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A forced warm air duct heating/cooling system should have a Return "area" that is at the LEAST equal to the Supply area.
In other words, if the Main Supply duct is 8x20 (160 sq in ) then the Return size should be at least 160 sq in or even approx 10 % more.
Hopefully, the Supply caculation and the Unit (btu and cooling tonnage) are sized properly in the first place via Manual J and Manual D to determine the correct heat loss/gain.
As for placement of Returns,they are best on the floor opposite and farthest away from the Supplys which are best when placed on the exterior of the rooms (under windows)
Ex; Supplys on the exterior of the room
Returns on the interior of the room
note; for cooling purposes only, Returns can be placed in the interior high-wall location, or for both heating and cooling they can be located in the SAME stud space and activated by installing a damper in the lower grille.
Last edited by Hube; 08-20-2008 at 08:02 AM. | <urn:uuid:01d17152-500a-43f3-a2b9-9288ffc79d84> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.houserepairtalk.com/f8/cold-air-return-ducts-4806/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00074-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928417 | 230 | 1.820313 | 2 |
Who Was the Real St Patrick?
Fifteen hundred years ago Ireland was an idol-worshiping, slave-trading nation of savage pagans. In just one generation Ireland was transformed into a godly nation known for its scholars and missionaries. In his best-selling book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill writes that this national transformation was primarily the work of one man—Patrick.
When Patrick was a teenager in Britain, he was captured by pirates and forced into slavery in Ireland. During this time he had a life-changing encounter with the Lord.
After six years of cruel slavery, he escaped and returned home, but he soon received a divine call to return to minister to those who had enslaved him. In a vision, he heard one of his captors say, “We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and walk again among us.” Can you imagine being called to minister the love of Jesus to the very people who had enslaved you for six years? Patrick responded to that vision and returned to Ireland to preach the gospel.
Shouldn’t disciples make a positive impact on their communities? Is it actually possible to disciple a nation?
During his 30 years of missionary work in Ireland, Patrick helped establish more than 700 churches and schools and trained more than 3000 ministers, many of whom went as missionaries to Scotland, England, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. Patrick’s schools became some of the most important learning institutions in Europe during the Middle Ages, but his ministry went beyond just church work. He also helped transform government and reform laws that brought the end of slavery in Ireland.
The real St Patrick did more than wear green hats, drink green beer, and sponsor parades. So, instead of merely wearing green, why not celebrate St Patrick’s Day the way Patrick would, by MAKING DISCIPLES?
Happy St Patrick’s Day.
Exerted and edited from WikiChurch. | <urn:uuid:c9b222ab-761b-409c-bba6-362a735f6383> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://stevemurrell.com/who-was-the-real-st-patrick/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981866 | 408 | 3.421875 | 3 |
MALI UN: respect human rights and facilitate political process, says Ban
ROME, Italy, January 28, 2013/African Press Organization (APO)/ – French and Malian troops are advancing in their objective to regain the territory in the north now occupied by armed Islamic groups, and the Bamako authorities are convinced that the war will soon be over. Nevertheless, the humanitarian situation is a deep concern, with over 370,000 displaced persons and a serious food crisis, as the European Union has denounced. Moreover, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has informed President of Mali Dioncounda Traoré of his concern over human rights violations and has asked Traoré to ensure and enforce respect for humanitarian law. Ban pointed out the importance of pursuing a political process that leads to a roadmap for transition.
Italy has offered its contribution toward a solution to the Mali crisis in the form of trainers (from 15 to 24) within the context of the EU training mission. Logistical support for France, Terzi underscored, “is a priority that we are confident the next parliament will confront”, but “at the moment the political conditions are lacking”, in this “parliamentary phase with a resigning government”.
Terzi reiterated the Italian government’s “strong political support and total involvement on the level of international diplomacy” for the French operations in Mali, but that at the present time “a direct form of support is hindered by domestic political conditions”. In the current parliamentary phase, Terzi then specified, there aren’t the conditions “to pass a law, a legal provision that would allow us to provide more direct logistical support for the operations. And this is the point that we intend to more fully analyse”.
Italy – Ministry of Foreign Affairs | <urn:uuid:95054992-e253-4a3e-a685-80c764576242> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://appablog.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/mali-un-respect-human-rights-and-facilitate-political-process-says-ban/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95101 | 373 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Laboratory Tests for Cancer
Laboratory Tests for Cancer
How is cancer diagnosed?
There is no single test that can accurately diagnose cancer. The complete evaluation of a patient usually requires a thorough history and physical examination along with diagnostic testing. Many tests are needed to determine whether a person has cancer, or if another condition (such as an infection) is mimicking the symptoms of cancer. The doctor forms a list of possible diagnoses that can explain the symptoms and complaints, and then orders testing to confirm a diagnosis and/or to exclude other potential diagnoses. Effective diagnostic testing is used to confirm or eliminate the presence of disease, monitor the disease process, and plan for and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. In some cases, it is necessary to repeat testing when a person’s condition has changed, if a sample collected was not of good quality, or an abnormal test result needs to be confirmed. Diagnostic procedures for cancer may include imaging, laboratory tests (including tests for tumor markers), tumor biopsy, endoscopic examination, surgery, or genetic testing.
What are the different types of laboratory tests?
Clinical lab testing uses chemical processes to measure levels of chemical components in body fluids and tissues. The most common specimens used in clinical lab tests are blood and urine. Many different tests exist to detect and measure almost any type of chemical component in blood or urine. Components may include blood glucose, electrolytes, enzymes, hormones, lipids (fats), other metabolic substances, and proteins. The following are some of the more common laboratory tests:
Blood tests. A variety of blood tests are used to check the levels of substances in the blood that indicate how healthy the body is and whether infection is present. For example, blood tests revealing elevated levels of waste products, such as creatinine or blood urea nitrogen, indicate that the kidneys are not working efficiently to filter those substances out. Other tests check the presence of electrolytes--chemical compounds, such as sodium and potassium that are critical to the body's healthy functioning. Coagulation studies determine how quickly the blood clots.
A complete blood count (CBC) measures the size, number, and maturity of the different blood cells in a specific volume of blood. This is one of the most common tests performed. Red blood cells are important for carrying oxygen and fighting anemia and fatigue; the hemoglobin portion of the CBC measures the oxygen-carrying capacity of the red blood cells, while the hematocrit measures the percentage of red blood cells in the blood. White blood cells fight infection. Increased numbers of white blood cells, therefore, may indicate the presence of an infection. Platelets prevent the body from bleeding and bruising easily.
Urinalysis. Urinalysis breaks down the components of urine to check for the presence of drugs, blood, protein, and other substances. Blood in the urine (hematuria) may be the result of a benign (noncancerous) condition, but it can also indicate an infection or other problem. High levels of protein in the urine (proteinuria) may indicate a kidney or cardiovascular problem.
Tumor markers. Tumor markers are substances either released by cancer cells into the blood or urine, or substances created by the body in response to cancer cells. Tumor markers are used to evaluate how well a patient has responded to treatment and to check for tumor recurrence. Research is currently being conducted on the role of tumor markers in detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancers, and new tumor markers are continuously being introduced.
Tumor markers are useful in identifying potential problems, but in most cases they must be used along with other tests for the following reasons:
Cells other than cancer cells also produce tumor markers. People with benign conditions may also have elevated levels of these substances in their blood.
Not every person with cancer has tumor markers.
Some tumor markers are not specific to any one type of cancer.
Sometimes, as the cancer becomes more malignant, it stops producing tumor markers, making it appear that the tumor has shrunk.
The following is a brief description of some of the more useful tumor markers:
Prostate-specific antigen (PSA). PSA is always present in low concentrations in the blood of adult males. An elevated PSA level in the blood may indicate prostate cancer, but other conditions, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatitis can also raise PSA levels. The velocity, or rapidity over time of the rise in PSA, is particularly useful. PSA levels are used to evaluate how a patient has responded to treatment and to check for cancer recurrence.
CA 125. Ovarian cancer is the most common cause of elevated CA 125, but cancers of the uterus, cervix, pancreas, liver, breast, lung, and digestive tract can also raise CA 125 levels. Several noncancerous conditions can also elevate CA 125. CA 125 is used primarily to monitor the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). CEA is normally found in small amounts in the blood. Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer that raises this tumor marker. Several other cancers can also raise levels of carcinoembryonic antigen.
Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). AFP is normally elevated in pregnant women since it is produced by the fetus. However, AFP is not usually found in the blood of adults. In men, and in women who are not pregnant, an elevated level of AFP may indicate liver cancer or cancer of the ovary or testicle. Noncancerous conditions may also cause somewhat elevated AFP levels.
Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). HCG is another substance that appears normally in pregnancy and is produced by the placenta. If pregnancy is ruled out, HCG may indicate cancer in the testis, ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas, and lung. Marijuana use can also raise HCG levels.
CA 19-9. This marker is associated with cancers in the colon, stomach, and bile duct. Elevated levels of CA 19-9 may indicate advanced cancer in the pancreas, but it is also associated with noncancerous conditions, including gallstones, pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, and cholecystitis.
CA 15-3. This marker is most useful in evaluating the effect of treatment for women with advanced breast cancer. Elevated levels of CA 15-3 are also associated with cancers of the ovary, lung, and prostate, as well as noncancerous conditions, such as benign breast or ovarian disease, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and hepatitis. Pregnancy and lactation also can raise CA 15-3 levels.
CA 27-29 This marker, like CA 15-3, is used to follow the course of treatment in women with advanced breast cancer. Cancers of the colon, stomach, kidney, lung, ovary, pancreas, uterus, and liver may also raise CA 27-29 levels. Noncancerous conditions associated with this substance are first trimester pregnancy, endometriosis, ovarian cysts, benign breast disease, kidney disease, and liver disease.
Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). LDH is a protein that normally appears throughout the body in small amounts. Many cancers can raise LDH levels, so it is not useful in identifying a specific kind of cancer. Measuring LDH levels can, however,be helpful in monitoring treatment for cancer. Noncancerous conditions that can raise LDH levels include heart failure, hypothyroidism, anemia, and lung or liver disease.
Neuron-specific enolase (NSE). NSE is associated with several cancers, but it is used most often to monitor treatment in patients with neuroblastoma or small cell lung cancer. | <urn:uuid:7b546170-1e36-41ef-b7ac-343818db62ee> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.summitmedicalcenter.net/health-education/85,p07248 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00017-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925502 | 1,607 | 3.5 | 4 |
On 21 January 2008, news broke of a major operation by Turkish police against an ultra-nationalist network known as Ergenekon. Commentators have since argued that a number of political assassinations – including the assassinations of a priest, Father Andrea Santoro in Trabzon (2006), Hrant Dink in Istanbul (2007) and a judge in Ankara in 2006 – originally assumed to be unconnected are in fact linked to leading Ergenekon members.
The name Ergenekon (which comes from an old Turkish legend about the origins of the Turkish people in Central Asia) was made public in 1997 in a book by journalists Can Dundar and Celal Kazadagli. In the book, entitled Ergenekon – The State inside the State, a former Turkish naval general (Erol Mutercimler) tells the authors that he had first learned in 1971 of the existence of "an organization above the Government, the General Staff and the bureaucracy. It was founded on the initiative of the CIA and the Pentagon after 27 May [1960, the first military coup]."
Mutercimler also told Dundar that he himself started to investigate the group. "There were generals, security personnel, professors, journalists, businessmen, average people inside it,” he discovered. "Small units that we nowadays call "gangs" are used as triggers by the larger organization called Ergenekon." Dundar notes that such entities were set up in other NATO countries as well during the Cold War, though Turkey's was never dismantled.
A serious investigation against Ergenekon only began in the summer of 2007 when munitions and weapons were found in a house in the Umraniye district of Istanbul. Because of a press embargo, little was known about the investigation – until 21 January 2008, when 37 people were arrested on suspicion of belonging to an ultra-nationalist network (Bianet).
In March 2008, journalist Samil Tayyar, Ankara correspondent of the Star daily newspaper, published Operation Ergenekon, an account of the deeds and ideology of this ultra-nationalist network. In an interview on 2 March, Tayyar explained his findings:
"Ergenekon is a structure targeting the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the EU process, using all kinds of illegal methods to reach their aims."
In his book, Tayyar also claims high-ranking generals attempted to organise coups in 2003 and 2004 against the AKP government.
"The normalization process which began when in 2004 the coup (planning) generals retired from the Turkish General Staff created a more secure environment for Turkish democracy. But when the opposition on the anti-AKP and anti-EU axis lost hope for a coup or a military warning to the government, they went underground from 2005 onwards."
Tayyar alleges that many of the political assassinations of recent years are linked to Ergenekon. The group's strategy, he claims, was not only to organize attacks against the government, liberal intellectuals and minority leaders, but also to attack Kemalist newspapers and intellectuals – and then blame Islamists.
Oktay Yildirim, a retired general whose fingerprints, according to Tayyar, were found on grenades discovered in the Umraniye raids, allegedly left detailed information about Ergenekon's structure on his computer. The data led to more raids (in Bursa and Eskisehir) and the collection of further information. To date, 50 persons have been arrested, including former military personnel, nationalist lawyers, politicians and journalists.
According to Tayyar, the investigation would not have been possible without collaboration between civil and military forces. In the interview with Sunday's Zaman on 2 March, he underlined that within the armed forces the unease about Ergenekon had become stronger:
"I think (Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar) Buyukanit, who will retire this August, indirectly contributed to the operation against Ergenekon… This is why there is a very serious reaction from the nationalists toward Buyukanit; they are not happy about his impartiality. Actually when you look at transcripts of the telephone conversations of the Ergenekon detainees, you can see the heavy cursing in them against Buyukanit."
On 21 March 2008, seven more persons were arrested, including Dogu Perincek, chairperson of the Workers' Party, Ilhan Selcuk, a columnist at the Cumhuriyet newspaper, and Kemal Alemdaroglu, a former rector of Istanbul University.
Who are the people charged with forming a terrorist organization with the aim of overthrowing the current government?
One prominent suspect is Veli Kucuk. Kucuk is widely considered by the press to be a former leader of JITEM (Jandarma Istihbarat ve Terorle Mucadele), the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-Terror unit, which played a role in the fight against the Kurdish PKK in South East Anatolia.
It has never been officially acknowledged that JITEM even exists. However, Kucuk himself was quoted in Today's Zaman on 30 January 2008 as acknowledging his own role as "founder of JITEM." Kucuk was active in South Eastern Turkey during the war against the PKK.
In an interview with Today's Zaman on 30 January 2008, informant Abdulkadir Aygan, who was allegedly involved in JITEM activities for many years, talked about Kucuk's role as JITEM commander in the years 1990-91:
"JITEM's headquarters was in a large building with two floors. All personnel in the building used to wear civilian clothes. The vehicles used in official service had civilian plates; however, these were the gendarmerie's registered vehicles. It is certain that he [Kucuk] was one of the founders of the organization. However, his assertion that he founded JITEM alone is not accurate. I think that he is trying to protect the masterminds and prove that he is loyal to them."
JITEM also features in at least two official reports. One, prepared in January 1997 by Kutlu Savas, special rapporteur of the Prime Minister's Office on the Susurluk scandal, exposed connections between the security forces, politicians and organized crime in operations against the PKK. The Savas report argued that JITEM existed:
"Even if the Gendarmerie's high command continues to deny it, the existence of JITEM is an unavoidable fact. It may be the case that JITEM no longer exists, that it was disbanded, that its personnel was transferred to other units, that the documents were archived. There are, however, a number of agents who served in JITEM, who are alive today. The existence of JITEM was, moreover, no mistake. JITEM was formed out of necessity."
(Bandenrepublik Türkei? Der Susurluk-Bericht des Ministerialinspektors Kutlu")
In 2002, Veli Kucuk wrote on the website www.ozturkler.com ("the true Turks"), that "the way of the great Turkish nation is through Ergenekon.” The site was maintained by Sedat Peker who Turkish media claim had served with Kucuk in the gendarmerie in Kocaeli in the 1990s. In 2007, Peker was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for involvement in organised crime. He is currently in prison and was recently interrogated by the prosecutor in the Ergenekon investigation.
Many Turkish papers also reported that the investigations have revealed a plan to assassinate Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk. According to daily Posta, Veli Kucuk had tried to arrange – through the contacts of a former army sergeant, Muhammed Yuce – for a hit man to target Pamuk.
Lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz is another key figure in the nationalist movement in Turkey, a revered figure among nationalists and founder of the Great Union of Lawyers (Buyuk Hukukcular Birligi), a right-wing NGO. In January 2008, he was arrested on charges of belonging to "a terrorist organization" with the aim of promoting instability.
According to Bianet, Kerincsiz
"[…] first came to public attention when he filed a complaint to stop a conference entitled 'The Ottoman Armenians in the Period of the Declining Empire' scheduled for May 2005. The conference finally took place on 23 September, but only because the organisers were able to circumvent the ban by hosting the conference at a venue not mentioned in the ban."
Kerincsiz used the sections of the Penal Code that curtail freedom of expression, such as Art. 301, to sue journalists, authors and academics. Ioannis Grigoriadis described this strategy in a paper in October 2006:
"Kerincsiz skilfully exploited the remaining illiberal traits of the Turkish criminal legislation, as well as the failure of judicial authorities to readjust the interpretation and implementation of existing legislation on liberal lines… Kerincsiz targeted an increasing number of Turkish intellectuals who personified the liberal democratic face of republican Turkey, as well as minorities"
Kerincsiz and the Great Union of Lawyers were responsible for most of the trials based on article 301. These included the trials of:
- Nobel prize winning author Orhan Pamuk, charged in 2005 for comments on the Armenian and Kurdish issues
- Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, charged repeatedly for denigrating Turkishness.
- Writer Elif Safak, charged in September 2006 for passages in her book, "The Bastard of Istanbul"
- Journalists such as Murat Belge, Ismet Berkan, Hasan Cemal, Erol Katircioglu, Haluk Sahin, charged in 2006.
Kerincsiz also staged several demonstrations in front of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, demanding its expulsion from Turkey. The prosecution claims that many of these actions were closely coordinated with Ergenekon to prepare the right political climate for targeted assassinations.
Sevgi Erenerol and Kemal Kerincsiz
Sevgi Erenerol, also arrested in the Ergenekon case, is the spokesperson for the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, and sister of the current primate, Papa Eftim IV. The Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate is a strange organization: it was founded by ethnic Greeks who supported the Turkish side during the War of Turkish Independence in 1922 to oppose the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Istanbul (this, before most of the Greek population of Turkey was exchanged with the Turkish population of Greece under the Lausanne Treaty).
The church is something of a family enterprise: Sevgi's grandfather was the first patriarch. After the population exchange in 1924 – which forced all Anatolian Greeks to leave Turkey – and following the move of the Erenerol family to Istanbul, the church has no community of believers to speak of, aside from the family itself. This has not stopped the church from accumulating wealth (with support from the authorities), however.
On 30 January 2008, Hurriyet wrote about "a patriarchate without community, but real estate". The Church currently owns three churches and many buildings in the centre of Istanbul seized from the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. Mustafa Akyol wrote on 2 February 2008 that the "mini-size but super-rich Turkish Orthodox Church has become a devotee of the most radical version of its founding ideology.”
According to daily Milliyet, the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul served as the place for regular Ergenekon meetings. Erenerol has herself been linked to the extreme right for many years. She was once a candidate of the nationalist MHP for Parliament.
In March 2008 police raided the offices of the small radical nationalist Worker's Party (IP). IP's leader, Dogu Perincek, was arrested on charges of "being a senior member of a terrorist organization and obtaining and possessing classified documents" (Today's Zaman).
According to Taraf daily, material was found at IP's headquarters which included detailed descriptions of the security protocol for Chief of General Staff Yasar Buyukanit's visits to two cities, as well as detailed drawings of court room buildings in Ankara. This is seen by some as evidence that Ergenekon was plotting further assassinations – to later be blamed on "Islamists". Perincek denies the allegations. He suggested that the Ergenekon investigation constituted an attempt to "exhaust the Turkish Army" (Today's Zaman) with unfounded allegations.
The number of individuals implicated in the Ergenekon investigation is growing by the day. The list of those arrested reads like a who's who of extreme right-wing nationalists, hard-line Kemalists, retired military, mobsters and nationalist intellectuals.
Ergun Poyraz: his bestselling book "Children of Moses: Tayyip and Emine" suggests that Prime Minister Erdogan's rose to power as part of a "Zionist conspiracy." He wrote a similar book about Abdullah Gul. As reported by Today's Zaman on 31 March 2008, a CD found at the nationalist Workers Party (IP) headquarters revealed that Poyraz received payments from JITEM.
Fikri Karadag: a retired military officer, today officially leader of the ultranationalist Association for the Union of Patriotic Forces
Muzaffer Tekin: arrested earlier in the context of an investigation into the assassination of State Council Judge Mustafa Yucel Ozbilgin in Ankara in May 2006 (four other judges were wounded in the attack). The assassination triggered anti-AKP demonstrations: Kemalist media had claimed that the murder was the result of "Islamic fundamentalism".
Sedat Peker, Sami Hostan (also called "Sami the Albanian"), Ali Yasak ("Drej Ali") and other alleged ultranationalist mafia figures.
According to numerous newspaper reports (such as Stargundem on 26 January 2008), the current investigation has already revealed links between the Ergenekon group and the 2006 State Council attack. The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has received a photo in which retired general Veli Kucuk is seen with Alparslan Arslan, the murder suspect currently on trial in the State Council case. Phone calls between the two, from before the attack, have also allegedly been recorded.
According to a Bianet report on 6 March 2008, the Ergenekon gang is suspected of involvement in bomb attacks on the Cumhuriyet newspaper in 2006, as well as the murder of historian Necip Hablemitoglu in December 2002. Durmus Anucin, one of those arrested, has apparently told the prosecution that he and Ibrahim Cifti were responsible for Hablemitoglu's murder. Cifti was subsequently murdered himself. The hand grenades used in Ciftci's killing are reportedly of the same series as those discovered in the arsenal in Umraniye in 2007.
On 1 April 2008, Lale Sariibrahimoglu commented in Today's Zaman:
"Today, those linked to the Ergenekon gang come from every walk of life and are ultranationalists, anti-European and believe that democratic reforms have been threatening the state's traditional sovereignty at the expense of enlarging citizen sovereignty."
According to numerous newspaper reports, the group was preparing a series of bomb attacks aimed at stirring up chaos ahead of a planned coup against the government in 2009. This would have brought Turkey's democratisation process and EU accession negotiations to a precipitous end.
What is the significance of this investigation? For the optimists among Turkey's commentators, it offers a vital opportunity to finally get to the bottom of a series of never investigated crimes and to strengthen the rule of law. Pessimists note that what is visible today is only the tip of the iceberg and doubt that a full-fledged crackdown will ever take place. As Radikal's Gokhan Ozgun notes, the Ergenekon gang is a large and dangerous formation, stretching beyond the limits of one's view of a "gang". | <urn:uuid:a4bbf598-81cb-41ee-932e-cf37a5e1e516> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esiweb.org/pdf/misc/assets/pdf/index.php?lang=fr&id=311&film_ID=10&slide_ID=29 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967739 | 3,355 | 2.046875 | 2 |
It has been estimated that approximately 80% of scarce and threatened natural habitat in South Africa is located on land that is not formally protected. Cape Nature realised that in order to ensure that conservation targets for threatened habitats are met, they cannot only rely on the proclamation of state-owned protected areas and thereby the Conservation Stewardship Programme was initiated.
The Conservation Stewardship Programme aims to create partnerships between landowners and CapeNature to ensure that the security and appropriate management of endangered ecosystems is achieved ¹. Cape Nature has designated extension officers specifically for the purpose of brokering contracts with landowners. The extension officer's role however encompasses more than purely signing of contracts, as the programme aims to broadly enhance relationships between landowners and conservation agencies and to increase awareness regarding environmental issues and management of land in a sustainable manner.
Role of the Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve
The Cape West Coast Biosphere Reserve has placed itself in a unique situation where a civil society based organisation is facilitating stewardship contracts on behalf of CapeNature. The Biosphere Reserve is located in area which contains habitats of global significance.
The Cape Floristic Region (CFR) is one of the listed global bio diversity hotspots according to Conservation International. Within the CFR, the lowland habitats are much more threatened than the mountain habitats due their suitability for agriculture and urbanization. The lowland habitats of the CFR have been reduced to small fragments throughout their range. A significant proportion of the lowland CFR habitats are located on the West Coast. Only a small proportion of the habitats are formally protected. Therefore Stewardship will play a vital role in the conservation of these habitat fragments.
What is Stewardship?
Stewardship refers to the "wise use, management and protection of that which has been entrusted to you. Within the context of conservation, stewardship means wisely using natural resources that you have been entrusted with on your property, protecting important ecosystems, effectively managing alien invasive species and fires, and grazing or harvesting without damaging the veld."¹
The vision of Stewardship¹
The vision of the Stewardship Program is threefold:
- To ensure that privately owned areas with high bio diversity value receive secure conservation status and are linked to a network of other conservation areas in the landscape.
- To ensure that landowners who commit their property to a stewardship option, will enjoy tangible benefits for their conservation actions.
- To expand bio diversity conservation by encouraging commitment to, and implementation of, good bio diversity management practice, on privately owned land, in such a way that the private landowner becomes an empowered decision maker.
CapeNature Stewardship Options
There are three options of Stewardship available. The three options vary in the level of commitment from the parties concerned. The three options are:
1Voluntary Conservation Area
2Bio diversity Agreement
3Contract Nature Reserve
For each of these options, a contract is signed between the landowner and CapeNature regarding the management of the land. For options 2 and 3, a Management Plan will be compiled for the site by the CWCBR in consultation with the landowner. For option 3, the Contract Nature Reserve, the reserve will be registered as a formal protected area according to the Protected Areas Act No 57 of 2003 and will be declared in the Government Gazette. The area declared a nature reserve will have to be rezoned to Open Space III and registered as such in the Title Deed.
The option that the site is awarded will depend on the conservation value of the site. Contract Nature Reserves will only be awarded to sites that are of a significant importance in terms of the conservation value.
For all of the options the landowner/s retains full ownership of all his/her/their land
Benefits to Landowners
For Options 1, 2, and 3:
- Basic habitat management guidelines and best practice advice
- Farm maps can be compiled and printed
For Option 2 and 3:
- Specific habitat management assistance such as alien plant clearing, fencing, fire & game management
- Free Comprehensive Management Plan in consultation with the landowner (a very basic management plan can be considered for Option 1)
For Option 3
- A municipal rates exclusion for the conserved area
- Preferential access to government land management programs, such as Working for Water.
- Enhanced recognition and marketing exposure
¹ CapeNature Stewardship Operational Procedures Manual | <urn:uuid:fbd91f60-beea-40a0-b2df-c4d5b6fea2fc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.capebiosphere.co.za/index.php/nature/conservation-stewardship | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926333 | 898 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Michael Bobelian, Contributor
I cover the Supreme Court, the law and its interplay with Wall Street
Page 3 of 4
The 100 or so highly-compensated lateral partners Dewey brought in recent years further contributed to this corrosive ethos: “To attract top talent,” Dewey declared in a bankruptcy filing, “the Firm agreed to partner compensation packages based on expectations and projections that, in many cases, were not ultimately met.”
At the end, the partners’ ties were too weak to sustain the firm as it began to collapse under a mountain of debt and promises to these new partners it could not keep in a struggling economic environment. Instead of serving as a redoubt during this crisis, 160 of Dewey’s partners fled the sinking firm this year.
Size alone didn’t kill Dewey: Skadden, for instance, has thrived during its growth spurt. Mismanagement struck the lethal blow. But Dewey’s immense and fast-paced growth did weaken the foundations upon which a partnership is built.
What Does It Mean To Be A Partner?
At the same time as Dewey and its ilk grew, other changes in the legal industry came to undermine the very concept of partnership. By the middle of the previous decade, many large firms expanded the use of the oxymoronic “non-equity” partner. A non-equity status entitled a lawyer with the title of partnership and often a boost in pay and a nicer office. It acted as a half-way house for long-serving lawyers deserving of a promotion who fell short of reaching the top tiers of the equity ranks.
Despite its benefits, a non-equity partner had little say in the management of a firm. Plus, as firms expanded its use, they institutionalized a system of haves and have-nots ripe for resentment to simmer.
Again, Dewey served as a prime example. According to the Am Law Daily, it had 115 non-equity partners compared to 190 equity partners among its ranks last year. Besides their lack of governance over the firm, these non-equity partners also pulled in far less pay than the equity partners, earning on average, less than a third in annual compensation.
The unequal pay structure was not unique to Dewey. The disparity in pay at the largest law firms grew exponentially over the past decade. Not only did most firms abandon the traditional lock-step arrangement basing remuneration on seniority, but most embraced a system where the differences between the highest and lowest paid partners increased dramatically.
This bode well for top performers but further diluted the concept of partnership by again allowing money, and not collegiality, loyalty, and a collective spirit that decoupled compensation from performance (the very backbone of the lock-step tradition), to define a partner’s relationship to her peers and to her firm.
All of this led to a massive turnover among partnership ranks during the past decade, shattering the taboo that seemed set in stone just a few years earlier. With partners eagerly shopping their skills and book of business as free agents, their loyalty to each other and to their respective firms tumbled to an all-time low. Over time, they came to resemble the rest of the workforce.
As the industry’s mindset deviated farther from its traditional roots, it’s not surprising that elite law firms, once considered immune from the economic vicissitudes that threatened other sectors, saw some of their most established names collapse.
No Longer My Brother’s Keeper | <urn:uuid:63ceb532-3633-46a8-9a41-9c1e4dd7212f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbobelian/2012/06/07/deweys-downfall-exposes-the-demise-of-partnerships/3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962586 | 739 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Confucius Institute to offer free Chinese calligraphy class Dec. 3
UI International Programs’ Confucius Institute will offer a Chinese calligraphy workshop Friday, Dec. 3, 2010, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in 248 Jessup Hall. Participants will learn the art and history of calligraphy while gaining hands-on experience. No prior knowledge of Chinese or of Chinese calligraphy is required and all materials will be provided.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required by Dec. 2, and can be found at http://international.uiowa.edu/confucius.
The workshop will be led by Ramon Lim, M.D., Ph.D., professor emeritus in the UI Department of Neurology. Lim is an expert calligrapher whose work has been exhibited widely in China, Korea and Japan. He is the vice president of the Calligraphy Society of the Rocky Mountain Area and winner of the 8th International Calligraphy Competition in Shanghai in 2005. Lim’s approach to calligraphy is unique in that he interprets the traditional Chinese brush work from the perspective of western esthetics.
For more information, contact Andrea Niehaus firstname.lastname@example.org or 319.335.1307. | <urn:uuid:a7d974ea-37f1-4a77-9aeb-5cf00c2d5b14> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://international.uiowa.edu/accents/post/confucius-institute-offer-free-chinese-calligraphy-class-dec-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90259 | 272 | 1.5 | 2 |
Calculating Overtime for Salaried Employees [Wage & Hour FAQ]
A. The question above is a positive sign, because if you find yourself asking it you've passed the first hurdle of realizing that not all "salaried" employees are exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Generally speaking, calculating overtime is a simple affair. Employees must be compensated for hours worked in excess of forty hours in a single workweek at a rate of one and one-half times the employee's regular hourly rate of pay. The "regular rate" is calculated by dividing an employee's total non-overtime compensation for the week by the total number of hours worked. For employees who are paid a simple hourly rate, this calculation is simple, as the regular rate is simply the employee's normally hourly rate of pay.
However, things get trickier when a non-exempt employee is paid a salary. Suppose Chuck is paid a salary of $1000 per week. He works 50 hours in a certain week - 40 hours of straight time, and 10 hours of overtime. To calculate Chuck's overtime pay, you need one more crucial piece of information: how many hours is the $1000 salary intended to cover?
According to the courts, this issue is a matter of the agreement between Chuck and his employer. Suppose the company has an employee handbook that says that the normal workweek consists of 35 hours. If, based upon that statement, there is a general understanding that the base salary is intended to cover 35 hours of straight-time work, Chuck's pay would be (assuming I have my math right) as follows:
Regular rate = $1000 / 35 hours = $28.57/hr
Total pay = Regular salary + 5 hrs additional straight time + 10 hrs at time and-a-half
Total pay = $1000 + (5hrs x $28.57/hr) + (10 hrs x $28.57/hr x 1.5) = $1,571.40
On the other hand, suppose Chuck and the company have an understanding that the $1,000 salary is intended to cover up to 50 hours of work per week. In that case, no additional straight-time pay would be due if Chuck works 50 hours. Chuck would still be entitled to an overtime premium for the 10 hours of overtime worked. However, because his salary covers straight-time for those hours, the additional overtime premium due is only one half of the regular rate of pay:
Regular rate = $1000 / 50 hours = $20/hr
Total pay = Regular salary + 10 hours at 1/2 the regular rate
Total pay = $1000 + (10hrs x $20/hr / 2) = $1,100
Now, a smart employer looking at the above calculation might say to itself, "Ah, let's agree that the employee's salary will cover up to 100 hours of work." That would make the regular rate just $10 per hour, and save the company $50 in overtime expenses, right? If this looks too good to be true, it is. First, if Chuck is never actually scheduled to work 100 hours in a week, that agreement will likely be viewed as a sham by the Department of Labor. Second, the regulations say that if Chuck works less than agreed number of hours, then his regular rate is calculated by dividing his total non-overtime compensation by the total number of hours worked. In other words, regardless of how many hours the salary is meant to cover, if he only works 50 hours, his regular rate will still be $20 per hour.
Now, one last wrinkle: suppose it's understood by all concerned that Chuck's salary is intended to cover his straight-time compensation not for a specified number of hours, but for all hours that he happens to work in any given week, regardless of how many or how few. While paying a fixed salary for a fluctuating workweek is permissible and can in some cases reduce your overtime liability, there are also some strict limitations on this method, and some new uncertainty introduced by some regulations recently published by the Department of Labor. We'll talk about those in another post. | <urn:uuid:727c8831-67c9-4b33-9f52-fe42501f832f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wagehourinsights.com/wage-and-hour-faqs/calculating-overtime-for-salaried-employees-fmla-faq/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969469 | 861 | 2.40625 | 2 |
The country’s underwater homes are slowly resurfacing as the housing market improves. But younger borrowers are still more likely to be submerged, a new report from real estate site Zillow.com finds.
Overall levels of negative equity improved in the second quarter of the year compared with the first quarter, as home values continue to rise. But about half of borrowers under 40 still owe more than their homes are worth, the analysis found.
Younger borrowers are more likely to be affected by negative equity in part because they generally have been in their home for shorter periods of time and had less time to build equity before the housing debacle. But on the bright side, younger borrowers tend to be in relatively “shallow” water compared to older borrowers and are less likely to be delinquent on payments, said Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow.com.
The disproportionate impact on younger borrowers may actually have a helpful effect on home values, by creating tight inventory of homes for sale. Younger borrowers trapped by negative equity tend to be reluctant to sell, even though their homes are often the most attractive to first-time buyers who might be ready to plunge into the market. “Sellers don’t want to sell, even if buyers want to buy,” he said.
When they do sell, prices are higher — which helps push values up. The process is actually moving the market toward recovery, but it’s a gradual process, he said. “Over all, the second-quarter report is positive,” said Mr. Humphries. “The housing market is healing, albeit slowly.”
These results come from the second edition of the new Zillow Negative Equity Report, which looks at current, outstanding loan amounts for individual, owner-occupied homes, and compares them to those homes’ current estimated values.
Of the 30 largest markets tracked by Zillow, negative equity fell the most from the first to the second quarter in the Phoenix metropolitan area (from nearly 56 percent to about 52 percent) and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area (from 46 percent to roughly 44 percent). The Las Vegas market continues to have the highest rate of negative equity, with nearly 69 percent of borrowers underwater (down from 71 percent in the first quarter.)
Are you an under-fortysomething with negative equity in your home? What will it take to get you to sell? | <urn:uuid:57f99f10-9f56-4832-8e82-18c354421ed6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/half-of-homeowners-under-40-are-still-underwater/?ref=business&gwh=F67416B7D140C1FC65E231B1FEFCB921 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959687 | 495 | 1.75 | 2 |
The Muslim Council of Britain continues to receive messages of concern from its network of mosques and affiliates with the cavalier attitude by those entrusted to observe due process with matters of civil rights and liberties of British residents and citizens.
In the past year the Muslim community has seen the deportation to the US of Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan. In what can only be construed as insensitivity and prejudice, the Home Secretary awaited their extradition before paving the way three months later for implementation of the ‘Forum Bar’ – a process that allows British courts to block an extradition request if they believe it is in the interests of justice for the defendant to stand trial in the UK.
