant sandwich will not be soggy.
More Articles : | <urn:uuid:21834b5b-50ef-4734-9f58-9b4c5e7b7a53> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kitchenzones.com/cooking-methods/streaming/Steamer-For-Steaming-Sandwiches.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964672 | 365 | 1.898438 | 2 |
Robots fascinate us, that was true for me when I was an adolescent and that interest has not waned. Therefore, this is one of my favorite Tom Swift books. Tom Sr. is building an atomic energy plant and Tom Jr. is building robots that can be used for the dangerous aspects of maintenance. However, an evil genius that is capable of making devices that can be remotely controlled is battling with Tom. His primary weapon is small planes that look like crows. They launch several attacks; nearly killing Tom and his friend Bud Barclay.
While robotics has not yet advanced to the stage where they can play tennis, some of the robotic actions described in the story have come true. There are robots that can walk on two legs and carry out a limited set of grasping and moving actions. Chow Winkler of course also makes an appearance, talking about and cooking up some wild meals. While the action is predictable and we know that Tom will triumph in the end, the book was still exciting to read, even though it was written a half-century ago. I still recommend the books in the Tom Swift junior series to young children who are interested in science and adventure. | <urn:uuid:d3f3a861-c23c-4c59-8e57-5581664050d8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.amazon.ca/Tom-Swift-His-Giant-Robot/dp/0448146053 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983159 | 237 | 1.890625 | 2 |
If you subtract the pleasure and relationship from the sexual act, it is reduced to another form of exercise. Like any other exercise, sex also gets the heart pumping and many people fear that sex may not be advisable for those with hypertension (high blood pressure) or heart disease. Sexual activity seldom has any cardiovascular risks associated with it. But the same cannot be said when you have the condition of continuous high blood pressure.
Chronic high blood pressure tends to harm blood vessels and can result in a condition known as atherosclerosis, fatty deposits inside the arterial walls, which narrows the arteries. An erection is caused by a hydraulic function of the body, which comes into play upon stimulation, and there is a rush of blood in the penis. In order to obtain an erection, it is imperative that there is a free flow of blood in the blood vessels. Any obstruction hinders the hydraulic function ending up in erectile dysfunction. High blood pressure may also lead to ejaculation problems or a lower sex drive.
Erectile dysfunction can be a highly disturbing condition and even a one chance episode can affect overall sex drive in men. The encouraging part is that some high blood pressure medications not only help in treating hypertension but also improve erectile dysfunction for some men. However, it requires an informative selection of drugs because some of them can actually make an erection difficult.
Some people are able to treat their blood pressure through natural remedies for high blood pressure like dietary and lifestyle changes. Others who need medication are usually prescribed medications in steps. This involves trying a medicine and evaluating its side effects before moving on to the next drug. The first choice medication is normally a diuretic like hydrochlorothiazide or a beta blocker like Atenolol. These two are normally able to control blood pressure but are also known to cause difficulties with erection.
Side effects are a part of treating diseases with conventional drugs. The disease may be cured but the drug causes some side effect that can get troublesome. In such a situation, there are a couple of other classes of high blood pressure medications that you can choose from.
- ACE inhibitors
- Angiotensin Converting Enzymes are less likely to cause any sex-related side effects and erectile dysfunction has been reported in less than 1% of patients.
- Although rarely used for treating high blood pressure, these androgen receptor blockers, if used result in curing erectile dysfunction.
- Calcium channel blockers
- Different drugs within this class have varying effects on sexual functioning.
- Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers are the least likely to cause problems with your sex life and may actually improve sexual functioning.
It is better to check with the specialist and change your medication rather that look for other drugs simply to increase sex drive because such drugs are not recommended for high blood pressure patients. | <urn:uuid:bd24386c-f668-4d17-a56b-43722b2ba9be> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nativeremedies.com/articles/sexual-effects-blood-pressure-medication.html?mobile=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924597 | 576 | 1.664063 | 2 |
Spectrum Sharing with a Primary ARQ System
Krishnan Eswaran, Kannan Ramchandran and Michael Gastpar
While the majority of spectrum currently gets allocated for specific systems with a specific use, one hope is that certain parts of the spectrum can be reused by different systems. The challenge is to reuse the spectrum in such a way that a primary system for which the spectrum was originally allocated continues to function. Given this restriction, a secondary system wants to achieve the maximum allowable throughput.
We study a case in which the primary system employs ARQ feedback in its design. In order for the primary to achieve a specified target rate, the secondary must transmit within an interference budget. Unfortunately, the interference budget is unknown to the secondary. We propose a scheme in which the secondary can stay within its interference budget through the primary's ARQ feedback without explicitly knowing it a priori. Such schemes satisfy a certain robustness property, and under said robustness assumption, there exists an information-theoretically optimal rate-interference budget (RIB) tradeoff. We compare how far fixed strategies are from this RIB function as we vary the interference budget. Further, we exhibit a strategy that is optimal beyond a threshold interference budget and within 1 bit/channel use away from the RIB function for all others.
Figure 1: RIB function for a specific channel | <urn:uuid:0f6144cf-17f9-4d63-ad17-2cd3987901b4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Research/Projects/2008/105206.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902614 | 279 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Developments over the last twenty years have fueled considerable speculation about the future of the book and of reading itself. This book begins with a brief historical overview the history of electronic books, including the social and technical forces that have shaped their development. The focus then shifts to reading and how we interact with what we read: basic issues such as legibility, annotation, and navigation are examined as aspects of reading that eBooks inherit from their print legacy. Because reading is fundamentally communicative, I also take a closer look at the sociality of reading: how we read in a group and how we share what we read. Studies of reading and eBook use are integrated throughout the book, but Chapter 5 "goes meta" to explore how a researcher might go about designing his or her own reading-related studies.
No book about eBooks is complete without an explicit discussion of content preparation, i.e., how the electronic book is written. Hence, Chapter 6 delves into the underlying representation of eBooks and efforts to create and apply markup standards to them. This chapter also examines how print genres have made the journey to digital and how some emerging digital genres might be realized as eBooks. Finally, Chapter 7 discusses some beyond-the-book functionality: how can eBook platforms be transformed into portable personal libraries? In the end, my hope is that by the time the reader reaches the end of this book, he or she will feel equipped to perform the next set of studies, write the next set of articles, invent new eBook functionality, or simply engage in a heated argument with the stranger in seat 17C about the future of reading.
Publisher Morgan & Claypool
Copyright © by Morgan & Claypool | <urn:uuid:2ddd5675-39f5-4067-b419-b26000846d22> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=120323 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946779 | 342 | 2.328125 | 2 |
A qualified childcare provider should be extremely cautious regarding communicable diseases. Immunizations for tuberculosis, also known as T-B shots, as well as regular screenings for hepatitis are common practice. Before selecting a caregiver for your child, you may want to inquire about their health history and immunization record. While this question is less common than other standard pre-employment inquiries, it's a legitimate question regarding your child's future welfare. If you're not certain which immunizations are relevant, contact your state's health department or human services departments. These experts can advise you on the latest vaccines required for child care workers. Before hiring a caregiver, question applicants closely on health-related issues, for the safety of your child.
©2004 Bluestreak Media. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | <urn:uuid:06f7edab-9b25-4d48-b443-fb7dabc9e469> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cwarkansas.com/guides/school/choosingchildcare/story/Health-history-and-immunization-for-childcare/ouVmd2DXjUqzaJrNl2n5Kw.cspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95416 | 172 | 2.0625 | 2 |
There are many who believe that it’s bad for their job security if they ever hire someone smarter than them. They may not ever admit this or advocate it as a management philosophy, but if they’re honest with themselves, they recognize it.
It never made sense to me, but I guess some feel threatened if they have someone working for them who knows more about a particular field or speciality.
Over my career, I’ve hired many people, and it was always my hope that they were some of the most intelligent people in their field.
A work environment full of talented and intelligent people raises the bar for everyone in it. And the thing about intelligence is that it’s not all or nothing. No one is simply universally smarter than someone else.
I’ve met and worked with phd’s who were at the forefront of their field who weren’t sure how to order a pizza. Some would call it book smart versus common sense. However you call it, people have different talents and bring different strenghts – and weaknesses – to the table.
My goal was always to have people around who knew their craft and were students of their craft. I wanted people who were invested in their profession and knew more about their speciality than me or anyone else in my department.
When you have great people who are sharp, they not only look good themselves, but they make the entire department look better. And when the entire department looks great, the person in charge – the one ultimately responsible – looks great, too.
Besides, whether you’re a member of the department or the head of it – it’s not about looking good, anyway. It’s about doing remarkable work, pushing the team’s personal and professional boundaries and accomplishing things once thought beyond your limits.
If you can accomplish all of that, your reputation will be just fine.
- My name is Jon Friesch, and I know my work will speak for itself. | <urn:uuid:7bb537c4-4092-452d-99c4-506a086ef1a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jonfriesch.com/2012/02/11/hire-people-smarter-than-you/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985494 | 416 | 1.546875 | 2 |
Technology News Blog (68)
eSchool News, a website helping educators succeed by:
* Providing the latest news, resources and reports on the applications of technology to improve learning
* Providing resources and tools to evaluate the funding, purchasing and the evaluation of technology in the education systems
* Assisting educators in forming collaborative alliances and providing a valuable resource bank for the exchange of information, ideas and best practices.
Visit eSchool News at www.eSchoolNews.com.
Students at a Baltimore County high school this fall will explore the area surrounding Mount St. Helens in a vehicle that can morph from an aircraft to a car to a boat to learn about how the environment has changed since the volcano’s 1980 eruption.
But they’ll do it all without ever leaving their Chesapeake High School classroom–they will be using a three-dimensional Virtual Learning Environment developed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) with the university’s Center for Technology Education.
A coalition that also included Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and the University of Baltimore is deploying the environment, which was modeled after a state-of-the-art, 3-D visualization facility at APL that was used for projects by the Department of Defense and NASA. The Virtual Learning Environment is the first of its kind in the nation, said Baltimore County Superintendent Joe Hairston.
David Peloff, program director of emerging technologies at Johns Hopkins’ Center for Technology in Education, said the Virtual Learning Environment grew out of a recently completed federal grant that allowed researchers to look at the ways gaming and simulation technology could be used to help children learn.
"There’s not a lot of research that says this directly improves student achievement. We have a hunch that it does," he said. "But we do know that it improves student involvement. And it [improves] teacher involvement, as well."
Continue reading at www.eschoolnews.com.
Middle and high school students spent a little more than four weeks this summer at McKinley Technical High School in Washington, D.C., developing the programming and modeling for a prototype of an educational computer game called Immune Attack 3.0.
Last year the students used the free educational game to learn, by aiming to make science fun and engaging for students. This year, they’re putting their programming and modeling skills to the test to help the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) update the game.
“Lots of schools are using games to teach their students,” said Rick Kelsey, director of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at McKinley. “But this year we’re taking it a step further. The new version of the game will be played by students all over the country.”
Continue reading at www.eschoolnews.com.
Ballet, hip-hop and computers wouldn't normally find themselves in the same sentence, let alone an educational program.
But those are just some of the elements that will be in the mix at an arts and technology charter school scheduled to open later this month at a Clearwater church.
Serving children in kindergarten through third grade, the Life Force Arts & Technology Academy will infuse ballet, hip-hop, modern dance, singing, theater and computers into a traditional educational curriculum.
"The twist here is we're going to be using performing arts and technology as a way of communicating with kids,'' said Maurice Mickens, chairman of the school. "The goal is for kids to work one grade above their level within a year.''
Continue reading at www.tampabay.com.
At Empire High School in Vail, Ariz., students use computers provided by the school to get their lessons, do their homework and hear podcasts of their teachers’ science lectures.
Down the road, at Cienega High School, students who own laptops can register for “digital sections” of several English, history and science classes.
And throughout the district, a Beyond Textbooks initiative encourages teachers to create — and share — lessons that incorporate their own PowerPoint presentations, along with videos and research materials they find by sifting through reliable Internet sites.
Textbooks have not gone the way of the scroll yet, but many educators say that it will not be long before they are replaced by digital versions — or supplanted altogether by lessons assembled from the wealth of free courseware, educational games, videos and projects on the Web.
“Kids are wired differently these days,” said Sheryl R. Abshire, chief technology officer for the Calcasieu Parish school system in Lake Charles, La. “They’re digitally nimble. They multitask, transpose and extrapolate. And they think of knowledge as infinite.
“They don’t engage with textbooks that are finite, linear and rote,” Dr. Abshire continued. “Teachers need digital resources to find those documents, those blogs, those wikis that get them beyond the plain vanilla curriculum in the textbooks.”
Continue reading at www.nytimes.com. | <urn:uuid:77b78598-f69b-4bd5-8c5f-0352cefdcba9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.jesna.org/je3/blogs/technology-news-blog?start=54 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943151 | 1,065 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Nowadays, people are becoming more expressive in their tattoo choices. No longer is it considered a taboo, and it is often seen as an extension of an individual’s personality or a representation of the people, events or ideologies that play a significant role in their lives.
Because many people are now embracing tattoos, it is no wonder then that the designs
have also gone more varied and experimental. However, this does not mean that the classic favorites get left behind. Tribal tattoo designs have remained popular throughout the ages, ever since they were first used in the ancient times.
Tribal tattoo design by Joe Kennedy at Rose City Tattoo.
Not many people know that tribal tattoo designs were actually used by several ancient tribes all over the world. These symbols and emblems have different meanings for the tribesmen, and they take it not only as a way to decorate their body, but as a way to show their strength and virility.
For the ancient tribes, tattoos serve a lot of purposes. Other tribesmen ink their body with tattoos to ward off evil spirits and provide spiritual protection, or to exhibit healing powers over certain diseases and ailments.
Tattoos were also used to represent a warrior’s achievements, and with every war they take part in, their tattoos also increase in number and size. The more tattoos mean the more wars they had fought and the more rivals they had defeated. The men wear them as a symbol of their bravery and strength.
In other tribes, tattoos were worn as a way to adorn their bodies and to ornament their skin to make them look more beautiful and appealing to the opposite sex.
But whatever purpose the tattoos might serve, it is no question that tribal tattoo designs show off that strength and simple beauty with its bold strokes, strong angles, and gentle curves. Tribal tattoos show a combination of grace and courage and are interesting pieces that simply captivate those who see it.
That’s why many people today want to get eye-catching tribal tattoo designs of their own. If you’re one of those looking for the perfect tribal tattoo, but are clueless with what design to choose, then you can try researching about the different tribal tattoos from various cultures. This way, you can learn more about the meaning and story behind the several tribal tattoos and pinpoint the tattoos of a certain culture that interest you more. Common tribal tattoos include those from Maori, Samoa, the Philippines, Borneo, Native American and Celtic.
If you already know which design to get, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to dig more into the meaning of the tattoo first. As a sign of respect towards the culture, you should also take time to study the history of the tattoo, so that you can better appreciate it not only for its artistic value but also for its cultural origins and symbolisms.
Tribal tattoo designs are great tattoo pieces that show off a rich cultural heritage and at the same time display strength and grace with its solid black edges and soft curves.
View some of the best Tribal Tattoo Designs ever designed and produced. Also, learn the history of Tribal Tattoo Designs. | <urn:uuid:99512f4e-3a03-403f-83f3-edaba25ff062> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://tattooconnection.com/category/tribal-style-tattoo/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970623 | 644 | 1.960938 | 2 |
Update: "China's Plan for the World's Tallest Building: The Rest of the Story"
From CNN Shanghai:
A Hunan-based construction company aims to build an 838-meter skyscraper and do it in just three months
It took Dubai more than five years to build the 828-meter Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building (for the moment, anyway).I'm guessing they won't be using the bamboo scaffolding that Hong Kong is famous for:
But Chinese architects and engineers reckon they need a mere 90 days to leave the Emiratis in the dust.
At least, that's what they've claimed.
Broad Sustainable Building (BSB), a construction company based in Hunan, is planning to erect an 838-meter building called Sky City (天空城市) later this year in Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan Province.
Projected cost for the building is RMB 4 billion (US$628 million).
Once completed, the 220-story structure will surpass Burj Khalifa to become the tallest structure in the world....MORE | <urn:uuid:3b3e567a-da91-42d8-bcfd-70c2fd1f7086> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://climateerinvest.blogspot.com/2012/06/china-plans-to-build-worlds-tallest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904203 | 234 | 1.914063 | 2 |
What Is ERP?
When you search for "ERP" on the web, the sheer amount of information that comes up can be overwhelming—not to mention a little confusing. Every website seems to have its own definition of ERP, and one ERP implementation can vary widely from the next. These differences, however, underscore the flexibility that can make ERP such a powerful business tool.
To get a deeper understanding of how ERP solutions can transform your business, it helps to get a better sense of what ERP actually is and how it works. Here's a brief introduction to ERP and why it seems like everyone's talking about it.
ERP is an acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning, but even its full name doesn't shed much light on what ERP is or what it does. For that, you need to take a step back and think about all of the various processes that are essential to running a business, including inventory and order management, accounting, human resources, customer relationship management (CRM), and beyond. At its most basic level, ERP software integrates these various functions into one complete system to streamline processes and information across the entire organization.
The central feature of all ERP systems is a shared database that supports multiple functions used by different business units. In practice, this means that employees in different divisions—for example, accounting and sales—can rely on the same information for their specific needs.
ERP software also offers some degree of synchronized reporting and automation. Instead of forcing employees to maintain separate databases and spreadsheets that have to be manually merged to generate reports, some ERP solutions allow staff to pull reports from one system. For instance, with sales orders automatically flowing into the financial system without any manual re-keying, the order management department can process orders more quickly and accurately, and the finance department can close the books faster. Other common ERP features include a portal or dashboard to enable employees to quickly understand the business' performance on key metrics.
A Brief History of ERP
The term ERP was coined in 1990 by Gartner1, but its roots date to the 1960s. Back then, the concept applied to inventory management and control in the manufacturing sector. Software engineers created programs to monitor inventory, reconcile balances, and report on status. By the 1970s, this had evolved into Material Requirements Planning (MRP) systems for scheduling production processes.
In the 1980s, MRP grew to encompass more manufacturing processes, prompting many to call it MRP-II or Manufacturing Resource Planning. By 1990, these systems had expanded beyond inventory control and other operational processes to other back-office functions like accounting and human resources, setting the stage for ERP as we've come to know it.
Today, ERP has expanded to encompass business intelligence (BI) while also handling "front-office" functions such as sales force automation (SFA), marketing automation and ecommerce. With these product advancements and the success stories coming out of these systems, companies in a broad range of industries—from wholesale distribution to ecommerce—use ERP solutions.
Moreover, even though the "e" in ERP stands for "enterprise," high-growth and mid-size companies are now rapidly adopting ERP systems. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions—also referred to as "cloud computing"—have helped fuel this growth. Cloud-based solutions not only make ERP software more affordable, they also make these systems easier to implement and manage. Perhaps even more importantly, cloud ERP enables real-time reporting and BI, making them even valuable to executives and staff seeking visibility into the business.
As a result, companies of all sizes and a wide range of industries are transitioning to cloud ERP systems. In fact, Forrester predicts that SaaS-based ERP adoption will rise 21 percent annually through 2015.2 When you stop to consider the benefits of ERP, it's easy to see why it's become so popular and why its use will continue to grow so rapidly.
The Business Value of ERP
At its core, ERP helps employees do their jobs more efficiently by breaking down barriers between business units. More specifically, an ERP solution:
- Gives a global, real-time view of data that can enable companies to address concerns proactively and drive improvements
- Improves financial compliance with regulatory standards and reduces risk
- Automates core business operations such as lead-to-cash, order-to-fulfillment, and procure-to-pay processes
- Enhances customer service by providing one source for billing and relationship tracking.
When you add up these advantages, the value of ERP—particularly cloud ERP—is clear. With an ERP solution, employees have access to accurate information that enables them to make better decisions faster. Not only that, but ERP software helps to eliminate redundant processes and systems, dramatically lowering the cost of doing business overall.
1 "Extended ERP reborn in b-to-b," Heather Herald: InfoWorld, August 27–September 3, 2001.
2 "ERP geared for steady growth as sales forecast to hit $50bn by 2015," Rosalie Marshall: http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2049521/erp-geared-steady-growth-sales-forecast-hit-usd503bn-2015#ixzz1NOo0wcHa | <urn:uuid:3a6ac865-3310-423c-9ee2-9b087e720000> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.netsuite.com/portal/resource/articles/erp/what-is-erp.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00018-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943506 | 1,127 | 2.625 | 3 |
San Antonio, Chile, has again made national and Latin American port news. This time it is because the company Puerto Central, one of the operators in San Antonio, finally began to function.
It marks a milestone in the history of San Antonio, and Puerto Central is now consolidated in the port market on this side of the planet.
“With the start of operations, the port of San Antonio has become the most important of Chile in the movement of containers,” said Rodrigo Olea, CEO of Puerto Central.
“This also marks the return of containers”. Olea also added that they have a dock ready to meet the needs of the shipping companies.
This time, Puerto Central gained the French shipping company CMA CGM as a client, the third largest container operator worldwide, according to the statement by Olea.
The commissioning of the new terminal obviously generate some impacts, both within and outside of the port, a fact that Olea said can also be seen as creating opportunities.
“What can happen is that the people who live here have more work because there will be more and more shifts in logistics activity. “Parallel to this there are road improvements on the southern approach to the harbor, so the impact of the trucks in the city is declining,” said the Puerto Central CEO.
He further indicated that the port of San Antonio is in the ranking of the top ten ports in Latin America and with the launch of its new operations position is even more valued.
“This is very good news for San Antonio, for the country and for Puerto Central,” Olea said. The executive explained that containers with fruit, mainly bananas, ceramics and cardboard, among other goods, will move through the port terminal.
In May 2011, Puerto de Lirquén S.A., won the 20-year concession of the Costanera-Jetty of San Antonio, in an act conducted by the Port San Antonio (EPSA). In July 2011, Puerto Central SA, was organized as a corporation in order to build, develop, maintain, repair and operate the Costanera-Jetty of San Antonio. In August 2011 it signed the concession contract and began operations in November 2011. In 2012, an ambitious investment plan was announced, which includes, among other things, the construction of a new berth of 700 meters.
This post is also available in: Spanish | <urn:uuid:84d11709-bc2b-4f06-83ae-26967332d12e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thebulletinpanama.com/puerto-central-moves-containers-to-chile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00004-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959247 | 497 | 1.570313 | 2 |
Nearly a year after the uprisings that toppled former president Ben Ali last January, Tunisian animation film, a small field so far, is making itself seen at home and abroad. Online, young Tunisians have started posting their animation shorts, after video sharing platforms YouTube and Vimeo were unblocked by censors at the beginning of the year.
Wassim Ben Rhouma, head of the not-for-profit Tunisian Association of Animation Film (ATCA), has compiled a list of the country’s animation films. Although some may be missing, he says, from 1971, there are 25 films.
“We have no cinema in Tunisia, we have films,” says the young media production manager, and this is linked to a lack of producers, education under former president Ben Ali, and a previous lack of encouragement for any culture except football.
In 2010, Ben Rhouma and friends decided to set up the association to promote Tunisian animation films at home and abroad. Earlier this month, he showed a selection of films at two events in France.
“They were dazzled by the creativity of Tunisians,” he says, adding that the French public particularly enjoyed Coma by Aladin Abou Taleb, 2010, and the award-winning L’Ambouba by Nadia Rais, 2009 - both to be screened again this December.
In Coma, Aladin Abou Taleb, 24, depicts a skeletic man rising up from the dead to tackle an authoritarian monster. The film was written, produced, and even screened before the Tunisian uprisings. At the Arab Shorts film festival in Cairo in October, where Coma was shown, Tunisian film curator Walid Tayaa dubbed the young filmmaker “one of the promising young talents in animation movies and graphic design.”
Other Tunisian short films screened this month will include La Poule de Saba by Rafik Omrani, 2010, and L’Enfant Roi by Mohamed Hussein Grayaa, 2006, as well as La Goutte Miraculeuse by Tunisian animation film pioneer Zuhair Mahjoub, 2009.
But Tunisia also has a good selection of animated short films online, says Ben Rhouma. The Tunisian Cyber Revolution, Free Gas Bomb for All, and this Kharabeesh cartoon of the police in Tunisia all appeared after censors opened access to sites such as YouTube and Vimeo last January after five years of them being blocked to all, except via proxy. Some will be screened at the upcoming Animation Film Days.
The future of Tunisian animation films?
“The future is bright,” says Ben Rhouma. “It is full of hope. We have started to come out of our closedness, we have started to talk about ourselves.”
Although, animation film is more developped in Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt, he says, he prefers a comparison with the animation industry in US and Japan, where they are at the top of their game.
Coma - Trailer: | <urn:uuid:1060e488-464c-42ec-a182-50d822c9ed8e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://euromedaudiovisuel.net/p.aspx?t=news&mid=21&l=en&did=517 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957098 | 644 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Trouble with Mail Sign In
You're trying to log in to Internet! Mail and you have forgotten your Internet email login—your password, or even your user ID. What do you do? Here is the good-news, bad-news situation: if you did your Internet email sign up correctly, you have two easy options: on your Internet! Mail page, just click “I can't access my account.” This will bring you to a simple page that gives you options for resetting your password or for remembering your user name. That's the good news.
Here's the bad news: when you set up your Internet email sign in, you were asked to set up secret questions, password hints, and an alternative email address to use, and other information. What were these for? For situations where you forget your password! So you'll be asked these secret questions and alternate email addresses information, and so long as you has the correct answers Internet! Mail will let you reset your password.
What if you haven't set these up yet? Then you really need | <urn:uuid:f9cf497e-23a9-4c9b-81cd-ddec9c0eaa05> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://seoforums.org/profile/reactions/68882/emailexperts/agree | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94166 | 221 | 1.96875 | 2 |
This sampler was from a Learn to Quilt Book. With each block you learn a new technique. We used this sampler to teach beginner quilt classes. My mother, an aunt, and my daughter took the class so we had a good time. This picture is of my daughter's quilt. She started it in class but I had to finish it. At the time she decided she did not like pink, but now it is one of her favorite quilts. My mother hand quilted the one I made which was done in Country Red, Cream and Blue. My sister wanted it so bad I gave it to her. It matches her house better anyway. Browns and tans were used by my mom, she calls it her Dugout Quilt. It was interesting how we each made the same quilt in different colors. | <urn:uuid:0d64694a-65d2-4e29-a52f-1dcedf92b51c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.quiltersclubofamerica.com/media/p/448254.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.99384 | 170 | 1.523438 | 2 |
It was only yesterday, was it not, that we were being assured that the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex partnerships would have no impact on persons and institutions that hold to the traditional view of marriage as a conjugal union? Such persons and institutions would simply be untouched by the change. It won’t affect your marriage or your life, we were told, if the law recognizes Henry and Herman or Sally and Sheila as “married.”
Those offering these assurances were also claiming that the redefinition of marriage would have no impact on the public understanding of marriage as a monogamous and sexually exclusive partnership. No one, they insisted, wanted to alter those traditional marital norms. On the contrary, the redefinition of marriage would promote and spread those norms more broadly.
When some of us warned that all of this was nonsense, and pointed out the myriad ways that Catholics, Evangelicals, Mormons, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and others would be affected, and their opportunities and liberties restricted, the proponents of marriage redefinition accused us of "fearmongering.” When we observed that reducing marriage to a merely emotional union (which is what happens when sexual reproductive complementarity is banished from the definition) removes all principled grounds for understanding marriage as a sexually exclusive and faithful union of two persons, and not an “open” partnership or a relationship of three or more persons in a polyamorous sexual ensemble, we were charged with invalid slippery-slope reasoning. Remember?
No one, they assured us, would require Catholic or other foster care and adoption services to place children in same-sex headed households. No one, they said, would require religiously affiliated schools and social-service agencies to treat same-sex partners as spouses, or impose penalties or disabilities on those that dissent. No one would be fired from his or her job (or suffer employment discrimination) for voicing support for conjugal marriage or criticizing same-sex sexual conduct and relationships. And no one was proposing to recognize polyamorous relationships or normalize "open marriages," nor would redefinition undermine the norms of sexual exclusivity and monogamy in theory or practice.
That was then; this is now.
I must say, though, that I still can't fathom why anybody believed any of it—even then. The whole argument was and is that the idea of marriage as the union of husband and wife lacks a rational basis and amounts to nothing more than "bigotry." Therefore, no reasonable person of goodwill can dissent from the liberal position on sex and marriage, any more than a reasonable person of goodwill could support racial segregation and subordination. And this, because marriage, according to the redefiners, consists principally of the emotional union of people committed to mutual affection and care. Any distinctions beyond this one they condemn as baseless.
Since most liberals and even some conservatives, it seems, apparently have no understanding at all of the conjugal conception of marriage as a one-flesh union—not even enough of a grasp to consciously consider and reject it—they uncritically conceive marriage as sexual-romantic domestic partnership, as if it just couldn’t possibly be anything else. This is despite the fact that the conjugal conception has historically been embodied in our marriage laws, and explains their content (not just the requirement of spousal sexual complementarity, but also rules concerning consummation and annulability, norms of monogamy and sexual exclusivity, and the pledge of permanence of commitment) in ways that the sexual-romantic domestic partnership conception simply cannot. Still, having adopted the sexual-romantic domestic partnership idea, and seeing no alternative possible conception of marriage, they assume—and it is just that, an assumption, and a gratuitous one—that no actual reason exists for regarding sexual reproductive complementarity as integral to marriage. After all, two men or two women can have a romantic interest in each other, live together in a sexual partnership, care for each other, and so forth. So why can’t they be married? Those who think otherwise, having no rational basis, discriminate invidiously. By the same token, if two men or two women can be married, why can’t three or more people, irrespective of sex, in polyamorous “triads,” “quadrads,” etc.? Since no reason supports the idea of marriage as a male-female union or a partnership of two persons and not more, the motive of those insisting on these other “traditional” norms must also be a dark and irrational one.
Thus, advocates of redefinition are increasingly open in saying that they do not see these disputes about sex and marriage as honest disagreements among reasonable people of goodwill. They are, rather, battles between the forces of reason, enlightenment, and equality—those who would “expand the circle of inclusion”—on one side, and those of ignorance, bigotry, and discrimination—those who would exclude people out of “animus”—on the other. The “excluders” are to be treated just as racists are treated—since they are the equivalent of racists. Of course, we (in the United States, at least) don't put racists in jail for expressing their opinions—we respect the First Amendment; but we don't hesitate to stigmatize them and impose various forms of social and even civil disability upon them and their institutions. In the name of “marriage equality” and “non-discrimination,” liberty—especially religious liberty and the liberty of conscience—and genuine equality are undermined.
The fundamental error made by some supporters of conjugal marriage was and is, I believe, to imagine that a grand bargain could be struck with their opponents: "We will accept the legal redefinition of marriage; you will respect our right to act on our consciences without penalty, discrimination, or civil disabilities of any type. Same-sex partners will get marriage licenses, but no one will be forced for any reason to recognize those marriages or suffer discrimination or disabilities for declining to recognize them." There was never any hope of such a bargain being accepted. Perhaps parts of such a bargain would be accepted by liberal forces temporarily for strategic or tactical reasons, as part of the political project of getting marriage redefined; but guarantees of religious liberty and non-discrimination for people who cannot in conscience accept same-sex marriage could then be eroded and eventually removed. After all, "full equality" requires that no quarter be given to the "bigots" who want to engage in "discrimination" (people with a "separate but equal" mindset) in the name of their retrograde religious beliefs. "Dignitarian" harm must be opposed as resolutely as more palpable forms of harm.
As legal scholar Robert Vischer has observed, "The tension between religious liberty and gay rights is a thorny problem that will continue to crop up in our policy debates for the foreseeable future. Dismissing religious liberty concerns as the progeny of a ‘separate but equal’ mindset does not bode well for the future course of those debates." But there is, in my opinion, no chance—no chance—of persuading champions of sexual liberation (and it should be clear by now that this is the cause they serve), that they should respect, or permit the law to respect, the conscience rights of those with whom they disagree. Look at it from their point of view: Why should we permit "full equality" to be trumped by bigotry? Why should we respect religions and religious institutions that are “incubators of homophobia”? Bigotry, religiously based or not, must be smashed and eradicated. The law should certainly not give it recognition or lend it any standing or dignity.
The lesson, it seems to me, for those of us who believe that the conjugal conception of marriage is true and good, and who wish to protect the rights of our faithful and of our institutions to honor that belief in carrying out their vocations and missions, is that there is no alternative to winning the battle in the public square over the legal definition of marriage. The "grand bargain" is an illusion we should dismiss from our minds.
Of course, with sexual liberalism now so powerfully entrenched in the established institutions of the elite sector of our culture (and, let us not kid ourselves, fully embraced by the President of the United States and the leadership of the Democratic Party), some view the defense of marriage as a lost cause. I think that is another mistake—one that sexual liberals have every reason to encourage their opponents to make, and ample resources to promote. We've all heard the argument (or taunt): "The acceptance of same-sex marriage on a national scale is inevitable. It’s a done deal. You had better get on the right side of history, lest you be remembered in the company of Orval Faubus."
Of course, this is what we were told about a "woman's right” to abortion in the mid-'70s. But it didn't turn out that way. A greater percentage of Americans are pro-life today than in the 1970s, and young people are more pro-life than people of their parents’ generation. The idea promoted by the abortion lobby when their cause seemed to be a juggernaut—that “the American people will inevitably accept abortion as a matter of women’s rights and social hygiene”—proved spectacularly false.