More recent is the distressing case of the 23 year old Somali Mahdi Hashi, who lived in the UK since childhood, but was stripped of his British citizenship in what appears to be a move to facilitate rendition to the US, where he now languishes after torture in Djibouti.
However even graver is the travesty of the detention of Shaker Aamer, a British resident, now slowly dying in Guantanamo where he has been for eleven years today without trial!
The MCB, speaking for many Muslims in Britain, calls on the Foreign Secretary to seek their urgent repatriation to the UK, to face trial if necessary, and to give them back their lives. | <urn:uuid:239ee475-a109-4e5c-882a-5777aa89ca72> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mcb.org.uk/article_detail.php?article=announcement-1052 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961426 | 286 | 1.640625 | 2 |
Types of Savings Accounts
Online Savings Accounts
Many savings accounts are now operated completely over the internet with an emphasis on self management of the account. With very little input from the bank/ financial institution and few overheads they can afford to offer a more competitive interest rate to the customer.
Children’s savings accounts
Many banks/ financial institutions are keen to attract future potential customers by offering Children’s savings accounts with a high rate of interest and no fees or charges. The account will usually be managed by a parent or guardian but children can learn how to deposit money themselves and save for a goal with Children’s savings accounts often rewarding saving with bonus interest.
First home saver accounts
First Home Saver Accounts (FHSA) were introduced by the Australian Government in 2008 as a way of encouraging Australians to save for their first home in a simple and tax-effective way. To be eligible for a FHSA you must never have previously owned a property in Australia and money saved in your FHSA must be used to purchase/ build your first home.
The bonus of this type of savings account is that the money that you save in your FHSA will be topped up by Government contributions. Earnings on your FHSA are taxed at 15% which is paid by the account provider. For further information see: http://www.ato.gov.au/content/00250962.htm
Cash Management Account
Cash Management savings accounts are aimed at those with a larger amount of money to deposit. Interest rates will often be tiered with larger deposits earning a higher rate of interest. Your cash will still be easily accessible if required with most Cash Management accounts offering instant access to your funds if you need it.
Superannuation and retirement accounts
Superannuation savings accounts can be a simple and convenient way to save for retirement. It is possible to save as much or as little as you wish with your money safely locked away and earning interest. Money cannot be withdrawn from a superannuation savings fund unless you meet a condition of release under superannuation laws.
Christmas savings accounts
Christmas savings accounts are designed to help those who prefer to steadily save throughout the year for Christmas expenditure. Your savings can usually only be accessed over the Christmas period with penalties for withdrawing at any other time
Compare savings accounts from the following account providers...
On this website, WhistleOut only provides factual information about various savings accounts which is supplied from various account providers and is in no way providing, or taken to be providing you with personal financial advice.
We recommend that you seek professional financial advice before acting upon or relying on any information provided on this web site, or provided by visiting any website which is linked to our website, by way of a link to the website. Should you decide to apply for a savings account after visiting our website, you will be dealing with the provider of that savings account and not with WhistleOut.
WhistleOut may receive a receive a commission from some savings account providers. | <urn:uuid:2e33c209-1e2e-40d9-ac12-609588d4dfbb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.whistleout.com.au/SavingsAccounts/Types-of-Savings-Accounts | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941088 | 614 | 2.0625 | 2 |
If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd,
Which labouring for invention bear amiss
The second burthen of a former child.
Oh that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done,
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or where better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
Oh sure I am the wits of former days,
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.
The 1609 Quarto Version
IF their bee nothing new,but that which is,
Hath beene before , how are our braines beguild,
Which laboring for inuention beare amiſſe
The ſecond burthen of a former child ?
Oh that record could with a back-ward looke,
Euen of fiue hundreth courſes of the Sunne,
Show me your image in ſome antique booke,
Since minde at firſt in carrecter was done.
That I might ſee what the old world could ſay,
To this compoſed wonder of your frame,
Whether we are mended,or where better they,
Or whether reuolution be the ſame.
Oh ſure I am the wits of former daies,
To ſubiects worſe haue giuen admiring praiſe. | <urn:uuid:9315636e-8dec-4f7d-a995-15af6b79e5a6> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/59 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931085 | 365 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Show: August 12, 2012:
- What danger lies in synthetic drugs?
- Can dim lighting influence your mental health?
- Is the safety of already approved drugs questionable?
- Are reusable shopping bags good for your health?
- What can the increasing number of cancer survivors be attributed to?
- How can stem cells revolutionize cancer treatments?
- View all topics for the week
Checkup: Are reusable shopping bags good for your health?
While reusable shopping bags have been toted for being environmentally conscious, they may be responsible for the spread of bacteria. Consumers often use reusable shopping bags for a variety of purposes which can result in cross contamination of common items. Chuck Gerba, microbiologist at University of Arizona has found bacteria originated from raw meat on shopping bags, 8% of which contained the troublesome E.coli. | <urn:uuid:a19ebe3f-a2e3-479b-88ed-7a0bc62ca5f5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://soundmedicine.iu.edu/segment/3349/Are-reusable-shopping-bags-good-for-your-health- | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931231 | 172 | 2.359375 | 2 |
GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Leaders of almost 60 European, Latin American, and Caribbean nations said yesterday they want the United Nations to remain the premier organization to resolve international conflicts, and they called for a UN overhaul to make that possible.
Although it did not specifically mention the United States, it was clear the summit's draft document was critical of Washington's foreign policy and the allegations of torture and abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The meeting was a signal to the Bush administration to shed its go-it-alone tendency and return to the UN fold.
As they opened the one-day summit, leaders called for making the United Nations more effective and sparing it the embarrassment of being sidelined, as happened last year when the United States invaded Iraq without UN backing.
''We all recall that 2003 was a difficult year," said Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland, speaking on behalf of the 25-nation European Union. He said the US decision to invade Iraq showed the United Nations to be ''unable to deal with hard questions of peace and security and unable, therefore, to command confidence."
Ahern, whose country holds the EU presidency, said no country can act alone.
''Peace and justice can best be guaranteed by states working together," he told the summit's opening session. ''Only by working together can terrorism conditions, which can sometimes rise to terrorism, be addressed."
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain, speaking of an increasingly ''fractured world," urged Europe and Latin America to make a ''common front" in pushing for a stronger UN role. President Vicente Fox of Mexico, the summit's host, called for a new international order by making far-reaching changes in the way the United Nations runs its affairs. | <urn:uuid:1ec476b7-3295-4ea6-9f48-6e2dd03465db> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/05/29/eu_latin_american_nations_seek_strong_un_role/?camp=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00069-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953507 | 358 | 2.140625 | 2 |
A local company is educating students on the dangers of texting and driving.
Transportation Solutions teaches Drivers Education, but they are
also now giving back to the community by educating teens in nine local high
schools. They are teaching teens about the consequences of texting and driving. They
hand out book marks with statistics, and they encourage teens to pull over if
they feel the need to text.
On average, teenagers send 3,000 text messages per
month, and the texts they send in the car can be deadly. When sending a text message
while driving, your eyes are taken off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds.
Companies like Transportation Solutions are reaching one
teen at a time, in hopes of saving lives.
JET24, FOX66 and www.yourerie.com along with police and Purchase & George P.C., continue the northwest Pennsylvania campaign. For more information, click on the community tab at the top of our website. | <urn:uuid:b254968b-8ad6-4365-97ed-f6c0e063e8ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://yourerie.com/fulltext?nxd_id=290192 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00046-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918148 | 201 | 2.40625 | 2 |
Discerning Reader Editorial Review
Reviewed 06/04/2010 by James Anderson.
Not Recommended. An irenic but ultimately unsatisfying attempt to reconcile evangelical theology with evolutionary theory.
Denis Lamoureux is a significant contributor to the longstanding debate over evolution in evangelical circles. As the holder of three doctoral degrees (dentistry, theology, and biology) he is especially well qualified to speak to it. Over the last 20 years, as he has wrestled with the origins issue, he has held to just about every position on the spectrum, from atheistic Darwinism (before his conversion) to young-earth creationism (after his conversion) to progressive old-earth creationism to his current position of "evolutionary creationism".
As the title of his book indicates, his aim in I Love Jesus & I Accept Evolution is to show that evolutionary creationism is not just a coherent and defensible view, but ultimately the only tenable position for Christians who are committed to the "Two Divine Books": the Book of God’s Words (the Bible) and the Book of God’s Works (the natural world).
Chapter 1 lays some foundations by defining key terms. Lamoureux claims to accept both creation and evolution, thus he defines these terms in such a way as to avoid any contradiction between them. Crucially for Lamoureux, the claim that God created does not commit us to any particular view about how God created; hence belief in creation is compatible with belief in evolution, at least in principle. Another important term defined here is scientific concordism, the view that the scientific statements of the Bible correspond to the way the physical world really is. One of the burdens of the book is to persuade the reader that scientific concordism is not merely mistaken but unbiblical.
Chapter 2 surveys the spectrum of positions on the question of origins. Lamoureux outlines five basic categories of origins: (1) young earth creationism; (2) progressive creation; (3) evolutionary creation; (4) deistic evolution, and (5) dysteleological (i.e., atheistic) evolution. A helpful table lays out the differences between the five positions on key issues such as the role of God, the age of the universe, the nature of the Bible, scientific concordism, and the origin of humans.
Chapter 3 launches Lamoureux's case against scientific concordism, a position he once "fiercely defended". His leading claim is that the Bible itself rejects scientific concordism, thus giving the impression that his main concern is for us to submit ourselves to God's Word; in reality his argument is that the Bible makes numerous scientific assumptions and statements that we now know to be false (e.g., it represents the universe as consisting of three vertically-arranged tiers). Nevertheless, this does not make God a liar, Lamoureux insists. God merely accommodated his revelation to the "ancient science" of the biblical authors.
The case against scientific concordism continues in chapter 4, where Lamoureux contends that the pattern of fossils in the geological record contradicts the historical events described in Genesis. To his credit Lamoureux avoids weasel words and states his conclusions directly and unequivocally: "That’s right, the events in Gen 3 did not happen as stated. There never was a cosmic fall." Such clarity is commendable, but his suggestion that this doesn’t amount to an abandonment of biblical inerrancy stretches credibility to breaking point.
Chapter 5 sets out what Lamoureux takes to be compelling scientific evidence for an old earth and for the evolutionary origins of life. Readers familiar with the scientific debates over these issues will find nothing new here. It's rather surprising, however, that Lamoureux rests his case for evolution almost entirely on the existence of transitional fossils, given that many apologists for evolution concede that the fossil record, with its conspicuous gaps, presents not so much a powerful argument for Darwinism as an awkward problem to be explained.
In chapter 6 Lamoureux addresses the thorny issue of human evolution. Are we biologically descended from lower life forms—ultimately, from simple single-celled organisms? Did human death precede the fall of Adam? Was there an Adamic fall at all? As he well realizes, it's here that Lamoureux faces his greatest challenges in trying to reconcile biblical theology with evolutionary science. He opens by presenting what he takes to be compelling scientific evidence for human evolution. Space forbids even a summary evaluation of his arguments, but I will say this: I was struck by how flimsy a case it was.
Lamoureux then proceeds to explore the theological implications of his scientific conclusions about human evolution. He identifies three different approaches to reconciling these conclusions with the biblical teaching that we are made in the image of God and fallen in sin. Two of these approaches he rejects as "concordist models" (concordism being a cardinal sin in Lamoureux's eyes). The third approach—that of evolutionary creationism—entails that Adam and Eve never existed as historical individuals. Lamoureux concedes that both Jesus and Paul believed otherwise, but maintains that this doesn't threaten the "Message of Faith" that God has communicated through the Bible. We just need to winnow the theological wheat from the scientific chaff.
The final chapter reiterates Lamoureux's contention that accepting evolutionary theory needn't threaten any of the "foundational beliefs of Christianity" and addresses the most common questions Lamoureux faces whenever he presents his case for evolutionary creationism. Why did God create through evolution? Why did he accommodate the Bible to ancient science? What about original sin? What about suffering and death in the evolutionary process? How do the dinosaurs fit in to the Bible?
Based on the summary I've given, I expect most readers of this review will already have a fair idea as to whether they would find Lamoureux's approach to the creation-evolution debate theologically tolerable and scientifically persuasive. This is not the place for a full critique of his evolutionary creationism, but let me briefly indicate why I don't find his arguments compelling.
In the first place, I consider Lamoureux's approach to interpreting Scripture to be highly problematic; in short, he treats the deliverances of science as more authoritative and less prone to factual error than the Bible (at least when it comes to the natural world). Yet not only is this at odds with how Christians have historically viewed the Bible, it is also at odds with the Bible's own doctrine of Scripture, which places no such qualifications on its reliability in factual matters. Furthermore, if we grant that the Bible is accommodated to ancient science (to the point where it factually errs) why shouldn't we grant that it is similarly accommodated to ancient morality—or even to ancient theology? Once we play the accommodation card in the way Lamoureux does, we inevitably gut the Bible of its authority and its power to speak counter-culturally.
Lamoureux's scientific arguments could be criticized at multiple points, but all I will note here is that he doesn't even mention, let alone address, some of the many significant scientific difficulties faced by the theory that all living organisms have gradually evolved from rudimentary life-forms by purely natural processes. The uninformed reader will almost certainly be misled into thinking that the scientific case for evolution is beyond question. Ironically, Lamoureux's case would have seemed more credible had he acknowledged at least some of the counterevidence.
Finally, I suspect many evangelical readers will be unconvinced by Lamoureux's plea that his position preserves all the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. His rejection of the doctrine of original sin, which follows of necessity from his rejection of the historical Adam and Eve, is particularly problematic. If Adam never existed then obviously no human being could have inherited a sinful nature from him. It's remarkable that Lamoureux makes no reference to Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 in his discussion of original sin, and his treatments elsewhere in the book require him to hold these texts at arm's length.
I have to conclude that despite its irenic approach and the undoubted expertise of its author, this book fails in its goal of reconciling biblical Christianity with modern evolutionary science. Nevertheless, it is very useful in this respect: it makes clear what price has to be paid in order to make peace with evolution, even if one takes a relatively conservative approach. The first casualties are the doctrines of biblical authority, clarity, and inerrancy, closely followed by the doctrine of original sin; and once those are sacrificed it's inevitable that more will follow, for no doctrine is an island. The doctrines of salvation by grace alone and justification by faith alone, to cite two examples, are intimately connected to the nature of the fall and its consequences.
The stakes are high. These are gospel issues. Lamoureux may well be correct about what it takes to accept evolution, as he defines it; but if he is, then precisely because I love Jesus, I cannot accept evolution. Fortunately, his scientific arguments put me under little pressure to do so. | <urn:uuid:b0294e2f-8f67-4936-97dd-1e47995c9f7c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.discerningreader.com/book-reviews/i-love-jesus-i-accept-evolution | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952767 | 1,909 | 1.65625 | 2 |
HAMPTON — The breakup of the American family and increased teen violence have dealt a severe blow to the nation's children, particularly those in the black community, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Louis W. Sullivan said Wednesday.
In a speech at Hampton University, Sullivan said family and community unity are needed to curtail crime, the school drop-out rate, drug and alcohol abuse and welfare dependency.
Sullivan's talk opened a three-day conference on the black family being conducted at HU through Friday.
Recalling his own childhood in Blakely, Ga., Sullivan said families looked out for each other's children and disciplined them if needed.
``We endured 200 years of slavery and more than 80 years of segregation,'' said Sullivan, who is black. ``Throughout these difficult times we embraced the values of kinship, solidarity and perseverance. However, I fear that in the past few decades ... we have put aside many things that have been critical to our survival.''
Sullivan said children of all races and from all social and economic backgrounds lack the love, support and guidance of their families and neighborhoods.
He said the collapse of the American family is ``historically unprecedented in the U.S. and possibly in the world.'' He placed much of the blame on the disintegration of the two-parent household.
More than one in five families with children were headed by a single parent in 1988, he said. In 1960, the figure was one in 12. The trend is most apparent in the black community, where 86 percent of the children spend part of their childhood living in mother-only families, Sullivan said.
Studies show that children from single-parent households are likely to be poor, school dropouts, involved in crime, drugs and alcohol abuse and dependent on welfare, he added.
``One parent trying to do the job of two faces an unenviable and daunting task,'' Sullivan said. ``Family structure - the presence of both a mother and a father - has a significant effect on the health and well-being of children.''
Sullivan said his department will release a study today showing that one out of five deaths of teens and young adults in 1988 was gun-related; that for the first time, firearm death rates for both white and black male teens exceeded the total from all natural causes of death; and that black male teens were 11 times more likely to be killed by a gun than their white counterparts.
``As secretary of health and human services, and as a physician, I find these figures deeply disturbing,'' he said. ``As a black man and a father of three, this reality shakes me to the core of my being. Do you realize that the leading killer of young black males is young black males?''
Sullivan said that hundreds of families, neighborhoods and community groups are uniting to battle the trends, and some studies show that their efforts may be working. A national study is also breaking some stereotypes about blacks, he added.
``The fact is that the majority of black youth do complete high school. The fact is that black high school students are more likely than any other racial group to perceive alcohol use and other drug use as risks not worth taking. The fact is that black high school students are more likely to disapprove and to disapprove strongly of drug use. And the fact is that black high school students are less likely than their white counterparts to use alcohol, cigarettes or cocaine,'' Sullivan said. | <urn:uuid:7059f427-eded-4b65-897b-1823fb95b464> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://articles.dailypress.com/1991-03-14/news/9103140092_1_family-structure-sullivan-male-teens | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973232 | 698 | 2.15625 | 2 |
This classic war memoir, first published in 1920, is based on the author's extensive diaries describing hard combat experienced on the Western Front during World War I. It has been greatly admired by people as diverse as Bertolt Brecht and Andre Gide, and from every part of the political spectrum.
Hypnotic, thrilling, and magnificent, The Storm of Steel is perhaps the most fascinating description of modern warfare ever written. Out of the maelstrom of World War I emerge scenes which could have come straight from Dante's Inferno. Once you begin listening, you cannot stop. And it never relents: nerve pounding bombardments, agonizing gas attacks, sudden death that takes down a comrade next to you, and the occasional weeks of relief to restore the spirit when leave is granted to visit some attractive French village...all enveloped in the ghostly confusion of war.
Ultimately, survival comes down to sheer luck. Jünger displays no anger toward his enemies, and near the end he grows fatalistic and weary, even as he redoubles his resolve and maintains his patriotism. Jünger's great book calmly conveys the mysterious attraction of war, the exhilaration of battle, and the undeniable glory of brave men. But he also describes the scenes of soldiers preparing for battle as though they were "some terrible, silent ceremonial that portends human sacrifice."
Public Domain (P)2010 Audio Connoisseur
Junger's excellent diary of four years' war is put down in highly descriptive prose. He never looses sight of the beauties of nature in a time of horror. The comparison with the descriptions of the same tragedy by Graves and Sassoon will not escape the reader. Junger's unflinching love and support of the Motherland shows through until the end. It is easy to compare the values of the three writers under similar conditions. Junger was in constant combat for four years and served in most of the major battles of the Western Front. He was wounded seven times and received the "Pour le Merit" (Blue Max) for his service. The only fault I found with this great book is that he makes it somewhat difficult to relate his descriptions of war in a limited area to the overall engagement. This is the view from the trench as he watched it unfold and is a classic work of military literature.
By the time you get through this the thought of 5 or 6 guys shooting rifles at you seems like no big deal - a bit annoying but no reason to jump in a shell hole or anything. I can't believe anyone survived this war at all- especially 4 years of it. Apparently 1914 to 1918 was no holds barred artillery pounding village leveling madness! And listening to Ernst tell his stories about this attack or that manuever or the hellish clatter of a machine gun is amazing. The whole world must have been making shells and bombs and bullets during this time - the scale of firepower is staggering.
Invigorating, poetic, enlightening.
They broke up chapters of the book with the sounds of artillery and machine gun fire. This made you feel like you were in the trenches. The language was clever and insightful. You felt more respect for those men with every word. Honorable account of the trenches.
The countless times Junger ended up being one of the only men standing when people were being blown up and shot all around him. He counts over 20 holes in his body by the end of the war and somehow survived.
I wouldn't call it a moving story. Junger doesn't delve deeply into emotional aspects of war.
What I found most interesting wasn't the carnage that took place all around this man, but how he regards it. You're listening to someone from another age who thinks in terms of bravery, cowardice, duty, and honor. There's no talk of trauma or PTSD, and it leaves you wondering how they dealt with it back then.
Everything, its a great account from the other side.
The detail of his experience you get the feeling of being there with the great description.
The description of the final offensive of 1918
Never read or heard a WW1 account like this. Outstanding account and highly recommend
I'm not sure I loved anything about Storm of Steel. I feel the word love is out of place in this context. Storm of Steel is a view of World War One from a German soldier. I enjoyed the stark reality of what war is all about
When the lead character first encounter death.
If you're lucky you will just get wounded.
Very interesting view from the German side however the overwhelming tone is one of incredible violence which almost becomes the norm, without much sympathy for the individual. Well worth reading if your into the history of Early 20th Century Europe.
I grew up on Golden Age Radio, and while I love to read, I typically consume more books via audio thanks to a job that lets me listen while I work. As an aspiring writer, I try to read a great deal of non-fiction in addition to a variety of fictional genres. I especially love history, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and old-style gothic horror.
This account is completely unlike any history book I've ever read or listened to, especially in regards to the First World War. This account, from the journals of Ernst Junger, is one of the most patriotic accounts of this war I've come across. But Junger is not so much fighting for his country as he is fighting for personal glory that only the thrill of battle can bring.
Interestingly, there's nothing glossy about this account. He tells everything from festering wounds to the actual conditions of trench warfare, and all of the hideousness you'd ever come to expect from the Great War. This account is fast, matter-of-fact, and no holds barred. And yet, it's awkwardly optimistic, as though he didn't understand what was going on. Thing is, he did understand, and he reveled in it. He'd get injured, take leave, recover, and be back on the battlefield seemingly in no time, ready to prove himself all over again. I'd expect this sort of thing if I were reading about Leonidas and the 300 Spartans, or if I were reading about Klingons in a Star Trek novel, but it seems almost unreal here in an historical setting not too far removed from our own time. It's here for you to take in and judge for yourself how it comes across.
Report Inappropriate Content | <urn:uuid:31938a11-3925-453f-bb13-f6bb52f41fac> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=pr_rev_1_10?asin=B003I6913K | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00020-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971691 | 1,330 | 1.84375 | 2 |
The first sets we bought were the big bins of random pieces which were intended to be used for play in which the child would use their own imagination to make creations with. I bought the first set when my oldest was five years old. When that son was five he was still very much into playing with his wooden train toys and LEGO was just a small part of his play. At age six my older son really took off with playing with LEGOs. The first real way he played with them was by creating things from his own imagination.
Later I added in some special sets only sold through Legoshop.com which included, for example, many flat plates such as are good for the bottom of a car, and a big bunch of axles and wheels to make cars or other rolling vehicles with. There was also a set of about 35 “community workers” that yielded a lot of interesting little people including astronauts. Back then my goal was on the focus of original, creative play rather than buying kits, many of which had movie tie-in’s. That was back when I was trying to have play be all about my children’s own imagination rather than acting out scenes from movies or books, especially those which were not the type of shows, movies or books that my young children were exposed to at the time.
We have been open to anything and everything that is for sale in a big box at a tag sale or a thrift shop. Those bins are usually not only inexpensive but treasure troves of old, unique pieces.
As my children got older they were exposed to some things like Harry Potter and Star Wars. Since by that time LEGO was their favorite toy it only seemed natural that they’d beg for LEGO kits corresponding to those topics.
We have bought and received as gifts, many different sets obviously based on what LEGO was manufacturing at the time. Yes, that did include movie and character tie-in’s such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Batman. Other sets are of the LEGO City line such as police vehicles, cranes, and construction trucks. We also own a small amount of the LEGO trains which run on electricity which are only sold through LegoShop.com.
I was shocked to hear (yes, shocked) that an acquaintance of mine allows her son to make a kit only exactly as specified then it is to remain 100% intact and played with. When he is done with it (the longest went one full year), she herself takes it apart and stores it in zip lock bags, with the original box and the original directions in very neat shape. She said she intends to resell them on eBay to collectors. I had never heard of such a thing being done before, especially with a young boy. She said she did this from the very first set he ever got through now, when he is ten years old. They are free to do what they want, I am not judging them, and I was just surprised. The mom did say that he played a little bit with free play from one small bin of LEGOs he had from the Creator line.
But compared to my friend, I am a sloppy Mommy. No, actually, what I have my kids do is to let them use their imagination and to play in freedom. Whether they are creating their own things or doing pretend play with finished kits, it is all good. After making a kit the way it was intended, they can do whatever they want with it. They end up all over the floor and in bins.
I want my children to be free-thinkers, creators and leaders. I don’t care so much if my children get a lot more use out of their LEGOs based on their unique original play after the original set crumbles apart. I want my kids to think outside of the box. I also am most concerned that the LEGOs are used and loved rather than trying to preserve them for future resale.
At first I used plastic sheet protectors and a three-ring binder to neatly store the directions in. I thought if the directions were all in one place it would help my sons find them. However when the three inch wide binder was full I replaced it with a sturdy box. All I ask is that the directions go in the box rather than ending up all over the house or in the trash bin.
In February I bought two rolling cart things by Sterlite with three deep drawers for about $14.75 on sale at Wal Mart. These have helped matters much. The smaller bins and drawers we had been overflowing.
As I’ve shared before, I do limit the LEGOs to being stored in one area of our living room. While my kids do play with their finished products all over the house, I try to corral the pieces to one place in the house. I am sick of stepping on little pieces in every room and also once the vacuum cleaner sucked up a piece and broke something inside it and it cost $40 to have it repaired!
These are some things that my children have constructed on their OWN, not following directions. I am sharing this to show the variety of things they made.
Various new people, different outfits and hair styles than LEGO designed themselves
Cars and trucks of many shapes and sizes
Race cars, like dragsters and NASCAR type cars
Space vehicles for rolling on planet surfaces
Flying space vehicles, rockets, space shuttle type things, etc.
Newly created vehicles that my children imagine might appear in a Star Wars movie
Hybrid vehicles such as a car that also flies into space, a car that turns into a boat
Houses and buildings of various sizes
Robots (many different sizes up to two feet high)
Large command center for little homemade LEGO robots
Jelly bean dispenser thing
Treasure chest to hide treasure in
Submarines that they do submerge into water
Boats that they do try to float
Goblet of Fire (as in Harry Potter’s), which leaked when liquid was added
Aircraft carrier about three feet long
Passenger airplane over three feet long with interior designed as well
Trains, unique designs that go on the LEGO train track
A bank for LEGO coins aka “studs” like in LEGO Star Wars video game
A Transformer ™ (didn’t transform though)
A big worm that transforms into a wheel
A spinning top that did work
Guns, of various sizes, a BB gun/rifle like one to space ray type guns
Each of my boys plays with their LEGOs by themselves as well as together. When friends and relatives visit, if the guests want, they play with the LEGOs, too. The only problem with cooperative play or group play that has happened is when a special thing that was created is being played with by another child and my child worries that it might be destroyed.
We have also had some children who intentionally destroyed LEGO creations as they think it is fun and hilarious to smash a LEGO creation and see the many pieces go flying in many directions. Those children are usually NOT the ones who normally play with LEGOs in their own home and they seem to show no understanding for how much work goes into making something out of LEGOs and why smashing it to bits should only be done by the creator of the project.
One day recently a boy came over to play and used our LEGOs to design his own submarine. He cried when he had to leave as he didn’t want to leave it behind. My heart broke and I nearly gave it to him to take with him. The boy didn’t want to go and I finally agreed to save it for the next time he comes over. I didn’t know what else to do. (It is still waiting for him to visit again.)
I can’t tell you how many homeschoolers have said that their boys (and some girls) had LEGO as their main toy for many, many years. These parents claim to have bright children who grew up to be smart adults so, hey, if free-form play with LEGO is one way to get my kids to that same end then I am all for having a zillion LEGOs in the house!
Actually the most important thing for me is that both of my children have plenty of time for free, unstructured play. They love LEGOs and they choose to play with LEGOs. I don’t make lesson plans around LEGOs and I don’t force them to use the LEGOs. (We did do the Junior First LEGO League but that was more about a project and research, about a concept that then had a model built of it with LEGO. That was also a short-term project that had nothing to do with the hours of free play that my children have.) So as long as my children want to play with LEGOs they can play with LEGOs and I’ll grant them the freedom to use them however they want.
Did you know that play is considered the work of a child? There are a few books on the subject specifically of the value of play in childhood—free, unstructured play, not forced play supervised by adults.
Children Developing Imagination and Creativity
I once gave a presentation about how to help a child ages 3-5 develop creativity and imagination. I did a lot of research on the topic at the time. The bottom line was free play and exposure to certain kinds of open-ended toys as well as allowing a child time to play and not doing or saying things that can squash creativity is what a parent should do.
An interesting twist that I learned was that everything that it takes to provide a child with the optimal atmosphere for developing their imagination and creativity is also the foundation toward not just book smarts and success in school but it is also what most colleges and employers seek. Giving a child time to play in an unstructured play environment with certain types of toys (and avoiding certain others) helps them become creative and develops their imagination which also is linked to logical thinking as well as the ability to think outside the box, to imagine things differently and to pave the way for the child to be a leader rather than a follower.
So as far as I’m concerned any and all child-led play with LEGOs is “all good”.
This post was inspired as a reaction to my feeling horrified at this news story which I blogged about yesterday.
Technorati Tags: LEGOs, creativity, imaginative play, children’s play. | <urn:uuid:32dce83e-3f82-4c4f-8069-b1e9da95eae5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thethinkingmother.blogspot.com/2007/03/my-boys-and-lego-play-importance-of.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98652 | 2,170 | 1.875 | 2 |
From Ohio History Central
Millersburg is the county seat of Holmes County. In 1824, Charles Miller and Adam Johnson surveyed the town. The town became the county seat the following year.
The town grew slowly, having only 673 residents by 1840. In 1844, a fire erupted in the town, destroying much of Millersburg. In 1846, the village contained four churches, two newspaper offices, thirteen stores, one iron foundry, and one grist mill. Over the next forty years, Millersburg�s population tripled in size, having a population of 1,814 people in 1880. The town consisted of two newspaper offices, seven churches, two banks, and several additional manufacturing businesses. The town�s largest employer was Henry Snyder, a tile manufacturer, who employed twelve workers. Most businesses provided materials to farmers in the surrounding countryside or processed the farmers� crops. The same remains true today. In 2000, Millersburg�s population was 3,326 people, making it the sixth largest urban center in Holmes County. | <urn:uuid:17602c63-1f01-4b80-80f9-9f7471a1c83d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Millersburg,_Ohio?rec=1979&nm=Millersburg-Ohio | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960939 | 215 | 3.1875 | 3 |
The Energy and Commerce Committee’s Energy and Power Subcommittee has scheduled a mark-up session on H.R. 910, the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011. The bill would legislate out of existence the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s scientifically based determination that carbon pollution poses threats to public health and the environment. It would eliminate a key policy tool for reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by stripping EPA’s statutory authority and responsibility to regulate carbon pollution from power plants, oil refineries, and other stationary sourcs, and prevent carbon emission standards for cars and trucks from being strengthened in the future.
The subcommittee mark-up of H.R. 910, co-sponsored by subcommittee chair Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Kentucky) and full committee chair Rep. Fred Upton (R-Michigan), will be held on Thursday, March 10 at 9:00 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Opening statements, amendments, and a live (and presumably archived) webcast will be available online at http://energycommerce.house.gov.
EPA plans to propose rules for power plants by July 26, 2011, and finalize them by May 26, 2012. Proposed standards for refineries would be released by December 10, 2011, with a final rule due on November 10, 2012. H.R. 910 would permanently bar EPA from regulating carbon, with an exemption for vehicle tailpipe emissions rules through model year 2016, which are already in effect as of January 2011. After 2016, EPA would no longer be allowed to establish additional fuel economy standards and states could not secure waivers to draft their own.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-California), the ranking Democratic minority member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, released the following statement March 3 on the introduction of the bill, which has a companion bill in the Senate sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma):
“The Upton-Inhofe bill is an affront to science. It exempts the nation’s largest polluters from regulation at the expense of public health and energy security. This proposal may be good for Koch Oil but it would gut the landmark Clean Air Act and prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from addressing the enormous threat posed by carbon pollution. I remain committed to fighting this and other Republican efforts to weaken the laws that form the cornerstone of public health and environmental protections in our nation.”
Rep. Waxman has called the bill “breathtakingly dangerous”. As Lauren Morello reported in Climate Wire today (subscription required), during the Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing yesterday on “Climate Science and EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Regulations”:
Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Energy and Power Subcommittee, brushed aside an appeal from the full committee's top Democrat, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), to postpone tomorrow's markup of the EPA-blocking measure, H.R. 910.
"I hope we could come up with a more nuanced, reasonable policy," Waxman said yesterday at a hearing convened by Whitfield's subcommittee. Democrats are prepared to negotiate "with no preconditions," he said, calling the GOP bill "breathtakingly dangerous."
Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) also urged Republicans to shelve their markup plans. "We should be more deliberative," he said.
But the arguments didn't sway Whitfield, who said Democrats would have ample opportunity to air their views during this week's subcommittee markup, a subsequent full committee markup and eventually, a House floor debate.
Rep. Waxman expects the subcommittee to approve the bill, but he predicts that, if the bill makes it through the House of Representatives it will die in the Senate. "Passage in the House does not produce a law," Waxman said in a March 7 talk at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC. "That's something I really learned last year and something the Republicans will learn soon enough."
Jean Chemnick reported in Greenwire on March 7 (subscription required):
If the Senate does approve the bill to stop EPA from regulating carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act, Waxman said he would expect President Obama to veto it, whether it comes attached to a federal appropriations bill or not. The Republican-controlled House approved a seven-month spending bill last month that would prevent EPA from using funds to craft and enforce its carbon rules for stationary sources through the end of this fiscal year.
"The administration has got to stand up to Republicans, and I can't believe they would accept any of these riders and cuts to EPA," Waxman said. "And they're going to have to fight this out."
Some analysts have said the president might accept a temporary stay on EPA's carbon rules in exchange for other Republican compromises or to avoid a government shutdown when current spending legislation expires later this month. But the White House has indicated the president would not sign such a bill, and Waxman made it clear he plans to hold Obama to that position. …
"I expect the administration to stand up and be counted. It's one of the key tenets by which the president said he wanted to become the leader of our country," Waxman added. | <urn:uuid:5e1780cb-3453-43fe-ace1-c99d021c7ae8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2011/03/09/house-subcommittee-plans-march-10-vote-to-block-epa-regulation-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963125 | 1,095 | 2.125 | 2 |
The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is a global knowledge and technical assistance program administered by the World Bank. Its mission is to assist low- and middle-income countries to increase know-how and institutional capacity to achieve environmentally sustainable energy solutions for poverty reduction and economic growth.
To help ensure long-term energy security, countries are looking closely at renewable energy, efficiency practices and technologies, diversification of supply, and improved sector performance. ESMAP assists its clients to carry out energy assessments and develop strategies to enhance sector planning, regulation, and governance.
About 1.4 billion of the world’s people still lack access to electricity, and poor households spend US$20 billion a year on low-quality, fuel-based lighting. Respiratory diseases are widespread among the 2.7 billion people who still rely on biomass for cooking, with women and children hit the hardest. ESMAP supports initiatives to reduce energy poverty by expanding access to modern, safe, affordable and sustainable energy services. ESMAP’s energy access work covers electrification and household energy needs in rural areas and for the urban poor.
Climate change will directly affect energy resource endowments, infrastructure, and transportation, as well as energy demand. ESMAP assists client countries to integrate climate change mitigation and adaptation options into energy sector planning. ESMAP also supports the scale-up of renewable energy through resource assessments, strategy development, and policy and institutional development.
A Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of international experts provides independent opinions to the CG about the purpose, strategic direction, and priorities of ESMAP. The TAG also provides advice and suggestions to the CG on current and emerging global issues in the energy sector that are likely to impact ESMAP’s client countries. | <urn:uuid:c9f442e9-fc9e-4053-acb9-33a114aa0318> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.esmap.org/node/22 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91079 | 362 | 2.703125 | 3 |
For centuries knowledge of the whereabouts of the battlefield of Bosworth seems to have been tacit. At some point local knowledge disappeared. However, in 2009 an archaeological survey succeeded in determining the exact spot where King Richard III was slain. This was due to the fact that metal detectors discovered a silver gilt boar – the Bosworth Boar – lying at a spot next to a marsh, which had previously been identified as the probable spot.
It is known that Richard ordered 13.000 such copper boar badges for the investiture of his son in York Minster in 1483, some of which were silver-gilt. Such gilted boars were the livery badges of high-ranking nobles in the entourage of Richard III and it is believed that the one found at Bosworth was carried by one of his followers, who took part in the final wild charge, which ended in the death of the king.
In 2010 a similar boar was found in Stillingfleet in North Yorkshire. This badge is actually better preserved. It seems to differ somewhat in its form. The Yorkshire Museum is currently trying to raise the money to secure the badge for its exhibition. It is hoped that the probable owner might be identified among the Stillingfleet adherers to Richards cause and that the badge can become the centerpiece of a piece of evocative local history. | <urn:uuid:d73369fb-5537-4dbc-b714-1d975bba0460> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://medievalhistories.com/category/medieval-nobility/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00070-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98435 | 274 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Latest Thinking from IEG
IEG’s sponsorship experts provide unique perspective on the latest industry developments, news and trends. These posts will make you think, challenge conventional wisdom, give you new ideas, and spark discussion.
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A New Potential Sponsor For Outdoor Events
This post won’t be tagged under “deep insights,” but just an observation about a noteworthy sponsorship that could be replicated by other properties.
This coming weekend’s Ford Ironman Louisville event features sponsorship from the city-run Louisville Water Co. Given its role as the local water utility, LWC has come up with a unique way to supply the hundreds of gallons of water needed by the triathletes that eliminates the need for thousands of eco-unfriendly plastic bottles. The company will tap into its existing water lines and one mobile water trunk and provide 100-plus volunteers at nine stations with hoses to fill 125,000 cups of water.
LWC plans to use this model for other local events to which it currently supplies bottled tap water.
For properties that have not had success securing an official water sponsor, or for those seeking a sustainable alternative to bottled water, tapping into your local water utility may be a good way to go.
Filed under: events, festivals, government/municipal, local, marathon, selling, sports, beverage
The Rise of the Sponsors
An unintentional underlying subject matter in some of my recent blog posts has been brands (sponsors) that have created their own interactive consumer programs/properties (sponsorship opportunities). These companies, instead of partnering with an existing organization, choose to forge their own way.
There is a long list of companies that have created their own experiential consumer programs. Red Bull is always a shining example when it comes to sponsor owned or created properties including Red Bull Racing, New York Red Bulls, Team Red Bull and Red Bull Flutag. Other companies that come to mind are Burton (Burton U.S. Open, Burton European Open), New Belgium Brewery (Tour de Fat), Nike (Nike + Human Race) and Virgin Mobile (Virgin Festival).
Filed under: events, local, selling, activation
Wanted: Green Thumb Sponsors
I wanted to figure out a correlation between sponsorship and gardening. I thought that there must be some sort of relationship. Like, you have to keep your sponsorship “watered” in order to make it grow. Alright, I admit it is a stretch and pretty lame.
What did come to mind is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of companies within the gardening industry that are active sponsors outside of home and garden shows or industry-related events. There are a few examples, Scotts Miracle Grow’s sponsorship of NASCAR, Hart’s Nursery’s sponsorship of the Oregon State Fair and Fiskar’s sponsorship of Arthritis Foundation Ease of Use Program.
Don’t be fooled, gardening is a big industry. Maybe it is not as big as some industries, but still pretty massive. Gardening is typically a life-long hobby, is a continual learning process and something that takes considerable time and money.
Filed under: cause marketing, government/municipal, local, nonprofit, research, activation
When it Comes to Municipal Marketing, What’s in a Name?
With huge apologies to Bill Shakespeare, many muni marketing commentators out there seem to be saying: a road by any other name would sell a street.
Increasingly, the municipal marketing commentary I’m reading focuses on naming rights. Certainly some of that focus is warranted given the high-profile deals on the table right now (e.g., Barclays and New York’s MTA). Yet some of that concentration is because it makes a compellingly controversial image in readers’ minds to talk about “plastering” corporate names on public property—roads, parks, monuments, venues and public transportation.
We hear the inevitable NASCAR comparisons and the gasp-worthy insinuation that the very pavement of Main Street is for sale.
Filed under: local, packaging, sponsorship measurement, sponsorship ROI, government/municipal
Procter & Gamble Does Hometown Sponsorship Right
P&G has stepped up sponsorship activity around its Cincinnati headquarters, signing title of Memorial Day weekend’s Taste of Cincinnati and expanding its partnership with last month’s Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon.
The soap giant activated both deals with a handful of brands, each of which gained ownership of an on-site proprietary program. For example, the Taste of Cincinnati featured the Pampers Stroller Speed lane, the Bounty Quilted Picker Uppers cleaning teams and the Old Spice Swagger Zone, a special seating area where attendees could watch Cincinnati Reds games on a giant TV.
At the Flying Pig Marathon, P&G’s Tide used branded laundry carts to pick up clothing discarded by runners, Old Spice High Endurance deodorant awarded a prize to marathoners who ran the last mile the fastest, while Mr. Clean sponsored the Clean Your Clock fastest split-time award.
The strategy makes a lot of sense: In addition to promoting its hometown presence, P&G was able to make a more meaningful connection with its target audience by integrating its products into the fabric of each event. The multi-brand strategy also allowed P&G to spread the cost of the sponsorships over multiple budgets.
Way to go, P&G.
Filed under: events, local, marathon, sports, activation
How Deeply Will Local Properties Feel The Loss of Almost 2,000 Car Dealers?
The vast majority of the nearly 2,000 Chrysler and GM dealerships set adrift this week by the automakers are expected to cease operations completely over the next year or so. (Some will stay in business selling other manufacturer’s cars.)
The effect of these closures will be felt by grassroots properties that once looked to auto dealers as reliable sources of local sponsorships. However, the impact will not be pronounced. Here’s why: 1) Many of these dealers were not in the best of shape and had already cut back on nontraditional marketing expenditures; and 2) many of them were in locations that are served by other dealers—often larger and more successful ones—who are more likely to already be on a local property’s sponsor roster.
Filed under: local, selling, automotive
What Will Pepsi’s Plans Mean for Local Sponsorships?
PepsiCo’s takeover bid for its two largest bottlers could have significant ramifications for sponsorship.
If the company is successful in acquiring Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas, it would bring more than $100 million in sponsorship spending by those two companies into the corporate fold. Those deals range from pro sports team ties to grassroots community events.
Filed under: selling, soft drink, local | <urn:uuid:1253745e-ba3c-4641-91cd-f80e28d7262a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sponsorship.com/About-IEG/IEG-Sponsorship-Blog.aspx?page=8&tagid=465 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940541 | 1,445 | 1.507813 | 2 |
- 29 month graduate program, comprised of 14 months didactic and 15 months of clinical rotations
- Curriculum totals 124 semester credit hours
- A new class of 30 students will be accepted each year through a competitive application process and begin each summer.
- Students will enroll after earning a bachelor's degree, successfully completing specific prerequisite classes, and gaining at least 500 hours of health care experience.
- Students will complete didactic and laboratory classes in subjects including anatomy, pathology, physical examination, and clinical medicine during the first 14 months followed by 15 months of clinical rotations under the supervision of physicians and other specialists in required and elective practice areas of clinical specialization.
- Based on projected needs in rural states, primary care will be an emphasis of the program. Graduates will be eligible to seek licensure to practice in one or more of the 50 states.
- Train physician assistants to utilize evidence-based medicine to provide high quality, compassionate care to a diverse population.
- Prepare physician assistants to practice in a cost-effective and socially responsible manner.
- Provide graduates the skills necessary for life-long learning.
- Prepare physician assistants who demonstrate the highest standards of professionalism.
- Encourage the assumption of leadership roles within the profession and the community.
- Incorporate interdisciplinary approaches to education which prepare physician assistants to participate in the healthcare team.
- Prepare physician assistants to meet the primary care work force needs - especially in rural and underserved populations.
- Develop competence in oral and written communication skills in order to be an effective communicator with patients and families.
History and Projected Timeline:
May 2012: Master of Physician Assistant program development announced
July 2012: Clare Kennedy, MPAS, PA-C, begins official duties as the MPAS founding director
Sept. 2013: ARC-PA provisional accreditation meeting
June 2014: first cohort begins studies
Dec. 2016: first cohort graduates | <urn:uuid:367aeaeb-e1bb-4598-b725-aa18a699dd1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sau.edu/Academic_Programs/Master_of_Physician_Assistant_Studies/Program.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911859 | 394 | 1.671875 | 2 |
I've long been interested in issues of trust and meaning, particularly in regard to scientific information. The importance of context, the "who, when, where, why" of any piece of information, is critical in determining first whether we even learn of that information, and second the degree to which we accept it as part of our base of knowledge about the world.
Historian and philosopher Francis Fukuyama wrote a book on the subject (titled Trust). Ironically, while I felt some interest in it, I haven't read it because of my reaction to an earlier book of his (The End of History) - which I also didn't read. But anybody who could write a book with that title and the apparent thesis that all the interesting debates and conflicts regarding forms of government were somehow in the past was, I decided, not really worth my time. Thanks to just that cue, my level of trust in his ideas fell essentially to zero, and I haven't read what might otherwise have been very interesting to me. Or perhaps not if my judgment was justified.
Trust is fragile, hard to gain and easily lost. Which was why I found a recent post on science and journalism by Scientific American blogger Bora Zivkovic (who I've followed for a long time as @BoraZ on twitter) a little annoying. | <urn:uuid:5be2f212-6695-420b-9d93-89ab99952982> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://arthur.shumwaysmith.com/life/category/tags/epistomology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00027-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983683 | 270 | 1.6875 | 2 |
Egyptian media on Monday accused “anti-revolutionaries” of trying to trigger sectarian conflict, as a top cleric warned the country could be engulfed in civil war.
The US condemned the “senseless sectarian” violence in Egypt, while the EU urged Egyptian authorities to put on trial those responsible for the bloodshed.
The government has vowed to use an “iron fist” to ensure national security after Saturday’s deadly clashes in Cairo, branded by Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed -ElBaradei as “religious extremism of the Middle Ages.”
“We are facing the anti-revolutionary groups who are convinced that any success of the revolution was an even greater threat to their interests and so are trying to fuel confessional conflict,” the flagship al-Ahram newspaper wrote.
Fierce clashes broke out between Christians and Muslims in northwest Cairo’s working-class district of Imbaba where 12 people were killed, scores injured and a church set ablaze. Six Muslims and four Christians were among the dead, while two bodies were still unidentified.
The two groups clashed after Muslims attacked the Coptic church of Saint Mena in Imbaba to free a Christian woman they alleged was being held against her will because she wanted to convert to Islam.
Egypt has been gripped by insecurity and sectarian unrest since the ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
The military council governing Egypt said that the latest flare-ups in the country represent a “counter-revolution” by old regime diehards aimed at sowing chaos.
Ali Gomaa, Egypt’s grand mufti and chief interpreter of Islamic law, was quoted in the main independent daily al-Masri al-Yom as warning of the potential for civil war, “because of outlaws who want to defy the authority of the state.”
Meanwhile, Egyptian Interior Minister Mansur al-Issawi denied reports that weapons had been stored in Saint Mena church.
“Contrary to rumors that there were weapons inside the church, it was the owner of a cafe near the church who fired a gun,” he told the government daily al-Akhbar.
Security officials said police arrested the Muslim husband of the alleged convert, saying he had spread the word that his wife was being detained in a building next to the church.
The Salafists, a puritanical Islamist sect accused of being behind the Imbaba clashes, denied they had any role in the violence.
Prominent Salafi cleric in Cairo, Abdel Moneim al-Shahat, said the Imbaba clash “does not reflect the Salafist thought, which prohibits the incitement of confessional conflict.”
Saturday’s violence also angered ElBaradei, a prominent figure in the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak, who called on Twitter for swift action against such “religious extremism and practices of the Middle Ages.”
The Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution, an umbrella movement for the groups that launched the revolt against Mubarak, said “the regrettable events at Imbaba are evidence of a catastrophic security failure” in Egypt and criticized the military authorities for not having reacted in the absence of the police.
Meanwhile, 1,000 Copts continued their sit-in in front of the headquarters of the state television network on Monday in protest at what they called the authorities’ “laxity” toward the attacks on Christians.
They briefly scuffled with soldiers outside the building after surrounding two Muslim men they said were armed with knives. The soldiers used tasers in the scuffle, witnesses said. | <urn:uuid:9204c8c8-ed9a-4396-8931-440cf66f4423> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2011/05/11/2003502975 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00008-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97327 | 761 | 1.679688 | 2 |
Improve Your Digital Photography in 2012
Are Your Best Photography Days Ahead Of You?
It doesn’t matter if you specialize in wedding photography or portrait photography, your goal should always be the same- to get better! So often we hope that buying a new camera will make our photography get better. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really work that way. If you want to be a better photographer, you will have to work at it.
Here are a few goals you can set for yourself for 2012.
1. Do a Google search for “photography tips” or “black white photography” and you will be amazed at the results that come back. There are tons of great photographers and teachers out there. The trick is to find them! Dedicate an hour each week to looking for a new technique or style that can add a fresh look to your workflow. Nothing major – just a small tweak here or there.
2. Do you remember black and white photography? If you shoot film, go out and buy yourself a roll of black and white film and shoot something just for fun. If digital photography is your thing, switch your camera to black and white mode and experiment a bit. Scenes that look good in color, don’t always translate to monochromatic. Of course, the reverse is also true! Teach your eye to see the difference.
3. Find a good photography blog and subscribe. Obviously, I would recommend THIS ONE, but find one that YOU enjoy. Subscribe to their RSS feed and get a free flow of information throughout 2012. (You can click on the orange Follow RSS button on the right side of my website!)
Don’t forget to interact! Leave a comment every now and again. Trust me, bloggers LOVE to know that someone is following along.
4. Push your limits by creating photography art. Don’t limit yourself by what others think is good – create what YOU want to create. There will be plenty of clunkers as you go along, but you will also find a few gems. In the end, isn’t that what it is all about?
The best photography advice I can give you is to never stop trying to get better. Trust me, the more you expose yourself to new artists and new techniques, the more you will realize how little you knew before. There is no finish line you are trying to reach. Its all about the journey.
In January when you sit down and write out your resolutions for 2012 – be sure to include a few photography-related goals. They don’t have to be huge – just something. To paraphrase the famous saying, to move a mountain, you begin by moving small stones.
What about you? What do you find to be the best way to grow as a photographer? | <urn:uuid:367d14c0-021a-43cf-9bd9-5dc449994afc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://lourceyphoto.com/improve-your-digital-photography-in-2012/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701459211/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105059-00002-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956255 | 579 | 1.59375 | 2 |
The showdown in Wisconsin over fringe benefits for public employees boils down to one number: 74.2. That's how many cents the public pays Milwaukee public-school teachers and other employees for retirement and health benefits for every dollar they receive in salary. The corresponding rate for employees of private firms is 24.3 cents.
Gov. Scott Walker's proposal would bring public-employee benefits closer in line with those of workers in the private sector. And to prevent benefits from reaching sky-high levels in the future, he wants to restrict collective-bargaining rights.
The average Milwaukee public-school teacher salary is $56,500, but with benefits the total package is $100,005, according to the manager of financial planning for Milwaukee public schools. When I showed these figures to a friend, she asked me a simple question: "How can fringe benefits be nearly as much as salary?" The answers can be found by unpacking the numbers in the district's budget for this fiscal year:
•Social Security and Medicare. The employer cost is 7.65% of wages, the same as in the private sector.
Public employee protests spread across the Midwest.
•State Pension. Teachers belong to the Wisconsin state pension plan. That plan requires a 6.8% employer contribution and 6.2% from the employee. However, according to the collective-bargaining agreement in place since 1996, the district pays the employees' share as well, for a total of 13%.
•Teachers' Supplemental Pension. In addition to the state pension, Milwaukee public-school teachers receive an additional pension under a 1982 collective-bargaining agreement. The district contributes an additional 4.2% of teacher salaries to cover this second pension. Teachers contribute nothing.
•Classified Pension. Most other school employees belong to the city's pension system instead of the state plan. The city plan is less expensive but here, too, according to the collective-bargaining agreement, the district pays the employees' 5.5% share.
Overall, for teachers and other employees, the district's contributions for pensions and Social Security total 22.6 cents for each dollar of salary. The corresponding figure for private industry is 13.4 cents. The divergence is greater yet for health insurance:
•Health care for current employees. Under the current collective- bargaining agreements, the school district pays the entire premium for medical and vision benefits, and over half the cost of dental coverage. These plans are extremely expensive.
This is partly because of Wisconsin's unique arrangement under which the teachers union is the sponsor of the group health-insurance plans. Not surprisingly, benefits are generous. The district's contributions for health insurance of active employees total 38.8% of wages. For private-sector workers nationwide, the average is 10.7%.
•Health insurance for retirees. This benefit is rarely offered any more in private companies, and it can be quite costly. This is especially the case for teachers in many states, because the eligibility rules of their pension plans often induce them to retire in their 50s, and Medicare does not kick in until age 65. Milwaukee's plan covers the entire premium in effect at retirement, and retirees cover only the growth in premiums after they retire.
As is commonly the case, the school district's retiree health plan has not been prefunded. It has been pay-as-you-go. This has been a disaster waiting to happen, as retirees grow in number and live longer, and active employment shrinks in districts such as Milwaukee.
For fiscal year 2011, retiree enrollment in the district health plan is 36.4% of the total. In addition to the costs of these retirees' benefits, Milwaukee is, to its credit, belatedly starting to prefund the benefits of future school retirees. In all, retiree health-insurance contributions are estimated at 12.1% of salaries (of which 1.5% is prefunded).
Overall, the school district's contributions to health insurance for employees and retirees total about 50.9 cents on top of every dollar paid in wages. Together with pension and Social Security contributions, plus a few small items, one can see how the total cost of fringe benefits reaches 74.2%.
What these numbers ultimately prove is the excessive power of collective bargaining. The teachers' main pension plan is set by the state legislature, but under the pressure of local bargaining, the employees' contribution is often pushed onto the taxpayers. In addition, collective bargaining led the Milwaukee public school district to add a supplemental pension plan—again with no employee contribution. Finally, the employees' contribution (or lack thereof) to the cost of health insurance is also collectively bargained.
As the costs of pensions and insurance escalate, the governor's proposal to restrict collective bargaining to salaries—not benefits—seems entirely reasonable.
Mr. Costrell is professor of education reform and economics at the University of Arkansas. | <urn:uuid:c199af7e-3371-4d33-bde0-edb52d1009ae> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703408604576164290717724956.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956337 | 1,008 | 2.0625 | 2 |
Nine Tribes ‘Substantially’ Implemented Sex Offender Registries
Nine tribes have "substantially implemented" sex offender registration systems, stated the Deparment of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART) in a press release. More tribal nations will potentially meet the guidelines, as the DOJ reviews recent submissions sent close to the July 27 deadline.
SMART administers the requirements of Title 1: the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), which is Title I of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. It requires tribes, states and territories to develop registries.
Tribes that decline to submit sex offender registries will automatically cede authority to the state.
Thus far, DOJ has approved the registries submitted by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, the Yakama Nation of Washington, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians of Michigan, the Pueblo of Isleta in New Mexico, the Tohono O'odham Nation of Arizona and the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe of Washington.
"Due to the number of recent submissions, we do not yet have a complete count of how many jurisdictions were able to implement [systems] by the deadline," Linda Baldwin, the director of the SMART Office at DOJ, said in a press release. "We are reviewing submissions as quickly as possible and will announce decisions about additional jurisdictions in the coming months as the reviews are completed." | <urn:uuid:5f55033c-7927-41f1-a2c8-de77b4b1d596> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/nine-tribes-%E2%80%98substantially%E2%80%99-implemented-sex-offender-registries-45045 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696381249/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092621-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909887 | 359 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Jan 26, 2013
Sags, Bags, and Wrinkles in Roman Portraiture
When one visualizes the Roman Republic, the first image that usually comes to mind is that of a male aristocrat whose portrait bears the signs of advanced age: incised lines on or around the forehead, eyes, and mouth, and short, closely cropped hair that is often receding. On occasion there is no hair at all, and the irregularly shaped heads frequently feature large ears, thick lips, and sharply aquiline noses. Why did the Romans choose such an unusual type, and how long did it remain in vogue? In this lecture, Dr. C. Brian Rose, Curator-in-Charge, Mediterranean Section, answers these and other questions about Roman portraits, and presents new archaeological evidence from the northern Galilee that bears on the date of the type’s creation. A workshop on making ancient Roman wax masks accompanies the lecture.
|Cost||$Lecture: free with Museum admission. Workshop: $30|
Sponsor: Penn Museum
We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of this information. However, you should always call ahead to confirm dates, times, location, and other information. | <urn:uuid:6775a123-f7a2-453f-8913-02d3ef002003> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.delawaretoday.com/Delaware-Today/Calendar/index.php/name/Afternoon-Lecture-Sags-Bags-and-Wrinkles-in-Roman-Portraiture/event/12640/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00066-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917666 | 251 | 2.890625 | 3 |
"Recorders Without Borders" in Kenya
On June 18th, 2010, Nina flew to Nairobi, Kenya.
Working in collaboration with S’Cool Sounds, the music education program she founded in New York City in 2001, and Cross Cultural Thresholds, an organization working to feed and educate nearly 300 of the most vulnerable children in the Kibera Slum of Nairobi, Nina introduced her approach to the group study of instrumental music to young children and their teachers in Kenya.
For four days Nina worked with over one hundred children in The Drug Fighters' school in Kibera. During the months leading up to this trip, Nina worked to link two New York City school communities to the project: The AmPark Neighborhood School and The Fieldston Lower School, both in the Bronx. Children in the three communities got to know each other through musical and personal exchange. The children of the AmPark and Fieldston Lower schools had the opportunity to meet in person, collaborating on a musical project which they shared with their global partner in Kenya through letter-writing and video exchange. Through the use of technology, the three communities are working to create a collective musical offering. The project is an investment in the future of the children in Kibera and in New York City.
The goal of this exciting new initiative is to develop a lasting relationship between these three communities, using music to learn about different world cultures and helping the children to appreciate the complex world in which we live.
"Recorders Without Borders, Volume I"
Nina Stern's innovative book for beginning recorder players
and percussion is published by Sweet Pipes.
The book contains 12 original compositions in the styles of
traditional music from around the world.
To purchase the book please launch related site below.
"Recorders Without Borders, Volume II"
Volume II in the "Recorders Without Borders" series includes 13 traditional tunes from around with world arranged for Recorders and Percussion. This volume comes with a play-along CD featuring Nina Stern on recorders and Shane Shanahan on percussion.
To purchase the book launch related site below. | <urn:uuid:39969826-c9e4-4931-9c05-c854a2163d59> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ninastern.com/html/showcase.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94229 | 431 | 2.09375 | 2 |
Ohioans who believe they can rely on criminal background checks to warn them against hiring dangerous employees may be wrong. In fact, the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation is, in effect, lying about some ex-convicts' records - because state law requires it.
A complex bill the General Assembly enacted last summer is to blame. Sometimes referred to as Senate Bill 337, the measure deals with a wide variety of criminal law issues. Part of it is intended to ensure former criminals who have paid their debts to society are able to get jobs once they leave prison.
But state officials have interpreted part of the law involving sealing of criminal records to mean that when employers do background checks on potential new hires, they are not to be told the whole truth in some cases.
That has Attorney General Mike DeWine concerned. He has discovered 24 situations in which potential harm could have resulted from less-than-candid responses by the BCI to background check requests.
In one case, a man who had been convicted of rape was hired for a job involving work with children. In another, a woman was hired at a hospital even though she previously had been found mentally incompetent to stand trial for murder.
In both cases - and others - the BCI was prohibited from providing critical information to employers.
Part of the problem is misguided concern for adults who had been convicted of crimes while they were juveniles. Murder and sex crimes are the only juvenile offenses state officials are allowed to report on background checks. Even sex crimes are not revealed unless the adult in question is still required to be on the state sex offender registry.
Pitfalls in the new law are obvious - and should have been when legislators were considering the bill. As DeWine points out, the flaws could put some people in danger.
Legislators should take another look at the law and rescind parts that could result in dangerous ex-convicts being hired for jobs they have no business holding. | <urn:uuid:eee6612d-57b1-4ff2-828c-abdf6a212c9f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://advertiser-tribune.com/page/content.detail/id/552578/Bill-may-hinder-criminal-checks.html?nav=5104 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00014-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979842 | 395 | 1.726563 | 2 |
To articulate the KEF philosophy of audio reproduction we can do no better than to remember the words of Raymond Cooke, the company’s founder:
‘Of all art, music is the most indefinable and the most expressive, the most insubstantial and the most immediate, the most transitory and the most imperishable. Transformed to a dance of electrons along a wire its ghost lives on. When KEF returns music to its rightful habituation, your ears and mind, they aim to do so in the most natural way they can…without drama, without exaggeration, without artifice’.
So how does one go about putting this philosophy into practice, and what aspects of loudspeaker design are important in realising this aim?
The most critical elements in a loudspeaker are the drive units that convert the electrical signals into sound. They are complex devices which are required to exhibit controlled mechanical behaviour over a wide frequency range. There are a number of potential sources of distortion that must be controlled and, in addition, the radiated sound needs to maintain its integrity over an arc of at least 120 degrees so that the listening area is well covered and so that reflections from room boundaries do not cause unwanted colourations.
It is extremely difficult, some would say impossible, to produce a single drive unit that will cover the entire audio band with the performance required for a high-end audio system. As a result the simplest hi-fi speakers are two-way systems with dedicated bass and treble drivers. The minimum format for a full bandwidth system is the three-way with bass, midrange and treble drivers. The drivers in a multi-way system need to be acoustically integrated by the internal crossover network so that ideally they sound like a single full range driver.
Bass and midrange drivers require a specific air volume behind the diaphragm for correct operation, hence the need for an enclosure. In addition, the shape of the enclosure into which the drivers are fitted is also highly important in maintaining a smooth response and controlling the spread of sound into the listening room. The combination of drivers / crossover network / enclosure design is what we term Total System Design, and this is critical in producing a high performance loudspeaker.
For Raymond Cooke, the approach to producing better loudspeakers was to apply a high level of rigorous engineering in all the key design areas. The initial priority was to develop new drive units with improved performance, and for these he used the latest in synthetic materials such as Melinex, Polystyrene, Bextrene and Neoprene. Next in importance was the system design – how to combine these drivers with their enclosures and crossover networks in order to create loudspeakers that would push the performance envelope further than had ever been achieved before.
The new drivers were implemented into KEF’s first product, the three-way K1 Slimline that together with its big brother the K1 Monitor demonstrated that this new company was really serious about innovation. It was not long before the legendary B139 was released with its diaphragm of aluminium-skinned polystyrene, and by 1970 KEF had a range of drive units that were not only used in KEF systems but also in those of a plethora of other manufacturers all round the world. It is a testament to the quality and reliability of these units that they were used so extensively, and certainly they considerably contributed to the reputation and brand image of KEF in the early days. Close connections with the BBC’s research department were maintained, particularly in the area of new materials, and KEF’s exclusive manufacture of the BBC LS5/1A monitor taught the company much about working to tight tolerances. | <urn:uuid:9abeaadd-3d17-408d-b328-137b94b3eccf> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.kef.com/html/hk_en/explore/all_about_sound/sound5/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00058-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962663 | 753 | 2.140625 | 2 |
The works of Arno Schmidt (1914-1979) are uncontested within academic literary criticism. But not so within informed literary circles; he is either unknown to the vast majority, or rejected for being “difficult” or “avant-garde.” And yet there are more than a million copies of his works circulating in Germany, plus translations into numerous languages. His readers value the precision of his observations and his surprising images, his knowledge of history and his penetrating political insight and especially his grim humor. The Goethe Institut Chicago would like to use this event to introduce Arno Schmidt to an audience that has frequently demonstrated its interest in German literature in the past. You may expect an encounter with an author whose texts will astonish you.
John E. Woods is the translator of over forty books from the German – most notably Arno Schmidt's Evening Edged in Gold, for which he won both the American Book Award for translation and the PEN Translation Prize in 1981; Patrick Süskind's Perfume, for which he again won the PEN Translation Prize in 1987; Christoph Ransmay'rs Terrors of Ice and Darkness, The Last World (for which he was awarded the Schlegel-Tieck Prize in 1991), and The Dog King; Libuse Monikova's The Facade; Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain (for which, along with Arno Schmidt's Nobodaddy's Children, he was awarded the Helen and Kurt Wolff Prize in 1996), Doctor Faustus, and, most recently, Joseph and His Brothers; Ingo Schulze's 33 Moments of Happiness and Simple Stories; Bernhard Schlink's Flights of Love; and Hans Ulrich Treichel's Leaving Sardinia. Currently John Woods is at work on Arno Schmidt's Zettels Traum.
Bernd Rauschenbach studied German Language and Literature, as well as Library Studies. He is a translator, literary editor and interpreter, and painter. He manages the Arno Schmidt Endowment in Eldingen near Bargfeld. Since 1975 he has collaborated with Jörg W. Gronius to publish, among others, “Stücke 1” (echoraum 1993) and “Stücke 2” (Weidle Verlag 1997).
Recorded Thursday, October 16, 2008 at Goethe-Institut Chicago. | <urn:uuid:9fa40ce3-0156-477b-b655-f84dc8896a4e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wbez.org/print/53371 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953404 | 501 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Hilary Abeyaratne: A Teacher And More
I don’t know when Hilary Abeyaratne passed away in Australia, but it was, for someone like me who wanted to meet him again as I entered my own twilight years, too soon.
There has been at least one appreciation of Hilary that has appeared in a weekly English language publication that speaks of his many qualities as a teacher. For my part, I believe that Hilary made a significantly greater impact on those with whom he came in contact, an impact that extended beyond the confines of the classroom and its immediate vicinity.
My family’s relationship with Hilary encompassed both my generation and the one that preceded it, in the shape of my father.
My father never really forgave Hilary for what he saw as his ‘misleading’ my older siblings into a lifetime submersion in Trotskyist politics. Those siblings, in turn, were most disillusioned with Hilary when they sought to have him more intimately involved with the political causes in which they had immersed themselves in Britain in the 1950s when Hilary, who had been their Housemaster and political guru at Trinity College, was doing a post-graduate teaching practicum of some kind in England. In fact they never forgave what they interpreted as his ‘typically bourgeois dilettantism’ and an attachment to progressive politics which didn’t extend beyond the theoretical. The Anglican Ladies Sunday Afternoon Tea Party at which good deeds were planned and little else was where they seemed to place Hilary’s politics!
My contact with Hilary was not unlike that of my brothers, known in British political circles as Michael and Tony Banda, pseudonymous in typically Trotskyist fashion! At an impressionable age – my mid teens – I was enormously impressed by both Hilary’s style as well as the content of what he spoke knowledgeably about. Coming from a background that was attached to English middle-class culture, I could relate to what Hilary said both in the classroom and outside it. I believe he was a little less explicit in what he told me about politics, perhaps because of his experience with my brothers and the fallout from those conversations. However, he did reinforce the stirrings of social conscience that, in retrospect I now know, was part of my family’s belief system.
In addition to his political progressivism Hilary was another breath of cultural fresh air in the halls of a Trinity where the environment had been created by the ‘new broom’ regime of Norman Walter for unprecedented physical and intellectual change. Among other things, Hilary was responsible for establishing a Film Society in the school and we had the opportunity of watching a very grainy ‘Battleship Potemkin’ in 16mm format and we learned that there was more to films about nature and wild life than the slick and cutesy Walt Disney films such as the ‘Living Desert.’
Trinity had been in the doldrums, in more ways than one, for many years and Norman Walter certainly shook things up. To me this was epitomized by some of the teachers he brought in from Britain.
There was Hugh (H.J.K.) Smith, a Welshman if memory strikes me right, who made poetry come alive for so many of us to whom it had been unbelievable drudgery up to then; there was Derek Jukes who let his arts students indulge their creative fancies in a manner that Harry Hardy, very much the follower of academic tradition, would have shuddered at! There was J. J. Armstrong, a ‘man of the cloth,’ from Ulster from whom I once received a ‘thundering’ slap for having had the cheek to try to mimic his very heavy Irish brogue! Nevertheless, a good and conscientious teacher!
And, as if to prove that the only ones who don’t make mistakes are those who don’t do anything, there was a recruit to the staff called Dixon, if memory strikes me right, who left quite mysteriously and, seemingly, under a cloud.
If you think that Walter’s was a regime devoted to ‘re-colonizing’ Trinity, there were several eminent Sinhala and Tamil scholars brought on board, one of whom I distinctly remember was a Charles de Silva who had flowing locks of a kind associated with intellectuals and artists of the time.
There were also, of course, the non-conformist survivors from the days of Empire. Among these was the Gandhian, A. M. Sunderamani, who possessed one of the most under-rated intellects on Trinity’s staff, a man of wisdom whose principles were epitomized by the fact that he disobeyed the edict of a previous principal, Campbell, and continued until he left TCK, to wear his Indian national garb of khaddar (raw cotton) on every occasion, formal and otherwise.
This then was the TCK that Hilary throve in. I cannot speak for the years after Norman Walter left – post Bandaranaike ‘Sinhala only’ – but I certainly have vivid memories of Hilary in the Walter years and, warts and all, he epitomized the (western) liberal tradition that, sadly, seems to have deserted the Kandy school.
Hilary encouraged his students to think for themselves. You certainly didn’t learn by rote in his classes. In fact, to me the impact of his teaching is most evident in several contemporaries whom I have met up with, sometimes after half a century, who, while they came from very conservative Kandyan backgrounds and might have been expected to more than retain that conservatism, provide living examples of the breadth of vision that Hilary’s teaching projected. I am truly filled with wonder when I consider where these men came from, culturally speaking, and the space they now inhabit and presumably did during their working lives. That was a large part of Hilary Abeyaratne’s legacy.
To some of us at least, ‘H.B.A.’ was a glamour boy of significant stature! He, admittedly, drove a poor excuse for a sports car, one of the lemons of the British motor industry, an Austin A40 Sports. It was a nice enough looking vehicle with a soft top, the only real concession to ‘sportiness, but otherwise very much a part of the citrus branch of the imperial automobile industry of the time!
Hilary liked a tipple and was famous for his ‘civil service butts,’ cigarettes lit, drawn on and then stubbed out while moving from one classroom to the other without benefit of an ‘interval’ in which to indulge his addiction to ‘cancer sticks.’ In fact, there were the more adventurous among my contemporaries who’d make a practice of picking up these ‘fags’ off which only a couple of ‘pulls’ had been taken, storing them away for future use! Hilary was part of a generation of the Abeyaratna family that personified excellence in the fields of endeavour they entered. Ernest devoted his life to dry zone agriculture and headed up the research station at Maha Illupallama for years, performing a veritable labour of love with great distinction; Michael, the youngest, shone as a surgeon and, if I remember right, Brightie more than excelled in her chosen medical field. Their parents, Dr Lloyd and his spouse were paediatricians of repute not to mention human beings of exceptional integrity and excellence. The Abeyaratne’s of those two generations not only excelled in their chosen professional fields but were the personification of the liberal democratic tradition of that time, even though their affiliation with Bandaranaike politics might have left something to be desired as far as some of us were concerned!
The fact that Hilary left Sri Lanka when he did is indicative, notwithstanding any protestations to the contrary, of the historical progression of the narrow, chauvinistic, intolerant and violent culture that had begun to overtake Sri Lanka. To me, the life of Hilary Abeyaratne parallels the history of late twentieth century Sri Lanka and the opportunities lost to those who might have continued to be the beneficiaries of educators of excellence like him. | <urn:uuid:64b93eac-4d4f-4f17-b486-dae0b47d98a4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2012/09/09/hilary-abeyaratne-a-teacher-and-more/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708766848/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125246-00040-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983909 | 1,737 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Most Active Stories
Fri September 1, 2006
Flood Waters Rise in Ernesto's Wake
By Megan V. Williams
Wilmington, NC – An unusually wet August in southeastern North Carolina means more of Ernesto's rain is swelling the region's rivers. Tributaries of the northeast Cape Fear are above their banks and the river is running several feet higher than normal.
Emergency services in Duplin county report evacuations in the town of Chinquapin. According to the Star News, there are swift water rescue teams evacuating low-lying residents in the Pender County town of Maple Hill.
And in Bladen County, where the Black River is expected to flood, Emergency Services director Mitchell Boyd is worried his residents may think the danger has passed.