Or, speaking of “social hygiene,” think back to the 1920s and '30s when eugenics was embraced by the elite institutions of American society—from the wealthy philanthropic foundations, to the mainline Protestant denominations, to the Supreme Court of the United States. Affluent, sophisticated, “right-minded” people were all on board with the eugenics program. It, too, seemed like a juggernaut. Only those retrograde Catholics, joined by some other backward religious folk, resisted; and the thought was that the back of their resistance would soon be broken by the sheer rationality of the eugenics idea. The eugenicists were certain that their adversaries were on “the wrong side of history.” The full acceptance of eugenics was “inevitable.” But, of course, things didn’t quite turn out that way.
Note that my point here is not to say or imply that redefining marriage is morally equivalent to abortion or eugenics. There are obvious and important differences. My point is about the claim by progressives and some others in each case that the triumph of the cause was “inevitable,” and that those who declined to go along were “against progress” and had placed themselves on the “wrong side of history.”
Does that mean that the reverse is true, that the conjugal conception of marriage will inevitably prevail in law and culture? No. There is nothing inevitable in this domain. As the left-wing—but anti-Hegelian—Brazilian legal theorist Roberto Unger used to preach to us in courses at Harvard Law School, the future will be the fruit of human deliberation, judgment, and choice; it is not subject to fixed laws of history and forces of social determinism. As the Marxists learned the hard way, the reality of human freedom is the permanent foiler of "inevitability" theses. Same-sex marriage and the assaults on liberty and equality that follow in its wake are “inevitable” only if defenders of marriage make their adversaries’ prophecies self-fulfilling ones, by buying into them.
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University. An earlier version of this essay appeared on Mirror of Justice.
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The more things change, the more they stay the same
As I started to outline my thoughts for this essay, I recalled my first day in tech school at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas in 1961, learning how to maintain and launch an Atlas-F ICBM.
I was a brand new second lieutenant in a group of about 20 officers ranging from “Brown Bars” like me to lieutenant colonels. The introduction was delivered by a young first lieutenant who was enthusiastic to the point of delight about how modern warfare would never be the same because of these amazing ICBMs. The fellow rattled off dazzling statistic after dazzling statistic about range, targeting accuracy, response time, time to target and so on. The guy was absolutely glowing as he addressed the mixed group of newbies and old hands about the amazing capabilities of the Atlas F weapon system and a future of space travel, orbiting space stations, men on the moon and so on.
For the time, it was all Buck Rogers whiz-bang.
At this point in the presentation there was a rather loud “Harrumph!” I looked back as a grizzled captain, obviously recalled from retirement to active duty, growled loudly, “Aw, baloney! I’ll bet anybody anything that the day they land a man on the moon there’ll be a Goon in the pattern with fresh fruit and vegetables.”
Of course the class broke into gales of laughter – you had to be there I suppose – and everyone enjoyed the counter-point. This guy had flown many combat missions, had been shot at on numerous occasions, and wasn’t terribly impressed with the idea of sitting in an underground bunker waiting to launch a missile at someone half-way around the planet he couldn’t see.
When I read the front page story in the Sept. 4 edition of The New York Times, In Classrooms of Future, Stagnant Scores, I heard myself say, “Aw Baloney!” and I felt much the same way the captain must have. The article details the introduction and use of high tech devices in a school system in Chandler, Ariz. This community has so far spent $33 million to acquire the latest and greatest educational whiz-bang gadgets to outfit their schoolrooms.
The article goes on to report that, “…schools are spending billions on technology, even as they lay off teachers, with little or no proof that this approach is improving basic learning.” The Chandler story is being repeated across the country as schools acquire the latest gadgets and get rid of teachers.
Frankly, I think we have slipped our intellectual and moral anchors and are now rapidly drifting off into an ocean of gullibility and hidden agendas. School officials are behaving much like Pacific island cargo cults waiting for that magical ship to sail over the horizon bearing all the answers to successful standardized test scores so they can beat the No Child Left Behind rap. They are bereft of good ideas of their own and are desperate.
How did we come to this, and what other ideas are possible?
What’s the real deal?
The “real deal” isn’t gadgets, it isn’t holding back, and it certainly isn’t social promotion either. It isn’t bogus programs like No Child Left Behind. Those lame ideas have been and are being proven wrong over and over again – ad nauseum.
Some things actually do work, however, and we need to ask, what is it that the successful charter schools do that regular public schools don’t? Are the technos ready for this brain-exploding revelation? 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1… They spend more time with kids!
“Eeeeeek! More time? That means more teachers and tutors. That means more mentoring. We don’t want to pay for more humans but… maybe there’s a machine we can buy that will do the job.” There is more to the “Eeeeeek!” factor, however, and we’ll get to that later.
In contrast to the Chandler experience, in Houston the schools superintendent is experimenting with – are you ready for this? Here it comes! – more time, more teachers, more tutors, more mentoring. And, as a result, the educational/instructional outcomes are improving. Check out this article about it.
There were four policies identified by the fellow who consulted with the Houston school system that he deemed “common to the successful charters.” These were:
- Longer school days and years.
- More rigorous and selective hiring of principals and teachers.
- Frequent quizzes to determine what needs to be retaught – and “high dosage tutoring.”
- A “no excuses” culture.
To this end, the Houston school cited in the story hired 50 full-time math tutors. More teachers, more tutors, more of the most essential ingredient in successful teaching and learning – one-on-one contact between teachers and learners. The tutors come from various backgrounds and the one cited in the story was formerly an engineer who easily illustrated how “negative 7 and positive 7 have the same absolute value” to a struggling student by drawing a number line for her.
This is not unlike a master carpenter showing an apprentice how to square a layout – this is teaching as it has been done for as long as adults have been passing knowledge to young people.
What machines can’t do
Machines do not understand when a child is “struggling.” Machines cannot interpret a puzzled look on a child’s face. Machines cannot sense emotion and allay fear and uncertainty with a pat on the back or an encouraging word as can an adult who knows the child. These are the strong and irrefutable reasons why caring humans are the first and best teachers of other humans.
And, it should go without saying that there have to be enough teachers, tutors and mentors to go around.
I am not at all opposed to the use of technology in classrooms as such. In these 21st Century times marvelous devices can be employed to extend the reach of teachers, but it must always be understood that machines cannot replace human teachers.
Why? Because we are not talking about assembly lines and robots; we are talking about schools and children. My values embrace personal achievement as opposed to standardized test scores and advocacy for children as distinct from advocacy for social promotion and holding back. Teaching a kid with the object of passing the NCLB test is not by any stretch of the imagination education.
My advocacy is also a position with moral dimensions: We unquestionably devalue humanity by assigning to machines what is the essentially human task of people teaching people, and when we demean a child with the humiliation of being held back. We have only to ask: What human values are transmitted to a child by a machine? What values are transmitted by humiliation? Who, in these circumstances, is the ultimate beneficiary?
We must question why remedies are being proposed that are essentially punitive and not educative as to subject matter. We are justified in asking what other agendas might underlie policies that are essentially more political than educational.
As a public policy, holding children back in grade is not about education but more a manipulation of public perception. The proposed policy of ending social promotion is no more than a Trojan Horse laying the ground work for selling out public education to the lowest bidder. This is the “Eeeeeek!” factor I alluded to earlier; this is the hidden agenda to which we must be alert.
If we wish to promote a humane society, the teaching/learning enterprise must then always be humane and human. In the final analysis, there must always be teachers in the pattern, caring, human teachers doing what teachers have been doing for eons – teaching children, passing on our collective knowledge and our collective societal values, which values include recognizing and respecting each other’s humanity.
It cannot be about profit. Morally, the responsibility and execution of public education must always remain public. There is no other way to create and maintain a humane, just and civilized society except as a public enterprise.
Emanuele Corso has been a New Mexico resident for over 30 years. Prior to that he taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Department of Educational Policy Studies, where he received his doctorate in education policy studies. He taught “Schools and Society” and “School Reform” to graduates and undergraduates. He holds two master’s degrees and a bachelor’s in mathematics. He is currently working on a book, “Belief Systems and the Social Contract,” which he started when he was teaching at Wisconsin. You can find him online at siteseven.net.
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In the Big Book it reads on page 142, “If he temporizes and still thinks he can ever drink again, even beer, he might as well be discharged after the next bender which, if an alcoholic, he is almost certain to have.” Many problem drinkers who I have recently come across have explained to me that they had a difficult time with alcohol in the past but have now turned to just drinking beer instead of the hard stuff. Everyone in the A.A. program knows that this just doesn’t work for most alcoholics or problem drinkers. They are in a state of self-denial about their drinking and don’t think they have a problem because they aren’t drinking hard liquor anymore.
In the chapter, Doctor Bob’s Nightmare on page 177, the doctor expresses, “It was harmless; nobody ever got drunk on beer.” This is certainly not true. Beer does the exact same kind of damage as any other form of alcohol. It may take longer to get drunk off of beer but with a whole 24-pack inside an alcoholic’s system you can bet they are feeling it the same as if they drank a fifth of Jack Daniels.
The same goes for drugs, too. Many have this misconception that if they stop the hard drugs such as crack, meth, or heroin and stick to just smoking weed they are fine and also formulate the idea that they aren’t addicted to drugs. Again, this is very false. Once one has the disease of addiction they can never rid themselves of it.
“This is the baffling feature of alcoholism as we know it — this utter inability to leave it alone, no matter how great the necessity or the wish,” reads a line in the chapter More About Alcoholism in the Big Book. Individuals with the disease of addiction cannot put it all completely down; they want to think that they have control, either switching types of the same substance or substituting one substance for another “not so bad” one.
Beer is the same as liquor just like weed is the same as heroin. They are all addictive substances, and if you think you are changing something about your addiction by switching from one to another, or believing that your problems will go away because of that “drastic” change, you are wrong, wrong, wrong!
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Animal rights activists on Wednesday rallied at Santa Monica City Hall, calling for authorities to work with wildlife veterinarians when responding to confrontations with cougars. The event followed the fatal shooting last week of a mountain lion in Santa Monica. Michelle Valles reports for the NBC4 News at 4:30 p.m. on May 30, 2012.
Animal rights activists on Wednesday called for authorities to work with wildlife veterinarians when responding to confrontations with cougars, following the fatal shooting last week of a mountain lion in Santa Monica.
In Defense of Animals, an international animal protection organization based in Northern California, questioned why authorities killed the young animal rather than capturing it.
Alongside a wildlife vet and rehabilitator, representatives of the group said that public safety officials should call on civilian animal experts to respond to confrontations with mountain lions.
"Just as I would never be a police officer after a six-hour course on how to use a 9 mm (pistol), I don't think that police officers are going to be veterinarians after a half-day course on how to subdue wildlife," said Jennifer Conrad, a wildlife doctor and expert who lives in Santa Monica. "That's why it has to be that we work together."
On May 22, California Department of Fish and Game wardens responded to a report of a mountain lion in busy downtown Santa Monica – at 1227 Second St., between Wilshire Boulevard and Arizona Avenue (map).
They said they attempted to tranquilize the juvenile animal (pictured below at right) – also using pepper balls and fire hoses, in coordination with the Santa Monica police and fire departments.
But authorities said that when it tried to escape the courtyard where it was hiding, police shot the 80-pound male cougar dead.
"We deployed less-lethal pepper ball, we deployed fire hoses and the animal continued to charge in attempt to flee out of the courtyard,'' Santa Monica police Lt. Robert Almada said at the time. "Regrettably, the animal was euthanized in order to protect public safety.''
In Defense of Animals criticized the response. Its event Wednesday in front of Santa Monica City Hall brought together about 20 activists, some of whom held signs that read "tranquilize don't euthanize" and "stop the killing."
The group wants a strategy for handling future mountain-lion encounters without lethal force. Other animal rights groups have called for an investigation into the shooting.
"This is not a demonstration or a protest. ... It's a call to action," said In Defense of Animals Communications Director Jack Carone. "What we do want to happen is for this to never happen again. What we do want is for hindsight to truly be 20/20. We want to look at what happened and really learn from it."
It's still a mystery how and why the animal ventured from the Santa Monica Mountains into such a densely populated area about 2 miles away. Mountain lions are monitored by the National Park Service, but this young lion was not wearing a GPS radio collar. | <urn:uuid:3a311b9e-820e-412f-9cd2-1b8e643aca36> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Animal-Group-to-Publicly-Question-Mountain-Lion-Response-Fatal-Shooting-Santa-Monica-Police-155780245.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95773 | 624 | 1.804688 | 2 |
Featured Guides and Articles
Hardware Installed In A Modern PC
A complete computer system is primarily made up of the tower, a keyboard, mouse and monitor; Basically everything the average person thinks of when they receive a prebuilt PC right out of the box. The actual hardware components that are required to build a functioning PC are much more complex. Technically, you need to be aware that the entire system and computer tower itself is made up of the following individual PC components:
Processor - It's the most important PC hardware component of the computer and technically, it itself is the CPU which stands for Central Processing Unit. Without it, there would be no computing at all. It will also decide what other PC hardware components will be required to finish the build. If you're familiar with processor brands, there are basically two: Intel and AMD. The brand and type of processor you get will determine your type of motherboard. The processor you purchase will also determine how fast your computer is going to be.
Motherboard - This large slab of PVC and electronics puts everything together. The motherboard you purchase is determined by the processor. Almost all motherboards are built for a particular brand and type of processor and it will say so on the box or manual. This complex piece of electronics also has the slots for your RAM, video card, various expansion cards, your DVD drive, floppy drives and hard disk drives. It is also where your mouse, keyboard, network and other PC hardware input/output devices will be connected.
RAM - Stands for random access memory. It's basically where the computer temporarily keeps and processes data before storage. The more RAM you have, the more temporary storage there will be for applications. The more RAM you have, the faster your computer will be. There are many types of RAM but the most common today is called DDRAM. Ask the shop for help on the best RAM for your motherboard.
Case/Power Supply - The case is what houses all the PC hardware components. The casing is often sold along with the power supply unit (PSU) that will feed power to your motherboard, hard disk, drives and monitor. CPU casings come in different shapes, sizes, colors and designs unlike the simple beige boxes of old. For simple home use, many prefer smaller and slimmer casings. If you plan to use several hard disks, optical drives and other expansion cards, you may require a more expensive and larger full tower case to properly fit a large amount of PC hardware.
Hard Disk - The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is the computer's main storage unit. It's where we keep our operating system, programs or application and their data such as music, videos, photos, documents, databases and spreadsheets.
Video Card - Some motherboards don't have video built-in or if they do, they will need to bite off a chunk of your RAM. If you don't want to share your RAM with video or plan on doing any PC gaming, then you'll need to purchase a dedicated video card.
Drives - These include CD-ROM drives, DVD Drives, floppy disk drives and more recently, flash card drives. A DVD drive should be enough for a basic unit.
After putting your PC together, here's the rest of the computer components you will need:
Monitor - What's a computer without a monitor? Monitors come in different sizes and like TV sets, their screen real estate is measured in inches. If you're building a unit on a tight budget, you could temporarily get a used bulky CRT unit that comes cheap these days or you could purchase a small flat LCD which is okay for home and office use. Larger screens are best for gaming, movie watching, CAD applications and spreadsheet intensive users.
Keyboard - There's not much to be said about keyboards except that you could choose between a PS2 and USB connection, purchase one with extra shortcut keys for convenience and choose a larger or smaller keyboard depending on your taste.
Mouse - There are many varieties of mouse styles to choose from. You could go with a USB, PS2 or even wireless connection. Most modern computer mice are optical, meaning they translate the movement of your wrist using a laser or LED light source. There are many specialty mouse designs for specific applications, such as gaming mice, that usually include extra buttons to which actions can be mapped and quickly accessed.
Operating System - A computer is as good as a paperweight without an operating system. The assembly route you've taken will require that you install one yourself. Feel free to choose between Windows and various Linux distributions. Windows is familiar and easy to use but it will cost you while Linux is completely free and easy to use but technical support won't be so easy.
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Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term lower middle class used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum and the regular middle class. There is considerable debate as to how the upper middle class might be defined. According to sociologist Max Weber the upper middle class consists of well-educated professionals with graduate degrees and comfortable incomes.
The American upper middle class is defined similarly using income, education and occupation as main indicators. In the United States, the upper middle class is defined as mostly consisting of white-collar professionals who not only have above-average personal incomes and advanced educational degrees but also a high degree of autonomy in their work, leading to higher job satisfaction. The main occupational tasks of upper middle class individuals tend to center on conceptualizing, consulting, and instruction.
Certain professions can be deemed as "upper middle class" in nature although any such measurement remains somewhat subjective because of differing perceptions of class. Most people in the upper-middle class strata are highly educated white collar professionals such as physicians, lawyers, economists, accountants, university professors, architects, scientists, engineers, dentists, pharmacists, upper management civil servants and the intelligentsia. Generally, people in these professions have earned an advanced post-secondary education and a comfortable standard of living. In most cases household incomes can range from $150,000 to $220,000 a year.
Most people encompassing this station in life have a high regard for higher education, and probably more than any other socio-economic class strive for themselves and their children to obtain graduate or at least four-year (three-year in the United Kingdom, generally speaking) undergraduate degrees.[How to reference and link to summary or text]
In the U.S., the upper middle class is rather divided in terms of political ideology. Education commonly increases the chance of a person's subscribing to liberal beliefs once they have reached the college level. In terms of income, liberals tend to be tied with pro-business conservatives. Most mass affluent households tend to be more right-leaning on fiscal issues but more left-leaning on social issues. The majority, between 50% and 60%, of households with incomes above $50,000 overall, not all of whom are upper middle class, supported the Republican Party in the 2000, 2004 and 2006 elections.Nevertheless, those with graduate degrees overall favor the Democratic Party. In 2005, 72% of surveyed full-time faculty members at four-year institutions, the majority of whom would be considered upper middle class, identified themselves as liberal.
Education plays a major role in determining tastes and ideologies in this class. A graduate degree, and often even higher education, is a prerequisite to work in one of the traditional "professions" and as a result this segment of the upper middle class is generally more liberal in their political ideologies and more urbane in their tastes. Corporate members of the upper middle class, on the other hand, may have a less advanced higher education (they may have worked their way up to their current social station from an entry-level corporate position). It should be noted, however, that many business persons do have advanced post-secondary education, most notably those with MBAs. Furthermore, in some cases professionals such as chemists or economists may be employed by private businesses and have managerial duties aside from their professional research duties.
The upper middle class is often the group that shapes society and brings social movements to the forefront. Movements such as the Peace Movement, The Anti-Nuclear Movement, Environmentalism, the Anti-Smoking movement, and even in the past with Blue laws and the Temperance movement are all products of the upper middle class. Some claim this is because this is the largest class (and the lowest class) with any true political power for positive change, while others claim some of the more restrictive social movements (such as with smoking and drinking) are based upon "saving people from themselves."
American upper middle classEdit
- See American Professional/Managerial middle class for a complete overview of the American middle classes.
In the United States the term middle class and its subdivisions are an extremely vague concept as neither economists nor sociologists have precisely defined the term. There are several perceptions of the upper middle class and what the term means. In academic models the term applies to highly educated salaried professionals whose work is largely self-directed. Many have graduate degrees with educational attainment serving as the main distinguishing feature of this class. Household incomes commonly may exceed $100,000, with some smaller one-income earners earning incomes in the high 5-figure range.
"The upper middle class has grown...and its composition has changed. Increasingly salaried managers and professionals have replaced individual business owners and independent professionals. The key to the success of the upper middle class is the growing importance of educational certification...its lifestyles and opinions are becoming increasingly normative for the whole society. It is in fact a porous class, open to people...who earn the right credentials. "- Dennis Gilbert, The American Class Structure, 1998.
In addition to having autonomy in their work, above-average incomes, and advanced educations, the upper middle class also tends to be influential, setting trends and largely shaping public opinion. Overall, members of this class are also secure from economic down-turns and, unlike their counterparts in the statistical middle class, do not need to fear downsizing, corporate cost-cutting, or outsourcing -- an economic benefit largely attributable to their graduate degrees and comfortable incomes, likely in the top income quintile or top third. Typical professions for this class include professors, accountants, architects, urban planners, engineers, economists, physicians, political scientists, lawyers, pharmacists and civilian contractors.
- Further information: Affluence in the United States, Household income in the United States, and Personal income in the United States
While many Americans see income as the prime determinant of class, occupational status, educational attainment, and value systems are equally important. Income is in part determined by the scarcity of certain skill sets. As a result an occupation that requires a scarce skill, the attainment of which is often achieved through an educational degree, and entrusts its occupant with a high degree of influence will usually offer high economic compensation. The high income is meant to ensure that individuals obtain the necessary skills (e.g. medical or graduate school) and complete their tasks with the necessary valor. There are also differences between household and individual income. In 2005, 42% of US households (76% among the top quintile) had two or more income earners; as a result, 18% of households but only 5% of individuals had six figure incomes. To illustrate, two nurses each making $55,000 per year can out-earn, in a household sense, a single attorney who makes a median of $95,000 annually.
Sociologists Dennis Gilbert, Willam Thompson and Joseph Hickey estimate the upper middle class to constitute roughly 15% of the population. Using the 15% figure one may conclude that the American upper middle class consists, strictly in an income sense, of professionals with personal incomes in excess of $62,500, who commonly reside in households with six figure incomes. The difference between personal and household income can be explained by considering that 76% of households with incomes exceeding $90,000 (the top 20%) had two or more income earners.
|Data||Top third||Top quarter||Top quintile||Top 15%||Top 10%||Top 5%|
|Lower threshold (annual gross income)||$65,000||$80,000||$91,705||$100,000||$118,200||$166,200|
|Exact Percentage of households||34.72%||25.60%||20.00%||17.80%||10.00%||5.00%|
|Personal income (age 25+)|
|Lower threshold (annual gross income)||$37,500||$47,500||$52,500||$62,500||$75,000||$100,000|
|Exact Percentage of individuals||33.55%||24.03%||19.74%||14.47%||10.29%||5.63%|
The English upper middle classEdit
This is a very specific class in Britain and is, in many respects, peculiar to England as its characteristics do not fit easily into the social gradations of the other constituent nations of the United Kingdom.
In England this class of people is less easily defined, and personal wealth is not a necessary criterion. Frequently its members are members of professions (traditionally academia, law and medicine), although merchants too were able to penetrate its ranks. However, being a member of a profession does not automatically elevate a person to this class, and it is quite common for an upper middle class person not to work in a traditional profession.
Instead, accent, language, education (usually at a good public school), family background and understatement, in both behavior and taste, are defining characteristics of the upper middles. Although not of the landowning class, its members may aspire to the characteristics of, or be described as, gentlemen.
The character of Charles Ryder in Evelyn Waugh's novel, Brideshead Revisited is a fine example of an early twentieth-century upper middle class Englishman. His language, accent and manners are similar to an aristocrat's, but in place of the aristocrat's self-assuredness there is an air of slight uncertainty and diffidence. A more modern day example is Charles in Four Weddings and a Funeral, played by Hugh Grant.
- Affluence in the United States
- American middle class
- Educational attainment in the United States
- Household income in the United States
- Personal income in the United States
- Social structure of the United States
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Thompson, William; Joseph Hickey (2005). Society in Focus, Boston, MA: Pearson.
- ↑ Eichar, Douglas (1989). Occupation and Class Consciousness in America, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Ehrenreich, Barbara (1989). Fear of Falling, The inner Life of the Middle Class, New York, NY: Harper Collins.
- ↑ O'Bannon, B. R. (27 August, 2003). In Defense of the 'Liberal' Professor. Indianapolis Star.. URL accessed on 2007-07-02.
- ↑ Pew Research Center. (10 May, 2005). Beyond Red vs. Blue.. URL accessed on 2007-07-12.
- ↑ , R. & Saad, L. (9 December, 2004). Marketing to the Mass Affluent. Gallup Management Journal.. URL accessed on 2007-07-19.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Gilbert, Dennis (1998). The American Class Structure, New York: Wadsworth Publishing.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 CNN. (2000). Exit Poll.. URL accessed on 2008-05-27.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 CNN. (2004). Exit Poll.. URL accessed on 2008-05-27.
- ↑ "Exit polls"
- ↑ CNN. (2006). Exit Poll.. URL accessed on 2007-07-11.
- ↑ Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. The Washington Post.. URL accessed on 2007-07-02.
- ↑ Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy. URL accessed on 2006-07-25.
- ↑ Professional Occupations according to the US Department of Labor. URL accessed on 2006-07-26.
- ↑ Levine, Rhonda (1998). Social Class and Stratification, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 US Census Bureau, income quintile and top 5% household income distribution and demographic characteristics, 2006. URL accessed on 2006-12-28.
- ↑ US Department of Labor, median income of registered nurses. URL accessed on 2007-01-02.
- ↑ Bureau of Labor statistics data published by Monster.com, 20 highest paying jobs. URL accessed on 2006-12-27.
- ↑ US Census Bureau, distribution of personal income, 2006. URL accessed on 2006-12-09.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 US Census Bureau, overall household income distribution, 2006. URL accessed on 2006-12-28.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 US Census Bureau, personal income distribution, age 25+, 2006. URL accessed on 2006-12-28.
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Historian discusses American Judaism
Oct. 23, 2008
KALAMAZOO--An expert on American Jewish and immigrant history will make a presentation Wednesday, Oct. 29, at Western Michigan University as part of the Department of History's lecture series on "Religion and the Uses of the Past."
Dr. Hasia R. Diner is the Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History at New York University. She will speak on "Filling the Void: American Judaism's Engagement with the Holocaust in the Postwar Era" beginning at 4 p.m. in the President's Dining Room of the Bernhard Center.
Diner has a joint appointment at NYU in the departments of history and the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and is director of the Goldstein Goren Center for American Jewish History. She was previously a professor in the Department of American Studies at the University of Maryland at College Park and held a Fulbright Professorship at the University of Haifa in Israel from 1990-91.
Diner has been a Lilly Fellow at the Mary I. Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College and won election to membership in American Academy of Jewish Research in 1998 and to the Society of American Historians in 2004. She has also been a fellow at the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Research at Princeton University.
Diner earned her doctoral degree in history at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1968 and a master's from the University of Chicago in 1970.
A specialist in immigration and ethnic history, American Jewish history and the history of American women, she is the author of numerous published books, including "In the Almost Promised Land: American Jews and Blacks, 1915-1935," "Erin's Daughters in America: Irish Immigrant Women in the 19th Century" and "A Time for Gathering: The Second Migration, 1820-1880," the second volume in the Johns Hopkins University Press series called The Jewish People in America.
"Lower East Side Memories: The Jewish Place in America" was published in 2000 by Princeton University Press. In December 2001, "Hungering for America: Italian, Irish and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration" was published by Harvard University Press. Basic Books released her history of American Jewish women, titled "Her Works Praise Her," in spring 2002 which Diner co-authored with Beryl Leif Benderly. In the fall of 2004, the University of California Press released "The Jews of the United States: 1654-2000," a history of American Jewry as part of its series on the histories of modern Jewish communities.
Diner currently serves as chair of the executive committee of the Academic Council of the American Jewish Historical Society. She lectures widely to academic and community audiences on various aspects of history, focusing on her specialties of American Jewish history, American women's history and immigration history.
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The information on this page is archived and provided for reference purposes only. It was current when it was produced, but may now be out-of-date. Persons having difficulty accessing this information may contact firstname.lastname@example.org for assistance. For reliable, current information on this and other topics, we recommend that you visit the National Eye Institute website index.
News and Events
Contact: Judith Stein,
Telephone: (301) 496-5248
Antiviral Drug Sharply Reduces Return of Herpes of the Eye
NEI Press Release
National Institutes of Health
National Eye Institute
July 29, 1998
Researchers have found that an antiviral drug, often used to suppress genital herpes, also decreases the recurrence of herpes of the eye. A paper detailing these findings is published in the July 30, 1998 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Scientists found that the drug acyclovir, taken by mouth, reduced by 41 percent the probability that any form of herpes of the eye would return in patients who had the infection in the previous year. Importantly, researchers noted a 50 percent reduction in the rate of return of the more severe form of the disease stromal keratitis among patients who had this infection during the past year. Stromal keratitis causes scarring of the cornea, which can lead to loss of vision and possibly blindness. Recurring episodes of stromal keratitis can often result in the need for a corneal transplant.
"This drug is the first treatment that helps prevent herpes of the eye from returning," said Dr. Carl Kupfer, director of the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the Federal government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the agency that supported the clinical trial. "The results of this study should change medical practice."
Herpes of the eye, or ocular herpes, is caused by the herpes simplex virus. This infection can produce a painful sore on the eyelid or surface of the eye and cause inflammation of the cornea, the transparent tissue that covers the front of the eye. The less severe forms of ocular herpes include blepharitis, conjunctivitis, and epithelial keratitis. The more severe form of ocular herpes is stromal keratitis, which causes the body's immune system to attack and destroy an inner layer of the cornea. Stromal keratitis is more difficult to treat than less severe ocular herpes infections.
An estimated 400,000 Americans have had some form of ocular herpes. Previous studies show that once people develop ocular herpes, they have up to a 50 percent chance of having a recurrence. This second flare-up could come weeks or even years after the initial occurrence. Each year, nearly 50,000 new and recurring cases are diagnosed in the United States, with the more serious stromal keratitis accounting for about 25 percent.
The clinical trial called the Acyclovir Prevention Trial (APT) followed 703 patients who had herpes of the eye during the preceding year, but did not currently have an active case of the disease. Of this number, 357 received acyclovir by mouth, and 346 received a placebo. Researchers discovered that the probability of a recurrence of any form of ocular herpes during the treatment period was significantly lower in the acyclovir group (19 percent) than in the placebo group (32 percent). This represents a reduction by 41 percent between the two groups.
Among the 703 patients, researchers examined 337 patients with a prior history of the more serious stromal keratitis. Acyclovir reduced the rate of recurrences of stromal keratitis from 28 percent to 14 percent, a difference of 50 percent between the two groups. The study medication caused no serious side effects.
"The study clearly shows that acyclovir therapy can benefit people with all forms of ocular herpes," said Dr. Kirk Wilhelmus, professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Baylor College of Medicine and chairman of the APT clinical trial. "Ocular herpes can be painful, chronic, and disabling. This new treatment will improve people's quality of life. Those who have had the more serious stromal keratitis will benefit the most."
Dr. Wilhelmus noted that not all patients had the same benefit from taking acyclovir. "Patients should consult with their eye care professionals to see if prolonged use of acyclovir is right for them," he said.
Researchers also found that oral acyclovir reduced the risk of herpes infections in other parts of the body, particularly the mouth and face, by 43 percent. During the 12-month treatment period, 20 percent of patients in the group receiving acyclovir had at least one herpes infection affecting the mouth or face, as compared with 35 percent of patients in the placebo group.
Once treatment stopped, the rate of ocular herpes or herpes affecting the mouth and face did not increase, according to Dr. Wilhelmus. "During the six months after treatment ended, the percentages of herpes recurrences affecting the eye or the mouth and face was the same in both the treatment and placebo groups," he said.
The Acyclovir Prevention Trial is part of a larger study called the Herpetic Eye Disease Study that is supported through cooperative agreements with the NEI. The APT was conducted at 74 university and community-based clinical sites nationwide, reporting to eight regional centers. A list of the regional centers is attached.
The National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, is the Federal government's lead agency for vision research, and supports between 70 to 80 percent of basic and applied vision research in the United States.
The Acyclovir Prevention Trial
Like other herpetic infections, herpes of the eye remains a controllable, but incurable, problem. In one large, unrelated study, researchers found that recurrence rate of ocular herpes was 10 percent within one year, 23 percent within two years, and 63 percent within 20 years. Some factors believed to be associated with recurrence include fever, stress, sunlight, and eye injury.
The less severe forms of ocular herpes include epithelial keratitis, conjunctivitis, and blepharitis. The more severe form of ocular herpes stromal keratitis can lead to corneal scarring and can be associated with secondary glaucoma and cataract. Standard treatment with antiviral eyedrops or ointment helps to stop the herpes virus from multiplying. However, until the APT, there was still no known effective method for reducing the frequency of ocular herpes recurrence.
The APT Protocol
The Acyclovir Prevention Trial (APT) is a multicenter randomized clinical trial designed to determine if the antiviral drug acyclovir, given orally, would prevent herpes simplex virus infection from recurring in the eyes of patients who had the infection in the past.
To be eligible for participation, patients must have experienced a form of ocular herpes in one or both eyes during the preceding year. This infection had to be inactive and untreated for at least the previous 30 days before enrollment. About 29 percent of the enrolled patients had experienced one previous episode of ocular herpes; 71 percent experienced multiple previous recurrences. The most common types of prior ocular herpes were epithelial keratitis (47 percent), stromal keratitis (16 percent), and both epithelial keratitis and stromal keratitis (32 percent). About 49 percent of patients had a history of fever blisters or other previous symptoms of herpes of the mouth and/or face.
Of the 703 patients, 357 were randomly assigned to the acyclovir group, and 346 to the placebo group. All patients were followed for all forms of ocular and nonocular recurrences during a 12-month treatment period, followed by a six-month observation period. The acyclovir group received oral acyclovir 400 mg twice daily for 12 months. The other group received placebo capsules that were identical in appearance and taste to the acyclovir capsules. Study medication (acyclovir or placebo) was continued for the full 12 months regardless of whether a recurrence occurred.