That might be the concept of some of the people here, that you know, we got a lot of rain, but it's already gone away. Well, yeah, it's gone away, but the rain that the people got 20 miles upstream is coming down here, but it won't be here for two or three days.
Southeastern rivers affected by Ernesto are expected to crest late Saturday or early Sunday morning. | <urn:uuid:1dd68be7-0c19-4c04-80db-0b1081b1861b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://whqr.org/post/flood-waters-rise-ernestos-wake | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706890813/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122130-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962827 | 241 | 1.828125 | 2 |
The IDentity Kits are in and so far we have identified 3 youth in Pennsylvania and 15 youth in California who are in need of a Kit of their own. Those numbers are still growing. Kits are $20 a piece. With your help we can get these 18 youth this tool to help them assuage worries and fears about being gay, lesbian, trans, bi AND Christian. To find out more about each Kit click here.
What’s in a Kit?
- Booklet: This is a community center in a book–answering tough questions about orientation, sexual identity, and tackling daunting questions like what does the Bible really say, how do I start coming out, and where can I find resources to help me long after I’ve read the book?
- Cards: These game cards categorize the various parts of our identities. Play this game to spark conversation around parts of your identity that can empower you to be all you can be.
- Sticker: To help you remember that your identity matters and you are not alone.
Do you know of a teen who could use this resource? Help us get them a Kit by adding their name or your name to this confidential list by emailing it to Crystal@youridk or simply click here to fill out the form.
The Team of Your IDK | <urn:uuid:867a26db-f392-412b-bd54-341d39817268> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://youridk.com/tag/soulforce/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00060-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937877 | 273 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Image: The Body of Tee, a Chief
'The Body of Tee, a Chief, as Preserved after Death in Otaheite ca1781-1783'.
- John Webber
- © The Australian Museum Research Library
In the Society Islands the bodies of chiefs who died naturally were preserved through the removal of internal organs and the placement of cloth inside the body to absorb the body fluids. Coconut oil was also applied to the skin. The body was placed in public view, attended by a priest, for a considerable time and offerings of fruit, food and flowers were made. | <urn:uuid:9ac47b1a-7042-48b9-b0ba-1da8c9219bed> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://australianmuseum.net.au/image/The-Body-of-Tee-a-Chief/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368711005985/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516133005-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973721 | 120 | 3.0625 | 3 |
St. Cloud professor unearths history of slavery in Minnesotaby Ambar Espinoza, Minnesota Public Radio
St. Paul, Minn. — A St. Cloud State University professor has found evidence of slavery in several Minnesota counties before the Civil War, a groundbreaking discovery that sheds light on the Midwest's pre-Civil War history.
Christopher Lehman, an ethnic studies professor who is researching slavery in states along the upper Mississippi River, has documented slavery in Stearns, Benton, Hennepin, Ramsey, and Washington counties.
His research, to be published in a book in 2012, also found that prominent St. Cloud families of the mid-19th Century were slave owners.
Among them was Slyvanus Lowry, St. Cloud's first mayor, who once owned the land where St. Cloud Hospital stands.
Lowry, who came to Minnesota from Kentucky, had a plantation-style mansion there. Ownership of the land changed hands several times after his death in 1865.
"He was a powerful figure," Lehman said. "By the time he was mayor of St. Cloud, he was the most powerful Democrat in central Minnesota and St. Cloud had a reputation of being somewhat pro-slavery just because Lowry was."
Lowry founded a pro-slavery newspaper, The Union, which later became the St. Cloud Times. He started the paper to rival one run by the abolitionist Jane Grey Swisshelm.
Lowry's paper caught the attention of former Massachusetts Congressman Edward Everett, who cited it in an 1861 speech about pro-slavery journalism in the country.
For seven years, Lehman extensively reviewed census records and newspaper articles from the 19th and early 20th centuries. His research findings are consistent with what he's found in books about slave owners in St. Cloud.
In the 1850s and 1860s, the city's slave population was small -- only in the single digits, Lehman said. Statewide, the number of slaves sometimes approached 20, as southerners vacationed with their slaves in St. Cloud and other river towns, including the Twin Cities and Stillwater.
Southerners were able to travel with their slaves to Minnesota because of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott decision which declared that, as property, slaves were not citizens and could not sue to win their freedom --- even in non-slaveholding states.
The court also ruled that the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in the territory, was unconstitutional.
"So that led to a big rush of people who would vacation here in the north and bring their slaves from the south, and just dare people to do anything about it," Lehman said. "So even though you had the Northwest Ordinance, you had the Missouri Compromise, none of these laws amounted to a hill of beans because they weren't being enforced."
The Twin Cities and Stillwater had flourishing hotel businesses because of the Dred Scott decision, Lehman said. But the hotel businesses tanked when the Civil War began, because Southerners decided to stay in the south to fight for the Confederacy.
Lehman has written several articles for the Stearns History Museum that piece together this history. Those articles include the story of 32-year-old Mary Butler, a slave from Tennessee. Lowry's sister, Elizabeth, and her husband, the Rev. Thomas Calhoun, brought Mary to Minnesota.
"They traveled up the Mississippi River and they were able to be inside the boat," Lehman said. "But according a report by Jane Grey Swisshelm, Mary Butler was not able to be inside, but outside the boat instead. And so she had to suffer the elements while traveling during the winter time up river."
According to Swisshelm's newspaper article, Mary Butler had a two-year-old son with her during the trip to St. Cloud.
Her toddler was already sick with measles, and Butler didn't have a blanket to keep him warm. To keep her son warm, she turned up the bottom of her dress to cradle him, but the child died after exposure to the cold weather.
But Butler also was pregnant during the boat ride, Lehman said. She gave birth to a baby boy named John a few months after she arrived in St. Cloud.
"That was in 1857, so John is probably the first African American born in St. Cloud," Lehman said. "There's a sort of myth that African-Americans in St. Cloud are a recent phenomenon, that they've been here only since the 1950s or '60s."
Lehman's research also found that African-Americans had a presence in St. Cloud even before the city's founding in 1856. Mary Butler's arrival predated that of immigrants from Austria, Hungary, and Denmark to Stearns County.
He found one newspaper article that documents the Rev. David Lowry, Sylvanus Lowry's father, brought two black cattle drivers with him when he pushed cattle north in 1854. That was one year before John Tenvoorde led the first group of German Americans to settle in St. Cloud.
In the 1890s, free blacks in St. Cloud thrived as middle-class entrepreneurs, primarily barbers, and whites in the city supported black-owned businesses until about 1915.
Two events sparked trouble for blacks in St. Cloud, Lehman notes. When a railroad company brought African-Americans to St. Cloud to break a strike in 1916, that created a backlash against the black laborers. Also, a mob gathered and threatened to lynch an African-American man when his relationship with a white woman, whom he later married in the Twin Cities, became public in 1917.
By 1920, Jim Crow laws legalizing segregation were institutionalized in Minnesota.
Because slaves who came to St. Cloud left with their owners, few stayed. Lehman thinks that's one reason why the black population in St. Cloud wasn't sizeable until the 1950s and 60s.
There are a couple of other tangible remnants of St. Cloud's slave-holding history. Below two stained-glass windows at First Presbyterian Church in St. Cloud are plates with the names of the Rev. David Lowry, father of the first mayor, and Rev. Thomas Calhoun, the owner of Mary Butler.
Both men performed Cumberland Presbyterian missionary work in St. Cloud. Some of the same people who worshiped with Lowry and Calhoun later started First Presbyterian Church with another minister, after Lowry left St. Cloud and Calhoun died.
Lehman's research will be published in a book tentatively titled, "Slavery in the Upper Mississippi," scheduled for publication some time in 2012. The book also will include the history of slavery in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois.
- All Things Considered, 05/07/2010, 4:48 p.m. | <urn:uuid:41661128-9592-4713-ac64-204b389327f2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/05/07/upper-mississippi-slavery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00011-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979737 | 1,418 | 3.265625 | 3 |
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From the Times of India
'Even with quota, 21st century may not belong to women'
Times of India, New Delhi: June 19, 1999
Despite the 33 per cent reservation for women in the panchayats in the
country and a like-wise proposal for parliament, even if implemented,
the 21st century may not belong to women. And that politics today is yet
to offer them a dignified space.
This concern was voiced by a section of a panel at a public discussion
on the theme, Women and Political Reforms: How to make politics worthy
of women, at the India International Centre jointly organized by
Manushi, Women Rights and Welfare Association of Burma (WRWAB), and the
centre itself, on Saturday. The occasion being the 54th birthday of
pro-democracy leader in Myanmar and Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
The panelists were senior Congress person Mani Shanker Iyer, former
Union Minister and environment activist Maneka Gandhi, Samata Party
functionary Jaya Jaitely and Union sports minister Uma Bharati. Raja
Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptullah was also invited but did not
Thin Thin Aung, General Secretary of WRWAB, who has been living in India
for the last 11 years and participated in the students' revolt in
Myanmar, opened the discussion. She said in 1997, Myanmar women in exile
along with other organizations had decided to observe Suu Kyi's birthday
as the "Women of Burma (Myanmar) Day.
Madhu Kishwar, who edits a journal 'Manushi' and was moderating the
function, said she proposes to celebrate Suu Kyi's birthday as Asian
Sending a message "to mark the Women of Burma Day", Ms. Suu Kyi herself
conveyed her greetings to Myanmar women and 'to honour those women who
are making so many sacrifices for democracy and human rights' in her
Ms. Kishwar said the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar, in a way, closed
to what we are seeing in India. She said 'all is not hunky-dory' with
the political system and the women's role in panchayats.
Ms. Gandhi said in her view what keep women away from politics is
basically the fact that women are over-worked and 'do not have the time
or energy'. She explained with the thinning forest cover in the country,
women have to walk further for water and fuel. Since they have to manage
the homes single-handedly and bring up several children, they become far
too over-worked. Their source of information become men. She felt with
every year the participation of women is falling.solving basic issues
and provision of basic facilities can give women more time and the drive
to join politics.
On the other hand, Jaya jaitely said, women will have to prove
themselves worthy before they can be invited by political parties. Since
'every party wants women who can win over people" with their hardwork.
Speaking along the same lines Mani Shankar Iyer said the panchyatri raj
system has attracted more women than the reserved 33 per cent seats
could accommodate - an indication of more women joining politics.
MIZZIMA News Group
H-3/15, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-18 | <urn:uuid:81137bd2-b824-4d72-9ebb-c07bdd20c0eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/reg.burma/archives/199906/msg00387.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704132298/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113532-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95153 | 735 | 1.90625 | 2 |
[Editor's note: Dear Shannon is a career advice column for sustainability professionals and wannabe professionals. If you have a question for Shannon, send it to her at email@example.com. Let us know your thoughts on the column in the comments section below.]
I have been working in a global strategy consultancy for 10 years with many of the Fortune 500 companies as clients. I have just taken voluntary redundancy as part of a restructuring program, but will get a decent package due to my tenure. I now have the time and flexibility to do what I am passionate about and I want to start my own social enterprise focused on sustainability and innovation. Do you have any advice for someone wanting to make a difference in the world through entrepreneurship?
— Phillip, New York City
After a decade working for a big company, breaking out on your own and doing what you love is liberating, but will certainly have its hurdles. As an entrepreneur myself, I think the trade-off you make between having a social impact and not being able to pay yourself a salary sometimes can be worth it. And if you love what you do, everyday challenges will even seem fun.
Social entrepreneurs are unique in that they identify a problem and use entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture in order to yield positive returns to both society and the balance sheet. My favorite two mantras from some of the social entrepreneurs I have coached are “to give up is not an option” and “dream big to make a big difference.”
To answer your question, I’ll break down the most important skills and traits needed for an ambitious project like this and outline some of the key steps to the first phase of starting up.
Next page: Starting up
The skills a social entrepreneur needs are similar to those of a business entrepreneur, i.e., very robust and diverse, since you will be wearing multiple hats for at least the first phase of startup. The most important skill, however, is having a strong and communicable vision. Once you've identified the gaps in the sector and created your business model, you will need to apply other skills at a more hands-on level:
Underscoring the hard skills with which you'll run the business are the traits you'll use to implement them. Often confused with skills, traits are in fact an approach, or a style of delivery.
Next page: Simple steps
The initial challenges in the first year can be broken down into some simple steps, each with its own set of questions you'll need to find answers to, perhaps with the help of a coach or mentor:
Idea generation: As a social entrepreneur, you will see opportunity in the face of massive challenges and identify gaps in the sector which others may not. However, do make sure you test your business ideas before committing.
Finance and funding: Business modeling will be key and I would encourage you to find a mentor who has already set up a social venture to help guide you and perhaps sit on your board. On top of that, you'll need a strong business model to be able to compete with others doing similar businesses without the social agenda. Once you've got that model defined, never compromise on it: Your enterprise is still just that, even if it does have a social conscience.
To sell your concept to investors, you will need to find ways to bring your story to life while rooting it in hard numbers and against a solid plan. You'll need to test out a professional and compelling pitch before going to the big investors.
Accounting and legal: You will also need to hire a good accountant. For a while you may be managing the books. Consider automating your financial reporting — this can be a crucial time-saver.
Marketing and sales: As the owner of the business you will be the face of the company. You will need to establish a strong brand identity and navigate the world of social media. You will need to be able to measure the impact of your marketing efforts and do startup PR that gets coverage. Finding your initial 100 paying clients or customers will be your biggest Phase 1 challenge.
Team and recruitment: Creating an organizational culture that attracts top talent is critical to your success. You will need to know how to structure a strong employee relationship and how to make your first hire, and when. Put on your HR hat and think of innovative ways to incentivize your team and build that strong startup culture.
I wish you the best of luck turning your passion for social change into reality. Commit to it and stay strong while finding inspiring colleagues to join you on the journey. Do let me know when you launch and I’ll spread the word.
Thank you to successful social entrepreneurs Felipe Zalamea of Sumak Travel and Sustainable Pangea, Jamie Grainger-Smith of Think.Eat.Drink and Maggie De Pree of Imaginals for their personal insights and contributions to this blog.
Photo of woman in front of maze provided by Fotovika via Shutterstock | <urn:uuid:72d84913-d4fe-4ba7-a9b9-3851006cdd45> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.greenbiz.com/print/51263 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946035 | 1,031 | 1.75 | 2 |
Social Media Marketing
Do you know that your postings on the Facebook, Orkut and Twitter can get you a well-paid job? Thanks to social media marketing, a new trend in marketing that has become quite popular with the increasing popularity of social networking sites. In a nutshell, social media is any online portal, community or technology that can be used to spread a wide range of information in the form of text, video or images. As all the major companies want to make their presence felt across the social networking sites, as these are easy ways to meet the potential customers, hence having a twitter and facebook account works to their advantage. As the consumers and audience today have become interactive leaving no chance to express their experience-good or bad- about a particular product so having someone to disseminate right things about the company or products always work to the advantage.
The job of social media marketers implies planning and assisting the social media initiatives and open channels of conversation across various groups. The incumbent is also expected to search and analyze the ruling content across different channels. It is also expected to have an eye on recent developments in social media.
Who is the right person for the job?
An analytical bent of mind along with a sense e of business is the essentials for being successful in this field. The incumbent should be very clear in mind that he is here to do business and not to just connect with the people. The incumbent should be a good communicator. A background in advertising and PR is an added advantage.
The field is very rewarding and even a beginner can get Rs. 2 lakhs per annum. The salaries grow with work experience.
If you are facing any programming issue, such as compilation errors or not able to find the code you are looking for.
Ask your questions, our development team will try to give answers to your questions. | <urn:uuid:7ebf8111-5aff-4305-ab48-9c46a49ccfa5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://roseindia.net/training/socialmediamarketing.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956532 | 374 | 1.632813 | 2 |
Exactly one week ago, Shot@Life Advocate and Palatine mom Jennifer DeFranco was in Washington D.C. lobbying congress to provide life-saving immunizations for children in developing countries.
DeFranco travelled to the U.S. capitol along with more than 100 Shot@Life advocates, six of which were from Illinois.
The small group, including DeFranco met with the offices of Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL). Congressman Danny Davis ((D-IL), Congressman Brad Schnieder (D-IL) and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).
“Every 20 seconds a child dies of a disease that could have been prevented by a vaccine,” DeFranco said. “As a mom, I see every day how precious small moments are in our kids’ lives. Shot@Life believes each child deserves a healthy childhood, and so do I.”
For only $20, a child can receive the vaccines to protect against four deadly diseases: polio, measles, rotavirus and pneumonia. For as little as $5 a child can be protected from polio and measles for a lifetime, the release said.
The release went on to say that with the eradication of polio within reach, support requests by Shot@Llife have gained momentum.
"The globe is currently 99% polio free. We only have 1% to go before it is completely eradicated for good. Since germs don’t need a passport and so many children around the world are unvaccinated, diseases that have been eliminated in developed countries – such as measles – can return," the release stated.
Expanding access to vaccines strengthens our ability to fight disease globally and keep our families healthy here at home, it stated.
“We’re building a movement in the United States to give children around the world a healthy shot at life,” said champion, Jen DeFranco. “The congressional meetings I had are just a small piece of the puzzle that will help give kids a shot at a first day of school, best friends and bear hugs.” Childhood vaccines are modern miracles and for the cost of a week’s worth of coffee, you can give a child a lifetime of immunity from deadly disease because every child deserves a shot at a healthy life, no matter where they live.
Shot@Life, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation, educates, connects and empowers Americans to help protect children in developing countries from vaccine-preventable diseases. By joining this movement, you can help save a child’s life every 20 seconds by learning about, advocating for and donating vaccines to children who need them most. Go to ShotAtLife.org to learn more.
For more information about United Nations Foundation, visit www.unfoundation.org. | <urn:uuid:5ed3d4e7-006f-4431-8a0b-243b6f861e28> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://palatine.patch.com/articles/palatine-mom-lobbies-congress-for-life-saving-vaccines | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00038-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955291 | 613 | 1.8125 | 2 |
Calling all journalism students, especially would-be investigative journalists. Two of the country's best exponents of the trade are to give a masterclass in investigation journalism.
Paul Lewis, The Guardian's award-winning special projects editor, and Heather Brooke, the award-winning freedom-of-information campaigner, are both - if they'll forgive me for the hyperbole - digital revolutionaries.
They have used digital tools to great effect in securing their exclusive stories. Lewis is currently heading a unit seeking innovative ways of using social media and crowd-sourcing. Brooke is currently writing her third book, entitled The revolution will be digitised.
So people who sign up for what is billed as "an intensive weekend course" - with a series of interactive workshops and skill-based sessions - will get practical lessons in how new technology can aid investigations.
The course, to be held on 22-23 September in The Guardian's offices, is open to anyone - working journalists looking to learn new skills, curious amateurs, lawyers, regulators, investigators, bloggers, press officers and campaigners. But there is a limit of 30 people. | <urn:uuid:816ba990-0a0a-49f8-befb-147172ed181d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/jul/25/investigative-journalism-theguardian | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706153698/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120913-00032-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938405 | 227 | 1.5625 | 2 |
As parents, we rarely want to see our children sick. Not only does it affect our children's temporary well-being, it often thwarts our everyday routine. Of course, we all know and accept (for the most part) that catching colds and vomiting are an immutable fact of life. As a pediatrician, I view children combating regular illnesses as a rite of passage; with each passing fever and sniffle, our immune systems become stronger, more mature and smarter.
Regardless, when our children become sick, it is sometimes hard not to dissect the past 72 hours in an effort to deduce which of our friends' children made little Johnny sick. Sometimes it is simply an innocent fact-finding mission with little malice or misgiving. Other times, however, we rack our brains, pursuing a mini witch hunt, until we have concluded who passed the unfortunate germ to our child.
From a public health standpoint, it is a well researched fact that an average healthy child will come down with 6-8 viral illnesses each year; if the child attends daycare, this number jumps to 8-12 viral episodes. Furthermore, it is also known that children will often shed a virus for several weeks, even after they themselves appear perfectly healthy. Viruses, especially during the winter time, are rather hardy and can survive for several hours on fomite surfaces, including door handles, countertops, grocery carts, toys, and wherever else they happen to slobber, touch, or lick (in other words everywhere!).
Thus, when investigating the possible places or people that a child may have acquired a germ, it really is a total crapshoot. And assigning fault, especially if there is any ill will involved (pun intended!), is a dangerous and inaccurate game to play.
I often counsel my families that they should resign themselves to the fact that their children will become sick multiple times each year, with the bulk of the illnesses occurring during the winter time (the lower humidity and increased tendency for people to remain indoors leads to a greater survivability and sharing of germs). With this in mind, I believe that it is an impractical standard for people to avoid public gatherings when their children have a simple viral illness (or vice-versa, to impose this standard on others). The fact of the matter is, most of the time, whether their "sick appearing" snotty child joins the party or not, there will be plenty of germs abounding regardless.
If we truly want to avoid becoming ill, we would have to essentially live in a bubble. Even the most cautious, Purell-addicted family will encounter their fair share of germs each year. And even if they only socialize with well-appearing children, some of these kids may still be shedding germs from an illness they got over several weeks prior.
A simple but practical set of guidelines I pass on to parents is as follows:
1. Babies under 3 months should avoid contact with sick children. Anyone who plans to physically touch the baby should always wash their hands thoroughly before playing with the child, no matter how healthy they appear.
2. If a child is harboring a significant illness such as chicken pox or scarlet fever, they should be quarantined from other children until they are no longer contagious. For a full list of illnesses that should be quarantined, a pediatrician should be consulted with a quick phone call. The scope of this discussion is too exhaustive for a simple blog.
3. If a child is playing happily but has some mild symptoms (i.e. runny nose, cough, mild non-bloody diarrhea), they should NOT be quarantined and free to attend church, school, birthday parties, political functions, poetry readings, etc.
There are other circumstances that also need more detail; for example, an immunocompromised member lives in the household. However, the above general rules cover most circumstances.
It is this author's opinion that playing the blame game with colds and viral illnesses can not only be inaccurate, but ultimately fruitless. Rather focus on the upside! Your child's immune system has just been battle tested one additional time, and this can only strengthen him in the long run. Perhaps, rather than consigning blame, you should send the offending germ donor a thank you note. And maybe a little Purell.
A comeback for theophylline?
2 days ago | <urn:uuid:0e2eb2c0-1ec7-42d2-99f2-4e3c970b542a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://peterjung.blogspot.com/2007/11/blame-game.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00051-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961002 | 908 | 2.375 | 2 |
The priory was originally founded at Embsay in 1120 and contained canons led by a prior. Bolton Abbey was founded in 1151 by the Augustinian order, on the banks of the River Wharfe. The land at Bolton, as well as other resources, were given to the order by a Lady Alice de Romille of Skipton Castle in 1154. In the early 14th century Scottish raiders caused the temporary abandonment of the site and serious structural damage to the priory. The seal of the priory featured the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Child and the phrase sigillum sancte Marie de Bolton.
The nave of the abbey church was in use as a parish church from about 1170 onwards, and survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Building work was still going on at the abbey when the Dissolution of the Monasteries resulted in the termination of the priory in 1539. The east end remains in ruins. A tower, begun in 1520, was left half-standing, and its base was later given a bell-turret and converted into an entrance porch. Most of the remaining church is in the Gothic style of architecture, but more work was done in the Victorian era, including windows by August Pugin.
Thank you. A beautiful capture. Love the shot angle. Before reading your narrative I felt I was taken to heaven. Looking through that window opening I could only imagine that that was heaven's greeting. If a photo can convey a feeling, this is the one that can. Thank you very much for the fine and detailed narrative. Your land has a long and storied history. A history to be proud of. A history of a proud and good people. Thank you, once again. | <urn:uuid:7569e28a-e2d2-4fe2-af09-6994bfbd6961> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.photographyblog.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=106962&cat=500&ppuser=9403 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368696383156/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516092623-00013-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977636 | 361 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Armed with insight gained from tracking footprints and examining spoor while walking the land, spend the next few days ranging further afield exploring different habitats in this game rich section of South Luangwa. South Luangwa is the most well-known of Zambia’s National Parks due to its incredible concentrations of wildlife. The Luangwa River is the most intact major river system in Africa and yearly flooding causes the course of the river to change, creating wildlife-rich oxbow lakes. Our game drives and walks will search for elephants, giraffe, antelopes, baboons, buffalo, hippos, zebra, and kudu. These animals are stalked by numerous predators including lion, leopard, and hyena, with occasional sightings of the rare wild dog. Overnights Bilimungwe Bushcamp. | <urn:uuid:7728fcc1-1ce2-4546-83ac-6e885eb3ec3a> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wildland.com/trips/africa/zambia/wild-walking-safari/itinerary.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906478 | 170 | 1.75 | 2 |
Revised March 2010
Methamphetamine is a central nervous system stimulant drug that is similar in structure to amphetamine. Due to its high potential for abuse, methamphetamine is classified as a Schedule II drug and is available only through a prescription that cannot be refilled. Although methamphetamine can be prescribed by a doctor, its medical uses are limited, and the doses that are prescribed are much lower than those typically abused. Most of the methamphetamine abused in this country comes from foreign or domestic superlabs, although it can also be made in small, illegal laboratories, where its production endangers the people in the labs, neighbors, and the environment.
How Is Methamphetamine Abused?
Methamphetamine is a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol and is taken orally, intranasally (snorting the powder), by needle injection, or by smoking.
How Does Methamphetamine Affect the Brain?
Methamphetamine increases the release and blocks the reuptake of the brain chemical (or neurotransmitter) dopamine, leading to high levels of the chemical in the brain—a common mechanism of action for most drugs of abuse. Dopamine is involved in reward, motivation, the experience of pleasure, and motor function. Methamphetamine’s ability to release dopamine rapidly in reward regions of the brain produces the intense euphoria, or “rush,” that many users feel after snorting, smoking, or injecting the drug.
Chronic methamphetamine abuse significantly changes how the brain functions. Noninvasive human brain imaging studies have shown alterations in the activity of the dopamine system that are associated with reduced motor skills and impaired verbal learning.1 Recent studies in chronic methamphetamine abusers have also revealed severe structural and functional changes in areas of the brain associated with emotion and memory,2,3 which may account for many of the emotional and cognitive problems observed in chronic methamphetamine abusers.
Repeated methamphetamine abuse can also lead to addiction—a chronic, relapsing disease characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, which is accompanied by chemical and molecular changes in the brain. Some of these changes persist long after methamphetamine abuse is stopped. Reversal of some of the changes, however, may be observed after sustained periods of abstinence (e.g., more than 1 year).4
What Other Adverse Effects Does Methamphetamine Have on Health?
Taking even small amounts of methamphetamine can result in many of the same physical effects as those of other stimulants, such as cocaine or amphetamines, including increased wakefulness, increased physical activity, decreased appetite, increased respiration, rapid heart rate, irregular heartbeat, increased blood pressure, and hyperthermia.
Long-term methamphetamine abuse has many negative health consequences, including extreme weight loss, severe dental problems (“meth mouth”), anxiety, confusion, insomnia, mood disturbances, and violent behavior. Chronic methamphetamine abusers can also display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and delusions (for example, the sensation of insects crawling under the skin).
Transmission of HIV and hepatitis B and C can be consequences of methamphetamine abuse. The intoxicating effects of methamphetamine, regardless of how it is taken, can also alter judgment and inhibition and can lead people to engage in unsafe behaviors, including risky sexual behavior. Among abusers who inject the drug, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases can be spread through contaminated needles, syringes, and other injection equipment that is used by more than one person. Methamphetamine abuse may also worsen the progression of HIV/AIDS and its consequences. Studies of methamphetamine abusers who are HIV-positive indicate that HIV causes greater neuronal injury and cognitive impairment for individuals in this group compared with HIV-positive people who do not use the drug.5,6
What Treatment Options Exist?
Currently, the most effective treatments for methamphetamine addiction are comprehensive cognitive-behavioral interventions. For example, the Matrix Model—a behavioral treatment approach that combines behavioral therapy, family education, individual counseling, 12-step support, drug testing, and encouragement for nondrug-related activities—has been shown to be effective in reducing methamphetamine abuse.7 Contingency management interventions, which provide tangible incentives in exchange for engaging in treatment and maintaining abstinence, have also been shown to be effective.8 There are no medications at this time approved to treat methamphetamine addiction; however, this is an active area of research for NIDA.
How Widespread Is Methamphetamine Abuse?
Monitoring the Future Survey
Methamphetamine use among teens appears to have dropped significantly in recent years, according to data revealed by the 2009 Monitoring the Future survey. The number of high-school seniors reporting past-year†† use is now only at 1.2 percent, which is the lowest since questions about methamphetamine were added to the survey in 1999; at that time, it was reported at 4.7 percent. Lifetime use among 8th-graders was reported at 1.6 percent in 2009, down significantly from 2.3 percent in 2008. In addition, the proportion of 10th-graders reporting that crystal methamphetamine was easy to obtain has dropped to 14 percent, down from 19.5 percent 5 years ago.
|8th grade||10th grade||12th grade|
National Survey on Drug Use and Health***
According to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the number of past-month methamphetamine users age 12 and older decreased by over half between 2006 and 2008. Current (past-month) users were numbered at 731,000 in 2006, 529,000 in 2007, and 314,000 in 2008. Significant declines from 2002 and 2008 also were noted for lifetime and past-year use in this age group.
From 2002 to 2008, past-month use of methamphetamine declined significantly among youths aged 12 to 17, from 0.3 percent to 0.1 percent, and young adults aged 18 to 25 also reported significant declines in past-month use, from 0.6 percent in 2002 to 0.2 percent in 2008.
Other Information Resources
For more information on the effects of methamphetamine abuse and addiction, visit www.drugabuse.gov/drugpages/methamphetamine.html.
To find publicly funded treatment facilities by State, visit www.findtreatment.samhsa.gov.
* These data are from the 2008 Monitoring the Future survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, and conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. The study has tracked 12th-graders’ illicit drug abuse and related attitudes since 1975; in 1991, 8th- and 10th-graders were added to the study.
** “Lifetime” refers to use at least once during a respondent’s lifetime. “Past year” refers to use at least once during the year preceding an individual’s response to the survey. “Past month” refers to use at least once during the 30 days preceding an individual’s response to the survey.
*** NSDUH (formerly known as the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse) is an annual survey of Americans age 12 and older conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Copies of the latest survey are available at www.samhsa.gov and from NIDA at 877–643–2644.
- Volkow ND, Chang L, Wang GJ, et al. Association of dopamine transporter reduction with psychomotor impairment in methamphetamine abusers. Am J Psychiatry 158(3):377–382, 2001.
- London ED, Simon SL, Berman SM, et al. Mood disturbances and regional cerebral metabolic abnormalities in recently abstinent methamphetamine abusers. Arch Gen Psychiatry 61(1):73–84, 2004.
- Thompson PM, Hayashi KM, Simon SL, et al. Structural abnormalities in the brains of human subjects who use methamphetamine. J Neurosci 24(26):6028–6036, 2004.
- Wang GJ, Volkow ND, Chang L, et al. Partial recovery of brain metabolism in methamphetamine abusers after protracted abstinence. Am J Psychiatry 161(2):242–248, 2004.
- Chang L, Ernst T, Speck O, Grob CS. Additive effects of HIV and chronic methamphetamine use on brain metabolite abnormalities. Am J Psychiatry 162(2):361–369, 2005.
- Rippeth JD, Heaton RK, Carey CL, et al. Methamphetamine dependence increases risk of neuropsychological impairment in HIV infected persons. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 10(1):1–14, 2004.
- Rawson RA, Marinelli-Casey P, Anglin MD, et al. A multi-site comparison of psychosocial approaches for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence. Addiction 99(6):708–717, 2004.
- Roll JM, Petry NM, Stitzer ML, et al. Contingency management for the treatment of methamphetamine use disorders. Am J Psychiatry 163(11):1993–1999, 2006.
Provides an overview of the latest scientific findings on methamphetamine, including short- and long-term health consequences, effects on pregnancy, and potential prevention and treatment options.
As a result of scientific research, we know that addiction is a disease that affects both brain and behavior. | <urn:uuid:e5f69728-b55e-4496-b4c4-78816730a512> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/methamphetamine | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92102 | 1,928 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Waitlist HelpStudents may choose to place themselves on a waitlist for closed classes. Being on a waitlist gives students the best chance of being admitted to a closed class. Please see below for more information:
- It is the student’s responsibility to be aware of their registration and waitlist status.
- Being on a waitlist does not guarantee admission to the class. However, waitlisted students will be automatically registered into the waitlisted class in priority order if a seat becomes available. Waitlisted students will also be admitted to the class before all other students seeking admission to the class who are not on the waitlist provided they are in attendance at the first class meeting.
- Students may waitlist in a closed class through the end of the first week of the semester for full-term courses during the Fall and Spring semesters only. During the Summer, students may waitlist in a closed class until the day before the class begins.
- Students will not be prompted to waitlist for a class if the waitlist option is no longer available. If the waitlist option is no longer available, that means the class and all waitlisted slots are full. Students should be prepared to select alternate sections or classes if this is the case, as it is unlikely that they will be admitted to a class when all seats, including waitlists seats, are full.
- You may not register or place yourself on the waitlist for any other class that meets at the same time as the waitlisted class.
- You may not register or place yourself on the waitlist for another section of the same course as the waitlisted class. Example: if you are registered in English 1A, you cannot also be on the waitlist for a different section of English 1A.
- You must meet the prerequisites for the waitlisted course. This means you must have completed the prerequisite course at this college with a grade of A, B, C or Pass (previously called Credit), or must have received prerequisite clearance from the college. (See the college website for Prerequisite information and instructions.)
- You may not exceed your maximum allowable number of units including the units for the waitlisted course. Requests for unit overload must be approved by a counselor and filed with the Records Office.
- You may not exceed the maximum allowable number of repeats for any class.
- If you have waitlisted for an on-line or partially on-line class you will be able to log into the class for the first two weeks of the class only. If you have not officially registered into the class by the end of the 2nd week of the class, your access into the class will expire until you officially enroll.
- Remember that any changes to your schedule may affect your waitlist status. You will be removed from the waitlist if your schedule changes affect your eligibility to remain on the waitlist. (Example: If you make a schedule change that includes adding a class that meets at the same time as your waitlisted class, you will be dropped from the waitlisted class.) | <urn:uuid:2a555de8-b1c5-4cb4-a64b-38995df0acad> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.vcccd.edu/students/waitlist_help.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00062-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950794 | 624 | 1.648438 | 2 |
Big Cats - Jaguar
( Originally Published 1936 )
Next in size to the Lion and Tiger of the Old World, comes the largest and most ferocious of the American cats, the Jaguar. While bearing a general superficial resemblance to the leopard, it yet has many characteristics that distinguish it at once from the members of that species. In Leopards the spots are simply dark rings set quite close together on the lighter ground-colour of the fur, but in the Jaguar, particularly on the sides of the body, the spots are larger and angular in shape, with a smaller spot in the centre of each. Generally of greater size, some individuals being almost as large as a Tiger, the Jaguar is broad-chested, bow-legged, and of a more stocky, solid build than the leopard. It is, in reality, the stiffest and least active of all the cats. The fore legs are enormously strong, the hind ones comparatively weak and short; the tail is not nearly so long as the leopard's and is carried in a different manner, somewhat elevated over the back like that of a dog. See Plate 12, Fig. 57. The voice of the Jaguar is not unlike that of a small Lion—a short, sharp roar, differing considerably from the call of the Leopard.
It is not generally known that the Jaguar is found as far north as Texas. It has a wide range, however, being common in many parts of South America, in the region of the Amazon, in Patagonia, and also high up in the Andes, where it attains great size and has fur of a lighter colour.
For so large a cat, it climbs trees with facility; nor does it hesitate to swim wide and deep rivers in search of food. The Jaguar preys upon the capibara, a very large and sluggish rodent found in South America along the banks of streams, on tapirs, peccaries, monkeys, birds, fish and turtles—a diet sufficiently varied to suit the most fastidious carnivorous palate.
Judging from the individuals that have come under my personal observation, the Jaguar is extremely savage and morose in captivity, never becoming at all tame, and the creature exhibited in travelling animal-shows under this name usually proves to be a Leopard of extraordinary size. The magnificent specimen now in the Bronx Zoological Park is a remarkably fierce and unmanageable beast, although he has been as well treated as the other great Cats in the collection, many of which have become very gentle and affectionate toward their keepers. Another and smaller feline of this species in the Philadelphia Zoological Garden exhibits the same savage traits, sitting quietly at one side of her cage until some unwary person approaches too closely, when she will suddenly strike out in the vain hope of reaching him.