Herpes recurrences were classified as either superficial ocular infections (blepharitis, conjunctivitis, and/or epithelial keratitis); stromal keratitis; or iritis. When patients had a recurrence of ocular herpes, they were treated with standard topical medication, but continued to receive the oral acyclovir or placebo for the entire 365-day period.
Only four percent of patients in the acyclovir group and five percent in the placebo group stopped treatment because of side effects. One-half of these side effects were due to gastrointestinal upset; some patients may have had intolerance to the lactose contained in the study capsules (Treatment medication that does not contain lactose is now available).
Glaxo Wellcome supplied to APT investigators over a half million free capsules of its brand name acyclovir, called Zovirax®.
In addition to the main findings, doctors also noted that:
- During the 12 months of treatment, oral acyclovir reduced the incidence of epithelial keratitis from 11 percent to nine percent, and the incidence of stromal keratitis from 13 percent to eight percent.
- During the 12-month treatment period, four percent of patients in the acyclovir group and nine percent in the placebo group had more than one recurrence.
Herpetic Eye Disease Study Centers
Resource CentersChairman's Office
Chandler R. Dawson, M.D.
Francis I. Proctor Foundation
University of California, San Francisco
153 Parnassus Avenue, Room 5347
San Francisco, CA 94143-0412
Telephone: (415) 476-2658
Roy W. Beck, M.D., Ph.D.
Pamlea S. Moke, M.S.P.H.
Jaeb Center for Health Research, Inc.
3010 E. 138th Avenue, Suite 9
Tampa, FL 33613
Telephone: (813) 975-8690
NEI RepresentativeNatalie Kurinij, Ph.D.
National Eye Institute
National Institutes of Health
Executive Plaza South, Suite 350
6120 Executive Boulevard, MSC 7164
Bethesda, MD 20892-7164
Telephone: (301) 496-5983
# # #
- Acyclovir for The Prevention of Recurrent Herpes Simplex Virus Eye Disease. Herpetic Eye Disease Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1998 Jul 30. PubMed | <urn:uuid:510fc8dd-3819-4505-bba9-a7430bf6ff00> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.nei.nih.gov/news/pressreleases/hedsii.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936122 | 2,277 | 2.6875 | 3 |
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Two high-definition cameras began streaming live video Wednesday of clown-like Atlantic puffins waddling, preening and nesting on a remote Maine island.
The National Audubon Society and explore.org teamed up to stream video from Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge to anyone with an Internet connection. Located about 20 miles offshore, the island has the largest puffin colony in the U.S.
The video marks the first time high-definition cameras have been used in North America to stream video of Atlantic puffins, said Steve Kress, director of Audubon's seabird restoration program.
One camera shows puffins and other seabirds on the island's rocky ledges, flapping their wings and coming and going while waves crash on shore. The other camera is underground, inside a burrow showing a puffin in her nesting site. It is so close to the bird you can look into its eye.
The goal is to engage the public and spur interest in seabird restoration, said Kress, who has worked with puffins for nearly four decades.
"About a third of all seabird species in the world are threatened with extinction," Kress said. "It's the most troubled group of birds in the world. And the puffin is the bird among seabirds that people can relate to."
The Atlantic puffin is sometimes called the "clown of the sea" with its colorful striped beak, its diminutive stature and the comical way it waddles.
The birds live across a vast expanse of the North Atlantic from Maine to northern Russia, but they almost disappeared from Maine when settlers hunted them to near-extinction for food and feathers in the 1800s. By 1900, only small numbers of puffins nested on just two Maine islands.
Kress has been working to restore puffin and other seabird populations to Maine's islands since 1973, when he founded the Project Puffin restoration project.
Today, puffins breed on five Maine islands, with Seal Island having the largest population, about 550 pairs. The birds arrive each April and leave in August, spending the rest of their lives at sea.
Scientists count 3 million to 4 million pairs of Atlantic puffins worldwide, with roughly 60 percent of them breeding in Iceland.
Project Puffin put a web camera on Maine's distant Matinicus Rock, home to about 300 pairs of puffins, in 2005 in an effort to stream video, Kress said. But the video was low-quality and worked only intermittently.
The latest project, with its high-definition cameras, gives views of puffins that were previously unavailable.
The project also includes a third camera on Seal Island that is aimed at common terns, and a fourth camera on another island elsewhere off Maine that's focused on a family of ospreys.
The project is funded by explore.org, a philanthropic organization in Santa Monica, Calif., and a division of the Annenberg Foundation.
Tom Pollak, executive producer of explore.org, said his organization has other cameras streaming video of a panda, a polar bear, a beluga whale and other animals, with the aim of having people "fall in love with the world."
"The feedback has been very positive," he said. "One of the best experiences we had was when we covered a polar bear migration in Manitoba and somebody commented, `This is better than football.'"
Puffin webcams: http://www.explore.org/birds
Project Puffin: http://www.projectpuffin.org
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Meet the newest liligers - mom's a liger and dad's a lion. (Photos)
The U. of Oregon is cracking down on a fan favorite.
Oreo's new flavor is getting a ton of buzz. So we tried it.
Don't look for the movie about Jodi Arias to be about her trial. (Video) | <urn:uuid:d41f5879-4ddb-4389-8b95-414b6c97e539> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wtop.com/884/2920760/Remote-Maine-puffin-colony-up-close-on-HD-webcam | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00073-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942895 | 846 | 2.75 | 3 |
People living with arthritis are often dismayed by how much the disease steals from their lives. If you have arthritis, physical limitations caused by chronic pain, chronic fatigue, stress and more can narrow your world and interrupt living a "normal life."
With arthritis, energy is consumed just trying to accomplish ordinary tasks and usual daily activities. Your focus may be limited to just "getting through the day." Arthritis starts to take control of your life, rather than you taking control of the disease. How can you better manage your illness? What modifications can you make to your lifestyle to make living with arthritis easier? What actions can you take to gain and maintain control over the limitations imposed by arthritis?
1 - Stay Positive
Arthritis is an unpredictable disease, as is the future. Accepting new realities and redefining life within the limitations imposed by disease is important for people with arthritis. Positivity can help you manage life with chronic arthritis.
2 - Trust Your Doctor
Doctors play an essential role in the treatment of arthritis. Choosing a doctor is one of the most critical decisions you make when it comes to your condition. It is imperative that your needs are being met. Find a compassionate, communicative doctor you can trust.
- Should You Change Doctors?
- 10 Reasons to Fire Your Doctor
- Patient Education - Can You Know Too Much?
3 - Accept Your Situation
Don't fight the fact that you have arthritis or that your condition changes your life. Don't deny that you have the disease, nor underestimate its impact. Once you accept that you have a chronic illness and that it is a part of your life for the rest of your life, the decisions you make will be better for you and will ultimately improve your life. You must internalize the acceptance -- feel it, don't just say it.
4 - Set Realistic Goals
Set realistic goals for yourself. Through reflection and contemplation, you can assess what you are not happy with and work to change those circumstances. Be sensitive to your innermost feelings. You can focus and begin to make necessary changes in your life.
5 - Be Informed
If you have been diagnosed with arthritis, it's important to learn all that you can about the disease. The importance of knowledge and understanding your health condition cannot be overstated. Stay informed -- subscribe to our newsletter.
6 - Protect Your Joints
Joint protection can reduce stress on arthritic joints and decrease pain. There are several joint protection principles which, if followed, will help to conserve energy and preserve joint function.
- How to Protect You Joints
- Joint Protection Advice for People With Arthritis
- Test Yourself - Do You Use Joint Protection Techniques?
7 - Manage Your Medications
When your doctor hands you a new prescription, it becomes your responsibility to know what the medication is for, how to take it, and what possible side effects might occur. Medication errors have many causes, but usually have one thing in common -- they could have been prevented.
- How to Spot Pharmacy Errors
- Review Prescription Label Directions
- 10 Things You Should Do When Given a New Prescription
8 - Keep Active
The benefits of exercise, as part of a treatment program for managing arthritis, are well-known and documented. Despite the known benefits, many people with arthritis avoid exercising regularly.
- Exercise: Essential Treatment for Arthritis
- How Do Arthritis Patients Perceive Exercise?
- Over One-Third of People With Arthritis Get No Exercise
9 - Watch Your Weight
Being overweight, even moderately, impacts weight-bearing joints and can increase joint pain. As you walk, your hips, knees, and ankles bear three to five times your total body weight. For every pound you're overweight, the equivalent of three to five pounds worth of added pressure is added to each knee as you walk. The flip side of that is good news: losing just 10 pounds causes 30 to 50 pounds of extra stress to be relieved from the joints.
- Extra Pounds Increase Arthritis Pain
- How to Control Your Weight With Regular Physical Activity
- Sound Weight Loss Advice for People With Arthritis
10 - Seek Mutual Support
Arthritis not only affects people who have the disease, it impacts the people around them -- especially family and friends. People living with arthritis and those who have loved ones with the disease can gain insight and draw inspiration from others facing similar challenges. You can share your advice and experiences, offer mutual support, ask questions, and encourage others in our online Arthritis Forum. | <urn:uuid:596724e1-5410-49e0-9f65-f232f2128be5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arthritis.about.com/od/solvingdifficultissues/a/improveyourlife.htm | 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 | 0.934021 | 927 | 2.234375 | 2 |
While 90 percent of cancer cases happen due to lifestyle, environmental or aging factors, five to 10 percent of cancers are passed down from generation to generation. If you or your family members have been diagnosed with colon, breast, ovarian or uterine cancer, you could be at increased risk for developing these cancers.
Does cancer run in your family? How do I know if I am at increased risk?
Take the following risk-factor questionnaire, which may identify a few indicators that could increase your risk for colon, breast, ovarian or uterine cancer.
Genetic Testing: To Do Or Not To Do
Breast and ovarian cancer syndromes
Genetic tests are available for hereditary breast cancer. Among them are the most common hereditary breast cancer syndromes involving the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. When genetic testing is completed and an alteration is found in one of the identified genes, an individual’s risk for developing certain types of cancer is significantly increased. For women, there is an increased risk for developing breast and/or ovarian cancer. For men, there is an increased risk for breast and prostate cancer. In addition, men and women who have already been diagnosed with these cancers are at increased risk for developing a second cancer.
Colorectal cancer syndromes
Genetic tests are available for hereditary colon cancer. Common hereditary cancer syndromes include Lynch Syndrome and FAP. Lynch Syndrome (or HNPCC) is an inherited condition that increases your chances for colon, uterine, ovarian and other cancers. FAP (familial adenomatous polyposis) is an inherited condition that causes an individual to have hundreds of colon polyps and significantly increases the risk for colon cancer. Testing is also available for other gastrointestinal hereditary cancer syndromes.
By making an appointment and completing your personal cancer risk assessment with the Virtua Fox Chase Cancer Genetics Program, you will be empowered to make informed health decisions for yourself and your family. Cancer genetics experts will guide you through the process to determine your risk, make decisions about testing, and plan your next steps to decrease your risk for cancer or increase screening to detect cancer early. Our experts will also provide important information about the risks and screening recommendations for your family members.
As a participant, you will:
- Receive individualized and comprehensive counseling from cancer genetics experts including medical oncologists trained in cancer genetics, advanced practice nurses, board-certified genetic counselors and social workers
- Discover if you have an increased risk for cancer
- Learn about the benefits, risks and limitations of genetic testing
- Undergo genetic testing, if appropriate
- Learn what you can do to decrease your risk for developing cancer (screening, medical, surgical)
- Receive information regarding clinical trials, if eligible
Breast and ovarian clinical trials
If you have breast or ovarian cancer and are willing to participate in a research study, you may be eligible for the Margaret Dyson Family Risk Assessment Program conducted in partnership with the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.
As a participant, you will help provide insight into hereditary factors, or genes, that influence cancer risk and gain access to the latest news and information on cancer genetics. | <urn:uuid:b1b70842-7a2e-49d0-8f1c-90db75be9585> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.virtua.org/en/health/genetic-testing.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934109 | 653 | 2.53125 | 3 |
There is no question that Italy is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the world and is celebrated for its fantastic food and beautiful scenery. Fresh produce and beautiful landscapes are often enveloped in beautiful gardens in the cities and along the countryside, delighting residents and tourists alike. The U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Rome recently unveiled the latest international “People’s Garden,” as part of the USDA’s initiative to teach people worldwide how to nurture, maintain and protect a healthy landscape.
In April, the U.S. Ambassador to Italy David H. Thorne and his wife Rose inaugurated “The Villa Taverna Orto” located in the gardens of the official Ambassador’s residence at Villa Taverna. ‘Orto’ is Italian for vegetable garden. This project was made possible thanks to the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) office at the American Embassy in Rome. That office also organized a design competition with an Italian Agronomist high school, under the mentorship of the Rome Order of Doctors of Agronomy and Forestry. The students completed their designs February 2011, which were then reviewed by the Ambassador and Mrs. Thorne. The resulting Villa Taverna Orto highlights the best features of each project, while also including Italian indigenous species in accordance with the biodiversity program.
The garden provided the Ambassador and Mrs. Thorne the opportunity to highlight the importance of healthy eating habits at a time when obesity and diabetes have become an important health concern in both the United States and Italy. Like Agriculture Secretary Vilsack’s “People’s Garden” and First Lady Michele Obama’s White House garden in Washington, D.C., The Villa Taverna Orto is a perfect example of how vegetable gardening can be an environmentally-friendly and healthy activity that promotes good eating habits. It will be used year-round as a kitchen garden to provide seasonal produce for the Ambassador’s residence.
“Quality of life is closely linked to the food we eat,” said Ambassador Thorne. “Growing a natural garden and eating its products increases the awareness and importance of food to pass down to our children.”
People’s Gardens are sprouting up in countries around the world as well as counties throughout the United States. Learn more about the People’s Garden Initiative and locate a garden near you on the People’s Garden Interactive Map. | <urn:uuid:3cc07fe9-4b31-4d92-8d04-31a4cdcb947a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.usda.gov/2011/06/08/the-italian-people%E2%80%99s-garden-promotes-healthy-eating-habits-abroad/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955057 | 502 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Nonfibrous insulation eases air-quality concerns
Used by 13 student musical ensembles and nearly 20 community organizations, the arts wing of Houlton Jr/Sr High School in Houlton, Maine, was badly oversubscribed, as well as outdated, spurring a $5 million expansion and renovation. The result: the Houlton Community Arts Center, Phase 1 of which was completed in January 2010.
When audience members settled in for the first performances in the newly renovated auditorium, they could hear the performers beautifully. What they could not hear was the HVAC system.
"We had three major concerts in our auditorium in December (2009), and the air-exchange system could not be heard, only felt," Joseph A. Fagnant, president of the Houlton Community Arts Center Council (HCACC) and chair of the Houlton High School Music Department, said. "It was encouraging to have an air-handling system that did not interfere with the acoustics of the space nor interfere with the performance taking place."
The excellent acoustics are in part the result of the use of SOLCOUSTIC, a non-fibrous coated polyimide-foam duct liner from Evonik Foams Inc.
Insulation and Indoor-Air Quality
Developed by NASA for use in space vehicles, non-fibrous polyimide foam is an alternative to fiberglass.
"Because of concerns about fibrous liners delaminating in the airflow, the idea of nonfibrous is often attractive," Ben Markham, LEED AP, senior acoustic consultant for Acentech Inc., which consulted on the project, said. "There are certain kinds of projects—schools and hospitals, for example—where any kind of liner is prohibited, unless it is encapsulated. But that encapsulation, unless done with great care, often negates acoustical performance of the liner, even though it may be fine thermally."
Open-cell polyimide foam can equal or exceed the sound-absorbing performance of fiberglass of similar thickness. What's more, polyimide foam liners meet the same performance criteria concerning response to heat and flame as fiberglass. The material was tested according to UL 723, Standard for Test for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials/ASTM E84, Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials/NFPA 255, Standard Method of Test of Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials, and can withstand temperatures of up to 250°F. It is almost as efficient in terms of thermal resistance as fiberglass of similar thickness.
Return on Investment
In the case of Houlton Jr/Sr High School, where fundraising for the project is ongoing, cost was a serious consideration. Although polyimide-foam duct liner costs more than fiberglass, the HCACC decided it was a worthwhile investment.
"I was there when the demolition was started in June 2009," Fagnant said. "The old fiberglass liner had completely collapsed down the length of the ducts. I saw all the dirt in it and how the batts were falling apart, and I suddenly said, 'Now, the idea of using foam makes sense.' I also saw the foam being installed, and I could tell that it wasn't going to have any issues."
Fagnant said he is pleased with the product and the installation.
"It is a great asset to the auditorium," Fagnant said. "With our old system, there was no air exchange. It would reach 85 degrees in there with an audience present. And you could hear the heat kick on and off, hear the fans making noise. With the new system, it feels much more pleasant, and you don't hear a thing. We had our first performance in November (2009'Damn Yankees'—and the auditorium was sold out. People could hear things differently. They were very positive in their response."
Information and photographs courtesy of Evonik Foams Inc.
For Design Solutions author guidelines, call Scott Arnold, executive editor, at 216-931-9980, or write to him at firstname.lastname@example.org.
DUCTS AND ACOUSTICS
Noise in HVAC ducts is reduced through one of two actions:
- Scattering, or the redirection of sound waves.
- Absorption, or the conversion of sound to other forms of energy—generally, a small amount of heat.
Thus, duct liners do not contain or filter noise, but, rather, break it up and weaken its force. Their effectiveness depends on how much of their surface area is exposed to sound waves. This means the greater the length of duct that is lined, the greater the amount of noise that is reduced.
For general environments (e.g., an office or a classroom), acceptable noise reduction often requires the lining of the first 10 to 20 ft of ducts adjoining a fan system. An engineer calculates how much lining is needed by determining an acceptable noise level for the application, using the documented noise output of the fans and the known acoustic properties of the lining material.
For spaces with exacting sound requirements, lining an entire duct for maximum noise control may be desirable.
To dissipate room-to-room transmission, ducts joining two rooms can be designed in a U-shape and lined.
Duct-lining materials must:
- Have sound-absorbing properties.
- Be of minimal thickness so they do not significantly restrict airflow.
- Be resistant to heat.
- Be able to prevent the spread of flame and smoke.
- Be resistant to mold.
Both fiberglass and polyimide foam meet those criteria. The foam generally is coated with an acrylic product that protects against dust, moisture, and mold. Polyimide is a low-emitting product in terms of volatile organic compounds and has been certified under the GREENGUARD Children & Schools program.
Installation of polyimide foam is similar to that of standard fiberglass rigid plenum liner board. The biggest difference is that workers installing foam generally do not feel the need to wear dust masks, respirators, gloves, or long sleeves, as they do when handling fiberglass. | <urn:uuid:69cadfcb-c19b-487f-ab3b-56b4f89f49e3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hpac.com/departments/design-solutions/polyimide-foam-duct-liner-1110 | 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 | 0.957279 | 1,305 | 2.453125 | 2 |
Writing & Health Initiative
Research - Practice - Education
Director: Nancy Morgan, MA-TLA
Patients and their families at the Lombardi Cancer Center frequently report that the emotional impact of cancer can be as challenging as the physical effects. Emotions must be addressed to insure optimum response to cancer treatment and recovery.
Self expression is essential to optimum emotional health. Life crises can be effectively managed using a variety of avenues of expression that culminate in written or spoken language. The Writing and Health Initiative explores links between arts, language, and health to identify effective strategies for encouraging emotional expression and good health.
"When I write about cancer I feel positive feelings - that I am winning this battle and can feel more positive about my future and I will be around to see my children grow up."
Lombardi is a leader in complementary medicine for cancer patients, with a fully developed Arts and Humanities Program. For eight years the writing program has helped patients come to terms with their illness, articulate their needs to family and medical staff, and regain control of their lives. The lessons learned about writing and health at Lombardi are applicable to all people in crisis, and relate to prevention as well. Learning to use writing as a coping tool is excellent preparation for facing all life's challenges.
Writing is a cost effective, accessible, and private method for alleviating emotional distress. Regardless of cultural beliefs, financial means, access to counseling or family support, people can engage in writing for therapeutic expression and relief in the form of:
- reduced anxiety and stress
- renewed sense of identity and purpose
- improved communication
- restored sense of control
- enhanced sleep quality
- diminished awareness of pain and other side effects
Twenty years of research, including studies at Lombardi, provide evidence that writing about thoughts and feelings may improve emotional and physical health.
The Writing and Health Initiative will expand on existing research, contributing further evidence of the health benefits of writing. | <urn:uuid:1200c3e8-40ee-4048-bbed-7777830c4ed9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www3.georgetown.edu/gumc/lombardi/artsandhumanities/Writing/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946643 | 395 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Career Band Level
- Contributing Competencies - The span of knowledge, skills and successful work behavior necessary to perform a job from entry up to journey competencies required for the band.
- Journey Competencies - Fully applied body of knowledge, skills and successful work behavior demonstrated on the job, which are beyond the contributing competencies.
- Advanced Competencies - The highest or broadest scope of knowledge, skills, and work behavior demonstrated on the job, which are beyond journey competencies.
Career Band Salary Adjustment - Salary adjustments awarded to recognize
- Probationary to Permanent Status - Employee moves to Permanent Status after the successful completion of the initial six-month probationary period.
- Reassignment - Assignment of an employee from a higher pay band to a lower pay band or from a higher level to a lower level within a banded classification.
- Promotion - Assignment of an employee to a higher pay band.
Career Progression/Market Adjustment - A salary increase within the pay range of the band to which an employee is assigned.
- Within Band Change: Employee moves from a lower competency level to a higher competency level within a banded classification.
- Within Level Adjustment: Employee has an adjustment without a competency level change.
Competencies - Knowledge, skills, abilities, and work behaviors that contribute to success in the job and to the organization's mission and goals.
Job Family - A group of jobs having the same nature of work (e.g., Information Technology, Administrative Support) but requiring different levels of skill, effort, responsibility or working conditions.
Journey Market Rate - The average salary of competitors in the relevant labor market for a band as determined by comparisons of benchmark jobs.
Market Reference Rate - A market rate determined by comparing benchmark jobs to relevant local, state, or national market data that allows geographical market flexibility in establishing appropriate market relationships.
Pay Band - A broad pay range approved for use with the career banding program. These bands include contributing, journey, and advanced market rates. | <urn:uuid:b4e3ff38-6463-4ebd-abe1-d39d2f4439a9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ncsu.edu/human_resources/classcomp/banding_defs.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910866 | 421 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Bob Seay of WGBH News and James David Jacobs of Classical New England consider the odd history and captivating power of Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait.
To hear a performance of Lincoln Portrait with the United States Marine Band, conductor Col. Michael J. Colburn, and narrator Brian Stokes Mitchell, click on "Listen" above.
|Abraham Lincoln, by Alexander Gardner [public domain], via Wikimedia Commons|
Written in 1942, Lincoln Portrait, by Aaron Copland, is a rare musical tribute to an American President. It played an inspirational role when it was written, during the dark, early days of World War II.
But it continued to inspire over the decades, with countless notable narrators giving voice to the words by Abraham Lincoln that Copland chose for his tribute.
Those words, though, were chosen from within a surprising cultural context, as Bob Seay explains:
If Lincoln's words express the highest ideals of American democracy, Copland's music expresses the diversity of sources that have combined to create an American music and culture, as James David Jacobs writes:
|Aaron Copland (source: AP)|
It’s hard in 2012 to appreciate just how original Copland’s Lincoln Portrait was in 1942. There had been other works that combined spoken text with orchestra, but the combination of serious public statement and serious artistic statement, with ceremony, history, and politics coexisting with music, was, and remains, rare.
The music Copland wrote isn’t mere backdrop for the words, the narrator not even speaking until the piece is about half over. That music tells a story, a story of both an individual life and of a nation. It’s also a story of diverse musical influences, reflecting the diverse musical strands that have come together to create an American music.
The beginning of the work is typical Copland, with woodwinds uttering soft three-note mottoes in intervals of fourths and fifths. That serenity, however, is answered by unsettling chords. It’s not unlike Ives’s The Unanswered Question and its dialogue between a stark, angular statement and its muddled response.
There are also subtle references to the music of Native Americans, engaged in what could be considered Lincoln’s other, less celebrated civil war. The dance-like tone of this section can be considered a sort of analogue to the scherzo in Beethoven’s Eroica symphony, representing both the joys and adventures of the individual heroic figure and the energy and the spirit of the nation and its people.
The strands come together, and the music reverts to the unsettled atmosphere of the work’s beginning. Then, just as we’ve almost forgotten about the speaker, he or she begins to speak.
It’s too important, Copland seems to be saying, to hide behind the cloak of artistic license, of interpretation and ambiguity. No, the meaning of this music must be spelled out, and when we hear the words of Lincoln we know why.
Copland has done us a service by providing a frame in which we can ponder these words, which turn out to be as relevant to today’s struggles as they were in the 1860s. The questions posed by the cultural conflicts illustrated in the differing strands of music are still being asked today.
Lincoln and Copland seem to have some things in common. Both pulled off radical, even revolutionary accomplishments while being regarded as accessible and populist. Both took the ideas of acknowledged radicals and made them palatable for a general audience. Both took their roles in the mainstream as serious, important missions, aimed at bringing wildly divergent philosophical camps together. And both were criticized by those selfsame radicals and branded as sellouts or traitors.
Beyond all that, they occupy similar places in our culture: the historical significance of each has been subject to regular cycles of reassessment, a process that began during each man’s own lifetime. Lincoln Portrait gives us the chance to consider them together, with all the resonance each man’s life and work have for us today.
- James David Jacobs
READ MORE AND HEAR LINCOLN PORTRAIT ON-DEMAND
Comment on This Article
News updates from WGBH | <urn:uuid:3230a954-be87-4a5d-a65f-857d87428c90> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wgbh.org/articles/Lincoln-Portrait-The-Twists-and-Turns-of-an-American-Classic-5604 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958745 | 892 | 3.03125 | 3 |
The most important part of carpet maintenance is
removing and disposing of accumulated dry soil. The
removal of dry soil will improve the air quality
indoors, extend carpet life, and help to maintain
the carpet. Keeping regular maintenance on your
carpet is one thing, although being sure you have
the right equipment on the job is another.
The Green Label
For vacuum cleaners, the CRI (Carpet and Rug Institute)
has developed a Green Label testing program. The
CRI developed the performance protocol with the
goal of protecting indoor quality, keeping all
surfaces as clean as possible, and all without
putting dust back into the air.
The Green Label program helps to identify vacuum
cleaners that meet three different types of criteria:
1. Removing soil.
2. Keeping dust out of the air by
containing it within the filtration bag and the
3. It doesn’t damage the carpet and helps
to keep the appearance looking good.
The tests for determining the certification of a
vacuum cleaner were developed by carpet and vacuum
experts and reviewed by scientists with experience
in maintenance and the quality of indoor air.
The soil removal protocol will require that the
vacuum cleaner remove a specified quantity of soil
from the test carpet in four passes.
The protocol for dust containment will dictate the
total amount of dust particles that are released
into the surrounding air by the action of the
brush rolls, through the filtration bag, and any
leaks that come from the vacuum system. with this
test, the vacuum cleaner can’t release more than
100 micrograms of dust particles per cubic meter
The testing protocol for appearance retention will
require that the vacuum cleaner not adversely
affect the appearance of the carpet, based on
a year of normal usage.
If a vacuum cleaner meets all three of the above
requirements, the manufacturer may then display
the official CRI Green Label on it’s brand of
vacuum cleaner. The CRI tests canister and upright
vacuums, wide area vacuums, and even walk behind
types as well.
Looking for that important Green Label is the first
step to providing longer carpet life and cleaner
air for your home or office. The next step is
selecting the proper vacuum cleaner for a specific
area. You can think of vacuum cleaners like
screwdrivers, as you wouldn’t want to use a Phillips
head screwdriver to remove a flathead screw.
In the bigger, more open areas, a wide are vacuum
cleaner or sweeper can produce excellent results,
as well as an increase in productivity. The
average 14 inch upright vacuum can clean at a rate
of 3,000 square feet per hour, while the average
walk behind can clean at a rate of 40,000 square
feet per hour, and also lift the pile of carpet in
high traffic areas where the carpet fibers are
subject to crushing and matting.
The two motor upright vacuum cleaner is an excellent
choice in areas such as executive offices, lobbies,
conference rooms, and break areas. A two motor
upright can provide grooming of the fibers in the
carpet and removal of the dry soil. Most uprights
with two motor setups will also have a removable
hose and on board accessories for cleaning other
areas as well, such as vents and chairs.
Along with the type of area, you should also give
some thought to the needs of the operator. If
you are a manager, you should look for vacuums
with ergonomic features, especially if the vacuum
will be used for long periods of time.
If it isn’t ergonomically designed, it could result
in injury to the operator. At the very least, the
cleaning operator might want to avoid using
vacuum cleaners that could result in injury.
When you are done, learn about
lawn fertilization schedule at our lawn care blog. | <urn:uuid:0aead2c4-1a93-4866-b90f-2d9e16b09e9a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://thegardenbook.com/gardeningblog/tag/dry-soil/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924655 | 854 | 2.3125 | 2 |
|Jolly is the summation of four minds set out to revolutionize the art of sound. Under the guise of rock music, Jolly has devised a therapeutic auditory experience scientifically designed to bring the brain to a state of pure happiness. By combining sophisticated arrangements, ambient textures, aggressive dynamics, and infectious melodies with binaural brain wave technology, a new medium is born.
In July 2009, Jolly's first trial, entitled Forty-Six Minutes, Twelve Seconds of Music (Galileo/ProgRock Records), received critical praise for its original sound, unique progressions, and finely crafted production. The cult popularity of this release led to a European tour with Polish progressive rock veterans Riverside, and a record deal with InsideOut Music/Century Media Records. Along with impressive musicianship and refreshing writing styles, Jolly's first album contained a binaural brain wave phenomenon previously unheard of in rock music. Embedded throughout the album are binaural tones, which result from the combination of slightly offset frequencies played simultaneously, thereby altering the brain's natural frequency. Scientific research suggests that such tones can enrich feelings of relaxation, focus, creativity, and happiness when experienced in headphones.
Jolly's latest release, The Audio Guide to Happiness (Part 1), takes these concepts to a new level. It is a self-reflective sonic journey scientifically tailored to guide the listener through the strata of his/her own emotional make-up. The listener is subjected to musical mood dynamics and key lyrical triggers while the brain is fed corresponding binaural tones. These tones are carefully and deliberately interwoven within the music to support all appropriate peaks and valleys throughout the experience.
Through extensive research and surveys from over 5,000 subjects, Jolly has combined the art of musical production with sociological and neurological data, packaging it all into one cohesive system comprised of four phases. The first two phases make up part 1 of The Audio Guide to Happiness.
The Audio Guide to Happiness (Part 1) allows the listener to venture deep within his/her emotional core. The brain's emotional perception and response evolved long before the emergence of logic and reasoning, traits that distinguish the human race. Because of this evolutionary disconnect, the ability to fully understand emotion lies beyond reasoning's limitations. With this combination of musical, lyrical, and binaural stimulation, we are able to directly target the brain's limbic and autonomic nervous systems, almost completely bypassing the frontal lobe. In short, the emotions are directly addressed without being filtered through the brain's logic center. The listener can therefore see his/her emotion in its true form without being forced to oversimplify it with labels and categorizations. The result is an emotionally limber and self-aware brain completely accepting of its unique place in the world. | <urn:uuid:bbd293a0-cc12-47e7-bb35-e0fa87a2a135> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.metalstorm.net/bands/biography.php?band_id=6778&bandname=Jolly | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00030-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912031 | 564 | 1.804688 | 2 |
During Season 2 of Friday Night Live (October 12, 2012 - November 30, 2012), this past fall we deployed a real time photo wall where visitors could tweet photos with the #FNLROM hashtag and they would be displayed almost instantly.
This blog post was written by Kara Ma, ROM's Rebanks Intern.
As the newest Rebanks Intern, I am excited to present the latest ROM Library display case, located on the main floor just in front of the Library and Archives. On display is a timeline depicting highlights of the ROM’s extensive work and achievements in the field of archaeology
This blog post was written by Dr. Kim Tait, Curator of Mineralogy at the ROM. As the new recipient of the YPC Research Fund, Kim has travelled to the northeastern corner of the Yukon—a remote region rich with minerals called Rapid Creek. Her work builds on the legacy of ROM research on phosphate minerals, which are one of the largest and most complex in the mineral kingdom and act as the atomic building blocks of our natural world. | <urn:uuid:06c70c5d-0329-4641-b596-4296cd30068f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rom.on.ca/en/news/releases/public.php?page=5&mediakey=r555mhyiue | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955282 | 214 | 1.507813 | 2 |
This image shows a perspective view of the area around Pasadena, California, just north of Los Angeles. The cluster of hills surrounded by freeways on the left is the Verdugo Hills, which lie between the San Gabriel Valley in the foreground and the San Fernando Valley in the upper left. The San Gabriel Mountains are seen across the top of the image, and parts of the high desert near the city of Palmdale are visible along the horizon on the right. Several urban features can be seen in the image. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is the bright cluster of buildings just right of center; the flat tan area to the right of JPL at the foot of the mountains is a new housing development devoid of vegetation. Two freeways (the 210 and the 134) cross near the southeastern end of the Verdugo Hills near a white circular feature, the Rose Bowl. The commercial and residential areas of the city of Pasadena are the bright areas clustered around the freeway. These data will be used for a variety of applications including urban planning and natural hazard risk analysis.
This type of display adds the important dimension of elevation to the study of land use and environmental processes as observed in satellite images. The perspective view was created by draping a Landsat satellite image over an SRTM elevation model. Topography is exaggerated 1.5 times vertically. The Landsat image was provided by the United States Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observations Systems (EROS) Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Elevation data used in this image was acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on February 11,2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise,Washington, DC.
Size: Varies in a perspective view
Location: 34.18 deg. North lat., 118.16 deg. West lon.
Orientation: Looking Northwest
Original Data Resolution: SRTM and Landsat: 30 meters (99 feet)
Date Acquired: February 16, 2000 | <urn:uuid:de97e40a-b151-4277-88c1-5e771654451b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02734 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903143 | 594 | 3.59375 | 4 |
II. Violation of the Obligation to Review Governmental Policies and to Propagate the Principles of ICERD: Article 2.1
Convention Standards and Concerns
The International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination ("ICERD") requires that states parties:
[T]ake effective measures to review governmental, national and local policies, and to amend, rescind or nullify any laws and regulations which have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination wherever it exists.
The United States is also bound to "ensure that all public authorities and public institutions, national and local, shall act in conformity" to eliminate racial discrimination and to "adopt immediate and effective measures … to propagat[e] the purposes and principles of … this Convention [ICERD]."
Like our NGO colleagues, Human Rights Watch believes that the United States has failed to fulfill these obligations to review state and local policies and to promote understanding of ICERD. We would like to provide some specific examples, based on our own research, that illustrate this failure.
As the Committee is aware, the United States is a federal republic, which means that it recognizes and protects the independent powers of its constituent states along with those of the federal government. This federal structure of the United States is established by the US Constitution. Nevertheless, the internal workings of the United States are not of concern to the Committee, which holds a justified expectation that the international commitments of the United States will be upheld by all parts of its government. Unfortunately, with regard to obligations of the United States under multilateral human rights treaties (in contrast to multilateral trade, maritime, or military treaties), this legally justified expectation of the international community has been continually disappointed. The record of the United States with regard to ICERD is no exception.
In its Concluding Observations on the 2001 initial, second, and third periodic reports of the United States, the Committee:
[E]mphasize[d] that irrespective of the relationship between the federal authorities, on the one hand, and the States, which have extensive jurisdiction and legislative powers, on the other, with regard to its obligation under the Convention, the Federal Government has the responsibility to ensure its implementation on its entire territory.
In addition, the Committee instructed the United States to "take all appropriate measures to review existing legislation and federal, State and local policies to ensure effective protection against any form of racial discrimination and any unjustifiably disparate impact." It further recommended that "the next periodic report contain comprehensive information on its implementation [at] the State and local levels and in all territories under United States jurisdiction."
In addition to these clear international obligations, as a matter of domestic law, the federal government of the United States is required to conduct oversight over its constituent states' adherence to ICERD, a treaty that the US Senate ratified in 1994. Under Article VI of the US Constitution, ratified treaties become the "supreme law of the land" with a legal status equivalent to federal statutes. When it ratified the treaty, the US Senate stated its obligation to "take appropriate measures to ensure the fulfillment of this Convention." The federal government is therefore obligated to assume responsibility for US compliance with ICERD, and to ensure that "all public authorities and public institutions, national and local … act in conformity" with the treaty's terms.
In fact, the United States has acknowledged that federalism is not an excuse for its failure to apply the treaty domestically. In the Addendum to its third periodic report, the US stated that federalism "does not condition or limit the international obligations of the United States. Nor can it serve as an excuse for any failure to comply with those obligations as a matter of domestic or international law."
Taken together, these international and domestic obligations of the United States impose two requirements on the federal government regarding its oversight of state policies relating to ICERD. First, the federal government has an obligation to inform the constituent states about the treaty and its provisions. Second, the federal government has an obligation to seek information from the states, so that it can review their policies and practices in light of the treaty, and to report to the Committee on policies or practices that have the purpose or effect of creating racial discrimination, and on measures taken to end such policies or practices. In fact, Human Rights Watch specifically wrote to Mary Beth West, the author of the 2007 US State Party Report to CERD, to suggest that such a review be undertaken (see Appendix 1 to view letter). Unfortunately, the United States has failed to follow these simple steps.
Illustration: Constituent States of the United States are Unaware of ICERD
Failure to inform states about ICERD
First, the federal government apparently has not informed the states of the existence of ICERD and their responsibilities under it. Human Rights Watch has contacted the attorneys general of all 50 states, and not one has responded affirmatively that it was aware of the treaty's existence or of state responsibilities under it. This reality casts doubt on the US government's claim in its 2007 fourth, fifth, and sixth periodic reports ("US State Party Report to CERD 2007") that "copies of the report and the Convention will also be widely distributed … to relevant state officials." Our investigation in October and November 2007-seven months after the US government made this claim in April 2007-strongly suggests that it is false.
For example, the Florida Attorney General's office told a Human Rights Watch researcher, "I am not familiar with the Convention that you reference in your letter." Similarly, the Attorney General of Maryland wrote to Human Rights Watch, "I am not aware of our State's responsibilities under ICERD." The Attorney General of Kansas responded to Human Rights Watch's question "are you aware of ICERD and your state's responsibilities under it?" in the following manner:
If you could cite to the … law … imposing upon Kansas the 1969 [ICERD treaty] or creating a legal duty that applies to state officials we would perhaps be better able to respond to your question.
Similarly, the Attorney General of the state of Washington wrote to Human Rights Watch on November 1, 2007, "I am not aware of the Attorney General's Office receiving any formal request or statement regarding requirements of CERD."
Failure to review state policies
It is clear that the federal government has done little to raise awareness among its constituent states about ICERD. It has also failed to adequately review state policies and report to the Committee on those efforts. Instead, the federal government in its 2007 US State Party Report to CERD has mischaracterized the Committee's requests as requiring "[r]eporting at length on all 50 separate states and the territories," which the federal government concludes, "would be extremely burdensome and so lengthy as to be unhelpful to the Committee." Certainly, reporting at length on all 50 states would be burdensome, but this is not what the federal government is required to do. Instead, the federal government should submit to the Committee evidence of its review of state policies, particularly those that may raise concerns under the treaty.
Based on Human Rights Watch's investigations, it is clear that the federal government has failed to conduct such a policy review in preparation for its 2007 State Party report. For example, the Florida Attorney General's office told a Human Rights Watch researcher:
I am not familiar with the Convention that you reference in your letter, nor do I have any record of a request for information coming to my office. I have also checked with our main office in Tallahassee, Florida, where sometimes these communications get sent and they have no record of a communication. Now, could it have fallen through the cracks? Well, sure. But as I said, we have no reference of contact from the federal government or the National Association of Attorney Generals on this.
Similarly, the New Jersey Attorney General's office wrote to Human Rights Watch, "[T]o our knowledge, this Office has not been contacted by [the federal government], nor has any information been requested from this Office concerning the Convention."
In yet another example, the Michigan Attorney General's office wrote to Human Rights Watch, "In reference to this office being contacted by either the National Association of Attorneys General or the federal government regarding a CERD report, my staff has reviewed our correspondence database and is unable to locate any correspondence related to this report. Additionally, this office contacted the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the US Commission on Civil Rights but, again, we were unable to verify that such a request has ever been made or received by the state of Michigan."
The alternative provided by the United States to the Committee-the Annex that covers some policies of four states-is an important and laudable first step. But it is far from sufficient. For example, the reviews of Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, and South Carolina contained in the Annex fail to mention possible discrimination in the criminal justice systems of these states, which is an area of prime concern to the Committee and yet is not discussed in the Annex at all.
Recommendations to the Committee
- Urge the federal government to inform its constituent states about ICERD and its provisions and to present information in the next periodic report about the methods used to provide this information to the states.
- Require the federal government to use a centralized permanent institutional mechanism to review the policies and practices of the constituent states, and to report to the Committee on policies or practices that have the purpose or effect of creating racial discrimination, and on measures taken to end such policies or practices at the state and local levels.
ICERD, Article 2.1(c).
ICERD, Article 2.1(a).
ICERD, Article 7.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: United States of America," UN Doc. A/56/18, 59th Session, 30 July – 17 August, 2001, para. 383.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Concluding Observations: USA," para. 393.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, "Concluding Observations: USA," para. 402.
The United States stated in connection with its ratification of ICERD that the treaty is not "self-executing." Nevertheless, the laws of the US and its states as well as their implementation must be consistent with ICERD. This follows directly from Article VI, section 2 of the US Constitution, which states that "all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land." As a matter of international law, reservations to treaties may not contradict the object and purpose of the treaty at issue. Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, adopted May 22, 1969, 1155 U.N.T.S. 331, entered into force January 27, 1980, signed by the US on April 24, 1970, Article 19(3). Instructive in this regard are the comments of the UN Human Rights Committee, responsible for interpreting and monitoring compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which has stated that reservations or interpretive declarations should not "seek to remove an autonomous meaning to Covenant obligations, by pronouncing them to be identical, or to be accepted only in so far as they are identical, with existing provisions of domestic law." UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 24, Reservations to the ICCPR, UN Doc. CCPR/c/21/Rev. 1/Add. 6 (1994), para. 19.
ICERD, Article 2.1(a).
Government of the United States, Third Periodic Reports of States Parties Due in 1999, CERD/C/351/Add.1, Addendum, para. 167.
Letter from Human Rights Watch to Mary Beth West, December 20, 2006. See Appendix 1.
Letter from Human Rights Watch to the attorneys general for all 50 US states, October 19, 2007.
Government of the United States, Periodic Report Concerning ICERD, 2007, para. 50.
Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Allison Bethel, director of civil rights for the attorney general, State of Florida, October 24, 2007.
Email to Human Rights Watch from John B. Howard, Jr., deputy attorney general, State of Maryland, October 22, 2007.
Letter to Human Rights Watch from Theresa Marcel Bush, assistant attorney general, State of Kansas, October 25, 2007.
Letter to Human Rights Watch from Traci Friedl, assistant attorney general, State of Washington, November 1, 2007.
Government of the United States, Periodic Report Concerning ICERD, 2007, para. 353.
Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Allison Bethel, October 24, 2007.
Letter to Human Rights Watch from Abbe R. Gluck, senior advisor to the attorney general, State of New Jersey, November 6, 2007.
Letter to Human Rights Watch from Mike Cox, attorney general, State of Michigan, December 10, 2007.
The 2007 US State Party Report to the Committee discusses federal efforts to address racial discrimination in federal prisons, but does not discuss any similar efforts or failings at the state level. Similarly, the report provides no analysis of state policies and statistics that might show "differential handling of persons in the criminal justice system," and instead cites two studies from the early 1990s suggesting "that the disparities are related primarily to differential involvement in crime by the various groups (with some unexplained disparities particularly related to drug use and enforcement), rather than to differential handling of persons in the criminal justice system." Government of the United States, Periodic Report Concerning ICERD, 2007, para. 165. | <urn:uuid:7cfdb051-bca9-4cee-b243-ea62653a1fc2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hrw.org/en/node/62449/section/4 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938451 | 2,830 | 2.09375 | 2 |
ONE of Piero di Cosimo's pupils was Andrea del Sarto, the son of a tailor, who took his name from his father's trade. At the age of seven years he was put with a goldsmith, but Gian Barile, a Florentine painter, seeing his drawings, took him to work with him. After three years' earnest study, Gian Barile perceived that the boy would have extraordinary success if he attended to his studies, and he spoke of him to Piero di Cosimo, who was then considered one of the best painters in Florence, and put him under his care. Andrea, desirous to learn, never rested from his studies, and being a born painter, he managed his colours as if he had worked for fifty years. So Piero loved him much, and was wonderfully pleased to hear that whenever he had time, especially on feastdays, he would spend it in the hall of the Pope, where were the cartoons of Michael Angelo and Lionardo da Vinci, and that he surpassed, though young, all the other artists, natives or strangers, who came constantly to study there. Among these Andrea was most pleased with the conversation of Francia Bigio, and Francia being equally so with Andrea, they became friends; and Andrea told Francia that he could endure no longer the eccentricities of Piero, who was then getting old, and that he must take a room for himself. Francia being forced to do the same, because Mariotto Albertinelli, his master, had given up painting, proposed that they should join together. So they took a room in the Piazza del Grano, and did many works 1n company. Afterwards they took new rooms near the convent of the Nunziata, and it happened that Jacopo Sansovino, then a youth, was working in the same place under Andrea Contucci, and he and Andrea formed so close a friendship that they were never apart day or night; and as all their conversation was about art it is no wonder that they both became excellent masters.
In the convent of the Servites there was a sacristan named Fra Mariano, who constantly hearing Andrea praised and spoken of as one making marvellous progress, thought to get something out of him at little expense. So to try Andrea, who was soft and pliable where honour was concerned, he began to express a wish to help him in a matter which would bring him honour and profit. Now some years before, Cosimo Rosselli had begun in the first cloister a picture of S. Filippo, the founder of the order, taking the habit of monk, but the picture was not finished when he died. The friar, therefore, wishing the rest to be painted, thought by making Andrea and Francia rivals, to get it at less expense. So opening his mind to Andrea, he persuaded him to undertake it, pointing out that it was a public place and much frequented, and he would become known to strangers as well as Florentines; he ought not therefore to consider the price, and if he would not do it there was Francia, who had offered to do it and left the price to him. The first suggestions inclined Andrea to undertake it, but when he heard of Francia he resolved at once, and an agreement was made in writing that no one else might interfere. So the friar having set him to work, he was first to finish the life of S. Filippo, having no more than ten ducats for each picture, which the friar said he gave him out of his own money, more for his good than for the profit of the convent. But when he had painted one side of the cloisters, finding the price too little, and that they made too much of the honour, he determined to give up the rest of the work, at which the friar complained greatly, and held him to his agreement. So Andrea promised to do two more if he would raise the price. Francia Bigio meanwhile was entrusted with the painting in the cloister, and represented there the Marriage of the Virgin. The friars, desiring that Andrea's and Francia's pictures should be uncovered for a certain feast, on the night that Francia had finished his they presumptuously went and uncovered it themselves, not understanding that Francia might retouch it. In the morning the news was brought to Francia that his work and Andrea's had been uncovered, and it grieved him almost to death. But falling into a passion with the friars for their presumption in showing him so little respect, he rushed to his picture, and climbing on to the scaffold, which had not yet been taken down, seized a mason's hammer which was lying there and struck at some of the women's faces, spoiling the Virgin's altogether. The friars and others, running in at the noise, held his hands to prevent his spoiling the whole picture. But although they offered him double payment he would never mend it, and he was so much honoured that no other would ever finish it. So the work remained in this state.
These works brought Andrea into greater notice, and many pictures and works of importance were entrusted to him, and he made for himself so great a name in the city that he was considered one of the first painters, and although he had asked little for his works he found himself in a position to help his relatives. But falling in love with a young woman who was left a widow, he took her for his wife, and had enough todo all the rest of his life, and had to work harder than he had ever done before, for besides the duties and liabilities which belong to such a union, he took upon him many more troubles, being constantly vexed with jealousy and Dne thing and another. And all who knew his case felt compassion for him, and blamed the simplicity which had reduced him to such a condition. He had been much sought after by his friends before, but now ke was avoided. For though his pupils stayed with him, hoping to learn something from him, there was not one, great or small, who did not suffer by her evil words or blows during the time he was there.
Nevertheless, this torment seemed to him the highest pleasure. He never put a woman in any picture which he did not draw from her, for even if another sat to him, through seeing her constantly and having drawn her so often, and, what is more, having her impressed on his mind, it always came about that the head resembled hers.
A certain Florentine, Giovanni Battista Puccini, being extraordinarily pleased with Andrea's work, charged him to paint a picture of our Lady to send to France, but it was so beautiful that he kept it himself and did not send it away. However, trafficking constantly with France, and being employed to send good pictures there, he gave Andrea another picture to paint, a dead Christ supported by angels. When it was done every one was so pleased with it that Andrea was entreated to let it be engraved in Rome by Agostino Veniziano, but as it did not succeed very well he would never let any other of his pictures be engraved. The picture itself gave no less pleasure in France than it had done in Italy, and the king gave orders that Andrea should do another, in consequence of which he resolved at his friend's persuasion to go himself to France. But that year ISI5 the Florentines, hearing that Pope Leo X. meant to honour his native place with a visit, gave orders that he should be received with great feasting, and such magnificent decorations were prepared, with arches, statues, and other ornaments, as had never been seen before, there being at that time in the city a greate~ number of men of genius and talent than there had ever been before. And what was most admired was the facade of S. Maria del Fiore, made of wood and painted with pictures by Andrea del Sarto, the architecture being by Jacopo Sansovino, with some basreliefs and statues, and the Pope pronounced that it could not have been more beautiful if it had been in marble.
Meanwhile King Francis I., greatly admiring his works, was told that Andrea would easily be persuaded to remove to France and enter into his service; and the thing pleased the king well. So he gave command that money should be paid him for his journey; and Andrea set out joyfully for France, takillg with him Andrea Sguazzella his pupil. And having arrived at the court, he was received lovingly by the king, and before the first day was over experienced the liberality of that magnanimous king, receiving gifts of money and rich garments. He soon began to work, and won the esteem of the king and the whole court, being caressed by all, so that it seemed to him he had passed from a state of extreme unhappiness to the greatest felicity. Among his first works he painted from life the Dauphin, then only a few months old, and therefore in swaddling clothes, and when he brought it to the king he received for it three hundred crowns of gold. And the king, that he might stay with him willingly, ordered that great provision should be made for him, and that he should want for nothing. But one day, while he was working upon a S. Jerome for the king's mother, there came to him letters from Lucrezia his wife, whom he had left in Florence, and she wrote that when he was away, although his letters told her he was well, she could not cease from sorrow and constant weeping, using many sweet words apt to touch the heart of a man who loved her only too well, so that the poor man was nearly beside himself when he read that if he did not return soon he would find her dead. So he prayed the king for leave to go to Florence and put his affairs in order, and bring his wife to France, promising to bring with him on his return pictures and sculptures of price. The king, trusting him, gave him money for this purpose, and Andrea swore on the Gospels to return in a few months. He arrived in Florence happily, and enjoyed himself with his beautiful wife and his friends. At last, the time having come when he ought to return to the king, he found himself in extremity, for he had spent on building and on his pleasures his own money and the king's also. Nevertheless he would have returned, but the tears and prayers of his wife prevailed against his promise to the king. When he did not return the king was so angered that for a long time he would not look at a Florentine painter, and swore that if ever Andrea fell into his hands, it should be to his hurt, without regard to his talents.
When Frederick II, Duke of Mantua, passed through Florence, going to pay homage to Pope Clement VII., he saw over a door in the Medici Palace that portrait of Pope Leo between Cardinal Giulio de' Medici and Cardinal de' Rossi, which was made by the great Raffaello da Urbino. Being extraordinarily pleased with it, he considered how he could make it his own, and when he was in Rome, choosing his time, he made request for it from Pope Clement, who granted it to him courteously, and orders were sent to Florence to Ottaviano de' Medici to put it into a case and send it to Mantua. But the thing greatly displeased Ottaviano, who would not have Florence deprived of such a picture. He replied therefore that he would not fail to serve the duke, but that the frame of the picture being bad, he would have a new one made, and when it was gilded, he would send the picture securely to Mantua. Then Ottaviano, with the view, as we say, of saving both the goat and its fodder, sent secretly for Andrea and told him how matters stood, and that there was nothing else to be done but to have the picture copied as fast as possible, and to send the copy to the duke, secretly keeping the picture from Raffaello's hand. So Andrea promised to do the best he could, and having had a panel made of the same size, he worked at it secretly in Ottaviano's house, and laboured to such effect that, when it was finished, Ottaviano himself, who understood these things well, did not know one from the other, Andrea having even copied some dirty stains that were on the original. So having hidden Raffaello's picture, they sent Andrea's to Mantua, and the duke was perfectly satisfied. Even Giulio Romano the painter, Raffaello's disciple, did not perceive the thing, and would always have believed it to be from Raffaello's hand if Giorgio Vasari (who, being Ottaviano's favourite, had seen Andrea working at the picture) had not discovered the matter to him. For when Giorgio came to Mantua, Giulio paid him much attention, and showed him the antiquities and pictures, and among them this picture of Raffaello's, as the best thing that was there; and Giorgio answered, "The work is most beautiful, but not from the hand of Raffaello." "No?" said Giulio; "do not I know, when I can recognize the touches that I put upon it ?" "You have forgotten," answered Giorgio, "for this is by Andrea del Sarto, and in proof of it look at this sign (showing it to him), which was put upon it in Florence, because the two being together were mistaken the one for the other." When he heard this Giulio had the picture turned round, and when he saw the countersign, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I esteem it none the less than if it were from Raffaello's hand, rather the more, for it is a thing beyond nature that a good painter should imitate so well another's manner and make it so like."
Not long after, Baldo Magini of Prato, desiring to have a picture painted for the Madonna della Carcere, among many other painters Andrea was proposed to him, and Baldo, though he did not know much about thc matter, was more inclined to him than any other, and had already intimated to him that he would employ him, when a Niccolo Soggi of Sansovino, having friends in Prato, was recommended so strongly to Baldo that the work was given to him. Nevertheless Andrea's friends sent for him, and he, thinking certainly the work was to be his, went with Domenico Puligo and some other painters his friends to Prato. But when he arrived he found that Niccolo had not only turned Baldo against him, but was himself so daring and insolent as to propose in the presence of Baldo that they should make a wager who could paint the best picture. Andrea, knowing what Niccolo was worth, answered (though he was generally a man of little spirit), " 1 have this pupil of mine with me who has not been studying long; if you like to have a wager with him, I will put down the money for him; but nothing will make me consent to compete with you, for if I were to win, it would be no honour to me, and if I lost, it would be the greatest disgrace." Then telling Baldo that he did right to give the work to Niccolo, for he would do it so that it would please people going to market, he returned to Florence.
Here he was employed by Giacomo, a Servite friar, who, when absolving a woman from a vow, had commanded her to have the figure of our Lady painted over a door in the Nunziata. Finding Andrea, he told him that he had this money to spend, and although it was not much, it would be well done of him to undertake it; and Andrea, being softhearted, was prevailed upon by the father's persuasions, and painted in fresco our Lady with the Child in her arms, and St. Joseph leaning on a sack. This picture needs none to praise it, for all can see it to be a most rare work.
One day Andrea had been painting the intendant of the monks of Vallombrosa, and when the work was done some of the colour was left over, and Andrea, taking a tile, called Lucrezia, his wife, and said, "Come here, for as this colour is left, I will paint you, that it may be seen how well you are preserved for your age, and yet how you have changed and how different you are from your first portraits." But the woman, having some fancy or other, would not sit still, and Andrea, as if he guessed that he was near his end, took a mirror and painted himself instead so well that the portrait seems alive. This portrait is still in possession of Lucrezia his wife.
During the siege of Florence some of the captains of the city escaped, carrying with them the pay of their soldiers; therefore Andrea was charged to paint them in the Piazza del Podesta, together with some other citizens who had escaped and become rebels. That he might not be nicknamed Andrea of the Hanged Men, as Andrea dal Castagno had been, he gave it out that one of his pupils, Bernardo del Buda, was doing it; but, having enclosed the place with a hoarding, he used to go in and out by night, and carried out the work with his own hand so well that the figures appeared alive. The paintings on the facade of the old Mercatanzia were many years afterwards covered with whitewash that they might not be seen.
After the siege was over, Florence was filled with the soldiers from the camp, and some of the spearmen being ill with the plague caused no little panic in the city, and in a short time the infection spread. Either from the fear excited by it, or from having committed some excess in eating after the privations of the siege, Andrea one day fell ill, and taking to his bed, he died, it is said, almost without any one perceiving it, without medicine and without much care, for his wife kept as far from him as she could for fear of the plague. | <urn:uuid:7dceade1-e792-4599-8132-72824f3d87d0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vasari/vasari17.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.993839 | 3,818 | 2.421875 | 2 |
Whale stranded at Bridlington beach dies
A whale has died after being washed up on a beach in East Yorkshire.
Lifeboat crew members in Bridlington were called to the beach near Auburn Farm at midday on Sunday, after the whale had become stranded.
British Divers Marine Life Rescue said the animal was a young female Sowerby's beaked whale that measured about 11ft (3.37m) long and weighed half a tonne.
The whale had to be put down after an eight-hour rescue attempt. It is thought it was injured by sea defences.
Members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue along with volunteers attempted to help the animal.
Windsurfer Chris Sykes said: "We were trying to guide the animal through the waves, but it was confused and had lost all sense of direction as it kept circling back to the beach each time it headed out.
"We made four attempts to get it out to sea. We were with the animal for about an hour and eventually it swam out."'Serious injuries'
However, the whale was eventually washed back on to the beach and had to be put down by a vet.
Second coxswain Stuart Tibbet, from Bridlngton Lifeboat, said: "The volunteers did everything they could to move the whale into deeper water and some of them were understandably upset at the outcome.
"Unfortunately, in the area where the whale came ashore are a number of World War II concrete and metal sea defences and the whale suffered some serious injuries."
The body has been removed from the site by the council.
A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out later by the Zoological Society of London. | <urn:uuid:fbad1077-6de9-4de7-aa0d-70eb2b5d767a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-19782898 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98832 | 351 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Meet the newest weapon the United States Military has added to it’s arsenal. The Boeing X-51A Waverider.
The Hypersonic unmanned aircraft was originally revealed in 2010 by the United States Air Force. Currently the craft is being tested at Edwards Air Force base, located in the Mojave desert.
The X-51A is loaded on to a B-52 bomber wing station where it is launched at over 50,000 feet elevation. From there it is capable of accelerating to speeds in excess of 4,000 miles an hour.
The entire flight lasts around 5 minutes but the aircraft is able to demonstrate the direction in which the United States military technology is going.
The next test flight will launch from the base in the Mojave Desert, and fly out over the Pacific Ocean where it will launch and begin it’s record breaking flight.
The previous launch of the aircraft took place in 2010 where it was able to reach speeds of Mach 5. Scientists believe that this time around it can break its previous record, and hit Mach 6.
After the 5 minutes is up the aircraft will break apart and fall into the ocean.
The technology is being funded by NASA and the Pentagon. | <urn:uuid:35d32ed8-fa5c-49a4-bfa5-7cad2a5ba67d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://americanlivewire.com/united-states-military-testing-new-hypersonic-aircraft-x-51a-can-reach-mach-6-in-seconds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96098 | 247 | 2.34375 | 2 |
March 21, 2010
On March 21, 1946 the Rams, newly moved to Los Angeles from Cleveland, signed former star UCLA tailback Kenny Washington to a contract. More than adding a player to the roster, the significance was that he was black, and no African-American had played in the NFL since 1933. By the time the ’46 season got underway, Washington would have a black teammate and the Cleveland Browns of the new All-America Football Conference (AAFC) would have two African-American players.
Between 1920 and 1933, there had been a total of 13 African-American players in the NFL. They included Paul Robeson, a former Rutgers All-American who played end and tackle with Akron (1921) and Milwaukee (1922) and who is far better remembered for his career as an entertainer and political activist. They also included tackle Duke Slater, who played for ten seasons and received second team All-Pro recognition after six of them, and Fritz Pollard, a 1920 All-Pro back who co-coached the Akron Pros in 1921 and, for at least one game, the Hammond Pros in 1925.
But after 1933, when tailback Joe Lillard played for the Chicago Cardinals and tackle Ray Kemp for the Pittsburgh Pirates, there were no black players in the league. The color line was apparently unofficial and, for years afterward, unacknowledged, but was certainly real.
Washington had been a huge star as a college tailback, coincidentally enough in the same backfield with Jackie Robinson, who would integrate major league baseball in 1947. At 6’1” and 195 pounds, he had the necessary size as well as speed for pro football, and also, in those days when versatility was far more essential, could pass and kick. When he first came out of UCLA in 1940, he drew interest from the Chicago Bears, but nothing came of it. Thus, he was relegated to playing in the Pacific Coast Football League, where he injured both knees.
By 1946, Washington was a 28-year-old back with two bad knees. However, the commission that operated the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where the newly-relocated Rams would be playing, insisted that he be given a tryout. In May, 31-year-old end Woody Strode, who had also come out of UCLA, was also signed, thus giving the Rams two black players going into the season.
With the condition of Washington’s knees a significant question mark, Head Coach Adam Walsh initially used him at quarterback, with unimpressive results. He was shifted to fullback, where he played well until reinjuring a knee. His numbers in 1946 were thus limited – 114 yards on 23 carries (although that resulted in a healthy 5.0 average yards per rush), six pass receptions for 83 yards, and one completion in eight passing attempts for 19 yards. However, he had a much better year in 1947, gaining 444 yards on 60 carries for a formidable 7.4 average gain and that included a 92-yard touchdown run, the longest in the NFL that season. He played one more season in ’48 and ended up with a career total of 859 yards on 140 rushes (6.1 yards per carry) with 8 touchdowns while catching 15 passes for 227 yards and a TD.
Woody Strode played one season with the Rams, catching four passes for 37 yards, before moving north to Canada. The two African-American players in the AAFC, FB Marion Motley and G Bill Willis(pictured at right), had greater impact. They were key players with the Browns, who dominated the league in all four of its seasons before moving to the NFL. Both are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The process of integrating pro football was slow, with the AAFC initially outperforming the NFL. By 1949, the rival league, with seven teams, had 11 black players while the NFL had five spread across 10 clubs. However, as more of the African-American players had a significant impact, the process moved along – not always evenly or easily. But it started with Kenny Washington and three other players breaking pro football’s color line in 1946. | <urn:uuid:2ef4e9be-3e60-4e65-92f6-7b2c0bd38964> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fs64sports.blogspot.com/2010_03_21_archive.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00064-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989977 | 854 | 2.34375 | 2 |
October 26, 2012
The United States may ban federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to people under age 21, an appeals court ruled on Thursday, in a defeat for the National Rifle Association.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston rejected the NRA’s argument that 18- to 20-year-olds had a right to buy the guns under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment.
A unanimous three-judge panel said Congress, in a law dating from 1968, adopted the sales ban to help curb violent crime. It also said that the nation’s founders and 19th-century courts and commentators believed that disarming specific groups did not trample on the right to bear arms.
This article was posted: Friday, October 26, 2012 at 8:05 am | <urn:uuid:8d9be78c-d75a-4e34-9c67-4164667fe3b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.infowars.com/court-upholds-ban-on-handgun-sales-to-people-under-21/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973113 | 180 | 1.820313 | 2 |
To enter Germany you need a passport that is valid for at least fourth months from your date of arrival. For citizens of EU countries a valid identity card is sufficient.
EU citizens do not require a visa. Citizens of all other countries will generally need a visa, with the exception of some countries for which the European Community has abolished the visa requirement. Nationals of those countries do not require a visa for visits to Germany lasting no longer than three months in a six-month period.
Goods from other EU countries do not incur duty as long as you carry them with you and they are intended for your own personal use.
Goods imported into Germany from a non-EU country are duty-free up to a value of €175.00. There are restrictions for specific goods, such as tobacco, alcohol and perfume.
Overall, Germany has a warm, temperate, wet climate with westerly winds. Extreme fluctuations in temperature are rare. Rain falls throughout the year. Mild winters (2ºC to -6ºC) and moderately hot summers (18ºC to 20ºC) are the norm.
Around two thirds of Germany's population are Christian. They are fairly evenly split between Protestants and Catholics, but there are more Protestants in northern Germany, while the South has more Catholics. Germany is also home to around four million Muslims and about 100,000 Jews.
No vaccinations are required for entry into Germany.
However, between spring and autumn there is an increased risk of contracting illnesses caused by ticks, such as Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis (TBE). Ticks are usually found in ground-covering vegetation. The best protection against them is to wear clothing that covers as much of the skin as possible. If you are bitten, you should seek medical attention as a precaution.
The areas of highest risk are Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, as well as certain regions within Hessen, Rhineland-Palatinate and Thuringia. In these areas, TBE vaccinations are recommended for anyone likely to spend a lot of time outdoors.
The main language is German, of course. However, you should be aware that there are many different regional accents and dialects, although High German is understood everywhere.
Many Germans also speak good English, so there should not be any language barriers for foreign visitors.
A fundamental goal of the German National Tourist Guide Association is to uphold and increase the professional standards of tourist guides. The most advanced qualifications are the BVGD Certificate and the new BVGD Certificate DIN EN 15565. The BVGD ID Card and BVGD Certificate Button demonstrate: This is an especially well-trained tourist guide!
Further Information: www.bvgd.org | <urn:uuid:61fcf73f-b14c-4057-9397-7d3c6e3a5369> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.germany.travel/en/travel-information/useful-facts/travel-information.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954982 | 565 | 2.125 | 2 |
The diagnosis results from the current psychic complaints and behavioural changes that persons afflicted describe. Already in this phase it has proven helpful to include relatives or friends with their consent. Through this additional information the hitherto course can be better estimated, as well as mood swings, which maybe appear “normal” to themselves, however are conspicuous to their surroundings. This is important since experienced and observed behaviour often differ from each other.
Your therapist can record the course of the illness with the help of a so-called “life chart”. Here, the mood swings are entered in connection with particular life events, drug changes etc. (on paper or in the PC). This permits important conclusions to be drawn regarding the right diagnosis, treatment, prognosis etc.