Of the enormous strength of the Jaguar many stories are told, some of which may well be doubted—such as the killing and dragging to a considerable distance of a pair of horses that had been harnessed together. It is, however, a powerfully-built animal and a very dangerous antagonist. One was killed in Texas, a few years ago, after a terrific fight for its life, in which several members of the hunting party were injured, the horse ridden by one of them killed, and some of the dogs despatched, before it was finally shot to death. | <urn:uuid:4df697a9-cdfd-4e26-b07a-5e5a99ddd926> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oldandsold.com/articles20/cats-4.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700264179/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516103104-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969857 | 686 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Amygdala activity mediates the acquisition and consolidation of emotional experiences; we have recently shown that post-acquisition reactivation of this structure is necessary for the long-term storage of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). However, the specific neurotransmitters involved in such reactivation are not known. The aim of the present study was to investigate extracellular changes of glutamate, norepinephrine, and dopamine within the rat amygdala using in vivo microdialysis during the acquisition and 1-h post-acquisition of CTA paradigm. Microdialysis monitoring showed a significant norepinephrine increase related to novel taste exposure and a glutamate increase after gastric malaise induction by i.p. LiCl administration. Interestingly, we found a spontaneous concomitant increase of glutamate and norepinephrine, but not dopamine, 45 min after conditioning, suggesting the presence of aversive learning-dependent post-acquisition signals in the amygdala. These signals seem to be involved in CTA consolidation process, since post-trial blockade of N-methyl-D-aspartate or beta-adrenergic receptors impaired long-but not short-term memory. These data suggest that CTA long-term storage involves post-acquisition release of glutamate and norepinephrine in the amygdala. | <urn:uuid:f2e43e4d-dfe1-45a2-9f0b-74a35b88cd70> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ifc.unam.mx/articles/post-acquisition-release-of-glutamate-and-norepinephrine-in-the-amygdala-is-involved-in-taste-aversion-memory-consolidation/es | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00029-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906796 | 261 | 1.53125 | 2 |
Our friend Bekah spent the summer in a remote area of Baja California, working in a public health clinic as a summer intern. While introducing Bekah to a friend, I explained that Bekah had spent her summer in "the boondocks" in Mexico. Bekah said the area was so remote, there wasn't a boondock to be found!
By the way, "Boondocks" comes from a Tagalog word, Bundag, meaning jungle. US soldiers stationed in the Phillippines must have brought the word home.
We gave Bekah a copy of Victor Heiser's "An American Doctor's Odyssey," published in 1936. Dig this out of your library stacks and read it. Heiser, then 16, survived the Johnstown Flood of 1889 by burling on his floating barn until it came to rest near a house with 21 other people marooned in the attic. Heiser worked his way through medical school and joined the Marines Medical Corps in the mid 1890s. He became interested in preventing disease, and was one of the pioneers of Public Health in the US and world wide--including preventing cholera in the Filipino boondocks.
Notable moments: *How a Chinese national eating a durian in a railway carriage responded to Heiser and his friend's eating a ham sandwich; *The explanation of the transmission of Hookworm disease, in Pidgin English; and the Anti-hookworm campaign in the southern US; *The development of, and the reasons for, the notorious Trachoma exam at Ellis Island (Fiorello LaGuardia, while he was US Consul at Fiume, hit upon the very simple idea of having people tested for Trachoma BEFORE they left for the US).
If you can't stomach the phrase, "White Man's Burden," this book is not for you. But it you want to read an excellent story of a man who helped make your life and millions of other people's lives safer and cleaner, check it out.--Mrs. James | <urn:uuid:48e91870-9c24-45f0-a72c-4269d9acf4eb> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://idontknowbut.blogspot.com/2004/01/boondock-medicine-our-friend-bekah.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00059-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97198 | 421 | 2.28125 | 2 |
In the hope of tackling the twin crises affecting the economy and the climate, governments and institutions around the world have echoed environmental groups in calling for a ‘Green New Deal’. Major government investment in renewable energy and other green initiatives would indeed create thousands of new green jobs, but would it address the underlying drive for endless economic growth that many now believe lies at the heart of our headlong gallop toward ecological destruction?
As convincingly argued by Tim Jackson in his groundbreaking book, Prosperity without Growth, the unlikelihood of ‘absolute decoupling’ (reducing resource use while continuing to grow the economy) means that a different way of ensuring economic stability and maintaining employment is necessary. A growing number of academics and activists who recognise the tendency for New Deal economics to rely on a “grow your way out of unemployment” approach are calling for an alternative route to sustainability – reducing the working week and sharing paid employment equitably in a steady-state economy.
A recent report by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) makes a particularly compelling argument for work sharing in their proposal for a new ‘normal’ working week for Britain of 21 hours. “While some are overworking, over-earning and over-consuming, others can barely afford life’s necessities,” wrote one of the report’s authors in the Guardian. “A much shorter working week would help us all to live more sustainable, satisfying lives by sharing out paid and unpaid time more evenly across the population.”
In her new book, Plenitude: The New Economics of True Wealth, Juliet Schor similarly argues for fewer and more evenly spread hours spent in paid employment. A long-time advocate of work sharing, she maps out a vision for a new economics that would not only allow more time for family and community, but would also give people the opportunity to acquire goods and services in more ecologically friendly ways outside of the fossil-fuel intensive market economy.
Making the time to live sustainably
An enduring myth of industrial capitalism is that as technological advances have increased labour productivity, we no longer have to work as hard to meet our material needs. That it takes fewer people to produce the same amount of goods is undoubtedly true, yet prior to the successes of the labour movement in the late nineteenth century, industrialisation drove working hours to their highest level in human history. According to the economic historian, James E. Thorold Rogers, the workers participating in the eight-hour movement were simply striving to recover the amount of leisure time enjoyed by their medieval ancestors. With the push for deregulation over the last few decades, work hours in the most affluent parts of the world have actually started increasing once again, reversing the century-long decline sparked by trade union action.
As governments around the world have prioritised the pursuit of GDP growth as the single most important goal of their economic policy, productive effort has become separated from human needs. Economic activity now prioritises the accumulation of private profit over the securing of basic welfare – the pursuit of ‘what can be done’ over ‘what needs to be done’. The imperative for ever-expanding economic output creates a need to stimulate and satisfy higher and higher levels of consumer demand. Instead of producing the anticipated era of leisure – Keynes himself envisioned a 15-hour week with the work shared as widely as possible – the pursuit of growth for growth’s sake has led to an era of hyper-consumerism and overwork.
There is much less evidence to suggest that the constant ramping up of economic efforts and the commodification of more and more of our time and activities is healthy for social or environmental well-being. In 2004, a study by the NEF found that whilst economic output in the UK has nearly doubled in the last 30 years, life satisfaction levels have remained resolutely flat. Steady-state economist, Herman Daly, suggests that growth in the industrialised world may even have become ‘uneconomic’ in that its social and environmental costs exceed the benefit it brings. Collectively, humanity is already using up the Earth’s natural capital faster than it can be replenished, as evidenced by the work of the Global Footprint Network. All of which begs the question: instead of maintaining a system that maximises economic output and full-time employment, what about creating new arrangements that maximise human well-being and ecological sustainability?
People are already taking the transition to an alternative economic system into their own hands. A movement is growing around the idea of ‘downshifting’ – deliberately choosing to work and earn less in order to live a more fulfilling and simple life. In so doing, people are consciously rejecting the idea that we live to work, work to earn, and earn to consume. Such endeavours to redefine ‘the good life’ are not only reflected in individual decisions to downshift, but also in the growing popularity of transition towns, the collective rebuilding of local economies, and the climate justice movement’s vocal critique of overconsumption.
The problem is that downshifting as well as other efforts to counter consumerism are incoherent in modern economic terms. In Willing Slaves: How the Overwork Culture is Ruling Our Lives, Madeleine Bunting reveals that while the majority of Britons accept it as self-evident that, for all but the poorest people, overwork ‘is your choice’, there is also a widespread acceptance that this purported power to choose is often exceptionally hard to exercise. It is not only the clear structural bias towards full-time employment that makes it difficult to negotiate flexible working hours, but also the ingrained logic of social comparison – the need to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ – which constantly upgrades our perceived materialistic ‘needs’ as incomes rise. The widespread sense of having to earn enough to live a ‘normal’ consumer lifestyle, one that is sold to us through advertising and reinforced by cultural norms, reflects the immense structural and social barriers to work sharing that exist in industrialised growth-driven economies.
Overcoming structural barriers
As evidenced by some of the more virulent reactions to the NEF’s 21 Hours report, the proposal to slash the working week and share hours more evenly across the population seems counter-intuitive. How would the poor and even middle-classes cope with losses in income? Wouldn’t government revenues drop and demand for public services rise? How would businesses cover the increased cost of employing a greater number of people for the same amount of work? What about shortages in skills that are already stretched to meet labour demand in some industries?
Although many of these concerns are valid, it is important to remember that work sharing is not a short-term policy solution, nor do its supporters suggest that it should be a sudden or enforced change. No one assumes that the redistribution of paid employment is a panacea for the social and ecological malaise described above. It is instead part of a long-term vision for a post-industrial world in which the economy is transformed to meet the needs of communities rather than the desires of consumers; a sustainable future where the benefits of the planet’s limited resources are shared equitably and protected for future generations.
Importantly, reactions such as that of the Institute for Economic Affairs’, Mark Littlewood, who called the proposal for a shorter working week “fantasyland economics”, reveal how deeply engrained the growth imperative is in today’s economic and social logic. The tendency in orthodox economics to assume that GDP growth is the best measure of economic progress is the greatest barrier to any policies that seek to purposefully ‘downshift’ the economy. Yet it is precisely because work sharing goes against the conventions of the growth paradigm that the idea is so important.
Overcoming the current structural bias toward long and unevenly distributed work hours requires a myriad of economic reforms. These could include income and wealth redistribution (including a substantially increased minimum wage); encouraging uncommodified forms of production and consumption (such as ‘self-providing’ or ‘co-production’); creating new measurements of progress and prosperity; and freeing sources of finance from the burden of interest-accruing debt. Perhaps most importantly, it requires an end to the work-to-earn, earn-to-consume mindset that currently dominates day-to-day life in many industrialised societies.
The fact that the proposal for a 21-hour week has been taken seriously in the halls of Westminster is a sure sign of encouragement, but until a popular movement gathers momentum behind the idea, governments are unlikely to act. In the end, it is up to people themselves to willingly step off the consumer treadmill and demand the right to an even and reduced share of paid work. Instead of accepting the trappings of ‘consumer-sovereignty’, we must demand the freedom not to consume – the freedom to become the producers and creators in a new economy that builds lasting prosperity within ecological limits. | <urn:uuid:f8e35da2-8dad-4b65-bd9b-c156861a83d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/06/in-defence-of-downshifting-and-work-sharing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95462 | 1,853 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Tough new rules on foreign drivers
TOUGH NEW rules on just which foreign drivers can get a British licence have been announced by the Government.
The new regulations close a loophole under which some non-EU drivers were able to exchange their licence without proving they had met UK standards.
EU driving licence holders have no need to get a British licence as all driving licences allow holders to take to the roads anywhere in the EU.
This does not apply to drivers outside Europe. But arrangements are in place with 15 countries, including Australia, Canada and South Africa, that allow drivers to exchange their licences for a British one.
However, until now some drivers were able to exchange a licence with one of these 15 "approved" countries and then swap it for a British one.
This meant the British Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency could not be sure that drivers had met the appropriate standards to driving in Britain before exchanging their licence.
The change in law means requests to exchange driving licences from outside the EU will only be accepted if licence holders can prove they passed a driving test in a country where the testing standards are comparable with those in Britain.
Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond said: "The UK's roads are amongst the safest in the world, thanks in part to the rigorous standards demanded by our driving test.
"By closing this loophole we will not only make Britain's roads even safer, but will help tackle fraud and level the playing field for British drivers who spend time and money learning to drive at the standard required in the UK." | <urn:uuid:c4838cef-4aa0-4586-93c2-632135420f3b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.drive24.co.uk/Norfolk/cars/PAContent/NewsArticle/Tough-New-Rules-On-Foreign-Drivers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00025-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971693 | 310 | 1.53125 | 2 |
From the Age of Excess to the Era of Moderation.
‘PEAK OIL’ HAS entered the global lexicon. It refers to the moment in time when the world will achieve its maximum possible rate of oil extraction. Most analysts agree that this will happen during the next two or three decades; an increasing number believe that it is happening now. The consequences are likely to be severe as the world is overwhelmingly dependent on oil for transportation, agriculture, plastics and chemicals.
Petroleum is not the only important resource quickly depleting. Regional production peaks for natural gas have already occurred, and global coal production is predicted to peak in ten to twenty years. Because fossil fuels supply about 85% of the world’s total energy, peaks in these fuels virtually ensure that the world’s energy supply will begin to shrink within a few years regardless of any efforts that are made to develop other energy sources. In addition, during the course of the present century we will see a commencement in the decline of population, grain production, uranium production, climate stability, fresh water availability per capita, arable land in agricultural production, wild fish harvests, and metal and mineral extraction rates. The general picture is inescapable; it is one of mutually interacting instances of over-consumption and emerging scarcity.
It is not a coincidence that so many peaks are occurring together: for the past 200 years cheap, abundant energy from fossil fuels has driven technological invention, increases in total and per capita resource extraction and consumption (including food production), and population growth. We are caught up in a classic self-reinforcing feedback loop: fossil-fuel extraction Þ more available energy Þ increased extraction of other resources, and production of food and other goods Þ population growth Þ higher energy demand Þ more fossil-fuel extraction (and so on).
It is hard to escape the conclusion that, while the 20th century saw the greatest and most rapid expansion of the scale, scope, and complexity of human societies in history, the 21st century will see contraction and simplification. The only real question then is whether societies will contract and simplify intelligently or in an uncontrolled, chaotic fashion.
Addressing the economic, social and political problems ensuing from the various looming peaks will require enormous collective effort. If it is to be successful, that effort must be co-ordinated, presumably by government, and enlisting people in that effort will require educating and motivating them in numbers and at a speed that has not been seen since the Second World War.
Part of that motivation must come from a positive vision of a future worth striving towards. People will need to feel that there will be an eventual reward for what will amount to many years of hard sacrifice. The reality is that we are approaching a time of economic contraction and that consumptive appetites that have been stoked for decades by ubiquitous advertising messages promising ‘more, faster, and bigger’ will now have to be reined in. People will not willingly accept the new message of ‘less, slower, and smaller,’ unless they have new goals towards which to aspire. They must feel that their efforts will lead to a better world, and tangible improvements in life for themselves and their families.
The massive public education campaigns that will be required must be credible, and will therefore be vastly more successful if they give people a sense of investment and involvement in formulating those goals. There is a much-abused word that describes the necessary process – democracy.
THERE ARE JUST a few core trends (such as population growth and increasing consumption rates) that have driven many others in producing the global problems we see today. Those core trends themselves constellate around our ever-burgeoning use of fossil fuels. Thus, a conclusion of startling plainness presents itself: our central survival task for the decades ahead, as individuals and as a species, must be to make a transition away from the use of fossil fuels – and to do this as peacefully, equitably and intelligently as possible.
At first thought, this must seem like an absurd over-simplification of the human situation. After all, the world is full of crises demanding our attention – from wars to pollution, malnutrition, land mines, human rights abuses, and soaring cancer rates. Doesn’t a monomaniacal focus just on fossil fuels miss many important things? In defence of the statement I would state that globally, there are two problems whose potential consequences far outweigh most others: climate change and energy resource depletion. If we do nothing to dramatically curtail emissions of greenhouse gases soon, there is the substantial likelihood that we will set in motion the two self-reinforcing feedback loops – the melting of the north polar icecap, and the melting of tundra and permafrost releasing stored methane. These would, if set in motion, lead to an average global warming of not just a couple of degrees but perhaps six or more degrees over the remainder of the century. And this in turn could make much of the world uninhabitable for many species, including our own.
The world is currently as reliant on hydrocarbons as it is on water, sunlight and soil. Without oil for transportation and agriculture, without gas for heating, chemicals, and fertilisers, and without coal for power generation, the global economy would sputter to a halt. While no-one envisions these fuels disappearing instantly, we can avert the worst-case scenario of global economic meltdown only by proactively reducing our reliance on oil, gas and coal ahead of depletion and scarcity. In other words, all that would be required in order for the worst-case scenario to materialise would be for world leaders to continue with existing policies.
IF WE DO focus all of our collective efforts on the central task of energy transition, we may find ourselves contributing to the solution of a wide range of problems that would be much harder to solve if we confronted each one in isolation. With a co-ordinated and voluntary reduction in fossil-fuel consumption, we could see substantial progress in reducing many forms of environmental pollution. The decentralisation of economic activity that we must pursue as transport fuels become scarcer could lead to more robust local economies. A controlled contraction in global oil trade could lead to a reduction of international political tensions. A planned conversion of farming to non-fossil-fuel methods could mean a decline in environmental devastation caused by agriculture, and economic opportunities for millions of new farmers. Meanwhile, all of these efforts together could increase equity, community involvement and intergenerational solidarity. Surely this is a future worth working towards?
Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines is published by Clairview Books, 2007. | <urn:uuid:7c5353cb-cb54-4285-91d7-226d2154dee4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article2320-transition-time.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947935 | 1,366 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Former U.S. Diplomats Urge Court to Review Case of German Man Kidnapped by CIA
Illegal CIA Kidnappings Hurt America, Say Experts in Court Brief
NEW YORK -- Former United States diplomats and State Department officials today told a federal appeals court that denying a judicial forum to an innocent German citizen who was kidnapped by the CIA further "damages U.S. standing in the world community and our ability to obtain international cooperation in combating terrorism."
Ten former officials and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law filed a friend-of-the-court brief in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Khaled El-Masri, who was seized by the CIA and transported to a secret prison in Afghanistan where he was abused. A Virginia federal district court dismissed El-Masri's lawsuit based on the government's assertion that allowing the case to proceed would expose state secrets, even though the basic facts of the case have been widely reported in the media. The case is currently on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia.
"The former diplomats who filed this brief care passionately about the United States and have spent years thinking deeply about how to protect the United States in the international arena," said Aziz Huq, director of the Brennan Center's Liberty & National Security Project. "Their experience is that when we break our own laws, we not only inflict needless harm on others, but also damage our own national security."
The brief submitted by the former diplomats states: "America's reputation -- and thus its ability to rally international coalitions to overcome terrorism -- is critically wounded when one of its own agencies apparently violates laws enacted by Congress to protect basic rights, America's stated foreign policies, and the nation's treaty obligations -- but the federal courts permit invocation of the state secrets privilege to give immunity for unlawful and notorious conduct."
The brief's co-signers, who include officials who have served in every administration since President Eisenhower, are:
- Morton Abramowitz, former ambassador to Thailand and Turkey and Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. Abramowitz is also the former president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
- F. Allen "Tex" Harris, past president of the American Foreign Service Association, who has served in the State Department for 35 years, including posts in Argentina, Australia and Venezuela.
- William C. Harrop, former ambassador to Israel, Guinea, Kenya, Seychelles and Zaire, and Inspector General of the State Department and the Foreign Service during the Reagan administration. Harrop served in the Foreign Service from 1954 to 1994.
- Sam Hart, former ambassador to Ecuador who served for 27 years as a Foreign Service Officer in Israel, the Far East and Latin America.
- Edward L. Peck, Chief of Mission in Iraq during the Carter administration and Deputy Director of the Cabinet Task Force on Terrorism in the Reagan White House. Peck served as Deputy Coordinator for Covert Intelligence Programs at the State Department and is a former ambassador to Mauritania.
- William D. Rogers, former Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs and Under Secretary of State for International Economic Affairs during the Ford administration. Rogers has held State Department and diplomatic posts in the Kennedy, Johnson and Carter administrations, and is a past president of the American Society of International Law.
- Pierre Shostal, former United States Consul General in Hamburg and Frankfurt and Director of the State Department's Office of Central European Affairs. Shostal served as a Foreign Service Officer in Moscow, Brussels, Rwanda, Malawi and Congo.
- E. Michael Southwick, former ambassador to Uganda and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the current Bush administration.
- Ward Thompson, former Director of the Office of Human Rights Policy and Programs in the State Department Human Rights Bureau, and Editor-in-Chief of the U.S. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Thompson was a member of U.S. delegations to the Committee on Security and Cooperation in Europe Human Rights Experts Meetings in Ottawa and Copenhagen.
- Peter Wolcott, a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Information Agency from 1962 to 1983 in Indonesia, Malaysia, Finland and Australia.
- The former diplomats believe that the outcome of the El-Masri case could have a negative impact on America's ability to combat terrorism.
"Denial of a forum at the outset of litigation to Mr. El-Masri and the use of the state secrets privilege to immunize kidnapping, torture and unlawful detention from judicial scrutiny are likely to send a message to our foreign allies that will exacerbate those effects," states the brief. "When the courthouse door is slammed shut in the face of such notorious allegations… the work of diplomacy is rendered more difficult, and the damage to our reputation and our counter-terrorism goals, becomes incalculable."
The El-Masri case and similar kidnappings have already had a strong negative impact on the standing of the United States in the world community, explain the diplomats. Several nations have responded critically to the CIA's "rendition" policy and, in the face of broad public revulsion overseas at torture or abusive treatment, some democratic governments are abstaining from cooperating with the United States.
Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Committee called for an end to illegal rendition and a remedy for its victims, including El-Masri, and stated that so-called "diplomatic assurances" that detainees will not face torture provide inadequate protection.
The former diplomats brief was prepared with the aid of Sidney S. Rosdeitcher, David M. Cave and Colin McNary of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. The brief is online at:
El-Masri is represented by Ben Wizner, Ann Beeson, Melissa Goodman and Steven Watt of the ACLU. A hearing date has not yet been set by the court of appeals. | <urn:uuid:b08503e6-cb94-4499-9211-dbe14fcd0064> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.aclu.org/national-security/former-us-diplomats-urge-court-review-case-german-man-kidnapped-cia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697974692/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095254-00039-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948176 | 1,223 | 1.648438 | 2 |
If you were forced to rely on only two target audiences to guide all your future design work, I’d strongly recommend using astronauts and toddlers. Fortunately, the connection between them goes beyond the design of their underwear to the nature of perception and expertise, and in what we treat as valid data, and what we choose to ignore as “noise”--the extraneous details, out-of-category input, the anecdotal tidbits. As it turns out, noise is much more valuable for useful design insights than you might think.
First, the astronauts. One little-known quirk of the Apollo moon landings was the difficulty the astronauts had judging distances on the Moon. The most dramatic example of this problem occurred in 1971 during Apollo 14, when Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell were tasked with examining the 1,000-foot-wide Cone Crater after landing their spacecraft less than a mile away. After a long, exhausting uphill walk in their awkward space suits, they just couldn’t identify the rim of the crater. Finally, perplexed, frustrated, and with the oxygen levels in their suits running low, they were forced to turn back. Forty years later, high-resolution images from new lunar satellites showed they had indeed come close--the trail of their footprints, still perfectly preserved in the soil, stop less than 100 feet from the rim of the crater. A huge, 1,000-foot-wide crater, and they couldn’t tell they were practically right on top of it. Why?
It should have been easy for them, right? These guys were trained as Navy test pilots; landing jets on aircraft carriers requires some expertise in distance judgment. They also had detailed plans and maps for their mission and had the support of an entire team of engineers on Earth. But their expertise was actually part of the core problem. The data their minds were trying to process was too good. All of the “noise” essential to creating the patterns their minds needed to process the data accurately was missing. And patterns are the key to human perception, especially for experts.
Consider everything that was missing up there. First, there’s no air on the Moon, so there’s no atmospheric haze, either. Eyes that grew up on Earth expect more distant objects to appear lighter in color and have softer edges than closer things. Yet everything on the Moon looks tack-sharp, regardless of distance. Second, the lack of trees, telephone poles, and other familiar objects left no reference points for comparison. Third, since the Moon is much smaller than the Earth, the horizon is closer, thus ruining another reliable benchmark. Finally, the odd combination of harsh, brilliant sunshine with a pitch-black sky created cognitive dissonance, causing the brain to doubt the validity of everything it saw.
Ironically, that kind of truthful, distortion-free data is usually what experience designers want to have as input for their decision-making, no matter what they’re trying to do. We tend to believe that complex systems are the tidy, linear sum of the individual variables that create them. But despite the pristine environment of the Moon, the Apollo astronauts were repeatedly baffled when it came to simple distance and size perceptions, even after each team came back from the Moon and told the next team to be aware of it.
Meanwhile, the toddlers I mentioned earlier provide a corresponding example of the power of patterns in perception. When my first child was about 4, we came across a wonderful series of picture books called Look-Alikes, created by the late Joan Steiner. Each book has a collection of staged photographs of miniature everyday scenes like railway stations, city skylines, and amusement parks created entirely from common, found objects (see some examples here). Without any special adornment, a drink thermos masquerades as a locomotive, scissors become a ferris wheel, and even a hand grenade makes for a very convincing pot-belly stove. The entire game is to un-see the familiarity of the scene, and identify all the common objects ludicrously pretending to be something other than what they are. There’s no trick photography involved, but you can look at each picture for hours and not “see” everything that’s right there in front of you. You know it’s a trick, but you keep falling for it over and over.
The really amazing part is that the toddler, a true novice with only a few years’ experience in seeing, completely understands the scenes she’s looking at, even though every individual piece of “data” she’s looking at is a deliberate lie. Yet the pattern of data that creates the scene is “perfect.” We already know what those scenes are supposed to look like before we even see the book’s version of them, so we unconsciously project that pattern onto what we’re looking at, even to the point of constantly rejecting the contrary data our eyes are showing us. There is in fact no amusement park in the photograph I called an amusement park. But I see it anyway.
In data-processing parlance, the signal-to-noise ratio of the moonscape was perfect (actually, infinitely high), and zero for Look-Alikes pages (the whole joke is that there really was no signal there in the first place). Yet a toddler can read the noisy scene perfectly, and the seasoned test pilots were baffled by the noiseless scene. How can this be?
The lesson is that patterns drive perception more so than the integrity of the data that create the patterns. We perceive our way through life; we don’t think our way through it. Thinking is what we do after we realize that our perception has failed us somehow. But because pattern recognition is so powerfully efficient, it’s our default state. The thinking part? Not so much.
This just might be why online grocery shopping has yet to really take off. The average large U.S. supermarket offers about 50,000 SKUs, yet a weekly grocery shopper can easily get a complete trip done in about 30 minutes. We certainly don’t feel like we’re making 50,000 yes/no decisions to make that trip, but in effect we actually do. Put that same huge selection online, and all of those decisions are indeed conscious. Even though grocery shopping is a repetitive, list-based task, the in-store noise of all those products that aren’t on your list give you essential cues to finding the ones that are, and in reminding you of those that were not on your list but you still need. That’s even before you get to the detail level, where all the other sensory cues tell you which bunch of bananas is just right for you. So despite all the extra effort and hassle involved in going to the store in person, it still works better because of, not in spite of, the patterns of extraneous noise you have to process to get the job done.
To account for the role of noise within the essential skill of pattern recognition, we need to remind ourselves how complex seemingly simple tasks really are. Visually reading a scene, whether it’s a moonscape, a children’s book illustration, a grocery store, or a redesigned website, is an inherently complex task. Whenever people are faced with complexity (i.e., all day, every day), they use pattern recognition to identify, decipher, and understand what’s going on instantly, instead of examining each component individually. The catch is that all of the valuable consumer thought processes we want to address--understanding, passion, persuasion, the decision to act--are complex.
However, the research we use to help us design for these situations usually tries to dismantle this complexity. It also assumes a user who is actually paying attention, undistracted, in a clean and quiet environment (such as a market research facility), and cares deeply about the topic. Then we “clean” the data we collect, in an attempt to remove the noise. And getting rid of noise destroys the patterns that enable people to navigate those complex functions. So we wind up relying on an approach that does a poor job of modeling the system we’re trying to influence.
The challenge is to overcome the seemingly paradoxical notion that paying attention to factors completely outside our topic of interest actually improves our understanding of that topic. Doing so requires acknowledging that our target audience may not care as much about something as we do, even if that topic represents our entire livelihood. It requires a broader definition of the boundaries of what that topic is, and including the often chaotic context that surrounds it in the real world. It also requires a more than casual comfort level with ambiguity: Truly understanding complex systems involves recognizing how unpredictable, and often counterintuitive, they really are.
This is why ethnographic research is so popular with all kinds of designers. The rich context ethnographies offer is full of useful noise; the improvising people do to actually use a product, the ancillary details that surround it, and the unexpected motivations a consumer might bring to its use. These are all easier to access via a qualitative, on-location approach than they are via a set of quantitative crosstabs or sitting behind a mirror watching a focus group. It’s also a powerful human-to-human interface, in which the designer uses his innate pattern-recognition capability to analyze patterns in user behavior.
What often gets overlooked is the role noise can and should play in quantitative research. Most designers’ avoid quantitative research because of the clinically dry nature of the charts it produces, and the often false sense of authority that statistically projectable data can wield. However, only quantitative research can reveal the kind of perceptual patterns that are invisible to qualitative methods, and the results needn’t be dry at all. The solution is to appropriately introduce the right kind of noise to quantitative research, to deliberately drop in the necessary telephone poles, trees, and haze that allows those higher-level perceptual patterns to be seen and interpreted.
Fortunately, there’s already a model for this. When analog music is digitally recorded, some of the higher highs and lower lows are lost in the conversion. Through a process called dithering, audio engineers can add randomized audio noise to the digital signal. Strangely enough, even though the added noise has nothing to do with the original music, adding it actually improves the perceived quality of the digital audio file. The noise fills in the gaps left by the analog-to-digital conversion, essentially tricking your ear into hearing a more natural-sounding sound. The dithered audio really isn’t more accurate, it just sounds better, which is more important than accuracy. Returning to our opening examples, the moonscape was in dire need of dithering, while the Look-Alikes scenes were already heavily dithered. And the real world in general is heavily dithered.
So, for quantitative research aimed at guiding the design process, the trick is to value meaning above accuracy. Meaning can be gleaned via the noise you can add to the quantitative research process by including metrics outside the direct realm of your topic area. It means considering what else is adjacent to that topic area, acknowledging the importance of respondent indifference as well as their preferences, and recognizing what kind of potentially irrational motivations are behind the respondents’ approach to the topic, or the research itself.
At Method, we’ve developed a technique for observing these perceptual patterns in quantitative data by using perceptions of brands far afield of the category we’re designing for. Essentially, it’s a dithering technique for brand perceptions. This technique often displays an uncanny knack for generating those hiding-in-plain-sight aha moments that drive really useful insights. There are doubtless many other approaches you can employ once you make the leap that acknowledges the usefulness of noise in your analysis.
But no matter what format of research you use in your design development process (including no formal research at all), there are some guidelines you can follow to allow the right amount of useful noise to seep into your field of view, so that your final product does not wind up being missed on the moonscape of the marketplace:
Recognizing that you’re not the center of your target audience’s universe allows you to understand how you fit in. Be sure to take honest stock of just where your target audience places your topic area on their list of priorities.
No matter what metrics you’re using, consider looking several levels above them--or next to them--to identify patterns that are impossible to see when you’re too close to the subject.
How familiar is your target audience with your subject? Are they experts or novices, and how are you defining that? Generally, the higher the level of expertise, the higher the dependence on pattern recognition. Novices carefully and slowly compare details; experts read patterns quickly and act decisively.
No matter where your data comes from, think about what has been omitted. Was that distracting noise that was tossed, or crucial context?
By taking a look at the entire picture--instead of isolating a single data point--you open up opportunities for understanding the motivations, reasons, and outlying factors that impact data. Contrary to popular practice of stripping out noise, noise is in fact critical to the generation of deep insights that allow us to design better and more effective brands, products, and services.
[Image: Supermarket via Shutterstock] | <urn:uuid:bd5408f7-c08b-4c88-8010-ff77d86bf0d4> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671100/what-astronauts-and-toddlers-can-teach-you-about-consumers | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368701852492/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516105732-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955226 | 2,780 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Illustration: Istvan Banyai
A young man I know, still in love with his girlfriend, tried to go along with her plea to remain friends after she told him that she wanted the freedom to see other men. A couple of months later, she invited him to her birthday party. In the course of the evening, while searching for a bathroom, he saw her through an open bedroom door passionately kissing another man. Feeling deeply hurt and angry, he later confronted her, whereupon she retorted, "But we said we'd be friends."
The girlfriend's response seems lacking in empathy and concern—traits we usually associate with friendship—but one wonders whether the young man wasn't setting himself up for a fall in the first place.
Can't we be friends? It's an old refrain, ready-made for the one who wants out of a relationship to deliver to the one who doesn't. Frank Sinatra gave it a permanent place in popular culture with the song "Can't We Be Friends?" (This is how the story ends / She's gonna turn me down and say / Can't we be just friends?) Sinatra, who never backed away from melancholy (at least in his music), understood a thing or two about mourning.
And mourning is the theme that matters here. Trying to be friends immediately following a breakup tends to prevent the rejected partner (and maybe both partners) from mourning the death of romantic love—from accepting its finality by suffering it all the way through. As painful as this can be, it ultimately performs an essential function. Behind the tears, mourning has silent work to do: It binds up the torn places where love was and gives them a chance to heal.
This is crucial, because falling in love carries us beyond our customary limits of self-expression into territory that puts our sense of self at risk. Two people in love place much of themselves in each other's hands for safekeeping; that kind of interdependence is why the loss of an intimate partner entails the depressing experience of being left behind with a diminished sense of your own existence.
Grieving the end of a relationship is a gradual process of extracting the "I" from a vanishing "we." It provides a way—the only way—to retrieve what you invested in a lover or spouse who has departed. Mourning is like casting a line into dark waters and trying to reel in those parts of yourself that you surrendered to the relationship, before they, too, disappear. Although friendship just after the split may offer temporary relief, it blocks the slow but necessary passage from loss to restoration of independence.
A number of years ago, I saw a patient who felt that her sex life was essentially over because she had suddenly been left by the man with whom she had experienced her first grand erotic passion. She did everything she could to win him back—calling, sending gifts, even promising to change anything about herself that wasn't satisfying to him—all to no avail. It took extensive work (and many tears) before she was able to see that the unparalleled sexiness she attributed to him was in fact the power of her own sexual desire. At this point, his image began to lose its magnetism for her.
What her experience suggests is that if you give in to mourning, unsettling though it may be, it will eventually finish its work. Only then do you again become free to fully inhabit your present life and turn from a sorrowing fixation on the past to the exciting unknown of the future.
We Hear You! | <urn:uuid:ce659a98-81ad-4184-ab18-b195e0fdac79> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Cant-We-Be-Friends-by-Michael-Vincent-Miller-PhD | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00054-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972567 | 719 | 2.21875 | 2 |
Tag Archives: Chromium OS hacking
UK student and Chrome OS developer extraordinaire Hexxeh has posted an image of Chromium OS on a MacBook Pro in what he calls a “bit of relaxing Saturday afternoon ebuild hacking“.
The open source nature of Chrome OS lends itself to this type of hacking. Indeed, Hexxeh has been the forerunner of all things Chrome OS in terms of hacks, and it’s fun to watch the things that he comes up with. A while back he announced Chrome OS Lime, the next generation of his Chrome builds which have already surpassed a half million downloads.
However, he has recently contemplated getting out of the Chrome OS game altogether due to numerous support requests and the costs associated with serving up those builds. Here’s hoping Hexxeh will continue his work, and judging by this he plans to do so. | <urn:uuid:0829337d-1534-4ddc-b00f-e62c5d3db957> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thechromesource.com/tag/chromium-os-hacking/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00007-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951676 | 180 | 1.609375 | 2 |
Step Back in Time at the Medieval Faire
GENEVA, Ohio — If you are looking for something to do with the family this weekend, take a trip back in time at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire in Geneva.
This is the 20th season for the event that re-creates the Medieval times.
The faire includes a Celtic celebration complete with kilts, pipers and Celtic crafts. The faire is also known for its delicious foods, from colossal turkey legs to delectable pastries.
*For more information about the Great Lakes Medieval Faire, click HERE. | <urn:uuid:c9169b70-ffdc-4ac4-94d0-7cb010f329b1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fox8.com/2012/08/03/step-back-in-time-at-the-medieval-faire/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00072-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910915 | 119 | 1.523438 | 2 |
Emergency Responses Greatly Increase Risk to Firefighters of Dying on Duty From Heart DiseaseFor immediate release: March 21, 2007
Boston, MA -- Firefighters engage in a dangerous occupation, risking life-threatening burns and smoke inhalation, among other hazards. So it may surprise some that the leading cause of death on duty among U.S. firefighters is coronary heart disease (CHD). In a new, large-scale study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) examined the link between CHD deaths and firefighting and looked at specific job duties to see which might increase the risk of dying from a coronary event. The landmark study provides the strongest link to date between CHD and emergency firefighting duties. It found that putting out fires was associated with a risk up to 100 times greater than the risk of dying from non-emergency duties. The study appears in the March 22, 2007 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. An accompanying editorial also appears in this issue of the journal.