A physical investigation (blood analysis, computer tomography etc.) is integrated in order to exclude an organic cause such as e.g. a dysfunction of the thyroid gland. The diagnosis of a bipolar mood disorder is a “clinical diagnosis”, i.e. no laboratory values exist which could give information about the (lacking) existence of the disorder.
The diagnosis is then made by means of so-called diagnostic criteria. In Germany, the “International Classification of Psychic Disorders” in its tenth version (ICD-10) is used. The following table provides you with a general overview by means of which criteria the individual phases are diagnosed.
Unfortunately, the diagnosis of a bipolar mood disorder today is still made much too late. This also means that an effective treatment can only be applied subsequently. On average, today ten years pass between the onset of the first episode of the illness and the right diagnosis. One estimates that one half of the persons afflicted are even never treated at all based on a correct diagnosis.
Type of episode: Manic episode
A. A manifest period of abnormal and permanently elated, exuberant or irascible mood which lasts more than one week.
B. During the period of the mood disorder three (or more) of the following symptoms continue persistently up to a significant degree:
C. The symptoms do not coincide with the criteria of a mixed episode.
D. The mood disorder is sufficiently serious to bring about a manifest impairment in professional areas of responsibility or unusual social activities or relationships with others or requires a stay in hospital. The intention here is to prevent the person from afflicting harms on him / herself or others.
E. The symptoms are not caused by direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. drug abuse, drugs or other treatments) or a general drug-induced state of mind (e.g. overfunction of the thyroid gland).
A. A manifest period of permanently elated, exuberant or irascible mood, by all means lasting four days, which is clearly different from the usual non-depressive mood.
B. During the phase of the mood disorder, three (or more) of the following symptoms (four, if the mood is only irascible)up to a certain extent permanently existing:
C. The episode is accompanied by a distinct change of the mode of action which is uncharacteristic for the person as long as it is without symptoms.
D. The mood disorder and the change of demeanour are observed by others.
E. The episode is not serious enough to cause a manifest impairment in social or professional responsibilities or require a stay in hospital and there are no psychotic characteristics.
F. The symptoms are not caused by direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. drug abuse, drugs or other treatments) or a general drug-induced state of mind (e.g. overfunction of the thyroid gland).
A. Five (or more) of the following symptoms exist during the same two-week period and signify a change from earlier activities.
B. The symptoms do not coincide with the criteria for a mixed phase
C. The symptoms cause clinically significant pains or an impairment in social, professional or other important spheres of responsibility.
D. The symptoms are not caused by direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g. drug abuse, drugs or other treatments) or a general drug-induced state of mind (e.g. overfunction of the thyroid gland).
E. The symptoms are induced by bereavements, e.g. the loss of a loved person. The symptoms last longer than two months or are characterized by a manifest functional impairment; morbid occupation with worthlessness, suicidal thoughts, psychotic symptoms or psychomotor slowdown. | <urn:uuid:b9c866fe-397c-4e35-81ef-9880c304b124> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.psychosis-bipolar.com/information-about-psychoses-58.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943785 | 927 | 2.5 | 2 |
Legal Positivism: Early Foundations
Gerald J. Postema
University of North Carolina - Philosophy and Law
December 21, 2011
UNC Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1975470
Legal positivism is a vital and controversial approach to central questions of philosophical jurisprudence. Not only are its core theses contested, but claims about what its core theses are and what it stands for have been hotly disputed in recent years. This essay offers some perspective on these debates by looking to the history of legal theory from which contemporary positivist jurisprudence has emerged. It does not take any contemporary formulation of the doctrine as canonical, since most such formulations are contested. Rather than seeking out full-fledged, card-carrying positivist theories in the history of jurisprudence to interrogate, this essay explores the articulation and development of a set of themes which arguably have attracted at least some major positivist legal theorists. The stage is set for understanding Hart’s neo-positivist theory of law, and that of more recent philosophers working in its shadow, by locating their work in the context of positivist themes and arguments that have developed over the long history of philosophical reflection about the nature of law. This essay was prepared for the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Law, edited by Andrei Marmor.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 34
Keywords: Positivism, command, sanction, Aquinas, Austin, Bentham, Hart, Holmes, Marsilius, Salmondworking papers series
Date posted: December 22, 2011
© 2013 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This page was processed by apollo2 in 0.547 seconds | <urn:uuid:dd4c1da9-4b19-4d7d-a68c-0bba16fa8360> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1975470&rec=1&srcabs=1999078 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9212 | 352 | 2.078125 | 2 |
Rollie is a curious, young field mouse discontent with his life in the field.
He has big dreams touched with romance and adventure, which take place in the medieval village he sees from his high meadow. So he strikes camp one day and heads to town, as many a lad and lady are wont to do. On the outskirts of town, he comes upon a wizard’s tower, with two cows floating in the sky nearby. The cows’ predicament has been caused by the wizard’s diminishing powers and, particularly, by his faltering memory. It is Rollie’s good fortune to be welcomed by the wizard and in turn to become the wizard’s able assistant, ready to supply the correct incantation in the wizard’s ear. Here is another well-told, elegantly paced and visually luxurious tale from Morrissey and co-author Krensky (The Crimson Comet, 2006, etc.), one that again shows their talent for insinuating the wackily supernatural into their adventures—those floating cows; a giant apple tree (that’s literal: one giant apple in a tree); a magic fish—and his artistic mastery: whole-page, and occasional two-page, spreads, with soft daubs of oil paint coalescing into a sharp image that nonetheless has a melting, dreamy quality.
A gentle tale—no serious dark-magic threats here—that grips through its visual lushness. (Picture book. 5-9) | <urn:uuid:e678a989-48b8-4436-be87-72a90ff90eea> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/dean-morrissey/wizard-mouse/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965432 | 306 | 1.5 | 2 |
Teeth bleaching to whiten teeth:
There are many products currently on the market that promise whiter, brighter teeth. The American Dental Association (ADA) states that if you are a candidate for a procedure, your dentist may suggest a procedure that can be done in a dental office. Other options include at-home products, which may be dispensed by your dentist or purchased over-the-counter. But, dental professionals, and the ADA, issue a word of caution about the improper use of such over-the-counter products, as they are sometimes too abrasive and can damage the teeth with extended use.
The ADA describes "whitening" as any process that will make teeth appear whiter, using one of two approaches. A product can bleach the tooth, therefore changing the natural tooth color. A bleach contains peroxide that helps remove deep and surface stains. However, a non-bleaching whitening product contains substances that help remove surface stains only.
Who may benefit from teeth bleaching?
What are some different teeth-whitening methods?
The dentist will use either an in-office bleaching system or laser bleaching while you are in the dental chair. Some patients, however, choose dentist-supervised at-home bleaching, which is more economical and, in many cases, provides the same results.
One option for at-home bleaching involves using a custom-made mouthguard that can be worn comfortably while you are awake or sleeping. The mouthguard is so thin that you should even be able to talk and work while wearing it. Some bleaching systems recommend bleaching your teeth from two to four hours a day - these usually take three to six weeks to complete and work best on patients with sensitive teeth. Other systems recommend bleaching your teeth at night, while you sleep, which may only take 10 to 14 days to complete.
Recently, more over-the-counter products are available that offer simple whitening solutions. However, they may not provide the dramatic improvement that a professional treatment option offers.
Teeth bleaching side effects and health risks:
The American Dental Association has granted its seal of approval on some teeth whitening products. Consult your dentist regarding which products are most effective and safe to use.
Gum irritation and increased tooth sensitivity are the most common side effects of teeth bleaching. However, each individual may experience side effects differently.
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Online Resources of Oral Health
Disclaimer - This content is reviewed periodically and is subject to change as new health information becomes available. The information provided is intended to be informative and educational and is not a replacement for professional evaluation, advice, diagnosis or treatment by a healthcare professional. © 2009 Staywell Custom Communications. | <urn:uuid:1e97ad92-ea1d-4d79-9894-ba87ffe5e8c8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.reshealth.org/yourhealth/healthinfo/default.cfm?pageID=P00869 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940382 | 561 | 2.3125 | 2 |
Nurse's little helper
Hospitals find robots to do the drudge work for $2.85 an hour.
(Business 2.0 Magazine) -- Robots aren't going to replace nurses anytime soon -- but they are starting to lighten their load. Each year, according to Pittsburgh-based robotics firm Aethon, the average 300-bed hospital spends $3 million in employee time just transporting instruments, drugs, meals, and lab specimens around the premises.
That's why Aethon has introduced a line of robots called Tug to handle such menial medical tasks -- and is poised to dominate what it sees as an untapped $2.5 billion market.
The latest version of Aethon's Tug, the T2.5, is due out this summer. Think of it as the first hospital robot with opposable thumbs: It can autonomously attach and detach itself to and from carts holding pumps, IVs, prescriptions, and linen hampers, seamlessly switching roles within the hospital supply chain. Hospital workers simply punch the required task into the Tug's docking station.
"The Tug doesn't flirt, doesn't eat, doesn't complain, and doesn't go to the gift shop," says Mark Todd, director of material management for Providence Hospital in Washington, D.C., which already employs six Tugs across five departments. "And the nurses spend their time with patients, not chasing things around." With a lease price of $1,500 a month, Providence essentially pays each robot worker just $2.85 an hour.
Hospitals seem to be flocking to the bots: Aethon says its sales quadruple every year, and it landed seven new customers in the first quarter of 2007 alone. By the end of the year, the company expects about 150 hospitals to be using its Tugs.
And Aethon won't stop with hospitals. "Other industries need to move things too," says CEO Aldo Zini. Retail businesses and hotels are next in his sights, though Zini says he isn't in a hurry to abandon his original focus on health care.
No wonder: With baby boomers starting to retire in droves, U.S. hospitals are looking at a shortage of 375,000 nurses by 2020.
Analysts say hospitals have done little to alleviate the struggle of delivering materials and equipment around their facilities, tying up valuable human resources and slowing patient care.
"What I see hospitals doing most often is arguing between departments about who should be transporting the equipment or specimen," says Gloria VanMilligan, a senior consultant for health-care analyst firm Sg2. "Meanwhile, the patient's on the operating table waiting for the answer."click here.
From the July 1, 2007 issue | <urn:uuid:d261a578-780a-4967-abce-23c1b6781be1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/07/01/100117048/index.htm?postversion=2007072609 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958066 | 567 | 1.726563 | 2 |
In the early days of GPUs, application-specification performance optimizations in graphics drivers were viewed by many as cheating. Accusations were hurled with regularity, and in some cases, there was real cheating going on. Some optimizations surreptitiously degraded image quality in order to boost performance, which obviously isn't kosher. Optimizations that don't affect an application's image quality are harder to condemn, though, especially if you're talking about games. If a driver can offer users smoother gameplay without any ill effects, why shouldn't it be allowed?
The situation gets more complicated when one considers optimizations that specifically target benchmarks. Synthetic tests don't have user experiences to improve, just arbitrary scores to inflate. Yet the higher scores achieved through benchmark-specific optimizations could influence a PC maker's choice of graphics solution or help determine the pricing of a graphics card.
Futuremark's popular 3DMark benchmark has been the target of several questionable optimizations over the years. Given that history, it's not surprising that the company has strict guidelines for the graphics drivers it approves for use with 3DMark Vantage. These guidelines, which can be viewed here (PDF), explicitly forbid optimizations that specifically target the 3DMark Vantage executable. Here's an excerpt:
With the exception of configuring the correct rendering mode on multi-GPU systems, it is prohibited for the driver to detect the launch of 3DMark Vantage executable and to alter, replace or override any quality parameters or parts of the benchmark workload based on the detection. Optimizations in the driver that utilize empirical data of 3DMark Vantage workloads are prohibited.
No ambiguity there, then: Vantage-specific optimizations aren't allowed.
Intel may not be playing fair, though. We recently learned AMD has notified Futuremark that Intel's 126.96.36.1992 Graphics Media Accelerator drivers for Windows 7 incorporate performance optimizations that specifically target the benchmark, so we decided to investigate.
We tested 3DMark Vantage 1.0.1 with these drivers on a G41 Express-based Gigabyte GA-G41M-ES2H motherboard running the Windows 7 x64 release-to-manufacturing build, a Core 2 Duo E6300, 4GB of DDR2-800 memory, and a Raptor WD1500ADFD hard drive.
We first ran the benchmark normally. Then, we renamed the 3DMark executable from "3DMarkVantage.exe" to "3DMarkVintage.exe". Andwouldn't you know it?there was a substantial performance difference between the two.
Our system's overall score climbs by 37% when the graphics driver knows it's running Vantage. That's not all. Check out the CPU and GPU components of the overall score:
The GPU score jumps by a whopping 46% thanks to Intel's apparent Vantage optimization. At the same time, the CPU score falls by nearly 10%. Curious.
Next, we ran a perfmon log of CPU utilization during each of 3DMark's CPU and GPU component tests. Vantage takes its sweet time loading each test, so our start and end times aren't perfectly aligned for each run. However, the pattern is pretty obvious.
In the GPU tests, the system's CPU utilization is much higher with the default executable than with the "3DMarkVintage" executable. There isn't much difference in CPU utilization in the CPU tests, though.
|Coffee Talk with Timmy Cook||19|
|Deals of the week: IPS displays, graphics cards, storage, and games||13|
|Which game is the new champ of PC visuals?||90|
|Intel-powered Lenovo Yoga 11S lands at $799.99||22|
|Pre-orders begin for Nvidia's Shield||34|
|Otellini: Intel passed on the original iPhone||81|
|Release roundup: Flash drives, Thunderbolt, and an arcade controller||17| | <urn:uuid:072b7d04-cde8-49d6-8de8-d3eb16c4a114> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://techreport.com/review/17732/intel-graphics-drivers-employ-questionable-3dmark-vantage-optimizations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928044 | 816 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Despite Economic Boom, Number of Uninsured Drops Only 4 Percent
42.6 Million Americans Lack Health Coverage, Including 10 Million Children
Despite the longest economic boom in history, the number of Americans without health insurance dipped just 4 percent last year, from 44.3 to 42.6 million, according to data released today by the Census Bureau. While minorities make up 48 percent of the uninsured, 90 percent of the drop was in non-hispanic whites, according to an analysis by Physicians for a National Health Program.
"This discouraging data proves once again that we cannot grow our way out of the health care crisis," said Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard. "The market is still leaving 42.6 million Americans (nearly one in every six persons) behind, up 5.2 million since 1992."
The 42.6 million uninsured include over 20 million women and 10 million children -- the same number of children uninsured when the Children's Health Insurance Program was enacted.
"The strategies of the last decade to address the problem of the uninsured have failed," said Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program. "Meanwhile, we're already spending more than twice as much per capita on healthcare as any nation that guarantees universal coverage."
"When I think of the uninsured, I think of my patients who have died because they couldn't get care," said Dr. Deb Richter, a family practitioner in Montpelier, Vermont and President of Physicians for a National Health Program. "A four percent fall in the number of uninsured is a drop in the bucket -- people are still dying and will continue to die until we make health care a right" (1).
In sixteen states, the percentage of uninsured Americans increased in the last year: Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington. In six states, more than one out of every five persons is uninsured: New Mexico (25.8%), Texas (23.3%), Louisiana (22.5%), Arizona (21.2%), Nevada (20.7%), and California (20.3%)(2). The number of states with less than 10% of the population uninsured has dwindled from eleven in 1992 to just six in 1999.
"Hispanic Americans have the highest rates of uninsurance" noted Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo of Columbia University. "Hispanics are working but employers don't provide coverage -- that hasn't changed."
"Moreover, it's a myth that the majority of Americans have insurance paid for by private employers," continued Dr. Carassquillo. "Excluding workers with insurance paid for by the government or by the employees themselves, fewer than half of Americans (43%) have insurance paid by a private employer.
Private employers pay for an even smaller share of total health spending, just over one-fifth (21.2%)" (3).
"These may be the best of times for the economy, but they are among the worst of times for health care," noted Dr. David Himmelstein of Harvard.
"Double digit premium increases are back, medical bills cause half of all bankruptcies, and nobody expects a substantial reduction in the number of uninsured anytime soon. In fact, between premium increases and/or a cooling of the economy, we're likely to see more than 50 million uninsured in the next few years. It's time to reopen debate over comprehensive national health insurance."
(1) Mortality rates are 20 percent higher in the uninsured. "Health Insurance and Mortality: Evidence from a National Cohort" Franks, Clancy, and Gold, JAMA, August 11, 1993.
(2) If you use the three year moving average, Texas still ranks last in the percentage of its population that lacks coverage (Census Bureau Release).
(3) "Private Employers Role in Providing Health Insurance: A Reappraisal" Carrasquillo et al, New England Journal of Medicine, January 13, 1999. | <urn:uuid:b4dac297-811d-4ef0-9650-f4466ea34115> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.pnhp.org/news/2000/september/despite-economic-boom-number-of-uninsured-drops-only-4-percent | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951081 | 844 | 2.203125 | 2 |
Commission Opinion [COM(97) 2005 final - Not published in the Official Journal]
Commission Report [COM(98) 704 final - Not published in the Official Journal]
Commission Report [COM(1999) 506 final - Not published in the Official Journal]
Commission Report [COM(2000) 706 final - Not published in the Official Journal]
Commission Report [COM(2001) 700 final - SEC (2001) 1749 - Not published in the Official Journal]
Commission Report [COM(2002) 700 final - SEC(2002) 1405 - Not published in the Official Journal]
Commission Report [COM(2003) 675 final - SEC(2003) 1203 - Not published in the Official Journal]
Treaty of Accession to the European Union [Official Journal L 236 of 23.09.2003]
In its Opinion of July 1997, the European Commission considered that Latvia should not have major problems in the area of education, training and youth with a view to its accession.
The November 1998 Report ascertained that Latvia was continuing its efforts in this area. However, no progress had been made as regards the adoption of legal provisions concerning the mutual recognition of professional qualifications.
The October 1999 Report showed that Latvia had made progress in this area. A framework law on education had been adopted, as well as a strategic programme on the development of education. Latvia had also continued its efforts concerning the education of the children of migrant workers, and continued to participate in the Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth for Europe programmes.
The November 2000 Report noted that Latvian legislation already met the requirements of the acquis. Latvia had therefore concentrated on implementing legislation previously adopted. It had undertaken, inter alia, reforms in the field of education and training on the basis of this legislation.
The November 2001 Report stated that Latvia had concentrated on strengthening its institutions and continuing the reform of the education system. Implementation of the law on higher education institutions, which was amended in 2000, had made it possible to set up vocational courses in higher education. Latvia was taking part in the second generation of the Leonardo, Socrates and Youth programmes.
The October 2002 Report showed that Latvia had made further progress in this area, particularly with regard to education reform, development of vocational training and strengthening administrative capacity. However, Latvia needed to concentrate on implementing the Directive on the education of the children of migrant workers, strengthening the relevant institutions, completing the reform of the education system and improving the quality of education and vocational training.
The November 2003 Report considers that Latvia meets the commitments arising from the accession negotiations in the area of education and training.
The Treaty of Accession was signed on 16 April 2003 and accession took place on 1 May 2004.
The EC Treaty provides that the Community shall:
- contribute to the development of quality education which shall include a European dimension and shall support and supplement the action of the Member States while respecting their cultural and linguistic diversity (Article 149, ex Article 126) with regard to the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems;
- implement a vocational training policy which shall support and supplement the action of the Member States (Article 150, ex Article 127) and shall aim to facilitate adaptation to industrial changes and increase employability.
These provisions are being implemented mainly through three major action programmes (Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth for Europe) recently updated by a new generation of programmes (Socrates, Leonardo and Youth).
Since 1997, Latvia has continued its endeavours to reform its educational system. Following the adoption of a new framework law on education in October 1998, a strategic programme on the development of education was adopted for the period 1998-2009. A policy paper on the development of education for the period 2002-2005 was also adopted in June 2002.
Latvia has continued its reforms in education and training, mainly on the basis of the 1998 education act and the 1999 vocational training act. Implementation of the law on higher education institutions, amended in 2000, has made it possible to set up vocational courses in higher education. Rationalisation of the network of vocational training schools began with the capital, Riga. Despite the efforts made, significant advances are needed in the implementation of the education reform.
With regard to the recognition of academic qualifications in the Baltic area, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have signed an agreement to improve the mobility of students and teachers between the Baltic states.
There is an administrative structure which is responsible for training. Coordination between the bodies responsible for training, i.e. the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the specialist bodies belonging to the Ministries, needs to be improved. In February 2002, the government adopted the investment strategy of the Ministry of Education and Science for the period 2003-2007.
Latvia continues to take part in the Community programmes in this field, and the national agencies are operational.
Latvian legislation on the education of the children of migrant workers has been brought into line with the acquis but has yet to be implemented.
Since the Commission Opinion of 1997, Latvia has made steady progress. Negotiations on this chapter have been provisionally closed (see 2002 Report). Latvia has not requested any transitional arrangements in this area.
This summary is for information only and is not designed to interpret or replace the reference document. | <urn:uuid:40ca4bbf-2ec7-44e4-90bb-c8b005fe8dbd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/enlargement/2004_and_2007_enlargement/latvia/e19104_en.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960184 | 1,092 | 1.664063 | 2 |
The 1/2" MPT air relief valve is used to allow air to escape during the system start up and also to allow air back into the drip line when the water is turned off. The air relief valve helps prevent clogging in sub-surface drip irrigation systems due to suction of debris under vacuum conditions. The air relief valve should be installed at the highest point of a drip line layout.
The air relief valve installed with a drip line or drip tape for sub-surface installations allows air into the drip line or zone when the system it is not operating. It is not required for above the surface installations. The air relief valves can reduce the chance of water hammer damage caused by a sudden reversal of water flow. The air relief valve allows air to escape during system start-up and prevents air restrictions within the system.
In any irrigation system trapped air bubbles can damage pumps (via cavitation) and disrupt the flow rate and pressure in the system. The two main reasons we suggest installing an air relief valve in an irrigation system are:
1.They provide a means of releasing air from the drip line when the system is turned on and can eliminate any air pockets.
2.They allow air to freely enter the system when it is shut down, ensuring a vacuum does not draw debris into the drip line via the drip emitter outlets. This condition is known as "suck back". Suck back can cause the drip line to collapse or draw in dirt and debris that clog the drip emitters.
To install an air relief valve, ensure you have a 17 mm x 1/2" FNPT tee at the start of your system (for 1/2" .700 OD drip tubing systems, use adapter tee LF307 in conjunction with coupler A134; for 1/2" .620 OD drip tubing systems use adapter tee LF306 in conjunction with coupler A134). The air relief valve screws into the 1/2" FNPT of the barbed tee. The air relief valve connection is normally located near the pressure regulator assembly as this is often the highest point in the drip system or the center of the line. It is important to install the air relief valve at the highest point of the system layout to allow it to work correctly. | <urn:uuid:3cf32c77-61ad-439d-bfd7-27a90614583e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dripirrigation.com/drip_irrigation_categories/191/drip_irrigation_parts/135 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921452 | 459 | 2.171875 | 2 |
The most dubious business plan can look solid—even smart—if it’s cast as a virtuous circle. “See, we invest our profits in innovation to create delightful products that customers buy—which generate profits that we invest in innovation!” Who could argue with that? Indeed, the merit of self-reinforcing systems seems so obvious that businesspeople instinctively describe their strategies as cyclical activities that magically fuel themselves. Meanwhile, audiences demand snappy-looking, easy-to-digest graphics that, almost by definition, strip away nuance. It’s no surprise, then, that business communications are lousy with circle-and-arrow diagrams that range from the dumb to the deceptive.
Though you’ve seen a million of these, you’ve probably never thought much about them. That’s because, like optical illusions, they play on your expectations and trick you into seeing something that isn’t there: If one arrow leads to the next, then of course the steps follow. But once you start examining these ubiquitous diagrams, you’ll be amazed by what you don’t see.
Consider these examples:
The circle below, from a global accounting firm’s Web site, is used to illustrate the company’s consulting services for owner-managed businesses. It shows the business life cycle “maturity phase” leading, inexplicably, into the “conception/ start-up phase.” This company’s clients should ask whether they really want to be guided in circles. (To be fair, the shortcomings of this example and those that follow are exaggerated by lack of narration; someone with a laser pointer could probably explain what the diagrams should show, even if they don’t.)
With the next design, a Boston-based software company helpfully illustrates the stages of its application management life cycle. Through some trick of causality, termination leads to deployment. This may be a good model from a consultancy’s standpoint—when a client’s projects end, they start again—but if you’re paying the tab, you probably want the project to actually end when it’s terminated.
The friendly-looking sunburst that follows, captured from the Web site of a solar energy advocacy group, shows how to create an unlimited market for your product. Here, as the supply of solar energy increases, so does the demand—in an apparently endless cycle. If these folks are right, we’re all in the wrong business. | <urn:uuid:14b70bde-2972-46c2-b56d-43b215e4b36e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://hbr.org/2005/11/crap-circles/ar/pr | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927152 | 523 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Association ou organisation à but non lucratif
Dernière mise à jour: 4 févr. 2013 14:45:22
The Malezi AIDS Care Awareness Organization (MACAO) is committed to supporting People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), supporting Orphaned or Vulnerable Children (OVC), and supporting other people who have been affected by the HIV/AIDS disease. MACAO works from the belief that all people should be able to love their life and be a part society regardless of age or race. MACAO believes that all people are entitled to the basic rights of access to food, security, education, vocational training, healthcare, shelter, employment, and participation in community development.
MACAO is a humanitarian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) working in Loliondo, Ngorongoro District and Arusha region in Tanzania. MACAO Head Office is in Arusha and was established in 2003. Since then MACAO has been working in partnership with the local community, local and national government and other local and international institutions, to improve the lives of pastoralists in the community of Loliondo. MACAO is currently in the process of facilitating an OVC educational project, and is active in educating the local community on HIV/AIDS prevention. | <urn:uuid:fc9a2846-15ac-42f8-afa8-6bce45151d1b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fr.idealist.org/view/org/sDdHtnSj9XNp/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929895 | 272 | 1.726563 | 2 |
Theatre in the Round
Theatre in the Round was a short-lived theater company which staged productions in the 2nd floor ballroom of the Redmont Hotel during the Spring of 1951. The producers were Peggy Lippe and Allen Draper. Peter Boyne directed the troupe, which performed in a central area, surrounded by the audience.
The company debuted on January 29 and featured visiting celebrities in starring roles, including Veronica Lake and Carl Betz, who starred in a production of "The Voice of the Turtle". Boyne observed that local audiences were tempted by the unconventional staging to try to interact with the players, such as by offering to light an actress' cigarette. The first week of March brought a production of Phillip Barry's "Holiday" with Marjorie Reynolds.
The expense of bringing in celebrity performers for such an intimate venue necessitated an unusually-high ticket price of $3.00, but did not attract large audiences. After losing $10,000 in nine weeks, the company folded, giving its final performance on April 2.
- Haarbauer, Donald Ward (1973) A critical history of the non-academic theatre in Birmingham, Alabama. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Wisconsin. | <urn:uuid:23f9932a-b4f0-4289-8848-2c9c175f189c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Theatre_in_the_Round | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970325 | 251 | 1.65625 | 2 |
At last, K12 educators can see the results of money well spent. Community in Schools, a nonprofit organization that serves nearly 1.3 million students in 3,400 schools, not only increases high school graduation rates, but also creates more than $11 of economic benefit for a community for every dollar invested in CIS, according to an analysis released in May by EMSI, an economic modeling firm. The organization currently boasts an 87 percent nationwide graduation rate. CIS is one of the nation’s largest and longest-operating dropout prevention organizations. The program began 35 years ago and uses public and private dollars, including money from AT&T and the Robertson Foundation, to place case managers in high-needs schools for at-risk students. The case managers raise money to meet their needs and meet one-on-one with these students.
“Previous studies have shown that CIS can repeatedly demonstrate success in keeping students in school and helping them graduate,” says Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administration (AASA). “We rarely have the opportunity in the education arena to obtain reliable metrics that quantify the return on the education dollars [administrators] spend.”
Mike Bento, executive vice president of CIS, hopes other nonprofits use similar models to determine their ROI so administrators know where to invest their limited funds.
“If you don’t stabilize the social and emotional needs of kids, none of those other strategies will be successful.”
Administrators interested in having their districts join CIS can visit www.communitiesinschools.org to determine if they are in a state the organization participates in. | <urn:uuid:bd6c2f70-9b95-49ab-9e1c-cba8b3b81af7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.districtadministration.com/article/dropout-prevention-program-proves-its-economic-value | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954349 | 341 | 2.15625 | 2 |
Cape Speckled Padloper Tortoise
|Geographical Range||South Africa (Western Cape and adjacent areas)|
|Habitat||Rocky outcrops in dry woodlands and scrublands|
|Scientific Name||Homopus signatus signatus|
|Conservation Status||Near threatened|
This is quite possibly the smallest tortoise in the world, with a maximum carapace (shell) length of about four inches. Like its name suggests, this little tortoise has a speckled appearance: one type, or subspecies (Homopus signatus signatus), has a light brown carapace with large black splotches, while the other subspecies (H. s. cafer) has an orange or pink carapace with small black spots. The mottled appearance provides excellent camouflage in the tortoise's rocky habitat.
The rocky terrain provides the perfect year-round shelter for Cape speckled tortoises. In the summer, when temperatures can soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the tiny tortoises find cool cover in rock crevices. There they may aestivate, passing the summer in a torpid state. During the winter, when temperatures can dip below freezing, the rocks provide shelter from the cold. Now the tortoises may brumate, or enter a state that is similar to hibernation, but with periods of wakefulness.
When the weather isn't too hot or too cold, the tortoises forage for food among the rocky outcrops. Their favorite foods are succulent (water-filled) plants.
Today, Cape speckled tortoises are forced to compete with livestock (sheep and goats) for favored plant foods. And they face other problems in the wild. Their habitat is being destroyed by mining activity. And they are captured in large numbers for the commercial pet trade. You can help speckled Cape tortoises by not keeping them as pets.
Did You Know?
Because Cape speckled tortoises spend so much time hiding in rocky areas, scientists don't know a lot about some of their habits. For instance, little is known about their rituals of courtship, mating, and nesting. We do know that females lay a single egg in summer. This means the tortoises can't reproduce quickly -- yet another reason they're in trouble in the wild. | <urn:uuid:923f5ccd-cf8e-4317-b971-07401032875a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/reptiles/turtlesandtortoises/capespeckledpadlopertortoi/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916995 | 492 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Mazel tov to Hasia Diner, winner of a 2009 National Jewish Book Award
The JWA family extends a joyous mazel tov to Hasia Diner, winner of a 2009 National Jewish Book Award. Her recent work, We Remember with Reverence and Love, was the winner of the Celebrate 350 Award in American Jewish Studies.
Hasia Diner, a member of JWA's Academic Advisory Council, teaches at New York University where she is the Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History, as well as a Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and the Director of the Goldstein-Goren Center for American Jewish History. We Remember with Reverence and Love: American Jews and the Myth of Silence after the Holocaust is a breakthrough work challenging the myth of silence after the Holocaust.
It has become an accepted truth: after World War II, American Jews chose to be silent about the mass murder of millions of their European brothers and sisters at the hands of the Nazis. Whether motivated by fear, shame, or the desire to assimilate, the Jewish community in the United States simply did not memorialize the Holocaust until the Eichmann trial and the 1967 Arab-Israeli War made it socially acceptable for them to do so.
In a compelling work sure to draw fire from academics and pundits alike, Hasia R. Diner shows this assumption of silence to be categorically false. Read more at NYU Press.
Hasia Diner and the other winners will be honored at the 59th Annual National Jewish Book Awards ceremony to be held March 9th at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan. Also, the incredible Ruth Gruber will be presented with the 2009 Jewish Book Council Lifetime Achievement Award.
We would also like to congratulate Keren McGinity, another member of JWA's Academic Advisory Council. Her book, Still Jewish: A History of Women and Intermarriage in America, was a finalist for the 2009 National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies, an award named for one of JWA's founding board members, Barbara Dobkin. Judith interviewed Keren McGinity about Still Jewish last July; click here to read the interview. | <urn:uuid:0372fcfa-bc29-42ed-8e0e-d69f17af764d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://jwa.org/blog/mazel-tov-hasia-diner | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928095 | 442 | 2.046875 | 2 |
HevajraArticle Free Pass
Hevajra, Tibetan Kye-rdo-rje, Mongolian Kevajra, in northern Buddhism, a fierce protective deity, the yab-yum (in union with his female consort, Nairatmya) form of the fierce protective deity Heruka. Hevajra is a popular deity in Tibet, where he belongs to the yi-dam (tutelary, or guardian, deity) class. His worship is the subject of the Hevajra Tantra, a scripture that helped bring about the conversion of the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan (1215–94).
Hevajra is represented in art as blue in colour, with a headdress of skull crowns topped by a figure of the buddha Akshobhya. He is characteristically shown with 8 heads, 4 legs, and 16 arms. The arms on the left hold skull cups containing various divinities, the ones on the right their steeds. A multiarmed form of Hevajra, but without his female consort, is found in Cambodia and Thailand.
What made you want to look up "Hevajra"? Please share what surprised you most... | <urn:uuid:986cde60-61d3-48a3-b4f1-1f5c72492fe7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/264484/Hevajra | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934168 | 257 | 3.140625 | 3 |
The Business Conditions Index for the Mid-America region rose to 57.5 in December from 55.9 in November and 52.3 in October.
December was the 13th consecutive month that the index came in above growth neutral.