"We found conclusive evidence that the risk of CHD death is significantly higher during fire suppression, responding to alarms, returning from alarms and during certain physical training activities," said Stephen Kales, lead author and assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health at HSPH. Kales is also the medical director of Employee Health & Industrial Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance.
Cardiovascular events, mainly due to CHD, account for 45% of deaths among firefighters on duty. Numerous earlier studies examined CHD death rates to see whether firefighters have a greater lifetime risk of heart death than the general population or compared to other occupations. Because roughly one third of firefighters and one third of the general population in developed countries die of cardiovascular disease, those studies were inconclusive. The researchers, therefore, took a different approach to assess whether specific duties could acutely trigger CHD events.
The team, led by Kales and David Christiani, senior author and professor of occupational medicine and epidemiology in the Departments of Environmental Health and Epidemiology at HSPH, examined data on all U.S. on-duty firefighter deaths between 1994 and 2004, except for those deaths associated with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. They also made estimates of the average annual proportion of time firefighters spent on specific job duties using data from several sources, including 17 large metropolitan fire departments.
The results showed that, of the 1,144 firefighter on-duty deaths during that period, 449 (39%) were attributed to CHD. Of those, 144 took place during fire suppression. Estimates showed that firefighters spent just 1% to 5% of their time on fire suppression, yet that job responsibility accounted for 32% of deaths from coronary events. Therefore, the relative risk of death from CHD while putting out fires was up to 100 times as high as the risk associated with non-emergency duties. An increased risk was also observed for other emergency duties, such as alarm response, as compared to non-emergency duties. "The present study confirms our previous results from a smaller study of deaths and an investigation of non-fatal events leading to retirement from firefighting. It provides the strongest evidence to date that firefighters' work activities can trigger CHD events," said Kales.
The authors hypothesize that the risk of dying from heart disease may increase during fire suppression because of the effects of strenuous exertion on firefighters who have underlying CHD. Also, many firefighters are overweight and lack adequate physical fitness, which may be contributing risk factors. A 2005 study by the National Fire Protection Association showed that more than 70% of fire departments lacked fitness and health programs. Kales' team has published a body of previous work documenting a high prevalence of obesity among firefighters and associating cardiovascular risk factors and previously diagnosed heart disease with on-duty CHD events and other adverse outcomes.
"We hope that our study will reinforce efforts in the firefighting community to improve their health and wellness programs. We also hope that these striking results will make physicians who care for firefighters, such as internists and cardiologists, more cognizant of the demanding nature of this occupation and get them to be more aggressive with regard to cardiovascular risk reduction," said Kales.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Massachusetts Public Employees Retirement Administration Commission.
"Emergency Duties and Deaths From Heart Disease Among Firefighters In the United States," Stephen Kales, Elpidoforos Soteriades, Costas Christophi, David C. Christiani, The New England Journal of Medicine, 356;12, March 22, 2007
For further information contact: | <urn:uuid:12260dd4-4c16-427b-9952-5786e305007b> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://archive.sph.harvard.edu/press-releases/2007-releases/press03212007.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00034-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960899 | 949 | 2.0625 | 2 |
by Peter van der Auweraert
Away from the glare of international attention, Iraq continues to work on addressing the former regime’s wrongful confiscations of tens of thousands of properties during its many years in power. Figures are the best way to show to what extent former regime-related land and property claims remain an important issue in Iraq today:
- the Commission for the Resolution of Real Property Disputes (CRRPD), the entity in charge of those claims, has received 159,758 claims (all figures quoted here come for the CRRPD itself and are current as of 18 February of this year);
- 79,349 claims have been resolved at the first instance level, leaving 80,409 claims for which so far no review has taken place (a first instance decision rate of fifty percent is not bad if you keep in mind that the period in which this was achieved include the violent years 2006 and 2007 (for a comprehensive timeline of the war in Iraq, look here);
- the picture darkens somewhat, however, if you look at the total number of final decisions which currently stands at around 43,300 claims, i.e. about 25 percent of the total caseload only. No restitution or payment of compensation takes place before a final decision is taken. So in the eyes of the Iraqi public, its only this final decision number that really matters;
- it is getting into some detail, but there is another figure that is important for a full assessment of the CRRPD process: these figures of resolved claims include 23,170 so-called “annulment decisions” taken in respect of “grossly incomplete claims”. The point is that they took little or no review-time and hence inflate the actual progress (especially since it is unlikely that the 80,409 remaining claims hide another large group of easy claims).
This slow progress has caused quite some discontent with the CRRPD process amongst Iraqi politicians, especially those who represent predominantly Shiite, Kurdish or Turkmen constituencies (most of the claims come from these communities). Feelings are especially strong in Northern Iraq, where land and property claim numbers are high (look here to understand why) and the resolution rate is well below the national average.
Not a big surprise then, that, just before the elections, the Iraqi Parliament voted a new law to overhaul the CRRPD process. This new piece of legislation has been in the works for quite some time: the CRRPD itself presented a first proposal to amend its mandate law almost two years ago (this proposal was followed by an alternative, quite different, proposal from the Prime Minister’s Office). But now that the new law is there, the important question is: will it indeed improve the CRRPD process?
After an initial reading, I would rate the following changes as positive for the process:
- the increase from one to three appeals chambers. This should speed up the appeals process, currently a massive bottleneck. My fear, however, is that it will not speed up things enough (for the why, read the first bullet point under negative changes here below);
- it will now be up to the Judicial Committees to decide whether to return the property or pay compensation, where before it was up to the claimant to choose. If this new provision is applied wisely, it will facilitate the conclusion of complicated cases where restitution was never going to be a feasible option;
- the value date for the calculation of compensation is now no longer the date on which the claim was filed, but the date on which the last valuation was carried out (which is (much) close to time of the first instance decision). A change of valuation date should generally increase compensation amounts, which in turn should facilitate enforcement (anecdotal evidence suggests that enforcement of restitution decisions is patchy, higher compensation may encourage more current occupiers to depart willingly).
- the permanent appointment of the staff and their guaranteed transfer to the Ministry of Finance once the Commission ends its work was apparently included to reduce incentives for the staff to delay the process. I am skeptical that this will result in considerable efficiency gains, but gave it the benefit of doubt and included it here under the positive innovations.
The following list contains changes that are likely to have a negative impact or that, at least in my view, were wrongly omitted from the new law:
- the current practice of automatically appealing against any decision where the interests of the Iraqi State are at stake is now enshrined as an obligation in the law itself. In reality, most decisions concern the Iraqi State, either because it has to return property or because it has to pay out compensation (to give an idea, the current appeals rate for claims in Kirkuk stands around 80 percent, mostly because of appeals against state-related decisions).This practice has been the single most important cause of the slow progress of the CRRPD process. It sends the wrong message to claimants (how does this rhyme with the Iraqi State remedying past wrongs?); is a waste of resources (the vast majority of automatic appeals lead to the approval of the first instance decision); and is likely to continue clogging up the appeals process, notwithstanding the increase to three chambers.
- claimants who felt that they received too little compensation under the CRRPD law, are given the right to apply again for additional compensation. The way this is drafted potentially gives all claimants who received a final compensation decision under the CRRPD the right to obtain additional compensation. Did the CRRPD process really need the re-opening of old cases?
- the law does not introduce a simplified process for dealing with a significant proportion of the claims that are really quite straightforward. I am thinking of claims by previous owners against the Iraqi State for the return of land that is currently not being used by anyone else. This would have been an easy way to decongest the process, and free-up resources for more complicated cases.
For some changes, it is difficult to know what the impact will be:
- the appeals process now falls under the competence of the Federal Cassation Court, where before the CRRPD had its own, separate Cassation Commission. Some Iraqi lawyers I spoke to voiced concern that this would lead to a more restrictive (read less victim-friendly) jurisprudence, but I simply do not know.
- the Commission, while remaining independent, is now institutionally linked to the Parliament rather than the Council of Ministers. Will this change the level of oversight? Difficult to know at this stage.
- a new goal of the law is “to preserve public money and address the imbalance between the interests of the citizens and state interests”. Again, difficult to say, but will this provision result in a less victim-oriented process?
By the way, the new law also abolishes the CRRPD, replacing it with a new commission called the Property Claims Commission (PCC). It is much less dramatic than it sounds: the PCC will take over the mandate, staff, buildings and administrative structure of the CRRPD. So its more of a name change than anything else (one parliamentarian told me that the reason for adopting a new law and establishing a new commission, rather than making amendments to the existing CRRPD law, was that the changes would have affected more than half of the CRRPD law’s provisions, a proportion considered unacceptable for a simple amendment). This is one change of which we can be sure that it will have little impact on how the remaining land and property claims are dealt with. | <urn:uuid:ff7d425d-37ce-4091-8f73-e6970eb2efce> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://terra0nullius.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/iraq-updates-its-approach-to-former-regime-related-land-and-property-claims/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706499548/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516121459-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962799 | 1,541 | 1.742188 | 2 |
June 25, 2010
U-M President Mary Sue Coleman's op-ed article for Forbes.com on her trip to China in summer 2010
It is more important than ever to work with fellow educational leaders in China as we reshape our economies and societies and address common challenges.
"Education Without Borders"
by Mary Sue Coleman, Forbes.com
Posted by zzhu at 05:11 PM
June 02, 2010
U-M Professor of Sociology and CCS faculty associate Yu Xie's major China survey highlighted in Science Magazine
SUMMARY: This month, scores of interviewers dispersed across China for the start of a study that aims to document everything from emotional stress to family planning. They expect to reach 60,000 respondents in 25 provinces—making the survey the largest undertaking of its kind in the developing world. The Chinese Family Panel Studies, as the project is called, should provide abundant fodder for data-starved social scientists hoping to track how China's rapid development is shaping societal values, say the sociologists who designed the new survey. Through this year's baseline survey and annual follow-up visits, they say, researchers will be able to document some of the biggest changes in history.
(U-M affiliates may have to first log in through MLibrary in order to read English version of article.)
Posted by zzhu at 06:30 PM | <urn:uuid:3b58150f-5a1e-469f-9a0a-185220d93096> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/CCS/archives/2010/06/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00050-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937411 | 283 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Editor's Note: This is the second of a two-part series examining a pair of Central Cost cities that have much in common universities, historic missions, tourist draws. Last week, a look at San Luis Obispo. Today, Santa Barbara.
SANTA BARBARA Some high achievers at the visitors bureau of this lovely city apparently devoted chunks of time and filled out what must've been reams of paperwork just so they could slap a registered trademark on a phrase they've proudly embraced "The American Riviera®."
All of which comes off as a tad insecure, frankly. It's as if Santa Barbara is the civic embodiment of the proverbial gorgeous yet vulnerable starlet, constantly needing reassurance of her beauty and refined culture in order to shine that much brighter when Mr. DeMille zooms in for a close-up.
And it's not as if other U.S. cities are clamoring for The American Riviera® title, though a cursory Google search did yield some references to Miami's flirtation with the cognomen.
Santa Barbara is to Miami what Brad Pitt is to Billy Bob Thornton. There's simply no comparison. In fact, it may not be that wild a jingoistic leap to refer to the French Riviera as the European Santa Barbara®. (Someone, please, notify the Patents and Trademarks Office.)
Not to gush and go all Chamber of Commerce on you, but The American Riviera® label fits this city with as much velvety snugness as a pair of Jimmy Choo sandals available, naturally, at many of the scores of upscale State Street boutiques.
The French Riviera has a temperate climate, miles of white sandy beaches, architecturally edgy villas and bungalows populated by the jet set and royalty, a film and literary pedigree and, of course, lots of shopping.
The American Riviera®? A temperate climate that may reach 80 during heat waves, a cohesive Spanish Colonial Revival architecture that extends not just to ranch houses and estates but to dentist offices and liquor stores, a populace that includes rock and movie stars (though no royalty, unless you count Oprah), literary figures both high and middle brow (T.C. Boyle and Sue Grafton), and enough shopping to max out Warren Buffet's credit card.
This is not to insinuate that Santa Barbara is merely an exclusive playground for the rich and famous or those famous for being rich. There is opulence, for sure. But there also is a vestigial quirkiness that lingers in certain sectors of the city. It clings to a simpler time of surfing dudes and blue-collar manufacturing, which helps keep Santa Barbara from descending into a snobbish stereotype.
History amid the red tiles
Too, there is a deeply felt reverence for the town's Indian and Catholic-settler past most conspicuous at, but by no means limited to, the Old Mission Santa Barbara, centrally located between the sweep of the Santa Ynez Mountains and the swell of the Pacific.
As a functioning city as well as a tourist resort, Santa Barbara's retail offices look nearly indistinguishable from historic sites.
"Why aren't there old buildings as nice as this on the East Coast," Caroline McGraw, a college student from Washington, D.C., commented to her friend, Natalie D'Onofrio, on a commuter bus to the mission.
"The thing about Santa Barbara that I've noticed," McGraw added, "is that everything's cohesive. Almost all the buildings have tiled roofs and those stuccoed walls. It makes it look like everything belongs together."
That architectural cohesion can best be seen from the top of a four-story climb to the old courthouse clock tower. Assuming the morning marine layer has burned off, vast swaths of red-tile roofs blaze in the afternoon sun, the white-washed adobe walls make wearing sunglasses a requirement. Just beyond lies the ocean, so much bluer and more dazzling from a distance than up close, as it is with so much in life. Look the other way and the Santa Ynez Mountains hover, a mass of shaggy oak-studded hills dotted with jutting estates and winding roads.
What you can't see from a distance is the hidden Santa Barbara, those less-trendy throwbacks to an earlier age. That vestige of Santa Barbara is centered in the Funk Zone (no registered trademark, alas), a half-mile stretch west of the train station near the waterfront, where boutique wineries and breweries rub edificial shoulders with starving (or, at least, pretty darn hungry) artists toiling in erstwhile industrial warehouses. Scuba diving and surf shops endure, catering to the salty sporting types, and dive bars serve those who prefer a different type of liquid release.
There is some cross-pollination between the two Santa Barbaras, as evidenced by the Tuesday night farmers market that turned a three-block chunk of State Street into a fresh-produce utopia, replete with bare-footin' buskers sharing sidewalk space with the Italian loafer set, and earnest, petition-wielding activists from both the right and left holding forth.
Such diversity of thought, and bank-account portfolios, is what drew retiree Jim Smith to Santa Barbara two years ago. Before that, he lived in another resort town, Aspen, Colo. ("The American French Alps®," perhaps?)
"In Aspen, you just don't have anyone under a certain income level, but here there are real people, too," Smith said, as he dug into breakfast at Esqu's Cafe, a popular local haunt. "But is this like the (French) Riviera? Yes and no. It probably doesn't quite have the crystal clear water they have on the Riviera and all that, but the one thing I like is the architecture. It's soothing. It really is. I never get tired of it. I walk everywhere. I love seeing the adobe."
A culturally diverse city
What adds to Santa Barbara's allure is its mutability. The traveler can pick which type of city to visit.
You can stick to the conspicuous-consumption Santa Barbara and stroll State Street with bulging shopping bags in hand, or never leave the monied enclave of Montecito just to the south.
You can cloak yourself in sacradotal history and explore the lore of Father Junipero Serra and the Spanish friars, as well as the church's complicated relationship with the native Chumash Indians.
You can immerse yourself in surf culture, dude, rent a board and catch a wave on one of the famous breaks, or just revel in others' gnarly experiences by visiting the Santa Barbara Surf Museum (see Discoveries column).
You can go native and go to the less-tourist-traveled neighborhoods and embark on a quest to find the city's most authentic taqueria, a pastime that obsessed the late Julia Child, long a Santa Barbaran.
Or you can try to do it all smell the bougainvillea, smell the money and smell the briny kelp. It can be accomplished in a single 24-hour period, if you're motivated.
And you don't necessarily need a car to do it, either, a tribute both to the compact layout of The American Riviera® described by many as "croissant-shaped" and the foresight of city fathers to begin a shuttle service that makes it easy for even the most slothful tourists to cover a lot of ground.
A downtown shuttle runs continuously up and down a two-mile stretch of State Street (ground zero of retail shopping) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, and similar service cruises along the waterfront from the epicenter at Stearn's Wharf east to the Zoo or west to the harbor and Maritime Museum. (Cost had been 25 cents, until the cash-strapped City Council raised the fare to 50 cents, beginning July 1.)
Those not wanting to scuff their Jimmy Choos by hoofing it can rent cruiser bikes fairly cheaply some hotels even provide them gratis and navigate the streets in relative tranquility knowing that drivers here are infinitely patient with two-wheeled traffic.
Such patience by locals perhaps comes from their knowledge that their very livelihood depends on a thriving tourist industry.
In search of the best taco
Restaurants anchor nearly every corner in the downtown hub of State, Chalapa and Anacapa streets. Most are locally owned and higher-end, and the few chains allowed access to the hub are required to hide their signage. (The lone McDonald's, on State Street, bears Golden Arches only 11 inches high on the brick front facade.)
Choices range from French (Bouchon, on State and Victoria) to sushi (Shintori on State) to fancy pastry (D'Angelo Bread on Gutierrez Street, near State) to seafood at any number of places both on and off the water.
But the city's culinary star is its taquerias, the madre-and-padre joints dotted all over town but centered primarily on Milpas Street, a half mile from the shopping hub.
Rising above all challengers is La Super-Rica Taqueria, a haven of spicy deliciousness housed in a humble green-and-white wooden shack with patio. At peak hours, the line for service extends nearly a block down the street, not surprising since foodie icon Julia Child crowned it as purveyors of the city's best tacos.
"I've been coming here (for) 30 years," local Alex Rubio said. "It's always crowded. But I've been coming here so long that I go up to the window and they know what I want and make it for me."
And what Rubio always orders is not Rica's tacos; rather it's chilaquiles. The tacos, apparently, have become too hyped for some locals.
By the same token, there's more to Santa Barbara's artistic flourishes than Spanish Mission Colonial. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, though small, often features works of the masters. On a small level, there is movement afoot to make art seamlessly meld into the lifestyle.
Take the Presido Motel, a trendy (and at $119, extremely affordable) 1950s-themed "motor lodge" on State Street. It may not have the cache of the San Ysidro Ranch or Montecito Inn, but each of the 16 rooms was designed and muralized inside by UC Santa Barbara graduate art students.
The room we stayed in featured a circus theme, with a funky mobile of origami birds dangling above the queen-sized bed.
Entering the Funk Zone
But the real "funk" can be found two miles south on State Street in the designated Funk Zone, where hollowed-out former aviation warehouses and marine building now house wineries and artists' alcoves.
But even something as mainstream as a tasting room gets transformed in the Funk Zone. Municipal Winemakers has taken an old scuba shop and turned it into an oddly furnished tasting room. Old, cheap sporting trophies line the walls, buttressed by stacks of institutional file cabinets, lie by lamps with shades made from old megaphones.
It's a hipster's heaven, but you still get the same expert wine advice from the server.
"We want to keep it serious about the wine but not stuffy," said Stephanie Dotson, who owns the winery with husband Dave Potter. "It's quality but not pretentious."
Jen Santarossa, who was serving wine at Municipal, is a native Santa Barbaran and says it's a good thing the Funk Zone is changing sort of.
"Growing up here, this place had been so industrial and not a place where you'd want to go," she said. "All of a sudden, in only about two years, everything's been popping up here. There's a lot more foot traffic and that's good. But (the Funk Zone) is eventually going to become not what it was once. It's like, in New York, all the artists moved to Soho because it was cheap, then Soho built up this thing and it became expensive, so they all moved to Williamsburg (Brooklyn) and now that's expensive ...
"I'm not saying anyone's moving out of here yet, but that's what's happened in other places."
Gentrification or loss?
The Funk Zone is getting gussied up. The latest addition is the Hotel Indigo, a former residence inn gutted and remade as an elegant boutique hotel. It pays homage to the Funk Zone by decorated the walls with artistic prints.
"It's all about the neighborhood," said Kay Morter, the Indigo's general manager. "All of the photos were taken of art supplies and things used in the Funk Zone."
What do longtime Funk Zoners think?
Daniel Swann, whose studio abuts the swirl of State Street a block from the beach, has expressed his feelings the best way he knows how through art. A poster out front shows a stop sign with the warning (or, perhaps, promise) "Funk at your own risk."
"Let me tell you about Santa Barbara," he said. "You've got Montecito over there. Rich area. You've got the Riviera up on that hill looking down on us. Super-rich area. Then you've got Hope Ranch over there. Really rich. Then, you go up and down State Street. Used to be local shops. Now it's plastic ladies flashing plastic (credit cards).
"This is the only place left. This is where the funk is."
With only a little prompting, Swann launched into his elegy to the Funk Zone, the six-stanzaed "Developer's Disease." An excerpt:
Brings you to your knees
Get ready for some pain
Here they come again
Make it all look nice
Now you can't afford the price
You must pay to see the view
They've just taken it from you
Others see it differently. They see the revitalization of the Funk Zone as adding to the aesthetic of The American Riviera®. It's doubtful, most say, the Funk Zone will ever be gentrified out of existence.
Santa Barbarans seem content to keep diversity, of thought and design alive. This is a city, after all, where Young America's Ronald Reagan Ranch Center "This is the schoolhouse of Reaganism!" docent Mike Lovell told visitors is located less than a Molotov cocktail's toss from a mural honoring Santa Barbara's occupy movement "Resist and Survive."
Neither of the above is featured in the online site devoted to The American Riviera®. After all, there is an image to maintain.
Old Mission Santa Barbara, 2201 Laguna St. www.sbmission.org. Hours: Self-guided tours 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; docent-led tours are by reservation and cost $5 for adults, $4 for seniors, $1 youth 6-15 (children under 6 are free).
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1130 State St. sbma.net. Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Mondays. Cost: $9 adults, $6 seniors (age 65+), $6 students and ages 6-17, free for under 6. Ongoing exhibit: "Van Gogh to Munch: European Masterworks from the Armand Hammer Foundation and Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation."
Santa Barbara Surfing Museum, 16 1/2 Helena Ave. #C. sbsurfingmuseum.com. Cost: free. Hours: Sunday noon to 5 p.m. Surfing culture and memorabilia from the past century.
La Arcada Court, 1114 State St. www.laarcadasantabarbara.com. Shops and galleries in alleyways off State Street, studded with art and statues.
Paseo Nuevo: 651 Paseo Nuevo. www.paseonuevoshopping.com. A mall cleverly disguised as an old mission building, it features chain stores (Macy's, Nordstrom), restaurants and local boutiques.
San Ysidro Ranch, 900 San Ysidro Lane. www.sanysidroranch.com. High-end resort where John F. and Jackie Kennedy honeymooned.
Montecito Inn, 1295 Coast Village Road. www.montecitoinn.com. Boutique luxury hotel built by Charlie Chaplin.
Presidio Motel, 1620 State St. thepresidiomotel.com. Affordable "motor inn" on State Street with rooms decorated by UC Santa Barbara art students.
Bouchon, 9 West Victoria St. www.bouchonsantabarbara.com. French and wine country cuisine.
Esau's Cafe, 721 Chapala St. esauscafe.com. Breakfast and lunch joint with surfing decor and a continuous loop of surf films.
La Super-Rica Taqueria, 622 North Milpas St. Considered Santa Barbara's best tacos? Says Who? Julia Child. Note: Closed Wednesdays.
Beaches: The closest is East Beach in central Santa Barbara. El Capitan State Park and Beach and Goleta Beach are a few minutes north, while Rincon Beach, known for its swells, is south near the Ventura County line.
Hiking: You can hike the Santa Ynez Mountains above the city or the San Rafael Wilderness.
For hikes, go to: www.santabarbarahikes. com. | <urn:uuid:d9fcc5e3-0ecf-49dc-a64c-872bcd2d46d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/08/4612659/riviera-with-a-barefoot-soulsanta.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699881956/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516102441-00028-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943057 | 3,700 | 1.554688 | 2 |
Whether you are an armchair adventurer or a seasoned climber, the tales in this book will keep you breathless and leave you in wonder. These accounts are true, the men and women real, and the horrors to be found in the snowy vistas of the highest mountains in the world are awe-inspiring.
Editor Cecil Kuhne has put together a collection of narratives that really show the breathtaking power and majesty of these mountains. From the remarkable story of the WWII prisoners attempting an escape across the icy horrors of Mount Kenya to the amazing account of a rugby team from Peru whose plane crashed in the Andes of Chile, novice and expert alike will be thrilled, horrified and drawn to these stories of bravery and derring-do. For the vicarious adventurer, many of these chronicles will seem foolhardy in the extreme, yet reading about those who are drawn to trying to master these lofty peaks can be inspiring in day-to-day life. For, although those of us who simply sit and read of remarkable adventures may never attempt to climb mountains, many face virtual mountains in their daily lives and can take strength and encouragement from others’ accomplishments.
Each of the accounts is well chosen to give the reader a look at a variety of scenarios on a variety of mountains – and each of the contributors speaks in their own remarkable voice. The choices made, in carelessness or bravery, plunge the reader from the snowy depths of ice caves to the exalting summits of mountainous perfection. Many of the book’s stories are better suited to the experienced veteran climber, who can understand and appreciate the technical terminology. However, mixed in with those comprehensive stories are the broad descriptions that exhilarate the novice or the fireside chair reader. The awesome splendor of mountains has, on some level, an appeal to most of us, and the vivid descriptiveness creates in the reader the ability to hear the furious winds and experience the bone biting chills.
A remarkable facet of the choices that Kuhne has made in selection is that the stories cover a wide range of human emotion and decisions. From accounts of horrifying carelessness to almost casual gung-ho overconfidence, the reader senses that despite differences in age, race or personal experience, those who climb mountains listen to a different voice. These climbers are motivated and stimulated by a diverse set of values, of desires and of goals. It takes extraordinary endurance, physical and emotional strength and deep courage to attempt the pursuit of such dreams. Whether we view these climbers as foolhardy or brave, we can appreciate the glorious call of the unknown that those cold and unforgiving mountains inspire.
The time periods covered by these selections is from the 1940s and ‘50s to the 21st century, so we come away from the reading with a definite sense of the timelessness and almost spiritual pull of mountain climbing. The 12 stories that make up the book are, as the title states, of disaster and survival. Whether we understand or appreciate the stimulus that drives these people to attempt what seems impossible, we can read these stories and honor the human experience that brings them to their choices. | <urn:uuid:3e0fe09b-0b7f-4e96-919a-123520d32de1> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.curledup.com/nearmtns.htm | 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 | 0.949124 | 634 | 1.9375 | 2 |
Forget Twitter, soon everyone will be “Yammering”. Yammer is the new networking site for companies. Through private, internal communication, staff in an organization can keep in touch with one another. Pre-designated groups can also be formed to enable group conversations.
This micro- blogging service was launched in September 2008 and is unlike Twitter as messages are not available for public display. Over 70 000 companies use Yammer as a way to communicate. Only those with appropriate email addresses may join the respective networks. In February 2010 Yammer launched “communities”. This allows businesses to communicate with other groups such as clients, partners or suppliers.
The idea behind Yammer is to ensure that people inside a company know at all times what each person in the organization are working on. The founder of Yammer, PayPal’s COO, David O. Sacks, has created a platform upon which companies can improve internal communications. Research has found that people prefer short snippets of information rather than longer conversations. When information is documented it also makes it easier to refer back to points that otherwise may have been missed in a face to face conversation.
Yammer is certainly less invasive than instant messaging and does not require the effort and time that emailing involves. In fact this networking site finds itself in between the two, making it perfect and convenient for business purposes. It is less time consuming to check your Yammer account throughout the day when it suits you. Being bombarded with instant messages however is distracting and can become a nuisance.
Yammer allows for management to keep up to date with work that is completed or still being worked on. This helps to understand the progress that their business is making. It also means that fewer meetings need to be held because everyone knows what everyone else is doing.
With social networking evolving like it has over the last few years, it only makes sense that something like Yammer be created to assist the corporate world. We have all become accustomed to the terms “Facebooking” or “Twittering”. Soon enough companies all over the world will be “Yammering” each other information back and forth.
To find out more about Yammer or to sign up to Yammer, visit www.yammer.com | <urn:uuid:811f5264-c51c-4e54-a343-adcd1a0c4798> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.ponder.co.za/tag/instant-messaging/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963279 | 472 | 1.890625 | 2 |
An interesting 2010 article by Daphne Bavelier, C. Shawn Green, and Matthew Dye in Neuron [DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.08.035], and also at http://www.webcitation.org/5vqgszQN.
“Children encounter technology constantly at home and in school. Television, DVDs, video games, theInternet, and smart phones all play a formative role in children’s development. The term ‘technology’ subsumes a large variety of somewhat independent items, and it is no surprise that current research indicates causes for both optimism and concern depending upon the content of the technology, the context in which the technology immerses the user, and the user’s developmental stage. Furthermore, because the field is still in its infancy, results can be surprising: video games designed to be reasonably mindless result in widespread enhancements of various abilities, acting, we will argue, as exemplary learning tools. Counterintuitive outcomes like these, besides being practically relevant, challenge and eventually lead to refinement of theories concerning fundamental principles of brain plasticity and learning.”
[With thanks to Seb Schmoller] | <urn:uuid:5a69279f-a4e3-4013-9f3b-ab2b59c901b8> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://micromath.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/counterintuitive-outcomes-of-technology/?like=1&source=post_flair&_wpnonce=9a71b83933 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368708142388/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516124222-00036-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912042 | 246 | 2.75 | 3 |
Educated people cope better with dementia
London: Educated people are better able to cope with the physical effects of dementia, and even one extra year of education can significantly cut the risk of developing the brain-wasting disease, scientists said on Monday.
The findings by scientists from Britain and Finland could have important implications for public health at a time when populations in many countries are rapidly aging and dementia numbers are expected to rise sharply.
The researchers found that people who go on to university or college after leaving school appear to be less affected by the brain changes, or pathology, associated with dementia than those who stop education earlier.
"More education is not associated with any differences in the damage to the brain, but people with higher education can cope with that damage better," Hanna Keage from Cambridge University, who worked on the study with an Anglo-Finnish team, said in a telephone interview.
Over the past decade, studies on dementia have shown that the more time you spend in education, the lower your risk of dementia -- but until now scientists had not known whether this was because education somehow protected the brain against damage, or because it made people better able to cope.
In this study, published in the journal Brain, post-mortem examinations showed that the pathology, or changes, in the brain, were similar in those who were educated for longer and those who were not, but the disease`s affects on more educated people was mitigated by their greater ability to cope.Psychological Strength
Keage said this may be due to psychological strength, which might allow those with more education to think around problems presented by their disease or find ways to overcome them.
It also found that for every extra year of education there was an 11 percent decrease in the risk of developing dementia.
Around 35 million people around the world have dementia. Its most common form is Alzheimer`s disease, in which patients gradually lose their memory, their ability to understand the world and to look after themselves. Despite decades of research, doctors still have few effective weapons against it.Developing ways of preventing dementia is becoming more and more important for governments worldwide as the number of dementia cases globally is expected to almost double every 20 years to 66 million in 2030 and over 115 million in 2050, and the cost of coping with the disease in aging populations is forecast to rise dramatically in the coming decades.
First Published: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 00:00
Post your Comments | <urn:uuid:b8f92873-3c8e-4e02-baa0-f66c194b0a08> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://zeenews.india.com/news/health/others/educated-people-cope-better-with-dementia_643814.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978796 | 497 | 2.90625 | 3 |
ConclusionFictional Reserve Banking
The point of this post is simple: the arguments concerning the endogenous nature of money and the irrelevance of the textbook multiplier do very little to challenge the case in favor of NGDP targeting (or inflation targeting, for that matter) and the general theoretical construct used by market monetarists. As I've shown, the case for NGDP targeting can be made (at least theoretically) using a quantity theory approach that is consistent with the endogenous nature of money.
Therefore, from a debating standpoint, those who support a functional finance approach to economic policy would be better served by focusing their efforts on challenging notions such as the natural rate of interest and in demonstrating the inadequacies of an approach to monetary policy whose monetary transmission mechanism relies largely on the portfolio balancing effect. While the issue of the natural rate is largely a theoretical problem (Does it exist? Can it be measured?), the question of the portfolio balance effect is essentially an empirical issue (Is the portfolio rebalancing effect substantial? Can the central bank control it for policy purposes?)
As for the bloggers and economists who think that post-Keynesians and MMT economists are wrong about the endogenous nature of money and its implications for central bank operations, I would suggest they review the work of Robert Hetzel. His take on these matters is in line with the post-Keynesian/MMT view.
Does the endogenous nature of money weaken the case for NGDP targeting? | <urn:uuid:7173a7fa-75f8-4b9f-8f5d-6d036afcc45e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2013/01/circuit-does-endogenous-nature-of-money.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00053-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942242 | 296 | 1.5 | 2 |
Originally Posted by Kenzibit
Just look at this:
1st gen and 2nd gen have the same 512 MB ROM,
The have the Same 512 MB RAM (even more on my HD7 which has a RAM of 576MB)
CPU speed is just a difference of 0.5 (1ghz for 1st gen and maximum of 1.5ghz for 2nd gen)
You don't understand how hardware works do you?
Yes they have the same amount of RAM, but it is most likely faster RAM like DDR2 compared to DDR3.
Yes, the clock speed is only .4-.5 GHz faster, but that's a 40-50% gain in clock alone nevermind the fact that the newer Snapdragon does more work per clock cycle. So, you're talking 2-3 times the performance.
The GPU in the newer Snapdragon is also 2-3 times faster & that SoC also has better battery life thanks the the smaller nm technology.
Also, you're forgetting about the hardware level enhancements to the chips. Basically talking about SSE/etc. equivalent. Certain versions of Adobe Photoshop won't work on certain CPU's just because a lack of SSE.
Spec sheets mean nothing if you don't know this kind of information. It'd be like compared an AMD Athlon XP 2.5 GHz CPU to a AMD 2.5 GHz x64. They are both 2.5 GHz & were out at the same time, but the x64 was vastly superior & not just because it was a 64-bit CPU. Another example is Celeron/Pentium. Granted thread, that huge performance increase was Cache memory.
T-Mobile HTC 8X
ROM: Stock | HardSPL:Stock | Radio: Stock | <urn:uuid:70d3e6b4-1e39-49f3-a21e-ac00483d277c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529496&goto=nextnewest | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955448 | 366 | 1.835938 | 2 |
Spring in Vermont is a uniquely invigorating experience. We love our Vermont winters, but by the time March is coming to a close, the occasional sunny and sixty degree day, birds chirping at the break of dawn, and the much less frequent snow showers, are a welcome respite after a long, white winter. Not to mention, there isn’t much that beats spring skiing followed by deck beers at General Stark’s Pub or Castle Rock.
April can still bring snow and cold temperatures, but the sheer knowledge that summer is right around the corner is usually all it takes to fill our minds with thoughts of swimming holes, camping, gardening, and outdoor BBQs. By May, the sometimes scorching summer heat hasn’t yet made an appearance, but the days are often warm enough for shorts and tank tops, flip flops, and picnics along the river. Bon-fires keep us warm at night; roasting marshmallows and hot dogs, sitting out until late hours, telling stories and enjoying the company of our friends and family.
Spring in Vermont means Maple Sugaring. Drive in any direction, and you will see the telltale steam rising from sugar houses in every town. Many commercial sugar houses are open to the public, allowing families to see the process of boiling down sap into the sweet, pure Vermont Maple Syrup we all enjoy. Maple syrup tastings are hardly different from wine tastings, as you sip each different level of syrup while your guide explains in detail that particular syrup’s color, sweetness, body, and texture.
Spring is appreciated for more than just what it offers. It is appreciated for what it helps usher in; fresh vegetables, beautiful flowers, lush green trees, sunbathing on rocks, cliff diving, kayaking, bicycling, and simply being outside for more hours than we are in. Spring is washing off the outdoor furniture, putting away the snow boots, wool gloves and hats. Spring is the birth of a new season. | <urn:uuid:85e0e9c4-2dec-4802-ba1b-8a7692834202> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.bridgesresort.com/2011/spring-has-sprung/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368707435344/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516123035-00047-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951101 | 410 | 1.75 | 2 |
If you’ve watched the news today, you may have seen the weather forecast for Denver. Snow, wind, snow, wind, snow…you get the idea. The NOAA has predicted between 12″ – 24″ of snow for the Denver area, along with near-blizzard conditions overnight through tomorrow.