“The regional economy ended the year on a high note as the weaker U.S. dollar and an expanding global economy stimulated business activity for firms with close ties to agriculture and energy commodities,” said Creighton University economics professor Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey.
The survey and report use a collection of indexes ranging from zero to 100. Organizers said any score above 50 suggests economic growth in the next three to six months, while a score below 50 suggests a contracting economy. States in the survey are Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
The overall index is a mathematical average of indices for new orders, production or sales, employment, inventories and delivery lead time, organizers said.
Looking ahead six months, the survey index on business confidence rose to 69.9 in December from 67.8 in November.
“While the overall U.S. economy remains weak, as gauged by unemployment rates, individual firms in the Mid-America region are experiencing solid improvements in business conditions,” Goss said. “This is translating into a strong economic outlook in terms of sales but without accompanying rapid job creation.”
The regional employment index remained above growth neutral last month, but it slumped to a 51.1 from November’s 53.0. For December, 21.1 percent of firms reported increases in hiring and 18.9 percent reported declines.
According to the survey data, only 24 percent of the companies surveyed expect to raise payroll numbers. Goss said the remaining 76 percent anticipate layoffs or level employment for the first half of the year.
“Despite this somewhat negative employment outlook, I expect the nine-state region to add almost 100,000 jobs for the first half of 2011, or a 1.2 percent annualized pace,” Goss said. “This pace is a half percentage point above what I expect for the national economy.”
The prices-paid index, which tracks the cost of raw materials and supplies, soared to 81.1 from 64.7 in November and 69.9 in October.
The rapid rise in the supply managers’ inflation gauge has yet to show up in consumer prices, Goss said, but he expects that to change.
The increase at the producer level will raise consumer prices well above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2 percent sometime in 2011, said Goss, who likewise expects long-term interest rates to rise rapidly in the first half of 2011 to compensate investors for rising inflation.
Other components of the December overall index:
- new orders at 58.2, up from November’s 54.5;
- production or sales at 55.8, down from 56.8;
- delivery lead time at 57.9, up from 55.6 in November.
- inventories at 64.4, compared with 59.7 last month;
- trade rose to 54,1 from 50.8 in November. | <urn:uuid:f3a2e655-e947-4d0f-8e6d-080529c81c95> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://csbj.com/2011/01/03/midwest-survey-suggests-continued-economic-growth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929311 | 670 | 1.515625 | 2 |
While working at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, David Mead, Ph.D., helped to develop the technology behind TA cloning, now one of the most popular methods for cloning-amplified PCR products using Taq and other polymerases. That technology was sold to Invitrogen (www.invitrogen.com), where it was incorporated into products that earn millions of dollars each year.
In 1998, Dr. Mead and Tom Schoenfeld, Ph.D., cofounded Lucigen (www.lucigen.com) “to duplicate that kind of success,” Dr. Mead says. The initial idea behind Lucigen was to find better polymerases in extreme environments like those of Yellowstone National Park, according to Dr. Mead, president of Lucigen. When Phil Brumm, Ph.D., an expert in hydrolases, joined Lucigen, the company added biomass and biofuels projects to its agenda.
In August 2006, Lucigen consolidated the biomass and biofuels work into C5-6 Technologies (www.c56technologies.com), a company that specializes in making enzymes that break down complex biomass into 5- and 6-carbon sugars. Dr. Brumm and John Biondi, then COO at Lucigen, spun out C5-6 Technologies, where Dr. Brumm serves as CSO and Biondi as president. C5-6 Technologies and Lucigen operate independently but share facilities in Middleton, WI.
C5-6 Technologies plans to release its first products—a suite of enzymes to improve the efficiency of current methods for fermenting corn to ethanol—in the second half of 2008. Although the long-term goal is to make ethanol from nonfood, cellulosic biomass, “corn will stay around and its use will grow,” says Biondi. It is predicted that the current 7 billion gallon annual production rate of ethanol from corn will grow to 15 billion gallons by 2015.
The company’s first product, named CornBuster™, will improve the yield of ethanol from corn by 3%. At a typical drymill corn-to-ethanol manufacturing facility that makes 50,000-gallon batches, CornBuster will boost the annual production from 1 million to 1.5 million gallons while starting with the same amount of corn, according to Biondi. C5-6 Technologies is conducting the final pilot-plant trials of CornBuster and completing the regulatory process, as well as raising A-round venture capital.
Also in the pipeline is SoyBuster™, which contains thermostable enzymes that convert low-value carbohydrates in soy meal into ethanol, while concentrating soy’s protein, increasing its value. The enzymes discovered by the company will replace expensive and harsh chemical methods presently employed to disrupt recalcitrant cellulose in biomass.
Novel ideas for degrading biomass are exploding, and it is not clear which technologies will win out. It is clear that “the current paradigm of using fungal enzymes is not cutting it in the real world,” says Dr. Mead. Such enzymatic approaches are not economically feasible because they take too long to work. “The company that finds blends of enzymes with higher specific activities to process biomass rapidly and cheaply will win out,” he says. | <urn:uuid:3daa8dbe-00fc-4caf-92ba-0b55b2099845> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.genengnews.com/gen-articles/symbiotic-firms-zero-in-on-enzymatic-tools/2473/?kwrd=Enzymes&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939579 | 681 | 2.328125 | 2 |
The initiative has additional training programmes with which it contributes to the long-term qualification of both students and staff, thereby expanding the skills of young people for university studies in Germany and in their subsequent professional career. For students who have completed their education at German schools abroad and partner schools the number of fully-funded grants for studying in Germany has doubled. The International Scholarship Programme enables even more foreign students to experience Germany personally for several weeks.
The Goethe-Institut’s role
The Goethe-Institut supports the schools it looks after in introducing or developing German as a school subject. It offers teaching staff advanced methodological and didactic training and language courses, and equips schools with modern teaching, learning and cultural materials that are multimedia-compatible. Furthermore the Goethe-Institut has sent teaching experts to supervise partner schools throughout the world in the capacity of the initiative. Youth courses in Germany for students at participating schools will improve language skills, strengthen cultural competence and bring the local culture to life.
The “Schools: Partners for the Future” initiative is an attractive opportunity for students at partner schools to learn the German language at an early age and become familiar with the culture of German-speaking countries. The fact is, learning German means learning a foreign language with a clear perspective: anyone who can speak German can not only communicate with 119 million people worldwide in their native language, but is also laying the foundations for university studies in Germany and a subsequent international career. Particularly committed students are helped even more – by being invited to regional workshops or three-week youth courses in Germany. | <urn:uuid:9210659c-f87d-45db-96e3-ff7e8d8f81f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.goethe.de/ins/fi/hel/lhr/pas/fiindex.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965595 | 325 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Happy New Year Scientists!
So was the International Year of Biodiversity a success?
The official UN page still has lots of resources for biodiversity, including videos and reports. There is a also a good resource of articles and information from the International Institute for Environment and Development. One of the key conservation events last year was COP-10 in Nagoya – the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. There are some good articles on the build-up and outcomes of COP-10 available at Current.com, as well as a summary at Wikipedia. The Guardian’s George Monbiot reviews the conference here, and they also have their own environmental review of 2010.
Eco-wins: new marine parks, recovering waterways, ecosystem pledges in Nagoya, and the hundreds of ground-level conservation and environmental efforts taking place across the globe. Also, 2010-2020 has been declared the decade for biodiversity!
Eco-fails: Deepwater Horizon, we’re still overfishing, forest clearance rampages on and what are we really doing about plastic pollution, water pollution, air pollution, factory farming, habitat destruction and uncontrolled urbanisation?
UN International Year of Forests
Celebrate the forests!
Although global deforestation appears to be slowing down, it is still continuing at an alarming rate, according to the UN’s 2010 report on global forest resources. So what can we do about it in the International Year of Forests?
Check out some of these educational resources:
- UN official IYF page
- Greenpeace resources on deforestation
- CIFOR resources
- Rainforest lesson plans, from Mongabay
- Conservation teaching resources from the Environmental Protection Agency
UNESCO International Year of Chemistry
The International Year of Chemistry 2011 aims to celebrate the achievements of Chemistry and its contrbutions to the well-being of mankind. Head on over to chemistry2011.org, the official page, for a growing wealth of resources and ideas.
Choice Chemistry resources:
- Chemistry2011 resource bank
- Chemistry support for teachers, from the RSC
- Chemistry teaching resources, from California State University, Northridge
- Green Chemistry Resources, from the American Chemical Society
- IBChem.com, for IB Chemistry resources and notes
- MYPChem.com, for IBMYP Chemistry resources and notes
- Nikki Juhl’s MYP Science
Don’t forget that from August 2010 to August 2011 is also the International Year for Youth. Phew – so much to think about and take action on in 2011!
Have a great and productive 2011, and remember that everything we do in class can be applied to life beyond school and to the global issues we face – and you will have to deal with.
Interesting news today from the Guardian: “Scientists prune list of world’s plants“. 600,000 species of flowering plants have been deleted from the records in an impressive piece of international cooperation.
And no, that’s not because 600,000 have gone extinct (although so many are rapidly disappearing)- it’s because so many were duplicates with different names. By sorting out the list, botanists hope to make it easier for ecologists to keep track of genuinely newly discovered species, as well as more effectively monitor species over time.
This is a nice link to the Classification unit, and highlights the importance of international cooperation in the sciences. It was part of an effort for the Convention of Biological Diversity, which meet this October in Japan. It also links to the Ecology and Conservation option.
Here is a short interview with Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, discussing why all of the member countries have failed to reach their targets, and why it is important to engage all stakeholders in the process of conservation: | <urn:uuid:8fc5eb54-65d4-4f58-ad7e-4d3aafb260bd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://i-biology.net/tag/un/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920797 | 793 | 2.703125 | 3 |
IRANIAN PRESIDENT SAYS HOMOSEXUALITY IS 'UGLY'
Tue, 25 September 2012Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has told CNN that homosexuality is "ugly" and that the West must not expect it be accepted in other countries.
Ahmadinejad, who famously claimed in 2005 that homosexuality does not exist in his nation, was interviewed by Piers Morgan in a programme broadcast on Monday.
"Let me ask you this, do you believe anyone has given birth through
homosexuality? he asked Morgan.
"Homosexuality ceases procreation. Who has said that if you like or believe in doing something ugly, and others do not accept your behaviour, that they're denying your freedom?"
Ahmadinejad also told Morgan that homosexuality is akin to behaviours such as stealing and that if one country accepts stealing as legitimate it should not expect other countries to do so.
"..if you, if a group recognises an ugly behaviour or ugly deed as legitimate, you must not expect other countries or other groups to give it the same recognition," Ahmadinejad added.
When Morgan asked the president what he would do if one of his children was gay, Ahmadinejad avoided the question.
Homosexuality is illegal in Iran with penalties including execution. Human rights activists have claimed that between 4,000 and 6,000 gay men and lesbians had been executed in Iran since 1979 for crimes related to their sexual preference. | <urn:uuid:0989c944-5f3d-42f1-9ac1-cce0c7b224d6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mambaonline.com/article.asp?artid=7435 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970258 | 298 | 1.796875 | 2 |
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The Art of Lattes...And Life
But as creative as I thought I was, the truth was: my lattes always looked like plain old cups of sad boring beige. Try as I might, I never figured out how to make those lovely leafy designs that elevate a coffee into a liquid work of art. I love them, though, and as it turns out, I'm not the only one: there is actually a World Latte Art Competition. As Jeshurun Webb writes for Salon.com this week, the judges at this competition assess the milky masterpieces based on the following criteria: "Balance and Symmetry (dividing lines are even and show no hesitation), Harmony (between the size of the cup and the size and position of the design), Clarity of Design (contrast), Quality of Milk Texture (yes, it takes a lot of practice to perfectly texture milk)."
It's not just my fiendish need for caffeine that makes this list sound like poetry, right? Because these are qualities I'd like to have in everything I do. Balance and Symmetry? I love the idea that creating something beautiful involves showing "no hesitation" It's all about doing things with confidence, whether it's presenting at a meeting or painting a picture or creating a cup of coffee. Harmony? May we all match the scope of our creations to the size of our cups, so to speak. Clarity of design? May we all have vision (please). Even the phrase "quality of milk texture" seems to me to apply to everything—because shouldn't we all master whatever materials we choose to work with?
Plenty of us toil away at jobs that, like slinging java, don't immediately suggest creativity, but we can all strive to achieve balance and symmetry, harmony and clarity, in every day. Even the dullest task can become a canvas. I wish I'd been able to see this while I was sullenly concocting endless cappuccinos myself, but that's okay—when it comes to my day-to-day now, there's no end to mundane tasks that I can try to make creative. Here I come, Slow Cooker Casserole Art Competition!
You must see the rosettes gathered on the Salon site, which are displayed alongside the barsita/artists' signatures, as a study of line quality.
Three Ways To Tune Out and Get Creative
How Everyone is a Creative Person
Please note that Harpo Productions, Inc., OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Discovery Communications LLC and their affiliated companies and entities have no affiliation with and do not endorse those entities, projects, or websites referenced above, which are provided solely as a courtesy. You should conduct your own independent investigation before using the services of any such entities, projects, or websites. Information is provided for your reference only. | <urn:uuid:f7350990-681c-4a5b-afe7-0ac2bad4f89c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/blogs/The-Latte-Art-Guide-to-Everyday-Creativity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00056-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948158 | 607 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Aaron Feaver's bio below.
Humankind has seen the Stone Age, the Golden Age, and the Iron Age. Some would argue the 20th century should be called the Silicon Age. Based on the events of its first 10 years, the 21st century may very well become known as the Carbon Age.
An important tension is unfolding between two types of carbon--atmospheric carbon in the form of carbon dioxide emissions, and elemental carbon as a building block for a new generation of devices designed to manage and abate those same pollutants. Our way of life has become dependent on energy generated by the process of extracting carbon from the earth in the form of fossil fuels and then burning it to form carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, we have begun developing carbon in solid form as an advanced material to counter the effects of its atmospheric cousin.
From the days of Thomas Edison, when an exhaustive list of carbon fibers were pyrolyzed, or thermochemically decomposed sans oxygen, from natural materials to form the filaments of the first successful lightbulb, to the development of activated carbon as the first commercial nanomaterial, to the discovery of buckyballs and the invention of carbon nanotubes, carbon has always generated an abundance of near-term change, cutting-edge breakthroughs, and even economic prosperity.
Our future will be brighter because new materials built on the many allotropes of carbon will function as the base-building blocks for a host of solutions--including cleaner batteries, cleaner water, and cleaner air--that will benefit our society, our economies, and our planet.
There are legions of carbon-based innovations to watch between now and 2020. As the research deepens and expands, and the technologies are fully developed and rolled out, new products and processes will be embraced by the automotive industry for hybrid electric vehicles, by electronics manufacturers for enhancing the life and usability of consumer goods, and by a variety of industrial customers to deliver an ever-increasing breadth of new ways to improve energy efficiency.
Here are the highlights of what we can expect:
Lithium ion batteries
They are among the best-performing batteries because of their combination of relatively high power and energy density. They also, unfortunately, have a very high cost. While relatively well known in the market, the role of their carbon ingredients is less understood and appreciated. These batteries use a lithium-based oxide cathode, which can store an abundance of lithium but is not conductive.
In many cases, carbon is added to this cathode as a conductivity enhancer to reduce resistance and increase the power capability of the cell. In addition, the active component of the anode is nearly 100 percent carbon. Look for enhancements in lithium ion battery performance to continue, but this time based on carbon anode advancements. The graphite anode will be replaced with high surface area carbons, or carbon-based nanocomposites comprised of carbon- and lithium-alloying elements such as silicon, aluminum, and tin, which will enable doubling or tripling energy and power density. This will result in longer-lived batteries with more power and energy for all kinds of applications, including consumer electronics such as laptops and cell phones, as well as hybrid or plug-in vehicles.
It is spurring a new generation of lightweight vehicles that could entirely eschew steel. Prices are dropping as volumes increase. Lightweight carbon fiber, combined with lightweight aluminum, is dramatically decreasing the weight of vehicles and increasing fuel efficiency. This trend can continue, if carbon fiber technology advances and becomes less costly. As is the case in aerospace, where half of efficiency gains are from engine improvements and half of the gains are from weight reduction, automobiles will begin to move into a new paradigm where "lightweighting" is seen as a major way to increase miles per gallon.
We currently all drive vehicles that are an order of magnitude heavier than the passengers they carry. By combining the energy and power improvements derived from carbon in energy storage systems with carbon-based lightweight vehicles, we may soon see reasonably priced all-electric automobiles that take off like Ferraris, have a 500- mile driving range, and have the capability to safely carry five passengers and all their luggage.
Wholly dependent on the performance of their carbon electrodes, they store and release energy an order of magnitude faster than batteries. Ultracapacitors are typically used for power supply and kinetic energy recapture in industrial environments, grid augmentation, portable electronics, and energy storage for critical infrastructure and heavy hybrids like buses and garbage trucks. Look for ultracapacitors to enter the mainstream automotive industry as energy storage for start-stop, regenerative braking, and rapid acceleration in micro, mild, full, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Enhancements to the carbon in ultracapacitors will enable increased voltage rating of devices, which will exponentially increase their energy and power. By 2012, we should anticipate that widespread adoption of microhybrids will begin, and engineered carbon will help usher in an era in which combustion engines no longer idle in traffic.
They combine the properties of batteries and ultracapacitors to deliver a device with higher power than a battery and higher energy density than an ultracapacitor. Pseudocapacitors are not widely available now, but look for a Japanese- and Korean-led push to introduce lithium ion-based devices, with carbon serving as a majority of the electrode material.
These devices will likely contain one carbon electrode that closely resembles an ultracapacitor and one graphitic carbon similar to a lithium ion anode. Both of these carbon materials will be tuned for this unique application, in terms of pore size, particle size, and surface area.
Just as ultracapacitors have bridged the difference between electrolytic capacitors and batteries, pseudocapacitors will further blur the line between ultracapacitors and batteries. There are many areas--including transportation, industrial, and renewable energy/grid applications--that will be enabled by an energy storage system where a million cycles (think ultracapacitors) is overkill, but where 1,000 cycles (think lithium ion batteries) is inadequate; this is where an energy/power compromise between the two technologies is needed.
Catalyst support platforms
They will be needed for a multitude of industrial and environmental applications, such as biofuels, hydrocarbon cracking and, potentially, reuse of atmospheric carbon dioxide. As developing countries embrace an appetite for first-world lifestyles, we will need to find ways to do more with less. Catalysts are a route for reducing the amount of energy needed to perform a huge array of industrial processes that--while invisible to most of us--are used to produce the products that we use every day.
Carbon materials are ideal catalyst supports because they can be relatively inert at high temperatures, are electrically conductive, are porous with a high surface area, and, especially in the case of synthetic nanocarbons, can readily accommodate the addition of catalyst materials in their manufacturing processes.
As nanoscale catalysts become mainstream and move into more established industries, watch for low-cost nanostructured carbon to be a key support material for improving the efficiency of the reactions that enable everything from drugs to bulk chemicals to food to energy.
They were actually invented before the internal combustion engine, but the technology quickly fell by the wayside, as diesel- and gasoline-fueled engines became more ubiquitous. Various types of fuel cells have experienced a brief resurgence over the last 10 years, as the promise of the hydrogen economy gained momentum. These devices use an electrochemical reaction, rather than combustion to oxidize various fuels, and the result is direct generation of electrons at the electrode.
Carbon can be used in many fuel cell chemistries but is most often used as an electrode in one type of fuel cell--the proton exchange membrane fuel cell, or PEM. Carbon is combined with a catalyst to create the "triple point," where fuel, oxidant, and catalyst comingle in an electrically conductive environment that enables the reaction. As hydrogen research begins to develop low-cost methods for production and storage of this high-energy gas, look for a rejuvenation of PEM fuel cells as an energy source. By replacing platinum with a cheaper nanoscale catalyst, carbon will drive substantial cost reductions while improving efficiency in PEM fuel cells.
This is a relatively new technology for desalination and water treatment. Even as our reliance on--and conflicts over--petroleum decrease, new battles (both philosophical and physical) will be fought over fresh water. Capacitive deionization of salt water creates freshwater by the adsorption of ions in an electric field at the surface of porous carbon electrodes.
In many ways, capacitive deionization uses a structure like an ultracapacitor, with contaminated or salt water as the electrolyte. The process is constantly recyclable, and contaminants are removed from the system without the need to change a filter.
In the United States, we have already seen internal strife, as states vie for the water resources of the Colorado River. This conflict pales in comparison to that surrounding the stressed Himalayan Watershed, which supplies 47 percent of the world's population with water. Watch for capacitive deionization to become more mainstream, as population centers look to the oceans for their water supplies, and as the carbon technology enabling it becomes less expensive.
Adsorbed natural gas storage
Also known as ANG storage, this technology makes use of activated microporous carbons that function just like a natural-gas sponge. ANG storage containers enabled by advanced carbon technology allow for increased safety, more flexible form factors for vehicular applications, and decreased cost, due to compressor inefficiencies. These attributes will all contribute toward wider adoption of natural gas as a transportation fuel, and this can substantially reduce carbon emissions.
The right carbon will allow ANG vehicles to reach performance parity with gasoline at a much lower cost to the environment. In the future, net-zero carbon dioxide methane--produced by combining renewable energy, carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide, and hydrogen from water--could be used to power hybrid vehicles.
While many are working on hydrogen as the ultimate clean fuel, the relative ease of storing methane in carbon-based ANG systems, as well as its compatibility with fuel cells, internal combustion engines, and grid-level power plants, could make renewable methane a more affordable clean fuel of the future.
It can be accomplished using high-density solid materials instead of compressed or liquefied hydrogen. Research is focused on chemical compounds that reversibly store and release hydrogen during an exothermic or endothermic reaction. Carbon will be used as a support matrix in improving the cyclability and kinetics of these solid-state hydrogen materials.
Heat needs to be added and removed for these reactions to take place, and the materials often need to be maintained at the nanoscale; both of these attributes can be improved through the addition of carbon. By inserting high-density hydrogen storage compounds into the nanopores of custom-designed carbons, those materials can remain confined at the nanoscale, while in intimate contact with a heat conduction medium--the carbon--to improve heat flow in or out of the system, as they undergo thermodynamically active changes.
Batteries are the leading technology for portable energy storage, but look for hydrogen storage and fuel cells to become competitive, as the research evolves over the next 10 years.
Every generation has its own favorite elements on the periodic table. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, gold and silver were economic motivators; later on, sulfur for gunpowder became a force to be reckoned with; the nuclear era brought uranium to the top; information technology made silicon a star; and now some clean-technology analysts are focused on lithium. From my perspective, however, the future is about carbon.
Carbon may present itself in a dark, black form, but I believe that it presages brighter days ahead for all of us. That's part of the supreme irony: when it appears as part of carbon dioxide, carbon pollutes the atmosphere; when it's deployed in its pure and unadulterated form, however, it can play a major role in scrubbing clean our skies and our waterways--and that's welcome news for the many generations to come. | <urn:uuid:5b16328a-87c6-4143-8a7e-73c2883e4ff3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20017972-54.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939706 | 2,544 | 3.09375 | 3 |
By Amanda Lilly, McClatchy-Tribune
It is a recurrent theme these days that the “baby boomer” generation is beginning to reach the age of retirement. This bulging population has been called a vital cohort for consumer spending and has been designated as a critical target-group for politicians trying to garner the most votes. But the boomers as a future student population? Now, that is something new.
It has been coined the “learning in retirement movement,” where the process of growing older and retiring from the workplace does not necessarily have to mean retiring from personal progression.
There are many opportunities for boomers to stay mentally active and get involved with local education institutions.
One of the first options is to audit a course at a nearby university. This allows you to attend lectures and interact with other students, but since it is not for credit, you are not required to take tests or write papers.
Many states have laws that require higher education institutions to allow seniors to audit a class on a space-basis. For example, in South Carolina, if you are a tax-paying resident 60 years or older, you can attend university classes on a space basis for $125 per course. Some institutions allow you to do this for free, or will offer some form of financial assistance.
Similar to this option is actually attending a community college, where courses are commonly offered specifically for students age 50 and older. Although not usually free, community college courses are generally more affordable.
“Community colleges are everywhere,” said Mary Sue Vickers, director of the Plus 50 initiative for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). “There are over 1,200 across the country and 90 percent of the population is within driving distance to at least one of them.”
A pilot program launched in 2008 to coincide with when the boomers were beginning to retire, the AACC Plus 50 Initiative is currently working with 20 community colleges to create or expand campus programs to engage the older population. The initiative has three main focus areas: personal enrichment, workforce training and community volunteering.
Vickers considers one of the program’s greatest achievement thus far to be its “rapid and effective response to the economic downturn.”
“We offered job fairs and counseling,” said Vickers. “We even had resume classes for all of those who had not had to revise their resumes in many years.”
Another advantage to community colleges is that you are interspersed with students of all ages, which Vickers explained is “more reflective of the workforce.” These local higher-education institutions also are often more communityfocused, allowing you to become more involved with the people who live near you and have similar interests.
Furthering this chance to connect with your community while continuing your education are Lifelong Learning Institutes (LLIs) and other similar programs. These organizations basically act as schools without grades or tests. A host college must sponsor the program, however they are typically self-governed, with a committee of volunteers designing the curriculum.
“We like to say we’re under the ‘auspices’ of the college,” explained Claire Robinson, director of the Center for Creative Retirement (CCR) at the College of Charleston in South Carolina.
“The main contact we have with the actual college is that many of its professors guest-lecture at our classes.”
The CCR offers lectures once a week during the average school year, from September to May. Its lecturers mostly include community leaders and professors at the university. A few examples of this year’s courses include a discussion about Charleston’s future with the town mayor, a speech about India-Pakistan relations with a former diplomat to India, and a debate about this year’s main election issues.
“It really is a personal benefit,” said Robinson. “You can take away from it what you want.”
LLIs are also a great way to meet people, as Kali Lightfoot, executive director at the National Resource Center for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, points out.
“Many people lose their network when they retire,” Lightfoot said. “This is one way to keep that going because you’re signing up for a class with people who are interested in the same thing.”
Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes are specifically liberal artsbased and often also offer special events, trips, speakers and other social activities for its members.
They encourage older adults to stay engaged intellectually and socially, while experiencing something “novel and complex.”
——— LEARN MORE There are LLIs in all 50 states, with 118 Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes and over 300 institutes that belong to the Elderhostel Institute Network (EIN), a voluntary association of LLIs that is funded by Elderhostel Inc. To find an LLI nearest you, visit http://www.roadscholar.org/ein/map—usca.asp. | <urn:uuid:52362b5f-a1e7-4a57-8b1e-43af36137cc9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2010/09/08/retire-from-work-but-not-from-learning/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00071-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961614 | 1,051 | 1.953125 | 2 |
May 23 2013 Latest news:
Martyn Davey, Head of Horticulture and Design, Easton College
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Question: A friend in Australia is raving about a tree in his son’s garden there. He calls it Poinciana. I can’t find any reference to it in my vast supply of books (even the plant finder). He says it grows easily from seed, germinating quickly, can you help? My other question is why does my Judas tree (cercis) hang on to the seed pods. They produce masses and they look so ugly! (M Curtis, Bury St Edmunds )
The tree your friend has in Australia is a very beautiful tropical tree called Royal Poinciana, which has seed pods very similar to the Judas tree – only much longer, up to 30cm – and are the favourite food of parrots. The tree has wonderful red flowers through the summer. The flowers are similar to Alstromeria. The seeds are easy to grow but they will not survive in the European climate so they will not appear in any of our gardening books. To see Poinciana at its best you need to take a trip to Australia in their summer.
Judas trees are also one of my favourites and best of all they grow well in the UK and are very hardy. Cercis are deciduous shrubs or small trees with heart-shaped leaves and clusters of bright pink pea-flowers opening before or with the leaves, followed by flattened, deep purple pods.
C. siliquastrum is a bushy, deciduous small tree. Leaves to 10cm in width, broadly heart-shaped. Flowers rosy-pink, pea-shaped, in clusters on the older wood. Fruit is a conspicuous flattened purplish pod to 12cm in length. Cercis will also grow easily from seed. The pods will only drop when the new leaves come out after the flowers and the new pods start to form. This is a trait of the Judas tree and I think it is worth living with otherwise you will need to cut the pods off, a not insignificant task. | <urn:uuid:27200051-f81a-42ae-a800-023e5e74cb2b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/lifestyle/trees_royal_poinciana_will_not_survive_european_climates_but_judas_is_hardy_1_1353804 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960945 | 451 | 2.453125 | 2 |
It's an addiction. Admitting you have it is the first step.
- By Rebecca Maksel
- AirSpaceMag.com, December 03, 2008
John Dibbs Photography / The Plane Picture Co.
Meant to replace the Heinkel He 51 and the Arado 68, Messerschmitt Bf 109 prototypes were unveiled at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, and first flew later that year. The E model was the first mass-production model, and saw action throughout World War II. Approximately 35,000 Bf 109s (of all versions) were produced.
In 1944, flying above Hungary, 2nd Lieutenant Mihaly Karatsonyi of the Royal Hungarian Air Force saw American aircraft approaching. “I could see the handwriting on the wall," he told Busha, "and I knew we were going to lose the war as 1,200 brand-new, shiny American-built airplanes flew toward Hungary against the 40 of us in our tired-out old 109s. It was the beginning of the end for us.” The aircraft pictured is owned by Ed Russell of Toronto, Canada. | <urn:uuid:2f0aa43e-71ba-4721-a4c0-89943fe3e040> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/Warbird-Obsession.html?c=y&page=5&navigation=next | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971146 | 232 | 2.125 | 2 |
Set-up by the National Apprenticeship Service – the organisation responsible for Apprenticeships in England- National Apprenticeship Week runs from 6 – 10 February and aims to raise the profile of apprenticeships and to increase the number of opportunities available to employers and learners.
For the second year running The Student Room – the UK’s largest student site – is supporting Apprenticeships Week through it’s dedicated Apprenticeship forum.
The Q&A is something that has been successful in the past with Lord Browne and David Willetts and will give students the chance to talk to a key figurehead in the world of apprenticeships.
Over 1 million students will visit The Student Room during Apprenticeships Week and questions are already being posted by students wanting more information about these vocational qualifications.
- Why is it so difficult for over 18s to get an apprenticeship?
- How user-friendly is the apprenticeship matching website?
- Apprenticeships in conservation and geology?
In addition to this The Student Room has an Apprenticeship Wiki that provides lots of information to students about a range of useful information:
- Who can do an apprenticechip?
- What type are available?
- What are the entry requirements?
- What training is involved?
- What’s the pay like?
- Where can they be found?
For more information on how The Student Room is supporting Apprenticeship Week or to find out how you can make students aware of your Apprenticeship opportunities call 0800 999 3222 | <urn:uuid:8fc98a67-a00c-4f44-8186-d9a382758b0a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://insight.thestudentroom.co.uk/1n51ght/richard-marsh-national-apprenticeship-service-to-answer-students-questions-on-the-student-room/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936906 | 318 | 1.742188 | 2 |
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I have to admit that a smile crosses my face when I see examples of real “people power” rather than hearing the word being over-used by irritating and supercilious politicians.
Whilst police have been forced to abandon the streets and motorways due to budget cuts, being replaced by the ubiquitous speed cameras that do everything to record infractions but nothing to prevent them, an independent roads policing team seems to have emerged from the chaos. It may be slightly illegal and it may raise the blood pressure of certain self-important individuals, who believe that the roads are their personal playground, but it really is an example of Common Law-making in action.
We’ve all been there. You see the sign warning you that a lane will be closing a mile ahead. As you get closer to the intractable lines of orange cones, most drivers start to move into the correct lane and speeds begin to drop as traffic is bottlenecked into this extreme example of health and safety. Traffic is flowing reasonable well.
Then, in your rear view mirror, you see them, the cars that cruise down the clear lane to get as near to the front of the queue as possible. You watch, or become a victim of, their bullying as they force their way into a gap. All the way down the line, a ripple effect occurs as brakes are tapped and the traffic jam is created. The finest brains in traffic control cannot overcome the selfish and ignorant.
It’s then that you see the effect real “people power”. An HGV will move into the empty lane and roll along at the speed of the slower traffic creating an unofficial rolling road block. Ahead of them, undisturbed traffic steadily moves through the obstruction whilst behind them, a frustrated executive accepts the inevitable and joins the traffic flow, without normal pressurisation. When its job is done, the lorry moves back into position whilst, further back, another couple of lorries continue with a separate rolling road-block. The traffic flows and hold-ups are minimised.
There is no legislation supporting this action but is an example how law-making has been carried in this country for centuries. It is supported by the majority and has gradually become acceptable practice. No European legislation has had to be written. It is just simple common sense and community spirit. It’s terribly British.
Those juggernauts that thunder along our highways throughout the days and nights should be seen as the new knights of the road, defending us against the hold-ups created by modern Dick Turpins, and their commitment to safety on the road should be recognised and respected.
The author is Michael Poynton.
- The Freedom Association’s Magna Carta Pimms and Politics Cruise on June 15, 2013 12:30 pm
- Conservative Renewal Conference on September 14, 2013
- The Freedom Zone on September 30, 2013
- The Freedom Zone on October 1, 2013
- Christmas Lunch in the Cotswolds on December 7, 2013 12:30 pm
Join the Mailing List | <urn:uuid:555209d5-0cd1-4d3c-af27-a687036b8565> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.tfa.net/2012/08/28/michael-poynton-people-power-is-shown-when-common-sense-rules-the-road/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00065-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954796 | 642 | 1.9375 | 2 |
For reading & meditation - Proverbs 15:1-15
"The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life '" (v.4)
Today we focus on the healing power of kind and encouraging words. When Sigmund Freud found out that symptoms of emotional distress could be relieved simply by talking in certain ways to his patients, he was deeply interested and intrigued. His training in what is known as "the medical model" had conditioned him to think of people as merely biological and chemical entities whose problems arose from physical malfunctioning. If Freud had spent some time reading the book of Proverbs, he might have been less surprised to discover that words have such a powerful impact. Most psychotherapy has to do with letting people talk. When people put their feelings into words, it seems as if the pent up emotion flows out through the words. In the USA there is a special phone line you can ring where, after you?ve given your credit card number, a person will spend three minutes giving you some encouraging and heartening words. The service, I understand, has become a growth industry. As I was preparing this page, I thought of the most influential and healing words anyone had ever spoken to me. I thought hard and remembered a friend coming up to me at my wife's funeral and saying: "You will be in my thoughts every hour of the day." How different from the sincere and well-meaning person who said to me at the same event: "Be brave." We can't change the things we said yesterday, but think of the possibilities ahead of us today and tomorrow. Don't wait another day - start now. Thank God that not only death, but life also, lies in the power of the tongue.
Father, help me minister life through my tongue this very day. Give me opportunities to put into action what I have heard and help me recognize those opportunities. I long to be all You want me to be. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.
For Further Study
1. What does the law of God in our hearts produce?
2. If we want to speak wise and just words, what sort of people must we be? | <urn:uuid:70c720ca-1aa1-4891-ab06-d38929035cd4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/everydaylight/every-day-light-7-or-7-546302.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979669 | 443 | 1.992188 | 2 |
WEEDS have been shown for the first time to become stronger and fitter by cross-breeding with genetically engineered crops, in this case sunflowers. And at the same time, a team in France has demonstrated how easily weeds might be able to swap genes with the GM strains of sugar beet already in field trials.
The findings emphasise the need for developers of GM crops to be cautious about which traits they introduce into plants, in case they spread irreversibly to weeds. They also strengthen the case for using technologies that would prevent gene spread altogether, argues Jeremy Sweet of the National Institute for Agricultural Botany in Cambridge. "If you're worried about a gene which alters the fitness of wild populations, then stopping the GM plant breeding has got to be a good thing," he says.
Allison Snow's team at Ohio State University has shown in controlled tests that wild sunflowers, ...
To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content. | <urn:uuid:c607174e-19ea-44b2-a331-7f7d3c2e95e5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17523560.800-weeds-do-well-out-of-modified-crops.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955096 | 209 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Just this evening, the Senate voted to confirm Marilyn Tavenner as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Of the many appointed positions in the federal government, this one doesn’t sound exciting. And it isn’t. But it is important. As head of CMS, Tavenner will be responsible for overseeing both programs and implementing large parts of the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s health care reform law.
Byron York’s interview with former Heritage Foundation scholar Jason Richwine is illuminating, not because of any new information—it’s well-established that Richwine has written for white nationalist websites and drew ideas and inspiration from “race realists” like Charles Murray—but because Richwine follows the pattern of everyone outed for their racism. He denies it. Strenuously:
Richwine knew he was in trouble the minute the first story broke. “The accusation of racism is one of the worst things that anyone can call you in public life,” he says. “Once that word is out there, it’s very difficult to recover from it, even when it is completely untrue.” […]
Over the weekend, the Internal Revenue Service faced criticism for targeting Tea Party organizations and other conservative groups for heightened scrutiny. This included nonprofits that criticized the government, as well as groups involved in educating Americans on the Constitution and Bill of Rights. | <urn:uuid:76562b45-0ba6-4ec9-9a2a-c3c2253edbdd> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mailto:editors@prospect.org/authors/jamelle-bouie?page=2 | 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 | 0.962487 | 291 | 1.578125 | 2 |
Eighteen years and counting.
Surely that is enough time for Chautauqua County law enforcement and emergency services finally to have a communication system that lives up to the name.
We know the county radio network does not seem like a front-burner issue, but that is only because the harm done is not obvious nor, always, immediate when a communication system is neither universal to all first responders and support agencies nor adaptable to make it so.
As you read, Chautauqua County has been trudging along the road toward a new radio system since 1994 when the first meetings were convened to start looking into updating radio systems throughout the county. False starts, new technology, failed technology, expensive technology, state and federal involvement - a lot of things has forced the process to drag on for 18 years.
As Sheriff Joseph Gerace put it, the patchwork system still in place today works, after a fashion, but is held together by wires and duct tape. With new federal regulations requiring a narrowband system, the county finally seems ready to step into the 21st century - if money enough can be found to pay for equipment to serve all of the agencies at the county, town and village levels that need to be accessible to emergency services.
It seems to us that should not be a problem. An emergency communication system is one of the basic services we should get in trade for all of the taxes we pay. | <urn:uuid:55458d00-eef7-4969-a10a-da8182bea217> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/607474/Patchwork-System-Needs-A-New-Design.html?nav=5010 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00006-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968213 | 290 | 1.867188 | 2 |
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Calhoun Public Records
Public records in Calhoun include death records, marriage records, court records, military records, birth records and many others.
Some people look into Calhoun public records due to a legal reason, such as supplying documentation to a governmental or private agency or whether they wish to inquire information about someone they know.
For obvious reasons, free records are often most coveted, however, certain agencies and\or online services quite often charge a small fee for their services. It should be noted that not all records are available to the entire general public, for example, quite often a death certificate is available only to the family of the deceased and other interested parties until a specific time period had passed since the death occurred. | <urn:uuid:3d0fdf71-cefb-42bc-b66c-4e45f906f5f8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.recordsbase.com/resources/public-records/west-virginia/calhoun | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00068-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940501 | 241 | 1.703125 | 2 |
Country singer and songwriter.
Dwight Yoakam, born October 23, 1956, in Pikeville, Kentucky, was viewed as one of the most promising of country music’s “new traditionalists” when he came to national attention in 1986. Yoakam’s music is heavily influenced by the Bakersfield sound of such artists as Buck Owens, yet he did not forget the Kentucky coal-mining area where he was born. In interviews, he frequently mentions his grandfather, who worked in the mines, and to whom he dedicated his self-composed song “Miner’s Prayer.” Although based in Los Angeles, Yoakam possesses wide knowledge of his native region’s history and lore. His song “South of Cincinnati” reflects his love of Appalachia, just as “I Sang Dixie” is a lament not only for a lost friend, but also for the American South.
Playing a style of hard-edged honky-tonk music that had disappeared from mainstream country, Yoakam booked himself into Los Angeles punk rock bars during the early 1980s just to have a place to perform. That audience thought him a parody act, but Yoakam soon connected with fans of traditional country music with his first album, Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. (1986). His version of the Johnny Horton hit “Honky Tonk Man” brought critical accolades and extensive radio play.
Although Yoakam focused his attention on acting after the release of his 1993 album This Time, appearing in such movies as Sling Blade (1996), he continues to record strong albums in his unmistakable style, and his music is highly esteemed among newer fans of the honky-tonk style of country music.
Cite this Entry
"Dwight Yoakam," Encyclopedia of Appalachia, 2013, Encyclopedia of Appalachia. 22 May 2013 <http://www.www.encyclopediaofappalachia.com/entry.php?rec=217>
"Dwight Yoakam." (2013) In Encyclopedia of Appalachia, Retrieved May 22, 2013, from Encyclopedia of Appalachia: http://www.www.encyclopediaofappalachia.com/entry.php?rec=217 | <urn:uuid:3987e1f4-7b23-4bba-bbab-4ca59dad3893> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.encyclopediaofappalachia.com/entry.php?rec=217 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966593 | 500 | 1.890625 | 2 |
Nova vs Supernova
Nova and Supernova are events taking place in our galaxy on a regular basis. These are two concepts that though related with stars, are totally different from each other. However, there are many who believe that supernova is some kind of a bigger, brighter nova, which is totally baseless and wrong. This article attempts to unravel the mystery surrounding these two astronomical super events that are exciting and interesting for the astronomers.
The confusion between common people pertaining to nova and supernova pertains to sudden brightening of a star (which is called nova), and much more brightening in a star that signals the start of its end (referred to as supernova). Let us first take a closer look around nova. As told earlier, it a sudden brightening phenomenon that takes place in a white dwarf star because of events taking place in a nearby star that forms a binary system with our star (that faces nova). Fusion takes place at the surface of the white dwarf, and the interesting part of the fusion is that it gets initiated with matter that gravitates and accumulates on the surface of the white dwarf from the nearby star. Though, this fusion is not of its own and doesn’t change any physical properties of the star, there is a sudden increase in intensity of light and temperature on the surface of the dwarf star, referred to as nova during this period. This is a process that can take place again and again in the dwarf star, if the binary system continues and fusion material keeps getting accumulated on its surface.
Supernova is the last stage of the life of a star. It is a procedure that destroys the star completely as it is no more able to sustain its gravity. This takes place when the star reaches its critical mass, the definition of which was given by Indian scientist Chandrasekhar, and is thus, called Chandrasekhar limit. When the entire fuel in a star gets burnt up and its existence comes to an end, it becomes very bright, and the process can take months to complete.
There are instances when a supernova takes place in much the same way as a nova with a binary system in place. There is a simple star and a dwarf star just like a nova, but the matter coming from the simple star is much more efficient than in a regular nova. In such a case, fusion that takes place is much more violent and releases many more times energy. This is so high a energy that it ultimately blows off white dwarf star and it becomes a supernova. Even scientists are not sure how this happens and some have proposed a theory of two white dwarfs coalescing.
What is the difference between Nova and Supernova?
• Nova and supernova are two totally different astronomical events contrary to popular misconception that supernova is a nova with a greater intensity
• Nova is sudden brightening of a white dwarf star that is close to a simple star and operates in a binary system
• Fusion takes place on the surface of white dwarf because of matter gravitating from simple star and this explains release of energy and brightening of dwarf star
• Supernova is the beginning of the end of a star, which takes place when the mass of a star reaches its critical limit
• Supernova ends up the star with all its fuel consumed. | <urn:uuid:8f7ab542-e244-4fd5-9ecd-f6aabe6fd19c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-nova-and-vs-supernova/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963029 | 678 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Bay County's Frankenlust Township - near Interstate 75 and colleges, between hospitals and shopping venues - keeps winning new residents due to location.
But the Rev. Stephen and Sharon Schilke loved something else about the township that again defied Michigan population trends and gained people from 2006 to 2007: amenities.
"We were looking for a place with all the utilities: sewer lines, water lines, natural gas service and electricity," said Stephen Schilke, 61, who plans to move with his wife into their new home in Frankenlust Township in November.
"We looked at a bunch of properties in this area, and this was the only spot that had all four; every other place lacked at least one of those services," Stephen Schilke said.
Frankenlust Township gained more people - 81 - than any other Bay County township or city from 2006 to 2007, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released last month.
The township grew by 2.7 percent during that period, with a new estimated population of 3,030. Such an increase was rare.
The population dropped in all 14 northeast Michigan counties in The Times' coverage area during that year.
Gladwin County posted the biggest loss, percentage-wise, with a 1.5 percent decline and an estimated decrease of 408 residents. Gladwin County's latest population is 26,287, according to the Census Bureau.
Huron County was close behind, losing 1.2 percent of its people in one year, according to census figures. Huron County's population fell from 33,682 residents in 2006 to 33,290 last year.
Saginaw County lost 2,656 people, or 1.3 percent of its population, with an estimated 204,924 residents in the county as of last year. Bay County lost 536 people, or 0.5 percent of its population, leaving an estimated 108,053 residents in the county.
Among Bay County's 18 cities and villages, 14 lost population. Only Frankenlust Township, Mount Forest Township, Garfield Township and Beaver Township posted gains.
The city of Bay City suffered an estimated loss of 315 people, with the 2007 population pegged at 34,026, according to the Census Bureau.
Some residents, such as Sharon Schilke's parents - Ben and Una Krupa - still reside in Bay City. The Schilkes plan to move from their home in Onaway to get closer to the Krupas and other relatives.
The Schilkes' daughter, Dawn Shea, lives near Freeland.
The Schilkes' new home, rising along Kloha Road west of M-84, "has a country feel but we're five to 10 minutes from all the shopping opportunities we'd ever want," Stephen Schilke said.
Workers with JD Crew Construction Inc., of Gladwin, continue working on the 1,900-square-foot home.
"We didn't want a gas pig (cylinder) in our back yard, and we didn't want well water," said Sharon Schilke, 60, a former human resources manager at Saginaw's Means Industries Inc. who plans to seek a new job once the couple moves to Bay County this fall.
Paul and Joan Wilson, who moved into Frankenlust Township in 2006, helped boost Frankenlust's population.
Paul Wilson, 65, said he and his wife moved from Saginaw County's Tittabawassee Township to Bay County because of lower taxes in Frankenlust Township.
The Wilsons, living in a home along Kraenzlein Road north of Freeland Road, also appreciate the lack of traffic at their new location.
"We lived along Tittabawassee Road before we moved, and that was like an interstate," Paul Wilson said. "We liked this road because it's a short little 2-mile-long road, and the only traffic is local.
"The most traffic we get is on Sunday morning with people driving to and from St. John Lutheran Church of Amelith."
UP AND DOWN
Notable gainers and losers of population from 2006 to 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau:
Frankenlust Twp. (Bay Co.) + 81 (+ 2.7%)
Mount Forest Twp. (Bay Co.) + 34 (+ 2.0 %)
Garfield Twp. (Bay Co.) + 19 (+ 1.0%)
Grim Twp. (Gladwin Co.) + 2 (+ 0.9%)
Indianfields Twp. (Tuscola Co.) + 52 (+ 0.8 %)
Billings Twp. (Gladwin Co.) - 47 (- 1.7%)
Standish Twp. (Arenac Co.) - 32 (- 1.6%)
Clare city (Clare Co.) - 41 (- 1.3%)
Sebewaing Twp. (Huron Co.) - 35 (- 1.3%)
Bay City (Bay Co.) - 315 (- 0.9%) | <urn:uuid:5ad74ff0-5e28-4c8f-9cac-03c319a978b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blog.mlive.com/bctimes/2008/08/while_most_areas_of_northeaste.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954152 | 1,038 | 1.5 | 2 |
Honda engineers provided
a glimpse of the future last month, unveiling a personal mobility device that
looks like a boom box but rides like a unicycle.
the U3-X, the new device is being considered as a means of pedestrian travel,
particularly for people who need to walk long distances. Moving at a top speed
of about 6 kilometers per hour, the U3-X is said to be fast enough and small
enough to blend into everyday pedestrian traffic, whether outdoors or indoors.
"The question for us was, ‘How can
we create a personal mobility device that co-exists in harmony with people?'"
said Shin-ichiro Kobashi, Honda's lead engineer on the U3-X project during a
demonstration at the Society of
Automotive Engineers (SAE) World Congress held in Detroit in April.
Honda engineers believe they've
achieved that ideal by combining a unique omni-directional traction system and balance-control
technology within a small, sturdy frame. The device, weighing a scant 22 lbs., uses
an inclinometer to sense tilt, then sends a message to the balance control
system, which turns the drive wheels to maintain balance. During an SAE press
conference, Honda engineers demonstrated the U3-X's ability to keep its balance
by allowing it to stand on end by itself, with no help and no rider. They also permitted
users with no prior experience to ride the device, without incident.
Drivers of the device make it move straight
forward or backward, side-to-side, or diagonally merely by leaning their
shoulders in the desired direction. When that happens, the incline sensor
detects the shifting of the user's weight and then determines the rider's
intentions. To regain its balance, the device moves its wheels in a direction
that compensates for the body shift. In that sense, the U3-X is very similar to
the famed Segway personal transportation
Where the U3-X differs dramatically
from the Segway, however, is in its use of the Honda Omni-Traction (HOT) drive
system," which enables it to move in any direction. Using multiple
small-diameter wheels connected in line to form one large wheel, the device can
quickly scoot to the left or right, forward or backward. By turning its large
diameter wheel, the U3-X goes forward or backward and by turning its small
diameter wheels, it can go side to side. Combining those movements, it can
Power for the device comes from a
lithium-ion battery pack. Operation time is approximately one hour.
While using the U3-X, riders sit
atop a fold-out seat and place their feet on fold-out pedals. When finished,
they can store the foot pedals and seat inside the main body of the 650-mm
(26-inch) tall U3-X frame for easy carrying.
Honda, which is not yet marketing
the U3-X, says it isn't yet sure of all its possible uses. A Honda spokesman
mentioned the possibility of using it as a means of transport for the
handicapped, and noted that the technology might possibly also be incorporated
The U3-X grew out of efforts by
Honda's automation group as part of the well-known ASIMO bi-pedal human robot project.
Although it is not yet being marketed, Honda executives say the company is staying
with the design for the foreseeable future.
"We'll continue with the research
and development efforts," said David Iida, manager of corporate affairs and
communications for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "We want to make sure it's
something that people can use in their everyday lives."
its amazing how honda create devices like U3-X. Such personal mobility will help riders and possibly for handicapped people who have this vehicle. The company has a good concept for new technology honda parts. Thanks for a great article.
The 3D printing revolution seems to have a knack for quickly moving technology ahead by way of collaborative effort and even a little friendly competition -- all of course in the name of scientific advancement.
Advantech has launched a new series of motion-control I/O modules to meet the increased demands that come with more distributed industrial systems that require control of a growing number of axes and devices.
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is | <urn:uuid:d9917a16-cb6c-454e-8727-c05ad82d0fe8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=229029 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934015 | 1,066 | 2 | 2 |
The first Nike low-top basketball shoe,
introduced in the mid 1970's, was the "Bruin", while their first high-top basketball shoe was the
In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Nike produced very similar canvas sneakers. The high-top version was the "Blazer Canvas", while the low-top version was the "All Court" (not the "Bruin Canvas"). The above sample was from 1982.
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Last Updated: 18 April 2012 11:32
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Our mission is to provide quality feedback and guidance when possible via a non-threatening forum such as MLAC, whether from us directly or from MLAC membership. Student – Mentor relationships with extraterrestrials for this purpose is also highly encouraged, but may include other beings acting in a mentor capacity.
Oftentimes our mentors exist in different realms or realities. While many people will prefer to learn from an extraterrestrial, some may elect to start out with Bigfoot, their Guardian Angel or even an Ascended Master.
Experience has shown that mentors come and go as necessary and as we evolve. They have over time appeared to help people out of difficult situations or to prepare them for what’s ahead.
Todd has written about his many experiences and lessons learned in the books below.
Non-Fiction by Todd Michael on January 7, 2011
In his first book of a new and exciting series, author Todd Michael introduces readers to more than 50 real-world contact experiences as a UFO Night Tour Guide and Contactee. This book documents 4 years of real cases of contact with “Aliens” between the years 2006-2010, and he explains how this was done so you too can make contact. “Truly,” he exclaims, “they are waiting to meet us!”
Audience: Mentoring Students; Anyone wanting to make contact. The case material and instruction contained in this, the first book of the “mentoring” series, provides readers a wide-eyed view into the world of UFO/Paranormal contacts and what’s possible if we believe.
D.T. writes, “My UFO tour with you was so memorable that I think of it often. I had a lot of fun that night. And the tour to Shaman’s Dome was nothing short of amazing for me. The trip out there will be in my heart forever. Thank you for being such a great guide. You are filled with such kindness and compassion. I can see why the ET’s and Big Girl speak to you.“
Non-Fiction by Todd Michael on May 29, 2011
In this anticipated sequel, “Into The Wild: Relationships With Nature & ET”, Todd explores the connection between Humans, Nature, and Extraterrestrials. Do you want to know his view about 2012, Dimensional Portals, Bigfoot, Shape Shifting, Time-Travel, Sacred Geometry of the Pyramids, or the Secret Battle in Space? Todd answers many controversial questions and shares even more of his incredible contact cases for the first time!
Audience: Mentoring Students; The individual who is looking for more now that they’ve made contact. The case material and instruction contained in this, the second book of the “mentoring” series, provides students with thought-provoking insights into the reality of the world around them and how to share it with beings from other realms. The included contact cases also demonstrate the level of communication or relationship between us and them.
G.G. writes, “I am digging book 2. It’s reminding me of all my interesting experiences with other beings over the years. Bringing up memories and now viewing them in a different way. Love it and your straightforward writing style.”
Non-Fiction by Todd Michael due in 2012
Now, in his upcoming third book of the series, “Bigfoot: The Four Types of Contact”, Todd moves readers beyond belief. Not only is Bigfoot not who we think he is, Todd shows us that the elusive Sasquatch is actually willing and able to communicate with us… but only when we’re ready. This is the ultimate human relationship! This book continues the journey into Human self-awareness and reveals for the first time, astonishing insights into the world of the Bigfoot as experienced by the author!
Audience: Mentoring Students; Anyone who wants to know more about Bigfoot, or those who think they know who/what the Sasquatch is. This book is also for people wanting to better understand them selves, how to overcome fear of Sasquatch contact, and why so many people (including researchers) haven’t solved the Bigfoot puzzle after all of these years! | <urn:uuid:d60b1495-cc28-4b52-8a28-768f355d7c52> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mylifeaftercontact.com/?page_id=14 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958423 | 882 | 1.539063 | 2 |
Berkeley mom Jill Suttie carpools with other families to school, but can she do even more carsharing? Photo credit: Don Arbor
Ever since my husband traded in his Saab sedan for a Toyota Prius in 2005, I’ve been wondering if I should do the same with my Volvo station wagon.
The car is only eight years old with less than 100,000 miles on it, but it gets half the gas mileage of the Prius and is more car than I need for most everyday driving. With global warming and rising gas prices, getting rid of it seems to be the smart and ethical thing to do.
But I’m reluctant to lose the Volvo. Like many families with kids, I appreciate having a car that can haul a lot of gear and provide extra seating when I need it. The car has four-wheel drive, so our family can take winter ski trips to the mountains without carrying chains. If I replace my Volvo with a smaller, fuel-efficient car, I want to find a way to get four-wheel drive or larger cargo space when I need it.
Wouldn’t it be great if I could somehow “have my car and drive it too”?
Enter car sharing. Car sharing involves trading car ownership for having access to a car only when you need it. It is designed for people who need a car infrequently -- but it can also work for someone like me, who needs different cars for different occasions.
In Berkeley, California (where I live) City Car Share, a non-profit car-sharing program, has been in operation since 2002 and is one of the first of its kind in the world. For a nominal per use charge, anyone can pick up a car on a moment’s notice and drive it away for an hour or for up to a few days. There is no paperwork, no car insurance, and no costly maintenance.
According to Matt Nichols, principal transportation planner for Berkeley, becoming a member of City CarShare can save you thousands of dollars a year. He should know. He and his wife took the plunge, got rid of their car, and use City CarShare for almost all their driving needs. Their two kids have been raised with carsharing.
“It works great for us,” says Nichols. “It’s easier than you might think.”
There are car share companies like Zipcar and UCarShare that operate in several cities and universities all around the country. If you need a special kind of vehicle for a particular use––say a pickup truck if you’re hauling a load or a BMW is you want to impress your boss––they can often arrange that too. Since you only pay for the car when you use it, it encourages you to pay more attention to the actual costs associated with driving.
“Car sharing is great for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, because people drive less––50-75% less––when they are car-share members,” says Chris Ganson, senior research associate at the World Resources Institute in Washington DC.
When people get in their cars, says Ganson, they don’t think of the hidden costs of driving––like insurance, registration fees, parking costs, and general maintenance fees. But when they pay per use, the cost becomes more apparent, and that helps people think twice before taking off in a car instead of using alternative means of transportation or just staying home. “The more people don’t get in their cars, the less greenhouse gas emissions,” he says.
But there are benefits to car sharing besides reducing pollution. “The number one cause of death for people aged 1-35 in this country is auto collisions,” says Ganson. “When there are fewer cars on the road and less congestion, there are fewer accidents.”
He points to evidence from last summer when the recession hit: people drove less and there were 3-4,000 fewer deaths from auto accidents than expected based on statistics. Car sharing also reduces noise pollution and photo-chemical smog, encourages less road construction, and means less oil and other leaked fluids ending up in our waterways.
Plus parking a car is expensive, though the costs are often hidden. “The amount of public money spent for on-street parking around the country is somewhere between what we spend on Medicare and on the national defense budget,” Ganson says.
His arguments are compelling. But I’m afraid that my life has already been planned with car ownership as part of the equation. I live in the hills above Berkeley, a steep bike ride away from city lots with share cars. My kids’ school is ten miles away and public transportation is spotty at best. It would be impractical to give up car ownership completely.
What else can I do? That’s the question I tackle the next installment of “How to Share a Car.”
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- How I Saved $17,000 in One Year By Sharing | <urn:uuid:701ed678-c6f1-4482-ad39-b0cfb9c89fe4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to-share-a-car-part-i | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960367 | 1,150 | 1.851563 | 2 |
If you ask 5 game developers you may well get 5 different solutions or overlapping answers. The system to go for depends a lot on the type of game and the environment you exist in. There's also the divide between offline and real-time solutions. There's also no reason why octree and BSP tree solutions aren't also still used in certain scenarios.
Personally, for what I've worked on (racing games) we've used a pre-calculated static visibility system where offline we divide the world up into a grid, then we move the camera around inside the grid cell checking to see what it can see at a fairly coarse level. What we end up with is for every cell we have a bit list which says which models definately are not visible to the camera from that location. Once in game, we can very quickly get a subset of the world from which we can frustum cull to work out what we actually need to render in front of the camera.
Another title here uses a combination of that and portals, where you effectively have a door through which you can determine if you can see whats on the other side. If you can't see the door, you don't need to worry what's on the other side.
A real-time system that I've seen used (but have no personal experience of) is dPVS, which performs occlusion testing in real-time (they've got a paper linked from their website on how it works).
It all depends on what you need, different systems also allow you trade a bit of extra memory for speed. | <urn:uuid:e4d18d38-b0a7-40b4-ad7b-efb9345b47ba> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/7359/how-are-potentially-visible-sets-pvs-determined-in-state-of-the-art-games | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696382584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092622-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972402 | 323 | 1.671875 | 2 |
MONTREAL, Jan. 19, 2012 /ATR-Newswire/ ELECTRONICS.CA PUBLICATIONS, the electronics industry market research and knowledge network, announces the availability of a new report entitled "Nanometals in Electronics and Energy Markets: 2012 and Beyond".
In this report, analysts estimate that the total market for metallic nanoparticles, nanoinks and pastes, and nanostructures will grow to around $2.0 billion (USD) by 2017. The report is the latest in the firm’s ongoing coverage of nanomaterials for electronics and energy applications which dates back to 2005. It also detailed revenue forecasts for the materials covered broken out by application including printed circuit boards, consumer appliances, optical storage and computer memories, printed and organic electronics, smart windows, solar panels, energy storage, sensors, and chemical catalysts. It also provides detailed forecasts by material type including silver, gold, copper, platinum, palladium and other metallic nanomaterials.
The report also discusses the strategies of some of the leading suppliers of nanometals and related materials including American Elements, Beijing NanoMeet Technology, Cambrios, DuPont, Inframat, Johnson Matthey, JR Nanotech, Meliorum Technologies, MK Impex, NaBond, nanoComposix, Nanocs, NanoLab, Nanoco, Nanopatz, Nanoprobes, Nano-Oxides, Nano Silver Manufacturing, Nanostructured and Amorphous Materials, NN-Labs, Pilkington Glass, QuantumSphere, Reinste Nano Ventures, PowerMetal, Samsung, Sigma-Aldrich, SkySpring Nanomaterials, US Research Nanomaterials, UT Dots, and others.
The nanometals business has made considerable efforts to break out of its dependence on the R&D community for sales. Nonetheless, its efforts to sell nanometal replacements for traditional conductive inks over the past few years have not been especially successful. As a result, nanometals suppliers will have to refocus their efforts on novel applications, such as optical storage disks and catalysts for the energy and chemical industries.
These applications are riskier than the inks business and will also require more aggressive marketing. Firms selling transparent conductors based on nanometallic materials for use displays and solar panels are setting an example to other nanometals firms of how to build a commercial customer base. Analysts believe that if nanometals firms follow this lead, by 2017 almost 93 percent of the revenues for nanometals will come from markets that barely exist today.
Today, almost 85 percent of the nanometals business come from silver inks, pastes, particles and nanostructures, but by 2017, NanoMarkets believes that this number will reduce to 54 percent. The three big gainers are expected to be platinum, palladium and gold.
Platinum and palladium nanomaterials are expected to find a ready market as manufacturers of both sensors and chemical catalysts seek higher performance materials for their products. Catalytic applications for these and other nanomaterials are expected to generate more money in the future as it becomes increasingly necessary to squeeze more value out of expensive fuel sources. Meanwhile gold nanomaterials are likely to find generate new business in a number of different applications, especially as an enabler of new forms of information storage.
Details of the new report, table of contents and ordering information can be found on Electronics.ca Publications' website. View the report: Nanometals in Electronics and Energy Markets: 2012 and Beyond | <urn:uuid:b3e8ae60-685b-412c-926d-99e1a713942a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.electronics.ca/presscenter/articles/1659/1/NanoMarkets-Report-Projects-Rapid-Growth-in-Metallic-Nanomaterials-Over-the-Next-Eight-Years/Page1.html/print/1659 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00010-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906189 | 739 | 1.59375 | 2 |
Last week (January 21st-25th) was National No Name-Calling Week, an annual week created by GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network ) to promote educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and provide schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate name-calling in their communities.
While the week may have come and gone, there is a dire need to keep the message alive 365 days a year. A recent GLSEN study found that in the course of a single school year, two-thirds of teens reported being verbally or physically harassed because of their perceived or actual appearance, gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, race/ethnicity, disability or religion with most teens also reporting that they heard students making negative or offensive remarks related to these characteristics in their schools.
In an effort to reduce the use of anti-gay language among teens, GLSEN joined the Ad Council to launch the ThinkB4YouSpeak public service campaign nationwide. They are encouraging students, parents, teachers and school administrators to start taking steps aimed at reducing bullying, name-calling and anti-gay language.
Sometimes the signs of bullying are easy to identify and other times they can go undetected until it’s too late. For this reason, GLSEN and the Ad Council have developed a variety of tools such as elementary, middle and high school lesson plans, art lessons and resources to form anti-bullying committees/groups in schools and communities:
- Find out more about No Name-Calling Week and beyond activities: http://blog.glsen.org/need-ideas-for-no-name-calling-week/.
- No Name-Calling Week Planning Guide.
- GLSEN’s Creative Expressions Contest.
- GLSEN’s Think B4 You Speak PSA created with the Ad Council.
- Information about name-calling in sports with the Changing the Game resources.
- Link to the name-calling Tip Sheet for Parents.
You can learn more about No Name-Calling week at http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/cgi-bin/iowa/home.html. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter via #wordscanhurt and on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/nonamecallingweek. | <urn:uuid:987fa7d2-58e7-4d85-a2fa-63e14e9c2fe6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://portwashington-wi.patch.com/blog_posts/beyond-no-name-calling-week-a-365-call-to-action-in-your-schools-and-communities-a8f7a55e | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929754 | 490 | 3.25 | 3 |
Many of Grenada's top attractions focus on the production of spices, which is expected on a "Spice Island" that's one of the few places left in the Caribbean where agriculture remains a primary economic pursuit. But Grenada also has lovely beaches, great diving, and a rich history to discover...
When you live on an island, you tend to eat a lot of fish, and Fridays tend to be fish dinner nights in the Caribbean owing to residents' strong Christian faith, which discourages meat consumption on Fridays. Put that all together with a dash of community spirit and a fun-loving attitude and you have the weekly fish fries that are popular throughout the Caribbean. The village of Gouyave is known as the fishing capital of Grenada, and Gouyave Fish Fridays start at about 6 p.m. and run till after midnight, depending on the crowds. "Fried" doesn't necessarily mean "deep fried" -- you can get your fresh fish, lobsters, conch, shrimp and other delicacies grilled, jerked, or even in fish-cake form from the many vendors who set up shop, plus of course plenty of beer and local rum, served up to the beat of local bands.
This celebrated two-mile-long beach is the most popular on Grenada owing to its gentle surf, beautiful wide swath of sand, and ample activities, including a diversity of watersports, restaurants, beach bars, and fine hotels.
Like many Caribbean islands, Grenada has an interior that has remained relatively pristine thanks to its mountainous geography, and the farmer's (and resort-builder's) loss is your gain at the Grand Etang National Park. This high-elevation rainforest reserve boasts a variety of hiking paths with outings led by expert guides who can point out the various flora and fauna as you pass through, from mahogany trees to Mona monkeys. Grand Etang Lake sits in an extinct volcanic crater and is a great spot for bird-watching. For a truly immersive experience, you can camp out overnight in several campgrounds within the park.
Mt. Hartman Dove Sanctuary
Less than 100 Grenada Doves survive in the wild, all within this small preserve, part of the Mount Hartman Estate. Also known as the Pea Dove or Well's Dove, the Grenada Dove (Leptotila wellsi) is the national bird of Grenada. The park was established in 1996 with the express mission of protecting the remaining dove population, although the land has been periodically threatened by development. The doves roost in thorny, dry-scrub vegetation; guides can help you spot one of these rare birds in their last remaining natural habitat.