So anticipating that schools will be closed tomorrow and wanting nothing to do with household responsibilities, my son and I settled upon our own homemade snow measurement system…
The Han Snowlo Project.
We found an old, broken broomstick and carefully drew measurement lines using a metal ruler. We were very scientific and precise.
The skull designates 24″ of snow, otherwise known as Snowmaggedon.
We added one dashing rogue in Han Solo. It took quite a bit of convincing for my son to allow the use of his beloved little plastic man. A couple of rubber bands later, and Solo was ready for action.
We found a nice spot in the yard. And then we drove it deep into the ground with a hammer.
And now we wait for the meteorological carnage. Stay tuned for updates! | <urn:uuid:9dfa4ef6-53cc-4b7e-9ee1-470c443c7b19> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/blog/the-superfly/the-han-snowlo-project-part-i/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00043-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949497 | 230 | 1.695313 | 2 |
—David Hiebert, Scottdale, PA
Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the fireworks displays that go on around the U.S. every Fourth of July are still typically propelled by the ignition of gunpowder—a technological innovation that pre-dates the American Revolution itself. And the fall-out from these exhibitions includes a variety of toxic pollution that rain down on neighborhoods from coast to coast, often in violation of federal Clean Air Act standards.
Fireworks Can Be Toxic to Humans
Depending on the effect sought, fireworks produce smoke and dust that contain various heavy metals, sulfur-coal compounds and other noxious chemicals. Barium, for instance, is used to produce brilliant green colors in fireworks displays, despite being poisonous and radioactive. Copper compounds are used to produce blue colors, even though they contain dioxin, which has been linked to cancer. Cadmium, lithium, antimony, rubidium, strontium, lead and potassium nitrate are also commonly used to produce different effects, even though they can cause a host of respiratory and other health problems.
Fireworks Contribute to Environmental Pollution
The chemicals and heavy metals used in fireworks also take their toll on the environment, sometimes contributing to water supply contamination and even acid rain. Their use also deposits physical litter on the ground and into water bodies for miles around. As such, some U.S. states and local governments restrict the use of fireworks in accordance with guidelines set by the Clean Air Act. The American Pyrotechnics Association provides a free online directory of state laws across the U.S. regulating the use of fireworks.
Fireworks Add to Worldwide Pollution
Of course, fireworks displays are not limited to U.S. Independence Day celebrations. Fireworks use is increasing in popularity around the world, including in countries without strict air pollution standards. According to The Ecologist, millennium celebrations in 2000 caused environmental pollution worldwide, filling skies over populated areas with “carcinogenic sulphur compounds and airborne arsenic.”
Disney Pioneers Innovative Fireworks Technology
Not usually known for championing environmental causes, the Walt Disney Company has pioneered new technology using environmentally benign compressed air instead of gunpowder to launch fireworks. Disney puts on hundreds of dazzling fireworks displays every year at its various resort properties in the U.S. and Europe, but hopes its new technology will have beneficial impact on the pyrotechnics industry worldwide. The company has made the details of new patents it has filed for the technology available to the pyrotechnics industry at large with the hope that other companies will also green up their offerings.
Do We Really Need Fireworks?
While Disney’s technological breakthrough is no doubt a step in the right direction, many environmental and public safety advocates would rather see the Fourth of July and other holidays and events celebrated without the use of pyrotechnics. Parades and block parties are some obvious alternatives. Meanwhile, laser light shows can wow a crowd without the negative environmental side effects associated with fireworks.
GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org.
EarthTalk is a regular feature of E/The Environmental Magazine. Selected EarthTalk columns are reprinted on About Environmental Issues by permission of the editors of E. | <urn:uuid:d43f249e-8dd0-490a-94ab-c6056fe95220> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/toxicfireworks.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00005-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927465 | 722 | 3.359375 | 3 |
UK science expertise, backed by increased government funding, has led to a thriving bioscience industry, distinguished by
the energy and creativity of its entrepreneurs." These words are not mine but those of Lord David Sainsbury, the British government's
science and innovation minister. The facts more than confirm the accuracy of Lord Sainsbury's assertion.
The United Kingdom is home to the largest biotechnology industry in the world outside of the United States. The biotechnology
market and related industries are currently estimated at $13 billion and include almost 300 dedicated biotechnology companies
and more than 450 companies involved in bio-related activities. The British government spends nearly $1 billion annually on
bioscience research, and charities such as the Wellcome Trust also provide significant funding. The pharmaceutical sector
spends more than $2.7 billion per year on research and development (R&D), making it the largest user of modern biotechnology.
Furthermore, the UK is characterized by an abundance of technically qualified and highly skilled personnel in its academic
institutions, industries, and hospitals, as well as excellent education and training structures to ensure that this supply
of talent is ongoing. In the past 50 years, British scientists have earned more than 46 Nobel prizes, two-thirds of which
were for advances in medicine, chemistry, and physiology. The UK has discovered 15 of the world's current 75 best-selling
drugs, and British companies account for 62% of the products in late-stage clinical trials in Europe. The UK is home to a
significant number of world-leading research institutes including the Sanger Center and the Roslin Institute; international
research establishments such as the European Bioinformatics Institute; and regulatory bodies such as the European Agency for
the Evaluation of Medicinal Products and the Medicines Control Agency.
The UK presently funds approximately 4.5% of the world's science, produces 8% of all scientific papers, and receives 9% of
the citations - all with only 1% of the world's population. In short, British academic institutions and UK-based companies
remain firmly on the frontlines of biotechnology research. They do not simply compete on a global scale; they lead the way.
The UK–US Biotech Relationship
The UK's biotechnology industry is unrivalled in Europe and continues to spawn companies that rival those of the US. The biotechnology
communities in the UK and US have been inextricably linked since the UK's Francis Crick and James Watson of the US demystified
the double helix 50 years ago.
For example, Eli Lilly plans to spend more than $350 million over the next four years to expand its UK operations. The investment
includes $112 million to improve manufacturing operations in Southeast England. Eighty million dollars will support overall
UK operations, including the Erl Wood research site in southeast England, where a further $64 million is committed to a neuroscience
research center. An additional $72 million is dedicated to adding capacity at its Merseyside manufacturing facility, and $24
million is set aside for UK business support.
British and American Joint Ventures
Another American biotechnology company investing in the UK is Genzyme, one of the top five biotechnology companies in the
world. Genzyme has recently completed a plan that included $88 million to expand its facilities in East Anglia. Two large-scale,
state-of-the-art plants were officially opened in August 2002, enabling a tenfold increase in production capacity of the active
ingredients for the kidney disease drug Renagel and doubling staffing levels to more than 200.
The UK's Biotechnology "Clusters"
The idea of biotechnology clusters may be valid in a country as vast as the US, but the UK is so geographically compact that,
especially from the perspective of US business, it can be considered one "cluster" - one that can act as a transatlantic stepping
stone into continental Europe. Within the UK cluster, there are hubs of special expertise, often growing out of the particular
strengths of local universities.
Expert advice is abundantly available to help individual investors identify the right location for their business proposition.
For many investors, the first port of call has been UK Trade & Investment, which provides free and confidential advice to
both potential and current investors. UKT&I works closely with the government's science and technology team that has representatives
based in consulates around the US. It works hand-in-glove with the 12 development agencies directly responsible for England,
Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Biomanufacturing in the UK
Companies established in the UK support all aspects of biopharmaceutical production, from development and manufacturing of
active ingredients, to formulation and delivery. The UK biomanufacturing marketplace is diverse and deep and includes specialist
third-party contract manufacturers such as Avecia (Billingham), CAMR (Salisbury), Cobra Therapeutics (Keele), Excell Biotech
(Edinburgh), and Lonza Biologics (Slough); contract testing and research organizations such as Q-One (Glasgow); and manufacturing
facilities (such as PowderJect, Eli Lilly, Avecia) for vaccines and biologics. Also present are the in-house process development
organizations of "big pharma" and biotechnology firms such as AstraZeneca, Celltech, Cambridge Antibody Technology, Delta
Biotechnology, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, and Protherics. Leading academic institutions such as University College London's
Advanced Center for Biochemical Engineering, Aston Academy of Life Sciences, and the University of Cambridge support the entire
An excellent example of the UK's commitment to biomanufacturing is the recent announcement of the creation of a $50 million
National Biomanufacturing Center at Speke, Merseyside. The center is the first of its kind in the UK and is expected to open
in 2005. It will focus on biotechnology business development and the manufacture of innovative biological medicines, including
vaccines. Also, the center will provide advice, services, and trained personnel to biotechnology businesses throughout the
region. Its program is designed to support start-up companies spinning out of area universities and should provide a crucial
bridge between academic innovation and commercial biomanufacturing development. | <urn:uuid:77dec53e-3946-4a10-b406-fc447eb7cfdc> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.biopharminternational.com/biopharm/Business/The-United-Kingdom--Europes-Biotechnology-Hub/ArticleLong/Article/detail/76602 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936183 | 1,317 | 2.671875 | 3 |
About the Photographer
American, b. 1975, New York, NY
Myra Greene writes, "throughout my artistic practice, I have returned to the body to explore issues of difference, beauty, physical and emotional recollections as they play out on the surface of the skin." In her series Character Recognition, Greene adopts the the wet-plate collodion process, a 19th-century photographic method that was implicated in the history of colonialism and slavery and used as tool for ethnographic classification. Ethnographic photography was at times aimed at creating a typological record of racial physiognomy; Greene amplifies and examines these preoccupations by photographing her own nose, lips, ears, and skin—which she describes as "the features of race"—as if dismembered from the rest of her body.
Although Greene is working with a highly-coded historical process, one that evokes a complicated and disconcerting past, her photographic studies reorient it in a number ways. She uses a black glass plate, instead of the conventional transparent glass, which results in a unique positive image instead of a negative that could be used to make endless reproductions. Moreover, in making self-portraits, she willingly stands before the camera and controls the process. Her photographs capture not only parts of the body but their small expressive gestures. Effectively allowing the body to "speak back" in this manner, Greene reacts to and rejects the previous modes and manners of classification, displacing the collodion photograph's role in these practices as an exploitative, quasi-scientific record; in its place she offers a rich sensory experience that hints at the individual and the personal.
Greene holds an MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico (2002) and a BFA from Washington University, St. Louis (1997). Greene is a faculty member in the Department of Photography at Columbia College Chicago. | <urn:uuid:873f6cb1-1174-4f71-81ec-8c2f21455c24> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mocp.org/detail.php?t=objects&type=tag&f=100&s=&record=38&tag=people | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00009-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939473 | 388 | 1.96875 | 2 |
The prospect of reviewing Saludos Amigos is rather strange, because not only in the context of the focus of this series, but in the context of all of Disney's output it's a rather odd duck. Although the supression of something like Song of the South or So Dear To My Heart is unfortunate, Disney's ambivalence towards releasing this little film is somewhat more understandable - for one, it's hardly a feature film. Clocking in at just 43 minutes, the film is basically just four ten minute shorts glued together. But ah, what glue!
The basic overriding theme is "Latin America", as in The Three Caballeros, and the main reason the film exists is to promote wartime cooperation between the United States and the South Americas. Remember, this is when Americans would regularly venture to Brazil or Mexico for season getaways, this is where the Nazis were expected to escape to, and these countries had modernized in record time. Thus, the film's purpose is as explicit as its' title - Hello Friends, we're gonna need each other someday soon.
The four shorts are "Lake Titicaca", "Pedro", "El Gaucho Goofy" and "Watercolor of Brazil" - featuring the song "Brasil" which was made famous again by Terry Gilliam's dystopian farce Brazil from 1985, and for fans of that film, the intersection here in Saludos Amigos can be rather jarring and exciting. In content, the first three shorts are basically traditional, Stick To The Mob Donald and Goofy shorts from the period. "Pedro" is not dissimilar from similar "one shot" films of Disney's, where a cute character overcomes an obstacle and proves himself. The final segment is really the main reason for the film's existence, and introduces Jose Carioca. The fact that the films are each ten minutes long - the length of the average one reel Disney animated short subject - means that there may not have even been a feature film production unit on Saludos, certainly a brilliantly cost effective measure in 1942, one of the worst years for Disney, the war, and the United States in general. The film has all the earmarks of being a conceptual replay of Buster Keaton's strategy for his first film, The Three Ages - if the feature film bombed, it could easily be carved up into three or four ten minute shorts and distributed that way. In many ways, that accounts for the comparative rarity of the whole package film - Disney made it so easy to show the first three standalone shorts separately, that that's what they did for years until the whole thing was released on DVD in 2000.
The glue that's supposed to hold the whole thing together is footage of Disney animators boarding a jet and looking at various things in Latin America which serve as "inspiration" for the shorts that follow. Although one one hand this could've been cobbled together afterwards to get a new animated "feature" into film cans and out to distributors, these linking segments do lend the film the air of a documentary - not just a travelouge of the Americas, but of the animation process. In 1943 before the general public was aware of all that went into animation, Disney's films were magic tricks, flawless constructions (no matter how little they made at the box office), and the 16mm footage seen in Saludos Amigos must've seemed an exciting bridge between the animated film and the real world - not only were we discovering how Disney made their films, but we were were discovering South America with them.
Yet in spite of, or perhaps because of, the documentary footage interspersed, the film has strange tensions between the shorts - they do not exist in harmony. One is not necessarily in content or execution any better than any other one, yet the structuring documentary content, a kind of substitution for the authorial hand, creates distance in the spectator for possibly the first time in Disney animation. Because we are shown the animation field trip, the inspiration, and the product, some of the magic trick has been revealed. We are made aware of the animation process as a process, and the shorts stand out even more as constructs, one after another, made by people we've seen for our viewing pleasure.
This, of course, as artistically interesting as it is, doesn't really help the film's case for itself.
For all the traditional Donald and Goofy hijinx happening elsewhere in the film, and the clever narration ("Yes, a lama can make you feel awfully unimportant"), the film finally comes into its own for a brief moment right at the end, in the "Watercolor of Brazil" segment. For the first time the segment opens with the traditional introductory opening of a book to herald its' arrival, and the exciting flourish of Ary Barroso's score plunges us towards an empty canvas. The authorial hand's arrival is signaled by a looming shadow, and then the the paint brush enters and begins to create. There are a number of clever touches where bananas become the beaks of clusters of musical toucans, and one moment which seems to be a dead ringer for the future singing flowers in the Enchanted Tiki Room. Jose Carioca is, strangely poignantly, created before our eyes, one of the best character introductions in animation.
The homogenity and quality of the sequence is cut short because it just as quickly runs out of ideas and ends, but for a moment there is the seed of a future structure exists, the pairing of Donald with an internationally sauve foil, the tropical surrealism and the documentary "authority" supplanted by the authorial guidance of the watercolorist. Disney animation has been using the gag of the authorial hand, presumably an Ub Iwerks invention, since at least "Alice's Wonderland" of 1923, and one day somebody should write a full length dissertation on its' prominence in Disney, but its' role here lends the 'watercolor' a dreamy elegance unmatched by the rest of the film.
Saludos' main title is encumbered with the awkward announcement "from a 16mm original by Walt Disney", which is not only badly phrased but kind of confusing. Still, the title is truthful in that it speaks of the awkward blend of documentary and fiction the film is perched between. In the 1940's Disney began to aggressively pursue new kinds of presentations of content, and the blend of photographic documentary and mythic animation was something only they could really, wholly do. The Semi-Documentary is in its original and perhaps most fully articulated form here. In the future the cartoon would be relegated to a "preshow' for the main action of the film, or a short live action segment would be the "preshow" to the cartoon. Here both exist reasonably harmoniously.
In many ways what Saludos Amigos begot was not Three Caballeros, the film it's often linked to, but Victory Thru Airpower, an illustrated lecture with an apocalyptic Marc Davis animation climax. It eventually led to the True-Life Adventures, which the 16mm segments play exactly like, from their wry humor to their sharp colors. The film to watch with it isn't Three Caballeros but The Reluctant Dragon, an elaboration of the documentary-cartoon pattern, both featuring behind the scenes of animation content, Walt Disney appearing in character as himself, and a lighthearted narrator.
What Saludos Amigos really presages, with its' cartoon varieties interspersed with whimsical live action introductory segments, is an episode of Disneyland. Although the film may seem irrelevant in content and scope, the traces of its' influence spread through Disney culture as steadily and potently as any Walt Disney-era 'masterpiece'.
Next time: The Three Caballeros | <urn:uuid:4d66a28c-51cf-4df8-96b2-7f24d6334626> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2008/01/disneys-new-spectatorship-saludos.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703682988/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112802-00031-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95653 | 1,601 | 1.609375 | 2 |
More residents say PG&E will strip their yards
One gas line will be moved next year, but trees still have to come out, PG&E says
A group of residents who live in a Rock Street condo complex are joining a chorus of complaints from Mountain View residents about PG&E's plans to strip backyards where major gas lines exist.
"It's never going to be as nice," said Kenneth Hauck, a resident of the condos at 1963 Rock St., as he looked at the view of eight trees that shade his second-story balcony, a hummingbird hovering nearby.
PG&E wants to remove all the trees that shade his yard and seven other households because they are over major gas lines 132 and 109, and could damage the line and cause an explosion.
The trees include two large pines and a redwood with a 3-foot-diameter trunk, all apparently ignored by PG&E since the 1970s.
"That one they are very anxious to get rid of," Hauck said of the 80-foot-tall redwood in the parking lot next to his unit. "It's right on the pipeline. PG&E clearly didn't pay any attention to this the whole time" the tree has been there.
What bothers Hauck even more is that PG&E insists on removing the trees even though next year it may relocate the section of gas line 109 that runs under the them.
"I want them to move the whole thing out to Middlefield and not destroy my backyard," Hauck said. "The trees are just gorgeous right now. They provide a sense of privacy, a sense of beauty."
Residents of 15 other households on San Lucas Avenue find themselves in a similar situation, and Hauck and his neighbors say they had no idea the lines existed under their backyards.
PG&E says the tree roots could disturb the line and cause a leak, like the one that caused a deadly explosion along line 132 in San Bruno in 2010. Trees also block detection of leaks by aircraft fitted with special laser technology, PG&E says.
Alex Dimitri, a Kaiser physician who lives with his wife and infant child next door to Hauck, said he will lose three trees in his backyard, and is now going to think twice about barbecuing there. He said the greenery was a big reason he recently moved in.
"I feel like at this stage of the game they should be making more concessions," Dimitri said of PG&E following the San Bruno disaster.
Another section of line 109 is in the process of being moved from under nearby Crittenden Middle School. "If it can be moved from Crittenden, it can be moved from my backyard." Dimitri said, noting concern for his own child.
PG&E says the section of line 109 is actually on a list of lines to be relocated in 2013. Until then, PG&E spokesperson Monica Tell said, PG&E needs to do something to ensure the safety of those nearby as part of its new "commitment to safety" following the San Bruno disaster.
While the section of line 109 is being looked at for relocation, Tell said it's not urgent. The lines have passed a hydrostatic pressure test, she said.
"There are no issues with the line that currently runs under that specific area," Tell said. "When a pipeline is strong and functioning there is no reason to relocate that line."
Tell said line 109, built in 1973, needs to be replaced and relocated only because it doesn't have a consistent diameter and would not allow the use of a new leak detection device called a "smartpig."
Hauck, Dimitri, and the Telleria household on San Lucas Avenue expressed interest in working together to try to keep PG&E from stripping their yards, and to have the gas lines moved out to Middlefield Way, which isn't planned for the section of line 132 that runs through backyards on San Lucas.
Beto and Eileen Telleria say they have been working with Public Works Director Mike Fuller to arrange a neighborhood meeting with PG&E instead of the individual meetings that have occurred so far, in which "it seems like some people are hearing different things." One neighbor said he was told he could plant new fruit trees after some work was done on the line, Beto Telleria said.
Fuller confirmed in an email that a meeting was in the works, but no date has been set.
"The city is arranging a meeting with PG&E with those affected by this, and until that meeting, all paperwork signings and work (have) been put on hold," said Eileen Telleria in an email. "The meeting will be announced."
Email Daniel DeBolt at email@example.com | <urn:uuid:f27617fb-78b3-46fb-8e0c-3ead7915c880> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.mv-voice.com/story.php?story_id=8047 | 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 | 0.981623 | 986 | 1.703125 | 2 |
|More than Men in Drag : gender, sexuality, and the falsetto in musical comedy of Western civilization
||"Throughout history the socially constructed concepts of gender and sexual desire have played a vital role in the inter-connectedness of human cultures. Nowhere is this more evident than in the performing and visual arts, which act as a looking glass...
|A comparative study of Brenda Ueland's autobiography ME (Brenda Ueland) to the song cycle ME (Brenda Ueland) by Libby Larsen.
||Brenda Ueland, a free-lance writer, journalist, mother, teacher and feminist, lived for nearly a century. During her life, Ueland wrote two books: If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit, published in 1938, and an autob...
|The evolution of lyricism in Modest Musorgsky's compositional style as evidenced in songs and dances of death
||Musical characteristics added by Musorgsky in the second version of his Boris Godunov (1872) differed significantly from those of the original version of this opera (1869). These subsequent changes to the second version represent Mus...
|Ophelia as archetype: Jake Heggie's Songs and sonnets to Ophelia
||The character Ophelia has captured humanity's imagination for centuries. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, her role, although small, was instrumental as the title character's erstwhile girlfriend who goes mad. Ophelia remains relevant in modern culture, wheth...
|Creating the southern voice in American opera composition
||The purpose of this dissertation is to determine possible compositional trends in contemporary American operas based on Southern librettos, through an analysis of three operas: Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree (2000), based on the st... | <urn:uuid:f2d90500-993e-4679-bea6-f5cf83f50659> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/clist-etd.aspx?fn=Carla&ln=LeFevre&org=uncg | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368700958435/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516104238-00012-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912873 | 375 | 2.125 | 2 |
Eduard Suess (August 20, 1831, London – April 26, 1914, Vienna) was a geologist who was an expert on the geography of the Alps. He is responsible for hypothesising two major former geographical features, the supercontinent Gondwana (proposed 1861) and the Tethys Ocean.
Suess was born in London to a Lutheran Saxon merchant and his Jewish wife, and when he was three, his family relocated to Prague, then to Vienna when he was 14. Interested in geology at a young age, he published his first paper (on the geology of Carlsbad, now in the Czech Republic) when he was 19.
By 1857, he was a professor of geology at the University of Vienna, and from there he gradually developed views on the connection between Africa and Europe; eventually he came to the conclusion that the Alps to the north were once at the bottom of an ocean, of which the Mediterranean was a remnant. Suess was not correct; his analysis was predicated upon the notion of "contractionism": the idea that the Earth is cooling down and, therefore, contracting. Nevertheless, he is credited with postulating the earlier existence of the Tethys Ocean, which he named in 1893. He claimed in 1885 that there had once been land bridges connecting South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica. He named this ancient broken continent Gondwanaland.
In volume two of his massive, three-volume Das Antlitz der Erde', Suess set out his belief that across geologic time, the rise and fall of sea levels were mappable across the earth, that is, that the periods of ocean transgression and regression were correlatable from one continent to another.
His theory was based upon glossopteris fern fossils occurring in South America, Africa, and India. His explanation was that the three lands were once connected in a supercontinent, which he named Gondwanaland. Again, this is not quite correct: Suess believed that the oceans flooded the spaces currently between those lands.
Suess, considered one of the early practitioners of ecology, published a comprehensive synthesis of his ideas in 1885-1901, entitled Das Antlitz der Erde (translated as "The Face of the Earth"), which was a popular textbook for many years. In this work, Suess also introduced the concept of the biosphere, which was later extended by Vladimir I. Vernadsky in 1926.
- "... one thing seems to be foreign on this large celestial body consisting of spheres, namely, organic life. But this life is limited to a determined zone at the surface of the lithosphere. The plant, whose deep roots plunge into the soil to feed, and which at the same time rises into the air to breathe, is a good illustration of organic life in the region of interaction between the upper sphere and the lithosphere, and on the surface of continents it is possible to single out an independent biosphere" - Eduard Suess
- Schuchert, C (June 1914). "EDUARD SUESS". Science 39 (1017): 933–935. doi:10.1126/science.39.1017.933. PMID 17812397.
- Laudan, R (January 1983). "Geological Thought from Hutton to Suess". Science 219 (4582): 280. doi:10.1126/science.219.4582.280. PMID 17798269. | <urn:uuid:8fbd3617-32a9-47ef-969b-c8563b716377> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Suess | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368699273641/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516101433-00042-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972163 | 733 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Adult Learner Initiative
The Kentucky Adult Learner Initiative, which is funded by a grant from Lumina Foundation for Education, aims to increase the educational attainment of the state’s adult population.
The main objectives of the initiative are to:
- Create a set of policy recommendations for both the state and institutional levels to support adult learners, and
- Help institutions in their efforts to address the needs of adult learners. | <urn:uuid:175ea257-7e22-4e34-923f-4f7bf5da0f5f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.cpe.ky.gov/policies/academicinit/adult_learner.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704713110/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516114513-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943936 | 86 | 1.828125 | 2 |
Irving’e karşı Lipstadt
Holocaust Denial on Trial, Trial Judgment: Electronic Edition, by Charles GrayTable of Contents
|Case for the Defendants >||Irving's response >>|
5.240Marie Vaillant-Couturier, a gentile and member of the resistance in France, was a prisoner in the womens' camp at Auschwitz from 1942 until the end of the war. In 1946 she gave vivid and detailed evidence to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg about the atrocious conditions in the camp, the sterilisation of women, the killing of babies born to women who arrived pregnant and so on. One of the presiding was judges was an American, Judge Biddle. | <urn:uuid:2ad7a3af-0800-4b1a-a295-baf856a0644f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.hdot.org/tr/trial/judgement/05.022 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702448584/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516110728-00003-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937522 | 150 | 2.03125 | 2 |
Mar 28, 2004
Hi, I had a blood test and my eosinophils were 13% and my Eos Abs was 1.0. My question is about lymphoma, would the lymph abs be abnormal in a lymphoma diagnosis? Also, what specific cancers are indicated in an elevated wbc count? Thank you so much for your time and expertise!
| Response from Dr. Holodniy
An elevated eosinophil count can be seen in certain types of infections, allergic reactions and cancers. It is not specific to any one disease.
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Experts appearing on this page are independent and are solely responsible for editing and fact-checking their material. Neither TheBody.com nor any advertiser is the publisher or speaker of posted visitors' questions or the experts' material. | <urn:uuid:837ebb53-821b-4bad-a86d-1e2853b2de2e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/Labs/Q155710.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705559639/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115919-00000-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940933 | 238 | 1.773438 | 2 |
It's 2011, we've known about the problems of plastic pollution for, oh, a few decades now. So why the hell is excessive plastic packaging still so pervasive? On her Design Observer blog, superstar designer Marian Bantjes challenges product designers to think beyond plastics.
In Brooklyn, Pratt Institute's newly opened Myrtle Hall flexes the school's commitment to sustainability. The building, which features solar power and a green roof, is awaiting LEED Gold certification. See pics at Inhabitat.
Populations of western Atlantic bluefin tuna — prized as sushi meat in Japan — dropped more than 70% from 1970 to 2009. Meanwhile, scientists arguing over whether it should be listed as endangered. | <urn:uuid:b459d99e-00dc-4034-8f1c-467b9cd754b9> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.shft.com/reading/shft-sampler-1-14-11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933869 | 143 | 2.15625 | 2 |
President Mori Completes Visit to Northwest Region of Chuuk State
Palikir, POHNPEI (FSM Dept. of Foreign Affairs): December 18, 2008 - On December 13, 2008, President Manny Mori completed his official State Visit to the Northwest Islands in Chuuk State. In what is being coined a "historic visit", the President and his 34-member delegation embarked upon the MS Caroline Voyager in Weno, Chuuk on December 4th. Having just completed a scheduled tour in the Mortlocks, the MS Caroline Voyager then set off for a 9-day run to the islands of Murilo, Fananu, Unoun, Pollap, Tamatam, Polowat and Houk.
President Mori's delegation was cordially received in all the islands by traditional chiefs, church and municipal leaders, and the island communities. Throughout the islands, the President and his delegation shared information and a healthy exchange of ideas on current issues that significantly impact the communities in the Northwest Islands: transportation and shipping, infrastructure, healthcare, education, climate change and communication.
Community leaders expressed vital concerns on the islands' susceptibility to climate change, conveying to the President that there is a tremendous need to build sea-walls to help deter the devastating effects of global warming in the islands. There were also discussions of the need to build more schools and healthcare facilities, as well as furnish them with the necessary equipment and supplies. There was particular mention of possible opportunities to bring the Northwest schools into the Internet Technology-age by installing computers in classrooms.
Also a major topic of concern was the sharp increase in food prices. President Mori offered support by encouraging the people of the Northwest Islands to build resilience in the face of global trials that eventually make their way to all levels of communities in the FSM. Included in the President's delegation was the DSAP Coordinator from SPC based in Pohnpei, Ms. Marlyter Silbanuz, who provided banana, breadfruit and sweet potato seedlings, which President Mori took the opportunity to plant on each of the islands.
The delegation for this visit to Chuuk State was comprised primarily of National Government officials, including 3 cabinet members; Education Secretary the Honorable Casiano Shoniber, Transportation & Infrastructure Secretary the Honorable Francis Itiamai, and Postmaster General Midion Neth. Ten Chuuk State officials on the delegation ranged from various offices including agriculture, public affairs and social services.
For more information, please contact the Division of APAMA in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Palikir; 691-320-2613 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
For further information on this release, please contact:
FSM Office of the President Public Information: Press, Radio, Video P.O Box 34 Palikir Station, Pohnpei, FM 96941 Tel.: (691) 320-2548/2092 Fax.: (691) 320-4356 e-mail: email@example.com http://www.fsmpio.fm/ | <urn:uuid:c6999e25-7c67-451e-a4e3-1ff3428cd6b7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://fsmgov.org/press/pr121808.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368709037764/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516125717-00063-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948615 | 622 | 1.640625 | 2 |
To shine light on the urgent issue of diabetes—to celebrate the victories and remind the public of the burdens that you, our readers, know so well—the American Diabetes Association created A Day in the Life of Diabetes. People responded by sharing images that express the ordinary and extraordinary ways that they live with diabetes. View the mosaic of images at facebook.com/americandiabetesassociation. Here, award-winning photographer Jay Dickman focuses on three stories from Denver of people coping with the disease.
My 2-year-old daughter, Estrella, is getting one of many finger pricks (left) that are part of her daily life. From the moment we wake up, I check her blood glucose levels and continue to do so throughout the day. I’m a single mom, so when Estrella was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes I had to quit my job as a hairstylist and learn how to take care of her health on my own. I struggled financially, but Estrella is my top priority. I figured the only way I could take care of her and work at the same time was to be my own boss and open a salon of my own. I named it Estrella’s Beauty Salon.
Daily life for us means lots of carb counting and injecting insulin every two hours. Before she goes to bed, I need to make sure that her blood glucose levels are above 150 mg/dl and that she has a snack with 15 grams of carbohydrate to last her through the night. I also have to check her blood glucose in the middle of the night just to make sure it doesn’t drop low. I want to stop diabetes because I don’t want people living with this disease to have to depend on taking insulin just to stay alive!
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes one month before my 29th birthday. My typical day involves work, hanging out with friends and family, and working out. My life is not that different from the life of someone who doesn’t have diabetes, except that I take a pill every day and have to check my blood glucose levels. The threat of the extreme downfalls weighs on my mind, however. Amputation, slow-healing wounds, blindness—these are all things that can happen if you don’t manage the disease. I want to stop diabetes because no one should have to worry about these things on a daily basis.
I have had type 1 diabetes for 34 years. When you live with diabetes, you live it every day—24/7. Despite this being a tough disease, it can also be a blessing in disguise since it forces you to focus on your lifestyle, diet, and exercise. Why do I want to stop diabetes? Because it’s one of America’s and the world’s fastest-growing diseases, with a significant negative impact on the lives of those who have it and their friends and family. I am on a mission to do everything in my power—anything and everything possible—to help knock this disease out for adults and children everywhere! Here, I am wearing my Red Rider jersey, which shows my personal dedication to raising money in the fight to stop diabetes.
Meet the Photographer
Jay Dickman is a Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist and National Geographic photographer. Dickman’s brother-in-law died from complications of diabetes, and this personal understanding of the disease truly resonates in his heartfelt images. | <urn:uuid:a899e38e-5157-4b7e-84ab-2e3bfa28ae9d> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.forecast.diabetes.org/magazine/features/a-day-life-diabetes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368702810651/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516111330-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961754 | 707 | 1.953125 | 2 |
For details on how to contact our editorial and commercial departments, click here
Consumer confidence crisis as pre-Christmas sales slump
ACCORDING to official figures, recession is behind us, but it seems that the average UK consumer may take a little more persuasion than the gospel according to the Office of National Statistics to part with their hard earned cash.
Today (November 6), the British Retail Consortium said, October's UK retail sales, down 0.1 per cent year on year, were the worst outside a seasonal period for 11 months, ending hopes that September’s more buoyant results would spark a retail revival in the run up to Christmas.
Online sales did not escape the slump, with the British Retail Consortium pronouncing that the last three months include the two weakest growth rates of the four years.
In the wake of the collapse of electrical firm Comet, the figures will undoubtedly raise the blood pressure of retail executives, particularly as analysts have interpreted the figures as suggesting consumers are holding off on making major purchases and limiting spending to essential items only, as disposable incomes are squeezed.
Clothing and footwear sales saw double-digit like-for-like growth in the first week of the month as customers bought autumn and winter collections, but faded Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium, said it looked like the modest sales revival seen in September was something of a "false dawn".
"The disappointing figures are a reminder of the difficult economic realities many are still facing.” He said. “Falling consumer confidence means people are limiting spending to essential items and are cautious about committing to big-ticket and discretionary buying.
"The recession may be officially over, but it will take a little longer for consumers to feel they can spend freely again. Retailers are holding less stock than a year ago and may choose to be cautious with pre-Christmas sales in order to protect margins."
The general retail trend was echoed by Marks & Spencer, who reported falling half-year profits today as it counted the cost of its worst non-food sales performance for three years.
The retail giant posted a fall in underlying pre-tax profits to £297m from £307m a year earlier after admitting to mistakes in its core womenswear range.
Under-pressure chief executive Marc Bolland offered signs of a turnaround since then, reporting a better-than-feared 1.8 per cent fall in like-for-like non-food sales in the second quarter - a marked improvement on the 6.8 per cent slide seen in the first three months, which marked its worst performance since December 2008.
Marks said it had taken "decisive action" by improving buying and merchandising, while also overhauling its general merchandise team and hiring new managers - including tasking former Debenhams and Jaeger boss Belinda Earl with revitalising womenswear in the newly-created role of style director.
But the group admitted customers would start to see the benefits of its management reshuffle only from next summer.
It was a completely different story at Primark, which has continued to resist Europe's economic woes after an "exceptional" year in which it racked up £3.5bn in sales and created 10,000 new jobs.
The budget chain, which has 158 of its 244 stores in the UK, grew operating profits by 15 per cent to £356m in the year to September 15, parent company Associated British Foods said today.
Primark's like-for-like sales were 3 per cent higher, with UK trading "particularly strong" in the summer and Europe still buoyant despite tough economic conditions in three of its markets in Ireland, Spain and Portugal.
Nineteen new stores were opened in the year and a further 12 stores will have opened in time for Christmas, including a second store in Austria, while Primark plans to complete the expansion of its city centre stores in Manchester and Newcastle by the spring.
The business, which has doubled annual sales in the past five years, employs more than 43,000 people. | <urn:uuid:d7e97ed3-f01c-4e1c-bc2d-66d2813fc218> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/business/shares/10029039.Consumer_confidence_crisis_as_pre_Christmas_sales_slump/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00026-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969446 | 826 | 1.585938 | 2 |
theodp writes "They can ban the Marlboros, tax the Cokes, and zone the Whoppers, says Slate's William Saletan on the subject of today's morality cops. But it's time to put the brakes on the paternalistic overreaching of the food police, Saletan argues, when they come after his editor's beloved Fresca ('there are concerns that diet beverages may increase calorie consumption by justifying consumption of other caloric foods'), which will have to be pried from his cold, dead hands. '40 states have enacted special taxes on soda or junk food. And the soda taxers are becoming ever bolder. Their latest manifesto is an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, co-authored by the health commissioner of New York City, the surgeon general of Arkansas, and several others. It declares soda fair game for government intervention (PDF) on the grounds that "market failures" in this area are causing "less-than-optimal production and consumption."' Where do we draw the line?" | <urn:uuid:db447b15-749d-431a-bf3f-bf64ef83fff0> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/09/27/1310240/The-Fresca-Rebellion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698207393/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516095647-00021-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945857 | 211 | 1.59375 | 2 |
IT IS surely a classic case that how newspapers took the side of the law-breakers, bowed before 'aastha' of a particulary community, ignored the violation of court's directives and more so led a campaign to report something that was absolutely wrong and had nothing to do with the exact situation.