Follow a short, garden-like trail to Grenada's most popular waterfall, just outside St. George. The 30-foot falls can sometimes be a bit of a honky-tonk with vendors and performers flocking here to solicit the tourists, but the local color also can sometimes include amateur cliff-divers, a thrill to watch (if not participate). If you want to enjoy a quiet swim in the pool below the falls, time your visit for when there are no cruise ships in port.
Most plantations in the Caribbean have faded into history, so what makes Belmont Estate unique is that it still functions as an agricultural business, producing cocoa and nutmeg as well as entertaining tourists. Visitors to this 17th-century plantation can tour the organic farm and gardens, explore an on-site museum, and a cocoa-processing facility, meet farm animals at a petting zoo, dine at a cafe serving traditional island food like mutton and callaloo soup, and shop at a market for spices, crafts, and flowers.
Gouyave Nutmeg Processing Station
Prior to Hurricane Ivan in 2004, nutmeg was the top export crop in Grenada, but the storm destoyed many of the nutmeg trees on the island. Still, while cocoa is now number-one, the Spice Island still produces a prodigious amount of nutmeg. For just a dollar you can visit this working factory where nutmegs are collected, processed and packaged. It's a hands-on experience where you have the opportunity to help sort the nutmeg used as a spice from that destined to become medicine or cosmetics. And, of course, there's a gift shop where you can buy some nutmeg (and related souvenirs) to take home from your vacation.
This diverse cultural center includes a theater where you can experience dance and drama as well as live music (including steel pan and Calypso performances), an open-air restaurant, and a Grenada heritage museum that features a special standing exhibit on the history of West Indies cricket. | <urn:uuid:85a4f81f-6353-4732-8b27-aaaf2ffa5259> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://gocaribbean.about.com/od/grenadaactivities/tp/Top-Attractions-In-Grenada.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947277 | 968 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Links in the Chain: How the Foundation’s Efforts Support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
Children and families everywhere rely on the Foundation as a key partner in the fight against pediatric AIDS – and now, our work takes on added resonance as we join governments and major development institutions from around the world in pursuing the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Taken together, the eight MDGs amount to a comprehensive, ambitious action plan to proactively address urgent issues – hunger, poverty, gender equality and the eradication of infectious disease among them – that impact the lives of so many of the world’s poorest. The international community has made an ambitious commitment to achieving all of the MDGs by 2015.
The Foundation’s groundbreaking efforts to combat AIDS (as articulated in MDG #6) have had a unique “ripple effect.” Reductions in child mortality (MDG #4) and improvements in maternal health (MDG #5) are directly linked to our work; through our presence in 16 countries in Africa, we ensure that families receive the long-term care that they need, and we help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Here's a sampling of some of our recent MDG-related posts: | <urn:uuid:ae896d62-9e8a-416e-95ef-91d9c219ee82> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://pedaids.org/Miscellaneous/The-Foundation-and-the-United-Nations-MDGs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932331 | 262 | 2.5 | 2 |
A Weekly News Update on Pesticides, Health and Alternatives
See PANUPS updates service, for complete information.
August 24, 2006
USDA violates law with GMO field tests: According to federal judge J. Michael Seabright, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) violated the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act when they failed to conduct even preliminary impact studies before issuing permits to ProdiGene, Monsanto, Garst Seed and the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center that allowed them to grow genetically modified drug-producing corn and sugarcane in Hawaii. The plaintiffs in the case- Center for Food Safety, Pesticide Action Network North America, Friends of the Earth, and the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance KAHEA-sued USDA in November 2003, represented by Earthjustice and Center for Food Safety. Plaintiffs also challenged USDA's practice of concealing the locations of trials from the public, and in most cases not disclosing the substances being grown in the plants. This ruling is the first federal court decision involving “bio-pharm” crops, and an important step toward prohibiting hazards and irresponsible field testing of these crops. The New Standard has the story; read the court decision here.
U.S. EPA cuts public access to information: Even before Congressional review, EPA political appointees are shutting down important research libraries in anticipation of budget cuts from the Bush administration. Shutting down EPA's libraries will remove a valuable environmental resource from the public realm and reduce the transparency of EPA decision-making. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), representing three unions of 10,000 EPA staff scientists and other staff, is protesting the September 30th deadline to shut down regional libraries in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City. PEER announced this week that “public access to EPA libraries and collections will end as soon as possible,” and 80,000 original documents that are not electronically available will be boxed up and shipped for eventual 'digitizing,' though there are no funds directed for this purpose. “What is going on inside EPA is positively Orwellian,” says Jeff Ruch, executive director of PEER.
“Bad Actor” chemical sprayed in Santa Barbara; residents are fighting back: Naled, an organophosphate linked to endocrine and developmental health problems, was sprayed in Santa Barbara, California, after the discovery of three Oriental fruit flies. DDVP, a breakdown product of naled, is a known carcinogen and listed in California's Proposition 65 law requiring notice of chemical hazards. Residents reported feeling sick after the spraying and are planning actions to ensure the use of safer alternatives. Read more on the Santa Barbara Independent website.
You can join our efforts! We gladly accept donations for our work and all contributions are tax deductible in the United States. Visit http://www.panna.org/donate. | <urn:uuid:bb1d2464-8dd1-4d63-9f68-ea44811659e7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.panna.org/print/1190?quicktabs_1=0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00067-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918683 | 589 | 2.34375 | 2 |
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- The Wyoming Transportation Commission recently designated a 28-mile section of Wyoming Highway 70 in the southern part of the state as the Battle Pass Scenic Byway.
It is Wyoming's 16th scenic byway and runs through the Medicine Bow National Forest between Encampment and Baggs.
The byway crosses Battle Pass at 9,955 feet in the Sierra Madre Mountains, through an area rich in historic and cultural sites, scenic vistas and recreation opportunities.
The route passes between Bridger Peak and Battle Lake, and near the Huston Park and Encampment River wilderness areas and Hog Park Reservoir.
Designation as a byway makes a route eligible for federal grants to preserve and promote features along the highway. | <urn:uuid:28db2c3c-f952-4702-9485-c66d9c8261f1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.recordpub.com/ap%20travel/2012/12/03/section-of-wyo-70-designated-scenic-byway | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00016-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942934 | 160 | 1.5 | 2 |
Next Level Training is designed to take any athlete to the top of the competitive mountain. Donovin Darius spends over two hours covering every aspect in training athletes for speed, quickness, agility, strength and conditioning. No stone is left unturned as youth athletes of various skill levels demonstrate all the drills, skills and techniques used in Next Level Training & Performance.
Warm-UpDarius starts with a dynamic warm-up that includes 10 drills that get the muscles ready to fire for competition. Any coach wanting to transition from static stretching to a dynamic warm-up will find everything they need in this video. Darius' dynamic flexibility program shows you how to develop flexibility throughout the entire body with the help of 11 movement patterns.
SpeedLearn the proper sprint mechanics to maximize speed and the common mistakes that will slow you down. Darius uses resistance training to improve speed with the use of sleds and elastic bands. Your athletes will strengthen their drive phase and learn the mechanics of the "maximum speed phase" to improve the initial burst out of their stance and their ability to pull away from the opponent. Nine ladder drills develop coordination, timing, quick feet and the ability to move in multiple directions. The short-burst performed on the ladder drill will train your body to explode in and out of space to avoid defenders.
CoreThe core is the center of the universe! This core development program ties in traditional abdominal strength methods to other diverse methods that are sure to test any level of athlete while demanding core stability and rotational strength. Darius includes 18 drills that includes a medicine ball series, a pedestal or plank series, and explosive training drills to round out the core workout.
PlyometricsFourteen plyometric drills load the muscles and build tendons and ligaments for explosive quickness and change of direction ability. Also included are agility drills that incorporate reaction skills with lateral, linear, and backpedaling movements.
The variety of drills will amaze you.
Coach Darius does an incredible job of laying out all things needed to create a competitive team through flexibility, speed, and agility development. This video is amazingly comprehensive and will be the only video you need to make your speed and agility program complete from beginning to end.
146 minutes. 2013.
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© 2013 Championship Productions, Inc. | <urn:uuid:630b63c3-8146-4e49-8f0b-ff3355172183> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.championshipproductions.com/cgi-bin/champ/p/Football/Next-Level-Training-Speed-Strength-Agility-Conditioning-for-Football_FD-04273.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924023 | 515 | 1.554688 | 2 |
It is a season of love and marriage in Tsirang. Couples are tying their knots in elaborate wedding ceremonies. Every nook and corner of Tsirang is echoing with the sound of jubilation.
The wedding ceremony is a grand and elaborate affair in the southern Dzongkhags. For a couple to begin a new life, it is mandatory to undergo the wedding ceremony. The wedding celebrations begin days before the actual wedding day and go on for weeks. Several pre-wedding ceremonies take place before the actual wedding day.
The pre-wedding rituals are traditional customs that are considered to be auspicious for the wedding and the married life of the would-be couple. It is also a way to mentally and emotionally prepare the bride, groom and their families for the marriage. The pre-wedding rituals take place both at the bride and the groom’s place.
Today, Nar Bahadur Pradhan is going to the bride’s home, to officially seek permission to marry her. “I am happy because I am going to get my wife. I feel nervous at the same time fearing that I might miss something do during the wedding ceremony,” says the nervy groom.
On the other side, Dik Maya Pradhan, is preparing the biggest day of her life. She says she feels sad to leave her parents behind. “So far I have been living with my parents.”
The actual wedding ceremony takes place at the bride’s place. The wedding ceremonies mostly happen in the night. But it differs according to location and caste.
The couple ties their knot officially in front of many people. Family members, relatives and neighbours gather for the ceremony and rejoice throughout the night.
A short ceremony is held in the morning, before the groom takes away the bride. This ceremony is usually an emotional ceremony for the bride and her parents. The ceremony marks the end of bride’s stay with her parents to start a new life with the groom’s parents.
“I feel unhappy to give my daughter to someone. But it’s our tradition that we should sent our daughters to her husband’s home. Our ancestors have been following the tradition. So am trying to be strong and happily send her with her husband,” says Gita Maya Pradhan, the bride’s mother.
It is a tradition for the bride to leave her house and live with the husband’s family. Only if there is no male child in the bride’s family, then the groom will live with the bride’s family.
The ceremony is held mostly in the keeping with the tradition.
But the tradition is undergoing change with time.
For example, in a traditional marriage ceremony, the bride and the groom have no choice of their own. The weddings are arranged by their families and are bound to accept their parent’s choice. The marriage was also held at a very young age.
“Previously, we were married against our will by our parents. Before that marriage took place as early as seven years old,” says Lachi Maya Pradhan.
According to Kasi Nath, there were more divorce cases because people were forced to marry very early. “I got married at the age of eleven years old.”
But today, marriage is about choice. Arranged marriages are rarely happening. The boy or the girl can choose their own partners and propose their parents for the wedding ceremony. If their parents deny their proposal, they elope, after which most of their parents accept their relationship.
It is mandatory for relatives living in other parts of the country to come and participate in the wedding. It is also customary for those living outside their village to come and get married in their village.
“We have to come and attend the wedding ceremony. The bride is related me so I came from Thimphu to attend her wedding. We come and help them,” says Laxmi Narayan Pradhan.
People, both young and old, attend the wedding ceremony. For the younger ones it is a reminder that they have to undergo such ceremonies in the future. For the old ones, it is a time to reflect how successful their married life has been. It not just a ceremony for a couple to come together and start a new life but also a rare opportunity for the family members, relatives, friends and neighbours to get together. | <urn:uuid:bdd79679-a4ec-4399-b116-718da9435e1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bhutantodays.blogspot.com/2012/02/bhutan-season-of-love-and-marriage.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00001-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974398 | 924 | 2.3125 | 2 |
LAustralian Insurance Industry Awards.
GAustralia Banking and Finance Insurance Awards.
Allianz Australia Insurance Limited ABN 15 000 122 850 AFS Licence No. 234708
Copyright © 2013 Allianz Australia Limited ABN 21 000 006 226
While some governments and a lot of companies are losing precious time in climate protection, everyone can get a better idea of how business decisions impact climate change by playing the online game, CEO2, which has been launched by Allianz and WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature). Players can slip into the role of a CEO and test which business strategies work out to reduce carbon, reduce risks and increase the long-term profitability.
According to Nicholas Scofield, General Manager Corporate Affairs at Allianz Australia, “the aim of the game is to identify which investments at what time will set the course for profitable growth in the low carbon economy of the future. CEO2 shows the possible impacts of business decisions in the chemical, automobile, utility and finance industry over the next 20 years. The success of the player is measured according to the development of the stock price and the change in carbon emissions.”
Ahead of the UN-climate negotiations, some businesses are hesitant when it comes to climate change. Although research shows that many countries could profit from climate protection if they put in place a framework for middle- and longterm reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
“After 2020, the window for ambitious global CO2 reductions by 2050 will close rapidly. Significant reductions are necessary to limit temperature rise to below two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels and avoid the adverse consequences of climate change.
“A cost-optimal mitigation strategy for the transformation of the energy sector alone requires an increase in investment in low-emission technologies to an annual level of 400 to 1,000 billion US dollars by 2030, most of which would have to be provided by financial markets and industry,” Mr Scofield said.
CEO2 has been developed by Allianz and WWF to show long-term influence of investment cycles and the impact of business strategies and decisions in a playful way so that a broad public audience can better understand the interaction between economic activity and greenhouse gas emissions. The game is available at www.ceo2-game.com for free. | <urn:uuid:d6d59110-b0dc-4c39-94c2-a25df843d059> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.allianz.com.au/media/news/2010/allianz-and-wwf-call-on-budding-ceos | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928844 | 474 | 1.835938 | 2 |
I arrived to work on Wednesday (April 22) to learn that we were going to be ready to open the North Cascades Highway at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 24, one week earlier than predicted. This caught me (and many others) by surprise because up until then I had only heard that we were aiming for a May 1 opening. This was exciting news and was going to make a lot of highway users very happy.
Why were we able to open a week earlier than we thought? Because of the warm temperatures. Even though initially the warm temperatures were causing avalanches and making it very difficult and dangerous for our crews to clear the highway, it ended up helping us more than it hurt us. The warm weather moved (melted) far more snow in a very short amount time than we could have ever done with our snow blowers. Consequently, when the avalanche danger stabilized, we were able to blow through the remaining snow very quickly.
Opening the highway on Friday, April 24 will make many anglers very happy because it's just in time for the opening weeking of fishing season.
Plowing through the 37 miles of snow this year only took four weeks; two weeks less than last year.
When the gates swing open, drivers should find the road conditions bare and dry or bare and wet across the entire route. The weather forecast calls for temperatures in the mid 40s, clouds and a freezing level around 4,500 feet. There is a possibility of some rain forecast Saturday through Monday.
Over the last 10 years, the pass has reopened for traffic between March 10 and May 7. The latest opening was June 14, 1974. The reopening effort has taken from as little as two weeks to as many as eight weeks. The highway never closed during the drought winter of 1976-77. Updates and photos of the annual spring reopening are posted on the WSDOT SR 20 web page, www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades. | <urn:uuid:ac9d1ec9-9d0b-4b5b-bce4-25a948c62b40> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://wsdotblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/north-cascades-highway-is-open-one-week.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987144 | 411 | 1.625 | 2 |
CHILDHOOD AGRICULTURAL INJURY PREVENTION INITIATIVE
Evaluation: Evaluating Ohio's Tractor Certification Program: Traditional and Novel Approaches
NOTE: This page is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated.
Project Title: Evaluation: Evaluating Ohio's Tractor Certification Program: Traditional and Novel Approaches
Principal Investigator: J. R. Wilkins, III, DrPH
Affiliation: Ohio State University
City & State: Columbus, Ohio
Grant Number: 1 R01 CCR514370-01
Start & End Dates: 09/30/97 - 09/29/00
The proposed evaluation will consist of two separate studies conducted over a three-year time frame designed to, first, estimate the extent of participation in the OTMCP (Specific Aim 1) and, second, to estimate the extent to which participation results in enhanced safety knowledge, behavior changes, and increased protection motivation concepts (Specific Aim 2) through a quasi-experimental design using pre- and post-test measurements.
In Study 1, which will occur in Years 1 and 2, an estimate of the number of youth who are eligible to take the OTMCP based on specific criteria (see Specific Aim 1) will be determined by conducting a pre_assessment screening in a minimum of 10 randomly-selected counties in Ohio (see section 4.3, Sample Size Estimates). A screening survey will be administered to rural youth age 13-16 who participate in Ohio 4-H or vocational agriculture education. The screening survey (a draft is provided in the Appendix, item 6) will elicit information on current tractor and farm machinery operation and future plans for tractor and farm machinery operation before age 17. The estimate of eligible youth will serve as the denominator for the estimated proportion of youth who participate in the OTMCP. The numerator will be the number of youth who actually complete the course, which will be determined one year after the screening.
In Study 2, which will be conducted during Years 2 and 3 of the project, youth in all of the counties in Ohio that plan to offer the OTMCP within the next year will be screened for eligibility for the study. Inclusion criteria are: (a) 4-H member or vocational agriculture student; (b) 4-H member or vocational agriculture student between the ages of 13 and 16 (inclusive); and (c) currently operates tractor or other hazardous farm machinery OR intends to operate such equipment before age 17. In those counties that did not participate in Study 1, eligible 4-H members and vocational agricultural students will complete the pre_assessment screening survey described above.
A questionnaire measuring safety knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors will be administered four times: at the beginning of the school year, in the late winter after approximately half the OTMCP courses have been given, at the end of the school year, and at the end of the following school year. Since the OTMCP is taught at different times of the year in both 4-H and vocational agriculture education, there will be a natural staggering in the time period when students are actually taking the course, which will allow investigators to concurrently measure the responses of individuals who (a) have taken the course, (b) will eventually take the course but have not yet taken it, and (c) did not take the course. Although the data collection methods for 4-H and vocational agriculture may differ somewhat due to operational differences in the two programs, the same basic design tenets apply to both. The advantage of this design is that not only will it allow comparisons to be made between individuals who take the course versus those who do not, which may be a potentially biased comparison in that the latter group may contain persons who never intend to take it, but it will also provide a comparison group of persons who intend to take the course but have not yet taken it. | <urn:uuid:b590671e-c210-4b5f-815f-bbaeb5806e26> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/childag/CCR514370-01.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931573 | 801 | 2.09375 | 2 |
How To Identify Different Types Of Berries
Recognising edible and non edible berries from one another takes skill, and here are a few tips to help you identify the types of berries.
Berries have always been considered as nature’s wonderful gift to mankind. From Berry picking to preserving and pickling, many activities are centered around these berries that grow in the neighborhood. While most of the common varieties of berries are edible, there are certain others that cannot be eaten because they are poisonous.
Know Your Berries
The most popular of the berries are the strawberries - hailed as an exotic fruit, the blackberries and the blueberries both used in preparing traditional desserts. Colour is one of the most important determinants of a berry. Blackberry and blueberries are named after their colour. The size of a berry is also a determinant. While some are small, others can be fairly large and that can help you figure out what sort of berry it is.
One of the easiest tips to check a berry is to see if it has any bumps on its surface. Raspberries have a rough course surface while the blueberries are round and smooth. The plant on which the berries are found are also determinants of the kind of berry they are. The texture of the leaf, the plant, tree or vine in which grows are all determinants, which will tell you what you are dealing with. So by comparing just the size, shape, colour, texture and type of plant it grows on one can come to a conclusion about the kind of berries they are dealing with.
Stay Away From These
The holly, which is used to decorate homes on Christmas, is also a berry. But this is toxic and is therefore not edible. These are small and red and eating one of them might cause vomiting and diarrhea. Yew is another type of berry which comes in red and blue shades, has poisonous seeds. Privet is black in colour and the plant has purple flowers, but it is mildly poisonous.
Unless you are an expert on the topic of berries and can identify one from the other, it is not advisable to eat wild berries. Always bring them back home and check with others to verify the category of berry. | <urn:uuid:db374a12-b45f-484a-8541-f6d40af3d1c1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ifood.tv/blog/how-to-identify-different-types-of-berries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00049-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968614 | 462 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Search Results: Knowledge Sheets on 'guru'
Back - Topicwise Knowledge Sheets
Guru Is The GoalGuru is nothing but wisdom and love. Guru is that principle which is wisdom and love, and that is awakened in each one who has stepped onto the path. You also call that person a Guru in whom there is no gap between life and wisdom and love. Often one......Read More
Is guru satisfied (TRIPTH) or unsatisfied (ATRIPTH)?A student's job is to satisfy the Master.
But how can you satisfy someone who is already satisfied?
If Guru is satisfied, then your growth is shunned.
If Guru is unsatisfied, he's away from the Self.
If Guru is satisfied, then what can inspire you......Read More
The Guru-Disciple RelationshipHave you noticed when you find something beautiful, or when you love something? You want to hold on to it and possess it. Trying to possess love robs the beauty in love and makes love ugly. Then, that same love gives you pain.
Whenever you love somebody,......Read More
Guru's TidbitsWhat to do if your commitment is boring?
Commitment has value when things are not so charming. When things are interesting you do not need commitment at all. You never say you are committed to doing something that is very interesting or charming. Learning......Read More
Is Guru Responsible?Is Guru responsible for your enlightenment?
If yes and you don't get awakened, then Guru is to be blamed. And if you get freedom then also the Guru is to be blamed because he has been partial to you. If Guru could set you free, he could have done it......Read More
Being with the GuruPeople have various reasons to be with a Guru.
Broadly they can be put in these 5 catagories.
You would like to have your wishes fulfilled and because it is more pleasurable.
Everything else looks more painful to you and you come for comfort. | <urn:uuid:3a4cdead-ec89-4b03-91a6-62420db59a5c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.artofliving.org/de-en/knowledge-sheet-search/guru | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952546 | 415 | 1.65625 | 2 |
When you have diabetes, you and your family have a lot to learn. The good news is that people you can count on will help you and your parents understand diabetes and what you need to do to stay healthy.
Before you had diabetes, maybe you only met with a doctor or nurse when you went for a checkup. But now you may meet with many different people to help you understand your diabetes. Taking care of diabetes requires the know-how of many different health care workers. In fact, you'll have your very own team of experts to help you.
You'll have team members who will help you know what to eat, tell you which medicine to take, teach you all about diabetes and how to take care of yourself, and help you deal with any feelings or frustrations you're having about taking care of your diabetes.
So, who's the captain of this team? You are! That's right — you are the most important member of your diabetes team. Your parents still play a very important role — think of them as your cocaptains. But mostly everyone on the team is working to help you take care of your diabetes.
Here are some other diabetes team members you may meet during your checkups:
Your doctor is like your diabetes team coach. He or she can teach you all about diabetes and can come up with a game plan for taking care of your diabetes. This game plan is called a treatment plan, or diabetes management plan.
Your doctor might be a pediatric endocrinologist (say: pee-dee-at-rik en-doh-krih-nal-eh-jist). Pediatric endocrinologists help kids with diabetes, growth problems, and more. But other kinds of doctors like pediatricians and family doctors can also help kids with diabetes.
When you go to see your doctor, he or she will ask you questions about how you're feeling and will check different parts of your body. You'll also get your blood pressure taken with a cuff that goes around your arm. And to see how you're doing with your diabetes, your doctor may look at your diabetes records and check your blood sugar level or get a urine (pee) sample.
Just like the coach of a team, your doctor doesn't do it all alone. He or she will want to hear what the other team members have to say, then make changes to your diabetes plan if they're needed.
Certified diabetes educators (say: ser-tuh-fide dye-uh-be-tees eh-dyoo-kay-ters) are people who have special training in helping people manage their diabetes. These professionals will teach you what diabetes is and how it affects the body.
help you and your parents learn how to give insulin (say: in-suh-lin) shots if you need them or use an insulin pump
teach you and your parents what to do if you have high and low blood sugar levels
show your parents how to adjust your insulin when you're exercising or not feeling well
show you how to test your blood sugar levels and make sure your testing machines work right
talk to you and your parents about any problems you might be having with your diabetes
Registered dietitians are experts in food and nutrition. They will:
teach you about how food affects your blood sugar levels and make sure you're getting enough food to grow and develop properly
ask you questions about the types of foods you like to eat and how much exercise you get each day
help your parents plan meals and snacks that fit into your schedule
give you some tasty snack ideas
you learn how to make healthy food choices
help you make changes to your meal plan when you have special occasions like sporting events, vacations, holidays, and parties
Make sure to tell the dietitian if you're feeling hungry all the time or have other questions about how and what you eat.
Mental Health Professionals
Mental health professionals are social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, or counselors, and they can be a big help for kids dealing with diabetes. If you're feeling sad or frustrated about your diabetes, they can help you.
Mental health professionals may ask you about any troubles or problems you're having at home or at school. Or they may ask you if you think your friends or family members are doing anything that is making it hard for you to take care of your diabetes.
So now you know who's on your diabetes team. It's a good feeling to know that you have a lot of people to help you take care of yourself. This team is dedicated to helping you feel your best and be your healthiest. Go, team! | <urn:uuid:60d3b7bb-7c69-4021-9ac3-fa509a1445db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?dn=K_HovnanianChildrens_Hospital&lic=184&cat_id=20491&article_set=41578&ps=304 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00024-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964844 | 956 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Lectures, Family Days and Demonstrations Enhance Spring Studio Furniture Exhibition
Media only: Laura Baptiste (202) 275-1595
Amy Mannarino (202) 275-1592
Public only: (202) 633-1000
Web site: http://AmericanArt.si.edu/press
A wide variety of free public programs are planned at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in conjunction with "Right at Home: American Studio Furniture." From elegant and streamlined to bright and bold, the designs in this exhibition highlight the originality, craftsmanship and personalities of studio furniture artists. This exhibition, on view April 2 through Jan. 23, 2005, contains 58 objects by 47 artists and include both functional and purely sculptural pieces.
All programs are free and held at the Renwick Gallery unless otherwise noted. For additional programming and the most current information, call (202) 633-1000 or visit the museum's Web site at AmericanArt.si.edu.
Distinguished Artist Lecture Series
Distinguished Artist Lecture with Wendell Castle
Sunday, April 25, 3 p.m.
Wendell Castle, an undisputed leader in the studio furniture field, studied industrial design and sculpture before becoming artist-in-residence at the Rochester Institute of Technology School of American Craftsmen almost 20 years ago. His work has won countless awards for its innovative sculptural approach to furniture design. In this illustrated lecture, he discusses the progression of his work while highlighting favorite pieces, including the Renwick Gallery's own "Ghost Clock."
Distinguished Artist Lecture with Kim Schmahmann
Saturday, June 26, 3 p.m.
Schmahmann is a conceptual artist who uses fine furniture as his medium to express social and political ideas. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Schmahmann received a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Natal in South Africa. As a master craftsman, he brings a diverse background and set of influences to his work. This illustrated lecture highlights some of the witty details in the Renwick Gallery's "Bureau of Bureaucracy" as well as some of his current ideas on furniture and art.
Artistic Insights with Andy Buck
Sunday, March 14, 3 p.m.
Buck is a third-generation furniture maker whose work pairs traditional methods and materials with brightly painted surfaces. In this illustrated lecture, Buck focuses on his inspirations as well as his processes for turning ideas into humorous and distinctive finished products. James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Artist Lecture
Illustrated Lecture with Neil Gager
Saturday, April 10, 3 p.m.
What are some of the exotic woods used in contemporary furniture making today? Join Neil Gager of Exotic Lumber, Inc. to discover the sources, varieties and beauty of wood. In this illustrated lecture, Gager brings samples of wood species from around the world, ranging from cocobolo to curly pine to purpleheart and more. Learn about the properties of various wood species and some of their surprising past and present uses.
Artistic Insights with Jacob Cress
Sunday, April 18, 3 p.m.
Cress, a self-taught master craftsman, makes beautiful traditional pieces such as cabinets and desks as well as "animated furniture" like his "Oops!" chair in the Renwick Gallery's permanent collection. He shares the inspiration for his animated pieces and discusses how the process can differ from his more traditional work.
Artistic Insights with Rob Womack
Saturday, April 24, 3 p.m.
Womack, co-owner of Coloratura studio in Richmond, Va. and a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, creates one-of-a-kind, hand-painted furniture, which seems to come alive with his images. His piece "All Found" is a new addition to the Renwick Gallery's permanent collection.
Decorating with Interior Designer Michael Roberson
Sunday, May 2, 3 p.m.
You've bought your piece of studio furniture, so what's next? Join Roberson, owner of Michael Roberson Interior Design in Arlington, Va., to learn how one piece can be a starting point for decorating an entire room. Roberson's insider tips come from more than 20 years of home design experience.
Artistic Insights with Mary Little and Peter Wheeler
Sunday, May 16, 2 p.m.
Little and Wheeler received their master's degrees from London's Royal College of Art. The pair designs furniture using mixed media, a variety of indigenous hardwoods and commissioned fabric from local fiber artists. Little's work focuses on creating one-of-a-kind pieces, while Wheeler designs furniture systems that can be manufactured in large quantities. James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Artist Lecture
Urban Forest Conservation with the Parks & People Foundation
Saturday, May 22, 3 p.m.
Learn more about the urban forest with Guy Hager of the Baltimore-based Parks & People Foundation. This illustrated lecture gives tips on how to conserve and protect trees in your own urban community. Discover some of the foundation's new ideas for using wood waste including making it available to artists and furniture makers.
Stories from the "Antiques Road Show" with J. Michael Flanigan
Sunday, May 23, 3 p.m.
Flanigan, an expert furniture restorer and appraiser, recounts triumphs while on the road with PBS's "Antiques Road Show." Hear about his discoveries and tips on how he approaches furniture appraisal. Note: There will be no furniture appraisal at the program.
Artistic Insights with Jon Sutter
Sunday, June 20, 3 p.m.
Sutter turns disparate materials into fine furniture; "Under Continuous Monitor," part of the Renwick Gallery's permanent collection, combines birch and poplar with concrete and aluminum. Sutter began school as an engineering and physics major before switching to art. His illustrated lecture focuses on how science and art inspire his industrial pieces.
Studio Furniture Family Day
Saturday, June 5, 1 p.m.
Robin Greenstein has been a singer and songwriter for more than 20 years, mixing jazz, folk, pop and blues tunes on the guitar, banjo and ukulele. Greenstein will bring in pieces of a guitar to show how this popular wooden instrument is constructed. In a "hands-on" activity, children can use a variety of materials to design their own furniture.
Select Wednesdays and Sundays from April 4–July 21, noon–3 p.m.
Local artists demonstrate various woodworking techniques used to create furniture and answer audience questions. Each demonstration will focus on a different aspect of furniture making. For a schedule, go to AmericanArt.si.edu/calendar.
Public Walk-in Tours
Weekday Tours: Daily at noon
Weekend Tours: Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m.
Tours meet in the lobby beginning on April 2.
The Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W., near the Farragut North (Red line) and Farragut West (Blue and Orange lines) Metrorail stations. Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission is free. Public information: (202) 633-1000; (202) 357-1729 (TTY). Recorded information: (202) 275-1500. AmericanArt.si.edu..
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For some people, March Madness means lots and lots of basketball. For me, March Madness refers to lots and lots of garden chores.
And as the temperatures begin to warm, my mind races with everything I want to get done this month.
I’ve been working feverishly in the greenhouse starting perennials, annuals and most recently tomatoes and peppers. The broccoli seedlings are growing nicely..
This year I am placing mason bee houses near my garden to attract these marvelous pollinators. Mason bees do not produce honey and do not live in hives. They are a solitary, non aggressive, native bee that nest in holes of trees or these nifty little houses…
Remember when I Cut the Coleus? The cuttings have wintered well
and now it’s time to take cuttings from my cuttings.
The winter wheat planted in my garden area (as a cover crop) has done well even during the construction of the coop/shed. The purpose of the cover crop is to provide weed control and add nitrogen to the soil when it’s tilled under and allowed to break down.
Next, I took soil samples from two garden areas. A soil sample is a free service offered through the county extension office and will provide a detailed report of the nutrients in your soil. If you are planning a garden this year, you should consider having this done. For people in Washington county, the extension office is across from the fair grounds entrance on McConnell St. For my Madison county friends, ours is across from the middle school on 412 business. You will want to get one box for each garden spot you want tested. I picked up two boxes. One for my vegetable garden and one for my new sweet potato bed. Complete instructions are on the box.
For each garden, dig about 6-8 inches into the soil and scoop up a small amount and place in a container. Do this in several areas throughout your garden to get a variety of samples. Mix well and place in the box. Be sure to label all the boxes! Drop them off at the extension office and in a seven to fourteen days, you will get an analysis of your soil and what needs to be added.
Next, I tackled the new sweet potato bed. We had just enough old railroad ties to do the sides,
and I have been saving boxes to put down as a weed barrier.
I like using cardboard or newspapers for weed barriers as they will break down over time and become part of the soil. Sheldon Gray Kitty Cooper arrived to do his inspection. I’m sure he will have some insightful suggestions.
The calves were also watching the progress.
Actually, their favorite food is sunflowers. Grrr….
And what would I do without the constant support and supervision of my sweet Annie.
We’ve had a busy day!
Don’t forget to spring forward this weekend!
p.s. 12 days til spring!!! | <urn:uuid:9a08848c-073c-4c29-a05d-2dddef29ad7d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://theblondegardener.com/2013/03/08/march-madness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00044-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959442 | 611 | 2 | 2 |