In Damoh (Madhya Pradesh), Kundalpur is a place of pilgrimage for Jains. Here a 14 century Jain temple of Bade Baba (Adi Nath--the first tirthankar) was shifted from the ancient temple by Jain devotees despite the fact that the temple is under ASI (Archaeological survey of India) supervision.
The matter went to High Court and ASI pleaded that the administration did not support it on the issue and the idol was being shifted to the newly built temple in violation to all rules. The MP High court directed that the administration took possession of the hill atop which the temple exists.
But 15,000 Jains led by their acharyas defied the court orders and took the huge idol away to the other temple. The MP government's minister Jayant Malaiya, himself a Jain, went to the spot. His wife snatched the cameras of local channels and court's orders were violated. All through this none of the Hindi papers including the "Bharat ka sabse tezi se badhta akhbar' Agarwal (Jain) owned Dainik Bhaskar, The Gupta's Jagran, the Chhajlani (not Sindhi, but Jain) owned Nai Dunia, Maheshwari Bania's Nava Bharat and Arun Sahlot (also a Jain) owned Raj Express (second big paper in MP after Bhaskar now) reported the issue at all.
While the Jain community held the town to ransom and the prohibitory orders were enforced, on P 1 Dainik Bhaskar reported about the ambitions of the Jain community and the happiness of Jains at this event. No mention of any unrest in the town whatsoever. The by-line was of Atal Rajendra Jain. That six ASI officials were taken away and confined by Jains was not reported at all.
By the next day the situation turned even more volatile in Damoh with the rape of a nine-year-old girl in temple complex premises but Jains accused the administration that it was falsely saying that rape occurred in temple. Again newspapers joined the chorus. All the Bania newspapers who need the advertisements given by Jain merchants and traders killed the news, made a mockery of jounralim and it continued for days.
Saving Grace: The silver lining was Sahara Samay along with Hindustan Times, the only daily to have edition in Bhopal. It was due to Sahara Samay that people got to know what was happening in Damoh otherwise the entire news would have been suppressed. But Bhaskar has been exposed and so the other Hindi newspapers. And if any other community would have violated these orders of court and given 'aastha' more importance then what these newspapers would have done? Muslims and Christians wouldn't have dared do such an act after all nothing can beat the Bania Brotherhood. | <urn:uuid:c4b05987-74b5-4fc5-a0a7-363ec2a03fd5> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://editindia.blogspot.com/2006/01/journalisms-disgrace-false-reporting.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00041-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978941 | 669 | 1.671875 | 2 |
Documentary exploits the camera's affinity for recording the surface of things, what the realist film theorist Siegfried Kracauer called the "affinity" of film as a photographic medium for capturing "life in the raw." Even before the invention of motion pictures, photographers of the nineteenth century, such as Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904), with his "animal locomotion" series, demonstrated the extent to which the camera might reveal facts and details of the world to us that we could not perceive with the naked eye.
Documentary images are different from fiction precisely because they possess an indexical bond, a referent, to the historical real. Thus documentaries are unique in engaging what the documentary theorist Bill Nichols calls our epistephilia, a pleasure in knowing about the real world. At the same time, however, no matter how marvelous the special effects in a fiction film, a death scene will never produce the same kind of horror as that generated by, say, the Zapruder footage of President John F. Kennedy being assassinated or the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger as caught by television news cameras. Therefore, documentary film has the power to bring about change in the audience, whether to influence attitudes, increase understanding, or persuade to action, and for this reason documentary film has frequently been used for propaganda purposes, both overtly and subtly.
John Grierson (1898–1972), the filmmaker, producer, and advocate who spearheaded the British documentary movement in the 1920s, coined the term "documentary" in a review of Robert Flaherty's Moana (1926). The film, he wrote, "being a visual account of events in the daily life of a Polynesian youth and his family, has documentary value" because the camera captured and revealed truths about Polynesian culture (Hardy, p. 11). Although later on such assertions would be challenged as First World privilege and presumption, for filmmakers of Grierson's generation the relation of the camera to the profilmic event was for the most part unproblematic.
Because of the wide stylistic diversity of films commonly categorized as nonfiction, documentary has been notoriously difficult to define. In seeking to be inclusive, inevitably most definitions have been vague, clumsy, and prescriptive. As Nichols observes, "Documentary as a concept or practice occupies no fixed territory. It mobilizes no finite inventory of techniques, addresses no set number of issues, and adopts no completely known taxonomy of forms, styles, or modes" (p. 12). Clearly documentary cannot be understood as a genre in any sense equivalent to the genres of commercial fiction cinema; yet whatever the style of individual documentary films, all documentaries make truth claims about the real world. Perhaps the most useful definition, then, is the one offered by Grierson: the "creative treatment of actuality." It not only has the virtue of brevity, but also incorporates both documentary's connection to the real world ("actuality") and the filmmaker's inevitable shaping influence ("creative treatment"). Of course, the perennial problem, for documentary filmmakers as well as critics and audiences, has been to negotiate a proper balance between the two. | <urn:uuid:58cb0b2c-a5a1-4fc4-9102-37352b20a4fe> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Criticism-Ideology/Documentary.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368697380733/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516094300-00037-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949355 | 645 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Human Body Myths
© Thinkstock / AskMen
“Old wives' tale”: The phrase conjures up notions of well-meaning old grandmothers boiling up plants and roots and rubbing lucky rabbits’ feet. But many of the things we believe -- and tell each other -- about the human body are passed on by intelligent friends, educated teachers and sometimes even doctors themselves. So arm yourself with these 10 facts, and whip them out next time your mother tries to force you into a warmer sweater. | <urn:uuid:b4e12a90-4529-4934-8092-22dc28881c4c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.askmen.com/top_10/entertainment/human-body-myths.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911954 | 104 | 1.765625 | 2 |
Archaeologists lift lid on rare Roman find
(19 August 2008)
Durham University archaeologists have discovered two rare Roman stone sarcophagi.
The 1800 year old year old sandstone coffins were uncovered at a dig on the site of former chapel and office buildings in Newcastle upon Tyne. They are the first such find – and arguably the most impressive - in the area for more than 100 years. They are thought to have been used to bury members of a rich and powerful family from the adjacent, walled fort of Pons Aelius, whose West Gate would have been sited just yards away. Hadrian’s Wall would have run to the north of the fort. The lid of one coffin was opened by Durham University experts on Friday 15 August. Inside, the archaeologists have found the remains of a poorly-preserved adult human skeleton, five teeth, and a jet hairpin in two pieces. The hairpin, which is extremely well-preserved, would have been about 9cm long if fully in tact. Richard Annis, project manager with Archaeological Services, Durham University, commented on the significance of the finding: “These sarcophagi would have been a prominent feature of the landscape, as they were carefully placed to be viewed, being close to the road and, at the time, raised above the ground. “We are very pleased there is confirmation that there are adult bones in this second coffin, and the discovery of the hairpin is extremely exciting because it aids our investigation of who was buried inside. It confirms it was the body of a wealthy Roman woman. “We can also tell the body was laid from west to east. It is very likely both sarcophagi held members of a very senior family from the nearby Roman fort. “While the bodies are in very poor condition, the fact we have found tooth enamel means there is a possibility of further investigation of these remains.” The other sarcophagus had already been opened and removed from the site for safekeeping. This was found to contain the poorly-preserved skeleton of a child, aged around six years old, which was submerged in water and sludge. The head of the child appeared to have been removed and placed elsewhere in the coffin, which was an unusual but not unknown practice in Roman times. It is possible the burial included the remains of an older person in the same coffin. The tombs, the most archaeologically significant find at the dig, were discovered by a team from Archaeological Services Durham University. In 1903, two sarcophagi were found at the former Turnbull Warehouse site, in Newcastle upon Tyne, which is now home to a block of luxury flats. The Durham University team was hired by a development company which aims to build a modern office block on the site once its archaeological riches have been preserved for future generations. Other discoveries at the site, on Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, include cremation urns, providing evidence of other Roman burials on site; a cobbled Roman road which experts believe may have been part of the old main road from the South of England to the North; a Roman well and a Medieval well; the remains of the foundations of Roman shops and workers’ homes, along with the remains of flint tools from Stone Age hunter-gatherers. The site has been home to numerous developments since the Middle Stone Age. It was most recently home to warehouses and offices of the British Electrical and Manufacturing Company and still hosts a disused 19th century Presbyterian Church, which is a listed building. The sarcophagi, about 70cm wide and 180 cm long, have walls around 10 cm thick and weigh up to half a tonne each. They are both carved out of a single piece of sandstone. Each lid was fixed in place with iron pegs sealed with molten lead. After analysis by the Durham University team, all of the finds from the site will eventually go to the new Great North Museum in Newcastle, where the sarcophagi will be preserved for the public to see. In Roman times, it was unlawful to bury bodies inside settlements. Cemeteries were laid out at the roadside, near the gates of forts and towns. Mr Annis added: “It is very likely that a burial ceremony would have been held at the tombs, perhaps attended by many people. We know that some families hired professional mourners, who would weep and wail and add to the atmosphere of the burial.” David Heslop, Tyne and Wear County Archaeologist, said: "For the first time, we are starting to understand the layout of the civilian settlement that provided services to the garrison of the fort, and we can catch a glimpse of the Roman way of life, and death, on the northern frontier of the Empire." Timeline of the Forth Street site: 6,000 years ago: Nomadic hunter gatherers of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) pass through, leaving remains of flint tools behind them. 1,880 years ago: Hadrian’s Wall is built north of the site 1,840 years ago: the Roman fort of Pons Aelius is built just east of the excavation site, which becomes a settlement, and later is used as a cemetery 1,600 years ago: Romans leave the area with the collapse of their empire. 900 years ago: Medieval settlements on the site. A Carmelite Friary is built on what is now Forth Street. 500 years ago: A house is built from the wreckage of the Friary, following Henry VIII’s Reformation. 300 years ago: Unitarians build a large chapel on the site 180 years ago: Presbyterians build a chapel adjacent to the Unitarian chapel 90 years ago: British Electrical and Manufacturing Company occupy warehouses and office space on the site till the early 21st Century. Present day: the Presbyterian chapel will be incorporated into the new building, and the other remains of the site’s history will be researched and archived for the future. | <urn:uuid:90e2c1a4-ef7b-4803-8e13-5c1a86a8cc1c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=6883 | 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 | 0.976311 | 1,229 | 3.78125 | 4 |
Wildlifeseeds.com- An Informational Website From
Phone Business hours - Mon-Fri. 9-5 EST ONLY - Contact via
|Whitetail Deer Food Plots
Here you will find facts to help you:
- Select Food Plot Locations
- Understand Deer Habitats
- Plant Food Plots That Attract Deer
- Make Use of Native Vegetation That Attract Deer
- Grow The Best Deer Food Plot And More......
Deer Habitats - Food Plot Placement & Size
Deer habitats can cover several hundreds of acres as deer are a roaming herd breed. Food plots sizes can range from 1000 square feet to several acres. Deer feed singly or in small herds
and the variety that can be planted can be diverse. Some of the deer feeds that can be planted include: grasses, legumes, vetches, soybeans, peas, and herbs to name a few.
travel in small groups several miles searching for the different types of plants that each season offers. They also consume types of minerals, salts and water found along the
Nature provides the best in food plots but with the encroachment of man on deer habitats, among other factors, we may find that nature needs a little help. The
best food plots and minerals add to the diversity of natural vegetation that may not be in abundance or of poor quality in a particular year or area. By studying the natural food that is
available for deer you can then provide supplemental or additional nutritional food by planting various food plot crops and providing minerals. Remember that a source of water near your food plots is most
beneficial to you and the deer.
Deer will actively graze food plots planted in their habitat areas.
Many times in areas with high deer populations, they may damage food plot
plants by heavily grazing the available plants. Be sure you plant enough
food plots to support the deer population. Food plots can be
established from early spring to early fall. The best planting time is
early spring with mixes that provide crops that mature all through
spring, summer and fall for a more year-round food resource for the deer.
Many of the mixtures we sell are especially designed with this in mind with the
additions of perennials and annual seeds. For detailed instructions on planting
and maintaining successful food plots see our
planting food plots page.
The size and shape of your food plots can make a difference. The size of the plots or overall acres
to be planted can be difficult to determine. One rule of thumb is to plant at least 2 to 5 acres for every 100 acres of habitat. You should start off on the lighter side of the
percentage and work to build more plots as deer utilization increases. Depending on native vegetation that appeal to deer, density of deer populations and feeding habits, you will need to increase the total number of
acres of food plots you plant over time to maintain a reasonable amount of growth within each plot.
Regions that are still inhabited by larger
wilderness areas can benefit from planting food plots for the enticement
needed just to get a look at the more elusive of the
Deer Food Plots - Plant Year Round
Some people plant deer food plots only in the hunting season, but it has been proven that it is best to keep deer food plots all year even having a summer deer food plot.
Please see this page in our online store for a variety of deer food plot seed mixtures
that grow all year. Food plot mixtures should contain annuals and perennials that will attract and maintain deer. The annuals provide a nurse crop for the perennials as they establish
quickly during the first year. Also you may supplement any of these deer food plot seed mixtures with individual food plot seeds such as clovers, brassicas, deer vetch to name a few crops.
Deer do not stop eating after
hunting season, so why would you not continue to feed them? By providing deer food plots year round you benefit by keeping the deer herd coming back to your property or hunting lease. The deer
benefit from a constant and nutritious food supply. The hot summer months can be as taxing on a deer herd's diet as the cold winter months.
Deer will eat almost anything green with nice tender young growth. I have yet to find anything that I plant for myself that deer will refuse and deer put forth the best
efforts to reach; short of tall or electric fences and if you plant it they will come. The encroachment of homes and more and more land being taken away from wildlife makes many a garden
an "all you can eat" buffet just waiting to happen. In these closer contact areas deer food plots have to be designed for attraction using as much of the deer's favorite foods as possible.
Deer food plots can be planted from vetches, deer tongue and
herbs that contain oils in the leaves as the scent can draw
them from a distance. Beans, peas, clovers, sorghums,
millets, ryes, grasses, almost any kind of vegetation
similar to these can be planted to attract deer. Good food plot management would include the cultivation of native vegetation such as trees that fruit, produce acorns, berry
producers, berry bushes, weed seeds and other vegetation that grow regionally to attract deer to food plots.
Brassicas are another food that deer love to
eat and have proven desirable results deer in food plots. Brassicas (turnips, kale and rape are a few examples of brassicas) do well in colder weather and thus help deer through the
winter season. Plant brassicas 30 days before the first frost in the fall.
We sell brassicas by Bio Logic, Pennington and Imperial Whitetail, please feel free to check for more information on this
nutritious and useful food plot crop by going through our menu at the right.
Seedland Food Plot Seed
The folks at Seedland are committed to providing you with the latest in information and quality food plot products. We have developed this website, Wildlifeseeds.com, to assist you in
selecting and planting food plot seeds for wildlife management as well as hunting.
Seedland sells food plot seed by quality seed companies such as Mossy Oak Bio
Logic, Pennington and the Whitetail Institute.
Food Plot Information & Seed For Whitetail Deer | <urn:uuid:43a68320-9d4b-4afa-8ae4-8bbbe331ed0c> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.wildlifeseeds.com/foodplots/deer/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368703298047/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516112138-00057-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937279 | 1,321 | 2.859375 | 3 |
What practical steps, within the protections of the Second Amendment, can we take to reduce mass killings and gun violence? Can such an effort even begin to make a difference in saving lives and preventing heartbreak?
Yes, it can. And we have a model of success to draw upon.
By 1982, more than 21,000 Americans were dying each year in alcohol-related accidents. Yet somehow by 2010, the number of fatalities caused by drunk driving had fallen to 10,228, a decline of more than half. We didn’t solve the problem, but clearly we have made substantial progress. We are saving more than 10,000 lives a year and preventing tens of thousands more from being crippled or maimed. Almost as important, over the years we have prevented tens of thousands of drivers from ruining their own lives by killing people while under the influence.
We did not achieve that progress by banning automobiles. We did not ban alcohol. In fact, no single dramatic change produced the turnaround. It was achieved through a broad, concerted legal effort backed by a fundamental change in what was deemed culturally acceptable
We required automakers to make their products safer, including then-controversial steps such as requiring airbags. We mandated use of seatbelts. We increased the legal liability of bars, taverns and restaurants that over-served customers, to ensure that those making money off the problem had some “skin in the game” in reducing it.
We instituted a national drinking age of 21, which reduced the number of minors involved in alcohol-related fatalities. In Georgia alone, the rate of such alcohol-related fatalities involving drivers under 21 fell by 63.7 percent from 2000 to 2010 We increased enforcement efforts, such as DUI roadblocks. We tightened licensing requirements and also nationalized databases, so that someone stripped of his or her license in one state for drunk driving could not be licensed in another state.
So how do you apply those lessons to gun safety? As with automobiles, you improve the safety of the devices themselves, for example by requiring the installation of trigger locks. (If Nancy Lanza had installed trigger locks in guns kept in a household with an unbalanced young man, she and 26 other people today in Newtown might still be alive.) You ban the sale, use or possession of high-capacity magazines, such as the 30-round mags that Adam Lanza used. And you ban altogether the sale or transfer of assault weapons. If someone wants to sell an existing assault weapon, they can sell only to the government.
As with automobiles, you require evidence that individuals know how to operate certain weapons before they can be licensed to use or possess them. The National Rifle Association points out, correctly, that those who go through gun-safety and marksmanship courses to qualify for concealed-carry permits in many states are rarely involved in crime. Why not extend that successful model to gun ownership in general? (Georgia, by the way, requires no gun-safety training and no evidence of gun-handling ability before granting permits to carry concealed weapons.)
In addition to licensing gun owners, you register weapons. (With some 200 million guns in private hands, the fear of a government effort to go door to door confiscating registered weapons is ludicrous paranoia.) If a registered weapon is used in a crime but was not reported stolen, the person to whom it is registered can be held civilly or even criminally liable. That’s responsible gun ownership, and would curtail the black market substantially.
One of the bigger deterrents to drunk driving is the significantly increased cost of auto insurance for those convicted. Bars and liquor stores with a history of over-serving also have to worry about increased insurance costs. If you make gun owners and sellers financially liable for any damage done with their weapons, you create a market-based incentive to be responsible.
None of those steps violates the Constitution; none prevents honest citizens from obtaining firearms for personal defense, hunting and other legitimate purposes. But together, they have the potential to dramatically reduce the number of deaths caused by firearm misuse. | <urn:uuid:911551d1-2612-4608-80e9-4404f549dcb2> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/12/19/war-on-drunk-driving-a-model-for-reducing-gun-violence/?cxntfid=blogs_jay_bookman_blog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368698924319/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516100844-00055-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96542 | 826 | 2.171875 | 2 |
Q: My 15-year-old son has lymphedema that actually began in 1999. There is a strong suspicion that it was a result of surgery he had in December 1998. The surgery was an "incision and drainage" in the groin area for a ruptured infection. Unfortunately, the physicians were never able to advise us of the infection's cause. During this time period from 1999 to present, he has had intermittent infections in both of his legs. An Infectious Disease Specialist treats him for this condition. Usually he is prescribed Levaquin for a period of 2-4 weeks and then the infection goes away. However, the infected leg appears to remain enlarged, which is an obvious symptom. Our primary concern is that, last February, one of his infections disappeared, yet his scrotum and penis area became enlarged and has remained enlarged through the present time. In February, his Infectious Disease Specialist requested a pediatric urologist see him. When the pediatric urologist saw him, she became alarmed because she had never seen such swelling in the scrotum and penis area in any other cases. She recommended he take 2 baths per day for 2 months and she would follow up with him in late August. The baths were recommended to reduce swelling. She also prescribed an ultrasound prior to his visit in August. Simultaneously, his pediatric infectious disease specialist, after consulting with his pediatric urologist, believed it would be a good idea if he attended a therapy program (to be everyday for 2 weeks, then 2-3 times per week after up to 4 weeks) which he began immediately. At that time, his status would be evaluated. He was also told to wear a Jobst stocking everyday. The therapy was to be done on his leg and groin area, but not on the scrotum and penis area. The therapist is a lymphedema specialist, but was not specifically a scrotum and penis lymphedema therapist. He was not even sure if there is a form of therapy that could be done on these sensitive parts. Both my wife and I are extremely frustrated; of all the physicians he is seeing, no one has seen a lymphedema case like his. Furthermore, no one appears to know what can be done. They are attempting to think of and we were told to solicit feedback from a therapist who specializes in lymphedema of the penis and scrotum. To further complicate matters, my son also has histiocytosis. Is there any assistance you could provide us regarding where we could seek further education and support for his condition?
A: The swelling that your son suffers A. is most likely lymphedema. Indeed, it may be the result of the surgical intervention in 1998, injury and subsequent scarring. However, the swelling may also be caused by underlying dysplasia (malformation) of the lymphatic system in which case the surgery added "insult to injury." It is not uncommon that the genital area is part of the lymphedema and when this happens, it adds a host of problems for the patient and therapist. The ultrasound examination that your pediatric urologist prescribed is indicated in order to rule out other conditions that could be combined with the lymphedema of the scrotum, e.g., hydrocele or cancer. Meticulous hygiene in the genital and lower extremity areas must be part of your son's daily routine, however, bathing twice per day may be "overboard." Lymphedema of the penis and scrotum usually can be reduced through Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) and compression therapy (bandaging). After a few treatment sessions with a knowledgeable therapist, your son should be able to perform these techniques daily and independently. Lymphedema is a chronic condition; therefore, it is important to teach the self-management of this condition to your son.
At this time, I am unable to be more specific about your son's self-management program (MLD, bandaging and garment use), because it differs from person to person. I would urge you however, to find treatment for the genital lymphedema and not simply the leg edema as treatment of the latter may force some fluid into the genital area, exacerbating the condition. It may take some time to find a lymphedema therapist who is also competent in the treatment of genital lymphedema in your area-a list of expert therapists is available through the NLN website. Also, there are a small number of lymphedema expert physicians available for consultation in the U.S. and the NLN can provide assistance in identifying them. I understand your frustration in this matter, but also believe that you are now one step closer to finding help and support for your son's condition. I also think that once your son is independent with the edema management, the entire family will feel better. The fact that your son also suffers from histocystosis should not have any bearing on the above treatment suggestion for the scrotal and penile lymphedema.
Q: My 4-year-old daughter had a sebaceous cyst removed from her upper left thigh (approximately 3 cm from groin) about a year and a half ago. The surgeon decided to remove an adjacent swollen lymph node for biopsy. The node was infected with mycobacteria and she was treated for that condition. She recovered well and, other than a scar, she showed no unusual signs. Then, about three months ago, she received a number of traumas in the same leg. She was bitten by a chipmunk, contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite to the leg, was exposed to poison ivy, and had a toenail crushed in a door. Soon after, her foot and lower leg began to swell. The toe with the crushed nail is the most noticeably swollen. She received two 3-week treatments of antibiotics for the Lyme disease, which we expected would clear up the swelling. It didn't and, after being evaluated by a number of doctors, the consensus seems to be that she has lymphedema. So far, the swelling is fairly mild, though noticeable. My question is: Since she had so many traumas to the left leg in a short period of time, could the remaining lymph nodes be having difficulty transporting the fluid out of the leg? If so, could the condition improve without significant long-term intervention as long as she has no other major traumas to the leg? I imagine that the immune system must have worked harder than usual to fight these infections and, therefore, could have produced more lymph than usual.or is such hope just denial?
A: Your daughter's case is unusual A. because of the number and kinds of traumas she suffered in a short period of time. We realize that young children are active and can injure themselves during play, etc., but every effort must be made to supervise children closely and minimize the chance of injury which can cause a potentially life-threatening infection in the involved limb. The question of whether the current swelling is caused entirely because of the traumas or perhaps part of an underlying dysplasia of the lymphatic system (primary lymphedema) is difficult to answer, even for an expert physician. In any event, the remaining lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels are trying to compensate for the part that is injured (removed). The current swelling indeed may improve over time provided that there are no additional traumas to your daughter's legs; however, the long term prognosis is uncertain. At this time, it is imperative that trauma and infections are avoided. A list with risk reduction practices is available on the NLN website. Lyme disease needs to be treated aggressively (as was the case with your daughter) as this could pose a risk for complications with swelling in the future. At this time, I would suggest that your daughter receives Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD), mild compression therapy (depending on the severity of the edema-bandaging or garments) and instruction in self-management from a certified lymphedema therapist. This approach will help to reduce the current swelling and teach your daughter to manage/control it in the future. The prognosis of your daughter's leg swelling is somewhat uncertain, however, it is possible that it will turn into a chronic condition.
Please address questions to: Editor c/o NLN, 116 New Montgomery Street, Suite 235, San Francisco, CA 94105 or e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org. Deadlines for submissions (for the following issue) are: Feb 15, May 15, Aug 15, Nov 15. | <urn:uuid:89be0780-3bf1-4969-8a69-b90a89a7cc07> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.lymphnet.org/lymphedemaFAQs/questions/question_04_06.htm | 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 | 0.979429 | 1,779 | 1.71875 | 2 |
You are here
A treat in the Science Times section of the June 26, 2007, issue of The New York Times: a suite of articles devoted to evolution. Evolutionary developmental biology is a central theme. Carol Kaesuk Yoon writes, "Just coming into its own as a science, evo-devo is the combined study of evolution and development, the process by which a nubbin of a fertilized egg transforms into a full-fledged adult.
The new book from "intelligent design" proponent Michael Behe, The Edge of Evolution (Free Press, 2007), is supposed to present "astounding new findings from the genetics revolution to show that Darwinism cannot account for the sheer complexity and near-miraculous design of life as we know it," according to a press release from the publisher.
The Center for Inquiry released a new position paper, "Understanding the intelligent design creationist movement: Its true nature and goals," on May 29, 2007.
Stanley Miller, a pioneer in scientific research on the origin of life, died on May 20, 2007, at the age of 77, in National City, California. Born in Oakland, California, in 1930, Miller received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1951, and his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1954. As a graduate student at Chicago under the supervision of Harold C.
A performance of the L.A. Theatre Works production The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial is now available on-line as a podcast. The play, written by Peter Goodchild and based on the transcripts of the Scopes trial in 1925, was originally broadcast by LATW in 1992; it was revived in 2005 to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the trial.
The Society for College Science Teachers announced the release of its new position statement on the teaching of evolution on April 30, 2007. According to its press release (PDF):
A poll recently conducted for Newsweek by Princeton Survey Research Associates International contained two questions relevant to the creationism/evolution controversy. The results [Link broken] were broadly consistent with those of previous polls using similar questions. The poll was conducted March 28-29, 2007, with 1004 adults aged 18 and over participating; the margin of error was +/- 4%. | <urn:uuid:d20c53b3-5984-4ec2-8cd3-9befe10362a3> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://ncse.com/news/national?page=13 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705195219/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516115315-00023-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955643 | 464 | 1.984375 | 2 |
I was going to use “poop” in the title in honor of my kids, but then I thought that was unprofessional. Then I thought, “hey, this is a blog.” As you can see I went with a hybrid approach…thoughts?
Anywho, c|net’s Erica Ogg reported earlier this week that researchers from HP Labs are presenting a paper at the ASME International Conference on Energy Sustainability conference on the use of waste products from cows to provide power for datacenters
As odd as it may sound, that’s where the cows come in. The average dairy cow produces 55 kilograms of manure per day, or 20 metric tons per year. An individual cow’s manure can generate 3 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy per day. (That alone could power television usage in three U.S. households on a daily basis.)
And on a farm with 10,000 cows, that amounts to enough energy to power a 1-megawatt data center, according to HP researchers.
And there you have what it sure to be an awesome conversation starting at your next cocktail keg party. | <urn:uuid:97e64df5-581a-413d-8987-b06b69a27666> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://insidehpc.com/2010/05/20/hp-expands-datacenter-location-checklist-to-include-ready-source-of-manure/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368710006682/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516131326-00015-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955794 | 242 | 1.976563 | 2 |
Free State Project Lights of Liberty
While the FSP generally recruits self-identifying libertarians, during our outreach efforts we frequently have to explain what libertarianism is. There is no sense in our re-creating educational materials when other organizations have already done a good job of it. One of the most famous tools is The World's Smallest Political Quiz (TWSPQ), which The Advocates for Self-Government incorporate into their Operation Politically Homeless kits. Feel free to contact the FSP Events Coordinator if you are planning to represent the FSP at an event. As described below, The Advocates offer some additional incentive for making use of them.
It should not be difficult to find a receptive audience. In Cato Policy Analysis 580, The Libertarian Vote, David Boaz and David Kirby report finding "9 to 13 percent libertarians in the Gallup surveys, 14 percent in the Pew Research Center Typology Survey, and 13 percent in the American National Election Studies, generally regarded as the best source of public opinion data." Find a sleeping libertarian and wake him up!
The Advocates' Lights of Liberty Program
The Advocates for Self-Government recognize people who have spread the word of liberty by numbering them among the Lights of Liberty. You qualify for a Lights of Liberty Award if you've done THREE of any combination of the following activities in the previous year:
The FSP encourages its volunteers to support The Advocates' LoL program. This is a great way to structure outreach efforts, and promote the FSP among The Advocates' thousands of members. Be sure to take a photograph and record notes about how things went. In this way we can share experiences and improve our effectiveness.
OPH Best Practices
Of course, the goal of running an OPH booth is not just to get your name on a list, but to educate people and sway them in the libertarian direction. Time has shown that some ways are more effective than others, with the most important factors being where, who, and how. The Advocates offer a downloadable set of OPH Manuals. Below are a few more tips.
FSP Participants Among the 2005 Lights of Liberty
FSP participants are of course among the most active libertarians, and it is no surprise that many of them appear on the LoL list. Below are some that we have recognized, but there are probably many more:
- Ian Bernard
- Fred Childress
- Brian Sullivan
- Hardy Machia | <urn:uuid:4f15eb97-c4a9-4dd7-a953-0e121d589f2f> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://freestateproject.org/volunteer/lights_of_liberty | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368704392896/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516113952-00048-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950441 | 499 | 1.710938 | 2 |
Education and the Market
AUGUST 01, 1960 by OSCAR W. COOLEY
Mr. Cooley is Associate Professor of Economics at
When my wife sends me to the supermarket to buy groceries, I pay for what I get and get what I pay for. The price of each item purchased is known to me and I agree to it. This is an exchange between two parties, each of whom knows exactly what he is getting and what he is giving up.
How different is the case with respect to the services of government! I use the public streets and roads, send my children to the public schools, am protected, presumably, by the local police and firemen and by the national armed forces. And periodically I pay taxes, or suffer them to be taken from me, either directly or indirectly (according to the Tax Foundation a third of my taxes are hopelessly hidden from sight in the prices of things I buy). Government services seldom are priced so that I pay for what I get or get what I pay for. How, then, am I to know whether I am getting my money’s worth?
At the supermarket I can inspect each article, note the price, and decide whether it is a desirable purchase. My decision to buy a certain article signals the store manager to continue to stock it and the manufacturer to make more of it. My adverse decision, on the other hand, is a sign that the quality or design needs to be improved, the price lowered, or both. Thus, the production of food is "price-guided." Alas, there is no similar guide for the production of most government services.
It is true that market pricing might be difficult, if not impossible, for services such as police protection or court procedures. But this pricing difficulty does not apply to many others in the continually growing list of tax-supported services.
When we examine a specific example, such as elementary schools, we find that the enterprise was originally socialized, not because of a technical difficulty of pricing but because of the fear that, if the "goods" were openly priced and freely offered in the market, the consumers might not "buy" them. Education, it was argued, is a good of which everyone should partake, if not for his own sake, then for "society’s" sake. Those who thus reason are not willing to leave to the individual consumer the question of whether he should buy education, what kind, and how much. While they talk democracy, they practice paternalism.
The Market Is Disappearing
This has long been the philosophy with respect to elementary and secondary education; increasingly it is being applied to college education. The press recently reported the case of 18-year-old Nancy Pass of Mississippi.
Once this theory is accepted, it would appear only a matter of time until all intellectually qualified youngsters will be required to go to college. Increasingly, through education subsidies to veterans, easy government loans, and abundant scholarships, students and their parents are being relieved of the responsibility to pay for what they get in college. In short, the market in education is disappearing.
If we do not pay for what we get in education, have we any assurance that we shall get what we pay for? Once the market is destroyed—once getting is divorced from paying—there is really no way of comparing what one pays with what one gets.
Assume that this trend continues and that fifty years hence all American colleges and universities are socialized. John Smith’s two boys will go to college (compulsory attendance) where they will enjoy free tuition, free books, free board and room—"free" everything. It is then likely that more than half of John’s income will be taken in taxes, direct and indirect; and part of this take—nobody will be able to say just how much—will go to help pay the cost of running the government-owned colleges.
The colleges will be standardized, since all will have to meet uniform government specifications. There will be no incentive for one institution to be different from another since all will depend, not upon attracting students who pay their own way, but upon government appropriations. Hence, the John Smiths will have little if any basis for choosing one school rather than another—even if they are still permitted a choice. If the colleges do not teach what John Smith thinks ought to be taught, there will be nothing he can do—except write to his congressman.
The teachers and administrators also will have little choice. They will not need to produce education which satisfies students and parents; rather they will have to please bureaucrats and politicians. They will be civil servants, as the post office employees now are. They will not be responsible, except in an indirect and circuitous way, to those who use their services.
Who can believe that the quality of higher education would be improved by such a change? Unfortunately, we are moving in this direction.
Bargaining and Alternatives
The quality of any good or service depends on the relationship which prevails between producer and consumer. In a voluntary transaction, the producer must satisfy the consumer as to both quality and price, or else lose the sale; and the consumer in turn must satisfy the producer by paying an amount sufficient to keep him from turning his energies to some other field of production.
Both producers and consumers have alternatives. This is what gives them bargaining power—this is what makes a market.
Rather than suppressing the market, we should be perfecting it—freeing it, making more use of the principle of exchange. Rare, it seems, is the worker who understands the disadvantage of receiving part of his wages in "fringe benefits," who perceives that a cash dollar he can spend freely in the market is worth more than a dollar in any other form. The vogue of trading stamps further demonstrates how little we appreciate spendable cash over merchandise premiums. Money, after all, is a great invention; why not use it?
Albert S. J. Baster in The Little Less² says: "The depravity of taste in modern capitalistic societies is not due to the fact that life is over-commercialized but to the fact that life is not commercialized enough." We suffer not from too much but too little marketing. Consumers do not take the trouble to inform themselves of the "buys" that are available, and producers are not sufficiently aware of the alternative outlets for their energies and resources. The consumer relies on a Federal Trade Commission to protect him, while the worker reclines naively in the arms of his union officials. The consumer does not know what he is getting, nor does the producer know his opportunity costs.
When a new need arises, like the present need for more and better education, many turn to government to satisfy the need. Anyone who suggests that consumers can get better schools and colleges more quickly by digging down deep in their pockets and paying for them, directly and forthrightly, is considered a social antiquarian.
There Are Ways To Be Free
Supposedly, many young people are unable to pay the cost of college attendance. But the record shows that boys and girls from poor families have secured a college education, and some are doing it today. More could, if their parents were not taxed so heavily.
Many, lacking cash, have used their credit. Any young man or woman with the physique and mentality to do college work has great potential earning power. A loan to enable such a youth to attend college would seem to be a productive loan, even in the banker’s sense of that term. If the youth cannot provide tangible security for such a loan, he surely can secure it with the signature of a parent or other relative. Where are the bankers who presumably want to preserve and strengthen the market economy? Here is a way in which they can well use their talents and resources to that end.
Higher education may be the most favorable field in which to halt the socializing trend. Private institutions are still operative in this field. Let private enterprise stand firm in the colleges and universities and youth will be enlisted in the cause of freedom. It should not be difficult for universities and colleges that are dedicated to freedom of thought to teach the value of freedom of action. But they must practice what they preach. And they must restore the market in education.
John Stuart Mill
The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it. | <urn:uuid:4d906448-3cfd-4a3e-b1f0-5c2ec17af71e> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/education-and-the-market | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368705953421/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516120553-00075-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967673 | 1,744 | 2.359375 | 2 |